Speaker 1: What is up? Fellasiko's I Am Dan Valley coming at
you with a trade reaction podcast. That will be the
podcast if it will be your typical Tuesday episode unless
another trade happens, if you go normally, if you're new
around these parts Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, with full length episodes,
sometimes with bonus one sprinklet in there. But dor Infinney
Smith headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, a move that didn't.
The Dorianfhinney Smith trade did not come out of nowhere.
The Lakers being the destination is something of a surprise,
if only because the Grizzlies were the team that was
linked most heavily to DFS since the Dennis Shrewder trade.
The Lakers trade, though, let's get to the trade details.
We always got to start with the trade details. So
the Brooklyn Nets are getting Diez L. Russell on an
expiring contract. Maxwell Lewis has some time left on his deal,
someone that they will actually probably put into their lineup.
They're in full on experimental mode and they're getting three
second round picks and we already have the details on
those picks. They're the Lakers zone in twenty twenty seven,
two thousand and thirty and two thousand and thirty one,
and so that's shorting the Lakers future. The Lakers will
receive Duran Finney Smith, he has a player option for
fifteen point four million dollars next season, and Shake Milton
the final two years of his deal are non guaranteed.
The two other notes from this trade that I think
are important and we'll get into them in additional detail. Momentarily,
the Lakers are now three and a half million dollars
below the second apron. They were something like it was
sub fifty k beneath the second apron. That's just extra
flexibility and so there's it makes trades somewhat easier, but
they still can't take back more money than they receive,
but it's more flexibility for if they want to fill
out their roster, you know, come buy out market time
where if they want to go after guys who contracts
they're either waived maybe post a trade, or they at
trade deadline passes and they get they negotiate a buyout
and then they want to sign with a new team,
the Lakers. As of now, we'll have more money with
which to bandy about. They are again we always tend
to over romanticize those types of additions, but the extra
flexibility is big, and we know because they're run like
a mom and pop shop that they'll appreciate the luxury
tax savings as well. And then the nets now, so
they don't necessarily increase their cap space for twenty twenty
five with this trade, but they theoretically can because if
you believe Dorian Phinney Smith is going to pick up
his player option, you're now replacing him with a sub
two million dollars salary in Maxwell Lewis because Danser Russell
comes off the books, and so Brooklyn is now in
line for I have them at given what their current
draft positioning would be and the other draft picks that
they have about seventy five plus million in cap space,
and so in theory, like functionally speaking, it may have
increased their cap space and that will be worth getting into.
Of course, we have to wait and see how the
rest of the deadline plays out. Let's start with let's
start with the nets here, because there's probably more of
an analysis to be done on the Lakers, So let's
go through the NETS part of this really quick. They
don't get a first round pick for Dennis Schuter or
Dorian Phinney Smith. I really thought they'd get late first
for Dorian Phinney Smith. However, they're plus five second round
picks from these two trades without taking back any bad
money or long like super long term money. That's over
two million dollars a season. That is a win, I
would say, or at least it's a net neutral move.
We have to see how the deadline plays out, but
it started to make me think, does Brooklyn have plans
for its cap space given these deals? And if they do,
does that make it more likely that we see a
Nick Claxton or a Cam Johnson trade, because then they're
just gonna monopolize all the cap space possible, especially if
they're getting expiring salary in return. The other thing here, too,
is so they could have it seemed like per the
reporting from Mark Stein, it did seem like the hold
up in a Grizzlies deal for Dorian Phinney Smith was
they were going to send out lukenar John Conchar and
I guess a twenty twenty six first round pick. I
assume it would have been heavily protected. I think you
could you could reasonably argue that two of these Lakers
second round picks might amount to more value than whatever
their protections were in that twenty twenty six pick from Memphis,
because you're probably looking at if you project that to
be number twenty two or worse, there's value in getting
in the first round. But if you think the Lakers
are going to be a team in the thirties at
least twice during that stretch, again you're rolling the dice. There.
