Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - FULL Trade Deadline Reaction

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to everything you need to know from an eventful trade deadline including the issues brewing in Phoenix, if that could lead to Kevin Durant & Devin Booker on the move this summer, the Lakers getting Luka a big man in Mark Williams, a historically unique time for Dallas, the Raptors getting Brandon Ingram, the Cavs taking a swing and more. Plus, we hand out the Cojones Factor Player Of The Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. of the Hoop Collective podcast presented by State Farm. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Thursday evening at the conclusion of the NBA trade deadline.

Joining us from TD Garden in Boston, where he's moved all over this week, and he also watched the champs get beat by the Anthony Davis-Less Mavericks here tonight. Timbontemps. Dominating performance in the Mavs, who won by seven, but really we're up by 27, most of the second half. and now we're headed home to an interesting scene where McBan is. Hello, everybody. Yeah, joining us from Dallas, Texas, where he's just back from a week and a half on the road.

It was in Oklahoma City for the deadline, and is now in Dallas, where all eyes are about to turn is Ban McMahon. Howdy, partners? I hear there's a big party planned out there, Victory Plaza. I'm not sure if I'm invited or not. Well, I think you're invited. I just don't know how the reception will be if you go there. I don't know if I'd make it out of there because somehow, it's my fault that all my reporting was accurate and I was still shocked that Luca Dantisch got traded.

Yeah. Well, I hope cooler heads prevail in all this situation. All right, that's the Mavericks and Luca. We'll talk about that a little later. The prevailing thing about the trade deadline day, there was a number of deals, we'll get to them, was what didn't happen, which was Kevin Durant stayed put, and he was not happy he was put into trade talks. And I think, it's unpredictable what will happen for the next few months because it's the nature of the sport. But I think right now it's reasonable to forecast that Durant will be breaking up with the Sons in the summer. He didn't break up with them today, but it doesn't look good for the long-term forecast because he was really frustrated. And I've spent a long time today on the phone with people involved with this situation, people from Miami, people from Golden State, people from Phoenix, other people.

would just say that the biggest thing Kevin Durant was upset about, I think, was not knowing he was involved in trade talks. And whoever started, wherever at the stage of Kevin Durant's career he's at, I believe, boy, I'm getting into Dangerous Zone talking about what he wants. So I'm going to step back. Generically, a star player of his level when he gets to this, he likes to be involved in trade talks. He likes to, you know, and that was an issue. And so the thing about it was is that the Sons ended up not getting anything. They made one trade today, and it was a salary-dump trade sending Yusef Nerkich to Charlotte. They didn't improve the roster.

And meanwhile, you know, Miami and Golden State made other moves. So the Sons have had some wins in CERNs Actions Windows recently. They haven't had too many wins on the court, but they've won some transaction windows. They were a big loser in this transaction window, Bontemps. And there's no other way to put it. And life in the second apron is hard. Yeah, I mean, life of the second apron is hard, but there's lots of other teams that are in the second apron that are doing a lot better than the sons. And that's because the sons are paying the price for their sins for the past couple of years since Bata's Bia bought the team and is sold off just about every asset they had.

And in the course of doing so, has built a team that's not very good and has nowhere to go. And I think the sons, if it was me talking to the sons, if they called me and asked for my opinion, I would spend a, the next four months figuring out the best options that I could get, I guess five months till early June, that I could get for Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. And I would be trading them both this off season. And I would be burning this thing to the ground and starting it over, preferably getting my picks back from the Houston Rockets, who've been waiting there to get these guys, one of them at least, and actually build 18. Because there is no way that the Phoenix Sons can turn this into a team that can actually be competitive in the Western Conference.

This team is a borderline playing team right now. Kevin Durant is only getting older. They have no real, they have, you know, Brian Dunn's a nice role player. Alsoigado is a nice role player. This is not a group that is going to get better over the next couple of years. This is not a group that could compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder that could compete with the Houston Rockets, that could compete with the Memphis Grizzlies that can frankly compete with the LA Clippers. Like they're just not as good as these teams and they have to get out of jail free cards. One in particular in Devin Booker, one to a lesser extent in Kevin Durant. And they should, because of the way this week went, I think it's a bit of a blessing for

him to not get Jimmy Butler, to not go down this road of trying to extend this thing even further. And if they spend the next four or five months really figuring out, what is that? the absolute maximum we can get, get our picks back in this draft, get a high level lottery pick in this draft and start over, they can actually start to build something because they've spent two years going willy-nilly trying to build this thing on the fly. It's left them with a team that is nowhere to go, no flexibility, no ability to get better. And they now just have to face the reality of the situation they're in. They have to stop digging and they have to start climbing. And frankly,

the only way they can do that. It's not just by trading Kevin Durant. They have to trade both guys and they have to start off. I just have to say, Devin Booker, I don't think that they're going to trade Devin Booker. Devin Booker wants to be there. They should trade Devin Booker. They should trade him. Devin Booker wants to be there his whole career. I don't care. I don't care. So did, so did Damien Lillard was 10 toes down in Portland. KG was going to spend his whole career in Minnesota. after the facts said, man, I waited way too long. And their only way out is to go through a real rebuilding process because they are the most expensive mediocre team that we've ever seen. Right? And yes, microwave Matt Isbiyah has cooked a mediocre meal. That's just what's happened here.

Everything's boom, boom, boom, now, now, now, now, now. I'm the owner. I won a national championship of Michigan State. I know everything. I know how to run a team. I'm here. boom, I'm getting KD. Bradley Beal, everything's got to be right now. Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. And it's been a very quick descent into mediocrity on a team that's got its soul sucked out of it. And you've got three max players on that roster. You've alienated two of them without being able to move either.

I mean, what do you do? And like Booker, look, it's admirable, the loyalty, the desire to. have a Kobe like run. That one franchise thing is awesome when you're on a good team. It's misery when you're in mediocrity. And the time's going to come. Their way out of this thing is to do a real rebuild to take the route to Houston Rockets, who the Houston Rockets had a few absolutely awful years after James Hardin,

miserable years. And it was part of the plan. You've got to go through that. But you have to have your picks to do it, and you've got to get a bunch of other picks in the process. And that part of it would be the easiest part. It's actually the smartest thing to do would also be the easiest thing to do. It's called these rockets. Call them back because they've called you about Booker umpteen times and say, hey, we're willing to listen,

but it ain't just going to be about our picks. We want a whole bunch of stuff. Well, I want to be clear about something. I do admire Devin Booker's desire to want to be in Phoenix. And you can say that the Phoenix Suns don't want to trade Devin Booker. What I'm telling you is they need to figure out the only way out is through to quote Robert Frost. The only thing they can do is Robert Frost, the poet. I'm teaching you.

