Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Practice, But LeBron Absent for "Personal Reasons" Amid Trade Rumors. Plus, Reaves Day-to-Day

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

After a couple of days off (including one "get what you need" day) the Lakers got back on the floor Wednesday in El Segundo, and there were some welcome bodies back on the floor. Namely, Austin Reaves was back. Not exactly practicing fully, JJ Redick said, but doing a lot of 5-on-5 work, which points to a potential return whether on Friday in Minnesota or Sunday at home against Memphis. But missing from the afternoon's work? LeBron James. He was out for what was described as "personal reasons," with no details on when he'll be back with the team, or if he'd be available for Friday. All of this took place on a day where ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the Golden State Warriors are kicking the tires again on James, wondering if he'd be interested in moving north, and if the Lakers would then accommodate. To be clear, Windy said there is zero indication James wants out—he did say LeBron very much wants but the combination of his reporting and the timing of LeBron's absence  had people talking. And LeBron knows this. While it's interesting to consider how James might be putting leverage on the organization, it's equally interesting to think about alternate explanations for needing a little time. There are obviously the physical reasons. LeBron has been dealing with foot and ankle problems, and looked exhausted for much of the team's recent run of games (though it should be noted, he finished with stronger efforts against Miami and Atlanta). But James has often talked about the mental end of things, and how hard it is to maintain the energy and dedication required to compete at the level he expects (and that the Lakers need). So what if this is a mental break, as much as anything? Would that indicate that James is at least inching closer to a conclusion in his career? Where the body might still be holding up (well enough, for now) but the mind can't quite carry the burden as effectively? We'll learn a lot more once James is back with the team and presumably answers some questions. But it's a reminder of the fascinating, and virtually unprecedented, place the Lakers are in vis-a-vis their star forward.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: Reaves (almost?) back, but LeBron is absent. SEGMENT 2: Why was LeBron gone? SEGMENT 3: What to do with D'Angelo Russell?  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!RobinhoodRobinhood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth for any net worth. These generous benefits are now available for only $5/month. The new Gold Standard is here with Robinhood Gold. Sign up at robinhood.com/gold.Mint MobileTo get the new customer offer and your new 3-month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to mintmobile.com/lockedonnba. See Mint Mobile for details.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.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to Locked on Lakers for Thursday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, LeBron James, is absent from practice on the same date. It's reported the Golden State Warriors are interested in trading for him. Is that a coincidence? It probably is, but is it? 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 Locked on Lakers first listen to every day. Monday through Friday, matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always going to be free and never, ever, ever behind paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube, Andy, you know this, but not everybody does. It's where over 26,000 subscribers are all hanging out. They're talking about what's coming on Friday with the Lakers finally get back on the floor.

They're talking about the potential of the trade deadline and what the Lakers might do. And today, Andy, they're talking about LeBron James. and the report from Brian Wynhorst that he, the warriors are interested again in, in LeBron. And LeBron was not at practice on Wednesday. So that is an interesting wrinkle that we will get to in a moment. Do you want to let everybody know that today's episode is sponsored by GameTime. Dial-on at the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off for first purchase. So, I mean, there was news, Andy, at practice.

in El Segundo on Wednesday, Austin Reeves was JJ Reddick didn't call him a full participant in practice, but he was back out on the floor participating in five-on-five drills and doing stuff like that and looking like at least he's making some progress towards a return, whether on Friday in Minnesota or Sunday against Memphis, I believe that is. And so that was some news and good news, welcome news for Lakers fans,

but it was probably overshadowed, I think, by the absence of LeBron James. An excused absence, I guess it was sort of described Andy Wright as like a personal day, basically. It was described as personal reasons, not a personal day. I mean, just because that in and of itself has different connotations.

Like he didn't have to put it in for, like put it with HR. Right. Well, but also personal, I mean, he did put it in with HR. JJ Reddick is HR.

He is HR. That's true. That's, I mean, contrary to what, many believe where LeBron serves as his own HR. There is a protocol. You let J.J. Reddick know.

