First off its a long read, but if you haven’t already go read Baxter Holmes’ excellent story on the Lakers utter dysfunction. Its nothing short of bizarre that a billion dollar business is run this way. With Magic stepping down as Lakers President, his sniping back and forth with current Lakers GM Rob Pelinka through the media, the owner of the team Jeanie Buss appearing completely checked out, and all other sorts of nonsense, LeBron has essentially become King of the ashes in LA.
Lets start with Magic. After suddenly and bizarrely resigning via a rambling impromptu press conference, more and more details have started to come out. He is described throughout Holmes’ story as having a “striking duality to his personality.” When he was even in the office that is. Some days he would grab ass and work his charm, other days he would blow up on a staffer for booking the wrong rental car.
What. A. Prick. This is a prime example of a boss thats in way over his head, blowing up on employees to make themselves feel like they’re in charge.
This story also drops in on familiar face Rich Paul (LeBron’s agent) who is no stranger to dysfunction and maintains a prominent role in LA. Just as he did in Cleveland, Paul and much of the Klutch team meddled in the affairs of the team on behalf of LeBron to bitch about the coach, the management, the roster and everything else the King didn’t like. And shocker, it sunk the team’s chemistry or at the very least any chance the Lakers ever had at a professional work environment.
This is why people around here have bashed LeBron for years. Not because he isn’t a great player. He is incredible and I watch him play every chance he’s on national TV. But, the guy rocks the boat everywhere he goes and when things go south he cops out with quotes like “I’m not the GM.” It’s why he left Miami. He wanted the all-access pass for his boys (who were on the payroll as official team employees in Cleveland and in LA) and Pat Riley told him to take a fucking hike.
Then theres GM Rob Pelinka who at best is just a space case filling air time with whatever pops into his head. At worst he’s the snake that Magic *buried* on First Take and a guy who lies just to lie. Like this story about the time that Kobe saw The Dark Knight and became infatuated with Heath Ledger. So much so that Pelinka says he arranged a dinner with Kobe and Ledger, except for the fact that Ledger was in fact already deceased at this point in time.
Then theres the blatant lies he tells his own employees. Lies that are very, very easily debunked so you’d have to be a sociopath to just freewheel with stuff like this.
It sounds like Magic and Pelinka deserve each other.
And then theres the Queen Bee Jeanie Buss who sounds like she is running this team like a second semester senior in college. Paying less attention to whats happening in the organization that I would in NBA2K.
Good luck Lakers fans because it sounds like you’re in for some dark days. That is unless another NBA mega star decides they just want to play in Southern Cali and bail the Lakers out of completely mismanaging their team which happens again (Shaq) and again (Derek Fisher) and again (LeBron James).
Either way, dumpster fire was a compliment compared to what this team really is; an unmitigated disaster.
Joey B and Red react to the news that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will both have their kids transferring to the same high school to play ball together. Time really is a flat circle, huh?
Joey B: Hey Red,
To kick things off, where on the scale of Jonathan Moxon’s Dad – Stage Parents do Bron and Wade fall here in terms of winning vicariously through your, in this case, high school basketball player?
Red:
This is simply LeBron reading all of my criticisms of him and the NBA at large for its way too chummy AAU culture and doubling down on the death of competition. Where’s the killer instinct? Idk maybe its because I was always the smaller, less skilled, underdog on all my teams, but I would much rather be leading my hometown public high school to a state title than teaming up with a bunch of other rich kids to go 82-0. Its not like LeBron Jr. needs the exposure for recruiting either!
Joey B:
Ya you make a good point. What is there really to be gained by going undefeated and beating these teams with 6’1 Centers 148-26? It’s like Bron shot DWade a “hey know what’d be fun text?” text and DWade didn’t have the heart to say “…why?” (There was no way this was Wade’s idea).It’s insane that this concept has trickled down to H.S sports though. Whose next? Would you want to see Matt Stafford Jr. chuckin to Megatron III?
Red:
At least LeBron Jr. didn’t get completely cucked like his dad and transfer to D Wade’s son’s school. But this is how Hollywood became a thing. All the best of the best just moved to one part of the world and claimed it for themselves as the entertainment capital. Sounds great right? Except when it creates a gigantic bubble of entitlement and they’re all worse off for it. Learn some adversity guys, it’ll help you in the long run.
Joey B:
Haha totally. It’s almost like Lebron and Wade are becoming a two-headed Lavar Ball. Our sons are playing TOGETHER. In HIGH SCHOOL. Then in COLLEGE. Then in the NBA.