We're going back into the thesaurus today, not the dictionary. The only way out for the sons. There's a poetry in a thesaurus? I thought there are synonyms and stuff. Listen. The only way for the sons to dig out of this mess is to actually start digging out of it. And the Houston Rockets are the prime example of this, right? The Houston Rockets, yeah, they had Russell Westbrook that they got rid of for some stuff and some other ancillary stuff.

This whole Rockets thing started because they traded James Hardin for a ton of stuff. Because if they just keep Devin Booker and they sell off a 36-year-old Kevin Durant for some stuff and they have Devin Booker sitting there, they're not going to go anywhere. They're just going to continue to spin their wheels and be stuck in this position. That's why I'm saying, to me, it's a blessing that they didn't get Jimmy Butler. They didn't get any of these guys.

And they need to sit there and figure out that the only way for them to actually get anywhere is to tear this thing down and start over. And it'd be the best thing for Devin Booker, be the best thing for the Sons. And it's the only way that this thing is ever going to go anywhere. Well, that analysis is fine by both of you. I'm just telling you, Devin Booker that I know wants to be a Phoenix son for his whole career.

Well, it's not. Devin Booker doesn't have a no trade clause. Bradley Beale does. That's part of the problem they have. Luke Adoncho just wanted to be a Dallas Maverick his whole career. And I'm not saying that the Mavericks made the right call. But I'm just saying, unless you're Kyle Kuzma, if you don't have a no trade clause, you can't veto a deal. All right.

Well, anyway, we're not going to do a circular. the Suns had a bad deadline and they put so much work into trading Bradley B.O. I don't think they were ever close. I think there was, I think there was a couple of teams that didn't hang up the phone immediately and they tried a little bit and then they just got to the point where they're like, we can't. Well, look, and let's also, let's also point out, the Suns made a ridiculous trade trading this 2031 first round pick for three bad first round picks. And then, by the way, They traded a 2026 first round pick today to get rid of Yusuf Nerkich and locked up half their drafts again.

Like there just has not been a coherent vision and plan from the beginning. The thing about the, if they had a Butler trade in place where swapping the 31 pick out for the three first made it happen, then I would get it. But they made it on spec. You know, that's, you know. When they made the deal, it was like, okay, what are the? they have lined up. And then when the answer is nothing, you're like, really? If that 2031 pick is of significant value, because people are forecasting this gloom and doom if they don't blow it up

and rebuild. I talked to one team today that didn't hang up the phone immediately on Beal. And I, you know, now that everything's done, you get these debriefs. And I was like, well, tell me what your thought process was there. They go, you know, we looked at it because we thought it made some sense, but the pick offering was just so poor. We just said to them, because is there a way you could improve this? And they really couldn't. And, you know, I was, without revealing who I was talking to,

I'm not sure if the sons had even traded Ryan Dunn that they could have gotten a package together to get someone to take Bradley Beale. And that's tough. Bradley Beals got the worst contract in the league. So they went through that whole thing. they reached the dead end there. And really what you had was,

you had teams hedging on each other. You had Golden State was hedging because they were trying to get Durant out of one side of their mouth and trying to get Butler out of the other side of their mouth. And they were hedging both. And then for a while, they were trying to get Butler to get Durant.

You had Miami who liked what Golden State was doing, but Golden State was only going so fast because they were trying to do a Durant deal. And then they were also talking to Phoenix, thinking that maybe they could move Beal and they could get stuff there. So they're sort of hedging on both deals. And then you had Phoenix

who liked the idea of getting Jimmy Butler and stuff from the Warriors. Jimmy Butler Plus is what I've been calling it. But they also thought there was a possibility that they could move Beal and they could have Butler and Durant. So everybody was hedging. And so somebody was going to lose.

And the loser ended up being the sons in that. And now, Now you're stuck with Kevin Durant, who is disgruntled and rightfully so. You know, a superstar of that cow, like, that's the whole, like the whole reason the matter was kept their trade talks with Luca completely quiet is because if it didn't work out, you don't want to deal with it. Well, that's at least a part of the reason. Now you've got Kevin Durant. And you try to trade Beal for the last however many months. Try to trade Durant for the last whatever week, week and a half.

two weeks, whatever it was. And what are they going to do the rest of the season for this team that's now 500 after losing four of the last five? They're going to be thinking about where the hell am I going to try to get this summer? I mean, the only thing they did to improve really bad vibes is dump the mountain that was moping on the end of the bench. But, dude, that's nothing in comparison to, you know, two of your three stars that are, you know, have a right to be pretty pissed off.

Well, by the way, like, we've talked a lot about how much we respect the way Devin Booker goes about his business, right, all the way through. Like, he's been in Phoenix the whole time. He's obviously been an Olympian, won gold medals, been in the finals, like shows up, does his job, like exemplary pro all the way around, right? A couple of years ago, he's on a team that's in the finals. As McHale Bridges there, seems like it's got a runway to be a long-term contender, and he's a guy that's going to be there.

Like you said, McMahon, like all these guys who've been on a team for 10, 15 years and going to be on a consistent contender. And he has sat there and done his job while the whole thing has been immolated around him. Like, it is crazy to talk about trading a guy like Devin Booker when he wants to be on the team. But there is no other path out of this mess for the Sons. They can't do anything with this team. They are totally stuck. It's just a complete mess.

Like, I keep going back to the Rockets, but. Tillman Fritita had new owner syndrome. And he took over a team. The year that he bought the team was the year they won 60 whatever games, you know, won a hamstring away, lost to the Warriors after Chris Paul pulled his hand in all the series. The next year, you know, it was the bad vibes. And Chris Paul's the worst contract. Tillman had ever seen in business sports.

We're going to fix this and, you know, quick fix, blow up in their face. And he got humbled and he got the hell out of the way. Ishbia needs to be humbled and get the best. the hell out of the way and let basketball people run basketball operations. Not somebody who sat at the end of the bench. You don't learn how to run an NBA freaking front office sitting on the end of the bench no matter how good the team was in college. All right. Well, more to come on that in the coming months. But next, let's check out today's magic moment brought to you by State Farm. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. I'm the magic moment when the

the Charlotte Hornets phone rang and Rob Polinkas said, we want Mark Williams, boys. Yeah. I don't think he was available, but the offer that they got, they couldn't say no to. Well, they, the Hornets set a price, which was give us all the stuff Nico Harrison didn't get in the trade. And other than Austin Reeves. And Rob Polika said, sure, I'll give you all the stuff other than Austin Reeves in the trade. And look, this was a, I was.

