Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Could the Lakers Get a Veteran Center? Brook Lopez? Steven Adams? Clint Capela?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, welcome to Lockedon Lakers for Wednesday, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky. What about Veterans Centers? Some interesting names potentially on the market. 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, where you get your podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:33 this one's always going to be free and never behind a paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where. I can go hang out with over 35,000 subscribers to the YouTube channel. People who might take in the podcast via YouTube or perhaps they subscribe at Apple, iTunes, or through Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. I want to let everybody know that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime, download a GameTime app, create account, use code locked on MBA for $20 off your first purchase. All right, Andy, was it?

Starting point is 00:01:07 Today's Wednesday show then was all about Walker Kessler and the young Utah Center that I guess is technically going to be on the market for the right. I think on the market might be an overstatement. Yes. I couched it with technically. I mean, I don't even know if he's technically on the market so much as the jazz might be signaling through. Austin Aanges press conference that if you want to call about Walker Kessler, it might not be the most foolish call you'll ever make as opposed to, say, calling for Wendy. But I don't think he is truly available. And it seems like the Jazz are anticipating taking more calls than actually

Starting point is 00:02:00 trying to build out the calls that they get. But we will see the NBA is unpredictable. You never know. Sometimes you can kind of create a bidding war or a market for a guy in that way. And so they've certainly been trying with Walker Kessler for like two and a half years. Well, they've sort of. I mean, it's, it was interesting. Like I was texting a friend today and, you know, kind of just throwing stuff back around. And like the idea of, yeah, he was throwing out trade ideas that none of which included Reeves, but had other stuff and like, you know, throw in that first rounder.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Like they wouldn't trade him for a for a. for a pick. And I'm like, look, if Utah, like, I think most teams assume that as long as Luke is on the team, the Lakers aren't going to bottom out. So any picks that they give them, I think you trade for those, you know, you hope you get lucky, but you trade for those with the idea that they're probably going to be outside of the lottery at the least. And so with that in mind, those, the value of that kind of pick is someone. somewhat mitigated.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And if the jazz wanted to trade Kessler for kind of a midish first round pick, they had done it by now. I mean, like I am, I am without knowing anything, 100% confident that somebody has offered a first rounder in some way, shape, or form to the jazz for Kessler and they have passed.

Starting point is 00:03:31 So if it's not Kessler, you know, and, you know, obviously we're going to keep talking. about Nick Claxton and some other guys. Veteran centers, though, are another way to go about this. We had the momentary joking confusion on Monday's show about Javille McGee and his potential willingness to return to the Lakers when it was just a,

Starting point is 00:03:53 it was a typo. But there are other names. Jackson Hayes, just so people understand if they didn't hear the show the day before, that Jackson Hayes is open to returning to the Lakers as I think any rational person would assume. There are a host of veteran centers, though, that at the, you know, if not are, that will either be linked to the Lakers or could be available just by virtue of their lot in life. And therefore, we'll be connected to Lakers because Lakers are going to be connected to

Starting point is 00:04:30 damn near every center that you can possibly find on planet Earth. Yeah. And it begins, I guess, with Brooke Lopez, Matt Moore, the co-host of Locked on Nuggets and also Locked on NBA, one of the many Locked on NBA shows that we do for the network. I believe for a report, no, actually this was a substack. This was not for the Action Network. This was Matt Moore's substack that everybody should subscribe to. And he's been doing some, you know, feeling out about who could be available, some teams

Starting point is 00:04:59 playing stuff like that. And everybody obviously is trying to figure out what the Bucks are going to do with Janus, what Janus will ask the Bucks to do with him. But in terms of trying to figure out what Milwaukee's next move would be, part of a report that Matt had said, quote, I'm not expecting the buck's roster to look the way it does now. The team is likely to retain Kevin Porter Jr. And most everyone I've spoken to assumes Brooke Lopez is gone. Lopez might be one of the bigger names on the market. He's certainly at the end of his career, but like Al Horford, He's a complete pro and a winner who's easy to fit into a team culture and find a role for and still makes a difference defensively night to night. And I want to make it clear, I'm not doubting Matt Moore's sourcing at all. I thought I personally find what the Bucks will do with Brooke Lopez if Yonis stays kind of intriguing and difficult to read just because I can see as compelling a case to keep Brooke Lopez with Yannis as.

