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Lakers' Risky Summer, Will It Pay Off?

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The Lakers took a number of risks this summer; Trevor Lane takes a look at them and discusses whether they will pay off. Plus, Cameron Carr is out on the practice floor and the Kawhi era comes to an end for a Clippers team that wanted to take down the Lakers... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Lakers' Risky Summer, Will It Pay Off?

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Lakers Nation PodcastLakers' Risky Summer, Will It Pay Off?. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

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Every game day you show up for your team now it's your time. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie some magla tied injection 2.4 milligrams a G.O.P. 1 call 1 8 3 3 4 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? That's the sound of Lego Pikachu training for battle. That's the sound of Lego Pikachu enjoying a post training snack. And that's a reminder to not let Lego Pokemon in the recording studio. Lego Smart Brick brings Lego Pokemon Play to life. Lego Pokemon with Smart Play. You're the trainer now. The best menu hack for cheese lovers? One you don't even have to make.

Introducing Applebee's new OM-Cheese a Dia burger. Your favorite juicy beef burger meets an irresistibly cheesy quesadilla served with tortilla chips on a sizzling skillet of even more cheese. And for a limited time only it's on Applebee's 2 for 25 menu. We dare you to resist the pull of this triple threat of cheesiness. A full-sized appetizer and two entrees including the OM-Cheese a Dia burger for just 25 bucks. That's even good in the neighborhood. Hello, Lakers Nation. Welcome and the Lakers Nation dot com live podcast. I'm Trevor Lane. Happy to have you all here on a Monday night. Hopefully you enjoyed a little bit of Monday night football tonight. What a weekend in the NFL to kick things off. Not great. Obviously in terms of the Rams and the way that all went down but an exciting weekend to kick things off the NFL. But we're also right now. So today we are three weeks away from the Lakers being back on the basketball court and playing games. Now it may be preseason but everybody don't don't even start

with me. Don't even start with me. I don't care that it's preseason. I will take it. We are 21 days to the Lakers are on the basketball court. I am starved for Lakers basketball. The NFL season getting fully in swing. It's only making me miss basketball that much more. The countdown it is on everybody. Shout out to Michael Cooper 21 days to the Lakers are playing a preseason game. I can't wait to be back in action doing a little play by play doing all of that 21 days to the Lakers are back out there on the floor really excited to see this team come together and see them get start putting the pieces together on the floor. Start seeing how JJ Redic is envisioning this team really working out. Of course, we're just a couple weeks away as well from media day and all of that. So it's not here just yet but boy, we are right on the cusp of basketball being back.

All right, everybody, we got a lot to get into tonight. I'll be here for the next hour or so talking hoops got plenty to get into. Let's go here to start though. A Cameron car siding. I've seen this going around on on social media. Lakers fans get a little nervous because we hadn't seen Cameron car or instead of Cameron car, I call him Carmen San Diego Cameron San Diego, I guess if you're old enough like me, you know what I'm referencing. Where in the world is Cameron San Diego. Cameron car on the Lakers official account. A lot of people have been talking about wait, why are we not seeing anything? Nothing on the Lakers account. No workouts. Nothing like that. We're seeing nothing. A Cameron car from the Lakers. What's going on? Of course, remember, he didn't make the trip to Slovenia because he was had to go to rookie orientation for the NBA. So unfortunately, he was the one Laker

who did not make the trip. And today, the Lakers put out this image of Cameron car getting some work in on the floor. So sigh of relief. Sigh of relief Lakers fans. Nothing is going on here. Cameron car alive and well. Everything good. Doing the work in. You know, this topic, though, got me thinking about the Lakers and how important the development of Cameron car really is for this team. And if you go back and you look at what the Lakers have done in the draft recently, think about the NBA right now. The big picture concept of this NBA that we're in, this world that we're in right now, the draft has become overpowered. That's what the ultimate, maybe not the goal of the changes that we've seen under the collective bargaining agreement that we have right now. But certainly, the result, one of the consequences of the current CBA is that

of the three methods of roster building, trades free agency, the draft, the draft has become the most powerful of the three. Arguably, trades might be there free agency, the least powerful of the three right now. I don't think there's any question about that because most of the top talent never hits free agency anymore because more players are signing extensions. We also look at how important it is under the apron system for teams to have cheap cost control contracts on their books. And that only increases the value of young players. I also think we're seeing more young players coming into the NBA that are ready to contribute at least at a role player level. From the get go, you had all of that up and it's incredibly important that you have young players on rookie contracts that have a measure of team control. So even if it doesn't work out, you can move on from them as I'm expecting the Lakers to do with Dalton Connect. We'll talk more about him. I'm sure later on in the show, but it's becoming more and more important for teams to have these young players on the roster that are contributing to winning basketball. So what we see right here

is a Lakers roster that very badly needs camera car and a dude, you're out to hit. It's sobering, but if you look at the Lakers drafts, you got to go back, you got to go back all the way to Max Christie to find the last time they drafted a player that's a rotation player. It's been a while and Max Christie got traded. You look at every rotation player as we go down the list of Lakers draft picks. Every player who actually panned out is not a Laker. They panned out somewhere else because the Lakers moved on from them and that doesn't mean that it's all bad. Lonzo ball. Okay, he got put in the Anthony Davis trader. Am I going to complain about that? Hell no. When the Lakers of championship, Max Christie got put in the Luca trainer. You kidding? I would have loved to see Max Christie stay, but come on, you're doing that trade 10 times out of 10. No question. Right. But that said, it's been quite a while since the Lakers have been able to take advantage

of a rookie contract. Thank God, the Lakers found Austin Reeves undrafted. That I think was able to bolster things quite a bit after we either saw misses like Jalen or Jaffino, Dalton. Can I come on, Dalton bounce back? Bounce back this year. I want to see Dalton get back into form. Or simply picked traded away. So what that means is that players like Cameron Carr are going to be all the more important for this Lakers team moving forward simply because of scarcity. Right. The Lakers, you've got to have young players on these cheap cost control contracts. Look, why are the spurs not sweating it that they're overpaying deer and fox? Are they overpaying them? Absolutely. They're overpaying him. He's a terrible contract right now. He's a bad contract. The moment they signed it, do they care? No. Why don't they care yet? They might care in a few years. Why don't they care right now? Because they've got Wembee on a cheap contract. Because they've

