At least one unnamed Western Conference executive believes, however, that Pelinka is looking at the bigger picture. On a recent episode of The Crossover NBA Show with Chris Mannix and Howard Beck, the two NBA insiders discussed Pelinka’s seemingly baffling stance against green-lighting a trade for the Lakers. Apparently, this could have a lot to do with Washington Wizards superstar Bradley Beal: ”So here was the quote from the Western Conference executive I spoke to who had mentioned this,” Beck said. “He says ‘Washington is the one that I keep thinking that’s going to happen. … [Bradley Beal] got a no-trade clause, he wants to come to California’ — That was an interesting tidbit of this — ‘He essentially can pick where he wants to go (because of his no-trade clause)’ … So that’s the logic that the Western Conference exec was laying out to me, and he said this: ‘Whatever you want to say about Pelinka, he’s being smart, he’s taking his time.’”
