Category: NBA

In the first episode of Season 3 of How I Met Your Mother, the primary storyline revolves around breakups, and the idea that every time two people split there is a winner and loser. 

If the 2026 offseason was HIMYM, the big breakup that occurred this offseason would be the divorce that transpired between the most storied franchise in league history (the Los Angeles Lakers) and (probably) its greatest player (LeBron James) after eight years of being happily married. 

To most people, it seems like James won the breakup. After all, the Philadelphia 76ers, James’ new significant other, just assembled the league’s latest superteam in a conference that is much more manageable. Meanwhile, the Lakers are left to deal with the two behemoths (the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder) out West. 

However, I’m here to tell you that, by losing James, the Lakers got way better, and, in turn, won the breakup. 

How The Lakers Got Better Without James

Listen, this isn’t some Skip Bayless inspired anti-James propaganda. As I noted before, James is probably the best player to ever grace the hardwood, and he was certainly the most productive 41 year old of all-time last season. 

With that said, we have enough of a sample size now to say that James and Luka Doncic were an imperfect fit. According to PBP Stats, the Lakers were better when only one of the two jumbo ball handlers was on the floor than when they shared the court together. 

At the end of the day, both James and Doncic are better when a team is being molded in their likeness, rather than when they need to placate to others’ wants and needs. 

We saw a couple of years ago when the 2023-24 Dallas Mavericks went to the NBA Finals what the Platonic Ideal for a Doncic team would look like. A second fiddle who knows how to oscillate between playing on and off the ball (Kyrie Irving), wings/forwards who will do Doncic’s dirty work (Derrick Jones Jr., PJ Washington, Josh Green), shooters (Tim Hardaway Jr.), and centers who can protect the rim and catch lobs (Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II).

The Lakers haven’t perfectly imitated this formula (more on this in a bit), but they have come pretty close. While not possessing quite the same resume, Austin Reaves does a pretty serviceable Irving impression. Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thybulle, Cameron Carr (an excellent choice by the Lakers with the 24th overall pick, by the way), and Jarred Vanderbilt are all excellent athletes with the desire to do Doncic’s bidding on defense. Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili are all ready to let it rip from downtown (Sexton also gives you some nice regular season innings eating as a creator). And Walker Kessler, Los Angeles’ big ticket signing, is going to do his best to replicate the value of Doncic’s former twin tower pick-and-roll partners. 

i've got two words for you. luka doncic and cameron carr. must see TV pic.twitter.com/uFZYMmnPTJ

— Ben Pfeifer (@bjpf_) June 24, 2026

Last season, the Lakers’ best lineup that played over 200 non-garbage time possessions featured Doncic, Reaves, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Deandre Ayton. That group outscored opponents by 23.3 points per 100 possessions (92nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). 

Doncic and Reaves are still there, and it wouldn’t take much arguing to convince someone that a trio of Kessler/Grimes/Carr (or whoever you prefer in that fifth spot) wouldn’t be more potent than the triumvirate of Ayton/Hachimura/Smart. Plus, you no longer have to worry about laboring through minutes where Doncic is forced to share the floor with another uber-high-usage ball handler. The bottom line is that we already have proof of concept that the model the Lakers have built is conducive to winning. 

The Lakers Will Be Better Than The 76ers Next Season

According to FanDuel, the 76ers odds of winning 50 or more games this season are set at -115 (an implied probability of 53.5%), while the Lakers are set at +250 (28.6%). So, the consensus view seems to be that the 76ers are better than the Lakers. 

I will concede that the 76ers have more raw talent than the Lakers. But to win in this league, you need talent, depth, and fit. So many times over the last few years we’ve seen teams try to stack stars, only to crash and burn because their skillsets overlapped too much and they sacrificed so much of their salary cap to put them together that the players behind them aren’t good enough to fill the cracks. 

This iteration of the Lakers isn’t a super team, but they do have a top five-ish player, a borderline All-Star, and a cavalcade of versatile chess pieces to slot around them. Their roster certainly makes a lot more sense than the team that James left them for. Now, I’m not saying that they are a lock to be better than the 76ers, but where oddsmakers currently have these two teams does not paint the proper picture. 

Are The Lakers A True Inner Circle Title Contender?

The Lakers are going to be really, really good. They have a good blend of talent, depth, and fit. The issue is that a handful of other teams have a better mix of those three variables. 

As of right now, I’d say that the Spurs, Thunder, New York Knicks, and Toronto Raptors (if the Kawhi Leonard trade ends up going through) are all firmly better than them. I’ll also hear arguments for the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Indiana Pacers. 

The big thing holding this group back is their lack of a true power forward. One who can hit open shots, attack closeouts, handle various wing assignments, and use their size and length to offer some secondary rim protection. They’ve managed to almost perfectly copy that Mavericks team that won the West in 2024 (Doncic, Reaves is Irving, Grimes is Jones Jr., Kessler is Gafford/Lively), but they need their own version of Washington. 

Vanderbilt can check those boxes defensively, but he’s a complete negative on the offensive side of the floor. Ditto with Thybulle. Mamukelashvili has size and skill, but lacks the lateral mobility to be trusted shadowing high-level forwards. Carr is too short and too unproven. 

Until this problem is addressed, either via trade or unexpected emergence, the Lakers will be a tier below the true inner circle of title contenders – meaning that they will need more than a couple of lucky bounces to reach, let alone win, the NBA Finals. Still, this team projects to be pretty darn scary, which should be enough for them to win their breakup with James. 

NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.

“Anyone who tells you they knew Bird would be as good as he turned out—including me—is a liar.”

Red Auerbach

After the Celtics won their thirteenth title in 1976, the team sort of fell apart. The merger between the ABA and the NBA brought new talent into the league, and in any case, championship success was difficult for any team to sustain in the 1970s, a decade in which eight different teams won titles (only the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics won more than a single title). Havlicek was past his prime, and the Celtics were basically a one-man team, relying on the tough-as-nails but undersized Dave Cowens to carry them at both ends of the court. A young Cedric Maxwell had been drafted in 1977, but he was still coming into his own as a player.

The Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1977, coming off a pedestrian 44-38 record, and they fell even farther the following season, one in which Tommy Heinsohn was replaced as coach by Satch Sanders, who was himself replaced by Dave Cowens the following season, all to ultimately disastrous results. Boston’s 29-53 record in 1978/79 was the worst of the Red Auerbach era.

The unsettled coaching situation and on-court struggles were accompanied by front-office turmoil.

Red had stockpiled three first round picks in the 1979 draft, with the goal of rebuilding the Celtics, but Boston’s new owner, John Y. Brown had other ideas. On February 12, 1979, he traded Tom Barker and those three picks to the New York Knicks for Bob McAdoo.

An incensed Red gave Brown an ultimatum. Either you go or I do.

The threat had teeth. Red had been approached by the Knicks and had an offer in hand to take over basketball operations for the franchise.

Brown backed down almost immediately.

