Lakers Crush Kings, Pick Up Much-Needed Win

Hello, Lakers Nation. Welcome in to the Lakers Nation.com live post game show. The Lakers get

the win over the Sacramento Kings, 128, 104. I'm Trevor Lane. Happy to have you all here.

I think a couple of things are true. Just to prep us everything as we're getting into

this show. Number one, it was the Sacramento Kings, literally the worst team in the NBA

record wise. So does this win mean the Lakers are suddenly finals bound? No, of course not.

But it was an important win nonetheless. And it was a really fun win. There were some

awesome moments in this game. Some incredible highlights from the Lakers. And so it's important,

especially given the overall tone of the season and how negative that three game losing

streak was it's also important to enjoy games like this where we get to remember how fun

basketball can be. So this does not mean the Lakers are suddenly back and they've figured

things out. I think that we have seen some good things from them the last two games here

in this back to back this weekend. But even while understanding that this doesn't change

necessarily the Lakers slotting in the hierarchy of the Western Conference or even the NBA overall,

this is a really damn fun game. And I had a great time doing the play by play. And I'm excited

to talk about this here with all of you. All right, let's get into it here. So the Lakers,

again, they win 128-104 LeBron 24 points, eight of 15 shooting, good to see the three balls

starting to fall again for him three of four from deep in this one. And really JJ Reddick

was about to sub Austin Reeves and Luke Adonchich back into the game LeBron hit a flurry of

threes in the fourth and that cemented the end of that and Luca and Austin Witten had

a seat after that. They were standing at the scores table. So LeBron's threes came in

at a timely moment and a prevented JJ Reddick from subding the starters into the game.

And in fact, really ended the game officially at that point 27 minutes for LeBron as well.

So a light lift from him 24 points, five assists, two steals, one block. Also had a pretty

funny moment where it was in the fourth quarter, fortunately the game was over. So it didn't

affect anything, but was boxing out on the offensive end that a shot was missed. Carams

over him. He turned, didn't find the ball, couldn't find it. Balls in the air, it hits LeBron

and goes out of bounds. It was a shacked in a full moment. But other than that, I thought

LeBron was great and hit those big threes when he needed to was moving the basketball.

Deandre Aiden with 12 points, four boards, two assists, two steals and a block, six for

six. Perfect. Shooting missed his only free throw, but Deandre Aiden only played 18 minutes.

Energy-wise where there's some questionable moment, sure. But in general, I thought

the A was was more than fine in this game. Had a nice block and it was good to see the

15 footer knock down the 15 foot, the free throw line jumper. When he has gotten that shot

over the last month or so, he has not hit it at a very high percentage. So it's good

to see him knock down one of those. All right. Then Marcus Smart. I thought this was

one of Marcus Smart's better games. Nine points, three of five shooting from three, all five

of the shots were threes in this one. Five steals. Smart was everywhere on the floor right

now, getting steals, force all these turnover, Sacramento on the night finishes with 20

turnovers. And that was a big part of how the Lakers jumped out to an early lead over

Sacramento with Sacramento. Just kept turning the ball over and Marcus Smart was a big part

of that. I thought he was very timely when he doubled on the ball, particularly when

they tried to ice out the Rosen onto Austin Reeves. I thought Marcus Smart played an excellent

game. Love seeing that. Luca, Luca Magic. Luca was absolutely fantastic. 28 points. 10

of 16 shooting had one of the plays of the game. He went to drive, slipped, legs went

out from under him. He maintained his dribble, got back up and then spun and hit a fade away

three. It was one of the most ridiculous plays we've seen this season. And Luca is the

only guy who could have pulled it off. Absolutely fantastic stuff from Luca, five boards, nine

assists. He really had it going in this one. Only one turn of nine assists and one turnover.

And JJ Redick gave Luca credit at halftime for getting the ball moving early and often.

The way Luca was moving the ball around, they wanted to get everybody touches in this

one. And JJ Redick made sure he shouted out Luca for what he did, getting the ball moving

and getting guys making sure that they were moving the basketball. So Luca, I thought this

was an excellent performance by him. And again, only had to play 29 minutes, put up 28 points.

He was absolutely fantastic. Austin Reeves, a quiet night for Austin Reeves didn't need

a whole lot, but didn't didn't do a whole lot. 12 points in this one, three for nine shooting,

two of six from three, a low light. Certainly when he was, it was in the third quarter, a

spun had what looked like a wide open layup. And so he took his foot off the gas and just

kind of coasted it in and went to lay it up, not realizing the shop blocker had chased

him down. Had he gone at any kind of a decent pace. He's got an easy layup, but got a shop

blocked on that one. Just took his foot off the gasway too early, but three for nine shooting,

two of six from three, five assists. They didn't really need a whole lot out of Austin Reeves

tonight, but just a 12 point game for him. And this one did a lot of stuff off ball and

it was a lot more of the ball in the hands of Luca for the bulk of the game. Only had to

play 27 minutes, though, as well, which was nice. Maxi, Maxi had a phenomenal dunk. By

the way, Austin had a great lob in this one as well. Again, there were a ton of fantastic

highlights in this game. Jackson, he's was throwing down lobs, LeBron James throwing down

lobs. It was absolutely fantastic. One of the plays of the game, Marcus Smart had a

steal and then threw the ball while he was on the floor ahead for the lob dunk. It was

absolutely awesome. But Maxi, I thought Maxi Kleeba, who played 14 minutes, I thought he brought

great energy. He once again took DeAndre Aitens shift, his second shift of the game to start

the second quarter. Maxi Kleeba went in there, second game in a row that he's done that.

I thought Maxi did a really nice job, six points, six rebounds, had a really nice block

as well, threw down a dunk. He's quicker getting to the basket than you would expect. And

actually had a really nice touch on the finish with a left hand at the rim. Rui Hachimura,

two for four from three, two for eight shooting overalls, not ideal. But welcome back, Rui

he had been missing the last few games due to illness, eight points from Rui Hachimura,

two for two with the free throw line, just two rebounds, but 22 minutes and getting his

legs back under him after being out. Jake Laravia, two for ten, took a tough shot late

in the fourth. There's a, but still was not a good shooting night from Laravia. Oh, for

three, seven rebounds, you know, you're always going to get hustle, hustle out of Jake, but

would like to see the three ball start falling again. Has it been consistent as a shooter

this year? But Laravia, 22 minutes off the bench for the Lakers, then we had Jackson

Hayes, 13 minutes. Hayes had a couple of wonderful dunks, four points for Hayes, five boards.

And you could see the team looking for him. Canard had a great pass to him that led to

a lob dunk. You could just throw the ball up to Jackson Hayes and you know he's going

to go get it. And you could see the team get excited to throw those lobs to Jackson.

As far as the DNPs, because we did see some of the young guys get in late, but Jared Vanderbilt

did not play in this game. So now with everyone healthy and playing and the Lakers ran

into 10 man rotation, Maxi Kleebaum took Vander's role. We've seen a shift in the rotations

where JJ is leaning in a little bit more when the big three are not on the floor together

to lineups that feature LeBron and the banshees, which would be, you know, Marcus Smart, Jake

Laravia, players like that. He is mixing in some loop canard into those groups. So sometimes

some Ruby Hatchamura into those groups either Aiden or Hayes in there. Sometimes Maxi, he's

mixing and matching these a little bit more, but Jared Vanderbilt was the odd band out tonight.

Was a DNP did not play much last game, didn't play much the game before that. So a little

bit unfortunate there for Vando to not get minutes here right now. And it does appear

that the 10 guys in JJ's rotation right now are LeBron, Aiden Smart, Luca and Austin, the

starters, and then Maxi Rui Laravia, canard and no Vando out there at Hayes as well, no

Vando as part of that 10 man rotation. Will that continue? We'll see, but I like the energy

that Maxi brought and the Lakers have looked good in those moments. So unfortunate for

Jerry Vanderbilt, but right now he is for the second time this season appears to be out

of the rotation. Now the young guys did get in in the fourth quarter was a little frustrating.

