Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Return of Anthony Davis Is a Reminder of the Lakers' Incredible Good Fortune

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Happy Thanksgiving! And if you need something to be thankful for, how about the incredible turn of good fortune that the Lakers have seen over the last year, thanks to the largesse of former Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, who (and it still defies explanation) gifted Luka Doncic to purple and gold. That trade yanked the Lakers out of a purgatory where they were not going to be bad thanks to the LeBron James/Anthony Davis/Austin Reaves core, but they certainly weren't going to win a title, had no clear runway to a title, and had nothing but awful financial decisions to make around Davis particularly going forward. Plus, they were scared to tear it all down. It was not going to be a fun few years... but now the Lakers have Luka and a remarkably clear future. Thanks again, Nico. May you get a statue at Crypto, and honorary murals around town. Finally, do the Lakers have a first quarter problem? (Spoiler alert... yes.) Is solving it as simple as swapping Marcus Smart for Rui Hachimura in the starting lineup, or would it be better if the pattern wasn't so dependent on Luka going nuclear?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: AD returns (probably) in uniform.  SEGMENT 2: What Davis symbolizes.  SEGMENT 3: The first quarter problem.  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashNext time someone goes off for 50, use promo code NBA50the next day to get 50% off on DoorDash with DashPass — plus your shot at the Bag Drop.DashPass members only. 50% off up to $10 the day after a 50-point game with promo code. Terms apply.No Purchase Necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to U.S. residents 21 or older. Visit https://DoorDashInYourBag.com for full details.DoorDash — In your bag all season long.DripDropStock up now before the heat hits hard — and keep your body and mind performing at their best with DripDrop.Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order.Go to dripdrop.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNBA. WayfairDon’t miss out on early Black Friday deals.Head to Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair’s Black Friday sale for up to 70% off.GustoGusto is the all-in-one, remote-friendly payroll and HR platform. Try Gusto today at https://gusto.com/lockedonNBA and get three months free when you run your first payroll. RobinhoodYou expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelRight 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.com to 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.

Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked-on Lakers for Thursday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Keminetsky, Anthony Davis, takes the floor as a member of the Mavericks, probably on Friday night. Plus, do Lakers have a first quarter problem? All of that coming up next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts network, your team every day.

Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers your first listen of every day, including this Thanksgiving Day. And Andy, what are we thankful for? We're thankful for being the number one podcast network, sports podcast network in the universe, as far as we can tell.

So we appreciate everyone that you're getting the podcast through Apple, through Spotify, whether you're a regular viewer on the YouTube channel, 37 plus thousand subscribers. We appreciate it.

no matter how you do it. And we hope you're having a great Thanksgiving. We appreciate you spending a little bit of it with us. Plenty to talk about for this as we get ready for Friday's game. This is a housekeeping note. We will be back Friday night after the game. So Anthony Davis speaking to the media on Wednesday made it pretty clear that he is hoping to be able to return to the floor on Friday. the Mavs have a back-to-back Friday and Saturday.

AD, if he gets on the floor, will only be able to play in one of those games and was asked about which one he prefers and without saying explicitly the Lakers, he looked at the reporter like he had 17 heads and said, is that a real question? Everybody knows which game I want to play in, and he does not mean Saturday night's game.

He means Friday. AD has been back to the original. I think he was in the building last year post trade, but he didn't play. This would be the first time that he plays as a member of the Mavericks post-Luca trade. I mean, Lakers fans will treat him really well. No question about that, and they should. AD, I think, will be playing with a pretty big chip on his shoulder. I don't know.

I don't see why he wouldn't be. It's unfortunate the timing of this because the first time the Mavericks were in L.A. with Anthony Davis on the team, he was injured. And the tribute video that he predictably rightly got played while he was in street clothes, which for a lot of people will seem like a cruel joke writing itself. And I think in a lot of ways reinforces so many of the narratives about Anthony Davis. some of which are, if not unfair, I think can be exaggerated. But it also, I think just it is emblematic of how his time with the Mavericks is just setting up to be a bleep show.

