Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić DOMINATES Vs. Israel. New Details Reported About Kawhi, Clippers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everybody, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Friday. Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, Luca Donchich plays his best game of Eurobasket. And the Slovenians are heading to the round of 16. 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 Lockdown Lakers first listen to every day,

Starting point is 00:00:32 Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast. always free this one is and it's never behind a paywall. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is and hang out with a bone getting close to 37,000 subscribers to channel Andy, all of whom are once again excited by the play of Luca Donchich had his best game of the Eurobasket tournament, just shy of a triple double in a dominant victory for Slovenia over Israel. He is playing his best basketball as Slovenia heads into the round of 16. We've got more news about Kauai Leonard and the potentially shady deal with that tree planting service or whatever it was that he was supposedly working for. Plus, we'll break into the mailbag.

Starting point is 00:01:19 But first, Andy, I need to let people know that today's episode is brought to you by Fandual football season. It's here. It's happening. It's started Thursday. They got games on Friday. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and your. or if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets. Download the fandul.com today.

Starting point is 00:01:42 Get to get started. All right. So technically speaking, Andy, Luca did not get a triple double in his game against Israel on Thursday, but I will go ahead and let it slide because he was otherwise pretty effective, if you ask me.

Starting point is 00:02:03 37 points. On 12 of 21 shooting, 9 of 9 at the line, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, three steals and a block. One of his best overall games just in terms of efficiency, and it's part of a trend where Luca has just been really strong throughout this tournament per the Basketball Forever Twitter account. At the end of Eurobasket group play, Luca Donchich ranks first in points per game, 32.4. Second in assists per game, 8.4, and first in steals per game, 3.2. And per Fiba.

Starting point is 00:02:43 And this is a great stat just in terms of how well Luca is playing, illustrating this, but also how much Slovenia needs him to play at this level and is benefiting from him playing at this level per Fiba. Luca is averaging 32.4 points per game, as I mentioned earlier. Slovenia is averaging 19 points off Luca assists. Luca accounts for 54.8% of Slovenia's scoring in Eurobasket 2025. So a little over 50% of Slovenia's points are directly linked to Luca. Like if you did one of those FBI boards with like the red yarn and tape and whatever, it all centers back to Luca.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Yeah, I have not, I will admit, I have not watched every minute of every game. Some of these things have started like four in the morning out here on the West Coast. Or while we're working or whatever. Or while we're working or, you know, any number of reasons. But I have seen enough.

Starting point is 00:03:51 I think he's their best player. And so definitely Slovenia's strongest player on the team. And if you're looking for something that is, you know, the kind of stuff, because Lakers fans are watching this. They want to see Luca play well. I think, you know, fans with no necessarily rooting interest from a country standpoint, probably, you know, hopping on board with Slovenia because their guy plays for them. I think what you're looking for are things that could be meaningful when the season comes around.

Starting point is 00:04:25 And these last two games against Iceland and Israel, Luca has, and I picked this up for our friend, Cranjus Mick Basketball at Tim underscore NBA, host of the Lakers exceptionalism pod. Luca has gotten to the rim more in these two games than he has throughout the entire tournament. Like, you know, his shots at the rim, he'd been drawing fouls throughout.

Starting point is 00:04:52 Like that has been something he's been doing remarkably well. But in these last two games, the number of shots that he's gotten at the rim has really increased. And so that is the thing that I've been looking for through the entire tournament is just how easily does he get into the paint, how effectively does he either draw fouls or finish through files once he gets there because if there has been sort of a criticism of Luca or a wondering if like,

Starting point is 00:05:19 you know, is the weight an issue, is fitness? It's because year after year after year after year, his percentage of shots at the rim declines. And so for him to be able to either stop that this year or maybe even reverse it a little bit would be a huge benefit to his game and by extension, the Lakers. I also have mentioned a lot throughout Lucas' performance

Starting point is 00:05:45 in Eurobasket. Like the biggest knock you could have against his performance offensively is that the three-point shot hasn't been falling heading into this game against Israel. I believe he was shooting. 27 and a half percent from behind the arc, which I have stated over and over. I'm not concerned about because that's not going to happen in the regular season.

Starting point is 00:06:06 Luke has never shot below. I want to say about 31%, 32% at the absolute lowest. He is not, I think as he is not as effective or efficient a three-point shooter, as accurate of three-point shooters. I think sometimes people think or assume just because that step back when it's rolling can be deadly. But the truth is, he has been for the percentages, kind of a league average three-point shooter, about 35%. I realize some of the shots may be harder than for other shooters because Luke is always going to draw more attention, yada, yada, but it's never been the biggest part of his game.