I was driving home from the game in Philadelphia on Wednesday, and I started getting messages about the Hornets trade. And I thought people were, I was like, wait, do you mean the Pelicans trade to go, I mean we'll talk about the Brandon Ingram trade later, but I thought people are texting about that. And then I was like, wait a second. Then I got a phone call. I said, wait a second. This is what's happening. This is a completely off the board deal. And look, I mean, Charlotte, I think has done a remarkable job. We've talked about him before, the last couple of years. They've done a great job of consistently getting strong asset returns and trades. Mark Williams has missed 60% of the games that he's been eligible to play in.

He is a mountain of a human. He is going to be a big lob threat for Luca. He's going to throw down some massive dunks. He's also got some extraordinarily questionable defensive metrics. Some of his rim protection numbers are really bad. And he's going to be asked to be the anchor of a defense where right now you're talking about him being. out there with Austin Reeves, Luca Donchich, and LeBron James in front of them, all of whom not exactly defensive stalwarts. So that was a heck of a price to pay for a team that's far from a finished product and a guy that, while talented, has some real question marks about his game. It was a big price to pay. I think if you're looking at it from the Lakers standpoint,

you've got to look at it as part of the Luca trade. As you said, the, the Pils. the swap, Dalton Connect. Those are pieces that, frankly, you can argue the Maddox should have received in that deal. And if you're going to have Luca, you've got to give him a lob threat. I mean, he will maximize whatever lob threat he has. And, you know, I'm sure that the first thing he mentioned

when they're talking about Ross Construction. I hope they already knew. I saw some people like, Luca came in and said I need a center. Oh, really? Somebody write that down. Oh, okay. But, you know, like he lobbied for that for years and years and years.

That's true. In Dallas, and they finally went out and got him two last year, one in live in the draft and the deadline Gafford. But he's the best, he's the best pick and roll operator in the league. He's the, like, like I said, whatever Lop that he has, he's going to absolutely maximize. So if, you know, if this is a, they've essentially entered a, year and a half long sales pitch to Luca, right? Because we've talked about this. They don't have the

advantage that the Mavericks had of the Supermax to certainly keep him happy. I guess it can, you know, it could be a half-season sales pitch even because he can extend as soon as this summer. And, you know, when, and when Lucas says, hey, yeah, we obviously, I, dumb, Luca don't you should give me the best lot that you can find and they go out and get it done like that, It's a pretty good way to start off the partnership. Now, Williams has a lot of potential. And as you noted, bond temps, there are reasons for concerns. The health being number one.

And I don't know, man, one thing I did learn from last year is not to overrate awful defensive analytics on a terrible defensive team. PJ Washington came off that same Hornets team. His defensive metrics were god-awful. He came to Dallas and was a major, major part of their defensive turnaround. So I'm just saying, no, it's, atmosphere can influence all that stuff.

100%. Numbers can change. But it's, you know, he, he is a, he is a really interesting talent that is far from a finished product and is now being put in a position where he is the, he is the, you know, cornerstone partner with Luca Donchich. That is a, you know, if they had gotten Walker Kessler, I'm not saying Walker Kessler was available, but like we've seen Walker Kessler put up massive defensive numbers, right?

You could confidently say Walker Kessler could catch a lob and also be a true anchor of a defense. We have not seen that yet for Mark Williams. He may do that. He may get to L.A. and J.J. Reddick, who's known him since Duke, might be able to get him playing in a much different way, and this could all look great. Like, he is at least a young, exciting talent, but it was a heck of a swing for a Laker team that doesn't have a lot of swings to make. And as you said, they've got somewhere between six and 18 months, depending on when or

if they get Luka to sign an extension to show him, hey, we could build a team that's going to fit around you. And while, you know, getting a lob threat helps. It's got to be a lob threat that leads to winning games. and let's see what happens with that. Yeah, well, they're also going to have to extend them this summer. Did you mention that? I'm sorry if you did.

I didn't mention that, but yeah, I mean, we've talked a lot about the summer of 26, right? When all these guys are going to be available, Lukadotich could be a free stand, for example. And Mark Williams will be a restricted free agent that summer. And it makes an interesting situation for the Lakers, who just traded for this guy and in theory are invested quite a bit in him. But it might be better for them to wait and have a lower cap hold in that summer. summer if they want to try to get in free agency, which I suspect they might. Yeah, they don't, they don't have, they can extend them to the summer. They don't have to. Right. He could sign a rookie extension that would kick in the following summer. That's what Brian meant to be clear. Speaking of

summer 26, I'm just going to, I'm not going to focus much on this Clippers trade that they did today. The Clippers traded Terrence Mann for Bogdan Bogdanovich. But when the Clippers did the deal with, did the offer to Paul George, they wanted them to be, they wanted to be out of the money by 26. And then when they, when they let him go, that was part of the reason,

was because they wanted to have, they wanted to have their books clean up in 26. The Clippers have now made a second move where, because Terence Mann, his contract goes, I think, for four years. And Bogdan, Bogdanovich's goes for one more. And so one more,

he's next year. and so just just want to point out real quick you know we're way way way ahead of ourselves but if you if you look at the some of the other moves that they've that they've made like they sign james hardon you know he's if his contract is up in 26 actually uh normally summer he signed a one plus one right but you know yeah Norman Powell contract up in 26 they can extend them. I'm, you know,

just saying. There's a lot of teams that divide that summer. It's not just one, but something to watch. Yeah. Okay. So we'll see how that works out.

I'm looking forward to Luca. ESPN moved heaven and earth, or maybe not Earth. Maybe not heaven. Whatever it was. ESPN made a lot of moves

to get the Lakers game scrambled to be put on the air at 4 o'clock Eastern on Saturday, and then Luke's not going to pump. Hey, he's ducking Rick Carlisle. Because they're playing that it was a Pacers game.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You saw the jazz up next and said, they don't want to win. That'd be a good one to start out again. I am looking forward to seeing Luca play with LeBron and Mark Williams. It'd be entertaining as hell. Speaking of Luca, you've been with the Mavs the last couple days, Bontemp, so you're with him in Philly. Then you went up to Boston with them tonight where they had

really good win. You described a little bit of what it's like around there, but they're in a weird zone right now. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team. Like, imagine the anger at what happened when LeBron left, but the anger was directed at LeBron. Yeah. And it was in the off-season. Right. That is, that is, that's a good comparison to what I was going to say. Like, I was talking to some people about this today. And the crazy thing about this Lucidotac situation is exactly what you just said. When there have been these really acrimonious divorces in the past in sports, almost all of them are driven by the player. It's LeBron choosing to go to Miami. Durant. It's Shaquille O'Neal choosing to go to the Lakers. It's Kevin Durant, choosing to go to the Warriors. It's a guy saying,

I've been with the team for a long time, but you know what, I'm ready for something else. Or he asked for a trade. Are there some trigger where the hometown fans are upset at the player for leaving? There's very few instances where there is this kind of venom and vitriol over a trade. I can't think of one off top of my head. So the only one that I can think of for sure. sure is when the Mets traded Tom Seaver, which nobody listened to this podcast.

