Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Limit Wemby, Luka Dončić, Deandre Ayton Lead LA to Win Over San Antonio
Episode Date: November 6, 2025Playing without Austin Reaves (along with the already injured LeBron James) the Lakers faced a tough game Wednesday against a one-loss San Antonio squad, led by Victor Wembanyama. It was, by everyone...'s account, an ugly, choppy and loooooooooong game with eleventybillion free throws, but in the end the Lakers found a way to win, grinding out a 118-116 victory to run their record to 7-2 on the season. Luka Dončić finished one rebound short of another triple double, and while it wasn't his most efficient game of the year (9-27 from the floor) Luka was still critically important to the win, and was facing a ton of pressure from the Spurs. Luka was supported by another excellent game from Deandre Ayton, who finished with 22 points on 9-13 shooting, and kicked in with 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Marcus Smart was huge defensively (no surprise) and while he missed six of his seven threes, made it to the free throw line 10 times and made them all. Rui Hachimura had some clutch buckets. Jaxson Hayes had nine off the bench. And overall, the Lakers continue to show a level of grit and physicality that is serving them well. They basically bullied Wemby into, at best, his second worst game of the year. Another great win for a team that's starting to build something very positive. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers beat San Antonio 118-116. SEGMENT 2: The Lakers bully Victor Wembenyama. SEGMENT 3: Deandre Ayton continues to thrive. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashNext time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50the next day to get 50% off on DoorDash with DashPass — plus your shot at the Bag Drop.DashPass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after a 50-point game with promo code. Terms apply.No Purchase Necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to U.S. residents 21 or older. Visit DoorDashInYourBag.com for full details.DoorDash — In your bag all season long.RobinhoodYou expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBAfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelRight 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 Thursday.
Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, the Lakers bully Victor Wembeenjama and beat the Spurs 1-18-116.
A big win.
We'll break it down 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, where you get your podcast.
This one's always free and never behind a paywall.
Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where over 37,000 subscribers are all hanging out, Andy,
and they are loving what they see from these Lakers, no matter who plays for them,
no matter who's missing.
The Lakers keep finding ways to win.
No Austin Reeves in the lineup on Wednesday against the Spurs.
Doesn't matter.
They keep winning.
111.16 is the final score. We'll break it down in a minute, but I do need to let you know that today's episode is brought to by Fanduel.
And right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you have $300 in bonus bets to use across the app.
Head to fanduel.com to get started. A choppy game, Andy, a long game in part because of the 946 free throws that were shot between the,
two teams, JJ Reddick said after the game, trying very hard not to get fined.
It wasn't, the game was officiated poorly.
It wasn't bad.
It wasn't good.
It was just very different than what they seemed to be used to.
It was over-officiated, I think would be the best way of putting it.
It was not, I think, I don't think it was over-officiated or over-called in either direction.
as if you take a look at the box score,
both teams spent an enormous amount of time at the free throw line.
You had 84 free throws between the two teams,
40 for San Antonio, 44 for the Lakers,
76 personal fouls called.
Neither team could complain that one side was favored more than the other.
They both could complain that it was very difficult to get into.
to any type of rhythm.
And for that matter,
the stars did not get the kid gloves treatment either.
Luca Donchich was in foul trouble for a lot of this game,
and Victor Remignama eventually fouled out.
Yes,
only the third time in his career that Wembe is filed out in a game.
And I actually think to some degree,
I think the physicality of this game,
even with all the fouls,
foul calls and whatever,
still served the Lakers very well.
And I will get to some of the individual performances in here.
But I think to me what stuck out was the sort of commitment that they had defensively to being very physical with Victor Wembeyanama.
And Brian's internet is having some issues.
So he's going to try to come back in, as you can see.
But to Brian's point that he was setting up, I thought the Lakers did a very good job in this game,
just bothering
Victor Weminyama, period.
Whether you were talking about
the different ways that
they defended him, it was not
a D'Andre Aiton v.
Victor Weminiama type game.
I think they saw a little bit of the way Phoenix was sending
sometimes smaller players, but doubles
at Victor all the time.
And in this particular case,
whether it was often Rui or
Marcus Smart or whoever,
the Lakers were often
just using some smaller but sturdy guys to initially bother Victor than they'd send a second guy over,
and they were just making it very difficult for him to do anything after the initial catch.
