The Los Angeles Lakers had a season to forget and forget quickly this year, failing to qualify for the play-in tournament and being poor throughout despite boasting a big 3 of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook. Westbrook regressed at an alarming rate, Davis was barely healthy for half of the season, and LeBron James could only carry the roster by himself so far.
All things considered, the King was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism, especially for his role in bringing Westbrook in for the Lakers. The team gave up important role players like Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Alex Caruso in the process, which further made Westbrook's poor performances look worse than they were.
What added to the pain was how well another star who had been available and seemingly interested in the Lakers during the summer did with the Chicago Bulls. DeMar DeRozan was a player many Lakers fans wanted, but the Westbrook move made getting him impossible.
Now, talk show host Cari Champion has said on an episode of her show, 'Naked With Cari Champion' that LeBron James told her that he tried to get DeRozan instead of Westbrook.
(start at 00:39 minutes):
"Now you know the story was DeMar DeRozan could have been a Laker... I remember specifically, he meeting with LeBron, he was saying Rob wasn't trying to give him the years, he wanted the years, LeBron wanted him, and he was still under the impression that he was going to be a Laker until they signed Russell Westbrook.
“I ran into LeBron at an event, and he goes, ‘Well, I was trying to get DeMar…”
It's easy to think about what might have been if the Lakers had indeed signed DeRozan but this report conflicts with many before that have suggested that LBJ and AD pushed to get Russ. In any case, it's water under the bridge now and the Lakers have to figure out a way to be good without DeRozan on the roster.
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