I thought JJ needed to sub them in earlier. He subbed in Bronnie at about the six minute

mark and then put the other three guys, Kobe Bufkin, a do-theorough Dalton connect at

the scores table right after subbing in Bronnie, sent the other three to the scores table

and then there were no stoppages for the next two minutes of play. And so we had two minutes

of play go by on the floor and JJ couldn't sub them in. He finally had to take a time out

to get his young players in. I thought that was a mistake by JJ. Get the young guys in

as soon as you can. As soon as you know, the game's over. Get those guys some experience.

A do-theorough had the play of the end of the game. A straight line drive through down

the dunk and won, completed the free throw. And that's what has people excited about a

do-theorough. You can see that he is a next level athlete. Does that mean that he's going

to do everything perfectly out there on the floor? No, but it's that kind of stuff that

can be tantalizing about a player like a do-theorough. And as a wing skill said wise, he's probably

the type of player. Or if he does hit, will be the type of player that the Lakers could

certainly use. So it was good to see that explosive moment from a do-theorough. And I would

like to see more of him in the future here. All right, everybody. Going to get into some

of your questions, some of your comments. But first, let's go here.

The star of the night pretty clear superstar the night. It's got to be Luca. It's got to

be Luca 28 points tennis. I mean, hyper efficient. 10 to 16 shooting, not only was he 10 to

16 shooting, four of eight from three, but nine assists on one turnover. That's an easy,

easy call. Very effective game for Luca. Luca easy call for the superstar of the night.

The only downside to Luca's game, 407 from the free throw line. That was it. 407 from the

free throw line. That is the only unfortunate part of Luca's game tonight. I thought he was

fantastic. Look great. And he was enjoying himself out there. Luca was he put on a show for the

LA crowd. Great to see that from Luca. All right, let me get into some of your questions, your comments.

I bid the do. Really hope he gets more playing time. You know, I've talked about this.

I think that feeding minutes to a new theorem should not be the end all be all right now. That's

not everything for the Lakers in this moment. Winning games is the most important thing right now.

But for a team that I think despite to blow out victories in a row, it's against the Warriors,

a shorthand of work. Now, the Warriors did beat Denver with that group. So I thought it was a

particularly poor shooting night from Golden State last night. But nonetheless, it wound up being a

pretty easy victory for the Lakers. I think some of it is you've credit to the Lakers in the way

they played, of course. It's not just, oh my gosh, the Warriors are awful. Tonight,

the Kings are pretty awful. The Lakers played well though as well. They did some things. Well,

there were some moments where they took their foot off the gas. But the goal is still the

wind basketball games. It's not like now with these two wins though that you feel like

while the Lakers are contenders at this point. No, they're not. They're a tier below that, at least.

They're a tier below that. So part of this season is now focusing on what is this team ultimately

going to become to get to that contender level. And that means figuring out what you've got,

what you've got in these young guys. And that means getting some minutes whenever you've got a chance,

for Kobe Bufkin, for a do-theor-o, for perhaps for Bronny James, Dalton Connect, getting these guys

on the floor whenever possible and trying to do so aggressively. Again, I thought they needed to come

in earlier in the fourth quarter in this game. And these are guys that are getting run with the

South Bay Lakers anyway. It's particularly a do-and-brony who have been with the South Bay Lakers

for the last few games. But you want to see these guys get on the floor. And out of that group,

the development of a do-theor-o is far more important than anybody else. Simply because if

his skill set, if he hits, it's exactly what the Lakers need on the wing, in terms of athleticism,

the defense, all of that. So I think the Lakers need to really put something into the development

of a do-theor-o. Now, the Lakers are seeing him every day in practice. They're seeing him with

South Bay. It's possible he's just not ready for consistent minutes at the NBA level right now.

But I would like to see from here until the end of the regular season, I'm not expecting playoff

minutes for him. I would like to see a more concerted effort to get a do-theor-o onto the floor

whenever possible. Winning is still the most important thing. You still do everything you can to win

games. But if a game is essentially decided, whether in one way or the other, get him on the floor,

make it a priority to get him on the floor. What I want to see from a do-theor-o is him to have a

real understanding of what playing in an NBA game is, what it feels like. I want him to start to

have an understanding of what it is he does not know. Sometimes, guys, when they come into the NBA,

they don't know what they don't know. It takes that experience to start to figure that out.

I want him to come into the summer, which is going to be an important summer. He didn't get a

summer last year to train to develop any of that. Didn't get to play summer league. Didn't get

preseason training camp. None of it because he was hurt. I want him to go into summer league as

complete of an understanding of where he needs to go as a player as possible. I think getting him

on the court for NBA minutes is going to be a part of that process. Though, frankly, if Jared

Vanderbilt is the odd man out right now in the rotation, I don't have a lot of hope that we're

going to see a do-theor-o in competitive minutes right now. I think most likely we're talking garbage

time because I would assume Jared Vanderbilt is going to slot ahead of a do-theor-o in any kind of

pecking order. Nonetheless, I really think the development of a do-theor-o isn't important,

not the most important, but an important thing for the Lakers here to move forward.

By the way, I should have, and I'm glad this chat came in because I didn't mention in the stats,

I don't think I've been more confident that a Lakers shooter will make an open three than Luke.

He is so poised and with underrated defense. Luke Canard, very impressive. Luke Canard,

11 points, 4 for 10 shooting that field goal percentage at the rim is going to come down a little

bit. Heading into this game, Luke Canard was number one in the NBA in points per shot attempt

among every guard or forward in the league. Everyone, the only players that were ahead of him

in points per shot attempt were lob biggs, Jackson Hayes being one of them. Essentially,

guys that all they do is throw down lobs because just about every shot attempt for them is just a

dunk. So those guys points per shot attempt is going to be very, very high. Luke Canard,

as a Laker, scoring more points per shot attempt than anybody in the NBA that isn't exclusively

a lob dunker. I mean, just absurd stuff. And he did miss a couple shots at the rim when he was

with that Lanna. His rim finishing was not very good. So he was finishing at a very high percent

with the Lakers so far, missed a couple shots there. So those numbers will come down a little bit,

but he's been fantastic. He's been fantastic. And after the game, he was asked about what it means

being a Laker and wearing that, you know, the Lakers jersey. And he talked about being on the big

stage and how important it is to to play well for the Lakers and how that's something that matters

to him. He basically said everything that you want to hear. But I think what is really stood out

defensively, he did some good things tonight underrated defense. I thought he had

quick hands. He got credited this game with just one steal. That's not accurate. If you're

watching the game, you saw he actually knocked the ball away multiple times. I counted three

for him. But what happened was he knocked the ball away and somebody else picked it up.

But I would have credited him with three steals for this game. That's not typical. But

defensively, I thought he did pretty well in this one. And he, he competes on the defensive side

of the ball. He's not going to be a good defender. But what's been most impressive about Luke

Canard, not only is he this laser shooter out there, but the Lakers, I think have really unleashed

some of the playmaking with him. Five assists in this game. And what we're seeing out of Luke Canard

is not just gravity, but the ability to use that gravity in a way that goes beyond just shooting

the basketball, because when guys are closing out on him with fear in their eyes as they should,

because it's the best three point shooter in the NBA teams close out on him in a panic. And

when they do, he's very capable. And he mentioned it after the game that the Lakers asked him to be

more than a shooter. And that was very smart of the Lakers to do. He's very capable of putting the

ball in the floor and making the right read. And he does that consistently had a really nice lob

that he threw. It just he is a ball mover. We talked about it when the Lakers first traded for him.

He's a ball mover. He's not a ball stopper. He is not just a shooter. There's some guys where they

are shooters. And every time they get the ball, that shot is going up. Luke Canard is a shooter,

but he's a very willing passer. And sometimes to his detriment, sometimes he passes, went frankly,

he should shoot because he's such a good shooter. You want him shooting the ball. But he's a very

willing passer. He's a ball mover. He will keep the offense flowing. And I actually think despite

the defensive deficiencies that are inherent with this, when it's Luca Austin and Canard out there,

there's a lot of activity there. Your ability to spread the floor and get defensive scrambling

and then take advantage of that. But create an advantage and maintain the advantage. It's very,

very high. And you wind up with some really, really fun basketball where the Lakers are getting

into the paint. They're driving their kicking. They're moving the ball and they're winding up

getting open looks. And it's always satisfying when that open look is a splashed three from Luke

Canard. There was one play. There was one play tonight where Luca had the ball up top, gets a screen

from Hayes. Hayes is rolling the corner man. It was De Marta Rosen had to drop in had to essentially

De Marta Rosen was put in a position where he had to make a decision. And Luca has got the ball.