And also too, and this was something that I thought made a big difference as the game went along.
You could see in the first quarter, Victor's presence very much affected the Lakers' shot selection
and some of what they were willing to do and not do.
And as the game went along,
they just started taking it to Wem and Yama more.
And I think that as much as anything else got to Wembe
and started just getting him completely flustered and out of his comfort zone.
Like he had a few monster plays in this game,
but he was outplayed very obviously by Luca Dantzich,
who had a 35 point near triple double,
even acknowledging the lack of shooting efficiency.
But frankly,
Wemagnano was outplayed by three or four other Lakers.
He just was out of sorts this entire game.
And I think that is how,
based on how they played him.
What I like about this, too,
is like you can't,
a couple guys talked about this after the game.
You can't guard him with length.
Like, you know,
it is very challenging to try to out length
Wemby, it's not going to work.
And so you say, there were times when Marcus Smart was on.
I mean, you're giving up all that hype, but you're making it's a very physical guy,
smart drew at least one offensive foul, I think two against Wemby.
Smart?
Yeah.
In this game, according to my quick rundown,
Marcus Smart drew two charges against Wembe and a blocking foul,
plus Rui had a couple charges drawn against him.
Rui, yeah, really.
Rui drew a couple.
But that kind of thing, like just the constant pushing and, you know, nudgingly were, you know,
Rui drew a foul late where defensively, you know, he, you know, Wembe went to the line,
all that stuff.
But even little things like just getting, he got underneath him when Wembe was trying to catch
it at the elbow and pushed him out.
Like it was a foul on Rui, but just the constant contact, I think.
thinking all that stuff really annoyed Wembe Nama.
And then that leads to, you know, the, I think some frustration when, you know,
that led to the sixth foul.
You know, you see like that that charge that Rui took, which by the way, if you see
the sort of the still frame of it is the most bizarre looking play ever because
Wemeyama's stride is like four feet past Rui, but the rest of
of his body is still square to him.
It's crazy to look at.
I just find, I was really impressed with how they did it.
And then how every time Wembe Yama went to the bench with that foul trouble issue,
the Lakers went back inside.
They were relentless in attacking the rim when Wembe wasn't there.
I agree with you.
They were more physical in the second half, less nervous about challenging him.
Well, I think especially because anything, I love.
how when he wasn't in the game,
they really tried to punish the spurs for that.
Yeah, they did.
I mean, to be honest,
they were not as effective taking advantage of the moments
when Wembe wasn't in the game as you would have liked.
Like particularly down the stretch of the third quarter,
they really did not make good use of Wembe sitting at all.
There was a really big moment, though,
in terms of, I think, A, just the concept,
because it drew Wemby's third foul in the second quarter and he had to sit for a while.
But Marcus Smart drove into Wemby, drew that blocking file, Wembe had to sit.
But I think it really mattered on like from a psychological momentum energy perspective for the Lakers because it was on the heels of Wembe throwing down this monster dunk that he drove.
basically from the corner and went straight to the rim.
Like everything you would want to see from Wembe,
like on one possession,
the handle,
the force,
the dexterity,
the reminder that holy bleep this guy is like seven foot five.
We think he might be tall.
Like that could have been a serious,
it's like,
oh my God,
this is the guy we have to stop moment for the Lakers.
And I think smart, whether this was any part of the intentionality or not,
smart going right into Wembe, like on the heels of that,
I think was really important because, again, it drew his third foul and made him
at the sit, but it also stopped any steamrolling,
like anything that the spurs could pick up from that just monstrous dunk,
it all came to like just a screeching halt.
So a lot to sort of unpack in this game.
We talk about the defensive effort against Wembe
and the rest of that Spurs team is a good team.
And they're playing without Dylan Harper.
I haven't played a game this year yet with Deerran Fox.
So San Antonio, I know, is lost now two in a row
after winning five straight to open the season.
This is a really good team.
They're getting Jeremy Sohan.
back into the lineup and I don't think they're going anywhere in that sort of top six,
top seven, certainly in the Western Conference.
So, you know, it was really fun to see what this matchup looked like early because I think
it's going to be a significant one down the stretch.
Lakers obviously playing without significant players themselves got some, I think, timely
performances from your non-Luca players in addition to a near triple double from Lueblo.
So we'll break all that down next.
Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Gusto.
Let's be real.
