# Luka Doncic's Lakers & Parallels To Mbappe & Real Madrid

An episode of [The Real Deal: A Real Madrid Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1807821669), 2 Jan 2026, 25 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/103607aa8/podcast/play/113377797/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-1%2F415333199-44100-2-6c2ebbcaafc41.mp3

Jarod Hector and Siddharth Ramsundar discuss the similarities and differences between Luka Doncic's Lakers and Mbappe at Real Madrid. Squads filled with one way players where the (admittedly flawed) star is scapegoated for not doing enough.

## Transcript

[0:00] Hello and welcome to the Real Deal in Real Madrid podcast with
[0:03] me, Jerrod Hector. I'm joined by Sid Ramsundar.
[0:06] What's up Sid? Hey, what's going on?
[0:08] Just thought we could do a special episode on the parallels
[0:11] between our good old Real Madrid with Javi Alonso and the Lakers,
[0:16] who like both teams. Both teams I like but started
[0:20] the season really well. And we have our boy from Real
[0:22] Madrid, Luca Doncic over there. That's why we're doing this
[0:25] special, like little crossover episode, you could say, and
[0:29] Dratic looking forward to talk about this.
[0:31] I mean, you know, when we started this show, I was always
[0:33] looking forward to the day we talk about Luca winning the
[0:36] championship and celebrating him.
[0:38] But that day is far away right now.
[0:42] Yeah, look, I it's so funny because obviously these two
[0:46] clubs have such great parallels, right?
[0:47] Like the two are actually biggest brands in their
[0:50] respective sports, you know, commercially super successful,
[0:55] which of course is what matters to the people that run it from a
[0:57] money standpoint. But in terms of on on field and
[1:01] on court success, similar in that there's a lot of Lakers and
[1:06] Real Madrid exceptionalism, right?
[1:07] A lot of belief internally within these organizations that
[1:10] we're going to succeed because we are the Lakers.
[1:12] We're going to succeed because we are Real Madrid.
[1:14] And it's like in this new environment of sports that we
[1:17] live in, Sid, that's not something I think teams can
[1:19] take. That's not a thing like you
[1:20] can't just be like, oh, we're X and we're going to be good.
[1:23] You have to actually be good. And when I say be good, I mean
[1:26] in all levels. Not just have the best players
[1:28] or the biggest names on your roster, but be at the cutting
[1:31] edge and be at elite at every possible spot of your
[1:35] organization. Yeah, totally.
[1:38] I was honestly going to check out of the Lakers until their
[1:40] ownership change and that got me excited again.
[1:43] But obviously we're a long way from seeing any of that get
[1:46] implemented. And I mean, offseason.
[1:49] Looking at this Lakers team with Luca Doncic.
[1:51] I mean, the best parallel if you're listening as a soccer fan
[1:54] is they're just like full of great offensive players, but
[1:58] they don't have any good defenders who can do the job.
[2:00] In a sense, they're like different to Real Madrid.
[2:02] Like Real Madrid has great attackers, but we don't have
[2:06] like the lead ball handlers who can like really control the ball
[2:09] against the pressure in midfield.
[2:11] The Lakers have all these amazing ball handlers who can
[2:13] score and do all these amazing things, but they don't have
[2:16] their true amenities and Camo Vingos and Val Verdes and.
[2:19] Nobody's gonna defend and was gonna box out, grab her, ignore
[2:22] that. None of that, and that's why the
[2:25] start to the season draw. It was just some glorious Laker
[2:28] Wonderland stuff. You know, we were, because you
[2:31] talk about all of this exceptionalism was real.
[2:33] We started 15 and 4. You had these role players who
[2:36] can't do role player things like going and defending.
[2:38] It's like if Sebios was going and kind of defending Zone 14,
[2:42] you had Marcus Smart, who I thought was washed, coming in
[2:45] and making a big impact. So it was too good to be true.
[2:49] But I'm I'm really glad I stopped watching around then
[2:51] because like, I just knew this is it.
[2:53] This is the peak. This is the best part of our
[2:54] season right here. Yeah.
[2:57] All the fantasies I can play out in my head, this is the last
[3:00] moment before it all comes crashing down.
[3:02] It it, it is tough, right? Because the Lakers are at club
[3:04] right now, as you mentioned, has a bunch of one way guys, right?
[3:07] LeBron, Luca, Austin Reeves, right, that kind of triumvirate,
[3:10] right? Elite at scoring.
