I know, I know…we acquired The Don last season. But between the chaos Luka went through after being surprisingly traded midseason, the lack of practice time with his new team, returning from a serious calf injury, his potential contract extension looming over all of it and just the regular hullabaloo of the NBA, the Luka Era felt rushed and never fully blossomed. No longer. Especially with LeBron starting the campaign on the shelf getting his body right for the NBA, the Luka Era in LA is here.
- The Lakers have added some intriguing pieces this summer, mainly De’Andre Ayton and Marcus Smart, although Jake LaRavia’s potential is quite intriguing. A lot is riding on how quickly Smart and Ayton acclimate themselves to their new team. It won’t surprise me if Smart tops out around 60 or so total games played, maybe more like something in the mid to high 50’s. Ayton should play most nights, barring injury, and his acclimation already seems like it will take the longest. It’s been very hit or miss between Ayton and Luka, lots of missed lobs which is odd for someone with such great feel around the rim in Ayton and excellent passing skills in Luka. Hopefully it’s just a question of getting on the same page and learning each other’s tendencies and preferences.
- Austin Reaves will be an All Star for the Lakers. He won’t be traded, they’ve made that abundantly clear over the past 3 season, hard to see them just bailing on that for anything less than a true upgrade (another All Star) and with our solitary draft pick it seems highly unlikely. As such, it’s been fun watching Luka and Austin get acclimated to life without LeBron (more on that guy down yonder), although the defense of the Lakers (in general) has been subpar. Luka will certainly make the All Star team, heck LeBron will probably be a top 5 vote getter regardless of how many games he misses, but I think Reaves has a goal in mind of making that team and upping his summer earning power. More power to him if he can make it happen, although it is conceivable he could price his way off the Lakers. Barring some unforeseen circumstances, I find that hard to believe. I will say that, if the Lakers feel that there is a true ceiling they have in terms of keeping Reaves, they should get true clarity on that internally because letting him walk for nothing next summer would be a high crime, to be sure.
- The Lakers bench needs help. Big time help. It’s one of the reasons I was surprised to see Vincent getting the starting nod when our bench so very clearly lacks any kind of scoring punch. Putting the ball in Bronny and Dalton’s hands is a disaster right now, honestly I trust Bronny more than Dalton at this exact moment in time. I like the Smart/Vando/LaRavia trio but they could use someone to make shots. Hayes isn’t a threat outside the paint, our young players are either struggling (see above) or haven’t played (Adou Thiero…with nary an update, either). While I can already see and hear the calls for moving Reaves to the bench it’s just not going to happen. Better, and more likely, to ask for Reaves and Luka’s minutes to be intelligently staggered until LeBron gets back. As it stands today I won’t be too surprised if Gabe ends up back on the bench simply because we need another somewhat reliable scorer to add some punch
- Team looking healthy, other than LeBron. Vando looks a lot more active, I expect him to be scoring better in a month or so, as well. He seems to start slowly and build from there. He’s already finishing around the rim better and the X-factors he brings are alive and well. Luka looks great and, if Hayes is cleared to play, the only Laker I’m left truly wondering about is Adou Thiero. Not getting much in the way of actual info, he looks good when he gets in front of a camera but has yet to suit up so…we wait. Which is unfortunate because I could easily see Dalton’s minutes going to Thiero and that having a positive impact on both ends, potentially. I feel for Knecht but it’s clear to me that he’s still completely in his head. It truly may require a change of scenery next season.
- That LeBron guy. If I could get word to LeBron it would be just this: playoffs. Watching how Caruso was handled by OKC last season reveals the blueprint for managing LeBron. We shouldn’t need him for the regular season as much as in years past. We will desperately need him in the playoffs if we want to hang another banner. As such, the entire goal of his regular season ramp up should be with that in mind. So if he doesn’t play until 2026, and as long as we’re keeping pace with the top 4 teams or so, I’m cool with it. I get that it’s a huge amount of cap space to be waiting on but the end goal has to be the first and most important goal, in this scenario. Whenever he does play more records will fall, most of them tied to longevity, and hurrah for all of that. Those all fall to the wayside, for me, when it comes to locking in on the goal that matters most: the playoffs.
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