Former NBA All-Star, Who Couldn’t Gel With LeBron James and Kevin Durant on Court, Gets Honest on the Challenges of Playing for Lakers

The opportunity to play with great players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant is a golden one. There have only been a few who had the chance to play with them both. And then there are even fewer who played with both of them and just couldn’t get it going with them.

One of them is former all-star Andre Drummond who failed to live up to the hype as he allegedly struggled to gel with the stars. So he recently opened on the difficulty of playing like a franchise like the Lakers.

Drummond played with the Lakers last season (2020-21) after reaching a buyout agreement with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was bought in as a backup center but he eventually cracked the starting lineup.

Why Drummond didn’t work out with the Lakers and the Nets?

However, in the playoffs, he was largely ineffective as Frank Vogel had to cut down his minutes in many games. After that, he went to Philadelphia as a backup center for Joel Embiid. Eventually, the man got traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the James Harden trade.

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At the Nets, he had the opportunity to play with Kevin Durant and in the beginning, he looked like a solid pickup. But as the season progressed, his inability to space the floor hurt the Nets as they had to switch to a small ball strategy with Durant playing the center role. In the first round of the playoffs where the Nets got swept, Drummond played only 15 mins per game as the Nets preferred Nic Claxton over him.

Drummond had an opportunity to play with two of the greatest players of this era but he failed to get past the first round with either of them. With teams preferring spacing today, the traditional center role has been almost eliminated. And Drummond is one of those few traditional players in the league but the Nets and the Lakers chose not to play him at important times in games.

Drummond discussed his experience playing with the Lakers

Recently, Drummond was talking about his time with the Lakers. He opened up about what it meant to play for them and the challenges that came. He said, “The Lakers is exactly what you think it is man. You got to be built differently to play for that organization. You got to be mentally strong… There’s so much expectations to being a Laker and putting that purple and gold on”

He says that the fans will let you hear it if they see you not meeting the expectations. But at the end of the day, if you play hard and give it everything, the fans will appreciate that regardless of winning or losing, according to Drummond.

Drummond was one of the best centers in the NBA during his time in Detroit. He was arguably the best rebounder in the league, and he was also an effective interior scorer. But as the league gravitated towards more shooting and spacing, Drummond’s lack of shooting came into play. And he was a poor free-throw shooter and that meant he was not a reliable option late in the game.

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Still he is a good backup option for any team and his rebounding skills are one of the best in the league. Even though he couldn’t work it out at the Lakers, he is sure to find a team in the NBA next season.