6 days ago
Brook Lopez almost signed with Lakers after leaving Bucks: Report
After seven years with the Milwaukee Bucks, free agent center Brook Lopez departed in free agency this summer to sign with his hometown L.A. Clippers.
But he almost joined his other hometown team, the Los Angeles Lakers, for whom he had played once before in 2017-18.
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Per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst, the 7-foot-1 Stanford product had been heavily contemplating a return to the Lakers this summer given the club's opening at its starting center role. Instead, he will be backing up Ivica Zubac on the Clippers.
A chief reason Lopez ultimately pivoted, per Shelburne and Windhorst, was because he was 'wary of the uncertainty' surrounding 21-time All-NBA Lakers power forward LeBron James' future.
Shelburne and Windhorst note that a strange statement from James' agent at Klutch Sports, Rich Paul, to their ESPN colleague Shams Charania after James picked up his $52.6 million player option for next season has led several rival executives to wonder if James is trying to pressure Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka into leveraging assets to make more "win-now" deals or at least hinting that he would be open to the right trade.
'LeBron wants to compete for a championship,' Paul told Charania. 'We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him.'
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James has a no-trade clause in his expiring contract, meaning he can dictate his next destination or at least must be consulted for any deal.
Last year, Lopez averaged 13.0 points on .509/.373/.826 shooting splits, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.8 assists and 0.6 steals while playing in 80 games for the 48-34 Bucks. But he was utterly exposed by now-Bucks starting center Myles Turner in the playoffs. Turner used his mobility and athleticism to utterly dominate Lopez on both ends of the floor, prompting head coach Doc Rivers to desperately insert Bobby Portis into his starting lineup, ahead of Lopez, for a pivotal Game 5 clash against Turner's Indiana Pacers.
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