Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Daryl Morey Says the 2020 Title for the Lakers is "Forever Marked" By an Asterisk

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

The Athletic put together an oral history of the Bubble, five years later. Of course, that weird, (hopefully) never-to-be-repeated NBA season resulted in LA's most recent title, with the Lakers beating the Heat to earn a banner. No question, the whole thing was weird, and unlike any other title in the history of the game. But in that oral history, Sixers GM Daryl Morey (then with the Rockets, who were eliminated by the Lakers) revealed that many around the league put an asterisk on LA's victory: "Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required. Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its leadership at both the beginning and end of the pandemic, even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk." So... really? To be clear, not everyone in this story agreed. Many who were there covering the event believe it was harder to win that tournament than any other. But no question, Morey's sentiment is a common one. That it was the Lakers who walked away with a title only enhances that belief, I'm sure. (Somehow, it seems likely there'd be fewer asterisks had, say, Denver won a ring.)Meanwhile, ESPN has its first power rankings of the post-free agency era, and have the Lakers seventh in the West. Is that about right? And finally, ESPN's Dave McMenamin has a great story about Bronny James, which includes not only insight into Bronny's development, but how the Lakers approach this question more broadly.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: Daryl Morey says asterisk! SEGMENT 2: Why those people are wrong.  SEGMENT 3: 7th in the West? Fair or not?  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTime to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearGametimeDownload 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.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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 Locked-on Lakers for Thursday. Brian Keminetsky, Andy Komeneski, Darrell Mori, Sixers, GM says the league, people around the league, I should say, put an asterisk on the 2020 title for the Lakers. Should they? That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on 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. This one's always going to be free and never behind the paywall. Of course, Andy Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where over 36,000 subscribers are all hanging out. Cursing, Dary and unnamed executives and people around the league who apparently view the Lakers' 2020 title in the Disney bubble to be somehow lesser or Astero. risk worthy. We'll explain what we mean there. We'll tell you where ESPN has the Lakers in the first round of power rankings following the bulk of free agency. So, but yeah, well, we'll start with this stuff with the athletic because, oh my. I mean, I, okay, it would, it didn't come out of nowhere. I should say it's not just like suddenly people are talking about this again. The athletic did an oral

history kind of a five years later on the the the Disney bubble and people moving into it um and and so it's clear the the piece was not written purely to debate the question of whether or not the bubble title should have an asterisk just so people understand like the overwhelming majority of it was written by joe varden who collected the quotes of a lot of people who spent time down there Howard Beck Kyle Goon among among others, like reliving what it was like in this super specific, very weird and often very difficult setting. Like people had fun often during it. They managed to find ways to enjoy it, but it was a situation where pretty much everybody by the end of it,

other than Jimmy Butler, who's a weirdo who decided to start a coffee empire while in the bubble. Everyone wanted to get the hell out of there. So as part of that, though, they did discuss, you know, the championship. And in the context of that, Darry certainly won the day with headline creation. Orr Mori often very careful with the way he says things. I feel bad for Darryl Mori because it's really the first time he's ever stepped in anything. Right. Quote, had the Rockets won the title?

Keep in mind, by the way, this is me. He's talking not. Not the actual quote. The Lakers eliminated the Rockets, just side note. Anyway, back to Mori. Had the Rockets won the title? I believe 4 to 1 eliminated. I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required.

Yet, everyone I speak to everyone, I speak to around the league, privately agrees that it doesn't truly hold up as a genuine championship. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its league. leadership at both the beginning and the end of the pandemic, even though the champion will be forever marked by an asterisk. I do agree with him that the NBA leadership and, you know, Adam Silverdown, they should be commended for pulling this stuff. It was actually a pretty amazing feat when you look back at the chaos of 2020 and the pandemic, not to mention until unrest happening around not just the country, but

frankly, around the world and just the general uncertainty that they managed to stage this playoff run inside this Orlando bubble at Disney World. Like, there are more is correct. That is. Without anybody getting COVID. Like logistically, it was a logistical. Not even the ladies. A few players snuck in.

