Saurabh Patil

Lakers | Ravens | Angels

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@aupadhyay1995 Primetime >>>

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

Save us Kroenke 🙏🙏🙏

[ESPN @espn]

Breaking: Stan Kroenke & Kroenke Sports and Entertainment have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno.

Kroenke will now own controlling interests in the Rams (NFL), Angels (MLB), Nuggets (NBA), Avalanche (NHL) and Arsenal.

[Daman Rangoola @damanr]

LeBron James, Laker Champion

LeBron James’ Lakers tenure has ended at 8 seasons, his longest stretch with a single team in his career. That meant eight offseasons and eight trade deadlines — sixteen transaction cycles of news, excitement, chaos, and exhaustion. It feels almost impossible to take a breath and step back, but I’ll try.

The one thing that I think has absolutely been forgotten is the state of the Lakers when LeBron James arrived. Lakers ownership had just finished firing the owner’s brother, hiring a first time President of Basketball, a first time GM, had a roster full of young, but unproven talent - and most importantly, they were absolutely rudderless. Let’s be very clear here: the Lakers were on their way to being a decade-long mediocrity. LeBron James didn’t go the Kawhi route and demand a trade for a co-star, he just signed with the team, and for that I will be forever grateful. He WAS the franchise savior, there is no other way to view that.

Now, the Klutch angle. The Lakers may bristle at being “pushed around” to do things like trade for Anthony Davis. But look at what the Lakers were doing that same offseason. They insulted and low-balled Ty Lue. Then, on the day they introduced Frank Vogel — the guy who had originally agreed to be the lead assistant — Magic Johnson went on television and trashed everything about the organization. So yeah, you got pushed around by Klutch to trade for AD, and thank god for that.

LeBron would go on to carry the franchise to a championship, the same year that he carried them through the untimely death of Kobe Bryant, followed by a global pandemic. I was asked on a podcast appearance I did the day LeBron signed about my expectations as far as championships, my answer: Set the over/under at 0.5. LeBron hit the over. Mission accomplished, end of story.

Were there lows that followed? Was the Russell Westbrook trade the worst trade of all time? I think so, and I think it’s stupid to pretend that LeBron didn’t push for that either - of course he did, it was a mistake, and it ended the title window for the team. But LeBron didn’t make the trade himself, I’d be much more amenable to the fact that LeBron James and Klutch were some overbearing pains in the asses if the organization actually had their own basketball principles and philosophies to fall back on. To date, I have seen no evidence of that.

I find myself defending LeBron today and his legacy as a Laker, but at the same time I don’t blame anybody for the relationship ending today. This was a relationship that had its ups and downs and both sides find themselves at a crossroads where saying goodbye is the most logical outcome. The Lakers have to build their franchise around their next centerpiece in Luka Doncic, and while LeBron James gave Luka the space to be himself, LeBron’s stature is too large for this team to not take it’s cues from him - it is time for the franchise to become Luka’s, fully and unmistakably. For LeBron, whether it’s commuting to San Francisco, or ending his story book career where it started, I can appreciate how those options just feel better to him today.

LeBron’s Lakers tenure was messy, political, dramatic, and eventually exhausting. But that cannot be separated from what came before him: a franchise with no direction, no credibility, and no obvious path back to relevance. He chose the Lakers without demanding a co-star first. He made them matter again. He helped deliver Anthony Davis. He won a championship. Everything after that can be debated, but the central fact cannot: LeBron James came to Los Angeles and did the job.

LeBron James, Laker Champion

[MLB @MLB]

All THREE of Jo Adell's home run robberies from tonight ...

Yes, you read that right 😮

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

Being a Lakers fan but a certified Dodgers hater is such a struggle 😔

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@karrot_stix I need to hear about this asthma doctor

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@aupadhyay1995 There’s a lot of things the NBA needs to change…this is not one of them

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@Keifo 😭 what a Sunday

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

Still the best team of all time 💜💛

[ESPN Los Angeles @ESPNLosAngeles]

AND STILL the last three-peat in American sports 🏆🏆🏆 #LakeShow

📸: @Lakers , ADBPhotoInc

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@KaustubhVongole I was recommended one in Scottsdale that gives you a personalized report card grade on various aspects of your dental hygiene..out of control for sure

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@Typhoon_Girl @Typhoon_Gir1 Dasq

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

BB still the GOAT

[Nik @NikMilanovic]

I was surprised to see The Wire down at #6 on the list of best shows of all time.

Guess it's time to watch Breaking Bad.

[Justin Tinsley @JustinTinsley]

LA lost Nip then lost Kobe less than a year later. It couldn’t even celebrate titles by the Lakers and Dodgers because of the pandemic. That city has been waiting to celebrate for a long time, and buddy did it ever tonight.

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

I know I’m falling for the engagement bait here and nobody actually watches this crap but man basketball discourse is so dead..and the NBA is still wondering why they’re losing to the NFL lol

[NBACentral @TheDunkCentral]

“Anthony Davis is the most overrated superstar in the history of the NBA. Can't count on him…He's always injured; he’s soft, doesn't play through pain, and you cannot count on him to be there when you need to win a game.”😳

- @craigcartonlive

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@aupadhyay1995

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@aupadhyay1995 Trailer looked dope af

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@KaustubhVongole @karrot_stix It’s ok next time I’ll teach you all about Devolution

[Saurabh Patil @patilshow03]

@KaustubhVongole @karrot_stix Gueeeeeeed

[John Frankensteiner @JFrankensteiner]

Dodgers right now