The Washington Wizards are the latest NBA team that gets to experience having a member of the Lopez family on their team. The franchise came to terms on a one-year deal with Robin Lopez, who will leave the Milwaukee Bucks and join the seventh team of his 13-year career in the Association.
Getting Robin Lopez inherently means that your NBA team is going to be a little sillier. Your interior defense will get a bit of a boost, too, as Lopez is happy to anchor a back line, and can give a team a little help on offense, too. But above all else, Lopez is a different breed of cat, which makes him an extremely fun person to be around.
An example of this came during his introductory press conference as a member of the Wizards on Tuesday afternoon. Beyond the normal discussions about basketball, Lopez was excited to present a list of his three favorite wizards — not, like, Gilbert Arenas and Jerry Stackhouse, but the magical kind.
Robin Lopez: “I can’t lie. I’m a fan of a lot of famous Wizards both on the court and off the court.”
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) November 24, 2020
Giving his list of top Wizards, basketball player or not, first on Robin Lopez’s list is “Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age.”
— Ava Wallace (@avarwallace) November 24, 2020
Official List of Robin Lopez’s Favorite Wizards
1. Hermoine Granger, because she’s “The most accomplished of her age.”
2. Eglantine Price
3. Lady Galadriel— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) November 24, 2020
Technically Granger (who is referred to by Remus Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as “the brightest witch of your age I’ve ever met,” which is paraphrased by Lopez here) and Price were witches, while Galadriel was an elf. Still, we support praising any and all magical beings in any NBA press conference, so shout out Lopez, who also isn’t sure if he’s ready to bury the hatchet with his nemesis, Wizards mascot G-Wiz, just yet.
MUST SEE
There’s DEFINITELY still some BEEF between Robin Lopez and @Wizards mascot G-Wiz despite Lopez joining the #Wizards!! @wusa9 @WUSA9sports
pic.twitter.com/zg52RbovZw
— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) November 24, 2020
Lopez’s impact on the court for Washington remains to be seen, but if nothing else he will bring a levity to press conferences that they’ve been missing.