Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jimmy Butler To Pursue Short-Term Deal

June 16th, 2015 at 5:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Talented Bulls swingman Jimmy Butler intends to pursue shorter-term offer sheets this summer, resisting the Bulls’ initial plans to offer him a five-year, maximum contract, league sources have informed Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The 25-year-old can become a restricted free agent this summer provided Chicago tenders him a qualifying offer worth $4,433,683, which it will almost assuredly do. With the NBA’s salary cap set to dramatically rise beginning with the 2016/17 campaign, Butler has become far less interested in locking himself into the five-year, $90MM-plus deal the Bulls are expected to present him on July 1st, Wojnarowski adds.

Despite the Bulls being able to match any offer sheet that Butler was to ink, Butler’s agents, Happy Walters and Steve McCaskill of Relativity Media, could seek a short-term offer sheet that includes a trade kicker that could potentially scare Chicago off, Wojnarowski adds. A shorter deal would also allow Butler to become an unrestricted free agent as early as the summer of 2017, the Yahoo! scribe notes. If the Bulls make Butler a five-year offer for the max with no option clauses, the shortest offer sheet another team could give him would be for three seasons, and none of those three seasons could be an option year. If the Bulls don’t make Butler a max offer like that, offer sheets from other teams can be as short as two years, though neither of those two years can be an option.

Butler has been spending time in Los Angeles this offseason, and according to league sources, the swingman’s interest in signing an offer sheet with the Lakers, if offered, has increased, Wojnarowski relays. The player has preliminary plans to pursue meetings with a number of teams once the free agent signing period begins in July, and several of these potential suitors have told Wojnarowski that they are under the impression that a short-term, max money offer is the best way to try and lure Butler this offseason. This includes the Bulls, who if they remain adamant about wanting to lock up Butler to a long-term contract, will risk the player signing an offer sheet with another franchise, the Yahoo! scribe notes.

The 25-year- old Butler is fresh off of his best NBA season, earning honors as the NBA’s Most Improved Player. Butler averaged 20.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in 38.7 minutes per night. His career averages are 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and two assists.

And-Ones: Lockout, Gentry, Pointer

June 16th, 2015 at 10:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Commissioner Adam Silver signaled Sunday night that he doesn’t anticipate a lockout taking place in 2017, when the league and the union can opt out of the collective bargaining agreement, as Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com details. Players association executive director Michele Roberts said last week that the sides will begin negotiations this summer toward a new labor deal.

“I think we have a very fair deal right now,” Silver said. “I think the deal is designed to pay players a percentage of revenue so it self-adjusts as revenue goes up. And when the new television deal kicks in in 2016/17, the players are going to be averaging over $8MM a year. I think, again, it’s a fair deal. If there’s things they want to talk about, of course we’ll talk about them. But I’m not overly concerned. I think we’ve got a great thing going right now. I think both sides recognize that.”

Here’s more from around the league:

Warriors GM Bob Myers admits that if there hadn’t been such a lengthy break before the start of the NBA Finals, the team might not have allowed Alvin Gentry to have the second interview with the Pelicans that led New Orleans to hire him as head coach, as Myers tells TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip for NBA.com.
The Lakers, Wizards and Sixers are the upcoming teams on the predraft workout docket for St. John’s small forward Sir’Dominic Pointer, reveals Josh Newman of SNY.tv.
St. Bonaventure center Youssou Ndoye, if drafted, is willing to sign overseas and become a draft-and-stash prospect if an NBA team so desires, reports Shams Charania of RealGM. Ndoye faces long odds to hear his name called on draft night, as neither Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress nor Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranks him. He worked out for the Clippers on Monday and is set to do so for the Jazz today after showing off for the Knicks last week, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. Charania adds the Sixers, Mavericks, Heat, Spurs and Wizards to the list of teams working him out, which includes previously reported auditions with the Nets and Grizzlies.
Shooting guard Bobby Ray Parks Jr., who took the unconventional route of playing collegiately in the Philippines rather than the U.S., will work out for the Mavericks, Hawks and Celtics in addition to previously reported workouts with the Nets and Jazz, as Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune details.

