Among Twitter’s many and varied uses – ranging from useful and informative to simply toxic – it can be a dandy platform for sending out a cryptic message, one that has a variety of people searching for hidden meaning.
Late on July 3, Jeanie Buss launched a beauty, a high, hard one that was true to Laker Exceptionalism but had fans and observers wondering who the intended audience might really have been.
Referencing the late Kobe Bryant, she wrote:
I miss KB. He would understand and explain everything that I’m not allowed to. Honestly he was the greatest Laker ever. He understood team over self. Meaning your rewards would come if you valued team goals over your own then everything would fall into place. All can reply.
— Jeanie Buss (@JeanieBuss) July 4, 2022
“I miss KB. He would understand and explain everything that I’m not allowed to. Honestly he was the greatest Laker ever. He understood team over self. Meaning your rewards would come if you valued team goals over your own then everything would fall into place. All can reply.”
Among the first reactions, of course, given the platform’s usual write-before-thinking mentality, were those from fans interpreting this as the go-ahead to tie a tin can to Russell Westbrook and bring Kyrie Irving to L.A.
But was it, really?
Was it actually a subtle suggestion that “team over self” maybe doesn’t apply to Irving, either, and what would seem to be a good fit basketball skills-wise might actually be a not-so-good fit team chemistry-wise?
Or could it even have been a reminder to LeBron James that his strong advocacy for bringing former Cleveland teammate Kyrie to L.A. doesn’t necessarily mean the organization has to comply? This would be something of a switch, true, and that sort of message would come with some risk since there still is an extension to be negotiated later this summer, assuming LeBron and the Lakers still want to go that route.
(But if you’re going in another direction with this, I don’t think LeBron would quibble with the owner’s estimation of Bryant as the “best Laker ever,” since he was well aware of the legacy when he got here. Magic, Kareem, Jerry, Elgin and others might have differing viewpoints, but that’s another story for another time.)
Consider this, then, a long-winded way of saying welcome to the official start of the NBA’s silly season. As the league officially re-opens for business and trades and free-agent acquisitions can become official, we are again reminded of Twitter’s place in the 24/7/365 drama that has made the league so popular, and especially an offseason where fans hang on every development and rumor, far more than in any other sport.
Consider the idea of tampering, which Buss seemed to allude to in her reference to things she’s “not allowed” to say. It’s fairly obvious that teams and agents communicate beforehand, considering the number of free agent transactions that are mysteriously “agreed to” moments after the negotiation period officially begins. The league could crack down. But maybe it’s actually better to look the other way, because the attention the NBA receives during these weeks, that speculation and the ultimate transactions dwarfs that of even the NFL.
(Have we seen anything from Kevin Durant’s latest burner account, by the way?)
It is unusual for an ownership figure to get involved in social media drama. It is especially unusual, and risky, to conclude such a tweet with “all can reply.”
All certainly have, as you might expect from this town’s most passionate fan base: More than 450 direct replies in just the 13 hours after she posted the tweet, to go with more than 11,200 retweets, 4,878 quote tweets and more than 80,200 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.
And, as you might expect, the arguments within the replies ran the gamut from “get Kyrie” to “don’t get Kyrie,” to “trade Westbrook,” to “trade LeBron,” to whether the concept of Kobe as team player was so much revisionist history … oh, you get the point. There were even suggestions that Buss sell the team.
Free speech, baby.
In contrast to the bustling free-agent market, whatever happens with Irving and/or Westbrook is going to take time.
The Rudy Gobert trade from Utah to Minnesota for five players (including Patrick Beverley) and four first-round picks set the market. If the Nets are to trade Durant, per his wishes, the haul will have to at least match or exceed what the Jazz received.
And it’s safe to assume that nothing will happen with Irving until a Durant deal is finalized. In fact, could there be a scenario in which the Nets don’t meet their asking price for Durant and both he and Irving return to Brooklyn in 2022-23?
In the meantime, the speculation regarding an Irving-to-the-Lakers deal has run the gamut. At this point, if the insiders are to be believed, the Kyrie-O-Meter arrow is in the blue, with the chances of a deal in the cool to chilly range. That, of course, can change on a dime.
And again we ask? Is it really a good idea to acquire a guy who, thanks to his own choices, played 29 games last season? Can you really depend on Kyrie Irving?
Remember, again, what Jeanie Buss tweeted: “(If) you valued team goals over your own then everything would fall into place.”
Maybe the message was silently, subtly addressed to Rob Pelinka.
jalexander@scng.com
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