Were The Los Angeles Lakers Secretly Practicing On A Staples Center Replica Court?

ByJoey Heldon July 6, 2020inArticles›Sports News

With the NBA season on hold, players have been finding their own ways to stay in shape. As the league gets closer to resuming on July 30, some players are taking action into their own hands. Of course, holding practices over the past few months would have been against NBA protocol, so no players are posting on social media if they are, in fact, practicing. Still, it’s fun to theorize who might be doing it.

Among those players may be LeBron James and some of his Los Angeles Lakers teammates. On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons and New Orleans Pelicans guard J.J. Redick talked about the Lakers potentially practicing at “some rich guys’ house in Bel Air.”

https://twitter.com/33643pts/status/1273870540193837056

That house belongs to Steven Jackson , the CEO of footwear manufacturer ACI International. Jackson is not only a prolific businessman, he’s a huge Lakers fan, too. So much so that he’s built a replica version of the Staples Center in his backyard.

This isn’t just a nice court – Jackson went all out in designing the replica. It’s decorated with Lakers championship banners on one baseline wall and game jerseys on the other baseline wall. The home also includes locker rooms, weight rooms, steam rooms, a tennis court, movie theater, bowling alley, and game room.

Just for good measure, Jackson owns the home next door, too. The replica is so spot-on, visiting teams will often practice on it during road trips to play the Lakers or Clippers.

Those practices during the season are within league rules. But during the coronavirus pandemic, the league prohibited any team practices before July 9.

Steven Jackson Bel Air House/Via Google Maps

If these rumors are true, James and his teammates have been practicing for weeks on this court. It’s a smart move – the Lakers are a title favorite, but the shortened regular season levels the playing field. Eight seeding games might not be enough for teams to get back into the swing of things before the playoffs.

And it’s highly likely other teams have been doing this in secret, too. Anonymous sources have shared as much . Players that don’t have great home gyms or courts may have snuck off to get some shots up or do some training at a closed gym. The NBA probably can’t do much about any of these workouts, unless definitive proof comes out somehow.

Besides, with the season resuming at the end of the month, they have much bigger concerns.

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Anthony Davis Just Signed The Largest NBA Extension Ever, Next Season He’ll Make 70% Of Michael Jordan’s NBA Career Earnings

ByJoey Heldon August 4, 2023inArticles›Sports News

• Anthony Davis
• LeBron James
• Michael Jordan
• Rich Paul
• Taylor Swift

Anthony Davis joined the Los Angeles Lakers before the start of the 2019-20 NBA season, the result of a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans. That season was suspended for more than four months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. When play finally resumed, Davis, LeBron James , and the rest of the Lakers ultimately won the championship.

The Lakers haven’t been back to the NBA Finals since, but after a strong end to this past season, they’re feeling good about their chances. That means signing one of their stars to a massive contract extension.

Davis and the Lakers agreed to a three-year, $186 million deal to keep Davis in L.A. through the 2027-28 season. The team will now pay Davis $270 million over the next five years. Davis will average $62 million per season in the new deal, which is the largest annual contract extension the league has ever seen.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Davis became eligible to sign his extension on Friday and didn’t wait long to make it happen. He opted for financial security over the potential to make even more money by taking shorter deals — something his teammate has done with great success .

Despite the franchise’s championship in 2020, things weren’t nearly as rosy the next two years. The Lakers barely made the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the 2020-21 season, losing in six games in the first round to the Phoenix Suns. The following year was even worse, as the Lakers missed the postseason entirely. Davis sat out more than half of his team’s games due to various injuries, appearing in just 76 of a possible 154 contests.

The deal is also big news for Rich Paul . He represents both Davis and James (who’s signed through next year and then has a player option in 2024-25) and has secured close to $370 million for the two L.A. stars. The NBA has a rule that caps agent fees at 4% for veteran players, so Paul will make about $14.8 million simply from these two contracts alone. His overall client roster is extensive — his players will earn a collective $500 million this upcoming season.

The Lakers are investing in Davis for the long term. Now, his goal is to help the franchise add another championship banner (or several) to its rafters.

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The 10 Highest Paid NBA Stars Will Each Earn $40+ Million Next Season

ByJoey Heldon September 2, 2021inArticles›Sports News

The frenzy of NBA free agency is behind us, and teams are now starting to look toward the upcoming season. Before things tip off, every team is buzzing with excitement; even the worst squads in the league have hope when the games haven’t yet been played.

Players will be excited to get back on the court, and some are more amped than others. That’s because, for the first time in NBA history, the league’s top stars are all going to be making huge dollars. Ten players will take home at least $39.3 million with their contracts. Paired with possible incentives, endorsement deals, and other perks, they’ll all easily clear $40 million.