Starting point is 00:06:02 to look somewhere else, or maybe you do a combination of both and you ultimately end up with Lopez back on the roster because you couldn't do any better. But regardless, if Milwaukee is ultimately going to let Brooke Lopez walk for whatever reason, I agree with Matt that there will be a demand for Lopez. It's really just a question of whether or not the Lakers can get him to sign for a taxpayer mid-level because that's the only option and the only mechanism for doing it other than trying to create cap space by adding sweeteners to like Gabe Vincent or Maxi Claver, whatever, to clear space to sign Brooke Lopez, which would be a fireable offense, or I guess maybe with this team, Rob gets another extension, but it's shorter for less money.

Starting point is 00:06:53 But like that would be absolutely insane. So it really is taxpayer mid-level. or nothing. Yeah. And, you know, it's the Bucks are, are an interesting team, you know, one of these butterfly effect teams that we've talked about throughout the last couple weeks of shows where, you know, they are, you know, obviously, you know, they're going to try to stay as competitive as they possibly can because they don't want Yannis to ask out. And thus far, like you mentioned earlier, Andy, Yonis seems to be sticking with Milwaukee. But it's one of those things. Like, you can't give away Lopez because he's still too good. He's got some holes in his game.

Starting point is 00:07:31 Like, you know, he's not, he was never the most mobile guy in the world, but he is less mobile now. But he's still a good shot blocker. He's still obviously a guy who can stretch out the floor and hit some threes. He's not a great rebounder, never has been. But he is a very smart player and it's just one of these guys who contributes to winning teams. So it's hard to necessarily upgrade significantly over him. But if you're trying to win, you can't give him away. So what does Milwaukee do?

Starting point is 00:08:11 And then from the Lakers standpoint, I agree. Like he's, if he gets out on the market, he's too good to expect a sign for a minimum. I don't, I don't think, I mean, it's possible. But I think it is, there will be people who will be. willing to offer him more than that. If he signs for a minimum somewhere, it's just because that's where he wants to be and he feels like he's made enough money. The Lakers have to make hard choices about that taxpayer mid-level.

Starting point is 00:08:44 And if you are going to sign Lopez with that, is he the kind of guy that you could pencil in as a starting center with Luca? That's one of the things that I think is really interesting about this would be if the Lakers pursue Lopez, assuming he becomes a free agent, and they are only going to have that taxpayer mid-level to work with, does it become a situation where they promise Lopez a starting spot as a way of getting him to at least potentially take what could be below market value for him. I'm not a I'm not a hundred percent sure it will be. He's 37 years old. He's not going to be a long-term piece for any team. But he did play well enough. He averaged in the 2024 or 25

Starting point is 00:09:37 season, 13 points, five rebounds, a little under two assists, two blocks, 51 percent from the field, 37 percent from behind the arc. And around, he said he's a good player. He's a odd player, but he's still a great player. That said, like you mentioned, the fifth. The fifth, with Luca. Like he's not going to be the rim running big that if nothing else, everybody seems to believe that that's the type of player that Luca wants. Mark Williams was a signal of that the way he flourished with Derek lively and Daniel Gafford was a sign of that. Also, too, I am not sold on Brooke Lopez defensively for what it seems like J.J. Reddick wants to do. He's much more of a drop coverage guy. Like you mentioned, he does not have the mobility to switch.

Starting point is 00:10:25 I'm not saying that JJ Redick is married to what he did defensively last season, but I can only go by what he did last season. And to my eye, Brooke Lopez is not a great fit for that over the course of 25 to 30 minutes. Like he is not a natural fit for that at all. Well, it would be one of those things that even if you are looking to try to, you know, yeah, we can play defense another way. You might have to make other changes in the roster to make a different style. of defense work.

Starting point is 00:10:56 But after the break, it's, we can carry on this conversation about Lopez particular, but he's not the only veteran center that kind of fits this profile of available. Maybe Lakers would be interested if they are. We'll get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Wayfair.

