# Ep. 687: LAL's Most Underrated Moves of the Offseason. (Top 5 Ranking, Vando Worst Case Trades, The Kessler x Sexton Connection)

An episode of [The Lakers Legacy Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1045099836), 10 Aug 2026, 1 h 17 min.

Audio: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/clrtpod.com/m/mgln.ai/e/274/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/6c6b45b5-82ca-4669-a3a5-ad45cfe79e49/stream.mp3

Beyond some of the bigger, more obvious transactions- What are some of LAL's best, most shrewd, "under the radar" moves this Summer that fans are sleeping? + The Worst Case Vando Trade Scenarios & a Deep-Dive into the Collin Sexton x Walker Kessler Connection ... Help Support the work that I do: buymeacoffee.com/LakersLegacyPodcast https://www.patreon.com/c/TheLakersLegacyPodcast Venmo: @Jonathan-Hernandez-9 ... You can also 'Watch' this Podcast Episode on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lakerslegacypod Don't forget to Please Hit us w/ a Subscribe. ... Intro/Outro Music Provided By: Hello Harry - "Forever" (Search His Page Up on SoundCloud for More #Litty Beats) Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:01] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[0:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But everybody, too, the Lakers Legacy podcast where, now we all know that whether or not a team is a championship contender boils down to your stars.
[0:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But sometimes the key is also in the low key.
[0:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When it comes to the quiet under the radar moves, that fans may have not noticed at first, but ended up becoming a game changer at the end.
[1:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And in today's episode, we shall be talking about all of the Lakers most underrated, low key under the radar moves of the off season.
[1:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm your host Jonathan Hernandez, welcome to the show quick rundown of today's agenda.
[1:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're going to run through pretty much every transaction that the Lakers did this summer up until this point.
[1:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I will give you my top five.
[1:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I will rank my top five most underrated Lakers moves of the off season.
[1:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, these seem to change the ranking seems to change by the hour in my mind.
[1:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's not too much of a serious list.
[1:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm sure you guys have your own, this is just my own personal, how I would rank the top five most underrated moves of the off season.
[1:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And by underrated, I'm not talking about the obvious, like, oh, we got Walker Kessler.
[1:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's an underrated move.
[1:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And actually, some people may not even think that's underrated.
[1:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They may just think that the lake is overpaid.
[1:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I'm going to give you more of the deeper cut marginal moves that sort of caught my eye that I think will end up being more pivotal than people
[2:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: have made it seem thus far.
[2:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm going to give you the moves that I think fans are sleeping on that rank in my top five with regards to, you know, potential game changes, but that definition also changes by the hour.
[2:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yeah, I'm going to go through my top five most underrated moves of the off season.
[2:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then we'll do a quick section on what is the worst case Jared Vanderbilt trade that the Lakers could make?
[2:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I pulled up a list of players that the Lakers could trade Vando for that may not cost them any assets whatsoever or maybe just one marginal asset.
[2:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I'm essentially going to trade bad contract for bad contract.
[2:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So we all know that Vandos still owed $25, 26 million over the next two years.
[2:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Are there any other contracts out there in the NBA that are just as bad or worse?
[2:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But fill a better need for the Lakers than Vando.
[3:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're going to take a look at a quick list of those types of players.
[3:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Even though I don't think the Lakers would necessarily
[3:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, jump to those bottom barrel options, worst case scenarios, worst case scenario, nuclear options.
[3:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think they would probably just rather keep Vando, but as usual, we're going to do, we're going to do, we're going to do our due diligence and take a look at the best, worst contracts that the Lakers could potentially flip Vando for.
[3:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then, to round out the show, I do want to talk about the Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler connection.
[3:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm sure you guys have seen the videos that have been flying around with the Sexton and Kessler training.
[3:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm not sure if they're training out in Atlanta, which is something that they perpetually do.
[3:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But they've been training in the gym this off season, showing off a couple of their nice lob connections, Kessler showing off a little bit of his offensive versatility that I don't think will necessarily see in-game, but nice to know that he has a one-footed dirt.
[4:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: fade away in his bag, but yeah, we'll close the show talking about the Walker Kessler Colin Sexton connection and how that connection looks, that synergy looks like, the benefits of that, and yeah, and that'll be the show.
[4:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, but as I move forward, if you guys have any
[4:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Questions or topics or opinions you want to throw out make sure to do that in the chat as usual super chats and super things are very much welcome and so before we get into my list of the top five most underrated moves of the off season that I think fans are sleeping on and again this is my personal opinion make sure to comment below with your five most underrated moves that you think are underrated.
[4:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Before we get to that list though, if I could please ask you guys to take a moment to like this video, mash the hype button and beginning, begin commenting down below to help drum up the engagement.
[5:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And most importantly, if you haven't already done so, if you could please hit subscribe, I would greatly appreciate it.
[5:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And with that out of the way, let's talk about the Lakers transactions really quickly and then let's go about ranking them.
[5:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right.
[5:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So the Lakers moves, I won't go through, well, I don't know, we'll see.
[5:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Maybe I'll go through every single one of these, but I'll run through them really quickly.
[5:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Lakers Resign Austin Reeves, four years, 180 million, he ended up taking a slight pay cut, approximately $5 million to help the Lakers out.
[5:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think that should come into effect most notably next summer when the Lakers are still trying to be well enough below the first apron to be able to avail of their non-tax pair Emily.
[5:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So Austin Reeves did not sign for his, the max that he could get.
[5:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He signed for about $5 million less.
[6:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: portioned out through the lifetime of his deal.
[6:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So they resigned Austin Reeves and then they traded for Walker Kessler, of course.
[6:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Traded Walker Kessler, sign and traded for Walker Kessler to the Utah Jazz.
[6:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They traded two unprotected first round picks.
[6:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They're 231 first, they're 233 first, and then two pick swaps, 2028 and 2030.
[6:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In return, they got the rights to sign Walker Kessler
[6:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then shortly after that, they had a slew of free agency signings.
[6:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it kind of felt like Quentin Grimes and Sondro were already in the bag as they were negotiating the Walker Kessler deal.
[6:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if I had to guess, I think Colin Sexton was also in the bag while they were negotiating the Walker Kessler deal.
[6:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In my opinion,
[6:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They were sort of contingent on one another.
[6:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If we hadn't been able to get Walker Kessler, I'm sort of wondering whether or not we still would have signed Colin Sexton.
[6:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But regardless, after the Walker Kessler trade, we signed Quentin Grimes to a $4 year, $60 million offer, fourth year of player option.
[7:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We signed Sanjo Mamma-Kellish Vili to a $4 year, $52 million contract.
[7:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: for a year of player option, and then we sign Colin Sexton to a two year $19 million deal using the room mid-level exception.
[7:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That second year next year is also a player option.
[7:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: To round out the roster, the Lakers sign three veteran minimum guys, Kavan Looney, one-year veteran minimum deal, Xia Williams, one-year vet men, and then Matisse Thibel, one-year vet men.
[7:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Lakers currently have 16 standard contracts on their roster.
[7:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They will need to move off of one of those by the time training camp ends.
[7:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In addition to that, the lake is also traded deandreates into the Washington wizards.
[7:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Deandreates and goes out, the lake is get jade and hearty and two Washington wizards second round picks.
[7:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 2031, second round pick, 2032, second round pick.
[7:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So those are the bigger higher level moves that the big team made.
[8:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: with regards to the draft in two way signings.
[8:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Obviously, the Lakers made a smaller deal on draft night with the New York Nix to move up one spot from 25 to 24 to draft Cameron car.
[8:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All the Lakers did was trade cash or give the New York Nix cash.
[8:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With regards to their two way signings, they re-up Chris Manion to his two way deal.
[8:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They signed AKO Caracay as well as Peter Suter on the
[8:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: because it was very obvious what they needed to do.
[8:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Lakers rightfully wave Peter's tutor or took him office two way and gave that to a contract to Arthur Kaluma.
[8:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I believe that is pretty much a good comprehensive viewpoint of what the Lakers did thus far.
