The Lakers have a two-way player named Nick Smith Jr.

He was a first-round draft pick three years ago in Charlotte, played his first two years, and she played 111 games for the Hornets.

Not terrible.

Ten points a game.

Sure.

The Hornets, as they often do, made a mistake and let him go.

Yeah, they start, I think they started him 38 games last year. And now, and so he's trying to say, I love stories like this. He's trying to save his career. So here's the thing, and I want to know if you guys were aware of. Last night, because the Lakers were extremely short-handed in Portland, no Gabe Vincent, no Luca, no Austin Reeves. They basically had no guards.

No Gabe Vincent. Their four best guards were out. National load management night.

So Nick Smith, Jr. gets thrown into the fire. And he comes in in the first half. It's a couple shots.

But, you know, he's just kind of a guy.

He goes into the hallway at halftime and Trudell's back there.

And happy birthday, Mike Trudell.

A little general.

And Nick Smith throws up.

Yes.

Like, vomit.

He's that sick. Really? Goes out in the second half. Scores 25 of his 27 points and takes over the game. Yeah. Did he vomit because he was sick or because he was nervous? No, he said he was sick. Ain't something bad? But he said once I got it out of me, something clicked. That's nice. When you get it out of you. Get it out.

You got to get that virus out.

I'll tell you, I have so much respect for that team today. They were down nine at the end of the first quarter, and I'm like, oh, they could have mailed it in. That could have been it. They could have just sailed. And instead, they play. I mean, D'Andre Aiton was terrific.

Nick Smith, Jr., who's smaller than everybody that works here.

He's, do you think he's about 5-11? No, no. He's listed at 185. Yeah, I think he's the same height as me. I'm between 6 and 6-1. He looks right at me. I think he's listed at 5-11, though. Yeah, but maybe, well, maybe he's wearing big shoes. And then he's a rail, too.

Right.

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