Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James Tries to Distance Himself From Rich Paul's Idea to Trade Austin Reaves

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

Generally speaking, players don't want their agents to be making headlines. That apparently applies these days even to LeBron James and his agent Rich Paul, who have long been seen as a symbiotic pair - when Paul speaks, it's on behalf of LeBron. So when Paul used time on his new podcast with Max Kellerman to discuss trade scenarios, including a hypothetical that would send Austin Reaves to Memphis for Jaren Jackson Jr... LeBron was pretty quick to distance himself from the comments. He told ESPN's Dave McMenamin that, to paraphrase, Rich Paul is a grown **s man who is responsible for what comes out of his mouth. That idea had nothing to do with him, and James reiterated how much he loves Austin as a player and a teammate. Whether people will buy that explanation is a different matter, but what matters most for the Lakers—who are reportedly annoyed by Paul's repeated attempts to play GM—is whether Austin believes LeBron. If he does, this story is an annoyance, nothing more. If he doesn't, or there's reason to believe LeBron isn't being honest? Different kettle of fish. Then there's the question of whether Paul is hitting on something that, while not a constructive thing to have in the news cycle, might be good for the Lakers. There is some overlap in skill sets between Reaves and Luka Dončić. There are challenges building a team that can defend with those two at the core. So would Reaves for JJJ make the team better? Is there a different deal out there the Lakers ought to consider?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are dealing with a distraction from... LeBron's agent?  SEGMENT 2: LeBron says Paul's words aren't his.  SEGMENT 3: Is Reaves for JJJ a good idea?  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashFrom tipoff to overtime, stay in your bag and order on DoorDash.Get snacks, drinks, gear — whatever gets you through the season — delivered right to your door.DoorDash. In your bag all season long. ZocdocStop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need.Go to htps://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnba to find and instantly book a top-rated doctortoday.WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.  GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. 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.

Rich Paul keeps trying to trade Austin Reeves. What does that mean for the Lakers? 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,

no matter how where you get your podcasts, you are part. Could be Spotify, could be Apple. It could be one of the 37,000 subscribers. Logging on to Locked on Lakers on YouTube. sometimes for the live version of the show. However you do it, you are part of making the Locked-on Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network,

and this or any other known universe, and I, Brian Kamenetsky, along with the guy in the other box, Andy Kamenetsky, we thank you for your continued support of the show. Andy and, of course, long-time coverers of the Lakers with the LA Times, with the SPN, with the athletic. And this is one of those times, Andy, as we get near the trade deadline, as a lot of other things are happening,

where we can really sink our teeth into how the league has changed because our subject today is an agent who is turning media personality. It is an unusual situation, but to say the least, on his new show with our friend Max Kellerman, Rich Paul, agent of LeBron James

and head of clutch, has certainly turned some heads. Yeah, this happened a couple days ago, but Brian and I wanted to wait to really get into it when we weren't also dealing with, you know, post-game reactions, stuff that's more immediate when we wanted to have time to really sink our teeth into it. What we are referring to is I believe it was Monday

for the Game Over podcast, part of the Ringer Network. You're not watching the thing on Netflix. Max and Rich Paul ended up talking about, potential trades and involving the Lakers. And Rich Paul brought up the idea, quote, if I was the Lakers, I would probably be targeting the Memphis Grizzlies as a trade partner for Jaron Jackson, Jr. Someway, somehow I'd be trying to get Jaron Jackson, maybe get back Gigi Jackson, Jackson, Jackson, Association, because he's a young player that you can develop, got good size, can shoot the ball.

But I think you're building Ronald Luca moving forward, which they are, you need that anchor. and Jaron doesn't want to be part of a rebuild. They just put John Morant on the market right, saying that they're willing to trade them. So I think that would be a trade partner for me. Now, the package that goes out is what you have to decide, because if you're able to trade out expirings and give up the last first round pick you've got,

that would be one scenario. Or you could say, let me withhold that. And this becomes a very unemotional attachment because Austin is beloved, which he should be. He's an underdog and here's the thing. There's a world where you can do what's best for your team and do what's best for Austin because Austin deserves to get paid right now. Memphis would definitely trade Austin. Memphis would definitely pay Austin. He would become their

leading score and point guard. So that was the impetus for what quite predictably, I guess, to everybody other than Rich Paul, the way he reacted to the reaction, there was predictably a pretty big stir about this. There are a lot of different directions that we can discuss this. The concept of whether or not Rich Paul crossed some lines here in terms of being an agent, talking about another, you know, talking about a player that is not his client. The lines that may be crossed in terms of everybody knows he's LeBron's agent. LeBron is Austin Reeves as teammate.

