Trevor Lane, Lakers Nation Host

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Will they be ready for week one? The local conversations about the team you love. All streaming free right here on the Odyssey app.

A U D A C U I. Download it today. Trevor how are you man? Doing well thank you for having me on. How are you doing?

I'm very well appreciate the time. I guess everything is always a cause for panic in Lakers land. Give me some good, give me some bad over or after what we just saw on Saturday. Well I mean it's certainly a lot more were bad than good and that they dropped game one and it was in a similar fashion to what we've seen from these two teams.

The game script unfortunately essentially the same as what we've seen in the past. You know the Lakers they did just fine out of the gates but as the game went on the mistakes continued to mount and Denver is fantastic. Probably the best in the NBA at taking advantage of mistakes that opponents make and ultimately that makes a huge difference.

They capitalize on every opening that you give them. That's what makes them champions. The good side for the Lakers is that of course LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy.

You always have a puncher's chance when you've got those two guys going. They both had pretty strong performances but they're going to need a lot more from DeAngelo Russell in particular tonight if they're going to hope to get a win. He was just one from not one for nine from deep in the loss in game one. So some good a lot of bad but but the Lakers have got to find some way to flip the script on the Denver Nuggets if they're going to hope to make this any kind of a series. Well Trevor as you mentioned DeAngelo Russell he'd be hard-pressed to do what he did again on Saturday 13.6 to 20 from the field. When you look at the defensive side of the ball and in particular trying to defend someone who's likely to win his third MVP and Nicky Lajokic, do you see any potential adjustments?

Are they just going to throw Davis on him? Is that a waste of time in regards to fouls? How do you try to slow him down or give him a different look? Well and that's just it.

There isn't just one answer. There isn't a different look to throw. You'll have to throw a lot of looks at him. That's the key because Lajokic is so good at recognizing what defenses are doing and then countering that.

He does that very very well on the fly. So in terms of sending a double team, do you put Rudy Hunter-Murrah on him which we saw the Lakers do in game one and let Anthony Davis be a roamer? Do you let Anthony Davis play him straight up?

If you do double, where do you send that double from? Those are all things that are going to have to be adjusted within the game because there is no simple solution to stopping Nicky Lajokic and that's why he's an MVP. The Lakers over the summer made the decision not to go after a true physical big man out on the market instead going with Christian Wood who's returned is imminent and Jackson Hayes along with Anthony Davis and that could be hurting them right now. They could use a true physical presence in the middle to throw Lajokic to give them yet another different look.

So for now they're going to have to make do with what they've got and just try to mix up their pitches as much as they can. Trevor Lane from Lakers Nation is here with us. The JR Sport Brief Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Anthony Davis just had some comments about not being in the final consideration for Defensive Player of the Year. We know about his length.

We know about his athleticism. What do you say? Why isn't he in that Gobert-Wimban-Yama group? Why does he get in that same type of love?

It's a head scratcher. You know if you look at it you could say well okay the Lakers they didn't have as much team success as say the Wolves did for Rudy Gobert and that makes some sense but then why is Victor Wimban-Yama in the mix and and this is and by no means saying that Wimban-Yama should not be in the mix he absolutely should be but if we're not going to disqualify Victor Wimban-Yama for his team not winning very many games why are we disqualifying Anthony Davis for what I would imagine would have to be the Lakers finishing in the 70 because he is a phenomenal defensive player certainly one of if not the best defensive players of this current generation of NBA players and so for him to the knock on him has always been well we can't give it to him because he didn't play enough games played more minutes than Jerry Jackson Jr. did last season torched him in the playoffs and yet still got no love for defensive player of the year last year and the excuse was well he didn't play enough games this year played 76 games more than any other time in his career and still can't get in the mix he's frustrated I know Lakers fans are hoping that he'll take out that frustration uh tonight on the Denver Nuggets and have a really strong performance because it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Well Trevor what do you think the rest of this series is going to look like are the Lakers going to walk out of this one uh victorious is there's going to be another defeat to the Nuggets?

