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- [00:00]
Sleep Number Announcer
Why choose a Sleep number Smart bed.
- [00:02]
NBA Analyst Brian
Can I make my site softer?
- [00:03]
Dave Defora
Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler?
- [00:06]
Sleep Number Announcer
Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side. Your sleep number setting J.D. power ranks sleep number number one in customer satisfaction with mattresses purchased in store and online. And now the more you buy, the more you save on beds, bases and more. Plus get free home delivery on most beds with base limited time. For J.D. power 2025 award information, visit jdpower.com awards check it out at the Speed Bumper store today.
- [00:35]
Royal Kingdom Sponsor Announcer
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- [01:33]
Dave Defora
And welcome to the NBA Daily. I'm Dave Defora here with Zena Keda. Happy New Year's Eve, everybody. Coming up, we got some good news about Nikola Jokic. Weird to say because he's going to miss a month. And the Sixers and Grizzlies had a heck of a game Turn Back the Clock night for JA and Embiid. Dan Wookie's here to talk about the Lakers and their struggles and what they might do with the deadline. Good morning, everybody. Happy New Year. Hey, Xena, It's New Year's Eve. I'm assuming you got huge plans for New Year's Eve.
- [02:04]
Zena Keda
Huge plans. Number one, waking up at 9am to do pregame for the warriors playing Charlotte.
- [02:10]
Dave Defora
There you go.
- [02:11]
Zena Keda
It's a great day to start up.
- [02:12]
Dave Defora
Start off that way, you know. Listen, we. We probably sounded insane on yesterday's show. I just want to come out and apologize. Were we melodramatic?
- [02:26]
Zena Keda
I was gonna say y' all were going through this.
- [02:28]
Dave Defora
We were. I mean, it was a shocking turn of events. You know, you just don't see Jokic wallowing in pain like that. But we got some good news. Xena we got the report he's only gonna maybe miss about a month, six weeks or so with a knee contusion. Same injury that Cam Johnson is also out for about a month with. Again, good news compared to what it could have been, but bad news for the Nuggets. Bad news for Nicola Jokic's MVP case. Bad news in my opinion, for the M. MVP race in general and the NBA. Because I think that the 65 game rule, as we've seen already in the last couple years, it really throws a wrench in the entire narrative arc of the regular season. You know, I want to start with the Nuggets first. Okay. They're. If it's a month, it's 18 games. They got February 1st circled on the calendar. That's the first game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Maybe he's back for that. Let's just. We'll live in that world, but man, that's a long time being down. You know, they're four starters right now. Maybe they get a little bit healthier this week, but how are they going to make do here in the the next month?
- [03:40]
Zena Keda
It's a really good question. We've been crediting the Denver Nuggets for finding gems within their roster in the midst of these absences. Like how are they still winning games without Christian Brown, without Aaron Gordon? Like, they've been able to find some extra special help in Spencer Jones and Bruce Brown and all these folks stepping up. And of course Jamal Murray has been excellent. But now the main reason that we've been able to see Jamal Murray be excellent is because of the gravity that Nicole Jokic provides him to be able to maneuver around the court, know with a little bit more freedom we know that he can create. But now that he's going to be the number one option on the scouting report, what does that look like? What does that look like once they clamp down? And so I'm actually genuinely curious. It's a really good question. I'm not sure how they're going to figure it out, but they've been pretty resilient this year so far.
- [04:29]
Dave Defora
Yeah, I mean, look it, it'll give us an opportunity to see Duron Holmes. I mean, he missed his entire rookie year, so, you know, he played eight minutes in the game that, that Jokic exited with the injury. So I'm sure we'll see more run out of him. Christian Brown, Aaron Gordon due back soon, you know, if not here in the next week now that, that Jokic is out. I. I just don't know. But I I do want to swing it to the MVP race because I think that this is an important thing to talk about. Like we mentioned it the other day when we talked about the Thunder kind of dropping off, not being this special team that we thought they might be 70 plus wins and what it did for the MVP case for, for Shay, Gilgis Alexander. Well, if Jokic misses an entire month, you can only miss 17 games and it would be 18 games. So he would be ineligible for not just the MVP but awards in general.
- [05:22]
Zena Keda
Right.
