Angie's list is now Angie, and we've heard a lot of theories about why. I thought it was an eco move. Fewer words, less paper. It was so you could say it faster. No, it's to be more iconic. Must be a tech thing.
But those aren't quite right. It's because now you can compare upfront prices, book a service instantly, and even get your project handled from start to finish. Sounds easy. It is, and it makes us so much more than just a list. Get started at angie.com. That's A-N-G-I or download the app today.
Or download the TuneIn app to start listening. From Hurley saying no to JJ Reddick saying yes. That is the question of the day. Yeah, I mean, it's one of the more unique coaching searches that I've covered, seen, and been around. You know, I mean, our information, our intel certainly was that JJ was a guy that very early on, after Darvin' Ham was fired, was top of mind for the Lakers.
A lot of intrigue about his mind, about his personality, his, you know, kind of the way he chairs himself, and then more specifically, you know, and again, this is what makes it so unique is the things like, you know, his relationships, right? The podcast that he started with LeBron James, like, you know, pretty, I think it was before Darvin' was out, and the type of thing where you now have a front row seat to observing rapport between, you know, a possible head coach with the guy who was in the discussion for greatest player of all time, and so JJ, the process had started slowly. James Borrego, David Adelman, Micah Norris, some others involved in terms of being candidates, but the Hurley part, all indications are it was what you would describe as the Hail Mary, where they basically said, you know what, we're the Lakers, let's go ahead and swing from the fences on the side here and see if we can't shock the world and get Dan to leave UConn. You know, that, what's interesting though is that swinging from the fences, I think you're going to find people on both sides of the debate in terms of whether they swung hard enough, if that makes sense. You know, the contract offer that they gave him was, would have made him the sixth highest paid coach in the NBA, so that sounds pretty generous. I think it's a little more complicated than that.
If you get in the weeds and you get in the weeds and you start talking about, you know, taxes in Connecticut versus taxes in California, I don't know that he would have made much more, if any, more at all money. And so, you know, Dan stays put, Dan gets presumably the leverage that he needed to get a new build out of UConn and a Lakers shift back to JJ, and here we are. And Sam Amick is here with us from The Athletic. Now that JJ Redick is the head coach, we know that the NBA draft is pretty much up. LeBron James has an opportunity to opt out. What happens next for this team? They actually have to put a team out on the court and regardless of who's coaching it.
They do. And I mean, the next thing I think for me that I would imagine that is top of mind for them is getting some sort of reassurance from LeBron behind the scenes. You know, I don't know if he needs to announce it, but that he is in fact coming back because you can't really run into anybody who thinks he's not.
But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that, you know, if you would have asked me a couple months ago, if we'd be sitting here on June 20th and the indication had not been made, that would surprise me. And so, you know, his agent Rich Paul does an interview, I think yesterday with ESPN talking fairly openly about, you know, LeBron's state of mind. And there's just, again, not a promise that he's returning. So I still think he is, but, you know, that's step one is getting a coach. Step two is getting LeBron. And then step three, and the draft is relevant, but not incredibly relevant for the Lakers. And really it's more relevant in relation to their ability to go get, you know, some other kind of complimentary talent, whether it's a star or a high level elite kind of role player. They've got the ability to trade up to three picks, three firsts and go get something done and to hit the mark in a way that they really didn't when they got Russell Westbrook and when they did, when they went out and got Rudy Hachimura and the rest of that crew that helped them get to the West finals a couple of years ago. So a lot of a lot of puzzle pieces on the board right now for the Lakers. Sam Amick is here with us from the Athletic.
It's the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. Let's say, let's hit the fast forward button a little bit. We are now in the end of September.
It's early October. What's best case scenario for the Los Angeles Lakers if they want to compete for a championship? Best case scenario, that's a great question. I mean, I don't know who I would handicap. Personally, you hear about a lot of chatter about their kind of presumed interest in Trae Young, right? And I look at that one and just say, I just don't see it. I don't see how LeBron A.V. and Trae Young gets the job done. There was a lot of chatter about guys who were off the board at this point, the Ojian Anovie types.