got Steph Castle on a cheap contract because they've got Dylan Harper on a cheap contract. You hit on these rookies like draft on a quarterback in the NFL. And he's on a rookie contract that it turns out he's ready to go in year two. That is such an advantage in today's NBA when you can get a player that produces above their pay grade changes things for your whole team. So for the Lakers, Cameron Carr, we can talk about whether or not they should have drafted him. But this camera car siding, he is incredibly important to this team moving forward. His skill set is one that naturally will fit in to an NBA roster. But the Lakers need him to hit and be a rotation player. They took some risks in the signings they made this summer. We're going to talk about those tonight. They took some risks in the moves they made this summer. They need Cameron Carr to pan out and a do-thera. Don't leave him out in all of this. A do-thera as well. They need these guys to pan out to help bolster everything with some cheap cost control players that I think can be

rotation level talent for this club. All right. We've got a lot to get into here. I'll be taking your questions and comments. All of that as well tonight. So if you guys have stuff you want to throw in, but I mean, they want to talk about the risk and reward for the Lakers right now. I also want to get into and what things are looking like with this team. Dan Boyke, a great piece for the athletic talking about the chances that the Lakers took this summer. And I want to take a look at some of that. I also want to mention though, we should talk about this. The Clippers. Their trade for Kawaii Leonard has now happened. And do I want to spend a lot of time talking about the Clippers specifically? No. I've done plenty of that over the basketball ball. I didn't even guys haven't checked that out. Please make sure that you do. But from the Lakers perspective, it ain't sad. I'll tell you that. It ain't sad. I think it's

objectively hilarious that the Clippers were considering fighting the punishment when the punishment really wasn't as bad as it could have been. The NBA could have avoided Kawaii's contract. And that would have removed him as an asset for the Clippers. Dad, they managed to trade Kawaii, traded him for two first round picks, two second round picks, a pick swap, a old friend, Brandon Ingram, and Grady Dick. That's what they got. That was the fruit that came from the Kawaii Leonard trade. That's what the tree bore. Whatever tree it was, we know Kawaii didn't plant it. But this is what they were able to get. Because the NBA didn't void Kawaii's contract. I don't think the Clippers had any reason to complain about the punishment. They got caught cheating. That's the bottom line. And they could point and look and say, oh, but other people might do it too. And all that. Look, they got caught. They got caught cheating. When you look at

the evidence, pretty brazen, pretty brazen of them to the point where you look back at like that Steve Bomber interview with ESPN a year ago with Ronish Elburn, where he's saying, I don't know. I don't know what happened. They, they scammed me. They scammed me. Oh, we did introduce them. I don't know. It all looks pretty absurd. It all looks pretty performative. All I got to say about that whole situation is it shows what really shines through with all of it. It's how damn desperate the Clippers were to try to catch up to the Lakers. This is this inferiority complex. What do they think? You're going to come into LA and take LA away from the Lakers. No, the Lakers are generational. You're not going to compete against that. You're not going to take that away. Maybe if the Lakers just burned to the ground and were like that for decades, but here's the thing. I'm a Lakers fan. My dad was a Lakers fan, right? I'm a Lakers fan because I grew up in the area. It's a generational thing, right? I'm not unique at all in that. A lot of Lakers fans are Lakers fans

because multi generations of their family have been like, they're not going to take that away by coming in with a shiny new arena and putting up some damn billboards. That's not going to change that. And so from a Lakers perspective, I see this stuff that's going on with the Clippers. I see them getting caught cheating. I see this desperation they had to catch up to the Lakers. This fear that, oh my God, if we don't give in, we don't give Uncle Dennis what he wants. We don't give Kauai all the things that he wants. He's going to go to the Lakers and then we're going to have to watch him play for the Lakers year in and year out. We better not let that happen. This desperation from the Clippers. All you can do is laugh that this is now where we're at, that this is where the path has led them to. To me, it was foolish of them to ever think that they were going to come into LA and they were going to sway Los Angeles to the Clippers. There wasn't going to happen. Stay in your lane. You can come carve out whatever market you want. You can go and try to get the

out of town fans, those fans who were moving to Los Angeles. You know, I'm talking about the fans who come into LA who have been fans of other teams throughout their lives and those teams have hated the Lakers. So they come to LA and oh, oh, can't be a Lakers fan. All right, I guess I'm going to be a Clippers fan. That's that's where a lot of Clippers fans are born. That's where Clippers fans are ultimately created. You also see those that just love being contrarians. Those people will become Clippers fans and that's fine. That's fine. But don't go taking these swings at the Lakers. That is the path to ruin. That's exactly what the Clippers ultimately led down. They were so desperate to catch up to the Lakers and to carve into the Lakers market and think that they were going to come take Los Angeles away from the Lakers that it ultimately led to them breaking the rules. And they got caught for it. They got caught. They're going to pay dearly. Five first drum picks are

gone. It could have been worse. But the NBA thought made it incredibly smart move. As much as I hate it because let's face, I think Kawaii Leonard deserves some of the punishment in all of this. Kawaii Leonard does not deserve to get a $700,000 slap on the wrist. Kawaii Leonard doesn't deserve to take $50 million whatever it ended up being and then skate on by to Toronto. But the NBA was able to zig where the Clippers were zagging. Take Kawaii off the board. That took arbitration off the board for the Clippers and put Steve Bomber in a no-win situation. I wonder if he still feels like he got scammed only this time by the NBA. They scam me. They scam me. I don't know. Next thing a new Kawaii was making a deal with the NBA. I got scammed. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. But the Clippers, they thought that they were going to come take down the Lakers. And in the end, Kawaii Leonard is now right back where he was. He's in Toronto and the Kawaii era, the Kawaii Paul

George era. What's it's most remembered for blowing a three one series lead in 2020? That's what it's most remembered for. It's most remembered for guys sitting on the sidelines in street clothes. It's most remembered for never living up to the potential for all the bravado, all the shouting, all the standing on top of tables like Patrick Beverly and saying the next the next few years are mine. It was all for nothing wound up being a giant face plan. On one hand, you it you admire Steve Bomber the bravado to say I'm going to come in and I'm going to challenge the Lakers. But you can't help but laugh just a little bit at what it ultimately brought them. All right, everybody. We're going to get into the risk the Lakers are taking this off season. Certainly does not mean the Lakers have done everything perfectly. There are a lot of things that we need to get into about what the Lakers have done this summer. Some of the risks they've

