Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Blow Out the Clippers 122-97, LeBron Reacts to the Luka Trade

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

The Lakers put out quite an effort on the defensive end Saturday, when they beat the Knicks in New York. Tuesday against the Clippers, they did it again, this time without Max Christie, who was with the Mavs making his debut for Dallas. Final score, 122-97. This was a top 3 defense in the league, and the Lakers lit them up, and controlled the game throughout. And obviously this was done without Luka Doncic on the floor. (LA's new star is targeting Saturday vs. Indiana to make his debut in purple and gold.) Everything will change once Doncic is in uniform, and there will without question be adjustments and growing pains. But it's pretty clear—as they wrap up a 5-1 Grammy road trip, tied in the loss column with Denver, and will taking the floor Thursday at the Crypt having won nine of their last 11 games—that the Lakers have found something that has nothing to do with which star or role player is on the roster. Save clunkers against Charlotte and Philadelphia (one win, one embarrassing loss), the Lakers have displayed a level of focus and continuity on the floor, not only playing hard but also executing the same game plan, as a team. The latter certainly hasn't been a given throughout the year. Obviously more could change between now and Thursday's trade deadline, but the circumstances under which the Lakers will now integrate Doncic—or more specifically, how the Lakers will be integrated with Doncic—is promising. First, they've given themselves a little bit of cushion to work with in the West, having moved a few games clear of the play-in tier, but as importantly they seem to have a better understanding of what JJ Redick and the coaching staff are asking of them. They're more confident. There's less guessing. The role players, who have been thriving with LeBron James (26/8/9) setting them up, are about to take the floor with Doncic as well. Austin Reaves (20/6/9) continues growing more comfortable as a distributor. Rui Hachimura (20 points) has taken advantage of more opportunities in the offense. Dalton Knecht (14 points) is back to providing useful minutes off the bench. Shot quality with Luka and LeBron should be off the charts. Better shots and better offense will mitigate some of their vulnerabilities on defense. It's not going to be perfect, or even close, but the notion the Lakers have to drop off significantly following the trade simply isn't supported by what's happening on the floor.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers thump the Clippers. SEGMENT 2: Finding an identity. SEGMENT 3: Quickly adjusting to a new world in El Segundo.  Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. Sign up for free now, at lockedondaily.com.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Rediscover your curiosity with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.RobinhoodWith Robinhood Gold, you can now enjoy the VIP treatment. The new Gold Standard is here with Robinhood Gold. To receive 3% boost on annual IRA contributions,  sign up at robinhood.com/gold. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelSuper Bowl 59 is here, And there’s no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just FIVE DOLLARS, and if you win, you’ll score TWO HUNDRED BUCKS in Bonus Bets. Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of Super Bowl Fifty-Nine. 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 Wednesday, Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kamenetzki, with Luca Donchich watching from the sidelines. The Lakers, led by LeBron James, Stomp the Clippers. Nice night for everyone. That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockdown Lakers. The first listen to every day. every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast, this one's always going to be free and never behind a paywall locked on Lakers on YouTube, which quite many of you are looking at right now, over 30,000 subscribers to the channel, all of whom Andy are very excited, not just about the Luca Dantzich era, which kicks off hopefully for reels on Saturday. The Lakers are targeting Saturday as a potential debut for Dantzich in a Lakers uniform.

But also the results of the game itself that the Lakers played at the Intuit Dome on Tuesday night, they just really controlled throughout and dominated a Clippers team that beat them up pretty bad a week or two ago. 122.97, the final score. LeBron plays great. Austin Reeves has a really good game. Rui Hachamura has a good game. Everybody really who played contributed for the Lakers will get into all of this next. including LeBron James, speaking really for the first time about the trade and about Luca joining the team.

So I want to let everybody know that today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked an NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Andy, if the vibes were good going into Tuesday's game, just given all the excitement around the trade, they're really good now. Oh, yeah. I tweeted out at Cam Brothers and had a little clip that I shot with my phone while watching the game. We've already entered. At the time, we were not even one full game into the Luca Donchich era for the Lakers.

