Order has been restored in the NBA universe.
After a weird time where it felt like we were in the upside down, the Lakers and Grizzlies are back to their rightful places.
For those unaware, many years ago, the former fearless leader of the site, Harrison Faigen, once expertly pointed out that the Grizzlies had become the Lakers feeder team. At the time, a string of players came through Memphis, were bought and eventually made their way to LA, including Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard.
That was flipped
on its head early last year when the Grizzlies began turning former Lakers G League players into quality role players. Both Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jay Huff earned standard contracts in Memphis after failing to stick in LA while Colin Castleton had a brief stint on a two-way there as well.
At last, though, the Lakers are back where they should be after the last two transaction cycles. On Thursday, they acquired Luke Kennard via trade, a player who spent two-and-a-half seasons in Memphis. Notably, he was part of the Grizzlies team that played against the Lakers in the playoffs.
He joins a pair of players on the Lakers who he was already teammates with on the Grizzlies as well. Marcus Smart played a season-and-a-half in Memphis while Jake LaRavia was drafted to Memphis and spent two-and-a-half seasons with the franchise.
So, for the entire 2023-24 season and half of the 2024-25 season, all three players were teammates. Fast forward a couple of years and we’re right back at it with the three of them reuniting in much warmer weather.
“It was a pleasure to play with Luke in Memphis,” Smart said after Thursday’s win over the Sixers. “One of the better shooters in this league. He comes to work every day and I’m excited to see him out here with us again [with] me and Jake, and kind of keep going what we had in Memphis.”
Not only are the Lakers using the Grizzlies as a farm team again, but it’s predominantly guards throughout the years who have made their way through the pipeline. Fortunately, the Lakers already have a couple of prominent on-ball players, so there’s no Ja Morant tenure in purple and gold to worry about, but it’s never too early to start scouting for the next player to come to LA.
Cedric Coward has had a great rookie season and sure would look nice with the Lakers. Jaylen Wells is a promising young player, too. Or maybe we can create a full loop and bring back Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Pippen Jr.
Whoever it is, it’s nice to know things are back in their rightful place in the NBA universe.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
