February 6, 2025 • 49 mins
The Lakers made a blockbuster move, landing Luka Dončić in a shocking trade that sent Anthony Davis to Dallas. In this episode, Jovan Buha joins us to break down the immediate impact of the deal, the vibe inside the Lakers locker room, LeBron’s outlook, and what this trade means for the NBA Trade Deadline. Plus, we analyze how this move shifts the league landscape heading into the final hours before the deadline.Note: This episode was recorded 2.5 hours before the Lakers’ trade for Mark Williams. Any discussion around the team’s search for a big man is now outdated, but the rest of the conversation remains relevant.
All things 19 Media Group:
Twitter: @19MGroup
Instagram: 19mediagroup
https://www.19MediaGroup.com
Discover our favorite podcast gear and support the show—shop our studio must-haves on our Amazon Affiliate page! https://www.amazon.com/shop/19mediagroup
Want to join the conversation or invite us to your platform? Connect with us and share your vision (budget-friendly collaborations welcome)! https://bit.ly/19Guest
All things 19 Media Group:
Twitter: @19MGroup
Instagram: 19mediagroup
https://www.19MediaGroup.com
Discover our favorite podcast gear and support the show—shop our studio must-haves on our Amazon Affiliate page! https://www.amazon.com/shop/19mediagroup
Want to join the conversation or invite us to your platform? Connect with us and share your vision (budget-friendly collaborations welcome)! https://bit.ly/19Guest
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Y'all?
Speaker 3 (00:01):
Welcome to a new episode of the Late Now Lakes
Show podcast powered by Prize Picks. It is your host,
Ricky I got I got my peoples with me. I
got my peoples with me on the show. First of all,
from the top rope, my brother, Guru Goo, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Man? Long time?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Don't see how you feeling?
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Feeling rejuvenated? Brother? For uh, you know, one reason or another.
Speaker 5 (00:21):
You know, I think I can safely say I'll be
around for a while.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Right right, Yeah, So Guru is, uh, we ain't putting
the fax machine in, but if there was a text
that gotta get sent through and he gotta say he backed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You know, we just gonna see. We're just gonna we
just gonna let this all play out. But not to
bury the lead.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
As y'all can see, we got a very special guest
in the building, probably running off the negative hours of
sleep at this point in time.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The Athletics own Lakers reporter Yo Ban Boh.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yovan, what's up man? What you been up to these
last couple of days.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Uh, it's certainly not sleeping. That's been one thing I've
not been doing recently. But It's been a whirlwind of
I guess five days now, running on fumes from being
at MSG when the news dropped to reporting out the
last few days, the intro press conference, the game against
the Clippers, we still got the trade deadline coming up,
(01:17):
and then Luca making his debut most likely this weekend.
So just a crazy, crazy week in Lakerland.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, yeah, that would be an understatement, goog. We uh,
we've had times like this before, but not not you know,
the Richter scale definitely was tipping. Brother, this was h
This was one of the ones that will continue to
tell our children and our children's children.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So we're making up the story.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
At some point wherever you were on it was Saturday night,
Friday night, What night was it was Saturday.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Night, Saturday.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Wherever you were Saturday night watching the Lakers Knicks game,
high off of just back to back performances of the
Lakers doing what they needed to do, the news broke.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
The news broke at eleven o'clock Central time, and.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
None of us believed it. Joban, I'm not even sure
you believed it. But the deal is done. Luca Donctz
is a Los Angeles Laker. Out goes Anthony Davis and
Max Christy. I couldn't put into words what happened. I
told my wife.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Who was sleeping.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I was like, baby, I have to leave you. I'm
going into the basement. I don't know when I'll be
back up. Yovan, I guess let's just start here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Man, talk us through where you were at the time
when the news dropped in and what your reaction was
into the next couple hours that developed after that for you.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Yeah. So I was at MSG in the press room,
and so it chopped around like twelve fifteen am Eastern time.
So it was myself and the three other traveling Lakers
beat reporters, Davic Menhaman, Dan Kobe Price, and then there
was another international reporter there, Yoov, who he was the
(03:07):
one who actually alerted all of us, because we we
have like a giant group transcription that we do for
each player and JJ whenever they talk. So we had
done that. We were all working on our post game stories.
I was focusing on like the storyline of the night,
of course, was the Lakers and how convincing of a
win that was. But Lebron said that playing with BRONI
(03:29):
is the greatest thing he's ever done in his life,
and it was gonna be like a little news er
on that and then maybe writing about the win over
the Necks. Then all of a sudden, Yoov just yells
out like Luca just got traded to the Lakers, and
we were like, wait what, And then we see the tweet.
We all thought it sham's what was hacked, and that
it was fake, like at least come up with a
(03:51):
better trade than that. Come on like that, that's not realistic.
And then once he puts out the second tweet, we
all start like breaking out, like what the hell's going on?
So we start putting in calls and texts and talking
to our editors and talking to sources, and like we're
running around the media room going out into the hallway.
MSG security is really strict, so they keep like kicking
us out of certain areas and stuff, and it was
(04:12):
just like a circus trying to figure out like how
this happened, why no one knew about this, Why why
there was no intel out there about this. So it
was just a mad scene there. And then for me
it was like, right, some quick analysis, go back to
my hotel livestream for like an hour, and then get
(04:33):
back to writing and reporting this out. So I was
up to like seven am Eastern time that night, got
up at like ten to do a radio hit, went
back to sleep for a little bit, and then got
back up and started calling people and doing some more reporting.
So it was a crazy night. It was my last
night in New York obviously, so it kind of like
i'd like brunch plans and kind of wanted to walk
(04:54):
around the city, and it was like nah, like but
with something like this happens, you stop everything, and it
was I mean, I'm still processing it, like I still
can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Good.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I knew the city exploded, man, I knew. I knew
the state probably y'all probably was checking to make sure that,
you know, the ain't no cups of coverage was moving
at that time. Man, What what was it like at
on the home front?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I know, it was crazy, honestly.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
I mean I had just left the LA the downtown
LA area, fifteen minutes prior to it breaking. You know,
I was over at COSM, you know, for the next
game and all of that and like Sofi area, and
you know, it was.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It was good vibes.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
You know, it was already good vibes right, and you know,
as you all know, we just we everyone was feeling good,
great win.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
The guys were flying around on both ends.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
And it's like, wow, we just beat the Knicks and
we looked good even with out a D. And then oh,
we're going to be without a D. And we all,
I think universally as a human race, we had the
same reaction of denial and just refusing to accept this
as a reality. And as it took about maybe ten
(06:18):
fifteen minutes for me to actually bring myself to be like, wow,
this just happened, and I couldn't the most exemplary ex
like expression of bittersweet mixed emotions I've ever seen or
heard of from people worldwide in life. If you're a
(06:41):
Lakers fan or if you follow Lakers at all, this
was the definition of bitter sweet, you know, pure Webster definition.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's like, bro, it's like watching your son win a
gold medal. Second place is your nephew and he just
tore his acl right like like like I am not
going a lot, fellas, I was messed up for like
a minute. It's we had opened up the spaces and
(07:14):
get it going, like yo, Von, you already know man,
eighty is my guy, you know, hometown guy for us
here in the Chicago area. He lived out my dream
going to the Lakers winning the championship, and he.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Gone just out the door. Yo, when the last time
you talked to eighty, you're not gonna see him in
the whole locker room, no board, bro.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, he he cleared out in Philly before it would
have been the Charlotte game, which was his last full
game as a Laker. So so postgame in Charlotte because yeah, Philly,
he didn't he was already gone by the time, or
I think he was just walking out of the locker room,
but by the time we got there, so yeah, I
(07:57):
mean Charlotte. So yeah, it's been what a week. It's
crazy over a week.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, literally a d You know, we are in
the time now of after Anthony David, So you know,
just to kind of put.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
The bow on our departing one of the dogs.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Man gonna go down one of our better best Laker
bigs in the history of the franchise. Right, got a
championship defensive anchor for six years for us, and if
he was going to go, it would have to be
for something like this and that's something that is Luca
Doncis and I kind of want to get into a
(08:38):
shout out Max Christie, shout out grandson. Yeah, I'm such
a horrible grandfather. I have not done any type of memory.
I haven't called to text to my boy. But he
gonna be all right. He young, He'll figure it out.
I'm hurting for my dog a d. But let's get
into it, man. Luca Docca is a Los Angeles Laker.
We saw him sitting there at the end of the
bench as the Lakers took care of business against the
(08:58):
Los Angeles Clippers ninety seven, and I think Lebron was
showing out. I think Lebron was given a little preview
as to what's to come.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
You.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Brian Winhorse said, in fact that he was after getting
that and one give and go. He turned to Luca
and said that that's what we're gonna be doing. And
I was like, oh, we plot already.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I love it, yo, Bobe man, I mean, Luca's in
the door. You were at his presser. I got tons
of questions, Guru, please hop in with yours, But I
guess just just kick us off with the with the
Luca entrance. Man, is that the how was the press conference?
What was the vibes?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Just as it starts to settle in that this is
really for real.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Yeah, well, I think for everybody, like I definitely noticed
this at the game last night, like like there's a
lot of mixed emotions right now because eighty was such
a big part of the locker room. And remember going
back to the beginning of the season, like this was
supposed to be the torch passing of eighty is the
number one option. Everything's kind of revolving around eighty. And
(10:02):
we kind of heard that rhetoric in previous seasons, but
it felt more real this year, and I think eighty
took on a bit more of a leadership role. This
had also been a group that, like most of these
guys were on the team last season, so there was
an element of continuity and bonding, and like I think
this is a pretty close group, so to lose ad
Am Max, like I think JJ said, there was a
(10:23):
grieving process and you could kind of like the locker
room vibes for a team that's one nine of eleven
just completed a five to one Grammy trip. It was
pretty down to be honest, and like you could just
kind of feel the weight in the locker room. And
then even Luca has been going through it himself with
JJ's said that whenever they talk, he keeps using the
(10:45):
term processing and that he's still just processing this entire situation.
And you know that there's a report that he was
about to buy a fifteen million dollar house in Dallas,
and so like, Luca had no intentions of leaving the Mavericks.
