Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - The Best Player Of The Year - Our 2025 Baller d'Or Award Show

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to give out their Baller d'Or winner, our award for the best basketball player of the calendar year inspired by the Ballon d'Or in soccer. 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 Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we are doing at the dawn of a new year. Happy 2026 to everybody.

And as is our tradition here on the Hoop Collective. Every year we, in the honor of the great Balloon Door, am I saying it correctly? Ballandor, I believe. I don't speak hero. Not the balloon door. I don't even know what language it is. It's French. It's a French award.

It's given out to the player who has the best calendar year in international football, be over all the competitions. We do a baller door here at the Hoop Collective. The last two of ours have gone to Nicola Yoke. So we'll see if he can win a third one. He's waiting by his phone with bated breath right now as he's icing his leg. All right. So the way we've done this in the past is we've each nominated two folks for the honor. It is not going to be in snake draft form because otherwise we'll be here all day.

So out of honor to the new father, Tim Bon Temps, we will let you go first in making your nomination, the first nomination for the 2025. Awesome, because this should be a pretty open and shut discussion, I think, because there's no... All right, thanks for the Shoeuv Collective. Hope you everybody has a good New Year's Day. Go, Buckeyes.

There's another year's there's international play, on other things. There was international play. Eurobasket. Oh, the Eurobasket. That's true. I wasn't thinking about that. It's been a long couple of days.

But I would say that the guy who won finals MVP, won the scoring title, one MVP of the NBA was the best player on a 68 wins team. On the Western Conference Finals MVP. One Western Conference Finals MVP is on a team that started the year 24 and 1. She gives Alexander to me, as a pretty open and shut case as the guy who from start to finish

has really stood over the year and just really been head and shoulders above the competition from start to finish and checked off a lot of boxes and what certainly looks like is going to be a Hall of Fame career. I mean, really went out on a limb on that one. Like I said, I was glad I got the first one

because I think he's a pretty open and shut choice this year. Eurobasket aside. You have to fill a whole pot. podcast, Bontem. Hey, I mean, there's other deserving nominees, but, you know, if you asked me to go first, I'm going to pick the guy. I think Scott's got the best case to win. We're recording this a little early so that we could take some time off, you know,

with Steve Jackson and Devon, a break. And, you know, Bontem's, you know, I give him, you know. Bontens wants to give him next five minutes off. His son is coming off of a West Coast trip and, you know, giving him no sleep. And so I was trying to, I was trying to be nice. But, you know, he's. I would say you were nice. He gave one of my two nominations I didn't have to think about.

which is great. And I have to think about the second one. Yes, obviously, Shea Gillis Alexander with a strong, strong case. And all right, McMahon. You have a bunch of kids. None of them are young. So you go second. Okay, great.

Listen, the guy who wanted the last few years we did this, the guy who's going to be a candidate until probably he decides to hang up is. I forget what brand his signature shoes are, whatever Chinese brand. That at 361s, I believe it is now. It's a great logo, the Joker logo with, I appreciate a logo that's not just an ornate version of initials. Yes. But listen, Joker easily could have been the MVP last year. I was MVP runner-up.

Absolutely had an MVP caliber season. Two best logos. Side, side note. Two best logos. Do we agree Jordan and Kobe? Two best logos. Hmm. Jordan for sure.

I mean, the Jordan is like the jump man is recognized. Jackson weighing on the chat. I think there's one and then there's, I think there's a big gap to anybody else. But Kobe's, Kobe's logo is iconic.

Like you see it, you know, the mama is pretty iconic too. I'll give you. Both of them are not initials. Am I correct? That is correct. So why does everybody's logo come out?

Why is they all initials? Do we think Kobe's logo is iconic? Yes, Mamba logo? Absolutely. No question. For sure. Jackson, geez, where are you way in? Yeah.

And also, like, those are the guys who. Devon, come on, back me up. Like, Kobe's are still some of the most popular shoes. Oh, I agree. The shoes are popular. I just, I don't like. says Cade Cunningham. I don't even say, I don't know what it is. Let me look. It incorporates his initials. So does the bronze. Big surprise.

LeBron does it in like a crown type of way. Wemby's got a pretty good logo, but he has yet to have a signature shoe. Anyways. Yeah, Joe, a great logo. Is Wembe's, so Kate Cunningham looks like a star, but it's his two C's to make a star. Yeah. That's not bad. I agree. Okay, Jackson, points for you. Yeah, Devon is of the Kobe generation. Like, he's definitely down with that.

