The Deep 3 Podcast - Is LeBron James About To RUIN The Lakers? | TD3 Clips

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

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We got to talk about the fraud that is LeBron James and how he is coming back potentially this week in the one of the two games against Utah Jazz to ruin the Lakers chemistry, according to Shaquille O'Neill, who says, I kind of feel for Austin Reeves because he looks good and he's playing good. But as soon as LeBron comes back, he's going to be reverted back to standing in that goddamn corner. Yo, he hasn't watched Austin Reeves and LeBron's just like 2021 or 22. I don't want to hear any of that. Are you guys ready to see LeBron ruin the good vibes, ruin the white boy duo, cooping in the... I mean, I hope he doesn't. I hope LeBron can finally, you know, not be selfish for once and think about the team and think about how he can think about how can I make this team better and not just get

my 27-7 and 7. That'd be fucking toxic. Yeah. Oh, you want you made all NBA if you want to be the goat? How about you go and get 10 rebounds, LeBron? How about that? Yeah, Brian. Let's actually listen to Shaq a winner.

Yeah. And get to winning these games. Avanti media personality, actually. Oh, my God. I don't remember the last time someone listened to Shaq and actually. had like positive NBA production outside of maybe him telling some of the get put get that butt behind the paint other than that I don't know what it's been useful yeah so this is the funny part is we're singling out the shack quote because it's funny that he suggests that austin ruse

can't play with lebron somebody who has played with lebron for his entire career that's comical but the general sentiment online has been very funny around this lebron james situation obviously we're joking lebron james is going to return this week he's practicing in full today monday november 17th It's unclear if he's going to play tomorrow in the team's first game against the Jazz on Tuesday or on Saturday in their second game against the Jazz, which is crazy, only have two games this week. Yeah. They even put through the ringer. Yeah.

Whichever game he comes back on, he has a chance to get some good amount of rest while playing some low-level competition and really get back in the swing of things. And my thoughts around that are this team is surviving, looking pretty damn good in his absence. I'm thrilled to see what they look like when they have him next to Aiden playing at this level, next to Luca who's scoring as good as he ever has next to Austin Reeves is taking the next jump but all Twitter can talk about

is how LeBron is going to ruin the chemistry as if it's a bad thing to have a 6-9 wing who run in transition, shoot, attack out the dribble, post up that's going to make the Lakers worse actually. Obviously, he's not going to be because I've seen some people are saying it in the chat right now like, oh yeah, he's going to be a six man. Obviously he's not.

That's ridiculous? Yeah. Six man. Obviously. Over Jake La Ravia? What? That's somebody, somebody said, get ready to speak bench, bro. I understand that that's not, that's not going to be the case.

And we have said this before. LeBron has been wanting to do this and play this specific role for five years now. Anthony Davis just wasn't the guy who could allow him to do this. If I promise you, at 41 with sciatica, LeBron is looking at Luca scoring 37 at night. He's looking at Austin Reeves, put up 50 points. He says, finally, these white. boys are going to save me from my from my pain he he has to try so hard every single night because ad was not the hey i'm going to give it to you you're going to score 30 points every

single night and you're going to carry this offense he had that that he had to deal with he had the whole russell westbrook experiment that he had to deal with he had to deal with darvin ham as a head coach now he has smart people all around him competency all around him we'll talk about DeAndre Ait in a little bit, competency all around him. He's going to slide in and he is going to do what LeBron James does. Exactly. We just play smart basketball, which has helped the team, make the right play, do everything that he needs to do, and the Lakers are going to be fine.

Yes. And we've seen this exact same lineup outside of DeAndre Hain throwing into the fold last year. No personality higher. Yeah, we've seen this last year. LeBron does nothing but makes this defense tremendously better. this defense tremendously better. He does nothing but also make Austin Rees and Luca in the looks that he's about to get so much easier.

He aids DeAndre Aten and relieves a lot of pressure when it comes to him and also Ruehachimiro on the boards as well. He helps people all around. If anything, like this team, the vibes, Lucas life is going to be easier. He's going to, I'm assuming, take a couple more efficient threes per game. Oh, he's getting the motherfuckers up right now. Yeah, he's shooting like, what, 11 or 12. 11.3.

