Lakers Podcast: Vegas thinks the Lakers are getting LeBron James; Kobe Bryant won’t stop talking

After weeks of asking nicely, whining, begging and threats, I let Harrison come back on the show. As is usually the case, we do a bit a laughing at the goings on surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers, who are somehow considered the odds-on favorite to sign LeBron James this summer, according to Las Vegas.

That’s where the show starts. We try to figure out what might be behind those odds, whether it be how odds are set, how they move or maybe Vegas knows something the public doesn’t. Whatever it is, it makes for quite a bit of excitement, especially when you consider the relative lack of success the Lakers happen to be trying to entice LeBron with.

One weird development over the course of all this excitement has been Kobe Bryant’s post-career messaging. On one hand, he’s provided Oscar-worthy content and some fairly good analysis of these playoffs, but on the other, he’s kind of become, um, just another Kobe stan on Twitter.

We discuss how we’ve felt about that post-retirement work and how he’s handled himself throughout these playoffs and then specifically talk about how these actions have affected the Lakers (if at all) and his legacy with the organization.

It’s been fascinating to watch Kobe, who’s always been a master at manipulating the narrative, try to do so without being able to guide the conversation from the basketball court. Since he can’t dominate a game here and there so as to remind people of his talent, he is forced to hop on social media to try to do so from there.

Even more interesting has been his disinterest in directly helping the Lakers in any way. He’s mentioned and affirmed his stance on whether he would help in a free agency meeting (he won’t) and it has my spidey senses tingling.

As per usual, you can listen to the full conversation below and if you don’t want to miss future episodes, make sure to subscribe on iTunes.