Club Shay Shay - Nightcap - Lakers beat Mavericks, LeBron & Kyrie rumors, Pascal Siakam trade, Ayton's Wack DNP

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas react to the Wednesday slate of NBA games, including LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers taking on Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.  They discuss whether a LeBron James-Kyrie reunion makes sense, breakdown the Pascal Siakam trade from the Toronto Raptors to the Indiana Pacers, are the Spurs wasting Victor wembanyama, Shaq says he’d take SGA over Luka and much more! 00:00 - Introduction01:30 - Lakers beat Mavericks15:00 - Will Kyrie & LeBron ever reunite?34:00 - Celtics beat Spurs45:00 - Siakam traded to Pacers59:00 - Paul George speaks on SGA trade1:14:00 - Warriors last dance1:22:00 - DeAndre Ayton DNP1;30:00 - Much more Nightcap! #Club #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Volume. and see code SHANNON. New customers can bet just $5 and get $200 instantly in bonus bets. Only on DraftKings Sportsbook with the code SHANNON. The crown is yours. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week,

but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolfe. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone.

This is Jimmy O'Brien from John Boy Media. I want to quickly tell you about my podcast. It's called Jimmy's Three Things. Episodes come out every Tuesday, and for 30 minutes, I dive into three stories in Major League Baseball that I want to talk about, or I do a stat deep dive. Sometimes I create my own stats. It gets weird.

It's now your go-to podcast for staying up to date and in the weeds with Major League Baseball. No topic is off limits or too small. Bad umpires, great pitcher-catcher duos, new rules, old rules, three things that I want to talk about. Listen to Jimmy's Three Things on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schifrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more.

Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another special edition of Nightcap Basketball Edition. I'm your favorite sports unk, Shannon Sharp. He's your favorite number zero, Agent Zero, the greatest Wildcat hooper in NCAA history, Gilbert Arenas, Hibachi, Agent Zero.

Please make sure you subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed. You can also get it through Club Shay Shay, but Nightcap does have its own podcast feed. Also, you can like and subscribe to Gil's Arena channel on YouTube. The show airs Monday through Thursday, live 1130 a.m.

Pacific, 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time. That's Monday through Thursday, 1130 a.m. Pacific, 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time. That's Monday through Thursday, 11.30 a.m. Pacific, 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We've also pinned Chez Balaportier at the top of the chat. You know, Valentine's Day right around the corner. You got the Super Bowl right around the corner. You got St. Patrick's Day. We got some other special holidays also.

But just go out and get yourself a bottle for you or someone special in your life. Ladies, you get your guy a bottle of that for Valentine's Day. He will greatly appreciate it, and you will thank me later. Gil, let's jump right into this ball game. The Lakers beat the Mavs 127-110. D. Lowe at outstanding night, 29 points, 5 of 7 from 3. A.D., 28 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists. LeBron, 25, 8 and 8 in 33 minutes. Austin Reeves, 14 points on 2 of 2 from 3, 7 assists. Luka had a triple-double, 33, 13 and 10. Kyrie, after that nasty spill, came back to score double figures, 12 points.

What did you like about what you saw from the Lakers tonight? I'm loving the lineup. I'm not even going to lie. Just as a Hooper, just as a Hooper who's been there, who's been a scorer, you put more offensive power on the floor, it kind of helps the stars. The fact that the last three

games, our two guards, which is Reeves and D'Lo, has been putting up big numbers that yes it was AD and LeBron rest they don't have to just you know tote all that weight so I mean the last three games 58 from those two 29 and tonight 43 which is what the Lakers need they need that type of output from two other players on the team. So this is a new starting lineup. D'Lo, Austin Reeves in the backcourt with LeBron, AD, and Torian Prince in the frontcourt.

So you like this starting lineup. You feel to give them more offensive firepower so LeBron and AD doesn't have to shoulder so much of the scoring when you have guys like Cam and you have guys like Vando in the starting lineup. Yes, of course. I mean, you can't put bench players in a starting lineup, but then they're going to be starters. No, they're bench players, right? They're just getting started in a minute. So it kind of hurts the star player when you have guys that's in there that actually can't

contribute in the way that you need. And that's what the lineup was hurting during this stretch after the in-season tournament. So the fact that he's went back to his original lineup, you know, we should see a better product out there. I like what I saw from D'Lo tonight. He seemed like he was a lot more aggressive. He seems a lot more confident.

And I think he's a guy that you have to show confidence in because it seems like it is easy to break his confidence. When you start jacking with his minutes, you play him two or three minutes and you pull him out when he makes a bad pass or he shoots an error ball, it jacks with his mind. If you watch him tonight and you see how aggressive he was from start to finish, looking to get his shot, looking to get downhill,

did a great job of doing the inbound pass to AD, the entry pass to AD. I thought he was in sync. I thought it was him and AD that really got the Lakers off to the start that they needed. Yeah, I've always said it, man. I said, you know, a pit bull without a leash is more scarier than a pit bull with one. So when you're in there, you know, yanking players out,anking players out whenever they make a mistake, they don't want to be aggressive. They just want to be in there not making mistakes versus

just going out there just being themselves. So the fact that the last three games D'Lo's got to be who we know him to be has been helping. With this starting lineup, D'Lo, Reeves, LeBron, Torian, and AD,

what should we expect moving forward with this lineup? I think more consistent play, right? You know, we're going to be able to keep up with faster teams, teams that like to score. I'm fine with Prince in the lineup, depending on who we're playing against. But as long as he's aggressive, my thing is just be aggressive. It's like being a receiver, right? You're not getting the ball, still run the route like we're going to get it.

Get the ball, right? Some guys don't want, if they ain't getting the ball, they're going like, I ain't even, which dictates the deep. If you run your route how you're supposed to, even though you're not getting it, it helps the rest of the team. As long as he's taking the shots that are open and making himself a threat,

I'm fine with him in that lineup. I love what I'm seeing from Anthony Davis. Not only has he been in the starting lineup, he's only missed, what, two or three ballgames. I love what I'm seeing from Anthony Davis. Not only has he been in the starting lineup, he's only missed, what, two or three ball games. I love his aggressiveness. This is the Anthony Davis that we need to see. A guy that's giving us 26, 27 points on a nightly basis, giving us somewhere between 12 and 10 and 15 rebounds on a nightly basis. And now he's added the assist to his game because he almost had a triple double tonight. And I wish D-Ham would have left him in the game and let him get that one more assist so he could have a triple double.

But I love what I'm seeing from Anthony Davis. He's aggressive. He's defending. You know, he's playing both. He always plays both ends. But I like, like, hold on. Man, this guy can't guard me. Man, let me get this Krispy Kreme.

And the hot sign is on. So let me cook it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got new legs this year. I mean, he was Bambi legs for the last two years. You know, anything putting the weights down, we don't know who legs was those. You know, his mama side of the family. Because, you know, he got his daddy side this year.

He got his daddy legs this year. So, you know, he's been playing great, playing consistent. It was never his play that we was worried about. It was just, can he be on the floor? And he has proven that, so we in good money. Yeah, this is the Anthony Davis that we saw when he originally got to the Lakers in

2020. This is a consistent Anthony Davis, giving us points, rebounds, defending on the defensive end, and like I said, he's adding assists on a nightly basis, doing a better job of passing the basketball. So this is a guy, as long as we're going to get this kind of look, I'm not expecting D'Lo to give us 29 on a nightly basis. But I am expecting him to be aggressive on a nightly basis.

And then you let the chips fall where they may, Gil. As long as you're aggressive, look to put pressure on the defense. And AD and LeBron, hey, they're going to get what they're going to get. They're going to get theirs. They're going to give you somewhere between 50 and 60 points on a nightly basis. Now can you come to the table, give us somewhere between 17 and 20. Austin Reeves is going to be Austin Reeves on a nightly basis.

And now we're going to ask the bench. We're going to ask guys like Torian Prince. We're going to ask Roy. We're going to ask Christian Woods. Okay, C-Dub, we need you to ask Christian Woods. Okay, A.C. Dubb, we need you to pitch in tonight. Give us 12 and 6. Yeah, I think sometimes players get in their own heads when, you know, they don't know what their role is.

And, you know, I try to always tell players, look, play the style that makes you scary to guard. Okay. Right? Be that person. Like, if you're playing against Steph Curry, what makes you scary to guard okay right be that person like if you're playing against steph curry what makes you fear him him being aggressive then you be aggressive correct right you know the easiest person to guard is a guy that you know is not gonna do nothing tonight right he's mad at the coach he's mad at the team he he's mad at the team, he's sitting there pouting. That's the easiest assignment in the world. If I can read the box sheet and know how you play the game, you need to switch it up. Meaning, all right, you got 12 shots, 8 of the 12 were threes, right?

You got no free throws, okay, you're a jump shooter, right? So I know when you drive, you're going to pull up, you're never going to go all the way, or you're going to sit there and shoot the three. Don't be stat sheet guardable. Right? And that's where D'Lo was in the middle of the season. Yeah, because

if you look at it, you know Luka's going to be aggressive. You know Kyrie's looking to get his, so you need to keep pressure on them. So make them guard. Don't let them have so much energy on the offensive end that they punish you on your defensive end. Make them guard.

Take a little sting. I mean, look, Luka's going to get his. Kyrie had an off night shooting the ball tonight, but you know on a given night, he can go get 30, 40 in the drop of a hat and make it look easy doing it and we know luca luca make the difficult looks routine yeah because some of the shots that he's gonna hit but you can't get frustrated guys like luca it's easy to get

frustrated because you look at like how the hell you make that man i i mean we got two guys on you and basically it seemed like you closed your eyes and you hit it from 30 feet. But you can't get frustrated. Just keep going back at it. Just don't get out of character. Don't get out of the scheme of what you're trying to do offensively. But you got to make those guys work on the defensive end because if they don't, they're going to punish you when they have the ball. Yeah, guys like Luka, guys like Shea, guys like Curry, even Dame,

you have to hunt them because they're coming in there hunting you. You got to be the aggressor. You got to hit them in the mouth first. You got to play that reverse psychology game on them. First play the game. Hey, I'm going at him. ISO. You got to play games with these guys and let them think that it's going to be a long

night. That was always my approach. Anytime I played against a very high level guard, I attacked first. I'm looking at points in the paint. The Lakers dominated 62-46. Second chance point was tied. Both had 14. Fast break points.

The Lakers dominated 32-7. You got to look to get easy baskets. You got to look to get easy baskets. You got to get to look easy baskets. Yeah, Luka's not the fastest. He ain't the fastest son of a bitch in the world. Right. You know, them fast break points ain't going to really come like that with them.

No. And that's weird because they're a small ball team, so they should be pushing the ball a lot more. But your best player is not as fast, so it should be one of those things where it outlets to Kyrie first. Let him go. If he doesn't have anything, then give it a look once the

game slows, once the possession slows down and let him do his thing. Well, the Lakers should feel good. Look, they beat two good, decent ball clubs. OKC, we know what they represent with Shea Gildress and they just beat the Mavericks in back-to-back home games. So they should feel good up next,

home games against Brooklyn and Portland. These are the type of games, this is where you, if you were sick, this is the game, these are the games where you get healthy. Now, Brooklyn's not easy because Cam Thomas can put points on the board. Claxton does a great job of rim running, and he's a nice defender. And Mikael Bridges, he does a great job of rim running, and he's a nice defender. And Mikael Bridges, he does a great job of scoring also.

