Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Were Does Luka Dončić Rank Among the NBA's Best? LeBron James? Austin Reaves?
Episode Date: August 8, 2025It's summertime, which makes it Rankin' Seazin! And here at the Locked On Network, we're celebrating big. The NBA channel will soon be rolling out its Top 100. So where does Luka Dončić rank on the... list? What about LeBron James? Austin Reaves? Do any other Lakers crack the top 100 players in the league? And more importantly, what does it mean to have guys on the list? Is there a big difference between 3 and 10? 10 and 20? What about 50 and 75? How many players do the Lakers have right now that can be reasonably considered to be in the top half of the league? Next, listeners react to Thursday's show focused on where Reaves fits, or should fit, into the team's future. Needless to say, among the folks actively commenting on the YouTube page, it was not universal love for AR. So do they have a point? Is Reaves overrated by the national and local media? Or is there a strain of Lakers fans who ... just kinda don't like him for one reason or another? What do the rankings indicate about how people might want to think about Reaves and his value, especially as he comes up for a new contract? Finally, Deandre Ayton gets to participate in a rite of passage for new Lakers... throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium! HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: Where does Luka rank? SEGMENT 2: What about LeBron and Reaves? What's important about the numbers? SEGMENT 3: Reacting to Reaves. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTime to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order.This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders.OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnbaMonarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Friday.
Brian Kaminetsky, Andy Komeneski.
We're ranking the top 100 players across the NBA here on the Locked On Network.
Where do we put Luca Donchich and the rest of the Lakers?
That is next.
You are Locked on Lakers.
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no matter how or where you get your podcast.
one is always going to be free, Andy. It's never going to be behind a paywall. And of course,
Locked on Lickers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 36,000 subscribers to the channel,
Andy, all wondering if it's August, is it Rankin season? Well, yes, it is. And we're going to get
to that in the moment. Do you want to let people know first that today's episode is brought to you by
Fandul. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.
So we got a lot to cover in today's show, mentioned the Rankings.
We're going to react a little bit, both in that conversation and later in the show, too, the reaction to Thursday's show with Austin Reeves asking that question of whether or not he is a really good long-term running mate for Luca Donchich.
So all of those things coming up, Andy.
But I mentioned if it's August in the NBA, it means we've got some space to fill, which means we're ranking things.
And we are no different here at the Locked On network.
The top 100 NBA players, that is what all.
All the hosts are working on now.
It is not out yet.
But as Andy and I really, really hate ranking exercises,
we are going to go ahead and use it for content today rather than waiting for the list to come out.
And as Brian said, both of us find rankings and rankings lists and things like that to be kind of silly, dumb clickbait.
But A, it was mandated by our bosses to participate.
And we are good company men who want to keep our jobs.
And B, it is August.
And Brian and I have committed.
We've really committed.
Well, just so just so our fan, our fans, that sounds presumptuous, our audience.
Look who's got fans.
I'd like to think that they're fans of us, but either way, you're our audience, you might be hate watching click or the download counts the same.
So whatever.
Fans.
But we
I don't even remember what I was going to say about our audience
They're lovely people all of them
Even the ones like you say who clearly are hate watching
Some of them have been doing it for
Decades at this point
Like following us on social media
And listening to the podcast and screaming at us
In anger for nigh on a decade or more
Thank you we love you
In some ways, I kind of love you more than the other ones.
Like, I kind of respect it.
Like, what are you doing?
But anyway, so yes, like, I don't know where everybody else has it.
I have, of course, a Luca one across the league, LeBron, two, Reeves three,
Rui four, and going on from there.
But I do think, though, there is a little bit of value,
not necessarily in arguing about where players are.
But like what it means relative to each other.
And then when you're when it's all said and done, like how many top 100-ish players do the
Lakers have, top 50-ish players do the Lakers have?
It's different to have two guys who, you know, could be considered top 10 players.
There's a difference between five and 10, 10 and 20, you know, 50 and 80.
Like it's just, and then per the conversation that we had around Austin Reeves for
Thursday show, a lot of what people were talking about when they reacted negatively to the idea of Reeves being a long-term piece of the team now that they have Luca is related to the money that he makes.
It can be overpriced, you give me this, that, whatever.
And so like, okay, well, where do you think he ranks among other NBA players?
