Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Talk Player Development: It's Not Just About Cam Carr and Adou Thiero

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

The Lakers have a lot of needs going forward, and not a lot of ways to meet them. Not much draft capital, limited cap flexibility, and so on. So it's critical that their young, cost controlled players develop into real, useful NBA players. That starts with Cam Carr and Adou Thiero, both of whom could push for playing time this season if their improvement arc continues. But while those two are the most important part of the young player equation, the development challenge doesn't stop with them. The Lakers also would benefit in a big way from hitting on some of their two-way players, finding rotation-caliber players in players that weren't drafted. They've got a decent history in finding those guys, with Alex Caruso and Austin Reaves representing the biggest successes. So can Arthur Kaluma, Chris Manon and AK Okereke become the type of players the Lakers need? The organization seems to be approaching their two-way guys with specific positions (wings) and skill sets (athleticism, defense) in mind, as opposed to looking at positions where the big club might be thin this year and could use extra support with fringe NBA types that might have a lower ceiling. So what will we see in the preseason? How do all five of these guys fit into larger development plans?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  PHOTO CREDIT: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA. KALSHIToday's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next.PrizePicksVisit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA and use code LOCKEDONNBA and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelThis season, FanDuel is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all-new FanDuel Rewards Club, featuring exclusive offers, surprises, and more. Every week, check the FanDuel app to see what’s waiting for you or visit https://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.

Jay J. Reddick talks about player development. We'll tell you why it's about more than just car and thiro. 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, everybody for stopping by, Locked on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky, talking player development today,

J-J. Redick, breaking down not just where Cam Carr and Addu Thero, potentially fit in this year's plans and in the long term, but also talking about the importance of the Lakers three two-way guys and how the team is looking at that and, you know, really factoring in the way that their development could make the Lakers a better team going forward, not just this year, but in years to come. So talk about that in a moment. Do want to encourage people subscribe both to the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel, but also Locked on Lakers audio. wherever you get it, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast, make sure you're subscribing to all of it so you never miss a show.

It's interesting, you know, we have spent. We talked for Monday's big show about Thero and Carr and the excitement over the preseason, Andy, and where those guys fit in, how good are they going to look? Are they going to force? I would say both of them have the potential to play, but I don't think either one of them is sort of ink written into the regular rotation. I think it's fair. Yeah.

But like are they going to force JJ's hand or at the very least lay the groundwork for forcing his hand at some point in the season over the course of the precincts. It's something to watch. But as Redick said, they are also impressed with and focusing on from a development standpoint, the two-way guys. Yeah, Saturday during practice, JJ was asked about AKA Karek, Arthur Columa, and Chris Mignon. Chris Mignon got a little bit of.

time with the big club last year. I believe played nine games, but spent most of his time in the G. League. Arthur Columa was with the G. League team the entire year. And this is, I believe, A.K.R. Karekays' first year in professional basketball. It is. O'Karekay's first year, Columa was, I want to say their exhibit 10 guy. Yeah, he was on the South Bay team last year.

He was on the South Bay team, but he was not one of their two-way players. Right. Like so, yeah, he was contractually with the Lakers. I want to say Exhibit 10, but they kind of promoted him after a really, really, really effective summer league. I don't think I have ever spent as much time, whether on Locked on Lakers or the various incarnations of Lakers podcast that you and I have had over the years, whether for ESPN or for the athletic or the LACA times. or where we are now. I have never spent as much time lobbying for a summer league guy to get a two-way deal than I did this summer with Arthur Columa. Because I was just like, guys, seriously, if you do not give him at least a two-way deal, you're going to lose him. And he looks really good.

In the summer league, he averaged almost 19 points a game on nearly 61% shooting from the field, 50% from behind the arc on good volume. A shade over five threes a game, almost four rebounds, really strong defense. He is physically the type of 3&B wing that teams always want to try to find that can be difficult to, they can be difficult to discover and develop, but often the G League can be a fertile ground for those

type of players, like the ones that don't necessarily, I mean, you find exceptions, but don't necessarily have star potential or like elite role player potential, but they could possibly carve out a really solid career as a role player who can do two or three NBA skills, you know, on the perfect world on either side of the ball. They can do that well. The most important, the least important skill, I should say, generally speaking, for a G-leager, is volume scoring. It is almost never going to be something that those, unless they're, you know, rookies, you know, playing, you know, getting some seasoning or whatever that might be. But for anybody who wasn't highly drafted and is already a big focus of a team's development program,

it is I think the least important thing you can go and do down there. It's why, geez, the guard. Kobe Buffkin. It's why Kobe Buffkin, I think, is like kind of a 4A guy because it's kind of his primary thing that he's really good at. Nick Smith is similar in that way too. It's like good little bench score or spark play. Neither one of them really run a team very well.