But you've got to have these games. Brooklyn and Portland, you've got to be able to bag these. You've got to get on a nice little win streak, make you feel good about yourself, Gil. Yeah, yeah. You know, right now, you know, this could be, you know, after the last two wins, this could be like a four-game winning streak. Yeah, for sure. You really need some momentum.

And this is what you need, especially, you know, where we are as an organization. And I'm acting like I own a goddamn team, right? Right? And I've been a member of this team since cold when I was in high school. So I feel like

I'm part of this shit too. Right. And I think the thing is, look, put pressure on Rob and Jeannie. Like, hey, I can get this done. Don't trade me. I want and Jeannie. Like, hey, I can get this done. Don't trade me. I want to be here. Because, look, now contracts are eligible to be moved.

And the trade deadline is fast approaching. Teams are looking to make a move because this is the last opportunity that they have before the summer. So this is the last opportunity to make a move, a championship contending move is right now. Yeah. And to be honest, Lakers still got to be careful with what they trade. If they are going to try to make a trade, because now you really get to see what type of team you have. And you have a nice, nice starting five. Right. Nice, nice starting five, right? A legit starting five. So you have to be careful on who you decide to move.

If you're going to make a move, you still need to beef up your bench. Like right now, you can see you don't have any points off the bench. And that's why you were trying to junk up the lineup. So going out there to get one of those high level guards who can just put the ball in the basket. You have that in Woods, but you probably need a guard that can do that too. Just to mix things up when you need those type of players. Right. The consistent points that you had coming off the bench, you just inserted into your starting lineup with Austin Reeves.

Yeah. So he was the guy that was giving you somewhere between 12 and 16 points on a nightly basis off the bench. Now you lose that because you've inserted him into the starting lineup to give you more firepower to go with your starting five. So I agree with you on that situation. Are they going to what are they going to move and what are they willing to give up? They really don't have anything but that 2029 first round pick. 2029. I mean, that's a long way. way hey that's so long for my man hey get that up man god damn

get that up get that up 2020 get that up you don't know what the hell is going to happen in 2029 Ramona Shelburne released an article

this morning about Kyrie wanting to team up with LeBron you think the Lakers regret not pursuing Kyrie more aggressively

okay when it first when it first came out, it was Kyrie was recruiting LeBron. Right. Come on. Right? Right.

I don't, this is like a breakup, man. It's like X. Right? It's like X. I don't know if this has been in J- like X. I don't know if this has been in J-Lo, though. I don't know if this has been in J-Lo. I don't know if they're going to get- Because they got back together after all them years. Yeah, I don't know if they're going to get back together and make it happy this time.

Especially Kyrie, that he's technically the J-Lo in a sense. Right. Where the last couple of relationships didn't go so well for you, my guy. Right? Correct. LeBron's looking like, man, I done messed up. I don't think they were willing to pay for what Kyrie was bringing

at that moment in time. He didn't understand who he was. Even though this is where he lives, would have been great for the Lakers. It would have took off a lot of pressure from AD and LeBron. Right. But how much do you give up for him?

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know that. Because here's the thing. I think the thing is that when you go back and look at it, you probably regret moving the pieces to get Russ, as opposed to not giving up the pieces to get kairi because if you still had those pieces maybe you're in play for kevin durant not saying kd would have

come to la and team up with lebron but at least you have pieces in order to do that if there was some for some unforeseen reason that he did want to come to LA and like you know what hey for the next three years I'll go play with AD and LeBron and we'll see what happens but because you moved assets to get Russ and that didn't work out now you're like okay we really because

you'd already given up a King's Ransom to get AD which was well worth it because you won a championship and you needed that so you know I have no problem giving up Ingram and giving up all those guys what they gave up to get Anthony Davis and even the two or three first round picks that they gave up. But when you also had to give up picks and assets to get Russ, now you're greatly limited in what you can do moving forward. So when pieces like this become available,

potentially a Kyrie, a K Katie, a Dame Lillard, you don't have any money to go purchase anything. Yeah, that Westbrook, if we erase everyone's memory and put them back in that decision, they're going to do it again. Because at that moment in time, Rush just averaged a triple-double.

He just averaged a triple-double that year going to Beal. Like everywhere he went, he meshed with the star, right? So you didn't see a clash with him and LeBron's style, right? I did. Him in the pick and roll with him in AD, you figured that this would be a great fit, right? It's hard to say that it, okay, we know on record it failed.

But I always believe in what happens if they're all, if they stayed healthy, what would they have looked like? Yeah, they would have been struggling from the shooting because Russ didn't shoot the ball like that. He can't shoot the ball like that. Just it's not that he don't practice it. No one's- It's just not his game. So with basketball players,

there's certain players that if they're not taught at a young age to learn how to go from type two fibers to type one when you're shooting. Right. They don't know how to slow their motor down to pull up for a nice jumper. So some of those speed demons, if they're not taught at a young age to go fast, to slow down for that jumper, they're never going to learn how to shoot a jump shot. So him, Ben Simmons, they don't know how to stop to shoot that jumper. So they're going to always be, no matter how many shots they take in practice, looks great. When the game time starts and you rev that Bugatti engine up, oh, no, yeah, you brick, brick, brick. And that's the problem with them, too.

Do you think if Russ would have been accepting of the role with them too do you think if russ would have been accepting of the role like he has with the clippers it would have worked better could he have come off the bench for the lakers as opposed to being in the starting lineup what could have been what could have been different let's just say everybody stays healthy lebron doesn't get nick ad doesn't miss you know 30 40 games LeBron ends up missing some time also. What was the best case scenario in order for these three to thrive together? It was oil and vinegar from the beginning. Because the rust today wasn't the Russ that summer, right? The Russ that summer was a triple double guy.

You're gonna tell a triple double guy to come off the bench for Reeves, insulting and that was the problem. When the ideal of, hey, come off the bench and he's looking around for who? I don't want to even come off the bench for LeBron James, goddammit. That's his ego at the time. LeBron James, AD, I don't know who's one, but I guarantee I'm number two in this motherfucker right here, right? Right. Coming off for this dude? No, no, no. The reality check that hit him, the booze at home.

He had to really process everything that went in. And then we went to the Clippers and they embraced him. He sat back and said, all right, coming off the bench ain't that bad. All right, fellas, this is what I'll do. And it was his idea. But it had to take that type of ass-slipping from the media, the fans, and reality. The Laker fans.

You know, just the reality of I'm not the triple double guy anymore. They don't need me to be that guy, right? I can still get my shit off if I need to. But we're a better team if I can control. But we're a better team

if I can control the second unit and let Harden start. That was not happening with the Lakers. Same thing with D'Lo, right? Same thing with D'Lo and Reeves. They're sitting there looking at two dudes.

That's not better than them. Yes, and what was the difference between Russ and them? Nothing. They were doing the same thing. Yo, and what was the difference between Russ and them? Nothing. They were doing the same thing. Yo, you got two dudes in here that nah. They had the same problems. Do you think there's a different

expectation of Russ with the Clippers as opposed to the Lakers which makes it a lot easier because he was expected to come in and basically, I don't think he was going to be able to do that, but the fans thought he could be able to do that. Average a triple-double with LeBron and AD, and it's just he's not going to have the ball in his hands enough to do it.

Yeah, you're walking into a fail, right? Especially since you're not the number one option, right? Right. You're coming in, you're the the number one option, right? Right. You're coming in, you're the triple-double guy. If you don't average a triple-double, the same triple-double you averaged a year before, it's going to be a failure anyway. Especially if we're not winning, there's no respect for these. Your second guess for country, Wayne? Following Kat, right?

Right. It's a great interview. Yes. But you're not Cat, goddammit. Whoever followed that performance was going to fail no matter what because that was a performance. We're expecting, I know he was like, man, let me redo mine. Let me redo mine real quick. Let me go back into the studio.

Right. Right? And that's how, Russ, as me redo mine. Let me redo mine real quick. Let me go back into the studio. Right. And that's how, Russ, as you get here, we just won. You're the high level. You need to come out and be triple-double. If not, we booing you. And that's what happened. And that hurt his feelings. Because I know it would have hurt mine. Yeah, because that's the thing. Look,

and there's nothing, look, the Clippers are the Clippers. But his whole dream, his hometown team was the Lakers. Shaq and Kobe winning championships and him going to the parade and seeing that. And so his lifelong dream, if he was going to play, and if I got an opportunity to play for the Lakers, oh man, that's going to be an unbelievable feeling. That's going to be great.

And then when he gets here, the one thing about Laker, the laker fans laker nation you better win they don't give a damn what you did for somebody else ask lebron when lebron you remember every time they try to put a mural up on lebron somebody would deface it like he hadn't done anything with us uh-huh we won't and that's just the way it is and so even though russ was a hometown, there's like none of them triple doubles. That MVP, none of that happened in purple and gold. So until he does something in the purple and gold, we're not jumping up and down because you're a hometown kid.

Los Angeles is the type of city that needs to see you grow. Right? They need to see you from here to here to really understand, appreciate your path. AD won a championship. Yes. We still booing you. Yes. Nah, we don't like this performance. You won a championship. Yes. We still booing you. Yes. You won a championship for us

and we're still not happy with what you're doing. You didn't build nothing here. You are rental property here. Right? The Kobe's, the Magic's and stuff like that. You have to put in years for us to respect those years.

Yeah. You know, you better be a Clipper. It's easy to be a Clipper. And AD, what he has working against him is that he's a big. And every great big, with the exception of Russell, has played for the Lakers. Yeah. So you got Chamberlain. You got Mikan.

You got Kareem. You got Shaq. So you got all the bigs so that's what you're up against so if you don't dominate for basically a decade they're like man what are you come on yeah man it's gonna take a decade it's gonna take a decade for

us to reach right because we had Shaq right yes you know we had the big fella so you know that's that's our last great big man in... Nah. Or even Powell. Powell won two championships with Kobe.

And although he was not as dominant as Shaq and Kareem, obviously, you're talking about transcendent figures with Shaq and Kareem and Chamberlain and Mike in Minneapolis, but when you play a position, the Lakers are known for bigs. That's what they're known for.

They're known for bigs. And when you play and you're big and you come to L.A., they think domination. They think it's Shaq. They think it's Kareem. They think it's Chamberlain. That's what they're thinking. And so you give them 25 and 12, they're like, and?

And? We booed Dwight Howard, who shouldn't have been playing, averaged 17 and 12, made the All-Star game. We booed him in Houston. And he was in L.A. with a bad back. Shouldn't have been playing. Shouldn't have been playing at all. He wanted to play so bad.

Average 17 and 12. Was the second best player on our team. And we booed him out of here. That hurt the franchise for a couple years. Right. Do you think Kyrie and LeBron

will ever reunite? Nah. Or is it too late? Nah. Nah, it's too late. I mean, if Kyrie needs once another championship,

possibly, but the youth that they both had, they had youth on their side. Yes. When Kyrie left, it was no different. I understand what Kyrie was thinking, right? Same thing Kobe was thinking, right?

Y'all don't think I'm that good by myself, right? I'm doing all these game winners. I'm carrying us the last three minutes but he's getting all the credit oh i need my own team and it ain't it ain't been working out ever since no because what you see you doing you're not seeing what he's doing. The last three minutes of your greatness is because the first 45 was his. Right. Getting the team involved, making sure everyone was in the right position for you to dominate. Right?

