What if I told you there wasn’t just one tape that brought Donald Sterling down, but hundreds of them? And we have some you’ve never heard before in this five-part
@30for30
podcast that drops Tuesday! You can listen to the trailer and subscribe now at
Reporting w/
@wojespn
: The Golden State Warriors are taking “every legal course of action” to discover how video of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during a scuffle at practice on Wednesday was made public, sources told ESPN.
JaVale McGee has agreed to return to the Lakers, where he’ll likely start at center, league sources tell ESPN. It’s a two-year, $8.2 million deal, with a player option.
The Knicks and owner Jim Dolan were not prepared to offer Kevin Durant a full max contract due to concerns over his recovery from the Achilles injury, league sources tell me and
@wojespn
. Knicks officials are in Los Angeles tonight, meeting with free agents such as Julius Randle.
Kobe Bryant didn't just have an iron will or unyielding confidence in himself. He believed he could bend the universe to his will.
And dammit, he often did.
For two decades, footage from the Bulls “Last Dance” sat in a vault in Secaucus, NJ. Michael Jordan controlled the rights, and wasn’t ready to make a documentary. But on the day of the Cavs championship parade in 2016, he finally said yes.
Would be nice if some of Serena’s male counterparts had her back and admitted they’ve said a lot worse to the umpire. I know I’ve heard A LOT worse from NBA players directed at refs.
Speaking to residents in Calabasas who heard the helicopter crash this morning that killed Kobe Bryant describing it as “a falling noise” and that you could tell “something was wrong”
Nearly a month has passed since Kobe died, and the finality of it is still sinking in.
It's as unbelievable to read now as it was when the news broke on Jan. 26. The headline was like a cognitive break. Monday the world will try to find the right words.
And then there’s this amazing quote from Hakeem Olajuwon. “I know from his last name that we are from the same tribe, the Yoruba tribe. His last name, which in Yoruba is spelled Adetokunbo, means ‘the crown has returned from overseas,’ ” Olajuwon said.
Joel Embiid, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, has committed to play for Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Embiid informed Team USA executive director Grant Hill of his decision on Thursday morning, sources said, just days after the two…
Lakers officially informed LiAngelo Ball he will not be on their Summer League team last night. They were determined to make this a basketball decision but as one source put it, “obviously there’s more to it than basketball.” In other words— the LaVar effect was real.
Just spoke to dunk contest judge
@common
who tells
@ESPN
, “We thought it was going to be tied. We were like, ‘This is a tie’ ...But somebody didn’t do it right. I don’t know who it is.” 👀👀👀
The Bucks drafted & developed Giannis. Then they built a stadium and team around him that convinced him to stay. Now they’ve won a title. That’s a great example for any franchise in any sport.
Jason Kidd tells ESPN that Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo called him about 15 minutes before Kidd was officially notified he'd been fired by the Bucks and offered to help save his job.
Just spoke to Nicole Curran, the wife of Warriors owner Joe Lacob, about the “incident “ with Beyoncé last night. She was in tears. Said she had been getting death threats on social media all night this morning she disabled her IG account just to make it stop.
If you need any reminder that the NBA is a business, the Warriors trading Andre Iguodala to Memphis to clear out room for DLo is it. There’s deep sadness in Golden State at the prospect of this group w/out him. He’s held in extremely high regard by the staff & players.
The Lakers all planned to congregate at their facility last night for free agent calls. Magic was expected to be there. Instead he was at LeBron’s house— closing.
Paul George called to congratulate Kawhi Leonard on winning a championship and then “it took on a life of its own.” After countless text messages, phone calls and two meetings at Drake’s house 👀, they were both home in LA. Here’s why that meant so much to George.
For the Lakers this is a massive gamble on one year with Anthony Davis & LeBron James. I say gamble because all you have to do is look back at their recent history—the Dwight Howard, Steve Nash trades— to see how this could go very wrong. But if it goes right....!?
Here’s what I wanna say about the Harden-D’Antoni-Morey era Rockets. They went for it. In an era where several teams seemed to want to wait out the Golden State dynasty. Houston constantly took big swings, trying to challenge them. We should respect that.