They didn't get COVID either. Perhaps they had quarantined as well before. And look, you know, this isn't to debilts. bait, you know, would it have mattered should people play? Like 2020 was a different time, understanding of COVID was different, and all of these things. To do this in the way that they did and pull it off is monumentally impressive. But that part where he says, everyone, everyone. Many people are staying, Brian, many people are saying it.

Everyone I speak to around the league, even though the champion, he said, and even though the champion will be forever marked by an asterisk. Now, our friend Anthony Irwin did catch up with Daryl Morey, who tried, I think, to walk some of this back. He said, I respect the title. I defended the people all the time. It's the thing I want the most, meaning a title is the thing that I want the most. Mori said he understood that the quote, why it would make people mad.

He said, I see why you would have taken that way, taken it like as diminishing the title. And that would have made me mad too. So he tried to walk it back at least some. But what Morrie is saying, particularly given that it's the Lakers that won that championship, is not an uncommon sentiment around the league. And it is absurd, if you don't mind my saying. I mean, it's beyond silly. And Darry had the opportunity when he gave the original quote to say, I defend it all the time.

But nonetheless, this is what people think. And it becomes difficult, I guess, to think this. Right. But they do. I mean, my advice to Darry, you know, as somebody who I guess is a professional talker, it's quite literally how I make my living. if you want to convince people that the championship doesn't have an asterisk, I wouldn't describe it as like forever tainted by an asterisk.

That's just how I would go about doing it, but what do I know? I mean, so much of this, honestly, is connected to it being the Lakers and in particular it being LeBron with the Lakers because the Lakers are a team that outside of its fan base, and admittedly it is a massive fan base. They are one of the most popular teams in the world. But if you ain't with them, you're against them. If you do not like the Lakers, you basically hate them.

Like they are not a team that anybody is indifferent towards. And they're a team that sparks a lot of resentment because they've had a ton of success. And if they're the type of team, for example, that just seems like Luca Dantitch falls into their lap. And then a guy like LeBron, who is also admittedly extremely popular by definition. LeBron is a very popular athlete, but he is also a lightning round for debate and polarization. Quite frankly, he props up the industry that we are a part of.

And like Kobe Bryant, like any non-big man, whoever did. Bears come close to touching the sun that is Michael Jordan. You're going to have a lot of MJ gatekeepers looking to find the way to detract from anything that they do. So Michael Jordan can remain the unquestioned number one goat of all time. So it's clear he's a perfectly reasonable choice for number one goat of all time. I don't care who you think is the goat. Goat debates are boring to me. I'm just saying this is where a lot of this comes.

You put the Lakers and LeBron in this scenario. You're going to have people looking to pick it apart, even though the Lakers had been one of the best teams that entire season. And they were a team that by around March, when the season stopped because of the pandemic, they were considered one of the front runners to win the championship. So there's nothing random about this whatsoever. 52 and 19 when the world stopped.

They won 11. I think they had won 11 of 13 at that point. I actually don't remember what the, what their, who won that game. The last game they played, I'm pretty sure it was last game they played. Certainly the last home game they played was against Brooklyn. And most of that game I spent saying to myself, why are we here? What are we doing here? Yep.

You and I were both there. Yeah, I do not remember why. or who won, who won the game. The Nets won, actually. Okay, yeah, that's why I kind of thought that, but I wasn't sure. But the Lakers had just beaten the Bucks and the Clippers. Right. Those were like the three top teams in the league at the time.

The Bucks had the best record in the league. Lakers had the second best. Clippers might have had the third best, third or fourth, but the Lakers had just beaten those two teams in succession right before the season stopped. And so, you know, there are reasons that people come up with to try to diminish this championship. And I will, I went after the break, I'll tell you why I think if you want to use an asterisk, you can. But it's not at all in the way that people mean. So I'll explain that next.

Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money. And if you ever wish that managing your money felt easier with Monarch Money, it can't be whether you're growing your savings or planning a big purchase monarch puts you in the driver's seat it's like having your own personal cfo giving you full visibility and control over your finances monarch money is more than just some budgeting app it's a complete financial command center you can track all of your accounts investments and spending all in one place so in addition to managing your money you're actually building wealth and as an example my daughter is about to start high school which means it's crazy i just start thinking about college and tuition and dorm expenses and all sorts of

stuff that if I'm being honest is really daunting. Monarch can help me streamline my spending, figure out areas where I could be more efficient. I could save better. I could stop spending altogether maybe and create a plan for that next step. Take control of your finances with Monarch money. Use code locked on MBA at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on MBA for 50% off your first year. So, I mean, you agree with me.

