Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Suspended, Marcus Smart Out vs. Wiz. Plus, Is Golden State a Viable Spot for LeBron?

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

There will be no give backs when it comes to this version of Luka's 16th tech. He is suspended and will miss Monday's game against the Wizards.  This shouldn't be a problem, because Washington is ter...rible. And they're also not trying to win. Like, nobody goes home happy if the Wizards pull the upset at the Crypt... including the Wizards. So taking care of business for the Lakers even without Luka is not something that should at all be a worry. More troublesome? Marcus Smart will miss his fourth straight game with an ankle injury that hasn't really been explained all that much by the Lakers. And while we're still three weeks away from the postseason, the sheer indespensableness of Smart makes this injury a concern.  The Lakers are going to struggle mightily to win the first round, and then pull an upset in the second, without him.  Finally, Golden State is emerging as a possible landing spot for LeBron James should he leave the Lakers... but why? Does it make sense? What is really happening when people have these conversations?    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky    SEGMENT 1: The Lakers won't have Luka on Monday.    SEGMENT 2: Why Smart's health is critical.    SEGMENT 3: LeBron to GSW?    Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity - and no cutsomer - slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnba. RobinhoodYou’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood.Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. During the tournament FanDuel is offering$300 back in Bonus Bets every day for ten days. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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 Luca Donchich is out Monday night against the Wizards. He's suspended, but the Lakers have bigger issues with player availability. We'll explain 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 joining us on Locked-on Lakers. I'm Brian Komenetsky with Andy Kemenitsky.
Starting point is 00:00:32 Plenty to talk about for this. show for a Monday, including rumors about where LeBron might end up next year. But first, Andy, we got to talk about Monday night's big game against the Washington Wizards, who, by the way, will be visiting on the second night of a back-to-back,
Starting point is 00:00:49 making this game theoretically more lopsided. Even with the absences that the Lakers will feel in this one. We'll start with the big one. Luca Donchich will not play, the 16th technical foul that he picked up
Starting point is 00:01:04 on Friday was not rescinded. He gets to keep it, much as you and I both suspected, so he will not play on Monday. He is suspended. Yeah, it would have honestly been shocking if the league had rescinded the 16th technical, a bit of a dust-up with him and Zaire Williams. It was not in the grand scheme of dust-ups,
Starting point is 00:01:28 particularly big, but there was physical contact between both of them, initiated on both sides. Luca gave Zaire a bit of a shove before. Luca ultimately took more contact than he dished out. But when stuff like that happens, typically those techs are not rescinded. And when it happens to be the 16th tech, what, like a week or something removed from the previous 16th? I don't think he was even that long.
Starting point is 00:01:57 Right. A week or less removed from the previous 16th tech. that had already been rescinded. There was not a shot in hell in my mind that this was going to be rescinded. Like I said, in the grand scheme of things, do I think this was egregious? No in a vacuum,
Starting point is 00:02:18 but given Luca's circumstances and what he needs to be aware of, it's egregious in the sense that he just needs to walk away. Right. And he needs to avoid this. He needs to recognize teams are going to be, if not trying to bait him into that tech because, you know, it doesn't necessarily do the nets any good for him to be suspended moving forward.
Starting point is 00:02:42 What they can do, and I imagine a lot of teams will do, is use the knowledge that Luca has to fight his emotions to their advantage and try to irritate him, knowing that there is only so much leeway, and that so much is very little, he's going to have to react in any way. And it is just on Luca to be constantly aware of this. This is the bed that he's made for himself. He has to lie in it. And the big difference to me is just beyond the fact
Starting point is 00:03:18 that one was already rescinded, and you don't get two bites at that apple, is just that in the first T, the sort of trash talky insults in a in a foreign language with goga batadzee like there's no physical contact there's nothing that could theoretically start a physical altercation beyond the you know the chat chap up the back and forth this there was that element not just of of trash talk and all that but physical contact and you know it was it was a reasonable double technical and that's that's the end of it.