Right. That's what made those type of guys great. That's what made Magic great. That's what even made Michael Jordan great, right? And I don't think at a young age Kyrie knew that. He's been taking those lumps as he goes now.

Now. But I don't think there's going to be a reunion. This is not going to be new edition. You're not going to have the fat Bobby Brown coming out then. No, no, no. Because it's not. And I think sometimes players think it's easier to win and build a championship than it actually is. Because he automatically assumed, okay, I'm going to go link up with KD and his thing is going to take off.

And then they end up getting James Harden and say, For whatever reason, they couldn't stay healthy. But it's a lot more difficult because even when Kobe and Shaq split, it still took some years before Kobe actually won a championship. And he had to get a team specific for that. You know, he needed a low-flow flair and power. That he could dump it two down. And that if he got five, he can go make free throws. He needed a Lamar free throws. He needed a Lamar Odom. He needed a metal world piece.

He needed certain pieces to fit exactly who and what Kobe was. Yeah, okay, there's two things that happens with us, right? When we're younger, we want to build our resume

as a dominant player. Okay. So with Kobe, right, he had the advantage of having Shaquille O'Neal in place. So he got the win early. But the knock was, you're not Michael Jordan. You're not doing all this stuff. So he's like, well, remove these pieces then, right? So y'all can see what I am.

Y'all can see what type of killer I am. Same thing with Kyrie, right? You went in the championships with LeBron in your early age, and you're like, nah, nah, y'all disrespecting me. Y'all don't have me as the number one guard, and I'm that dude, so let me go get my own team. And that's what happens to some players you know you get on these good teams and the the team greatness stunts the growth of the individual player when the individual player is trying to build his individual resume right you know it's easier for me like luca right now it's easier for me, like Luca right now, it's easy for me to do the damage now, then go be a winner later. If I'm a winner now and win, it's hard for me to build my resume after that because now you're expecting winning when I'm trying to be selfish as an individual. Right.

When Horst said today, I don't know what's going to happen with LeBron in 2025. I feel like LeBron is going to play next year, but I don't know if it's going to be for the Lakers. Could you see a scenario in which LeBron is not playing in a Lakers uniform? Hell. Who said that? Brian Windhorse. He wrote an article today. He said it today.

Aw, man, he should be fired, man. Come on, man. You don't come all the way to LA, man, get this good-ass weather over here and then go back to something. No, no, that's not how that works. Once you get to the sunshine, you're doing anything to stay here. Right. Right?

I don't know if y'all know what happens outside of LA. It's cold out there. It's very cold. It's very cold. It's cold out there in them streets. Them airports, it's cold. They're coming home and your whole car under snow. That happens when you come to LA, you in Beverly Hills.

Life seems, it seems happier, right? It's just happier when you walk outside and it's sunny versus it's snow and it's rainy and miserable, right? It's easy to just wake up and, I mean, even though that smells like bud. But, right? The palm trees. Right. You know what I mean? Right.

So it's hard once someone gets to LA. It's really hard for them to just want to lead. You're going to have to trade LeBron. Well, I don't see that happening. Because he's still a draw. He's still playing at a he's still playing at an extremely high level. He's averaging 25, 7, and 7

in year 21. And I'm sure there are a lot of other teams that would want him just for the draw. But he's not just a draw. He's still a damn good, for me he's still a top 10 player for me. Yeah, look. One, Palenka himself,

he don't have more power than LeBron, right, in his NBA, right? So there's never gonna be no scenario where he thinks he just about to trade LeBron to any damn where, that's not happening, right? So if LeBron do leave, it's because LeBron traded himself.

There's no there's no scenario that Palenka or Jenny's going to do. That doesn't have LeBron making the call 100 percent. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they

trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal, every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schifrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure of being the

goat, and so much more. Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rapoport, and I have been professionally podcasting for 10 years. The podcast game has changed so much, and if you're looking for the most disruptive, most consistent podcast in the world, then subscribe to the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast today. We're talking sports. Steph, KD, Anthony Davis, and LeBron, they were better.

And those teams pushed them to greatness. They brought the greatness out of them. Politics. These people are not your friends. They're looking for your votes. This is not a popularity personality contest. To me, it's a policy contest. Pop culture, entertainment, and anything that catches my attention. New episodes come out twice a week and always pack a punch with over 1100 episodes in the catalog. Listen to the I Am Rapaport stereo podcast on the iHeartRadio

app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Celtics moved to 20-0 at home this season after beating the Spurs. Should the East be worried about the Celtics? I mean, they are, right?

This team has been Tatum and Brown, but they wanted to trade. There was articles about getting rid of the two, breaking the two up, and it was only 23. I think people didn't realize that they were still so young and they have not hit their peaks yet. They're not even close to their peak, they're only 25 and 26. They still got three, four years before they're priming. So you have guys right now that

are on a mission, right? They've already tasted success at a young age and they're trying to get over that hump. So they are a real threat. Everyone else has tasted success. I mean, Tatum is like, yo, I've been in the top three and MVP voting. I need to get over that hump, right? We need to get to the NBA finals. We need to win one.

So they're on a different mission. If they don't win one this year, in the next two years, they're going to have one. Yeah. I mean, you look at what they did. They turned Marcus Smart and Robert Williams into Holiday and Porzingis. With Malcolm Brogdon and they got Holiday and Porzingas. And the thing is, they're deep. You know, we understand about their starting five, but they're benched. They just come at you in waves. And so it's going to be very difficult because I don't think anybody,

for depth purposes, there's nobody in the East that can match. I mean, we understand what Joel Embiid is. Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Now, I do like the way Tobias Harris has been playing thus far because he's been a great third piece to go along with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

But Milwaukee is going to be a major player. I believe Dame and Giannis will only get better and better. But right now, I think it's the Celtics that are clearly the best team in the East. With Przingis, Tatum, Holiday,

Brown, and Derek White. Because this is the Derek White that we saw early in his career in San Antonio that everybody would say, okay, man, this dude here,

man. Because you remember that series he had against the Nuggets? I think it was the Nuggets. Yeah. And I think he was like a first or second year player, and he went off. Yeah, I think he's found his niche now. I think last year he was more of a defensive player, made hero plays. But I think now he's found his two-way in him.

Last year's more of a one-way guy trying to, now he's a two-way player. The reason I like Boston is they're so flexible in their lineups, right? Yes. They're always big, right? And they can put a lineup out there, Tatum at the point, Jaden Brown at the two. They can put Borzingas at the three, Al Horford at the four, and Luke at the five if they wanted to. And just a big lineup. Right.

Force you to try to figure out how to match it, right? And Brown plays the two, and he just going to sit in the pose, hit you with the middie, because most twos are small. So they have so many lineups that they can throw at you and still be. Like their small ball still has 6'10 and 6'11 in it, which is crazy. Right, right. Right, right. So the fact that you gave up a 6-4 power forward for a 7-1 center, I don't know what they doing in Dallas. I don't know if anything is legal over there, but you had to be on it at the time you made this trade well for whatever reason it seemed like prasinga's prasinga's like hey i ain't getting no shots luca getting all the shots and i don't want to play in the post i want to play on the wing and for the most part they let him play wherever yeah he could i mean

because he's seven seven what seven one seven two can shoot the three can put the ball on the floor got a nice mid-range but they're letting him play a style that's conducive for him being productive as opposed to say nah you say i'm gonna get your butt down on the block because that's not what he is. You're right. And, you know, I know I know Washington gave him up, which, you know, with the team they had, he was a great piece for them. But, you know, when you look at the overall, it's like. But when you look at the overall, it's like Boston got him, right? And y'all got Greg. And that is technically the trade, no matter how, that's the trade. And it's like you really did all this to get a 6'4 power forward.

And I'm never giving up height for small. If I'm going to give up height, I'm giving height for height. Because you can't teach height. No, no. Right? You know, I'm never going to trade my big for a guard unless my big has no talent. And I can trick somebody to take it to get a high-level player. But I'm not going to trade a talented big for some guard.

That just sounds dumb. Yeah, I mean, Porzingis, for whatever reason, I mean, he's been an all-star, but for whatever reason, he didn't catch on. I mean, I don't know, him and Luka, for whatever reason, it didn't work. And like you said, he went to Washington and then they moved on. But when you can turn Malcolm Brogdon,

Robert Williams, and Marcus Smart into Holiday and Prazingis, you won that trade. You won that trade. You won that trade. Because it doesn't look like Robert Williams is ever going to be the same since he tried to come back and play on that knee. He looks gimpy every since. And so I don't know if you're ever going

to get the Robert Williams pre-injury because I thought he was a tremendous defensive player. What's so funny is we got to watch them Celtics, boy. They've been playing some guys injured and trading some bad product. They've been, they've been, they've been. Play some guys injured. They've been trading some bad product.

That product, you know, IT, hip. Yep, yep. He's good. He look good. Stand up a little bit. Hey, look at him. Right? Good product right here.

Right? There's Connors over there in Boston. They did, yeah. They trade, they trade. Anybody who's getting hurt, they trained that player out of there. But you see the thing, yes, the players are playing hurt. Yeah. And it's hurting their value.

Isaiah Thomas played injured with that labrum in his hip. He was never the same. Robert Williams tried to come back early on that knee. He's never been the same. And if I'm not mistaken, I think they had to go back in the knee again. Yeah, man, listen,

you're an athlete, right? You understand, we get hurt. If we can play, we were taught, if you can give 25%, 50%, that's better than his 100%. Yes.

So we go out there 25, 50%, that's better than his 100%. Yes. So we go out there 25, 50% to help the team not really hurt ourselves. The person that we're guarding is coming 100%. He don't give no crap about our 50%. And we end up

hurting ourselves because we're trying to stick somebody that's coming ourselves because we're trying to stick somebody that's coming to hunt it when we're 50. And that, instead of just getting healthy and then going out there and giving 100%, we feel like we can still play this game being half the person we are. Because the thing is, Gil,

we might help the team, but we hurt us. Yes. Because that's what happened. IT playing, it helped the Celtics, but it hurt his value. He didn't get that $100 million contract that he was supposed to get because the guy wasn't an all-NBA player, an all-star

player, but after that injury he was never the same player. The same thing with Robert Williams. Unfortunately, I don't know if he was ever going to be able to parlay what could have been, and that's what we look back now and say, what could have been? And that what could have been mindset And that's what we look back now and say, what could have been? Yep. And that what could have been mindset, ooh, that burns.

Ooh, that's deep pain. Ooh, that's like a girl you're about to marry and you find out she cheated on you. You're never going to trust again. No. And that's what that would have. That's going to sit every time you

look, every time in the summer hits and it's negotiation, right? And you just seeing players getting money. Yeah sit every time you look, every time in the summer hits and it's negotiation, right? And you just seeing players getting money. Yeah, every time you drive by the Bank of America, you see somebody depart. Yeah, that shit going to stink. I was better than him. It's kind of like the Schroeder. When he turned down four for 84, he was looking for 100.

And I said at the time, bro, what makes you think that you're capable of turning that down? You don't know what's out there. I know he ain't getting that again. Oh, no, yeah, but listen. When you lose it, you lose it. There's no getting back, right? It takes, like, guaranteed

money, it's yours, right? It's yours. So for you to make that money back, like 84 for four years, whatever deal you do, you got to make sure that in four years, it was 84 million.

