Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - Lakers Far From Contention + Are The Warriors Stuck? Tatum To Return?

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss LeBron’s comments about how far the Lakers are from contending for a championship before discussing if the path to that goal includes LeBron. Then, we talk if the Warriors are stuck in their current position and if they will ever contend with Steph Curry again. Next, we break down the potential for a Tatum return including what impact it could have on Boston. Finally, we react to the brawl in the Pistons-Hornets game before reacting to some All-Star weekend events. 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. Hello, welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, what you're doing on Tuesday afternoon. Doing it a little bit earlier than normal because I'm getting on a flight to L.A.

And I believe that there's so many stresses that you can not control when you travel. But one stress that you can control is how early you get to the airport. That's right. I said it. I'm an early airport guy. Joining us from New York City, it's Tim Bottoms. Weren't you just in L.A.? Brian?

I was in LA 36 hours ago when I'm headed out. McMahon said, come on out. And so here I come. All right. Hello, everybody. Joining us from Los Angeles, where I'll hopefully be in that very hotel later tonight is Ban McMahon. Howdy, partners.

Just fully agree with you on the early arrival to the airport. If you've got to check a bag, I'm a two hours early guy. The best thing about being early is you can't be late. my our friend of the pod our co-worker who's currently on paternity leave olme young with sook he thinks it's a failure if he's not walking onto the plane as they're closing the door so i would say sprinting out of the plane yeah as the plane is if he's not if if if if there if he doesn't hear final call while he's in the um the in the terminal he thinks that he's wasted time in his life and then you got to like elbow and move stuff around and the overhead bin like anyways it doesn't care it's a bad

That's a bad policy. Doesn't care. All right, McMahon, you were at the Thunder Laker game on Monday night at Crypto Arena, crypto.com arena. The Lakers had won three games in a row, and, you know, they were some feel that they were getting some traction. You know, they'd been changing up their defense recently. Their defense had been creeping into the, they really were like top 10 defense for like

the last 10 games. J.J. Reddick had really been rolling up his sleeve. and putting in some zone defense, you know, really trying to figure out ways to change his personnel. Part of it may have been because Aiden's been missing time lately, but that's neither here nor there.

He's been playing Maxie Kleba. And it was like, wow, the Lakers, you know, because, you know, one of the things about the Lakers is every conversation that we have about them, you know, it's like, I'm like, well, I can't take them seriously if they're ranked 25th in defense. But I had to acknowledge,

like they were getting better. I was talking to one of their coaches the other day, and he was praising JJ. He's like, JJ has done some of his best coaching this last month. Like, you know, and so now they get the thunder. They get the thunder at home without SGA and McMahon.

Not only did the thunder win, although Jalen Williams did come back and had a good finish, and I'll hear about you from that. But after the game, LeBron James says, remember when I like went viral because I said the,

The Celtics were a championship team and the Luca led the Luca led Lakers where Mavericks were not. The winner's tunnel is there. The losers tunnels that way. Yeah, well, I was a little bit triggered by the performance by your favorite Slovenian that night. Anyway, LeBron last night was like, you want to, you want to me to compare us to them? That's a championship team right there and we're not, McMahon.

Yeah, Jackson Hayes is now my favorite Slovenian, although didn't like the cheap. Didn't like the cheap shot on G-Wiz. No, but LeBron. Real quick, as a side, because Jackson Hayes was just completed the paperwork or whatever to become a Slovenian. He can join the Slovenian national team for Luca, which I'd like to say is one of the smartest things Jackson Hayes has ever done, because I think he just secretly signed a contract extension. I don't actually mean he signed at aggregators, but it's sort of, it's going to tie him to Luca. Leave it at that.

Shout out to Bill Duffy, the agent he shares with Luca, who I'm sure pointed out to him, potential benefits of that. Wise work on all parties. But here's LeBron's quote. And, okay, I'll just read it. You want me to compare us to them? That's a championship team right there. We're not.

We can't sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes, and they can. That's why they want a championship. All right, a couple things. I wasn't in the Lakers locker, and I went to the thunderside. But I was told LeBron was in a mood, you know, kind of grumpy. You know, he's an old guy.

You know, there's a lot going on, like a little bit grumpy. So consider that as the context. But what he said is a simple fact, dude, the Lakers got bounced in the first round last year and probably are getting bounced in the first round this year. They're not close to a championship team. And okay, sweet, 10 games of improved defense. They're a bad defensive team. I was talking to somebody last night, somebody from another team who was in the arena.

And he was like, I like Karnar for them on offense, but he didn't really fit with them defensively. And I'm like, no, he fits right in with them defensively. And then he said, you know. They were like, hey, what we need here is more one-way players. Can anybody go get us more one-way players? At least he's a shooter. He is. At least he's a lights-out shooter.

