OverDrive - OverDrive - February 3, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Join Bryan Hayes, Jeff O'Neill and Jamie McLennan for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Calgary Flames General Manager Craig Conroy joins to discuss the Flames' overall season, acquiring Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost from the Flyers and the team's trade approach. ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst joins to discuss Luka Doncic landing with the Lakers in the massive deal with Anthony Davis, the Mavericks' perspective of the trade and the conditioning becoming a factor for the teams.

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to the final score. Brian Hays, The Odog, Jeff O'Neil, Jamie Noonels, McLennan. We've got Brian Winhorse later in the hour on the craziness in the NBA. I think the NBA looked at what the NHL's been doing recently and said, not so fast. We've got to keep up with the Miko Ranton in trade and the JT Miller deal and the Flames Flyers deal last week.

There's been a lot of activity going on in the NHL. And stealth ones though too. That's the thing. You see these trades and I know it's... How about us in the media? These are all Friday night news dumps all of a sudden. Ranton and Get Straight, JT Miller gets straight, at least Connie. We are able to get to it a little bit. Thursday night.

Yeah, nice and during the game. During the game. During the game that deal went down. Making it interesting for everybody, I guess. Just jamming people up during the game that deal went making it interesting for everybody I guess just jamming people up during the game but you're right what's with this Friday news dump stuff let's get an executive order on that's a pattern cannot happen anymore stop making massive trades late in the week or you know Friday night after we go off the air and how about something else too

let's leave a little bit for March because O is going to be sitting at a desk for eight hours talking about he'd be chasing Gino around. I'll have a mankini on, a bright turquoise mankini running around chasing Gino with the way this is going. Okay. Well, here's the GM of the Calgary Fl calgary flames joining us in the maple toyota hotline his credit on ronald a do a crack good guys are you doing

we're doing well can you try to tell your other gm's in the league to stop making deals on friday nights it's just it's not good for our business i know if we don't do it uh... if we don't do it on friday we try to hold it till monday though it's always out there right well i think that's what they're thinking if we just get it done uh... nobody knows everything's gonna happen on a friday yeah understandable and we were kind of joking about uh... the deal that you

pulled off on thursday that it it happened during the flyers game the flyers were playing you obviously acquired morgan and Joel Farabee. Take us through that, like the idea, were you trying to get it done before puck drop? Did you, were you, any thought in waiting until after the game? Like, that's always kind of unique,

it has happened before, but how kind of difficult is it to get things done before a game or wait until after a game? Well, we actually kind of talked about it before, we did talk about before the game or wait until after a game? Well we actually kind of talked about it before we did talk about for the game obviously and then all of a sudden you know they just said hey we can't get any of our guys here we need to play our guys and I said okay we're gonna play our guys also and then because Minko had you know he had a partial no trade so you know we had to

end up talking to Philly and working on that too. So we didn't play him. We spoke to him during the first period. And then when Morgan Frost went down the hall, I talked to Danny and just, you know, I said, hey, I'll pull Pelche also, just in case. You know, at this point we were gonna let him play.

Now I'm like, it doesn't make any sense. So, you know, which is always hard and it was uncomfortable for, you know, I felt bad for Pelche because, you know, you're geared up for the game. You come in and then, you know, you get that kind of news. It's, it's, it's never fun. So I felt he was pretty emotional too. And then I had to kind of keep them in the room until the guys went out. Cause you don't

want to We don't want to We don't want to do that with you know Yeah, you just couldn't have him go back in because then it's just too emotional for the whole team So yeah, you know he stayed the whole game and got to see the guys at the end for sure though Yeah, in terms of your coach, coach, Ryan Husker threw all this. He's filling a game sheet out. He's trying to figure things out.

Where does he come and play in all this? You just referenced how difficult it is dealing with two different teams and two different games going on. Was he kind of a... He must have been aware, clearly, but how does he handle that kind of news on the fly well i told them right before the game i think you grab kuzmenko and just let them know that he's not gonna play tonight just because you know he we had to work to do with him and then i said

you know if everything goes through uh... pelche probably after the game i'll talk to pelche and let him know kind of what's going on and then you know if he knew going in but then when I came down he's like what are you doing down here I said I'm just gonna pull Peltz after the first just to be safe he's like oh boy okay so you know he just he went and did his thing I said when's the best time he said you know give it a couple minutes and then we'll then we'll grab him so you know he knew and then he just you know and those are the hard things you wish it always worked out perfectly but minutes and then we'll grab them. So, you know, he knew and then he just, you know,

and those are the hard things. You wish it always worked out perfectly, but it sure didn't in that case. And I felt bad for the guys involved. Connie, I mean, you guys were talking about making trades. How difficult is it? You talk about the personal side. I mean, like to pull guys aside and these deals come together, like just telling them like right before the game, like it's got to touch you emotionally. And we were joking off the top about the timing of it. Do you get a sense that some or majority of the teams kind of want to get some work done here before this Four Nations thing starts?