And I suppose if it feels truly egregious, Reddick might say no when you go from there. But the difference being a personal day would be like, felt like going to Disneyland. Like personal reasons implies that there is something more legitimate to this. It's interesting only in the sense that, A, like you said, the timing of this from windy about how LeBron for the time being,

and this is the exact quote on one of the ESPN, maybe get up or whatever, one of those, but just I would just say that with LeBron, it's up to him, he has no trade clause, and he has given no indication that he wants the Lakers to do anything, but upgrade the roster that got, not that he wants to go anywhere. And, you know, the timing of this will be,

I think interpreted by many people as, as I often like to put it, passive, aggressive. Because, you know, LeBron, if you wanted to read into this, you could read into this being the beginning point of LeBron messaging, hey, I wanted to stay. But ultimately, the organization didn't make these types of moves. And now you are forcing me to go somewhere else where I have a better chance of winning a championship. not that I want to leave, but you are giving me no choice but to waive my no trade clause. By the way, to yesterday's show with Anthony Irwin, we were discussing the possibility of whether the Lakers should, should not look to move LeBron.

We were not explicit enough in acknowledging that LeBron has a no trade clause, and therefore, this is something that they cannot do without LeBron's permission. They wouldn't. Of course, they wouldn't. What you said on the show, they wouldn't just... No, no, no, but we should also... But yes, it is important to know that the Lakers do require his permission. And we...

Enough people pointed that out in the comments that just calling ourselves out, we should have been more explicit. We've obviously discussed it on other shows, but we should have been more explicit in pointing this out. Sure. I mean, I... It's the first of sort of, you know, day of La Controversy, so to speak. I mean, you know, we...

It just gets into, what is it, December 15th, today is the 12th. You know, we're three days away from when guys like Jonas Valenciunis can hit the market. You know, the trade market, you know, something like 85 players, I believe ESPN counted that are eligible to be traded starting on the 15th, many of whom will be linked to the Lakers, Valen Tunis being one of the most prominent there. And so we are getting into that season. And I suspect one has very little to do with the other. But there are a few things about this that I find interesting. Let's just say that it is not LeBron's.

LeBron is not like trying to send a message about like, get me out of here. I don't think he's doing that. He's certainly, as we talk about a lot, very aware of what, how everything he does will be interested in and. and things like that. And, you know, this notion of he just wants them to improve the roster is, you know, kind of comes through there too potentially. Like he knows that his absence from practice, even if it's something completely and totally unrelated, especially on it at a time when, you know, the report from

Wendy comes out about the warriors again, maybe looking to kick the tires on a as it was over this summer? Yeah, I believe it was like no, no, it was last year. Last year. No, no, no. Last year. It was in season. It was in the season. Thank you for the deadline. He knows how those types of things are going to be seen and he knows people will talk. He also knows that because Reddick did not give a definitive time as to when LeBron would be back. And so it's not like JJ said, yeah, he was out, you know, for personal reason, say, but he'll be back tomorrow. you know, he'll be back, you know, before we travel or he'll meet us in Minnesota or whatever it might be. LeBron's status for that game is not ironclad, whether that's because of personal reasons, whether that's because of the foot injury, whether the foot injury and the personal reasons are related to each other.

I mean, that is also a possibility. I mean, it's one of these deals where until, I mean, people real quick could read into that more, though, because even if it is the. foot injury, he could still go to practice. You know what I mean? Like show it to practice, but he could, what I mean by that is he maybe he's consulting with somebody outside the building. My point about this is basically that it allows people to speculate. Sure.

In a lot of other directions that they want, the one that I find most intriguing isn't really trade related. We already know LeBron wants the Lakers to improve the roster. We already know that until there's a lot of smoke around him, want to to leave LA that I don't know he wants to go anywhere. You and I have both been very firm about like LeBron is not leaving unless he's really pushed in that direction. Had multiple opportunities to leave.

The part that I think is intriguing is whether or not this is related even more than the physical fatigue because if it was just physical fatigue, you'd be like, you know, we're given LeBron. LeBron doesn't need to practice. You know, we're giving him as many days off his feet as we can possibly do. He'll join the team that it was. I figure which teammate it was. It's like, it's okay if LeBron's not there.

Coloco, really. Like, he knows what to do. Obviously, it makes a difference when you practice with LeBron versus not. I'd say it's obviously important. But like, you could say he's just off his feet this week. What I wonder is, The physical stuff is one thing with LeBron. The mental stuff is another.

