Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Unlikely to Play Vs. OKC... and Is Game 2 the Biggest of Austin Reaves's Career?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Bad news for any Lakers fans hoping for a miracle from Luca Donchich. Plus, is this the most important game of Austin Reeves' career? We'll tell you 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 stopping by Locked on Lakers, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky, plenty to cover as we get ready for Thursday.

Starting point is 00:00:34 night's game two lakers versus thunder lakers trying to pull a massive upset send this thing back to l a one to one uh before we get to uh the news about lucy donchich before we get to the conversation about austin reeves i do want to let everyone know that today's episode's brought to you by game time download the game time app create account use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase andy i think there were there's a a section of lakers fans that were kind of in the back of their minds hoping that maybe there's something going on behind the scenes and everything breaks right get Luca back this series kind of poured cold

Starting point is 00:01:15 water on that one in practice Wednesday in Oklahoma City that that miracle return is not looking promising yeah Luca addressed the media on Wednesday it wasn't I don't think it was a formal practice, but he did. Whatever the media availability is, right. Right. But he made himself available. And he said, first of all, that the doctors had put him on an eight-week timeline from when the injury first occurred, which doesn't line up completely with some of the initial original, if not reporting on it, some of the speculation just because guys like Jeff Stott's, really well-known

Starting point is 00:02:00 sports injury expert had tweeted out that typically the recovery time for a grade to hamstring strain is three to six weeks. There was a lot of original speculation about months, about a month long recovery period. And we hadn't heard anything official from the Lakers or Luca, which combined with Luca going to Spain to get these PRP injections. He said actually he had four of them while he was in Spain and there had to be a certain amount of time in between each injection, which is part of why he was in Europe for as long as he was. But ultimately, the doctors told him it would be about an eight-week timeline. And this day that he talked with the media and gave this update was five weeks to the day of the injury first taking place. So even with the three to six week

Starting point is 00:02:53 or four to six week, if you were looking to be on the more optimistic side of hope, if nothing else, this still would be perhaps even on the early side of that. So there wasn't necessarily a reason to expect Luca back, but it's pretty clear he ain't going to be available for the OKC series, even if it goes seven games, as one would imagine Luca is really frustrated by this situation. Yeah, there's no question. And, you know, I, the Lakers, without saying it, they didn't say how long he'd be out. They didn't say how fast they thought of me.

Starting point is 00:03:33 And just, you know, these sort of little updates of he's on the floor. He's never like, Luke is not running in any way. He is running, but he's not doing any contact. But not like with contact and with hard cutting and all the other stuff that kind of goes on. None of those things, that sort of basketball progression is happening yet. And, you know, it's just one of those deals where look around the league. I mean, you know, Aaron Gordon never really figured. Patent Watson didn't play after that second recurrence to his hamstring for the,

Starting point is 00:04:11 for the nuggets. This is all kinds of stuff that we were spending a lot of time on over the course of the summer. you know OG Ananova O.G. Ananobe heard his hamstring on Wednesday night. It could be out for a while. Like these things are popping up and like these grade two haemies are really, really difficult to deal with. The Lakers obviously, you've got to be careful to not go ham on a series that

Starting point is 00:04:41 with Lucas health and a series that, you know, quite frankly, you'd probably lose even if he does play. So disappointing news for Lakers fans. It shouldn't be surprising news for Lakers fans. The rest of the injury report, though, the guys that we did know were available for game one, the Lakers are losing some of that depth, too. We talked on Wednesday afternoon about Jared Vanderbilt's injury.

Starting point is 00:05:10 He is listed as doubtful. He was wrapped up in a split. He had some stitches put in because that bone did pop on through the skin before they, in JJ Redick's words, put his hand back together. But also, Andy, Luke Kennard popped up on the injury report. Yeah, neck stiffness is questionable. So we'll see how things hopefully progress for Thursday because they're already down some depth. Vando, he's listed as doubtful.