The bigger thing though, aside from again, they're taking back
expiring money in D'Angelo Russell rather than John conchar who
has a few seasons left at you know, six seven
million dollars a pop. Luke Canard technically has a He
has the implicit no trade clause because of the contract
that he signed, and he would forfeit his bird rights
if moved. I'm actually surprised that he was able to
retain though, like that veto power, I would have thought
the Grizzlies would have gotten him to waive that as
part of they declined his team option. Yes, and so
he took less money to come back. But who was
giving Luke Canard nine plus million dollars for even a
single season of work given his injury history? Maybe there
was a team out there. But if that's what kind
of derailed the deal, maybe he didn't want to go
to Brooklyn because he knew that they were a team
that wouldn't value his bird rights, and so it's an
easier sell for him to say, hey, I'll go to
a team that might want to keep me around and
then pay me off of this number. That would be
short sighted on his part, I think in return, because
if you're going to be bad, you kind of want
to overpay shooters. And in Brooklyn, if he's healthy, I
assume maybe they look to reroute him. But he would
have played a bunch and maybe that would have inflated
his numbers and put him in a good position entering
free agency to be part of the someone who can
get a mid level deal or a large chunk of
a mid level or at least the full non taxpayers
excuse me, at least like the full taxpayers mid level
over the course of multiple years. Interesting if that was
the hangup, I'm not saying if that's what it was,
but it did. It felt like those talks were progressing
until they weren't. And so those are maybe those are
maybe two factors to kind of think about is, oh,
did Brooklyn not really want John Conchar's money and did
Lukenard want not want to go to Brooklyn? I one
of those two things, I think, or if not both
would be my guest that it came into play for
the Nets. Their offense is dead last in points scored
per possession since the Dennis Shruter trade. That is no
surprise given that Cam Thomas has one been injured and
that Dennis Shuter was driving a lot of what they do.
Delo can help there. He did have some of he had.
I mean, he probably had his best years in Brooklyn.
And you're not looking to win games right now, but
to help drive just some type of offense that's not
dead last in the league even as you're looking to
make up ground in the tanking race. And look, Delo
can also I'm talking about the Nets is cap space,
which looks seventy five plus million dollars at a time
where next summer free agency class whatever, that cap space
can be used to complete trades or to take on
money that's attached to draft picks. You just don't there's
no other team that's even gonna come close to having
Brooklyn's projected cap space right now. I think the next closest,
like if we're if we're practically speaking, maybe Washington can
carve out I don't know, like some like thirty plus million.
Detroit can do a bunch of weird things if they
want to. But you're not looking in the realm of
sixty seventy none of those there's no other team that
projects to have that kind of cap space right now.
That's just valuable because you're then unique. I tend to
I'm not wondering just based off these returns if that's
part of the calculus. That being said, Denzel Russell can
still be traded, and so they can take that large
expiring number and turn around and like move it for
another long term salary, that is salaries that are coming
attached to draft equity or prospects. I mean, eighteen point
seven million dollars is a nice chunk of change. It's easier,
you know, you can take back more money for him
than you could have if you traded during Phinny Smith
as a standalone, That's something I'll be monitoring. And it's
more so the larger direction of the nets now beyond
this season, where I'd kind of just assume that they
wouldn't care about their cap space as much. Yeah, I
can serve some of it, use some of it, but
at this point I'm wondering if they're actively prioritizing it,
which would make them very interesting to monitor heading out
to the offseason and free agency and more. I would
say critically the trade market again, whether it's to lease
out that cap space or to like go out and
use it via trades or free agency. I think the
Nets have now succeeded in ensuring they will not be
good enough to ruin their lottery. Odds you're never gonna
catch the Wizards or the Pelicans or the Jazz at
this point, but you'll probably have a good chance of
being as bad, if not worse than the Hornets, the Raptors,
the Blazers even and then certainly and like the Kings
and the Spurs and the other teams there, the Pistons
or are too good, the Bulls are too good as
of right now, So that puts Brooklyn in now I
would successfully say prime position. To have a say a
bottom five records or like bottom four could be tough
because that's the Pelicans, the Wizards, the Raptors, Hornets, Jazz,
and Blazers are all below them. And of those teams,
I could envision Toronto as it continues to get healthier,
maybe winning too many games, and what is Charlotte actually
trying to do? But the Jazz and Blazers aren't interested
in winning? They should have. Look they are if they
want to bottom, they want a bottom four record, They're
about five losses off their four losses off of a
bottom five record. They seem set up to they seem
set up to achieve that goal. The bigger implications here, though,
are for the Lakers, not just because they're the Lakers,
but they're actually trying to win here, and so this
team does not people Some people feel a type of
way about Max CHRISTI I think that is fine. This
team does not have a two way wing on its roster,
and it really hasn't for quite some time. And the
closest they've probably come to typifying it since the Contavious Caldwell, Pope,
Alex Caruso, even Kyle Kuzma days is probably Torrian Prince
or Cam Reddish or Max Christie. That's not you know,
that's not great. That's no great shakes there, And look
to Los Angeles' credit if you look at the standings
right now, just by terms of winning percentage, they technically
have a top eight record in the league. So like,
that's a pretty big deal. They are fifth in the
Western Conference and they're two losses off of second place
in Memphis, you could say, or three losses off. Excuse me.
