Opening Night Without The King | LeBron Out, Luka Leads & LeDrama Monday - Late Night Lake Show

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's going on? Y'all?

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to a new episode of the Late Night Lakes
Show podcast powered by nineteen Media Group. It is your host,
Ricky and Kwame and tonight by the time, y'all like
hearing this the Los Angeles becas we'll be tipping off
against the Golden State Warriors for opening night of the
NBA season. We're so happy that y'all came here to
kick it with us as we get started for what
is the season seven?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Season night?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I lose Tractor's good times you don't keep count of,
but brother, opening night it pulled up fast preseason in
and out. Bron's out with the Sciattica. I feel you,
lucas the face of everything.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Let's get right into a kwalm.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
When you heard Lebron was gonna be out a month
and you see that we got open at night tonight,
what was your immediate reaction, Brothers.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
I'm not taking a back by He's forty years old, man.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Am I a little disappointed he won't be out there
with the boys.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:48):
For sure? An opening night without Lebron?

Speaker 4 (00:51):
I mean, I think what previously is twenty two to
twenty two seasons this is his first opening night that
he's going to miss in his career, and you know
that's the signs of the end times come soon.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
But honestly, it doesn't change my outlook a ton on
what the Lakers bring again. They're gonna go.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
They're gonna go as far as Luca can take them,
regardless of everybody else.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
On the team.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
You know what I'm saying, Like Luca's going to be
the engine. He will bring us to the Promised Land,
and Lebron's just there to be it auxiliary featured player.
You know, he'll be there to do what he needs
to do. You know, he might he'll give us a
thirty burger here and there.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
He'll do his thing.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
But this is the Lucas show now. And I don't
say that in the negative way. I'm I'm a I'm
a Bron fan, bro. So it's just it's just time.
It's time, and I'm ready for Luca. I'm excited for
opening it. I'm excited for the season, full training camp,
full season with Luca dontric As a Los Angeles Laker.
It's gonna be a good year, man. I'm excited for it.
So we'll see, we'll see what the Opening Nights has
for us.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
You know, even with Lebron being al Kwame, some always
still finds a way to stay in the headlines. A
little bit later, we'll talk about all the Monday La
drama media that was the eve of the NBA season
and why folks like Steven A and unfortunately oh a
former can't seem to not have an opinion about Big
Bron Braun.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
But first let's get into what we got now.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Bro, if you're not already, make sure you following the
Late night Lake Show wherever you get your hashtag good content.
Kwame my brother, we gotta start and five to react too.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Man.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
The Los Angeles Lakers debut, j coach JJ Reddick came
out and said, starting five for Opening Night and the
Bay Area will be Luka, Donciitz Austin reives Rui Hachi Mora,
DeAndre Ayden and wait for this, Gabe Vincent. Yes, the sharpshooter,
scrappy three and D player for the Los Angeles Lakers
is going to get the NOD for Opening Nights and

(02:39):
it is not without you know, a strong preseason to
back it up. Gave Vincent shot fifty five and a
half percent from three during the four game preseason stretch,
averaging sixteen points and three assists overall forty seven percent
from the field. Obviously, Lakers fans saw that Gabe was
a shining star from preseason in Kwame. But was it

(03:01):
enough for you to feel like it is justified for
him to start on opening night?

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Honestly, yes, I think he did enough. I wasn't sure
it would be a guard, to be honest. That wasn't
just strictly in for defense. But Gabe's got a little
offense to him. He can handled the ball, and honestly,
we saw in the preseason he earned that spot. Man,
they didn't just give it to him. He wasn't a
pity throw in. This isn't just well JJ thinks this
is the best lineup.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
He went out there and bolved every preseason game he
was in. He did his thing.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
He showed that he's been He looked like the Miami
Gabe that was sold to US years ago. He looks
like the Gabe Vincent that was on that Heat team
when they made their run to the finals.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
He looked really, really good.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
And again, I guess it's just preseason, but they've seen
enough obviously in the preseason games of the practice to
give him the starting nod, And like I said, you know,
he's a he's a good defender. I think he's I
would call him. I would say he's an above average defender.
He's not lockdown, he's not otherworldly, but he gives effort.
He tries hard, he communicates, he hustles, and that's really
all you need.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
So I'm excited.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
You know, he's gonna get the role of being kind
of that point of attack ball handler. So he's gonna
have to be running over screens, he's gonna be fighting
through he's gonna be running around chasing these these guards
until obviously Lebron gets back and we'll see kind of
what the lineup looks like once he returns. But honestly,
congratulations to Gay man. He did his thing. He earned
that spot. Like I said, it was not given to him.
This was not playing coach's favorite. This wasn't a Torrian

(04:20):
print situation. Like he went out there, he balled. He
earned it. And you know, hey, when the games count,
if Gabe can really show up, he's going to be
a huge piece for us down the line.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
That's no doubt, man. And you know, part of me.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
It feels like this is obviously a little bit Steph
Curry influenced the starting lineup. You'll want somebody out there
running around. You know it's not gonna be Luca, right,
you know it's not going to be Ruy. I guess
there was the case for Jared Vanderbilt getting a start
in the starting five. Now, what that looked like next
to Ruy and the rest of the starters would have

(04:54):
been an interesting equation, mostly conversation about at a perfect state,
what with the Laker starting five look like? And a
couple episodes ago, we talked about Jared Vanderbilt potentially being
next to Lebron and Luca in that five.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, with Lebron.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Dealing with old people problems with sciatica, and I said,
that's somebody who dealing with disame old people problems. It
makes sense why they went and did opted for the
scoring ball handling a three point sharp shooting guard in
Gabe Vincent. So looking forward to seeing him out there now,
could we fast forward twenty four hours from now and

(05:29):
after the game we talk about man how to Steph
Shirley had an evening last night?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Absolutely, And we're not saying Gabe is gonna be out
there being the Steph stopper because that person just doesn't
exist in the league. Like you said, shout out to Gabe,
the starting five should be out there producing a little
bit of offensive firepower. How that translates to the defensive end?
You got eight and going up against a small ball
five in our boy, excuse me and our boy Ramon Green.

(06:01):
I always like playing the high game, man. I feel
like there's about five inches difference between Ayton and Dreyvon,
and we saw Ayton is very willing to have a
little post game and put some moves that he pulls
out of the bag. I'm hoping there's some advantages to
be taken. But then again, Draymond Green's a Hall of
Famer for what he does on the defensive end. Do
you trust Kwame that Luca will be able to hold

(06:23):
it down without Lebron for this month stretch to start
us off?

