This is so stupid. Two terribly ran franchises in LA have managed to rise to relevancy due solely because they're in a "glamour" city..... Dumb
You're not entirely wrong that location played a role, but the Clippers have been a historically bad franchise and used to be the laughing stock of the whole NBA. They didn't all of a sudden move to LA. Don't be silly to think Clippers are "terribly run." Are you seriously implying Jerry West doesn't know what he is doing?
No one should be shocked by this. It was inevitable. And that's why i kept mentioning it. Presti had been trying to move Westbrook since the end of the season to no avail. Trading one of George/ Westbrook was inevitable from the moment they signed George.
Clips have never been in the Conference Finals, correct ?? That will quickly change. Lol @ Westbrook too. It must suck being his teammate.
So Danny Ainge didn’t trade Jaylen Brown for Paul George because it was to high a price.... and OKC trades for Paul George and then turns around and deals him for a haul that absolutely dwarfs the assets Ainge spent years building up? The assets the Thunder got were absolutely staggering. Preston extracted just about every possible asset. They still have Stephen Adams and Russ Westbrook to deal which will make their own draft pick more valuable.
How did Jerry West do in Memphis getting big free agents to sign there? Jerry West is awesome but don’t underestimate the market of Los Angeles, especially with so many players coming from the area.
Because they're in a gigantic market, which also happens to be the center of the world's entertainment industry. I give the NBA some credit for not rigging it more in their favor, as well as not putting their thumb on the scale to make sure the Knicks and Nets were successful, or Chicago, post-Jordan. The league'll have to do something about this player movement phenomenon. This just kills OKC financially for the next year or two, and maybe more. They spend lavishly trying to win---racking up an insane luxury tax bill, benefiting the rest of the league---kiss the hind parts of these overgrown divas, and their reward is their star player telling them in the middle of the night, "Trade me today, or you get next to nothing, except pain and embarrassment?" What is this going to do for OKC season ticket sales? What are the 25 other teams not in LA or Miami going to do to make sure this doesn't happen to them?
Please provide the names of the big free agents went got to sign in Memphis or force a trade when West was in Memphis. That’s what I thought.
I think they'll also have to try, and IDK how this could even be regulated, but the not under the table per se deals, but "unrelated" coincidence deals... AD getting paid more than scale for a role in Space Jam, whatever record label role Drake was going to give KL, whatever cuban did for Dirk.