Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - Statement Game from Wemby + Did Mitchell Save Cavs Season? & Big Changes Coming for 76ers & Lakers

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to Victor Wembanyama’s statement response for the Spurs in the Game 5 win over the Wolves including talking if San Antonio can close out Minnesota in Game 6. Then, the guys talk about a historic performance from Donovan Mitchell to tie the series with the Pistons at 2 before giving big keys for Game 5 in Detroit. Next, we discuss the Thunder’s dominant sweep of LA prior to breaking down a major offseason for the Lakers with the future for LeBron James and Austin Reaves. Finally, we dissect how the news from Philadelphia that Daryl Morey out as 76ers president of basketball operations will impact the franchise moving forward before honoring the passing of two members of the NBA family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Staples Preferred Business Membership, built for busy business owners, because you've got bigger things to think about. With Staples Preferred, get free delivery, no minimums. Staples Preferred unlocks up to 3% back, plus 10% savings on print and exclusive wireless offers. One less thing on your plate. Actually, a lot less. Visit staples.ca.

That was easy. Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which you're doing on Tuesday evening. Joining me from Chicago, where he's at the Draft Combine because the playoff series he was covering between Philly, New York is over, is Tim Bonteps. Hello, everybody, but there's still news out of Philly. That's true. Joining us from Dallas, Texas, back home because the playoff series he was covering is over

as the Thunder finished off the Lakers last night is Ban McMahon. Howdy, partners, how sweet it was. At least five more nights at home. I appreciate Shane the Thunder for giving me a little siesta. Really tough life for McMahon. Really tough. So, Bontemps, you have a special assignment before we talk about the game. You have a special assignment.

Okay. So at the draft combine. Yes. At the draft combine. Oh, I have to find more discoveries for window. We're already up to two, McMahon. At the draft combine. You're a camera booser?

You're stepping all over me. Just chill. At the draft. At the draft combine, all of the teams interview the players on the same floor of this hotel. Okay. And over the years, and as an indication of the NBA just having more money than is probably good for it, over the years, what they do is they come in early and they clear out all of the, and I think they're just kind of, they might be bigger rooms, but because they're all in one room and there's 30 teams, they've got to mostly be regular rooms. They don't have 30 suites on one floor. I think they're regular rooms. And they come out and they clear out all the furniture, the bed and everything like that. And more and more it's become like an arms race of teams. teams that bring stuff in for their meetings with the prospects. And they decorate the door and they bring in like wall size, you know, pictures of greatness of their franchise.

And they have games. Like I heard the Wizards have Connect 4 in there. I don't know if they, they only have 20 minutes for each meeting. And at 20 minutes, the NBA comes and they sound like a tone. And everybody switch. It's like speed dating. I can't have monopoly. Bontemps, I want you to do some reporting and find out who's got the craziest ass setup.

Who's most insane in what their conference room does? I might leave that to you to discover that too. Fine, I'll discover it. Fine. I think I can't do reporting. I'll do some freaking reporting. I mean, listen, you have discoveries left and right. You're discovering things all across the league, massively important things.

Let's go. All right. So tonight in San Antonio, the Spurs take a three-two lead. repeatedly this postseason, I have been impressed with the Spurs answering it to adversity, even though I know that they were not able to get it done down the stretch of game four the other night in Minnesota. I love the demeanor that the Spurs came out within this game. Obviously, Victor had 18 points in the first quarter, 16, like sort of right away. He obviously, whatever he may say, he hasn't given his post game interview yet,

as we're doing this, whatever he may say about what happened in. game four, I know that he felt that he had some making up to do because I saw the way he came out in this game. I saw the emotion that he played with and he was playing for his team. And regardless of what he might say, remember the actions that he had in this first quarter. And then what I really liked guys was how San Antonio played with such force, particularly attacking the basket, especially in transition. When they would get in transition, they would go. to attack the basket. I thought it made a world of difference.

And frankly, I actually felt Minnesota did a decent job of hanging in there tonight several times coming back. The force that the Spurs played with, how about 68 points in the paint in a Game 5-2 series? They took 50 shots in the paint. That is the way to play when you need it. And so, extremely impressed with them. Yeah, and how about the fact that, you know, obviously Victor gets suspended in game, or throwing out a game four, it's two, two, coming back home, game five. We talked about them playing a Minnesota team that has battle tested and is one on the road,

has already won in San Antonio in the series, and the wolves make this 14 to 2 run right out of the gate in the third quarter. They tie the game. I'd assume it's a layup by five minutes into the third quarter, makes it 61 all. From there to the end of the game, it was Spurs 65, Wolves 36. Like, just absolute demolition or by San Antonio of Minnesota. They win the game by 29. They just completely run them out of the gym.

And, like, that is an extraordinarily mature and professional response from a young team in a big spot where they very easily could have got sideways when Minnesota made that run and instead they completely flipped the game on its head immediately and slammed the door and put themselves back in the driver's seat. Like that, that's exactly the kind of response

you want to see from a team that thinks that can win a title. And, you know, now they've got to see if they can close the series out in game six, but that was awfully impressive stuff in the second half of this game. Yeah, I mean, Wimby came out and threw a haymaker in the first quarter, 18 points in the first quarter,

and you're just like, okay, like this guy's going to be completely unstoppable tonight. The wolves ate that punch and they got within striking distance by half time. You know, they got, they came out strong after the half got right on their heels. And then, you know, like you guys said, the spurs just, it was a flurry of punches

and it wasn't, I mean, Wembe was part of it, but offensively it was Kelton Johnson scoring 21 points in 22 minutes, going to seven and a basket in transition. Yeah, seven and eight on two-pointers. And he is, you know, he just, he's not like an explosive athlete, but he's a strong physical guy who's got craft and skill. And like, I'm watching the game with my boys. I'm like, look, dude, look at the pivot pump fake.

Look the way he uses his shoulder to get separation. Like, and Dylan Harper, as a rookie, Dylan Harper's combination of he is a great athlete. But athleticism, size for a guard, strength and finesse, like Dylan Harper. is already so good. He's going to be, he has superstar potential. And then Steph Castle, like there's so many times

where Steph Castle's in the paint. And it's just like there's a trampoline that he finds in the hardwood. Two things just move. That's like aunt too, yeah. I mean, seriously, like just off two feet and just up and throwing a thing down with two hands over and over and over again.

They have, this is a team that has athletic depth in the back, court and on the wings. You know, Carter Bryan is, you know, not that much of an offensive threat yet, but he's a super athletic wing player. You know, Champany and Vassell aren't like crazy athletes, but they're not slouches. But when you talk about Harper, Fox, and Castle, like, that's three insane athletes that are playing combined 96 minutes out of the back court.