And then how much do those guys make?
And like, you know, what is, what does it cost to have that guy who's not a star, who maybe not even is an all-stop?
But, you know, these are really good players that you need to win.
So I do think there is a little bit of value in investigating it that way, which is where we'll start.
But of course, if you're going to do this, it's like, okay, who's your best player?
What does your star of stars look like relative to the other stars across the league?
I have Luca currently fourth behind Yokic, Shea, Yon,
and then I have Luca.
I thought about flip-popping
Janice and Luca,
but Janice is coming off,
I think, a little bit more productive
over the season,
although he didn't lose 31 pounds
like our guy,
Luk Dantich has.
Where do you have him?
I had Luca also at fourth.
I don't want to get into the weeds
of every single one of our rankings
who was around them,
but my top four was
Yokic, SGA,
Anthony Edwards, who I think is going to continue ascending and I think our everyday viewers and listeners
know how much I value two-way play. Because Ant is going to be ascending as a two-way player.
That's where I had him very slightly and in some ways even reluctantly ahead of Luca at four.
If you think Lucas should be ahead of him, fine, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
Right.
Perfectly defensible position that just to get ahead of the comment section, I'm not going to argue with
you.
I'm not, but I had Luca at number four, and I think you could have made an argument for him
at number three. He is that level of a player. What I think is really fascinating about this is
like, when you look at it, like, you know, everybody wants a star that's like kind of got no holes,
a player that, you know, sort of bulletproof and all of these things. And I think there is
exactly one for sure of those guys. And I'll even say two now because I think Shay,
is turned himself to, you know, he's not the best defender on Oklahoma City, but he's pretty good
defender. I mean, he, he defends. And Yokic has turned himself into a pretty good defender as well.
And Yokic is so one-on-one. Yokic may be the most matchup-proof player in the league. And so,
but when you start to put these things down, I have aunt a little lower than you do or whatever,
and then, you know, you start very quickly getting into players that have question marks like
Steph, still a phenomenal player, doesn't quite defend like he used to even be all relative
and is significantly older.
Like, you know, Wembe is coming back from, you know, what hopefully isn't an important
injurement, is ascending, you know, you can, you know, that Donovan Mitchell or Jalen Brunson,
Jason Tatum is hurt.
Tyrese Halliburton has hurt a lot.
You know, Kevin Durant, you know, Cade Cunningham.
Is he really?
And what it, and we can talk about this next.
what does it mean for the Lakers to have a guy now that you can squarely put in that category of players who are, I don't want to say flawless, because Luca isn't flawless.
But, you know, top end Luca, which is what I think people are expecting to see again this year, you know, following a really constructive offseason.
What was it two years ago?
It was like 33 and a half, like eight.
and eight or something like that.
I mean, those are insane numbers.
And to be able to put that up
puts you squarely in this upper echelon
of players at 26 years old.
So to have one of those guys, as opposed to even
LeBron, who will talk about next
and Anthony Davis, where they were last year,
I think it's kind of a game changer.
We'll get to it next.
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So I think it is fair.
Assuming Luca kind of returns to form it again,
even last year in his quote unquote off year,
his numbers are still pretty good.
Assuming he ascends back into that first team all NBA form,
the Lakers have one of the very small handful of players
across the league who you kind of can put into the star category
without really worrying about it, without any big caveats.
You know, Donovan Mitchell people question his playoff performances.
And, you know, Jalen Brunson is not a good defender.
You know, again, we talked about the guys who were injured.
AD, you know, hurt never quite, you know, you understand what I'm getting at.
It's a big difference between what the Lakers had,
even with an AD LeBron Corps last year and the questions that surrounded those two guys.
Well, I think it's also extremely important with Luca.
you're not just talking about a top five player.
You're talking about a top five player that is just entering his prime.
And for example, if you're looking at what I am guessing is the consensus top five,
top four players in the league, I think for, and as I'm guessing,
the final list for locked on will shake out some order of Yokic, SGA,
Luca, and Janus.
Maybe Ant squeezes in there, but only a couple of those.
guys, SGA and Luca, and I guess aunt, if he happens to end up in there, are at the early
part of their primes or just entering. Yokic is in kind of like the middle to middle back of
his prime and he's a player that I think is going to age very well into his prime, but nonetheless,
you start getting into age and mileage issues more than some other guys. Janus has been playing
for a while. He is in his 30s. Like there's something that you gain just from having
one of those guys entering their prime because the runway is longer.