[3:12] I mean, LeBron, arguably the greatest player of all time,
[3:14] like his processing speed and his brain and his knowledge of
[3:17] the game and where but he's supposed to be.
[3:19] He's at such a high level. But see, one of the challenges
[3:21] with a player like LeBron is, is that at 41, his processing
[3:25] speed, in his mind, there is no supercomputer on the basketball
[3:29] court better than him right now. The issue is physically, he
[3:34] cannot do what his brain wants him to do, right?
[3:36] That that's the issue, right? He can digest everything,
[3:40] diagnose all the problems, know where everything has to happen,
[3:43] but his body cannot get to where it has to be on time, do what it
[3:46] needs to do, right. And this is sort of the cruelty
[3:49] of sports is that as you age, your mind and processing is at
[3:52] it's peak, but your physical body be able to do what you
[3:55] needed to do. Can't get there as much.
[3:57] Well, I think it's interesting because LeBron could still be a
[4:00] positive to a basketball and NBA team now like Modrich was near
[4:04] the end. But the difference is Modrich
[4:07] was willing to take the cut deal and didn't have the ego.
[4:10] LeBron is considered the greatest player in a sport.
[4:12] So LeBron is occupying a salary spot where he he could be the
[4:17] best passer at his age that he could anyone could ever be.
[4:21] But since he's not drawing double teams and he's getting
[4:23] paid 60 million, it's just a waste of money.
[4:25] It's a waste of money. And this is the issue with a
[4:27] salary cap league, right, in a salary cap sport, is that it's
[4:30] fine that LeBron is at a roster spot, but not a roster spot at
[4:35] that amount of money, right? Because it limits you from
[4:38] getting all the other things you need to be good.
[4:40] True hoop. We create a stack called Bonus
[4:42] Wins with Steve, Steven, Alardi, and if you look at Dunkson 3's
[4:47] estimated wins, the teams that consistently outperform the best
[4:51] every year and win the championship, they lead the NBA
[4:55] in players who play significant minutes with estimated wins,
[4:58] right? In so far as you breakdown how
[5:02] much each win is worth per year, right?
[5:03] And a win I think we calculated last season was something like
[5:06] $3.75 million, give or take, right?
[5:09] You multiply that times every player's estimated win, right?
[5:12] And your best players their salary does not equal more wins
[5:16] than they're giving right if you have a bunch of players whose
[5:19] salary is more than the wins they provide, you're not going
[5:23] to be good teams that win OK C Indiana etcetera, etcetera is
[5:27] because bonus wins, right. Look at the team like San
[5:30] Antonio this year, right well outperforming that metric, right
[5:33] because they have a top five player in the league and victor
[5:35] win banana who's on a rookie deal, right.
[5:37] That's how you win in this league.
[5:39] And so, you know, look, the Lakers have a player Sid in Luca
[5:44] Dante. True, they can build around
[5:46] going forward, but one of the things I've always cautioned
[5:49] people about with with Luca is and he's now 26, right.
[5:54] So Lucas never been a super gym rat like how LeBron is like I
[6:00] spent a billion dollars, $1,000,000.
[6:01] That's never been Lucas thing. Like he's just not that kind of
[6:04] person. Your ceiling and where you can
[6:08] go when your best player is not committed on the other end of
[6:13] the floor. And it's not about him being all
[6:15] defense. He's never going to be that.
[6:17] But committed on that side of the floor, you're always going
[6:20] to be challenged unless you can surround him with all the right
[6:23] pieces. Yes, I know Dallas went to the
[6:25] Finals a couple years ago with him as the lead double.
[6:27] Remember, they had a bunch of bouncy, rangy athletes that
[6:31] played with him that got after it on the other end, right?
[6:33] And that was a huge catalyst and why they did well.
[6:35] Yes, Luca was the lead maestro, but a lot of their transition in
[6:39] ways in which they were able to get stops and rebound, rebound
[6:41] in key right is because of the long athletes they had and the
[6:44] Lakers are just bereft of that right now.
[6:46] And it's interesting because like, I feel like Dantes and
[6:49] Mbappe are the same iteration on LeBron and Ronaldo in that
[6:53] sense. Like they're they're getting
[6:56] very similar numbers, you could say.