Starting point is 00:06:42 That being said, against Israel, four of 11, almost 37% from the arc, that will absolutely get her done. And even in a game like this where he had seven turnovers, which is more than you want, Slovenia had 28 assists in this game. Luca had nine of them. So he accounted for a third of the playmaking in this game statistically. There is just disproportionately so much on Luca's shoulders and back in this game carrying Slovenia. To some degree, as much as you look for increased efficiencies or efficiencies in different areas, as a way of judging his overall play,

Starting point is 00:07:25 and that's fine. It's the way we look at all these players. The context of Luca is getting so little help along those lines, I think without making excuses for Luca, just judging this thing rationally and realistically, that has to be taken into account. You know, I mean, I look at this too. It's, you know, Israel has, is led by Deniaavia, who is a, you know, was turned into a very good NBA player. and you know they just had that kid who was drafted i think from uh by by brooklyn um and so like they've got a couple players and guys that have come through and all that kind of stuff and it's not a bad basketball playing nation and so but like it's not you know Serbia it's not Spain it's not France people will try to discount sometimes what luca does and you know same when he plays

Starting point is 00:08:21 Iceland, which is also not a big basketball playing nation. But the thing about it is, is those numbers that you were talking about in terms of the amount of stuff that he does for them is also reflective of the amount of attention that he gets from opposing defenses. So I don't, I mean, obviously if you're playing the thunder or, you know, the magic or really top defensive teams in the NBA, and they throw that much attention at you, okay, it's a different deal than when the Israeli national team does it.

Starting point is 00:08:58 But it also doesn't happen that way in the NBA. Well, it doesn't happen when your teammates are LeBron. Right. It might happen if, you know, it's the Nets and you're guarding Cam Thomas and Cam Thomas. But right, but you're talking about an actual NBA team, like the Lakers, it doesn't work like that. Even weaker international teams, if you get that much attention from the opposing defense

Starting point is 00:09:27 and all that stuff, like it requires a little work, got to be playing, you got to be on point with your game. And so as, you know, Luca is playing his best basketball of this tournament as the Slovenians move into the round of 16, we'll obviously keep up with that as it goes along. But we hope this foreshadows what happens when Luca. enters the playoffs with the Lakers where he's playing his best basketball of the season. So, you know, this hopefully is a preview of what we'll see in the springtime. Andy, what's going to happen to the Clippers by the time the spring rolls around?

Starting point is 00:10:05 Because new news from the Clippers controversy supplied by none other than our John Corrales from the Lockedon Network will tell you what it is next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fanduel. The NFL season is here. Fan Duel is making sure you are ready for a kickoff of the can't miss offer right now. New customers, you bet just five bucks, $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So pick something really obvious. I love that the Fandual app allows you to play however you want,

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Starting point is 00:11:19 So we, Andy, spoke at length. We spent the whole show on the news that broke on Thursday, on Wednesday, I should say, from the Pavolotori Fines Out podcast, which is a metal arc property that's being, it's a licensed now and pops up on the athletic. About a potentially shady and cap illegal deal that was created in Los Angeles by, For Kauai Leonard, potentially with Steve Ballmer, whether it's his blessing or knowledge or willful blindness or total ignorance. Or his money. Let's make it very clear. His money.

Starting point is 00:12:10 Right. It was a seven, you know, what was described by Pablo was a four years, $28 million endorsement deal with a company called Aspiration, which was a, title, a big sponsor of the Clippers. And you ran into some trouble, Andy, the guy running it a bit shady. But this was an endorsement deal that was apparently not insistent on actual endorsing happening.

Starting point is 00:12:41 So it was believed, it is believed through the reporting that Pablo is making that essentially what this amounts to, and this came from sources inside aspiration, that it was an endorsement deal designed to circumvent the cap. As you mentioned, Andy, Steve Ballmer was a major investor in aspiration. And as it turns out, there is additional reporting that indicates perhaps that this deal with Kawhi Leonard might have even been richer than what was reported on Wednesday. Yeah, this comes from John Corrales, the host of Locked on Celtics. And before you all start booing, remember, this is digging up dirt potentially on the clippers. So, you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend even if it's my enemy or something like that something like that and you know it's a local enemy and john carales also is a writer and reporter for the boston sports journal and he started investigating even more as is going to be the widespread case now that pablo tori uncovered this and i'm going to read a section from his report some of which you know re summarizes reassesses what was there from

Starting point is 00:13:53 Pablo, but this is the new information that is, I think, continues to be, while not a smoking gun proof of malfeasance and cap circumventing by Steve Balmer, continues to make it look really damn suspicious. Quote, but the Leonard deal was a curious one, a source within the company told Boston Sports Journal. According to our source, none of the high-powered executives were consulted about the massive $28 million endorsement deal that Leonard signed. And Churny never presented the deal to Aspirations Board of Directors.