I saw some reactions, like initial reactions on Twitter and
Bluesky of this of just like, well, what does this
do for them aside from kind of keep them in
that same tier. That's a big deal. You didn't give
up a first round pick and you actively got better.
You have a two way wing, which is someone an
archetype of player that you didn't previously have. And when
you're looking at the goal, yeah, you want them to
contend for a title. And we could talk about whether
there's more moves to follow. This helps balance out your
rotation a little bit. And like I said, you didn't
give up a first round pick, and that's what going
for it looks like in the Western Conference. Yeah, they
might have solidified their place in the top six. Maybe.
I mean you can't even say that because Denver and
Minnesota they could all play. They could each play better.
Maybeven the Warriors and the Suns get hot, the Kings too.
Thing's ever safe. That's sort of kind of the point
is that if you're a top six team in the West,
like you're probably pretty damn good. I don't think the
Lakers are pretty damn good. There's like just a lot
of noise coming into how they got here. They are, however,
quietly eleventh in points lab per possession for the month
of December. The offense is suffered, and that does get
into some interesting stuff here with them, so off rip.
I just think having Dornan Phiney Smith on defense, and
he's probably not the same player he was peak Dallas,
but he is immediately their best perimeter defensive. But you
can't talk me really into anyone else. Maybe Jared Vanderbilt
if he was healthy. When he's healthy, maybe, uh, that's
a big deal and it should make life in a
lot of combinations easier on Anthony Davis, but also maybe
not make some of Lebron's miscues as egregious. Perhaps this
season and you're getting someone who I mean, look, the Lakers,
they're not a good three point shooting team. They are
twenty seventh in three point volume and eighteenth in three
point percentage. Dorn Phinney Smith is shooting forty three and
a half percent on five point four to three point
attempts per game. That performance might not hold because it's
an outlier relative to the other stuff that he has done,
but he's always been someone who can hit a wide
open three off the catch and the Lakers need that.
Where it is worth noting, though, is that Jorian Finney
Smith is not even with his volume, which I think
per minute, you probably want that to come up and
we'll see if the Lakers can do that. He's not
someone that, like teams are overly concerned about because we've
seen him go through either cold stretches before just be
a mediocre shooter. Even this year, he is still rates
below average in his off ball gravity. It's about league
average is the forty nine percent tile, so it's close,
but it's not like he's in the eightieth And then
in spot up points per shot, he's still in the
thirty fourth percentile this year, so it's not like they've
now opened the floor a bunch, but they've gotten another
complimentary player who maybe defense isn't as likely to close
out on him. But it does simplify the malege you
need to, and even with Deanelo Russell running units on
his own or playing independent of a bunch of starters,
it does simplify things a little bit. However, it is
worth noting that the Lakers ranked in the seventy fourth
percentile of offense with Delo on the court this year,
and they're in the thirty second percentile without him. When
you add Lebron to those non Delo minutes, the Lakers
are in the fortieth percentile of offense. You now add
a d to those Lebron minutes without Delo, you're still
only in the fifty fifth. And you now look at
this team and say, I know Austin Reeves is having
a good year, you still have Maybe this is to
some degree not just a vote of confidence in Anthony Davis,
but also Lebron of saying, well, he can still shoulder
more on offense and maybe that's where he's kind of
at his most comfortable, and so removing dl from the
equation it again not even looking directly at lineups Lebron
was already involved in, but maybe it forces you to
test out other lineups that will feature Lebron in more
of a way that he's used to and perhaps that
would yeah, because look his offensive numbers this season on paper,
they're absolutely fine. He does not have the same level
of burst. But is this just a vote of confidence
in him being able to do more? Then, as I guess,
I would say it's a scorer. Specifically what he's it
is it nineus sis per game this year, So I
don't know how much more you want him to do
