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LeBron James told Luka Dončić to fit out and not fit in. Of course, Kevin Love made social media gold out of that callback.
Tale of Two Cities
Dallas is losing it as new Lakers star debuts
There were two very different vibes coming out of Dallas and Los Angeles last night. Luka Dončić finally played his first game as a Laker, after the world was shocked a little over a week ago when Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison inexplicably traded Dallas’ then-franchise player. The debut of Dončić in a Lakers uniform wasn’t anything transcendent:
- He was on a minutes restriction in his first game since Christmas Day, when he injured his calf muscle.
- The 25-year-old had 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting and 1 of 7 from 3. He also had five rebounds, four assists and just one turnover in 24 minutes.
- We saw him doing flexibility exercises and riding a bike when he was out of the game in an effort to keep his body loose.
- The Lakers smacked the 12-40 Jazz by the score of 132-113, and it wasn’t even really that close.
There were a couple fun Dončić moments, but it was a pretty mundane game by his standards. Just a very nice introduction to the Lakers on the court, and a good way of getting his body back into the swing of things. The Lakers have their present with Dončić and LeBron James on the court together, and they can dream of the next decade in front of them in a way they couldn’t before this deal – unless they decide to trade him out of nowhere at some point, of course.
Juxtaposing Dončić’s debut with the energy in Dallas, things could not be more different. Anthony Davis is out for multiple weeks with an adductor strain. The Mavericks (28-26) battled the Kings (27-26) last night, blowing a 12-point lead to allow overtime. In the extra period, Dallas perfectly executed an inbound play to give Klay Thompson a perfect catch-and-shoot 3-point attempt, which he buried to take a one-point lead with 10 seconds left. But on the other end of the floor, DeMar DeRozan scored the winning bucket with two seconds left by stepping through a double team on the baseline to get his shot off.
The Kings won, 129-128, but that wasn’t the story of the night in Dallas. As Christian Clark wrote, there were multiple Mavs fans ejected from the American Airlines Center. One fan mouthed, “Fire Nico,” when shown on the jumbotron. These were the reasons the Mavericks gave for ejecting multiple fans:
“One fan brought with him “clothing, garments or signs displaying explicit language, profanity or derogatory characterization toward a person.
“The second fan wore an inappropriate T-shirt and was “intoxicated, disruptive and uncooperative.”
There were also 100 or so fans protesting ownership and Harrison’s employment prior to the game. A week and a half and multiple games into the post-Dončić era, Mavs fans are only getting bolder and more vocal in their displeasure for the organization. I’m not sure there’s been a trade in sports history as poorly received by a fan base as this one.
The Last 24
All-Star adjustments have been made
⭐ Injury replacements. Trae Young was named to the East’s All-Star roster to replace Giannis Antetokounmpo. In the West, Kyrie Irving will replace teammate Anthony Davis.
🏀 The Butler is doing it. The Warriors are 2-0 with Jimmy Butler. Steph Curry says things are a lot easier.
💆 KD moving on. Kevin Durant isn’t letting the trade rumors get to him. He says he’s not entitled to anything.
🦌 Why trade Middleton? The Bucks say they traded Khris Middleton to win this year and suggest not comparing Middleton to newly acquired Kyle Kuzma.
✍️ Harlem’s Mt. Rushmore. Read David Aldridge on the four most famous Globetrotters ever.
📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Knicks (34-18) at Pacers (29-22), 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT. The winner gets to go back and play in the 2024 conference finals.
📺 Late night option. Grizzlies (35-17) at Suns (26-26), 10 p.m. ET on TNT. Aren’t the Suns supposed to be better than the Grizzlies? I’m asking because they’re not.
Rank ‘Em!
Top three, middle three, bottom three
It’s Tuesday! You know what that means: We’re ranking the NBA’s bookends, along with the ever-controversial Nos. 14, 15 and 16. (For full Power Rankings, here are today’s by Law Murray.)
Top three: Thunder (43-9), Cavaliers (43-10), Celtics (38-16)
I’ve become a little obsessed with the dominance of the Thunder. They could end up with the highest margin of victory in NBA history and have already won by double digits 35 times. They’re on pace for 68 wins and 55 double-digit victories. (The current single-season record for the latter is 50 by the 1971-72 Lakers.) Hey, the Cavs are also dominant and on pace for 47 double-digit wins! Even though the Celtics are 5.5 games behind Cleveland, I feel like they’re right on the Cavs’ heels.