I just don't, I just don't, like, the Jordan logo is like, obviously. Okay, I agree. It's untouchable. Guess what? The Jordan, so is the last dance. Everybody wants a shoe. Everybody wants a documentary. Jordans, too, are untouchable.

Yeah. I just, I just don't think of the Kobe. Like, the Kobe shoe, it's, like, it's immensely popular. I just don't think of, I'm also the wrong person to ask because I'm not a, sneaker head like that. But the Jordan, I mean, you're also decidedly swag free. All right. Sorry, I ran over you, McMahon. I just...

No, it's fine. Jok was pretty good basketball. Had a damn good year last year. MVP runner up in a tight race was the main reason, obviously, that the Nuggets pushed the Thunder to seven games. It came back and was in the midst. of the best season of his career, statistically. Average in just under 30 a game, leading the league and rebounds and assists. Come on.

On crazy efficiency before he had that knee injury, but this is all. Now, the one way Joker, I think, could have really made this a discussion was if Serbia won Eurobasket. Serbia was the favorite going into Eurobasket and was upset. early in the elimination games. So he had an avenue for us to make this a real debate, but the Serbians weren't able to get it done. I still think it could be a debate because that's how good Yokic was this year. But all right, I'm opening myself up to ridicule here, but what else is new?

I will put forward Donovan Mitchell, at least as a candidate. Oh, Cat's Corner, come on. This is pretty weak. That's pretty weak. Don't even think he's in the top. I'm not even sure he's in the top four Eastern Conference people. First team all NBA last year, a 64-win team. Are we blocking out what happened in the second round of the Eastern Conference?

It's playoffs? Are we just pretending that didn't happen? How many rounds did Yokich play? A little bit different there, buddy. Well, how did the cabs go out? Yolkish is already off the board. I'd like to also nominate Yokic. I mean, when he said McMahon, he was going to open himself up to ridicule.

I wasn't sure where he was going, because our guy likes to go a lot of different directions. I thought he might be going with Dennis Schroeder, Eurobasket MVP, Oh, give me a break. Future Hall of Famer. Listen, I didn't know what you were doing. You'd call yourself a Europhile. I don't know. I thought you, so a guy who makes first team all NBA.

When he was a, and if there was a, Cass is it hard to breathe in that moon dog head? Would you put the mascot uniform on? Like, there's a good ventilation in there. You know, the Cavs have two mascots. There's also Sir C.C. Wow, Sir CC ain't a moon dog. I can tell you that.

Moon dog's my god. When I was up there in Cleveland, I was, I was, I was bleary-eyed. It was literally fresh off the Luca trade. I had like 90 minutes of sleep. Old Moondog came up with a little. And I got the note somewhere. He mentioned that you were Northeast Ohio's favorite member of the HOOP

Collective, but I was second out of the list. Listen, number one, the gentleman who has played Moondog has played Moondog for 23 straight years. Also, as I have said, many times over the decades, he's the best dog in the league. Who are the candidates? Big dog Robinson's been retired for a while. I'm glad we've diverted this away from Brian's absolutely ridiculous selection. We got to pat out the podcast because you declared the winner three minutes. Wait, what other dog candidates are there?

A lot of people get this first coyote confused with the dog. Partially the joke, McMahon is saying it's the best dog in the league. He's the best dog in the league. He's the best dog in a league. Trust. Donovan Mitchell was first team all of the team. NBA for a 68 win team and he has arguably had his first two months of the first three months of the season are about the best starting.

As the calves have been a giant disappointment the first two months of the season. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that this was the same of the year. Oh, this is amazing. I thought he was going to go maybe with his discovery, Victor Weimanjama. I thought he was going to go a lot of directions. Did not play in Eurobasket this year. I'm looking at the either did Donovan Mitchell. He also had an injury that totally, you know, I'm sorry they had the blood clot. It was a very serious injury.

Yeah, I'm aware. I'm aware of all that. I'm not saying he should have been nominated. I just didn't think you were going to Donovan Mitchell. Well, you're acting like it's a preposterous guy to make a finalist. It's preposterous. It's preposterous to have him. We're going to have six finalists here.

I'm a little surprised. There's not another dog mascot. There are multiple bear mascots. Did you know that? Yes. Also, I don't know what you count RIP Sasquatch from the, the Sonics, but he was a great mascot.

I don't recall Sasquatch. I don't either. I was not coming to leave when the Sonics existed, unfortunately. Yeah. Do they still have that really scary mascot with the pelicans? Remember the Kingcake Baby?