Starting point is 00:14:27 BSJ has learned that the deal was presented to the executive team as is with no opportunity for further analysis. Typically, the chief financial officer would have run an analysis of the return on investment. The chief legal officer would have negotiated the contract. And the chief marketing officer would have developed the branding synergies. According to Insiders at Aspiration, the team was never given an opportunity to perform any of these tasks. had they followed the typical procedures, BSJ has been told, they would have objected to the deal. Churny, who served as CEO, signed the deal against the wishes of his management team who saw it as a poor use of cash resources. Editor's note, no bleep, man.

Starting point is 00:15:08 But then this is even more potentially damning and really some new news from, again, John Corrales, quote, the $28 million deal was to be paid in quarterly installments over four years, but it was not the only compensation Leonard received. According to a high-level source, Leonard also cut a side deal with aspiration. To receive an additional $20 million in company stock, the stock was to be paid out of Sandberg's personal holding. Sandberg, by the way, is the man who is one of the founders.

Starting point is 00:15:46 Well, he's the one that was nabbed for one. wire fraud and pleaded guilty. The stock was to be paid out of Sandberg's personal holdings in the company over four years, which raises a couple of very interesting questions slash neon bright red flags like the color of the sun on Krypton. First, we're now talking around $48 million in money and stock to again, be a pitchman and an endorser who does no pitching and no endorsing, and it's in his contract that if he doesn't feel like it for hashtag reasons, it's okay.

Starting point is 00:16:31 Secondly, it's worth noting. Steve Balmer, who again is accused of trying to circumvent the cap by giving the side deal to Kauai, he invested $50 million in this company. 20 plus 28 equals 48 and the stock was supposedly or reportedly, according to John Corallis's source, being paid from Sandberg's personal account, which again, considering that Kauai's responsibilities seem to be nothing, makes no real sense for Samberg to give Kauai this money unless, hypothetically speaking, it's not really his to begin with. None of this looks good.

Starting point is 00:17:21 None of it. I mean, that's certainly one potential. It should be noted that I believe Steve Ballmer is going on SportsCenter with two talk to Ramona Shelburne at ESPN. We are taping this before that interview is televised. And so I'm sure by Friday morning there will be a counterpriced. that is put out by Steve Balmer. That's the only reason he's doing this,

Starting point is 00:17:49 is damage control and to try to regain control the narrative, put out something from his side. But there is, well, it's succession, control the narrative, control the narrative. I mean, at least he's not sending out his idiot children or something like that. You wouldn't put Connor Roy on this case? I don't even know if he has children. And I'm sure if he does, they're perfectly bright. I just, you know, probably in hiding.

Starting point is 00:18:18 It was more of a succession joke than it was a Steve Ballmer children joke. But I just, I look at this and I am reserving judgment because do I think there's a chance? Steve Ballmer is like, okay, let's set this up on the side. I'll be in, you know, and I'll, and I'll, you know, write the. checks will get this this setup and whatever do i think it there is a possibility of that i guess um 50 million dollars worth of that in something that's fairly easily traceable i i guess except but do i do i you know and so is that possible sure to me it's it's it's the it's probably more likely that it's one of these things that's kind of we're not leaving a paper trail but like I don't know how much

Starting point is 00:19:16 evidence evidence we're going to uncover maybe a lot I doubt there's a whole chain of emails about this and if so god help all these idiots for writing any of us down but I just I that's seen in the wire are you taking notes on a mother bleeping criminal conspiracy basically yeah it's Bring a Bell. I think there is at, it seems that the defense is going to come down to some level of ignorance that you either have to believe or you don't believe. This is not what we did. They're, we're not responsible for what they do with their sponsorships. We don't get involved in the day to day of what this company was doing.

Starting point is 00:20:08 who ran it was obviously a crook, which, by the way, he was. Left the clippers holding the bag. The clippers are one of their major creditors. We were taking advantage of these guys. Kauai Leonard never got paid and all these other things. Promises might have been made to Uncle Dennis, who is himself maybe a shady character. But none of that.

