Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Report: Jeanie Buss to Remain Governor for at Least 5 Years. What Does this Mean?

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

What things look like in the Mark Walter Era is of serious interest to Lakers fans. And for the time being, whatever the complete answer is, part of it includes Jeanie Buss in a front-facing role. Sa...m Amick of The Athletic reports that the agreement between Walter and Buss will keep Jeanie as the team's governor for at least five more seasons. Now, does that mean Jeanie is the ultimate shot caller? That she'll have the same level of power over the team's operations and structure as she does now? That the basketball operations (which, if we're all being honest, is the only part most fans care about) will look the same? We'll believe it when we see it. Were Walter to leave Buss in charge of everything, not only would it be different than how he handled the Dodgers, it would be different than any owner basically ever. Certainly any that just laid out billions to buy the team. Is feels more likely that Jeanie evolves into what functions more as a team president and CEO. But that doesn't mean there won't be decisions that can go over her head. Meanwhile, are the Lakers really holding off on making moves until next summer or the summer after?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Jeanie in charge for 5 more years?  SEGMENT 2: What does that mean?  SEGMENT 3: Is "the future plan" a good one? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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 Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Thursday. Brian Komenesky, Andy Komenesky. A report says that Jeannie Bus is going to remain governor of the Lakers for at least five more seasons. What exactly does that mean? We'll break it down next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Thanks to everyone for making Locked on Lakers. First listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how, where you get your podcast, this one's always free. never behind a paywall and of course locked on lakers on youtube is where you can go hang out with over 35 000 subscribers to the channel andy all of whom are wondering exactly what it means uh if genie bus is going to be the governor of the lakers for the next five seasons or so um does that mean mark walther's not going to have any influence we'll talk about that uh based on a report that the athletics sam amic put out on wednesday um before we get there though do want to let people know that
Starting point is 00:01:06 episode is brought to you by monarch money take control of your finances with monarch money use code locked in mb a mb a at monarch money.com for 50% off your first year um other things we want to cover today uh what exactly do you do with ruy hatchamura in an era where you now have dandre aton in your starting lineup uh we'll talk about potentially the uh the what the lakers might or should or could do with the shake milton contract and of course andy the draw for it's not the i s tis anymore. What's it called now? The Emirates Cup or something? Emirates Cup, yeah, I believe.
Starting point is 00:01:41 You know what? For the old heads like me, it's always going to be the IST. I'm old enough to remember when it was the IST. Sorry, man. I'm a creature of habit. I've been calling it the IST for too long. Mama named him, Clay. I'm going to call it. I mean, it's just like, you know, respectfully to the folks over at Crypto.com,
Starting point is 00:02:02 it's always going to be staples to me. It's always going to be the IST. You can call whatever the hell you want. The Coliseum is always the Coliseum. You can give it whatever naming rights you want. That's how strong the brand of the IST is. That's right. So we'll get to all that stuff as the show goes along,
Starting point is 00:02:18 but we will start here with this report from Sam Amick at the Athletic. It kind of talks, it's really ostensibly about the Lakers and Clippers. It's about, you know, street, as he calls it, streetlights versus Spotlights, Part 2, two teams that are both appearing to try and position themselves to be major players over the next couple of off seasons. I sincerely hope, by the way, the streetlights versus spotlights. Like, that's coming from Sam and not being messaged from the Clippers.
Starting point is 00:02:48 Literally the Clippers aren't doing that again. My God, they lost the right to call themselves the streetlight team when two high-profile free agents, Kauai Leonard and Paul George, forced their way to the team. Like you lose all ability to refer to yourself as the little engine that could. When those two guys force their way to the team, when also two, by the way, you have the richest owner in sports. Shut the bleep up with that. Again, if it's coming from the Clippers, if it's coming from Sam, our friend, that's just literary license. It's just a reminder of how that rivalry was framed.
Starting point is 00:03:27 But there are streetlights at best are streetlights in like Beverly Hills. They're in there. They're very, very fancy streetlights. Until Mark Walter bought the Lakers, honestly, compared to the Clippers, the Lakers were the streetlight team. They were like lamps. They could barely forget streetlights. They couldn't even afford lamps.
Starting point is 00:03:49 They had trouble paying the electric bill. No, there were two or three times when I would be walking down Venice. I take the kids down to Venice Boulevard, see all the crazy stuff going down there. And you see at least two. two bus children making balloon animals with a hat in front of them. It's, they're just, it's crazy. It really doesn't work anymore when you're the team with bomber money. Right, it doesn't.
Starting point is 00:04:14 But anyway, so that's what it's ostensibly about, but, you know, as both teams are potentially trying to become players in the next couple of off seasons, of course, two off seasons from now, there is at least the hope around the NBA for some teams that Yonisant-Compo will be available after, you know, potentially leaving the bucks. So we'll see how that goes. Or Nikola Yokic, perhaps leaving the Nuggets that has some people wondering just because for what could be purely economic reasons, he is informed.
Starting point is 00:04:48 100% of economic risk. Well, it could be for now down the road. It could, for those unaware, Nikola Yokic told the Nuggets, he's not going to be signing an extension with them this summer, makes total sense on its face. He can make considerably more the following off season. And he knows he could break both of this million more. Yeah, he could break his legs and they would still give him the full.
Starting point is 00:05:16 But like the money won't be the problem. He could break their legs and they still give him the money. But, but it does leave, at least in the eyes of some people hopeful around the league, just the sliver of possibility that he's. could be surveying the landscape and feeling like Denver can't provide him any more championship opportunities. So we want to find them somewhere else. Why not the Lakers? Strange thing to be wondering as Denver's had one of the best off-season of any team in the NBA.
Starting point is 00:05:48 But that's okay. So, and this gets to some of my, we'll talk about it over the course of the show, whether these plans, whether you're talking to Lakers or any other team in terms of purely putting your eggs in the high-profileged. Superstar Free Agent Basket is a really good idea. But what is most, I think, interesting and of immediate priority for Lakers fans is the note from Sam that disagreement with Mark Walter with the Buss family in terms of the purchase of the Lakers. Per a team source, Sam writes, Buss's agreement with Walter and the NBA stipulates that she'll remain the team's governor for at least the next five seasons. That kind of thing, Andy, on its face, I probably worries Lakers fans.
Starting point is 00:06:45 Because like the whole point of Mark Walter buying the team is suddenly you have this influx of resources and brainpower and all this other stuff. And the Lakers are going to go from a very, very thin organization. with very little staffing for what you would think a team like the Lakers would have and not a ton of resources and small scouting departments and all these other things to the Dodgers who, you know, poop out these things for, you know, they have resources coming out of every part of their, of their organization. Do you, I was trying to clean up that organization. I thought you were going to say orifice. Well, no. I was. And I stopped because that's gross.
Starting point is 00:07:42 And I wasn't sure if I was allowed to. I was going to say something to the effect of they have come, you know, stuff, resources coming out of all of their orifices and whatever. And I just, I held off. But, you know, you brought us back. Whatever. It's biological. It is.
