Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić (25/7/4) Dominates in Preseason Debut, but Lakers Lose In Phoenix

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

There were a lot of things about Tuesday's game in Phoenix against the Suns more important than the final score. Luka Dončić made his preseason debut and was dominant, just as he was in Europe this summer, finishing with 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists in only 22 minutes of floor time. Austin Reaves had 25 of his own.Deandre Ayton, who has been a rebounding monster this preseason, kept it up, with 13 boards and three blocks in his 26 minutes. Marcus Smart also made his Lakers debut, seeming to move freely in 20 minutes of burn (20 minutes in which he didn't take a single shot).But there were other things that will most certainly drive JJ Redick nuts, namely the defensive effort of the team, particularly in the second half. Yes, much of that was with deep reserves/G-Leaguers, but the last few minutes with the rotation guys weren't great, especially considering Phoenix sat about 80 percent of its expected regular season rotation.Along those lines, the Lakers were sitting guys too (Vando, Rui, Vincent). Was that really wise?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  SEGMENT 1: Luka returns, and Luka dominates!  SEGMENT 2: The Luka/Reaves combo is productive. Smart makes his debut.  SEGMENT 3: More good stuff from Ayton!  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBAfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. WayfairGet organized, refreshed, and back to routine for way less. Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. 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 Locked on Lakers for Wednesday. Brian Komeneski, Andy Kaminetski, Luca Donchich dominates in his preseason debut. What else went right for the Lakers and what went wrong on Tuesday? 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 podcast. whether that's Andy, Spotify, that's Apple Podcasts, or perhaps you are one of the 36,000-plus people who subscribe to Locked on Lakers on YouTube. None of these things, Andy, are going to cost you a nickel. They're never going to be behind a paywall. The Lakers, Lakers fans, all the people, everybody following this team, excited to see Luca Donchich make his debut on,

preseason debut, I should say, on Tuesday night in Phoenix. And Luca didn't disappoint, but did the Lakers? We'll break all that down right after we tell you that today's episodes brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off the first purchase. Preseason games are always like weird, Andy, because there's like the game, the score. And then there's like the stuff that you're really actually paying attention to. And in that regard, at least I thought there were some positives. for the Lakers, despite a 113-104 loss to the Sons in which they were completely dominated in the

second half. I mean, the biggest positive was obviously Luca was back and that Luca looked like Luca in 22 minutes, 25 points, 7 of 15 from the field, 4 of 8 from behind the arc, including a couple of the classic Lucas stepback, seven of nine from the line. Nine trips to the line is great to see from Luca right out of the shoot. And this is in 22 minutes, by the way. Right, 22 minutes. Seven rebounds, three on the offensive glass. He actually tracked down one of his missed free throws, and that turned into a Laker score. Four assists. He had five turnovers, but the turnovers felt much more like getting in sync with his teammates that he has not played in even preseason

games with as opposed to anything resembling rust. Like Luca did not even look sort of rusty out there again. These were like high degree of difficulties kind of scrued. Like you just read off his stat line here, Andy. This was a sort of in terms of a guy looking like he's in midseason form, basically picking up right where he left off in Eurobasket play. This was a cruise control 25, 7, 4. And to be fair, Phoenix sat about 80% of its rotation.

And Phoenix's rotation isn't that good. But, you know, their frontline players were all sitting in this game. So, you know, the level of competition. Although common Maliawatch, their rookie center. Whoa, did he look good. He might have a thing or two to say about, whether or not he belongs as part of that front line group. He played really, you and I were texting back and forth during this game saying,

why exactly A, did the Sons trade for Mark Williams on the same day that they drafted common mileage and B, if they play Nick Richards at all, like, what are they doing? I know the Sons, not to get sidetracked, the Sons are pretending that they're going to be good this year, but like, that kid looked great. Yes, he did. Yeah, but for the most part. And shout out to Jordan Goodwin, who had a nice game. Yeah, also, you know, the, for the,

Luca was playing against sort of inferior NBA competition and lit him up and looked good, look smooth, looked like he didn't put out too much effort. I don't expect that he'll play tonight. Lagos, Lakers are playing in Vegas against Dallas, correct? Yes. And I don't necessarily expect Luca to play. But if he doesn't, it won't be because he was just, you know, the workload was just too much on Tuesday. That wasn't the deal.

