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Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire?

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You need Indeed. Hello

1:10

Lakers Nation. Welcome in. Trevor Lane

1:13

here for lakersnation.com. Big

1:15

off season ahead for the Lakers. We've got a

1:17

ton of things still up in the air for

1:19

LA. Their head coach, who is it going to

1:21

be? What are they even looking for? And

1:24

a head coach, what are they going to do with some

1:26

of the players that we still don't know? Are

1:28

they picking up their player options? Are they not

1:30

LeBron James, DeAngelo Russell, two of the big ones?

1:32

How do they build out the next

1:35

iteration of the team? We're going to

1:37

talk about all that and more with

1:39

our guest today, which is Mark Medina

1:41

does a phenomenal job covering the NBA

1:43

for SportsKita. You've also seen him on

1:45

CBS. You can hear him on Fox

1:47

Sports Radio. Mark, thank you so much for coming

1:49

on. Hey, Trevor, thanks for

1:51

having me. It's always been a treat anytime I

1:54

get to talk Lakers with you. Well,

1:56

I always appreciate it when you come on the

1:58

show. We've got a. big summer

2:00

ahead here for the Lakers. And I guess

2:03

where we could start, it's with,

2:05

I think the first on the to-do list

2:07

for the Lakers, it's the head coaching front.

2:09

I guess first, give me your thoughts. Did

2:11

the Lakers make the right decision in

2:13

moving on from Darvin Ham? Well,

2:17

I think technically it made sense because

2:19

of the fact that when you look

2:21

at the roster, it underachieved

2:23

and, you know, there were adjustments that

2:25

he could have made when it comes

2:28

to rotations and, you know, in-game

2:31

play calling, all those things. But I

2:33

don't think it addresses the majority of

2:35

the problems. You know, Darvin

2:38

Ham was

2:40

attractive enough as a candidate to hire him

2:42

two years ago, and it did get significantly

2:44

worse since then. If anything, he's

2:47

actually gotten better. So

2:50

I think the problem with the

2:52

head coaches, I know a lot of people

2:54

talk about ever since Phil Jackson retired, there

2:57

hasn't been stability, but I think the

2:59

context of that's a little bit different.

3:01

So let's really narrow in on the

3:03

context of since Rob Polinka

3:06

has been overseeing the front office.

3:08

There's been, you know,

3:10

Luke Walton, Frank Vogel, Darvin

3:13

Ham, and now whoever their next future coach

3:15

has been since 2019. And

3:18

so I think that the problem is if

3:20

they're going to choose a certain

3:22

coach and value certain qualities, they

3:25

got to go all in on that. And there

3:27

has to be a level of patience. But that

3:29

being said, he's not above scrutiny, but

3:31

I think the bigger thing is that they

3:33

got to find ways to improve

3:35

the roster. And I'm saying that with

3:38

the perspective that I think philosophically, they

3:40

did take the right route last

3:43

offseason with choosing continuity

3:45

and roster depth over

3:47

getting a third star, most notably

3:49

in either Kyrie Irving or

3:52

Trey Young. But I think

3:55

the lessons from this season is

3:57

that continuity might be good roster.

