Pacific Notes: Paul, Simon, Abdul-Jabbar, Durant

The Clippers view San Antonio as a serious threat to sign Chris Paul this summer, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. “Mutual interest” between Paul and the Spurs was suggested earlier this week by ESPN’s Zach Lowe, and L.A. officials see that as a concern despite San Antonio’s lack of cap space. Paul is expected to use an early-termination option and hit the free agent market. He is eligible for a five-year deal worth about $205MM from the Clippers and four years at roughly $152MM from anyone else. The Spurs only have about $10MM in cap room right now, with Dewayne Dedmon ($3MM) and David Lee ($1.6MM) both owning player options.

There’s more today from the Pacific Division:

  • The Lakers are finalizing a deal to add Miles Simon to their coaching staff, tweets Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. He will replace Theo Robertson, who left this week to become an assistant at the University of California. The Most Outstanding Player in the 1997 NCAA Tournament, Simon played just five NBA games, all with Orlando. He spent three years as an assistant coach at Arizona and is currently a college basketball analyst for ESPN.
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar may be the next Lakers legend to get a role with the team, according to Mark Medina of The Orange County Register. Abdul-Jabbar says he has been invited to meet with president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and controlling owner Jeanie Buss to discuss a position in the organization. He added that he would like to serve as a mentor to second-year center Ivica Zubac and help him develop his hook shot. “He’s equipped to use it well,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “He has the length to begin with. If he can develop his shooting touch and agility, he’ll use it well.”
  • As the NBA Finals approach, Warriors star Kevin Durant is “at peace” with his decision to leave Oklahoma City, relays Sam Amick of USA Today. He bristles at suggestions that his move is behind the lack of parity in the NBA. “Like I’m the reason why Orlando couldn’t make the playoffs for five, six years in a row?” he said. “Am I the reason that Brooklyn gave all their picks to Boston? Like, am I the reason that they’re not that good. I can’t play for every team, so the truth of the matter is I left one team. It’s one more team that you probably would’ve thought would’ve been a contender. One more team. I couldn’t have made the (entire) East better. I couldn’t have made everybody [else] in the West better.”
View Comments (8)