Lakers: NBA Insider Reveals Why DeMar DeRozan Decided Not to Sign with LA
Magic Johnson caused quite the stir earlier this week in an appearance ESPN Get Up! The LA legend, and former Lakers president of basketball operations, discussed how the Lakers front office had the opportunity to sign two-time All NBA player DeMar DeRozan, but opted to make the Russell Westbrook trade instead.
Against the backdrop of the Lakers pitiful season, Magic's comments set off a predictable firestorm. The coulda-shoulda-woulda zealots came out in force.
On an episode of Brian Windhorst's Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported why DeRozan decided not to sign with the Lakers.
“I talked to someone from DeRozan’s camp. When DeRozan was in town in L.A., and he basically stuck it to the Lakers. The impression that I got from his camp was that DeRozan felt that the Lakers were in sort of disarray. They didn’t really have a vision. They didn’t know what they were doing.”
The quote rings true for fans that largely blame the Lakers front office's roster building for this season's failure.
However, it wasn't solely the front office's decision to make the ill-advised trade for Russell Westbrook instead of aggressively pursuing DeRozan. As NBA reporter Marc Stein reported months ago, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis, both pushed the front office to acquire Westbrook.
In case the Lakers implosion this year wasn't enough, DeRozan's play this season with the Chicago Bulls has been the salt in the wound.
DeRozan is averaging a career high 28.2 points per game and was a MVP candidate for a large stretch of the season. Barring some wild turn of events, DeRozan should be an All-NBA player for the third time in his career. Adding a third All-NBA caliber player surely would have done the Lakers some good this year.
Add the DeRozan blunder to the list of scenarios that the Lakers, and that includes LeBron, completely mishandled.
