The Bill Simmons Podcast - Part 2: NBA Trade Team Grades With Rob Mahoney and Wosny Lambre. Plus, Super Bowl LIX Million-Dollar Picks.

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

In Part 2 of our NBA trade deadline special, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre share some lingering thoughts right after the deadline, plus more on the Luka Doncic trade, including two appearances from "Conspiracy Bill." They also talk about who the odd teams out in the Western Conference playoff race will be, grade the teams who made trades, and more (1:52). Finally Bill reveals his Million-Dollar Picks for Super Bowl LIX (1:10:45). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Rob Mahoney and Wosny Lambre Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up, part two of the big NBA trade deadline extravaganza next. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. You know, Amazon Prime is not just a shipping subscription, right? Amazon Prime isn't just one thing, but a collection of excellent services. Amazon Prime offers a range of services, including Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Prime Fast Free Shipping. They also have great shows, great movies. Here's my favorite Amazon Prime thing. Ready? So we do the rewatchables, right?

And I always like to know who the actor is. They have this really cool thing when you watch a movie called X-Ray. You can click on it as you're watching the movie and the cast will pop up. And you can see who all the actors are. And it sounds dumb, but when you host a movie podcast, it's like the greatest thing ever. Anytime I rent or buy a movie, I buy it on Amazon Prime. That's true, I swear.

On Prime, whatever you're into, or just getting into Prime service can help you get closer to it. Or discover something else to get into. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Visit amazon.ca slash prime to get more out of whatever you're into. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network.

Put up a before sunrise rewatchables on Monday. You can watch it on our Ringer Movies YouTube channel. You can also watch me and Sean and Chris doing a trailer reaction to Jurassic Park Money Grab, the new Jurassic Park movie. I think that's the title. If you missed it, part one of the Trade Deadline podcast, which we did live on YouTube, which you can follow if you subscribe.

Bill Simmons is the YouTube channel. Me, Rob Mahoney, Big Waz. We covered all the angles from the week. And then this is going to be part two, which we basically started recording right as the trade deadline ended at 3 PM ET on Thursday. That is the first part of this podcast. First part of this podcast. That's the first part of this podcast.

And then after that, I'm going to be doing million dollar picks for a little game they call the Super Bowl. We did not do a lot of football this week, but football was all over the place on the Ringer.com, on the Ringer podcast network, we had the Ringer Gaming Show, Ringer NFL, Rosilla did some stuff. The Ringer Philly special was great.

So if you want football stuff, I would steer you to the pieces in the podcasts we did, and sometimes it's just one of those weeks. I really wanted to do a podcast on Tuesday night. I thought Durant was getting traded to Golden State, so I paused it and then the window passed and we ended up doing a two parter for today. This is part two.

First, our friends from ProJet. Okay. So it's part two right now officially is 1201 PT. And we're going to talk a lot about the Lakers down the road once we know all the trades. The big thing we're waiting up, there's been another trade. Shom says, Indiana trading James Wiseman in cash to the Toronto Raptors. He can't walk. He blew out his Achilles. So that's our first one. Yeah. But we're on Grizzlies watch now because they're clearly up to something.

They're dumping salary and creating cap room for some reason. And roster spots, it feels like. Is it Cam Johnson maybe? I mean, they've been linked to Cam Johnson for sure. He makes a lot of sense for them. What are your Cam Johnson? What's your Cam Johnson feelings? Very much like him as a player.

I think he has been now appropriately placed. Now that we've had the Luca craziness, we've had De'Aaron Fox, we've had Jimmy Butler, everything has cooled down. Cam Johnson is a really good player who could help a bunch of different teams, including the Memphis Grizzlies. And now that is the context in which he lives.

Yeah, he's not the kind of guy that you just stick him on a great wing and think, oh, it's going to be fine. He's not. The D part of the three and D is, I think we finally like let it go. He's a good, he shoots the hell out of the ball. Um, variety of ways to get a shot off, which I think is going to be important for Memphis and he's respectable on defense. Like that's, I like that we're putting them in the Grizzlies now.

This is fun. Yeah. I think Memphis is going to help them with shooting. If no, no, no, but this is the kind of thing where I don't know to what extent these conversations could be linked but if the Bucs could have gotten it on Camp Johnson instead of Kyle Kuzma like that that's the kind of fit it honestly might be. Too high. Well I mean. Brooklyn just doesn't trade anymore. Kuzma's been kicking ass this year. You guys are gonna ruin the day! You laughed about the Kyle Kuzma deal. I mean when you can get a minus 59 plus minus in one game you've really

accomplished something. I have a quick next take before we find out the rest of the trades. Do they really need to do anything else? I kind of like Cam Johnson I kind of like Nick Claxton. They're gonna suck anyway. They're gonna be a bottom 10 team which is their goal. And why not just keep those guys and keep them as assets for the summer? I'd rather do that. I don't think there's a tremendous amount of urgency.

I think they do have the option to play out some things. There are a couple of guys, like Camp Thomas is sort of the one that comes to mind. Do you really wanna be paying free agent Camp Thomas? Probably not. But, you know, he's also a tougher sell for a lot of different teams in the first place. He has his own injury concerns that winning teams that are trying to contend right now might not want to take a flyer on something like that. So the guys that I look at for Brooklyn are more like,

oh, is there not a way you can flip D-Low again? Is there not a market for Camp Thomas? How do you really feel about Dayron Sharp? Flip D-Low again. I mean, D-Low and Schroeder just trading them for each other. Dilo again, is there not a market for Camp Thomas? How do you really feel about Dayron Sharp? I mean, why not? Dilo and Schroeder just trading them for each other. Waz, I didn't want to bring this up because I don't want to spoil the mood because we're having a good time.

I know Ben Simmons being traded on trade deadline as an expiring contract was a dream for you. And it feels like the dream is dying right now. What would have been your dream Ben Simmons team? The dream Ben Simmons team. To the team that gets him and is like I don't know, we'll see what he has. Maybe he could be an asset.

Who are those teams? It's gotta be like a Charlotte. It's gotta be a Portland. It's gotta be a team that's like going absolutely nowhere fast. A Portland, you can't break up Portland right now, they're on fire. You know, uh, what, like who is the team that says, Ben Simmons, let's take a flyer on this? I was thinking with Charlotte just losing their mind, he would have been like a fun Lamelo ball kind of combo. I mean, they got time to kill at this point.

They got so much fun. Can I share something kind of funny with you guys? After all of these moves, the Wizards are now officially over the first apron. I mean when you have a chance to really pay out the nose for a roster, that is technically true at the moment. Just because they wanted to acquire a hundred second round picks? Took on a bunch of picks, took on a bunch of money. Congratulations to the Wizards for winning the first apron championship. And if you're over the first apron, what does that do exactly?

For them, basically nothing at the moment. It just kind of limits the ways in which you can acquire players. And I think by the time that the summer rolls over, enough of that money will come off that it won't prevent them from getting somebody in a side and trade or something like that. Apparently, Sean said on TV that they are not moving Kevin Durant the Sunset. Okay. I wonder if they were ever really interested in moving Kevin Durant. And I wonder if anyone in Ishbiya's conference room was like, we're going to trade Kevin

Durant and get Jimmy Butler back? What are we doing? No, I don't think that was ever... Why are we doing that? That seemed like a pipe dream for the heat. If he gave that, it would never be connected. I think that was the Golden State trade though. That was their attempt, was to make it a three-way deal.

But I think if he wanted to go to Golden State I think that trade was probably happening in some form and it was the Phoenix was getting Butler and some Maybe it may be a the protected pick from Golden State or whatever else But if you are Phoenix's part of that, that's what we're saying Like the Beal for Butler conversation makes sense the Durant trait lose Kevin Durant and replace him with Jimmy Butler That's what I'm saying. I think they were going to do it though. Which if I was a Suns fan, I would just be alarmed.

I think they should be alarmed for many reasons. Yeah. You know, Rob, that's a great point. The Suns fans, the alarms are going off either way. We do not have the Knicks are not making a trade. So all right. So let's start the Lakers part of this conversation. And then if anything else happens,

we'll just audible and stop and keep going. So the Lakers trade connect. I don't know if he's going to get a 30 for 30 for his 50 Laker games or what's going to happen, but it was a roller coaster ride. He seemed like the steel of the draft. I think I have a podcast somewhere where I was shitting on Miami for taking wear over connect.