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Starting point is 00:12:54 What do you do if the center's available, the players, really, the players available, but specifically the centers. Don't tick every box. Which box do you tick? Because it's a little like the Chris Paul conversation even, Andy. Brooke Lopez, good player, better than most players are going to find. Let's go get him because he's good, we'll figure it out. Chris Paul, he's still a pretty productive player.

Starting point is 00:13:24 He's better than you're going to get for the minimum. We'll take him. We'll figure it out less. Just keep it. The more good players we have, the. better off we're going to be. And there is some degree of truth to that. The more good players you have, the better. But if you're not careful, you end up with this thing where you look up at the end of it and you're like, it's not that we don't have good players on this roster, but the diversity of who we

Starting point is 00:13:50 have and the style and all of these things, we're, you know, we don't have enough athleticism. And there are too many gaps despite the talent. That's the concern. So you may end up needing to get a lesser center that might be a slightly better fit, whether that's because of athleticism above the rim, whatever it is. We've talked about that before with the Lakers as currently constructed. It's not that they're a bad team. It's not that they're an untalented team.

Starting point is 00:14:19 I mean, you don't win 50 games, especially with all of the disjointed nature of the Lakers season last year. You basically had three different rosters, and that's before you've been taking to account the injuries that happened over the year. Like the Lakers have talent, but there's a lot of redundancy on the roster. There's a lot of guys who play more or less the same position at minimum on one side of the ball. They got too many guys who only or at least more strongly play on one side versus the other. And there's a lot of evening out and rebalancing. and to your point, skill set acquisition that needs to take place. As far as the specific question with centers, what do you do if nothing's to your liking?

Starting point is 00:15:06 I've mentioned this before and it sounds like the flippant answer, but I'm being serious. You talk to Luca about what he wants because depending on how wild Luca is or is not about any of these centers, if say Luke, there's none of them that Luca, let's say between Nick Claxton, Daniel Gale, Stephen Adams, where we're going to get into, Brooklow, but down the line, none of them really get Luca excited. Like, you know, he thinks certain ones are fine, but none of them are that great to him. Then honestly, I would be looking for the best short-term fit, like the best short-term commitment of all of them. So I don't find myself married to a center that Luca doesn't really want that much. I mean, by definition, if you bring in centers,

Starting point is 00:15:55 you will upgrade what the Lakers have because they have none. So you're, and with all sincere respect to Jackson Hayes, it will not be difficult to upgrade over him, even if he returns. But like, if none of these guys that are potentially available really blow Luca away or blow Rob Polinka away, and at that point, neither one of them are that excited, then I would just look for the best short-term commitment and then look for either during the season to acquire someone or in the off-season. But I think the worst mistake they could make is to make the longest commitment possible to a center that are not really that excited about. The other other names that are out there, Stephen Adams, as you mentioned, is a guy who has been linked to the Lakers. I don't think

Starting point is 00:16:48 he's going anywhere. I don't either. And for what it's worth, neither does Kelly Eco of the athletic from a piece that he recently had, quote, the Rockets view retaining Adams as a top priority. And they'll be working with him and his agent keeping him in Houston. He made a little bit less than 13 mil last year. I doubt he's going to make that with the Rockets. But I think it's very possible that the Rockets will keep him as a backup for more money than the Lakers or any team dealing with a taxpayer mid-level could afford to try to turn it into a bidding race. Adams is also interesting because I think he could be a good backup for the team, but as a starter, I think you could be getting into a lot of trouble.

Starting point is 00:17:31 He played 15 minutes a game last year. He is a different version of Lopez in terms of, you know, good player definitely would help fills some needs, but doesn't really solve your problem. The guy that I think is interesting, when you put these veterans centers in who aren't minimum guys and who still can play a little bit and all that, the guy I think is interesting is Clint Capella. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:01 With Atlanta, but not for very long. The expectation is that Capella won't be back in Atlanta. He is not quite what he was three or four years ago, but still averaged, put up good numbers last year in Atlanta as a backup. Acongwu and Yaku Ocongwu took that starting job about a month and a half or so into the season, a couple months into the season. But Capella still played about 22 minutes a game, average nine points a game, eight and a half rebounds.

