So the Los Angeles Lakers and J.R. Smith finally came around and hooked up after a season full of rumors that it would happen.
Question is, will the Pipelayer get to play even one minute as a Laker? Or will he be replaced by a G Leaguer? Will Irwin ‘Fletch’ Fletcher finally get his number called and make his dream a reality?
Will we see Shane Falco and Jimmy McGinty flip from football to basketball in ‘The Replacements 2: Washington Hoopla,’ Drake lacing them up for the Toronto Raptors, or Kevin Hart running point for the Philadelphia 76ers?
How about the million dollar question – will we see any basketball played at all?
I loved NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s bold and realistic take on the resumption of play versus the league’s biggest opponent to date — No. 19, Corona Viiiirrrrruuussssss …
Silver is not only an astute businessman, but a realist as well as an empath, and in this instance, probably in that order.
But there’s going to come a point in the next two weeks – a crossroads – where he’s going to have to make the hardest call of his tenure: to continue, with the testicular fortitude shown in the stance above, or, to face facts and public scrutiny and shut it all down at the last second to preserve the health of the 350 athletes in his care and employ.
Either decision will prove him right … and equally wrong, as there is so much division amongst the general public on the matter.
It’s either a virus that somehow cannot be contained – perhaps because we (1) don’t believe that COVID-19 is a real thing or threat, (2) or we view it as somewhat serious and try to care for others, but believe we can handle our own health and welfare, and use masks that we order of WIsh (from China) because they have an NBA logo or social justice message on them, but could blow out a candle through the fabric, or (3) we’re just not thinking this through with any degree of common sense simply because we’re tired of watching reruns of old NBA games with grainy footage and Brent Musberger’s voice.
And it’s not just the paranoia of the Northeastern rich, the redneck poor of the South, the yuppies of the Pacific Northwest, or the basketball purists of the Midwest that are so divided – look at the body of 350 itself.
Already, you have had people breaking quarantine in the Orlando, Florida bubble campus to get food they’re accustomed to eating, lifestyles they’re accustomed to living (including nightlife), and life without a carbon filter or homemade bed sheet across your face 24/7. Yeah, Michael Beasley and Richaun Holmes, you’ve been outed.
Then, of course, there’s the anonymous tip – I mean, snitch – hotline, which is sure to spread teamwork and harmony amongst the players cooped up in close quarters for the next month or two. Is D’Angelo Russell running that one? He has the resume for it.
I hedged my bets all along that once a superstar-caliber player contracted the virus, Silver would have no choice to shut it down. But then I learned that the State of Florida was cooking the books on the 98 percent (game off) … someone pooched the decimal and it’s 9.8 percent, so game on!
While Spencer Dinwiddie isn’t at the top of everyone’s trading card list, he’s no slouch.
Russell Westbrook and James ‘Where’s Waldo? Never mind, he arrived last night’ Harden were superstar caliber, I thought.
Both are former Most Valuable Player award winners. But I guess once you test positive for COVID-19, it must humble all your accolades, no matter how many. After all, it is ‘just a sport’ and I would wish no ill will to the husband of Nina, and father to Noah, Jordan and Skye.
Harrison Barnes tested positive, too, but who knew the Sacramento Kings were even there? By the grace of God, Gregg Popovich, and being ½ game up on the San Antonio Spurs they are.
So does LeBron James have to be the one to contract the virus before The Commish blinks and shuts it down? Anything’s possible in the next two weeks, especially with people disregarding quarantine and bringing potential contamination to what Rajon Rondo called the ‘Motel 6s’ of Orlando.
(For the record, Giannis Antetokuonmpo says his hotel room is larger than his childhood apartment, so for every Oscar the Grouch with a broken hand, there’s a silver lining outlook).
Would be sad to see the possibility of #NextGen Giannis Antetokuonmpo battle #OldGuard LeBron James for bragging right to the disjointed 2019-20 season.
No one wants to see a Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton, James Harden, or LeBron James go down. Don’t want to see anyone go down. Didn’t want to see Russ’ news.
But you know it’s real if a physical specimen like Westbrook can get it, anyone can. If you follow Westbrook on Instagram or any other social media, this man isn’t out partying. He’s all about the fam. And got it.
To hell with basketball. He’s got to worry if his wife and those babies were exposed or have it.
And that’s the kind of perspective Adam Silver has to consider. These are people’s lives, their families’ lives – not just an entertainment venue’s fiscal livelihood.
Silver has his finger on the pulse, I know it.
But keep LeBron James and Anthony Davis in full epidemiologist gear until July 30th, just in case.
Tracy Graven is a Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com.
He has written the NBA, and done NBA radio, for the last two decades for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, and HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show and NBARadioShow.com, and is also tackling the NFL, NCAA, and will be pinch-hitting on some Major League Baseball coverage for BackSportsPage.
He’s spent 20 years in locker rooms in
- Orlando
- Boise (G League)
- San Antonio
- Phoenix
- Denver
- Oklahoma City
- Atlanta
A corporate trainer by day, he currently resides in SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
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