Lakers no longer a destination, Klay talks Warriors, Kuzma draws interest | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Lakers no longer a destination, Klay talks Warriors, Kuzma draws interest | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

[Music] hi everybody and happy July 4th what a day we’re happy to be here we’ve got a power pack show and some breaking news he’s yelling at everyone today well just act like unless you’re just mad that we’re independent no I got to think that I got to think that if we did 23 and me is there a lot of Brit coming out of you you’re a little salty cuz I was the other day you’re a little salty today Dak in a walking boo he go every time we talk about him he gets taller I swear 74 somewhere between 73 true he’s still growing uh but right now we start with Clay staying away from La Ramona and Kendra Andrews writing that clay wanted a fresh start something that the Mavs could deliver and the Lakers really couldn’t from the article something about playing for the Lakers apparently felt too much like playing for the Warriors As One Source close to Clay put it would this be trading one Fishbowl for another hm are the Lakers no longer a marquee destination they don’t seem like it and I’m going to start with the current regime and then kind of go backwards that this exact quote in this reason is why I thought it was so damaging that the Lakers front office was not able to get clay on the phone because if you have a concern like that maybe he would have still felt that way but you’ve got to try to give them your sales pitch if the concern is H you the scrutiny it’s going to be the same type of thing as Golden State maybe he still would have felt that way but I I’m very confident at least one person in your organization has his personal cell phone number his father so you probably could have got he talk with LeBron so he talked with LeBron he talked with LeBron and but the Sam amck reported that Clay’s agent talked to pinka that but that pinka was never never able to get him on the phone that is what recruiting or sales are it’s like hey what are your worries let me tell you why don’t need to worry about him maybe he still picks Dallas but the bigger picture thing and this part predates pinka mhm is the Lakers have been not the spot quite in quite a while uh Carmelo Anthony they thought they were going to have a run at him 2014 right didn’t happen LaMarcus Aldridge that meeting went so poorly they were like can we get another one Lamarcus and they ended up doing it again and then Durant wouldn’t even meet with him if you remember now the argument that he when Durant was doing his meetings he met with golden state met with Boston they weren’t good they met he met with five team met with clippers right met with the Clippers and didn’t meet with the Lakers and so LeBron obviously is you know the the exception that proves the rule I don’t know LeBron wanted to be there they didn’t really have to recruit him he picked them and then once he got there Anthony Davis also wanted to be there but I I think two things have happened Brew I think one is being in a huge Market Market is it’s still important but less important now than it was a long time ago because every team can be covered and social media everybody understands that and the other one is I think guy I think the smart front offices are more clear that they’re smart front offices it’s well known the well-run teams I think there’s a clear Hales and Have Nots as far as does this team know what they’re doing will they spend money those types of things and I think the Lakers are considered not that well-run a little chaos within the coaching ranks and that predates pinka predates LeBron but certainly since both of them been together and they don’t have they don’t have the oh I’m the deepest pockets of any ownership group all those things I think Brew hurts their ability to be the destination like they were for a long part of NBA history well first I want to address clay um in that it say in the article that Ramon and shelburn wrote um and Kendra Andrews good great article by the way that that once he decided in free agency that he was not going back to Golden State Dallas was his first choice before he had talked to teams and met with anybody Dallas was his first choice he had watched film on him he thought he’d be a great basketball fit so I I do think rightly he felt like this is the best place for me so I don’t I don’t put that on the Lakers all right um also there are some that are likely going to say oh he didn’t want to play with LeBron he didn’t want to play with LeBron here’s the thing the same things that if like some players not wanting to play with LeBron or whatever that’s been said about Luca too like and clearly it didn’t porzingis didn’t enjoy playing with Luca now and and they might have been friends off the court but just the fit jayen Brunson we nobody knew he had all that playing with Luca so I don’t think you can put it on LeBron either by saying oh he just didn’t want to play with me I think the key quote in this