as a playmaker, but you have lost shot creation and
playmaking as the result of this trade. Now, it wasn't
particularly efficient shot creating or playmaking, and that's why maybe
it's a roll worth a role of the dice of saying, hey,
Dawn Phinney, Smith will help us improve on the defensive end,
and he at least won't submarine our offense and their
offense is what would submarine even look like. They're twenty
third in points per possession for the month of December,
so they rank better on the season, but on the
season they're still only like league average in point score
per possession. I think they can't be much higher than
that they are. They're thirteenth in point score per possession,
and when you look at the half court they're eleven,
and so That's where one where you might look at
and say, okay, are they going to miss the ball
handling of the ends of the rustle, which kind of
brings me though to my next interesting question, what does
this say about the Lakers's trade deadline direction or what
they're willing to do for the rest of this season,
Because I think you could look at this and reasonably
argue based off their track record, this is probably one
of the better players who will get moved before the
trade deadline anyway, And if they didn't have to give
up a first round pick and they're still kind of
uncertain about their standing in the Western Conference, is this it?
Is this the big splash? And they made this move
because it playcates Lebron and ad to some extent, but
it's not the all in move. That might be what
happens here, and we'll have to see. Maybe the Lakers
are better off as currently constructed. There's a give and
take to this trade, and the part of the give, though,
or part of the take, I don't know what part
of the one of the ends of that would be. Well,
they're more flexible and so they could add on the
buyout market if a great opportunity pops up, or maybe
they're able to find just it's like another kind of
I don't know, hit a single or a double that
just sort of deepens their rotation rather and you're still
relying on Lebron and Ad a bunch of Austin Reeves
on the offensive end, and even Rui a little bit
like so maybe they just go out and get a
backup big now they're not even gonna prioritize shot creation.
They might go that route because this is the that
the Lakers front office has not been especially aggressive over
the past few years. We could also look at it
this way and say they acted early relative to the
trade deadline, which is still more than one month away.
They got one of the better players who's going to
get moved. That's just in a vacuum. You're not You're
not gonna convince me at this point that there are
five players better than Dorian Phinney Smith who will be
moved by the trade dead I hope it happens because
I root for chaos, and he spends so much time
covering the news and the rumors and what these team needs.
I'm always going to root for that chaos. But you
now acquired this guy, you did it early. Does it
speak to your faith in this team having another gear,
not as currently constructed, but with the crux of what's
constructed in place, And are you now more likely to
go out and when we have these other needs, like
we still want to get another big man type And
I would say, more critically, now do we want to
go get another shot creator, floor general type because that's
just not that is not an element that they have
on the roster at this moment. Like you have. You
do have Gabe Vincent, but that's not Gabe Vincent's MO
to run the offense. And so you've now said okay,
Lebron and even indeed, but to a lesser extent, we
were talking about actively table setting. Yeah, he's more of
a hub this year. So Lebron eighty and reeves more
than anything. Is what I look at this and say,
they either believe that these guys are just gonna be
able to figure it out without d Lo, and again
it wasn't. I don't think d Lo the offense was
better with him on the court this season. I just
don't view him as a major loss because I'm probably
jaded from what we've seen of him during his playoff
runs with LA that's coloring me a little bit, but
also just he wasn't having a spectacular season, certainly as
a shot maker, and so I don't view him as
that huge of a loss. I might just prove to
be wrong, but if the offense was kind of already
struggling this month and it was barely hovering around league
average for the year, you can't convince me that the
Lakers offense is now in more dire straits by going
from D'Angelo Russell's minutes to dory In Phinney Smith's minutes.