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, easily, easily. This is what Luca does. Man.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Again, think of him as old school Lebron versus cav
stint Lebron, Like he's a floor razor. He's on the
court and people around him just get better. Again, think
of all the household names that are still on the
Dallas Mavericks that Luca brought into the light. This is
what he does. He is the ultimate carry job in
the league right now. So if anybody's gonna be able
to carry a team for a month stretch, it's Luca.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Man.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
We got the guy in the purple and gold, so
I have no issues in his ability to carry us
to wins, lead us as much as he needs to.
While Lebron is out again, we still got Austin Reeves
who averaged twenty points per game last season. Gabe is
coming to his own. You know, Rui's a capable score.
I think we have good bench that we're a bit
more defensive, we have a starting center, we got back

(07:14):
up set, Like I think we can give a lot
of good looks. You know, we're long, we're lanky. We're long,
we're lanky, we're athletic.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
And JJ wanted these guys to be in championship shape.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
And if that's really what he put on everybody and
they come to the season locked in lungs, aren't burning
running up and down the court, we're gonna be a
real good team. So no, I feel really good about Luca.
I think he's going to be phenomenal for us this year.
And again, you know, hey, he was looking crazy in
the euro baskets. Put that in the NBA watch him
go full season. Like I said, Hey, he's going to

(07:45):
be in the MVP conversations all season long. So if
we've got a guy in the MVP conversations, it's going
to be a good season.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
That's the truth.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, it's it's a little bit and I don't want
to get too like, oh my god, this is the
post era, but to be honest, this is the first
Lebron injury that has kept him out to start in
NBA season. We're talking in realities right now. We are
at the finish line. Whether they waive that checkered flag
at the end of this season or next season, best
believe we will now see a Lebron James heading into

(08:16):
the back two to three years of this decade. That's
just a fact of reality today as it stands. So
is this a little preview of the post Lebron Lakers era. Absolutely,
because it is Luca is healthy. He is the face
of the franchise. If this is a successful year, that
means also not just Luca, but DeAndre Ayden had a

(08:38):
strong gear where now he's looking to stay with the
franchise a little bit longer. You got Austin Reeves, who
is you know, Tom Cruise right now and show me
the money right so hopefully he for not just team reasons,
but selfishly in career driven reasons. This is the time
in your career. We'll call it the Julius Randalls season.

(08:58):
If you're on an expiring deal, run it the fuck
uh and then collect Joe Bread at the end of
the season. So I'm excited, man. I think there's a
lot of potential in this roster, and we're gonna see.
We're gonna see early what this looks like. Luca shot
fifty two percent. You're almost fifty two percent from three

(09:19):
in two games, averaging twenty eight points. Let me shut
the hell up thinking that he needs to be out
there for folks to get comfortable with him.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Luca is the system.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
So you know what, what feels so nice?

Speaker 4 (09:29):
This is the first Lebron injury where we're not literally
clutching our pearls saying we just got to make it
till he's back. You know, like this is kind of
like whatever, take your time, Bron, when you come back,
you come back. But before every injury is oh my gosh,
how we're gonna make.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
It two weeks.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
We're looking at the schedule, seeing what games or wins, losses,
like he used to really be a thing when Lebron
got hurts. Oh my goodness, Like, what's gonna happen? However,
are we going to survive? We have a twenty six
year old superstar in his prime, man, that's how we're
gonna survive. I feel good, man, I'm I have no
worries going into season. I actually feel really really good.
It's one of the best feelings I felt going in

(10:04):
the season. Price is what the twenty twenty season, the
championship year, maybe the year after. I felt really good
at twenty one. Actually I felt good a lot of
the beginnings of seasons.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
So you know, until somebody that wore zero came into town.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I stopped feeling good.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
First year was good, second year, first.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Year going in, we were excited.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
But yeah, afterwards that went down the drain, So no
point no there. Maybe I didn't all right, Uh no
I did. Hey, It's almost like Kwammie. You remember the
famous Colin Coward rant segment, Like Honestly, what seven years
ago now when Ben Simmons was like a rookie or
in the NBA and he was.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Like, hey, Lebron, we're good, you can go. We're all
right here, the league is all right, We're in good shape.
You could stay. We love you, you're great, but we
don't need you anymore.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
We got and it's like, obviously a top five craziest
quote that age like milk in hindsight. But there's a
little bit of that conversation right now that Lakers fans
who are not anti Lebron, like Kwame said, you won't
find a bigger Lebron fan than him, And that's the truth.
He came over because of the Church of Lebron former

(11:11):
stops in Miami and and Cleveland before that.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
But this is a situation when when the down is in.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
The building and he's healthy and you got a roster
that you feel pretty good about. All right, all right,
maybe Lebron turns from the port of house to just
a really good, you know, twice bake mac and cheese
on the side. What if Lebron just turns into one
of the main side ditches at Bruce Chris. He's no
longer the tomahawk, right, he no longer the cowboy, right,

(11:39):
that's Luca.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
That's Luca. You've got the cowboy hats to prove it.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
And why would you want to be the main featured
player at forty years old? Like, why would you want that?
So I get people are gonna make it seem like,
you know, how's Lebron ever gonna deal with this? Like
I said, if he's in the twilight stage, if he's
ready to go, hey, any opportunity for somebody else to
do the heavy lifting, I'm sure he is more than
okay with now. Again, is he gonna want to get
his numbers? Yes, he's still gonna want to do his thing. Yeah,

(12:04):
but I think he's fully understanding of the situation, and
given his age, he gets it. Again, how you think
he's gonna go to the front office and say, don't
take that guy? We've all know, we all know what
Luka Dancic does on the basketball court. You think Lebron's
gonna say, hey, that guy's not it's gotta be me still,
Like it just wouldn't make any sense. Man, is this
will be this will be fun, man, It'll be a
piece of cake. And when Lebron comes back, it'll just

(12:26):
be fun to add extra So.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
I'm with it all right.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Moving forward, Now, they gave Vince it is reportedly starting
and the Lakers starting five, and obviously Lebron's out for
a month. If it goes well, I'm sure Jada will
do some tinkering with the lineups. But as it is,
we've moved one of our bench rotation pieces that Lebron,
with Lebron healthy, would be coming off the bench into
the starting lineup. So now let's look at the rest

(12:51):
of the bench unit and who we can.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Expect to step up.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Obviously, you have a struggling, struggling Daltin connected Draymond. Not nice, bro,
Not very nice of you to remind somebody that they
got traded and they still with That's like saying like, hey, bro,
you know your girl cheated on you and you stayed
with her.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
You sure you're trying to talk to me right now.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
So you got a Dalton shooting under twenty five percent
for three in the preseason, but the Lakers will look
to him for some support. You also got Marcus Smart,
who seems like the Lakers are easing back into things,
trying to get back from his off season rehabilitation into
the starting into being a contributing role player. Then you

(13:36):
got your Jared Vanderbilts and your new boys like Jake
La Ravia Knights, and of course you got your big
dog Jackson Hayes, who is trying to get I don't know,
Saudi Arabian Lithuanian citizenship where he's trying to get Slovenian.
And then you know the Jackson Hayes. I'm sure his
mama is Slovenian. So yeah, no, I'll go or was
that a joke because of Luca?

Speaker 4 (13:57):
No, he's trying to play with Luca. And he said,
because the USA doesn't do open tryouts for the Olympic team,
he has a better chance to play with Slovenia and
be a lo opter for Luca. That's what he wants
to go do.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Okay, So it's not a real.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
Thingt you know, he seems zany enough, it could be okay,
all right, Well.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
That's out out to Jackson. Heads will be kind of
got him coming off the bench this season.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
So kwame.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
As we look to our supporting cast, who are you
most looking forward to step up and have impact from
Game one this season?

