Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Lakers Need to Figure Out What to Do With Jarred Vanderbilt

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

So Dillon Brooks -- yes, that Dillon Brooks -- put Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt into the news cycle when he volunteered Vando when asked by a Twitch streamer named Ray who Brooks thought was the dumbest player in the league.  Brooks also said -- because hey, you don't want to be mean, right? -- that he feels Vanderbilt also has untapped potential.  The latter question is particularly important to the Lakers, because Vanderbilt, who is under contract (essentially) for a couple more seasons, is currently a big drag on the payroll, making over $12 million next season without being a player JJ Redick likes to actually put on the floor. So is some of this on the coach? Is he not using Vanderbilt correctly? Is he too impatient? Should Redick work harder to make the Vando thing work? Or is this more a Vando problem, given that his skill sent hasn't improved at all since arriving in LA?  What about a trade? Could the Lakers find one that didn't cost them more than one first rounder? Would teams demand two? Is that too much just to open up a roster spot they'd have no guarantee of filling? Would any transaction like that have to come with a definitive understanding of the roster improvement the Lakers would make?  All of those Q's and more!    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky   Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGY The funfetti flavor is BACK on https://5hourEnergy.com or Amazon, crack open Confetti Craze 5-hour ENERGY®️ shot today!   KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything.   Reddit Reddit is where the real fans hang out. Download the Reddit app and dive into your favorite team for hot takes, fresh memes, and the group chat that never sleeps.   QuoMake this the year where no opportunity - and no cutsomer - slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnba. DoorDashFrom tipoff to overtime, stay in your bag and order on DoorDash.Get snacks, drinks, gear — whatever gets you through the season — delivered right to your door.DoorDash. In your bag all season long. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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.

What exactly are the Lakers going to do with Jared Vanderbilt? 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 stopping by Locked on Lakers, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komeneski. We're going to break down a little bit of the Jared Vanderbilt conundrum for the Lakers, Andy,

brought back into focus by none other than Dylan Brooks. The much maligned and hated by Lakers fans, Dylan Brooks, who was on a live stream, Twitch live stream with the streamer, Ray. Do not know who that is, but he's got his own live stream big enough to get Dylan Brooks on it. So kudos to Ray. And Ray was asking him all sorts of questions about Jared Vanderbilt. And in true Dylan Brooks... Well, no, actually, that's not what set it up. Ray asked Dylan Brooks, who is the dumbest player in the league.

And Dylan Brooks said, I'm going to throw a shot. I can't even lie. This guy doesn't even like me, to be honest with you, but who cares? Jared Vanderbilt on the Lakers. They call him Vando, unless you're Stu Lance, by the way, who calls him Vandy. Lefty, he's like a rebounder, can't shoot defense. But then it goes on to say, I just think he's got way more potential he's not untapping. So, Dylan Brooks did at least offer that, in his opinion,

Jared Vanderbilt could be a better dumb player as opposed to, in his mind, the dumb player that he currently is for what it's worth. I do not think Jared Vanderbilt is a dumb player at all. And Dylan Brooks also offer the caveat of, I don't like this. I'm not sure he's the dumbest player on the Wakers. No, no, no, no. We don't need to go there. I would need to say who it is.

but people have been watching the show for the last year know who I'm talking about. Right. But with, again, the caveat of Dylan Brooks coming out and saying, I don't like this guy. I know he doesn't like me. So, Yolo. But what's interesting to both of us about this isn't the assessment of Jared Vanderbilt's intelligence, basketball, off court, or otherwise.

it's the idea of more potential untapped because that gets into some interesting questions about Jared Vanderbilt's utility and future with the Lakers under a coach that clearly does not want to play him unless he absolutely has to, and even then he will look for ways not to. Well, and it's, it's, you're in a situation where, you know, Vanderbilt makes, what's he going to make next year?

12.4 mil and then in 2728 he has a 13 year. Dear God, there's another year. Oh, yes. There's another year. 12.4 mill for 2627, then 13.3 for 2728 with a player option that for many reasons we will explain for the time being I'm going to go out on a really wild limb and predict that he opts in. Unless he really is the dumbest player.

for the time being considered that opted in. They signed into like a 14-year contract. What the hell? It's like the Bobby Bonilla deal. He just gets paid in perpetuity. Anyway, it's a problem for the Lakers because at, you know, 13, 12 and a half this year, 13 and a half next year, you have a guy who just takes up an enormous amount of your rotational sort of functional cap space in your rotation.

