Top of the draft board shines at Summer League
The depth and quality of the 2017 NBA draft had teams tanking at the end of the regular season in hopes of vaulting into the top three picks.
With the huge caveat being that it was only summer league action, those at the top of the draft made quite a first impression.
Summer league play ended on Monday night after the Los Angeles Lakers beat Portland in the Las Vegas league championship game. Over leagues played in Orlando, Salt Lake City and Vegas, many of the top 10 picks gave their teams plenty to feel good about before heading into the league's quiet period for the next two months.
No. 2 pick Lonzo Ball owned Vegas with a pair of triple-doubles and was named Vegas MVP. Top pick Markelle Fultz showed off his wide array of scoring tricks in Utah before sitting out much of Vegas with an ankle injury and No. 3 pick Jayson Tatum of Boston was drawing comparisons to Paul Pierce while dominating both in Utah and Nevada.
"Lonzo definitely gave the team a lot of confidence as this thing went along," Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "The way he plays, he's always got his poise about him, just an incredible basketball player and with the unselfish nature he plays the game, it just becomes contagious and I think other guys started picking up and playing off of that."
Winning a summer league title certainly doesn't mean the suffering of the last four years is over for the Lakers. Far from it. The real test comes in a couple of months.
Spurs sign Lauvergne
The San Antonio Spurs have signed forward/center Joffrey Lauvergne, who has played for three teams in his three-year NBA career.
Terms of the deal were not announced Tuesday.
The 6-foot-11, 260-pound Lauvergne played for Oklahoma City and Chicago last season. He played 50 games for the Thunder, averaging 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds before being dealt to Chicago, where he averaged 4.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 20 games.
Cavs sign Osman
The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed former second-round pick Cedi Osman.
The Cavaliers announced the move Tuesday. Osman has played the last five seasons for Anadolu Efes in the Turkish Basketball League. He gets a threeyear deal worth $8.3 million.
Noel ‘very disappointed’ with negotiations with Mavs
The Mavericks’ negotiations with Nerlens Noel remain far apart and the representative for the fourth-year center said Tuesday that the situation could drag on well into the summer.
Noel, 23, is a restricted free agent, meaning the Mavericks can match any offer he might get from another team.
However, agent Happy Walters said the Mavericks have yet to come up with a realistic contract offer.
“We’re very disappointed with where things stand,” Walters said. “Nerlens loves Dallas and spent June there working out, but we’re still waiting on a serious offer.”