MORE Late Night NBA Intel
On a Sunday night in mid-August
Mid-August is an allegedly sleepy time in the NBA.
Emphasis on allegedly.
So much happened this week that I haven't had a chance to process or comment on all of it yet. The full schedule for the 2026-27 season was released in three parts Tuesday through Thursday. On Wednesday alone we learned that Los Angeles Lakers were being sold — just nine months after Mark Walter was officially approved by the league's Board of Governors as the successor taking over for Jeanie Buss — and that future Hall of Fame Russell Westbrook is abruptly retiring.
Then the weekend, after Dennis Schröder was traded for the ninth time, belonged to the Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2026 ... right on the heels of the NBA community in Dallas where I live having spent several days mourning the passing of legendary coach Don Nelson.
It's been a lot.
Talking about the Lakers' sale and all the attendant ramifications will be a constant going forward. Clearly it slams home — coming just one day after the New York Yankees welcomed a $2.6 billion infusion of cash from Apollo Sports Capital — how expensive this sports stuff is getting. Yet I've frankly spent the whole week in reflection mode, so I'll have to play some catch-up on the purple and gold. Losing Nellie, Russ' video drop without warning to stunningly announce his decision to walk away from the game and then Mike D'Antoni's speech in Springfield that had me reliving all the time I spent covering his Seven Seconds Or Less Suns — and how open D’Antoni was in terms of access granted to the reporters who closely covered those teams — have monopolized my focus.
It is time, though, to try to forge ahead. The best way we know how on a Sunday? Naturally that's publishing a Sunday Best compilation of Late Night Intel.
To the latest, then, from my notebook on free agency and trade matters from throughout the league ... leading off with some previously unreported aspects of Westbrook's summer.
Way back on June 30, The Stein Line first revealed Washington's interest in signing Westbrook:
How serious were the Wizards?