Lakers Lounge

What a time to be alive. Anthony and Jovan both believe in the Lakers as viable championship contenders.

Anthony welcomes Pete back into The Lounge and the guys not only feel good about this series but, if the Lakers stay healthy, they are starting to feel a certain way about what they can accomplish these playoffs. They talk about this matchup, identities, defending Anthony Edwards and Galaxy Quest.

If the Lakers can minimize Anthony Edwards' offensive impact AT ALL, this is a short series. Anthony and Pete discuss how the Lakers will go about trying to do this and how successful they think they'll be.

After discussing the Lakers-Wolves matchup, Anthony and Pete bring the conversation back around to them daring to dream with this team. LeBron James is their second-best player. Their chances at a ring this season might

Anthony explains the decision to not convert either Christian Koloko or Trey Jemison, then dives into the Lakers' schedule against Minnesota and the advantages it might give them. Around the league last night, the Warriors beat the Grizzlies and will face the Rockets in the first round. Anthony just can't envision a world in which the Lakers and Warriors don't play in the second round.

Anthony explains the Lakers' decision to not include Christian Koloko or Trey Jemison on their playoff roster after all, then dives into the mailbag for some really fun questions including... if the Lakers win a championship, should Nico Harrison get a ring?

The Lakers finalized their playoff roster and decided not to convert one of their two-way centers. Anthony explains the decision, then dives into some great questions in this week's mailbag.

If the Lakers are going to win this series, they're going to have to run Minnesota's two-big lineups off the floor. Anthony explains how they can do that and the stakes associated with them doing so.

Anthony Edwards, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves. Anthony broke down the series in even greater detail for ClutchPoints and, if you don't like reading, narrated the piece for you here.

This really is an incredibly interesting matchup between the Lakers and Wolves on both macro and micro levels. So, because it's what these guys do, Anthony and Raj dig into the series as thoroughly as they can without recording a three-hour pod.

If the Wolves have an answer for the Lakers' death lineup, then, yeah, this is a long series. If not, this thing will end quickly. The guys explain what it all might mean.

Anthony and Raj talk about quite possibly the key swing-player in this series: Austin Reaves. If he goes off consistently and the Lakers get typical playoff performances from LeBron James and Luka Doncic, this series could be wrapped up pretty quickly.

Anthony offers up three concerns he has heading into the series against Minnesota and why in each case the Lakers have ways of either offsetting the advantage or countering it altogether. He also talks about the path forward through the west, which is actually fairly doable.

Anthony welcomes Harrison into The Lounge as Harrison is about to be pod silent for a couple weeks. The guys talk the Lakers' upcoming series with the Timberwolves and why they're pretty optimistic heading in. From there, they look back on the regular season and all the Lakers have accomplished, then use that context to marvel at their lofty expectations heading into the postseason.

The guys have some fun with those Jerami Grant rumors from last summer and how poorly they aged. Then, they quickly recap a "basketball game" between the "Lakers" and "Blazers." Harrison then gives his series prediction and, yeah, he's optimistic.

The Lakers laid the foundation for a real culture moving forward. They'll be looking to build on that foundation in real ways this postseason, starting with a matchup against the Wolves that leans in their favor. Anthony and Harrison are both feeling good about this one.

Anthony and Harrison do the very podcast-y thing where they combine the rosters of the Lakers and Wolves to power ranking the rotations. The Lakers do pretty well here. The guys also set expectations for these playoffs, and they're higher than you're probably thinking.

Anthony breaks down the game as best he can given who didn't participate in it on the Rockets side, but, all that matters is the Lakers winning said game and earning that third seed in the postseason. Anthony spends some time looking back on the season that was as the Lakers get ready to (hopefully) rest up in game 82.

Not much changed in the west last night but get ready for a busy Friday night. Anthony wrote about his trip to Dallas, where he observed a city that has loss all trust in its basketball team, so he narrates that.

Anthony found himself in a crunch and, as they tend to do, Sabreena and Raj stepped up. First, Anthony talks to Sabreena about the more human elements of Luka's return to Dallas, the west playoffs and, of course, women's basketball. Their draft schedule has broken Anthony's brain. Then, after Anthony answered a couple listener questions, Raj stops by to talk about the basketball part of that Laker...

Anthony was blown away by the experience of watching Luka Doncic play in Dallas for the first time. So was Sabreena. They talk about what they saw, how ESPN covered it and whether Dallas can ever recover from this betrayal.

Anthony couldn't let Sabreena go without talking to her about women's basketball, and boy was there a ton to talk about.

To wrap up Raj's portion of the show, Anthony asks him a question he can't help but ask anyone he talks to about the Lakers: Which team would he least like to see in a series, and which team would he most like to see?

Anthony was in the building for Luka's return to Dallas and was absolutely blown away by what he witnessed. Unfortunately, his laptop and the hotel internet were less impressed.

Anthony and Harrison try to break down the game but the only thing they can get themselves to focus on is that brutal night from referee J.T. Orr, who ejected Luka Doncic for a back-and-forth with a fan. They discuss that, their thoughts on OKC now having seen them a couple times in a few days, and the Nuggets imploding to an insane extent.