Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Lakers Will Build Around Luka Dončić This Summer... Could That Still Include LeBron?

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

The mission is clear for the Lakers this summer: Build a team that fits Luka Dončić not just for next season, but ideally two or three seasons beyond that. It won't be an easy task, because while the Lakers will have plenty of potential cap space to play with, they'll also have a ton of roster spots that need filling and not a ton of appealing free agents to spend money on. There are always trades, but while (at least around the Draft) they'll have some picks to offer, they won't have many players to include in trades. It's a tricky siuation for Rob Pelinka to navigate. And oh by the way, there's the LeBron James question as well. Reporting from Dave McMenamin of ESPN on Tuesday indicated the Lakers would welcome him back next season. It was exactly the sort of anodyne, non-committal language you'd expect from a front office looking to avoid headlines. (They don't do LeBron any favors, either.) But in an interview with CNBC, Jeanie Buss seemed to indicate (perhaps accidentally) that the Lakers aren't expecting him to return. So would it even make sense? Is there a scenario in which it actually benefits both sides to have LeBron back next year?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers send mixed signals on LeBron.  SEGMENT 2: What do they actually think?  SEGMENT 3: Would it even make sense to have him back? Could it work?  Everydayer Club  If 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!Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://Quo.com/lockedonnba.Quo — no missed calls, no missed customers. 5-Hour ENERGYHave your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon.IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcastGametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelUse your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals.Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started.  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.

The Lakers are set to build around Luca Donchich this summer, but are they leaving the door open for LeBron James? Publicly, kind of, but in reality, are they really telling the truth? We'll tell you next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm ready for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, to matter how or where you get your podcasts, even if it's on a Saturday or a Sunday

or sometimes on holidays and Andy now even more than once a day, no matter how or where you get your podcast, this one's always going to be free. It's not going to be locked behind the paywall. You can find us on Apple. You can find us on Spotify. You might be one of the 37,000 subscribers

to the Lockdown Liquors YouTube channel no matter how you're doing it. You're part of making the Lockedon podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. In the universe, all of them. I'm Brian Kvinetski with Andy Kaminetski, nearly 20 years covering the Lakers for ESPN for the LA Times for the athletic. The Lakers have gone through many rebuilds, Andy, in that time that we've been around.

It just reloads, Brian. The Lakers don't rebuild. They reload. That's true. That is true. Many reloads, and they are set for another epic and quite important one this offseason. They've been keeping their powder dry for the most part. optionality and all of those other things.

It is clear that this rebuild is going to be built around Luca Donchich. Nobody is debating that. But the future of LeBron James, whether or not he is part of that for at least one more year, remains an open talking point. And to that end, Dave McMahon had a little bit of reporting for ESPN. Jeannie Bus may have accidentally said too much to CNBC. And we'll break all that down and also let you know if it would even make sense. People were sending us this article this morning because we spent Tuesday show talking a lot about how LeBron seems unlikely to return to the Lakers.

And so, you know, the waking up to the news that Dave McMahon had published for ESPN, part of his reporting that the Lakers would be welcome. to a return for LeBron next season. And, you know, they would depend on a few factors, such as the amount of money he wanted and all that other kind of stuff. But reiterating that Rob Polinka had said that they would love for LeBron to finish his career in Los Angeles and so on and so on and so on. So people were like, ha, you guys might want to re-record yesterday's show. but not so fast.

I mean, first of all, the Lakers are about to head into the stretch run of the regular season. You want to have as few distractions as possible. One thing that would become a major distraction would be a report that says the Lakers are uninterested in bringing LeBron back. End of story. This discussion is dead. Like, that's a problem. So we've always said that it has felt like the relationship has mutually run its course,

which I maintain is actually the case. I think both sides, if they had better options in front of them, would prefer to exercise those options. The world, as we know, is not always perfect. and therefore it behooves both sides to at least keep the door open for a return, because both sides may find themselves in a position where they need each other for at least one more season. But the idea that LeBron would be welcomed back if he wanted to return or was open to a return or whatever, that's not the same thing as either side itching for a return.

and I remain firm in my opinion that neither side is itching for one more season together. It may just happen, though. Yeah. Like you say, it is in everybody's best interest, both LeBron and the Lakers, to not make this an issue. Obviously, there's no way that people won't ask the question or people won't talk about it or things like that. It's going to happen. but there is always more that could be pumped into a story to make it a bigger deal. And the Lakers are going to try very hard to not make it, you know,

both to make it, you know, not close any doors like you say, but also make it look like they're not shoving LeBron out. They're an organization that prides itself on the way they treat their superstars. They are known or want to be known as a franchise that caters to the legends. LeBron is without question a legend. So at the very least, if they are paving a road that includes moving on from LeBron after this season, they want to make sure that that road feels as graceful as possible and as befitting of a guy of LeBron's stature, which, by the way, is how they should do it.