And so, you know, you want to see the chemist, some potential chemistry with DeAndre Aiton. And there were a couple plays where they looked, you know, pretty good together at the timing there. Luca, I think, tried to force a couple Alley Ups, just to kind of work. work on that. But you could see that this is going to be a beneficial partnership for Aiton, who we can talk about a little bit more over the course of the show. I mean, if you're going to draw this up as like, let's get Luke on the floor, let him play 20 minutes or so and see what happens.

This is basically what you would have come up with. Again, he looked like Luca Donchich. And, you know, we've talked a lot leading up to this game about how Luca's practices and non-practices and non-participation at times until eventually they were just spelling out exactly what the plan was. We both had a bit of concern about, you know, is Luca okay? And by the way, we are not the only people who cover this team. Really? He looked really good. Neither one of us would have expected him to go, you know, completely balls to the walls in a preseason game, especially knowing the way he is going to have to lift up a lot even by Luca lifting standards without LeBron.

So you want to make sure that he is treating this with the appropriate amount of pace. But you also want him to get the appropriate amount of work to make this worth his time in the first place. And in that sense, like you said, this was pretty much exactly how you would want to draw it up. We were not even a half in the books of Luca's preseason debut, and he was jawboning a ref over a non-call. And I'm like, we are so back, baby, yelling at the refs. I think, you know, you could see. There are just certain things you can see the difference.

I mean, JJ pointed out, JJ Redick pointed it out in his, you know, on his way to halftime interview on Spectrum Sportsnet. like the Lakers, you could see the difference in their pace in their, and, you know, those Luca Donjic push ahead, outlet passes and stuff. You know, you miss that because, you know, not only is Luca a great rebounder, he is excellent at getting the ball up the floor, you know, in that, you know, with one big outlet pass. And that just speeds the Lakers offense up.

It leads to easy baskets. It helps facilitate good pace throughout, you know, the, the, the time that he's on the floor. And there's a tangible difference when Lucca Donch is playing for your team. And so that part looked good. I thought too, the other guy who obviously shined for the Lakers, and this is the offensive combo that everybody is going to be looking at now, the partnership that everybody's going to be looking at with LeBron out for at least 10 to 15, possibly even 20

games or whatever this turns out to be is the uh the austin reeves luca donchich pairing uh ar was fantastic uh eight of 16 from the floor seven of eight from the line he had four rebounds two assists a steel and a block um and so you know 50 points between the two of those guys they looked very comfortable together and and reeves just continues to have a great particularly offensive preseason His handle looks sharp, comfortable changing speed, all this stuff. I mean, Reeves just had another really good game. 25 points, 8 to 16 from the field, got the line eight times. So between him and Luca, that's 17 trips to the line.

He had four rebounds, two assists. Did have four turnovers, but also a steel and a block. There were a few times where I thought Austin, and this is still, I think, one of the things Austin needs to work on as a player where he had a few too many dribbles and dribbled himself into trouble and had some difficulty getting out of it. Like there was a possession that turned into a 24-second violation because Austin dribbled himself into trouble, then had to frantically kick out, kicked it out to Jake LaRavia, who also then maybe they share an agent, so this is just something they do.