There's at least going to be three more of them. They're going to be open. Yeah. Yeah, Luca is currently playing the most Luca ball he ever has played. Even with Austin Reed's being fantastic and demanding some touches, Luca's usage is outrageous because it has to be with no LeBron. These lamps are putting out there are ridiculous. They started Brian James a couple days ago because Marcus Smart was out.

Yeah, Luca's going to take a lot of goddamn shots. And a lot of those are going to be threes. There's been a lot made about his lack of rim volume compared to recent years. His shot making has been outrageous, though. And he's currently averaging over 60% shooting, despite only shooting 31% on those threes because they're such. high difficulty, take what you want about LeBron and his on-ball abilities and the, you know, career-long narrative that has been, if you play with LeBron, you're going to stand the corner.

Even if you think that's true and you think that they're going to lose some of the magic they have with the two other ball handlers right now, that is okay. That will be welcome for this reason, this reason alone. Rui Hachamora and DeAndre Aden cannot play together. We have this line of data here. When they're both on the court, this top level, they have a negative 2.9 net rating. when it's just Rui and no Aiton plus 20 Just Aiton no Rui plus 24.5

These two guys don't move their feet on defense When they're off ball You cannot play both them together It is a nightmare defensively The fact that LeBron can come in and make this Something you can do zero percent of the time You can have lineups out there When neither one of them ever overlap

That is possible with LeBron in the lineup That alone makes it well worth it They're going to get so much better They're going to be better across the board And that's why I really hope they lose the first game because it would just be so funny. It would just be hilarious. If we have one game and Shaq is like, see, this is what I told you. This is what I said. Like, I need it, but it's, it's not going to happen. Yes. For, for everything that they were saying, like, they are going

going to be good. They got stomped out by the Thunder last week. And I, listen, even if LeBron was there, the Thunder have the capability to stop people out. Yeah. But it was very, very clear that this, this team right now as much momentum as they had they are not as good as you think that they are they cannot go into games with just with just Reeves and Luca and go toe to toe with the best team in the NBA or the top teams you obviously need another piece and let me any anybody else's team if you had somebody who was making 50 million dollars who wasn't there and you had a 50 million dollar hole in your in your cap space. your cap sheet how do you think your team would perform they wouldn't be eight and four yeah

like the the fact that they've gotten to this point big big shout out to the lakers you are getting a 50 million boost into your lineup you're going to be fine yeah and we have this diondrey in stateline pull up last four games walking 20 and 10 oftentimes more in the games he has been eating the chemistry is growing day by day with luka with reeves that isn't going anywhere it'll probably get even better with LeBron there to feed him, with LeBron's defense being a lot more active than Rui is. They're going to lean a lot on him as a defender like he did the end of last season, which he defended really well, was on the board's hard, moved his feet because he had less on-ball usage with Luca there. We've already seen this. It already worked for over 20 games.

So that's going to make everybody better. And I'm excited because right now their wings are hilariously on athletic. We talk about that in recent weeks. They've been out there just getting ran by every team. Their transition numbers are non-existent. We got LeBron coming in to fix that. still a demon in transition. That's probably his greatest strength now as a player. That's what keeps him at a top 15 level player. LeBron can still score in transition better than anybody. Half court, don't talk to me about that.

That's what we had the white boys for us. But running the ball in transition, he is still a monster. And then we add the legend. A doo Theero who's coming in the door, giving them some athleticism. He played one minute and 48 seconds in that first game. He was moving different, rotating those one minute and 48 seconds. I saw him help with the nail and get back to his shooter.

I was, listen, give me 10 minutes of that again. game, we're going to cook. That minute and a half was beautiful. You said his name, like last episode, and I was like, bro, who I do? What is I do? Like, you're talking about what am I? Listen, man, the Lakers fan base is really, really latching on to this guy. He's their second round pick.

I've been telling you guys for weeks. We haven't drafted a good player. I don't know how long. It's been a wasteland of draft picks with Dalton Connect being the worst defender I've ever seen. Jalen Hutchifino playing for whoever the hell he plays for at this point. I don't even know who employs him. It's been a drought.

That guy looks like he's going to be a good defender. He's bouncy as hell, can cut from the corners, adding him and LeBron together. I'm excited for what this team can be. Because right now this team is a team that is bad, but with a good record. They're getting by with late game execution and Luca being amazing. But they have like the 21st best offense, like the 15th best, I mean, 21st defense, like the 15th best offense. The net rating is average as fuck. They're not currently someone you can project to be a great team.