Probably somewhere in my archives. Let's just delete that. But so they turn connect cam Reddish, who I think is just 24 years old for the next 10 years. I don't know if he ages and then a 2031 first in a swap and they bring Mark Williams back the swap whatever though is Charlotte ever gonna have Yeah, come on and then The 2031 first for a team that is almost definitely gonna have Luke a Donchich on it

Maybe probably probably 31 years old probably Not doing backflips about that. Why would they trade Mark Williams, a young center who has really played well the last six weeks, is this offer like just too good to refuse? What was it? I really like Mark Williams, the basketball player. Mark Williams, the injury risk scares the hell out of me. You mean the 85 career games in three years?

He has played less than 40% of his games in three years. And he's had like three ankle things, he's had a back thing, broke his thumb, not his heart. The back thing was probably the most concerning. Then they said he had some sort of foot issue that they feel good about. So that's the risk. It's one of these things where I get why

Charlotte would look at this offer and say, you know what, maybe we just get out of the Mark Williams business. We like him, we like what he's brought, we like his potential, but ultimately, maybe he's just too risky, and between connecting the pick and the swap, that's enough value.

And I also honestly do get it from the Lakers. You know, they're not gonna have many chances to take swings on players this young and this promising. Cheap contract, like five, six million. Cheap contract, but it's gonna come up sooner than you think because he's already been You know, they're not going to have many chances to take swings on players this young and this promising. Cheap contract, like five, six million. Cheap contract. But it's going to come up sooner than you think because he's already been in the league and hurt for so long.

And he's going to be just a hell of a lob target for Luka Donce. It's just an incredible finisher. Already a pretty good rebounder. Really needs to figure it out defensively. But as far as a team that can grow and build around Luka, that's a great place to start. So we know this because we're on the West Coast. The East Coast teams that start playing at four o'clock in the afternoon here, and you're like, oh, basketball's on, and then it's like Pistons Hornets.

It's like, wizards hornets. Literally the games. And for whatever reason, most of the bad teams this year in the East, and those are the teams playing at four o'clock. So there's some people probably talking out of their ass about Mark Williams, but I think we've all probably watched him. And I've definitely watched the Hornets recently and noticed how good Mark Williams was.

And then there was a Denver game, Jokic got all his stats, but Mark Williams was also getting stats. And I liked him coming out of college. Yeah. I think one of the reasons they traded Nick Richards was they felt like he was ready to be a guy and he was a guy and he was like, lob guy, who knows what the defense he's been on bad teams. We have no idea.

It's true. Lob guy gets 2012 basically every night and is exactly the kind of guy the Lakers needed. I thought it was a good trade. Yeah. They gave up aakers needed. I thought it was a good trade. They gave up a lot, but I liked it. I'm a little bit more Luke warm on it just because I think the price was high in terms of that 20 31. Everybody's like looking at that as the one. And that is kind of their one shot was like I guess they still have Austin Reeves.

They could move Reeves at some point, but connect and the pick. And I guess to some extent the swap or their primary. Yes. So I think that was pretty high. And I think with Luca building around him, I think he should be thinking defense first. And Mark Williams is an offense first player. We get it. He's a huge guy.

Like, he's like in the Rudy Gobert category in terms of like length and size and all of that stuff. But he has never shown to be like a great defensive kind of guy in his limited. You know why he's never shown it because he's played 85 games. It all makes sense. And that's the thing. Like maybe he's going to turn into this defensive monster, this rim protecting beast that he hasn't shown yet because he does have the tools.

He's not very mobile. But I just think with Luca, you should be thinking defense first, and offense, like with Luca, like you just don't have to be that great in order to make it work around everything that he does. And so that's the only... He's like seven feet, 250.

Yeah. And a crazy athlete. Like really, really athletic. And most importantly, he is not Jackson Hayes. So huge upgrade right out of the gate. As you guys know, it's... I have to always do a disclaimer. I hate the Lakers and I don't want them to succeed. I saw this trade.

I thought they gave up a lot for a guy who we don't even has not even played 100 career games yet. But deep down, I was like, fuck. Mark Williams is good. I thought he's a good player. And I was just the self-expand side of me was like, fuck that guy. So now I think about the Lakers in a series and I really want to talk about this. Yeah.

Size, they're going to, they're going to play with a certain pace with Luke and LeBron. Oh, slow. It's going to be slow, methodical. They're going to be big. And it's the kind of team if I'm okay, see, I'm not pumped about playing a team that's going to be able to try to dictate the pace against us. That's going to throw big bodies all over the place.

And it's like, we're going to take Mark Williams out. Now all of a sudden we have LeBron, Luca and Rui Hachimora as our bigs. Like they're always going to have size and length basically everywhere except the point guard position. But I don't think in the playoffs, the point, like Austin Reeves is a big point or Luca, whoever you want to consider it. And in the playoffs, like Luca just might be the point guard position. But I don't think in the playoffs. Even at the point, like Austin Reeves is a big point, or Luca, whoever you want to consider to be the point guard. And in the playoffs, like Luca just might be the point guard. They might just be Luca, LeBron, two wings, and Mark Williams,

and that's their crunch time lineup. I'd be really scared of this team in the playoffs. The only thing about the Lakers is you got to do have to think about the defense because it's like, is LeBron guarding threes full time? You got Luca as a defender. He doesn't guard one, two, or fives you got Austin Reeves You got Mark Williams like it's not the greatest defensive situation happening there

But like Luca and LeBron figuring out your little postseason defense, that's Scary yeah when you know people People try to zag on the trade like how are those guys gonna play together they both have the ball the time it's like I'm positive they're gonna figure this out I'm not worried Ron and it's like who figure out how to play off who has the smallest guy in them you or me oh you do all right you're gonna have the ball bludgeoning him to death also low-key Luca I thought was a pretty good sport about playing off the ball

more this season in general like it actually started to make some meaningful improvement in that part of his game. LeBron can obviously do it. These are brilliant players. It's not going to be a problem in terms of the offense. And you're right. The thing that we talked about is maybe the most important skill set in basketball is how do you break down half-court defense and can you score one on one against anybody? They have guys who can do that at an incredibly high level. Two of the most brilliant basketball players of this century. They're now together.

They have a team that the worries were we don't have enough size. How are we going to guard people? You know, Vanderbilt. Finney Smith. Yeah, Vanderbilt, Finney Smith. We used to be like, all right, if we're playing some hot wing in a playoff series, do we have somebody that we can at least cover them with? They have that. I don't think they're going to be able to guard point guards at all.

No. So like, you pick a point guard that guy's dusting them. Just pray to God that you don't play a team that wants to spread you out because again, LeBron, Luka getting spread out like covering space. But first two runs in the playoffs, it's like three, four, it really doesn't get to conference finals when it's every other day. And I think they could make the conference finals. Like, I can't believe how things have flipped.

It makes me want to pull one of my kidneys out and whip it against the fucking wall. But they're going to be really hard to play. And if I look at like, okay, see number one, who's number two for playoffs, who has the ability to do this, the Lakers are the first choice Denver's still my first choice But again like you're gonna have to pry Denver out of my cold dying hands, right? So maybe maybe they're to be yeah Lakers Denver to a to be in some Houston is so young the offense It's like you still got to make shots the Grizzlies erasure. No

I think the Grizz are are gonna be really good. Even in a playoff set. They have a lot to prove, as all these teams do, the Lakers included. We need to have the Lakers guard. And I'm telling you, Ja is taking all this time off. He's saving his body for the playoffs. I hope you're right. I hope you're right.

That's where, uh, that's where my train gets off. The Grizzlies? No, with the Ja thing. Oh, okay. Got you. He's just not playing basketball enough. Got you. And it feels like they're beholden to him and the potential of what he can do, but he's just not doing it regularly. And so I think that's probably the team that has the upside ceiling.

Yes, they could. But if I'm just betting, I'm taking Denver and the Lakers are the two. Another Laker thing with this trade, I think they're betting majorly on free agency in 2026. And I looked at it is a black, you can look it up. It's like a bunch of older guys. And the number one prize is Jaren Jackson, which I'm not doing. I'm not doing that.