Pacific Notes: Cook, Lakers, Clippers, Lee

June 15th, 2015 at 10:42pm CST by Charlie Adams

Reports have indicated that the Lakers have their sights set on Jahlil Okafor with the second pick in the draft, but Quinn Cook, Okafor’s teammate at Duke, is hoping LA might have some interest in nabbing him later in the night, as Janis Carr of the Orange County Register passes along. Cook described himself as the “biggest Lakers fan you could ever think of,” and while he isn’t a sure thing to get drafted (he’s listed as this year’s 55th best prospect by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress), the Lakers’ decision to work Cook out means there’s at least a chance LA has some interest in wheeling for a late second round selection to swoop him up. While we wait to see if an Okafor-Cook reunion might be in the works, here’s more out of the Pacific Division:

Along with Cook, the Lakers also worked out Branden Dawson, Treveon Graham, Vincent Hunter, Travis Trice, and Aaron White, the team announced on Twitter. Anyone LA might be thinking of taking from this group would likely come late in the second round.
The decision that the Clippers made to deal away Spencer Hawes to the Hornets increases the likelihood that the team retains big man Glen Davis, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times surmises in a tweet.
The Warriors never considered trading David Lee at the trade deadline this year, as Golden State owner Joe Lacob tells Sam Amick of USA Today, adding that the front office believed he could help the team win a championship. The decision appears to be a wise one as the Warriors are one win away from taking home the NBA title.
Lee acknowledged to Amick in the same piece that he understands there’s a chance he might get moved this summer for the right price. “But I also know that whether it’s here [in Golden State] or somewhere else next year, that I’m going to have a great year, given the opportunity.” Lee said. “I have confidence in myself. It’s not like I played bad and lost my job. I got injured, and things have worked out the way they have, and I’m excited for the future. And most importantly, I hope we can get this done.”

Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 6/15/15

June 15th, 2015 at 4:00pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Some of the greatest joys of being a sports fan, besides your favorite team winning the championship, are the debates that arise between fellow sports nuts along the way. It’s with this in mind that we have begun providing a forum for basketball fanatics to voice their opinions, debate trending topics, and simply hang out with like-minded hoops aficionados. We’ll be posting a topic for readers to discuss each weeknight, and we hope that this will become a regular part of your sports day.

Of course, there will be differing opinions from time to time. While we absolutely encourage lively discussion and debate, we do expect everyone to treat each other with respect. So, please refrain from inappropriate language, personal insults or attacks, as well as the other taboo types of discourse laid out in our site’s commenting policy. Speaking of commenting: we’ve made it much easier to leave a comment here at Hoops Rumors. Just put in your name, email address, and comment and submit it; there is no need to become a registered user.

Now that the preamble is out of the way, we can now get to the day’s topic: What should the Lakers do with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft?

Should L.A. try to deal the pick for an established star? If so, which players would be worthy of the franchise passing on a potential young superstar in the draft? If not, then whom should the team target with the pick? Should the Lakers go with a big man such as Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns, or add a playmaker like D’Angelo Russell or Emmanuel Mudiay? Maybe you think the franchise should gamble on the upside of Latvian forward Kristaps Porzingis? We had our say when we looked at the offseason ahead for the Lakers today. Now, the floor is yours. Take to the comments section below and weigh in with your thoughts and opinions. We look forward to what you have to say.

Offseason Outlook: Los Angeles Lakers

June 15th, 2015 at 2:44pm CST by Chuck Myron

Guaranteed Contracts

Kobe Bryant ($25,000,000)
Nick Young ($5,219,169)
Julius Randle ($3,132,240)
Ryan Kelly ($1,724,250)

Non-Guaranteed Contracts

Robert Sacre ($981,348)¹
Tarik Black ($845,059)
Jabari Brown ($845,059)
Jordan Clarkson ($845,059)

Options

Jordan Hill ($9,000,000 — Team)²
Ed Davis ($1,100,602 — Player)³

Restricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Vander Blue ($1,147,276) — $1,147,276 qualifying offer⁴

Unrestricted Free Agents/Cap Holds

Carlos Boozer ($22,120,000)⁵
Jeremy Lin ($12,561,969)
No. 2 pick ($4,252,600)
No. 27 pick ($963,000)
Wayne Ellington ($947,276)
Wesley Johnson ($947,276)
Ronnie Price ($947,276)

