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You need Indeed. Hello

1:11

Lakers Nation. Welcome into the

1:13

Lakers nation.com podcast, the Lakers

1:16

offseason. Unfortunately, officially here

1:18

now the Lakers losing game five to

1:20

the Denver Nuggets, but that

1:22

means that we're getting into building out the

1:24

next iteration of the Lakers. What will the

1:26

team look like? Who's going to coach this

1:28

team? I think it's probably not going to

1:31

be Darvin Ham. We're going to talk about

1:33

that a little bit today. We'll talk a

1:35

little bit about LeBron's latest comments, what those

1:37

might mean for his future as

1:39

well. We'll also open up the mailbag. I am

1:41

Trevor Lane. You can find me over on X

1:44

at Trevor underscore Lane joined by Sean Davis at

1:46

Sean underscore D A V I. Sean,

1:49

how are you holding up? How are you feeling

1:52

right now, knowing that we don't

1:54

really get to watch Lakers basketball again? God,

1:57

it pains me to say this till October. Respect

2:01

the summer league. Okay,

2:03

okay. That's

2:06

the appetizer though, right? That just kind

2:08

of holds you up. Actually buddy, the

2:10

summer league is like your...

2:13

The salad they offer you when you first

2:15

get there. Like the bread. No, no, no.

2:17

I think the summer league is like if

2:19

you were out wandering the desert, right?

2:23

And it works because it's Vegas anyway. You're

2:25

out wandering the desert and

2:27

you happen across a

2:29

bag of Doritos and

2:32

it's like a year expired. You're

2:35

still eating those Doritos. They're not going to

2:37

be the best thing. It's not going to

2:39

be the most nutritious thing, but

2:42

it's something. And at that moment,

2:44

because you're starving, they probably taste

2:47

phenomenal because summer league basketball is

2:49

not great. Oh, don't get me wrong. I love summer

2:51

league. It's amazing. It's a blast.

2:54

I recommend people to go to summer

2:56

league, but the basketball is not the

2:58

best when we compare it to regular season.

3:00

Certainly not the best when we compare it

3:03

to playoff basketball. It's just something, an emergency

3:05

ration to hold you over. That's summer

3:07

league to me. That

3:11

is a very hilarious... I was actually like

3:13

picturing this and like playing it out in

3:15

my head. And then you say

3:17

Doritos. I'm like, wait, hold on. Where is this? If

3:20

you're old... I'm like, oh, okay. It's

3:23

been a while. It's been a while. It's still a

3:25

day, Sean. Oh man,

3:28

today was brutal for me at work. I was a

3:30

zombie all day. It's a miracle. I'm still awake now

3:33

without falling asleep. I'm

3:36

still bothered. So I talked

3:39

to my athletic director today who's also a Lakers

3:42

fan. He said like,

3:44

Burbank, man, tough loss, whatever. He talked about

3:46

the Jamal shot. I said, dog

3:49

is a charter fan. The

3:51

nuggets bothered. They bother me on

3:53

the Chiefs level officially. Just

3:56

in terms of how annoying it is to

3:58

play them because you know how freaky... wicked

4:00

perfect you have to be to beat them

4:02

and sometimes the perfectness isn't enough. Yeah,

4:05

I'm bothered but I do want to say

4:07

before we get started, I posted a similar

4:09

message on Twitter or X at shot underscore

4:12

D A B I that this

4:14

is heading into year or season

4:16

four for me on the channel, which

4:19

is really, really fun. So thank you

4:21

guys. It's been fun. Every time I

4:23

like try to go back every watch

4:26

a super old video, I cringe and

4:28

immediately throw my computer. So thank you

4:30

guys. It's been a fun three seasons

4:32

thus far. Year four is gonna be

4:34

better and Trev. Thank you

4:36

as always as well as for opening your DM.

4:38

So that is the story. We can get to

4:41

a later time. That's that's an August story a

4:43

tale to be told in August and actually I

4:46

do. And I can't believe

4:48

that we're heading into season four already with

4:50

you with you being here. But time

4:53

flies. Obviously, we're having fun. We

4:55

do have a lot to talk about on today's show. But

4:58

I'm going to I'm going to finish off today's

5:00

show with a story that I

5:02

find to be fairly uplifting. At least it was

5:05

for me anyway. So that's coming

5:07

to end things today. It

5:10

involves tears, like legit tears and

5:12

everything. So this is a very

5:14

dramatic tale that I'm going to

5:17

be telling to end today. I don't have any issues by

5:19

me. Do I need to like do we need to pause the

5:21

recording later and I go run and grab some more? I

5:23

mean, you may I don't I don't know. I did it.

5:26

I don't want to give away too much. But

5:28

you'll just you'll have to wait and see. No, it is not

5:30

a story. You know, it is not a

5:35

story that I have told publicly.

5:37

And it is from the past few days.

5:39

So we will get to that. All

5:42

right. But before we get to

5:44

that, I did see like that little

5:46

the foreshadowing there. Giving everybody a reason

5:48

to stick around to the end of

5:50

the show. But right there by

5:53

the right there we

5:56

go. So, Sean, there's something

5:58

that this caught both of you. and I

6:00

off guard. We were doing the

6:03

live show last night after the game. As

6:05

we're recording this last night, there's a you

6:07

listening, listening to this or watching this two

6:09

nights ago, we

6:11

were doing the live show. Right. And so

6:13

we're kind of like taking in the

6:15

quotes as they're coming in and everything. And the

6:18

ones we're catching most of them, they're coming across

6:20

the timeline. We're missing a few. We

6:22

both had the same reaction when we

6:24

saw this comment come out from Darvin

6:26

Ham. And the reaction was that we

6:28

both thought this was fake. We

6:31

thought this was not real,

6:33

that somehow this

6:36

was a fake account and that

6:39

all these big outlets had picked

6:41

up this comment that

6:44

could, there's no way a head

6:46

coach would actually say this. So

6:49

here's what it is. This

6:52

is from Dave McMatterman. From

6:54

Ms. Pete, they published on espn.com today.

6:56

This is Darvin Ham. And I guess

6:59

we'll get

7:06

into the first part of it. I'll get

7:08

into second because the statement itself comes in

7:10

the second paragraph here. He said, Darvin

7:14

is saying it's amazing how people skip

7:16

that core part. He's talking about the healthier team of

7:19

having a consistency with their lineup

7:22

is all predicated on health and

7:24

performance. If you're coaching a team

7:26

and one of your starters is like 10

7:28

games in a row, just pooping

7:31

the bed, what

7:33

are you going to do? I hi

7:40

thought for sure this was a joke. What

7:43

head coach would say that

7:45

one of his starters is doing that?

7:49

Sean, I was shocked. And

7:52

when I read that, I thought he

7:55

knows he's done. That's the

7:57

only explanation for why you

8:00

would throw one of your starters under

8:03

the bus. Like this guy is so

8:05

bad that I can't even play him

8:08

is if you know it's

8:10

over, right? Cause even if it

8:13

was not over and

8:15

we can debate who he's talking about, I think he's

8:17

probably talking about D-Lo, but we can

8:19

debate who he's talking about here. I also think he's

8:21

talking about D-Lo. But regardless of who

8:24

he's talking about, if there's any chance that

8:26

players back next season, anything like that, you're

8:29

not gonna say this about him, right?

8:31

And even if the guy's not back this,

8:34

you're not gonna say in these

8:36

terms, you would say the guy's struggling or

8:38

you had a guy who's going through some

8:40

struggles, we wanted to get him back on

8:42

track. You're gonna spin this. Darvin

8:45

Ham's is one of

8:47

my starters is defecating in the bed at

8:49

this point, right? That's what he said. That's

8:51

how bad it is. I

8:55

only think I can take away is

8:57

he knows he's gone. Am

9:02

I right? How do you see this? Because

9:04

there is no positive way you can spin that,

9:06

I think, even if you're like,

9:09

well, I was really trying to say this,

9:11

I don't care. That's just not something you

9:13

say because the

9:16

automatic interpretation and the level of

9:18

degree of difficulty it's gonna take

9:20

to try to change the perception

9:23

of what this quote really is, I feel. It's

9:26

too damning, like he's

9:29

done. I think like you said, even

9:31

if let's play around and say

9:33

it's Dilo again, all speculation on my

9:35

part, let's play around and say it's Dilo.