whole story in this Saga is that what we posted the the he didn’t want to trade one Fishbowl for the other the even if he had talked with pinka there’s nothing pinka could have said to him that would have made him think this isn’t going to be a crazy Fishbowl he went from the Warriors which obviously everybody was watching to the Lakers and Lakers is even a bigger Fishbowl and the thing is I think he also he’s was in clearly Steph Shadow and you know anyone that goes to the Lakers has to understand it’s LeBron show and not no fault of LeBron’s it’s just that he’s obviously one of the two greatest players of all time and if clay were say if they won a championship it wouldn’t be about clay and LeBron winning their fifth ring it will be about LeBron winning this think will be a small L it will be about Luca mainly but Luca doesn’t have the shadow that part Klay got him over the top that’s it would be different LeBron clay would be a little small fry in that it would be about LeBron got five let’s have the goat conversation all that Dallas I agree it’ll be Luca and maybe Kyrie second but clay would be much more a part of it as far as the destination I agree with you I look Kareem wanted to go there all right Shaq wanted to go there and then LeBron wanted to go there but they have missed out on guys in many years and so I don’t think it’s any different I think guys are going to still look at the city the weather opportunities after you’re done playing all of that that you can do in LA the glamour franchise the Lakers but again right now it’s LeBron’s team and again anybody that wants to go there has to understand that and so I I I think that I’m not going to say they’re no longer a destination I think they’re about where they have been do you think that the Lakers recognize that they’re a little identityless they don’t have heat culture which is one of the reasons why we saw early reports that JJ reick was Pat Riley 2.0 or that Danny Hurley was going to have a culture from top to bottom when right now they’re kind of year byye we’re a good defensive team no actually we’re not a super good defensive team that they we don’t really know who they are outside of just being culture an identity what is it LeBron I mean really if you don’t want to sign up for that that’s a that’s a roundabout way of saying you don’t want to play with LeBron well it’s that if you look you can look at LeBron’s history and say that third guy because clearly you’re gonna be a third guy I don’t care how good you are I mean it’s ad and LeBron so that third guy does has historically become kind of a glorified role player whether it was Kevin Love or Chris Bosch so there’s that but also it’s again even if you win a ring LeBron’s going to get the line sh I think the so I think I disagree I think somewhat with what you guys are saying but we maybe we land in the same place there is obviously a lot good and bad that comes with being on the same team as LeBron James there is more FES maybe more endorsement money more National TV games if you care about it a lot more scrutiny the but there’s also I it’s not fair to only talk about like the downside of it like Mario chers is a bigger name than he would have ever been given his career because he played with LeBron Ro players like that right run should run to LeBron Kyle corver absolutely and we’ve talked about it before that I actually think the history shows you being the second best player on a Lebron team is a great place to be and being players 4 through 10 is a great place to be because you kind of get your you know whoever’s the open man’s third best guy being an All-Star level guy as the third best player on a Lebron team is the one guys who have been minimized whether it’s BOS love Russell Westbrook if we want to include him in that it feels a little different all that’s true here’s to me the biggest change and and this is where Bru point that LeBron is not able to have the impact on the game that he did at his Peak the biggest change is this guys used to be totally fine with that cuz it’s like yeah okay there’s going to be a lot but guess what I’m playing in the finals absolutely guess what if I stay long enough we’re going to win a championship together and even if I only stay for a year I’m going to play in my first Finals or I’m going to be back in the finals right now that’s no longer the case play signing up to play with LeBron is not a guaranteed finals appearance the way it was for literally a decade and so then when you take all the other pluses and minuses pieces of it I think it probably ends up being about a wash like it is having LeBron James good or bad for recruitment I actually think it ends up being a wash I think there’s a lot of positives and a lot of negatives which is why to end it I think it comes down to the organization of the front office you’re not going to have this magnet of LeBron you know what I mean drawing people I also don’t think it’s a you know a polar opposite magnet pushing it away so it’s up to the organization and that’s where I think the Lakers are going to consistently