Lakers: Kevin Durant Refutes Notion that LeBron James Picks LA's Roster

Kevin Durant sounds off on those saying LeBron James has a say for who will play on the Lakers.

At the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, all eyes were on the Lakers for how they were going to perform with their newest addition, Russell Westbrook. However, a big question was how did Westbrook land the spot in LA over players like DeMar DeRozan? There was some speculation that LeBron James had a big say in who comes to the Lakers. 

Then after the season ended early, when the Lakers did not make the Play-In Tournament, there was a question of if adding Russell Westbrook was a good idea.

Well recently, there was blame put on James and his representation, Klutch Sports Group according to Bleacher Reports Eric Pincus. 

Be that as it may, the conversation does not end there because Vincent Goodwill from Yahoo Sports spoke with Kevin Durant and KD talked about the level of influence LeBron James has on the Lakers roster decisions.

"He bites back against that, putting “franchise player” in air quotes, calling himself another part of the machine. Durant, LeBron James and former teammate Steph Curry are the biggest names in the sport. James’ influence with the Lakers has been widely speculated, and the Lakers flopped — not too dissimilar from the Nets underperforming this season with speculation of Durant having similar sway." 

Then Durant had something to say about the topic, stating that this idea is not true.

“I feel like that’s a narrative that [media created]. I don’t even think LeBron does that,” Durant told Yahoo Sports.

“He might have input or know some information. But him saying [pointing left], ‘This is who you should get.’ [Points right.] ‘That’s who you should get,’ I don’t think it works like that."

LeBron James will continue to be a big part of the Lakers until he leaves, so it is crucial that the front office is adding players to the roster that they know James will work well with. Nonetheless, the Lakers are going to be making changes over the offseason and could even be without James in the near future.