9:37

Even if Dilo's gone, Dilo talks to people.

9:40

He still has friends around the league, right?

9:42

So like, and this is something that is,

9:44

you are the head coach of the most

9:46

popular franchise in the NBA currently, that

9:48

is going to pick up. And like, that is going to be

9:51

quite like, well, you know, if I go here, you know, is

9:54

this guy gonna throw me out of the bus

9:56

practically without letting send subliminal shots at me? If

10:00

I if I have like a three game three

10:02

games isn't what's described here, but if I have

10:04

a rough stretch of games Yeah, like I

10:06

don't know. So I think this is a This

10:10

is a coach And

10:12

I said this after it was a quote. He said

10:14

a few games I don't recall when it was there

10:16

was a quote where I was like, yeah, he sounds

10:18

defensive It was right. It

10:21

was it was the practice quote. It

10:23

was after ad had said what

10:25

he had said after the game to oh Yes,

10:28

yeah talk about how organized his coaching staff was

10:30

now He was gonna agree to this because they

10:32

said guys don't know what they're doing on either

10:34

end of the floor Right and Darwin rather than

10:36

saying yeah, this is something we need to work

10:38

on or or spitting it in a positive way

10:41

Or even just saying just that I

10:43

disagree or even just say like, you know,

10:45

I respect, you know, I Hear

10:48

my best players frustrations, you know,

10:50

that's something I don't take Lightly

10:52

and you know, we were working on getting better at

10:55

that is all you have to say there and I

10:57

said it then I was Like that comes off as

10:59

very defensive from Darwin like that that quote he had

11:02

the day after and this is just

11:04

like a Kind of okay.

11:06

I am pinned in a corner

11:08

right now. Let me just say Something

11:11

to kind of like get some

11:14

of the blame off of me again very

11:16

defensive-minded in my opinion here from Darwin So

11:19

yeah, it's bizarre and like you say it it

11:21

just kind of Really

11:23

confirmed like Darwin's gone and I

11:26

wouldn't be surprised if Darwin's gone by the

11:28

end of the week Yeah, this is

11:32

Look, there's in the the article from

11:34

the athletic. There's a bit in there about how

11:37

the Lakers But

11:45

Like that Darwin's a great person like

11:49

I Made that article

11:52

just dunked on Darwin big time

11:56

Release waiting 30 minutes before you post today,

11:58

right? waited until,

12:00

until the presser was over or at least

12:02

Darwin's portion of it. And then, uh, you

12:04

know, Darwin is known for shattering a backboard.

12:07

That article just shattered Darwin. Um,

12:09

this was, oh, there was a,

12:12

there was a bit in there about how the Lakers, one

12:14

of the things they don't like is that Darwin

12:16

tends to lose the press conference. Um,

12:19

and that's, uh, look, it's a, it's a

12:21

pain in the butt right now. If you're, if you're

12:24

the Hornets, if you're the Orlando

12:26

magic or something, and your coach doesn't give

12:29

the right answer every time, it's

12:31

not as big of a deal if you're

12:33

the Lakers and what you say,

12:35

what everything you say is going to get scrutinized, everything

12:37

you say, I'm not saying it's easy, but if everything

12:40

you say is going to get picked apart, that's

12:42

a hassle for the organization. When the coach says

12:45

some stuff every once in a while that is

12:48

going to create a negative reaction, we talk about

12:50

the whole, um, uh, people

12:53

living and dying with every game.

12:55

Why are we living and dying with every game?

12:57

And he was complaining about that early on in

12:59

the season. And a lot of fans took offense

13:01

to that and myself included. It's

13:04

stuff like that. This too, like

13:07

this is the kind of stuff that then the organization

13:09

has to deal with. I think back to Frank Vogel,

13:11

who was, is not the perfect coach, but he was

13:13

great at winning the press conference. You couldn't trip him

13:15

up, throw whatever you want out of

13:17

Frank Vogel is not going to get tripped up

13:20

and not going to let emotions dictate what he

13:22

says. And this is what we're seeing here from

13:24

Darwin. You mentioned him being defensive.

13:26

Here's what else he said here. It's been

13:28

extremely challenging. Everyone has been in and out

13:30

of the lineup being criticized for not having

13:33

a consistent rotation when I don't have consistent

13:35

healthy bodies. The thing that frustrates me, and

13:37

I love this job. I love the pressure

13:39

that comes with it, but I've always been

13:41

calm in the midst of chaos, but

13:43

common sense tends to go out the window when

13:46

you talk about my job in particular. So once

13:48

again, that's Darwin being defensive

13:51

and saying that if you're criticizing his rotations,

13:53

you don't have common sense. That's

13:55

the through line there. That's, that's what he's landing

13:57

on. If you're criticizing my rotations.

14:00

It's because you don't have common sense because you

14:02

can't see that I've been dealing with injuries I

14:04

think a lot of people have been critical of

14:06

rotations Understand that there have been

14:08

injuries. Okay, not everybody other some people have been

14:11

upset that maybe didn't realize player xy or Z

14:13

was out Sure, but especially those who

14:15

is covering the team every single day We

14:18

know who's been available and who has it

14:20

we understand there's some situations that were beyond

14:22

his control The criticism of the

14:24

rotations has been punting on

14:26

consistency went from last season

14:28

which was the whole benefit of the offseason

14:30

as Well as playing

14:32

guys like Torian like cam giving

14:34

them way more leeway Banching Austin

14:36

Reeves after eight games benching Dilo

14:38

after a rough patch and maybe that's

14:41

who he's talking about here It's

14:43

stuff like that that's going to get

14:45

criticized I think criticizing his rotations are

14:48

fair and him saying that if you

14:50

just you don't have common sense if

14:52

you're being critical of his rotations to

14:54

me That's just once

14:57

again Darwin being disrespectful and the

14:59

thing that's been driving people crazy is not

15:02

accepting any kind of responsibility So

15:04

two really really quick points. I just want

15:06

to add on to the number one. I

15:09

think that and Then

15:11

this actually goes back to another conversation. I'm with

15:14

my ad which is kind of ironic This is

15:16

a separate time. But again, actually we were talking

15:18

about Darwin, which is actually really funny This is

15:20

a few months ago now and I said Darwin's

15:23

problem. I said it then I said Darwin's problem

15:25

Just you don't take accountability because the problem with

15:27

that is in my opinion as a

15:29

coach When you're able to

15:31

like take accountability on like whether it's in the film

15:33

room or gets for for Darwin's case

15:36

post game stuff like that it Like

15:39

gives you like a set like it almost relates you

15:41

a little bit more to your players in my opinion

15:44

When like if I'm able to go in a

15:46

film session say hey, yeah, okay

15:49

XYZ player you messed up this rotation.

15:51

Alright as a coach. I should not

15:53

have called this play We just ran

15:55

this pretty straight times and it worked.

15:57

I'm an idiot my fault right are

16:00

Didn't prepare us enough for this counter. They

16:02

had my fault Like if you're able to do

16:04

that it relates you more to your players in

16:06

my opinion or I inform personal experience From

16:09

having a real-life example of that happening So

16:11

like I think that was his problem number

16:13

one and then again like number two like

16:15

bro You have to

16:17

realize again. This is just like a

16:19

place lack of like awareness of the

16:21

situation You're

16:24

the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers,

16:27

right? Already put on a

16:29

much higher pedestal because of the

16:31

Lakers right and everything's gonna get

16:33

like an overanalyzed like like crazy

16:35

Right, but you're also still a

16:37

coach and you have to understand like bro You

16:39

have Miami Heat fans that whenever they

16:41

do something wrong They don't even

16:44

come for Spose neck for example So my

16:46

point is right when things are going bad

16:49

You have to know that oh, yeah Like the coaches they

16:51

get the blame and in some cases

16:53

when it's going great The coach

16:55

is gonna get credit spoke. It's a lot of

16:58

credit for what he's done Mark. They don't get

17:00

fly credits The curve when they were rolling Mike

17:02

Amola now, etc right, so you have to

17:04

understand like bro, you're a coach who's

17:07

like we are going to I mean people

17:09

the media are gonna overanalyze you and Sometimes

17:13

partially critique you but like that's the nature

17:15

of the job. What are you doing? That's

17:19

what you're signing up for It's it

17:21

would be like becoming president of the United States

17:23

and then complaining that people are too critical of

17:25

you Yeah, no matter no matter

17:27

what you do if you're president like good Lord

17:29

Can you imagine being president if you were president?

