Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - Luka Doncic's Laker Debut. And the struggles of the Dallas Mavericks.

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to Luka Doncic Laker debut and what the outcome for the Lakers will be with Luka in the lineup. Plus fans in Dallas are showing their discontent with Mavs ownership. Jimmy Butler is fitting in great with the Golden State Warriors and is creating a nice partnership with Steph Curry. And Alex Rodriguez is close to becoming the newest owner of an NBA team. 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 and welcome to The Hockelected podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Tuesday afternoon, joining us from New York City,

where he's getting ready to go to the All-Star weekend this week in the Bay. It's Tim Bontes. Hello, everybody. Are you looking forward to Kevin Hart emceeing the event and providing commentary over the top of the game? I'm looking forward to Monday morning. joining us from Dallas, Texas. Dallas, Texas.

What a town. It's Van McMahon. Howdy, partners. Tell you what, man, it is just always good to be home and around all my friends and neighbors and feeling the love from the people of Texas, the friendship state, as Donnie Nelson called it, Durham, Luca Donchich's intro presser way back when. Is Texas called the friendship state? Is that a thing?

It actually is an obscure nickname that Donnie did indeed use during Lucas Intrys Intrapressor as you can read in the Wonder Boy. The Wonder Boy. Look at that. There we go. Pre-order it now. Yeah. So what, by the way, what was the reaction that maybe you don't know about like, I assume

that Dirk Novitsky going out to Luca's first game as a Laker on Monday was, was well received by the mass fans i i think i don't know i'm not i know i think it was very well received by the mass fans because quite frankly i think that 99% of mass fans wish they could have made the same trip dude i'm not i'm not i'm not like even joking when i say this there are a lot of mass fans right now they're struggling with a lot of emotions one emotion they're struggling with is damn am i rooting for the lakers now you know i like Luca is the kind of star, they're like with LeBron, right? There are people who, now there are people who are pissed on the Brown when left Cleveland,

but obviously that's not, no one's mad at Luca in this case. I mean, I guess some of those, but like no fans are mad at Luca. There are people when LeBron left Cleveland, there was someone decided. Am I riding with him in Miami? Okay, then back to Cleveland, okay, to L.A. Whereas with Luca, I think all Mavericks fans, as much as it pains them, Like they want to see this guy fulfill his potential and be one of the all-time greats.

And there are definitely people like, you know what? I guess I'm a Lakers fan now because I'm riding with Luca. And so Dirk being at that game was, you know, and he did his little tweet, hey, I'm a Matt for Life from here to support my guy, Luca, or whatever he said. But it was a pretty strong statement. The Dallas mayor was next to Patrick Dumont. But if he, if Dumont didn't want to get booed, he was going to have to have somebody like dirt next to him because the Dallas mayor is it was the Dallas mayor sending a message that uh

i'm not sure if it's a man or woman i'm sorry he he or she supports uh the uh the decision uh no i think it's more it's it's eric johnson it's a fella he's a fellow and uh i think it was more of patrick dumont soon of the message hey this absolutely insane conspiracy theory that was spreading around the internet about there has to be something else beside the reasons that have been reported for why this trade's being made. Oh, they're trying to take the team to Vegas. No, no, no, that's not true. Look at me and my pal to Dallas mayor. It's been a, it's been a, uh, the messaging and the, uh, you know, the PR approach has been a challenging obstacle. By the way, you know who was right next to Dirk, uh, in LA and enjoying the, uh, Luca debut last night.

Old Scooter, Scott Tomlin, friend of the pod, longtime VP of Communications for the Dallas Mavericks, did a hell of the job in that role for years and years and left before last season to be the executive director of the Dirkmanvinsky Foundation. And, you know, but still, like a guy who players loved and certainly had a great relationship with Luca. And so he was also there to support Luca in the first game in that gold and purple. Bontemps, I've been a little bit transported back to the 90s this week because when I was a teenager, it's not comparable on the size scale, but Bernie Cozar, Bill of Belichick cut Bernie Cozar, who, you know, he never led the Browns to the Super Bowl, but was like, you know, the

kind of the Luca of Cleveland at the time. He got cut. He's best quarterback that had Saddo Graham, right? Pretty clearly. And the best, best quarterback. they've had ever since um that's what i mean and actually i mean in the whole time since i don't yes yes and um uh he became a dallas cowboy like that week i don't i think aikman was hurt uh interestingly and um people in cleveland were wearing you know there was a run on cosar

cowboy jerseys people were wearing the star in cleveland and you know there's not hate is that how lebron became a cowboy's fan that's when lebron started loving the cabal No, I don't think LeBron cared about Bernie Cozorz. I've never heard LeBron speak Bernie Cozar's name. But anyway, I can, I was probably about 14 or 15 when that happened and a Cozar fan, so I can kind of, kind of relate to it where people were like rooting for the Cowboys. The Cowboys won the Super Bowl that year, by the way. So anyway, I have to say, I never thought I would say the words I'm about to say.

