Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - 3 Reasons the Lakers Are In a Bind For Making Trades, Plus Updates on Vanderbilt, Wood and Hayes

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

The Lakers may have steadied the ship a little over their last three games, winning two and putting a decent defensive performance on the board in the third. But they're still a group that obviously needs improvement if they're going to contend in a crowded Western Conference. Making trades, though, is no easy feat for this team, for a variety of reasons. Three big ones: The Lakers have limited trade capital. Not just picks (a couple first rounders, three seconds), but in useful salary. D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura both make near $20 million. Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt are just above $10 million. (This assumes that, for now at least, Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht are off the table.) But is Vanderbilt really tradable right now, with three years left on his contract and no sign of good health? How much of that limited draft capital would they have to include? So if Vando isn't really a practical option, LA's salary path gets that much more narrow. The Lakers are limited by the CBA. As we've heard from Rob Pelinka many times, we live in an Apron World now, and the Lakers are right up against the second one. Not only does that hamstring them (they can't take back money that would push them past the second apron) in trade scenarios, it also means they might have to use second rounders to get off certain players, just to create a little more space. Using picks to offload, say, Jaxson Hayes or Christian Wood leaves one less pick to try and elevate the talent on the roster. The Lakers don't have spare parts. While trading Vanderbilt would feel like a loss—in theory, he's the type of player the Lakers need more of in the rotation—he's not currently available, and may not be for a while longer. Trading him doesn't remove a player from the rotation. Trading Russell, Vincent, or Hachimura? Those are guys that would need to be replaced. Package a couple of those guys in a deal, and the Lakers could be filling one roster hole by creating another. None of this is to say the Lakers can't make deals, or won't get anything done. Or that Pelinka deserves any sort of sympathy or free pass. This is the box he put the team in, after all. But it's a reflection of reality. So much of what comes next will be out of LA's control. A seller's market puts them out of reach for a lot of players. But if the buyers have the advantage? Maybe then the Lakers have enough to do something consequential, perhaps even bringing multiple players back in a single deal (say, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith), patching weak spots on the roster in ways that feel coherent. We'll see.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: The Lakers are in a bind. SEGMENT 2: What are the trade offs the Lakers have to make to make trades? SEGMENT 3: Redick lays down the law?  Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. Sign up for free now, at lockedondaily.com.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyCancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today.BILT RewardsStart earning points on rent you're already paying by going to joinbilt.com/lockedonnba. Rocket RXRight now, our listeners can get 40% off your first order when you use code LOCKEDONNBA at RocketRX.com. Terms and Conditions apply. Rocket RX: Better sex, made simple.RobinhoodRobinhood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth for any net worth. These generous benefits are now available for only $5/month. The new Gold Standard is here with Robinhood Gold. Sign up at robinhood.com/gold.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Wednesday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kamininski. Are the Lakers getting any healthier as they try to figure out how to improve the roster? What are the tradeoffs? They have to make in their trades. That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how we're getting your podcast. This one's always. free and never behind a paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where over 26,000 subscribers to the channel, Andy, are all wondering if the Lakers are going to get whole before they start dealing players. We've got a little bit of injury news to relay out of practice in El Segundo. We'll get you ready for the games coming up against Sacramento.

We've got some previews of that to look forward to. And obviously, Andy, we want to continue with the conversation. that we started for Tuesday. Looking at the trade deadline, upcoming trade season kicking off, got into some names, which we can get a little more into over the course of the show, but also discuss some of the tradeoffs the Lakers have to make to try to make trade. So all that coming up in today's episode, do it to let everybody know that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime,

download the GameTime app, create an account, use code, locked on NBA, for $20 off your first purchase. Let's start with what happened on Tuesday in El Segundo. J.J. Redick speaking in the media gave some updates on the front court. I guess technically speaking, Andy, some help is coming eventually, but progress is slow. Yeah. We found out not that anybody would expect otherwise, but Christian Wood, Jared Vanderbilt, and Jackson Hayes, none of them are going to be traveling with the team to Sacramento.

