Lakers Lounge

Anthony reacts to the news that the Jazz waived KJ Martin, a young, athletic wing who checks boxes for the Lakers. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he's in the cards. From there, he narrates a piece he wrote about the season ahead for Austin Reaves.

Anthony presents Raj with four options, then the guys rank each candidate for who within the Lakers universe has the most riding on this season. The choices: JJ Redick, Rob Pelinka, Luka Doncic and LeBron James.

Anthony and Raj start their lists with the guys slated to speak this week: JJ Redick and Rob Pelinka.

Anthony and Raj make the cases for Luka Doncic and LeBron James, for who will be feeling pressure heading into this season. Then, at the behest of a listener, they react to KJ Martin being waived by the Jazz.

With media day now less than a week away and the NBA news cycle cycling again, Anthony welcomes you back to Lowdowns. He discusses the Fred VanVleet injury, then narrates a season preview he wrote a while back about LeBron James and the Lakers needing each other.

Anthony reacts to reports surfacing that Fred VanVleet of the Rockets will miss this entire season with a torn ACL. This could really shake up the Western Conference, so he goes through his updated tiers. The Lakers have a real opportunity for a top-four seed now. Anthony also discusses some of the trade chatter stemming from FVV's injury.

Anthony offers up what's known about Fred VanVleet's injury and the fallout from it, then jumps into a discussion of the updates tiers in a new-look Western Conference. The Lakers might have a real shot at homecourt in the first round now.

The Rockets have center depth and need a guard. The Lakers have guard depth and need a center? With this FVV injury, will the teams link up to work something out?

Anthony details all the things we can look forward to over the next week, let alone afterward. You guys, we've wandered through the desert that is August/September long enough. Let's get back to it. He also answers your questions, and y'all brought it this week.

This is actually a rather big week, as we'll get our first appearance in a while from Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick. In one week, it's media day. Training camp opens shortly thereafter. Anthony preps you for all of it.

Anthony got a few more comments during the show about Austin Reaves and addressed what he thinks is actually going on there. He also talks about the transition of power with new ownership, the potential hold-up and what he'll be looking for from the new bosses.

This Clippers scandal has Anthony thinking about the intrinsic value of sports, which also leads to questions about what fans should expect to get out of them. He and Pete have a deep conversation about all that, Clippers-gate, the reasons sports are so important and everything in between. To wrap, Anthony answers some questions from the live audience.

Anthony offers up the premise, and Pete makes an important delineation between what sports owe us vs. what teams owe their own fans. This kicks off a deep conversation and features a good laugh at Steve Ballmer.

Anthony and Pete wrap their discussion by taking a look at the learning people do even subconsciously through sports. Through this prism, Anthony argues how important they are and how critical it is to think about the lessons they teach us. He wraps with a couple questions about the Clippers and Kawhi from the live audience.

Anthony welcomes Adam Mares back into The Lounge to talk Clippers stuff, with even more information coming out now about the efforts to keep Aspiration above water long enough to (allegedly) pay Kawhi Leonard. Next, the guys turn their attention to the Nuggets, who are both of their title favorites heading into the season. Finally, Anthony asks Adam about the summer of Skinny Luka.

Adam and Anthony go back and forth about the latest findings, which paint a pretty clear picture of what was going on between the Clippers and Aspiration. It's not looking good, folks.

Anthony thinks the Nuggets should be title favorites this year. Adam gives his thoughts on the matter, then the guys go into how people in Denver feel about the Lakers, the summer of Skinny Luka and the two teams heading into the season.

This story has become one of the all-time greatest in the history of September in a variety of ways but most specifically, it's a great source of comedy. Anthony and Harrison discuss what they think have been the funniest aspects of this whole ordeal. They talk about this, actual punishments they're hoping for and the most ridiculous punishments they could think of.

Anthony and Harrison discuss what they've found funny about this whole Clippers thing and how it's really opened eyes about the NBA, its coverage and all other levels involved

Anthony and Harrison do what they do best (we think): They riff off each other to try to figure out the best punishments the league to bring to the Clippers if these allegations wind up being true.

Anthony and Raj discuss this Warriors-Kuminga standoff and how things arrived where they have. Then, they turn the conversation to the number of guys on prove-it deals and wonder whether there may be too many of them. Finally, Raj shares a Luka-LeBron-Reaves stat that launches a conversation. Oh, and a comment gets the guys to laugh at the Clippers again.

Anthony and Raj offer a quick overview of the Jonathan Kuminga-Warriors drama and give their theories on what led to this really dumb predicament. Then, they outline the connection to that situation and the kind of season a lot of Lakers players are walking into.

Anthony and Raj discuss how difficult money has been to come by for the NBA's middle class and the fights that are taking place between team and player in those negotiations.

After wrapping up a conversation about the Lakers' defense ext season, a listener directed the guys to public LLC filings sharing "KL2" in the name and that leads to all kinds of hilarity.

Anthony dives into the mailbag where listeners want to know the latest on this recent slew of trade rumors. Where did it come from? Why doesn't it add up to Anthony? What's up with ESPN and the Clippers? Will LeBron retire a Laker? Oh and where's JJ Redick? All that and more.