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🏀 Brian Windhorst says the Los Angeles Lakers signing Deandre Ayton isn’t just a roster upgrade — it’s a strategic move to keep LeBron James in L.A. and push for one more NBA championship.

In this NBA Today breakdown, Windhorst explains how Ayton fits into the Lakers’ long-term plan, how this helps extend LeBron’s title window, and why he believes LeBron will win another ring with the Lakers.

With Anthony Davis, Ayton, and LeBron forming a new-look core, the Lakers are going all in on the 2025 season. Is this the team that will get it done?

Hashtags:
#Lakers #LeBronJames #DeandreAyton #BrianWindhorst #NBAToday #NBA2025 #LakersNation #NBAChampionship #AytonToLakers #ESPN

Keyword Tags:
LeBron James Lakers ring, Lakers sign Deandre Ayton, Windhorst LeBron prediction, Lakers championship hopes, Deandre Ayton Lakers fit, Lakers offseason strategy, LeBron James NBA future, Ayton free agency signing, Lakers new Big 3, Lakers 2025 roster

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00:00Now that Mike Brown is getting a second interview,
00:02and according to Mark Jones, ESPN, NBA, football, baseball analyst,
00:06he also is the play-by-play voice of the Sacramento Kings,
00:09he said that Mike Brown nailed the interview.
00:12They said they had never seen anyone so detailed and oriented
00:15in terms of making sure that this is what they were going to expect
00:19from him being the Knicks coach,
00:20and he wound up getting the job being the New York Knicks head coach,
00:23replacing Tom Thibodeau.
00:24And believe me, Brian Windhorst, ESPN, NBA insider,
00:27on NBA Today, he says, do not underestimate this hire
00:31that the Knicks have made in Mike Brown.
00:33So he's got one of the most established summaries
00:35of any coach in the profession right now.
00:37He coached underneath Greg Popovich, underneath Rick Carlisle,
00:41underneath Steve Kerr, was the head coach in a number of different teams,
00:45but Coach LeBron, Coach Kobe, has coached the number one defense in the league,
00:49has coached the number one offense in the league,
00:51which is what he did two years ago when he won his second coach of the year
00:54crown with the Kings, where he broke this,
00:58helped the Kings break their 16-year drought of playoffs.
01:00We had the number one offense.
01:01So he has done a lot of different things over his career.
01:05He brings a wealth of experience.
01:07He's evolved a lot over the last 20 years.
01:09He got hired 20 years ago this month as, I guess, last month now,
01:1320 years ago in June to be his head coach for the first time.
01:16He's a lot different coach now than he was then.
01:18I see people comparing him.
01:20They think he's like Thibodeau because they're both defensive coaches.
01:23Yes, he's a defensive first coach, but he's very, very different,
01:27and his personality is very much more of a mosaic than people are giving him credit for.
01:32Yeah, Mike Brown might be similar in terms of basketball philosophy to Thibs,
01:36but in the approach, the overall messaging, I think that's where the two differ.
01:42And if you listen to everything that the Knicks organization has been suddenly putting out there
01:48since they fired Thibs, it's clear that they want somebody that's more collaborative,
01:54more amenable to the approach that the front office wants to take.
01:56The front office wants the opportunity to collaborate.
01:59They want to be involved.
02:01If it's the analytics aspect of it, if it's the rotation, staggering of minutes,
02:07the approach on the offensive end, the approach on the defensive end,
02:12it's clear that the front office wants to have more influence, wants to have more sway.
02:17And I'm not quite sure that Thibs came around quickly enough in order to be able to save his job.
02:25Now, what seems odd about it is that they gave Thibs a contract extension,
02:29and then they fire him a year later in the same season where the man takes the team to the Final Four.
02:35That part about it just seems weird, and I'm not quite sure that there's anything that you can say
02:41that will square that circle.
02:43But when it comes to qualified head coaches to fill the vacancy,
02:49you'd be hard-pressed to do better than Mike Brown.
02:51You just look at the resume, two-time coach of the year, coached three different places, four different stints.
02:59When you look at the winning percentage that he comes into this job with,
03:03it's better than the winning percentage that Tom Thibodeau had when he took on the Knicks job five years ago.
03:09So I think in terms of what he's been able to do in the NBA, the places that he's been,
03:15the success that he's had, coaching a team to the NBA Finals,
03:18taking the Kings to the playoffs for the first time in a couple of decades,
03:21I think those things matter in terms of being able to sell the players in that locker room
03:28that you have answers in order to get them to break through the ceiling
03:32that has been the Indiana Pacers over the last couple of years
03:35and to get to an NBA Finals.
03:37Two things based on what you just said.
03:38Number one, when it comes to the extension that they signed Tom Thibodeau last year
03:42and they're going to just really pay him to go away,
03:44this is what happens when you have bleep you money.
03:46And James Dolan has bleep you money as owner of the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden.
03:51You don't worry about striking that check and then saying we can't keep that in the building.
03:57We'll just pay him to go away.
03:58That's what happens when you have bleep you money and he's always had it.
04:01He has not been able to use it properly, in my opinion.
04:03But this is one of those instances where he said, you know, we'll pay him to go away.
04:06We don't believe he's the coach that can help us win a championship for the first time since 1973
04:10or get to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
04:14That's number one.
04:15Number two, no matter what you think about this hire,
04:18you better get this team, Mike Brown, to the NBA Finals
