On April 12, Beijing time, according to American media BR reporter Eric Pincushion, according to a number of NBA internal sources, Wei Shao's short Lakers career, from joining to leaving, was because of James's ideas and reasons.
It is reported that after the Lakers failed to defend the championship in the 2021 season, James put pressure on the management, asking the team to make changes, strengthen the guard line, and directly asked the team to trade for Lai Shao.
The Lakers complied with James' request for reinforcements and traded for Willow from the Wizards before the start of the 21-22 season. After Wei Shao joined the Lakers, he was incompatible with James because of issues such as ball distribution and personal play, and the two were ultimately unable to form a joint force to bring stronger competitiveness to the team. Throughout the 21-22 season, the Lakers had a very poor record, with only 33 wins and 49 losses, ranking 11th in the West, and not even getting a playoff ticket. Wei Shao averaged 17.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game this season, and his three personal statistics have declined to a considerable extent compared to the 20-21 season when he was with the Wizards.
In the 2022-2023 season, the Lakers' record has not improved at all, and they are still very bad, and they are almost at the bottom of the West. Seeing that Wei Shao's personal style of play was really not suitable for him, James made another move, once again put pressure on the team's management, and actively lobbied the Lakers to trade Wei Shao in exchange for a new teammate who was more suitable for his ball-handling style of play. In the end, the Lakers once again complied with James' wishes and chose to send Westbrook to the Jazz before the February 2023 trade deadline. The Jazz chose to cut Wei Shao and become Wei Shao's free body. Wei Shao finally returned to Los Angeles with a base salary and joined the Lakers' rival Clippers.
After trading Wei Shao, the Lakers' record has indeed improved greatly, and they fought hard in the second half of the season, finally successfully reached the play-offs, and successfully entered the playoffs with the 7th place in the West. In the playoffs, he eliminated the Grizzlies and Warriors successively, and successfully met the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. It's a pity that he was swept out of the championship by the Nuggets 0-4 in the end and missed the finals.
However, after the season, when it comes to the Lakers' success in the second half of the season, more opinions on the Internet are due to the fact that after James' shocking kneeling in Boston, the league gave the Lakers more and more free throws to support the Lakers' record, rather than the Lakers' own improvement.
Wei Shao's short one-and-a-half-season Lakers career has gone from being full of beautiful dreams of winning the championship when he joined to becoming a humiliating backstabber when he left. 1.5 Lakers seasons nearly ruined his entire career. And the reason why everything happened was just because James named himself and wanted to partner with him, and finally named himself to trade him. Now it's understandable why Willis is reluctant to exchange pre-game greetings with James, and when he falls against the Lakers, he chooses to turn a blind eye to James' friendly hand stretched out in front of him.
Now, Wei Shao ushered in a new life with the Los Angeles Clippers, and this season with the strong rise of the Clippers, the record ranked fourth in the West, and locked in the playoff spot early. The Lakers are still in the play-offs, ranking only 10th in the West, and it is still undecided whether they can successfully reach the playoffs.
The Lakers once again only qualified for the play-offs, which also confirmed from the side that the Lakers successfully reached the Western Conference Finals last season more because of the league's instructions and efforts, rather than their own strength.
What's even more embarrassing is that if Wei Shao succeeds in winning the championship with the Clippers this season, I don't know how the Lakers will face it? How should James face it? Will he regret trading Wei Shao?