Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James Nursing Injury, Lakers Season Opener in Jeopardy

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

After a really fun first day of school (Media Day) the Lakers got down to work on Tuesday, and some of the shine came off the apple fairly quickly. Why? Health. First, LeBron James sat out with what JJ Redick described as "a little bit of nerve irritation in the glute." It's something the Lakers are obviously going to be careful with, and that could keep James on the sidelines for the full slate of preseason games as the Lakers work him through a "little bit longer" ramp up to the regular season opener on October 21st. The Lakers were likely to treat James carefully anyway through training camp, given his always high level of fitness and the fact he's entering his 23rd season. There is no indication yet he's in danger of missing the start of the regular season. Nevertheless, Lakers fans are going to be nervous about this, and it's totally reasonable. The vibes with Marcus Smart aren't too much better. He isn't practicing yet because of tendinopathy in his left Achilles, an ailment that if nothing else sounds kinda scary. Gabe Vincent is nursing knee soreness, and likely won't be cleared until next week. So are the Lakers in the danger zone yet? Hardly. But it's always better to start with everyone on the floor, and they can't do that. One guy who is playing? Deandre Ayton, who was frank and highly self-aware in his time talking to the media Monday.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: LeBron dinged up to start camp. SEGMENT 2: Smart sore, as well. SEGMENT 3: Deandre Ayton knows the stakes.  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. PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com. 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.

Hey, everyone, welcome to Lock on Lakers for Wednesday. Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, LeBron, James, sits out the first day of practice and is on a slow ramp up to opening day. Any reason for concern? 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 everyone for making Locked on Lakers your first listen of every day. Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast. This one's always free and never behind paywall. Of course, people get it on the Spotify. They go to Apple Podcasts. They subscribe there. And many people, Andy, are watching these days as well on YouTube.

Locked on linkers on YouTube as we're over 36,000 subscribers are watching the show and talking to us, talking to each other, leaving questions, leaving comments. And today, Andy, I imagine they are talking about LeBron James, who sat out practice on Monday. and may sit out a few more practices between now and the beginning of the season, may not even play any preseason games. Andy, we don't know for sure if he's going to be in the regular season opener. We'll get to all that in a second. I want to let people know that today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5.

And if your first $5 bet wins, get $300 in bonus bets to use cross the app. Head to fendual.com to get started. So Monday, Andy, everybody was in a great mood. Everybody felt good. Everybody looked great. We were all excited and it took 24 hours for Lakers fans now to have something to worry about with LeBron James on the sidelines in street clothes during practice due to some nerve pain, nerve irritation, as J.J. Reddick called it in the glute. He's got his butt hurts.

It's quite literally a pain in the ass. He's got a pain in the ass. LeBron is dealing with right now a quite literal pain in the ass. It's interesting, this did not come up, as you said, during LeBron's Media Day session because nobody asked him how to your ass. Frankly, exactly. Nobody actually asked LeBron for a health update, which I guess in retrospect, all of us were derelict in our duty, our time with LeBron, the assembled media.

Frankly, there were so many other things that seemed, I think, more interesting with LeBron, whether you're talking about his headspace heading into the season, whether with satisfaction with a team or just holy bleep, I'm about to turn 41 entering season 23. There's always a lot to cover with LeBron. And the MCL injury that he dealt with in the playoffs feels so long ago, because frankly, it was, it was April, that it becomes easy to. to forget about and all the reports are. And we saw the work,

that's like that he's not limited by that injury, but we didn't think about the rest of him. Right. And what he's dealing with right now, but the best of my knowledge, isn't related to that anyway. But I would say in retrospect, maybe we all should have been a little bit more on alert

when in the preceding week's presser with Rob Polinkin, JJ Reddick, I believe it was Dan Wojkeke from the athletic, asked if there were any injury concerns heading into the season. And without saying it in a way that clearly perked up our ears enough, Rob and JJ kind of non-specific parried the question. And then after the media session was done in an exclusive with ESPN and Dave McManamanman, LeBron revealed that there were some issues going on right now.

and then it was elaborated more during Tuesday's season opening practice from JJ Reddick. Yeah. And, you know, the, again, it's a question of a nerve irritation as it's been described. As Dave reports it, you know, Team James. I mean, look, I will say this. It was probably, is it going to go, is LeBron going to go visit the LeBron James of the Buck doctor? Who is the German butt doctor that he can go see? Who is the LeBron James of butts?