And he, De Rosen is stuck between Jackson Hayes and Luke Canard. And De Rosen had to decide,

do I want to give up a three to Luke Canard or a lob dunk to Jackson Hayes?

He chose the three for Canard. He jumped over onto Hayes. Lucas said, cool. Flick the ball out to

Canard corner three bottom. I mean, when you get a team spaced out, spread out. And again, the

Kings are the worst team in the league. It's not going to look just like that every single night.

But when you eventually get a team into that kind of position and you can capitalize

on a pick your poison moment like that. Man, that's a lot of fun for your offense. That's a lot

of fun when Luca donches can fling that ball out knowing that that thing's going in. He's got

confidence thrown the lob to Jackson Hayes. He knows he can be off a little bit on the lob.

And it doesn't matter. Hayes is going to correct in the air and finish it anyway. That kind of

confidence is there with Canard as well as a three point shooter that he can fire that pass out

to Canard and he's going to be able to knock down that shot on a consistent basis. So that was great

to see. And Canard is looking more and more like a long-term fit all the time. He's a free agent

this summer. But as I said, when the trade went down, you have no issues given up a second

round pick for Luca Nard as long as it's not just a half a season thing. He is significantly

better for this team than Gabe Benson was. That does not mean again that he moves the needle to

putting the lakers into a contention. But he's a good piece to have moving forward. And I think

there's instant synergy and chemistry on the offensive end with Luca Nard. I've been very impressed

with him. All right, let's see what else we got here.

Oh, yeah, I get to use the band button. Awesome.

How's like a fourth grader in here right now? Should they be in bed?

My goodness.

All right, Jay or Jamie said, I know it's just depleted Golden State team and the Kings,

but it feels nice not only to get two wins but to blow out wins. These are teams that we should

be blowing out. Yeah, the lakers have not had back-to-back double digit wins since the end of November.

Consecutive double digit wins since the end of November. And part of that speaks to how many clutch

games the lakers have been in, how many games have been close and how good they've been in those types

of games. But the lakers haven't had to kind of kick back and relax games like this in months. It's been

months since the lakers had a situation like this. So again, while you knew zero credit will be

given to the lakers for these wins, right? Because it's Golden State. They're without stuff. It's

Sacramento. I mean, they're they're tanking. They're shutting guys down with injuries and all kinds

of stuff. The lakers aren't going to get any. Nobody's going to change the lakers spot in power

rankings or anything from this. Everything that comes out is going to be going to be who cares.

It's, you know, it's bad teams all that. But it's important that the lakers get these wins. It's

important that the lakers get these wins without putting minutes on their stars that they win

in dominant fashion so that they can kick back and relax a little bit. These are, you know, in the

NFL, we talk a lot about like get right games. These are kind of get right games for the lakers.

These are opportunities to get the offense clicking the way that you needed to to get guys into

a rhythm and pick up a win without having to necessarily push down on the gas pedal too hard. So

been a long time, you know, been since the early days of the season since the lakers have had

back-to-back wins of this caliber. And so this is a nice weekend for the lakers heading into what's

going to be a more difficult stretch of the schedule. We look at what's coming ahead. And that's where

the real test is going to be dead. These two games get anything to click with the lakers on

either end of the floor. I think if they do, it would be more offensively than defensively. They

get another game like that coming up on Tuesday when they get the New Orleans Pelicans. Now the

pells, it's a little bit different. So the team the lakers just played tonight, the Sacramento

Kings. They're hoping to lose as many games as possible. They want to get the number one overall

pick. Right now they have the best not the best odds because the flattened lottery odds. But

right now the Sacramento Kings have a 52% chance at the top four pick of 14% chance at the number one

overall pick, which is the same odds as the bottom three teams. The Pelicans though are interesting

in that they're a bad team. But unlike the Kings, the Pacers, the Nets, the Wizards, the Jazz,

the Mavs, every team around them is incentivized to lose games. The Pelicans are not because they

don't have their pick. They traded it. So the Pelicans have no incentive to shut anybody down.

So I'm not saying the lakers are going to lose to the Pelicans. I'm just saying you would expect

it to be a little bit more competitive than this game was. I think because the other pells just

got back to John Day Murray as well. He came back from that Achilles injury. So I do think the

Pelicans game will be a little bit more challenging. But that said, that's not the point here

of why we're looking at schedule. We're looking at the schedule because after that, Denver,

Indy, second night of back to back, but still Indy, a tanking team, we'll take that Denver,

New York, Minnesota. I mean, look at the next week and a half. You've got Denver twice,

Minnesota and New York. Yeah. All the people who are saying these games mean nothing.

The lakers don't, the lakers get zero credit for winning these games. The only way to get them to

change their tune would be to win some of those games. Denver, New York, Minnesota,

then Denver again at Houston, at Houston, like fatten up on these wins right now because

the schedule gets tough here, gets real tough. If you're going to, if you're going to prove anything,

if you're going to get a statement win, the nicks, I thought got a statement win over San Antonio

today. This was a statement win over the spurs that the nicks got. The lakers have opportunities

to get statement wins. They haven't done it all season. I think the last statement win for the

lakers came October 29th. This beginning of the season, second game against Minnesota,

winning at the buzzer on an Austin Reeves bucket. That was the last statement win for L.A.

You look at the rest of their games. Clippers were playing awful basketball when they beat him in

November. I don't think there's been a statement win since then. A win where you say, man,

the lakers played good basketball against a good team and got the W.

Thank you. And in this stretch coming up, if they lose to Denver, both times, they lose to

New York, they lose to Minnesota, then it will be well. That's just what the lakers are. They're not

making progress. They cannot compete with the better teams. And that's that. If they win some of

these, I'm looking at if you could beat Denver of Denver, Minnesota, New York, if you could win two

of those, that'd be big time. Those would be statement wins if you could go two for three,

but Denver, Minnesota, New York. If you could go out of Denver, New York, Minnesota, Denver,

Houston, Houston, there's six games there. You go four and four and two

when four of those six games. And that tells you something. Then you can say, okay, you know,

maybe they're figuring some things out. Obviously, we're not there yet. They're just coming off

three game losing streak and they didn't look particularly good. But this is their chance.

They haven't had a statement win in my opinion since the end of October. This is their chance.

We'll see if they can do it. Two games in Houston back to back. Yep. Yep.

It's not easy. My at Miami at or that look at that road trip coming up. Look at that.

At Houston, at Houston, at Miami, at Orlando, at Detroit, at Indiana.

Cool. Look at this five game stretch here in March. March 14th through 23rd.

Man, six games, nine days, six games in nine days, Denver, Houston, Houston, Miami, or

Orlando, Detroit. That is rough. Opportunities for statement wins. We'll see if they can prove it.

And Houston, Miami, Miami, second night of a back to back on the road. You got to fly from

Houston to Miami. That's a few hours. We're going to find out.

Lot to find out about this team during this stretch coming up. So that's where we look at these

games that they just played this weekend. And no, they don't get credit for beating. It's not like

suddenly the Lakers are contenders or whatever when they when they weren't before.

My hope is that these can be get right games for them. That they ironed out some things during

these two games. And and can continue to do so on Tuesday against the pells. And that will allow

them to go into this much more difficult part of their schedule playing better basketball.

That's the hope. And if not, it's going to be more of the Lakers. Just they are what we thought,

right? Just a team that can't compete with the with the best teams.

Luca afterwards said about the play where he slipped. Here it is.

Luca said he slipped on purpose. And of course, he's getting. And he says, how do you say N1

mixtape about this? This was unbelievable. This is unreal. Lucas said I slipped on purpose.

He slips, maintains his dribble turns fires. Unreal. Absolutely unreal. So Luca after the game says,

oh, yeah, I did it on purpose. I did it on purpose. That was awesome. All right, let's see what

else we got here. Le positive regression from three L3J Lebron. Yeah, he's not shot the three

well. He was asked about it. He was asked about not shooting the three particularly well this season.

