NBA Season 2022-23

[slamtheking]

Wild:

Several acquaintances of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly “aggressively confronted” members of the Indiana Pacers staff after their game at the FedExForum last month.

The group, according to The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz and Sam Amick, then allegedly trained a red laser on the Pacers staff from a slow-moving SUV. Morant was reportedly in the SUV, and the Pacers staff and additional security believed the laser was attached to a gun — though it's unclear who was controlling it.

“We felt we were in grave danger,” one person told The Athletic anonymously out of fear of retaliation.

What is it with Morant and his family/acquaintances??

A few weeks ago his dad and Shannon Sharpe were beefing at the Lakers game too lol

There's a common theme going on with the Grizzlies players (well, Morant and Brooks). Don't seem like good people

If the investigation turns up the worst case here -- Ja's crew did point a gun with a laser sight at anyone affiliated with the league and Ja knew about this -- he should be kicked out of the league for life.  shouldn't even be a hesitation about it. 

if any weapon was involved without his knowledge, I'd be all for a month suspension or one that goes through the end of the season.

league needs to send a message this behavior cannot be associated with the league at all.

[gouki88]

Wild:

Several acquaintances of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly “aggressively confronted” members of the Indiana Pacers staff after their game at the FedExForum last month.

The group, according to The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz and Sam Amick, then allegedly trained a red laser on the Pacers staff from a slow-moving SUV. Morant was reportedly in the SUV, and the Pacers staff and additional security believed the laser was attached to a gun — though it's unclear who was controlling it.

“We felt we were in grave danger,” one person told The Athletic anonymously out of fear of retaliation.

What is it with Morant and his family/acquaintances??

A few weeks ago his dad and Shannon Sharpe were beefing at the Lakers game too lol

There's a common theme going on with the Grizzlies players (well, Morant and Brooks). Don't seem like good people

If the investigation turns up the worst case here -- Ja's crew did point a gun with a laser sight at anyone affiliated with the league and Ja knew about this -- he should be kicked out of the league for life.  shouldn't even be a hesitation about it. 

if any weapon was involved without his knowledge, I'd be all for a month suspension or one that goes through the end of the season.

league needs to send a message this behavior cannot be associated with the league at all.

Yeah, not sure what to think before an investigation is concluded or anything, but I don't think the NBA should be very accommodating of players roleplaying as gangsters

[slamtheking]

Wild:

Several acquaintances of Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly “aggressively confronted” members of the Indiana Pacers staff after their game at the FedExForum last month.

The group, according to The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz and Sam Amick, then allegedly trained a red laser on the Pacers staff from a slow-moving SUV. Morant was reportedly in the SUV, and the Pacers staff and additional security believed the laser was attached to a gun — though it's unclear who was controlling it.

“We felt we were in grave danger,” one person told The Athletic anonymously out of fear of retaliation.

What is it with Morant and his family/acquaintances??

A few weeks ago his dad and Shannon Sharpe were beefing at the Lakers game too lol

There's a common theme going on with the Grizzlies players (well, Morant and Brooks). Don't seem like good people

If the investigation turns up the worst case here -- Ja's crew did point a gun with a laser sight at anyone affiliated with the league and Ja knew about this -- he should be kicked out of the league for life.  shouldn't even be a hesitation about it. 

if any weapon was involved without his knowledge, I'd be all for a month suspension or one that goes through the end of the season.

league needs to send a message this behavior cannot be associated with the league at all.

Yeah, not sure what to think before an investigation is concluded or anything, but I don't think the NBA should be very accommodating of players roleplaying as gangsters

a team feeling threatened because of people affiliated with another team's player is not going to get ignored by the league or other players.  that feeling of being threatened doesn't take much to expand to fans that may stay away from games if they don't feel safe going to see a particular team.  once there's a threat to the money flow, things happen fast

[Atzar]

Wasn’t Ja the one with the “free to see how these hollows feel” tweet this past offseason?  “Hollows” referring to hollow-point bullets.  I was a bit surprised he got away with that one.

I hope this is bunk but there’s a concerning pattern of behavior with him regardless. 

[radiohead]

Please dont let KD end up with Lebron or GSW or with Butler in Miami!

There's no way the Lakers can make a strong enough offer to KD. They couldn't even compete for Kyrie with their assets. Miami on the other hand, yeah, they would have a shot.

After the report that came out that Joe Tsai didn’t want to trade Kyrie to the Lakers, I guess it’s safe to say that KD isn’t gonna be traded there as well.

[Phantom255x]

Wasn’t Ja the one with the “free to see how these hollows feel” tweet this past offseason?  “Hollows” referring to hollow-point bullets.  I was a bit surprised he got away with that one.

I hope this is bunk but there’s a concerning pattern of behavior with him regardless.

