Despite their best efforts, the Los Angeles Lakers were unable to pull off a trade for Anthony Davis before the NBA trade deadline on Thursday and according to Fletcher Mackel of WDSU NBC New Orleans, LaVar Ball was a big reason for that.
According to Mackel, LaVar “wrecked” any chance of a trade between the Lakers and Pelicans for Davis being completed because of how outspoken he was about not wanting Lonzo to play in New Orleans.
While this might be true, LaVar wasn’t the only reason a trade didn’t get done.
During an appearance of ESPN’s “The Jump,” Brian Windhorst revealed that the Pelicans never had any intention of making a trade with the Lakers, even though they reportedly had interest in Ball.
However, that doesn’t take away the fact that LaVar might have had some effect on the way the Lakers did business, which is a problem.
The Lakers have been pretty tolerant of LaVar using his platform to criticize everyone in the organization from the head coach to the players, but once he starts interfering with their ability to make moves with other teams, he becomes a liability. Coincidentally, so does Lonzo.
Hopefully LaVar and the Lakers can work something about by having another pow-wow. If not, the front office might feel compelled to make Lonzo available in trade talks just so they can rid themselves of the headache LaVar has become.R