If not, lost. You lost. You lost. Yeah. He's never going to make that up. He's not going to be able to play enough years to make that up because the... I mean, he a decent contract i think he got two for what two for 17 two for 20 something like that but the previous deals were all minimum yeah where he

could have been on a three he could have been in the second year or the third year of an 84 million dollar deal yeah and that's the thing now now gill Gil, those minimum deals, you're like, okay, cool. I play for minimum. I already made my money. The problem is we look at, we look at, he would never make the 84. The 84 is not what you, you lose. You losing the 84 for four, right? And in that same year, you signed three year 19, right? Right.

Right, so you're about what? Damn near 40 million off. Well, you're not factoring the deal you signed after the 84, or the extension you signed after the 84 versus what you're- So in reality, when it's all said and done, and his career is over, right? Because you got to remember, extensions off of 84 is 12.5%.

Right. If you're playing at a certain level versus signing more money off of 17, you're losing 100 and something million dollars. It all adds up, even on the back end. So you're losing back end money that you don't even factor in. Right. He had a shrewdest career

earnings of 89 million. Because he had a nice deal in Atlanta. He had a nice deal in Atlanta, and he could have parlayed that deal, flipped it right into a four year 84 million. But, hey, he rolled the dice, rolled up, trapped out.

Yep. But he's still a solid player. Pascal Siakam got traded to the Pacers. The Pacers acquired Siakam from the Raptors in exchange for a package that includes Bruce Brown Jr. and three first-round draft picks. Do you believe the Pacers gave up too much to get him? Say that again. What did they give up? They gave up Bruce Brown Jr. and three first-round draft picks. Do you believe the Pacers gave up too much to get him? Say that again? What'd they give up? They gave up Bruce Brown Jr.

and three first-round draft picks. Was that too much for Siakam? So they just gave up Bruce Brown, huh? Like, that's it. The first-round draft picks, that don't mean nothing to me, man. Because you're taking

picks from teams that's going to the playoffs which puts you at what? 26, 78, right? That's not a... You're not going to find Siakam because that's where he went. He was about 27, 28.

So you're not going to... It's rare to find. It's like a lottery pick. A lottery ticket, I mean. You're not gonna, it's rare to find. It's like a lottery pick. Right. A lottery ticket, I mean, right? You gonna scratch it, you might get a dollar. You'll be lucky you get your money back. You hitting some big, goddammit, good luck, right?

And that's the same thing with these picks. So the real trade was him for Bruce Brown, and that's an upgrade for Indiana. That's a real, Look, you remember, you got all them picks, right? Who did? Yeah, they got about 100 first-round picks over there. How that shit paying out for them?

Yeah. Siakam is a few months away from free agency, so essentially the Pacers surrendered all that draft capital to secure Siakam Burge right. So they can top it. They can

max him out. And it doesn't count against the cap. Man, listen. These GMs are weak. They're weak. I'm never going to be afraid for my player to go to free agency. Because I can offer him the most money, period. Yes.

That fifth year. You can give him the fifth year as opposed to the four years that someone else can give him. So you're telling me I can give you five years, 200. 247 is the max. Five for 247. Five for 247. And they can give you a full what? Full 190? Go on out there if you're bad, boy, go on with your badass.

Let me see you, right? Let me see you. That is the decision you're actually to be making. You're gonna turn down all this money? Good luck, right? There's only a few human beings that's going to do that. Even LeBron didn't do that when he went to Miami. That was a sign and trade. Sign me to the max and trade me when the decision should have been, go. Go and take that 84 million they're trying to get you because that's all they can afford. Right.

But this notion of I need something in return for him. Well, the players know that now. The players understand that now. So the leverage now is the players, not the team. Because you want something back for me, I want out. Right. Versus just go leave. Well, that's what really hurt. That's what hurt the OKC Thunder.

Because Kevin Durant walked out the door for nothing. If you could have signed and traded him, you could have got some draft picks. That could have greatly helped. When you lose a player like a Kevin Durant or you lose one of these top tier players at free agency and you get no compensation in return it dooms you it dooms you you gotta get because just imagine had ad walked out of the door in new orleans because

look at what they were able to parlay that into the draft capital that they got from the lakers so if a player were to leave and i'm not saying saying, obviously Siakam is not a Kevin Durant, he's not an Anthony Davis, but when you get one of these top tier players and they walk out the door, you basically got to trade them a year before because even if they, you don't believe they're willing to take that four year because you can give them that fifth year at about 60 to 70 million dollars more than what they can get from another team just the fact that they might do that and leave you with no compensation as opposed to three first round draft picks who knows maybe somebody gets nicked and you got a bad record and hey now all of a

sudden what you thought was going to be in the 20s is going to be a top five pick yeah but but we can look at it like that or Or you can look at it like, what happened to OKC? How much money do you have now? Oh, they got a button. Remember, when I trade you, I'm getting back garbage at the same price.

Right. So if I'm going to get back all these pieces that equal up to the same pay, I don't really have nothing. I'd rather you leave. I got $40 million free. Right.

So Toronto, they didn't hurt from Kawhi leaving. It's not like they're going to be. Look, they didn't hurt from when Kawhi leaving. OKC didn't hurt from Kevin.whi leaving. OKC didn't hurt from Kevin Durant. It's fantasy. It is a fantasy. Oh, I need to get back these because the teams that it has happened to, they haven't been set back for dynasties. Look at them now.

They lost Kevin Durant, got nothing in compensation. And look where they are now. Right. in compensation and look where they are now. Right? It took them a while. But see, but they also, think about they gave up Paul, OKC gave up Paul George and they got an SGA and they got three first

round picks. They gave up a Russell Westbrook. They got draft compensation. So they've been turning those over and they've done a good job of drafting because SGA is a nice piece, but they're going to have to draft because They've done a good job of drafting because SGA is a nice piece. But they're going to have to draft because ain't no, I don't look at someone, let's just say a top five free agent. I don't see them going to OKC.

Do you see a top five free agent going to OKC? No, hell no. So you got to draft. Drafting is OK, right? Unless you have a real good, which they do. They have very great scouting over there. Yeah, they've done a great job. Spurs is great scouters.

Yes. Great scouting over there. Miami, for the garbage that they get, they got great scouting. And who else is great at scouting? Spurs is great at scouting. Right? You like the Warriors? How's the Warriors? You know, it's a hit and miss. They got

very great with Curry and Clay, Draymond. Draymond in the second round. Come on, Looney. And then, you know, then developing. You know, but for the most part,

it's building players to trade for something great. Right? Right. And that's what it is. No matter, you know, what pick you have, it's still you have to make

the right pick, get the right, the right player. Right. And that's the key. Them getting the number one pick and getting Chet, right? Help them. Him being hurt last year helps

them today. Shea turning out to be what he is, right? So it still has to, you can make a call on someone and out to be what he is, right? So it still has to, you know, you can make a call on someone. He has to want to be what you envision also.

Right. So that's key too. Does the Siakam-Halliburton duo move the needle for you? Where does this place them in the East? Because I think you got Boston as one, maybe Milwaukee, Philly, two, three, whatever order you might have.

When I look at the Pacers, I see a team that's looking to get the ball off the rim, make or miss. They either take it out of the net or they get it off the rim and push the pace. They're still not going to play any defense. So I got them at 4-5. I don't think it moves. It doesn't move the needle for me.

It doesn't move the needle in a sense of it could slow them down a little bit because Siakam is that one-on-one type of player in a half. Yes.

He's going to be for the playoffs themselves. Yes. So he's going to be for the playoffs themselves. Okay. It's hard to tell because it's matchups, right? You know, if they get a 4-5 and they get a New York Knicks, right, they get a Cleveland

in the first round, they can get out of that first round with them. Oh, yeah, for sure. New York don't play enough defense. They don't play enough defense to stop that offense, and they don't have enough offense to just punish their bad defense, right? You know, they got more one-on-one players.

You're going to have two guys. You're going to have, you know, Brunson, who's going to dominate that series. And then it'll help if all seven games Randall plays excellent. But for the most part, he going to give you three. He going to give you three good ones, right?

It is some questionable ones. And with a team like Pacers, right? They can run through a team like that on a seven game series. Everybody else, right? If Philly gets them, you got to be weary about it because you force Embiid to think that, oh, they can't guard me. And then he tries to take over that game by himself, and that could end bad. So it all depends on who you match up in the playoffs, to be

honest. Siakam is averaging 22 points a game, six rebounds, and basically five assists. Tyrese Halliburton is 23.6 points, 12.5 assists on 3.4 made threes a game. So you got two guys that average 20.

You got Miles Turner on a given night. He can give you 20-15. He can shoot the three. He can play outstanding defense. One of the real protectors in all of basketball. So they got a team that, like I said, just more offense to me. I don't think, for me, it doesn't put them in front of Boston. It doesn't put them in front of Philly.

And for whatever reason, they have had Milwaukee's number. They have had Milwaukee's number. But I don't believe in a seven-game series. I don't know. I don't think I would pick Indiana to beat them in a seven-game series.

The reason they're having success against them is because Giannis and Dane are open court type players. So Giannis wants to play Indiana style. Oh, to get up and down. His team is not built like that. So Giannis

for personal reasons don't want to be in half court. So he doesn't want to slow the game down, which benefits Indiana. So the fact that Giannis wants to go like that, he doesn't want to slow the game down, which benefits Indiana. So the fact that Giannis wants to go like that, he doesn't get to punish them if he slowed the game down, slowed the whole series down and say, we're going to beat them up inside. Giannis is like, no, I don't play like that. I don't have them post up.

I'm trying to get up and down. But I paid 50 fucking thousand for it. I don't have those moves, right? So I want to keep the game going, which benefits them, right? And see, Yackem's name is great. He's a solid player. I don't think he's turned into

what we thought he was going to turn into. Correct. You know what I mean? That playoff series where, you know, 2018-, where he averaged about 19 points, he's never elevated from there. Right.

Right now, he's just a solid player, and he's an upgrade from Brown. And I'm pretty sure Brown wish he stayed his little happy ass over in Denver. Yeah. Because obviously- The money he stayed his little happy ass over in Denver. The money though. They already had that kind of money.

But I think the thing for me, what it tells me what it tells me Gil is that Toronto says we'd rather have Scottie Barnes and those picks as opposed to Siakam and no picks. Because Scottie Barnes is a 1, 2, 3, four, five, right?

We have a guy who can play all positions, so that means we're not limited. See, how come was playing a five man over there? And he's playing a five because Scottie Barnes is back there and the young dude can do whatever he wants. When you have Scottie Barnes, when you're looking into the draft, your draft slots just opens up, right? Versus

you got these type of players, now you're looking for, I need a four man or I need a five man. With Scottie Barnes, you're looking for the best player available at that point. Even if it's in his position, because you know you can move him to another position. So he's a great asset player.

Paul George on the Clippers trading SGA to the Thunders. Both sides won. I think it was quite a lot for the Clippers were willing to give up. Their commitment to me is my commitment to the team. Both sides won. We know Shea was going to be really, really good. But he's special in a way Oklahoma won that trade with picks and a future MVP. Great trade for both sides.