Oh there’s more. People may have forgotten but he got sued about a month ago for apparently attacking a minor at a basketball game near his home in Tennessee. TMZ and others leaked and reported this

Idk what happened with that case (or if it’s still ongoing) but Ja might not be a good person off the court. And his family/acquaintances also don’t look like the best company either

[staticcc]

Please dont let KD end up with Lebron or GSW or with Butler in Miami!

There's no way the Lakers can make a strong enough offer to KD. They couldn't even compete for Kyrie with their assets. Miami on the other hand, yeah, they would have a shot.

After the report that came out that Joe Tsai didn’t want to trade Kyrie to the Lakers, I guess it’s safe to say that KD isn’t gonna be traded there as well.

That’s more because Joe didn’t want Kyrie to end up where he wanted (Lakers). He hates Kyrie. I think Joe and KD have a cordial relationship so he may be more accommodating if KD asks for a trade again.

[Roy H.]

I am SO sick of 90% of NBA coverage being about the Lakers.

[Phantom255x]

I am SO sick of 90% of NBA coverage being about the Lakers.

It's sad what Woj has become. Because he's on ESPN he almost exclusively has to report on, or include the Lakers, Knicks, Clippers and those big markets in trade rumors/discussions/reporting.

Shams is awesome and if you ask me he's taken over as the king of NBA reporting now. He's beaten Woj on a handful of stuff over the past few years as well, including the Irving saga + trade

[Moranis]

I am SO sick of 90% of NBA coverage being about the Lakers.

what are you listening to?  NBA Radio on Sirius XM doesn't have a ton on them, though it has picked up a bit since Lebron is 1 or 2 games away from passing Kareem.  Today was almost all about Irving and the Lakers were barely mentioned.

[Kernewek]

I am SO sick of 90% of NBA coverage being about the Lakers.

It's sad what Woj has become. Because he's on ESPN he almost exclusively has to report on, or include the Lakers, Knicks, Clippers and those big markets in trade rumors/discussions/reporting.

Shams is awesome and if you ask me he's taken over as the king of NBA reporting now. He's beaten Woj on a handful of stuff over the past few years as well, including the Irving saga + trade

I'd say they're both awful, and they've both been awful for a long time, but at least Woj had somewhere to fall from - his book The Miracle of St. Anthony is a good read but relies a lot on the 'great white hope' trope that was tired well before he wrote it.

[Donoghus]

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
ESPN Sources: As discussions on a new labor agreement continue, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are expected to extend an early opt-out deadline of Wednesday, allowing the league and union to continue talks on a long-term collective bargaining deal.

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
·
51s
The NBA’s seven-year CBA expires after the 2023-24 season, but Wednesday’s deadline – already extended once from Dec. 15 – pushes back both sides’ ability to opt-out of the current deal on June 30th and risk the possibility of a lockout.

[Roy H.]

I wonder which side is currently more unhappy with the CBA, and what the biggest issues are (outside of the revenue split).

[Donoghus]

I wonder which side is currently more unhappy with the CBA, and what the biggest issues are (outside of the revenue split).

Owners, I think. From what I've read, its an upper spending limit. 

[Celtics2021]

I wonder which side is currently more unhappy with the CBA, and what the biggest issues are (outside of the revenue split).

Owners, I think. From what I've read, its an upper spending limit.

It's not that the owners are upset, it's that a hard cap is their golden goose white whale, and they're going to keep chasing after it every time there's a renegotiation.  Rumors from a few weeks ago were that they've pretty much given up again this time around too.  For the most part, both sides are relatively happy, because everyone is making a lot of money -- that's why they keep pushing back the opt-out deadline.  I think the new CBA will look like the old one.  If I had to pick the biggest change, I think the luxury tax tiers will be steeper between steps, but the steps will be wider, and will probably increase in width as the cap increases.  Currently every $5 million increase above the tax puts you into a new incremental rate.  That $5 million amount went into effect in the 2013-2014 season, but the cap has more than doubled in that time.  Every other element of the CBA related to the cap or tax has been adjusted upward since that time.  I think you'll see it bump to $10 million for each step, and then continue to rise proportionally to the cap increase every year, but also the penalties with each tier will likely go up too.  This will make players happy because more teams will likely be willing to go up to $20 million into the tax (and more if the steps widen every year like I think will happen), but owners happy because there will be a future luxury tax wall that teams won't want to cross because the penalty is just too steep, my guess at around $30 million in present cap terms.

The other major sticking point is undoubtedly how to handle the revenue spike from a future media deal.  Do you phase it in before and after the deal, or have a one-time spike when it kicks in?

I know people also talk about the age limit for the draft, but I don't think either side cares strongly about it.  Players who've made it into the league would rather there not be more players taking their jobs, and most owners don't want to pay 18 year-olds millions of dollars.  This seems like something Adam Silver wants more than anyone else.