Starting point is 00:07:59 We all have. them. So when you hear this sort of thing, do you have concerns that Mark Walter is not going to put his stamp on the on the on the on the on the Lakers? No. Not even not even a little bit like I'm going to be honest my people like Sam A Mick Ramona Shelburne other reporters who are all great at their job. They are they're they're friends of ours like nothing but. respect for all of them, nobody has defined in any tangible way what Jeannie's role is other than governor. Like the idea that she will be running things, like running what exactly? Because nobody spends $10 billion on a purchase to have the next five years being run by one person
Starting point is 00:08:57 with like a 15% share. And by Jeannie's own admission for years, she's never been heavily involved in basketball operations. She has said she does not consider herself qualified to do that. She doesn't want to be doing it. So with that in mind, like, the role to me feels very ceremonial. It feels in some ways like Jeannie,
Starting point is 00:09:25 we know for reasons that are totally, understandable that she would be uncomfortable with the idea of the bus family letting go of this franchise, even though there were many, many pressing obvious needs to do it. But she's going to want to stay connected. So she has a title. But Jeannie is not really a boat rocker to begin with. So in some ways, who cares? Like I'm picturing it's something of an ambassador role, which Jeannie, to be honest, we'll be very good at. She's good at that stuff. She could rep the team at ownership meetings or whatever, which again, she's good at that stuff. But like, Jeannie has never struck me as really wanting to make a ton of big decisions when that was actually her role.
Starting point is 00:10:15 Well, let me, I'll, I, there's places where I agree with you in places where I don't. And ultimately, I think we're kind of talking about the same thing. And, and, and, and, And I'll explain why I don't think this is at all something Lakers fans should be concerned about. We'll do that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money. Have you ever checked your bank account and wondered where did all the money go? Between dining out and online shopping, entertainment, it's easy to lose track. And that's where Monarch Money comes in.
Starting point is 00:10:49 It's your personal CFO, give you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money, it's not just a budgeting app. It's a complete financial command center. You can track all of your account. investments and spending all in one place. So you can stop managing your money and start building wealth. Instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch to check your finances, track spending, even plan long-term goals.
Starting point is 00:11:11 Managing money with your partner becomes smoother than ever with Monarch money. You can track shared accounts, personal accounts, set goals. Stay on the same page without stress. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code locked on MBA at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on NBA for 50% off your first year. So I don't know if you meant it this way, but like you sort of like, I think like ceremonial or, you know, as a as a descriptor. I don't think what she's going to ultimately be is ceremonial or sort of a empty title or like window dressing or whatever.
Starting point is 00:11:58 I do think she's not necessarily how I meant it. That's what I'm saying. I don't, you know, and that's what I was saying before. Like, I think we're ultimately kind of talking about the same thing. I think what Jeannie is going to have is a role because this, as far as I think, I mean, I'm not an expert on the ownership structures around the league. But like, I think we're entering into a unique setup here where you have a change of ownership where the previous owners don't exit the state.
Starting point is 00:12:31 age and you know another person who's been part of the ownership they just sort of flip flop here I think I mentioned this when when you know when the news broke about this if you were going to hire someone to run the Lakers run them as a business like run the operation knows the league as a great relationship with Adam Silver as a respected partner around the league and all that kind of somebody if you're like i need a i need a team president for this who's got a good resume you'd land on genie bus like that part of it she's very good and these are important things so what i think we're ultimately going to land on and i think it's kind of what you're getting at was where genie kind of functions as a team president and a CEO but the CEO is
Starting point is 00:13:23 not always the person who owns the company um the CEO can be hired and fired. That's why companies have different CEOs all the time. That doesn't mean the CEO is not an important job. It just means that there is ultimately a voice or voices that can be above that person. And I think from especially on the basketball side of things, which, if we're being honest, is the part that Lakers fans. It's what I was about to say. If maybe this would make my, thoughts on this more clear. She will be involved with handling things with the Lakers. I don't, I don't think she's. Because I agree with you. Like she doesn't, she doesn't, she doesn't, she doesn't, she's not Jerry Jones who thinks she should be making basketball. She will not be making decisions,
Starting point is 00:14:16 I think for the most part. She will not not be making decisions that Laker fans care about. Similar to when she was running business ops for the Lakers and by all accounts, really, really good at it. And that matters. It clearly matters. But if I'm being honest, fans didn't care. Fans did not care about that part of Jeannie's job. They cared about Mitch and Jim's part and now, you know, Magic and Rob and now Rob. Like, they care about that stuff. And I do think the closer Jeannie got to that side of the building, the less comfortable she was. I've never felt that she's been particularly comfortable ever since becoming the ultimate shot caller in the organization, she might be a governor slash CEO slash ambassador slash voice that
Starting point is 00:15:06 actually matters, like all of those things. But she will not be the ultimate shot caller because that's the guy with the highest shares in the company because that's how this stuff works. And she's not going to be running basketball law because she doesn't want to do that anyway. And she can't be fired. And so like you can't fire the owner. You can come up with it. You can demand a different power structure. You can never even try to buy them out. She can't be fired. So like what I think you're going to end up like agree with like I think we're talking about the same thing. She might be even in charge of here's how I want to do it.