And we already had LeBron on the bench next to Luca talking with Luca and doing the covering my mouth thing so nobody can read my lips. Nobody can figure out what we're saying to each other, which is one of, I mean, a lot of athletes. do this, but nobody leans into the, I can't let anybody know what we're actually saying more than LeBron. We already got that chemistry baby, and the two of them have not even stepped foot on the court together. The Lakers finished the first quarter up 45 to 29, I believe it was a 10-2 run to close things out. You could tell things we're just working for the Lakers, and I think work is a very appropriate word. There was a sequence toward the end of the first quarter where LeBron got sent to the line. He missed both of his free throws, but Jackson Hayes tipped out, Jackson Hayes, by the way,

making the case for himself as like, I've been an all-star in hiding and nobody's paying attention to me. But I wouldn't go quite that far. Okay, I'm a starting center in hiding and nobody's paying attention to me. But Jackson Hayes tips out the second miss and it ends up creating a LeBron three. Like that's how you know it's just all working and clicking for the Lakers. They shot the ball very well. They hit nine of their first 15 three-pointers. So like that's going to put pressure on the opposing defense.

But don't for, I mean, remember here, the Clippers are came into the game as third rank defense in the NBA. You know, Kauai Leonard, active available for this game. And they hit a couple tough ones. There's no question. But they also had a lot of really clean, good looks. And they moved. They ran the floor.

Well, Dalton Connect was the recipient of a couple early dunks just from cutting, running the floor, moving really well. LeBron found him. LeBron's passing was insane in this. That couple, you go back to find the highlights. I mentioned the passes to Connect. He had won to Dorian Finney Smith, again, cutting you the basket that was just, I mean, it was a no look pass through the lane and DFS, like you said, he's working a back cut, just an uncontested layup, gorgeous, just gorgeous.

It was fantastic. And so all of this stuff, it was, you know, it was really fun to watch. But, you know, Austin Reeves was on point. But the offensive continuity led to defensive continuity. and what I like about this, and we're going to get, we'll probably spend the last two segments talking about LeBron

talking about Luca in this game. But like, where the Lakers are, when Luca finally takes the floor, matters where they are literally in the standings, but also kind of where they are as a team.

And let's talk about the first part. First, with this win, Lakers moved to 10 games over 500. They're tied in the loss column with Denver. And so they are nicely into that tier of top six, a little bit of cushion between them and seven through 10, the play and stuff. So you have a little bit of wiggle room if it takes a game or two or three or five

to get used to Luca. And then, Mandy, JJ talked, JJ Redick talked about it after the game. The connectivity with what they're doing on the floor, certainly over the last three games, especially, but even really going back to, you know, the Boston game, what they did against Washington at home, all this stuff. The Knicks, especially. The Knicks, right, I'm saying the last three games they've really played well.

But Redick said that this is as connected of a game as they've played, and this is really as connected of a stretch that they've had. Lakers have won 9 of 11, finished the Grammy Road trip five and one. Yeah, this was just, JJ said that it felt in a lot of ways. like a continuation on both sides of the ball, specifically with how they wanted to play the Knicks. I think just because that's a team with a true seven-footer, big guy in Carl Anthony Towns,

who they really flustered in that game of Vita Zubots, who has given the Lakers a lot of fits over the last few years. He was very frustrated, just eight points, two, seven from the field, 10 rebounds. He got on the offensive glass, but he was really out of sorts. He got a frustration tech shoving. Vando gave him a bit of a mush to the face. Austin Reeves had to hold Vando back, but it's two games in a row where the Lakers downsize, you know, they have Jackson Hayes as the one rotation safe center on this team. I mean, he- I mean, he's limited, but yes, he's the only guy.

Yeah, he's the only guy. And, you know, the Lakers are managing to figure this out. They're managing to get by against now a few teams in a row that have legitimate centers or legitimate size. And they are making it work. I mean, they just, it's also an extension. I know we're going to get into this, but something we've hit on a lot this season. They say that they need. need to be an execution team. We'll see how much of that carries over upon adding an otherworldly

talent like Luca, but they need to play very hard, very focused, very detail-oriented. They've known this for a while. I think intellectually, they've understood it, but it's taken them a while to fully embrace it. I think LeBron deserves a lot of credit, which JJ talked about afterwards, just the way he's playing on both sides of the ball, JJ said afterwards they thought LeBron let us on both ends. He's actually now been asking for substitutions a little more often in games just because he's playing so hard so consistently. And JJ said, quote,

he's going full tilt on both ends of the floor. It would be very easy for him given his resume and accomplishments and age and frankly, bank account if he just wanted to save himself for offense. He's playing on both sides of the ball, giving us everything he has another great game from him. And LeBron really has the last month or so, by and large, been super active on both sides of the ball. It makes a difference. It does. We've talked about that throughout the season, you know, what it looks like.

