Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Is Austin Reaves a Good Long Term Running Mate for Luka Dončić?

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

The Lakers have a lot of questions in front of them, now that Luka Dončić has signed his extension with the team. Most of them revolve around how best to build around the new superstar, and fundamental to that question is the future of Austin Reaves. It is widely assumed that next summer Reaves will attract a contract worth north of $30 million annually. Possibly around $35, if he has another season that looks like last year. It's also widely assumed that the Lakers will be the team that pays him. But while that contract number isn't out of line for someone with AR's numbers, it definitely would remove Reaves from the "best bargains in basketball" category, where he's sat for the last few seasons. So what does that impact the way the Lakers should look at him going forward? Many analysts look at Dončić and note that the players with whom he tends to thrive are generally athletic centers who can finish above the rim, and shooters to space the floor (ideally ones that can defend, as well). Basically, offensive players that can take advantage of his myriad skills, while also helping cover for his biggest weakness (high end defense). Reaves is an excellent player, but isn't either of those things. That's less an issue when he's making $14 mil or so than $35, because the Lakers would have less money to fill holes Reaves can't. On the other hand, he's really good, and the pairing was pretty effective last year in terms of net rating. So clearly they can play together. But how do the Lakers build a roster as players they like get pricier? Could LeBron James actually be a useful bridge for one more season if the goal really is to keep flexibility for the summer of '27? How exactly are the Lakers viewing roster building, big picture?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Is Austin Reaves an ideal running mate for Luka?  SEGMENT 2: What are LA's options when it comes to Reaves? Pros and cons?  SEGMENT 3: Is LeBron a potential bridge for the Lakers?  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.OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnbaMonarch 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 Komenetsky, Andy Kemenetsky, is the Lakers try to figure out the best way to build around Luca Donchich long term. How does Austin Reeves fit into all that? That is next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

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that today's episodes brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code, locked an NBA for $20 off the first purchase. So ESPN is now, like all of us, kind of analyzing the what's next after the, we kind of calling it, and then certainly Team Luca's calling it, the beginning of the Luca era. They have a story out, I came out with one on Wednesday that asks four fundamental questions about the Lakers in this era. How the Lakers can build around Luca, league insiders on Austin Reeves future, prepping for the summer of 2027, and then, you know, LeBron James's options. These are the four of the big questions that popped up there. And obviously, you and I have thought a lot about, talked a lot about like what's next for the Lakers in terms of how to build.

And to me, at least, those first two questions, what's the, how can the Lakers build around Luca and what's the future for Austin Reeves? Those two are very fundamentally intertwined. Yeah, particularly once Austin is no longer considered one of the best bargains in the league. There's a quote in the piece from ESPN, which we'll put in the show notes. It's a really good breakdown of a lot of different questions facing the Lakers in the league. the not so distant future, but there's a Western Conference executive that is quoted as saying that Austin will be making somewhere in the $30 million range, which is very consistent to what

we have predicted that he will be making on his next deal. No less than that. I think it could be more. I doubt it'll be less. Yeah. I mean, Austin will be technically eligible for something along the lines of like four years. $220 million as a max. I don't think anybody is going to pay him that, and I would be both flabbergasted and

frankly disapproving if the Lakers pay him that. Like that's just too much for Austin Reeves. But he is going to be whether by the Lakers or somebody else paid, you know, somewhere between double and triple what he's making right now. and even if you think Austin is worth that salary in a vacuum, that dramatically changes the calculus for the Lakers in trying to figure out, A, the best pieces to put around Luca and be how to make all those best pieces fit economically because the best pieces among superstar players or the best pieces among role players

or the best pieces in whatever category you would consider Austin Reeves, like All-Star adjacent somewhere below All-Star in between high-end role player and All-Star, whatever. They all cost a lot, and it's a Cap League. So it becomes much more complicated. Yeah, I'll say this. I mean, I think 35, in today's NBA salary structure, 30 million a year, 32, 33, you know, give or take 15% off of 13 million.

