The Lakers were worried about his injuries and physical fitness, and were dissatisfied with his complacency, so they considered trading him.

The US media Clutchpoints reported that some of the stories behind the Lakers' trade of thick eyebrows were revealed. It mentioned that the Lakers have been dissatisfied with eyebrow injuries, physical management and self-requirements in recent years, which made them consider sending him away.

The article writes that from the beginning of the 2019-20 season to 2025 before he was traded, Big Eyebrow only participated in about 71.5% of the games. He only played more than 60 games twice in five and a half years.

After the team won the championship, the Lakers hoped that Nongmei would lead the team into the future. However, in the season after winning the championship, Nongmei only played 36 games and only 40 games in the 21-22 season. In the 22-23 season, he missed 26 games due to an injury to his right foot.

In the past three years, he has been absent frequently due to injuries, and the Lakers have internal doubts about Nongmei's physical management ability. According to multiple league sources, Davis' team and the Lakers have different opinions on injury recovery and prevention.

In the training camp before the 24-25 season, Thick Eyebrow's physical fitness was described as "well below average." Someone once said: "Sometimes we doubt whether he trained throughout the summer. After he came back, he only did warm-ups, and then sat next to the training team, or just followed the team half-heartedly."

When talking about Thick Eyebrow's performance when he first joined the Lakers, relevant people Shi said: "Nongmei was not like this when he first came here. He was always the first to enter the game and the last to leave. A few years later, this state changed, and he almost seemed to be content with the status quo. Obviously he was in poor condition and did not care about the instructions from the top. Some things have indeed changed."

Before the Doncic trade became an idea, tension between the Nongmei team and the Lakers' top management had already formed. This tension stems not only from injuries and fitness issues, but also from concerns about his body management abilities. The Lakers began to seriously consider his departure. The Lakers became discouraged because the thick-eyebrow team did not fully invest in the team's requirements.

At the end of 2024, Pelinka began to contact other teams in the league to test the trade value of thick eyebrows.