How can anyone watch Laker games with a straight face ?

[316Hornets]

Lakers start winning and people dig out the excuses. When they’re losing it’s because LeBron. When will people find another player to pick on?

When LeBron is about to shoot a clutch 3, you don’t think seeing his son watching from the bench isn’t a little extra motivation?

The Luka trade was one of the craziest I can recall but nobody can seriously say he was locked in playing for Dallas. There’s been other star players that have been traded after not playing up to their potential too but again anytime something goes right for the Lakers, it’s magnified.

Ayton has bounced around and was suspended shortly for peds so it’s not like he’s AD in his prime.

And it’s not like their Championship favorites. OKC is loaded top to bottom. I’m glad there’s some competition.

[Lalouie]

It shatters the illusion of this NBA being a sporting competition the moment you tune in. I tried to watch the Bucks game and lasted about 2 minutes

-Theyre starting the #1 and #3 picks of a recent draft. Neither of whom made it there through a "conventional" path.
- the #3 pick is there through one of the most baffling trades in sports history. Traded for a 30+ broken down superstar who himself made it to LA in dubious circumstances as his player agency is owned by the Lakers franchise player. To no surprise this guy is averaging a 40 point triple double, but his previous team deemed him surplus to requirements.
- the #1 pick who fills the position of their greatest need signed on for the minimum after getting waived for no good reason
- they're starting the biggest nepo baby in the NBA, who is the son of their franchise player who also owns a player agency, to predictable results (0 points despite nobody guarding him since they're too busy trying to stop the #1 and #3 pick)
- the coach is the podcasting and wine drinking syncoph . I mean friend of the guy with the player agency.


If you don't love that. You don't love NBA basketball

i love watching luka, can't be any simpler than that

[cucad8]

Did I miss when 8 million a year became the new minimum salary in the NBA?

[maverick_41]

Among all the players and coaches who get contracts in the NBA because they are kins or good friends of the players, you decided to hate Bronny, a son of the quite unique player who generate financial income for league and his teams like no other since Jordan. Hilarious.

[axeman23]

Of course we care. The Lakers have found tons of talent in the 2nd round and undrafted.

Really?!? Well let's go down the list, shall we? Let's look at 2nd round picks (gotta be somewhere near 55, btw) for the last 25 years or so, and look at the gems we've uncovered.

2023 47th pick Mojove King....went straight to Ind (so wouldn't matter if good or not). I'm unable to find any stats on him with a quick search, but suffice to say he's not tearing it up, if he's even in the league.

2018 47th pick Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.....Never heard of him. Looks like he played about 40 games for us, and was moved. He's now in Utah, where he's scoring 9.4 points a game.

2013 48th pick Ryan Kelly.....played his contract out with us, and then left the NBA with a 6.0 pts, 3.1 rebound, 1.3 ast stat line.

2012 60th pick Robert Sacre.....the party machine. Played his contract out, and was out of the NBA with 4.2points, 3.1 reb, 0.7 ast per game. I remember an interview with him where he talked about hanging out at playboy mansion too much, and partying. Just enjoyed being a Laker, but didnt really care about B-Ball. He sorta regretted not taking it more seriously.

2011 Interesting year: 41 Darius Morris - 45 Andrew Goudelock - 56 Chukwudiebere Maduabum (sent to Denver, so let's ignore) -58 Ater Majok. Some trade I forget about...but we had 3 2nd round picks (the 4th going to Den)... Morris played on several teams for 3-4 years...3.3pts, 1reb, 1.4 ast. Then Goudelock who played 49 games in NBA (looks like a couple years somewhere else) with 4.0 pts, 0.7reb, 0.5ast. No Info on Ater Majok...looks like he never even made it to the show...says he played for uconn.

2010 58th pick Derrick Caracter - 1 year with Lakers...41 games. 2.0pts, 1.0ast, 0.2ast

2009 42nd pick Patrick Beverley....AHA!!! you say. Well...not so fast. He was sent to Miami as part of deal. So MIAMI made a good pick....not us. We then went and grabbed Chinemelu Elonu with the 59th pick. I doubt your even reading this far....my point is made, so I'm not gonna dig up his stats. But I think we all know.

2008 58th pick Joe Crawford...played 2 games for us. That about sums that up.

2007 40th pick Sun Yue. I was hesitant to even count the 40th pick, as its 15 picks down...but there he is in all his glory. Played 10 games for us.
2007 48th pick Marc Gasol. <----- and there it is!!! The gem finally arrives. Of course he never played for the Lakers, but he was part of a trade that gave us Pau...and Marc went on to an incredible career...so I'll accept that one. Took us 18 years...but we finally have a gem deep into 2nd round.

