Warriors Owner Seemingly Criticizes Lakers' Veteran-Laden Roster In Latest Interview

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to be the butt of the joke following their disastrous bid for a playoff spot. and Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob may have fired a thinly-veiled shot their way.

In a conversation with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Lacob made his feelings known about loading up on veterans who are in the twilights of their careers.

“There are a couple teams, I’m not going to say who, there’s some other teams that went all-in on older players. And older players do get injured. That’s the thing you have to remember. Suppose we had made a trade, traded away all our youth, for I don’t know, you name the guy, and they’re injured, out for the year. Anytime you’re over 30, 32, 35, these people get injured. It’s data,” said Lacob as quoted by Kawakami.

The Lakers were heavily criticized for the way they constructed their roster for this season while having aspirations of making the playoffs.

Signing Carmelo Anthony, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan, among many others seem like great moves if it was back in the early 2010s, but all of these players are nothing more than shells of their former selves.

Anthony, in particular, had his shining moments this season, but he simply is not the scorer that made him a fan favorite in the NBA.

Comparing those acquisitions to whom they allowed to walk in free agency or trade away like Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma, Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and one can see why the Lakers failed to secure a playoff spot.

Add in the fact that they continued to throw Russell Westbrook and then-head coach Frank Vogel under the bus, and the dysfunction in L.A. becomes more prevalent.

In the case of Lacob’s Warriors, they were able to remain competitive and secure their future by smartly trading away key pieces for draft picks and drafting the right personnel--something that the Lakers cannot do as they do not own a first-round draft pick until the 2025 draft.

The Lakers’ win-now mentality was completely understandable, but to allow their team to self-destruct the way it did points to problems within the front office.

As for the Warriors, they are aiming to take advantage of Nikola Jokic being alone on Denver Nuggets to take the series by force and get some early rest for the second round with the all-important rest days.