- [05:23]
Dave Defora
And I mean, try trying to explain the story of this season. Xena, without him even being on an all NBA team would be absurd because he, as we mentioned, he's having statistically the greatest offensive season in NBA history. There's just no way that you can talk about whatever happens this year without talking about Jokic. Even if he had missed the rest of the season with the knee injury, we would have talked about what if, with this season. And so, you know, to me, I just think if this guy winds up playing 60 games and the Nuggets are like 50 and 10 or whatever they're going to be, you know, in those 60 games with him, it's just impossible for me to imagine a world where we're not making an argument for him to be mvp.
- [06:09]
Zena Keda
And what's so what's so bad about this is that it's now training the voters to instead of look at the ridiculousness, the supreme level of basketball that Jokic has been playing as just the evidence for an MVP caliber season, it's, it's training the voters to think of availability as just as important as 56 on Christmas Day. You know what I mean? Like, and that is that, that kind of warps the award races. And the worst part is, is that you're talking about, yeah, let's say he plays 60 games. We have to remember load management. He'll be coming off of a injury, so an injury. So you've got to think about it. It's not just 65 games. It's the fact that you have to play 20 minutes in those 65 games and we don't know what it's going to take to ramp him back up. I imagine that will be the minimum threshold, but you never know. And so even if he rocks out the rest of the season and in those, you know, in getting to 65, and I actually had to look this up, Sam Amick wrote an article about this back in 2024, I believe it was explaining this new rule that was put into the, the CBA and All these players were like, I didn't agree to this. I didn't, I didn't agree to this. And the main person that was really against it was Joel Embiid. And we, we remember Joel Embiid before what we've seen, of course, with all of his injuries. But he was also someone that was impacted by this negatively. I think it's going to blow it up because it's, it's genuinely making. You have to look at these unbelievable performances from a perspective of calendar math.
- [07:48]
Dave Defora
Well, the thing is, you know, we were already doing this stuff. If A guy missed 20 games, 25 games in a season, we already split those hairs when, when absolutely we were having the debate. To me, it's, it's not even this, it's. It's not even the mvp. Because I do think that availability for MVP is very important. And Shea is going to play 78, 80 games this year and Jokic maybe be in the low 60s now that he's going to miss some time. That's going to weigh into my consideration. But that's part of my process and all of our process when we're thinking about these awards. But Jokic would still be all NBA regardless, because I look at that differently and I do think, like you said, this might be the thing that blows it up because it is so high profile. The defensive player of the year has been blown up. You know, last year it would have been Wemby. He didn't hit the 65 games. You know, a lot of guys were ineligible for awards the last couple years. And it has been odd for, for the narrative of these seasons. So I do think this is something that's going to be addressed. I don't know if we need like a special session of the board of governors or anything like that to do it this year, but it is going to be, there's going to be an asterisk. I think when we look back, if we don't recognize the, the individual season he's having. Speaking of Embiid, I glad you brought him up because Joel Embiid looked good last night. You know, I've been skeptical of the, of, you know, the way he has looked. I've even thought maybe they need to bring him off the bench, set this, you know, like a 20 minutes limit. Just use him like a guy who's like a closer. Maybe if he's got it going, you. You have him close games. Well, he played 38 minutes last night. That's a season high. And Xena, this is only the fifth time he's done it since the start of the 2023 season. So I'm going to take this as a positive sign. All the shots were dropping. He was. He was hitting the Mid Ranger Xena. Talk to me about Embiid, because it was a little bit of a throwback night for him in a Sixers win.
- [09:48]
Zena Keda
Yeah, it's important to get that stat line out. 34 points, 8 assists, 10 rebounds. This is the thing that's so important about Joel Embiid. When you're trying to evaluate, is he back yet? Because it's easy to just look at the physical caliber of his game. Is he jumping as high, is he running as fast? And let's just be real, all season long, he's been looking a little bit in molasses, like just a little bit slow to react. Not quite the same game, but what we saw last night, turnarounds, post passes, rebounding, shot blocks, huge, big, big shot blocks. And as you mentioned, the 38 points, high usage, and that's really, really big. Being able to come back off injury, basically almost having a triple double. You get excited about having that level of an anchor in Joel Embiid, especially when you see Tyrese Maxey doing the things that he's doing right. Right at this point. And oof. I don't know if Philly's gonna rock with me on this one, but it's Tyrese's team. In my opinion, this is Maxi's team. And I feel Joel Embiid would be cool with that because he's putting up these ridiculous numbers and he's running circles around defenses. But having Maxie have a secondary partner to offset what he's doing inside internally is such a boon for this Philadelphia Sixers team. So I, I just, I. I'm so excited for Embiid. Not only for him to be able to return to his scoring prowess and what he can do internally, but really just being available, getting to play, that's the biggest thing for him.
