Rich Paul doesn’t believe the Lakers are true contenders: “I don’t think they have enough to get to the Western Conference Finals… their style of play will be very easy to defend when you get into playoffs.”
I think the bigger problem with the Lakers is their defense not their offense
Pretty sure most lakers fans understand this. Lakers sub is full of people complaining about all the trade posts. There’s a lot of trade proposal posts, lol
i remember that one top voted comment in that luka trade post about how that trade would inspire a bunch of bad lakers fan trade ideas
They existed long before the Luka trade and they’ll exist long after. The bad trade ideas are inevitable
My favorite aren’t the bad ones but the incredibly lopsided ones. It’ll be like Durant for a 2nd round pick and some laker scrub who never plays and they legitimately think the other team will do it.
Lol bad Lakers fan trade ideas have long been a mainstay of our sub
It powers the Lakers sub. Like a perpetual motion engine.
The Pau Gasol trade really inspired Lakers fans.
It’s both, there’s no bench scoring at all, and we won’t get far playing our starters full quarters like last season. Really need a trade.
They’re like dead last in transition scoring too.
Shocking that a slow and unathletic team is bad in transition.
Lmao yep. Luka and AR, very well known for their transition play. Throw in Ayton who will typically start in the paint, a 40 year old Bron and lastly Rui?
They can easily get ran off the court by the Thunder. Hell even 1-2 elite transition players could cause them issues. An Amen Thompson with a head of steam… deadly.
We are talking playoffs, transition scoring is much less important at that time: OKC (and Rockets to a lesser extend) out of all teams should know this considering how your own offense was brought down from Heaven to Earth (so much that a couple other teams could hang around) since you couldn’t score as much in transition.
They’ve been better with LeBron but ya it’s not great
Need defense and transition??? Ben Simmons come on down!
Hard to get into transition when you have to take the ball out of the bucket
To be fair, I don’t think “bench scoring” is really an issue in all contexts. All of our starters like putting ball in basket, and when you are going through rotations that doesn’t leave very many opportunities for other players. If suddenly tomorrow, Austin was coming off the bench, but playing 32+ mins a night still (see various famous 6th men), the scoring balance would change, but overall output would stay the same.
That works for now but bench scoring is crucial come playoff time.
My point is, that the current starters are probably good for roughly 100 a game, there’s only so many more scoring opportunities outside of that.
But i think if you run into a team like an OKC in the playoffs, your top 3 (bron, luka, reaves) will have a really tough time scoring if there are no other scoring threats to be afraid of. I think just having the option of it be there will do a lot for the team
Well yeah, OKC is going to wipe the floor with just about everyone. They are in a fairly unique situation.
If you are wanting the Lakers to be more balanced, it’s going to take trading a max contract player (plus salary) for multiple middle contract guys, and I don’t really see the Lakers trading LeBron or Luka at this moment.
My point still stands though, the top bench scoring teams are around 40 points a game I think, and the top overall scoring teams are at like 120 points a game. If a team is getting 100 points from their starters, expecting the bench to get an additional 40 just seems unrealistic.
Bro your point definitely stands. You cooked with this one
Yes, Lakers this season are at 6 in offensive rating. With Lebron games only, they are top 3 in offensive rating.
They need to improve on defense but their O will be ok. Rich Paul just be saying anything to get Bron help.
Since 2010, only 2 teams won the championship while being outside of the top 10 in defensive rating; nuggets in 2023(15th), and warriors in 2018(11th).
Lakers are currently 21st.
Also i dont quite get what are you trying to say, you acknowledge you need defense and then snark on a LeBron associate “trying to get LeBron help”. Like what?
Bc Rich Paul is talking out of his ass referring to the offense when in fact the offense is elite. I get what OP means. It’s true “LeBron needs help” but RP is wrong about the type of help that’s needed.
IMO he’s correct, and he pointed to last season’s series vs the Wolves where offense WAS a big part of the problem.
We do need to take into account that Reaves was injured and Luka caught a stomach flu mid series, but even still-when your offense is so heavily based on ball handlers beating guys in iso and hunting for mismatches, when you play a team with size and athleticism like the Wolves/Thunder/Rockets it becomes a slog to create an advantage if your primary ball handlers are Luka and AR. The few times we’ve played teams with size/speed on defense this year the offense has cratered.
