The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Lakers Trade Frenzy: Biggest targets for LeBron & LA, Reaves vs. D'Angelo Russell

Episode Date: January 27, 2024

Jason Timpf is joined by The Athletic's Jovan Buha to discuss the top players the Los Angeles Lakers will target at the NBA's trade deadline. Who has the best chance of coming to LA? And who best fits with LeBron James and Anthony Davis? The guys also discuss the likelihood of head coach Darvin Ham surviving the season as well as why D'Angelo Russell is the preferred piece over Austin Reaves.#Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hope all of you guys are having an incredible week. Well, as has generally been the case since LeBron James joined the Los Angeles Lakers, we're two weeks out for the NBA trade deadline, and it feels like there's going to be a whole lot of turnover with the Lakers. Or maybe none, who knows, we'll see. But there's drama, as there always is, for the Lakers around this time of year. And I can think of nobody better than our friend Yovon Buha to come on the show covers the Lakers for the athletic.

And he's going to help us get to the bottom of some of the mysteries surrounding this team heading into the deadline. Yovon, thanks for coming on the show. I want to, before we get to the trade deadline, I saw a mention that from you on Twitter earlier today from, I believe you were on a different podcast about Darvin Ham. And we just recently had a situation where the Milwaukee Bucks had a clear understanding internally that their coach was not the right coach for this particular team. And they did something that is really difficult, but I think was the right decision. And they made a coaching change in the middle of the season.

And you, I had heard say that that was most likely not going to be the case for this Lakers team. Was that some issues with Darvin Ham. I think he's got a lot more support within the front office and the ownership group. That said, it was a similar type of situation where it seems like there's a consensus around the league that Darvin has not done a good job with the Lakers this year. What are you hearing about the leash Darvinham has for the rest of the season? And do you think he will still be the coach by the time we get to the playoffs? I do. I think that he does have the support of Jeannie Bus and Rob Polinka.

And ultimately, those are the two head decision makers with the organization. And I think some of the stuff within the locker room has improved over the last few weeks since our last discussion. The Lakers did have three significant wins. I think that Clippers win was sneakily important for his job. security. But, you know, beating the Clippers, beating the Mavericks, beating the Thunder, they had some statement wins over the last few weeks. Now, they've also had some statement losses with the Brooklyn loss and losing, I mean, the whole thing that kind of spurned, you know, some of the pushback against Arvin was that Miami loss, but they also had the Memphis loss and

they got blown out by Phoenix. And, you know, I don't really hold the Utah and Clippers losses against them. No LeBron in either situation. But, you know, for my understanding, it would, things would have to go off the rails again. But, but for a more sustained period of, you know, let's say a six, seven, eight game losing streak, where it's just clear that the disconnect is palpable, you know, players are just checked out. And, and, you know, I don't think it's gotten to that point. Like, there have been comments in the media. I think if you look at the, post-game availability. There's, there's some jabs here and there. And there's been a lot of praising of opposing coaches. No play. I mean, since Shams and I reported what we did, no player has

really come out and defended Darvinham, which I think has kind of been telling that there's not been any comment along the lines of he's our head coach. You know, we have his back. We have confidence in him. Like it's really been Darwin defending himself publicly. And then also kind of saying, well, of the backing of Rob and Jeannie. And ultimately, that's what matters. But I think with the way that this season has trended, they're below 500. They're currently in that 9-10 mix. And if they end up missing the play in or missing the playoffs or losing in round one,

that's where you start that. I think this conversation becomes relevant again. And the Lakers likely reevaluate things over the summer. But until that point, I think unless things just go, hey, and they were getting there, right? Like they were on a four game losing streak. they had the games coming up against the clippers, against the Mavericks, against the Thunder. It was like the Sun's game in there as well.

It was like if they go on, you know, lose seven of nine or something like that, like it might just be the time to move on about a month ahead of the trade deadline. But they sort of righted the ship. Again, they've had some bad losses since then. But my understanding is he does have the confidence of the front office and ownership. They did view him as a coach that would come in with championship experience, a lot of experience under Bud, but also kind of grow into his coaching style.

So they are giving him a leash in that regard of, they still think he's not a finished product. He can improve as a coach. But it's a delicate dance when you have a win now situation and you don't have, I think complete buy in from the locker room where it's like, you know,

I think you saw it in Milwaukee, where there was several situations of Jan is checking himself into a game and Bobby Portis calling out the team after the in season tournament that those things, you know, ultimately built up to a point of, I mean, I don't know if you saw the video of the bucks dancing before the game. That's, that looked like a pretty happy team. So I don't know if the Lakers would quite respond in that way, if they moved on from Darwin. But I do think there's still some issues in there, but with the rotation and some of the lineup stuff. But I think

winning Kurosol and they have won some games that they needed to win. But clearly, I mean, they're five and six in 2024. So it's not like they're out of the woods. year. They are still struggling a bit. So I think, but for my understanding, he's most likely safe through the rest of the season, barring things just going, hey, why. Yeah, I have this theory, and this is not based on any sort of reporting, not anything you've told me, not even anything I've talked to other people about behind the scenes. My theory is that they were done with him. And then what happened was, is it became abundantly clear that he wasn't going anywhere. And then everyone was like, all right, fine. Like, we got to try to make this work. One

or another, you know, and specifically when it comes to the Lakers, like, the only real, like, I think LeBron and AD in and of themselves are tacticians, and especially when it comes to the defensive end of the ball and game planning for specific teams. I think there's a lot of that that LeBron and AD can kind of take the load of, especially over the course of a playoff series. I think we've seen enough of that over the years to show that those two are constantly thinking the game and going through that side of things. Also, you know, this, this offense has masqueraded as a cool five out, make the extra pass driving kick offense for brief stretches over the course of the last couple of weeks. But I still think deep down like in their basketball character,