Well, it felt like, you know, I think the big thing was once the random trade happened, you know, it did feel like I got more calls and more more interest. And I think people just said, OK, if we can get it done, you know, and from our point of view to kind of have the guys come in and be able to play five games and then have the break and know the know what they're coming back to after the break, they're just going to feel that much more comfortable. So it did make a little sense. And I think with Briere, he felt the same way.

We've talked about it. I mean, we talked last year at the beginning of this year, months before. And then it's weird how sometimes it just really comes together quickly. They wanted to make a deal and it worked out for us too. It really in one day really all came together even though you've been talking for a long time. But I do think and then you see the next day with the Miller it just yeah it seemed like the floodgates kind of opened and I think it is nice to kind of get ahead of it for

sure. So Connie I read your comments and saw you on TV talking about you wanted to give your current team a little bit of a boost as far as going and getting some players. And you go and get a 24-year-old and a 25-year-old. These aren't guys that are 30 and kind of near the end of their career. They're still ramping up. What was the thought process in adding these two young players to the mix of your group right now?

You know, I think with our age, we've got a real good group of veteran guys here with Tadri and Hubert Doe, Backlund, Coleman and Wiggs, and Anderson. And then we've been trying to add that younger group of players. So I think even at the beginning, we were looking from 22 to 25 would be an area we'd love to get in. So for these two guys to come up and available, they really fit into the age group well. And you wanted to reward the group for playing so hard. I know we weren't picked maybe to be where we are right now, but we thought, hey, if

we can get a center, a natural center who who's been real good in the face-off, over 50%, which puts them as the best in our team in the face-off, we could do that. And to get Joel Farabee, who maybe just needs a little bit of a change from Philly. He had 22 goals last year, so we're hoping he comes in here, we can put him in a good spot and give him an opportunity to get back to where he was. And That was kind of the whole logic behind it. To give up a couple draft picks was the

other part of it. I think Danny was... It's always nice when we're both happy when the deal is done and we both feel like we got something we needed. Connie, do executives ever rack their brains on the reasoning the other team's willing to move off a player? Because there's got to be something for every team where they're like, there's something the player's doing where they become expendable. So do you ever rack your brains or you just say, you know what, fresh start, let's make it happen?

For sure. You always wonder why are they getting rid of these young players? You know, and then you just have to go to your scouts and make sure, you know, Hoffman, one of our head scouts here, he actually was coaching these guys in Philly, so knows their person, I know the type of people they are. So that definitely helped, you know,

and sometimes it is just a fresh start, a different place, you know, a new environment, but it also, you know, when we talk to the guys, it's a shock. It does take a little time to adjust. But for us, you're always wondering, oh, I really like that player, but why would they be giving up on him? So you can overthink it sometimes

and overcomplicate it in your own mind. But for us, in the end, it just felt like this deal made total sense, and it gives us an opportunity to see them and get to know them and them to do the same for us, in the end, it just felt like this deal made total sense and it gives us an opportunity to see them and get to know them and them to do the same for us. Greg Conroy, is it unprofessional to ask that question or if you ask it, do you just expect they're going to lie to you? In other words, can you not say, let's say you're the Lakers GM, you're like, why are

you trading Luke at Donchich? Wouldn't you have to ask that? You know, wouldn't you think so, Craig, or what? You do think it, yeah. I mean, we skirt around it a little bit. You know, is everything okay? You know, and sometimes it's just, hey, he's falling out of favor with the coach a little bit,

or, you know, we're looking to shake it up, we're looking to free up some cap space. You know, we had cap to free up some cap space. We had cap space so that the money wasn't an issue for us and we just have to go back and say, okay, it might not be working right now for them in Philly, but we feel like we can give them a real nice opportunity here to play a lot in really important roles and give them a chance to kind of reset with our group.

I think our coach does a great job with this. Ryan Huska has done an amazing job. He brings guys in, makes them feel a part of it. It was nice to see Frosty score a goal last night. I was like, oh, okay, you know what? It's a good feeling. And then just want to keep moving forward and bringing them into the group. Well, we'll just tell you right now, Morgan Frost has a number one fan on this show because Brian Hayes loves the family and has watched him since he was a kid. Correct, Hayes? Absolutely.

You know what? When we had the Brian Hayes appreciation night up at Berry, they were playing the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Morgan was on that team I think he lit that game up too. So you guys saw him play. You scouted him back at junior. You guys probably love him too. I'm sure of it. We do love him. Yeah for sure. I mean he's got great hands and a nice skill set. You know, you have to get people for what they are. He's not gonna be running guys over but he's competitive, wins draws and has a really really, really high skill set and high hockey IQ for sure.

