“They Use the Laker Brand to Boost…”: LeBron James’ Side Gets Gilbert Arenas Sympathies After Being Forced to Pay a Heavy Price

Dan Hurley and Klay Thompson caused significant reputation damage to LeBron James‘ Lakers. Hurley received a 6-year, $70 million offer from the Lakers. But he rejected it in the favor of his present employer, the Uconn Huskies. Similarly, KT went with the Dallas Mavericks despite a reported four-year, $80 million offer from the Lakers. But were there any offers from the Lakers in the first place, or was it all just to gain leverage? Gilbert Arenas believes the latter possibility to be true. 

During a recent episode of Gil’s Arena, a discussion emerged on the premise that JJ Redick will have a worse season than Darvin Ham. The reason for this was stated as LA Lakers failing to land any significant player like Paul George, DeMar DeRozan, Klay Thompson, or Jonas Valančiūnas this free agency. Arenas questioned if the Lakers even wanted Valančiūnas. Though Rashad claimed the reports said so, Gil dismissed even the past reports about Thompson and Hurley’s offers. 

“We didn’t offer him (Thompson) no 80 million… Didn’t offer that damn coach no 70 million… They use the Laker brand to boost up their financial status in other teams. We did not offer these people that kind of money,” Gil said. If this is true, then the Lakers had to pay a heavy price of reputation damage to let others benefit. However, Hurley had dismissed all such claims against him in an episode of ‘The Dan Le Batard Show’. 

Hurley denied using the Lakers’ offer as leverage, stating he had already agreed to a new contract with UConn. He stated the “leverage play” to be one of the worst takes against him. “I don’t need leverage here. We’ve won back-to-back national championships at this place. This was never a leverage situation for me,” he added. Reverting to Arenas’ opinion, while the truth remains unknown, his crew member Rashad McCants said Gil caps when he gets excited.

As for the other names mentioned above, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported the Lakers did target Valančiūnas and James Harden in free agency. But Valančiūnas signed with the Wizards while Harden re-signed with the Clippers. Meanwhile, NBA insider Shams Charania had reported that though the Lakers had just expressed “simple interest” in DeRozan but never made him an offer. 

“Takes two to tango”: LeBron James on trade rumors 

As reported by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Bron stated missing on free agents is a part of the business. But as for the rumors around the names and the talks going around on them, Bron stated, “It Takes two to tango… I think our front office, our coaching staff, they tried to do the job that they wanted to do or tried to get guys to come and it didn’t happen. And that’s OK,” he said.

The 4x NBA champ stated players like DeMar and KT to be great. Meanwhile, he agreed on being in talks with Valanciunas as well. But rather than regretting the failed attempts in free agency, he believes in moving on to continue to get better. “I’m looking forward to this fall when I get back out there,” he added. 

Notably, McMenamin had earlier reported that LeBron James was willing to take a pay cut to get an impact player on the team. The names included Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valančiūnas and James Harden, but the Lakers got success with none. Now of these four players, three signed with the teams in the West, which will only be a concerning situation for the Lakers. 

Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.