The Celtics had been passed from owner to owner since Walter Brown’s death in 1964—John Y. Brown’s consortium was the eighth in 14 years—and the one constant through all those changes was Red Auerbach.

Brown knew that if he kept the Celtics, he’d probably be burned in effigy on the Boston Common—in fact, that would probably be the most anodyne outcome of forcing Red out—plus he had acquired a sudden urge to run for governor in his home state of Kentucky.

By the end of March, Brown was ready to close on a deal proposed by minority owner Harry Mangurian, and the Celtics were back in the hands of ownership that was willing to leave the basketball decisions in the hands of the most capable guy in league history when it came to those things.

Now Red may have lost those three picks in the 1979 draft, but things turned out alright in the end.

In 1978, Red drafted Larry Bird, despite knowing that he had no intention of leaving school before the end of the 1979 season. It was a calculated risk. The catch was that the Celtics had to sign Bird to a contract before the 1979 draft, otherwise he could re-enter it, and the odds were that he would be picked before Boston had a chance to grab him—and as it turned out, the team ended up with no first round picks in that draft in any event. “I knew this was my shot at him,” Red would tell John Feinstein years later, “I was thinking long term.”

The team also hired Bill Fitch as head coach; Fitch was Red’s first hire from outside the Celtics family, and his coaching pedigree was far from elite. Fitch was in his ninth season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had hired him out of the college ranks in their first season. His cumulative record was 304-434 for a less-than-impressive .411 winning percentage. But there was something about him that Red liked.

The combination of rookie Larry Bird and an experienced hand on the bench galvanized the Celtics, who went from 29-53 to 61-21 in the 1979/80 season. The Celtics lost to the Sixers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Sixers, in turn, lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, as Magic Johnson’s rookie season ended in a Finals championship.

1979/80 was Dave Cowens’ final year with the team, leaving the Celtics in need of front court talent, but Red, who had all his 1979 first round picks traded out from under him, figured out a way to land a pair of low post Hall of Famers with his picks in the first round of the 1980 draft.

The Celtics had gotten involved in a goofy situation with Detroit. They signed M.L. Carr, which meant that the Pistons were owed compensation, but instead of sending Detroit a draft pick—the usual procedure—the Celtics arranged to send them Bob McAdoo—a Hall-of-Famer who just never fit in with the Celtics. However, since McAdoo was more valuable than a draft pick, the Pistons agreed to send Boston two picks in the 1980 draft.

This was not a good deal for Detroit.

The Pistons ended up with the worst record in the NBA in 1979/80, and a coin flip gave them the first pick overall.

At the time, there was a clear consensus that the best player coming out of the draft was a center, Joe Barry Carroll from Purdue.

Red, however, saw things a bit differently. He wasn’t as impressed by Carroll as the rest of the league was. He didn’t want Carroll, he wanted Minnesota’s Kevin McHale.

Now the Golden State Warriors had the third pick in the draft, and they had a center Auerbach liked, Robert Parish, so Red reached out to Al Attles—who was Golden State’s coach and GM, and offered both of his picks in the first round for the Warriors’ number three pick. And, since the Warriors were going to be drafting Joe Barry Carroll, they probably didn’t need Robert Parish anymore, so maybe they could send him along as part of the trade as well.

One can only imagine Al Attles’ glee at the thought of getting the player he wanted and another pick in exchange for, essentially, a backup center, provided Carroll lived up to expectations. This is the thing about so many of Red’s masterpiece trades: it almost always seemed, from a certain perspective, that Red was getting ripped off—like when he traded two future Hall-of-Famers for a center who couldn’t really score, but who would win eleven championships nonetheless.

Thus, on June 10, 1980, the Celtics added Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to Larry Bird and formed one of the most impressive front courts in NBA history.

Joe Barry Carroll? Well, suffice to say that Globe columnist Ray Fitzgerald was not wrong when he mentioned concerns about Carroll’s motivation the day after the Celtics traded their number one pick to the Warriors.

This is where things stood at the start of the 1980/81 season…

The Regular Season

The Celtics cruised to a 62-20 record, marking a one game improvement from the previous season. They racked up winning streaks of 12 and 13 games bracketing a single loss for a stretch of 25-1 play in the middle of the season. Apart from a somewhat surprising three game losing streak that straddled the All-Star break in January and February, the Celtics never lost two games in a row.

The rookie Kevin McHale appeared in all 82 games, but started just one, making him the latest sixth man in the Celtics’ long tradition. His contributions were just a slim indication of the player he’d become, as he averaged ten points on 53.5% shooting from the field and just 67.9% from the line.

In his second year, Larry Bird finished second in MVP voting and made first team All-NBA. Nate “Tiny” Archibald gave the Celtics standout play from the point guard spot, and the Celtics ended the season with five players averaging double figures. Bird, who played power forward in his early years in the league, led the team in rebounds at almost 11 per game, a total that topped Robert Parish’s 9.5 per game. Although remembered mostly for his offense these days, Bird was an extremely capable two-way player before injuries limited his role to a primarily offensive one.

Boston had the league’s best record, but they weren’t at the top of the league in any statistical category. Their best stat was a defensive one, where opponent points per game, at 104, was good for second in the league.

The Celtics did all this with a rather young team. Bird was in his second year, McHale was a rookie, Parish had four years’ experience coming into the season and Cedric Maxwell had three. Tiny Archibald was the team’s only real veteran, with nine years in the league.

Eastern Playoffs

The Eastern Conference looked to be a meat grinder. The Celtics were tied for the best record with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Milwaukee Bucks, coached by old friend Don Nelson, weren’t far behind with a 60-22 record.

The NBA had expanded the playoffs to three rounds in 1975, with the two division champs getting byes from the best-of-three opening round. This meant that Boston, which held the tiebreaker over Philly, got to take a breather while waiting for their second round opponent to be decided.

In that first round, the Chicago Bulls, who finished with a 45-37 record made quick work of the higher seeded Knicks, sweeping New York 2-0. This set them up to face Boston.

Things did not go well for Chicago. They lost in four. Boston’s average margin of victory was 8.25 points as they finished +33 for the series. Larry Bird led all players in points, rebounds, assists, and steals, with a 23.5/13/7.3/3.0 stat line.

The Eastern Conference Finals were a rematch from the previous year. Once again it was the Sixers and the Celtics—a rivalry from this era that is sometimes lost beneath the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. The Celtics and Sixers faced off four times in the playoffs during the Bird era—more times than the Celtics matched up against the Lakers, albeit for lower stakes.

Boston’s series against Philly was an absolute classic.

The teams had finished the season with identical records, so the matchup figured to be close and entertaining, and the first game delivered on both counts.

In game one, the Celtics rallied from a ten point deficit and were clinging to a one point lead with less than four seconds left when Billy Cunningham drew up a play for Sixers rookie Andrew Toney that sent him baseline. He got past Cedric Maxwell who felt that it was better to foul him than give him two easy points from a layup.

Toney stepped to the line and delivered the equalizer and the game winner in succession. Final score? 105-104, Philly. The Sixers had seized home court and put the Celtics in a 1-0 hole.

