Alexander: As The Lakers Turn, more fodder for the sports argument shows
The world according to Jim:
• JJ Redick coined a phrase this week at his introductory Lakers news conference, “the engagement farming industry.” In This Space, it’s known as the hot take industry, mainly TV but not exclusively: Take one top-of-mind story and beat the bejabbers out of it. The only rule: Loudest voice wins, accuracy is optional, and nuance is to be avoided at all costs.
And if you thought the noise surrounding the Lakers had died down somewhat – oh, no. It’s just starting, and Bronny James will get far more attention than he needs, wants or deserves for a while. …
• When the Lakers selected the son of LeBron James with the 55th pick Thursday, it already had seemed a fait accompli. ESPN’s commentators assumed Bronny would fall to the Lakers, and in fact analyst Bob Myers said his information was that agent Rich Paul had contacted other teams warning them not to draft Bronny or else he would take his talents to Australia.
• Not long after, the draft ads featuring LeBron and Bronny were already circulating. In fairness, though, the Beats by Dre ad, portraying a backyard shootout, was released in 2022. …
LeBron James and his son Bronny joined forces in this Beats by Dre commercial in 2022.
Now, they're teammates.
@beatsbydrepic.twitter.com/AJwpX0ID4w
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 28, 2024
Nike released this ad to celebrate Bronny James, who is heading to the Los Angeles Lakers as the No. 55 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
James was one of the first basketball players to sign an NIL deal with Nike in 2022.
More for @5GOATs_ x @On3sports: https://t.co/d3HOAQIWKq pic.twitter.com/Y55fv6JQyS
— Nick Schultz (@NickSchultz_7) June 27, 2024
• Not long after the selection, the word “nepotism” was in the air. The traditional definition, according to the Brittanica Dictionary, is “the unfair practice by a powerful person of giving jobs and other favors to relatives.”
Whether it applies here depends on how much power you believe LeBron has in the Lakers’ organization, and I think I’ll just leave it at that. …
• Consider, though: A new coach will be learning on the job anyway, and – with father and son both on the roster, presuming that LeBron is back – Redick’s task of managing that locker room is going to be even trickier than it seemed before. …
• And what happens when Bronny decides he just needs his space from Dad for a while? It’s inevitable. Anyone who’s ever been a parent – or been parented – will understand the signs. …
• For those who hear NBA executives and commentators talk about “aprons” and wonder if they’re watching Master Chef instead of NBA programming, here’s an idiot’s guide to the new system. (Or, as I’m sure some of you will amend that sentence, a guide prepared by an idiot.)
The projected NBA salary cap for next season is $141 million. The first apron threshold is at $178.655 million, which would trigger restrictions on sign-and-trade deals, exceptions, buyout signings and the like. If a team reaches the second apron of $189.486 million, the restrictions are even more onerous. …
• As of Friday morning, according to Spotrac, no one in the league is actually under the cap. The Lakers’ active cap number is $179,453,962, and the Clippers are at $168,939,468. …
• Elsewhere in sports, kudos to the Kings and Ducks for artfully incorporating bits of their legacies in the new uniforms revealed this week. The Kings will return to the Gretzky-era logo with a bolder wordmark and a return to the original crown (though a good number of fans would like the return of purple in some form). The Ducks will again make the scowling Wild Wing their main insignia and, as a bonus, are going all in on orange.
Well done, in both cases. …
• After the Florida Panthers knocked off the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 to win their first Stanley Cup Monday night, I suggested on social media that the headline in Edmonton the next morning, in reference to Panthers’ fans quaint custom of throwing plastic rodents on the ice in moments of triumph, should be: “RATS!”
We asked, and the Edmonton Sun delivered. …
And there it is! pic.twitter.com/mMFzT99XiC
— Jim_Alexander (@Jim_Alexander) June 25, 2024
• We are, as you’ve probably already noticed, inexorably closer to a severing of the bonds between the Power Four conferences and the rest of college sports. If you follow college baseball you should have seen this coming long ago.
This year’s College World Series, won by Tennessee, was an all-SEC affair for the third time in four years and the fifth straight victory by an SEC team. But in fact the Southeast has dominated NCAA tournament fields for nearly a couple of decades now. Baseball was one sport where the non-power conference schools, especially those in the West, had a legitimate chance, but that faded once the bigs started throwing serious money at the sport. …
• Only one non-Power Five program has reached the CWS since 2018, Oral Roberts last year. Cal State Fullerton was the last Big West team to get to Omaha in 2017, and also the last to win it all in 2004. Remember the old days when Big West teams actually had a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing? That’s gone for good. …
• It’s even more unbalanced in softball. Only two non-power conference teams have gotten to the Women’s College World Series in the last decade, James Madison in 2021 and Louisiana Lafayette in 2014. That’s two out of 80 entrants (remember, there was no tournament in 2020 because of COVID-19). …
• But as long as Fox and ESPN get the football matchups (and ratings) they crave, everything else in college athletics – especially outside of the SEC and Big Ten – is just collateral damage. …
• There was pushback after we learned that two 2028 Olympic sports, softball and canoe slalom, will be relocated from L.A. to Oklahoma City. But maybe this is a positive trend in an era where fewer cities are willing to foot the bill for the Games. This – and the decision to hold the Paris Olympics’ surfing competition in Tahiti – could be a precursor to a format that awards the Olympics to countries, or maybe to regions of the world (similar to the USA-Mexico-Canada FIFA World Cup in 2026).
Really, it’s not unprecedented. Remember, in 1984 part of the soccer competition for the L.A. Games was held at Stanford. …
• Meanwhile, I never thought Temecula would ever be an Olympic city, but Galway Downs will get the 2028 equestrian competition. So here’s the heartiest of congratulations to southwest Riverside County.
And now some friendly advice from a fellow Inland Empire resident: Don’t screw it up.
jalexander@scng.com