Jovan Buha: The Clippers’ introductory press conference for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George is next Wednesday, July 24, the team announced. Steve Ballmer, Doc Rivers and Lawrence Frank will also address the media.
Owners Rumors
Utilizing his bottomless wealth and familiar bully tactics, James Dolan has attempted to derail the development plans of a low-income city in California and influence its mayoral election from across the country. But as Dolan-led MSG has pumped money into lawsuits to protect its investment in The Forum, Dolan testified in a deposition he knows little about the City of Inglewood that he’s suing, the contractual issues in dispute over a new Clippers arena, or the religious conservative candidate he backed to prevent the community from securing a new NBA arena. More than anything, Dolan, from his deposition, seems comfortable with letting his attorneys, lieutenants and buddy Irving Azoff handle the carpet bomb that he’s bankrolling.
Among the revelations from Dolan’s deposition in November, from a lawsuit MSG filed against the city of Inglewood, as reviewed by the Daily News, and according to sources close to the situation: Dolan said he barely knew the Inglewood mayoral candidate he supported with nearly $1 million.
Dolan said he twice attempted to get Jeanie Buss to consider relocating the Lakers, who last played in the Forum regularly in 1999, to Inglewood.
In the article, it is alleged that Dolan is attempting to “derail the development plans of a low-income city.” The MSG Company offered the following statement in response: “It is common knowledge that the Daily News has a vendetta against MSG. This is attributable to a disgruntled former employee that was fired by Mr. Dolan from his position at Newsday. That employee was Timothy Knight who is now CEO of Tribune Publishing, the owner of the Daily News. This story, based on cherry-picked portions of a deposition that are grossly misleading, is just the latest evidence of how low they are willing to go with their attacks.”
Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta was fined $25,000 by the NBA for commenting about the Russell Westbrook trade before the deal was official, sources confirmed. The league office has not announced the fine, which is for comments Fertitta made to Houston’s Fox 26 after the Rockets agreed to send Chris Paul and two future first-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for the perennial All-Star point guard.