this is a stuck in the mud type of brute force offense. I think that's the way LeBron wants to play. I think that's the way AD wants to play. I think that's their kind of like natural basketball identity. And so in a lot of ways, I don't even think a brilliant offensive tactician could come in here and like turn this offense around. I think it's a lot, a lot of it has to do with the personnel. And I think you see a lot of games like the Nets game where they,

you know, in that first quarter, the ball's just flying around and everyone's making the extra pass and everyone's driving and kicking. And there's this real fluidity. They just can't sustain that. They can only do that for short bursts

before they kind of revert, revert back to what their normal basketball character is. When they originally hired Darwin Ham, I liked it from the standpoint of being a motivational move. Like, if you remember, Frank Vogel, the one thing he is great at, you know, really is that defensive tactician piece. But you could just tell towards the end of that 2022 season that everyone in the locker room was kind of done playing hard for him.

And I think that we saw guys like Eme, Udoca come in and we saw guys like Tyloo come in. And we saw like even Chauncey Billups are seeing a little bit of it with the Blazers this year. But these young former player coaches, relatively young, I should say, former player coaches that can look eye to eye with these dudes and be like, I need you to do this and them actually do it is the driving force behind why the Lakers went with Darvinham. Because in theory, kind of like with the Adrian Griffin thing, you're like, okay, why would you hire a rookie head coach for this job that is very much a win now job where experience does matter and it's more about personality management and all these different things. And I literally think they went with Darvinham because they viewed him as a motivator.

And the problem is, it's here we are a year and a half later and he can't motivate these guys. They're the worst effort and energy team in the league. And so it reaches a point where you're not getting any of the good that comes with Darvinham. And some of those bad pieces are starting to kind of float to the surface. And it is what it is. I think the players in that locker room have just realized that he's not going anywhere. And I think that's why you're still seeing some of that inconsistent effort.

And I think we're really the only hope for this team to kind of re-engage is some personnel turnover. And that personnel turnover being what essentially causes the, the team to feel like it's the first day of school again. And then maybe they can go on a stretch. And I've said this before. I don't think there's any chance the Lakers could win the title unless they have a 20, 25 game stretch where they look like a 60 win team basically over that stretch.

They need to have that kind of stretch. And so that brings us to the trade deadline because if there's not going to be any sort of turnover in the coaching staff, it has to be on the roster. And so here we are, I believe if I'm not mistaken, the trade deadline is two weeks away. and there's been a ton of rumors surrounding the Lakers. A lot of the classic the jockeying in the media for like, oh, well, we're actually looking to wait to this summer so we can go after Donovan Mitchell and Trey Young.

And it's like, oh, well, they actually really want Bruce Brown. And, you know, there's all this like jockeying going on. So can you give us a summary of where the Lakers are from the standpoint of their front office and their strategy heading into this deadline? Yeah. So the Lakers are currently weighing three different paths. from my understanding. One would be, I don't want to say punting on the season, but sort of acknowledging,

like there might not be a move out there that is going to turn this around. We're going to have to figure this out with the 14 guys in the locker room with the coaching staff. And we've played better as of late. We've won five of our last eight. And, you know, let's stick with this more offensive-minded starting lineup. up we're bringing in these kind of, um, you know, athletic long, uh, bigger players off the bench and, and sort of, you know, changing up the pitches in the second quarter, third quarter.

Uh, and, and let's just retain our assets. Uh, let's keep our young players. Let's, you know, keep our one tradable first round pick and then come draft night. We can now move three guys and be it that the, the Tray Young and Donovan Mitchell names, or just retaining that full. or maybe the 2025 trade deadline. Like they would have some flexibility there. So that's path number one. Path number two is basically emptying the cupboard and saying, okay, we're going to give up, you know, Dilo or Rui,

we're willing to throw in JHS or Max some of our young talent. We're willing to trade the first round pick. We're willing to add in a second round pick, a pick swap, like whatever it takes to get a deal done. And I think that would be a player like, Dejante Murray. I think it would be a player, Zach Levine previously,

but like that type of salary or that type of, you know, fringe all-star, you know, looking at can we upgrade to D-Lo spot essentially with a better, a better third score, just a better third option on this team.

And then path number three is a small to mid-sized move where maybe you're still moving D-Lo, maybe you're still moving Rui or you can get off Gabe. But you are, basically drawing the line of like we're not giving up the first round pick. And maybe we'll throw in a younger guy or we'll throw in a second round pick or two. But we're mainly trying to swap salaries, swap a spot in the rotation, maybe at a bench guy,

but we're not doing anything drastic here. So I think right now, path two and path three are the more likely ones. I don't see them standing pat and doing nothing. You have a win now situation with LeBron and AD. I don't think that would sit well with LeBron, given how we know he's always looking to improve his teams. And he has been critical of this roster at various points of the season, talking about the shooting or talking about the lack of size or the defense and whatnot. So I think if you gave LeBron truth serum, he'd want to do something at the deadline. And I suspect that the Lakers are going to do something at the deadline.

