After missing Monday’s game in Brooklyn due to left foot/ankle soreness, Lakers star LeBron James has been listed as questionable to play on Tuesday in New York, tweets Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
While that status indicates that his availability for tonight remains up in the air, sources tell ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link) that LeBron will play against the Knicks. He’s just 117 points away from catching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles-based teams:
- While his production fell off last week with Anthony Davis back, Lakers center Thomas Bryant showed on Monday that he remains a crucial – and highly effective – insurance policy, scoring 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting with Davis unavailable, Turner writes for The Los Angeles Times. “I’m willing to do whatever the team needs me to do in order to win,” Bryant said. “Whether that’s coming off the bench, I’m with it. Or if that’s starting, I’m ready as well.”
- Now that the Lakers have traded away their 2029 second-round pick, Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom considers how the team could add protections to their 2029 first-round pick if it’s traded this season. Protections aren’t allowed to be added to picks beyond seven years, so if the Lakers trade their 2029 first-rounder with protections at February’s deadline, they won’t be able to include language that pushes it to 2030.
- ESPN’s Tim MacMahon is the latest reporter to throw cold water on the idea of the Clippers acquiring point guard Mike Conley from the Jazz. After Jake Fischer reported last week that the idea of the Clips landing Conley was probably “unrealistic,” MacMahon said on an episode of The Lowe Post podcast that it’s unlikely to happen because L.A. is reluctant to give up a first-round pick. “If they are (going to give up a first-rounder) for a point guard, I think it’s more likely (Fred) VanVleet than it is for Conley,” MacMahon said (hat tip to Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report).
- It took some time for the Clippers‘ star combo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to hit their stride this season, but the pairing is finally paying dividends, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. The team had won five straight games before Leonard and George sat out the second half of a back-to-back set on Sunday. L.A. won’t have another back-to-back until March.
Which former Clipper/Laker would you rather have if you could have them for their entire career, Norm Nixon, Louis Williams, Ivica Zubac, Lamar Odom or Ron Harper? Rank a top3 if possible…
1) Odom – Can come off your bench in a 6th man role or start as your stretch 4 for the modern nba game. A big who can guard almost all 5 positions.
2) Harper – A steady vet and an ideal defense first big combo guard, who complimented his alpha backcourt running mate, like he did for MJ and Kobe.
3) Lou Will – A one-dimensional shoot-first PG who can bring instant offense.
I dig this top3. I gotta say I see Lou more as a 2guard than a pg. And before Harper’s knee injuries he was a BIG time scorer & an alpha in his own right… link to m.youtube.com
Re: Lou Will, I agree with you as he was an undersized 2 guard. He was valuable because he wasn’t a system player. You can plug him into any contending or tanking roster and he’ll put up 16 pt in 20-22 min.
Re: Harper, besides Phil Jackson, one can say he was the final on-court piece to get a young Kobe-Shaq combo over the hump to win their first ring vs Indy.
Trading Eddie Jones for this guy was a huge move as well. Added 1 of the best shooters in the game to the Lakers & solidified Kobe as the main perimeter player… link to m.youtube.com
Odom –
Norm – highly underrated
Harper – Winner, brought a ton of IQ to the team and helped Phil hone in the triangle
Ron Harper and Odom.
Lakers are very smart.
According to this article
if the Lakers trade their 2029 first-rounder with protections at February’s deadline, they won’t be include language that pushes it to 2030.
I disagreed with the below message on Clippers:
“If they are (going to give up a first-rounder) for a point guard, I think it’s more likely (Fred) VanVleet than it is for Conley,” MacMahon said (hat tip to Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report).
2028 First and Mann is not enough for VanVleet. Someone would outbid the Clippers offer.
Lakers: The CBA required all picks traded to be resolved by the 7th draft after the date of the trade. In this case 2029 is the last one. If the pick is protected the other team will want a contingency plan, and it can’t be the 2029 2nd because it was traded away. To save you a click, Pincus is proposing 2 options.
The first is to use cash (up to 6.36M) as a collateral for the pick falling in the protected range. But this amount counts against the Lakers’ outflow and the other team’s inflow for this year, not 2029, because there’s no telling how much cash will be available for either team that year or whether the pick will convey.
The second method is what I’d call a security deposit. Lakers give team X a 2nd, say in 2025, upfront. If they convey the 2029 1st, they get the deposit back in the form of team X’s 2029 2nd. If not, the transaction is settled and team X at least keeps the deposit. Obviously both teams’ valuations of a 2025 vs 2029 2nd is up for debate.
Clippers: I interpreted that as them saying “the 2028 1st is not available for Conley under any circumstances” and Utah subsequently putting a pause on negotiations. They’re more willing to include that pick, some of their young players not mentioned in the article, and matching salary for FVV. It may not necessarily be enough.
Sad time for the NBA that this vile human will become the all time scorer.
So so sad,
Don’t know how I am gonna get over it.