Lakers Rumors: Enes Kanter spurned team because of LeBron James

Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors involve Enes Kanter, who chose the Portland Trail Blazers, after his buyout from the New York Knicks, over the Lakers in part because of LeBron James.

There have been plenty of Los Angeles Lakers rumors floating around despite the NBA Trade Deadline passing two weeks ago. Now, all of the focus has turned to the buyout market, where Lakers rumors have still persisted. Unfortunately, none of the news has been great.

The Lakers have yet to fill their open roster spot and the options are dwindling. Los Angeles was reportedly interested in Wayne Ellington, but he quickly signed with the Detroit Pistons. They didn’t even get a chance to talk to Wes Matthews, who was bought out from the New York Knicks and already had an agreement to join the Indiana Pacers.

In the frontcourt, where the Lakers could use some help, Carmelo Anthony remains. He has been linked to the Lakers for months in part because he is such great friends with LeBron James. Melo remains available, but Los Angeles missed out on others already.

Markieff Morris, a Klutch Sports client, decided to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder, picking them among a large group of teams that included the Lakers. Center Enes Kanter, another player the Knicks bought out, decided to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers. However, the Lakers did check in on him.

Los Angeles did check in on Kanter, but ultimately he was unable to bring himself to sign with the Lakers. The reason being LeBron James.

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Kanter couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of teaming up with James, saying it would have been weird playing alongside him.

"“It would be very weird,” Kanter said on Wednesday about the idea of playing alongside James, according to the New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy. “… It would be very weird.”"

The reason it would be weird is that Kanter and James have a little history with each other.

James did not hold back his opinion of the Knicks when they selected Frank Ntilikina with the 8th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. James believed they had made the wrong selection, passing on Dennis Smith Jr., whom they acquired prior to this trade deadline in the Kristaps Porzingis deal.

Speaking down on his teammate is something Kanter didn’t take kindly to, as he responded to James via his social media account.

The Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers would play the following night, and wouldn’t you guess it, James and Kanter got into it on the court as well.

Kanter was coming to the aide of Ntilikina, who was exchanging shoves with James after a play. Kanter got into James’ face and the two exchanged some words.

The back-and-forth would continue into the press conferences following the game. Kanter would take some jabs at James for his self-proclaimed King nickname.

"“I don’t care who you are. King—what do you call yourself?—King, queen, princess, whatever you are,” Kanter said, per Bondy. “You know what? We’re going to fight. And nobody out there going to punk us.”"

James responded to saying Kanter was corny and that it was, in fact, his wife who was the queen and his daughter who was the princess.

That makes for good headlines and video content, but at the end of the day, the reason for Kanter choosing the Trail Blazers of the Lakers isn’t because of James. It is because Portland is sitting pretty in fourth place in the Western Conference, while Los Angeles is currently 10th, three games out of a playoff spot.

Kanter told Bondy that he misses the playoffs, and the Trail Blazers present him a better opportunity of making it back there than the Lakers currently do.

Kanter would have helped the Lakers frontcourt depth, which is lacking with the trade of Ivica Zubac to the Los Angeles Clippers. He is averaging 14 points and 10.5 rebounds this season, which are impressive numbers.

His offensive production would have been welcomed, as the Lakers get very little from the center spot in terms of scoring the ball with Zubac gone. However, the Lakers issues this season have been on the defensive end. Kanter does not perform well on that end of the court.

The Lakers will have to keep looking to fill that final roster spot. They will need to sign someone by March 1st to ensure they are eligible for the postseason, should the Lakers qualify.