I'm very appreciative of the balanced, rational, and calming viewpoint of Kyrie Irving throughout this process because he seems to be repeatedly able to both make a coalition attempt at forming and showing empathy with the fans and also support for Luca and support for his teammates. It's like I actually think it might be a good idea if the Mavericks organization would reach out to Kyrie to let them to let him guide them in this time of strike because everything he is saying is actually calming. Yes. And Kyrie last night, you know, it's like the fans getting booted for, you know, fire Nico chance and for T-shirts with Mary Madelson's face on it with a clown nose. And you know, like, what are you doing? I mean, why are you like amplifying this to where it is a massive international story?

That's exactly what you're doing. You've got security like, look at her. Oh, what did you say? You're getting out of here. Oh, that poster board. I've got done, you know, it's not the postcard that it's supposed to be. You know, that's bigger than a placard. You can't have that.

Derogatory term, you know, fire. That's, I mean, what are you doing? You're making this a massive story. Like, of course the fans are upset. Let them move. let them chand if they're not cussing and fussing and whatever like thrown crap who cares but kairie like he's calm he's like hey i get it i understand kair he was like you know different he's like it's like it's a different deal but like man you know how mad i was when j kid forced to trade from the

from my new my new jersey nets when i was a kid you know he brought that up clay thompson you know clay's basically like hey we all understand how much these fans love luca clay being a calming influence is not a Yes. In the past, hasn't exactly been unifying, but that's fair. He certainly has to be. Nobody benefits more from this trade than Kyrie Irving on many friends. He's got leverage.

And Kyrie has been the leader of the team since he's been in the house. Well, I think Luke has benefited from this trade. He's like a martyr in Dallas. He's a conquering here in LA. We're talking about the people left. I'm talking about the people left behind. Okay. There's one winner in Dallas right now.

Irving, who now has maximum leverage to get a gigantic contract this summer and is quite clearly the guy totally running the ship with the, with the Mavs. I mean, yeah, you're right, McMahon. He's been a big presence in the locker room since he got there. But I mean, it's it's his show now. Like, there ain't anybody else. And, you know, like, it's he and Anthony Davis going forward. And you could say, yeah, well, it was he and Luca, but it wasn't he and Luca. It was Lucas team and Kyrie was there as a secondary guy and, you know, his free agency this summer was going to be rather interesting to see how it was handled. Well, now it shouldn't be very interesting. Like, he should be getting the bag.

So there is nice to calm and relax. Why wouldn't he be? I've never had a whole lot of doubt about Kyrie's free agency this time around, certainly after his first year when Blockbuster trade into a tank, which is an interesting pathway. anyway. Could be repeating it too. You know, certainly his first year, there was a lot in question of free agency. And frankly, if the Lakers would have made a run at him, like, who knows what would have happened, if they could have, because they could have gotten the neighborhood of Dallas's offer, not to the number, but just saying that would have been interesting.

They would have had to say goodbye to just about all these guys who led him to the conference finals that year. Oh, it would have been tough to let DeAngelo Russell go for sure. for the Angela Russell Rui Hachamura. Okay, sure. Don't forget about Jared Vanderbilt. Oh, man. I'll tell you what. Hey, the Lakers have been hot

since he came back from that injury, just like Mack 10 and all them fellas are telling us. Well, anyway, let me just ask this. I mean, so we're recording this Tuesday afternoon. We don't know what the Anthony Davis update will be. Maybe there'll be another pod later today with a further update on Anthony Davis. The last one went so great, McClain. Can't do it.

Things have been so much. better off if we had just not done it which was what I suggested I disagree I think they might not have been they might have been worse off it might have been better off for you but for the listeners I don't know I don't know segment of the podcast the other day I don't I will admit I flat my gums in that with a couple words and you know unnecessary little jab that got me in a little bit of hot water with some folks already had their pitchforks after me so you know sometimes I flap my gums and stuff comes out my bad quasi apology um that's a lot more of an apology that i'm gonna ever get for anything that's