taken some of the potential rewards that could become in their way. Before I get to that first, let me give a quick shout out to our sponsor. That is price fix. Let's take a look at this here. Price fix use the link in the description down below the code. It's HMA play five dollars get a hundred and fifty dollars in your lineups. If you win, super easy to play. I got to do expect more or less than some of your favorite players. If you watched the games this past weekend, you probably feel real good about Jameer Gibbs and Derek Henry, the ageless one, finding the end zone. Jameer Gibbs, Derek Henry, I've got both those guys getting into the end zone, getting a touchdown. You guys want to get in on it. Use the link in the description down below the code. It's HMA for new users play five dollars get a hundred and fifty dollars in your lineups. If you win, go check them out. All right. We're going to talk a little risk reward. I'm going to get some of your questions first. Let's talk about what the risks and the

rewards the Lakers have had. Is Cam Whitmore in the Lakers plan? Richard asks in the chat and going by no, actually, it sounds like Denver is going after Cam Whitmore. That's a markstime just had that about an hour ago to keep an eye on Denver as the landing spot for them. JD said, what do you think of our new stacked front office with Eric Amseler ahead of player personnel and Rohan Ramadaz ahead of analytics as the two assistant GM? So here's the thing. I'm not going to call it stacked at this point because we don't know. We don't know. Let's see them make some moves first. Honestly, a part of me is it's taken. This could work out very well. These two could be two very bright guys. Guys that could really help. The heat certainly identified a lot of talent, right? But, but I've got a little bit of concern because what's happened every

time the Lakers have taken a player from the Miami Heat? What's happened? New well dang. Whoops. Kendrick not. Whoops. Game Vincent. Whoops. It's not gone well. Does that trend continue now with Amseler? Or does this break the curse? Now you've got the decision maker coming in or at least one of them coming in and identifying talent for the Lakers. Now it's going to work out with the Lakers. Am I a little superstitious there? Yeah, probably a little bit. But history has said when somebody leaves the heat and comes to the Lakers, it doesn't work out. So I'm not counting my chickens for they've hatched. And Rohan Ramadaz, look, I said it a bunch. Guys, a literal rocket scientist. But it's coming from the Pelicans. Is anybody looking at the Pelicans right now and saying, man, that they've got it figured out. No, everybody's looking at the Pelicans saying, what the hell is wrong with these guys? What is this team do it? Why do they think they're good? Why does this team

who's been terrible for years act like their players are so insanely valuable like they're this incredible, just juggernaut winning team. And you're going to have to bowl them over with an offer in order to get any of these players. The rest of the NBA is looking to the Pelicans and thinking, what is this team doing? What's the point? So I'm not going to assume that the Lakers have a stacked front office here. Now again, these are very bright guys. And it's going to depend on how the Lakers integrate them into their front office. But I'm not going to just jump to the conclusion that this is a stacked front office so that the Lakers are bringing in guys who have led to this just years and years and years of unmitigated success with the teams that they've been in. Now, I like conceptually build out the front office. Absolutely. The Lakers have been acting like a mom and pop shop for way too long. And here they are adding more basketball minds in the mix, adding more opinions into the room by no means in that I try to be doom and gloom. I'm not trying to be a rain cloud here on any of this. I'm just saying, let's see the proof before we call them a stacked front office

here. But in terms of building out things, I love it. I love that they're adding to the front office. I love that now we're bringing in outside voices. I think that's a very important thing. I think for too long, it's been very insulated in terms of people that are actually in the room and having these conversations. So I like that now you've got more voices coming in. I think bringing smart basketball people into the room is a very important thing. And hopefully we will see that payoff with the Lakers decision making. But we won't know for probably a few seasons at least what kind of an impact this has made. Now, we can keep an eye on some of the decisions the Lakers are making. Are they changing up the way things are operating or not? But again, I'm not going to assume that they are I hope this turns out that it is a truly stacked front office. But I'm not going to go there just yet. Let's see what these guys do. Let's see what kind of talent the Lakers identify in the draft in free agency in their trades. Let's see what Amsler can do. Let's see what Rohan Ramadas can bring to the table and how the Lakers organizationally swells on the court sort of shift as time

goes by. Non Lakers question who's representing the Clippers for board of governors meeting if Bomber is suspended. I would like Derek Jones Jr. problem who's running the the front office for the Clippers. Yeah. Gosh, the name is escaping me right now. But there was I'm Stein had it. Let me dig real quick. Stein had the person who actually made the call in order to submit the co-witrade and and get that done. Let me double check real quick. And that deal getting done. Let's see. It was I don't see it as the first class, but he does have it. I forget the name of the person who was now in charge there. But the Clippers did have to sort of figure that out. They had to figure out

who it was that ultimately would be in charge there and was going to be able to get that get that thought. In fact, right now they haven't announced who will be if anybody at the board of governors meeting. Ah, here we go. But Clippers General Manager Trent Redden connected by phone Monday in order to get the trade done. So that's who is if the Lakers were to call about Derek Jones Jr. That's who they'd be talking with. That's who they'd be they'd be talking with trying to get any kind of a deal done. Here it is. As far as who will represent them if anyone at the board of governors meeting, that's still a mystery. And we'll see. Well, I'm sure that's information we will get soon. Yeah, people keep saying, well, Dennis Wong will represent them, but that's a question as well. Because he was involved like remember, he gave money to aspiration too. So is he mixed into all of this? Is he allowed to represent the team? I don't know. We'll see. I think

someone will represent them there. Who it is. We'll wait and see. As far as I would like the Clippers to get Derek Jones Jr. That piece of that are the Lakers to get Derek Jones Jr. I would too. I would too. I think and I've talked about this a bit. The Lakers, they've got three moves to make. I think if Derek Jones Jr. is not acquired by the Lakers and let's say the Clippers just say, you know what, we're not going to trade with the Lakers. Wouldn't surprise me. If not, I think Derek Jones Jr. is on the list of players that we're going to be keeping an eye on next summer as a target with the Lakers mid-level exception, either all of it or part of it. Derek Jones Jr. is one of those guys that will be on this list. That's what the Lakers have remaining. Trades this year, the mid-level next summer, the Biannual exception next summer. And those are how you're going to put the final pieces onto this roster. Now, if you don't

structure things properly on the trade front, your opportunity cost could be the Biannual. Could be the mid-level if you take back too much salary, depending on how you structure the trade. But this is what the Lakers have left. Derek Jones Jr. I would assume, if he's healthy, next summer will be on the list of players the Lakers will consider, especially given his history playing with Luca. If the Lakers can get him now, great. If they can find a way to get him now fantastic, as long as you're not giving up too much, and as long as it's not going to cost you the mid-level exception of the Biannual, if you can get Derek Jones Jr. and then still have money to go spend next summer, brilliant. That'd be great. That's what you're looking for. Okay, let's talk a little bit about risk and reward and what the Lakers have done. This season, Dan Wickey had a great piece for the athletic where he basically ranked