Speaker 1 (14:25):
As the Lakers six.

Speaker 4 (14:26):
Man game, and Wow, to be honest, I don't know
who are six man is.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
It's probably for.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
All intensive purposes. I kind of want to say Marcus Smart,
to be honest, but if they're going slow with him,
is it is it Jake Laavia? I don't know who's
coming off our bench first. That's kind of the big
question mark. It might even be Vando.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
Again.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
We know his defense will be important against the Golden
State Warriors. His bill matches up with a lot of
their type of players, you know, and Draymond and Jimmy.
He can't even step out guard to staph Moses Moody.
I mean, I guess I think he's out to start
the season a kaminga. I think in terms of versatility, no,
probably is the most because you think about it, you
can kind of slot him to guard anybody on Golden State.

(15:06):
He can even guard like an Al Horford and you know,
make it work. They don't have a big bike out
there anymore. I mean, I guess, unless you're counting Trace
Jackson Davis and Quentin Posts, I think those are the
only two big men. Kaval Looney's down in the New
Orleans Pelicans, so he's out that jam. So it's just
I think Vando is probably gonna be the most important
in Game one, and I hope he is for the

(15:27):
for a lot of the season. I hope he kind
of comes in He's that guy, you know, him and
Marcus Smart kind of the junkyard dogs off the bench,
go in there, muck the game up.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Rough.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
These guys jump, dive on loose balls, you know, hard files,
you know. Obviously, you know, in the context of basketball,
we don't need no flagrants or anything crazy. But I
hope they go out there and they really, you know,
muck the game up, you know, just do what they
do best, make it crazy, make it chaotic, and just
kind of have some fun, get out, run, do all
good stuff. So those two are probably the two guys
I'm looking to come off the bench and do the most.

(15:56):
Obviously with Gaye Vincent, but he's the starter to begin
the season. So Mark in Vando are the two guys
that I got my eyes on coming off the bench
to kind of be that one two man punch on
aggression defense and all the little things of.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
The intangibles that you know don't show up on the
box score.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, I'd have to agree with you.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
I think the Lakers' depth it becomes a little bit
more questionable with Gabe and needing to be put in
the starting lineup. None of these names strike fear into
your heart right, Like, there's no j R. Smith coming
off the bench type of just lights out score. You know,
he only has one job and that's to put it up.
It's a lot of glue pieces, right, guys who fit

(16:34):
well within the system of them playing their exact role.
Vando has a pretty specific skill set, even though we
saw him doing a little bit more ball handling and
shooting threes this preseason. For all intensive purposes, he is
a scrappy slasher, defensive minded individual. Jackson Hayes is a

(16:55):
lot threat. He's gonna need somebody hitting him with lobs.
And as I look at the right now, sure there's
plenty of capable players, but the only two that I'm
actually expected to throw something freaky in the air for
Jackson to finish is Austin and Luca. Right, So, I
think there's a little bit of concern for me to
see what the cohesiveness of a bench mixed in with

(17:18):
starters lineup looks like. But then that's why you take
these first few games of the season to figure it out,
you take the preseason to use that and get those answers. Unfortunately,
the Lakers weren't able to get all of their answers
together with Luca only playing two games and Lebron playing saddle.
So it I'm a little bit more concerned than just

(17:39):
let's see what we got that first instance, right, and
the first of the second where we start to see
an Austin led unit out there with Luca on the bench.
That's why I'm gonna start to be paying more attention
to what the difference in scoring is Lakers plus five?
What is it after that first stint where most of
the starters are now mixed in with with role players.

(18:01):
So I don't want to say worried.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
But we'll go see the bench.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
The Lakers' depth is going to be put to the
test early, and that is just the facts of the matter.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Without having big Bron Bron out there.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Wow, that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (18:14):
I mean to be honest, I think this is ultimately
I think this is kind of by design. I think
they wanted the bulk load of the scoring to come
from Luca, Austin and Lebron. I think that's what they expected,
and then Brewi's probably the next up featured player to
kind of get his shots. But I think that's by design.
I mean, you think of Luca teams in the past.
Even though the team that went to the championship, bulk

(18:34):
of the scoring came from who Kyrie irving Luca, that's
just what it was. You know, other guys will get
their looks, they'll get their opportunities and see love threats.
Bench players will come in like people, get their opportunity.
But I assume they're hoping to get eighty I'll probably
say seventy to eighty points out of Luca, Lebron and
Austin is gonna be my big assumption. I'm gonna assume

(18:55):
they could get seventy points a night out of those guys,
and everybody else contributes to get us to like the
one on fifteen ish number.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
So what do you do now? Then?

Speaker 2 (19:03):
What do you do now for these first month of
the season. What mix do you expect to pick up
Lebron's twenty four.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Give the twenty three.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
I think that's you know, really, I think you need
Rui to probably give you sixteen to eighteen, which I
think he's very capable of doing. Ayden's probably got to
give us ten to night minimum, you know what I'm saying,
Hopefully a little bit more sprinkled in. I think Gabe's
gonna get to be featured with the ball more now.
I think he's gonna fill that Lebron slot is a
ball handler, maybe a secondary. Honestly, after watching preseason, I

(19:37):
would feel confident in running the show in Spurts. Absolutely.
We have Austin who we've seen do it, Luca that
we know can do it. So I feel like we
have guards that are good playmakers. Again, when you think
of like who's that just bucket getter, we know who.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
The guys are.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
I think every scouting report, every team's going to show
exactly the guys who are majority of the buckets are
gonna come from. But that's where you gotta win. On
the margins, you know, that's where you win on the
loose ball, the offensive rebounds, the second chance points, the
transition buckets, you know that type of stuff. I think
that's where other guys are gonna really start to get involved.
So I'm just gonna assume, again I know proof behind
that philosophy. I'm gonna assume that's just what JJ's thinking of,

(20:13):
just giving the kind of way he talks about the game,
and then again getting these guys in championship shape. I hope,
I assume he's just gonna assume, Look, we're gonna go
out there, we're gonna be the one of the most
fit teams in the league, and we're gonna get up
and down. We're gonna do our thing. These guys are
gonna hold the bulk of the scoring, but other guys
will be able to chip in in other ways too.
But I totally do understand your point of like where
the Lebron's buckets come from, but that's gonna be by committee,

(20:36):
and you know our guys ready that we will soon
find out. So I don't feel as bad about it, because,
like I said, I think Gabe got a lot of
experience with the ball being in his hands in preseason.
Obviously we've seen it and stops prior to getting to
the Los Angeles Lakers, so if he can kind of
bring that back.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
You don't feel.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Good having Miami Gabe being your third, your tertiary ball handler.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
I do. I feel great about that, So I think
I feel with it.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
And then like I said, when Lebron comes back, Gabe
probably goes born to a you know, a spot up
shooter role.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
So I think it's okay.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
This will be again Gabe's opportunity to make a name
for himself, get people to you know, remember who he is,
and you know, see how it goes from there. But
I don't feel that bad about it. I think we'll
be all right, man. I really do think we're gonna
be in it. We're gonna be okay. I'm here for it.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
With that said, let's do a little record prediction. All right, Kwans.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
But with that said, let's take a look at the
Lakers first ten games of the NBA season. Obviously, Lebron
will be out probably until mid to end November. I'm
going to be honest, man, my prediction, we probably won't
see him till December to get his season debut. But nonetheless,
Lakers first tame games of the season, you have the Warriors,
t Wolves, Kings, Trail Blazers, te Wolves, Grizzlies, Heat, Trailblazers, Spurs,

(21:49):
and then against the Hawks Kwame looks like about five
non playoff teams at the Lakers will face a few
repeats of Western Conference opponents. So with that said, what's
your first ten game breakord prediction without Lebron James?