The man who would, with justice, become known as the “Boston Strangler” had introduced himself to the Garden with an exclamation point.

Game two went Boston’s way without much drama as the C’s tallied a 19 point victory, 118-99. Toney led all scorers with 35, but Bird was a close second with 34.

Game three went to Philly, putting the Celtics in a 2-1 hole with the next game being another road contest.

Game four looked to be all Philly as well; the home team had an 18 point lead in the second half, forcing the Celtics to claw their way back into the game. They were down four points, 107-103, when they turned their defense up to maximum. They caused a 24 second violation, which was followed by a bucket from Tiny Archibald that gave them a real shot. The score was 107-105 Philly with just over a minute remaining. The score stayed there until there were eight seconds left in the game. The Celtics nabbed a rebound off a miss by Bobby Jones, and while Bill Fitch signaled in vain for a time out, Archibald began to push the ball up court. Jones reacted to his miss by running the length of the court, figuring that Archibald would send the ball into Bird who was standing near the opposite basket.

His instincts were correct, and Jones snatched the pass before Bird could get his hands on it, sealing the victory and putting the Celtics up against the wall.

Boston wasn’t facing just one ‘must-win’ game. They were looking at three of them.

A team that had struggled mightily against the Sixers in three of the first four games would need to figure out how to beat Philly not just once, but three times in a row.

It’s not much of a spoiler to say that they did. After all, this is a column about a championship season, not an exit from the Eastern Conference Finals.

But those games… Oh, those games… The Celtics won three in a row by a total of five points. Each victory was by just about the thinnest margin possible.

Over those three games, Larry Bird scored 80 points and hauled in 38 rebounds. He dished out 14 assists, and logged ten steals. He was turnover prone in the first two of these three games, but in the decisive game seven, he logged five steals and only one turnover.

In game five, the Sixers had a six point lead with just over a minute and a half left in the game, but they failed to score the rest of the way as Boston went on a 7-0 run that featured a block by Parish, a layup and a hustle play that secured a loose ball from Bird, and three clutch free throws by M.L. Carr. Philly, on the other hand, couldn’t handle the pressure from Boston’s defense, as they missed multiple chances to put the game—and the series—away.

Game six, in Philly, was another two point affair.

Once again, Philly seemed on the brink of closing out the series. They had a 17 point lead in the first half in an environment that was beyond hostile to the Celtics.

Decades before the ‘Malice in the Palace,’ Cedric Maxwell was charged by a fan with a pointed object of some sort in the third quarter; retaliation by Maxwell, Archibald and Chris Ford took them five rows deep into the Spectrum crowd. Nobody was ejected. Nobody was suspended. It was a different time.

Somehow, somehow, the Celtics turned that deficit into a fourth quarter lead. As the clock wound down, Andrew Toney found himself up against Kevin McHale with the game on the line. McHale was trying to lure Toney into shooting the ball because the alternative was having Toney dump the ball into Darryl Dawkins, and McHale didn’t have high hopes of stopping the massive Sixers center.

McHale succeeded in luring Toney into a shot that he leaped up to contest, and he ever so slightly “ticked” the ball, pushing it off target and into his hands. “I was hoping somebody would foul me,” McHale said after the game, but the Sixers opted to let a bit more time run down before fouling Tiny Archibald, who sealed the Celtics victory with a pair of free throws.

The series was tied 3-3 and headed back to Boston for a decisive game 7.

Once again, the Celtics found themselves in a hole.

With 5:24 left in the game, Philadelphia had a 89-82 lead.

Bear in mind that the final score of this game was 91-90

The Celtics held the Sixers to just one point—and no field goals—over almost five and a half minutes of absolute desperate, must-win basketball.

It’s one thing to clamp down on a team during a regular season game when there’s not much on the line, but here, for both teams, everything was on the line.

The Celtics forced five turnovers—of which three were steals by Larry Bird—and the Sixers missed all six field goals they attempted during that span.

“Inspired, determined—maniacal” was how Bob Ryan described the Celtics’ defense to close out the game and the series.

With a minute to go, Bird gave the Celtics the game winner, capping a 9-0 run. He’d come out of a scrum under the basket with the ball, “I wanted the ball in my hands,” he said after the game, “that’s the only place in the world I wanted it.” He ran it coast-to-coast, delivering a layup that sealed the game.

The Sixers, who outshot the Celtics 48.8% to 38.2%, sent the Celtics to the line 35 times during the game, where Boston’s abysmal shooting nonetheless gave them a more than sufficient margin, as they made 22 free throws against just 12 by the Sixers.

The Western Playoffs

On the opposite coast, there was an open rebellion in Los Angeles. The defending champs were chafing under coach Paul Westhead, and although they did well enough in the regular season, winning 54 games, they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Houston Rockets, who finished the season with just a 42-40 record.

The Rockets proceeded to knock off 52-win San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs, which set them up to face the Kansas City Kings. The Western Conference produced not one but two Cinderella teams that year, as the Kings, who finished the season with a sub .500 record (40-42) knocked off the Suns, who were the number one seed in the West, in seven games in the semis.

This was almost certainly the weakest Western Conference Finals matchup in history, as the teams were a combined .500 for the season.

The Rockets prevailed in a gentleman’s sweep; they were never seriously challenged by the Kings, who wouldn’t breathe this rarefied postseason air for another two decades.

The Finals

This contest was somewhat anticlimactic. The series went six games largely due to the play of Houston’s Hall-of-Fame bound center, Moses Malone.

But there was no real contest here. Maybe you could chalk up one or both of the Celtics’ losses to fatigue from having to battle back from a 3-1 deficit to the Sixers.

In this era, the Finals started just two days after the Eastern Conference Finals ended.

The series was in no way as close as the 4-2 win total might suggest. The Celtics won games by margins of 23 and 29 points, while the largest margin of victory the Rockets could manage was a five point gap in game four.

Today, Larry Bird’s play in the Finals gets a bit of scrutiny, and it’s true that the Legend did struggle to score, and if he had performed better, it’s unlikely that the series would have gone six games, as Boston’s losses were by a total of seven points, as opposed to a cumulative 66 point margin of victory across all four wins.

But that’s not the whole story. Bird led all Celtics with 92 rebounds and dang near nabbed as many as Malone—who grabbed 94 for the Rockets.

Bird led all players with 42 assists for the series, a total that was nine more than Tiny Archibald for the Celtics, and 17 more than the Houston’s leader in the category. His 14 steals also led both teams.

Even though Cedric Maxwell won the Finals MVP, it was clear that Larry Bird had arrived, and along with him, another Celtics dynasty.

Turning Point

The turning point was M.L. Carr’s clutch free throws at the end of game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. Carr capped a furious comeback that kept the Celtics alive and set up two more games that were, at least to Celtics fans, classic examples of the grit and resolve of their team. I wouldn’t want to speculate on how Sixers fans view those three games that they failed to finish.

