Rich Paul has addressed the trade of his client Anthony Davis away from the LA Lakers just ahead of the deadline.
The LA Lakers decided to trade Anthony Davis and bring Luka Doncic to the franchise.
This move was orchestrated by Nico Harrison, who is still being heavily criticised for giving away the Dallas Mavericks‘ best young player in exchange for a much older Davis.
Since the move, Davis has failed to register consistent appearances due to constant injury issues, while Luka Doncic has had big performances, but the Purple and Gold crashed out of the playoffs after losing 4-1 in the first round against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The final verdict of the trade cannot be made yet, but Davis’ agent Paul has made his feelings clear on what he felt about the move.
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty ImagesPaul speaks on what the LA Lakers got wrong in the trade
Paul is one of the best agents in the game and has some high profile clients including LeBron James, who is also his close friend.
He stated the team was nowhere close to competing despite having made the big moves.
Paul said: “I really didn’t think the roster on the Lakers was anything near to a championship type roster. That’s not making excuses, that’s just a fact.
“It’s very hard to build a team for today and tomorrow, it’s like anything else, the cupboard can’t be bare, you got to have assets, you got to have cap flexibility, you got to have guys that’s developing.
“When you lacked as much as you lacked, your going to be depending on the two biggest names, and you cannot depend on names in this league.
“You go back to the drawing board and aim to replenish, how you get there, it’s above my pay grade in that perspective.”
LA Lakers need a few more pieces to compete
James made a statement that left everyone confused about his future with the Lakers.
However, Shams Charania confirmed the player would play another season and this now means the team can have another shot at winning the championship.
With Doncic on the team, the Lakers will always be a force, but this years playoffs proved that even with the duo present, they still lack a big.
Rob Pelinka agreed to make a move for a center in the offseason and this should solve a few problems for the team.
Not only will Doncic be able to maximise his game, but the lack of defense in the frontcourt would ideally be solved.
Losing AD cost the Lakers defensively, but in the process they have gained a player in Doncic, who can go off at any stage.
However, even the Slovenian would have understood after the loss against the T-Wolves that he needs to work on his defensive side to further succeed as a player.