LeBron James left out AGAIN as coveted 3-point shooter joins Stephen Curry for ‘opportunity to win’

This is the fifth free agent the Los Angeles Lakers could not get their hands on.


LeBron James left out AGAIN as coveted 3-point shooter joins Stephen Curry for ‘opportunity to win’

Buddy Hield joins Stephen Curry and Golden State Warriors over LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers

This off-season was supposed to fix some of the issues that plagued the Los Angeles Lakers roster from last season. The team needed to improve their 3-point scoring as the team was 28th in the league. After being unable to tie up Klay Thompson, they turned their attention to Buddy Hield. However, Hield preferred to join Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors over LeBron James for a specific reason.

NBA Insider Shams Charania revealed what went into Hield’s decision to join the Warriors. His article for The Athletic detailed the opportunity to win now persuaded Hield to join the Warriors over other suitors. As such, the Warriors won the race over the Lakers, who have yet to make any key additions.

Hield chose the Warriors because of the opportunity to win over other interested suitors, including the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers. After losing Thompson, the Warriors were in desperate search for a high-volume shooter who could open up the floor a bit more in some of their lineup combinations. That’s Hield’s specialty.
Shams Charania via The Athletic
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The Golden State Warriors didn’t make the playoffs last season. Nevertheless, Hield must have chosen them as he believes the Lakers aren’t built to win. Some of the reasoning behind that could obviously be pointed at their sheer lack of any off-season additions. Secondly, they have a new head coach, JJ Redick, and the Warriors are still coached by Steve Kerr.

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That is a major confidence builder for any player coming in, but another key point remains that they have Stephen Curry and Draymond Green as their leaders. Those two superstars will want to fix the wrongs from last season. It just makes all the more reason for Buddy Hield to take advantage of this opportunity.

LeBron James and the Lakers resigned to develop current roster

As much as they would have liked, the Los Angeles Lakers have not been able to add to their roster. In fact, they lost Taurean Prince to the Milwaukee Bucks. Therefore, the current roster is all they have besides the players they drafted. So, the only task they have going forward is to develop and maximize the existing players.

This task primarily led to the signing of JJ Redick. He will have to work with his coaching staff to seek out the best from the youngsters so that they can at least provide some kind of additional support. Support remains crucial if LeBron James and Anthony Davis are to stay fresh for the playoffs.

That said, it also means that the development has to be quick. At the start of the season, they will again have to rely on James and Davis to win games. It’s not an easy task, considering all the roster upgrades fellow NBA title contenders have made.

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