Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Good morning. Does Brook Lopez have a new home?
Subscribe and receive Good Morning It’s Basketball in your inbox every weekday morning.
ALL HAIL GORDON: Mirin Fader with an excellent feature on Gordon Hayward, who is becoming a franchise player.
NEED RECAPS? Only three games, including the TNT double-header. Here’s our NBA Scores hub.
HEY, THE CAVS WON! LeBron had a big night to carry Cleveland to sweet victory over the noble Lakers. Kobe was in Share Mode and set a career high with 16 assists. The LeBron-Kobe battle toward the end of the game was rather entertaining. The Bucks also won, beating the Knicks in London, so Cleveland sits in the No. 6 spot, one game behind Milwaukee.
HARDEN’S VENGEANCE: James Harden had a nasty game against OKC, one rebound shy of a triple-double with 31-9-10. Houston won and the Thunder are still 3.5 games out of No. 8. Fear not, though, because ...
REINFORCEMENTS! According to Chris Broussard, teams are discussing a three-team deal that would send Brook Lopez to the Thunder, Lance Stephenson to the Nets and Jarrett Jack and some spare parts to Charlotte. Woj says the Nuggets, Heat and Lakers are also trying to nab Lopez.
BIZARRE: The Clippers traded Reggie Bullock (to Phoenix) and Chris Douglas-Roberts (to Boston) and waived Jordan Farmar to acquire ... Austin Rivers. I guess that talk about Doc Rivers (who runs the team) protesting the move was a wee bit inflated. Shavlik Randolph, who is still in the league, went to Boston in the deal as well.
WILL THE NBA EXPAND TO EUROPE SOON? No.
IN THE INTEREST OF THE NBA: Kavitha A. Davidson makes a convincing case for more former players in NBA ownership groups.
NEAT: John Schuhmann broke down the numbers on the best iso scorers in the game. Kevin Durant figures prominently.
CAN I BUY THIS AND STILL REMAIN MARRIED? Probably not, buuuuuut there’s a Kickstarter from Mayfair Games for an actual, playable The Cones of Dunshire game! Polygon’s Charlie Hall has more.
Happy Friday. See you next time.
See More:
