Is the Lakers' Season Over? Nuggets As Contenders & Giannis' Exit Plan

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

This is Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA and Lockdown Heat with a message from Dell.

Dell PCs with Intel Insider are built for the moments that you plan for, and the ones

you don't.

The moments that you're working from a cafe and realize, every outlet's taken, or the

times that you're deep in your flow and can't be interrupted for an auto update.

That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to you, with long lasting battery and built

an intelligence that makes updates around your schedule, not in the middle of it.

Find technology built for the way you work at Dell.com slash XPS.

Built for you.

Coming up on Lockdown NBA Daily.

Well, that was a bad weekend for the Lakers, is their season officially over?

Meanwhile we're still buzzing from that epic nuggets went over the spurs, is the time

that we move the nuggets into the top tier of contenders.

And finally, why it looks like Yannis might be planning his next step out of Milwaukee.

Lockdown NBA Daily starts now.

You are Lockdown NBA, your daily NBA podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your

team every day.

Hello and welcome back to Lockdown NBA Daily, I'm Wes Goldberg, that's Matt Moore, that's

Hayes over there.

Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel, right now new customers can bet just $5 and

get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins head to FanDuel.com to get started.

We got a great show for you today.

We're going to be talking about the fallout from that epic spurs nuggets game from over

the weekend.

And whether or not Yannis is planning his eventual exit from Milwaukee, but we're going

to start in Los Angeles because just when the Lakers thought their season was turning around,

they get a bad break.

Luke Adonchich will miss the rest of the regular season with a hamstring injury.

And then over the weekend it was reported that Austin Reeves is expected to miss several

weeks because of an oblique injury.

It's a tough break, obviously, as we get closer to the playoffs and according to Lockdown

Lakers, these injuries could be enough to cast some doubt on the Lakers in a potential

first round series after it looked like this team could be a team that could make a run

to the Western Conference finals.

Here's more from Lockdown Lakers.

If this is a seven game series in the first round between the Lakers and the Rockets,

which is what I think we're going to get, I'm not picking the Lakers to win.

No, I'm not.

I'm going to pick the Rockets to win that series.

For sure.

But with that said, if you have to pick a team, like that's one, like if I have to pick

the Rockets, the Clippers, the, you know, the Timberwolves, the Nuggets, like any of

these teams, if I pick one of them that I think they'd bet shot against, I would say it's

used to it.

And it's for the reasons that you were kind of talking about there, including the Lakers

going to know in this series with zero pressure.

And everybody just kind of like hoping for the storybook LeBron has one more playoff series

in them because like.

So a lot to get to here.

JJ Reddick told reporters on Sunday that quote, both of those guys are going to try

to come back and it's our job to extend to the season so that they can come back and

quote, Hayes, can they extend the season?

It's not looking very likely.

They've already had difficulty facing off against both of our fronted teams, even with

Luca and also Reeves at time.

I mean, anything that's possible, they're going to have to hope that LeBron taps into,

you know, the Fountain of Youth for a stretch there.

But I just don't see it happening, sending them the season and it's perfectly fine.

We already kind of knew like the lake this season was a season of still trying to continue

refining the roster around Luca.

They already kind of planned on making more moves this off season to make that fit even

better.

It sucks that it ended this way with Luca having the run that he was having and playing

the way it was here recently.

But no, I don't have very much faith in them being able to extend the season.

gravy.

Everything's a gravy right now for the Lakers.

Here's why.

Okay.

Luca comes back at heroic day maker run.

Luca comes back.

They lose in the first round.

Well, he was injured.

Austin Reeves was injured.

What do you want us to do?

One of the hottest teams in basketball.

We were going to make the Western conference finals before Luca got hurt, right?

It goes into summer all that stuff you said you talked about.

Now the risk there is that let's say that Luca comes back and they lose in the first

round and he looks hampered and they go, we were one of the best teams in basketball.

We were going to be the three C like we had all this momentum going for us.

We can't break up the team.

Got to run it back.

That's that's dangerous.

