The championship of the Lake and Nigeria? The old players become the "hot cake" of the semi-finals, and the old players become the great charity in the league

On May 21, the final quarterfinals of the NBA were settled, and the four teams, Thunder, Pacers, Timberwolves and Knicks, successfully broke through. US media ClutchPoints posted a photo of four teams "old Lakers players" at the right time, and shared this topic with netizens. The media captioned it: "In every remaining team, there is a player who once wore a purple and gold jersey. One of the Lakers' old players is very likely to win the championship trophy this year."

Specifically, there is Randle in the Timberwolves; the Thunder have Caruso; the Knicks have Hart; and the Pacers have Thomas Bryant. ClutchPoints also further wrote: "Randall and Hart were both young players in the Lakers' team. Later, Hart was traded to the Pelicans in exchange for Anthony Davis. Alex Caruso's basketball journey began with the Lakers, who grew from a two-way contract player to an NBA championship member. Thomas Bryant spent his rookie season with the Lakers, and then signed with the Lakers again in 2022. Now, one of these four former Lakers players is expected to realize their dream of winning this year."

The Lakers often complain about poor character players, but ironically, these role players who are regarded as "insufficient" by the Lakers, are like fish in water on other teams, and can even "teach" the Lakers on the field. As the well-known "Whampoa Military Academy" in the league, the Lakers have indeed provided a large number of high-quality role players to the league.

Take Caruso for example. In the second round of this year, he averaged 10.4 points, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals per game, shooting percentage of 45.6% and three-point shooting percentage of up to 43%, making him a key figure in the Thunder's promotion in the second round. Back in the 2021 offseason, Caruso became a free agent and he was looking forward to staying in Los Angeles with a 3-year, 30 million contract. However, due to salary pressure, the Lakers had to make a difficult choice between renewing Caruso and Holden Tucker. In the end, the Lakers chose to offer Horton Tucker a three-year contract of 32 million, and could only watch Caruso join the Bulls for 4 years and 37 million, missing a player with unlimited potential.

Randall's performance in the playoffs this year is amazing, currently averaging 23.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, shooting as high as 50.9%. But when he was in the Lakers, the team only asked him to grab rebounds and pick-and-roll, and did not give him more opportunities to train. Hart and Thomas Bryant are similar. It is worth mentioning that Caruso and Thomas Bryant both won the championship, while Randall and Hart have not yet been involved. This year, maybe some of them can do it.

In addition, among the four teams that advanced to the division finals, the Knicks players are also everywhere. According to statistics, except for the Knicks, all three teams have a Knicks player in the 22-23 season. The Timberwolves have Randall, the Thunder have Haltenstein, the Pacers have Obi Topin, and the Knicks themselves have a number of powerful players such as Brunson, Hart, Mitchell Robinson.

The Lakers and Knicks, as giant teams in the league, seem to lack patience in training young players. They are always on the road to finding powerful role players, but when they strengthen the season, they often find that players who were easily let go have now become the target they are struggling to pursue, which is undoubtedly a great irony.