[8:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so with that out of the way, let's talk about,
[8:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: My top five most underrated off-season moves beyond the obvious, and if you've been a follower and listener or viewer to this show, you would know that I typically like to go for the deeper cuts, the hipster angle, the moneyball angle, and so this is going to be an exercise in much of the same.
[9:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But again, don't take this list too seriously.
[9:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I actually didn't think too deeply about this.
[9:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And again, the rankings on these change by the hour, I just thought it would be a fun exercise to start thinking about what are the marginal moves from this summer that maybe we brushed under the rug and didn't think too much about.
[9:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Maybe we even dislike them that now that we've had a little bit more time to think about them, may actually be pivotal moves
[9:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: you know, undernoticed.
[9:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So that's essentially what this exercise is all for fun.
[10:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Again, if you have your own list, make sure to comment it down in the comments below.
[10:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But here are Jonathan's at Lakers Legacy Pods at Lakers Legacy Pods.
[10:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That sounds weird.
[10:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here's Jonathan's top five underrated offseason moves of the summer beyond the obvious.
[10:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's start at the top number five.
[10:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay, this is my, this is number five going down to like number one, what I think is the most underrated move.
[10:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay, number five, two-way shrewdness.
[10:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think the Lakers, recigning Chris Manion, back on his two-way contract and making sure that they secure his rights is a very underrated move because at the time,
[10:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We didn't even know that the Lakers weren't planning to re-sign market smart or that market smart had decided to go to the Houston Rockets, but now that the dust has settled on that, I think it becomes even more important that the Lakers made this move, and they may have even made this move preemptively knowing that they would lose market smart, and obviously Chris Manion is not market smart.
[11:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think it was super important for them to lock in a player that they had in their system last year that they identified last summer league due to his great two-way play with the Golden State Warriors as a player who could potentially grow with the team.
[11:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And there's nothing that I hate more than the Lakers grooming and developing like a young prospect on a two-way contract or with their G league team.
[11:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: or some other team, but largely the Memphis Grizzlies and then somehow thriving and then becoming an NBA player on another team, right?
[11:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is one of the few players in the last, I feel like a couple of years that the lakers have actually retained few two way players.
[11:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think it's the right type of archetype of player to keep on.
[11:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They did this with Christian colloco last season, but that didn't last for very long.
[12:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With Chris Manion, because of what this roster needs, I think he should not only stay on his two way contract for
[12:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the length of this season, but he should probably also just be converted to a standard deal.
[12:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I give them credit for identifying that, hey, we're probably going to be a little lacking at the point of attack.
[12:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's make sure that
[12:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: from our development farm system on the ground, that we actually have this type of player and archetype.
[12:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And what better way of making sure we have this archetype than by retaining the dude who was first team all G-League last season had defensive player of the year votes in the G-League, and I think let all guards in total stocks in the G-League, right?
[12:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so really glad that the
[12:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: moving forward because I do think they wouldn't have done this if they didn't plan to actually begin giving him some minutes.
[13:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, I may be wish casting here because we're talking about JJ Reddick and who knows, but I really hope that the Lakers had more intentional plans with reciting Chris Minio.
[13:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It seems like they do, but who knows?
[13:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But let's say that they had
[13:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: all the intentions to finally give Chris Manion a shot this upcoming season, which I think is the right move.
[13:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think we'll eventually see.
[13:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the fruition of this shrewd underrated signing, when he's eventually converted to a standard deal and hopefully a multi-year cheap deal in the vein of AJ Mitchell with Oklahoma City Thunder, like four-year deal with a team option, the fourth year he's making like $3 million each year essentially the veteran minimum.
[13:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if we continue to groom and develop him the right way, I mean, we could have our next,
[13:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Alex Carruso to Jordan Goodwin on her hands, like some facsimile of those players, but on a really cheap deal.
[13:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And these are the types of players we need to start hitting on.
[14:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The money ball super margin players we need to start hitting on.
[14:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think it's a great start that the Lakers just retained at Chris.
[14:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Manion, I know that seems like a very small thing.
[14:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But in my opinion, I think it could end up becoming
[14:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: one of those under the radar game changing moves down the line.
[14:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We shall see.
[14:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, he could also get cut by the time training camp.
[14:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if there's somebody better, but
[14:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Given what we've seen from Summer League and given what we've seen from his entire first year with the South Bay Lakers, I doubt that.
[14:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And obviously also given what the Lakers currently need in terms of more point of attack perimeter defense.
[14:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So that is my first most underrated offseason move, coming in at number five, recigning Chris Meneon to a two-way contract.
[14:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Simultaneously, I also considered
[14:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Lakers Cutting Peter Shooter for Arthur Kaluma in this spot, but I'll give it an honorable mention since we're talking about two way guys.
[14:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'll just lump them together.
[14:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I do think the Lakers coming to their senses and being like, you know what, Arthur Kaluma also played for Archie League affiliate last year and he is currently killing it.
[15:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the summer league, let's make sure that no other team can sign him, lock him up to the two way, and that's exactly what the Lakers did.
[15:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so,
[15:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Big that into this Chris Manion 2A contract signing number five most underrated off season move is the Lakers getting their two-way guys quote unquote right at least on the outset.
[15:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We've still got aka okay we'll see what happens to him in training camp maybe someone better comes along or maybe there's a bigger position of need that the Lakers want to
[15:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Trial that spot out, but Ikeo Karakay for now is a fine use of that roster spot and he does have subcontinent chemistry with Chris Manion since their days at Cornell.
[15:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But regardless, number five, two-way shrewdness, the Lakers resigning Chris Manion to a two-way contract is I think a pretty underrated move that I think will eventually see the fruition on.
[15:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay.
[16:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Moving on, let's get to my number four underrated off season move of the summer.
[16:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And this is going to be a little bit surprising, but
[16:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: leave no doubts.
[16:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Lakers moving up one draft spot to secure a Cameron car at number 24.
[16:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, you probably don't think, you probably think this is a nothing burger.
[16:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You probably don't even understand why the Lakers did this, but I give them credit for making sure that they got their guy and not leaving it to chance.
[16:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, we all know that the New York
[16:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: money issues that they were dealing with.
[16:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so understanding that you're probably like, why did the Lakers even have to do this?
[16:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The next were probably just not even gonna make the pick.
[16:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it's precisely because of that notion that the Lakers knew the nicks were going to move off of this, that they wanted to make sure that they jumped in there and got Cameron Carr before the nicks sold that pick to another team that may have wanted Cameron Carr.
[17:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So the nicks ended up selling the number 25 pick that they got from the Lakers because again, they swapped places.
[17:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They ended up sending that pick to the Dallas Mavericks who ended up drafting Sergio Delarea.
[17:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But who knows if the Mavericks had traded for number 24, whether they would have traded for Cameron Carr instead?
[17:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That could have been a real possibility.
[17:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And even if it's not the Dallas Mavericks, who knows if the next one negotiating with other teams and another team was like, hey, we got to get in there and get Cameron Carr give us the number 24 pick.
[17:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think the Lakers just wanted to say,
[17:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, no, no, we'll give you the, give us the 24 pic, you can get number 25 and you can sell that pic to somebody else.
[17:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And in return, we'll give you guys cash.
[17:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I guess this pic in general is me sort of saying, I give the Lakers credit for showing some aggression and intentionality in making sure that if there was any doubt that cam car was their dude, I think they dispelled that by saying, we are going to move up one spot, one measly spot.
[18:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to make sure that we get number 24, Cam Carr.
[18:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, the cynic in me also wants to say, Rob Pulling could just wanted the number 24 pick because the Kobe ties, but I do think it boils down to
[18:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Lakers being very aggressive and making sure that there were no questions that they'd be able to secure Cam car and I think that decision was made even more, you know, justified by his summer league play as we now see Cam car as someone who could potentially crack the rotation.
[18:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: as soon as the first half of the season, just because of his very aesthetically pleasing plug-and-play off-ball viability and just his eye-popping athleticism as well.
[18:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I give credit for, you know, the Lakers, the
[18:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: understanding the situation in context, calling up the nicks and being like, hey, you want some money and also do you want to shed a little bit of salary going from number 24 to 25 and still keep a pick that you can trade later, which they did with the Dallas Mavericks, boom Bam Boom, Lakers move up from 25 to 24 to get Cam Carr.