I don't even know if you can do that with a broad, but it's dangerous.

Look, they're not out of this.

Luca reportedly is going to Europe to get treatment and well, I'll just, it's stem cells.

That's it.

It's stem cells where we're touching about stem cells in the United States for a number

of reasons.

Europe is not so touching about it.

Fun fact.

The San Antonio Spurs head of medical health for years and years.

Also served as the chairman of a board on stem cell research.

Just pack that one away for a little known fact that they kept very under the radar

during the Tim Duncan years.

I'm not saying that like Luca's going to come back and look awesome.

He may not be able to.

I do wonder like one of the things is I don't know what's like the most severe outcome.

If Luca comes back, like I don't know what the answer to this is because I just don't

have a beer.

Do what?

What do you mean by severe?

Like negative.

He comes back and just like completely rips the hamstring off the bone, right?

Yeah.

It's surgery.

What's the timeline for that recovery?

If I'm not mistaken, six to eight months, if I'm not mistaken.

Okay.

So it's probably not worth it then to miss the training camp next season.

That's probably not worth it then.

That's what you can.

If that's a scenario, then you've got to be worried about otherwise, I'm just going

to like, yeah, screw it.

Go out there.

Restrain your hands from me again.

Who cares?

It's fine.

Again, expectations have been completely receptive to the Lakers.

This is perfect for them.

Without knowing to your guys' point exactly when Luca, and by the way, Austin Reeves, dealing

with this oblique injury, when either of these guys are going to be back, they've obviously

been incredibly important to the Lakers, Luca playing at an MVP level.

They are all by the way, Luca's camp here is going to try to challenge the 65 game rule.

He's only played 64 games.

They're going to try to make sure they're going to try to get the fact that he missed a couple

games for the birth of his son earlier in the year to get that scraped away and allow

him to be eligible for end of season awards.

So TBD on that.

But without looking too far ahead here, just looking at a potential first round series.

Whether it is against the Rockets or the Timberwolves or the Nuggets or the Clippers or one

of these teams, you just heard locked on Lakers say that they would pick any of those teams

over the Lakers.

I don't know.

The Rockets, they've been playing better lately, but can LeBron plus whatever is there on

the roster potentially extend, even extend a first round series to the point where one

of these guys can come back.

Matt, you're saying no?

No.

I don't think that's as absolutely not.

Look, the entire roster was built around Lukadonchich.

It's, all right, let's give him a pick and roll big man.

And they have Austin Reeves, right, as a secondary creator and score.

They're without that, too.

Market Smart operates as a shooter because of the gravity that Lukadonchich demands.

Really, Hachmura operates as a shooter because of the gravity that Lukadonchich and Austin

Reeves command.

They don't, I, whom, whom, whom, LeBron can give you one 30 point game.

Maybe out of five, maybe, at 41 years old, I cannot say that he's able to put in more

than that.

Age robs you of your consistency.

So, like, he can have, he, he'll basically be Jimmy Butler where it's like, oh, wasn't

an incredible game.

And then the next game is like, oh, you want to score 17 points.

That's like what you can get from LeBron.

That's about it.

Hey, is, are you on the same page as Matt?

Like, no matter, is there, is there a team on the board that they could potentially play

in the first round?

Like, maybe I'll give the Lakers a chance.

Maybe Portland?

They can't play him.

There's no way for them to get there.

Well, now anything in the, in the, yeah, no.

Yeah.

So, I'll ask you this, Hayes, no aunt, no Jayden McDaniels, who wins Lakers.

Lakers with no Austin Reeves and no Luca.

I still will give it to them in the Southern term pools.

Okay.

Okay.

That I think is like an, that's an interesting one, West, is like, if all four guys are out.

Right.

41 year old LeBron versus Julius Randall, just what we all wanted to see.

Yeah, on the screen, this game is fantastic.

Don't shorten the schedule too much money.

So you guys are both on the page of, don't worry about the season, Matt, you're using

the word gravy.

Like, just don't even worry about this.

It is what it is.