Starting point is 00:03:55 I mean, look, it's the wizards. And I know JJ Redick said that Luke is disappointed and he feels like he let down his team and all that kind of stuff. And I get it. And I believe it. If there was ever a time to pick up your 16th technical file and get suspended for a game, this is it. As I mentioned,
Starting point is 00:04:14 not just the wizards, the wizards on the second night of a back-to-back. They're so bad. I'm not sure it makes much of a difference. and they're trying not to win. So, you know, I'm going to say, I don't care if the Wizards have played 16 games in a row. Like, I would treat it the same ways if they had had 16 days off. They're awful, and they don't want to win.
Starting point is 00:04:35 And their two best players are currently injured with situations that keep morphing, Trey Young and Anthony Davis. Well, and then even the guys who, you know, I'm just looking to see, you know, if you are interested, I'll put it this way. I play in the deepest and most competitive of fantasy leagues, basketball fantasy leagues. There is one guy who I know in my league right now who's on a roster of the starters for the Wizards as they lost by nearly 40 in Portland on Sunday. They started Leaky Black, which is a great name, but I don't know that is. Julian Reese, Tristan
Starting point is 00:05:21 Vuksevich, Bubb Carrington, and Bilal Kulabali. Kulabali is the only guy. What? Carrington got hurt during the game. Oh, God. Okay. I'm just saying it
Starting point is 00:05:37 more of just how comical this situation is. Alex Sar is in playing right now. George isn't playing right now beyond just AD. and Trey Young, you know, the stars on this team, the other guy, the guys who opened the season as their frontline players. To be perfectly honest, Anthony Gill. It didn't play on Sunday?
Starting point is 00:06:01 No. Anthony Gill gets like the most burn of anybody on this team and he's like 35 or something. They're not trying hard. Yeah. What fans, though, do need to recognize, though, this situation with Luca is, In case you were unaware, now that he hits 16, it does not reset to zero. Every other tech he gets in the regular season will be another suspension. No, he gets two more before the next suspension, I believe.
Starting point is 00:06:36 I think it's every other. I think it's every other. Okay, well, two, but he doesn't get me. The way you phrase it made it sound like if he gets another one, he gets suspended. No, every other tech he gets suspended. I thought it was every two, but either way, yeah. He every other like 18 is a suspension 20. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:52 Yeah. Is a suspension. So Luca for the remaining seven games because he will miss the eighth, he's going to either have to be very careful or get his yaya's out very strategically ahead of a game that it doesn't matter to happen. But the truth is, you know, we've talked about this before. It would be great if the Lakers can look for legit rest opportunities between. now and the end of the regular season, just because Lucas played a lot of minutes,
Starting point is 00:07:21 Austin's played a ton of minutes. Like, if you're looking for blessing in disguise or glass half full, it would be Luca off his feet for one game. But you also want to keep these guys in the rhythm they're in, keep them getting the reps. You know, I think the sweet spot would be, especially down the stretch, if the seed is sort of intractable one way or the other, playing guys 20-ish minutes just so they stay in a rhythm, keep getting the reps, but you don't have to play them in 35 minutes if the result doesn't matter. Having said that, though, Denver is close enough that this seed may come down to the
Starting point is 00:07:58 end of the season. Like there is a non-zero percent chance. The Lakers, at least by game 80 or 81, this may not be decided. And they want to stay as high as they can. Yeah, Denver is, while we are recording, they are playing the Warriors at home. they are winning going into the fourth quarter and by double digits, assuming they will continue to win that game. I think they have a very good chance of staying either in the three or the four.
