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Par Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Journaliste sportif
A former Lakers executive, Magic Johnson continues to offer advice to the franchise’s front office. The latter, however, has decided not to follow one of these pieces of advice… and, according to the illustrious point guard, has plenty to be ashamed of these days.
On the face of it, looking for bargains on the summer market is no disgrace. After all, that’s what the off-season is all about. Nevertheless, it can sometimes be a sign of poor management beforehand. The Lakers, whose needs are multiple at the moment, could fall into this category. At least, that’s what one of their legends, Magic Johnson, seems to be suggesting.
The Lakers mistake Magic Johnson tried to prevent
Although pleased with the arrival of Luka Doncic during the season, Magic Johnson is not very optimistic about the Lakers. In fact, he made this clear in recent hours on the set of First Take. After criticizing the Slovenian genius and giving him a stern warning, he questioned an unfortunate choice made by the Angelino staff, which he claims he did everything in his power to prevent:
Magic Johnson: The thing that hurt the Lakers the most was losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso, who is currently playing in the Finals with Oklahoma City. Those two were our two best defenders on the ball carrier. In fact, I told them not to let Caruso go if KCP was already leaving. They should have listened to me.
An invaluable part of any team’s rotation, Alex Caruso is currently the Thunder’s star player. Nevertheless, he could have continued his career in Los Angeles… if his managers at the time hadn’t preferred another young player:
Magic Johnson: They decided to re-sign Talen Horton-Tucker for just over 9 million a year, rather than give it to Caruso. Now they can blame themselves.
Indeed, given Talen Horton-Tucker’s far less glorious trajectory in the league, it seems clear that an extension for Caruso would have proved more beneficial. Nevertheless, the Purple & Gold are unable to rewrite history, much to the dismay of their legendary leader. Faced with this realization, Caruso has many questions about the immediate future of his former franchise:
Magic Johnson: Who will play defense for the Lakers? And then, they’ll also have to deploy an attack with more movement. Luka won’t be able to be the only ball carrier. LeBron (James) is also going to have to touch the ball, and Austin Reaves is never as good as when he’s got the ball in his hands too. In other words, they’re going to have to make some big decisions.