Where do you come down on that? I don't, to be honest, I don't. They knew he was talented. I don't think they knew he was this good. They would have never gave him up if they knew this. I'm pretty sure they would have. Well, they would have because that's up if they knew this. I'm pretty sure they would have. Well, they would have because that's what Kawhi wanted. You had to appease Kawhi because if you don't, he's going to the Lakers.

You can't have Kawhi, LeBron, and AD playing in the same building as the Clippers. So you had to act your way and you're at his mercy because he said, if you don't get me PG, I'm going next door. The timing made sense because the team you had, right? The team you had with Lou Williams and all of them was a good team. They were a good team.

They didn't have star players. So you're like, ooh, I just trade these pieces and I have two stars coming in? Oh, shit. We're going to be great. That team didn't work out. Right? great. That team didn't work out. Right? Right. That team didn't work out. Right? So then you move, you move, you know,

Shea, and Shea himself turned into a star. Yes. He turned into a franchise player. Yes. You regret that. You do regret that because right now you have the oldest team in the league.

Which means your window ain't big at all. You have the oldest team in the league, which means your window is here. Shea and OKC with the ages of average of 24, their window

is here, right? They got five more years before they become where you are right now, right? That's they've won, right? You got Jalen Williams in that from Santa Clara. They have grabbed some great pieces for their today and for their future. some great pieces for their today and for their future. So right now they're in the driver's

seat on that trade. Only way Clippers They got to win a championship for them to win this trade. They have to. And it's possible. It's possible this year. They got a nice squad. The question is can Kawhi's play

basically, I mean he's missed what missed like five games but for the most part he's been on the court all year paul george has been on the court all year the question is as we move forward can they sustain this play can they play the hooker be a housewife dancers yeah they could but have they right It's the Clippers. They're the hoes of the NBA. We don't see them becoming trophy wives anytime soon. Shaq says he would take SGA over Luka. I'm going to have to take SGA. Luka is a fabulous player, but this kid, he plays the right way, gets his

teammates involved. I'm taking him right now. He's a hell of a player right now. I'm going to have to disagree with Bigfella. I'm taking Luca. I mean, it's a good argument to make,

but Luca is a... They're both different. They both give you what to make, but Luka is a... They're both different. They both give you what you need, but Luka's resume and how he plays and the specialties that he brings you, I can't.

I can't. I can't. He averages more points, more rebounds, more assists. Right. I've seen Lucas take a team to the Western Conference Finals. Yeah. And you think about those matchups that he had with the Clippers,

and basically he was out there by himself. And he's giving Kawhi, he's giving PG, he's giving Pat Bell, he's giving Morris, he's giving everybody they got, he's averaging 40 and Lucas Younger, yes yeah, yeah, yeah and I get Shaq, I mean, and I think

the thing is, you know when you're like, okay, I take this player with that player if it's not close, what are we debating it for? it's supposed to be close yeah, that's what this is about, I mean, if it's not close, what are we debating it for? It's supposed to be close. Yeah. That's what this is about. I mean, if oh, I would take Joel Embiid

over Miles Turner. Really? You would? Hell, so would everybody else. But when you say Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, now we got an argument that we can have. And that's not quite this argument, but it could be. And that's not quite this argument, but it could be.

And next year, SGA is tapping into that 31 and 31. The motherfucker's been here before, right? And he's younger. He's been dominating for a long time. This basketball game we see today

is easy for him. Yes. There's guys in this league that when there comes a point, Jokic is at that point. LeBron's been at that point. KD's at that point. Kyrie's at that point. James Harden was at that point. Tatum is getting at that point, Tyree's at that point, James Harden was at that point. Tatum is getting at that point where they have to, the way they play,

they have to do things that make it more challenging for themselves. Because playing it the regular way, it becomes too easy for them. That's when James Harden doing the double step back and creating all these moves because the game itself was so easy that the challenge became let me just add all this, let me do all this extra stuff

to make it. But when they start playing simple basketball, people are like, oh, this is an easy night for them. And that's where Shea's getting to that point when he's realizing, hey, this is easy. Luka's been at that point. Yes.

And the game is kind of sort of similar. For the simple fact, Gil, you can't speed him up. I mean, you look at him. I mean, I think Gil, I mean, Shea is a lot more athletic than Luka. Because when you just look at Luka, and I've seen, you know, I was at a Lakers game when he was and I'm looking at him like, how do you do this? I mean, you can't jump. You can't run. But how do you like he can get to any spot that he wants to get to on the court? He can get there and the best defender cannot stop him. Yeah. Because,

so I don't think anyone understands that the hand check that everyone glorifies is still in play, right? Right. Below the free throw line, the hand check has always been there. They just took it from above the free throw line. Right. The smarter players understand the rules so good to manipulate it for themselves.

Like, I know you can't touch me here. I know you can touch me there. I know when you touch me, you have to touch with your right hand because this is how it is. If this is your left hand, I know your left hand is a little bit weaker. So you know and start understanding

how to manipulate the game and understand human behavior when you become someone like luca and all it's the human behavior that they understand the most i know what you have to do right so your defense them accolades you got them first teams are meaningless to my understanding of what you have to do and the concepts that you play by right that defense first team second look at how they play look at those first team guys against the superstars they get barbecued yeah you just try to if he averages 30 gear you try to hold him to 28 and you just don't want him to get 35 40 and. But he's going to get 35-40, right?

Your first team coming off guys who are undisciplined offensively. Because when you look at, look, you try to guard KD. You're not stopping KD from getting what he wants to get to. You're not going to stop Luca and Shade. They're going to be able to get to wherever they want to get to. You just got to bring the double team, and hopefully the guy that they passed the swing the ball to, you're going want to get to. You just got to bring the double team and hopefully the guy that they passed the ball to,

you're going to miss the shot. Because if you like one-on-one, the guys are too good. It's just like the best corner against the best wide receiver. Unless you get some help over the top, now he's going to cook you. He's going to make it.

He's going to get it. And so that's where they are now. Please make sure you hit that like button make sure you hit that subscribe button you're doing a great job you can also get Gil's pod up here make sure you hit that like button for Gil's arena channel on

YouTube it airs Monday through Thursday live 1130 a.m. Pacific 230 Eastern Eastern time make sure you hit that like button make sure you hit that like button. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. We're now at 837,000 subscribers. We want to thank you.

We've also pinned Shea by LaPortier link at the top of the chat with the holidays right around the corner. Make sure you go out there and get yourself a bottle for you or a loved one. Okay. Get yourself a bottle for you or a loved one. Okay. The Clippers, Gil, excuse me, will host a 2026 All-Star game at the new Intuit Dome. The Clippers will have rules for fans sitting in the exclusive area of the new arena. What do you make of this?

It's called the wall. The section is for Clippers fans only and they are seated and they're not permitted to cheer for the opposing team. Anyone found in violation and you can only sell the ticket to Clippers fans. Anyone found in violation of these

rules will lose access to the section. They These rules will lose access to the section. They the Raiders with the black hole now. Yeah. Listen. They got that many fans to begin with. Listen, listen, listen. I don't know. I know he's a fan.

Right. Bomber's a fan. He is. Right? He has a lot of money. Common sense is not common in this sense, right? The concept of what he's saying, amazing, right? Having a section, right, behind the basket where you can affect the offense in crunch time, right?

You know, college style, it's a black hole. I don't think he understands that the visiting team picks which way they go. Which means that first half, I will go against the wall. And then the second half, I go the other way where the wall does have no impact on this game. So, Bomber, put the shit on both sides.

Because any smart opposing team will do that. We're going to face you in the first half, the black hole, I mean the wall, and then go the regular way. So your fans, only Kawhi first half, the black hole, I mean the wall, and then go the regular way. So your fans, only Kawhi's looking at this black hole, I mean

the wall. The concept is fine, but he doesn't understand that the visiting team picks which way they go. And plus, you know, when you go there, I mean, guys start playing well, you're like, oh my God, you're like, you got the applause. You're just like, hey, you go playing well. You're like, oh, my God. You got the applause.

You're just like, hey, you go to a Lakers game and somebody got 50-60. What am I supposed to do? Hey, I got to get a man a hand. Hey, I got the applause. Listen, it's a good concept. I don't know if Clippers can pull it off. Because when you play the Lakers, I don't know how that wall stands tall. That's a Clipper Darryl section.

And I think that's why that was the concept of it. But you really have to understand this is chess, not checkers. And you have to really understand if I'm have to understand this is chess, not checkers. Right. And you have to really understand, if I'm going to build something like that, I'm building behind the visitors. I'm going to build a section where I can impact

the opponent. This doesn't impact the opponent. This ain't college. I don't know if you have the loyal support from your fan base to pull that off. Chicago can pull that off. Boston.

Oakland Warriors, Boston can pull that off. New York Knicks, the Garden can pull it off if they are winning. Because if they are winning. Because if they losing, that whole building becomes the wall to the Knicks. Yes.

We've seen, I mean, think about it. We've seen Jordan. We've seen Kobe. We've seen LeBron have performances in the Madison Square Garden, and the Garden started cheering for them. We saw Reggie Miller. Yeah. It's the Madison Square Garden and the Garden started cheering for them. We saw Reggie Miller.

It's possible. If you really, really make this a thing, if you cheer for that team or this team, they got to have their own colors so it stands out. You want this to stand out.

When you're talking about rules, in the playoffs, if everything is white, that section is black or red or blue. So we can see what it is. Make it be a place where I want to be there. I want to be. This is supposed to be the worst of the worst of the fans. Right?

This is the rowdy of the rowdy. Right? You get, this is like, I see the prices, $5,000, $5,000. You done fucked up there. That ain't no fan. No. Average fan ain't paying no $5,000, $25,000. It's supposed to be $100, $ fan. No. Average fan ain't paying no $525,000. They ain't got it like that.

It's going to be $100, $200. Yes. $100, $200. That's the rowdy. Yes. That's behind the basket. That basket ain't worth $5,000. Yeah.

A guy that's paying $525,000, he ain't painting his face. He ain't coming with his shirt off, yelling and screaming and trying to distract you. No, that's what I'm saying. But that's what I'm saying. Common sense ain't common sense sometimes, right? That section is a bunch of psychopaths, right?

Those are the guys that might run on football. Those are the guys, the kids that run out there butt naked during halftime or something. That's that fan group. That's your diehards. Right. Right.

That's not 5,000, 25,000. No. Steve Kerr says this season is not the last dance for the Warriors' victory. All three of those guys are capable of playing at a high level. We did win a championship in case people forgot a year and a half ago, said Kurt on 95.7 The Game. We're in a different stage of our existence

as a team, but I believe in my guys. I love those guys, and we're going to keep fighting. Yes. The problem is, two of those three guys can't play at that level consistently anymore. Only one guy can.

And there lies the problem. It's not that they can't. Yes, we've seen Klay have moments where he go get 28, 30 plus, but those moments are few and far between. So that's the issue that they're

having, Gil. Yeah, you don't have the consistency of your greatness anymore, right? Correct. And his speech is more loyalty than it is reality, right? This is loyalty talk, not reality talk, right? You have one player that's great. And then you have your second best players playing. He's playing way below

expectations. Right? His play right now is fourth option at best. That's not the same three. Even though they won a championship a year and a half ago, you don't have the same three, right? You know, Draymond is winding down, but just like anything, Draymond's presence is with greatness.