I remember it was before. NBA wise. We're right. NBA wise, these kind of guys don't get traded like this. But Tom Seaver wanted to stay with the Mets. He got traded because the GM wanted to trade him and got mad when he went to the owner and negotiated a contract. They traded him in the middle of the night and the fan base completely freaked out. The team cratered. The GM got fired.

Shea Stadium became nicknamed Grant's Tomb. like the whole thing turned into a potential, we'll see what happens with the Mavs over the next few years. But they trade Tom Seaver, everything goes to hell, and the fan base completely revolts on it. The only other things I could think of that compared to this in talking with a couple people today was when like the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis

and the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore. And it was like... Yeah, but again, that didn't... Okay, the Browns moving to Baltimore was interesting because, okay, that's a good comparison because it happened I know, but it happened in the season. That's the key.

It happened in the season. The Browns, I went to one of the games where they were lame duck. And the game was secondary to the message that was being sent to ownership. And so that's actually a very good comparison. They played against the Packers. Young Brett Farr killed them.

Nobody cared about the game. So that makes me wonder, McMahon, what you're walking into on Saturday. The game is, and what Anthony Davis does is like... It's Anthony Davis's debut in a Dallas uniform. That is such a secondary story. Like there are these massive, there's like this big protest plan. There's going to be, I promise you a ton of extra security. I would not look for Nico Harrison in his normal seat in like the third or fourth row.

I can assure you of that. And there's been some very unfortunate, you know, listen, I understand fan anger. That's when you're right. It's gone way, way, way too far in too many instances of, like, potential criminal type of stuff. Not potential. It could easily be criminal type of stuff. Well, there's some vandalism at the arena. That's criminal, right?

Yeah, much more serious than that at least in terms of. Yeah, more serious than vandalism. It's not great. It's not great stuff. And just stuff that's way over, way out of line. And, you know, if fans want to be mad at Nico Harrison, hey, you're within your rights. Like, he traded the face of your franchise, a guy you thought you were going to have for years and years to come and just took you to the finals. He didn't in the middle of the night.

And, you know, hey, he kind of shanked him on the way out if we're going to be completely blunt about it. I get the anger. But it's got to potential be a real. oxic atmosphere. Do you think Luca could say something to, would that help,

do you think? It's not his job. It's not his job. Oh, I'm not saying it is. I don't think it's up to him to say Dallas fans, you need to chill.

That's not a realistic expectation. I mean, it's a hypothetical that ain't going to happen. Yeah. I mean, it wouldn't hurt, but I don't know if it helps.

Like, he's still like, Lucas Sain's not going to put number 77 back. in a it's not going to stop any of the anger. The crazy thing about this, like from being around this team the last couple of days, like Tuesday night, the Mavericks lose to the Sixers. Kyrie Irving hadn't talked about this trade yet. He talked for 10 minutes.

I know it's a regular season basketball game, but they lost on a one possession game where they completely messed up the final possession. It didn't even get a shot off basically and lost, right? It's not like the Mavericks are in a position where they can just give away games right now. Kyrie talked for 10 minutes. The game was no one even considered asking him about the game. Anthony Davis was acquired by the Dallas Mavericks. Anthony Davis is one of the 75 best players in a history of basketball.

He's having probably the best of his career. He's in his prime. Yes, he's probably having the best season of his career. He's an awesome player. And Anthony Davis comes over to do media on Tuesday in Philadelphia. And Kyrie Irving is joking to the media saying, take it easy on. Like he's beat like they got a all NBA star player back in a trade, the kind of guy that when he shows up, people are usually like, oh man, Anthony Davis on our team, this is awesome. And instead, he's walking into a funeral.

It is the weirdest, most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Literally there was a casket at the protest the day after, at the arena the day after the trade. Yeah. What a casket. I mean, it's going to be nuts. Dude, I fly in from Oklahoma City tonight, and I'm waiting to get my bags, two of them, Wendy, didn't even bring that many shoes, but not nine-night trips. So I got waiting for my two bags.

Just keep those toes covered. And Jackson, I'll send you the pictures here, but there's a screen above the baggage claim. Welcome to Welcome home to McMahon. Is that what it said? No, certainly it was not that. hashtag M77L, a playoff MFFL, MFFL, Masked for Life, but it's 77. Wow. The slogan to the Choctaw Casino, and then it flashes to another screen, thanks for always going all in 77. It's like one of the first things you see when you fly to DFW.

Like, there has not been this kind of venom and anger and disgust and heartbreak in Dallas sports since egos caused the divorce of Jimmy and Jerry. And again, the similarity there is they weren't mad at Jimmy. They weren't mad at the guy who had brought him so much joy and success. You know, Louie didn't win championships, but man, he, I mean, the accomplishments, do 73 point game, you know, triple doubles, a 60 triple double, final run. That playoff run last year was so special for Dallas. It was a little bit unexpected.

And it just happened. Right, right? It just happened. They're still basking. Like, imagine if LeBron, like I remember LeBron in 2007, he makes that playoff run, they get swept, you know, disappointing. But like, imagine if LeBron was traded like a few months later. We've never seen a trade like this. Never seen this kind of talent traded it at 25 years old when he was shocked by it and was, I mean, the guy was about to buy another house.

You know? I mean, he was fifth in the straw pole. he was fifth in the straw pole, even after a rough start of the season. He was fifth in the straw pole six weeks ago. But again, we haven't seen this level of just fan vitriol here since the Jimmy Jerry thing. And that was all targeted at Jerry. They're so mad at the Mavericks. And frankly, at Nico specifically.

I don't believe Nico acted alone. I do not believe that. But he's the one who's, you know, I don't want to. go to that metaphor. He's the one who's taking the heat. They're so mad at him that Jerry Joan just made a tremendously unpopular coaching hire. It's like almost like we'll be pissed about that again after the mads are eliminated, you know? I also want to also want to read a quote from, I want to read two quotes from today. Because again, this trade happened six days ago, right? It's not like the trade happened yesterday.

Spencer Dinwiddy got asked this morning about the fan base's reaction to Luca getting traded. Quote, it's completely understandable. It shows what Luca meant to the community. It shows how much the fan base loves him and still loves it. I think for a fan base that had Dirk for 20 years and seemingly right when Dirk was about to retire, they got Dirk 2.0 in a sense. It's understandable. Nobody is mad at the Dallas fans for their reaction.

