Betrayal. Suspense. Intrigue. Drama. The NBA offseason has kept the league in the headlines and at the forefront of news cycles like no other in recent memory. The Knicks winning their first league championship since 1973 was the divine event that captured the eyes and emotions of millions of hardcore and casual sports fans around the world. Then the new contingent of draftees — led by No. 1 pick A.J. Dybantsa (Washington Wizards), No. 2 Darryn Peterson (Utah Jazz), and No. 3 Cameron Boozer (Memphis Grizzlies) — elicited palpable optimism with their Summer League showings, suggesting they will join Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, and Cooper Flagg, among others, in carrying the sport deep into the next decade. But while the summer league was in session, the NBA saw…
Betrayal
…The Boston Celtics traded 29-year-old, five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for 36-year-old Paul George, two first-round picks and two second rounders. While George will someday be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is well into the downside of his career. No matter how quantitatively Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens justified the illogical deal, the calculus seemed to have roots in Brown’s unabashed and unfiltered opinions on basketball, social, and political issues nearly as much as it did the franchise’s financial outlook. In trading Brown, the Celtics jettisoned the player who won the Finals and Eastern Conference Finals MVP awards in the team’s 2024 championship run. Brown joined the Sixers in the middle of his prime as one of the NBA’s best players and leaders. Furthermore, the trade had a domino effect that was the tipping point for…
Suspense
…LeBron James signed a two-year, free-agent contract with the 76ers. After James’ longtime friend and agent, Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports, informed ESPN reporter Shams Charania on June 30 that James would not be returning to the Lakers, the LBJ watch was on. The 76ers, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers were in a three-horse race to win the James sweepstakes. When he announced on July 24 that he signed an $8 million deal with the 76ers, the basketball world was shaken. Without acquiring Brown as well, the 76ers would not have been in the running. Now they are one of the favorites to win next season’s chip.
Intrigue
The Los Angeles Clippers, in the midst of a passive rebuild, traded two-time Finals MVP and 2026 All-NBA Second Team superstar Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors in July to reunite him with the franchise that he carried to the 2019 title. Wait! Not so fast! The trade was put on hold while the league investigated whether Clippers owner Steve Ballmer may have intentionally circumvented the NBA’s salary cap through the now-defunct environmental company Aspiration. Ballmer was a chief investor in the company, putting in $50 million, which afterward signed Leonard to a $28 million no-show endorsement deal. On Monday, after an exhaustive investigation conducted by the New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton & Katz, it was concluded that there was no evidence the Clippers engaged in salary cap circumvention. As of AmNews press time, the trade was still pending.
Drama
The Buss siblings want their loot! With the exception of one. In a nutshell, the Buss family, spearheaded by Jeanie Buss, sold their 66% controlling stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter late last year for a record $10 billion — the most ever paid for a North American sports franchise. In a stunning twist, Walter then sold the Lakers to media mogul Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner last week, shocking the sports and business industries. The six Buss siblings, who each netted roughly $1 billion off of the first sale, stand to make $370 million more apiece if they sell their remaining 17.8% stake. All want to sell except Jeanie, who became the Lakers governor when her father, Jerry Buss, died in February 2013, and has held the job since. As governor, a designated role each of the NBA’s 30 franchises fills, she is the Lakers’ primary decision-maker on business and basketball matters, a role the 64-year-old does not want to relinquish. The family drama is torn from the pages of the scripts of the HBO series “Succession” and is headed for a contentious legal fight.