The, the priority should be, Luca, get as healthy as possible, we're playing for next

year anyway, Hayes.

That's sort of the, the idea here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're pointing for next year.

I mean, like, I know me, Matt, have disagreed on this.

Like, I never really saw the Lakers as like a real threat to like make it to the conference

finals or anything this season anyway.

So don't risk Luca getting hurt.

Matt, did you think that this team could have made a run here?

Yeah.

I mean, I think they should risk it.

I think Luca should come back.

You know, I think, I think if it, depending on the prognosis of their like, hey, so

there's like a 10% chance that you could rip the hamstring off the bone and be out for

six, six to eight months, okay, then no, that's probably not worth it, right?

I will say if Reeves is back and Luca's not, I think you still go for it.

If Luca's back and Reeves is not, you still go for it.

I still think that if you have one of those, then yeah, you can beat the Rockets and the

Wolves especially with their injury status.

I do think though, however, I do, like maybe this is a topic for later in the week.

I'm telling you, like, the chemistry stuff I've worried about is looking better in Houston.

I'm starting to be like, man, they might be under the radar.

They're playing a lot better lately.

Meanwhile, we're still buzzing from that Epic's Nuggets Spurs game from over the weekend.

Did the nuggets show why they deserve to be in the same class as the top title favorites?

We're going to talk about that next here.

I'm locked on NBA daily.

Today's episode is brought to you by Quo Spring is a natural reset point.

If there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses money, it's messy communication.

Missed calls, scattered texts, no clear threat of who said what.

That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O.

It's the smarter way to run your business communications.

Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews trusted

by more than 90,000 businesses.

It lets your entire team share one business number so you never miss a call, text, or

opportunity.

The part that I love, everything lives in one clean thread.

Texts, voicemails, the whole team sees the entire conversation so nothing falls through

the cracks.

And the AI summaries save serious time by logging calls and highlighting the next steps

automatically.

It makes running your business feel more organized and responsive.

Make this the season that no opportunity and no customer slips away.

Try Quo for free and get 20% off your first six months at Quo.com slash locked on NBA that's

Quo Q-U-O.com slash locked on NBA Quo.

This is Jake from Lock Dawn.

When the game is on the line, the best no way to pass.

Because the right assist can change everything.

And off the court, it's no different.

That's where your state farm agent comes in.

Whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll

help set you up with a game plan that works for you.

Like a good neighbor, state farm is there.

Covered options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility vary by state.

Welcome back to locked on NBA Daily.

The best way to support the show is to subscribe on YouTube.

We're a Monday to Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern, wherever you get your podcasts.

I want to go back to that Nugget Spurs game from over the weekend, guys.

Awesome game.

Goes to overtime.

Nicola Yokic is a turnaround jumper over Victor Omaniamma.

Might be the shot of the season so far.

My takeaway at least was that this is why you can't count the nuggets out as a team that

can potentially push the spurs or the thunder, the two teams that we considered the very

top of the top of contending teams in the league.

But Matt, you're covering this game for locked on nuggets.

What's it out to you?

Yokic's defense was probably the best in spin all season.

This is Yokic's best game, honestly overall.

One of the reasons I've talked about this consistently with Omaniamma and nobody really

wants to hear it, but you can bump him off his spot.

Watch tonight what happens with Joe L. N.B.

N.B.

It's going to eat.

You can still shove this kid around.

He's too light.

And that he'll get there, but right now he's too light.

You can put a body into him and bump him off his spot and Yokic ate in that game.

And like when we got some blocks, great.

Cool.

Yokic won the war.

Aaron Gordon is a great matchup against Omaniamma and really pushed him off his spot on

potential game winner.

Thought Cam Johnson stepped up huge.

The nuggets have so many weapons.

This offense is just unbelievable.

They have so many weapons.

The spurs is such a great job on Jamal Murray.

Congratulations.

Cam Johnson and Christian Brown destroyed you from three.

It was a great game.

It was a classic game.

It was an awesome game.

This series would go very deep because of how good the spurs are.

