Lakers Rumors: Could the Lakers fall victim to the Kardashian Curse?

Could the Los Angeles Lakers be taken down by the Kardashian Curse this season? We examine some recent Lakers rumors and discuss it.

Well, Los Angeles Lakers fans, the NBA Summer League is over, Lakers rumors are slowing down and sports purgatory is upon us.

NBA writers were blessed with breaking news last week when the Houston Rockets traded Chris Paul and some first-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook. With all of the rumors of Paul’s attitude coming to the surface, Rajon Rondo‘s credibility received a serious boost.

But now what? Articles breaking down which L.A. team is better? (Don’t worry! Mine will come soon enough!) Lakers rumors on who will fill the last spot on the roster? Who starts? I mean what is there to talk about? Well, I’m in an Arsenio Hall mood these days. I just have thoughts. Thoughts that make you go, Hmmm.

I think I found a legitimate threat that all Lakers fans may need to take heed to. It is known as “The Kardashian Curse”.

Has anyone ever heard of the Kardashian Family Curse? That’s when any of the Kardashian or Jenner women date athletes. It seems that their careers take a strange turn during or after the relationship. Let’s take Ben Simmons for example.

ESPN reported the Philadelphia 76ers gave Simmons a 5-year, $170 million dollar contract. Doesn’t seem like a problem right? Well, Ben Simmons dated Kendall Jenner off and on for months.

Plus, there are some wide eyes open over a player that hit the jackpot making as many 3-point shots as I have writing this article and you reading it. How bad is his shooting? Let’s just ask LeBron James. Pay special attention to his body language to the only shot Simmons hit.

LeBron James at times was atrocious on defense last year. In this game, he knew exactly what he was doing and exposed Ben Simmons’ shooting struggles in front of a nationally televised audience.  Was this the Kardashian curse? Well, the Sixers fans thought so. They started a petition to ban Kendall Jenner from the Wells Fargo Center.

Okay, what does that have to do with the Los Angeles Lakers? Well, Jenner and Simmons finally broke up for good and she is linked to an up and coming Lakers player named Kyle Kuzma.

It was brought up in a segment on FS-1’s show, Speak For Yourself. It was hilarious to me because Reggie Bush was part of the panel. If you remember, he dated Kim Kardashian and is the second famous athlete to be linked to the family. Bruce Jenner was the first and O.J. Simpson doesn’t count. Reggie Bush is one of the early examples of the curse. It was very entertaining and funny.

https://twitter.com/SFY/status/1148749425122189312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1148749425122189312&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flakeshowlife.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D101071%26action%3Dedit

But is this funny to Lakers fans? Jim Jackson has a point. Things happen to players that date these women. Think I’m lying?

Let’s take a look at some of the athletes that tempted fate by dating the Kardashian clan. Let’s start with Kendall Jenner, the lady Kyle Kuzma is romantically linked to.

Kyle Kuzma is definitely Kendall Jenner’s type!

In the segment, Jason Whitlock mentioned that Jenner’s type was light-skinned African-Americans. That might not be entirely true. But Kuz does have qualifications that apply here.

One, he is a basketball player. Two, he plays in Los Angeles. I really didn’t put it all together until I saw this on Twitter.

Now let’s just theoretically go through the list even though Kendall Jenner herself states two out the five are accurate.

Outside of Simmons, every other player on this board has spent time in Los Angeles. D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson spent a few years with the Lakers and Blake Griffin with the Clippers. Let’s break it down and see how things turned out?

D’Angelo Russell: 

Magic Johnson infamously traded D’Angelo Russell for well-documented reasons. The real reason was to unload Timofey Mozgov‘s contract off the books for cap space. We all know that worked out now that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are in the fold. But did the Kardashian curse hit Russell?

Well, there was that locker room incident when he taped Nick Young spilling the beans about cheating on Iggy Azalea. Remember that press conference?

What’s even more ironic is that Nick Young aka “Swaggy P” was quoted as never wanting a reality show with his girlfriend Iggy Azalea because he didn’t want to end up like Lamar Odom. That’s cold, huh?

Blake Griffin: 

Remember when Blake Griffin was the King of Lob City? Those high-flying dunks, the excitement, the glamour? Well, Blake Griffin dated Kendall Jenner and things have not been the same.

After signing a 5-year, $173 million dollar contract with a promise of being a Clipper for life, he was traded months later to the Detroit Pistons for Tobias Harris. Since then, the guy that traded for him, Stan Van Gundy, has been fired and knee issues have surfaced.