I will be curious to see, and I mentioned this
with Dorrian Phiney Smith specifically, whether he ends up starting
for this team, my guess is immediately I would say no.
It would probably surprise me. But I think there's a
case to be made that, especially with Dilo gone, would
you rather like the guy to move to the bench,
would be RUI I would unless you just want to
be gargantuan when you start, which is just absolutely so.
You're gonna start Ruy dfs, Anthony Davis Lebron and then
like Austin Reeves, if that's what you want to do,
I guess that's fine, but I'm looking at it through
the vein of and I don't know that they'll go
this route. They might just say, hey, he's a mid
season addition. We're going to stick with the current starting
five that we have, which is, you know, we've already
gone through four of them. It's that plus Max Christie's
been the one who's been getting a starts at the moment.
Do we stick with that? And that's fine and just
bring dorn Phinney Smith off the bench, but I think
you could. I'm not saying you should make the case
of well, like, if we just lost all the shot
creation and theory off the bench, does it make sense
to maybe move Ruy there and try and make him
more of a featured not hub but just option or
is it oh, okay? The current starting five, I think
on the seasons a plus fourteen point four per one
hundred when they're on the court, the caveat there being
that has been basically all there like that is coming
all on the defensive end. They're in the ninety fifth
percentile of defense and the eighteen percentile of offense with
Thatck grew. But it would be something to consider of
let's just bring Ruey off the bench because we're so
hard up guys who can do anything on offense independent
of our best players. I guess you could also make
the case of why not move Reeves then, and then
you go really gargantuan. They have a lot of options there,
which is Look, they technically have those options with de Lo,
but Jordan Finey Smith is going to be plug and
play in more lineup makeups than D'Angelo Russell. That's just
a fact. Looking more so to what this says about
the macro for the Lakers, the big man I mentioned
that they need to go out and get like another
floor general type because I don't view gave Vincent or
Austin Reeves, Pepper and Ruby Hochimoor. And then on top
of having Lebron and Ad I just don't see that
being enough in the arrogant and they do. Look, they
have Shake Milton now, so maybe the plan is to
actively use Shake Milton, So I don't want to forget
about him. But now you kind of look at them
and say, all right, are you gonna go out and
maybe get an upgrade in the shop creation department, and
preferably with someone who won't submarine your defense ironically, Dennis
Shrewder reunion with him would have made just a crap
time sense on this team. Now you're kind of gauging
the trade market. Though. Now this is where it gets
like incredibly difficult. You've now kind of played your last
non blockbuster hand. I would say, I guess you could
still give up one first round picks in hope of
getting another floor general type to ease the burden on
Lebron and Ad specifically or run units when neither or
with only one of them on the court. But like,
who are you getting because there's not a ton of
those there. They have not been viewed as a Jimmy
Butler team, and that's probably the right call. He would
still be interesting, I mean, to get there with the
making the money work? Who it might? You know, it's
gonna cost you a bunch of rotation players, including RUI
at this stage. But like, do you now lean into
more like can we go out and just get another shooter?
We're continue We're gonna continue to just try and open
up the floor or are you actively looking for that
floor general type? And what on the who on the
trade market fits that bill? And they might be continued
to be mentioned in the Trey Young category. He's not available.
We know that, Like there's really when you're kind of
like considering you know, even if you were considering names
that aren't available, Tiaron Fox, LaMelo Ball, the Lakers, just
their best offer just isn't gonna be enough to get
either one of those guys. There will just be teams
with better offers lurking around every corner. And so I
would have unless that one of them, and Fox would
have the most leverage. Is trying to agitate his way
to play with Lebron and Ad fellow clutch clients. I
don't know what the like the bigger time move is
that would feel realistic, And to be clear, I don't
know either of those necessarily as realistic. But again you
have you know, your best trade offer probably still would
have included those seconds, just like to really maximize the sweeteners.
You're now least out of stage where well you still
technically hit those future first round picks in twenty nine
and thirty one that have the most value of any
of your assets. Now you're looking at it and you're saying, Okay,
those are still in play. Can you go out and
do something with that one or both of them, And
that would be an interesting discussion to have where it's
what is there someone that you like where you can
go out and just give up one and get them?
