The Lakers' New Roster Was Built Around Luka Dončić

All right, let's talk about a Western Conference team that maybe win the East, maybe it wouldn't.

The Los Angeles Lakers now starting Luka Doncic era in earnest.

LeBron James is gone.

Luca is there.

I think they brought in 10 new pieces if you include some of the rookies that are going to be on the roster .

They've revamped the roster around Luka Doncic.

They were all over in Slovenia.

I have 11 new pieces in my notes.

Could be right.

Could be right.

I don't know.

I think it was 10 or 11.

Um, they're all over in Slovenia.

They're bonding.

They're.

Ready to go.

Walker Kessler is back, played 5 games last year, but he's here to backstop the defense.

Sandro Mamos Skilivili, I said that right.

He is manning the wings.

Collin Sexton is there.

They've got a whole bunch of guys ready to play opposite Luka Dacic.

Uh, Let, let's continue this.

Like, where do you slot them conversation?

Like where do you have the Lakers slotted right now as you look at this Western Conference playoff field and how much more formidable, if at all, do you think they got this offseason?

I put them in the home court for the playoffs, so top 4, and I think Luka Dacic is such an explosive player.

When you have a guy who has shown under playoff pressure and playoff defense that he can go for 60 or I think higher, in some of those playoff games during their run to the finals, wasn't he like 60 something?

Like, I, I just, I, I think that not only will that be a deciding factor in the regular season, I think you get into a playoff series with the Lukadonic team and You know, it could just not go your way with the scoring nights that he has.

The concern I have for them, especially as they get deeper into the playoffs, is what we've talked about the perimeter defense and I am not as good at that pronunciation, so I'm not gonna say it.

Mam, just say mamu.

I was gonna say I'm just gonna say mamu.

Obviously, uh, you are fond of him for reasons of his last stop San Antonio, and he was good in Toronto.

He's, you know, yeah, solid, solid guy, um, but look, I, I don't, their best defender last year was Marcus Smart .

Yeah, and I mean just that's what the numbers say, and he's gone now.

So you are asking new guys to step in.

They missed out on Kinga.

I think that Walker Kessler is going to be great blocking shots.

His perimeter defense thus far has not been as strong, right?

So either he can turn into a stronger perimeter defender or they're gonna have some problems there, yeah, um.

They went all in on this roster.

Like they signed some guys to long deals, four-year deals.

They, they give up multiple draft picks to get Walker Kessel.

Like this is them going all in.

And, and I've talked to people within the Lakers.

About this, this roster construction and one thing that I've been warned is like, hey, basically they're saying they're not done yet.

Like they've got more that they wanna do to build out the kind of roster they wanna have opposite, uh, Luca Doncha, but I have the same concerns you have.

I, I, I'd say first.

I agree with them, um, 5th or 6th, maybe, maybe 6th.

I feel more confident about right now until I see it.

Um, I do think, totally agree, Luca's gonna have an outstanding year.

I think Luca.

Um, he gotta make Webayama the favor for MVP for obvious reasons, but I think Luke is right there behind him.

I think offensively, he is going to be outstanding.

I think his conditioning this offseason has been exactly what it was last season.

If you remember, the month of March, he was the best player in basketball.

Down the stretch, Luka Doncic was playing the best basketball of the year.

He looked like the MVP .

I think he's gonna pick up right where he left off at the end.

To last season.

They brought in a bunch of guys that you know, they consulted Luke on.

Like Luca wasn't like sitting back there checking out Twitter feeds wondering who they were going to sign.

He was involved in the day to day of signing these guys.

Uh, I know he loves Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Mamo.

These are guys he can play with.

They have put guys around Luca that he will thrive with offensively, and they will thrive playing opposite him.

The defensive concerns though, of course, are, are real.

You've got Luca and, and Austin Reeves in the backcourt.

They try some sometimes, um, But they're not elite defensive players.

Grimes, Laravia, not elite defensive players.