[6:59] But the way it's happening as well, on top of the lack of
[7:03] defense, which let's just say you give them all that
[7:06] concession. They're all good enough on
[7:07] offense to do that. But it's also the fact that they
[7:10] don't get as many easy buckets is the best way to put it.
[7:13] And I'm just really starting the way I've seen sports has changed
[7:16] forever with this because it's like, OK, like the best player
[7:19] is the guy who generates easy buckets or goals out of habit,
[7:23] which means it can't require that much effort.
[7:25] Frankly, even for him, even for him, it shouldn't be something
[7:29] that requires him to like do something that burns him out at
[7:32] all because it's that second nature.
[7:34] And that's what makes him great. And in Lucas case, he takes all
[7:37] these step back threes that yeah, you know, they don't have
[7:41] athletes that can kind of create separation off the ball outside
[7:45] LeBron, the best 1 is a 40 year old again, who who creates that
[7:48] separation. And so you got to put him away
[7:51] from the ball and it's a 40 year old who anyways, teams know
[7:54] they're wary of him. So he gets decent defenders.
[7:56] And I think Mbappe is kind of the same where teams know he's
[8:00] not attacking the box. And because he I guess in
[8:03] Mbappe's case, he's expected to be that guy because he's not the
[8:06] lead ball handler like Luca, He's not the playmaker.
[8:08] He's not going to generate 30 assists a season.
[8:11] And Mbappe, he just creates separation only on the ground.
[8:15] He can't create it aerially. So like it's like if he's not a
[8:18] lob threat, it's like imagine it's, it's like an interior
[8:21] finisher who's not a lob threat. What's the point I mean?
[8:24] And this this is what made Cristiano so good, right?
[8:26] Because he was an aerial threat as well as an in the box on the
[8:29] ground threat, right? Like both, like you had to fear
[8:31] him in both in both ways. And then obviously when you add
[8:33] bail on there, right? I mean, again, as we talked
[8:36] about how lucky was Real Madrid to have Benzema, Cristiano and
[8:39] Bale at the same time up front, right?
[8:41] Like you, you have this skill set that's just not only elite,
[8:45] but complimentary, right? Like, and I think that's a big
[8:49] thing that fans often miss a lot in like the I halt the 2K if
[8:54] vacation era of sports where you can just create whoever you
[8:57] want, trade over you want and just put the best people on your
[9:00] team. Yeah, that works in like that
[9:02] way, but it doesn't really, right, because you need
[9:04] complimentary people because if everybody wants to do the same
[9:08] thing and occupy the same areas, well that means you're deficient
[9:11] and lacking somewhere else, right.
[9:13] And one of the the differences between football and basketball
[9:16] is, is that in football you can be a team that dominates
[9:21] possession, right and has 80% of possession for a match.
[9:25] And those are the thing in basketball because it's shot
[9:27] clock, right? So literally half of the game
[9:30] you are playing defense, right? That is half the game.
[9:33] And so if you are uninterested on that end or lack of aware on
[9:38] that and you you don't have the IQ defensively, it causes
[9:43] problems, right. And your give take that's why
[9:45] your offense has to be so elite like Lucas is.
[9:48] Can you justify you're like, man, this is not good.
[9:50] So I'm looking at advanced stats right now.
[9:52] Sib and Luca is plus 5.8 in offensive estimated plus minus
[9:59] the 99th percentile. Like, I mean, he's.
[10:02] Right there, right there with Eddie 1 offensively.
[10:04] Right now, yes, like Yoky and Chu ever just among the best
[10:07] you. Know I would say I would argue
[10:09] he's doing. I feel like I don't mean Boppe
[10:11] tied the goals, but I I like Lucas style of offense a little
[10:15] more right now. He's just he's the play making
[10:17] creator, you know, even though they don't get the easy buckets.
[10:19] Just want to put it out there. I think I feel like if I had to
[10:23] absolve someone of criticism here, I think Lucas mastery of
[10:26] offense is greater than Killians.
[10:28] For sure. Well, because Luca isn't.
[10:30] Luca is an elite creator, not just for himself, but for
[10:32] everybody else, right? He's an elite shot maker and
[10:35] shot creator for himself and for everyone around him, right?
[10:38] Killian is not an elite shot. You know what's funny?
[10:40] You know. What's funny, Killian's actually
[10:42] at .3 expected assists per 90, which is really high for a
[10:45] striker, one of the highest in Europe.
[10:46] True, but but we but use your eyes guys like yeah, right.