They're all going to be continuing to do their rehab. But Christian Wood. Not having to go to Sacramento sounds like a reason of fake an injury. For what it's worth. There is always a hierarchy. Everybody dumps on someone else. L.A. dumps on Sacramento.

Sacramento dumps on Fresno and Fresno dumps on some town I've never heard of. It all works itself out. But anyway, back to the actual. Shout out to Bakersfield. Boy, we're probably losing a lot of California. Christian Wood, he's going to be, though, according to JJ Reddick, participating in some live drills with Lakers coaching associates while the team isn't in Sacramento, which is considered a significant portion of the steps that need to be

taken in order to get Wood back on the court. Jackson Hayes. I mean, he's doing, it's better than nothing. Right. Radick was pretty clear when talking about Wood that this is, yes, it's a nice step. It's good progress, but it's not like play against the coaching associates while we're out of town and, you know, back in the lineup next week. This is step one or step five in a multi-part journey,

but it is better to be playing against, you know, doing some live stuff against, you know, the, I don't even know they had whatever a coaching associate is, versus not doing those things. So at least some progress towards a return.

He read it really didn't even, Andy, give any details about where this fit in the timing of a return to play, you know, protocol. But at least he's moving. Jackson Hayes, JJ said, is working right now on strengthening the ankle. I mean, like, I don't get a sense that Hayes is that far off from returning. J.J. said that, again, strengthening his ankle.

He's going to have an update early next week in terms of what it looks like. But for now, the focus is strengthening it. Vando is the one that to me seems like there is either the least amount of clarity or he's just the guy that they want to talk about the least. One of the other. I think and have thought that they should go on as if he is not going to play at all this season. if he gets back on the floor, great. But you have to treat what's coming as if Jared Vanderbilt is going to be out for the year. And I think it's for a couple reasons.

First, nobody seems to know what he's going to be healthy enough to play anyway. And like, you know, the ramp up from, I mean, they've said that they are targeting an early January return, which, to be clear, well, here's the thing, though. Here's a playing, I think devil's advocate, but also taking a look at what they said last time with Vanderbilt versus every other update we've ever had. An early January target date is far different than early January reevaluation will give you some type of update. This is the firmest, firm being a relative term, but this is the firmest with Vanderbilt. that they've been in terms of anything resembling him back on the active roster. Right. And, you know, certainly, you know, here we are in, you know, rounding the, you know,

into the final third of December, you know, early January, that's, you know, that, that still certainly could be anywhere from three weeks to a month away. You know, if early January sort of stretches into mid-January. but until he's back on the floor, like the ramp up for Vanderbilt's going to be long. They're going to have to be really careful with him. And I'm not blaming him, obviously, and I'm not really even blaming the Lakers.

I mean, what he's trying to come back from is really complicated, you know, two surgeries on both feet. And what they are trying to get him to be able to do play NBA basketball is not like the normal kind of... Especially his style of NBA basketball. I mean, but that's, you know, and it's, it's not the sort of thing you just, you know, pop to your physical therapist and, you know, for a couple sessions and you're good to go. Like you and I coming back from, that's, you know, what if you like, Jared Vanderb can just walk around and do normal stuff now. That's not the issue. It's going to be able to play NBA basketball. But the bigger thing is, let's say he's like, let's say he is able to get back on the practice court and stuff like that in earlier mid-January or something like that. You, you know, it's a couple weeks of practice. Well, again, the target date was a return in early January. So this, just to be clear, this could be right now as we speak, part of his ramp up.

It could be. If you are targeting early January for a return, that's not targeting early January for part of your ramp up. Well, let's say, I mean, I am skeptical that he will be returned if he's not on a practice court, certainly by very, very, very close to after Christmas. but either way, the important thing to remember isn't so much when is he going to be back is when is he going to be able to play at a level

that you need from him and having barely played over the course of the last year and having barely been healthy over the course of the last, you know, season and a half by the time this rolls around, I just don't think you can expect him to be at a level to be able to contribute. So I just, you know, if you're Polinka, you know, you just, you have to approach this season as if he is not going to be able to make any kind of meaningful contribution to the team.

