While the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t make many changes to their original roster during the 2019-20 NBA season, they did work with Troy Daniels to waive him and sign Dion Waiters instead.
Daniels and the Lakers agreed to him being waived due to his low playing time to give him a chance to sign with another contender, which he did with the Denver Nuggets.
Daniels praised the Lakers for being open with him about his role and giving him an opportunity to sign elsewhere. NBA teams usually don’t put the players first the way the Lakers organization does because of their family-oriented ideals.
And while Daniels does wish he could have had more playing time in Los Angeles, he praised head coach Frank Vogel’s abilities and his honesty with the players, according to Mark Berman of The Roanoke Times:
He appreciated that Vogel would talk to him about his role, and considers Vogel “a hell of a coach.” But he wished he could have played more.
Daniels admitted the blame is not entirely on Vogel for his lack of playing time but believes he’s earned the right to speak up for his talents:
“I could have been used a little bit better and in a little bit different way,” Daniels said. “As a basketball player and as a competitor and as somebody who works their tail off every single day, I feel like I’ve earned the right to say that.
“Obviously, I could have played better in the time that I got.”
Daniels obviously did not get much playing time with the Lakers and he didn’t necessarily play great when he did. A career 39.6 percent three-point shooter, he shot just 35.7 percent from that range in Los Angeles. He also didn’t even scratch 40 percent from the field, one of the team’s worst marks.
The Lakers and Daniels moving on from one another was absolutely the right decision. Daniels got to sign with another Western Conference contender in the Nuggets while the Lakers got to take a flyer on Waiters.
Luckily, Daniels has nothing bad to say about his time with the Lakers as he was a part of the excellent chemistry that the team had built.