A fans perspective

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Lonzo

We cannot be sure but it appears the career of Lonzo Ball might soon be over. I’m quite sure he would be willing to return at least half of his salary for health and the ability to play NBA basketball at a high skill level. Over his 9 year NBA career Ball has never played an 82 game season through stints with the Lakers, Pelicans, Bulls and now Cavs. Ball missed the 2022-2023 and 2023-24 seasons while he was a member of the Bulls. In 2017 the Lakers made Ball the number two pick, they could have chosen Jayson Tatum however that is another story in itself.

Despite his scoring being limited he was found to be capable in the assist department however the Lakers decided to make a change. Essentially Ball would be traded to the Pelicans in exchange for Anthony Davis, of course this trade would indirectly lead the Lakers to the 2020 NBA championship. Ball is now in his first season with the Cavs however in 21 games has likely not played at the level the team would hope. What does the future hold for Lonzo Ball at this point, only he probably knows for sure. No matter what lies ahead for Ball, it's almost certain that his future will look nothing like what his 20-year-old self-imagined back in 2017.

NBA champion precursor

The Knicks are winners, they won the emirates cup championship overcoming a Spurs lead. The final score read Knicks 124 to the Spurs 113 Tuesday evening. Although he was not his teams’ high scorer point guard Jalen Brunson was named game MVP. Jordan Clarkson former Mizzou baller came off the Knick bench and provided scoring and defense in the win. As reported earlier unlike the previous coach Mike Brown utilizes his bench, 8 players registered major time on the court. What does this championship entail for the Knicks you might ask?

Not a great deal because much of the NBA season must be played out then the playoffs before a June champion is known. I hope this doesn’t appear to be negative on my part, the Knicks are true winners having survive the gauntlet of this run leading up to Tuesday evening. I am sure going forward the Knicks will attempt to use this win as a diagram for the future including a June championship. That is the portion of the story at least for now remains an unknown. As for other news from Las Vegas without laying out specifics commissioner Silver indicated the NBA will ‘seriously’ look at expansion in 2026. That is likely to witness Seattle and Las Vegas being awarded franchises at a future date.

What about them

Prior to this attempt to discuss BYU basketball I was forced to check the history being unfamiliar with a portion. The Cougars have played competitive basketball for 124 seasons, they are not The New Kids on the Block. Part of the reason so little focus might be several reasons. The first, BYU is located in the western United States and the State of Utah. BYU has reigned as conference champion 25 times, over time BYU has won 1,974 games versus 1,158 losses for a .630 percentage. For our purpose we are not going back to the early 1900’s but more recently and it begins with former coach Dave Rose. Rose teams’ won 348 games over the 14 seasons he sat in the first chair.

Next up was Mark Pope who continued the winning ways at BYU, its highly likely Pope would have remained at BYU except for a coaching change at his alma mater. John Calipari left Kentucky and the school reached out to Pope a former Kentucky basketball player to head the program. Kevin Young assumed leadership, leveraging his strong rapport with prospects to secure AJ Dybantsa, a notable athlete from the Class of 2025. He’s made an immediate impact and is set to compete for the Cougars during his freshman year only. The 6-foot 9 Dybantsa is on his way to the NBA rated the number one or two prospect on most mock draft sites. With the move of BYU into the competitive Big 12 Kevin Young must continue to recruit bringing in talent to the Provo Utah school.

Please NO with emphasis

It wasn't too long ago, the summer of 2019 to be exact. Kawhi Leonard was the hot commodity on the free agent market having indicated he would not re-sign with the Toronto Raptors. All indications that summer led the media to believe he wanted to return home to Southern California and his team of preference would be my Lakers...and then at some point Uncle Dennis brokered a deal with the Clippers and he left the Lakers at the altar, that was then this is now. Reports are circulating this week that the Lakers might be contemplating a trade to acquire Kawhi. I seriously hope the report is untrue for a variety of reasons. Kawhi is now 34-years old with a great deal of basketball mileage on his body. 

In addition to that fact he’s got a history of injuries many of those of the lengthy variety. He remains an outstanding basketball talent however it fails to aid the Clippers or the Lakers if he is always on the injured list. Few realize this fact, Kawhi Leonard is partially responsible for the term ‘load management’ becoming part of our NBA lexicon. A history of injuries plus age, in addition to that the Lakers breaking up their team for a 2-3 year run by Kawhi. That is far too scary for me to even begin to contemplate. Should a decision be made whereby Kawhi Leonard is acquired there is nothing I can do as a fan of Laker Nation, accept it or reject it. As this is written December 19 the Lakers have won 19 games, last season the win total didn’t occur until January 2. The Lakers are not light years better than last season however the thought of breaking up this team to acquire Kawhi just doesn’t make sense to me.