Speaker 4 (22:03):
All Right, when I look at this, I'm gonna give you.
I'm gonna give you my completely sane response. You know,
crazy me. I'm just gonna say ten to zero, perfectly
saying response eight and two.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
Eight and two.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
I see two games that could be toss ups, and
to be honest, it's probably what we probably trick one
of the Minnesota games, because that's just I feel like
we gotta trick one of them.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
And to be honest, the Spurs game is the other.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
One that worries me a little bit. He might be crazy.
Third year in the league. I think this is where
he makes that leap. I think this is defensive player
the year year for him. I think this is where
he transcends into a different animals. So I think the
first look at him will be tough and we might
just not know what to do with him. I can

(22:46):
see I see two losses tops here. Yeah, that'd be
That's my honest take.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
I want to talk about what my expectation is of
tonight's game and moving forward, but I am am pretty
interested in these first three games. Of the season, Kwame.
This to me is a little bit of a feel
out in the sense of what type of era are
we about to step into. Is this going to be
a little bit shakier to start, or is Luke about

(23:12):
to come out like a possessed man on fire leading
a highly motivated Austin reason DeAndre Ayden Lakers trio to
a fast start A fast start to me, as we
talked about in past seasons, the Lakers haven't done better
than a six and four start the past four years, right,
so if you can give me anything better than six

(23:34):
and four, I think that is exceeding expectations. I do
put a little bit more stock into not having a
complete lineup and somebody that you will depend on to
be that second to third leading scorer on the team
in Lebron James, regardless of his age. So with that said,
if the Lakers can come out of that the first

(23:54):
three games of the season two and one, I would
be pretty excited.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Right where they drop.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
One between Golden State Minnesota Sacramento is one of those
games that's going to It's already pissed me off.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
Russ is over there.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Now, you just got a random Bandit to players there
without sabonas that's great. That that makes me feel a
lot better. Something about that damn arena in that city
still just pisses me off. So I reserve the right
to say I'm not surprised if Sacramento decides to be

(24:26):
a pain in our ass to start a super hot
start to our seasons.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
I'm gonna be a little bit more optimistic. Man.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
To your point, I think there is an absolute monster
sitting down there in San Antonio that is going to
be unleashed on the league this season. We already saw
the preview, so there's no real answer to Wenby if
he is shack throwing boys off of him and two
hands slamming and still stepping out and shooting side step
three so while still growing, Bro put him in a lab.

(24:56):
I'm sorry, like he one of them people that how
they did Wolverine and X Men.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
I don't care.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Send him to science or a striker, will you, David?
What's o boy named Adam Adam Silver?

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Looks like he could be played William Striker in the
NBA version of the Wolverine movie. I need that. I
need that content. So yeah, official prediction. Man, I'm gonna
be more optimistic, not seventy three, but not be surprised
if the Lakers start off for a six and four start.
There's a few pain in the ass teams Miami being included,
that love to just throw a wrench in a good

(25:30):
time over here in Lakers Nation. So I'm optimistic, but
reserve the right to know that as a thirty three
year old Lakers fan, I've seen how these things go.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
That's fair.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
Honestly, I'm a little surprised. I think I'm ultra optimistic
because this is the Luca Lakers. This is a little
Lebron and eighty Rikers, so they would trick off right
games that they should not have lost.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
I'm trying to just breathe a new bit of fresh
air in here, and I'm hoping Luca takes all these
games seriously or he's just having a lot of fun.
Because lucas having fun, that means thirty five for you, you
know what I'm saying. So that's what I'm gonna hold
on to. That these guys go out here with a
different mindset and a different attitude. But again, this isn't
this doesn't this doesn't feel like the Luca or sorry,

(26:11):
the Lebron a d Lakers, where they would just you know,
trick off games they had no business losing.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
I feel good about Luca teams again.

Speaker 4 (26:18):
I've I've watched my fair share of math games in
my life, and I feel like a lot of the
times when they're supposed to win, the win, Hell, they
win games they're not supposed to win just because of
Luca's greatness. So I'm pray that translates over to the
Purple unkis shell.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
See positive vibes, positive vibes. It's game night, folks, It's
game night. Hope y'all, hope y'all. Ready the Lakers start
they quest for championship banner number eighteen to.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Catch the bitch ass balt To Celtics.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
We're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back,
we're gonna do a quick little jersey react to the
Lakers and new jerseys, and then we are going to
dive into lat drama on a Monday afternoon, Kwame, get
your popcorn ready. Everybody that Kwame hates has something to
say about Lebron James, Lena Lake Show, We'll be right back.

(27:03):
Ley Show's feedback. It's kwame, it's ricky. It is the
Lakers debuting they knew Statement Edition uniforms. They are going
to be rocking a nice Royal Laker true to form
purple edition with all white lettering and a nice Chris
Gold outline.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
There's something quai. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
If you remember the Minnesota Vikings back in the day,
like the Randy Moss purple people eater Minnesota Timberwolves, they
would have an alternate helmet where it'll be all purple
and they would reverse out the Viking logo where it
was the all white and just the gold outline.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Reminds me a lot of this.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Lakers Uni man, what is your thoughts on the Statement
Edition jersey for the twenty twenty five twenty six season.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
I like it a lot. I think they're clean. I
think they're simple. I like the white lettering. I like
the gold. I like that it's gold, not that funky yellow.
It's gold and that to me, I actually like it
a lot. I like it.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
You know, this will be a jersey I would cop.
I'm cop of one of these for sure. This might
be my first seventy seven so I like it a lot.
It's one of my favorite jerseys that they dropped in
the past several years. To be honest with you, I
think this is a good one. I think it's good.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
I wonder will look like im the boys on the
court ause, but I think it's a good I think
it's a good jersey.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
It's a good jersey November three, when they will be
making its season debut against the Portland and Trail Blazers.
So we are very superstitious, as Stevie Wonder likes to say, so,
if the Lakers do get out to a slow start,
or if they get out to a hot start, we
will tie that jersey success directly to it. There's a
reason why those Mamba jerseys were just held in such

