Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - NBA West Squad: Lakers' Luka-LeBron Duo Shakes Up Western Conference

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's show, the Mavericks face off against a former player that used to play on their team. We'll talk about how these two teams have changed. On today, it's Lockdown to be a squad show West. You are talking ball with the NBA West Squad Show. From the Warriors to the Lakers, the Mavericks to the Nuggets, and everyone else in the West. The local experts of the Lockdown Podcast Network bring you all the scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive look at the Western Conference. Trash talk and big takes included.

Starting point is 00:00:31 No holding back, we're giving the green light. It's time to talk NBA West. And welcome to the Lockdown NBA Squad Show West. My name is Nick Engstead, host of the Lockdown Mavericks podcast, still standing over here. This is the squad show where we take over the feed of your favorite lockdown show. It's an open invite for any host to join and talk about anything they want in the NBA's Western Conference. Maybe not anything that they want, because Ryan Blackbird of Blockdown Nuggets is here.

Starting point is 00:00:56 And I don't think he wants to talk about the Lakers at all. And you know we're going to get into that, Ryan. Yeah, they're a miserable one. I hate to see it. It's just like, why would anybody actually want to discuss Luca Donchich? Like none of you guys have any interest in talk about Luca Donchich, do you? Ryland Stiles of Lockdown Thunder is here as well.

Starting point is 00:01:12 And I guess you have more teams to be afraid of now, Ryland? Yeah, I mean, the Lakers had an impressive game on Saturday. It kind of makes you clutch your pearls a little bit, but we'll get into it. And Andy Kavanaughan Lakers, we will get into the Lakers. We'll talk about some other things. We'll talk about the West. We may talk about something completely different today. But let's start with this, gentlemen.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Tonight, if you guys are listening to this on the Tuesday, is the first time that Luca Ange will play against his former team. Andy, how of the Lakers changed? We saw the first, like, masterclass from LeBron and, and Luca together against the Nuggets of the day. How has this Lakers team changed now? It might be easier for me to come up with a list of how they haven't changed because it is such a radically different team than the one that opened the season to where we are now and, And there had already been multiple incarnations of that team, even pre-Luca trade, where they started out all offense, no defense, and they started shifting into a defensive force that couldn't score.

Starting point is 00:02:13 And then they were starting to find a bit of a balance. And then Anthony Davis got hurt. And then they were somehow managing to maintain their defensive integrity without Anthony Davis. And then this trade sucker punches the world. And now the Luca Donchitz. I think you're talking about the Caleb Martin trade. No, no, no, no. I mean, don't get me wrong.

Starting point is 00:02:36 Big as well, but this is even bigger. Warmed up the other day. The win over Denver on Saturday is the first time we've seen the Lakers in the post-Luca era beat a good team. It's the first time we've seen them with Luca looking like Luca Dotsich. And it may be, if not the first time, it's one. of the first times that we've seen this group with everybody present, healthy, and accounted for. So I am learning about who this Lakers team is in real time in the same way that I think fans are,

Starting point is 00:03:15 in the same way I think honestly, the Lakers themselves are. Like the sample size looks promising and the Lakers have been playing pretty well before Luca Trade even happened. But who they are moving forward is something we are. going to be discovering over the next couple months. Brian, you kind of like squinted or kind of like, like, cringed when he said a win over a good team. Is this win for the Lakers all it's cracked up to be?

Starting point is 00:03:42 Well, I mean, I don't know if you can judge this game on the, purely on the fact that Peyton Watson and Duran Holmes did not play. So let's be honest. Can't judge them. Can't judge them. Can't judge them until Jared Venderville. Can't judge them until you get your guys back. No, I think obviously this, this Lakers win was a big one.

Starting point is 00:03:59 and the way that they did it was extremely impressive. I thought like JJ Redick talked about not being able to sleep before, before putting together and putting together what was the masterful game plan. They played extremely hard. Do I think the nuggets are dead against this Lakers matchup? No. I think that Nicole Yokic, if anybody's going to figure out

Starting point is 00:04:18 how to master that kind of defense, it's probably him. But I do think that what they did, playing as small as they were and switching everything one through five and cutting in and being aggressive. They held the Nuggets to 30 paint points in that game, which is their fewest in a game this season. The Nuggets average 59.

