This week in Lakers’ news:
Another big man in the building: The Los Angeles Lakers officially came to terms with DeAndre Jordan on Thursday. This came after the Brooklyn Nets traded him to the Detroit Pistons, who eventually waived the big man. After he passed through waivers, he signed with the Lakers.
In his introductory press conference yesterday, Jordan talked about how he was excited to play with Dwight Howard (in addition to the obvious players in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook).
Bye, bye, Gasol: In a move that is seemingly a direct response to the move above, the Lakers have traded Marc Gasol to the Memphis Grizzlies. This news only broke around 30 minutes ago. That’s what we call a Friday afternoon news dump, folks.
Gasol had one last season on the contract he signed with the Lakers last offseason, but the team obviously wanted to go a different direction with the construction of their frontcourt rotation. So long to Gasol’s spacing and playmaking that he brings on the offensive end, say hello to Jordan’s lob threat and rebounding.
Dame Time will not return: No, I’m not speaking of Damian Lillard. I’m talking about Damian Jones, the center who played 8 games for the Lakers this past 2020-21 season. Apparently, the Lakers had plans of bringing Jones back to the team if the Sacramento Kings were going to let him go. However, the Kings fully guaranteed his contract, eliminating the possibility of a return for the young lob threat.
What we wrote this week:
Donny wrote about how Anthony Davis needs to approach this season with a sense of urgency if he wants to be considered one of the best big men of all time when it’s all said and done.
Walt wrote about how the Lakers are returning to their 2019-20 season ways as the team is more athletic than ever.