Like the opportunity to plan is bigger.
It's one of the reasons why I think it's so important that the Lakers be trying to maximize
what they have right now in Lucas Prime in terms of planning the roster as opposed to
like waiting around according to some reports for like the perfect, like the perfect number
to, i.e. a superstar.
and that could mean sitting on potential opportunities.
I would look to try to maximize this because you only get guys at this age,
you know, this level of player at this age, pretty rarely.
The Lakers have not had a guy like this since Kobe.
They have not had a superstar,
superstar that is capable of carrying a team as the number one guy,
being the number one focal point of a team that gets to the finals and beyond.
they've not had a guy like this since Kobe.
Like that...
Well, I mean, I think you can make an argument
when LeBron first got here.
He was still that guy.
But he was at the back end of his prime.
And at the time, at least,
they didn't realize how long they would have
for him to play.
And either way, though, he was not chronologically
in his 20s.
He was in his mid-throat.
I think as it's, I just, all I mean is to say
that, like, as it turned out,
he was still playing at that level for longer.
And Anthony Davis has not shown
that he can be that guy. He's a great player.
Great player. He's a tier below.
And I think that's kind of the
distinction that I'm making here is like
as great a player as Anthony Davis
is. And there are times, you know, we talked about it all the time
when he was here. It was like, there are times when he is squarely
in the top 10 of players in the NBA. There are times
when he's squarely in the top five. There are times
when he looks like the most dominant player in the NBA.
And the reason we think rankings like this are kind of dumb
is because on any given night, the second
best player in the league might play like the eighth, the 15th might have two weeks where they play
like the third. It's just like sort of where are you broadly? And you know, so you combine this
aspect of it with LeBron. Because I think LeBron is a is a super intriguing player to rank, especially
in a season where Jason Tatum's not going to play, where Tyrese do. I mean, it's possible,
but like functionally he's not going to play.
Tyrese Halliburton's not going to play.
You're starting to look at an aging, you know, guys like Kevin Durant,
Kauai Leonard with his long, long injury history.
You know, there aren't even that many players in the league
that are going to be on the floor this year that I think are definitively better with
than LeBron.
But now LeBron goes from being your best player to your second best player.
So whether you, I stuck LeBron at eight this year just based on who,
based on who's not playing.
That's part of it too.
If Tatum was there and Halliburton, I'd have bumped him down a couple spots.
But even then, I have him right at the edge of the top 10.
But now your best, your second best player is a top 10 player.
Like that is another one of these things that changes the complexion of your talent composition at the top.
It is different than having Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
In my rankings, there were only two teams that had two players in the top 10.
It was the Lakers and it was OKC.
I had Cheat number two and I had Jalen Williams at seven.
I think Jalen Williams is going to continue to ascend and become one of the best young two-way players in the league.
I mean, there was a period during the OKC's championship run,
and even in the finals where there were some conversation about whether or not Jalen Williams
should win finals MVP. So I just, I've been high on him for a while. I think he's that good
of a player. But the Thunder and the Lakers are the only teams that I had with two guys in the top
10. And, you know, there's only a handful of players that had, or a handful of teams, I should say,
that had two or three guys in the top 25 or 35, something like that. We can go through some of these as
we go along because I think they're actually kind of instructive for recognizing the Lakers strengths,
but also some of the weaknesses on their roster in the way it's constructed, even with acknowledging
the talent. I think in kind of to your point earlier, if you're going to do these rankings to
debate 38 versus 37, it's just like you said, kind of a waste of everybody's time. But if you're
thinking about this in terms of tiers of players and your overall,
roster construction and how do your best, you know, best players complement each other,
offset each other, stuff like that. It actually is a very interesting and useful exercise.
Yeah, and I think, you know, obviously there are going to be defensive questions. Lakers, you know,
showed they could play good defense, you know, over stretches of last year. And obviously, that had a lot
to do with LeBron not having to be the proverbial head of the snake offensively. And while I don't
expect that sort of post-M Miami uptick in defense that LeBron showed last year to be an 82
game thing this year. I do think that you will see a higher investment defensively from
LeBron relative in October and November, relative to last October and November, just because
it can't, just because it's there for him, especially in bigger games, more significant games.