It Wasn’t Over Until

Larry Bird scored the game seven winner against Philly and introduced himself to the big time with an epic performance that featured three steals in the final five minutes of the game to go along with a game high 23 points, eleven rebounds and five assists.

Tune in tomorrow for the matchup everyone was waiting for: Bird vs. Magic.

Ideas around rebounding in the NBA have changed a lot in recent years.

It used to be far more common in a star player’s profile. Think former Houston Rockets star (?) Charles Barkley. His game was partly predicated on his ability to create easy opportunities in transition, which was partly predicated on his ability to grab boards.

Think Andre Drummond. He was kind of not that good at a lot of basketball stuff, but he was among the best rebounders in NBA history, and that was enough for him to earn an All-NBA nod.

That type of star doesn’t exist anymore.

Go look at the NBA’s rebounds per game leaders. Perhaps Nikola Jokic fits the Barkley archetype, but if anyone wanted to call him the “Round Mound of Rebound”, it would be weird. The Massive King of Passing would be more appropriate.

Otherwise, the list is littered with guys who you’d just expect to get rebounds. Nobody really sticks out – it’s just a bunch of guys grabbing 10ish rebounds per game because that’s their function. It’s less that they’re the league’s best rebounders, and more that the league’s best rebounders often don’t have enough ancillary skills to keep themselves on the floor.

Enter Oscar Tshiebwe.

Rockets build on identity with Tshiebwe signing

Rebounding from individual players has been devalued, but for a while, even team rebounding had lost some luster. Teams were largely opting to pass on even attempting to corral offensive boards in favor of defending transition.

Not the Rockets.

Their 38.8 Offensive Rebounding % in 2025-26 led the league by a country mile. Their overall 54.9 Rebounding % was league-best as well.

So why not add the best rebounder in G-League history?

Tshiebwe’s robust 19.0 rebounds per game in 2024-25 were the best mark ever recorded. This man can collect a board.

He’s only 6’8″, but he’s 255 pounds of pure granite. His 7’3″ wingspan is also helpful. Tshiebwe is not afraid to throw his weight around, and few players can outmuscle him.

So what should the Rockets expect from him?

Tshiebwe can find a role with the Rockets

Rebounds!

Jokes aside: Clint Capela wasn’t great last year. It was fun to see him back with the organization, and he wasn’t…awful…but the Rockets should be in the market for a better third-string, “break in case of Steven Adams-related emergency” backup big.

Tshiebwe has a chance to be that guy. At his size, his lateral quickness is subpar. He can be a defensive liability, although securing the glass is part of defense too, and Tshiebwe is one of the best in the NBA on that front.

That’s one thing that has always mattered.

The Utah Jazz have had an incredible offseason by all accounts. Whether it was the luck of winning the lottery and getting Darryn Peterson with the second pick, or getting an incredible haul for Walker Kessler in a trade that took advantage of a desperate Lakers squad. With the recent ownership drama with the Lakers, it’s feeling like a better trade every single day. It’s starting to feel like the Jazz were not only taking advantage of Luka Doncic wanting them to trade for Kessler, but likely ownership trying to set the team up long-term for the massive sale as well.

It looks like the Jazz are not done as well. According to Tim MacMahon, the Jazz will be looking to fill the void left by Walker Kessler leaving.

From MacMahon:

Finding a long-term solution at center will be a priority for the front office, but it will probably require some patience. The Jazz will keep an eye on the trade market, and at some point, they’ll likely use some of the draft capital acquired in the Kessler sign-and-trade to target his replacement

Losing Kessler will obviously cost the Jazz some wins in the short term, but Utah can then find a replacement that fits better with their roster. At some point this season, Utah may find an opportunity to find a “long-term” solution. There could be a team out there that needs to offload assets and Utah will have the ability to take advantage. The biggest weapon for Utah is that they don’t have to rush things. Not being under pressure will allow them to wait for the best possible option.

It’s been a frustrating off-season for the Cleveland Cavaliers — or perhaps it was. They lost starting small forward Dean Wade in free agency to the Philadelphia 76ers, and then waited nearly a month for LeBron James to follow him there.

While the rest of the Eastern Conference was improving, the Cavs were mostly sitting idle. That changed this past week as Cleveland sent Dennis Schroder to the Charlotte Hornets to free up cap space, and then traded Max Strus, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, and a second-rounder for Peyton Watson and Cam Whitmore.

After a month and a half of waiting, the Cavs have finally made their big move — one that could vault them back into the title conversation.

First, we’ll start with what the Cavs gave up.

The 2031 first-rounder is valuable both as a trade chip and as a useable asset.

The lottery reform starting next season doesn’t reward tanking as it has for the past several decades. Instead, simply missing the playoffs — as long as you weren’t a play-in team — gives you a better chance of landing the first overall pick than having the worst record in the league. Additionally, all lottery picks will be drawn instead of just the top four. We don’t know where the Cavs will be in 2031, but there’s a chance that could be a valuable top-five pick even if they don’t bottom out.

More than that, there’s an opportunity cost with this move. The 2031 pick was the first one they could trade away, considering the 2027 and 2029 picks are still owed to the Utah Jazz from the Donovan Mitchell trade. Now, the only first the Cavs can move for the next two seasons is their 2033 selection. And considering how far into the future that is, and how their team is aging, it’d be unwise to do so. That 2031 first was essentially the last first-rounder Cleveland could trade away to help boost this core.

There’s an on-court cost to this as well.

Losing Strus will hurt. His shooting and ability to play with and without the ball opened up the offense.

There’s more to spacing than just raw shooting ability. Strus knows when to cut, when to come off screens, and when to act as a decoy. That intuition — even more than the shot — is what made him so valuable to Cleveland’s offense alongside his ability to run second-side actions as a ball handler. Those are things the Cavs will desperately miss.

That said, Strus wasn’t necessarily an ideal fit for this team due to his size and contract.

At 6’5”, he didn’t have the necessary height and strength to cover larger opposing wings. That wouldn’t necessarily be an issue on most teams, but it was in Cleveland.

The Cavs have long had too many shooting guards and not enough small forwards or point guards. Strus is squarely a shooting guard. His expiring $16.6 million deal is $7.5 million more than Sam Merrill’s, who largely fills the same role on offense. For those reasons, moving Strus makes sense. Whether Watson was the player to trade him for remains to be seen.

Both iterations of Cleveland’s core four have desperately needed a wing to connect the dynamic backcourt and two-center frontcourt. De’Andre Hunter was thought to be the answer in 2025, but came up short, resulting in him being dealt before the last trade deadline. Watson fits that same archetype, but there’s reasons to be hopeful that he’ll succeed where Hunter didn’t.

Watson has shown to be an incredibly efficient outside shooter. He connected on 41% of his three-point looks last season, putting him in the 84th percentile for wings. This included knocking down 52% of his outside looks from the corner (97th percentile).

That skill set should be useful on a Cavaliers team that we assume will rely heavily on high pick-and-rolls. Having someone who is that efficient from the corner should keep opposing defenses honest, opening up room to attack the basket.