Starting point is 00:04:38 So it was half. They have their paint points. It was very, very impressive. Yokic took four shots in the paint the entire game. It was a very impressive performance. I think that they are a threat. They're probably in the same tier as all of these teams below the Thunder. And we'll just have to talk about whether any team can actually crack with

Starting point is 00:04:58 the Thunder are doing, but the Lakers have a shot. I've watched all these games for the Lakers since they've got, since they've got Luka. I've, I've some kind of interest in this. And it's, it was such a Luka team thing to lose to the Hornets and the jazz and then to beat the nuggets. Like, Andy talks about how the team has changed. Like that is how a Luka team goes is that he will rise to any competition. And sometimes he will fall to any competition and like lower himself to any competition too.

Starting point is 00:05:25 And I, I wonder just how much that's going to. I wonder which agenda is going to win more? The LeBron, like, consistent all the time agenda or the Luca rise and fall to competition all the time agenda. I mean, I don't think those agendas are all that different throughout the course of the last few seasons. You know, LeBron has admitted that at this stage of his career, it can be hard to get up for the daily grind of 82 in some specific games, particularly the ones that are not nationally televised

Starting point is 00:05:55 or things like that. It's one of the things that I think is so great about adding Luca to this mix beyond everything that comes with Luca. It's something brand new for LeBron. Like there's very little at this stage of his career that has not seriously been there, done that. We all need to give LeBron new things all the time. Guy's never played with any good talent ever. Playing with somebody like Luca is different for LeBron. It's new.

Starting point is 00:06:24 I think it's something that makes things. is exciting. It also makes life easier in a lot of respects. Like Anthony Davis did things that made LeBron's life easier, particularly defensively, but the offensive piece of it, even if you were looking to make AD the focal point of the offense, and I think LeBron often not as consistently as he probably need to do, but he often was looking to do that. He still has to get AD the ball. Luca truly makes LeBron's life easier offensively because he can do all the LeBron things. And this is something that I think they can mutually charge each other during the course of the regular season.

Starting point is 00:07:04 And also, too, Luca, whatever he used to do with Dallas as far as coasting through certain regular season games as the new guy on the Lakers who arrived with all this messaging from Dallas that, you know, old fat ass, you can't ever give him an extension. You know, he's out there eating. He's going to be eating and drinking his way through his prime. and that's not worth Supermax money. I have a feeling that's something that at least for this season will keep Luca pretty dialed in. He will. I think he still will.

Starting point is 00:07:39 The thing that was always ridiculous about that. LeBron rarely misses an opportunity to remind you of how much tequila and red wine he consumes. Like, as long as Luca plays well, I don't think LeBron's going to be on him about a post-game servesa. I mean, you're just drinking liquid bread, basically, is what you're doing. I mean, it's definitely a different thing. But the thing about that was so ridiculous about that discourse is that Luca could still go on do whatever he was doing and wake up the next day and put up a trip, like a 30 point triple double.

Starting point is 00:08:08 Is that it wasn't getting in his way necessarily. Maybe some of the injury stuff. And the only way the Mabbs win this long term, ridiculous statement, is that is if Luca just the injuries just keep coming back to him. But I mean, he's back now. He's playing really great ball. One of the other things that I heard a lot is that Luca and LeBron weren't going to play well together. oh, there's the only one ball thing just seemed like a ridiculous thing. Ryland, what do you make it with this team now with Luca and LeBron and how well they played

Starting point is 00:08:34 together the other night? Yeah, I mean, they're going to be able to outscore almost any team and you're going to have to really be sharp defensively to limit them. And defensively, you saw how creative they can get to make up for some of their shortcomings with what they did to Yokic, you're going to have to hit your threes because they've, they've shown you that they can swarm your top option really well. I think that ultimately, though, you're banking on having two bona fide playoff risers, playoff scores that are, that's tough to slow down.

