Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Give JJ Redick a Contract Extension, Want LeBron to Finish His Career as a Laker
Episode Date: September 26, 2025The Lakers braintrust met the media on Thursday ahead of next week's kickoff of training camp. As is his custom, Rob Pelinka opened with a sort of state of the union. Talked about the positive summer,... the excitement of new acquisitions, and of course the amazing Summer of Luka. And then he dropped the big piece of news, almost as a throwaway line at the end: Earlier in the offseason, the Lakers gave head coach JJ Redick a contract extension. That's after one year of his coaching career (let alone his Lakers career) and with three years remaining in the contract that he signed last year. It's a remarkable leap of faith in a guy with a short track record, who was not in line for this kind of consideration at this point. Nobody was talking about whether Redick would get an extension yet. Frank Vogel got a fake extension (only one year) after winning an NBA championship. So yeah, it's an indication the Lakers are very, very confident in Redick. It also means the Lakers have real continuity going forward. With their star (Luka Dončić) their GM (Rob Pelinka, who also got an extension recently) and now their coach. That level of predictability is critical for building a program, including attracting not only star players, but also role playing free agents that have a huge impact on a roster. Meanwhile, Pelinka made it clear the Lakers would like for LeBron James to finish his career in purple and gold. No question, Pelinka gave James plenty of space and deference to make his own choice when the time comes, but was pretty clear in framing the desire to bring him back, should James decide to keep playing next year. We explain why the Lakers are in great position to make whatever choices need to be made. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers give JJ Redick an extension. SEGMENT 2: Good idea? SEGMENT 3: Lakers want LeBron to stay, finish career in purple and gold. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today. SKIMSShop SKIMS Mens at SKIMS.com/lockedonnba. Let them know we sent you! After you place your order, select "podcast" in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearFanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting https://FanDuel.comto get startedFANDUEL 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked-on Lakers for Friday.
Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, Rob Polinka and J.J. Reddick, meet the media on Thursday.
And Polinka opens with a surprise.
We'll explain next.
You are Locked-on Lakers.
Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network,
your team every day.
Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday,
no matter how or where you get your podcasts.
If you're listening to the audio version, Andy, it could be Spotify.
It could be Apple.
A lot of our traffic comes from.
But a lot of people, Andy, tuning in on YouTube.
Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is wherever 36,000 subscribers are all hanging out,
talking to each other, talking to us, leaving questions, leaving comments, Andy.
And they are a Twitter, you might say, at the news from Thursday afternoon in the press conference with Rob Polinka and J.J. Reddick, Thursday afternoon.
Gundo, some big news coming out of that, which we'll tell you about next.
But first, I want to let you know that today's episode's brought to you by Fanduel.
Right now, new customers can bet just $5, $5.
And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app.
Download the app today.
I'm not even do the math to tell you what the return is on that.
It's too big.
I can't do it.
All right.
So Media Day is Monday and as has become the tradition, Rob Polinka and the coach, in this
case, JJ Reddick, meet the media.
head of Media Day.
And they opened with some news,
Polenka giving his sort of state of the union, Andy,
and then dropped a bomb.
JJ Reddick, already a year in,
gets an extension.
That was news to seemingly everybody in that room.
You could feel the energy like a reaction of, wait, what?
Because Rob said this very casually.
He was going through DeAndre, like,
the offseason in its entirety because he was presenting why he thought it was a very
positive offseason bringing in dionre aet and marcus smart jake la ravia obviously getting
luca dantschit signed to an extension which was priority number one he mentioned lebron james
opting into his deal and you know having lebron for at minimum one more season but then he
also said and j j jrattic his extension and i'll put it this one
Well, I'll put it this way.
There were two people sitting behind me in this room that without revealing who they were,
I would just say that they are in the position where if this had even been semi-semi-known
amongst people in the media.
Joey, Joey Bus and Jay Moore.
It was not them.
It was not them.