Starting point is 00:08:33 And with Minnesota playing still without Anthony Edwards, the Lakers are three full games ahead of the Timberwolves, and they have the tiebreaker. So that's essentially four. games. They are four games if you include the tiebreaker above Minnesota. So yes, you definitely want, you know, three is better than four. Four to me is the real magic number. You can start to get into, you know, well, in the second round, do you, would you rather try to play San Antonio or
Starting point is 00:09:06 would you rather try to play Oklahoma City? I don't know. I mean, probably San Antonio just because there's a little bit more in experience there. But I think the spurs are really, really good and presents tremendous matchup problems. And the Lakers have at least in the past, we'll learn maybe more in the next 10 days or so. But in the past, at least, have had some success against Oklahoma City. So I think as long as you can stay in the three or the four and you hit that home court advantage for the first round, knowing full well that barring something totally bizarre, you're going to be playing on the road against an outstanding team in the second,
Starting point is 00:09:45 you've got to fit it in. The other thing to note about Luca, and it's not a thing now, but it is something to keep an eye on. He can only sit so much down the stretch, even if the Lakers have things locked up and still keep his place for postseason awards. And the games, there are minimum minutes amounts
Starting point is 00:10:05 that you have to play to qualify. I think we touched on this last week. you can't just like come out for the tip and go sit down. You've got to play, I believe it's 15, 15, and 20. It's something like that. There is a minutes minimum for these games to count. So just some stuff to keep an eye on. The bigger issue with the Lakers, though,
Starting point is 00:10:29 isn't about Luca Donchich missing the game on Monday. It's Marcus Smart and we'll explain what we mean next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by TurboTax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot, like trying to book an appointment. That's not particularly convenient, sitting in a waiting room and a stack of papers, emailing back and forth, wondering if they really get your situation. This year, you're getting a major upgrade into a TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert and your documents get a new tax. uploaded straight to your turbotax app on the spot.
Starting point is 00:11:17 Just like that, you're done. Your turbotax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real-time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. Head to turbotax.com slash local to find a store near you and to book your appointment. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:44 So how many games in a row now is this at Marcus Smart? is this will be three I believe three I couldn't remember if it was three or four probably I was double thing I should have looked up before I started but either way this was one of those injuries and you know the classification is ankle but you know it's probably the sum of a few different things that's keeping smart out you know he's I know he's had a little bit of hip issues there's just a lot of stuff you know the way he plays it's not surprising that you know he'd get banged up like this. Initially, it was not described as something that's serious, but you start to pile up a week, two weeks, stuff like that. It feels more serious than that. At some point,
Starting point is 00:12:32 I feel like the Lakers are barely at least going to have to clarify a little bit about what's going on. Yeah, Marcus has missed three games. This would be the fourth. This will be the fourth. Okay. This will be the fourth. It is concerned. I mean, he is being listed right now as day to day, but as we have learned with the Lakers, day to day is as vague and open-ended a description for a medical situation as possible. It could mean that Marcus plays the second end of the back-to-back against the Cavaliers on Tuesday, and they're just exercising a little additional caution and revenge game factor aside for Marcus versus the Wizards. They figured let him sit out this game.
Starting point is 00:13:15 It could also mean he could miss another week. I don't think this is going to be the case, but we all remember Kendrick Nunn being day to day for like a year. So these, and it's, I also get a sense, and I've never had a chance to ask JJ about this directly. And I want to be careful in the way I ask this, because if you don't ask it in a way that is very specific with a fair amount of leeway in his response,
Starting point is 00:13:45 It could make it sound like he's throwing his medical staff under the bus. But I get a sense that these situations are not always communicated to JJ in either as timely or as clear of a manner as he would prefer. Maybe. I don't know. I've not really thought about that. Well, I mean, I've always considered in the context of like what they're willing to tell us rather than what information. JJ's getting, but I mean... As an example, he did say that, you know, he did...
Starting point is 00:14:21 DeAndre Aiton, the game that he missed two games ago, he found out kind of out of nowhere, 10 minutes before a meeting they were having. You just got a text from Aiton. You know, he seemed surprised that a Dut Thierro had anything going on at all, the way he described it. And there have been times where, if nothing else, JJ has described things.
Starting point is 00:14:45 that don't end up matching up what happens. I recognize it's all an inexact science, and I'm not even saying necessarily anybody is doing anything wrong. I just get a sense at times that he feels like he isn't quite as much in the loop as he'd like to be. I could be wrong. I don't get that impression. I didn't read the Aitin thing, for example, in the same way that he wasn't. I think he was just surprised we didn't know D.A. was going to miss, you know.