all of the Lakers editions this summer, in terms of, or the moves this summer, in terms of how much risk you were bringing in by adding this player. I like the way that he thought about this, because one of the things we need to keep in mind is that while the offseason is full of fun and excitement, and right now, here we are weeks away, I am so excited for media day, for training camp, for pre-season, let's go. I am here for it. I can't wait for Lakers basketball to get back out on the floor. I'm not unique in that. There's a lot of fans of a lot of teams around the NBA that are so excited, and everybody's talking themselves into the moves they made working. Right now, every single player, every single team, we've got the same record, they got the same shooting percentages, same defense, same offense, everything. Everybody's zero and zero. And what tends to happen is

we look at rosters and we assume that everything will work out, because we don't want to be negative at our own teams. Right? But the reality is that that's not the way it always goes. A guy has a poor shooting season, what you thought a player was going to be able to do, he doesn't do. That's that tends to happen, right? For at least a few players. And so when we look at the Lakers roster, I've already had people telling me like, oh my gosh, the Lakers, they have so much more depth this year. Yeah, they do have depth, but there will be players that won't ultimately pay an out. Remember last summer when Maxi Kleber was dunking in an empty gym, and it was, oh, Maxi can be part of the center rotation now. Then he was barely a factor for the Lakers over the course of the season. Sometimes optimism that we have in the summer, doesn't necessarily translate once the players get on the floor and they start playing. So when we look at the Lakers roster right now, you can say, man, okay, JJ may have some difficult decisions to make in terms of who's going to go in in the line up.

I've got people telling me Dalton Connect is going to bounce back next this year. I hope they're right, but I'm not holding my breath. I've got I've got Lakers fans that are saying, well, Zeyer Williams is going to start. Maybe, but we need to see it out there on the court. So I think it's important that we understand the downside risk with some of these players and we keep in mind what the Lakers have ultimately done. Contractually, they have taken a lot of risks. Zeyer Williams, I love that he's the low risk guy on this list. I loved that the Lakers, you guys know, if you were here when the news came out, I love that the Lakers finish off the roster. Zeyer Williams and Matisse Thibal. I thought that was phenomenal by Rob play. That doesn't mean those are going to work. There's no guarantee that it's going to work, but those are low risk moves. And your upside is you added a, especially in the case of Matisse Thibal, top flight defensive player, which is this team badly needed. On a future show, I'm going to dig into the Lakers defense

and take a look at how good they can actually be. But when you look at the risk factor of Matisse Thibal and Zeyer Williams, it's minimal. In fact, the only thing that I would change about those deals if there was any way to do it is to make them more than one year because these are minimum deals. If you could add some team control or something like that, if these guys hit, there's a chance they walk away down the Lakers should be able to use the mid level to hang onto them if they want to stay, but they'll be free agents. But those are low risk moves to Lakers maintenance. So I love that they made a lot of big swing, very risky decisions this summer. But if you're going to have some low risk moves at the end of your roster, make them on things that your team really needs. And that's what they did in getting Zeyer Williams and Matisse Thibal. And so you've got guys who are, especially in the cases Zeyer, young, very cheap contract. You need guys like this. Cameron Carr, I already spent a lot

of time in the show talking about him. Cameron Carr, low risk. Now, not low risk in that a draft pick tends to hit. The draft is very much filled with uncertainty. But Cameron Carr reminds me of Max Christie and he reminds me of Max Christie in this way, not completely identical as a player. But Cameron Carr reminds you of Max Christie in that if Cameron Carr comes anywhere close to hitting and I just mean he is an NBA quality player. There's not going to be any questions about fit. He fits in the NBA. No problem. He can shoot. He can make decisions on the offensive end, score from three levels. Athletic, superlanky. There's questions about a defense. But he's a very clear fit skill said wise. Think back to like Taylor and Horton Tucker.

If he hit, if his skill level was NBA level, there were still question marks about how does he fit skill level wise. He might get there, but then it's a question of does he actually fit? I think back to Jolilo Kaffir. So, a talented player didn't fit in the NBA. Did you wind up having a long career? No. Fit matters a lot. Cameron Carr, as long as he is NBA caliber, easy. He'll be in the NBA a long, long time. Max Christie is the same way. Skill set fits. Skill set, no problem. Right? We'll fit in the NBA as long as he is NBA caliber. You don't worry about the fit with him. So, Cameron Carr, very, very low risk move because all you got to do is get him to NBA level. You get him to NBA level and he's healthy. Boom. You got an NBA. You don't have to worry about fit or anything like that. He's the exact kind of player that so many NBA teams are after. And he's a big part of why I referenced this all the time. We talk about who is the fit starter for the Lakers,

not this year, but long term. It might just be Cameron Carr. Might just be Cameron Carr, long term. But let's talk a little bit about some of these other risks though. Colin Sexton, game and two year deal. There's a lot. I like Colin Sexton. I like Colin Sexton as a player. If you watch the front-off for show, Keith Smith and I were talking about him for a long time about how he scores in an efficient way that doesn't get enough credit. His ability to shoot the three very efficiently. His ability to live in the paint doesn't get enough credit for that. I like Colin Sexton a lot. But there's a gamble here. And he's got a history with Walker Kessler. But the risk is defensively. Can you have him on the floor? Can you have him on the floor with Luca? Can you have him on the floor with Austin Reeves? What's that ultimately going to look like? It's only a two year deal, but he's got a player option on it. Not a team option. That means if he

hits this year, he could opt out. And now you either lose him or you've got to pay more to get him to do the same stuff that he did this year. And if he doesn't hit, if it just doesn't work at all, he opts in. And now you've got his contracts sitting on your books again next year. Player options are top. So there is risk here with this. The reward? It's there. I think there's a world where he gives you that scoring punch off the bench that the Lakers lacked last season. But there is risk here with Colin Sexton. Does he fit? We'll see. Come on, loony. Matisse Thible. These are one year deals. Boyke was talking a little bit about these guys. The risk with, I'm not worried about the Matisse Thible fit because if Matisse gets hurt, the risk is okay. You've lost an important defensive piece. But he's on a minimum salary. Come on, loony. He's right now the only backup big on the roster.

