Tuesday’s release of Baxter Holmes piece on ESPN detailing the dysfunction within the Los Angeles Lakers. The piece was chocked full of nuggets, largely detailing how poor of a boss Magic Johnson during his time in charge of the franchise.
Buried in the story, though, were multiple stories pointing blame at Rich Paul, Maverick Carter and LeBron James largely based around the Anthony Davis trade saga. The report most pertinent to Lonzo Ball and the young Lakers included them looking over their shoulder for large portions of the season waiting for Paul to either fire Luke Walton, trade the players for a max free agent or both.
And so the perception existed among the Lakers’ coaching staff that Paul sought to oust Walton. And some players also believed, according to coaching staff members and those players’ agents, that Klutch Sports was working to trade them away for a superstar. Given those perceptions, one former Lakers player described Paul’s presence on the team charter as a “culture killer.”
“Coaches know Rich is trying to get them fired, and players know Rich is trying to get them traded,” said one agent with ties to the Lakers, who called Paul’s presence on the plane “destructive.”
Naturally, those feelings originate from Paul and one of his other Klutch clients in Davis demanding a trade midseason and posturing to get Davis dealt to Los Angeles. The collateral damage and fallout to that were apparent as the Lakers imploded in the second half of the season.
The team appeared to have righted the ship by season’s end with the young Lakers and James mending the fences. Still, it was a rough lesson learned the hard way at the impact of the business side of the league. It was also a massive misstep by Klutch, James and Paul and, hopefully, a lesson learned.
It’s likely the Lakers young players are going to be on the roster next season and it’s likely that more trade rumors will come up again. Next time around, hopefully, the Lakers handle it with a little more grace.
