Mickey Johnson: benched on his high school team to NBA journeyman

The Los Angeles Clippers would like to retain Tyronn Lue on a long-term contract and it is unlikely a scenario would manifest that would allow him to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I don’t believe it is realistic based on this: Ty Lue still has a year left on his contract,” said Adrian Wojnarowski. And the Clippers are determined to a long-term deal with Ty Lue, I’m told. They want him to be their head coach for a very long time. That is a conversation that will happen after the playoffs are over, but they love the job he did this season. They love the job he’s done there.

“This is an organization by all indications, however this series ends up, wants to re-sign Paul George, James Harden. Try to improve this roster around those two and Kawhi Leonard. And Ty Lue will still be the head coach for them.”

The Lakers previously offered Lue their head coaching job in 2019, but were unable to agree to contract terms.

The Portland Trail Blazers are hoping to move forward with a combination of veterans in Damian Lillard and Jerami Grant, while bringing along young potential stars in Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson.

“If Damian Lillard wants to go to a contender, it’s going to probably have to be somewhere [else],” said Adrian Wojnarowski. “Unless he’s willing to wait a couple of years for this group to grow. There’s no magic trade out there for them.

“They’ll to try to re-sign Jerami Grant. I have some confidence they’re going to be able to do that.”

The Blazers didn’t like any of their trade options to move No. 3, so they decided to keep the selection for themselves.

“I think Portland did what was right by their organization, their front office,” added Wojnarowski. “Trading out of No. 3 for whatever the best available veteran would have been would have been malpractice.”