(28:39):
high regard until they disrespected the process and got ahead
of themselves for Game six by rocking the Mambas or
Game five for rocking the Mambas during the Bubble Championship.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
But nonetheless, a jersey does bring that good juju, and
the players feely too. They banned last year's jersey, have
to be ascid. If you remember that quap.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
Nasty gradient joints Yeah there, yeah, yeah, And I guarantee, Bro,
they weren't feeling those uniforms from the jump and what's
the saying.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Man, look good, feel good, play good. It's the truth.
Hopefully the Lakers feel good playing in these I like them.
I don't know why.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
I think when you were talking, you were saying that
this could be your seventy seven jersey right off the bat.
You know, we were looking at the City edition jersey
that's going to be back to those California dreams with
the angled LA script on the black unis, and now
looking at these purple ones, it's weird. I almost feel
like the purple one is fitted more so for Lebron

(29:38):
in the black ones I want for Luca Uni. And
maybe it's just the traditionalism in me. Lebron is now
a Laker for almost, you know, almost better part of
a decade, right, that is a true Laker purple jersey.
I'm very proud that the team came out with something that,
while is newer and more modern, feels like they got

(29:58):
it right with the colors that the very least I
kind of want to document that. I think that that
purple Lebron might go on the wall and I might
rock the seventy seven black Luca California nights or California
Dream Jersey.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah, double Jersey. Sound like somebody got money.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Christmas is on the way.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
So wifey Bro, my wife, she hits me yesterday because
my son's birthday weekend was this past weekend. I shout out,
g I just turned seven, and she I always forget
it every year when she tells me this, but she
goes randomly, she brings me some food. She brings me
a chicken sandwich from it was a good chicken sandwich,

(30:37):
and then she goes, happy.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Sweetest day love.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
I literally I couldn't help myself but to laugh because
I forget about that holiday every year.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Oh yeah, but you.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Know, shout out, shout out the sandwich. Being a man
is awesome. Right. Anyways, Bro, let's get.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Into the Monday thet drama to wrap up the show, brother,
Where do you want to start? Kwam, I've been doing
a lot of talking and I'm gonna pull up some videos.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
For you, which we got three folks today.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
We got we got lou Will, we got steven A,
and then we got I guess it's not directly Russ talking,
but a Russell Westbrook article.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
Where do we want to start? Let's start with Russ.
Let's start with Russ. Let's let's just get Russ out
the way, man, Let's get Russell Westbrook out the way.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
What we get all right?

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (31:23):
Talk about you? Kwam?

Speaker 2 (31:24):
What we got going on with Russell's Brussels now three
years removed from wearing a Lakers uniform, but somehow it's
still attached to the purple and gold.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
So we have this this Ringer article drop. It's an
expert an excerpt. It is an excerpt from a Hollywood ending,
the Dreams and drama the Lebron Lakers. So it's this
is a novel little excerpt out of here talking about
Russell Westbrook and Lebron James dynamic as twenty twenty two
Lakers team. So this one's packed full of stuff. So
I'll let you guys read the article on your own.

(31:55):
But insummation, it's basically, Russell Westbrook felt that Lebron James
was one way to the media and how he talked
about things, and then his actions just didn't support that,
and Russ thought it was fake. He didn't think it
was genuine. And they referenced the time when Will Smith
came to talk to the team. Apparently Bron left wasn't
really into it. He got pulled back in and all

(32:15):
of a sudden he was making conversation, laughing, joking and
kind of made it all about him, and Russ couldn't
believe it, couldn't believe his eyes. So, to be honest,
I gotta get my feelings on this first, and I'll
talk to you Rick to be this is a nothing
burger bro like, why do we care about this? Why
do we care about Lebron? Saying let Russ be Russ,
but apparently on the court didn't leave. Let Russ b Russ. Honestly,

(32:38):
when I read this article, it felt like a handful
of actual contextual quotes and then just a lot of
opinions like I said, you heard Russ say, you know,
when they're like it wasn't a thing like Rusby Russe,
He's like, you know, that wasn't true. So is he
talking specifically about Lebron or the Lakers, the coaching staff ownership.
It never really quite gets into that detail. And they

(32:59):
talk about how like Lebron knowed or sorry, and then
they talk about how Russell Westbrook felt like he seen
Lebron be disingenuine when he talks about like Kobe scoring
eighty one or what his favorite book was, I's never
said any of that. I think this is the author
trying to add to this story, and I didn't really
dig that.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
But ultimately, I think.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
We just need to be honest about Russ's tenure the
in Los Angeles. Again, as we're fans, you know, in
Lakers fans, we have to tell the.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Truth where he just didn't play well.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Despite everything else that was going around, whatever drama, whatever
lineup issues, whatever player schemes, whatever it is, he didn't
go out there and play very well. You know, there's compilations.
They're straight gad reels off Russell Westbrook's hitting the side
of the backboard, top of the backboard, airballing. It's nightmarish
how bad he played. And then since he's left the Lakers,

(33:51):
he's been nothing but a journey man. So it's really
hard to say that the Lakers ruined him or did
anything to him. I just think his style of play
at his age, he didn't quite realize his own fall
off was as quickly as it had come. But when
we talk about the stuff about you know, Lebron being
fake and this and that, this conversation is so tired.

(34:12):
I really, I'm tired of people over analyzing athletes like
they're not just people. And I'm not an athlete myself,
but dog, I get it, man, these are just regular people.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Man.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
The best person you know has skeletons in they closet.
Dog Like, literally, the best person you could have Badgine
got skeletons in they clauset. So y'all ain't never snaked nobody.
Y'all ain't never do nothing dishonest. Y'all ain't lie nobody.
Y'all ain't leave a homie out to dry. Like, come on, man,
look in the mirror and understand that this is just
stuff people do. The only difference is Lebron's shortcomings are
broadcasting to the media because he is a prominent figure

(34:43):
in sports media. Meanwhile, Jimmy from down the road, this
is Jimmy from down the road, works a nice nine
to five, takes care of his kids. But you know,
he's got some skeletons in his clauset. Everybody got some stuff.
So when it gets into that stuff, when we talk
about athletes, I just don't care, Bro, I care about
what's happening on the court. Dog and the positive things
they're doing with they doing their personal life, how they
act amongst their peers, their friends in their personal life.

(35:04):
I don't care about Dog. I don't so Russ saying,
you know, Bron's fake or whatever. What we wasn't fake
was how bad he played. What wasn't fake was how
bad Russ was every time he stepped out on that,
the dread we had in our souls, the prayers we.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Had that he would get traded. And I get it.

Speaker 4 (35:20):
Did Lebron do some stuff that you know, is a
little unbecoming, you know, going on ESPN and upset that
Kyrie wasn't traded to the Lakers.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
You know whatever, Hey, he was telling the truth. It's
a problem to tell the truth now, And I get it.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
You never want to throw your teammates under the bus
or whatever. This that the third that's fair. But Russ
got understand he did not live up to the championship
expectations that the Lakers had placed on them when they
traded for him that summer, and it just is what
it is. Sometimes things don't work. So I really don't
like the narrative that, you know, Lebron's this fake guy,
and it was it was just hard for Russell Westbrook.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
To be honest.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
All this was just a smear campaign against Lebron and
they used this one little rough story to then enhance it.
This is a nothing story. This is just the smear
campaign on Bron. At the end of the day, I
don't know why athletes care so much. Why the regular
people care so much about what athletes do in their
day to day lives. Y'all gotta figure something. So in
that breath, Rick, given this article, what are your thoughts?

