{"id":1046358,"date":"2026-09-06T05:43:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T05:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046358\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T05:43:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T05:43:57","slug":"former-nba-champion-calls-lakers-roster-whitest-laker-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046358\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA champion calls Lakers roster &#8216;whitest Laker team&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The offseason has been a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/10\/sports\/lakers-have-had-far-more-successful-offseason-than-most-realize\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">near overhaul for the Lakers\u2019 roster<\/a>, and former NBA player Matt Barnes is having fun analyzing it.<\/p>\n<p>In a video with TMZ Sports, Barnes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/watch\/matt-barnes-says-daejon-love-couldnt-fake-playing-for-nba-09-02-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\">called out the team\u2019s roster<\/a> and said it\u2019s the \u201cwhitest Laker team since the Minneapolis Lakers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40685711\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2266240097-2.jpg\" alt=\"Two basketball players in yellow jerseys, one with a headband, link pinkies.\" class=\"wp-image-40685711\"\/>Lakers roster hilariously trolled by Matt Barnes. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Barnes cracked a smile as he was joking about the Lakers team and then went on to praise them for building around Luka Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut again, man, when you\u2019ve got Luka and AR [Austin Reaves] out there, to me two of the best scoring guards in the league. They added some depth,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cTo me, I just got to see it. Everyone wants to give a hot take and predict what they feel like they\u2019re gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:0.66699219;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"   data-modal-image=\"40685708\" width=\"394\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260820213501-AG0RZR1-2DK82-1-830KCYN1-ZX3.jpg\" alt=\"Matt Barnes wearing a reddish-brown suit jacket and matching collared shirt.\" class=\"wp-image-40685708\"\/>Matt Barnes hilariously trolls Lakers roster. John Salangsang\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThomas L. Murray<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers are preparing to enter the first year of the Don\u010di\u0107 era after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/01\/sports\/why-lebron-james-chose-to-leave-lakers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LeBron James departed<\/a> from the franchise after an eight-year stint.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have spent the offseason building around Don\u010di\u0107 as the team fulfilled his request for a big man by acquiring <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/09\/05\/sports\/how-walker-kessler-can-live-up-to-lakers-investment\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Walker Kessler via sign-and-trade<\/a>, giving him a four-year extension for $130 million.<\/p>\n<p>The team also extended Reaves, Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s partner in crime, by giving him a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/24\/sports\/austin-reaves-intends-to-sign-maximum-contract-with-lakers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">four-year, $185 million max contract<\/a> that includes a player option in the final year of his deal.<\/p>\n<p>The front office has also built a strong supporting cast, adding Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re trying to build around him. I don\u2019t know if there is new ownership or not, so they gotta kind of figure that out,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cThe Lakers, whether they\u2019re up or down, when they\u2019re down, they don\u2019t stay down long. So, it\u2019s going to be interesting to see what this season looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offseason has been a near overhaul for the Lakers\u2019 roster, and former NBA player Matt Barnes is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1046359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[17378,276,3141,3365,121896,1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1046358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-austin-reaves","tag-california","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-matt-barnes","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117222512233649547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}