S.I.’s Chris Mannix on Lakers’ & Clippers’ Big Offseason Decisions | The Rich Eisen Show

S.I.’s Chris Mannix on Lakers’ & Clippers’ Big Offseason Decisions | The Rich Eisen Show

We know why the Lakers uh lost to the Timberwolves. And you just pointed out that Anthony Edwards wasn’t the main reason why the final game is to why they lost. The re uh the reason why the Lakers lost in that final game is Rudy Gobear looked like what uh Wilt Goar is how they were referring to him on inside the NBA with tongue firmly planted and cheek to light the the fire underneath Shaq. um no rim protector, which was the or and three-point um defense or good shooting, consistent shooting, which was the question when they had the no-brainer trade for for Luca when all the pieces settled. It’s like, okay, which is why they reached out for Mark Williams, didn’t get him. What do the Lakers do from here? What what happens now? You know, I wouldn’t I I don’t think they’ll reconstitute the Mark Williams deal, but they will use the assets that they were going to put in that deal, specifically Dalton Connect and the first round pick that they have to trade. You saw Daltton Connect fall out of the rotation, you know. Well, he also what fell fell down was what sliding down stairs or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he’s out two to four or which is, by the way, if you’re trying to trade him around the the the draft, he better he better, you know, fog up a mirror, right? There’s there’s still there’s value in Dong Connect. I mean, I’m not saying there’s no value, but if the guy might be an injured asset, it’s going to be tough to to trade him. Yeah. I mean, I I think long term though, you can you would be okay with that one. I I think they’ll try to put those pieces back together and acquire somebody. The question is like who better than Mark Williams is going to be available. And you survey the landscape, it’s not a great trade landscape for for players. I mean, you’re not going to go get Derrick Lively out of Dallas or Gaffford out of Dallas. They’re still trying to win something in the Western Conference. But there’s no question that priority number one for Rob Pelanka has to be finding that kind of pogo stick of a center that has been proven to thrive opposite Luca Donic. They don’t they need more than that. To your point about the three-point defense, like they’ve got to get another playable 3 and D wing. Uh Dorian Finny Smith is one of those guys. He he proved playable for them. Um, I don’t know that Jared Vanderbilt is playable in the playoffs because of his offensive limitations. Connect, I don’t think, is ever going to be uh an elite or at least an average defensive player or at least above average defensive player. So, they’ve got to find one of those guys quickly. Those are the two pieces they’ve got to find if they’re going to have any chance of competing in the next couple of years. What do the Clippers do from here, man? I don’t know, man. Like, that that’s a team that’s landlocked. Like, they they What do you mean? I mean, with terms of their their their roster, right? There’s not a lot they can do. They don’t have the draft capital to make a substantial deal. They’re kind of against a rock and a hard place with James Harden who can opt out of his contract and he will probably be looking for a bigger deal. What do you do if you’re the Clippers? Like James Harden, this the book has kind of been written on James Harden. I mean, he is a guy that has proven to be a great regular season player who in the postseason has been dreadful. You look at the last two game sevens that he played in uh with Philadelphia against Boston two years ago and this year um against Denver, awful performances, no show performances. Um his his numbers in the playoffs across the board are bad. Like I I don’t know what you do there. like you don’t really have much of a choice but to bring him back because you can’t replace him with somebody else. So short of a full reboot that includes trading Kawhi Leonard who still has value even at what 33 years old you’re talking about bringing Kawhai back, bringing Harden back for what is age 36 season. Zubach made huge strides this year. Uh he’ll be back. Norm Powell, he’ll be back maybe looking for another contract. Look, this was the year that like this year hurts probably more than most for the Clippers. previous years you can be like, “Oh man, Kawhai was out. Paul George was out. Somebody was out. Somebody was injured and that’s why we lost.” You can’t say that. You can’t say that. Like everybody was basically there for this Clippers team and they still lost in the first round. They’re they’re in a tough spot right now uh in the conference for what they can do. So trading Kawaii is really on the table. I don’t know if it’s on the table. I don’t think I don’t think Steve Balmer wants to do that. I mean, Steve Balmer’s invested two billion in that arena, which is the best arena in the NBA, I think, unquestionably. Well, and the playoff version of it was a lot louder than the regular season version of it. And it was it was significant. It was significant, but the wall was a great idea. Like, I mean, it’s a great arena top to bottom. It’s a great arena. I don’t think Steve Balmer wants to go through a rebuild. Not with Kawaii still playing at a high level, but you can’t expect Kawaii like with Kawawaii, they were on like a 58 win pace last year. So, like you can spin the scenario where it’s like Kawawaii comes back, he’s fully healthy this off season. He’s training. He gives you 70 games next year and you go into the Western, you go to the playoffs next year as a top two seed as opposed to the five seed in a matchup like he got with Denver. But like expecting Kawawaii to do that, I don’t know. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. That’s to me is what I’m looking at with the Clippers. Like are you really expecting something different from Kawhai in terms of his health and James Harden in terms of his postseason performance? If you are, I I think you’re wrong.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix joins Rich Eisen in-studio to discuss the Lakers’ and Clippers’ big offseason decisions.

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