We’re better equipped to actually play a big in the lineup now and to run PNR, but we need JJ to adjust what he relies on in the regular season (and a trade) if we want to be actual contenders.
Lakers aren’t going to do anything if they are smart. If LeBron wants to come back at a cheaper salary to finish out his career that’s all good but they have lined it up for 2027 after paying AR.
No point trying to beat a healthy Thunder as they are now. Need some of their depth to get too expensive to keep and hope the next guys aren’t as good as the Hart/Caruso/Dort.
Honestly it’s not looking great for any team. Clippers might have ushered in another dynasty.
Its also worth mentioning that Rich Paul’s an agent, not a coach. He knows fuck all about basketball.
/r/nba knows fuck all about basketball but here we are
r/nba doesn’t get interviewed about its basketball opinions tho. But here’s Rich Paul presenting himself as some sort of authority
Exactly. They simply can’t defend and that will get them beat.
As good as luka and reaves is that backcourt is getting cooked by elite guards
To be fair, Luka-Kyrie duo doesn’t scream defense either, but they made it to Finals.
Roster construction helps a lot, but the current Lakers team is not constructed to hide their defensive limitations that well.
They had Pj for the elite guards lakers have no one
Which is why I said “roster construction helps a lot”. Even Smart improves defense a lot, now add (hypothetically) PJ or Trey Murphy and you are looking at an above average defense, maybe even top-10 one.
Actually no. DJjr was handling guards mostly…
By Gaw, that’s Nico’s music?
This is 100% aimed at Rob Pelinka lol.
And the message is definitely coming from LeBron
100%
Honestly I think Luka’s real window in LA opens when LeBron retires that might be why they’re not pushing all their chips in now
It’s not that he’s not capable of having some great games still like against Philly but he takes up so much cap space for a guy that can’t go all out every night
The Mavs were a legit top tier contender before trading Luka what they had around Luka and Kyrie is a good model for what LA should put around Luka and Reaves having 3 playmakers is nice but feels a bit redundant for their actual flaws
Do you think Lakers are going to spend the entire cap LeBron is occupying on elite defenders?
Most of it would go to Reaves’s next contract.
LeBron isn’t the one holding them back, it’s useless contracts like Vincent and Vando.
you can pick and choose what fills what gap though switch it around and the useless contracts pay for Reaves’ next contract and LeBron’s contract is holding them back basically the 2 combined are a problem
Lakers have Reaves’ bird rights and his cap hit in the summer is only around 21 million. The expiring package of LeBron, Maxi, and Gabe is still a huge chunk of cap freed that’ll give them options in the off season, the problem isn’t their cap, it’s that the FA class doesn’t look very inspiring.
It’s not LeBron contract it’s his age. He can’t go every night. He can’t go hard on both ends every game. For a max player that is not acceptable.
It’s not just about cap. LeBron’s skill set is a redundant. We have a max player salary that is essentially doing a version of what Luka does. Because Austin is getting paid, someone needs to take a paycut or not re-sign. Austin will sign for years, while LeBron isnt sure if this or next season is his last.
Even if AR is maxed out (and I do think he probably would take a minor paycut to add some more pieces, so a contract in the 35-38 range), that’s still 25M saved for Lakers in cap space, which is enough money to get, say, a PJ-Naji pair and fix both defense and add some extra playmaking on the bench.
Not to mention Kleber and Gabe are expiring and that’s 22.5M more. Lakers could legit get 2 starting level players with the money they will save once LBJ + expirings come off the books (assuming they extend Rui for roughly the same 20M he is currently on).
Sure, Vando will still be there and a pain in the ass, but otherwise there will be A LOT of flexibility to revamp the roster.
They’re going to give it to Giannis
That’s what rob thinks too
Yup.
We have Mark Walter running the show now and given his Dodgers experience, they’re waiting for LeBron to exit.
If LeBron wants to play for the Lakers next year, he needs to take a 50% cut to his salary.
We need speed and defense. We do not need another offensive player.
I think as long as they have both Reaves or Luka they’re fucked. This would be the best year of any to win because Ayton is getting paid next year along with Reaves, so any discount LeBron takes is going to be irrelevant because they’re already past cap. And then you still have Rui Laravia.
They got Ayton on a discount but that won’t happen again next year.