Not only that, Blake Griffin had to deal with a palimony lawsuit from the mother of his two children because of the relationship with Jenner. Part of the lawsuit claims includes Chris Paul and their locker room rift.

"Griffin continued to rely on Cameron for advice regarding his career. Griffin spoke with Cameron following games to discuss his performance and team dynamics, including his mounting tension with Chris Paul. The Clippers had been Griffin’s team since he was drafted and he felt like it was not longer his team.”"

Jordan Clarkson:

He’s in Cleveland. LeBron James is not there. No need to elaborate.

Are you convinced that Jenner is a threat? Maybe this guy will convince you! He was next in line after Clarkson.

Chandler Parsons: 

Remember this guy? Chandler had that swag that could get him invited to Rucker Park in New York. He had a jumper, the ability to take the ball to the basket and dunk on you if the opportunity presented itself.

Parsons gambled on himself and turned a second-round draft selection into a huge contract. After Jenner dropped Clarkson, she was seen with Parsons the next week.

We all know what Damian Lillard did to end the era in Oklahoma City. That was a shot heard around the world in a number of languages. That wasn’t the only era Dame ended.

Since then, Chandler Parsons got traded to the Memphis Grizzlies and his career took a nosedive. Knee issues nagged him and with his $94 million dollar contract, fans were merciless towards him.

Last year, Memphis actually allowed him to leave the team for a period of time. He recently got traded to the Atlanta Hawks. At the time they were dating, Chandler Parsons was trying out for the USA team. He got cut.

Lakers fans know of her power. LeBron James saw it coming early in Cleveland. 

Some people may like LeBron James and others may hate him, but sometimes the man really tells it like it is. Tristan Thompson infamously started dating Khloe Kardashian when LeBron James was playing in Cleveland. The reality show crew came in and started filming. Well, LeBron James took to Instagram to warn the world. The post is embedded because of strong language.

Basically, LeBron James told everyone “The S— show is here!” The brother wasn’t lying Lakers fans. It was bad enough that the two started a relationship just as Thompson’s ex had his first child.

It coincidentally started after the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA title coming back from a historical 3-1 deficit against the Warriors. Thompson got his $80 million dollar contract and then well, things started to happen.

First, it was rumored that Tristan Thompson and LeBron James had a spat after the season’s first game against the Knicks. That was quickly rebuffed. LeBron James had a right to be upset with a zero-point output in 22 minutes.

Then the cheating scandal happened. After Thompson cheated on Khloe Kardashian while she was nine months pregnant. After that, it seemed that Thompson turned into public enemy number one. He actually lost his starting job and was out of the rotation for weeks.

Since LeBron James took his talents to Los Angeles, this is the last thing anyone really remembers of Tristan Thompson on the basketball court. Look, he wasn’t even playing. That’s the point.

Now understand LeBron James was gone when this statement was made. Most people were laughing at this point. After this very point, outside of being reality show fodder for the reality show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”, does anyone remember anything Thompson did this year?

To put this in perspective, Tristan Thompson’s scandal with Jordyn Woods is his legacy at this point. The episode of when the aftermath of the scandal aired on E!, it was the highest-rated episode in three years.

Well, LeBron warned everybody. He used foul language, but don’t say he didn’t warn everybody. Now Lakers fans should remember the other player Khloe Kardashian got fresh off an NBA title.

Lamar Odom was an NBA Champion and the league’s best sixth man. Then it happened.

I can’t lie because this one hurt. I am a huge Lamar Odom fan. People don’t really understand how good Odom was. He was a street ball legend in New York known as “The Goods”.

When he was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers, he was supposed to lead the franchise to greatness with Quentin Richardson, Darius Miles and Elton Brand. But back then the Clippers were the Clippers and they blew up the roster and Odom found himself in Miami. It was the Shaquille O’Neal trade that brought Odom to the Lakers.

People talk about Andre Iguodala‘s sacrifice to come off the bench to help the Warriors win titles. Well, Lamar Odom did it years prior. Dude’s game was filthy!

When Khloe Kardashian met Lamar Odom at Ron Artest’s party, the Lakers was just coming off the back to back championships. Nine days later the curse happened.

After Lamar got the E! marriage special, one year later he got traded from the Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks. At the time, the Mavericks had just won the NBA title so it’s not like he was sent somewhere like Phoenix.

