Podcast: Does Ben Simmons make any sense for the Lakers?

On this week’s episode of “The Anthony Irwin Show,” Adam Mares of DNVR stops by to, well, catch up, seeing as we hadn’t podcasted in weeks. It truly is the biggest reunion in recent history. Looking at you, “Friends” cast.

To start the show, we discussed Ben Simmons’ brutal playoff series, and where his trade market might currently sit. Given that both Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid threw him in front of the bus of all buses, it’s hard to see Simmons returning to that locker room, but this is quite possibly the worst imaginable time to try to trade Simmons given how little any team might be willing to give up for him.

This begs the natural question: Has Ben Simmons been intentionally not shooting threes to make it easier for the Lakers to trade for him? I’m just here asking the important questions.

Another important question that should actually be asked is whether anyone will note the trend of Doc Rivers’ teams hating each other by the end of their time together. It’s now happened across three consecutive teams to the tune of multiple 3-1 leads being squandered.

Next on the docket was the notion of whether the current crop of teams and players still being active in the playoffs — rather than some of their starrier counterparts — is bad for the league. Neither Adam nor I think so, and if the league’s TV partners can’t handle marketing the players and teams currently enjoying success, then the NBA should just find better TV partners.

We also discussed the busy offseason to come, whether these hyper-active summers are good for the NBA long-term, and Adam’s most embarrassing sports moment.

You can listen to all that and more on the full episode in the player embedded below, and to make sure you don’t miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

You can follow Adam and myself on Twitter @Adam_Mares and @AnthonyIrwinLA.

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.