Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Huge Upgrade at Center: Lakers, Deandre Ayton Agree to 2-Year, $16.6 Million Contract

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

The Lakers have a center, and he's a pretty good one. Certainly a lot better than could reasonably have been hoped at the start of the offseason. Particularly at a tidy price of $8.3 million a year, for two years. On Wednesday, the Lakers agreed to terms with former Suns and Portland center Deandre Ayton, who was bought out by the Blazers over the weekend. Ayton comes with a lot of baggage, namely around health, motor and attention to detail, but is unquestionably productive. He's never averaged fewer than 10 rebounds a year, and has been a reliable source of 14-18 points a night. He's a viable lob threat, and an excellent pick and roll player. Defensively, Ayton isn't perfect, but is (when engaged) mobile on the perimeter, very solid on the defensive glass and with a 7'6" wingspan, can be a decent deterrent around the rim. So especially when you consider the Lakers surrendered nothing but (very below market) money to get him, Ayton represents as good an outcome as could be hoped for. Frankly, it's another example of a player just kind of landing in their laps, and taking advantage of it. But whatever. The Lakers have a significant upgrade at their biggest position of need, and still have tools to make some more modest improvements to the roster. All in all, a good day, one that should improve the mood around Laker Land and buy Rob Pelinka a little time to keep improving the team.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: The Lakers sign Ayton.  SEGMENT 2: How's the fit?  SEGMENT 3: What's next?  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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 Lockdown Lakers for Thursday. Brian Kamenetzky, Andy Kamenetzki, the Lakers have a center. DeAndre Aiton agrees to a two-year, $18.6 million contract. 16.6, 16.6 million dollar contract. How much closer does that get the Lakers to contention? That is next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast.

your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers. First listen of every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast, this one's always free and never behind the paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 35,000 subscribers, Andy, all of whom are very excited to have D'Andre Aiton,

well, maybe not all of whom, but many of whom, most of whom I would even say, are excited to have DeAndre Aiton on board, the Lakers get their center, not unexpected once DeAndre Aiton was bought out. He was linked most closely to the Lakers the entire time. Wednesday afternoon, he does clear waivers. That part's definitely not surprising. And it is the Lakers who emerge with him under contract two years, $16.6 million. The remaining part of their non-taxpayer mid-level, the bigger contract they were able to get once DFS,

D.F.S. Dorian Finney Smith went to Houston. So Jake Laravia got part of that money during, excuse me, DeAndre Aiton gets the rest of it. So is he a good fit? We'll talk about it in a moment. Do you want to let you know before that, though, that Lockdown Liquors is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money.

Use code locked on MBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. So not unexpected, but at least in my money, Andy. Still a pretty BFD for the Lakers to land DeAndre Aden for a variety of reasons. Yeah, this was huge in terms of the Lakers looking to find a center through free agency. We've talked about this before. They were very limited in terms of their resources to do really anything, much less find a center through a free agency. They were dealing purely with exceptions, vet minimums, that sort of thing. And it's, it. felt like until D'Andre Aiton became a very surprised candidate through this buyout with the Blazers,

that if the Lakers were going to find a definitively starting caliber center for this season, it was going to have to be through trade. Because the options were so few for the Lakers to begin with, with guys who you could even just plausibly talk yourself into as a starter, much less the guys that you. know are at that caliber. DeAndre Aiton has had his detractors, whether you're talking about media, whether you're talking about the teams that have employed him. I think it is safe to say that he has not lived up to the billing and the hype since getting drafted, number one overall, ironically, ahead of new teammate Luca Donchich. But it doesn't change the fact that he is

definitely a starting caliber center in the league. And whatever questions exist about motor, true desire, true passion for basketball, when you are putting up 14 and 10 with three of those rebounds on the offensive glass, a block a game, and some of the other numbers we'll get into, you clearly are doing something productive because you don't just fall into that stuff. I think, look, there's a lot to this conversation that I think, quite frankly, many of the people kind of in the chattering class

we're talking about basketball, social media and even some people who kind of do this professionally are they're getting this wrong. And how they're getting it wrong is, oh, yeah, I'm supposed to believe DeAndre Aiton turns the Lakers into favorites. I'm supposed to believe that DeAndre Atened makes them, you know, instant contenders. So something like, you know, that suddenly he's going