Connie, talk about your goalie. I mean, how good has Wolf been? Should we be giving him more love for Rookie of the Year? Absolutely. I mean, I've talked about it here, and with your platform, I would love to. I think the one thing is, I've mentioned, hey, when you're playing your platform, I would love to I mean, I think the one thing is, you know, I've mentioned hey You know when you're a play in forward defense There's games where you can get two or three points and lose, you know six five But everything is good and still be a minus player and you know But you got three points and you got two of them on the power play

That's one thing about with Dustin, you know, he has to win the games He doesn't get any kind of empty netters or power play points. And, you know, I think that's, I know he's a little bit older maybe but definitely feel like he's, he's a big, big, I mean, if he's probably been one of our MVP's of the year for sure, to say the least. And, you know, I can't say enough about what he gets, the confidence he gives the rest of the team that we feel like every time he's in there we have a chance to win that you know i think that something i don't know if that works in the vote but uh...

if i had a vote i definitely be vote for for him and hopefully you guys can push him if you keep watching them to be played been excellent absolutely uh... leasing calgary plan of plans to one i chatted with the gm craig conroy and you know you referenced earlier that on the outside, I think a lot of the hockey world was curious what your team was gonna do this year, how competitive they might be.

And you guys have either been in a playoff spot or lurking around one all season. And obviously it's gotten to a point where there's no reason to believe that won't continue. So I'm curious how you've obviously made the one deal. How do you approach the rest of the trade deadline knowing that your team has played the way it's played and it's built the way it's built Yeah, I think you know, you know even every day you're trying to figure out is there a way to make us better and if there is

Again, it's age appropriate a little bit for us. You know, I don't see us going and getting a rental Again, it's age appropriate a little bit for us. I don't see us going and getting a rental just for the run, but again, that can always change if the right player came up in the right situation and we're at the deadline, if you're in a really good spot and you feel like this one piece could do it, maybe you do it, but right now I think you're just talking to teams, finding out,

the one thing you wanna, definitely we have some guys in the American league that played really well that deserve call ups and I just haven't been able to get them up yet. So you know, you'd still like to see those guys at some point, but you know how it is, coaches, when you're having some success, they're not, they're not really changing the lineup that often to be honest, but yeah, we're looking to make the team better each and every day. Well, you guys have again had a great run it's going to be a fun one tomorrow night with the Leafs in town so enjoy that best of luck and we always appreciate you doing this thank you.

Yeah well thanks for having me at the Leafs in town it'll be a it'll be an interesting building tomorrow night. Yeah it always is it always is. I hope they're not in there cheering. That would make me sick, Connie. Oh, God, do they cheer. They show up and they get loud. It makes me a little sick, too. Okay. I hear you. We don't blame you for that. Try to enjoy yourself.

Thanks, Craig. Oh, I will. It's always fun. You guys have a great day. You got it. Craig Conroy joining us here on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Count on Maple Toyota for the right winter tire package for your Toyota.

Trade in your old tires, buy a new set, and get $40 back. Visit mapletoyota.com. Yeah, it's, leaf fans show up out there, man. They get loud and they chant and they're, they tailgaze. I like the reverse chant where it's like, go Leafs, go, and then it's, let's go Oilers. That was awesome on Saturday.

It makes for a better environment. And people hate it and they're like, oh, there's so go Leafs go and then it's let's go Oilers. That was awesome on Saturday. It makes for a better environment. People hate it and they're like, oh, there's so many Leaf fans. I wish we had that in Toronto. I wish we had that in Toronto. Why is it when the, like I get it, it's different populations, different, there's more people, I understand it. But like when the Habs are here, I don't really hear go Habs go or you know, oh, I wish I

wish the people that drive to Buffalo and that are all spread across the country at these games like drinking and having a good time. I wish they could be the ones going into a building at home on a Tuesday night. So it would feel like an NHL game. They can't build that's I get it. I and I'm sure you guys are completely different environment a hundred percent because to be in those buildings like to feel the electricity and then go into Scotiabank and then you know Austin brought it up the other day was like geez it would have been nice to have a little bit of pop off that fight and stuff like you know the guys are hey, we're in other buildings and our fans are like overwhelming

and being nuts and we're in our building and it's like, hey, you know, we're having a night here. I get it. You got to win. You got to do that. And it's corporate. But it's just you see other buildings, it pops. Like it's loud and people go nuts there.