(36:13):
You got the thoughts, feelings, opinions on one Russell Westbrook's
tenure in the Lakers, and then this article that says
Lebron's a fraud, He's not a genuine person.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
I'm reading this for the first time.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
I think there's a little bit of truth in all criticism, right,
I don't think Lebron's a saying from this respect of
he has this quirks. He has probably a strong personality
that he doesn't let you guys, see, who are we
to be entitled to somebody's full authentic selves. Guess who's
going to see an authentic version of Lebron? The people

(36:47):
who spend eight months out of a year with him
that call him coworkers and teammates. Right, it's no surprise
that Lebron James and Russell Westbrook but heads. They are
opposites in how they approach in personality of the game
of basketball. They are both fun loving guys off the court, smile, laugh, dance,

(37:07):
crack jokes, have fun. How they enter when they enter
the arena of Russ is a recluse. Russ is truly
more of a Kobe type personality in the sense of,
fuck y'all, I'm here to win. If we're not going
to win, I'm going to try to take matters into
my hand and do it my way. That's also in
combination with Russ's personality of everybody claims that he's they're

(37:32):
the best teammate that he's ever had. Conversely, Lebron's the
guy on the court that's always going to make the
right play, always going to make the right basketball play,
always going to get his teammates involved, even if that's
at the expense of him being called unselfish or scare
of the moment. But then you go behind the scenes
and you hear quotes from coaches and former teammates now

(37:54):
in Russ saying that Lebron's two faced. I think both
things can be true. At the end of the day,
I'm thirty three or two kids in Neither of these
these men pay any of my bills. This is not
something that I'm going to lose a wink of sleepover.
It's not going to take up any of my data
plan and tweeting and talking about outside of us doing

(38:16):
this wonderful podcast that we enjoy doing for an hour
and presenting to the front fans once a week. I
don't give a fuck what type of personality Lebron has
behind the scenes to Russell Westbrook and that's it.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yeah, you get the nail on the head man.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
I just I couldn't care less, like I said, I mean,
how would any of us Laker fans have reacted being
Russell's coworker t slash teammate every day watching this man
hit shots off the backboard.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
What I've seen.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
People say on social media is way worse than anything
Lebron could have done to Russ in that time. But again,
just because we're not these these athletes, these people.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
In the media were held to a higher standard. You know,
I just don't think that's true. At end of the day.
They're just regular people with.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
A camera on them, or extraordinary abilities to play basketball
or whatever it may be. So again, maybe I sound
like maybe I sound like Kevin Durant burner account right now,
But for real, I've never cared about how athletes conduct
themselves in the day to day.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Michael Jordan's one of the worst people ever. Bro, He's terrible.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
You would be.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
You don't care about nothing except the bottom line, how
much money you're gonna make. Bro, you don't care about
people like that. But don't nobody care that he's a
bad person. So cause, again, when you think about old
school hoops, the only time you really got to hear
about players was in sit down interviews or you know,
maybe interview in the newspaper. But you didn't hear from
these guys on a daily You didn't hear because you

(39:38):
didn't hear from them on the regular. But now social
media podcast you got people that say they know all
these things. And Lebron talks only here and there man,
and he kind of keeps it chill. But I think
as he goes on this retirement run, he gets closer
and closer to the end, we're gonna see him talk
a little bit more and more. Kobe was kind of
that same way. As he started to retire, he started
to do a more and more, he started to hear
from more. He just stopped caring as much. He's like, whatever, Bro, Like,

(40:01):
I'm too old to care about that type of stuff.
I think Lebron's gonna hit that point as well here soon.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
But how much.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
Yeah, I'm trying to get him out of here for
Kyrie Irving. Yes, we were all clamoring for that. Let's
not act like Lebron just wasn't. He was maybe, Oh,
I want Russ. We didn't want Russ. What do you
think he wants? He had to share the court with
that man.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
We did it.

Speaker 4 (40:21):
We were in the whole, the comfort of our humble
abodes it. We didn't want that man on the team. Like,
come on, let's put that perspective here.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Man. Not everybody's a saint.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
Not everybody's perfect, And by no means do I think
anybody perfect, bro. So we just gotta let athletes. We
gotta understand athletes or people they do shitty stuff, just
like us.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
That's facts.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I'm looking at this Lakers roster this yearsano and I think.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
It's like a third man.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
I don't know, you gotta this is that. It's just
like Kendrick Nunn. Half these dudes aren't even in the league. Bro, yep,
Damian Jones. Bro, this entire section right here.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Isn't even in the league. Brolanni's not in the league,
like Dog Nasty that was not in the league. Hat
this team isn't.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
In the league.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
I'm crying, Lebron said, y'all, God, I ain't trying to
talk to Will Smith. Then said turned around and asked
every question of Bill.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Smith, like I said, Bro, please there arguing Look at Russ.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Bro, that's somebody who is not having a good time. Man,
that just put up with some bullshit.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
The fake smiles looked like a d not either.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
So hey, my man said, hey, remember, let's just have fun.
Brother was looking at that. He said, that's crazy, Bro.
I mean, like I said, Man, Russ's tenure again. You
can say whatever you want about how the team used
him or utilize them or didn't or whatever.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
At the end of the day, he played, he played,
he didn't play well like that. That's that's as clear
as I can say.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
He just didn't play well, Bro, So he can't be
mad that we were mad that he was on the team.
And you can't be mad that your teammates wanted you
packed up to You played like.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
Garbage, bro, you weren't good. We can call the space now.

Speaker 4 (42:00):
If you were Lacobe Lakobe Bryant Jordan, yes you know
what I'm saying, then yes.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
You'd have an army with you. You wouldn't have a
bigger army than people who are still holding on to that.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
But you were Russ, and every team that's let you
be Russ. You found yourself in free agency the next season.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
This is what it is.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
It is what it is, all right.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Switching over now to hearing from one Hall of famer's
beef with Lebron James to three guys who aren't even
going to be in consideration of the Hall of Fame.
Lou Will decided to throw his name into the ring
and he kicked off with his displeasure of Lebron James
and his decision Part two.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
Again, Man, this is this is this is such a
non story. This is what Daytimes Forwards media has to
talk about. They're mad about Lebron's decision being a Hennessy commercial.
I mean to be honest, I didn't think it was
gonna Bennessy. I thought I was gonna did something else.
But I get it. At the end of the day, bro,
they're literally on a show hosted by FanDuel. People are
gonna do what they need to do to get the bag.