And it's a bleep show that is centered around Anthony Davis as a main character of the bleep show, but actually has little to nothing to actually do with Anthony Davis as one of the lead characters of the Bleep Show. The main character was already written off the show. Right. He's no longer part of this. I will say, I think our friend Nick Angstatt put this out on the coast of Lockdown Mavs,

put this out the other day on the social media, that at this point, Cooper Flag has now played in more games with the Dallas Mavericks than Anthony Davis. So while it's not AD, AD didn't do anything wrong, but he has not been available for the Mavericks much at all. And in that sense, he is kind of a character in this.

And like you said, you know, it's the joke that writes itself to some degree, but the fact that Anthony Davis isn't readily available, for the Mavericks. And you know, Luca Donchich, even missing a few games this year with the Lakers, has been playing at an

MVP level. It just reinforces why the vibe in Dallas is so bad. And by the way, you know, AD may not be there that much longer. He's already back out on the market and reportedly they're looking to shop him and all these other things. You know, this the Anthony Davis portion

of this sorted chapter in Dallas history and a wonderful full chapter in Lakers history. The Dallas portion, you know, for AD could be ending pretty quickly. Well, but that's sort of what I'm getting at. Like, the reason it is a bleep show in some respects has nothing to do with Anthony Davis because no matter who they traded Luca for out of nowhere when Luca wanted to remain a maverick for life, unless they traded him for Yokic or Shea or Wembe, like, you know, the bar

would need to be exceptionally high for Mavericks fans not to be pissed off to begin with in ways that are independent of Anthony Davis and have nothing to do with them because, you know, lest we forget, 80's a pretty damn good player in his own right when he's available, but also once the Mavericks fell ass backward into landing Cooper flag and the number one overall pick, all common sense, no matter how much the Mavericks are, if nothing else, projecting to be resisting common sense and projecting that they're not looking to tear it down, rebuild. And maybe that's what they're actually thinking inside the building. But the reality is the smart, logical, sensible play is trade Anthony Davis, trade anybody who you do not foresee as part

of the future moving forward and start this rebuild, particularly at a time where Dallas is about to control their 2026 first round pick. That's the last they have full control over in a while. So in that sense, Anthony Davis also, again, he is a main character in this story, but he's a weird combination of main character and ancillary character, because so much of what makes all of this intriguing really has very little to do with AD because even if AD was on the floor and available, the Mavericks wouldn't be good enough to justify this.

And you would still, in all likelihood, want to trade AD because the timeline for flag is not going to line up with AD. Yeah. But as a symbol for why this trade is such a disaster, the fact that he can't play is a big deal. Oh, he's the unfortunate face of it. Well, Nico was the unfortunate face. AD was the second face. It's, you know, for me, what, what this really reinforces, um, other than the fact that today's episode's brought to by Fandul,

and right now new customers can get just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fandle.com to get started. But the other thing, Andy, that this reinforces for me is just how profound a rescue this was for the Lakers. Like the get out of purgatory card here that was presented. to them by Nico Harrison is astonishing. Like it may be and I don't need, you know, we obviously, we don't need to, but like, you don't need to at me.

But like if it's not the greatest get out of, you know, purgatory free card in sports history, it's damn close. It's not that the Lakers were bad. They weren't. They were stuck. They were in this place with LeBron and Anthony Davis where they had no good out. They were too good to tank. You know, you have LeBron near the end of his career still playing at an all-NBA

level, and Anthony Davis is an all-NBA caliber player. But together, they're not good enough. You don't want to be in a position where when LeBron is gone, you're building around Anthony Davis because, you know, that's just not, you don't want to have to extend it. like Anthony Davis is making more money right now than Luca. And he's also too old. He's too old. Right. That's what I'm saying.

Like he's too old. He's too fragile. He's, you know, it is a nightmare waiting to happen. But you also don't really have a good out to get away from Anthony. It was like the Lakers were basically screwed. And,

you know, there was just, they were just in this situation where they were never going to be terrible. But everyone knew. that their chances of winning a title were basically zero with that core. And they were afraid to move off this. Like they were clearly, transparently afraid to do anything moving off this LeBron 80 thing until the Luca thing got presented to them.

I used to say all the time, they were going to be giving LeBron one plus ones at a max dollar, in perpetuity until he was like 50 if it was the choice between that or move off LeBron without a superstar in hand. Like they would not do this. And LeBron and AD, they could still play well together, but they were increasingly difficult to build around. There was too much redundancy to put a team around them.

