Nate

He/Him. Free Palestine. The Marathon Continues

[Nate @nwiggins11]

Hard to put into words how much this club and this community mean to me. The memories and friendships I’ve made will remain with me forever. Although this news is absolutely crushing, I am so grateful for every moment I’ve been able to spend as part of this amazing community 🧡💚

[San Diego Loyal @SanDiegoLoyal]

A message from San Diego Loyal SC Chairman, Andrew Vassiliadis.

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

From underdogs to history-makers. Thank you, Cape Verde.

[ESPN FC @ESPNFC]

Cape Verde were the smallest-ever nation to qualify for the knockout rounds at the World Cup.

They just took the defending champions to extra time and nearly shocked the world. What a run 🇨🇻

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

Sidny Lopes Cabral with an ABSOLUTE GOLAZO to bring Cape Verde level with Argentina in extra time 😱

INCREDIBLE SCENES

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

MESSI GOOOAAL TO GIVE ARGENTINA THE LEAD 🐐

Lionel Messi scores his 20th career FIFA World Cup goal to make it 1-0 over Cape Verde!

[Darius Soriano @forumbluegold]

if you listen to bill simmons you'd think getting walker kessler is worse for the lakers than trading jaylen brown is for the celtics. lmao.

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

WE WILL SEE YOU FOR THE 1⃣6⃣ IN SEATTLE!

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

FOUND A WAY THROUGH! 🇺🇸

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

MALIK TILLMAN'S BEAUTIFUL GOAL FOR AMERICA 🦅

[Aaron West @oeste]

that’s a bad call for me. balogun didn’t go in with excessive force, he tripped on the way into the challenge and none of it was violent or purposeful. i hate that call. and if we’re gonna call it out, messi got away with worse.

[LeBron James @KingJames]

LFG!!!!!! THE 🤫 HAS 🛬 at the World Cup! Helluva goal there Young 🤴🏾! 🫡. GO 🇺🇸

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

THE @USMNT TAKES THE LEAD 🇺🇸

NOW BALOGUN CAN REALLY HIT THE @KingJames SILENCER!

[Nate @nwiggins11]

HIT THAT SILENCER FLO

[Darius Soriano @forumbluegold]

i am awaiting the next bill simmons podcast with a level of anticipation i've never felt before.

[Shams Charania @ShamsCharania]

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers are acquiring Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz for unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030, sources tell ESPN. Kessler will sign a massive four-year, $130 million deal with the Lakers.

[jeanie ☽̶☾ @jeaniezk]

lol

[Daman Rangoola @damanr]

LeBron James, Laker Champion

LeBron James’ Lakers tenure has ended at 8 seasons, his longest stretch with a single team in his career. That meant eight offseasons and eight trade deadlines — sixteen transaction cycles of news, excitement, chaos, and exhaustion. It feels almost impossible to take a breath and step back, but I’ll try.

The one thing that I think has absolutely been forgotten is the state of the Lakers when LeBron James arrived. Lakers ownership had just finished firing the owner’s brother, hiring a first time President of Basketball, a first time GM, had a roster full of young, but unproven talent - and most importantly, they were absolutely rudderless. Let’s be very clear here: the Lakers were on their way to being a decade-long mediocrity. LeBron James didn’t go the Kawhi route and demand a trade for a co-star, he just signed with the team, and for that I will be forever grateful. He WAS the franchise savior, there is no other way to view that.

Now, the Klutch angle. The Lakers may bristle at being “pushed around” to do things like trade for Anthony Davis. But look at what the Lakers were doing that same offseason. They insulted and low-balled Ty Lue. Then, on the day they introduced Frank Vogel — the guy who had originally agreed to be the lead assistant — Magic Johnson went on television and trashed everything about the organization. So yeah, you got pushed around by Klutch to trade for AD, and thank god for that.

LeBron would go on to carry the franchise to a championship, the same year that he carried them through the untimely death of Kobe Bryant, followed by a global pandemic. I was asked on a podcast appearance I did the day LeBron signed about my expectations as far as championships, my answer: Set the over/under at 0.5. LeBron hit the over. Mission accomplished, end of story.

Were there lows that followed? Was the Russell Westbrook trade the worst trade of all time? I think so, and I think it’s stupid to pretend that LeBron didn’t push for that either - of course he did, it was a mistake, and it ended the title window for the team. But LeBron didn’t make the trade himself, I’d be much more amenable to the fact that LeBron James and Klutch were some overbearing pains in the asses if the organization actually had their own basketball principles and philosophies to fall back on. To date, I have seen no evidence of that.

I find myself defending LeBron today and his legacy as a Laker, but at the same time I don’t blame anybody for the relationship ending today. This was a relationship that had its ups and downs and both sides find themselves at a crossroads where saying goodbye is the most logical outcome. The Lakers have to build their franchise around their next centerpiece in Luka Doncic, and while LeBron James gave Luka the space to be himself, LeBron’s stature is too large for this team to not take it’s cues from him - it is time for the franchise to become Luka’s, fully and unmistakably. For LeBron, whether it’s commuting to San Francisco, or ending his story book career where it started, I can appreciate how those options just feel better to him today.

LeBron’s Lakers tenure was messy, political, dramatic, and eventually exhausting. But that cannot be separated from what came before him: a franchise with no direction, no credibility, and no obvious path back to relevance. He chose the Lakers without demanding a co-star first. He made them matter again. He helped deliver Anthony Davis. He won a championship. Everything after that can be debated, but the central fact cannot: LeBron James came to Los Angeles and did the job.

LeBron James, Laker Champion

[Anthony F. Irwin @AnthonyIrwinLA]

Giving up a second for a few months of Kennard. Letting Goodwin walk to sign Smart, who you then lose for nothing, too. Rob’s asset management on the margins is brutal.

[LeBron James @KingJames]

No, THANK YOU! Truly a honor to wear the 💜💛 while trying to continuing the greatness & legacies that came before me! Hope I made a few proud during my stint. 🙏🏾🫡👑

[Los Angeles Lakers @Lakers]

Thank you, LeBron 💜💛

[Edwin Garcia @ECreates88]

LeBron James just came off a series against the Rockets, where he led the Lakers in minutes played, points, assists, and had the second-best plus-minus at +20. He did everything but sell hot dogs inside Crypto to get the Lakers into the second round. Stop minimizing his impact.