Although I did actually talk a little bit with Joey Bus afterwards, talked with him about
the new venture that he and his brother, there was an announcement, just started up him and Jesse,
gave him congratulations and just caught up a bit. But the two people behind me, I'll just say,
I would figure for a variety of reasons, would have been in the loop for this. Neither one of
them had a clue and actually asked me if I knew, which I said, not even an inkling that this was
going to be the case. Like, when you combine the fact that JJ Reddick was only one,
one season, not just into his contract with the Lakers, a four-year deal, but one season into
his coaching career.
Career.
And the fact that, let's just say, coaching has not been a particularly stable position
with the Lakers.
And the last time we saw a coach get an extension, it was Frank Vogel, getting what
you and I referred to as a fake extension.
It was a one-year deal that they ended up firing.
bring him on. They ended up eating the money on it anyway.
Well, you mentioned Frank. Like every time like a news like this happens,
I always picture Frank shooting on his TV Elvis style.
I want a title. Are you kidding? Frank's doing great, man. He keeps getting paid millions of
dollars to literally go anywhere other than the building and the company paying in that money.
I understand that part of it. He killed to be Frank Vogel. He gets to keep the championship.
It's it. It's the American dream. They didn't ask him to return it.
It's just, you know, like, I just, I always picture it.
It's not totally apples to apples.
I understand.
But the dude's like, I want a title.
And you guys wouldn't give me a real extent.
I would much prefer to be Frank Vogel.
I get to keep the championship ring and I get to keep all the money.
And I don't even have to do a damn thing.
Although now he's actually Jason.
He's working again.
Yeah.
He's one of Jason Kids' assistants flipping the dynamic from 2020 when Kid was his lead assistant.
Where I, Frank Vogel, I'd be.
sitting on my ass doing nothing.
That is why we're smarter than NBA head coaches.
More, but smarter.
And so I just, it's interesting.
I think the news surprised, obviously, a lot of people, as you noted, but like,
not just in a, ooh, I didn't know that was a thing way.
Like, oh, I didn't know they did that.
But like, he's only been there for a year.
And it's not like he's only been there for a year and had a two-year contract.
like he's going into a lame duck year.
It was a four-year deal.
The Lakers had three more years to sit on this.
Nobody was going to talk about an extension.
Certainly not this year.
No.
Maybe extension talk for Veretic.
If they won another, let's say they won 50 games again this year
and had a reasonable playoff run,
whether that means going farther than last year
or losing to a very good team in a very competitive series,
extension talk might start next offseason,
but nobody was going to talk about it this year.
And JJ actually acknowledged that in being asked about this.
He said, quote, Rob and I, we have a lot of the same philosophies on life.
And one of the words that we always talk about is gratitude.
And so I think it just starts with a high level of gratitude to the Lakers,
to Mark Walter, Jeannie Buss, Rob Polinka, for having that confidence in me.
And it's not lost on me, the sort of rarity of a first time head coach getting an extension,
Like, I realize, I recognize how fortunate I am to be with an organization that supports me in that way.
Rob was asked essentially, like, where did the urgency come from?
Because even if they believed in JJ, and clearly they did, but there were no signs before that they didn't.
Correct.
There was no, there was no need for expediency in terms of just context.
And Rob said, quote, confidence and belief.
We think he's a special coach with a special voice.
that's really helping us to continue to define the culture of Lakers' excellence
and which we just wanted to make a clear statement that this is what we believe in,
what we're going to lean into,
and what our players are going to mold into as we continue to develop the identity.
I think having long-term planning is helpful as we build this team and go forward.
Two things in there jump out of me.
A, just the idea that they are actually prioritizing this at all,
because it has not been with the Lakers, I would say, since Phil Jackson, like the idea that we want to establish this sort of longevity and culture specifically through a coach and actually meaning it.
But also I think it goes unsaid.