But the nuggets do have matchup advantages versus San Antonio.

Nuggets are I think back into being a title contender team.

Yeah.

I mean, listen, we know what Yokic is, but the nuggets, especially when Aaron Gordon plays,

he's such a connector and a blue guy for that team and so important.

Like, you can never count out the nuggets.

I think I've said that the holds I'm going to be doing this show like I'd never count

the nuggets.

I've just learned not to count them out.

They're such a tough team.

They're so well coached.

They execute well.

Yokic is the best player in the world on any given night.

So you just can't count the nuggets and going into this Western conference where you have

these young teams that have stepped up like this person, whatever.

You still can't count out those vets and those teams that have just been there and been

battle tested before in the nuggets.

Even though they've had to kind of reconstruct parts of the roster, I still think they're

right there.

The Aaron Gordon part to me is such a huge part of this.

That was what a performance, Matt, from Aaron Gordon in that game.

He's the one guarding Victor Weminyama most of that game.

Yokic's kind of just doing his under the basket.

I'm here for defensive rebounding purposes thing and then launching the fast breaks.

You mentioned that it's an interesting matchup for San Antonio and the Yokic size part of

this is huge, but also Aaron Gordon is one of those kinds of players where because of

his strength, I know he's not obviously his talls one, but he's got like that unique

ability to be a pretty decent cover for Wemby.

I've talked to a lot of defenders.

Andre Godalla taught me this that the biggest key with defending the great players is to

push them out of their spots, that they're always trying to get to certain spots on the

floor.

It could be like us one step, two steps off, so you get to know where those are.

If you're Wemby and you're used to driving and getting to a certain spot, and that's

your shooting motion from that range, and you get bumped and you're one step back,

your shot mechanics are off.

You're not as comfortable of getting there.

That's me as the key with Wemby Niyama.

You've got to be physical and bump them and look, Wemby had a monster game scoring was,

but beyond the lookout for this, this was the first game where he got introduced to what

the playoffs are going to be like, teams are going to do this to him over and over and

over again.

They're going to bump and hit and push and shove.

That's going to be something that he is going to have to adjust to.

The Spurs are good enough to get by even if Wemby has a rough series, and he's still

dumb.

Again, you look at the numbers.

Still put up great numbers, 18 rebounds, but I do think that there are certain things

that you can do to neutralize Wemby Niyama that, honestly, you can't do to a player like

Shagular Salisander.

Yeah.

I mean, Wemby, we've talked about this.

I know of drill this point home a lot this season is that you can still get him, especially

like with stronger wings.

You still kind of push him off the spots.

As long as that's going to happen, that's going to always be something that can disrupt

the Spurs and the game plan in Wemby, and if you have enough role players to, I think

they can overcome some of that.

But for a team that has really good defenders and really good team defense, I just wonder

how that would play out in the seven game series with Wemby.

Yeah.

I'm thinking about, I hesitate to go so far as Blueprint, right, because not every team

has Niko Yokuch on it.

But using that stronger, stouter defender, we've seen teams do that.

We've seen the Suns use Dylan Brooks in this role, and now obviously in Gordon, but

I'm looking at the playoffs in areas right now.

The Spurs are going to play right now as the two seed, they'll play the seventh seed.

So the winner of Sun's Clippers, the Suns have Dylan Brooks?

The Clippers?

I mean, they could theoretically throw Kauai Leonard at Viktor Webniyama.

I'm trying to think of who's the Aaron Gordon for the teams that the Spurs are going

to potentially play here in the first round, potentially beyond.

If it's Lakers or the Timberwolves or Lakers Rockets, obviously, have a ton of these kinds

of wings, whether it's Tori Esen or Amin Thompson, probably Tori Esen in that scenario.

But hey, as you look at the way that the teams that the Spurs might be able to face here

in the playoffs, I do wonder if this is going to be maybe the ultimate test for Wembi is.

Can you keep doing Wembi things, despite the fact that this is the way we want to try

to defend you?

Yeah.

