Lakers legend Magic Johnson just lately stated that Jayson Tatum didn’t work out for LA earlier than the 2017 Draft as a result of his agent Jeffrey Wechsler didn’t need him to.
Johnson was the purple and gold’s president of basketball operations on the time and the franchise had the No. 2 general decide that 12 months.
“[Jayson Tatum’s] agent didn’t need him to work out for [the Lakers]…as a result of we already had too many forwards,” Magic defined on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
Following Magic’s feedback, Tatum was requested about the entire state of affairs and says he doesn’t maintain a grudge.
“I believe I used to be simply upset on the time that there wasn’t, I suppose, real curiosity,” Tatum advised reporters on Saturday.“Simply from my perspective, I grew up the largest Kobe (Bryant) fan, wished to play for the Lakers. Magic defined it. That they had too many forwards and that was their thought course of on the time. It wasn’t like I obtained any animosity towards Magic or the Lakers. It was simply as a child. I used to be near undertaking a life-long dream, the way in which I assumed it will be.”
Wechsler himself has additionally since responded to Johnson’s feedback and defined his facet of the state of affairs.
“Magic’s appropriate in what he stated, however the way in which it was offered was a bit totally different,” Wechsler stated on SiriusXM NBA Radio. . “I imply, everybody is aware of that the draft begins in June, and guys end the top of March Insanity, and so they work out for months. Nicely, Jayson labored out in L.A. for months coaching with Drew Hanlen there, and the Lakers knew that he was in L.A. and by no means referred to as. And in late June, they referred to as and wished to carry him in for a exercise. However by that point, everybody knew that they had been taking Lonzo Ball.
“So when Rob Pelinka referred to as me and requested if they might work Jayson out, I stated ‘Nicely, in the event you’re not gonna take him, why are you workin’ him out?’ And so I stated, ‘Get me on a name with Magic, and we’ll discuss it.’ So he set that up a couple of days later,” the agent continued.
“Get on the decision with Magic, I believe it was round June thirteenth, and I stated, ‘Magic, everybody is aware of you’re takin’ Lonzo Ball.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, effectively we’re actually heavy at ahead place, and we have to take a degree guard, and in order that’s in all probability who we’re gonna take.’ He says, ‘However we’d like to take a look at everyone.’ And I’m like, ‘Nicely, in the event you’re not gonna take my man — he’s been on the market all summer time. He’s now in St. Louis. He’s workin’ out for different groups. I’m not gonna fly him again throughout the nation for a exercise whenever you guys aren’t gonna take him.’ And that’s the way it went down.”
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