I just don’t think having that much money going to both of them is ever going to work if defense is the main concern.
Defense has been good when they play with good defenders like Marcus Smart. The problem is having 4 bad defenders together in the starting lineup.
The same issues that they ran into with the 2023 squad will be the same issues they’ll always have to deal with. Luka + a guard who can’t defend (Reaves) isn’t going to win titles.
The two are going to be targeted like crazy. Ant already did it last year to them and OKC, HOU, MIN & SAS can do that for the foreseeable future.
If you rewatch those Lakers-Wolves games and watch what happened when it came down to the clutch, Ant had his way with both Luka & Reaves.
If the Lakers choose to keep Reaves, their window will be with LeBron. Luka + Reaves might score 60 but they’ll also give up 55.
I watched Luka-Kyrie duo go to Finals just a year and a half ago, beating the same Wolves with Ant on their way there. Are you implying Kyrie at 6’1” is a better defender than 6’5” AR?
Roster construction plays an important role: Lakers played without a C last year vs one of the bigger teams in the league. They got outrebounded by 5 boards per game (LAL were 2nd worst rebounding team in playoffs) and had no rim protection whatsoever (unless we count 6’7” DFS and 40 years old LBJ as rim protection).
In comparison, Mavs were 3rd BEST rebounding team in playoffs in 23-24 and had elite rim protection between Lively-Gafford-PJ. Again, it is about roster construction overall, not your 2 best players.
Thank you, they clearly have not been watching the Lakers enough this season based on their comment.
It all comes down to roster construction, they conveniently said “isn’t going to win titles” to discredit the fact that “Luka + a guard” made it to the NBA finals. lol
If you haven’t watched the Lakers this season then I understand your viewpoint, or maybe you have not watched that team enough this season.
Luka & AR have improved enough defensively where they can hold their own more often. AR has taken another huge leap and put on some muscle in the offseason and the weight Luka lost has raised his ceiling even more.
They just have to have the right pieces around them to raise their ceiling on the defensive side of the ball, which is athleticism.
No way. It’s coming from Adele.
Hello. It’s me.
Lebron has a long enough wingspan that we simply cannot rule out the possibility that he actually had his hand up Rich Paul’s ass and was making him talk like a ventriloquist dummy.
And what is Pelinka supposed to do? Trade LeBron for defensive pieces?
Exactly. This is a ‘gap year’ no matter what they do.
Yeah the Luka trade shifted the window to where suddenly they’re working on the timeline of a much younger star
Of course you make that move every time but in the short term it does pose some questions
LeBron for AD
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Trade Bron for AD + Max Christie
Does LeBron have a NTC?
Yes
He does
Sounds like someone who knows an incoming Herb Jones bomb is coming and wants to sound smart
I think this is aimed at the Lakers organization more broadly. Pelinka for sure. It implies JJ can’t coach to cover the team’s flaws. Rich straight up ignores Reaves when talking about the top talent on the roster. Says the bench is bad.
It might all be true but giving a platform to the agent of the aging superstar will result in these sound bites 10 times out of 10.
Who is this dude trying to sell to the Lakers lol
AD
Pelinka prob said no that’s why he’s out here right?
I mean the Lakers look like they are trying to get younger.
I think their 29+ players are in expiring or really low contract, right?
For sure I think there’s a bit of a disconnect between the LeBron camp and the Lakers FO on this for understandable reasons
LeBron has only a year or two left so obviously he wants to push the chips in to win now
Lakers FO probably doesn’t view this as a true “title or bust” season they’re more thinking about how to maximize the next decade with Luka
Lebron has had a year or two left for the last 5 years. Probably safer to assume he’ll make it to 50 at this point.
AD+Max Christie+1st for Luka?
hopefully Herb Jones, maybe him and smart can combine for 60% of games
He’s not wrong
The real finals this year will be wherever OKC and Denver meet. Everyone else are pretenders as it stands currently IMO.
I’m not sure the Rockets can be counted out yet. And I’m not sure where Giannis goes.
I still doubt giannis will go anywhere. It’s like this every year.
For where we are now, it seems like it, but it’s a long year. Injuries, team synergies developing, players PED cycling, trades happening before playoffs, etc.