So if it is if they drop game two here that I think we're going to see a Lakers team and we started to see it a little bit in game one where there's a sense of inevitability where they start to question whether or not they can actually win the series so a loss tonight I think would be assigned towards a short series now a Lakers win tonight would do the opposite it would suggest that they've got some fight in them that maybe they have stumbled upon some things that can work against Denver and it could create a longer series I'm still not expecting the Lakers to come out as the the winner of the series but could they extend this to six maybe seven games something like that a win tonight would suggest that whereas a loss tonight particularly if we see again that same game script layout I think that's going to start getting into the Lakers head so tonight's game is is pivotal I think it's going to tell us which direction this series is going to go. The Lakers nation Trevor Lane is joining us when you think about what could take place in the off season from the Los Angeles Lakers we all know about LeBron James and his opt-out what could potentially happen here in this off season amongst James with the draft and trades what are some of the realistic possibilities to improve this roster as LeBron continues to get older and I would say he's going to stay right he ain't leaving I would imagine yeah he's probably going to stay I don't think he's going to you know the potential was there for him to go play with his son Brawny I don't know if Brawny's going to stay in the draft or not it feels like most likely LeBron's going to wind up staying now he could still opt out and decide to sign a new contract could potentially ask for a no trade clause that's something that that could happen but I do think that when the dust settles he will wind up staying with the Lakers the question is how much pressure does he put on the Lakers what do the Lakers do in order to convince him to stay and that they can get over the hump and become a championship team once again and that's going to be on the Lakers front office to utilize the assets that they do have appropriately find some trades and things like that out there on the market and try to build what next season's Lakers will ultimately look like. Trevor Lane is here with us the JR sport re-show on the infinity sports network there's a lot of talks and conversations here in Atlanta about Trae Young and and having also De'Jaunte Murray here and and Trae Young owns a home out in Los Angeles area as well is that something that you find to be realistic adding a Trae Young to the mix are there assets that exist would a third team have to be involved? Yeah so I think that if Trae Young is indeed available on the market this summer the Lakers will be one of the teams that are that are interested he's a club sports client that's going to be a factor as well but yes I do think that Trae Young will be a target for the Lakers in terms of what assets they could part with you're looking at potentially the 17th pick in this year's draft in fact that the tie was just broken about 45 minutes ago or so that officially has the Lakers with the 17th pick this year the pelicans could take that pick in which case the Lakers could look to trade their 2025 pick so we're talking about as many as three first-round picks could be on the table we could be looking at players like Austin Reeves, Rui Hachimura, De'Angelo Russell should he opt into his contract now what we heard at the trade deadline in the De'Jaunte Murray trade talks was that the Hawks were not interested in De'Angelo Russell maybe their opinion has changed this summer when he becomes an expiring contract or if he's on a new deal they do a sign and trade something like that but if it hasn't then maybe that you need to get a third team involved in order to get the assets to Atlanta that they want but the bottom line the Lakers will have some trade assets to to play with and I do think they will very much be in on Trae Young if he's on the market.

You know Trevor outside of of Trae Young are there any other players that they can add to this roster to kind of push them into another space of competition another level? Well I'll tell you I'll tell you what the guy that everyone I'm talking 29 teams right now except maybe the Utah Jazz because their history then everybody's watching Donovan Mitchell everybody's waiting to see what happens to the Cavs in the playoffs do they flame out early and then what does Donovan Mitchell do if he does not sign an extension with the Cavs this summer he has to be immediately put onto the trade market because that's a sign he is not planning on staying he has a player option next summer so Donovan Mitchell is the guy now there is going to be a long list of teams trying to get him should he be made available on the trade market the Lakers will not be the only team there's going to be a lot of teams out there trying to go after him I don't think the Lakers could actually wind up getting him I think they'll get out of bed but that's the other name to really keep an eye on in addition to Trae Young Donovan Mitchell is the guy that everybody's waiting to see what happens in Cleveland does he sign an extension and if not they're going to be lining up with offers. Now Trevor final question for you when you think about the draft and you had mentioned Bronny James and we know LeBron's extension do you think the Lakers just bring on this boy to kind of pacify him is that what we're looking at? You know Bronny is the like the James family in clutch sport they made it clear that Bronny is going to do what he wants to do I think if he's available and he stays in the draft and it becomes clear that the Lakers can take him with like a second round pick or something then maybe they'll they'll do something like that but I'm not even convinced that he's going to stay in the draft this year I don't know he's going to get some feedback from teams but I think he would probably be best served going back to school. If there was an opportunity to get him I think the Lakers would take it I don't know if they'd do it at the expense of the 17th pick I think they've got this pick whether it's the 17th pick this year or their 2025 pick next year they're going to have one or the other I really think they're going to heavily explore the trade market with that pick if they can get Bronny with a second rounder or something they'd probably do it but I think this first round pick that they're going to have they're going to use that I think to try to upgrade the team immediately. Now without a shadow of a doubt well Trevor thank you so much for taking the time to hop on we know it's a busy night as the Lakers try to stay out of an 0-2 hole tonight against the Nuggets where can people follow you and all of your work with Lakers Nation? Yeah you can find me most of our stuff goes up on the Lakers Nation YouTube channel youtube.com slash Lakers Nation as well as the Lakers Nation podcast which you can find on Apple podcast Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts that's my primary role there but we can also find our written work over at LakersNation.com and if you want to find me on social media I'm over on X at Trevor underscore Lane. Yeah well listen Trevor we know the Lakers if anybody's going to be kept busy the Lakers are going to keep you busy and so thank you again for taking the time to hop on.

For sure thank you so much for having me. T-Mobile has invested billions to light up America's largest 5G network from big cities to small towns including right here in yours and great coverage is just the beginning. Right now families and small businesses can save up to 20% versus AT&T and Verizon when they switch. Visit your local T-Mobile store today.

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Will they be ready for week one? The local conversations about the team you love. All streaming free right here on the Odyssey app. AUDACUI. Download it today.