He’s here! A little past his due date, but so worth waiting for 😊 Clearly he just wanted to be an October kid. We hear it’s a good month for baseball and babies ⚾️ Please welcome Daniel Charlie Barich to the world. He made his debut on October 2 at 6:24 pm at 8 lbs, 7 oz
Kevin Durant is out for at least Game 1 of the WCF, source tells ESPN. He’s not being re-evaluated until Thursday so it’s “unlikely “ he plays Game 2 either.
The NBA has entered into exploratory conversations with the Walt Disney Corporation about restarting the remainder of its season at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida in late July, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said Saturday.
Magic Johnson says he will help the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency in any way he can, but he is not permitted by NBA rules to be part of official team meetings with prospective free agents. Johnson said he has not been asked by the Lakers or owner Jeanie Buss to participate.
The last time an NBA game was cancelled under such circumstances was in 2013 after the Boston Marathon bombings. Before that, you have to go back to the Kennedy assasination.
Amazing to see
@MarcGasol
coming back to the Lakers, the team that originally drafted him... traded him for his older brother... now coming back to LA where he can hang with Pau ... and Pau’s newborn daughter.
On the morning of July 1st Lakers controlling owner
@JeanieBuss
woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. If
@KingJames
chose the
@Lakers
everything she’d done to remake the franchise would be validated. If he didn’t...
“The people that questioned whether he wanted to get back and play were wrong. He’s one of the most misunderstood people. He’s a good teammate and I’m lucky to know him. “ Bob Myers on Kevin Durant
Brooklyn Nets forward Ben Simmons and Klutch Sports have mutually decided to part ways, sources told ESPN. Simmons had been represented by Klutch since he came into the NBA as the No. 1 pick in 2016. The agency negotiated his five-year $177 million extension in 2019.
How did Adam Silver, then the head of NBA Entertainment, convince MJ to film the 97-98 season? He gave him the one thing that mattered—control. “Our agreement will be that neither one of us can use this footage without the other's permission," Silver said.
Five years ago Adam Silver debuted as NBA commissioner. Since then he’s been approached by NFL owners several times about running football. He said no.
Some more context to the Magic-LeBron meeting Saturday night. LBJ was already strongly considering the Lakers but wanted to look Magic in the eye and see if they could find a trust before making a decision, per sources close to the situation.
The Heat is still working on options to complete the Jimmy Butler sign and trade with Philadelphia, according to a league source. Out of respect for Goran Dragic, the Heat are working with him and his representatives to find a trade partner by July 6.
Golden State is trading Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies, league source tells ESPN. Warriors are sending a 2024 protected first-round pick in the 2024 (protected 1-4), 2025 (protected 1) and 2026 unprotected.
Duncan Robinson wasn’t even a good high school player. Now he’s one of the best 3-point shooters in the league. Here’s how he went from Division III to the NBA, and how Heat coach Erik Spoelstra helped him believe he belonged.
Paul George asked the Thunder for a trade within the last few days, and according to sources OKC felt it had no choice but to find a deal to reboot, rather than risk a bad situation all year long with an unhappy star
Sixers All Star center Joel Embiid, who has a three-month-old-son, told ESPN he plans to self quarantine from his family until he is certain he didn’t contract the virus. Embiid sat next to Curry during the game.
Curry spent the first quarter on bench before Sixers were made aware of a positive test, sources said. Curry then left the court-area and headed into isolation.
The Portland Trailblazers are in agreement with free agent forward Jerami Grant on a 5-year, $160 million contract, his agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells ESPN.
Much will be made of the Lakers and Raptors end of this. But as of about 2 hours before Leonard chose the Clippers Friday night, his camp was asking the Lakers to delay the AD trade until Sat/Sun, sources tell ESPN. No reason given. Just a condition.
For eight months Warriors owner Joe Lacob has worked on a secret project, “Operation Dub Nation:” safely return fans amidst the pandemic. The team is prepared to spend $30 million to test 10,000 on game days with a rapid test that’s 99 percent accurate.
Gonna be interesting to see the details on the Picks LA just gave NOLA. From what I understand the Pelicans didn’t want Lakers FRP next year. But through pick swaps they essentially have control of the Lakers draft for the next 7 years.
