The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Lakers insider on NBA trade deadline flop, failing LeBron James, Kyrie Irving to LA?

Episode Date: February 10, 2024

Jason Timpf is joined by The Athletic's Jovan Buha to discuss what went wrong for the Los Angeles Lakers at the NBA's trade deadline (2:30). How close was LA to making a move for a roster loaded with holes. Later, Jovan shares how frustrated LeBron James is growing with Los Angeles, and the guys debate what the right move is for Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, and the front office to make moving forward. Could Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell, or Kyrie Irving be joining LeBron and Anthony Davis this summer? Would that be a mistake? (42:00) (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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21 plus age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had a great week. Got a fun show for you guys today. We have Yoban Booja from The Athletic covers the Lakers.

It's been traveling around with the team. Those of you guys who have been listening to our show, you guys know, Yovan well. He's been on, gosh, like almost probably like seven or eight times already this season. But I could think of nobody better to dive into the developments of the last 24, 48 hours of the Los Angeles Lakers, making no moves at the trade deadline despite some pretty significant roster needs. Hunt is a strong word, but in a lot of ways the Lakers were basically telling us they did not believe in this particular group and their ability to accomplish much within this postseason. this postseason, but there's also, as I've said a couple times over the last couple of days, there's always a little bit of a tricky element to talking about the trade deadline for any team because we never really know what was available. We never really know what options were on

the table. Even when you hear from front offices, there's a certain rose-colored glasses perspective you're always going to get. So what I'd like for Yovan for you to start us with today, I was reading an article from you this morning that gave a really good break. down of everything that went down with the lakeovers of the last couple of days. Can you just kind of give us a quick synopsis of why the Lakers did nothing, what the last couple of days were like and what their plan is in the big picture here? Yeah. So first off, I would say I agree with you with everything you just said. I was very surprised by the Lakers not making a move. I thought they'd at least do something, even a small move like trading Christian Wood or Jackson Hayes, just the duck

under the luxury tax. They're about 1.2 million above that. So I was surprised that nothing happened. But from what I've been told, from what Rob Polinka said yesterday in his press conference with the media before the Lakers lost to Denver, the Lakers were canvassing the market in the league for several weeks now. Rob said that he fielded hundreds of calls and different offers. But nothing to them rose to the left.

level of this is going to take us from a middling 500 team to a bona fide contender. And that was the type of move they were looking to make. They felt the Dejante Murray trade had that type of potential, but ultimately that fell through when Atlanta insisted on Austin Reeves being in that deal. And that was a theme in talks with not only the Lakers, but in talking to other sources around the league, the Lakers' biggest issue was that they, really only had two coveted assets. Austin Reeves and that 2029 first round pick. Max Christie had some value, but just because of his salary, he wasn't really going to be the centerpiece

of any deal. So in talks with other teams, it always devolved into give us the 2029 first round pick, give us Austin Reeves. And there were only a few players the Lakers were interested in giving up that pick for and no players that the Lakers were interested in giving up Austin Reeves for. So ultimately, you know, they could put DeLo on the table. They could put JHS. They could put the pick. They could put, you know, swaps, whatever. But it just ultimately came down to teams wanted those two assets and the Lakers

weren't willing to give them up. So the Jeuntee move fell through. And then from the Lakers perspective, you know, they felt that the actions of the deadline kind of showed how high some of these prices were where DeJante doesn't get traded. Bruce Brown doesn't get traded. Dorian Finney Smith doesn't get traded. Alex Caruso doesn't get traded. Tyos Jones, Andre Drummond,

like all of their top targets didn't move at the deadline. And those are all guys that they had interest in to varying degrees. But in seeing none of those guys getting traded, it just kind of showed how high the prices were, where all those guys, you know, at least one first round pick in some cases too. And the Lakers just weren't going to do that. And again, in some of those cases,

they would have had to give up Boston Reeves. So for them, they felt that standing pat and trying to be aggressive in the buyout market, potentially adding a Spencer Dinwiddie or a Kyle Lowry, and then looking at this summer where they could have three first round picks starting on draft night. They're 2024, 25, 2029, and 2031 all to trade and packaged together for a potential third star. That to them was more attractive. Now, of course, we know LeBrogh's putting pressure on them. I don't think he's in love with the idea of standing Pat and not improving the roster. So we'll see how this all shakes out over the next few months.

I know we're going to get into some of that. But to my knowledge, they were never close on a deal on Thursday. The closest they ever got was the Dejante deal. And that was about three weeks ago. So from that point, they never really got close to another deal. The thing that's tricky with me is because I heard a lot of Lakers fans saying, Like you really think a guy like Royce O'Neill moves the needle that much. And I understand when you look at the record, like this is 27 and 2016, you know, I understand

that it might feel like there's not really much worth investing there. The tricky part for me is I really do think the Lakers are closer than their record would indicate. I think if you really dig into the performance this season, they started the season really well. I should say it not really well, but pretty well. and then especially well there at the in-season tournament. And then as of late, they've been playing some pretty damn good basketball. I mean, even last night, up until they ran into some issues late, which we'll talk about,

they've been playing pretty damn good basketball. They won what, 10 of their previous 16 games? There was a three-and-10 stretch right after the in-season tournament. A big part of that was just a big time relaxing from the entire roster. They promptly lost to a just decimated Dallas Mavericks team. and then they barely beat the spurs, and then they lost to the spurs. You know, they lost to the Grizzlies over that span. They lost to a bad Nets team over that span.