Historically, this front office has been aggressive. It's just a matter of, are they doing something big? and do they feel like they can give up that first round pick, give up a pick swap, a second round pick, whatever, and actually improve the roster substantially, or are they drawing a line in the sand and saying,

hey, like we're looking for a more marginal improvement, but maybe swapping a player or two will get us in the right direction, clean up the rotation, you know, maybe plug a backup point guard spot, add another wing, whatever. So those are,

I think more of the two paths that they're deciding between right now. And I think if, If they had their way, it would be Dejante Murray, from my understanding, he is their top priority right now. But barring them getting Murray, I think it's trending more toward a smaller move and some of the names out there. Bruce Brown's, I think, more of a medium-sized move. But Bruce Brown, Dorian, Finney Smith, Tyos Jones, Malcolm Brogden, those are some of the names I've reported on and others have as well. So I think right now it's kind of empty the cupboard for Dejante or do a smaller move for a role player who can maybe come in and be the fit starter or be a key bench.

Yeah, that makes sense to me because I, just to be quite frank, I think I don't think LeBron circling year 22 as his opportunity to win the title, right? And like, I just think if you punt on this season, I think that's essentially the end of the LeBron AD era. I think at that point, you're, you're probably going to be looking to move on unless you can bring in some bona fide superstar next year. And again, like, if a superstar becomes available, there's just a lot of teams that have more to offer than what the Lakers have to offer. So, like, to me, that just doesn't really seem tenable. But there's a lot of interesting names have been thrown around. And I want to kind of dive into the basketball of each guy, but also take a kind of

at least a snapshot of the realistic nature of some of these names at this point in time. So we're going to play a game. I've got seven names. Excuse me, six names. No, it is seven. We're good, counting, a little struggling to count. Just getting back from vacation. It's taking me a minute to get up to speed. So I got seven names for you. And three of them are non-Lakers right now. Four of them are Lakers right now. And I'm going to ask you what the percentage chance you think is that they are that they are Lakers two weeks from now after the deadline. That first name, what is the percentage chance that DeJante Murray is a Laker in two weeks? What is the percentage chance? I would say 45%. So right under that 50% mark, I think naturally you have to be a bit more conservative one projecting

trades. This was a deal that I reported on was very close two weeks ago. And the framework of that deal was DeAngelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Shafino, the 2029 first round pick, and additional draft capital, be it, they're still trying to figure out, is that going to be a pick swap? Is that going to be a second round pick? But that would be, that was the framework of that deal. And part of the pushback on Atlanta's end was they want Austin Reeves if they're going to do a one-for-one deal, which the Lakers obviously aren't interested in doing. And then the second wave of pushback was, okay, well, we don't want D-Lo, so you have to find a third team to facilitate this. So the Lakers over the last couple of weeks have been canvassing the league trying to find a potential third

team, most likely a lottery team that would be looking to take on D-Lo's salary. Lakers give out, you know, a second-round pick or maybe a couple. to kind of appease them, maybe get back another player and add a couple pieces, potentially expanding the deal. But that was, so that's been happening. Those talks got really close a couple weeks ago. Since then, they've stalled, but the Lakers have been canvassing the league. So from my understanding, DeJante is their top priority.

That is the guy that they've targeted as someone who could be a better fit next to Austin Reeves in the back court. He has regressed defensively since his San Antonio days, but he's still a better defender than DeAngelo Russell. Like, yes, you take a little bit, I mean, you take a solid hit in the shooting and playmaking department, but he does have that downhill verve and athleticism and speed that the team has been lacking since losing Dennis Schrooter last year. So I think looking at Murray, I mean, he's got four more years. His extension kicks in next season. He does have a $13 million trade kicker, which,

could be spread out over the next four years. So his salary is a little bit higher than it appears on paper. But I think it's someone who, you know, late 20s, he can grow with the AD Austin core. I think he does complement Austin pretty well. And the Lakers have identified more so the perimeter speed and athleticism at the guard spot as the need that they want to improve upon. I think you and I are in agreement. It's probably more of a 3&D wing is probably the bigger need.

but those guys are hard to come by. If you do swap D-Lo out for a 3-and-D wing, you are potentially creating a different hole at the point-guard spot. You're not replacing that playmaking and, you know, that level of just, you know, ball handling and command that he's had over the offense recently. So I think they view it as we are trading some strengths for different strengths, but it is just a more natural fit with Dejante and Austin. And then on top of that, you have this guy now for four years,

whereas DeLo has a player option and that kind of puts you in an interesting predicament depending on how the rest of his season goes. So I would say Dejante wouldn't put it above 50% just because with these situations, like once you have talks get to the 11th, you know, the one yard line, five yard line, whatever, and they fall through. There's always the risk that they don't get back to that point again. But, you know, again, from everything I've heard, Lakers are prioritizing Dejante and therefore, I would say about 45% feel.

is right to me. Yeah, I, to be clear, I like the DeJante Murray move in the sense that it obviously makes the Lakers better. I mean, we don't have to, we don't have to galaxy brain this. Like to me, DeAngelo Russell has a ton of playmaking value in the regular season.

But I do think that there's a pretty extensive history that shows that when the athleticism and physicality goes up a level, DeAngela Russell's impact as a primary on ball guy goes down a level. Once you turn, into a guy who's working off the ball a lot,

there's a diminishing return compared to like a really skilled offensive player versus a kind of skilled offensive player. There's a diminishing return versus an on ball role. Right. Like even when it comes to the Austin Delo debate, like there's no doubt that like Austin's not capable of having a 27 and seven stretch over a six game stretch like this where he's just picking teams apart as this primary offensive initiator.

Dilo's been awesome over that stretch. That said, when we get to the postseason, it is going to be more LeBron and AD. It is going to be more posting up and more in the mud, kind of like bully ball type of basketball. And in that off ball role, even though Dilo provides a ton of value there,

he's been one of the better spot up players in the league this year, his value, there is a diminishing return there. DeJante Murray absolutely can play alongside Austin Reeves to close playoff games. I have no worries about that whatsoever. DeJante Murray is a better defensive player than people remember him being from his time with the Hawks. And even last night in the Warriors game,

like in that first half in particular, did a really good job on Steph and it was a big part of getting him off to a rough shooting start. He's got quickness. He's got length in particular. He's a big one for him that helps a lot. And it's more just about whether or not he can kind of recapture that effort and energy.