[10:49] Like some of the unboppable defenders are like, oh, look how
[10:51] much a striker is creating too. You want him to do everything.
[10:53] It's like, OK, like the guy comes near the ball, stands near
[10:55] all the time. Once it's near the box, he's
[10:56] near it. Like yes, he's also gonna he, he
[10:58] plays so ball centric, it's gonna happen.
[11:01] But just wanted to point that out 'cause like there was a good
[11:03] stat going on Twitter where and Boppe is like expected threat
[11:07] generated from a pass after carries is pitifully low.
[11:10] Like pitifully low relative to the number of carries he can do.
[11:14] But yeah, just thought I'd put it out there because
[11:15] statistically you can, you can easily spin this in a way where
[11:19] it's fake news when it's really not like.
[11:21] That Yeah, no, absolutely. And I was just going to say
[11:23] about, about, about Luca. So yeah, his estimated plus
[11:27] offensive plus minus is 99th percentile, right.
[11:29] So basically top of the league, he is in the 27th percentile on
[11:33] defense. So literally now at the bottom
[11:35] right like, but when you balance it out, he's so good.
[11:40] He's a top five player, right? Like or according to EPM, he's
[11:43] like a top seven player, but there are a couple guys in there
[11:45] who don't need to be in there because they don't play enough.
[11:47] But point is top five player. So you could absolve that,
[11:50] right, because OK, he does so much, but the to your point
[11:53] said, you cannot have four other guys on the floor or two other
[11:55] guys on the floor who are similar in that way.
[11:58] Everybody else needs to be elite on that other end of the floor
[12:02] to make up for the ground. You need athletes who can run
[12:05] the floor, who can defend on the wing.
[12:06] That's why why do you think OK C is so good?
[12:09] And why is San Antonio so bad? They got a bunch of dudes who
[12:12] can just guard who are along right, who get up and down the
[12:15] floor, who get into you, right? Like, because what you're trying
[12:17] to do is create more possessions, right, and more
[12:19] opportunities to score at that. That's that's the game, right,
[12:22] in basketball. And so if you can't get a
[12:25] rebound, stop on defense, right? And again, defensive possession,
[12:29] you could play 23 seconds of great defense.
[12:31] But if you give them an offensive rebound, well, that
[12:32] was a shit possession because now they have it again, right?
[12:35] Like the possession ends when you get the defensive board and
[12:38] now you have possession on offense.
[12:39] That's where, you know, that was a great sequence where we
[12:42] stopped and you've watched enough basketball to know where
[12:44] you're like, oh, man, look, everybody's flying around.
[12:46] They don't do the one simple thing at the end, box out to
[12:49] grab the board. Oh, who cares what you did for
[12:50] 24 seconds? Doesn't matter.
[12:52] You give up the offensive rebound.
[12:53] Yeah, and in a sense, like both the Lakers Andreall are teams
[12:57] with a bunch of like one way players.
[12:59] Like players were good on one side of the ball or the other,
[13:01] but not enough guys who can kind of do the two way stuff.
[13:05] Like. But with that being said, just
[13:08] looking at just looking at the rosters, it's funny.
[13:12] Like the Lakers started the season playing great offense and
[13:15] just enough defense to survive and it didn't work.
[13:18] We kind of started the season play in a defense first way with
[13:23] and use our stars to get enough offense to get by.
[13:26] I would say. So it's a little different.
[13:28] Like JJ doesn't even have a roster to try and play defensive
[13:32] so he had to lean into what he did.
[13:34] Alonzo at the start of the season looked like he had a
[13:37] roster that could play any way he wanted and has discovered as
[13:40] the season has went on that he shouldn't.
[13:42] I guess they both have, but in the Lakers case you knew even
[13:45] when they were winning at the start.
[13:47] I feel like in our case it was less obvious.
[13:48] That was the main difference. I I, I think one of the big
[13:51] differences though is that Real Madrid and when they won 13 in
[13:55] their first 14, the underlying metrics though Sid suggested a
[13:58] more dominant club. We were better underlying than
[14:01] the Lakers relative. To far, far for sure, because
[14:04] what we, what we kept saying, we just kept missing chances.
[14:06] We generated the most shots. Cats is on the final third.
[14:10] Like all those things of any team in the top, in top of
[14:12] Europe, any big club in along the top five leagues, like we
[14:15] were number one. We just were not converting and
[14:17] finishing at all. Outside of Mimbabwe, he was the
[14:19] only person scoring, nobody else scoring.