And the Lakers were too scared to move off it, but too, I think, understandably reluctant to go all in with. it. To your point, you cannot overstate just how much of a lifeline the Mavericks inexplicably presented the Lakers. And it is Thanksgiving. We should all be damn grateful for this. And we'll see when Nico gets his statue. So a couple more things about this. And plus, we'll ask the question whether or not the Lakers have a first quarter problem. Get to that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul and the NBA. It is. is upon us. The season has been really entertaining, particularly if you're a Laker fan, and there is no better place to get in on that action than Fandall, the official sports

betting partner of the NBA, even if you miss the start of the game or you want to write a hot hand. Fandall has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It makes every game more exciting, especially when your team, I'm presuming, the are making a late push. Right now, Fanduel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fandual.com to sign up, play your first game with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So real quick, before we get into the first quarter issues and other stuff with the Lakers, we were talking about the perennial joke of Niko Harrison,

when does he get his statue from the Lakers? Earlier before. before we recorded, I was doing Lakers talk, my weekly Lakers show for 710 ESPN in Los Angeles. And a caller brought up an idea that I had never even considered before, but it's even better than the NICO statue. Somebody, and there are a billion artists out there in L.A., somebody needs to do a NICO mural, like a mural of NICO around the city. that ain't get i'll tell you this it will never get defaced nobody in la is going to damage that mural at all but i i think you could argue that a mural is maybe even more indelible and appropriate a tribute and celebration of nico than even the statue well i will say this it is you know a statue is more

formal. A mural, because like the Lakers aren't really going to give Nico Harrison a statue. I mean, he deserves one. I mean, the man deserves one. Let's not, I'm not, that's not my contention here. He's not going to get one. That's like you can't do that. But, but, but murals are creatures of the community. They are created of the people and the community and the people. And the people can express. All you need is wall, a wall and I guess permission or something. And, you know, and, and, and you can have, you know, a Nico Harrison thing. That, that's grassroots organic stuff. Honestly, I like that. I mean, I would have massive respect for anybody who did that. I like that actually better than the Nico statue joke. Like, a, I think it's funnier and B, it's

actually more plausible. So I know it's way more plausible. Right. I know that there are, you know, there are tons of Laker muralists out there. We see all the Kobe murals in particular. At least one of y'all's got to be listening. Get on the NICO mural.

That would be just. Yeah. No, I'm, I'm big on that. So, yeah, I just, I,

I just, I look at the, you know, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, Now you look at, you know, we don't need to get too deep into this. But, you know, Austin Reeves, for example, playing at an all-star caliber level right now. Like, if you look at his numbers, they are all-star numbers. I don't know if he's to make the all-star team. It is way too early to have that conversation. And quite frankly, I find those conversations, like they can be really, you know, you can be

often splitting hairs with this stuff. I mean, this year he might actually make it because so many people that he would There are like seven, there are like nine players in the league who are eligible to make the All-Star game. I mean, Jake LaRavia might make an All-Star team. Jackton Hayes, got a good shot at it. Oh, yeah. Like, there are nobody's eligible for the All-Star games. It's me us.

You know, like that media game that the Celtics played a couple of weeks ago or whatever. You're going to pull some dudes from that. You're right, the Nuggets, right, or whatever it was. Like, you know, but like Austin Reeves, if you look at the Ringer did their off-season, rankings of players we talked about at their top 100. I think Reeves was like somewhere in the 50s, 55, 56, something like that. In their one month in rankings, he's in 32. So, you know, that's a, it's big rise from AR based on what he's done.

And like, you look at the timeline they're on now and they've got Luca entering his prime and you've got Reeves entering, you know, in his prime essentially. and, you know, a little bit, you're kind of at least have some draft picks. You're getting out of the wilderness of the draft picks that you've given up and all that kind of stuff. And it's just like you, it is an amazing stroke of fortune and why people hate the Lakers. You know, it's funny. I'm not going to say that the Lakers are necessarily one Max Christie away from being an inner circle. contender, but they are one Max Christi type away from potentially being like it will never

happen just it just for a bunch of reasons. Well, how about this one? I mean, the money doesn't work. You'd have to figure it out. But like, you know, how much like Herb Jones could become available in New Orleans, at least in theory. Like everybody could become available there. They're smart.

