Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

With most of the dust settled in the NBA offseason, it's not a bad time to start doing some leaguewide evaluations of how things have gone. 

That means grades! The Athletic put out a batch, and Lakers beat writer wrote this about the purple and gold: 

"Grade: B-

The challenge in grading the Lakers’ offseason is whether to hold them to the relative scale of what they were trying to accomplish or whether to grade them against the rest of the league — in particular, their rivals in the West. If it’s regarding what they were trying to accomplish, it’s hard to think of a way they could’ve done better than Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart without sacrificing draft picks or significant assets. If it’s against the rest of the West, you can’t say on paper that they kept up with the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets or maybe even the LA Clippers. But an offseason isn’t just about which players come in and which ones are lost; there’s other stuff, too. Luka Dončić’s extension (and role in signing Ayton and Smart) bodes well for a long-term relationship between the organization and the star. The ownership sale to Mark Walter at a $10 billion evaluation should eventually give the team every financial tool and then some. The awkwardness with LeBron James is less than ideal, but on the whole, the Lakers got better this summer in more than one way."

So is this fair? Accurate? Is the split-emphasis on both the rest of the conference and moves in a vacuum the right way to look at it? Does it sell the Lakers a little bit short? 

And then meanwhile, even if you think the Lakers have fallen a tick or two behind the best teams in the conference (which is a fair evaluation) it's important to remember that the Lakers had a lot more room to move down than move up. Treading water would have been a reasonable outcome. Getting better? And getting Luka under contract in the best way possible? That's pretty good stuff.

From there, we explain why the Luka Era officially began this offseason, even if his arrival dates back to last February. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers get a B- from The Athletic. Fair? 

SEGMENT 2: When did the Luka Era actually start? 

SEGMENT 3: Why B- might be too low? 

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Nick Angstadt and the Locked On NBA Squad dive into Doncic's physical makeover and its potential impact on his game. They explore the restricted free agent market, with a focus on Jonathan Kuminga's situation with the Golden State Warriors. The panel debates the Houston Rockets' chances in the loaded Western Conference after adding Kevin Durant, and assesses the Orlando Magic's rise in the East. Plus, they examine how the Minnesota Timberwolves will cope without Naz Reid.

Tune in for expert analysis on these burning NBA topics and hear why one host is having "an emotional basketball affair" with the new-look Luka.

0:00 Intro: Discussing skinny Luka and NBA topics

5:07 Luka's transformation and its impact on NBA

15:44 Restricted free agents and contract negotiations

21:22 Houston Rockets' potential with Kevin Durant

27:31 Magic's outlook and Eastern Conference standings

33:21 Minnesota Timberwolves' prospects after changes

39:07 Debating Houston vs Minnesota in rankings

44:28 Orlando Magic's potential in coming season

49:56 Timberwolves' playoff performance and future

54:59 Derrick White's value and impact on teams

58:39 Celtics' roster changes and future outlook

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It was the morning of the first day he was eligible to get it done, and while at this point it was expected, that it happened so fast is still a great sign for the present and future of the relationship between Luka and the Lakers. At the press conference on Saturday, Rob Pelinka spoke (not surprisingly) in glowing terms about Dončić and reiterated the excitement he feels having him committed to the org for the near future. Meanwhile, the contract not only sets up Luka to sign a massive, $400+ million deal in 2028, it gives the Lakers a guide path forward. 

They know who the star is, what he's going to cost, and can plan accordingly. And all of it while keeping good flexibility for next year and the year following, and paying Dončić less over the next two seasons than they would have been paying Anthony Davis. 

All in all, there's a lot to like. 

So where do the Lakers go from here (other than to see the Backstreet Boys at the Sphere in Vegas)? What will a full summer of training and healing mean for Luka? What will a full training camp for a roster with some solid continuity do for the Lakers? What will it mean for the on-court chemistry between Luka and LeBron James? How will the time impact JJ Redick's capacity to leverage his stars most effectively? 

All of it should, and needs to, have a major impact. 

Meanwhile, people are also talking about LeBron, who was not among the Lakers at the facility for the press conference. According to Marc Stein, though, LeBron connected with Luka through Facetime. Would fans prefer a big public display? Clearly. But in terms of what actually benefits the Lakers, it really doesn't make much of a difference. There's no reason at all to believe there's a problem between Luka and LeBron, or that this season will be impacted by discontent from Team James towards Team Luka. 