This is, and we'll probably because there's no game Thursday into Thursday, you know, Wednesday show into Thursday. Talk a little bit more about this. But this is part of the reason I don't buy the notion that the Lakers are like automatically way worse off because of this trade. I mean, we saw what they did Saturday without Anthony Davis. We saw what they did Tuesday without Anthony Davis and Max Christie. You, by the way, had a nice debut for Dallas. Yes, he did. It's that, you know, when LeBron is able to elevate it, you see what they are.

Like what he still is capable of doing. we've seen that connectivity and the capability of the team to play well, even when it seems like they should be missing more defenders and they should be allowing more points. And they'll have clunker games. There's no question. And now you're adding, I mean, it's not like you blew up the team and you added, you know, young players with talent and a great future and all that. I mean, yes, technically, they added a young player, but he's already the five best players at worst in the league.

And so I don't, I don't, we'll see what happens, but I just don't buy this. And so now you're looking at what LeBron did on Tuesday. You're adding Luca Donchich to that. And you're like, I don't want to play that in the first round of playoffs. I, that is, I don't care if they pick up a center between now and Thursday afternoon. That is not a team that I want to play in the playoffs. So quick programming thing, obviously people can tell we are doing this show live. We're going to try to do more live shows,

particularly following West Coast games in order to get the program up to you faster on YouTube. Cuts down on the amount of time that it takes to get the show out and available to all. And because it's a live show, I cannot correct my mistake on the rail. It's a 1227 win, not a 112.97 win. Typo, my fault, again, trying to get the show to you as quick as we can. It's not even in the title, it's correct. We'll fix all of these things. Don't worry.

But anyway, so we'll turn it now to LeBron and his reaction, really his first comments about the arrival of Luca Donchich. A couple really interesting interviews, both on the floor with TNT and then in the locker room afterwards. Get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by game time. Are you looking for tickets for your next big event, whether a concert, comedy show, sports, whatever. Finding the right ticket at the right price can be a headache unless you're using game time. Game time picks because it's never been easier. Let me tell you how it works.

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They've got technology behind it that is responsible for it. So I appreciate you doing that for us. And welcome to all the new people to the channel. These subscribers have really skyrocketed over the last few days. We certainly appreciate it. Andy, it was funny to me watching LeBron's TNT interview. I think for anybody who was still on this, like, of course LeBron knew what was going on.

Like, there's no way he did. These interviews, I know he did a good job. What movie was he in? Train wreck. Right. He did a nice job and train wreck. Playing himself. Yeah.

We also learned, though, in his reboot of Space Jam, he's not that convincing of an actor. Right. No. And so, like, you watched him go through like the full set of, like reliving that, thinking about what was going on and the disappointment, the shock and disappointment of watching Anthony Davis being traded away, while also being like, you know, wait a minute, you know, there's genuine and then also,

I'm a leader of this team. I need to project enthusiasm about what's next with Luca Dantritch. This is all happening to him as quickly as it's happening to all of us. Yeah, he said afterwards with Jared Greenberg on the TNT interview, quote, it's a bit challenging for sure. You mentioned like it's a whirlwind and he couldn't even imagine how much of a whirlwind it's been for Luca and AD and Max Christie, mentioned Jalen Hood Chafino, Max Cleever, like everybody.

Then he said, quote, it's a bit challenging for sure, especially for me. I had what, six years with AD, winning a championship with my guy, obviously one of my best friends, but it's a business. He understands that. It's the business of basketball. we understand that I know he's going to do well out there in Dallas. And before we get to his thoughts on Luca, this reflects something we had talked about, you know, because there have been a lot of speculation.

And as you put it, and I think you're right, a lot of people looking for drama, like looking for conflict. The idea that LeBron and Rich Paul and Clutch would feel so personally slighted by being kept out of the loop. And, you know, this signals that LeBron's being put out to pasture and he doesn't matter anymore. He's going to be so insulted. He's going to be demanding a trade to Golden State, which I guess he'd better do before apparently Kevin Durant's going to get traded there, according to all the rumors of late going on. I guess you can make trades under the new CBA as it turns out.

