Where to, Kawhi?
The Philadelphia 76ers are now the bookies favorites to sign Kawhi Leonard. The San Antonio Spurs superstar is expected to leave this summer, with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Toronto Raptors and the 76ers linked with the 27-year-old.
And American bookmakers BetDSI now say a flurry of bets on Leonard leaving San Antonio for Philadelphia has changed the market.
“We’ve taken a good amount of sharp money on the Sixers recently,” BetDSI spokesperson Scott Cooley said.
“There’s no telling what’s going to happen, as there are a ton of moving parts, but we saw the same guys firing at LA late with the LeBron odds.
“The square bettors have been all over the place for this prop, but they read the news and react to it so they’ve been betting Philly. Plus, the possibility of creating a second super team in the East creates excitement they want to be a part of.”
The LeBron factor
Magic Johnson says LeBron James’ arrival in LA has taken his three-year rebuilding plan to another level.
“If we feel there’s somebody out there or a deal to be made to make our team better, then we’ll do it as long as it’s a great deal for us,” Johnson said.
“If it’s not, we have our team and we’ll go to battle, go to war with this team. We feel really good about this team.
“Then we’ll have enough room for next summer to give another player a max deal. [General manager] Rob [Pelinka] and I, we already put the strategy together.
“LeBron, of course, changed some of that, but we’re still going to stay disciplined and hope we’ll be a team that can have a championship run for a long time.”
Bulls acquire Jabari
Free agent forward Jabari Parker signed a reported twoyear deal worth $40 million with the Chicago Bulls on Saturday afternoon, not long after Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Horst rescinded the team’s qualifying offer to Parker.
The four-year NBA veteran is a Chicago native who was the high school National Player of the Year while starring at Simeon Career Academy. The Bulls cleared roster space by releas- ing guard Julyan Stone and forward Paul Zipser.
“Jabari is a 23-year-old player who is a natural fit with our young core, and is a proven scorer at the NBA level,” general manager Gar Forman said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming him back to his hometown.”
Meanwhile, Channing Frye reportedly is heading back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he earned a championship ring in 2016.