He said the Lakers stars will probably love Kinnar because he will space the floor. And when he's on the floor, they won't be targeting Luka or Austin. Reed or LeBron. That number 10 is going to hold a eye on it. But, look, man, we all understand the Lakers are a roster remodeling around Luca and Austin Reed's away from being in the conversation of contenders. And I think part of LeBron's grumpiness, and this is obviously speculation, I'm not inside his head, part of his grumpiness is probably the realization that he's not going to be part

of that. Like, he's very, I won't say it's not going to happen for certain, but it's very unlikely. that he's back with the Lakers next season. He's not going out in L.A. on his own terms. I mean, a guy like LeBron, typically every step of the way. I don't think, just for the record,

I don't think anybody knows this is going to happen for next season. So just... Okay. The man's making $51 million. They've got to drastically remodel the roster. Well, that I agree with. Well, that I agree with.

He's not going to be making $51 million for the Lakers next season. That much is clear. I think the rest of it is up in the air. And listen. Okay. But my point is, none of it is on his. his terms for the first time in his 23-year career? I mean, that's been the case from the moment Anthony Davis has traded for Luca Dachich,

which is why this has been an awkward calendar year, right? That's been the story of the Lakers ever since the moment that trade was made when the Lakers were at the garden a year ago. And for the first time in his life, probably since he was eight or nine or ten years old, it wasn't about LeBron James. It was about Luca Dantzich and LeBron James was a secondary piece. It's been like that ever since. The only change I would give to what you said before, McBan, is a successful remodeling of the roster around Luca Dantich and Austin Rees.

Because, again, as I've said several other times, and I think it bears repeating, the Lakers obviously have a ton of work to do to get to the level of these elite teams in the West. It's also very hard work. Like, I know they're in L.A. I know they have some cap space. I know they have a couple draft picks, but they need a lot of stuff. They need multiple high-level two-way wing players. Those are really hard to find. They need to get much better at center.

That takes real assets. There are several teams. We just saw what the Pacers paid for Vita Zubots. We saw what the Wizards paid for Anthony Davis. Like to get a, well, listen, they still took on the money and two first round picks. Like, you can trade for Anthony Davis and have all the cap space going away if you want. Like there's a lot of teams around the league. You know, Atlanta doesn't have a center.

They're looking for a center. There's a lot of teams around the league going. how are we going to find a big to plug in and have a chance to be a really good team? The Lakers aren't the only one doing that. Now, obviously, they have Luka, who's going to turn that guy into a production machine. But it isn't just as simple as, oh, hey, the Lakers are going to go into this summer. They got their cap space. They got some picks.

They're going to remake this roster, and they're going to immediately be right up there with the thunder and the spurs and the nuggets and these teams in the West. It's going to be a real challenge for them to pull off this fix. And it's for all the reasons LeBron said, you watch them play the Thunder even without guys. And it's just not, it's very obvious. They're a clear level or two below. As a quick aside, we're talking about this summer and centers. One thing that there's been some chatter about in the league in the wake of the Utah Jazz move to trade for Jaron Jackson. So though Jaron Jackson makes $50 million next year, Lowry Marketing is in the 40s.

Walker Kessor of a restricted free agent. I don't know. How much of the Jazz going to be able to pay? him. Listen, here's what I'll tell you. The Jazz have a number of mine. I think they are comfortable in the 25 million per range. And Walker Kessler and his reps at CAA believe he is worth much, much more than that. Now, some options have disappeared, but I'm just telling me that that's going to be a potentially very tense and extended restricted free agency process. This is a conversation we'll have later. I would just say that restricted free agency sucks, but there's one narrow little lane

on the far left lane of the highway. It's like the carpool lane. If you can just get into it if you have the right pass, which is if you are deemed a getable restricted free agent, in other words, teams believe that your team cannot match. You can sometimes get way overpaid. And I would say that Peyton Watson is trying to get in that lane from Denver because of what Denver has to pay there are other people and their history of paying the tax. That might be, if you're a Laker fan, you're thinking about what you're going to do with your salary cap space, that's a guy.

And I would just say, maybe the Jazz will go out there and say, we're matching all offers and Walker Kessler. But if you're spending $90 million in their two front core players, even if you've got cap space, you can only go so far with what you're going to be able to do for what. So I would put Walker in that list as well. Also, speaking of the Jazz and Jaron Jackson,

I'm not defending Rich Paul as an agent. I'm defending Rich Paul as a podcaster. I would just say, one, he said months ago, the Lakers were not a championship team, and he was cracked for that, and now we have LeBron saying the same thing. I thought he was right then, and I think LeBron is right now. The other thing is that Rich Paul, now granted, this was probably in the bronze interest more than anything, but Rich Paul said the Lakers should have gotten trade for Jaron Jackson, and that that would rebalance their roster.

