Jovan Buha
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Well, I think the first and foremost, they have to get a better starting setter than Jackson Hayes. So I think that's going to be the key thing to monitor here ahead of the February 6th trade deadline, because we'll get into the on-court dynamics with Luka and LeBron. But ultimately, looking at the current roster as it is composed, they already needed a backup center upgrade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Then they traded Anthony Davis there. their starting center and the only player on this roster that could protect the rim and was a good defensive rebounder. So I look at rim protection and defensive rebounding and just defense in general as a bit of a concern for this group.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So I think ideally they add a better starting caliber center and they add another perimeter defender, you know, more more so like a backcourt guy, but maybe a guy who can guard like twos and threes similar to what Max Christie provided for them. So I think those are two options.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
on court needs that they have moving forward over the next few days they have a first round pick they could trade they have a few pick swaps one second round pick and then still some optionality with like adult and connect or uh some of the mid-sized salary that they have so we'll see what they can pull off i've been told to temper expectations that it's likely going to be a small move uh if they do
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
make a move here over the next few days. But at the same time, that was the Intel I was getting before the Luca trade. So it feels like anything is possible here over the next three days. It might've been a small move if you're the Lakers, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Yeah, no. So I think that's like the thing I'm interested in just because I think how we view this team on the court, it's like, I don't think they can win a championship with Jackson Hayes as their starting center. If you go get... a Yakup Pirtle, a Robert Williams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Those aren't like the sexiest names and the biggest needle movers, but those types of guys at least are a significant upgrade over Hayes. And I think it makes you a more serious team when looking at the rest of the group. It's like Luca, LeBron, Austin Reeves, Doreen Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura, though he potentially has to be moved in a trade like this for a center.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Jared Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, like there are some pieces there that you could kind of talk yourself into the Lakers top seven or eight if they can add a center. So I think that's the big thing. But then obviously getting into the Luca LeBron fit and how both of these guys have always been the Batman in this situation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
where they kind of share the spotlight with a star, with LeBron in Miami, in Cleveland, in LA. He's always been the primary guy. It's always been the stars adjusting to him. With Luka in Dallas, with Kyrie, it was Kyrie adjusting to him. So I'm fascinated to just see how those two make
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
the basketball fit work I think they're both smart enough and skilled enough and just talented enough to figure it out but it is going to be an adjustment to both of them where I think it's the first time in their careers they can look at the guy opposite them and say like this guy can kind of do everything I can do and you can make the argument that like they should have the ball more so that's really like a first I think for both of these guys and I'm fascinated to see how that ends up kind of playing out on the floor
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Yeah, well, I heard his first reaction was was feeling for 80 and just the shocking nature of 80 being traded.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Because, again, as we've talked about before on here and as I've reported, like the initial thinking going into the deadline for the Lakers was they were going to be adding a center, maybe another wing, maybe a backup scoring guard, something like that to kind of fill out the rotation like that. They had just won in New York without AD. They had won 8-10.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
They've slowly been rising up the West standings. And this came as a shock to everyone. And this was a situation where Rich Paul, LeBron, AD were all kept in the dark because of the fear of those guys potentially standing in the way or leaking something to prevent the deal from happening. So they were all...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
completely left in the dark until finding out after uh the the next lakers game what when we all found out basically right and so i think the first reaction from lebron was was just concern about how ad was going to respond and uh but as i've been told and as others have reported ad uh Took it relatively well, you know, and I think is embracing this new opportunity in Dallas.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So I think after that, it became excitement about playing with Luka Doncic. And this is a guy who his rookie introductory press conference talks about LeBron glowingly. He's referred to him as his idol before. I think there's obvious comparisons or similarities on the court to those two and just how they play the game, how they process the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So I think this is actually for all the criticism and flack that Luca has drawn in the last couple of days from the Dallas side. I think like he's going to have a vendetta right now, I think specifically toward Dallas, but I'm sure the league at large, but also you're setting him up with a player who can show him how to take care of his body.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And how to be a leader and how to kind of get over that hump, because LeBron had a similar start to his career where the stats were there. He got to the finals, conference finals, couldn't quite get over the hump till he got to Miami. And I wonder if this is kind of Luca's version of that, of teaming up with LeBron.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And even if it's only a year and a half, kind of learning from him and not really propelling him to the next level deeper into his career.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I don't think they should necessarily. Like, I think we'll get a better idea when we hear from Luca tomorrow at the intro press conference Tuesday morning, 9 a.m. Pacific time. So that would be the first. He had a public statement in Thank Dallas and said how excited he is to be joining Lakers. We saw the little clip of him arriving in L.A., throwing up the L.A. hand sign. But I.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I mean, to your point, like that's certainly a factor. I would still point to like this dude just led a team to the finals and was putting up. He's still a killer. He's still a killer. I feel like to me and, you know, I don't. I don't want to completely dismiss some of the criticism. I think it's fair. And some of the weight stuff in particular about him approaching 270 or whatever.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I totally think that is valid criticism. To me, this is all kind of felt like almost a smear campaign from Dallas. getting out ahead and trying to set the narrative of they knew they were going to get so much backlash for this trade that they proactively were like, okay, we're going to leak and kind of share all this stuff about all of our concerns to try to justify it. Even with that,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I mean, just look at the reaction online and look at the Mavericks fans reaction. And like, I would say at least nine out of 10 people think this was a complete fleece, a one-way deal that the Lakers won handedly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So Dallas can kind of float and say whatever they want, but you know, I posed it to some Lakers people and the reaction I got was like, Luca's what this second or third best player in the league. Yeah. We'll take that guy. So it, I mean, it was just like, even whatever flaws or, or, or limitations or, or potential problems he has off the court.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
It's like, dude, still a walking basically 39 and nine guy just led a team to the finals. Uh, we're going to bet on that guy longer term, uh, And what we think it'll work out. I feel like the Dallas, like the narrative has almost been like, you know, he's fallen off as a player. He's averaging like 18, six and five. They, you know, missed the playoffs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Like, it's like, no, this dude is still putting up incredible numbers. They were fourth in the West when he got injured around Christmas time. They've since been under 500, but been slipping in the West standings. Like, I think there's pretty much proof that like Luca's still,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
It's a good question. I think, again, as I said a little bit earlier, I think for this week, expectations should probably be a little tempered. And that, to me, potentially puts a bit of a ceiling on what they can accomplish this postseason. I think... I still think most teams are not going to want to face Luka Doncic and LeBron James in a playoff series in the first round like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And the Lakers have recently like JJ is a big fan of playing small ball centerless basketball, and they have looked a lot better with those types of lineups with Dorian Finney Smith and Jared Vanderbilt on the floor. So I do think that there's potentially a scenario where we get to April and the Lakers are kind of starting Jackson Hayes as a placeholder.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Or maybe they get like a smaller, you know, like a day around sharp or kind of still another backup level big who's maybe a little bit better than Jackson. And ultimately, their crunch time lineups are some combination of Vando, DFS, LeBron, Luka, and Austin. And you got four guys who are 6'7 to 6'9, and then Austin out there. And yes, defensively, there's certainly some holes in that lineup.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
But with DFS and Vando switching and providing a certain level of versatility defensively, I think you can maybe... just get by as like average defensively and then elite offensively, you know, figuring out the fit with Luka and LeBron. So I think that's kind of the short term path. Longer term, of course. I mean, one, they're looking at a second star for the whatever LeBron retires.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
They want to add a second star to put around Luka. It's always been that way. It's always been that way. And look, after this week, it's hard to dispute that it's going to happen, right? The Lakers just stay Lakering. The Lakers exceptionalism is alive and well, and they will probably find that second star based on how NBA history has gone.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I think to your point, it is going to be interesting to see how they build the roster specifically around Luka because I think you could go back to the beginning of the LeBron 80 era and it was, let's put defense and athletes and a bunch of high motor guys around LeBron and 80. And they progressively went away from that build throughout the rest of the LeBron 80 era.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So I do, I wonder like if they ultimately build the ideal Luca team in the next two to three years, Can they sustain it is its own question, and only time will tell with that. But my understanding is they've switched from the LeBron timeline to the Luka timeline, and this is all about Luka moving forward. How can we build the best roster and the most sustainable roster around Luka?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And that's why I think had they not traded AD, maybe you would have seen a more win-now move this week to try and add a supporting role player. I think now it's more about we're not trying to add... like a mid-30s player who doesn't really fit with Luka's timeline. It's like, if we could add a younger center or something like that that fits, let's go do that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
If not, we're going to stand pat and hold those assets till the summer or next season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I think I've come around to Robert Williams. I do think in talking to the Lakers and the Portland side, I think there's a little bit of a gap there in terms of how they view him. I think the Lakers, it would probably ideally be like multiple second round picks. And maybe there's a way they could do a smaller trade to get back some seconds and do that for Robert Williams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Whereas from the Portland side, I think they want like an unprotected first for Robert Williams, which... to me is a little bit too high, especially looking at the price of role players in this market has been two to three seconds. And I do like Robert Williams. I think the upside is clearly there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And like on a per minute per possession basis, he remains one of the best rebounders and shop lockers and rim protectors in the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
