The Lakers’ free-agency picture may have looked straightforward on the surface, but Jovan Buha suggested there was more going on behind the scenes than a simple choice between names.
Asked on The Third Apron podcast by Yossi Gozlan whether Los Angeles had effectively picked Collin Sexton over Marcus Smart, Buha said his read was that Smart may not have been eager to stay.
“I don’t have great clarity on this, and there’s differing accounts of how it all went down,” Buha said (YouTube link; hat tip to LakersNation). “But my understanding is that, to some degree, Smart was ready to move forward in a different situation.”
That timeline lines up with what happened on July 1. Smart agreed to a two-year, $12.4MM deal with the Rockets early that morning, with a second-year player option. Hours later, the Lakers had deals in place with Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Sexton, who signed a two-year, $19.2MM contract with Los Angeles.
Around the rest of the Pacific, Tim Kawakami floated a familiar name when talking through possible Warriors trade targets over the next year or two. On his Warriors Plus Minus podcast, Kawakami said Golden State is high on Suns guard Devin Booker, pointing to Steve Kerr’s connection with him from the 2024 Olympics.
“I think the Warriors like him too much, if you ask me,” Kawakami said. “But they love him.
Steve loves him. Booker loved playing for Steve.”
In Sacramento, Ben Simmons is already drawing a positive response after signing with the Kings on a non-guaranteed minimum contract. General manager Scott Perry said he’s excited to “help be a part of his journey to get back on the court,” according to Sean Cunningham of KCRA News.
Perry added, “Knock on wood, he’s healthy right now,” and said, “I know it’s been a long journey to get back to that point. (It’s exciting) just being able to be a part of that with him and hopefully watch him get back on the basketball floor and do some of the things that made him such a special player early in his career.”
Second-year Kings guard Nique Clifford also sees value in the move, saying he believes Simmons will be someone he can “learn from,” given everything the former No. 1 overall pick has experienced through “highs and lows” in his NBA career.
And in the Clippers’ corner, Steve Ballmer’s choice to hold off on legal action against the NBA after previously saying he would fight sanctions tied to cap circumvention looks like the prudent path. Michael McCann of Sportico wrote that any lawsuit from the Clippers would “open the door to judicial scrutiny of transactions that now appear to be of interest to federal investigators.”
In Other News...
Steph Curry Just Got A New Spotlight Warriors Fans Will Love
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The film was shot on game day with 21 IMAX cameras, a detail that should make it feel closer to an event than a standard sports doc. It also follows Currys rise to 4,000 career three-point makes, a milestone that already has a place in league history and now gets a polished spotlight of its own when the project arrives exclusively in IMAX theaters on October 9. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Fans Just Got Pulled Into An Uncomfortable Steph Curry Debate
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That kind of speculation was enough to spark a wider debate online about whether Curry, Green and Klay Thompson might ultimately close their careers in different places, which would mark the end of an era that defined modern Warriors basketball. Curry remains under a one-year contract and can work toward a new deal next summer, so the immediate focus is still on keeping the present intact, even as the edges of the future start to look a little less certain. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Kuminga Drama Suddenly Looks Different After New NBA Standoff
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The difference is what makes Durens case worth watching from afar. The Warriors handling of Kuminga has now taken on a slightly different light, because the Detroit situation appears far more brittle and harder to mend before camp opens. If the relationship keeps fraying, the outcome could move beyond a simple contract dispute and toward a trade or some other resolution, which is the sort of pivot that can reshape a roster just as the season starts to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]