Ped cycling 😭😭
if the Rockets get healthy (minus FVV, just talking about guys who are out for smaller portions of the season) I do feel like we’re in that mix
no true pg is gonna show in the playoffs
only cuz Haliburton (and everyone else on the Pacers) is out!
No offense, but I’d say the same thing if Pacers were healthy. You did heroics last year, but you were underdogs and it was a surprise you went as far as you did. I’d still say it’s between Denver and OKC, with that said, it was very fun to follow Pacers and it sucks that they aren’t playing this year.
ion know mane…. i mean our first game of this season against OKC, we went to double OT. haliburton’s clutch shot making was definitely part of the reason we got through the playoffs, but we were the #2 team post-ASB for a reason.
This, they were still pushing OKC with their star gone and multiple people fouling out. Carlisle and the Pacers just seem to have OKC’s number, so I think they’ll always have a shot as long as their guys come back healthy
Disagree that the Pacers have their number. Thunder have won seven of their last 10 meetings. is it closer than that number suggests? Sure. but nowhere near the way you put it.
People still think of the pacers like they were a playin team who were terrible. Pacers had a horrid start last year then had a 60 game win pace afterwards… they literally set the meta this year with the focus on pace and full court presses. Not sure why people still disrespect the team. Sure they’re ass this year but I’m looking forward to 2027 pacers with boozer, AJ or Peterson
He’s final verdict is correct (not contenders) but his reason is wrong. The Lakers don’t have enough defense.
He’s just an agent doing agent things (hey Rob; why don’t you send your FRP and a coffeemaker to Dallas for AD?).
English is my 2nd language. Your first sentence melt my brain for a second
I think he’s right that they aren’t contenders. But it’s more defensively than offensively. They can’t get consistent stops
The Lakers flat out could not score consistently against the Wolves last year. Even this year their offense is ranked 6th!!! The Lakers have an offense and a defense issue.
This is not a Denver situation where the offense is amazing and the question is just whether the defense can be good enough. The Lakers are a very good (not great) offensive team and a mediocre defensive team. That is not a championship formula and that’s what Rich Paul is saying.
The Lakers offense is better this year though. Reaves took a jump and they have a real center who can work inside
Their offense is much better this year due to Luka not being fat and AR has taken a step up..
As a Lakers fan, he is right. They have the offense but no real wing defenders.
How does that make him right? He literally said you dont have the offense and said nothing about defense in that quote
Yep, winning every close game is great until you don’t win.
Their net rating indicates this as well
Lakers rarely dominate games from start to finish and are insanely reliant on outclutching everyone
History says that generally teams like this fall back to earth in the playoffs (last year’s Lakers are an example)
60% of the time, we outclutch every time.
Note: I dont actually know how often we outclutch other teams.
Technically we outclutch teams 100% of the time at this point of the season.
Are they still undefeated when leading into the 4th?
Over the last 2 years, I think they’re like 60-5 when leading into the 4th. This year I think they’re still undefeated.
My main criticism has always been the offense and JJ’s approach to it. Defense is probably always going to be an issue for us that’s more of a personnel problem than a scheme one.
But offensively, we have to be better structured. We need an actual system and identity instead of leaning so top heavy.
Right now, Luka and AR have absurd usage rates Luka is leading the league, and AR is near the top 20. On real contenders, usage is usually better distributed across the top 2–3 players. For us, the balance is off. Rui, Ayton, and LaRavia don’t get consistent involvement, so there simply aren’t enough meaningful touches to keep role players engaged or effective.
In practice, the offense boils down to two things:
Everything else is late-clock kick-outs or tough shot. There’s very little off-ball movement, almost no continuity, and barely any scripted actions that naturally bring role players into the flow. We’re not generating easy looks we’re asking guys to react late in possessions and somehow stay in rhythm. That’s a big reason players like Rui and LaRavia look inconsistent next to Luka and AR.
That’s on JJ and the staff. He also tends to be too narrow in how he handles lineups and mistakes expecting near-zero errors on the margins is counterproductive (sticking toa hard 8-9 man rotation). Ironically, the offense often looks more stable with LeBron on the floor because he absorbs some usage and organizes possessions more naturally. We rely too much on stars to solve problems possession by possession instead of having a fallback structure.
We’re sitting top 4 in the standings, but we don’t play like a true top-4 team. The bigger issue is that we haven’t optimized the roster we already have. We’ve changed three key role players and still have the same problems as last year: bad 3pt shooting, perimeter defense, and physicality. That tells you how player-dependent this team is instead of system-driven.