you know, $12.5 million is too much to pay for a guy who can't play. Or can't play, I would say, just at least. Yeah, but if he could, and the problem isn't so much the player as it is the coach, the system, the way he is deployed,

that would change the argument a little bit. And I suspect that of the two of us, If there is one person who is more likely to be at least willing to argue that Vando is, as Dylan Brooks put kind of a diamond in the rough here, it would be you, not me. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call him Diamond in the Rough. He's been in the league a while. I do think, though, and I've said this many times over the last couple of years,

I do think Jared Vanderbilt is more playable than JJ treats him as. And I think he often, like I said, we'll look for the reasons not to play Vando. I think he often has a quicker hook for Vando's either mistakes or more importantly, flaws than I think he often does with other players, particularly other players who are more offensively oriented. I just, he is not a player that fits very well into what I think is J.J. Reddick's basketball worldview. I think that is probably true. I think where we differ is the basic reason for that, I think is just because I don't think by NBA standards,

I don't think Vando's that good. I think the biggest problem is he's not gotten better. Like, you know, it's, he just finished his, was it eighth season? I believe the guy's been in league for a while and you know he still struggles to shoot like he's a terrible shooter it's a bad finisher inside yes he's got some strong defensive traits but isn't a sort of end-to-end type of defender you know even like a matisse thibble or one of these guys I think he could be more of one than you do I but no I I I

think the evidence is pretty much there that he's not. I think he's very good at certain things, but he's not comprehensively good. And so, okay, let me rephrase. It depends on how you're defining end to end. I thought you were thinking about it more as a guy that can pressure 94 feet in which no, I mean, I mean he has sort of a holistic skill set defensively. I think he's good at certain things and less good at other things that cut into his efficacy at the one thing he's supposed to be good that. Well, I also include, which is defense. I also include rebounding as part of the defense. Oh, I am too. But he's an outstanding rebounder for per minute, Jared Vanderbilt is a really good rebounder, and particularly he can often be a very good defensive rebounders. So that is part of it

with me too, particularly for a team like the Lakers that has often struggled for rebounding, which again, I think he's, I think he's a good rebounder. I think, yeah, but like his, you know, his rebounding rates and things like that have actually declined a little. I mean, I just, I don't think, I think the problem with Vando is he's an extremely limited player who hasn't gotten much better. And like that part I agree with. That part I agree with. Could you create scenarios in which he is used more effectively, probably.

Could you kind of design stuff and build stuff around? to build lineups that you know you could then put vanderbilt out on the floor and he'd be effective because more of his shortcomings are being covered and all that kind of stuff yeah but the problem is at some point you're doing far too much work to try to make Jared van derbylt's life better make him more playable and I suspect in the process of doing that you're going to be making compromises for players who are better and more important than Vanderbilt. So I personally would come down on the side of, I mean,

there's a percentage in there. Could JJ have a little more faith in this? Sure. Could it be like, but broadly speaking, no, I do not think that the Lakers and JJ are like missing the sort of the, to use Dylan Brooks's words,

untapped potential of Vando. I think Vando, potential has been tapped. He's a very hard player to play, particularly when the playoffs roll around. Again, I think there are ways that he can be effective. I think we saw it at times during the playoffs. And also his playoff run got shortened because of that finger injury. Yeah, it's not to say he has no, I don't mean he has zero utility.

No, I understand what you're saying. Just I disagree with you that there couldn't. And more importantly, and we can talk about this after the break, but here's why I ultimately think it matters. Vando's flaws are real, and I'm not denying them, even as somebody who thinks there could be more workarounds that could be worth it for the team. The flaws are the flaws. They're obvious. I'm the guy who's been hitting on for the last three years. Everyone focuses too much on the open corner threes and not nearly enough of his work around the rim, which is not close to as good as, right.

That is a legit problem. And it's one of the areas he's not gotten better. But what I think makes this a complicated and interesting question is, even with his flaws, he has provided in his strengths things glaringly absent often from this team. And if you're not getting them. Hold that thought for a second. Yeah. Hold that thought because that's something I think that's really worth exploring.

And the question of if you have him, what do you do with him? Do you trade him? How do you trade him? Do you keep him? What do you do if you keep him? All of those questions next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink. If you've got a sweet tooth, you know how hard it can be to find the perfect treat

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These are energy, sometimes physicality. these are areas where the Lakers roster can be lacking, at least as currently constructed, depending on what this offseason brings. Maybe this becomes more of a true non-issue. But for the time being, these are traits that the Lakers have needed. And if they're not getting it from Jared Vanderbilt, they need to get it from somebody, somebody's. So that to me is sort of the, beyond the what do you do with Vando moving forward if we've reached an impasse because he is too expensive to be on the roster as somebody JJ Redick does not want to play at all,

does not think he fits. It's just that's too much. Those skill sets, the strengths need to come from somewhere. So that to me is what makes, if nothing else, Vando a perpetually interesting topic for me. Sure.

