Warriors unable to do what the Lakers did

There was no trade. No deal. For Bradley Beal, or anyone else, who presumably would help the Warriors in the here and now, who would join the last of the aging champions before it is too late to hang on to the glory before it’s gone forever.

The speculation, the indication was the Warriors hoped to do on draft day, Thursday, what was done by their historic rival, the Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers, realizing time was running out., that LeBron James will be 37 in December, a month into the coming season, were cognizant that as spectacular as he has been--arguably the best since Michael Jordan --the was nearing the end.

So they traded a few people including the wonderfully skilled Kyle Kuzma and a barrelful of this year’s and future years’ draft choices for the brilliant Russell Westbrook--who’s an MVP, as of course is James.

 A week ago, rumors were the Dubs would get high-scoring Bradley Beal from the Wizards, the team from which the Lakers acquired Westbrook.

Two of the Warriors in the supposed transaction, were the 7-foot rookie James Wiseman and the one-time overall No. 1 pick, Andrew Wiggins.

But one team or the other couldn’t agree on the trade—not that one still isn’t possible.

And not that the players picked first round in the draft, the 6-foot-8 Jonathan Kuminga from the G League, at No. 7, and the wingman Moses Moody, from Arkansas, at No. 14 are defective. Both are touted as potential future all-stars.

Unfortunately, for the Warriors if the future isn’t now, it’s around the corner. The remaining core of the title years is 33 (Steph Curry) or 31 (both Draymond Green and Klay Thompson—and Klay is returning from two consecutive awful injuries.

The Lakers, the Show Time team in the Show Biz town, knew after missing the playoffs, and with LeBron and Anthony Davis still visible and viable, you pull out the stops.

Westbrook, who makes passes when he’s not making layups and is an L.A guy, having played at UCLA, is a perfect successor to Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant—who he watched growing up.  

At the moment the Warriors don’t have a successor to Curry, nor anyone else to fit as Draymond and Klay have done. Maybe the new kids will fill the roles, but by the time they do, the cast wlll have changed

 Kuminga is more optimistic than the doubters, which is to be expected from an 18-year-old ready to take on the big names and to be become one of them.

 “I feel like my game is going to go from the bottom to the top in a couple of months,” Kuminga said. Curry, Green and Thompson “are going to always push me. They’re always going to put me in the right situation, and I feel like no matter wherever we end up, we’re ready to compete in the league and to win a championship.”
  If he doesn’t believe, nobody will, but there’s a huge difference between the NBA and the G League. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a G League.

“I just want to be remembered as that guy who brought a team to a championship, who won a championship,”  Kuminga said. “I want to be a Hall of Famer, so I want to have a great career that everybody is going to be talking about,”

 As they talk about Steph, Klay and Draymond. And Russell Westbrook.