I'm not putting the Laker Jersey on Jaren Jackson. I'm just saying LeBron might be done. Obviously he's good. He's 50. He grew up a Laker fan. Is it one of those? No, no, no, no. I'm just saying he is the the main target of pretty much every team in the league at this point But I think that's why they did the smart trade though, because I think Memphis is trying to give him a Massive extension by the way, he might be an all NBA guy. Yeah. I think he's in the running. Yeah.

Like he could be of tremendous season, but the rest of the guys in 2026, which I think the Lakers are also banking on that they're going to bring in a major talent in 2026 as well that summer. Yeah. Let's take a, we'll take a quick break for the podcast. With the riding with the chiefs or the Eagles, Fandol has yet another way for you to win big during Super Bowl 59. Fandol has put together two parlays that feature an exclusive profit boost tied to me. Yeah, if you think the Chiefs are going to win in their QB,

you know who he is, he's going to throw for over 225 passing yards. Bet that you get bigger winnings with the boost if it hits. It's over two to one. Or if you think the Eagles are going to win and they're star running back, you know who he is. He's going to have over 100 rushing yards. That's cool. You get a big profit boost on that. Two, I'm going to tell you which one I like when we do million dollar picks

at the end of part two of this podcast. Either way, these parlays are all set to bet. Visit fandel.com slash BS to claim your exclusive profit boost. Fandl.com slash BS. Bet Super Bowl 59 on America's number one sportsbook. Make every moment more with Fandl, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. You must be 21 plus in President-elect states or 18 plus in President DC. Opt-in required bonus issued as non-advertisable profit boost tokens.

Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fandl.com. Gamma problem call 1-800-GAMBA or visit rg-help.com. I'm going to read you the Western conference odds. OKC is plus one Oh five. Who do you think is the number two best odds in the West right now? Probably the Lakers just cause everyone bets on the Lakers. I would think.

What do you have last? I would go Memphis. So Denver is second and second one. Who do you think is number three? I'm assuming it's, I'm just going gonna keep saying the Lakers until they show up Lakers plus 750 so we basically what we said before The gambling public also agrees Grizzlies are fourth Trade and you said yeah, I need it Grizzlies fourth at 11 to 1

Houston I'm sorry Clippers 16 to 1 and this is to win the I'm sorry. Clippers 16-1. And this is to win the West? Win the West. The Clippers are above the Rockets to win the West? 18-1. You know why they're above the Rockets? Because everyone's seen these fucking crunch time Fred Mayne Vleet plays. Nobody can watch them anymore.

How many terrible step back threes can you have in one season? Leave Fred alone. How many? I like Fred. But how is that your offense at the end of the game? It shouldn't be. He's turned out to be quite critical to making them functional, but also quite living. Do they draw those up in the huddle?

I don't think that's the move. I'm thinking Fred step back three again. We're only down two. He's miscast in his role as number one crunch time offense guy. I think he thinks he's the guy on the team though. But often, who is going to create? I'm just spreading the floor for Thompson and just get to the basket somehow. Maybe that's what they get to.

Just get to the basket. He may can't, he's not going to bring himself to be like a men Thompson's now our freaking crunch time. Or Jalen Green, one of those guys spread the floor for one of them. Jalen Green is the one who's stepping up. You lost me at Jalen Green. Look, he's had great moments. I'm just going to the basket over the Fred Bamboo step back. I can't do ithun. You lost me at Jalen Green. Look, he's had great moments. I just hated Jalen Green. I'm just going to the basket over the Fred Bamboo step back.

I can't do it again. I feel that. I feel that. I think Amen right now is thriving in chaos. Anytime the floor is unstable, unbalanced, unsettled, he's so good. Set half-court defense coming out of a timeout. Drive with a guy right in your face. Not quite his game yet.

Houston 18-1, Golden State 20-1. Minnesota 23-1, interesting, because they have a chance to be a top five team. They still haven't traded Julius Rang. I want to say this too, there's a difference, I would say, between the odds to win the West and the odds to also make the conference finals alongside the Thunder.

I don't think Memphis can beat OKC in a way that you can talk yourself into the Lakers. You could talk yourself into Denver. You can see the way their advantage is profiled. The size advantage and the sort of mind advantage of out executing this really young team who's still only ever done the second round last year. You can see Memphis is not going to have the IQ advantage

in any series that they're in. It's just not going to be the case. They're super young and relying on dudes that have never been there. So I haven't done a podcast since Sunday night with Goldsberry and definitely not since the press conference, which I know I think you guys talked about. Didn't you guys think we just?

Yeah. The Nico Harrison press conference? No, the Luca press conference. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, actually, we didn't talk about that. You didn't talk about that? No. No. You talk leather jackets or. Yeah. Yeah. We actually we didn't talk about that You didn't talk about that? No, no

So I leather jackets or what? What do you want? What do you want to go? I've been taught obviously like you guys talking a lot about this Luca trade the last few days and So if you're in the room with Nico Harrison And he he bring first of all Let's live in the facade of the world where nobody knew about this trade except Nico Harrison, the Mavs owner, Jeannie Buss, and Polinka. We'll be in that pretend world where LeBron didn't know and Rich Paul didn't know and Jason Kidd didn't know.

We'll be in that pretend world that didn't actually exist. And you're actually in the room and Nico Harrison is like, getting close, we might do this. Did anyone around him at some point say, don't do this. You're going to trade Luca to the Lakers. All the things that frustrate you about him, all you're doing is putting a giant fucking chip on his shoulder and he's going to turn into Liam Neeson in the second half of Taken and be fucking awesome for the Lakers.

You have to factor that in the trade. You're not trading this guy now who's 280 pounds in December. And, you know, as he's kind of, maybe he's kind of a dick to people. Who knows? Who knows what the reasons are, but just, this is what, this is what would be the result of the trade is this fucking maniac and the Lakers trying to get his vengeance year after year on you and the Mavs don't do this. I don't think anyone said that to him.

and the Mavs. Don't do this." I don't think anyone said that to him. I think the Luka having issues with his body and his conditioning... He's 25. It bothers people who... Jason Kidd, who was a great player himself, been around greatness, hyper competitive guy, has... Yo, talk about calling Luca out. Nobody in the history of Luca's career has done more publicly to call Luca out. I remember him saying, I'm not the savior. I'm not the one who people call the savior of the franchise. Like Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison, who again is a big Kobe guy. And you think about the way Kobe comported himself and took his superstardom so seriously.

Eventually came to comport himself. It didn't start out that way. Yeah, the revisions history was that way. We've just thrown out the entire mid 2000s. But that's the thing though, like he was around Kobe when he was that maniacal person. I think there's just like a boy king factor where it's you just feel like this. We can't get Luca to do these things now Why when we guarantee him 350 million dollars is he gonna do it because he's Luca Dacic

Because he's off to one of the five starts in the first seven years I'm playing devil's advocate here. I could see a bunch of hyper competitive people being like this guy's just the next embed He's never gonna do the requisite things to get his body in check. He's never going to actually be on the floor for us. We get it. He took us to the finals, but he just doesn't care enough about this extra stuff. And so let's get out of this business. I don't agree. That's just, it's such a narrow view of what greatness looks like of the, it basically has to look like Kobe Bryant's, like basically fake work. I disagree.

Look at Steph Curry, look at LeBron, look at Alm Jokic. Look at what he did to get his conditioning and all of his stuff right. Like the best players actually do this. I don't disagree with you, but you could look at Janis's injury history. And that's a guy who takes great care of himself, who puts incredible work on his game, on his body. Some guys get hurt and some guys get hurt for reasons that have nothing really to do with whatever their conditioning is or whatever state their body is in. And honestly, the problem with the Embiid comp, and it's come up a lot,

like this is sort of the primary defense you hear is a Joel Embiid comparison for Luka Donshid. He plays half of the games in his career. Also, Luka at his best is better than Joel Embiida's ever been. 100%. And he has done more in the playoffs than Joel Embiida's ever done. And went to the finals nine months ago. Nine months ago. That's the thing. I also think- Going to the finals is the thing for me. It's like he's put it on, he's put it on the floor. Like that he has it in him to carry a team to the freaking finals. Like, he's 25.