the problem is he's averaging fewer than six points and six rebounds a game he's playing 17 minutes a game and he's never played 61 games or never played more than 61 games in a season so like there are some clear injury concerns with him and he could be one more injury away from having his career drastically altered and potentially having just like a limitation there to just how much he could play period
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So I think for the Lakers, like that's probably a little bit too rich of a price. But someone like that, because he's a lob threat, he can protect the rim. And maybe you can still kind of play that small ball basketball. But but have him be like a 20 to 24 minute a night starter. That's exactly the rest of the game. You go small.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
So I think regardless of kind of how the seating plays out, I think the two exceptions would obviously be OKC and Denver because of how great Shea and Nikola Jokic are individually. But Outside of those two matchups, which it doesn't seem like the Lakers are going to drop to eighth. I think LeBron would have to have some type of setback or maybe like a re-aggravation upon returning.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And even the Denver matchup, I guess they could match up something like 3-6. But that's seeming unlikely for now. Seems like Lakers will probably finish in that top five. So assuming they're in that top five, they like their matchup against Memphis or Houston or potentially Golden State. So I think for now... Of course, they want to be the two or three seed if they can secure that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And they're still in that mix, to be clear. But with this Denver-Milwaukee back-to-back, they have the third toughest remaining schedule the rest of the way. And you look at it, two games against OKC, two games against Houston, Memphis. It's a pretty tough schedule down the stretch. Eight of their final 12 games are on the road. So realistically, I think the two seed is probably a long shot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Even the three seed is probably the best case scenario. And I just trend more toward like being rational about this. So I think they're probably going to be in the four or five mix. And whether they have home court or not, I think that they like their odds against anybody in that kind of range.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Yeah, I think they just need to avoid a 4-5 matchup with Denver, and I tend to agree with you. Houston, Memphis, both of them feel pretty beatable for the Lakers. During this stretch without LeBron, I think it's safe to say Austin Reeves has really stepped up his game quite a bit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Now, I'm of the opinion he's done that all year, but you look back at his last five games, you know, it's 30, 28, 37, 28 games. What what is this like to have this much playmaking out there? I mean, because one of the big issues for the Lakers during the LeBron era has been a lack of playmaking that you can trust.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And now you've got these two guys in Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic who are showing that they're next level kind of playmakers. And you're going to add LeBron to this mix. So Austin Reeves, is this real? I think is my question, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Yeah, it is real. And I think he is a player who we've seen like he's got a versatile skill set where I think he could scale into different roles. And that's kind of been looking at his first four years as a Laker. He goes through these like stretches of like two to three months kind of in different roles. Sometimes he was like a sixth man. Sometimes he was a starter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Sometimes he was on the ball more off the ball more. And I think that speaks to the versatility and scalability within his skill set. And I think you've seen even pre-Luka trade, whenever LeBron or AD would miss a game, Austin would step up and get you 25, 30, 30 plus points as the number two guy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And in some ways, it kind of makes you wonder if this guy was in a different situation where he was the true number two on a team or even the number one, what would that look like? What would his numbers look like? And obviously, I think there would be maybe some concern about how good that team would ultimately be.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
But from a numbers and productivity perspective, he is up there with like, I think we should talk about him in that like best number three conversation. I think there are several, you know, like Chet comes to mind.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
It's become a conversation. Okay. Like Chet is someone that I would clearly take ahead of Austin, but I think like, a few weeks ago, people would probably have him like middle of the pack in that conversation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
I think he's right there in like that top five of, and if we're just talking offense and not looking at both sides of it, it's just like, who do you want as a number three to like get you a bucket or play make run a second unit. Austin, I think, is right there basically with anybody. So it's been incredible to see his trajectory.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
He's certainly improved and taken it to a different level this season. But I think this is certainly for real. He had a couple of slow games there where he came back from his calf strain where he didn't look like himself. But now these last few games, he looks like Austin. And when they need him to step up, he has done so this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Well, to go back about a year ago in what JJ likes to call his past life, when he was an analyst and a podcaster, he did an interview and he was asked if you could coach any player in the NBA, who would you coach? And he said, Luka Doncic. And I think that in and of itself is telling as to how JJ sees the game and the type of player that he, or the type of players that he likes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
But we've seen this team completely shift their offensive philosophy where pre Luca trade, they ranked 26th in three point attempts per a hundred possessions post Luca trade. They are now second in the NBA in three points. Like that is a significant shift, right? We're talking bottom five in terms of in attempts to top two behind only Boston.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And it's, it's funny because Boston's still like almost 10 attempts ahead of them because they just, they let them fly. But I think with one of the things that, that JJ had lamented earlier in the season was the, in it,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Just how tough things were for them offensively, despite having LeBron and AD and those guys not necessarily commanding a defense's full attention in terms of always drawing two to the ball. But you see it now. They just run high pick and roll with Luka and Jackson Hayes or some type of double drag action. And all of a sudden,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
you get two guys on luca and then it just becomes a math game of four on three or three on two and when one or two of those guys are lebron and austin reeves uh that's just like grade school basketball for the lakers so with lebron especially if he is the the guy on like the weak side kind of catching that outlet pass or that that you know swing reversal all of a sudden he can get downhill
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
He can shoot the three. He's been shooting above 40% on catch and shoot threes this season. Or he could find the open man and it becomes really simple. So I think the way that teams kind of freak out whenever Luka runs a pick and roll, that's become a significant advantage for the Lakers. And really, the shot quality has gone up. The results have not really been there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And I think they are due for some positive regression offensively, where once they start to actually make these threes at like a league average rate or potentially even higher, just because they're getting so many open ones, you can see this team take a significant step offensively to match the defensive end. So in terms of Luca and JJ, I think they see the game very similarly, like realistically.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Luca is fine playing off the ball. We've seen him screen a little bit more. We've seen him come off pin downs and they've run some off ball actions for him. So I think JJ has made it clear that Luca is the point guard. He is the primary ball handler, as he should be. And I think right now the biggest thing is just the reps that they got to figure that out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
But in terms of how they see the game and just being on the same page, I think really JJ shifted more toward what Luca wants. But what Luca wants is what JJ wanted from the beginning. They just didn't have the personnel.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Yeah. Before we get out of here quickly, what does this team need to improve on before we get to the playoffs?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Interestingly, I think the offensive end defensively since the Dorian Finney Smith trade, they are fourth in the NBA and defensive rating since mid-January when they kind of had a turning point there. They lost three in a row and then they had this big turnaround. They're second in the NBA and defensive rating.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
So I think the defensive end, despite like optically not having the best personnel necessarily, JJ's game planning and the buy in from the group. has led to this team being consistently a top five defense for going on three months now. So I think that's pretty sustainable. Maybe they slip a little bit, but they should be at a minimum a top 10 defense moving forward.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
I think the key is getting to the top 10 offensively, if not even the top five, given their personnel. And that has been a little bit more of a struggle where oftentimes if you just scan the box score briefly, you'll see it's like, Luka, LeBron, and Austin are double figures. Sometimes Rui as well. And then basically nobody else. So I think right now they have a pretty top-heavy offensive attack.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And it's not because you're lacking in playmaking or guys playing selfishly. They are generating shots for their role players. They're just not really making them lately. So I think once that starts to click... and they start to face those four-on-three, three-on-two situations more consistently with the full roster, that's where you'll start to see the offense ascend to a different level.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
So I actually think it still continues to be the offensive end that's a work in progress, but that's the side to me that has the highest upside. And if they can make that click, that's where I think this team can win a championship.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
That's right. Yovan Buhat, let's quote him, says the Lakers need to make shots. Make some shots. Go and read Yovan over at The Athletic. Follow him for everything Lakers. If you follow him on the app, you get a notification every single time he posts a new story, which feels like every day, man. Yovan Buhat, thank you for joining the show. That's going to do it for us, folks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
For Espera Henney, I'm Dave Dufour, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Well, we've talked a lot about Darius Garland and what he brings for them in fourth quarters. Totally. They obviously were missing that. And you're going up against a Kings team that really kind of has its back to the wall a little bit. The game didn't mean that much for Cleveland. is another thing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Oklahoma City needs to do their destiny is in their own hands. If they win out in the regular season, they don't lose a game the rest of the way. They would be guaranteed home court through the finals if they made it there. So, yeah, no, no big deal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Don't lose another game. Speaking of losing games. I want to ask you a question. We had a couple of game winners. Which one was the worst way to lose? You had Cade Cunningham versus the Miami Heat sending them to their ninth straight loss as with a banked in three pointer. And it's Cade Cunningham like really good, but he hits the bank three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
So you chalk a little bit up to skill and put yourself in position to be lucky. But it's also luck. Or Andrew Nembhard, who just as a byproduct of good basketball offense movement comes off a screen, catches a catch and shoot three wide open 14.7 seconds left and puts the game away for the Pacers. Which one's the worst loss?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Got to eat my Cade Cunningham pie here. Cade Cunningham, yeah, yeah. 25-point triple-double for him in a national TV game, which the broadcasters kept kind of bringing up that the Pistons were flexed into. Right. You know, they don't really control the schedule.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