to become this consistent all-star player and this and that, whatever. And the answer to that is, no, you are not supposed to believe these things. You don't compare Aiton to the idealized version of the center you would love for the Lakers to have acquired. You compare Aiton to the players that they had available to them, and then you have to compare to, what if I stipulate this, Andy? DeAndre Aidan fixes none of the issues that have dogged him throughout his career

doesn't get that much more professional. Still is a little bit disappointing. Still has moments where he completely checks out and just is a frustrating player. That guy is still light years better than Jackson Hayes. Yeah. It was the only center

of the Lakers, really at least, and he wasn't even on the roster, but theoretically. No, the only center on the roster right now that is definitively on the team for next year

is Trey Jemison the third on a two-way deal or, and you and I have been actually, I was talking earlier with Nick Engstatt from Locked on, Aves, Locked on NBA, the channel manager for the entire network

of NBA shows here at Lockdown. And he did note, and you and I have been derelict in this. Maxi Kleba is on the roster. I always forget. DeAndre Aden is one of these guys for whom the pendulum has swung too far the other way, where people look at him and say, oh, this guy's trash. He has never disappointing his career may be, and for some people in a lot of ways, he's never averaged fewer than 10 rebounds. He has been a reliable 14 to 18 point score every year of his career. He put up, depending on, you know, whose metrics you believe in

this and that, whatever, you know, put up some pretty good numbers in Portland on a disorganized team, particularly in the first part of that year. You know, Aiton is is far better than anybody the Lakers could have had access to before that buyout, realistically had access to. And the Lakers are getting him at a cost $8 million for this year with the player option that 8, and I'm sure hopes he won't exercise because he'll have outplayed that contract for next year. That is less money than San Antonio is paying yearly for Luke Cornett. It's less than the Clippers are paying Brooke Lopez to be their backup. And this is critical.

the Lakers didn't send anything out to get them. So they still have, they don't have extra roster spots to fill now because they've made a trade that opened up holes that they now went to fill. They have those contracts that they can use to try to maybe swing another trade or you come into the season with those players on your roster. But, you know, somebody asked me earlier today on Twitter at Cam Brothers, it's a great comment, Mr. TD. Aiden has absolutely found money.

But like somebody asked me, is he better than Mark Williams? I think so. But, you know, whether you disagree, you might think Mark Williams a little better than DeAndre Aden. I don't. If nothing else you can believe in the upside of Mark Williams more, if for no other reason than Mark Williams, the main reason I think he's been considered a disappointment is purely because he hasn't been able to stay on the court.

Whereas DeAndre Ate, Aitin has been around longer disappointing people. At the very least, you can believe in an upside of Mark Williams more than fair or not. I think people will believe in an upside for DeAndre. Sure, but Aiton, you could also argue Aiton's disappointing production is still better than Williams is. But what I can guarantee you that William, that Aten is, is he is definitely better than Williams, you know, like plus connect and a first rounder and a swap.

Like, Aiton is definitely more valuable than all of those things put together. You know, because that's really, you know, we got to factor in what the Lakers were giving up there. So, I mean, I think the point of this exercise is that there is tremendous, I do think there is tremendous upside. And we'll talk about the fit in the next segment. But the Lakers stopped the bleeding here. Like, have they had as good of an offseason as Houston or Denver? they have not, and it would have been almost impossible for them to do it. But what they've done is they still have Luca Donchitz, they still have LeBron James,

they still have Austin Reeves. They picked up a nice piece in Jake Larvia, and now they have filled in pretty good fashion the biggest gaping hole on the roster. And that gives them a chance. Well, you mentioned that, you know, people asking you, does DeAndre Aiton, oh, like, I can't believe Laker fans are trying to talk themselves into D'And D'And D'And D'And Aiton makes them better, like for all the reason we talked about definitionally, because they didn't have someone of his caliber before. Short of another trade as unexpected as what happened with Luca, ultimately,

if the Lakers become a contender this season, it's because we're going to see the most actualized version of what Luca, LeBron and Austin can do together. Like that's ultimately... But I think... After the break, though, when I... I think you're right there. But this influences that. And that's what I was going to say.

I'll explain why next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money. Have you ever checked your bank account and just wondered, where did all the money go? Between dining out, online shopping, entertainment for me lately, Pet bills, veterinary bills, they're expensive. It is easy to lose track.