I mean, that's kind of the next step in evolution of this game, is how much can, no matter

what a team can do to throw at you, you still can get to your spots, you still can play

your game.

They can't throw you off like, that's the next step for Wembi.

I don't know if it comes in this playoffs.

We could see it coming in this playoffs series.

We've seen players kind of get over that hump in the playoffs when they face that level

of competition day in and day out and you see a team that they're just for seven games.

They're planning to stop you from doing your best things.

But you know, he'll get there.

You know, we talk a lot about Wembi.

He's ahead of schedule and I still want to give him the credit for that.

He is still ahead of where I thought he would be at this time.

Not to say I didn't think he would be great.

So, you know, he's still learning and he's going to get there eventually.

He's just too strong, too fast, too big like as that continues to evolve and he puts

on more grown man way, it's going to be very hard to stop Wembi from getting to his spots.

Yeah, and we should note like the nuggets won in overtime after trailing by about 10 for

the majority of the game and got great shot variance on their shots and poor shot variance

in the second half from Tantoneo.

Yeah, if Wembi is falling out of bounds shot at the end of regulation goes in, we're

not having this conversation.

Exactly.

But hey, I do have a question for you if the clippers want to get in the 7, okay?

Between the two options of guarding him, who has a better shot, John Collins or Oso Yigidaro.

Oso Yigidaro.

Okay.

I like Collins's size.

Oso is a little light, too, because he's still young.

Oso is active and he's longer, but I do like John's strength.

John, I think is an underrated defender.

John's got like a little bit of shove to him.

He's got a little bit of physicality.

I wouldn't want to let on John Collins physicality.

Wait, wait, wait, I got one.

I might ask it.

Why am I direct Joe Jr.

He's a little light in the caboose, too.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know if he can deal with the length of Wembi consistently.

I could see Tyler just being like, Christon, go for it.

No, I think that the, here's the thing is what you really need is all you need is a low

center of gravity and strength.

It doesn't really matter your, the, I always think this is funny because it's like, who's

long enough?

No one is.

He's seven three.

Yeah.

Is this why maybe the thunder have a little bit of a problem with San Antonio's because

they kind of just try to out Wembi Wembi with Chet Hongren, who's awesome, but not Wembi,

where maybe the answer is to throw Jalen Williams that we've seen them do this by the way in the

past a little bit, but they're going to default to the Chet Hongren thing that the way the

same way that they kind of defend Yokech is sort of the way that they've tried to defend

Wembi.

I wonder if the thunder can go that way or if Jalen Williams is even that kind of guy.

I think he could possibly, he could potentially do that, Matt.

That'd be interesting because Jalen Williams is very Aaron Gordon like.

Yeah.

They are very, they are very similar comp.

So I think you'll probably see that they match up in the Western Conference Finals.

But yeah, I think it's interesting.

I think, you know, Denver did a great job in picking roll situations on, on Saturday,

which that was my big concern about, but they did leave Julian Champagne open for five

threes.

So it's like, I went, I did a scouting report for our everydayers club, which you can

sign up for, whichever your favorite team is, you can sign up for their everydayers club

when you get access to the discord, which gets you all the teams.

But I did a scouting report and like, when I got to, when I did this, the work on what

are the, the San Antonio Spurs strengths, the first word in it was, yes, like they're

so good at everything, like they are so good at everything.

That makes that win by the nuggets that I gave him more impressive.

Last thing, Matt, before we get out of here, you mentioned that it maybe it was the best

defensive game that Yokech has played all year.

I mean, is that the kind of thing that we needed to see at this stage of the season from Denver

specifically?

We believed in it, theoretically existing or not, for them to do it and to do it against

that team.

How big of a deal is that?

You're looking at the final score and you're like, how can you possibly say that?

The second half, Yokech had a 102.5 defensive rating.

It's really important because if Yokech is able to engage like that and have the endurance,

a lot of this, this was a classic for a lot of reasons, but it was also a classic Yokech

game where everybody in the Laker series in 2023 was like, Oh, Anthony Davis is so much

more athletic and Yokech ran him up and down the floor because Yokech at his peak has an

incredible level of endurance based simply out of spite.