Well, we'll see it when it happens. But like all of that stuff coming out, as we said, LeBron and Richard. Paul can intellectually understand the reasons why you need to keep this so quiet, whether it is because you want to make sure it doesn't get scuttled, whether it's because you want to offer LeBron a certain amount of plausible deniability so it doesn't look like he played a role in trading one of his best friends, or because if we're being honest, even if LeBron didn't like this, you still do it anyway because it's Luca Donchich at 25 in Laplace. LeBron's 40. And there's no reason for LeBron really to be upset about the idea of I get to

have the twilight of my career with like in some respects the young version of me. But even if he was upset, if you're the Lakers, you cross that bridge when you get there because it's worth it. Like it just is. And LeBron would understand that. I think this comment from Stephen Schrader's that we have up around the here. LeBron is a lot of things, but he's not stupid. This could offer him another shot at silverware if he's lucky. And I think he, yes, this, at the very least, it doesn't make his, his championship prospects here any worse. And then, than what it was with AD. And I, I just, you look at what's the, and he talked about, in the locker room, he talked about the, the,

like how, how long you think it's going to take? Like, how long do you think it's going to take? He's like, it's not that long. Like you're talking about he views Luca. He's saying, you know, you guys know, meaning the media, that Luca's been one of my favorite players, my favorite player in the league for a little while now. And Luca has just expressed it at his introductory press conference on Tuesday. Just tremendous amounts of respect for LeBron.

So, I mean, at the very least at the beginning, the hard part is, you know, obviously one ball. two ball dominant guys with high usage. You know, you've got to figure that out. You've got to figure out, well, what are we doing over here with Austin Reeves? Two of those three guys are almost always going to be on the floor, I think, once they really get going. But the quality of the offense that they're going to be able to create, two guys who love to distribute the ball, the shot quality for Reeves, for, you know, Dorian Finney Smith, for Ruey Smith, for Ruey Hachamura, for Gabe Vince,

whoever is still here after Thursday afternoon, what's going to be available to those guys is going to be fantastic. And what's available to LeBron, what's available to Luca, based on the two of them being there. And one of the things that is sort of low-key, I think, is really important about this big question on defense. Because can LeBron do this intensity for another and then have it for the play? I don't know.

I mean, you might want to dial it back a little. bit here and there. But if the offense gets significantly better and smoother and they take more shots in rhythm and they take balanced shots on the floor and they can get easy buckets in transition or whatever it might be, that will make their defense better because whatever version of it they have, which is five guys set up in back, able to match with who they're supposed to match to and all this because they didn't just turn the ball over or heave the ball up with four seconds left in the shock clock, which Andy,

everybody who's watched this team all year knows has been a huge problem. That's another way to improve the defense, even if the personnel doesn't. They are also doing one of my big complaints bitching for the opening couple months of the season. They've gotten out of the habit of taking, you know, all eight seconds just to cross half court. And then like another five or six seconds,

kind of piddling away doing nothing before you end up at like seven. It's like, oh, you know what? Let's sort of run something. And then you either end up with a bad shot or a turnover because you're trying to create something out of nothing. You've allowed defenders to ball pressure, all that stuff. Like they've been doing a much better job, not even necessarily running, but just being more intentional, being quicker, being more decisive, just, you know,

move the damn thing along. And all of that, I think, can get better with Luca, you know, in the fold. Once the two of them and learn how to play off each other, you know, Austin as the trio, everybody learns everybody else's tendencies. It helps that like Dorian Finney Smith has played with Luca before. And you saw there's a lot of moments on the broadcast where you saw the two of them talking to each other. Yeah. I'll tell you right now, I mean, I know he can't be aggregated into a trade anyway,

but DFS probably feels pretty confident. I'm sticking around. He can afford to buy and not rent, I think, at this point in Los Angeles. Doesn't hurt. I mean, I know he's got one more year, right? A player option. It's a player option. Which will probably opt into.

Oh, I don't know. Actually, with Louie. Maybe he hops out and then be like, if I'm him, if I'm DFS, we're real quick and we're going to break. But if I'm DFS, I go up to look and be like, dude, do me a solid. help me spread the word that I'm kind of the Luca whisper. That, like, you know, things were never the same for you in Dallas once I got moved to Brooklyn. Like, you know, just help me. Do me a solid.

