LeBron James Lakers Have A Bigger Problem Than Just Anthony Davis Anthony Davis Trade To Lakers

What does A.D.'s absence mean for the team? If he's healthy for the playoffs, nothing. Because that's all that matters for the Lakers. The seeding doesn't matter. If they have LeBron and they're healthy and they have A.D., they're going to be fine. This team just won a championship playing in a bubble in front of zero fans that can win without home court. That said, these are valuable minutes for Kyle Kuzma, who's playing probably the best basketball of his career. Absolutely explosive cutter, finisher on the break. And these are important minutes for other guys to get a chance to step up, like Taylor Horton Tucker gets a chance to prove, yeah, I'm part of the playoff rotation. Caruso will get more minutes. Everybody will get more minutes. But really, as long as A.D. is healthy and 100% in the playoffs, this is a blip on the radar. It doesn't mean anything. I don't even think it really matters for LeBron's MVP case. It's not going to swing on how the Lakers play in these next couple of weeks without A.D. It's just a matter of his health. If they get to the playoffs intact, it's fine. Support for the show, FYF Sports, is brought to you by Manscaped, who's the best in men's below-the-waist grooming. Manscaped offers precision engineered tools for your family jewels. Manscaped is trusted by over 2 million men worldwide. Join the movement for all of your below-the-waist grooming needs. Get 20% off and free shipping with coupon code FYFCREW at Manscaped.com. That's 20% off with free shipping at Manscaped.com. Use the code FYFCREW. Your balls will thank you. All I hear is scabs, scabs, scabs, scabs. Ain't talking about nothing, right? Watch this. We gon' bring that pressure. Just a little FYI, FYF. 20K sub, six months, what's next? They been hating that first, now they calling us the best. Hit up YouTube, tell them cut the check. It's a FYI, FYF. 20K sub, six months, what's next? Woo, **** your feelings. We all know who the real is. I be getting to it, ain't wasting no time. Walking straight in, we ain't waiting in line. **** your feelings, you don't care about mine. You a YouTube gangsta, don't be yelling out slime. All you talking LB, talking Tiki TV. Ain't nobody watching them, all the viewers be sleep. Five years in, all your subs is your friends. Tiki TV, watch the cars again. Just a little FYI, FYF. 20K sub, six months, what's next? They been hating that first, now they calling us the best. Hit up YouTube, tell them cut the check. It's a FYI, FYF. 20K sub, six months, what's next? Woo, **** your feelings. We all know who the real is. They all know, shop them clothes. Working 24, trying to make the channel grow. Look at them, pointing fingers, hanging on the low. You can't compete with our podcast show. Couldn't make it in the league, so we got on TV. Primed by LeBron like a little baby. Hey, it's FYF Sportsman, it's Lamont. We back with another podcast episode. Just got some more daily news for you guys, man. Just my thoughts on this particular team and how ramifications due to players either missing by injury or COVID protocol can affect them going into the All-Star break and possibly affect them going into the playoffs. Before we get started with today's video, make sure you guys like, comment, and subscribe. Smash the like button if you have not done so already. Again, the key to this is hitting that notification bell. We all know YouTube plays with the notifications. Sometimes they go out, sometimes they don't. Either way, if you're subscribed or if you're following us on social media, if you hit that notification bell, we're going to make sure that you guys are aware when videos drop for FYF Sports, whether it's a live stream, whether it's a live video premiere. We want you guys here at the forefront when these videos drop so you can get the most up-to-date sports and news. Like we always say, we come with a unique perspective. A lot of people don't like what we have to say because we like to go against the grain. We like to speak facts and then bring the realism into all of these basketball conversations. It's just far too many times where we talk with fans and it's just that. It's fan talk. The one thing that we know when we're dealing with professional sports, even college sports, that there's a degree of realism and business that must be taken into consideration whenever you talk these issues. FYF Sports is about forget your feelings. We don't get emotional. Unlike other channels, we don't block you. We're not going to censor you. We like to hear everyone's opinion. If you have a thought or comment on anything basketball related, you're welcome here to FYF Sports and we'll be here to hear you out. It's just a unique platform where everybody has a voice. No censorship involved. Again, today I wanted to talk on this situation with the Los Angeles Lakers. Going into this year, I think it was agreed by everyone that the Lakers had the most talented roster on paper. It's over. You can go ahead and get the trophy back to the Lakers. It's a wrap, y'all. I knew the Lakers had something up their sleeve. The Lakers, Rob Pelinka, and I gotta say this, man. Rob Pelinka deserves to be executive of two years. I'ma say it again. Rob Pelinka deserves to be executive of two years, bro. There is no way in hell that Rob Pelinka is pulling this ---- off, bro. There's no way in hell. Rob Pelinka, the game is over, bro. Game over. Game over. Game