Starting point is 00:15:14 I don't read that the same way. I just, you know, I mean, look, we're all, as Vince Cully once famously said, I mean, day to day, aren't we all? I just, I feel like that is one of those things that has, it sort of has no meaning. And whether the Lakers choose to put some sort of meaning to it and define what's going on here a little bit more or not, I guess is between them and the league and their God or something. It's like they have to make these.
Starting point is 00:15:51 But the bottom line for me is every game that goes by, there is time, obviously, for smart to get healthy and be totally right for the playoffs and all that kind of stuff. And I think the Lakers, because they have, especially again, this lead that we talked about in the first segment, particularly over Minnesota and the Rockets to stay in that top four. The Lakers have the luxury of making sure that Smart is absolutely good to go, even if it means he misses Oklahoma City and a couple of these other important games that are left.
Starting point is 00:16:30 But there's not that much time. I mean, the playoffs, we're not that far away from the playoffs. So because Smart is so indispensable to what they do, like DeAndre Aiton, the Lakers have at least now a backup you have confidence in Jackson Hayes. There is nobody, nobody who does on this roster what Marcus Smart does. And the difference between Smart with the big three versus say Rui with the big three is night and day. in terms of the success that these guys have. And whether you're talking about the eye test, basically every lick of data that you can find
Starting point is 00:17:18 or the testimonials from JJ and his Marcus Mark's teammates, they all lead to the same place. They win way more minutes. They win way more games when Marcus Smart is available. Like he is so instrumental, whether you're talking about plus minus, whether you're talking about net rating, whether you're talking about the on-off numbers,
Starting point is 00:17:42 whether you're talking about the lineup combinations that have played real enough minutes that matter, the most successful ones. Marcus Smart is in a large chunk of them, whether you're talking about the way he has a propensity for hitting big shots in the fourth quarter. His three-point percentage is like three or four percent higher in the fourth quarter than it is overall for the season.
Starting point is 00:18:06 He just, he bring he also there's the urgency that he brings there's the defensive communication that he brings there's the willingness and I think desire like the proactivity to be in the ears of teammates who need it like I think he's really taken DeAndre Aiton on as like for lack of a better way of putting it a project like somebody that he really believes like this guy's got something like it's there that was a great part of that quote that when Smart was talking about that we retweeted it. I don't even know who he was talking to.
Starting point is 00:18:41 It was a good question. The woman asked, smart, like, who's the most vocal? And he was like, it's in the locker room. Right,
Starting point is 00:18:51 in the locker room. Like, Luca and like before games and stuff. Like Luca and LeBron are locked in. They're doing what they're doing. During games, it might be a little bit different. And he even,
Starting point is 00:19:00 when he talked about DA, he's like, that's my guy, but he's kind of all over the place. Like that's not me paraphrasing. That is basically a quote. Yeah, he is, Marcus Smart is an important voice in that locker room. I think he was brought in to be an important voice.
Starting point is 00:19:17 And, you know, we've talked about before the sort of natural state vibe from Luca, LeBron, and Austin as the top three players on the team, they can be a laid back group. Like sort of that's kind of their collective nature. I'm not saying they don't play with urgency when the games matter or certainly like down the stretch. They've had too much crunch time success. And, you know, LeBron is actually one of the biggest talkers on the team in terms of communication. Like his communication is indispensable. But none of them have particularly big, urgent sort of rah-rah voices that way. Or, you know, the sort of the let's effing go on a, I think sort of minute by minute
Starting point is 00:20:04 and certainly I think during the game, during the game, I think it's different. But before the game and that culture, there's there's in-game culture, there's pre-game culture and all this. Different players feel different roles on a roster for different things. And they, you know, like you said, like certain guys kind of adopt other players. And sometimes, you know, your role guys, your veteran role guys, part of their role is to be, you know, a, the guy, you know, your stars are doing star things. They are, as Smart said, they're locked in.