So to break down what you're talking about, Bontemps, it's a tie, seven minutes to go, 751 to go in the third quarter. The Spurs turn the ball over three out of four possessions, miss on the other. The Oles of Wolves run. So it's tied 750 to go in the third quarter. Over the next four minutes, they push the lead to 11. They respond, go up 11. Then they take Victor out of the game, three and a half minutes left.

And in those three and a half minutes, they extend the lead by seven points from 11 to 18. That is a check on where this Spurs team is. And by the way, the other day, we talked about it. Even though when Banyama got tossed and that was a difference-making moment in that game, the Spurs guards played extraordinarily well in that game. They did answer the bell. They just didn't have enough against Ann Edwards down the stretch of that game. And I'll also point out that one of the things we talked about as the season was winding down was,

how would Victor play when he got more minutes? Well, he had 24 points, 17 rebounds, five assists tonight, and there was a little bit of garbage time at the end of the game? 27. What do you say? Oh, 20, he was plus 24. Sorry, 27 points. It was a little bit of garbage time, but he still only played 32 minutes.

Yeah, his minutes didn't get ramped up. He has had some games where his minutes got ramped up more than that. I would assume should they be able to finish this series off, he's going to have to play more than 32, 33 minutes against the thunder. But, you know, I really, I thought the biggest test was going to be in this round with his minutes being increased as he's banging with Nicole Yokic and playing in the mile high air. But that ain't that ain't the opponent. So, you know, that test in terms of, you know, fatigue and all that kind of stuff, that that test didn't, you know, he didn't have to pass that one.

So, you know, now I think the question is, so Minnesota has been such a resilient team. I thought they were resilient in this game. Even in the, you know, after they came back in the first quarter after taking the early punch, they made the run in the third quarter. Even in the fourth quarter, they, I mean, it didn't make it over the hump, but they took it from like 20 down to 12 at one point. Minnesota has defined itself by its ability to bounce back and be resilient. So, you know, they get to play game six at home. This, you know, if you are San Antonio, the thunder are sitting there. Yeah, by the way, yeah, and you've got to finish it off.

You can't, first of all, you can't play with fire with the game seven. Second of all, obviously, the longer this series last, the more. of a rest advantage the Thunder will have. Getting back to Wimmy's minutes, he's only played more than 34 twice in the playoffs. They've both been in this series. The first one was a triple-double he had in game one when he did not have a good offensive game

and he wasn't able to finish strong on the offensive end. The second one was game three in Minnesota when he was breathtaking down the stretch of that game on the offensive end. So, you know, make it out what you will. Yeah. So I don't know what I'm going to think that, you know, I think that the wolves still, they still showed me enough tonight to know, to believe that they can, they can force a game seven. But I'm just going to say the spurs playing with this level of force is what they are going to need against Oklahoma City. And also probably trying to avoid turning the ball over. They had a couple of, they did get in some little turnover binges tonight, which Oklahoma City will kill them on. but just loved, loved, loved that mindset. Well, and look, if we're going to talk about minutes, like Anthony Edwards, remember, it was like,

I'm not going to say miraculous, but pretty medically impressive, but he was able to play in game one. And he had to come off the bench because of the minutes limit. And I think it was 25 in game one. They were going to bump it up in game two, but it was a blowout, so it was 24. He has played, he's averaged 40 minutes per game since then. Yeah, he played the most minutes of anybody in the game tonight.

Yeah, tonight was 39, and that's the lowest it's been in the last three games on two bad knees. Yeah, the two days off between now and game six will probably be very beneficial to Ant, I would expect. Okay, Monday night in Cleveland, the Cavs even that series with a pretty, we call it iconic second half by Donovan Mitchell, Bond-Tamson. I don't know if it was iconic, but it was spectacular. It was tied for the most points in a half in playoff history. Oh, it was, it was, I just don't. who it was tied with, by the way. If you didn't see it, you'll never get it.

Yeah, I did see. I didn't see. It's a Texan. Well, he's not a Texan, but it happened with the rockets. How about that? It happened with the rockets. You're not going to guess it. In the 90s, I would say.

Okay, was it like Vernon Maxwell or something? Same class of player. Yeah, it's the right. Nah, it's the right, the right sort of time period. It was Sleepy Floyd. Sleepy Floyd. Okay. Yeah.

So anyway. I just would say, I just, I don't know if I would say it's iconic just because, like, the 48 special from LeBron is iconic, but it was, it was an unbelievable performance from Donovan Mitchell in a moment when he did not have a good first half. The calves were losing at halftime. Their season looked like it could be on the ropes. And he came out and what was the run, 23 or 24 nothing to start? 22, zero, I think, to start the third quarter.

Something like that. I mean, they scored over 20 points in a row to start the second half. Dadov had scored most of them and completely turned the game on its head in the first six minutes of the third quarter. the 48 special. That's LeBron James in 2007, game five, 48 points in double overtime in Detroit. I need to mention that because I don't want to assume all of our listeners or even alive back then because I met Darren Peterson in Chicago a couple of days ago and I asked him a year he was born and said 2007. And I was like, oh, now I've got to just re-center myself here. The discoveries are making them old, McMahon. It's tough. It's a tough hit.

Listen, no, I'm with them. Like last year, I told you Cooper Flag was the first kid I've covered who was younger than one of my own. And that was a blow. And now most of this class is going to be younger than one of my own kids. Well, anyway, so Danny Cunningham, who covers the Cavs, has a substack. It does a great job. And he does Locked-on Caves. I can't remember if I read this from him or if he said it on his podcast, but he said it was, he was thinking about, you know, the Caves were wearing their 2007 throwback.

Navy jerseys last night and the Pistons were wearing their whites. Back in 2007, the home team revolutionarily wore white. And so it was the same uniforms, basically. And he said he was having a flashback to that from when he was a kid. And I didn't think of that, but that is the uniforms that they were wearing back in 2007. The way Donovan did it was quite different than the way LeBron did. LeBron's game was, you know, made your eyes bleed the way that game was played. But still, the Cav season was on the line. Donovan had four points, I believe, in the first half. I don't think he scored until he's made a free throw with like three minutes left in the first half. He'd had a rough series and he had a rough first half and it wasn't, you know, or I shouldn't say a rough series.

He's had a substandard playoffs for what you'd expect from him. And then he delivered in the biggest spot. And now, you know, it's a best of three series going back to Detroit for this game five on Wednesday. It would be very interesting to see how both these teams respond to it. Well, there was a potentially iconic moment when he hits that three from the left wing in Cade's face. And obviously, Donovan has just been going bonkers for a while. Then the camera catches him, and I will paraphrase, saying, get that gentleman off me. Well, by the way, Victor said that tonight.

