Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Should the Lakers Trade Rui Hachimura for Andrew Wiggins?

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

On Friday, we discussed reports that the Lakers might be more inclined to make moves eating into cap space they've made potentially available for next offseason, or the summer following (when a few hi...gh profile stars could become available). Is that really a plan they're kicking around? Would they spend some capital, and some flexibility, to get a guy like Andrew Wiggins from Miami? And no question, this is in large part a Wiggins issue, because a) he's seen as at least somewhat available, and b) as a two-way wing (particularly effective defensively) Wiggins fits a clear and obvious roster need for the Lakers. Put Rui into a deal, and the math works pretty easily. Leave him out, and it's a lot more complex. But more than that, is Wiggins worth that kind of move? If it cost Hachimura, Dalton Knecht and perhaps a first rounder? Is he enough of a difference maker? What if you take out the pick? What if you take out Rui (though it gets harder, for sure), but include the other stuff? What if you tried to approximate what Wiggins could deliver, but at a lower price? What exactly does "all in" mean for the Lakers, anyway? Is it the same for them as it might be for another squad? Does the definition matter?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Does Wiggins make sense?  SEGMENT 2: What is "all in" for the Lakers, anyway?  SEGMENT 3: Would Wiggins fit better than Rui?  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today. OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/lockedonnba Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearFanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting https://FanDuel.comto get startedFANDUEL 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 Locked on Lakers for Monday. Brian Komeneski, Andy Kaminetsky, is Rui Hachemannura a price worth paying for Andrew Wiggins? That's 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 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.
Starting point is 00:00:34 Never Behind a Paywall Locked on YouTube, where we are. currently on live. We do live programming sometimes on YouTube is where over 36,000 subscribers can all hang out, talk to each other, talk to us, leave us questions, leave us comments. Of course, many people subscribe, Andy, through the Apple podcast app or Spotify, places like this. We are going to get into some interesting statistics today about Luca Donchich and how he might impact DeAndre Aiton. Dennis Schrooter, old friend alert, finishes out Eurobasket with a title. But first, Andy, we talked Friday for Friday's show about this notion,
Starting point is 00:01:19 and this comes from Dan Wakey at the athletic, that the Lakers might be a little bit more inclined to change the schedule, so to speak. And I know there's, we have differing ideas of how serious they are about the schedule, but this idea of preserving the making the priority flexibility over everything, whether you go into 26, this summer, the summer of even of 27, when guys like Janice or Yokic are potentially available, whether the performance of Luca plus everything else we've seen from him might get them to change that time frame, maybe try to win now.
Starting point is 00:02:00 Yeah, this also comes, Dan's report, I think really comes on the heel, of a Steinline report from Mark Stein, his substack, talking about him hearing that the Lakers, the reporting that they were really going to be pretty particular and precious and disinclined to eat into any of that theoretical cap space that they could have for 2026 and even 2027, that that was, I believe, Mark's words starting to thaw. and he also mentioned Andrew Wiggins as one of the obvious places that the Lakers could be turning. Miami, they're a weird team to try to predict with some of this just because they basically refuse to ever try to do a true rebuild. They're more into big game hunting and resetting.
Starting point is 00:02:52 There's a lot of similarities in the way they like to operate and the Lakers like to operate. So trying to predict if and when they would decide that moving Andrew Wiggins in what is likely a at best, sideways, at worst, backwards move for the season when they would decide that they were okay with doing that. They've also been putting out some messaging that they consider Andrew Wiggins part of the core moving forward. They're excited about Andrew Wiggins. There's a lot of conflicting stuff coming out of my annual. I mean, look, and if you listen to, for example, West Goldberg, one of the co-hosts of Locked on Heat and also his real GM radio show, which y'all should be checking out because it's a really good program. But he had, I've heard him say before that he thinks, based on what he's heard on the Miami side, a lot of this chatter involving Wiggins' availability, much less to the Lakers, is overblown. So it's lion season, even as we get closer to training camp in the regular season opening.
