On January 10, Beijing time, the Lakers sat at home to meet the Grizzlies, the two sides had a recent meeting, that game, Grizzlies supernova Morant handed over 41 points + 10 rebounds of the big double-double, James 37 points + 13 rebounds + 7 assists of the quasi-triple-double data is helplessly reduced to empty cuts. Less than half a month later, the two teams in the Western Conference playoffs met again, although they lost the dillon and Adams two-line hubs, but with the bottomless depth of the lineup, the Grizzlies still played a certain dominance in front of the Lakers today.
Jenkins decided that Vogel, who was the head of the iron, would continue to use the five small lineups, so he let Jackson and Morant take turns to storm the Lakers' box at the beginning. The two sides went round and round, with the Grizzlies pulling the score apart in the second half of the second quarter and watching the point difference go by 30 points, and Vogel was forced to activate Howard, who had watched most of the game on the bench. In the subsequent game, although the Lakers once extended the score closer, but because the pit dug in the first three quarters was too large, the whole game ended, the Grizzlies finally defeated the Lakers 127-119, and the Grizzlies themselves won 9 consecutive wins at the same time, but also personally ended the Lakers' 4-game winning streak. The 4-for-3 deal was criticized for not being smart enough, and Pelinka took the initiative to take responsibility and called off the 80 million renewal plan.
Presumably everyone is very clear, as long as the Lakers lose this season, Wei Shao and thick eyebrows will most likely become the object of heated discussion in the outside world, considering that the latter is recently recuperating, so after today's game, Wei Shao, who has not played well, has been pushed into the air of public opinion alone. It is understood that Westbrook has the third highest salary in the league this season, and the annual salary is about 4 times that of Morant. However, in front of this junior, Wei Shao failed to play a performance that matched his own value today, shooting a total of 12 times in the game, only hitting 2 goals, contributing 6 points + 7 rebounds + 6 assists, plus-minus -22. After the game media interview link can be clearly seen, Wei Shao's face has lost the smile when he joined the Lakers, even if the performance on the field is worse, Wei Shao can calmly face the media, have to admit that today Wei Shao's facial expression is indeed somewhat abnormal, giving people a very self-blame feeling.
From the follow-up report of NBA reporter Andrew Greif, it is understood that Westbrook's low mood is not only because the Lakers lost today, but also the early renewal negotiations with Pelinka have affected his mood to a certain extent. According to league sources, Lakers owner Jenny Bass has always been reluctant to meddle in the work of the team's management, which can also be understood as her trust in Pelinka and Lambis. Last offseason, the Lakers fully studded, Jenny did not say a word, but with the deepening of the season, the existing lineup has not been able to help the Lakers squeeze into the top four in the West, coupled with the chips that were once used to exchange Westbrook, Kuzma and others in the second spring of the Wizards' career, the data shows that Kuzma in the past 7 games, can contribute 26 points + 12 rebounds per game, shooting a shooting rate of up to 52%.
Under such a premise, Jenny recently made it clear at the Lakers' management meeting that she does not want to see a risky player trade similar to 4 for 3 in the future, and hopes that the team can be smarter before making any decisions in the future, and judge the feasibility of this matter in advance, rather than being led by others all the time. It is reported that Pelinka took the initiative to take responsibility at the meeting and explained to Jenny the original intention of trading Wei Shao, saying that the current situation is indeed not what they want. In addition, in order to reduce the uncontrollable factors in the future construction of the team, Pelinka has called off the renewal negotiations with Westbrook, according to previous reports, the Lakers originally planned to use a three-year contract worth a total of $80 million to stay in Westbrook, the last year of this contract is the team option, and only $10 million is guaranteed.
Finally, I learned from an NBA team executive that many team general managers have received inquiries from Pelinka in the past week, but the actual situation now is that Westbrook has become a hot potato, only the Rockets and Knicks are willing to take over, and whether it is Vol or Walker + Fournier, all indications show that the Lakers need to take the first round of 2027 as a transaction compensation while sending away Westbrook. Pelinka, bent on keeping his job, does not want to make mistakes, he refuses to continue to overdraft the future of the team, not surprisingly, Westbrook will not be sent away by the Lakers in a short period of time, Pelinka wants to help the Lakers strengthen the lineup, most of them will find a way on Horton Tucker and Nunn. Thank you for reading and paying attention, and welcome everyone to leave a message below to discuss.