I know that they were never going to trade Austin Reeves. Okay, so I'm not, I mean, that's pretty much what Rich Paul said. but and the Lakers you know they couldn't trade three first round picks they couldn't trade for Jaron Jackson right now I'm just saying Jaron Jackson was traded okay and you know if you're talking about a team that has Jaron Jackson on it the Lakers with Luca

whatever you're going to do with the rest of your cap space that's another that would have been an intriguing pairing I guess I don't really like the fit and I I guess if we're giving rich credit for saying the Lakers center next year be better than Jaron Jackson well Jaron Jackson's not a center first of all That's a complicated question for that reason. Like, Jaron Jackson does not rebound and it wants to have the ball.

That's fair. I think you're both right. Will the big man the Lakers acquired next year be better than Jaron Jackson? He might be better fit than Jaron Jackson. Okay. When Wendy thinks he's right, he wants to cut us off as quickly as possible. I don't like that, Wendy. Let me just say, I don't think the issue was necessarily Rich's opinions on the podcast.

if it was, you know, Paul Richard making those opinions as a podcaster. Maybe you should call himself Paul Richard. Maybe you should go out there. Maybe that should be his moniker on there. Hey, it's Paul Richard and Max Kellerman. It's a perfectly fine basketball point. I would even agree with him. You mentioned him wearing a little mustache.

Yeah, I would have put a mustache at a hat on, do the Bobby Valentine glasses. There's just a little tiny, tiny conflict of interest given his day job. And there was with Jerry Jackson as well, because if Austin Reeves was traded for Jaron Jackson. There would probably be quite a bit of space for LeBron on the salaries as well. We want to, you know, with the gratitude that I'm sure we're feeling from the Wolves fans, right after we question their team in the podcast that Ope that came out on Monday, they slapped the Hawks around, although a lot of people are doing that recently.

Probably literally moments after we wrap that conversation about the Lakers, they will probably slap the spurs around on Monday night. Tuesday night. Tuesday night, sorry. And DeAndre Atenham will probably go for 20. intent. More hoop collective podcast after this. However, the Spurs are playing a back-to-back on Wednesday in Golden State, which will be on

ESPN. The Warriors, Bontems, are in a situation right now where they obviously didn't land Yoss Seneca. They did land Chris Hops Porzingis, which is interesting. And Steve Kerr said something about the acquisition that I made me think. He said, we've never had a player like that here. And I was like, I agree. But Porzingis is out indefinitely.

and Steph Curry is out indefinitely. In fact, moments before this podcast, he was replaced on the All-Star lineup with Brandon Ingram. By the way, McMahon, I know you're not covering the All-Star game, but we haven't had a verdict on Luca yet. And if Luca is unable to play in the All-Star game, I think now that Al-Paron-Shingon has replaced Janus, Brandon Ingram has replaced Steph,

we need a guard potentially for the international team. Dylan the Villain. I think you should stick around for Dylan the villain. You should cancel your plans this weekend. I wrote about Dylan the villain earlier this year. No, I'm saying you've got to follow up. I don't think I'll be canceling any plans. I think the IT department and I have some reservations down the coast a little bit.

We're going to stick with those. I'll also say, hey, not only that, but the last game the Lakers have before the All-Star break is against the Mavericks. And I think Luca wants to play in the All-Star game. I also think he enjoys lighting the Mavericks on fire at every opportunity. So I'm not saying he will play. If the hamstring is not right, it's not right. But, you know, let's just stay tuned. JJ Redick did say it was a mild hamstring injury.

Anyway, Bon Tem's Golden State now. I don't know when Steph's coming back. I don't know when Porzengis is coming back. They cross the Rubicon into potentially offering Draymond Green in trades, although Mike Dunley, the somewhat ridiculously denied that that was the case. And I like Mike a lot, but I still say it was somewhat ridiculous. Sleeping. You see me now?

Sorry. Yes. Like the Verizon commercial, do you hear me now? Excuse me, McMahon. So where are the warriors at now, Bontems with the hand that they're holding? For the listeners on the podcast and not on the YouTube, McMahon just disappeared and was a black screen, which is where he's sleeping. I want it to stay in.

I just want the record. Of course it's not going to get edited out. Come on. That's we're a full experience podcast here. Well, hey, don't be, don't be hating on Jackson. As we said before, the best part of the pod is the setup beforehand. And the irony of this is we had a record, record fast setup where there were no issues. Everybody was locked in and ready to go at the beginning.

Back to the Warriors. The Warriors, though, are in a very interesting spot because they are clearly not good enough to compete this year. To go back to the, I don't think. infamous is the right word, but the noteworthy Christmas Eve press conference that I went to in the bay ahead of their Christmas Day game when Steve Kerr said a bunch of interesting things about his future. One of the things he reiterated was last year when we got Jimmy Butler, we made this run in the back half of the season. We went into the playoffs thinking we had a chance. And our goal every year is to go into the playoffs thinking we're giving staff a chance.