And stuff like that.
So if he's healthy, I do expect that he'll be able to devote more of that energy to defense.
And A, when he is invested, LeBron can still be a very effective defender.
And B, when LeBron defense, this is a point you made a lot last year.
When LeBron defends, everyone defends because the old man's over there doing it.
And now you add Luca into that with the leadership.
He's shown us a really interesting thing that one of his coaches in Serbia has said, you know,
not only as he lost weight, he's talking more.
He's, you know, he's all that sort of leadership and stuff.
So if he's investing and is able to be a little bit more spry defensively,
now your two best players are really putting it in.
And so that is going to elevate what the Lakers do on that side of the floor too.
So I do think you can get more defensively out of LeBron,
even at his age, just because of what Luca does offensively.
I hope so.
I mean, while the roster may not be completely,
finished in terms of what they might be planning, you know, during, during the season with a
trade or whatever.
Right.
It might look different in the playoffs.
Right.
Sure.
But how you play in the regular season affects your seating for the playoffs, which can affect
how well you play in the playoffs, how long you last.
And this is a concern for the Lakers.
Like, you know, we'll get into more of the specifics coming up next.
But I had four Lakers in the top 100.
Interesting.
One of them just barely getting in, but there is a fair amount of redundancy,
or at least potential redundancy in the Lakers top 100.
And I don't think any team with multiple representatives,
at least on my list with as many high representatives as the Lakers had,
also have as much potential redundancy within their top 100 reps.
And I think that gets to Austin Reeves.
We'll tell you where we have him ranked as well next.
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So we get to your fourth guy here in a second, but I think a lot of people are certainly going to be curious about where
Austin Reeves lands.
Again, it's not about the specific number.
I think what's interesting is, to me,
who I had him near,
and then how much those players make.
Where did you have Reeves?
51.
Okay, I have him at 53.
So for all these people,
he keeps saying, I am to pro Reeves,
Andy thinks he's even better than I do.
So, Mike, the group of players I have around him,
like five ahead, five behind.
And again, I think all of these guys are basically the same in one way or another.
You can make arguments.
Julius Randall, Zion Williamson, who obviously can be a more productive player, but he never plays.
Kyrie, but he's not going to be playing.
That's about where I think he is in the league.
Lori Markinen, Tyler Hero, Trey Murphy, Rudy Gobert, Jared Allen, Dyson, Daniels, Deniaavia.
Yeah, we've got a lot of the same.
We've got a lot of a similar player.
Right after that.
Norman Powell was in that group.
And so, you know, I think you can argue about whether or not is, is Reeves as good as those guys.
I think most, if you go to a lot of these team sites and like, what do they say about Tyler
Hero and Miami, he gets a lot of the same criticism that is somebody like Reeves does.
He's not quite good enough, whatever.
But Tyler Hero makes a lot of money or is going to, you know, Lori Marketing.
makes the same, you know, we talk about Austin Reeves at $30, $35 million next year,
or let's call it even $35, that's what most of these guys make or somebody like
Mikhail Bridges, who makes even more. That's what a player like this costs.
Tyler Hero, you just brought him up, he makes currently in the 30s. He's got a, he's got a season
coming up at 31, another one coming up at 33, and it's important to remember that a lot of this
gets based off percentage of the cap.
Timing is everything.
It is, unless you're coming up against a season where there's all of a sudden a crunch,
it's always better to go later.
The later you get paid, generally speaking, the more you're going to get paid.
But, you know, Julius Randall is a little over 30.
You know, Aviya doesn't make as much money as that, but he's a guy who's sort of been
sneaky.
But Bridges makes much more.
Fred Van Vleet is coming off two seasons, who I have him ranked below AR.
and obviously he's making less this year.
But he's coming off two huge seasons of money,
or was it one or two, I forget.
But my point is, like, for people on the comments section,
this was something that came up a ton in the reaction to our show for Thursday,
saying that Reeves is overpaid, like, you know,
it's ridiculous.
Once you start paying him, he doesn't produce that way, whatever it is,
line up his production against other guys who make 30,
to $40 million a year in the NBA.
And, you know, I understand the criticisms.