But the big thing for me is, Dejante can just beat people off the dribble. He just can't. There is a play in the first half of the Warriors game last night where he's coming up the right side and he's got Andrew Wiggins on him in a straight ISO and he just hits him with the right to left crossover and toast him off the dribble and draws a foul at the basket.

It's like there's nobody on the Lakers that can do that this year. There's literally not a single guy on the roster. Like even LeBron, it's way more a bully ball. Even with Anthony Davis, it's way more bully ball. Austin and DeLo needs screens. Like there's a huge value that comes there. Dejante Murray is having a much better shooting season that he has in the rest of his career. A lot of people say outlier, but I would say that in my time watching the Hawks the last two years,

Dejante's got a lot better playing off the ball, just as he's had to play next to Trey Young. So like I like Dejante Murray, but I prefer Bruce Brown. And I'm going to break it down, but I want to start by talking more about the realistic nature of that type of deal. So what is the percentage chance that Bruce Brown? is a Laker in two weeks. 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. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

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too. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'd say 20%. So a significant drop off. I think there's a couple of things there. One, the Lakers have had interest in Bruce Brown dating back to last summer. I reported on it where there's about a 48-hour window before he ended up signing with Indiana, where the Lakers were confident he was going to sign with them for the non-tech. taxpayer mid-level exception because at that point, that had been his reported market and he was weighing the Lakers, the Mavericks, the Knicks. There were several teams interested in him at that 11, 12 million dollar price point. But all of a sudden, a few hours before the agency starts,

Indiana decides to back up the Brinks truck and offer him this interesting two-year, you know, 43, 44 million dollar deal with a team option on the second year. So really it's a ballooned one year deal. And, you know, he ends up signing that. And now, you know, they're able to flip that ultimately for Pascal Seaccom and really improve their roster. So with Bruce Brown, it's an interesting situation just because he does have a team option for $23 million next season.

And on paper, probably not worth that amount of money. but if you don't pick that up, you are risking him, you know, potentially leaving for nothing. And, you know, then you just traded an asset in Delo or Rui for Bruce Brown. And then you're kind of just losing that asset this, you know, upcoming offseason. So I think for the Lakers, there's definitely interest in him. You know, he, in my opinion, he had his best series of the championship run against the Lakers. So they saw up close and personal, like what he could do.

But just his versatility, you know, function basically as Denver's backup point guard for a lot of that run. But as we know in Brooklyn and Detroit, he's played small ball center at times. So he can really play one through five in some regards. And just imagine slotting him next to LeBron and AD. And you could go bigger with Rui if they're able to keep him in that deal or Vando. or you could go smaller and Bruce can guard up. So you just have so much versatility adding him into the rotation. They haven't really had a guy like this.

Maybe since Kyle Kuzma off the top of my head. Like that's maybe different players, of course, but like just that versatility to do several different types of things, both offensively and defensively from the wing spot. You know, it's been a while for them. So I think Bruce is going to have a lot of league-wide interest. He is, I think, a lot of teams. I look at Philly.

I think he would be a great fit there. So I think there could be more of a bidding war, ultimately, for Bruce Brown as a temporary win-now move. And once you get into a bidding war, the Lakers don't have the assets really to outbid most teams. So I think whereas DeJante, Atlanta wants essentially two first-round picks that the Lakers so far have really been the only suitor interested in giving up that much, with JHS kind of counting as a first-round pick in that. scenario. So I think with Bruce, it's just going to be so much league-wide interest that I don't know if the Lakers can outbid a Dallas or a Philadelphia or New York once it really comes down to offering your best offer. I think, I think also it's a very non-laker thing to do. Like, I mean, go for the big name or go for the guy who's the dirty work guy. Like, it's a very non-laker thing to do. And that's

why I'm with you. Like, I'm super skeptical about the realistic nature of a Bruce Brown to L.A. move. why I like it is really simple to me. It comes down to some of my core basketball beliefs. Like right now, I think the Lakers are being hurt by something that is a consistent issue that we see around the league, which is it doesn't really matter how much athleticism and size you have in the front court at like power forward and center

if you don't have that in the back court to compliment it. I mean, we literally see this with Milwaukee. It's like, okay, here you go. You've got Janus and Brooke Lopez. Well, they literally can't protect the paint because they've got two of the worst point of attack defenders in the league and two smaller players at the one and the two. Miami's, this is a big part of why they went after Terry Rozier.

They have this real athleticism and force at the power forward spot and at the center spot, but they don't really have it at the guard spot. So they go after a guy like Terry Rozier. Like DeJante Murray, to me, is fast and he is long, but what he's not is strong. He doesn't bring a real force to the position. position. To me, Bruce Brown is one of those guys. In the same way that Alex Caruso did in the 2020 season, when you put him next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis at the same time in a

playoff setting where you're getting engaged LeBron, there's a certain amount of like wave after wave of like unbelievable force and power at every position group. I think Bruce Brown at the two makes it so that Austin and Torian as your one and three is no longer in athleticism. issue. I think there's a Dejante Murray scenario where he comes in and he looks more or less like Atlanta Hawks DeJante Murray and he gets you 20-something points a game and has some defensive moments, but he's kind of iffy. I think there's a question mark as to whether or not Darwin and Adi will be able to look at Dejante and be like, look, dude, we need you to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. That's what we need from you. Whereas I think if they looked at Bruce Brown

and asked of that, ask that of him, he'd be like, that's what I do in this league. That's what I've always done in this league. Of course I will do that for you guys. You know what I mean? And I think there's a lot of upside there. So like when I look sheerly from the perspective of the basketball, then when you add the simple fact that in the playoffs, there's going to be a lot of LeBron James and Anthony Davis with the ball.