They don't have like the other point guard skills. And neither of them are particularly, you know, overwhelming defenders, particularly Smith. And it's why it's hard for guys like that to really to really latch on. Because unless you're elite, if you're elite at the scoring part, you probably wouldn't be down the G league anyway and all that. So I think the way the Lakers are looking at their two-way guys this year, it is, it's it's fun to hear them being included in the sort of overall development

plan for the team with the understanding of like we need a do thiro and uh cam car to hit because those guys like we can't reach our ceiling in the next two to three seasons if those guys don't become you know very solid NBA players like there's just not enough draft capital there's not enough money available there's not any of that for that to happen but i also think too like when you start to include, as JJ was over the weekend, talking about the two-way guys and the development and what they're thinking down the road. It doesn't have to be specifically O'Karekai or Columa or Mannion. It doesn't have to be one of those guys,

but it kind of does need to be someone to become what Gary Payton Jr. did for Golden State. or these guys who pop up and all of a sudden you found Alex Caruso. Hell, Austin Reeves. Well, I mean, those are those are like the I'm just talking about origin story. Like where they came from. That's what I'm talking about. Absolutely. Absolutely.

I mean, Caruso is a decent example of that. But like, you know, I think you find on like really good teams, Miami's been known for this for years. Like, huh, where'd that eighth guy in their rotation come from? Like, where they find that guy? Like, and you suddenly are filling a hole at a very reasonable price through a, a, an avenue where you found an NBA player where you kind of weren't supposed to. That's what the Lakers need to be doing. And we can talk next about kind of why they're picking the guys that they have and whether

or not they make sense. And then the big picture development of all of these guys and how they could raise the Lakers ceiling, we'll do all that stuff next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Better Help. If you've ever thought about trying therapy with our long-term partner Better Help, insurance options may now be available nationwide with an average co-pay for eligible members of just $23 a session. World Mental Health Day is October 10th, but your mental health doesn't follow an exact calendar, but it still has to be, must be part of your regular life. And therapy doesn't have to be reserved for the biggest moments in your life. It can also be a place to work through the smaller things that take up more mental space than

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The Lakers, I want to say they, haven't had any any value out of their two-way guys because that's not fair i mean they you know we every once while you get a guy who pops up like the the the whole expression last year of the nick smith game which um you know came to represent games that didn't have to be uh done by nick smith started obviously because nick smith i think it was in portland i believe lit you know had you know jumped up and had you know a huge game so stuff like that like you want guys who can step in and um and play. But it does feel like the Lakers this year are looking at O'Karekay, they're looking at Mannion,

and they're looking at Columa as like players who can fill sort of archetypes. Like they're looking for wings, either guys who can do that sort of two to four spot or in the case of Mannion more like a, or Manion like a more like a two, three in terms of that. And hoping you can pull something from each of those guys that gives. him that one elite NBA talent. With Mignon, it's obviously defense. He's a really good defender. And in the offensive game is what is lacking.

Columa will see. And Akara Kay seems to profile much more in that very much a role player kind of thing. And so I think they're thinking kind of scientifically about how we can find guys who can be the seventh, sixth through 10th player in a rotation. Yeah, maybe even eight through 12. But that's a viable roster player would a bit of better way of me putting it. You're right. Yeah, exactly.

Just like somebody that you can put out there if need be and not worry about it, even if it isn't your first choice. And JJ on Saturday, he was asked about the two-way guys. And after just praising them generally, like in terms of the physicality of, as he called it, the AKs, Kaluma and AKA K.R.K. and also the defense and really both sides of the ball that they had from Chris Mannion and a couple scrimmages Thursday and Saturday. He also talked about them as a trio. And he said, quote, there's a little bit of redundancy with our two-way guys this year, which we view is a really good thing.

Because if we develop, do, and develop Cam and develop these guys into functional rotation NBA players over the next 12 to 24 months, it changes our ceiling. And I don't think JJ envisions all five of those guys on the exact same timeline of, you know, whatever is 12 to 24 months. It's much more important that the development of Adieu and Cam comes relatively speaking quicker because they've quite literally invested more in those guys. But what I think is interesting about them in terms of the redundancy is just the idea of We see, with the exception, I think, of maybe Camcar, who's just in college profiled as, you know, a three-level score that automatically can put you at a different station in the NBA. But they see all five of those guys, I think, is having potential utility on both sides of the ball.