You know, honestly, even if he's physically able to return, you know, if he does, great, but I just don't think you can. And that is going to have a really important impact on what Polinka maybe does at the trade deadline. the pieces the Lakers have available and some of the costs associated with that, which we can get into next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by game time. My daughter is 13, and we have bonded a lot ever since she was a little kid through music. She's always been into, like, actual music, not Barney or little kid stuff. Right now, Frank Ocean is one of the guys that she is truly, truly just very into.

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One of the things, Andy, a quick reminder to people, by the way, sign up for the Locked on Lakers newsletter. You can see it there in the bottom corner if you're watching on YouTube. Go and sign up right there. Lockedondaily.com. Click on Locked on Lakers and every day this show will be delivered right to your inbox. One of the things I think is interesting about the situation the Lakers are in is they do not have much to offer in trades.

They have to be really careful. They don't only have a couple of the first round picks they can deal. They have a limited amount of contracts they can deal. They have, you know, in terms of stacking them on top of each other to get a guy who makes a lot of money. They are limited by the rules of the CBA and the aprons and all that other kinds of stuff. And they don't even have a lot of second round picks. And so the difference in a healthy Jared Banderbilt versus an unhealthy Jared Banderbilt,

Jared Vanderbilt, the tradeoffs for the Lakers are kind of intriguing to me. On the one hand, if Vanderbilt can't play and there's a feeling that he can't play going forward, that might cost you a little bit more to trade it. Another team might say, well, we might have this guy on our roster next year that we're not even sure it's going to be able to play because he's barely been on the floor for the last two years. It's going to cost you a little bit extra to for us to take that contract on. That's not great. But the flip side is, in trading a contract like Vanderbilt, somebody you're not

necessarily expecting the player at the very least isn't in your rotation right now. You aren't removing any depth that you have from your current roster. Whereas trading, say, Gabe Vincent and DeAngelo Russell together, while it might end up in a better player, we talked about like a de jrador. Jante Murray kind of scenario or something like that if the Pelicans decide to blow it up. The more guys you trade from your rotation, even if they're not great players or great fits, you still have to replace those players in your rotation. It's a really interesting set of tradeoffs, at least to me, that the Lakers have to balance

without a lot of trade capital to get stuff done. I understand what you're saying. Where I don't agree with it is until Vanderbilt is back on the court with a decent sample size, I consider him basically untradable. Like the idea that any team is going to take on a guy with three remaining years on his contract who's missed a year essentially on the court. And if say he hasn't played by the deadline, it'll be about a year and change coming off double foot surgeries. I feel like there's a cap on how much you're even going to receive in return form that's useful

or the level of player that you can bring back in the first place and make no mistake about it. I think you are 75% minimum going to have to attach both those firsts just to make it worth the while of the other team to take on that type of uncertainty for Vanderbilt for the next three years. unless the Lakers are taking on some equally onerous contract of the player that I guess there's just more evidence of being able to play even with a crappy contract. So I think what you're saying is theoretically true. I think in the case of Vanderbilt, though, it's kind of a non-starter because I just think he is borderline untradable.

And that's fair. So if that's the case, then now you have to take away one of the contracts the Lakers have available to them to be able to start stacking up on top of it. So that's one $11 million contract. Again, these, you know, 10, 11, 14, you know, Gabe Vincent at 11, DeAngelo Russell at 17 or 18. I forgot. 18 where it is.

$18 million. That's kind of what the Lakers have available to them. So if Vanderbiltz is untradable, now you're dealing with a smaller pool of potential options. It's important, I think, for fans. Untradable from a practical standpoint. I don't know if I mean it quite literally he can't be moved at all. I mean more in the sense that I'm not sure if he can be moved in a way,

unless he's part of just a larger package where ultimately the other team is still saving in the aggregate. I'm not convinced. Or again, sure, we'll take your at Vanderbilt, but you have to. We get that second number one instead of heavily protected is unprotected. Or instead of a number, instead of a three second rounders, we're going to make you put in a first rounder that's protect. Like all of that stuff, like that makes a difference in what the Lakers mean. But if you're correct, if the price becomes prohibitive to move Vanderbilt, that's my expectation. Okay.