So you are talking about the inner workings. You know, there's LeBron attempting to distance himself from this. Yeah, let's start there. Because I think, you know, from a Lakers stand, this is locked on Lakers. There's there's all kinds of interesting stuff to talk about in terms of the big picture differentness of this and how Rich Paul is, you know, seems to be evolving into a media figure as much as an agent. You know, Clutch certainly has a lot of media.

stuff that they do now, as does LeBron. But so, but like, you know, the primary thing that we're here to talk about is what this means and does for the Lakers. And first and foremost, it got a response. You know, LeBron, of course, was asked about these comments. And it got a response from LeBron who, you know, really separated himself from what Paul was saying. Well, he attempted to at the very least.

I mean, it's pretty close. clear what he was at least trying. No, no. I mean separation is in the eye of the behold. Sure. I'm saying he attempted to separate himself. Right. You can't lead horses to waters.

I mean, you can't make him drink. You can lead him there. LeBron says, quote, I think you all know by now, Rich is his own man. And what Rich says is not a direct reflection of me and how I feel. This is LeBron to Dave McManneman on his, after Tuesday's game. And I hope people know that.

I hope people know that if they're not sensible to know that, I hope people don't know that and if they're not sensible to know that, then I don't know what to tell them. And so, you know, he went on to say, A.R. Meaning Austin Reeves knows how I feel about him. All you have to do is look at us on the bench.

Me and A.R. talk every single day. So A.R. knows how I feel about him. And I hope A.R. Whereas camp, don't look at me and think this is words from me. Words from me are coming through Rich.

basically Rich is doing LeBron says what he's doing I have zero conversations with him about what topics are going to be what topics can be meaning on the podcast or what they're going to talk about he is his own man and that is his platform

what he is trying to do and I actually believe him because I think this has been basically the reality for a little while now that he is trying to separate himself from the assumption that people have that everything Rich Paul says

or does is essentially done at the behest of or in the interests of LeBron. And I think there was a time certainly younger in the career of LeBron,

younger in the career of Clutch, where that was certainly true. I do not think it is true anymore. And so I am... I think it depends on the context, but continue. In this particular context, I am taking LeBron at his at face value. I do not think that this is LeBron speaking through Rich Paul trying to get the Lakers to

do stuff, namely trade Austin Reeves. You know, this is this is a sort of a space that Paul has been on for a while because he's long one of the Lakers trying to get more superstars to make LeBron's job. chances of winning better. But I don't think this has really anything to do with LeBron. I believe him when he says, Rich Paul's a grown bleep man and can say what he wants on his own platform. I tend to believe LeBron in this instance that he's not trying to pull a McAvelian move to get Austin moved off this team. I actually do take him at face value. The problem for LeBron is there have been way too many instances over many, many years,

where LeBron and Rich Paul have worked in such synchronicity, and the two of them very well documented, often publicly, have looked to create pressure for the teams that LeBron's been a part of, including the Lakers for many years. You don't have to go that far back to LeBron opting in to his player, option this year and Rich Paul putting out a very cryptic, somewhat ominous, very, very unusual statement accompanying just an opt-in, something that I can't recall a comp to something like that before. And the problem for LeBron is that even if he is being truthful and you and I both

actually take him at face value, there's too much backstory. for LeBron to be able to separate himself in a way that might actually, you and I both think, be truthful. And in some ways, is not fair to LeBron, but at the same time, this is the bed that LeBron's made. You can't do the passive, aggressive thing as many. And this is what I was getting at when I said LeBron has attempted to separate himself. I don't think he actually has separated himself because I have seen too much reaction

of people saying LeBron's lying his ass off. what you're getting at is 100% true. There is, that is why he's responding. That's why he says what he says. That's why Rich Paul went and clarified in the next episode. I think that I would think it was for Wednesday, where he said, it's not LeBron talking. It's not me talking LeBron.