[19:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now obviously, the biggest underrated move here is the fact that the Lakers identified Cameron Carr as their prospect in the first place, but I think not a lot of people are going to remember that the Lakers moved up one spot.
[19:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to draft Cameron Carr, but I did and it comes in at number four in my top five most underrated offseason moves.
[19:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, let's move on to number three.
[19:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay, number three, my most my third most underrated offseason move of the summer is the DeAndre 18 Washington Wizard's trade.
[19:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, before this happened, and I think it took us a minute to sort of process the deal because we had already sort of got uncomfortable with the thought of DeAndre 8s in being Walker Kessler's backup and we're like, oh man, that's the, that's a two true two-headed monster.
[20:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We probably have the best big man.
[20:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: duo starter to bench in the lead, you know, I think a lot of us had come to that conclusion, and when we traded DeAndre eights in for a hot minute, we were like, wait, this doesn't make sense.
[20:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We didn't actually get any value for him, et cetera, et cetera.
[20:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think after the dust settled, once we took a step back,
[20:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think we just have to understand that the situation that DeAndre Aitson was in, opting into an $8 million player option, expiring, a deal that he probably didn't think, a deal that he probably thought was still beneath him.
[20:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And understanding that he would then have to back up the Lakers Center of the Future, knowing that he'd likely be trade bait at the
[20:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think the Lakers saw the writing on the wall with DA, and I don't want to talk about him potentially being whiny or powdery or toxic.
[21:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't even think DA was that last year.
[21:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I I thought Atsen played good soldier and he did as best as he could given his inconsistent motor issues to really buy into the team regardless of the gripes that he may have expressed.
[21:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, we're all human beings, gripes are totally fair.
[21:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think the Lakers just understood the situation.
[21:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They didn't think that DA in the long run would be as locked in as he would be if he had been a starter.
[21:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I think they just wanted to get out ahead of it and see if they could extract any value from DeAndre 18.
[21:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the fact that they were able to get to Washington Wizard's second round picks, I don't think you guys understand.
[21:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I don't want to overstate this, but given how hard it is to get second round picks these days, I think the Lakers made out like bandits in this deal.
[22:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Two Washington wizard second round picks in 2031 or 2030 and 2032, I forget exactly where those picks land, but they're in the 2030s.
[22:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The fact that they were able to get these picks from the Washington and Wizards of all teams because you know 80s not gonna be there in 2031, we have no idea what their team is gonna look like at that point, but they're the Washington Wizards.
[22:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So we can make a pretty good guess at where they'll be in the league.
[22:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But those second round picks serve as almost late first round picks because you know they're likely gonna be in the early 30s to mid 30s range in the second round pick, which is essentially like a late first rounder.
[22:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The fact that the lickers are able to get this for an expiring deandry 18.
[22:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: is huge.
[22:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Again, I don't want to overstate this.
[22:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We'll have to see what they end up doing with these second round picks.
[22:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I see Laker's fans complaining so much about the second round picks that we gave up for DFS, the second round pick that we gave away for Luke Nord.
[23:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We should keep second round picks.
[23:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We need more second round picks.
[23:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But then when we actually get second round picks in this variety, it seems like we totally underlook and overlook these deals.
[23:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know,
[23:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: when Polinka traded Thomas Bryant to the Denver Nuggets for Dave on Reed and three seconds.
[23:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: To this day, I think that's one of the best marginal moves that I've seen him make.
[23:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, what they end up doing with the second round picks is another question for sure.
[23:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But to get three second rounders for an expiring Thomas Bryant is insane,
[23:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then to get to Washington, Wizards second round picks for DeAndre 18 is also nuts.
[23:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And in the interim, they also got slightly cheaper, $6 million off of $8 DeAndre's $8 million with Jayden Hardy coming along.
[23:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And while I don't think Jaden Hardy is long for the team, he's still an interesting, you know, microwave score off the bench, who has chemistry with Luca, and we'll just help with the vibes at least for the first half of the season.
[24:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And should there be any injuries to Colin Sexton or Austin Reeves, you know he's a guy who can go out there and Cam Thomas, Lou Will, it up, coming off the bench.
[24:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so,
[24:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think this is a this is a trade that fans are not even registering and not even taking into account because I think to this day fans are still like, why do we give him the Andre A to and he would have been the best backup big man in the league.
[24:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He would have been.
[24:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: if you want it to be here and if you want it to actually buy in to being the best backup big man in the league right in a perfect scenario in a perfect world yes we probably I would rather have a fully bought in DeAndre 18 off the bench you know spelling Walker Kessler instead of two second round picks but that is not the world we live in and I think the
[25:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They just saw where this was headed down the road, where by the end of November, DeAndre Aetans, like, I don't even want to project out that he'd be soaking on the bench.
[25:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But he is, he is a big personality that they have to sort of cater to, and I don't think the Lakers wanted to put in the legwork to do that.
[25:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As we saw last season with the
[25:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the crunk juice and the lion shirts that they made for DA, like they did a lot to sort of make sure that he felt appreciated to make sure that he was rowing in the same direction as the team.
[25:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they did that because he was obviously the starter, he got bought out, took a pay cut, etc.
[25:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: etc.
[25:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to have to do some version of that for a bench big that you know is not long for the team and that you know you may trade at the deadline.
[25:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think the Lakers were smart to get out ahead of this.
[25:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Get their two second round picks and in the meantime, hey Luca, your buddy from Dallas, Jordan Hardy is here.
[25:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so for all those reasons, I think this is like one of the more underrated moves that the Lakers could have made this offseason.
[26:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And we will also see
[26:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, if we end up trading for Jonathan Kominga, this deal will also potentially play a factor in that because likely we'll have to trade away some second round picks and if I had to guess if that Jonathan Kominga deal ends up happening that sign in trade deal ends up happening one of these wizards picks if not two of them are going to are going to go out in that deal and if we end up getting PJ Washington, I would guess two of those second round picks will end up going in that deal as well.
[26:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So this is why.
[26:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: this DeAndre 810 for two second round picks to the Washington Wizards deal is one of the most underrated moves of the off season and honestly I debated whether or not I should have it number one or number two.
[26:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Maybe I'll move it up to number one, depending on how we end up using these picks.
[26:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But with that said, that is number three.
[26:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Before I move on to number two and number one, let me grab a drink first.
[27:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let me drink some water.
[27:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While I do that, once again, now that I've got a couple more people in this life, if I could please ask you guys to like this video, mash the hype button, comment down below.
[27:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And most importantly, please do me a favor and hit subscribe on the lake as legacy YouTube channel.
[27:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I would greatly appreciate it.
[27:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you guys are watching this on X is your first time watching your second time watching, please do me a favor and also open up your YouTube app, check to see whether you're subscribed to the lake as legacy YouTube channel.
[27:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you're not, it would help me out tremendously if you would do that.
[27:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And with that said, one second while I drink some water.
[27:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, so we are back.
[27:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But with that said, let's round out my list of my top five most underrated off-season moves of the Lakers summer, beyond the obvious.
[27:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And let's go with number two.
[27:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think the second most underrated move that the Lakers were able to pull off this summer was signing Matisse Diable to essentially be market smarts replacement, both on and off the court.
[27:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and they were able to get him for the veteran minimum.
[28:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, there are very obvious reasons why they were able to get him for the veteran minimum because he's mainly because he's been injury prone to last couple of years.
[28:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But if Matisse Thibel is able to have the same sort of health bounce back that Marcus Smart was able to have with the Lakers last season,
[28:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think this is the best bang for your buck signing the Lakers could have made this off season.
[28:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, I know a lot of the gripes with the pundits and even some fans about what the Lakers did this summer was that they overpaid for players.
[28:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't necessarily agree for every single signing.
[28:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: especially when it comes to guys like Quentin Grimes or Colin Sexton, I could, I understand arguments for we overpaid for Walker Kessler to a certain degree.
[28:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Although the contract, I think is not that bad.
[28:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I guess more the asset compensation.