It does put a ton of pressure on Walker Kessler to 1, stay healthy, to be out there on the floor, and number 2, to backstop that team defensively, block shots, defensive rebound, be a little bit of everything.

He's gonna have to be like Walker Mutombo back there sometimes, uh, cleaning up the glass because off the bench, like Sexton, not a big-time defensive player.

Cameron Carr's a rookie, Bammu, not a great defensive player.

Um, and backing up Walker Kessler right now is, is Kevon Looney.

Like 10 years ago, I would have loved that.

I loved Kevon Looney, but 2026, 2020207, Kevon Looney, I don't know.

So it's an interesting roster.

I think they're gonna put up a ton of points.

I think Reeves and Luca, they, they seem to get better by the month.

Uh, I think they're both All-Stars this year.

Um, But do they have enough defensively when the rubber meets the road, and they got to play San Antonio, when they got to play Oklahoma City, when they, even when they got to play like a Denver, a Houston, a Minnesota, potentially in the first round of the playoffs, can they get it done offensively?

Lucas gonna win them some games because he's freaking awesome.

Um, but are they going to be able to beat top tier teams with that defense?

I don't know.

Well, that's a big question for me both with Luca and the Lakers, because here's the thing, I have sat for years when he was on the Dallas Mavericks defending his defense to you because I think when he wants to play defense, when he wants to exert himself on that side, he is so much better than his reputation.

Last season, he did not have stretches, or I should rephrase this.

Last season, he had stretches where he did not show as much interest in playing defense, being on that side of the floor as he did on the offensive side of the floor.

That's just a fact.

And I know the Lakers, uh, faithful got upset when I said, hey man, some of those stretches is what would put another guy ahead of him for MVP.

Apparently all 100 voters or 99 voters agree with me because he didn't sniff.

He had no first place votes, 0 out of 100.

I don't think he might have gotten one second place vote and then just a handful of third place.

Votes and then most people 99 voters ranked him as fourth.

I think those stretches as they were for me were part of the reason that, hey man, he's not the MVP this year.

But I will tell you for the millionth time, I think he is just an exceptional player.

I just like you, he is such a power bomb to drop on another team.

That you just have to include that factor when you're saying odds against whoever that they play.

And I know for sure when he wants to defend, he can do it.

And if he does it, it will shore up some of the Lakers' problems on defense that we're talking about, and it will absolutely put him right near the top, if not at the top of the MVP conversation because Victor is obviously, you said you think he's the favorite.

I think that it depends on how much he plays.

The Spurs put him under a pretty significant minutes restriction, informal, but he played, he averaged 29 minutes a game, 30, right?

If he does that again, and by the way, I think that that was a consideration of why he didn't win MVP this past year, if he does that again and Luca has another fabulous offensive season and just commits on defense the way we have seen him do.

I think he could absolutely be MVP.

Yeah, they do have, you know, and that's why I have them ranked higher than you do.

Yeah, I mean, I, I think there's a lot of fluidity in like the 73 to 7 range.

I think you're gonna see a bunch of teams bunched in there, and health is gonna determine who winds up where.

And the Lakers, if you like they've got Matisse Tiel, who's an excellent defender, they've got Jared Vanderbilt, who's a Swiss Army knife type of defender.

Like maybe you're gonna have to sacrifice some offense playing some of these guys to be sharper defensively against, especially teams with elite perimeter players, which is really the top two teams in the Western Conference because Steph Cassel and Dylan Harper, they're not going anywhere.

Uh, Oklahoma City still has dogs, uh, led by the MVP, uh.

Maybe you have to start putting more defensive-minded lineups out there and go deeper into your bench, but, uh, I do, I think Luca, he could be MVP if he has, if he averages like almost 40 minutes a game and, you know, puts up the kind of offensive numbers we know he's capable of.

He absolutely could be, uh, the MVP of that team, and the Lakers, they could surprise.

They get surprised.

We'll see what happens with them at the end of the year.