Like everybody talks about this, and we'll get to the ESPN's early power rankings here in a second. But like here's where I do think you can talk about an asterisk with the Lakers title here. If what you're talking about is this one is unique, it is unrepeatable, God willing. We hope. We certainly know. I don't even think even if something like this happened again, I'm not even sure they'd try this again. I'm not sure you could try something like this again, just given how much the politics around epidemics, pandemics, illness, prevention have all changed. Probably not a topic for this podcast.

I'm pretty sure it's definitely not. I'm pretty sure we've been told. It's not. Thoughts, but we'll get, you know, not for here. Go to lockdown epidemiology, if you want to get a bit. Our much less popular sister podcast. If you want to call it that, it is. Like, you know, part of what has been challenging for the Lakers in terms of like getting another one after that time,

in addition to things like the Russell Westbrook trade and whatever that have, you know, gummed up the roster and they've been trying to climb out of that hole ever since, you just can't replicate the circumstances. So it's hard to take the lessons of that and apply it to the next season or the season after that or the season after that. So, yeah, okay, in that sense, the Lakers won this wholly unique experience that is different. but when people talk about asterisks, they mean lesser. They don't mean different.

They mean lesser. And there is nothing lesser about this title. The Lakers went in as a number one seed and lost the advantage that came with that because there was no home crowd. The Lakers, yeah, they got healthy. So did every other team in the league. You know, the notion that the Lakers had some sort of advantage is absurd because the main advantage that people fight for over the course of a season was taken away from them.

If anything, they had a harder road than they would have had they just started a playoff after whatever, 52 and 19 is 19 or 20 games short of the end of the season. It's a different championship. And the one thing I will say that is pretty consistent that I have heard from a lot of Laker fans is that it feels different. Like a lot of Laker fans I've heard from are more of, emotionally disconnected from that championship because nobody was able to experience it in person. There wasn't a parade for it.

And it was during this period of time that quite frankly, everybody wants to forget about that was a, it's a difficult time for most people. You know, it just was a really 2020 was a pretty lousy year. I think we can all agree. And it's just not an experience that people want. to relive. And, you know, other than, other than the fact that the team was outwardly trying to win the championship in honor of Kobe, like, it was something that they were, they made as a very vocal known goal that I think was galvanizing in the moment for Laker fans, because, you know,

among the many awful things in 2020 was Kobe Bryant's passing. But with time and distance, I think that piece of it, like that specific, you know, that's specific piece of it, not missing Kobe or anything like that, but I mean that specific piece of winning it for Kobe, I don't think, at least from the impression I've gotten from a lot of Laker fans, resonates the same way five years later. And therefore, you're just left with a title that you know matters, but there's an emotional disconnection from it because it just felt so far away and insulated, which it was. But again, that's not the same thing as lesser. It's more bizarre than lesser. I think most players, if you talk to players, this is actually something that

Kyle Goon, who was covering the team for the Orange County Register at the time, he now works in Baltimore. What he points out is that players, if you actually ask the players, they will tell you that this is the hardest damn thing they've ever done, that being in that environment, even later on when they allowed like a loved one into the bubble and all the country, you're away from your family, you're away from your kids, you're away from your routine, you're away from your house. You live in, you know, it's a nice hotel you're living in, but you're still living in a hotel for three months. You know, you can't leave it. It's a nice resort, been there, but you can't leave. Like you are a high class prisoner in a lot of ways. You know, keep in mind, too,

