00:00I want to get into the Lakers.
00:02There's a trade that happened earlier today.
00:05Multiple moves that happened with the Lakers
00:08that officially have my attention.
00:11The L.A. Lakers acquired center Walker Kessler
00:16from the Utah Jazz for a couple of first rounders
00:21and a couple of first round pick swaps.
00:25Then Kessler agreed to a new four-year, $130 million contract.
00:34So that's $130 million for Walker Kessler.
00:39And then, you saw it on the board right there,
00:42the Lakers did not stop.
00:45I mean, Rob Palenka was going to shop until he was going to drop.
00:48Mahmoud comes over, and we're talking about a big,
00:51we're talking about a center who shoots 40% from three.
00:55Former Nick Quinton Grimes is coming over.
00:58Colin Sexton is very talented coming over.
01:01And honestly, everyone knows,
01:04so I'm really allowed to say this, okay?
01:07I love LeBron James.
01:08I'll always and forever love LeBron James,
01:11and I've defended, at the end of the day,
01:14the resume, when you take a look at it,
01:16of LeBron in Los Angeles the last eight years,
01:19anyone who spins it any other way is just a hater,
01:23not paying attention, remember what the Lakers were,
01:25the five seasons with the chaos and the garbage and nonsense,
01:28not making the playoffs, winning 30% of their games
01:30before LeBron came to town.
01:33The Lakers are better today than they were yesterday.
01:36Walker Kessler in isolation is better for the Lakers
01:40and Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves than LeBron James.
01:44Then you have Mamu and you have Grimes and you have Saxon
01:48and you put them in a blender.
01:50I'm telling you right now, Walker Kessler, by the way,
01:53is like right out of central casting
01:55in terms of what you want in a modern day NBA big.
01:59And according to multiple reports,
02:02when Luka Doncic met with Ron Palenka
02:04and kind of went over what the future would look like
02:07for the Lakers, he said,
02:09I'd love to get someone like Walker Kessler.
02:11I mean, we're talking about a big man who could shoot.
02:14He rebounds the basketball scores.
02:16I think you'll see that points per game average
02:19jump instantly into the 14, 15 point per game range
02:25because Luka Doncic obviously lights up a scoreboard.
02:28He gets everyone involved.
02:31So when you have Kessler in the mix,
02:34when you have Mamu in the mix,
02:36when you have Austin Reeves back in the fold,
02:39when you understand and you almost need
02:42to kind of jog the mental Rolodex, right?
02:45And remember who Luka Doncic is
02:47and you bring in veterans like Grimes and Saxon
02:51and you bring in Mamu.
02:53This team, I think, is going to be dynamite this year.
02:56And the key to the whole thing is Luka.
03:01Let's not pretend that Luka Doncic is some kind of scrub.
03:05Let's not pretend that Luka Doncic is just a pretty good player.
03:09He's one of the handful of best players in the entire league.
03:13And when you let LeBron go,
03:15and that's kind of one where, you know,
03:18obviously it's kind of like the boyfriend, girlfriend's
03:22at the end of high school
03:23and, you know, no one wants to break up with anyone.
03:25You want to make sure everyone's still friends
03:27and everyone's still in the group chat.
03:28That's kind of how the Lakers and LeBron broke up yesterday.
03:32This Luka's team!
03:33It became Luka's team
03:34the minute Rob Palenka made that trade
03:36in the middle of the night
03:37before the Super Bowl a couple of Februaries ago.
03:39Luka's pointing.
03:41He's pointing at his team.
03:43Luka Doncic is one of the best players
03:45to build around in the entire NBA.
03:47He lost weight.
03:48He's in better shape.
03:49And if you just take LeBron,
03:52and it might be tough for some people,
03:53LeBron is LeBron, and I love LeBron,
03:57and continue to defend what he did with the L.A. Lakers,
04:01his team is going to be deeper,
04:03and it's going to be built around Luka,
04:06and you don't have to wonder
04:08what Luka and Reeves can do
04:11when LeBron's not there.
04:13Remember the beginning of the month of March
04:15when James was out?
04:17And again, I want to stress this before it's clipped,
04:20I am not minimizing James in Los Angeles.
04:23I will continue to defend them.
04:25I love what the Lakers did.
04:27And I think sometimes in the NBA,
04:30people get duped by monster names.
04:33I love what they did with the two bigs.
04:36How many times over the last two years
04:38did the Lakers fail regular season, postseason,
04:41when they didn't have the requisite bigs?
04:43J.J. Redick's part of this.
04:46J.J. Redick, I think, is a fantastic coach.
04:49First year, had some growing pains,
04:50especially in the playoffs.
04:51J.J. Redick, to me, was top three
04:54for Coach of the Year this past year,
04:56and his X's and O's are great.
04:58Do you know what Rob Palenka just did?
04:59Think about this concept.
05:00He got players to play around Luka
05:04and players who will excel,
05:06smart basketball players,
05:08winning basketball players,
05:09who fit around Doncic and Reeves.
05:13What a concept.
05:15I love this.
05:16I just want to make sure no one thinks
05:18I'm throwing shade in the direction of LeBron James.
05:20I'm not screaming, plan a parade.
05:23Maybe this all pays off 2027, 2028.
05:27I'm not telling you OKC and San Antonio
05:30are shaking in their boots.
05:31Lakers are better.
05:33Walker Kessler is a perfect fit.
05:35Mamu's a perfect fit.
05:37Grimes, Sexton, perfect fits.
05:40Deeper team, more versatile team,
05:44more athletic team,
05:45better down low, better bigs,
05:48bigs who can shoot from the outside
05:50and stretch the floor.
05:51What's not to love here?
05:53There's a plan.
05:54They saved $50 million in gap space
05:57when LeBron left.
05:58I love it.
05:59I absolutely love it.
06:00I love it.
06:01I love it.
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