Trevor Lane
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
Definitely. I mean, there have been a number of times in the last 24 hours or so where I've double-checked and looked at the Lakers roster and went, oh my God, he's actually there. This really happened. This is real life. In the little sleep that I got last night in the wake of the trade, I woke up probably 50 times to double-check my phone and be like, wait, this actually happened. It's crazy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
It is absolutely crazy. The Lakers, they found a way to
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
to consistently land stars in the nba it's a who's who of nba stars that have put on uh the purple and gold and i gotta say uh lakers fans we are very very spoiled uh for the stars that have graced this franchise but it's been absolutely incredible and uh and now they've got another guy that they hope they're going to be able to build around for the next 10 years or so
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
I think they're going to be very aggressive. When you look at the roster as it currently sits, it doesn't make a lot of sense. You look at the Mavs roster, it makes sense. They've got pieces that all kind of fit together. Even with AD coming in, they've got pieces to fit. The Lakers roster is... Kind of a mess currently.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
They've got Jackson Hayes as their starting center because he's their only center that's not on a two-way contract. So clearly they have to address that. They have to go out and they have to find a center out there on the market, if not maybe two out there on the market that they need to go get. They need to find...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
more defense, more three-point shooting as you have to have in order to put around LeBron James and Luka. So they have plenty of moves they need to make. And we have to remember, Luka will be extension eligible this coming summer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
And so I'm sure they want to make a great first impression, make sure that he's going to sign on that dotted line this summer and put together a team that can go win right now. So I do think we're going to see more fireworks from the Lakers. Obviously not this big, but I think they will make more moves given that they still have that 2031 first round pick to potentially move.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
I think we'll see that in play ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
Yeah, I mean, they've checked in on Walker Kessler with the Utah Jazz, but he's consistently been somebody who's been pretty expensive in terms of the trade price to go get. Jonas Valanciunas has been a guy that has been connected to them for a long time now, but he didn't perform very well the other night when the Wizards played the Lakers. I don't know how much that might have dissuaded them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
from going after him. But there's a number of other bigs that are out there. Robert Williams is a guy they've been connected to. When you look at a player like perhaps a Yaka Perto with the Toronto Raptors, there's players like that. Clint Capella, very available with the Hawks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
Those are all the kinds of guys that they'd be looking to potentially bring in and then have them man that center position. They've been connected with Bruce Brown for a while as well from the Toronto Raptors. That was somebody they actually thought they were bringing in a free agency a couple of summers ago. And then he wound up with the Pacers when they came in with that big offer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
So I know they've got a lot of respect for Bruce Brown there. I don't know if they can get there financially or not, but if they do decide to focus some of their attention on the perimeter, he'd be a name I'd keep an eye on.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
I mean, it could. LeBron has been... pushing for the Lakers to add more ball handlers for years. It's why they got Dennis Schroeder the first time around back in 2021. It's why they made the Russell Westbrook trade, obviously for better or for worse with some of those moves that they've made.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
But he's long wanted other players who can initiate on offense so he doesn't have to do all of that heavy lifting. Now you bring in Luka, who he can kind of train up as his replacement on the fly. Maybe it does breathe new life into LeBron. I mean, we saw in that game against the Knicks that he's got plenty left in the tank. He was fantastic in that game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
We just know he can't do it night in, night out anymore. But we'll see what this means for LeBron with Luka there. Does he take off so much of the burden? that LeBron can transition into being a primarily off-ball player, and does that allow him to have even a little bit more longevity? That's yet to be seen, but I do think that there's going to be something exciting.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
LeBron has spoken for years about how much respect he has for Luka, so he's going to be sad and frustrated with AD leaving, but I do think that he'll be fired up to be on the floor with Luka at the same time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
You know, I think seeing them execute this move, it definitely increases confidence because they not only were able to get Luca, but they kept it quiet for nearly a month that these talks. And I mean, in this day and age, that's very good that no one knew. Nobody had any idea about this for that long. That is absolutely incredible.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
crazy yeah yeah and so so i think this front office has been much maligned for the mistakes that they made and they have made a number of mistakes particularly the ones in the margin simple things with contracts not giving guys uh more than a two-year deal that were on coming off of a a second round pick and things of that nature because they didn't save any of their mid-level exception the trades that they've made some of the mid-level exception signings that they made not working out guys not sticking long-term
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
There have been plenty of mistakes along the way. But then we also see these moments where you just go, wow, how many teams are going to be able to pull off something like this? So I do think this goes a long way towards restoring some of the confidence that fans have in this Lakers front office. And we'll see if they can pay that off and really build a great team alongside Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
But this is an amazing move for them to get done. And I think it goes a long way towards restoring that faith.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
He won a championship, so I think he will be long revered in Laker land. I think that Lakers fans will certainly miss Anthony Davis. He played hard every single night. The last couple of years, especially, he has really worked to try to shed that injury prone label that he's had on him. He, he plays hard on night to night basis.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
Some nights he's a little bit higher motor than others, but still, you know, AD is one of the best defensive bigs in the NBA. I can get it done on both ends of the floor. So I think there's going to be a lot of respect for Anthony Davis moving forward.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
And I would expect that at the end of the month here, when the Dallas Mavericks come to LA to play the Lakers, there's going to be a big ovation for Anthony Davis because Lakers fans, I'll tell you what Lakers fans right now are fairly split on this. And it's not so much they're not excited to get Luka, they're sad about seeing Anthony Davis, Max Christie move on to another team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
So there's a lot of love for Anthony Davis out there right now, and I expect that to be something that's going to be sustained into the future.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Fox Traded to the Spurs EMERGENCY POD + Luka with the Lakers
Yeah, we don't know what's going to happen.