Brandon Rahbar: Mark Daigneault on Lu Dort: “The matu…
February 26, 2021 | 4:54 am EST Update
Zach LaVine not available?
The Bulls have wandered in the wilderness for three seasons since the Butler trade. They’re finally starting to emerge. Even before his All-Star selection, LaVine’s ascension this season has placed him, in the perception of three rival executives that NBC Sports Chicago talked to, not actively in the trade market.
During ESPN’s “The Jump,” reporter Marc Spears says NBA General Managers, executives and scouts are saying Southwest Division teams will be active around the trade deadline, including the San Antonio Spurs. And according to Spears, the Spurs are shopping LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan. “Another name is San Antonio, is kind of surprising” Spears said. “LaMarcus Aldridge’s name has been bandied about. Also, a little bit I’m hearing is DeMar DeRozan.”
Kyle Lowry's agent reacts to trade rumors
“There was a story about how he is pushing to go to Philadelphia, that’s just not true.” Kyle Lowry’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, tells @TermineRadio & @Jumpshot8 the Raptors point guard isn’t go anywhere.
“A lot of the rumors and things that are written about, are just … that’s just what they are is just rumors and they’re designed for people to click on the article. …That happened today with Kyle Lowry. There was a story today that he’s pushing to go to Philadelphia. That’s just not true. That story came out today, and so I had to get on the phone with [Raptors president] Masai [Ujiri] and [general manager] Bobby [Webster] and make sure they knew that certainly wasn’t coming from us.”
In an interview with NBC Sports Boston, he was asked if he was disappointed by the Celtics’ current position considering where they were at four years ago when they’d signed Gordon Hayward, traded for Kyrie Irving and drafted both Tatum and Brown in consecutive seasons. His answer was yes. And he also believes that Irving leaving was a setback for the team that had a “domino effect” that still hits the team today. “Well I would say I am disappointed, but I would also say that in those four years we’ve been to the conference finals 3 times. So it hasn’t been a wasteland, it’s been to the final four…But you know, we thought Kyrie would stay forever and lead us all the way. He’s on maybe the best team in the league right now and so, that’s that. And that change touched off a lot of stuff and we weren’t able to maybe recruit free agents in the same way and, you know, there’s a bit of a domino effect. But it is what it is.”
Irving said Thursday night, “I want that to be something in history that is changed forever, that our generation was part of that change. And if that means that I have to lead that forward and get the conversation going, then great.” In 2017, West said on ESPN’s The Jump that while it is “flattering” to be depicted as the symbol of the league, “I think if I were the NBA, I would be embarrassed about it. I don’t like to do anything to call attention to myself. If they would want to change it, I wish they would. In many ways, I wish they would.”
Irving said that he understands that his proposition doesn’t appeal to everyone. “I know that it probably was met with some people that love it — that love the idea — and some people that don’t love it,” Irving said. “But, my thing is paying homage to the example that has been set by that man.”