Starting point is 00:05:40 And it would frankly be stunning considering the context if he played in this game. We know Luca isn't going to be there. And if Conard also isn't available or as compromised, the Lakers are starting to run into some serious depth problems as the team that was already more shallow up against our, forget the deepest team in the league. One of the deepest teams I've seen in a long time. So need I remind you, though, Andy, the Lakers do have one more white shooter on the bench. So Dalton Connected. It could be your time. Could be.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Could be. I thought for a second you were going to say Maxie Claver. Because remember, there was a moment when JJ C clearly saw him as a white shooter. I'll tell you right now, if you ask Maxi hasn't taken, Maxi hasn't shot more than like twice without somebody screaming at him in like six months. No. Oh, no. I'll tell you right now, if you want anybody, nobody. Nobody will debate harder against the idea of Maxi being a white shooter than Maxi himself right now.

Starting point is 00:06:50 He does not seem interested in putting up shots at all. No. But yeah, I mean, the Lakers, we're going to talk about this a little bit on Thursday short show. Just like whether or not, because the depth issue is such a problem, not just because Oklahoma City keeps running out players who are as good, if not better than anybody on the Lakers. And then, you know, obviously when you start to play reserves, the disparity between, you know, the best players, the disparity between the Thunder players and Lakers players just gets bigger. It also means your best players get worn down by this wave after wave of really good Oklahoma City players.

Starting point is 00:07:36 To come to combat that, they might just have to. go deeper into the rotation. And then obviously, if these guys don't play, Vando very unlikely to play. But if Kinnard can't play too, you have no choice but to start dusting off players that quite frankly you do not want to see in these games. I will say because we're going to get into more of a discussion about Austin Reeves because he is obviously a flashpoint of conversation right now in a negative way.

Starting point is 00:08:05 But I went back and rewatched a pretty big chunk of game one. And assuming Karnar does play, one of the things that jumped out at me is they have got to get him more involved in what's going on. Like very similar to the game five loss against Houston, which I rewatched that game specifically watching Kinnard because I was just like, how did he end up so nonproductive? Like just so invisibly play 30 something minutes had one point. and similar to what happened in game five, there's a lot of him just standing around, a lot of him very removed from the action, very little of guys forget getting him the ball,

Starting point is 00:08:50 like looking his way. And, you know, they need him to break out of his shooting slump, but that's obviously not going to happen unless he gets more touches and shots. And it's also similar to the periodic complaints I've had, regarding the way the Lakers use Rui, like over the last few seasons, where there will be times where he just does not get the ball. They just don't look in his direction.

Starting point is 00:09:16 And if you're similar to Rui, if you're not going to play Luke Kinnard to his strengths, you're going to be very unhappy with his B and C level skills. Like he is a specialist. He's a specialist that I think can do a bit more than his rep, but he is nonetheless a specialist. And if you are not accentuating Luke Kinnard's specialties, i.e. shooting, like three-point shooting, hopefully more three-point shooting volume, and again, him breaking out of his slump and actually making him, he's not going to bring you much else.

Starting point is 00:09:49 Like there's very little in the way of intangibles you're going to get from Luke Kinnard. Well, I mean, you're going to get, if you, if you're in a situation where your offense is flowing, and we saw, you know, like the ability to, you know, the ball fake, get the ball in the lane, make the pass, hit an open shooter, all that kind of stuff, score in the paint, whatever. Like, that's still an option that's there. I mean, I agree with you. If you can figure out a way to engineer

Starting point is 00:10:17 eight or nine three-pointers out of Kinnard in game two, I think you do it. You know, and just hope, you know, he gets on a heater. He goes six for nine. I mean, the end of the ball, you know, just to keep up with those you couldn't find in game one. a lot easier said than done against Oklahoma City with that defense. So we'll see if they can figure out how.

Starting point is 00:10:43 But I agree if it's possible. We'll talk a little bit more about Ruey, about some other guys. But obviously the focus in game two, not even so much insofar as are the Lakers going to win, but just the microscope for waves, arms about everything the Lakers are doing now and doing in the future. It will be on Austin Reeves. I asked the question in the open, is this the most important game of his career? We'll answer it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by DoorDash.