When you're not playing great, looks crazy yes right you know when you're playing great he's the perfect guy for greatness when dennis rodman is winning championships he is great you start putting him on bad teams and he wanted to take the shoes he's taking the shoes off laying down on the sidelines get his ass up on out of here. Right? And that's where this team is. And what I would tell Steve Kerr, okay, you won a championship a year and a half ago. Is Klay playing at that level a year and a half ago?

No. Is Andrew Wiggins playing at that level? Now Andrew Wiggins is on the bench. So he's not playing at that level. Is Draymond playing at that level? Draymond just missed 16 games. So he's not playing at that level. Is Draymond playing at that level? Draymond just missed 16 games. So he's not playing at that level. So although what you're saying is absolutely

correct, you did win a championship a year and a half ago. But tell me, other than Steph Curry, who's playing at that level, that you won that championship? Zero. And that's the problem. It's the whole... I guess as a coach as a player

as a player you appreciate this yes but as a player you need to have a reality check and realize he's supposed to say this he's supposed to say this what was's supposed to say this. What was he supposed to say? Oh yeah, these guys are playing like this. He's supposed to sound like us? No. So as a player, you need to understand that what he's saying isn't reality.

And my ass is about to be up out of here. I could be traded any day now. So I need to really lock in. I don't know if, of course, everyone is like that. Fear, the fear of being traded should be driving you to be successful, right?

I don't think sometimes people understand that the fear of me losing my spot, the fear of somebody taking, the fear someone's trying to take. Like Clay, the fear of me losing my spot, the fear of somebody taking, the fear someone's trying to take. Like, Clay, the fear that when you hit the summer, you're not going to get the money you want. That should have you locked into a whole other dimension of a player. There ain't no going home and hanging on a goddamn boat.

I don't got no boat today. I'm supposed to be in that gym locked in because I'm afraid that I'm not going to get this contract. I think the thing is, but correct me if I'm wrong. This is the first time that trade that Clay's name has come up in trade discussion.

So he's entering uncharted territory where things that he never had to worry about before is now a realization. It could be his reality. Yeah. Yeah, you're right, you're right. This is a rude awakening.

Yeah. You know, and, you know, it's that we all go through it. It's that we start feeling bad for ourselves. And I think this is where he's at, or he was trying to get out of it. I feel sorry for myself versus just saying, man, this is the basketball. This is the game. It ain't, they don't believe in me anymore.

I'm going, that happened to Lamar Odom when he got traded to Dallas. me anymore, I'm going. That happened to Lamar Odom when he got traded to Dallas. Or when the idea of that Chris Paul trade going and he felt hurt personally. He never recovered from that. No.

He never recovered from that. Yeah, but the question is, let me ask you, because of so much of what's played success is tied to Golden State, do you think he can have, can he have success somewhere else other than Golden State? Well,

let me tell you this right now. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. If you, Steve Kerr, and this is your legacy, right? Championships, right? Winning pedigree.

Do you have room to lose? See, that's what happened with Phil Jackson. You start getting some losing teams, they want your ass out of there, right? Because just like Russell and his triple-d we expect we expect something with that resume. So you don't have no room to come in here and start from the beginning. Right. Because when you started the first time, y'all played like this and then y'all was championship ready. We expecting the same thing over here when I trade for you, which is not fair, not reality. So his best bet is the loyalty

from Golden State like it's been popped this whole time. See, you know, before if Pop went somewhere else after San Antonio, he would have already been fired again. Yes. He would have already been fired.

When you, the NBA, they don't... Those general managers and presidents, they're going to fire the coach before they fire themselves. Of course. So, you know, I bring you in and you ain't performing and they asking me questions.

What? Someone... Ah, hey, I got to trade you. I got to fire you because I'm not going to fire myself for the food that I brung you. Right? And most GMs are scapegoating the coaches themselves. So how much do you, Steve Kerr said this is not the last dance for the big three, or the Warriors big three. So do you see a scenario in which this team is together,

Draymond, Clay, Steph, next season? Do coaches get drug tested in the NBA? I never... They don't get drug tested. No, they don't. They don't.

All right, good. This ain't the last day. Boy, you crazy as hell. So this is it. You believe this is it. Man, this ain't the You believe this is it. Man, this ain't the big, I'm sorry, this big three

is the last dance for the big three. If they bring in somebody else to help, it's not the big three no more. One of y'all are going to be four. One of y'all are four now. It ain't no one, two, three. One of y'all are four. Somebody going to't know one, two, three, one of y'all.

Somebody going to be four and five. Yeah. If they can create a four and five. So y'all might be here. There's one of y'all coming off the bench. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL daily with Greg Rosenthal five days a week. You'll get all the latest news,

previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away?

Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast at NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest Alpine skier of all time, Michaela Schifrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while going through grief, and what it's like to release the pressure

of being the GOAT, and so much more. Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win.

Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rapoport, and I have been professionally podcasting for 10 years. The podcast game has changed so much, and if you're looking for the most disruptive, most consistent podcast in the world, then subscribe to the I Am Rapoport Stereo Podcast today. We're talking sports.

Steph, KD, Anthony Davis, and LeBron, they were better. And those teams pushed them to greatness. They brought the greatness out of them. Politics. These people are not your friends. They're looking for your vote. This is not a popularity personality contest. To me, it's a policy contest.

Pop culture, entertainment, and anything that catches my attention. New episodes come out twice a week and always pack a punch with over 1100 episodes in the catalog. Listen to the I Am Rapaport stereo podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Gail, I want to know what you think about this. DeAndre Ayton is out due to an icy neighborhood. Reportedly, DeAndre Ayton tried for hours to combat the street of ice leading out of his neighborhood, but to no avail. So he's out of tonight's game versus Brooklyn.

Wait, wait, ice where? There was a sheet of ice in his neighborhood. So he was unable to get out of his neighborhood and get to the arena. So he was a DNP. He don't have legs?

His legs don't work? He can't walk out of his neighborhood? I'm trying to figure out, so what does he got? A Ferrari? He got a Porsche? Don't everybody have an SUV? So you mean to tell me the SUV couldn't get him out? I mean... Wait, hold on.

Because I think I read something. Didn't they send people up there for him? They said they tried for hours to get him. They couldn't get him out. But what I'm saying is normal people, right? They would just walk to where it's, they can, hey, you can't come up the driveway. I'm going to walk to you. Yes.

We can do this together. Yes. Right? Right? Some of them kids, right? I'm pretty sure they're laying out that money. You could have been, come on, if you really wanted to play. What?

This seems like the most DeAndre Ayton thing ever. You ain't got no, you don't got no hot water? Gil, in 97, we had a situation where we had a blizzard. And people in the chat, if you're in Denver, you can go look it up. We end up getting like 70, almost 80 inches of snow in about 20, 24, 30 hours. They ended up having to get snowmobiles to go get a lot of our players because we had a game in Buffalo. So we ended up having to get snowmobiles to come get a lot of the players out because there was so much snow. And bring them to the facility so we can get on a bus

and leave. It's hard for me to see a scenario in which unless you don't really want to go like, man, I can't, man, there's too much snow out here. But like you said, walk to the entrance of the neighborhood. You ain't got no flame. I mean, I'm just, the scenarios. Listen, we know y'all tanking. We get it, right?

We get that y'all are trying to get a lottery pick. And hey, I can't make it. All right, we're going to send some people over here. Don't worry about it. Yeah, we're going to send some people up there that are trying to get you, right? Listen, stop. Stop the bullshit. That's not a real thing. No, right? Listen, stop. Stop the bullshit. That's not a real thing.

You could have been to the game. You were tanking it, thought you was going to, you know, Brooklyn going to come in here and win, and y'all end up winning that game anyway. Y'all end up winning the game that y'all were trying to lose anyway, huh? But that's embarrassing

though, Gil. That's embarrassing you used that as an excuse. I missed the game because I couldn't get out of my neighborhood because of Black Ice. Really? Black Ice, no joke though.

I didn't know. I'm from Cali, right? I don't know nothing about Black Ice. I wrapped my Ferrari around the pole, leaving my driveway. You in a Ferrari, you're supposed to. I didn't know that. I didn't know nothing about it. Nobody taught me about no snow.

It ain't no snow. They're pulling out, but my 612 got it out. Because I'm in the garage. Right. So I'm in the garage, pull it out, and then you know how you hit the brake the first time? It just slid. Boo!

Boo! That didn't go do nothing. Got it in, hit the pole. Damn. Stuck. Had to get the reins rolled up. Man, I

honestly, I don't know if that's going to work in the NFL. Ain't no way you're going to be able to tell the coach I ain't going to be able to come to practice or I'm going to miss a game because I... If this was practice, hell yeah, all day. I've never heard nobody missing a game for black in your neighborhood.

So nobody on the team live in your neighborhood. Nobody. Everybody else made it but you. So let me ask you a question. Did anybody else in that neighborhood go to work that day? So you're the only one that missed. So everybody else got an opportunity. They got a regular job.

They got to work. But you're the only one that didn. So everybody else got an opportunity. They got a regular job. They got to work. But you're the only one that didn't get to work. That's hard to believe, man. Most players always live in the same neighborhood for the most part. And you have neighbors and they got out

and had to go to work because they don't have the luxury of sitting in the goddamn bus. Unless the city just stopped that day. Right. But unless the city stopped, but to miss, I've never heard of that before. Well, clearly the city didn't stop because they had a game that night. Facts. So what's the weirdest DMP reason your teammate ever missed a game, Gil?

Ooh, ooh, oh, shit. Golden State. Danny Fortson. He got a DNP, so we played, like, you know, the back-to-back, but the second game was on the road, so we left the arena,

and then, boom, we had to get on a plane and go. Right. And he ended up turning into a suspension. But really, it was a DNP. You know, a family member died. You know, his mother passed. And, you know, they called the house, you know, to give their condolences.

And the mother picked up the phone. Oh, man, come on, man. Mom picked up the phone. Like, wait, yeah, Danny told us, you know, don't be calling my goddamn mama. Because Danny didn't like to fly.

So Danny didn't like to fly. So we didn't like to fly. So we always had a problem with if we have to go because this is a long time ago, long, long, long time ago. He'll smoke after. And I think that made him paranoid. I think that made him paranoid of flying. So he was the big dude when the plane got up, right? He wanted to lay on the floor. All the stewardess, you know, they rubbing his back and stuff and putting covers over him because he didn't like to take off, right?

So he was the one player, if he could put in his contract, he'd just play home games, he would have, right? So he was getting a bunch of DNPs because, trust me, that wasn't the only family member that passed that year. Damn. Everybody was live. He just conducted. He was like that movie Life when he was reading it, talking about, oh, your aunt passed, your brother passed, your mom passed. Everybody that passed. This probably was like the third person that passed.

And I think this time they just wanted to call. I think they just called to see if it was real. And then they called, picked up the phone. It was all hell, dog. Oh, man. Gil's shootout for $100,000 is live on YouTube Saturday at 1 p.m. Pacific. Featuring Gil's Arena's crew, former NBA players, influence, and Eva rapper Cam'ron. Gil, how much pressure is

on you to win your own tournament? This is your own shootout. You've got to win this, Gil. Because you're the one that's putting up money. I ain't putting up money. The sponsor putting up money. It's like everybody else.

It's about the process for me. I love the hunt, right? I love the hunt. I like to tell them I'm coming. I like to show them what I'm doing because I want you prepared for me, right? I done already took 2,000 shots at 3 a.m. because I had three shows a day, right?