No. The bird that looked terrifying. I think they still have the pelican. Yeah, but it was like a particular I mean, it was a scary fella. Yeah, it was there for one year and they,

Oh yeah. Franklin. Franklin the dog in Philly. That's right. You recall the time. What's old, what's old, uh, the Nuggets guy called? Rocky. Rocky.

He's a dog too, isn't he? No, Rocky is a mountain line, you dozo. Franklin, Franklin the dog is a man, is a dog master. With all due respect. Philly. Philly? Philly? Well, he ain't no moon dog.

Yeah. With all due respect. The best dog in the league. I said what I said. Well, that cat, Rocky, once, he has three fingers and he showed me the one in the middle one time. Well, there's a new Rocky. There's a new Rocky.

This might have been the old one because he was grumpy. I can tell you that. He was. He was known. Guy, guy, I bricked a bunch of, Jackson said that coyote is, Jackson said that coyote is dog adjacent. Also, he might have rabies because he's got the big eyes and there's weird. Dog adjacent. What do we do with dog adjacent?

Oh, he's probably got bit by a bat or three or four now. Snakes. Yeah. Snakes. What are we doing with dog adjacent? I reject the idea that. that Jonathan Mitchell is a ridiculous finalist. Okay.

I agree. He's not going to win. I'm putting him up as a finalist. Who's your other nomination? Doug McDermis? We're not. We're not doing a snake draft. I don't get to put my second one.

I get to go six. I know who the second one is, by the way. And don't jump it. I'm not doing it. I want to know where your second one is because it's not somebody who I'm going to pick anyway, clearly. You won't. You've already announced who the winner is. Well, I got to pick another person.

We could pick another three people if you want. I might not have picked Donovan Mitchell. Stats out there. He was first team all-M-A. Listen, Donovan Mitchell had a fabulous season. First off, if your first team all-N-BA, you're instantaneously in the top ten. Donovan Mitchell, Donovan Mitchell had a fabulous season last season. And he's having a tremendous individual season this season.

And last season ended in absolute flames for the calves. And the first two months of this season have been, they've been one of the more disappointing teams in the whole league. And they're eight and one when he scores 35 points. Like, if he doesn't do it, they're in deep trouble. That's a stat. Let's pull it out. No. All right, Bon, Tim, it's your second.

So, like I said, we could honor Eurobasket and go with Dennis Schroer, future Hall of Famer. Oh, that, that, that's, you, could go with Turkey A's Alparan Shangoon. Listen, why are you doing this? More Hoop Collective podcast after this. By the way, that's going to be my, I'm just. jumping in. My second nomination is Alparin Shingo. Snake draft. Why doesn't he? You're going last now, Bon Tens. It's a snake draft. I'm going to list off. My goal is sitting out. I'm going to now list off the other candidates. The whole point,

seriously. McMahon, he's determined to make this a nine-minute podcast. Yeah, I was trying to just, I was just trying to name out who I was thinking of. My other. You know what Bon Tim's dream podcast is, Wendy? A solo mission. No, that's definitely not. That's definitely not true. I don't, I like to listen to you guys talk. My second nomination is Alperin Shengoun, who was first team on the, I don't know if they call it. They call it the All-Star team or whatever. They have Eurobasket. Turkey A made the final.

He was dominant, made his first All-Star team last year, very likely to make his second All-Star team this year. And if you look at the calendar year of 25, Schengun had a fabulous year. The rockets are off to a very very. very strong start. They've dropped some games that they that maybe they shouldn't have, but they also have a bunch of impressive wins. And he is,

you know, I got to tell you the fact that the Rockets got Schengoon, did they get him on less than a max? Yes, they did. Yes, they did. Yeah. Now, the tradeoff there was he got a player option on the fifth year,

but it's significantly less than Max. Well, he'll never get to that because they'll extend them. I shouldn't say. Probably. They certainly plan on having Alpi Shungoon in a rocket's uniform for a long time to come. Right. So anyway, Shengun is my other nomination.

I know he's not going to win it either. I thought I would just, for the sake of the fans who listen to this podcast, Turkey A. For the sake of the fans listen to this podcast, you want to learn and be excited about the game. I like to just present people. We're allowed to poke fun at you being a homer. That's all. It's okay. I'm almost picking a guy from Turkey. Well, no, not Chengoon.

I mean, Chenggun, Chingoon you can make an argument for. In a way, you are a Homer because you are kind of an honorary Euro as much time as you spend over there. I actually never been to Turkey. He wants to be a Euro. He wants to be. In the wake of my visit to Serbia, I've had demands to come to Greece for, dude. Yes, demands.

