NBA Insider believes Los Angeles Lakers are clowning LeBron James with DREAMS of bringing Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal to Hollywood in the offseason
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It appears that an NBA Insider believes the Los Angeles Lakers are fooling around with the dreams of their superstar LeBron James. According to the report, the Lakers are supposedly trying to convince James that they are working to bring Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal to the team in the upcoming off-season. If true, this could be a major disappointment for James and Lakers fans alike. Read on to find out more about this latest development.
NBA Insider Chris Mannix believes the Los Angeles Lakers are attempting to keep superstar LeBron James happy by promising to acquire Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard or Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal in the offseason. In an episode of his podcast “The Crossover Show with Chris Mannix” Mannix said, “Internally, I’m sure the Lakers are selling James on an offseason when Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard becomes available, and L.A. swoops in with its picks to acquire them.”
Damian Lillard is having a stellar season with the Trail Blazers, averaging 28.2 points, 7.0 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game. Bradley Beal has also been putting up impressive numbers, posting 22.9 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game. At 38 years old, James is still delivering big numbers, averaging 25.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game.
If the Lakers hope to get their hands on either Lillard or Beal, they would have to give up their remaining draft assets in return for the two players. Whether the Lakers’ front office is seriously considering these moves or if they’re simply selling fake dreams to James, remains to be seen.
Assessing the Lakers’ moves since the 2020 championship
The Los Angeles Lakers are in a very tough situation when it comes to usable assets in a trade. They traded away most of those assets to acquire Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019. It worked, the Lakers won the title with a formula of LeBron + AD surrounded by shooters and defenders. Players such as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, and even Danny Green were vital in that championship.
The fatal error that the front office made since then was to go away from that method of roster construction. Due to injuries to AD and LeBron in 20-21 and the Lakers, as a result, falling to the #6 seed and losing in the first round, Rob Pelinka wanted a third star who could take the load off AD and Bron. The result? The Russell Westbrook trade and letting players like Alex Caruso leave in free agency.
In the trade, the Lakers traded away further picks, Kuzma and KCP, and were left with a past-his-prime Russell Westbrook including an aging squad that didn’t have the required shooting or defense around James and Davis. They are paying now for trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. And while dreaming of Lillard and Beal is a nice fantasy, in reality, it will never be more than just that, an unachievable and unrealistic fantasy.
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Rakibul John Rodgers
(1258 Articles Published)