This team doesn't have a chance. Like they know Jimmy Butler. Chris Astpourzingis is obviously a very talented player. When he played for the Hawks this year, I think he's played 17 or 18 games. They were very good. But the key thing there is he played 17 or 18 games. He couldn't get on the court. He had his first introductory session with the media and said he hopes to get on the court after the All-Star break. So look, even if Porzingis gets on the court, with no Jimmy Butler with this team as it is,

they're maybe getting out of the play in and that's it. And frankly, they're maybe only getting out of the play in because of how, frankly, downtrodden the Western Conference playing picture is going to be. Like, who are the other teams that are going to be in the play in? Clippers, blazers. I mean, the clippers are probably going to be there, but Kauai gets hurt. Who knows where they're going to be? And the teams below them are so clearly not trying to win that they might just get in by default.

So I just don't, I mean, the Warriors could probably have Steph sit out for two months, come back on April 1st and be basically in the same spot they're in now and then try to see if they could do some stuff in the playoffs. but I think the real truth of it is that they're just in a holding pattern until the summertime. And frankly, I thought the most interesting thing about that trade for Porzingis, while he is a good player, is that the Warriors went from having trade ammunition in the summer in the form of expiring contracts and Buddy Heald and Jonathan Gominga to having money that goes off the books, which is going to be hard for them to replace.

and it makes me wonder what the overall path is in Golden State and are they potentially going to draw down their payroll a little bit? Because really, if you look at that trade, it was Atlanta saying, we're going to get $33 million in expiring money to use in trades this summer and extend the asset. And the Warriors were extinguishing the asset, frankly. Maybe you could resign Porzingis on some cheap on your deal, but you're not signing him to have him be a key part of your team going forward based on a little. release play. Yeah. Maybe Coominga is awesome for the Hawks and they're like, oh yeah, not only

picking up this option or maybe they'll say opt out and, you know, they'll re-sign them. But there's a good chance Cominga could be on the move again this summer. Yeah. And I, you know, I think that's interesting because, look, the Warriors obviously did everything they could to try to get Yannis before this deadline and didn't happen. The fact, Bontim's of what you were just saying makes me wonder if Mike Dunleavy left those discussions basically saying, okay, we weren't able to get it done now when they were able to put the best package on the table. They're probably not, wouldn't have been able to this summer when Miami gets access to the other picks and basically saying, okay, the honest thing isn't happening. That would be logical. Dunle even denying that either Draymond or Jimmy were involved in the discussions, I don't know what he was doing there.

This is one of these things that a lawyer might say is accurate but not true. So it's one of those things where hypothetically, did you hear what I said aggregators? Hypothetically. Let's say the Bucks and the Warriors talked and they said, we've got four available first round picks and you could have young player X. I don't want to get aggregated. And, you know, maybe they never said the words, Dremont, you could be traded or maybe they never, never said the words. Well, they did say the words to Draymond because he came out and said. But they, maybe they never said, you know, maybe Mike Dunleavy never said to John Horst, we would include Draymond in the deal.

Well, what's the apocryphal NBA question? Was it an offer, right? This comes up all the time. Was it an offer? Or was it just a discussion or a talking point or an idea or whatever? Do you think they're willing to give up comminga? My thing is like, I'm fine with Dunleavy playing the game. But he was like, I'm, I'm I would just say to any young general manager, it's totally okay to hold your cards. But I would say two things regarding the media. Here's my free advice that nobody asked. But, you know, I've been around a little while.

Don't lie. Just say you can't talk about it. Don't lie. And don't be intellectually dishonest. Those are my two things. You can say everybody will understand you. If you say we can't talk about that. The very simple answer to that question would have been, look, it's a fair question,

but I'm not going to get into trade discussions. It's all you have to say. Because by the way, our new editor, let's not give advice on how to avoid direct questions. Go on. And that was before Duke got beat by North Carolina. Well, and it's like, you know, our now, I said new, but he's not new, that new now, Dane Beaver's.

He came over from the NFL, and we were talking a couple months ago about the trade deadline. He said, Dane Beaver's our boss. Bontem just zooms through information. I said he's our new editor. I said he's our editor. He said he's our editor. I said our new editor.

A few moments earlier. Our new editor. We didn't hear it. Keep going. Anyway. He came over from the NFL and he said one of the biggest things he's had to adjust to from doing the NFL trade deadline and NFL trade season compared to the NBA is in the NBA, you can look at the teams and you basically could see what the trades are because it's like

a jigsaw puzzle and there's money on both sides. And with the Warriors in particular, this trade could only literally be done two ways. one with Jimmy Butler and one with Draymond Green. And that was it. So if you were interested in the honest, you had to trade one of them. Like, end of story. So what are we doing here?

