As the trade day approached, the Atlanta Hawks were ready to send Murray away, but the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the most interested in it, withdrew from trade talks, and Lakers reporter Buha confirmed the authenticity of the news. Initially the focus of the battle was on Rivers, but then things went beyond the expectations of Lakers management, and since Russell returned to the starting lineup, he played a move that shocked even Ham. In the past 6 games, the team has achieved a record of 5 wins and 1 loss, in addition to Zhan Mei's stable performance, Russell has played aggressively, scoring 20+ points in 6 consecutive games; In the last 8 games, he has averaged 27 per game5 points 6With 4 assists and 52% shooting from the field and 54% from three-point range, this performance has undoubtedly proved its worth.
In the '23 offseason, Russell became the biggest jewel in the free agency, averaging 174 points 29 rebounds 6The performance of 1 assist, but it can't be exchanged for an attractive **, and at a critical moment, he still saw Pelinka's courage, and directly signed a 2-year contract extension of 36 million, and successfully kept him in Los Angeles, but this contract has a player option for the second year. As the season progressed, Russell's functionality on the court was weakened, and the difficult situation made fans want to trade him, but the management hesitated, they did not want to give up the 29 first-round pick and the 2030 first-round swap right, on the other hand, the Hawks' Murray was in explosive form, but when the negotiations between the two sides reached an impasse, Russell broke out.
Although the Lakers have exposed a lot of problems, Murray, who has an annual salary of 30 million, is enough to make up for it, and his excellent defense, calm handling of the ball, and super play at critical moments will enrich Ham's tactical play. At this point, Jeanie Buss has chosen to forgo the trade because of the team's good chemistry at this stage, and the management can use high-quality assets to make a difference in this offseason or draft. Although this rhetoric is quite meaningful, it can't stand scrutiny, Clippers owner Ballmer negotiated directly, the Lakers just don't, Jenny is poor, or this is the resistance for the Lakers to not be able to compete for the championship**.
When the offseason was introduced, Pelinka signed a contract of only three years for a maximum period of three years, and the annual salary of most rotation players was controlled within 20 million, which was convenient for the management to maintain the flexibility of salary space and the initiative in the future trade marketAfter the 8.6 billion contract renewal thick eyebrows, in the face of James's stay, Jeanie Buss was confused, the 3-year $300 million super contract put her in a dilemma, if this season's Lakers are still unable to maintain a championship lineup, then it is not ruled out that James will leave Los Angeles, perhaps such a result is what the team's top management expects.
Once James leaves, Jenny will have more playable salary space to operate around Anthony Davis. In addition, if the team does not complete the recruitment operation by the trade deadline, then by the summer draft, Los Angeles and the Lakers will have three first-round picks, and they will have far more trade value than now. The Lakers have achieved a 24-23 record this season, and there is no suspense about the current roster entering the playoffs, but there is still a lot of distance from the championship, as long as the management does not explore the possibility of subsequent trades, then they can only become a stepping stone on the road to the Clippers and Nuggets to compete for the championship.