Westbrook had been telling those around him for weeks that he was finally co
ming home, but now those dreams seemed to be slipping away. So shortly befor
e noon on July 29, he asked his billionaire boss, Ted Leonsis, for a persona
l favor: Find a way for him to land with the Lakers. That passionate plea se
t off a chain of events that resulted in the Lakers assembling one of the mo
st star-laden and veteran teams in league history.
幾個星期以來，威少一直在告訴他身邊的人，他終於要回家了，但現在，那些夢想似乎
正在遠離他，於是在7月29中午，威少向巫師老闆Ted Leonsis求情，想辦法讓他加盟湖
人隊，這最終促成了巫師和湖人的交易。
DeMar DeRozan He took part in two such meetings at James’ home and had sepa
rate ongoing phone conversations with James. His conversations with the Lake
rs co-stars had gone well There was genuine excitement shared in the player
meetings about how DeRozan would fit.
DDR在詹姆斯家中參加了兩次會面，並與詹姆斯進行過電話交流，他和湖人明星們的談話
進行得很順利，在球員會議上，大家都對DDR的加盟計劃感到興奮。
Sources said Pelinka and his front-office group strongly considered executin
g a sign-and-trade for the 32-year-old DeRozan, giving up Kuzma and Caldwell
-Pope in the process, but couldn’t come to consensus terms with the Spurs i
n free agency or a suitable contract number for DeRozan. What’s more, sourc
es say the DeRozan option never advanced to the point that it was presented
to Buss.
消息人士稱，Pelinka和他的管理層強烈考慮簽下DDR，在此過程中放棄Kuzma和KCP，但
他們無法與馬刺在自由球員市場先籤後換達成一致，也無法為DDR找到一個合適的合約，
更重要的是，消息人士表示關於簽DDR的計劃進展沒有到珍妮-巴斯認可的程度
While she has long since empowered Pelinka to be the final front office deci
sion maker, the impact of her family’s legacy remains strong. And the Westb
rook deal, quite clearly, was seen as the kind of move that would make her l
ate father, legendary Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, smile. If only they could
get it over the finish line.
雖然珍妮早已授權Pelinka成為管理層的最終決策者，但她認為相比DDR，威少顯然是能
得到自己已故的父親認可，只要他們能奪冠。
Even if Hield was a more natural fit for their structure, the Lakers believe
d Westbrook made them a more dangerous team in the postseason.
儘管Hield更適合湖人的球隊架構，但湖人相信威少能讓他們在季後賽中成為一支更危險
的球隊
It was, in essence, the decision between a player they believed could be the
difference-maker in a 16-game title run vs. one whose talents had only been
utilized in the regular season.
從本質上來說，這是一個他們認為可以在16場季後賽比賽中發揮關鍵作用的球員和一個
只能在例行賽發揮才能的球員之間的選擇。
The decision left Sacramento management steaming, sources said. The Kings ha
d no idea they were even competing with a Westbrook deal
消息人士稱，這一決定令國王管理層非常憤怒，他們甚至不知道他們是在與威少競爭