It's enjoyable to poke fun at Magic Johnson's social media presence, and even some of the stuff he says in normal spoken word interviews. But appearing on Shannon Sharpe's podcast, Magic had some surprisingly straightforward and reasonable advice for Russell Westbrook. "First off, take accountability. If you don’t play well, admit it. Stop trying to fight the media and the fans and go out and perform," he said, using his own Finals failure (Tragic Johnson, anyone?) in '84 as a template.

Is it an apples to apples comparison? No. But is he wrong? No. Is Westbrook built to follow Magic's advice? That's an open question.

Meanwhile, Shams Charania at The Athletic reports the Lakers are planning to wait 20-25 games before making a trade both to truly assess the team's needs (not sure that requires 17 more games), and (more likely) hoping the market opens up to give them more and/or better options than what's been available to this point. Charlotte's Terry Rozier and San Antonio swingman Josh Richardson were both name-checked in the story. What kind of improvement would each player constitute? Is a commitment to Rozier preferable to a commitment to Indiana's Myles Turner?

Would the Lakers be more wise just to let it ride, if they don't think any of the options are better than simply waiting and trying their hand with cap space and those picks to throw around?

Certainly Rob Pelinka seems to be more comfortable with free agency and cap space than engineering creative trades.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Magic Johnson has some advice for Russ... and it's pretty good!

SEGMENT 2: What about Terry Rozier? Or Josh Richardson? What exactly are the Lakers looking for, here?

SEGMENT 3: Hard as it may be, are the Lakers better off long term if they just wait until the summer?

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