Luca clearly likes JJ Reddick because they don't do this unless Luca, who also just got an extension, at minimum, seems to enjoy being coached.
by JJ because as much as they clearly believe in JJ, if already there were signs that you got
to choose between one of the two, it's been nice knowing you, JJ.
Oh yeah, no question.
So clearly Luca likes him.
I think that's true.
I think a couple of things jump out of me.
First, it was one of the only answers Rob gave on Thursday.
It did not include the word optionality.
Second, I think this is one of those deals where you look at it and the continuity that
they're trying to build. And it's another, you know, both a buzzword, but also what has become,
I think, clearly a priority for the organization is trying to create some sense of continuity. Now,
they struggle to do that with the roster, I think, in certain ways, because both by choice and
by circumstance, they've had to do a lot of short-term deals, even their big moves this offseason,
DeAndre Aiton, Marcus Smart. Those guys, if they play,
to the level the Lakers hope that they will could be difficult to bring back next year.
I think everybody understands that.
So it can be hard to build continuity.
Obviously, the Lakers trying to keep at least some degree of flexibility as well.
But signing Luca gives the prospective free agent, the prospective trade partner, the perspective,
whoever it might be.
It provides another layer,
that provides those players a layer of certainty
that Luca Donchich will be on this team
for X number of years.
The Lakers clearly want to create
organizational continuity to go along with that,
and I'll explain why that's important next.
Lockham Lakers is brought to you by Skims.
I am somebody who's very, very picky about underwear.
I only wear boxer briefs.
They've got to be like a certain tightness,
but also a little bit of looseness there.
It's like Goldilocks.
They got to be just right.
You don't know it until you have them on.
And when I heard that we had locked on could try out some skims underwear,
my first thought was they make men's underwear.
And the answer is, yes, they do.
And then my second thought is, am I actually going to like them?
And the answer is, oh, hell yeah, I do.
I tried both the three inch and the five-inch boxer briefs.
And they are both super comfortable.
soft. They don't bunch up. They feel great between my skin and whatever pants I'm wearing.
They look fantastic. And whether you're working out and them are just sitting around your house
and your underwear, which you're allowed to do in your own home, damn it. It's like you're
wearing nothing at all. They're just incredibly comfortable. Shop skims, men's at skims.com
slash locked on MBA and skim stores. And this is extremely important. Let them know we sent you
after you place an order if you're going online, select a podcast in the survey,
then select our show locked on Lakers in the drop down menu that follows.
All right.
So you talk about Luca as like a draw for the Lakers.
The Lakers want him to be a draw.
They expect him to be a draw.
And it makes a difference for teams to be able to say, all right, if I go play with the Lakers,
I know I'm going to be with Luca now for three more years or whatever it is and the
expectation is there's going to be another extension that follows.
You know, somewhere, any star that comes here over the next five years,
no, those can count on having a pretty good run with Luca.
The Lakers also want to be able to show teams that they have organizational stability.
If you come play here, you're going to play with Luca.
You're going to be coached by JJ Redick.
Hopefully, Andy, that is something that people go, cool.
I like that idea.
But at least you know.
you're going to have a front office that has stability because Rob Polenka was,
was granted an extension, given an extension last year.
It was the last year early this summer.
I don't remember.
There's been a lot of extensions for Rob.
So to be totally honest, I don't think.
Honestly, I think he just gives them to himself when he decides that he wants one.
And so he, you know, Palinca, and I don't know because, you know, we didn't, you know,
even the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the
unlawful yet here on, on JJ's extension. That those guys basically are now on the same
timeline. That would be my guess. And so, you know, obviously, you want Reddick to be a draw, but what
you really want is for players to be able to say, okay, at least I know what I'm getting. I'm
going to be coaching. They're not going to be cycling through 14 coaches, you know, over the,
over the next two or three years. And even if it's not somebody perfect, it's somebody I can predict.
And it's especially important for like the second tier guys, the role players and other stuff like
that because new coaches can mean a big shift in how players like that get used or prioritize.
and things like that.
So it's that level of organizational continuity
I think they're trying to create.