[14:21] That was our issue, right? The Lakers were winning a bunch
[14:24] of close games that made it look like they were better than they
[14:26] really were on the other end. Correct.
[14:28] And if you look at the Lakers underlying metrics right now, I
[14:30] mean, we are now 31 games into the season, right?
[14:34] So we're almost at the halfway mark.
[14:36] The Lakers are 17th or something, 19th in net rating,
[14:39] 17th on offense, 22nd on defense.
[14:42] Like guys, that is a middling team.
[14:44] I know their records suggest they're better because they're
[14:45] 10 games above 500. But it's a team that in the play
[14:49] offs though generate some noise And Luca will win some games on
[14:51] his own because he's that good. And but this is not a team
[14:55] designed or built to do anything in the play offs in terms of
[14:57] going far or making any kind of legitimate relevant noise.
[15:01] Yeah, totally, totally. Is there any noise around LeBron
[15:06] and about what he's gonna do? Because I just wanted to ask you
[15:09] because like, his body language opening night was extremely bad.
[15:14] I know. I mean, I've followed LeBron a
[15:15] lot of his career. Everything he does is very
[15:17] deliberate, hyper calculated as you.
[15:19] Know always. Always.
[15:20] So yeah, that bought opening night body language is of a guy
[15:23] who literally doesn't care about the team, and he's made it a
[15:26] point to reinforce that a couple times when he's asked in press
[15:29] conferences. They're like, hey, like you
[15:31] watching Christmas games. He's like, no, I want it.
[15:33] Like I don't, I'm too old. Like when he talks about
[15:35] watching other teams, he's kind of making it clear like he's not
[15:39] like, because he used to make it a point to let everyone know he
[15:41] knew all the film, that he remembered every play and every
[15:43] game. That was like clearly something
[15:45] he and his team worked on before.
[15:46] So and any thoughts? If I don't think he's ending
[15:49] here, it just I don't think he's happy ending somewhere where
[15:52] they don't let him end on his terms with his contract.
[15:55] He's like, hey, you let Kobe get an extension when he wanted.
[15:57] You're not giving it to me and I just feel like he's going to try
[16:01] and stretch it out that you're 24 or 25 now.
[16:03] I'm sure he is. And what I'm hearing is that, to
[16:08] your point, LeBron does want to end his career on his terms.
[16:14] The reality of that, though, is that if you are running an
[16:16] organization, whether it be the Lakers or anybody else, you have
[16:20] to eliminate the commercial aspect from your brain and
[16:25] realize what does this mean from a basketball perspective?
[16:28] What is this going to do to my organization and my culture,
[16:30] quite frankly? And it's not to say that
[16:33] Lebron's a cancer or anything like that.
[16:35] It's more about when you bring him into your organization, he
[16:39] is the son that everything must orbit, right?
[16:41] He dictates your travel terms. How long have you stay in the
[16:44] cities on the second? Like all these kinds of things
[16:46] and for a player at his age and production level, that is not
[16:52] something I believe you want to cede control to now, even in the
[16:57] best of times, I don't think you should ever see that.
[16:59] Totally took peak LeBron. What you do is you have a
[17:03] working arrangement and a collaboration, not a you are in
[17:06] charge, you dictate when we leave.
[17:08] No, no, no, no. I will take your input, right,
[17:12] But here's ultimately what I want this framework to fit in.
[17:15] And this goes back into what we talked about all the time, say,
[17:17] which is as an organization, you have to have a mission, a vision
[17:20] and an ethos about who you are irrespective of who the players
[17:23] are on your squad. And they have to fit within
[17:25] that. Yes.
[17:26] Is there a give and take from the elite of the elite?
[17:28] Of course it's not. Any organization works, but the
[17:30] organization has to be stronger than the individual.
[17:34] Yeah, and if LeBron was serious, he he really can't take more
[17:37] than 30 million a year. I think 30 is a fair number
[17:39] given his legacy and everything. 20 million pay cut from where
[17:42] he's at. But you know and.
[17:44] Even that to me said I'm AGM. Fuck no.
[17:46] Not as AGMI think. I think there's a few contexts
[17:49] where you can talk yourself. I think it just gives him more
[17:52] options and it allows more GMs for sure.