I'd like to ask LeBron. I think LeBron would laugh at. I actually think he'd find that funny. But like so like, you know, he is 41 years old, basically. And, you know, in season 23, there was probably going to be some limiting of his activity in training. He's in good shape. It's not like LeBron's got to play himself there. He actually looked great on the podium.

Like, he actually is really good. It was phenomenal. As much as we're talking about like Luca and all that kind of stuff, like LeBron, it's like it is insane how fit and all that he still is. I remember during LeBron's first season with the Lakers when he had that groin injury. And that was really the first major injury of LeBron's career, which in and of itself, it's pretty amazing given he was already in like season 15 or 16 at that point. It was the first time he had really ever missed a lot of time.

And the first practice that LeBron was participating in, I was there to cover it. And they open up like the tail end of practice to media. And LeBron, as he often does, was practicing shirtless. And it just dawned on me. LeBron, who looked ripped as always, after like a couple months following a groin injury where presumably there's a lot he could not do that he would normally do as part of his just, you know, insane fitness regimen. I was like, this is as close to dad bod as LeBron ever gets. It's sickening and frankly so disheartening how he makes people like you and me feel.

Like this is how LeBron, I let himself go. I can probably think of one or two things that are different about me and LeBron. But the third one would be I never take my shirt off when I'm exercising. Shirt stays on for the benefit of for the benefit of me. Sometimes I had a shirt. You had two or three shirts just to make sure sometimes I take other people's shirts and I put them on put on a trench code. Give me that. And so there was going to be a limit as to how much he was going to probably do

during during this training camp anyway because. you know, the Lakers are playing the long game here. And according to Dave, you know, the team James as part of their plan with the Lakers said they want them to be, you know, overly cautious with LeBron in this training camp. I think the sentiment being that they probably went a little too hard last year in camp as to show, and this is to say, according to Dave, to show some. buy-in with JJ that early in the season. JJ actually expressed gratitude for it. Like even acknowledging in retrospect, it may have been too much. He said as a first-time head coach, it did make my job easier.

Yeah, for sure. So like all of that stuff, you know, comes with all kinds of caveats. And there is no indication yet that he's not going to play in the season opener. And if the Lakers are playing, it seems like eight billion preseason games this year. It's actually six. But like, I don't know how many of those he was going to play in anyway. But it's just one of those deals where I, until we get that sense that he's back on the floor, that he's, you know, participating as normal, that he is good to go for the 21st,

which is still three weeks away. There's plenty of time to get ready for that. Until we have those indications that it is not going to be something that is something we need to worry about going into the season, fans are going to worry about it because for the, for the Lakers to get where they want to go, this is Luca Donch's team. No question. He is their best player. No question. They still need LeBron to be about what he was last year. I think it's premature to panic. It is definitely not premature to be concerned. Yeah. And look, if the price of getting LeBron available for the majority of the regular season is sacrificing the preseason, you do.

that every day of the week and twice on Sunday. And again, if it avoids what we saw last year where the overwork, forget perhaps leading to where we are right now, it may have led to that period where LeBron needed to take a couple weeks away from the team to physically and mentally recharge. If you can potentially avoid all of those things by essentially, again, sacrificing a lot of the preseason, you do it? Oh, yeah, no question. But at the same time, it's definitely not the most ideal way of going about this stuff. Yeah, I want to talk about that. Okay, we will get into that. It is. There is, and there is, that wasn't all of the somewhat worrisome injury news the Lakers got on the first day. So that will, that's all next.

