Bubble Blogs: Kawhi Leonard gave Dwight Howard some new shoes

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.

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:

Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

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:

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.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

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.”

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.