Starting point is 00:04:02 But what makes this interesting, at least to me, but I think Brian would agree, is the question of A, whether you think Andrew Wiggins would be worth making more of an all-in move than the Lakers seemingly or reportedly had been willing to do, but also to the question of getting it done because for the time being because of the salaries needed to match for Wiggins but also to the players that are restricted to move right now like Jackson Hayes for example cannot be used as salary filler
Starting point is 00:04:40 until I believe mid-December because of when he was re-signed by the Lakers it's basically impossible to do this now with the same. out including Rui. I kind of want to skip that part because there are, you know, if you want to, you know, there are, I guess, ways to start putting it together. You add TMZ. I've tried, man. It's really hard. Respectfully, your wizardry with the trade machine. But like there's, I'm not saying it's easy. No, I mean, I've done a lot of work on this, Brian. I've actually looked around a lot. I'm not really hard. I understand that. It is hard to do it.
Starting point is 00:05:15 I, you know, but I'm saying for the purposes of the conversation, it is more interesting to me to talk about whether or not you would do it because if you know and and assume that there's you know there's a way to do it if you know that if you if you if there's sort of people try hard enough or whatever it is you know like true of a lot of trades and you know the impossible things sometimes get done the larger question is really whether it's a good idea because whether you're talking about Rui, Rui in a first rounder, somehow doing it without Rui and including
Starting point is 00:05:56 the first rounder. And obviously, you know, almost in every scenario, Dalton Connect is there both as the thing that Miami would get out of the trade, but also potentially, you know, his $5 million or $6 million, whatever it is that you need to kind of put in there.
Starting point is 00:06:14 It starts with this. The reason Andrew Wiggins comes up is both because he's available, but he also is the most prominent and high-quality player that fits the team's most obvious need, which is a wing defender who can guard the point of attack, who can guard primary scorers, who can do this, a guy that you can take and put on the best wing scorer on the other team and he is that guy. And, you know, Marcus smart. I think the Lakers look at him as somebody who can guard, you know, ones and twos at the point of attack in ways the Lakers haven't been able to do in the last couple years, but you're not asking to guard, you know, wings in the same way.
Starting point is 00:07:04 Actually, I think it might be the reverse. I think at this stage of his career, they may think Marcus Smart is better for the wings than the guards. But for a, well, either way. Well, then you can switch. But the second, the point is you have a second guy that you can put on the opposition's best player. Yeah. You know, there's a height issue with Smart that does start to get in playing intending of which wing you're talking about. But I don't want to get the weeds of that.
Starting point is 00:07:28 Fair point. It would be a different thing if Wiggins was just a high-profile player but didn't kind of tick that particular box. Because it's not just Wiggins ticks it, but he's actually good at it. He's still at this stage of his career, an excellent defender. So I want to, you know, an excellent defender.
Starting point is 00:07:53 And it's the most glaring need the Lakers currently have to be. Good enough, you know, good enough three-point shooter over the last few years, you know, particularly, you know, he's had seasons at least when he's been pretty good, not really good, but pretty good. So let's break that down in a second. I do want to let people know that today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now new customers can bet $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300.
Starting point is 00:08:15 and bonus bets to use across the app, download the app today. For the first question before we get to Rui, would you do connect in a first if you got to keep Rui? Yes. Yeah, me too. I think that's kind of a no-brainer. Yeah. If there was a way and for the time being, it would involve third team machinations
Starting point is 00:08:38 and stuff like that, which again, I've gone through a lot of it and I've listened to other people who've also tried to do it. It's really hard to find a way to make this work, even involving third teams, while keeping Rui because they really need that salary just to make it cleanest. But if the price of keeping Rui means giving up that first and Dalton and adding Wiggins to what they already have, yeah, I would do that. Because at that point to me, that feels like, it feels like a more sensible use of that first. as opposed to giving up Rui, but retaining that first,
Starting point is 00:09:17 when in reality, I think even if Wiggins, this is the issue that I have right now with, for the time being needing to include Rui, if you wanted to make this happen right away, as much as I think Wiggins fills certain needs that Rui doesn't, and maybe fills more glaring needs that Rui doesn't, Rui's still a good player on this team and fills other needs in his own right, I don't know how much better they actually get bringing in Wiggins at the cost of Rui.