You know, I talked about this with Fred Katz on the Cats and Shoot podcast, and we talked about the Knicks, and I think that the Detroit Pistons – are a little bit of a nightmare matchup for the Pistons. And I think that this idea that we're just going to, like, pat them on the head when we get to the playoff time and just say, hey, congratulations, guys. You did a really good job to get here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Now go sit. While the adults go move on into the second round, this team has enough juice that I think that they could be a really scary matchup for anybody in the first.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Another interesting night. We have playoff implications on the line with a lot of these games. But before we get to the games that actually have some weight in the standings, we got to talk about the former. Best record holder in the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers, for the first time all season, they don't have the best record in the league. They lost their third straight game to the Kings.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
It was a real Esfandiar's choice there to make you choose between talking about Cade Cunningham and the Pistons and Andrew Nembhard. I know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Hey, look, it was a pretty good game for the Pacers, too. Whatever. It's all good. It was. Speaking of the Knicks. They went to San Antonio, and they showed up to a rodeo. My guy, Sandro Mamulixvili. Mamu had the game of his life off the bench for the Spurs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
34 points, 7 of 7 from 3, 13 of 14 from the field, 1 of 1 from the free throw line, because you've got to hit those, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and only one foul. In 19 minutes. Incredible game. Garma Joba. Oh, my goodness.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
That's all I'll say about that. And also, hey, by the way, Goga also had a pretty nice game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
The Knicks did not have a good game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Not a good game for the Wolves, who lost to the Pelicans. So let's kind of update the standings just a little bit. The Timberwolves are desperately trying to get out of the play-in, and they keep... kind of shooting themselves in the foot. They're losing these games that they really need to win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Zion Williamson had a really nice game, but the Pelicans are not a good basketball team, and the Wolves are supposed to be. The Wolves now statistically are the eighth seed. They are one game back of the Warriors for that sixth spot. They're tied with the Clippers. And, S, look, man, they were on this nice winning streak. Yeah. Now they're stumbling a little bit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
This is kind of what they've done all year long, where they have these nice runs and then –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Yeah. The Suns win. The Mavs lose. The Suns are now in that 10th spot. The Trailblazers are only two games back of the Suns after beating the Grizzlies. This is starting to sound like basketball when they're talking about the tournament. But the Grizzlies now have fallen to the five spot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Big win for the Kings, who are trying to stay in the ninth spot and hopefully get into that eighth spot in the play-in. But I want to start, I just want to talk about the Cavs. Losing three straight for a team that we've seen just cruising all year long, it's starting to raise some questions. I joked and said that they were frauds because they lost two in a row.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
in the west right the nuggets are the four spot and the lakers are uh back in that in that three spot um actually the lakers still oh you're right you're right they are yeah the standings just updated for us while we were recording it was very nice um so as you know we're looking ahead a little bit we're thinking about playoff time yeah Who has nothing?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
They have to play like there is nothing to lose. They have to win every single game for the rest of this week. We're thinking the Wolves here, the Suns are really on the precipice. The Blazers, it seems like they kind of want to make the play in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, the Cavs lost their third straight. We got a couple of game winners and we're going to compare them. And then Yovan Buha breaks down the Lakers, LeBron's comeback, and what they need to do the rest of the regular season. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, S. How are you?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Yeah. The Lakers took care of business over the Nuggets. No Jokic, no Murray again for the Nuggets. No, no miracle. Although Aaron Gordon had another really nice game. But the Lakers took care of business and we caught up with Yovan before the game. So Yovan Buha, our beat writer that covers the Lakers over at the Athletic, caught up with him before the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
And he mentioned this team needs to shoot. And they shot the ball extremely well. What did they put up in the first quarter? I mean, I thought they were going to score 60 at one point. They wind up with 46 in the first quarter. And here I am thinking, wow, Jovan, just so prescient of mine here. He really understood what was going to happen tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
huge win when it comes to the standings right yeah and another big game for austin reeves 22 points eight assists i mean again the lakers look good uh guys stick around after the break jovan will be here to let us know when lebron is coming back The Lakers are still playing without LeBron James for now, but he's back soon.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
But now that they've lost three, now they're definitely fraud. They're obviously not frauds. But I am a little bit nervous that the scouting report is catching up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Here to talk about when he's going to come back and hopefully give us an actual date, Jovan Buha, who covers the Lakers for us at The Athletic. Jovan, I'm putting you on the spot. I want to start there because, look, this team, since the Luka Doncic trade,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
They feel like a contender, and when LeBron was out there with Luka, I mean, we got a new version of Showtime, and I think it was bringing out the best in both of those guys. Obviously, he's been out for a minute now. What's the latest on LeBron, and when can we expect to see him back out there?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Yeah, so he's technically day to day, but he's been day to day for over a week now. So maybe it seems more like week to week, but it seems like philosophical there. Exactly. I think the soonest we will see him is Saturday against Chicago, but probably more likely at some point on that road trip that they're about to go on. They're going to Orlando and Indiana and Chicago and Memphis.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
They got a four game trip next week. So I think most likely at some point on that trip, but there is a slight chance that he is back Saturday against Chicago.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
Seems like Chicago is in play for Rui to make his return. He started doing some three-on-three action, so that's their ramp-up process. I think the Lakers, with both players and in general, have been a bit cautious with injuries this year. They are trying to prioritize health over seating. So I think Rui's on a similar timeline to LeBron. He's a little bit closer to returning.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
So I think that's probably more of like a 50-50 for Saturday and then, if not, at some point early on the road trip.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavaliers lose 3rd straight + When will LeBron return?
I think it's more the latter. They just feel like in any series they play, they're going to have two of the three best players, if not arguably the two best. I think if you put them up against Memphis, you put them up against Houston, they're confident they have the two best players on the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Yeah, we actually Dave and I talked about this a couple of days ago, but like you don't want to face LeBron and Luca in a postseason series. Like this is the crux of facing the Lakers in the postseason. You just don't want to face those two guys with the basketball acumen and basketball IQ that they have. But obviously the center rotation is going to be a big part of that, too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
And you just mentioned the Alex Len situation. Jackson Hayes getting hurt tonight. Christian Coloco. That's their center rotation. Like that's who they have at this point. Is there anything else that they could go to? Will they explore the buyout market elsewhere to see if they can improve on that front? And also, given their roster, you just mentioned Dorian Finney-Smith.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
There's also Jared Vanderbilt, who they can play in more of a small ball lineup. Will they just lean smaller and just play smaller and play that kind of defensive switch one through five type of lineup like they did through this winning stretch?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
I mean, look, Damian Lillard is like, hey, I can't play today, but I'll see you on Saturday. He plays back-to-back 40-minute games, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Especially in MSG, like, you know, the history behind Trey against I mean, you could hear the chants in the arena and the groaning of the Knicks fans where it's like, oh, come on, really? Another game versus Trey.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
I really did too. When they were down three and they had a chance to, I mean, that would have been just sweet victory for the Hawks fans. I think this game though, if you look at it is like Jalen Brunson masterclass towards the end of the gap, especially in overtime, he had this really clutch shot to seal the deal for them. He's been awesome throughout this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
I mean, he's headed to the all-star weekend for a reason. I think he, Look, when the offense is the way that this Knicks team is trying to win, it's a guy like Brunson that can lead the way. And then like Trey versus Brunson, that was an awesome, awesome guard matchup throughout the whole night, which was really fun.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Yeah, I mean, 55 points is 55 points against anybody. Like getting into that type of rhythm. By the way, speaking of Canadian, I'm glad you brought it up. The most by a Canadian in NBA history. It was Shea a couple of weeks ago when we talked about it. Now Jamal Murray has beat him already. It's just Canadians doing well. What could I say? Look... Paul has been awesome for the last two months.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Uh, you mentioned since Christmas, I have his number since January, 22 points, four rebounds, six assists, and the shooting splits are crazy. 50% from the field, 40% from three 91% from the free throw line. He's an excellent free throw shooter, uh, doing it on a high volume of threes as well. He's knocking down or taking six threes a game. Uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
That part of it is massive for the Nuggets because you think of their three point rate. They don't take a lot of threes. It's him and Jokic that are the guys and Michael Porter Jr. who are spacing the floor. But Murray's been awesome. And he really changes the equation for this Nuggets team. They're on an eight game winning streak for a reason. They've been awesome for the last two months.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
They've been climbing up the Western Conference standings. They're now half a game back of second in the West. Jokic is out there playing MVP historic level basketball, too. And so you look at the West and you're like, well, there's OKC, which we'll get to in a second. And there's Denver, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Yeah, it absolutely did. And this is sort of a trend to start post trade deadline for them. They're just playing a lot quicker. Davion especially is like pushing the pace for them in transition. A guy like Andrew Wiggins also helps them play faster because he's such a great athlete. And so Miami now has this identity. I believe post pre deadline, they were like third worst in pace.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