over. Game over, y'all. Game is over with. Game over, man. Game is over, man. And this is before the assembling of the Nets, and I think even with the assembling of the Nets roster as constructed right now, I think the Lakers are still the most talented team in basketball if everybody can get things working and clicking on all cylinders the way that we thought they could be. Now, this season's kind of started off a little bit different. Anthony Davis has just had a sluggish start to the season, man. He's played 27 games, so for the most part, he hasn't missed too many games. Or actually, he's played 23 games. I'm sorry. He's played 23 games. He's missed about seven games so far. You could tell, and I said this before with Anthony Davis. When I saw his struggles early on, when it looked like he wasn't giving 100% effort, I said, it just looks as if he's dealing with some type of injuries. My inclination was it had to do with some type of hip injury. It turned out to be a nagging Achilles injury, and because I've dealt with that same injury before in the past, I know how that can affect and slow down your game. Everything you do, every time you run, jump, move, shoot, you are feeling that Achilles. It's always sore. It's causing you problems. It makes you hesitant when you want to drive. It makes you hesitant when you want to go jump to block shots or slide on defense. When you sit out, and the Achilles gets cold, it's a struggle to get it warmed back up. You always have to rehab and treat it just to stay game ready. It could be a nagging injury that can wear on you mentally. It wears on you mentally because the pain feels like it's a serious injury. In all reality, it's just a strain when you're dealing with those Achilles tendon fibers growing funny. The doctors just have to find a way to straighten that mess out in there. We have this situation with the Lakers where they've started to season off pretty solid. 22-8, I believe, as it stands right now. 22-8, 30 games into the season. A fairly decent start. They've taken a few bad losses. I think the loss to the Nets was a game that they should have won if they were at full strength. Schroeder was a late scratch. I think that hurt them schematically to a certain degree. I think they've taken a few losses that they should have won. That happens in the regular seasons. You lose games that you should win. Not necessarily a big deal. For me, it's about consistency. What you do most, the trends that you show, and what the analytics show, that's going to be the more common denominator for what the regular season is going to do. Not any one individual game. The one thing that can really be a detriment to this team is injuries. I think the Lakers are doing the right thing, as it stands right now, by sitting Anthony Davis out. They're saying four weeks. He'll be reevaluated in four weeks. I think they really need to... The main thing right here with Anthony Davis' injury, and how it's going to affect the Lakers, is you need to make sure this is not going to be a long-term problem. You need to make sure it's not an Achilles injury that's going to evolve and develop into something worse, such as a ruptured Achilles tendon. Similar to my Achilles injury, I just have to be able to deal with and tolerate the pain. I think that's similar to what Anthony Davis is going through. I don't think it's similar to KD's injury or Achilles injury, because KD's Achilles injury and calf injury were just sudden. As opposed to Anthony Davis, I think these are injuries that have been lingering all season, and he's just kind of managing the pain. There are ways to heal it. There are ways to get it back 100%. It just takes time with the Achilles. When we're looking at Dennis Schroeder, obviously he's out right now. They say he'll be out three games due to COVID protocol. This is one of the crazier aspects of the season this year, when this COVID protocol can affect you negatively at any given time. Now, the Lakers have been a beneficiary of COVID protocol. There have been a lot of teams that have been detriment, that have been negatively impacted by COVID protocol, and the Lakers have been able to skate away with some wins. I think the Lakers are now dealing with their share of not just injuries, but COVID protocols as well. Now, LeBron James has stepped up. He's been playing his game for the most part. He's been highly efficient. He's had an uptick in his scoring load when guys were out. He's doing exactly what he needs to do. The most surprising aspect of the Lakers this year is that guys like Schroeder, even when playing Montrezl Harrow, Contavious Caldwell-Polk, Kyle Kuzma, even Marcus Saul and Alex Caruso have been playing just terrible, terrible basketball. You got Kyle Kuzma, who's averaging 11 points per game, but he's still not giving you anything on the defensive end. You got Montrezl Harrow, who's averaging 13 points per game. That's a 5 to 6 point drop from where he was at last year when he was much more efficient with the Clippers. You got Wesley Matthew who came in this year, hoping to be that person who galvanizes him off the bench, only bringing you 5 points a game. Marcus Saul just looks like Father Time is just eating his game all the way apart. Marcus Saul's only giving you about 4 points a game. He just looks like he can't play and keep up with the pace of today's NBA game. Then Alex Caruso again, it just seems like the addition of all the other new guards, his minutes are fluctuating from