Until the offense becomes more structured and less reliant on Luka and AR going nuclear, it’s hard to see this team as a real threat to OKC or Denver.
It’s not gonna be more structured is how Luka likes to play, the lakers offense is almost top 5 right now so JJ probably is saying fuck it even tho he likely agrees with you. To be as good as the nuggets they need a top 10 defense which isn’t really possible right now
Lebron has made to the finals and won with that style of offense and Luka is two years removed from making the finals 😂
To play that style you absolutely NEED a defense that can lockdown.
LeBron did it while being the DPOY runner up
bad 3pt shooting
Only point of disagreement with you. Lakers shoot the ball pretty reliably from three.
Everything else is late-clock kick-outs or tough shot.
This is 97% of their offense. It’s easy to stop, but thus far it’s been working because most teams in the league are poor defensively.
Damn I agree with what you said 100%. Their offense doesn’t get everyone involved. That iso ball is only going work in clutch time and it’s worked so far for them, but you need a connected team to actually win at the highest level.
The defense is the issue not the offense. Lakers are a perimeter defender away i believe. Lakers with a legit defense and their three elite playmakers would give anyone, including OKC a tough series.
You mean like Marcus Smart who has been injured?
He’s not the POA defender he used to be. Definitely still serviceable though.
If you’re relying on Marcus Smart in 2025 you’re screwed.
Smart’s impact metrics this year have been phenomenal and he’s looked awesome in spurts guarding #1 guys on the perimeter. You’re right that him being the entire defense is not the solution but he’s objectively been a huge boost to the team when available.
He’s been very good, but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy for years now. His body is clearly breaking down.
They need more than Smart
Smart might be a decent bench guy, but if he’s starting or is your answer to SGA, Ant, Murray etc. you are in trouble.
Not enough
There are only 5 people on the court and those 3 elite playmaker are all turnstiles on defense. One defender is not gonna cut it in the playoffs, a good coach is going to be able to go at the other guys
he is right
As a maverick fan you’ve seen this style of offense reach the WCF twice in the last 4 years.
Those Mavs teams had better athletes around Luka AND faced worse competition
The Booker Suns, the Mitchell Jazz, the SGA Thunder, the Ant Wolves and the pre-washed Clippers with Kawhi, Harden and PG?
They are all solid teams on par with this year’s Denver, Houston, Spurs, Wolves, Suns I’d say.
2022 West was definitely much weaker than the current West
2024 Mavs were a lot more well constructed than the current Lakers
Mitchell jazz lol those teams were always pretenders mavs went up 2-1 against them Without luka in 22
Terrible take. Who were the athletes on the ‘22 run? THJ? Dwight Powell? Reggie Bullock?
they probably should have said 2024 only as far as the athletes thing but lol, in 2022 they still had Brunson (!), Dinwiddie, DFS and a not yet washed Kleber. Reggie Bullock was also still quite good for a role player at the time, even if not super athletic
mavs had an actual defense when they went far in the playoffs
Against very different teams stylistically and personnel wise.
The 2024 Mavs were also very much a bully ball team on their own, this Lakers team is the opposite of that. It’s basically finesse ball.
OKC and Minnesota fans would know this but what made those Mavs truly dangerous offensively was the frontcourt, and the Celtics finding a solution early to all the athletes on the team just made the watered down Luka ball they faced in the Finals very easy to defend. These Lakers don’t really have that, and that’s why they struggled to punish a Minnesota defense Luka carved up just a year prior. Even now they’ve failed to make the right moves with LeBron still on the books, so most of the guys in the rotation were and still are better fits for AD.
PJ Washington, Derrick Jones Jr, Gafford, Lively. Dallas frontcourt that year was crazy good and fit Luka damn near perfectly on offense and defense
God that roster was so good, would’ve been a fun rivalry between us. Still can’t believe Nico thought trading Luka for an aging big was the answer to that roster.
only lacked shooting sadly which hurt them in the finals but boston was also an all time team that year
Yeah that’s what I was kinda referring to when I mentioned bully ball.
Nearly everyone of the supporting players was very physical and strong for their position, DJJ at guard, PJ at the forward spot, Gafford and Lively at center.