So I think that's kind of like the backdrop to
everything is that there's just been this emotional weight beat
(11:06):
behind it all. But make no mistake that the Lakers
are very excited about having Luka Doncic. This is a
twenty five year old generational superstar who third all time
in regular season points per game, second all time in
playoff points per game. He's one of five players currently
(11:28):
in the NBA to make five All NBA first teams.
The other four are Lebron, Katie, James Harden, and Giannis.
All of those guys are thirty and above. Lucas twenty five,
So like Steph has not made five all NBA first teams.
Just to put that in perspective of Luca's career, in
what he's done. He's a lot of teams to the finals.
(11:48):
He's a lot of teams to the conference finals. He's
a walking thirty point triple double. And really, like, I
think the closest thing we've seen to Lebron, despite obviously
there being some let's say physic goal differences or like
athletic differences, but between the two from a size and
scoring and playmaking perspective, we've never seen someone at that
(12:08):
six foot seven, six foot eight outside of Lebron with
with just the overall package that that Luca has. So
putting those two guys together and just the possibilities that
offensively with their two man game, but with like putting
one of those guys is like a weak side guy
and Lebron with his cutting or just lucas like a
secondary playmaker. Like, I think the possibilities are endless, and
(12:33):
I really like, obviously the team's going to look different,
and I think the center spot is a clear need
going into the deadline. But even if they stand pat
or they add like a fringe kind of rotation guy,
having Luca and Lebron in a playoff series is going
to give the Lakers a shot against just about anybody like,
no one's going to want to see those two guys
(12:55):
in a seven game series. So I think from a
ceiling perspective, the Lakers ceiling, I think it's higher now
compared to whatever it was five days ago. And it's
a move that helps you in the present, but obviously
longer term. Now you have the next face of the franchise,
a guy who can attract another star in twenty twenty
six or twenty twenty seven, and like you're set up
(13:16):
for the present and the future. So I think, for
as emotional and difficult as the past few days have
been in just this whole process, once Luca suits up
on Saturday, I think Everyone's going to be excited and
optimistic about again, not only the future, but especially the present.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
I just want to you know, we have the Warriors
in town tomorrow Thursday, and you know, Luca's second to
last game, well prior to the injury, was against these
same Warriors, and three hundred and twenty pound Luca, as
they say, dropped forty five thirteen assists and eleven rebounds,
(14:00):
six of eleven shooting from three.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
You know before, out of shape, man, just out of shape.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
It's bad, you know, and you know, listen, you're right.
I think the Lakers are more feared team today than
they were last week, and in a playoff series. I mean,
we've seen so many iterations of this. Uh you know
that Lakers Kobe and Shaq going up against the Sacramento
Kings that were a better team back in the day,
(14:28):
but they had the two best players on the court.
So you know, you're able to go into Sacramento and
win on the road in overtime. And uh, you know,
we've seen this so many times. It's like, hey, even
if you're not the best team, even if you don't
have the better team from one through twelve, if you
have two one A guys like this man and and
(14:50):
Bron looked invigorated. I'm just gonna say that. I mean, yeah, Yovan,
you're up close every other night. Tell me how many
times this season have you seen those type of closeouts
and rerotations?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I will, I will.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
I felt like the next game. The next game was similar,
But but also I mean, who knows, like JJ already
knew about it before the game, which kind of changes
the way I view that whole situation, because like pregame,
JJ was in a great mood and he was like,
I'm juiced, and then he kind of couched it with like,
well it's Lakers Nicks like prime time like that. In retrospect,
(15:30):
it was like, well, this dude knew what was coming,
and the wonder he was in such.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
A good.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, I mean, I don't that there's still some stuff
with like because because there's been some intel that like
rich Paul was given a little bit of a heads up.
So you're like, if rich Paul got a little bit
of a heads up, then how would Lebron or Ady
not know? Uh, like that, There's still some parts of
it that that I'm not quite sure about. But I
would say like Lebron in general recently has been playing
(15:58):
at such a a high level on both ends of
the floor and really setting a certain tone that like
it almost felt like it did pre date this trade,
and in you know, the last week or so, Like
I would say, going back to like the Boston game,
Lebron was really locked in and from that point on
the Lakers have been playing incredible basketball. Outside of that
(16:19):
you know, stinker in Philly. But yeah, I mean to
your point, like I think there was an element of
putting on a show. There's there's mutual admiration there between
Luca and Lebron. Lucas said Lebron's his favorite player. He
grew up idolizing him. Even at the intro press conference,
he said that he looks up to him. Lebron has
reciprocated it with saying Lucas his favorite player to watch
(16:40):
in the NBA and that he thinks like they can
play Eddie style play with each other. It's just like
they will not need to figure it out or adjust
or anything like that. They're going to be fine. So
I think there's there's a mutual respect and admiration there
that is going to be the foundation of something that
I think can be special. And again, like to your
your point, like they might not have the most talent
(17:03):
compared to some of the other teams in the West
or just some of the other teams in the league,
but you put those two guys on the floor, they're
going to be the two best players in a lot
of series, and they're gonna have at least the best
player in a lot of series. With With Luca, I
think he's personally I already thought he was the second
best player in the league before this trade. So that's
not changed since he's become a Laker, but the oldie
(17:25):
I think you could look as like Jokic and like
until Jokic is outplayed or whatever in a playoff series,
like that's the one guy I would put ahead of him.
But outside of that, it's like, I mean, and Luca
can out play him in a playoff series hypothetically, right
if they face each other. So this is a dude
that like gives the Lakers an advantage and basically any series.
(17:45):
And we've seen in the playoffs like sometimes superstardom and
talent wins out more like top end talent wins out
more than depth or like the best five man lineup
or whatever. So I think the Lakers are in a
really good spot, especially if they can make the right
move in the next eighteen hours or so.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
And we're going to get into uh those next eighteen
hours here in a second, but real quick, Giovan, just
I'm sure you've been caught up in all the serious business.
Have you made any I heard anything about all the
conspiracy theories around this trade right now? That yeah, Dallas, Yeah,
the casino, yeah, the casino stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
We like casinos. I like the idea, but.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
I've by some people in Dallas. I've ran it by
some people of Dallas that that have have shut it
down and said, like they don't buy that or believe that.
I I what I think it. My read on the
situation is, I think Nico Harrison is a guy who's
been in the relationship business, working on the sneaker side,
(18:53):
basically being a player liaison and having certain relationships with
players throughout the years, and then to clearly not be
on the same page with Luca and really a big,
you know, a player that he's kind of modeled his
basketball philosophy off of has been Kobe, and to maybe
(19:14):
look at at some of the differences in how how
Kobe like. I think there are some similarities clearly between
Kobe and Luca and that competitiveness and like, like Luca's
got beef with like half the league and already, like
the Lakers are inheriting that beef. Now where where the Suns,
the Kings, the Mavericks, the Celtics, the war like and
Clippers like and Lakers already have beef with some of
(19:36):
those teams as well. But like, Luca has a certain
killer instinct that I think it is going to endear
himself to to Laker fans and is similar to Kobe,
but of course from uh, you know, we've seen the
weight fluctuate at times, and and they're having stories about
him being a bit out of shape or conditioning or whatever.
So I think on some level, Nico and Luka they're
(19:57):
not getting along. Nico looks at at some of the
traits that Luca has that he doesn't like it, compares
it maybe to Kobe or some other guys he worked
with at Nike, and he just comes to the conclusion
like this is not the dude to lead this franchise.
I frankly think he overthought it. He galaxy brained it.
He made the equivalent of Darvin Ham starting Jared Vanderbilt
(20:20):
cam Retishatoria prints together back in December twenty twenty three,
like that that level of mistake, and he just overthought it.
And now they're in this position. So I mean, it's
the it's the Mavericks loss, it's the Lakers win.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Hey, what's going on y'all?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Ricky with Late Night Lake Show real quick, just wanted
to send some flowers, send some love to one of
our a one Day Ones Friends of the Show Prize picks.
They've been rocking with us since this account and this
whole operation was in its infancy way before we have
grown to the production that we are here today. We
can't thank them enough for believing in the engine that
(21:03):
is L and LS.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
And to show our love.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
We got a new promo code for y'all. Type in
the promo code c L and as c L and
AS for up to one hundred dollars deposit match.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
On your first deposit.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
That's right, you.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Already know how Prispects is coming.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Man.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
It is the number one daily fantasy experience. You make
your picks higher or lower, you make two to three selections,
and if you're hit, you might be able to cash
out on a nice little five, ten, eighteen, twenty five,
all the way up to one hundred times your deposit.
And I think what you're saying is kind of what
(21:45):
a lot of people were saying, is uh. Rob kind
of he did his big one with this one. The
fact that he was like, you got hey, you you
got to keep this between us because like you in
the relationship business and I'm in the relation let's keep
it like, let's not even hell the other guy who
we have a three team deal with what we got
going on over here. We we talked about Rob plenty
(22:09):
on here, the highs and times, the loads of times, yobon.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
This was, uh, this was one for the record books, bro, Yeah,
it was. I mean it's gonna go down. I think
it's one of the greatest trades of all time and
it's going to be our I mean, he's won a
championship already, so you know that's that's a giant feather
in his cap, but this is going to be another
giant feather in his camp his cap. Excuse me because like,
(22:35):
so I've gone through this exercise of let's let's put
put yourself in Nico Harrison's shoes for a second and say, okay,
like you kind of have a win now roster, right
like Kyrie Clay, like PJ. Washington is a guy that
that's currently in his prime. Uh Like outside of Lively,
most of their pieces are either like in their prime
(22:56):
kind of like win now guys or guys a little
bit past their prime. And that that was more of
a win now kind of roster and situation. So if
we take a step back and say, okay, if you're
going to trade Luca, you want to bring in a player,
a star who is going to help, you know, kind
of fit with that timeline, and you're looking at maybe
like the next two to four years of trying to compete,
(23:18):
trying to contend in a star that that matches that.
So of course you're going to go through Weben, Yama,
Jokic and uh you know whoever Yannis at the top
of the league, and you're not going to get any
of those guys for for Luca, especially with the potential
of him not wanting to be there in the contract situation.