When early in the game, the wolves were like kind of putting their hands on him and he was saying, don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me. Oh, he was not. He was a little sensitive. Well, you know, it was funny. Nas Reid got a technical foul for hitting Victor above the shoulders. He thought it was a light call. And then later in the game, there was actually an offensive foul on Victor on the perimeter where he like swatted.

Big Daniels in the face. Yeah, in the face. And they called the offensive foul. And Nas Reid pummeled Victor, a much, in my view, more intense hit than when he got called for the technical. And by the way, I guess Wimby's ribs. Remember, that was an issue late in the season. I guess Wemby's ribs are okay because he hit him right on the left side in the rib cage. Well, they didn't have any penalty for that.

The announcer said it was because Nas couldn't hear the whistle. I mean, I don't know which whistle you have to hear to know that you can't put a forearm shivering a guy's ribs when he's in the air, but okay. Let me compare the box scores from the 2007 game, LeBron James and Donovan Mitchell. So in 2007, now I've got to frame this. It's 2-2 on the road. Caves are the underdog. Pistons were the number one seed. Cavs were playing there in the conference finals.

By the way, playing against the Detroit Pistons who were in their fifth of six consecutive Eastern Conference Finals are farther, including winning a title, a slightly different caliber level of team and than the one that we're seeing this year. But no Ben Wallace. Correct. Should we do story time here, Jackson, presented by SoFi? Yes.

It's a good story. time. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. It was so hot. So it was June 1st. It was either May 31st or June 1st. And it was the first like really hot night of the summer in Detroit. And I just

the Pallelts-Lauberin Hills did not have the, it was not a place where they had problems with the, with climate, unlike you know, Miami or San Antonio. Miami was too cold. San Antonio, too warm. Anyway, like Boston is famously too cold. But the building was not ready for 90 degrees outside.

It was so hot in there. And there's a point where, like, during the timeouts, because LeBron played 50 minutes, okay, during the timeouts, they were, actually, it was just one, no, it says it was double overtime. They would, when LeBron would come to the sideline, and they, during the timeouts, they would deploy, like the guys who weren't playing would come over and fan him with towels. There would be, like, three of them fanning him with towels.

And they would put like a wet wash, a wet like towel. He was like a boxer coming to the sideline after every timeout because it was so hot in there. And so after the game, before he did media, he got an IV. But a huge factor in that game was no Ben Wallace. And by the way, if you go back and watch it, which it's periodically on NBA TV, I'm sure it's on YouTube. You probably just need to watch the fourth quarter and on. Like there's a ton of horrible possessions by both teams in there. That was sort of the standard way to play in 2007, which is partly why the rules have dramatically changed its then because the aesthetics were not exactly high.

By the way, the Cavs had a super hot three-point shooting night that night. How many three-pointers do you think they took in that game? 22. I'm going to guess 18. They were 7 of 15. Oh, my gosh. It was 109-107 in double overtime. That's a good quarter these days.

Yeah. You know, I mean, yeah, the Knicks went 12 for 14 in the first quarter of game four the other day, and that's in one quarter. My story time about that game is I've never actually watched it because I was my, I was my, right after my senior college when I graduated, we didn't have cable at my house. The game was on ESPN, I believe, and I was listening to it on the radio, and I was freaking out. Got to be Jim Durham and Jack Ramsey. I think it was Jim Durham and Dr. Jack, Dr. Jack Ramsey. I was freaking out to the point of my mom was like, what are you? you doing? Like, why are you yelling about whatever the hell you're listening to? Like, shut up. I said, Mom, LeBron James has just scored like 97 points in a row. The Bon Temps has gathered

around the radio in those days, McMahon. That's what they did. Everybody else in the house is like, shut the hell up. It's a common refrain for me to tell BondTubst to shut the hell up. All right. Well, Wendy's Storytime was brought to you by SoFi. Get Your Money Right. Bond Tem's Storytime was brought to you by ESPN Radio 2007. That's right. All right. So here was the box. Shack. Did you have to wind it? Do you have to wind that radio?

He was out in the barn. My dad actually set up at this wild AM radio setup where I mean, I could listen to AM radio calls from like half the country in my room. Well, maybe it was Joe Tate on 1100 come. Or it was Dr. Jack and it was the ESPN radio call. Or George Blaha in 760, the great voice of the Great Lakes. That's right. Anyway.

So LeBron in that game, 50 minutes, 18 of 33. from the field. Two of three from three point range. Ten of fourteen from the line. Nine rebounds, seven assists, two turnovers, two steals. I'm a little surprised only 14 free throws, to be honest with you. It was a different kind of game then, bro. And he won the game with a driving like underhand layup. The leading score for Detroit was Chon's, actually Richard Hamilton. Richard Rip Hamilton. I was going to say Rip Hamilton. 26. Big shot. Chonsie Billups, 21 points in that game. Okay. The only other Cav to have over 10 points in the game for the Cavs was Adrinos-O-Gauscus was 16,

and I think the only guy to score a basket in the second half of the fourth quarter in overtime, other than LeBron was Drew Good, as I recall. So, cadets's LeBron, 18 of 33, 10 of 14 at the line, 9 and 7. Donovan, last night, or I should say Monday night, 13 of 26, 4 of 12 on threes. The Cavs took 15 as a theme. Donovan took 12. 13 of 15 at the line, five rebounds, two assists in 37 minutes.

So 43 points. So more points in 12 less minutes. So way higher efficiency, I guess, although he missed eight threes. But let's look at the second half because what's that? More points. LeBron had 40. You say LeBron had more points and more minutes.

I'm sorry. LeBron had 40. Whatever. In the second half, which is really the, if you ever wanted to create, some memorabilia, you should get Donovan to sign a second half box score. Do people still do that, or is that passe? Second half box score, Donovan, 12 of 18. It's three of seven on three is 12 of 13 at the line.

39 points. Pretty good for a guy who famously does not flop. Well, thank God. I thought that the universe was out of line, but thank God J.B. Bickerstaff came out after the game and complained about the officiating. J.B., that's very rare for him. I know. I sometimes I say, J.B. stands for just business. A lot of times it stands for can we say just bitching? I don't know, but that's what it stands for sometimes. So, all right, so that was the story from the Cavs side.

Let me just say from the Pistons side, because the Pistons have now lost two games in a row. A couple of things. Number one, Assar Thompson had definitely his worst game of the postseason. He tweaked his ankle. I don't know how much of a factor that was, but he was out on the court at the end of the game.

And when it comes to the playoffs, you know, outside of O'G. and Nobys game two years ago at the garden where he's dragging his leg, I have been taught by Mr. LeBron James. If you're on the court in the playoffs, if you're available, you're available. That's not really meant to attack a Tsar, but like, you know, there might have been something with his ankle, but if he's out there, you're out there. He was benched at certain points in this game. Jalen Duren continues to really sort of evaporate in this postseason. He was not good against the magic.