17:32

No matter what you do at least half the

17:35

country thinks you're an idiot for doing it If

17:37

not more with most things with most

17:39

things at least half the country thinks

17:41

you're an idiot No matter what

17:43

no matter what you do. I turn

17:46

left down the street. Oh, man. He's an idiot

17:50

I'm going back down 70. I broke Darn

17:54

it, but it's the same thing if

17:56

you're a coach you you have to expect that that

17:58

kind of stuff and so I understand He's frustrated

18:00

with it. Does he get some Criticism

18:03

that is maybe unjust sure but again, that's that's

18:05

part of the job And

18:07

I don't think that you can be dismissive of

18:09

all the criticism that he has received I think

18:11

what people would like is just here. I'm saying

18:13

he'll take some accountability, but But

18:16

maybe we've spent too much time on Darwin because honestly,

18:18

I don't I don't think we're gonna have to talk

18:20

about Darwin much longer I

18:22

think he's gonna be on his way out and When

18:25

we look at this part

18:27

of it is Here

18:32

this was coming in

18:34

from from Dave McMenon's piece

18:36

as well and We'll

18:38

talk about LeBron in a moment. He says

18:41

James and Anthony

18:43

Davis's continued ability to save off father time

18:45

coming off his oh actually let me read

18:47

the right quote here But James continued ability

18:49

to save off father time and Anthony Davis

18:51

is coming off is perhaps most complete season

18:53

of the Laker Team sources

18:56

said has left LA believing that

18:58

the championship window for this court

19:00

core has not closed And

19:02

if a different voice is needed to lead

19:04

the group the franchise will make the financial

19:06

commitment to do so So once again, what

19:09

they're saying is they haven't yet

19:11

decided that Darvin ham is out

19:14

yet I imagine that is the

19:16

answer that they will land upon But

19:19

that the Lakers because the question has been will they

19:21

want to pay two coaches You got to pay Darvin

19:23

ham for two years to not coach your team But

19:26

the Lakers because of how good LeBron and ad

19:28

are gonna be or have been They're

19:31

saying yeah, we'll do that

19:33

We will pay two coaches if that's what it takes

19:35

if that's what we think is the right decision Go

19:38

get somebody else. We will make the

19:40

financial commitment to do just that Shawn

19:42

from a fan perspective That's

19:45

great news to hear that. They're

19:47

not gonna keep Darwin just

19:49

because they want to save money They're

19:51

going to hire whoever it is They

19:53

feel is the best coach for the

19:55

job whether that's Darwin whether that's somebody

19:57

else Which is

19:59

honestly? like one of the biggest reasons

20:01

why I wasn't all the way sure if they

20:03

were going to fire Darwin. So

20:07

like he says, the fan and like obviously

20:09

be able to cover the team like that's

20:11

something that that I

20:13

am excited to hear.

20:15

And I can't

20:18

help but have a

20:21

little bit of skepticism about how

20:24

the Lakers are going to go about the hiring

20:26

process. And if if they're

20:30

going to do this right because the first time you

20:33

bought you want a title right which I am

20:35

very grateful for you will ultimately want a title

20:37

with the coach actually got. But

20:40

the first time you missed

20:42

out on tile lose a consensus

20:44

top 10 coach on the planet

20:47

because you didn't want to give him enough. Please fire

20:49

him. Please fire him. Luca go

20:52

off for 70 tonight and put the

20:54

Clippers out of their misery go back

20:56

to Dallas and finally get the clipper

20:58

monkey off your back please. But

21:01

you missed on him because you didn't want

21:03

to give him enough years and you were

21:05

trying to force a staff up upon him

21:07

which is a big no no in the

21:10

first place right maybe maybe you can like

21:12

influence like one hiring or whatever to keep

21:14

you one person on the staff that you

21:16

really really like sure an entire that picking

21:18

their whole staff but he's the NBA champion

21:20

especially is ludicrous. So you missed

21:22

on him then when you

21:24

fire Frank Vogel you handle is so

21:27

poorly that you miss out on Quinn

21:29

Snyder who is easily the

21:31

best would have been the best option

21:33

available in that in

21:35

the coaching hiring market if you will

21:38

miss out on him because of how

21:40

you handle the foghorn situation now you're

21:42

heading into the third potential

21:44

coaching hiring process under

21:48

under Rob Planko as the executive

21:50

vice president basketball operations or whatever because

21:52

I guess technically is not the GM

21:55

I guess that's his role right the

21:57

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mugging now a tech? You will find

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another outlet that covers the game as

23:58

comprehensively and with such I'm just curious how

24:00

they're gonna go about this. So

24:16

they're gonna handle this with all due diligence as

24:18

possible. They even cast, literally cast a

24:20

Y net. We're not looking at

24:23

just people that have Laker ties. Darwin still technically

24:25

had a Laker tie, which is another reason I

24:27

called it back then why I

24:29

thought he was probably gonna get hired because he had the Laker

24:31

tie. And like,

24:34

don't only go after a guy with better,

24:36

better than that coach experience, because in my

24:39

opinion, at least I know a bunch more

24:41

time talk about this trip. I

24:43

think when you if you narrow it down

24:45

to only people that have had

24:47

coaching experience, it's for me at

24:49

least, Tai Lu, and then it dramatically

24:51

drops off in terms of my level

24:53

of interest in a candidate. And

24:56

vice versa, like a rookie at coach, like you should never like

24:58

say, you should never like single out just that either, obviously. So

25:01

I don't know if Tai Lu is going to be

25:03

available. Like that's just kind of like a guy, you

25:05

know, yeah. So

25:08

I don't know. I have a healthy level

25:10

of skepticism that about how this hiring process

25:12

is going to go. And

25:14

maybe it's not skepticism. It's more like, I

25:16

don't know what it is. I guess I'll just roll

25:19

with skeptical. We're just we're just it's

25:22

not like Eric Spostre

25:24

is sitting there and

25:26

the Lakers can just swoop in and hire him. It's

25:28

not clear what the best path is for

25:30

the Lakers. Yeah, right. Those

25:33

guys aren't there. So that's where it could

25:35

be a little bit of a of

25:37

a challenge. All right. Let's

25:39

talk a little bit about LeBron, because LeBron

25:43

his he did not

25:45

want to answer questions about his future. No

25:47

surprise. I wouldn't want to either. I still

25:49

believe he is returning to Lakers. I think ultimately

25:51

that's where he will land. I

25:54

think it's it

25:56

should be no surprise at all that LeBron saying he

25:58

doesn't know what he wants to do. yet.

26:01

Even if he did know, look at

26:03

it this way, even if LeBron knew with certainty,

26:06

I'm coming back to the Lakers no matter what, 100%

26:08

I am in. He can't say that. He

26:11

can't say that. He cannot

26:13

say that

26:15

because he wants the Lakers to make

26:17

changes to the roster. They've got three

26:19

potential first round picks to trade. He's

26:23

going to want them to move those picks if

26:25

need be. He's going to want them to improve

26:27

the roster for next season. He's going to want

26:29

certain things to happen. Maybe it's to have involvement

26:31

with the coach. Right now, that player option that

26:33

he's got on his contract gives him that much

26:35

more leverage to push

26:37

for things like that. He's not

26:40

going to publicly say he's going to push for stuff, but

26:42

we know behind the scenes he's going to have plenty of say

26:44

in what goes on. If

26:46

he says publicly, yeah,

26:48

I'm retiring as a Laker. There

26:51

goes all that. He can't

26:54

say that. LeBron's

26:56

comments about not wanting to say anything, and this is what

26:58

he put out on Twitter. Or

27:01

X, he said, I've seen and heard

27:03

a lot of reports about my future. I said it

27:05

last night. I'll say it again. I don't know yet.