Like, they really did some damage to themselves just on the effort, focus, and energy front there in the middle of the season. Like, do I think that the Lakers are a, you know, 35 and 15 team in reality? No, but I do think that they were closer than their record indicated. And then specifically, they had a very clear weakness. in that athlete on the perimeter that can contend at the point of attack and provide a positive offensive contribution. And so again, like when I hear Laker fans say, like, oh, this name's not going to change their fortunes,

this name's not going to change their fortunes for a couple of second round picks or whatever. My counter to that would be like, okay, so you're not comparing him to an average NBA player. It's like they've got Cam Reddish, who's on his fourth team in five years and is currently injured. Jared Vanderbilt, who, like, I know you're going to give us an update today, but very well could not be available the rest of the season. And Max Christie, who's 20 years old and Gabe Vincent, who just had knee surgery. So it's not improving on a decent core. It's improving on a non-existent core.

And so I'm surprised that they didn't just do something to try to provide a different option. Do you think that the Lakers could have gotten involved on something like a Royce O'Neill for a few second round picks, or do you think they truly were priced out of the market in its entirety? Well, there's a couple of things there because one thing I reported, and this was another thing that you hear in talking to people, the Lakers felt like there was a Lakers tax and that if you look at the final prices,

again, some of the guys that they had interest in and those guys just not getting traded, but then some of the deals that actually happened yesterday, some of those players, the Lakers had had interest in. And the asking price in conversations with them versus what those players ultimately went for, there was a gap there. And the Lakers felt like sometimes the negotiations weren't in good faith in terms of,

you know, we're offering you two seconds for this and this guy goes for, you know, one second. Or we're offering maybe the same type of framework of two seconds or whatever. And our seconds are better. And you're taking worse seconds. and doing another deal. So I do you think part of that was the Lakers didn't have really any expiring contracts

and that's something that kind of hamstrung them in terms of just Deel has a player option. Like looking at their, they're really, they're tradable guys. Deel has a player option. Rui has two more years.

Gabe has two more years coming off the knee surgery. Max is an impending restricted free agent. So there were a lot of teams that had interest in Max. It's just you have to factor that in now of you potentially have to pay him. a certain amount this summer, but it would be a team controlled asset. And then, you know, JHS has multiple years and like just on and on down the road. Really Torian Prince was the only guy above a minimum salary that was an expiring.

So I think from the Lakers perspective, they felt like there was a bit of a Lakers tax in negotiations and that they weren't getting the same types of offers and opportunities that other teams were getting. So that's part of it. But part two, I do think they could have made a move. Like if they offer Brooklyn the 2029 first, and let's just say lottery protected, top 15 protected, whatever, I think Brooklyn would have been foolish to not accept that for Royce O'Neill versus three second round picks. So I think there were moves they probably could have made had they put that first on the table and, you know, protected it in again, lottery, top 15, top 20, whatever. it be. I think they could have gotten in some of the conversations for some of these players, but I think the Lakers counter would be kind of similar to what the fans are saying of,

does Royce O'Neill really elevate us enough? Is that worth giving up this first? And if you do lottery protect or top 15 protect the first, you can trade that protected part later so that they still would be retaining that portion of the pick and still be able to move that, but it would lose some of its value. Now, I'm, I think we're, we're on. on the same page where looking at the current state of the roster, like Max just got injured, Gabe's out, Vando's out, Cam's out, like you need perimeter defense. Like you're not going to advance in the playoffs without at least a couple of credible perimeter defenders. And some of those guys will be back and those are shorter term things. But like them not addressing that to me,

that's where they say they're not punting on the season that they're saying they still believe in this group, but that to me is a bit of negligence where it's like if you don't address that. And even looking at the buyout market, they're looking at another ball handler. They're looking at guards. And in my opinion, their three biggest needs right now are a high volume three point shooter, you know, better wing and perimeter defense and, you know, better interior defense aside from AD. Spencer Dinwiddie doesn't check any of those boxes.

Kyle Lowry checks some of the shooting and defense, but he's about to be 38. And he's had several injury riddled seasons in a row. So even the guys they're looking at on the buyout market don't necessarily address their biggest needs. And I think that's kind of the issue here where sure, at Spencer Dinwiddie, at Kyle Lowry, like that'll improve the roster, especially if Gabe's still out. But you don't have permanent defense. And we saw it in the New York game. I thought it was funny that they were talking about, oh, our defense done the stretch and this and that.