Starting point is 00:18:37 He can still get up above the rim. He is still a reasonable shot blocker. And while I don't think he qualifies as elite, he would be, like you say, an upgrade. I don't, I just, I am so bad at figuring out how much these guys could get. But of these sort of players that at least are talked about as somebody you could sign, who at least feel some of the requirements the Lakers have in terms of rim protection, improve the rebounding, give Luca a lob threat. Capella is, I think, about as compelling a guys you're going to find.

Starting point is 00:19:21 Well, I think what's also interesting about Capella, too, is he's kind of on that border of, you know, low-end starter, pretty high-end backup. But he's also young. And I want to say he's 31 or 32. So he is on the back end of his career, but he is still young enough. He just turned 31. He is still young enough that in theory he could be open to taking like a one-year

Starting point is 00:19:48 taxpayer mid-level deal to try to reestablish his value around the league so he could get paid one more time for multi years in his early 30s. And the thing is, if he joins the Lakers, he will get time. Like I don't know if he would start or come off the bench depending on who else is there. but even if the Lakers go out and acquire Nick Claxton or Daniel Gafford or whoever, like Capella will still have a role. Like he will play, I think like 18 to 20 minutes regardless, like at the low end of what he would do out there.

Starting point is 00:20:23 Well, the moral of the story, the moral of the story here is the only way the Lakers are going to get a better player than Clint Capella, than, you know, Stephen Adams, than Brooke Lopez is through a trade. That is the only way they are not going to sign a center that's better than Clint Capella. I'm not entirely sure they can sign Clint Capella, for that matter. But they're not going to get one that's better on the free agent market. So the question is, do you want to trade? And I saw an interesting, and we don't even need to get into the details of it,

Starting point is 00:21:01 But I saw something like, you know, just another example of how the Lakers are in kind of a tight spot. It was a trade that sent that were where the Lakers were sending out four guys who were all in the rotation and include like Rui and then like Dalton, a couple other players like Gabe and whatever. You end up in a situation where the Lakers also have to be careful trading out four for two because they, even if you get better players back and they did. this deal. Now you're filling in the rest of your roster with basically minimum guys. And so there are all of these ways in which the Lakers are kind of hemmed in. And so it's a it's an interesting issue for the Lakers to deal with. We'll talk about it a little bit more when we come back. Plus a mailbag question about LeBron James and playing time. That's next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by game time.

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Starting point is 00:23:28 are doing the show live. Why I was comparing Stephen Adams to Brooke Lopez, obviously very different players in terms of their offensive profiles. Stephen Adams, has he ever shot a three-pointer? I don't know. He doesn't shoot many of them. My point isn't that they're identical players. It's that they are two guys, like you say, both a little older, who are probably profile as backups, but more importantly, what I was getting at is they are players who address

Starting point is 00:24:01 certain issues for the Lakers and could help in certain ways. but do not, you know, solve other things that they need. Stephen Adams helps with your rebounding. He's still a very intimidating presence inside, but he can't probably play for more than, you know, 15, 18 minutes a night. I think people need to understand. Like, he played a lot more in the first round of the playoffs than he did in the regular season.

Starting point is 00:24:27 Right. By design. Yeah, sure. And great. It worked. They helped push to a seven-game series. like kudos, but it just needs to be remembered. Stephen Adams averaged less than 15 minutes a game during the regular season.

Starting point is 00:24:44 I don't consider him a viable starting option at all. No, the Lakers are going to need at least a combination of players who can do more than that. And so really, like I said, really what I was getting at is this idea that, you know, Adams solves two or three things, but doesn't provide you two or three other things that you might think are important. Ideally, you could pair Stephen Adams with Nick Claxton or something like that. And then you have this sort of very interesting center combination. And you can do a lot of different things.

Starting point is 00:25:13 But I don't think the Lakers have the means to be able to do something like that, at least with players that good. So it's just that they are, I don't want to say they're stuck, but it's just they're not, I think everybody needs to kind of understand. Like they're not going to get a better player than the guys we talked about. likely without trade. And that means potentially sacrificing Rui or Dalton or AR if it's the right deal. So it's tricky.

