The Lakers Are Praying For Luka's Early Return

So let's talk about the Rockets, Lakers then, specifically with LeBron, because we know that we are going to enter this postseason with LeBron at the forefront of the Lakers.

Lukadoncic is not going to start these playoffs with, uh, the Lakers.

Austin Reeves is not going to start these playoffs with the Lakers.

Um, based on previous timelines of similar injuries, you'd be hard pressed to think they'd be back.

At all in this series, maybe the back end.

I get you're looking at me skeptically.

I'm looking at you because did those other injured people go to Europe for plasma treatments?

I got some lowdown on the whole treatment situation, if you would like me to share.

Um, so do you have charts?

I didn't, didn't have a chart today, but I'll, I'll, I'll turn up a chart during these playoffs.

Don't worry.

Um, so the reason why Kobe went to Europe all those years ago, the reason why Luca went home to Europe is that the stem cell treatments and platelet-rich plasma treatments, um, they're able to do much more in Europe.

Our politics here in America.

have made stem cells a controversial topic.

And that in Europe, they have sort of conquered that issue.

And they will give athletes better treatment that in some cases have cut recovery time in half.

So, then it becomes 2 to 3 weeks instead of 4 to 6 weeks.

Will all that happen?

I don't know.

How safe will the Lakers play it with a guy who this is his 2nd injury to that hamstring this season.

Um, but if he does, he's supposed to be back in LA not that long from now.

He had, he's, he's right now doing, I believe, his 2nd round over there.

Um, he went home in between, then 2nd round over there, then back in LA and it's supposed to be back in LA soon.

I, I don't, I don't doubt, like, I should say I don't know.

I'm not a medical expert, especially not of PRP therapies, but like I can see a scenario where the healing is accelerated, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're basketball ready, you know, especially with an injury that gets reaggravated.

I don't know.

I don't know how the Lakers like, is he still playing with the same burst?

Is he still using, having the same movements, um, offense.

Defensively and defensively, can he do the same things on the floor?

That also, Luca has a long runway in Los Angeles, which I'm sure we're about to talk about.

So do you burn it this playoffs by putting him in a potentially bad injury position and, you know, the gauntlet that team has to play going forward in these playoffs, or?

Your heart, I mean, look, I was among the people saying the Celtics shouldn't have brought back Jayson Tatum, so I was wrong on that one, missed on that one.

Jason Tatum, pretty good player, uh, but it, let, let's assume that Luca doesn't play and that Reeves doesn't play.

This is the LeBron show.

He's back in that role, putting the cape back on the 2016 LeBron, the guy that was, was it 2015 or 2016 when Kevin Love went down and then Kyrie went down.

Was it, I think it was 2015 maybe, uh, the 19793 win Laker team, I think they went up against or against the.

Now, which one was it the one of the Thunder teams they went up against or the, the Warriors teams they went, um, either way, like that version of LeBron is going to have to come back for this, uh, postseason.

How far can LeBron Take this team.

He did such an admirable job of sliding into that 3rd option role, embracing his inner spot up shooter, his inner screen setter, his inner roller, uh, reducing his number of shot attempts.

Now, the Lakers are turning to him and saying, hey, man, we need you.

Need you to have the ball in your hands, increase your touches, increase your shots, do all those things again.

Now, I think he's playing the right team.

To maybe bust.

Well, I, I say that only because the Rockets are flawed.

Like if he was playing a Denver team in the first round, San Antonio in the first round, even Minnesota , I think in the first round, I think they'd have some big problems because the Rockets are , at least offensively, the Kevin Durant show.

That that creates an opening there for LeBron to maybe do something special.

What do you think the odds of that are?

What, what do you expect from LeBron this postseason?

Look, there was a time, and you talk about the 2015 finals , you talk about even the 2019 playoffs where it was sort of like.

You know, that was the JR Smith, LeBron, what are you doing pose where I personally would have gotten it LeBron more help if I was running that team, but you know, they wanted that Nets pick that led to what Darius Garland, who they traded away didn't go, no, it led to, um, not even, uh, Collin Sexton is who that they were so desperate to hang on to.

That's right, to not possibly get a second title and prove ownership right.

I'm Sorry, that was Kyrie that pushed some of that though, didn't he?

Didn't he want to be traded then?

No, no, no.

So Kyrie, I'm talking about two different things.

So Kyrie, yes, wanted to be traded.

You don't have to trade him, by the way.

Kobe wanted to be traded, went on the radio and said he wanted to be traded, and they didn't trade.

People in LA choose not to remember that though.

People in LA, they talk about loyalty with Kobe.

It's like they forget certain pockets of Kobe's career when he absolutely positively wanted out of LA.

I mean, again, just because I think Kyrie had a couple of years left on his deal.