He dribbled himself into trouble and eventually had to kick the. ball out to Christian Coloco with like 1.7 left on the clock well past the three point line. You can only imagine how that went 24 second violation. But yes, by and large, certainly on the offensive end of things, Austin has looked quite good in this preseason. There are areas, and I think sort of emblematically, when the back court of Jared Butler and Jordan Goodwin put up 59 points. It's not obviously all on Austin and Luca. And some of this actually happened when both of them weren't even playing. But I think it is emblematic of some of the defensive concerns that people, including myself, have talked about with the two of them. But if you are looking for a team that has the

foundation to be excellent offensive, excellent offensively, and you hope can do somewhere between good enough and actually surprisingly good defensively. The offensive part is covered with Luca and Austin. That is going to be, I think, often very, very prolific. Yeah, and I mean, the Lakers, they were, you know, they were up by 10 at the half. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that they were playing outstanding defense throughout the first half, but, you know, they were still up, but they, I think were pretty aggressive and attentive in the first quarter got a little looser in the second you know

Phoenix took a ton of threes and made a bunch and that obviously makes it makes a difference and some of that's just good shooting but you know it was really the third quarter where the game got away from the Lakers some of that with the starters on the floor much of it without um it's worth noting as well the lakers and we'll talk about this before the end of the show certainly over the course of the week as we wrap up the preseason uh play without Rui, without Gabe Vincent, and without Jared Vanderbilt. Or Jackson and Jackson A's. So I say that not to say like, well, you know, the Lakers were missing a bunch of their guys too.

I say that only to note that this was not really a full dress rehearsal as it seemed like it might be. One guy who was on the floor making his debut beyond Luca was Marcus Smart. Let's talk about him next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money. most people cannot name all of their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether you're talking about 401Ks, properties or investments. And if you don't have a full picture, you could end up leaving money on the table. That's why you got Monarch money. It's an all-in-one personal finance tool bringing your entire financial life together in one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or on your phone.

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off for first purchase term supply that's code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-B-A for $20 off swipe tap ticket go he didn't uh whatever Marka smart has planned for the rest of the season. If he's trying to kind of ease into it or make sure he's got enough energy, he certainly, Andy didn't use up any shooting on Tuesday night. I played 20 minutes, did not attempt a field goal. So he's easing into things on that side of the ball.

Yeah, his line was a lot of zeros, zero points, zero field goal attempts, zero free throws, zero rebounds, zero steals are blocked. zero turnovers, which... That's good. Well, I mean, he barely touched the ball, so there's only so many times he could turn over the ball. And he did manage to convert that usage of, I guess, point seven into an assist. So in that sense, very...

Marcus Smart 0.0. And JJ after the game actually lamented that Marcus didn't get enough shots. and I, without being in the building and the ability to ask JJ questions, I have a feeling that he thought there was a connection between some of the possessions without a lot of ball movement and Marcus Smart getting zero shots. But it was something that JJ actually brought up that he was displeased with, whether specifically because he wants Marcus taking more shots and I assume that he does. I mean, I don't know what the.

right number is. It ain't zero. It's not zero. Right, but also too, I think if I had to guess, he found it emblematic of the offensive possessions where there wasn't enough ball movement period. I will say though, while J.J.

thought that Smart offered some physicality and energy and stuff, I'll be honest, it didn't feel, you didn't feel Smart's presence out there much at all, but I will say he did not look to be laboring. He didn't look to be physically uncomfortable or step behind or anything like that. He was just sort of invisible. If you want to look at that, a glass

half empty, half full, whatever. But that was my basic take. Smart looked like somebody who did not have a defined role thus far. Well, I think, or defined involvement. I'm sure he has a defined role. I mean, there were times. I know maybe, I don't know. I'm assuming there are things that probably didn't happen and would have made it easier for smart to be more aggressive offensively, get a few more touches, get a better feel, whatever might be. There were also plenty of opportunities for smart to shoot, and he didn't. And so, you know, I think this was a get-in kind of game for smart, get on the floor, move around a little bit, get some defensive possessions, get a sweat on,

and see how everything feels. I don't think this is what we're going to, what we're going to see. I certainly hope not over the course of the season. I think you'll see a much more impactful player. But, you know, this was not exactly, I think, what the Lakers hoped maybe they would get from smart just in this opening game, just again,

just to see how things, look, that said, and this is something that I think is an interesting thing to talk about just in terms of this overarching conversation we've been having about how are the Lakers treating the preseason? I do wonder sometimes if teams, especially when you're getting games against the back end of the Phoenix Sun's actual roster and some of their G-League roster, in the NFL, for example, coaches now put much more emphasis on training camp practice time and like these sort of intercamp scrimmages where like a team comes in and they kind of go semi live. They put much more emphasis on those things than they do actual preseason games. I'm wondering if something similar is happening in the NBA.

