The Latest on Payton and Malone...
This time last year I was wondering whether the addition of Payton and Malone would help or hurt the Lakers... and now, a year later, I'm wondering what will happen to these two likely Hall of Famers. Payton, who has been traded to the Celtics, is still not happy about the trade and is still insisting he will retire rather than play in Boston. In addition to making claims like that, he's also being arrested for DUIs in the greater LA area.
Malone, who underwent surgery this offseason, has still not committed to where he'll be playing this coming season, if at all. Supposedly Kevin Garnett has flown to LA to attempt to woo the Mailman up to Minnesota. We'll see how that flies. Ideally I'd like to see Malone either retire or go to a team like the Spurs (although the Wolves would be my second choice). I feel bad for Malone, having his prime during Jordan's career... he deserves to win one championship, as he would have had he not had the misfortune to play when Jordan dominated.