Nobody starts a business because they want to experience the joy of calculating tax withholdings or managing payroll spreadsheets except, I guess, anti-social weirdos.
And if that's your thing, look, enjoy.
But for the normal people out there, it's not your thing.
And that's where Gusto comes in to take the stress out of payroll and benefits and HR.
so you can focus on running your business and supporting your team.
Gusto is the all-in-one remote-friendly payroll and HR platform
that makes managing your team simple, transparent, and fast.
Whether you're hiring, onboarding, or paying employees,
Gusto helps you do it all from one place without the hassle or the hidden fees.
Unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price you get from Gusto,
which means no surprise charges at the end of the month.
And knowing you can reach certified HR experts,
anytime gives you real peace of mind.
Try gusto today at gusto.com slash locked on NBA
and get three months free when you run your first payroll.
That's right.
Three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash locked on NBA.
One more time, that's gusto.com slash locked on NBA.
Okay, there we go.
All right, trying to fix the, for those watching on YouTube.
You can watch me try to make my Wi-Fi connection better in real time with some challenges.
But anyway, we'll see how it goes from here.
Reminder, too, as well.
If you are a YouTube subscriber, you can also make sure to get the show delivered to you in audio form, whether that's through Apple, whether that's through Spotify, however, get your podcast.
We are, in fact, available everywhere.
And if you subscribe, the show just shows up in your feet.
It's super easy.
Luca, it was a challenging game for him, I think, you know, the physicality of the game,
trying to figure out what was a foul, what wasn't, especially in the first half, I think was getting real frustrated.
You know, I think we were all waiting early for the technical calls and stuff like that.
but he
he's still remarkably
productive
and influential
even on a night
where he
shoots nine of 27
from the floor
he did make it to the line
14 times making 10
that kind of defrayed it a little bit
but he's
even when he doesn't shoot well
Andy he's still so
bleeping good
he had a
13 assist
13 assist to 4
turnovers
ratio. So that's like 3.3 repeating pie to one. That in and of itself helps that production.
Five steals, two blocks. So the guy that, you know, the defense is always the thing that people
use to detract from his greatness. Seven stocks, that's going to get it done. Plus nine rebounds,
three on the offensive glass. Like Luca just did so much in this game.
like the way that he just generates so much production and makes so many different things happen.
And, you know, we've talked about before, like that ability to anticipate and play passing lanes because, you know, that ability to read defenses works really on both sides of the ball.
You can anticipate what's going to be happening.
I also thought Luca did a really good job in this game because, to your point, the fouls called against him.
He kept his composure really well.
Like this was, the atmosphere of this game is one where you could picture Luca in complaining and bitching overdrive.
And I don't think he really was at all.
I actually thought Luca did a really good job on a night where his team needed him.
needed him to stay focused of keeping it.
I think the frustration was building,
but it never blew up into something that,
like,
I think early in the game,
there was a lot,
like,
you know,
a lot of looking at the officials,
expecting calls that weren't there,
getting them sometimes been maybe,
it's like,
wait a minute,
30 seconds ago that wasn't like,
JJ talked after the game,
like it took everybody a minute to kind of just figure out,
what the lines were in this game.
He said it was consistently officiated,
all that stuff again,
trying to avoid fines, I think, as much as anything.
But that process of feeling it out, I think, was hard for Luca.
I think it frustrated him.
It annoyed him.
But I agree with you.
As the game went on,
it never boiled over into something that took him out of the game.
You know what?
I just realized we're a segment and a half in,
and we did not even mention yet,
the fact that the Lakers
almost blew this game
twice in the last 1.2
seconds of the game.
Yeah, true.
Seemingly with everything in hand and just
needing to inbound the ball and
that's it. Marcus Smart,
who by the way, just so people understand,
had a terrific game.
Great.
overall.
Marcus Smart was a big reason that they won this thing on both sides of
all made, especially in the second half,
Marcus Smart played a really good game,
made a lot of big plays.
But simply inbounding the ball stepped on the line.
And he just,
I don't know what he was thinking or why.
What he was trying to do is get the ball up.
He was rushing himself.
He was rushing himself.
He wanted to get the ball up court quickly to ice the game with a layup.
at the other end and he just went too fast.
Yeah, you've got to step all the way out.
He could have done it.
Could have taken his time.
There was nobody within 100 feet of Hotchima.
That's what I'm saying.