I already took 2,000 shots. After this show, I'm going to the gym again. So if I lose, that means that it was that person's day. You're not gonna outwork me. You're not gonna be like, when you look at mine, it'd be 99% ready, right? That 1% just might be a fluke. It might be your day. It might be your round.

But I'm giving myself the best opportunity. That's how we approach everything. Man, you can't let Cam. Man, you know Cam. If Cam beat you, man. I'm not letting a dude that's going to be wearing the pink jersey. I'm not letting the dude that's going to be wearing the pink jersey. I'm not letting Rico beat me. He was good in high school

back when he was playing against Marbury. That's a whole nother level, baby. That's a whole nother level. Hey, man, listen up. Hey, they want their money and they got to go through me, huh? Right.

I put up. I don't know how many shots I put up, but from Monday to Saturday, 10,000 shots will be put in his arm. Wow. So I'm going to be ready. It ain't going to be like a triumph.

Gil, you can't lose this, Gil. You can't lose this. This is for all the money. This is for all the money. Gil, somebody is looking to have bragging rights, said they'd be a former NBA all-star, all-NBA player in a three-point

competition. That means they got to be in the gym right now as we speak. Can I do the look? If I win, can I get that Wheaties box that you done had in the 90s? I know that right now that's on eBay for $250.

$250. I know that's $250 right there. Let me get a box of Wheaties, baby. This is the first one, the Broncos. I know. The Ravens. I wonder if these Wheaties

feel some good. Hell nah. They're probably not. You're right. They're probably not. If you think you was struggling the last Wednesday, you take a bowl of that. We ain't going to see you for a minute.

Nah. But you know what? Let me show what I got here, Gil. Here we go. Let me show what I got here, Gil. Can you see that? Kobe Arachis? Those are Kobe Arachis.

I know that. Actually. Hey, I know that signature. He actually gifted me these. He was in Denver, and I went to the game, and I was like, bro, let me, let me. And at the time I was like, man, but now they're worth a lot.

I mean, I would never get, I would never get rid of them. It's just the fact that he gave them to me. Yeah. Like I, you know that jersey swap today? Yeah.

Started that. The reason I say I started, I never really swapped jerseys. I just got everybody's autograph. Like, I'm a fan. Right. I left the NBA with 500 plus autographs. Wow. Everywhere we went, I had boxes of jerseys for players. Because I knew this was

going to end one day. And just like any old timer, I want to be able to look on a wall and that memory of, that memory. The magics for like, I got rid of my Wilt jerseys. I got rid of my Bill Russells. Because when I looked at it, I didn't have no feeling because I didn't play or know. You didn't play against him. The Chauncey Billups. The Chauncey Billups after me giving them 30 something. And he's signing it to me. Yo, Gil, you know, boom, boom, boom.

When I look at that, that game, you know, the smile. It means something. It means something. It means something. Right? So, you know, like this is a real thing when you get to sit there and say, yeah, look at it, because I know that feeling. Right. Fan questions. Faith, hey, Shannon and Gil, first shout out to Ice Cube for winning the Nation's Best Basketball Hall of Fame Impact Award.

I discovered the Big Three during the pandemic, and I love it. Gil, can you name a few things the Big Three does better than the NBA and why you love it? Thanks, Shannon. The one thing that they do better than the NBA is take care of their veterans. Right? The Big Three concept

is perfect. Players who still think they can play, who still want to play, they get to play in a half-court setting, right? Amongst their peers. And I don't

understand the NBA. These are your guys. Your legacy is there, right? Dr. J, Irving. Yes. Right?

Rick Bear, Rick Mahorn. That's your legacy. Clyde Drexler. Gary Payton. Those are your players. You're supposed to be sponsoring. That should be a funnel. When players retire, that's the place that they go because they're sponsored. The healthcare.

So what they're doing is they're feeding the legacy of the NBA better than you guys. RDR Food Review, loving the Unc and Gil. Do you see all-star potential in Derek Lively? Honestly, I don't see. Look, he does a great job of rim running, catching lobs. He goes to the front of the rim. Somebody comes over to block Luka's shot. He's going to put it back with the Thunder Dunk.

But unless he develop a move, a post-up, a go-to shot, from what I see right now, I just see a guy that just goes and hunts rebounds, does a great job of rim running. But I don't see an all-star. What you see, Gil? A young Capella, right? He'll get paid. He'll get paid. He'll get some nice change for that style of play.

But, you know, for you to be an all-star, you have to have some type of impact on the game itself. And just getting offensive rebounds, putting it up, catching lobs, that's not real impact in the all-star voting. The Gifted Gab show said,

great show, fellas. Why do you think a lot of coaches don't like playing young talent and continue to burn out veterans like New York coach? Because the veteran guys know what they know. Young guys, you got to teach. And that happens a lot. That's just not the NBA. That's like the NFL.

They want to play guys that know they have to do very little coaching because a lot of times coaches don't want to coach. Mm-hmm. Like, when it comes to the NBA, you know, most of these coaches don't have job security. So if I'm sitting with a veteran who's going to go in there and be a plus one or even,

right? That is a great player for me. Versus this young guy that I don't know what he's going to do. He's going to make a lot of mistakes. I don't want him making those mistakes on my job. Right. So if I don't have the security of backing where I get to play these guys without any pushback and my record don't count against me.

If not, I'm going to play the oldest goddamn players I can to give myself the best opportunity to win. Yeah, you're right, Gil. It's the situation where, look, the veteran guys more times than not is not going to make the mistakes that the young guy is going to make. Making mistakes. Now the higher ups, the general manager, the owner, fans are looking at you like, well, why you got the young guy that all he do is making mistakes? Well, guy keeps making mistakes. That means he's not getting coached.

That means he's not, whatever you're teaching him is not processing. Well, who's fault is not processing? They say it's your fault. So you got to go. So I'm going to play the guys that's not going to make the mistakes. Even though the young guys might be more talented, he's going to make more mistakes until he gets it right. And I can't afford him having the mistakes on my resume.

Yeah, and I think some people are just fans themselves. And they have this idea that, well, he needs to beat him out in practice. Oh, no, no, no. That young horse is whooping that old dude's ass all up and down that basketball court. That has no factor into that game. When I was in Memphis, right, them young boys, Pargo and Shelby, oh, they was giving me all that work. They was giving me that work. But one thing I knew when it was game time, I know who getting his number call.

Gil, Conley, hey you two, right? And that was just sick. That was it, Rook. I mean, when it comes to game, you're going to, because that's when it counts, right? Right. It doesn't matter what the young guys are doing in the practice. If my coaching job is in jeopardy because of my record, I'm not putting a young dude in. Right.

Jamal Grant said if LBJ wants to win another championship, he needs to team up with a healthy Lonzo Ball, a true point guard. Well, when is Lonzo going to be healthy? Will he ever be healthy? No, he don't need a Lonzo Ball.

He can do it with a Melo Ball. He can play with a mellow ball. LeBron needs people who can spread the floor. Right. Right? He doesn't need, like, no matter how talented you are, he doesn't need someone who's going to clog the lane with him.

That's where he wants to go. His power is getting to the basket, right? Using his frame to get in there. So if there's guys in there on your team that can't really to the basket, right? Using his frame to get in there. So if there's guys in there on your team that can't really spread the floor, you're useless to, you know, no matter how skilled you are, you're useless to someone like that. Right. Same box. What's up? Who y'all got winning rookie of the year?

And tell Gil I'm putting 10K on him getting over 19.5 in the shootout. Don't let me down, Gil. I mean, it's Wimmy Yama. Yeah, I really think that either they're going to give it to Wimby because he is going to be the face of the NBA. If Chet goes on a run

and the numbers are close, it could be Cole. It could be a Cole. I mean, it could be a Cole. Sometimes there's times where Cole, rookie of the years, is

better than actually picking one. well we haven't only had that one time we got jason kidd and uh grant hill yeah we're co-rookie of the year i can't recall another situation where we've had co anything have you can you recall co-mvp co-defensive player of the year i cannot yeah there's i mean no i I haven't, but there should have been some times where the MVP last year could have been cold. That dunk contest with Zach Levine and Aaron Gordon,

that could have been cold. There's some situations where if there's a loser, if someone feels that the audience is split in half, that's a code. You don't lose with code. They both win.

Yeah, you definitely, yeah. Aaron Gordon definitely should not have been a two-time or a three-time losing dunk. Those dunks that he did, ain't no way. Yeah. Those are times where it's like, okay, you both deserve this. Right. Uncultured J asks, what's some music you like

folks don't like to do? Jazz is mine. I'm an Ahmad J, a Jamal, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, John Coltrane. I like Coltrane. I've been told I look like Duke Ellington. Less interesting, brother.

You know, I'm a neo soul. I'm a Maxwell, I'm a Michelle and Degue Ocello. I'm more into that genre. I'm a, not that I don't like, when I get in my car, I put it on the grooves. I like the old stuff. I just like the mellow out. I just want to relax And I feel like this new rap

They get me all uptight I be on edge I didn't even want to Throw up Don't give you books What's so funny is when I'm shooting When I'm shooting I listen to R&B

I'm Alicia Keys And Aaliy I listen to R&B, right? I'm Alicia Keys and Aaliyah type of R&B. Right, okay. I'm Mary J. Blige, so I listen to that R&B while I'm putting shots. I can black out, when I'm listening to Tupac and all that,

that has to be performing time. But when I'm just trying to just mellow out and just concentrate, I got R&B, I got to be performing time. But when I'm just trying to just mellow out and just concentrate, I got R&B. I got R&B playlists. Right. Yeah, that's the kind of music, like I said,

Maxwell, Michelle Indigo, cello, the neo-soul stuff. Yeah. I just want to relax. Yeah. I just want to relax. Yeah. I just want to relax. Anthony Hamilton. I mean, I listen to a lot of Anthony Hamilton.

Music Soulchild, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Lanny Ray asks, hey, guys, great show. I took a great nap tonight for science. I'm just curious if either you took a nap today. Did Ash take one as well? Hell, Ash didn't wake up till noon, so she better not take no nap. Hell, she didn't wake up till noon

West Coast time. Hell yeah, I took a nap. I woke up today, Gil. Went back to sleep. Took a shower. Like, you know what? I'm bored. I'm going to take another nap. My nap is usually around, like, as soon as Gil's arena is over with, I take a nap. My nap is usually around, like, soon as Gil's arena is over with,

I take a nap. For the most part, I'm up at 4 a.m. So I'm already up at 4, so by the time Gil's arena is over with, I'm 10 hours into the day already. My best sleep is

my nap. Yeah, see, I can't... I'm a restless sleeper. So anything I hear, I'm up. Yeah, I can hear a rat peeing on cotton. I'm going to get up and see what's going on. So I'm not, you know,

I think that has to do with having dogs and stuff because the dog barked one time, I'm up, okay, I got to take him out. There's something going on. Okay, there's somebody. So I'm looking to grab the strap and see what's going on, see why he barked and what's going on. So it's hard for me

to just like, to get up. I'm talking about just sleep through the night. That ain't going to happen. That's not going to happen. I can't sleep through the night. I toss and turn. But my nap is my thing. I know like Ocho said, he got his sex schedule. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got my nap schedule. Seven days a week. Oh, yeah. I got to get special attention before I go to bed. I got, hey, y'all know what time it is. So I got a rotation about 4-5 that come out through the week to put me to sleep. Oh, man.

