Lakers News: Why Wenyen Gabriel Thinks LA Had Such A Strong Season Finish
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After making a flurry of trades to improve their roster, your Los Angeles Lakers had the third-strongest season finish this year, an 18-9 run that powered them to a playoff spot (the seventh seed in the West) and, eventually, the Western Conference Finals.
Reserve Los Angeles power forward/center Wenyen Gabriel credits team president Rob Pelinka's series of strong midseason trades with galvanizing the club heading into the playoffs. The Lakers added Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, and Mo Bamba, offloading the bloated contract of past-their-prime, shooting-challenged point guards Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn.
"I mean they brought in a group of people [where] the energy kind of meshed as well," Gabriel postulated. "The skillsets aligned on the court, the pieces made more sense over there, but off the floor we came a lot closer as a team. We hung out more. I had some friends that came in. Even Vando [Jarred Vanderbilt], I already knew Vando."
"We were closer in age as well too, and it was something where having that continuity off the court and on the court, I don't know how it grew [as] fast as it did, it was kind of a surprise to all of us, but when you start winning games like that [18-9], it was a momentum shift," Gabriel continued. "We kind of rode that wave right there. We really hit a point where we really believed in how good we could be. Even 'Bron [Lakers All-Star LeBron James] would tell us in the locker room, 'We have the makings of a championship contender team.' He said, 'I've been on a team, and I've seen it, and we've got what it takes.'"
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