00:00 ending loss for LA to Denver and LeBron said, um, took a pause for a couple of seconds and
00:10 said I'm not going to answer that. So I ask you, Donnie, because LeBron did not answer.
00:17 What do you think is next for LeBron James and the Lakers?
00:21 He's staying in Los Angeles and will apply pressure to the Lakers to make sure they draft
00:25 them and they will do that. And also when you take a look at, you know, the whole bus
00:29 legacy, right? Starting with Dr. Jerry bus. I mean, he was fantastic in the 1980s, keeping
00:33 core players together before the salary cap, making sure the Lakers were that superstar
00:37 brand in basketball, regardless of what their record was. Now, having said that under Dr.
00:42 Jerry bus in the eighties and early nineties, they always had a good record with magic Johnson
00:46 and the boys out there running that fast pace with Pat Riley. I get that. But also when
00:50 you turned it over to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, they eventually dealt Shaquille O'Neal
00:54 to the Miami heat, which again made some sense for them because they say, you know, he's
00:57 going to be aging here soon. We're really going to focus on guard play of Kobe Bryant
01:01 and it worked out in spades because Kobe was an absolute superstar. But hear me out on
01:04 this as Kobe started to get older in age, he was still a box office draw. And that's
01:09 a big part of what the Los Angeles Lakers actually are. So I used to get a kick out
01:13 of the Kobe Bryant holding the Lakers hostage by going like, I don't care what the salary
01:17 cap is. You will give me the most amount of money you can, even if it means it's going
01:21 to hurt this team. But I'm star power and people will watch. And it worked out. The
01:25 arena sold out. They're getting national highlights, even if the Lakers really weren't
01:28 perennial, even playoff contenders at this point. So that's why I bring up LeBron James
01:33 now. He's still box office power in the NBA and the Lakers need superstars. Like what's
01:37 going to work for the Lakers? Hey, LeBron, we're not going to draft your son here to
01:40 keep you, even though you probably have another two really good seasons left on your, you
01:44 know, legs at this point. We're not going to do that. And we'll move here or you'll
01:47 move on and we'll see what we can do at that point. I don't think that's going to happen.
01:51 So for me, the best spot for LeBron James is the Lakers. Also, Ben, keep in mind this.
01:55 Let's bring up Shaquille O'Neal again. Do you remember like he ended his career in like
01:59 Boston and Cleveland and Phoenix here? Like LeBron James doesn't need to say, I'm going
02:04 to opt out of my contract, go play for the Boston Celtics, be a fifth man or a sixth
02:09 guy coming off the bench to pick up a championship. The one thing that we do know when you add
02:12 to legacy, like, OK, how many rings does he have? People like, well, yeah, he went to
02:16 Boston here. It was one of the last part of his career and sort of cheated the salary
02:19 cap because he has so much money already and just tried to get an extra two rings to catch
02:23 Michael Jordan. Stay in Los Angeles. Your legacy is now with the Lakers. Stay there
02:27 and see what you can do.
02:29 Yeah.
02:29 (upbeat music)
02:31 (upbeat music)
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