So I think you you pretty quickly get to a
(23:39):
d as a guy in the top ten who fits
that timeline, and you can make a case for like
Luca's better. But but like the gap isn't like I mean,
it's it's a big gap, but it's like, at least
in the present, it's not like, you know, it's not
the Grand Canyon. A longer term it's going to be.
And that's the thing where like the sixth year difference
(24:00):
and like how eighty might age with the injuries and stuff.
But you could talk like I think there's a there's
a world where you could talk yourself into eighty for
Luca as like the base. But then you got to
get the two picks from the Lakers. You've got to
get Austin Reeves, you got to get Dalton Connect, you
got to get pick swaps. And the fact that all
they got was Max Christi and in a first round
(24:21):
pick and no shade to Max. I actually think the
Lakers are really gonna miss Max. And if there was
a way to have put Dalton or someone else in
the trade, like I think that would have been a
better path. I think Max would fit great next to Luca.
But the fact that that's all they got, like that
is a like to Rob it was a masterclass, like
it was a master class in negotiating and how he
(24:42):
handled this and he he did like he won this
trade straight up, like let forget like that kind of
the final part of it. But but the from start to finish,
the way that they kept it a secret, that they
kept people out of it, they didn't let people intervene,
and then he was able to no, we're not giving
up Dalton Connect. No we're not giving up the second pick,
We're not giving up any swaps like that. I mean,
(25:03):
I think people look at it a lot differently if
it is like eighty Austin two picks, like two or
three pick swaps Dalton. You know, the Lakers emptied the cupboard,
and at that point I still think they win the trade,
but it's a little bit more balanced with the way
that this just went down. It's like, I mean, Rob
rand circles around him in the negotiation. So I think
(25:25):
for as much flak as he's gotten, he deserves a
lot of credit for this whole situation. And obviously Dallas
approached him, so it's not like he uncovered that Luca
was available necessarily or like it was some like mastermind
plan with that. But once he got the opportunity, he
maximized it. And really I can't I can't see how
they could have given up any less. And that's a
(25:46):
testament to him and his negotiation skills in this situation.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
I think not only that, I mean Rob really, Rob
was next to Kobe for a lot of Kobe's adult life,
if not most of it, and I think he recognizes
that same thing in Luca, which is, you know, an
absolute killer. He referenced it, you know a couple at
(26:13):
the press conference yesterday. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah, there's
something yeah, Yeah, there's something about when a guy like
that steps on the court, the teammates know we have
a chance to win anytime the ball is in his hands.
They're more confident. The other team carries a certain you know,
(26:34):
they peeped that mystique as well, you know, and they
are not as confident, you know, And some of that
we have lost in the last few years, and it's
back now instantaneously. This guy our struggles against these Nuggets.
Lucas been averaging thirty four points against the Nuggets in
(26:56):
his last five times that he's played them. That's what
I'm talking about, Like, like, I can't think of a
player in the league, or a coach or a scheme
that exists where, hey, we know that when Luca faces
this scheme, this coaching staff, this team, this defender, that
(27:16):
is just going to be a rough night for him.
I don't know what that situation is. On the other hand,
you know, again no shade, but prior to Luca, we've
been in position where we know we have these tough
matchups with this team, This coaching staff kind of you know,
knows how to scheme us, you know, And so you
(27:37):
get a guy here that's just a problem. He's one
of the riddles of the NBA. And I couldn't be
more excited. Man, I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Were out here, man Lucas about to It's about to
be one of those things where they take the cord
on Saturday. And I don't know what family obligations I
have on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
I don't know more I was gonna say anymore, you
know what, anymore, I'm working.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I'm working right exactly.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
It's an early game. It's a one pm Pacific game,
so perfect. You know, a people can be day day drinking.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
It's going to be a party, bro.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
It's literally a game a brunch guy.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, okay, you know what.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I've heard enough, yo, But we got a few minutes
with you. We definitely want to get to the seasonality
of what it is right now. Obviously, the NBA trade
season has has just stumped, stumped all over the Super
Bowl content so far, and I'm like, you know, no
smoke with the NFL, but they was running victory laps
(28:42):
during Christmas time talking about, oh yeah, we just gonna
snatch this up to were gonna take over it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
You know, it ain't gonna be no basketball regular season.
It just gonna be the player.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Well, there's still nothing like NBA trade season the winter,
you know, in the off season and during right now, man,
So obviously the local trade win down. The de Aaron
Fox trade went down. Zach Lavine is now with the
Land of Cows and sack.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Town breaking news.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Right, we got Jimmy Buckets heading to the Golden State
Warriors for Andrew Wiggins and some other stuff nobody really
cares about. Real quick, before we get into the Lakers,
need jovon because this is it happened right before we
started on the show. Your reaction to the Jimmy Butler
trade and the extension.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
The man's about to make one hundred and twenty million
dollars in two more years.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Yeah, that's I mean. I guess good for Jimmy for
winning the battle against the heat and getting his way, gets
the extension gets to a better situation, probably just over
I mean, at least away from pat Riley and whatever
hard feelings were there in South Beach. My quick take is,
(29:58):
I do think Golden Stake gets better, Like I mean,
because at the core of it, I really view it
like Dennis had not been playing well. He had been
struggling a bit, and Kyle Anderson, you know, bench forward,
Like I like him, but he's more of you know, seventh, eighth,
ninth guy in the rotation. Really it's Andrew Wiggins for
(30:18):
Jimmy Butler, like the core of it. And I do
think that is an upgrade clearly for Golden State, especially
if you are getting Jimmy now getting this extension and
maybe having a little bit of extra motivation to kind
of prove the heat wrong and just kind of I mean,
he's caught in a lot of flak over the last
couple of months with this whole situation, and I think
he is a guy who clearly like holds grudges, has
(30:42):
vendetta's against people, and like, I will not be surprised
if we see an extra motivated Jimmy Butler. So I
do think Golden State gets better. I still think ultimately
they're probably like the fifth or sixth best team in
the West. I still think they have some size issues
and like I mean Jimmy and stuff together, like you like,
that's that's pretty dynamic, and like that's the second best,
(31:05):
you know, player that he's probably had since Kevin Durant.
I guess going back to twenty nineteen in theory, but
I still think that they overall are still undersized. I
still think that the roster has some holes, and I
would easily point, Okay, see the Lakers, Houston, Memphis, and
(31:26):
probably Dallas ahead of them, so they're right there. Maybe
as like the sixth best team in the West. They
could prove me wrong, but I still see some holes
in this roster, and like you know, they do have
the optionality to go maybe make a second trade and
maybe they flip Kaminga for something here in the next
eighteen hours or so. But outside of that, I think
as constructed, they're probably like fifth or six in the West.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
My only thoughts on it is, Oh girl, that Jimmy
was in a dispute with of a child's port payment.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
She getting that now she is getting whatever rates coming.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Yeah, sorry, sorry, God bless y'all, but God blessed them
children because God damn a hundred and one, one hundred
and twenty one million dollars to play professional basketball. Shout
out to Jimmy Butler, best of luck in Golden State, Guru,
did it do anything for you, bro?
Speaker 5 (32:21):
It didn't move me accept you know, wondering what that
conversation in the locker room pre game was like and
then also.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
That was wild. They shut down the locker room during
the open locker room portion because how like we get
thirty minutes in the locker room or they have to
open it up and let us in. And apparently they
kicked the media out and shut it down.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I mean that's amazing.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
You know, as soon as that went out, I just
you know, there's a there's a trade happening at that point,
and so the intrigue was up at that time. And
then you know I went straight to thinking, oh, man,
like that could be scary two dogs like Draymond and Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Uh but.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
I don't think this one will be scary enough to
to to move me or or like you said, you
know those top six seven teams in the West, they
have an uphill climb, uphill battle.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
I don't know if Kerr is happy about this trade.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
That remains to be seen.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
He's not really a Warriors player, like from a from
a stylistic perspective.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Yeah, And I think that's why Dennis struggled. You know,
we look, Laker fans know that Dennis can be guilty
of over dribbling and pounding the rock in certain sequences
of the game. And I think the Warriors saw that
up close.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
You know, they're they're they're bank.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
On being unpredictable and flying around and you know, all
the movement, and that's not really Dennis's game either. Jimmy
has you know, all the d h os that Miami
does with their movement shooters, like he's proven he can
exist in that.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
But we'll see, we'll see. So I'm not I'm not
too moved. I'm not too.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
Moved or or concerned, you know, I'm more I'm actually
more excited about your guy Lonzo signing to stay on
in Chicago for a few more years.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Brick moved.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Just sign them up, man. I do have to make
an amendment real quick.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
That is a two year, one hundred and eleven million
dollar extension, not one hundred and twenty one.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
So I take it back.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Maybe Jimmy doesn't have to pay more. You never know
every dollar count, so I might be able to save
on that. Jovan, the clock is taking brother. The Lakers
need a big There is a Grand Canyon size hole
right now there. Shout out Jackson Hayes, my favorite football
volleyball player. Luca's gonna make him look great, but he
(34:49):
he has a purpose and that is using up all
of his files every game he's out there.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
What are you seeing?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
What are you hearing with about?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
You know, less than a day day to go with
the NBA trade deadline when it comes to the Lakers
and trying to find a big man.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Not much. It's been pretty quiet. And you know, I
had said in the aftermath of the Luca trade that
I was hearing it was unlikely that the Lakers made
another big move or acquisition. Rob Blink obviously yesterday spoke
to the media and said that, you know, the team
is going to try and look for a center upgrade
(35:28):
and be active on the market, but ultimately he thinks,
you know, something along the margins of the roster is
more likely. And then he also did a follow up
interview with ESPNLA Radio and said they're going to look
at the buyout market and potentially sign someone of note.
The Lakers are our first apron team, which means they
cannot sign any buyout players who are making above the
(35:51):
non taxpayer mL which is roughly at about thirteen millions.
So a guy like Bruce Brown or Ben Simmons if
one of those guys, for example, there's been a couple
of popular buyout names that have been thrown out there.
