FIRST TAKE | “THIS IS A CHAMPIONSHIP LINEUP!” STEPHEN A. ON LAKERS’ NEW STARTING FIVE – LAKERS NEWS

FIRST TAKE | “THIS IS A CHAMPIONSHIP LINEUP!” STEPHEN A. ON LAKERS’ NEW STARTING FIVE – LAKERS NEWS

Let’s get it. Lakers star Luca Donic showing off his slimmer physique in the newest issue of Men’s Health. Everyone seems to be dropping weight these days. Uh Stephen A, how should Lakers fans be feeling about uh seeing Luca like this in shape Luca? They should feel very they should feel very excited because this superstar basketball player who’s now in one of the most storied franchising sports anals um isn’t satisfied. He’s been called out. He knows he’s been called out and he’s responded to the challenge to let everybody know that he’s going to come back. He’s going to be ready. So, it’s going to show once he steps on the basketball court. We’re not worried about what he brings offensively. What you’re thinking about is his movement without the basketball offensively because he’d be in shape and he’d be willing to run more. And number two, he’d obviously be willing, you hope, to play better defense and not be a defensive liability where he’s being blown by all the so him taking this challenge on is a really, really big deal. And it’s very, very good news for the Los Angeles Lakers and Lakers nation. No doubt about it. Yeah, sign me up for the LA Luca diet. I’m all about it. I need to lose a few pounds anyway. But Stephen A, it’s clear that being sumearily dismissed in Dallas has led to Luca being more motivated when it comes to taking his offseason strength and conditioning seriously. And beyond all of the things that you outlined in terms of on the court performance, my hope is that it leads to Luca Donuch being healthier throughout the regular season and being ready once the postseason comes around to be the best version of himself. That’s what it’s all about to me. The best ability is availability, like Hermet was used to say. And Luca throughout the course of his career has had a lot of those soft tissue injuries that have been nagging that have limited what you’ve gotten from him in the regular season. I hope that’s no longer the case moving forward in LA because of how he’s taking his offseason strength and conditioning. Mike T just wanted to add one thing here quickly, guys. Yeah, there’s a very scientific uh way to describe this diet. It’s called extension eligibility. Exactly. Money talks our George Sedanado in for Malik Andrews today alongside Dave McMinnon. David Dennis Jr. and NBA champ our guy Kendrick Perkins. So Dave, you shot that video that we just saw. Luca playing a pretty big role as a recruiter in the Marcus Smart situation. New look for him. So what does that tell you? Well, first of all, let’s talk about the guy he’s talking about, Luca Donic. There was ownership by Luca of this off season to stamp down that he wants to be part of the Lakers moving forward and he wants others to join him. So he makes calls to DeAndre Aton, the guy who came into the draft with him as the number one pick. Now he’s the center for the Lakers. Makes calls to Marcus Smart. Needs to fill the point of attack defender spot that Dorian Finny Smith occupied last year. He now plays for the Houston Rockets. Gets Marcus Smart to come. And I think as we look forward, we look at that August 2nd date when the Lakers can offer an extension to Luca Donuch worth 4 years, $222 million up to that figure. And I would say if you’re a Laker fan, you shouldn’t have any worry about Luca coming to some sort of an extension or agreement with the Lakers, which means he won’t just be a Laker for next season, won’t just be a Laker for the season after that. I think at a minimum, we’re talking about a three-year extension. Perk, look, this this has accountability and disrespect all over it. And Luca took it right into the off season. And I know it’s early, y’all. I know it’s early. And I know it’s early for hot takes, but damn it, I’m going out on the limb early in this summertime. And I’m going to say I’m betting on Luca Don to win the MVP next season. This is the type of commitment that I want to see from a great player like Luca. I want to see the videos of him working out. I want to see that he’s taking accountability for his losing weight and getting in shape. I want to see him being committed to the organization and to his franchise and to his head coach by reaching out and getting players around him. You talk about getting DeAndre Aiden. They got him right a center that he needed. They also went and got a guy Marcus Smart who they haven’t