Starting point is 00:15:38 I want to pattern kind of what we've done with the Dodgers. I want to expand our basketball operations department. I want here's here is our here is our money. It's a pot of money that we're going to use. This is what I want the organization to look like. If you want to be in, you know, if I think we can, you know, come to, you know, you know the league, you know the people, you know, all these. So it's like, you know, let's work on staffing this thing out the way of it.
Starting point is 00:16:03 But if Mark Walter at some point decides, you know what, Rob Polink is not getting the job done, Jeannie's not going to over be able to overrule him. No. Because he signs the checks. And so do I? I think she'll be overseeing a lot of this transition, which again, is something that I think. Ned Colletti was with the Dodgers for a couple more years before he was sort of sunset into, you know, sort of an emeritus role, did a lot of media stuff with the team TV station,
Starting point is 00:16:39 all that kind of stuff. And it should be noted, Ned Caletti did not have an ownership stake in the Dodgers when the Guggenheim group bought them. So, yeah, I mean, the fact that you can't draw a one-to-one parallel between this and the Dodgers stuff because the bus family still is is is has an ownership stake. And I do think that changes things even though the ownership's the the percentages obviously will flip to Walter. And it's going to be different and it's going to there's going to be some awkwardness and there's in two and a half years there's going to be some story about something where there's you know, genie is you know, wishes they'd done something differently. They're going to have to fire Rob and it's going to be hard for Jeannie or whatever. It's going to be like, there's going to be
Starting point is 00:17:27 stories here. It wouldn't shock me, by the way, if three years into this five year thing, Jeannie decided she wanted to step down. It wouldn't shock me if it happened faster than that. What it is is a runway where like we're not throwing you out of the building. It is quite frankly, smart not to throw them out of the building because there's a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge that Jeannie Bus brings to this job, that Jesse and Joey Bus are, you know, doing the I hope that there's a role for Joey and Jesse because they're both really good at what they do. It's just the operation needs to get significantly larger. It doesn't necessarily, the bus family themselves, especially if you take some of the management of the basketball ops over time
Starting point is 00:18:17 and funnel that in a different direction. That's fine because the resources are going to be there. The Lakers have been under-resourced, and they shouldn't be under-resourced anymore, but they're not going to be, Mark Walter's just not going to let him spend his money unless he thinks it's being done in an effective way. But even that, though,
Starting point is 00:18:40 that expansion that everybody expects and has been frankly long, long overdue, for the Lakers, that in and of itself is going to be an area of comfort that Jeannie is going to have to get used to because as much as finances, I think, did dictate a role in the front office being so small. The insular part of it was that's Jeannie's Comptu. Absolutely. That even if budget wasn't an issue, there is a non-zero percent chance the front office would have remained that small anyway. Because that's, I think, been her comfort zone.
Starting point is 00:19:21 It's her comfort zone. And it's in the interest of the people who exist in her comfort zone. And so it's a compounding sort of thing where, you know, there isn't another organization in sports where on the business side, maybe Linda Rambas would, because she's been around a long time and she knows that side of stuff and whatever. But she also protects Kurt's voice. on the basketball side to whatever level of influence Kurt has, that wouldn't exist in a different organization. Absolutely. And Rob's stranglehold, is that too strong a word, but Rob's hold on the
Starting point is 00:20:02 basketball ops department would look significantly different in many organizations. Not saying it wouldn't exist, but it would look different in most organizations if for no other reason than there would just be more people around. So I don't think Lakers fans should worry about these reports. Yeah, look, I mean, the deal hasn't even close. They're not going to make changes until, you know, this is all voted on and all that kind of stuff. It wouldn't shock me if we see a little bit of an influx of resources start flowing in on certain things even before that.