Starting point is 00:09:49 But if you're somehow bringing in Wiggins without giving up Rui, that's a point where I actually would move that first. Yeah, I just don't know. I think that's a no-brainer. And I'll explain why after the break. Then we'll get into this question of whether or not essentially would you trade Rui for Wiggins? We'll do that next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandul, the NFL season. and it is upon us and Fanduels making sure you're ready for kickoff with the Can't Miss
Starting point is 00:10:21 Offer right now new customers. You bet just $5.5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 and bonus bets to use across the app. So just pick something super dead obvious. And I love that the Fandual allow the Fandul app allows you to bet however you like, player props, building same game parlay, maybe even jumping in live as the action unfolds. If you're somebody that really has a feel for how a fourth, quarter is going to shake out. You get a little ahead of that action with a little wager.
Starting point is 00:10:50 Makes every game more exciting, whether you're watching your team or keeping an eye on that fantasy lineup. So you're ready to play, download the Fandual app right now by visiting Fandual.com to get started. That's Fandual.com to place your first $5 bet. So I agree with you. I think, Andy, when you look at sort of what the value of these first round picks are going to be the concept of saving them is you pile them up and now you then you know you eventually you have three of them that you can use in a trade for a legit like a star a star star to pair with luka like you you take those three picks and you put them in with whatever else isn't nailed to the ground at the time that you're making that deal and you find the next guy to put with luka um i think
Starting point is 00:11:45 every dayers to the show will no I hate plans like that. Horting picks for superstar trades that either never materialize or you put yourself in a position to where you have to sort of pay for the fit that isn't great because that's the star that's available. and, you know, Luca can pair with a lot of guys. Like, you know, it's a little like LeBron, and that's actually a lot like LeBron. And that almost any player can play with Luca.
Starting point is 00:12:23 But that doesn't always mean that's the best option, the best team ability, especially for the price. And so I just, I don't like, if you have a good deal that you can make now, for Andrew Wiggins, who's going to help you this year, will help you next year when he presumably picks up a $30 million. player option to be shocked if he didn't. I think you do that. And that to me fairly values both Dalton Connect and the pick that they have, which if you
Starting point is 00:12:54 think you're going to be this good and other teams are going to look at it this way too, is going to be in the mid to high 20s. We're not talking about lottery picks here that are going to be severely coveted around the league. It's interesting, too. we asked our listenership and viewership for comments, whether on Twitter or in the comment section for the YouTube page. And it was a pretty interesting array of opinion, just like we're seeing in the chat right now from Sky Falcon 5. I'm not entirely sold on Wiggins.
Starting point is 00:13:29 He's always been an inconsistent motor guy. And I'm not sure he would respond well to playing under Lakers pressure. He's also under 30 and his values guarding one through three. if he loses even half a step on defense, his value tanks. If Miami sucks by the deadline, editors note entirely possible. And wants to dump him for expiring, sure, but I wouldn't jump at giving up a Rui form and definitely not first. From Merrick, 29, 3,4, I would rather trade Rui in a first for Lou Dort.
Starting point is 00:13:55 He is definitely better, younger, and his contract needs extension that OKC is maybe not willing to give him after all the extension they give him this summer. Yes, he's worse offensively than Wiggins, but next to Luka, Braun and AR, he would be okay. Side note, I've actually mentioned Lou Dord before as somebody to keep an eye on for the exact reason Merrick brings up now. I don't think he's going to be available anytime.
Starting point is 00:14:20 Think of it this way. If the, Lou Dord is a better player than Andrew Wiggins. He's a younger player than Andrew Wiggins. And from a shooting standpoint, it's developed into a shooter. It's actually more reliable than Andrew Wich. He is a perfect. role player alongside Luca, like dead ass perfect.