Philadelphia 76ers star
@JoelEmbiid
has decided to pledge $500K to COVID-19 medical relief—to help survival and protection efforts in the community. AND he’s committed to helping Sixers employees who will suffer financial hardship in light of the franchise’s salary reductions.
Update from this morning’s story. The Lakers re-engaged the Spurs Wednesday in aggressively pursuing Kawhi Leonard. Story w/
@wojespn
coming shortly on ESPN. This is the first contact between the teams since the Spurs “shut the door” on them after an initial call.
Kobe Bryant has been a part of the Lakers for 20 years. Most employees knew him well and are grieving. It was a lot to ask to come in for an event of this magnitude while things were so raw.
The Lakers meeting with Kawhi Leonard was Tues afternoon at a hotel in Westlake Village. Only Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka were there, at KL’s request. The location had been switched from El Segundo, at KL’s request, w/ in 24 hrs. It appears KL met with PG, nearby, same day.
The Lakers couldn’t call anyone when they learned of the crash that killed Kobe and 8 others. There were still 3 hours to go on their flight home. All they had was each other. Here’s how everyone made it through the awful week that followed.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob “I have experienced a lot since owning this team. Some lows and many highs. Tonight was incredible pride in the resiliency of our team. And respect for KD coming back with our backs against the wall. But I am also so unbelievably sad about the KD injury.”
Here’s a quick breakdown: Magic (no longer employed by the Lakers) and Anthony Davis (not yet a Laker) can call, meet, text, FT with Kawhi or other FAs on their own. They just can’t formally represent or be part of Lakers meeting.
James Worthy on the postgame show after the Lakers triple OT loss to the Kings. “I just want to go home....that is not team basketball. That is not a winning formula.”
LeBron James had a gym built for him on the Warner Bros lot this summer when he was filming Space Jam 2. Each morning he’d work out before filming— the first sign he had a lot to say still. This weekend was his loudest statement yet.
Curran says she then went to go get them those drinks. “There was no hostility. I was trying to be a good hostess,” she said. “I’ve never experienced cyber bullying like this. I can’t believe our players go through this. That kids go through this.“
Johnson says “A friend of mine called and says Kawhi wants to meet with you,” Johnson told ESPN. “I said no problem. I’m available if that’s what this man wants.
“But I got a great life. I’m not trying to mess with anybody’s job.”
The Lakers have decided they will not hire a President of Basketball Operations to replace Magic Johnson, a team source told ESPN.
General manager Rob Pelinka will continue in his role, reporting directly to ownership. Pelinka had previously reported to Johnson
Reporting with
@wojespn
The San Antonio Spurs’ release of guard Josh Primo – the No. 12 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft --- stemmed from multiple alleged instances of Primo exposing himself to women.
When Anthony Davis went to the 2012 Olympics, Kobe Bryant told his father, “'Mr. Davis, I got your boy with me. I'm taking the young fella under my wing. He's going everywhere I go.' And that's what he did. Wherever Kobe went, Anthony went.'”
The Sixers are not planning to extend Tyrese Maxey this summer, sources told ESPN. He is still seen as a big part of their future, but the team wants to delay an extension for him to preserve flexibility.
Russell Westbrook trade home to the Lakers on Thursday wasn’t two weeks in the making. It was two years in the making. Here’s how Kawhi Leonard helped changed the course of Westbrook’s story, and the NBA.
Curran says Jay Z asked for a vodka soda. She asked if he wanted lime with that. But it was loud in Oracle and she couldn’t hear, so she leaned over. That’s where the photos of Beyoncé looking askance at her come from.
Paul George called to congratulate Kawhi Leonard on winning a championship and then “it took on a life of its own.” After countless text messages, phone calls and two meetings at Drake’s house 👀, they were both home in LA. Here’s why that meant so much.
Yes. So far, the Lakers have felt conversations with New Orleans have been one-sided and they are growing increasingly pessimistic about the Pelicans willingness to do a deal with them.
Lakers president Magic Johnson has New Orleans engaged in talks on Anthony Davis, but must still overcome significant support within the Pelicans organization to let Thursday's trade deadline expire with the All-Star remaining on the roster. Story on ESPN:
Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes said of his meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks.
"They just wanted to know what they could do," Barnes said. "They wanted something tangible that they could do in the short and long term. They wanted the walk out to be Step 1."