And that's why Monarch Money comes in your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is not just a budgeting app. It is a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending all in one place. So you can stop just managing your money. Stop worrying about this and start building your wealth. Instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use,

Monarch to check your finance, track spending, even plan long-term goals. Managing money with your partner, it's smoother than ever because you can track shared and personal accounts, set goals. Say on the same page without the stress, take control of your finances with Monarch money. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com's code locked on NBA for half off your first year. So I think, Andy, to be honest, if you, some of the frustration,

from people and like the downplaying of the Aden thing comes from general frustration that Rob Polinka has either sold his soul to the devil or is just the luckiest damn GM you will ever find anywhere because these things just keep kind of falling out of the sky for him. you know, Luca Donchich at a time where the Lakers were in a really challenging spot, just given to him by Nico Harrison. Like essentially, you know, Nico rescues the next decade of Lakers basketball for the Lakers and didn't even exact a King's ransom to do it. This isn't that, but it's a small-scale version of it.

the Lakers had no real good exit plan here to try to solve their center problem. And all of a sudden, D'Andre Aiton, who wasn't necessarily expected to be on the market, you know, as a free agent going into the summer, is available to the Lakers for less than a full mid-level. And, you know, he's not an $8 million player, frustrating as he is. He's much, much better than that. and the fit. And they didn't even have to cram in a guy, Andy,

and we'll talk about fit here, who is like really super awkward. He's good, but it doesn't really work. Like, if you drew up what you'd want in a five from a skill set standpoint, Aton,

to play with Luca, Aton ticks not every box. I was going to say, but most of them. He ticks a lot of them offensively. I think defensively he does not check exactly the boxes that you'd want. particularly for a center that has to be a backline behind Luca, behind Austin Reeves, behind almost 41-year-old LeBron over the course of 82 games.

We saw how when LeBron really wants to crank it up, he can, but that is going to be difficult over the course of an entire season, the older LeBron gets. But offensively, he ticks an awful lot of the way Luca likes to use his big men. far as the idea of something falling into Rob's lap yet again, you know, you can trace this all the way back to, you know, he was not the one holding the meeting with LeBron. That was Magic, but he was Magic's top lieutenant. Then a lot of the work getting Anthony Davis here was really done by clutch forcing the issue and then, you know, a relatively straightforward negotiation, you know,

things like that. But even DeAndre Aiton is, I am guessing, this is pure speculation, but I doubt it is that off base. Aiton and Luca have the same agent. And it would not be shocking to me at all if Bill Duffy, their agent, gave Rob a heads up, hey, my client is likely going to have a buyout coming. And I think he would be very interested in playing for the Lakers before you start getting really deep into negotiations that could take you out of a position to either want or need Aiton or to get him. Keep your eye on this. I would be very surprised. So that feels pretty clear when they signed La Ravia that they had a good, I mean, look, you never know, somebody swoops in with, you know, $15 million to offer, whatever it might be, it could be different. And look, you know,

for a little while, like, look like Milwaukee could give a full mid-level to somebody like Aiden. And then they did just a good or bad idea, big swing like, like, you know, in stretching Dame and signing Turner, like all of a sudden, well, they're off the table. And that basically leaves the Pacers as a team to do it. And quite frankly, if you're going to, if you're a guy who's trying to, you know, wants to look good, show you can play winning basketball and really rehab your image, Luca Donchich has made every center he's ever played with look fantastic. As an example, We talked about skill sets that DeAndre Aten has that work well with Luca Donchich. He is a very, very good target if you want to throw up a lob and have somebody catch it and finish on a dunk.

Last year, DeAndre Aten, 14 points, 10 rebounds, three on the offensive glass, but also in 40 games last year, 71 dunks. in two seasons ago, in 67 games, 110 dunks. He has had over 100 dunks in, I believe, at least two seasons, another couple in the 90s. Last season, he was 96.2% converting alliupes of any kind. 31 of 31 for Alleyup dunks. Well, I mean, I would think so. Well, no, no, but 15 of 16 for Allup layups.

That's where the percentage went down a little bit. the year that he played with CP3 and went to the finals, I looked it up 110 out of 115 on Dunkin' Temps. Like he is very automatic in that range throwing down. And between Luca and LeBron, who is certainly no slouch in this regard, and even Austin Reeves, he is going to have a lot of spoon-fed opportunities.