They do. And, you know, it's again, again, it's unique because the Leafs, they're only out there once, right? It's got an NFL feel to it, an ATL feel. You go out there one time a year, it's a special night. And Saturday in particular was, it was different because it is a Saturday night and it's Matthews and McDavid and Dry Subtle and Marner

and all the big boys and Willie scores. And the Leafs got off to a hot start that allowed Leaf fans to come alive right and then the other fans came pouring back as they started chipping away at that lead it was just a perfect storm I think on Saturday where yes you know and I would assume it'll start again tomorrow night like you know there's gonna be a ton of Leaf fans in Calgary tomorrow night And Conroy knows it. Craig just said it He's like we're fully bracing for a lot of Leaf fans and it's gonna be loud and it's not Vancouver The worst of all the three I played there like that. Oh, I don't know. It's a good question

I like as far as the leaf I think Calgary is Yeah, the Leafs penetrating the building Like what I said the other day, I think Calgary might be. I think it is. I don't know. I mean, I've never been on that trip so I couldn't tell you. I think Vancouver's, you know, there's a lot of ex-Torontonians that live out there, but I don't have an answer for it. I guess we'll find out by Saturday.

You know, we'll see what comes of it. You love that one out there though, Hazy, on a Saturday at 4 p.m. 4 p.m. local time on Saturday at least Canucks. It's so obnoxious. It's so ridiculous. Yet we know the reasoning and I've been saying it for everyone knows the reason. I know, but can't they throw the Canucks a bone one year or the Oilers and say you're the second half

With a double header like it would be an interesting viewing process like now that I'm older I want I don't want them to play late see there. There's the leave social almost 5 p.m. Edmonton. They know exactly what they're doing It's great But when I was you know 20 21 22 25 Saturday night I would have loved the 10 PM local. Push the Leaf game back and that would have been amazing. Now when the final buzzer goes, you click the TV off and you're snoring. Exactly.

I don't want them playing at 1 AM. I can't do that. I just told you on Sunday I had to be up at 6 in the morning. I can't have that. So I need my considerations to be taken into account and I'm glad that the NHL is doing that. All right, Brian Widenhorst in about 10 minutes. Chris Johnston still to come after 6 p.m. Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on TSN 4.

All right, Brian Widenhorst coming up with ESPN on the Luka-Dontchich trade and also you got Darren Fox. We talked about it last week. He wanted out of Sacramento. He wanted in with the Spurs and he got his wish I would never you talk about how trades go down if a player wanted out and go so I'm not meeting his desired team Sorry, that's kind of crazy. Huh crazy. Like oh, yeah, I want to go play with Wendy. I would say What's the worst scenario where I can get a reasonable return and that's we'll be going now

it's it's crazy man that's it the power of the power of players in i credit fox for openly accepting that he is robin to wemby's batman and he wanted to get there first right someone was going to do that someone was going to play the role attached themselves to wemba nyamah just and just ride off. You gotta give him credit he's gonna go along for the ride and say maybe something special happens here where there's some kind of dynasty in the next five years exactly and give him props but if I'm the GM of Sacramento

I'm just not making it happen. I hear you. They're fan base what did they have a bit of a run where they made the playoffs. Have you guys laid eyes on that Wemby? Oh, of course, he's massive. I mean, the guy's seven foot seven or whatever he is. It's awkward to watch though. It's effective though. He's been in the league for two years. Like he is basically everything they said he'd be and they're fully expecting that he just continues to get better and better and more and more dominant.

He was giving Yannis the business the other night, stuffed him a couple times, it was like, okay, maybe this dude's for real. His presence in the paint, like he doesn't really live there offensively, he shoots, he's kind of a perimeter player at times, he can get to the basket, but his ability to block shots, it's men against boys. It doesn't matter who you are, Yannis, it doesn't matter who you are. You can't get through that guy. If he's got position and he's boxing you out or he's in a position to block you, you're in big, big trouble. That's just purely scientific. That's science because the guy is so massive.

It's like the teacher swatting away balls from students outside. That's what it looks like. Exactly what happens. All right, so Wind Horse coming up here in a moment. And the Raptors won again. They beat the Clippers. And you look at Kawhi Leonard, he was in town and Kawhi didn't do much last night. And the Raptors are winning a bunch of ball games. And Cooper Flagg was unreal over the weekend in in that tobacco road battle between Duke and Carolina

We'll see where he ends up in the end But that's a sports destination like kind of bucket list placed Cameron indoor to go see a game there Hayes I don't know if you've ever been but no I haven't It's worth it one time high high on the list Absolutely, it's a game and then if you can hit that up on a Sunday or something It's pretty cool place. Yeah, we might have to circle that in the old calendar man Take a look at that. See what's going on. See what's around. Oh, I can give you a bang banger weekend golf Both mornings Cain's game at night Duke basketball game