Middle three: Warriors (27-26), Pistons (27-26), Mavericks (28-26)
The Warriors are 2-2 on this six-game road trip prior to the All-Star break, but they’re 2-0 Jimmy Butler in the lineup. The two wins were against Chicago and a Milwaukee team without Antetokounmpo. Their next two games are a back-to-back against Dallas (28-26) and Houston (33-20). Both of those teams are swooning too. The Pistons have struggled to remain above .500 whenever they reach that mark, but playing their next two games in Chicago should allow them a three-game cushion heading into All-Star weekend. We’ve already discussed the Mavs’ situation and their fanbase’s discontentment right now. Missing Davis, Dereck Lively II and P.J. Washington is not helping with that.
Bottom three: Jazz (12-40), Pelicans (12-41), Wizards (9-44)
I’m going to force myself to say something positive and nice about these three bottom teams. Walker Kessler is averaging a double-double with nearly 2.5 blocks per game – only Rudy Gobert has done that in franchise history. Over the last month, Trey Murphy III is averaging 25.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists with a 67.3 percent true shooting mark. That’s absurd, even with the Pelicans losing so many games. As for the Wizards … uh … watch these old Rod Strickland highlights! Some of them happened for Washington!
Minnesota Closure?
The Wolves may have new owners. Now what?
Remember the drama surrounding ownership of the Timberwolves (30-24)? Longtime Wolvers owner Glen Taylor said then-aspiring buyers Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez didn’t make their payments in full or on time. Lore and A-Rod said they did and were within their contractual right to get final approval from the NBA and its Board of Governors to take control of the franchise. The case went to arbitration. Well, we had a ruling yesterday, and the Lore-Rodriguez group won.
Taylor made a statement, saying he and his wife were disappointed in the 2-1 ruling against them and that they’re going to review it all before making any further comments. I thought, “What better way to explain this situation than to go to our friend, Jon Krawczynski, for a little Q&A action?” He agreed to answer some questions. This should help clear up what’s next for the Wolves and all parties involved:
Was the ruling in favor of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez the best-case scenario for resolving this situation?
Krawczynski: What the Timberwolves needed more than anything was clarity. The two sides have been going at it for a year now, and everyone else in the organization was caught in the middle of it. The direction of the franchise was murky, making it difficult to chart a real path forward over the long term.
It’s important to note that Lore and Rodriguez will not take control right away. They still need to be approved by the NBA. But they are clearly ready to make some big changes should everything go as planned. They have already discussed a new arena and have been examining solutions for the regional sports network conundrum facing the Wolves and many other NBA teams. Those big-picture goals are needed for a team that plays in the NBA’s second-oldest arena.
Lore and Rodriguez will bring an entirely different energy and leadership style to the organization than Taylor, one of the last old-school owners in the league.
Do we think Glen Taylor will challenge it legally?
Krawczynski: He has not addressed his plans yet. I was told before the ruling was issued that it was unlikely he would contest it. If he does, it is an uphill battle. Technically, the ruling cannot be appealed. Taylor could take it to federal court and ask a judge to vacate the ruling, but the threshold for such an overturn is extremely high. Taylor would have to argue that one or more of the judges was compromised or that the panel overstepped its authority in the ruling that was issued. According to legal experts I’ve spoken to, that is a very difficult case to make.
If this ruling stands, what’s next for the organization?
Krawczynski: Now Lore and Rodriguez will go through the final approval process with the NBA. The league will review the groups financials and the Board of Governors will vote on whether to approve or deny them. Lore and Rodriguez need 23 of the 30 owners to vote yes to earn approval. The partners are confident that the process will be a smooth one. They have worked hard over the last several months to build support among the other owners, have set aside $950 million in an escrow account to show that they have the money and have well-heeled limited partners like Michael Bloomberg and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt backing them. Taylor has long cultivated relationships in the owner ranks over 30-plus years in the league, so we will see how it shakes out.
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(Top photo: Adam Pantozzi / Getty Images )