Draft Picks

1st Round (2nd overall)
1st Round (27th overall)
2nd Round (34th overall)

Cap Outlook

Guaranteed Salary: $35,075,659
Non-Guaranteed Salary: $3,516,525
Options: $10,100,602
Cap Holds: $43,886,673
Total: $92,579,459

It’s virtually impossible to win 16 championships in a 62-year span, as the Lakers did, without some measure of luck. It seemed as though fortune had turned on the purple-and-gold in the years since their 2010 title, but when the Lakers emerged from last month’s lottery with the No. 2 overall pick, it was perhaps a signal that the dark cloud over the team, epitomized by the franchise-worst record of this past season, was finally breaking up. It wasn’t the best-case scenario of winning the No. 1 overall pick, but with the Lakers reportedly having zeroed in on Jahlil Okafor and with Karl-Anthony Towns apparently having grown on Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders, the Lakers might end up with their first choice, anyway. Certainly, it was far from the worst possible outcome, which involved the Lakers tumbling out of the top five and forfeiting their pick to the Sixers, a looming consequence of the ill-fated Steve Nash sign-and-trade. The Lakers still have to give up a first-round pick because of that trade, but given this year’s high pick and their chance to sign marquee free agents this summer, the pick they ultimately give up may well be outside the top 10, if not the lottery entirely.

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

A healthy return for Kobe Bryant would certainly help the Lakers to that sort of outcome. He was inefficient last season, but had precious little talent around him, and coach Byron Scott has promised to play him fewer minutes this time around to help keep him fresh and avoid injury. Okafor would likely be able to alleviate some of the scoring burden, as his well-developed low-post presence, a rarity in the NBA, never mind among draft prospects, would give the Lakers an unusual weapon and draw the attention of defenses away from Bryant and other offensive threats.

The Lakers didn’t really have a true center this past season, aside from Robert Sacre, and that no doubt contributed to the failure of a defense that was the league’s second least-efficient, per NBA.com. However, Okafor would be a long shot to help the Lakers in that regard, since his defense also leaves much to be desired. Towns is a better defender, though he lacks Okafor’s polish, and, in any case, rookies often struggle with NBA defenses no matter their reputations entering the league. The Lakers, with little hope of vaulting into title contention even with the resources and high pick in front of them, would be wise not to worry nearly as much about how their pick will fit with the 2015/16 roster as they do about how he’d fit for 2016/17 and beyond.

Others have greater upside than Okafor does, including point guard Emmanuel Mudiay and power forward Kristaps Porzingis, neither of whom played in college. That lends a sense of mystery to them, and while each seems capable of becoming a transcendent star, they both could well turn out to be busts. Mudiay is a versatile defender capable of making spectacular plays on offense that would no doubt endear him to Lakers fans still pining for “Showtime,” but his outside shot is a question mark, a red flag for any perimeter player nowadays. Porzingis can shoot and excel in transition, too, but he lacks strength and isn’t a strong rebounder, as his ESPN and DraftExpress profiles explain.

The Lakers can also trade the pick, though GM Mitch Kupchak has made that outcome seem like a longshot. Trades are unlikely to play a key role for the Lakers this summer, outside of the team’s apparent plan to explore deals involving Nick Young. Instead, the focus come July will be on nabbing the sort of marquee free agent the Lakers have missed out on the last two summers. Reports have linked the team to a litany of players mentioned in our most recent Free Agent Power Rankings. LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, Greg Monroe and Goran Dragic have all reportedly been targets at one point or another this past season and likely will be again, at least to some degree, next month. Still, those names elicit doubt. Some have said the Lakers aren’t a viable option for the nonetheless difficult to predict Aldridge, who seems to favor Dallas for now. Gasol offers few hints but clearly loves Memphis, and the funk in which his brother seemed to spend his last few seasons with the Lakers probably isn’t the best advertisement within the Gasol family. Love keeps saying he’ll be back in Cleveland. Monroe’s link to the Lakers is probably the most tenuous, as the Lakers reportedly inquired with the Pistons about trading for him but haven’t emerged as a free agent suitor for the big man. Dragic apparently viewed the Lakers as a “perfect fit” at the trade deadline, but a stream of reports since then has made it seem as though he has no intention of leaving Miami.

