A fan’s perspective

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Hollywood drama

The City of Los Angeles contains the entertainment capital of the world, Hollywood. Over several generations numerous movie and entertainment productions have come to fruition. The current action is drama however its unaccustomed to what occurs normally. The two NBA teams in the city, the Lakers and Clippers are in the middle of controversial drama. Each is going to be dealt with on a separate basis, first Steve Ballmer’s Clippers. There’s been no official word from the NBA however it appears the Kawhi Leonard investigation has concluded. Unofficially its being reported the league could find no evidence the Clippers circumvented the salary cap in order to provide additional funding for Leonard.

Before I begin allow me to state I offer you 0 proof only my belief. You might remember the beginning, media guy Pablo Torres is given credit for bringing this issue to light. Torres claimed a defunct company paid Leonard under a “no-work contract.” Let’s play worst case advocate, suppose parties had been found guilty….this would have been extremely embarrassing for the NBA. It could see Ballmer possibly suspended and fined, the Leonard trade to Toronto would be voided. I continue to claim to be no conspiracy theorist and I maintain that posture. I have a difficult time accepting this verdict, what about you? This entire story might have concluded but not for me, I will question the circumstances why Leonard signed with the Clippers rather than the Lakers.

Two stories become one

Laker Nation and the NBA world was shocked a little over a year ago. The Buss family owned Lakers were sold to Mark Walter billionaire guy who also owns the baseball Dodgers. Jeanie Buss would continue in her role as NBA Governor for the team. Fast forward to the present, a magnitude earthquake 6 to 7 on the Richter scale occurred. The Lakers would be sold to a partnership of Kushner and Iger, that was just the tip of the iceberg. The Buss family decided to sell their 17.8% share of the Lakers, the problem….apparently no one bothered to inform Jeanie Buss of their intention to sell. In any event this caused a further rift in the family, we had Jeanie Buss on one side opposing her three brothers and one sister.

How does this conundrum eventually play out, no one knows for sure however there is background to consider. In 2017 Jeanie had “fired” Jim Buss and later Joey and Jesse in 2025. This from AI on the judicial ruling; “The legal ruling mandated that the co-trustees (Buss family) vote annually to keep Jeanie Buss as the franchise’s controlling owner for her lifetime, absent any legal motivation.” It would be apparent Jeanie Buss will utilize this ruling to prevent her brothers and sister from selling the remainder of the team. There is no method to determine how this family feud will eventually turn out, they could appeal the 2017 ruling. I mentioned in the earlier account regarding the Clippers this was Hollywood, it certainly is----it’s got soap opera written all over it. This is only the beginning of the story stay connected for further developments.

I will have forgotten

By the time the NBA season begins in October I will have forgotten the schedule. Because the NBA presented it to us I’m going to provide it for you:

Sunday: ABC, NBC/Peacock

Monday: Peacock/NBCSN

Tuesday: NBC/Peacock

Wednesday: ESPN

Thursday: Prime

Friday: Prime/ESPN

Saturday: Prime/ABC 

The Knicks, Spurs, Sixers and Lakers will be in action 34 times, the Thunder for 30. To check a few other teams the Celtics will make 27 appearances while the playoff Pistons and Cavs only appear 19 and 17 times, respectively. At this point apparently the Clippers are no longer the draw they were with no Kawhi Leonard on the roster, they will play 8 times. The Bucks minus Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Grizzlies with no Jae Morant will only appear twice the same as the Pelicans and Kings.

Jeopardy

The headline above references the long-running television quiz show Jeopardy!, where contestants must respond in the form of a question. With that in mind, I’ll say, “I’ll take things you have no control over for $400.” Since the Lakers were sold again less than a year after the previous purchase, several podcasters and media members have questioned it. The news surprised me too, and I said as much, but I’ve moved on.

Unless someone was prepared to offer Mark Walter a larger purchase price—just kidding, folks—there is little reason to keep questioning the sale. There are plenty of issues, some daily, that we cannot control. We discuss them, then move on, and that applies here. The sale is still too recent to know what will happen under the Kushner/Iger ownership group. This is only my speculation, but I don’t believe they bought the Lakers to move the team to Las Vegas. Like the Celtics or Knicks, the Lakers occupy a place in the NBA that makes relocation almost unthinkable. Future updates will be provided as notable developments occur.