Recent NBA trade rumors are pointing Golden State Warriors Harrison Barnes being wanted by Los Angeles Lakers next season. Sure, he’s an All-Star, but he’s also seen his field goal percentage and PER decline precipitously in the last three years and doesn’t exactly have an “electric” personality. They were talking to my agent afterwards and it was obviously a job I’m very interested in.
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Mix that with the team’s reported interest in acquiring guys like Paul George and DeMar DeRozan, among other names, and things just got a lot more interesting in Los Angeles.
“He’s thrilled for the opportunity and it’s going to be great”, Kerr said.
Johnson will also be personally involved with the Lakers as he will be mentoring D’Angelo Russell this summer and with the National Basketball Association lottery just a few weeks away, the Lakers will know where they will be during the draft and from there they could start courting top free agents like Durant and DeRozan to sign up with them.
Buss also complimented the way Walton built a rapport with the players while Warriors coach Steve Kerr was sidelined for the first 43 games of the season following back surgery.
Walton said he wanted to inform the players he was closest to so they could hear it from him and not from outside sources. We’re going to miss him desperately.
Walton spent nine seasons as a forward for the Lakers, winning two championship rings as a smart, steady contributor.
Walton has two titles with the Lakers as a player, and considering the contract – an estimated 5-years, $25 million – it was an offer the 36-year-old couldn’t turn down. However, senior team officials decided against hiring a Jackson protégé and signed former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown instead. “I still love the Lakers organization and want them to do extremely well”.
The Lakers grabbed Walton just five days after they fired Byron Scott, who led the 16-time National Basketball Association champions to the two worst seasons in franchise history. When we have the type of success we had and he proved what he proved this year he deserves it.
The Lakers are fully rebuilding after the retirement of Bryant, Walton’s longtime teammate. Adams was on the bench as Walton’s top assistant in the absence of head coach Steve Kerr.
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The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly planning an aggressive trade offer to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George. Walton says he is up for the challenge. “The one here was trying to take a good team that already had established themselves and try to make them great. So it’s kind of nice to be able to go back and try to help rebuild what we used to have there”.
