The Los Angeles Lakers turned their season around with a series of much-needed moves at the NBA Trade Deadline - and the credit for their upturn in fortunes could well be placed at the door of LeBron James’ enemy Danny Ainge.
James and Ainge, the former Boston Celtics player and current Utah Jazz CEO of basketball operations, never faced one another on the court and are over two decades apart in age. However the two have been rivals for some time as their paths intertwined over the last 15 years.
When he worked for the Celtics, Ainge constructed a roster led by Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to ultimately defeat James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, doing so in the 2008 and 2010 playoffs. The Celtics team perhaps led James to join the Miami Heat in free agency - and the rivalry deepened from there.
Alongside Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, James then beat Celtics five straight times in the Play-Offs, including twice in Eastern Conference Finals elimination games at the TD Garden in Boston. The King then broke up Boston’s Big Three by luring Allen to the Heat, which led to Ainge ultimately ending the franchise’s era by trading Pierce and Garnett.
Ainge attempted to enact some sort of revenge on James when he traded for Kyrie Irving, who was the Cavaliers’ second star behind the four-time MVP, in 2017. The trade broke up the core of Cleveland’s 2016 NBA championship win, and James joined the Los Angeles Lakers a year later.
Their rivalry doesn’t end there, either. Ainge called James’ complaints to referees ‘embarrassing’ while he also compared the iconic forward to controversial former US president Donald Trump on a Boston radio show.
However, it seems their past has been put behind them. Ainge made a crucial deal with the Lakers just prior to February’s trade deadline that has breathed new life into James and co.’s season - and the purple-and-gold could make a deep Play-Off run.
The Lakers made several trades prior to the NBA Trade Deadline, with the major trade seeing the Minnesota Timberwolves send D’Angelo Russell to Los Angeles while Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley joined James in a move that sent Russell Westbrook to Utah before the former MVP was bought out. The Lakers are 14-7 since the deal.
The Lakers were in 13th place when the February deal was made. Now, they start the final week of the regular season just percentage points out of fifth place after adding depth and three-point shooting to the roster.
Los Angeles are also the best defence in the NBA since the trade, largely because of the incredible performances of Anthony Davis - but also the work rate displayed by the likes of Vanderbilt. They have undergone a complete transformation and have Ainge to thank.
James’ 40-38 Lakers face the Jazz in their next contest on Tuesday night. Utah are 36-42 and sit 12th in the Western Conference, five places below Los Angeles.