I think it also matters a lot
with the impending sale of the Lakers.
And this was,
Rob, really Rob, it's not something JJ can speak on much,
but Rob was asked about it
and didn't get into too much details.
But between the fact that Rob is now on a longer-term extension
and JJ Reddick is on an extension
that does not happen without Mark Walter's blessing,
Like, even if it's not something that was discussed in depth,
and even if it's not an automatic sign that Mark Walter considers JJ Redick is forever coach,
there's clearly some degree of approval there because otherwise it just,
you're creating messiness if Mark Walter has serious reservations about JJ for whatever reason.
But to your point, this now allows prospective free agents,
maybe higher profile players that have some ability to force their next destination to know what they're going to get into.
It also may, this was something I know you found interesting.
It might allow JJ to relax a little bit in his approach.
I actually asked JJ, like, because he talked a little bit about some of the things that he learned from his first year.
And he didn't really get into too many specifics, but he talked about methodology and communication.
and all of that stuff.
And one of the things I asked him was just,
did you learn about pacing yourself through an entire season,
like emotionally,
spiritually,
trying to figure out the proper times to change,
but also the proper waiting period to let things play out?
And this speaks to something I know in particular you've talked a lot about,
which is JJ burning very intensely,
and that basketball psycho part of him.
Yeah, as intense as these guys are,
you have to be able to create some level of balance.
Or it's like it's not even then you necessarily can't get through a season,
but you can't get through 10 of them.
Right.
And part of the response that he gave me,
he mentioned that, you know,
he basically jumped straight from broadcasting to immediately getting hired
to immediately figuring out your staff,
all of a sudden dealing with a new roster,
like, you know, his first time ever.
And the whirlwind of experiencing this for the first time.
And JJ's just,
competitive nature and, you know, the meticulousness of him and that intensity all kind of
adding up over the course of the season. And then the last part of what he said to me was,
quote, there's a lot of stuff I learned. And some of that is finding the balance of my own
sort of competitive edge with what the situation requires. I'll give you an example. And I told
some of you guys after the season, like, if I'm on a game day, I'm not going to turn off. And I've got
to have the ability when I come talk to you guys to turn off.
And whether you are talking about some of the semantic-y type debate stuff that I've
mentioned many times, I find amusing when JJ does, but sometimes I think it can be
kind of pointlessly combative or tedious or just the way JJ will get defensive at times
when he feels like you are questioning his acumen or his inexperience,
as opposed to sometimes you're just asking him a question,
that to me seemed like an indication of him realizing on some level,
dude, I just got to chill.
And the good news is the intelligence that the organization,
and I think Luca and LeBron all believe JJ has,
that doesn't go away with him chilling.
Like the basketball knowledge doesn't go away.
It just means it may manifest itself.
in ways that are frankly more healthy for JJ.
I think it is beyond his own personality.
He's an intense guy.
He's an intense guy, you know, you could tell sort of by how he played.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that JJ Redick wasn't a, you know, supremely talented
athlete and all these other things.
But, you know, undersized, you know, guy and, you know, had to sort of shoot and move
his way.
It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of work and a lot of.
of things and to it's not especially to play as long as Redick did at the level that he did or it just
requires an intense amount of discipline because the minute you slip at all in the thing that
you're really good at you're you're in trouble so I think that naturally sets him up to be like
you know kind of a workaholic coach and we all see the memes and our friend Harrison Fagan
just loves to do the Disneyland meme you know with you know you know.
know, I'm sorry, the JJ meme where he's like, it's Rob is the Disneyland meme.
The JJ is the working on, you know, breaking down film everywhere he goes.
Like he's anywhere.
And it's fun.
But it, there's, he was a first year coach.
And there were a lot of questions.
And there were a lot of people wondering whether or not, not if he, you know, could do the job.
But even if he just deserved it.
like jumping the line and all these other things.
Which he did.
He jumped a line.
There's no question he did.