- [11:25]
Dave Defora
And look, he had a couple blocks. It. The defense looked better. It's still an issue.
- [11:30]
Royal Kingdom Sponsor Announcer
Yeah.
- [11:31]
Zena Keda
And I do want to say it was Rocky.
- [11:33]
Dave Defora
It was.
- [11:33]
NBA Analyst Brian
Yes.
- [11:34]
Dave Defora
He warmed up. He looked much better in the second half and he played overtime, which I was impressed by. Yes, I should say the Sixers won this game on a VJ Edgecomb game winning three. This guy's a rookie. Hey, this rookie class Zena is kind.
- [11:47]
Zena Keda
Of insane talking about the other rookie on the other side.
- [11:51]
Dave Defora
Yeah. Think about how much you trust these guys already. Like me. Even like Hugo Gonzalez is Playing like huge defensive possessions. It's. It's pretty absurd. Edgecomb moves. He's 6 of 11 on threes in clutch time for the season. He's got the six most clutch threes made in the NBA. He's a rookie. The other guys on that list are like Anthony Edwards. I mean, Steph Curry leads it. You know, he's got the most. Yeah, but they play a lot of crunch minutes. But Edgecomb, another big game, 25 points for him. On the other side, we got to talk about John Ja. Because we've talked about JA when he's been struggling. We gotta hit him when he has a great game. And again, throwback game for Ja. Yes, because not only was he getting two feet in the paint, Xena, but he was finishing around the basket. He looked more explosive and he has, in my opinion, looked more explosive here the last couple games. But he puts up 40, 16 of 22. And Xena only two threes, right? That jumper's not falling. So he goes to the basket, he generates contact there. He gets to the line a bunch, which 8 of 10 from the line puts up 40 points. I mean, this is more like 20, 22. Ja.
- [12:59]
Zena Keda
Listen, over the past 10 games, he's been averaging over 20 points, 7 assists. Like, this is. This is good. This is great. It's obviously not. I own this team and I'm. I'm leading them to greatness, numbers. But this is exactly what you want to see out of John Morant in terms of the production. I stand. I will stand on this hill. I do not think that there has been something categorically different in the way that John Morant is playing from when we saw him earlier this season. Other than he is now hitting shots, he is now finishing in the paint in a way that he wasn't at the top of the season. And the assists that he's making, there still is crazy, crazy shots, crazy passes, crazy things he's doing in transition. But his teammates are finishing. Let's just be real. Jaren Jackson Jr looks better too, right?
- [13:49]
Dave Defora
He didn't look better last night. He only had four points in the second half in overtime. That's true.
- [13:54]
Zena Keda
That's true.
- [13:55]
Dave Defora
You know, this is. Again, I, I hate to use their contracts against them, but the truth of the matter is when you take up that salary slot, you gotta be a max guy. And Jerry hasn't been that this season.
- [14:05]
Zena Keda
He hasn't been that. But.
- [14:06]
Dave Defora
That's right.
- [14:07]
Zena Keda
But whenever, whenever you're seeing John Morant succeed when he's, I mean, 40 points last night is crazy. But when you're seeing him succeed, it's because one, he's setting up his teammates first. And the first few plays that he made weren't about him. They were about players in transition. Cedric Coward was the recipient of a few passes in transition. You saw him getting into the paint, as you mentioned, and being able to kick it out and then that's when the game comes to him. But I, I like this. I like that John Morant is now getting basically being the beneficiary of the work that he's putting in, playing like.
- [14:39]
Dave Defora
More of a chaos agent, which is exactly what he needs to do. And when they get Zach Edie back out there, I mean, you know, maybe, maybe they can go on a to run.
- [14:48]
Zena Keda
I'm still, you know, he's an NBA daily fave.
- [14:50]
Dave Defora
That's right.
- [14:50]
Zena Keda
Yeah.
- [14:51]
Dave Defora
Clippers, Grizzlies just feel like they're destined for the play in guys. Stick around after the break. We got Dan Wie to talk about LeBron and the Lakers losing on his 41st birthday doesn't feel fair.
- [15:09]
Sleep Number Announcer
Why choose a sleep number Smart bed.
- [15:11]
Dave Defora
Can I make my sight softer? Can I make my sight firmer? Can we sleep cooler?
- [15:16]
Sleep Number Announcer
Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side. Your sleep number setting J.D. power ranks sleep number number one in customer satisfaction with mattresses purchased in store and online. And now the more you buy, the more you save on beds, bases and more. Plus get free home delivery on most beds with base limited time. For J.D. power 2025 word information. Visit JD Power.com awards check it out at the Sleep numbers store today.