Help me. Exactly. Exactly. You said something that I thought was really interesting when we were kind of kicking around post-game reaction in terms of how the Lakers are playing that is particularly relevant with Thursday coming up. So I'm going to ask you about that. Next, Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Better Help. What are some of your relationship green flags? We always hear about the red flags that we should avoid,

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BetterHelp.com slash Locked on MBA to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on NBA. We talked a little bit about it, Andy, in the reaction show. We did a quick reaction show also live. We're really leaning into this live thing. Like there's just no net, Andy. It's very exciting. But we did a quick show. I'd like to think after like 15 years of radio we can handle I know. It's more, it's not the talking, it's the button pushing. I know. The awkward, like, we're going to, mistakes are going to be made. But the talking part, like, I'm not worried about that. No. But we talked about it in the, you know, sort of post-press conference, a little mini show that we did, Tuesday, that the, the Lakers are still out there looking for stuff, you know, ideally a center.

Rob Polinka, the word he used to describe the center market was dry. And while you mentioned in the last segment this Kevin Durant talk, which seems to be percolating in a very real way, the idea that Katie might end up back in Golden State, which would just be hilarious. I think it's fair to say this Phoenix thing hasn't worked out. I just want to say, for the record, and the everydayers who remember, or I guess the obsesses if it's that important to find the receipts. I said from the beginning, this ain't going to work. It's not going to work.

What's crazy about it, Andy, is it's worked worse than Brooklyn. Because the problem with Brooklyn wasn't that Kyrie, Hardin, and Durant didn't work together. It's that they didn't play enough games together. When they actually played, there was like 20 games or something like that, that they actually all play together. They won like 80% of those games. Phoenix, they've had Booker and Durant and Beal in the lineup,

and it's been terrible. So, yes, it isn't looking good in Phoenix, and that is going to be, if you were a team that owns Phoenix Sun's draft choices, bully for you. But anyway, point being, a lot could happen between now and Thursday. How much happens for the Lakers remains to be seen,

but you made the point we were talking. talking about. You look at what the Lakers did on Saturday in New York, where they played very similarly, again, for those of you who are kind of navigating your way over to Locked on Lakers from watching other teams or the Mavericks or whatever it is, missed the game on Saturday. The Lakers looked very similar to what they did. Redick even

referenced it, a good carryover from Saturday to Tuesday. That's what they look like against the Knicks. And with the deadline on Thursday, you don't think that's a coincidence? I tweeted out during the game at Cam Brothers, if people want to follow us on Twitter, same handle on Blue Sky. If we've learned anything from tonight's game, it's that everybody in the Lakers rotation desperately wants to avoid being traded. Each dude played like the fate of Western civilization rested on his hustle. And we've seen that now, like the last few games

as it's getting closer. And, you know, nobody knew that the A.D. Luca trade was on. I mean, truly other than Rob Blinken Jee plus. Four people on the planet. Right. Like nobody knew of that, but there had been a lot of talk about if nothing else, who's going to get traded for the center that Anthony Davis is demanding so we can go to the foreign. And over this week, by the way, I want to talk a little bit about some of the reporting that's come out that I don't think Anthony Davis got basically talked his way out of L.A. I don't think that happened, but that the organization was growing weary of the continual get-me-a-center that I think is interesting just in terms of maybe how it affected the way they saw some of the

future possibilities or lack thereof. But I think even before, like a guy like Rui has made it super clear. He loves it here. Rui loves being a Laker. and part of the reason I think he loves being a Laker is he hated being a wizard. So, like, Rui truly understands what it's like to be in a crappy situation. He didn't like it there at all. Like, you know, Austin Reeves clearly loves being a Laker.

Like, you know, Vando has had to work his ass off just to get back on the court. I doubt, I think he's tough to trade right now anyway, but I doubt he wants the reward for that to be a trip to Charlotte. You know what I mean? Like these guys seem like they really want to be here. I think like if you're looking for anonymous sources that are pushing the types of centers that the Lakers ought to go get, anytime you see them connected to a center that makes less than $10 million, that's Rui Hachamura leaking that. So you go get that guy.

