The Thunder are hoping some of that greatness will rub off on Bazley as he joins a suddenly rebuilding team led — for the time being — by another member of James’ inner circle, Chris Paul. Bazley got off to a delayed start with the Thunder this summer, as he’d been officially drafted by the Utah Jazz, then had to wait to make his Las Vegas Summer League debut as a backlog of agreed-upon trades got processed in a particular order. “His ability to handle the ball at his size is really, really unique, and defensively he’s got great range for a young player at that size, as well,” Thunder GM Sam Presti said. “It’s going to be a process with him. We’ll have to be patient. We understand that. But at that range of the draft, to be able to get a player that has those ball-handling skills at 6-foot-9 is pretty unique.”
Chris Paul Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: G
Born: 05/06/85
Height: 6-0 / 1.83
Weight:175 lbs. / 79.4 kg.
Salary: $38,506,482
Born: 05/06/85
Height: 6-0 / 1.83
Weight:175 lbs. / 79.4 kg.
Salary: $38,506,482
ShowtimeForum: 👑 @LeBron James & @Chris Paul putting in that summer work together 💪 🎥 Via LBJ (IG) pic.twitter.com/cVkk6kNMRt
That trek left him appreciating what Houston accomplished with Harden and Paul, rather than dwelling on the partnership’s abrupt ending. “We were a hamstring away from having a championship,” Tucker said, referring to Paul’s ill-timed injury in the 2018 Western Conference finals against Golden State. “You can rate it how you want and say what you want, but it was a great run. We won a franchise-record [65 games in 2017-18]. The [decision to trade Paul] is something that’s over my pay grade. I just play.”
2w
Last month you heard your name in trade talks for Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul. What did it mean to you when the Heat fell out of those discussions because they were unwilling to part with you? Bam Adebayo: “It boosted my confidence extremely. They have high expectations for me. What that means is I’ve got to go in there and be who they want me to be. I can’t take time off. I can’t lose focus of what my goal is and what their goal is for me. They passed on two All-Stars to keep me. I’m thankful for that but also it’s a business at the end of the day … their business was to keep me. I’m just out there trying to keep the main goal the main goal, which is to win.”
Carmelo Anthony: “I talked to him [Chris Paul], I called him and James [Harden] right away. I said ‘look, just keep it honest with me: Did you know anything about this?’ If he knew anything about this then our friendship was on the line. ‘Just keep it honest with me.’ He said he didn’t know anything about this and James told me the same thing.’
