Chris Haynes of ESPN tossed a lit flare onto Basketball Twitter in the wee hours, reporting that LeBron James could meet with the Golden State Warriors this summer if they open up a max contract slot.
LMAO there’s a LeBron-Warriors rumor now
We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
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Tim Cato puts the report in context — Golden State would have to trade someone to open up a max slot, which would only maybe get them a meeting with LeBron, which would be a meeting granted due to respect for the franchise, not any real interest in joining the squad.
The real purpose of this report, it would seem, is to continue to prepare the world for LeBron potentially leaving Cleveland four years after he returned. Seeding in the fandom’s mind that the Warriors are a real possibility might soften the blow when he picks the Rockets or Spurs instead.
The report might also be completely harmless in the sense that Haynes asked the right questions to get these answers to build this pretty conditional (but no doubt accurate) report. Perhaps LeBron’s camp isn’t trying to do anything, but reporters who smell blood in Lake Erie are getting more direct. Who knows?
What a thing to consider, though. Curry-Thompson-LeBron-Durant-Bell. Five Hall of Famers in their primes.
Scores Galore ...
MEM 101, IND 105
LAL 105, ORL 127
CHA 123, ATL 110
PHI 108, BKN 116
MIA 89, CLE 91
NYK 73, BOS 103
CHI 108, POR 124
DAL 88, PHX 102
... And So Much More
Best wishes to Isaiah Canaan, who suffered a wholly gruesome ankle injury in the Suns’ win over Dallas.
Nice save for the Cavaliers against the Heat, who had a chance to tie or win with two seconds left until ... James Johnson dribbled the clock out. Whoops.
You thought the Cavaliers were a total mess ... and then Kevin Love got injured. You thought you knew a mess. You know nothing.
C.J. McCollum put up 50 in a win, including 28 in the first quarter. The Blazers have won four straight and just might be good.
The Suns bought out Greg Monroe, who — admit it — you’d forgotten was on the Suns now. The Celtics appear to be the most notable team in the mix to sign him. He is a New Orleans native, just saying.
Someone needs to tell Jaylen Brown that unicorns are endangered animals so he doesn’t do stuff like this dunk on Kristaps Porzingis anymore.
Alright, listen up, ladies and gentlemen, our fugitive has been on the run for 90 minutes. Average raised unicycle speed over uneven ground barring injuries is four miles per hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at 15 miles. Your fugitive’s name is the jerkwad who stole Red Panda’s 7-foot unicycle. Go get him.
Assuming the Clippers do proceed with trading DeAndre Jordan and Lou in the next week, here are some potential destinations.
I’m adding Louisville women’s hoops to my must-watch list after this feature on Asia Durr from Mirin Fader.
The Grizzlies have shut down Tyreke Evans and the Bulls have shut down Nikola Mirotic ahead of the trade deadline. Kinda odd. (The Knicks have also told Joakim Noah to chill until the deadline, but that’s a little different.)
A Dwight Howard tribute video from the Hawks that literally no one needed. Speaking of which, D-12 can sure still dunk!
Wall, Love, Cousins ... is LeBron’s All-Star team cursed? Someone wrap Anthony Davis in bubble wrap.
Dennis Smith is a good and very exciting rookie. His defense is ... a work in progress.
An argument that trading spare parts for Blake Griffin is a coup for Detroit. It’s a sign of the times that this is a fairly contrarian take.
Big Ben Golliver on the Clippers’ brilliant use of two-way contracts this season.
Data indicates that the Miami bench unit is really darn good.
TNT has Rockets-Spurs at 8 p.m. ET and Thunder-Nuggets at 10:30. Should be a blast.
And finally: This would appear to be ANTA’s new Klay Thompson ad. It’s good. Via Reddit.
Be excellent to each other.
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