[28:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Austin Reeves contract, yeah, I can understand the arguments for the overpaid, et cetera, et cetera.
[29:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But given how many complaints we've had about the Lakers overpaying,
[29:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: which are all fair, then we should shed light on the moves, the bargain moves that they're able to pull off because getting Matistaible on the veteran minimum.
[29:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And again, I know a lot of this rests on his health, but if he's healthy, even relatively healthy, like 55 to 65 games healthy, kind of like Marcus Smart.
[29:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Then I think this is going to be a huge move that will have ripple effects down the line on this Lakers roster, regardless of whether or not they'll be able to retain a T-style moving forward just because I think.
[29:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Matisse is that that positive of an impact on your locker room, the vibes in the locker room, the morale.
[29:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like he's just a good dude who knows how to lift his teammates, but he's like Jared Dudley, but a Jared Dudley who can also do it on the court when he plays, because he's the exact type of market smart player who will die for those loose balls, sacrifice his body for a charge.
[30:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: all of a sudden, pick six teleport, jump the passing lane and take it down the other end.
[30:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, he is one of those dudes who just, you know, rises off the bench, like, cheers for his teammates, pulls them up off their bootstraps, like,
[30:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't want to, well, actually, I want to make sure that we understand that losing Marcus smart.
[30:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think we all know that losing Marcus smart was huge, not only for what he brought tangibly on the court, but just the mentorship that he was going to bring to the younger guys.
[30:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think Matisse Stibel can be that and to top it all off, he's younger than Marcus smart by like three or four years, right?
[30:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I do want to add that Matisse Stibel
[30:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's only really been the last two and a half seasons that he's been quote unquote injury prone.
[30:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And mainly last season that was kind of
[30:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: pretty outliery, but if you look at his first, I want to say five seasons or so, he had played at least 65 plus games in each of those five seasons.
[31:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, I think four of those seasons were exactly at 65, which means he misses about 17 games every year, which isn't great, but at the very least, his first four or five years in the NBA, like you can peg him, you can pen him in for 65 games,
[31:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: whether it's due to a variety of nicknac injuries, like he didn't suffer any super long-term ailments, like a knee injury, a high ankle sprain, et cetera, et cetera, right?
[31:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was more because he plays so hard, he's gonna miss around 15 to 17 games.
[31:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But that's fine, if you can play 65 games with how hard that dude hustles and grinds, that's fine.
[31:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was more the last two or three years with Portland where it just took a toll on him.
[31:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He ended up having a wrist injury, a hand injury, like it was a compounding of many different things.
[31:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: if he can get back to where he was to start his career off where it was more just in season maintenance and management and we can get and in this scenario he's just coming off the bench right.
[32:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're not even sure how many minutes Matisse Thibau will get, but in smaller, concerted bursts, I think we can get the best out of Matisse, the best out of Banshee Matisse, and with guys like Chris Minion who sort of play like him, guys like Adufiero who need to who have all the
[32:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: energy, quick twitch, athleticism in the world, but they need sort of like the tutelage that the fundamental understanding of timing of when to rotate, when to help, when not to.
[32:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think Matisse Stibel will be super crucial for those guys, and especially Cam Carr as well, as he sort of fills out into his NBA frame and tries to understand, I don't think he needs to try to understand, learns how to leverage more of his nearly seven-foot-one-wing
[32:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Mattie Stibel is the exact guy to learn from.
[32:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you are hoping that Cameron Carr turns into the next Derek Jones Jr. with a three point shot, then Mattie Stibel is the exact type of mentor you want him learning under.
[33:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Because Mattie Stibel, just like Cam Carr, is also 65.
[33:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Mattie Stibel, just like Cam Carr, also has a seven foot wing span.
[33:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Mattie Stibel, just like Cam Carr, also has this
[33:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: impeccable quick twitch teleportation ability to just recover on defense get that block shot get that steel out of nowhere and take it down the other way
[33:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you want camp card and even a doothiero to be like these monster total stocks guys, there's no better player to learn from than Matisse Thibel, who has career averages of like what two steals per game and zero point eight blocks or something like that, zero point six blocks.
[33:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And to have those averages as a six foot five guard slash wing are incredible,
[33:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And again, when he's healthy, Matisse Diable is like an elite, all defense sort of player.
[34:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So there is my number two most underrated move of the offseason.
[34:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's move on to number one.
[34:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, my number one most underrated offseason move is, oh, wait, jump the gun there.
[34:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ha ha ha.
[34:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Is.
[34:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Locking up Quentin Grimes for at least three years, below the non-tax pair Emily.
[34:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now I know this one's gonna be controversial for some, because for whatever reason, Lakers fans were not thrilled with this move for some reason.
[34:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not only were they not thrilled, they thought it was an overpay to give Quentin Grimes $60 million over four years.
[34:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But then when you break down the numbers, you're like, oh, he's only making $13.9 million this year?
[34:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's below the $15.8 million dollar, that's below the $15 million non-tax pair Emily.
[35:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so for me, I was kind of confused because I thought this was not only a fair deal, I thought it was an under the market deal.
[35:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, I also know that I'm personally higher on Quentin Grimes than most, but I think I was a little bit surprised by the backlash on the signing of this guy, like Quentin Grimes is good, guys.
[35:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't know what else to tell you.
[35:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yes, the advance analytics of his defense, like you may have sour, like they were bad last season, and you may have soured on his inefficiency with the six years last year.
[35:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: but take a look at his first few years in the league with the New York Nix, the Dallas Mavericks.
[35:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This guy is only 26 years old.
[35:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Why are we acting like we gave a 32 year old, six foot five guy, a $20 million contract?
[35:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We, in my opinion, we actually got lucky that we're signing this due to below non-tax pair Emily money, you know?
[35:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And we have him for at least three full years, potentially four if he picks up his player option.
[36:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In some cases, we almost don't want Quentin Grimes to pick up that player option because maybe he's been so good for us that he thinks he can get more money.
[36:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But regardless, I don't understand the...
[36:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the gripes for grimes essentially and I actually think this is one of our most underrated moves even though it's like a bigger move that we did.
[36:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's like he's like our third highest paid offseason player, but I just call it an underrated move because I don't think Laker's fans understand how good Clinton grimes is not only on the defensive end of the floor, but the offensive end as well.
[36:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think there were circumstances with his last year with the sixers that sort of muted his production.
[36:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: put him in the wrong headspace.
[36:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, this dude did not have good, a good negotiation period, restricted free agency negotiation period with the sixers.
[36:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So last year was almost DOA in a sense.
[36:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He ended up taking his qualifying offer, which is pretty rare in these situations because they couldn't come to an agreement.
[37:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And this is coming off of Quentin Grimes playing like 25 games for the sixers after they traded for him.
[37:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: where he dropped 20 points, five rebounds, five assists on ridiculous percentages, knocking down nearly four, three is a game on like 38%.
[37:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, from his perspective, he felt like he probably should have earned $18 million.
[37:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And from the six or six perspective, they were like, no, we won't give you that money.
[37:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so he ended up taking his qualifying offer.
[37:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think that sort of set,
[37:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: things in to motion with regards to a sort of, you know, not great season last year.
[37:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the fact that he ended up having to get bumped down to a lesser role coming off of the bench for V. J. Edgecomb.
[37:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that's also a reason why his numbers remuted and he didn't have this same efficiency that he had the prior years.
[37:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But even still, he I mean, he average what 13 points off the bench.
[37:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: still showed the flashes of defensive versatility, especially positionally that he has, because I think Clinton Grimes is a really good fundamental positional defender who knows how to use his physicality against players.
[38:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's not the fastest, he's not the quickest, and he won't necessarily show up in the stat sheet with regards to being this, like eye popping defensive playmaker, like Matiz Stibel or Marcus Smart.
[38:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But if you're looking for just a dude who you know will be engaged and locked in the entire play and can switch on anybody and won't give up ground, I mean, that's Quentin Grimes and then factoring in the two way play is I think, you know,
[38:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're always like, I wish we could fuse Jake Laravian, Dalton connecting to one player.
[38:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I wish we could fuse Jared Vanderbilt and Ruby Hatchie Moore into one player.
