This week, we explore the delicious LeBron James-Golden State Warriors bombshell and what it means for both franchises; Anthony Edwards and the crunch-time Minnesota Timberwolves; masterpieces in OKC ... and Ben Simmons?
Jump to Lowe's Things:
LeBron and Steph? | Ant in crunch time
A key Hornets role player | Simmons-Claxton together
Vassell's left hand | Barnes' pump fake
Oubre's off-ball D | Wiz draft whiff | OKC's city unis
1. The Los Angeles Lakers, the Golden State Warriors and the joys of an overlong season
Most reasonable people agree the NBA season is too long. Teams don't need 82 games to figure themselves out, and we don't need 82 games to figure out which teams can do damage in the playoffs.
But what's the right number? Proposals in the 50s seem short. We are there now, and several teams are only just discovering the best versions of themselves. For most of them, the slow pace of self-discovery had nothing to do with midseason trades; the process simply took time, and is still unfolding.
The Lakers and the Warriors intersected this week in a post-deadline news morsel so delicious, it almost seems like a fantasy Mad Libs of storylines from the past 15 years: The Warriors investigated the possibility of trading for LeBron James, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
Warriors governor Joe Lacob called Jeanie Buss, his counterpart with the Lakers, and inquired about James' state of mind in the wake of James' Emoji of Apparent Discontent. Buss suggested Lacob speak with Rich Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports and James' longtime representative. That conversation happened, according to Wojnarowski and Shelburne. Paul told Lacob and Mike Dunleavy Jr., Golden State's general manager, that James had no interest in any trade from the Lakers, per ESPN's reporting. But the very existence of that conversation is a highly unusual NBA bombshell.
It set imaginations whirring, even with Paul shutting down any chatter about James leaving L.A.: How good could the Warriors be with James and Curry together?
Rephrase the question: Would that theoretical team be any better than either the Lakers or Warriors are now, amid real resurgences? The James-Curry fit would be seamless, but what would be left over in Golden State?
The Lakers would surely ask for one or both of Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, two players driving the Warriors' reinvention and Golden State's last, best shot at a bridge from one Curry era to another -- and beyond. Chris Paul would likely be in the deal for salary-matching purposes. Depending on the other elements, the Warriors might also have to include one of Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson. (Given his role as trade-concoction middleman and star Klutch client, Draymond Green would presumably remain in Golden State.)
The actual Lakers, meanwhile, are 8-3 in their past 11 games with the league's No. 3 offense in that span. Some of that is fluky-hot 3-point shooting from a team that normally can't shoot straight, but the Lakers are finally going all-in playing their best four-man combination: James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. They are plus-38 in 184 minutes with those four on the floor. Going that route shifts Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish and (if he returns) Jarred Vanderbilt into more appropriate roles. Max Christie has earned minutes. Coach Darvin Ham has found the right places for Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes.
Ham could have gotten here faster, but an NBA team is a complex ecosystem.
You could lobby the same gentle critique at Warriors coach Steve Kerr -- that it should not have taken a public airing of grievances for Kerr to entrust Kuminga with more minutes and offense. But Kerr's shared history with Green, Thompson, Kevon Looney and even Wiggins makes such promotions and demotions delicate. The coaches had to figure out how to mix several shaky shooters in Kuminga, Green, this season's Wiggins, Gary Payton II and their center brigade: Which combinations could score, defend and rebound?