Kawhi Leonard's departure from the U.S. Olympic team, Bronny James' summer with the Lakers and Tyler Glasnow's addition to the Dodgers' struggling pitching staff are the top topics on Audible this week. (Leonard via The Associated Press; James and Glasnow via Getty Images)
Jim Alexander: A bombshell Olympic announcement dropped this morning: Kawhi Leonard is withdrawing from the Olympics and leaving the U.S. men's team, a move that appears to have been coordinated by the United States Basketball Association and the Clippers.
And my first thought when this article came out was, “What aren't they telling us?”
Kawhi was reportedly feeling great and was eager (at least as eager as he could be) to play for his country in Paris this month, and now suddenly he's out, with the only statement released by the federation so far being:
“Kawhi has been preparing for the Olympics over the past few weeks, attending several practices in Las Vegas and feeling ready to compete. However, he respects the determination by the USA Basketball Association and the Clippers that it is in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for next season rather than competing in the Olympic Games in Paris.”
My next thought while reading this story was, if Kawhi is potentially vulnerable enough to take such a big risk on an international basis, what does that mean for his new contract with the Clippers?
Miriam, you’ve been with the organization a long time, so you have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. So… what’s going on?
Miriam Swanson: I think people are starting to get a taste of what it means to be a Clippers fan.
No matter what team Kawhi is on, it's worth having him on your team. I've seen Kawhi in Terminator mode. That's when there's no stopping him. That's when he's an efficient, calm, dominant monster. Everyone wants to experience that again — including Kawhi. It's clear he wants to play. He wanted to play in the playoffs. He wanted to play in the Olympics. But his health — he's been very cautious about it for a long time — is preventing him from playing more and more often.
That's just a shame.
And because he's been so private about his health, there's no way for medical professionals to step in and explain what ails him, which has left us with a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing from all sides this morning: who was lying about what, when, why and now.
But maybe the reason is simple: He just isn't healthy enough to play. I don't think there's any conspiracy. I don't think the Clippers dangled it in front of him for weeks and then backed off once camp started.
This is shocking again because this fun guy would rather be out there playing basketball than rehabbing and resting and waiting for his knee to heal. But that's nobody's fault. That's life. It's just sad.
Some Clippers fans were upset that he was going to the Olympics after missing most of the first round of the playoffs against the Mavericks, but I always looked at it in a positive light. I mean, he was injured and he recovered. Now we know he's not healthy enough to compete in Olympic sports. That should be more of a concern for Clippers fans, because he never wanted to compete in the Olympics in the first place.
What does this mean for the team going forward? We'll know how well his knee cooperates once the season starts. But Clippers fans already know what the rest of the country learned today: Don't hold your breath.
Gym: Meanwhile, as you were writing all this, an email landed in your inbox: The James Harden deal is official. It was a busy morning for the Clippers, even though the deal, a reported two-year, $70 million deal with Harden, was nearly done a week ago but they weren't able to announce it right away.
And I’m beginning to think that the NBA may have supplanted the NFL as the closest thing America has to being hooked on a sport for 365 days (or in this case, 366.) It’s an organic process, but think about it: regular season, playoffs, finals, draft, free agency, summer league, and in this case, the Olympics, lather, rinse, repeat… Late August and into September will provide enough gossip and speculation for ESPN’s NBA Today, social media maven, and friend Marc Stein’s Substack newsletter.
Which brings us to our next topic: The other day there was a suggestion on the Awful Announcing website summarized in a headline: “Is Bronny James the new Tim Tebow for ESPN, where celebrity coverage vastly outweighs on-the-ground influence?”
Maybe this is a natural progression, and it's no surprise that Bronny's first Summer League appearance (and first “DNP injury” in Game 2 when his knee swelled) garnered so much attention. Sure, he's the 55th pick in the draft, but he's also LeBron's son. Sure, he's a one-season shaky player at USC that's totally out of touch with the NBA, but he's also LeBron's son. So you see where I'm going.