Plenty more impact free agents exist beyond the top 10, but none is the sort of superstar who can take over the mantle from Bryant when he retires. Rajon Rondo seemed like that sort of player not too long ago, but his ill-fated tenure in Dallas showed that he’s not in that echelon anymore. The Lakers have seemed destined to sign Rondo, a favorite of Bryant’s, though they’ve cooled on him and Bryant’s wishes aren’t necessarily the Lakers’ command, as Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding detailed. No team is planning a max offer for the point guard, as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports wrote in late April, so the Lakers may well end up with him at a reasonable price by default.

It might be mutually beneficial for both sides to consider a one-year deal. The torn ACL Rondo suffered in January 2013 clearly has had a long-term negative effect on his game, but his stock probably isn’t going to get much lower than it is now, after an apparent mutual parting of ways between him and the Mavericks midway through a playoff series. A one-year contract with the Lakers would give Rondo the opportunity to further the idea that his time in Dallas was simply the product of a poor fit and not a harbinger of sharply declining skill. It would lend the Lakers the chance to gamble on a talented player, improve in the short term, and retain flexibility for the free agency bonanza of 2016, when the salary cap is projected to take a skyward leap.

It would be wise for the Lakers to pursue short-term deals with others, too, with this summer’s marquee free agents seemingly difficult to lure. The opportunity to hit free agency again in 2016 as the cap goes up will surely be attractive to many players on the market, and the Lakers are in position to take advantage of this. Restricted free agents present a conundrum, since offer sheets have to be for two seasons, exclusive of any option years, and for three seasons if the incumbent team offers a maximum-salary deal. Still, a two-year offer sheet for Brandon Knight or Tobias Harris would allow those players to cash in come 2017, when preliminary projections show the cap taking another colossal leap, from $89MM to $108MM, and give the Lakers the chance at flexibility just as the cap heads into nine-figure territory. Speculation has linked Southern California native and former UCLA standout Russell Westbrook to the Lakers, and his contract is is set to expire in that same summer of 2017.

Still, such dreams are far in the distance. The Lakers must also decide on several of their own players with options and non-guaranteed contracts this summer, not to mention a half dozen soon-to-be free agents. Clarkson isn’t going anywhere on a minimum-salary deal that looks like a bargain after his successful rookie season, and the Lakers are reportedly likely to keep Sacre and guarantee his minimum salary. However, Jordan Hill‘s $9MM team option seems too pricey, particularly with Julius Randle returning to health and specter of a big man coming in via the No. 2 overall pick. The Lakers and Ed Davis, who intends to opt out, appear to have mutual interest in a new deal, and while the Lakers surely have their limits with him, he’s another big man who looms as a threat to squeeze out Hill.

A busy summer is ahead for the Lakers, and while fortune may again be on their side, they’d truly have to luck out to vault back into contention in a single summer. It’s nonetheless a reasonable goal for the Lakers to at least compete for a playoff berth. Winning is seemingly the most attractive quality a team can have in the eyes of top-flight free agents these days, but the Lakers probably don’t have to win quite as much as other franchises do to have an equal amount of cachet on the market. Making the playoffs in the brutal Western Conference would be a tall order for the Lakers if they don’t sign a top-10 free agent this summer, but even falling a few games short would represent tangible progress. The Lakers have seen their winning percentage drop with each successive season the past four years, so stopping that free fall should be a priority. Thanks to the bouncing lottery balls, the Lakers are in a strong position to bounce back.

Cap Footnotes

1 — Sacre’s salary would become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through June 30th, as is reportedly likely to happen.
2 — The cap hold for Hill would be $13,500,000 if the team turns down its option on him.
3 — The cap hold for Davis would be $947,276 if he opts out, as he intends to do.
4 — The cap hold for Blue would be $947,276 if the team elects not to tender a qualifying offer.
5 — Boozer’s cap hold will be the lesser of $25.2MM and the league’s maximum salary for a player with 10 or more years of experience. It’ll almost certainly be the latter, since the max is estimated to come in at only slightly more than $22MM. So, the estimated max is listed above.