It was a well rounded team that lacked a reliable shooter or two to reach the final step.
This Laker roster can win one playoff round if everything goes their way but the roster has some climbing up to do.
PJ Washington won the Thunder series and Lively won the Wolves series.
In the case of the 2022 WCF team, the west was super weak and in the case of the 2024 Finals team, that team was way more well-rounded around Luka. This Lakers team doesn’t have a lick of defense or bench presence and the West is much stronger this year.
Now you’re just hating…The Suns were a really really good (60-win) team
suns were a really good team at the time
Against a weaker Western conference and Luka was literally surrounded by great two-way players lol
Famed 2-way great Reggie Bullock and Dwight Powell.
If you’re talking about them being true contenders, you’re probably right. But if you’re talking about the second oart of his statement, then no, an all time trio of playmakers will not make them easy to defend.
Austin is not an “All-time playmaker”, but youre correct that the Lakers’ issue is not the offence.
Reaves All time playmer
Reaves
All time playmer
Get serious bro
One of the most loose uses of “all time” I’ve ever seen, and that’s a lot coming from someone who is on this sub all the time.
It’s all facts. It’s obvious that our defense & bench depth isn’t good enough, but the style of offense we play is easy to guard in the playoffs. the Iso-foul-baiting doesn’t work as well in the postseason.
You can’t be a bottom half defensive team, the 2nd worst transition team in the league while also being a mediocre 3pt shooting team and be a contender. They’ll probably address two of those issues at the deadline
Lebron is a main part of our transition offense and he just got back. Give it some time.
I don’t think there are any true contenders this year. Barring an injury, OKC gonna run everyone out if the gym for a repeat
If OKC didn’t exist, I would call at least 4-5 teams “contenders” this year.
But they do exist
The Lakers won’t be contenders until LeBron retires or goes to another team. Definitely a fun team to watch at this point, though.
Rich Paul Hilariously trying to obscure the $50 million dollar elephant in the room.
He’s right, about the lakers chances, but Max should have asked him directly where the Lakers should get the money for those athletic lenghty guys.
Exactly. Lebron is a freak for his age, but if the Lakers could take that $52 million and spend it on two quality role players instead of him, they‘d be real contenders. So much redundancy on their team, which you really cant afford with todays cap structure. You have to be ultra efficient with your spending.
Unfortunately for them, even if they move on from Bron in the offseason, that extra money will go to paying Reaves and Ayton.
The Lakers have no bench
Luka carried the mavs on his back to the finals. You can’t stop him when he doesn’t wanna be stopped
Luka’s fantastic, but let’s not ignore the rest of that Mavs team which was filled with 3&D players, multiple lob threats, rim protectors, and a strong secondary playmaker in Kyrie. That roster was built perfectly for Luka. This Lakers roster, while being fantastic offensively, doesn’t really scream playoff contenders with how little defense there is and how exploitable they seem.
Let’s be real, no one is really a contender outside of the Thunder this year, unless some unreal bad luck happens to them
No lies told
Reeves fancy dribbling and middies have everyone forgetting how barbecue chicken he is on defense
Applies to most of the NBA’s stars. Jokic is ass on defense and he is a center. Luka is ass at defense. Shai is a good defender but nothing to write home about. Defense seems to be the expectation for role players and not stars anymore. If a star plays any defense it’s seen as a bonus.
What is this format? I can’t tell if this is just Rich speaking on behalf of his clients or if it’s a genuine interview. Without any context, this just feels weird and underhanded.
Max and rich Paul have a podcast with the ringer, but I do think what rich is doing is intentional
This is so obnoxious it’s absurd. Rich Paul should be too smart for this. If he think it helps Lebron he’s wrong. If he thinks people don’t see through what he’s doing he’s wrong. If he thinks he’s going to garner sympathy for the team that currently has the 3rd best record in the NBA he’s wrong.
True, not a threat from three. If they get defended at the rim well. they struggle so much.
There’s plenty of reasons to think the Lakers might not be true contenders….them being easy to defend in the playoffs ain’t one of ‘em
Rich Paul just being vocal because it’s the only play he has. It’s Luka’s team. Lakers want to save that FRP and trade all three on draft day.
my guess is there’s some Klutch clients who’s not at Lakers that can help them become a true contender.