With something that's emotional, you have to give it a chance to process and feel and live in that moment. And then Clay Thompson got asked about this game on Saturday and asked what the atmosphere was going to be like. Quote, it's probably going to be a lot of heartbreak amongst the fans, probably some booze. But as a professional, you have to embrace everything and we're paid to play this game and perform at the highest level.

I don't know what to expect. I know Luca was so dear to every Mazz fan's heart. We've just got to win and do it on a consistent basis and give ourselves a chance to win the whole thing. And I think that will ease all the fans pain and anger it's going to be weird, but that's what we sign up for. These guys are talking like they're going on the road for a game. This is the weirdest story I've ever seen.

I've never seen anything like this. I think it'll be more hostile than any road game, certainly in the regular season that they would see. Occasionally in European soccer, because even though those teams have owners, they're very much more seen as public trusts. And so occasionally you will see like a backlash against the board or the chairman or the owner or whatever. And there will be a game where all of the fans will use the game as an, they'll forget about the game itself.

And they'll use the entire game as an opportunity to send a message to ownership. By the way, those messages are often very powerful and tend to work. In this case, it's not something we're used to seeing in America. And I don't think it can do anything. It's all symbolic. So I don't know how long it'll last. About the backlash, they literally are giving refunds to people who cancel season tickets. And what's happened here is people, there's a lot of people who have been Mazz fans since they were kids,

that once this went down, they decided they're bigger fans of Luka than they are of the Mavericks. And as much as, you know, like if you're a Mavericks fan, if you're basically any team's fan other than a Lakers fan. You despise the Lakers. They're the Yankees or the Cowboys, Notre Dame, whatever. You either love or me, hate them. All these people who have hated the Lakers are now like, damn, I guess are we Lakers fans now? Like, what's happening here? It's just such a weird, it's just such a bizarre existence for the Mavs to be in it. And like, I don't, I don't really know how long it's going to be like this. I don't think they're going to go home and play one game and this is just going to go away.

Like, I think it'll go away eventually. My God, what happens of Luca on Monday? What happens if he's, what happens if he puts up like 48 points? He's going to. They're playing the jazz. He's going to have a huge game. This is what I was going to ask you, McBan. What?

Because I don't really know the answer. Like, is Anthony Davis going to get booed? I don't think so. I think that would be very strange if he did, but I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That's going to be interesting. I don't think.

But he's mad at Anthony Davis. Right. But it's like it's. And again, we're talking about the match traded for Anthony Davis and the guy might get booed for getting traded to a team. He might get booed because he represents. Yes. Trade.

I don't think there's any venom directed towards. Oh, I mean, that would be the same. I think he, I think he will get booed. I just can't wrap my head around this store. Like it really feels like a team getting ripped away. from a city, but the team is still there. I can't. And all these players are acting like

it's just crazy. There's just crazy. There's is that, oh, this is all because the Texas gambling stuff, they're trying to get the laws changed and going well. They're trying to take the team to Vegas. Like, dude, that's not happening. I mean, the NBA is not having a team move from Dallas to Las Vegas. I will not entertain any of this conspiracy BS.

The stuff that I've reported is the reasoning, people, I understand you're shocked. I understand you think it's completely ridiculous. The Mavericks decided they didn't want to be in the Luke of Donchich business because they didn't believe in him because they didn't think he was ever going to change his habits. They felt the condition was always going to be a problem and they believed that his body's going to break down and they didn't want to pay him $350 million. We can go around and around and discuss all the different routes he could have taken,

And even if they're right about all those things, the ways they could have gotten more on the return. Of course, the timeline. But those are the reasons. That's right. They made their choice and they are now living with it. And it is just the most bizarre. Like, haven't been around it the last couple days. I wish I was going to be at this game on Saturday because I feel like it's going to be a once in a lifetime deal.

I really, I really can't even imagine what it's going to be like. Because I have never seen a team that's reacted like just to a trade. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it. All right. Well, we'll talk more about that. Hang in there, McMahon. There was a trade that happened late Wednesday night that we didn't get a chance to talk about. It's a significant trade, and I think it's going to result in a nine-figure contract.

And that's Brandon Ingram, who'd been available for weeks, months, going to Toronto. This is a strange trade. The Raptors are supposed to be tanking. It was a smart move to tank. They traded away Seacum and Ogen, Anobi last year. They had some injury problems this year, but they were absolutely losing like crazy. They were right in position to be a primary,

in the top three for the Cooper flag sweepstakes. And then they start winning recently. They had some wins. You know, they got a little healthier. Scotty Barnes started playing really well, and they got some wins. And then they went and trade for Brandon Ingram. And I don't know, is the contract done yet,

Bontemps? I heard the contract figures, like what they're negotiating, but I don't want to say it if it's not done. I don't know. I don't know if an extension is done. What I will say is Brandon Ingram was available to be traded for for a long time and was not traded for a long time. And now he's been traded to a team that sent a first round pick out to acquire him.

And Missou Jerry sent a very praiseful message out, with the release announcing the trade, and I would be very surprised if Brandon Ingram is not extended by the practice. It sounds like they're going to do a multi-year deal that is worth nine figures. I'll just leave it at that without getting too aggregated. I covered the historic night of Brandon Ingram's last appearance in a Pelican's uniform. When he sprained his ankle? When he sprained his ankle, yeah, it's Oklahoma City Thunder.

Well, look, the- Not a long time with that sprained ankle. Listen, that's what I'm saying. Is that, you know. is you going to be right to roll? Was it to be amazing if he signed that contract and came blasting out in square 37? Well, listen, you said the rest of the season will recover

and they can get back in that Cooper flag. Good point. So, Brian, so you said the Raptors are trying to tank, right? So I think if you go back, if you go back and look at how this is all played out, you know, for a year, for a couple of years before they traded Pascal Seaccom and OJN and O.N and O.G.N.O.B. and Fred Van Fleet left in free agency. There was kind of this, well, they won't they thing with Messiah, and the Raptors?

Are they going to move on from the remnants of the title team, right? They'd slowly started, traded some of the guys, and then they eventually finally pulled the plug last year. They trade OJN and Obie for a package, including Emmanuel Quickly and R.J. Barrett. They trade Pascal's Psyakum for a bunch of first round picks. They take one of those picks now, trade him for Brandon Ingram. They have Grady Dick, who they drafted in the lottery.

They've got Scotty Barnes, who obviously they just gave a max contract to. They're going to have a top pick in this year's draft. And I think the plan for the Raptors is you've got Scotty Barnes, you've got him in a quickly, you've got Grady Dick and RJ Barrett. You have Yacquhartal signed on a multi-year deal. They really like him as their center. Now they sign, they get Brandon Ingram.

