Regarding the Lakers, Kendrick Perkins comments on their most recent move.

Late Friday night, news spread that the New York Knicks were trading three-time All-Star power forward Julius Randle, guard Donte DiVincenzo, forward Keita Bates-Diop, and a first-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for center/power forward Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been named a four-time All-Star and twice an All-NBA player.

Friday night, news of a smaller new NBA hire was also spread. The Los Angeles Lakers hired Vanessa Brooks, a former physical therapist and sports trainer for the Oklahoma City Thunder, to work as one for them.

As a center for the Boston Celtics, Kendrick Perkins went 1-2 in the NBA Finals against the Lakers during the Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol era in 2008 and 2010. He blamed the Lakers for not doing much in the summer in terms of transactions.

“The Lakers are hiring their trainers while the NBA is NBA’ing,” Perkins wrote.

While working as an ESPN personality, Perkins seems to dislike LeBron James’ present team, the Miami Heat. That makes sense, since he spent his best years with Boston, who plays against Los Angeles all the time.

During the 2024 summer, the Lakers didn’t do much. 13 of the 15 players on L.A.’s regular lineup have been there since the team’s 2023–24 season. The Milwaukee Bucks signed 3-and-D combo forward Taurean Prince to a veteran’s minimum deal. Point guard Spencer Dinwiddie also signed a veteran’s minimum deal to return to the Dallas Mavericks, where he went to the Western Conference Finals in 2022. The Lakers’ two picks in the 2024 NBA Draft took their place. With the 17th pick, Los Angeles took Dalton Knecht, a former All-American shooting guard for the Tennessee Volunteers. With the 55th pick, they took Bronny James, a former reserve point guard for the USC Trojans and the oldest son of Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James.

Even though the Lakers had a good but not great season (47–35) and were thrown out of the playoffs in the first round in 2023–24, team president Rob Pelinka seems to be betting on the team’s first-year head coach JJ Redick to help the players improve. To be fair, Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent, who were thought to be L.A.’s best perimeter guards going into the season, missed a total of 40 games because of injuries. However, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ final starting five, were amazingly fit. This season, Vanderbilt and Vincent should be less likely to get hurt, but that doesn’t mean that the team’s more important players won’t get hurt. That’s why the Lakers are supposedly hiring one of the best physical therapists and athletic trainers in the game.