LeBron James has opened up his long-awaited I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. The native superstar described the opening as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, accomplishments in his life.

The school year at the I Promise School will be longer than a normal one while dialing in on kids who might have fallen behind their peers academically. There are available services for students who are enduring stress from home financial issues as well as separate programs to keep themselves occupied and out of trouble.

There is also job placement assistance for the families of I Promise School students and a food bank to aid parents. Every student will also receive a bicycle, as LeBron credits using his childhood bike as a means of keeping himself safe.

In its inaugural year, the I Promise School will teach roughly 240 third and fourth-graders. By the year 2022, up to 1,000 students in grades 1-8 will be in attendance. The multi-million dollar facilities are top-notch, with excellent resources and 35 community partners.

The entrance to the school features over 100 pairs of game-worn shoes from the Akron native, and there are several magnificent murals throughout its halls that preach the same message of hard work, respect and dedication.

James called it a “bittersweet moment”, considering next year he is moving out to Los Angeles to become a member of the Lakers. On the contrary the 33-year old, 4-time NBA Most Valuable Player will never forget his roots as he wants “every kid to be inspired”.

As first confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski, the Spurs traded away Danny Green and star forward Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors in exchange for four-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 first-round pick.

The Leonard drama had been raging for months on end and although he is no longer a member of the Spurs, he apparently still wasn’t too happy about his new landing spot. It was first reported that he did not want to play for the Raptors at all, which was then updated that he was “warming up” to the idea of playing for a championship contender (or at least a Conference Finals contender).

Toronto’s General Manager Masai Ujiri managed to trade away their star player (despite telling DeRozan that he wasn’t going to be traded) AND fire the reigning Coach of the Year in a span of 2 months. What Ujiri did with DeMar DeRozan is not necessarily fair, but what makes the whole thing worse is the fact that Kawhi doesn’t even necessarily want to be there. Ujiri’s choices seem awfully drastic for a team that just won a franchise-record 59 regular season games, good for the Eastern Conference #1 seed.

By reading all of the information above, it would seem as if only the Spurs really made out in this deal, which is not necessarily true when everything gets broken down. So with that being said, who won this trade?

The answer is both teams.

We’ll start with the positives for the Raptors. The benefits for San Antonio are endless, so those will be addressed at the end. Toronto has been a better-than-average team for several years now, with DeRozan and Kyle Lowry leading the way. Unfortunately, they’ve never been good enough, and haven’t found themselves in the Finals. Kawhi is stronger than DeRozan in almost every way, but there’s one massive downside… he might just be a one-year rental.

Kawhi still has his sights set on playing in Los Angeles, whether it be for the Lakers or Clippers. All of Toronto better get to work and try to make the two-time Defensive Player of the Year feel right at home. The Raptors need to show their faith in him and really give him the best possible situation there, or else he might be gone for literally nothing.

On another note, Danny Green (despite being 31 years old), is a very good player. He is an excellent 3-and-D guy that is seasoned and capable of picking up any slack. Green has rolled with Kawhi for years, and they have proven that they can work together for the team’s common good.

If Kawhi likes the city and likes new head coach Nick Nurse’s style, then he might remain there for the duration of his prime. This would prove to be the ultimate win for Toronto, and maybe Ujiri wouldn’t look so crazy after all.

San Antonio really has no cons at all in this deal, except if you count the fact that their next supposed franchise cornerstone found a way out without handling the situation professionally. That’s all in the past though, so R.C. Buford can only look forward with a smile on his face.

DeMar DeRozan is loyal, a leader, and arguably a superstar. He can score the ball, step up in big situations, and has proven himself before. The team still won 47 games without Kawhi playing for most of the 2017-2018 season, so giving LaMarcus Aldridge another high-caliber player to work with should make things normal again in Texas.

Jakob Poeltl is a strong, young talent that will learn from the veteran bigs that the Spurs already have. Pau Gasol is 38 years old, so Poeltl will be the perfect fit for when he calls it quits. The draft pick they received could turn into something good, and it probably will considering how well the franchise has always developed players.

Next season marks a new era for both of those teams, and the Spurs’ will undoubtedly last for years to come. For the Raptors, it’s a little different. It all depends on how badly they want to keep Kawhi in town.