There is a part to this, where Rich Paul wants the Lakers to trade for more of his clients. I’m sure he’s upset that the Lakers have moved away from Rich Paul in favour of Luka and AR’s agent.
Their style of play being “easy to defend” is the last reason I’d have for why the lakers get bounced in the playoffs lmao
What a horrible take that’s actually so brain dead
Is he really saying one of the problems is Reaves is paid like a starter? Dude makes 13 a year. Thats like 7th man money.
LeBron taking up 50M is literally the reason why
we giving 30 for 30 to agents now tf
who are these bums?
strange podcast to listen to in totality. Rich is an active agent and he dissed the Lakers by calling them not a championship organization. Whether or not this is true, how would a potential client benefit if he continues to give takes on the teams and league publicly?
No one really expects the Lakers to reach wcf. It’s a pipe dream with this roster.
They got to rebuild after Bron retires.
The offense is suddenly a lot less effective when luka and reaves arent getting 15 free throws. Its crazy how much untapped offense potential they waste playing iso ball. With all that scoring talent the ball should never stick instead its basically just 3 guys taking turns
LeBron’s contract hurts team building. And him having Bronny on the team hurts the legitimacy of the management. It also may be a signal to Giannis (or Jalen William, etc…) that our organization will take care of your entire family forever.
I’m super interested to see how Rich Paul maneuvers through the NBA landscape once LeBron retires. Rich obviously represents other players but none of them are LeBron and the reason Rich is interviewed on podcasts is because he represents LeBron. They don’t give other agents this space to share their views. I’ll be curious if rich remains as relevant once LeBron retires.
Washed Bron isn’t getting the ball anymore Rich, tell him to spot up and try to play defense. Make him go watch some Houston PJ Tucker tape since that’s who he should be.
Lakers can only start acquiring real pieces once their bad contracts and Lebon’s fat contract comes off the books. There’s no need for a trade this year, unless it’s a home run type of trade. They have time. The lakers have been getting younger, which is a breathe of fresh air from previous years.
Boo hoo, LeBron didn’t get a max extension. Couldn’t care less about his agenda. Lakers first, you lost all your leverage the moment Luka became a Laker. Suck it…
The nail in the coffin was Reaves ascension into stardom ngl lol. He went from the third most important Laker to the second most and that definitely has impacted Lebron’s leverage and standing within the franchise.
The real quotable in this clip is that he thinks Reeves should come off the bench. Wander if that is Bron’s perspective too?
He knows exactly what he’s doing lol
Lakers fans will have you thinking the chip is already theirs
The trade heist of NBA history still isn’t enough help huh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
More Lebron sponsered…passive aggressiveness
They aren’t. Bron coming off the bench would help a bit tho
Lakers could get a great if not some great defensive players by trading LeBron.
Rich Paul certainly knows more basketball than 95% of analysts. Guy has made 100s of Ms from this game.
Now, he does have a bias for certain narratives i.e. hes the salesman to these teams (Lakers included).
With all that being said, he did not lie here.
Lakers defense is like dead in the middle but I saw recently on one of the Inside NBA type shows, the Lakers defense when they are down or up by a few points is near the top of the league. So I guess they play defense when they have no choice. Luka’s defensive numbers are pretty damn good this year on everything except onball defense, which is why they have been playing a lot of mixed zone defenses. Sounds to me that Rich is just trying to peddle the defense wins championships, salty they traded AD, talk. He also said he thinks Lebron is leaving this year. Meanwhile, Lebron smiling from ear to ear every game having a great time.
But Luka is so wholesome!
Correct. OKC had about 6 players out injured, and the game was over by the third quarter. Depth and defense seem to be a key formula for winning lately.
Le GM?
Hard disagree. Isolation offense becomes so much more important in the playoffs. They have three (3!!) dudes that can run iso offense. That’s hard to stop
Lakers have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
Signed,
A Lapsed Mavs Fan Who Is Totally Not Using This Opportunity to Bring Luka Back
If OKC didn’t exist maybe they’d have a chance to beat Denver or Houston but it would be unlikely. Ayton will be exposed in the playoffs defensively
Where can I find this full interview?
This shite coming out after Bron had a great come back and just before that one of his worst games ever is weird. Maybe keep your ppl in check Bron. I mean wtf are you trying to accomplish with this 🗑️???