27:08

I do not know yet. As I'm only

27:10

thinking about spending time with my family and friends, when

27:13

I know after speaking with the family, my

27:15

counsel, as well as my representation about it,

27:18

then you guys will know. Until then, and

27:21

then he puts a emoji. He

27:24

says love. And then he puts a crown there.

27:27

I think we all know who Bron is talking

27:29

to here. And no, it is not. Yeah.

27:33

So Kerry

27:36

champion had a tweet the other day. Yes. I

27:39

guess it was a for yesterday saying

27:43

that said, you know, it

27:45

got a message from my friend. This is

27:48

LeBron's last game in purple and gold. Right.

27:52

And LeBron, I think it's kind of firing back saying, look,

27:54

how do you know what I'm doing? I don't even know

27:56

what I'm doing. And again, if LeBron knows

27:58

what he's doing, he doesn't. He's not going to

28:00

be telling anybody right now, but I

28:05

do think it's interesting that there's

28:08

reports circulating about rich Paul saying

28:10

stuff. See somebody saying, oh, my friend told me

28:12

it's LeBron's last game in purple and gold. I'm

28:14

not going to put a lot into

28:16

that. I'm going to take that with a grain

28:18

of salt, but reports of rich Paul saying, yeah,

28:21

I think he's going to play another year or another

28:23

two years. I'm going

28:25

to buy into that and not just because that's

28:27

what I want to hear. And let's face it.

28:29

I don't want to hear LeBron's leaving the Lakers. I

28:32

would rather hear LeBron staying and LeBron's got multiple years

28:34

left. Right. That's I think that's the

28:36

best thing for the Lakers. But when

28:39

it's coming from the guy that LeBron

28:41

would talk to about what it is he

28:43

wants to do, to

28:45

me, there's some credibility to that. So

28:49

I still lean. I'm still pretty convinced that

28:51

LeBron's going to wind up staying LeBron

28:54

himself though, saying,

28:56

I don't know what I'm going to do. That's

28:59

no surprise. No reason for eyeball

29:01

emojis or whatever. And in my opinion, I

29:03

don't know, Sean, what where are you at?

29:05

What do you see LeBron doing

29:07

here? How soon do you think he's making

29:09

a decision? All that if

29:12

I mean, like you

29:14

said, right, I don't

29:16

think I don't

29:19

think it makes sense for Bron to

29:21

say anything, reveal anything. Like you said,

29:23

it kind of loses all his leverage,

29:25

which ironically, something you said, my deal

29:28

is leverage. Bron

29:30

loses all of it. He says, hey, you know, I

29:33

want to be I'm going to

29:35

retire right now. I quit. I'm

29:37

done. Finish. Right. I

29:39

think I mean, well, obviously, you leverage you're done. But

29:42

like, it brought that I'm leaving. Okay,

29:44

again, probably lose Max to gain some. But

29:47

anyway, the point is, my bronze, I

29:49

get to show his cards right now. Right.