The Basketball Insiders Salary Pages were used in the creation of this post.

Draft Notes: Lakers, Mudiay, Nuggets

June 14th, 2015 at 7:19pm CST by Will Joseph

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak told Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News that the team, which owns the second overall pick in the draft, is not going to pick a player based on whether or not he meshes well with Kobe Bryant. “We’re not going to pick a player because he can play with Kobe, likes Kobe or dislikes Kobe,” Kupchak said. “We’re going to pick the player that can have the longest and best career.” Bryant has signaled that next season will be his last as an NBA player. The Lakers hope their No. 2 pick can lead the franchise following Bryant’s eventual retirement, Medina writes. “Kobe is going to impart a work ethic in training camp that will be beneficial to any player we bring,” Kupchak said. The Lakers are expected to take either Jahill Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns.

Here’s more draft-related news:

Emmanuel Mudiay will work out for the Sixers, who own the third overall pick, on Tuesday, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
Gilvydas Biruta (Rhode Island), Trey Lyles (Kentucky), D.J. Newbill (Penn State), Cameron Payne (Murray State) and Serbia guard Nikola Radicevic will all work out on Monday for the Nuggets, who own the seventh and 57th overall picks, the team announced in a press release.
Former UNLV guard Rashad Vaughn had a private workout for the Hawks and will work out for the Timberwolves Monday, followed by showcases for the Mavs, Spurs and Celtics, Zagoria also tweets.

Pacific Notes: Clarkson, Atkins, Lakers, Iguodala

June 14th, 2015 at 1:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The players at the Lakers‘ pre-draft workout Saturday were inspired by the rise of Jordan Clarkson, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. The session was for second-round hopefuls like D.J. Newbill of Penn State, Phil Greene of St. John’s and Darrun Hilliard of Villanova, but everyone present hopes to follow the path set by Clarkson, the 46th selection last year by the Wizards, who was sent to the Lakers for cash considerations and wound up as their starting point guard. “It gives you a lot of hope seeing how great he played last year and how good he is,” Greene said of Clarkson. “It just gives you a lot of hope of staying with the grind and knowing anything can happen.” The Lakers have more pre-draft workouts scheduled for Monday and Friday.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Virginia’s Darion Atkins, one of the players at Saturday’s Lakers workout, believes his ACC background will help him transition to the pros, Turner writes in a separate story. Atkins earned National Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors, but fears he has “dropped off” most NBA draft boards. “I think coming from the ACC has helped me a lot,” he said. “I think that’ll be a great transition over into the NBA because the physicality is going to be great in the NBA, but I think it’ll give me more of an advantage.”
Delaware State’s Kendall Gray was also among the participants at Saturday’s workout (Twitter link). Michael Qualls of Arkansas had to skip the event because of a knee injury, tweets Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.
The Lakers are debating whether a center or point guard is more valuable in today’s NBA as they face a likely draft choice between Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell, Turner writes in another story. “In years past and maybe even today, it makes sense to build around a big,” said GM Mitch Kupchak. “But you don’t want to take a big because it’s a big and then pass on the No. 3 pick, which turned out to be Michael Jordan [in 1984]. So we’re going to look at the bigs, then you want to look at the guards and see if there is a guard there that despite being just a guard, you don’t want to miss and pass on him because he’s not a big.”
The NBA Finals are giving the Warriors‘ Andre Iguodala a chance to showcase all his skills after spending the season as a reserve, according to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. Iguodala, who joined Golden State as a free agent in 2013, is signed through the 2016/17 season.

Lottery Notes: Porzingis, Lakers, Sixers, Suns

June 13th, 2015 at 9:40pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kristaps Porzingis‘ impressive workout on Friday is giving the Lakers something to ponder at No. 2, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Stein added that the big man is also in play for Philadelphia at No. 3. Multiple sources previously told Chris Mannix of SI.com that Los Angeles has zeroed in on selecting Jahlil Okafor, though that was reported before Porzingis’ workout.