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So, yeah, we'll get to the other injury stuff here in a second. Do want to know what the Lakers did make a two-way signing. Nick Smith, Jr. is going to be the third two-way player, the Lakers carry. a first round pick of two years ago, I believe, two or three years ago by the Charlotte Hornets. He was let go by the Hornets who had a roster crunch. Little guy with some athleticism, some offensive game,

21 years old. I think it's a nice pickup for the Lakers, good use of sort of what you should do with those two-way deals. I like that one. Yeah, it's a nice flyer. Obviously, his career has thus far not developed the way Charlotte had hoped when they draft him. But the flip side is how many careers do flourish the way Charlotte expects when they draft them? Very few.

He did start 27 games last year with the horn. Look, ask Malik Monk how much, how freeing it can be to play anywhere other than Charlotte. Yes, it's liberating sometimes to go somewhere else. Dalton Connect season fell apart just by having spent time in their building. He completely regret. I don't even think you broke a sweat wearing any sharp clothes. He completely regressed just from being indirectly connected to Hornets playing time in their development. Whatever that Delta flight is, it just takes you to the airport, sucks out your talent.

So that is a little bit of housekeeping there. we'll get to the rest of the sort of the injury updates here in a second, but just to finish up with LeBron, like one of the things that I think was going to be really important about this training camp is that idea of developing continuity and really having a chance to build chemistry through practice with LeBron and Luca first and foremost, but then that trifecta of LeBron, Luca, and Austin. And, you know, Reeves talked about it at practice on,

on Tuesday, like LeBron is still there. He's still talking. He's still communicating. And that is a nice spin on it. It's not the same thing as LeBron being on the floor, going through the reps, playing a couple preseason games and all that. It's not the same thing. And so it's not the end of the world, like you said in the last segment,

but it's not good. No. For the goals that the Lakers have openly talked about, and in particular the advantage of having this preseason and training camp and foundation building opportunity with Luca, it's not the way you want things to start out. It's not that, you know, there are no concepts or schemes that are going to be implemented that LeBron will not understand. He's going to pick him up in roughly 30 seconds. I'm not worried about that part of it.

It's the on-court reps. It's frankly, everybody else picking it up as well as they. can with LeBron and how LeBron is going to operate a lot of that stuff because he won't, I don't think he'll necessarily have the ball in his hands as much as Luca, but he's likely going to have the ball in his hands as much as anybody not named Luca. And that's going to matter. And it's not just the time, it's precisely, I think, for me, a lot of the times with the ball not in his hand.

Sure. How can you, you know, create, you really leverage the skill sets of Luca and LeBron. LeBron setting screens for Luca with AR. They're AR doing stuff and setting down or, you know, Aidan sets a screen and LeBron is off ball cutting or LeBron's because of you're moving. Like there's so many different combinations because of the IQ level the Lakers have on that side of the ball. And it's just, you know, you can walk through stuff. You can do it. It works better when you can run things full speed, full contact, doing all that.

And once the season begins, now the Lakers do have a couple quirks in the schedule where they get actually an unusual. amount of practice time relatively early in the season. They've got a couple blocks where that happens. But broadly speaking, you don't practice nearly as much as I think the average fan thinks you do once the season starts. And so training camp really is important for developing those reps. Again, not an emergency, not a calamity. He was going to be treated carefully anyway, but it is suboptimal at the very least. If you can look past, you know, if you can look past, the LeBron headlines for injuries. It wasn't the only one. I also didn't love Marcus Smart sitting out with left Achilles tendonopathy was the reasoning for that. Again, no huge alarm bells being set off by the organization, but Marcus Smart has essentially lost two seasons to injury.