Unless we're looking at Sandra Mammu, Gileshvili as the backup five. And maybe that's ultimately where we're going with this. So it's a risk if you are committing the backup center spot to come on, loony. He played what like 21 games last year. I don't know that you could trust that he's going to be that. That he's going to be the every night backup five. I don't think it's smart to go into the season with him penciled into that role. I'd rather see another big brought in. Then a guy that played 21 games, he's six foot nine. I like him. I like his game. But it's a big risk if he is your only center on the roster and your starter, who is the biggest risk of the summer, only played in five games last year. So kevon loony is a risk in that way. Now if he sets mean screens, rebounds the basketball,

the reward could certainly pay off. And the risk also is fairly minimal in that he's such a small contract. But there is a chance that the Lakers that doesn't pan out and then wind up regretting that. When we get into Quentin Grimes, Mammu, these are the guys where if the downside hits instead of the upside, these are long term contracts. And what we've seen from the Jair Vanderbilt situation is that these contracts are very difficult to move if the player is not hitting. Now I think it's far more likely that Quentin Grimes hits that Mammu hits over Vando, who has a clear deficiency in something. Mammu is not a great rebender, but he's not a bad defender either. Quentin Grimes, isn't a great three point shooter. He is good as a catch and shoot. Too many pull up threes from him. But he's a guy who I think is a very high quality NBA player.

Will he be worth four years 60 million? Will Mammu be worth four years 52 million? That's the risk. We know both these guys are NBA players. We know both these guys can help a team win. The risk with them is the Lakers are going to be asking them. At least we believe in the case of Quentin Grimes, maybe in Mammu as well, to be starters. They're going to ask these guys to scale up these guys that have been off the bench for the majority of their careers and ask them to start and start on a team with expectations to win. And you gave them long term contracts. If they are proven to be what they've been prior to this and that's bench players, that doesn't mean they don't belong in the NBA. But those are guys that aren't worth the contracts that they were given. The contracts they were given say at the very least they need to be able to be spot starters for teams. That's really what you need. So there is risk here with those

and the risk really is the length of those deals. I'm excited to see Quentin Grimes out there with Luca. I'm excited to see Quentin Grimes back in a point of attack rule. He hasn't been in a point of attack rule in years. I'm excited to see the work rate. I'm excited to see how much bounce he's got. Quentin Grimes is explosive getting to the basket. I think he's going to do a lot of things very well. I think there's risk though if you're treating him as your point of attack as well as potentially a wing offensively when he's six five. There's a world where that doesn't pay it out. It's a risky thing the Lakers are doing here. JJ Redick knows them well. Same thing with Mammu. Mammu will respect it around the NBA. But can he be that type of every night performer that the salary says he will be. Definitely a risk. The Lakers are taking the big risk that they're taking this summer though. The biggest ones. Austin Reeves and Walker Kessler. Your second and

third highest paid players. Look, if Austin Reeves plays the way they did at the start of the last season, he's going to be more than fine. If he can play the way he did at the start of the last season, he's going to be fine. Can he stay healthy? Can he play in 65 plus games? If not, the long term contract they gave him won't look great. That's the risk they were taking out. You also couldn't lose him and wants to Troy showed up with a big offer. The Lakers fell in client who give Austin the deal that they gave him. Again, Austin's worth that money as long as he stays on the floor. If he could play the way he did towards the beginning of the last season, he was amazing. He was one of the better players in the NBA. I think he was on pace to be an all-star. If that happens, we're going to be very happy

with the deal that he got. But it's a question. Can he bear that burden? Night and night out. Walker Kessler, only played five games last year. Has not played for a winning team in his entire NBA career. Has done it. Can be a great rim protector, but the Lakers gave up a lot. Two second-round picks, two first-round picks, unprotected to get Walker Kessler. They weren't able to send out any salary. We talked about winning on the margins. Imagine if the Lakers had been able to attach a contract to go back to Utah in the Walker Kessler sign-and-trade. That could have significantly shifted things. Even if it was just sending out Dalton Connect and some pieces or something, that may have been the difference between keeping Jackson Hayes or not. But the Lakers ultimately said we got to get it done. It's a risk, but you're adding potentially the long-term center of the future. One of the things I think is fascinating about this

Lakers season that we have coming up is that there's so much unknown. Will Austin Reaves be worth this contract long term? Will Walker Kessler be worth this contract long term? Can Quentin Grimes scale up into a starting point of attack role? Can Sandra Mimukuch-Vili be a four? Can he start at the four? Is the defense good enough if you do that? Or is he better suited as a small ball off the bench five? Is that the best role for him? Zaire Williams, Matisse Thible, are these guys enough to shore up your perimeter defense on better minimum salaries? How much can you ask of them? There's a lot of risk wrapped up in what the Lakers did this summer. None of this means that it's all going to go south. In fact, I think this is going to be a very exciting, very entertaining team. I think the offense is going to be phenomenal. I'm really excited to see what this team looks like when it all comes together, but there is a lot of risk wrapped up in what the Lakers have done. I'll tell you what, the Lakers victory lap. If all of these moves hit,

it will be impressive because there's a lot around the league that look at this Lakers team and say, hmm, what is this really going to work out? They're taking a lot of chances here on a lot of players. They're staking their claim. They're saying, we think this guy is the piece we need. And they're doing it with their checkbook for your deal for Quentin Grimes, for your deal for Mamu, for your deal for Walker Kessler gave up what you gave up for your deal for Austin Reves. Player options for all, right? All of that. The Lakers have spoken loudly about what they believe. There's a lot of risk inherent with that. Then we get to find out if they're right or not, starting in just a few weeks. I can't wait. Okay. Let's get into some of your questions, some of your comments. Does A.R's body look ready to you? We're talking about the the image that

was going around today. Here's so Cameron Carr, Colin Sexton, Austin Reves, working out at the facility. What do you think about Austin Reves driving and kicking to Luca? I know usually Luca drives and kicks, but A.R's three has been sketchy. Austin's catching shoot three was really good. This past season, I want to say you was what 39% something like that. I'm talking here. I'll dig it up. So Austin has a catching shoot guy. That was one of the questions we had going into the season. But I thought he answered that question very, very well this past year. And I'll see if I can find it. But he was, he did shoot much better on catching shoots. So Luca driving and kicking to Austin. I don't think there's any problem with that. I don't think Austin driving and kicking to Luca is a problem. I think one of the strengths that the Lakers have now put