ever said about me that's true i can get petty sometimes and i just need to limit my pettiness to bontemps and those little fellow wreaths and the only that's safe that those are your safe spaces we don't know what the anthony davis official update will be as of right now in the late afternoon on tuesday Well, they, the maverts are not. By the way, we've gotten this far. We should mention that the Dallas Maverge played the Sacramento Kings on Monday night. If I remember correctly, McMahon, they were up 12 points in the fourth quarter after Daniel Gafford got hurt, look like, all right, at least the MAVs are going to come out of this with a win. And what's a pretty massive couple of games, like we talked about going into this week, playing against the Kings and the Warriors teams right behind them in this battle to stay in the playing mix in the West. And De Mardorosen comes back, hits a game-time bucket with three seconds to go, makes a crazy game winner with two seconds to go in overtime after messing up and giving Clay Thompson a chance to win the game. By the way, I haven't seen the two-minute report. Was that ruled a illegal maneuver with his feet?

I didn't. It looked legal at the time, but I will check and see if the last year report is up. Listen, you're telling me all these details. I definitely remember that De Rosen stepped through, like, doesn't point in all. I was so busy looking at what the hell is going on in those sections behind. Well, I know. That's why I'm telling you what happened. So De Rosen wins the game. Gavin's given a statement on why people are getting booted. Well, I know. So the point is DeRosa wins the game. And then you guys were waiting for Jason

Kid and to talk about what happened in the game and Daniel Gaffer getting hurt and everything else. And it's now almost 24 hours later and we're still waiting for Jason Kidd to talk about it. And I guess he's not going to talk about it until pregame on Wednesday against Golden State. Maybe you won't do that availability either. Maybe you'll just go on strike. I guess we'll find out. We're throwing like PR norms out the window because it's also like, yes, a coach postgame press conference. They're pretty like just run the mill type thing.

Sometimes like two or three minutes. I don't get it. I don't get it. That's the part of the job of the coach is to be the face of the franchise and good times. and in bed that's part of what he gets paid for let me just say this um anthony davis is going to be out for a while i believe as if we sit here right now that he has avoided surgery i believe that's the current plan and but i also believe that is going to be a significant period what does significant mean weeks weeks and weeks so let me ask you this mcmann assuming that kairie can keep this

back issue at bay um what What is the real prognosis? You know, you made a joke about them making a blockbuster trade and then ending up in the lottery. Let's talk to me. I was talking about two years ago, what happened? Are you suggesting history to repeat itself? Are you just saying let's let's talk Turkey. What's the prognosis here if he is out?

Let's do it. Let's do it this way. Their schedule, we've already reported he's going to be out for up to a month, right? ESPN. I mean, let's just sit at a month right now. Let's just sit at a month right now. All right. Here's their upcoming schedule. They play Golden State tomorrow, Wednesday. I think at this point, I would call that a loss. I don't know what you guys would say. They play Miami on the second night of a back-to-back for both teams. They'll give them a win for that. So they're one-in-one. They play the Pelicans coming out of the break. I would say that's a win.

They're two-in-one. they play the Warriors in Golden State, the Lakers in Los Angeles. It's going to be kind of an interesting game on the 25th of February, I would say. I suspect Mr. McMahon will be there. I'll be there too, Mr. McMahon. I look forward to. I will be watching from home, unfortunately. I would say those are probably both.

Hold on. I got to negotiate. An L.A. tradition, dinner on Wendy. You might have earned that over the last few days. We think the Warriors and Lakers games are losses probably, right? Road losses. It's certainly going to be tough. We're just doing the percentages.

Then they come home and play the Hornets. Then they come home and play the Hornets. That's probably a win. You never assume the Hornets win because the last time that the Mavericks were in a blockbuster trade wake and the Hornets came in a little while later was the night that Luke wore that all I need is a Suvo, Mesa, and Rakea T-shirt and said he's never been more frustrated in his life. Good of Smith Jr. hit the dagger. Well, listen, they're three. So they're three and three we've got them there through the end of February, right? This is then the schedule in March. Home for Milwaukee, home for Sacramento,

at Milwaukee, home for Memphis, home for Phoenix, at San Antonio, at San Antonio, at Houston. That's through the stretch that Anthony Davis is going to be. They would do. They would do. They would That's a lot of losses. They would do really, really well to do go 500 in that stretch. Well, and like, you know, AD is going to be out for a while. Lively is going to be out through that stretch. Kyrie, let me just tell you, and again, Luca wasn't playing before, but especially since, since I made the trade, Kyrie was one of the several guys who sat during the, you know,

post-trade blowout in Cleveland, right? I out there in a day's look up as like 50 to 19. So he sat that game. 42 minutes in Philly. 40 minutes in Boston, 39.51. So one time he didn't crack 40. 42 against Houston. And J.K. was asked about this last time we talked to the pregame.