I think they see all five of them as having the potential to fill different needs across a roster and do, particularly in the case of someone like Thero, a lot of a dirty work. Yeah, but also, too, like, there is an element of physicality and disruption and, you know, defense, I think, with all five of them. Like, they see them as guys who, if nothing else, won't have a glaring weakness on either side of the ball or if nothing else can defend well enough that if you put them out there with enough other scoring, it can often be easier to find the guys. in the NBA who can score than the guys who can actually if not be stoppers just be

defenders but I think also there's a comp there's like a redundancy in a good way it seems like to me JJ's talking about with mindset with a lot of these guys and like what they're looking to do with their NBA opportunities it's it's hard but these they're all playing positions are hard to find like you know we're in the manion man you know a defensive stopper just obviously the offense needs to develop. But like your wings are in such demand. Like you just, I mean, it's a man, you own a big guard. He's a pretty big guard. You know, absolutely. And it is, it's insulting to say like you're, you're sort of throwing darts. But like, you kind of need to throw as many of these as you can at that particular position. You know, I think you can do it at

center. You can do it. And it is always difficult for the late, you know, for a team to sort of potentially decide what do we want to do with our two-way guys? Do we want to have players who can step in and give NBA minutes when we have injuries? We're a more veteran team. We don't have a lot of space for player development, whatever it might be. And the Lakers have been in that, been kind of gone that way with some of their two-way guys before. We're like, okay, I'm not sure this is a superstar or a rotation player. And then we're like, if we need them to play, we can do it.

Or you can do it in much more of a player development. arc, which seems to be where they are now. Like, I don't think, I don't think it'll be a good sign if a Carrake or, you know, Columa or guys like that are, are playing real minutes for the Lakers this year. Probably means a lot of guys have gotten hurt. So, I mean, I'm not looking for that.

Although, you know, look around, you know, Caleb Love last year with Portland. There are five or six guys who are like, look up are on two ways. who are contributing at the NBA level. And so that can't happen. But I think this year, given the depth that they believe that they've acquired, they are looking at their two-way guys as players that we are genuinely trying to develop

that may play eight games with us, you know, 10 games, you know, especially since I think they believe that Brony is going to be able to play a much more consistent third point guard role for them. He's really more fourth point guard. third on the depth chart, but depends on how. But I mean, in utility,

he's really their fourth. He is, but if Sexton misses 10 games, Ronnie's playing. Like he is the, he's the, right. I mean,

he may not be the third ball handler, but he's the third point guard. Like, if that makes sense. No, I disagree, but I don't, we don't need in the weeds of it.

I think any way you slice it is their fourth point guard. Okay, fine. But I mean, he's still going to get rotation minutes if one of those guys is possibly you know particularly if sexton doesn't play um and so you know i think you know they're looking kind of collectively to be able to to bring all those guys along it's one of the i mean of all the players we talk about this for the big show on monday it's these are the guys that i'm kind of most interested um at least in these sort of early preseason games before you get

a little bit closer to season and the you know in theory it gets a little more dress rehearsally and you probably won't see as much of kaluma and and and a carriquet. I'm curious about what these guys look like against something closer to NBA competition. I mean, you remember in the 24-25 season, they got some good minutes when they needed them from Trey Jemison and Christian Coloco. Like both of those got like neither of them was ready for a regular NBA role, but both of them got thrust into duty because of injuries to different guys or scarcity or, you know, after the AD trade, they only had one center on the team. And those guys help them win some games, or at the very least, help them tread water during

some quarters. And if, say, you needed to put Kaluma out there for seven minutes in a game, and Kaluma, you know, if not even necessarily wins his minutes, but prevents the group from losing them or losing them badly. They just tread water. water for seven minutes. That's hugely helpful. It totally is. And I think they probably believe those guys can do that if needed. But they're bigger, like, I think Jemison and Coloco are good examples. Like, Coloco was a guy they brought in as a prospect. Is there somebody that they could, as a developmental player? Yeah. Somebody that they, you know, played in Toronto, had a couple years where he couldn't play for health reasons and all that kind of stuff, you know, were barely played.

And then, you know, got squeezed off their roster. And the Lakers were like, okay, we'll, we'll pick them up and we'll try to develop them see what happens. Jemison is sort of the other thing that I was talking about, which is a very low upside player, but somebody who is a large enough body and will work hard enough to be able to potentially give you. He definitely worked hard. And that's what he did. He ended up doing the same thing with the next last year. Like that's the kind of thing.

So that's a perfect example of the two different kinds of guys. Like I think they look at Kuluma. as a developmental guy who has a little bit of upside above what he's shown. I think Mannion is 24, pushing 25, so I mean, I don't know exactly

where they think land him on the list. And a Carrake, I think, was a four-year player, so I don't think he's like 19. That guy, you want to talk about NBA bodies, aka Carrake, like we'll see what he develops into as a player, but that dude, he's 23.

He just turned 23. That dude looks the part physically. Oh, you know, he definitely could play a power forward in a small forward, power forward in a movie. They have two vandy guys as their as their two ways, which I appreciate. But like, I don't know what they think about from an upside standpoint for either one of those guys. I mean, it's hard to find two-way players, you know, that are 18, 19, 20 years old that you really feel that you can really, really develop. because they've been drafted by someone. So it is a bit of a trick.

But you know, you're looking for late kind of late bloomer's, late developers, or people that were just flat missed by the scouting process. So we'll see. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 39,000 subscribers to the channel.

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