He pointed out, you know, to be full disclosure, I have not listened to the entire episode that started all this. You know, and he and Max both said, you know, you're sort of responding to my hypotheticals and inquiries and all that kind of stuff and there's spitballing. It's what we do on the show. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Rich, Paul, you know, Paul said, this is not me speaking for LeBron. This is me doing my podcast, playing this role and doing whatever. I think both of them for a large group of fans, they're not going to separate the two, no matter how they say,

no matter how much they protest, doesn't matter. But I will tell you why the distinction matters, and we'll get to that next. I carry a lot of responsibility in my household. If something happened to me, there would be serious consequences.

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So I 100% 80 totally agree with you. It's going to be really difficult for LeBron to convince certain people. Like you can look if you're if you're following along one of the people on the Lockdown Lakers chat, you know, the YouTube chat while we do the show live, which we are for Wednesday into Thursday. A lot of people are like, whatever. It's, you know, LeBron, it's Rich Paul. The two are connected, all that kind of stuff. There's a lot of skeptics in there.

why it matters though is if you believe lebron then the effect on the lakers other than being annoyed and other than finding this to be an unnecessary distraction and unnecessary talking point and all that kind of stuff if lebron is genuinely not trying to get austin reeves traded if he's not trying to pressure the Lakers in that way to improve. It's one thing to be like, hey, guys, we can make a move at the deadline. Let's move Gabe and Rui for something and try to improve. That's different.

But from a chemistry standpoint and how this really truly genuinely affects the inner workings of the team, the chemistry of the team, the operation of the team, the less LeBron has to do with it, and I don't think he's got anything to do with it, the less impact it really has on the Lakers. That's why, to me, the distinction is important. I mean, again, as long as I guess LeBron is convincing to everyone in that locker room, fine. But LeBron said himself, he hopes that Austin Reeves and his agent, including the one that actually confronted Rich Ball about this at the half time of Lakers Hawks,

So the inference there is this was not well received by Team Reeves. This is now the second time. Well, why was his agent? Agents. He's got a couple. I'd be ticked. Right. But I'm saying this is now the second time that Rich Paul has made recommendations

or gone along with recommendations involving Austin. First, it was, you know, Max saying that if this was truly a championship level team, Austin would play off the bench. And Rich saying like, yeah, you know, I agree. But, you know, just so it's clear, Austin would still get. paid, even though Rich Paul knows damn well, bench players don't get paid like starters. Like there and then this conversation, when LeBron says he hopes that AR and team AR would understand that this isn't him speaking through Rich, he's acknowledging by saying

I hope he's allowing for that possibility of a things being misconstrued like he is. Sure. Otherwise he would say I know this is right. You could just as easily say he's trying not to, he doesn't want to speak. I know Austin knows that I don't want him yet. I think the point being he's acknowledged the possibility and potential for a mess. There is, there's nothing positive for this from the Lakers perspective. And I would say this is an agent overstepping boundaries. You know, the role of an agent, one of the roles of an agent is to shield your clients from distractions. not to actually create them, not to actually create talking points. And Rich Paul, even in his statement, I don't have the exact words in front of me,

but his statement saying like, this isn't personal against Austin. I love Austin the player. I love Austin the person presenting this like, you know, I'm just a guy doing a podcast, creating content. Like, knock it off. You know damn well. This is going to get the reaction that, frankly, you wanted. You wanted the reaction.

And whether you wanted the reaction because, Because like you, like me, like everybody in this space, we are in the attention economy. The attention economy is crowded and there's a lot of fighting over it. Whether you wanted the clicks or the views or whether, as some people suspect, you want to mess with the Lakers because it has seemed like ever since LeBron did not get his next new contract, there has been tension between Clutch and the Lakers. you're making things uncomfortable for the sake of discomfort or a little bit of both, whatever.

It is hard to argue that this is something that an agent would see as helpful. It's hard to argue that. And for Rich Paul to attempt to disentangle his role as, hey, I'm just the host of game over when I'm sitting in this seat in front of this camera with Max. But once I leave the set, I'm going back to being an agent. Like, you can't do that. There's a reason that agents don't host podcasts. I don't disagree with any of that.