(42:58):
They're out here say baked takes for clicks and reacts
on a fan duel sponsored show. You're not gonna convince
me otherwise. So Lebron can't do a little brand deal.
You don't think Hennessy said, hey, we can get all
this hype. Let's tease your retirement and boom. Come on, man,
you're telling me we saw the preview. Nothing nobody thought
advertisement in their head. I mean, come on, man, I

(43:21):
get it. If you were just doing it for the
clicks to oh my gosh, this is it. But there's
no way in your heart of hearts, gun to your head.
You really thought he was gonna retire with a scheduled time,
a post it on his social media accounts.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
I didn't expect that to be the way it goes. Again,
people can say what they want to say. I get it.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
I don't think this is an egregious act. I think
this is just again, a guy doing a brand deal,
just as anybody else will people talking about they toy
with their emotions. They're the ones who want this man gone.
And now you're worried that he pulled back his retirement. Like,
I can't understand it. I can't understand the obsession about
these little things about Lebron, Like, can we just do
judge what he does in the basketball court. I don't

(43:57):
care about the brand deals that he's doing. Even when
you did that other commercial where he had like his
phone in that book and he's playing that fucking I
forgot what that game was called, that cell phone game.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
Bro.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
He's just gonna do ads, man. He did his Amazon Prime,
he does Taco Bell. He's doing brand deals because why not.
They're gonna throw him a bunch of money to you know,
just say you do something, you're gonna do it again.
These guys are on FanDuel TV giving you know, hot takes.
I'm not trying to hear what they got to say
about Lebron's ethical retirement decisions or not.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Like, bro, go move around, man.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
At the end of the day, you gotta understand everything
is for the money, and people are gonna chase the
bag Lebron is no exception to that.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
I don't care if he's a billionaire.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
He came from humble beginnings and you saw I don't
know if you saw the clip of that podcast he
was on, I think the Savannah's podcast with the Coy
Sanatanum and he was talking about Hey, I told my
financial advisor, I go broke.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
It's not gonna be good for you. Bro He don't
play about his money.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
He knows what it's like being broke.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
He said, I remember being a poor kid, not having shit,
couldn't do shit. He's like, I never want to go
back to that. So he's gonna get every money to
secure as much generational wealth as he can for his family.
I would have done the same thing. Every single person
who's out there criticizing the Hennessy came to you and said,
I'm gonna throw you a couple hundred million to tease this.
You're gonna do it, and you're not even gonna think
twice about it, because the end of the day, that's the
curing wealth for your family. Why you care about another

(45:13):
man's opinion. It just don't make no sense.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
But that's just mean, yeah, yeah, not not something that
I'm losing any type of sleepover. Athletes have endorsement deals
all the time. I'm more disappointed in everybody for being
duped thinking that it was going to be something as
serious as the decision two point zero.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
I don't know why.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
We just don't think that there are marketing agencies just
sitting around thinking of different points in Lebron's career and
how can we turn that into a story or a
narrative or have some type of co branding with a
product that he is going to sell or endorse. You've
seen this script before with Bron, like you just said,
with the Amazon Prime, with the free mobile app.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
There's some pretty big bags behind it. And y'all, Lebron
damn don't need no money.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
You know what you do though, so you know, don't
count nobody else's paper bad. I don't care. I guess
you know. My marketing background is what I do for
a living. As soon as it came out, I saw
a commercial for it. Sorry, man, Nike would get the
first crack at any type of hint or preview, but
we'll get to that when the decision has actually been made.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
Yeah, like JJ said, they you guys are some idiots.
Y'all are idiots. Bro, there's no way, yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Dumb all right, Well, final countdown, wrap up the show. Somehow,
this man is doing his best.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
To turn into a grifter. Stephen A.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Smith at one point in time was revered by well,
was respected by most, loved by a lot, entertained by most.
Right now, I couldn't tell you, and I don't want
to speak for nobody else, but I couldn't tell you
five black men that I know that respects Stephen A.
Smith's opinion, and I know that might not mean much

(47:06):
to folks who are not black. But for this man
to be now a shell of what he once was,
I don't find him informative. Right, I've lost the entertainment
of him and Skip used to yelling at each other, right,
Skip playing the dumb idiot who just kept pressing forward,
and Steven A. Smith being the guy just bewildered by

(47:28):
why Skip was saying such dumb, egregious stuff. He's now
taking a page out of Skip's book and said, my
number one target is going to be Lebron James. And
it's just very odd that the platform that we get
this later's chapter of Stephen A. Smith Shacktona koun It
has on Lebron's Guy Carmelo Anthony's podcast. Kwame, I'll pull

(47:52):
up the clips. Well, we won't be able to listen
to the quips, but Kwame.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Steven A.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Smith doing his best way to make sure that he
leaves all dignity in the sports world behind him before
he moves into his next phase, which is undoubtedly going
to be a political career. Your thoughts on the latest
saga of his issue with Lebron.

Speaker 3 (48:14):
James Leave Stephen A. Smith is still milking this unbelievable
to me that after all this time he spun the
block and wanted to talk about it a game. But
I think what Stephen A.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
Smith is man, And again everybody knows his mo that
he's just grifting, He's just he's obviously just spinning things
to get clicks and get his name out there. Everybody knows.
Everybody's called on to what stephen A Is trying to do.
It's not a surprise people. People get it. Oddly enough,
somebody thinks he's entertaining over there in Disney Slash ESPN
because they keep paying the man, so you know, clearly

(48:48):
somebody's into it. But I think us and like you said,
people in our circles, the jig's up.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
The jig is up on stephen A. Smith, and we
get it.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
So my thing is, at the end of the day,
he's doing all this stuff talk about Lebron. This is
like what is third or fourth podcast excluding his own
that he's had to go to to talk about these
specific topics.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
And my big thing is.

Speaker 4 (49:08):
Le Bron was right in front of you. You have
to just need time to think of this. But it
sounded like y'all had a real short, quick exchange. Now
you're going around, we're hearing all these extras, but you
feel what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
But okay, it was on the wrong tap. All right, Yeah,
finish your thought and then I'll play somebody.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
But yeah, it's just like, we don't care if you
don't like him, Bro, we don't care you know that
you think he's this that the third We don't care
that you think he's fake. We think you're fake Steven though. Hey, sorry,
we think you're fake stephen A. We see you go
out there and pander to the audience. We see you
put down good brothers to boost your own name and

(49:48):
your platform. But then you sit there and say, but
I got no problem with these guys. I got no problem,
you know, like we see you play both sides all
the time. But because it's Lebron James, he's supposed to be,
you know, more morally sound than you. I guess, because
what's the standard. Your hell to Steven? They you you
can't stop gossiping about this, this conversation about what you

(50:08):
were going to do, and this that the third you
saying it, that man it put his hands on me.
I would have slapped it. Come on you talking about
all this stuff. You would have should have, could have did.
But when the man was in your face, your knees buckled,
in the back of your head was shiny.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Bro, that's all that it was. And you ain't had
none the same response.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
You weren't.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
You swear you weren't gonna address it. You talk about it.
It was all scripted. Look at the camera angles like, Bro,
you're you're spinning excuses. You talk about all these people.
So and so got my number, Kyrie got my number,
they could call me. They got something to say, come
talk to me. Bro pulled up on you in his
place of work to come talk to you. And you
ain't had none to say, bro, So like I can't

(50:47):
take nothing you're doing at this point. Seriously, now let's
flip the page. Carmelo Anthony, I'm a little disappointed about
he knew what he come on, everybody know what Steven
name was gonna come on this show and do. And
when that's your homie that's supposed to be your brother,
y'all talk about how close y'all are you bringing the
ops in to talk bad on your man's and you're
not going to, like, come on, you can't let that happen.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
You just can't.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
And it is what it is, you know, Like I said,
I'm not here to sit here and act like I'm
the most ethical dude. I'm the most moral dude. I'm
holier than now. I'm the King of righteousness. Like I'm
not gonna sit here and say that. But again, and
that's really your homie and you just doing it for
the bag, like that's shameful. And again, Bron be switching
up on people too, So I get it, but like,
two wrongs don't make it right, Bro, It ain't none
that I never see Bron switch up on Melo. I

(51:30):
never seen him switch up on his partner partners. Maybe
you can say Drake, but I mean, Bro, like the
song dog, what you want to do?