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Starting point is 00:12:15 Get snacks, drinks, gear, whatever gets you through the season delivered right to your door. DoorDash in your bag all season long. Locked on Liggers is also brought to by game time. There's nothing like playoff basketball live, the intensity of the crowd. the rivalries. It's a completely different experience when you're in the building. And the NBA playoffs are where unforgettable moments happen and being there in person. It definitely hits differently. And so game time makes it incredibly easy to find tickets, even for those hard to get playoff games like Game 2 in Oklahoma City in just a few taps. And with the game time guarantee,

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Starting point is 00:13:44 You know, I mean, we were doing podcasts long before it was cool. That's for sure. Before people even really understood what they were. We are not hot take artists. That is not the area that we spend our time in. We don't, you know, never really have tried to do it that way. We continue not to. I do not think it is hyperbolic, Andy.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Given the, given what's potentially coming this offseason, I do not think it is hyperbolic to say this is the most important game of Austin Reeves' career. Like, the stakes for him with another really bad performance are significant. How are you defining it? When if there's a, he's a player that is expected to slide into a role where he is probably a number two behind Luca. You know, it depends on how the Lakers kind of put this stuff together and what it looks like. Does LeBron come back?

Starting point is 00:14:56 What do you think of LeBron? Set all that aside for a moment. The biggest thing is he's going to be paid like a guy who is expected. to be a number two. You know, the, the, in theory,

Starting point is 00:15:07 we're looking at somebody who's going to be making between, you know, we'll call it 35 million dollars, 40 million if things, you know, if you start to push it. In an era,

Starting point is 00:15:20 it's higher, just so people are aware. Right. The max is actually higher. The max is higher. I've not, still not seen a lot of people expecting the max to kind of get hit here.

Starting point is 00:15:32 But, you know, We are in a salary cap universe, a CBA universe where mistakes at $30, 40, 50 million are really problematic. Reeves, I think, if you look at the total package and just look at the numbers and look at the regular season and all that kind of stuff, and relative to what he is worth that level of money, the problem is, the Lakers are a team that are playing for. titles trying to build a championship team around Luca Donchich.

Starting point is 00:16:07 It doesn't do you much good. You get into a lot of trouble if you have a $30 to $40 million player who simply cannot be relied on in the playoffs. And with a bad game in game two and a bad series against Oklahoma City, the body of work for Austin starts to get pretty ugly for the playoffs. When you look at this year, when you look at last year, when you look at some of the other struggles that he's had. And eventually at some point, you just got to say it's not trying, whether it's because

Starting point is 00:16:47 he's not physically athletic enough, whatever it might be, he is just going to perpetually struggle against the most elite defenses, who, coincidentally, are the defenses that you see when you're in the playoffs trying to win a title. So I don't know necessarily what a bad series will mean for Austin looking forward big picture with the Lakers. This is something we will unpack many times in many ways between now and the end of the and free agency because the Lakers are stuck here a little bit too, depending on how you break this down.

Starting point is 00:17:27 But either way, the path to every one. feeling comfortable giving Austin $38 million, gets a lot more cluttered if he has a really bad series against Oklahoma City. One of the things that I find really interesting about this, and then I want to get into some of the things that I noticed in rewatching game one with Austin and his struggles. But in some respects, the comfort level is, I think you're in a lot of ways you're talking more about from fans than the organization because the organization seems like they've made up their mind. I think the organization is made up there. I'll let you go. I actually, I think the decision

Starting point is 00:18:12 for the organization actually starts to get more complicated when you pile up a bad end. They'll probably figure out a way to talk their way around it. But I think in their heart of hearts, I think the confidence in a 28-year-old Reeves for that kind of money after the track record starts to get laid down actually would get a little shaky. I don't know what they'll do about it, but I do think their confidence would get shaken.

Starting point is 00:18:41 But this is what I'm getting at. When I say, I think they've made up their mind in a lot of ways I think they've made up their mind because they've kind of put themselves in a corner. Like forget whether or not you think they should be comfortable with it or even if they are in their heart of hearts actually comfortable with it, they put themselves in a position where sort of being able to come up with either a sign and trade scenario that nobody sees coming or a free, you know, a flurry of free agents

Starting point is 00:19:13 or trades into their cap space that allow them to essentially let Austin walk for another thing. Yeah. Right. thought of that. They put themselves in a position where because they've turned down over the years, many opportunities to move Austin because they've had so much faith in him over the years. And I think they've had so much pride in him being a development win. Like, I think the issue that they're going to have right now is they don't have that many other places to go.