In the second half of this game, he had zero rebounds. If we're going to get on Evan Mowgli for having one rebound in game two, this is a vital half that could have really lopsied this game. He has no rebounds. He also gets benched. Jalen Duren, eight points, two rebounds, four turnovers, 26 minutes. His negotiations last summer were complicated. I don't know.

It's going to be very complicated this summer. Well, where are you at on Duren? That's what I'm talking about. I mean, about, Sart Thompson, sorry. Different because Duren is supposed to be the co-star. Like,

Dern is supposed to be a guy who's a driving force on both ends of the floor. The two rebound. Those are the second and third guys for Detroit going forward as of right now. And that, I mean, they have both been disappointing and, you know, in different ways. And, I mean, at one point, I don't know what, Assar, I guess, let me see what he finished in this game. Asara, this game finished minus 27 and 18 minutes. He was minus 31 in 12 and a half minutes, which is almost impossible to do, to be 31 points worse in a quarter, which is basically what he was. there was one play when Cade drove down the middle,

kicked the ball to Assar who had nobody within 100 feet of them on the one side of the court because the cast just weren't guarding him but because he won't shoot it, he tried to drive to the rim. He was met there by both Cleveland Biggs. Shot got blocked. Led to run out the other way. I mean, the other thing that's set off for this game to me, the Pistons just commit horrific turnovers and are just,

Kate, and look, I've sung Cade's praise. is all year. He's at a phenomenal year. He's on my MVP ballot. First team all NBA. Like, great player, great season. But he has been way too careless with the ball at times in these playoffs. And he had those three turnovers

in that stretch with three minutes to go in game three. It completely cost Detroit the game. And in this game, he just, like, especially in that third quarter, he was just throwing the ball all over the place. And like, he's got to be way more. secure with the ball in a playoff game against the Cavs team that, you know,

they get out in transition to get easy buckets. They start to feel good and, you know, saw what happened in the second half of that game. They turned into a complete track team. Yeah, so also Duncan Robinson, who's been red hot. He came into this game shooting 58% on threes in the series. This was a game that the Cavs were able to attack him on defense, which, you know, you're going to attack him on defense every game. But normally he's not normally, but when he's able to,

beat you at the other end. The balance gets better. The balance didn't get... The Cavs lopsided. Basically, the Pistons front court, you know, B-Ball Paul, Paul Reed, played brilliantly, and he helped keep the pistons in the game for certain stretches. He and Karras Levert, who also had a great game.

Karris Lever had his best game as a Piston, I believe. He was 10 of 16. So those guys helped, but the Pistons starting front court was eviscerated in this game. They didn't play great in game three. And so while you're not going to see, of the Mitchell of a 39. You know, basically what happened, you know, Mitchell and Hardin were subpar,

unacceptably poor in games one and two. Mitchell has, you know, jaw-dropping game four. Hardin carries the Cavs home with several key baskets down the stretch of game three. So their stars have come back. The big thing to me going into game five, regardless of who may try to complain with the officiating and get whatever, is that Detroit front? Kark going to come back alive because Tobias Harris, who has been one of the best players in the playoffs so far, he finally started missing some shots. He went 0 of 8 in the second half.

As the pistons were fading, couldn't make anything. They were going to Tobias, who had scored over 20 points in like eight or nine straight games, and he finally hit his skid. So is that just in Cleveland, or is that just now the way that pistons are going to have to fight through? Well, and they put Evan Mowbly on them sometimes, and that certainly didn't help either. And look, Cade Cunningham's got to be the best player on the court. Like, he was the best player on the court the first two games, and he got outplayed by the two guards for the Cavs

and the two games in Cleveland. So, you know, even more than all this other stuff, if Cade Cunningham is the best player on the court in game five, Detroit has felt pretty good about their chances to win. If he struggles, there's a good chance it'll be three-two. And if the Pistons lose game five, I think they'll lose a series in six. And if they do lose this series,

Cade's going to think all summer about those three turnovers with three and a half minutes to go in game three. Because they had a chance to put the series away, and those were three of the worst turnovers you'll see. And, you know, they had a chance to put the calves on the ropes. They didn't. Harden hit those shots at the end of game three. Donovan was credible in the second half of game four.

And, you know, sets up a very interesting game five in Cavs Corner on Wednesday. This happened last round when the calves were two, two against the Raptors. They had that game at home. The Cavs have not won on the road in the playoffs yet. And I went and looked at Hardin's numbers, and he had played in like 13 situations where it was 2-2. And his record was spotty.

I mean, that's his whole playoff track. I know. So, you know, like, keep that in mind, you know. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. Okay, McMahon, you were in L.A. on Monday night. You watched a very spirited game where the Lakers and Thunder went down the stretch. When you get into clutch time, the Lakers are one of the best teams in the league. But without Luca and against the Clutch Time Masters, Clutch Time Player of the Year,

She goes to Alexander over there. It went the way that you would probably expect. But I felt that that was an impressive performance from the Lakers, all things considered, did not lay down, fought till the bitter end. Do they get another one of those bronze brooms for the sweep? I know you were rewarded them one for their spirited effort getting swept by the Nuggets a few years back. Yeah, well, the Nuggets, I believe, won the title that year.

I think it was a, you know. Well, the Thunder got a big chance to win this title. I did think that was very silly when we did that with the Nuggets series because people acted like, you know, Lakers were on the verge of winning it when they got swept. I do think the Lakers did impress me in this series despite getting swept. I do think it was more competitive than I expect.

Sounds like that's what he's doing, McMahon. Bronze Brooms broom, baby. I love a good bronze broom. I looked up there. I found the in-season tournament, the NBA Cup ribbon. I couldn't find the bronze broom, though. I was impressed with the way the Lakers played, and it was more competitive than I expected.

But I picked the Thunder to win in four, and the Thunder, much as in Big Bands, the light as he gets more time to just chill at home and not work. Chill at home, yes, not work, no, go on. Yeah, listen, we know your deal. It's all right. The Thunder did what? they do and took care of business, including in the fourth quarter when it looked like there was

a chance for a minute, it might go five, and then all of a sudden, she goes, Alexander closed the door, as he tends to do. Montemps nailed this sweep. What about the one of the Eastern Conference? That one I did not nail. Did not come close. Unlike you, I make predictions. So you've now joined Windhorst and I don't make predictions camp.

I'm just, I'm just confused. I mean, I just, I cannot, I couldn't figure out what I was watching because the Lakers shot more Frithos in this series than the Thunder did. the thunder shot the fewest free throws of any team in the conference semifinals and somehow they still managed to pull out wins. How'd they do that? I don't know.