This summer just keeps on getting better and better for the Los Angeles Lakers organization. In the beginning of July they obviously landed LeBron James among several other free agents, but things have continued to only get better. Management probably didn’t know what to expect from the Lakers’ squad heading into the 2018 Las Vegas Summer League as they lacked nearly their entire young core, but they didn’t disappoint.

Their main pieces were there last summer though, which resulted in a championship when they defeated the Trail Blazers by a score of 110-98. The second overall pick in the 2017 draft Lonzo Ball took home the league’s Most Valuable Player award and Kyle Kuzma was named the MVP of the Championship Game.

Tonight, the teams are once again fighting for the title. The odds are on the Lakers’ side once more, as Josh Hart was announced as MVP earlier today. He has been outstanding in the 6 games he’s played, averaging 24.2 points per game on 47% shooting as well as 5.2 rebounds. Hart also dropped a record 37 points last night in a 112-109 win over the Cavaliers last night to advance to the title game. 

MVP!!!! @joshhart Congrats G #LakeShow

— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 17, 2018

In addition to being named Most Valuable Player, he was named to the All-NBA Summer League First Team (teammate Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk was on the Second Team). The 23-year-old former Villanova guard and 2016 NCAA champion was drafted 30th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. In his rookie year, he averaged 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds in 63 games. This summer has been even more proof that the future is bright in Los Angeles, so bright that it will actually extend past LeBron’s stay. Hart will earn $1.6 million this upcoming season.

The NBA offseason has certainly been an exciting one so far, considering most of the top free agents have already been swooped up. We are only a week into free agency, but it’s not too early to tell which teams will come out the most successful. Here are the franchises that have made the biggest splash so far, and additionally a few who airballed their only shots.

Los Angeles Lakers – SPLASH

Not much honestly needs to be said about how the Lakers have done this offseason. They secured LeBron James for 4 years (3+1) and $154 million. Magic Johnson did a great job recruiting him, and LeBron took his commitment even further and called up Lance Stephenson to bring him to California as well. They also got Javale McGee and even more importantly, Rajon Rondo, who has a chance to start and command the floor next to The King. The Lakers lost Julius Randle and never even got a chance at Paul George, but they still won when they landed a historically great LeBron.

Golden State Warriors – SPLASH

The Warriors landed the most surprising deal of the summer, without a doubt. DeMarcus Cousins, the five-time All-Star who spent last year in New Orleans before tearing his achilles in January, signed a roughly $5 million dollar contract for next season. The following summer they’ll be able to give him a max deal, and just a few hours ago news broke that Golden State will pounce on Jonas Jerebko once his waiver is cleared. They re-signed Kevin Durant for the next two years (1+1) for $61.5 million, and it looks as if the Hamptons Five just turned into the league assassinators.

Oklahoma City Thunder – SPLASH

Thunder fans rejoiced when they saw Russell Westbrook celebrating on stage with Paul George and Nas. PG signed back on a four-year, $137 million dollar deal and for the first time in a while, Oklahoma City has secured their stars for the coming seasons. They landed a very underrated player in Nerlens Noel, who will help out greatly on the defensive end of the ball. The Thunder also managed to re-sign Jerami Grant for the next 3 years, who at 24 years old is still improving rapidly. Sam Presti has done a great job at improving the roster for deeper playoff runs, and after it was released that the franchise would part ways with Carmelo (which also saves $100 million in taxes), the foreseeable future is looking even more promising in Oklahoma.

Philadelphia 76ers – AIRBALL

To be quite frank, nothing good has really happened so far for Philadelphia in this free agency. They didn’t land LeBron or even come close to it, they lost Ersan Ilyasova to the Bucks, and the Spurs regained Marco Belinelli. Both of those pieces contributed very well last year, averaging almost 25 points per game combined. They did bring back J.J. Redick for another season, but besides that, they seem to have missed out big. If they want to repeat as 50-game winners next year, they better hope that Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons step up big.

New Orleans Pelicans – AIRBALL

The Pelicans really screwed up with their second best player, DeMarcus Cousins. The franchise neglected to recruit him back to the team, something that Anthony Davis reportedly also played a part in. They did bring in Julius Randle from the Lakers, but his value isn’t nearly as close as Cousins’. New Orleans lost Rajon Rondo, who played a big part in their playoff run last year before they got taken out by the Warriors. He will be replaced by Elfrid Payton next season, but a team this young and inexperienced might end up struggling.