4:00

might be good but only means so

4:02

much if you have consistently healthy

4:04

players and you also

4:06

have consistent players that can

4:08

ensure that continuity. Well

4:10

and then we also you know one of the criticisms

4:12

of Darvin Ham was that when continuity

4:15

was available he didn't always choose continuity for

4:17

example starting starting Torian Prince to begin the

4:19

season I know that was a topic of

4:21

frustration from within the Lakers locker room not

4:23

just the Torian Prince situation but also later

4:25

on in the season with De'Angelo Russell, Austin

4:28

Reeves, lost starting roles for

4:30

proportions of the season there was some frustration

4:33

with that. Would

4:35

that be the case do you go back to

4:37

continuity this summer or are you at a point

4:39

now where you say look we

4:42

need to add firepower to

4:44

this team and continuity can't be

4:46

the driving force anymore? Yeah

4:49

I think it's a

4:51

layered conversation just like last season

4:53

but I think some of the

4:56

dynamics have changed where the Lakers

4:58

are gonna have up to three draft

5:00

picks on draft night so they have

5:02

more assets at their disposal to

5:04

make a more significant move but

5:06

I think that when we look at

5:08

the history with LeBron James and Anthony

5:10

Davis philosophically they've

5:13

had the most success when

5:16

they've had roster death you

5:18

know that dates back to the championship in 2020 it

5:20

also dates on the

5:24

other end when they made

5:27

the ill-fated trade with Russell

5:29

Westbrook and missed the playoffs and

5:31

so I think that if I had

5:33

to choose one or the other it's

5:35

not necessarily continuity it's more roster depth

5:38

because you can have certain incumbent players

5:40

mixed in with some new guys but

5:43

I think that is the better play than

5:45

getting a quote-unquote third star and not

5:48

having enough reinforcements but again I think

5:51

the complicated thing is is that there is

5:53

a pathway that they could get

5:55

a quote-unquote third star but

5:57

still have enough roster depth that's not just

5:59

just better minimum guys and nothing

6:02

else. So that's the challenge that

6:04

the Lakers have on their hands. But

6:06

I think that even with

6:08

all the criticism that the Lakers for an

6:11

office have gotten over the years, with

6:14

just instability, with the coaching staffs

6:16

and everything else. They

6:18

have been pretty disciplined with

6:21

trying to outline their point of

6:23

attack and having different contingency plans.

6:25

So I suspect

6:28

that they'll have all those

6:30

different combinations and possibilities

6:33

outlined before they

6:35

proceed. Sure, it's a

6:37

very fine line to walk, right? Trying

6:39

to have enough depth while still having

6:41

that top end talent, especially, no, I

6:44

mean, the Lakers, it's in their DNA

6:46

to go after those superstars. Going

6:48

back to the whole like, Darvin Hand coaching

6:50

thing for a moment here. Now that they

6:52

have moved on, they made the decision, again,

6:55

right or wrong, they made

6:57

the decision to move on from Darvin

6:59

Ham. And there were some reasons to

7:01

think they probably knew that they needed

7:03

to make that decision. But now

7:06

you mentioned the turnover at the head

7:08

coach position since Bill Jackson. What

7:11

do they need to look for in order to

7:13

make sure that whoever it is that they pick

7:17

is the guy? Is the guy that's

7:19

gonna, I mean, five years, I guess,

7:21

is a lifetime in the NBA world.

7:24

What do they look for to make sure that whoever

7:26

they hire now is the coach for, say, the next

7:29

five years? Yeah,

7:31

well, in fairness, the Lakers

7:33

haven't indicated anything as far as

7:35

philosophically which way they're leaning. I

7:38

remember talking to some

7:40

executives in past years when the Lakers,

7:43

ironically, were going through coaching searches before.

7:46

And they emphasized to me that

7:49

in general, when there is

7:51

a coaching search instinctively,

7:53

the team will be looking for

7:56

a candidate that has the opposite

7:58

qualities of the coach that

8:00

they just fired. It's just human nature.

8:02

It's the same thing when you have

8:05

a break up. Usually there's reasons why

8:07

the relationship doesn't work. And now you're

8:09

looking for those qualities that we're lacking

8:11

in your next relationship. So what does

8:13

that mean for the Lakers? I

8:15

would think that they would lean

8:17

toward someone who has experience in

8:19

head coaching. But if

8:21

they do decide to go for, say,

8:24

an assistant coach that has good

8:26

credentials, or even someone who doesn't

8:28

have head coaching experience,

8:30

a la JJ Rettick, that they

8:32

would make sure that there's experience on

8:35

his coaching staff. Someone

8:38

like Aron Adams that worked

8:40

well with Steve Kerr over the

8:42

years when he was with the

8:44

Warriors first year out and onward

8:46

of being that veteran sage that

8:48

can give him feedback, as well

8:50

as later on, Mike Brown served

8:53

as that key assistant

8:55

later on under Steve Kerr's tenure

8:57

before he went to Sacramento, where

8:59

he was very established. He knew

9:01

X's and O's and that made

9:03

up for that lack of quote

9:05

unquote head coaching experience. But I

9:09

don't think there's a wrong and

9:11

right answer with this because outside

9:13

of Tyloo, there's no home

9:16

run hire. And the thing with Tyloo is

9:19

I don't think he's going anywhere, being

9:21

at the Lakers or the Clippers exit

9:23

meetings this week, Lawrence Frank made it

9:25

very clear that they want

9:27

to keep Tyloo for a very long

9:29

time. And while it can be technically

9:31

Tyloo's choice to make,

9:33

he still has one year left on his contract.

9:36

And I think that he has

9:38

said publicly that he

9:40

likes the trust that

9:42

the organization's given him in the collaboration.

9:44

So we should just X him out.