Starting point is 00:09:03 And many teams cannot match you in the scoring department. However, as it comes to Oklahoma City, they do have a historically great defense. They do have multiple point of attack defenders. And now they do have the size at the rim. So it's going to be a series, whoever matches up with the, with the Lakers of can you even provide them a road bump offensively? because defensively, even for as good as they did it on Yolkich on Saturday, you would imagine that that's pretty taxing to play that style for a seven-game series,

Starting point is 00:09:32 much less if they want to go on a deep playoff run to do that for three months to get to the very end. So I think ultimately they did get better, especially long-term and even short-term, because now you do have a avenue for a deep playoff run, but it's still an uphill battle, I think. Coming up, let's talk about the Thunder and the Nuggets. We got the two hosts here. Let's talk about the run that the Nuggets have been on. Was it a fake run that they just recently went on? And what do the thunder look like

Starting point is 00:09:58 with their two bigs now for a little while? Talk about that and more coming up. Today's episode of Lockdown and Bia Squad Show West brought to you by the great DoorDash. Many of you have used DoorDash. And there's so many games on every night that you have to watch now after all these trades that you may not have time to leave and go get food.

Starting point is 00:10:16 Go get DoorDash. And while you're at it, if a player scores 50 or more in a game during the 2024, 2025 season, dash pass members get 50% off in order up to $10 off. next day from noon to midnight. So take advantage to that. Watch because if I know Luca, and I do, he will get 50 against this Mavericks team in this next game. So pay attention to that

Starting point is 00:10:37 game because he is going to be putting up some buckets. Sign up for DashPass today and be ready to save. Whenever a player scores 50 or more in a game, dashpass members get 50% off in order the next day, up to $10 off. Just to use promo code NBA 50. That's NBA, the number 5, the number zero from noon to midnight after a 51 game on eligible orders at participating merchants, must have an active dash pass account terms apply visit door dash to learn more thanks for hanging out with us on the lockdown NBA squad show west we're taking over the feet of your favorite show and we've got a show that covers every single one of your teams we've got locked on thunder locked on nuggets locked on lakers locked on mavericks represented here but every single team in the

Starting point is 00:11:16 west is represented by a locked on show check the link in the description to find that show today all right right we're kind of talking about the nuggets earlier they recently went on a nice little win streak whether they were a nine win 10 win win streak yeah and Nine wins. And I heard some talk that it was not real. Then it was like a fake win streak. What do you, what say you?

Starting point is 00:11:37 I think every, every single fan basis has made the notes that the nuggets have not exactly played the strongest competition. Not exactly playing. Can I read the list? Yeah, you certainly can. It's so funny. Philly, Charlotte,

Starting point is 00:11:51 New Orleans twice, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland twice, Charlotte. Yeah, that'll do it. And Orlando for like, They're a good team that's been hurt, but they were on the second night of a back-to-back traveling west-east anyway. So, like, these have been circumstantial wins. These have been, and like, especially heading into the All-Star break, it's teams that focus up in those situations, know that they're in a pickle.

Starting point is 00:12:16 You got to get some wins. Other teams don't necessarily care as much, so they're going to try to get to their vacations just a little bit earlier. But just another couple of numbers to throw your way. Denver is 7 and 13 against the team. teams that are top 10 in point differential on cleaning the glass. They are not a good team against plus 500 teams. And a number that my colleague Matt Moore made sure to share with me earlier today, only 12 of the last 45 NBA champions have finished 500 or worse against the teams

Starting point is 00:12:48 that have a winning percentage of 60% or better. So you need to win against the good teams in order to be a champion. You need to win to be a contender. Shocker, you have to be good against your peers. And Denver is just not good against their peers. I do think that the winning streak matters at least a little bit because like Matt Moore mentioned on the last squad show, this is the same team that lost to Washington. Like beating the teams are supposed to beat does count for something.

Starting point is 00:13:18 You can't get to even where the thunder are at without taking all those games seriously, doing what's required to win those games, especially heading into that All-Star break. So I do think it matters. I don't think it's worth looking into as in like this is the reason why they're title contenders. They're contenders because they have the best player in the world, no matter if they go on a nine game winning streak against losing teams or go on a 10 game winning streak all against teams about 500. What you do with the best player in the world is ultimately what's going to make or break this Nugget season. And the Nuggets, I think still should be viewed as true contenders.