Is there any moves to be made here where it's
a two for one, Like do they try and roll
the dice by using a Gabe Vincent and a Jared
Vanderbilt to get a Terry Rozier? And is that even
enough for the Miami Heat to bite on that and
kind of just go after a distressed asset in that
regard there? Look, there are names that could spring to
mind here. Do they just decide, hey, why don't we
step ladder our way to CJ. McCollum, if the Pelicans
don't want any picks for him? That gets that's like
super complex too, though, I guess I don't know if
this is increased or diminish their optionality on the trade market.
I would argue it may have diminished that optionality. And
that's not to say that they don't have options or
they're somehow in a bad spot. I ultimately like this
trade for them. The second round picks are kind of scary,
but we do this all the time. We romantic size
second round picks. That are all the way out. But
the reason you almost have those second round picks as
a team in the Lakers position is to get deals
like this done. So you're not giving up. You know
you're getting a player who's going to be I would say, what,
he's instantly what one of the six or seven most
important players on this team, maybe even one of the
five most important players, five or six most important players
on this team. Like that's why you use the secon
round pick. So I like this deal for them, but
you've now played your non blockbuster hand, and so if
you're giving up, it's not just the idea of one
first isn't a lot and to other teams when it's
not that far off, When it's so far off, excuse me,
into the future, it's probably not going to be nearly
as valuable to them unless they have the utmost front
office job security or if they're a team and use
the Nets as an example that are kind of in
the earlier stages of a rebuild that want to stockpile
those distant assets, giving up one of those who's the
best player, Like it was sort of the argument we
had or the discussion we would have last year. You're
splitting the baby by just instead of would be better
to who's the best player we can get for two?
Or do we just go out and get the best
player we can get for one regardless of who that
player is though, like, yeah, you give up both those picks,
all the swaps that you need don't connect as well
if it gets you d Aaron Fox, but that offers
also not on that level, And so what is the
move now? I don't have I wish I had like
better players. I was thinking a little bit about this
before I was coming on. You're also in this weird
spot of would other teams even be willing to trade
with you that are in the playoff? I mean, just
as an example, let's just say, okayse makes Aaron Wiggins available,
not really a point guard and not really a wing,
but it's kind of like all those things if you
include your twenty twenty sep maybe Okase feels confident enough
in themselves to say, hey, yeah, go yeah, we'll take
your pick and we'll give you this player. But are
those teams in the playoff hunt gonna be willing to
give you that type of player? Now? You could also
do the not even to split the baby route, But
is it another? And I just don't know how you
get there now because you've exhausted your second round pickstash. Essentially,
could you go out and get placeholders where it's you know,
Malcolm Brogden. The Lakers would be able to match salary
there fairly easily with two players, I believe. But that
being said, you have the Clippers is twenty twenty five
first round pick, second round pick? Does that get it done?
And if it does, I mean sure, go do it.
Would you give up a first round pick to get
Anthony Simons in here? Or do you want that's not
enough of a floor general for you? The Malcolm Brogden
route could be fairly interesting. I just that would then
I would assume the cost if you're going after Brogden
for them, as the matching salary would have to be
I guess just Vincent and then you're not gonna give
up Rui and that Diana would be really funny to
see him back on the Wizards anyway, Like, unless you're
gonna trade Max Christy for that who has been playing
a lot of late. It probably gave Vincent and then
Jared Vanderbilt. And is that second round pick enough for
Washington to say, well, these guys have multiple years left
on their contracts. That'll be part of the equation for
other teams. I don't think there might be some teams
that have this belief in Jared Vanderbilt, but the injuries
are piling up, and so that's It's not the it's
by far not the worst deal in the league, but
the idea of having to pay Gabe Vincent for another season,
I don't think a lot of teams are gonna jump
at that when he's shooting sub thirty five percent from three.