[38:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If we could just balance out the defense offense scales, we would have the perfect player.
[39:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We finally get that player in Quentin Grimes and is he the best score in the world?
[39:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, but there are times when he looks like Ben Gordon out there, Prime Ben Gordon putting up 44 points, 46 points in the same week,
[39:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Is he the best defender in the world?
[39:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No, he's not drew holiday or whatever, but he does show some flashes of being like a direct white type of player, especially when you look at his New York NYX tape and those New York NYX videos are just from three years ago.
[39:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They're not that long ago.
[39:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it kind of just boggles my mind that the Lakers, Lakers fans finally get a really good two-way player in Quentin Grimes.
[39:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and they're like, I don't want this guy.
[39:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's whatever.
[39:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's so vanilla.
[39:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's not that good defensively.
[39:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Look at the analytics.
[39:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What we paid him $60 million over four years, it's the first year is less than a non-tax per Emily.
[39:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The second year is right at the non-tax per Emily.
[39:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, what are we complaining about?
[39:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, so that's sort of my, that's sort of my
[40:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think he's a great back court mate to look a don't shit and Austin reads and I think he will show that now that he has his contract secured now that he doesn't have to worry about what his role is going to be because last year it was in complete limbo now he's locked in
[40:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As a Laker, he knows his role.
[40:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He can, on the nights when Austin Reeves doesn't have it, on the nights when Austin Reeves is injured, he can go back to being high usage, Quentin Grimes, and cooking it up.
[40:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But on most other nights when the team is fully healthy, he can go back to New York, Nick's Quentin Grimes, standard 3&D.
[40:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like Quentin Grimes was actually the player that I was hoping Max Christie would be before he left the Lakers.
[40:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And now we actually have Quentin Grimes, the Mavericks knew what they were doing when they traded for Quentin Grimes to pair up with Luka Donchich, it's just that they traded Luka Donchich for 80, you know, shortly after that.
[40:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Anyways, I'll stop there.
[41:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is why Quentin Grimes is my number one most underrated offseason move by the Lakers this summer.
[41:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let me know what you would put number one.
[41:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, I do have an honorable mention.
[41:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Bring that up.
[41:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So honorable mention, I'm not sure where this one will land in the grand scheme of things, but let's just pull it up.
[41:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, honorable mention.
[41:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While I did not like this signing at first, I have come around to it because of one main thing and we'll get to that in this video as well.
[41:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Honorable mention, most underrated move of the offseason or one of the most underrated moves of the offseason was the Laker signing Colin Sexton in order to to keep that Walker Kessler connection that they had with the Utah Jazz alive.
[41:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I say this in hindsight because now that we've seen the Laker sort of blow up the entire roster and not bring back any continuity outside of Luca Donchich and Austin Reeves from last season.
[42:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it was important for them to, when they signed and traded for Walker Kessler to bring in continuity from the outside.
[42:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if Walker Kessler is going to be a big man of the future, it's important for the Lakers to cater everything around him.
[42:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, obviously, him pairing with Luca Doncic and Austin Reeves, that's the best thing you could do for him.
[42:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So also bring in a guy that he's familiar with in Colin Sexton.
[42:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now the lakers will have 48 minutes or however long Kessler is on the court of amazing Walker Kessler play because even if Austin Reeves goes to the bench, Colin Sexton's going to check in, he can still link up with Walker Kessler.
[42:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if anything, Colin Sexton may even give
[42:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: guys like Austin Reeves, a timing tip or two with regards to how to find Walker Kessler.
[42:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I think from the Walker Kessler vantage point of things, signing Colin Sexton was actually underratedly shrewd on the Lakers end.
[43:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And again, if I had to guess, I think the two were sort of intertwined.
[43:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If we hadn't been able to sign and trade for Walker Kessler, I'm wondering if the Lakers would have still signed Colin Sexton.
[43:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Maybe they would have, but
[43:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, who knows if they would have pivoted to like Kelly Ubra instead, right?
[43:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think the Colin Sexton is actually more tied to Walker Kessler than any of us realize.
[43:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Obviously, we know that now now that the dust has settled.
[43:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I do think it was a, it was a potentially shrewd signing that could end up.
[43:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: paying dividends for us down the line or not down the line, but like pay dividends for us right now.
[43:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And especially early on as the team, even guys like Luca Donchich try and figure out the timing with Walker Custer because even Luca had problems timing things with, you know, DeAndre 18.
[43:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And at this outset, it seemed like Austin Reeves had better chemistry with DeAndre.
[43:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But from the get go,
[43:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think sexton is going to be able to just hit the ground running with Walker Kessler and we'll be able to sort of, you know, drum up some of that continuity from the outside where, you know, this is largely its team that doesn't have any sort of synergy from last year outside of their top two players and so having, you know,
[44:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: having a guy or a duo in sexton caster who are already comfortable with each other should help sort of bring us along as the season goes so that is my honorable mention and that it that those are my top five most underrated off season moves of the summer beyond the obvious run through them one more time.
[44:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Number five, two-way shrewdness, re-signing Christmanyone to his two-way contract making sure that they lock him up for a second year, and this could potentially lead to them, standardizing him.
[44:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In conjunction, also cutting Peter's sooner for Arthur Kaluma.
[44:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Number four, leaving no doubts, being aggressive and making sure they got their guy in Cameron Carr by moving up one draft spot from 25 to 24.
[44:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Number three,
[45:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: trading an expiring aton and somehow getting two wizard second round picks, two premium second round picks in return.
[45:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I see the comments right now people think that this should be number one and I don't disagree with you.
[45:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Number two, signing the T-stival to the veteran minimum.
[45:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Best bang for your book signing, you could ask for, especially in Marcus Smart's stead.
[45:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then number one, a great by-low bet by locking up Quentin Grimes for at least three years below the non-tax pair Emily, despite the gripes that fans that some fans may have on him.
[45:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then honorable mention, signing Colin Sexton to keep the Walker Kessler, Colin Sexton connection alive.
[45:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Again, let me know what sure guys is top five most underrated offseason moves of the summer would be in the comments below.
[45:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And with that said, let me drink some water again.
[45:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, so we are back for this next segment.
[45:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We're going to talk about Vanderbilt deals, but we're going to talk about like the worst case nuclear option, Jared Vanderbilt deals.
[46:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, I know I'm doing Vando dirty here with this with this picture of his Wonky looking jump shot, but as usual, he's jumping from the corner.
[46:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Look at buddy healed laughing.
[46:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's like, that's not going in.
[46:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Actually, no, this isn't a jump shot.
[46:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: My bad, Vando.
[46:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is you saving the ball.
[46:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, so for this section, let's talk about Jared Vanderbilt deals and let's talk about the worst case vando trades and I want to be clear that I'm not keen on trading vando.
[46:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I actually think the lakers could use him.
[46:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I actually think he could have a rebound year and the lakers are certainly lacking in six foot nine guys who can also pressure the ball at the point of attack.
[46:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So in most scenarios, I also wouldn't, I'm not too, I'm not thirsty to trade Vando, but in the event that the Lakers may just want a quote unquote better fit, or maybe JJ Reddick wants a better fitting player, who are some guys we can trade Vando for?
[47:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, we wouldn't necessarily have to give up a pick for.
[47:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Maybe we even get some compensation.
[47:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the only way we can do that is by trading for guys who have as bad of a contract as Vando, which means they're still on for the next two years, or worse, which means they're on for the next three years.
[47:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So who are some of those players that we can trade Vando for, who, yes, their contract isn't any better,
[47:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But they may have better success finding a role on this team with JJ Reddick than Vando has been able to in the last few years regardless of how much we want to project out that.
[47:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, Vando could succeed on next year's iteration of the roster, especially because he's also played with Colin Sexton and Walker Custer before for about 50 games in the 2022, 23 season before he got traded to the Lakers.
[47:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But here are some worst case Vando trades and essentially these are trying to find a better code and code bad deal swapping bad deals with one another.
[48:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So let's get to my list.
[48:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, bad contract swapping.
[48:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Can the Lakers trade Vando for a better bad contract?
[48:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's start at the forward section.