And I wondered when I saw this news as to whether or not A, the foot might be a thing, but also if he just needed three or four days to unplug and recharge mentally, which gets to that larger question I want to ask you about kind of like, are we seeing signs that this might be a last year, that he plays. Maybe things look a little different than they did in the offseason. Let's get to that next. Lockdown-Lakers is brought to you by Game Time. My daughter is 13, and we have bonded a lot over the years through music. I've always exposed her to, like, adult music, not kids' music. We were

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that free daily newsletter, go to LockdownDaily.com. Once you're there, you click on Lockdown-Lakers and get the show delivered to you every day, along with analysis from us, analysis from the entire crack team at the Lockdown Network. So it's a great way to follow what's going on around the NBA. So again, LockdownDaily.com, sign up for the newsletter. It's, you know, the question around LeBron, I think for me, at least, a question, has always been which goes first, the body or the body. brain. It takes an enormous amount of mental investment to continue playing at the level that he

does and doing the things that are required to play at the level that he does, even if you think it's slipping a little bit, he's still, you know, pretty good. That requires a lot. And people have sort of, I think, long as soon like eventually his body would break down. But LeBron said it coming into the year. Like, he feels like he could play. physically for a while, it's just a question whether or not his mind he wants to. You have that desire,

you have the mental energy, all that kind of stuff. He's talked about that. I see things like needing to take time potentially. I'm filling in some blanks here. After a really brutal stretch of schedule where his play was not very good,

certainly not up to his standard. Closed out on better. notes, but yes, for the most part it was not. As a potential sign that like, like the mental part of this is a little like, I gotta get away. Like I need a little time away from the building. He's got to recharge.

Again, we're all supposing here because there's not a lot of detail as to why he's out. But that was really honestly the first thing that popped into my mind beyond potentially the foot. I mean, there's a few things about that that's interesting. the mental side of this is the part that LeBron in some ways can more directly control because, I mean, it is difficult to maintain mental engagement in anything as it gets harder. But you have more direct control over that as opposed to if his body starts breaking down. I mean, LeBron has done everything you possibly can to head that off and preserve it. So if the stuff that LeBron is doing, like that he is renowned for doing, if that can't stave off father time in ways that makes LeBron feel effective, then you know you've just reached a point.

I can't do this. Or if say LeBron had some very bad injury or the issues with the foot and the ankle that have been going on for a few years, LeBron goes out of his way to maintain himself in ways that other athletes don't, whether because he's got the means to do this or LeBron has the desire. to do it, that, you know, the type of desire Kobe had, like desire is one of the things that keeps the one percent of the elite, but like, remember a couple years ago when the, when the Lakers got bounced by Denver in the Western Conference finals, and LeBron, I do, I do. But remember, LeBron talked afterwards about, you know, the possibility of retirement, whether or not he could do this. And a lot of people, you know, thought this was LeBron trying to change the subject I can get people talking about him as opposed to the Lakers getting swept as if that would work.

But like they'd forget somehow. It's been made pretty clear over the last couple of years. People have not forgotten. But I remember you and I at the time were like, I think he's speaking pretty honestly because were I him, that's the kind of thing. I would be questioning as well. Like the thing that we have seen over the last three or four years with LeBron, it's not that he is not able to still play. often at an extremely high level, it's that it looks way goddamn harder than it used to be. Just you see the work and the effort and the sweat and the mental toll in ways that LeBron used

to make this stuff look sometimes astonishingly easy. And I think to your point, you know, from earlier in the segment, that, you know, the physical, which is harder, like the physical stuff in some ways, you can control the mental aspect of it more than you can control

the physical in terms of the end result. Like you can control your preparation physically, which obviously he does. You can't control if this is the day your tendon snaps or if this is the day you land on another player's foot.

Like that stuff you can't control. But I would argue that even, with that, that the mental side of it is much more difficult. And I'm not saying you were, I'm not saying you were arguing otherwise. I'm just like, that was like the mental stuff's harder.

It just is, particularly in year 22. Because like you say, you have to be willing to do the extra physical stuff, the extra therapy, the amount of time. And it just becomes like all of our priorities change as we get older. Like, you know, there are certain things that I just don't want to do for work anymore around travel or, you know, being at every event and being out of the house a lot at night.

