Los Angeles Lakers: How a budding LA Clippers feud can save NBA season

Lake Show Life has a special report on a feud that could turn nasty between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers after their matchup on Christmas Day.

The Los Angeles Lakers played the LA Clippers on Christmas Day. With both teams on losing streaks, the game may have lost some luster. But reports about free agency and sniping about load management can bring excitement back to the NBA.

The highly anticipated rematch with the Lakers and the Clippers could be a glimmer of hope for the NBA. What are they hoping for you ask? Attention. For people to care. Maybe to show that the regular season actually matters.

Many believe that the NBA has turned into a watered-down version of the past. Soft. A bunch of players that don’t want to compete.

Over the years, the NBA has tried to distance itself from the days of the “Bad Boy” Pistons vs. Michael Jordan or the wars the New York Knicks put him through.

How about those Knicks/Miami Heat battles that included a head coach now turned ESPN color analyst hanging on to one of the player’s legs. Yes, we are talking about you, Jeff Van Gundy.

After the 1990s was filled with some of the worst brawls in NBA history, the NBA started cracking down on these WWE type matches with technicals, two types of flagrant fouls, suspensions and policing players coming off the bench.

Outside of Russell Westbrook‘s borderline hatred for Patrick Beverley after a dirty play that injured his knee, there is no real beef. Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns have danced on the court this year fueled by social media feeds.

https://twitter.com/TheAthleticNBA/status/1189770761105375232

But nobody takes Towns seriously. Jimmy Butler took his street cred with him to Philly last year and it’s still in a box somewhere when he moved on to Miami. Now to some, the NBA is nothing but players not wanting to compete but wanting to create partnerships for easy championships.

Rivalries now are now all about social media and discussions about who’s the G.O.A.T. It’s about NBA 2K and bad sports shows that say ridiculous things for clout.

There’s nothing right now hard to sell as the TV ratings continue to plummet. There are three emotions attached to sports and entertainment. There’s love, hate and indifference. The NBA is starting to tilt somewhere between hate and indifference.

That’s why the NBA NEEDS a Lakers/Clippers rivalry. It has everything that not only brings back the disenchanted NBA fans but bring in many more casuals. Why?

There’s really only one NBA rivalry that’s going on right now. It surrounds these two teams in the same city, shoot in the same building. The Lakers and Clippers are the only story in the NBA besides the “Greek Freak”, Giannis Antetokounmpo. These franchises have everything a real rivalry needs. From the owners to the last guy on the bench don’t care for each other.

The Lakers/Clippers game was the most important for the NBA out of the five-game festival. The storylines can strike interest for the rest of the season.

• It’s was one game that featured the two superstars with championship history surrounded by the talent to make a deep run to another championship this year.
• The one game where the reality of who is the best player in the league is determined on the court and not on a keyboard or video game controller.
• The two stars have the same agenda but done in a different way. 
• If executed correctly, the marketing scheme of the NBA will be changed. No longer will one player carry the global responsibilities of exposing the league. 
• The media will find outside forces to add to the drama. 

For any narrative to garner attention, you must have two elements. You need a hero and a villain. You have the “Babyface” in LeBron James, whose charge is to bring a title back to one of the most iconic franchises in NBA history. In the “City of Angels”, he’s the King.

Then you have the “Villain” in Kawhi Leonard, who comes from another country where he was a powerful force, to take over the hero’s domain.

It may sound like a Walt Disney movie or something from Star Wars, but are they struggling for people to watch their product? The NBA can do this. It’s not like they hadn’t done it before.

When the NBA was struggling, the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson rivalry saved the league and changed everything.

The NBA does have its issues with TV ratings and declining regular season interest, but it was nothing compared to the times in the 1970s. Fights, drug abuse and let’s be honest here, the league being known as the “black” league turned many fans off.

For all of the 24/7/365 coverage of the NBA today, many would be shocked that the NBA Finals used to be on tape delay after the 11:00 news. Declining sponsorships, no exclusive TV deals lead to the road of doom for the NBA.