Everything's fine, folks. Long term questions remain about LeBron's future in LA, but for now, it's ok to relax and enjoy some good news. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Luka re-ups with LA, and quickly. 

SEGMENT 2: How a quick signing helps the team now and down the road. 

SEGMENT 3: Training camp, baby! 

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The news isn't unexpected, but it's very, very welcome and happened as soon as it could have. The Lakers announced Saturday that Luka Dončić has signed a three-year contract extension worth $165 million. The third year is a player option, and sets Luka up for a deal worth potentially $400 million after he reaches 10 years of service in the NBA. 

This is exactly the contract most experts figured Dončić would sign. And most people expected him to re-up with the Lakers. But to do it on August 2nd, the first day of his extension eligibility, sends a great message in what has been a fantastic summer to this point for Luka and the Lakers. Combine this with Luka's incredible physical transformation (good enough for the cover of Men's Health) and his active recruiting of free agents like Marcus Smart, and it's clear the relationship is off to a fantastic start. 

This is the player the Lakers need to build around going forward, so this sort of stuff matters. 

Meanwhile, the team is still set up to have a lot of flexibility in the next couple of offseasons, even factoring Luka's new deal and potential big money for Austin Reaves. 

So far, so good for this summer. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky 

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On Thursday's program, we talked about ESPN's (very, very early) Power Rankings, which had the Lakers at 10, which translates to 7th in the conference. Not exactly outrageous, but are there reasons to believe that broadly the Lakers are being underestimated? 

Keep in mind, the Lakers made a massive improvement at center (Deandre Ayton), gained some defensive capability in the backcourt (Marcus Smart), replaced at least some of the shooting that they lost with Dorian Finney-Smith going to Houston (Jake LaRavia) and added a little athleticism to the development program (Adou Thiero) without sacrificing any of their trade assets and only one rotation player (DFS). 

But mostly, are people just kinda forgetting how good Luka is when he's at his best? Last season was his first missing out on the All-NBA First Team. And if you get high-end Luka combined with the LeBron James that finished 6th in MVP voting, does that put LA's star power at a level other teams can't quite compete with? How much does that sort of star power matter in this NBA? 

Meanwhile, James posted another provocative Insta pic on Thursday... is this one real trolling or NBD? 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Are the Lakers being undersold? 

SEGMENT 2: Are people forgetting how good Luka is?

SEGMENT 3: Another Instagram Pic from LeBron!

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The Athletic put together an oral history of the Bubble, five years later. Of course, that weird, (hopefully) never-to-be-repeated NBA season resulted in LA's most recent title, with the Lakers beating the Heat to earn a banner. 

No question, the whole thing was weird, and unlike any other title in the history of the game. But in that oral history, Sixers GM Daryl Morey (then with the Rockets, who were eliminated by the Lakers) revealed that many around the league put an asterisk on LA's victory: 

"Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required. Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn’t truly hold up as a genuine championship. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its leadership at both the beginning and end of the pandemic, even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk." 

So... really? 

To be clear, not everyone in this story agreed. Many who were there covering the event believe it was harder to win that tournament than any other. But no question, Morey's sentiment is a common one. That it was the Lakers who walked away with a title only enhances that belief, I'm sure. (Somehow, it seems likely there'd be fewer asterisks had, say, Denver won a ring.)

Meanwhile, ESPN has its first power rankings of the post-free agency era, and have the Lakers seventh in the West. Is that about right? 

And finally, ESPN's Dave McMenamin has a great story about Bronny James, which includes not only insight into Bronny's development, but how the Lakers approach this question more broadly. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Daryl Morey says asterisk!

SEGMENT 2: Why those people are wrong. 

SEGMENT 3: 7th in the West? Fair or not? 

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As the world gets to know Skinny Luka Dončić, there is tremendous speculation as to whether any of this would have happened had Luka stayed in Dallas, untraded and unbothered. Team Luka says this was an evolution already underway. Team Pretty Much Everyone Else seems to think we're talking pure "revenge bod," and even if it sticks, the catalyst was the trade and the way he was treated out the door. 

