In the ruthless world of the Lakers, transfer rumors are never far away. Those surrounding Russell Westbrook have been less insistent in recent weeks with Brodie’s good performance off the bench, but Anthony Davis’ recent injury has revived speculation about whether or not to make a deal. What does LeBron James think? A journalist asked him the question, he did not get an answer.
What all Lakers fans feared unfortunately ended up happening.
On another planet in recent weeks, during which he has chained the performance of MVP to try to put the Lakers back on track, Anthony Davis was injured again. On foot this time. As a result, he will be absent for at least a month. Which raises the following question:
While we were already wondering if (and especially when) the Lakers were going to make a transfer to try to better surround the LeBron – AD duo, this prolonged absence of the monobrow causes a big hole in the racket and has the potential to change plans. what General Manager Rob Pelinka could have six weeks before the trade deadline. So inevitably, on the side of Los Angeles, journalists are trying to find out more about the strategy of the franchise internally.
After Sunday’s game against Washington, one of them asked LeBron James how Davis’ injury will impact the Lakers’ potential transfer decisions. Here is his response, via The Athletic.
“It’s not a question for me. I do not know. […] I play basketball, I’m not in the front office, so we’ll see. I’m focused on the game to try to win games, especially when I’m on the court.
Ask your questions to Rob Pelinka.”
Some will probably laugh at reading this quote, LeBron James being known to directly impact the decisions of his management, so much so that he got the nickname LeGM over the years. That being said, Rob Pelinka continues to be patient today – even reluctant to transfer his first-round draft picks (2027, 2029) – while the King would probably like some short-term reinforcement for increase their chances of winning.
While waiting to see the direction that the front office of the legendary Californian franchise will take in the coming weeks, we will closely monitor the behavior of the Lakers without ADbecause that too could impact Pelinka’s decisions in the near future.
Los Angeles managed to snatch a victory against the Wizards without Davis on Sunday, before falling to Phoenix in a meeting where neither AD, nor LeBron, nor Russell Westbrook played. The Lakers now have a record of 13 wins for 17 losses over the first 30 regular season games, a record synonymous with 12th place in the West, before playing six of their next seven games away.
If Los Angeles were to really collapse without Anthony Davis, it’s hard to imagine Rob Pelinka sacrificing his draft picks to try to save this 2022-23 campaign. Otherwise, however, everything seems possible in La La Land…
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Source texte : The Athletic