So all of a sudden that all of those dirty work things and that off ball cutting and screening and stuff becomes so much more important than in the regular season. Like there's no doubt that there's going to be games. Dejante turns out to be a Laker. There's going to be games in March where he has 35 points and you win and it looks great. And that's amazing. But I do think there's something to be said about we all agree the Lakers aren't winning the title unless LeBron and AD get near the 2020 level.

And if they do that, it's more important to have a Bruce Brown than it is to have a Dejante Murray. Dejante would help a struggling LeBron in AD, but a struggling LeBron and AD aren't winning any titles to begin with. So that's kind of like my reasoning behind it. I am I am just a big believer in really good two-way role players around LeBron James and Anthony Davis and I always have been, which brings me to another two-way role player. What is the percentage chance that Dorian Finney Smith is a Laker in two weeks? I'd say about 30%. He's someone that they've also liked. There's kind of a trend here of several of these guys that Lakers have

their eyes on for quite a while. But DFS was someone that they were interested in dating back to last season over the offseason again. There was interest in, you know, trying to find a way to trade for him. But I mean, I don't know what you thought of his performance against the Lakers in the Brooklyn win, but like, I thought he was defending. He did such a good job on LeBron. Such a good job. Like, as well as anyone has defended LeBron to my, you know, recollection this season. And, you know, he didn't, he didn't have the best shooting night. And there was people complaining about it on Twitter of this is the guy you want to trade for. But like, if I could find a way, if I'm the Lakers and I can upgrade, you know, Brewy to DFS.

And now all of a sudden, you have that slotting of DFS is your starting, you know, starting small forward. You still have the Austin and Delo back court. And now, you know, Torians coming off the bench. it just everyone's kind of aligned in more natural roles. And I think he is the type of guy who, you know, can make the, the Austin DeLo pairing work. And, you know, Vando's been the other guy, of course, but with the shooting and it's been a little bit better recently, he's been more of an offensive weapon.

But that's the Lakers hesitation is just, you know, is he going to, you know, tank the offense to an extent where it's sort of negating having our four best players or four best offensive players, you know, out there together. Whereas a guy like DFS, he's basically just going to do the dirty work. He's going to rebound. He's going to spot up. He can finish in transition. And he's going to defend an opponent's best one through three or one through four players.

So I think, honestly, among the options, like, he's, again, he's not the sexiest name, but DFS to me might just be the best fit with like the contract, not having to give up as much potentially as certainly as Dejante, but, you know, even potentially as a Bruce Brown. Now, there was a report that Brooklyn's looking for two first round picks for Dorian. I think that's pretty high. But again, you hear similar things with Alex Caruso. So the price point for these three and D guards and wings is pretty high.

But if there's a way for the Lakers to say, let's say they do the Jeante trade, but they loop in Brooklyn as the third team, like if you could get Dorian and DeJante, and now you are giving up DeLo, you're giving up Rui, you're giving up the pick, maybe you're giving up JHS, maybe you even have to throw in Max. But if there's a way to get both of those guys, like I would love that starting lineup of Dejante, Austin, Dorian, LeBron, and AD with, you know, Christian, Vando, Torian, and, you know, Gabe, or maybe you can get a buyout point guard. And now all of a sudden, like that nine-man rotation,

makes a lot more sense to me. You have a lot more defense in the starting group. You have more athleticism, better rebounding. And that five-man, I mean, that's a five-man unit you can actually close games with as opposed to, I think, the current starting lineup. So I think the Lakers have had interest in Dorian. Again, he's another guy who I think there's going to be plenty. Like every team could use Adoria Finney Smith, in my opinion.

So I do think there's going to be a lot of interest in, again, you know, Dallas potentially reuniting with him, but Philly. And so the Lakers are kind of in the market for a lot of these guys that are going to have multiple suitors. But to me, Dorian is at a slightly lower price, is probably more realistic than Bruce Brown. Yeah, with Dorian, Phiney Smith in particular, I love, I should say this with all these deals. I like all these deals in the context of additional deals. Like, I think that ideally what would cause me to have a lot more optimism about the Lakers and their championship potential within this season

would be to have a clear five. And one of the problems that kind of materializes with any of these deals is like you, it's like, okay, let's say they just trade for Dorian Finney Smith. You're like, okay, maybe that makes the Austin Dilo backcourt more tenable. I personally don't think it's tenable at all

under any circumstances. Like, I just think, I don't think you can beat the best teams in the league starting Austin and Delo together. I think it's cute for the regular season. I think it is the right move for right now in the short term to get to the deadline.

But the bottom line is you've got to have some sort of athleticism in power in your back court. It's just too vital of a position, especially in the Western Conference, when you're looking at the types of teams that you have to get through to get out of the conference. So, like, you bring in Dorney Finnis Smith, you have issues in the back court. You bring in Dijante Murray, and it's like, okay, I'm really, Austin Dejante Torian is a very thin group, even though Dijante changes the length and speed at that two guard spot, it's still very very. very thin, right? You go after Bruce Brown, you're like, okay, well, what about the offense? Now,

we still have these offensive issues when you get Delo out of the picture. So there's still these question marks. So again, if you're in a situation where you're needing to redirect a guy like DeAngelo Russell in a deal that brings back a DeJante Murray, I would be doing everything in my power to bring back some sort of upgrade of Torian prints in some way, shape, or form as part of that deal. Maybe, I don't know, Sidique Bay is in a contract year. Maybe you can get Atlanta part ways with him too. Like maybe you, like there's got to be some sort of like smaller upgrade out there that kind of coincides

with these two because at the end of the day, this Laker team is so convoluted in their rotation. You have to make, especially with Darvin Ham staying on board, you have to make really easy decisions for him. Like you got to make it so that Darwin has no choice but to play the, you know, these specific groupings.