And he's like, yeah, you know, we'd love to trim his minutes, but I can't promise we're not going to play him 40 again tonight. Well, it went in overtime, 44 last night. And Kyrie. He's playing with a bulging distance back. And by the way, he's probably going to get doubled every time down the court because he's the only guy on the team that can really dribble the ball. So, you know, I mean, it's just a, it's a, it's a heck of a load to put on him. And, you know, it's a, it's a really potentially rough situation.

That's without still knowing the stabs against Daniel Gafford. I mean, you know, at least if they had him, they'd have one starter quality big. they don't have him, you know, they're down him, Derek, Derek lively and Anthony Davis. Now you're talking about trying to play Dwight Powell. No, no, buddy, Dwight Powell hasn't played in weak. Well, that's right. He's been banged up too. That's right.

And Maxie Kleva. And Maxi Kleva before he got traded, broke his foot. Don't be a center on the Mavs. Jeez. Well, the one center on the map, the one center on the Mavs is a gentleman named Kyler Kelly, who I'll be honest with you. learning of him. I had never heard of him until they picked him up.

I think it was right. Yeah, it was right after Maxis. He was on the Lakers G-League team, and they signed him to a two-way. He played one minute last night. You know, if Africa can't go. And I don't have specifics on Gaffer, but from what I'm hearing, it's probably not going to be like a long-term deal, but, you know, I don't. I would be surprised if we see him before the All-Star break certain.

But if Gafford can't go, I think OMAX Prosper is probably going to be your starting center. He's the guy who played most of the second. He's not a center. Well, you know what? We'll see if PJ can play. PJ Washington was out last night with an ankle sprain. Also not a center. Yeah.

I mean, you're talking about playing extraordinarily small then. And I mean, we talked about out of the thunder, we're struggling to play. extraordinarily small. Let's just say the Thunder are a little bit deeper of a roster than the Mazz at this point, especially if you're trying to play small. So, I mean, we're trying to play one guy that you reliably can candle on ball, handle in the ball. And unfortunately, you're trying to play small when one of the whole ideas of this trade was you were going to be huge. Like when they have the first half against the rockets, when they put Gafford out there, they put AD at the four, They put PJ Washington at the three.

You're like, holy smokes. This is a massive athletic smothering front court. And, you know, if you put lively in there instead of Gafford, you get even bigger and more athletic. That's the team they built. That's the team they want. And to have none of those guys available and you're playing like six, seven, and under, you know. Maybe Jay said, maybe J.K. was back in the back trying to figure out lineup combination. just didn't have time to chit-tack.

And McMahon, you're going to be at the Warriors game when they play in Dallas at the American Airlines Center on Wednesday night. They're two-and-two on the seven-game road trip. They've got to vacate their building for 10 days or whatever, 12 days for the All-Star festivities. So they're on the seven-game road trip. They're two-and-two to come to Texas, play Dallas on Wednesday at Houston on Thursday. They're two-and-oh, since Jimmy Butler went into the starting lineup.

And in those two games that Jimmy has played, He has 28 free throws, including 15 that he had in Milwaukee on Monday night. That is the most free throws that any Warriors had in a two-game span since Durant in 2018. So already you are seeing. Make it look smart. Yeah. Well, I've done seven hours of TV today. If I don't have some of this stuff memorized, I'm in trouble.

If right there, you can see the impact that Jimmy Butler is already making. He is saying that he is nowhere near basketball shape. He is saying that he's really upset with how out of condition he is. But still, he has made a difference. Bontem's this is exactly what they've been looking for. Maybe not specifically somebody with this skill set that Butler has, but somebody to balance Steph, who, by the way, is hot right now. I think he's averaged, I think he scored over 30 in four straight games.

Bontz, this is what the Warriors have been looking for. I don't know if it lasts, but I can certainly understand why it is something that they needed. Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised that Steph and Jimmy are fitting well. I sort of assume they would when the trade happened. Jimmy's one of the smartest players in the lead. His skill set, I think, mesh is very nicely with Stephs because they operate in different parts of the court. They can run some pick and roll stuff together with him as a big, which they've done a little bit of,

and I think will help. And like you said, this is a team that historically has never gotten to the foul line. and has never really put pressure on the referees in that manner. And Jimmy Butler is a super physical guy who is going to give them a different element in that respect. So from that standpoint, I think it is going to be a really nice fit. Now, how are the Warriors going to defend? That's going to be an interesting thing to see. Andrew Wiggins would take on a lot of the elite perimeter assignments.