And he said, you know, I'm not really a numbers guy. He just, you know, if the shots open, he's

going to take it. And he's always got confidence that he's going to hit it. But on the season,

on the season, he is shooting right now 31.1% from three. I mean, that's a, aside from his rookie year,

that's a career low. He's shooting from three. So not ideal, especially when he's in an offense with

Luca where you need floor spacing and all of that. But you look at the last two games, hopefully,

you know, getting his legs under him and hopefully getting into a rhythm here because he is seven for

10 in his last two. Now before that was over three. He had a bunch of had a one for five night,

few one for three nights, over one. But three for four tonight, four for six last game. That would

be a big factor. You know, talk about these games being a get right game. The Lakers ramping up

their level play. This is the time of year to do it. It would be a significant step forward for

the Lakers. If LeBron does have regression to the mean from three. If LeBron goes on a bit of a

heater in, in response to what's been a down season for him from three, if we see those numbers come

back around and he starts pulling those percentages up, let's say we go into the month of March and he

shoots 40% from deep for the month of March. That makes a number of games significantly more winnable.

That's maybe an extra three points, maybe an extra six points a night from LeBron. That changes

the way teams will defend him. That would actually be a very significant thing. I know it doesn't

sound like a lot like, hey, if LeBron hits one more three a night, maybe two on a good night,

like, but that would matter a lot. That would matter a lot. So if we do see positive regression

from LeBron and again, two games going seven for 10 in two games is not enough to say, okay, he's back.

But if that three comes back, that would actually be a really big development for the Lakers.

It was last season that LeBron from three shot pretty well, 38% from deep. The season before

that 41% from deep. So we've had a couple of seasons of LeBron shooting the ball pretty well,

well above league average from three, particularly on catching shoots. That number has not been there

this year. If that shot were to come back around, that'd be a big deal for the Lakers.

All right, let's see what else we got here.

GA could have had more points, but he plays hot potato with the ball, never ready for the slip passes.

Yeah, so DA had a couple of passes that he fumbled that would have been, I think, easy buckets for him.

His hands haven't been the best. I think it's a noticeable energy difference with DA on the

floor compared to say Jackson Hayes or Maxi. He had 12 points. He was six of six shooting in this one.

It wasn't like this was a bad performance and I don't want to just shred DA, but he did have a

couple of passes that hit him in the hands and fell out of bounds. So they wound up being turnovers.

But Aiton was six for six. I like that the Lakers. There was a possession early in the second half

where they went to him quickly and he got a little jump hook. The Kings were trying to come back

into things and Aiton put a stop to that really fast. So that was good to see. That was I think

early in the third quarter. He also got the 15 footer to go, which has not been a super

consistent shot for him since November, December. It's been been a month or two since he's been

knocking down that shot with any consistency. So it was good to see him hit that one. But yeah,

in general, DA, the hands aren't the best. It is what it is at this point. I do like when he

talked about him playing hot potato. I do like that when he's in a four on three situation.

So when the ball handler gets blitzed, DA does a pretty good job picking his head up and looking

and then just sending the pass where it needs to go. We talk about Luke and Art being a willing

passer. DA is also a willing passer in those situations. I think it's an underrated part of his

game. But I'm still at the same spot I was at with DA. And that's that he's not the guy long term.

He's not the guy. And my concern come playoff time is when we look at the Lakers,

probable playoff matchups right now, Minnesota, Houston, Denver, all three, all three of those

teams have centers that are significantly better than what the Lakers have. If not multiple

centers who are better than what the Lakers have. DA, man, it is going to be sink or swim for him

come playoff time. And I and I hope the answer is swim. I hope he is phenomenal. He is a talented

player. Unfortunately, you don't get that out of him consistently. He's a talented player. Look,

it was early in the season when I was calling back to the last statement when it gets Minnesota at

the end of October. DA was outdoing Rudy Gobert in those games. You know, Austin Reeves called him

the other day in that Dave McMahon article, the X factor for the Lakers. And while I think

that's a little bit much in those matchups, he may actually be that because getting a Deandre

Aiden who, while I don't expect him to hold his own in those matchups, but getting a Deandre Aiden

who is something in those who is a positive for the Lakers would matter a ton would be a bit,

I mean, could very well make the difference in the series if the Lakers are going up against

Houston, Minnesota, or Denver. If we get the Deandre Aiden, we saw on Christmas day that had two

rebounds against the Houston Rockets. That's a huge problem for the Lakers. If we get the DA that we

saw the first couple of times against the wolves, then suddenly the big advantage in the paint,

while it's still an advantage for Houston, Minnesota, Denver, it's not as much of one. You're at least

chipping away at that. And Jackson Hayes, while I've been very happy with what we've seen out of Jackson

Hayes on the season with the exception of trucking that mascot, I don't know what got in his head

with that. And Maxi gives you some physicality and some energy. Deandre Aiden is the only one of those

three that has the ceiling high enough to potentially make a difference in a matchup against Houston

or Minnesota or Denver. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying I'm optimistic that he's

going to not with what we've seen particularly over the last couple of months. I'm not going to get

my hopes up about that. But it's also not like we haven't seen much better play, much more engaged

play from Deandre Aiden this season. I really hope that he finds a way to bring that back out.

And some of it, when I get a lot of people defending the A and saying, oh, the Lakers,

they're not using them right. They need to give them the ball more all this. There is some truth

to that. Some there is the Lakers do need to do a better job getting the ball in the right spots.

And there are times where they just they just miss them where they get them they he gets position

and the Lakers don't find him with the pass instead it turns into a Lucas step back three or something

like that. We saw that last game. And feeding Aiden on the offensive end might help get him engaged.

That said, I don't like that mentality that you have to feed the center to get him to do the

things that should be a baseline level of effort every single night.

But a lot of it's on D8. It's on D8. What is he going to push down on the gas pedal that night

or not? And that's the situation the Lakers are in right now with him.

If he does, if he plays the way he did to start the season, the Lakers are a much more

formidable team come playoff time, particularly in those matchups than they would be otherwise.

Yeah, we don't always feed D8, but you shouldn't have to pass him the ball to make him defend. Yes,

100%. Should not have to pass him the ball to make him defend. Absolutely agree.

Okay, we have not done the star in your role yet. So I'm curious to see what you guys have.

Star in your role. Who gets it? Star in your role. Let's take a look at some of the options here.

So the Lakers again, beaten Sacramento, solid win, a good win. Maybe not a Jordan good win,

but a good win nonetheless.

Candidates, D8 and 12 points, four boards, two steals at a block.

Marcus Smart, five steals, three assists, three boards, three of five from deep.

And Luke Canard, 11 points, three of five from deep, five assists.

Out of those three, who are you going with?

Smart, Canard. Oh, I've got a vote for Maxi. Maxi Cleba, six points, six boards, a block.

Canard, a close second, Luke Canard, feed D8, pre-workout. Just put it in his water bottle

or in his crunk juice that they have to give him every game.

Canard, smart, all three of them, Marcus, three threes in elite defense.

So I am going to go from my official pick. I'm going to go Marcus smart.

I'm going to go Marcus smart. I thought, I think for the last few games, he's really,

he's always a tone setter defensively, but I think he's done a really nice job,

the last few games there. And he was just everywhere tonight. And part of what really,

I think, took the spirit away from Sacramento was the turnovers. I thought smart was absolutely

fantastic. The steals were huge, making that highlight real play from the ground, throwing

the hit-a-head pass. He had the Odell Beckham Jr. style catch two to get the steal,

the one hand falling backwards, grab for a turnover. Marcus smart. I'm going to go with him for

this one. Take nothing away from Luke Canard. I thought he was fantastic, made some great plays

as usual, but I'm going to go Marcus smart for this one. Brad said, I think the majority of the

chat was Luke. Well, the majority of the chat may have been Luke. I don't have to agree with the chat.

I don't know. This is not a democracy here in this situation. We do do both sometimes a poll.

But if it's up to me, I would pick Marcus smart. Both are very deserving of praise. Yes, both

are deserving of praise. Yes, yes, yes. Enjoy the silence. You're absolutely right. Sometimes,

I am a dick tater. Sometimes. It happens. It happens. I'm going to give credit to Marcus smart.

And yes, as elevator radio said, can't go wrong. Can't go wrong. Either way.