[48:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's level set things really quickly.
[48:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As you guys all know, Vando's on for $12.4 million this season, still only 27 years old, but Vando also has a player option for next year, which he will almost 100% take $13.2 million.
[48:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and that sort of the hold up and snag and being able to trade Vando.
[48:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you were just an expiring contract, this would be a lot easier to do, but essentially the Lakers and other teams are viewing Vando as $12.4 million this year and $13.2 million next year.
[48:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so it's a lot harder to get off of players with two-year contracts.
[48:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So who are some options that we can swap Vando for?
[48:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: where we either give up not a lot of compensation or even get compensation back in return.
[49:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So one such deal where I think the Lakers would actually be compensated would be with the Chicago bulls for Patrick Williams.
[49:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if you've been watching this YouTube channel for a while now, you would know that I have
[49:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: maybe wrongfully.
[49:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So campaign for Patrick Williams to be the under the radar, DFS 3 and D forward that they can get where they would actually maybe get back seconds in return just because his contract runs for three more years.
[49:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So his contract is actually way worse than vandows.
[49:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not only is he making $6 million more next season, but he's on for next season,
[49:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and then 2028, 29 when he has a player option.
[49:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so for those reasons, we probably shouldn't be trading Vando for Patrick Williams, you know, because that just by by next season, we may be like, now we need to get off of Patrick Williams, the same way that we're saying that with Vando.
[50:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm not even necessarily campaigning for Patrick Williams.
[50:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: At this point, I'm just throwing his name out there because he's a guy who's still only 25 years old by the end of his contract, he'll still be 28 years old
[50:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you dig into his tape, he's a better offensive player than Vando.
[50:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's no question.
[50:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He can actually shoot three isn't shoot them very efficiently.
[50:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And he's also a pretty good defender.
[50:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now he's not as frenetic as Jared Vanderbilt, but I would almost describe Patrick Williams as like,
[50:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: DFS, how DFS was for us last year, you know?
[50:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so if the Lakers were to make that swap, I think the bulls would actually compensate us with a second round pick for taking on Patrick Williams.
[50:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, the problem is, as I just mentioned is, we'd probably need to take that second round pick tossing another second to offload him if he doesn't work out in the second or third year.
[50:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Anyways, I won't belabor that point.
[50:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's Patrick Williams.
[50:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Again, he's intriguing just because he's 25 years old and his contract extends one more year longer than Vando, but if he ends up recouping his value and finding an actual role with the Lakers, then maybe he doesn't become a player that we're sort of stuck with.
[51:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I know the chances of that are not likely.
[51:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So let's move on.
[51:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No Patrick Williams.
[51:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here's the interesting one.
[51:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 27 years old, he's making $18 million this year, 19 next year, and then there's a team option on him for $20 million in $28.29.
[51:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So essentially, it's just a two-year deal.
[51:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Same as Vandos.
[51:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But the interesting thing here is the magic actually are a cash strapped team.
[51:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They're a very expensive team right now.
[51:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they could actually stand to shed some salary.
[51:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the linkers could essentially do a Vando plus assets for window carders swap right now.
[51:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they would be able to fill there.
[51:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: back up center position with Mundo Carter.
[52:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In some cases, you could even play Mundo Carter at the four next to Walker Kessler, although I think that would be a very clunky fit because Mundo Carter is not exactly the surefire spacer that you'd want, but
[52:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Wendell Carter is a, I think, a trade that the liquor's would need to actually throw in some assets for even if we're helping save the magic like $6 million out right, but way more than that in luxury tax so.
[52:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, um, this is probably highly unlikely, but I'm just putting window quarters name out there as an aspirational trade because he's not exactly like a bad contract actually given his worth, but if the liquor's traded for him, that's a lot to give $18 million is a lot to pay like a backup center.
[52:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Even though there are some scenarios where you could start him at the four, but then you just signed Sanjo to $13 million and why are we paying back up guys a total of $31 million.
[52:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So this one is less likely on multiple levels, not only from why are we bringing in an expensive, but quality forward and when no Carter giving up assets for him, even if we are getting off of Vando and then from the magic send, do
[53:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: like how many assets are they going to ask from the Lakers, you know, because do they even have used for Vando, even if they save some money in the short term?
[53:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So there is Wendo Carter.
[53:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Next would be Roy Soniel.
[53:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 33 years old, Suns traded him to the Charlotte Hornets.
[53:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I actually think Royce is a little more interesting.
[53:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: because he makes $10 million this year, $11 million next year, but he's actually a forward that the Lakers could use.
[53:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, I don't necessarily think he's the starting level forward that we could use.
[53:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He'd still be like a bench guy in my opinion, but he's a guy who can start in a pinch, and he's the definition of 3&D, and he also has some playmaking chops to him and can create a little bit as a secondary playmaker, and he's a really good 3.0 shooter.
[54:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, if we could just swap Vando for Royce, I would do that.
[54:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, why would the Charlotte Hornets do that?
[54:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm not sure.
[54:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It would probably cost us a second, but do we want Roy Sonio on for the next two years as the question, I'm not sure.
[54:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm just saying that if the lake is did something like this for Roy Sonio, I wouldn't be mad about it.
[54:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think he's a player that JJ Reddick would actually use.
[54:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So,
[54:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and a player that's likely more tradable down the line if need be even though he's like 33 years old already.
[54:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So there's Roy Soniel.
[54:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Next up is Obie Toppin.
[54:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's also on for the next two years, 15 million dollars this year, $60 million next year, 28 years old.
[54:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now this is the deal that I would do and I would give up a second, maybe even two, if it took it.
[54:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I've heard that the Indiana Pacers are slightly interested in Dalton Connect, so maybe a second in Dalton to add on top of this deal just to get Obie Toppin.
[55:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I would do this in a heartbeat.
[55:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm not sure about Obi Topden's health stands.
[55:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's probably the biggest question mark because he was dealing with like a foot stress reaction last season that caused him to miss nearly the entire year.
[55:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So maybe that's the hold-up.
[55:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And maybe the pace is just like, Oh, be top it.
[55:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's like the perfect Lobthreat next to Tyreys Haliburden, but because of those same reasons, I think he'd be a perfect Lobthreat dunker spot guy next to Luke and Austin as well.
[55:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The only problem is again, you know, like how much compensation will it cost?
[55:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Where is he at health wise?
[55:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And he's not exactly the surefire starter at forward that the Lakers would need or want as well.
[55:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's more of like a bench guy, essentially.
[55:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Pinch start for you in the same way Roy Soniel is so would you want to give up any assets for these sort of players who aren't sure fire starters, maybe you would if it means getting off a vando and understanding that you could eventually use OB top in as the guy that you trade for that starting forward later.
[56:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So there's OB top and he's one of my more preferred candidates out of this list.
[56:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, there are some other players who have bad contracts who are interesting, but they fall in the guard's category.
[56:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And at this point, I'm not sure whether I would actually trade Vando for these players because I feel like Vando fills a larger position of need, but let's just go through them anyways.
[56:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In the guards slash some of these can be wings because of their size.
[56:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Section, we've got Cory Kisper.
[56:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 27 years old, he's making $13 million next year, $13 million the second year after that.
[56:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then there's a team option on him for $13 million and $28.29.
[56:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But essentially, it's a two year deal, just like Vandos.
[56:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If the lake is just want to add more shooting at better size, at six foot six, Corey Kisper, at six foot six, this wouldn't be a bad swap.
[56:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The problem is the lake is
[57:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, so yeah, I really don't see the fit here, although Corey Kisper, it's like, he's he's solid.
[57:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's like your max truce sort of player that you can maybe groom into, you know, being solid enough on both ends of the floor for you.
[57:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But for JJ Reddick, he gives you that spacing that you need.
[57:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then we've got Malik monk former Laker Malik monk 28 years old.
[57:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: $20 million this season, $21 million next season.
[57:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't think the Lakers will do this at all, even though Malik Monk is fun.
[57:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He makes $8 million more than Vando, even if we're able to toss in dolls and connect into this deal.
[57:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The Lakers have plans to use their non-tax pair MLE next season, and Malik Monk would eat into a lot of it unnecessarily.