My daughter did a study abroad program in Greece, and I don't know how much. Hopefully your daughter didn't go to an Olympiacos Panath and Iikos game. No, but she went to, what was it, Athens, Santorini, and I forgot that in Crete. Do they play the... It was a lot more... It was abroad. I'm not sure how much studying there was, but she had a great time. I'm sure she did.

By the way, here's Shangoon's stats, and I want to point out that in Eurobasket, they only play 40-minute games. He averaged 22 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, one steel and one block in 20... I guess he played 31 minutes, so it's not that far off in the NBA stats. Shot 50% from the 50% from the 50%. field and not so good from three. And he's come back and been awesome for the Rockets too. Been a big part of them taking a big step forward. Big part of them break it through and making the playoffs in the spring going seven games with the Warriors. What was the big Greek invitation again? I'm demanded. The Greeks and even folks I met from Euroleague are like, please come to Athens.

My friends in the European media, which are based in, many of them are based in Greece. They say, you know, if you liked the Eternal Derby, please come to the, to see the, the two Athens teams, Pathanikos and Olympiacos. Olympiacos and Panathinikos, yeah. They say it'll be even more intense. So is there a Turkish rivalry? I know there's one really. Yes. Yeah.

There's Istan Fenerbachi and Ephis. Ephes. Okay. Okay. There's three teams. Galatas. in Istanbul too, but they're... I knew Fennerbaugh was a powerhouse there.

I'll be honest with that. I knew I heard of Ephes. I didn't know where they were located. Yeah, Ephes has been better at times of Fennerbachian in recent years. That's the team Shane Larkin has been on for most of the past decade and been one of the biggest stars in the EuroLeague. But yeah, those two teams and Galatasarai, which is a big soccer team, is the third team in Istanbul. But the other two teams have been better for most of the time. Well, when it's time from plastic soccer,

surgery, I'll head over. Your hair is in good shape. No, I don't even got to worry about that. I got a haircut today. When do they announce when, where the Eurobasket elimination rounds are? That's like two years out. No, they announce it late always. I'm not sure where they've said Eurobast.

They may not even have announced it yet. If it's something like, you know, nice locale, we might. Well, yes, but it's during May, so it's not happening. New Brow basket's not in May? Oh, Eurobasket. I was thinking of the Euroleague final four. Yeah. No, no, Eurobasket.

I don't know. We, we ought to get a little, you know, hoot collective live show over there. That'd be fun. No M80's thrown at the stage, unless you're going to aim at long tims. I would, it would have been amazing to do a live show in Belgrade. We would have gotten a crowd.

Yeah, that's a dangerous proposition. I'd love to go. I'd love to both go to an Olympiaco's band of the Nicos game and to a Red Star partisan game at some point in my life. That would be great. All right. Who's up in the snake draft? It's not Bon Temps.

It's going to be you. It's not Bon Temps. Bond Tem is right where it belongs, dead last. I'll go next. And I'm going to go with Jaylon Brunson. Fresh off the most recent MVP award, baby. Oh, that NBA. That's true.

You're right. MVP. They're not raising a ribbon because James Dolan is a stubborn old bleepty bleep who wants to stick it to Adam Silver, but still, you know, celebrate that NBA Cup championship. Celebrate that MVP for Jaylon Brunson. Second team, all-MBA selection form last year. He's in that, you know, in that probably second team range right now. But the Knicks making it to the conference finals wasn't good enough for tips to keep his job. but I think it was a heck of an accomplishment for a franchise that hasn't had a whole lot of playoff success. I will say one of my favorite plays of the whole year was that three-pointer he hit in Detroit. Yeah. He stuck his left leg in the ground like Emmett Smith. Shook Asar Thompson. Who's the hell of the thing?

I had nothing bad to say about that defense that Asar played. Yeah. One of my favorite plays the whole year. Yeah. And, you know, I always do enjoy watching Janelle Brunson's success because there's a middle class billionaire, now much richer billionaire, who would always, you know, I remember telling me, him telling me just how much the Knicks were ridiculously overpaying this Brunson guy that the Mavericks could have gotten at about half the price of a contract and ended up being a phenomenal bargain for the New York franchise. Way too many nemesis, Dallas nemesis, uh, transactions ago to rank.

Yeah. Way too many. Hey, not, not the worst, uh, transaction involving a player that the Mavericks selected in that draft, but one of the worst ones. It was an NBA history, nevertheless. And by the way, like Steve Nash, I mean, if you're going to go back to guys that were, you know, slipped through the fingers of the Mavericks, Steve Nash left.

won the two MVPs the following two years. And that was another thing. Another guy he wouldn't, he didn't want to pay. I think it was less difference then. Which, by the way, do you know why Jalen Brunson wore number 13 in Dallas? Steve Nash. Is that right? Is that right?

