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I take a hard look at the state of LA basketball and why the Lakers and Sparks changes don’t feel like they’re leading to winning. With Kobe’s birthday and Mamba Day coming up, I stack today’s reality against the standard LA used to live by. • LeBron leaving and why I’m not upset about it • The Buss family selling more stake and what it could mean for control • New Lakers pieces I like and why the core still worries me • Why I don’t buy the Luka and Austin duo • The Sparks timeline from big trades to falling out of the playoff hunt • Nneka Ogwumike’s retirement news and why it hurts • Coaching, roster questions, and what a real rebuild should look like • Kobe Bryant’s legacy and the moments that define LA standards
What do you like my changes for the Lakers? Do you like the changes for my Sparks? So anything you would have done differently? Do you think either team can win a championship anytime soon? what do you plan on doing for Kobe's birthday? Let me know. What's your favorite moment of Kobe?
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What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Train as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're going to talk about the status, the state of LA. But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. Trying to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you're wondering where you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate your support.
Now, talking about the state of LA, right? Show's called Get a Bucket. So we're going to be talking about my Sparks and my Lakers, but at this point in time, it's still tough to say my. Like, I like to be considered a loyal guy, okay? But it's just tough when I'm looking at it. Like the different changes that are taking place, right? Let's start with the Lakers. No LeBron, which I'm not going to act like I'm overly mad at, okay? I had an issue with acquiring him to begin with. And then I have an issue with how the resume looked as a Laker in terms of success. Not his. His resume might be all right, actually. The Lakers' resume. I don't count the bubble chip, you know what I'm saying? That's another discussion for another day that I've already technically had. But he took $8 million to sign with the 76ers. So again, I'm not really mad that he's left, that he left, although for $8 million, I'm pretty sure we could have gave him that. But again, it is what it is. No more LeBron James. I've asked for it, so I can't complain, but so much, right? Then the Bus family. They know they ain't been majority owners. They sold the team, ladies and gentlemen. It was kind of crazy. But while like while they sold the team, they were allowed to remain or retain a percentage of stake in the company. Now, recently, the Bus family, you know, like six siblings total, and five of the six look to sell their remaining 17.8% stake in the Lakers. And what this does is impacts Jeannie Bus. Because she's currently the governor, and the and in order to be the governor, you gotta own 15% of the franchise. So that's what that's really gonna do. But am I excited to see the Lakers get sold again? I mean, $12 billion valuation. Old boy who just acquired them for $10 bill, got a two-bill increase. You know what I'm saying? Like that, I get it, it's business. It just makes me think and wonder, are we gonna do anything? Are we gonna be good? Like right now, ladies and gentlemen, LA for the Lakers, LA's fans for Luca and Austin. That is disgusting work. I don't believe in it. I don't believe in LA. I don't. Whether you're talking about the Lakers themselves or the duo. Now, we we did acquire some interesting pieces, right? Like, I'm not mad at getting Colin Sexton, I'm not mad at getting Quentin Grimes, I'm not mad at getting Matisse Steible. I like those players. Mammu looked pretty good too on the court, at least on paper in comparison. So I understand the acquisitions. Walker Kessler, I get it. I don't think we got the right defensive players. Not even defensive players. Again, I do like Matisse Steible. I do like Quentin Grimes. They will be our defenders. Colin Sexton can defend a little bit as well, too. I like them. But having Luca and AR as my duo, that's gonna be a little controversial. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not the biggest fan of my Lakers' changes, and I don't see us winning next year. And it's hard to it's hard to say the season after, because like maybe we make some changes, right? But if we don't make any changes and this is what our team is going to look like, I got a lot of concerns about us going forward. So again, Lakers, it's
a tough one. But let's talk about my sparks too, though, right? Because again, both organizations, brother and sister organizations, have been making some changes. Like I've talked about us trading for Kelsey Plum and how that cost us Dominique Malonga. Because we could have we could have drafted her with the second pick that year, right? Then we acquired Neka Agumake from the storm. Like she came back home, ladies and gentlemen. Then after that, we fire our GM. We trade away Rakia Jackson, who, in hindsight, okay, she she tore ACL, so she's gone for the season. So like I can't even say that would have occurred with the Sparks. I didn't like the trade person, don't get me wrong. I understood it because Ariel Atkins was a former all-star. I understand it. But ladies and gentlemen, I didn't personally like the trade, even though I understood it. Then we eventually have to trade away Kelsey Plum this season. Fall out the playoff hunt. And it wasn't because we traded away Kelsey Plum, it's because we fell out the playoff hunt. We were just playing that piss poor. We had a few injuries, I'll give us that. But still playing piss four. And as a result, NECA Gumake announces her retirement. Like this is her last season, bro. And that this is the level of effort. This is what our result is in her final season. I hate that. I hate the whole timeline that I just displayed. Because I was I wasn't the biggest fan of signing Kelsey Plum. I wasn't the biggest fan of trading away Rakia Jackson. I was okay with trading away Kelsey Plum given the state of where we were, but still I felt like we could have pushed for the playoffs with Kelsey. Especially given what we gave up for. Come on now. So overall, I gotta see a lot of changes in my sparks. Like coaching. I don't know if I like our coach. Some of the players, I don't know if I like them. We're going in a rebuild right now, and I hate the fact that that's what it's gonna be, ladies and gentlemen. So again, Lakers, Sparks, state of LA, it's not looking that great right now. It's really truly not.
