Vets, millionaire contracts, family fights and many losses: the calamitous decade of the Lakers

On June 17, 2010,

led the

victory

in the seventh game

.

It was the second consecutive ring for the California franchise, the

.

Kobe was about to turn 32 and Gasol 30, so they could still aspire to the famous Three-Peat that the purple and gold had already achieved with Bryant and

at the beginning of the century.

But no.

.

Not even the Finals.

Not even a Conference Finals.

The 4-0 endorsed by the Mavericks in the conference semifinals the following season caused a

that would lay the first stone of the worst years in their history.

In December 2011, the

to the Californian franchise, a 'trade' that sent Pau Gasol to the Rockets and Lamar Odom to the Hornets.

A trade that the NBA banned and that allowed the Lakers to make an incredible profit (an All-Star, Paul) from two players who seemed to have already passed their best moment.

That refusal of the league forced the Lakers to

and resulted in a new hit, again in the semifinals and this time against the

of Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden.

The financial commitment of the

, and the inability to dispose of important pieces again put the organization in a spiral of misfortunes and wrong decisions.

, the historic owner,

and his son Jim accelerated the

, partner of his sister Jeanie: he hired

and Jackson ended up in New York.

The 'all or nothing' of the

turned into 'nothing',

the team fell in the first round of the Playoffs against the Spurs and the property decided to offer their star a contract of 48 million for two years.

The journey through the desert

A

came in 2014 with

no valuable pieces to move or high draft rounds.

, Kobe spent the season injured and the team won 27 games, the sixth worst record in the league.

They were out of luck in the draft lottery and got the seventh pick:

.

Kobe returned at the age of 36, with a contract that occupied the majority of the salary mass of the squad and with some colleagues who did not help him win games: they won

games

, the fourth worst record of the season.

The draft smiled at them a little more and

arrived

, second pick behind Karl-Anthony Towns and ahead of Porzingis.

Water.

was on the bench for the second year in a row,

and the Lakers completed

, second worst in the competition.

Ben Simmons

appeared as clear number 1 but the Los Angeles ball fell to two:

.

26 wins, another year to forget and another pick at number two.

The media phenomenon of

, more media than sports, and convinced the management, while the Celtics chose in the 3rd a

who now leads them in the Playoffs.

Magic Johnson

became

, they let out a D'Angelo Russell who became an All-Star and the roster, led by Ball and Ingram, improved enough not to be among the worst in a draft he had. to

.

And, without realizing it, the Lakers added their

, equaling the total of seasons that they had gone without contesting the title in their entire history.

Magic Johnson and LeBron James

But to the joy of fans and the city, after

to convince hundreds of NBA stars to no avail, Magic Johnson performed his great service as an executive: he signed LeBron James.

Despite approaching 34 years, the arrival of the '23' in Los Angeles ensured the return of the franchise to the media focus of the league and, most importantly, promised new emotions in the fight for the ring.

It was not like that in his first year, weighed down by the

on a team full of promising youngsters and

in the middle of the season, but it was in the second.

All those years of losses and misfortunes turned into

.

The Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart ... players who were coming to the franchise during the most horrific years, traveled to

along with several draft picks in exchange for the player who was to accompany LeBron to the

.

The rest of the squad didn't matter.

The Staples Center had again, at last,

: like Kobe with Gasol and Shaquille.

Like

.

Like

... With the formula for the success of the previous 16 championships.

It does not fail.

Two stars who, ten years later, have once again placed the Lakers as the

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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