“When Wes said ‘we,’ people weren’t sure if he was referring to the Knicks or Kentucky,” one NBA source said, referring to his longtime friendship with Kentucky coach John Calipari. Wesley would direct all sorts of conversations back to the school. Prospects from other programs — they weren’t tough enough to handle Kentucky. NBA stars who had played for Duke, like Jayson Tatum and Zion Williamson — Kentucky hadn’t actually wanted them. When conversations centered around players not connected to the school — or Creative Artists Agency, where he and Rose had worked — he’d often close his eyes. Wesley participated in some calls while driving. He went on all sorts of tangents, once making the group listen to the Jay-Z song “Empire State of Mind” because he had played it during the private pre-draft workout for Kevin Knox. One time he changed his shirt on camera, revealing his bare chest to the group.
“When Wes said ‘we,’ people weren’t sure if he …
August 1, 2021 | 4:16 am EDT Update
Jake Fischer on DeMar DeRozan: It’s definitely starting to sound like the situation of him going to Los Angeles on that mid-level is not going to be the case.
Tony Jones: The Utah Jazz have extended qualifying offers to forward Jarrell Brantley and point guard Trent Forrest, League Sources tell The Athletic. The moves make both players restricted free agents
Emiliano Carchia: Semaj Christon will play for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Summer League, sources tell @Emiliano Carchia. Christon spent the season in Turkey with Tofas averaging 12.5ppg in BSL
Brian Mahoney: Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez on Luis Scola: “I think he didn’t stop one day in the last 25 years.”
And there’s actually a runaway No. 1 as far as the club with the most male basketball players participating: Real Madrid, the team that produced a certain Luka Doncic, who just tied the record for second-most points ever scored in an Olympic basketball contest. The storied Spanish club leads the way with eight players taking part in the Olympic Games this summer, followed by Fenerbahce out of the Turkish League, Australia’s Melbourne United, the Miami Heat (the NBA team with most male basketball representatives in Tokyo), Olimpia Milano (Italy) and Union Olimpija (Slovenia), all of whom have four players at the Games.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he’s smoothed things over with LeBron James about his hatred for the play-in tournament … telling TMZ Sports he believes the Lakers superstar now “understands” the purpose for the extra games.
“We talked about it,” Silver told us. “I think at the end of the day, I understand. Especially if you went deep last year and you have that end, you have that many sort of games on your legs.” “You’re not looking forward to more games. But, I think he understands the context of the league.”