All right. Let's get back into some of these other way. By the way, I also want to give a shout out

here to Nick Clifford. 26 points on 11 of 18 shooting the King's rookie. I was blown away with him

at preseason. I thought he had a really good game tonight. Seven boards, four assists. He played 42

minutes, which my God. What are you doing playing in 42 minutes? He was even playing garbage time.

But I thought he was fantastic. So under control out there. The Kings have got a good one in him.

Our old friend Russell Westbrook, by the way, 14 points, but six to 16 shooting, one of seven from

three, five assists, four turnovers, picked up a technical file, was not happy about something that

was going. I never figured out why he was upset. But old friend Russ was out there 14 points.

But Nick Clifford wanted to give him a shout out. I've been very impressed with how poised he is

out there on the floor. All right. Let's go here. Any reason Austin's field goal attempts have

been so low since coming back from injury, do you think they will slash need to go back up?

I think it's a few things. I think part of it is we did see a LeBron that was coming back from

injury himself. And so LeBron wasn't playing as heavy minutes. The early season where Austin's

field goals were really, really up. There was no LeBron and all LeBron was injured. He was dealing

with that saddock issue. So that's certainly a factor. The arrival of Luke Kinnard has given

the Lakers another secondary playmaker. And so that has in those lineups that feature Austin and

Kinnard. Kinnard's been doing a pretty good job getting into the paint and then finding

finishers and or finishing plays himself. So that's also taken the ball out of the hands of Austin

Reeves at times. The ball's obviously going to be in Luke's hands a lot. Tonight they just,

they didn't really need him to shoot very much. He took nine shots in this one. But the last two

games, they haven't needed Austin Reeves to shoot as much. They've also been using him off fall

a bit more, which statistically he's a very, very good pick and roll ball handler. In fact, he's got

one of the highest points for possessions in the NBA as a pick and roll ball handler. But

I think the shot attempts will come back up at some point. Nine shot attempts in this one. You

could see through it was only what a few games ago that the minutes restriction really went away.

And the last two games he's essentially played the same minutes as when he had a minutes restriction.

27 minutes tonight, 28 minutes last night. I do think eventually the shots will come back. He's

averaging what for the month of February. He averaged 12.4 shots per game, which is down to from

the month of December, which was down three from the month of November. So it's not like he's shooting

five less shots per game or anything like that. I think it's a couple of things. It's the minutes

restriction being taken effect here and that being being something that just he's just on the floor

less. And so naturally, there's going to be fewer shots. And then also the addition of Luke

Canard and LeBron James being a bit more capable to carry some of the burden score in the basketball.

You look at the last. What is it now? 14 or 15 games. He's only equipped 20 points twice.

And again, I think that just reflects the minutes restriction. It reflects the makeup of the team

right now. But there are games coming where he'll be higher usage just hasn't been happening

over the last stretch here. And I think as the Lakers big three kind of rounded to form as well.

There's going to be opportunities for all three of them. But of course, Lucas is the mount that

gets fed first. It's this is Lucas team. It's going to be through the lens. The team is built through

the lens of what works with Luca. So he's going to have the ball in his hands the most out of those three.

And Austin had we've been seeing more of Austin sharing the floor with Luca and then a LeBron lineup

with LeBron and the bench guys. And so that's taking away some of the Austin and the bench

crews where Austin's going to take most of the shots when those groups are on the floor. Instead,

we're seeing the Austin Luca pairing JJ's leaning into that and then leaning into LeBron and the

banshees, which based on all the advanced metrics, that is the way to go. That's that's what has worked

for the Lakers so far this season. So I think JJ digging into what's worked and what hasn't

has is believing the numbers and going with that.

Master log Westbrook literally foaming at the mouth. He did have some some crusties going on there.

Didn't he? He was not happy. I would have to imagine. I would have to imagine that

that Russ would have preferred to beat the Lakers. Like I think that's something that probably matters to him.

Somebody said Luke canard makes Austin more expendable. I mean, I like Luke canard is a is a very

capable secondary creator and a ball mover. I believe it was Memphis when they were crushed by

injuries. They tried out of necessity putting canard into more of a primary ball handler role.

And it's just not really what you want to do with them. He's better equipped in some players to

do it for sure. But that's not he's much more of a secondary creator, which is a good thing to

have an important thing to have. But Austin is a different level of creator than canard is.

You know, it's funny because like when Dalton Connect had a going last season and a lot of people

that were saying, Oh, Dalton Connect makes Austin Reeves totally expendable. Dalton Connect is,

he's going to play the same role. No, they're not the same player at all. And we at that point we

had no idea that Dalton Connect was going to fall off the way that he has. But canard does not play

the same role as Austin Reeves either. It's not like it's one or the other because they do play

very different roles. They can do some similar things. I think there's more similarities between

canard and Reeves than connecting Reeves because Dalton Connect is a complete non-creator.

Even when he was at his best, he was a complete non-creator. But well, complete is too far.

He had a few modes where he had some good passes in that first summer league that he played in.

But effectively, he's a score, right? Canard can be a creator, but it's not like you're going to

trust high-picking role with Luke Canard eight or nine times in a game to go win you that game.

Austin Reeves, you can do that and expect him to be successful in those moments.

A do definitely has potential for sure. Dalton seems uninterested. Can't really understand why the

board gave a Buffkin a regular contract. So when it comes to Buffkin, he was, I know he didn't

look good tonight. He had a couple of plays, but like Kobe Buffkin, one for five shooting tonight.

In the Glee, he was shooting the ball very well. But I mean, you look,

what he did in the month of February. And again, we're talking about small sample size Garbage

Time Minutes. One for five from three, 0 for one from three, 0 for two from three.

That's not ideal there, right? So he was, what, one for eight from deep in February, 0 for two

tonight from three. And before that, in January, one for five from three, 0 for one, one for one.

He's not shot the ball well. And that's the opposite of what we saw in the Glee. He was shooting

the ball extremely well, hitting step back threes, all the things. It may just take time for him to

do it at the NBA level. We also have to remember, he's primarily just playing Garbage Time.

It takes a little bit of, it takes time to get into a rhythm. And sometimes he's just thrown in with,

you know, three minutes to go do something. And it's so expecting him to just pop in those three

minutes is sometimes tough. But Buffkin, yeah, he's not look great. It's possible. There are

guys. And he's still young, but it's possible that he winds up being one of those guys that is

too good for the G league, but not good enough for the NBA. There's guys who that's kind of the

where they live, right? Mac McCleum, to good example, where really, really good G league player,

not quite good enough to stick consistently on an NBA roster. Maybe that's Kobe Buffkin. That

said, he's 22 years old. Plenty of time still for him to figure some things out. Plenty of time

for him to grow and develop and all that. My guess, and it's just that, is that he was playing so

well in the G league that other teams were starting to consider bringing him on board. And somebody

else was probably offering him a full roster spot. And so the Lakers had to decide, do we either

give him our roster spot or lose him? Because he wasn't on a two way contract. And if another team

would have been willing to give him a full roster spot, then that's that, right? He's going to take

that. As I know, a lot of people said, Oh, just give Kobe a two way spot. He was playing well

enough in the G league where maybe he did have, and this is my guess here. Maybe he did have interest

from other clubs with a full roster spot. He is the 15th guy on the roster. The Lakers saw

something in him. He really did look good in the G league. And so I hope that eventually his NBA

play starts to reflect the G league play. Because right now he doesn't look like the same shooter

at the NBA level as he does when he's playing in the G league with the South Bay Lakers.

Hopefully that will ultimately catch up. But so far in the short stints that we've seen

I get why a lot of fans look and go, wait, why? Why? Why did we have this guy? Why? Why sign this guy

to a full roster spot? I get it. He's not looked particularly great. As far as the Dutero goes,

plenty of potential. He's going to miss a lot of defensive rotations and things of that nature.

He's not ready. He's not ready to be a contributor for the Lakers night and night out. I do believe

it's important. I do. I do believe it's important that a Dutero is a priority for the Lakers to

develop. But it's going to take time. It took time for Max Christie. And we can argue that Max should

have got more minutes earlier. I think JJ should feed whenever possible. Feed minutes to a Dutero.