They cannot sign either one of those guys if they
were available. So my assumption right now, based on the
(36:13):
intel I have, would be either some type of move
of flipping Maxi Kliba in a second for something potentially
aggregating the contracts of Christian Wood and Gay I mean
in cam Brittish together and that gets you to about
five point two million or at like the absolute maximum,
(36:33):
some type of move of Rui in a first or
Gabe in a first, But I don't see them combining
both of those contracts to get upwards, you know, in
the high twenties. And really I think that's like there's
only a certain caliber player that I think they'd even
entertain giving up a first four, and that might not
even be enough based on the current demands and asking
(36:55):
prices on the market. So I suspect, you know, something
like if I had to throw out some names like
a day Ron Sharp, Chris Bouche An Andre Drummond, like
guys along that ilk which doesn't really move the needle,
but at least like it gives you a second big man,
which the Lakers currently do not have right now on
(37:17):
the roster. I mean, Christian Wood is a fantasy right now.
Then they got two two way guys who are three
two way guys, but none of them can play in
the playoffs because of being on a two way contract,
so they clearly need another center here. I feel like
it might just end up being like Jackson and then
they go small for like half the game, with which
(37:38):
they've been doing more recently. But if I'm them, I tried, like,
if I have to use a first, I use a first.
Your first are no longer as valuable as they projected
to be, so if you have to give up a
twenty thirty one pick, like you got to give up
a twenty thirty one pick, like my favorite guy that
I think is gettable is Robert Williams. I do think
(38:01):
it would require a first round pick, now, whether it's
protected or unprotected. I think obviously LA would would much
prefer to have it unprotected, and I think that's pretty
fair value for him. I've heard Portland has wanted an
unprotected first for him. I think that's a little bit
too much, but I think that's a guy who like
he checks the boxes of lob threat, good rebounder, good
(38:23):
shop blocker. There are, of course injury concerns, and he's
kind of had his minutes managed by Portland. But even
if he basically just takes the Jackson role, he's better
than Jackson, and I think that would give the Lakers
a ceiling where then you could go like, depending on
the matchup, you start Robert Williams, and if you need
a center in that matchup, you go Jackson off the bench,
(38:44):
or if you want to go smaller, you go with
Van do or DFS at the five, and then you
play those smaller lineups that they played. So I would
say temper expectations, of course, look it's the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Maybe they'll trade for Victor webdiyeh, but I know at
this point.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
But but realistically, I think that the most likely scenario
is like Kliba in a second or Wood or Reddish
either by themselves or aggregated together with like a second
maybe like a pick swap or something, and and them
trying to get that type of big man. So looking
at bigs like eleven million or less, because Lakers cannot
(39:21):
take back more money into.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Trade those two those two contracts gave the MAXI. You know,
this summer they'll they'll, you know, they'll become expiring contracts
and you know, then he can be max. It can
be aggregated. And I know Rob has to be looking
at all those options and saying there's there's just not
much there, you know it.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
And and thank CJ. McCollum. You know, we want to
thank you CEJ for contribution to the culture.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
You know, yeah, the RCLE in real life bro aphole, Like, why.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
You that the CBA is a I think it's a disaster.
But that's a conversation for another for another days.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Oh Google, last question for Yovonne before we get him
out of here so we can go not sleep anymore.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
No, I'm on high alert until uh well p S.
Pacific time.
Speaker 5 (40:23):
I don't I don't have anything particular, but you know
this whole from being around the facility, you know, you know,
shout out to Lauren Jones. I saw her ask a
question today and and Dodo's response indicated to me that
the team is hearing all the chatter not only of
Luca and Lebron not being able to play together, but
(40:45):
Luca himself with you know, the professionalism and the way
the shues. Do you since any sort of galvanizing chip
on the shoulder anything like that with this team brooming
to where they're going to come out like gang busters.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah, and especially like having so many people with ties
to Luca. And I talked about this after the press
conference on on my YouTube channel of like, I think
there's something to the familiarity here that's going to help this,
you know, acclamation process go a bit smoother that than expected,
just because he's got JJ Redick, a former teammate friend
(41:28):
did his podcast twice, Greg Saint Jean, who ran the
Dallas offense with Luca for a couple of years there.
Then obviously Dorriny Finney Smith, Maxi Kleiba, Markith Morris. All
three of those guys have defended him in the past
twenty four hours in their conversations with the media and
spoke to Luca's character and you know, talking about him
(41:51):
as like a low maintenance guy that he's not like
some diva star, like he's one of the guys in
the locker room. Dorian today was talking about he creates
kind of his own bond with each player, like kind
of on their level and based on how they are,
and so they've spoken nothing but highly of him. They've
defended him, they've defended all the stuff about his work
(42:14):
ethic and conditioning, and like they've talked about this is
a guy who if he can play, he will play,
no matter how banged up or injured he is, like
he literally has to be unable to play for him
to miss basketball games, and that he hates being subbed out.
He wants to play forty plus minutes every night. So
they've talked up his competitive fire, his stamina, his conditioning,
(42:36):
all that stuff. So I think like that being basically
a quarter of the roster having some type of relationship
with Luca and like half the coaching staff, I think
that's going to matter. But also I think in general,
to kind of bring things full circle to what we
were talking about earlier in the show, like this Lakers
(42:56):
group has won nine to eleven, and it's felt like,
especially the last couple of games against the Knicks and
the Clippers, they've had a level of connectivity and just
chemistry and playing hard and playing inspired basketball in a
way that we have really not seen consistently from this group.
If ever, you know, earlier in the season, like that
(43:18):
they would have moments of it, but to have like
it sustained basically for forty eight minutes and really for
like ninety six minutes, Like that's something we have not
really seen from this group. So to me, like they're
peaking already, kind of like they won the last two
games without eighty and without Luca, Like think about that.
This is a team that struggle on the road all season.
(43:38):
They show up to be two good teams on the
road without Luca or Ad And I just think that
shows the way that they're playing right now. And then
you add in Luca to it, a guy who is
going to amplify everything. He's going to create lobs for
Jackson Hayes, He's going to create open threes for Ruey,
the FS, Gabe Dalton, Like you know, Austin is going
(43:59):
to have the third worst perimeter or third best perimeter
guy depending on how you look at it, guarding him,
and like he's going to cook those guys. So like,
the Lakers are at a great position right now, and
as long as they can stay healthy and maybe surprise
us at the deadline and pull off something no one
is expecting. Like I think this is a team that
has conference finals or even potentially finals potential, you know,
(44:23):
if they can stay healthy and kind of figure this out.
And I think JJ and the thing that I think,
as I've been talking about enough, is like JJ and
the coaching job he's done with pushing a lot of
the right buttons from a game plan perspective, from a
schematic perspective, the rotation lineups. Like, I think JJ's done
a really good job, and it feels like he's finally
coming into his own at about the midway point of
(44:44):
the season. So I think things will look great for
the Lakers right now, but we'll see again if they
could surprise us here in the next now close to
seventeen hours, and then we'll go from there, you know,
post deadline.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
Real quick, Jovon, you'd be a short answer. Do you
see everybody's focused on centers, everybody's focused on bigs. Could
did Lakers potentially make a trade for a ball handler?
Speaker 4 (45:09):
I don't see a ball handler. I think the other need,
based on the current roster structure, would be more of
a shooting guard type, like one guy I really like
and think would be a great fit, especially now that
they added Luca Is Bruce Brown now because of his salary,
it would likely require Ruy plus you know Christian or
(45:31):
like another minimum guy. But if you like Bruce Brown,
to me is a guy who excellent off the ball
in terms of his movement, his cutting, screening plays hard.
He started to find himself again in Toronto. He's been
shooting close to forty percent on threes over like the
past ten games or so, so he started to look
more like the Denver, Indiana pre injury Bruce Brown. And
(45:55):
I think he's just kind of a Swiss army knife
on both sides of the ball. Like he's played. He
could play the four, he could play the one, play
anything in between, and then defensively he can guard one
through three. So I think that type of guy is
a guy that maybe a little bit more in the
ambitious end. I would assume it would cost at least
a protected first round pick. But if you could get
that type of guy, I think that that kind of
(46:15):
balances out the roster. So I would put the need
obviously as a better center than Jackson Hayes at number one,
but number two I would say, like ideally the max replacement,
because right now, if you look at the defensive guys
they have. It's like Vando, Dorian, and Gabe. None of
those guys are shooting guards. Like Vando can guard shooting guards,
(46:35):
but you probably want him, Like I think he's really
effective against point guards. You also might want him on
like a wing. So I think that they could still use,
like if there's a way to upgrade maybe Gabe into
like a bigger player with that skill set, I think
that could make some sense for them. So I look
at the shooting guard spot as like the second biggest
need beat behind center.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Maybe I just didn't know a Brew Brown's game because
that's what I was trying to tee it up for.
And I definitely thought Bruce Bron had the ball in
his hands a lot more. He's so he's an off
ball dude.
Speaker 4 (47:06):
I mean, he could do both and that's what I
like about him. And look, the Lakers, of course could
could still use some but I just think with Luca,
Lebron and Austin, like you have all the usage there,
like you don't need. It went from being a concern
of like they don't even really have a third reliable
ball handler playmaker too, Like you just added arguably the
best or second best guy in the league at this
So now it's a strength of this roster. So between
(47:29):
those three, I think you're gonna be fine, especially if
if Gabe's like your fourth guy, I think that's like
a more proper slotting of him. But for Bruce Brown,
I just like that he. I think he fits in
with like the current identity of like switchability, versatility, guys
who can attack from the weak side, the second side actions,
guys who can cut in fit next to Lebron and
(47:51):
Luca not need the ball. I think Bruce Brown checks
all those boxes. So because of the price point, he
might be a little unrealistic. But like someone of that ilk,
I think, you know, if the Lakers can't get a
true difference maker at center, maybe you just pivot and
get the best available shooting guard you could get, and
that could be a route that they potentially go.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
There you go, Jovann Booh in the midst of the
NBA trade deadline, Man, the stove is hot, the stove,
the kitchen's on fire. Actually the place is hurnt down
at this point, So.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
We're gonna let you get back to doing your thing.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Man, So appreciative of your time, brother, I'll ask you
off to the side, and maybe I'll fill in the
team later. I feel like that other franchises might be
a little pissed off from dealing with Rob right now.