Despite the impressive shooting efficiency, Watson isn’t the high-volume three-point shooter someone like Strus is. Watson took just 3.6 outside shots per game last season, landing him in the 9th percentile for three-point volume from a wing. For context, that was less than half a shot more than Evan Mobley attempted last season (3.2), which isn’t ideal.

There are legitimate questions about what kind of offensive player Watson is outside of his three-point shot.

Watson mostly relied on his teammates — mainly Nikola Jokic — to create clean looks for him as a scorer. Nearly three-fourths of his field-goal makes were assisted. That suggests that he is comfortable fitting into an offense, but also isn’t a shot creator.

Creating for others isn’t exactly his specialty either. Watson was in the 11th percentile in assist-to-usage rate (0.48), 35th percentile in assist percentage (9.4%), and in the 30th percentile for turnover rate (13.1%) last season. While there are signs that point to Watson growing into a more well-rounded scorer — mainly his impressive free-throw rate — there isn’t much to suggest that he has untapped potential here.

Not being a proven offensive initiator is a concern. Shooting and playmaking are shortcomings for any lineup that includes two traditional centers. Watson fills one of those holes, but the playmaking responsibility will still be primarily on the guards. The ideal starting small forward for this group would be one that could provide a bit of both.

Defensively is where Watson fits best. He offers the size, strength, and athleticism that should pair well with Jarrett Allen and Mobley.

Watson is 6’8” and plays defense like he is. He’s a good rebounder for his position, can comfortably switch one through four, and has been in the 98th to 100th percentile for block percentage throughout his career.

Those defensive skills allowed him to split his time between the three and four last year. This makes him the ideal Wade replacement as he’s perfectly suited to slot into the starting lineup at small forward, and shift up to power forward when either Allen or Mobley are out of the game. This is what differentiates him most from Hunter, who struggled defensively and wasn’t an ideal option at power forward.

The Cavs were never going to find the perfect starting three for this group without ginoving up a member of the core four. As such, any move that they made would need to be a gamble of some kind.

You can quibble about Watson’s fit with this group. There’s certainly reasons to be skeptical, and he most certainly isn’t an A+ match. But considering the cap space and draft capital the Cavs had available, you’d be hard-pressed to do better.

Watson is the perfect type of player to roll the dice on. He has the size, athleticism, and shooting that this group desperately needs. And he also has upside to grow into a more complete offensive player. Whether or not he does will determine if Watson is a long-term solution at small forward.

Koby Altman came into this summer with his hands tied behind his back considering the cap situation. Not only has he gotten the Cavs under the first apron, but he’s also addressed one of the team’s biggest weaknesses. We’ll see if it’s enough to make the Cavs true title contenders. At the very least, they’re in a far better position now than they were at the start of the offseason.

Grade: A-

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Jonathan Kuminga landing with the Los Angeles Lakers seems inevitable at this point.

On Tuesday, it appeared Kuminga had three suitors remaining in his free-agent sweepstakes: the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers.

And on Wednesday, the Cavaliers seemingly took themselves out of contention by instead acquiring Peyton Watson in a three-team trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers have always been the most logical fit for Kuminga, but the two parties haven’t been able to reach an agreement all summer long. The Lakers initially offered the forward a deal for around $10 million annually under the framing that he’d be starting alongside Luka Doncic in Hollywood.

But Kuminga and his camp wanted double that amount, which has since created an ongoing stalemate between the 23-year-old and the Lakers.

Another possible outcome is a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks to bring Kuminga to LA.

There’s even a chance the Lakers acquire Kuminga on a cheaper deal because the other contender in the mix, Minnesota, can only offer him a $6 million taxpayer mid-exception.

The forward has spent a majority of the summer weighing his options, and now one of Kuminga’s best alternatives in the Cavaliers pivoted and landed Watson.

The Lakers still need a versatile wing defender.

A few days into free agency, general manager Rob Pelinka had already spent a majority of the team’s cap space on free agent additions like Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes.

That left the Lakers with little money to spend on a backup center and a versatile wing defender.

The Lakers already took care of the former by signing Kevon Looney, but the squad is still missing a key piece of its roster with less than two weeks before September.

Kuminga would solve that problem for the Lakers, and it’s clear his market is quickly shrinking.

The Peyton Watson saga has reached its conclusion.

The Denver Nuggets are trading the 23-year-old wing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a multi-team deal that sends Max Strus to the Los Angeles Clippers, and a 2031 Cleveland first-round pick and 2032 Kings second-rounder back to Denver, two people with direct knowledge of the transaction confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.

The people spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss terms of the deal.

Watson, a restricted free agent, will sign a four-year, $88 million contract with the Cavs.

The Clippers are also sending a 2027 second-round pick to Cleveland, acquiring Strus via a trade exception. The Cavaliers are then flipping that second rounder and Tre Mann, who they acquired via trade last week for Dennis Schröder, to the Washington Wizards for Cam Whitmore while Julian Reese heads to the Nuggets. The Schröder deal will also be part of this transaction, per ESPN.

Watson is coming off a breakout season in 2024-25 in which he started 40 games in the prolonged absences of Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon. Already known for his defense, the Long Beach Poly High School alum emerged as a versatile, athletic wing on the offensive end of the floor as he averaged 14.6 points, shooting 49.1% from the floor and 41.1% from long range, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 steals − all career-highs − and 1.1 blocks per game.

The trade puts an end to months of speculation regarding Watson's future with the Nuggets as he was heavily linked to teams with cap space in need of length and athleticism, such as the Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers, among others.

Contributing: Lorenzo Reyes

Peyton Watson trade details

• Cavaliers get: Peyton Watson, Cam Whitmore
• Clippers get: Max Strus
• Nuggets get: 2031 first-rounder, 2032 second-rounder, Julian Reese
• Wizards get: Tre Mann, 2027 second-rounder
• Hornets get: Dennis Schröder

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Peyton Watson traded to Cavaliers in deal that includes Nuggets, Clippers, Wizards

The Cleveland Cavaliers have finally made their big move of the offseason. After a month and a half of speculation, the Cavs now have an answer at small forward: Peyton Watson.

The soon-to-be 24-year-old, 6’8” wing is coming off the best season of his career with the Denver Nuggets. Watson averaged 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game in 54 contests. Those 14.6 points per game were six and a half more than he averaged the year before. That jump is mostly due to his growth as a shooter.

Watson connected on 41.1% of his 3.6 three-point attempts last regular season and 36.8% of them in the playoffs. This included converting 52% of his three-point looks from the corner (97th percentile).

That three-point shooting is coupled with being an outstanding defender for his position. Watson does a great job of using his size and athleticism to effectively guard one through four. This should make him an incredibly good fit in a frontcourt anchored by Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

The Cavs had to pay a premium for getting Watson to come to Cleveland.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reports that the Cavs will be sending out Max Strus, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick, Tre Mann, cash, and a second-round pick to complete the deal. This will end up being a three-team deal with the first-rounder going to Denver and Strus reuniting with Darius Garland on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Watson is also signing for a four-year, $88 million deal in Cleveland, which includes a player option.