And like, yes, it was pretty good. But it got to the point where they couldn't guard Jalen Brunson. in a half-court setting. So they had to start trapping him at half-court. And it worked because New York had several injuries, Julius Randall, O.G. Annanobi, Quentin Grimes was out. And, you know, Josh Hart and Dante DiVincenzo trying to break guys off the dribble wasn't going to work. But against a more potent offense, you could not get away with that.

And I think you saw that in the Denver game, ultimately. When Denver turned it on over the last few minutes of that game, AD talked about them going to their Pesia action, which they go to at the end of games. Like, Lakers just couldn't, part of it was strategy defensively. Part of it was personnel, but like they just couldn't contain them on the perimeter because they just didn't have the weapons defensively. And Tori and Prince on Jamal Murray just isn't getting it done. Yeah, like to really zero in because I agree with the strategy behind not giving up a first

round pick for Royce O'Neill. I would have only given up a first round pick if it would have netted you, Royce O'Neill and Dorian Finney Smith, which I'm not sure would have been possible. But again, not finding something better than Cam Reddish to me is the issue. Like not being able to just find something in that position group. Because like when push comes to shove, regardless of what we talk about surrounding this deadline,

we left the conference finals in late May. And in late May, we identified a clear and obvious flaw in the roster, which was they did not have a, you know, even like a well above average athlete on the perimeter that could contend on the point of attack, help in defensive rebound situations, and be a positive offensive player. Rob Polinkas had all summer and the first two-thirds of the season to try to address that problem and he failed to do so. And like that to me, when you zoom out, is the issue. And so you go back into this playoff run thinking like, man, if, say by some miracle, Vando comes back and he gets back on the floor and LeBron and AD stay healthy.

You're basically last year's team without Dennis Schroeder. And last year's team was just not good enough. And I actually think Denver's a little bit better than they were last year. And so once again, like, to me, the Lakers lost last night for a couple of specific reasons. And some of this stuff is out of their control. Like Austin Reeves and Rui Hachammer just had bad offensive nights, which makes it difficult to contend with the better teams in the league.

But I thought two matchups defensively killed them. They didn't have anybody for Jamal Murray. And then Rui Hachamurah was really struggling with Michael Porter Jr. office screens, particularly early in the game and then he made a couple of key mistakes late. And like that to me is like, if you actually have a legitimate five-man grouping

that has a perimeter defender at the two and the three and you actually slot all of that stuff properly, I believe that you have enough in this locker room to make some noise. It's just a very clear and specific roster weakness that through two cycles here, the summer and the trade cycle this year, they failed to address. We can talk about picks. We could talk about Laker tax. We can talk about saving for next summer.

We could talk about everything in the world. But that's the sum of the result here. Like, we knew they had an issue in May. Here we are in February. they did not address it. And like one of the things that I think we have to factor in here too is like, you know, like I talked about this with the Warriors,

like Jonathan Kaminga's rise is an influx of talent. LeBron aging is the opposite effect. Like if you get this right, but he's 40 and he can't play at the same level next year, then whatever potential return you gained, you lost in that process. And so like that takes, me is where it doesn't really truly add up to the verbiage that we're hearing. If you believe in

LeBron and Anthony Davis and their ability to win playoff series, then you've got to do what you did for them in 2020, which is give them those two-way athletes. And they've just failed to do so. And it's been frustrating. On the Spencer Dinwiddie front, like, I think Spencer Dinwiddie's a super flawed player, really, really inconsistent, streaky shooter, a guy that really struggles with rim decisions and finishing at the rim, but he's got good size and strength for the guard position, and I do think he's an above average athlete. And so I think like, even, even with all of his flaws, I do think he could help the Lakers. And it's not like to me, there's not another guy in the buyout market. Like, I don't think Thaddeus Young helps. He plays the same position as

LeBron James and Rui Hachamura. I don't think Marcus Morris Senior helps. He plays the same position as LeBron James and Rui Hachamura. So to me, for the talent for the money, I think Spencer Dinwoodie still makes sense. And so let's just put it this simple. How likely do you think that are the Lakers to sign Spencer Dinwoodie over the Dallas Mavericks? Because I've heard those are the two teams that are in the running. Yeah.

So those are the two teams. It's tough to say. I put it around a 50-50 proposition. Like I did think it was interesting. He was at Madison Square Garden last night sitting behind the Dallas bench. He obviously played for the Mavericks before, has some familiarity with them. So I don't know if that was him. I mean, applying the LeBron blueprint of applying some pressure and maybe indicating to the

Lakers, hey, if you don't, because one advantage the Lakers have compared to most other teams on the buyout market is they can offer a little bit more money because they didn't use their full bid level exception to sign Gabe Vincent. So they have about an extra half million dollars that they can offer pro-rated to potential players on the buyout market. So when looking at what they could offer Dinwiddie versus what Dallas could offer, they could offer him a little bit more money. Now with state taxes and different things, like maybe it's not that big of a gap. But it is something that they feel like is an advantage on the buyout market in comparison to other teams. The one kind of wild card in this is Philly.