It would be hysteeeeeeerical if either/or/both didn’t pan out and they ended up on the fringes of Lithuanian professional basketball.
Red:
Man not to go off in a completely different tangent, but Lavar Ball is a FORCE of nature. The man just speaks things into existence. He predicted his son would get drafted by the Lakers, he predicted on Colin Cowherd’s show the dumpster fire we’re seeing with Magic and the Lakers now, and he even had me believing all three sons would play in the NBA together. Well once the Big Baller Brand shoe company imploded I had to take a step back, but you just know Lavar will not stop. As a marketing man, I respect it.
Anyways, way to put mountains of pressure on your kids guys. I don’t really know how good these kids are supposed to be so I could be totally wrong here, but just look at Michael Jordan’s son, who’s name is Jeffrey Michael Jordan by the way because MJ is a fucking psychopath. He played at Central Florida and was never going to live up to his dad’s legacy, but at least MJ didn’t shine a goddamn light on the kid just waiting for him to fail in front of millions of people.
Joey B:
Lavar Ball is a categorical piece of shit. /thread.
But in general, even if the kids are supported and nurtured in the right way, imagine the pressure. I mean look what happened to Vince Wilfork’s kid (not linking to it out of respect, you have google). Even if the parent does everything right, if they were a fucking superstar it cannot be easy trying to grow and thrive in that shadow. Hence why really not a lot of start athlete’s kids have made it.
I can think of Prince Fielder and the Long brothers….and that’s it. Kind of a startling statistic.
Red:
I’ve read rumors about how LeBron wants to play until he’s 40 because it would give him the opportunity to play with his son, assuming he’s actually good enough to reach the league. Sort of like Ken Griffey Sr. playing with Ken Griffey Jr. and hitting back to back bombs. I’m not a huge LeBron fan obviously, but it would be pretty cool to see an old ass LeBron Sr. throwing an alley oop dunk up for LeBron Jr.
Joey B:
Yaaaa I can’t stand him and even I have to admit that’d be pretty cool.
Speaking of which zero percent chance Vlad Jr.’s team couldn’t do with a cannon armed outfielder off the bench. Maybe Sr. can’t hit anymore but they still could be on the field at the same time COME ON.
Red:
Love Vlad, but he aged like a can of beer in my trunk. Guy was hobbling around like he was on stilts by his early 30s.
TLDR; Moral of the blog? Have professional athletes for parents and you’re golden!
Remember when Red wrote a wonderful blog regarding the schadenfreude we as Boston fans were feeling as we watched the entire LA Lakers organization implode? That was not even a fortnight (apparently we’re just using that now, shouts GOT) ago and already it seems that Red’s musing were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Below what doomed Jack Dawson to an icy grave lay even greater and more fundamentally devastating risks to Lakers basketball mortality.
That’s saying something. I mean Red already touched on the fact that Pelinka was a tumor in that organization. Jeanie Buss is listening to everyone and everything except logic and basketball sense. Add that to the fact that it seems like NBA players have woken up to the fact that playing for noted top-5 global narcissist Lebron James maybe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and man, things were already pretty bad.
Now out comes these stories where Pelinka seems like not just a piece of shit, but an absolute lunatic. First you have all the stories of Pelinka quoting the Bible in reference to players like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Just sort of out there references better fit for a WWE ring than the NBA. Now you have this story about Pelinka arranging for Kobe to have dinner with Heather Ledger after he was so enamored with Ledger’s performance in “The Dark Knight.” The only problem is the only time Kobe was in New York after the movie came out was a full year after Ledger died. So that would have been tough to say the least.
To recap, the Lakers are owned and operated by an increasingly isolated owner getting bad advice from possibly worse advisors. Their star player is an egomaniac who doesn’t seem to have the clout or magnetism in the league he once did to get players to come play with him, and the other guy involved is a snakelike pathological liar who quotes the Bible in reference to point guards. Got it.
Red already said the Lakers were a dumpster fire. That fire has now spread.
The Celtics are at a crossroads after that disastrous end to a confounding season. Going into the year, just about everyone had the C’s pegged to win 60+ games and take Golden State to 6 games if not outright win the title. It all made sense too. Boston went to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year without Gordon Hayward and without Kyrie Irving. Plus they match up with Golden State better than any other team in the NBA. It seemed like a virtual lock for the C’s to make the Finals, or at the very least the ECF. Welp, the team came out of the gates slow, publicly bitched and moaned about each other, and never got on track en route to finishing as the No. 4 seed. That was all before sweeping a Victor Oladipo-less Pacers and ultimately getting their skulls caved in by Giannis and the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks.