And I agree with you to some of the two, you know, that there isn't earn a lot of alternatives for some of the things. things that Vando does. I see that as a shortcoming of the roster, not as a real, a, kind of a points in Vando's favor as a, as a player. And I do think part, it's the explanation as to why he kind of played at all is that, you know, it is, it is, it is sort of a recognition of, we need these qualities, you know, we only have a certain amount of players. We need these qualities. Other guys aren't delivering them. And flawed as he may be, we're going to have to use

Vanderbilt because there isn't anyone else. I think that's the whole reason he played as much as he did. If JJ had any alternative to provide those similar skill sets, those players probably would have played in Vanderbilt, wouldn't have played at all. The question becomes, in a season where you're trying to maximize the roster around Luca and really rebuild this thing as quickly as you can, And as you noted in the first segment, Vando has a horrifically long contract in front of that nobody particularly wants. It is going to require at least a firm. There's not a bidding war going on right now. There is not.

But it is going to require at least a first round pick to get rid of that contract or taking on, you know, another contract in return that might be just as bad. but if you want to get away from Vanderbilt's contract, you're going to have to offer some sweetener. I don't know if it's one first rounder. It wouldn't totally shock me if some teams asked for two, particularly given where the Vakers ought to be drafting. It gets into really dicey territory

when you have to start talking about giving up all of those assets, On the one hand, you would open up a roster spot that you could use far more constructively. On the other hand, you don't have that many things to trade. Do you use one or two of them to offload Vanderbilt would be extremely painful? It would be extremely painful, but what really matters is will it be ultimately productive? Because if it's painful but productive, then it could be justified. But the complications that come with it is, yes, let's say you just salary dump Vando. You are opening up that salary cap space, but to what end?

It is not a super strong free agent class to begin with. There are better, at least theoretical options for trade and trading into cap space. But you need something to incentivize the other team to trade you that good player. into cap space. And one of those incentives would be the picks that you may be using to offload Jared Vanderbilt. So you start getting into this catch-22 of how do you handle it? The best way might be to take on a contract that another team finds problematic. Equally icky. Well, but that you feel like we can do something with this player. Like this player for our particular roster makes more sense.

But it's going to be a complicated dance figuring this out because the Lakers don't have a plethora of disposable picks that they can just use to declutter the roster. They barely have enough picks to get done everything. I think they want to get done this offseason. Right. That's the thing is you can't do both. So I think, ultimately, I think this is why Jared Vanderbilt's not going to be traded with that sort of dump to go with it.

I think the cost would be, I think it's much more likely if they do trade them. It's for a different player on a different 11.5 or $12 million contract. Another team is they have their own Jared Vanderbilt problem. And maybe our problem fits better on your roster and your problem fits better on our roster and we'll see where we go. From there, I think you don't just trade Vando to get rid of that salary slot and give up a stuff. There has to be, like you alluded to, that by doing this, we get this. And that thing isn't hypothetical. It's concrete.

We know we're getting this. We know we're using this extra pick to move Jared Vanderbilt because we know it will facilitate this deal or something. And if you can't get it, then you just got to live with the results. I think next year, at some point you'll be able to stretch him. But, you know, wave and stretch. I think next year is probably a year too early. I would agree. But, you know, you'll get to that place eventually where that becomes a choice.

But it's probably not next year. It's probably a year to follow. It sounds too early to me as well. And if it's- There's a lot to eat on those things, just in terms of the limits to your flexibility. Right. And I will say this.

If they can't move Vando, I think it would be worth JJ's time to try in earnest to find some type of way to get more from Vando. If you try in earnest and fail, okay. But I feel like it's worth the effort, effort to try because again, it's too much money for a guy that isn't playing at all. And I don't, I don't want to get it into a debate about whether JJ has tried an earnest

or not. I don't know if I accept the premise of what you're saying. Try again in earnest. Try differently in. I'm just saying you need to find you. No, I understand. I understand what you're saying. Because you've got.

You got the player. If you don't accept the premise of him having not previously tried earnest. Or get enough good. players you don't need to right sure if you've got enough players that you can essentially eat that money while you know still thriving great whatever but that's going to be a tall order so until then like i said try again and earnest differently and harder because it is a big problem for it's a big problem to have that much salary slot and to get nothing from it yep locked on lakers on youtube is where you can hang out with over 38 000 subscribers we'll see everyone next time