Strus spent three years with the Cavs and was a starting small forward for most of that time. He played a large role both on and off the court. Strus averaged 11 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 132 games with the Cavs over the last three seasons.

Cleveland doesn’t own their 2027, 2029, and now 2031 first-round picks. They also still owe a pick swap for their 2028 first as part of the Donovan Mitchell trade with the Utah Jazz.

The Cavs have been looking for a permanent answer at starting forward for years. They thought they had something with De’Andre Hunter when they traded for him in 2025, before dealing him the following season. We’ll see if Watson ends up being the long-term solution.

The Washington Wizards are acquiring Tre Mann, a 2027 second-rounder from the Clippers and cash for Cam Whitmore, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.

As part of the deal, the Cavaliers are sending Tre Mann, the 2027 second-rounder from the Clippers and cash to the Washington Wizards for Cam Whitmore, sources said. The Wizards also are sending Julian Reese to the Nuggets, who will waive Reese off his two-way deal.

Mann fills a… https://t.co/8YzgVqheoy

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 20, 2026

The Wizards also are sending Julian Reese to the Nuggets, who will waive Reese off his two-way deal, according to ESPN’s report.

The Athletic’s Joshua Robbins reported the following regarding the 2027 second-round pick that Washington acquired:

The terms on the Wizards' incoming 2027 second-round pick via the Clippers are convoluted. The Wizards' will receive the second-most favorable of the following second-round picks:
(a) the more favorable of Golden State and Phoenix,
(b) the most favorable of Houston, Indiana,…

— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) August 20, 2026

The Wizards now own three second-round picks in the 2027 NBA Draft:

• More Favorable: BKN/DAL

• Less Favorable: GSW/PHX

• 2nd Most Favorable: (a) the more favorable of GSW/PHX, (b) the most favorable of HOU, IND, MIA, and OKC and (c) PHI.

Mann is a 25-year-old shooting guard who averaged 5.5 points on 32.3% 3PT with Charlotte last season. The 6-foot-4 guard is owed $8 million during the 2026-27 season and then has an $8M team option for 2027-28.

Wizards general manager Will Dawkins was the Oklahoma City Thunder’s vice president of basketball operations when they selected Mann with the No. 18 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

This trade gives the Wizards another depth guard option behind Trae Young, Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington.

Whitmore missed most of last season with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder. Washington acquired the 22-year-old forward from the Houston Rockets in July 2025 for two second-round picks.

Reese spent last season on a two-way contract. The Maryland product started 10 games for Washington in a brief stint that included a 26-point, 17-rebound showing against the Utah Jazz.

The Wizards’ roster remains at 14 standard contracts — NBA teams can have a maximum of 15 standard deals by opening night — but now has an open two-way spot after this deal.

G: Young | Johnson | Carrington | Mann
W: Dybantsa | George | Coulibaly | Riley
F: Davis | Champagnie | Middleton
C: Sarr | Ayton | Vukcevic

Two-way: Watkins | Okpara

Washington is sending out Whitmore’s $5.5 million salary for Mann’s $8 million salary, which brings in an additional $2.5 million against the cap in 2026-27. The Wizards are now $8.4 million below the luxury tax with one more roster spot to fill.

Goodness gracious, talk about a schedule. With a slew of opponents that will likely compete for lottery balls instead of wins, and two challenging opponents who can provide a measuring stick for an upstart roster.

The Utah Jazz open the 2026-27 regular season in the same way I open the front door to the local Taco Bell establishment. My eyes wide, determined, focused. Mouth agape and salivating.

The Jazz open their season in October against the Memphis Grizzlies — a plastic cup overflowing with ice-cold Mountain Dew Baja Blast.

The home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans — a Doritos Locos Taco, nacho cheese.

A revenge game against Walker Kessler and the Los Angeles Lakers — the immortal Crunchwrap Supreme.

Another refreshing meeting with our old friend Memphis — take a refill and bask in the Blast.

Along strides the big one. The reigning Western Conference champions and keepers of the beast, Victor Wembanyama. If I weren’t doing a Taco Bell theme, I’d call this matchup the whole enchilada; the ultimate test to determine whether Utah’s young core has the chest hair to compete with the band of killers who assassinated Oklahoma City last spring. Seeing as this is a measuring-stick game with little expectation of victory, San Antonio takes the shape of the Build-Your-Own Cravings Box — enjoy as you see fit.

I’ll divide these matchups into two categories: the sure-thing wins and the aptitude tests.

The sure-thing opponents (Memphis, New Orleans) offer Utah’s youngsters (Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Darryn Peterson) adequate space to get their sea legs beneath them while simultaneously building chemistry with the stabilizing veterans (e.g., Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Jusuf Nurkic).

A first impression is everything for a team like Utah. Young players need a confident foundation, and these early games against lottery teams should provide that in spades if the Jazz are, in fact, the team we expect them to be in ‘26-’27.

Then you have the aptitude tests. The early assessments (or pre-tests, if you will) of Utah’s ability to play with the best teams in the league. And though Los Angeles is far from even being the best team in the Western Conference, they should be fired up at the chance to host Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and the man I still see gracing Utah’s public transportation in the form of a UCCU advertisement, Walker Kessler.

For the reasons I’ve already shared, San Antonio is the ultimate measure of where the Utah Jazz stand at the beginning of the year.

Now fully healthy (knock on wood) and loaded with a chamber full of Darryn Peterson-shaped slugs, the Utah Jazz have rediscovered their appetite for winning basketball games, and the schedule-drafting elves have tailored an ideal path for this young, hungry roster. Momentum is everything in the game of basketball, and pumping your young core full of optimism at the dawn of the season would be absolutely ideal for Will Hardy’s squad.

Despite numerous reasons to believe the Utah Jazz could disrupt the status quo at the top of the NBA standings, this is a team rather unfamiliar with competing for wins. By nature, this team is an unknown commodity — a question mark that sparks optimism but poses uncertainty.

The regular season is not defined by its first five games, of course. The Utah Jazz will have to play a full 82-game season, and will certainly face stretches of tribulation in equal measure to their streaks of triumph. But it never hurts to open the year on a hot streak, and Utah’s early schedule provides the perfect kindling to spark a spicy wildfire.

Live Más, Los Jazz.

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Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently lives in Japan and has covered the NBA and college athletics since 2024.

The Los Angeles Clippers are adding a new face to a roster still stuck in NBA limbo — and Charles Barkley will presumably approve of the aesthetics.

The Clippers acquired veteran small forward Max Strus from the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday as part of a sprawling three-team trade centered around restricted free agent Peyton Watson, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Watson will head from the Denver Nuggets to Cleveland and sign a four-year, $88 million contract that includes a player option and trade kicker. Denver receives an unprotected 2031 Cavaliers first-round pick and a 2032 Sacramento Kings second-rounder in the deal.

The Clippers, meanwhile, are sending a 2027 second-round pick previously acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers to Cleveland and absorbing Strus’ $16.6 million salary for the upcoming season through a trade exception. Cleveland will subsequently send Tre Mann and that 2027 second-rounder to the Washington Wizards.

