Podcast: Trying to recap the day the NBA lost its mind

In a matter of a few hours, seemingly every player in the NBA was injured, every coach was fired, and every Dallas Mavericks executive hated each other. Somehow, the Los Angeles Lakers made it out of that blizzard of news basically unscathed, depending on how big a fan of Jason Kidd as an assistant coach you are.

Jacob Rude of LonzoWire and our own “Can U Dig It” podcast joined me in a rare Lakers Lounge episode to try to sort everything out and, well, it’s impossible to say whether or not we succeed.

We started with the new job opening in New Orleans after the Pelicans fired Stan Van Gundy, because it has a direct tie back to the Lakers as Kidd is reportedly a candidate for the vacancy (for the second year in a row). Whoever takes that job will be Zion Williamson’s third coach in three years and Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram’s fourth coach in four years.

On this topic, we discussed the difficult spot teams are put in when they feel they have to do everything possible to keep a player on a team they might not have interest in long term, and the shortfalls of making decisions solely based on the whims of a young star.

From there, we discussed the injuries across the NBA playoffs and LeBron James’ thoughts on the way this season was set up. At some point, either Adam Silver or Michelle Roberts (or both) are going to have to answer for the impact such a cramped schedule might’ve had on the league’s superstars.

Oh, and we also wondered whether James was more upset at Chris Paul for this season’s schedule, or for trying once again to yank his arm out of socket.

Finally, we took a look at everything going on with the Dallas Mavericks, and how it might be a lesson on talent not necessarily always being the only thing one should look for when filling out a team.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.