[57:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, and this is Malik Monk is a scenario where I think the Kings may actually give us a second round pick just because he costs so much, but because of those reasons, I don't think the Lakers would even consider this, especially because again, he's six foot three, he's a guard.
[57:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have enough of these guys.
[57:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We've got Jaden Hardy as much as I would love Malik Monk reunion because he's a fun player 20 million dollars for Malik Monk.
[58:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This this turned into a bad contract for him very quickly, but glad he got his bag.
[58:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So there's Malik Monk.
[58:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Lastly, we've got Terrence Man, 30 years old, $15 million this season, $16 million next season, two year, two year deal, just like Vando, on the Brooklyn Nets.
[58:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's a guard, so I mean, he's a good solid two-way guard, so he's different in that respect than guys like Malik Monk, but unless like the Lakers have some crazy injury that happens to Colin Sexton, or God forbid,
[58:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Austin Reeves.
[58:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't see us making this swap for Terrence Man.
[58:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Even if he is like, you know, a better player than Mando, he gives you more to a viability, et cetera, et cetera.
[58:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It just wouldn't make sense for us to make this deal because we'd still likely have to give up some sort of asset to the Brooklinets even if it's like one second and these are not the types of players like we should be trading assets for so I think so boil things down the the bad contract swapping scenario like what's the worst case scenario we can get for vando the list is not that great but
[59:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you want guys where we only have to give up a second to get off a vando and get a better fitting player in return, I think look at guys like Obi top in Roy Soniel, and if you want assets in return, and you think you can rehabilitate this player, then look at a guy like Patrick Williams, but again, I think he makes too much and the three year commitment is a little bit, yeah, it's too much of a risk the the best player on this list is window Carter.
[59:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: but it remains to be seen how many picks the magic would want.
[59:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If I had to guess, it's maybe two, two or three, but I think we want to preserve those picks for more of a small, forward perimeter oriented player than a windowcarder.
[1:00:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, yeah, that is this list, these are, again, these are not even kombucha girl targets.
[1:00:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These are just like, these are, this is probably why we're just going to resort to keeping Bando until the right deal comes along, where we're both able to get off of his contract and get a better player that warrants us giving up more of these picks.
[1:00:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But if you were looking for bottom barrel options, here they are.
[1:00:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, so we are back.
[1:00:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I should probably end this soon, but let's do like eight minutes or so on the Walker Kessler Colin Sexton connection.
[1:00:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, believe it or not, on the lakeers this upcoming season, the duo with the most continuity, the most energy, is not Luca Donchich and Austin Reeves.
[1:00:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's actually,
[1:00:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler.
[1:00:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Two guys who are coming from the outside specifically from the Utah Jazz, even though I know Colin Sexton was on the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls briefly last season.
[1:01:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yes, if you're looking for the most prolific duo with the most synergy with one another,
[1:01:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: it's not who you'd expect because again, it's with Colin Sexton and Walker Custer.
[1:01:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And as I mentioned earlier, I do think it was part of the Lakers plans to after they signed and traded for Walker Cestler to bring in one of his boys, Colin Sexton, and one of the players on the jazz, who actually passed to him the most.
[1:01:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so we'll get into those numbers shortly and we'll also
[1:01:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: synergy and connection works.
[1:01:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So Colin Sexton and Walker Custer played with each other for three years on the Utah Jazz from the 2022-23 season, which was Walker Custer's rookie season till the 2024-25 season.
[1:01:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then that's when Colin Sexton, I believe, got traded to the Hornets and then the Bulls and now he's on the Lakers.
[1:02:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So in those three seasons, here are
[1:02:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In Walker Cessos first season, my calling was starting at point guard.
[1:02:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They also had Jordan Clarkson coming out the bench and then his second season, Colin Sexton got some shots at starting.
[1:02:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But then guys, like Quiante George came into the fray as a callier.
[1:02:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So they've had actually a crop of rotating guards there to feed the ball to Walker Cessler.
[1:02:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But out of all of those guards in those three years, Colin Sexton was actually the most.
[1:02:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: prolific one, and he's the one who was the most consistent and stood out the most with regards to being Walker Cessler's guard partner.
[1:02:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so in those three years, Colin Sexton averaged 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 0.7 steals, on 48.8% from the field, 39.8% from three knocking down 1.53's a game.
[1:02:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He did all of that in just 26 minutes.
[1:03:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Obviously, the 4.2 assists is what should be standing out to you with regards to what we're talking about.
[1:03:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then Walker Cessler conversely, in those three years together, average 9.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 68% from the field.
[1:03:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So Colin Sexton was a big proponent and component in helping Walker Cessler be that efficient because he was feeding the big dog, the ball.
[1:03:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so let's take a quick look at how the assist numbers shook out between the two shall we.
[1:03:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All right, so here's a Colin Sexton Walker Kessler connection assist a Kessler data breakdown.
[1:03:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All of these numbers are Colin Sexton's numbers because I just wanted to show you guys how frequently he passed the rock to Kessler.
[1:03:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So his first season with Kessler Kessler's rookie season 2223, and maybe I'm doing this incorrectly, but I'll start from right to left.
[1:04:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 22, 22, 22, 22, 23 was his lowest, you know, sort of assist volume to Kessler, which is understandable because Kessler was just a rookie and guys like Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson were sort of playing above Colin Sexton, but even having said that,
[1:04:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: During that first year that the two of them played together, Colin Sexton averaged 0.2 assists per game solely to Walker Kessler and that ranked number five on the team.
[1:04:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Throughout that entire season, he dished out 15 total assists to Walker Kessler that was also fifth on the team.
[1:04:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Anyways, he had an 8.9% passing rate to Kessler.
[1:04:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But regardless, which he should know about their first time together, it was a little bit muted because Kessler was just a rookie, and Mike Conley was playing above Colin Sexton.
[1:04:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so he had 86 total passes, which was fifth on the team, that year, 15 total assists, which was fifth, and he averaged 0.2 assists to Walker Kessler, which was fifth.
[1:05:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Where we start to see a lot of the traction is that second year, 2024,
[1:05:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: when Colin Sexton averaged 0.5 assists per game, solely to Walker Kessler, which ranked number one on the team.
[1:05:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 31 total assists, so he pretty much more than doubled his assists output to Kessler than second year.
[1:05:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And 31 total assists was number two, ranked number two amongst all guards who passed to Walker Kessler that year.
[1:05:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He had a 15.1%
[1:05:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: passing rate to he had a 15.1% passing rate to Walker Kessler that year so nearly a times two multiplier in that respect with regards to passing frequency and then he had 137 total passes to Kessler that also ranked third.
[1:05:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So by year two, 2024, 0.5 is per game which already ranked number one amongst all guards in terms of passing to Walker Kessler.
[1:06:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 31 total is this number two
[1:06:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Tailon Houghton Tucker was randomly like at the top here as well.
[1:06:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 15.1% passing rate to Walker Cessler number three and then 137 total passes to Cessler number three on the team as well.
[1:06:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then last season, 2024 25.
[1:06:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And sorry, two seasons ago, they're last season together.
[1:06:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Colin Sexton also ranked number one on the team with regards to passes to Walker Kessler.
[1:06:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He averaged 0.8 as this per game to Kessler.
[1:06:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That rank number one, he also had the most amount of assists in total, 46 total assist rank number one, 18.3%
[1:06:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: frequency rate.
[1:06:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Some of these graphics ended up turning out wrong, but yeah 18.3% passing rate 205 total passes number three.
[1:06:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so by the end of it, Colin Sexton ended up being the guard who had the most total assist to Walker Kessler at the end of the day, and especially their last season with one another.
[1:07:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I don't think that's something that should go underlucked because they really had a chemistry and synergy with one another.
[1:07:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: even though, you know, by the end of it, Colin Sexton was coming off of the bench, he still had a knack for finding Kessler in just the right spots in the dunker spot that I think we're going to see come into play this upcoming season, even though, you know, Colin Sexton is coming off the bench.
[1:07:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so to put things into perspective, if you look at some of the combos that the Lakers had last season, like,
[1:07:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Luka had his most assisted DeAndre 18.