miss the market how about that all right wo shed some light on the Lakers philos ophy is about adding a third star perhaps why they’re not looking to do it they’re seeing the landscape of this league and that the three stars model with this salary cap doesn’t work or it’s much more difficult for it to work your reaction I okay we’ll talk when we talk clay and the Warriors later more about owners implementing this new CBA uh because they wanted to save money and then using it as a shield as a reason not to save money it’s such a wonderful slight of hand these rules we put in place are handcuffing us I hate it they do it to protect of course 100% And then they’re like who do you what do you want us to do um but this is lunac I I’m actually I don’t think there is an exact right way to build a champion the Bucks had three stars the the Nuggets were all homegrown the Celtics had two homegrown guys and then everyone else was acquired and it was kind of a galarian that there you go the The Warriors were like a kind of a retread in Wiggins and old guy and then other home there is the the way to win a championship is to be the best team that year there’s a lot of different ways to do it oh thank you wild but here’s what’s frustrating Brew this CBA was in place at the trade deadline and at the trade deadline Rob binka when he held his semiannual press conference he holds two a year one at the trade deadline and one when he fires or hires a coach that’s it uh this was what Rob binka said about them not making a move this summer in June at the time of the draft we’ll have three first round draft picks to look for deals which I think will really unlock an access to potentially a greater or bigger swing he went on we didn’t want to shoot a small bullet now that would only lead to Marginal Improvement to the extense of making a much bigger and impactful movement in June and July what he is saying there is we wanted to wait till we could trade all three first round picks to make a big trade guess what that means to trade for a star you’re not you don’t think so not necessarily what what it could mean two two really good role players okay well that’s I’m just saying I mean I’m I’m just saying I read that to mean one big move because if it was going to be that then you could have done one if it was role players you could do one of those at the deadline might be the right what you think is a better fit what you think is the right fit the I’m just saying I don’t think that definitely means a third I think that they were I think that what they are doing is saying uh well we struck out on everything so I think the best answer is that trying to do anything would have been a bad idea I just don’t buy it like it’d be fine if they had done something Brew if they had done been like hey we looked at it we thought we were going to get a star in said we’re getting you know three role players or two role players they did nothing they they they they ex excused their an action at the deadline by saying we want to keep our powder dry to make a big move and then now it’s mostly over and there’s no move to be made I agree that there’s different ways to build a champion and teams should not say we don’t want three stars all right cuz that that can still win Philly might win right who knows if they’re healthy yeah they got a shot and and I think OKC is going to in short order have three stars they already got SGA Chad’s on his way and Jaylen you know so Williams here’s where I do disagree with you though and you I don’t know if you’re thinking okay they went for clay I don’t think they consider clay a star right now right they were at least reportedly LeBron would have liked Harden is not a star now you know what I mean like and and not only in their uh impact on the game but in their money you know Harden just got two years 70 million and obviously valent tun is zones valun is not a star they had the chance to at least try to get Kyrie and LeBron wanted him to and he was right but they said the organization was like nah we don’t want to go for Kyrie I think they should be trying to get Trey young I actually like Trey young in La I he’s now I know he’s had his ups and downs in the playoffs but he has had some very high ups and he went in the Madison Square Garden and conquered he looks like he’s clutch he he looks like he’s different from D’Angelo Russell who’s very good in the regular season right so I don’t think you’d worry about Trey in the playoffs I he’s a three-level scorer he’s a playmaker and I think LeBron would be able to teach him how to mature and play winning basketball which is all Trey really needs because he’s got great talent but they don’t seem to be looking at that way so I I think all of those things show that they are thinking the three kind of max players cuz that’s really how you would Define it now three max players is not I just think they’re gun shy Wilds to make any big move I think that they don’t I think that there is a lot of ass covering and there they were so burnt by the Russell Westbrook disaster blowing up on them that now