The Los Angeles Lakers’ standing within the NBA has modified over the previous a number of years.
They reached the mountaintop by profitable the NBA Finals in 2020, however have struggled to get again to that place in current seasons.
Although they’ve LeBron James on the roster, the Lakers is perhaps lacking a bit or two to really feel nice about their probabilities shifting ahead.
One potential piece that they handed up on was Jayson Tatum, electing to take Lonzo Ball in the identical draft.
Whereas it seems like a foul resolution in hindsight, on the time, this transfer made sense for the Lakers.
Magic Johnson broke this down in a current look in Sirius XM NBA, discussing the workforce’s mentality together with the state of affairs with Tatum’s camp on the time.
When speaking about Tatum’s current feedback about being upset within the Lakers for not drafting him, Johnson mentioned, “We were top heavy in forwards. We couldn’t take him. We had Brandon Ingram, who was only in his second year, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr., so we already had too many forwards.”
Magic Johnson reveals that Jayson Tatum’s agent didn’t need him to work out for the Lakers earlier than the draft
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Johnson indicated that Tatum would have seemingly ridden the bench anyhow, so it might need been the most suitable choice for his profession growth.
Tatum has had a profitable profession with the Boston Celtics, and whereas the Lakers will surely like him to be of their 2024-2025 roster, they will’t change historical past.
The one hope is that they will flip issues round with their present roster and get again to their championship-winning methods.
The publish Magic Johnson Reveals Why Lakers Didn’t Draft Jayson Tatum appeared first on The Chilly Wire.