9:46

So with that, I don't think there's

9:49

any home run candidates, every

9:51

potential candidate that you see, whether it's

9:53

a proven head coach like a Mike

9:55

Boonholzer, or a good assistant

9:57

coach like a Kenny Atkinson, or someone

10:01

who hasn't had experience coaching the

10:03

NBA but has former experience as

10:06

an NBA player in a bright basketball mind like

10:08

a JJ Rettick. Every one of

10:10

them has pluses and minuses. So I think

10:13

the most important thing is whatever

10:15

lane that the Lakers take,

10:18

they gotta fully embrace it and

10:20

valuing the positive attributes that that

10:22

lane provides and the negatives, they

10:25

gotta put them in a position

10:27

to succeed. So if

10:29

they go the inexperienced route, they

10:31

gotta make sure they give that candidate

10:33

a level of patience but also surround

10:35

them with veteran voices

10:38

around his staff. For

10:40

head coaches like a Mike Boonhoser, he

10:42

ironically was also

10:44

criticized in Milwaukee for not making good

10:46

adjustments and Darvin Hamm was on his

10:49

staff but making sure

10:51

that there's people on his staff that

10:54

are good with those X's and O's. And

10:57

yeah, so that I think that's really

11:00

the main driving force that there can't

11:02

be all this instability and as

11:04

much as the Lakers might want to say, well,

11:06

you know, we're having instability

11:08

because we have high expectations. You

11:11

also have to put that person in a position

11:14

to succeed and again, Darvin

11:16

Hamm, I would, you know, say up front

11:18

like it shouldn't have taken him the first

11:20

half of the season to find his starting

11:22

lineup because it was the same players that

11:24

played for him the first year but

11:27

I don't think that it would have

11:29

dramatically changed their playoff fortunes. They probably

11:31

would have avoided the plan so they

11:33

would have avoided Denver in the first

11:35

round but I don't think they would

11:37

have gotten dramatically far because their roster

11:39

is what it was. LeBron James, Anthony

11:42

Davis, they played, you know,

11:44

as best as can reasonably be. They're

11:46

as healthy as reasonably can be but

11:48

you know, they're they're supporting cast

11:52

is what it is. It was a

11:54

lot of potential but a lot of

11:56

inconsistent play. You know, regardless of whether

11:59

It was partly A. Eric dose

12:01

Darwin's rotations. So.

12:04

When we look at. This.

12:07

Idea. The Jj redick as a candidate.

12:09

You mention that. The. Lakers would

12:11

need to have patience with somebody like

12:13

that. somebody doesn't have coaching experience. They

12:15

wrapped up patients. I. Do.

12:17

They do. They have the ability to be

12:20

patient right now like this that ended up

12:22

itself. Sort. Of yeah. Say.

12:24

Oh is that I a bay are not have a

12:26

negative. To. Perhaps prevent a personally

12:28

Jj redick from from getting the job Like know

12:30

that Le Bron is going to be turning forty.

12:33

I wonder if that patients it like to me.

12:35

I think Jj Redick is gonna have the blow

12:37

them away. In the interview process

12:39

because I don't know that patients can exist.

12:43

Yeah. I think that's awesome way the

12:45

cats wanted to because what he of

12:47

Le Bron on your team ah for

12:49

set the stage of his career. You're

12:51

on a championship window, you're not on

12:54

a rebuild arm. And. I

12:56

think because of that I think

12:58

Jj Redick deserves every. Single.

13:00

Head coaching vacancy that can be available

13:02

to him right now. By. Think

13:04

I would have serious question

13:06

marks. For. This position specifically

13:09

and I think that he would

13:11

do wonders job. Father's.

13:13

Gonna be inevitable learning curves I think

13:15

he's also he would also be be

13:18

put an almost an unwinnable situation of

13:20

having to manage Le Bron James. it's

13:22

you know, It's. Positive that yeah, they've

13:25

done a podcasts ago. They have a respect

13:27

for each other, but that doesn't I can

13:29

only go so far. Ah, as far as

13:31

what it means to be a head coach

13:33

and I think that history has shown. It's.

13:35

Hard to be a head coach of a

13:38

player that's your contemporary is just an unwinnable

13:40

situation. Arm. And so I

13:42

think with that. I.

13:45

Wanted Sink that that's the best choice

13:47

to take. And when I'm talking about

13:49

level pay sincere, it's not about oh

13:51

yeah, let's lay the south for five

13:53

years. In. L or anything like

13:56

that. I think the level patience is

13:58

more of okay we know what his

14:00

this advantages are. So. Let's do

14:02

everything we can. To. Put

14:04

himself in a position to succeed

14:06

and that route game with Darvon

14:08

like I do. Give. The

14:10

Lakers. A little bit of about the doubt that I

14:13

thought that it was the right course to take. With.