And it's just like I, because I'm different when you're, you know, pushing 50 than when you're pushing 30 when you have no kids or three kids. And I am not LeBron James, Andy. And so if I think about those things and there's certain things mentally I don't want to do for my job, which is a lot. a lot easier physically. I just think this mental side of it, and I don't have a problem with him. Let's just say I'm right hypothetically and like he needs three or four days, just detach and unplug and come back and recharge. I don't have a problem with it in the slightest.

What I do think it indicates is that maybe, you know, because he might still think that he can play physically for another three or four years or two or three, whatever the number is, that he might not end up wanting to do that. And that to me, if he comes to some kind of conclusion that this is going to be his last season, that to me is the one thing that would get him to be like, I want out of L.A. That's the only thing I can think of. I'll be honest. I would be stunned if he decided this was his last year.

I would be very surprised. If for no other reason, then I think LeBron wants to do a full-on farewell tour, I get a sense that that is something that he would want, and I don't blame him for a warning. The league does the league does. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the league may say, buddy, you ain't retiring this year. You ain't making this decision 20-something games. We talked about HR, like there's a weird little thing in the CBA that LeBron's not allowed to retire without 20 months notice or something.

Like, you know, when Kobe, you know, you and I were covering the team and around it a lot when Kobe went, on the eventual farewell tour, you could see that one coming more because Kobe was on the final year of a deal and he was having difficulty just staying on the court. Like the idea of Kobe re-upping, I mean, Lakers would have done it. I mean, because they would have. They would have maxed him. Oh, of course they would have. They would have done it and Jeannie would have said that she was getting a bargain.

But like the reality is like Kobe was having. difficulty getting himself on the floor physically beyond whatever mental. And wasn't playing. I mean, say, again, say what you want about LeBron and his slip performance. Kobe was a shell of himself by then. LeBron is still pretty good. Right. I mean, Kobe, I think really wanted, like it was important to him to not go out with a

torn Achilles. And I think he really wanted to beat that challenge of getting back on the court. And he did. but and you know he had the finale of all finalies but he was never even remotely the same player as he had been before so I mean we'll get to some other stuff here next I I just think there's there's so much

potentially going on here and until LeBron sort of explains it I think the you know people are going to obviously go in all kinds of directions we've laid out what like four three or four different potential like maybe it's this, maybe it's that. It could be a combination of a lot of these things. But I do think the one thing that is consistent is LeBron is very aware that the absence from practice and as the news cycle changes to, Jimmy Butler's available.

The nets are available, like all of them. And stuff like that are going to, it's going to lead to some pressure. The Lakers are coming off a, an offseason where they did quite literally nothing. and they're coming off a trade deadline where they did nothing. And I think LeBron is not interested in the future of the team beyond the year or two or maybe I guess three that he's going to play. He doesn't care about whether or not the Lakers are getting the best value that they could in the long term for the two number one picks they've got to trade or the contracts

or whatever. He wants to have a better team. So that part, I think he is. aware of how that perception will go out and is 1,000% fine with it. I mean, that's the only part I'm willing to be like put a flag in the ground on and say for sure. Austin Reeves coming back. I have a couple of questions about what the Lakers do here in terms of finding the best lineup, especially as it relates to figure out how to get DeAngelo Russell on the floor.

So we'll get to that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandle. you can tackle the NFL action with Fandall America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers, bet just $5, an Abe Lincoln. And you get $150 back in bonus bets if you win. So just find a really low stakes bet, put down that five bucks. Hopefully you win, and then boom, 150 bonus bets. And the Fandall Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place.

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Wouldn't normally be big news for the 50th in the draft to play a road G league game. Well, the Lakers didn't announce it. Sources told Shams. It's out, yes. Sure. I just want to make. There was no like press release. You're correct.

So Brony is going to go do that. And I saw Andy, he might even play more. Again, shouldn't be a surprise here. But it is a change in plans. And quite frankly, I just don't understand why he wouldn't play all the games. I have never understood for a second why this was even under consideration. But if they have changed the plan to where Brony is going to be playing road games with the G League, getting more reps, I don't know, actually developing.