Starting point is 00:20:42 They have their routine. Like, you do not get in the way of any of that. It is left to, almost like by design, the really highly respected role guys to help with, you know, to take that on themselves. Yeah. And just, again, smart really matters for this team. He obviously needs to be healthy. But at the same time, the reps altogether matters, maintaining what they've got going matters.
Starting point is 00:21:12 Hopefully nothing has to be compromised along the way towards getting Marcus back on the floor. And hopefully that is soon. Yeah, April 18th is the first day of the playoffs. The play in is the 14th through the 17th. Last day of the regular season in the NBA is the 12th. So again, we're looking at a couple weeks before the season. even over in three weeks before the Lakers would have to play a postseason game. So there's nothing yet to make me think that Smart wouldn't be ready for that.
Starting point is 00:21:44 But because in my mind, he is the most indispensable player who isn't Luca, Austin, and LeBron, and I don't even think it's close. I will be worried until he's healthy. All right, let's talk a little bit about LeBron as the rumors continue to percolate, Andy, about where he might end up next year if he's not a Laker. That's next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink. Welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft.
Starting point is 00:22:19 We are looking at every aspect of the draft to let you know which flavors are the best, which ones could be sleepers. The board set the flavors already. Only one can take my top spot. The five-hour energy has a wide variety of flavors, something for everyone, that zero sugar boost that you want. And the flavor I'm drafting is peach mango. It's got a ripe peach flavor on the first sip.
Starting point is 00:22:41 The mango adds some tropical depth and sweetness. And it's a really clean blend, really balanced with a just awesome tropical vibe to it. Maybe add a little lime to it, little Frank Ocean thing going, mango peaches and lime, sweet life. I am, though, keeping an eye on some sleepers. Watermelon, blue raspberry, they seem like they could be nice value drafts. But number one overall pick, peach mango. So find your new favorite flavor of five-hour energy shots available online at five-hourenergy.com or Amazon. Locked-on Lakers is also brought to you by Indeed, workplace chaos, deadline stacking up.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Your inbox is overflowing in the one position you have to fill. It's still sitting open. So when the pressure is on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. skills, experience, location. So you're not just hoping for the right candidate that, you know, to stumble across your post, you actually get the person that you need. Here's a stat that says it all in the minute that we'll be talking. Companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching,
Starting point is 00:23:56 more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs, less stress, less time or results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of Locked on Lakers will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help your job get the premium status that deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support Lockdown Lakers by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire.
Starting point is 00:24:28 This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. All right. So if you are not a subscriber to Mark Stein's substack, you really should be. I realize our, you know, everybody's got a lot of stress on their dollar. Also, if you're not a subscriber to the everyday air club, you definitely should be doing that as well too. Yeah, $5 a month, $50 a year. You get the show ad free and also the access to the Discord channels. And by the way, you get that first month free if you use the code of March.
Starting point is 00:25:05 So check it out, show notes. see if it's for you, Lockdownlakers.com, to get there directly. So Mark Stein on his substack, which costs $6 a month, so less than $1 more than ours. He has this on the LeBron offseason chit-chat. The Warriors, the Golden State Warriors, are routinely described by rival teams as one of the few credible destinations for LeBron James' 24th NBA campaign, and if James and the Lakers indeed part ways after eight seasons together. This is me, not him. That if daily seems to get slightly less iffy to where it was like a zero possibility before.
Starting point is 00:25:47 It seems like it might now. Back to Stein. Quote, it has some legs. One league source set of LeBron's link to the Warriors. This isn't necessarily new. The LeBron to essentially LeBron's Steph pipeline, Andy, has been something that's been talked about for a long time. But it was actually a phone call made by the warriors that Jeannie said, I need to ask
Starting point is 00:26:12 LeBron about this. They went to LeBron. LeBron said, no, I'm cool staying here. And that was the end of it. But it was real enough that Golden State actually reached out to find out about the possibility of trading for LeBron. This was a few years ago. So, you know, I think there's, is he going to play?
