On paper, Adam Sandler is everything the Lakers have been looking for in a signing: a wily veteran with a lot of years under his belt, a future Hall of Famer looking for a passion project. He is ready to be A GUY, rather than be THE GUY. Also just moderately good enough that signing him makes people say the Lakers are old and washed up but also a super team. Rich Paul needs to be on the phone yesterday after this video came out of Adam Sandler playing what looks like actual basketball at an actual gym with actual basketball players. And he didn’t look that bad.
You could argue no one looks more inherently natural on the basketball court than Adam Sandler. Is there anything more authentic than a man with a dad bod in high socks and New Balances setting a weak pick and calling for a foul? In the gym of every Jewish Community Center in every corner of this country there is an Adam Sandler, with an ice pack and a gatorade. I was raised by one.
Playing a pickup game with guys like Trae Young, Tobias Harris and Jordan Clarkson is a Saturday shift for Adam Sandler.
There could be a history book written full of Sandler pickup game stories.
Collins: Dude, he was so good. And he never took the shades off either. He never took them off; he was just out there drilling long threes in the shades and hitting cutters. It was really incredible.
Henderson: Pickup basketball tends to be the sort of thing where a lot of people just don’t want to look stupid. But Sandler, who was probably in his 30s at the time, was running his ass off, mixing it up in the paint for rebounds and stuff. I mean, I’m in my mid-30s now and just the thought of being hit by somebody crashing the boards makes my back hurt.
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/adam-sandler-basketball?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=
I think he genuinely could have a role on the Lakers this year. They’ve got a Jared Dudley sized hole to fill in that locker room and there’s maybe only one man that can do it.