I think there was reporting that he was threatening to get knee surgery if they didn't trade him.

OK, fine, have knee surgery.

That's a Shaq.

Who cares though?

Like, so you missed the 1st 3 months of the season.

You've got LeBron.

Like, I don't, I don't.

What was Shaq's great line.

Like, I got hurt on company time.

I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna recover on company time.

Um, I, I don't think they had to trade Kyrie, and I think that the Kyrie LeBron thing could have gotten worked out.

I mean, certainly in later years they've both said they wish they had approached that differently.

Um, and then certainly once they got to LeBron's last year there, even though the writing was on the wall that he was going to leave and ownership was like, we're not going to let him leave with, you know, the cupboard bare again.

We're not doing that the way he did last time.

I just, I thought it was a huge mistake.

That team got to the finals.

If he had had a little more help, I think that that could have been an interesting series.

And I, I just, I, They didn't want to do it on principle, and it got them nowhere.

So, um, I think LeBron being that guy who could do it then, who could do it, you know, in 15 with a bunch of guys around him hurt, uh, not win the title, but carry a playoff series, that LeBron is gone.

We all know that.

The question is, can he get enough help from the guys who are left against, as you say, a flawed team with no point guard, um, They make it out of this round.

DeAndre Ayton is the answer to that question.

I don't know how he's going to play.

I just don't.

Yeah.

I, uh, I, while the Rockets are flawed offensively, what they are gonna do is gas LeBron out.

Like they have got Ahman Thompson, they have got Tarry Eason, they have got Jashaun Tate if you want to use him.

They have got Jabari Smith.

They've got a whole bunch of long athletic, defensive-minded guys who can press up on LeBron.

60-70 feet from the basket and do what the Lakers did to KD in the last make his life miserable.

Try to exhaust him because without Luca and without Reeves there is no secondary ball handler out there, not somebody you trust reliably.

And at some point Kinnard not doing it for you.

Luke Kinnard, nice spot up shooter, not the, not the ball handler, I think that they were looking for, um.

The, the minutes LeBron doesn't play.

Who's scoring?

Where's the ball going?

Like, are we running plays for picking and Smart?

I'm not picking a Lakers team in this series.

You asked me if there was a chance that LeBron could carry them.

I'm saying the conditions under which I can see that happening are if DeAndreton has a knockout series and they get some like timely look in our baskets or that last minute whatever.

And then look, Houston has not shown the fortitude as a team this season, especially since the Kevin Durant burner.

Um, to be like, we're all playing together no matter what.

We're in it to win it or die trying or whatever.

I just, you know, he has made some questionable coaching decisions.

I don't understand for a coach I really respect.

Um, do I think it's impossible for the Lakers to win?

Absolutely not.

Do I think they're going to win?

Probably not.

You know, I am interested though how fast Luca or even Austin comes back.

We'll have to see.

Austin could be interesting, um.

I don't know a ton about that oblique injury and Like how much is it what you're playing through, how much pain you're playing through, how much is it like, you'd have to risk the reaggravation.

The hamstring though, is an injury that we know gets reaggravated.

We've seen it this season, get reaggravated within some prominent players.

I'm, I'm leery about Luca coming back with that type of issue there.

But LeBron, I mean, look, it'd be a feather in LeBron's cap, even if he can just lead this team out of the first round, get them to Oklahoma City in the second round, a team that Lucas had success against in the past, not recently, not this season, but he's had some success against the past.

I don't know.

Maybe, maybe, but I think the chances are very low.

I think, I think how the Rockets are going to play LeBron defensively is they're gonna be physical with him.

They're gonna tax him.

They're gonna force somebody else to beat them , somebody else to be the ball handler, maybe see some Bronnie James in this series.

I think we will, yeah.

So my question to you is, if that all happens, and that is the most likely scenario, right, and the Rockets win.

How does that affect LeBron staying in LA?

Nothing.

Something, everything.

I don't know.

I mean, I, I think we talked about this before.

Like one of the, uh, goals, I think, of this Lakers postseason was to collect data, you know, let, let's see what our offense looks like with LeBron, Luke, and Reeves in the playoffs.

Let's see what, how vulnerable really are we defensive.

Yes, will this kind of mix of a zone work in the playoffs with LeBron?

I think that if Luca, if it's close in the last 5 minutes, I bet on Luca, like all that stuff.

Yeah, this deprives them of that information.

So I think it's a tough call.

Like, I mean, you probably get asked all the time.

I do too, like what's LeBron gonna do?

Where's he gonna wind up?

I have no idea, no idea, because I don't know what LeBron is prioritizing right now.

Is it money?

Is it location?

Is it a chance to win?

I don't know.

I don't know where his head's at with all this.

He can absolutely , if he wants to, if he doesn't care about the money, go anywhere to play for any team.