Is that right? I didn't know that. Yeah. I was going to say that, Jay, I'm not certain on this, but I believe he wears 11 in New York because he got really tight with Derek Harper during his time in Dallas. Okay. That's what harp wore in New York. I'm not a thousand percent.

educating me in this podcast. I'll ask Jalen that on Friday when I've seen it. Like 13 is not retired. I'm in Kolek's wearing it now. So I've kind of, I've assumed that I have, that's not confirmed, but I I'll ask Jalen about that at the Hawks game

on Friday. By the way, I liked, I liked those Mavericks. Those, those Derek Harper Mavericks. They were great teams. Hey, the 80s Mavericks, yes. The 90s, Derek Harper Mavericks.

He did like those teams. He was happy to get the hell out of New York. No, Mark McGuire. Happy to get to New York. Yeah, out of Dallas, too New York. You know, Moody Madness is always, always favorite, always a favorite memory for like the old school mass fans, Rolando Blackman, Brad Davis.

Brad Davis's numbers up there in the rafters. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a man, you're going to educate me again. Moody Madness, did they play at Moody Coliseum? So they had a playoff game at Moody Coliseum. That was a, That's SMU's arena, by the way. Yes, like an all-time. And I forgot exactly why they played it.

I was to say reunion arena. When I was a kid, it was reunion arena. So for whatever reason, reunion arena. I feel like the circus was there. Like, yeah, we're not moving the circus. It might be. Let me. Give me a second here.

Because I want to, if I'm going to bring up Moody Maness, I at least got to give you the, well, I was going to lead up to picking Jalen Brunson. And I agree with you on that shot in the Piston series. I mean, obviously, when the cup and these other things, I'll never forget the show. shot in the Piston series. That was the day my son was born and we sat in the recovery room. We were hanging out watching Pistons Nix,

watched Jalen Dostasartops and hit that shot, which was a heck of a moment. It was fun to sit and watch that with my kid. While McMan is looking up the thing for Moody Colesim, I will make another pick. I was kicking around a few different names. like I said. Jackson has the answer, by the way, I'm going to step on you, Bontems.

Oh, go ahead. What do we got? In 1984, they played their playoff games at Moody Coliseum because their usual home reunion arena was booked for World Championship tennis. Yeah, and it was pretty fresh. They must not have thought there was going to be much of a playoff run. NBA basketball is a pretty fresh thing in the Metroplex at the time. No, those 80s mass teams were fun.

fun. And they, you know, they, the Showtime Lakers, they couldn't get by the Showtime Lakers. And their best chance was after they drafted Roy Tarpley, who was a big time town. But unfortunately, Tarpley had some demons off the court that prevented him achieving his potential. What year did Sam Perkins almost get traded to the Lakers or the Mavericks kept him and then he went in free agency? I don't remember exactly. Sam Perkins, who was a heck of a player, also was drafted the pick right before Roy Tarpley. So I'm sorry, not Roy Tarpeley. The story that I always heard, there was some, I think I've told the story in the pod before.

The Dallas, what was the name of the Dallas indoor soccer team, the sidekicks, I feel like it was? And they had this one-name soccer. Tattoo. We have talked about that. Tattoo. All right. We talked about that. TATU.

Right. And they were going to throw... Tell it again. I don't even remember. They were going to trade Sam Perkins. They were going to trade Sam Perkins to L.A. for James Worthy. And they were going to throw tattoo in the deal. Because the guy who owned Donald Carter, who owned the Mavericks, also on the sidekicks.

And Jerry West owned... I can't remember the name of the... Maybe the L.A. lasers or something. He owned the indoor soccer team to play at the forum. And it was going to be, tattoo was going to be in the deal, the suite in the deal for James Worthy. And Jerry West threatened to resign and then they didn't do the deal. By the way, one of Harps' most famous quotes from his time as a player, I've got the exact circumstances. I think there was like talk about him getting traded to the jazz.

And somebody asked him about that possibility. he said, you'll live in Utah. Was that Vernon Maxwell? No, Mad Max is also not a huge fan of Utah. I was enjoying my time of Utah. I was enjoying my time in Utah. I don't go there nearly as much as I used to. Anyway, all right, sorry, Bon Temse.

