Where there is nothing, nothing can be taken. This is what happens with the obsolete Lakers management, with Rob Pelinka at the helm. And with Jeannis Buss, an owner who collects the crumbs of the owner who was her father and also of the kind of private game of thrones that won her over her brothers to control a company that is sinking like the Titanic. Without anyone being able to rescue her or having seen that the sea was full of icebergs, the Angelenos are in sordid years and with no possibility of becoming candidates for anything. And that is not even five years have passed since the 2020 ring, that lost opportunity to become a dynasty thanks to the same people who are now steering a rudder that does not work. The trade to get Russell Westbrook ruined everything. From there, shadows and ashes. That is what remains at the end of everything. Lack of light and many embers.
The Lakers entered the market with the need to make a statement, but all they have done is select Bronny in the draft and renew Max Christie. Nothing more. James Harden, Klay Thompson and Jonas Valanciunas were mentioned, but the first has renewed with the Clippers, the second has ended his historic association with the Warriors to go to Luka Doncic’s Mavericks and the Lithuanian to the Wizards. None of them have made it to Hollywood, the city of light, that place that was once a magnet for free agents and has remained a place full of whispers and memories of the past. Without salary margin to sign big contracts or money to compete with other franchises, something ironic when we are talking about the third most valued entity in the NBA after Warriors and Knicks (more than 6.4 billion dollars) in the market, the last man who is mentioned is DeMar DeRozan. Undoubtedly talented, but approaching 35 years old, lacking defensive power, outside shooting… In short. A signing that, if it were to happen, would change little or nothing. And no one knows if it would be for the better.
All of this was planned to keep a LeBron James happy, who promised to sign with the Lakers (he hasn’t done so yet) sacrificing money (it’s no longer necessary) so that another star could arrive. On the way to 40 years old (he will turn 40 on December 30) and his 22nd season in the NBA (he will tie the absolute record with Vince Carter) the King will face his last great adventure with his son, the only wish that the franchise has promised with luck, and will sign, barring surprises, a three-year contract to almost, if he fulfills it, a quarter of a century in the best League in the world. A tireless man, an unfathomable legend and an infinite aura. That of a player who sees himself doomed to nothing by the ineptitude of a team adrift, with no possibilities of anything beyond competing with honor and celebrating that they have done it, if such a thing can be celebrated. Meanwhile, the Celtics have won their 18th ring, breaking the tie in the historic battle for the NBA throne. That’s it.
Few options
The Lakers’ problem, if they have only one, is that they have no solutions. Without money or salary cap space, they are left with the most important pieces around LeBron and Anthony Davis: Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura… and D’Angelo Russell. The point guard has sniffed out the market and has seen that the lean years are knocking hard at his door and has decided to bet on a player option that seems to be the smartest decision in terms of his economic security. With that quintet, the Lakers have shown two things: that they can be competitive and that they cannot win. It was Pelinka’s last success, fixing a problem that has been eternally postponed and removing Russell Westbrook from the roster to land Hachimura and Jared Vanderbilt. But the first has become too small and the second has been injured too much. The idea was good, but it was held together with tweezers: if everything worked, there was an option. But the moment something fails, everything falls apart.
And all with a terrible image: Darvin Ham was fired after reaching the Western Conference finals in his first season and winning the In-Season Tournament in the second. Frank Vogel, who made the last ring, was fired in a bad way and with a roster that was not what he wanted. Dan Hurley, from UcCoon, has left the Angels in a selection process that has been long and tedious and that has ended with JJ Redick taking the job without anyone knowing how or having experience in the position. And it is not known if LeBron had anything to do with his signing (he says no) or who they have asked for advice after an endless list of names without specificity, and sometimes without meaning, was heard. And all with a roster that is the same and in a huge generational change experienced by the NBA: the past is the past even if their representatives are still active in the present. And players of new ages arrive to do what they did before. Renew or die. In the case of the Lakers, the latter. Or so they seem intent on proving.
Without expectations
Now, the Lakers face the final stretch of the transfer market with little to do and little to say. With the memory of lost opportunities and watching with a pang of pain as Alex Caruso, another player they fought little or nothing for, ends up in a direct rival in the Western Conference like the Thunder. With Davis not saying a word and LeBron dedicating himself to what he has always done, training to turn his body into a killing machine and winning Olympic gold in Paris to continue adding feats to his endless resume. Now without more rings, something that seems impossible for him to do again if we take into account the concatenation of misfortunes in which his team has been immersed in recent times. The 10 Finals, eight of them consecutive in numbers from another era, are not forgotten because they are impossible to forget. But they are further back than a figure of his category deserves. The, perhaps, best player in the history of the NBA. One pushed, like so many legends before him, to a sad end.
It’s very difficult to finish on a high note, but the Lakers are clear that they are headed for that. Jeannie Buss wants to stay with the club that her father turned into the best and most attractive market. And to do that, she is clear that she will shower LeBron with honors for, if all goes well, the next three seasons: a very long retirement, indiscriminate sale of jerseys and, of course, more and more longevity records for the oldest man, a player who last year was already the oldest in the NBA and who is only a few months younger than JJ Redick, who in his active stage arrived after the King (2006) and left before (2021). And so on, since there is nothing more to say about the Angelenos, who will dedicate themselves to honoring their hero, who is still one of the best in circulation but who is no longer accompanied by anyone. He came to the Lakers thanks to Magic Johnson. Davis did it for Pelinka. The association gave a ring. Then, the magic ended.
That’s how things are in LA. With no motivation other than the delay itself, the eternal wait for better times to come. And without, a priori, risking everything and letting LeBron go to live his last great adventure while they trade Davis to get players and draft rounds with which to start a reconstruction. That idea has crossed more than one person’s mind, but it is so timid and is said in such a low way that it seems totally unreal. Business-wise, the best way for them to continue talking about them is by feeding the narrative around LeBron James, the last great story that has been written in the best League in the world. As much as the end seems more than sad for a star who continues to be one despite the passage of time. That one that has been slowly eating away at a franchise that was once capable of everything but now lives in the past, has a questionable present and a non-existent future. That is what the Lakers have in an interior that contrasts with that exterior full of appearances, but this time hides nothing. Again: where there is nothing, nothing can be taken.
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2024-07-02 04:52:32
#Lakers #absolute #disaster #AS.com
