Sasha...

Lakers signed reserve guard Sasha Vujacic to a three-year, $15 million contract today, about three years short of the length of contract he was looking for. Either way, this is good news for the Lakers, and a good contract for both sides. Lakers now have 11 players under contract for the upcoming season.

Turiaf A Warrior; Sonics Get New Identity; Sparks Brawl

As much as I loved Turiaf's energy and enthusiasm, at 4 years and $17 million, I'm kind of glad the Lakers didn't match the offer sheet. Question now is, what are they going to do with the money saved? I've been hearing grumblings that they probably won't do much because they feel a healthy Chris Mihm would help fill the void left behind by Turiaf, and thensome. James Posey is now a New Orleans Hornet, so you can scratch him off the list. And other teams may have better offers on the table for Ron Artest, leaving the Lakers looking elsewhere. Perhaps Artest still becomes a free agent after the coming season and signs with the Lakers anyway.

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The old Seattle Supersonics, who were recently approved to move to Oklahoma City, now have a new name: the Oklahoma City Thunder. I was thinking something more along the lines of Tornados since they tend to get quite a few of them in Oklahoma, but I guess they get a lot of thunderstorms too. Be interesting to see the new team logo.

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Anyone by any chance catch that WNBA brawl the other night between the Sparks and Detroit Shock? Who says women can't fight?! One player, Cheryl Ford of Detroit, former NBA legend Karl Malone's daughter, was accidently knocked over by one of her own teammates during the melee, and wound up with a torn ACL and is done for the season. Detroit's assistant coach, former Detroit Piston 'Bad Boy' Rick Mahorn from those late 1980s championship teams, was ejected, and ultimately suspended, for apparently shoving the Sparks' Lisa Leslie to the floor. Numerous suspensions and fines were handed down to players, including Leslie, and teammate Candace Parker, who was part of the two plays that initiated the brawl, receiving one game each. Here's how it went down...

Turiaf Signs Offer Sheet

Restricted free-agent Ronny Turiaf signed a 4 year, $17 million offer sheet with Golden State today, meaning the Lakers now have seven days to match it or lose the player. This could be a blow to the Lakers depth charts at the power forward/center positions. Stay tuned...

More Artest; James Posey; Sonics On Move

Well, the Ron Artest saga just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Apparently, Artest was misled or given false information thinking the Kings had him in their long-term plans beyond the upcoming season, and thus he opted not to opt out of his contract. Instead, the Kings have no plans on keeping him beyond the season and Artest is kicking himself for not opting out of his contract now. What might've been....

Now the Lakers have turned their attention to Boston free agent James Posey. Word is the Lakers are aggressively pursuing him and might have inside track on landing the guard/forward. The Celtics reportedly have come in well below their full mid-level exception in terms of dollars and years, something the Lakers might be able to give Posey. This could be a big signing for the Lakers. Stay tuned for this one...

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Last week, the Seattle SuperSonics reached a $75 million settlement with the city of Seattle, paving way for the team to officially vacate its lease with Key Arena in Seattle and relocate to Oklahoma City.

While I never followed the Sonics much, I know they have a pretty storied history in Seattle. The franchise joined the league in 1967 and in 1979, won the NBA title. Over the years, particularly during the 1980s, the Sonics gave the Lakers many fits. In recent years, the Sonics haven't enjoyed much of the playoff success they had during the 70s, 80s and 90s, but they have a bright future in Oklahoma with reigning Rookie of the Year, Kevin Durant, and the #4 overall pick in this year's draft, Russell Westbrook.

I know a few people in Seattle who love the Sonics, and as fans, they deserved better than this. I know the new Sonics ownership did what they could to make it work in Seattle, but sadly, no agreement could be made with the city to replace aging Key Arena. Seattle has two state-of-the-art new facilities for its baseball and football teams, SAFECO Field and the new Seahawks Stadium, respectively, and the Sonics certainly had earned the right to be rewarded with a new state-of-the-art arena, as well, and not some twice-renovated dump built in 1962. So instead, after many legal battles and court hearings, etc., the team ultimately decided it was time to move on.

Seattle still seems like a viable option for a future NBA team, provided the city is willing to help the situation by allowing a brand new state-of-the-art arena to be built near the Mariners park and Seahawks stadium. In the meantime, the city of Oklahoma City is getting an exciting, young, up-and-coming team they should fall in love with in no time. The sports fans in Oklahoma City should be well aware of Kevin Durant's skills, having played at Oklahoma's Big Twelve rival, Texas. The team left behind the Sonics colors and nickname in Seattle, and hasn't picked out its new colors or a nickname yet, but you can bet it will be snazzy and catchy, in Oklahoma style!