FIRST TAKE | LeBron is winning his 5th ring this year – Stephen A on Lakers destroy Clippers 135-118

FIRST TAKE | LeBron is winning his 5th ring this year – Stephen A on Lakers destroy Clippers 135-118

13-4 after clinching a spot in the NBA Cup quarterfinals last night. My husband was on the sidelines for this. It’s their most wins by Thanksgiving since 2019, a year they went on to win it all in the bubble. We remember it well. Stephen A, this Lakers back dynamic. How good are they? Well, they’re very good. Um, and LeBron James being back dropping 25 certainly doesn’t hurt. Austin Reeves dropping 31 certainly doesn’t hurt. Luca Donic had 24 points in the first quarter. in the first quarter. I mean, had 30 at halftime with six assists. The brothers looking spectacular and a clear, you know, one of the top candidates for league MVP honors if he continues to look the way that he has looked. The Clippers are another story. Uh, highly disappointing this season. But LeBron James being back, Austin Reeves and him doing what they’re doing and and Luca Donic just looking the way that he’s looking, which is nothing short of spectacular. has you looking at the Lakers a little bit differently right now. Of course, Oklahoma City is still a team to beat. They’re the reigning defending champions. They’re like 17 or 18-1. Denver’s right there. They’ve retoled. They’ve gotten a bit younger. And they still have Jokic. And Joic has been the Lakers kryptonite for years, but that was before Luca Donic got there. But the way Luca is looking, it it just is something special to behold. Make no mistake about it. And the Lakers are doing their thing right now. They could be in the mix. Um I it would not it would not surprise me at all if the Lakers win the conference finals. Yeah. And you look at them beating the Clippers last night. Clippers did have Kawaii on the floor. Now they’re old and they’re banged up, but this was no slouch Clippers team that wasn’t at full strength. Now I know they don’t have Brad Beal out there and whatnot, but Kawaii was on as a devastating loss in November. Let’s just be clear. There are bad losses though. Uh it has not been a good couple of days for the Timberwolves. Um they nope in they gave up a nine-point lead in the final minute or eight-point lead in the final was it six whatever it was eight point lead in the final 45 seconds in Phoenix absolutely unacceptable loss then they go up to Sacramento and if there’s ever been a bounceback situation I think they had a couple of days off after the Phoenix game got to stay in Phoenix they stayed in Phoenix enjoyed the weather I’m sure then they you know had a practice and they get to come up to Sacramento. This is an ideal bounceback situation. And they were ahead by 10 points. Mhm. Late in the fourth quarter. Uh I think with three minutes to go, they were ahead by 10. And they allow the Kings, the lowly Kings, uh to come make a 100 run to end that game. Um, and I gotta say, um, as I’m discussing, um, you know, this the beginning of, uh, the the idea of what the trade market may look like, you know, in in the NBA, a team that is emer, you know, there’s some sellers you can identify, okay? But a team that is emerging as a buyer is the Wolves. um coming off of two conference finals, high expectations, weak at the guard position um just from for various reasons. Um and uh a team that despite having a decent record has underachieved because they’ve gone through a soft portion of schedule including quite frankly the Suns and Kings. I mean, at worst you should split that even on the road. And a team that should consider that can win for the West, especially when you’re in position to win both, should win both games. And so, Bontamps, um, the Wolves, I’m not I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but the Wolves are not performing in a manner that they need to be performing at this point. No, they are not. And the the tricky part for Minnesota is like you say, okay, uh, let’s just say they decide they want to make a move, right? with the moves they’ve made prior um especially, you know, the not only the Rudy Gorge Bear trade, but also then trading um uh also then trading Rob Dillingham or for Rob Dillingham in the draft a couple years ago. Yeah. Um I mean they have they literally don’t have a tradable first and a 20 32 pick is frozen because they were in the second apron. So they like, okay, like you want to say, this is a prime example. You want to say, hey, Minnesota needs to make a move, needs to get guard help, needs to do this, needs to do that. Like, okay, are you trading Julius Randall for a guard? Are you trading Jaden McDaniels for a guard? Are you trading Rudy Goar for a guard? Well, if you trade any of those guys, dangerous to trade big for small in the NBA. Well, just if you trade any of those guys for a guard, it creates all sorts of other problems. Like people want to say Rudy is, you know, not as good as he was before. Their defense goes off a cliff bench. Jaden McDaniels is their best, you know, wing defender. He’s they’re one of their he’s really the only guy besides a you could look at as a true I think sort of building block player going forward. Julius Randle’s their probably their best creator or maybe him and aunt and he’s their other big time scorer. So, like you move on from any of those guys who were their three big salary players besides Ant who they’re obviously not trading. Those trades all create other problems and they’re also right up against the second apron and have to deal with the financial part while sending out money. It’s just really hard to make a big be able to take on any money. That’s absolutely true. But, you know, or they’d have to take on right they can’t add salary. they’d have to move around salary and it’s you know like it it’s just it’s a very very very complicated equation for Tim Connelly they’re the head of their front office. I will say this and not to jump in front of you McMahon I’m sorry but part of the reason why people in the league are talking about them is because Tim Connelly does do stuff like that he wants to make big moves. Last year they were in the second apron and they were negotiating with the Suns who were in the second apron and they were trying all kinds of different things to get Kevin Durant. Now, ultimately they weren’t able to do that, but this is a team that eventually made the conference finals. Like Tim Connelly is a guy who swings big, doesn’t mind paying, and will figure out the rest later. And he’s had a fair amount of success in his career doing that. So part of the arithmetic as I talk to guys is that if Tim Connelly thinks he needs to make a move, he’ll figure out a way to make it. And I know that that’s irresponsible to say, figure out how to make a move, but that’s what people say. Well, and it like it’s been known and Connelly has understood for a while that point guard was going to be an issue. You know, Mike Connley is a backup at this point in his career. It’s been an amazing career. That’s no knock on them. But that was the whole point of doing the Rob Dillingham deal, that they paid a steep price, a pick and a swap uh to to be able to get that pick from San Antonio and take Rob Dillingham. because they recognized, hey, they needed a point guard of the near future. And so far, that bet looks like a really bad bet. And listen, I’m not going to sit here and give up on a guy who’s 20 years old, but his numbers this year are not better than his numbers last year. He is still a fringe rotation player who is his shooting numbers have gone down. He’s shooting in the 30s from the floor. Um, you know, talking to people around the league, there is a lot of doubt whether you will ever be a real point guard. I hear a lot more of, you know, maybe he can be a bench bucket getter than than a uh a true point guard. Um, but point being, that was a big swing that they took a couple drafts ago that is not paying dividends. And as a direct result, there is a glaring hole in this roster. And you see that glaring hole as they much like they did for a lot of last season continue to have massive problems closing games. I mean these this is an extreme example but their clutch offensive numbers are bad and they get worse the later you go and the tighter it gets. Well in the onoff numbers just to just to highlight that now these are not always obviously perfect. There’s context these things, but Rob Dillingham’s played 15 games, played 163 minutes, so a little over 10 minutes a game. The Wolves offense is 100 flat when he’s on the court, which is the worst in the league. And they have a net rating of 9.4. And when he’s on the bench, the offense goes up to 120 in 658 minutes. And they have a net rating of 7.9. So they’re 17 points better when he’s on the bench. And he’s on the bench a lot more than he’s on the court. But he is on the bench.

FIRST TAKE | LeBron is winning his 5th ring this year – Stephen A on Lakers destroy Clippers 135-118