The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Dalton Knecht and Bronny James in the 2024 NBA Draft but have yet to land any free agent. Like many of their fans, Fox Sports' Nick Wright has been waiting for the Purple and Gold to make its move.
But with the summer's top free agents slowly finding new homes elsewhere, Wright thinks there's something wrong with the Lakers' front office. The NBA analyst theorizes that the Purple and Gold are traumatized by the Russell Westbrook debacle that has hounded them for the past two seasons.
" I don't think that this team has shown a propensity to…I think they are gun shy post the Russell Westbrook trade," said Wright. " I think they feel that 'Man, that usually gets people fired. We smartly laid all of that on LeBron's feet, and now we don't make want to make any significant moves. And so it feels to me like they are a team of half-measures."
The Westbrook disaster
The Lakers traded for Russ in 2021, giving up Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrezl Harrell in the process. The UCLA product was a disaster in one-and-a-half seasons with the Purple and Gold, as he never really fit into what they were doing.
Los Angeles missed the playoffs in 2021-22, and they opened the 2022-23 campaign with a record of 0-4 before demoting Russell to a bench role. The struggles continued, and the Lakers ended up trading the 2017 MVP at the deadline, acquiring D'Angelo Russell in the deal.
They made a run to the Western Conference Finals that season but were swept by the eventual champions. Meanwhile, Russ finished his season with the 'other' L.A. team. He became a spark off their bench and gained a lot of praise, from ' changing the culture ' to ' saving their season .'
Related: "It's unfortunate that we got cheated in a lot of them games in the playoffs" - Larry Bird's hilarious joke about his rivalry with Magic Johnson
Wright is skeptical
Earlier this week, Nick also questioned the Lakers' front office , particularly GM Rob Pelinka, for failing to close a deal with former Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson despite the Purple and Gold seemingly having many advantages over his other suitors. Klay ended up settling for a lesser contract with the Dallas Mavericks.
"So what does Rob Pelinka do?" Wright asked. "Like seriously. You have the greatest player ever saying, 'Hey, I'll take less money if you can land somebody,' and the Dallas Mavericks? They've been striking out on free agents for a decade. The Dallas Mavericks win a bidding war for a player whose dad is your broadcaster?"
Wright is a known LeBron supporter, so he's got to be disappointed with the Lakers not getting any of their top free-agency targets. However, it's hard to judge L.A.'s front office with their failed Klay chase. That's because, ultimately, Thompson opted to play for a team that would give him a better chance at winning a fifth championship ring. LeBron's Purple and Gold squad can't offer him that.
Related: "Rob Pelinka is thinking about the future" - Kendrick Perkins believes LeBron James and the Lakers are not on the same page
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