I don't know why he felt the need to do it as quickly and haphazardly.
Then as the spurs were taking the ball in, what was the sequence?
Jake LaRavia, fouls, Kelden Johnson.
Yep.
on what should have been just insignificant play at that moment.
Like just you can't foul.
You can't file.
I mean, he was trying to,
Johnson dove the lane and Jake was trying to, you know,
defend the play.
Otherwise, you know,
you don't want to give up a layup there to tie the game.
But obviously, you also don't want to foul.
You want to, you know, the worst thing that can happen there is an and one.
The second worst thing is a foul on the shot.
And, you know, he, so he sends in the line.
and you're like, oh,
Kelton Johnson misses the first one.
What was there?
Like half a second left of the game?
It looks good.
Yeah.
Again, this is a game that I want to make it clear.
I am not accusing anybody of anything.
But this is the type of game that could lead to Adam Silver
launching another investigation in the sports gambling
and Congress convening again.
Like they just convened earlier on Wednesday to discuss this stuff.
This game could lead to another.
meeting on Thursday. It was so inexplicable the way the Lakers handled the last 1.2 seconds.
Again, I don't think anything was up. I am not accusing anybody of anything. I'm just saying
if something was up and they realized at the last second, oh my God, we need to change the outcome.
This is how you do it. Well, yeah, right. And by the way, it was it was Champany.
It was Champany. As opposed to Kelton Johnson. Yeah, it was Champany who missed the free throw.
Yes, yes, it was. But excuse me, you're correct. When Champany missed.
the free throw, they had to do the intentional miss, you know, thing that like never works with half a second left.
And they actually did get the rebound and manage to get a shot up. So yeah, it was, it was a crazy end to a game.
But like, you know, there were we haven't, I want to save the third segment and devote that to DeAndre Aiton, who was just outstanding in this game.
But, you know, you add a sequence and JJ referenced this.
Rui actually missed two gimmies at the bucket, you know, layups that he didn't convert.
And then step back and made just a clutch, clutch jumper.
And that's just the kind of thing.
And that he did.
Like he did not have a monster statistical night.
But he just makes these.
he's been making shots, especially when they really matter.
And it doesn't get the ball a ton.
And that was the part that Redick emphasized at the end of the game.
Just how good he is for a guy who isn't constantly touching the ball.
He still has yet to play a game where he shoots below 50% overall from the field.
This game, five of nine overall, two or three from behind the arc.
and as mentioned earlier
he made a lot of really good defensive plays.
He had the very difficult assignment
of having to be part of the Wemanyama defense.
And James Worthy and Robert Ory and Geter
were talking about on the spectrum sports net post game.
Like, Rui's a really strong dude.
And, you know, he is for a matchup like Wemnon Yama,
obviously he doesn't have the length,
but nobody does.
But what Ruey does have that I think works for something like this.
And it felt like kind of emblematic of how the Lakers were looking to deal with a lot of Wembeet, period.
He's got a good combination of strength and agility and quickness.
And you have to find some way to bother Wemnon Yama.
And like I mentioned, there's hardly anybody in the league that can even attempt to use length.
And certainly Rui isn't one of them.
but he's got these other elements that he uses well.
And going back to the series against Denver,
when he did as well in single coverage as anybody can reasonably do against Nikola Yokic,
one of the things Rui does pretty well is if he is,
if he is ISOed against a proper matchup and not like a guard that clearly is just going to beat him off the dribble
and he can't do anything about that, Rui can be pretty effective in those assignments.
Yeah, for sure.
And I think the biggest thing, too, is they've gotten better at understanding how he can be most effectively used defensively and trying to avoid putting him in spots where he's going to suffer for it.
And then I think Rui's attention to detail on that side of the ball is just better than it was when he arrived in L.A.
And like, you know, he was playing in Washington.
Not exactly noted for its, you know, consistent dedication to fundamentals and things like that and structure.
And like, I think he was willing when he got to L.A., but he had never really been expected to do those things.
And it took a little time to kind of build it up to the level that a team like the Lakers needs it to be.
And so I agree with you.
He's gotten a lot better.
Another guy who's performing incredibly well is DeAndre 8.
And there were a lot of skeptics, Andy,
as when the Lakers picked him up as to how successful this whole thing would be.
Aiton had 22 points on Wednesday,
you know, very efficient from the floor.
He had 10 rebounds.
He had a pair of blocks.
