Jovan Buha
speaker
326 appearances
10 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 26 Jun
Jovan Buha’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That's where my questions begin.
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.
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.
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.
So there are a lot of other factors that could come into play here, but I do think
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
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.
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.
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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