With media day now less than a week away and the NBA news cycle cycling again, Anthony welcomes you back to Lowdowns. He discusses the Fred VanVleet injury, then narrates a season preview he wrote a while back about LeBron James and the Lakers needing each other.

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Anthony reacts to reports surfacing that Fred VanVleet of the Rockets will miss this entire season with a torn ACL. This could really shake up the Western Conference, so he goes through his updated tiers. The Lakers have a real opportunity for a top-four seed now. Anthony also discusses some of the trade chatter stemming from FVV's injury.

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Anthony offers up what's known about Fred VanVleet's injury and the fallout from it, then jumps into a discussion of the updates tiers in a new-look Western Conference. The Lakers might have a real shot at homecourt in the first round now.

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The Rockets have center depth and need a guard. The Lakers have guard depth and need a center? With this FVV injury, will the teams link up to work something out?

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Anthony details all the things we can look forward to over the next week, let alone afterward. You guys, we've wandered through the desert that is August/September long enough. Let's get back to it. He also answers your questions, and y'all brought it this week.

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This is actually a rather big week, as we'll get our first appearance in a while from Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick. In one week, it's media day. Training camp opens shortly thereafter. Anthony preps you for all of it.

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Anthony got a few more comments during the show about Austin Reaves and addressed what he thinks is actually going on there. He also talks about the transition of power with new ownership, the potential hold-up and what he'll be looking for from the new bosses.

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This Clippers scandal has Anthony thinking about the intrinsic value of sports, which also leads to questions about what fans should expect to get out of them. He and Pete have a deep conversation about all that, Clippers-gate, the reasons sports are so important and everything in between. To wrap, Anthony answers some questions from the live audience.

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Anthony offers up the premise, and Pete makes an important delineation between what sports owe us vs. what teams owe their own fans. This kicks off a deep conversation and features a good laugh at Steve Ballmer.

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Anthony and Pete wrap their discussion by taking a look at the learning people do even subconsciously through sports. Through this prism, Anthony argues how important they are and how critical it is to think about the lessons they teach us. He wraps with a couple questions about the Clippers and Kawhi from the live audience.

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