Starting point is 00:26:32 there's now the sort of live possibility of would he come back to the Lakers three months ago it seemed very much like the answer was absolutely not it doesn't make sense for anyone obviously context has changed that equation a little bit we have you want to an in-depth discussion of that
Starting point is 00:26:50 and I covered it for one of the short shows last week so you can just go back and look for that episode it's the Lakers it's Cleveland it's the Knicks it's the Warriors So much of this depends on how much money he wants to take. And in the case of the Warriors, how much do you really think you want to set yourself up for a legitimate championship run?
Starting point is 00:27:13 Because the Warriors don't seem like that place. Look, LeBron can and should do what he wants to do. I mean, assuming whatever options are out there. And the narrative, if he joins the Warriors, I guarantee it is not. going to win over the focus groups. LeBron also should do what he wants to do. And if people think it's lame that he's teaming up with Steph or he's entering Steph's house and like, why would LeBron want to maybe spend his last year in the league in somebody else's domain and writing Steph's coat? Like that's ultimately up to LeBron. I mean, LeBron went through all of that stuff
Starting point is 00:27:59 when he joined the heat. And, you know, all the people. Isn't he going to be doing that if he, anywhere he goes? Like, isn't that conversation part of any destiny? He's going to be riding Lucas coattails if he stays here. He's going to be riding Donovan Mitchell's coattails if he goes to Cleveland. He's going to be riding. Donovan Mitchell's not a made man.
Starting point is 00:28:15 There's a huge difference. Donald and Mitchell, James Hardin, those guys are not made men. He's not joined, but he's not joining a team that is coming off a titler. This isn't the same as joining the Steph, Dre, He's joining when KD did it. I understand that. I'm telling you what the reaction is going to be. I'm not endorsing the reaction.
Starting point is 00:28:37 I actually don't know about that. But anyway, don't want. I can promise you. Given how polarizing anything LeBron does can be, LeBron joining Steph's ecosystem is going to be poorly received. I'm not saying it should be. I'm saying it will be. I think warrior, I will say that.
Starting point is 00:28:58 I will agree with you. I don't think Warriors fans will like it that much, but I don't think it will be a sort of coattails riding thing. I think Warriors fans won't like it because they'll be like, this doesn't help us enough win. I think it will be, I think the general consensus, no matter how you are breaking this thing down,
Starting point is 00:29:17 the general consensus is it's going to be seen as lame. Like I'm just telling you, pick your reason for lame, and I'm not saying it should be considered lame. I'm saying it will be considered lame. considered lane, but LeBron has already been through people picking apart his decisions of who to play with multiple times over. At this point, his legacy only needs to satisfy him. Like he's reached that place where the first and foremost, what matters is that LeBron's happy
Starting point is 00:29:49 with it. So again, he should do what he wants. I agree with you. I feel joining the Warriors does not put him any closer to winning a championship than here. I would argue it puts some further. It may just be a thing of, I have always wanted to play with Steph in the NBA. This is my shop. I think the idea of playing with Dremont. Dreyman's another supercomputer type player. Well, but without getting too far into the weeds of it, unless LeBron's willing to do this for like a minimum or maybe like a mini mid-level, Dremon could potentially have to be moved in order to make this happen. Like, it gets complicated.
Starting point is 00:30:24 But this is one of the things that I think is interesting about the LeBron discourse here. is just that so much of this, like Stein talks about in his substack, you know, all of this being predicated on them moving off Jimmy Butler. And this is that like the question. I was like trading Jimmy Butler. 56 million dollar expiring contract, I guess. I don't know, but good. I agree with you.
Starting point is 00:30:46 It's not easy to do. I just, I look at this and I say like the, the first question is, how much money does LeBron expect to get? That dictates everything about where he goes. There is a number at which the Lakers would be happy, I think, at this point, given that they found the successful formula. I think there's a number the Lakers would be more than happy to pay. But there's another number that they won't go over.