Right. And they had a meeting with Draymond to tell them about it. They didn't have a meeting with Jimmy. By the way, McMahon, how'd you'd like Bon Temps just, you know, casually just giving a little wink to the new boss? I mean, hey, listen. I mean, he's not that new. Bond Timps is one of the elite butt kissers in the media world.

I don't know about that. I would not say that's true because there are other people that I will not mention who are more to be at it. Name one better than bond tents. Not on this podcast. Have our company? Oh, sure. Call them out. No.

I will not. I was the one to have a dinner with executives this week. That's all I'm going to say. We'll just leave it at that. Lunch. I was dinner. I had dinner last night. Yes, exactly.

But it was in the media room. Excuse me. Excuse me. too. Excuse me. Anyway, I will do what some daughter managers should do. I respect the question, but I just can't. After you blurted out the answer?

I like that. Yeah, so the question to me really is, the Warriors do own their pick this year. They were trying to trade it. They own it so much. Steph is not right. Well, don't even say they should try to tank, because where the hell are they take it to. Well, I agree that they shouldn't. They're stuck in the play in. Well, I'm saying, though, like you're not rushing, why are you rushing Steph back if you're stuck in the play? Like I said before,

they should, they could have Steph sit out until April 1st and I think they might be in ninth. Honestly, the only, the only reason I could give you that it would make sense for him to get back ASAP is if he cares about all NBA. That's just, just an honest thing. And listen, you know, where is he? I was thinking about that today. Where is he for that? I don't fault guys for caring about all NBA, like, or MVP or defense player of the year. Like, it's not a coincidence that when Mnayama came back when he did or Joker came back when he did. I assure you that Luca and Shea have their eyes on that. Yokic is like questionable for all these games. He doesn't, when, when Yoke, when, when Jokic is questionable, he plays. Well, by the way, the Warriors,

the Warriors play the Spurs Wednesday on our air and then they play the Celtics on Thursday, uh, going into the break. When Steph bises those games, he's, already going to be at 17. Wait a minute. The Celtics start a West Coast trip right before the All-Star Break? That's what my app says. They play in Boston or they play in Golden State on Thursday night. Well, I know that those Celtics often... Oh, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, it's after. You're right. Okay. I'm sorry. I've made mistakes. So it's 16. No, thank you. Yes. I saw Wednesday, Thursday and I checked out. Well, it is normal for the Celtics to start a West Coast trip. By the way, what a comeback by the Warriors.

I'm sure the Grizzlies front office was really disappointed that they went scoreless for the last four plus minutes to lose the game they led by 10. Well, I thought Bam etabio's comments on Monday where Bam said, this is paraphrase. I don't have it directly in front of me, but the jazz beat the heat on Monday. And Bam said, we got to do better against these teams that are trying to lose. Yeah, you'd like to. When both teams have the same goal, you'd like to. like to be able to accomplish it. By the way, I was at Nets Bulls Monday night in Brooklyn, and Nets came away with a hard-fought

victory in that game. And the Bulls, whether they're trying to tank or not, are not going to win a lot of games next couple of months. The way to put that is the Bulls came away with the hard-fought loss. Trust me, I know. Well, the Bulls, the Nets, you know the Nets are really worried about winning because they deactivate Michael Porter. That's the tell for that.

I mean protecting his back. And then they've got the Pacers on Wednesday. They might be going on a winning streak into the all-star break. Rick Carlisle gave an update on if it's a zoo box ankle. It's going to be a while, gentlemen. Did you go back to Croatia? Yeah, I told him. Just give them paternity leave.

It would be like, you know, inspirational. Yeah, we're a family organization. Groundbreaking, groundbreaking decision. More advice, more free advice from the Hoop Collective. Yeah. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. Jason Tatum on Monday, the entire main Red Clause, is that who they are, Bontoms? The main Red Clause.

They're now the main Celtics. They're now the main Celtics. They had a road trip down, they shipped off to Boston so that they could come to the Arbox Center and practice with Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum was quote unquote sent to the G League. The truth is when these situations happen, the G League gets sent to the best. big boys. And I like in the release, you know, everyone's so, this is one like little bugaboo that I have. I think that the NBA team should, like, you know, when I was a junior reporter

in Akron, Ohio, there was a double A team, the Cleveland Indians, the Guardians now, then the Indians, AA team was there. And every now and then, you would have a player come through. That we're aware, bro, we got your bobblehead at the game, remember? Of course. Oh, recently found it in a box. Back then they were the Akron arrows But like they would Guys would go on rehab assignments down there You know and like one time I remember I went over and covered

Brett Saberhagen Made a start for the AA Red Sox affiliate that I think were the Trenton Thunder at the time And he came and made up you know So it's not seen as is demeaning to go To you know to go play in the minors you know And it's not playing it's practicing because NBA teams Aren't able to really practice

I think they should I think they should play No, I agree. But I'm just saying, like, it's considered demeaning to be sent to the G League. So, like, when the Celtics put out the press release, they were like, he's only going for like 20 minutes and he will be immediately recalled after. Please don't think that Jason Tatum, you know, three-time first team all NBA actually was sent down. We swear. Like, I'm like, just act like a man. He's going to the minors to.