And it sucks too, because coming up is Kobe Bryant's birthday. Like, ladies and gentlemen, we got the Mamba coming up on his birthday. Like this is Kobe being Bryant, who, when we're talking about the greatest Lakers of all time, you you might have to say Kobe. Like, not there were some other players that you can mention, right? Like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabash, Kiel O'Neal, Jerry West, Will Chamberlain. But it's Kobe that's the greatest of all time for me in terms of Lakers. He's number two all time for me personally. Ever. But number one for show for the Lakers. And keep in mind, right? He played 20 seasons, five championships in MVP, two times finals MVP, and gave for the Lakers' career 25 points per game. Five rebounds, five assists. And he played six plus more seasons than everybody that I just list off. Like he has played the longest with the Lakers. And it's astonishing. And we got to remember, again, five-time champion, right? Three back to back. Well, I guess technically all of them are back to back, but a three-p and a two-p. Could have been a three-p, but you know, forget the Celtics. We got an MVP in 2008. We got a finals MVP or two finals MVP in 2009 and 10. 18-time All-Star, 15-time all NBA, 12-time all defense, by the way. That's right. It's a two-way game. Two-time scoring champ, which personally could have been more, but you had a lot of folks out there who was who was getting a bucket. AI, T Mac and them, you know what I'm saying? It was a little bit different. Four-time All-Star Game MVP. Yes, that's right. That's why we got the award at named after Kobe. All right. All rookie second team, which, you know, it's kind of crazy, but it is what it is. He was a slam dunk contest champion in 1997, part of the 75th anniversary team. And he retired both 8 and 24 jerseys. That's what we're talking about, right? Like his peak scoring season was about 35 a game, which was ridiculous. He had 32, and that was what was 06. Then he had 32 and 07. That was like, you know what I mean? That's kind of crazy. 08, he gave about 28, 6 rebounds, 5 assists. Like I said, that was his MVP season. So, you know, we we we do our thing out here. Finals, he did well. The only finals you could say it was struggle was his first one. You can say he was backpacked by Shaq, but every other one, nah, he was right there. At minimum, one B. Like Kobe Bryant has to go down as the greatest Laker. And I hate that I had to start off the episode the way I did. Because again, I talked about so much lackluster. Changes, change is going to occur in life, ladies and gentlemen. But as we change, we do gotta adapt properly, and I don't think my Sparks nor my Lakers have adapted properly. Now, I'll give the Lakers probably doing a better job than the Sparks. It's still early. But they've they've done a better job. I'll give us that at least. But I'm still not impressed with either team. And again, right before Kobe's birthday, hell, right before I'm thinking about the top Lakers, or even the top Sparks players. Like, you got a Lisa Leslie, you got a Candace Parker, Chelsea Gray, NECA Gumerkey. Like, we got players, ladies and gentlemen, to talk about. But instead, we can't highlight the greatness of these two different programs. This brother-sister program, we can't highlight the greatness of it. Because we're stuck in the past, if that's the case. Like, personally, my Sparks have not won a title since 2016. And my Lakers have not won a title since 2010. I told y'all, I don't count the bubble. So that's where I'm coming from. And it just sucks that we're we're still looking lackluster. Right as Kobe Bryant's birthday passing. Right as Mamba Day getting ready to start. So, I mean, you know, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I hope y'all enjoy Kobe Day on the 23rd of August. Well, that's his birthday, so I call it Kobe Day because that's his day. And then Mamba Day is 8.24th. So that Monday, this upcoming Monday will be Mamba Day. But I'd like to see us turn it around. Sparks, Lakers, please. Because there's some other teams out there that are actually doing pretty well. And we're chasing them, and we shouldn't have to chase for so much. Lynx are looking smooth in the WNBA. Aces are looking smooth in the WNBA. Liberty looked better than us. Fever looking alright. Wings look like they got a good future. What we doing? Lakers. I don't know if we're gonna beat the Spurs, the Thunder, the 70s Sixers, the Knicks. Like these are teams we could easily struggle with. The Nuggets. Just saying. Eventually Miami. Hell, I actually do think Miami might be able to beat us right now whole time. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I just have to give you, I just had to give you an episode about the status, the state of LA. And I
ain't talking about Cali. But I'm curious of your thoughts. What do you like my changes for the Lakers? Do you like the changes for my Sparks? So anything you would have done differently? Do you think either team can win a championship anytime soon? I'm curious. Let me know. And then also, what do you plan on doing for Kobe's birthday? If you got anything. Let me know. What's your favorite moment of Kobe? Because I mean, yo, there's a lot of favorite moments for me personally. Personally, there's a lot of favorite moments. I mean, greatest Lakers of all time, franchise footprint. He he's gave he's given the Lakers 33,643 points, played 1,346 games, 48,637 minutes. Like, the man, the man's the man's spectacular. 81 point game against Toronto, 60 point game in three quarters, like against the Mavs, finishing his career against Utah, scoring 60 points. What can you ask for? You know what I'm saying? So I'm curious what's your favorite moment of Kobe? Let me know. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, like I said, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey, I'm the host of Get the Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.
