The Los Angeles Lakers have made some big changes this offseason, but there are more than a few people who are skeptical that they will yield positive results. One NBA insider believes some of those skeptics are employed by the organization.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst made some interesting remarks on Monday about the Lakers and the current state of their roster. Windhorst noted how LeBron James has been most successful during his career when he is surrounded by quality shooters. L.A. does not have many of those at the moment. Because of that, Windhorst believes there are basketball people in the Lakers’ front office who do not think the current team can get it done.
"This can be used as receipts later. You can use this against me, I guess, Lakers. I don't believe that the basketball people in this organization believe that this is a group that's actually gonna work."
Brian Windhorst on the new-look Lakers 🤔pic.twitter.com/1PQBqaE7Jd
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 19, 2022
“Their best shooter among all these guys is Kendrick Nunn, who hasn’t played in a year and we don’t even know how healthy he’s gonna be at the start of the season,” Windhorst said. “I think they took a guy here who they think is a good value at a minimum contract and they thought, ‘We’re gonna do some major makeover here and eventually it’ll make sense.’ So I will just say I will wait until it makes sense, but right now it does not.”
It is one thing for outsiders to not have faith in what the Lakers are doing. If their own basketball people agree with the naysayers, that is a major issue.
The Lakers acquired Patrick Beverley in a trade with the Utah Jazz and also brought back Dennis Schroder. It is possible that they are still hoping to trade Russell Westbrook, but there has been no real interest in the 33-year-old point guard. That could lead to one major lineup change.
Windhorst was highly critical of the Lakers earlier this month, and Beverley was quick to call the reporter out. In reality, Windy has just been saying what most of us are thinking — the Lakers look like they are in trouble once again.