Nobody's confused about Jason Tatum being demoted. I'm just telling me. This happens. And I'm saying grow up. Major League Baseball guys have gone to the minors to do rehab assignments for decades. Anyway, sorry for my direction. On a total aside, to me, there's a lot of value in having the G League close geographically. Yes, teams have decided.

I know Sioux Falls is a beautiful place at this time of the year, and I would definitely want to go on like an All-Store weekend vacation there, but it's weird to me that the Heats G-League team is in Sioux Falls. And has been for a long time, and it takes two flights to get there, as everybody from Miami who's made the pilgrimage knows. I'm sorry, I take three flights, two connections to get there in some cases, maybe not every case. But they love the relationship there. But yes, that's true. And by the way, I live in the Upper Midwest and Bond Temps will tell you I'm going to a basketball tournament this weekend with my son in Sioux City, Iowa. And for like a week, I was telling people,

yeah, I'm going to Sioux Falls. For a month. Not a week, a month. Oh, that's what I, my whole thing was I thought you were going to Sioux Falls. No, I'm going to Sioux City. By the way, I figured that out two days ago. I'm going to make a man. I figured out two days ago, instead of two days from now, and you drove back,

drove through to see and kept going. That's true. That reminds me one time I was in this airport and this guy was devastated. He was all hectic because he was booked on a flight to Cedar Rapids and he needed to go to Grand Rapids. That's a problem. So about Jason Tatum.

Yeah. So I got two quotes. did you see that there was a guy who was booked on a flight to Japan and ended up in Nicaragua last week now that's something that that's an accomplishment either I did not see that either anyway I'm digressing all over the place you really are I have two quotes here from today Tatum spoke Jason Jason got asked whether he is you know whether what this practice meant in terms of his returning to play I'm still trying to figure it out I'm still just going through the progressions of rehab I'm not saying that I'm coming back or not it's all about

being 100% healthy and going through the plan. And he later said he's taking things step by step and day by day, which is not exactly a surprise. Joe Missoula said, it was great to see him take another step. He looked good. He's continuing in his progression, continue to be consistent in his progression, getting better. That was all boring, not really shocking from the Celtics. And it's all the theme of what this has been since he had surgery 18 hours or 16 an hour, whatever the time frame was, after he got here in New York at the hospital surgery, Martin O'Malley, I think, did the surgery, very renowned foot doctor. And ever since then, his goal had been to play this year.

All you kept hearing was he was going to do everything good to play this year. Obviously, him being back in practice is a great sign. Praxon with the main Celtics is great. I believe, I don't know this for sure, because I wasn't in Boston, but I think the fact that he spoke today means he at least took part in some part of Celtics, practice today, which is also great. He's not going to play against the Bulls and the final game before the All-Star break on Wednesday.

We'll see if he comes back, when he comes back, how much he could do if he does come back. But as we've been saying for a month now, the fact that the Celtics are in the top three in the east without Tatum all year with the potential for him to come back with other than James Hardin, which Darrell-Mori said wasn't a big deal. none of the top six or seven teams in the east adding anybody of consequence to their teams. It gives the Celtics a shot to do something I certainly never thought they would, and I don't think most other people did, which is really have a legitimate chance to make a run through the east. And, you know, if Tatum could come back and be a solid contributor who could space the floor and rebound and play some defense and hit threes even, that would be a big boost for a team that's got a big hole at the power forward spot. I get trying to temper expectations completely understandable.

And, you know, I understand not wanting to make a commitment to, hey, I'm definitely coming back because you know, you got to see how his body feels, how it responds, all those kind of things. But the fact the guy is, you know, playing five on five with two months remaining in the regular season and the Celtics are where they are in the standings, it's hard not to anticipate the Tatum is going to come back at some point this season. I remember when, you remember when Paul George had that horrible injury? And obviously a broken leg is a lot different than a torn Achilles. So he broke his leg in August. And the similar type of situation, you know,

the Pacers were one of the top teams in the league at the time. And there was this sort of same thing. Like, you know, when's Paul George coming back? Once's Paul George coming back? Oh, he's practicing. You know, when's he coming back? He did come back before the end of the season.

But I remember Frank Vogel, who was a coach at the time, let me come into a practice, which is almost unheard of. I've only maybe been to maybe four, three or four NBA practices in my 20-year career where I'd be able to see the practice, not what they do at the end. And Frank Vogel let me watch a scrimmage that Paul George did on an off day in Cleveland. And this was when my people were saying, you know, like, oh, he might be coming back pretty soon. And I watched him.