Well, Lamar’s game plummeted off a cliff like the ratings of his reality show on E! “Khloe and Lamar”. This will sum up how bad Lamar played in Dallas. He was thrown out of his first game on Christmas Day. Odom went from the starting line up to the bench to almost the D-league (Now called the G-League).

Then he got in an argument with Mark Cuban and got sent home for the playoffs. He was so bad, I really had to watch the reality show to see why he was playing so poorly. He never recovered.

Odom’s final chapter in the NBA was when the New York Knicks cut Lamar Odom from the team without even playing a game. The reason was not good from Phil Jackson according to CBS Sports’ Ken Berger.

Now Lamar is in the Big 3. No check that, he was deactivated by Ice Cube and executives.  It was reported that he wasn’t ready to play after playing one game. Does this sound familiar? He was reportedly upset and embarrassed. After talking to Michael Rappaport in an interview, he thought he could get himself into shape. In a written statement, the league had other ideas.

Another former NBA and Big 3 player fell victim to the curse.

Rashad McCants:

Did you forget about this guy? After being on Keeping Up With The Kardashians as Khloe’s love interest, the NBA did too. How bad did it get for McCants? He reportedly outed the UNC Tarheels for an academic scandal on ESPN’s Outside The Lines. By the way, Rashad actually blames Khloe Kardashian for his early exit from the NBA.

One NBA player made it to the other side.

James Harden is a former NBA MVP. He’s also a former Shaqtin A’ Fool MVP. 

James Harden is the reigning best scorer in the world. There is no one even close as Harden has revolutionized the step-back 3-point shot. He has sandwiched on MVP performance two years ago with runner-up performances. He single-handedly carried the Houston Rockets from the bottom of the Western Conference at 14th to the third seed by the season’s end.

Film just doesn’t lie.

James Harden had a scoring streak of 30 point games that had not been seen since Wilt Chamberlain. Nobody on the planet could stop this guy.

When he was dating Khloe Kardashian, he couldn’t stop anyone on the planet on defense. Harden was so bad on defense, analysts joked him at every turn. He was out of shape, he basically got head coach Kevin McHale fired. He was in a full-on feud with Dwight Howard. He was awful.

He even gave JaVale McGee some relief as he won the Shaqtin A’ Fool MVP award. It was well deserved. Again, the film does not lie.

Probably embarrassed (I mean wouldn’t you?), James Harden made some changes. He looked at his relationship as part of the issue and dropped Khloe. He talked about it in detail with Sports Illustrated. 

"“I didn’t like all the attention,” he says. “I feel like it was for no reason. I wasn’t getting anything out of it except my name out there and my face out there, and I don’t need that. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t me. I don’t need pictures of myself when I’m driving my car. Who cares? What shoes am I wearing? Who cares? Where am I eating? Who cares? It was unnecessary stuff that I think trickled down to my teammates. I had to eliminate that.”"

Finally, we go to Kim Kardashian who just eroded an NBA player years ago.

Remember Kris Humphries? After his marriage to Kim, nobody else does either. 

Sorry Kris for bringing up the 72 day E! channel marketing scheme, oops! I mean marriage again, but we are trying to save a Lakers season here.

I bet half of you don’t even know who Kris Humphries is. I’ll bet you even less know that he wasn’t that bad a player. He was even a lottery pick of the Utah Jazz back in 2004, being selected 14th.

It was when Humphries was with the Nets when he met Kim Kardashian. Then their love affair played out over two reality shows, not including the marriage episode. The marriage ended on Halloween of all days.

It seems that the marriage really affected Humphries. He was considered one of the most hated NBA players that season.

"“There was about a year where I was in a dark place. I didn’t want to leave my home. You feel like … I don’t know … the whole world hates you, but they don’t even know why,” he wrote. “They don’t even know you at all. They just recognize your face, and they’re on you.”"

You know things are bad when you try to pass yourself off as Blake Griffin.

"“I’d say, ‘Ha! Nah, I just look like him.’ Or I’d say, ‘Nah, I’m Blake Griffin. People get us confused,”"

Soon after the divorce, Humphries was traded to the Boston Celtics in the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce trade. He ended up retiring in 2017.

Well Lakers fans, there you have it. Players that have been allegedly hit by the Kardashian curse. Some don’t believe it but it has gone to mythical proportions like the “Madden Curse”. Are Kyle Kuzma and the Lakers in trouble? Let me know in the comment section.