If he wants to go to Golden State, play with Steph, make less money, great.

You want to make the minimum going to Cleveland, make less money.

Not gonna do that, but I'm saying he, I think there are teams that would not be in the LeBron James sweepstakes for the first time in his career.

It's not a situation where teams would be like, sure, absolutely, he's willing to play for 3 to $5 million we'll take him.

He is, you mean like contending teams that would say that.

I think that he is such a big presence.

I think that a lot of teams feel like they have their core.

They have young, younger than him leaders.

They want to stay empowered.

I don't think it's a 30 team buffet for him, but I do think he certainly has a ton of choices, and I .

I, I'm, I'm super curious.

And also, by the way, he could retire.

You don't believe that though, right?

Like, don't you believe like there's like a documentary coming on the last year?

Like I just don't think that, first of all, he's had cameras and his own cameras around for years.

So pretending that he doesn't have enough for a documentary is hilarious.

And by the way, he could have none of that, just what people have randomly shot on their iPhones and every streaming service.

would give up money for a documentary on him.

So that is not a factor.

The quote, LeBron needs a retirement tour, I actually don't think is a factor.

He's gotten, no, he's gotten plenty of love at all of these stops that he's been at, especially in the back half of the season.

I don't think it's fun for these guys to have a retirement tour anymore.

Why do they do it though?

Like Kobe did it.

I think that Kobe was a great example to other players.

Why not to do it?

Why not to do it?

It was, it was a bit like when you're on, like, I don't know how many games the Lakers won that year, but it was a, it was they were a 500.

I was gonna say it was embarrassing.

I remember talking to Kobe at the time, and he was, he wasn't happy.

Kobe's a proud, was a proud guy.

He didn't want to get a rocking chair presented to him.

That wasn't fun for him.

So I, I just, I.

I think that is an overestimation too of people.

LeBron needs the attention.

He wants it.

Trust me, LeBron has gotten plenty of attention this season.

He will continue to get attention, whatever he wants to do next.

I don't think that's a factor.

I think his competitiveness and desire to still keep playing basketball is a huge factor.

He's still a great player.

He's a top 25 player in 100%, and I think he knows it.

And I think the idea of walking away from it.

And I also, like, I'm going to psychoanalyze someone from an armchair, you know, millions of feet away because my rocking chair, we both get a rocking chair.

Um, you know, I have not talked to him about this, but I've just, I've covered him since he was 16 years old.

He has been an elite basketball player since he was what, 11 or 12.

The pattern with guys who are like.

That where that good, that young, that famous is they don't know who they are without the game.

This is not special to LeBron.

I am not giving a LeBron psychoanalysis.

I'm just saying that that is something that is a very scary ledge to jump off of, and I think that could be a factor in like, uh, let's, let's push that.

Let's play it one more year sort of thing.

Do you believe that team ownership.

Will play a role.

I know he says that he's not interested anymore in the Vegas stuff that was in the water supply for a couple of years because he put it in the water supply.

He's the one that came out and said, I want on the team out there.

Now he's backed off that.

I'm not sure I really believe that.

I, I wonder what's going on behind the scenes as these ownership groups are forming as we speak, uh, for Seattle, of course, but mostly for Vegas.

I think the competition is gonna be a lot fiercer for the Vegas franchise than it is, uh, for Seattle.

Do you think that's a variable in all this?

If somebody comes, comes out, somebody come, a billionaire comes to the forefront and says, we want you to be part of this group.

Do you think that if somebody buys the Las Vegas franchise, they will not knock 1% off for LeBron down the road?

Raiders did for Brady down the road the way the Raiders did for.

Oh yeah.

Oh, they would, they, yeah, but maybe, but maybe it's like he wants to get in now and it creates like, I don't know, maybe why is that important?

And by the way, the expansion team is going to do very poorly for the first few seasons.

He doesn't need to be associated with that.

He doesn't need to be Michael Jordan in Washington trying to run that team.

So Michael Jordan came in like to came in on the fly to a Wizards team, right?

Like maybe if you're LeBron, it's more, and I'm now we're just in the land of speculation.

I just don't think it's, I don't, I don't think it's, I know.

that you would love this to be a factor because you would like to move to Las Vegas, but I don't think that it is going to be a factor.

I think that Las Vegas with or without LeBron, could he, could LeBron eventually own part of one of the Las Vegas franchise?

Absolutely.

Do I think he needs to retire now to do it?

No, of course not.

He's just so the reason I bring up the documentary stuff is like he's such a heady businessman and like a documentary on his final season would be massive, like would be so damn big.

Like a film, let me tell, assure you, the film is in the can, to use the old Hollywood expression.

The proverbial film, because it's not on film anymore.

They've got it already.

If he needs that documentary, which by the way, he doesn't need it, it would be nice.