NOW, this brings me to my main point. Kyrie Irving has been a pain in the ass all year long, from the bizarre flat earth trolling, to saying the Celtics *needed* another veteran player, to openly questioning the coach, to publicly bitching about the young guys, to calling LeBron for advice, and now infamously punting on the regular season while looking ahead to the playoffs. As we all know, Kyrie had an excellent Game 1 (12/21 – 26 pts) before having all-time shit bombs of games the rest of the series. He statistically got worse as the series went on going 4/18 – 9 pts in Game 2, 8/22 – 29 pts in Game 3, 7/22 – 23 pts in Game 4, and 6/21 – 15 PTS in Game 5.
Jesus christ.
That all brings up the question of will Kyrie re-sign with the Celtics this summer? It also brings up the question I never imagined I would ask; do the Celtics even want to re-sign Kyrie Irving?
The Celtics are now the third favorite according to Las Vegas in terms of where Kyrie ends up this summer, behind the Nets and the Knicks. So it would seem like the Celtics have two options if they do indeed want Kyrie back. They can offer him the max and hope he wants to build a legacy in Boston (as his motherfucking Nike commercial would make it seem)
and then trade anyone on the roster not named Hayward (Horford’s probably gone due to matching salaries) for Anthony Davis. Thats not *as* risky as it sounds because at least it would be a plan that only goes into action after Kyrie re-signs. But you’re still trading half your team including Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for a one year run at it with Kyrie and Davis and hoping Davis then re-ups. After this year I’m not so sure I want to bank on a guy enjoying his time in Boston enough to sign a max deal.
The other option is to do what the Warriors did in 2014 with Klay Thompson. Play it out. The Warriors were reportedly on the brink of trading Thompson for Kevin love to “put them over the top” before they evolved into the dynasty they are today. The Warriors had gone from a disaster of a team to a pretty good squad with a new coach in Steve Kerr, yet one that still felt a player or two away. Luckily Kerr, and most importantly, Jerry West advised the Golden State GM of nixing the deal and the Warriors promptly turned into an all-time team led by Steph Curry and an even better Klay Thompson.
I bring this scenario up because I see a ton of similarities between 2014 Klay Thompson and 2019 Jayson Tatum. Thompson had just finished up his third season in 2013-14; Tatum just finished his second. Klay was a key piece in a potential trade for an “established all-star big man” as Tatum is now. Not to mention the numbers. Take a look at Klay’s first 2 years compared to Tatum’s.
Uncanny.
People sleep on Klay Thompson because he’s not the star of the show in Golden State, but theres a reason the best basketball team of my generation is going to offer him a max (if not super max) contract at 12:01 am on July 1st.
“Irving may stay, Irving may go, but the referendum on Tatum’s career is coming no matter what. A year ago, the then-rookie looked like an MVP candidate-to-be, but a season of floating around on offense, settling for midrange jumpers, and getting IRL subtweeted has sent many a Tatum stan retreating into the bushes. It’s worth noting that Tatum actually improved in his sophomore season—virtually all of his raw totals are up, and while his scoring efficiency is down, expecting Steph Curry–level shooting from 3 again, even on low volume, was a bit ambitious. Punctuating any Tatum commentary, good or bad, with his age has become the internet’s favorite gag for two years running, but here’s the thing: He’s only 21—and was only 20 for most of this season. Only five players 20 or younger averaged 15 points or more this season, and Tatum had the highest effective field goal rating of anyone of them who didn’t always shoot right at the basket. Tatum hasn’t been great, but it’s worth remembering that it took Brandon Ingram only a couple of games this spring to regain traction before a fluke blood clot issue derailed the rest of his season.”
Now Tatum may have not been the 20 ppg guy everyone expected him to be in Year 2, but that may not be fair just because he dominated in the playoffs the year before. Not to mention he had to adjust to playing with guys like Hayward and Kyrie. Would the Celtics be better off letting Kyrie walk and giving Tatum more time and space to grow into the player we all think he could be?
ESPN– “A Birmingham City fan has been jailed for 14 weeks after pleading guilty to assaulting Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish during the derby between the sides on Sunday. Paul Mitchell, 27, swung a punch at Grealish when the player’s back was turned after Mitchell ran onto the pitch at Birmingham City’s St. Andrew’s stadium during the Championship match.