And that's what he did to Wimby, like he just out ran him, that poor kid was tired.

This is like an interesting thing, Hayes, of Wimby doesn't play more than 25 minutes

a night.

He's going to have to play 40 minutes a night.

Is he ready for that, right?

Defined half to because I don't like, do you think in the first round, he's going to,

I don't think Wimby may not have to play that many minutes and so probably can probably

get through round one, not playing that many minutes, but maybe by round two, depending

on the match.

And it's definitely round two, and I look at, I'm just saying styles make fights in

the playoffs.

And this is going to be the first playoff run.

If they come out and they lose game one because they're inexperienced and all of a sudden

it's like, the suns are up one, oh, on San Antonio, it gets dicier now.

You're going to play a more in that, where's him down?

It's a really interesting, it's a fascinating dynamic for how good San Antonio is.

We've got more drama out of Milwaukee is he honest doing his best to get back on the

court?

Is he actually plotting his exit this summer?

We'll talk about that next.

Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall.

The NBA playoffs when you're really here where every possession matters, every matchup

is magnified and every game can swing a series.

And right now, Fandall is giving new customers a great way to get in on that action.

Here's what I like about it.

You could bet just $5 and get $200, $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins.

The app makes it easy to follow the action with player stats, trends and matchups all

in one place.

And during the playoffs, that extra insight really matters when you're looking at stars,

role players and key moments.

It just makes the entire playoff experience more engaging from start to finish.

Head to Fandall.com to get started, Fandall, play your game.

Today's episode is brought to you by TurboTax.

It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing tax is a lot.

Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room

with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth wondering if they really get your situation.

With this year, you're getting a major upgrade into a TurboTax.

Now has in-person locations nationwide.

You can meet face-to-face with real tax experts and your documents get uploaded straight

to your TurboTax app on the spot.

And just like that, you're done.

Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real-time

notifications as you go about your day.

It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing that

your taxes are being handled right.

Head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment

today.

Thanks for making Locked on NBA Daily, part of your daily routine in making the Locked

on Podcast Network your first listened every day.

The Locked on Podcast Network has a show for every team check out Locked on Lakers, Locked

on Nuggets, Locked on Spurs, and Locked on Bucks for more on today's top stories.

To catch everybody up on what's going on in Milwaukee quickly here.

The Bucks wanted to shut Yannis down for the rest of the season.

Then Yannis gripped through the media that he didn't want to be shut down.

Then the NBA Players Association last week launched an investigation into Milwaukee's

handling of Yannis and then over the weekend, Bucks sources told Shams that Yannis is refusing

to practice.

In other words, all that stuff that you do to ramp up to get back on the court, Yannis

reportedly isn't wanting to do that.

What do you make of all this Yannis stuff, the back and forth, the drama that is in many

ways behind the scenes and now being leaked out into the public for all of us to sort of

consume?

Is this all just setting up for Yannis's exit from Milwaukee or does he have a real gripe

here with the organization?

I mean, both are true.

I mean, he has a legitimate gripe with the organization.

If he wants to play and they shut him down, but the organization also, as I said, has

to do diligence to do what's best for them in their future, which is why when that whole

conversation started, it's best for them to have a lottery pick.

I don't care what anybody says.

It's best for them to have a lottery pick, no matter what's going on with the Yannis

situation.

It's Yannis also, though, angling and getting himself out of there absolutely.

And he has enough gripes.

He has enough legitimate reasons to point to.

He brought that city and that franchise a title and that's great to say, but Yannis has

been very clear for years now.

He wants to go to the place that is going to give him the best chance to win championships.

And that doesn't look like it's Milwaukee right now.

This is the frame job and this is where I get annoyed.

If you're the box and you're like, okay, but it doesn't matter if we reshape the roster

and get you a better roster if you're hurt.

We have nothing to play for.