Like that, like you could, you'd need. something other than Dalton and you have like would you use like Dalton and a first rounder and then figure out the rest for Herb Jones? I would trade any of the expirings for Herb Jones, you know, in the first obviously other than Rui. I don't think Herb Jones in place of Rui makes them good enough, even though Herb Jones does some of the things that they need on the roster and, you know, Rui would come to mind just because he's the biggest expiring contract.

But I think they also need the stuff with Rui. I don't know if Herb Jones makes him that much better. Everybody else. He's not a terrible shooter. His career is 36% three-point shooter. But other than his one season a couple years ago where he was at 42%. He's not killed. He's ever replicated that season.

He's more D and 3 than 3. 3.D. Yes. and whereas Rui is mostly more like three. Right, but really. But really, it's a big one. And he's also, he's three in the sense of he's a three level score. Like Rui is when he gets the ball enough, a vastly better score than Herb Jones.

Like it's not even close. And I think they need Rui on top of the Herb Jones type. But would I give up a first and pick your expirings for Herb Jones? done. I wouldn't even have to think about it. But yeah, they are ironically, they could really use Max Christie, although the Mafrix, not in a million years are they going to trade into the Lakers? I don't care what they offer. Set up what you want to talk about with them. We'll go to the break in a minute here, but set up what you feel could be the issue here with the first quarter, and then we'll talk about it after the break. I think I have some concerns that the Lakers

13 and 4 start. And they're obviously off to a great start, greater than even people like you and I who were bullish on this team, expected them to start out with. And in particular, we are seeing these first quarters where Luca goes bonkers. And his production in the first quarter has been honestly astonishing. Nuclear.

It is also, yes, it is also part of first quarters that are the Lakers' worst of the four quarters by a long shot. And I have concerns that the overall success is going to keep masking a problem for this team that I think could become more problematic as the season goes along and is also frustrating to me because it feels so damn easy and logical to solve. So we will get into that coming up next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by DoorDash, the NBA season. It is scorching hot, baby.

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So the next time someone goes off for 50, use the promo code NBA 50 the next day to get 50% off on DoorDash with Dashpass. Plus your shot at the bag drop. DashPass members only 50% off up to $10. bucks the next day after a 50 point game with promo code NBA 50 terms apply no purchase necessary ends April 13th open to US residents 21 or older visit door dash in your bag.com for full details door dash in your bag all season long you know the the first quarter issue is a big one of the lakers historically like third quarter has been the problem now we've seen to have transferred it's the first quarter.

It's been a highlight quarter for people watching Luca, but the results haven't always been great. There are, in my mind, a few things kind of at play here, but you've obviously been sort of breaking down some numbers and looking at it. What are you saying and what do you think is at the core of it? That they can't defend anybody in the first quarter. Like, the problem is not that they don't score, even if it's Luca doing the most damage.

he is averaging thus far in first quarters 12 and a half points a game on 47-37 splits. Like that's really good. And when you have one guy putting up 12 and a half points on average himself to start a quarter, like that is a hell of a foundation that should put you in a pretty good place to, if not win every first quarter, to be a very competitive first quarter team. Of the four quarters in a game, the Lakers are not just worst in the first quarter. They are by far. It's the only one where they have a negative point differential, negative net, negative plus minus.

Like they are at their worst in the first quarter. Like even against the Clippers in Tuesday's win, Luca had 24 points in the first quarter and the Lakers lost that quarter. part because James Hardin did a pretty good job himself, but also they were not defending corner shooters, which I know there is some degree of we're going to let Chris Dunn take these shots and take our chances. Fine. But John Collins was making those shots. They've not defended corner shooters all season. And some of this, I think, is obviously an attention to detail thing, whether you're talking about the corner shooting thing specifically or just, you know, defense,

in general in first quarters, but some of it is a personnel thing. Their best two quarters are by far second and fourth quarters when they start mixing in more defensive personnel, in particular Marcus Smart, who regardless of how he plays offensively, the team has been on balance winning his minutes by a lot. And I think it is in large part because Marcus is doing something. that few other people on this team can do, and that is very, very needed. And the reason I'm concerned that the overall success, and again, Luca's performances in the first, which are flat out breathtaking at times,

