I agree. they could have still signed AD the following season with the young core still on the team. NBA championships are not like Super Bowls where one championship in the NFL could be legendary on its on. All the great dynasties have multiple wins within a five year period so basically the lakers championship is getting invalidated by the minute.
Corey Reddick
2022-11-02 09:35:41 +0000 UTC
I say that anytime someone brings up the topic. The Lakers should have keep their young nucleus of Lonzo, BI, Hart, Caruso, Zubac (Kuzma being the only guy shipped away in the long run coz hes not serious enough for me IF need be). Bringing LeBron simply got them a Covid ring in the bubble... so you can't even justify the financial incentive to have brought him in LA (ticket sales, merchandise etc). They never had any significant playoff runs since then and before that Covid ring (Bron missed the playoffs year 1 in LA). The former core was extremely young and talented with Lonzo having a huge fandom due to Lavar and the players playing style matched extremely well together. They should have hired Vogel still, tweek around the core with free agents or especially trade for stable parts of a potential championship squad a la Milwaukee with the Jrue holiday trade until Ingram and or Lonzo fulfill their All star promises. With that foundation, they would have had a real shot at getting Paul George since he already played for Vogel. If not George, then you wait for the next top 10issh player to be available. In the meantime, Lonzo (pg), Hart(Sg) Ingram (Sf), pf (?), Zubac (C), Caruso (6th) is damn good to have say 4 years into the process. Fanbase has a lot of hope and attachments to the homegrown talents, high likelihood of 10+ years of playoffs qualifications (meaning filled seats and merchandise sold), tons of moves flexibility for the GM with draft picks and the likes etc. Lakers have only themselves to blame for being so damn shortsighted. Lebron had to come for esoteric purposes but still.