He's 25. He's not the person, human being, slash work out the guy he's gonna be. We've seen people, I know I made a shitload of mistakes in my mid-20s, I'm sure you guys did too, things you would take back. We've seen it with athletes over and over again, including Kobe Bryant, by the way.

Mid-20s aren't, if the talent is there, and the competitiveness is there, which it has been the entire time with this dude. And your only thing is, ah, I wish he was in better shape. Ah, I wish maybe he treated people around here a little bit better. Like those aren't real reasons to trade him. And, uh, and I just think they did him the all time favor. You could see in the press conference, he looked miserable. No, he looks shell shocked.

He looked like he couldn't believe this happened. And I just think maybe it's cause I'm older and I've, I've been down this, this road a few times in sports. Like I just think he's, I would bet anything he's going to be awesome in the Lakers. I just think this is the kind of thing sometimes guys need. It's like the cattle pride. And that's it. And again their bet, the Mavericks have effectively bet not just by trading away Luca but by bringing back a Lakers pick as the primary future return of the deal that this will not work. Or that he's gonna leave. Or that he's gonna leave. I

think both of those things are bad bets. And to put yourself in Luca's shoes. Oh no. Oh boy. Oh my God. Conspiracy bills back. It's almost like they think he's headed somewhere in the summer of 2026. And that's why they wanted that 2029 first. But also both they and Luca have said. It's almost like they know something. Nico Harrison is now on the record as saying there was no indication

that Luca from him or any of his representatives would not have taken the Supermax. He's still but he's kind of talked out of both sides of his mouth on the Supermax. Luca also basically laughed at the question when it was presented to him of did you ever say that you were not gonna take the Supermax? Like why would he turn down over a hundred million dollars to continue playing for the team that he just took to the NBA finals? A couple guys have done it. Cause he likes Florida?

Maybe. AD did it in New Orleans. AD asked for his trade before he could sign his big super max in New Orleans. Kawhi did it to San Antonio. So there are guys who have done it before. There's no indication that Luca was headed down that path. This is the thing. We have no evidence. We have so little evidence or justification for this trade.

You have to invent reasons why it could be valid. Our memories are kind of short, too, because remember before the Gaffer deal, the P.J. Washington deal, that was like a big part of the chatter around Luka. Dallas needs to do something right now to prove the Luka D'Angelo that he needs to stay here. So it wasn't that long ago. But that's like the lazy NBA discourse. They've got to blah blah blah. I think it was people that were plugged in with like, they need to prove they just got that they're building a winner. That was a big part of the combo.

Is it possible Luka's just not from this country and sometimes a organization of mostly American people that couldn't really get a handle on a guy from Slovenia? Like does it seem like Denver has a handle on Jokic? I mean, Nicole Jokic could retire this summer and I wouldn't be surprised by it. Yeah, if you talk to anybody who is either remotely associated with the Nuggets, they're like that guy could fucking retire in two months and none of us would be shocked. So and his jersey would go up in the rafters and still be one of the greatest players of all time like we're doing the two like no I get I'm not saying but like but I'm saying obviously different but there was a disconnect with the organization and their best player and it's come out ever

since and they had no problem yeah especially when they realized how unpopular the trade was they had no problem. Yeah. Especially when they realized how unpopular the trade was. They had no problem leaking stuff out left and right, including stuff. I'm not going to say in the pod, but the, uh, the, the, the fact that they kept this trade secret because they knew their fans were going to be so upset about it. That the moment it leaked, there was going to be such a reaction against it that the owners would have backed out. Should tell you you're making the wrong trade.

Probably should. That's all I need to know. It's like, hey, we have to keep this between us. It can't get out. Why can't it get out? What would be the bad thing about it getting out? Because then more teams would offer stuff for Luke and Donchich. No, it can't get out because you don't want the Mavs fan base to have a riot outside the

arena. It is a thing. Again, I personally would have signed the guy, then tried to move him. If I hated his professional work habits so much, that's what I think they should have did. However, if you are of the mind, you put together a team that went to the finals last year, you have a guy who cannot play, and you think if you bring in an all NBA level player that you are going to continue to be a championship worthy type of squad. I don't agree, but I don't think it's the craziest thing that you could say. Putting it is a little bit if you put the ages of those players into the conversation. If you're prioritizing this year, looping Luke

Luca and his agent and everybody in does not help you. They start telling teams, no, don't do it. No, it's like the Anthony Davis, New Orleans. It actually does start to handy for the amount of team you can go about moving. So if you, if you're going on Nico Harrison's idea of what, how good Dallas could be this year, it actually makes sense. I just think he's wrong. I think he's going to be in is with David Khan in like two years. That's what it was headed for him.

What gets me about this is you don't trade Luka Doncic period. That's a failure. The decision to trade him because you don't like what basically are these puffs of smoke about his work habits and his conditioning, not real actual basketball. Well, and then also in the finals last year when Winnhorst had the ran after these puffs of smoke about his work habits and his conditioning, not real actual basketball factors. Well, and then also in the finals last year when Winnhorst had the ran after game three because Luca acted immaturely and caused those against.

That absolutely happens. The real thing that's a part of his game. I still would not trade him for any of those reasons. If you did decide to trade him, keeping it secret, not lobbying offers, and I hear you that for this season that would be complicated. So play out this season, a season in which Luka Doncic is going to be a better basketball player than Anthony Davis, provided that he's healthy and back on the court. Play it out. And then once you get him under contract for the Supermax, ask for offers.

But then that becomes another thing. You can't bring Luka Doncic back after you put him on the trademark. If your assumption is that he wants to leave, then it's all part of the same process. It's a scare. It's a scare tactic Can we bring back in conspiracy building? Yes, do it one more time So it's getting a workout today So the Mavs this Cuban sells the team which was fishy to begin with he was always like I'm Mavs owner for life Then all of a sudden he's like, yeah, I'm selling. Sells it to this Vegas group that has gambling ties,

all this stuff, the league greenlights it. Did the league say, this is why conspiracy bill is, sometimes he's on crack. Did the league say, we'll greenlight the team, but you gotta trade Luca to the Lakers in two years. So that's... This is coming from a place of deep hurt, I can tell. Because here's Bill also wearing green.

This is Q-None. Q-None Bill is here. That is another part of this that's like, Mav's ownership group is completely out to lunch on this. Or are they? Or are they having lunch? How do you put your stamp of approval on this. Or are they? Or are they having lunch? How do you put your stamp of approval on this? Or are they hoping they just swap teams

with the Vegas expansion in a couple years and get the F out of Dallas? I mean Vegas in terms of a market is not even close to Dallas. Not even comparable market sizes. No. Planet, like Vegas need to be compared themselves to Memphis.

It's funny that this trade happened five days ago and we're still struggling to understand a reason. We're at the level of looking at the Texas state legislative calendar to figure out when betting could become legal. You realize what's going to happen. Like five days from now, seven days from now, Luca's going to have like 59 points in a game. And people are going gonna be like, what just happened?

How did we allow this trade? We're gonna move into that. Have you seen the Anthony Edwards sound? Where he's just like, guys, he kicked our asses to get to the finals. This guy is a stone cold killer. Yeah. That's Anthony Edwards.

I want to trade block. If this guy can be traded. Like, bro, please don't trade me if you can trade Luca dodge it So his next games he's so if he comes back Saturday, that's being a minute I believe he's expected to come back Saturday this one but figure so rest of the schedule is Indiana, Utah at Utah Home Charlotte February 19th that has 70 written all over it at Portland at Denver home Dallas. Oh my God home Dallas.

I think they have two games left. So February 25th Dallas and then Minnesota Quippers. He's going to have like 59 in one of those. There's going to be a game when we just all lose our minds that this happened. By the way, he had a tough start to the season for Luca standards Yeah, felt like he wasn't you know didn't come to camp and you know a lot of two guys best shape of my life Didn't have body fat we didn't hear any Look at coming into kid, but the tough start is 28 8 and 8 yeah, that's a tough start for Luca Don't you know that's

Nine in the conference finals last year. What are we doing? What are we doing? That's right, he just got to the Lakers. Oh, god. My dad called me the next, because he was asleep and the trade happened. My dad was terrified. Was he miserable?