Here’s a look at the league’s highest-paid players for the 2021-22 season, with salaries rounded to the nearest $100,000:

Steph Curry , Golden State Warriors — $45.8 million

If you think Steph Curry makes an absurd amount of money, you’re not wrong — but the Warriors likely consider it payback for the beginning of his career, when he was wildly underpaid. Curry was on a four-year, $44 million contract that kicked in during the 2013-14 season. That means he was making just $11 million per year during the Warriors’ first championship run, the season they went 73-9, and their second championship. He signed a four-year, $215 million extension this summer, which will pay him just under $60 million during the final season of the contract.

John Wall , Houston Rockets — $44.3 million

The second-highest-paid player on this list, Wall also may be the most fragile. He suffered an Achilles injury during the 2018-19 season which forced him to miss 50 games that year, the entirety of the following season, and 42 games this past season. But he’s looking for a second chance at stardom in Houston, which could land him another lucrative deal after this one’s up (though it likely won’t be worth nearly as much). Wall has a player option next season for more than $47.3 million — it would be absolutely shocking if he turns that down.

James Harden , Brooklyn Nets — $44.3 million

James Harden started last season with the Rockets — where he signed an extension worth $228 million in 2017 — before being traded to Brooklyn. Harden has a player option for the next season worth $46.8 million, though he may decline it to sign a longer deal with the Nets. His first season on his new team didn’t go nearly as smoothly as he’d hoped. He missed games during both the regular season and playoffs due to injury, and he enters this year still searching for his first-ever NBA title.

Steph Curry (L) and Kevin Durant (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Russell Westbrook , Los Angeles Lakers — $44.2 million

In acquiring Wall, the Rockets traded one $40+ million man for another. Westbrook signed a massive deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and since inking that extension he’s moved on to the Rockets, the Washington Wizards, and now the Los Angeles Lakers. It’ll be fascinating to see how he fits alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis . But one thing’s for sure: the team is going to have a ton of guys that aren’t afraid of taking over a game.

Kevin Durant , Brooklyn Nets — $42 million

Durant came one toe on the line away from sending the Nets to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they likely would have been favorites to win the NBA title. He’ll get another crack at it this year, though he’s hoping he has a healthy surrounding cast, including Harden and Kyrie Irving . On top of next year’s salary of $40.9 million, Durant can also earn $1.1 million in likely incentives. He may be the best player in the NBA right now and just inked a long-term deal to stay in Brooklyn through the 2025-26 season.

LeBron James , Los Angeles Lakers — $41.2 million

James has had a rollercoaster of a career in Los Angeles since joining the Lakers back in 2018. He suffered an extensive injury his first year as the Lakers missed the playoffs entirely, but bounced back to capture his fourth NBA championship and Finals MVP in the NBA Bubble. This past year, the Lakers made the play-in tournament, defeating the Golden State Warriors to earn the seventh seed. They were eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, but are back to being among the title favorites heading into this season. James is also perhaps the most popular player across the world; with the revenue and number of fans he brings to the league, he’s arguably wildly underpaid .

Giannis Antetokounmpo , Milwaukee Bucks — $39.3 million

The reigning Finals MVP has been living the good life in Milwaukee. He helped end the city’s 50-year championship drought and re-upped to stay in town for the long run. With an extremely likable personality off the court, Antetokounmpo will likely add on quite a bit to next year’s salary with new sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.

Paul George , Los Angeles Clippers — $39.3 million

Though George may not have fully shaken off the “Pandemic P” nickname during this year’s playoffs, he did help lead the Clippers to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals while his teammate Kawhi Leonard sat out with a knee injury. George and Leonard joined the Clippers together back in 2019. The former signed an extension before the start of last season while the latter just agreed to a four-year deal this summer. Both of the Southern California players are set on one thing: winning a championship in front of their hometown fans.

Kawhi Leonard , Los Angeles Clippers — $39.3 million

Leonard is probably the best two-way player in the league, though he comes with the caveat that he’s going to miss several games every year. Whether through load management or an injury, Leonard has sat out 73, 22, 15, and 20 games during the past four seasons. He’ll likely miss most or all of this upcoming season while recovering from his latest knee injury, but he offers enough when healthy that the Clippers were comfortable signing him to a massive deal.

Damian Lillard , Portland Trail Blazers — $39.3 million

We know Damian Lillard will make $39.3 million this season. We don’t know if he’ll still be on the Blazers when all is said and done. The team’s star player has expressed frustration with the franchise as they made offseason personnel moves, including bringing in Chauncey Billups as head coach. There have been rumblings of a potential trade request, though it’s unclear how much validity there is to those rumors. Regardless of where Lillard plays, you can bet he’ll have at least one clutch shot that we’re all celebrating at some point this season.

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