He very, very clearly was not ready. And, you know, he did come back a few weeks later. And, like, you know, it was triumphant for him to get into that season. But so I just want to, you know, not that what's happening with Paul George happened with Jason Tatum, but I will just say that just because the player is practicing doesn't mean they're quote unquote close. However, I'm in agreement with you, McMahon, that it is obviously a sign of progress, which, you know, sometimes you hear guys are close and the next thing you know that you don't hear from them for a month. So the fact that we're getting progress signs, it's relevant.

Well, and on the other side of it, a couple years ago, we had Jamal Murray, Terry's ACS, and he came back and was around the team and practicing, I think he practiced some and doing some stuff and didn't come back, right, that whole season. And if you go way back, like sort of the beginning of the end of Derek Rose in Chicago was he tore his ACL in 2012. And then that whole next year, you'd go to Bulls games and he'd be out there,

like, shooting around before the game and like going through full workouts on the court with all the fans there. And he just never came back and played. and I'm not, again, I'm not saying that's what's going to happen here or not, but it would not be the first time that a guy would ramp up and then decide, you know what, I've got a very long career ahead of me, I've got to make sure that I'm 100% right. Maybe the team doesn't clear them. Maybe he has a setback.

Like, there's a thousand things that could happen. Yeah, I mean, Michael Malone has talked about this, you know, with us. I don't know if you said it on TV. I think he said it on TV. You know, when Jamal Moore was coming back, you know, you know, the controlled scrimmage, which is what Tatum has been doing, he's like, yeah, Jamal was doing controlled scrimmages and he still didn't play. Now, it was later in the season, but in the next year, they won the championship.

And look, Tatum might get out there and, you know, he could have these controlled scrimmages for weeks, and he might just be at a point where he doesn't feel like he can be himself. Like, there's a difference between being physically able, you know, physically cleared, and then being ready to perform, you know, at the level where you want to be, or even at the level where you feel like you can come in and make a significant positive impact. And so, you know, there's no certainties here. But this is a, it is a significant step to go from even the stay ready games where it's a bunch like coaches and player development guys to playing against professional

basketball players, G-leaguers or not. While we're recording this, there hasn't been any discipline handed down by the league after the little... McMahon, you're good at this. What would you... How would you term what happened in Charlotte? Oh, a significant brouhaha. One of the most violent brouhazas that we've had in recent NBA history. I mean, this was, you know, I mean, dozens of punches thrown.

Not just a couple like... Dozens? U.S.C. dozens? Dozens feel strong. No, there were dozens of punches. Dozens? Do you think he knows? I didn't say dozens connected, but there were dozens of punches thrown.

I think we're being a little dramatically. Dia Bate through multiple punches. Yeah. Okay, he threw a couple. So did my, no, Diabate was run around. Let's relax with dozens. And then, no, dozens of punches. Isaiah Stewart came in throwing haymakers.

There were at least four different flurries of punches. By the way, shout out to a friend of the pod, Jason from Sharif. who you guys met last year in Akron, one of my friends. He's a longtime Hornet season ticket holder sits in like the fifth or sixth row in Spectrum Center. I had to think about it for a second. And first off, he told me that the energy in the arena last night was as strong as it's been in 10 years. I can imagine. Number one seed coming to town, nine game winning streak.

Second thing he told me is that the moose, Musa Diabate, had to be literally carried out of the arena. And listen, let this be known that if you mess with the moose, you get the horns. They don't have horns. They don't have horns. Okay. Thank you for your... Oh, God. Thank you.

So if you didn't see it, I'm sure you have by now. But I wasn't watching the game, so I don't know how intense the back and forth between Diabate and Jalen Duren was. It would have been a pretty physical game, and you saw the one huddle after they pulled people aside. Jalen Dern was putting up three fingers. I think it was, he'd been whacked three different times and they either hadn't called it or hadn't taken care of it. So he decided to take care of it himself. So. Yeah. So Jalen Duren, we will see what the suspension and, you know, there's going to be multiple suspensions and multiple game suspensions. We'll

see. Jalen Duren starts it by basically headbutting, uh, mousadiebate, which just sort of indicated how much bigger Jailen Duren is than the moose. He had butted him and then he mushed them. The mush. And it was, and Duren's got large hands. So, like, it was like a full facial. McMahon, did you ever have you, did you mush anybody in your days? I've, you know, not since my teenage days, but there were some mushes back in the day.

Okay. You were, you were guilty of some mushes? I did a lot of things that weren't very appropriate. Yes, go on. It was the reason that you got sent off to boarding school. Just put it that way. Post-mush, Diabate lost it and came. swinging.

Bontem's got a little close to the sideline there as well. Well, there were a couple points on this almost got really bad. That was one of them. When Isaiah Stewart came out and squared up, that had a chance to go really badly. It had a chance. It did. Well, I meant if he had really, I mean, Isaiah Stewart's a huge dude. If he had really connected, it could have been bad.

