Los Angeles Lakers‘ guard Wayne Ellington took to social media on Monday, and told Nuggets’ guard Facundo Campazzo he would fight him the next time they meet.
“When I see you I’m putting hands on you,” the tweet read.
https://twitter.com/WayneEllington/status/1513394328185589761
The Nuggets’ Campazzo shoved Ellington from behind in the second quarter of a game on Sunday. As Ellington fell to the floor his head banged into a teammates foot.
Campazzo was issued a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game.
— jean (@j51n______) April 11, 2022
The Lakers miserable season came to an end on Sunday with a 146-141 win over the Denver Nuggets. The game was devoid of star power as the Nuggets rested Nikola Jokic ahead of the playoffs, and the Lakers were eliminated about a week ago, so there was no need to play their stars.
Who knows when the next time Ellington and Campazzo will see each other. But suffice to say, Ellington won’t be looking to exchange pleasantries.
That was a dangerous play from Campazzo who is a borderline NBA player that is aggressive and straddles the line of over-aggressiveness. It was completely uncalled-for and the league could review it and suspend Campazzo for an upcoming playoff game.
The Lakers have other issues facing them as the team fired head coach Frank Vogel on Monday and have a very important offseason ahead.
LeBron James is under contract for one more year and Anthony Davis for two. Russell Westbrook will be opting into his $47 million player option. The team has no significant draft capital and no young players of value to trade.
They need to find a new head coach and rebuild the roster. That’s a tall task for team governor Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka.
The team held its exit interviews with players on Monday and LeBron acknowledged the challenges the team faces in the offseason.
“That’s not my decision,” James said Monday ahead of the team’s exit interviews. “It’s not my decision to sit here and say, ‘Well, this is what we should bring back and have on the roster.’ That would be the front office’s decision. And, obviously, they may ask my input, but at the end of the day, they’ll make the decision they feel that best suits this franchise going forward.”
Of course James is not being completely transparent here. It may not be his “decision” over what the front office does but he is a major voice in the room. They don’t make any moves without consulting him, and if he strongly opposes something it is unlikely the Lakers would overrule him. That’s how the Lakers treat their stars.
Whether they should or not is a different story.
James had an excellent statistical season but could not even get this team to the play-in tournament. As horrendous as their record was at 33-49, they only had to win one more game to make it in. They couldn’t even do that.
If Buss and Pelinka were smart they would trade James and Davis in the offseason and refill their draft capital and acquire some young talent. But, they won’t. They are in the LeBron James business, and this is how it was always going to end. At least they got a championship out of it.