But I think that is a different question. Whether or not this is good agenting, whether or not I as a Rich Paul client would be pleased that this is now a thing on my plate is a very different question than how impactful it is on the Lakers. those two things are separate. I think Rich Paul is not engaging in good agenting here. I don't think he's doing LeBron any favors.

I don't think he's doing other clients any favors. I don't think he cares. I think he is, as LeBron says, a grown bleep man who is doing his own thing. This is his platform. This is what he wants to do. I've said for a long time that I think Paul is trying very conscious. to separate in people's minds this notion that clutch is just LeBron. Because LeBron isn't going to be in the league for much longer.

He's 41 years old. I think this has been a project of Rich Paul for a little while now. That said, so I don't know this is great. It's not what I would want my agent to be doing. I think if this is Rich Paul's way of trying to convince people that he's not just LeBron's agent. I will create content out of my clients is a pretty bad, frankly, bizarre way to try to. I think it's more, to be honest, and this is not in any way sourced or whatever. It's just my feel. I think this is Rich Paul looking to pivot out of agentting altogether.

I think that's a possible. I think that's a pop. I think this is not tenable for an agent full time. They've got tons of media stuff going on. They've got tons of. And I mean, I don't mean like sports media. I mean literal media, different types of media, different things that the agency is involved in, different business deals, all that kind of stuff. And I, you know, I also think he is somebody who's very interested and always has been in operating in a different way. All that stuff is true. But I also think that the more this has nothing to do with LeBron, the less it impacts the Lakers. It is an annoyance, is an inconvenience.

But I don't think it is. fundamentally impactful because as long as Austin believes LeBron and thinks LeBron is genuine, then it's, again, it doesn't really rise above an annoyance and something that I'm sure, I'm not sure. I would suspect that LeBron, all things being equal, would wish Rich would knock off. If I, well, if LeBron felt that way, I would have made that more clear. Like he's his own man, but I would, you know, all things being equal, I would prefer he was not in this space. I would also say he wouldn't say that publicly.

He would say that privately. Well, but you can't have it both ways. You can't try to convince people that you really are separated from this, but not be willing to express annoyance. I disagree. Well, I can tell you right now, the people say what he says. And people will believe it or not believe it. but I don't think he needs to start a public debate and argument with his. It's not going to turn into a public debate and argument.

You don't think it turns into a public debate and a big story. If LeBron James says, I don't think Rich Paul should be doing this podcast, and I wish he'd stop talking about players on my team? I mean, if Rich Paul... You don't think that causes controversy and it makes a story bigger? I'm saying I don't think the two of them are going to continue a three-month debate over this. LeBron would have his say,

Rich Paul would have his response. and it would move on. I'm saying it would give LeBron more credibility. I don't think, for no other reason, I don't think Rich Paul is going to turn this into a three-month debate with his client. I think at that point, it becomes overkill. It's bad content. I don't think LeBron's looking for credibility. I think LeBron is saying what he's saying. You will either believe him or you won't. I also think, I mean, I think most people don't. I think what is also, if I were LeBron and frankly if I'm Rich Paul just thinking about my client's interest that I think is strange about this. The timing of this both times has come after LeBron has, I remember the first time with

Austin Reeves, the bench thing was after LeBron's really first good game since returning from the sciatica. And that pivoted the conversation away from LeBron. LeBron played incredible against the Hawks. And that piece of it has really been pivoted away from, again, because there's more focus on Rich Paul's comments. So again, from an agent client perspective, I think it's just bizarre. I agree that it's strange and I agree that it's not what I would want. My big question and concern is how much it matters for the Lakers.

And I am, I don't think it's going to rip apart. I don't think it matter. I think I'll put it this way. And then I want to actually engage with another one of the, with the fundamental kind of. premise that Paul put out. Sure. I think it matters less than people.