[17:54] But yeah, it's it's complicated. I think he's it's funny because
[18:00] like we should have kept Modric, but and Modric was asking for
[18:02] less money. So honestly, we didn't know what
[18:04] we had going. I wonder, you know, the Modric
[18:07] point you bring up is interesting because I wonder if
[18:10] Modric is here, forget about the on pitch stuff for for a minute
[18:13] and it what do you think he would have meant for Javi Alonzo
[18:17] in the locker room? I think he would have been huge.
[18:19] I think he would have been huge. And there are some reports, I
[18:21] don't know if they're true. Maybe they're just opportunistic
[18:24] rumors. But like, let's say that Alonso
[18:26] wanted to keep him. I mean, obviously there would
[18:28] have been limits to his impact as we saw the year before all
[18:30] the Carlos stuff happened, all that stuff happened with Modrich
[18:33] there. But just look in the way Jabi
[18:36] wants to play and like especially is OK with some
[18:39] defensive stale possession. Yeah, you'd need Modrich.
[18:42] Like you can't play boring defensive possession without
[18:45] like a Modrich. Arta Guler is just not gonna
[18:48] give you enough there. So.
[18:50] And also it sounds like he really didn't want much money.
[18:53] So I just say because like it's rare to come across a player
[18:57] with such less ego like that. Whereas like LeBron, Luca
[19:00] unfortunately ran into LeBron at a strange point in his career,
[19:03] like the the trade. Any if it happened at any point
[19:05] in the last five years, he would have had a better shot.
[19:08] He just ran into he just ran into the version of LeBron that
[19:11] was like fed up and with the Rob Pelinka team, like version of
[19:15] the team that didn't have help around him that that was getting
[19:18] lazy. He just got into like end stage
[19:20] Lakers of this iteration. But this, This is why they were
[19:24] where they they are where they are, they are right.
[19:26] The reason, one of the reasons why Tim Duncan was able to be so
[19:29] great late into his career is because he kept taking lesser
[19:32] deals, right? To get to keep guys like
[19:35] Ginobili and Parker and he's young and to get Kawhi in and
[19:37] certain guys in, right? Because he understood that's how
[19:41] I keep my longevity going, right?
[19:43] Ego less superstar, right, as we mentioned, but guys who want to
[19:46] keep getting paid. You are hamstringing your club
[19:49] in your organization. Well, that's why I'm wondering
[19:52] with LeBron, I loved him growing up and that's why when the
[19:56] marketing kind of breaks down in front of you, it's just kind of
[19:59] funny. Do you want to be the best of
[20:02] all time or do you want to get these salaries that you're
[20:05] clearly upset you weren't getting paid when you were in
[20:07] your prime? Cuz that's pretty clearly what's
[20:09] going on. And I, I understand it.
[20:10] I will say this, of course, I really understand it.
[20:13] Like you're an old player who built this league.
[20:15] You see these kids who are like literally half the player you
[20:19] were getting ridiculous contracts.
[20:21] I would just stick around and rent seek as well.
[20:23] To be perfectly real, I'd be like Adam Silver, I've built
[20:25] this shit, man. I'm fucking playing for the
[20:27] Lakers until I'm 50 if I want, like I want you.
[20:30] Listen to it in a pure the emotion, capitalist sense.
[20:35] I understand that. That's why you get so much hate
[20:38] from older generation players against this generation of
[20:41] players, like because they're like, no, right, we built this
[20:43] league, motherfuckers like so in in that sense, I understand it.
[20:48] But listen, that's which is why, and we can close here, said I've
[20:51] advocated forever that if you want to truly make this fair,
[20:56] you get rid of the lottery and the draft and you allow teams to
[21:01] pick up and sign whoever they want and pay them whatever they
[21:04] want according to market rules. Now, what does that mean?
[21:07] That forces organizations to be good at their job.
[21:10] You have to prognosticate and forecast, like, do I think this
[21:14] player has what it takes to be XY and Z?
[21:16] Am I going to pay him this much money now?
[21:18] Right. These are the things where all
[21:20] these rules are set in place to protect these owners and these
[21:23] GMs from making bad decisions, which, by the way, they still
[21:25] make anyway, right? So my thing is like, they're
[21:27] still going to fuck up and do dumb things.
[21:29] Why not eliminate all that and truly make it a free market
[21:33] where you can sign whoever you want?