I understand people want more out of the guy or maybe just don't like the sort of the,
the, you know, I think it's true.
Like how much of this is just really liking the mythology of Austin Reeves versus
the actual player, you know, plucky white guy.
Let's, you know, we all love him.
But he also averaged 25 and five basically last year.
Like not a lot of players in the league did that.
It's also important to remember that when you and I were saying that we think he's going to get somewhere between like 32 at the low end, maybe 37 or 38 on the high end, this is not us lobbying for that salary for Austin.
Like I'm not I'm not making the case that, you know, he needs to get paid this or he's somehow being disrespected if he's not.
We're just saying we've been doing this for a long time.
I think we're reasonably good at reading the market.
This is what he's likely going to make.
It's an objective or at least objective as we can possibly be about something in the future,
reading of the market and what we think is going to happen.
This is, again, not us making a passionate case for Austin Rees' next contract.
Yeah, and you start going down the list and you get into the 60s, 70s, 80s, okay, you can find.
I agree with a lot of the people in the comment section who,
We're like, you know, it's don't use that money on Reeves.
Go get, you know, a couple, you know, you can get two or three players.
And, and fill those holes of, you know, three and D guys.
And, you know, guys who can, you know, two-way defenders who can shoot and all they say.
And go through the list.
Those players do not exist.
You're not getting two players for $35 million who are established three-and-d wings who can play two-ways.
and handle the ball a little bit.
Like that, you are not getting two players for $35 million who can do that at the level
that you want to unless you draft that player.
Right.
And the Lakers are for better or for worse, never in the position to draft and develop
those sort of players.
So that leads to where we are.
What I, this though gets back to one of the things I brought up before about my concerns
about Luca and Austin as a foundation because I think they don't do.
enough as theoretically your top two paid players or the foundation of your team.
I don't think they do enough to offset what either one of them doesn't bring.
I think they bring a lot of the same things, don't bring a lot of the same things.
And I think that can be problematic when you're building a roster, particularly if LeBron,
who you noted maybe when he wants to be and when the time requires it,
he can be a pretty effective defender, but he's also 41 years old. And it's not ideal if you are
depending on LeBron to be one of your best defenders. My top four guy, although this may be,
to be fair to the Lakers in terms of the extension conversation, LeBron may not be there.
Well, sure, but I'm saying this is part of the reason why, and I've taken a lot of heat for
this over the last year and even longer, when I've said, I don't think the Lakers can
continue with LeBron in this current setup of 50-ish-mill, a pop, in perpetuity with never-ending
player options. And then Austin Reeves getting paid. Now you have Luca. I don't think you're
going to be able to build a team around those particular three guys who bring many of the same
things and don't have a lot of variety in what they don't bring. And case and point, the four players
that I have among Lakers in the top 100, LeBron, Luca, Austin, we just talked about,
and I had DeAndre Aitin at 100.
And that was a bit of me calling my shot that I think Aiton playing in this atmosphere is going
to rejuvenate him.
And it's going to refocus him.
And you're going to get, if not the 2021 version of Aiton that was a big part of the
sun's going in the finals, somewhere much closer than what the last couple of years
for him had been.
But even if you, and it's great.
I think you can put, I think you can absolutely sneak Aiton in there,
especially if you think he's going to have a rebound.
Like my 99 and 100 are Jabari Smith Jr. and Walker Kessler.
So I've, during, you know, the Pistons at 94, I think.
So, you know, you could argue that Aiton could end up in that group.
But one of the, one of the concerns that I have about the Lakers,
and maybe we can even get into more of an in-depth discussion about this for Monday,
kind of breaking down these teams and how many of them have players in the top 10, top 20,
top 50, and beyond.
The Lakers, for me at least, have four players in the top 100.
But if you look at Luca, LeBron, Austin, and Aiton,
there is not a ton of balance.
Like there is not a ton of this guy brings what the other three don't bring.
This guy brings what the other three don't bring.
Like there's a lot of commonality in what they bring.
They're all pretty, they're all pretty offensively.
There's just not a lot of defense, if that's what you mean.
Yes.
They're all really good offensive players.
Yes.
But that's what I'm getting at.
There is no team, at least in my rankings, like a team that matters that has so many,
players that basically their strengths are all on one end of the floor,
largely on one end of the floor and the weaknesses all on the other.