So when the moose came after Duren, he swung at him a few times. Duren backed up and he may get the light of suspension, is my guess, because he, he could have escalated there and he sort of, at one point he rose his arms and then he just, he dropped him. Miles Bridges came. So they got separated. And then Miles Bridges, you know, I guess having Diabate's back, when then went after Duran? Well, Miles Bridges initially shoved him.

That was what started. Like, he headbutted him and then mushed him. And Miles Bridges is the one who shoved Duran in the first place. So then the body went after him. Then they got separated and Miles Bridges came around. It took a swing at his head. And that when Miles Bridges went for round two, that's when beef stew said, I've seen enough and came charging in like a bull. Off the bench.

Which is a big no-no. That's an automatic, I mean, that's an automatic game before you even start factoring in anything else. And then the swinging started. Well, and I mean, Diabate was throwing some. It was throwing some. I mean, beef stew swinging started. And the announcer was like, here comes beef stew. It was like, and people have done some edits.

you know, from a WWE stuff. I mean, honestly, though, like, there's the WWE entertainment factor here. I hated to see it because this is something that could really derail some seasons. Like, the suspensions might be announced by the time this comes out. I do believe the suspensions, it's funny. Like, Dern, you can argue, started it. Then Diabate really got it rolling. Then Miles Bridges escalated it.

And then B. Stu took it to another level. And I think the suspensions are going to get longer as those guys jump in the mix. That's the correct order of length, too, I would say. One, two, three, four, especially because of Isaiah Stewart's pretty extensive history at this point. By the way, I saw this stat. Did you guys hear some trivia? And now, to present today's trivia question, the whiz of the quiz, Brian Horst. So this was Isaiah Stewart's eighth ejection in his career.

We don't have complete ejection information. It only goes back to 1988, apparently, with ESPN research. Who, so beef stew has now eight ejections. That's the second most ejections. DeMarcus cousins. Since second most for a piston. Oh, for a piston. Yeah.

What piston? Okay, what piston has more ejections than beef stew? My first guess would be Rashid Wallace. Okay. That's your final answer. That's not the answer. Do you want to make one more guess? You won't get it.

It's a stunning. It's kind of a stunts. He was a long time Pistons. Since 88? I will give you two hints. He was a very long time piston, but they did not draft him. And he won a championship with the Pistons. Well, all their good players in that time frame won a championship.

That's the thing. Lambert may have had more, but we'd only have it since 88. Yeah. I'm going to say it was Tashon Prince. Okay. You're on the right path. McMahon, you want to have one more. Ben Wallace.

I guess that would have been a great one, even though Ben, you know. Yeah. I was going between Tashon Prince. a Rip Hamilton. How about, again, according to ESPN research, you know, I'm not saying, Richard Rip Hamilton. What? I was going to guess one of those two because of how you framed it, you would have been surprised.

I would never have guessed that. I do remember some times where he would take off that mask and it went flying. Yeah, that's fair. He would complain at the refs. Yeah. That's fair. So, yes, Detroit and Charlotte are two of the hottest teams in the league by Eastern standards. And that's why I hate this, because Diabate is going to say.

sit some. Miles Bridges, who has significant histories in terms of discipline with the league, off court, but still, he's going to sit for a while. The Hornets had, you know, since Diabate's been in that lineup, they've played as well as anybody in the east. You know, the Pistons, obviously, are leading the east and have had a great season. I hate the season's getting interrupted like this. I will say this. It does add a little bit of juice and sizzle to a potential Detroit Charlotte first round series. goodness sure does so we're looking forward to calves philly round one the darrell moray bowl and charlotte detroit round one if you could sign me up for those two series right now these

could go down this isn't just pie in the sky yeah yeah be great um lock it in what do these names mean to you bontemps Carter bryant jackson hayes he shod johnson and jace richardson they mean that the dunk contest along with all-star weekend should be sunsetted do you McMahon you have a pick there between those four no I don't can a

can a seven-footer win the dunk contest I mean seven-footers have won the dunk contest they have yes Dwight Howard but he's not seven-foot he wasn't a seven-footer but I mean Larry Nant Sr. was a good 6-11 at least

yeah it was no I got to tell you I look forward to a nice Valentine's. 6.10. I'll allow it. The three-point contest long ago became the signature event of All-Star Weekend, and that's just the way it is. All right.

Well, who you're picking in that? They should let the rest of it go. Dame for the storyline. You guys know. Dane with his torn Achilles. He's not playing the season, but going for a third three-point championship. You guys know who my favorite rookie non-Cupor flag division is. Oh, Conch-Nipple?

You know who I'm picking. All right. We'll see these guys next week. These guys are going to take a little All-Star break. Thank God. And we've got some other folks coming up later this week on The Hoop Collective. Thank you very much for watching and listening with us as always.

Thank you to our producers, Mark, Devon, and Jackson. And thank you, McMahon and Bottas. Adios Migos.