J. Kyle Mann

The idea that the Lakers of all teams who just are starving for point of attack defense would now bring in like Luke Kennard to add to and compound all of their problems.

It's just who they are right now, and I wasn't expecting them to, like, pull a rabbit out of the hat and suddenly fix all of the fundamental flaws in their roster.

Like, getting Luke Kennard is not a bad idea.

Like, getting more shooters, again, to keep everything honest, to lean into your strengths as a team, I'm for it.

Does it materially change who the Lakers are in the sense of this playoff race?

Probably not, but maybe to your point, Justin, it does make them marginally more interesting.

It's very true.

There really is a runway for them to do something.

And as you're saying, Justin, taking some of the air out of the balloon and just allowing it this season to be what it is, I do think is great for everybody involved.

I agree with what you're saying, Kyle, about the dramatic shift in the trajectory of their team since getting Luka does take time to acclimate to.

I think my expiration on that line of thinking is the end of this season.

So they had the chunk after getting Luka last year.

They have this full season.

to try to slowly turn this like cruise ship of an organization to suit Luca's needs and forced and foremost.

And we'll see what happens with LeBron in the summer, if he's still legal or not.

So like, I'm down to have this conversation now.

I'm fully aligned with you.

We just can't be doing this next year, like still making the same excuse next year.

So, so long as they do the stuff in the summer that they need to do, I think it's more than fair to give them some clearance on it now.

No, I don't think you're just going to scrounge one of those up as he demonstrates on a nightly basis.