Starting point is 00:25:45 And the more teams that are that Milwaukee doesn't seem like they're going to be making a ton of moves, potentially hurts the Lakers. We've talked about other teams that might not Utah, if they're not busting everything up, maybe that hurts the Lakers. there's just um i don't know could help too i mean i don't know i just really depends on i i feel like more activity helps the lakers because it no no no i involve in more things i agree with that i'm saying just because say milwaukee isn't going to trade yonis and break up the whole thing doesn't mean they won't be active and if they're active okay i see what you mean no that's fair that's fair and

Starting point is 00:26:24 both fair and accurate. We have had, and it's been on the agenda for a while. I mean, an interesting question about maintenance with LeBron as he goes into his age 41. Yep. How the Lakers are going to deal with that. And it's interesting to me because it's coming off two seasons in a row where we actually play a lot of games. Yeah. This is from Thomas Chavez.

Starting point is 00:26:54 on the YouTube. I don't remember if this is in the comments section or in the community section where we've solicited your questions. But he said, with the end of the LeBron era drawing ever closer, what does a feasible game plan to keep him healthy, engaged and productive in year 22 look like? Does he avoid back to backs entirely? Are his minutes managed even more, especially during the beginning of the new season? Does he focus on one end of the quarter of the court over the other? I personally prefer defense to offense and then ramp up post-all-star game. And it's funny because we've gotten a version of this question, Brian, heading in the last season, heading into the 20- Basically every mailbag we've done for the last like six years.

Starting point is 00:27:35 I mean, and especially too in the, LeBron is basically about to turn 40, pushing 40 or is actually 40 now going past 40, like this era of the Lakers. And my response to this question has been the same every time. The West is too competitive and the Lakers are not talented enough for the luxury of truly pacing LeBron. Like there were two games between the Lakers at three and Warriors slash Grizzlies at 7-8, like that tie for the 7 and 8 seeds. And the Lakers have been through the mad dash of trying to push through that slew of teams just to try to avoid the play in, but sometimes to get into the play in. seen the impact that it had on the Lakers, how much it clearly took out of them once they actually

Starting point is 00:28:28 got to the playoffs. And I'm not saying that everybody, including LeBron, needs to go balls to the walls like every single minute of every single game. That's actually not smart either. But I also feel like you can't set the habits that you want. You can't play as well as you need to when a guy playing 35-ish minutes a night, who is as important as LeBron, is that notably, even if you think totally understandably pacing himself to a degree that it has to be accounted for. I just don't think that's practical in the West. It just isn't. What I'm interested in next year is what it looks like offensively to where can you, because you have Luca, because the offense is going to become Luca's offense.

Starting point is 00:29:20 Because whereas in years past where they've tried to have LeBron do less, you end up needing to go back to LeBron because he's still the best at doing the stuff you need to have gotten done over the course of the game. Now you're in a position where you've got Luca Dantzich, and so he can do all that stuff. And you brought him there to do it. And you want him to be your offense. Hopefully you're in a position where LeBron

Starting point is 00:29:48 can pick and choose a little bit during games where you don't need him. And he can be a little bit more attentive defensively and really pace himself more offensively where hopefully if the Lakers can do a good enough job building the rest of that team, whether it's you keep AR and you get other people, you find that center, you trade Rui for something else. You know, presumably DFS is back, but maybe you can upgrade a little bit over Gabe Vincent, whatever it might be. I don't know exactly how Rob's going to do it,

Starting point is 00:30:21 but that's why he makes the big bucks, Andy. LeBron may be in a position next year where less is asked of him offensively, which allows him to do more defensively. I'm not talking about, you know, lockdown LeBron from, you know, when he was 28 years old, but enough that you're not,

Starting point is 00:30:43 it's not like, come on. Like the last few seasons of Kobe or, you know, different times with LeBron or a lot of aging superstars where you see a lot more pointing than you do movement. I think there may be a way that you can get him to raise that level on a night-to-night basis. I do agree, though. I think he's, they will probably find opportunities for him to sit a little bit more. I think he can play 65, 70 games if he doesn't get hurt. I think he probably will. But I think they'll be judicious.