He was terrified of Luka in the finals, and he hates the Lakers more than I do. And he just, he said he got all these texts And he woke up the next day and thought Thought we made a trade the Celtics and then saw that was a trade. He was like I like I don't Like how did they not stop this like? Yeah, now we have to deal with Luca who's gonna be pissed off and humbled and Big picture I Don't want to see them in a playoff series if I'm anyone in the West. No. And that has changed dramatically.

And we would not have said that about the Lakers. No. Three weeks ago, that Knicks game when LeBron was starting to look better. Yeah. I was like, oh, when Davis comes back, this team's interesting. I could see them maybe winning a round and throwing some punches in round two. And now this is the team that LeBron James at age 40 now has a chance to make the finals again. Well, it's a classic like Anthony Davis raises your floor. Luca Doncic raises the fuck out of your ceiling. Yeah. He knocks out the ceiling. Completely. And you, you have no idea

what to expect. And Denver OKC are the only two teams you can credibly say Luca won't be the best player in the series. Head and shoulders, by the way. And then, you know, he's got LeBron backing them up. Pretty good. Pretty, pretty good. And you go through the rest of the West. I like this Clippers team, but, uh, the fact that they went backwards, I don't harden in a playoff series. I don't see it. Minnesota mess, Phoenix, no way.

Dallas has a possible wild card and Golden State as a possible wild card. And that's really it. Unless Wimby just does something absolutely all time insane. It would be shocking. It's not shocking if the Swirrues make the playoffs. If they advance, it would be pretty surprising. That would be a huge mega upset. They have so many young guys they need to learn a lot.

Like the Warriors are a team that I could envision making it through to the second round. Not a run-run, but keeping competitive, scaring somebody a little bit. That could be a thing. I just think Jimmy Butler was something to prove is something I want to bet on. Quentin Post. Was. Quentin Post. Show us, Saudi. Was, can you walk us through the Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green text messages?

A lot of profanity. What Draymond does sends the first text, right? Definitely. Draymond sends the first text. Like a let's get it exclamation point. It's more like we're going to rip people's faces off, chew them up, spit them out, kill them. They're a bunch of P words. These guys have nothing on us.

It's about time we got together. words. These guys have nothing on us. It's about time we got together. Like we're talking about two of the ultimate like confidence maniacs that have ever existed in the NBA. They, I think we're together in the 2016 Olympics. I think they're good. I'm not worried. Like I see a lot of chatter about, Oh my god, these two big personalities. They're gonna feed off of each other. The people Jimmy Butler doesn't like are not the Draymond Green types. They're the people that he sees as like timid or unreliable. And like Draymond shows up. It's the Andrew Wiggins types.

The young Andrew Wiggins. Yes. Pre-Warriors Revolution Andrew Wiggins. Yeah, he's like... I think it'll be fine. I would say Draymond's short term probably a bigger risk to everything than Butler. Because I think Butler will be in his best behavior for the season at the very least. And he'll probably come to go on state.

Maybe he'll launch a podcast with the Ringer. Oh yeah. Invest in AI. Bring him in. Move some coffee. He's got stuff to do. Maybe invest in Draymond Green's restaurant. We could get his agent on a podcast.

Bernie! That guy's got a lot to say. Keyless character of the year. So if you had wild card teams and I gave you Golden State and I gave you Dallas, for one of those two teams will be in the Western finals. Which one would you pick? Golden State. I would take Golden State.

Over Dallas. Golden State. So you just think the stink of this trade is will be in the Western finals. Which one would you pick? Golden State. I would take Golden State. Over Dallas. Golden State. So you just think the stink of this trade is going to submarine Dallas this season. Jimmy Butler and Steph's playoff pedigree and level that these guys have gotten to, even if they don't get to what they've been, anywhere in that neighborhood is just... Enough. I think the part that...

I mean, Nico Harrison, there are many parts he missed with the trade. I don't think he realized what a distraction slash disaster slash running, running story this was going to be, especially if Lucas starts playing well for the Wakers. Oh yeah. It's going to single-handedly submarine their season, I think. It's going to follow him and the team for the rest of his career as a general manager, I would think. We'll see what it ends up doing to the Mavs.

My concern is not just, oh, you gave away Luka Doncic. It's really hard to make long playoff runs when you basically have no plus level passers on your roster. And if you look at what the Mavs lineup is going to be now, AD at the four, either Lively or Gafford at the five, Kyrie is now your primary and basically only creator, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington. How are you breaking people down beyond Kyrie just going uncle primary and basically only creator. Clay Thompson, PJ Washington. How are you breaking people down

beyond Kyrie just going uncle Drew one on one? That's one of the funniest things about the trade is that they built this whole roster around Luka. All these dudes that were meant to fit with him and then they trade Luka. And like even those lineups where you're benching both Lively and Gafford and you're playing AD at his most optimal position,

it's still Kyrie making that pick and roll happen. And that's just not. And Kyrie, we know, and I think Kyrie's been really good the last couple years, but I also think you can, like the Celtics, the big thing when Luca fell down in game three and it was like, all right, Kyrie, take us home. The Celtics shut him down.

And you can shut him down with, with wings and size. And if you know, he's getting the ball, it's not the same Kyrie from five, six years ago. Davis, you know, Davis can be overpowering. Maybe he'll have a chip on his shoulder. I don't know. Depending on the matchup, like there's matchups that he overwhelms where like he can be that one-on-one guy, but for, you know, for the most part, it's not going to happen. Bill, I'm going to pick my four's still very upset about the Muka trade.

Yeah, I don't know if it's because I'm older and I just know how it's going to play out because I've seen it, but it was similar to when Shaq got traded to Miami and it was like, Shaq's out of shape, Shaq's fat. And it's like, cool, he's not going to be fat anymore because you pissed him off. And then he went to Miami and he had two awesome years for them. If I had to go four West teams that I don't think are going to make it, San Antonio, Sacramento.

Those are my odd men out. Phoenix. Dallas, because I think that the karma and all that shit from the trade. Those would be my four. If Kyrie goes down, it's toast. And he has a bulging disc in his back at this moment. It's toast. PJ Washington is going to be creating offense.

You know, like Spencer Dinwiddie. It's cool. Spencer Dinwiddie, who's been a nice backup this year by the way. But he got signed for a minimum contract for a reason. Like I like Spencer Diddy. Diddy. Spencer Dinwiddie. But I just, I can't see.

You're going to have to edit that out of the pod. He accidentally said Diddy. I'm not even sure we're allowed to say that on a podcast. I think the Clippers might slide out. I say that with all due respect. All due respect to the season they've had. I just think they could be a candidate for this. They're overachieving like hell. Yeah.

I think they probably will end up as a play-in team, but maybe get bounced out of that. And they haven't had one part of the season where they've had like lose five out of seven or like they haven't done that. They just been consistently solid all year. They do. Philadelphia before we go. Just seemed like they're shedding salary maybe to pay Yabu in the in the summer as they should. Most popular sixer. One of their best players. Going to make the play-in. Are they? Yes! Was, how did you feel about Embiid missing the Boston and Denver games, but being ready

for Dallas and Danu Gafford and Naluka? That's not really like him. He's always like for the big regular season match. Did that jump out at you? Did you jump out at me or no? I'm ready for that. The Dallas game is ready. Look man, I feel very privileged to be at the table with two to bonafide and be skeptics for a long, long time.

Just play basketball. So what are my rules? If you're a basketball player, play basketball. I gotta give it up to my god, Ben Golliver. He was actually the first person to point this out to me. He's like, oh, nobody like it's never his fault. It's, it's, it's Tobias Harris. It's, it's Ben Simmons. It's, it's, it's Tobias Harris, it's Ben Simmons, it's Brett Brown, it's Sam Henke, it's always somebody else's fault. And now everybody's like, hey. The bill has come due. Yeah. But no, the Bulls are, the Bulls are in the 10th seed and they're one game above the sixes right now. They're done.

Yeah, that's fair. The Bull season is finished. You don't think, you don't think Pat Williams is going to save these guys? I don't think Pat Williams is coming to the rescue. Counter? Hannah Hawks are... Counter? What was that?