Good. It seems like the thing they ought have been doing in the first place. Yeah, maybe it's a matter of trying to make up for some time because he did miss, you know, some missed games practices everywhere because he was dealing with a heel contusion. So that could be part of it. It could just be a reconsider. Maybe this was part of the plan all along.

I don't know. I am, I don't, I don't, this is going to sound like, I care because, you know, some of these things for you know, but I don't care. Like, I don't know if that was a play before. All I know is he needs to be playing as much basketball as he possibly can. And while it made sense for him to go on that first road trip, I really do believe that. Like go see what that's like. See the rhythm of that. It's different, you know, and all that. And the G League season hadn't started yet. Once it had, go play. Let's say Austin Reeves comes back on Friday or Sunday. Obviously, he goes back into the starting lineup. The presumption would be that the Lakers would go with the same starting lineup

or a version of the starting lineup that they had before Reeves got hurt, which would be with Russell on the bench in favor of originally Cam Reddish and then after that connect. I don't know if they do that. I think they got one of the things that I think you have to figure out how to do is get more ball handlers on the floor together. It's not just spreading them out. Like, there aren't too many, like having Reeves and Russell on the floor is, makes it easier for LeBron, I think. And, you know, the Lakers have been very successful with Russell on the floor.

These are imperfect metrics, but like every lineup combination that you can find that is, that has a positive net rating basically has Russell in it. He's, look, they're doing their best. They're doing their best the Lakers to make Russell expendable. They just haven't figured out a way. They can't. They're trying their damnedest. And like for a while, it looked like Deelot was trying.

Like, I'm going to miss all my shots and see what happens. And I'm still valuable. Ha, ha. But I think a lot of it really is that ability to be a playmaker while not turning the ball over. That is the number one. That has been my theory of this data. that has been very consistent. There's nobody who handles the ball,

certainly among wings and guards, more than Dilo, moving the ball while turning it over less than D'Angelo Russell, and nothing hurts this team more than being put in transition defense. Therefore, Dilo is maybe the guy that hurts them the least when it comes to their absolute worst weakness.

So where would you start to, if you're JJ, where would you start to kind of put your finger on the scales here? Because you have a bunch of imperfect solutions. For example, you put, you go with reddish too long and it feels like the offense just becomes over time much too easy to defend. Again, Reddish goes quite literally games without scoring multiple at a time. and connect when he is on, like we saw in that stretch of games,

provides this electric element to what they're doing and keeps things moving. More shots go in, balances the defense more, all kinds of good things. But when he's not, now you're talking about a guy who's a significant, probably a bigger defensive liability than Russell is,

like the Russell Reeves backcourt, or certainly comparable. DeLo, though, with Reeves was problematic. So where would you decide to sort of pick your poison? Were you, JJ, would you go back to DeAngelo in the starting lineup? I would seriously consider it. I would seriously consider it. I also get a sense that Max, I don't know why I was going to say Max Christie,

but that I get a sense. That's another option, by the way. If you want to, you could go with Christie instead of Reddish and maybe get a little more offense. And, you know, if not quite the, the full size that Reddish is. I would. With Christy playing bad. I mean, I mean, you know.

No, no, no. I would be very surprised if that was the route that JJ went with Christy. I think Christy's been doing a good job. playing off the bench. My guess is that's where he would keep him. What I think is interesting about it, though, is the splits don't completely reveal it, but I think of late, Dalton has been better or seemed more comfortable as a reserve than as a starter or, and maybe that's just his slump has come more as a starter. And maybe that's also been related to. Well, he had a couple good games, though, as I started the beginning of that stretch when he's

beginning, but I said more of late. More of late, he has, I think, struggled more in that starting lineup. The starting lineup has had a more difficult time getting him the ball. It hasn't looked as good for a while. And if Dalton is not hitting shots, the weaknesses, particularly defensively, really start coming through because it's not even just his inability to defend his position. he often looks like he's in the wrong place, or at the very least,

it looks like his teammates think he's in the wrong place. They often seem to be telling him he's in the wrong place. I was going to say that before accidentally got on max, that it feels to me like JJ is weighing, keeping Gabe Vincent in the starting lineup, and attempting to find more balance. And that seems to be the thing that Redick is trying to land on because I know that like a lot of people we've seen in the comments section been like