The reality is probably somewhere in between -- if there was an evolution underway, it was obviously accelerated by Nico Harrison -- but for the Lakers, the answer doesn't really matter. If Dončić has discovered something that sticks, they win. And it does seem like, in reading the Men's Health cover story, that Luka has moved into a space where he feels the value of the work he put in. 

And beyond that, the feeling around Luka and the Lakers is currently tremendous, with growing expectation that he'll sign an extension with LA sooner rather than later, after getting out and recruiting free agent guard Marcus Smart. Right now, things are going as well as they could for the Lakers in regards to Luka. 

Meanwhile, LeBron is looking fit himself, moving well, and seems ready for a season that surely will be filled with speculation about his future. Speculation he likes to feed, or allow to be fed, on social media. 

Does any of the noise mean anything for this season, though? 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky 

SEGMENT 1: Luka! Luka! Luka!

SEGMENT 2: Nature or nurture with new Luka bod? 

SEGMENT 3: LeDrama? LeNot Really. 

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"Skinny Luka" has been a topic of conversation most of the offseason, but always had a certain uncertainty. Like talking about Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, or any number of creatures that may not actually exist. 

Well, Bigfoot is real, and on the cover of Men's Health. 

The magazine put out an issue with Luka as the featured story, and while the information within is interesting and relevant, the thing that has received the most attention are the pictures. Because Luka is looking every, very lean and more defined than we've seen him over the course of his NBA career. Not yoked out like LeBron, but clearly thinner. He has, the article notes, been dedicated not just to diet, but functional training that is designed to put his body in the best position to succeed, help ward off injury as much as possible (and recover faster should they occur) and enhance Luka's best strengths athletically. 

Critically, it's not just about revenge. (Though make no mistake, there's a lot of f-u to Nico Harrison embedded in all this.) Luka talks about gaining a greater understanding of how to best prepare from year to year, and that this isn't something that just started post-trade. And it's very common for players, superstars included, not to take fitness and diet as seriously as they should in the first few years of a career. 

So what does this mean for the Lakers? 

A lot, and all of it's good. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Luka looks lean! 

SEGMENT 2: Does it matter how we got here? 

SEGMENT 3: Luka signing fast? And leading the team? 

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The Lakers' offseason has been, relative to realistic expectations (and frankly, most observers' lack of confidence in Lakers' President of Basketball Operations/GM Rob Pelinka), pretty successful. Upgrades have been made. Assets have been retained. Options remain fairly narrow, but still far from exhausted. But at minimum, the roster is better than it left off after getting eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening round of the playoffs, and that's a solid foundation for a 50-win team to build on, even if front-running contention status remains a ways off.

So why does it seem like a cloud of uncertainty hangs over these Lakers? Because certainty on a few fronts (Luka's extension, LeBron's short and long-term future with the team, and some lingering roster imbalances among them) creates as many questions as there are otherwise legitimate reasons for guarded optimism about the team's prospects for 2025-26.

To break down many of these questions, Andy is joined by Jovan Buha (Buha's Block podcast), who has covered the Lakers for several years and is as dialed in as anybody when it comes to reporting on the squad.

Hosts: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

Segment 1: State of the offseason

Segment 2: 2027-Gate.

Segment 3: LeBron, Luka and more.

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Save the Lakers' impending sale, there's been no bigger storyline for the franchise since the summer of 1996 (which saw the simultaneous arrivals of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal) than the arrival of Luka Dončić. Even acknowledging the magnitude of LeBron James signing in 2018 (a BFD, indeed), that was nonetheless a star on the tail end (chronologically speaking, if nothing else) of his prime. Luka is just entering his prime, and if all things go to plan, will be in a Laker uni another ten years.

For a better understanding of Luka, from his days as a teenage protegy in Slovenia and Spain to his Dallas Mavericks superstardom to his first full season with the Lakers, Andy spoke with Iztok Franko (digginbasketball), a Slovenian basketball writer who's covered Dončić from the very beginning of his professional career.
 

Hosts: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, with special guest Iztok Franko (digginbasketball Substack)

Segment 1: Luka's origin story in Slovenia and Spain.

Segment: The trade, and the fitness narrative.

Segment: Luka and the Lakers

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Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.
 

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

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