Like some people didn't even go in. Avery Bradley elected not to go in. So like the Lakers just talked about another thing. They're like, they were down a player. Rajan Rondo got hurt, down another player. Like, you know, stuff happened to other teams, obviously, but stuff happened to the Lakers too. Mentally, that challenge was as hard as anything any of these guys have ever done,

and they will tell you that. And so I think, you know, again, you want to call it different. Sure. you want to call it, you want to put it in its own category, fine, but don't call it less than what, say, you know, Oklahoma City did this year because it is not. Well, the truth is if you really wanted to, and I want to make it clear, when I bring up some of these examples, these are not, these are not me passive aggressively trying to take apart other championships because I just don't believe in that. I think championships are really

effing difficult to win. And I'll say this, and I think, Brian, you agree with me. The older I get, the more I just gain an appreciation for how hard blank is to do and like just how hard achievement is in general. Yes. Because when every morning when you're like, God, it's hard to put my socks on, like we're getting an NBA championship. Well, you just, you just come to realize, like, you know, the longer you spend in your career doing anything, like the longer, the longer you spend time trying to accomplish as an adult, I'm not saying that I'll automatically think everything is great. You know, like obviously, you, especially in this particular job, but as somebody who's very into movies and music and whatever, you know, I have opinions. I will be honest if I don't

think something is good, but I don't look to tear things apart. If anything, I want to be impressed. But like, you could look at the Raptors in 2019 and point out they beat a Warriors team that was down Kevin Durant and Clay Thompson, the Warriors in 2015, beat a Cavs team that didn't have Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. Like the Lakers went through a hard run in 2002, but the net squad that they beat was a joke. Like you can go through this stuff year by year by year. And if you really want to pick things apart, but it's such a waste of time. And it's so pointless. And And honestly, if you're doing that, I don't understand why you follow this stuff in the first place. Like, other than I guess maybe to gatekeep the team that you want to gate keep or the athlete that you want to gatekeep.

But otherwise, I don't see the point. Like, what are you getting out of it? Yeah, as Doughty points out in the chat on YouTube, there's not a championship that doesn't have luck. Every champion will tell you it takes luck. Now, luck isn't the only. thing, obvious. You can't luck your way to But it's always a thing. It's always something. Right.

So I 100% agree. It just I don't, I wonder like, I wonder how much the players that were there pay attention to it or really think about it, especially since I think among players, I have heard nothing that

ever counter sort of counterdicts the idea that players think it was really hard. Players think so like, I don't think there are a lot of people, again, they might look at LeBron's title in 2020, the Lakers title in 2020 as different

than other ones. But I don't think anybody who played the game, who played in that environment, looks at it and says, you know, whatever. That one doesn't count. You know, it's, the only thing I guess

I would say would be if some random team, managed to go as like a seven or an eight seed that barely, because it was the first year of the play in, like that they managed to get in and had a run that felt fluky in that particular environment, then while I still don't think I would be personally inclined to try to discredit it or pick it apart, because again, I'm just, I'm not wired to do that. But I could at least understand where people are looking to do that. But again, these Lakers were really good.

And right when the season stopped, they were among the short list of teams that people thought had a legit, like more than legit chance of winning the championship. So in that sense... They beat an eight of four to three. Like the setting was weird. The result was damn near predictable.

I think especially when you, compare it to like the baseball playoffs. Like I think it was more important for the Dodgers to win another world series because the argument you could make for like the 2020 season and postseason was that it was

essentially a different sport. 60 games, 16 teams in the playoffs, you know, all that. It was just it was not a, that was a completely different season. Yeah, I mean the spurs when they won in 99, I believe they played

fewer, they played fewer games than the Lakers did in the 2020 season. And they had just as much time off, you know, leading up to the season, like more time to rest because the season started late. Same thing in 2000, what was the, 2012, because there had been a lockout leading up to everything. Like, again, you can do this for pretty much every title if you really want to. I just don't understand why you would. Yeah. Anyway. I agree. I think it's silly. I understand why Darry tried to walk it back with our friend Anthony Irwin.

But too late, you already made yourself the topic of tonight's podcast. Sorry, Darry. Meanwhile, Andy, ESP. Better luck next time, nerd. Egghead. Meanwhile, ESPN has its first power rankings out for the post-free agent period. Where do the Lakers land on that list? We'll tell you next. So here's what ESPN put out. And this comes from our screenshot from our friend Darius Soriano.