and I'd love to ask JJ this question, where teams put much more stock in what they do. I don't know the answer. Inside the building in these inter-squad kind of scrimmages where they go full-speed, full-contact, you know, they bring in referees for these things. Like, these are real games more so than they do for games like this, which is why you see players sitting when it could have been like,

you know, we talked about. and anticipated a dress rehearsal. Again, not necessarily advocating for this. I'm literally wondering if this is part of the evolution of the preseason. I think it could be possible, broadly speaking, across the NBA, although more teams across the league have had more of their stars playing more often than the Lakers have. I also, I'm not quite sure I buy this for the Lakers specifically because if that was their plan, or philosophy, they also haven't fully implemented it because the further they went in the training

camp, the more they were holding out certain guys. Well, yeah, we went and it's really we're talking about Luca. No, well, Luca. Right. And again, this can be on a case by case basis and obviously context matters. And if you have concerns about Luca, you hold them out. Like all of that stuff, I just, I tend to fall back on my general stance that I don't think the Lakers are an organization that take this stuff.

that seriously or as seriously as I would like them to take it. It's also interesting, like we were in L.A. And we both appear on 710 ESPN. They're the Rams radio partner. So we pay a lot of attention to the Rams. The Rams play none of their players who matter in the season at all. Not a single snap. And while obviously the Rams have been a very good team over the last several years,

and Sean McVeigh is a pretty unimpeachable coach. coach, they continually get off to very slow starts. So there may be a correlation. You may be able to see the logic to it and maybe in the grand scheme of the season, things turn out broadly speaking okay. But the Rams have continually gotten off to bad starts. Yeah, it's just, it's one of these things that I wonder, and again, this is the sort of thing you just really want to sit down and talk to

really multiple coaches about it? Like, what is the value? Where do you get more value? You know, what is the risk reward of these preseason games? Because look, I mean, pull up box scores. Like, I got my fantasy draft coming up, Andy. I'm religiously looking at NBA box scores to see who I should draft and where. I mean, it is a hodgepodge on a nightly basis, who is on the floor and who isn't for all of these teams.

And so it's the Lakers aren't alone. but it's you I know as a fan and as an and as an as an as an observer. I'll say this. If you're the Lakers, you're sitting and you look at it and you're like, could we do a little bit more with these games? We need to break in a second, but I will say this just before we go to the break.

If the Lakers, if that's their philosophy, then stop scheduling six preseason games when you're not actually going to play your players because at that point you're just bilking, you're just bilking fans. That's a money drop. I'm just saying like, I mean, you can,

cynically you would call it a money grab. The Lakers would say they're paying off the diaspora of fans. You know, that's why they play in Palm Springs. That's why they play in. If you're not putting your actual players on the floor, you're not paying off the diaspora. You're having diaspora pay you. Well, right.

I mean, and perhaps the answer. They're not, they're not excited in Palm Springs to watch like Jake La Ravia, respectfully, they lead the charge. They used to go down and play, you know, in Anaheim, I get it. I get it. But I also get what you're saying. Let's talk about a couple more guys

who had impact in this game, both positive and sort of negatively. And look ahead to what we're going to see the rest of this preseason. We'll do all that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul and the NFL season. It is in full swing. We're just talking about the Rams and Fandul's making sure you're ready for every kickoff at the Camp Miss offer. Right now, new customers, you bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love that Fandul fits however you want to bet player props and building the same game, parlay, even jumping in live as the action unfolds you for someone who has a feel for how the game is going to shake out.