Sure. And like you, as I tweeted this morning, what else are they going to say? Like there's, there is no currency in making this a story as they begin their, uh, their stretch run here to try to, you know, make some noise in the playoffs. That said, um, I do believe that the current attitude of the team is a little bit more, uh, expressed more clearly by Jeannie, who did an interview with CNBC, uh, presumably to talk about the business aspect of things, the sale of the team, uh, her Sincoro partnership with guys like Michael Jordan and things like that,

um, CNBC. MJ seems to love that Sincorro. He does. Every time he was on NBC, it felt like he'd been pre-parting. Uh, this is true.

Just sampling the product. G, you know, so it is not surprising to talk about the business stuff on CNBC for obvious reasons. But, she was asked about LeBron and whether or not LeBron would be back next year or if he'd play past this season. She said that she'd leave James Future with the Lakers to James.

But when asked about it, she said started the sentence with never say never. And I've heard the audio and it's never say never. And then goes on to sort of soften the quote a little bit. But, you know, he certainly hasn't given an indication. He's earned the right to decide how his career will go. And, you know, he continues to impress. But at that point, when you start the statement out with, never say never, your mindset at the very least is, I don't see this happening, but I don't want to close the door. So, you know, to me.

And I read, I heard that and I was like, this is more of. an indicator of the organization's thinking. And I will say this. I do not know exactly the order of things. I don't know when Dave did his reporting about LeBron. If his question that ended up in this story for Tuesday was in response to what Jeannie said, I believe it was either on Monday or over the weekend. So I don't want to speculate as to one being a response to the other.

But it wouldn't totally shock me if one was a little bit of a response to the other to try to kind of reset the narrative. But either way, I feel like Jeannie is a little more on the truth serum here. If your read is right, it reminds me a bit of after the Anthony Davis trade where Jeannie, in talking about acquiring Luca and also sending Anthony Davis out, mentioned that AD had been complaining about his role and playing too much center and wanting to be power forward. And then I think she realized upon seeing and hearing the reaction, oh, crap, I've said too much, then went on with somebody else and tried to soften the idea or any type of narrative that AD complained his way out of town, which is not what happened. Anthony Davis was traded because the Lakers were presented,

Luca Donchich, who is both a better player than AD at this stage of his career and is six and a half years younger. So that is actually why it happened. But what I do think Jeannie revealed, and this is something I know I had talked about a lot leading up to the trade, even without expecting the trade to happen at all. AD was asking for something and agitating for something. And remember, like a few weeks before the trade, or maybe. even a week before the trade, he did that interview with Shams, talking about the need for another center and how good he was at the four,

the year where they won the championship. I would not be surprised in the slightest if Jeannie's comments that she had to walk back a bit reflected internal concern that the guy that we are looking to take the torch after LeBron is not going to be happy here because he wants us. to do something that makes absolutely, he wants us to allocate resources towards a top line center, which makes no sense because he is a top line center and isn't as good at the position he wants to play. No question that you're correct about that. Would, if the Lakers and LeBron, is there a scenario in which it actually would make sense for the Lakers to bring back LeBron?

run for one more season, not out of mutual desperation, but of actual basketball sense. So we'll get to that question next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandall. The winter games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events. You can only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the winter games on Fandall just makes sense. From metal counts to individual events to finding your.

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Quo no missed calls, no missed customers. I do see a few people noting it in the comment section, Andy, that DeAndre Aiton was briefly detained in the Bahamas for, they were wondering if he had marijuana on it was carrying marijuana in his luggage it turned out it was one of his friends had it in a bag uh aton was quickly released his friend named fall guy i listen to me like first i'm kidding i'm joking if he was in these states this probably wouldn't have been a thing um but uh weed is illegal in the Bahamas. I also don't care if he had a small amount of marijuana. I don't even in its life. But it is one of those things that does it have to happen to DeAndre Aden?