Starting point is 00:13:53 Ryland, you're just here as the representative to say, are the thunder scared of this team? I feel like I ask you that every single week. What is the Thunder's thoughts on the Nuggets matchup? Yeah, anytime you play the best player in the world, you're going to have an uphill battle. We've seen throughout NBA history that those type of players like Yokic, even if they have a worse roster than its counterpart in a series, they can just make up a lot of the differences.

Starting point is 00:14:17 What I think that that series comes down to is the role players on the margins, who you think is going to end up beating the other. For example, with what the Lakers did, of just daring some of these guys to shoot and putting four guys in the paint on Yokic. Those guys could not, you know, force the Lakers to get out of that. They could not do enough to make up for that. It's what Dallas did to Oklahoma City last year, where they just allowed the Thunder to shoot with Wiggins and Joe and Kaysen and Dort.

Starting point is 00:14:43 And they didn't come up, you know, green on that. They did not perform well. If that same thing happened to the Thunder this year, they wouldn't be able to win a series. If that same thing happens to Denver in a series, they won't be able to win that series. So I think that each team has a clear head of the snake. They have guys who can step up next to them, like a Jamal Murray, like a J. Dub. But it's going to come down to who consistently gets the most out of Wiggins and Christian Brown. And who gets the most out of Lou Dort and Michael Porter, Jr.

Starting point is 00:15:12 And who gets the most out of the guys down the list? Because ultimately at the top, it's a little bit of a wash with what these two teams can do. And so it's going to come down to spacing primarily whenever you put a lineup out there that has Russell Westbrook and has Christian Brown. how do you make up for the lack of spacing? And for the thunder's sake, these are role players who have found their strides shooting the ball, especially since the turn of the new year, but they haven't done it yet in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:15:34 They haven't done it yet when lights get bright. And Sundays win over Minnesota was really the first massive game where it's a nationally televised game, the playoff crowd, it felt like that in Minnesota. And Wiggins hit three straight threes. And Isaiah Joe hit two timely ones. And Alex Caruso was an absolute menace on defense and offensively provided that connective

Starting point is 00:15:54 playmaking that Josh Giddy can't provide. So all those things are stark differences to what they had a year ago in the playoffs. And it's why I think you should buy into the thunder more than more than just looking at what they did against Dallas last year to kind of cast doubts. But they still have to go out there and execute. P.C. Washington still exists. Yeah. To the point that you're making, Rylan about the role players and how or even the guys

Starting point is 00:16:19 who are a peg above role player, but still are not the stars of your team and how much they can affect the series. Going back to Saturday's game against Denver for the Lakers, for all the talk about the way the Lakers neutralized Yokic defensively, and I get why it gets focused on because A, they truly did a hell of a job on Yokic, but also he's Nika Yokic.

Starting point is 00:16:42 To me, the thing that really jumped out in terms of could this be a series now where the matchups potentially work in the Lakers' favor is the way Michael Porter Jr. was really quiet. because, and I'm sure Ryan knows this, Porter has killed the Lakers. I think over the last couple years, if you're looking for a reason that Denver has just continually beaten the Lakers over and over, I would point to Porter before I'd point to Yokic. Like, I think in a lot of ways, AD played Yokic to enough of a draw. And even if it's advantage Yokic, it's pretty much advantage Yokage for every game he ever plays.

Starting point is 00:17:21 But Michael Porter Jr. used to just torch the Lakers. He had a game where he was, I think, 10 of 10 from the field, and he was really quiet in this game. I think in part because some of the defensive configurations have changed both in terms of the matchups and also the way J.J. does it. But if the Lakers have figured out ways to keep that guy quiet and defend Yokic and flip some of the matchups in the way Denver has to defend them, then the series may really tilt. Flipside is we haven't seen the Lakers play, you know, the new look Lakers play, the new look Thunder,

Starting point is 00:17:59 certainly not since the beginning of the season. I don't know if last year's matchups carry over to this year. Last year, the Lakers were a bad matchup for the Thunder. This year, I don't know. Like, it may have flipped because the Thunder is now a much bigger team than the Lakers, and that used to be the thing that gave the Thunder so much problem with the Lakers. It was the Lakers being so much bigger than them.

