FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. detailed Los Angeles Lakers’ BLOCKBUSTER trade to be contenders next season

FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. detailed Los Angeles Lakers’ BLOCKBUSTER trade to be contenders next season

time can’t wait for 50 states in 50 days that kicks off today out in LA Austin Reeves has turned down a 4-year $89.2 million extension the Lakers made the offer expecting Reeves to decline but wanted to show interest in their guard if Reeves chooses to opt out of the final year of his current contract he’ll be eligible for an even larger sum so despite declining both sides remain motivated to find a deal next summer tim McMahon we got more folks crashing our party joe Forinball live from Vegas clearly evidenced by his outfit he’s set for the big UFC fight we’ll get into that a little bit later with DC and Peter Rosenberg in the building by the way I saw you at Fanatics but you had already walked by me so I didn’t get to say hi and you had your baby with you you know how cool you would have made me the the the cred you would have given me for a Molly Carum hello at Fanatics Fest but I forgive you all right Peter tell me this do the Lakers currently have enough to be contenders uh I’m going to go with yes um and I think it’s it’s going to be very popular this off season to talk about the demise i see you shaking your head Tim all the way out there wherever wherever you are dallas and I Dallas exactly and and I’m not surprised to hear it but I I don’t have some sort of incredible math that is my reason Molly my reason is you have a team that’s led by LeBron James and Luca Donuch and this year at least we’ll have Austin Reeves three great players up top including maybe the greatest of all time and maybe the most talented offensive player in the league right now Luca Donuch we can all act as if it’s impossible that they could get there but we also just saw the Indiana Pacers take the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games so let’s not act as great as OKC is and they are a great team they were taken to seven games two times throughout the playoffs including did anybody realistically think about the Indiana Pacers challenging and making it to a seventh game for the NBA Finals so I’m sorry no I cannot rule out a LeBron James and Luca Donic led Los Angeles Lakers this year i can’t Tim well I got some math for you they got bounced in five games in the first round by a Timberwolves team that got bounced in five games by the Oklahoma City Thunder so how does that add up to the Lakers are close look Luca Donuch is doing his part he responded to JJ Reick’s subtle challenge of getting in championship shape he is he’s he looks lean right now that’s obviously a huge part but this roster is not a contender caliber roster rob Pelinka’s got to get that Fonza jacket on roll those sleeves up again and go get Luca that lob threat that they know they need that’s why they pulled off the trade for Mark Williams before they changed their mind after taking a look at the physical if you don’t have a legitimate lob threat rim protector you’re not putting Luca and the Lakers in position to make a championship run i don’t know how they do it i don’t know who it is go make that move and then we can have a conversation about whether the Lakers can challenge this OKC squad much less the Minnesota Timberwolves vegas Joe need you to be the tiebreaker on this one so the sickest thing Peter said was when he was pandering to Molly about giving him street kid at Fanatics Fest everything after that everything after that was it was nice we go way back since hot 97 days but well laid out well laid out i love Peter he knows it i’m siding with Tim here in the modern NBA your offense is your floor okay the team that ranked dead last in scoring this season would have ranked in the top five in the NBA in scoring 10 years ago everybody can score the question is who can get stops over the last 25 years 22 NBA champions have been top 10 in defensive efficiency 15 of those 25 champions have been top five in defensive efficiency oklahoma City hey look at that number one in defensive efficiency you have to get stops if you want a chance to win in this league because late in the playoffs when a team’s legs start to go and everyone ratchets up the defensive intensity you watch the shooting percentages fall off a cliff look at Oklahoma’s shooting in the in the finals versus where they were in the regular season guys are dinging up you’re going to have off nights you need multiple paths to victory if you’re going to win four and seven and some nights that’s going to include just big defensive efforts the Lakers don’t have that luca doesn’t play D austin Reeves doesn’t play D which means 40% of the five guys on the floor aren’t going to help you get stops and ultimately that will be the Lakers demise as currently constructed peter you want to defend yourself