And I think, I think by by kind of simplifying that process, at the one, two, three, you can accomplish that goal. So now that we've kind of hit the, the three guys that they'd be targeting primarily, let's talk about some Lakers. What is the percentage change that DeAngelo Russell is a Laker in two weeks? I'd put it at around 40%, so more likely than not that he's traded. I mean, again, we've discussed this multiple times. Like, let's go back to the offseason. That DeLo contract was structured to be traded. You know, he waived his de facto no trade clause, which was a new stipulation in the new CBA. And the

Lakers signed that with the thought of this is, you know, we can keep him, of course, and see how the season goes, see how he plays, see how things fit together. But with him having a player option on that second year, it's not this albatross contract where you're committing, you know, a bunch of money to DeLo and you can't move it. But the thing I've been trying to convince because I know DeLo and Austin naturally get pitted against each other within the fan base. I see it on a nightly basis. Anytime I tweet anything, it's always like, well, why not trade Austin or why trade Delo?

And one thing that I think people have to remember is the Lakers are kind of in a lose-lose proposition right now with Deelow with his contract because in having a player option for next season, 18.7 million, either he's opting in because he doesn't, have a market and maybe the season hasn't gone as well. He progresses a little bit or he has another rough postseason series. And now all of a sudden, he's looking at the market. There's just not really a clear suitor for him. So he opts in. And then in that case, it's not the worst case scenario, but necessarily, but it is like, okay, now we have a guy who probably isn't worth the money that we're paying him or like he opted in because there wasn't a market. This isn't a great

asset for us. Or option two is Dilo continues playing like this for the rest of the way. Lakers keep him. And now of a sudden, there are several teams looking at him as, okay, you know, Delo has put it together. He's been consistent for a large stretch of a season. Maybe he had a good first round series or whatever. And now it's like, okay, well, if you're the Lakers, you either have to pay him for

multiple years and probably give him a, you know, solid raise. Or you risk losing him for nothing. And then you had this asset that you could have flipped at the trade deadline, but now you've lost him and you have really no way of replacing him, given the other salary you've already committed. So to me, sure, there is a middle ground where Delo just ends up staying and he plays really well. But that to me is a little bit of a fantasy land.

It's either he's playing really well and he's opting out and you're probably losing that asset or having to really commit to just LeBron, AD, Dilo, Austin like that's our core and as we're discussing like I don't know if you can really win without force them together or again you're now you know having him opt in as a potentially you know negative asset so for the lakers again this was a contract that was designed to be moved it was supposed to be a tradable mid-sized contract that you could pair with another one like say a ruy hachamora or gave vincent or just one kind of separate for a again again, Dejante, a Bruce Brown, one of those guys making like 18 to 22 million.

So to me, for people kind of wondering why DeLo and not Austin, Austin has two more years. And it's a very team friendly, you know, he's making about $25, $26 million total over the next couple of years. And to compare that to potentially having to pay Deelow 20 plus million next year if he opts out, like, you know, even if you think Dilo is a better player, he's not worth double Austin Reeves. and that's how the Lakers view it. And that's kind of the tricky spot they're in right now with Dilo, where, again, it was designed to be traded. And that's ultimately why I think it's more likely than not that he is moved by the So I'm so glad you broke that down because I think that's a really, really important

piece of information for Laker fans to understand like it is not just a straight up basketball conversation between Austin and Dilo. There are real cap implications. I want to give my two cents, but I want to ask this question first because I think it kind of relates to the two. So let's talk about Austin Reeves real quick. What is the percentage chance that Austin Reeves is a Laker in two weeks? I'd put it at about 95%, which is really high. And everything I've heard, like, Jeannie Bust loves him. And again, as we talk about with if you have the approval of the owner, that goes a long way. There's also a sense of he's the

latest Laker discovery. The Lakers pride themselves on their scouting department and finding these hidden gems late in the first round, second round undrafted. So to have Austin, I mean, look, this guy was just named a finalist for the Olympic team and obviously played for Team USA over the summer. And there's a reason why every conversation the Lakers have, you know, one of the first asks is we want Austin Reeves, like, you know, put Austin Reeves in this deal. They're not saying that about Delo. And I know, again, I think Delo has been the better player for the last couple weeks.

you could argue that in the aggregate of the entire season, D.Lo has had the better season. But just from a league-wide perception perspective, Austin has a much better league-wide approval rating compared to D'Angelo Russell. And that's even taking out the contracts, all that stuff, just like how they are viewed as players. Austin is viewed as a winning player, whereas D-Lo is much more polarizing. So I think from that perspective of having a guy under contract for at least two more years, It's a homegrown talent who, you know,

I mean, LeBron loves him. LeBron can't speak highly enough of Austin, well regarded teammate, you know, beloved in the locker room. All those facts. And then, of course, he's a fan favorite. And he's super popular. He's just one of those guys that he moves the needle. And, you know, I don't know how much you factor that in,

but he is someone who, you know, is a very popular player. And I think for the Lakers, that matters to some extent. So I think, you know, from my understanding, it would have to be a clear cut third all-star level guy like a Lori Marketing. If Utah is putting Lori Marketing on the table, the Lakers can get in that conversation, sure, they would consider throwing in Austin Reeves in that situation. Or if it's maybe one of these bigger deals where they're getting back two or three, you know, high-level starters or rotation guys and Austin is kind of the difference in it. they would consider it in that scenario. But really, I just don't see that playing out that way. I think a lot of fans, despite some fans starting to kind of sour on Austin,

