Los Angeles Lakers suffering from the Jerry West effect?

Are the Los Angeles Lakers feeling the effects of all-time great, Jerry West?

The Los Angeles Lakers have been at the forefront of all free agent talk this offseason. With LeBron James being signed to his four-year, $154 million contract and a good amount of cap space, fans in La La land have been very excited for the future.

The plan of the front office “Big Three” of Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss was to lock in James and then go out to get that next max-level player to team up with him to develop the next super team.

The plan is ongoing considering that they loaded up the team with cap friendly one-year contracts that they doled out to Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

One thing though…that plan seems to be a lot tougher to execute these days. What once was an understanding is now a bigger experiment off the court than with the roster that they created.

I had my own theories on what might be the issue earlier this week…

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But as I was doing research for the story, I started to see a pattern…

It seems some of the big time free agents in 2019 are starting to want to come to the Los Angeles Clippers instead of the Los Angeles Lakers. I mean what in the world is going on here people?!

What happened to the days when the Clippers franchise was the NBA’s version of Beirut? The franchise was known as the wait station for all NBA players…

The players couldn’t WAIT to leave as soon as they got there.

Wasn’t this the franchise that wasn’t in the league of the Lakers? What is going on with the free agents considering to play in Los Angeles, but not with the iconic franchise but across the hall?

The latest big-time player to demand a trade has been Jimmy Butler, who has made it clear that he wanted out of Minnesota. But as Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN tweeted…

As time has moved on, so has Jimmy Butler’s desires. Miami is largest destined rumor in the NBA circles of Butler’s affection (for this week!)  Even though other teams are trying to land Butler with Miami being heard the most out of the bunch (Houston being the other.), the fact of the matter is all three teams that are listed in the tweet are not playoff teams.

Think about this for a minute…Can you think of any NBA fan outside of Billy Crystal that would be pressed to find in the history any player WANTING to go to the Clippers bypassing the Lakers?

As we well know, Jimmy Butler is not the only star to possibly forego the Los Angeles Lakers for the guys across the hall…

Kawhi Leonard is thinking about playing for the Clippers too?

Let Shams Charania of then Yahoo! Sports, now The Athletic break it down for you…

"One thing that’s been made abundantly clear. I’m going to stress this. There’s no guarantee if Kawhi Leonard hits the market next summer that he’s going to sign with the Lakers, period. I think his options have broadened a little bit, just inside L.A. There’s another team, obviously, in L.A. I think he’d be very much open to the Clippers."

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in NBA history along with the Boston Celtics? They are the franchise that always “gets” the players.

The Lakers throughout history have gotten the best players. This was never a problem. The first superteam in the modern era may have easily been the Showtime Lakers of the 80’s.

I guess Kawhi Leonard does not want to be a continuance of history. 

"Around Kawhi, what’s been made abundantly clear is there’s not an interest to go join a super team. I don’t think he’s jumping for joy that LeBron James is in L.A. with the Lakers. If anything, that’s going to make him look maybe more toward the Clippers. Because this is a guy that won Finals MVP against LeBron James. You think he’s amped up and wants to join LeBron now? I think that’s been overstated, and the Spurs are beginning to realize that and beginning to realize that we might have a broadened market for him."

Again the Los Angeles Clippers is being the franchise in demand, not the Los Angeles Lakers. There was a time that Kawhi Leonard reportedly had his heart set on the Lakers. Now they are dropping down the list according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN…

This is a major shift in history here. The Clippers will go down in history as one of the worst run franchises in NBA history. This is a team that was full of bad draft picks and total free agent busts. If the free agents did pan out, they were underpaid and left as soon as their contract was up.

Former Lakers icon, Elgin Baylor, was considered as BAD a General Manager as he was a GREAT player. There was a rumor of the “Clipper Curse” because it seemed every star player from Danny Manning to Ron Harper (He was a bad boy back in those days) to Shaun Livingston would blow their knees out.

How about Michael Olowokandi being picked at number one!

Then there’s that Donald Sterling thing that I refuse to get into.

Even the handling of the good times. One bad Austin Rivers contract by Daddy Doc Rivers and goodbye to the greatest years in Clippers history. Chris Paul demands a trade, Redick leaves. Jamal Crawford bounces and to top it all off, the Clippers sign Blake Griffin to a max deal and TRADES him to Detroit.

Why does everyone want to go to the Clippers? WHY?!!!

I might have the reason why the Clippers is the popular team in L.A. Though it may be that some of these players may not want to deal with the drama of playing with LeBron James.

Maybe it’s a man that the Lakers know all too well…Jerry West.

Jerry West is now an Executive Board Member of the Clippers. He answers only to the owner, Steve Ballmer. Jerry West, in my opinion, has to be the reason.

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Remember the Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors? Yeah, I was shocked too. For all of about five minutes. I forgot that West was in the Warriors front office.

The man owns EIGHT RINGS as an executive which includes two with the Warriors. Remember when it was rumored that there was a Kevin Love for Klay Thompson swap? It was rumored that West threatened resignation if the deal went through. Well, Thompson is still there in Oakland. Guess he read that one right!

That leaves the other six championships. Where did he get those? Umm yeah, the Los Angeles Lakers. Everybody remembers Pat Riley and the Showtime years featuring Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the revered Lakers fast break. Everyone forgets the architect behind the scenes…Jerry West.

I mean he drafted James Worthy…that was his first draft pick as a GM.

Traded Norm Nixon for Byron Scott.

Drafted A.C. Green.

Did you notice that the Los Angeles Lakers always found that energy player to be the sixth man to make a run to the NBA Finals? Guys like Maurice Lucas, Orlando Woolridge, Mitch Kupchak, and maybe a player that Lakers fans tend to forget about because his son turned out to be a Splash Brother…Mychal Thompson.

I bet you didn’t know this Lakers fans…Jerry West actually made a deal with the Miami Heat giving them a second round pick NOT to pick “The Captain” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the expansion draft back in 1988. Now, are you starting to understand that this is one of the greatest executives of all time? No wonder players want to play for the Clippers.

Jerry West always found that diamond in the rough to complete a team. That says nothing about how he could create a team from the ground up.

Oh that Kobe/Shaq collaboration!

After watching Kobe in ONE workout, Jerry West started planning a dominant duo that the Lakers are dreaming up right now. He cleared the roster for cap space and went to work in 1996. One huge free agent contract to Shaquille O’Neal and a draft night trade sending Vlade Divac to Charlotte for that Bryant kid and history was starting.

Right after he realized they needed the right coach.

He coaxed Phil Jackson out of retirement and then history was made. The Lakers had their place at the top of the NBA world.

All the supporting cast: Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, Ron Harper and Brian Shaw, yep those signings belong to Jerry West as well.

I would mention how he brought the Memphis Grizzlies out of NBA abyss for a while but that would take too long. So I’ll just say he won one of his two NBA Executive of the Year Awards down there.

I’m not saying that the Lakers will not get this figured out. I have to much confidence in Magic Johnson (I’m a Dodger fan and has seen his work!) but he has serious competition from the opposing front office in Staples.

Magic Johnson may be an icon, but Jerry West is the Logo!