Starting point is 00:14:40 And so while I mean, the only part of that evaluation that I disagree with is the idea like, you know, I think he mentioned he is not as good in certain way. He's a better player in almost every. Than every Wiggins? Yeah. Lou Dord. Oh, yeah. He's better than Wiggins.
Starting point is 00:14:54 And basically every important way that you can think of. The same asking price that you would have in a Wiggins deal. will not work for Lou Dork. I understand that he is a, you know. Wiggins would be a free agent that you pick up next offseason because ultimately OKC decides. Do you mean? Excuse me, Dork.
Starting point is 00:15:20 That OKC ultimately decides we've got other guys like, say, Kays and Wallace that we need to commit to, other younger guys. Lou Dort becomes a cap casualty. They don't pick up a team option this offseason. And then the Lakers hopefully can swoop in and get him. But I'd be stunned if he was available on a trade. I'd be available on trade for a team that's trying to repeat for assets that Lakers can offer that just don't have a lot of value to Oklahoma City.
Starting point is 00:15:48 They've got so many picks. Adding one for the Lakers in the late 20s doesn't matter. They have no need for Dalton Connect. They barely have space to play all of the young players that they already have, let alone Connect. and you know guys like Rui and something like that they just they don't there is no room at the end for for them right now and I think what they'll do is like you say Andy wait until the off season or perhaps if things go a little sideways or whatever you never know maybe you do something around the deadline they're certainly not going to trade Lou Dort now and I'd be surprised if they do it eventually I'm not you know there's it is not guaranteed that the thunder won't give at least give him a new comment contract, trade them down the road. There are other, there are a lot of options here. Yeah, definitely, but I, it's, you're right, I'd rather have Lou Dore. He's right about rather having Lou Dort, absolutely. That's one that I've, I've, and again, that's one that
Starting point is 00:16:47 I've actually brought up in previous shows that I'm keeping an eye on from Ray Black dash RW4IH. I wouldn't use the first round pick to trade for Andrew Wiggins. Yes, he's a two-way player, but I see a guy who is fairly good at everything. I think he means like, as in like, fair, he's fair at it. I don't think that's much improvement over Rui. Again, it kind of gets back to what I said before. I think you can make an argument that Wiggins fills certain needs that nobody else is filling on this roster more than Rui does. But Rui is a talented guy.
Starting point is 00:17:19 And I think if you're looking to make that type of all in move, you theoretically want to be adding to the talent you already have and fortifying what's there. You know, I thought about two, Brian. Real quick, is this an all-in move because it uses a first round pick because it takes some of your contract. By the way, like you say, like a compelling reason, if you think Ludoort's going to be on the market next year to have all this cap space would be to try to go sign someone like him. It ain't just stars you've got to be looking out for it. No, I actually think it's the, it's these middle. But signing these guys outright gets to be a dicey and expensive proposition. There's no question.
Starting point is 00:18:07 You have to pay Lou Dort and guys like him pretty close to what will feel like star money. There are a lot of people who don't think Andrew, you know, AR is worth like the $30 million, $35 million. He's almost certainly going to get on the open market this offseason. Dort is kind of in a similar situation. Like, look at his numbers. I want to say it's between 15 and 20 for the salary. I wasn't talking about salary per se so much as just actual numbers, like what he is average, you know, his per game averages and things like that.
Starting point is 00:18:41 He averaged last season, 10 points. 10 points, four rebounds, an assist and a half. He shot 49% overall and 41% from three point range. Keep in mind, he played 71 games. and plays top shelf defense. And so, you know, as a member of the all defensive team last year. And so, and, you know, he is a guy who, no, no question with significantly less efficiency, has averaged as much as 17 points a game.
Starting point is 00:19:13 So, like, he can score more than he does. You got to remember, he plays with Shea, he plays with Jaylin Williams, he plays with Chet. He plays with, you know, other guy. It's not an easy team as a supporting guy to score 15. To answer the question you raised earlier, do I consider this an all-in move? The answer would be yes, because contextually, I'm not sure how much further all-in they can actually go realistically because they only have so many assets. They're not trading Luca. They're not trading LeBron.