I think a lot of people would be upset if they traded him again, given the contract. Like, to me, that's one of the best role-playing contracts in the league, considering the next couple years of how much they're paying him. So I think Austin is going to be a Laker past the deadline. It's really DeLo, Rui, Gabe. Those are the three names to watch. Yeah, I think, I think the, like both Austin and. Dilo have had multiple phases where they've struggled this year. And I think a big part of that is

their own redundancy. It's like, oh, Austin's hasn't been playing super well in the last couple of weeks. It's like, yeah, and guess who has been? DeLo, you know, like that, this is kind of how this works in a lot of cases. Like you, when you're a skill guard and there's another skill guard on the team. And so there, you know, the ball kind of has to be in your hands in a certain way for you to impact winning to a, or I should say put up the numbers that you're accustomed to. Like, of course, course there's going to be an ebb and flow there. To me, there are three reasons why DeAngelo Russell is the obvious guy to trade instead of Austin. One, you mentioned the contract, just from the standpoint of salary filler. Austin makes $12 million this year. So if you want to go get a really good

player, you've got to give up Austin and more. Whereas DeAngela Russell makes more than $17 million this year, it's just a little bit easier to match salaries with them. Secondly, the contract is just better for the future of the Lakers. It's a like you mentioned, it's a discounted deal for a high quality role player in this league. So to be honest, like, it just makes more sense to use DeLo because you might end up using Austin in a trade down the line to go get a better player. Or, like, you might have a point three years from now where you're really glad that Austin makes what he makes as you're building a certain type of roster around him and Anthony Davis, right? And then the last piece, it's really this simple to me. Every game during the playoffs last year,

you wanted Austin on the floor for any sort of important moment. With DeLo, it depended on the night. Some nights you were like, oh, man, like he saved our ass against Memphis in game four, you know? So I'm not, you know, there were a couple Warriors games in there, too, where he looked really good. But then there were these others where you're like, oh, Delo doesn't have it tonight. You got to get him off the floor. He's downright destructive to us right now. That was what it was like.

And so, like, Austin, I would just call it like matchup, like resiliency. like Austin is just capable of being on the floor in those five-man groupings against more different types of playoff opponents. And so when you combine those three things, it makes it pretty pretty simple and straightforward from that standpoint. And you're right, like Lakers fans have just kind of pitted the two of them against each other. And it's, they're both really good basketball players who do very different things. I know they're both skill guards, but even within that context, they're very different, right? Like, I mean, even just Delos way, way better.

off the ball, I think, or on the ball, I mean, I think Austin is a better connector off of LeBron and AD than DeAngelo Russell is. So, like, there's all these, like, different kind of, uh, elements between the two of them and they're kind of stepping on each other's toes a bit. And you need upgrades at the two and three. DeAngela Russell is just kind of like collateral damage there in a lot of ways. And like, I almost feel bad for DeLo because he has been such a good leader this year. And he has had such, you know, impactful stretches. And like, there's just, I said before the season with you on this show that I thought DeAngelo Russell getting traded was the safest bet in the NBA this year. And I'm actually surprised that it's only 60% at this point.

But I think you and I would agree like six games and joining the starting lineup, 27 and 7 on 50, 50, 90. Like the dude's hooping right now. And I think that that's kind of added a little bit of a question mark to it. But I think when the cooler heads prevail, everyone's going to remember that's the best option. All right. We're going to go rapid fire through these last two because we're going a little long today. What is the percentage chance that Rui Hachamura is a Laker in two weeks? I'd say 65%.

So more likely than not. I do think the Lakers are going to look into moving Rui in a couple of names we just mentioned, Bruce Brown Jr., Dorian Finney Smith. I think in those types of trades, they would prefer to put Rui as the centerpiece rather than DELO. And, you know, again, keeping DELO and putting them next to DFS or even putting them next to Bruce Brown. Like,

I think they would view those guys as plugging some of the wingholes and, and maybe being a cleaner fit with that back court in comparison with Rui, who, you know, despite I think playing much better as the season has gone on, has still kind of had his minutes capped. He's sort of been in just this 18 to 22 minute a night bench roll, despite however well he's playing.

And I think you were mentioning making things easier for Darwin. I think if there is. a way like you know we can you talk about how great ruy is as an asset or this or that whatever we like about his game but like if darvin and the coaching staff just isn't viewing him in the same way and you can go out and turn him into a player that they will view in that light that's where i think that you know the lakers are considering some of those things um so with ruy i think now the flip side is ruy is a polarizing player he's been a polarizing player since washington there are a lot of people who scoffed at the Lakers paying him the contract that they did this offseason.

I think that's crazy. I think it. Yeah, I mean, I obviously am more on the Lakers side with this. But there are, Rui to me, is more of an eye of the beholder asset of there are people who will look at the playoff run and some of the highs with Rui. And then there are people who will look at the Washington Stint. And like, I mean, if you look at his regular season production before breaking out, in game one against Memphis, he was pretty inconsistent. And part of that was his role, and part of that was the way the Lakers used him.