I like Bud Zelas. Well sure. But do you like him as a player who's going to cement a playing birthmove? I wonder if they can patch together a lot of Levine stats with the guys they have. If Lonzo can play more minutes, Budzelos can be pretty good. They kept Vucovic. They did. I think it's just a Kobe white just Kobe white get more. Like I, I do feel like they can patch together 24 points a game from other

people. I think the Bulls are done and I don't think they want to be, you know, well they want to be in the bottom 10, right? That's one of the things that has the incentive, but you know, they got their pick back. They did get their pick back. They got their pick back. Nothing sweeter. Well, I mean, so Philly beat- If you love something, let it go.

But it comes back. Yeah. Philly, Philly beats Dallas and beat looks good. Doesn't play the next night against Miami and They end up losing to Miami by seven how Paul George didn't play either. Oh, no He played 32 minutes and had nine points and one rebound and two assists You fucking better He's in the running for number one pick Newly minted to not even didn't take any time to age into milk.

You know, just. He's, there should be a Twitter account, Twitter account that just says, that the name of the account is, I don't understand why you're not playing tonight. And it could just be like John Rant's not playing because, you know, his heel hurts. Paul George knee rest maintenance.

Like these excuses these dudes have, the Paul George thing's really rough. They did get Quentin Grimes. As far as trading Caleb Martin for Quentin Grimes, a better younger player, why not? Yeah, I didn't understand that trade from a Dallas aside. That's when I started getting scared from Nico Harris. Well, Jason Kidd hasn't trusted Grimes all year.

At least that's the way it appears. What do you think that is though? Is it the defense? I don't know, cheap score. But he can guard. He can guard, he can play year. At least that's the way it appears. What do you think that is though? Is it the defense? I don't know. But he can guard. He can guard. He can play. I thought he's off the dribble game.

Yeah, I like Quinton Grimes. I never really got why he wasn't more of a fixture in the rotation of Dallas. I'm pretty sure I fell in love with Quinton Grimes the same summer league I thought Matt McClellan could stick on a team. That dream is still alive. Osceola magic stand up. Was how you feeling with all the Lakers movement is is there a spot for

Brownie now in the 10 man rotation or now? Still got to pay his dues in the G League. Probably won't be on the playoff roster. OK, but it's early. Is he signed a four year deal, Bill.

So. It's a marathon, not a sprint. It's a marathon, not a sprint with the great Bronnie James. Any last things before we go, Rob? I just can't believe we're still here with the Suns. I can't believe they didn't like they move Yusuf Nurkic, all that spinning of their wheels and we're just going to have to watch them like try to get better by doing what exactly? I don't know. Ryan.

He's having KD more regularly. I mean, he's been pretty healthy. Like, I know he's out with the ankle thing right now, but like had pretty good health by Kevin Durant, modern standards. I guess you're just banking on some members of your rotation to play better, to somehow guard better. I just, I'm very disappointed by where Phoenix season has ended up at this point. Well, I mean, it could be worse. They could have given away Mikhail Bridges and Cam Johnson, seven first round picks. They could have. I still I'll never get over them just throwing Cam Johnson in that trade on top of everything else they were giving up. And then Ishby was we got to get him.

All right, fine. Throw in throwing cam Johnson like that part was nuts He was thirsty man. He had that new owner thirst. Yeah that look it's great It's the opposite of the look the new owners of the Mavericks have To be antagonized a fan by his Never seen anything like it. Yeah, you know a few maps fans are off. They're devastated Look if there's I've never seen a fan base this inconsolable. And I get it. I completely get it. Also, if you know anything about their new owner, she's like...

got her hands in things... She's got her hands, yeah. There's a lot of involvement. ...that are big more than basketball. She's a busy woman. As far as the fan base part of it goes, I thought Josh Bo of Mavs Moneyball made a point that I thought was really well stated, which is that part of what makes this really hard if you're a Mavs fan, is that you, for this trade to be successful for of Mavs Moneyball made a point that I thought was really well stated, which is that part of what makes this really hard if you're a Mavs fan is that you, for this trade to be successful for the Mavs, you basically have to root again. Like, Luka has to fail for this to be a Maverick success.

And this is the guy they've invested so much time, so much attention, so much like fan adoration in. And now you have to actively root against that guy if you want the Mavericks to be good again. I just don't get it. I just don't get it. I just don't understand it. You and us and the rest of the NBA. I just don't get it. And the sad thing is, at least for me, who loves the Celtics,

I think he's going to be awesome on the Lakers. I think the fans are going to love him. Oh my god. There's always been a weird LeBron thing because he followed Kobe because he wasn't a Laker. No baggage for Luca. It's zero. It's like, I had a couple people say to me that it was like their version of like when JFK got shot like here in the news. Damn. Like don't remember.

Okay. I mean in a good way. Damn. No, no. in a good way. Where they'll always remember where they were. I was at dinner and I got a text. It's like one of those trades that you always remember for the rest of your life.

There are other points in history we could refer to. What's a positive one? Other than JFK getting shot. For me, it evoked a decision. For me. Yes. I'm going to remember exactly what I... But we knew the decision was coming. Yeah, and we knew Miami was possible

Yeah, I just remember looking at the TV and being like LeBron is on the Miami Heat. This is with D Wade and Chris Bosh. Yeah, brought to you by Vitamin Water. Yeah, normally Normally when you're Jim Gray, normally when you remember where you were It's usually because something terrible happened or something completely insane happened. Like I remember where I watched the second Holyfield-Tyson fight. You know, it was like, this is insane, I'll always remember this.

But the Luca out of nowhere just hanging out on the couch with my wife about to start a movie on a Saturday night, and then just trying to decipher what was real for 10 minutes? Like for 10 minutes, like for 10 minutes, trying to and shops having to reassure people that the trade happened. I'm telling the truth. There's never going to be another moment like that.

Because we had some other weird shit in the NBA this last decade. Like we had that, a really fun one was the Deandre Jordan to the Mavericks and then he wasn't going to go to the Mavericks. The hostage crisis. Yes. The Anthony Davis, not Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard. Yes. Lakers, Clippers.

Lakers or Clippers. And then on that Friday night, all of a sudden, it was Paul George too. But never without warning. Yeah. And I think, like I was saying, people are making lists about, was this the craziest sports trade ever? I'm not going to compare this to the Red Sox trading

Babe Ruth to the Yankees. That's fucking crazy. Sure. But it's certainly, like, since we've all been working together, the craziest thing that's happened. I think it's the craziest trade that's happened since I've had like a column or a podcast, so that's 30 years. Well, it's also the craziest that you can't compare to something like

the Babe Ruth trade for obvious reasons, but also we are so trade pilled now. Yeah, no trade makes like you would just say, Jimmy, well, who cares? I don't need to do an emergency podcast like No trade shocks you like well when a deal goes down It's like oh, we already know the three players who are probably involved for salary reasons. We've worked it out It's been trade machine to death if you're one of the apron teams We basically already know what the deal is gonna be by the time it's made This was a complete shock and an inexplicable move player for player

pick exchanged Done. Yep. It's going to go great. We had some good ones in the 90s and it kind of brought me back. Like I remember being on the phone with House after they traded Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond and he was just disconsolate. Even though Chris Webber was kind of a disaster on the Wizards, but it was still one of those trades where you just knew the upside for us as we might win round one. And the downside is Chris Webber might go to the Kings and be awesome. He's like 25.

And this was like a hundred times worse than that. One of those for me to vaguely remember is the Knicks getting Spreewell because it was his first team after he choked out Jay Carlisio. Yeah. And it was like, wow, New York media was not behind the book. They weren't crazy about it, but like, I just wouldn't be like, damn, they got Spreewell? That's, that's nuts. Um, a couple of questions from the chat before we go.

Someone asks, how is LeBron going to handle not being the most popular guy on his own basketball team, which has never happened before? So not being the most powerful guy. That's a change. He is less relevant. This is the first time he's been less relevant than somebody in his organization ever besides Pat Rodley. That's it.

That's the only other time he's been on a team where there's a guy who's clearly above him in the pecking order in terms of like you can't tell ownership anything like there's nothing you can do about this guy Luca like you you're you're irrelevant in comparison to Luca like it's a Luca you're living in Lucas world or Lebron because of the way his brain works and the skills that he has we'll just figure out an awesome way to be not quite a sidekick but like a One a one B. This is now a united front. Yeah, he'll treat this like a buddy cop movie Which is the way they try to do it the first year with Wade. Yeah, 2011 join

Incredible in 2011 like those guys so good those guys were equal as great players that year Lebron was better than two years before, but that was the last time we've seen at least somebody at the same... Yes. Linked with him. I think it's interesting that it's a teammate that has a lot of the same bad habits Lebron has. Luca not too interested in defense. Lebron uninterested in defense.

