Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers
Sports:Basketball
Even With a New Contract, Austin Reaves Still Has a Massive Chip On His Shoulder
The Lakers have one more game remaining in the preseason before opening next week in Denver. Every indication is that Taurean Prince has locked up what was really the only lineup spot in real question coming into training camp - the starting small forward gig. Still, Tuesday at practice, Darvin Ham nonetheless refused to publicly name who will fill that spot.
At this point, he's just messing with folks for fun, right? Because he's really leaning into the bit.
But it really does feel like performance as much as anything would push Ham to this decision, given how well the presumptive starting unit has played through the first five games of the preseason. And, it should be noted, Ham so much as said he knew who he'd start back at the beginning of October.
Meanwhile, listener/viewer HERKIMER had an interesting observation comparing D'Angelo Russell to Dwight Howard, which is broken down on the show. Is Russell going to have a Howard-like redemption in his second go round with the team, overcoming some bad feelings from fans? (In Dwight's case, from the "This is Going to be Fun!" season that most certainly wasn't, with Russell from his first stint in LA, plus last year's WCF.) Not a totally apples to apples comparison, but it's an interesting one for sure.
Finally, Austin Reaves is the subject of a great profile from The Ringer's Mirin Fader, who is one of the best writers in all of sports. In it, she tells a ton of great stories. What sticks out? For starters, one where LeBron tells Reaves he's too good to be measured at this point simply from plus/minus type stats. What does that mean in practical terms?
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: Darvin is trolling, and it's fun!
SEGMENT 2: Is Russell the next Dwight?
SEGMENT 3: Reaves receives fascinating feedback from LeBron.
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