They're going to sign him. They're going to draft this guy in the top five to 10 in the draft. That's their rebuild. That's their team. They clearly believe that Scottie Barnes, or whoever they get in this draft are going to be good enough to be the guys on the next really good Raptors team. So by doing this trade and getting Brandon Ingram, clearly Missai Ujiri is betting on Brandon Ingram. Like I said, he put out a very strong pro-Brandon-Inger statement announcing the trade.

And it's a big bet on Scotty Barnes being able to become a top 10 or 15 player in a league. And a guy's good enough to be on that kind of team. In a vacuum, the Raptors have never been able to be a free agent. destination. I guess they, you know, whatever. This is a free agent move, really. They acquire his rights and they're going to sign him. So they see an opportunity to get a high-level player.

I get that. But they shouldn't necessarily be doing free agency now anyway, even if they were a high why not why not because of the tank i i'm not sure that this team is is good enough is that i'm not sure that you should be proud of that rebuild now if again they get cooper flag but well but again that's what i'm but that's what i'm saying they will they have said from the moment they traded oj nanovia and pascal siacum about a year ago now right they made it clear this was not going to be a three or four year awful, be bad three or four years in a row thing. Now, you can argue whether they should do that or not. Everybody says that. Everybody says that. Well, okay, but the Raptors,

actions over words. The actions of the Raptors were, they traded O. G. Anobie for Emanuel quickly. They gave him $170 million, right? They treated him like a guy they think is a high level starter at the point. They have Scotty Barnes. They drafted fourth overall. They gave him a max contract. They clearly think he's going to be a perennial all-star kind of player. They now signed Brandon Ingram. They're going to give him a bunch of money. They clearly think he's a guy that can lead them back to being a playoff level team. And they're going to end up with a high pick in this year's draft, whoever it is. And they're going to believe that guy could be a guy that is a high-level player down the road. And that Scotty Barnes in this year's

draft pick, those are going to be their two high-level swings. Like that, whether it works or not, one thing, but that's pretty clearly through their actions what the Raptors are going to do. And they're going to put their foot down starting this summer. And I think next year, the expectation should be that Toronto's going to be in the playoffs. That's what they're projecting that they're going to be in the top eight in the east. Well, it's not, considering there's three or four teams that are in just the same boat as them, basically, it's not as hard to get to the top eight in the east. So. Well, but that's, I mean, but that's, if you're doing this Brandon Ingram thing, you're not.

doing it to be a 25-win team next year in theory. Like, they're going to be brushing up against the luxury tax. I mean, okay, then they could have done it in the summer and not got them. They already have all these contracts on their books and they couldn't sign them as a free agent. That's why they did it down. They could sign and trade. And that's. But they traded Bruce Brown, who's an expiring contract.

Like, that's true. They had to do it now, which is why they went and got them now. That's true. You're right. More Hoop Collective Podcast after this. Okay. Yeah. All right. One of the significant moves of actual deadline day that happened today was the Cleveland Cavs acquiring DeAndre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks. They sent Caris Lavert, who's having a great year. Also, DeAndre Hunter is having, if he's not having the best year of his career, he had some good years when he was a starter. He's having one of the best years of the bench players in the East. And DeAndre Hunter is having the best year of his career. for the for the for the for the for the hawks the cab sent three for three second round picks um carous

subvert george niang and a couple of pick swaps the g wagon baby got a pack up the g wagon the g wagon heading for i 75 south um uh the the the the pick swaps are swaps on swaps which swaps on swaps in the second round wow no the first round. Oh, they have a first round, my bad. Yeah, the cats have already swapped the, those picks with Utah. Yeah. So they give, um, after they swap it with Utah, they give Atlanta the opportunity to then re-swath. So they're basically getting swaps with Utah is essentially what they did. The Hawks can get Utah's picks. Yes, that's correct. Yes. Utah's draft position. Yeah. Yeah. So not probably a ton of value in those at this time.

2028 who knows who knows where things are but anyway um this is the calves recognizing that they think they've got a chance to win the whole thing they think they need size in the perimeter um hunter i believe is listed at 6-8 um he and and like a big strong 6-8 yeah and he's he's one of these guys who has all the physical tools but doesn't rebound as as well as you think he should, despite his physicality, doesn't generate steals like you think he should, doesn't. No, he does one thing. He shoots when he's had a great shooting season.

He guards too. He doesn't do a lot of guarding. He's had a great shooting season. But this, look, this is a fascinating deal on a variety of fronts. First off, I give the Cavs a lot of credit for making the deal, whether it works out or not, because they're 41 and 10. it would be extraordinarily easy to just say, hey, we've got a great team. We're not going to rock the boat.

We're not going to do anything with this group. We're just going to ride it out and see how it is. But we have talked a whole season about how the calves are pretty light in size on the perimeter. And in taking Karras Devert and turning them into DeAndre Hunter, they are getting a guy who's a legitimate three, who is a, you know, shooting 39% from three this year on almost seven attempts a game. Quinn Snyder has really cleaned up his shot chart.

He was taking a lot more mid-range jumpers in the past. He's taking a ton of threes. Not a pretty toes guy. He needs to get behind that three-point arc. Yes. This is just never going to stop. Please don't. I want to keep it going.

He's had, he's averaging 19 a game. He's had a great year for the Hawks. But he is a guy who has had a ton of injury concerns over time. he's played over 60 games in his career twice. He's on pace to play 59 this year. And he is an iffy defender. But look, he gives him some positional size on the wing. He does give him a knockdown shooter with size, which will help.

And again, like- The reason he was a fourth overall pick is because he had big-time defensive potential. So if he defender, whatever, there's, he has potential to be an impact. I agree. I agree. Look, I mean, he has more defensive. potential than Carous Levert. And he's bigger than Carus Levert.

And that's why they made the trade because they're going to be playing teams like the Knicks with O'GN and Obie McHale Bridges and the Celtics with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown and maybe the Oklahoma City Thunder with Jalen Williams and these other big, you know, big physical wings there. And they needed more size on the wing. And like I said, I give the calves a lot of credit for doing this trade because they didn't need to do it. Nobody would have said, boo, if the calves,

did nothing today and rode this out, maybe made a small move to get under the tax and said, hey, we love our team. We're just going to see how it goes. This is a gutsy swing to change the makeup of the locker room, to make an addition, you know, take on some future money. This is, it's a, it's a very, very interesting trade. So the interesting thing is the calves had sort of three assets that were attractive in trade. One was Keros-Livert, its expiring contract, is having a good year.

two is their rookie Jalen Tyson who's looked okay in some moments he's not a guy who would have a lot of value but he would sort of represent a first round pick and a deal and then they have one first round pick that they can trade I think it's 2030 or 2031

they got DeAndre Hunter by only trading one of those three things and I mean we're just going to we're just going to dis bang bang like that well you might have the high you might still have the winning percentage of this decade.