So this is a picture of Darius' Darius's Twitter feed, which he took off the TV. So it's like a layer kick. But you can see it. It's the ESPN Power Rankings 1 through 10 post-free agency period. And it says a lot about the Lakers. and I think the conference. Here are your top 10. Thunder, rockets, nuggets, calves, nicks,

timber wolves, clippers, magic, warriors, and then at 10, the Lakers. So that, by my math, puts the Lakers as an early predicted seven seed in the Western Conference behind the Thunder, rockets, nuggets, timber wolves, clippers, and warriors. Obviously, that means that the people are expecting the Western Conference to be a hellscape for anybody trying to win a lot of games. But what was your reaction to seeing that, Andy, you know, that initial far too early summer

ranking? My initial reaction was, is it still July? Like, can we please move this bleep along? Like it's, you know it's July because we're debating early, like very, very early season rankings. Like the season doesn't even start for another, what is it, three and a half months. And we're reliving a title. I think about it.

We're reliving a title from five years ago. We are so damn bored in July. But honestly, my reaction was that could sound just about. right, but it also could be the Lakers at three and Denver at seven. It could be Minnesota at two and Houston at six. Like the West is so, I think going to be just like last year, so bunched up to where the difference between a three seed and a nine seed or even a 10 seed is only going to be a handful of games at most.

And I say this, if nothing else, just to prepare Laker fans for this upcoming season, because you're going to see tons and tons from different outlets of these rankings that, by the way, are totally meaningless because it's not like college football or college basketball where how you get ranked actually matters for your season. Like these rankings don't matter at all. But it's, you really do need to remember. that being ranked 10th, for all intents and purposes, may not really be that much different than being ranked fifth or fourth.

Well, I disagree with you a little bit because I do think the top three here that they put, you know, one, two, three, that whoever, I don't know who the committee is that does these things in, at ESPN right now, but like you look at the Thunder Rockets and Nuggets. They actually went Thunder Nuggets Rockets. I'm sorry, I had it right the first time, Thunder Rockets Nuggets. So when you see that, to me, those are the three best teams potentially in the NBA.

I understand, you know, there's going to be a team or two in the East that runs up a very gaudy record, but they're going to be doing it against softer competition. I think Denver's improvements kind of bump them back up into an area and obviously Houston, at least on paper, addressed their biggest weakness in a major way with Kevin Duran and continued getting better. Like they did a lot of really good stuff.

I think after that I kind of agree with you. I think it's reasonable to put Minnesota ahead of the Lakers. They just beat them in five. I'm not sure they got better, but they did just beat the Lakers. The Clippers on paper, I think, have a better rock. than the Lakers do. But I do not care about the Clippers roster on paper until I see them actually stay healthy for a season.

I don't mean this in a Clippers going to clip kind of way. They're a really well-run organization. I have a lot of respect for how they do a lot of things there, especially once they change their marketing department. I just, we've gone through like four or five years of the Clippers being really good on paper and then the health issues and the James Hardin playoff issues keep resurfacing. So again, I don't mean this as a clip is going to clip thing. I just, I need to see it.

I think at this point, that's not me being an a-hole. I actually need to see them do something over the course of the regular season, including, by the way, take the regular season seriously. Right. And so like I look at it, like, is it disrespectful to the Lakers? to have them in front of the Lakers early? No, I think it's pretty reasonable. I mean, you look at it last year,

and the Lakers and Clippers were separated by zero games. They want to each one, 50 games. So it was essentially a tie. You know, Minnesota and the Lakers were separated by one game. And this is sort of to the point you were making before. Like, you know, the Lakers and the Rockets were separated by two games. And so I think Houston got better, more better than the Lakers did. I think the Lakers are an improved team.

I think Houston has improved more. But the Nuggets won 50. So like you say, the only one on this list where I look at and go, guys, I'm really not sure. I think you've got this one wrong. I don't see how the Warriors have gotten any better. Like the Lakers won more games than the Warriors. Obviously, staff quite literally done nothing.

off the season. Steph got hurt last year, missed a lot of games, I understand that. But the Warriors have done nothing to improve themselves and the Lakers are better than the team that they were

when they finished the year. So in my preseason predictions, am I going to put Minnesota ahead of the Lakers? I might. Am I going to put, especially a second year of Randall, everybody getting comfortable? Yeah, I probably will.