He's been interested when he's... No, right now. Age 40. If you're 40 plus, defense is optional. That's one interested in defense. He's been interested when he's... No, right now, at age 40. Both of them can be a little... If you're 40 plus, defense is optional. That's just one of the rules. Both of them can be a little bit, guys, I got it, can you clear out for me

at this stage of their careers? How they navigate that, but I have no doubt that they're gonna navigate it. But I think it's the discrepancy between these things, where I think LeBron is still wildly more popular than Luka Doncic. Luka Doncic is a huge institution to basketball sickos like us. To the outside world, it's not even comparable.

That won't be the case for very long. That is true. So that Luka Jersey is going to move. Someone on the YouTube chat asked for trade grades before we go. Hunter to the Cavs. Cavs, what's the grade? B plus. B. B. B. B.

For the Cavs? Yeah. I think B is fair. I'm going B plus. B, B, B, B. For the Cavs? Yeah. I think B is fair. I'm going B plus. I like Hunter. For the Hawks. B minus. Like, that's a nothing move.

That's a backwards move. I might go C, just because I don't see the urgency of it. Leverian, yeah. Two sec around picks, two swaps. D minus! Hahaha! Butler to Golden State. Golden State I have A minus. That's fair.

A minus. Maybe even a solid A. You have one objective. And it's to make a Steph Curry team as good as you can. And you got a star. When Jimmy's right he's a star. I said it wasn't a Hail Mary, but it was 3 and 13th AJ Brown and double coverage 100% is double coverage Let's hope AJ Brown gets to play or pass interference. We're trying to get some sort of thing to happen for Miami. What he got was Miami this is a plus. Honestly, this is a plus

What were they gonna give for Jimmy? He's all over to be around them I think for the Miami grade you have to factor in the longer saga. He's done. You have to trade him in the off season. Okay, well. Okay, we're factoring that. I think that's part of the deal. Oh, then.

Like they should have traded last summer. Then D. I think it's probably a D. They're handling of the Jimmy situation as a whole? Yeah. Oh, D. F. I want to say it's a D.

You ought to go to summer school. And also they might still be the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference by the end of the year. Like I think both things are true. But the deal is like, as the world exists right now, after Jimmy just tanked his value, after like you literally couldn't bring the guy back. Yep.

OK, but like no, the way they handled, managed the Jimmy situation, the F. Sorry, Pat. A minus for the trade, F minus for the last six months for the F. And F minus for Jimmy, too. Nobody covered themselves in glory. Mark Williams to the Lakers. What do you got, Mooney?

Lakers grade. B minus. Was. B minus for me, as well. I think they kind of jumped the gun on this one. A little bit. For a guy who's very unproven. They clearly identified a player they really like. And I like him too. I just am very spooked by his overall injury.

The level of consistent injury concern with multiple parts of his body is concerning. I'm going B plus. I think LeBron takes him under his wing, introduces him to the Versa Climber and some Pilata shit and all the other stuff LeBron does. But people say this about Christian Wood. We've had that conversation before. I don't mind trading for injured guys from shitty franchises. Although Charlotte seems like they've turned it around a little bit. But this is a guy he he's going from like worst possible franchise you could be on, although they turned around with Charles Lee, at least this year, to now Lakers, big spotlight. But I'm going to be plus just because he really jumped out of the TV the last few weeks.

He's good. He was noticeably impactful on both ends. Even though I'm not positive he knows what he's doing on defense, but he's big, he's got size, he leans on people people if he's around where the rebound is he's getting it like I just think he's a good player. I want to say this too Rob Pelinque is not a good deal maker but the Lakers... No we can't say that anymore because he stole Luka Stancic from... Stop it. He Jedi mind tricked his buddy. Stop it. The Lakers ability to like recognize talent, young people that have some level of talent

and more to give. Yeah, they scouted well. They're pretty good at that. Uh, Charlotte grade? What do you got, Mara? B plus. I'm going to go just straight B. B plus for me.

It's, it's, the only reason it's tough for me is like Charlotte is a team that should be betting on upside given where they are in their cycle. And for them to have gotten their building they've they've been through it I give them that but like Dalton connect is not an upside prospect dog neck is older Not what you know, he's like two three years older. I think he's like almost 25. Yeah, he's He's a senior citizen rookie. I'm going uh I really wanted to do a D minus but I'm gonna go C minus because I think Mark Williams was hurting their plan to get Cooper flag at all costs when he's putting up 25 and 16 uncertain nights. Too good to be a hornet. Gotta get Yousef Nurkic in there. But you make the key point like if

you're a young up- coming team, you kind of want the 22 year old guy who's two years away from being a freight agent, who's putting up huge stats. Like you can afford to see if he can get healthy if you're the Hornets. Even more so than the Lakers can, frankly. My fear with the Lakers, if I'm them, is like, why is Charlotte trading this guy? It's like, hey, you want to buy my car? Yeah.

No, it's going, it's running great. Do you see? We just took her, here's some pictures of the road trip we just went on. Car's doing good. Next trade. Brandon Enger up to Toronto. I'm going to start. And for Toronto, it's a D. D. D minus.

D. I don't have any understanding of why this deal is happening. Messiah flew too close to the sun with the title. Dude. He hasn't been the same since. For New Orleans? deal is happening. Messiah flew too close to the Sun with the title. Dude. He's been the same since. For New Orleans? They got a New Orleans, if you told me a week ago, the Pelicans got a first round pick for Brandon Ingram. I'm giving him a standing ovation. That's like a B plus from me. Is Bruce Brown a bio guy and could he be a Denver Nugget?

Now we're talking. Now we're cooking. Ooh. I like Bruce Brown. I like Bruce Brown too. He started putting together a little bit. Kelly Olynyk too, a player who I kind of thought might get rerouted by the actual deadline. Yeah. Also could be a buyout candidate, but they need bigs there. So maybe not.

Bruce Brown, like athletic feature a month from now, headline money is and everything about Bruce Brown's tough last two years after winning the title but it was it worth it if he gets the money and still gets to go back yeah there you go you get you can have it all Middleton Kuzma I'll start Milwaukee F plus not quite enough minus but an F plus because I've watched Kuzma play basketball this year. I didn't know they gave f pluses For me well, they got Solidly the last kuzma fans solidly be what i'm in it. Are you living on I think kuzma one? He like looks like a crazy person with the way he dresses and the hair and the tattoos He's actually a pretty grounded dude. He posts about rfk jr all the time

He's actually a pretty grounded dude. He posts about RFK jr. All the time This is your grounded. Listen a lot of reasonable people are our K heads. Okay, believe it or not We don't have to agree with everybody who loves our I'm just if we don't I'm not the person propping up Kyle Kuzma as the voice of moderation This is great. I know after two hours we'd end up in a Kyle Kuzma fight Kuz is gonna get it done. All right. All right. I mean when you miss 73% of your threes what's not to love? Trade grades Did we do New Orleans for this? Yeah, we did So then I guess Phoenix would be the other one. Nerkage Trade grades. Did we do New Orleans for this? Yeah, we did. So then I guess Phoenix would be the other one. Nerkage.

Getting rid of Nerkage. Using one of your dump firsts that you gave up the 20-31 first for. Getting your fans excited about Martin. Who's like the 19th swing you've had. Who's like a defense shooter guy. I'm indifferent. Okay. Yeah, how about this?

No grade. Yeah, no grade is fine. Not applicable. Did not register. And then Memphis, how about this? No grade. Yeah, no grade is fine. Did not register. And then Memphis, whatever the hell they did with Marcus Smart. And just clearing out players who could help them? I don't understand just giving up on Marcus Smart being a playoff contributor if you have

designs on being a serious player there. Maybe his injuries are so cooked that they don't think he'll be on the floor anyway. That's the only thing that makes sense. They are a potential buyout team because they're not over the aprons. So cleared to roster spots have some potential there. Maybe they've already been on the phone with some folks. Maybe so. I want to say I saw it pop up that I think they took back Marvin Bagley.