Starting point is 00:19:51 They are unlikely to trade Austin Reeves. unless a real star becomes available to them. And even then, it would require other contracts with Austin just because Austin does not make enough right now to likely match the salary of a true star player. And this is about as all. And then when you take into account the idea of sacrificing some of the future cap space to whatever degree you think
Starting point is 00:20:20 that that was priority number one. Right. Because you make that trade with the very least with the assumption that Wiggins is going to pick up his option for next year. It's about $30 million. It's about as all in as they can realistically go right now. Okay. I think most people would agree with you. And I think what you're saying is correct.
Starting point is 00:20:41 Like it's kind of like I don't even think they have other first rounders and stuff they have access to for all that stuff. They will later, but they don't know. Not until near the draft. Right. The longer you wait, you get access to these things and all that kind of stuff. but for now, this is what they can offer. And I think because of that, we need to rethink how we use that term.
Starting point is 00:21:05 Because it's like, you know, if you play poker and you have a little chip stack and you push all of your chips into the center, you are all in. But it means something different than, you know, when you take six first round picks and, you know, you put them together and, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:26 you trade for Paul George. You do stuff like you, you take a high volume of assets and you put something in and like this is our big swing. The Lakers don't have an all in
Starting point is 00:21:41 pots. And so I don't, you're all in, you know, chip stack, whatever you're, you know, however you want to use this poker metaphor, apologize for the Holdham fanatics who are picking apart my language here. I don't think.
Starting point is 00:21:56 I think we're using the term wrong in this case. This is just a trade. It's not about going all in. It is a question of, it's a binary question, I think, from the Lakers standpoint. Do you sacrifice some space and flexibility for next season versus do you not?
Starting point is 00:22:18 That is the binary the Lakers are dealing with. And the question of whether or not it's worth doing that to trade for, Rui Hachamura for the skills, Andy, that you value. Trade for Wiggins. I'm sorry, trading with Rui Hachamora. For the skills that you value versus what Wiggins brings in, I think is sort of a, from a roster construction standpoint, is an important question that will answer next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink.
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Starting point is 00:23:38 Just buy, snap, and enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament in the USA. T-up the trip. Visit this site, the number five-h-e-win.com for full rules and entry. There's no purchase necessary. It excludes the Masters tournament and ends October 31st, 2000. So I mean, look, Rui has turned into a really good scoring option. He's a, he's turned into an excellent floor spacer. Very good cutter. Yeah. I mean, he's just a good offensive player.
Starting point is 00:24:16 And, you know, I think gotten better defensively. He's not good, but he's gotten better. He's got a little more attentive, if nothing else. And attention matters. So is he better than anything? Andrew Wiggins, the better question is he's better for this team than Andrew Wiggins. It's a contextual argument, Andy, we do this a lot on the show. It's like when we went through the top 100, you know, it doesn't matter if you're the 10th best
Starting point is 00:24:47 player or the 15th best player. If you fit better at 15 with the rest of your team, then you're better for your team. Does Andrew Wiggins, whether you think Ruby is a better player, Wiggins is a better player, who's a better fit for the team? again, I feel like if you're asking who is a better fit in terms of overall needs, the answer is Andrew Wiggins. If you're asking me, do I think Andrew Wiggins by himself in the place of Rui makes them so much tangibly better that I think that that is definitively worth it? My answer is I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:25:19 And if I had to guess, I'd say no. Okay. I disagree. I would make, if you just said, would you, forgetting the first round picks and all these other things, just would you want to swap out Andrew Wiggins on your team, on this team, I should say, for Rui, I would do it. Yes, I would absolutely do it. For the wing defense, because it bumps LeBron down to the four, you're not really playing with two of those guys. You're now playing with one. I think it does a lot to balance your
Starting point is 00:25:49 roster and your rotation in ways that are very valuable. So my answer would be I would do it. I would absolutely do it. Understanding that the biggest thing that I'm giving up is either a little bit of bench scoring if the Lakers choose to put Rui on the bench, I don't know if they will. And definitely floor spacing
Starting point is 00:26:12 because he's a more reliable three-point shooter. And if you remove Rui from that mix, your bench options for scoring become stark. And by stark, I mean bad. you're basically looking at either Gabe Vincent, we've been down this road before, it's not a fun path, Jake Laravia, who has never really been in that type of scoring role before, he's never been a particularly prolific or proven score, or Marcus Smart with a far greener light than any of us. Which is not a great.