They can outspend anybody because they didn't use. They ducked under their tax at the deadline and they have a little bit more money to play with. But I think that's more of a Kyle Lowry destination than Spencer Dinwiddie. But I've heard from, you know, Spencer is a L.A. native. He's someone who reps Southern California in L.A. and, you know, is here in the summers. So I think that Lakers have a bit of a home court advantage. in that regard.

But I thought it was interesting that he was at the game last night, sitting with Dallas. And he does have the connections over there. So I'd put it right now, maybe Lakers are the slight favorites, but I wouldn't put it more at like more than like 55%, 55, 45%, you know, 55, 45 split. So I think it's pretty close.

But I think LA with the money and him being an LA native. And you're pretty much having a clear role for him of like, we don't really have a ball handling guard off the bench right now, you can come in and play 20 to 25 minutes. He's not going to start in Dallas unless they're just going, him, Luca, and Irie, which doesn't really make sense in my opinion. So I think either way, like, Lakers can probably offer him biggest role, most money, come back home to L.A., like that's pretty hard to turn down.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skisks. hits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you're just so you.

y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Now you're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah. And again, I don't, I don't view him as like some sort of significant. needle mover. I just think of all the buyout guys, he's the one guy who comes somewhat close to

addressing a specific need, which is like actually getting kind of a big strong athlete into the back court. I mean, like, I watched that replay of the Jamal Murray three last night because it's funny, I watched a lot of Lakers fans getting on Austin about the gamble. By the way, that was a stupid gamble. Like it was stupid, Yokich made it pay for it. But to me, the game was already over pretty much on, after LeBron missed the little bank shot and then Jamal Murray made the little floater in the lane, I thought the game was basically over. There was like a minute left and they were down five, you know. But on the three, when it was 104, 104,

I watched the clip a few times. It's legit sad how overmatched Tori and Prince was athletically there. Like, and what's crazy is Jamal's not exactly the fastest guard in the world either, you know? But like Jamal's running around these screening actions, and Torit Prince is just running for dear life and he looks stuck in the mud. Like he wouldn't even, like, that was not like some of the shots that Jamal hit over the Celtics that in that game in Boston. That was, he came off free and clear and Torian wasn't even slightly bothering him. And so, again, like having another athlete at that at that guard position, I think would be, would be useful.

Do you think LeBron is frustrated? Is he outwardly frustrated or has it been quiet on the LeBron front? What are you hearing about LeBron and his kind of mood post deadline? He was a bit moody last night. His answers were short. And it's tough to separate that from another close loss to Denver. LA's lost seven straight games to Denver now. It's kind of becoming, you know, I was covering the clippers in the mid-2010s.

And those match, like once they beat the Warriors in 2014 in the first round, from that point on, the Warriors became the Warriors. And then it was like, no matter what, they just had this stranglehold over the clippers. And it, you know, mentally where it'd be close, tough games. And then all of a sudden, Golden State would just execute in the fourth quarter. And they'd beat the clippers. And it's starting to kind of feel like that with this Lakers Nuggets matchout where yet again, we see another game that goes down to crunch time.

And Denver just out executes them over the last few minutes. So I don't know how much of it was that. But, you know, I asked LeBron about, Austin spoke first. Austin kind of mentioned that Denver kept running the same action that the Lakers were aware of. They just couldn't really stop it. So I asked LeBron essentially, you know, you guys, this has been a theme with you guys against Denver where you know what they're running and yet you guys still can't stop it. Like, how do you kind of like learn from this experience and take the film from tonight, especially those last few minutes and apply it moving forward?

and then he kind of had this remark about, well, you know, really good teams, you know, run the same stuff in crunch time and they know what they're running. And, you know, and it was kind of, I took it as a little bit of a shot at the Lakers' crunch time offense. And, you know, and he kind of tends to take some of those sometimes. And he just wasn't in the best mood last night. And, you know, we didn't ask him about the trade deadline, which maybe was. a mistake on our part, but we had already asked them about it, you know, several days in a row. And he was pretty clear that, you know, this is the team. And I'm riding with my guys, even if obviously on social media, he hasn't necessarily

been as supportive, uh, his, uh, tweets and stuff. So I think, I think there is a level of frustration because to LeBron, like, he doesn't care about a 2029 first round pick. You know, to him that, that is a means to improve. the roster. And again, we can debate whether a guy, like how much of an upgrade is a Royce O'Neill over a Torrean prince or even if it's maybe flipping Gabe and you're giving the first and maybe Brooklyn would have been more open to that. Like, you know, to LeBron, it's like, I want to maximize this season. I want the, like, even if the roster is one percent better, that's what I want. And that, that is how he views things at all times. So for him,

You know, he wanted the Lakers to make a move. And I think it's tough for them to tell him we're standing pat and we're looking at the summer when he's going to be 40 at the end of the year. It's going to be year 22. Like there's no assurances he's going to be healthy next season. There's no assurances AD is going to be healthy next season. So the Lakers are taking a calculated gamble here of, you know, I wrote about it at the end of my story.