You can get ahead of those results with a little wager. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you are watching your team or just keeping an eye on that fantasy lineup, so you're ready to play, download the. the fan-dwell app now by visiting fan-duel.com to get started. That's fandul.com to place your first $5 bet. We have been talking about it throughout the preseason, Andy. What DeAndre Aiton does offensively is great.

You know, they're going to need him to put up 15 to 20 probably, you know, at least 15 a night, give or take while LeBron is sidelined, you know, those periodic 20-point games you might have seen. When the roster was fully intact, you're going to need a few more of those on a night-to-night basis. He's going to be a much bigger piece offensively. His rebounding and his rim protection are still going to be more important in terms of the grand scheme of things, overall opportunities for the Lakers to win. And he had another good night of that, I thought, on Tuesday, particularly on the glass,

13 rebounds in 26 minutes. So that is a robust, um, a permanent rate there for DeAndre. Yeah, five of them on the offensive glass. He also had two steals, three blocks. You know, there were some plays in the lane where the athleticism matchup, for example, between him and Malewatch was advantage common Maliawatch. I mean, he's just a springy, quick kid.

And long. I mean, DeAndre, not a little man. No. But their malwatch's arms, like he can tap us on the shoulder. from Phoenix. Yeah, I mean, there's just, there's an athleticism and quickness and sort of springiness speed advantage that you gave Aiden some trouble. And I actually think there's some other centers around the league that he might give

a little bit of periodic fits to as well. But you just feel that D'Andre so far cares about this stuff and that he's engaged in it and that he's gotten the memo. This is what is being asked of you, both by the Lakers and Frank. the whole league, if you want to continue getting paid. And he's taking this stuff seriously. You know, his point totals have increased a bit over the last couple preseason games, but he has not gotten shot happy at all.

Like he does not seem, and I say this just because this is the knock on DeAndre 8 and the perception of him that he is all about his numbers. And his numbers really being the points and the rebounds just happen to come because he's a big guy playing down low. He's not ever parked at the three point line. He is not playing like a guy that is particularly worried about the scoring column. No. Malawatch is his standing reach is measured at 9-6.

Aiton is not. I looked it up. It was either 9-2 or 9-3. I saw both. Like, when you walk around, you got a nine, nine foot two inch standing reach. You probably think you're going to have the biggest one out there. Like, good God.

Okay, I just want to point out. Oh, by the way, real quick, too, did you see that there are reports that Wembe might be as tall as 7-7 now? I have not seen 7.7. I've seen 7.5. Boban said he was standing next to Wembe. Bobon is a legit 7-4 said that Wembe is at least a couple inches taller than him. I want to say that I heard on.

on Zach Lowe's podcast that Wembe grew a couple inches, but that would take him to seven five. I don't know about seven or speculated he's on his that he might be as getting up to seven seven he might be I don't know I'm just saying it's insane. Yeah and he also is incredibly focused and determined and that should be you know he's he's training he's training both with Hakeem Elijah Juan and Shaolin monks like this should scare the hell out of the the rest of the league. I want to point out this comment really quickly from our guy BC, who is a

regular in the chat, and we very much appreciate. But like this speaks to both like how spoiled we are as Laker fans, but also how you can sometimes lose sight of how the real world works and even sometimes for the Lakers. I can't believe it's been half a decade since I saw the Lakers win a championship. that's not that long. It's not. And I feel like comments like that, I mean, I think from BC,

it's like he, it's what makes this fun. Like, Lakers fans sort of are self-aware and like, it's a joke, but not. Not a joke. Well,

but here's, because I remember, it's like there's a self-awareness to it, but there's also an expectation. Well, also when you win, like especially if you win in bunches, like I think there are a lot of Laker fans who kind of forget that, you know, the Lakers won in 80,

they won in 87, then 88. And then 12 years passed before they won the first of the three Kobe Shack titles in 2000. Then they ended up winning five in that decade. So it starts feeling like, yeah, we're just cranking it out to the way it should be. But, you know, the idea that the Lakers never go five, like actually, yes, they do. They went 12 years in between Showtime and Kobe Shack. And I'm not saying this to lower people's standards and expectations and desire as fans to watch Lakers win championships, which you should always be.