Starting point is 00:26:44 You are ignoring the Jared Vanderbilt's been working on his three-point shooting videos that we've seen throughout the summer. The yearly Jared Vanderbilt's been working on is three points. I need to see more. Can I throw out a few ideas I was thinking about if there was an urgency to do this now and the idea of trying to keep Rui? Because like I said, I think if the Lakers really want to go all in, part of the all in that matters to me is stacking talent. And I think if possible, it would be good to stack more talent as opposed to subbing some in. Because even I understand your argument for wanting to make this trade.
Starting point is 00:27:25 And I don't think it's a stupid idea. I'm just saying, would I do it not likely because of the reasons I laid out? But I don't think it's insane. But let me throw out a few ideas that I had that would allow them to keep Rui and essentially add to the talent they have. Gabe or Maxie Clava, who reminder and your reminder still on the team, plus Dalton Connect, plus a protected first because I'm a about to bring up a deal with Charlotte, aka the rescinded unhappy folks, so they're going to want
Starting point is 00:27:57 a lot, so protected first, for Josh Green. And you get younger, more athletic. It's a credible three-point shooter. He's a credible defender. He makes less money, so you actually would clear a little bit more space away from the cap, like
Starting point is 00:28:13 up against the apron, so you might be able to find a 15th guy you're looking for. And Rui would not be necessary. You could do that deal without including Rui. Gabe and Gabe or Maxie plus Dalton for Matisse Thibel who's expiring. He's hurt a lot. He's effective when he does play and he's what he's looking for, but he has hurt a lot.
Starting point is 00:28:35 Or Gabe plus Maxie plus Dalton to Memphis for KCP and Vince William Jr. To Vince Williams Jr. to match money. I imagine the Grizzlies would prefer to throw in Jock Landale instead of Williams. but if they wanted to do this sooner, he is like Jackson Hayes, I mentioned before, restricted until later in the season for a trade. I don't think Memphis would do that with Vince Williams. They like him.
Starting point is 00:29:02 It also kind of makes you a little backcourt heavy. But how big is Williams? Williams really, are you really trading for KCP there? I'm not trading for KCP. I'm not, I'm a little down on KCP. Well, here's a thing. The trajectory with KCP is a little concerning. It's a little concerning, but also the worst year was in Orlando where if you think people go to the Lakers and forget how to shoot or lose the ability to shoot, Orlando makes the Lakers look like the Splash Brothers.
Starting point is 00:29:35 It's pretty bad over there. I don't know about that. I might do it just because I think ultimately you're still getting the better player in KCP. and you know he's popular with the home crowd right but also like I mentioned Josh Green is younger he's athletic he can do the three he can do the D reasonably well and again you add to the talent what was that one that was either Gabe and Gabe and or Maxi wouldn't require both Gabe and or Maxi Dalton and Possibly a protected first because Charlotte, I'm sure, is still pissed off at the Lakers for Josh Green.
Starting point is 00:30:22 I, yeah, I mean, probably. I mean, I guess it would depend a little bit on the protections. Yeah. Oh, this is definitely lottery protected. This is like. But, yeah, I mean, like Josh Green is going to be a more useful player than, you know, Dalton. Yeah. You're essentially trading one player.
