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When the plans for the NBA bubble initially leaked out, it wasn’t long before people started joking about how much tampering Lakers star LeBron James was going to do in a resort area surrounded by nothing but other NBA players.
However, it seems like people might have been worried about the wrong small forward that plays in Los Angeles.
I guess Dwight Howard got some gear from Kawhi Leonard pic.twitter.com/uTNwYyNpJD
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) July 25, 2020
In all seriousness, this probably isn’t a big deal (unless Kawhi rigged these to give out in the Western Conference Finals. Then it obviously is very bad). Howard used to be an Adidas signature athlete, but is currently a sneaker free agent, and while he’s worn Kobe Bryant’s eponymous shoe for most of the year, he’s also tried out a few other brands that have gifted him kicks throughout the season.
He ultimately didn’t even wear Leonard’s gift in the Lakers’ latest scrimmage, but it appears he did bust them out for warmups:
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But while this probably doesn’t mean anything, if you’ll allow me a conspiracy theory, consider this: We’ve already seen that Leonard, in the way he executed his and Paul George’s arrivals in Los Angeles last summer, is low-key the king of tampering. Could he potentially feel like Montrezl Harrell walking this summer in free agency is inevitable and be trying to build up a relationship with a free agent big man the Lakers may not — given the widespread speculation that they’ll re-sign DeMarcus Cousins this summer — be able to keep?
All I’m saying is that crazier things have happened.
Vlog Visitor
JaVale McGee dropped his latest “Life in the Bubble” episode, and this one featured teammate Danny Green taking over for portions of the episode. We got a look at the Lakers’ half-court shot competition, the coronavirus testing process, a very important question about JaVale’s hair and more:
.@JaValeMcGee wants to know if he should rock this look in games. It is our duty to go to his YouTube comments and tell him "yes."https://t.co/ximJMTZqFC pic.twitter.com/na0rgWZFag
— Silver Screen & Roll (@LakersSBN) July 26, 2020
This team is having so much funhttps://t.co/R2bnE5MUSe pic.twitter.com/GAjC5o3T8J
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) July 26, 2020
Also, hang a clip of Danny Green saying “I need some cereal in this b****” in the Louvre.
Lakers show the WNBA some love
On Saturday, LeBron James and Dion Waiters were among the members of the Lakers to rock WNBA sweatshirts on the opening day of the league’s own bubble season in Florida.
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Dion Waiters is wearing the WNBA sweatshirt during his postgame chat on Zoom pic.twitter.com/KFHNDdel2E
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) July 25, 2020
After the Lakers’ win against the Orlando Magic, Waiters explained why he did so:
“We gotta support the ladies. I feel like they’re so talented, and yet a lot of times they fly under the radar and don’t get the respect that they deserve... Most are so skilled. If you love the game of basketball, they play the right way and I just think they’ve got to be treated equal.
“I feel like they’ve got a family, they’ve got to provide for their family also. They’ve been doing this thing their whole life... Financially I think they (the league) need to boost it a little bit so they can have the opportunity to feed their family and be in a better position moving forward.”
The L.A. Sparks kicked off their season with a dominant win over a fellow title contender, and our own Sabreena Merchant and Brady Klopfer rounded up the 12 things you need to know about L.A.’s other purple and gold team if you want to join James and Waiters in supporting the W.
Magic City is evidently NOT the capital of the Magic Kingdom
And now for a new, possibly recurring segment we’ll call “two completely unrelated tweets back to back.”
Bubble life: Alex Caruso had a decision to make last weekend: stay in the bubble, or attend his sister's 100-plus person wedding in Texas? He talked about his choice -- and the NBA's quarantine timetables -- with ESPN: https://t.co/aFHdBoAxvy
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 22, 2020
Lou Williams’ strip club dinner leads to a 10-day quarantine ruling from the NBA (starting Saturday). The Clippers have two seeding games in that span, and a third on the day he’d be back. Story here on the situation, with @joevardon and @ShamsCharania https://t.co/n6QhirUsNI
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 26, 2020
You’ll never guess which one of those teams put corny “We Over Me” billboards all over Los Angeles.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.