So I don't know who that guy is. I just think that they've learned the hard way that even though it's Laker Land, don't get too infatuated by star power. I think that's partly what happened with the Westbrook saga. They don't have the cap room to go out and just outright pick a guy up like a Paul George or even a DeMar DeRozan who they kind of flirted with a couple years back.
So it's just a matter of seeing what's out there. I mean, Zach Levine is a name they've been tied to in the past. He's available right now, but I don't necessarily see that happening. But Rob Palenka, the head of the front office, he had a wonderful trade deadline two years ago and that led to that West Finals push. And then I think the onus then was on Darvin Hammond.
He took the fall for their falling short of expectations. I feel like the pressure is back on Rob now where, OK, you coach and change, you know, it's time to go improve this roster with LeBron's career, obviously, in the Twilight. Well, Sam, you talk about a lot of the potential free agents and targets for the Lakers.
These are individuals who are going to be potentially moving around as well. You talk about OG and Inobi, and we even have someone like Paul George who's kind of leaving breadcrumbs that, hey, I might be on out the door. What could potentially happen with Paul George? Is he leaving L.A., the other L.A. team? I certainly could see it.
I really could. Although today, my colleague who I was on this story with, Shob Sharadi, had reported that it appears the Sixers' interest in Paul has cooled, has waned, and that really surprised me. I thought they've got enough room to sign him. Joel Embiid had just showed up on the ESPN airwaves next to Paul, kind of, you know, borderline tampering and doing everything short of tampering, joking around about them, teaming up.
But, you know, Shobs is obviously hearing that that is not as much a possibility as we thought it might be. So then it becomes, you know, Paul just actually did a podcast where he fairly openly was a fusing praise upon a young Paulo Benquero with the magic. And Orlando is the spot I think he could look at. The thing to me about Paul and the Clippers that I keep saying is that I think a lot of it is that, A, he does want to live in L.A. His family's there.
He's got a mother who's been sick at times, and I think he loves having her be able to come to games. A lot of personal reasons to stay in L.A., but you lose agency and you lose control when you sign with the team. So I think he knows that in the past, they have shown, you know, not a lot, but a very, you know, an element of kind of interest or willingness to at least discuss Paul George's trades. And once you hear that as a player, I think you then are concerned that if I re-sign with this team, it's, you know, go ask Blake Griffin. Like, just because you re-signed doesn't mean you're going to be there you're going to be there for the long haul. And, you know, I think Paul, one of his considerations it feels like is, you know, should I, am I better off going to an imperfect landing spot somewhere else where I at least know that we have a longer runway and I don't have to be looking over my shoulder? And within that, I think the Clippers not being what they had hoped to be, sharing the ball with James Harden, sharing the ball Kawhi Leonard, you know, we'll see if Russell Westbrook's back. Yeah, Paul's got a lot to consider. And Sam Amick is here with us, courtesy of the Atlantic, excuse me, the Athletic. Sam, when you look at- No worries, no worries.
My political writing is not very strong. All right, that's why we got you here on basketball. When you look at the teams that have cap space, we know about the Sixers, we saw the trade go down earlier today between the Bulls with Caruso and Gitti. What are some other teams that have an opportunity to make a big splash into next year? Yeah, I mean, the Spurs are top of mind, or at least on my short list.
And, you know, the gravity of the kind of the headline effect that comes with Victor Wambayama, it's going to be really interesting to see what they do because they have a lot of money. They've got flexibility. You know, Chris Paul has been tied to them. Chris is not the player he used to be. He's beyond on the back nine.
He's on hole 17, if not 18. But, you know, he had good moments with the Warriors, and he's a guy that I wonder, you know, whether it's Chris or somebody else, can they add kind of an old head, an OG to that Spurs group to take him to the next level? You know, don't forget, a couple years back, Chris did a pretty wonderful job, you know, teaming up with Shea Gilders, Alexander in Oklahoma City, and showing him the ropes. And I think the Thunder and Shea are still reaping the benefits of that. So, the Spurs come to mind.