I think it masks a potential issue that could become more problematic as the season wears along. The Lakers start playing better teams on a regular basis. But also, too, I just feel like there's no reason to continually start games. in a hole. Like to actually set up a rotation, set up a lineup where you are continually starting from a place of disadvantage. Like the reason, a reason starting lineup matters is you are literally trying to get off in the most definitional way to a good start. And the Lakers are continually not doing that. And it's not getting in the way of wins, obviously. They're 13 and 4. but I do think it is often making games harder to win than they should be because they're spending,

I think, too much time digging themselves out of deficits unnecessarily. I mean, obviously, they want to be doing better. I've advocated to switch the starting lineup for a while. I just think it's real quick. I think it could be easy to overlook because Luca was so incredible. the first half against the clippers, and they won that game decisively, and it's always fun to beat the clippers and see them lose their mind and Chris Dunn get ejected and the depression swirling around them. I'm sure the Lakers, Schadenfreude is through the roof and I get it,

have at it. But I think in a lot of ways, it's still emblematic of the problem that's been going on because they did lose that first quarter. They did finish the half only up three. Then they eventually kick the crap out of them. But I just feel like this is being made more complicated than necessary. Well, I mean, I'll say this. Like, you're really talking about one guy. You're talking about how much do you play Marcus Martin when? Because Jared Bairnbilt's not playing.

And if, you know, this is the sort of the rotation that they have going forward, Vando, I mean, he'll appear on the floor. But, I mean, did he play against the Clippers? Not to my recollection. I don't think he did. He was a D&P. I was just trying to remember if he got like, you know, three spot minutes somewhere. I don't think he didn't.

This is without. Oh, great. is without DeAndre available. And so you're talking about how do you deploy Marcus Smart versus Rui Hachamura and when? But I will say this. I think, and this came up a lot in the Kobe era too. What when one guy,

particularly the guy who sort of has the ball in his hands to start possessions is kind of just doing so much and he's taking so many shots. And I'm not calling Luca a ball hog. But defense, I think, tends to happen better when the ball is flying around the floor, when more people are touching it,

even if Luca ultimately is the one who is shooting. I do think it would be beneficial generally to have more balance in first quarters. I think maybe they'll get more of that now that LeBron is back. And I'm not sure if it's sort of a chicken and egg thing. Is the, you know, do the Lakers, does Luca go nuclear because they're otherwise not going to be able to stick around and Luke is keeping them in games?

Does sometimes Lucas nuclearness get in the way, perhaps, of better defense? It probably varies, depending on which game you're looking at. But in a perfect world, I think you wouldn't want him to do that. And I don't think you wouldn't want him. More importantly, you wouldn't want him to need to do that. Well, this is a bit, I mean, this is how Lucas played his whole career. Like, if you look at his splits for his career, his first quarter is the highest for points and field goal attempts.

Like this is nothing new for Luca and it's not the Laker specific for Luca. Right. And I just, you know, so I, and I'm trying to, you know, I don't want, it's Thanksgiving. I don't need people yelling at me about Luca. None of this is intended as a- Well, unlike you, I don't think Luca's the problem. You're a woman that's trying to pin this on Luca.

That's right. Happy Thanksgiving. It's just one of these things where you wish that this, sort of thing wasn't needed. I agree with you. I think you can start by putting your better defender in the starting lineup and making the starting lineup have the most sense, make the most sense from a balance standpoint. And particularly with LeBron back, I think those questions become even more clear. I think that relationship becomes even more clear as to why you would want smart in there as opposed to Rui.

And that I think would clean up a lot of it. But I do think the Lakers need to find a little bit better balance early in games just to kind of make sure that your defense, which I think the Lakers defense is going to be sort of in a direct relationship with its offense for most of this season. I think that's how it's going to work. if they could find a little bit better balance, I think it would be easier on Luca,

and it probably would benefit the Lakers a little bit defensively. I will say this, though. I fully expect, we'll see how the last five minutes of games work out. I fully expect second quarters, top of fourth quarters and stuff like that, to be times when the Lakers really do dominate games. I think that's where they're going to make their most headway, particularly now with LeBron back because they can put so much imbalance against other teams.