LeBron can change that. Yeah. Like they've just been doing their job and beating up all the teams that you should beat up on, whether it be the Kings and whoever else they played over the last few games, the Milwaukee Bucks who've been in and out or whatever, like this team in my mind, they're clear as is tier two team in the Western Conference. They're doing what they're supposed to do. They can look anyone in the eye, whether it be the Houston Rockets or the spurs, anybody. But when you talk about the other tier one teams in OKC and the Nuggets, that's where conversations end because you just can't move like this. You can't risk and afford to have

such a murky middle of the pack defense and be like one of the more predictable. but still unstoppable offenses in the world simply because you have Luca Dodgers on your team. I can only get you so far and it's just getting done enough. Now, I will say if LeBron, if LeBron gets into this lineup

and he plays the role that one, he wants to play and the way that we all think that he can play, I do think there is a world where we get later into this, into the season and the Lakers are in that tier one of contenders in the Western Conference. Yeah.

Just because Luca's going so stupid. He's going so crazy that, okay, you add Austin Reeves and LeBron. And if Austin Reeves doesn't fall apart in the playoffs, then we can get somewhere. I think we can give the tier one if they do the trade everybody in matches they can do. And they trade Gabe Vincent's Maxi Kleba and I'm forgetting who else. I guess Jared Vanderbiltz money plus Dalton Connect and whatever amount of picks it needs to get a Dylan Brooks and Andrew Wiggins, a. Keon Ellis for a smaller deal, whoever may be, if they can get that elite wing defender

that they're clearly missing even with LeBron, then I can imagine we get into Tier 1 talks, because then you have the three stars, 6-9 wing, DeAndre Aidan, who I think is playing like an upper half of the league starting center, and you get to the bench and you still have Marcus Smart,

you still have Jake La Ravia, you have Jackson Hayes, who has a good connection with Luca as a lob catcher. You have some depth as well as having that top five that actually fits together. Without that elite wing defender via trade, tier one's hardest because Thunder are just so clear of everybody like they're tier one alone yeah yeah i do i do agree with that with how we've

been watching the okay see just do everyone the worst way everyone just have like the worst shooting nights against them give them the NBA championship fuck this year for the next three four years it doesn't matter at this point i feel that but also there's one person who doesn't care about any of that is a luvodontje yeah and that was real fun to talk about in like 2018 NBA these days are different these these these playoffs where teams have kind of figured out how to not get beat by this helicentric ball, I need to see some depth. And I need to see at least one more elite defender brought in, maybe even two of who I can really think about that.

I would still pick, pick the thunder. I do, I, like, they're obviously like tier, tier of, of their own. But, like, that's crazy. But they can, like, I don't know, we saw the, we saw the nuggets with five and a half, six players last year, take them to seven. is there a world where the Lakers can give the Thunder a competitive series? Yeah, probably.

Like, it wouldn't be the, if we send the season 100 times, it wouldn't be the dominant outcome, but I do see that there could be a world where it happens. And there's no guarantee that Thunder stay healthy. So that's always an elephant in the room. Every year we expect a certain champion.

Very rarely does that champion walk into the playoffs fully healthy? We just saw with the Celtics last year that injuries and some other factors that played into them not living up to their potential. We literally see it every single season. So before we even get into crowning OKC, you have to get there first. And that's why teams play for second place in lopsided years where it seems that there's one juggernaut, nothing's a guarantee.

And if you tell me, you think the Lakers can be as good or better than the Nuggets or the Rockets or whoever else you view as the cream of the crop outside of OKC in the West, I fully believe you. It can happen. I think they don't like that. But it is kind of funny and kind of on paper, maybe alarming that all of that hinges on the fact that we're expecting LeBron James at this age to be a plus defender. and, like, do all the little things. I think he can.

I'm not writing off LeBron James at any point to do anything no matter how many back injuries and old man injuries like Seattle can come into place. But I will acknowledge it's a little bit funny that we're expecting him to be

this weak side of Romer that does all these stuff. If healthy, when we get to, when we get to the playoffs, I won't pick the Lakers for that exact reason, but regular season, do I think that LeBron,

who is ultimate, like, the best honestly all time in terms of picking my spots and doing exactly what is needed on any given night I think that I think we can go into the playoffs thinking that the Lakers have given us a body of work that makes us feel comfortable about them in the playoffs however for that reason and it's the same reason why I picked against the Lakers these last couple years is asking LeBron or AD to play two months of basketball at this intensity especially when you get to the second round every other day that's not that's not a smart bet to do so I won't

I won't pick them, but we're just, you know, theorizing, filling out our brackets doing all that stuff. Yeah, we could talk about the Lakers in that way. I'm on the complete inverse of higher than the game. I think LeBron's at this age where like he knows. All that, fuck that. Just wrong. Like, I'm on the opposite side.