He has been more available this year though, and can
still get after it on defense. It's just I don't know, like,
is that are those two in a second even gonna
get you? On Malcolm Brockton, I don't know. Could you
get like Kobe White? Would you give up two first
round picks for Kobe White? I think in a vacuum
you would, But that's not that's someone who really elevates
your now without being a face of the future. And
the Lakers, if they're gonna give up, they could argue
that giving up two first round picks is also splitting
the baby, because if there are no swaps involved, there
my point being I do think that's probably they're gonna
want to back up big, but maybe you can fold
that into this larger deal. My main point here is
if they're serious about this season rather than just sort
of being performative about competing, Because if you don't, if
you're in the front office and you're still mostly concerned
about prioritizing the post Lebron era and not giving up
those first round picks and not exhausting your assets stores,
you're not going to care. You still make this trade
even with giving up those distance seconds. And so when
the first round equities involved, that's when I will see
when that type of target emerges. That's one we'll see
how committed to this roster the front office ultimately is.
I don't know that this says anything one way or
the other. It might be a matter of the right
player becoming available or gettable, or like the Lakers could
look at it this way and say, now the Bulls
have to take back two players, and some of them
have multiple years left on their contracts, So what does
it do. Like, if you just want vouch, you can
include Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt to get there. But
are they going to want to take on money because
you're taking on money in that deal you've lost, Like
expiring contract of Danzl Russell was kind of the appeal.
You shouldn't need a lot of sweet nurse to get
vouch on this team. But if you're looking for a
backup big or big to play next to Anthony Davis,
that's maybe a move you could still get to without
giving up a first round pick. I'm I'm honestly not
sure you could. Certainly I would think get to Jonas
Valenciunis without giving up a first round pick. And so
in fury, this could just be a sign of, like
that's what the Lakers are gonna do. They're gonna try
and hit singles and doubles because they kind of understand
they're not a contender is currently constructed, and there's no
path for them to become one of the kapsot contenders
as basically constructed. So why put these first round picks
on the table. But there's still there's still just a
lot of time left until the trade deadline for names
to kind of prop up. I would just be curious
to see I'm looking at it through my lens and saying, Okay,
I'm putting another floor general type as the priority here.
Do they still consider maybe another big or even just
I'll say to Cam Johnson type, just another plug and
play guy who comes in, fills minutes on the wings,
doesn't necessarily generate his own shop, but is gonna open
up the floor for the guys who do or the
guys that you're gonna trust have the ball in their
hands more. I don't know what to make of this
trade in that bigger picture perspective, other than I think
they officially need to lean towards Maybe it's not a
floor general. You start because you're happy with how this
starting lineup is performing, and then that allows you to
kind of lower your sights where if we just want
kind of a passer or game manager, what does san
Antonio want for a healthy Tray Jones? Just as an example,
If that that's what you're setting your your sights on, again,
that might just be the reality of the Laker situation.
But it's like, I don't know why you would dislike
this deal. I guess it's just I saw some people
that were having mixed feelings about it. And so if
your team all future okay, sure, Like if you don't
want them to give up at like those just having
second rounders gone in twenty thirty and twenty thirty one,
that's not nothing and that matters. But like you're obligated
to do some thing because you don't own your first
round pick this year and you have Lebron and a
D on your team. And so if this was kind
of the idea of what we're trying to make the
most of this team without making any major changes for
the next this year and next season, you've probably set
yourself up to do that while keeping your first round picks.
I am just curious though, because of the timing and
just I don't know, like the Dorriyan Phinney Smith has
money on the books for next season, and just the
way that they gave up DeAngelo Russell, who functionally as
like conceptually is important to this team because of what
he's supposed to do or the player the peak of
Danzel Russell is supposed to do or can do. You
now don't really have that, And so it makes me
wonder are they actually aiming bigger ahead of the trade deadline.
And as someone who just is growing even more nostalgic
for Lebron's career as we inch crawl, maybe speed towards
the end of it. I want to see them be
more aggressive and Dorian Finny Smith, if I if I'm
Anthony Davis specifically, that's not satisfying me. Yeah, we got
better feel. This definitely feels a need that they had,
But like I'm going, I'm not going to be happy
unless they made kind of a bigger swing. And so
if I had to guess, because we don't necessarily like
hedging all the time, I think I probably would still
lean that they're gonna take the more conservative approach overall.
But I think you have a stronger argument to say
the Lakers are gonna be serious this trade deadline because one,
they made this move early, but two, more importantly, the
positional balances of this trade are just they're a little off.
