The Los Angeles Lakers made a litany of moves ahead of the February 9th trade deadline. In the midst of yet another powerful season for LeBron James, Rob Pelinka decided to pull the plug on the Russell Westbrook experiment and traded him to the Utah Jazz as a part of a three-team deal.
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This has led to the purple and gold acquiring talent that fits perfectly around James and Anthony Davis with the likes of Jared Vanderbilt, D’Angelo Russell, and Malik Beasley being brought onto the roster. Mo Bamba was always traded for in exchange for Patrick Beverley.
However, one trade that didn’t make sense at the time for the Lakers was them trading Thomas Bryant away to the Denver Nuggets for Davon Reed. There have been only a couple bright spots for the LakeShow this season and Thomas Bryant’s play was one of them. However, as the story unfolded, it became evident as to why he was traded.
Reggie Miller confused at Thomas Bryant not wanting to play with LeBron James
Pelinka trading Bryant wasn’t something the front office wanted to do. They were forced into it by TB himself as he requested a trade away from the team. This was because he grew tired of his diminished role after Anthony Davis had returned from his 5 and a half week absence following his foot injury.
During this Lakers-Bucks game however, Reggie Miller, on the broadcast, questioned why Bryant would ask out of LA when he was playing with one of the greatest players of all time.
“I’ve never heard of a player not wanting to play with Michael Jordan or not wanting to play with Magic Johnson. If you’re Thomas Bryant, how could you not want to play with LeBron James? Have you ever heard of something like?” pondered the Pacers legend.
Reggie Miller’s take on this doesn’t make much sense
This take by Reggie Miller on LeBron James makes little to no sense. Yes, Thomas Bryant asked out of a team that featured LeBron James. But he didn’t do so because he was unhappy with James. It has already been stated that he wanted more playing time but couldn’t because of Anthony Davis.
Bryant will be an unrestricted free agent this coming offseason and will look to sign a long term deal. This only happens if he plays well and teams recognize this and want to offer him that deal. He would need to prove himself in that case and that wouldn’t happen on the Lakers when he has to fight for minutes with AD, Mo Bamba, and Wenyen Gabriel.
This was very much a decision that TB and his team took for his own improvement in the league and has nothing to do with wanting to play with an all-time great.
