Official 2018 NBA Offseason Thread: free agency starts 7/1 - Summer League action is here!
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What else can the Spurs expect now they were asking for Dario And Covington with three first round picks. For a player that will walk in a year. He will walk and you will receive nothing
Covington 1st team all nba defense team and 3 point shooter. He's a poor man's Kawhi
Dario is a bigger and better playmaker version of Manu Ginobili. Bayless is that vet that replaces a broken down Tony Parker with an expiring contract. These moves are made to match salaries plus you add the 2021 first round unprotected pick. All for a one year rental coming off of an injury that only allowed him to play in 9 games last year. Spurs are lucky to get this much from a team. I would rather give up Fultz/Bayless/2021 1st or Saric/Bayless/Zhaire/ 2021 1st pick. Use cap space for Gordon, Randle, or Jabari Parker and a combination of Wayne Ellington, Tyreke Evans or Redick.
You hold off until you get something better than Covington....or hell i'd rather just let him walk than take on those guys. I at least will free some cap space up. BAyless is nothing more than Patty Mills. Saric is a 4....they got Lamarcus Aldrige already.
Dammit!
Warriors need to get Dwight Howard to replace JaVale McGee
Lmao
They probably don't play together but it's still funny as hell
Lonzo Ball's big game in front of LeBron James could pay dividends
Sam Amick | USA TODAY SportsUpdated 10:15 p.m. CDT July 13, 2017
Lonzo Ball wears Nike instead of Big Baller, Twitter loses it
Lonzo Ball wears Nikes, has best game, Twitter fashion police (and LeBron) take notice.
USA TODAY Sports
LAS VEGAS — The NBA summer league isn’t known for its memorable moments.
There are notable performances, to be sure, with the league’s top prospects showcased on the next level for the first time and fans rushing to snap judgments after every outing. And even with all the growth of this exhibition season event in recent years — and the fact that approximately 500 media members were credentialed says it all — the irrelevant stakes make it mostly forgettable in the big picture.
But when Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball picked the perfect time to be his best self on Wednesday night, turning in a 36-point outing, with 11 assists, eight rebounds and five steals in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers while LeBron James sat courtside at the Thomas & Mack Center, it was the kind of scene we may still be talking about years from now.
If, that is, James winds up shocking the basketball world and signing with the Lakers in free agency next summer.
The timing of James’ visit couldn’t have been more perfect, with Ball getting his first chance at this informal job interview just as Dan Gilbert was failing so miserably at his. The Cleveland Cavaliers owner has been up to his old tricks of late, casting general manager David Griffin aside despite his ability to surround James with complementary talent and failing to land Chauncey Billups when he was clearly pegged as his replacement.
Add in the fact that Griffin and the Cavaliers parted ways only three days before the draft, with Griffin engaged in ongoing talks with the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls about possibly landing stars such as like Paul George and Jimmy Butler, and it’s safe to say that Gilbert is giving James every reason to let his eyes wander these days. The familiar dysfunction is enough to breathe life into all the possibilities that surround James elsewhere, chief among them the notion that he might take his talents to Manhattan Beach to play for the purple and gold next July.
But Ball has to be special for that prospect to seem more real, much like the Cavs’ Kyrie Irving was in those early years that caught James’ attention and eventually led him back to his home state. He could be the rising star of a James-led Lakers squad, with other prospective free agents such as George or Russell Westbrook or DeMarcus Cousins joining them along the way. And while summer league domination does not a superstar make, the silky-smooth Ball did all he could to ensure that James came walked away with a good impression.
As if Ball’s play wasn’t enough, or all those Lakers fans in attendance who spent the night screaming for James to come their way next summer or the fun fact that James himself was wearing a purple tie-dyed shirt, there was the sneaker subplot that made it even more compelling. As has been well-chronicled, Ball and his outspoken father, LaVar, are trying to buck the basketball shoe system by way of their Big Baller Brand. Rather than sign with the titans of industry, such as James’ Nike brand or Adidas or Under Armour, they have been going their own way by making their own shoes and apparel with the hopes of landing a massive payday down the line.
But Lonzo Ball didn’t wear his own shoes against the Sixers, instead donning a pair of purple Nikes that only a fool could believe were worn by accident. Of all nights to put on those Nikes, he happened to pick the game where James (who signed a deal with Nike last year that could be worth more than a billion dollars) and Lynn Merritt (Nike’s vice-president of global basketball sports marketing and a James confidante) were in attendance.
Not long after the game was over, James, who has been in town training and visiting with the Cavs’ summer league team since Tuesday and who skipped the ESPY awards show on Wednesday night to see Ball play, posted a video on Instagram of Ball wearing those Nikes with the caption, “Just. Do. It.” Only he knows if it was all about the shoes, or maybe the Showtime Lakers redux they might create while sharing the famous swoosh.
But give Ball credit for this much: With the greatest player in the game watching closely, and with the Lakers daring to dream about the day when LeBron might come their way, he didn’t disappoint.
Warriors need to get Dwight Howard to replace JaVale McGee
The Warriors should add Nerlens Noel instead.
This was a name I thought would get connected to Lakers
Good move by OKC. Now they can really move forward on buying Carmelo out.
well that's out of the question now. he heading to okc.
Man U be talking crazy
What does signing a center have to do with releasing a small forward
Philly really messed over dude, shit same thing with Okafor
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Lakers picked up Rondo.
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I was wondering about Avery Bradley also
I would have liked himself instead of Lance
I was wondering about Avery Bradley also
I would have liked himself instead of Lance
Yeah, but Dallas really fucked him
After he turned down that deal, they got petty and didn't even play him
Carmelo said he wants to start and OKC wants him to be a 6th man. He wants to be traded. He just opted in so he can get his money but he wants to be on a team that he can be a starter.
Yea I know all of that...I try to stay aware of the happenings
My question to you was how them signing a center allows them to release/buyout Melo?
I'm saying now they need to get Carmelo contract off the books so they can free up some extra cap space. They gonna need that extra space cause they are way over the luxury tax right now.
So much for rondo having a problem with Lebron.
So let's see this what I know
Ball/Rondo
Ingram/Hart
Lebron/Lance
Kuzma/
McGee
Guards:
Lonzo Ball, Raja Rondo
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Josh Hart, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk,
Forwards:
LeBron James, Lance Stephenson, Brandon Ingram, Luol Deng, Kyle Kuzma
Centers:
JaVale McGee
Mo Wagner, Ivica Zubac