I think that's going to be an important thing for the Lakers moving forward. Whether or not he hits

is going to be a big deal. So yeah, I do think he's got the athleticism. I think he's got the skill set

that you ultimately want to see. And I'd like to see that be a really developed over the next

realistically best case scenario. I think best case scenario for a Dutero is you feed him as

many minutes as you responsibly can from now until the end of the year. Don't lose a game because

you're trying to get minutes for a Dutero, right? You don't do that. But every time you have an

opportunity, get him on the floor. Just get him out there. Play him all the minutes he can with

South Bay. When you've got opportunity to play with the Lakers, play with the Lakers.

This summer needs to have a big summer of growth and improvement.

And then next year, if he can be in the conversation for a rotation job,

and I don't mean starting, I mean 10-ish minutes a night, if he can be in that conversation,

that's really solid progress for a Dutero. I don't think the expectation should be that he's

a night in, night out starter next season or anything like that. I think it should be that he can

be in the realm of being a rotation level player for the Lakers next season. And some of it may come

down to beating out Jared Vanderbilt because the knock on a Dutero in college was that he couldn't

shoot. And so if that continues to be a thing, I know there is belief that at the pros,

he is going to eventually be a good shooter or at least a, an okay and average shooter,

which is all you're looking for. Just be an average shooter. If you can do that, that's fine.

If you can get that out of a Dutero, then he may leapfrog Jared Vanderbilt. But otherwise,

if the shooting doesn't click with him, then you're kind of looking at it just a younger,

perhaps more athletic, stronger physically, but similar type player to Jared Vanderbilt.

That's essentially what we're talking about there. So I hope the shooting comes around.

It's going to be a big summer for Adu. And I think it's important that they do feed him as many

minutes as possible. Then this is the, this is it exactly. Devon said, I get wanting to play

Adu, but over Rui over Jake. Yeah, you're not playing him over these guys, right? I'm talking about

if you're in a game where you feel like you, the game is decided and you can carve out minutes

from there. Fantastic. That's what you're doing. That's what you're doing.

Is Adu, the hero like Randall? I've seen a lot of people with player comps for Adu.

I mean, Randall is bigger and stronger than Adu. Adu is more athletic.

Adu is more athletic, but Randall's bigger and stronger than him. Adu is six foot seven.

Yes, six seven, right? That's Adu. Randall's bigger. Randall's more of a four five. Adu

theorist more of a three four, leaning more towards four. He's strong.

Is he quite the straight line drive of Randall? I mean, Randall has such a, is so unique with

that left hand the way that he goes at it. But I see Adu, if he hits, if he hits, I'm not saying

he will be the same quality. But stylistically, what I see most in Adu,

the hero is Oji Ananobi. And I think Oji would be an amazing fit with this Lakers team.

That's what I see in Adu, the hero stylistically. I'm not talking about quality. Oji is one of

the very best wing defenders in the NBA. I'm not trying to set that bar. Don't hear what I'm

not saying. I'm not trying to set that bar for Adu, the hero stylistically. I see a bit of

Oji Ananobi in his game. That would be, I think that would be a really great place for him to land

because of the strength that he offers. You look at the way the Knicks have Oji Ananobi

who can guard, dependably guard bigs. I don't know that that will ever be part of Adu,

the hero's game. But I look at the physical strength, the physical tools that he's got. And I could

see situations where even though he'd be giving up height, he could at some stage of his career.

Again, if he, we got a long way to go, if he hits, he could be defending some of the stronger

fours, maybe even get away with him on some fives, things like that. But a lot of development

needed to get to that point. Derek Jones Jr. Sure. That's another one.

Yeah. Oji Ananobi. Let me see what Adu's wingspan is.

Six, eight wingspan.

Whereas Oji Ananobi has a seven foot two wingspan. So that's a limiting factor.

You know, that's where, that's where is he going to defend guys that are significantly

bigger than him? That maybe gets a little bit tough. But I don't know. I mean, there's,

there's parts of his game that you can look at from a number of different players. But just from

a strength standpoint, that's my hope that he can ultimately become.

All right, let's go here. Offense and a little bit of defense. I see Danny Green

from Luke Canard. Keelon says, shout out to coach J.J. for playing D.A. 18 minutes with six for six

shooting. So we can Jackson Hayes and Maxie Cleba. So Danny Green and Luke Canard,

I don't see that. I think there's some really key difference. I mean, Danny Green is the

archetype of the 3 and D guard slash wing, right? Danny Green was really at the forefront of

that push when when the phrase 3 and D started to become common in the NBA. Danny Green was at

the front of that movement. San Antonio, their use of Danny Green really got us into that kind of

3 and D type era and that being a skill set, the teams were really valuing very highly. So Danny

Green at his peak is one of the best defensive players in the league, certainly one of the best

defenders at the guard position. And that's certainly not Luke Canard. He goes the other way.

He is not a plus defender. He competes. He tries. He's not it's not a lack of trying. He is not

somebody who does not compete defensively. He's not somebody who puts all of his effort on

the offensive. No, he competes. He plays hard defensively, but he has physical limitations

that are going to stop him from being a a plus defender tonight. I thought he did a really nice

job having quick hands, getting steals, things of that nature. But yeah, I can't say that Danny

Green and Luke Canard are good comps for each other offensively, even Danny Green phenomenal

shooter. Luke Canard has a more diverse offensive game than Danny Green. Luke Canard's ability to

attack closeouts is better than Danny Green's. Danny Green was, well, he did have some ability to

put the ball on the floor, make a decision. Luke Canard is a much higher level decision-maker

off the bounce when attacking a closeout. Danny Green was closer to being more of a stand still

spot up shooter than Luke Canard is. Luke Canard is I think more trustworthy as a secondary playmaker

to make the right pass, the right feed. There's there's a little bit more of just playmaking skill

from Canard. I also think that Canard has the ability to pull up 15 footer. It's just about

automatic from him as well. I think he's the more talented shooter in general. The Canard is the

more talented shooter than Danny Green, but there's a big gap between Danny Green defensively and Luke

Canard defensively. Brad says, let's go Lakers. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed.

Luca up to 36% from three shooting 40% in the new year. Positive regression kicking in three

of eight from three tonight. We look at Luca the month of February 41% from three.

The shots are starting to fall. You know, when he is off, it's loud with Luca. So you still get a

lot of people frustrated with the threes that he's taken like when he's two for 10 and they lose by

one, that's loud. That's really loud. They lost by they lose by one and Luca was two for 10 from

three and eight for 24 shooting, right? It's like we expect that every time Luca shoots it,

he's going to make it because it's Luca. And so it can be easy to overlook that overall

the numbers are trending in the right direction. 39% from deep in January, 41% from three

in February. We were talking for a while about Luca and you know, something going on with the shot,

29% from three in December, 34% from three in November. I think we're getting a bit of positive

regression kicking in here with Luca. And that's one of the things the Lakers need. We just talked

about positive regression with LeBron shooting. Having these guys knocked it, it sounds simple. Hey,

they're better when they make shots, right? Like what a concept, but it really does open things up

for the Lakers quite a bit more. If suddenly the ball gets swung to LeBron and he's already made a

couple of threes in that game, that's going to change the way the defense is going to behave.

Same thing with Luca. When he has a go in, teams are going to change. Luca really gets a go in,

teams are going to start blitzing him. And then he's going to be making that pass out to the short

roll. So Luca is the shot starting to come around great to see for him. Tonight was just a great

night for him. So efficient tonight. What's amazing about Luca is he takes things that are so

difficult and he makes them look so easy. Even that total mistake that he made falling down and

then the turnaround jumper he fires up there. Even that, he made it look so effortless on the spin

and the shot. Just amazing. And then the reads that he makes, he processes the game at an

incredible rate. It's amazing seeing what he does in the offensive. I know Luca got a lot of

flack over the last week or so. A lot of the national media talking about

it. Luca is, you know, he complains too much and all that. And there's some fair criticism

baked into that. I thought I think he's done a better job over the last couple of games

about not complaining to the officials and just getting back defensively. I do think he's

drastically improved there. But I don't think that should cause us to lose sight of the fact

that Luca Donchic is a great player. He is great. And there are things that he does on a nightly

basis that's absolutely incredible. Are there improvements he can make? Sure. But he's a phenomenal

player. All right. Ruffy said, speaking of Reeves, I wanted to hear your opinion on the possibility

of his new contract being in the range of 40 million per year, would you accept a deal for that

amount? So I think the challenge that Austin Reeves is now walking into is this summer

of the Washington Wizards, they burned their cap space on our old friend Anthony Davis,

the Utah Jazz, they burned their cap space on bringing in Jared Jackson, Jr. So two of the

teams that would have been a fairly big threat to sign Austin, they're no longer a threat because

they don't have the money to spend. That I think favors the Lakers in that situation. Now Chicago

will have some money to spend. There's going to be other teams that clippers, depending on what

they view, there are teams that could that could move money around and find ways to suddenly become

an option for Austin Reeves. Right now, though, the Lakers are very much in the driver's seat. They

have the most cap space. Austin Reeves has said many, many, many, many times. He wants to be a Laker.