Mitchell, from Rubery, Worcestershire, also admitted to invading the pitch and has been banned from attending any football match in the U.K. for 10 years. He was also ordered to pay £350 in fines. The incident happened in the 10th minute of the match between the rivals as Grealish walked away from the stands when the ball went out for a corner. He required no further treatment and went on to score the winning goal for Aston Villa in the second half.”
Now, I’m not generally one for promoting morons running onto the field and streaking and all that jazz. I find it annoying and disruptive to the game, and they rarely do anything exciting aside from getting lit up by security guards (which admittedly can be pretty hilarious). However, if you’re going to do it, you might as well get your moneys worth and punch someone you hate in the face. Did you see the way that guy was celebrating as he was being escorted off the field? He was damn proud of himself, and for that, I’m proud of him too.
The big question becomes, is it worth it? There’s a lot of people I’d like to punch, but not all of those people would I want to spend 3.5 months in jail for on top of a $400 fine and disbarment from attending live games for a decade. In order to risk all that, I’d really have to pick my punches, so to speak. Unfortunately for Paul Mitchell, Grealish got the last laugh as he scored the game winning goal later on in the game, which is admittedly pretty badass on his part. Without any further ado, here’s my list:
7. DAVID PRICE
For anyone who’s a Sox fan, I would think a lot of people agree with this. Although he may have slightly redeemed himself with the World Series run this year, he still pisses me off a lot. Whether it’s because he’s getting in fights with the legendary Eck, throwing 5 out duds in the playoffs, or gaming hard enough to miss games, he’s as irritating as they come for players are actually important to a team. If he sucked, we could just cut him. But since he’s good enough to want to keep around, I’ll settle with a shot to the jaw.
6. LANE JOHNSON
I bet he had a lot of fun not winning a Super Bowl this year. This guy’s obsession with the Patriots is hilarious, and while he revels in beating us one time, we can rest easy knowing he’ll never be on a team as good as that Eagles team that won two years ago. He can run his mouth as much as he wants, but if I had a chance, I’d punch that fucking mouth.
5. BRYCE HARPER
What a frat boy douche. I will admit, there are times in his press conferences that make me laugh, but it’s usually a “what a dumb idiot” kind of laugh. This guy is such a douche he named his dog Swag. If that’s not enough, he’s also the quintessential dipshit bro that describes himself as Hercules and takes 30 minutes to do his hair before games. On top of that, it looks like his jaw was sculpted for punching. I mean, look at that angular monstrosity jammed to the bottom of his mouth just begging for a left hook!
4. NDAMUKONG SUH
This one is a little tough to put here, mainly because of everyone on this list, he’s the one who would murder me the hardest. However, he does make it because if we were to give me the o’ one punch KO at least I’d be too dead to go to jail and pay a fine. That having been said, dude’s a cheap-shotting asshole who probably shouldn’t be in the league anymore. What else is there to say?
3. LEBRON JAMES
It may surprise some people that I only have Lebron at number 3. The truth is, since joining the Lakers, he hasn’t bothered me nearly as much. He’s finally gonna miss the playoffs, he’s one year closer to being too old, and his record off the court is impeccable. Not once has he ever been in an off-the-court scandal the likes of which so many other players fall victim to these days. However, the fact that he’s a known flopper and denies it to all hell, takes plays off on defense and blames his teammates, thinks his ring with the Cavs makes him the GOAT even though he’s 3-5 in the finals and has always been a frontrunner (until signing with the Lakers), and has been the bane of the Celtics existence for the last ten years makes me want to punch his god damn face so fucking bad.
2. ANY WHITE DUKE BASKETBALL PLAYER EVER
Fuck all these guys. A bunch of gritty, obnoxious, punchable punks who rarely if ever become anything more than a role player in the NBA. From Grayson Allen to John Scheyer, JJ Redick to Greg Paulus, all these guys spend 4 years being dicks for Duke before eventually going on to not make the NBA or make sure the bench stays warm. JJ Redick is the main exception to this, and he still pisses me off to this day. And now he’s got that ridiculous sleeve that makes him look less tough than if he didn’t even have tattoos. Seriously, how is that possible? Then you have Grayson Allen, who despite not doing anything since coming to the NBA still drives me crazy for all the shoe untying, pants pulling sac taps he pulled off in his career at Duke. He’s like a dweebier version of Lance Stephenson, and with a much more punchable face. I’ll say it again, Fuck all these guys.