Starting point is 00:19:47 Like they've sort of missed the opportunity at this point to, at least in terms of what seems readily available. Like never say never, nobody thought Luca was going to be on this team in the first place, much less as potentially the guy Austin would be the number two for the way the Lakers seem to be positioning Austin or wanting him to be. But there don't seem to be that many paths for the Lakers that are viable that don't involve. Austin, you know, maybe if he has a bad series that can bring the price point down to some degree because you feel like who's going to give him more money than us. And maybe that price point being lower gives them more flexibility to put more pieces around Luca and Austin that ultimately benefit the team.

Starting point is 00:20:40 It becomes win-win in the moment. Then hopefully Austin just keeps playing better. and then he seems like he is slightly underpaid or properly paid or whatever, but it feels like the Lakers come out ahead in the exchange. But what I find interesting about all of this is in a lot of ways, it feels to me more like the confidence level among Laker fans versus the confidence or especially comfort level from the organization because I don't, there aren't that many, if any, outs for them.

Starting point is 00:21:13 Like I feel like in a lot of ways because they've been so insistent over the last few years. And it's something I've talked about before that I've thought of nothing else. They have made Austin too close to untouchable than he should have been. I think he's a very good player. I've said this many times. I think Austin is a very good player, full stop. The level of player that the Lakers seemingly have slated Austin to be is really effing good. like to be, forget the number two player on a championship level team,

Starting point is 00:21:46 to be the third best player on a championship level team, you're really up and good. And I think that gets underrated a lot. Like if Austin say, if say he really is like the fourth best player on a championship level team, that's a really good player too. Like this stuff is hard. But I feel like the Lakers have in a lot of ways just kind of put themselves in a position

Starting point is 00:22:09 where they may have no other choice. I think that's, I still think that's probably the case. And they, like I said, will sort of talk themselves into comfort because, you know, options. I mean, Lakers fans should be rooting for Austin to turn around and play well, even if they lose the series, kind of for this reason. It's such a bad free agent here. Someone's going to offer Austin money. And if the Lakers don't come in with at least a reasonable offer, like,

Starting point is 00:22:41 There will be something out there. It may not be something Austin particularly likes, but I think something will be out there that pays him a pretty good amount of money. It is especially, and this is, I don't know aggregators watch our show, but if so, turn off your aggregating machine. This is not reporting.

Starting point is 00:23:05 This is speculation. A pretty bad, like a bad to catastrophic. series, you know, game one was a catastrophe, game two, and so on, and moving forward, in combination with the Minnesota series, with a relatively unimpressive Houston series, all caveats notwithstanding, with, you know, some of the other, just track record is bad. I actually do think it opens the door up to the Lakers reconsidering being in that, in that position of, of course we're going to bring Austin back, or of course we're going to bring Austin back for what, you know, at whatever price point is necessary to make it happen.

Starting point is 00:23:48 I think this is a place where perhaps new ownership makes a difference, where perhaps new front office voices make a difference. And, you know, you're right. They are kind of stuck, but they also sent Mark Williams back to Charlotte. You know, like there are ways to unstick yourself if you feel like you need to. Now, we don't want this to happen because we want Austin Reeves to play well for the Lakers to have options for if they do want to trade him, teams to actually want him because he's played well against the thunder and all these other things. So how, Andy, can Austin turn it around in game two and put all this speculation to bed for at least two days? We'll get to that next.

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Starting point is 00:25:10 download the Reddit app and dive into your favorite team or the Mavericks subreddit for hot takes, fresh memes and the group chat that literally never sleeps. Download the Reddit app today. If there was something encouraging, I thought, from Austin's game on Tuesday, it was that he missed a lot of shots.

Starting point is 00:25:37 But those were shots he had opportunities to make. There were times when he was clearly bothered. And as the game went along, we talked about this for Wednesday, I think mentally he was just, you were so frustrated. He was shooting, you know, like 20% since he came back from the injury. And you can't make a three-pointer to save his life.