That's a week. That's electric. electric yeah that's the electric electric weekend but yeah we're still wrapping our heads around this this Luca deal and you know what it means for for the NBA but also just like pro sports in general I guess he's European he's an international superstar he hasn't played in six weeks right he's been out for six weeks and I do wonder if that factored into the evaluation with the mouse that they saw what the team look like without them you know they existed without him for six weeks and that allowed them to kind

of uncover okay we can survive without him and we bring in another guy an anthony davis and he plugs in and life without a player kind of allows you to do that you know a little bit and yet but people don't usually do that with the caliber of player now it's usually a kind of a secondary piece for your like that we can live without that let's go get a different secondary piece right

the face of this product is a little bit different he was in the nbf finals literally a year ago and remember it's not been in the finals though like he was losing his mind the rest of jason kid uh... and it when or is actually brian when or is that it unbelievable postgame kind of reports and analysis of his play one says after game three i think the self this one up three nothing in the series of the senate appointed five

and uh... when or is just completely on nothing in the series. Celtics ended up winning in five. Winhorse just completely uncorked because it was very reasonable and it was very professional in terms of the way that he broke it down, but he just talked about how poorly he defended, how bad his attitude was, how much he was losing it on refs and coaches. That's another part of it, right? Like you talk about the conditioning, but also how he interacts with people, how you talk about the conditioning but also how he interacts with people how he interacts with the raps how he interacts with his coaching staff i think i remember that ran all those insiders don't usually t off on a guy like that and i think he went nuclear on him he did man it was it was quite

something i think we played it on the on the air as well and it was it was quite something and when horse i think even said over the weekend that generally when he has commentary like that about a player, especially a superstar player, he'll hear from someone within the organization defending the player. Maybe not defending the play, but defending the player. Hey, take it easy, guy's a great guy, he's working hard, he had an off night. I believe he said he didn't hear from anyone in Dallas. I'm glad you made that comment, Hay Hayes because we talk about all kinds of

athletes on this program and a lot of people in a lot of organizations have my phone number and rarely do I ever hear hey why'd you say that we don't make stuff up. No exactly. It is what it is. They play the games. That's it. Guys go out and play the games. You react to it. We react to it I know curious even like the comments coming out of Vancouver after JT Miller gets traded like it was kind of weird like You know well it sounded like the players were really emotional and supportive of Miller too, right? like kind of love JT Miller and Man, he's a he's a really good player.

He's a really, really good player. I think the sentiment was, I think Myers made the comment, he holds a lot of weight in the locker room, maybe more than anybody I've seen in my career, but I think the follow-up to that is probably not a bad idea for him to exit the door. Exactly. He gets out, fresh start, you move on, right? And again, we weren't preparing for that in the NBA in terms of this Luca deal on Saturday night and where it goes from here

We focused a lot on on the Dallas side of things From LA's perspective. It just seems like everyone's like, okay, you have to do that You had to accept the deal and you got to bring in Luca and you got to roll the dice But I'm curious like is there any way this doesn't work out for the Lakers? Like, is there any possible negative spin here for the Lakers? Because we've been trying to wrap our heads around this all afternoon and to chat about it, among other things, after a crazy weekend in the NBA. We appreciate him finding time for us.

Here's NBA insider with ESPN Brian Windhorst. Brian, I know you've been talking about this and thinking about this deal ever since it happened from a Laker perspective. Is there any way to spin this negatively? Is there anything you can think of that would make you believe, okay, the Lakers are gambling here with this Luka deal? For sure they are because Luka is not signed past next season and once he's traded he loses the capability to sign what we call the super max contract and once that is taken away then the Lakers are they have no advantage over any other team in terms of paying the free agent so the reason reason that this was put into the rules

is to prevent the Kevin Durant situation that happened to the funder, I guess LeBron too, but it really happened after Durant, where you're sort of on your third contract and you basically can get, in the case of Luca, it would have been $100 million more. And so now the Lakers don't have that quote unquote advantage. So when they come to him this summer,

Luca's going to be able to pass judgment on whether he wants to be with the Lakers or not. And if he doesn't want to be there, doesn't want to commit, the Lakers could be under a bit of pressure. And I think that's one of the reasons why they didn't trade all their pieces for him because they had to convince the Mavericks, look we may have to do some things to build this team up to make sure that Luca is going to resign. I would bet on him extending, it's too early to know any different but they lose the hammer

of the Supermax which is one of the reasons why the Mavericks traded Luca, they didn't know any different, but they lose the hammer of the supermax, which is one of the reasons why the Mavericks traded Luca. They didn't want to pay him the supermax. They didn't want to give him the $350 million, while the Lakers can pay him $220 million over the same amount. It's literally that much of a difference. I wouldn't say that there's a reason not to do it, but there is a level of risk there. So Brian, were you just trying to enjoy your weekend and then all hell breaks loose in

the middle of the night? Or do you want to take us through that timeline? Yeah, I mean, you know, this time of year, there's not much sleep. And the thing that's different about this is that most of the time, people in my job, we hear about possible trade. We don't always understand all the parameters, we don't always see all four corners. Sometimes we can't confirm that they're real,

