Official Announcement! Trade and Signing Completed! Lakers Championship Contender Lineup in Place, Internet Celebrity Team Does Not Disappoint
Beijing time January 16th news, the league today was born a trade and a signing.
The Lakers officially announced that the team has signed center Trey Jamison with a two-way contract. Jamison is 25 years old and stands at 2 meters 11. This season, Jamison played 16 games for the Pelicans, averaging 2.4 points and 2.8 rebounds.
It can only be said that this "big dummy" slightly increased the thickness of the Lakers' weak interior. As an edge player, Jamison's prospects in the Lakers are not ideal, and it is even possible that he will not have the opportunity to play at all. Don't forget that there are more famous centers like Hayes, Wood, and Colloch in front of him who can't play. The Lakers signed him just to satisfy the mentality of the fans to strengthen the lineup, and also to give James and Davis an explanation. Previously, the Lakers' team reporter revealed that new coach Redick prefers to let Davis play as a center, and the team does not want to trade for centers like Valanciunas, Kessler, and Lowry. Therefore, the Lakers are likely to end the season with such a center rotation.
The Suns and Hornets finalized the first trade of 2025 today.
The Suns traded for Richards from the Hornets, sending forward Okogie, and also received a second-round pick, while the Hornets received three future second-round picks.
As we all know, the Suns' main problem is the center position. They pay the highest luxury tax in the league, but their lineup is very deformed. They have All-Star level guards and forwards, but only Nokic and Plumlee, two centers that are difficult to use. In the last four games, Nokic was even benched.
With Richards, the Suns have added more depth at the center position to strengthen defense, add some diversity to the frontcourt, and provide an alternative to Nokic, who is poor defensively. The 27-year-old Richards has spent his entire career with the Charlotte Hornets. In this season's 21 games, he averaged 8.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks, with a shooting percentage of 56.1%.
According to the advanced data on the NBA official website, when he is the main defender, opponents only have a 57% shooting percentage within 5 feet of the restricted area, which is much better than Nokic and Plumlee.
So far, the three major internet celebrity teams in the league have all completed a trade. The Warriors traded for Schroder, the Lakers traded for Finney-Smith, and the Suns traded for Richard. The internet celebrity teams did not disappoint, actively strengthening before the trade deadline. And considering recent trade rumors, these three teams are likely to further strengthen before the trade deadline. Especially the Suns, they have almost no rivals in the competition for Butler.
In the twilight of the gods era, Durant, Curry, and James are gradually retiring from the historical stage, fortunately, their teams are unwilling to waste their final peak and are working hard to build championship lineups.