The National Basketball Associaton is set to drop a few apps that will allow fans to watch games live on their mobile devices. NBA League Pass Mobile will be coming to the iPhone, iPod Touch and Android phones starting Friday, leaving Blackberry waiting in the wings. It won’t be cheap as the app will cost $39.99 and will let users watch up to 40 live games per week. Local blackout rules will still apply. The app also gives the option to watch some games on demand for up to two days later, plus game alerts and live stats. (via Crave)

The Lakers and Rockets have just swapped free agents after both teams reached agreements with the players. The Los Angeles Lakers, fresh of an NBA Championship just signed Ron Artest to deal that’ll pay out about $18 million over three years. Trevor Ariza agreed to terms with the Houston Rockets, banking about $33 million over five years.

Artest, 29, was Defensive Player of the Year in 2004, and he’s shown no signs of slowing down. However, he’s yet to win an NBA Championship and he’ll do anything to get it, even take a paycut of $1.4 million each year compared to his previous contract.

Reports out of Cleveland are telling us that Shaquille O’Neal has been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for center Ben Wallace, guard Sasha Pavlovic and the 46th overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft. This looks to be very promising for the Phoenix Suns who are most-likely looking to rebuild, but what’s this mean for the Cavs, who were so close to the promised land, they could smell Jack Nicholson’s cologne? Shaq brings size and experience, both things the Cavaliers will need when next year’s playoffs come around.

Don’t be alarmed, this is still LeBron James‘ team. The staff knows it, the players know it, and we hope Shaq knows it as well. There’s been some heavy movement pre-draft day, so we’re excited to see what else happens before Blake Griffin is announced as the number one pick.

When Sunday night’s buzzer rang, game 5 of the NBA Finals was over with Phil Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers winning yet another NBA Championship. Superman Dwight Howard was not able to help his Orlando Magic come back from a 3-1 deficit against the unstoppable Kobe Bryant. He’s gotten his fourth ring, first without Shaq, putting all the naysayers (including myself) to rest. The man’s the purest shooter in present-day basketball, and even though he didn’t meet LeBron and the Cavs in this year’s Finals, this championship and Kobe’s first MVP trophy were both well-deserved. With 30 points in game 5, Bryant’s been a consistent force as he allowed the game to come to him and giving his teammates a lift when needed.

Everything was holding to form during NBA’s Draft Lottery tonight until pick number six which was projected to go to the Grizzlies but ended up with Timberwolves. Then, the shuffling began as number four went to the Kings, who had the highest chance to get the number one pick. The final three teams remaining in the lottery were the Thunder, Grizzlies and Clippers. In the end, the Los Angeles Clippers got the number one pick in the draft, beating out Oklahoma (third pick) and Memphis (second pick).

Since the Clippers won the number one pick in this year’s NBA Draft, this means they’re probably going to be taking Blake Griffin, NCAA’s Player of the Year from Oklahoma. They have some key role players like Baron Davis and Eric Gordon that can help to spread the court with Griffin on the floor. We’re excited to see how the draft unfolds on June 25th.

Maxim released an article about which 10 NBA players (past and present) are closest to his Airness.  The list was filled with hall of famers like Grant Hill, McGrady, and Iverson that are past their prime.  Then, it got down to the top two: Lebron and Kobe.

We’re not a fan of the shoe, but we strongly believe in the abilities of Dwayne Wade.  We’re betting that his shoulder is better than ever and with the help of Michael Beasley, Wade and the Heat will playing for the Finals this year.

The “Same Day, Same Story” commercial featuring Dwayne for his signature shoe by Converse puts all the doubts to rest and shows us what’s going through Wade’s mind come gametime.

The video’s after the jump.