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, if it was his weed, I don't care. If it wasn't his weed, I even care less. But it's just one of these things. It's like, oh, like let this happen to somebody else, not DA. If you know a better way to cure knee glaucom. I'm listening, man. He's been dealing with that sore knee. Yeah. No, so we'll see. It doesn't seem like a story that matters very much,

but it is one of those things that's out there. And if you are a D'Andre Aitin doubter, it will probably be something that people file away and put away, put away in the evidence section to bolster their case against DA. But anyway, it's not a big deal. I, like, there's no, there's no doubt that the Lakers are going to try to be active this offseason. Now, do I, we can have another conversation later about how successful we think they'll be.

The challenges and the opportunities that are available to them with this up to $51 million in cap space, which is predicated on them basically throwing everything that can be thrown overboard, overboard. Leaves them with a lot of space and a lot of spaces to fill. Obviously, Andy, you are trying to build around Luca, a team that makes sense for Luca, that can grow around him, that can create some continuity over the next couple seasons. So it's not a new batch of guys every year like we seem to have been getting with the Lakers. I can see a narrow path where this is possible, where it sort of makes sense from a basketball stance to bring LeBron back,

but it's a very narrow path, at least for me. Like we talked about earlier, there could be a scenario where both sides, and in this particular case, we're talking about the Lakers more specifically, decide that they don't have a better option. And I guess if you don't have a better option, you don't have a better option. But I think there are a lot of practical considerations that could make this somewhere between very complicated and just not a great idea.

Like to begin, there is the money, which Dave McMediman's piece noted is going to be as he wrote a, quote, huge determining factor. But I also think the role matters a lot. Like assuming as Austin is brought back. And this is the expectations of everybody. And quite frankly, if the Lakers don't bring back Austin unless it's because he was part of a sign-in trade, you had so many other opportunities to trade him and you didn't. Like, that is a massive fumbling of this situation, regardless of what you think of Austin. Like, that's just massively mishandling a situation for multiple years. But the assumption is that Austin's going to be back as well.

if you bring back LeBron and what is his role on this team? Like is he open to at this stage of his career playing off the bench? And I mention this just because if you bring back Luca, LeBron, and Austin, you have three fifths of a current roster that we've already seen the holes in that are very difficult to paper over. and unless you can find one hell of a defensive center and one hell of a defensive wing, and that wing better be able to shoot as well, like you're going to find yourself with the exact same issues that you have

with the starting five as currently constructed. LeBron would need to be at least open to the idea of coming off the bench just because it gives you more options in the way that you can configure the roster, and really try to put the best starting five and the best pieces around Luca and Austin. I also feel like with, let's just say LeBron's back next year and whether we know that it's his final season or the speculation that it's his final season and all of the noise that comes with that, which I'm not even saying, so it's clear, is LeBron's fault? but there's going to be

LeBron, this would be happening even if LeBron did not announce a retirement or try to do anything resembling a farewell tour. Like, the amount of noise that's going to come with that if it feels like this is it for LeBron, while you're also

trying to go on a serious championship run, we've covered championships runs. They need as few distractions as possible. I talked about this at length on the it was either the mini show or the earlier this week, one of the full show, I think particularly if there's a farewell to it,

it is a major impediment to really building a culture around Lucas. I mean, I agree. All that stuff, I think is really a problem out. If LeBron is the back end edition after you've brought in a few future forward moves, and again, he is flexible with his role, then, okay, I guess this maybe could be feasible. I just feel like if you're looking to turn the page, and really start the Luca era of this organization,

you have to turn that page. And part of turning that page actually involves moving past the previous face of the organization. Sure. From a cleanliness standpoint, it's not even a slam on LeBron, even though I know people will take it that way. I think to me it would be a little different if LeBron were still playing at the level he was last year. He's been fine this year. We made the All-Star team, and had he played like he has been over the last month for the full season,

we wouldn't be debating the All-Star role. He got off to obviously a very slow start with missing the games and all these other things and didn't really round. But like, I think there is a tangible difference between how he's played this year and how he's played last year. You know, last year was like, you know, it was hard to find too many cracks. in the armor last year. This year, I think you just see it more. And like, you know, the floor from game to game for LeBron is definitely lower. So I think one thing is obviously true.

The Lakers wouldn't pay him $50 million next year. I don't know anybody's going to, but certainly Lakers aren't going to give him like that kind of money. I think another thing is clear. The Lakers wouldn't give him more than one season. So anything that they do would be for next year and only next year or the most next year with a team option as opposed to a player option. I will tell you, and then we'll break down a little bit of who, you know, how they might handle this offseason, what this could look like bringing LeBron back. The path that I do think could make sense.

