Lakers Lounge

In a season that felt like a few campaigns combined, Anthony Davis was most often the Lakers' best player and then became a key figure for the future of the franchise -- just in a very different way than he may have thought. Anthony recaps Davis' season.

There really is no argument to the contrary here but Anthony thought it was worth hammering this home: Anthony Davis' jersey will eventually hang in the rafters and rightfully so. From there, he answers some live questions quickly and wraps up the show that way.

Anthony had a backed up mailbag that he was able to mostly empty out, with enough time to mock the Lottery Defenders and also those who don't seem to understand the whole reason the lottery odds were flattened in the first place. Let's talk centers, Austin's trade market and the notion of trading Austin for a center.

A listener compared Kobe's ability to impact the game when he wasn't scoring to what we saw from Luka these playoffs and it's honestly fair to wonder about it. Anthony makes the case as to why that will be the next step Luka takes if he wants to reach the heights he's capable of.

First, Anthony starts with a rant directed at the people he saw complaining about flattened lottery odds and how they seem to be missing the point. Then, listeners asked about trading Austin Reaves and then specifically about moving him for Walker Kessler and stuff and that got the wheels spinning in Anthony's head.

Anthony uses one of his ridiculous spur-of-the-moment analogies to explain why he thinks the Mavericks might be more open to trading with the Lakers again now that they have the top pick in this draft. He also reacts to the Giannis rumors and the basketball last night. Wildly packed show.

Anthony and Harrison react to the Mavericks "winning" the lottery, the eventful basketball from last night, the Celtics' window potentially slamming shut and plenty more. They also discuss the Lakers' options on the trade market and how they continue to point back to Austin Reaves as a trade asset.

Anthony goes full tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist and calls out the league for it's latest blatant rigging of the draft lottery that honestly is what's probably best for the NBA. Yeah that's a crazy sentence but this was an insane segment.

Anthony and Harrison continue their conversation about one of the wilder nights in recent NBA history but then circle back to the Lakers offseason, which feels like it's riding to a fairly large extent on what happens with Austin Reaves.

Anthony spent most of the day with family for Mother's Day but hopped on to record a quick update on what he's hearing ahead of tonight's NBA Lottery.

Jovan Buha stops by and boy do he and Anthony have a lot to talk about. They start with that series, which made both of them look pretty dumb. From there, they discuss what the Lakers need to do to ensure that doesn't happen again. They talk about JJ and Luka's somewhat conflicting ideologies and the Lakers needing to pick a direction this summer and actually do the work before the season.

Anthony is used to being wrong about sports, but not THAT wrong. He and Jovan (who last spoke before the series) discuss what went wrong for the Lakers and some of the blindspots they carried into the matchup.

One particular takeaway from this season keeps bugging Anthony so he decided to bug Jovan about it. It seems as if Luka and JJ's ideologies somewhat clash when it comes to the center position. If that comes to a head, the guys discuss the likely outcome. Get ready to learn traditional centers, JJ.

The Knicks did it again. Or, the Celtics did it again? Either way, BING BONG AGAIN. The guys revel in that Celtics loss, discuss their dogmatic commitment to the three and debate the ethics of hack-a-whoever. From there, they segue back to the Lakers to discuss JJ Redick's own ideologies and how they might be at odds with Luka Doncic's preferred approach and pick back up on Anthony's discussion ab...

Anthony and Raj celebrate the Knicks breathing some life back into them with these comebacks over the Celtics, who simply will not stop shooting threes. The guys also debate hack-a-whoever.

Anthony raised questions yesterday about the Lakers going small with Luka Doncic. Raj quelled some of those concerns but Anthony keeps coming back to the footspeed issue with those lineups. So again, can the Lakers play small ball in the playoffs with Luka Doncic?

Anthony and Raj have a debate over how things probably should be vs. how things actually are.

A lot can be true here at the same time.

Full disclosure, this was recorded before Timberwolves pissed all down their legs in game one. Still, Anthony has watched enough playoff basketball at this point to wonder whether small ball is a sustainable model to the extent some teams want to use it. He then directs his attention to the Lakers to wonder whether they'll be able to use it at all with Luka Doncic.

The NBA regular season and playoffs feel like two different sports. As a result, teams that rely heavily on going small during the regular season have had to adjust against bigger team in the postseason. Is this the next step of evolution in the NBA?

JJ Redick likes going small. He's borderline dogmatic about spacing. Anthony isn't sure about playing small with Luka Doncic, so it feels like something is going to have to give here.

The Knicks picked up a huge win and the Thunder overthought themselves into an 0-1 hole of their own. Fun night of hoops. Anthony enjoys that, then narrates his latest, on macro aspects of this offseason the Lakers will need to figure out.

Anthony explains why that Knicks win was particularly fun for this show's community. From there, he asks a few questions and explains why the answers to them are going to decide what kind of offseason the Lakers will have. He wraps with questions from the live audience.

Ah, it sure is fun to watch the Celtics lose. Anthony enjoys that, then jumps into the situation the Lakers are heading into with LeBron's player option and potential next contract.

Austin Reaves can sign an extension this summer. Anticipation remains that he'll turn it down to hit unrestricted free agency a year from now. Anthony explains what that means for a Lakers team that is strapped for tradeable assets. From there, he talks about the steps forward JJ Redick needs to take and answers a couple questions from the live audience.