“Luka has been a great player since he arrived at Real Madrid when he was 13 years old,” Laso said in the opening presser for the EuroLeague Final Four. “But he’s also been a great person since that day. That made him so big. When people talked about the NBA and how he’s going to play there, I didn’t have any doubts. No doubts that he’s going to play good. Because probably the best thing he has a person, and for sure as a player, is that he’s able to adjust in any situation. And that’s something that you have to have as a person. And Luka has it.”
“Luka has been a great player since he arrived at Rea…
June 27, 2022 | 11:03 am EDT Update
Malik Monk open to accepting less money to stay with Lakers
Malik Monk said he’d consider accepting less money than his market price to stay with the Lakers for the taxpayer midlevel exception. “They might not be able to pay me as much as I want,” he said. “But I could be here and be way more comfortable as a Laker than going to any other team (that would pay) me $5 million more. So it’s just me trying to figure out what team would really want me.”
As Monk weighs the most significant factors of his free agency, money is obviously important, but it’s not the most important one. Role and minutes are more notable considerations. “Money is always a part, man, but I don’t think it’s the biggest priority in my free agency this year,” Monk said. “It’s me feeling like I’m having a home and I can go out there and do the same things I did this year.”
But he believes he’s entering this summer with more leverage and more of a market. “I had another career year, with all my numbers and things like that,” Monk told The Athletic. “I can’t be down on myself.”
Former Jazz player Naz Mitrou-Long signed with Italian team Olimpia Milano until the 2024-25 season.
The name of Calhoun Street would change to Oscar Robertson Way if a campaign led by a former University of Cincinnati basketball player turned UC executive succeeds.
There is a street named for Robertson in Indianapolis, where he grew up, called Oscar Robertson Boulevard. It runs in front of the former Crispus Attucks High School, a segregated school for Black students that Robertson attended – and where he set athletic records despite the building having no gym.
The start date for WNBA star Brittney Griner’s trial in Moscow has been set for July 1, more than four months after she was arrested at a Moscow airport for cannabis possession. The date was revealed Monday after Griner, 31, appeared in a Moscow court for a preliminary hearing ahead of trial. The Phoenix Mercury center was also ordered to remain in custody for the duration of her criminal trial.
June 27, 2022 | 11:02 am EDT Update
Breakup between John Wall, Rockets gaining momentum
There were some trade talks involving a few teams on draft night, but none of those deals materialized. With the draft now behind them, the Rockets plan to reassess things with Wall. Sources say a breakup between Wall and the franchise is gaining momentum, with both sides expected to meet this week with Wall’s hope of a resolution — a trade or, more likely, a buyout — by the June 30 start of free agency.