Well, I will say this. You know, one of the things about whatever you want to say about George Nyang, he makes 40% of his threes and, you know, the Hawks would, well, they need shooting and they'll gladly accept it. Quinn knows what is getting me at him in Utah. The Hawks had a bit of a strange day today. I mean, they make this DeAndreya Hunter trade. They get back Harris LeVruitt and George Nyang.

Then they get back Terrence Mann and another deal. I honestly haven't even looked at their roster. I'm going to look at it now. I mean, they have a, they have a funky. team now that I was talking to somebody in Atlanta and I go I don't really know what your rotation is right now and he goes that's okay neither do we figure it out it is a strange it is a strange Quinn might need the Quinn might need the red glasses to uh well then tell you see obviously in those yeah so um but um you know the one thing is going to happen here i mean

this was probably already going to happen but by taking on Hunter, the calves are now ticketed for the second apron. Because Evan Moby's deal will come on. Extensions for Jared Allen and Donna of the Mitchell are coming. They're at 202 guaranteed million dollars for eight players. If you're going to be a second apron team, you better be a contender. They've got the best record in these now. They have, and Kenny Atkinson was pretty honest about this,

they've struggled against the elite teams. You know, I was up there when the Celtics beat them recently, lost a couple times recently to... That was just like two days ago. Recently. It was recently. Hey, it's been a long two days. Oh, my God.

Yeah, that's right. You know, so they've, and he talks about like they've really got to dig in and kind of learn from that. And I would guess that's something that they dug in and learned is, hey, we need to get bigger and a little bit more athletic on the wing. Well, by the way, who did they, I mean, they played the Celtics Tuesday. They made this trade today. Like, whether, whether there is true causation of that or not, like, it's hard to look

at that and say they looked at that game, had another struggle against them, and said, we got to do something to beef up our perimeter rotation. I'll say this, too, like, they looked at several options. I know that they were one of the teams in talks with Memphis about Marcus Smart. Marcus Smart ended up getting kind of quasi-saleary dumped to Washington. Not quasi. Quasi. I love Marcus Smart, but that was a salary.

He got sent to Siberia. It didn't work out in Memphis. The Cavs could have done that deal. They could have gotten Marcus Smart and the draft pick. Well, and frankly, they went with Hunter instead. Well, who's bigger, who's a better shooter. and who is having a better year and by far. And is, you know, Marcus Smart is dealing this finger thing now.

I don't know, like, it might linger for a while now. There's a reason why Memphis gave up a first round pick. You're saying on that flight to D.C. That that finger might get aggravated. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, well, the middle one might get some work on the, you know, as he's leaving Memphis. Yeah, there's a reason to first went with Marcus, and there's a reason seconds went out to get the honest. And listen, Mark and Sart lost his starting job to a second round draft pick who's a rookie.

Now, Jaylon Wells ain't your normal second round draft pick rookies. He's going to be a starter for a long, long time. But he lost his starting job. I will say this. The Wizards acquired, I think, two firsts and pick swap and a bunch of seconds, although they traded four seconds. There's a bit of a weird trade from Philly today where Philly. It wasn't, yeah, I mean, do you want me to explain it? Quickly.

So the wizards have a ton of seconds. They didn't have any extra first. The Sixers had a very cheap extra first. It's basically, almost certainly going to be Oklahoma City's first in 2026. They give the Wizards that pick. They get four second round picks. They get a bunch more seconds. The Wizards get extra first.

The Wizards made a bunch of moves to get extra first today. They clearly wanted to get some extra first round picks. that's the train. Yeah, but I just, here's the thing about the Wizards. They got a couple of first round picks in their dealings today, but they also wanted

to get some veterans. And they, so they got Chris Middleton and they got Marcus Smart. And they could have traded Malcolm Brogden to Memphis, but they didn't. And from what I understand

talking to people in Washington, like they wanted to keep Malcolm Brogden because they wanted veterans on their team. And I think they're a little tired of getting their asses kicked by 15 every game. And so- 15. Boy, I saw it come in here. And that was when Clay had 20 on in the first quarter, and that was all she wrote. So I think they would like to not equal the 72, or is it 71, 72-76ers? They need a couple more wins to do that. Yeah, they don't have to sweat whether they're going to have

maximized lottery rights at this point. They've got to avoid the gate in five. Are you still- Listen, Chris Middleton. Are you using the lizards on NBA 2K? You know, my son and I have mostly been focusing on soccer recently. We haven't transitioned to much basketball. But I told you they updated the game, and Kisbert has lost his Steph Curry qualities. And that was really turned off by that. And that's probably impact his on-court performance.

So you're in part responsible for this miserable season, Washington's experiencing. That Marks Smart's going to help him turn around. Yes. It's extremely frustrating that my secret weapon in that game against my son went away. Yeah, you let them win anyway. That is correct. You know, you don't let your sons win. Listen, got to compete.

Yeah, well, anyway. So the calves feel like, the calves obviously feel like they can win the east. And they believe this move can help them. We'll see is the long and short. of it. Is there anything? For him for doing it, though. I think it will help them.

Is there anything I'm forgetting from today, guys? I don't know. It's been a long day. I think there should be five for the land and put DeAnd a hunter up on that big old band. I think so. The only other deal we haven't talked about is, because you mentioned, Middleton, it was Middleton for Coos, and we'll talk about Kyle Coosman in

the future. So you'll see what that looks like. Yeah, we'll see how that works in Milwaukee. All right. That'd be his first game for Hueby Brown's last game Sunday. Sixers Bucks in in Milwaukee Sunday afternoon. Great Hubie Brown

final broadcast. Great man, Hughie Brown. All right. Thank you to Jackson for a lot of... Hold on. Hold on. Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on, Compaidre. Oh, sorry. Now, before our guy gets launched into his whatever toe joke he makes about the

Cajonis Factor, Oh, the legend, Mike Walschuski has created a intro for the con. I said, look, there's the dance. I told Jackson, Walschewski, I saw him in a recent Nick game. He said, oh, man, hey, listen, I'm going to send you a bumper for the Cajonis factor. I said, you don't know how happy Big Man is going to be that he's got his own theme music now for this thing. No, not my own theme music. That's been banned.

Well, that's true. When you listen back to the podcast, you will hear the dulcet tones of Mike Walschewski right now. It's now time to reveal the winner of the Kohannas Factor Player of the Month with your moderator, Bad McMahon. Three point goal. There you go, McMahon. All right. We ready for this? Yeah.