And I imagine that definitely changes now with this new nucleus. They're just playing really quick. And that makes Miami Heat basketball fun. They're kind of fun to watch now because of how fast they play. But unfortunately, not the results that Heat fans probably wanted tonight. No.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Yes, they just flipped the switch. And that is the like makings of a championship level team. Right. To be able to flip that switch automatically and say, OK, we're done playing around now. We're trying to win this game and then go on runs where and it's a defensive run. Sure, the offense propelled them. Great shot making.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
You know, you can talk about Shea and the way that he just dominates and takes over games, but it's the defensive side of the ball that gets them going, right? It's forcing turnovers, getting out in transition, deflections, blocks, steals, the whole shebang. Like you said, they're the most disruptive defense in the NBA. They're probably one of the most disruptive defenses in NBA history.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
And to limit a team to eight points in a single quarter, And do what they did to the Miami Heat is special. Just special levels of defense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Yeah, he actually was talking postgame on ESPN and he was mentioning how this was sort of like an emotional game for everybody in the arena. But given everything that's happened with the fans and the trade and everything, it just felt like the arena and everybody in there needed that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
And so that third quarter run where he's going on the barrage of three point shot after three point shot in the arena is bubbling up with him. You could feel that tension of like, let's just get something going good for the Mavericks right now, because there's not a whole lot going well right now for that. But you get the win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
I think this team is really impressive defensively, regardless of the injuries like they're missing their entire front court. And somehow, some way, they still find ways to win on the defensive end, which is really, really impressive. Kyrie making the game winning, you know, block, if you will, or charge, whatever you want to call it. And then the shot making.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
It's awesome, awesome stuff from the Mavs, even in spite of the craziness of the last two weeks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
Didn't do the Jumbotron tonight. So no Jumbotron tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
It's a prevailing storyline moving forward for sure.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
PwC refers to the PwC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
I think everybody is, you know?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Kyrie drops 42 | Thunder roar back to beat Heat
I don't think Alex Lennon expected. Alex, he did not.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
And I think that's kind of been the biggest struggle. And opening night against the Pistons, they didn't play particularly fast, but they did find a way. And I was like, well, if nothing else, this wasn't a particularly well-played game, but they showed that they could win ugly. That hasn't been the case very much in these other ones.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
And, like, even just to point out, too, like, you know, people criticized it at the time, but... Buddy healed is a loss here. Like it didn't show up as much in the playoffs. They still were able to maintain their identity. And that was like, oh, okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Like if they, if they can still score to this degree against the Boston Celtics and Boston is saying that was our toughest competitor in the playoffs. And like, look at the decent difference in effort from game four. That Eastern Conference final series when Tyrese wasn't even playing to what it looked like in this game tonight when they're having to lean on, you know, deeper into the rotation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
And again, some of that's because people who are capable of playing that play style were sitting on the bench and street clothes tonight. But you see the point there and what the contrast is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Andrew is their best perimeter defender, and not only because of what he does at the point of attack, but because he's their highest field off-ball defender as well. Aaron gives them a wing defender, and then obviously Ben Shepard is very good at staying skinny and getting over the top of screens as well. You saw that tonight, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Like Benedict Mather and trying to guard against Dennis Schroeder. There's a reason why before halftime, Johnny Furphy was guarding at the point of attack against... Dennis Schroeder, like sometimes when he has to veer, he'll start to do it and then he kind of meanders or he'll just hug the screener and point for the next person to do it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Like there's games where he's better and we'll push up and then there's other ones where it can kind of wax and wane for him at that end of the floor. But overall, I mean, they have their pick and roll defense, surprisingly, actually is quite a bit better from last year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
They show a little bit more help, but the problem is when they're showing that help, sometimes their court awareness isn't good enough to then contain the cuts. And the big one, which you kind of touched on, is the transition defense. They don't give up a ton in transition, but they get beat in transition a lot. And sometimes it can be for really inexplicable reasons. I'm sure I saw it last night.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
There's one last night where Miles is the first big back. Tyrese is buddied up next to Jakob Pertl in a trail. And instead of Miles being like, oh, I'm the first big back, I receive Jakob Pertl, you go close out to Scottie Barnes. Tyrese keeps running with Jakob Pertl, and then Miles is like, oh, I have to close out, clear to the three-point line. There's little breakdowns like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
That's not a schematic thing from the coaching staff. That's just feel and reads. You have to stay connected on defense, and there's just a lot of times where that's not happening, and then they're coming out and talking about it. They get down big to the Miami Heat. They come out and talk about it afterwards. This was an effort thing. We need to clean this up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Then they do clean it up in the next game against the Miami Heat. Very clear improvements. Then two nights later, it's jacked again.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
I think somewhat of the difference there is, and I thought it was important that he had two of the drives that he had against Jakob Pertl, not because Jakob Pertl is like a shutdown isolation defender, but because Tyrese typically does not drive switches. And there was two times in that game where he was able to drive, get past Jakob Pertl, and actually go... and finish at the rim.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Typically, he goes sideways. He'll want to use the sidestep to beat a switch on the perimeter or hunt the switch pocket. The fact that he was looking and driving and doing that in a more athletic way I felt was meaningful tonight in this game because Brooklyn is a team that switches more universally than what the Toronto Raptors do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
The numbers for Tyrese and Miles, they were the number one pick-and-roll combination in the NBA last year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
against switch it has not been good to start the season so some of that is on miles because he's leaned on you know one-legged figures again after he had made some progress in that regard some of it's you know people scramming kick out switches and then he kind of stands behind it and some of it's just you know connected to tyrese's shot like him pulling from 30 feet against the switch pocket when he was in the early shooting slump wasn't as effective so
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
then it becomes more Tyrese and Siakam. While against a team like Brooklyn, when the two top defenders are guarding Tyrese and Siakam, you're not really gaining anything when they screen for each other in the same way. So now you're seeing some more turnovers again because now a wedge rolls with Obi Toppin. It's not with Pascal Siakam.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
And Obi Toppin doesn't have the same connection out of those post-ups as what you'd see with Tyrese and Pascal. I think with Tyrese, a lot of times, one of the turnovers tonight where he's dribbling in transition and he goes to a pirouette. I love jump passes. Everybody knows this. The jump pass has been very key to Tyrese. He was jumping because he had an idea, not because he ran out of ideas.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
That's what made him brilliant in that regard. There's sometimes now where it's like he's not punching it to the rim and he's using it and he's pirouetting and now the ball is going places where
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
you know buddy healed might have known where to go and slide along the arc to catch that pass and some other people may not exactly know so um i think for him right now the biggest things are the full court pressure how he's handling that and the physicality is a big one um there's a lot more physicality against him especially in memphis the other night that you could see where he's getting you know bumped um quite a bit and then they're trying to play four on four a lot similar to what you would have seen dan tony do at times with james harding you know where it was like hey
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Go stand at half court because it's good for us to play four on four, but it's better for the patient to play four on four when Andrew Nembhard's available or when TJ McConnell's out on the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
And similarly for almost different reasons. I mean, again, like tonight against the Brooklyn Nets, they score a season low in points in the first quarter. When they were in Memphis a few nights ago, they scored 45 points in the first quarter. So different personnel at times are being run in and out. The injuries, I do think, have played somewhat of a part.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Here in Brooklyn, you're watching lineups who are at the same time. Enrique Freeman, Johnny Furphy, Jairus Walker are all playing at the same time. That kind of led to the initial slide in the second quarter before the starters came back in and the turnovers and the ball was being thrown around like people throwing a beach ball at a concert. But there's just a lot of inexplicable qualities.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
I've said it. I think that this is the most confusing Pacer team that I think that I've covered. And that includes the back end of the 2013-14 season when the struggle was going on in part because last year when they lost games, there was generally a formula for it. you knew why they were going to lose.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
It was going to be because of their defense and because likely their shooting didn't hold up on that particular night to compensate for their defense. This year, it's so many different reasons that I don't exactly know how you go about fixing it, and sometimes they seem at a loss from it other than the common theme normally that they bring up a lot of times is we didn't play hard consistently.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
Yeah, I mean, their biggest problem offensively is their loss of transition frequency and what their efficiency has been there. The half court offense is still decent and they're reincorporating Benedict Matherin and they've added Juris Walker into that rotation. And this is not to say that any of the players are bad or that their one style is better than the other.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
But when you're looking at Tyrese and he's also facing exaggerated coverages, he's looked limited in games to me. Pascal is a guy, you know from covering him in Toronto, that he's very good at using the high seal in transition. And then that creates a very big catch area. But if you don't get that high seal and then you're in the half court, it can be a slower process.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
And that could be for both reasons, good and bad, because Pascal generally, not so much necessarily in this game, but could be very good at dragging out a double team, creating space for other people. He's a good playmaker. But now... They played fast with Benedict Mather as a starter at the beginning of last season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
They continued to play fast with Pascal as a starter at the back end of last season. But those people were never all playing at the same time. So, like, tonight when you're watching the third quarter and they start to make a run, it's Tyrese, it's TJ, it's Johnny Furphy, it's Obi Top, and it's them looking for guys where Tyrese is being face-guarded.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
