Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Dominates In Loss to Poland... Plus, Austin Reaves as 6th Man?

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Slovenia kicked off its Eurobasket competition against Poland—one of the host nations—Thursday. A tough draw for sure against a fired up local crowd. Many Lakers fans are undoubtedly pulling for S...lovenia right now, because they're pulling for Luka Dončić... ...but on the other hand, a lot of them are more pulling for Luka. And man alive, did Luka come through. Dončić put up a gaudy numbers even as Slovenia lost. 34 points, including 17/18 from the free throw line, plus nine assists and five steals. The court vision was great, he was able to get into the heart of a Polish defense that was, to say the least, overplaying him. So at least when it comes to LA's star, it was so far, so good. Meanwhile, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss gave an interview to Slovenian radio in which she recounted the unusual nature of Luka's arrival, and particularly the unusual nature of his emotional state. It explains a lot about why Dončić couldn't quite hit the level fans (and even he, likely) hoped for after the trade. Good, yes. But not top form. Finally, it's a question that comes up a lot. Should Austin Reaves come off the bench? There are a few reasons to give it a shot, unlikely as it is to actually happen... but would the Lakers perhaps have a little extra incentive to make Reaves a sixth man?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Luka dominates against Poland, but Slovenia loses.  SEGMENT 2: Jeanie on Luka's arrival. SEGMENT 3: A.R. as 6th Man?  Listener SurveyWe’ve put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcasts even better. Go tohttps://lockedonpodcasts.com/survey/ to get started. Everyone who completes a survey will be entered for a chance to win one of ten $100 Amazon gift cards.  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnbaMonarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Friday. Brian Kemeneski, Andy Kemeniske, Slovenia loses in their opening game of Eurobasket, but Luca Donchitz dominates. Plus, should Austin Reeves be the Lakers' sixth man? That is next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts Network, your team every day.
Starting point is 00:00:32 Thanks to everyone for making Locked on Lakers, your first listen to every day Monday through Friday. matter how we're you get your podcast. This one's always free. Never behind a paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel, all of whom, Andy, we're very excited to see the results of Luca Donchich's performance, at least, in the opening game for a Eurobasket, if not the results of the final score as Slovenia loses to Poland, but we'll break down Lucas Big Day. Plus, we'll dip back into the mailbag. We'll talk about Jeannie Bus, who gave a very interesting,
Starting point is 00:01:07 interview in Slovenia while I remember we talked about the Lakers brain trust being present there for these games and to support Luca. So plenty to unpack. But first, Andy, we have to let people know that today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the GameTime app, create an account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. So I think it's fair to say, Andy. A lot of Lakers fans now are rooting for Slovenia to find some success.
Starting point is 00:01:37 in the Eurobasket tournaments. But first and foremost, even more than that, Lakers fans are rooting for Luca to find some success and look good. They got about half of what they wanted on Thursday, but probably the half they wanted more. Well, I mean, if you're looking to unite all fans of Luca on some level, whether the ones that are rooting for Luca as much for Slovenia, they obviously want him to excel in that game and just get the win,
Starting point is 00:02:08 or Laker fan firsts who just want to see Luca excel, regardless of the setting, they both get what they want. Luca gets 34 points on 7 of 14 shooting, 7 of 18, excuse me, 17 of 18 at the line, nine assists, four rebounds, five steals, two blocks, and even attack. We are so back, baby. Luca is back in full form. Unfortunately, 105-95 loss to Poland. Really, I unfortunately was not able to watch this game.
Starting point is 00:02:44 I was either on air with 710 ESPN or driving in the car to get to Spectrum Sportsnet, the Lakers TV partner, where I appeared on Access Sportsnet or Access Lakers for Spectrum Sportsnet. So unable to watch any of it, but it sounded like. A lot of Luca, not much support. Well, I mean, I watched a bunch of different highlight packages of the game. And I do appreciate, Andy, how many people are putting together these sizzle reels of Luca in particular, like possession by possession, basically all the good stuff Luca is doing en route to this very gaudy stat line that you mentioned there. But there were a lot of things to like from it.
Starting point is 00:03:31 I mean, I'm not here to break down. what Slovenia did right and wrong as a team against the polls. But I will tell you, if you are looking for good signs from Luca, obviously, you know, the Polish defense was very stacked. They were blitzing Luca. They were double-teening him all over the floor. They were doing all kinds of stuff to make life as hard as possible for Luca in this game. So I think that was pretty clear.