And I think.
He's not the first to do it.
He won't be the last, but he did.
But he did.
And I think there's just,
and there was an intense,
I think,
feeling from JJ to prove
to people that this was
not a stupid thing
the Lakers did.
That he was not a gimmick coach,
that he was not just some,
podcaster and that some of these unconventional hires that turn out to be kind of disasters
weren't what that wasn't going to be him and I you know he won 50 games and under difficult
circumstances and there were some injuries and there was a massive you know a couple massive
big trade where you you know you move your starting point guard you know the guy who was your
starting point guard at the beginning of the year then you acquire luc at donchich and oh by the way his
house burned down in the middle of the year.
Like, there was a lot going on and why you can question some choices that he made in the
postseason, overall, it was a pretty successful rookie year.
And I think, I think the quality of the first year hopefully will give a little bit of a
permission structure for himself to, to not have to do anything that feels performative
to show people how hard he's working and how much he, quote, unquote, deserves the job.
And also, too, I think just to accept some degree of imperfection on the court.
And this is something I want to ask him the next opportunity.
And I was sort of trying to ask him this.
And I think I just wasn't direct enough about it.
Just the idea of being able to accept what you can't control.
Because I think that is something that is difficult for somebody like JJ,
who is both very smart and very much.
a perfectionist.
Yeah. I would agree.
They also, in addition to the Reddick extension, which we, you know, we'll talk more about
kind of what we think JJ's going to do over the course of the season.
I was listening to Yovon Buha after the podcast.
His, after, you know, on his podcast, summarizing his takes on what was going on with that
press conference.
He mentioned that he tried to get some X's and O's out of JJ around these new players and
Redick wasn't biting.
So we'll have to wait and see what it looks like on the floor.
He did not commit, by the way, he was asked to a starting lineup.
Remember last year heading into training camp on Zach Lowe's podcast, JJ named his starting five.
This time around, he said he didn't see the same need to do it.
He reminded that he did that and then eight games into the season.
He changed the lineup and then he changed it multiple times again.
I think last year it was more self-evident this year.
there's a little bit more going on, but either way, he didn't do it.
Yeah, I think you just got, I think legitimately you need to see certain things before you can make a decision.
A couple more interesting things that Rob said, both about the roster construction and of course about the team stars.
LeBron James and Luca Donchich.
We'll get to that next.
Lockdowne Lakers is brought to you by Fandul.
The NFL season is in full swing.
Fandle's making sure you are ready for every kickoff with a camp miss offer right now.
New customers, you bet just five bucks.
and if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app.
And I love how Fandul fits however you want to bet, whether you're talking player props
or same game parlay or jumping into a game live as the actions unfolding.
If you're somebody in particular who has a feel for how fourth quarters are going to shake out,
you want to get ahead of those results, make things a little exciting,
whether you're watching your favorite team IRL or just keeping an eye on that fantasy lineup.
Are you ready to play?
Download the Fandul app now by visiting Fandul.
to get started. That's fandul.com to place your first $5 bet.
A couple interesting things, actually.
We don't want to have to get into the details here, but we talked for Thursday's show.
I'm sorry, Wednesday show.
You did Thursday's show with Aaron Larson while I was out of town.
But Thursday's show, we went over a couple things on NBA rank, the ESPN project.
Lakers, it's another one where the Lakers have two guys in the top 10.
So Luca Donchich and LeBron James, Luca at three, LeBron at eight in this one.
So actually higher than he was in the locked on rankings, the only team with two guys in the top 10, Lakers.
We'll talk about maybe kind of what that might mean going forward as the preseason starts on Monday.
But it is worth noting that the Lakers still have considerable star power at the top of their rotation.
And, of course, obviously a lot of platitudes about Luca, Andy, many of which we've kind of talked about in the show things the Lakers have said over the course of, you know, the press conference for extension and all that kind of stuff.
Rob did mention he was impressed by Luca's leadership with Slovenia and expects that his voice will be louder with the Lakers this year.