Jimmy at this point in his career can do that, I think, in spurts. He certainly shouldn't be doing that every night. So that's going to be a bit of a challenge. And again, like we've talked about a bunch, if you're playing him and Draymond Green together, you're not going to have a lot of space on the court. And, you know, that is something that Steph Curry and Steve Kerr have talked about. Well, you have underestimated Mr. Quentin Post, sir.

No, no, no, no. Quint Post has been a really nice, it's been a really nice story for them, guy out of BC who's been. Who's his name correctly? Quentin Printer. Quintinter. Yeah. He's had a very nice season for them as a late second.

He's Dutch. I didn't know the name Quentin was popular in the Netherlands, but now I know. I mean, he's at a very nice season for them this year. But ultimately, you know, this team is built around the combination of the three old guys, right? Steph, Draymond, and Jimmy. And if you've got Draymond and Jimmy out there, even though both of them can't hit a three, neither one of them is really a shooter, you know, it puts a lot of pressure on. Steph and defenses can load up on him. And that's where Jimmy's ability to handle the ball to make plays to run two-man action with Steph, I think will help a lot. But, you know, that's going to be the thing to test and see as this next couple months plays out is how the offense looks for these guys.

And then, again, when they're going up against these elite players on the other team, how are they going to match up and who's going to guard them? But certainly, Jimmy's giving them a nice boost. And, you know, I think, you know, going into the break, he gets a chance to get his legs under him and work on his conditioning. Jimmy for all of his other everything else anybody's ever said about him, no one's ever accused him of not working on his game and on his body. So I suspect he's going to be ready to go and he's certainly motivated to show the Warriors made the right decision in trading for him. So, you know, it's going to be a very interesting stretch run.

And it's a very interesting game like we talked about earlier. This game on Wednesday is really critical for both teams for playoff positioning. And it's a real two game swing on both sides. They play at both sides of the break. And it would be huge if they're going to stay. Gordon State could win this one and go home, maybe get another one. Steve Kerr has set the standard. He believes that this team can, with Jimmy Butler powering it, powering it, helping power it. He thinks he set the standard to succeed.

He's like the goal is the sixth seat. As we sit here today, there are three games in the lost column out, McMahon. But they believe they can avoid the playing altogether. You know, and Bon Tim told us it wasn't going to be a problem with it wise. I had questions about the shooting, but I know you like my early a.m. We hours of the morning sports center count with that thunder and lightning backfield baby, but it really is. Like you mentioned Jimmy's free throws, right? Because he is, he's a battering ram. He's a downhill attacking, big, strong. He's like that fullback who just, you know, pounds it between the tackles.

And Steph is obviously the best perimeter shooter that has ever graced the face of this earth. 28 free throws for Jimmy Butler in the last two games. 32-3s attempted for Steph Curry. If they're coming close to that kind of volume just in attempts, then that's a really nice winning formula for the Warriors. Hey, I have a question, a Quentin-related question. When he heats up, could we call him the Dutch oven? bond temps this morning at like 6.30 a.m. Central like probably more like 620.

Brian Smith, the Sports Center anchor was was name checking you, you know. And McMahon and I were like, we did not get up this early to have you praised on. Brian Smith's a smart fellow. That's all I'll say. Very smart. You were sleeping soundly. Don't make billions of about Utah Jazz. I don't have some brains in you. Yeah. Well, the Warriors. They are the beneficiary or one of the beneficiaries of the Mavericks hitting this turbulent zone of the season because they are a team that's in front of them

The Kings go through a massive change in front of them as well. I mean, we'll see DeRosen had an incredible game and win in Dallas the other night. I don't it's hard for me to forecast What's going to happen with the Kings but I mean I don't think they got worse at the trade deadline. They might be better either but I'm not sure they got better. I mean, look, I think, I mean, we talked about it last week. I don't think, if you had Zach Levine for DeMarter Rosen, or for Deerrin Fox, I don't think that's a huge difference. I like Jake LaRavy on the wing.

It's a small piece, but he's at a nice year in Memphis. He gives them some size as a combo forward. They didn't really have that kind of player. What did say, McMahon? I did like that pick up. You know, he's a guy who really gave up on in terms of not picking up. the fourth year option, but he's had a nice year. And, you know, they're limited in what they can offer next year, but he's a,

you know, he's a nice six, eight kind of versatile, uh, wing forward, you know, like depth for the other, the other two teams in front of them are Minnesota who's been playing well. They won eight out of ten. Uh, aunt, I think has three or four 40 point games like in the last two weeks. Yeah. Um, they got steam rolled by the calves corners. Um, uh,

on a Monday, but still they've been playing well. And then the other teams of the Clippers, which they're right now in the sixth seed, which is going to be the spot everybody wants. That's a lot of teams to crawl over, but. It is. But, you know, the Warriors, you know, have, you know, if they're healthy, they have a, they have a fighting chance at it. So, all right.