Starting point is 00:31:22 I think they'd love to get his minutes down to 31, 32. This is a lot of this is a question of how good can you make the team around Luca and LeBron? Of course. I mean, the best way to manage LeBron's minutes in playing time is win a lot of games decisively so guys can sit more during fourth quarters. or have enough depth that you can get away with, you know, 31 minutes instead of 34 every night or, you know, 32 instead of 36. That stuff adds up over the course. It does. But you say fewer high leverage minutes.

Starting point is 00:31:55 Like, just make it easier. We'll do that. I mean, they can try. I'll be honest. I'll believe that when I see it. I mean, it's very difficult to have your third best player play 30 minutes a night. Like, for somebody that has as much. responsibility as LeBron is projected to have.

Starting point is 00:32:13 And for the time being, he's the second best playmaker on this team at worst. He's the second best scorer on this team at worst. He is the number one communicator with a bullet. Like, he's the smartest guy. I mean, Luke is a basketball savant, but LeBron is still, I think, between the two of them, the basketball genius and like the guy that's seen everything. Like, they need him out there. They need a lot of what he does.

Starting point is 00:32:40 And it becomes very difficult where you try to hit that sweet spot of getting everything you need from LeBron, but also trying to get as little as you can possibly get away with from LeBron. Like that can become a very difficult juggling act, which is, I mean, generally speaking, why teams don't try to create setups where you have to massage that much from one of your best, most important players. I mean, it's just the dream. That said, it's, I mean, ideally you have a guy, you know, Shea, you can just run out every game. But, you know, I don't want to say most teams. A large number of teams around the league have this problem.

Starting point is 00:33:24 And, you know, whether it's because of age or injury or a combination of those things where you just... I don't think, you know, Kevin Durant has to be managed. Kauai Leonard has to be managed. Paul George has to be managed. Showell and Bede has to be managed. There's a long list of guys. it have to be managed in exactly the same way, if not more extensive. Okay, and then let me rephrase.

Starting point is 00:33:45 There aren't that many teams around the league who have a player like that that hasn't caused problems for their team. I mean, I think that's probably fair. But I just, I don't think, I don't think what the Lakers necessarily need to do with LeBron is, is all that unique. And I think if you can find ways to bolster the roster, especially so it doesn't do as much offensively. And they've done that in the most extreme way possible by acquiring a Slovenian LeBron James on that side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:34:18 And LeBron is still playing. I mean, just so, I mean, I know it'll get misconstrued, but whatever, the obligatory PSA. LeBron's still playing at a high level. I'm not denying that. I mean, to be fair, I think you make more, you make more of this than I do. We don't entirely see, agree on on this question. This is ultimately, though, in terms of how effective, even in terms of how effective he is currently. This is although ultimately the reason why I've said beyond this coming season.

Starting point is 00:34:50 And so it is clear, I want LeBron to opt in for this coming season. Like the Lakers will be worse without LeBron next season. Like I want him on the team next season full stop. But this is also, I think, the last season where the Lakers can keep him on the roster making 50 plus miliseseason. I just don't think that that is tenable any longer moving forward to realistically create a roster with the needs around Lucas specifically. I don't think that is feasible. And the cap math won't work. It's hard.

Starting point is 00:35:25 I mean, there's no question. It's hard. You know, they're in a tough spot anyway. And it's obviously harder if you, you know, I, time for a different show. replacing LeBron when he's gone is going to be, I think, significantly harder, though, than people are thinking. It's not you just, well, LeBron's money comes off the books and we can just start, now we can really start rebuilding this phenomenal. You've got to replace what LeBron is doing as well. So it's tricky.

Starting point is 00:36:00 This is all a function of him playing far longer, far longer than anyone expected. Lock and Lickers on YouTube is where you can go. hang out with over 35,000 subscribers. Plenty more to come through the end of this week. And into June, we'll be watching the finals. We'll be watching all other kinds of other stuff. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Could the Lakers Get a Veteran Center? Brook Lopez? Steven Adams? Clint Capela?

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