Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA Schedule Release Begins! Lakers Opening Day, Christmas Matchups Revealed!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The NBA has started releasing this season schedule to announce games involved the Lakers and both provide valuable opportunities to capitalize on and explain why on Locked on Lakers. You are Locked on Lakers, your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And thanks for making Locked on Lakers, your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, your team every day, whether you're listening to the show on. audio, Spotify, Apple, etc. Or you're watching on YouTube, part of a community of nearly 40,000 subscribers.

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Starting point is 00:01:00 Everyone wins. I'm Andy Kamenetsky, co-host of Lockdown Lakers. And I wanted to give just a quick reaction to today's news about the schedule on the Lakers. It's going to be dropping in bits and pieces throughout the week. But today's clues, opening week national TV games and Christmas Day games, both involve the Lakers. We'll start with opening week. The Lakers, for the first time since the 2018-19 season, they're not playing on the literal opening day.

Starting point is 00:01:29 Oddly enough, that was actually LeBron James' first season with the Lakers. So you would have thought the Lakers would have been milking that bleep to death. But go figure if they didn't. I'd forgotten about that. I was covering the team during that season. But this year for the first time since LeBron's inaugural year with the Lakers, no opening night for the Lakers. Three games are going to kick off Tuesday, October 20th,

Starting point is 00:01:54 Celtics in Detroit, then Nick's ring night at the Garden versus the Sixers, then a Western Conference finals rematch between the Spurs, in the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Wednesday the 21st, though, the Lakers play the second of the ESPN games. They'll be hosting Steph Curry and the Warriors, which kind of feels residual from the LeBron Steff era, which was milked to death during LeBron's time with the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:02:21 And look, don't get me wrong, this could still be a really entertaining game. Luca and Steph, by definition, always provides a chance for fireworks. They're two of the most dynamic and charismatic players in the league. But if I'm being honest, it doesn't feel quite as organic when LeBron was still a Laker and the two defining faces of their generation were being pitted against each other. It feels a bit forced unless you're thinking Luca v. Steff Western Conference Finals rematch from 2022. Like they don't have a ton of history.

Starting point is 00:02:57 Again, you could do a lot worse. like it could have been Bucks, Lakers or whatever, but like off the top of my head, Rockets Lakers or Thunder Lakers have a more immediate connection, even like maybe Sons Lakers, given how Dylan Brooks can't shut the bleep up about the Lakers. He's kind of obsessed with this team. They've got to live rent-free in his head.

Starting point is 00:03:20 But again, it still could be a really entertaining game. Like I want to stress that. I think it could be a really fun opener for the Lakers, and everyone's going to be excited, regardless just because the Lakers will finally be playing basketball again. But I think from a pure juice standpoint, pure organic connection standpoint, they could have done better the league. That said, I don't mind this from a pure wanting what's good for the Lakers as a diehard Lakers fan,

Starting point is 00:03:49 always rooting for the Lakers to win perspective, because I don't think the Warriors are going to be very good. And this feels like an opportunity for the Lakers to come out of the gate. 1 and a potential opportunity for a very new look team with a lot of new faces, a lot of moving parts to ease into what they're looking to build. And it could take a minute for this team to really round into form. Hopefully they get off to a good start with the mini camp. Luke is hosting in Slovenia. But nonetheless, coming out of the gates against the warriors could it be beneficial from the Lakers just in the sense that they don't get the toughest test possible right out of the gate

Starting point is 00:04:35 and more of an opportunity to fall 0-1. I'm not trying to look past the Warriors. Again, I just don't think they're going to be very good this season. It's often noted that the Lakers will get the toughest, sexiest matchups in the second half of the season because the league wants to save some of those marquee fireworks for when the NFL is done and you're no longer competing with football for attention. And that backloaded nature, big picture for the Lakers, like year and year out, is often very tough on them. But for this particular season, that actually could be a good thing from. Now, coming up, Christmas Day, which does involve the Lakers, we'll get into that next. But first, I want to make sure that everyone knows that today's episode is brought to you by Odu.

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Starting point is 00:06:21 and regular communication with Luca Donchich. It resulted in a roster that may not be perfect, but I do think it makes sense and is a good start moving forward in the Luca era. Great organizations win because operations matter. That's why you should get Odu. Try for free today at Odu.com slash locked on. That's O'D OO.com slash locked on. So Christmas Day, the Lakers play the third game of five on the slate.

Starting point is 00:06:56 It's going to be 2 p.m. local time, which is kind of early. for the Lakers. That is, I guess, the strangest part of them being on Christmas. It was a given. They'd be a part of this slate. It's just they're typically a little later in the day. They're going to be hosting LeBron and the Sixers, which is the lowest hanging of fruit. It's the very obvious predictable call, storyline, super organic in this case. LeBron coming back to L.A., playing his old team. I would be really surprised, if not flat-out, shocked if it's not LeBron's first time facing the Lakers this season. Definitionally, you only get one first time to do that.

Starting point is 00:07:38 And were I the league, I wouldn't want to burn that first in November to some random night. LeBron has even said that at this stage of his career, he would prefer to have Christmas Day off with his family. Instead, you get the heightened emotions for him and for his family and for his old franchise, for Laker fans who, a big sect of Laker fans never quite warmed up to LeBron to begin with. I hear from you all on a regular basis. So you get all of those heightened emotions on Christmas, one of the marquee events for the NBA. I'm telling you right now, prepare for a week of, will they boo LeBron on Christmas Day segments on ESPN and Amazon and the like.

Starting point is 00:08:24 But so it's clear, this could also be excellent actual basketball. Like the Sixers are expected to be one of the best teams in the East. We'll see how they gel. Like the new look Lakers, there are a lot of question marks, I think particularly defensively. But if they click, especially offensively, these Sixers could be a really tough group to handle. And the Lakers by then will have had two months of their own to round into form. again, talked about how they've got a lot of question marks to figure out as well. But two months in, we should at least have some idea of what these Lakers are,

Starting point is 00:09:05 who they can be, how high the ceiling might be. And this should be a theoretically strong test for them. And they should theoretically be ready for a test like that. So hopefully both the Lakers and Sixers stay healthy. Everyone's at full strength. and the Lakers get the most out of this opportunity. So that's it for now. We're going to have a full show for Wednesday coming up.

Starting point is 00:09:30 You have Brian's thoughts on what we know about the schedule so far. Other news and analysis involving the Lakers, locked on Lakers never stops even in the off season. Again, make sure you are subscribing on audio and YouTube. So you never miss a show. We appreciate everyone being here for this mini reaction episode. And see you next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA Schedule Release Begins! Lakers Opening Day, Christmas Matchups Revealed!

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