Starting point is 00:18:23 The Michael Porter Jr. point, I think, is very salient. It's one of the things that I think Nuggets fans are afraid of when it comes to the playoff matchups and how much physicality is generally applied in playoff situations to teams like the Minnesota Timberlals, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers, teams that the Nuggets have either struggled with now or struggled with them. Michael Porter will struggle with the physicality. And that was a very significant factor in the matchup on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:18:52 And against the Thunder, all you have to do is go up against the best perimeter defense I've ever seen. Like that's the only thing that you've got to do. And the way that they have, like, they've just got so many ways that they can mix and match those lineups on rotations and concepts and ways that it will bother what the Nuggets do. They'll be more prepared for a playoff matchup than they were for this first matchup against the Lakers. and I think that that's probably, it's probably more of a one-off than anything else. But I do think that, like, it's just another indicator that Denver struggles with physicality.

Starting point is 00:19:26 They struggle when you get into their airspace. Jamal Murray gets a little bit bothered. Michael Porter gets a little bit bothered. And if you don't have enough shooting around them to kind of compensate for that, then things are going to look pretty ugly at some point. And then the Thunder have been able to take away, I mean, Lou Dorr's been able to take away Lucidanchich in series.

Starting point is 00:19:45 For as much as you can, contain him like last season. It was not about Luca and Kyrie just dominated Oklahoma City. It was about how their role players stepped up and the Thunder's role players didn't. So in a battle with the Lakers, if that trend continues and Luca is still a good player, but he's not Luca Magic against Oklahoma City, then you go on the flip side of the court where a year ago to Andy's point, they were the best defending team for Shea because they were so long on the perimeter. And if you somehow snaked your way past that perimeter defense, what Shea does so often. AD's waiting for you at the rim. And this year, nobody's really waiting on

Starting point is 00:20:19 Shea. And that's a very scary thought for L.A. And so I think that the series does flip of last year, that would have been a seven gamer. And this year, I'm not sure what that even looks like because both teams are so different, especially how the Lakers can defend Shea. And for as great as Luca is, the Thunder are one of the better teams at stopping him and preventing him from getting going. Yeah, I mean, beyond the fact that it's small sample size, for the Lakers in this incarnation. Like, I genuinely don't know what it looks like. I mean, like, for the Lakers versus most of the good teams in the West,

Starting point is 00:20:54 and I'm even including Denver, because it was just one game, how these things are going to shake out, we really don't know. And that's what makes it's rare that you get an opportunity to have a team of the Lakers profile where you are learning this much this late in the season. It's pretty cool, if nothing else, just from a, like a basketball, Dork perspective. It's pretty fun. Oh, is it cool to get a cool?

Starting point is 00:21:18 Is it cool, Andy? How cool is it? I mean, there are people who think sitting around like in the corner of your room shooting heroin's cool. How do you know what I've been doing this last week? I mean, does someone those mood swings are cool, Nick? Coming up. The sun is dying about five billion years earlier than scientists thought.

Starting point is 00:21:41 What's going on in Phoenix? Talk about that and more coming up. Thanks for hanging out. This on the lockdown NBA squad show West. The Sons are just like a dying team in front of me. Like I look at this team

Starting point is 00:22:00 and the last time I saw the Sons in person was when they played at Dallas on November 8th. Guys, they were 8 and 1 and they were taking the league by storm and you're feeling good about them. Then all of a sudden they completely fell off a cliff and now it just looks like this team is ready

Starting point is 00:22:15 for the season to be done and they don't own any of their own draft picks until 2031. Ryland, you're up on middle school basketball. Which class is that? Like which age? Yeah, you know, 2013. You're looking at a lot of middle schoolers out there

Starting point is 00:22:30 in seventh grade trying to get some hoops in. About to Tomlinson Middle School and see what's going on over there. I'm not going to put that 2031 pick that Phoenix traded to Utah on the level of the Luca trade in terms. of like shocking. Yeah, but I will say, they started with that. But I will say it's pretty damn shocking in its own right that Phoenix moved that pick seemingly without another move right there to make, like that they didn't know what they