I know. I'm still living the life. Yeah, you... That's a great one there. That's a great one there. I can't put that on one person. That's rude. That's too much of a load to lift.

You're right. I feel you, Gil. I feel you. I've been a nap person ever since college. I would have my classes. I would do 8 to 9, 9 to 10, 11 to 12. Then I would go eat. Then I would go take a nap for like an hour and a half.

Then I would get up and go do practice. And even during the league, I would go get me like 10, 15 minutes, lay on the table, go to sleep. Because most of the time, we join and do our day. But I needed to get me a little, just close my eyes. It's hard to break that habit. It is. It's hard to break that habit.

It is. Yo, stop taking naps. I've tried. I've tried just my body at a certain time. I know what time. I've never had an alarm clock. I've never had an alarm clock. My body just knows. It's going to shut down at a certain time. I know what time. I've never had an alarm clock. I've never had an alarm clock.

My body just knows. It's going to shut down at a certain time. Right. When I wake up, I already know it. It's about anywhere from 3 to 4 a.m. So when I wake up, I already know about 3 to 4 a.m. Just get up, get in the shower, and just

get out the house. But you know what? Gil, everybody knows.il everybody knows my team knows my schedule okay shannon what time are you napping from because that's what i got i'm gonna take meetings i'm gonna take calls but i gotta get that nap in because if i don't i'm gonna get irritable and they're not you know we don't want you irritable we want you you know we want you a life calm place so i go ahead and get nap. And even if it's only 30 minutes, that's about all I can sleep before the dogs, you know, they're at the door whining, trying to come in and get on the bed. So that's, but I got it.

I got it. But Ash, Laney, ready to answer your question. Ash didn't take a nap today because she shouldn't have taken a nap today because I had slept till noon. Joshua Hogan said, Gil, looking back at all the teams you played for, drafting the second round to the Warriors, then the Wizards, followed by Magic and Grizzlies, do you feel your best chance

to win the chip was with the Wizards? No. I think my best year, my best, the best team that I played on as a group of individuals was when I got traded to Magic.

When I got traded to Magic, talent-wise, a group of guys that were together as a team. You got your big man, you got your steady point guard, you got your shooters. guard, you got your shooters,

right? You got your, like it was a complete team. I was coming off the bench. Right. Right. And the second unit, you know,

I was like Russ at that time. I was the second unit. I got JJ Redick. I got all, you know, that was probably all around the best team that I had. And I was the best team to try to win a championship.

And I don't think if we would have had a lockout, I don't think if Dwight would have hurt his back. I think us coming back that next year, we could have probably did some work. I mean, Miami was going to be a hard feat, but we had

Dwight. We had a Dwight down there. That was probably the best team that I had a chance of winning with. Elijah Balto asks, what are y'all thoughts on Ant and if he can lead the Wolves to an eventual championship in the future or get an

MVP? Could he potentially do a KG, join a big market team? I appreciate y'all. KG didn't want to leave. KG overstayed his welcome in Minnesota. KG should have been got the hell up out of town. I just hope that's not the case for Ant-Man

because KG was loyal to the soil to a fault. Listen, there's no history that the Wolves have on loyalty. All the great and good pieces they've had, they've gotten rid of them.

Yes. They've gotten rid of them. This is the longest tincture from them cat that they had. So I don't see this team together two years from now. And right now, this is a good Wolves team. Yeah. I mean, I don't know what that choke did, the Frenchman.

Rudy. Yeah, but Rudy got choked into a real player. I mean, they're double doubling now. He's actually putting up points. And the fact that I think he's done in the last 28 games, he then had a double double 18 of them. As a third option, that is needed. And then your point guard is steady, right? Your point guard, when you're talking about controlling something,

you have a point guard who has never been rattled enough to get a technical foul, right? So they have the ingredients to do some damage. And man can get an MVP if that team has won and he's doing what he's doing. He can MVP in this league. It's going to be hard. They big, man. The numbers that Embiid is putting up.

I mean, and Nikola Jokic and Giannis. Now it just seems like even what's his name? He just played tonight. Luka. Luka gave me a 33-8-9. And they ain't even

talking about him. Look what Shea doing. Yeah. Even Tatum. Man. There's so much. To be honest, out of all the people we named, Wendy might have a better chance winning MVP

within the next four years before Ant-Man. Yeah, true. I like Ant. I like his game. I like that you can see the work that he's put in, and you can see him get better and better every single game. You can see it. That's when you know a guy,

a lot of times, he ain't posted. You ain't got to post. I'll see it in your game. So, yeah, he put that time in. He in the lab. He plays both time in. And he plays both sides of the, he plays both sides of the court. I mean, we should have known from the interview when he was doing

and he was basically telling you how great he was and his confidence that he came in with. Let us know what type of player he was. And the fact that it is panning out for him. And I remember he did that interview about the Warriors workout.

And that told us who he was going to be. He said he went to the Warriors workout and he's going hard. And they come to him, Steve Gerdlach, yeah, can you go a little bit harder? He said, I'm going harder. He said, hey, Steph and Clay, they go at this speed. Can you go at this speed? He said, man, I'm Clay, they go at this speed. Can you go at this speed? He said, man, I'm going in there trying to run. I'm running, shooting, breaking everything because I'm going at a speed I've never been at before.

He said, I got back in the car. He said, I called my trainer and said, hey, we need to go back to the drawing board. What we've been doing ain't it? we need to go back to the drawing board. What we've been doing ain't it? Because if I don't get picked first, Golden State ain't picking me second. Right.

You know, and I'm not prepared. If I wasn't prepared for the number two team, I'm not going to be prepared for number one. So he went back to the drawing board because he understood that what he was doing wasn't good enough. Florian Carlos said the 88 first team All-NBA Magic, MJ,

Bird, Barkley and Akeem versus 03 NBA team. Kobe, T-Mac, KG, Timmy D and Shaq. Who wins? Hold on. You got Magic,

MJ in the backcourt, Bird, Barkley, and Akeem in the frontcourt. The 0-3 first team All-NBA, you had Kobe and T-Mac in the backcourt. Up front, you had KG, Duncan, and Shaq. And this is 0 is 03 Shaq?

03 Shaq. Versus 88? 88. That 88 MJ was on another level. Yeah, that 88 MJ was on a different level. That's the 88. Kobe wasn't that Kobe yet. I mean, he was Kobe, but he wasn't the unleashed Kobe.

T-Mac, KG, Duncan, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. This is that, you got the Big Shaq 2 versus Hakeem. Damn, I might have to give it to 88. That'll be a good one. I mean, okay, you don't really, I mean, you have shooting and bird, and that's it.

Magic pitch, you'd have licked. 88, Jordan didn't shoot threes like that. Barkley, undersized, but he's very athletic. I mean, with Kobe T-Mac from the outside, Duncan at the mid-post. I'm going to go with 88 because I think the 2003 clash is a lot because Duncan and Shaq need that same right block. And KG.

So you have three guys who want the same side. So that'd be a clash. Barkley just did what Barkley did. So I'm going to give it to 88. That'd be a good one. I mean, wow. I mean, sometimes you go back and you look at the teams and you look at

like Barkley making it, Malone not making it. Malone making it, Barkley not making it. I mean, because you know Bird was going to get one of those first teams. So basically,

once Jordan broke through, you're like, okay, Jordan going to make it every year. So, okay, Jordan and Magic going to be the backcourt. Okay, I mean, because you got a King, you got David Robinson, you got Patrick Ewing. Those are your bigs. Yeah.

So you kind of rotate those guys who ever have the best season. But, you know, kind of like Bird, Magic, and MJ, they on the first team. You only got two spots. Yeah, see, and I think what's throwing it off is on this one that KG Duncan is throwing it off because you don't have a real true three. Nope. You don't have a real

true three man there to go at Bird, right? So really Bird will just be playing in the post against KG who's not aggressive enough to take advantage of this. So yeah, I'm going to give it to 88.

That'd be a great matchup. Shaq, I wonder what Shaq thinks. Shaq, what you think? I mean, Shaq, Shaq, Shaq, Shaq. I mean, that Shaq, right, that Shaq will bust that young Hakeem ass. Right, because this ain't the MVP Hakeem right here in 88. No, no, right, that Shaq will bust that young Hakeem ass. Right, because this ain't the MVP Hakeem right here in 88.

No, no, no, no. No, I just say the 88. So this is this goes back to Shaq advantage. He better have his lungs, though, because this Hakeem right here running all day. But this was thin men's, though. This one looked like he weighed about 220

yeah that dream shake though that move it would have been a good matchup but like I said man Magic, Bird, MJ, Barkley and Akeem, T-Mac Kobe, KG, Tim Duncan

and Shaq they got the size the old three got the size T-Mac, Kobe, KG, Tim Duncan, and Shaq. Yeah. They got the size. The old three got the size. They have the size. They don't have the... They have the athleticism. Oh, absolutely.

But yeah, it's just KG, Duncan, Shaq just clashing. They're just gonna clash. Right. Get back up here to the top. Please make sure you hit that- Bird can't bully anybody, but he was crafty enough to- He's crafty. He's just crafty. All he wants is enough separation

to hit that step back in your eyes. It'd be hard on that seven-footer, but, you know, it's... Yeah. Yeah. Please make sure you hit that like button. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. And make sure you subscribe to the Nightcap podcast feed. You can get it through Club Che Che, but Nightcap does have its own podcast feed. You can also like and subscribe to Gil's Arena channel on YouTube.

The show airs Monday through Thursday live, 1130 a.m. Pacific, 230 Eastern. That's Monday through Friday, 1130 a.m. Pacific, 230 Eastern. I'm your favorite sports uncle, Shannon Sharp. We've also pinned Shea by Lapi at the top of the chat. Make sure you go out and get a bottle for you or someone that you love. We want to thank our special guest, our extra addition to Nightcap

with the basketball edition. Hey, my DM's been up, baby. Hey, I see my face on the look. You look at the air. That's it. That's what's up.

I'm with Unk now. Nah, you got to put that away. Yeah. Make sure you hit that like button. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Thank you for joining us for another episode of Nightcap Basketball Edition. I'm your favorite sports Unk, Shannon Sharp. He's your favorite number zero Arizona Wildcat

legend, Gilbert Arenas. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you for having me. See you tomorrow, guys. Thanks, Gil. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered

by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolfe. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone. This is Jimmy O'Brien from John boy media. I want to quickly tell you about my podcast. It's called Jimmy's three things. Episodes come out every Tuesday. And for 30 minutes,

I dive into three stories in major league baseball that I want to talk about, or I do a stat deep dive. Sometimes I create my own stats. It gets weird. It's now your go-to podcast for staying up to date and in the weeds with Major League Baseball. No topic is off limits or too small. Bad umpires, great pitcher-catcher duos, new rules, old rules, three things that I want to talk about. Listen to Jimmy's Three Things on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, I am joined by the greatest Alpine skier of all time, Michaela Shiffrin. Michaela talks about the ski accident that changed everything for her, performing while

going through grief and what it's like to release the pressure of being the GOAT, and so much more. Like, I have no right to be winning this race. I really probably shouldn't even be doing it, but I'm here, so I will win. Listen to this episode of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.