94 feet it's good when their numbers are much better when Tyrese is playing with either Andrew Nembhard or playing with TJ McConnell so somebody else can quickly get into offense they have people who are probably filling the spacing lanes and then they have the rim runner you can tell a lot of times in these games that the spacing template just isn't right and on for what their two-side fast break should be there's been some breakdowns there and that was in part why the second quarter I made a joke that it was like watching a team throw a beach ball around at a concert but some of that was because of the spacing
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
It was because like they sometimes they'll have a three side or a four side fast break and nobody rectifies it. Or sometimes Miles Turner, after being pretty effective as a rim runner and a trailer last year so they can get into secondary offense, will be like they'll just be running into the to the penetration angle of the ball handler. It's like right in front instead of staying behind a trail.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron & Lakers “embarrassed” | Pacers struggles continue
So they've had some issues there, and that's something that they've had to tinker with. It's not the same team like it is in terms of the roster is the same team, but not really.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
KCP also wasn't the same threat to do stuff once he caught the ball. And that's the thing where Dalton connect. I think it's going to get lost a little bit. He's a really good basketball player. Good athlete. Well, our basketball player is two ends. The defense is not good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
The defense is bad, but man on offense, like he's scary just when he catches the ball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
It was pretty close, but this is the sort of game, Zena, that a team with the expectations of the Minnesota Timberwolves, even with the entire trade happening right before the season started. This is just not the sort of game you expect them to lose. And yet, here we are, 15 games into the season, and this is exactly the sort of game that they keep losing week in, week out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Well, Yovan, I look forward to reading your piece on how they missed all the free throws down the stretch. And I hope you're going to get some geometry in there. I want to see. I mean, they showed a perfect angle of that shot. One of those misses. And I was like, oh, that's a rough one. Well, not rough. Go read Yovan over at the athletic Yovan Buhai. Thank you very much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Coming up after the break, Zena and I get into the mailbag and we decide if the Spurs are going to be contenders or not.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
It's time for everyone's favorite segment, the segment where you, the listener, does the majority of the work, the mailbag. It's the best. This is one of the best things about podcasting, Zena. You're going to love this so much, especially in January. We're going to get some amazing questions that are really going to get our brains going when we are brain dead on basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Brian Woodward at BWero on Twitter asks, do you foresee the Spurs becoming a contender within the next couple of years? Or what do you see in their future if they're not? And look, they're eight and eight right now. Last season, they didn't win their eighth game until game 42. They have Victor Wimminyama, who we know is not only generational. This guy is maybe millennial.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
They've got a lot of youth there. They've got a good franchise. I mean, I don't see how they're not right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
And yeah, he's already gotten a few bodies like this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
yeah um okay and his second question because we are taking a basketball question and a non-basketball question what's your top thanksgiving side dish and why and this is uh because i know this is a worldwide show uh shout out to our our listeners uh in europe especially um What's your top Thanksgiving side dish for American Thanksgiving?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
You know, luckily S is not on the show tonight because they had Thanksgiving like a month ago. Who even knows what they do up there? I don't.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Do they eat duck goose or something?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Okay. Now that you, so yes, listen, it does matter. And stuffing is gross because putting something in a raw animal carcass and expecting anything to cook, it's disgusting. So where I come from, we do dressing and we do different kinds, right? Like there's just the bread, there's a sausage one and I'm from Virginia. So there's an oyster dressing, which, Oh, I've never heard that. Oh yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
yeah um for me it's pumpkin pie which for a lot of people they look at it as a dessert yeah but i i used to growing up i had my own pumpkin pie at thanksgiving that was set aside for me because i'm not someone who was into a lot of sweets i wasn't like into candy as a kid but i loved pumpkin pie and when i was like six years old i showed up a little bit late to thanksgiving
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
And there was no pumpkin pie. And you threw a tantrum. No, no, no, no, no. I wasn't that kid. Okay. No. But apparently the look on my face was so sad that every adult in my family decided they never wanted to see it again. So every single year I had my own pumpkin pie. I had an amazing childhood. It was very nice. That's going to do it for today's show, folks. You guys have a great weekend.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Appreciate you listening. For Zena Kata, I'm Dave DeFore. And this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Yeah. And, you know, we can't blame Mike Conley for this one. Right. He was out in this game. Right. So they started Nikhil Alexander Walker, which I actually think it might be a direction that they wind up needing to go. We've talked about that a couple of times this season. I mean, Mike Conley, older player, smaller guy gets picked on quite a bit defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
I think the thing for the Wolves that is missing from last year is the elite defense that they used to be able to rely on so that when the offense would stagnate, they at least were able to get stops at the other end, get, you know, they were just dogs as far as rebounds go. And, you know, their playoff run really, they got hot shooting the basketball. They had this elite defense though.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
And so now like we're looking at a team that already kind of struggled offensively trying to fit in to whatever this new identity is. And it's clear that there's a lot of issues. And, you know, I'm at the point where, you know, a lot of people look at Julius Randle's stat line and they think he had a good game. But I just can't do that anymore because I watch the defensive end, too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
I think that they've got to figure out what is their best five-man lineup that gives us the best chance to compete for the majority of the game and go with that every night. And maybe some nights it's not going to be Julius Randle. Agreed. And in this game, you know, I want to go back to the Gobert thing because, you know, there is some chemistry stuff there as well, right? Like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
there was another play where, you know, Rudy's running the floor with Randall and Randall just fires him a pass and it's kind of low and Rudy struggles with low passes, which is probably why, like you said, probably why Randall didn't make that first pass in the first place. But that is just not constructive for a team that needs more reps to get good chemistry. Like, and I get it. I, I,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Being a human being, I understand being frustrated with the guys that you're running on the court with. It makes sense, but it's just going to get late really early in the West, and they already don't look like a home court advantage team to me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
They're not where they were last year. And I mean, we all know that. And I don't think anyone expected that right away. I just expected this to not take as long to look better than it is. And, you know, again, I think there's probably some lineup stuff that's going to happen. DiVincenzo is coming around.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Yeah, and his spacing is probably more valuable with that starting unit than Randall's playmaking. So, you know, maybe they figured that out. I'm not sure. Zena, we got some news, a little bit of news to go over. The NBA is apparently in serious discussions once again to change the format to a four team tournament format for the NBA All-Star game. And that's for this coming NBA All-Star game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Essentially, they would play two semifinal games with two teams or with four teams up to 40 points. So first team to 40 wins. So like pickup style rules, championship game would be to 25. Now, Zena, this is yet another, I don't know, venture to try to fix something that is permanently broken because all-star games in and of themselves, they have no drama because they don't mean anything.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
And so until we get something that is either so incredibly fun that the players really want to participate or it's so incredibly meaningful that it probably is too much for an all-star game. I just don't think there's a fix. And what it really is is that the NBA doesn't have a Super Bowl. They don't have this huge tentpole event that everyone's waiting for, and they really want that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
But an all-star game is just – it's a bad idea. So I had some thoughts here, Zena. What do you think about my fixes for the all-star game? Run them by me. Let's go. All right. So three-on-three basketball. We all just watched that at the Olympics, the high-paced version that they play there. Let's do that. Put these guys random draw.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
I mean, maybe you do some sort of positional thing, but make a bunch of three on three teams, take the whole weekend and do a group play in tournament over the course of the weekend, culminating on Sunday where you just do all day tournament style, single elimination knockout. Maybe the winners get something.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Maybe you work with USA basketball and the winning trio gets to go to international competition that summer. I don't know. Maybe that's too much. I don't know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
The other one, and this will never happen, and I understand it because we all have, you know, egos and brands to protect, but king of the court, all-star weekend. I like that. It would light the world on fire. It would be fantastic. Vegas is a perfect place to do it if they were just to pick one spot to do an all-star game, but we'll never see that. Guys, stick around.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
After the break, we have Yovan Buha on to talk about the Lakers, and, you know, we're not going to harp on the loss, but, man, missing free throws to lose that game is pretty rough. The NBA Daily Curse continues. Zena, do you know that like most of the time that we've booked a guest in the first five weeks of this show, that the team that we want to talk about has lost? Yovan Buha is here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
He was there at the Lakers loss last night to the Magic. We are actually talking to him. He's in the arena, so we're pretending, you know, the myth of podcasting here. Yovan, I apologize for cursing the Lakers and breaking the long streak. This game came down to free throws, which it really, you can't say much more than that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
As Zena said right before we went to record, which I love, you can't watch tape on free throws.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for November 22nd, 2024 coming up. We've got new all-star format coming and we're going to get into that. We've got Minnesota losing a game that they absolutely should not. We're going to get into what's bothering them. Yovan Buha stops by to talk about the Lakers right after they lose to the Magic because the NBA Daily curse is real, folks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Yeah. Mo actually did even more damage, had 19 off the bench. Their bench really crushed. I mean, again, if I know, I mean, for real, we got to talk about Dalton Connect. But before we get there, I got to mention LeBron James three point shooting because LeBron Is LeBron James shooting right now the best three-point shooter he's ever played with? Because he is just lights out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
And that fourth quarter run was really him kind of just making all these deep shots. Again, being able to do this. And then Dalton Connect, having that other shooter opposite LeBron, I feel like this is affecting LeBron's openness on some of these threes. The defense is so keyed in on what Dalton Connect is doing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Magic make Lakers streak disappear | Are the Timberwolves in trouble?
Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. Not a great morning for the Minnesota Timberwolves, though. They dropped a game last night that they definitely should have won. The Toronto Raptors are not a good basketball team. I'm not sure if they're a tanking team necessarily, but they are in the tank race for sure. And the Raptors won the game 110-105.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
It's almost like a rite of passage at this point for NBA role players to be attached to the Lakers and trade rumors. It's like, you know, you've arrived once you've been linked to the Lakers. But I'm not quite sure that there is. I would look at two guys in particular for me that seem to be realistic trade possibilities. in Walker Kessler and Cam Johnson.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
I think if they were able to add either one of those or potentially both of them, depending on the ultimate asking prices, I mean, you could send a first to Utah and a first to Brooklyn. Those two players, I think, among what the Lakers need and who seems to be out there, I think those two could potentially be difference makers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
But I think the larger point with that is like, I don't see this as a one trade fixes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
everything situation, I think they have to make two separate moves. And the guy that they've been most closely linked to around the league has been Jonas Valanciunas. It's been the worst kept secret dating back to the summer when he was on LeBron's list of guys he was willing to take a pay cut for. Yeah, I was surprised by that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
Looking at the rest of the list, it was like Klay Thompson, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, and then Jonas Valanciunas.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
But I also watched him in the regular season finale get played off the floor against the Lakers. And then they them do it again one game later in the playing tournament against the Pelicans. So I don't get how they could watch those two games and them attacking him in the pick and roll and attacking his defensive mobility. and then turn around and be like, we need this guy on our team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
I just don't get it. So I've personally been against the potential fit of Valanchunas. Like I get, they want a tough physical guy who could bang with Jokic in the post, but I would rather go for a guy like a Walker Kessler or even roll the dice with a guy like Robert Williams, where those guys are just better rim protectors, shop lockers, and have a bit more mobility defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
But I think that the two fixes for them have to be a better interior defender and and a better three and D type wing, or at least, you know, wing shooter, wing defender, at least check one of the boxes, if not ideally both. So I guess you could throw in maybe Dorian Finney Smith, though he is, you know, hitting his mid thirties.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
He has been playing more like four, 4.5 this year, not quite the, you know, the, the wing stopper that they need, but yeah, I think they need to do something because the status quo is not working. If you look at the record against teams above 500, if you look at the skid they've been on losing eight of 12, I just don't think this group is good enough as constructed.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
And unless they're going to tear it all down, which I just reported that they are not planning to. Right. If you are going to keep LeBron and 80 as your core, you got to invest in it and you got to put some draft capital behind it. Otherwise, you're just on the treadmill of mediocrity.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
Yeah, well, so I think to go back to the three needs that they've had, those are three needs they identified last season as well. And they have yet to really check any of those boxes. So I even said in the story, I don't think it's realistic for them to check all three of those. You can probably check two at most.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
And I think, again, the two that they need to check are the big man and the three and the wing big wing. Like they've just not had that. really player going on almost four years now. But as for the, the offense, a big thing was they shifted the offense more toward LeBron and they had the first like 15 games or so where they ran things through Anthony Davis.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
They were very organized and they were running the pretty offensive sets that NBA Twitter loves to break down that JJ Redick has implemented. But then around the 15 game mark, there was a pivot to getting LeBron more involved because at that point, LeBron was posting a career low usage rate. And he at times took shots at the offense and shots at his own role within it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
So I think clearly there was some internal discussion to get LeBron more involved and The issue is LeBron then went on arguably the worst slump of his career, or at least the worst slump since his rookie season. And the offense just fell apart. And I think there's been an acknowledgement, especially dating back to last week with the whole NBA Cup schedule and them having some time off.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
of we need to get back to playing the the offense that we were playing earlier in the season so we do need to find that balance of keeping lebron happy and making sure he's getting his pick and roll reps and he's playing the spread style of offense that he likes to play but at the same time we need to keep ad involved he's our best player he's our offensive fulcrum and we need to make sure that that we just got to figure out a better blend between the two and not be so uh you know such a stark contrast in terms of how the offense looks night to night so uh
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
Interestingly, their defense that they've had their last three games have been their three best defensive performances of the season from a defensive rating perspective. So the defense is trending in the right direction. The offense continues to be a mess. And if you look at this group, it's an offensive minded group like but beyond LeBron and AD, it's.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
Austin Reeves, Rui Hachimor, D'Angelo Russell, Dalton Connect. These are all guys who trend more toward the offensive end. So I think if this team is going to hit their ceiling, it's got to be behind a top five, top eight offense at worst. And right now, they've been an average offense for going on almost a month.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
So they got to figure that end out because if they're not an average offense and a bad defense, that's just a bad team. So I think they got to get back to doing what they were doing earlier.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
It's been nice. I did enjoy the weekend in Vegas last year, but it's just as nice to watch from home sometimes. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
No. And LeBron stopped at the point of criticizing it to the extent that players like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and his teammate Anthony Davis just criticized over the last couple of days. But LeBron was implying some level of criticism. He acknowledged that something had to change with the game. But he also said that this is part of a bigger issue going on with basketball right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
And he pointed at the three-point increase in terms of volume and just how the game has changed so dramatically since he's been in the league. So he kept giving us... some kernels. And then when we, we would follow up with a follow-up question, he would stop short and just be like, you know, I don't want to talk about this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
But if you're going to ask, you know, I, I think there's too many F and threes going on right now, but, and then, you know, what's your solution? Well, I don't want to talk about it right now. So he kept kind of teasing us in terms of what his, his fix was for the all-star game, his fix for the three point uptick. But he did, he,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
You know, it seemed to indicate that he thinks the NBA needed to change something, but this is not quite what he thought they should have done.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
I don't think so. Yeah, I didn't think so. Right. So the reason we got LeBron today is because once he plays his 10th minute against the Kings on Thursday night, he will become the NBA's all time minutes leader in the regular season. He's already the all times minutes leader between the regular season and postseason. Yeah. But now it'll be official in the regular season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
He'll pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So we were talking to him about longevity and his career and what's the key to playing so many minutes, so many years, etc. And he said for him, a big thing has just been adapting throughout his career to the whims of the league. And more recently, that's been pace and space and three-point shooting.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Karl-Anthony Towns shines in return to town | Lakers looking for trades?
So he did acknowledge that he has changed his game from where it was 10 years ago, 15 years ago, etc. the three-point shooting is here to stay. It's certainly for him. It's less taxing than driving to the rim, getting clobbered in the paint.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
I think this is the blueprint of how you want to attack the Lakers in the playoffs. I think defensively, you want to switch a lot. They have really struggled since the Luka trade with their offense against switch-heavy teams. They tend to mismatch hunt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And on nights when their jumper is falling, which is actually especially late in the game as they were trying to make that comeback, it started to fall. But for the most part, it was not falling for the first three quarters. They can stagnate and they can settle for contested jumpers tonight. They really struggled to get downhill.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And then once they did, I thought Golden State was very effective with their paint defense. But for the Lakers, it was a lot of just side-to-side movements and actions rather than getting downhill and creating advantages. I thought they did a good job early. They were posting up with Rui and LeBron.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
and able to find some skip passes to the weak side corner, got some offensive rebounds, actually had eight offensive rebounds through the first quarter. And then from that point on, we're not as effective. So I think from an offense perspective, you saw Golden State's defense really stymie them. And then when the Lakers are on defense, you got to attack them in transition.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
You got to be, whether it's after makes or turnovers, you have to hit them in transition. That remains arguably their weakest area defensively, especially when you have a certain level of speed and athleticism, you can really attack them with early offense and transition offense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
I thought Golden State did a great job of doing that, but then also within their half-court sets, because of the movement, because of the speed and athleticism, they were really able to capitalize on... L.A. having to try to protect Luka defensively and just some of their shortcomings on that end.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
So I think Golden State, like this is our first time seeing Luka versus the Warriors with the Lakers and Jimmy versus the Lakers with the Warriors and certainly some concerns on the Lakers side.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Yeah, I would say that outside of the first couple games when he was still just feeling out the group, this was his worst game as a Laker after the game. We just spoke with him and he said his performance was unacceptable and he took blame and ownership for... his performance tonight and just said that he has to be better.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And then he felt like he let his teammates down tonight, the way that he played and especially offensively that, that, you know, he should have been better. So I think it was a combination of golden States size and athleticism on the perimeter. And like, I thought they tried to target Quentin post at the various points, Luca Austin and LeBron and Austin had some success against him, but like,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
They were basically like not able to get by him. And I think that was a bit concerning. And then defensively, I actually think people are going to look at the point total and the six or 17 shooting. I think defensively, what was more concerning for Luca tonight, where he was just relentlessly targeted by Steph and by the Warriors offense. And the Lakers started to try to hide him on.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Kavon Looney and Draymond and whoever was the non-threat as a roller or as a score that you wanted to involve in the action. And it didn't matter. They would just run decoy actions to get Luka switched on to someone else, and then they would bring that guy into the fray.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