I'm just saying it's funny, the idea that five years is that long. It's really not. It isn't. But it feels long for Lakers fans. But the flip side of that is like most teams go like forever. And I know too. The Dodgers are now up to nothing in their series against the Brewers. And like the Mariners are up to nothing against the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays haven't been to the World Series in like 25 years. That's not win a championship. That's just been to the World Series, although I think they are the same. the case of the Blue Jays, the Mariners have never been. Never been. Never. And like, you know, like go through the list of teams in the NBA who have never won a title. Like, you know, the Lakers, Boston's obviously got 18, the Lakers have 17, the Warriors have seven, uh, Bulls have six, spurs five, Sixers three, Pistons three, Heat three. Andy, that's, and that leaves like everybody else with two and one. Yeah. Everybody else or zero.

Like, some of them never even been to the finals. And, like, you know, that's what makes, it's one of the things that makes, like, I, that I respect, like, about the trolling that Lakers fans like to engage in. This sort of, woe is me, it's been five years. I am entitled, where is my, my three-year-old's never seen a Lakers parade, Andy, like that kind of thing, you know. Well, I mean, sadly, my daughter is 14, and she has. has seen a Lakers championship, but she's actually never seen a grade.

And I was going to say that I think that makes the five years almost feel like 10 just because Laker fan. Brian and I've been very clear. We think the asterisk concept for the bubble is beyond BS. It's ridiculous. But that championship feels different in the sense that there was just distance. And I think that distance and the lack of the full experience can make it seem like it's been longer since the Lakers last one. It almost like it didn't happen. Well, it's just it's been, it has been going on 16 years that Laker fans have experienced like the whole enchilada of winning a championship. And that is different, man. The whole experience is different. I, I'm still here for it.

One guy I wanted to mention, first of all, good for Jordan Goodwin for lighting up his former squad on Monday night, or Tuesday night, I should say. I was really hoping that Dalton Connect would build not on not, it was not a great game. I don't want to overstate what Dalton did on Sunday. It wasn't a, it was not a great game. But it had moments where you're like, okay. maybe like could build a little momentum. JJ gave him a chance to start. You got into this game pretty early.

I think he was the first player off the bench for the Lakers. And was just a non-entity. And like we're kind of running out of time for Dalton to reestablish himself, at least in the eyes of other GMs as a player that you won't have to. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. reestablish himself to his coach. Like, let's even forget. I'm not concerned about that.

I just like whether you're talking his own coach or other GMs about like because inside the building he can start to read. But like the rest of the league's not going to see it. And it's really important for the Lakers that the rest of the league think Dalton isn't a failure. Right. But he is, that's not going to happen until his coach feels confident enough to put him out on the floor.

Like that is the first step. Forget what you can fetch. for Dalton and where he registers as a an asset or whatever, he needs to reestablish himself as an actual player with value for the Lakers before he has value

anywhere else. It was just it was not that he was terrible but like you expect a guy like that in his second year, especially late in the game or later in the game when some of the frontline players for the Lakers are off the floor to really

do more like Brani for a example, you know, statistically is struggles, I think, you know, he's playing much more aggressively, which I love against no matter who's on the floor. Ronnie looks more confident out there than Dalton, regardless of who's playing better or not. Brony is more confident and aggressive this year compared to last, no matter who's on the floor, has less success against better players. And then you saw near the end of the game when it was more sort of back of the roster guys and G-leaguers on the floor.

Brani was more successful. He's playing the same way throughout, but as you would expect, the results get better against lesser opponents. Now you just got to see Brony make that next step to be able to do it against rotation players in the NBA. But you're not seeing that with Dalton, and it's concerning.

Anyway, we will see who plays on Wednesday night in Vegas, Vegas baby, against the Mavs. We, of course, be here after the game. bring its break it all down for you locked on liquor on youtube where you go hang out over 36,000 subscribers to the channel subscribe to the audio version as well get the show everywhere you can we'll see you tomorrow.