Bottom line: Did agent Rich Paul do Bronny a disservice by manipulating him to go to the Lakers? I'm not saying all this (so far undeserved) attention is detrimental to his development, but it's doing little beyond feeding the “engagement farming” industry at this point. (And now I understand that it was there even before JJ Redick mentioned it in his introductory press conference. Oh man, I was unaware of that!)
Miriam: By “organically,” do you mean that a network has fueled interest in the trading and fantasy parts of the sport, creating interest and stimulating discussion? There has been a feeling for years that the public cares more about drama and rumors than they do about basketball, and that's just the way it is. You can't bring the genie back.
What about Bronny? Sure, the guy gets way more attention than he deserves, and we all understand why.
Is that disrespectful? I don't know, but the 6-foot-4 guy who returned from a health scare and averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in just under 20 minutes per game in one season at USC just signed a $7.9 million contract to play for the Lakers.
Wouldn't it be interesting to have one of the greatest basketball players of all time playing with your son? Yes. Would there be a lot of pressure and scrutiny? Yes. Would it be weird playing with your dad, who might be the greatest of all time? Maybe. Would it be an amazing experience? Could LeBron teach his son something directly that Bronny can't learn from someone else? Possibly.
But do I feel sorry for Bronies? No.
Poor Brony? Nope.
Is that hard for Bronny? Probably, but it's a job. If he didn't want that job, he might have been a video game developer. But here he is. Look what he's got. And we're all looking at it.
Gym: Let me put it this way: This four-year, $7.9 million deal, with a generous guarantee of a second-round pick, pokes holes in the “stay in college” argument. And his attitude toward this whole thing seems more down to earth than those of us watching from afar. He's in college to work hard and learn, so nothing else matters. Good for him.
Our final story for today? The alarming shrinkage of the Dodgers' pitching staff. When Tyler Glasnow went on the disabled list with back tightness on Tuesday, it seemed like just a way to give him a few days off. But consider this: After Bobby Miller got thumped again by the Phillies on Tuesday night, the starting pitchers' ERA has ballooned to 9.20 in 10 games since Gavin Stone's shutout against the White Sox two weeks ago, with the Dodgers losing six of those games.
And the rotation right now is Stone (Philadelphia's pitcher tonight), Landon Knack, James Paxton, Justin Wroblewski, and… I think Sunday's start at Detroit, the last game before the All-Star break, will be a bullpen game or an opportunity for another Triple-A or Double-A pitcher. The Dodgers have already used 30 pitchers this season, including Kiké Hernández as a “let's get it over with” fielder. Meanwhile, Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May are all on the disabled list, and that's just pitchers.
Look at it this way: The Dodgers' B team still leads their division by 7.5 games. Positive: Imagine when they get all their regular players back. Negative: Will they still be ahead in the division when Betts, Muncy, Kershaw, etc. return? Or will the Padres or Diamondbacks (or both) wake up and start competing?
Well, maybe they could reacquire Tyler Anderson. The Angels would no doubt be listening to any offers for their All-Star pitcher. (Although, USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightingale recently reported that the Angels probably won't let Anderson go.)
Miriam: They have a lot of pitching talent, but it seems like they need more pitching, and it seems like they need to improve their pitching staff to get to where they want to be and get the results they've invested so heavily in.
But as you point out, the hits just keep on coming, and while the B team is doing well, playing catch-up too often is not a recipe for long-term success.
As Dodgers reporter Bill Plunkett pointed out in his coverage of the game on Tuesday, in their last 10 games, Dodgers starting pitchers have allowed 45 runs, 51 hits and 12 home runs in 44 innings, leading to the Dodgers' sixth loss of those 10 games.
How do the Dodgers bolster their starting rotation? Top contenders like Garrett Crochette or Eric Feddy of the Chicago White Sox or Jack Flaherty of the Detroit Tigers would come at a steep price.
But what could be even more costly? Inaction.