had a primary defender like that on the wing since Alex Caruso. And now all of a sudden, Luca is saying, “I’m ready for this season. I took the disrespect from last season with the Mavs trading me. I’m holding myself accountable.” And all the greats in the history of greats have went through some type of adversity or went through some type of thing throughout their career where they had to have an accountability part. And we’re seeing that through Luca right now. I I I’m sorry. I I just Let me rewind a little bit. I just do not totally like the way we’ve been talking about Luca Donis in this off seasonason. You’re coming off of one of your worst seasons. Not just, you know, performance, but like in terms of the expectation, in terms of the injury, the Mavericks moved you uh out to Los Angeles and then you got embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs. And we’re supposed to be talking about this guy who needs to be an MVP type of dude and we’re celebrating the fact that he looks like he’s in shape. Like that should be a bar. Should be way higher than that for somebody of Luca Don’s caliber of performance right now. You have to be one of the top three best players in the league for the Lakers to have a shot not to be bouncing the first round. And I want to hear more than you look like you’re in shape on Instagram. By the way, a lot of people are in shape are still bad at defense. Being in shape doesn’t stop you from falling asleep on back screens or being left on the island come playoff time. You have to clear way more hurdles than looking good in a shirt on Instagram. I need to see the Luca Donic that is in that conversation with Jokic, with Giannis, with those guys like he was before last year because all this workout video is not moving the needle for me in the way that I that makes me believe that you’re creating an actual contender with that Los Angeles Lakers. Well, well, David, you did you keep the same energy with with Nola Joic? Because Nola Joic had to go through a stage of his career where he had to get in shape before he No, he had to lose weight and get in shape before he hit a stage to go win a championship. Yiannis Toupo had to put on 50 lbs and work on his body before he went and got to the mountain top. Steph Curry had to go, you know, bust his ass and put on weight and size before he got to the mountain top. All the greats that have accomplished a goal had to reach some type of adversity. Hell, hell, LeBron James had to leave Cleveland and go to Miami to learn the recipe and to learn how to to to how to learn to reach the mountain top. Michael Jordan, he took his bumps and bruises against the bad boy Pistons in the in the Celtics and had to get in the weight room before he reached the mountain top. This is nothing new. Like guys hit this as young players that hit the ground running when they come into the league. They hit their head on the on the wall every now and then and then all of a sudden they have to bounce back. Go ahead. Let’s let D. Yeah. Yeah. It’s one thing to hit your head head against one thing to hit your head against the Pistons to hit your Yeah. To hit your head on trying to bulk up. It’s another thing about hitting your head against you know looking like you are in shape. We’re talking about Jokic. I watched Joic play a three overtime game in the playoffs. I watched Joic go full 48 and not worried about if he’s going to tire out. He’s gone seven games and done and and push teams to that limit. I these are not things that I worry about. We’re talking about LeBron’s, Curry, Giannis’s, people like that. I do not worry about if they’re in shape at the beginning of the season. I don’t need to be worrying about about somebody like Luca Donic. David, I agree with you defensively. He’s need to show the commitment. But think about being in shape. He’s been a pro basketball player since he’s 15 years old. Last year, he missed seven weeks with the calf injury. It’s the longest he hadn’t played basketball in 10 plus years as a pro. So, his body fell out of shape. The important thing is he’s responded to it, worked on his diet, worked on his offseason conditioning, and you should get a better version of him. You have to allow for him dealing with an injury that no other guy that he’s ever dealt with before. You know what, David? You’re also missing this and this it’s been a couple years since we had this with Perk. His favorite mocktail is that Skinny Luca and we’re getting it this summer. He’s going to be drinking a lot of Skinny Luca mocktails. Big Perk is gonna have those ready. All