Ball blows up with 36 points and 11 assists
Lonzo Ball put on his purple Kobe AD shoes and set the Las Vegas Summer League ablaze Wednesday night. He told reporters after the game he had a “Mamba mentality,” a reference to Kobe Bryant’s nickname.
Ball finished with 36 points as well as 11 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks in the Lakers’ 103-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers played without Markelle Fultz, whom they drafted first overall last month.
Second-year player Ivica Zubac finished with 21 points, two steals and two blocks.
The Lakers will play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night at 7:30 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Nwaba is waived The Lakers waived David Nwaba on Wednesday in a procedural move that will clear some cap room to help them sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
If Nwaba clears waivers, they can re-sign him at the same $1.3-million salary using a veteran minimum exception.
The Lakers were about $17.2 million under the salary cap before waiving Nwaba. On Tuesday night they agreed to a one-year deal with CaldwellPope that will pay him $18 million.
Fewer NBA timeouts
The NBA wants to see the finish of its games go a bit more quickly.
The league’s Board of Governors unanimously approved changes that will potentially eliminate four timeouts a game, help speed up the final minutes and emphasize a timely resumption of play after halftime.
The changes all go into effect this coming season, the NBA said.
Teams will be limited to two timeouts in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter, instead of having up to three. All four quarters will have two mandatory timeouts, after the seven- and three-minute marks.
Each team will be limited to two timeouts per overtime period, instead of the previous three per team.
“We’re pretty happy with the length of the game,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We were more focused here on the pace and flow of the game. What we heard from our fans, what we heard from many of our teams, was that the end of the games in particular were too choppy. And I think since I was a kid, that was an issue people were talking about, the last two minutes of a game.”
Silver said the full complement of commercial-showing opportunities will still be available to the league’s broadcast partners, and that the league doesn’t believe player in-game rest will be affected by speeding up some aspects.
Also, all halftimes will be 15 minutes and delay-of-game penalties will be issued if teams are not ready to immediately play when intermission ends.
The league also changed the trade deadline, moving it up so teams would not have their rosters significantly altered during the All-Star break.
This deadline next season will be Feb. 8 — 10 days before the All-Star game in Los Angeles. Under the old system the deadline would have been Feb. 22, when teams will be getting ready to resume their seasons after the break.
Pacers sign Anigbogu
The Indiana Pacers have signed second-round draft pick Ike Anigbogu, a center from UCLA. Terms weren’t disclosed. Anigbogu, who is 6 feet 10, was the 47th overall pick in the draft. He played one season at UCLA and averaged 4.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.