But part of that has just been, like, Rui's been somewhat inconsistent. He has dealt with a lot of injuries in his short career. He's dealt with multiple injuries this season. So I think Rui is a little bit more of a, it's more of a negative asset than Dilo is. He does have two more years on his deal. So that's another thing, whereas Dilo could be technically an expiring if he opts out. uh, Rui, you're committing not just this season, but two more years. So I think, I don't think it's a bad contract personally, but I do think around the league there are people who view it that

way. And I think Rui trading that contract's a little bit harder than getting off of say, Dilo who just has a player. See, I'm so surprised by that, um, perception around the league just because like the thing, the thing with Rui that's so simple to me is like, he's a big strong athlete that can actually impact games or impose his physicality on a playoff game. Like to me, that is, if that's not worth in the teens of millions in the NBA, I don't really know what is. I'm genuinely surprised by that. There's offensive inconsistency with him, but a huge part of that is his role and some

of the way that that is fluctuated. To me, Rui Hachamur is a guy that I think, like, the dead giveaway for this, by the way, is if the Lakers traded Rui, half the fan base would be pissed off about it. that's how you know Rui's really good and to me he's another redundancy he plays the same position

as LeBron that's why he doesn't get a lot of minutes Darwin clearly views him as a guy that he can't play at the three next to LeBron and AD especially in specific matchups

so again like you said why would you pay that much money for a guy that you're only going to pay 20 something minutes a night and sit on the bench for every closing group

right and I do think there are teams out there that would be like oh like he's a good help defender and rebounder who has shown that he can knock down spot up threes and attack mismatches in the post. Like, that's a useful archetype, especially if you can make sure he's the fifth best player in your lineup. And

there are going to be teams out there. You don't think Sacramento could use a guy like Rui Hachamura. You don't think a team like, well, Indiana before the Seacom Tray, a team like Oklahoma City could use a guy like Rui Hachamuro when they don't have a real four man. Like, there are a lot that he plays a very important archetype. I think he has real value. And I like him, I, like to me, if you can turn Dilo and Rui, which is two redundancies that you want to bench at the end of games into two guys that are obvious guys that you'd play at the end of games. Why not? And so from there, I don't even understand why it's not on the table that the Lakers don't do a Dilo-centered package towards Atlanta for DeJante Murray, and then turn around and do a Rui Hachamura centered

package to Brooklyn, by the way, another team that does not have a power forward. They just don't have one. So like, you don't think that that guy couldn't look good next to Nick Clackston in a helpside role as a guy that can shoot. and attack mismatches next to their thin wings. Like to me, to me, they're, I'm genuinely surprised by that. But I do think, I do think that they have to do their due diligence to at least look to see if you can turn him into a player that fits in the starting lineup.

All right, last guy, before we get out of here, what is the percentage chance that Gabe Vincent is a Laker in two weeks? I would say about 70%. You know, he's, I mean, he's the most negative of these three in terms of Lee-wide perception right now, just because he's coming off a knee surgery, We saw not too long ago what happened with Kendrick Nunn and that bone bruise turned into a season ending injury. And with a guy coming, like already a guy who's more of a bench player, you know, probably a seventh, eighth man, ideally in like a contending, you know, pecking order.

But that guy coming off a knee injury and you have two more years on his deal for about 22 million or so over the next couple years. Gabe is someone that I think the Lakers would have to attach an asset to, be it either a younger player or a second round pick or two or whatnot. So I think more likely I see Gabe as like if they are expanding a deal and they have to match salary and there's a way to add him in and, you know, add in again, whether it's a younger player or a second round pick, something like that, that's where I could see Gabe getting moved. I mean, you could argue that with that $11 million salary or so that you could flip him for, you know, could you go get Tyos Jones? And you would have to, you know, attach assets to make that enticing for Washington. But like, is that enough for Tyos Jones or someone in that kind of $12 to $15 million range? And again, maybe you add in Max or JHS to kind of make the salary work and entice them. So, you know, here's a young place. that can be part of your future core.

But Gabe right now, the Lakers are looking into moving Gabe. I think that's kind of the most natural upgrade of just a player who's injured and not contributing right now. And if you can add a rotation player, like that's a home run. So they're looking into it. It's just right now, no one's really, you know, bending over to, you know, trade for a player who's injured and has two more years left on his deal with kind of an uncertainty of like, what are the long?

term ramifications of this knee injury that has now clearly become serious enough to keep him out for a couple months. He comes back. It immediately isn't feeling right. And then he has to have surgery. Yeah. The reason why I brought it up is he's got a good mid-sized salary to throw into trades. And the main reason why I brought it up is like I actually view it as pretty low as well simply from the standpoint as of in the event that you trade DeAngelo Russell you could probably still use a skill guard off the bench. And I do think there's, I would imagine he can still come back in a month or so.

Like I don't think he's done for the season, right? So like from that standpoint, it's kind of like a shoe in. It's almost like you're trading for Gabe Vincent after the deadline, if that makes sense. But then again, like, that's where I look at it.

If you could somehow package him with a, couple of second round picks and get Tyos Jones, it's like, okay, now you're upgrading that backup skill guard position. And Tyos Jones is a guy, unlike DeAngelo Russell, who's super comfortable coming off the bench and running bench units and just kind of being in that specific role. But I thought it was worth asking given his contract information.

All right. Yovon, I thought you did an incredible job today breaking down for us, not just the types of targets the Lakers are going after, but also just the reasoning behind it. And I think that will help Laker fans understand a lot about, you know, how this process works. Is there any thing that you can shout out in terms of articles that you've been working on and other stuff with the athletic right now? Yeah, I have a mailbag coming out Friday morning. So by the time you're listening and watching this, you know, it should be out. So I'll be diving more into some of these trade questions and different things to watch for ahead of the deadline. So be on the lookout for that on the athletic and be sure to follow me on all social platforms.

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