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Hiring. Do it the right way with Indeed. So for me, Andy, the criteria that need to be hit, obviously you're building around Luca, everything you do has to be Luca oriented. Does this make a Luca team better? That includes bringing back LeBron. Does including LeBron make us better for Luca? If the answer to that question is yes, you can move on to the next thing.

The next thing might be, can we pay him a salary that makes sense for us for this year? Let's say LeBron comes back and is willing to take a year at an exception, whatever exception the Lakers will be paying next year. Okay. I can see a scenario where that might actually fit in because oftentimes, the players that you sign with these exceptions, you split them up, you use people like you may not, you're not going to find a better player than LeBron for $7 million.

I mean, say what you will about them, you know, decline this and the other. You're not getting more value out of your, your $7, $8, $9 for one year than that. The third question is, though, are you putting that signing in the way?

And this is where I think it really gets tricky. are you at all favoring bringing back LeBron for a year over a player that even if they're not as good as LeBron, you see as a legitimate building block for the next three or four? And if the answer to that is yes, we're going to bring back LeBron over that player, then I think you're starting to make a mistake because you can't build that team for Luca if you're kind of prioritizing these short-term players. And the Lakers are going to be in a really tricky spot, this off-seasoning kind of turn to how they're going to fill these holes.

They have to figure out how they can get good players for multiple seasons with what sounds like a lot of money but actually isn't. And up to, you know, six, seven, eight roster spots that they need to fill. There's a lot that they've got to figure out. And yes, they can make trades and they can offer those draft picks and they can do that kind of stuff. But they might find themselves in a position, but they need to draft their own player and have a young player and something like that. All of this is setting aside, by the way, the Janus conversation, which is a totally different thing. I don't, I think they're going to have enough challenges trying to figure out how to create some kind of infrastructure that looks like it's built for the,

future before you start factoring in how do we fit in LeBron because it's a slim market Andy out there the the free agent market is very very slim yeah I mean I think there are some guys that aren't technically free agents but I think it's a live possibility that could be available like a Lou Dort or Isaiah Hartenstein those guys the thunder have team options and there are young players in the wings that I imagine the thunder are going to want to keep. And as much as someone like Lou Dort has been a massive part of their culture, I think, yeah, I think one of those two guys will be a free agent. So it's a very, it's very reasonable to think one of those two guys will be. I actually think

there's a real possibility both could be a best. Possibly. But I think at least one. Right. So I think guys like that, if nothing else, I think need to at least be on your horizon when when you are thinking about this question. You know, obviously they can be looking to make trades. They can be looking to throw a pretty sizable offer at a Peyton Watson or Tarry Yason and really, if nothing else, put the rockets in a position where they have to make a hard choice or, you know, commit to one of those guys, but then really cut off all their other options. So we'll see where things go with that.

One of the things, though, they're really going to have to do. is commit to players. And I've talked before about how Rob Polinka, when he was only answering to Jeannie, and also the last couple of seasons where I think they pretty transparently stopped believing in LeBron and Anthony Davis as a core worth building around, but also did not have the stomach or stones to move past them either,

and they were just allowing themselves to stay in limbo. That provided the pretext. for Rob Polinka to do a lot of can kicking and a lot of focus on optionality and short-term contracts and yada, yada, yada, this off season, assuming Mark Walter is the owner, everyone thinks he is, that bleep is done. Like, that bleep better be done. Because you have, there is no more reason to not commit to this point forward. You have a generational superstar in his prime in Luca. You have presumably a very good 2.5 to third option in Austin Reeves,

like an All-Star caliber player in Reeves. You have some space. You have some picks. Is it perfect? No. But if you wait around for everything to be perfect, you're going to be waiting decades. And at some point you have, at some point you got to make your move.

and I think that's going to be one of the keys to anything they do. They're going to have to stop defining all of their options through short-term commitment. But again, short-term commitments and always letting it better be the enemy of good. Because we've had this discussion about Reeves. Like, Reeves and Luca have actually from a metric standpoint, it actually been pretty good. Like, that's that I think there is a perception.

that that pairing has been less effective than it's been. But there's no question. It creates, like, there is a little bit of redundancy. They support each other's strengths in good ways. Luca has generally thrived with a player like that next to him, whether it's Brunson, whether it's Kyrie, who is a good secondary ball handler, who's another playmaker, who's another score. That works well, but you've got to paper over the defensive issues.

