Podcast: Is the Lakers center rotation a calculated gamble or potential misstep?

Heading to any season with JaVale McGee as the starting center, Ivica Zubac as the backup and Moe Wagner as the third string option is certainly a decision. It’s so obviously bad that the only thing fans can really to put that decision in a positive light is to think it’s too bad to not be an accident.

This is the foundation of the theory I run by Pete on today’s episode of Locked on Lakers.

Basically, having watched the Golden State Warriors employ multiple big men who couldn’t play in big playoff moments, maybe the Lakers decided they would designate as small a percentage of their cap to that position as possible. McGee is making the minimum and both Zubac and Wagner are on their rookie deals.

If this is their line of thinking, it would follow the way Magic Johnson and LeBron James’ three-hour marathon conversation might’ve gone. Perhaps James recognized how he’s going to age and he and Magic devised a roster construction that relied on him playing center. Pete and I build on that point for the second half or so of that conversation.

Once we wrap that up, we turn our attention to Josh Hart’s performance in Las Vegas and what that might mean for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, building on yesterday’s discussion. Basically, having multiple good players regardless of position is a good thing, especially when the players in question are actually capable of playing at the same time.

From there, we talk about the stuff we saw from summer league, including a conversation about Svi Mykhailiuk (who we both are very high on), Wagner (despite not having played nearly as much as we might’ve liked) and Isaac Bonga. Oh, Bonga.

As always, this is just a tidbit of the full context given in the show. Listen to the full discussion below and please check out old episodes or guarantee you won’t miss any ever again by subscribing on iTunes.