And so to not be fully healthy, to start this one, gives me, you know, the hebie-jeebies. Yeah, per the Mayo Clinic's definition, tendonopathy in the Achilles is essentially the same thing as Achilles tendonitis, quote, an umbrella term for conditions affecting the tendon. It often occurs in runners who have suddenly increased how hard or how long they play. It's often common in middle-aged people who play sports such as tennis and basketball only on weekends. By NBA standards, Marcus Mark is a middle-aged person. He is a middle-aged person. Most often, Achilles tendonitis can be treated with an at-home care guided by a health care professional.

Obviously, Marcus Smart will have access to the best in the world. This, though, is the part that my brain immediately went to. Assuming the PPO covers it. Especially given where we are right now, serious cases of Achilles tendonitis can lead to tendon tears, also called ruptures. tears might need surgery to fix them. We are right now in the not so golden age of Achilles tears in the NBA, in particular with guards. Again, I want to make it clear.

I'm not saying Marcus Smart is on the verge of an Achilles tear because, quite frankly, I don't know enough about that to even speculate. It would be wildly irresponsible. I'm just saying I don't even know enough about this to make that sort of supposition. I'm just saying it's where my mind. went and I think these days, anytime you ever hear anything regarding Achilles, it'll make you a little squeamish, particularly with guards. So I don't blame the Lakers for being cautious about this early. It's the right thing to do. But it's also a potentially tricky thing to

manage, given Marcus Smart, not just his age and the recent injury history, but how hard he wants to play. Like that's part of, that's part of what makes Marcus smart an effective player. Like one of the things that he said during his Media Day session when asked if he prefers to start or come off the bench, in so many words, he said, I don't care whether I come off the bench or start. I just know my presence is going to be felt when I do get on the court. And that is because he plays so damn hard, which again, adds that extra stress to his body. It's a little like Vanderbilt, Because, you know, like there is a certain who thankfully is healthy, it seems. Sure.

Yes. But like Jared Vanderbilt at 85% is still going to look like he's working harder and doing all that stuff. And like, but it's it's like he really does need to be able to go full. Yep. Because some of his limitations are, you know, the limitations are always there. And the stuff that he's really good at, the way he can be a big time difference maker. is, you know, you lose some of that with a 15%. And when he can't do those things, suddenly, you know,

the impact he's able to make if he's at 75%, whatever it might be, is quite noticeable. And he goes from incredibly valuable potentially to potentially unplayable, fairly fast. There's not a lot of wiggle room there. The third big bit of housekeeping news with the Lakers for the first day of practice was Gabe Vincent. He didn't practice.

he is about a week away from being cleared, as Dave reported, with a knee injury. JJ said it was possible that Gabe could play this Friday against Phoenix. LeBron has been officially ruled out for that game, even if that's what you assumed, just so it's spelled out. The idea of him playing in the preseason has not been ruled out. The idea of him playing against Phoenix on Friday has been ruled out. the hope JJ expressed is that Gabe could play Friday against Phoenix. It also now adds a lot of context during his Media Day media session when Gabe Vincent was asked about goals for the season.

He actually cited games played. Yep. He said that last year he played 72. Obviously, his first season with the Lakers was kind of a lost year due to injuries. He said he wanted to build on that 72. It now makes sense why that might be immediately on his mind. Yeah, I mean, he's clearly, I don't think anybody seems concerned by it. Vincent's, in other ways, guys, like, that's one of the benefits of what the Lakers have done,

like is Gabe Vincent a critical piece? Like, if they lose Gabe Vincent for six weeks, are they, no, it's not like losing LeBron. It's not like losing Luke or whatever. But part of what the Lakers did this offseason was create meaningful depth to where, if they get down to the six, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, tenth, 10th guys in their rotation, that 10th player could be a pretty credible guy, you know, like Jackson Hayes putting on 20 pounds of muscle,