In a perfect world to me, your first and second best, best player, if that's the way you're viewing Luca and Austin in this setup or for this example, whatever, your first and second best players in a perfect world provide certain things that the other doesn't. And that's not really the case with Luke and Austin, which doesn't mean it can't work. It just means the pieces around them at that point really have to fortify what those guys don't bring. Right. And so like in a perfect world, if I could swap out Austin Reeves for Scotty Barnes, would I do it? Of course. Like that pairing makes a lot of sense.

I don't think that's a choice. So, you know, Austin, you have to kind, it's sort of like, you know, not to jump down the Janus Rabbit Hole, but Janus or other elite, elite, elite players. Like, if the fit isn't perfect, sometimes you just have to, okay, we'll just take this guy because he's that good. You know, Austin is like that. Like, this is the All-Star, and I think he was on his way to being an All-Star. you can call them an all-star level player.

This is the all-star you have. This is the one you have access to. And that's the one that I think the Lakers ultimately get. So what do you do? And they have this tendency to always think that the next round of action, whether that's the off-season, whether that's the trade deadline, is going to be the one that makes it, that fixes it. And then they'll do random stuff like trade for Russell Westbrook and then spend two or three years trying to undo it.

I wonder too. We focus a lot on guys like Tari Isson and Watson, two guys that you mentioned earlier in the segment. I wonder too. The Lakers need to make sure that they are paying attention to what those teams might have to do to keep those guys. So does that mean like Houston's got to unload Jabbarra? Smith or and I'm making up names but you know an Aaron Gordon trade is very much live this offseason if the the Nuggets try to keep Watson and you know Nuggett uh Gordon's been hurt a ton this year but when he's healthy would be a great compliment to Reeves and to Luca obviously

so like you can start doing those kinds of things because when you look at the names of like Dave wrote about it in his story some of the names that get mentioned as, you know, guys who can play a little bit of defense, but or alter a shot and can also hit a three-pointer. It's like, it's not a really super sexy group of names, like Dean Wade. And, you know, Andrew Wiggins, who I think is going to end up picking up his option unless somebody buys him out of it in Miami, which costs a lot of money for multiple years. Like, are people going to be doing that?

it's just you know so I rather than the name you know they have to be creative they have to be ready to go they have to be creative and this is actually side note where I'm slightly concerned that they have nobody in their front office right now well like they're running on a skeleton crew of scouts they're running on a skeleton crew I expect all this to change but right now they're you know their scouting department I don't believe has been rebuilt since they let everybody go You would think that would have been reported by now. Somebody might have mentioned it. Or they would have announced a hiring.

Like, this is big stuff, particularly when the guys that you fired were led by somebody with the last name bus. Like, it's a really big deal. You would think that announcement would be there. You know, could you let a guy like Rui go and replace him with somebody like Tobias Harris? I would. I mean, you can, but like, you know, that's, these are the types of- Bad idea.

It may be, but these are the types of choices that are kind of available to you. Quentin Grimes might be available. Yeah, I mean, he's played, you know, he hasn't been playing a featured role like he did last year to earn, you know, kind of a higher profile in Philly. But that's to be expected because they're actually far more healthy. You know, Dean Wade, I mentioned, Tobias Harris, Clint and Grimes. These are the types of names that are mentioned. It is a challenging, the reason I am maybe a little bit more we can quit here. Unwilling to close the door on LeBron is just because I think the pathway to really building a good team next year is going to be tricky.

And there may actually be a circumstance in which one year of LeBron, helps give you one more good player that you can't get that off-season, get you through another season, you know at that point he's going to go off into the someone sunset. So I'm saying there is a scenario to me where it still makes some sense. I just think if it's up, if everybody has their way, if it goes well for everyone this off-season,

he has a different home next year. The last thing I would say on that is just a, it's still not the ideal route. And I think both sides are aware of this, albeit maybe for different reasons, but regardless, swinging this back to LeBron, the decisions of how they fill out the roster need to be more front burner than what they do with LeBron.

If LeBron is treated as more of the front burner issue, then I would say that in and of itself to me signals an offseason that's not going to be successful. Yeah, I would agree with that. Locked on Lakers on YouTube as we're going to hang out with over 37,000 subscribers to the show. Do let us know what you think we should call

that little mini show that we're doing now every day, a fourth segment, if you will. Maybe that's it. But we'll see. The Lakers don't play until Friday. So we've still got a lot of stuff to cover between now and then getting you ready for the stretch run of the season, the sprint, as LeBron calls it.

We'll see everyone next time.