Starting point is 00:04:04 And then, you know, from there, you're looking at, you know, what was Luca able to do against all that defensive attention gets to the line 18 times? You and I have spoken about this. One of the things you're looking for from, you know, skinny Luca and to see if it has a real effect on his play is the ability to get past that initial line of defense, not have. to settle for a mid-range jumper and get himself to the basket. And that's something, you know, play through contact, draw contact, all that kind of stuff. Luca did that very effectively Thursday against the Polish team. And yes, I understand, you know, Poland is not filled with tons of NBA talent. I don't actually know any.
Starting point is 00:04:59 Right. I was about to say, I don't know if anybody on that team actually has even a minute of NBA experience. Their best player is an American expat. And he does have Jordan Lloyd. He has brief, brief time, brief periods of time. I think a couple training camps, stuff like that in the NBA. He's never had much more than like a cup of coffee. But, and he really had a terrific game itself, 32 points.
Starting point is 00:05:35 But what I thought was interesting, too, speaking of that, is just he talked about how Luca is a great player, like full stop. Like, he knows how good Luca is. He knows Luca is better than anybody on that team. But in a lot of ways, knowing that is what really focused and motivated them for this game to bring the best out of them. It makes it easier. It's like you just, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:00 that he's going to be, you know, so yes, is Luca beating non-NBA players to get to the basket and all that kind of stuff? Yes, he is. There's no question. He is also receiving an in inordinate amount of tension. Not that he doesn't get double teams in the NBA, not that he doesn't get those kinds of things when he plays. You can't overplay Donchich in that, in, in, in the way that the Polish team did. You know, so like, yeah, there is there is a little bit of a tradeoff there. So no, but I mean, he, he said it like literally. They used like the idea that Luca is better than everyone else. And he knows that and the whole team knows that Luca is somebody that everyone is expecting to be able to just beat us himself. And he said, quote, as a team,
Starting point is 00:06:52 we use that as motivation. You have to be humble. But on the other side, you're going to have to respect us too. Luca is Luca, but there's no more credit and respect that I can give to him, but tonight our team was better. Like, they actually use the idea of knowing we are up against this elite player as actual motivation in the game. Well, I'm sure they're going to do that, you know, with most of the teams that they play in the tournament, because, you know, in this group, France is loaded with NBA players.
Starting point is 00:07:24 And then, you know, they play, I think Serbia is. in this group. Maybe I forget who is, you know, Israel, at least I haven't looked at their roster, but they certainly have the capacity to put NBA players on that roster. So, you know, Poland is going to have that chip the entire bit. Like, I'm much more interested in what that looks like in terms of the opposition that Luca faces. And you look good. Like, just like there's no way, you know, to minimize. He was very effective in this game. He found cut. He was able to beat the pressure from the Polish defense and go over the top a bunch of times. Like there's one of the things that I find, you know, I put up a, a, I retweeted something of a pass that Yokic made in a game, one of these warm up games.
Starting point is 00:08:16 And it was, you know, a couple people were like, I don't get it. Like Magic Johnson, I've seen Magic Johnson make better passes. Like I've seen Yokic make better passes. But what struck me about this was all the little things that Yokic did in this clip to make that play effective. Luca did a lot of similar things in this game that I saw through these highlights and the clips that I saw. And one of the most striking is his ability to play against a double team with the ball over his head and make very accurate and very long passes over a defense. He found corner shooters three, four, five times over the course of this game,
Starting point is 00:09:07 very high on the floor between the three point line and the half court line, ball over his head, scanning that way and able to find the open man and hitting these guys with pinpoint accuracy from everywhere on the court. And like, those are the kinds of plays that don't get the same amount of attention as behind the back or the crazy Luca passes where. It looks like, you know, he's throwing it over his head. You can't quite figure out the direction that the ball even came out. But that to me is a sign of a guy that is very well dialed into what he's doing with these plays where the ball is, you know,
Starting point is 00:09:40 it doesn't matter the type of pressure he's receiving. The ball gets to the open man and punishes the opposing defense. So I just, he looked like a very good version of Luca Donchich to me. He also, too, was working defensively. Obviously, defending Polish non-NBA players is not the same thing as defending elite NBA players, but you can only play the games that are in front of you. And this is something that a lot of his Slovenian teammates have talked about, just like that this version of Luca has been more communicative defensively.