[21:34] And before anybody tells me the whole, oh, draw, that means the
[21:37] Lakers Are Knicks going to be the best team ever, Guys, no,
[21:41] there are only 15 roster spots on every team #1 #2 players want
[21:46] playing time, OK? And if everybody goes to one
[21:50] team, guess what? You're not going to have playing
[21:51] time, OK? So no, everyone's not going to
[21:53] end up in one place or two spots or three spots.
[21:56] Players will go where they feel like I have the most chance to
[21:58] play, and this team values me and will allow me to be the best
[22:02] version of myself. That's where they'll go,
[22:03] wherever that team happens to be.
[22:06] Yeah. And you say changing the salary
[22:07] cap, how that would change, Would that affect like Lebron's
[22:11] market, you mean or or like the market of these older players,
[22:14] You think that would reduce their market?
[22:15] For sure because as a as a club it's it's a free market.
[22:18] So if you as AGM decide you want to bring in 41 year old LeBron
[22:22] and pay him fine, that's on you. OK, knock yourself out.
[22:28] Like you go ahead and you have to make the business case
[22:30] internally and think, does this make sense?
[22:33] Why am I paying this man this much money to get this amount of
[22:36] return right? You have to be smart about it,
[22:38] like and actually think about the future ramifications.
[22:42] Nobody in in their right mind again in in that world.
[22:45] If I'm AGM and there's no chance I'm not in getting a LeBron
[22:48] business at 41 years old. Yeah, because it doesn't make
[22:51] any sense commercially or on the floor.
[22:53] So do you, Are you saying the free market would essentially
[22:55] allow for teams like, like, are you saying like the prime age
[23:00] players who can get better money from their teams?
[23:02] That's what causes right, like the Super Max contracts?
[23:05] Because it's, yeah, it's frankly ruined the league.
[23:07] Like the guys just have to stay if they want to get paid the Max
[23:10] amount of money. And then if they want to play
[23:12] somewhere else, they have to force a trade out of that team
[23:14] at that point. And yeah, it's it's a whole mess
[23:17] because, yeah, it definitely had the opposite of the intended
[23:20] effect. Guys just kind of stick around
[23:22] on teams they were drafted on and you don't have as much
[23:24] player movement in a healthy way.
[23:26] Yeah, it is. Again, it should not be tied to
[23:30] whoever drafts you gets to pay you the most money, right?
[23:33] Like it again, You want free, have free markets, have
[23:36] legitimate free markets. Again, all these owners who are
[23:39] billionaires, they laud the beauties of the capitalist
[23:43] system and free markets. Yet that's not what they want
[23:45] when it comes to their their sports teams, right?
[23:47] They want control. No, no, no.
[23:48] Put salary caps, put restrictions.
[23:50] Why? Why?
[23:52] If you're good at your job, then it won't matter, right?
[23:55] Like, but again and again, there has to be sort of spending
[24:00] limits, right? Because you can't be like
[24:01] because then teams and owners who want to do the whole.
[24:04] You know. Right, right.
[24:06] You have to put caps on it because then you'll have two,
[24:08] you know, owners who are like, I'll spend $5 billion on a
[24:10] roster and you'll have, I don't know, the Charlotte Hornets
[24:13] owner be like, screw that on spending any money, but I'll
[24:15] take the revenue sharing, right? So again, you have to create
[24:18] parameters whereby you punish teams like, no, you can't just
[24:21] sit around here and just collect money and put out a shit
[24:24] product. Like that's not how this works.
[24:25] You have to actually compete and try to be competitive.
[24:28] This is why I enjoy the relegation system that you have
[24:30] in that we have in in in world football.
[24:32] Oh, you're doing crap. Get your ass to the G League
[24:34] where you make no television money now.
[24:36] And you're right. Now it's a losing proposition,
[24:38] right? Oh, we don't want that.
[24:39] So you have to put incentives that force people to actually
[24:42] compete as opposed to do what they do now.
[24:44] Yeah. Definitely.
[24:45] Well, that was a great conversation Gerard.
[24:47] Hope you all enjoyed it on Dodgers and the Lakers.
[24:49] Hope the audio is all good today.
[24:51] We will be back covering games in the coming week and so thank
[24:55] you all for tuning in. Please like, subscribe, tell a
[24:58] good friend who listens to sports shows to tune in.
[25:00] If they like Real Madrid especially, we would greatly
[25:03] appreciate it. Yes Sir, take care.

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