they are con they are only going to make a move if they are get if they are able to get it for 60 cents on the dollar other GMS are not going to do the Lakers any favors in fact you probably got to pay 110 cents on the dollar so instead that it’s in action instead it is hold the line I joked with you about it right before the show but how long did we hear that they were trying to get buddy heel yeah buddy heel just got traded for a 2031 second round pick now it was a signning trade to be fair but he signed a 2-year $20 million deal so like it there’s just a level of because I agree with you brew that I I think there are a lot I don’t necessarily view this quote as it has to be another max level guy like if they would have gotten Markin I would have looked at that as three Stars if you will and I thought think that would have been great I don’t think they have the draft Capital to do it I just think you you can’t tell me oh the big move’s coming the big move’s coming the big move’s coming repeatedly without doing anything before I just think you’re biting time which is what I think is how about how about a semistar in Kyle kosma reports are the Lakers are interested in kozma and kozma is interested in going back league and team sources have maintained over the last year or so that kzo would welcome a return to Los Angeles just as the Lakers would love to have him back that’s from Lakers daily.com uh here’s kuzma’s numbers if you watched any Wizards games like I was W I was just crushing Wizards man and Kyle was have 22 points a game a career high and assist shot 46% free throw percentage not bad 77% is a career high not great but you know what right last year didn’t show it he sneaky good rebounder for his position and his he’s a good rebounder but go ahead and he’s got a Jersey already good save on that your reaction bro I would love this for the Lakers I’m not saying they put him over the top but he’s a fit he’s obviously already played with LeBron and AD he would know how to fit with those guys he’s won a championship he’s better with all due respect to Austin Reeds who’s solid he’s better than any third option they have right now he’s definitely better than ruy haimura so I Kyle kosma would be a fit there’s no question about it that’d be a good look I’d still rather have Trey Young but yeah I would Kyle would be good for that all right but so if we are now to the Kyle kozma portion of Lakers free agency it means things have gone a bit ay and I like Kyle but I mean from where where it was so I I created a segment wild I know you he said I’ve got stuff I’ve got something for this I I created a segment it’s got full screens it all right so this is you might end up wanting to turn this into like a a franchise all right let’s see it I’m calling it Nick players under pressure list people under pressure under like a pup list almost except not the physically unable so it’s for the Lakers free agency yeah number number one on like number one on the what are you talking about and had the nice tier three Anthony Davis listen I a lot of this uh the Lakers kind of frustration is that they is AD ever going to take that leap and so ad you’re under pressure I think maybe you can do it pup two I like it it closes it pup Rob pinka Rob pinka there’s some people out there on TV that are every day this week going after you saying you’re actually a weird nepotism higher but it’s just Kobe’s agent there but there’s a lot of a lot of stuff being said you’re afraid to pull the trigger you are under pressure Rob only number and I I I I’d like to believe in you I’d like to believe and then PP Genie bus at some point you’re in charge Genie and at some point you know the buck must stop with you so Genie bust is number pup three I guess you know maybe we should have numbered it differently you’re under pressure and I think maybe you can do it Genie pretty good you liked it right I think maybe we could do something like that in the a block right away bang you thought my tears was bad my tears was good oh that was I didn’t even think of that that was kind of like you doing te I don’t name the I don’t name the the list either the three people the I just go third brard you could do it why didn’t you do a cowboy Nick or something thr him with a belly dax’s in a walking boot all right well there you go happy July 4th you got nothing else to say no we got more show coming up actually the show is really good thanks for watching subscribe here to get more from the show and to check out clips from other shows on FS1

Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes and Chris Broussard discuss the latest news in sports including a report the Los Angeles Lakers are interested in the services of Kyle Kuzma, Klay Thompson comparing the Golden State Warriors to the Los Angeles Lakers and a report the Lakeshow no longer believe in a three star model.

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Lakers no longer a destination, Klay talks Warriors, Kuzma draws interest | NBA | FIRST THINGS FIRST

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