I stepped all over you. No, totally fine. I think this last one, you could go a few different directions, but we mentioned earlier that, how the Eastern Conference playoffs played out, and I understand that this guy got hurt in game seven of the finals. But the story of the spring in the NBA was Tyrese Halliburton leading these insane comebacks series after series

and demolishing the calves and beating the bucks again and then taking out the Knicks again and getting that team to a game seven in the finals that I didn't think they'd get to. And who knows what happens if he doesn't get hurt? I know the Pacers think they win that game. But I'm going to say Tyrese Halliburton. What about John Halliburton coming out onto the court

and getting in Janus' face? I don't know if we're going to quite celebrate that part of it. Okay. But Tyrese had an iconic run through the playoffs. And obviously it is unfortunate that we won't see him play this year, but hopefully he's back in a year. And right now, the Pacers have the worst record in the league, and we'll see if this ends up being a David Robinson, Tim Duncan situation,

and they get right at the top of what's a loaded draft and get Pascal Seaccombe and Tyrese Allerton a big-time running mate in this draft. The Pacers just have never had, they've rarely, they haven't been in the lottery a ton because they've been content to do whatever reduce to make the playoffs for decades. When they have gotten in the lottery, they have never had luck. Well, I think, guess what? Neither had the Mavericks until the jump from 11 to 1.

There you go. The Pacers had not jumped. The Pacers had not had a top 10 pick in the draft for, I think, close to 30 years before Benedict Mathuron and J.R.S. Walker were picked back-to-back years. The last, in 22 and 23. The last time they had a top 10 pick before that, I think was Wesley Person, I think. It was George McLeod in 1989. Rick Smith and George McLeod and Chuck Person was tears before that.

Not Wesley Person, Chuck Person. Yeah, the Rifleman. A rifleman. Yeah. But back then, Wayman Tisdale, Chuck Person, then Reggie Miller at 11, and then Rick Smiths and George McLeod from 85 to 89. And then they didn't pick in top 10 again for almost 30 years. Actually, over 30 years. Wild run.

Yeah. So, like, they haven't, they didn't have a lot of chances in the lottery because they didn't, I mean, they've been in the top 14, but they haven't had great chances. This will be their, you know,

best chance at a high pick in a long time. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. An honorable mention to future Hall of Famer, Dennis Schrooter, who won another, who won another title in Europe, one euro basket. and I suspect one day

we'll be in the Hall of Fame. How about Honorable mention to Luca Donchich who first team all-year-o basket? I thought about saying Luca just because that story has been the thing that has dominated this entire calendar year.

Like that trade and all the reverberations of that trade have, I mean, it's just overshadow. I mean, other than the Thunder winning the title, basically the rest of the year has been dominated by all aspects of that trade and the fallout of that trade and the ripple effects of that trade with, you know, everything that happened with Nico Harrison up to him ultimately getting fired. The plan leading to Cooper Flag landing in Dallas.

The whole opt-in, opt-out thing with LeBron James in June, Anthony Davis getting traded off the team. Now Anthony Davis may be getting traded elsewhere. We'll see what happens over the next month and a half. It's just Argonic man has been busy Brian. Yeah, no, it's been

good for business. Good for business to Maine. I am for Rob Polincan, not so much for Bond Temps before the season

declared two things. One, that Dennis Schroeder was a Hall of Famer in the wake of him winning Eurobasket MVP. Facts. And that the Maverick

should trade Anthony Davis. And now, hey. But, and again, I said that the night of the lottery. Right. And it was never that Bon Tim's opinion

was wrong. It was just my point then was that's not going to happen when Nico was in charge. Yeah, you were you were correct. Nico wasn't going to do it, but that's what should have happened. Well, and guess what? If they had done it this summer, it probably would have been a lot easier than attempting to do it midseason, which I'm still pretty skeptical they're going to be able to find a deal for Anthony Davis that makes sense for them to pull the trigger midseason. Do you feel like, and there's six weeks, five weeks, ish? I don't know about you, Bont Temps.

I'm not feeling an active trade deadline at all. You know what? The only thing I'm going to say is we said that at this time last year. I know. I know. I know. I mean, I think the world's on fire trade deadline. Yeah, I think I am feeling that right now.

