Crossover World

  It's not a matter of if LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1 spot on the NBA's all-time scoring list, it's when. James sits just 1,326 points away from passing the Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Lakers legend, a milestone that should happen at some point this season given James is still performing at peak levels and is coming off a year in which he averaged over 30 points a night. If he averages around the same amount of points as he did a season ago for the Lakers, James could break the record somewhere in the middle of the season, assuming he stays healthy. It's a highly anticipated moment heading into the season, but in regards to LeBron's thoughts about and his relationship with Abdul-Jabbar, he didn't have much to say on the matter. Following the Lakers first preseason game Monday night, a reporter asked James what his thoughts were on the Lakers legend and if the two had any relationship, to which LeBron gave a very short answer. "No...

  In the era of shooters and playmakers, the point guard has become the most important (and deeply talented) position in the game. In Houston, the availability of one decorated veteran point guard could explode into one of the summer's most intense free-agent pursuits. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, John Wall is in talks with Houston for a buyout of his current contract with the Lakers, Clippers, and Heat, waiting as potential suitors if he becomes a free agent. Rumbles have finally begun to circulate about Wall resurfacing as an active player next season. This week marked the first time in some time that I heard serious murmurs about Wall successfully negotiating a buyout with the Rockets after his season on the sidelines — provided Houston remains unable to find a trade partner on a Wall deal. It is still unclear, with Wall presumed to be essentially untradeable when he's due $47.4 million next season, how much of that salary he would have to surrender in buyout talks t...

  The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham as their head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. The Lakers interviewed a number of candidates, but as the search drew to a close, they focused on three finalists: Ham, former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, and former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. In the end, Ham was able to win out over his more experienced competition and will receive a four-year deal to coach the franchise, per Shams Charania.  Ham, a small forward in his playing days, managed to eke out an NBA career that lasted nearly a decade. He won a championship with the 2004 Pistons and participated in the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, but he has since made his name as an assistant coach. After a few years in the G League, Ham's first NBA coaching job came with the Lakers. He worked under Phil Jackson from 2011-2013, just narrowly missing out on Kobe Bryant's last two championships.  His rise to prominence didn't ...

  Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were one of the greatest duos to ever play the game of basketball. They three-peated together, and there's no question that their partnership with the Los Angeles Lakers was a perfect pairing in terms of basketball. The Los Angeles Lakers have been heavily mentioned in popular culture recently due to the show "Winning Time", which is currently available for streaming on the HBO Max platform. The show talks about the rise of the Showtime Lakers but is regarded as a dramatization of events. There have been many who have criticized the show, including Jerry West, who threatened to involve the Supreme Court over his portrayal in the show. “The series made us all [the Lakers] look like cartoon characters,” West told Dwyre. “They belittled something good. If I have to, I will take this all the way to the Supreme Court.” Shaquille O'Neal was recently interviewed by Rory Carroll of Reuters. One of the topics that came up was the show. O...

  Russell Westbrook has had a really rough year for the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite his solid box score stats, many have blasted him this season for inconsistent performances. There were times during the season when Russell Westbrook took shots at Frank Vogel, and many people believe that Vogel wasn't the right coach to get the best out of Russell Westbrook. Recently, Snoop Dogg defended Russell Westbrook against criticism and pointed the blame at Vogel for the star's poor performances Shoutout to @SnoopDogg for defending Russell Westbrook last night on the @fullsendpodcast “He’s a killer. He’ll find himself out of it. Remember, the coach wasn’t f—— with him. Coach used to sit him on the bench, take him out the game. That f—- with your mentality too, when you’re this great, and you’ve got this coach telling you, ‘Sit down, hold on,’ then when you get in, you definitely reckless because you ain’t in a groove. Basketball is a groove thing. The coach and the player have to be on t...

  In the aftermath of another failed experiment, it's no wonder why Russell Westbrook is ready to leave again. He was the scapegoat for a wildly disappointing season and there is no telling what will happen if he plays for them again next year. At this point, even Russell Westbrook is dropping hints of a possible departure. On Instagram, for example, he raised suspicions after liking a very questionable comment about his future. Russ liked this comment on his IG post The mutual disdain between Russ and the Lakers organization is probably the NBA's worst-kept secret. In the weeks after their final game, multiple reports have surfaced stressing just how bad things got. "Throughout the NBA, teams are also keeping an eye on how the Lakers manage the Westbrook situation (wrote The Athletic's Shams Charania). Westbrook remained a professional throughout the season, but his partnership with Vogel failed to gain traction as the season went on. In an early-season film session, ...

  Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were a terrific tandem on the court, but things weren't as harmonious when they weren't sharing touches. Their different personalities made things hard for these two players, who started off as good teammates and ended up beefing a couple of years later, which ultimately forced the Lakers to trade Shaquille O'Neal in 2004. A lot was said about that situation and many people had something to say about it, including the main characters. Even though they couldn't see eye to eye, they knew that playing together was fun and they could do a lot of damage to the rest of the league.  Kobe was once asked if he would have tried to make things work with Shaq if he was the Lakers' general manager back then. The Black Mamba admitted he would have, but also explained that Shaq had his reasons to decide to leave the Lakers and look for a new home.  "I would have [tried to work things out]. I think everybody would have probably said the s...

  LaMelo Ball has blossomed into a star in Charlotte, but is he capable of being more? In a chat with Shannon Sharpe on 'Club Shay Shay,' former NBA superstar Tracy McGrady made an interesting statement on the 1x All-Star. According to McGrady, LaMelo is in line to become the next face of basketball, provided he can get himself to Los Angeles. Sharpe: "Who's gonna be the face of the NBA in the next 10 years? I'm gonna give you Ja, Luka, Trae Young, and LaMelo Ball." McGrady: "It'll be between LaMelo Ball and Ja. If LaMelo Ball can get to La-La land, cause I think he's built for that. Like he has that personality, that moxy, like he's built for that. I think he can be that face." Of course, LaMelo is a southern California native, and he has close ties to the city of Los Angeles. He went and played for Chino Hills High School, which is roughly 40 miles from downtown L.A. It's really no wonder why he has such an L.A. feel to him, and Sha...

  Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant were incredibly similar players. Both Jordan and Kobe were athletic shooting guards who were also gifted scorers. The two legends didn't actually play in the league at the same time for too long. And their respective peaks came at very different points in their careers. But Jordan knew just how good Kobe could be, even when he was just 20 years old. Kobe Bryant played against Michael Jordan for the last time when Jordan was a Chicago Bull in 1998. Jordan had an excellent game against Kobe, who had become an All-Star for the first time. After the game, Jordan had a lot of kind words for Kobe, noting that he could become a superstar like him because he had the talent, but needed to have the drive and focus to achieve his goals. "Kobe is the star of the future. You see similarities in his game as well as my game. If he maintains a certain mental approach, he can become a great professional basketball player." Michael Jordan taught Kobe a lot ...

  The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are both officially out of the 2022 NBA playoffs after the latter lost to the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament Friday night.  They blew a big advantage after coming back from a previous one, only to lose the match 105-101 at home, missing the postseason after a very solid season. These two teams are expected to have entertaining offseasons, especially the Lakers.  The Purple and Gold have some serious questions to answer, especially regarding their roster. Russell Westbrook failed to make an impact on the team this season, and not many people think he'll start next season as part of the team. As things stand right now, it seems like nobody on the Lakers has their spot secured, not even their Big 3.  LeBron James has been mentioned in some trade rumors recently, with some people placing him outside of the 17-time NBA champions. Bill Simmons of The Ringer recently dropped an interesting idea for the Lakers...

  LeBron James is 37-year-olds and currently the most decorated active player in the league. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar has everything an athlete could dream of achieving in the NBA. He has the championships, MVP awards, Finals MVPs, All-Star appearances, and more. But if there is one thing that James doesn't have, it is a clear path to being considered the GOAT of basketball. Even though Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan retired from the league almost two decades ago, most fans still consider him to be the GOAT. Now, James has certainly closed the gap over the years, but it seems really far-fetched that he might surpass MJ as the GOAT. Everyone has a different reason for their stance on LBJ not being the greatest player of all time. Recently. NBA Hall of Famer turned analyst Shaquille O'Neal shared his two cents about the same in "The Big Podcast with Shaq." "LeBron is my guy, but nobody was ever scared of LeBron. So, if you're not scared of a guy, y...