but it's unusual if we hear about a significant trade that has never crossed our screen. And in this case, it never crossed anybody's screen and it happened to also be one of the biggest trades of all time. And so that's what was so remarkable about it, not so much the gravity of it, which was amazing in itself, but the way it appeared to come out of the clear blue. What are you hearing from other executives around the league in terms of the way this evidently played out that the Mavericks reached out to the Lakers and the Lakers alone to

orchestrate this deal and it was never an auction where other teams could be included? Yeah, so the most important thing you have to know about this is that the sort of the mother decision of all of it is that they decided that they didn't want to pay him $350, $5, $350. Their evaluation was that whatever his temperament, his conditioning, whatever you want to say, they didn't feel like that was a good investment. I'm not necessarily in agreement with that. I'm just telling you the decision that they came to. And so once that decision was made, it guided everything else that they did.

That was the true decision. And so the second decision was, if we approach trading him, do we wanna trade him to remain competitive or do we wanna start some sort of rebuild? They decided on, we wanna trade him to remain competitive and perhaps even still be competitive enough to win the championship this year. So once those two decisions have been made, all of a sudden the number of players, the number

of teams that you can go to, goes shrinks way down. And you have to understand that when you approach how they went about it. If they weren't sure what direction they were gonna go and they had to see what offers they were gonna get before deciding on direction, then an auction made sense. And again, I'm not passing judgment on whether that decision was the correct decision,

but that's the decision that they made. And they identified Anthony Davis as a guy that they thought would make it work. And so they only negotiated with the Lakers. And when they were able to get Davis, they didn't need to expand it. And so that's the process they went about. I can understand that process. Again, I'm not necessarily saying I agree with it, but I understand what led them to trade LUCA and I understand why they only want the Lakers, but I don't understand is why they didn't get more stuff

from the Lakers. And so, I haven't heard a good excuse yet for it. Maybe I will at some point, but I haven't heard one yet. Brian, the conditioning thing has been brought up so many times, like I have to ask, like what are we talking about? Did this guy just tell the Mavs, like don't work out I don't do that or like how bad was this well I think it's being a little overblown that that was the only thing

I mean you guys watch basketball I assume you've seen Luca play yeah you know you see you know the most told individual I've ever seen right no but if that's not the most, like there's things about his game that are problematic. And things, you know, you know, nobody has more information on Luca than the Mavericks. But I, you know, I think the conditioning is an issue, was really an issue this season. You know, they had great momentum coming off of last year and Luca was being bothered by a knee issue and he went and played for his national team

and then when they got eliminated and didn't make the Olympics, he rested it. And which was probably what he needed to do but he came into training camp but he wasn't in the best condition. And he got hurt, he hurt his calf. And while he was out with the calf injury, he got out of he got really out of shape and when he came back they were so displeased

with his condition that they you know he had this I think finger or wrist injury or something they shut him down for a while yes to rest his hand but also because they told him to get in shape he did and then he re-injured the calf again, again probably because he was a little out of shape. But that's not a reason to trade something. I think that was a contributing factor. I don't think it was the driving force. I think there's just the whole, you know, there's a balance with star players. You know, like LeBron.

LeBron stresses your organization out in many different ways, okay, and he has, there are times when he will have you say, man, LeBron is causing me to have a bad day if you are in his organization. But he sure as heck has made many people have good years, okay, because of what he does. For a lot of star players, there's a balance. And with Luca, there's a balance.

The Mavericks felt that the balance was out of whack and decided to pull the ripcord. The conditioning only being one factor of it but there were probably numerous things that played into the final choice. You just mentioned LeBron. Does this kind of signal for you that the end might be near or do these two find a way to coexist gracefully for a couple of years? Like how do you see it playing out? Well one hour ago LeBron was named Player of the Week for the 69th time. I don't think the end is near. I think he's got a lot of juice left.

Can he still do it like he did in 2014? Of course not. I think he absolutely can contribute to a competitive team and if anything I think this energizes him because I think Lucas Seeling is higher than Anthony Davis is feeling. He's already proven that. He's proven the most rare thing that you can have in the NBA in my view is a player who can change the balance of power in a playoff series. Who can take a team that is actually maybe not the better team and flip it on its head.