I mean, it's a lot of teams to go over, they're all, yeah, it's a lot of teams to go over, but they're all tied in the loss column right now, really. So, you know, it's doable. Well, the Warriors are three games back of the Clippers in the Lost Column. Yeah, same Bonavitt, you're back. I just meant from 11 to 8, 11 to 8, like with the two teams that are playing Wednesday night, like those two teams, Phoenix and Sacramento, are all tied. So, you know, it's one thing to say you're in 11th.

That's another thing to say you're tied for eighth, and you've got to get ahead of two teams. The team had seven games ahead of them in the Lost Column is the L.A. Lakers who haven't lost in a couple of weeks. The makers have won seven games in a row. By the way, so have the Nuggets who they can't get any ground on, but those two teams have basically separated themselves a little bit in the two, three spot. The rockets have been sliding. So Luca couldn't have had a softer landing. You know, Anthony Davis came back, had to play against the rockets, rivalry game,

had to go up against an All-Star. and Luca comes out to play the jazz. No offense to a friend of the pod, Will Hardy, but he couldn't have picked a better spot for them. It was a very comfortable way for him to ease back into it. There's been so much attention on how LeBron and Luca will play together. I was not really paying attention to that on the first night. Obviously, there'll be something to keep an eye on,

but I'm more to see the effect on Austin Reeves, who's been having the best stretch of his career and gets the ball in his hands. That's how he plays. I don't know if you saw this, McMahon. Now, granted, he played only 23 minutes, Luca did, because it was a blowout and they were bringing him back from the injury. But he brought the ball up only nine times, which I think was the lowest of his career.

It was the lowest of his career or lowest in a number of years. So I don't know if that's the JJ Reddick. strategy but or that was just easing him in but Austin Reeves had another big game at 22 points he's got a I'm not taking much away from anything from a game where Luca hasn't played in weeks and they're playing the courts of the Utah Jazz that's also I'm just saying Austin Reeves was bringing the ball to court a lot I understand but he hasn't played in six weeks and to me it's like what mattered was he got through the game healthy like I don't we're not going to learn anything from these games against Utah.

Well, I just say, you know, I'm going to come in. It's basically a preseason game, right? Like Bondon said, had played since Christmas, brand new team. You know, it's like the most pomp and circumstance around a preseason game in the history of the world, other than, you know, maybe some of these like overseas specials type of thing. By the way, so you could oversee specials. It wasn't that long ago that the Mavericks made a special stop in Madrid. in Madrid. Remember they were in Abu Dhabi and they were like,

we're going to stop in Madrid just to chill for Luca. Where, by the way, Lucas trained his calf. Those were good days. No, they played in Madrid. Lucas strained his calf. They played against Real Madrid. And he went out there and kind of hop around for five minutes just because he didn't want to disappoint the Madrid crowd. But listen, yeah.

That's what's so crazy. Like the Mavericks, there's a whole book written about how much they catered and coddled this guy and tried to build a contender around them. What's it called? The Wonder Boy. But seriously, like, Luca's happiness was Mark Cuban's top priority

when Cuban was running that franchise. You know, from the time they drafted Luca until the time Cuban sold the franchise, Luca's happiness was Cuban's top priority. Cuban had zero power. The heads up was like literally a matter of minutes that this trade was happening. There's a 0% chance that whatever,

have happened under Cubans watch but you know that I called him the world's richest mascot for a reason because he doesn't have any juice in the organization anymore he gave that up was hoping to cling on to it what happened to that proprietor nickname uh yeah I don't know he's a boy Cuban though he was he was giving him back to some of these fans he doesn't like if you want to champ fire Nico you can't do it with the mavics are shooting free throws because Cuban stand up and tell you to shut the and upset the down. Well, listen, here's what I'd say on this. Look, the jazz are who they are.

I'm not taking a lot out of this game or the game Wednesday. To McVans point, I think we look at this preseason. They come back after the break. They played the rescheduled game against Charlotte, which is interesting because of the Mark Williams trade, hanging over it. And then they play Portland the following night in Portland. But after that, they're in Denver, home for Dallas, home for Minnesota, home for the Clippers, home for the Clippers, home for the Clippers again.