Our best job, our best possibility is getting a pick, which we can trade to get you the

help that you want because we want to keep you.

Getting mad at them for doing that and then leaking this especially.

It's one thing to be like, I'm pretty pissed off that you're not letting me play.

It's another to leak it.

He's not leaking it so that they let him play because as Wes mentioned, he's not practicing.

He's not doing that.

He's doing this to present the public perception that the bucks drove him out of Milwaukee.

This situation is remarkably similar to the Damien Lillard situation, which happened

in Portland.

The exact same thing kind of happened here where Damien was pretty mad about being shut

down, did not like the tanking, wanted them to compete, made it known, and eventually

led to this exact same kind of thing.

And Damien was his wishy-washy about issuing the trade demand as Yannis is being.

I don't know.

This has been the longest strung out thing I can remember.

Howard was almost this long, but this is crazy long in terms of how long this has taken

the resolve itself.

It needs to get resolved.

It needs to get shaken out.

Everybody's got to move on this summer.

And I can't wait for the LeBron James to Cleveland, Jared Allen to Milwaukee, Yannis to

the Lakers that is inevitably coming this summer.

He's going to give you a chance to respond to that.

I got no response to that.

This matmore being matmore.

We'll see what we'll be here to cover it all this off season.

I can't wait.

That's very true.

It does sort of feel like this is just a whole lot to do about getting me out of here,

isn't it?

Like this has almost to me reading the lines, nothing to do with Yannis actually wanting

to be out there, but just having a reason to point to when it does ultimately demand

the trade man.

But he can just say, like he can just let it be known at any point.

His agent can call Shams.

He doesn't even have to talk to him.

His agent can call Shams at any moment and be like, Yannis on the Campo has requested

a trade from the Milwaukee Bucks.

They will work with suitors over the off season during the playoffs to find a suitable home

for him.

The hope is to have him traded before the draft.

Like he can do that at any point.

The reason he's not is he wants both.

He wants to still be beloved in Milwaukee and not have like he doesn't want any of the

blowback.

And this is where I go crazy.

You have to deal with the consequences of your actions.

In reality, like they're fine with it, man.

If you were just like, hey, I love Milwaukee, but my time up is up here.

It's time for me to move on so I can win more championships.

Bucks fans are ready to be like, all right, man, like it hurts, but we love you.

You're always welcome here.

But by doing this nonsense, you are now turning them where they're like, I'm sick of you

hijacking the entire team for this.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

Matt, he is the entire team.

There's no hijack.

There's no team here.

They stink.

There's no team here.

I hear you, but also like, when I mean by team, I'm talking about front office, staff,

coaching staff, people with jobs in the organization, like you, you put a pall over everybody

that works in that building and a lot of people have no control over any of this.

And they get impacted by it is for a guy that is really very concerned about being

liked at the very least by his own fan base in Milwaukee.

Is he kind of botching this here to Matt's point?

Yes, he needs to learn from Matt Moore, just not care about being hated.

Yeah.

They're going to hate him.

If they're going to love you, they're going to love you.

I don't know what that's like, but if they're going to hate you, they're going to hate

you anyway.

It doesn't matter what you do.

It doesn't matter what you do.

All I try to do is be honest and accurate.

I get hated for it.

So it's like, that's a secret to accuracy in 2026, the year of our Lord.

Come on now.

I'm the lone voice in a wilderness.

If you like what you heard today, subscribe to lock down and be a daily wherever you

get your podcasts, including on YouTube.

Thank you to Matt and Hayes for their honesty and expertise.

Every day.

Thank you for making the lock down podcast network your first listen.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow on locked on and be a daily.

The winner games are officially here.

And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events.

You only get to see on the biggest stage every four years.

And that's why following the winner games on Fandall just makes sense.

From middle counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports,

you care about most.

Fandall gives you more ways to say connected to the action.

The drama of curling matches that start slow and somehow get intense fast.

Hockey games that feel different right from opening face off.

The winner games are on and there's no better way to follow them than with Fandall.

Fandall, play your game.