or 30 million, I think is a very fair salary for a guy who's coming off of a season where he average 20 points, six assists, four and a half rebounds, you know, a steal a game, looking at his three point numbers, shot 38% from three point range. You know, he gets to the free throw line a lot. Like, he's a very effective player. So I think that from a financial standpoint, that is 100% in line with what Reeves ought to be earning. I don't have a problem with that, but I agree with you. It does change the, the calculus of how you think about him in terms of value because now he goes from being

wildly underpaid to appropriately paid. And, you know, that just slots differently with your team. And you have to think are really quick. You have to think more carefully about how much you believe in Luca and Austin or Luca and whatever 30 to 50 to 60 to whatever million dollar player you're talking about, how well do they fit together? How well do they in a lot of ways, not just complement each other, but I think in some ways strengthen each other.

Right. That starts to matter more, the more. Because you have less, you have less money to play with to make up some of that difference. No question. Exactly. So the way I look at this, like in this story, one of the things they talk about, how the Lakers should build around Luca, again, none of this stuff is terribly new in the sense

of what people have talked about. What does Luca really thrive with shooters and a vertical center? And defensive players. Right. Two-way players that can shoot and guys who can get above the rim. And so, you know, by the way, that first. formula is not unique necessarily to him. Most ball dominant players, that's been the formula for LeBron. Maybe less about the vertical center, but find him defender, you know, especially

floor spacers has always been something people have talked about putting next to LeBron. So again, some of these things, these two-way wings, all that kind of stuff, not necessarily unusual, but there's no question. These are guys that you want around Luca because he creates so many shots for people, generates, you know, doesn't need a lot of help generating shots, particularly out of the pick and roll. So you want to be able to pay off his ability to get in the lane and find any player anywhere on the floor because he's got incredible vision. That includes both above the rim and obviously around the arc. He has done well with a star player like Kyrie Irving, but he also has done well without star players like Kyrie

Irving, you know, if you can really fill in that, that two-way thing. Reeves can shoot, you know, I think he's a good shooter, he's a good offensive player, he's a lot of things. He is certainly not a vertical center, and he's not, I would say, one of the scariest shooters in the NBA. He's a good shooter, but he's not an elite shooter. He's not, you know, prime JJ Redick or something like that or, you know, staff, guys like that. You don't think of him as a floor spacer in that way. In particular, too, his strength as a shooter is not as a catch and shoot shooter. He is much, I think, more comfortable at the very least, creating his own three as opposed to really working as an off ball, catching ball.

At the very least, a lot of his offensive strength comes with having the ball on his hands. It's how he gets to the line. It's a, so I think your basic point here that while, you know, a creative coach, I think can do a lot with Austin Reeves and Luca together. If you're going by that prescription, two-way wings who can shoot or vertical centers, it is not unfair to say that Austin is neither one of those things. So what do you do because it's a complex question? And it gets into a lot of the things about like how the Lakers are going to be organized, you know, how you take advantage of whether the summer of 2026 or if you want to look a little further ahead as this article does, the summer of 2027, which has been a big talking point

since the end of last season, how do you fit Austin into those things? It's not an easy question, and I don't think, I'm guessing here, but I don't think we totally agree on it, and we'll get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by open phone. If you are running a business,

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I think I know where you're going here, but I don't want to put words in your mouth. Austin Reeves is going to be a free agent next year or after this season. He's obviously not going to extend until he is a free agent. The Lakers, by every report, want him to come back. Reeves, by every report, wants to come back. let's just say for bleeps and giggles, it's a four-year deal at 32, that averages to 32 and a half a season. So we'll split that difference between 30 and 35, four years.