You know, in my neck of the woods, I'm based in Northern California. You know, the Kings are a team that, you know, was so excited to make the playoffs last season, two years ago, for the first time in 16 years, and then they didn't make it last year. And they've got Malik Bunk. He's another prominent free agent, and he's looking at all these same markets, you know, Orlando, Philly, San Antonio. You know, I think Houston's going to be really active. They don't necessarily have as much room, but, you know, they've got a young core that they're trying to take the next step with. So, you know, I guess staying in my region, the Warriors are pretty compelling, too. You know, they're going to be star shopping, I think, because they're still all in on the Steph era. It got everybody's attention a couple weeks ago when Jimmy Butler posted on social media that he was heading to San Francisco. I mean, it very well may mean nothing, but, you know, that's a name that folks have kind of bandied about.
So I think it's going to be a pretty active summer. Yeah. You talk about the Warriors. Klay Thompson did the whole unfollow thing. Just a matter of negotiating, right?
Sam, just is all negotiating. Only Klay knows, you know what I mean? Like, Klay's got one of the more, like, unique and interesting situations I've seen, too. And mainly because from a life standpoint, and I've covered Klay's whole career, you know how much he loves the Bay.
You know how much he loves getting on that boat and literally having his commute to work be, you know, across the San Francisco Bay, looking at the Golden Gate Bridge. And that's the kind of stuff that no other team can offer, right? Like, the Warriors have cornered the market on that, literally.
But there are some hard feelings there. He's felt disrespected at times by ownership. He's been confused about why they gave Draymond Green four years and $100 million but only offered him literally half that. So, like, you know, if they don't come correct, in his eyes, in his mind, as far as the contract offer, that is, you know, the idea of Klay in a different jersey is hard to kind of wrap your head around.
But, you know, it depends on what these teams do. If Orlando decides that, hey, we need that shooting and we can't get Paul or we want Klay over Paul or Klay over Malik, then, you know, you know, we'll see. I mean, he had a really good second half of the year. I mean, people always want to compare, you know, modern-day Klay to Pete Klay, which is not really fair. He set the bar pretty high. But he was a pretty damn good player the second half of the year. And I think his market could reflect that.
And Sam, we know that Klay Thompson is much closer to the end than he is to the beginning. We got a two-day NBA draft next week. This is an international draft. We got a couple of college players we're familiar with. But it seems the biggest name is Bronny James.
And this is pretty weak of a draft. No? Yes? What do you say? Yeah, I mean, I say yes.
Now, my disclaimer is it's funny. Back in the day, I had a couple of years' stretch where the draft was my number one focus all year round. And so I knew everybody through the second round and, you know, the undrafted crew and knew who was who and what was what. You know, we have the wonderful Sam Vicini these days at The Athletic who does a great job as our draft expert.
So that, I am not. But yes, everybody you talk to feels like it is not a very strong draft. And you're hitting the nail on the head, I think, JR. The idea that Bronny, even though it's an interesting storyline, I think it's still telling that he is grabbing a lot of the headlines.
He's a guy that is going to struggle in his first couple of years to get significant playing time, I think, you know, if not wind up on a G League team somewhere. So we'll see. I mean, there's always diamonds in the rough that we don't see coming.
And that's the fun part of the draft. But yeah, I mean, I think all eyes on Bronny for sure. Because it's not just about where Bronny goes, of course. You know, LeBron has distanced himself from the idea that that he was going to kind of go where Bronny goes. But still, I just think the intrigue of where does the sun go?
What does that mean for the father? You know, that's going to be the thing that we talk about the most on Draft Night. One of the most unique stories that we've ever heard or seen in the NBA because it's never happened. And so it's going to be very intriguing next week. I feel like we've talked about it for years and it could be upon us as soon as next week. Hey Sam, thank you for taking the time to join us. Where can people follow you and all of your work with the athletic? The good old X is the main platform to kind of get stuff out there.
So at Sam underscore A-M-I-C-K or just at the athletic. Come check us out. We got a fantastic, amazing staff and proud of what we do. And I appreciate you having me on.
Thank you so much. I think actually meeting someone who was not vaccinated and now has a lifelong struggle with a childhood disease really cemented for me that it's super important that we as parents continue to vaccinate our children. Talk to your pediatrician or visit YVaccines.com. Brought to you by Merck.
