June 30, 2025
This afternoon is the start of NBA Free Agency, and Lebron James is making all the news by opting into his $52.6 million contract for next season. However, Shams Charania is reporting that Lebron is “uncertain” about the Lakers roster, and hasn’t ruled out requesting a trade. This is like when parents take their kids on a long road trip, they are in the last mile, and the two kids are fighting in the back seat. The dad says “if you don’t stop fighting I’m going to turn this car around!” Good one pops. You and I both know that this is an empty threat and you aren’t going to turn the car around so shut up and keep driving. That’s exactly what this is. Shut up Rich Paul and Lebron. You and I both know Lebron is not leaving LA at this point to start over somewhere else now. If he does, I’m sure the Lakers would have no problem granting his request, and getting some draft picks and a Jonathan Kuminga or Jarrett Allen in return. The reality is though that this is just an empty threat to motivate the Lakers to improve their roster. What’s hilarious however, is that they just acquired Luka Doncic and got the 3rd seed, so what do you think they aren’t trying to win? Sorry the team can’t acquire Wilt Chamberlin, Kareem, and Magic Johnson to stack the deck in your favor like you are used to doing in Miami, Cleveland, or NBA 2K.
As for the rest of free agency, Dorian Finney Smith is asking for crazy amounts of money. If he wants to leave that’s fine, because the Lakers can use the non-tax payer mid-level exception of $14 million to sign someone like DeAndre Ayton, and maybe even look to do a sign and trade for Nikil Alexander Walker, who is 6 years younger than DFS. Ayton shares the same agent as Luka, so the Lakers have to feel pretty good about their chances to get him, and he would be a huge upgrade at center. The Lakers need to be careful not to add too many older players to this roster. Clint Capela could be a nice backup they can get, but Brooke Lopez and Chris Paul are too old for this team, unless they make significant roster changes. I just don’t see that happening right now given their salary cap constraints.
Then there’s the Clippers, who’s top priority has to be retaining James Harden, who just earned 3rd team all-nba. I don’t see a lot of teams out there willing to pay him that much, and he means too much to the Clippers. As of this morning, they’ve already agreed to a 2 year $41 million deal. I also don’t see a lot of cities out there with the strip clubs in LA that Harden likes, so it’s a match made in heaven. The Clips would love to add more depth and shooting, but they will also have to figure out how to do so while staying under the aprons. Adding a player like Nikil Alexander Walker is possible, but if you have to extend Norman Powell, that could be a challenge. It will be an interesting next few days for the Clips.
The NBA draft came quickly after the finals ended, and we are already in the full swing of the off-season. The 2nd apron is no joke. The Celtics broke up a contending team because of it by trading both Kristaps Porzingas and Jrue Holiday. CJ McCollum got traded to the Wizards for Jordan Poole. McCollum going to DC makes sense, because that’s where all the corrupt politicians go. Ace Bailey finally reported to the Jazz after saying he didn’t want to go there. He got off the plane in handcuffs and ankle bracelets. Nico Harrison said drafting a player like Cooper Flagg is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I think he means twice in a lifetime. Malik Beasley was on the verge of scoring a 3 year $42 million contract with the Pistons. That’s on hold now because he’s under investigation for gambling. Now it makes sense why he was missing all those jumpers years ago for the Lakers!
To baseball, where the Dodgers have the best record in Major League Baseball, despite all their issues. One of those issues is pitching, where they seem to be consistently utilizing Kike Hernandez or Miguel Rojas when they are up big or down big in a game. This was cute for a while, and I get the strategy of trying to save your bullpen. However, it’s becoming a player safety issue, and reaching the point where putting a real reliever in the game to finish it off is probably more practical. Hernandez and Rojas are reaching the point where they are throwing 25-30 pitches in an inning. That’s ridiculous, and they could easily get injured. Speaking of pitching, Clayton Kershaw is looking great and on the verge of 3,000 strikeouts. That’s an accomplishment, along with the fact he’s simply taking a regular turn in the rotation, which has been hard for most Dodger pitchers. Why does everyone want the Dodgers to trade for Walker Buehler? He is clearly struggling, and why do we think the Dodgers will suddenly turn him around? Max Muncy is on fire, and I think his Opthalmologist needs a Bobblehead night! Hyeseong Kim was supposed to get more playing time, yet after Dave Roberts said that, it’s like he’s getting even less playing time. Kim must have insulted Roberts mother, because he’s outplaying a number of Dodger regulars. The Boys in Blue are back home this week against the White Sox and Astros!
Meanwhile, the Angels are still very much in the mix for the last Wild Card, and now 2 games out entering today. However, it was a very frustrating weekend for them, losing 2 out of 3 to the Nationals, after a series of big time mental mistakes. Sometimes this team makes you think they might actually make things interesting, and then they regress to being the disappointment we all know them to be for over a decade. Mike Trout isn’t even playing like Mike Trout. The offense has been wildly inconsistent and so has the bullpen, yet they aren’t out of it. They also lost their Manager Ron Washington for the season due to health reasons. Knowing Arte Moreno, he’ll try to fire Washington to skip out on paying him health insurance. We’ll see if the Halos can keep this up as we get closer to the trade deadline, which might make them real buyers for roster help.
Bad news for the Rams this morning. Jalen Ramsey was traded to the Steelers, so they miss out on upgrading their cornerback position. Ultimately, it was just too much money for Ramsey, who ended up getting a bigger salary out of the deal than we initially thought. Although I could see the Rams adding a veteran corner at some point, Sean McVay indicated recently that no matter what, the Rams feel good about where they are at and that Ramsey was more of a unique situation.
Finally, what a disastrous weekend for the LA Kings. They completed the NHL Draft, but Ken Holland’s first move as General Manager was to trade defenseman Jordan Spence for a 3rd and 6th round pick. This is what happens when you keep a head coach who has no business being a head coach, and hire a GM that had his most successful run 30 years ago. The Kings spent five years developing Spence, and if they re-drafted in 2019, he would be a 1st round pick. I don’t care if he demanded a trade, they should have gotten more for him. In reality, he shouldn’t have demanded one, because he should be playing top 4 minutes in the expanded role he desires. That just goes to show you that the Kings don’t develop talent and manage assets even more poorly. They have since 2014. Even if somehow the Kings can sign Mitch Marner, they still have massive holes on defense, and need to overpay Vladislav Gavrikov just to fill part of that void. Very quickly Kings fans are finding out that somehow Luc Robitaille hired a GM that is even worse than Rob Blake.