Starting point is 00:23:06 were going to do. They just said, you know what? Let's break up this better pick into three worst picks. And then let's just see if that shakes things up. for like that's shocking like that is shockingly bad asset management and matt ishbia is a madman in the worst kind of way that that dude is destroying the thing that he just bought it's weird you're my only hope they try they tried apparently man that that didn't work yeah matt isb has sort of taken mark cuban's mantle as the owner that is intervening and like is is pushing

Starting point is 00:23:46 his team to do things that his fan base goes, wait, why are we doing this? The way I've described Ishbia before, and this is in your neck of the woods, Nick, so you'll understand, you know, those like steakhouses where if you eat a 72 ounce rib-eye in an hour, like they give it to you for free and you win a $100 prize, Matt Ishbia is the guy that does that steak challenge three times a day. Like that's his only meal. Like there's, everything he does has to be the most aggressive alpha move available. Like he doesn't know any other speed than just recklessly and stupidly aggressive. And he leaves it and goes, I hit my protein goal today, guys.

Starting point is 00:24:28 I hit my like, it doesn't matter the other macros. Like it doesn't matter to him. One of the weirdest things is kind of a thing that went under the radars. Anytime I see Suns fans now talk about Tyos Jones, they talk about him like he's one of the worst players ever. But we all, I mean, I thought that that was such a coup to get him. That move has gone so far downhill. It is just weird how that has worked out over there, just all of them.

Starting point is 00:24:48 Well, as a matter of perspective, when you add a whole bunch of guards to a team that doesn't need any guards, probably not going to be a great idea. Like, they've needed size, they've needed physicality, they've needed athleticism. The team is just like, it's a miserable watch right now because they don't, they don't do anything that a good team is supposed to do. That's the unfortunate reality over there. And Kevin Durant, I think, like they explored the idea of trading. him ultimately didn't they'll probably regret that because they're not going to get a good deal

Starting point is 00:25:18 this offseason from him i don't think and hell like it maybe they do but what are they what are they going to do after they trade their best player or theoretically their top two player on a team like that i i have no idea where they go from here they'll take clay thompson daniel gafford and they'll take some of the contracts for the mavericks and they'll just move forward because did you say something over there because the labs are going to go get kevin durant because that's apparently what they do now yeah i what do you do you know what do you What do you do if you're this team? I guess you have to trade Katie now because after his comments, like, I didn't want to get traded.

Starting point is 00:25:50 And then they were shopping him. That's not really a good look for your team. They have all these contracts. They're in the second apron. There's just really not much you can do. Like, bottoming out doesn't even really make sense for them. Well, it makes sense in just the idea that if you're going to eventually have to do this anyway, Devin Booker, for example, is a more valuable trade piece now than he will be when.

Starting point is 00:26:14 he's older. So even though you're not bottoming out in the sense of like tanking for lottery odds, you're just starting the rebuild from a relatively better place of strength than you would be in a couple of years. Like if you're asking what I think they really should do, it's tear the whole entire thing down. Because by the time you could rebuild the whole thing, like, where's Devin Booker going to be at? Like in his career, you're not, the opposite. of being able to rebuild this thing quickly enough so you can maximize the whole idea of having Devin Booker as a lifer to begin with. I mean, never say never, but it's going to be hard. It's going to be really difficult. And once you trade Kevin Durant, at least in theory, like,

Starting point is 00:27:05 what are you clinging to at that point? They owe a couple of their picks to Houston, right? They should they should just send Devin Booker to Houston because Houston's kind of on a downturn, I was going to start this segment talking about Houston, but Phoenix is a bigger. I mean, he's Devin Booker, he's 28. Like, let's just say you managed to turn this entire thing around into something viable in three years, which would be really quick. Like when you consider where they're at now becoming a credibly contending level team passed in three years. Does that happen, Riland? Sometimes it does if you get really lucky.