which we, which we didn't get into, but you know, potentially makes him a more viable backup. Like when you need like, it matters when your 9th, 10th, 11th players can play. Those nights when you need 15 minutes out of them, 10 minutes, not on whatever because the other chances are the other team who might be trotting out their ninth, 10th, 11th guy, they're not as good as yours. And like those minutes make a difference. And so Vincent as your sixth man is not ideal. As your eighth or ninth guy as part of your, it becomes an important player plus important to their some of their defensive combinations

that they want to use. One guy who was out on the floor, Andy, is DeAndre Aiton. And he, we wanted to talk about him coming off of Media Day Monday, but a guy who understands what is at stake for him this season. We're getting DeAndre 8 next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Peloton, shaping the future of fitness with a brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Their most advanced equipment yet designed to give you real-time guidance and endless ways to move, whether you're running, lifting, or cross-training with your favorite instructors. This is training reimagined. Peloton is built for breakthroughs with tools that help you plan.

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One more bit of housekeeping on the injury front. Adieu Thierro, the second round pick of the Lakers this offseason. He was injured during, he didn't play in the summer league, and he's still not cleared to play. Lakers hoping he can get on the floor in a week or so. So don't expect to see him on Friday, but hopefully he will be back at some point during training camp. So the guy I wanted to hear from most other than, you know,

what's LeBron going to say and some of these other things that are, you know, objectively kind of newsy for your big stars, I don't think there's a player on the team who has single, has, will single handily have more impact on floor versus ceiling for the Lakers than D'Andre Aiton. I think everybody else is kind of a known quantity to some degree. Aiton is genuinely the guy I think that can elevate the Lakers more than anybody else above what we think they might already be capable of. And I was impressed with how he spoke to the media on Monday, his attitude coming into camp and his understanding of kind of what's at stake for him personally.

Yeah, to whatever degree you think it matters to win your Media Day press conference, D'Andre Aitin absolutely crushed his. He had one of, if not the money line of the entire day when asked about just the pressure of playing for a franchise like the Lakers, particularly with its history of, you know, Hall of Fame caliber big men. You're playing with Luca Dantzich. You're playing with LeBron James. You're playing in LA.

You're playing in the context of being considered an underachiever with a low motor. This is likely your last chance to establish or firmly reestablish yourself as a frontline center that is truly respected. And his response was pressure is a privilege. And that was just a great line, him saying, quote, pressure is a privilege and I'm in the right place to be where everything counts and the fans want us to win. And I'm just here to add to that legacy bringing a title here. He then went on to say, you know, it's, it's the biggest opportunity I can say of my career. Some people say it's my legacy. Some people say it's my last chance. Well, this opportunity I can say I'm truly

not going to take for granted. And this was amazing too from Aden. It's almost like a wounded animal. I feel all the tension. I know where I'm at. I've been in the gym every day. And like I said, I'm somewhere where it counts now. And I'm happy that everybody gets to see it. I'm happy where as a player myself, I get a chance to prove something big on a big stage.

And it reminds me of how in his introductory press conference this summer, he mentioned he's been playing kind of meaningless basketball, not just in terms of his own performance, but with a son's team that was in turmoil after that finals run or a Portland team that was very much in flux. He has not played like basketball that really matters since that 2021 finals run and he missed it. And the idea of that that can be taken away along with everything else seems to have inspired D'Hondri Aiton to won a better version of himself. I mean, I look at it in a couple ways. Like, you know, a lot of the response that you read was he came from, I asked him like, you know, your reputation's taking a hit.

Fair. You know, I preface it with fair or unfair. I didn't want to get into argument whether it was deserved with him. But like, I, he, he, he didn't reject the premise of that, which, you know, he there is an awareness of, yeah, I, I know how people perceive me. And, you know, if we were doing a sit down, I would have been like, why? I would have asked him, why do you think that is? How fair do you think it is? You get one question of these things.