right, with Marcus Smart now in the lineup, the Lakers get some much needed depth. So, Perk, I hear something caught your eye. I’m Kendrick Perkins, better known as Big Perk. And nothing gets past me. Just when you thought it did get past me, there I am. I spy a problem, I spy it all. Tear the hell off. [Music] And I do. And I do. And you know, we have this term in my neighborhood. We have this term in my neighborhood that game recognized game. And Luca recognized game because he’s played against Marcus Martin. Marcus Martin and him has battled a lot through his young career. And he knows he knows what it feel like to battle a former defensive player of the year. This is Luca’s spot against anybody else in the NBA. I want you to look this low post area right here. Look at Marcus Smart being able to take the contact, being able to hold and make Luca take a a tough contested side. Here it go again. Marcus Smart being a pest that he is, making Luca uncomfortable, forcing him to a tough contested two-point shot. Luca saying, “I know what this guy’s going to bring. I know the tenacity that he has in Marcus Smart in Luca career against Marcus Smart. He has shot 29.7% when Marcus Smart is the closest defender. Again, game recognized game. It’s a reason Luca hopped his ass on that telephone to call Marcus Smart because he know what he’s going to bring to the table. Yeah, I don’t think there’s any question about that. I think Marcus Smart is excited. But Dave, you kind of alluded to it earlier. how much of an impact can Smart have considering, look, he hasn’t played 60 plus games in three seasons, which is a great point to point out, George, but obviously he wasn’t in the best situations in Memphis because of the injuries they suffered as a total team. And in Washington, I I don’t even want to call them Washington. He was with the Washingtons. You can’t use the the W. They weren’t trying to win, but he was so excited to be in the Lakers facility yesterday. It was like he got a new lease on life. He’s back in a winning situation. Yeah, he’s on the other side of the Celtics Lakers rivalry, of course, but he recognizes that both those franchises play to win perennially. And I I think just that kind of effervescent attitude will do a lot for this group. He looks at it like we got a chance. I asked him the the West is stacked. Yeah. And he said, “Well, I would stack us up against anybody else in the West. We have no ceiling.” that to me that that energy that confidence will do a lot getting this ball rolling in the right direction from day one of training camp. Yeah. Listen, I had Marcus Smart on the radio show on 710 ESPN here in LA and I asked him about that Wizards situation specifically. He he looked Wizards, sorry. He he he talked about the finger being a real issue obviously, but I asked him, look, sometimes these teams in their situation, they want uh to play the young guys and make sure that those guys get some run. and he kind of laughed a little and says, “Yeah, you know, it’s a different circumstance when you’re playing on a team like that.” So anyway, all right. Marcus Smart isn’t the only guy to play for both the Celtics and the Lakers. Shaq is an all-time Lakers great, winning three titles, three finals MVPs, and a regular season MVP in LA. He also played his final 37 games of his career for Boston and going for nine and five in that stretch. Then Rajan Rondo, one of two players to win titles with both the Celtics and the Lakers. Joining Clyde Lovalelet, a young Rondo won a title with Perk back in Lakers fans, we’ve got something special to talk about today. When your team has LeBron James, you never stop believing. But what we just saw, that’s not just belief. That’s legacy in motion. At 4:49 a.m., when most of the world was still asleep, LeBron James posted a video to his Instagram. Hoodie on, gym bound, focused, locked in. His message was short but powerful. Let’s get it. Year 23 coming soon. Let that sink in. Year 23. And the man is still waking up before dawn to chase greatness. So today on Lakers Breakdown, we’re diving into what this means, not just for LeBron, but for the entire Lakers franchise heading into the 202526 season. Let’s break it down. There’s no other way to say it. LeBron James is a freak of nature. At 40 years old, he just finished his 22nd NBA season, averaging 27 points per game, playing 70 games, leading the Lakers back to the playoffs, and landing sixth in MVP voting. That’s unheard of. We’re not talking about farewell tours or veteran cameos. LeBron is still performing at an elite level. He