Starting point is 00:20:37 But the next year or so are probably going to look pretty similar to what they look like. like before, except if Mark Walter wants something done, it's going to get done. And that's just how it's going to be. I may ask around a little bit, like, are there other ownership situations like this where the governor is not the majority owner? I'm kind of curious if this happens in other spots around the NBA. So we'll check on that. Maybe talk a little bit about these questions of,
Starting point is 00:21:13 the plan, so to speak. But also, Andy, you have a very interesting perspective on post-Di Andre Aidan, what the Lakers might need to do with Rui Hachemur. So we'll get to that next. So just to wrap up, Andy, what we were talking about with the Sam's report, it is like framed in this idea of both teams are trying to keep flexibility for next offseason, 26 off season, and then the 27 off season. A lot of fans are interpreting that as the Lakers.
Starting point is 00:21:50 Lakers aren't doing certain things. They looked at like the DFS contract, for example, where he wasn't offered a full, you know, the Lakers didn't compete with Houston. And if, you know, or the relationships are, there are all kinds of explanations, but ultimately Lakers certainly look like they would rather either pay someone else or just didn't want to pay DFS.
Starting point is 00:22:16 They look at things like that or, you know, the inactivity, relative inactivity of the Lakers and say, this is evidence that they're just holding back because they want a clean cap for next year or the year after that. I need to see more evidence of things that they could have done that felt closer to, if not a no-brainer, like a, no, that's a pretty good deal. But it would have crept into 2027 or 2028 and would theoretically get in the way of the summer of 2027 cap space of paloza.
Starting point is 00:22:55 I need to see or hear more evidence of them actually passing up on those opportunities. Because like DFS, for example, like it turns out his deal with Houston could go on for four years, but there's only two years guaranteed. And there will be people who say, well, why didn't the Lakers just do that? They could have kept him around, whatever. And that's true, I guess. and maybe DFS was more open to doing that with Houston because he has roots in Texas and, you know, is more comfortable there.
Starting point is 00:23:30 The state taxes are different, whatever, or, and wasn't as open to the Lakers. Maybe he was picked the Lakers, right. Right. Maybe, you know, maybe he felt offended that the Lakers would not offer him this. Maybe he thought he could get more long-term offers around the league. And it turns out basically two guaranteed years was the best he was going to get. Obviously, you want Rob Polinka and Team DFS to negotiate in good faith and amicable enough just because it's the best way to do business. But the reality is they essentially traded
Starting point is 00:24:03 Dorian Finney Smith for DeAndre Aten, Jake LaRavia, and a little bit of extra free agency money while keeping all of their assets. And I firmly believe that they had a sneak in suspicion that Aiton was going to be available before all this happened. Absolutely, which opens, which expands their options, which is great for a team that we kept talking about heading into this offseason. We don't know how much they can actually do because it doesn't feel like they have a lot of options. They managed to keep their options wider by virtue of keeping all of their assets and still getting a starting caliber center and a young player like Jake LaRavia that they hope keeps growing under their watch. But if you, if you said, would you trade DFS for Dondry Aiton, Jake LaRavia,
Starting point is 00:24:57 a little bit of extra cap space, and the ability to keep all of your assets, even somebody who would say, no, I'd rather have DFS. I think it's hard to land on that and also what the F are the Lakers thinking. Like, respectfully to DFS, he's not that great of a player. Like, so I need to see, I think our everydayers know, Brian and I are not shy about making our opinions know when we think the front office is scuring up. We've both made it very clear over many, many, many shows. We think the Lakers could and- So very many shows, Andy. That the Lakers could and should do better than Rob Belenka. But everything that doesn't happen that immediately turns the Lakers into the front-running contenders for the
Starting point is 00:25:46 2026 championship is not automatically a black mark on Rob Belinkin. Those things can be separated. And it's interesting, too, because a lot of this, and we were talking about this before the show, a lot of these things are framed in the context of LeBron. And the Lakers have to be careful. They're wasting LeBron and all these other things. And I think more people are coming around to this, too. It's like, it's not really, you don't have to.