It'll be a quickie because we're a little bit late on this. The beginning of February, kind of snuck up. a lot has happened this week by the way this is why i made sure that we did cahones factor this month because he'd sent he got me this the beginning of january and i was like all right make sure we get in for february all right you know the month yeah so this is january going on his factory player of the month and there is one of the guy who's got some of the prettiest toes in league a mid-range master who's going to get the brown balls the brass balls My bad. My bad.

And, well, he's going to get all these clutch shots now once again, because the guy who's been a clutch player of the year got shipped out of Sacramento, baby. It's DeMar DeRosen's show to close again. And for good reason, fellas, the Kings, they've been winning those close games lately in large part because DeRosen, 27 points plus 35 in 29 clutch minutes last week, brass balls for Demar DeRosen. you know what i my research has been a little bit sloppy here i forgot to uh i had this looked up i got

like a million and six windows open but did you guys see tray young's 49 foot uh game winner i sure did and he gave it the old ice the old ice the old ice tray man the light still the ice though the ice does have a you know could have a shrivelling impact oh man i i did i yeah oh What have I done? I had the longest, the longest buzzer beaters dialed up. Darius Garland hit a 31 footer in Calf's Corner to beat them pistons. We mentioned that.

The Cajonis Factor, the Cone's Factor reasoning changes for month to month. There's different, different criteria in every time. No, it's clutch and swag. Now we're talking about hitting 50 footers. No,

it's, it's, this is clutch and swag and, oh, let me, oh, I can't believe. Oh,

here we go, here we go. where is it right okay but the little trivia like a grandfather right now where is where is my stuff in here i can't find it because i closed a bunch of windows because i looked and it was like you have 96 windows open i'm like jesus and then like honestly like probably 22 of them were basketball reference i'm like okay this is i love basketball reference.com a 22 basketball reference windows is probably just a little no wonder the site's been running slow this is such a dog show i tried to open I tried to open a page today.

It didn't work. Listen. I don't know why. Buzzer beater in NBA history. Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? I have no idea.

It's recent. Devante Graham hit a 61 foot. Oh, yeah, right. Against the third. This one is much more. What about Max? Didn't Max Drew sit like a seven? Okay.

Yeah, against the, against the cows. It's right. Right in Tim Hardaway Jr.'s last year over over the Mavericks. Mahmood Abdul-Rawu, 55 feet. feet. Oh. Dr. J. Another one against the Mavericks, 53 feet.

Tyree Kevin's 50, and then you got Tray Young at 49 feet. So because he had the eighth longest one ever, he gets the silver or the brass. He also had 20 points on 10 field goals and 13 nutcutting minutes. That was pretty big. Yeah, dude, you hit a 49. 13 minutes in the entire month? Nutcutting. No, a nut cutting.

Yeah, which is final three within a bucket. But yeah, you hit a 49. footer, you're going to be a pretty damn at the buzzer? A 4-9-foot buzzer? I'll tell you something. Tray got snubbed for the All-Star game. He's had a bunch of clutch baskets. You can say a lot of stuff about Trey Young. He is not afraid.

Yeah, you can't question the size of those Cajonnes. So he was the silver medalist here. The gold medal winner. This guy's going to want a lot of awards in his career, but this will always be one of the best for him. you guys know I've had a fondness for this fellow for some time. Hold on him in Tom. Oh.

He's tall. He's also really, really good. Listen, man, I'm in Thompson. To hit the game winner in Boston, the way that he did where he just, I mean, Jalen Brown is still looking for his jockstrap because he just kind of snatched it back, winning that little floater boom.

Also, Imeudoka calls that play out of the timeout for the rookie. Yes. Oh, second year guy, but yes. Oh, you're right. For the young guy, he makes it, and Ime strides just sort of gets his victory, sniffs and strides off the court. It was he just, he loved, he was reveling at that moment. The other thing is.

I don't think they've won sense, by the way, but it was great. I don't know if it's a bold statement or not, but Amit Thompson is their best player and he needs to be a permanent member of the starting line no matter who is healthy. Well, we've said that like... Well, I know, but it's just... I mean, he's ascended in the last six weeks. What was your bold statement?

No, I think he's unquestionably now their best player. Well, I think it's going to be hot in Texas this summer. I said I don't know if it's a bold statement or not. That's why I was asking, I was seeing what your opinion was as the Rockets expert. I would agree with that. and there are prominent people in Houston who would agree with that. The other thing that I really loved about that, Amman first and foremost is a defensive stopper. He had just given up a bucket.

I don't remember if it was Brown or Tatum, but one of those guys had just been able to drive and finish over him. And anytime Amman gives up a bucket, like he has to deal with the sneer and the stare and probably during a timeout some words from a, from Imeo doca. Because, you know, as, as Rafael Stone told me, and EME's mine, Alman should never get scored on. So the way...

Emmaudoka is probably the most aggressive coach in the league at instantaneous accountability during time. So the way that he responds to that, Eme is like, I wouldn't be surprised if he actually said, hey, you owe me one. I'm putting the ball on your hands. Go make something happen. And he did.

He lost 13 points, 20 nutcut minutes. He makes plays all over the place. This might be his greatest honor thus far. So far, like I said, I mean, he's going to win a lot of them, but this is going to rank up there pretty high forever. The gold medalist for the January Cajonis Factor players. That's a special place in your heart. That's right.

All right. A special thank you to Jackson, our producer, for doing a lot of extra work this week with the extra emergency pod. and whatnot. Thank you. Maxis the best. Thank you very much for listening to them. And it's a tough week for all of us. Three o'clock wake-ups for me to go and get up.

Our lives are fine. We're not going to whine. I like it. We're not going to whine about a hard one. I'm not whining about. Am I whining? I'm not whining. You said it's a tough week.

It's not a tough week. It's a tough week. Anyway. Shut of Bon Tim's. And, you know, McMan's traveled all over the place giving us a lot of extra coverage bond temps to travel all over the place

so thanks for with the reason I mean I don't want to get all sappy here I am sleep deprived but the reason we do it is because we love the connection we have with you guys and so we thank you for listening to us during the trade deadline season

and I look forward to not talking about trades starting tomorrow reason I'm doing it's because I'm going to contract year and I got one kiddie house down and three more on the way I ain't sappy about nothing I'm trying to be 10 toes down with a new contract I'm trying to get paid hey pre-order the wonder boy I've got a scramm to write a final final chapter next week I love the final I know the final just throw in a random plug all right here comes here comes one more man is 10 toes down wherever will get paid offers are open there's one more plug thanks for watching the hoop collective

by State Farm. We'll talk to you next week. Adios amigos.