high to low. No consistency. I think that's affecting his play there. Markeith Morris, averaging 4.4 points per game. This is a guy who shot above 40% from the 3 point line during the NBA playoffs in the bubble. He has some great games. He was great defensively and offensively. He can't find his game. Taylor Horton Tucker, who looked great early on in the season. During the preseason, everybody was claiming that he would be next up on this team or potential trade bait to bring in superstars. Taylor Horton Tucker has now disappeared himself as well, only giving you 6.8 points per game. Not much defensively. Again, what hurts him is his defensive IQ. It's extremely low and similar to Kuzma. He makes massively bad mistakes on the defensive end of the court. I think all of these issues are just getting compounded for a number of reasons. I think the AD situation is compounded because Kuzma isn't playing well. I think the Kuzma situation is compounded more because Markeith Morris isn't playing well. I think Kentavion Caldwell-Poop's situation is compounded even more because his backups, Caruso, Taylor Horton Tucker, and Wesley Matthews, those guys aren't even playing well. If we think back to the bubble, if you think back, whenever you saw games where somebody was playing bad, especially coming off the bench, the Lakers always had somebody who could come in and immediately replace them and be and give you the right amount of help that you need to pull off the win. This year, they don't have that. We continuously are seeing Vogel go to different lineup and different rotations, different looks, and nothing's working because you have a multitude of guys who are underperforming for whatever reason. Is this championship lag? Is it championship lag? Rolling over? The Lakers were the last team standing. We don't know what it is. I don't know what it is, but this is something that they definitely need to figure out. The Lakers do have some options in the buyout market. Andre Drummond's contract is really big. I'm not for sure if he's going to get bought out. I think a team is going to make a trade for him, but you have a guy like Blake Griffin. Now you have a guy that just became available in DeMarcus Cousins. Can any of those guys come in and help fill the void? Because now that Marc Gasol is not playing well, and now that Anthony Davis is injured, who's going to be that other go-to big that's really going to help you? Can you go to Costas Antetokounmpo? Probably not. I don't think he's ready. I'm surprised the Lakers haven't tried putting Alphonso McKinney out there. We saw what he did averaging about 25 minutes a game with the Golden State Warriors, but they haven't even really given him a serious look. Quinn Cook can be solid when he's giving high-volume minutes, but we haven't seen them really go seriously to Quinn Cook. Obviously, Frank Vogel and staff, they feel that the solutions to this team's problems lie in either a trade or the buyout market. Again, remember what we say here at FYF Sports, we've got to bring the realism of the situation into light. With regards to the Lakers, the realism of their situation is that they're extremely far over the cap, they have limited draft picks, and they don't have a lot of flexibility with regards to making trades. The only tradable assets that they have are Kuzma and Caldwell Pope, and you've got to think if they're playing bad right now, what other teams actually want these players? Especially Caldwell Pope on that new contract, or even Kuzma on his newly signed deal as well. You have to make it make sense for the other teams. If you're going to say, trade these guys and bring in talent, you can't at the same time say these guys that you want to trade are trash, but you want to trade them for good players. If they're trash, you're probably stuck with them, and other teams see that. We've got to make it work. I think the Lakers' situation, although it doesn't look good, I think the best thing that they have going for them now is that they are well above 500. They've given them enough cushion for error. They don't have to fight for the number one seed. The Lakers will be fine anywhere between one and three. That's the key for this older team. You don't always have to fight and vie for that number one seed. Just fight to be in the top three, stay consistent, get guys healthy, and go from there. We even saw this with the Chicago Bulls in 1998 where after all those championship runs that last year that run, they dropped in the standings. It was for all to the betterment of the team. Guys got more rest, guys were more, the legs were ready when the playoffs hit, and they were able to make a better run going into the playoffs. What do you guys expect from this team after the All-Star break? I think the Lakers have about six or seven games remaining before the All-Star break hits. I think if they can just go even at three and three or going into these last six games, I think that will be enough to just give them that extra cushion to revamp, get their minds ready for the second half of the season and come back refreshed. As it stands right now, I really don't know what the Lakers can do. They have limited options. The one point of emphasis today is that the Laker injury train just keeps chugging along. Now we got Dennis Schroeder out with three games. Anthony Davis is out for an indefinite amount of time. LeBron James is older. You have to manage and monitor his minutes, similar to what you're seeing