But we'll see, we'll see, we'll see if deals could
get done. But nevertheless, brother, we will be monitoring the
situation closely. The NBA trade deadline. By the time you
(48:50):
guys are hearing this, it's just a mere hours away.
So make sure you are locked in with all the
Jovann's content. We know you have notifications on. We know
the shams bombs are dropping everywhere, so take shelter, stay
on the timeline.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Guru, good seeing you brother man. We gotta do this
more often.
Speaker 5 (49:07):
Yeah, man, good seeing everybody. Good being on, good chat
and good vibes. The city is back up.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
We outside late out Lake show.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
Make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your hashtag
good content for Yovan and Guru It's Ricky.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Peace
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Y'all?
Speaker 3 (00:01):
Welcome to a new episode of the Late Now Lakes
Show podcast powered by Prize Picks. It is your host,
Ricky I got I got my peoples with me. I
got my peoples with me on the show. First of all,
from the top rope, my brother, Guru Goo, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Man? Long time?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Don't see how you feeling?
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Feeling rejuvenated? Brother? For uh, you know, one reason or another.
Speaker 5 (00:21):
You know, I think I can safely say I'll be
around for a while.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Right right, Yeah, So Guru is, uh, we ain't putting
the fax machine in, but if there was a text
that gotta get sent through and he gotta say he backed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You know, we just gonna see. We're just gonna we
just gonna let this all play out. But not to
bury the lead.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
As y'all can see, we got a very special guest
in the building, probably running off the negative hours of
sleep at this point in time.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The Athletics own Lakers reporter Yo Ban Boh.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yovan, what's up man? What you been up to these
last couple of days.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Uh, it's certainly not sleeping. That's been one thing I've
not been doing recently. But It's been a whirlwind of
I guess five days now, running on fumes from being
at MSG when the news dropped to reporting out the
last few days, the intro press conference, the game against
the Clippers, we still got the trade deadline coming up,
(01:17):
and then Luca making his debut most likely this weekend.
So just a crazy, crazy week in Lakerland.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, yeah, that would be an understatement, goog. We uh,
we've had times like this before, but not not you know,
the Richter scale definitely was tipping. Brother, this was h
This was one of the ones that will continue to
tell our children and our children's children.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So we're making up the story.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
At some point wherever you were on it was Saturday night,
Friday night, What night was it was Saturday.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Night, Saturday.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Wherever you were Saturday night watching the Lakers Knicks game,
high off of just back to back performances of the
Lakers doing what they needed to do, the news broke.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
The news broke at eleven o'clock Central time, and.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
None of us believed it. Joban, I'm not even sure
you believed it. But the deal is done. Luca Donctz
is a Los Angeles Laker. Out goes Anthony Davis and
Max Christy. I couldn't put into words what happened. I
told my wife.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Who was sleeping.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I was like, baby, I have to leave you. I'm
going into the basement. I don't know when I'll be
back up. Yovan, I guess let's just start here.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Man, talk us through where you were at the time
when the news dropped in and what your reaction was
into the next couple hours that developed after that for you.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Yeah. So I was at MSG in the press room,
and so it chopped around like twelve fifteen am Eastern time.
So it was myself and the three other traveling Lakers
beat reporters, Davic Menhaman, Dan Kobe Price, and then there
was another international reporter there, Yoov, who he was the
(03:07):
one who actually alerted all of us, because we we
have like a giant group transcription that we do for
each player and JJ whenever they talk. So we had
done that. We were all working on our post game stories.
I was focusing on like the storyline of the night,
of course, was the Lakers and how convincing of a
win that was. But Lebron said that playing with BRONI
(03:29):
is the greatest thing he's ever done in his life,
and it was gonna be like a little news er
on that and then maybe writing about the win over
the Necks. Then all of a sudden, Yoov just yells
out like Luca just got traded to the Lakers, and
we were like, wait what, And then we see the tweet.
We all thought it sham's what was hacked, and that
it was fake, like at least come up with a
(03:51):
better trade than that. Come on like that, that's not realistic.
And then once he puts out the second tweet, we
all start like breaking out, like what the hell's going on?
So we start putting in calls and texts and talking
to our editors and talking to sources, and like we're
running around the media room going out into the hallway.
MSG security is really strict, so they keep like kicking
us out of certain areas and stuff, and it was
(04:12):
just like a circus trying to figure out like how
this happened, why no one knew about this, Why why
there was no intel out there about this. So it
was just a mad scene there. And then for me
it was like, right, some quick analysis, go back to
my hotel livestream for like an hour, and then get
(04:33):
back to writing and reporting this out. So I was
up to like seven am Eastern time that night, got
up at like ten to do a radio hit, went
back to sleep for a little bit, and then got
back up and started calling people and doing some more reporting.
So it was a crazy night. It was my last
night in New York obviously, so it kind of like
i'd like brunch plans and kind of wanted to walk
(04:54):
around the city, and it was like nah, like but
with something like this happens, you stop everything, and it
was I mean, I'm still processing it, like I still
can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Good.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I knew the city exploded, man, I knew. I knew
the state probably y'all probably was checking to make sure that,
you know, the ain't no cups of coverage was moving
at that time. Man, What what was it like at
on the home front?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
I know, it was crazy, honestly.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
I mean I had just left the LA the downtown
LA area, fifteen minutes prior to it breaking. You know,
I was over at COSM, you know, for the next
game and all of that and like Sofi area, and
you know, it was.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It was good vibes.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
You know, it was already good vibes right, and you know,
as you all know, we just we everyone was feeling good,
great win.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
The guys were flying around on both ends.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
And it's like, wow, we just beat the Knicks and
we looked good even with out a D. And then oh,
we're going to be without a D. And we all,
I think universally as a human race, we had the
same reaction of denial and just refusing to accept this
as a reality. And as it took about maybe ten
(06:18):
fifteen minutes for me to actually bring myself to be like, wow,
this just happened, and I couldn't the most exemplary ex
like expression of bittersweet mixed emotions I've ever seen or
heard of from people worldwide in life. If you're a
(06:41):
Lakers fan or if you follow Lakers at all, this
was the definition of bitter sweet, you know, pure Webster definition.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
It's like, bro, it's like watching your son win a
gold medal. Second place is your nephew and he just
tore his acl right like like like I am not
going a lot, fellas, I was messed up for like
a minute. It's we had opened up the spaces and
(07:14):
get it going, like yo, Von, you already know man,
eighty is my guy, you know, hometown guy for us
here in the Chicago area. He lived out my dream
going to the Lakers winning the championship, and he.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Gone just out the door. Yo, when the last time
you talked to eighty, you're not gonna see him in
the whole locker room, no board, bro.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, he he cleared out in Philly before it would
have been the Charlotte game, which was his last full
game as a Laker. So so postgame in Charlotte because yeah, Philly,
he didn't he was already gone by the time, or
I think he was just walking out of the locker room,
but by the time we got there, so yeah, I
(07:57):
mean Charlotte. So yeah, it's been what a week. It's
crazy over a week.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Yeah, yeah, literally a d You know, we are in
the time now of after Anthony David, So you know,
just to kind of put.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
The bow on our departing one of the dogs.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Man gonna go down one of our better best Laker
bigs in the history of the franchise. Right, got a
championship defensive anchor for six years for us, and if
he was going to go, it would have to be
for something like this and that's something that is Luca
Doncis and I kind of want to get into a
(08:38):
shout out Max Christie, shout out grandson. Yeah, I'm such
a horrible grandfather. I have not done any type of memory.
I haven't called to text to my boy. But he
gonna be all right. He young, He'll figure it out.
I'm hurting for my dog a d. But let's get
into it, man. Luca Docca is a Los Angeles Laker.
We saw him sitting there at the end of the
bench as the Lakers took care of business against the
(08:58):
Los Angeles Clippers ninety seven, and I think Lebron was
showing out. I think Lebron was given a little preview
as to what's to come.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
You.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Brian Winhorse said, in fact that he was after getting
that and one give and go. He turned to Luca
and said that that's what we're gonna be doing. And
I was like, oh, we plot already.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I love it, yo, Bobe man, I mean, Luca's in
the door. You were at his presser. I got tons
of questions, Guru, please hop in with yours, But I
guess just just kick us off with the with the
Luca entrance. Man, is that the how was the press conference?
What was the vibes?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Just as it starts to settle in that this is
really for real.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Yeah, well, I think for everybody, like I definitely noticed
this at the game last night, like like there's a
lot of mixed emotions right now because eighty was such
a big part of the locker room. And remember going
back to the beginning of the season, like this was
supposed to be the torch passing of eighty is the
number one option. Everything's kind of revolving around eighty. And
(10:02):
we kind of heard that rhetoric in previous seasons, but
it felt more real this year, and I think eighty
took on a bit more of a leadership role. This
had also been a group that, like most of these
guys were on the team last season, so there was
an element of continuity and bonding, and like I think
this is a pretty close group, so to lose ad
Am Max, like I think JJ said, there was a
(10:23):
grieving process and you could kind of like the locker
room vibes for a team that's one nine of eleven
just completed a five to one Grammy trip. It was
pretty down to be honest, and like you could just
kind of feel the weight in the locker room. And
then even Luca has been going through it himself with
JJ's said that whenever they talk, he keeps using the
(10:45):
term processing and that he's still just processing this entire situation.
And you know that there's a report that he was
about to buy a fifteen million dollar house in Dallas,
and so like, Luca had no intentions of leaving the Mavericks.
So I think that's kind of like the backdrop to
everything is that there's just been this emotional weight beat
(11:06):
behind it all. But make no mistake that the Lakers
are very excited about having Luka Doncic. This is a
twenty five year old generational superstar who third all time
in regular season points per game, second all time in
playoff points per game. He's one of five players currently
(11:28):
in the NBA to make five All NBA first teams.
The other four are Lebron, Katie, James Harden, and Giannis.
All of those guys are thirty and above. Lucas twenty five,
So like Steph has not made five all NBA first teams.
Just to put that in perspective of Luca's career, in
what he's done. He's a lot of teams to the finals.