So the Lakers, I think, are going to have to figure that out because Steph is not the only Apex superstar in the West that they're going to face that's going to try to target Luka. So they're going to have to come up with a better defensive strategy than just switching everything.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Because as we saw, when you switch everything, you can pick your matchups and golden state, what was picking on Luca tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
It's going to be interesting to see how that breaks down because in recent games, AR, Austin has been their best closer and their best shot creator. And they've run a lot of Austin LeBron two-man game. And that's a little bit easier for them to get into rather than LeBron Luka, just because with LeBron and Luka, it's typically like-sized defenders. So they're just going to switch that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
But with Austin and LeBron, it's often not like-sized defenders. So they have a decision to make of they could either try to trap and then you got the short role playmaking and the four on three advantage, or they can't switch that. Then either LeBron has a smaller defender on him. And Austin has a bigger, slower defender on him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
So the Austin-LeBron two-man game has been more of their bread and butter in late-game situations outside of just Luka being Luka. So I think they're still figuring out that balance. But in terms of when the ball is in one of those three players' hands, the guy that they've actually looked the best with recently... has been Austin in these late-game situations. We saw it in the Chicago game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
We saw it in various points of the Indiana game. So, of course, he is third in the pecking order, so I want to be clear with that. But LeBron and Luka, I think, if anything, you could look for ways to play those guys off of him rather than vice versa. But the one thing, though, is if someone is going to be off the ball – I think LeBron's actually the best catch-and-shoot guy among these three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
So because of LeBron's versatility, I think he's going to have the ball in his hands the least among the three. But he also is the guy who can create advantages in the post just with his size and his strength. So they're still figuring out this crunch time offense and what it's going to look like.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
It's been interesting to see they've largely been better defensively throughout this stretch, as we've talked about before, than offensively. And I think it's starting to click, that Memphis game. all three guys had 25 plus points, eight plus assists. That was as great as they've looked offensively, but that's not a nightly thing. And they're still working through that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Well, I think you mentioned Steph's ability to get to the free throw line, and I thought he did a masterful job of that. I think it was kind of like a throwback where LeBron was really targeting Steph down the stretch and trying to get him switched on to him in the post, and LeBron was going back to the bully ball days. But I would say for the Lakers –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Warriors matchups, this felt like the most firepower Steph has had on his side. And I think in recent years, the Lakers have tended to fare well in this matchup that they won in 2023. And then even this season, they won the season series 3-1. But I think LA really missed Anthony Davis tonight. That's actually something now that we're talking this out. I think...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
AD was a guy that, in this matchup in particular, for as great as Draymond is defensively, AD still got four inches on him and another 20 pounds or so. And just was one of the guys, one of the few guys that Draymond could struggle to defend in the post. And with the offensive rebounds and the pick and roll game, he just brought a certain level of physicality to their offense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
and a paint presence that they just did not have last night consistently. So I think that was something. But it felt like for the first time in this matchup, at least over the last few years, Steph had just as much firepower on his side with Brzezinski and Kaminga, Butler, Moody. They had all these guys that could match the Lakers offensively. Whereas the last few years, it has felt more L.A.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
's had more weapons offensively, in my opinion.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
He's incredible. You know, I'm fortunate enough to have a vote this year and I'm going to strongly consider voting for him for defensive player of the year. He's certainly going to be on my ballot. But just where he ends up, I still have to make that decision and go through all the film and the numbers and whatnot. But he I mean, he's like the one thing I would also take away.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
from tonight what was earlier in the season the Lakers kind of came into their small ball identity against the Warriors there was that Christmas Day game where Austin they're running a lot of screening actions with Austin and he was attacking Golden State the short roll and like from that point on they make the DFS trade they start to build that up and then they play the Warriors three times over the span of a month and it felt like the Lakers from a small ball perspective were actually able to match if not
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
outplay that the warriors and then again ad was a part of that but but tonight it just felt like golden state was controlling everything and obviously the driving force defensively was draymond and just his ability to also offensively he attacked the lakers a bit in that third he got hot he had a couple threes he had got to the rim hit a three with steph standing wide open right next yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
But defensively, he was guarding LeBron a lot and switching and doing Draymond things. And I think he really did a good job of protecting the defensive glass, protecting the rim. And it was a big part of why LA was forced to take so many uncharacteristic mid-range jumpers. Because this is not a mid-range heavy team. JJ Redick has basically outlawed it as an analytics-friendly coach.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
He does not want them taking mid-range jumpers. Tonight, they took a bunch of them. And that was largely because of Draymond and his defense.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
More Luka Trade Fallout! The Pulse of Mavs Fans with Will Cain. Fox to the Spurs. Plus the LeBron, Klutch and Lakers Plans with Jovan Buha.
Well, it seems like this was the rare trade going back to like old school NBA days where the two GMs just kept this between themselves and talking to people around the Lakers organization that I consistently talk to in different segments of the front office or the organization. Like
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
More Luka Trade Fallout! The Pulse of Mavs Fans with Will Cain. Fox to the Spurs. Plus the LeBron, Klutch and Lakers Plans with Jovan Buha.
these people that legitimately did not know that this trade was coming and had no idea, uh, about the, just the inner workings of it. So I think that this was like the, the rare trade, like we've seen a few of these throughout, uh, recent NBA history, but I think nothing quite to this magnitude.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
More Luka Trade Fallout! The Pulse of Mavs Fans with Will Cain. Fox to the Spurs. Plus the LeBron, Klutch and Lakers Plans with Jovan Buha.
So the fact that they were able to keep this between them, not let it leak out, not let the agents know, not let the players know. Uh, I think that's pretty rare in 2025. Uh, I think there's a lot to get into with this. I still don't understand it. I mean, I listened to your reaction with Bill right after it happened, and it was like, I'm totally in agreement with you.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
More Luka Trade Fallout! The Pulse of Mavs Fans with Will Cain. Fox to the Spurs. Plus the LeBron, Klutch and Lakers Plans with Jovan Buha.
There's just so many parts of this I still don't quite understand. And I think for the Lakers, they now have a golden parachute into the next era of post-LeBron, and now it seems like they're far better positioned than they were looking to be as recently as a couple days ago.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
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Yeah, and it feels like they've always... You could go Luka, LeBron, Kobe, Shaq, Magic, Kareem, Baylor, West, Chamberlain. The Lakers have a history of... getting generational superstars and often trading for these guys in ways you wouldn't quite expect.
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And I think to your point, the kind of crazy thing was like the context of this night was the Lakers are coming off of one of their best wins of the season. I would say to me, it was right up there with the Celtics win because you win at MSG without Anthony Davis. And as you just said, like Jackson Hayes started at center and they went through half of that game
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playing centerless and playing these small ball looks. And so they complete a 4-1 Grammy trip. They've won 8 of 10. It looks like they're finally finding this identity. And at the time, the intel I was getting, and I know you and I spoke a little bit about this at the Lakers-Celtics game, was like, they're looking for something along the margins. Maybe they're going to add a big man.
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a couple second round picks a couple first round picks like nothing seismic and then all of a sudden we're in the media room uh typing away on our post game stories and this tweet drops and none of us believe it and we had to wait for for shops to confirm it again and then start immediately calling and texting people so i i think for the lakers this was a situation that obviously dallas approached them they did not think luca was available or that they could get him for uh that type uh package so
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this was a situation where they just had to alter course in terms of I think ideally they would have just kept things together and made a couple small moves but when this opportunity presents itself like you can't say no I look at the LeBron piece of this and
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I think so. And I think both players have now had the experience of adjusting to playing with co-stars, with LeBron obviously going back to the Heatles, with Wade and Bosh in Cleveland, with Kyrie and Kevin Love, and then now in LA with AD. And then
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uh luca with kairi uh the one interesting part to me is that like they both have always been the batman in that situation it's always been more so the other stars adjusting more to them rather than them adjusting to them because they've clearly been the best player in those situations this is kind of the first situation where they could look at each other and say like
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They can make the case for why they're the better player or the better fit, whatever. And then they could also make the case for the other player to kind of take more control. So I do expect like Luka is 25. He's not even yet in his prime. I think he's obviously the better player between the two right now. So I think Luka should be the primary ball handler and point guard.
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And you'll see a lot of Luka LeBron two-man game. And we saw it with Team USA. when he played a bit more off the ball. It basically was like in the Draymond role with Steph. And Luka and Steph aren't the same type of player, but you can imagine LeBron screening for Luka and hitting him in the short roll. And then now you have LeBron with a four-on-three advantage.
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He can either get downhill, get to the rim and finish, or he can drive and kick to shooters in the corner, cutters, whatever. So I think... There will naturally be a learning curve here and an adjustment period for both guys in terms of learning to play with each other. They are both supercomputers. So there's going to be a bit of some growth and learning there.
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But I think ultimately, these are two of the smartest players in the league, two of the best passers in the league. There's a lot of similarities between them from a skill and playing style perspective. So I don't want to overcomplicate it. I think these two guys will figure it out, but you can go... 1-4 pick and roll, 4-1 pick and roll.
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You could have Luka screening for LeBron and popping or also getting hit in the short roll and then making decisions. So I think those two are going to have a great chemistry. Again, I think it's going to take some time, but I think offensively, this team has a high ceiling. It's, as you've alluded to, the defensive side and having Jackson Hayes as your starting center.
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That's where my questions begin.
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That's my understanding. He's not going to, I mean, he has a no trade clause, so he would have to okay any trade. I guess technically there's a possibility here in the next three days, but as Chris Haynes reported, LeBron does not intend to ask out. So I think he's going to stay through the deadline.
