According to Magic Johnson, LeBron James has to blame himself for the fact that DeMar DeRozan didn’t end up playing for the Lakers.
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Rob Pelinka and co. will be regretting their decision of acquiring Russell Westbrook instead of DeMar DeRozan this past offseason. At first, the signing was hyped. Overhyped rather. Laker Nation believed that this All-Star trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russ would deliver the franchise’s 18th championship by the end of the 2021-2022 regular season.
Much to everyone’s surprise, LAL has had a terrible season and is merely a few games away from not qualifying for the postseason. A majority of the team’s failures have to be pinned on Westbrook’s unproductive campaign. The former MVP has put up a subpar 18.4/7.5/7.1 on 29.4% shooting from 3-point land and an awful 66.% from the charity stripe.
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On the other hand, DeMar has been leading the Bulls to one of their best seasons in over a decade while putting up some All-NBA type numbers (28/5.3/5). How Lakers fans wish they had this version of Deebo on their roster in place of Westbrook.
According to Magic Johnson, LeBron James should be blamed for the same.
“When Westbrook and LeBron James started talking, that’s when they nixed the DeMar DeRozan deal”: Magic Johnson
On a recent appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up”, the former Laker legend revealed how DeRozan ending up with the Bulls and not the Lakers was, in some part, LeBron’s fault. Johnson disclosed:
“The blame that he’s (LeBron James) gotta take is the fact that DeRozan ended up in Chicago and not with the Lakers. You know, because DeRozan wanted to play for the Lakers and when I got the call from his agent, I called the Lakers and said ‘hey, he (DeMar) wants to come home’. And DeRozan could’ve been a Laker instead of a Bull. We could’ve made that deal. But when Russell and LeBron they start talking, that’s when they nixed that deal and went with Westbrook and he became a Laker instead of DeRozan.
I think with DeRozan and then you had a chance to keep the role players – Caruso, KCP. All those guys who are our best defenders, they left. And that’s why we were a bad defensive team. But if you signed DeRozan, you only trade Kuzma for Buddy Hield, we would be playing in the Western Conference championship this year, with those two guys.”
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Would things have been different had Pelinka acquired DeMar? Well, that’s one thought that has been on the mind of every Laker fan for quite a while now.