- [15:41]
NBA Analyst Brian
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- [16:03]
Dave Defora
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- [16:10]
NBA Analyst Brian
Ships registry the Bahamas in Panama.
- [16:12]
Noah Chestnut
Hey, it's Noah Chestnut from the Athletic. If you're into games and sports, pay attention. I'm gonna give you four sports terms. You tell me the common thread. Ready? Axel Loop Lutz Sow Cow. That's Axel Luke Lutz Salchow. This one's like medium hard. The answer is figure skating jumps. Now what if I gave you 16 different terms and you figure out how they come together into four different different groups? If you're up for the challenge, you'll want to check out Sports Edition. It's a new daily game for sports fans. There'll be some that are going to stump you, some that make you laugh, and some that remind you when you were a kid watching sports for the first time. Connection Sports Edition. To play today's puzzle, go to theathletic.com connection.
- [17:20]
Dave Defora
Another night in la and another night where we're stuck looking for answers for the Lakers. Here to help us find some. Dan Woi. Dan, how much older than LeBron are you?
- [17:31]
NBA Analyst Brian
I am three and a half years older. I thought you were going to say another night in la. Another night you're stuck looking at me was what I thought you were going to say, Dave. Three and a half years older than LeBron. I think I was thinking today about the Seinfeld episode where Jerry has to be sad and he talks about, like, the fleeting nature of life and birthdays, like, what are we actually celebrating? And it realized, like, it occurred to me that, like, oh, that reference is, like, really only applicable to LeBron because I think everybody else in the NBA would say, who's Jerry Seinfeld?
- [18:04]
Dave Defora
Wow, man. So, yeah, LeBron's 41st birthday yesterday.
- [18:08]
NBA Analyst Brian
You're too young today.
- [18:09]
Dave Defora
Yeah.
- [18:10]
NBA Analyst Brian
Oh, yesterday.
- [18:11]
Dave Defora
Well, you know, this show comes out, you know, little daily magic. The oldest player in the league. He's played against 35% of the players to ever play in the NBA, which that's. Of all the stats that he has that might be the most ridiculous, like this. This longevity, which. I know we do this sort of thing with LeBron often. We do it at the beginning of the year. We do it on his birthday every year. We do it at the end of the year. But it's ridiculous what he is doing. Like, this is unparalleled in this sport to do it at this level.
- [18:44]
NBA Analyst Brian
So I was talking today to some, like, NBA cameras that are run at games, and they ask, like, you know, for. For. For B roll or whatever interview or something like that. And it occurred to me that, like. Like the generational nature of LeBron's age, right, is that, let's say you're a shooter, right? Who enters the NBA this year. And, like, there's, I would say, like, a decent chance, maybe your favorite player ever is Klay Thompson, right? LeBron played against him, like, and had epic battles with Klay Thompson. Klay Thompson's favorite player growing up was Kobe Bryant. And guess what? LeBron James played against him too, you know, and so he played against. He played against your favorite player's favorite player multiple times. And I think, like, it is a. It's just like, one of those things where you can, like, do it. Like, the iPhone wasn't invented. You used to have to download his games on Napster or whatever. I mean, I'm just. You can make up, like, whatever sort of cultural reference. MTV still showed videos. There was TRL on.
- [19:46]
Dave Defora
I was still in college.
- [19:47]
Zena Keda
Yeah.
- [19:48]
Dave Defora
When LeBron started. I mean, it's pretty incredible that he's played 23 years.
- [19:54]
NBA Analyst Brian
23 years. And, like, I think this year more than any, you've heard people around LeBron and around his team talk about unchartered territory. And, like, I've sort of struggled to, like, understand why this is different, you know? Like, I know that nobody's ever played a 20, 23rd NBA season before. Okay, whatever. Like, that seems sort of arbitrary to me. Like, nobody was doing what LeBron was doing in year 21 either, or year 20 or year 19 or year 18. Like, it feels like we've been down this road a long time with him, and. But even though the people. Like, the people around him still sense that, you know, or at least the way they talked about it was that something would be different with this. And there are nights when it absolutely looks like it, and there are other nights where it doesn't as much. And maybe the frequency and sort of those, like, vacillations is, like, the surest sign of age. There's inconsistency, you know, I mean, it.
- [20:56]
Dave Defora
Sure is for me.