14:16

The. Help. Ah, In a

14:18

one and a half continuity and and

14:20

bringing most of the guys back I

14:22

do given the bath of the doubt

14:24

that they try to safeguard against you

14:27

know the actual Russell's weaknesses. most specifically

14:29

with getting cape and saying that didn't

14:31

work out because he wasn't healthy but

14:33

they did of opportunities. To. Change

14:35

things and the trade deadline And so

14:38

things were so urgent that they needed

14:40

they felt like okay we need to

14:42

make this dramatic push or else than

14:45

where was the moose. Leader.

14:47

The trade deadline and again and their

14:49

defense. They. Only have so many

14:51

assets to work with. What this is? Where

14:53

kind of the contradictions run dry here that

14:55

do. They accountability needs to go both ways.

14:58

I think that's that's fair. I think it

15:00

was a tough trade deadline for them. From

15:03

what I've heard by the seeds, the boobs

15:05

that were available were. There.

15:07

There was a high price to pay in order

15:09

to Gems moves and now I now they've set

15:11

themselves up for potential big Summer. Ah,

15:13

That. You know, like you said, that

15:15

they're going to have more assets available in the disposal

15:17

so as like a full kit that? what? What?

15:20

Happens now. What is the path? How

15:22

do they build the next generation of.

15:25

The Lakers. How. How

15:27

do you get this thing? To. The

15:29

point where you are where I me

15:31

right now we're watching Minnesota dismantled Denver

15:33

with their de France were watching. Okay

15:35

see they looked great last night against

15:37

the against them as. What's.

15:40

The path for the Lakers to get themselves up to that

15:42

level because we know that's where they want to be. Yeah.

15:46

Well, they're not gonna get to that

15:48

level as far as. May. become

15:50

it's similar to minnesota oklahoma city preserve

15:52

young team and i don't think it's

15:55

advisable to make some sort of difficult

15:57

decision of all it's trail the brawn

15:59

james and like that's, I

16:02

think, still the best pathway for success, both

16:05

from a basketball standpoint and a business

16:07

standpoint. So I think the low hanging

16:09

fruit with this is that I

16:11

don't think LeBron James is going anywhere. Just

16:14

like, you know, last summer

16:16

when he immediately suggested he might

16:18

retire after the playoffs ended. It's

16:20

the same idea here. No one's actually seriously

16:23

thinking he's going to leave the Lakers, and

16:25

the Lakers are proceeding as if he's going

16:27

to be a Laker. But

16:30

that doesn't mean that they should rest

16:32

on their laurels. I

16:34

think what it entails is that they

16:36

got to make win now moves, as

16:39

long as it's not decimating

16:41

the roster where they don't

16:43

have enough reinforcements and enough

16:45

quality role players to offset

16:47

the possibility that LeBron

16:49

and AD won't be as healthy as they

16:51

would be this season. Because that, you

16:53

know, was a great testament to them,

16:56

but it was also unexpected and also wasn't

16:58

a good sign that even though all

17:01

the everything aligned for them to have

17:03

as good of a season as realistic could be,

17:05

that they still just finished as a seventh seed

17:07

in a first round exit. So that's

17:10

number one. I think number two, it

17:12

seems inevitable. This is the end

17:14

of the D'Angelo Russell era. I mean, I think,

17:16

you know, he's basically insinuated he's going to opt

17:19

out. And while I do give him a lot

17:21

of credit that he's been a much

17:23

improved player, he had

17:25

been a critical piece, you

17:27

know, two seasons ago as

17:30

part of the post-trade

17:32

deadline resurgence, because he was

17:34

the machine that finally

17:36

made the offense a lot more efficient,

17:39

a lot more ball team oriented and

17:42

ball movement oriented than it was under

17:44

Russell Westbrook. I think

17:46

we saw this season that his

17:49

playoff shortcomings are his playoff shortcomings. And

17:52

I think that that's going to dramatically change.