For Los Angeles, Strus brings proven shooting, postseason experience and, apparently, the Charles Barkley seal of approval.

During the NBA Playoffs, Barkley memorably called Strus “a pretty man” on “Inside the NBA,” joking that he couldn’t look the Cavaliers wing directly in the eye because he was too attractive.

Now Strus is bringing those movie-star looks to Hollywood.

Strus gives the Clippers an established perimeter threat capable of stretching defenses and playing off the ball. Strus shot 40.2% from 3-point range during the regular season averaging over 11 points per game. More importantly, Los Angeles was willing to take on a salary Denver wanted no part of as the Nuggets navigated Watson’s restricted free agency.

Watson emerged as one of the most coveted players remaining on the market after a breakout 2025-26 season. The 23-year-old posted career highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals while shooting 41% from 3-point range. He also erupted for four 30-point games after failing to record one during his first three NBA seasons.

His defensive résumé may be even more intriguing. Since entering the NBA in 2022-23, Watson ranks second in field-goal percentage allowed as the contesting defender among players who have challenged at least 2,000 shots.

That combination attracted interest from several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers and Clippers. But Denver maintained leverage because Watson was a restricted free agent and could match any offer sheet.

Instead, the Nuggets turned Watson into a future unprotected first-round pick rather than commit $88 million to retain him.

After reaching the Eastern Conference finals last season before being swept by the New York Knicks, the Cavaliers have continued reshaping their roster around Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and James Harden. Cleveland coveted a reunion with LeBron James earlier this offseason, but the NBA’s all-time leading scorer ultimately signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Watson became the next swing.

To make it work financially, Cleveland needed to shed salary, making Strus expendable and opening the door for the Clippers.

Strus arrives in Los Angeles at one of the strangest moments in franchise history.

The NBA’s investigation into whether the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer circumvented salary-cap rules by allegedly funneling money through team sponsors to Kawhi Leonard is entering its 11th month. Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors on June 30 in a blockbuster package that would send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a pick swap and two second-rounders to Los Angeles.

That deal, however, remains on hold pending the completion of the league’s investigation into Ballmer, Leonard and the Clippers.

So while the Clippers wait for the NBA to determine the fate of one blockbuster, they managed to complete another piece of business Wednesday.

They got Max Strus.

A reliable shooter. A playoff-tested veteran. And, if Barkley is to be believed, perhaps the prettiest trade acquisition of the NBA offseason.

Jerry Buss wouldn’t have wanted this. 

After the Lakers owner died in 2013, there has been acerbic in-fighting between his children, most recently culminating in Jeanie Buss’ five siblings voting to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% share of the franchise, while she contests the sale so she can remain governor. 

At this point, it’s time for Jeanie to just let go. 

Sure, Jerry wanted the Lakers to remain in the family. But he wouldn’t have wanted this madness. There’s so much undercutting. Backstabbing. Drama. 

He wouldn’t have wanted a franchise that won 10 championships under his reign to be dragged through his family’s mud for a decade. 

He wouldn’t have wanted the greatest show in the league to devolve into a melodrama with his surname surrounded by bright lights.

This isn’t an indictment of Jeanie’s reign as governor, which included her acquiring LeBron James and helping guide the team to its first championship in 10 years in 2020. 

There’s no doubt that she has so much institutional knowledge. She became the first female majority owner to win an NBA title. She’s a trailblazer. 

But there’s grace in knowing when to drop the rope. 

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Really, what is she even fighting for at this point? She was the catalyst for selling the Lakers to Mark Walter for $10 billion in October 2025. 

Yes, the deal was for her to remain governor through 2030, an arrangement new owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner intended to honor after buying the team from Walter last week for $12.5 billion. 

But things have changed. 

They’ve gotten ugly again. The five Buss family siblings intended to use a tag-along provision to sell their remaining stake in the Lakers. They issued a statement to ESPN on Monday, saying, “It is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

Jeanie, who was the only sibling who didn’t vote for the sale, dug her feet into the ground. 

Through her lawyer, Adam Streisand, Jeanie is contending that a court ruled in 2017 that the team can’t be sold without approval by the co-trustees, who are Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss. 

Now everything is going to be up to lawyers and courtrooms. 

The losers of all of this? The Lakers, who will be paralyzed until this resolves, unless Iger and Kushner decide to cut ties with Jeanie. 

This is nuanced. 

Jeanie is the face of the Lakers. It made sense for Walter to keep her as governor after buying the team. Iger and Kushner were right to respect that. She provides a sense of continuity. Of oversight. Of comfort amid chaos. 

But if there’s a war raging in the background, that detracts from any good she could do. If her family drama is a distraction, that’s going to hurt the Lakers more than she could help them. 

The Buss family has overseen the Lakers for 47 years, turning it into the second-most successful NBA franchise with 17 championships. Under Jerry, the Lakers acquired superstars Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. He created the Laker Girls. He’s widely considered one of the greatest owners in sports. 

Jeanie carried on his legacy. She’s respected. She’s beloved. 

But her reign has always come with an ugly underbelly. 

Jeanie fired her brother, Jim Buss, as the executive vice president of basketball operations in 2017 after the Lakers were heading toward their fourth straight losing season. 

Things got even uglier. 

Jim and Johnny Buss attempted a boardroom coup to oust Jeanie as the team’s controlling owner in 2017. She obtained a restraining order and filed a lawsuit against her brothers, with the siblings ultimately reaching a settlement that strengthened her power. 

The drama didn’t stop there. 

Under Jeanie’s governorship after the Lakers were sold to Walter, Joey and Jesse Buss were dismissed from their basketball operations positions in November 2025. Jeanie’s sister, Janie Buss, was also removed as the team’s longtime charitable services director.

A few months later, an ESPN story came out that undercut Jeanie’s relationship with James. 

The story alleged that Jeanie resented James’ “outsized ego,” adding that she even “privately mused” about trading the megastar to the Clippers in 2022 and that she “begrudgingly” gave him a contract extension in 2024 because she feared the public backlash if she didn’t. 

In a statement to The Athletic, Jeanie said, “It’s really not right, given all the great things LeBron has done for the Lakers, that he has to be pulled into my family drama.” 

James left the Lakers in free agency this summer after eight seasons with the franchise. 

Now, the drama is raging once again. 

Her siblings have banded together. And she’s refusing to wave the white flag. 

But at this point, is that what’s best for the Lakers?

Jeanie agreed to sell the team. The Lakers deserve a fresh start. The Buss family drama would get in the way of that. 

The Buss family was the greatest thing to happen to the Lakers. 

But all good things must come to an end. 

The state of the Lakers’ ownership continued to more turns.

It was just last week when Mark Walter agreed to sell his share in the franchise to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a historic valuation of $12.5 billion – just 10 months after Walter officially became the Lakers’ majority owner. 

This week, it appeared the Buss family voted to sell their remaining 17.8% share of the Lakers to Kushner and Iger.