Like they've been pursuing a third star basically since the inception of LeBron and AD together. 2019, it was Kauai Leonard. 2021, they went after several guys, landed Russell Westbrook, then quickly realized that was a disaster, pivoted to trying to get Tyree Irving in 2022, and again, at the 2023 deadline. And now in 2024, they're going after another third star. So they keep kind of kicking the can down the road in terms of the elusive third star that's going to be this ball handler that could take the pressure off LeBron and help run the offense and crunch time and this and that. but so far that plan has not really worked. And in the meantime, they made a lot of mistakes along the way with Alex Caruso and, you know, various different things. So to me, I think LeBron is frustrated.

I don't know to like what extent and how that's going to affect him necessarily this summer. But I think based on his comments over the last few days, his actions over the last few days and really kind of going back a week and a half here, it's clear he wanted them to do something. I think at some point he realized they weren't going to do something or weren't going to do something significant and he's been a little upset about it. It's funny because the one year that they failed to get a star, they were forced to sign a bunch of two-way role players and then they promptly kicked everyone's ass and won the championship.

But apparently no one was paying attention when that happened. I had my eye on LeBron last night because I was sitting there thinking like he's got to be super annoyed. I thought his early game lack of aggression was like a clear sign that he was just kind of a little bit in a funk. He did get competitively engaged and I thought he actually had an okay game. Definitely not the best that LeBron has been able to offer this season, but I thought he was all right. What do you have like 25, 8 and 7 or something like that? But I was actually, yeah, I know.

It's ridiculous. But I was actually last night when we finished with our live show, I sat down and I watched the, post-game press conference, and I heard your question. And I 100% picked up on that, or he was like, you know, the really good teams. It's just like, this like, this like clear, because it's funny, because during the game, I was literally thinking, I was like, I was like, I was literally thinking, I was like, it's on the table that he goes into this presser and goes like, Denver's just way better than us.

You know, I literally thought it was on the table that he would go and say that, almost as like a clear shot at the front office for not providing them with the horses. And for the record, like, and I said this on my show last night, put yourself in LeBron's shoes. Like, he probably went into this training camp thinking, this is my last great chance to win a title. We just retained everybody from our Western Conference finals run. We're young, we're athletic. Like, we don't have the specific need yet fixed because we couldn't get Bruce Brown. We lost him to the Indiana Pacers this summer, but we'll fix that at the deadline.

This group should be able to carry us through regular season games. we'll deal with it in February and then we'll make a run at this thing. And it has been, I would imagine that he's had conversations behind the scenes with like his family and friends. Like, I cannot believe how this season is gone. And I wouldn't blame him for feeling that way. Because not only has it not amounted to regular season success, but like specific players within the Western Conference Finals run, if not gotten as much burn or opportunity as they did last year, the skill guards haven't played as well, which has been a big part of why. they've struggled so much, and they didn't do anything at the deadline.

And so, of course, he's annoyed. Like, how shitty would it be if they got it right just in time for him to turn 40 years old, like I mentioned earlier? And so I do sympathize with him. And again, I said this earlier, but it's the reality to me. Like, the Lakers had a clear need that they identified in May. They had two opportunities to fix it, and they never did. And that's their job.

That's their job. And again, to me, I think one of the biggest core philosophies of the Laker front office that has to shift is the idea that star power is what wins. When you already have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the roster, there is a diminishing return there. It's like you want to know why they don't want to include Austin Reeves in any trades. It's because Austin Reeves, when he's your third best player, the gap isn't as big between him and some of the other guards around the league.

Now, if he's your best player, yeah, you need somebody with a little bit more athleticism and pop and firepower. But in that tertiary role, like a guy like Austin's fine. What you need is the two-way athletes at the two and three. And they just never were able to get out in front of that. So quickly before we move on it, I want to talk about this summer, but I have two like kind of rapid-fire questions. Anybody else that they're specifically eyeing in the buyout market,

maybe someone that hasn't been bought out yet? Is there anybody that they're like, man, if this guy comes available, we want him? I haven't heard any names. Rob. So we asked Rob yesterday at the press conference, what specifically are the needs you're looking at on the buyout market? He said first, a ball handling guard. And second, if we can't get one of those, then just best player available. And even within that, I thought an interesting part of it was he said, you know, Gabe hasn't, obviously, you know, we thought Gabe would be a great fit.