29:52

Right. Please. So I am

29:55

so hell bent on like, I think bronze coming

29:57

back. I made a friendly little wager with one

29:59

of my close friends. Buddies then

30:01

LeBron James would be a Laker next to

30:03

like that's how confident I am. I really

30:05

do not see an avenue Hold

30:07

on Podcast

30:11

listeners to the studio cat just jumped up

30:14

on the on the desk here. He's

30:16

he's making his appearance He's demanding

30:19

demanding his attention right now but

30:21

uh Yeah, like I

30:23

just have a really freaking hard

30:25

time By LeBron James

30:28

leaving LA leaving like the city

30:30

of LA itself, right? I

30:32

really just have a hard time buying that there

30:35

is one spot that I think

30:37

even makes any semblance

30:39

of sense and that is

30:41

Philly I That's the only

30:43

team that has the cap space. It's gonna

30:46

have the roster flexibility to build out a

30:48

roster After they potentially

30:50

get LeBron James, that's Philly

30:53

and again I still really really

30:55

don't buy that as a big

30:57

like the big thing to be concerned about

30:59

So I I'm really really

31:01

confident try the Bronx gonna come back I think

31:03

he does ultimately opt out because I mean correctly

31:05

if I'm wrong brought up the

31:08

out means he can negotiate a No,

31:10

Trey claws into his deal which he can't do if

31:13

he opts in I think brought up so he

31:15

does like a two plus One last year player

31:17

option gets to know Trey claws. He retires a

31:19

Laker. I think that's the most logical Outcome

31:23

here personally So let me

31:25

ask you this because the the word is from

31:27

I believe this was in Dave's piece

31:29

that the Lakers They badly want LeBron

31:32

to retire as a Laker And

31:34

it sounds like they are willing to do whatever it

31:36

takes in order to make that happen Like essentially they're

31:39

gonna go to LeBron and they're gonna say

31:43

What do you want? What what

31:45

do you want you make your contract? What do

31:47

you want it to look like? Do

31:49

you want you can pick up your player option? It

31:52

can be a one-year deal. It can be a two-year

31:54

deal It can be a three-year deal. You want a

31:56

player option on it? That's fine. You want to know

31:58

trade clause? That's fine We will max you out

32:00

even you even said they would even consider

32:02

going up to a three-year max of 164

32:06

million dollars for LeBron

32:08

James that's a lot make sure that

32:10

he retires a Laker they

32:13

will even consider drafting brawny now that's

32:15

been walked back not from the Lakers

32:17

side but Rich Paul apparently made comments

32:19

about how brawny going to the

32:21

Lakers isn't really a or LeBron playing

32:24

with brawny isn't really a priority anymore yeah

32:26

makes sense they just want to get him

32:28

into the right developmental spot that's

32:31

probably that's great for him no quite another

32:34

another sign really sorry to cut you off

32:36

another sign that I think brawny just goes

32:39

back to college for another year especially if

32:41

there isn't any urgency to really get them

32:43

to play together right now I think

32:46

brawny goes back to college I think nice

32:48

tidbit there but go ahead and

32:50

that's why two more years of LeBron makes sense because

32:52

then brawny could go back to college for a year

32:55

rehabilitate his draft status go

32:58

into the league as my guy Bryce Simon I

33:00

was talking with him today about brawny and I

33:02

said I asked him I said if brawny were

33:04

in the draft right now and

33:06

his dad is not LeBron James what's the percentage chance

33:08

that he gets drafted he said zero zero

33:12

percent chance that he gets drafted

33:14

is his dad if his dad's not LeBron

33:16

James and

33:19

I kind of get it like is there an outside shot

33:21

he falls late in the second round or something maybe

33:25

right but if

33:28

he works for a year in

33:30

another school and

33:32

then jump maybe he does maybe his drafts draft stock

33:35

rises he gets drafted on his own merit and then

33:37

he can play with his dad and all that kind

33:39

of stuff so the whole two-year thing kind

33:41

of makes sense with the new brawny plan from

33:44

that perspective so

33:46

I think that's the best thing for

33:49

brawny is

33:52

this the right thing for the Lakers to

33:55

be that because genie boss is all

33:57

in reportedly on keeping LeBron

34:00

She doesn't want to lose them. I don't blame her LeBron

34:02

brings in the big bucks The

34:06

eyeballs the butts in seats all

34:09

that yep Is

34:13

this the right move for the Lakers Competitive

34:15

wise to go to LeBron and say

34:18

we'll give you whatever you want That

34:23

is such a tough question But

34:26

a what I Think

34:29

we need to mention this though Even

34:32

if because a lot of people say LeBron's a

34:34

billionaire. He shouldn't he should play for free. He

34:36

should play for the minimum I

34:38

had never understood that idea right

34:42

That's a thing. That's out there. I

34:44

see that every day dog dog every

34:46

day Trevor just because I gave you

34:49

a thousand dollars if I offer you a thousand dollars

34:51

together you say yeah, no, I'm good I've

34:54

had enough my no For

34:56

world-class athlete or your podcaster

34:58

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35:03

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35:05

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36:20

I think it's important to note too,

36:22

because people will say LeBron's being selfish,

36:25

he needs to sacrifice for the good of the

36:27

team, he needs to take less so we can

36:29

go sign Superstar

36:31

X. That's not how

36:33

that works. They don't

36:35

have the cap room for that. It's not

36:37

the NFL, like you can't pull a Brady

36:39

in the NBA where you just take salary

36:42

cut after salary cut and

36:44

restructure contract, restructure

36:46

contract and that'd be

36:48

really interesting to see how the NBA would

36:51

pull off a restructure contract thing. I don't

36:53

know, you're the cap genius, that would probably

36:55

get messy, but

36:57

there's a book. There's like a renegotiating extend, but they

37:00

don't want, restructuring contracts isn't

37:02

a thing in the NBA. They don't want teams

37:04

going back to players and asking them to redo

37:06

their deals and stuff like that. The

37:09

NBA, PA is much stronger than the

37:11

NFL, PA. There's no question yet. But

37:16

even if you don't wanna play for the minimum, that's

37:19

not enough for the Lakers to go big

37:21

game hunting in the off season or something. They're

37:24

so far over the cap, I

37:26

guess if Dilo walked two, then

37:29

it was- It's a nice low-level exception. You

37:33

would definitely get a mid-light, you would get a

37:35

little more than that, but you wouldn't have a

37:37

max contract available. So I

37:39

think that's something to understand that LeBron

37:42

even playing on a minimum wouldn't

37:44

necessarily suddenly give the Lakers

37:47

a bunch of money to go spend. And I think

37:49

that's a misconception that's up there. Yeah.

37:52

So overall, to get back to

37:54

the question, one thing that I do think the

37:56

Lakers care about, and

37:59

you could argue it's too- or not I

38:01

think they care about their reputation a lot and

38:05

Obviously being the most prestigious franchise arguably

38:07

in sports and definitely in the NBA

38:11

I think they care about their

38:14

perception to the league into like

38:16

the players in the league and

38:18

Two stars around the league that's how I think they

38:20

are able to keep stars Interested in wanting to come

38:22

now like that they know they'll get taken care of

38:25

Perfect freaking example is Kobe

38:27

when Kobe tears his Achilles.

38:29

He has the rotator cuff

38:32

injury He had he

38:34

had another knee injury right when when

38:36

he got back I think it was

38:39

Achilles knee rotator cuff and All

38:42

the way through all of that. They got

38:44

they made sure he was financially like they

38:46

they got him paid He was still among

38:48

the league leaders in and in

38:50

salary Or a be stuff

38:52

like that And so this

38:55

does not surprise me one bit right

38:57

the genie and Rob are going There's

39:00

these reports saying that they are going

39:02

to basically say hey Braun. Here's the

39:04

blank check with an NBA rules I

39:06

just leave what do you want like

39:08

player option? No trade calls, etc The

39:13

only thing and I feel

39:15

dumb for like doubting him at this point and

39:18

I very rarely do this But

39:21

how much longer can he do this is

39:23

really the question and it and

39:25

honestly this is It

39:28

puts you in a bind right because then the first question

39:30

How long can he really do this at this level where

39:32

in my head at this level? My

39:35

answer is one more year where like

39:37

we're talking is Braun

39:39

a top ten ish regular season

39:41

player and a like for sure

39:43

top ten postseason player Right,

39:46

so then that becomes the problem

39:48

because now we're saying okay crap. What

39:50

are we gonna do after that? Oh,

39:53

okay. Let's get a third star Crap

39:55

that eventually becomes the problem because of the

39:57

super tax and the second apron with the

40:00

the new NBA CBA stuff like that. So

40:02

that's where I have a that's where I

40:04

think I run into the biggest problem at

40:07

Trevor is from a roster

40:09

construction. I Don't

40:11

know what the Lakers do long

40:14

term, right now, obviously right now

40:16

in this moment like heading in

40:18

the next year Absolutely. I

40:20

want LeBron James on my team. I'm not even say

40:22

I don't want LeBron my team after this upcoming season

40:25

But I'm saying it turns like super

40:27

attacks implications How much

40:29

like how at what level is wrong going to

40:31

be yet in? Two years

40:33

from now and also to add if I

40:35

he's playing for Team USA this summer, which

40:37

could actually impact next season So I

40:40

don't there are a bunch of questions I'm

40:42

sure we're gonna dive into with the roster

40:44

construction this season does what I'm saying

40:46

about hey How much long can brawn do this? Does

40:48

that lead you more to say? Okay, let's go three

40:51

stars But like I said, like the

40:53

super tax is gonna bite you eventually. So I

40:55

don't know it's interesting and I I

40:59

don't know I guess

41:02

So you bring up a good point with Team USA

41:06

Because I think and we are gonna get a lot

41:08

and we're gonna do the ideal off season We're gonna

41:10

do all the different roster builds and all that right

41:12

here on all the old offseason this year with you

41:14

I don't think I've done. Oh, yeah, they're fun They're

41:16

fun to do to break down all that and

41:18

guys that's even more reason to subscribe right here

41:20

to the Lakers nation YouTube channels Follow us over the

41:22

podcast side as well Apple podcast Spotify

41:25

wherever you listen to podcasts There's

41:29

Gonna be a lot that we're gonna break down in terms of

41:31

what the roster build can look like moving forward But

41:34

really we're talking about two different things. There's

41:36

two things and this is ever

41:39

present in professional sports because

41:42

there's two levels to this there's

41:44

the competitive level what

41:47

do we need in order to put together the best

41:49

team that we can and There's

41:52

there's then there's the underlying level which

41:54

is really the truth behind all

41:56

of it and that's the business and

41:59

that's What do we need to

42:01

do in order to make money? Right? Cause

42:04

that's, that's, that's the bottom line for all of

42:06

these, right? If you want to pull back the

42:08

curtain on all of this, what's

42:10

the, is the point of the

42:12

NBA so that

42:15

fans can feel great when their team

42:17

wins the championship? No,

42:20

the point of the NBA, the reason for fandom,

42:22

the reason for all this passion and all this

42:24

kind of stuff, ultimately you roll it up high

42:26

enough. It's to make money. It's

42:28

a business. It's a profit. Now, is

42:31

that a profit? Is that something that we

42:33

gladly turn over our time, turnover, money, all

42:35

that stuff too, we sacrifice

42:37

those things because we enjoy this. Yes,

42:39

absolutely. People need stuff like that.

42:42

They need a distraction. They need something that they

42:44

can invest themselves into. They need something to pay

42:46

attention to. There's no, there's no question you get

42:48

back. I mean, obviously I do this as a

42:50

job, but I've gotten way back, way more back

42:52

from sports than whatever I've spent in terms of

42:54

time and money and all that. But

42:58

this is the underlying

43:00

conversation with LeBron, right? Where

43:04

maybe a year from now

43:06

when he's 40 entering

43:08

his year 41 season, he's

43:11

not producing at a max level, but

43:15

he's still bringing in way more

43:17

revenue than what his salary costs, he's

43:20

still a massive windfall to

43:22

the organization. So from the

43:25

competitive standpoint, you

43:27

could try to trim back that salary,

43:29

right? You could say, well, we don't want to

43:31

give them quite this much. We

43:33

want to try to have a little more flexibility. Again, that

43:35

flexibility isn't going to buy a whole lot. We

43:38

got to keep that in mind, but we

43:40

could try to trim that back. But

43:42

when push comes to shove, if LeBron says,

43:44

I will sign, if you give me this

43:46

max number and

43:48

the Lakers or whatever team knows

43:50

I'm going to make whatever

43:53

it is, I'm making this up, I'm going to make 10 times

43:56

that number in revenue just by having

43:58

this guy on my team. they're

44:01

gonna make that deal every single time. Yeah.