Starting point is 00:26:01 But he was, especially in the first half when the Lakers offense was functioning a little bit better. This was part of the reason it kind of was. Austin was able to get into the paint. And he was able to, you know, get some floaters up. And, you know, the three-pointers were open for him to take. and, you know, the opportunities were there. He's just in a tremendous shooting slump. If you're looking for a reason to be optimistic,

Starting point is 00:26:32 I think you could say shooting slumps end at some point. So why not Thursday? I hope that's the case. And you're correct. These things can go in waves. the positive wave may be coming soon. I will say, though, re-watching the game, and this is something I know you've mentioned a few times with Austin,

Starting point is 00:26:59 with the struggles that he had with Houston and then game one, the idea of he was getting to his spots, he was getting into the lane. Like, it is true. But when you rewatch it, it really jumps out how he rarely created any type of separation or space or time for himself, despite getting into those. spots that he wanted. And like, even when he got to the places that he wanted, he always looked

Starting point is 00:27:24 really rushed. Like he never looked comfortable. He never looked like getting to those spots, put him at ease. Like the charge that he got hit with against Jalen Williams, center Jalen Williams, he was sped up, I think in part because he never shook Kason Wallace, who he had gotten past but was trailing him really closely. He had a catch and shoot three myths. at least three feet behind the line with like 10 seconds left on the clock, just like a panicky vibe. And it felt to me like he was getting to his spots, but he wasn't getting what he wanted, if that makes sense.

Starting point is 00:28:05 It does. I think there are levels to, there are levels to this. And again, getting to those places obviously matters. But in rewatching, it really jumped out of me, just how uncomfortable Austin looked while theoretically getting where he was supposed to and like putting himself in those positions. So again, hopefully this is just part of a slump because he really is not able to connect consistently on shots anywhere.

Starting point is 00:28:37 It was also it jumped out at me too, like watching the game again. Like if you removed Austin's shooting line from the Lakers overall field, goal percentage as a team. They go from roughly 41% to around 46%. But then you think about Marcus Smart's rough shooting night. And Marcus had a night that was about as bad as Austin's. I think he was 4 or 15 versus like 3 of 16. Both are pretty unacceptable. And if you take that out, the Lakers as a team are almost 52%. And obviously Marcus needs to be better just as like everybody needs to be better, like everyone, short of somebody putting up a like superstar level showing where you're like, he can't do anything else but that like good enough will probably never be enough against

Starting point is 00:29:28 the thunder. But you see the difference in a night like Marcus despite missing so many shots, smart and a few of them that frankly smart shouldn't have taken in the first place, like a couple of ill-advised passes. But he did a lot to offset those moments, like as a defender, as a defensive playmaker. At times, actually a very good playmaker, despite a few bad passes and turnovers. He led the team in deflections. He had three boxouts. Like, Marcus's night, even with the shooting struggles, offered a lot that at the very least minimize the damage or like kind of set you

Starting point is 00:30:04 back to zero at worst. Austin really didn't do much to offset the damage. Like he had a few good defensive moments, a few good passes. But he large. just damage the team the way he was playing. And like there's there's really no way around it. He also happened to have the highest usage on the team in game one, like, which accentuates those problems even more. So it was really a night where Austin just on pretty much every facet was struggling. And like the, the field goal percentage will overshadow it in a lot of ways the other stuff that just wasn't working for. I think, yeah, I mean, I, the part about the space is interesting just because I think

Starting point is 00:30:51 against a team like the Thunder, and this is kind of the point, that's about as much space as you're ever going to get. Like what he had, it's like, you're, Austin especially, given the athleticism and all the, a person, you know, a player who kind of gets by with, you know, a little bit of cunning and change of pace and smarts and angles and timing and things like that as opposed to, you know, just blow by athleticism or size or whatever it might be. Like these, that's the room he's going to get against elite defenses. And so, you know, he saw like, you know, when he can get to the rim, it's got to be quick.

Starting point is 00:31:31 The ball's got to go up with that little scoop. And like, those are the circumstances that he can be able to make 45% of his shots against to be an effective playoff defensive player with those occasional games where he's 11 for 20 or whatever might be, a little over 50. I thought there were good moments. He made some good passes.