But now you're down to just Russell and Vincent. And I guess Rui at $17, 18, you know, $17, $18 million to be able to put into a trade. But all of those guys, even Vincent, is somebody who are in your rotation. So you have to think about, you know, if we put two or three guys into a trade, assuming it's all cap legal and you can stay under the aprons and all these other things, which we don't need to get into because it's just so arcane. Like, you have to figure out how to replace those players. And so the Lakers have a very inflexible roster to try to make real improvements in the team.

That does not mean they can't try, can't do, or some of those tradeoffs aren't worth it. But it's all stuff that has to be considered in trying to figure out, do we get better? And I actually think in some ways, Andy, it's even harder when you're making sort of smaller trades. you know, to try to use, you know, for guys that maybe wouldn't be a Miles Turner or a Dejante Murray, who we're not even sure on the market, but trying to free up that space to do stuff. It's just really tricky. They have put themselves in a box. It's hard to get out of.

Well, this is, I know I mentioned this a lot last year when the Mavericks made those deals to bring in PJ Washington Jr. and Daniel Gafford, which greatly improved the team, help them get to the NBA finals, or just smaller example of this, what the Warriors just did with Dennis Schrooter, and hearing Laker fans, you know, why couldn't Rob Belinka do this? And Polinka needs to figure out ways to improve the roster,

assuming the front office and Jeannie Buss are even interested in doing that, but assuming they are, that is Rob's burden to bear. But that being said, the difference is, is the Warriors moved De Anthony Melton, who was an expiring and out for the season. He does not hurt their rotation. They gave up nothing. They traded somebody truly expendable. The Mavericks last year moved Seth Curry and Grant Williams, who they wanted the hell out of there,

and another guy who was out of their rotation. They moved guys that didn't matter. And what they sacrificed was the draft capital. The Lakers are in a position right now. where they have to sacrifice both the draft capital and quite potentially guys who are in their roster, I mean, in their rotation. So like you said, they just have fewer options right now, unless I guess they are serious enough to consider, depending on the scenario, Austin Reeves or Dalton Connect.

Like those are guys that would have value around the league, but they are also guys that by all reports and indications, and certainly what we saw last year with Reeves, the Lakers are very, very hard pressed to do. It's interesting, too. We'll go through a list of names here, some of the potential guys. And I'm just curious, like, how much you would want some of these players. Old Friend Alert, it's like a lot of old friends have been, you know, we talked about Schroeder on Tuesday show.

Kyle Kuzma was in the news on Tuesday because, The wizards reportedly are no longer going to insist on two number ones for Kyle Kuzma. They realize they might have to. Where do you put coups on the list of players? He still costs you probably a first, I would think, and maybe some stuff. Where would you put coups on your list of appealing trade targets for the Lakers? I think he's appealing. He's not having a great.

season. And, you know, it is not quite a bad one, actually. Right. It's difficult to be clear to stay inspired in that atmosphere. I mean, it feels like everybody there other than maybe Alex Sar, just because he hasn't had enough time there to truly hate it. But it feels like everybody would like to get the hell out of there. Um, so maybe, you know, that change of scenery, just, you know, just ask Rui. I also need, I would need to talk to, say, like our friends over at Locked on Wizards, other people who've watched coups over the last couple of years, to to find out how well can he defend at Small Forward? Because if he can't do that well, then he just becomes redundant, I think,

in a lot of ways with LeBron and- Right. And it's impossible to know how well a guy really can defend while they're a wizard. Sure. I mean, it's, but that's, you know, and so I just, I think they could do worse. I wonder if they could do better. And I like, for what it's worth. I like Coos, but I would want to find out more of what's going on with Coosma over this season and parts of last year.