44:07

And like money wise,

44:10

and that is a really good way of raising

44:12

it, right? And I guess like as a good

44:14

perspective to have, like from the

44:16

Lakers perspective, going

44:19

back to what I said about the perception,

44:21

right? Like, okay, yes, we do

44:23

wanna keep the perception of, you know, we're gonna take care of

44:25

our players and stuff like that. But again,

44:28

like at the grand scheme of things,

44:30

we're gonna make like Trevor said, we're gonna make X

44:33

amount more than we're gonna ultimately pay

44:35

you because you're here. So

44:37

I mean, yeah, that is a great way

44:39

to look at it. And again, from a

44:42

money perspective, from a money standpoint, yeah, absolutely

44:44

LA does, but a competitiveness wise, in terms

44:46

of how you can build a roster, there

44:50

are some questions. Not this year

44:52

necessarily, but like after

44:54

this season, especially depending on what brand you

44:56

get posted. Yeah, if you're getting

44:59

next season, especially if you're getting like Team

45:01

USA, LeBron, Team USA AD. And by that,

45:03

I mean, like I'm looking at, okay, LeBron

45:05

and AD are playing the Olympic start at

45:08

the end of July. They're gonna be playing

45:10

into August. I'm

45:12

thinking they're

45:14

not playing 70 plus games next year. Yeah.

45:18

So when we get into the

45:21

roster build, which again, we're gonna spend a lot of

45:23

time on this summer, when we're getting into the roster

45:25

build, that's something I think we have to factor in.

45:28

Is that another reason to go get the

45:30

other star to

45:32

help you out and say, all right, Bronn,

45:34

you can load manage tonight,

45:36

which Magic Johnson, a very interesting quote

45:38

by the way, when you get to

45:41

the word load manage. Yeah, I like

45:43

that. ESPN box score stats

45:45

are a thing. You could very easily wait

45:47

to go check that before you posted the

45:49

tweet, neither you nor there. But

45:52

yeah, I don't know. Yeah, we got some

45:54

very interesting conversations about the roster build this

45:56

summer. And I am freaking pumped again, great

45:58

time to. subscribe to the

46:00

podcast and subscribe to the channel if

46:02

you haven't already. Guys, check out the channel

46:05

membership program as well. You click the join button and

46:07

you can see the different things that we offer, different

46:09

perks that we offer. We do a weekly get together

46:11

with all the channel members you get to come on

46:13

screen and we talk Lakers hoops. We're gonna be talking

46:15

off season stuff. Sometimes we drop some stuff in there

46:17

that we, you know, either aren't ready to put out

46:20

publicly or whatever. So make sure you guys do check

46:22

that out, especially when we get into off season rumors

46:24

and everything. Click that join button over on the YouTube

46:26

channel. You can check out our channel membership program. I

46:29

also wanted to note before we get into the mail bag

46:31

here to close things out, the

46:33

bet, Sean, the bet that you and I had, I

46:36

went ahead and had people enter

46:38

into their name into the

46:41

hat to win the Lakers Jersey. I

46:43

have not done the drawing just yet.

46:45

I'm gonna do it today. And

46:48

then on the next show, I'll reveal who

46:50

wins the Lakers jersey, remember Sean, you won

46:52

the bet. So I am buying a Lakers

46:54

jersey for one of our listeners and viewers

46:56

on the last few shows. I already went

46:58

over how to enter and all that entries

47:00

are closed at this point. I'm

47:02

gonna do that today. I'm gonna compile all

47:05

the names. One will get

47:07

randomly drawn and somebody is going to

47:09

get a Lakers jersey as a

47:12

result of LeBron James playing less games than Anthony Davis.

47:14

We'll have to come up with something else to bet

47:16

on for next year, but we'll do it at the

47:18

start of next season. Cause that was, that was fun.

47:21

And I like that at the end of all of

47:23

this, regardless of who wins or who loses, one

47:26

of our viewers or listeners benefits. I like

47:28

that. That was fun for

47:30

sure. And let's go AAD.

47:35

Sean's just like, thank God. I didn't have to, I

47:37

didn't have to buy the jersey. Love you guys. All

47:45

right, let's get into the mail bag. We're gonna do

47:47

a few of these and then then it's story time.

47:49

All right. So Darius said, miss free

47:51

throws and open shot. Remember these are coming in

47:53

after the Lakers lost in game five. Yeah.

47:56

It's hard when I look at this and Sean, this

47:59

is what gives you. more optimism for the

48:01

Wolves to take down the Nuggets. They

48:04

were so beatable. So

48:06

the Lakers were not far off from beating this team at all.

48:08

People are going to look at it and go, oh, you lost,

48:11

you know, you lost in five games and like

48:14

70% of the series. Yeah,

48:16

it should have been two, two going

48:18

into game five. They should have won

48:20

game five. They should have left Denver

48:22

up three, two. It was

48:25

unfortunate circumstances down the stretch in

48:27

game two and game five that

48:30

prevented that from happening. And you could look, I'm not

48:32

saying it's bad luck. Like they miss free throws, like

48:34

there's stuff like that. You missed it. It was a

48:36

bad box out on an offensive rebound. I

48:39

still say if you took five minutes off of Spencer, then

48:41

what do you and gave those to all the reason that

48:43

game. Um, and there's a

48:45

lot of stuff we can re litigate there, but

48:47

those miss free throws, those, those were painful knowing

48:49

how close that was going to be seeing those

48:51

free throws missed Darwin better than I've

48:54

been talking about Austin when he was saying

48:56

the play like crap thing or whatever, only

48:58

because like, bro, also

49:00

it's playing good. And you

49:03

like probably take off eight minutes from

49:05

him. They probably should have played. Yeah. Yeah.

49:07

That was bizarre. Jared

49:10

said LeBron game poked by

49:12

Yokich AD fouling on a three point

49:14

shot. LeBron camp box out Gordon free

49:17

throws were abysmal Lakers and deserved when

49:19

they made mistakes and he

49:21

can't do that against Denver. You can't do that,

49:23

but I didn't look at Denver and think, Oh my

49:25

God, this team is overwhelming. Nobody's stopping this team. I

49:28

thought I looked at them and thought, yeah,

49:31

this team is very beatable.

49:35

So when I think about Denver

49:37

and going and talking about like the Denver Minnesota matchup,

49:40

I haven't thought about too much yet. I

49:42

know a lot. I know the popular pick right now

49:44

is to pick Minnesota because of how Denver did look

49:46

against LA. I do not think

49:48

Denver sits our final form yet, which is why I'm

49:50

very iffy on that series in a fun way. Like

49:53

I think it's going to be a fun series. Maybe

49:55

that's a game we could do on Playback,

49:57

a couple of those games, but. Yeah.

50:01

that as a scary the my Denver area but

50:03

a D point the yeah you you can't make

50:05

mistakes run the plows in general but I'm especially

50:07

the matter like that we're down three one and

50:09

be there just a few. The mistake the Lakers

50:11

made. Yeah. I'm.

50:13

And that's a good point you on playback as we

50:15

are watching the games with us on playback is was

50:18

the You Tube channel. ah I can put them on

50:20

acts as well so we work on that but we're

50:22

going to do that so we're going to do that

50:24

for that for some these playoff games here we're going

50:26

to hang out the evenings. We're going to watch games

50:29

we may on nights and has multiple games we may

50:31

be other flip around to a few games to do

50:33

the play by play talk hoops as as can be

50:35

A lot of fun so really continue do that as

50:37

well. We'll let you guys now. Ah when we're going

50:40

to do that we'll probably start rom to because we're

50:42

so close. That starting up anyway. Are

50:44

Carlos said Le Bron trash like Gordon?

50:46

Get that rebound. You

50:49

really needed that rebound that he's talking about.

50:51

The offensive rebound that Gordon got the turn

50:53

into a three. But

50:57

it's not like it was Reggie Jackson. Grandmother.

50:59

Them. right? Away This is Eric Gordon.

51:01

He's a big freak and dude. Ads

51:04

He got the writ like. Deliberately

51:06

to get it. Yes, But

51:09

I also lot thought Le Bron had. A

51:11

fantastic performance in that game. I

51:14

have a hard time. Say. All

51:16

Le Bron Blow it did a mess up that

51:19

play. Yes, But. How mad am I

51:21

gonna be at Le Bron? Because without him, you're nowhere

51:23

close to being in that game. Yeah.

51:26

You know that I rape or the Lakers

51:28

See I see the Trevor. I just thought

51:30

about this because the Jamal Murray shock a

51:32

flashback the my head. On. The irony

51:34

of the season for the Lakers is

51:36

all year. We. Were you.

