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Let's not forget about the fleecing that led to getting the #1 pick that led to drafting Magic.
Are you sure? There are teams who perennially duck lux taxes and mismanage star players.
That Kwame Brown trade for MVPau happened. The Luka trade happened.
History tells us this will happen again.
This time, the Lakers will have a competent front office and the financial resources to pounce on the rampant inept poverty franchises out there.
Let's not forget about the fleecing that led to getting the #1 pick that led to drafting Magic.
I missed this post. Thanks for acknowledging how the Logo got Magic.
(I understand this was Pre-Stern)
To be fair, I think it's possible that the shleague helped us to get Wemby (Gotta maintain objectivity).
Still comes nowhere near close to how many rations and helpings for LA.
Almost as good as getting #1 pick in 1997, despite having David Robinson on your roster.
Do Spurs fans only hate the Shaq/Kobe Pau/Kobe Lakers or do they also hate the Showtime Lakers?
I'm guessing any Kobe related Lakers teams.
I hate Los Angeles in Los Angeles Lakers nothing but love for Mineapolis tho
For me, it's just the Lakers in general, lol
Lol 20-62 vs 45-37I missed this post. Thanks for acknowledging how the Logo got Magic.
Almost as good as getting #1 pick in 1997, despite having David Robinson on your roster.
Last edited by Dod01; 06-23-2025 at 10:42 PM.
Hated him on the court, but I respected him alot more AFTER his retirement. Dude was very intelligent, imo.I'm guessing any Kobe related Lakers teams.
Will be interesting to see what Guggenheim will do with a hard cap as opposed to the non-cap in the MLB. Deeper pockets will help the franchise, but 10 billion for a team w/o their own arena is a lotta scratch.
Are you sure? There are teams who perennially duck lux taxes and mismanage star players.
That Kwame Brown trade for MVPau happened. The Luka trade happened.
History tells us this will happen again.
This time, the Lakers will have a competent front office and the financial resources to pounce on the rampant inept poverty franchises out there.
but the Laker tax
Greatest self promoter in nba history. Tmac talent with don Kings marketing sense.
I'm thinking they gonna eventually buy Staples tbh. Makes too much sense.
Buy out AEG's stake in the Kings and he won't have to.
Dr. Dray makes good points.
1st draft completed since the Lakers were sold. Lakers went into the draft with the 55th overall pick. Used cash to move to 45th, then to 36th.
Without using draft capital, they moved up 19 spots in the draft and nabbed 6'8 Adou Thiero.
Lakers had him as a 1st round talent. He slid because he shoots 3s like Shaq would.
But I'm excited. Lakers will no doubt beef up their basketball operations and have the financial wherewithal to make moves like this, now that we have an ownership group that doesn't pennypinch.
I like his high motor, insane athleticism, and his aggressiveness. Lakers gotta invest in their player development staff, to help him reach his potential.
Now we wait for Rob Pelinka to go get us a center or two. Clint Capela, c'mon down!
Deandre "I can't make today's game because it snowed" Ayton
lol lakers
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/646...s-free-agency/
Blazers couldn’t abide Deandre Ayton’s ‘bad ways.’ Will former No. 1 pick find a fit?
PORTLAND, Ore. — Inside the office of Chauncey Billups, in bold letters, reads a saying the Portland coach holds dear, an adage that he wants to be at the root of the Trail Blazers’ rebuild.
“You can have bad plays,’’ the maxim reads, “but not bad ways.”
The quote is from Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, whom Billups played for in Detroit and now considers a mentor. It’s a quote that goes a long way in explaining why the Trail Blazers parted ways with center Deandre Ayton, whom they waived after negotiating a contract buyout, this week.
See, the Blazers could live with Ayton missing shots or his man scoring on him. They could even live with him being limited by injuries to 55 and 40 games in his two seasons in Portland.
But in the end, they couldn’t live with his bad ways. The iness to team flights and practices, according to a team source. The skipping of rehabilitation appointments. Fans saw him slam chairs when he was taken out of games. And a team source said there were tantrums in the locker room when he was sidelined for poor effort.
And for as much as the Blazers tried to compliment Ayton for being supportive of 2024 lottery pick Donovan Clingan, doesn’t it speak volumes that they are paying him millions to stay away from their young centers — Clingan and 2025 first-round pick Yang Hansen? It’s not like Portland is averse to paying someone $35 million to mentor; they just traded for veteran Jrue Holiday, who has even more remaining money remaining on his contract, for what is presumably a mentorship-type role with point guard Scoot Henderson.