Starting point is 00:20:28 I don't even know if Dennis is allegedly shady. There's enough. No, no. Steve Balmer's got to be careful about what he says about Uncle Dennis, because Kauai is still for now on the team. And so, you know, I am going to be very curious as to what the spin is from the clippers here. And again, like you say, and we'll go to break here, if nothing else, sure doesn't look good. I mean, all the allegedly caveats yada, yada, yada, there'd better be a damn good explanation as to why

Starting point is 00:21:09 aspiration would have felt it so urgent to give Kauai Leonard this much money to do nothing? Because I'll tell you this much, it's easy to understand why the Clippers would want this. It is damn near impossible to come up with the reason why aspiration at this level of money would be, at least allegedly, paying Kauai to do nothing. And as much as it was a last thing that I think is important because I haven't heard this brought up a lot, there's no question that they were a sham company and they're scammers. And if you're asking me if I believe Steve Balmer got scammed, I think quite possibly. However, that actually has nothing to do with what he is accused of and have this company been legit as opposed to a scam, we likely hear nothing about this. Well, that's probably true. And I will see. say the I will say the I'll repeat I've mentioned this but if you missed Thursday show the thing about this that I actually think does point away for me from a potentially from a super high profile role for Steve Ballmer here we'll do that and we'll open the mailbag next so get to the mailbag

Starting point is 00:22:35 real real quick here but I will say just in individual you know Steve Balmer is not an idiot I think that you know he's is aggressive I think he's shown he would cut corners as the Clippers owner and is super competitive, trying desperately to win, you know, is in a lot of ways what you would want from an owner in terms of constantly going for it, built an arena, all that kind of stuff. If I were directly involved in something like this, and I, the one thing I would demand were I, Steve Balmer, is that Kauai Leonard get out there and endorse something.

Starting point is 00:23:11 Like, you've got to put out some tweets, you know, stand there and, you know, use stock images of Kauai, you know, doing stuff or whatever, with the, you know, aspiration name under it or whatever, put up some billboards. Don't make Kauai do anything. But if I'm going to do this thing and we're going to funnel some money in a way that if we get caught, the NBA is going to, at minimum, take away three, four, five first round draft picks, void Kauai's contract, ruin our salary cap thing. basically make us a

Starting point is 00:23:46 toxic waste dump for the next, you know, half decade at least. If we're going to do that, then you're going to make sure that Kauai endorses something.

Starting point is 00:24:02 And it could be the simplest stuff. I mean, that would be me. Were I in charge of this scheme? And to some degree, the fact that there is no role. for Kauai here. And, you know, Balmer seems to have, at least in one interpretation of this bankroll this side money. But the flip side is, like you say, had the company not gone under because the guy, as turns out, was a crook, had that not happened, we might not know about any of these things.

Starting point is 00:24:34 So it's possible that Steve Ballmer simply thought he was dealing with more legitimate business people than he was. because like, you know, you mentioned yesterday, I didn't, hadn't known this, but that the aspiration was, you know, the original, you know, they were, they were, I had that incorrect, by the way. They were a big sponsor. They were not, they were a big sponsor of the team. Yeah, they were not naming rights. I misspoke there, but I was not incorrect that they were a big sponsor. Yeah, they were a big sponsor of the team. And like, you know, look, they, they may have come in aggressively. They didn't look at the books. It's a socially responsible, you know, was intended to be.

Starting point is 00:25:14 A socially responsible company that you know. Which Steve Ballmer, to his credit, has a track record of caring about. Of endorsing and caring about. And while, you know, I think he was into that company for 50 million or whatever, sounds like a lot to you and me. He can afford it. Like he can make those types of, all I'm saying is he can make investment. Sounds like the exact amount of money that I was getting allegedly promised.

Starting point is 00:25:36 All I'm saying is Steve Ballmer can make investments into companies that he wants to see succeed, even if he doesn't really feel like he needs a. return other than a power forward. So, you know, I'm just, I, we will continue to follow this with everyone else. But in, it seems. The circumstantial evidence and allegations look bad. It's, they just do. It seems like you're going, like, they may have to fall on the ignorance and incompetence

Starting point is 00:26:10 sword here in ways that are, uh, the very least. could be a little embarrassing for Clippers management. Let's get into the mailbag because we spoke earlier in the show about Luca and a dominant performance. I want to get into this. We may not even finish the conversation, but this comes from Tomas. And this is from the YouTube page, I believe. If Mark Walter decided to fire Rob Polinka today and hire both of you to replace him

Starting point is 00:26:43 tomorrow. I'm getting so much swag. The first thing I do is fill in my office. I mean, Mark Walter, if you're listening, I promise we will work our asses. Oh, work very hard. You will never find two guys who will put more hours and sweat and care into this. Like, really, truly. What path is more in line with your vision for the team?