I'll read you. I'll go through this list of players. And again, it's a good, if nothing else, a really good context setter for people as you get kind of a feel for what players are legitimately feel available in this trademark. We'll get to it next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandall. you can tackle the NFL action with Fandul America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers, you just bet $5, $5,000, and you get $150 in bonus bets. If you win the Fandul Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place,

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That's joinbuilt.com slash locked on MBA. Make sure to use our length. This is important. So they know that we sent you. Don't wait, start earning rewards today. So go through this list here in a second, but a couple of things to note. First of all, the Milwaukee Bucks are your NBA Cup champions, which means that Darwin Ham has now won as a head coach and now an assistant coach in Milwaukee. And it makes Torian Prince the only person in the history of the universe, Andy, who has won two NBA Cups.

Yeah, if you made a Mount Rushmore of greatest NBA Cup players ever, Torian's all four heads. All of them. It's just, it's Mount Torian. It's Torian looking like this. It's Torian looking the other way. Torian may be looking up. Torian smiling.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. He's the whole deal. He has, by the way, made more money off of winning NBA cups than most of us will make a lifetime. Oh, no. And we've said many times before, Torian actually had a much better season last year with the Lakers than often credited.

He was just an avatar for everything that, Laker fans got frustrated with Darwin himself, but Chris Haynes from after the game tweeted out, quote, Bucks coach Doc Rivers told me that after talking with Darvin Ham and his experience for the Lakers last season, they chose not to celebrate the Cup championship with dousing and drinking of champagne, want to focus on the remainder of the season, which just feels like. I do think it was funny last year. Like, there was a sense that like Adam Silver was off in like this side of the room just off camera. Like we're like, you know, they're going like,

you people will treat this as a championship and you will celebrate and you will be happy and you will. And you will like, you know, I think this year it's obviously still competitive. It was a competitively played game. The Bucks are certainly playing hard. Oklahoma City definitely wanted to win the game. But I do think there is a little bit less of the sort of. manufactured hoo-ha over the whole thing. I just, I do, I would like to think.

And again, you know, we both think that Darwin will eventually get another shot at a head coaching job. And we both think that he deserves another shot at a head coaching job. I would like to think that the idea that the Lakers lost focus for the rest of the season because they parted too hard after the IST. Maybe, maybe that's the problem. They weren't exhausted from the way that they went all out for the IST. They just partied so hard afterwards.

It took a month out of it. They got to get that. At the very least, you got to get that tournament out of Vegas. But anyway, congrats to Darwin and Torian. So then beyond that, interesting moment at practicing Elsinneux on Tuesday, where it was in the context of Brony James and some interesting, you know, he's starting to play a little more. the numbers are sort of slowly improving a little bit.

And obviously we spend way more time talking about Brony than we do any other 55th pick because the context and the story around it is interesting. One of the things that Redick said was that he needs to learn to accept failure, which is difficult for somebody who's had cameras on him all. I think he's always worried if I don't play well, if I don't do something the right way. It's going to get blown up because I am LeBron James's son and people have been dissecting my game since I was six years old. And I think that's true.

He is. And one of the things that the coaching staff is asking to do is play more aggressively. He was asked, how do you kind of do that? How do you go? And he's like, well, it's sort of simple. The rules for him are the same as it. There are certain things we ask of every player. You can do those things and be rewarded with playing time or you can not do those things

and not get playing time. And he made a point of noting, like, That expectation is the same, not just for Brony, but for Dalton Connect and for Austin Reeves and for everybody else on the team. What I thought was really interesting was that one line from JJ where he said, quote, it's very simple and that's just the way I'm going to coach the basketball team moving forward. That line in and of itself, because he also said that this was something that became discussed with, that was discussed with the group in Atlanta. And that Atlanta game, which the Lakers lost and had multiple opportunities to win, but they kept boxing, botching the execution, they did play extremely hard team wide in that game, top to bottom. Like I remember that was a game that we talked about afterwards, like LeBron's engagement in particular, we both were like, whoa. This is as active as he's played on the defensive end for the entirety of a game in a while.