He wants to be a Laker for life. He loves being a Laker. He put his money where his mouth was

right where where he could have been drafted. And he said, no, thank you. I want to be a Laker.

That's that's that's when he came into the NBA. He has given no indication he wants to do anything

but be a Los Angeles Laker. So I think it's an interesting balance that we'll see this summer

because do you could Austin, especially based on the way he played to start the season, could he

command a max salary and keep in mind for Austin a max salary is the that the fun max, right,

a 25% max. He doesn't qualify for a 30% or 35% max. That's tied to years of service. And he's

not going to get that. So we're talking the most the Lakers can pay him starting for next year.

And it can you can get raises off of this, but 41 and a half million. That's the most.

There are not other options out there for him in free agency. He's also a guy who has played

now for years on a below market value contract. And so many that the Lakers want to have as part of

their future. So it's going to be very interesting to see how do you strike that balance, right,

because from the fan side, you say, well, get him on as big of a steal as you possibly can,

so you can build out the rest of your roster, right. Play hardball. Get him on this small,

keep him on a small contract. So you have enough room to build out the rest of roster and you can

add more pieces that way. Austin will be on a 20 million dollar cap hold. And so it's important

to remember that that even if Austin gets 40 million, or if he gets 25 million, his cap hold is

going to be the same. And that's the number of the Lakers are going to utilize to go spend this summer.

So I think it's important to remember that it's not like Austin taking 30 million versus 40

millions means the Lakers have 10 million more in cap space to go spend right now because they're

going to treat him as a 20 million dollar player. They're going to spend all their cap space,

then exceed the cap to pay him more than 20 million. That's what the Lakers are going to do this summer.

So I think it's important to remember that that it's not on Austin to give back less in order to

open up the offer or give back more in order to open up the opportunity to sign somebody else.

His cap hold is what his cap hold is. And that's not going to change unless he suddenly said I'll play

for 10 million bucks or something like that, which obviously isn't going to happen. So it's

important we keep that in mind. The same time you don't in today's NBA, you can't have a contract

that's seen as negative value. My hope from a Lakers fan side of me is that you can come to an

agreement that is somewhere below the max that can offer the team while not immediate flexibility

because that flexibility is going to be there via his cap hold regardless that the team can find a

way to have and the aprons can come into play with this a little bit this year. And so that's

important, but that the team will have some flexibility into the future by doing something below a

max deal. I also don't think though that they should come in and say Austin man, these other teams

burn their cap space. You got nowhere to go. Here's 20 million bucks. Take it or leave it.

You don't want like an adversarial. We're holding your feet to the fire

relationship with a player that you want to have as a building block moving forward, right?

So I think it's going to be interesting to see like we saw how contentious things got between

Jonathan Kaminga and the Golden State Warriors. Different situation because of restricted free agency,

but it's by the way, now he looks great. If you guys saw the Hawks fans, we're chanting thank you

warriors tonight because Jonathan Kaminga looks so good for Atlanta. That's funny, but

you don't want it to be an adversarial relationship either. And you also have to factor in that

the guy played for now years at a level well below his market value. So I think striking that

balance is going to be really interesting and what that ultimately comes up comes back at.

My hope is that they can come to terms on agreement somewhere below that max

that will give the team future flexibility to potentially do some other things. What those

things are we won't know because again, the flexibility that's going to come from this year

from Austin Reeves is more so because of his cap hold and then they'll exceed the cap to

sign them using his bird rights. All right.

Caps are are knowing which we were like baseball. Here's the problem. Here's the problem.

If they did that and big market lakers write all that, people will say, well, of course,

no salary cap that benefits the lakers. Steve Bommer has more money than everyone else in the league.

Steve Bommer has enough money to now Microsoft stock has not done well. So maybe that's taken

a bit of a hit, but the team is a toy to him. He has so much money that effectively if there was

no cap and Steve Bommer just said, well, I don't care how much it costs. I don't care if I lose money.

I've got more money than I can ever possibly spend anyway, ever I'll give a hundred million

dollars to every good player. They'll just be stacked and nobody would be able to keep pace.

So in this case, well, it's easy to say like, oh, well, people still want to be lakers. They'll

say, yeah, but the clippers will be able to buy every single good player. It would be the wallet

advantage that Bommer has over every other team is dramatic. Dude's got insane money.

He said, he already cheats though. You buy the whole planting trees thing. We got to be hearing

on that soon though, right? The whole aspiration thing. We got to hear what the result is of that

soon. Trevor up to date on the stock market. Yeah, I mean, I keep an eye on things.

So we do that ad for rocket money. It's not BS. I pay attention to finances and all that kind

of stuff. I'm not, it's not like I'm an expert on those things, but I taught economics. I have

an understanding of investing in markets and things of that nature.

So yeah, I do stay a bit up to date on that.

Can Eden be bought out and doesn't count versus the cap next year? Only if he gave back the money.

So let's say DA for what let's say the lakers make it clear, yo, DA, you're not going to be a starter

for us next year. If you want to start, you're going to have to go somewhere else. DA would have

to decline that player option for 8.1 million next year. Otherwise, if the lakers just say, hey,

we're going to buy you out. That money would be dead money on the books. Now, obviously,

you're not going to buy them out right now. If you did it this summer, you could take that 8.1

million, assuming he's picking up that player option, that 8.1 million, you could spread out

over three years. You could wave and stretch that salary. Now, the downside to doing that is if

let's say you once you do that, that money is locked on your books. That 2 million in change

is locked on your books for those three seasons, dead money. Whereas if you don't do that,

even if you don't particularly want to start the under eight or whatever, he's an 8.1 million

dollar expiring contract. You could potentially put into a trade or something like that. So

waving or buying out DA, that would very much be a last resort type situation. It's not going to

happen right now, especially now that it's we're past the deadline. We're past the deadline. Anybody

who gets waived now cannot be eligible for the playoffs if they were to sign with the new team

and teams typically aren't going to do that to a player. Wave them now so that they can't go play

in the playoffs for somebody else. That's just seen as bad form. Teams are going to do that. But

if you were to wave in this summer, whether it's via a wave and stretch or not,

you then lose the ability to trade that contract. So the situation would have to go south very,

very quickly or it looks like my camera overheated there. Hopefully you guys can still hear me.

But my hope would be that the Lakers will be able to, if they do decide to move on from DA,

package that contract into a trade. That's my hope. Here we go. Flip to my laptop camera.

Okay, good. Glad you guys could still hear me there. So anyway, that's what I'd be doing with DA.

If I'm the Lakers, I am not, I'm not just waving him. I don't want dead money on my books.

I'm trying to use, if I decide I don't want to be on the team next year, I'm trying to put

that money into a trade as an 8.1 million dollar expiring contract. That's what I'm doing.

Now, maybe there's incentive. Maybe there is something that comes along and you need the extra,

let's call it 5 million ish in cap space this year by waving and stretching DA. And it's something

really good. And that extra 5 million is going to allow you to get a piece you really need. Okay,

then maybe you just say, we'll deal with just under 3 million bucks in dead money sitting on the

books for the next three years because that's going to allow us to add this guy. The Milwaukee

Bucks did it in a huge, I mean, big negative money or dead money sitting on their books in

Damien Lillard, who's what, 23 million dollars in dead money on their books. But doing so allowed

them to sign Miles Turner. Now, that hasn't worked out quite the way they wanted. But at the time,

the Bucks decided, you know what? It's 23 million dollars in dead money on our books.