They've got it.

And unlike with Michael Jordan, they have set it up that they own the footage and therefore, you know, Michael certainly had a, had a clause for the Last Dance.

Michael had a clause where he had to give the OK to release the footage.

And I believe he had some say in like the cut and watching it, but he did not have complete control.

And I think LeBron, as you say, very savvy, the people around him, very savvy.

A, getting the money from whatever documentary, 100% as opposed to Michael Jordan didn't get the money.

This was an ESPN and NBA Films project.

Um, and also having complete control over the story that's told, um, is appealing to him.

And they will have that whenever he decides to go.

I was giving no real credence to the Golden State thing.

People have been trying to change my mind on that.

I, I just don't know if he's gonna want to do it.

I don't know if Golden State is desperate to do it.

Um, it depends on what that's what I mean.

I, I, I think Golden State is more right.

I think Golden State is more interested in being competitive in Steph's final years than running like a retirement tour for Steph and LeBron, which is what that would be.

Um, no, if they can't get anyone good this summer.

And the Lakers take a while, which they're going to, to decide what they want to do because they basically have to get Austin's contract settled and the bird rights and all of that.

Go see who else they can get.

Oh, I, I agree.

I just, they've got to, I think they, I think they can't sign LeBron and then sign Austin to the amount of money they need to sign.

So they've got to get the Austin thing situated.

Then they want to see who they can put around Luca that like hit the Dallas team that got to the finals.

Is going to make him better and the kind of team that does well around him.

And then the conversation is, LeBron, here's how much money we have left for you.

So it could be at that point.

Golden State is also sort of, we've exhausted all of our options.

We don't have anyone.

Do you want to come join Jimmy and Steph and Draymond on the old guys, whatever, but I, I don't know.

I don't know.

I.

Jimmy coming back like midseason from that kind of injury, it's, that's, they're not winning.

They're not winning that group is not winning in, in in 2027.

That group is not winning.

It would have been the most dominant team in the league years ago, but I'd like to see him finish his career in Cleveland.

That's just my personal preference.

Finish your career.

Uh, in the Eastern Conference on a team that you could help, you could absolutely help, and in a city that, that reveres you, right?

Like it's different out here in LA.

LA fans like LeBron.

I don't think they love LeBron out here.

They're Kobe, like even it's so weird being around some of the Kobe fans, some of which I'm.

One of which I'm now married to, like the Kobe fans that like they, they are, are just, it's not they don't like LeBron, but like it's Kobe first no matter what.

He will always be number one to, Laker fans out here in Los Angeles.

There's Lakers fans who will still put Magic as number one, and LeBron has to be a distant third in their hearts, because I mean these guys are drafted there.

They spent their whole careers there.

LeBron came in, gave him 89 good years.

Now it's pretty damn good.

I.

I'd like to see, I like the idea of going back to Cleveland.

One last hurrah, play in front of fans that worship you.

I, that to me makes.

Did you see what LeBron said the other day though?

I'm curious which part.

I saw a couple of things.

So, you know, he went on a podcast.

He talked about Memphis should move to Nashville, and he talked about, yes, he talked about, he says he, I can't say I listened to the entire podcast.

I will go back and do that.

But he says that he also said he didn't like playing in Milwaukee, which I'm sure he said.

Um, he certainly doubled down on it.

When pressed on it, he said, Yeah, I, I'm, I'm the age I'm at.

I'm 41 years old.

I don't like playing here anymore.

Like, he's like, the hotels are bad, and I don't love the trek and the arenas, you know, whatever, whatever.

I don't like playing in Milwaukee either.

And then the last time he was pressed on it, he said, I don't like going home and I'm from there.

I don't like playing there.

Like, Cleveland, does that influence how he feels about next year?

I don't know.

Maybe we'll see.

To me, did that knock Cleveland off the board for next year?

We'll see.

I don't know.

I think the Rockets-Lakers series, no matter how good or bad the basketball is, is going to be very interesting .

I think it'll have a decent amount of ripple effect on the rest of the league, and I'm curious, wouldn't it be a great story if LeBron can do it, if DeAndre Eyton, who has never been able to get it together?

Andre Ayden's got to be like salivating like buckets.

Give me the, give me the ball, not Clint Capela.

In this scenario, I can, I can, is it Clint Capela on the Rockets that I can go up against Clint Capela.

Um, no, no, no, but I mean, the, you know, I know right now he goes back to the role he wants the guy, you know, give me the rock.

Yeah, no, but I mean, look, he, you know, obviously played well enough to help Phoenix get to the finals and win a couple of games.

He's we all know he's capable.

That is what has been so frustrating about him throughout his career is that he has not been consistently capable.

Maybe, maybe it happens.

I don't know.

We'll see.