After suffering a blowout loss by 30 points in a pivotal Game 5 to the Phoenix Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers’ hopes of back-to-back titles is in jeopardy as the team is one game away from being eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
From the second quarter and beyond, the Lakers supporting cast struggled to assemble any kind of productivity, including Dennis Schröder, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, all of whom were non-factors in the game.
For Raptors fans, those three specific players are particularly memorable because they were reportedly involved in a failed trade package offered up for franchise guard Kyle Lowry, which is something Raptors fans won’t soon forget as they took to social media to showcase Lowry’s importance.
As reported by The Athletic’s Jovan Buha and Bill Oram, the deal would have likely involved Schröder, Caldwell-Pope, Horten-Tucker, and draft compensation, but Lakers’ Vice President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka found the asking price too high for the 35-year-old Lowry. Pelinka was also unwilling to part with their young combo guard in Horton-Tucker.
Even former Boston Celtics big man and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins expressed his disbelief as the Lakers trailed by 30 points at halftime and subtly threw shade at the team for rejecting the Lowry deal.
With All-Star forward Anthony Davis listed as questionable for Game 6, the Lakers postseason run could come to an end on Thursday as the series heads back to Los Angeles.
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