I think with how compacted the league is from both a. draft capital standpoint and a money standpoint, I think it's going to be very difficult for a lot of stuff to happen. I was on the phone with an executive about this today. You know, at the trade deadline in the past, you used to see like, you know, like think about the bucks, for example, right? When the bucks were going forward every year,

they were traded like five second round picks for Jay Crowder, and they were trading four second round picks for Nico Mirich. And like that year when the bucks and the Raptors played in the conference finals. Like the the Raptors swung a big trade for Marcus Saul half an hour after the, the bucks got Miratich. And there was like all this like jockeying for ammunition and firepower for contenders down the

stretch to the trade deadline. Like, and even in the buyout market after that, but especially up to the trade deadline, like trying to get as many pieces as you could to make a deep run. Now with the rules as they are, it's just very hard for teams to cobble together players and, you know, make those kinds of trades now. It's just not really an option for a lot of teams. Like, you know, we'll see what happens to Jonathan Cominga. But like even a guy like him who very obviously the Warriors would like to trade

and he would like to be traded. I mean, Steve Kerr, I was at the Nets Warriors game on Monday. Steve Kerr played 13 of the 14 players on the roster. The one guy didn't play is Jonathan Kaminga. And, you know, after the game, he said, oh, he's a guy needs long stints, you know, et cetera, et cetera. it's fine. What's clear is, you know,

everybody there would like a separation to happen if the right deal comes along for Golden State's side. But, well, there's only certain kinds of trades Golden State can make to move on from him. So they would have liked a separation in the summer just not for getting nothing in return. Right. So we'll get to figure anything out.

Exactly. So we'll see, as McMahon said, I will probably never, I will always have the and, or, you know, the and, after saying anything because it's like, let's see what happens after the Luca trade.

But unless you see the Anthony Davis, Trey Young, Zach Levine kind of contract sort of being cycled around somehow for each other, it's just really hard, as we've talked about many times, for these 40, 45, 50, $55 million players to be traded. And as we talked about on Monday, unless Janice says, I want out of Milwaukee, I don't think Janice is getting traded.

And if Janus doesn't get traded, you're going to have a lot of teams going, well, maybe Janice will get traded this summer. So let's not trade a bunch of stuff now and maybe we could trade for Janus later. Yeah, last year there was the just, I mean, everybody was shocked by the Luca AD deal. Like that was, I've talked to agents recently.

You said, I can't remember a time where people were more shocked by a transaction than that league-wide. And then the other major trades that happened, like Deeran Fox, Jimmy Butler, you know, Zach Levine was part of the Deeram Fox deal. Those were cases of Max guys that essentially forced their way out of situations. You know, and if Giannis wants to finally do it, then okay. but if not, the bucks obviously aren't going to trade Janice unless they feel like, you know, they don't have a choice. And I don't know.

And if Yannis and Anthony Davis aren't traded, like let's just say that happens. Let's say the Mavs can't get the kind of deal they want. And let's say Janus doesn't get traded. It's hard to see how this is very interesting trade deadline then. I mean, again, we will now do the and but Luca got traded. And we'll see if the Hawks can find a deal for Tray Young. You know, we've talked about the challenges there. And then there's other stars.

You know, we can talk about Lamello and Zion and John Morant that it's kind of like probably not to that point yet, but I don't know. I wouldn't be just knocked on my butt by any of those guys getting moved. But who is going to win the baller door? I mean, Bond tips the side of that in the first. 26 seconds of the podcast, and we've just been... It was like 48 seconds.

I mean, let me go first. I know my opinion. You guys ever agree with me anyway. Why would you start to agree with me now? No, you guys team up on me all the time. It's... Only when you're wrong, which is... Me and McMahon are known...

Me and McMahon are known allies on the pod all the time. Definitely always in agreement. Never any dispute. That's why I have you guys here. I can tell you how much... Popularity. the league has soared because of my rudeness to bond temps. I'm serious about that.

I have people come up to me all the time thanking me for giving it to bond temps. Yeah. All right. Well, do we take a roll here? We usually say first, second, and third, don't we? Yeah. Oh, we do? Gold, silver, and bronze.

Yeah, that's how we always do it. Okay. I didn't remember that. Right. So gold, do we all agree on Shea? Does he have room on the mantle for another trophy? Yeah, because he had space for the NBA Cup and then they didn't get there. I know, I know.

That's the one thing you didn't win this year. He'd already spent the 500 Gs and ripped away. All right, Shea with a worthy, with a very worthy gold. Silver alongside his two golds. Joker. Bont. Yeah, I would say, I would say Joker on singular excellence. and then I would say Jalen Brunson is third.

I agree. You don't think Donovan deserves at least some consideration? No, I don't. I love Donovan. He's a great player. I don't think he deserves consideration for that. The NBA Cup MVP is compelling in this phone. He had a great playoff run too.

