Kendrick Perkins Floats Conspiracy Theory To Explain Lakers’ Complacency

In 2018, LeBron James announced his plans to take his talents to Los Angeles after inking a deal with the Lakers. His first season with his new team left plenty to be desired, but he played an instrumental role in securing the franchise’s first title since the Kobe Bryant Era the following year.

The Lakers’ front office went to great lengths to cater to the NBA legend prior to that campaign by tapping Frank Vogel to replace Luke Walton as head coach and orchestrating the monster trade that brought Anthony Davis to the West Coast. Unfortunately, it’s been largely downhill from there.

LeBron’s third season in L.A. ended after the Lakers were eliminated by the Suns in the first round of the playoffs. That disappointing showing led to the franchise making yet another splash by trading for Russell Westbrook in 2021, but it’s safe to say that move (which spawned some internal friction before it was even finalized) has not aged very well.

The fact that fans began to refer to the guard as “Westbrick” before the end of his first year says all you need to know about how he’s fared since arriving in his new home. Barring a drastic turnaround, it’s very doubtful that a dysfunctional Lakers team that currently sports a 20-25 record will be punching its ticket to the postseason when everything is said and done.

Earlier this month, James made it clear he wasn’t happy with the front office’s lack of urgency on the trade front, and while there’s still plenty of time for the team to make moves ahead of the February 9th deadline, the powers that be seem to be oddly content with the current state of things.

*Brian Windhorst voice* Now why is that? Well, there’s no way to know for sure, but Kendrick Perkins floated an interesting theory to explain the perceived complacency while discussing the situation on Thursday.

Here’s what he had to say via Sports Illustrated:

“It almost feels like, in my opinion, that Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss [are] punishing LeBron James for the Russell Westbrook trade.

‘You played a huge part in getting Russell Westbrook here, and we know we have these two draft picks, and we’re not going to trade them because you wanted him ‘Bron, so now you have to deal with it. You made your bed, you have to lay in it.’

Is it fair? No. Are we wasting his greatness and wasting his time, as far as him being able to go and win championships? Yes. Do I feel sorry for ‘Bron? Yes.”

While Perkins is definitely doing a fair amount of speculating here, he might have a pretty solid point, as it’s hard to imagine the Lakers are in a position to execute any moves with the potential to salvage the current season.

With that said, we’ll find out for sure in a few weeks.