Chris Reichert: The Los Angeles D-Fenders have re-acqui…
July 28, 2021 | 7:25 pm EDT Update
No. 1 pick candidate Jalen Green: I want to live in Detroit
Before long, Jalen Green was the highlight of the G-League—the fastest player on the court, a multi-level scorer and apt defender, all the while delivering the same highlight reel, high-flying displays that made him famous on the internet. He’d write down goals on yellow sticky notes on his door and cross them off when he accomplished them. Before leaving that Walnut Creek apartment and relocating to LA, the only one left read, “Be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.” “Number one pick,” he tells me, “that would be a dream come true. I ain’t going to lie. That happens, I’m going to have a breakdown,” he laughs. And, naturally, he has preference in mind. “I want to live in Detroit.”
Jalen Green: “I feel like I’m the best player in my class,” he says. “There’s a lot of talk about [consensus number one pick] Cade Cunningham and other people…but I’m the best player. And I feel like nobody can do what I do. I show up every time the lights come on. Whether it’s some weak players or the top in the country.”
There’s rarely quiet around Jalen now: the buzz of a nearby phone, the clicking of cameras, the throngs of fans can be incessant. The unhinged Instagram comments on casual pictures with friends from people he doesn’t know, the constant judgements on his behavior, the cold shoulder when he comes back home to Fresno. “Fresno’s like a small city, so it’s real small minded. It’s like a crab bucket,” Jalen admits, dropping his head back underneath his hoodie. “You’ve got a bucket full of crabs. They all pull on you when you try to get out. You can fall into crime there, all that type of stuff. If you don’t have the right home, right surroundings, right people around you, that shit can lead you down the wrong path.”
Jonathan Wasserman: Two guards I’m hearing for Knicks if they can’t trade up: Deuce McBride and Bones Hyland. Both in a small group of targets for NY, likely at 21.
July 28, 2021 | 7:03 pm EDT Update
Suns owner Robert Sarver expecting to pay luxury tax
Kellan Olson: Suns owner Robert Sarver said on @BurnsAndGambo that they know paying the luxury tax is coming with their hopes to win a championship, whether that’s next season or the season after.