51:39

Talking. about the Lakers the a stop over

51:41

helping up a shooters and think the only answer.

51:44

And yada yada. If you got rewarded

51:46

or Jamal Murray play. Really?

51:48

Had tomorrow I'm not does not knock on her

51:50

I like if is didn't irony of it didn't

51:52

help. That he is just or

51:55

and I saw the play trade even tried to

51:57

get him to go held. Yeah, very should have.

51:59

Absolutely. Hell. An. Elite Force

52:01

the past I'd like Tcp issue

52:03

ah out of really shot with

52:05

the that from from three. With.

52:08

Hopefully it's a good cause that against the irony

52:10

of the season just popped into my head. I'm

52:12

not slandering Rui, are getting on his case or

52:15

anything. Just. Thought about that. That's hilarious

52:17

how the seats north in the lead kind

52:19

of seats. So. Play that

52:21

I because I, I'm. Picturing. The play

52:23

in my head. As I recall,

52:26

It. With Cp was that the closest pass

52:28

away and then not a corner. I

52:30

believe it was M P. J. Was.

52:33

The and I remember the left corner it may not

52:35

have been other was probably what they say you would

52:37

you would a wound up. If deborah diagram be correctly

52:39

ran I would assume they did. It probably would have

52:42

been mpg either but. What?

52:44

We're talking about what Murray hit and shot. The ball

52:46

went through the basket with three and a half seconds

52:48

left. So. He probably released. It was

52:51

five. So. You're talking about with

52:53

five seconds the passes gonna leave. Murray's had

52:55

a really helps. That if really, how

52:57

to casey be. But. Tory in the second.

52:59

The past leaves Murray's hands. Tory and who

53:02

was right there. his job would have been

53:04

a close out. The case if you said.

53:07

Surveillance. Another pass. Now

53:10

I'm more so say I. It's neither

53:12

like a full commit.the butterfly leads us

53:14

don't something like a small thank god

53:16

that only want or need all that

53:19

I'm was there's they really help you

53:21

damages. Gotta get back. To.

53:23

Kp be maybe to help the help

53:25

or advice that where. You.

53:28

Used on at the drive he passes

53:30

out Tory and kind of stunt at

53:32

Tpp. again me I can think for

53:34

extra seconds. To. Let really recover and

53:37

a play like that. but again just

53:39

the I really just when a point

53:41

that out because who who eats probably

53:43

what it said over hope for Murray

53:45

right there. But. The shock. I was

53:47

lying.actually wasn't it. Because or

53:49

that the Chicago the laws. Are

53:52

you're right. So yeah

53:54

no to ruin over as of effort

53:56

needed over out there. And and also

53:58

the irony that. When.

54:01

Added that point, when the Lakers needed a

54:03

timeout the most, they didn't have one. Without

54:05

season, we've been begging Darvon to use time

54:07

outs and he hasn't. Of.

54:09

Our at. Etti some war is

54:12

over. Darvin is gone. were was Vanderbilt

54:14

Okay lot of people really really mad.

54:16

About. Your dad about not getting and. I

54:20

think that without knowing where Vanda

54:22

was truly at. I

54:24

can't be too upset. I

54:27

don't know. Shot like. Was.

54:30

Vandal one hundred percent. Or was

54:33

he like sixty percent? And

54:35

he's just available break glass and case

54:37

of emergency. If we have to have

54:39

another guy, you can go and. Like

54:42

those are two very different things. And

54:44

without knowing that, I have a hard time being

54:46

too upset with Federal not playing. I

54:49

imagine Vanda with the hundred percent healthy

54:51

with played the pressure was a little

54:54

bit more. Interesting, right?

54:57

But I think vandalise to importance

54:59

of the team's defense to mess

55:01

around if he was really healthy.

55:04

Ah, I'm. Because. He caved. I

55:06

can be seen with the. With. The

55:08

whole our teams are just getting up there. They

55:10

aren't going to garden okay, make them a screen

55:12

I dirt I hate the like do not gonna

55:15

guard I'm argument. Because. There's.

55:18

Tactical. Ways the counter

55:20

that. So. Yeah,

55:22

I really think a band a was

55:24

on two percent. They would have

55:26

messed around. it was of actually play dumb. But.

55:29

Yeah, brushing from for veno and a guy

55:31

I think I would imagine he's that next.

55:33

I don't really see Ben okay moved was

55:36

you really need to sell if you use?

55:38

yeah you'd have any the salary whenever to

55:40

move. I'm living said the irony of Garber

55:42

him in his time outs. Congrats the Nuggets.

55:45

Fingers crossed. Him gets like go before morning.

55:47

While that obviously didn't happen, anything later is

55:49

a disgrace. Why does it has disgraced? I

55:51

think. Given that the last time

55:53

they fired a coach, the coach was at

55:55

the podium still talking to the press. When.

55:58

he found out about it I I

56:01

think the Lakers should Probably

56:03

take a few days just for nothing

56:05

else for appearances sake rather

56:07

than just okay He's gone longer

56:10

than this week this current week sure

56:12

it can be a surprise. It

56:14

could be a disgrace Dante

56:17

said ham needs to go you pay van to big

56:19

money and don't use them in a close-out game We

56:21

need better role players who can hit shots down the

56:23

stretch. We deserve better is die-hard Lakers

56:25

fans You

56:28

think about that? Yeah,

56:31

we deserve a a good coach If

56:39

where did where does Darvin ham rank

56:41

in NBA coaches out of 30? When

56:45

I did my head coaches ranking my

56:47

official one back

56:49

in Early February though whenever

56:52

whenever this is like ironically a week

56:54

before Adrian Griffin got fired. So whenever

56:58

That happened is when I did it. I

57:01

had Darwin in my bottom six like 24

57:05

for 25th, maybe and if I

57:07

had to redo that He

57:09

probably still be around there actually Because

57:11

of the rookie head coaches are like like the

57:13

the interim guys be like, okay, whatever they're in

57:16

a crap situation blah blah blah like

57:19

So bottom four maybe even like between 26 and 30

57:21

probably so

57:25

let me ask you this if the Lakers had a Top

57:30

15 coach let's say

57:32

they had average just and the

57:35

15th ranked coach whoever that would be

57:39

If that person was coaching the team, dude, they beat

57:41

Denver It

57:43

is at least three to going back to LA. Oh Wait

57:49

three two, which way three

57:52

to us So

57:57

you're so we know how we wait wait, I

57:59

will go as far It to say you're

58:01

not even playing Denver right now. Because.

58:03

Not as you would have already have one your

58:05

match up by because you would have had a

58:08

pet her freakin cbc you As you would have

58:10

you would be in the. Probably

58:12

that of rather see the five seats are

58:14

your tie, your pride, play the clippers, your

58:17

plan, the mavs and somehow it okay. Because.

58:19

Broke that that strikes posts and seasons or him

58:21

he does not happen. Happy be of a top

58:24

advantage. To. Our of the middle

58:26

of a human. That's. right?

58:28

You are like by Dallas on fifty games

58:30

you and forty seven. Come on dog. Com

58:34

at at that solenoid. Alive? Say it like

58:36

that? Ah

58:39

that makes it all the more frozen. Okay

58:41

well I'm not going to leave or the

58:43

frustration so here's here's will finish out the

58:45

show with us. As big

58:47

as opposed to be a little bit. Uplifting

58:50

of the stoppers. sports related

58:52

or anything. but so I've

58:54

got. A all of my

58:56

animals I have two dogs o

58:58

two cats. they're all Lakers related.

59:00

Might. Have Studios do is read

59:03

years to Lance Stew who he

59:05

still hanging out here. Is.

59:08

Good. And feisty cause I touched his foot hear. His

59:11

brothers check. I took her. And

59:14

then I've got a couple dogs. I've

59:16

got to Bernese Mountain Dogs. Ah,

59:19

one of them her name is Harper

59:21

of Iran Harper and the boy the

59:23

big boy. his name is Baylor after

59:25

Elgin Baylor. right? And.

59:27

Baylor is. A hundred

59:29

and ten plus pounds. He's.

59:32

Big dude. Big ball of

59:34

fur. Right

59:36

and. He. Is almost

59:38

three years olds Reason: still a young

59:41

dog. right? Relatively young, Adds

59:44

a couple of days ago.