Starting point is 00:31:21 The Warriors can't do it if LeBron is at a certain number. The calves can't do it if LeBron is at a certain number. Like I just the first thing is for LeBron to have the kind of flexibility to go to the Knicks to go to wherever New York is I think a live possibility, although it gets really far away from his family and all that. How much money does he want to make? Because if the answer is $35 million down from his current salary, but still a lot of money, he's not going to have a lot of options. The answer is a lot of options. So you understand what I'm getting at it. If the answer is an exception, then he can have a lot of options.
Starting point is 00:32:03 He can pick almost anything he wants. But there's two things. It's the salary and it's the style because regardless of where LeBron goes. And this is where I think that sort of coattails thing is both a live discussion and also a pointless one. Because the template for how LeBron is going to play with any team next year, I think is being set right now. now. It's this lower usage, high involvement where you know, he's still putting up good numbers at good efficiency, but with lower usage, lower stress, and significantly fewer shots. So where does that work really well? We'll see. But a lot of this I think stays live because
Starting point is 00:32:52 people really like talking about LeBron. I think there is always a desire for there to be LaDrama. about stuff like where's he going to go what's you going to do this and that whatever i'm even sure he's going to play but i mean i think i think he will if i put gun to the head like you know you have to make a choice but we there we are i there's so much projection people won't go
Starting point is 00:33:15 lebron's not going to take less money so here's how it could work with the warriors i got to i don't we haven't heard much i think from anybody because i don't think i've said this a million times lebron doesn't know i LeBron doesn't know nobody knows. I think it is impossible at this stage of his career contextually for LeBron to have this thing mapped out the way. LeBron, in the past, has always been able to,
Starting point is 00:33:40 and I think very good at mapping out the places that he wants to go, picking his path. Like, that is something he's been able to do and very successful at doing it. I don't think right now, between his age, the concessions that come with planning around, having a guy his age on your roster, money, CBA, all that stuff. And the idea that this is hard.
Starting point is 00:34:05 Like this is actually hard for LeBron. Like maintaining this level of play, even reduced role level of play, just to be able to do it is harder than it used to be. And LeBron is going to have to, I think, take a couple weeks after whenever the season ends, hopefully as long as possible before we reach that point. and really like take some physical, mental, emotional inventory, talk with his family and figure out if he wants to do this. Even if LeBron thinks he knows what he wants to do, I think it is very difficult for him to, if not impossible, to make a decision. So you're correct.
Starting point is 00:34:47 There's a lot of projection going on. It would be interesting. whatever decision he makes will by definition be very, very interesting. I will leave on this, this from Greenlight Transport 832. I'm over LaDrama. I'd like to have a LeBronless Lakers next season. The one thing I would add is that obviously there was drama coming into the season. There's no question, you know, with all the, you know, the Rich Paul interviews and that.
Starting point is 00:35:15 And there was some drama with Rich Paul's podcast just talking about Austin Reeves' role and all that kind of stuff. but it's been actually a relative. Like LeBron has not been, I think, a big drama causer this year. Most of the drama around LeBron is just external to the questions of his future and whether he's going to play because he's, in my mind, the greatest basketball player of all time. It's just these questions create news. It's not so much the traditional drama of he's taking that forward role
Starting point is 00:35:51 of creating the generating the drama himself. So I do think there is a little bit of a difference there. But anyway, on the short show Monday, we're going to talk about Luca and the MVP conversations and discourse that is erupting around there because as he moves up, Lakers fans are getting real salty about it, which is. Or down, or down, depending on which. Depending on which commentator you cover to that's true.
Starting point is 00:36:14 That's what's got a lot of people salties. Some people just refuse to give Luca, the respect in the MVP rating that I think most Lakers fans believe he deserves. So that's what we're talking about Monday afternoon, getting you ready for Monday night's game against Washington. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 38,000 subscribers. Do check out the Everydayer Club. We'll see after the – well, no, we'll see you in the afternoon and then after the day.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.