He was great.
And it continues a very strong early.
season run for him. We'll get to it next.
Locked on Lakers is
brought to you by Fandul.
The NBA is back.
Hell yes, it is. And the Lakers seem
to be back. There is no better
place to get in on the action than Fandall,
the official sports betting partner
of the NBA. And here's
what's awesome. Even if you miss the
start of a game or you just
want to ride a hot hand as the game's
going on, Fandul has
live bets on everything
from who's going to score next.
to fourth quarter comebacks, which, by the way, would have been nice tonight as the Lakers
mounted one of their own. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay
for a shot at an even bigger payout. It keeps every single game exciting, especially when your
team, the Lakers, are making that late push like they did in this game tonight against the Spurs.
So right now, Fandual is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.
So head to Fandual.com to sign up and play your first game with Fandul.
the official sports betting partner of the NBA.
Okay, so one fun thing to note here, Andy,
we've talked about some of the challenges
the Lakers have had from a scheduling standpoint,
playing a lot of games without a lot of their best players.
This next stretch that they enter is pretty good.
You look at it, you know, they have the Hawks on Saturday.
Tray Young is out for Atlanta.
So there's something there.
They play the hornet.
They've been playing some pretty good basketball.
They've been playing some pretty good basketball without him.
That's true.
But, you know, it's even, even, you know, the Hawks are our beatable team.
You have the Hornets on Monday.
They're terrible.
They just lost to the Pelicans.
My God.
The thunder, or it might have been the Nets, I think it was.
They lost to someone terrible.
Okay.
Then you go play.
the thunder. Then you get the Pelicans. You see the jazz twice between now and Thanksgiving.
So the Lakers have stolen some games, Andy, against good teams. I don't even would say stolen. At this point,
you can just say they're beating good teams and earning it, but they've taken some games that
maybe people wouldn't have expected to take missing some of the players that they've been missing.
And now they get actually to play some of the lesser teams in the league over the next six or seven games.
So it's a real opportunity to run this record out.
One guy will help him do that, DeAndre Aten, another outstanding game.
Yeah, as you mentioned, 22 points, 10 rebounds, four on the offensive glass, two blocks and a steel.
And there were a lot of plays that DeAndre Aten kept alive.
Like he has four offensive rebounds listed, but there were at least a couple others where I'm not sure if he got the credit or not for.
the tap out. Like, for example, there was a big play in the fourth quarter where DeAndre tapped
out. I want to say it was a missed three by Luca from the corner. And it ended up going to Marcus
smart. And smart drove straight through the lane and got a layup. I think the offensive
rebound credit actually went to smart because he's ultimately the one that controlled it.
But Aiton was the guy that actually kept the thing alive and kept the pop.
possibility of it alive.
Like there was another play in the first quarter where
Luca got a second chance step back three.
Aiton another time.
And the first original miss was off a
Luca, I believe, step back.
He kept the ball alive and that was between two spurs,
one of whom was Wemigniama.
So it's just one of the big detractions against Aiton,
his whole career has been lack of
motor. And even as a guy who has average 10 rebounds or more his entire career, he's just been seen
as a guy that doesn't necessarily, he has put in the work to get those boards. They just fall to
him or he sees them as part of his counting stats so he cares whatever. That stuff may all be true.
I don't care, though. I care about what he does here. DeAndre Aiton's effort for the Lakers and his
activity and his motor other than I think the opening game against the warriors where it felt like
he was frankly just trying to stay out of everybody's way and not step on toes and show that he
was being a good soldier like almost too too much of an extreme dude's been working he's been
consistently working when he's out there what I think is really constructive here is like we
I think we talked about this for Tuesday for when no for Wednesday show like the leg
have benefited to some agree you don't want guys to miss games but there are certain upsides to giving
certain players bigger opportunities to be involved all the time and relied upon and so but i think
aton has been one of those guys like he has been a frontline player while lebron is out certainly
for the games where lebron and lucca were missing you take away
you know, Reeves from some of these games.
And like, they've needed Aiton to be more than, you know, give us some,
some defensive energy, you know, like they need him to be the full player that he can be.
And I think the opportunity to do that, like you said, because he was sort of deferential in that first game.
And I think even the second quarter, first quarter of the second game, until he kind of got going,
it puts him in this space that allows him to really feel like he can go do what, you know, all of the stuff that he'd be like, not only that, he's like, they need him.