Starting point is 00:10:16 He's been more engaged. Like, he is taking that side of the ball, I don't want to say necessarily more seriously, but more of like a dialed in responsibility and something like on his checklist of if I'm the best player on a team, this is something that I need to, I need to display accountability on this level, I mean on this side of the ball on some level,
Starting point is 00:10:41 not necessarily as the best defender on my team, not necessarily as a shutdown guy, but just there is accountability for me that I have to display on some types of tangible levels. Yeah, it's just, I think that it's the engagement. We talk about engagement all the time. And so the level of engagement that he had on that side of the ball is very high. And like obviously Slovenia is going to need that.
Starting point is 00:11:08 If they're going to have a chance to compete against these teams, you know, they are not even with Luca, one of the, considered one of the stronger teams in the tournament. And so they need him on both sides of the ball. And so it was very strong game. We talked a little bit more about it. Plus, an interesting interview that Jeannie Bus gave to Slovenian radio, I guess it was, where she talked about Lucas arrival in L.A. and how unusual it was. We'll get to that next.
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Starting point is 00:12:37 Use the code locked on NBA for 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that's promo code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-BA for 20 bucks off. Swipe, tap, tap, ticket. Go download game time today. So we noted, Andy, the wisdom of the Lakers, arriving in the Lakers Brain Trust, I should say, arriving in Poland to support Luca as the Slovenian team was preparing for these games. Jeannie stopped to do a little media while she was there because, hey, both, you know, again, supporting Luca,
Starting point is 00:13:19 talking to the telling stories and all that kind of stuff. But as well, you know, promote the brand. Get out there and make the Lakers the biggest story in all of your. Europe. And so in doing so, it was quite interesting, some of the stuff that came out of this interview in terms of really going over how unusual and reinforce how unusual the circumstances were for Lucca Donchich's arrival. It was really unlike anything the Lakers have ever managed, I think, to pull off. Yeah, Jeannie said during this interview, quote, nobody knew the trade was going to happen. I knew, but he didn't know. And because of this, Jeannie noted, I've never had a
Starting point is 00:14:06 player come to the Lakers and be as sad as he was because the trade was such a huge surprise to him. He said that he's a real person. He had the process what happened. I think now he's embraced the Lakers and he's all about L.A. We've seen this in the commitment, Luca obviously made by signing the extension, but also the way he has recruited players for this team, DeAndre Aiton, Marcus Smart, the way he's he has made charitable donations in the community. Like he is the way he keeps talking about the Lakers in future tense and like the things that he wants to do with the Lakers, not just next season, but big picture talking about Mark Walter, Jeannie Buss.
Starting point is 00:14:46 Like he seems to be constantly talking about the Lakers with big, far reaching vision. Jeannie also mentioned something too that I had never heard about and it kind of says something just because you and I have been covering this team for a long time. It's kind of our job to know as much as we can about the Lakers, which means by definition knowing as much as we can about Kobe. And this was new. She said, quote, the last time I saw Kobe Bryant, he brought his daughter, Gianna, to the Lakers game to see Luca play
Starting point is 00:15:19 because Luca was Gianna's favorite player. And, you know, she's talking about that famous game where Kobe, unbeknownst to Luca was there. and then he started bleep talking to him from the court side seats in Slovenian. And Luca turns around and he's like, what the hell is going? And he sees that it's Kobe. They tap up. They're excited to see each other.
Starting point is 00:15:41 And she said, so they've always been connected in some way. And I knew that if the opportunity to have somebody like Luke on the Lakers and would all work out, I did not know that there was that. I knew that Kobe liked Luca, respected his game. Obviously, everybody's seen that clip a million times of them interacting. I did not know, though, that they were at the game in very large part because that was Gigi's favorite player. I thought I heard that before, but I had not. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:16:12 I had not. It's just, it's interesting to hear it. I mean, that was, you know, kind of a cool story, you know, just to talk about the, the connection there, especially to, you know, when you start to find the threads between Great Lakers. players and Lakers franchise players and things like that. And so, you know, that was a cool story for Jeannie to tell. I just was struck by that idea of a guy being traded to Lakers being sad. That is not normally the reaction that you hear about when players, when that happens. And so, you know, it's interesting to see that.