I'm not talking about you, obviously. It matters less than the royal people really want it to. I think people really want this to matter. And I just don't think. I don't agree with you there. Again, I'm not predicting this is going to be the thing that derails the season. But I think you are underplaying how many people across the media landscape, including like an agent or team exec, I believe it told front office sports that these comments

were insane and effed up. Yovan Buha reported that on his podcast that the Lakers don't like it. The Lakers don't lie. I mean, again, there is space between nothing and rip the team to shreds. But I didn't say nothing. I didn't say nothing. I said, I think people want, there is a contingent of NBA fans, observers, media, whatever, who would really want this to be not just an interesting talking point,

not an inconvenience, not a strange thing for an agent to be doing, but a big bleepin deal. And I just don't. I am unwilling to go there because I am so naive, perhaps taking LeBrona at face value. I took LeBron and Austin have a perfectly good relationship, and it's not going to be made worse by this. That's fine, but again, I think there's space in between what you're describing there and problematic on some level. I think there's more space than you're giving credit, but we can move past that. Let's talk about what Paul is actually floating here, and we'll do it next. John Lakers is brought to you by Wayfar, the New Year's here.

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And Andy, you, as much as anybody on this show, were criticized by the Reeves stands for being more open to it, floating than potential necessity or wisdom of moving Austin for a different player. You've been on this train for a long time. The concept of swapping out Austin for a different type of player of equal talent, but who with a different skill set is something that you, we've talked about it. Others have talked about it as not a crazy idea. I've made it very clear the whole time. I think Austin is a very good player.

It's a question of some redundancies between Luca and Austin. I tend to believe that in building a team, your first and second best players, they should obviously complement each other well, but they should in some ways bring different things that the other one does not. And Austin and Luca compliment each other extremely well offensively, but anything else other than offensively,

I don't think either one brings much to the table that the other doesn't, and they have a lot of the same weaknesses, and I just have concerns with CapMath and the Lakers' lack of young players, stuff like that, whether or not they're going to be able to actually put the team around those two. You already have to build a team

in a relatively specific way to maximize Luka. and I don't mean in a way that's impossible to do like oh you have to like it's a lot easier to build around Luca than is Trey Young for example but you need to construct a certain kind of team to maximize Luca and then you really need to

construct a certain amount of a certain kind of team to to build around AR and my right my questions are more about cap math and available options than anything particularly critical of Austin, just so it's clear. So this question of trading Austin for Jaron Jackson Jr., it is interesting in the sense

that you would be bringing in, like I talked about, a player that is very different than Luca. He is a former defensive player of the year. He is a very good shop locker. He is a very good defender. It's a totally different skill set. my concerns with Triple J or some of the reservations I would have, A, he is a bad rebounder for his. He really is.

Like he is bad. But also, too, as a- Austin averages basically as many rebounds as Jackson does. Right. Also, though, he gets into a lot of foul trouble on a regular basis, like a lot. So I would have concerns about him. I'd be concerned about having a guy who is very foul prone

as the backbone and foundation of my defense. Like picture building a defense around Jackson Hayes. Like it's a lot of the same considerations. Like obviously, Triple J is much better than Jackson, but the point being Jackson gets into foul trouble a lot. I under would I consider it I suppose I'd consider it I'm not in love with the idea of building a defense unless I know I can put a lot of other parts around it to help try to prevent uh triple j from getting into foul trouble um you know he's offensively he's never been the shooter really of his reputation um Kerr, 35% three-point shooter. So, like, he would provide some of the three-point floor spacing in a more credible way than the concept of Anthony Davis is a three-point shooter ever did.

What I find, though, really interesting about this and also where I think just from a credibility standpoint, Rich Paul, I don't think really thought, either didn't think this through or is just kind of being willfully ignorant. why this makes sense from Memphis's perspective, because Rich Paul was presenting this like it's a no-brainer for both sides. He said, triple J does not want to be part of a rebuild at 26. Why would Austin want to be part of a rebuild at 28? Why would Memphis even want the centerpiece of a rebuild to be 28? And why would they expect a walkaway free agent who will have other suitors,

to stay with them, you can't have the signature piece of this trade walk away in three months. Yeah. If say like they were going to just bring in Austin and look to flip them in six months, you don't think Austin's going to be able to figure that out? You don't think he's going to want to keep as much control as possible? I think certainly, I don't know if he called it a no-brainer, but like he certainly made it sound a little more appealing to the Grizzlies. then I think it would be for the reasons you point out.