That would be what, 130 million or something like that. We'll call it that. Do you sign Reeves to that deal? I think you sign him to the deal at the end of the day, unless it's a prohibitive number, if for no other reason than to have the salary slot. accounted for because it could allow you to make deals down the road. So like in that sense, I mean, what's, what's interesting about this is I think you can make an argument that unless some team is offering Austin like 40, 42 million, something like that, where it really just

starts becoming like, I don't think he is actually worth that salary. Right. And then he could become a difficult guy to trade if your instinct is correct. I think in that range and for what it's worth, I think 32 and a half is on the low end of what I would prepare for Austin getting. I think I get my my guess is 35 is about what he'll average annually. But I think a touch more. I think it's going to be between 35 and 40. If I were to prepare for this, I would prepare much more for 35 to 40 than 30 to 35. That's fair.

And then if you're wrong, you get that money back. Right. Exactly. But especially too, in a. an offseason where there's going to be a fair amount of teams that have cap space. I am I am anticipating somewhere between 35 to 40 more than 30 to 35. And by the way, very few high-end free agents. It's not a great year for star free agents.

Right. And Austin may be in kind of the packing order, one of the highest guys out there. So at 32-ish, yeah, I would make that deal. Now, if you're asking me, do I think it is necessarily the best, way to go about building around Luca as your foundation. My answer would be I have a lot of concerns and reservations. I particularly, too, and we'll talk about this, depending on where LeBron does or does not fit into this moving forward. But for the time being, just talking about Luca and Austin, I have a lot of concerns about the idea of your two highest paid players, the two guys that seem

like your foundational guys, unless you're talking about a team that happens to have rookies, like, that are very good that are still on the rookie scale deal, but for the time being the Lakers don't have that. And realistically won't for a while. I am, I have concerns about your two highest paid players, not really offsetting each other's weaknesses in any ways. And in a lot of ways, while I think they complement each other very well, Austin and Luca in the sense that they can, I think, play together offensively in ways that can work. They are in a lot of ways very similar players, I think both in the way they play on the court and functionally. Neither one of them is a two-way player by any stretch of the imagination.

They're not. You can't make an argument for either one of them as a true two. I think they're both willing to defend. Sure. But that doesn't mean they're Right. Plus. I'm not giving points for effort. I'm giving. I mean, effort. Effort matters.

I don't think either one of that. I think both of them when they're playing sort of at their best defensively isn't as much of a negative as some people like to talk about them as. But that is also a different thing than being a plus. There are guys that you have to protect in one where they'll fit in your system. They will play within your system. They'll do what they're supposed to do. But they need protection.

I think that's- Yeah, particularly Luca as the guy that you are looking to build around most. And I tend to believe that especially in this new CBA era that can be so prohibitive, that it can be difficult to build a true contender around two guys that have as many similar, not just strengths, but also weaknesses. And I have concerns about Luca and Austin as a foundation that way. This is certainly not the first time I've expressed that before. It does help a lot that the Lakers are not paying Luca what Dallas would have been paying them on the original Supermax.

Like that actually, you know, it's nothing Luca can hold against the Lakers. They gave him the absolute most money that they can. But nonetheless, it helps. It's interesting last week or a couple weeks ago on Lakers talk, my show on 710 ESPN. I had Jason Timph from Hoops Tonight, part of the Volume Sports Network, Colin Cowards Network.

He's a great, great basketball analysis. He's been on our show before. And he and I were talking, and he made the argument, he's not the only person who's made it. It actually comes up in this ESPN piece that the most ideal way to build around a player as heliocentric offensively as Luca,

who is capable of creating so much offense him, itself is actually to forego superstar, superstar adjacent players alongside him and just put the absolute best support system around him in terms of all the things he doesn't provide. Athleticism, defense, obviously vertical spacing, the ancillary scoring that can cash in on the looks that he creates, stuff like that. That's actually the best way to get like sort of the maximization of your dollar. and your roster around Luca. You know, there obviously is a template with Kyrie with Luca where it shows it can work,

but just particularly when you start thinking about reports of eyes on Janus or eyes on Yokic, that it, forget the likelihood of it actually happening. It may not really even be the best way to build around Luca. I look at it. First of all, I just want to say your point about you sign him no matter what. I mean, not no matter what, but barring something completely odd. And if you think that day is coming, if you anticipate the market is changing, you know what?