(11:48):
He's a lot of teams to the conference finals. He's
a walking thirty point triple double. And really, like, I
think the closest thing we've seen to Lebron, despite obviously
there being some let's say physic goal differences or like
athletic differences, but between the two from a size and
scoring and playmaking perspective, we've never seen someone at that
(12:08):
six foot seven, six foot eight outside of Lebron with
with just the overall package that that Luca has. So
putting those two guys together and just the possibilities that
offensively with their two man game, but with like putting
one of those guys is like a weak side guy
and Lebron with his cutting or just lucas like a
secondary playmaker. Like, I think the possibilities are endless, and
(12:33):
I really like, obviously the team's going to look different,
and I think the center spot is a clear need
going into the deadline. But even if they stand pat
or they add like a fringe kind of rotation guy,
having Luca and Lebron in a playoff series is going
to give the Lakers a shot against just about anybody like,
no one's going to want to see those two guys
(12:55):
in a seven game series. So I think from a
ceiling perspective, the Lakers ceiling, I think it's higher now
compared to whatever it was five days ago. And it's
a move that helps you in the present, but obviously
longer term. Now you have the next face of the franchise,
a guy who can attract another star in twenty twenty
six or twenty twenty seven, and like you're set up
(13:16):
for the present and the future. So I think, for
as emotional and difficult as the past few days have
been in just this whole process, once Luca suits up
on Saturday, I think Everyone's going to be excited and
optimistic about again, not only the future, but especially the present.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
I just want to you know, we have the Warriors
in town tomorrow Thursday, and you know, Luca's second to
last game, well prior to the injury, was against these
same Warriors, and three hundred and twenty pound Luca, as
they say, dropped forty five thirteen assists and eleven rebounds,
(14:00):
six of eleven shooting from three.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
You know before, out of shape, man, just out of shape.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
It's bad, you know, and you know, listen, you're right.
I think the Lakers are more feared team today than
they were last week, and in a playoff series. I mean,
we've seen so many iterations of this. Uh you know
that Lakers Kobe and Shaq going up against the Sacramento
Kings that were a better team back in the day,
(14:28):
but they had the two best players on the court.
So you know, you're able to go into Sacramento and
win on the road in overtime. And uh, you know,
we've seen this so many times. It's like, hey, even
if you're not the best team, even if you don't
have the better team from one through twelve, if you
have two one A guys like this man and and
(14:50):
Bron looked invigorated. I'm just gonna say that. I mean, yeah, Yovan,
you're up close every other night. Tell me how many
times this season have you seen those type of closeouts
and rerotations?
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I will, I will.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
I felt like the next game. The next game was similar,
But but also I mean, who knows, like JJ already
knew about it before the game, which kind of changes
the way I view that whole situation, because like pregame,
JJ was in a great mood and he was like,
I'm juiced, and then he kind of couched it with like,
well it's Lakers Nicks like prime time like that. In retrospect,
(15:30):
it was like, well, this dude knew what was coming,
and the wonder he was in such.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
A good.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, I mean, I don't that there's still some stuff
with like because because there's been some intel that like
rich Paul was given a little bit of a heads up.
So you're like, if rich Paul got a little bit
of a heads up, then how would Lebron or Ady
not know? Uh, like that, There's still some parts of
it that that I'm not quite sure about. But I
would say like Lebron in general recently has been playing
(15:58):
at such a a high level on both ends of
the floor and really setting a certain tone that like
it almost felt like it did pre date this trade,
and in you know, the last week or so, Like
I would say, going back to like the Boston game,
Lebron was really locked in and from that point on
the Lakers have been playing incredible basketball. Outside of that
(16:19):
you know, stinker in Philly. But yeah, I mean to
your point, like I think there was an element of
putting on a show. There's there's mutual admiration there between
Luca and Lebron. Lucas said Lebron's his favorite player. He
grew up idolizing him. Even at the intro press conference,
he said that he looks up to him. Lebron has
reciprocated it with saying Lucas his favorite player to watch
(16:40):
in the NBA and that he thinks like they can
play Eddie style play with each other. It's just like
they will not need to figure it out or adjust
or anything like that. They're going to be fine. So
I think there's there's a mutual respect and admiration there
that is going to be the foundation of something that
I think can be special. And again, like to your
your point, like they might not have the most talent
(17:03):
compared to some of the other teams in the West
or just some of the other teams in the league,
but you put those two guys on the floor, they're
going to be the two best players in a lot
of series, and they're gonna have at least the best
player in a lot of series. With With Luca, I
think he's personally I already thought he was the second
best player in the league before this trade. So that's
not changed since he's become a Laker, but the oldie
(17:25):
I think you could look as like Jokic and like
until Jokic is outplayed or whatever in a playoff series,
like that's the one guy I would put ahead of him.
But outside of that, it's like, I mean, and Luca
can out play him in a playoff series hypothetically, right
if they face each other. So this is a dude
that like gives the Lakers an advantage and basically any series.
(17:45):
And we've seen in the playoffs like sometimes superstardom and
talent wins out more like top end talent wins out
more than depth or like the best five man lineup
or whatever. So I think the Lakers are in a
really good spot, especially if they can make the right
move in the next eighteen hours or so.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
And we're going to get into uh those next eighteen
hours here in a second, but real quick, Giovan, just
I'm sure you've been caught up in all the serious business.
Have you made any I heard anything about all the
conspiracy theories around this trade right now? That yeah, Dallas, Yeah,
the casino, yeah, the casino stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
We like casinos. I like the idea, but.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
I've by some people in Dallas. I've ran it by
some people of Dallas that that have have shut it
down and said, like they don't buy that or believe that.
I I what I think it. My read on the
situation is, I think Nico Harrison is a guy who's
been in the relationship business, working on the sneaker side,
(18:53):
basically being a player liaison and having certain relationships with
players throughout the years, and then to clearly not be
on the same page with Luca and really a big,
you know, a player that he's kind of modeled his
basketball philosophy off of has been Kobe, and to maybe
(19:14):
look at at some of the differences in how how
Kobe like. I think there are some similarities clearly between
Kobe and Luca and that competitiveness and like, like Luca's
got beef with like half the league and already, like
the Lakers are inheriting that beef. Now where where the Suns,
the Kings, the Mavericks, the Celtics, the war like and
Clippers like and Lakers already have beef with some of
(19:36):
those teams as well. But like, Luca has a certain
killer instinct that I think it is going to endear
himself to to Laker fans and is similar to Kobe,
but of course from uh, you know, we've seen the
weight fluctuate at times, and and they're having stories about
him being a bit out of shape or conditioning or whatever.
So I think on some level, Nico and Luka they're
(19:57):
not getting along. Nico looks at at some of the
traits that Luca has that he doesn't like it, compares
it maybe to Kobe or some other guys he worked
with at Nike, and he just comes to the conclusion
like this is not the dude to lead this franchise.
I frankly think he overthought it. He galaxy brained it.
He made the equivalent of Darvin Ham starting Jared Vanderbilt
(20:20):
cam Retishatoria prints together back in December twenty twenty three,
like that that level of mistake, and he just overthought it.
And now they're in this position. So I mean, it's
the it's the Mavericks loss, it's the Lakers win.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Hey, what's going on y'all?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Ricky with Late Night Lake Show real quick, just wanted
to send some flowers, send some love to one of
our a one Day Ones Friends of the Show Prize picks.
They've been rocking with us since this account and this
whole operation was in its infancy way before we have
grown to the production that we are here today. We
can't thank them enough for believing in the engine that
(21:03):
is L and LS.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
And to show our love.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
We got a new promo code for y'all. Type in
the promo code c L and as c L and
AS for up to one hundred dollars deposit match.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
On your first deposit.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
That's right, you.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Already know how Prispects is coming.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Man.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
It is the number one daily fantasy experience. You make
your picks higher or lower, you make two to three selections,
and if you're hit, you might be able to cash
out on a nice little five, ten, eighteen, twenty five,
all the way up to one hundred times your deposit.
And I think what you're saying is kind of what
(21:45):
a lot of people were saying, is uh. Rob kind
of he did his big one with this one. The
fact that he was like, you got hey, you you
got to keep this between us because like you in
the relationship business and I'm in the relation let's keep
it like, let's not even hell the other guy who
we have a three team deal with what we got
going on over here. We we talked about Rob plenty
(22:09):
on here, the highs and times, the loads of times, yobon.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
This was, uh, this was one for the record books, bro, Yeah,
it was. I mean it's gonna go down. I think
it's one of the greatest trades of all time and
it's going to be our I mean, he's won a
championship already, so you know that's that's a giant feather
in his cap, but this is going to be another
giant feather in his camp his cap. Excuse me because like,
(22:35):
so I've gone through this exercise of let's let's put
put yourself in Nico Harrison's shoes for a second and say, okay,
like you kind of have a win now roster, right
like Kyrie Clay, like PJ. Washington is a guy that
that's currently in his prime. Uh Like outside of Lively,
most of their pieces are either like in their prime
(22:56):
kind of like win now guys or guys a little
bit past their prime. And that that was more of
a win now kind of roster and situation. So if
we take a step back and say, okay, if you're
going to trade Luca, you want to bring in a player,
a star who is going to help, you know, kind
of fit with that timeline, and you're looking at maybe
like the next two to four years of trying to compete,
(23:18):
trying to contend in a star that that matches that.
So of course you're going to go through Weben, Yama,
Jokic and uh you know whoever Yannis at the top
of the league, and you're not going to get any
of those guys for for Luca, especially with the potential
of him not wanting to be there in the contract situation.
So I think you you pretty quickly get to a
(23:39):
d as a guy in the top ten who fits
that timeline, and you can make a case for like
Luca's better. But but like the gap isn't like I mean,
it's it's a big gap, but it's like, at least
in the present, it's not like, you know, it's not
the Grand Canyon. A longer term it's going to be.
And that's the thing where like the sixth year difference
(24:00):
and like how eighty might age with the injuries and stuff.
But you could talk like I think there's a there's
a world where you could talk yourself into eighty for
Luca as like the base. But then you got to
get the two picks from the Lakers. You've got to
get Austin Reeves, you got to get Dalton Connect, you
got to get pick swaps. And the fact that all
they got was Max Christi and in a first round
(24:21):
pick and no shade to Max. I actually think the
Lakers are really gonna miss Max. And if there was
a way to have put Dalton or someone else in
the trade, like I think that would have been a
better path. I think Max would fit great next to Luca.