Then they've got the Pelicans, the Knicks, the Celtics, the Celtics, the Nets, the Bucks, the Sons, the Spurs. And then the Nuggets of Bucks again. So they've got a pretty healthy stretch with a couple softies in there against a bunch of playoff teams for about a month. That's when I think we're going to really learn about what the overall dynamic of this Laker team is. The fact that they've ripped off some wins here against teams like the Knicks and the Celtics and some of these scenes while they're banged up. I mean, right now the leg is won six in a row. They've won nine of their last 10. They're five with their five losses up on Minnesota for seventh.

And they got a real shot to have home court in the Western Conference playoffs with a healthy Luca Donchich, which is probably the craziest part of that entire sense. So. And I'll wait a- I'll wager right now. He's in a great situation. I'll wager right now that Luke is not going to have another game this year where he only brings the ball up the floor nine times. Like you don't make a blockbuster trade to get a guy who just averaged 34, 10, and 9.

We might have another one. You might have another one Wednesday. So you might want to say after the break. I think they'll be ramping them up. My point is you don't trade for that guy not to put the ball in his hands. I do think you'll see a lot of like when he made that three quarter court pass to LeBron for the layup. I think you'll see a lot of that. He was the best look-head passer in the league, like statistically by far last year. If guys will run with Luca, he's as good as there is at

grabbing a rebound, whipping his head around, and he's looking to just let that thing fly, and he can put it on the money from 80 feet out. It's like you told me last year, he could have been the quarterback for the Cowboys. Well, the other thing that's funny about it. Maybe if a staffer retires, it'll take over there. So I was hanging out with Luke and a couple of cool. That's right. Could be. I mean, the funny thing, the funny thing about where the Lakers are at now,

after the failed physical on the trade with Mark Williams, is that they're going to have to play fast, despite having LeBron and Luke on the team, if they're going to want to be successful in theory, because they're going to have to play super small all the time. You know, even if they get, you know, they've got Jackson Hayes, maybe they get Alex Linn as a buyout guy. But like, they're not, these guys aren't going to be guys

that are playing crazy minutes for them in the playoffs. They're going to have to win playing during Fini Smith at the five, playing Rui Hachamur at the five, playing super small, space in the floor, picking and popping like they did against the Knicks at the Garden here a couple of Saturdays ago before the trade. And it's going to be interesting to see how 40-0 LeBron and Luca respond and react to that. Because like you said, if you have Luca trigger in mass break offense, it could look pretty damn good. Maxie Kleber was salary filler in this deal for the most part, but I'm just telling you. and obviously he's going to be a while he's got a broken foot Maxie Klebba has been

a very useful player for the Mavericks over the years and particularly in playoffs because and you look at his numbers like what are you talking about like the guy's got three points and three rebounds but he can space the floor and he can

play the five and switch everything you can play a five out style and switch everything style with Maxi Kleba playing the five and this is a team that could really use that sort of guy because like you just laid out their options at the five right now are so limited we heard a few months when he broke it um which was back in it's like January yeah yeah so it was like maybe he can get back by the end of the regular season you know so but especially if they make a little bit of a I hadn't even considered it to be honest with you now it's obviously

it'd be a really tough situation if let let let let let let let let let's just say hypothetically, all right, you're back, you're clear to go on April 15th. By the way, you've been living in a hotel for a few months. You've not been able to practice with this team at all. You know, you know two guys on the team because you play with Dodo. I guess he knows Christian Wood. Oh, wait, Christian Wood can come back and save this whole thing. But it'll just be interesting to see Gleba ready to go for game one of the finals when

LeBron goes back to Cleveland. If Maxi Kleba, if Maxi Kleba can play in the playoffs, he is unquestionably the best big on the roster and will be a massive factor. Yeah, I heard you. You just let you walk. You walked all over Wendy's prediction. I just said something. I had something to me today. I said something.

We have a Bernie Kozhar reference and a Cavs finals reference on the pod. we got we got we got we got brought back to cleveland for the finals i to tell me a hell of a story line not the witness baby we have an interesting situation developing it's sort of you know front office back of house stuff but certainly you care if you're a wolves fan on monday an arbitration panel and this gets in the weeds an arbitration panel ruled in favor of of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Laurie in their dispute with the current owner of the wolves, Glenn Taylor. Long story short, it's going to come down to a vote of the owners.

Lori and Rodriguez have the money. That's right. Lori and Rodriguez have the money in escrow. They're ready to buy the team. The arbitrators said that Glenn Taylor voided the, violated the contract when he took the team off the market. And so Arod and Lori need 23 of the 30 votes. which I would assume that Mr. Taylor will be voting against this they need 23 of the 29 votes actually I shouldn't assume that I don't know what Glenn Taylor is going to do but there's a

you know they need three corners the owners to vote for him one way or the other right and so we've never really seen anything like this might I would be surprised if it actually came to a roll call where they're calling out the votes I would think Adam Silver would try to negotiate some sort of settlement the issue is this Glenn Taylor can say whatever he wants. I'm not going to say anything he has said is not true. I'm just going to say that he made this deal in 2021 when the Timberwolves were in their playoff drought.