This is somebody out there is just going to offer him way too much. Now, that likely means he's playing so well that maybe you feel differently about offering him a big deal. But I don't know what this scenario looks like, but something's going to happen where somebody's going to offer him more money than you're willing. Then you have to trade him. What you cannot have happened. Though it's a hard time to trade him, man.

It's a really. It is. But what you really can't have happen, you have to figure out how to avoid happening. You figure out a sign and trade. You figure out something is letting him walk for nothing. Agreed. Because replacing that's very similar.

Like, oh, we want LeBrona. It's badass that management's let out, especially after three seasons of he's untouchable. We can't move him for anything, whatever. And then at the end of that, that because you're not willing to, you know, get into uncomfortable territory and what you're willing to pay them, which if you, you know, you, you have to have a pretty high number where you say, you know, guys, let's be honest. We, you know, we don't think Austin's worth this extra

$5 million, but we got to give it to him because what else we're going to do here? Like, you have to be willing to go into that territory after how you've treated him for the last, assuming he plays well this year. He's got to earn it, obviously. But it's just, it's an interesting thing to look at because the two-man pairing, like I know there was a lot of talk about how the three, the big three looked together. You know, Luca LeBron and Austin, Reeves and Luca, as a pairing last year, were a positive 6.5 in terms of net rating. So the two of them, the results on court were quite good. And, you know, offensively, a lot of that was offensively. They were up around 120 120 offensive rating, which is pretty good.

It gets to this question of like, how much do those two-way guys cost? Because I do think, and we can talk about this after the break a little bit, but like I don't think their conception of the team is Luca and Austin as your big two, so to speak, and then filling around in the way that Jason Tim talks about, which is not a bad strategy, by the way. But if it was, then actually I think it makes a lot more sense. If you are actually thinking, like, you know what, let's do Luca, let's do Austin, And then let's fill around with a lot of really good high-end role players. And they get the kind of depth that sort of like they have in Dallas right now,

where it's a lot of really, really good, versatile high-end role guys. Like that could be a team that Luca can help carry to a title. You're obviously very Luca dependent at that point, but you would be. They're going to be anyway. I mean, there's no scenario in which we back off our depend on. dependence on Luca Donchich. So you're not going to depend on Luca in his prime. What the effort we do?

What are we doing here? Exactly. So it's if that's one plan, but the plan the Lakers seem to be really focused on is Luca and Austin, but the summer of 2027, like the addition of if the summer of 27 represents both an opportunity at free agency, but also I think is. kind of an avatar for let's add another star player to put with Luca and then Austin. And now you're filling it around with, as to your point, Andy, significantly less stuff, less money to work with. So let's talk through those two scenarios because I think that actually

fundamentally changes the way you look at Austin. Next. Lock on Lakers is brought to you by game time. you've ever decided last minute go into a baseball game. And with my friends, my family, it's a game day. You just decide I've got to be there. That's where game time comes in. It's the fastest, easiest way to grab last minute tickets stress-free.

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Create an account and use the code Locked on MBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem the code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-B-A for $20 off. Download the GameTime app. Today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. One more thing I was just thinking about because we were going to touch on LeBron and how he fits into all this because it's part of the article that ESPN wrote. This actually, this question may actually be a way in which the short termness of LeBron has the potential to work in the Lakers favor a little bit.

And I'll explain why. I was just thinking about this this afternoon. Like if the Lakers really are sort of trying to keep options open until they feel like more stuff will shake loose over the next couple of seasons. They don't believe over the next year, they'll either have enough stuff to offer a disgruntled star who wants to come here, they don't have the space to do it. Cleveland isn't set up.

There's just too many things going on short term. It's too hard to make big gigantic trades right now. Okay. The Lakers have a good season. LeBron plays well, stays healthy, Reeves looks good, Luca looks good. They get to the second round of the playoffs. They lose a competitive second round against pick a team.