The $20 million guys, Ruiz like, that guy's terrible. You don't want to, you don't want anything to do with that guy because that's that's the Rui Hachamor. He's a big fan of players that have a salary close to Gabe Vincent's. Gabe Vincent or, I don't know, Christian Wood or something like that. Just anybody about him. Yeah. But I like that. You know, it's like you don't, and if you are a, I think it was our friend, Dom and Rangula,

who's a great follow, even if he didn't say this, still a great follow on social media. It's like the Lakers, if you're a, I'm not saying stars when it come like, but like, the Dorian Finney Smith level players in the world, you know, Stephen Trader's asking me about the buyout market right now in the chat. Like that's exactly where I'm going with this. Where this comment went was like players like Rui, like DFS,

like Vanderbilt, like you're going to want to come to play role players are going to want to come play with LeBron James and Luca Donchich because my God, um, like you want to come to play. you want to get a chance to like rehab yourself and get clean shots and look good in a team system, have those guys passing you the ball.

So I do think there's some advantage to that. The problem for the buyout market though for the Lakers is because of where they are with the aprons and stuff, they're going to be limited in. Like roughly I think anybody making more than like a league average salary on their original contract that got bought out, the Lakers would not be eligible to bring in. Like, for example, if Lanzo Ball got bought out by the Bulls, the Lakers, I'm pretty positive, cannot get him. Yeah, I don't know what the mechanic did. Maybe they can free up a little bit more room post-trades.

I don't know. But the chances, there is, you're correct. There is some. So, like, with some of the new rules in the new CBA, like, you know, a couple years ago, old friend, new friend, Markeith Morris was a buyout guy for the Lakers. who ended up being a pretty useful guy during the playoffs in that 2020 championship run. I don't know what Marquif's original salary was at the time of the buyout, but things like that will matter in terms of who the Lakers can or can't get.

Like if Ben Simmons got bought out by the Nets, I'm like positive. Forget whether you won him or not. Like I'm positive they can't get him. Yeah, I'm not sure. Again, I'll defer to you and let somebody else point out. Like 99% sure. There are some restrictions for the Lakers. And the biggest one right now is roster space in terms of the buyout market.

But it's just going to be, it's a really good time to have really positive vibes around the team. And you know, you welcome a vulnerable Golden State team that could look completely different. and might, let's say they make it, execute a huge trade on Thursday, I'm not sure who would be in uniform on Saturday for them to play. So you might just catch them, even if you look at it and you're like, dang, that's a good team. They may not be there yet. So it's an opportunity to go 11 games over 500. Then you have two, you know, you have Indiana on Saturday.

That's hopefully the debut of Luca Donchich. Then two games with Utah before the break. I don't care if you are a little bit often. figuring stuff out. If Luca doesn't even play, if he's not ready, yet the team that played Tuesday should win two games against Utah, you have a chance to go into the break 10, 11, 12 games over 500 and really be set up nicely to get back into things when Luca's back after the break with a little bit of cushion to get it right. And I think to, you know, the great vibes combined with great spot in the standings and all of this other stuff, the feeling around the team, which was terrible like the night of the 80 got hurt against Philadelphia and they lost by 6,000 points.

That seems like a million years ago at this point. The last thing I would say is you mentioned the cushion to allow the Lakers potentially to work out a little bit of the kinks. when you put Luke on the floor, because there will be things to figure out, and that is true. I also think, though, the idea of them being 10 games, 11 games, 12 games above 500, and getting themselves potentially firmly out of that play-in mix, I think that's an incredible incentivizing force for a team that has spent the last couple seasons just busting their ass to get into the play-in and expending all that, energy just to guarantee a seven seed, I think the idea of we could avoid reliving that will

in and of itself energize, you know, the guys like LeBron and Reeves, Rui, whoever is a holdover from the last couple of years, that will be a massive incentive. And think about how you would feel as a, you know, two, three, three seed, four seed, five seed, whatever it is, whoever, wherever they end up, playing a rested, LeBron James in the first round on a team now led by Luca Donchich. Unless it's Denver, you might not like it. Honestly, even with Denver, it's such a different team now. And the first round, too, it's not even that, you know, you have a rested version of

LeBron on a team led by Luca Donchich. It's the round where it's not even every other day yet. Sure. No, no. That, for a way to start the playoffs, nobody's going to play this team. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you go hang out with. over 30,000 subscribers. Thanks to everybody, apparently 661 of you who are joining in the chat as we speak and the show and watching live.

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