- [20:57]
NBA Analyst Brian
Yeah. The days I wake up and feel great, the days I don't, you know, those numbers are closer and closer every year, you know, and sometimes they. They tick in the wrong direction. And, you know, I think that's more. So I've covered a bunch of these LeBron birthday games. I've seen him score 40 plus on his birthday. And it always. You're right. The story's always the same. It's always like, can you believe what we're seeing this person do? And I haven't cracked open the laptop yet fully, but I don't think that's the story tonight. Little teethers. This is the story. Well, I mean, I think it's that.
- [21:39]
Dave Defora
Not to jump in front of that bus, but. What's the story?
- [21:42]
NBA Analyst Brian
All right, get off my back. Who are you, my editor? I don't know yet. All right, I'm gonna figure it out. No, I think. I think it's that it, like, you know, like. I mean, like, the end is closer than it's ever been. That's I mean, that's been true always, right? That was true. The second game he played, he was supposed to finish in the start or, I'm sorry, he was on his way to the end. Right. Like every day we're older, every day we're a little bit closer to the finish line. It's just like, it's just harder to not think about it. And it's harder to think. It's harder to ignore sort of the costs of like what I view to be a pretty noble pursuit. I think getting everything out of a game that you've poured your entire life into is a noble pursuit. I think it is a noble pursuit to see. To push your body to limits that have never been reached before. Because in addition to being incredibly hardworking, he has been like, touched by the gods physically. Like. Right. Like this guy is like just an incredible athlete, like an all time athlete. Right. And so he like sort of owes it to those gifts to try and get everything out of it. Right. The, the. None of these things are bad or they're wrong. They're also inherently stunting for the other people around. And they're what, like, I think is like a real, A real contrast in that with this current Lakers team, the very obvious needs it has. Right. And their inability probably to solve them. Those things are all related. So maybe that's the story.
- [23:14]
Zena Keda
That's. That's part of what I was going to ask is that as LeBron James continues to just cement what he's capable of doing, it feels like each year that he remains with the Lakers, it's harder to figure out what to put around him to be successful. Like, we're, we're seeing this, the starting lineup today with Jake Laravia being put in it. We've seen different iterations of this, but their top lineup, or what is supposed to be their top lineup with. With Luca and LeBron and Ayton Rui and Austin, they've played 85 minutes this year and they're negative 29 together. Their offensive rating is terrible. Their defensive rating is even worse. Like you would think when you've got that consistency and that anchor in a LeBron, it feels like, okay, we know exactly what should go around. Like what is happening with the Lakers in terms of. We saw this start, this strong start, especially with LeBron out, he's inserted back in. We've seen a little bit of up and down. We saw JJ Reddick go off, but he's saying it's more than once, but he's saying it's about effort and he's saying about, it's about desire and will to want to play better. For me, it feels like it's a fit issue. It does. It feel like this team fits together. They don't coagulate just yet. What do you see?
- [24:38]
NBA Analyst Brian
So I think it's two things I think, and I want to come back to this, but I want to answer the second part of it first. I think, but remind me, I take some issue with the word consistency there because 85 minutes with your starting lineup, 31 games into the season is not really.
- [24:54]
Zena Keda
Not at all. LeBron is consistent.
- [24:57]
NBA Analyst Brian
Right.
- [24:57]
Zena Keda
I'm saying LeBron is.
- [24:59]
NBA Analyst Brian
He should be right in theory, like he's always been here. But like there are like. But I mean, even LeBron like didn't like really enter this fray, you know, until Thanksgiving.
- [25:09]
Zena Keda
Sure.
- [25:11]
NBA Analyst Brian
And you know, an off season he had never had before. You know, I never missed a preseason. They never missed an opening night, you know, and I think there's been some unevenness because of that. Certainly this roster changed dramatically when you integrate a player like that. None of this is to say it's LeBron's ball. That's not what I'm saying. But like, like it is. I think there's obviously like a pretty big difference when that happens. I do, I do though think that one of the things, and I've talked to a handful Laker players about this privately, it's why I wrote it last week and it remains true today. There is a very big difference and there's a very big difference between, between teams that try to play hard and teams that play hard. Like, like it is for the teams that try for better or worse, it's play acting like you're, you're doing hustle.
- [26:06]
Dave Defora
Is what we said.
- [26:06]
NBA Analyst Brian
Yeah, yeah.
- [26:07]
Dave Defora
And I don't.
