Sources tell ESPN the the 2022 Lakers’ pick will be top-10 protected. https://t.co/0VQfmrzu1M
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) July 26, 2021
Lakers pick becomes protected
By 
July 26, 2021 6 Comments
Reader Interactions
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Both teams win in this trade. Adams will set lane-opening screens for Ja and finish at the rim and do his Steven Adams thing. Valanciunas will be a nice pick and pop release for that whole team and is every bit the banger Adams is sparing Zion that in the regular season. Like the Lakers, Pelicans will likely play Zion more at the 5 in the playoffs, should they make them. This also frees up money for the expected and anticipated Lonzo Ball re-signing which also makes sense. Griffin doesn’t lose players for nothing one has to assume he had a strong inclination, if not outright shadow handshake, that Lonzo was leaning strongly towards returning for the right price.
Odd man out is Eric Bledsoe who had no real role in NOLA and now has no real role in Memphis. 2 years left on his deal but after the upcoming season only a portion (I wan to say 3-4 mil out of 18) is guaranteed so I won’t be too surprised to see EB dealt one more time. Or Memphis could try and play he and Ja together but that feels like it’s just sucking up decent Grayson Allen minutes and EB doesn’t space the floor.
What does this mean for the Lakers? Lonzo Ball (whom I did not have coming to LA) is all but guaranteed to stay in NOLA where he has done a wonderful job resurrecting his NBA career, finding a decent groove with Zion and I expect him to continue improving on that situation. As I said on the podcast yesterday, not everyone from LA wants to come home to LA. They have houses here they can return to all off-season long. Lonzo’s a great fit in NOLA, will experience a fraction of the pressure and scrutiny he would get here, and knows where he fits and what is expected. It likely is a comfort to him not having to deal with LA.
Agree with the Lonzo piece. Didn’t really handle the LA thing while he was here but N.O. is a whole different animal. Most unique city in the league and a good low-pressure town to develop while under the radar. That’s a nice core with BI, Val, Lonzo, & Zion.
The dude had a mountain of pressure heaped on him before he ever stepped on the practice court when Magic predicted his jersey would hang on the wall over it. It was all downhill from there, especially after LeBron happened to mention how awesome and wonderful it would be to have AD on the team. It was and is both awesome and wonderful but Lonzo ain’t silly, he knew that meant he was the piece that would grease that wheel along with 2 out of 3 other of the Baby Lakers. Only was a matter of which one remained.
NOLA is like a big-little city. Plenty of culture, neighborly vibe, parties of all sorts and the best part is they’re obsessed with the Saints so there’s no rabid fan base over-analyzing everything you do. I love that place, very grounded and strong bones, old in cool (and sometimes frightening) ways. Awesome music and food and if you’re looking for “not Los Angeles” you found it.
The great thing about NO is that you can be famous and still walk around without being bothered too much. The locals don’t really give af..lol.
Too busy snacking on oysters and mimosas.
It’s definitely a different vibe.