Remember when Paul Millsap was ruining Trey Lyles’ career while they were both on the Nuggets? The ruination became very apparent when Millsap went out with one of his injuries that he’s always injuring himself with, and Lyles immediately started beasting.
In case you think I’m joking, the stats are there for you to see. Look at Lyles’ game logs from late 2017/early 2018. He scored in double digits in fourteen straight games, COMING OFF THE BENCH. His confidence was sky-high. There was little competition on the roster in terms of power forwards (Kenneth Faried LOL), so he knew his role was to be a scores, and the result was a version of Lyles who was a jumpshot fiend and just a generally exciting player.
What if I told you that, soon after escaping the crushing oppression of Paul Millsap, Trey Lyles would find his career ruined by yet another aging, overpaid power forward? Yep, it’s true! LaMarcus Aldridge is ruining Trey Lyles’ career.
The commentators even insinuated it in this game. Lyles defers to the main scorers on the team because his confidence isn’t there. He’s developed himself into a rebounding specialist, which is sort of cool, but he could be a scoring AND rebounding specialist, if only LMA wasn’t there spamming twenty-foot jimbos all day while eating up Lyles’ minutes in the process.
The trade deadline has passed, but the Spurs could still waive Lyles if they wanted to let him go to a team badly in need of a scoring, semi-stretch power forward. And if they don’t want to waive him, then waive LMA and give Lyles LMA’s role. Easy.