And that is a concern.
Even as somebody who thinks the Lakers are going to have a good season,
I think they're going to be a good team because they have talent and talent matters.
But thinking about this, both for this season and projecting forward as you're looking
to build and maximize around Luca, these are the things that I,
get concerned about. Yeah, for sure.
Look, it would it be ideal if the Lakers could, you know, let's say LeBron, because the other
thing about it too is like there are two ways of this? It's like, are you looking at Reeves and
Luca as like the, your two top paid guys? Because if that's the case, then you actually do
have a fair amount of flexibility to add two or three other guys who are making essentially
Reeves money or close to it. You know, but that doesn't, I don't, I don't think that's the Lakers
plan necessarily, at least right now.
I think what they picture is taking Luca and then surrounding him with a third or second
elite player, you know, basically putting somebody in the LeBron slot and then Austin Reeves
is still where he is.
And now, yes, you have less room to find those other guys.
But I, you, it is important at least to me to not get so wrapped up in what is the
the perfect that you kind of make it the enemy the good.
Like you may just need to operate under a system where like,
these are the access we have to the players that are like really good.
And is it perfect? No, but it's also better than a lot of alternatives.
And unless we can find those other guys and they are in incredibly high demand,
you mentioned Lou Dort the other day.
It's like a guy who's going to be coming up might be let go by the Thunder when he's a free agent.
He's also going to make significantly more money.
Great defensive player, but some of his offensive shortcomings,
if you double his salary or something like that,
are going to be more, you know, people will have more criticisms of them.
They'll become more important.
You know, I'm not saying I wouldn't want Lou Dork.
I would.
I don't think his salary is going to be double this more than I meant.
Well, no, it matters.
I think he's making in like the 20s or something.
He's not going to become a $50 million player.
No, but he could be well.
And he could be near 40.
You know, that's a big difference.
He's going to make, in theory, he's going to make more money.
If he's going to make more money, if he gets a raise or something like that.
He's currently making less than 20.
Right.
So he could be making 30 something in his next contract.
He was a young player, one of the, you know, great defensive reputation and all that.
There's no reason to think, you know, there's no reason necessarily to think he wouldn't make, you know, the type of money that Reeves is at the very
at least, you know, if I could choose between the two of them, especially if I knew I could,
you know, I'd probably take Dort. But somebody made a comment on, and we can quit here,
but somebody made a comment on the, on the, the YouTube page, Derek, um,
D. Derek DMing it looks like. It's hard to tell. But anyway, he noted that, you know,
one of the biggest successes that it is, you got to be careful not to totally strip away
ball handling, secondary playmaking, and all that stuff around Luca.
Like, it's good to have shooters.
It's good to have guys who can spread the floor.
But he pointed out, Lucas had a ton of success with Kyrie Irving, in part because of what
Kyrie does.
And, you know, Kyrie is, can be a decent defender, but he's undersized.
And, you know, so I think you can make those skill sets work.
You just then have to be very targeted with who's that third star that you're bringing in.
Are they really going to get Janus?
Or is it going to be somebody else?
Like, who are these supporting characters?
Can you fill in with the Marcus Smarts of the world,
with the Dorian Finney Smiths of the world,
when those guys aren't expected or needed to put in a bucket?
Like, can you find one good young player somewhere in the draft or whatever
and rebalance your salary that years?
I think there are ways around this to balance some of the things
that you're worried about rightly.
Real quick before we go,
over this weekend, I think Friday night,
but either Friday or Saturday,
DeAndre Aiton is going to throw up the first pitch for the Dodgers.
It is a very regular and fun right of passage for different Lakers,
particularly new Lakers.
They get this opportunity to throw out the first pitch.
And unlike, say, Paul George or Chris Paul,
who've done this for the Clippers,
they're not going to get booed.
I am very curious, though, to see the quality of DeAndre Aitin's pitching.
I have no idea if he's ever even played baseball, baseball background.
I googled D'Andre Aiton and baseball.
And the only thing that came up was that he's throwing out this first pitch.
So I have no idea.
A lot of wind up.
A lot of things can go wrong with your mechanic when you're seven feet tall.
That's just a lot of, you know, other than Randy Johnson,
you don't see a lot of guys for whom this really worked.
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