We saw LeBron do that a number of times throughout his career. A number of teams he took to the finals were not the better team in certain series and he would flip the series on its head. Luka has done that. There are two times over in Luka's career where his team entered a series, probably not the better team, that he flipped it and won it, including getting them to the finals

last year against Minnesota, where he just was a killer in that series. And he was a killer in that series against Phoenix a couple years ago, and Phoenix was the 60 win number one overall seed, and they took it, including taking game seven on the opposing court. That is incredibly, incredibly valuable. And so to me, getting a player like that is, and

having a player like that is incredibly worth it. And the balance that you have, it makes it worth it. And so, you know, for years, LeBron was the guy who did that. And now he isn't that player anymore. But they're no longer building around him with the Lakers. The Lakers now have a player to build around, and LeBron can be a supporting piece. And if LeBron's role is to be a high-level supporting piece, he can still play that role in a very high level.

So, you know, we'll see what he says about him when he goes on the record. We'll see how he said about me goes on the record will play you know what look at men uh... teamed up with kairi irving they struggled the first couple of months together but eventually they have a few got it right uh... i think the bright and still

i think one still has uh... a way to help with them and be a really significant uh... partly with brian winhorst of the league. With Brian Winhorst of ESPN, how significant is this reporting that has indicated LeBron was not included at all, not involved, was not aware of this? How significant is that in terms of the storytelling of this trade? I know that it's hard to believe and I'm not LeBron so I can't say whether it's true or not but from what I understand and what I have been told, that is indeed what happened,

that he did not know, that Luca did not know, that LeBron did not know, that Anthony Davis did not know, that the agents did not know. The Utah Jazz who were a part of the trade found out within the last hour or two what trade they were actually a part of. Now you can say that that's not true and you don't believe it and I can't necessarily with 100% certainty promise you that. But the individual people who were involved told me that they did not know. And yes, that is extremely unusual, extremely rare, and that is part of the reason why this

trade did not leak. And you know, you may say, well, why would they do that with LeBron? Well number one, they didn't want to leak. They had their reasons why they didn't want to leak. And number two, I'm not so sure that's the worst idea not to put it on LeBron's lap because of his connection with Anthony Davis. You don't want to make it necessarily where he's choosing whether Anthony Davis stays

or goes, whether they were going to give him the choice or not. If he had heard and then not did anything, it would have been like he agreed and he said go ahead and do it. So I think it was a strategy and I also think it made some sense even though I know people are not going to believe it Yeah, I mean it's it is pretty incredible considering, you know for the better part of 20 years anything that's happened in the NBA has been About LeBron or it's felt like it's been about LeBron competing with LeBron or teaming up with LeBron and and here he is literally directly involved as a Laker and now as a teammate and

After he put on the performance he did at the Garden in New York and here he is literally directly involved as a laker and now as a teammate after he put on the performance he did at the garden in new york uh... and then this news breaks and from from dallas' perspective their gm you know has been very obviously he's been speaking on it he was somewhat of an awkward press conference with jason kidd up there his kid wasn't aware of it yet kid you know i i guess has to go along with it what else is he going to do as the head coach if they if they win and Kid up there, because Kid wasn't aware of it, yet Kid, I guess, has to go along with it.

What else is he going to do as the head coach? If they win this year, next year, the year after, do you think that's like, obviously that'll justify the trade, or do you think trading Luka is just always going to be connected to Niko and to the Mavs moving forward? Well, infamy is on the table here. You know, Luca plays in the same conference as the Mavericks. And if Luca is regularly pounding the Mavericks heads in, it's going to be a hard thing to live down.

But the Mavericks believe that this team that they've assembled can compete to win the Western Conference this year. And you know, they are going to have great size and they are going to be very good on defense and those are two things that have proven repeatedly over the years to be very valuable in the playoffs. I think there could be another move in there for them as well. They need to sort of bulk up their ball handling now that they've traded Luka. So you know, it is definitely a fascinating thing.

The level of risk here is extraordinarily high. And I got to tell you, like, I don't know where the win-loss metric of this is, but I will tell you that I have a saying that I've developed in 20 years covering the league, which is when you win the championship, it means never saying you're sorry. So if the Mavericks indeed win, then it means never saying you're sorry. But they may in fact need to win if they're ever gonna live down this potential catastrophic moment if it goes very poorly. Ooh, what a deal, man.

What a weekend. I mean, there were other deals over the weekend completely overshadowed. Up here the Raptors are winning, Brian. I know you're aware of that. We're trying to figure out what they're doing here. Are you tanking? I don't think they're going to chase down the play-in, but do you have any ideas, we're a few days away from the trade deadline, what you think Masai

and Bobby Webster could be up to? They're definitely tanking, and they will definitely be losing more. I think we're losing more than they wanted to, and so I think it's a bit of a respite that they've gotten some wins and lifted the mood of everybody, but you know their team is not structured to win and the only The only stuff I've heard about the Raptors is where they would be in as a third team I don't think it's some sort of breaking news that Bruce Brown's Contract is potentially attractive for teams that are looking to for teams that are looking to maybe move off some money.