I know they're getting back Shake Milton, but if you
think like Shake Milton is going to play an important
role on this team, or if that's the goal that
would that would concern me more than anything else about
the front office's vision. And so I think it's a
good move for the Lakers. I think it's a quality
move for the Nets. I don't think there's any reason
to dislike it for either side unless the The reasons
to dislike this deal would be, if you're looking after
the Nets Lens, you should have just waited and taken
a late first round pick had it cropped up, even
if it was attached to salary on the books for
next season and beyond. And then if from the Lakers end,
unless you're gonna go all in, there's no point in
doing anything, and you should have kept that's those second
round picks, just because they're distant and maybe they'd be
in the thirties if you're the Lakers, though, I would
say the argument against if you had to pick. I
don't think there were losers in this deal, to be clear.
I mean maybe, yeah, I don't. I don't know who
would be the love me like Maxwell Lewis is gonna
get more playing time? I don't like. Is there a
chance that because the Lakers is a team that doesn't
have cap flexibility shake Milton, there's probably a stronger likelihood
that his contract gets guaranteed beyond this year, so's he's
a small time potential small time where as part of
this deal, I would just argue the logic against this
for the Lakers is way flimsier then it would be
for the Nets, just because deload in factor into your
long term and for teams that are I'm not even
saying bold text italics text title contenders for teams that
don't suck. This is why you have those second round picks,
and to have an opportunity to get someone who, in
the Lakers case, I would argue, is a top six
player on their TA lebron Ad Austin Reeves, Ruey and
if you want to throw Max Christy, I guess above
him would be the move here to say they're all
more important than Dorrine Freney Smith. Those are the ones
I'm prepared to I guarantee you like four players. Profile
is more important, and you could even look there might
just be some people because of what DFS gives you
on the defensive end. They might argue he's more important
than Ruie. He's not gonna give you too much there,
even though his offensive efficiency since coming to LA overall
has been up. It's I don't know why you wouldn't
like this deal for the Lakers though, Like I just
don't see the second round pick. Yeah, their's stuff and
maybe we'll look back and that twenty thirty pick is
number thirty three or something, and we'll have to relitigate,
well what ended up being what ended up happening to
the Lakers after this deal? But if this poor because
it's it's so interesting in terms of the unknown for
both these teams, because we kind of at least I did,
and I don't want to speak for Grant, but I
think when we talked about it, we didn't expect the
Lakers to make kind of a big move. But now
that there's more mystery there, ambiguity there of all, right,
like because the positional balance is just feel a little
bit off here. They clearly didn't. I said, I don't
know that losing Tane Russe is actually going to harm
their offense all that much. We'll have to see. But
the idea of DeAngelo Russell losing him, there is a
void there now. And so looking at that after this
deal makes me wonder if the door's now opened for
the Lakers to do, whether you end up liking it
or not, to do something that's more aggressive that we
kind of all. I think the vast majority of people
just view the Lakers as smoking mirrors. They'll be linked
to people, but they'll never either one have the assets
to get him or the backbone to actually go after
them and then get them even if they can. I
think it just makes it more likely they will at
least show the backbone to be aggressive ahead of the
dead left trade. And I don't, by the way, I
don't want to. I'm super intrigued by the nets. We
have to wait and see where their books are at
after February sixth, and they were always going to have
cap space anyway. But the fact that we're now two
moves deep and they're trading, would say two of the
five players who were to be most involved in trade rumors,
the remaining three being Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas and Nick Claxton.
The fact that they haven't taken back any serious long
term money yet, I'm just I'm putting a pin in that.
I'm just putting a pin in that, and we can
revisit it later. Let me know what you think about
this trade in our discord. The link to it's in
the podcast and YouTube description or just in the YouTube comments.
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and comment on the video. What did you think of
this trade? Any like contrarian thoughts? What did I miss?
What do you think the Lakers are going to be
more aggressive moving forward? Do you think the Nets are
actively prioritizing their cap space situation? But until next time,
I think we the shout out to the one, the only,
the indelibles, the legendary will be in the NBA. By
the end of the season, Winna will into existence. Frank
HeLa keepa