under their roster is multiple players that can put teams in the blender that can drive and kick to. So for example, Luca drives kicks to Quentin Grimes. Quentin Grimes can attack close outs. He's going to have the ability to do that as well as get into the paint and then make that read from there. I also think that when we look at what the Lakers do, yeah, Austin was 40% from three on catching shoots last season. So I'm not, I'm not worried about the three being sketchy. I thought that was, I mean, that you can't ask for better 40% from deep on catching shoot phenomenal. You love that. So I'm not worried about Austin driving and kicking to Luca. I'm not worried about Luca driving and kicking to Austin. I think really what I'm most excited about with this Lakers offense is how many players have the ability to drive and kick. Sandra Mimukkali Shvili can do it. Quentin Grimes can do it. Colin Sexton can do it. Austin can do it. Luca can do it. You've got a lot of guys that have the ability to put pressure on the rim, collapse of defense, either make the play when they get into the paint by shooting or kicking out and allowing a teammate to then read

and react from there. So as far as Austin's body, I don't, I don't have a lot to say on that. I don't, he's not like that Alex Caruso picture that was going around the turn out was photoshopped where he looked like he had taken the super soldiers here. I'm years ago. I don't know what kind of work Austin's been doing in the weight room. He is one who doesn't talk much about what he does in terms of his workouts. There are a lot of players who are that way who will just say, oh, you know, I'm working on a little bit of everything just trying to get better everywhere. Rather than say I was working on X, Y or Z, I do hope that he is getting stronger. I think he needs to get stronger. I think that's what's going to help his defense. But we'll see when they get back out of the floor, what he ultimately looks like and if he's able to do that. Two weeks from today is media day. Then Lakers preseason basketball, during contract standoff is going to lead in the media day. I see him taking the qualifying

offer. I think he would be insane to take the qualifying offer. I'm being honest. If I were representing Jayland Duran, I'd be saying, hey, look, we want everybody to think you're crazy enough to take the qualifying offer, but let's be clear, you're not crazy enough to take the qualifying offer. It's nuts. If you're talking about, look, I get it. If you're Jayland Duran, I get it. If you're Jayland Duran, you're looking at this situation and your team, your team that you just made third team all NBA for, you just made the all-star team. I know it wasn't great in the playoffs, but that was one playoffs. It wasn't great in the playoffs, but your team that you just made third team all NBA on is not even willing to go right now to a 25% max. Guess what? You qualified for a 30%. You qualified for a 30% max. Your version of the Supermax because you're on a 25, you're eligible for a 25%. You qualify for a 30. You're not even asking for 30. 25% max and your team's not even willing to go there.

Now, that would be one thing, right? That would be concerning enough for Jayland Duran, but that on top of this, that your team very publicly pursued another player who was not third team all NBA and not an all-star, the Lakers Austin Reaves. Your team very publicly was out there, was pursuing Austin Reaves. Presumably, with that max level offer that caused the Lakers to go up to the full max. So how do you feel if you're Jayland Duran and you've been working your way up, you've been working, you had the number one seed in the East, you were third team all NBA, you were an all-star and your team won't give you the deal that they would give to a player for another team who didn't have those accolades. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason. With SUVs made to move with your rhythm. The versatile equinox tackles your entire day.

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that he should take the qualifying offer is if he is so unhappy with Detroit that he says, I don't want to be a Detroit piston anymore. Like dead set, I don't want to be a piston. Here's your exit. Take the qualifying offer. I love how everybody is pointing to the Sacramento Kings already. Like, oh, the Kings have money next summer. Here's your exit. There's team's next summer that will have spending power. If you don't want to be a Detroit piston that badly, there's your opportunity. If any part of you wants to be a Detroit piston, if any part of you says I can let bygones be bygones, it may be annoying that your teams trying to use restricted free agency against you. It might upset you, but there's no way in how you can do it. You can't take nine and a half million dollars instead of 38 million. You're talking about a 30 million dollar gap. We take a long time to recoup that money. Even if next summer, Sacramento or whoever welcomes

you with open arms and says, here's the 25% max. Maybe by the end of that deal, you recoup the money you would have lost this year. But that completely diminishes. Doesn't factor in. What if you go play this year and you blow your knee out? What if you have an injury? What if you don't have a great season? What if you have an okay season and you struggle in the playoffs? What if that full max offer is not there for you? You don't know what that's going to look like. You've got life changing money on the table right now. He'd be crazy to take the qualifying offer unless he has been so offended by the Detroit Pistons that he says, I don't want to be in Detroit anymore. Okay. Anyway, that was way too much on Jalen Duran. Don't give me a run like for dramas sake just around the immediate kind of hope he takes the qualifying offer. Look, Quinn Grimes did it last year. Quinn Grimes took the qualifying offer from the 76ers and then ultimately became a Laker.

The sake of drama. Yes, take the qualifying offer and then got that becomes an awkward media day. That becomes an awkward entire year in Detroit when it's pretty clear that despite being the team's only starting level big man, you're on the way out. That's disastrous for the Pistons. I just don't think it's smart if you're Jalen Duran. Who are you excited to see for Lakers media day for me? It's Kessler Austin Reeves and Grimes. Yeah, I think Quinn Grimes is probably number one on my list because I'm really curious to find out how he envisions his role both on defense and offense. Does he see himself as a starter? Because I think that is one of the big questions I think over the course of the summer. We have just been automatically slotting him into the starting lineup. Is that the way the Lakers see it as well? Is that a given that he's going to we know Walker, Kessler, Luke, Adon, John, and Reeves. They're going to start right? We know those three guys are starting.

We have been over the course of the summer just slotting Quinn Grimes in as a starter. Is that the way he sees it? Is that the way the Lakers see it? So I think there's the most questions around him. Mammu, what position he's going to play. There's certainly questions there as well. Two degree. I'm excited to see everyone. I'm excited to hear what Arthur Caluma thinks about the way he played in Summer League and getting to the point that he's at now and all of that. Jake Laravia, did he was he able to get the three ball dialed in again? What does that look like? I'm excited for all of it. Excited for all of this. But you know what? I'm really curious to see what Luca thinks. Like that's ultimately what matters most out of all of this. What does Luca think of the roster that's been assembled this summer? We haven't had a chance to find that out yet. So there's a lot. I can't wait for media day to find out all this stuff.