Portland joins Phoenix as teams that have calculated that Ayton’s baggage isn’t worth his talent. And this week, as Ayton enters the free-agent market, there will likely be a third team that convinces itself it can either change, or live with, the Ayton experience. He has some undeniable assets. He’s 7-feet. He has silky touch from mid-range. When his right knee isn’t throbbing from tendonitis, he can beat most centers up and down the court. And he’s a lob threat around the rim.
But the former No. 1 overall pick suffers from a critical flaw: He has little self-awareness.
In his first news conference in Portland, he referred to himself as “Domin-Ayton.” During the 95 times he played in Portland, he was maybe dominant in a handful of games. He once said he has nothing to prove because “I’m a max (contract) player and I’ll continue to be a max player.” But in both Phoenix and Portland, he chaffed his coaches with inconsistent effort. In Game 7 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals, Suns coach Monty Williams benched him in the second half, prompting a heated argument. In a December game against Utah in Portland, Billups called a timeout two minutes into the second half and benched Ayton for the rest of the game.
After the 141-99 loss to the Jazz, in which Ayton was minus-29 in his 17 minutes, Billups said, “I didn’t like his spirit in the game.”
When the Blazers traded for Ayton, not everyone in the organization was on board. Some questioned his maturity. When Ayton arrived, he envisioned himself as the cornerstone, the big fish, and he acted like it. He was carefree and loud, often blurting out songs or offhand comments in the locker room. While some reporters laughed, there were times when veterans at their lockers rolled their eyes.
Around the corner from the locker room is Billups’ office. That quote from Brown is positioned on the wall so it’s the first thing you see when you walk through the door. Billups never worried about Ayton, because he felt he could coach him up and instill some work ethic, humility and professionalism into Ayton. Throughout Billups’ Hall of Fame playing career, he had tamed other colorful and/or loose cannons. Chris Anderson and JR Smith in Denver. Rasheed Wallace in Detroit.
But now, as the Blazers’ rebuild is starting to show signs of promise, it is clear the organization believed Billups couldn’t change Ayton. So Portland did what so many teams are reluctant to do: They admitted a mistake and cut ties.
Habits in the NBA are formed when players are young, and with the Blazers’ impressionable core of Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, along with the young centers Clingan and Yang, a standard needs to be set. A good starting point is an understanding that they can have bad plays, but not bad ways.
https://www.basketballnetwork.net/la...-off-the-court
DeAndre Ayton’s video game obsession will cost him a lot, on and off the court
Players turn to different hobbies outside the NBA court to get their minds off basketball. It’s not surprising that many of them turn to video games, particularly the younger generations. But it’s alarming how a starting center of a league-leading team in the regular season chooses to sleep less in favor of his addiction to video games. A lot less.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, and Joel Embiid are some of the most avid fans of video games among NBA players today. Some of them are so addicted they brought consoles into the bubble. But when it comes to NBA2K, one player reigns supreme: Phoenix Suns center DeAndre Ayton. He’s the only NBA player to reach Legend status, a distinction reserved for gamers who reached Level 40 for four seasons. But as they say, anything excessive in nature has its pitfalls.
Lack of sleep is a common hurdle among NBA players. Due to the pressure, constant traveling, and other distractions, some find it hard to get enough sleep after games. DeAndre is different; he shuns sleep to play video games. He reportedly spends three to four hours playing, which reduces his sleeping time to two hours on some nights.
“It’s so hard for me to sleep after long games, especially big, long games. I don’t know why, but I occupy my time with the game. I connect with some of my people. I got brothers in the UK. I got family in Jamaica and the Bahamas. During that game, we talk our smack. Whoever we just beat up on, we talk about it and laugh about it. I ain’t going to bed until 4 or 5 a.m. That’s how serious it gets.” explained Ayton.
Ayton was due for an extension, and this habit is probably part of the reason the Phoenix Suns were not keen on giving him a multi-year deal. He played poorly in Game 7 against the Dallas Mavericks, and regardless of which side you listened to, the relationship is obviously strained. In the end, the Suns matched his qualifying offer, but it remains to be seen is the relationship between the player and the organization beyond repair
Yes, he could dish out stellar performances, but how could he convince the media or fans that in games where he played poorly, his lack of sleep connected to excessive video game playing wasn’t at fault? The message Ayton is sending here is clear: his priority is his video games, or else, he would have taken his sleep more seriously. A foggy brain might result in a lapse of judgment during pivotal moments in the game.
Players have the right to take their minds off the game and relax in any way they want to. Some play golf, go bowling, or smoke marijuana. But one thing is clear; DeAndre Ayton might not suffer from limited sleeping minutes now, but later in his career, it could haunt him. He would then realize that sleep is a necessity and not a luxury every athlete could afford to waste.
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