So I think the Raptors are in one of these situations where they may be receiving calls as the third or fourth team in a deal where they're basically gonna rent out their expiring contracts and flexibility. So I would not expect anything that dramatically affects them on the floor this year i could be done being a facilitator and significant rate

okay will brace for that is the week goes on i know it's been a crazy forty eight hours we appreciate you doing this thank you brian take care of the prime win was to be a spm uh... yes sir kind of fascinating like it, why did they do that? You know, like he said it, like the first decision they made, they're like, we're not paying this guy 350 million. Like, that's what it comes down to. We're just not paying him that kind of money.

Well, when it filters up the chain where it's like, this guy doesn't want to work and he strains his calf. and what is he making right now? Like 50 million, 40 million, whatever it is. And it's like he blows out his calf because he's out of shape and then he's so out of shape he can't come back, he hurt his hand. And the only reason they keep him out is because they want him to get in shape and they're using the hands as an excuse and then he blows out his calf again because he's out of shape

Yeah, like that filters upwards throughout the organization and somebody's got to sign off on the check says 350 no way man. Yeah Well, no way I think there's I think there's a the potential for a reckoning in pro sports But certainly in the NBA where you look at guys like Joel Embiid. Do you think Philly's happy they gave him that money? They must be looking at that sand like, and what it just became a formality. Zion Williamson in New Orleans, Kawhi in LA. Do you think that lunatic out in LA is happy for the return that Kawhi's given him?

It's been a circus. No, Kawhi's given him nothing close to the return. Nothing close. That's just a dead fact. Nothing close to the return on investment from's just a dead fact nothing close to the return on investment now from what they've paid him what what new orleans is paid scion what philly's page well and beat

and it just it always becomes this formality like where you gotta pay him you gotta go i hope they all the continues let's not a sucker do it we're not going to say we're doing it maybe there is a uh... change of the card in the league. When you're paying that amount of money for guys and they're not even professional enough to keep it within the rails, they're eating themselves out of cities, it's ridiculous. To me, they're... You're right.

They don't want to make a long-term commitment to a guy because they're not sure if this guy is going to be available or in shape enough to play well. So crazy. That's it. I mean, Luca, again, like generally speaking, muscle injuries are usually it's you're out of shape or it's a specific like position, you know, the specific positions that for whatever reason it gets, there's things that put you in tough positions, like catchers or goalies, you know, that play a very unique position up down style that kind of stuff but right generally speaking if you just have a calf strain it's like you're not in shape and if

it's costing you six weeks and then other injuries are popping up that's not it's not a good sign especially coming on the NBA finals last year maybe they needed Lindy rough to toughen them up a little bit. Possibly, possibly they needed some of that. I hear what you're saying. But that's why again, great move by Lucas showing up middle of the night with a black tracksuit on black on black on black. Brilliant. Don't look at the cheeks. That's the first impression. Man, he looks good.

He looks shows up at a COVID mask. Man, he looks good. He looks good. He shows up with a COVID mask on. Oh, everything. I'm a little under the weather. I've got a mask on. Oh, okay. That's interesting. This guy hasn't hit the gym in six weeks.

All right. Chris Johnston coming up and we'll play the Associated Press stuff. It was Babyface and Chappell Rhone was the artist right behind him waiting to come in and do the interview. It's so awkward We'll play it. We'll get into it overdrive continues DSN 1050 and on DSN for I sent out brother out into the city with a pair of leave tickets You have to guess where he's hiding for your chance to win them the first clue of Super Bowl week from Al's brother Who's crunching numbers right now in terms of that Super Bowl game. You guys ready to hear from MouseBrother?

Go ahead. Hey Overdrive fans, happy Monday to you. We got a new set of Leafs tickets to give away, this one to the Leafs and Sharks on March 3rd. You got to find out where I'll be hiding at all week long. Here is your Monday clue to get you started. The area that I'm currently in has got some history. It's been in the hub of the heart of the city for over 200 years.

All right. We sent Al's brother out into the city again with a pair of leave tickets, so you got to tune in tomorrow for another Clue. The first caller through on Friday with the correct location wins a pair of tickets to see Leaf Sharks March 3rd as Al's brother just pointed out. Find Al's brother brought to you by McAlpine Ford in Aurora. Our family, the Ford family and you. Full details at TSN1050.ca.

All right, Leafs flames tomorrow. We'll look ahead to that. Try to get you an update on Mitch Marner's status, Oliver Ekman Larson's status. What other trades could happen around the league. We'll get into the JT Miller deal from Friday night and we're chugging towards the NHL trade deadline, the NBA trade deadline, right? The J's are still waiting to see, maybe they're going to move and shake a little bit this week and Super Bowl week as well.

So it's go time, man. We're six days away from Chiefs, Eagles, and Super Bowl 59. Some more on that as we move forward. Overdrive continues, TSN 1050 and on the TSN app.