He's only played five games. He hasn't been available. So like, it wasn't much. But even within that quote, it was kind of like, what's going on with Gabe? like he's supposed to be re-evaluated in early March and like is he coming back like so so there's a lack of clarity there in terms of Gabe Vincent's future but I think the fact that they're looking for another ball handler is kind of revealing in and of itself of you know they might be pessimistic about Gabe's ability to ultimately contribute this season so I mean maybe a guy like Robin Lopez uh you know Bismack Bianbo's a name they were looking at over the summer they went with Jackson Hayes and Christian Wood. over him, but he's another defensive big that I think could have some value, but maybe him or Robin Lopez is just a big

body to kind of throw at Yokich, because they don't really, that was another thing we kind of saw last night. Like, Christian Wood and Jackson Hayes made some nice plays, but like those guys can't guard Yokich in a seven game series. And if you're relying on just AD, LeBron, and Brewy,

we saw it like, you can have some success with that and you can keep the games close, but ultimately, I still think they need another defensive-minded big. So maybe it's waving somebody, creating a second open roster spot, and signing a Dinwiddie and a Lowry, and then going with another more defensive-minded big. I just don't know at this point who they'd be waving.

Probably have to be Christian or Jackson, but I don't know if one of those guys is really moving the needle more than those two. Jackson, I think, has been playing really well as of late just by his motor and athleticism and Christian Wood has been kind of training downward. So I could see maybe that would be the direction they'd go. You had told me behind the scenes some interesting, an interesting theory you had about Jared Vanderbilt's kind of like three to four week timeline. Can you let our audience know your theory about what's going on with Vando? Yeah.

So before the Lakers had the announcement that he was going to be re-evaluated in three to four weeks, I and others had reported that everything we were here behind the scenes was Vando was done for the season. Or that's at least the way it's trending. He's going to have season-ending surgery. Then the Lakers apparently got some good news. They announced he's going to be re-evaluated in three to four weeks. They don't need to have that season-ending surgery yet. But then yesterday at the press conference, Rob Polinka first said, we were hopeful Vando's coming back as kind of, you know,

in addition to the roster when he was kind of going through things. And then someone asked the follow-up question of, you know, mentioning hopeful for Vando, like has he been ruled out for, or is he ruled out season-ending surgery or like, what's kind of the update? there. And then what Rob was basically said, you know, when you have a guy recovering from an injury, you have to see how they recover first before you can really make a call on that. So we have not ruled out season ending surgery on that front. And, you know, we're going to see kind of

how the next few weeks go. I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what he said. So, you know, I checked in with some people last night and there continued to be some, you know, internal pessimism about Vando's future. And remember, it's not him returning in three to four weeks. It's him being re-evaluated in three to four weeks. And as we've seen with Gabe Vincent and Kendrick Nunn, the Lakers are fine with kind of pushing back the timeline of this guy will be re-evaluated in another few weeks and another few weeks. And sometimes we don't even get an update on the projected timeline when we were supposed to get the update. So I think the Lakers have no incentive to save Vando's out for the regular season right now. But with that up,

update coming around the trade deadline, I wouldn't have been surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a bit of a leverage tactic with if Vando is out for the rest of the season or at least there's that pessimism and the team that comes out like that takes away some of your leverage and talks because teams would know, oh, the Lakers really need a wing. You're desperate. And they're desperate. So I think we'll see what happens with Vando, but that could be potentially a huge blow for this team, a season altering blow because they don't have another guy that can do. what he does. I thought he was really looking like the old Vando these last few weeks.

He had that stretch there of multiple double digit scoring games. I thought he was pivotal in that first half against Boston. So for them to, and entering that game, they were going to start Vando at Small Forward next to LeBron and 80 and go back to that starting lineup. Then he, LeBron and 80 get ruled out and then he gets injured. So we were about to see the lineup that everybody had been clamoring for. for the last few weeks. And now I don't know if we'll see him again. So it is a disappointing turn of events for the Lakers. And, you know, again, he hasn't been ruled out yet. He hasn't had the surgery

yet. So there is a possibility he comes back. But everything I'm hearing is pessimism as to him actually returning this season. And again, that would be a significant blow for L.A. And I have had a foot injury before. And when you come back, there, I remember in non-con conference play my second year playing in college. Like I was not good in non-conference play because I didn't trust it at all. I couldn't plant on it with I. I mean, I could, but like I never really pushed and made those like kind of like top tier effort in athleticism plays because of the fact that I,

there's just like a multi-phase recovery from something like that. And like even just this season with his kind of Achilles thing or heel thing he was dealing with, he wasn't particularly good when he first came back. It took him a while to kind of get into. to speed. So like I tend to think that counting on him to be available for a long playoff run is a you know kind of a fool's errand if that makes sense. So let's talk about the summer. And I want to talk about kind of the stuff you talked about in the piece first and then we'll talk about the, um, my kind of working theory because I have a like a, a specific idea in mind for

what the Lakers should do. But the three names I think you had mentioned in your piece were it was Tray Young, Donovan Mitchell, and Kyrie Irving, correct? Correct. Those the three? Yeah. So of those three names mentioned, is there a name in that group that the Lakers actually feel like they could like pull off? Because I specifically am worried about their ability to get into a beating war with teams

that just have better assets to offer. And that's certainly a factor. And that's the other part of this of you can frame it as, well, we're going to have these three picks and now all of a sudden we can get into certain conversations and you can get into those conversations. But when it really comes down to some of the recent trades we've seen for stars and the price is continually rising and several teams across the league having an army of assets, like Lakers get into a bidding war with Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City is going to win that bidding war every single time. And there are several teams that can outbid them. And granted,