But in all seriousness, the Lakers did a very good job of their primary goal in the first three games of the series, and that was don't let Shea get in a rhythm. And they did it with different tactics, different strategies, you know, the aggressive, very early double-teaming, Marcus Smart hugging him, 94 feet, up and down the floor,

whether you had the ball or not, you know, mixing things up. And as Shea said last night, hats off to his teammates. The Lakers basically said, you know, we dare the rest of the thunder to be able to beat us. And they did it. And especially A.J. Mitchell, who this was a, look, A.J. Mitchell had a great year this year. Don't get me wrong. This didn't come out of nowhere. But this was a breakout series.

And like, did they get a star in the middle of the second round a couple drafts ago? He played like a star, especially in L.A. I mean, he had 24 and 10 in game three and just dominated the stretch of the fourth quarter when Shay was resting up. That's when they really put that game away. And then he finished with 28. I forgot how many assists he had last night. But he just thoroughly outplayed Austin Reeves in their head-to-head matchup.

He also was very good on Austin Reeves defensively. I'm not saying he shut him down. Reeves had a couple last night. He had a good game offensively and, well, it was a game two, but he more than held his own on the defensive end and was pretty dominant on the offensive end. Chet Holmgren has been great all-playoff series long, or all postseason long, I should say.

You know, 4-4 from the floor in the fourth quarter last night, all right around the bucket. You know, Michael Martin, who is an Oklahoma media feller, a pretty good pickup basketball player too, tends to win a lot when we're paired together. But anyways, you know, he asked Chet last night, and I didn't realize this. Do you know what Chet is shooting in the restricted area during the playoffs? I do not. 80%. 97.1%.

Well, he made a big one last night in the final minute. Yeah. And Hartnstein had five assists in the fourth quarter, including the one. that was to Chet for the bucket that put him ahead for good, Hartnstein does a great job of being able to find him there. You know, Shea has done a great, you know, they pointed out to Shea after game three in Phoenix when he was like, he had 40, whatever, and was just ridiculously awesome.

But they pointed out to him in film like, hey, there's times where you got Chet for dunks or layups, and, you know, you got to find him there. And that's why if you'll see, every time Chet find, or She finds Chet for a dunker a layup, he points at the Thunder Bench. He's pointing to the coaches in the second row saying, I got it, I got it. But man, I mean, this is a juggernaut. And like Aaron Wiggins barely played in this series. Aaron Wiggins would play 25 minutes for the Lakers.

Like, that's not me guessing. I asked somebody on the Lakers staff, like, how many minutes would he play? They said at least 25. Kenrich Williams barely touched the floor. You know, J.J. Redick said himself, the Lakers have 13 guys on their roster, outside of the Thunder, have 13 guys on the roster who would be top eight of pretty much anybody's rotation. Their depth is ridiculous.

Aaron Wiggins' salary goes down the next two years. Yeah. I believe Isaiah Joe does as well. And by the way, A.J. Mitchell, three mill this year, I think it's 2.8 the next two years, the third year is the team option. I was talking to somebody with the Thunder and they were like, yeah, AJ was great, but, you know, he was upset that he wasn't shooting the three-point or better. he was three of 16 or four of 16 on threes.

He showed like 70% on twos. Whatever he wanted off the dribble. And I mean, he he's got such good touch, such good feel. Like, dude, he's a big dime player. And this was a, he's a guy who wasn't even in their playoff rotation last year. I mean, there's circumstances. You know, I had the midseason toe surgery and just never got back in the rotation. But as a fill in starter for Jalen Williams, he, Chase said himself, he was the Thunder's best player.

in that series. This is a guy who started his career. This is a crazy thing. I didn't realize this until I was talking to Todd Ramosar's agent. He started his career on a two-way contract, but he never played a second in the G League because he got to Thunder training camp

and Dagonal's like, yeah, that guy is an NBA player now. And Dagonal was talking about on one of the off days, you know, obviously people were asking about AJ. He's like, yeah, he's making me look bad for not playing him during the playoffs last year. All right, how about this?

How about these stats in that series? 23 points, 6 assists. He had seven steals in the four games. He had 24 assists to four turnover. He's a second-year player who was a second-round pick and started his career on a 2-8. Hey, you know who else is a second-year player? Jared McCain, he was 12 of 19 on threes. I meant to look this up.

I don't know the answer. Maybe you guys do. Did he outscore the Sixers bench by himself? in the second round. Well, hold on. He had 46 points in the tour game. I don't think so. Well, I could check, but I don't think so.

That doesn't sound like that's going to get that. Whatever. It's probably not too far away. No. And look, I mean, we talk a lot about like these are for the new villains of the NBA, you know, with the OKC whistle crisis and all that. And Lou does, you know, Lou does some villainous type of stuff on occasion for sure. but what a bunch of Boy Scouts. So game two, when Jeremy McCain is just lighting it on fire in the second half,

Dagonal decided, okay, I'm sticking with him. I'm skipping Isaiah Joe's rotation. So Isaiah Joe, quality player, significant contributor to a championship run last year, been a good, you know, great program guy for them. He basically, I'm not going to say he got bench, but he got his rotation skipped. You know, he didn't get to play in the second half. that game. And he's over there on the bench and he's yelling at Dagonal, but he's yelling, run this play for McCain, you know, run this play for him. He's hot. You know, this is a play

I love to get a three, run that for him. And that's just, that to me kind of just epitomizes the kind of vibes that they have. I mean, they are as connected as any group that you're going to find in the NBA. Boy, he's, he's been adopted right into that OKC media right there. He's been so much time there. I've got OKC propaganda. This is straight. I used to call him chief of propaganda, but I forgot that's Tumbles's job.