Curt Schilling
And our champion of the guys I’d like to punch in the face tournament, Curt Schilling. Now I know he hasn’t been an athlete for 10 years, and his bloody sock game is one of the best performances in Red Sox history, but I still can’t stand this guy. I respect the hell out of him as a player, but the rest of him can go screw. When he was playing, he had a tendency to be a dick in his morning interviews and blame it in on how he just woke up (maybe try scheduling them for when you’re awake? Just a thought). He is an arrogant, self-righteous prick that made enemies in the clubhouse, in the media and with management everywhere he went. One time when I worked at Best Buy back in college, he came in to buy a bunch of video games for his charity (I’ll give him that one), and my managers took me off the register because they were afraid I’d call him a douche to his face.
But despite being nearly universally hated, screwing over nearly 400 employees and conning $75 million out of the state of Rhode Island, he had the gall to run for political office and think anyone would vote for him? I would trade in all my punches from everyone else on this list to punch Curt in the face just once. Screw you, Schilling.
The 300s boys are back in the podcast studio discussing everything from the manic Celtics to the Red Sox inching closer to Opening Day, some good old fashioned Vegas gambling stories, and the Pats are jumping right into the offseason. Lets goo!
– Celtics Rise Like a Phoenix from the Ashes on the West Coast
– What is up with Kyrie? Miserable malcontent one day and then all happy go lucky after the Lakers game.
– Red Sox inching closer to Opening Day
– Best sporting events to bet on? March madness? Just betting 10 football games every Sunday?
Deadline – OBB Pictures and Denver Broncos all-pro linebacker Von Miller are teaming on a half-hour animated comedy project titled Mars Martians, about the NFL’s first expansion team on Mars. Miller will voice the lead role and serve as an executive producer on the potential series, which is being written by Maxwell Theodore Vivian (The Cool Kids).
“VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!”
I’ve been yelling that at my TV for just under ten years now, whenever Von Miller lays out a QB or chases one into a bad decision. I don’t really know why I’ve always had an affinity for the bespectacled, pass rushing demon. I think part of it was that he looked that much more dominant and that much faster, even in real-time, than really any player I had watched before. Also part of it was that this was his college career and that he played for the Aggies, who I have always liked as they aren’t what you’d call a perennial National Title contender and had an underdog team back then that you could get behind. My fan-hood got complicated for a few years as we had a brief rivalry with Miller’s Broncos. Yes, in case you didn’t know he now terrorizes those under center to a similar degree of success as he did in college. But then Fuckhead With the Big Forehead retired, the Broncos receded to an extent, and I got to go back to rooting for Von’s personal success from afar.
And now this. What seems to be a pretty big deal (I don’t think Deadline covers bullshit) of an animated series has cast none other than Von Miller, who has shown a flair for acting/commercials in recent years. The show is about the son of an NFL legend, who, while crushed by that pressure and has underachieved to start his career, is sent to play with a gang of misfits on the NFL’s Mars (do you capitalize planets?) expansion team. Sounds sort of like “The Longest Yard” and the “The Replacements”. Either way I’m not a HUGE animation guy but shows like “Archer” and “F Is For Family” have convinced me to give these kinds of things a try.
But lets address the most important part of this endeavor. The part that will really drive the nail home for my and Von Miller’s relationship.
HAHAHAHAHHAHA FUCK YOU LEBRON!
This is fucking RICH. You think you’re going to come back and fill MJ’s shoes in “Kind of Space Jam 2” when an athlete who is THREE THOUSAND times more likable is already starring in a series about playing sports in an intergalactic capacity? Do you think you’re little foray onto the big screen is going to be nearly successful when you have a show like this up and, by the time your stink bomb is being made, there are full-fledged international superstars in your sport like Giannis, Zion, etc. that would be better faces to sell it than you? Think again KING!
Hats off to Von Miller for landing this. It honestly sounds like a cool/possibly funny show. Hats off to whoever came up with it.
If you’re a frequent reader of #RushHourRap then you know I am a J. Cole stan. Ever since I first heard The Warm Up mixtape in 2009. J. Cole has always been one of the best live performers in the game. I’ve seen him live multiple times from small venues like the Paradise in Boston where I saw him for $1 to watching him at the Garden where he performed his entire show sitting on a stool. And every time Jermaine brings it. Every damn day. He did just that last night in the place I least expected it; the NBA All-Star game.