Aunt Edwards was just a prospect. And we were coming out of the pandemic. The team sold for $1.5 billion. Since then, four teams have sold all of them for over $3 billion. Most recently, we saw the Maverick sell for $3.5. We saw the Hornets and the Bucks controlling shares sell for over $3 billion in value, which is at least double or more than the Timberwolds. And Aunt Edwards has turned into a superstar, and they are looking very up.

And so they also are an extremely expensive team. So I'm not going to predict what's going to happen. I will just tell you that we are in an unprecedented situation where the owners, there's going to be lobbying within there. I'm not even going to tell you I know which is better for the wolves organization. But we are in an interesting situation, Bontemps. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see how this goes because it goes back to sort of what are the motivations of the other owners involved here, right? And certainly, I think the most likely outcome is one way or the other.

There is some sort of a settlement between the two parties and this gets resolved that way. But, you know, look, you're talking about having to win a room. And, you know, on the one hand, you could say the arbitrators ruled in favor of Mark Lori and Alex Rodriguez and therefore they should get the votes and have control of the team. On the other hand, you could have a motivated group of people in that room say, you know what? We don't want to do being a situation where our peers are telling us what to do with our teams. And if there's a situation like this and we don't want to have to sell our team if something like this comes up, We don't want to set a precedent where that is going to happen.

You know, there's a lot of different ways you could evaluate how this is going to play out. It's why, I think to your point, it would be pretty surprising if it got to a quote-to-quote roll-call vote. Because I think that could be fraught for the league on a few levels. But it is going to be fascinating to see how it plays out because these teams don't come available very often. And like we've talked about a lot, both this Minnesota situation and the Boston situation, I think both have to get resolved before the league is going to turn its attention to the expansion process, which obviously is something a lot of people have interesting. We're waiting to see what the next steps on that are.

I'll say it's interesting that, sorry, I say it's interesting. Mark Lurie is on the cover of Forbes this week where he is being declared by Forbes, America's newest billionaire, which I don't want to assist. I don't want to assume why he did that story, but my guess is to send a message to his potential new peers. Well, he is already a part owner of the league, his peers, that he can fund and pay for this team. But if you're Glenn Taylor and you're like,

wow, he's been doing very well over the last few years since I sold the team to him for one five, maybe you're like, well, you can afford more. So if you don't want me to make an issue of this vote, how about we renegotiate the sale which you know I'm sure Mark Lori's going to be like no we signed one five I'm going to give you one five have a nice day so yeah billionaire games McMahon yeah no I feel for him it's a tough deal I just wish we paid them all these all these billions that our company

paid them we should have been able to get the rights to like these kind of meetings and these kind of votes that'd be that'd be good TV talking about here I I'm talking about like the, you know, put all these up. Put all these billionaires in a world. Roll call. Let's do it. Let's do a vote. You know, that'd be good TV.

That would be amazing TV. Hey, let's roll call. Who's going to get the team? Talk about it. Talk about a made for TV special. Hey, late breaking news, Brandon Ingram, three years, 120 million from the Toronto Raptors. God bless America. I mean, Canada.

And how about a player option on the end of the? that he wanted 40 million a year the pelicans weren't willing to go there he got traded and he's getting his 40 million a year on temps brandon ingram was maybe the biggest winner of the whole trade deadline week i mean he did not have a huge market he spent a year trying to get traded out in new orleans he gets to a place that really wanted him not only to your point paid him the number he was hoping to get even more so maybe also give him a player option so it's a huge bet by the raptors on the fit of he scotty barnes and emmanuel quickly very curious to see how it plays out also curious to see when Brandon Ingram plays because he's still he's still out with this ankle

sprain I don't think he's playing through the all-star breaks we'll see when he actually makes his debut with the Raptors hey I'm coming up on on Friday's pod sorry to stamp on you McMahon I believe we've got straw poll coming we might yes pull we'll see I know I know has McMahon has McMahon sent you his vote yet oh yeah he has both amazingly both you and McMahon well not amazingly so McMahon always votes quickly you actually sent your vote right away for once I didn't have to chase you down so thank you for that can't wait all right thank you to our producer raffa thank you to McMahon thank you to bond temps thank you to all the fans of the Dallas Mavericks

we will talk to you later this week adios amigos