
July 14, 2025
Welcome to the portion of the sports calendar where there is no news, so everyone just recklessly speculates and it’s considered “news”. That’s exactly what’s happening with Lebron James. Lebron opted into his contract weeks ago, and Rich Paul made the type statement that he basically makes every year that Lebron plays, that he wants to compete for titles to put pressure on the front office. As I told you weeks ago, Lebron isn’t going anywhere, so stop speculating that he will. Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne, who are fine professionals but lack real sources, wrote a piece that had no sources in it, and was nothing but pure speculation. Everyone ate it up and they got all the clicks they wanted. Except if you’ve followed the NBA for a while, you know the difference between real reporting and opinions. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t. The article stated that James was upset that they traded Anthony Davis and he wasn’t given significant notice. Ramona and Windy must think we are stupid to believe he and Rich Paul had no idea whatsoever it was coming. The article says Luka was notified of the sale of the franchise and Lebron wasn’t, but that’s a lie and he was told. The article says the Lakers were treating Lebron as an expiring contract because they didn’t offer him an extension. Did he ask for an extension? No he did not. This is all manufactured journalism to get you talking about ‘Bron. I also love the folks like Scoop B, who are reporting two week old news that 4 teams contacted Rich Paul about trading for Lebron. One thing is for sure though, Lebron and Rich Paul could control this narrative if they want, but they won’t because that’s how they feel puts pressure on the front office to perform. That’s all fine and dandy if they want to do that, but in reality, it won’t change a damn thing. The Lakers are going to compete with Lebron on the team and without him on the team.
As for the rest of the Lakers roster, things have really quieted down with regard to rumors. The Lakers need help on their bench, and specifically when it comes to defensive wings. Andrew Wiggins sounded nice, but not at the cost of Rui, Dalton, and a 1st round pick. If anything the Heat should be throwing in draft capital because he’s a salary dump. Since Wiggins is reportedly not being traded this off-season, that leaves the Lakers hoping for a buyout of someone like Marcus Smart, trading for Matisse Thybulle, or signing a guy like De’Anthony Melton. Sure someone like Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard sounds sexy, but it’s not really what they need. The hold up is they need to waive someone on their roster to be able to sign just one player, or would need to make a trade. The team is better with DeAndre Ayton and Jake LaRavia, but there’s still a little work to do, so stay tuned, and stop telling me Rob Pelinka isn’t doing anything. Separately, I have heard some suggestion that the Lakers (and other teams) are trying to keep their cap sheet clean for 2027 free agency. This move makes little sense to me because all the free agents from Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, and Giannis will be 34 or older. They are likely to re-sign or get traded and re-signed before they hit the market. A better move would be trying to compete now with a top 5 talent like Luka Doncic, a still all-NBA player in Lebron, and a cheap but rising star with Austin Reaves.
Meanwhile, the Clippers have made all these moves and now have a couple of roster spots to fill. The speculation was that they were going to sign both Chris Paul and Bradley Beal to veteran minimum deals, but it’s been a week and nothing has happened on either front. Beal still hasn’t been bought out yet, and who knows why CP3 has not signed yet. He wants to be in SoCal, and this is his best opportunity. If he wants to start, he’s going to be out of luck because nobody will give him that opportunity at this stage if they are serious about winning. Let’s say these two moves come to fruition, they could help, but the Clips should be a bit concerned with age. Paul is 40, Brooke Lopez is 37, James Harden is 35, Kawhi and old 34, and Beal would be an old 32. It remains to be seen just how the Clippers roster shakes out between now and training camp.

To baseball, where the Dodgers have hit the all-star break! After Friday night, it felt like this team might never win again, but they came up with two big wins against the Giants to close the 1st half. They hit the break at 58-39, a 5.5 game lead in the NL West, and the best record in the NL. They are also just one game behind the Tigers for the best record in baseball. With all that being said, they have some things to fix. I wouldn’t panic over the 7-game slide. They looked a little disinterested before the all-star break in years past, so the streak itself isn’t concerning. However, they have some star players they need to get more productivity out of in the second half. Those are Mookie Betts, Tesoscar Hernandez, and Tommy Edman specifically. They also need to get their lineup in order once they get Max Muncy back. To me, the sensible thing to do is to put Mookie back in right field, put Teoscar in left, Tommy Edman at short, and Hyesong Kim at 2nd. This is by far the best possible defensive lineup they can put on the field, while maximizing the bats. I am especially encourage about the starting pitching. It’s hard to conceptualize, but Shohei Ohtani might be their best starter when he’s built up, and in a playoff series if you could deploy him followed by Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and backed up with the likes of a Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, and Emmet Sheehan, you have to like your chances. The bullpen still has some very good relievers, but Tanner Scott isn’t one of them. If you can’t close 85% or more of your games, you shouldn’t be closing, and right now Alex Vesia should be the guy. Either way, the Dodgers should look at bullpen and starting pitching depth, as well as a versatile outfielder at the deadline. They should feel pretty good about where they are, with all things considered, and also feeling even better about their potential.

Then there’s the Angels who hit the break 2 games under .500 and 4 games out of the wild card chase. I just don’t see how this team is going to make the playoffs as presently constructed, and I don’t see 1 or 2 moves by the trade deadline to get them there. The Halos are one of the worst hitting teams in the league. Only the Rockies strikeout more times than they do, and they are ranked 24th in the league in team batting average. Everything was always going to come down to the development of their young players and there’s not enough big league talent to support that development. Zach Neto has been great, Nolan Schanuel is ok, Sam Bachman is really just a reliever. Reid Detmers looks promising, but for some reason they don’t want to put him back in the starting rotation. Christian Moore has been struggling early on, but given that the don’t develop players well, I’m not too optimistic. They also drafted pitcher Tyler Bremner out of UC Santa Barbara, with the #2 pick in yesterdays draft. I get the appeal these days of drafting the dude that strikes out a lot of guys and throws hard. However, Bremner might not even be a top 100 prospect, and is projected to be a mid rotation pitcher. It’s insanity to think that Perry Minasian could come out of a draft without someone that will be a clear cut top 100 prospect, given how desperate the Halos are for talent. A much better pick probably would have been the left hander Kade Anderson from LSU, or Ethan Holiday, who could be their future 3rd baseman and projected to be an all-star. How Minasian is still employed as GM of the Angels is becoming a mystery.
