Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 6-26-18

Sports
Las Vegas Thinks
LiAngelo Ball Not Talented Enough For Lakers’ Summer Team
LIANGELO BALL
LiAngelo Ball’s exclusion from the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league team may have been due to an issue of talent.
Leading up to Thursday’s NBA Draft, Ball held workouts with a couple of teams, includ- ing the Lakers, for whom his brother, Lonzo, plays. That may be the extent of Ball’s as- sociation with the Lakers mov- ing forward.
The Athletic’s Bill Oram reported on Friday that a Lak- ers source told him LiAngelo was left off the summer league team because of a lack of talent.
Dwyane Wade Has Lofty Ownership Ambition After Playing Career Ends
Kevin Knox Won
LeBron James
Over Knicks And
Signing With Lakers
Now Expects To Win
Is A ‘Sure Thing’
Over Their Fans
Several NBA reporters have insisted that LeBron James has not yet decided where he will sign as a free agent this summer, but oddsmakers in Las Vegas ob- viously are not buying it.
The gambling odds for where LeBron is going to end up this summer seem to be favoring the Los Angeles Lakers more by the day. As of the weekend, they were the overwhelming favorites to sign LeBron at -325. Vegas views James re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers as the second most likely result, though the odds of that hap- pening are not great.
Sports books have made the Lakers the heavy favorite to sign LeBron in order to
LEBRON JAMES
avoid potentially losing a ton of money.
According to one report, sharp gamblers — also known as “wiseguys” — are convinced LeBron will wind up in L.A. and have been backing their predictions up with large wagers.
Tampa's Kevin Knox took a call from someone who knew exactly what he experi- enced on draft night.
New Yorkers didn’t wel- come Kristaps Porzingis with open arms, either.
“He asked me how the fans reacted and I told him I got the same amount of boos as he got,” Knox said Friday. “He just laughed and he said it’s all motivation and fuel to the fire, and he said just work and he said sooner or later they’ll be cheering for you.”
That’s what happened with Porzingis, who quickly won over those who loudly booed his selection in 2015 with his talent, competitiveness and work ethic.
The Knicks see the same traits in Knox, convincing them that the Kentucky fresh- man was not only the player to take with the No. 9 pick but that he’s ready to start and match up with the NBA’s best small forwards next season.
That’s why they decided a day before the draft they were taking Knox if he was avail-
Kentucky's Kevin Knox, right, poses with NBA Com- missioner Adam Silver after he was picked ninth overall by the New York Knicks dur- ing the NBA draft.
able and didn’t waver from that even when Michael Porter, Jr. was still on the board – disappointing some at Barclays Center who chanted for Porter and then booed Knox.
“I love the fact that he wanted to be at Kentucky, that he wanted to be a Knick,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said. “Says a lot about that kid that he wants challenges and so I think he’s going to fit ex- actly the way we want to build our culture.”
LeBron James Cheers
On Son In Miami Youth
Basketball Event
Dwyane Wade wants to own an NBA team when his playing ca- reer ends, but not just
Former Miami Heat star LeBron James was back in South Florida this weekend as he put on his dad hat and cheered on his son LeBron Jr. at the Balling on the Beach club youth basketball event.
On a couple videos that emerged on social media, the future Hall of Famer is seen excitedly reacting to the ex- ploits of his 13-year-old son, known as Bronny, at the Southwest Miami High gym, including what is termed in the video his first in-game dunk attempt — one where he loses handle of the ball
Spurs GM says
LEBRON JAMES, JR. AND LEBRON JAMES
before getting it down. Bronny, who turns 14 in October, is the eldest of James’ children. Younger son Bryce just turned 11 and his daughter, Zhuri, turns 4
in October.
chise.
Wade said in a recent in-
terview that he wants to be part of an ownership group that brings the SuperSonics back to Seattle.
“I definitely want to be a part of ownership in the NBA,” Wade said. “I’m not going to try to buy a team. I don’t have that kind of bread, but I defi- nitely want to be a part of a great ownership group. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is all about players being involved in an ownership capacity. You’ve got players like Grant Hill involved in the Atlanta Hawks. Shaquille O’Neal is involved in the Sacramento Kings. It’s definitely something that I’ve talked about, some of my friends have talked about. But, first of all, I’d have to be retired. When that time comes...
“I want Seattle’s team, the Sonics, to come back. I think Seattle is a great basketball town. I would love to be a part of that. But I’m open — if you know somebody...”
To Keep Kawhi
DWYANE any fran- WADE
Team Still Wants
Leonard Longterm
With the 2018 NBA Draft now in the books and Kawhi Leonard still a member of the San Antonio Spurs, the team may be looking to keep it that way.
Addressing reporters after the draft, Spurs GM RC Bu- ford indicated a desire to keep the disgruntled former All-Star around longterm. Buford also admitted that the team wished that “things would have gone differently at times,” according to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
The Spurs remained quiet on the Leonard front during the draft, choosing instead to keep their moves exclusively to their picks: Miami guard Lonnie Walker, IV at No.
KAWHI LEONARD
18 overall and USC big man Chimezie Metu at No. 49.
Leonard clearly wants out of San Antonio. But since he is still under contract for one more year and the Spurs seem to be rebuffing inter- ested potential trade partners, a lengthy stalemate may ensue as the summer progresses.
PAGE 12 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2018