In an era where so many artists routinely mumble, lipsync and sleepwalk their way through live performances, @JColeNC brings it every damn day. Even at the NBA #AllStarGame
Performing in his throwback Hornets starter jacket just a few miles from his hometown, J. Cole played for over 10 minutes straight with maybe 2 or 3 breaths taken the entire time. He didn’t show up and just play some of the hits and the hooks, he rapped some of his best stuff showcasing his lyrical ability to a bunch of people who probably weren’t expecting it. He legitimately killed it at an event best known for partying, mediocre dunk contests, tampering player recruitment, and the absence of defense.
Even LeBron had to stop and watch the show.
I was gonna say theres no way these guys are missing a free J Cole show so they can talk about their defensive effort at halftime in the locker room https://t.co/JRDFe5OBQZ
Have a weekend J. Cole. First it was helping out Dennis Smith, then nearly showing up every scrub in the NBA dunk contest to now putting on the best halftime show I’ve seen in a long time.
ESPN – Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand called Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson on Monday afternoon to apologize for insinuating in a radio interview that the Lakers had called — unprompted — to ask permission for Johnson to speak with Sixers forward Ben Simmons, league sources told ESPN.
In the interview with 97.5 The Fanatic on Monday morning, Brand said, “[Lakers GM] Rob Pelinka called me and said that Ben wanted to talk to Hall of Famers after the season; Magic was on the list. He asked for authorization … I said no.”
Brand did not mention in that interview that someone from the Sixers, at the urging of both of Simmons’ brothers, had contacted Pelinka first, which is what prompted Pelinka’s call to Brand.
Granted I’m a 90s kid so I never grew up watching Magic Johnson, but I just don’t see the same aura around him that someone 10 or 15 years older than me might. With that being said, I am constantly in awe of how this guy just gets people falling all over themselves to kiss his ass.
I have a developing theory that Magic is in fact the Keyser Soze of the NBA.
He tampers with their kids, he tampers with their wives, he tampers with their parents and their parents’ friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he tampers with people that owe them money. And like that he was gone. Underground. Nobody has ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that NBA GMs tell their kids at night.
Did you know that you can’t find a single clip of his old Magic 8 Ball segment on ESPN? The one where he struggled to speak complete coherent sentences, yet is now the President of the Lakers? Yea well they’ve all been scrubbed from the internet.
Okay so just a quick recap for anyone that is a little out of the loop. Ben Simmons is a player that LeBron James has publicly coveted for a long time and after Simmons signed with LeBron’s Rich Paul’s agency Klutch Sports, many thought LeBron was headed for Philly. Obviously that didn’t happen as LeBron went to LA, but the two now share the same agent.
LeBron and Magic proceeded to tamper with other young big name players like Anthony Davis, also a Rich Paul client, with rumors and leaks and very public trade requests. AD didn’t get moved as the Pelicans hold out hope for the holy shit mega deluxe package from Danny Ainge and the Celtics.
Now most recently, Sixers GM Elton Brand came out and said the Lakers asked to speak to Ben Simmons, which obviously set off massive tampering alarms right? Well not really as the league has seemingly turned a blind eye to Magic Johnson in the same way everyone in Boston used to adoringly say oh thats just Manny Being Manny every time Manny Ramirez did something moronic.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN on Monday, “The league office is looking into whether any contact took place between Ben Simmons and the Los Angeles Lakers that violated NBA rules.”
Brand told ESPN earlier Monday that Simmons simply wanted the Sixers to help him facilitate “chatting with some of the game’s all-time greats.”
So a little bit more context to that story came out today. Allegedly Ben Simmons wanted to have a meeting with his (and LeBron’s) agent and Magic Johnson, the President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers (whom LeBron plays for) to just chat about basketball. All of this with everyone in the world knowing that LeBron has pined after Simmons, Simmons signed with the same agent and lifelong friend of LeBron, and now they all want to have a meeting with Magic Johnson, who has repeatedly gotten into dubious situations regarding tampering.
Got all that?
Well if you’re the Sixers GM you’re probably pretty pissed off about the whole thing right? Well you’d be wrong because today HE apologized to Magic Johnson for the whole situation.
I don’t get it. This is how the Lakers routinely wind up with the best players in the league despite offering nothing but nice weather and poor management. Magic has got guys apologizing to him after trying to steal their players. Got it.
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The 300s 