And that's the same. And the Lakers missed that. He is a lob threat. He's an excellent pick and roll center. He's got a little bit of a mid-range. He's not a three-point shooter, but he's got a little bit of a mid-range game. He's an excellent three-point shooter, a pick-and-roll player. He is very good in the offensive glass.

Defensively, he's a very good defensive rebounder. Is he a classic, you know, rim-protecting center, this and that? No. but he's not awful and he's pretty mobile on the perimeter. He actually does pretty well there. So in terms of, you know, hunting, switching and all that kind of stuff and things like that, he's actually got some decent flexibility. It raises this team's overall athleticism, which is something that has been needed.

Again, is he a brilliant defender? No. Is he a better defender than Jackson Hayes? Yes, he is. I need to see more. He's a significantly better rebounder than Jackson Hayes. Well, that, yes, for sure. And he's stronger.

He's larger and he's longer. And so, yes, I think he's better on both sides of the ball. And he fills a lot of things that the Lakers need out of the center. And he's doing it, again, at $8 million a year. So the fit is, again, do you think Al Horford is a better overall players, a coach? Would you find Al Horford, who, by the way, is still on the Lakers radar? I don't think he's going to end up here, but the Warriors are still trying to work out a comming a trade.

You never know exactly what things are going to happen. And the Lakers are, by all reports, still in it on Al Horford to use their remaining money, which is that by annual exception, a little over $5 million a year. They did that. And now you have Horford as a backup, who is more of a stretch play, a reliable defender, a good ball mover, just a really solid play. and would fit in beautifully as a backup. You know, some coaches might prefer Horford.

Is he a great option as a starter? No. Brooke Lopez, same kind of thing. Even if you want to say Lopez is still as good as Aiton, he is not as good a fit for what the Lakers need. I'll take a step further. Brooke Lopez is a much worse fit than DeAndre. Perfect fit for the Clippers as a backup,

but not as good of a fit for what the Lakers need as a start. with their current lineup and all that kind of stuff. So the question, the comparison point people need to make is not what the Lakers would have in a dream scenario. It's what the alternatives were. And you compare this. Like I did the squad show for the, you know, the Western, for the Lockdown Network. I believe that'll post sometime on Thursday. It's a ton of fun, a bunch of guys from around the network all just talking about free

agency. And somebody asked the question, would you just have traded, set money aside and legality and all that kind of, just straight up, would you trade Doreen Phiney Smith, if you were the Lakers, for D'Andre Aiton? And the answer for me was absolutely, like there is no question I would have made that trade. They have more ways to replace, even before Jake LaRavia was there. And I think LaRavia is in some respects a replacement for DFS. He also could be viewed as a potential replacement for Dalton Connect. But he's in the family, if nothing else. But on this roster, even as somebody who thinks DFS,

there will be times where he is missed. They have more avenues on this roster for replacing DFS than they had for DeAndre Ait. Like they need DeAndre Aitin more than they need DFS, even if you believe in DFS as a player and a reliable presence. And by the way, I don't blame you if you do. But they actually need DeAndre Ate. more. Right. And so like would you make that swap, which is kind of what they did. You know, it's, it's DFS. In a roundabout way, yeah. In a roundabout way, they've essentially traded DFS on their

roster. They've swapped out DFS for Aiton and La Ravia. And, you know, that to me is not a bad trade. Not a bad trade. It's just like, you know, from a position of need and from a question of talent, The biggest knocks on Aiton, and they are legitimate and he needs to overcome them for the Lakers to be, you know, really hit the ceiling of what they could be. And like this, hey man, if it really works, like professionalism, you know, sort of the, the, and availability. Like, he gets hurt all the time. Like, he needs to be on the floor and the reliability factor in terms of like, are you going to be on time for the team playing? Are you going to be taking stuff seriously? Are you going to watch your assignments every single day for 82 games like you need to do if you're going to be on a contending team?

But from a talent standpoint, this is just a no-brainer home run for the Lakers given what they could realistically do because they gave up nothing but money to do it. And not even a lot there. Not even that much, right. Coming up, though, what comes next? Next, what seems to be on the horizon or the Lakers keeping a lookout for. There's been some reports. We can get to that coming up next. There are other names out there percolating.