There's a fundamental question because one of the things that gets lost in the conversation about Reeves and, you know, and Luca as a combo is that the two of them actually is a two-man combination. The numbers are quite good. So like the answer to can you have on court success with those two anchoring your team? It's actually yes. You absolutely can. reflect that. I think the cap math is an interesting problem, but it sort of doesn't go away. Like there was an interesting, Brian Windhorst was on 710 ESPN with George Zadano and Scott Kaplan on Wednesday morning. And he, you know, Wendy was was saying like, you know, Cleveland, for

example, this is, he's, these are hypotheticals. He's not reporting. Don't aggregate him. Don't aggregate us. Cleveland theoretically could put somebody like DeAndre Hunter on the market. Hunter's having a bad season this year. He was fantastic last year. He costs about $25 million next year. If the cabs put Hunter on the market and you could get him without giving up that first round pick, which the Lakers shouldn't do in a deal like that, would that be worth

it for them? Because it eats into their cap space. The flip side is, if you were to use that cap space, how are you like you need to spend about $20 million on a player of DeAndre Hunter's caliber. So like, and that this is sort of reflective of the argument that you, not the argument, the conversation that we have all the time, which is the cap space is going to be used on players that you could just acquire that you would end up the type of player you want to sign. So if you like that guy, just trade for them.

I feel kind of the same way. I'm very into the idea. Go ahead. Sorry. Obviously, you finish your thought because I think I know what you're going to say. I'm very into the idea of trying to build next year's team now. Exactly. If you can get somebody that you think is the type of player you'd want to acquire,

great. Go get them. The part that I think maybe you and I disagree with a little bit is how Reeves fits into that. beyond the sort of cap mechanics of cap holds and things like that, if the Lakers were to sort of let Reeves go or do something like that, decide that, you know, the money is too much or like they can't build around both of those guys, if they were to decide that, they'd then have to take some of that money and, you know, and allocate it towards a player that's going to cost as much as Austin Reeves.

The hope would be you could find somebody who might be a, little bit of a better fit. Like if I could pick a player to put next to Luca right now, like kind of a, not like just a megastar or whatever. Like my ideal is somebody like Scotty Barnes, like has a lot of offensive talent, moves the ball really well, but he defends. He's a different kind of player, all that kind of stuff. That would be great.

I just don't think you know, unless that kind of players, available, then Austin Reeves is the best option that you're going to be able to have. So I don't disagree with you that in a perfect world, you might be able to swap Austin for someone that's more compatible. I just don't know who that player is or where you're going to find them. So ultimately, I think what the Lakers are going to do and should do is figure out how to build around those two. No, you could absolutely do worse than them as a foundation.

Like I said, they play off each other offensively. very well. Both things can exist at the same time. I can have concerns that the cap math won't work in the most idealized way possible. I can also say that there are pros to locking up Austin moving forward. Like I have never said like dead, hard and fast, they need to get out of the Austin Reeves business ASAP. That's never did. This is this is the challenge of building a team. where one guy makes as much as Luke is going to make and you have to pay another guy not maybe not max max money but close to it it's a capped league and every team struggles with it um it's just one of those things where you know the the the the the real world application

of can you sort of do better you know you can have the concerns are going to be there no matter how you do it. I am very much of the, and I know you're not really floating, you know, like pushing for the Lakers to make a big deal here. I think the burdened hand scenario for the Lakers is pretty good,

given the flexibility they're going to have this offseason. Yeah. I mean, again, both things can be true. I can have concerns about whether or not they will be able to do this in the best way possible while still acknowledging Austin Reed is a really good player

and there's upsides to keeping it. Right. And I just, I don't know what the better are. There's a hypothetical alternative, but I don't know if there's a real world alternative. I don't know either. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. Lakers playing the Charlotte Hornets.

Thursday night, we of course will be here after the game to break it all down, breaking down what had better be, Andy, a second straight victory for the Lakers because you can't be losing games. Jackson Hayes upgraded to questionable. Nice! Can't be losing games of the Charlotte Hornets, everyone. We'll see you after the game. Thank you.