59:47

So. As you listed as two days ago before

59:49

game five. Ah, I was

59:51

in a studio recording and it was around

59:53

lunchtime and I got a text my wife

59:55

that said something's wrong with Baylor. and

59:59

i'm like Oh, okay. What's

1:00:01

going on? And

1:00:04

I wrapped up what I did. I'm like, Oh, maybe he's got

1:00:06

an upset stomach or something. Wrap up what

1:00:08

he did. He can't walk. This

1:00:11

big, this big young dog can't

1:00:14

walk. Like

1:00:16

something is wrong. We

1:00:18

thought I thought, Okay, maybe he heard his

1:00:21

leg, something like that has gone right.

1:00:23

His leg is hurting or something. I

1:00:26

mess him with his legs. I'm checking trying to see

1:00:28

what's going on with I've had dogs my whole life.

1:00:30

I'm doing everything I could. I'm not a vet, but I'm doing everything

1:00:33

I could think of to figure out what's going on. And,

1:00:37

and nothing. It's an I'm

1:00:39

thinking, Oh my God, there's something like neurological going

1:00:41

on here, something like that. And

1:00:45

by that point, it had gotten late enough than today

1:00:47

to where the vet was closed. This was on actually

1:00:49

on Sunday. So the vets closed. And

1:00:53

the next I slept that night, the

1:00:56

night before game five out

1:00:58

in the, in the living room with him, he

1:01:01

could not get up, could not get his legs

1:01:03

under him to stand. When we lifted him up,

1:01:05

his legs would go out like Bambi on ice.

1:01:07

And he'd just fall. And

1:01:10

that's terrifying stuff. And my wife

1:01:12

is ultra connected to this dog,

1:01:15

right? Like she is, this is her dog. This

1:01:17

is what Bernie's mountain dogs do. They launch on

1:01:19

to one person. Like she

1:01:22

has a connection with him. So

1:01:24

she's terrified. The next day,

1:01:26

same thing. He can't get up. I

1:01:28

get up at the crack of dawn. I get

1:01:30

him to the vet. I'm there waiting, right? I've

1:01:32

got to carry this 110 bound dog in. They're

1:01:34

not sure exactly what's going on with them. They're

1:01:37

thinking we're gonna have to have all these tests. My

1:01:39

last dog that passed away. She

1:01:42

was really old, but the

1:01:45

same type of thing, neurological

1:01:47

stuff. She could not get

1:01:49

up. And it

1:01:52

was it was a mess. It was awful. And this is

1:01:54

happening to a young dog here. And

1:01:57

so yesterday morning after game

1:01:59

five. my wife slept in the living room

1:02:01

knowing that I was you know doing

1:02:03

everything for game five and She's

1:02:06

been in tears Most

1:02:08

of the day all that trying to figure

1:02:10

this out what's going on with her dog he's

1:02:13

eating but still can't get up

1:02:15

has no strength in his legs and She

1:02:20

comes in yesterday morning and

1:02:22

wakes me up. I was up till whatever 3

1:02:25

a.m. Something doing doing my stuff and She

1:02:28

wakes me up crying and

1:02:31

she's like sobbing Like

1:02:34

that's the sound I wake up to and my

1:02:36

instant thought is oh my god Well,

1:02:40

what happened? What's going on?

1:02:42

Like I'm like close like

1:02:44

he died But that's

1:02:46

that's what I thought very tears running down her

1:02:48

face and

1:02:52

And I sit up real fast. I go

1:02:54

what what's going on? What what happened and

1:02:56

she points to the other side of the room and

1:02:58

she goes look and I look over and

1:03:01

he's standing there He's

1:03:05

standing there I went oh

1:03:07

my gosh I went Taylor

1:03:10

you're up and he's

1:03:13

back to normal. We still don't know exactly what

1:03:15

is going on what happened or anything like that

1:03:18

But now he's like trotting around. He's back

1:03:20

to being himself All this stuff

1:03:22

again, I don't know that we're out of the woods out of the

1:03:24

woods But he

1:03:26

could walk out in the backyard do all the

1:03:28

stuff he'd normally do. He's eating

1:03:30

his food He's drinking tons of water all

1:03:33

that kind of stuff. It was like coming

1:03:35

off of game 5 I was

1:03:38

already down and That

1:03:40

brief moment of terror as I woke up. I'm like

1:03:43

Coming off of that that tough loss seeing

1:03:45

him standing there. It was

1:03:47

like instant relief It turns out my wife

1:03:49

was crying because she was so happy right

1:03:52

again She's super good like if my wife

1:03:54

if my wife had to decide right? She's

1:03:58

in a life or death situation Situation and

1:04:01

she gets to save either me or the

1:04:03

dog. She's saving the dog, right? Like she

1:04:05

is saving that dog I'm gonna think about

1:04:07

it This

1:04:12

is her dog she's saving the dog

1:04:14

there's no question So

1:04:19

but I was that was like

1:04:22

my reprieve from being upset about the

1:04:25

Lakers lost that everything was looking over

1:04:27

and Baylor's standing there and And

1:04:29

he can finally walk again and he seemingly back to

1:04:32

normal again. We don't know exactly what would happen We're

1:04:34

still waiting test results and stuff like that But

1:04:37

he's back to acting like himself again. So

1:04:39

that was that was like my Silver

1:04:43

lining whatever you want to call it

1:04:45

ray of sunshine my up my uplifting moment

1:04:48

coming off of certainly a tough night.

1:04:50

Oh Yeah,

1:04:52

man, that's awesome. That's awesome That

1:04:55

I mean, I know I just said that's awesome

1:04:58

like seven times now we're making a time but

1:05:00

that that's truthfully like all I can say

1:05:04

It it was definitely a good feeling to

1:05:06

see him standing there and back to himself

1:05:09

so so Baylor is so hopefully okay Elgin

1:05:11

Baylor as as it were and off

1:05:15

we go, so that's that

1:05:17

was the Context

1:05:19

of kind of my world the subplot of my

1:05:21

world going on over the last few days while

1:05:23

all this was happening with the Lakers I'm nervous

1:05:25

as hell about what was going on

1:05:27

with him. So fingers crossed. Hopefully everything is okay

1:05:30

now and and all that and Maybe

1:05:32

he was just dealing with a spinal injury. We think maybe

1:05:34

our other dog like because she gets rough

1:05:36

Maybe she like dove on him or something. I don't know

1:05:38

she gets she likes to Russell and

1:05:40

everything So we don't know exactly

1:05:42

what what happened. Hopefully we'll get some answers, but

1:05:44

what's cool to see and Figure

1:05:47

that would be a good way to leave the

1:05:49

show with something something positive to finish things off

1:05:52

when so many fans are upset right now Again

1:05:57

Ali he sucked me in for a second. I was

1:05:59

like, oh man Like no, do not

1:06:01

tell me this was the uplifting Like

1:06:04

wait a minute. He lied to us

1:06:07

all but you know great.

1:06:09

I had to build I had to build the suspense. Yeah

1:06:12

it's all that it's all the storytelling and that

1:06:15

but Anyway, I

1:06:17

I am excited to give away that Lakers jersey that we

1:06:19

were talking about So that's gonna be coming out a

1:06:21

little later. We'll put that on the next show and Thank

1:06:24

you guys for joining. Make sure you do subscribe

1:06:27

to the Lakers nation YouTube channel youtube.com Lakers

1:06:29

nation. We are not done tons of stuff to cover

1:06:32

Plenty more stories that we have more time for

1:06:34

stories and stuff in the offseason So all kinds of

1:06:36

more stuff coming your way will

1:06:39

be leading up to summer league Of course

1:06:41

the draft free agency all that stuff the

1:06:43

coaching search You said the word summer

1:06:45

league and I got PTSD I feel like I feel

1:06:47

like that's a story you have we have to tell

1:06:49

it some we will oh we will that That

1:06:52

is a tale that will be told there's no question there

1:06:55

And we'll make some new stories. Hopefully this year, too All

1:06:59

right, everybody. Thank you again for joining till

1:07:01

next time. See ya and stay safe