Starting point is 00:26:11 to worry about angering LeBron because, I mean, I guess LeBron could ask out. And we talked a little bit about this. I think either at the end of last week, early this, like, if he really, LeBron really, really, really, really wanted out. He wouldn't have opted in. They could, or they, he could have opted in with a trade ready to go and all these other things. He's had multiple opportunities to leave.
Starting point is 00:26:31 He's like Bob and what? He's like Bill Murray. And what about Bob? He never leaves. I think, you know, the, the odds seem to be increasing that this could be LeBron's last year in Los Angeles. The Lakers certainly made it by all reports. Pretty clear that they weren't going to offer that, you know, one and one thing that he's been doing. And whether that means that team LeBron knew that and didn't ask because of that, like they just knew what the answer was
Starting point is 00:27:02 going to be, whether it's because team LeBron also wanted some flexibility for next year. And that option year in the reality is that option year makes it harder. I think. think teams, you know, don't know what the plan's going to be. Like, this is cleaner for them too. Or maybe they asked for it. The Lakers said no, but everybody understands it's in everybody's interest, not to embarrass LeBron, not to create a thing. And we're just all going to agree that they didn't ask and we didn't offer.
Starting point is 00:27:31 Whatever it is, I think there's a good chance that LeBron is not a Laker next season. the guy that you have to make sure is okay with the you know keep your powder dry plan is Luca because that's the guy you need to get you know penned a contract here but in terms of movement we spent a lot of time telling people like it's been real hard for the lakers to do stuff they got lucky, frankly, that DFS, you know, the Aitin opportunity came along. And however the DFS thing went down, you know, the Lakers got lucky that they were even in a position to address, you know, the center position as they did. They were, you know, got lucky that they'll have this little pot of money that they can put
Starting point is 00:28:22 towards something between now and the end of the summer. And I think eventually they will. And because if that didn't happen and they just brought back DFS, they'd be in, worse position. So it's like they didn't have any flexibility. The box was created before we got here. And that's on Rob. I mean, it's on Rob.
Starting point is 00:28:42 Yes, it exists the way it is. But it's still the box. It's still the box. And so you criticize Rob for the creation of the box. And I mean, I happen to think that a lot of this talk of flexibility, prioritizing flexibility, as much as it's sort of a noise liquor fans.
Starting point is 00:28:59 And I think it's a stupid way to build a team. because the guys you want to plan for are never available. They're just arts every once in a while, but they're never, you know, broadly speaking, in the history of the NBA, this is not how stars change teams. So certainly not lately at the very least. At the very least, not lately. It's just not common.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Maybe the new CBA will change it, but it's not. I think the new CBA is going to make it less common. I happen to as well, but I, you know, there's still some unknowns. I think a lot of the messaging to, and I believe this currently could be coming from the organization, is really built around the notion of it's easier. It sounds more proactive to me as an organization. Well, we've got a plan. We're looking out in the future.
Starting point is 00:29:48 We're going to maximize Luca. We're going to do all these things. So we're going to be really careful and make sure we're not eating into this space with real moves or reckless moves or whatever than it does to say, yeah, we kind of, effed up over the course of two or three seasons in terms of how we were structuring our roster and how we were doing things. And so we really just can't make the team as good as we would like this offseason. So we're not. The first way sounds better. I think, you know what, honestly, I think they will make a move that eats into 27, for example, if something really good comes along, they just don't have the stuff to make something good come along right now.