Starting point is 00:16:57 It's like even like surprise trades. You go back to the Powell-Gersal deal, for example. That was not a trade. People saw coming. But it's one Powell wanted. Right. He wanted to get the hell out of there. You and I were like pulling into the parking lot, the facility in El Segundo,
Starting point is 00:17:13 when that news came down, it was like, oh, my God. And so it was a shock to everyone that this happened. But like, Powell couldn't pack his bags fast enough to get himself to Los Angeles. It's just, it is unusual to hear a player get traded to L.A. and be sad about it. Not like mixed feelings, but like, and that explains so much of what was going on last year. And the challenge for Luca to get back on the floor when he was overcoming an injury, to learn a new roster and get used to playing with LeBron and get used to.
Starting point is 00:17:56 used to playing with, you know, JJ Redick drawing up the plays instead of Jason Kidd and doing all these things. And then it's like, oh, right, he's a person. He has to deal with the range of emotions, Andy, that comes with that level of shock. It's turned out okay. And I think, you know, he said it himself, Luca has, like, you kind of over time, you get used to it. You start, you know, the shock passes, you can start to process it. But like those first few weeks, it's not surprising when you put all of those things together that Luca didn't just show up in Los Angeles and kick everyone's ass, like instantly. Yeah, especially too with Dallas doing such a negative campaign with him out the door.
Starting point is 00:18:47 I mean, like really in a lot of ways, there was, it's not even a byproduct. I think it was by design a humiliation factor from Dallas towards Luca on the way out. Like they wanted to message this guy is too irresponsible. We cannot trust him. Well, they were trying. I don't know if they were trying. The intention was to humiliate Luca like as their primary like idea. It was to cover their own ass and the only way they could do it was to humiliate Luca.
Starting point is 00:19:20 Right. This type of message messaging is humiliated. And given some of the negativity that we've seen coming out of Dallas in the reporting details ever since the trade, I mean, I'm not going to say that humiliation was their number one goal, but it was clearly something that they were okay with. Correct. 100% agree with that. Like they were willing to go there. If that was a side effect of them having to protect, sort of protect their position. so to speak, they were absolutely happy to do it.
Starting point is 00:19:56 I mean, I think to some degree they were looking to do it because in order to justify a trade like that that nobody saw coming and while they were obviously covering their asses, as you noted, the negative reaction to the degree that it was even took them by surprise. We are basically saying the same thing. You know, it's, it just in this was a low point for Luca that he did to get through. And that's, I think that's the important thing to remember is like it was a staggering trade by MBA standards.
Starting point is 00:20:34 It's a massive high point for the Lakers as an organization. But for Luca on a personal level, it didn't, you know, you can, again, I'll use POW as a comparison. Like that was a surprise. and a great one. Fantastic. Let's go. This one was a surprise. Same destination.
Starting point is 00:20:56 Going to play with LeBron. Competitive team. All that stuff. It wasn't a huge step backwards from basketball standpoint, but from a personal standpoint, it felt like a betrayal and a shock and all of these other things.
Starting point is 00:21:09 And then to pile on what Dallas did, trying to, you know, bad-mouthing him to try to justify the deal on the way out only makes it worse. But that also makes it better for the Lakers because now he's even angrier. One of the interesting questions that I know we get a lot, whether it's in the mailbag or on Twitter at Cam Brothers on the chat board when we do these live shows is whether or not Austin Reeves would be better off coming off the bench. You had a very interesting conversation with a Locked-on colleague this week, Andy, on your ESPN show.
Starting point is 00:21:48 So we get to all that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fanduel. The NFL season's almost here. FanDuel is making sure you are ready for kickoff with a can't-miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5.5. If your bet wins, you get $300, whoa, in bonus bets to use across the app. I love Fanduel because it fits however you like to bet, player props, using the same game parlay, even jump.
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Starting point is 00:23:43 The idea as the Lakers figure out who that fifth starter is going to be, there is a strong contingent of Lakers fans, Andy, who think that people like us are just asking the question wrong with, you know, how we're even framing the thing and who that fifth starter should be. This mailback question from Joey O'Hie, 91, does Austin Reeves come off the bench or start? Can he be the sixth man of the year?