listen these are two very valid arguments uh and I’m not going to refute that defense in this version of the NBA is a major key and it’ll be tough for the Lakers i’ll also say this though it’s year two of JJ Reic it will be truly year one of JJ Redic and Luca Donuch can we’ll see what kind of shape he’s able to get into we know he’s not going to become you know Gary Payton overnight i’m not expecting a defensive player of the year award for Luca Donuch but we will see what they’re capable of but I just refuse to in this moment and we all exist as prisoners of the moment right now it feels like that was year one of an OKC dynasty let’s talk about that midway through next season we’ll see okay you think that’s fair Tim to say we’re a little premature on OKC dynasty i mean everybody was was telling me they were too soft to win a championship in the first place they won one with a bunch of ascending talent i don’t think it’ll be the last one they win i’m not Hey I will point this out luca Donic has been part of very good defenses before uh he went to the finals last year with the Mavericks what did they do though they went out and drafted a big-time lob threat rim protector in Derrick Live the second and then traded for another one in Daniel Gaffford if you want to maximize Luca you’ve got to get that piece i’m not breaking news to Rob Pelinka he knows it he’s just got to figure out the path to do it joe I’ll give you the final word then we’ll go west coast East Coast the dynasty conversation is the worst thing we do as professional sports talk commentators especially when we’re not even close to actually meeting the threshold of a dynasty it’s one championship it’s a phenomenal championship let’s let that rest for a second do you have any idea how hard it is just to stay healthy healthy enough to be in contention to win a championship we discount that we discount health in such a spectacular fashion two years ago the Niners were in the Super Bowl and then last year a lot of people loved him to get back to the Super Bowl they went from being one of the healthiest teams in the NFL to one of the unhealthiest teams in the NFL that happens year over year chad Homegrren missed a bunch of games maybe he’s healthier this year but maybe SGA isn’t everybody’s coming for him so the final word is going to have nothing to do with anything regarding the topic you originally set up this is a classic for ball swerve late in the conversation dynasty talk let’s give it at least another season you know what Joe i I love the sentiment right there and I love what you just said and and you know appreciating the moment the championship letting it breathe a little bit i do this program called First Take 240 days a year so we will be talking about dynasties and looking forward as much as we want i’m just letting you know all right guys let’s go to the East now the Eastern Conference ups peter real quick molly real quick peter that’s how you pander to Molly take notes go ahead oh my goodness all right guys as I mentioned Eastern Conference up for grabs key stars such as Jason Tatum Tyrese Halburn Damen Lillard leave the door wide open for any team looking to take the next step yesterday on First Take Tim McMahon let us know which team he thinks needs to take advantage of this opportunity listen up guys the 64 win Cavaliers are pretenders right now they have to be labeled as pretenders when you are eliminated in the second round with the ease that they were so there’s definitely some pressure that comes along with that you know they’ve got this core four that and credit to them they raised the expectations in Cleveland by rolling to those 64 wins this regular season but there is pressure that comes along with that especially when the playoffs were such a disappointment for Cleveland all right Joey Joe which team do you think’s under the most pressure to come out of the East now that it’s wide open with all these injuries a bit of a surprise here but Philadelphia 76ers this is their final shot at it their absolute final shot and they have never had a better path in the Eastern Conference than what they’ve been given this year the Sixers year after year after year disappoint everybody because they’ve never been good enough to get by Kawawaii in Toronto or Tatum and Brown in Boston or insert any other team here that has gotten in their way over the last decade plus the problem is they were never good enough this year they don’t need to be good enough everyone else has cleared out for them lillard’s got the Achilles in Milwaukee hallebertton’s got the Achilles in Indiana tatum’s got the Achilles in Boston the Knicks don’t have a coach miami hasn’t done anything of note cleveland’s legit but let’s see if they can close when it matters the Sixers are absolutely stacked and they’ve got exactly one more shot at it and it’s never been laid out better for them than it is this year that’s why you want to buy him at 