Speaker 3 (51:37):
So this to me, I'm a.

Speaker 4 (51:39):
Little disappointed in Melo because, like, Bro, you know what
he's gonna come do. You allowed him to do it
on your platform talk about one of your closest friends,
and that's crazy. Like again, our homie Jody was talking
in the group chat and he was like, Lebron, have
ever let somebody come on his shop on the show
or sorry, his show the shop and talk bad about Carmelo.
He wouldn't let that happen. It's like, Nah, you don't

(52:01):
kick him, man, when he's down, you don't. You don't
put people on your platform that are gonna bash your people.
Like that's not okay. I don't know, man, I'm a
little disappointed.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Mellow.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
It is what it is.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
You know, hopefully their relationship is still solid beyond this, Lebron,
just get it whatever it may be, you know. But
I thought it was I thought it was kind of lame.
I thought it was it was lame again, stephen A's lame.
You know, it could have been anybody else talking aboud
about Lebron, but he had to have lame Stephen Lame Smith.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
Bro, Nah, I can't do it.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
So I just again, this is another situation where ultimately
I don't care who that Lebron doesn't like stephen A. Hell,
I don't like Stephen A. So I sympathize with everything
he should have socked dude. You know, had he not
been he not been a professional athlete, you should have
put him been in a rear naked choke, you know,
right there on the on the hardwood.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
But he let him, He let him slide because you
know he's a professional.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
It's in this place of business, and you know there's
tens of thousands of people in that arena.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
So I just don't care about this enough to it
is what it is.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
Shout out Stephen A for continuing to milk this story.
But he's got to let it go. He's got to
move on. But you know, honestly, you talked about his
political career. He's gonna grift to that specific side of
the political spectrum.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
They hate Lebron too, So he's doing He's gonna give
himself a lot of fans.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
He's laying the seed work. He's laying the groundwork. Bro.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
When they start to do their actual Carfax on Steven A.
Smith and they search him besides what they've already knew,
and he was the screaming black man on ESPN, and
then they started looking at what his actual opinions were.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
They'll see how he's.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
Buddy buddies with Sean Hannity, right, They'll see how his
comments about Lebron is in line with how they think
about Lebron. And then boom, you have given him enough
credibility that goes you know what.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
I like what he had to do, and I like
who he hangs out with.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
I think he'd be perfect for an actual political office
as a sports commentators. I see it, I see it
over the horizon. It's all good if y'all think this
is reaching, this is all, you know, just caping for Lebron.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Man, when he drops that part, and he's already said, man,
he feels compelled to run because there are no Democrats
that are stepping up to the place. Yep, yep, we
got it, we got it, we get it. Man, You're
gonna be the shell for whatever the opposition is. And
you know, wink wing handshakes back door. Oh my god,
I lost well, I tried. There was no one else
that would come and do it, got you, Steven Nisman,

(54:14):
it's all good.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Brother.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
Enjoyed that Disney money and that upcoming Fox money and
whatever other money comes with the blood of you know, morality.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
On top of it.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
So again, stop saying shit about people's kids. Yeah, he's
an NBA player. Stop begging somebody as a father to
do anything unless you're ready for there to be smoke.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
That's pretty much the gist of it.

Speaker 4 (54:37):
Yeah, I think it's pretty straightforward. Again, but you make
a great point, man, Stephen. They sees his timeline declining.
He's watching his Lebron. Lee's what nobody cares to hear
Steven anymore. He sees his cash Cole getting ready.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
We ain't gonna give him.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
So he's preparing himself, like you said, for what's next,
because he knows he can only run this for so
much longer. He's tied to Lebron, So as long as
Lebron's name is relevant, he can stay right because he
just got to pope that bear here and there to
make them a couple of coins, get them clicks, and
that's what it is. But he knows once that cast
Cole decides to retire he's gonna be looking around like, damn,
they're not gonna on me in sports media no more.

(55:11):
So where's it gonna go? He's grifting on and over
to politics. So good for Stephen A Man. Shameless God damn,
But you know, I guess you can't hate on the money, bro,
But hey, what good is the money if you sold
your soul?

Speaker 1 (55:23):
I know, guess we'll find out the next life. Oh
any event, man, Yeah, Steven A.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Smith's tripp and Lebron has all the time in the
world right now to respond. But as a consummate professional,
you're not gonna hear a response. For Lebron, you're not
gonna hear a reply. There's a reason why Steven A.
Smith was the only person that Lebron James confronted in
person in public. That's not his book of business, that's
not his ministry. It's never bad, but when you start

(55:51):
begging someone as a father, that.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
Is a very very very very touchy section.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
To open up with some one in a public space
that you are not close with, you gotta take what
comes with that, brother. But the Los Angeles Lakers twenty
twenty five twenty twenty six NBA season starts tonight, the.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Luke Show is begun. It is here, damn it, Kwame.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
I'm ready for domin Aten, I'm ready for hill Billy Kobe.
I'm ready for Gabe Vincent Schamar Moore starting lineup.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
I'm here for it all, brother.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
I'm here for whenever the hell they say Marcus Smart
as one hundred percent healthy in the middle of December.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
I'm here to get him back.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
I'm here for the Lakers fans four games in to
question why the hell we even brought Jake Laavia.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
On the roster. I'm here from that.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
I'm here for Jared Vanderbilt hitting his first two threes
of the season and missing the next eighteen. I'm here
for it all, brother, because it all means one thing,
and that's basketball.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
That's back.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
The NBA season is back.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
The greatest sport on this planet has returned, and we
couldn't be so excited about it, man, Kwame, any last
words for the people as we send them off into
Game one against the Golden State Warriors.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
It's gonna be a great day, man. Basketball is back.
The games count. Lucas here, Austin's here, Dominating's here. Like
you said, Bro, I'm excited It's going to be fun.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Man.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
I hope we start off the season with a yeah again.
Let's start a new age. We don't need to lose
these opening night games. We gotta come out flat. This
is the Luca Ara man, this is a fresh turn
of the page. Let's start it off big. Let's get
ourselves a w Let's start the season on the right footnight.
I'm so excited. The Lakers basketball back is going to
be a hell of a season.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Yes her, y'all enjoy the game, Get you something right,
roll you up some nice, put some next to you
that you'd like to hold on to. We'll see y'all
after Game one. For Kwame, it's Ricky leya Lake Show.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
We out first, very wealth one puck in like ways,
I could walk f way treas

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Opening Night Without The King | LeBron Out, Luka Leads & LeDrama Monday