Starting point is 00:24:12 And I've talked about this before. I think ultimately it's not going to happen because, of the small P politics that go with Austin being in a contract year. We know he is going to opt out of his contract in 2026. And there's a lot of teams projected to have some free agency money so there could be some competition. The Lakers seem very outwardly to want to keep Austin for a while. They frankly had opportunities in the past to trade him.
Starting point is 00:24:46 and I've been critical at times for them, if nothing else, not seeming, I think, open enough to at least exploring the idea. Like I've said it before, I think they have often over-coveted Austin as a player, even though I do think, full stop, Austin is a very good player. But there is that question of him and Luca as a long-term fit together, potentially as two of your highest-paid players, when they have a lot of the same weaknesses, a lot of the same deficiencies, things that you would need to compensate for.
Starting point is 00:25:22 And in the meantime, just I feel like, and we've seen evidence of it, that the best way to build around Luca is often, I think, to give him as many players as possible who don't share the same weaknesses that he has, that can offset some of the defensive issues or the athleticism, to provide him with the catch and shoot options and the defensive players and, you know, that back line of defense, different things like that. And just how practical this is going to be for the Lakers moving forward. You could also, I think, make an argument that there is just some redundancy with LeBron, Luca, and Austin in a starting lineup together, offensively in some of their roles. What was interesting, though, is Matt Moore from Locked on Nuggets and Locked on Enduckon.
Starting point is 00:26:12 NBA was on my weekly ESPN LA Lakers show, Lakers talk. And I asked him, you know, we're just previewing the Lakers season, going through the offseason and stuff like that. And I asked him, we were talking about Marcus Smart and whether or not he would start Marcus Smart over Rui, which is the way this is commonly framed as a question. Theoretical, if for no other reason than, like I said, nobody expects the Lakers would actually play Austin off the bench. So it's like a non-issue. This was Matt's response, and I thought it was really interesting.
Starting point is 00:26:48 And look at Dantra's on the floor. You are in a really good position from a net rating perspective. Like I lean more actually towards, I know this is Sacrilege, but actually, like, love the idea of bringing Reeves off the bench and making him your sixth man manage a nobly type player, because that, I think, is really interesting. That is, I've talked about this on that before, on this show, on Locked on Lakers. I think you can make an argument for it in a vacuum. Yeah. I think there are a lot of small P politics that are going to get in the way of that
Starting point is 00:27:17 with Austin being in a contract year with the Lakers very outwardly signaling that they would like to keep him long term. I think I think that they have overcoveted. I think Austin's a very good player, just to be clear. I think he's very good. I think he's somewhere like top 50-ish in the league. But I do think they have at times overcoveted him. and they, I think, love his story.
Starting point is 00:27:42 They love him. I have concerns about him and Luca as a foundation being built around moving forward, especially once Austin is no longer, you know, one of the best contracts in the league. But in a vacuum, I think you could make that argument for Austin in reality. I would be shocked if it happened. Yeah, me too. I mean, just the politics side of it because there is just concerning like he'll just walk. But I think of this new CBA, when you're seeing what's happened to,
Starting point is 00:28:09 restricted free agents and Austin's not part of that crew, but like when you look at restricted free agents and how they're getting squeezed and all these other situations where players are getting squeezed, it justifies a little bit more making these types of moves to drive down his value. And if he punishes you by being like, you try to drive down my value and, you know, the Charlotte Hornets offer me 35 million a year. Okay. Well, at 35 million, you don't want him anyway. He could get that offer anyway. So do what you can to make one, your team better and to drive down the value because that's what the CBA is built to demand. of you as a team.
Starting point is 00:28:41 The idea of driving down the value just because this CBA, which the owners all voted for and created in a lot of ways put teams in a position to do this sort of stuff where it's like, look, man, our hands are tied because we tied them ourselves. But then also the idea that once you start getting into, say, 35 plus million from Charlotte, or whoever the theoretical Charlotte, you don't want to pay him that anyway. Like that that could start becoming a mistake as it is. So for the betterment of the team,
Starting point is 00:29:20 which Matt was framing, this is something that he thought Austin could actually help the Lakers by coming off the bench, but also just the idea of, look, at a certain point, you want to say no anyway. I just thought it was an interesting way of looking at it, if nothing else, an interesting way of talking about these decisions
Starting point is 00:29:39 that get forced by the new CBA. Yeah, I agree. There will be more teams with Capspace next year than there are this year, even as teams, you know, inevitably things happen. Like part of the reason some of these guys, you know, the, the, the, the, the, comminga thing is stretching on. And I still don't think Cam Thomas has signed anything in Brooklyn. Guys like that, there's just, there's nowhere for any of these guys to go.