11 to1 to win the East because everyone’s going to look at last year and laugh which is what you should do last year was laughable but this year has the opportunity to be different if they can stay healthy huge if but the Sixers have more pressure than anybody in the East yeah Joe I won’t hit you with the haymaker just yet i’ll be nice i’ll let the guys go around and then you know exactly what’s coming well listen Vegas Joe that was a very fun conversation to have at the MGM Grand Sports book if I was putting down a bet for who’s going to win the Eastern Conference but for talking realistically about basketball please don’t bring up the 76ers again i’m sorry you’re right it may be the last year of the window and it is a great opportunity but they have shown repeatedly they are not there they will not be there this year i’m not even worried about the 76ers the team with the most pressure and they’ve put a lot of it on themselves are right here it’s the New York Knicks who were one game away from the finals well but hear me out it’s what first of all of course there’s always highle pressure on the Knicks you can’t remove that but they’re one game away from the NBA finals and decided to chop the head off of Tom Thibido in front of the entire world with no coach to get right the only thing they knew was we cannot run this back from with Tibs so they get rid of Tibs and now let’s be honest they kind of feel like this awkward guy at the party who’s like “We’re not asking anybody out we just want to know are any of the girls single?” You know what I call it i call it They’re holding auditions right now they’re like “You know what slide me your resume and I’ll I’ll hold some auditions and and then we’ll see.” And then all of a sudden all you keep hearing is everyone going “Sorry buddy she’s not interested they’re not interested nobody’s looking.” Meanwhile you have this great team that you’ve put together you have a city that is completely captivated you were one game from the finals and now everybody has an expectation you’re supposed to get there boston’s out of the way it’s completely blown up they are taking the year off how often do you have a dominant team in a sport that can win a conference basically every year easier coming second easy that says we’re going to take this entire year off and now the Knicks are sitting right there with as you pointed out Joe no coach but all the pressure to get it done Tim McMahon where are you headed on this one who’s under the most pressure to win the East I mean I I’m sticking with the Cavs and I’ll be honest with you the Sixers I spent all season calling them the top Sixers because their priority was protecting their top six protected pick was keeping that pick now it’s top four protected i’d say top forget about the Sixers having any chance as contenders i love that Joe gave us this whole thing on the whole thing on staying healthy and how that’s so key like dude Joel Embiid is he ever going to play 40 games in a season again and so I don’t want to hear about them as potential contenders the Knicks look they absolutely do have a lot of pressure on them there’s going to be more noise around the Knicks like let’s be honest they’re going to have more time on first take than the Cavaliers that’s for sure you know it’s a different media situation but the Cavaliers again that’s a team 64 wins and there’s but they you can consider them paper tigers until they prove differently because 64 wins then getting balanced in the second round like they did after firing their coach who by the way also went to the second round there’s pressure on that core four to prove that that is a group that can contend for a championship together and if they don’t do it this year I think there’s going to have to be uh some significant changes in in Cleveland all right Joe this is a safe space and um you know I like to be honest and transparent with my First Take fam so let’s just do this okay joe where are you from molly this is irrelevant you ask this question all the time i’m from a region of of Pennsylvania i don’t need to get into the details of the specifics okay okay okay cuz I I just dropped the mic i’m from Allentown Pennsylvania which pretty much splits the gap between New York and Philadelphia new Mute Vegas joe it’s time to go to break coming up is Jaylen Herz and the Eagles speaking of Philly primed to repeat as NFC’s champs now I bet he wants to claim Philly someone here says not so fast that’s next is there a troubling trend on the horizon with prospects trying to dictate where they want to play major disagreement on this topic on the way it’s first take on a feelgood Friday woo in the corner foreign mhm okay one two All the time episode Oh my god oh someone Done seriously okay oh yeah that was okay we got You mean right now

FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. detailed Los Angeles Lakers’ BLOCKBUSTER trade to be contenders next season