[1:07:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They had the most assisted 18.
[1:07:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: 1.5 assists per game to DeAndre 18 alone.
[1:07:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: LeBron also average nearly 1 assists to just 18 alone.
[1:07:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then from there, if you look at the Luka Don'tshitch to Jackson Hayes connection, he averaged 0.9 assists per game to just Jackson Hayes.
[1:07:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: LeBron averaged 0.6 assists per game to just Jackson Hayes.
[1:08:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then AR, you know, last season,
[1:08:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We kind of got the feeling that actually it was Austin Reeves and DeAndre Aeton who seemed to have the most pick and roll chemistry with one another and that duo, Austin Reeves was able to generate 0.8 assists per game to just DeAndre Aeton alone.
[1:08:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so if you look at the 0.8 assists per game that Colin Sexton was able to average with Walker Kester their last season together, it
[1:08:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's pretty much you can pair it in comparison to the synergy between AR and 18 or even the synergy between Luka to Jackson Hay.
[1:08:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So again, this is not, you know, apples to apples, obviously, because they're able to get their passes off in different ways, which we'll soon see.
[1:08:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it's just nice to know that the Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler connection is very real and it's pretty similar to the frequency.
[1:08:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The frequency that we've seen from Luca to Jackson, AR to A10, better than LeBron to Jackson Hayes even.
[1:09:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then if you want to just talk about like,
[1:09:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the continuity that this Lakers team has.
[1:09:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So my point at the top of this segment where I was like, the Lakers best duo in terms of synergy is actually not Austin and AR, because they still have not been able to play that many games with each other.
[1:09:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And even in those games, like if you look at the bottom portion here, Luca to AR, Luca's average 0.8 assists per game.
[1:09:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to Austin Reeves in 2025, 26, 43 total assists.
[1:09:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, guess what, Colin Sexton averaged more assists per game or the same as his per game?
[1:09:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: To Walker Kessler and more total assists to Walker Kessler.
[1:09:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, that's largely due to the fact that obviously Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler played more games than Luke and AR did the last season, but the main point is,
[1:09:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: whether it's health or more years, et cetera, et cetera, Luca to AR is not the strongest form of continuity that we're bringing over to next season.
[1:10:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's actually Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler.
[1:10:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I'm excited to sort of see,
[1:10:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: the ways that we'll be able to see these two guys flourish and just sort of just hit the ground running.
[1:10:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so, so let's look at some Colin sexting to Walker Kessler tape.
[1:10:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now, when I, before I started looking at the film, I naturally thought that they were a heavy, high-pick and roll duo, like in the sense, same vein as like Austin Reeves and DA, and even
[1:10:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Upon further review, I think you'll find something interesting in the way, in the ways that Colin Sexton is able to get the ball to Walker Cessler.
[1:10:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So let's watch.
[1:10:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So here's Colin Sexton at the top of the three point line.
[1:10:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He pump fakes, attacks the close out, throws the lob to Cessler.
[1:10:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Cessler's running the lane, here's Colin Sexton.
[1:10:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Looks like he's going to pull up for the mid range, finds Walker Cessler for the lob instead.
[1:11:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here he is again at the top of the three point line.
[1:11:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: drives aggressively into the mid range.
[1:11:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Okay.
[1:11:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is not a pick and roll play.
[1:11:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No screen from Walker Kessler.
[1:11:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's just leveraging his ability to get into the mid range and his propensity to be a bucket against the other team.
[1:11:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here he is taking Mason plumbly off the dribble into the lane.
[1:11:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And as he's doing so obviously plumbly thinks he's going to put up a floater or something like that.
[1:11:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He's able to loft it over to Walker Kessler for the nice reverse.
[1:11:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here he is at the top of the key again, taking Dante Diva and Shenzu off the dribble, get space, he's in the mid range, and then finds Kessler for the nice lob.
[1:11:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here he is in transition, very nice and very easy and simple, quick read lob to Walker Kessler.
[1:11:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Here he is at the three point line attacking the clothes out once again.
[1:11:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: puts the pressure on the defense.
[1:11:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Instead of lobbying it this time because that's a longer zoo bots, he bounces passes it to Kessler for the nice lay-in.
[1:12:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so let's watch that again.
[1:12:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the thing I want to point out out of all of this is you did not see a single high screen pick and roll play.
[1:12:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was all Colin Sexton sort of using his gravity as a score and his craftiness in the mid range to just always keep a lookout for Walker Kessler like he's this lighthouse.
[1:12:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I think obviously we're going to see pick and roll plays with Sexton and Kessler, but it's it was actually surprising to me that it wasn't it didn't make up the totality of their synergy with one another, and it was more Colin Sexton just, you know, using his reputation as a bucket get her.
[1:12:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to keep the defense on his heels and trying to find his spots in no man's land in the mid range, and then always keeping his head up and looking out for Walker Kessler in the Dunkers spot.
[1:12:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, like a lot of these plays involve Walker Kessler not as the primary screener, but as the secondary action guy.
[1:13:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I think that's an interesting sort of little wrinkle to how we'll probably see Colin Sexton feed the big man the ball.
[1:13:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And, you know, some players just have a knack for finding one another.
[1:13:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I don't doubt that Luke and Austin at the end of the day will have the most assist by the end of the season to Walker Kessler, but, you know, as we've seen from guys like
[1:13:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Raise on Rondo and Anthony Davis, and the Angela Russell and Anthony Davis, Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler just have that mind meld with one another.
[1:13:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think, again,
[1:13:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you watch some of these plays, it is very diangelo Russell S because diangelo also like to operate in the mid range a lot.
[1:13:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so when teams know that you're like a mid range maybe in so to say, they're going to be looking for you to score, right?
[1:13:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But Colin Sexton always has his head up.
[1:14:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And if that was another player, not name Walker Custer, he probably would have been taking these shots.
[1:14:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: taking the floater.
[1:14:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I like that he does this and Dilo did this as well.
[1:14:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Where it almost looks like he's putting up a floater, but it actually ends up being like a lob pass.
[1:14:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So the defender really doesn't know whether or not he's shooting or Aliyub lobbying it to Kessler.
[1:14:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so
[1:14:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I think it's gonna be fun watching, you know, Colin Sexton and Kessler get into a groove, probably earlier than most guys.
[1:14:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think, you know, Luca and Austin, it's gonna take time for them to find an exact rhythm and timing with Kessler, but I think Sexton has a downpac.
[1:14:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like he knows,
[1:14:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Walker Kessler's great catch radius.
[1:14:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He knows what risks he can take in some scenarios.
[1:14:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He does like a wrap around past him in the paint against traffic and doesn't always go for the lob.
[1:14:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so I just like the little intricacies and nuances that Colin Sexton has as a, you know, as one of Walker Kessler's and if not Walker Kessler's best assist guy during their time at Utah.
[1:15:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: you know, the Colin Sexton signing, which I know a lot of us did, when you factor in the Walker Cessler dynamic, I think that signing ends up being a pretty good one at the end of the day, and it just $9 million, you know, it's not too bad.
[1:15:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, there is the Walker Cessler and Colin Sexton connection, and
[1:15:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With that said, guys, I've gone on for nearly an hour and a half.
[1:15:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That'll do it for the show.
[1:15:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I would love to go through some questions and stuff, but I need to go.
[1:15:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, but I appreciate you guys commenting, chatting down below.
[1:15:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Once again, if you appreciate the work that I do and the amount of prep that I take, even if there are some errors and whatnot, if you appreciate all of that,
[1:16:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Please do me a favor, please, please, please.
[1:16:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like this video, comment down below and most importantly, hit subscribe.
[1:16:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Also, consider becoming a member to the Lakers Legacy YouTube channel if you just wanna help support an independent content creator.
[1:16:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I have been sort of lagging in the exclusive videos, but I plan to put one up shortly after this.
[1:16:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So,
[1:16:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With that said, thank you for watching.
[1:16:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I will catch you guys next time.
[1:16:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Have a great rest of your Sunday.
[1:16:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This has been Jonathan Hernandez of the Lakers Legacy podcast.
[1:16:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Peace.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.