- [26:07]
NBA Analyst Brian
Dave, I don't even think it's like, I think it's like it actually born from a genuine place of like it's not performative. They wanted to be as physical as Detroit tonight.
- [26:15]
Dave Defora
Yes.
- [26:15]
NBA Analyst Brian
They wanted to play as hard as Detroit tonight. That's not who they are and it is who Detroit is. And so what you see is, you see inconsistency. Like to me, people that are surprised by like these blowout losses and like the one sided nature of them, by and large have all come in very similar types games. And it usually has to do with the fact that they don't have the energy or the effort or. I mean, sometimes these words are like mistaken for desire, like it's a want thing. But I think Motor is a skill. Like I think toughness and physicality are skills and that is not currently the MO of this roster. You know a lot of the guys that provided provided that for them last year are elsewhere. Jordan Goodwin's in Phoenix. Dorian Finney Smith just made his season debut in Houston. You know Trey Jemison is on a two way somewhere else. Like these were, these were the guys that were like. I mean JJ Reddick called them last year the Banshees. Right. And they were. Not only was like did not only did they play with energy but it was infectious energy to others.
- [27:19]
Zena Keda
Marcus Smart was supposed to fix that.
- [27:21]
NBA Analyst Brian
Dan, he's one person. He has been in and out of the lineup. He's been totally in and out of the lineup. And then like I also just like for whatever reason I, I don't know why that energy isn't quite as infectious. It just isn't. It hasn't like it hasn't been like it has been at times but not consistently. Right. It hasn't been a consistent like I'm going to play, you know, tough as bleep like today and then you're all going to do it too because if you don't you're going to look silly. Yeah. It's not been like that. And on the best teams it is. Right. Like if you're on the Pistons and you're Duncan Robinson. Okay. And you're not playing hard as hell, like it's going to show because you're surrounded by guys, particularly role players that are playing hard as hell and you can't back down from anything because if you do it's gonna show.
- [28:11]
Dave Defora
Yeah.
- [28:12]
NBA Analyst Brian
Like on the Lakers like those. That's just not like that's not Rui Hachimura. Like that's not, it's, you know, it's not. I mean Jake Laravia I think is shown flashes of it at times but like you know, I think that's not really. He shouldn't be the one that's that's doing that. You know that hasn't been Deandra Aiden has tried to play that way on this team. Yeah, that's just not really him either. You know like I think that to me that's where it's not Luka Dodge on a night to night basis. At 41, I don't think it's LeBron James on a Night Tonight basis. I don't think it's Austin Reeves on a Night tonight basis. Like, like that's just not. They are a skill based, you know, outcraft you and in theory at some point out execute you teams but with the injuries that they're, they're dealing with right now, their continuity is a mess. They're not out scheming anybody and if you have to rely on things like individual like motor, they're not a high energy basketball team and they're going to get, they're going to get embarrassed when they lose and they have been embarrassed every time they've lost the season, every loss by double figures. Crazy that we're going into 2026 like this. This team has not lost a nine point game.
- [29:25]
Dave Defora
Yeah, that's, you were in the building tonight so you didn't get to hear it on the broadcast but Reggie Miller spent quite a time, quite a lot of time pointing out that Luka Doncic is very low effort on the defensive end. I mean look, this is his M.O. we know this. He steps up in big moments. He will defend on a, a big time possession. End of game you can, you can rely on him to step up. But the, the average, you know, third quarter, three minutes left if there's a drive to the basket, I mean basically what happened in the game he didn't even stunt, you know, on defense, off the corner, on a non shooter in the corner. And it's not an IQ thing because he's one of the smartest players in the NBA and even on the defensive end he knows what to do. It goes back to your energy point. I, I, I mean I, I think this team is probably going to have to bring someone in to, to try to help.
- [30:16]
NBA Analyst Brian
Let's talk about it.
- [30:17]
Dave Defora
Energy of this team.
- [30:18]
NBA Analyst Brian
Let's talk about it because how it ha.
- [30:20]
Dave Defora
Well here's the right. So that's it, right. So where does it come from if it, if it doesn't come from the guys on the roster, right? If, if Luca isn't all of a sud, rallies the troops, how do they go out and get the guy who is going to increase the level of, of compete as JJ likes to say all the time. But the toughness for them.