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Uh, I do, uh, now he, so he has a player option for, for next year. And as I reported along with Sean's at the end of last season, uh, the Intel we were getting was that he was likely, uh, looking at one to two more years, which would bring him to the end of the 2025-26 season.
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I think that's still the general operating assumption around the league right now is that he's going to play one more year and likely retire at the end of 2026. But as you said, he's talked about, I can play five to seven more years, but we'll see what happens with Bryce James in terms of him being an NBA prospect and his timeline.
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So there are a lot of other factors that could come into play here, but I do think
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lebron whether he just opts into the player option or tries to sign an extension and then eventually like the weird thing would be with signing an extension would be if you were going to play one more year it wouldn't really make sense like i guess you could get that number a little bit higher but it wouldn't really make sense to like sign an extension and then say i'm retiring so i think he's gonna have to decide what he wants to do next year uh but i i do think that the the operating assumption has been he's gonna play one more year
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I certainly think it has been a bit strained through the years, maybe to say the least. I think going back to the Russell Westbrook trade, that is a sliding doors moment in this whole situation. LeBron 80 era and just the dynamic between clutch and the Lakers.
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And if you look at like I but whenever I do national shows and I get asked about how much control LeBron has, the thing I always say is like, yes, there are examples we can look at, obviously drafting and signing Bronny to a four year deal. But from an opportunity cost perspective, he's making less than a typical minimum guy.
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so the lakers are actually saving money on the back end of the roster but brawny thing aside obviously that that was uh in part a favor to lebron and what he wanted and then they'll often have several clutch guys on the the roster but but again those are often vet minimum guys or at most it's been like mid-level type guys uh but but again relatively low opportunity cost
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If LeBron had his way over the last few years, they would have traded for Kyrie. They would have traded for DeJounte Murray. They would have traded for Zach Levine. LeBron has wanted a third star next to him in AD and primarily a third ball handling slash perimeter guy type star. He's wanted to redo the Westbrook trade, but do it with a better fitting third star. Lakers have not done that.
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Then even looking at AD, where AD has often been more the quiet guy. He's not really making the passive aggressive remarks. AD wanted James Borrego going back to the summer. Borrego was his guy. He was the guy that he was backing. They end up signing or agreeing to terms with JJ Redick.
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And that's to say nothing of previously when LeBron had wanted Ty Lue and Monty Williams and then they get Frank Vogel. And then you go the last few years, AD has wanted to play power forward. It's been the worst kept secret that AD prefers to play power forward compared to center. He's just had to play center because the Lakers have not prioritized adding a center.
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And it's been, if you look at from 2021 on, it's been a revolving door of vet minimum centers who are all like fringe rotation players. So naturally looking at the roster, you have to shift 80 up to play center because the options are guys who probably shouldn't be playing in like a team with championship aspirations.
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So I think if you look at just like, like take all the words and whatever, put that to the side, just look at the actions, um, The Lakers have not really done what LeBron and AD have wanted for several years now. Or if they have, it's been very small opportunity cost type situation. So I think really since the Westbrook trade, we can trace back the relationship fraying a little bit.
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And it felt like at some point here, it was going to come to a natural conclusion. And I do think... I'm not going to say a clutch star will never be a Laker again, because I think it's certainly possible. But once LeBron is done being a Laker, I think that relationship has kind of run its course.
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Yeah, that's why when you were talking about the price stuff, I'm like, are we going to do this all over again? Well, maybe someone else, right? I mean, could be, but yeah.
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yeah i mean anthony davis is a center like let's make no mistake about it i'm i'm just like sharing that that that is what he's wanted and if we're arguing that like they've catered like because i i just think there's a narrative out there that they've completely catered to lebron and ad's wishes and whatever they want and i i'm just pushing back a little bit against that because i think there's been some very clear things that they've wanted that they've not gotten that that maybe in other situations they would get but 80 is by the way
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Yeah, and to your point, they have given them whatever contracts they wanted in terms of contract structure, so that's certainly an argument against that as well. But in terms of AD, I think the one thing that has been true, and I think the one thing that he feels is like,
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I think he likes when playing next to another big and having that guy be the primary center defender, and then he can roam defensively. And I think going back to the 2020 title year, when you had JaVale or Dwight on,
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Nikola Jokic or whatever other big man they were running into, AD liked being the roamer who could be the low man, be helping rotating out the shooters and just kind of manning, quarterbacking the defense in that sense. So I think for him, like one, you know, Constant thing that the teams try to do against the Lakers when he's at the five is you just try to get him out of the paint.
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And Steve Kerr has talked about like Golden State's entire offense when they play the Lakers is trying to find and come up with ways to get Anthony Davis away from the rim. And they feel like if they can get 80 out of the away from the rim, it's going to be a layup line or an offensive rebound line. uh, or party, whatever. Uh, so I think that's like, that's two eighties, I guess, argument.
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I, I, I see the value in that. And the Lakers, like even the last couple of years have tended to play better when they played bigger lineups, uh, not even necessarily another center out there, but like when they play their big wings and they're going like LeBron, a big guy, six, eight or six, nine and above NAD, those lineups have played really well.
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It's just been because the roster has been so kind of structured towards guards and perimeter guys that they typically play these like three guard lineups that haven't been as good defensively. So I get where 80 is coming from, but ultimately he's a five. And I think Dallas is going to figure out with their roster, like him closing at the five is the best option.
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I think it depends on what they do in the next three days here. Because if they stand pat with the current roster, as you just alluded to earlier, Jackson Hayes is a starting center. I think he's more of a fringe rotation player rather than a starting rotation player.
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And again, I think it's going to be more like the Knicks game where they go with Dorian Finney-Smith at the 5 or Jared Vanderbilt at the 5. and they play these wing heavy lineups. And I know JJ Redick likes that. He likes the more modern kind of small ball type lineups. But I think this group just has too many holes defensively.
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Like I think Max Christie has been an afterthought in this trade, but he had kind of become the Lakers fourth best player over the last like month and a half. He was, they were 16 and eight with him in the starting lineup. He was shooting 40% on threes, averaging between like 11 and 12 points a game. So like Max Christie had kind of become a, a reliable two-way wing for them. And I didn't lose it.
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Like they lost two starters and they really added one. And of course, Luca is better than AD. And again, you make the trade 10 out of 10 times, but like from a short-term perspective, this group took a step back defensively and took a major step back in the interior. Like they already needed a second center. Now they don't really, they might need two centers, honestly. So-
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I think depending on what they do in the next three days, I've heard that they're trying to be like the one big thing here is they've shifted from there is this notion of like the LeBron 80 timeline of you have maybe 18 months to try and maximize this window. They've shifted away from that and now they're on the loop. Luka timeline.
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So I think any move they make, if they invest that 2031 first round pick or a pick swap, or even any of the younger talent, it's going to be about getting a guy who can fit now and longer term with Luka.
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So I don't think they're going to make some type of win now move in terms of like, here's a first round pick for a 30 year old center, a 33 year old, like, I think they're looking at guys in their late 20s and younger, and guys who can play with Luka longer term. So If they do make a bigger move here, I think it'll be for a younger player.
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But I would temper expectations a bit and probably look at maybe them trying to find like a bargain center and then kind of just going forward and seeing what you can do with this group. But they're certainly like defensively, they're relying on Jared Vanderbilt, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Gabe Vincent.
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I like each of those guys individually, but to have those be your top three defenders, I think there's a clear limitation there. And then size-wise, specifically at the center spot, it's problematic.
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Yeah, I mean, it feels like to me that this is sort of like a breakup and one side trying to get out and explain the reasons why they broke up with the other person. But it just hasn't really... carried much weight in no, you know, no pun intended here. Like, but like, as you said, like Luca could be smoking a cigarette on the court.
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And it's like, you give that guy the super max and you fit, like you figure it out later. And I just, I don't understand it. I mean, I've heard similar things, weight conditioning, work ethic, leadership, attitude, mindset, like all those things have been floating out there. But I also think from the Lakers side, like they're optimistic that,
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If there is one player that can maybe change some of those things with Luka, and to your point, maybe he just is who he is and none of this is going to change, but he loves LeBron. He said it in his rookie press conference. LeBron is his idol. LeBron is a guy he's looked up to. He's tried to model his game after.
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So learning from LeBron, the athlete who is arguably taking the best care of his body, in, in history, you know, invest a million dollars every summer in his body. Like that's a guy that I think the Lakers are optimistic. Like if Luca can learn from that example and we've seen like even Kyrie and 80 for, you know, the, you know, they have their quirks, what we'll say, uh,
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Those guys have talked about learning from LeBron and the impact he's had on them. So I think the Lakers are optimistic that Luke is still 25. He's not even yet in his prime.
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And if he could have a couple of years with LeBron and seeing what time he gets to the practice facility, how much he's investing pre and post practice into his body in terms of all the different things he's doing, that can have some sort of impact on him. But even if it doesn't,
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You have a 25-year-old generational star who has already led teams to the finals, conference finals, third in regular season scoring all time in terms of points per game, second in the playoffs. Don't overthink it. This guy could be the best player in the league as soon as next season, arguably. I still can't believe that this trade happened.