I get it. But I think the basis of it where it's like you think LeBron's at this age where you trust him to like do just enough to play productive basketball, be the smart connector, rebound, defend at a decent level. I think he's going to save. himself and prepare for himself to be asked for a ton of more different tasks once

April, June hits a vista, if they're still playing and all that. I think he's smarted off at this age and he also has like the most help that he's had as a Laker probably ever outside of that 20, 20 year to do those things. Yeah, and we'll see how that goes. Worth noting, we also got a quote today from LeBron where he said this wasn't the first time he's

Asiatic actually. He dealt with the two off-season ago when he was what? That would have been his 38 off-season? 39? Yeah. Yeah. So, he's been dealing with this, not new, which I think is encouraging because we've seen him recover before. And if you're going to be on the opposite end and really doubtful Lakers and really doubt LeBron's ability to contribute, it would be that this is maybe an injury you don't come back from. It's something new. We've seen him deal with some other stuff over

the years, but this is something that commonly gets referred to as a lingering type of injury. We've seen him deal with this. And in that season, we got this handy-dney tweet from this person here that gave us the month-by-month breakdown of his season. He got better as a year went on it makes sense he came in uh points per game plus assist 35 in the first month by the time we got to april 49.3 and that's without lucca that's without austeries being at at this level like the where he was in november december that's that's about where i see him for for the rest of the year which is insane bro someone that could be your third best player on many nights that's crazy this man is 40 41 what are we talking about right now man

Yeah, so this is probably another thing to show us that we should expect a slow ramp up, whatever this looks like. It's a lot of rebounds. And this is the best scenario for him to have a slow ramp up with these two guys that you have the shack for the world saying it's a bad thing that LeBron's going to take touch with Austin Reeves. Well, maybe he doesn't want to take that many. Maybe he only wants to take a few. How many points do you think he's going to average this year? 23, 22 and a half. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, that 23. That fairly checks out. Yeah. Austin Reeves probably falls like 23 as well. Lucas is like 35 right now, which is obviously not going to happen. Yeah. He's probably going to be at 29.

23, 23, 29. I don't know about that. Aiden that's 16 and a half. And nobody else scores. There's a lot of buckets to get around, man. Nobody else scores at all. Everybody else runs around. Oh, Rui's going to give you like a cool 10.

Rui can go play for anybody else. You're tired of. No, Rui would be fine as a six man. I'm so sick of watching him start. I pray to God that J.J. Reddick starts LeBron and starts Marcus Smart. If he starts LeBron and Rui together, I'm going to lose my goddamn mind. I'm so sick of watching Rui help defense from the four. I think that.

That's going to happen. He would be a very good six man. I think he's going to start LeBron and Rui. I feel like JJ Reddick's love for Rui reminds me of Darwin Ham's love for Tori and Prince, where just every starting line-up combination you saw had that motherfucker in it. You just see so much

untapped, attention, Ruy. You got somebody who's like six, nine, who could chew a little bit? He can dribble a little bit, too? I don't know about that part. But he can get through his own shot with like one dribble. Exactly. Like, just one drill pull up?

Yeah. Which is a great six man. With Aiden is a terrible. A terrible front court. One in every five positions, he gives you a good defensive effort. If you're in the gym playing once, when you'll pull up?

Oh, he's got to get a haircut. Everyone's talking about how handsome music is this year. It's coming different. JJ Redick isn't any different than us. He sees it. He's so online. He's not immune. Not even online.

He sees him in person every day. You think he's in bed to that face? He's doing vlogs now. I saw him do a vlog in Japan. Rui? Yeah, Bruy. And he was speaking in Japanese. And everyone's like,

that's what his voice sounds like. His voice is deep. People are thirsting after him. Oh, my God. JJ Redick hears this every day. Of course, he's not going to bench him. These are the real agendas we're pushing. JJ Redick can love it, really.