The 2024 NBA Offseason has not been the greatest one for the Los Angeles Lakers. Seemingly every player they were connected to ended up somewhere else, as general manger Rob Pelinka could not seal the deal.
The first player who reportedly spurned the Los Angeles Lakers was Klay Thompson. The Golden State Warriors star was pursued heavily by the purple and gold, with his father, Mychal Thomspon, urging him to join.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Thompson turned down a reported four-year, $80 million deal from the Los Angeles Lakers to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. He took significantly less money, agreeing to a three-year, $50 million deal.
It has been revealed that another free agent has turned down overtures from the team to sign elsewhere. Free agent Buddy Hield is heading to the Warriors as part of a massive sign-and-trade deal that includes Thompson heading to Dallas.
The reason for Hield ending up in Golden State and not Los Angeles? According to NBA people at The Athletic, he believes there is a better chance of winning with the Warriors than there was with the Lakers.
“Hield chose the Warriors because of the opportunity to win over other interested suitors, including the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers,” per Shams Charania, Mark Puelo, Anthony Slater and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
That is certainly a surprising comment to see. But, it can certainly be argued that the Warriors are in a better spot than the Los Angeles Lakers.
Playing alongside the duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis is appealing. But, so is joining forces with Stephen Curry and creating a new Splash Brothers duo.
There is a lot of uncertainty in Los Angeles as well. With JJ Redick taking over as a first-time head coach, the continuity the Warriors have with Steve Kerr is certainly more appealing.
It will be interesting to see how things turn out during the 2024-25 regular season. To this point, the Los Angeles Lakers have had arguably the worst offseason as they cannot get veteran free agents to commit to the franchise.
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