- [30:40]
NBA Analyst Brian
Okay, so their best trade asset is Austin Reeves and they are not going to trade Austin Reeves. And then for a bunch of reasons, one of which they love Austin Reeves, Luca loves Austin Reeves. You know we've seen the best Luka Dodges teams have had a, another guy in the backcourt who does great offense. Jalen Brunson, Kyrie Irving. Austin Reeves is certainly at least somewhat in that mold. Right. Not comprehend on the level of those players. But like we can say like he possesses those kinds of playmaking skills. So, like you already have that piece of your puzzle. Trading that to solve some other one only creates another hole and probably one that's, that's harder to solve and harder to fill. Right? So, okay, that's problem number one. Problem number two. Let's say you want to trade Austin Reeves, okay? He's in the last service contract. There are max offers out there waiting for him in free agency, and unless you're willing to give him one, you're trading for a player to walk, right? So, so what you're going to, what you're going to trade isn't going to be that much in that way, right? And if, by the way, if you think he's going to sign with, sign your max offer and if the Lakers are willing to trade him, guess what? You probably don't have to go anything for him. You can just go sign him in July, right? Right. So he's in this weird sort of like, I don't want to say valueless zone, but like, certainly like it's not, it's not. Doesn't match the play. Their next best trade Asset is the 2031-2032 first round pick that they can trade, right. A lifetime from now, LeBron's going to be in year 30, you know, running and dunking, and we'll be talking about.
- [32:28]
Dave Defora
How much longer statue.
- [32:29]
NBA Analyst Brian
About how much longer we can, how much longer you can do this for. And then now the issue again with all of this is like, this is like a part of like your big prize. Your, your, the trade that you want to make organizationally in some ways is you want to go into next off season with the ability to trade your 26 first round pick, your 2031 first round pick, and your 2033 first round pick to go get like a real piece to go get that third piece or that second piece, however you want to slot Luca and Austin Reeves, like, that is what you want to do with that. The problem is it's all you have left now. This is the one thing you have to try and solve the problems of today. So what do you do? Do you do, do you take that, do you take that piece, that asset, and do it for a player who gives your current version of a team a 7%, 10% chance? I mean, 10% would be huge, right? Improve your odds 10% to international to win an NBA title this year. But it takes you out of any real conversation for like, you know, whoever it is, I don't want to say any names, but like, whoever it is, like an all. An all star level player.
- [33:43]
Dave Defora
Yeah.
- [33:43]
Zena Keda
Or.
- [33:46]
NBA Analyst Brian
Ascending. I see. I don't think they're getting him, but. Or any. I don't think they're getting any former MVPs with just three first round draft picks. But I do think though, like, you can get an all star, certainly. Or you can get a player that's like, of that sort of level. Like, no, worse than like, like a Desmond Bain level player. Right. To slide along like. So players of that talent level. If that's. Do you sacrifice the chance at that for some immediate gratification? I don't know the answer to this. If I was a Lakers fan, I wouldn't say that. Like I want to. I'd be giving me the finger right now and saying like, there's 50 games left. You're telling me that every time there's a team that wants to drive to the basket, I have to watch them drive to the basket. See, this is. When trying to fix it.
- [34:36]
Dave Defora
But this is main shots than the. The Pistons made more shots in the paint than the Lakers took Zeno.
- [34:43]
Zena Keda
This is my thing. So here's my. This is what I mean by fit, right? Like, and what I mean by LeBron has been consistent. I don't necessarily mean that he's been there, but you know what LeBron is going to bring. He's not an imposer. He's not someone that's, you know, rough. He's not rough and, and bruising. He's not beef stew. Right? Like, that's not who LeBron is. And you know, that's not who Luka is. You know, that's not who Austin is. You've just mentioned not who Ayton is. Who are you bringing in when you say real peace? This is what I mean by fit. What fits for the Lakers right now may not be a score. It could just be a bruiser. It could be someone that comes in and imposes themselves to be able to up the level of compete, as JJ Redick says with this Lakers team. Because that to me is like the biggest thing is that they just don't. They don't quite fit together in a. In beyond what you. I love the way you put it. They'll outcraft you, but will they. Will they give you a little swagger once in a while? And I, outside of offense, I don't quite see it. And it's funny you mentioned Desmond Bain because hell yeah, they could probably use a Desmond Bain. They could probably use someone throwing balls at people's heads like they need something.
- [35:56]
NBA Analyst Brian
Well, see I think they've got those guys weirdly enough too, but it's like, it's not in like the, it's like more like bored out of frustration than it is like toughness. And it's funny, I like hesitate to talk about toughness in any of these ways. Like, I mean, you ask my wife, like, you know, I'm a mild, a mild second degree burn from a hot pan and I'm ready to go to urgent, I'm ready to go to urgent care. But I think, like, yeah, I think like the reality of this is, is that it took Dallas a really long time to build a perfect team around Luka Doncic, who plays a very specific way.