But, you know, he didn't run away from the characterization that his, his reputation around the league has been damaged. And I got, I got the impression that he was taking at least some responsibility for that, that he at the very least understood why that is happening because I think if he really thought it was unfair and he was being he wouldn't be the first athlete to be like and then you know some of it's just media and I can't control what people are saying if you look at my numbers like I and it's this and that and whatever like guys will come up with ways to make excuses all the time he didn't do that he didn't he accepted the the premise there and to me at least some responsibility for it and and and you know and then from there he even talked about like there are people saying this is my last chance. You know, I don't, it's certainly his last chance to get paid like a front line center. And, you know, it doesn't get better than to do it with Luca Donchich, LeBron James, and Austin Reeves.

And I think, you know, his recognition of how not only the opportunity is valuable for him from a career standpoint, but how from a basketball standpoint, it literally cannot get better than this. I think it's important. He described during his introductory press conference the idea of playing with Luca and LeBron like being in a video game. And he's talked before about how he and Luca, they were famously in the same draft class. DeAndre Aitin was taken ahead of Luca Donchich, which obviously in retrospect was not the right decision by Phoenix. But it doesn't change the fact that the two of them entered the NBA at the same time. They've developed a friendship. They share

an agent and Aiton said he's always thought about the idea of playing with Luca. And this is something that he's wanted to do. Like you said, he recognizes what I don't think there's a center left on the planet who doesn't go to bed dreaming of playing with Luca. I mean, some of the happiest days Jackson Hayes has had in the league. You know, old muscle watch. And by the way, Jackson really did look thicker. Yeah.

But I mean, I'm 5-9, Andy. and I think he could make me look like a pretty decent sound. If anybody is capable of making it happen, it would be Luca. I'm five nine and when I jump, I go down. It's interesting when you said that it felt like he was taking some responsibility for this. And to be totally honest, and I'm not even saying you're wrong, I couldn't quite tell one way or the other. I don't mean like he didn't point it. He didn't explicitly say, you know, I should have done better.

you talked about not playing meaningful basketball. Well, dude, you're in the NBA. They're all meaningful. Go out and be a professional. Like he was objectively in a lot of these places, not as professional as he needed to be. But I took the idea of not arguing the points, arguing the fairness of it as an acknowledgement that at least, you know, it's a conversation that's reasonable to have. Well, what I was going to say is like the idea that he, while he didn't,

take absolute responsibility for it. And I'm not, by the way, I'm not saying this as a criticism of, I know what you mean. I'm just saying there wasn't like a Mia Culpa or a Mia Culpa adjacent. But what I did like from Aiton a lot, and I think in a lot of ways, this is just as important as the responsibility. Because even if Aiton thinks all of this stuff is completely unfair, it's a media creation, it's people not recognizing how Phoenix left him out to dry after that finals run or how he was stuck in this flux in Portland with no discernible direction. He had a lot of self-awareness in the way he was talking about this. And just the self-awareness to like, to your point, to recognize there's no point in debating this. Like there's no point in taking up for myself

because it's only going to make me look bad. All I can do is recognize the opportunity in front of me and frankly take responsibility for that opportunity, like responsibility to recognize it. And again, like he was, I think, very thoughtful while he was up there. It was very clear he was thinking about every response that he offered for somebody whose maturity has been questioned. He seemed very mature on stage. And also, like, even though he is still pretty young chronologically in an NBA career, you know, in his prime. He talked about himself like more of a seasoned veteran. So hopefully all of that stuff came through.

But I thought it was a great, great introduction to Laker fans and this fan base by Aiton. Like obviously he's got to make good on all this stuff, but he hasn't had the opportunity to do that. All he can do is present himself. And again, I thought he absolutely crushed the opportunity. Yeah, I agree. So we'll keep an eye. We and, you know, everyone else follows the Lakers. Keeping a close eye on DeAndre Aitin as training camp progresses,

locked on Lakers on YouTube is ready to go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel. We'll be back, of course, tomorrow. Getting ready for the preseason opener on Friday. See everyone tomorrow.