Let's go here. Freedom slash control sends Luca to another year. Example, post trade, Denver game, and March performance this year. In both cases, JJ defined the pecking order prior. It's a great point. There's no. There is no who's the third guy, who's the second guy. None of that. It is very well defined. Very well defined. We know exactly who it is. Luca is the guy. And Austin's the second guy. That's it. From there, who's the third guy? I think who's the third guy on the Lakers will be a rotating player every night. There are some nights where momo is going to be hot from three. There's some nights where it's going to be Quentin Grimes. There's some nights where maybe Cameron Carr steps in and he's ready to go. Maybe a do-thuro gets a great match up and he's throwing down dunks. Maybe Jake Laravia. He

had some big scoring games last year. And it did happen. It's like in October, but it did happen. I think you bring up a good point, though, about the pecking order, at least on the offensive. I think there's a lot of questions about how things are going to run defensively. I think there's a lot more options for JJ Reddick to choose from, both offensively and defensively this season, particularly with Walker Kessler as that anchor big for you now. I'm assuming we're going to see a lot of drop coverage as opposed to the switching that we saw last year. But it's a fair point that there is no question going in what the ultimate pecking order is with this team. That isn't even something that has to be talked about because it's just it's known. It is what it is. Any concern about the lack of dogs on the roster with only one playoff riser in Luca? I think one of the qualities that I liked about Marcus Smart is that he's a guy who not only

expects a certain level defensively from himself, but he expects it from everyone else. It was very noticeable right out of the gate last year that JJ Reddick was relaying a lot of his defensive instructions through Marcus Smart. I think you are going to miss that. You're going to miss that guy being like a coach on the floor. Come on, Looney. I think can be that type of veteran leader for the team, but he's not going to be at least unless something goes wrong. He's not going to be on the floor as much as we're talking about. I think the mental makeup of this team is something we're going to have to keep an eye on. What is the mental makeup? Are they the type of team? We've seen Lakers team. So we've done this. Are they the type of team that gets punched and then cowers in the corner and waits for the game to end? Or are they the team kind of Lakers team that gets punched and then fires back? I'm happy to say I thought last year more often than not, it was the latter. They were the kind of team because everybody's going to come out swinging. Everybody's going to punch you at some point during a game. I thought last year's Lakers team

was largely a team that when they got punched, they would fire back. They would return fire. There were some nights where they just didn't have it. But for the most part, I thought they did a pretty good job firing back. Now, though, you had Marcus Smart, you had LeBron James. Those are veteran players who have been in the fire, who have won championships, who have done all the things in the NBA, done all the stuff, right? LeBron James, championships, MVP, all that. You don't have that now. And so what is the mental makeup of this team? I don't think we can say, well, they are not going to be a mentally tough team. So we see it. We need to see them out there on the floor. We need to see what they ultimately bring. What does that look like? But I think it's something we'll have to keep an eye on. Who is it that has that grit, that toughness to them? Do they have that or not? Could we go for GoGo Bataz Day? Is that even possible? Or

Lando is certainly one of the teams that I'm keeping a real close eye on. I don't think they're good enough to have the salary that they do. So I think that if somebody is going to make a move, or Lando is a team that makes sense, now I don't think they do that now. But if Orlando is still kind of a middle of the pack team, and they've got this roster, now I'm not saying GoGo necessarily drastically changes this, but they've got this roster that is pretty expensive. When you look at how much they're paying, France Wagner, Paula Bancaro, Desbain, Jalen Sugs, who's not available all that often, even window Carter, like these are expensive players that they've got. They're a team that's probably going to want to clear some salary. Now unfortunately, GoGo is an expiring contract, so that doesn't really clear up salary for the future for them. If they were to swap GoGo for say, Dalton Connect or something like, yes, that would clear up a little bit for them. But is it possible for the Lakers to get GoGo Bataz Day?

Yes, logistically, it's not that difficult for them to make that kind of a move, $7.6 million. No problem. Jaden Hardy, $6 million. And then whatever kind of draft capital we're talking, off you go. Now, immediately people will jump through, go go and Luca got into it last year. I try to not put too much stock into that because we've seen, look, Kobe played with Matt Barnes, LeBron played with Lion Stevenson. We've seen it where guys get into it on the court. They get under each other's skin, Pat Bevin, Russ Westbrook, we're on the same team. And then they can coexist on the same club. So I'm not going to just assume that it's a no go simply because GoGo and it's a no GoGo simply because Luca and GoGo Bataz Day got into it last year. Logistically, yes, it's very possible. Does it make sense for Orlando to make that kind of a move? I think it would make more sense if GoGo had multiple years left on his contract because this is again a very expensive

Orlando team that I think at some point will be looking for some relief. If they get into the season and then say, yeah, we are still just a middle of the pack team in the east. Nobody wants to pay this much money from middle of the pack team. I wouldn't dislike GoGo as a target. Did actually did some really good things playing with Sandra Moumoukoshvili over the summer in the World Cup qualifiers? Look great. So I wouldn't mind him as a backup big target. It would certainly feel better about the Lakers Big Man rotation if GoGo was on the team. I just don't think Orlando is in a spot where they want to do something like that right now. But as we get into the season, absolutely something to monitor with that team. Somebody said, I do has low court awareness. That's he's young. He was a rookie last year. That takes time. That takes time to develop. We know what you can't teach.

He is elite at and that's just the raw athleticism that he has. Where he's weak is in areas that you can teach. Now that doesn't mean that he will improve. Some guys just never really developed that basketball IQ. Some guys doesn't happen. But you can't teach the athleticism that a dude hero has. You can teach the court awareness piece. So I'm excited to see what to do. I don't have him as a guy that I would really be considering for the starting five. Same with Cameron Carr. I firmly believe that these young players you want to let them build upon success. I don't want to throw these guys into the deep end. Could he ultimately be the answer? Maybe certainly could be. I'm very high on the athleticism that he brings. He's got to stay healthy and he's got to let the game come to him. But I'm not going to knock a dude hero for court awareness just yet. Give him time. Give him a chance to develop. If anything, based on what we saw happen in Somer League, I'm more encouraged about his ability to grow. If we think about what he was the first couple of games of Somer League, compared to what he was at the end of Somer League, how out of control he was initially,

and how much he adjusted that as the games went on. I thought that was a great sign. Now that by no means is that means a finished product or any more close to that. But that was a great sign just to see him actively saying, I know I need to do this, this, and this if I'm going to be more successful. And then implement that on the court. You know, we talked about it out at Somer League that a dude hero was given the heads up ahead of certain matchups that hey, they're going to collapse into the pain against you. So I was really impressed that going into the game, you could see it, he got into the lane. I'm trying to remember who the opponent was, but he got in the lane had a number of kickout passes and he did a really nice job recognizing where shooters were on the perimeter and slowing down and making the right play. That was again, great foresight by him. It looked very different than the guy we saw the first game of Somer League. Well, I thought had no idea where anyone was around him. He just put his head down and was driving to the basket every single time. So even just during that small stretch of Somer League, I saw a player who was growing and who was learning very, very fast. So I'm optimistic that ultimately