You can have Austin Reeves and LeBron James to start the second and fourth quarters. And other teams, while they might have good players and even a star on the floor, are not going to be able to compete with that. Absolutely. If the Lakers ought to be able to make those their best quarters. So, but if you, you can play either even or from a little bit ahead in the first, pour it on a little bit in the second, play even in third, push like they did at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

And now you're closing with Luca and you're closing with those guys. It would be better. Like some of this, though, to use our friend Max Kellerman's argument, it's like, it is a run. Like, wouldn't it be great if like the greatest players were even slightly greater? Well, sure, I guess. but like every, you know, there are certain things that Luca does that are part of it,

the stepback threes, the heat checks and things like, these are what makes these guys who they are. And so I don't want to deprogram Luca from coming out and annihilating people early in games. I don't either. Little tweaks. I don't either.

I don't want Luca to change a damn thing. I want JJ to change the lineup. I'm not concerned about what you don't, but you don't think, you don't think that the, the offense, things like that has anything to do with. You don't think it would be better for them if they had a little bit more balance early in games? I think it could be regardless of who starts.

I think it could be fine if they did. I don't object to there being more balance. I think, though, the problem that they are having in the first quarter is far less about whatever balance or imbalance with Lucas scoring and the fact that they don't defend anybody. And unless you think it really is more about guys not feeling as a lot of. much in the flow because they're not putting up as many shots and it affects them defensively, I think it's much more. I know, it's less about, you know, they're sulking.

I just think, you know, your floor balance is better. And I will say this, though, to your point, these splits are pretty clear. Like Aitin and Rui are not a good combination on the floor. Well, and also, really haven't been thus far. My last point on this, and I know I've made it a zillion times and the everydayers know this, and I appreciate your indulgence. if the reason you are starting Rui is because of the spacing and his shot making and it theoretically makes you impossible to guard, give the guy the ball more.

Like, he's your best shooter by far. Like his first particularly just pure three-point shooting, he gets four threes a game. Like right now at this point, he is more of a spacing theoretical than like an actual threat to put up a shot. And that just feels like a waste of Rui. And I feel like you actually would get more from the guy if he was coming off the bench. I feel like at this point, the reason Rui is starting is because the team's playing very well. Rui has played well. Rui has done what they've sort of asked him to do. And it's a small P. Politics and Culture thing. And by the way, the vibes on this team are immaculate. They're awesome. They are. It is a real consideration to

make sure that you're doing things in ways that preserve that. I get it. But I do think, but I was finished, but I thought, I don't think long term that Rui is going to stay at the starter. I just don't. This is what I would say. I think vibes matter. I think culture matters.

I think chemistry matters. I think Rui is a big part of the good chemistry. He is by all accounts popular in the locker room. I think he's liked within the organization. JJ likes him, all that stuff. This should not be seen as a demotion of Rue. it's about matching skill sets, but I would say this, if you can ask Lamar Odom to come off the bench on a better team when all sincere respect and appreciation for Rui, the everydayers know I've been a big Rui proponent, Mar Odom's better player than Rui and not even close. If you can ask Lamar Odom to come off the bench for a better team, you can ask Rui to do this.

And I think that's where they'll get. I think that's where they'll get, but I think what they're doing right now is, A, they're winning games, but they're also just sort of allow. this process to kind of run its course to where they can just be like, you know, we need, this is what we need to do. We've given it 10 games with LeBron. We've seen what it looks like. Sure. We got to make a change.

They won't talk about it as a demotion for Rui. It would be helpful. They don't, I was going to say they need to. Actually, they don't need to. It would be helpful if they could put it in a place where Rui doesn't feel like it's a real demotion. And it'll be sorted out. through minutes. But that'll come.

Well, look, if the guy replacing him in the starting lineup is the guy that you're looking to keep his minutes down possibly anyway, ain't that hard a problem to solve. I agree. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is we're going to hang out with over 37,000 subscribers to the channel. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. We'll see you after the game on Friday.