Welcome to Wednesday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
WEDNESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:NBA: Oklahoma City at Minnesota, 8 p.m. (ESPN)NBA: LA Clippers at Golden State, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)NHL: Minnesota at Chicago, 8 p.m. (NBCSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
This photo seems to be good news, as it is evidence of a step forward in Hayward’s recovery. He had the boot removed last month but there was a possibility it would need to be put back on if there were any setbacks. By the looks of this, he is moving in the right direction.
-- Reggie Miller ripped into LaVar Ball on Tuesday for criticizing Lakers coach Luke Walton and wants the team’s president, Magic Johnson, to lay down the law when it comes to Lonzo’s dad.
“He could really destroy LaVar if he really wanted to,” Miller said of Johnson. “I would come close to almost threatening, ‘if you keep opening your mouth, we’re going to trade your son. We are going to trade your son from the Lakers. So it’s one of two things: Shut up, fall in line, let Luke do what he’s going to do and let Lonzo play how Lonzo wants to play or we’ll start taking calls. Magic Johnson, the Magic Johnson has to say that. Not Luke … This is a chance for Magic Johnson to be like ‘you’ve got to shut up dude.'”
Ball criticized Walton to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman last weekend.
"You can see they're not playing for Luke no more," Ball said. “Luke doesn't have control of the team no more. They don't want to play for him. That's a good team. Nobody wants to play for him. I can see it. No high-fives when they come out of the game. People don't know why they're in the game. He's too young. He's too young. ... He ain't connecting with them anymore. You can look at every player, he's not connecting with not one player."
Miller went on to say he doesn’t think Ball’s sons LiAngelo and LaMelo, who just made their Lithuanian basketball debut, stand a chance at playing in the NBA.
"I hope [LaVar’s> enjoying his European vacation and his sons are enjoying playing over in Lithuania because those two, in my opinion, have no shot of playing in the NBA," Miller said. "If he continues to open his mouth, all three of those boys are going to be playing overseas because no coach, general manager or owner is going to want to put up with the dad."
Johnson has yet to address Miller’s comments.