Royce Young pointed out six conference finals now during the OKC era, which is only 18 years, which honestly considering it was a rebuild when they started and they just went through a rebuild, you know, hitting 333 is pretty impressive. It's also worth pointing out since I'm in Chicago for the combo. bind it of the 11 guys who played in game four obviously jaylon williams is out only one chad hungren was drafted in the top 10 he went second case wallis was a lottery pick 12 he was the 10th pick 10th pick okay yeah uh chay was 11th jared mccain was 16th and then six of the guys were drafted in the second round and the other one was lewd dort who was undrafted undrafted i mean and cruzzo

cruzzo was undrafted hey caruso was a drafted drafted. So of their 11 guys, it's not like they're a team. For all the draft picks the Thunder have, it's not like they're a team that's created from, you know, like five picks inside the top six. They did have lottery pick Josh Giddy, like a seventh pick that they traded for Caruso. So I'm going to put a star on that. I mean, they went out and acquired some like they, Isaiah Ardenstein wasn't on their team. They went and signed him later. It's, it's not like they drafted all these guys. But I mean, they did have Giddy, which they turned into Caruso, just a footnote. The point is that it's a team that's a team that's been constructed from.

all over the place through free agency, through trades, it's a reminder that while everybody obviously was very focused on the lottery on Sunday and getting top players is obviously the most direct path to competing for championships, like if you have Victor Wenbina and Stefan Castle and Dylan Harper. But there's other ways to do it also, and the Thunder are an example. Yeah, there's a whole bunch of number one pick still playing. So the Lakers went out, LeBron said he's not sure what he's going to, to do, which is what he's been saying all year. Rob Polinka and JJ Redick had their exit interview

on Tuesday. Palinka said he wants to honor LeBron and give him the opportunity to decide how he wants to go, and we want to honor that. He's basically said that a number of times over this season. Here's the thing about LeBron, and we're going to talk about this a lot more when there's some space here. LeBron does have the right to take as much time as he wants and concern all of his options. However, the Lakers need to know what he wants to do relatively quickly if LeBron is going to want to get paid significant money because the Lakers have cap space and they may re-sign their own free agents. They may go out and do another free agent, but they're going to need to know by the draft whether LeBron wants to come back and probably have a pretty good idea of what they're

willing to offer LeBron and what LeBron's willing to play for. Well, and that to me is what's going to come down to midway through the season. I didn't think there was any way that LeBron was coming back to L.A. because I just didn't think the fit was there. You know, all the numbers that we went over at the time were pretty glaring. And then he accepted that third role, you know,

the less is more third option role. Austin Reeves took off. Luca played at an MVP level. They had the, what was it, 15 and 2, 16 and 2, whatever it was in month of March. Now, do I think that that tells us that

a championship contender? No, because the game where Luke and Austin Reeves got hurt, they were down 31 at the half in OKC. Like, they weren't beating the Thunder with Luca healthy. But all along, you knew there was a lot of work to do on the roster. And that's why

to me, it's not, hey, like, I thought it was lip service on them being wanting LeBron back. I don't think it's lip service anymore. But it can't be anything near the number he's at now, because this is their one swing, at using Cap Space to upgrade the supporting cast around Luca and around Austin Rees.

And it's very clear that Austin Reeves is going to be Lucas' long-term co-star unless things completely fall apart and, you know, turn the opposite direction. Well, it's going to be a fascinating summer for the Lakers because you saw in this series, as you said, as you said, you could put Luca Dodgers out there. The Lakers are miles away from the Thunder. And I think they're just about as far away from the Spurs. and those two teams are not going anywhere. And it's going to be extraordinarily difficult

without really any draft capital and with hardly anybody you really look at long term on the roster outside of those two guys. These are guys we definitely want to have around as part of a team that can really compete at the top of the Western Conference to build a team essentially through for agency that's got to be good enough to compete with those teams.

And that's a challenge starts this summer and it also, like you said, Brian, LeBron James, it's not that the Lakers don't want him back, but if for the first time maybe in his career, truly, it is not, he is not the number one priority going into the summer when he's up for a contract. I don't think they really have cap space. Here's why.

Austin Reeves makes $14 million. He's obviously opting out of that. So. But he'll be the last piece of business. That's right. His cap hold is $20 million. So just, you know, so LeBron makes 50 this year and Austin Reeves made 14. So between the two of them, it's 64.

Mm-hmm. Do you think you can get the two of them for less than 64 combined next year? But I don't care because what you need is LeBron to take a significant pay cut and be one to pay a bunch of tax for Austin Reed. What's significant? Honestly, like in like to 20-ish. Okay. Who's a better player right now, Austin Reeves or LeBron James? This is the problem.

Austin Reeves was their number two option when they were really good. So I'm just going to say if LeBron- If LeBron takes a 40% pay cut, which is like he's an all-MBA player, even at 41, let's say he takes a top 25 player. Whatever. He's a top 25. Fine.

Let's just say he takes a 40% pay cut. 40. That's go find me somebody who's still an all-star who's going to take a 40% pay cut. Let's say he's. goes from 50 to 30. Then they don't have a lot of cap space. Okay, fine, good. Rory Hachamura, you know he averaged 18 points

which had 50% in the playoffs. And I tell you, like, he has developed into an absolute laser of a three-point shooter. Okay, he's making $17 million. Is he making more or less next season? Probably going to get a raise from that. And if the Lakers, and if the Lakers say... Maybe less, but not a lot less.

Let's just say he makes the same amount, which I don't think he will, but let's just say he makes the same amount. That's not cap space. And let's just say the Lakers want to spend it on somebody else. And they say, thank you, Roy, goodbye. They now have to replace them. Yeah. And if they want to spend it, like, is it Peyton Watson who, you know, hey, you're paying for a money.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You're paying for a month. They cannot spend money on a wing. They've got to get a big. Well, who? Well, just let me go through this shenanigans here. Go through the shenan. Marcus Smart's got a $6 million player option.

You think he's picking that up? I would say no. No, sir. And even if you say goodbye, he'll pick his up. Okay, so I think Aiton's got six million. He's probably going to pick his up. Marcus might pick his up, but I would guess he probably won't. Aetons is eight, I believe.

Well, is it eight? Yeah. You're right at it. You're right at his eight. Yeah, he's not opti. I mean, unless he just wants that out of there. He won't get eight million elsewhere. He didn't play in the fourth quarter.

Yeah, and JJ was clearly like, you can't play. The game of four. And they'll also clearly be resigning Jackson Hayes for probably either the minimum or more than that. Well, that's, forget about that. I mean, well, I'm just saying it's, but it's money to a account for because they're going to resign Luke Canard. Maybe. I mean, again, this is the point

I mean, we've been making this point for months. The Lakers aren't good enough and they don't have a lot of flexibility to get better. And so that is the existential problem that they have. The way that they have flexibility to get better is to get LeBron to take like next

to nothing and get off to reach. But even then, but even then, they still there's not very many free agents to sign this summer and they need to improve like five rotation spots to have a chance to be best free agents are theirs. Well, and then some of the others are restricted.

Like Walker Kessler would be a good fit in L.A. The jazz aren't trying to let them get away. But that's what I'm saying. Like, if the goal for the Lakers is to compete for championships, right? It's not to, the Lakers aren't trying to, like, be a tri-hard team that loses in the second round of the playoffs. The goal is to add banners, right? Up there with the, what do you call it, the posted stamp for the NBA Cup?

What do you call it? The ribbon. The ribbon. So to put banners... No more bronze brooms. To put banners up there next to the ribbon, you need to improve probably five to six rotation spots to actually be a credible threat to the team you just got smoked by in the playoffs.