2006 51st pick Cheikh Samb......yeah

2004 56th pick Marcus Douthit.

1998 45th pick Toby Baily.

1997 54th pick Paul Rogers

It goes on......You can thumb down into the early 90's and the 80's...I think my point is made. In 30-some years, we drafted Marc...and that was it. Otherwise, it's been absolute garbage for the Lakers with anyone over the 40th pick. So....now that your armed with facts, I'll ask you again: 55th pick....do we really care?

I used Basketballreference as my source for 99% of this.


PS...I'd rethink your idea on the 2nd round my guy. Even if I were to count anyone in the 2nd round, you can go back a good 30 years, and your really not gonna find much. Ronny Turiaf, Luke Walton, Max Christie...etc. You have Zubac at the 32nd pick (over 20 picks earlier than Bronny) and that's about it. Marc Gasol is really the only "Great" player the Lakers drafted in 2nd round this century. You have Nick Van Exel (32nd pick) in 1993.

[Rainwater]

Do you need some cheese to go along with that wine? lol

[druggas]

It shatters the illusion of this NBA being a sporting competition the moment you tune in. I tried to watch the Bucks game and lasted about 2 minutes

-Theyre starting the #1 and #3 picks of a recent draft. Neither of whom made it there through a "conventional" path.
- the #3 pick is there through one of the most baffling trades in sports history. Traded for a 30+ broken down superstar who himself made it to LA in dubious circumstances as his player agency is owned by the Lakers franchise player. To no surprise this guy is averaging a 40 point triple double, but his previous team deemed him surplus to requirements.
- the #1 pick who fills the position of their greatest need signed on for the minimum after getting waived for no good reason
- they're starting the biggest nepo baby in the NBA, who is the son of their franchise player who also owns a player agency, to predictable results (0 points despite nobody guarding him since they're too busy trying to stop the #1 and #3 pick)
- the coach is the podcasting and wine drinking syncoph . I mean friend of the guy with the player agency.


If you don't love that. You don't love NBA basketball

Maybe you should start a club named, ABTL. (Anyone but the Lakers)

[JellosJigglin]

Of course we care. The Lakers have found tons of talent in the 2nd round and undrafted.

Really?!? Well let's go down the list, shall we? Let's look at 2nd round picks (gotta be somewhere near 55, btw) for the last 25 years or so, and look at the gems we've uncovered.

2023 47th pick Mojove King....went straight to Ind (so wouldn't matter if good or not). I'm unable to find any stats on him with a quick search, but suffice to say he's not tearing it up, if he's even in the league.

2018 47th pick Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.....Never heard of him. Looks like he played about 40 games for us, and was moved. He's now in Utah, where he's scoring 9.4 points a game.

2013 48th pick Ryan Kelly.....played his contract out with us, and then left the NBA with a 6.0 pts, 3.1 rebound, 1.3 ast stat line.

2012 60th pick Robert Sacre.....the party machine. Played his contract out, and was out of the NBA with 4.2points, 3.1 reb, 0.7 ast per game. I remember an interview with him where he talked about hanging out at playboy mansion too much, and partying. Just enjoyed being a Laker, but didnt really care about B-Ball. He sorta regretted not taking it more seriously.

2011 Interesting year: 41 Darius Morris - 45 Andrew Goudelock - 56 Chukwudiebere Maduabum (sent to Denver, so let's ignore) -58 Ater Majok. Some trade I forget about...but we had 3 2nd round picks (the 4th going to Den)... Morris played on several teams for 3-4 years...3.3pts, 1reb, 1.4 ast. Then Goudelock who played 49 games in NBA (looks like a couple years somewhere else) with 4.0 pts, 0.7reb, 0.5ast. No Info on Ater Majok...looks like he never even made it to the show...says he played for uconn.

2010 58th pick Derrick Caracter - 1 year with Lakers...41 games. 2.0pts, 1.0ast, 0.2ast

2009 42nd pick Patrick Beverley....AHA!!! you say. Well...not so fast. He was sent to Miami as part of deal. So MIAMI made a good pick....not us. We then went and grabbed Chinemelu Elonu with the 59th pick. I doubt your even reading this far....my point is made, so I'm not gonna dig up his stats. But I think we all know.

2008 58th pick Joe Crawford...played 2 games for us. That about sums that up.

