NBA – A superstar’s huge rake at the Lakers: “He liked this franchise better”

Par Guillaume Kagni | Journaliste sportif

With their outstanding track record and geographical location, the Lakers are one of the most attractive franchises in the league. But it’s clear that they’ve already taken a few big knocks, not least from a pre-draft prodigy.

Following Stephen A. Smith, the question of attractive and unattractive cities is once again the talk of the NBA microcosm. According to ESPN’s star journalist, a franchise like the Grizzlies would have a hard time attracting players, even if the project is interesting, since Memphis would be one of the most dangerous cities in the USA.

The stars wouldn’t feel safe there, wouldn’t want to move their loved ones there, which is why the team has stagnated for the past few seasons. But the opposite observation can also be made with a franchise like the Jazz, since Salt Lake City is a Mormon city where the nightlife is not exciting. It’s no coincidence that the big names always want to go to the same place.

When Karl-Anthony Towns snubbed the Lakers

If there’s one city that doesn’t have an attractiveness problem, it’s Los Angeles. The Lakers can also rely on the prestige of the institution to attract and convince their targets. Finally, there are exceptions, as evidenced by this statement from legendary college coach John Calipari. One of his players at Kentucky was not thrilled with California.

When Karl-Anthony Towns came up in the draft, the Lakers really wanted him. They had the second pick. So, when I was talking to him, I told him that he might want to make sure he fell into the second spot and end up in Los Angeles rather than Minneapolis. He replied that he was going to wear warm jackets and that he preferred the Timberwolves.

The 2015 Draft was the pivotal one, and the Lakers had obviously targeted Karl-Anthony Towns as a talent to build around. In fact, his college coach recommended that he fall to second place to join sunny Los Angeles. But, given the choice, KAT preferred the prestige of being the first name called up by Adam Silver to life in California. A decision that could have changed the trajectory of the franchise. Instead, they had to take another talent:

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