But the fact that that's all they got, like that
is a like to Rob it was a masterclass, like
it was a master class in negotiating and how he
(24:42):
handled this and he he did like he won this
trade straight up, like let forget like that kind of
the final part of it. But but the from start to finish,
the way that they kept it a secret, that they
kept people out of it, they didn't let people intervene,
and then he was able to no, we're not giving
up Dalton Connect. No we're not giving up the second pick,
We're not giving up any swaps like that. I mean,
(25:03):
I think people look at it a lot differently if
it is like eighty Austin two picks, like two or
three pick swaps Dalton. You know, the Lakers emptied the cupboard,
and at that point I still think they win the trade,
but it's a little bit more balanced with the way
that this just went down. It's like, I mean, Rob
rand circles around him in the negotiation. So I think
(25:25):
for as much flak as he's gotten, he deserves a
lot of credit for this whole situation. And obviously Dallas
approached him, so it's not like he uncovered that Luca
was available necessarily or like it was some like mastermind
plan with that. But once he got the opportunity, he
maximized it. And really I can't I can't see how
they could have given up any less. And that's a
(25:46):
testament to him and his negotiation skills in this situation.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
I think not only that, I mean Rob really, Rob
was next to Kobe for a lot of Kobe's adult life,
if not most of it, and I think he recognizes
that same thing in Luca, which is, you know, an
absolute killer. He referenced it, you know a couple at
(26:13):
the press conference yesterday. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah, there's
something yeah, Yeah, there's something about when a guy like
that steps on the court, the teammates know we have
a chance to win anytime the ball is in his hands.
They're more confident. The other team carries a certain you know,
(26:34):
they peeped that mystique as well, you know, and they
are not as confident, you know, And some of that
we have lost in the last few years, and it's
back now instantaneously. This guy our struggles against these Nuggets.
Lucas been averaging thirty four points against the Nuggets in
(26:56):
his last five times that he's played them. That's what
I'm talking about, Like, like, I can't think of a
player in the league, or a coach or a scheme
that exists where, hey, we know that when Luca faces
this scheme, this coaching staff, this team, this defender, that
(27:16):
is just going to be a rough night for him.
I don't know what that situation is. On the other hand,
you know, again no shade, but prior to Luca, we've
been in position where we know we have these tough
matchups with this team, This coaching staff kind of you know,
knows how to scheme us, you know, And so you
(27:37):
get a guy here that's just a problem. He's one
of the riddles of the NBA. And I couldn't be
more excited. Man, I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Were out here, man Lucas about to It's about to
be one of those things where they take the cord
on Saturday. And I don't know what family obligations I
have on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
I don't know more I was gonna say anymore, you
know what, anymore, I'm working.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
I'm working right exactly.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
It's an early game. It's a one pm Pacific game,
so perfect. You know, a people can be day day drinking.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
It's going to be a party, bro.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
It's literally a game a brunch guy.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, okay, you know what.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
I've heard enough, yo, But we got a few minutes
with you. We definitely want to get to the seasonality
of what it is right now. Obviously, the NBA trade
season has has just stumped, stumped all over the Super
Bowl content so far, and I'm like, you know, no
smoke with the NFL, but they was running victory laps
(28:42):
during Christmas time talking about, oh yeah, we just gonna
snatch this up to were gonna take over it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
You know, it ain't gonna be no basketball regular season.
It just gonna be the player.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Well, there's still nothing like NBA trade season the winter,
you know, in the off season and during right now, man,
So obviously the local trade win down. The de Aaron
Fox trade went down. Zach Lavine is now with the
Land of Cows and sack.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Town breaking news.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Right, we got Jimmy Buckets heading to the Golden State
Warriors for Andrew Wiggins and some other stuff nobody really
cares about. Real quick, before we get into the Lakers,
need jovon because this is it happened right before we
started on the show. Your reaction to the Jimmy Butler
trade and the extension.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
The man's about to make one hundred and twenty million
dollars in two more years.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
Yeah, that's I mean. I guess good for Jimmy for
winning the battle against the heat and getting his way, gets
the extension gets to a better situation, probably just over
I mean, at least away from pat Riley and whatever
hard feelings were there in South Beach. My quick take is,
(29:58):
I do think Golden Stake gets better, Like I mean,
because at the core of it, I really view it
like Dennis had not been playing well. He had been
struggling a bit, and Kyle Anderson, you know, bench forward,
Like I like him, but he's more of you know, seventh, eighth,
ninth guy in the rotation. Really it's Andrew Wiggins for
(30:18):
Jimmy Butler, like the core of it. And I do
think that is an upgrade clearly for Golden State, especially
if you are getting Jimmy now getting this extension and
maybe having a little bit of extra motivation to kind
of prove the heat wrong and just kind of I mean,
he's caught in a lot of flak over the last
couple of months with this whole situation, and I think
he is a guy who clearly like holds grudges, has
(30:42):
vendetta's against people, and like, I will not be surprised
if we see an extra motivated Jimmy Butler. So I
do think Golden State gets better. I still think ultimately
they're probably like the fifth or sixth best team in
the West. I still think they have some size issues
and like I mean Jimmy and stuff together, like you like,
that's that's pretty dynamic, and like that's the second best,
(31:05):
you know, player that he's probably had since Kevin Durant.
I guess going back to twenty nineteen in theory, but
I still think that they overall are still undersized. I
still think that the roster has some holes, and I
would easily point, Okay, see the Lakers, Houston, Memphis, and
(31:26):
probably Dallas ahead of them, so they're right there. Maybe
as like the sixth best team in the West. They
could prove me wrong, but I still see some holes
in this roster, and like you know, they do have
the optionality to go maybe make a second trade and
maybe they flip Kaminga for something here in the next
eighteen hours or so. But outside of that, I think
as constructed, they're probably like fifth or six in the West.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
My only thoughts on it is, Oh girl, that Jimmy
was in a dispute with of a child's port payment.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
She getting that now she is getting whatever rates coming.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Yeah, sorry, sorry, God bless y'all, but God blessed them
children because God damn a hundred and one, one hundred
and twenty one million dollars to play professional basketball. Shout
out to Jimmy Butler, best of luck in Golden State, Guru,
did it do anything for you, bro?
Speaker 5 (32:21):
It didn't move me accept you know, wondering what that
conversation in the locker room pre game was like and
then also.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
That was wild. They shut down the locker room during
the open locker room portion because how like we get
thirty minutes in the locker room or they have to
open it up and let us in. And apparently they
kicked the media out and shut it down.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I mean that's amazing.
Speaker 5 (32:43):
You know, as soon as that went out, I just
you know, there's a there's a trade happening at that point,
and so the intrigue was up at that time. And
then you know I went straight to thinking, oh, man,
like that could be scary two dogs like Draymond and Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Uh but.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
I don't think this one will be scary enough to
to to move me or or like you said, you
know those top six seven teams in the West, they
have an uphill climb, uphill battle.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
I don't.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
I don't know if Kerr is happy about this trade.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
That remains to be seen.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
He's not really a Warriors player, like from a from
a stylistic perspective.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
Yeah, And I think that's why Dennis struggled. You know,
we look, Laker fans know that Dennis can be guilty
of over dribbling and pounding the rock in certain sequences
of the game. And I think the Warriors saw that
up close.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
You know, they're they're they're bank.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
On being unpredictable and flying around and you know, all
the movement, and that's not really Dennis's game either. Jimmy
has you know, all the d h os that Miami
does with their movement shooters, like he's proven he can
exist in that.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
But we'll see, we'll see. So I'm not I'm not
too moved. I'm not too.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
Moved or or concerned, you know, I'm more I'm actually
more excited about your guy Lonzo signing to stay on
in Chicago for a few more years.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Brick moved.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Just sign them up, man. I do have to make
an amendment real quick.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
That is a two year, one hundred and eleven million
dollar extension, not one hundred and twenty one.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
So I take it back.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Maybe Jimmy doesn't have to pay more. You never know
every dollar count, so I might be able to save
on that. Jovan, the clock is taking brother. The Lakers
need a big There is a Grand Canyon size hole
right now there. Shout out Jackson Hayes, my favorite football
volleyball player. Luca's gonna make him look great, but he
(34:49):
he has a purpose and that is using up all
of his files every game he's out there.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
What are you seeing?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
What are you hearing with about?
Speaker 3 (34:58):
You know, less than a day day to go with
the NBA trade deadline when it comes to the Lakers
and trying to find a big man.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Not much. It's been pretty quiet. And you know, I
had said in the aftermath of the Luca trade that
I was hearing it was unlikely that the Lakers made
another big move or acquisition. Rob Blink obviously yesterday spoke
to the media and said that, you know, the team
is going to try and look for a center upgrade
(35:28):
and be active on the market, but ultimately he thinks,
you know, something along the margins of the roster is
more likely. And then he also did a follow up
interview with ESPNLA Radio and said they're going to look
at the buyout market and potentially sign someone of note.
The Lakers are our first apron team, which means they
cannot sign any buyout players who are making above the
(35:51):
non taxpayer mL which is roughly at about thirteen millions.
So a guy like Bruce Brown or Ben Simmons if
one of those guys, for example, there's been a couple
of popular buyout names that have been thrown out there.
They cannot sign either one of those guys if they
were available. So my assumption right now, based on the
(36:13):
intel I have, would be either some type of move
of flipping Maxi Kliba in a second for something potentially
aggregating the contracts of Christian Wood and Gay I mean
in cam Brittish together and that gets you to about
five point two million or at like the absolute maximum,
(36:33):
some type of move of Rui in a first or
Gabe in a first, But I don't see them combining
both of those contracts to get upwards, you know, in
the high twenties. And really I think that's like there's
only a certain caliber player that I think they'd even
entertain giving up a first four, and that might not
even be enough based on the current demands and asking
(36:55):
prices on the market. So I suspect, you know, something
like if I had to throw out some names like
a day Ron Sharp, Chris Bouche An Andre Drummond, like
guys along that ilk which doesn't really move the needle,
but at least like it gives you a second big man,
which the Lakers currently do not have right now on
(37:17):
the roster. I mean, Christian Wood is a fantasy right now.