He's needed to do that stuff.
I just think, like, you and I were both very optimistic about what Aiton could do for this team.
And, you know, I think this is something I want to talk about a little bit more tomorrow.
but I'm not, I'm pleased that they're getting so much of sort of the high end of what we thought we could get.
I'm not surprised, though, that Aiton is performing like this.
I'm happy about it, but I'm not at all surprised.
We talked about this a lot.
In his introductory press conference, D'Andre Aitin, he didn't just say all the right things.
he was very open about how playing essentially meaningless basketball for the last few years of his NBA career,
like meaningless in the sense that his teams weren't going anywhere.
And he knew that.
And obviously there's still an onus on him to be a professional.
You're getting paid a lot of money to be out there.
And the fact that these games, I'm sure, by December or January,
felt like you were just punching a clock towards eventually getting eliminated from the playoffs
and your season ending in April for a guy that's been to the NBA finals that has to feel disheartening.
But at the same time, you have responsibilities.
I'm not trying to absolve Aiton from any of that.
But he said during his introductory press conference, like, you realize that can be taken from you.
He has also said, he realizes he's not seen as a winning basketball player.
bothers him. Like, it bothers him what's been said about him. And, you know, you actually,
during Media Day, asked him about his reputation as somebody with a low motor who doesn't
necessarily care about doing all the things that leads to winning. He just cares about his numbers.
And in talking about it, he didn't get defensive at all. Not at all. Like, he actually just
acknowledged, I know what it is. I essentially can only do the right things moving forward. I'm
excited to do the right things moving forward. I'm excited to be a part of this team. And,
you know, there are still obviously 73 games to go. And who knows what things are going to look
like in December and January and onward. But thus far, he seems to recognize whether because he
enjoys winning, he enjoys the atmosphere, reputation revival, the opportunity to make more
money moving, whatever.
He's doing all the things you'd want from him right now.
I think it's beneficial to.
He comes here not like Lakers,
the only people like that seem to be excited by this in the offseason
were Lakers fans.
You know, it was the broader NBA sort of community,
whether fans or or, you know, media types or whatever,
who were looking at this end up being like D'Andre.
and really guys, this criticism,
that credit, all the stuff that you listed that are all like legitimate.
Like he's a flawed player.
Like even, you know,
he had a couple free throws today,
uh,
Wednesday night that came in the bonus.
He's not like a physical player inside.
Doesn't get to the line very much.
You know,
like there,
it's not that he's a perfect player,
uh,
in every way.
But for Lakers fans,
in L.A.,
we looked at it like,
oh my God,
what an upgrade.
Like I said it, I must have said it a thousand times over the summer.
Like even if they get the version of Aiton that his detractors think he's going to be here,
he still represents a massive upgrade over what they had at the end of the season.
And you still take Jackson Hayes and you put him into a backup role that is far better suited for him.
And he's doing what comes a better.
Jack's played a nice game on Wednesday.
he becomes a better player.
Everything about this was going to benefit the Lakers,
even if they got the worst version of Aden,
and they're getting deft,
I don't know if this is the best,
but they're getting something far closer to that.
I just think it helps that he comes here,
and he's not expected to be the number one pick.
He's expected to be a big upgrade and a big part of this team,
but nobody expects him to or needs him to be,
you know, the first selection of whatever draft that was.
That's that part, that ship of sale.
It doesn't matter here.
It was the draft with Luca.
I don't know the,
no, no, no.
I just meant it.
It was the,
it's the draft that everybody remembers,
the one with Luca,
where he should have been,
right,
the number one overall pick.
There was a funny moment on the ESPN broadcast for people who were watching that
when Richard Jefferson asked,
you know,
who was,
you know, who was DeAndre Aiton taken ahead of at number one?
And they replied, well, everyone, like everybody trying to avoid, you know,
the obvious Lucas set up.
But it was funny.
But yeah, all of this helps him, I think, significantly.
All right.
Well, anyway, so the lake.
It's been a great start.
Lakers are getting ready to hit the road here a little bit.
And they do so with a great deal of confidence.
They'll try to get Austin Reeves back on the floor.
They got a couple days before they play again.
So plenty to be excited about,
plenty to be happy about Locked on Lakers on YouTube.
So we can go hang out with over 37,000 subscribers.
We'll see everyone tomorrow.
