The short version of the NBA's mid-August news day: the buzz trackers are still typing Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan into the same paragraph, which tells you most of what you need to know about NBA free agency news right now. Neither has landed. The cap sheets around the league have hardened, the roster spots that were flexible in July are mostly spoken for, and the veterans who wanted a specific fit are learning that August negotiates on the team's terms, not theirs.
That is not a knock on either player. Westbrook won an MVP and once averaged a triple-double for a full season, a thing that had not been done since Oscar Robertson. DeRozan has been a genuine All-Star scorer for the better part of a decade and remains one of the last true midrange craftsmen in a league that decided the midrange was a rounding error. But teams are not shopping for résumés in August. They are shopping for a specific hole: backup ballhandling, a bench bucket-getter who does not need the ball to matter, a body who will accept the fifteenth spot without a promise. That is a narrow door, and it usually opens in camp when somebody tweaks something in a scrimmage.
Meanwhile the actual news of the day happened in boardrooms. Word came down that the Buss family is selling its remaining stake in the Lakers, which ends Jeanie Buss's run as governor of the franchise. checked the almanac: Jerry Buss bought that team back in 1979, and one family has been the through line on every banner since. That is a long time to be the answer to the question of who is in charge.
In San Antonio, the city council voted 6-5 to reject a proposed public vote on the city's $489 million contribution to a new downtown Spurs arena. And the reporting around the Clippers investigation says the league has not found evidence that Steve Ballmer funneled money through team sponsors to Kawhi Leonard, though the reporting also makes clear the process is not closed.
What I'm watching next: whether either veteran signs before camp, and who takes the governor's chair in Los Angeles. One of those changes a rotation. The other changes a franchise.