Here’s more from some of the teams in the lottery:

Emmanuel Mudiay is another player that Los Angeles is considering with its No. 2 pick and he is excited about the possibility of playing alongside Kobe Bryant, Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times writes. “He’s got five championships. He’s a winner. He’s a proven winner,” said Mudiay. “His determination, I’m the same way. If he steps on the court, he’s going to feel like he’s the best player. If I step on the court, I’m going to feel like I’m the best player.”
Joel Embiid was evaluated recently and a standard CT scan on his right foot revealed less healing than anticipated at this point, according to a team press release. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) adds that Embiid’s participation in summer league is in jeopardy.
The Suns feel like they can get a player they want with the No.13 pick in the draft, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes. “We’re very comfortable staying there and picking there,” GM Ryan McDonough said. “It would have to take a really good offer for us to move the pick. I think it’s unlikely we’ll add an additional first-round pick this year or drop down in the draft. We’ll take those calls if they come to us but we’re comfortable with where we are at 13. We like the pool of players we think will be there.”

Pacific Notes: Divac, West, Clippers

June 12th, 2015 at 8:38pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive tried to bring Vlade Divac in as a goodwill ambassador and basketball adviser last year, but GM Pete D’Alessandro and adviser Chris Mullin mounted strong opposition that derailed the move, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Of course, Ranadive brought Divac this year to head the basketball operations department, bumping the now-Nuggets-bound D’Alessandro from that role.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Clippers will hold workouts on Saturday for Aaron White (Iowa), David Kravish (California), Treveon Graham (VCU), Julian Washburn (UTEP), Quinn Cook (Duke), and Ryan Boatright (UConn), Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times relays (Twitter links).
While they don’t currently possess any picks in this year’s NBA Draft, the Clippers will look to acquire a second round pick on draft night, Arash Markazi of ESPN.com tweets.
Warriors adviser Jerry West threatened to resign last offseason if the team went ahead and dealt Klay Thompson in exchange for Kevin Love, Chris Ballard of SI.com writes in his profile of West. West predicted that Thompson’s defense would improve, and that the pairing of he and Stephon Curry would give Golden State a Hall of Fame backcourt for the next decade, Ballard adds.
The Lakers will bring in St. John’s guard Phil Greene as part of a group workout on Saturday, Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops relays (via Twitter).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Pacific Notes: Okafor, Lakers, Babby, Schlenk

June 11th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers have zeroed in on Jahlil Okafor for the No. 2 pick, multiple league sources tell Chris Mannix of SI.com, who writes in his latest mock draft. Chad Ford of ESPN.com wrote a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t get the sense that Okafor wasn’t a surefire Lakers pick at No. 2 the way that Karl-Anthony Towns would be if the Timberwolves took Okafor first overall, so perhaps Okafor’s workout with the Lakers this week swayed the team’s thinking. Mitch Kupchak is choosing his words carefully, but Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding has heard enough from the Lakers GM to become convinced that either Towns or Okafor will be the team’s choice. Kupchak made it clear to reporters, including Bill Oram of the Orange County Register, that there need not be a consensus within the front office and that the decision, with the support of the team’s ownership, rests with him (Twitter link). Here’s more on the Lakers’ Pacific Division rivals:

Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby, who will become an adviser on August 1st, didn’t originally intend to remain with the team as long as he has, but the 64-year-old has found it hard not to stay involved, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. The role reduction, which will make him a part-timer but leave him involved in negotiations and cap management, suits Babby just fine, Coro writes. “This is a perfect outcome,” Babby said. “When I came here, I made it clear to everybody that I thought one of my major responsibilities was to develop a succession plan and prepare the next generation. When I hired [GM] Ryan [McDonough], I made it clear. I said, ‘You don’t need to worry about your career path here. I’m not going to do this forever.’ That was my commitment to him.”
Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk is believed to be among the potential candidates to fill the vacancy that Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro will reportedly create in Sacramento upon his departure for the Nuggets, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Lakers assistant scouting director Ryan West is another apparent candidate, as Sam Amick of USA Today reported.
David Lee saw playing time for the Warriors in Game 3 of the Finals, but he sat out the first two games and admitted to Mannix, writing in a separate piece, that his lack of minutes has been frustrating. Still, Lee takes pride in being a supportive teammate and insists he won’t agitate to play more, and he said that he’s not concerned about the notion that he’ll be a trade candidate this summer, as Mannix details.