Lakers Lounge

The Lakers picked up their first win of the preseason as Austin Reaves outdueled Brandin Podziemski. Anthony recaps the game, then reacts to Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart being held out again.

After yet another set of comments asking about trading Austin Reaves, Anthony says one key detail always seems to be missing from those ideas. This team would be a lot worse without Austin. It's time people accepted that.

The Lakers won't have LeBron at the beginning of the season and they're once again playing catchup. Anthony discusses the ambiguity surrounding James' injury, the rotation with him out, Marcus Smart's preseason availability and does so while celebrating that insane Dodgers win.

LeBron James will miss the start of the season with sciatica. So there's that. Anthony reacts to the news, then dives into the rotation without James. He then wonders why the Giannis rumors didn't register on the radar for anyone covering the Lakers. He wraps with a Q&A with the live audience.

With LeBron out for roughly a month (at least), Anthony breaks down the rotation without, starting with, well, the starters.

After wrapping up the conversation about Giannis' situation and how it impacts the Lakers, Anthony is asked about Lauri Markannen. He answers that question before mentally preparing himself for the Dodgers game.

The way this training camp has gone, and the seemingly inevitable slow start, all comes down to leadership. Anthony sums up this thoughts about that, then offers up a summary of the Dalton Knecht situation.

With yet another set of quotes and updates from practice about who isn't practicing, Anthony is officially annoyed. He let's it rip. Then, he reacts to an Athletic report about Dalton Knecht's trade value and offers up what he's heard on that front. He wraps up with a quick Q&A.

Anthony asks a question we might not like the answer to.

Dalton Knecht's trade value is in the dumps. It could get a little lower but not by much without injury. Anthony offers up what he's heard about how the league feels about Knecht and where things will have to go from here if he's going to reclaim some of that stature he had coming out of college.

With reports out that the Knicks and Bucks held trade talks for Giannis, Anthony explains how this makes the Lakers offseason make a little more sense and also blurs this upcoming season. He also discusses the Lakers' training camp approach and how it might be setting them up for failure.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is apparently looking outside Brooklyn but never really set his sights on the Lakers. Anthony connects the dots to make the Lakers' offseason make a little more sense. The Lakers continued their lackadaisical approach to training camp and Anthony is starting to get worried.

Anthony uses the Giannis reports from ESPN to connect the dots on this Lakers offseason, then explains the balance the Lakers will need to strike as they weigh remaining flexible for him but also try to maximize their opportunity this season.

The good news from practice was that Marcus Smart is practicing. Then, we got the bad news, and Anthony is starting to worry that the Lakers are missing an opportunity this training camp.

Anthony breaks down LeBron's "decision" tweet, then dives into his annoyance at the way the Lakers have approached training camp and the preseason to this point.

Anthony reacts to LeBron James' tweet teasing... something (we're pretty sure it's Prime Day). But just in case... we do have to go through scenarios. Then, he dives into the mailbags to talk about the Lakers' unimpressive training camp to this point.

Anthony reacts to LeBron's cryptic tweet that was almost assuredly about Amazon Prime Day. Still, we do have to talk about the if here.

It's going to take a real culture and identity of winning habits for the Lakers to take their next step. So far this training camp and preseason, that identity and habits have been difficult to identify.

Anthony recaps a couple preseason games that are just impossible to actually get muh from.

Anthony and Raj likes some of what they saw from the first couple preseason games, but have grown a little sick of this habit the Lakers have fallen into with preseason availability. They understand being cautious, but there are still things they have to get done before the season starts.

Anthony and Raj have noticed that the Lakes seem to be the only team approaching the offseason in the way they have been. Is it time to stop being overly cautious?

We find ourselves asking this question way more often than we'd like to be.

Anthony and Pete send you into the weekend with some thoughts on Rui Hachimura likely being the starter. They both disagree with the decision and explain why. Then, they discuss what would need to happen to make this work more sustainably than last year. They also discuss their offseason grades now with Marcus Smart not starting. Finally, they wrap with a preview of tonight's preseason opener.

Anthony and Pete outline why they both understand Rui Hachimura starting, but disagree with what is now considered the likeliest decision.

Anthony and Pete take the conversation a step beyond disagreeing with the decision to potentially start Rui Hachimura and discuss how it can work, because it can. Then, they outline their expectations for preseason, guys they're keeping an eye on and Anthony wraps with a question from the live audience about Austin Reaves.