It’s really amazing that the Los Angeles Lakers seem to play a major part in NBA history. It was no different at the start of the 1980s. The Lakers drafted Magic Johnson and win the NBA title in his rookie year. The Boston Celtics draft Larry Bird and the NBA were back on the map.

Like LeBron and Kawhi, they both were great with conflicting styles. When your peers have great stories about these two, it shows the magnitude of the positive effect on the NBA.

Led by Magic and Bird, they improved franchises that were mediocre at best (Lakers) and just plain bad at worst (Celtics) in the ’70s. In the ’80s, the Lakers and Celtics dominated the NBA, showing up in multiple NBA Finals throughout the decade.

What made this a great rivalry? The Lakers and Celtics faced off in three Finals themselves. The drama between the two teams was enough, but the subplots of Bird vs. Magic made it an all-time special event. Without Bird and the Celtics, Showtime would not be revered like it is today.

The ending will be remembered every time the NBA Finals starts. Magic Johnson and the infamous baby skyhook is one of the greatest clutch plays of not only Lakers’ history but all of basketball.

Like Paul Pierce said above, part of the narrative was about race. Larry Bird brought the white audiences back to the TV sets to watch Bird take down Magic.

Most of the black audiences rooted for Magic and the Lakers. The TV networks took advantage of that perfect storm and played up the subplot. Two talented icons that everyone could relate to. The NBA exposure exploded and the league and TV networks never looked back.

Magic Johnson was the fun-loving, outgoing player with the smile that the NBA could market.

Larry Bird was the hard-working, bring the lunch pail to work guy that was the perfect adversary.

But the beauty of it all was both of them were the best in the NBA. The league needs to take advantage of the lightning in the bottle one more time. With load management being a PR nightmare these days, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard have the ability to turn this into PR gold.

Load management started out like trash, but if this rivalry starts, it can turn into a treasure for the NBA! 

Load management will be a hot topic in the NBA throughout the year. Get used to it. Every story going forward will be linked to the most controversial issue in the NBA.

After Kawhi Leonard sat out a nationally televised game for two consecutive weeks early in the season, let’s just say Doris Burke along with some ESPN personalities did not hide their discontent.

Like it or not, the plan works for him. Leonard once again will play around 60 regular-season games. Back to back games? He hasn’t done it in the regular season since 2017, let that ship sail.

But after a season winning last year’s Finals MVP, Leonard is averaging career-highs in points, rebounds, and assists per 36 minutes. Throw in the fact that Kawhi posts the highest usage rate of his career, the Clippers get major production no matter if Paul George is on the floor or not.

Plus the Los Angeles Clippers have no issues with a part-time Kawhi just as long as he shows up in the big games. He did on Christmas Day in front of a national TV audience.

Kawhi Leonard is coming for LeBron James as the unofficial “undisputed best player on the planet” title. With past injuries, he figured a system that works for him. But what former teammate, Kyle Anderson of the Memphis Grizzlies states via Bleacher Report sums it up.

"“When you had a guy like LeBron come in [to town], you could tell Kawhi wanted to make a name for himself and show the world he was up there [with James],” Anderson says. “I would’ve been shocked if he went to the Lakers. I don’t take him for the kind of guy who wants to play with the best; he wants to prove he’s the best. If there’s anybody in the league ready to step up to LeBron, it’s Kawhi.”"

But LeBron James is connected in ways past the basketball court. Let’s see how the load management affects him.

LeBron James chided “Load Management” over a week ago. Then he gets hurt. Karma?

LeBron James, outside of Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, is the most media-savvy athlete in history. He is the only NBA player that can send a strong message without saying a word. How many NBA players have their own production company?

He didn’t need his company to make his point about load management. It came straight from his mouth. Here’s his take via USA Today.

"“Why wouldn’t I play if I’m healthy? It doesn’t make any sense to me,” James told reporters following the Lakers’ win in Atlanta. “My obligation is to play for my teammates. If I’m healthy, then I’m going to play. If coach sits me out, then I’m not healthy. It’s just that simple.”"