Starting point is 00:27:08 Find a second superstar to put next to Luca and fill out the rest of the roster as best as possible or B, keep Luca as the only true superstar and split up the salary cap on star in your role type players. To me, it depends a lot on who that second star is. I have made this point repeatedly and I think it's really important. I think the best, the best type of superstar that you can put alongside Luca, if you're going to be dedicating the type of cap resources that remains. above board towards that second superstar.

Starting point is 00:27:47 It needs to be a two-way guy or somebody who's closer to a two-way guy than Luca. And somebody that does as much to offset some of what Luca doesn't bring. And in turn, Luca can offset what Superstar X doesn't bring as opposed to another guy who feels very similar to Luca. And so that you have your two best players with a lot of the same strengths that they can accentuate, but also a lot of the same weaknesses that somebody else has to handle. Like the Lakers are not only just a top heavy team, they're top heavy on one side of the ball. Yeah, I agree with that.

Starting point is 00:28:28 And I think that is problematic. Like SGA and either Jalen Williams or Chet, whoever you consider the better player, the number two, doesn't really matter in this sense. Both of those guys, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgram, are two-way players. And Shea's not a bad defender. Here's how I look at this. I mean, I think the point you're making gets to my feeling about this is that, and I will use broad generalizations, if I could choose a superstar that is like you're talking about,

Starting point is 00:28:58 a true two-way player, I would take that guy. A, there aren't very many of them. Like I think, you know, the amount of guys who really are genuinely strong two-way players, like really good on that defensive side and still contribute as star players offensively. It's very short.

Starting point is 00:29:20 It's a very short list. I think you can work around that. You know, if you have, I think, positionally, a player that complements Luca, you know, the sort of a problem with Luke and LeBron are a little bit redundant, but there are stars that you can put together.

Starting point is 00:29:39 He played with, you know, Kyrie, and that looked great. Like, you know, just positionally, it's a little bit different. You know, the floor balance is to figure out. Defense is a little bit differently. So, like, you can create Dallas showed a very good defense with two guys who are not going to make the all-NBA team. You know, Kyrie is a can be a capable defender sometimes, but that's not what he's known for.

Starting point is 00:30:09 So it can be done. The hard part is, and here's why I initially lean towards in this question, like the build with more B plus players, is because I think you get a little bit more, you have a little bit more control. Sure. When you look for a superstar,

Starting point is 00:30:30 you are sort of beholden to the, because they don't come around very often, you're beholden to jumping at whichever guy is on the market and available, regardless of whether or not it's a good fit. An interesting way of thinking about it. You know, if you, thank you. I've been thinking about it since we got that question. If you are in a situation where you're just fishing for that next guy,

Starting point is 00:30:54 you almost always just have to leap at the one that's available. It's the summer of blank, and these three or four guys are available. You take whichever you have preferences maybe, but you kind of take whichever one you can't. That's the situation the Lakers might find themselves in. And if you end up with, let's pretend Janus at 35 is still a very strong defensive player, that could be good. He's not going to space the floor for Luca, but Janus and Luca combination could do some stuff.

Starting point is 00:31:25 Certainly wouldn't want to get out on the break with that. It would be a lot of fun. But I just feel like you get a little bit more control. over how you want to create that roster around a player as specific as Luca in the context of the second scenario. But I will say this too. Those guys get expensive quickly. The B plus players get expensive quickly.

Starting point is 00:31:48 And you cannot go in this league anymore. An A plus Luca with a bunch of Cs. That's not going to get you very far. Like these guys, you really do need all-star adjacent level players. Austin Reeves with a different skill set. where guys are like you're like I could definitely make an all-star team before he's done and maybe he never does but so I I would love to pick this like this like a mcale bridges type yes more of those guys you know Josh hearts and all those things and you know players that are like that that are just really really really good and might not be all-stars those are hard to find my conley is prime again maybe not the best positional example but hard to find Lamar odom but you know it's it might be how I do it but let's pick this up on Monday because there's a follow-up to that that was left in the mailbag that we didn't get to in this that i'd love to get into as well locked on lakers

Starting point is 00:32:41 on youtube is where you can go hang out with over 36 000 subscribers to the channel everyone have a great weekend we'll see monday

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić DOMINATES Vs. Israel. New Details Reported About Kawhi, Clippers

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