Let's just say you need to improve on three, because this team did have some stuff going for it. I don't, I think... They were demolished every time they played the Thunder all season, and they were, while they showed out somewhat in the series, No team in the league is improving on six rotation spots. That's what I'm saying. I think the problem is.

That's how wide the gap is. The gap is extraordinarily wide. I agree, but Luca didn't play. But let me just say that even if you improve. They lost by 32 the last time he played. And by the way, Jake Laravia, who's one of their additions last year, got the plug pulled on me. He played every single game right up until game three and they didn't play the rest of the series. I mean, every single game all season long.

I'm just saying this. let's just say for the sake of argument, they need three rotation improvements. Big and two wings. I think it's going to be very hard to get three without deducting players that you are counting on. That's my point. I think the Lakers cap space, even though you can get the whiteboard out and say it's $100 million, I think it's kind of a myth. Well, it's also a myth because there's nothing to really spend it on.

Well, I don't believe that. Players can force their way to L.A. They have draft capital. I agree that they're not going to be signing free. I mean, you're like saying, you're now talking out of both sides where you're like the Lakers have all these paths to get players, but they don't really have money. They don't have pass to get players or money. Well, you don't have to use capspace on free agents.

So don't, I mean, the free agent class is less the point than the flexibility. There's going to be good players that get traded this year because teams are trying to dump money. The Lakers are in position to take that. Maybe the Thunder included. I agree. I agree. especially with A.J. Mitchell playing this way. Okay, Darry and the 76ers after six seasons parted ways.

They had a surprising run at the end getting to the second round, but were completely outclassed by the Knicks. Nick Nurse will return. Nick Nurse, I thought, did an admirable job stitching this team together and had them playing their best basketball in that series against the Celtics. Especially unless his brother passed away in the middle of the series. I don't know if we ever talked about in the pot, but condolences to his family.

that. So really, when Darrell Mori invested $400 million in Joelle Embed and Paul George before the 2024-25 season, that, and I know ownership signed off on it and whatnot, but that decision to enter in with those

two guys with long injury histories who are, you know, are up. I mean, Paul George is in his 30s. Joell is, you know, sometimes looks like he's in his 40s. And not in a LeBron kind of way. He staked his tenure basically on that, and it hasn't worked out. And I mean, the Jared McCain trade is what he's been getting, you know, ripped for recently.

And with every three-point of the McCain hit and the Sixers bench issues. And even more than the trade, which Darrell did fine on the trade. The thing that Darrell got ripped for, which I think Darrell would admit was a mistake, was saying that he sold high on Jared McCain in the presser after. The arrogance. Yeah, I mean, he got asked a gotcha question and he answered it and got got. And that has stuck with him over the last couple months. And look, Darryl Morey obviously built some great teams in Houston.

I think if you go through the six years in Philly by and large when he made the moves he made, he generally did a pretty good job. And it was a lot of people agreed with most of the moves he made. I certainly thought it was a good deal to go get Paul George at the time. Obviously, it has not worked out in hindsight, but it's not like people were saying that was a bad thing for them to sign him at the time when they got him. I think the four-year max was the issue with- Well, sure, but there's a reason the Clippers weren't willing to go there.

I understand, but it's not like the Clipper, it's not like the Sixers were panned in the moment for signing it. Like, they signed the best player available. They put him with Joel Abed. They were trying to win right then with Joella Bede, and it didn't work, right? Like, that's the point. Like, the bets didn't work, and it was a risky bet. But, like, you can see why the moves are made when they were made.

Ultimately, though, he's paying the price for, you know, a continuation of what's been a decade of disappointment for the Sixers and them falling short time and again. And, you know, they went into last season, again, like essentially talking about load managing their way to win in the East, and they never got out of the starters block. and that was always going to be a hard thing to come back from. And they load manage their way to the lottery.

Well, I was going to say, and that ended up actually being a great thing for them because they at least now have another guy in VGA Edgecom who is an absolute monster. Yeah, who can be a long-term building block alongside Tyrese Maxi. Yeah. But they're just stuck in this weird situation where it's like, okay, you've got this great young backcourt. But man, you've got so much money invested in two guys.

You don't know when or if they're going to be on the floor. Well, I was just going to say, Joelle in his exit interview the other day said, boy, when I was coming into this season, I thought my knee might have been cooked. And coming into this season, he had four years and $230 million on his contract. I mean, that's not good.

And it is fascinating that Daryl Morey, regardless of we're not going to enter the politics side of the retweet in Houston, but that retweet in Houston was devastating to your rocket's business, much less the NBA's business, regardless of anything. He survived that. Then when he came to Philly, he survived sticking his neck out and going and getting James Hardin, a trade that didn't work out.

Then he survived Hardin, you know, declaring a war on him. I mean, he declared that the acquisition of Hardin and the trade of Hardin was a mess. And I'm going to push back on that. I'm going to push back on that. Ben Simmons was an absolute disaster when he left the Sixers. And Darrell sold on him at the right time. Sold high. What's that?

He sold high. He did sell eye on Ben Simmons. And I think it was a messy exit, but I think he did fine on the back end getting out harder when he did also. Well, I would say, I'll give him a pass on that. I'm just saying that that was the whole thing was messy. Well, the whole thing was messy. I would say the trade to get hardened wasn't a bad move,

but the result and the mess and all that was a really bad. I'm not done. Hold on. Just just, just, just it's the hardened thing. The acquisition didn't work. The exit didn't work. He goes into last year with the, with that huge investment didn't work. He survives all of those things. Then this year, Embed is a mess again. Paul George is suspended. They're stitching the team together. and they pull off one of the biggest series victories in the Philly history, and that's when he gets run out. It's just saying it's amazing. And then there was something that happened.

What happened after that? They got swept and just millied on their home floor in game four. I don't think this was because they got swept by the Knicks. Oh, that helped his cause? I don't, I don't, I think if they've lost in six games, I don't think it was a fact. I agree. It has been in the NBA chatter that Darrell was, Since Bob Myers got hired to basically oversee things.

That's correct. I mean... Well, but I'm just saying I don't think the last two weeks, I don't think the last two weeks are why Darryl Morey doesn't have a job. If they make you look smart, which is very hard to do and win that series, is he still getting run out? Probably not. But then they're in the conference finals and they've broken through.

I mean, listen, I, Josh Harris, the other thing that's worth pointing out, number two things. One, Brian and I were at that game in 2020. in game six when they're up in the fourth quarter of that game, James Arden and Joella Bid, the year Joala Bid at one MVP. And if Ben Simmons doesn't pass out of the Trey Young shot at the rim in 21, or if the Sixers close out game six at home in 23, does all think it look different?