Am I going to put the nuggets, Rockets and Thunder, yes, Clippers, maybe. I'm not there with Golden State. They've done nothing. Well, I mean, I guess the thought process for putting the wars up there is last season when Steph, Jimmy Butler, Draymond together, particularly Steph and Jimmy, record was very good, very small sample size. If you think you can extend that, which requires everybody to stay healthy,

which is a big if in the regular season with that trio, you manifest from there. It's certainly possible, but the reality is they have quite literally done nothing this offseason. I recognize that's because they're trying to figure out the Jonathan Comingham mess, and until they figure that out, they can't really make other moves. But the fact remains,

they remain exactly the same as they were before. Mr. T.D. on the chat is making a case for Golden State, noting that the Warriors are better than the Lakers at the end of last year. I would note the Lakers were better than the Lakers last year near the end of the season. And he is correct in noting that once all this stuff is sorted out, they are still seen as the frontrunners for guys like D. Anthony Melton and Al Horford. Right. 40-year-old Al Horford and D. Anthony Melton coming off. an ACL injury, which I mean... They're good players, though. They are, but the point being, though,

like, there is a certain amount of reservation I'm going to have about how much those guys are going to make a difference on a team with that much collective age and injury concerns on top of the guys that you're bringing in with collective age and injury concerns. I mean, I don't think that's looking to be. negative about them or getting, you know, my backup as somebody who covers the Lakers. Like I said before, I don't care if you rank the Lakers 30th in this. It's a, it's a fake list. It doesn't matter.

But I'm just saying, I'm going to say a list isn't very good. Right, whatever. But my point being, though, if we're trying to actually game this out smartly, there are some question marks about their big prizes for the off season once they eventually figure out the Kaminga thing. maybe if the comming a thing is a sign in trade, you're bringing in other guys, and that does fundamentally change the roster. But, you know, Al Horford was reportedly thinking about retiring because, again, he's 40. And I love De Anthony Melton, but he is coming off a pretty significant injury, and he gets

hurt a lot. Yeah. But I think to me the biggest takeaway, because, again, arguing over this stuff is kind of pointless, especially when you consider that there were one, two, three, four, five, six, seven teams in the West last year, separated by four victories. But to me, the big takeaway is just like you look at the Lakers and we can legitimately say, you know what, that could be a seven seat. Sure. That's a team with Luca Donchich, LeBron James, a very fit, healthy looking Luca Donchurch, LeBron James, Austin, Austin, added Marcus Smart, added DeAndre Aidan.

It can push Rui Hachamur to the bench. Like, they have a pretty good team. Like they've got two of the top 15 players in the league, you know, depending on where you think of LeBron. And you can look at that team and say they're seventh legitimately. And you look behind it and, you know, Memphis is, you know, should still be pretty good. And, you know, I don't know what the Kings are doing, but Dallas should be pretty good. Dallas should be pretty good. Portland thinks they're going to be better.

They're still going to try to win some games and finish the season strong. the spurs think they're going to be better and are going to try to win some games and have a lot of potential to make a leap. Like, you're 10 deep, easy in the West before you get to a team there you go, I don't know about that one. This is why whenever you and I do radio or TV appearances for different networks or when we participate in the squad shows here at Lockdown, whenever we get asked about load managing LeBron or how to, you think they're going to do it. My answer is always they're not. They can't afford to. Like they don't have the luxury of doing that. I mean, I don't think LeBron wants to anyway, but they don't really have the luxury of doing it. The West is too hard. It's too hard. Anyway, so let's quit there. We'll get back maybe some of this. Let us know

a reaction to both Darry to where you think the Lakers rank this early into the offseason. What you think any of this means. Leave us questions. Leave us comment. Mailbags are a fabulous way to spend your time as we roll into August, where we will continue to bring you shows damn near every day. Locked on Lakers on YouTube as we're going to hang out with over 36,000 subscribers. Remember, sign up on Spotify, Apple, wherever it gets your podcasts. We'll see you tomorrow.