Steve Kerr do with Steph Curry. We have Marquise Morris who's dealing with a slightly rolled ankle. That could potentially play an issue. Mark Gasol dealing with age. They have issues that they need to deal with. I don't know. I want you guys to let me know. Do you think all of these issues, do you think the Lakers are blessed with the fact that all of these issues are happening early before the All-Star break? And that they can fix things going into the postseason? Or do you think all of this is going to have a cumulative effect that's going to trickle down to how they perform going into the playoffs? I want you guys to let me know what you think about this. I personally believe the Lakers will be fine. I think the fact that all of this stuff is happening early for them is a blessing in disguise. I think it's a really good thing for them. But, you just have to be mindful. You just have to be mindful of everything. Again, we have to look at everything in good sample sizes. I'm looking at the Lakers right now in about a 30 game sample size. But now we can only judge them because these issues are so new. I think we can only judge them with about another 10 to 15 game sample size. So, we'll be back after about 10 to 15 games after the All-Star break. We'll be doing another review on the Lakers. Just kind of check in to see how they're doing. See how they're managing this. And we got to keep our eyes open. Are they going to make any moves to bolster some of these positions? Because now, they're in a situation where the backups are not playing bad. Starters are playing bad and backups are being playing bad. How long can Frank Bogle wait on these guys to kick it into gear? Or is he going to pull the trigger and make some moves to bring some guys in now who he feels comfortable with that can actually go? Because as it stands right now, Caldwell, Pope, Kuzma, Montrez, Harrell, Taylor, Horton, Tucker, Marquise Morris, Alex Caruso, Wesley Matthews, these guys are not showing up ready to play. How long can the Lakers and Frank Bogle wait? You guys let me know what you think. If we hear any trade news, we'll be the first to let you know. And again, we break this down from a more unique perspective. But we got to put a little realism into it as well. So, again, as you guys listen to all the news and information coming in, just be mindful of the fact that you're going to have everybody saying the Lakers need to trade for this, they need to do this, they need to do that. They're extremely limited with regards to what they can do. Really, their own viable option that they have is going to be in the buyout market. If they can pull off a trade to bring in something significant, I would be highly surprised. I don't think they want to play with the roster too much. I think Bogle still trusts this team. I just think they're not clicking on all cylinders right now, which happens sometimes in the NBA. We saw it early on with the Nets. This is FYF Sports, man. It's been another great podcast episode. Make sure you guys are tuning in to the live streams. We go live in the evenings. Make sure you smash that notification bell. Make sure you're following us on Instagram and Twitter so when we drop those notifications, you can join those live streams as well. Make sure you are participating in our video sharing contest. If you share the video, if you are sharing the video, all you have to do, if you share it on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, all you have to do is take a screenshot. Take a screenshot of what you shared and where you shared it and email it to us at business at fyfsports.com. Email it to us there with your cash app and we'll put you in a drawing for a $50 cash app. We're going to be doing these. Every time a video drops, there's going to be a new drawing for a $50 cash app. Again, all you have to do, share the video, screenshot it, email it to us with your cash app. We'll put you in that drawing. Every time we go live, we're going to be announcing a new winner. Just like tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, we're going to be announcing one of the winners of the share giveaway. Make sure you're sharing the videos on social media. Salute to you guys for helping us get to 20k. Next grind is 100k. We'll be there sooner than later. Make sure you're on Team FYL Sports. FYL Sports, another great podcast episode. I don't know what I've done. I'm just trying to get to the money then the police come. I'm done. I might have to live my life on the run. I'm sorry. I don't want no court case. I just want to get this money in the case. Put it in the safe. What's in the bank? I ain't feeling safe. They want to take me away. I don't want to go to jail. They want to take me away. Pulling the coupe, I don't know. Pulling your tongue, I don't know. You hearing this ----, better stop this. I'm going to get out of control. I'm going to get out of control. In a black Porsche, I'm all fire. I can do all that. I can do stuff that I know. I don't want to let the young back on. I don't want to send me to jail. I don't want to go to jail. I don't want to go to jail. They don't want to see me in there. No, they don't want to see me in there. They must be off the parking where they're tripping. Just trying to get to the money, I don't see that. Why they trying to celebrate your jail? All I want to do is get this money and prepare. Police knocking on my door. I don't know what to do. I look like a fool. What they trying to see me do?