Lakers News: Ex-LA Center Wanted To Talk Smack After His Nuggets Won West

He wanted to have a couple of words with his old teammates!

During the first half of the 2022-2023 season for the Los Angeles Lakers, they often times had to ask for a lot of production from players they did not think they'd normally have to. Between an awkward fit with Russell Westbrook, more injuries hitting Anthony Davis and a horrible 2-10 start to the year, they would take contributions from anybody.

And Thomas Bryant was somebody who was able to bring a spark to the Lakers during that first stretch of the year. He was able to stretch the floor, clean up missed shots and go right back up and came up huge at the end of certain close games. Bryant was an excellent pick and roll partner with LeBron James and even though he tore his ACL the previous season, he didn't lose too much athleticism.

However, once Anthony Davis returned from injury and LA started deferring to Kenyan Gabriel over Bryant, he reportedly expressed to the Lakers' front office that he wanted a bigger role and would prefer to be traded. LA complied and sent him to the Denver Nuggets in a four team trade that landed them Davon Reed and two second-round picks. The 25-year-old big man was on the roster when Denver not only won the 2023 championship but also beat the Lakers in the playoffs on the way there. 

And Bryant revealed that he wanted to talk a little trash to his former teammates on the purple and gold after the Nuggets came out on top.

“I wanted to step foot in the locker room, man,” said Bryant. “Forget the text — I wanted to go in the locker room. Still all love for my boys, though, all love.”

At the end of the day, the NBA is a business and you do not always end up where you want. Bryant is a talented young center but he was behind Nikola Jokic in the rotation and head coach Mike Malone did not look to his bench much. 

However, Bryant is a member of the Miami Heat and we wish him the best of luck there!