Ding out at OC Register

Just got word Kevin Ding is leaving the OC Register Lakers beat for..... Bleacher Report.

 

Wow. Anyone know the story here? Ding is one of the best on the Lakers beat. Is Bleacher Report paying more than Kushner?

 

Wow is right.

 

Is it true that, in his years of covering the Lakers, Ding never asked a question? That's what another NBA writer in LA told me, though I find it hard to believe of a beat writer in any sport.

 

Never is a long time. I've covered a handful of Lakers games and I remember Ding asking questions. Granted, that was a long time ago, but I can't imagine anyone getting away with not asking questions on a beat like that one.

 

He's been writing pieces for Bleacher Report for awhile so not a total surprise he'd make it full-time. Always liked his coverage although when it went behind the paywall I wasn't reading it any longer. If the Lakers hadn't been what the Lakers were in 2013, I would have paid for it.

 

There have always been very good Lakers writers even away from the two LA papers. I'm not sure who all is covering them now, but Riverside used to have a great beat writer, I think he left several years ago, not sure... And Ding was always worth a read.

 

Brad Turner left Riverside years ago to become the Clippers writer at the Times. He since has shifted to the Lakers beat, with all his contacts throughout the NBA.

 

Ridiculous. I know some beat writers who go light on questions in the group settings, so as not to put their work in the street for everyone else. And nowadays to not provide the programming for all the freeloading TV and radio carrying pre- and post-game opps live. Granted, it is bad form if you free-ride on all the stuff asked by others in the group, then try to get all your stuff 1-on-1. But I highly doubt this is the case here. Impossible to cover a beat for any length of time without doing your own axing, of coaches, players and management types.