he will get there. But sometimes we're a rush to get the end result from these young players. And it just takes time and we have to have a bit more patience, which is a difficult thing to have in the NBA when you have Luca 27 years old, ready to win right now. You need these pieces to really click. It can be difficult to be patient. All right, let me do a few more. Who are the eight players for the playoffs? We speak about 20 players here, but who players in the playoffs would September. September. We will find out as the season goes along. Now, would it be better if you're going in saying man, they've got these guys are just known playoff

performance. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the benefit of it. They'd kept Marcus smart, even Deandre has playoff experience. Jackson Hayes has a playoff. You would have a better sense of what guys are and are not. But there are so many question marks on this team right now. So many things that we have to learn about this club that I'm not going to take not being able to identify who their eight key playoff guys are right now in this moment as necessarily a negative. There's a lot that has to be revealed first about this club. But before we figure out who those guys would be in a playoff situation, I'm not going to look at it right now and say, oh, they don't have eight playoff game. That's it. That's it. It's all over. Sky's falling. We have maybe stepped on the floor yet. We don't even know exactly how Jay Juretics going to use this team yet. Let's let all that come to light. One thing, yeah, one thing we're going to have to watch is who ultimately is going to get waived.

If anybody, maybe the Lakers find a trade, but one thing we know, they have to remove one guaranteed contract from the roster. Everybody that you see has a guaranteed NBA contract. Nobody has non guaranteed money. They're going to have to waive unless they find a trade in which they send out two players and bring back one or find a trade in which they are minus one player at the conclusion of the deal. Somebody is going to have to get waived. If I had to pick right now, who it is, I would say it's going to be Dalton Connect. But maybe they decide, hey, at four million and change this year, Dalton Connect just helps more with matching salary and a trade. So we're going to waive somebody else. That could be as far as who I look at it as Bronnie, Dalton, Jaden Hardy are the most likely candidate. I don't see anybody else as a candidate to actually just get waived. I would have to put Dalton at the top of the list right now because I

thought Bronnie was just better than Dalton Connect was last year. If Dalton Connect bounces back and becomes the guy that he was at the beginning of his rookie year, then that changes significantly. Jaden Hardy, I don't think you waived because he's a six million dollar expiring contract at least to put into trades. So there you go. Somebody will have to though. Somebody, they're going to have to part ways with somebody. The good thing is they don't have to get the roster set until the day before the season starts. So they've got time. It's not a lot of time, but they've got a month plus to figure it out. They'll go through preseason, they'll get these guys out of the court, and they'll sort things out from there. And maybe they find a trade between now and then. And so they don't wind up having to waive anybody. Dan Wike stated in an NBA podcast that Luke is best quality slash superpowers making his teammates

better. This team will do better than expected. Still need a starting defensive for. I agree. They do need a defensive wing to put next to Luca on the defensive side of the ball. You've got to have somebody that can handle the other team's best perimeter player. No question. As far as Luke is best quality being that he can make his teammates better, I think there are a lot of people that don't give Luke a credit for that because they see him as too shot happy as somebody who is a ball hog who in too much of the offense revolves around him. Regardless of hyper efficient the offense is. I understand that there isn't always a natural aesthetic that people like to the way Luca plays. The ball in his hands a lot taking the step back threes, you know, all that kind of stuff. As effective as it is, there are fans out there who see that and just don't agree with that style of basketball. But I understand that. I would say that Luca's ability to create a shot is probably his superpower. But my favorite part

of Luca's game is actually his passing. That's that is my favorite part of Luca's game. He has such I think that he has a super computer for a brain and the way he reads the floor is what allows him to be so successful. It helps that he's six foot eight. It helps that he can shoot over the top of players. It helps all these things. But he's not the fastest guy. He's not the strong. I mean, what do you have in terms of dunks last year like two? Right. He's not this hyper athlete, but he's got a super computer for a brain that understands angles, understands not just where he needs to be, but where everybody else on the floor needs to be at all times. And he often uses that in order to get shots off in order to get buckets in order to get by his man in order to get into the pain. He accelerates, decelerates so well. But what I really my favorite Luca plays are plays where Lucas able to get shoulders past his man. And then he manipulates the defense and is able to throw just absolutely ridiculous passes because he is so good at reading and understanding

who is going to be open. It's my favorite part of Luca's game. I would argue though that the way Luca plays his superpower is more has to do with his scoring. But I do think he is a phenomenal phenomenal passer. And I love it when Luca gets going, moving the ball. I love his bullet passes. We need more of that. Yeah. I mean, there are so many just unreal passes that he throws. Trevor, when are we going to hear you on the local airwaves and LA sports radio? I was on with Trudelle and Geeter last week. Yeah, last week I did ESPN LA or on spectrum Lakers channel. We'd love to do that at some point. But yeah, I was just I'm on ESPN LA every now and then.

I do a number of different radio things there. I need to make it more consistent. That's for sure. All right, everybody. I had a lot of things that we got into on tonight's show. I bounced around a lot. I really want to talk about that risk reward element the risk that's inherent in all these Lakers moves and how they really kind of stake their claim on a lot of players. And why that's going to be something that'll be evolving throughout the season that we need to watch on. But I am also very, very excited that we are just two weeks away from media day, from things really getting rolling. I can't wait. I'm already starting to think about some breakdowns and things like that that we can do in terms of looking at what this defense can look like, the offense, how these lineups are going to work. I'm doing a few different lineup builds working through rotations and things like that too. So a lot of stuff coming. It's only going to pick up from here.

We've got this week that it'll be a little bit, you know, we're still kind of in the septogist. I guess I'm calling it because August was actually fairly busy. But September, we're in this kind of slowdown phase right now. Everything's going to take off in about two weeks. We're going to have media day, we're going to have training camp, we're going to have preseason games, we're going to have regular season games where we know it. It's almost here and I can't wait for this Lakers season. Again, thank you very much everybody who joined me tonight. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button. If you're a podcast listener, make sure you follow us on Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts and goes that five star rating and review. We'll be back Wednesday night live as usual 10 30 PM. I'm sorry, 8 30 PM Pacific time will be live and I'll bring a guest along for that one. We'll go back and forth. All right, everybody. Until next time, see you and stay safe. Pro football is back. Traeger predictions on CalChi, America's number one prediction market platform.

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