you know, JJ Redick had the same lineup that everyone was yelling for Darwin to do. Then he went away from it. Why are you not yelling at JJ the same way you guys were talking about this with Darwin? And I would say contextually, first of all with JJ, he started out with that group. Like you actually went with the thing that seemed most logical, saw things that weren't working. And also, too, I would say one of the big differences between JJ and Darwin is that JJ seems to be looking for more balance in some of this as opposed to Darwin where it was often a lot of swings like all offense, all defense. And he also just, again, seemed to be going very out of his way to avoid doing the thing that you had seen some proof of concept working. Like that this isn't to say that JJ is perfect or has made all the right decisions and you know,

I don't need to talk anymore about the switching thing. But like that's one of the big differences is JJ did not seem, he didn't start out at the very least going away from what had worked best. That's a big difference. With DeLo, I think if you're going to put him back in the starting lineup, I think it's important to empower him more and to give him more of a role. which to some degree means LeBron taking less, you know, more of a backseat or, you know, relative backseat. I think Reeves has to take more of a backseat.

Yeah. And it's not like they have to become guys who go staying in the corner. It's just a reallocation of a little bit of what's going on. An issue that I think they've had, and I've talked about this a lot over these first 24 games, is I think the Lakers, because they are very invested in making Austin Reeves pop, I think, on a lot of different levels. I mean, it's very clear that they want Austin to really bloom. And I get it.

But I think in the way that they are doing this, they are often putting Austin in a position that he's not quite capable of doing, literally point guarding, not at the level they wanted to be at the expense of Delo, the guy that's actually more capable of doing it, because they are trying to make Delo more expendable as opposed to just do what's best for the team. Just do what's best for the team. Do you think it's about making Deelow more expendable or trying to, like you said, get the balance of, you know, because I think part of the, part of the issue is it doesn't, like, you can still let Reeves do his stuff and like try to elevate him in that way. though, but it really is still very important to surround them with a lot of secondary ball

handlers, more guys who can move the ball around, more guys who cut, more guys. And so when the Lakers get stagnant, I think, you know, they have this problem of how do we get as many guys who could really move the ball effectively, both in the front court and the back court, on the floor together in combinations that don't completely annihilate us defensively. And it's, it's, it's the, every substitution pattern and combination that Reddick can come up with, I'm saying a lot of this was true with Darwin too. You are solving one problem by creating another. Let me rephrase it because if nothing else,

I could phrase it a little less cynically. They may not be trying to make Delo expendable. I do think they are trying to see how expendable he is. And by giving Reeves more of these elevated responsibilities that normally, and I think in some ways more logically, would go to DeAngelo Russell because they want to see how much Reeves can handle because, as it's been made very clear, they are trying to move DeAngel Russell or find a way to move him. And part of finding a way to move him is showing that you can.

Yeah. And with Vincent, there's some similarity there too. I mean, obviously they would include Vincent's contract in anything. But I just feel like they... I don't think they would have signed Gabe Vincent, had they not have thought there was a good chance that DeLo would be moved. Oh, for sure. But also, too, it's like they have to, they have to at the same time figure out what's tricky

about it. I don't think they're like showcasing Gabe Vincent. Nobody's acquiring Vince because they're like, you know, oh, we're seeing this thing. He's like, people know what he is. But you got to figure out how, how, what is the combination? And we can quit here and get into this again for Friday. What is the combination that maximum gets the most out of the most players? Like we can't have.

We've seen what happens with the Lakers. They're exhausted. I mean, Anthony talked about that when Anthony Irwin went on for Wednesday. You talk about like the impression that he gets when he ties like, everybody's tired. Well, one thing you can do to keep that is like to make it so you have more useful players that you're disposable. That means you can confidently play Gabe Vincent. You're going to get good minutes out of DeAngelo. You're going to get good minutes out of Reeves.

Now maybe not all of those people are maximized in the way that they could be on an Indian. individual level, but maybe that makes the sum of the whole better. Yes. And so that's another thing that he's got to. But again, you're creating, they're thin. You know, they are a thin team. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 26,000 subscribers to the channel.

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