Then they got two two way guys who are three
two way guys, but none of them can play in
the playoffs because of being on a two way contract,
so they clearly need another center here. I feel like
it might just end up being like Jackson and then
they go small for like half the game, with which
(37:38):
they've been doing more recently. But if I'm them, I tried, like,
if I have to use a first, I use a first.
Your first are no longer as valuable as they projected
to be, so if you have to give up a
twenty thirty one pick, like you got to give up
a twenty thirty one pick, like my favorite guy that
I think is gettable is Robert Williams. I do think
(38:01):
it would require a first round pick, now, whether it's
protected or unprotected. I think obviously LA would would much
prefer to have it unprotected, and I think that's pretty
fair value for him. I've heard Portland has wanted an
unprotected first for him. I think that's a little bit
too much, but I think that's a guy who like
he checks the boxes of lob threat, good rebounder, good
(38:23):
shop blocker. There are, of course injury concerns, and he's
kind of had his minutes managed by Portland. But even
if he basically just takes the Jackson role, he's better
than Jackson, and I think that would give the Lakers
a ceiling where then you could go like, depending on
the matchup, you start Robert Williams, and if you need
a center in that matchup, you go Jackson off the bench,
(38:44):
or if you want to go smaller, you go with
Van do or DFS at the five, and then you
play those smaller lineups that they played. So I would
say temper expectations, of course, look it's the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Maybe they'll trade for Victor webdiyeh, but I know at
this point.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
But but realistically, I think that the most likely scenario
is like Kliba in a second or Wood or Reddish
either by themselves or aggregated together with like a second
maybe like a pick swap or something, and and them
trying to get that type of big man. So looking
at bigs like eleven million or less, because Lakers cannot
(39:21):
take back more money into.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Trade those two those two contracts gave the MAXI. You know,
this summer they'll they'll, you know, they'll become expiring contracts
and you know, then he can be max. It can
be aggregated. And I know Rob has to be looking
at all those options and saying there's there's just not
much there, you know it.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
And and thank CJ. McCollum. You know, we want to
thank you CEJ for contribution to the culture.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
You know, yeah, the RCLE in real life bro aphole, Like, why.
Speaker 4 (39:59):
You that the CBA is a I think it's a disaster.
But that's a conversation for another for another days.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Oh Google, last question for Yovonne before we get him
out of here so we can go not sleep anymore.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
No, I'm on high alert until uh well p S.
Pacific time.
Speaker 5 (40:23):
I don't I don't have anything particular, but you know
this whole from being around the facility, you know, you know,
shout out to Lauren Jones. I saw her ask a
question today and and Dodo's response indicated to me that
the team is hearing all the chatter not only of
Luca and Lebron not being able to play together, but
(40:45):
Luca himself with you know, the professionalism and the way
the shues. Do you since any sort of galvanizing chip
on the shoulder anything like that with this team brooming
to where they're going to come out like gang busters.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
Yeah, and especially like having so many people with ties
to Luca. And I talked about this after the press
conference on on my YouTube channel of like, I think
there's something to the familiarity here that's going to help this,
you know, acclamation process go a bit smoother that than expected,
just because he's got JJ Redick, a former teammate friend
(41:28):
did his podcast twice, Greg Saint Jean, who ran the
Dallas offense with Luca for a couple of years there.
Then obviously Dorriny Finney Smith, Maxi Kleiba, Markith Morris. All
three of those guys have defended him in the past
twenty four hours in their conversations with the media and
spoke to Luca's character and you know, talking about him
(41:51):
as like a low maintenance guy that he's not like
some diva star, like he's one of the guys in
the locker room. Dorian today was talking about he creates
kind of his own bond with each player, like kind
of on their level and based on how they are,
and so they've spoken nothing but highly of him. They've
defended him, they've defended all the stuff about his work
(42:14):
ethic and conditioning, and like they've talked about this is
a guy who if he can play, he will play,
no matter how banged up or injured he is, like
he literally has to be unable to play for him
to miss basketball games, and that he hates being subbed out.
He wants to play forty plus minutes every night. So
they've talked up his competitive fire, his stamina, his conditioning,
(42:36):
all that stuff. So I think like that being basically
a quarter of the roster having some type of relationship
with Luca and like half the coaching staff, I think
that's going to matter. But also I think in general,
to kind of bring things full circle to what we
were talking about earlier in the show, like this Lakers
(42:56):
group has won nine to eleven, and it's felt like,
especially the last couple of games against the Knicks and
the Clippers, they've had a level of connectivity and just
chemistry and playing hard and playing inspired basketball in a
way that we have really not seen consistently from this group.
If ever, you know, earlier in the season, like that
(43:18):
they would have moments of it, but to have like
it sustained basically for forty eight minutes and really for
like ninety six minutes, Like that's something we have not
really seen from this group. So to me, like they're
peaking already, kind of like they won the last two
games without eighty and without Luca, Like think about that.
This is a team that struggle on the road all season.
(43:38):
They show up to be two good teams on the
road without Luca or Ad And I just think that
shows the way that they're playing right now. And then
you add in Luca to it, a guy who is
going to amplify everything. He's going to create lobs for
Jackson Hayes, He's going to create open threes for Ruey,
the FS, Gabe Dalton, Like you know, Austin is going
(43:59):
to have the third worst perimeter or third best perimeter
guy depending on how you look at it, guarding him,
and like he's going to cook those guys. So like,
the Lakers are at a great position right now, and
as long as they can stay healthy and maybe surprise
us at the deadline and pull off something no one
is expecting. Like I think this is a team that
has conference finals or even potentially finals potential, you know,
(44:23):
if they can stay healthy and kind of figure this out.
And I think JJ and the thing that I think,
as I've been talking about enough, is like JJ and
the coaching job he's done with pushing a lot of
the right buttons from a game plan perspective, from a
schematic perspective, the rotation lineups. Like, I think JJ's done
a really good job, and it feels like he's finally
coming into his own at about the midway point of
(44:44):
the season. So I think things will look great for
the Lakers right now, but we'll see again if they
could surprise us here in the next now close to
seventeen hours, and then we'll go from there, you know,
post deadline.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
Real quick, Jovon, you'd be a short answer. Do you
see everybody's focused on centers, everybody's focused on bigs. Could
did Lakers potentially make a trade for a ball handler?
Speaker 4 (45:09):
I don't see a ball handler. I think the other need,
based on the current roster structure, would be more of
a shooting guard type, like one guy I really like
and think would be a great fit, especially now that
they added Luca Is Bruce Brown now because of his salary,
it would likely require Ruy plus you know Christian or
(45:31):
like another minimum guy. But if you like Bruce Brown,
to me is a guy who excellent off the ball
in terms of his movement, his cutting, screening plays hard.
He started to find himself again in Toronto. He's been
shooting close to forty percent on threes over like the
past ten games or so, so he started to look
more like the Denver, Indiana pre injury Bruce Brown. And
(45:55):
I think he's just kind of a Swiss army knife
on both sides of the ball. Like he's played. He
could play the four, he could play the one, play
anything in between, and then defensively he can guard one
through three. So I think that type of guy is
a guy that maybe a little bit more in the
ambitious end. I would assume it would cost at least
a protected first round pick. But if you could get
that type of guy, I think that that kind of
(46:15):
balances out the roster. So I would put the need
obviously as a better center than Jackson Hayes at number one,
but number two I would say, like ideally the max replacement,
because right now, if you look at the defensive guys
they have. It's like Vando, Dorian, and Gabe. None of
those guys are shooting guards. Like Vando can guard shooting guards,
(46:35):
but you probably want him, Like I think he's really
effective against point guards. You also might want him on
like a wing. So I think that they could still use,
like if there's a way to upgrade maybe Gabe into
like a bigger player with that skill set, I think
that could make some sense for them. So I look
at the shooting guard spot as like the second biggest
need beat behind center.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Maybe I just didn't know a Brew Brown's game because
that's what I was trying to tee it up for.
And I definitely thought Bruce Bron had the ball in
his hands a lot more. He's so he's an off
ball dude.
Speaker 4 (47:06):
I mean, he could do both and that's what I
like about him. And look, the Lakers, of course could
could still use some but I just think with Luca,
Lebron and Austin, like you have all the usage there,
like you don't need. It went from being a concern
of like they don't even really have a third reliable
ball handler playmaker too, Like you just added arguably the
best or second best guy in the league at this
So now it's a strength of this roster. So between
(47:29):
those three, I think you're gonna be fine, especially if
if Gabe's like your fourth guy, I think that's like
a more proper slotting of him. But for Bruce Brown,
I just like that he. I think he fits in
with like the current identity of like switchability, versatility, guys
who can attack from the weak side, the second side actions,
guys who can cut in fit next to Lebron and
(47:51):
Luca not need the ball. I think Bruce Brown checks
all those boxes. So because of the price point, he
might be a little unrealistic. But like someone of that ilk,
I think, you know, if the Lakers can't get a
true difference maker at center, maybe you just pivot and
get the best available shooting guard you could get, and
that could be a route that they potentially go.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
There you go, Jovann Booh in the midst of the
NBA trade deadline, Man, the stove is hot, the stove,
the kitchen's on fire. Actually the place is hurnt down
at this point, So.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
We're gonna let you get back to doing your thing.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Man, So appreciative of your time, brother, I'll ask you
off to the side, and maybe I'll fill in the
team later. I feel like that other franchises might be
a little pissed off from dealing with Rob right now.
But we'll see, we'll see, we'll see if deals could
get done. But nevertheless, brother, we will be monitoring the
situation closely. The NBA trade deadline. By the time you
(48:50):
guys are hearing this, it's just a mere hours away.
So make sure you are locked in with all the
Jovann's content. We know you have notifications on. We know
the shams bombs are dropping everywhere, so take shelter, stay
on the timeline.
Speaker 1 (49:04):
Guru, good seeing you brother man. We gotta do this
more often.
Speaker 5 (49:07):
Yeah, man, good seeing everybody. Good being on, good chat
and good vibes. The city is back up.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
We outside late out Lake show.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
Make sure you are subscribed wherever you get your hashtag
good content for Yovan and Guru It's Ricky.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Peace
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com