Starting point is 00:30:45 that's kind of in your rotation. And I'm not convinced he's going to play 25 minutes a night. Like, you know, there's not a, the interesting thing you mentioned, like the lack of bench scoring if you trade Rui, I think what you end up with, especially if you get a guy like Wiggins back, who is not, you know, inept offensively. I think what you're looking at is just creating,
Starting point is 00:31:09 because now you have five legitimate scorers in your starting lineup. Maybe not that you didn't have that with Rui, But like, you know, you have a starting five, all of whom can carry some water offensively. And now you're just sort of staggering those guys. You know, you're going to want, I think, most of the time, one at least, if not two, of LeBron, Luca, and AR on the floor most of the time anyway. And so I worry a little bit less about pure bench scoring just because I don't know if this team is going to be set up to need a sixth man who comes in and is their bench score because you've just sent a bunch of scoring to the bench.
Starting point is 00:31:54 So that worries me a little bit less. Green is, I mean, I don't, I, I'd be lying if I said I, I've spent a lot of time me neither. Breaking him down, but I, I mean, I'm not sure that's a huge upgrade. I might do it, but I'm not sure, you know, I'd need to. I need to talk to, you know, the folks over Locked on Hornets or I guess, I'm sure Doug Branson's available for us. Or talk to Nick about, you know, what his.
Starting point is 00:32:25 What he did in Dallas? What he did in Dallas defensively more than that. I mean, I do remember Nick, if I remember correctly, Nick, thinking that they might miss Josh Green in Dallas a bit, but I may be wrong. Oh, I know, no, but like, missing him, but like missing him, why? Like, is he that, is he that good a defender? It's also the rare opportunity for the Lakers to get some young guys. And they've been looking for that a lot.
Starting point is 00:32:50 And because for better or for worse, they don't hang on to draft picks a lot. They certainly are not a team with a lot of patience for development for the most part. Like, this is an opportunity. So that was another reason it came to mind for me. I think you would look at him if he can, if he is, you know, he's a better defender than Dalton. That I know. Oh, God, yes.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Right. And so, you know, are you finding far better defender? Right. It's a low bar to clear. But like, are you finding, but he's actually not a bad defender. No, he's a, I think he's probably a solid to slightly above average. I just don't know. I don't know the details of a lot of that stuff because I haven't spent enough time on it.
Starting point is 00:33:31 But he's better than Dalton. You'd get more out of him in your rotation than you would, dull. And so it's a question, too, of like, who are you going to be able to use more to fill certain functions? part of the reason I like Wiggins so much is like there is no you really you can say like yes you're going to absolutely miss stuff that comes with him being on but like there are ways to fill in what he did in part with Wiggins who is not as good a shooter but is not a bad one. Yeah. There is no one who does what Wiggins does.
Starting point is 00:34:05 And so like, you know, Josh Green can step in and do stuff that Dalton can't and therefore. he's going to make your rotation better just because he's going to be in it and connect may not be. So I like trades like that. I just don't. Honestly, the less, the reservation here is less connect than the first rounder. I'm not sure that's the best use of your first round. Again, I'm anticipating anger on Charlotte's side. For people who are like, that's so obviously one way or the other, this is not something Andy ran by me before.
Starting point is 00:34:39 so I'm running it through my head in real time. No, no. And again, I'm just anticipating Charlotte being angry, so maybe that might be necessary. Before we go, real quick, congratulations to two-time old friend Dennis Schroeder. He was the Eurobasket MVP as Germany took the gold. It has now created some conversation about whether or not Dennis Schroeder has a case for the, remember, basketball Hall of Fame because of his success.
Starting point is 00:35:09 in European basketball. Either way, I want to give Dennis a quick shout out. He is, to me, the rare NBA player who's actually gotten better, I think like considerably better as he's gotten older, which is pretty impressive when you consider he's a speed-based player. Like, I think he's become a much better player now than he was when he was younger. So either way, we found him entertaining and amusing guy to cover, fun to watch on the court, so congratulations. Locked on Liquors on YouTube as you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers. We did not get to this
Starting point is 00:35:43 this DeAndre Aten nugget, which will be good getting into. It's actually relevant to the conversation we're having tonight. So we'll do that for Tuesday's show and keep sending us questions, keep sending us comments. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

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