- [36:31]
Dave Defora
That's right.
- [36:32]
NBA Analyst Brian
The Lakers have just started this process. Just started. But they're doing so at a time when their talent, particularly their top end talent, suggests that like they should be competitive now. So what do you do?
- [36:49]
Zena Keda
That's right. Yeah.
- [36:51]
NBA Analyst Brian
Like, what do you do? I mean, look, there's never been a more win now player. I said this last year, which is even more true now than LeBron James and 41 years old.
- [36:59]
Dave Defora
Right?
- [36:59]
Zena Keda
Yeah.
- [36:59]
NBA Analyst Brian
Like, this is like a close second. This is now. Is now gets. Yeah, right, Right.
- [37:06]
Dave Defora
No way he's getting traded. Right.
- [37:08]
NBA Analyst Brian
There's no trade laws.
- [37:09]
Dave Defora
I mean, I mean, well, he could ask for one. Right?
- [37:12]
NBA Analyst Brian
He could ask. I, I don't. If he wanted, if he didn't want to be on the Lakers, he wouldn't have opted in.
- [37:16]
Dave Defora
That's. That was my assumption.
- [37:18]
NBA Analyst Brian
Yeah. So look, I don't think that's happening again. Also, like there's, let's even pretend that it would like moving around $58 million or whatever money and like to a team that's, you know, like, like a whisker away from the first apron has its own issues too. But like, so I, that doesn't seem like, like no one, but even in a fantasy, like, no. Like also, like, yeah, it doesn't even seem like, like a road. Like that's like healthily like worth walking down, but you never know. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, I think like, I think if, if I was going to preach optimism, which I've been doing nothing but for the last 20 plus minutes or so. If I was going to preach optimism, I would point to that number that we had on, like that number we had on minutes, 85 minutes together. I think they've had their roster like their, their rotation. They played two games this year.
- [38:18]
Dave Defora
Yeah.
- [38:19]
NBA Analyst Brian
As we head into January, 20, 26, someone has always been out now availability in addition to motor, another skill. And they failed on this front. They've not been available but you know, they have not. Like the NBA is nothing if not highlighting your strengths, mitigating your weaknesses. And they need, they need Gabe Vincent, they need Austin Reeves, they need Rui Hachimura. Like these guys all matter to them and when they're out there, they need LeBron James and they need Jackson Hayes and they need like they don't have a lot of room for error on this stuff, particularly on the defensive end where they're going to have to be a team defense. They're going to be a team effort driven defense again to cover up some of Luka's weaknesses on that side of the, on the court, they're going to have to do it with continuity. They have to do it with like being on a string and like that type of an effort. And like basketball wise this year, like they're strangers still. They really are, at least when it comes to being tested on the port. And so yeah, I mean if I was being optimistic, I would say wait till March maybe, maybe the luck changes, maybe the injury luck changes and like, you know, Austin Reeves comes back at the end of January and you know, you build some good momentum going into Austin. Break. You built yourself a decent enough cushion here. Like it's crazy, you know, they end the year 20 and 11. It sure as hell doesn't feel like it. But they're nine games over 500. Right. They have some room to work with on this stuff.
- [39:46]
Zena Keda
Like they built themselves a really good buffer.
- [39:48]
NBA Analyst Brian
Yeah, it's true. Gear, gear act together and like, you know, you don't. The goal isn't me playing your best basketball now, you know, and so that, that would be the optimistic view. The pessimistic view would be like just that there just hasn't even been like, even when we've seen seven eighths of the rotation or eight nines or whatever, like there just hasn't been a lot of evidence defensively at least. Right. That like, you know they can contain the basketball.
- [40:13]
Dave Defora
Right.
- [40:13]
NBA Analyst Brian
If you can't contain the basketball, particularly with the best teams in this league right now, it's, it's just really hard to win.
- [40:18]
Dave Defora
Yeah, you're going to have a hard time especially when you just let them waltz into the paint like that. Dan Woikie covers the Lakers for us by the way. Luca noted that Dan made a very smart point the other day. Good notice LeBron and Luca needing to play together. So shout out to Luca for knowing ball. Dan Wy also knows Ball. Thanks for hanging out. Thanks Aina Keda. I'm Dave Defour and this has been the NBA Daily. Happy New Year, everybody.
- [41:02]
NBA Analyst Brian
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Dave Defora
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