Some of those teams are smaller market teams where maybe a star doesn't necessarily want to go. And we do see stars tend to want to go to the bigger markets. It's just the reality of the NBA. But even some of the teams, Philly has a bunch of cap space this summer. You know, they could get involved in things. New York is obviously becoming a destination. And, you know, they're putting together a team that looks like it might be able to make a deep playoff run. And so there are other Miami always looms as sort of this team with a bunch of, I mean,

they have some young assets and Tyler Hero. You know, Hami Hawkes now has become a clear asset, you know, Nikola Yerovich. Like they have certain things that teams would want. So it's not just this clear cut and dry, like because the Lakers are willing to put three picks on the table, they're all the sudden the front runner for all these guys. Like everyone, you know, for the most part wants to play for like, like Lakers are always on the list at least when a star submits the types of teams they'd be willing to play for but they still have to outbid some of these teams and that's probably going to cost them Austin

Reeves like that's kind of the other thing here is it's on one hand like the Lakers weren't willing to give up Austin Reeves at this deadline and people scoffed at the notion of them not wanting to give him up for anything below like an all-star level player but now if you're going after the all-star level guys you're putting Austin Reeves on the table and you're putting those three picks. You're putting multiple pick swaps. You're putting second round picks. So from my understanding, you know, I reported on Trey Young last year coming out of the playoff run that Trey Young was someone to keep an eye on with the Lakers. There's the obvious clutch connection, but also he fits the mold of they've wanted a point card. They've wanted a superstar level point guard who can

run the offense, take some of the burden off LeBron, you know, run pick and rolls with LeBron at the end of games and just be a high level shot creator where the Lakers can kind of stagger it and have that guy run the offense when LeBron's off the floor, when AD's off the floor, and not really lose anything. So to them, Tray Young reaches that level. So I would put, if I was ranking the three, I'd put Tray Young first. I'd put Kyrie second and I'd put Donovan Mitchell third. I think the price for Donovan is going to be really high.

There's a lot of smoke with him going to one of the two New York teams, be at the Knicks or the Nets. So I would still probably put the Lakers at best at third in the pecking order for Donovan, but maybe potentially even lower. And then Kyrie, I mean, they've done the dance now multiple times. We know LeBron is still a huge fan of Kyrie. He'd love for him to be in L.A., but that would require Dallas to really, I mean, they've been training downward, although I really like what they did at the deadline. So that would require Dallas to flame out, losing the first round, not even make the playoffs,

and then look at, you know, maybe we got to pivot, trade Kyrie, Lakers can enter, and that's the destination he's at interest in previously. So I would probably put Tray for, I mean, Atlanta was interested in Austin Reeves, obviously. It was a player that they were fond of. I don't know if Austin Reeves plus three first gets you, Trey Young. But I think that one is probably the most realistic of the three options, then Kyrie, then Donovan. So before I give my idea, rapid fire,

Are the Lakers just suddenly out on DeJante Murray? Or is that a move they'd be willing to make again in the summer? I don't think they're completely out on him. But I think Atlanta wants the price to go up. And I don't think the Lakers want to pay more than they offered. So if the price is going to go up, then they're out at that price. Because this is what I keep coming back to. Because I've heard behind the scenes that, you know, obviously if Atlanta did pivot this summer,

that Trey Young and Clutch would be like, get me the hell out of. here. You know what I mean? And so, like, I do think there's a version of this where where Trey Young becomes available, but to the theme of this show, if the Lakers were to call up Atlanta this summer and be like, all right, three first round picks, you know, Austin Reeves, Rue Hachamur, whatever they got to do to match salaries. And they close that deal. Now I've got Trey Young, no assets, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and no damn players at the two and three that can defend and credibly score on the other end

of the floor. It is a fundamental lack of understanding of what wins basketball games. And it drives me completely insane because like to me the move would be like circle back with Atlanta this summer, make a move like a two first round pick type

of move for Dejante Murray, and then use that other first round pick for a legitimate two way starting level wing to play at the three. Because give me Austin Dejante Murray and let's just call him Doreen Phiney Smith with LeBron James and Anthony Davis over Trey Young veteran minimum, LeBron James, Anthony Davis any day of the week. Any day of the week I'd take that team. And so like I just want to see them, I want to see them approach this summer with the three draft

picks, not as a means with which to bring in another star that will lead to the same problems that they've been dealing with, but rather find a way to actually bring the thing you need to win at the highest level in the NBA, which is just athletes on the perimeter that can defend and can dribble shoot and pass. That is what they need. They've got to address it. To me, like, I understand you need some sort of offensive firepower. I think that's been made abundantly clear. And to me, like a guy like DeJante Murray could really help you on that front. But like, I think it'd be a big mistake for the Lakers to go all in on a star this summer. I think they'd find themselves in a very similar predicament to where they are right now.