Well when LeBron speaks, everybody listens. It didn’t take long for his statement to get to Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers. Well, listen to his take on the situation.

To be clear, LeBron’s history does factor in the tone of Doc Rivers. LeBron used the practice throughout his career when it never had a name. It was just a rest.

But that’s not the point here. It’s about using it as a promotional tool for the rest of the NBA season. Everyone knows that LeBron and Kawhi can flex on their perspective franchises to get the proper body management needed to be successful.

That’s just good common sense. Something Gary Payton made very clear for Yahoo Sports!.

Notice the passion of Payton here. That’s what the NBA needs from the fans. But again, it’s fuel to the fire that can bring the NBA back from the listlessness of the fanbase.

Speaking of how the Clippers got Kawhi Leonard in the first place, let’s delve into some bad feelings that carried over from free agency.

It seems that the Los Angeles Lakers are still upset over Kawhi Leonard and how he joined the Clippers.

Kawhi Leonard has been a member of the Los Angeles Clippers for a good little while now, but conveniently details about his free agency get leaked just a few days before the Christmas Day showdown.

A report from Sam Amick and The Athletic about the Kawhi Leonard sweepstakes that happened in this past offseason brought out some serious accusations that will leave possible bad feelings for a long time between the two Los Angeles franchises.

It was reported that Kawhi Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, may have asked for “extra incentives” from the Lakers, Clippers, and Raptors, which included a private plane and a house.

Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and other members of the Lakers organization are still not happy and  “frustration” was described in the piece about how they were treated in free agency by Kawhi, Dennis, and their entire camp.

The Athletic goes into detail on how those lavish requests led Jeanie Buss to feel as if the Lakers were being used as leverage.

"A source with knowledge of the Kawhi-Lakers talks said Robertson made those requests repeatedly to owner Jeanie Buss over the course of three phone calls that spanned several days, and that she made it clear that such perks were illegal and would not be considered. There was even a question raised by Robertson about why Lakers legend Magic Johnson had been given a small piece of Lakers ownership so many years ago, with Buss explaining that the two situations couldn’t have been more different – even beyond the fact that one was legal and the other was not."

The Los Angeles Clippers asked at a specific request for the NBA to conduct a formal investigation to show that the Clippers had not granted any of these requests proposed by Uncle Dennis. There was no wrongdoing found by the league.

Before the game, Kawhi Leonard addressed the situation.

If Lake Show Life asked any NBA fan who Dennis Robertson was, there would be blank faces all the way around. Now if the fans were asked who “Uncle Dennis” was, a totally different situation.

Uncle Dennis is the perfect Clippers version to Rich Paul. Both men have conspiracy theories attached to them. But in reality, they both have power and influence. Both men are considered a nemesis to multiple franchises and they work very quietly behind the scenes.

In Los Angeles, nope. But the NBA will use all of this drama to create one!

To grasp this concept, the perfect Hollywood movie that sums up the NBA’s plan is the movie “The Great White Hype”.

Damon Wayans was the champion whose fights were losing money from the lack of interest. The promoter, played by Samuel L. Jackson, set up a situation to create hype for the next fight. The scene plays out here.

Now in Los Angeles, the Clippers will never measure up to the Lakers. Have the Clippers won an NBA title yet? How about getting to the Western Conference Finals? No. So there is no rivalry. Nobody is going to take Clip Nation seriously enough to entertain a conversation until they get one.

The NBA doesn’t see it that way. They need some drama to attract fans to the TV sets.

Even when the Golden State Warriors were dominating the NBA, they had Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. Skilled players that drew attention to the sport. They were the Goliath of the NBA for 5 years, but they were fun to watch. All of them are gone for the majority if not all of this season.

Think they don’t matter? Just check the tweet below.

It counts. So when you turn on the TV set to watch ESPN or a game and this subject comes up, don’t roll your eyes. It’s a chess move. If the Lakers and Clippers aren’t a rivalry, the NBA and media will make it one.