Starting point is 00:27:42 But you guys are really nice to the same. really good at that. You guys are really good at that, though, Thunder. Like, Sam Presti's really good at recognizing when it's time to go all in, when it's time to completely rebuild. And he's aggressive. He's smartly aggressive whenever he does either. Yeah. And to your point, Andy, it's like the acknowledgement of what your team is is what's helped Sam Presti along the way. Because like that that Russ Paul George pairing, everybody knew was not good enough whenever they tried the mellow, whenever they tried without mellow, it just wasn't good enough. And so what they did was they traded Paul George before he let things get messy.

Starting point is 00:28:21 Because could you imagine what that hall would look like? Like all these Clippers fans like to say that the trade was to get Paul and Kauai. Sure. But all Paul George had to do to help the clippers out was say, I'm not playing for anyone except for the clippers and make things a complete and utter mess. Then all of a sudden, that limit your trade package and do you get Shea? do you get all these historic picks? And so the fact that Sam Presti was able to trade him before anything got messy is what enhanced

Starting point is 00:28:51 that trade package to where if you're the sons with Devin Booker, his value will never be better than it is right now at this age and the contract length. And if you hold on to him, it feels inevitable that he's going to want out. And if that's the case, then not only is he you're older and under less control, but he's then made a mess of things and your return is then limited. So I do think that if we were running the suns, we'd all agree to just go ahead and end this thing. To our lives or to end what? Well, you know, that's a little bit extreme.

Starting point is 00:29:25 But, you know, in the franchise. Not to make it about the Mavericks again, but you're explaining how Sam Presti traded Paul George. And that's how you trade a star player retroactively maybe more upset about the Luca trade again. Yeah, that's just shocking. I mean, and the fact that people forget, Sam Presti did leverage Toronto. against the clippers and like the whole like well if we trim to Toronto what if Kauai just goes back to Toronto so you really got it you really got to do this you got to give a shade and all these things and then you have to

Starting point is 00:29:53 then make small moves on the margins where it's like the rust for for Chris Paul swap looked idiotic but then you look at what Chris Paul did in Oklahoma City then what you got from the Sons and like you piece it all together to where it was really a master class of a rebuild and it's a formula that that you have to take instead of just what teams normally do of either a Nico Harris just being a clown and not not leveraging anything or be holding on to talent too long. But also, I mean, to continue what I felt forever about the Thunder just being an incredibly well-run organization.

Starting point is 00:30:25 I remember I covered the 2010 Lakers Thunder series. Like it was the first time Katie Hardin and, and Durant were in the playoffs. So I got a look at the organization close up. I spent some time in OKC. But the way they are smart about, I think, just being who. they are. I remember when they made the trade for Chris Paul. And at the time, there was all this assumption that Chris Paul was going to be unhappy because he was going to be on this terrible team and then he would agitate his way out. And I remember talking with someone who was very close

Starting point is 00:30:56 to Chris Paul and would know what was going on. And this person told me like, Chris is fine. Like he'd spent time in OKC because of, you know, when Katrina, when he's with New Orleans, and he's like, everybody in the organization has been transparent with him about what's going on. And they've told him, we are not looking to tank. We're going to try to be competitive. If it turns out we're not going to be competitive, we will find something that works for you. That season ended up a solid season for the Thunder. It helped raise Chris Paul's value around the league.

Starting point is 00:31:28 Like, everybody got out of it what they wanted. And I think Chris could trust the Thunder because the track record was we treat our players well. We handle our business well. And we know who we are. And they just, I think they do that. in all their different incarnations very well. And then Chris Paul went and got a title finally, right? Oh, it didn't.

Starting point is 00:31:50 He didn't make the finals. It didn't end and like everybody riding off into the sunset. Go check out the best shows across the network. Everybody on the lockdown NBA feed is great all the time. Go check out each one of the shows. Your favorite team, check out Lockdown Lakers, I guess. Locktown Mavs still talking about the drama over here. Lockdown Thunder, Lockdown Nuggets.

Starting point is 00:32:07 Guys, thanks for listening to Lockdown NBA Squad Show West. We'll be back with Game Night. with lockdown and be daily great stuff all the time all across

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