The first Lakers–Clippers game next season is scheduled for October 20 at Crypto.com Arena, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). As Charania notes, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are set to play Paul George and Kawhi Leonard for the first time since 2020.
The Lakers are coming off a disappointing season headlined by injuries. They finished with just a 33-49 record, the fifth-worst in the Western Conference. The Clippers, on the other hand, have put together a legitimate title contender on paper, owning one of the deepest rosters in the league.
Here are some other notes from the West:
- Lakers owner Jeanie Buss recently called Michael Jordan the greatest player of all time, as shared in a recent NBA 2K23 advertisement (video link). Buss, of course, has had players such as James and Kobe Bryant play for the franchise during her time with the team.
- The Lakers may have more options to trade Russell Westbrook if Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell get moved, Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times writes. Brooklyn and Utah have discussed trades related to Durant and Mitchell, respectively, but both players remain with their teams.
- New Jazz forward Simone Fontecchio had a great game against the team’s former star center Rudy Gobert, during a pre-EuroBasket exhibition contest, writes Ryan McDonald of the Deseret News. Fontecchio, who signed a two-year deal with Utah last month after spending his entire career overseas, scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Italy vs. France.
LA times making more excuses why nobody wants Westbrook. KD and Kyrie has 0 to do with Westbrook not being traded. Both are different type of players.
Fonntecchio is looking like a really nice pickup for the Jazz. The Jazz could really be a powerhouse on offense with Bojan and Fontecchio at the 3 and 4. Beasley at the 2. Donovan at the 1. The 5 would depend on who they’re playing.
However, I could easily see Paris Bass playing C against a lot of teams. That’d be an awesome 5-out offense. That would give Donovan plenty of room to drive. Both Bojan and Fontecchio have a nice post-up game. In other words, isolation would be really easy to achieve.
Kessler and Doke would alternatives against the really big teams.
The Jazz definitely have a lot of different ways they could play. Will be fun to see what Will Hardy ends up using.
I read a lot
Other teams strongly pursue Westbrook
Lakers say “ no, thank you “
Read different stuff
The players that could be part of a Jazz trade for Westbrook really only makes sense for the Jazz if they want to move off the 2 year deals and free up cap, and recoup a couple 1sts in the process.
Conley, Clarkson, Beasley, Gay have 2 year deals Bojan and Beverley are expiring. Bojan is the moves valuable player on the roster aside from DM.
I would only be offering Conley, Clarkson, and Gay if I’m Danny. They can move Bev, Bojan, and Beasley for better assets.
I know the Sixers is would have interest in a combination Bojan, Beasley, Clarkson, Pat Bev and move Tobias, Thybulle, Korkmaz, Springer/Shake, Reed/Bassey, but they can only offer 29 and some pick swaps.
I expect Brick to be traded ultimately but I won’t happen until September anyway when traded players can be moved yet again.
If Jeannie Buss were capable of judging NBA talent she might have known that Alex Caruso’s contract was a bargain and that Westbrook’s was not.
Oh heck, let’s simplify that a bit. She might have recognized that Caruso is simply better than Westbrook at this point.