Starting point is 00:30:30 At least for the time being, I will say this. If they actually think summer of 2027 is better messaging that will keep the fans engaged, it would be the latest example of me saying, I don't think they read their fan base well at all. And I think they don't know how to message their fan base at all because I've yet to see, you and I encounter a lot of Laker fans in our line of work between this show, between the show that I host on 710 ESPN, weekly Lakers Talk, Twitter, IRL. I have yet to encounter a single one of them excited by the summer of 2027. Like the prospect of, you know what, we're going to hold off on really engaging in two years of Luca's Prime
Starting point is 00:31:23 because something might be happening in two years. Oh, yeah. If that's their messaging plan to keep the natives from getting too restless, I would workshop that one and come up with a different one. Because it's not working. Of course not, but it's also you're comparing it to the option B in this case is honesty would just say, yeah, we can't do anything. What about?
Starting point is 00:31:50 What about we're just, we're still working and looking for deals? It's been, you know, you don't have to land on something that specific. No, but Rob does. A week into July. Rob does. Rob has always operated this way where, you know, he needs to, like, present like there's a plan. Like there's a vision. There's something like this is, this all screams to me kind of classic Rob.
Starting point is 00:32:17 You know, it's like, it's okay. Like, I know you're upset, like, but there's control here. Like, we're going to be really busy this office. season. We're going to keep our, you know, we save our back because this off season. We're going to do a lot of stuff. The messaging always changed, but it's always this sort of proactive, don't worry, we've got a plan. And the alternative in this case is, yeah, we just can't do anything. So we really, really hope Luca is cool. I mean, look, I would assume they are in constant, I mean, I really, truly would assume because it's jamming 101, that they're in regular
Starting point is 00:32:52 contact with Luca. And the truth is, if Luca is okay with this, none of it matters. Like, I mean, really, if there is this assumption, I think, from a lot of people panicking about the summer of 27 reports and plan that basically Luca's completely out of the loop. They're not in contact with him at all. And then just August 2nd, they're going to talk to Luca for the first time in like three months, put a sheet of paper in front of them and say, ta-da. Like I would like to think they're going over stuff with Luca. And if Luca, if they're presenting options to Luca,
Starting point is 00:33:32 and they're like, look, we'll do whatever you want this offseason, but we really don't love the options in front of us. We only have so many assets at the moment. We apologize, but that's the situation. We actually think 2027 for a variety of reasons, maybe not even just cap space may present us with more opportunities. If Lucas says fine, while I still don't know if it's the best way to handle this, the number one thing you're worried about isn't a problem.
Starting point is 00:34:05 Yeah, no, I agree with that. And I think what they're probably communicating is, you said it before. The key here is what are they turning down? You know, what have they said no to? Like obviously they're not willing to put in Connect and we'll quit here and get into some of this tomorrow. They're not willing to put Connect and a first rounder and, you know, and something else to get Andrew Wiggins.
Starting point is 00:34:31 Rui is the guy that comes up the most because he's got the biggest salary. He's got the biggest dollar. So like those three things for Andrew Wiggins. And that's too much to give up. I think the most, you know, people, maybe each of those things individually. would I trade Rui individually for Wiggins? Consider it. Would I consider putting Connect in a trade for Wiggins?
Starting point is 00:34:51 Certainly you'd consider it. Would I consider putting the one in? I would consider it. I probably wouldn't, but I would consider it. But all of them together, I would not. And so not doing that doesn't mean you're keeping your powder dry. It just means you're not doing something dumb for the sake of it. But let's table the rest of this, because there's a little bit more to kind of cover in this conversation,
Starting point is 00:35:14 plus the conversation of what to do, what role should Rui play with this team next year. So we'll do all of that for Friday's show. In the meantime, Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you're going to hang out with over 35,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

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