Starting point is 00:30:06 And so they're all making decisions based in part on, potentially having more space available next year. Now, if more people end up on the market, then, you know, there's still only going to be a certain amount of chairs and somebody's going to be left without one even after the proverbial music stops. So, yeah, I mean, I think you can start to try to game out a little bit of like what the life is going to look like. I wouldn't do that with Bruce's a bad way to do.
Starting point is 00:30:39 do a bad way to do business. I wouldn't do things that intentionally drive down a player's value. I think it's just a terrible idea. It's not just bad for your relationship with that free agent. It's bad for your relationship with other players too because they don't want to go. You see the guys can see what you did and all of that. I also, here's the other thing about it, though. You know, Mono Genoble. Let's say he plays a Mono Genoble-like role on the team next year, wins a six man of the year award and all that kind of stuff. That's not going to drive down his value. Like, you know, you can move him to the bank.
Starting point is 00:31:15 I don't know, actually. I think it, you move to if Austin Reeves win six man of the year coming off the bench for the Lakers still plays going to, he's going to still be playing 30 something minutes a game, 28, 35, whatever it is, and wins six man of the year, because he averages 18, 6 and 5 or whatever, 18, 5, whatever it is.
Starting point is 00:31:34 That he's going to make $35 million next year. I don't think Matt was counting on him winning six. man of the year. But my point of, I understand your, sure, that was the question that was asked. Sure. And so if you, if your goal, if you're, the only other option with that, if you really
Starting point is 00:31:48 want to drive down as value, what you have to do is cut down is playing time. And okay, but that, that's bad for your team. Sure. Because, Austin Reeves, he needs to play a certain amount of minutes. There's no question. He needs to play 30. He is, I understand it's not a perfect fit. He's their third best player.
Starting point is 00:32:06 And, you know, he just, he is. And so to play him 20 something minutes a game because, you know, the fit isn't, you know, isn't great. Or to really do it because you just want to make it make it so he's cheaper to sign next year is cutting off your nose despite your face. You're going to win fewer games. And that is a really bad way to do things. So it is an interesting idea. but I also think it's sort of wrong in both premise, because if it works really well,
Starting point is 00:32:41 he's still going to make about the same amount of money. And if you really want to do it right, you're losing games. And so I, Austin Reeves is going to start. If he comes off the bench, okay, whatever,
Starting point is 00:32:56 but he's still going to play 32, 33 minutes a game and close almost every game. Sure. So, you know, like Lamar Odom. Right. Are you really? I mean, yes, you're not a starter at that point. And that matters. But you're not, you know, a guy who is a bench player at that point. You're just starting in the game on the bench because it fits your rotation better. Look, at the end of the day, like I've said, I do not think Austin is going to start. And while I think you can, I don't think he's going to come off the bench. And while I think you can make an argument in a vacuum for playing him off the bench, I don't think you can. it is an ironclad argument at all. But what I do think, though, that this question,
Starting point is 00:33:36 and maybe we can talk about it more next week, does reinforce is the idea that there are legitimate reasons to question the long-term foundation of Luca and Austin together unless you can find one or two more very, very high-end defensive-level players, if not a true two-way star that moves Austin more to a third or fourth best player on your team. Like that's something they're going to need to do it. Like if nothing else, it is a reminder of why long-term LeBron, Luca, and Austin to me is not a fit that works because the third guy cannot be somebody that you have questions about their defense as well.
Starting point is 00:34:27 The good news. The good news is long-term and LeBron are very difficult things to put them. But I understand what you mean, but it is a challenge the Lakers have to look at and something we can definitely pick up next week. A quick reminder, two games this weekend for Slovenia. They play against France. I believe that's Saturday at that's early. That one's early.
Starting point is 00:34:51 And then Sunday they have a game as well. So both of those games are pretty early. That is against Belgium, I believe. Yes. This was the latest one. If you missed it on Thursday, you missed the best game for West Coast television. Lock on Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel. Everyone have a great weekend.
Starting point is 00:35:09 We'll see Monday.

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