Los Angeles—LeBron James warned Los Angeles Lakers fans not to expect an immediate challenge to the dominance of the Golden State Warriors as the NBA superstar addressed the media for the first time here Monday.
Kawhi Leonard made his debut in a Raptors jersey at media day on Monday. He claimed he is a “fun guy,” which is something a guy who is not fun but is trying to change his reputation would say, and then he laughed.
Lakers sophomore Kyle Kuzma is coming off of a promising rookie campaign, but some still doubt how good he can be. Magic Johnson says Kuzma is focused on proving them wrong.
Even after a season’s worth of headlines and effusive praise, Kyle Kuzma is still somehow a wildcard. With players who come out of nowhere like he did in his first year with the Los Angeles Lakers, there’s a wait-and-see attitude to find out whether the clock will strike midnight on a Cinderella story, or if this is the new reality. If you go by the noise surrounding Kuzma’s offseason, it’s definitely closer to the latter.
The line of excoriation started to the right.
No luau pig was roasted as thoroughly as the Bulls were on Draft night 2017, after they traded Jimmy Butler and the 16th pick overall to the Timberwolves for Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and the 7th pick overall in the first round. The conventional wisdom was that Minnesota was not only getting the best player in the deal, but the Bulls weren’t getting anyone of significance in return. Meanwhile, the Wolves were putting together a contender in the rugged West, with Butler joining Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins to form a potential triple-headed hydra that could be as good as anyone’s outside of Oakland.
Minnesota views Butler as a franchise player. He might be, but they still need to trade him.
The Timberwolves are currently not interested in trading Jimmy Butler. Instead, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, they’re shooting down all teams reaching out about a deal for the All-Star forward, telling them he is a franchise player they intend to keep.
Over the course of his career, LeBron James hasn’t had very much patience for the development of youth around him, which makes sense, given the expectations that come with his presence on any team. His first year with the Los Angeles Lakers is going to be different, though, and he acknowledges this as a different type of challenge, but one he doesn’t have to undertake alone.
Kawhi Leonard fire
Kawhi Leonard may only have signed a one-year deal with the Toronto Raptors this offseason but team president Masai Ujiri says his new star has the “fire inside him” to help the team turn into NBA Championship contenders.
Even in doing the right thing, the Timberwolves find a way to mess it up.
When Jimmy Butler told the Minnesota Timberwolves he would leave in free agency in a year, and requested a trade in the process, I wrote that the team should absolutely deal him and lock up Karl-Anthony Towns. This is precisely what Minnesota is doing now: Towns inked a max rookie extension over the weekend, and the Wolves are attempting to trade Butler before training camp officially begins on Tuesday. The Timberwolves are doing exactly what they should be doing.
The Timberwolves have lots of ways they can address Butler’s angst with the franchise. They cannot take these two paths.
Jimmy Butler will reportedly meet with Timberwolves management on Monday. The fate of the franchise hangs in the balance. No pressure.
Per The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the meeting is intended to get all of Butler’s cards on the table with Tom Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden. Butler is on track to become an unrestricted free agent in July 2019, having come to Minnesota via trade a year ago.