  Frank Vogel has coached his final game for the Los Angeles Lakers, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. He is expected to be told as soon as Monday. The Lakers, winners of the 2020 NBA championship, entered the season as Western Conference favorites. They failed to live up to that mantle due to a combination of injuries, age, a poorly-built roster and mismanagement of that roster, and on Tuesday, they were officially eliminated from playoff contention. They closed the season with a 33-49 record. Now Vogel is paying the price for their failure and has been removed from his position as coach less than two years after leading the Lakers to the title. When asked about the news that he would not be retained, Vogel fired back. "I haven't been told s--- and I'm going to enjoy tonight's game," Vogel told reporters. "We'll deal with tomorrow tomorrow." In truth, the Lakers were hardly committed to Vogel even when they hired him. They had initially pl...

  Russell Westbrook's debut season with the Los Angeles Lakers did not go as planned. On Tuesday, they were eliminated from postseason contention by the same team that knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago: the Phoenix Suns. Westbrook struggled to fit alongside the ball-dominant LeBron James. He did not improve as a shooter, grow as an off-ball mover or commit to playing strong defense. In addition, his $44 million salary prevented the Lakers from maintaining the deep supporting cast that made them so dangerous over the past few seasons. The move, by nearly any measure, was a disaster. But after the 121-110 loss to Phoenix, Westbrook indicated that he's ready to try it all again if that's how things shake out.  "That's the plan," Westbrook said after the game before acknowledging the reality of the situation. "But nothing is promised. You kind of have to take it one day at a time each day. Like I've said all season long, you've got to play t...

  If the Los Angeles Lakers made anything clear at the 2022 trade deadline, it was this: they don't want to do what it will take to fix this. This disaster of a season, the two-year-long effort to tear down a champion, this decade of nepotistic hires and the terrible basketball it has largely produced. None of these are problems that Lakers management seemed all that interested in addressing. They were problems that the Lakers hoped would fix themselves. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne said it best in February when she argued that her interpretation of the team's inaction "was that the Lakers organization, from ownership on down, basically decided: 'You guys got yourself into this. This is the bed you have made. LeBron [James], Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, all the future Hall of Famers, this is your choice of roster and team, go make it work.'" Well, they didn't make it work. On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns ended the Lakers' season for t...

  Russell Westbrook's debut season with the Los Angeles Lakers did not go as planned. On Tuesday, they were eliminated from postseason contention by the same team that knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago: the Phoenix Suns. Westbrook struggled to fit alongside the ball-dominant LeBron James. He did not improve as a shooter, grow as an off-ball mover or commit to playing strong defense. In addition, his $44 million salary prevented the Lakers from maintaining the deep supporting cast that made them so dangerous over the past few seasons. The move, by nearly any measure, was a disaster. But after the 121-110 loss to Phoenix, Westbrook indicated that he's ready to try it all again if that's how things shake out.  "That's the plan," Westbrook said after the game before acknowledging the reality of the situation. "But nothing is promised. You kind of have to take it one day at a time each day. Like I've said all season long, you've got to play t...

  It's LeBron James' fault. The Los Angeles Lakers' postseason hopes are officially over, the future seems bleak, and heads are likely to roll. Head coach Frank Vogel is widely expected to face a reckoning. The Lakers would like to find a way to offload Russell Westbrook, unlikely though that may be, after he almost surely opts in to his $47 million, final year option this summer.  Fingers can be pointed all around at a Lakers season that is a wreckage of the high hopes when the season began: At Russ, at Vogel, at Anthony Davis' injuries, at a front office that put as ill-fitting a team as possible around their all-time great superstar.  But it is, ultimately, the fault of the person in the Lakers organization with the most say and the most power who is to blame -- the one who used that sway to put into place all the elements that have led L.A. to where it now stands, with a failed season behind them and no clear path forward. This is all LeBron James' fault. The Ca...

  “MIDWAY upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost.” – Dante Alighieri/Every Lakers fan The 2021-22 Lakers are officially dead. It was a merciful end to a team that has been on life support since going 0-6 in the preseason. But I’m not here to spit on the grave of the departed. Rather, I offer empathy. I wholeheartedly volunteer to play the role of Virgil and help mourning Lakers fans navigate their way through the nine circles of hell. A fair warning before proceeding: “Abandon all hopes ye who enter here.” First Circle: Limbo The first circle is home to the virtuous sportswriters and podcasters. This is not a place of punishment so much as regret. Say hello to Bill Simmons, Jackie MacMullan, Zach Lowe, Marc Stein, and a bunch of lesser souls who all drank too much of the Lakers’ bubble Kool-Aid and were too reverent of the false god-king LeBron James. They ignored the divine revelations that have been made kno...