made second team allNNBA in a league full of younger, hungrier, high-flying stars. But that’s not an accident. That’s years, decades of discipline, investment, and commitment. LeBron’s been famously spending over a million dollars per year on his body. Personal chefs, recovery chambers, cryotherapy, sleep tech, biomechanical trainers. But as we saw this week, it’s not just about money. It’s about mentality. You don’t roll out of bed at 4:49 a.m. unless you’re chasing something bigger than yourself. LeBron isn’t just preparing for another season. He’s preparing for another run at a championship. And not just any ring, a potential fifth title, and perhaps the most meaningful of his career. Let’s not forget earlier this off season, there was serious doubt about whether LeBron would even return to the Lakers. Yes, he picked up his player option, but there were whispers, rumors, doubts. Would he want to stay if the Lakers didn’t make win now moves? Would he walk away from a team that was pivoting to Luca Donuch as the franchise’s new cornerstone? LeBron made it clear, he’s not here to babysit. He’s here to compete. He wants banners, not rebuilds. And to their credit, the Lakers front office responded in a big way. They brought in DeAndre Aton, a mobile big man with playoff experience and a chip on his shoulder. They signed Marcus Smart, a battle tested guard, elite defender, and vocal leader. And they added Jake Lorravia, a sneaky good wing with real potential to stretch the floor. Suddenly, the noise around LeBron leaving disappeared. Suddenly, you had people talking about the Lakers, not just as a playoff team, but as contenders again. And let’s be real, if LeBron’s back in the lab, you know, the rest of the team has taken it seriously, too. Here’s the part that should have every Lakers fan fired up. LeBron isn’t alone. This off season, Luca Donuch transformed his body. He dropped weight, gained strength, and embraced the Lakers demanding training program. Why? Because he knows what’s at stake. This isn’t Dallas anymore. This is LA. This is legacy. LeBron and Luca might be the most skilled one-two punch in the NBA right now. One, a seasoned king with rings and records. the other a hungry superstar entering his prime. And now what? Both are locked in physically and mentally. Both are ready to lead. Both are putting in the work when no one’s watching. That’s dangerous. Add Marcus Smart’s hunger to finally win a ring. Eightton’s desire to prove he’s more than a former number one pick. Reeves’s continued growth. Hachimura’s consistency. Lorravia’s upside. This team isn’t just showing up. They’re building something. Year 23 is more than a number. For LeBron, it’s about rewriting the definition of greatness. It’s about showing every player, every critic, every fan that the game is still his when he wants it to be. But for the Lakers, year 23 means opportunity. It means the window isn’t closed. It’s wide open. It means now is the time to go allin. And that starts with the mindset LeBron showed us on that Instagram post. No excuses, no shortcuts, just work. That energy is contagious. If you’re on this roster and you’re not matching that intensity, you’ll be left behind. But if you do match it, if this group truly locks in and embraces the grind, then the rest of the league better watch out. Lakers nation, let’s be honest, we’ve been through ups and downs over the past few years. We’ve seen flashes of greatness followed by frustrating inconsistency. We’ve watched LeBron defy age, but also carry too much of the burden. Now, for the first time in a while, it feels like the weight is being shared. The stars are aligning, the roster is balanced, the mindset is serious, and LeBron James at 40 is still leading from the front. So, here’s what I want to know from you. How are you feeling about year 23? Are you inspired by LeBron’s early morning grind? Do you believe this Lakers team with Luca Aton Smart and a focused LeBron has what it takes to make a serious title run? Drop your thoughts in the comments. I want to hear from real fans, true fans. Because Lakers breakdown is where we keep it honest, passionate, and purple and gold all day long. Make sure you’re subscribed, hit that bell, and buckle up because if LeBron’s already training at 4:49 a.m., then the season has already started. Let’s go get that banner. Let’s make year 23 unforgettable.

Stephen A. calls the Lakers’ new starting five the perfect mix of offense and defense. Are the Lakers officially back in title contention?

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