But they didn't. No, I'm not, I'm just saying there was, they were, again, this is, it always goes back to a continuation of the decade of disappointment in Philly. the other thing I would say is it's not like the sixes are paying into the tax every year and part of the Jared McCain trade was getting out of the tax

well but that's my point part of the Jared McCain trade was an ownership mandate to get out of the tax well internally what the Jared McCain trade was was in it was in addition to getting out of the tax this year and for a team that they thought was going nowhere

also was that in theory this is what they said internally now whether or not they would have done it I don't know was that they would have done it I don't know was that they would were clearing money to sign Quentin Grimes this year. Now, it's not like McCain's making $12 million. They also did get a first back for Jared McCain.

And like they, I mean, I think that trade in a vacuum was fine. But it, again, Darrell was brought in to push the team past the failures they'd had before. And ultimately, again, well, you can go through in the individual. moves you can justify most of them when they were made and they all look pretty good at the moment they were made. At the end of the day, we're six years in and the Sixers never broke through. And somebody was going to pay the price for that. And it was Darrell. Well, and look, the sell high thing, you know, I'm whatever he said, I'm very confident we sold high.

like Daryl's arrogance has backfired on him repeatedly over the years. He rubs people the wrong way. And I would say his biggest failings as a basketball decision maker is he's never been a guy who valued or even frankly considered the human element. Like he does not believe in like basketball chemistry. He wouldn't maybe say it that bluntly, but he would sort of say that. Yeah, like he's a, he's a spreadsheet. Look, I had an agent, I had an agent tell me one time, Darrell maybe has the highest IQ of any of the NBA executives and one of the lowest EQs.

Yeah, that's fair. And that was an agent who went many rounds with him on things. I mean, it's a fascinating tenure. Like, there were a lot of highs and lows. There were a lot of big swings. Like, you know, like, again, I would. disagree. Like, I think it was messy at the time, but the outcome of the Ben Simmons mess was getting James Hardin and selling high on Ben Simmons at the right time. If they hadn't

traded Ben Simmons then, most of this other stuff would have never happened. That's fair. But it didn't work. At the end of the day, all these different things didn't work. That's right. It didn't work. And the Sixers continue to disappoint. And like you said, when he signed Paul George that deal and he signed Joel and B to that extension, it locked this team in to this team, and it was a bet on this team winning. And last year, they were on unmitigated disaster. And this year, Joel Labede missed more and a half to season again, though we look more like himself at least.

Paul George got suspended for 25 games and came back looking fresh for the playoffs as a result. And yes, they beat Boston, but they were outclassed by the Knicks and Joel was hurt again. So I remember, I remember like eight or nine years ago, they had just redone the locker room in Houston and Darrell was giving me a tour of it and he was showing me that above every player's locker there was like an LED screen and the point of it was that the players could have all these stats including you know they're individualized for them for that game and they would be on their thing and they could get like a little teeny stat package for them to you know about their

opposition or whatever and and then it would rotate through and then it would turn off the stats and it would put the player's name and picture above it and I said Darrell this is perfect for you these screens. He goes, oh, yeah, we can put the stats up. And I go, no, it's much easier to change the players out. You just hit it, just change the screen. I was making a, I was, you know, I was just ribbing him a little bit because I think that year he had like 17 different players. The year before he had 17 different players because he made like, he traded like eight of them during the year. I mean, Darrell's got a fascinating tenure too. Like, I mean, he was the one guy that really went after the Warriors got, came close to getting the Warriors at their peak in the Western

conference. Daryl has made huge, has had a huge effect on the NBA, not just with analytics, but they have changed the way they've been at the cutting edge of contracts. He has a tree of executives who have left him and gone out to other places. His conference every year at MIT has become one of the cornerstone events on the NBA calendar. He's had a fascinating 20 years as the league executive of teams. But today was fired. Darrell is a revolutionary, especially though, in terms of the analytics, and he's changed the league so much that what was always one of his biggest advantages is no longer, maybe not an advantage at all. If not, it's not the major advantage, because in large part because of Darry

every franchise has an analytics department. And in a lot of cases, an analytics army. It's actually not analytics anymore. It's now called strategy. Okay, same difference. Nerds. All right. It's never easy to lose anybody in the NBA family, to lose two in the same day, including an active player. It's one of the more somber days that we've ever had in the NBA, quite frankly. Brandon Clark passing away of Memphis Grizzlies.

You covered him quite a bit, McMahon. His last couple of seasons have just been ruined by injuries, but this is, you know, very upsetting and devastating to the grislies, who was, he was, he was their longest tenured player. And he was loved in Memphis. You see the outpourn of love from all his teammates, just like the joy and the energy that he played with. You know, he really connected with the Memphis community.

You know, unfortunately he tore his Achilles. That night in Denver when, you know, there was other unfortunate things that happened for that franchise. And it's been a, it was a very difficult. road for him. Since then, you know, we don't know all the circumstances of his death. Frankly, I don't know that all the circumstances are important. Just in this, you know, it's just a tragic situation for, like, forget about what was in his

NBA future. For a guy this young in life who had accomplished so many things, you know, you would think would have most of his life in front of him. Had given back a bunch in Memphis. Yeah. And for it to be cut short, however, you know, it happened at the end is just an absolute tragedy. And then, unfortunately, the NBA also lost Jason Collins, who between his playing career and coaching career, touched so many different organizations, so many different people, died of brain cancer. He announced it last year.

Prognosis was terrible. he was able to have some time with some experimental treatment they did. He did some interviews with our Ramona Shelburne talking about it. He actually did several interviews. Yeah, I went to college with Ramona at Stanford. And I covered Jason Collins when he came out as the first active gay athlete in our, I don't remember exactly, I guess male professional sports at least in the States. And, yeah, I mean, that was a huge deal.

Like when he came, when he played for his former teammate with the Nets, Jason Kidd, who played on those NBA finals teams with Jay Kidd. And like that was a, that was a wild thing to be part of and to see. And obviously there was a ton of attention on him for that. And he handled it all with Grace and he and his brother, Jaron, who has been, you know, played in the NBA for a long time. We all know Jaron from being an assistant, great dude. you know but i mean jace had a massive impact on the league uh and i just you know a lot of

different parts of society uh in light of doing that so that was uh it was definitely a sober day for sure having both of those things happen a few hours apart uh all right so um our condolences to uh those who are feeling this loss the most um thank you very much to our producers who are staying up late and putting this together. Mark Miles and Jackson. Thank you to McMahon and Bontems. Thank you for listening and watching The Hoop Collective. We'll talk to you later this week.

Adios amigos. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust.

Visit Wayfair.ca.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home.