Is that something you agree with or do you feel like going after Star is the right move? I think it depends on the Star, but we are talking about the perimeter defense and adding Trey Young isn't necessarily going to improve that situation. I mean, it's making it worse, frankly. You're going from DeAngel Russell, let's just say the point of attack defensively, point guard to Trey Young, like that is a downgrade. Trey Young is smaller and he's the worst defender. I know he's had, I think he's tried a little bit more this season and been a little bit more engaged at times.

But overall, there's just a size limitation there and a physicality limitation there that you're just always going to have. So, and then, I mean, you can kind of pick apart any of those guys like Kyrie. I mean, there's all the questions off the court that he's been great this season, but this is like the longest stretch we've seen him not cause any distractions. it almost feels like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop at some point. And then with Donovan Mitchell, I think there's a level, he hasn't had that. Even Trey at least has had the conference finals run where you can say like he was able to be the best player at times in that Philly series. Lead a team.

Lead a team to the conference finals. Like Donovan Mitchell hasn't had that type of run yet. If anything, he's been, I think, in my opinion, on more disappointing playoff teams rather than teams that have met or exceeded expectations. Like some of those jazz teams, that Cleveland team, I think most people picked them over New York last postseason. They got their butts kicked in that series. So to me, I think there are legitimate questions.

And now, of course, Donovan isn't going to be your number one in L.A., but theoretically, that third guy you bring in can help bridge the gap to that next era of Lakers basketball and be a player that can grow with AD. So I think with all those three guys, there are defensive questions. for sure. And then there are some just, you know, extra elements that you got to weigh in. So I'm with you like maybe trying to think like maybe DeAngelo ops in or, you know, exercises player option. Then you can can, I don't know the exact trade restrictions in terms of of timeline of one he could be moved. But you could trade him, package him with JHS, maybe Max

and, you know, a couple picks. Maybe you have stronger protections on one pick. Like, Maybe that's something that they would consider for Dejante. But I think they got to the point where they felt that whatever they were offering was more than enough in terms of DeLoe versus Dejante. And the fact that Atlanta wasn't willing to do that and insisted on Austin or insisted on a second first round pick, that to them was just a deal breaker at this point. So again, maybe they revisit things on the summer. We'll see how Dilo performs the rest of the way. We'll see how the playoffs go if the Lakers make it. But I think as of now, from my understanding, they felt that the Jean-Té price was going a little bit too high.

And they weren't willing to match that. So I don't know if that would change over the summer. My guess would be no. But I'm with you, though. I think the three-star build, it just, I mean, it hasn't worked. Like, they haven't been able to get that guy over the last few years. They did get one guy. And it was a disaster.

It's one of the worst trades in NBA history. And I do think, like, if there's like a way to get me, maybe a bigger shot creator, like a wing shot creator, and you're going more with like Austin at point or maybe like a mid-level exception guy at point guard. Like I'm more open to that. But the three-star build with like a small guard who can't necessarily defend, I have some questions about that, especially with the current personnel in the roster. Yeah, I like the idea in the long term of a Trey Young, Anthony Davis kind of foundation.

That pick and roll is going to be crazy. But I just think it would, of course. But I think it would just, I just think it would take like a legit two to three years to actually surround those two guys with the type of two-way athletes that you need. And now we're talking about trading LeBron James. And it's like, that's like a, to me, I don't want to like remove Trey Young from the conversation entirely. Just to me, once you make a deal for Trey Young where you've thrown all your assets in, you're not going to be good enough the next year because you're not good enough on the. margins. And so that to me is more of like a let's go into the next era of Lakers basketball thing. And maybe that's the direction they go. But like chances are if you if you do something like

that, like I don't think LeBron is young enough to actually help you capitalize on it by the time you get the requisite talent around. But we, I feel like we've complained long enough today. So we're going to call it a night. Before we get out of here, Yovann, can you just kind of tell everybody you about your article that you wrote last night where they can find it where they can find the rest of your work yeah uh so i i wrote deep dive breakdown on the trade deadline uh all the intel that i've been gathering over the last few days last few weeks um one hilarious tidbit in there was darvin ham pushing back against the notion of the lakers trading toy prints which i i knew laker fans were going to love that detail um but i mean again he was one of the only expiring contracts that

they could have put out there and ultimately they chose not to move him. So a bunch more details. We hit on most of it, but there were some other things in there that we weren't able to get into. And then at Yovan Buha on all social platforms, started creating some YouTube content. So I do have Yovam Buha YouTube channel been doing some of the behind the scenes, vlogs and different things I was posting on TikTok and on Twitter. I'm now doing it on YouTube in a little bit of a longer format.

I'm able to get into some gameplay and filming during games now a little bit and able to kind of do more in like two to three minutes versus like one minute. So be sure to check that out as well. Yo, Vanda does great work. Make sure you guys get over there and check out and support his stuff. We are going to be done for the rest of the weekend, but we'll be back Monday with power rankings and some game breakdowns. As always, I appreciate you guys. We'll see you next time. The volume.

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