2007 40th pick Sun Yue. I was hesitant to even count the 40th pick, as its 15 picks down...but there he is in all his glory. Played 10 games for us.
2007 48th pick Marc Gasol. <----- and there it is!!! The gem finally arrives. Of course he never played for the Lakers, but he was part of a trade that gave us Pau...and Marc went on to an incredible career...so I'll accept that one. Took us 18 years...but we finally have a gem deep into 2nd round.

2006 51st pick Cheikh Samb......yeah

2004 56th pick Marcus Douthit.

1998 45th pick Toby Baily.

1997 54th pick Paul Rogers

It goes on......You can thumb down into the early 90's and the 80's...I think my point is made. In 30-some years, we drafted Marc...and that was it. Otherwise, it's been absolute garbage for the Lakers with anyone over the 40th pick. So....now that your armed with facts, I'll ask you again: 55th pick....do we really care?

I used Basketballreference as my source for 99% of this.


PS...I'd rethink your idea on the 2nd round my guy. Even if I were to count anyone in the 2nd round, you can go back a good 30 years, and your really not gonna find much. Ronny Turiaf, Luke Walton, Max Christie...etc. You have Zubac at the 32nd pick (over 20 picks earlier than Bronny) and that's about it. Marc Gasol is really the only "Great" player the Lakers drafted in 2nd round this century. You have Nick Van Exel (32nd pick) in 1993.

And every single one of those players would run circles around Bronny and contribute more to the team. You proved my point. If you find a 2nd round pick who ends up becoming a rotation player in the league, you've done well.

You left out a lot of productive 2nd round players with long careers simply because they're not "55" or end of the draft. That's lazy and disingenuous. If Lakers weren't forced to sign Bronny they could've easily traded up, like they did for Adou Thiero. They literally had the 55 pick and moved up TWICE to get Adou. So there's a perfect example right there. A lot of teams are lazy like you and don't care about the draft and would rather take the money. So there are always opportunities to move up when you're not being strongarmed by a Klutch or LeDouche.

Thank God the Lakers don't employ scouts like you who just shrug and say "oh well, picks don't matter".

[danfantastk32]

You left out a lot of productive 2nd round players with long careers simply because they're not "55" or end of the draft. That's lazy and disingenuous.

Nothing "lazy" or disingenuous about it at all.

A) I just did more research than you'll ever do.

B) It's not disingenuous when I straight up said at the start that it would need to be close to 55th pick for the comparison to make sense. That's just simple logic, my man. The 34th pick is a whole different thing than the 55th. And I said as much.

C) The very last paragraph (I assume reading's not your thing...so you prob never got there) I said that even if you include ANY of the 2nd rounders, you prob aughta rethink your "tons of talent" comment. Marc Gasol aside....you gotta go way back in Laker history to find a second rounder of any real consequence.

lol...just take the L bud. Except for Marc Gasol....there's nobody past the 40th pick worth half a damn on that list. You know it, I know it. You were wrong....all good. I'm wrong all the time. It's not a big deal.

[RHODEY]

Look i hate The Lakers and don't like (but greatly respect) Lebron James as a Celtics fan, but honestly I am sick to **** off all this toxic bullying and demeaning of Bronny James, he isn’t just a basketball player but a human being first and foremost.

The kid fought back after a serious heart condition scare in high school.

I cannot honestly say I wish The Lakers any on court success at all (I am a Celtic after all) but I do sincerely hope Bronny can prove all his haters and detractors wrong and goes on to have a decent NBA Career.

Poor Bronny. I feel as much compassion for him as I ever felt when I had to carry a nepo hire in a workplace scenario while earning about the same.
Dude earns millions for being terrible at his job - it's embarrassing, and he could avoid all the backlash by simply refusing the nepo road to the NBA - It was his choice to get carried to a roster spot by daddy dearest - ridicule comes with the territory.

Yeah, the Giannis brothers aren’t great either, but they at least look like basketball players when you squint your eyes enough.

Agreed, Bronny is taking the spot of much more deserving players. And as marginal as they seem, the Giannis brothers are still light years ahead of him...one even played for other teams including the Knicks.

[Dennis 37]

Lololololol

Sour grapes meet real Good Morning poster. Come on bro.

The truth and sour grapes can both be true.

What non-Laker fan base never noticed that over their lifetime, all-stars, nearing the end of their careers would sign veteran minimum contracts to fortify the bench?

What non-Laker fan base didn't notice All-Stars forcing trades to get them to the Lakers?

What person in the world didn't notice that the Lakers were the only team being able to offer up trade packages for Luka?