04:21because that's where those expectations should be.
04:24That's where those expectations are going to be.
04:26We had this discussion before the show got started
04:28and a man who shall remain nameless, King Mixer, Pat Costello himself,
04:33said, well, wait a minute.
04:34What if they have a losing streak?
04:35What if this doesn't work next year?
04:36You worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
04:39But that tomorrow for the New York Knicks CC,
04:42better make sure they get to the NBA Finals.
04:44Period.
04:45End of story.
04:45You don't have to like to hire Mike Brown.
04:47You can like to hire Mike Brown.
04:49But if you're going to move on from Tom Thibodeau,
04:51a man that got your organization of four NBA playoff appearances in five years,
04:55got you to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years
04:58before losing to the Indiana Pacers for the second straight year in the playoffs,
05:02whoever you hire, however you got about it, so be it.
05:06Here we are.
05:06But that tomorrow better be the New York Knicks better make the NBA Finals
05:10because if they don't, I don't care what kind of covert operation that they have
05:15in New York CC, they're going to have to answer for the fact that, man,
05:18you decided to move on from Tom Thibodeau and you're worse than where you were
05:21with the new coach than you were the old coach you got rid of when it comes to
05:24Tom Thibodeau.
05:26Oh, yeah.
05:26This is very much so a play the results scenario.
05:28And this is the highest of bars to clear for a first year head coach because of what
05:34Tibbs has been able to do.
05:35And this is when the context around the situation matters.
05:37Before Tibbs got there, the Knicks hadn't won a playoff series in a decade.
05:41So I think that when you start talking about justifying moving on from him,
05:47I got to say this, Freddie C, and this is one of those situations where I don't mean
05:54to disappear Mike Brown.
05:55But if you were to tell me that Mike Brown was going to be the hire, I would have told
06:01the New York Knicks organization not to fire Tom Thibodeau.
06:04This to me does not feel like a clear and obvious upgrade over what you had in a head
06:09coach.
06:10And the chief complaint around Tibbs was the fact that he didn't play the guys on the
06:16bench, right?
06:16He played his starters heavy minutes throughout the regular season and you got diminishing
06:20returns in the playoffs.
06:21The guys ran out of gas.
06:22Well, you solve that problem in the front office by being able to get more trusted guys on your
06:28bench, which is exactly what Leon Rose did early in free agency.
06:32Not sexy names, but he went out and got Jordan Clarkson.
06:35He got Yabusele, a backup center from the Philadelphia 76ers.
06:39You already returned your top seven in terms of minutes from last year.
06:44So you added two more guys on your bench, veterans that are around early 30s veterans,
06:52that you can trust in the games, in playoff games.
06:55You solved the problem that has plagued Tom Thibodeau throughout his entire career by getting
07:01him more trusted depth.
07:03So why did you fire him in the first place?
07:05That part makes no sense.
07:07Again, Mike Brown is a respected NBA coach, a tremendous resume, but it doesn't feel like
07:15a clear and obvious upgrade over what you had.
07:17And I'm just not quite sure that the reward is going to be worth the risk that they took
07:24in terms of upsetting the chemistry in that locker room because they don't have the guy
07:28that they trusted to lead them in tips.
07:30I'll answer that real quickly.
07:31Why this is the hire for the New York Knicks in terms of why they decided to do this.
07:34They lost trust in Tom Thibodeau.
07:36Whatever happened, however that happened.
07:38Who lost trust in Tom Thibodeau?
07:39Leon Rose and James Dolan.
07:41I think the key is who lost trust.
07:43Leon Rose and James Dolan.
07:45It might be the front office.
07:46It might be some Johnny-come-latelys in terms of players that they added last offseason.
07:52Absolutely.
07:52But Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart did not lose trust in Tom Thibodeau.
07:56No doubt.
07:56I'm not disagreeing with you on that one.
07:58But at the same point, it was the overall, what was the consensus?
08:02Is he the guy?
08:03And the overall majority vote seemed to be sliding to he's not the guy that we can trust
08:08in to win an NBA championship because he's unwilling to be less than rigid when it comes
08:13to player development, when it comes to rotations, in terms of making adjustments, the entire
08:18nine yards.
08:19The worst thing that happened to Tom Thibodeau was when Jalen Brunson got hurt last year
08:22versus the Los Angeles Lakers and an ankle injury.
08:25And then the ball was bopping around and that offensive efficiency was tremendous for
08:29the New York Knicks.
08:30They were able to stem the tide until Jalen Brunson got back.
08:32The minute he got back, it was pound the rock, pound the rock, pound the rock.
08:35And then that offense worked for a little bit, but not against the Pacers.
08:38To me, that's why I thought Chris Canty, they lost trust in Tom Thibodeau when that happened
08:43in the regular season with Jalen Brunson saying, we can do this without him.
08:47Why can't we do this with him?
08:49Despite the fact he still got this team in the Eastern Conference Finals.
08:52I thought that's when they lost trust in Tom Thibodeau.
08:54That's my opinion.
08:55He's Chris Canty.
08:56I'm Freddy Coleman.
08:56Thanks for joining us here on Sportsman Like on ESPN Radio, the ESPN app, Sirius XM Channel 80,
09:01and ESPNU.
09:03And now we go for my team, the Chris Canty's team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
09:07Is the door to a LeBron James trade still open?
09:11Seriously.
09:12We'll try to answer that at the ECC Gives You This from ESPN Bet.
09:16Oh, yeah.
09:17Whether you're locking in your home run picks or riding with your favorite golfers this

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