He did. He's had a great year this year. Yeah. I'd be a little partial to Halberton, honestly, for the way they play in the spring. But it's hard with him being heard. I'm glad you nominated. him because, you know, just, you know, the shock of game one of the finals where he hit that game winner and just like, you know, leveled the thunder and like just the whole city of Oklahoma City

like was like silent. Well, and listen, he was the Cajonis Factor MVP of last season. And rightfully so. That was unanimous as well. And I still will never know what would happen in game seven. The Thunder probably win it, but we'll never know. Never know. I mean, but the Thunder were the heavy favorites and all that.

But man, Halliburton, the clutch, not just playoff run, but the clutch season that he had last year, it's not an exaggeration to say that might be the best clutch season we've ever seen. Well, between that and, I mean, those, that playoff run is truly an iconic run. Like, the way they won those series, they had crazy comebacks in every series. And it was, I still. don't really understand how they did it and how they won these series because you kept

looking at it going these guys repeatedly are down 10, 15, 20 points and I mean that shot he hit at the garden that I'll never forget went six miles straight up in the air and didn't synergy or whatever tracking system uses it and it wasn't synergy. Yeah, stats had some

stats Williams had some wild stat about the the ball bounced higher off the rim than any shot that went in. Ever gone in or something. Yeah, he had some completely balker stat like that. And I mean, that comeback against the calves was insane. The comeback against the bucks was insane. Like, I mean, I'd be fine having him third too, but it's just hard.

I will say, like, it's a little bit forgotten because of all the stuff that happened in the last couple rounds. But the Knicks winning that series against the Celtics, which is marred by the Tatum injury. Yeah. But, like, the Knicks going up there and taking two games off the Celtics, you know, the defending champs. Those two comebacks. And then winning game six or went in game, yeah, went six games, right? Yeah, winning game six at home. It was after Tatum got hurt. But so, I mean, they went back to, they went back to Boston and one game five. And I was not certain the Knicks

were winning the series even still. And they came home and they won, they won by a billion points. But Brunson had a big series in that series. He was awesome. You know, it's funny. I always go back. Brunson. is a guy who was benched for a game seven in the playoffs. And Rick Cardaugh's last game with the Mavericks. Since then, Brunson has been an absolute playoff killer. You know, it was last year in Dallas when Luke was out those three games, he had 31 and 41 and wins over the Jazz,

and that probably got him paid another $20 million on that contract. And then consistently with the Knicks, like they haven't been able to break through and get to the finals, but Brunson's playoff numbers are insane. Well, and he's just, I mean, he's just become an absolute megastar here, too. Like, I mean, he's the prime example of what I've always thought, which is just all these guys who were Star for AIDS who became available and chose to go other places.

I understand. I'm not saying the Knicks were always run well, but, like, Jalen Brunson is showing what the power of being the guy running the show in New York is. Like he's he's in national commercials now. He's everywhere. And, you know, he's had, you know, he's already probably up in the top, I don't know, could be in the top five Knicks of all time, maybe, already. Well, I would say.

Got a long way to go still. Yeah, I would say that he's got a big head from all this, but he's always had just a massive cranium. I mean, how he's able to move. The guy looks like a bobblehead. How he's able to move that well. His hat size is in little figures. I think his hat size is. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Unfortunately, his logo is his initials. Other than that, if you go to Jalenbrensen.com. What's Donovan's logo? No, his logo, he's got these hats that has his little three-point celebrate. Oh, well, that would be awesome. But you're right, he does. But if you go to Jalenbrensen.com, which I assume is official, I don't know, it's got a.

Are we carrying over from the last pod from two days ago where we talked about logos? on shoes. No, the logo was this pod. I can't remember. You're sleep deprived. I honestly can't remember. Donovan Mitchell's, Donovan Mitchell's logo is very cool.

A spider. Oh, yeah. That's true. Another good one. Joker. Another good one. Yeah. All right, Donovan Mitchell gets the brats.

No, okay. Hey, Jackson, we need, okay, Jackson and Devon, for homework, you got to send us samples of all the signature logo. Why are you giving them homework?

They don't need to do that for you. They're homework. Have your son's doing it. Oh, like, I can get them to do anything. That sounds about right. Give me a break. By the time they'll get done, your son will know how to use internet. His son will be posting on IG soon enough.

Trust me. Trust me. Oh, God. All right. Congratulations to Shea, Yo Kitchen, Brunson. Although I do think Aliburton with a very honorable, not just honorable, very honorable. Very honorable. Okay.

All right, happy new year to everybody. I hope everybody enjoyed their holidays. I'll be back to the normal schedule starting next week. Thank you to Jackson and Devon, putting it together. Thank you for watching and listening to the Hoop Collective. Felice anio Nuevo, I think. And Adios amigos.