-The NBPA has elected Chris Paul as its new President. While the possibility of LeBron James—the star bigger than the game—to lead the organization was more enticing, CP3’s election should satisfy those yearning for a stronger figurehead to take charge of things. Some speculate that appointed VP Roger Mason, Jr. is more likely to handle much of the actual work that goes into running the show—and that’s fine. Paul offers what LeBron would have: the clout and fame needed to turn the heads of a lot of the league’s indifferent players. Paul’s still got a massive chip on his shoulder from when David Stern nixed his trade to the Lakers, after the 2011 lockout—and about the salary-crushing fall-out from the resulting CBA, too, of course. Now he’s set to mobilize his brethren to do something about it, next time around at the negotiating table.
-The Suns and Lakers will be joining the Warriors, next year, in the short-sleeve jersey trend. Aesthetic disputes aside, I find the trend important because it points toward the league’s renewed efforts to further globalize the game. Some purchasable NBA paraphernalia will now more closely resemble soccer garb. Imagine a kid kicking a soccer ball, wearing a Kobe shirt, outside of a stadium in the Phillippines, one of many international spots where pre-season games will be held, this year.
-Chris Hansen, head of the committee to relocate the Kings to Seattle, was outed as having covertly participated in a Sacramento-based coalition strongly against the building of a new Kings stadium there. To those familiar with the game of professional sports stadiums—the politics, the money, the trickery involved in their assemblage—this should come as no surprise. There’s enough legal filings existing on the matter to fill a library. Most recently, Bulls owners Jerry Reinsdorf was sued by former employee Perri Irmer, over a number of infractions of the public funding good faith. Hansen is part of a rich history of dirty gamery in this field, and if he’s losing in the news, it’s because history is told to us by the winners.
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