West Notes: Lakers, LeBron James, Warriors, Grizzlies

Lakers

The Lakers are bungling the end of LeBron James‘ NBA career, opined Michael Pina of the Ringer.

“Thanks to a front office and ownership group that have spent half a decade simultaneously catering to and disregarding their franchise player in some spectacularly detrimental ways, championship goals have been replaced by hollow determination,” Pina wrote of the Lakers. “It’s not often a team wins the title (as L.A. did in 2020) and then spends the next five seasons destructively validating the popular adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.'”

The Lakers were bounced from the playoffs by the Nuggets in each of the past two seasons. Last year, it happened in the first round. They are one of three teams to have not yet signed an outside free agent (joining the Cavaliers and reigning champion Celtics).

“The shrewdest organizations know what they are,” Pina wrote. “Delusion is replaced by harsh truths. They also know whom they have and map out myriad ways to accentuate their best players with mutually beneficial on-court relationships. The Lakers have repeatedly misjudged that last part and shown little understanding of where they stand. When change is urgent, they choose continuity.”

Warriors

The Warriors lost Klay Thompson but added Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton.

So they believed they improved, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

“A few analytics-driven employees from around the league agree,” Slater wrote. “One rival’s metric model had Golden State fourth in the conference. The Warriors’ 46 wins a season ago through turbulence stood only five back of the fifth spot (Clippers, 51 wins).”

But what the numbers say and what takes place on the court can be two different things entirely.

“But there are rational reasons to doubt,” Slater wrote. “Curry played 74 games last season, his most since 2016-17. Can he repeat that? Green missed 27. Can he avoid repeating that? Then even if everything breaks right — the younger layer of the roster rises and the depth shines in the regular season for a sturdy playoff seed — does the ultimate flaw they tried and failed to correct (acquiring another 24ish-point per-game scorer) bite them in the playoffs anyway? If a second star hits the trade market, do they pay a steep price and finally close a significant deal?”

Grizzlies

Shooting guard Luke Kennard suggested he knew all along he would return to the Grizzlies in free agency.

“There are a lot of different conversations that go on throughout that process,” Kennard said, via Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I told (Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman) I want to be in Memphis. This is where I want to be. I’m excited with what they have built here over the last few years. I just wanted to be a small part of that.”

Kennard is entering his third year with Memphis after signing a one-year deal.

“I thought I’d be in Memphis,” Kennard said. “That was just my mindset through everything. Me and the team expressed mutual interest in that. I’m just excited for the year we can have.”