Yeah.
there's going to be more of a comfort level. It is in many ways Lucas franchise moving forward,
and he seems to have completely wrapped his head around the trade happening. He's now in L.A.
He's now a Laker. Dallas can be much more in the rearview mirror. Also, J.J. Reddick expressed a lot of
confidence that Luca's commitment to fitness this offseason is the new normal moving forward.
just I think some of the stuff we've talked about,
the idea that Luca enjoys the effects of it
and also just recognizes the importance of it.
So again, we have to actually see this play out
over the course of a whole season,
but JJ was very emphatic in his belief
that this is what you are going to see
with Luca moving forward in his prime.
So from there, the other big topic
in terms of the Lakers stars was LeBron James.
And there's been obviously so much speculation over the course of the summer about
where this relationship between LeBron and the Lakers is headed.
You know, JJ, I'm sorry, Rob talked a little bit about it at the Luca press conference
and sort of answering questions about LeBron.
But it was certainly very direct and clear in.
in his statements in terms of the Lakers, I want, you know, we want LeBron to finish his career as a Laker.
We obviously can't make him.
He didn't say it that way.
But like, they were respectful of his wishes and all these.
But the Lakers made it very clear, you know, given their choice, they would like LeBron to finish his career in L.A.
That there's a lot in between, you know, making that happen.
and the sentiment, but it was, at the very least,
Rob didn't hedge on the idea.
There was no, you know, we'll see how it goes after this year.
You know, it's his last year.
It's his, you know, they made it clear.
And then, you know, we'll go on from here.
There was a lot of space I thought Rob afforded in making it known.
They would like, as Rob put it,
LeBron's story to finish with the Lakers.
And he thought that that would, it's Rob.
He wants to give, he wants to leave LeBron some optionality, though, to be able to choose what he wants to do.
Well, he wants to give LeBron optionality to choose his story.
Right.
And by the way, he made it clear.
LeBron has earned the right to make the choice with his story, however he won.
He's earned his optionality.
He has earned that optionality.
It's funny, too, because, I mean, the myth making that, frankly, is a part of the Lakers ethos.
We're making fun of this with Rob.
this was very much a Kobe thing.
It is very much a LeBron thing.
Like this is, it was a magic thing.
It was a doctor bus thing.
It's something the Lakers have often been described as Camelot for a reason.
But there was space offered by Rob in making it clear that they would love for the story to end with the Lakers,
but not offering any outward pressure or the inkling that they would apply pressure.
or frankly, a hard sell.
And I know there will be people who take that as the Lakers being open to the idea of ending this story and moving forward more cleanly with Luca moving forward.
There will be other people who just treat it as respect towards LeBron.
I think in some respects, it's likely a bit of both because it is easier to move forward in terms of the Luca area.
in some respects without LeBron just in terms of the dynamics.
It is harder in some respects, especially if LeBron maintains this level of play,
to move forward without LeBron when it comes to the basketball.
Because, you know, cap issues notwithstanding.
LeBron's still playing at a really high level.
And he's hard to replace.
That's one of the things that I want to get into as we sort of break down the
because, I mean, this is why it was so important to reset.
the the the the contract with lebron to where the lakers now have a say in sort of how this
i mean this has been a heavy talking point of mind for like a year taking a lot of crap for it but
i'm right and right and i think where you know it is 100% fair to say the lakers needed to regain
some control this so that at the least whatever decision they want to make regardless of how hard it is
they at least have the ability to predict and make those choices themselves as opposed to having
to be reactive all the time to what LeBron wants to do.
But I think so many people, and I'm not the only one.
I'm claiming here.
I'm on some island.
But so many people when the summer started were like, well, that's it.
You know, he didn't give him an extension.
LeBron is gone.
LeBron is gone.
He may not even make it to training camp.
And all this, I mean, my position has been pumped the brakes on that from the beginning,
including pump the brakes on this is LeBron's last year as a Laker.