But that means that pain is going to allow us to sign Miles Turner and they decided that was worth it.

I would imagine they probably disagree at this point. They don't agree with that decision anymore,

but that's what they decided. So that's how that all breaks down.

Pay him what Capella is getting. I don't know if you guys saw, but I forget which one,

one of the different betting platforms replaced Deandre in his picture with Clint Capella.

That was pretty funny. All right. Let's do the master lock of the night.

And then we'll wrap things up. So what was the most annoying thing from not a lot to be

annoyed by in this game? What was the most annoying thing from this game? Fire it off.

Yeah. Master lock of the night.

The master lock of the night. What was it? Who's the most annoying thing from this game?

Not getting more ado minutes. Yeah, the final what? Seeing a new hero and

and don't connect sitting there waiting to sub in Kobe Bufkin. And for two minutes,

everybody kept taking pull up jumpers. There were no fouls. The ball didn't go out of bounds.

There were no stoppages. Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook gets master lock. I mean,

he got me picking smart over Luke Cannard. Fair for the star in your role.

Dylan Brooks gets master lock. DA not getting more rebounds. The little run Sacramento made

at the end of the second. How about that? Like that it was one run for Sacramento. That was about

it. That was about the only threat they posed. They actually won the second quarter. They scored

more points than Lakers in the second quarter, but Sacramento was just not very threatening in this

game. Dylan Brooks. Russ foaming at the mouth. Master lock this camera angle. Indeed,

I need to just set up. I've got a travel camera that I bring with me. It's a webcam,

but it's a high quality webcam that I bring. It's just very easy to travel with. I should just

have that set up as a backup, especially as we start getting into warmer weather. Because when I

do long shows where it's a four or five hour live stream, sometimes the camera that I typically

use can overheat, particularly if I don't have the the AC kicked on.

Put an ice pack on the camera. The real bummer is when it does this, I have to go back in and

redo all the settings on it. Master lock no studio stew appearance. He is asleep. He is on my

daughter's bed right now. He did try to come in for a minute and a half time.

So I'm going to go with for my master lock at the night. It's Russell Westbrook. It's Russ.

You know, he got all fired up about something, but you knew Russ wanted to beat the Lakers in LA.

It was such a contentious relationship between Lakers fans in Russell Westbrook.

I don't know. When you see him missing shots that you used to cringe when he was taken for

the Lakers, you're just kind of happy that they were able to move on. He's a good dude from everybody

that has spoken about him and all of that. But it's obvious he doesn't like the Lakers. It's

obviously he obviously feels a certain kind of way about them. So I'll master lock Russ.

The Lakers got the win.

Master lock CM Punk with the titles on his body. I saw that. I'm like, Punk, what are you doing?

Elimination Chamber was just kind of so, so last night. The the women's one very, very good.

It was great. The men's one. Yeah, it's okay.

Seven foot wingspan for a dude. Is that right?

Maybe Google lied to me.

I have two cats and two dogs. Somebody asking that.

Did AJ Lee win? Yes. AJ Lee is the new women's intercontinental champion.

Trevor watches wrestling. That was actually the first sport that I covered was pro wrestling.

Back in the days of the attitude era and stone cold and the rock and

the undertaker, HBK, mankind, all that kind of stuff. The Monday Night Wars. Oh, the Monday Night

Wars were so fun. Monday Night Nitro. Monday Nitro and yeah, it's the blast.

I've gotten back into it a little bit just watching now and then when I can, but I used to,

I mean, I used to watch everything. I used to do it right at daily column on it for a website

back in the day way back when DX. Oh, yeah, DX was awesome.

History lesson. So one of the things you guys want to do a history lesson. Okay, let me

me. What do I want to do? I had a topic I wanted to get into.

So it has to do with, and this is, I'm doing this one because I like the story, not because

it's a commentary on, and I want to preface this, not because it's a commentary on anything

that's happening right now. I know there's a lot of things going on obviously in the world

right now. And I'm not talking about this because it's in any way related to any of the stuff

going on now. I'm not trying to make any kind of statement here. But I thought one of the things

that was that was an interesting subject to cover was the sinking of the main. The USS main,

uh, that was sunk. I believe it was 1898. And at the time, the newspapers, which is

how the internet can sensationalize things now. But the newspapers at the time,

they took this story of the sinking of the main over 260 Americans died. This was nearly the

turn of the century, uh, late 1800s into the early 1900s. Uh, there was, there were newspapers

that popularized the saying, remember the main to hell with Spain. They blamed the sinking of the

USS main on Spain. And there was already tension between the US and Spain. Spain was controlling Cuba

at the time. And we all know if we go to the 60s, we talked about the Cuban Missile Crisis,

there's, there's obviously Cuba and the US, the relationships always been, you know, tense for

quite a while. Very, very close geographically to the United States. So the sinking of the main

turned into this excuse essentially to go to war with Spain. And there was a four-month war

called the Spanish-American War. And the US did win that war. And wound up getting the number

of territories, one of them being Puerto Rico, but they even had some control over Cuba for some time.

But there wasn't concrete proof that the main was sunk by the Spanish to begin with. And in fact,

in more modern times, there have been more evidence towards the fact that it may have been actually

an internal problem with the ship that caused this giant explosion that you're tragically killed

over 260 Americans. But that moment was taken as an opportunity to blame Spain and use that to

get Americans upset and ultimately draw, and William McKinley was president at the time,

ultimately draw the Americans into a conflict and then use that conflict as part of what eventually

became when we get into the early 1900s, a very imperialistic United States foreign policy. And so we

saw the United States, we saw Teddy Roosevelt with a great white fleet, sending ships around the

world, the United States getting very involved. At that point, we started to flex our muscles around

the world and get very involved in the activities of other countries. And of course, that would reverse

after World War One when getting involved in all those other countries, got us into this awful

war. But the sinking of the main really stands out because it was an early example of how the media

can sensationalize something and how everybody can jump to a conclusion of what had happened and how

that can create this fury around something. And that can ultimately spark action. And oftentimes

action that can create consequences, both positive and negative. And so remember the main

to hell with Spain, it's one of those rallying cries that sticks out from American history. We

think back back to along the lines of remember the Alamo or something like that. And it was an early

period where the media was able to have a major impact on the thoughts of the American public and

the attitudes towards the rest of the world, whether or not there was actually evidence that

the Spanish did it at all. And again, that's still contested now. But at the time, it was just

accepted. Oh, that those damn Spanish, they did this. They have to pay. And then that ultimately

turned into violence, you know, that quest for revenge. So anyway, was a very interesting

period of time that that we saw there in the early 1900s. And I thought, changed a lot of

changed a lot of what ultimately became such an impactful decade. And we talked about the 20th

century because of the way the United States started to behave at that point, ultimately drawing

a central world war one. We had a reaction to that becoming more isolationist than coming out of

that when in a similar way, getting attacked at Pearl Harbor and the way that that shifted the

United States from being a country that was very determined to stay out of a war, to being now

into a war and all systems go and then manufacturing machine of the United States, really hitting a

new level that had never been seen before. That moment, the sinking of the main, I think there's

a lot of parallels that can draw all the way through in the next 50 years of American history and

still makes an impact on us today, based on how things have all played out. Anyway.

Yes, again, I don't really have anything. I'm not trying to draw any comparison. I know there's

a lot of stuff going on right now, but again, I'm purely speaking about history there.

Why am I talking about history? People have asked for some of my favorite history stories from

when I was a history teacher and this was just one that popped into my head that I felt like talking

about. At some point, we'll talk about, if you guys enjoy doing these kind of things, at some point,

we'll talk about Pearl Harbor. I've had the privilege of going to Pearl Harbor and visiting the

USS Arizona and the memorial there and all that. We could talk about things of that nature.

We'll get into some different things, especially when we get into the nowadays of the summer and

August and all that, but that's what I've got for you right now. All right, everybody.

I appreciate all of you. You guys are absolutely amazing. Appreciate all of you. So glad we got

back-to-back wins. I felt like it was a really nice palette cleanse for Lakers fans after what

had been a very rough stretch. Now they've got the pelicans coming up on Tuesday and then things

start to really get tough and they're going to have to really ramp up their play. Thank you,

everybody. Appreciate all of you. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button. Until next time,

see you and stay safe.