Not so fast.

Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss is opposing her siblings’ vote to sell the family’s share of the Lakers, according to a letter from her lawyer, Adam Streisand. The letter, obtained by the California Post on Monday, argued her siblings can’t legally execute a sale without her approval and that any vote of the Buss family selling would be “void.”

Her siblings who are part of the Buss family trust (Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss) fired back at Jeanie on Tuesday, making it clear they intend to go through with the sale.

But how did the Lakers, and the Buss family get here? And what exactly are the two sides arguing? 

Court order details 

At the heart of Buss opposing her siblings’ vote to sell their share of the Lakers is a 2017 court order, with Streisand saying that no sale could happen “without approval by the co-trustees, i.e. Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.”

Jeanie didn’t vote to sell the family’s ownership stake in the Lakers, while the other five siblings in the trust did.

The court document from 2017 stated that the co-trustees of the Buss family trust are instructed to take all “actions reasonably available to them, including voting the Trust’s shares” to ensure that Jeanie was elected as the Director of the Board of the Lakers on an annual basis during her lifetime.

The document goes on to state “absent a further order of this Court modifying the Trust based upon proof of circumstances justifying modification under applicable law.”

The document also added that the co-trustees of the family trust are “instructed to take all actions [reasonably] available to them, including voting the Trust’s shares” to ensure that Jeanie is elected as the controlling owner of the Lakers on an annual basis during her lifetime.

One of the main problems of the Buss family attempting to sell their share of the Lakers: It would result in Jeanie no longer being the team’s Governor, since she would no longer have the qualifying 15% ownership stake in the franchise required to hold that position. 

She has been the team’s Governor since 2013 after Dr. Jerry Buss’ death.

When Walter purchased the majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family, the league announced that Buss would remain the team’s Governor for a period of at least five years (through 2030).

Iger told the California Post last week he and Kushner intended to honor the agreement made between Walter and Buss. 

And based off of the last couple of days, it appears Jeanie wants to remain Governor of the Lakers. 

Streisand wrote in the letter to the Buss siblings’ attorneys: “No sale of the JAB Trust’s 17.8% ownership interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.

“Pursuant to the JAB Trust and the attached Court Order, the co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner. Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

The Buss siblings’ side

Jeanie’s siblings believe they have the right to sell the family’s shares of the Lakers via a “tag-along” provision that was included when the Buss family sold the Lakers to Walter in June 2025. 

ESPN reported the provision gave the Buss family the opportunity to “tag along on any sale and valuation Walter secured for his shares.”

The siblings believe that the family trust, which includes six of Jerry Buss’ children — Johnny (69), Jim (66), Jeanie (64), Janie (62), Joey (41) and Jesse (37) — needed a majority vote (four out of six) to allow the trustees to sell the family’s shares.

What happens next is unknown, with the potential of this dispute having to be resolved through a legal process growing unless the side can come to an agreement without litigation. 

Once again, we have a whole host of news, rumors and updates around the Buss family’s feud, Mark Walter and even a cameo from Shams Charania to defend himself against a claim from Jeanie Buss.

All that and it’s not even been 24 hours since we posted one of these roundups. What an exhausting week.

Let’s dive into the latest headlines and reports.

Jeanie Buss buying sibling’s shares?

While it seems like the Buss family drama may be destined to end in a courtroom, there are other ways things could play out. One of them could involve Jeanie effectively taking control of the Buss Family Trust.

In a piece by Dan Woike and Sam Amick of The Athletic on Wednesday, they raised the possibility of Jeanie buying the shares from the rest of the family.

Could there be a way for the rest of the siblings to sell and Jeanie to remain as governor? That would require her finding a way to still own at least 15 percent of the shares, but it is possible. Per a league source, Jeanie would be open to exploring that scenario.

The first reaction to this is ‘Duh, of course Jeanie is open to it.’ The second reaction is that it feels like there is no chance the family is interested in selling those shares to Jeanie.

That said, we don’t know the siblings’ intentions. Perhaps they just want to cash out it doesn’t matter whether Jeanie gives them that money or Bob Iger and Josh Kushner do. Does Jeanie even have enough money to do that, though?

While this option is on the table, it doesn’t feel particularly likely.

The contract to keep Jeanie as governor

Another aspect of this is whether Iger and Kushner have an interest in even keeping Jeanie as governor. However, it might not be under their control.

In the same piece for The Athletic, Woike and Amick reported that the contract she signed with Mark Walter to remain governor for at least five years might be part of the deal for Iger and Kushner.

It’s fair to wonder how Iger and Kushner see this situation, with some wondering whether they’d want to choose a different governor simply because of the messiness of it all. But Walter’s choice to have Jeanie serve as governor for the next four years is known to be part of the contractual agreement from the sale 14 months ago, and a league source close to the situation indicated that it is now considered part of the deal with Iger and Kushner. In essence, if that proves to be the case, Iger and Kushner would be assuming Walter’s ownership role and the governor that comes with it.

If so, it makes sense why Jeanie is fighting so hard to maintain that 15% ownership stake. If she believes she’ll remain the governor no matter who owns the team, then her stance makes more sense.

It doesn’t make it any less desperate or annoying to watch as fans on the outside looking in, but at least there’s a little bit of logic to it.

Shams Charania fires back at Jeanie

One of the wilder strays of the letter from Jeanie’s lawyer was directed at Shams Charania of ESPN and his report on Monday morning that the Buss family would be selling their stake.

As you know, this afternoon, Shams Charania of ESPN falsely reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell the 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that my client, Jeanie Buss, is “out” as controlling owner. This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious “information” to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.

That felt pretty far out of left field, but clearly there was some pent-up anger from Jeanie in this situation. On Tuesday, Charania appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” and defended his reporting on the matter.

"I fully stand by my reporting..

I reported that there was a majority vote..

Only the siblings and the lawyers involved have access to what the trust actually says"@ShamsCharania#PMSLivehttps://t.co/W1OmuqF3B4pic.twitter.com/my8MT3zuAL

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 18, 2026

Look, Shams’ method of reporting deserves criticism and I’m not going to be defending him. But I also think Jeanie throwing shots his way in this situation felt out of place, mean-spirited and just odd.

Mark Walter tried to take loans out against Lakers’ stake

Lastly, we have our daily “What crazy way did Mark Walter try to get money” update, this time being one that feels like it was serious.

On Tuesday, Eric Platt, Sun Yu, Oliver Barnes, James Fontanella-Khan and Lee Harris of the Financial Times reported that Walter attempted to take out a loan against his Lakers’ stake with conversations carrying on all the way to him agreeing to sell the team.

Mark Walter held discussions with private investment giant Apollo Global Management about a multibillion-dollar loan against his Los Angeles Lakers stake, in a sign of the billionaire’s rush to raise cash this year.

The talks took place throughout the summer and continued until former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner offered to buy Walter’s stake in the Lakers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The more we learn about Walter, the more it feels like the sale, when it came, was one of the better options on the table.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.