Because the basketball part of this is real tricky.
And like, you know, for long-term roster building, maybe, you know,
maybe you want to take that 50 million and put it somewhere else.
Maybe, you know, LeBron wants to play another year after this and, you know,
is willing to go from 50 to 30 or, you know,
50 to 30. All of these things are
in question in play. But the one thing that isn't is let's assume
LeBron has a season that is within 10% of what he did
last year. If it's 10% higher, he's in the
top 5 for MVP voting. If it's 10% lower, he's still
a second or third team all NBA player.
That is going to be really hard to replace.
It also means to, by definition, he's still playing a lot of games because
you have to play at least 65. Correct.
this stuff in the first place.
Also, by the way, it's worth noting he's played more games in the last two years than a lot of
the stars that people look at as potential replacements for him, which isn't to say that a
younger player who might get, have a little bit of an injury history still wouldn't make
more sense over the long term.
But it is to say that the idea that LeBron, to me at least, has to be totally babyed and
like shepherded through a season.
in ways that like he's like joel m bd or kawai leonard i mean that's it's just not the case and so
the lakers if they the lakers are not going to let lebron go lightly because there aren't they aren't
going to be able to take that money and find another second team all nba player to apply it to
i think they're in the perfect place right now with lebron moving forward um in the sense that like you said
they're not going to take the idea of him leaving lightly because by definition,
it's a big deal because it's both LeBron and it's the level of talent that LeBron brings
and the level of leadership that LeBron brings and all of that stuff.
But they're also, I think, in a position where they don't have to be afraid of it.
And that's whereas pre-Luca trade, I think they were deathly afraid of Levin.
And I said that many times that until Luca arrived, I think they were going to give LeBron those
one plus one deals in perpetuity until he was 55.
I think they would have just keep doing it because they were terrified at the prospect
of what do we do with ourselves without a star of LeBron's stature.
They have that now.
It's not just without a star of LeBron's stature, but it's like without a path,
without anything.
There's just where, where do we find this other person?
Like we don't want to, we don't want to be bad.
Right.
JJ also, because LeBron's headspace is a common talking boy, and I'm sure he's going to be asked about this on Media Day, just how he feels about the season, relationship with the organization.
Can you clarify some of what Rich Paul meant with the statement, you know, accompanying your opt-in?
But JJ said that he has talked with LeBron throughout the off-season, you know, fairly frequently.
They had a couple good in-person meetings, including one in the hands.
Hampton's dinner at Sag Harbor, so nice flex, JJ.
But he said, quote, I came away from that thinking he's in a really good, great spot
mentally and know he's going to give us his absolute best.
And that is the one thing, as much as I have maintained, I think there is tension right now
between LeBron and the Lakers.
If for no other reason, then LeBron and Team Clutch seem to be going out of their way
to allow for that perception because they could just shut it down.
if they wanted to and they haven't.
I've never questioned that LeBron
would not be a professional this year.
It's the reason why you and I both said,
once training camp opens,
it's not going to be a holdout,
there's not going to be tantrums,
there's not going to be whatever.
He's not wired that way.
He is not wired to pull a Jimmy Butler.
He will not do that in his career.
He doesn't have the luxury of pissing away season 23
because he's on a 50 win team
that isn't totally of his liking.
Yes.
No, 100%.
So all in all, you know, no huge surprises in this press conference.
Other than the extension.
Other than the extension.
But in terms of how they talked about Luca or LeBron or anything like that, a positive thing.
We'll see, you know, everything's good at this time of year.
Media Day comes next week.
I'm not sure with the sixers.
Oh, my God.
Jared McCain just tore.
More his thumb.
Oh, my God.
We are useless animals without our thumbs.
Let me just tell you.
Locked on Lakers on.
So,
media days Monday,
obviously we'll be there.
And with plenty to report,
Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000
subscribers to the channel.
We'll see everyone Monday.
Have a great weekend.