17:55

It's just unrealistic. And so, you

17:57

know, there's a lot of positives from D'Angelo that he

17:59

can overcome. offer in the regular

18:01

season, even the postseason. But

18:03

to get to that next level, they need

18:06

a player that's not going to be as,

18:09

you know, poor when he

18:11

doesn't have good games. So

18:13

I think with that, what can

18:15

they do to do a sign and trade involving

18:18

the Angela? And I don't know the answer to

18:20

that, but that seems to be

18:22

the best course of action beyond

18:24

obviously making sure that LeBron James

18:26

isn't going anywhere. But again, whether

18:29

he opts out or not, I suspect that the

18:31

next course of

18:33

action is they offer him that three year

18:36

deal. And and that's that with

18:39

the big name being out, you know, out

18:41

there right now being Trejo as potential. Now

18:43

he just switched agencies. Maybe that matters. Now

18:45

he's with C A. A. He's not with

18:47

clutch anymore. He just announced that yesterday. Maybe

18:49

that's something that matters. If

18:52

it's Trejo, if that is the

18:54

Lakers best shot at getting a

18:56

third star, should they be

18:58

willing to go all in? And I'm talking about the

19:00

three future first round picks, whatever salaries you have to

19:03

stack up in order to get them is

19:05

is he the guy that they should

19:07

go all in to get or

19:10

do you think it's better to kind of in a

19:12

way keep the powder dry, continue to build depth

19:14

and then try to build your roster moving forward that

19:17

way. And maybe sometime in the future, you'd try to

19:19

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going to bluenile.com. That's

21:00

bluenile.com. Yeah,

21:02

it's a very fair question, very

21:04

difficult one that the Lakers have

21:06

to entertain because I'm a Trey

21:08

Young fan, great playmaker, great shooter.

21:11

He has improved somewhat as a defender, but

21:13

even with him pairing with John

21:15

T. Murray, whether you know

21:17

some of it's been injuries, but even when they've

21:20

been healthy together, it

21:22

hasn't been the same kind of effectiveness

21:25

that the Hawks certainly envisioned. That

21:28

finally there would be more help for

21:30

him. They would start winning basketball games

21:32

again. And I had that

21:34

same concern if the Lakers

21:36

were to get Trey Young, even though

21:38

he's with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, more

21:40

accountability. I think that it

21:43

is a Trey they should be willing to make,

21:45

but they have to make sure that it's one

21:48

thing to give up draft picks, but that

21:50

they're having good role players

21:52

to again, make it about it's

21:54

a complete team than just a

21:57

three star team. complicated

22:00

variable to that is we don't know what

22:03

the other potential options are. I mean, people

22:05

are obviously throwing out Donovan

22:08

Mitchell as a possibility, but I

22:11

don't suspect that they're gonna get

22:13

past the Boston Celtics in the second

22:15

round. But even though that

22:17

would then reinforce Donovan Mitchell hasn't gotten

22:19

past the second round of his career,

22:21

I think

22:24

that that doesn't necessarily guarantee that

22:27

all of a sudden he wants out of

22:29

Cleveland because they've been building

22:31

something good. They have a really good team

22:33

in and of itself. You never discount it

22:35

cuz it's the Lakers, but it's

22:38

hard to really answer that question

22:40

knowing if there are gonna be other

22:42

options there. If there are gonna be

22:44

other options there, I

22:47

think it's of the Lakers hope that

22:50

they have that because there's a lot of

22:52

question marks around Trey Young.