We mentioned Al Horford as an option. The Lakers are still very, very tightly connected to DeAnthony Melton. He's a 6-3, I believe he is, a two-guard, essentially, was a big addition for the Warriors last year and then tore up his knee. So, you know, assuming he's healthy, though, he comes with a great defensive reputation. So he is on the Lakers radar. I loved him at SC.

Yeah. There is still some talk to Lakers, obviously will need to try to fill out their backup center position. Nick Richards, who's in Phoenix right now, is a candidate for that, whether Lakers would trade for him or more likely, wait for him to get bought out, which is a potential option with the Sons.

Richards played better in Charlotte last year than he did in Phoenix, but would still be a pretty nice backup to Aiton. The sons are kind of where players' spirit goes to die. So, I mean, like, in fairness to Nick Richards, who are everydayers and regular listeners and viewers know I was driving the train to try to bring in Nick Richards before he ended up getting moved to Phoenix, because I thought he was potential.

starter caliber for this team. Actually, I was driving that train before. You would have started for the Lakers. Well, no, I was at, now that I think about it, I was thinking about the timing. I was actually driving that train when Anthony Davis was on the team. I wanted Nick Richards to be AD's backup. Right.

But then he would have, he would have absolutely post-trade started over. It's interesting. I mean, maybe he does get bought out, and that would be more potential good fortune for the Lakers. Brett Siegel from Clutch Points had a report that the Lakers have had conversations with New Orleans about Eve Misi, which that might change now that DeAndre Aiton is in hand potentially just because I don't know if you, Misi is a young developing player who I believe has been starting in New Orleans. I don't know if you want to start last year all year.

Right. I don't know if you want to start regressing him and I don't think you want to start this partnership off with Aiton by moving him to the bench. And right now New Orleans is such a wild card trying to figure out what the F they're doing over there with the roster construction. I don't even know. Well, the only reason, I mean, the idea that they would trade Misi doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And the Lakers don't have a ton of stuff that in theory really matches with what New Orleans. No. The only reason you would say it's worth kicking the tires on is because Joe Dumars is over there just doing wacky stuff.

Right. That's what I'm saying. It's been such a wild card. It doesn't, it doesn't make sense. but at the same time, they've been adding and drafting all these front court players who seem redundant together. So I don't really know what it would be. I mean, theoretically it could be a framework involving Dalton for Misi, which, yeah, I'd do that in a second. Sure. And then, you know, Nick Richards was another guy that Brett Siegel mentioned.

And he is surprisingly complicated for the Lakers to try to trade for, even though he only makes about $5 million bucks. Like, I think I speak for you. I would not give up Dalton Connect for a backup center on an expiring deal. So from there, like the cleanest trade with maybe a pick swap or something included would be shake and brawny, which I need to see evidence that brawny is somebody the Lakers would actually trade before I consider that on the table. So then you think about maybe expanding it and something like, Maxi Claiba and I don't know, maybe a swap for Nick Richards and Royce O'Neill and you would be

cleaning Phoenix's books. I know they're pretending to be a serious competitive team, but they might still appreciate that. But it would dip into that rumored that I don't particularly believe 2027 offseason where they want the clean, pristine books that will be unsullied. You would have to have a year of O'Neill at least potentially there. But, you know, Maxie Kleva and filler for Richards and O'Neill, I would certainly consider that. Sure. But the only thing I think the other thing, too, is that you can use that BAA as a trade

exception. I don't know exactly how that would work mechanically, but you can trade into it that way. That is true. That is an option. Yes. I stop, once I, aside from that, I stop pretending like I completely know. No, no, that I don't know. Yeah.

Like, are there other rules about where you are, you know, relative passive? Yeah, no, but that is a possibility as well. Yeah, whatever. But the Lakers, you know, this maneuver, it frees, you know, whether they end up with a backup center with the rest of their money, whether they go get a guy like Melton, who would be very, very handy as a bench rotation guy to, you know, as a better version of Gabe Vincent as a backcourt defender or any of that stuff.

The Lakers are just, they are, we said this on shows earlier this week. As, you know, we're not, we're not here caping for Rob, never have been. And like, again, like, do I consider this great GMing work? No. I don't. If the job gets done, I don't care if he's terrible. The job is a job. Right.