And you saw that from the entire team. And ever since the Atlanta game, whether the Lakers have played well, whether they've played poorly, somewhere in between, they've played consistently very hard. And I think much more hard and much more engaged than they often did in the first, say, 15 to 20 games of the season. And it was just interesting how, and I think JJ maybe even, as he kept talking about this, it almost felt like he caught himself saying a little too much and was trying to dial it back a bit. But it felt like he revealed, like especially that idea of that's how I'm going to coach the basketball team moving forward, that in so many words, he told everyone, look, man, either do the stuff that I'm

asking to the best of your abilities consistently or you're going to lose time. Like I am, I am done holding your guys hands to this point, if that's been going on at all or making compensations, whatever. Like, these are your, these are your asks, these are instructions, go do it. And whether, I mean, it's, I don't even care if you screw it up sometimes. No, like, remember, against Miami, against Miami, he was saying, like, I challenge these guys in the second half. Like, you have three fouls. I'm giving them to you. Like, freebies, I will not be upset. Even if you followed an inopportune time just because I want to see more physicality. They didn't get there.

Right. Exactly. I am curious. This tactic I like and I like that he's saying, you know, he's kind of the phrasing, I think, I read it and heard it from him in exactly the same way, you know, looking at the practice, all the videos and stuff coming out of practice. It's a tougher message with this roster. because there is less competition for minutes in a lot of ways than there might be.

The back end of this roster is not threatening anybody to try to take minutes away from the guys who are currently in the rotation. Maxwell Lewis is light years away from doing that. Jalen Hooghifino is not taking minutes away right now, although they might need him to play. If you end up trading DeLo and Gabe Vincent in some deal to bring back a higher salary player, particularly if it's not a point guard, like Hushfino suddenly becomes a much more important player.

You might say the same thing about Brony, but Brony is they'll tell you a year or two away from being a viable NBA level player if things go well with his development. I mean, I like the message that it sends. I just wish it matched the roster that they have. better where the competition and maybe when Wood comes back when Jackson Hayes come back, you know, stuff like that, it changes. But for right now, you know, Dalton, okay, you know, Max Christie, okay. But there's just not a lot of choice for Redick in, you know, dropping the hammer on guys for not following directions.

Well, I mean, the glass half full hope, and maybe it's what we're seeing, is that the message took. Because again, ever since counting that Atlanta game, moving forward, they've played very hard as a team. Like, this is, I think this is the longest stretch of them playing hard game to game to game to game in a while. So maybe it just took. Yeah, and I'd like to think, you know, but I do. There's also a break, so who knows. Right. I think the fatigue really was.

I mean, a lot of reports just, these guys are tired. They're really tired and they're stacking games on top of each other. And I would like to think that they were also deeply embarrassed by how badly they were getting their asses kicked. And so that also has an impact, hopefully, on how you play. So it is, it will see. You know, these games against Sacramento are really important because the Kings are right there with the Lakers in the standings.

And so, you know, don't beat the Kings and you got some potential problems there. We can hold off on this list of players. Just an interesting list of nine or ten guys that was put out by SB Nation looking ahead at the trade deadline, guys like Kyle Kuzma, some of the players that we talked about for Tuesday show, you know, Valchunis and Brandon Ingram and Dorian Finney Smith, Cam Johnson, guys like that. When you write everyone down, it's not as bad of a list as I thought, but it's also not maybe the list that Lakers fans would be hoping for. But it's an interesting thing to figure out, could Lakers get any of these guys anyway? We'll get into that.

Next time, Matt George from Locked on Kings is going to be our guest for Thursday show. great host of Locked on Kings, two games to get ready for back to back against the Kings. So Matt will help us with that. There's a day off in between the games. The next two games are against the Kings. So Locked on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 26,000 subscribers. Sign up for the newsletter.

Make sure you're checking out the postcast as well. See everyone tomorrow.