22:54

But if Trey Young is the only option,

22:57

they do have to seriously consider it

22:59

so long it's not about getting

23:01

him and then hoping that they fill

23:03

out the roster. With just bet minimum

23:06

guys, that's not gonna work. Not

23:09

the same player, but we went down that path

23:11

with Russell Westbrook and that was- Yeah. That was,

23:13

I don't think anybody is in any hurry to

23:15

revisit that. So I think you're right. You have

23:17

to be careful if you do it. You have

23:19

to make sure that you've got depth

23:21

around those guys still or at least a

23:24

reasonable amount of depth around those three if

23:26

you're gonna do something like that. Let's

23:28

say it is Donovan. Let's say Donovan Mitchell, the

23:31

other name that's out there, Lowry Markin and his

23:33

kind of a floater, who knows what Danny Angel

23:35

is gonna do with him. But if the three

23:37

possibilities, let's say, are Lowry Markin and Donovan Mitchell,

23:39

Trey Young, how would you rank those guys

23:41

without knowing obviously what the offers are just

23:43

in terms of who you would

23:46

prefer to see in purple and gold? Yeah,

23:49

I would rank Donovan Mitchell, Trey Young, and

23:51

the Lori Markin. I love what Lowry Markin

23:54

in this game. I would just have concern

23:56

about roster redundancy. I mean, the Lakers have

23:58

plenty of front court help already. because

24:00

it starts with LeBron James and

24:03

Anthony Davis. So I think the priority would

24:05

be about trying to find

24:07

an elite point guard if they do the

24:09

third star route. That doesn't necessarily mean

24:11

they have to do that. There can be

24:13

some value in doing

24:15

let's have, let's have

24:18

it be a two star system. And

24:20

then, you know, the third star

24:22

is composite character X of a

24:25

handful of good guys. As long

24:27

as they know that there's a

24:30

game to game consistency of one or two

24:32

of those guys, it just has to be

24:34

the right combination. I think that was the

24:37

lesson of this season. And again, I

24:39

understand and was fully supportive, you

24:41

know, as far as my opinion, that

24:43

that was the better play than trying

24:45

to go after Kyrie or

24:49

Trey Young last summer. But as

24:51

we saw, the combination of injuries,

24:53

kind of the roster strengths with

24:55

both, you know, D'Angelo, Austin

24:58

Reeves, Rui Acha Mora, and

25:00

the mismanagement of rotations, that

25:03

really create a bad combination of

25:05

continuity having its limits. Certainly

25:09

going to be a challenge now for Rob to

25:11

look at this summer to put together a roster

25:13

that, again, has that cohesiveness, that chemistry, that secret

25:16

sauce, whatever it is, where you can get the

25:18

right combination of players together while balancing the do

25:20

you go for a third star model, do you

25:22

go for depth, what does all that look like?

25:24

There's going to be a lot in

25:27

the air for this team. Let's finish

25:29

with that. How much of this,

25:31

because you mentioned that there's blame that can go on

25:33

to Darvin Ham, but blame that can go elsewhere as

25:35

well. We've talked a lot about the players. How much

25:37

pressure is on the Lakers front office? How much pressure

25:39

is on Rob Polinka heading into this summer? Yeah,

25:43

there's always going to be pressure because

25:45

it's the Lakers. I don't think there's

25:47

pressure as far as job evaluations. Janie

25:49

Buss has made it clear to me

25:52

when I've talked with her through different

25:54

interviews the last two years that she

25:56

has been supporting Rob

25:58

Polinka through every. thing, you

26:00

know, through the initial success with

26:02

the 2020 championship and then even

26:05

with the Russell Westbrook

26:07

trade, I think, you know, from

26:09

her perspective, um, a

26:11

lot of it would had to do more

26:13

with the injuries than the

26:16

rust fit. But one thing

26:18

that she credited credited Rob

26:20

last summer was that he

26:23

was willing to correct a mistake.

26:25

And that is a value in a GM that,

26:27

you know, inevitably you always make

26:30

moves. Sometimes the right moves, sometimes the

26:32

wrong moves, but there's a good quality

26:34

in knowing how to correct a mistake.

26:36

So yes, there's pressure from

26:38

the fan base pressure from

26:40

LeBron James pressure from just the

26:43

idea of when you're working

26:46

for the Lakers, you want to

26:48

put together a championship caliber product

26:50

because that's what it's about, especially

26:52

with the fact that the Lakers

26:54

are tied for the Celtics for

26:56

most championships right now. But

26:59

I don't think there's pressure from like

27:01

job evaluation standpoint. Gini bus has been

27:03

very supportive of him. Well,

27:06

we'll see ultimately what the Lakers do this

27:08

summer. If they're able to put

27:10

together a great team for next

27:12

season, there's again a lot of decisions as we've

27:14

talked about over the last, you know, 25 minutes

27:16

here, a lot of decisions that the Lakers are

27:19

gonna have to make that will chart the course

27:21

for this team's future, both near term and long

27:23

term. So a lot of the line, of course,

27:25

we're gonna be with you every step of the

27:28

way, breaking down all of the latest Lakers news,

27:30

everything that's going on, what choices the team is

27:32

making, what options they have available to them. Mark,

27:34

thank you so much for coming on. I

27:36

really appreciate it. Really enjoyed this

27:38

conversation. Always appreciate your insight.

27:42

Trevor, appreciate being able to be a part of it

27:44

and appreciate all the great work that you do. Well,

27:47

thank you. Thank you very much for that.

27:49

Everybody, make sure you do go follow Marco,

27:51

find him on CBS LA. You guys can

27:53

watch him there. You can listen to him

27:55

on Fox Sports Radio. Don't forget to subscribe

27:58

Right here to the Lakers Nation YouTube. Journal to

28:00

Birds Time everybody. C. Up. As

28:02

they say,