It's opportunistic and they're doing it and they got the guy. But if they came through this with some combination in free agency of La Ravia and Aiton and either Horford, Melton, a backup center of some other kind or whatever it is and A viable one, not like a crappy one, but like a good one. That's pretty good. You're doing good work in that case. If you then can make smaller trades that fill other holes, balance the roster out a little bit better, that's great too. But you know what?

If you go into the season with a starting lineup of Luca, LeBron, Reeves, Ruey, and Aiton, I mean, I understand that's not going to get people excited like Denver. It's not going to get people excited like Houston now that they've added KD to a team that was a two seed despite averaging like 34 points a game. And now they've added Kevin Durant. Like those teams are better than the Lakers. But that's starting five that I just mentioned with, you know, La Javier coming off the bench. And you still have Vincent and Vanderbilt. and, you know, connect, hopefully takes a step.

Like, okay, you can see why the Lakers are a step behind some of those other teams. But that starting five is a very good, that's a good team. Like, let's not, the problem with the Lakers isn't that they've fallen way back relative to where they were last year. It's just that other teams have made more progress this offseason. The Lakers still have three excellent players and a fourth player in Rui Hachamura, who is pretty good and now have filled that role with a guy with, I'm not going to say all-star talent,

but sort of all-star adjacent level capabilities, especially playing with Luca. I don't know if he's going to get there. And getting there is how the Lakers, again, one of the ways the Lakers get as far as they could possibly go. but their floor goes up immensely over what they were earlier this week by adding Aiton, even again, if he doesn't address a single one of his shortcomings as a player. Yeah, I still think as a starting five, it's potentially quite potent offensively.

There are a lot of defensive questions. I still think if the Lakers want to try to reach another level, it's going to be at least, at least in terms of meshing skill sets, trying to find as much balance as possible, there's likely going to be a trade needed just because even with adding Aiton, as much as I think he makes them better than they were last year just because talent is talent, and he is a talent upgrade over any center they had last year, not named Anthony or Davis. they still have a lot of question marks about how it all fits together defensively. There still is some redundancy, I think, particularly on that side of the floor between

Luca and Rui and LeBron. There are still things to figure out. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's... And like I said earlier, ultimately, without a move like that coming, this team will go as far as the actualization of Luca, LeBron, and Austin as a trio gets them. But the pieces around them help that actualization get realized. And Aiton is going to be more useful for that actualization than anybody they had on the roster last year. And anybody I think they thought was even possibly potential as a free agent. He's better than, I mean, again, maybe other people to

agree. He's better than Jackson Hayes on both sides of the ball. He is light years better than Hayes offensively. And he's a significantly better rebounder than Hayes. And so even if you think Hayes is a better shot blocker and that is a rim protector and that is very debatable. I don't think he is. But even if you do, the Royal U out there watching, it's not, you know, Just the difference in rebounding makes Aiton a significantly more valuable player on that side of the ball. And, you know, he's mobile on the perimeter. The problem is just motor. And the problem is wants and care and professionalism and all that kind of stuff.

But with the Lakers, he's got a chance to really rehab his image. He's got a chance to look real good playing with, you know, with excellent players. And again, I go back to it, Luca Dantzich has made a career. out of making ordinary centers look good, let alone the good ones. Yeah. It's when you said before that you're not sure DeAndre Aitin is an all-star talent, I think he actually is an all-star talent,

like just in terms of pure talent potential. Right. I just mean sort of like, I'm not going to say he's going to sit here and say he's making. No, no. What I was going to, what I was going to say is I think the larger problem is the desire to actualize the talent as much as possible.

and I think there's a chance between the way Luca will provide, I think, opportunities and sort of joy, inspiration that way, and I think what both LeBron and JJ and the general setting around him will demand of him that I think wasn't there in Portland and may not have even been there in Phoenix on a team that went to the finals.

Like we talked about before, if the best version of DeAndre Aiton has not already been reached. If it ain't reached with the Lakers, we're never going to see it or it was never there to be. He has played. He has been on winning teams before. Yes. Yes. I'm just saying that best version. Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see what happens on Thursday. Going into and then obviously going into the weekend, locked on Lakers on YouTube. So you can go hang out with over 35,000 subscribers to the channel. Lakers, though, undoubtedly in better position at the end of Wednesday than they were going into it. So it's a good day for Lakers fans. We'll see everyone tomorrow.