Everyone feels kind of encouraged about where they are. You can actually then in that circumstance, look at it and say, you know what, one more year of LeBron at 45, $45, $45,000, $50 million, whatever it is, and kind of tweak the roster we have bring back something that was an admittedly a very good team,

very competitive, and that bridges us to where we need to go. I wouldn't do a three-year deal with LeBron obviously or two. I think two is the most he might be able to do anyway, beyond that.

Like there is a little bit of a scenario in my mind where the fact that everybody is kind of on a short-term thing with LeBron and the Lakers could be. LeBron probably would be, could actually be a little bit

advantageous depending on how this year goes. I'm not wild about that. I want to see them start actually building something. That to me just feels like you're stalling because you're not really interested. You're not feeling like you are stalling because you believe if your goal is to keep that flexibility intact while still being good if that's what they want to do. You know, I feel about keeping flexibility intact. It would depend a lot on who is or is not available in the summer of 2026.

whether via free agency or via trade. I mean, one of the things I think is interesting about this is I was looking at some of the non-superstar or non-star players that could theoretically be available in 2026. Like you mentioned before, 2026 is not a big offseason, at least potentially for all-NBA, all-star type players, which could make Austin Reeves one of the more coveted guys out there. Sure. But if you look at some of the guys a tier below, Lou Dort could theoretically be let go

because there's a team option on him. Cason Wallace is, I think, kind of being groomed in the wings for the Lou Dort role. OKC is getting more expensive. He could end up a cap casualty as they look to the long term with Cason Wallace, Isaiah Hartenstein, with other Jalen Williams, center Jalen Williams in the wings, who they locked up to a very reasonable number for a reason.

Isaiah Hartinstein has a team option. Again, OKC getting expensive. Anthony Black. To the center, by the way? Yeah, Anthony Black in Orlando, a team that is about to get super expensive. There's a team option on him. PJ Washington will be an unrestricted free agent. Mitchell Robinson will be an unrestricted free agent.

Rui, by the way, unrestricted free agent, who has played, I think, very well with Luca. And obviously the team likes him. Like, there are options that could be out there to, again, build what might be more of a offset all of Luca's weaknesses or relative, you know, they're not even relative weakness. There are actual weaknesses. He's still an incredible player, but he has weaknesses.

And basically strengthening all the areas that Luca doesn't provide, but it will be impossible to do that if you are retaining both Austin and LeBron. And I wonder about potential opportunity costs, both in terms of maybe building something with more sustainability and maybe more effectiveness, but also two, opportunity costs in not having as many tradable contracts. Things like that. I feel like if you maybe this team overachee, you and I, are both relatively bullish on this team this season, but maybe they overachieve beyond even what you and I think. And that might change the way I feel about this. But I am generally of the thought that with Luca in the extension era, Austin Reeves new contract era, and LeBron

moving forward, unless he is willing to take a pretty, I'm not saying a veteran's minimum discount, but a notable discount, something that is less than 50-ish mill a year, I don't think they are going to be able to put the pieces around this team in in ways that will make them the team that they want to be in Lucas Prime. That to me does not feel like maximizing Lucas Prime with any real plan. What I would say to that is actually don't object at all to what you're talking about. What I'm saying is, but what you're talking about is predicated on the idea of we're not going to sit around and wait for the summer of 2027. So if your plan, which I'm not for, I'll say it again, I'm not as convinced that the

Lakers are doing this as everybody else is. I think they are, I think there, I think too many people have reported this and whatever for it to be some of, and where the Lakers aren't at least very attracted to or very, are going to sacrifice their flexibility in two seasons. only with good cause, we'll put it that way. I think there's too much there. I don't think it means they won't spend it all on, you know, contracts that go beyond a year or two,

but they didn't this offseason and we'll have an opportunity to. But they could have signed people to four-year deals. I mean, there are players out there that they could have signed a multiple years if they wanted. They're not really, but I mean, absolutely could have. I'm not, look, without getting too into the weeds, who got a full four-year deal other than Nikiel Alexander Walker? I'm just saying that, like, if they, if they were really interested, if they, you know,

maybe they didn't find, there were probably players not, they didn't think were worth doing it for. But that's, I'm not going to, but that to me isn't representative of an unwillingness. That's, we shouldn't do it. I don't know. Both things can be true. Like, we, we don't really want to do it. We'll do it for a special opportunity.

