The Lakers enter Thursday as one of only three teams in the NBA without a win on the young 2022-23 season, but Paul Pierce believes that’s all according to plan in Los Angeles.
Pierce hopped onto Twitter to launch a take Wednesday night shortly after the Lakers’ record dropped to 0-4 via a 110-99 loss to the Nuggets in Denver.
“Lakers think they slic,” Pierce tweeted. “They wanna pair Bron (LeBron James) up with (Victor) Wembanyama next year.”
In a vacuum, Pierce’s opinion is one that should be considered. Wembanyama, a 7-foot-3, 209-pound 18-year-old out of France, is being hailed as one of the best NBA draft prospects ever and the Lakers seemingly would do whatever it took to appease James, who is under contract with the Purple and Gold through the 2024-25 season. Wembanyama theoretically could help LA be a contender not just for the remainder of the James era, but for years to come as well.
The problem? The Lakers basically have no shot of landing the French big man, thus stripping Pierce’s theory of any legitimacy. As part of the 2019 Anthony Davis trade, the Pelicans own the right to swap first-round picks with the 17-time champions in next year’s draft. So if the Lakers are cellar dwellers throughout the current campaign and ultimately win the draft lottery, New Orleans happily will swipe that coveted selection from its Western Conference rival.
As such, taking this season wouldn’t really benefit the Lakers. They’ll try to pick up win No. 1 on Friday night when they visit the Minnesota Timberwolves.