Starting point is 00:31:54 There were a couple of good lobs, the play with Jackson, the foul that should have been called on the alley-up. There were some good moments where Austin made things happen by getting into the paint and forcing OEC's defense to move. but the space that he got is the most space he's ever going to get in the,

Starting point is 00:32:15 against the team like Oklahoma City. So he's got to be able to like work with that. He's got to be able to make the shots with the space that he's in. I agree with that that three-pointer that he took from where he could have easily taken a dribble and stepped up and shot it. I think to me that was like I'm getting it. I'm not going to think about it. I'm just going to get it and shoot. But, you know, you don't maybe see exactly where you're not quite aware where you are.

Starting point is 00:32:39 on the floor or you're not seeing the whole thing because you're so wound up and on trying to get yourself going. You're hyper aware that you are throttling your team's opportunity to win. And you are, nobody's more aware of how not playing well basically ends any chance at an upset more than Austin. Like none of this stuff is stuff he needs to be told about. And so I think First and foremost, you've got to get out of that headspace into a better one. But the margins are the margins. Like that's the work, that's the space he's going to have against the Houston's and the OKCs of the world. So we'll see what happens.

Starting point is 00:33:23 Like if he comes out and hits three of his first four shots, things could look very different for the rest of game two. But, you know, it's not just like a narrative that he needs to. He needs to really change the track record. Because Oklahoma City annihilated him in the regular season too. And I've been as supportive of Austin as I think anybody sort of in local media. But like, this isn't going to work. And I think you would be as a franchise making a big mistake. If you didn't at least stop to think about the implications of whether or not, you know,

Starting point is 00:34:06 if it turns out that you need to give. 40 million or 37 million to keep them, whether you can absorb that and still put a playoff competent roster around. It becomes a real question. I'm not saying it doesn't become a real question. I've been raising this question for a few seasons. No, I'm saying, but I think they are forced to confront, like the Lakers, we talked about this before the Houston series.

Starting point is 00:34:33 Part of why the Reeves injury was such a problem was like the Lakers, really wanted to see Austin go and have a good first round, a good second round. Lakers have a really dynamic playoff, and he can kind of put this issue to bet. And the injury made that really, really hard because I'm not discounting what Austin's trying to do and how hard it is. But now it just brings all this stuff back into play. Like I said, I actually think to the point that the Lakers will have to think about, stuff if it doesn't turn around. Look, it's always, I think, tricky to evaluate on a lot of different levels what to do

Starting point is 00:35:17 with players like Austin, who are very good players. They're, I think, consensus like top, anywhere from like 75-ish players in the league, give or take a bit, which means you are a very good player. You are considered like in the upper fifth or so in the league, upper fourth. But you're not definitively an all-star, much less all-NBA. What you do with those type of players, I think, is often very tricky because he is a very good player. Especially now. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:35:51 Yeah, he is also often a very useful player. So it's not cut and dry, I think from the Lakers perspective, again, especially considering the context of they may not have a lot of other paths. But we'll see. Hopefully, Austin just settles this by playing better for the rest of the series. Right. Two or three more games, two or three more games against Oklahoma City's defense. Even Lakers losing five, losing six, whatever it is, we'll do a lot to settle some of these conversations because you show, okay, no, he can do it.

Starting point is 00:36:25 So we'll see. Of course, the Lakers haven't lost anything, Andy. And if they're going to pull off an upset in game two, it probably will be in large part because Austin Reeves has had a big-time rebound game. That's what we've got our fingers crossed for. We'll come back with a little more to get you ready for game two and then, of course, all the conversation for afterwards. Do you remind people about the Everydayer Club,

Starting point is 00:36:50 Lockdownlakers.supercast.com. Five bucks a month, 50 bucks a year. You can decide if it's for you. Get the show ad-free. We get to join all the Discord channels for the Lockdown Lakers and Lockton NBA. setup that we got there. So plenty to offer for that subscription. Check it out. See if it's for you. We'll see everyone after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Unlikely to Play Vs. OKC... and Is Game 2 the Biggest of Austin Reaves's Career?

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