This guy isn't special enough. we're not doing it. I think they are very interested. Palinka talked about it over the weekend. They're very interested in keeping maximum flexibility. If nothing else, they're very interested in telling people that they want to have maximum flexibility and making people think that they want to have maximum flexibility. That is true. And so maybe they're lying. It's possible. Wouldn't be the first time that a team has lied about this sort of thing. But if that's, if they really want that level of flexibility for the following off season, then I think what I was talking about before makes a lot of sense.

They're not going to sign Lou Dort to a three-year deal or a four-year deal. They're not going to sign, and I'd be nervous about Dord at a certain number anyway. But those longer-term commitments that take them potentially out of a free agent market, I'm not sure they would do. Now, that said, I hate that way of building a team. I hate it. I much prefer the let's make good smart signings, good smart trades, acquire, you know, well-slotted contracts that we can then trade for. I think you use the example.

What if Anthony Edwards were suddenly to wake up tomorrow and said, you know, we were- When you and I were email. We were email each other. Like if Anthony Edwards decides he's disgruntled in, you know, you don't want to wait to lose a free agent. you want to be able to trade for the guy. Okay, so let's figure that out. You need players, you need contracts, you need stuff, especially in this apron world that we live in

where so many teams can't aggregate contracts, you want to be able to get a guy into account. Like, there are all kinds of, like, players, I think, are more valuable than space, because then you end up overpaying for guys like Lou Dort or something like that, that you might end up paying outside of their ability to contribute at that salary level.

So so much of this depends on really what the Lakers are planning on doing. If they want to go ahead and start building a team starting next season because that's when all the contracts essentially expire, I'm all for it because I hate the idea of waiting around to see. Like I hope Janus and Yokic and all these guys end up kind of off the market in one way or another before the Lakers have to start making all these decisions because I think that's where it's going to end up anyway. rather than cross your fingers and hope they shake loose, just go build a team. And if that's what they're doing, then I agree with you. Then you can start looking past a one-year LeBron Bridge or something like that. If you're going to then sign a couple players, make a couple trades, and build something that looks like this might be your team for two or three years.

I'm all in on that. I think that's a great idea. I just don't know if that's what the Lakers are doing. and if they want to maintain maximum flexibility to be able to make trades, be able to do what they want, be in that market, whatever, then I do think then at that point, LeBron actually is as good of a bridge as you're going to find in the NBA. He is a great bridge in a vacuum. I mean, there's no question.

I just wonder if for where this team is right now with a star like Luca in his prime, that's the best way to maximize it. Two different questions to me. Yeah, I get what you're saying. It's just two different questions to me. Well, I guess I would weigh much more towards the question of maximizing than I would either waiting. I also wonder, too, if there was another player, you know, obviously it'd have to be very good, but that was not named LeBron or James, if they would look at it in the same way in terms of bridging,

because this is an organization that cares a lot about like iconic superstar legacy, having those guys potentially retire with them, all things that I totally understand. Oh, yeah. No, I understand what you mean. I'm just, it's, it's such a unique circumstance because you're looking for us a second team, all NBA player who's willing to sign for one year somewhere, you know, where that makes sense for that play. Like that player doesn't exist except in the form of a 41 year old LeBron. Leave us questions, leave us comments. Let us know what you think kind of about these different

scenarios because all of these questions are really based on what strategy the Lakers really want to use going forward. I think it will be very hard to build much of real substance with all three of those guys. But the whole premise of this is that they aren't going to be trying to do that next off season anyway. So if that's the truth, then it makes sense. I kind of hope it isn't, but we'll see. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel. Of course, get us on Spotify, get us on Apple. Make sure you're subscribing in every way, shape, and form. We will see you tomorrow.