Marcus Smart to the Celtics. Oh, are we allowed to buyout? We're not allowed to get buyout guys. I don't believe so. I think they're for the second apron. So yeah, no buy outs. The apron just ruins everything. Except gave us the weirdest, craziest trade deadline in the history of the league.

Yeah, you're probably right. Wait, Sacramento, San Antonio. The Fox. For Fox? I have an A plus for San Antonio and like a C for Sacramento and an F for Chicago. Yeah. Solid A for San Antonio. Yep.

I'm there. I think B for Sacramento. Like, I don't know. I thought the hall was good. The Bulls, what they got back for Levine and just making themselves a part of this trade, like I called it a hill of beans. Rob said it was a stump of beans. It was something less than a hill of beans Rob said it was a stump What was the Vince Carter trade when Toronto got back like Alonzo morning, but he had kidney issues Yes, yeah with Eric Williams and then some other terrible contract and like too bad first

When the price bad when you're taking the bad contracts back Yeah, trade and for the only benefit being your own pick that you were going to keep anyway because your team is bad. The pick was protected. Like you were going to keep it. So yeah, F for the Bulls. And what they got was, yo, take the projection off. We're one of the five worst teams in the league.

I think the Kings did all right. I'm going to give the Kings like a solid B, especially under the circumstances. They didn't have a lot to work with. Under duress. Under duress. Before we go. I'm going to give the Kings like a solid B, especially under the circumstances. They didn't have a lot to work with. Under duress. Under duress. Before we go, Luka Doncic getting traded. What's your best Luka Doncic trade that you think would have been a better trade for Dallas

than the trade they made? Player for player? I think it's got to be a pack. It would have to be like a Houston Hall or a Memphis Hall. The only thing that would have made people happy was six years of picks, you know, owning somebody's draft picks from now till Timbuktu and some young guys that are nice. So, I don't know, Houston making the money work, a men Thompson bunch of picks in the future.

You can't keep him in Texas though. You can't keep him in Texas though. You can't. Like sending him to the Lakers. You don't trade him to your division. You can't keep him in Texas. Who says no Tatum Luca if you know Dallas is trading Luca? I don't think Boston would do it. I agree. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't a homer.

I mean, obviously, Luke is a much better player, but karmically, that's just a disgusting move. It's almost like if you go to the finals, don't blow up the superstar core of the team that just went. You know, like, what a crazy thought. It'd be like you leaving your wife with Sidney Sweeney. You're trying to get a reaction. Everybody would think that was insane of you. Good boy. Bam and hero and every Miami pick for Luca on a contract.

I don't like that. But you know what I would like is listening to all these offers. I would love if I were the Mavericks to sit there and actually feel them. I was like, would Minnesota trade Aunt Edwards for Luca Donch offers. I would love if I were the Mavericks to sit there and actually field them. I was like, would Minnesota trade Ant Edwards for Luka Doncic? I would. 100%. Love Ant Edwards. I would absolutely trade him for Luka Doncic. But the problem is if you're trading for Luka, you also have to factor in will he want to stay in a year and a half.

That's the thing. That's what Nico Harrison's trying to say, guys. About all of these picks and all of these great trades out there. That's what Niko Harrison is trying to explain to you guys. What he's trying to explain is the defense wins championships, apparently. The only one that makes sense from a basketball standpoint that I think would have been six hour meetings on both sides is Giannis. Yeah. Yeah. For both sides. And I get if you're Milwaukee, you probably don't do it because it's like, well, why would Luca resign here in a year and a half?

But fundamentally for what he wanted from the trade, which was size and rim protection, Giannis is the better version of Davis. All NBA, MVP kind of guy, win now. I still feel like if this trade was Reeves, Davis, 29 and 31 in two swaps. Different conversation. It's still not enough, but at least it's like, oh, I see it. They don't feel like they can resign them. That's a lot.

It's a different combo. Whatever they got, wasn't it? Thanks to Mikloob Ultra, they sponsored our little YouTube live thingy, the Superior Light Beer, the official beer sponsor of the NBA. I was supposed to say say happy birthday to us. Thank you.

Today? Today. Today's my birthday. Happy birthday to our colleagues, Sirusohi as well. We got you Kyle Kuzma. Yes. Oh yeah, shout out to Sirusohi, my birthday twin. We never get our love.

Oh, Sirus. Yes, we never get our love in the ring of slack on the birthday love. So we're doing it right now live on the Bill Simmons trade deadline special. Wow what a weird way to end the pod. Happy birthday what happens today you and Luca just going out? Going out. Just making bad food and drink choices. Going out for steaks tonight so yeah man that'll be it just a steak dinner that's my birthday today. Oh yeah. That's actually what I do every birthday. What part of Los Angeles do you think Luca Dacic will live in with the limited information you have about things that he likes?

I like this as like a personality test. Yeah. Things that he, I mean, realistically, he should move to Beverly Hills. Cause it's close to all the things that he's going to like socially. It's not going to be in Beverly Hills itself, but Beverly Hills is adjacent to where a lot of these things happen. So yeah. What's the hookah proximity?

The hookah proximity is close. Okay. Somewhere in the Beverly, the hills of Beverly Hills, because Brentwood is too far from the action to be honest with you. Brentwood is too far from the action, to be honest with you. Brentwood is too far. Bel Air is too, is a little bit too secluded as well. What's another one that folks, he's clearly not an Eastsider. He's not gonna move with the freaking Hollywood Eastside people. I think he's a Beverly Hills guy. All right, caveat. They practice in No Segundo.

Mmm. Mmm. He's 25. Mmm. Has mentioned the beach and the ocean a couple times. Yes. So I guess that is a Brentwood is, you know, you get the crib and you get to be closer to the ocean. I don't think he moves like, what are you thinking, like Manhattan Beach type of thing?

I was wondering, could he be like, like where the, like that's where the hockey players live, right? The LA Kings live in like Manhattan, Hermosa, Rousselos there. Lucas is not a hockey guy. He's a different, he's a NBA guy. Let's just put it like that. I see him in the Bay for a year while he figures it out.

I don't think he's gonna do that. Do you think you run into Luke Adantje in LA at 2 in the morning at a club in the next two months? Yes. You think so? Yes. And maybe not a club, but like, you know, one of the things my guys at H would do. I could see him being an H wood guy. 100%.

I'll have to take your word for it. 100%. I'll have to take your word for it. 100%. Do you think- And it's not going to be like a nightclub loud music blah blah blah, but like, you know, like a lounge. Leo's going to be there. Is there a world where Luca lives with Rob and his wife? If Rob moved to LA.

Hypothetically. Rob just, Rob gets a guest house in the back of his Brentwood estate. Luca gets the big old- Would it be ethical or unethical for you to live in the guest house of Luca Donchich's Brentwood estate? I think I would officially have to give up my awards vote if I'm living in Luca Donchich's house. That's fair. I'm glad you're open about it.

There are media members in LA who that's open to, but they do not work for theringer.com. I promise you that. We stand up for journalism here. Yeah we try. You know. Well everyone but conspiracy. We're gonna be holding these guys feet to the fire. Speaking truth to power. Maybe living in their guest house. Guys I had a blast happy birthday. Thank you. Thanks to everybody behind the scenes and thanks to everybody who listens. Thanks for the questions too. We're gonna take a break I'm gonna come back with million dollar Super Bowl picks. All right, million dollar picks, Super Bowl edition

presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. We don't have House this week because he is in New Orleans. He's hanging out with Sal and with Van and all these ringer dudes, the fantasy guys. And it just hurts my feelings. He didn't have time for us. I'm gonna carry on. I have a bunch of stuff I like,

but I wanted to talk big picture about what I was seeing from the game, because I stared at this game, I don't know, for 10 days, and I just kept thinking, Philly has more talent. Philly has more talent. Philly's better all over the place. The only things that you wouldn't give Philly the advantage are coaching, QB, pedigree in late game crunch time situations. So I thought I was going to take Philly for about a week.

And then I thought about it more and more. I went to the playoff game, we manifesto. I looked at all the rules. Rule number one, first rule. Beware of the looked a little too good the previous playoff round team. That was Philly going against this Washington team that already was probably lucky to make the conference title game to begin with and then had a couple big injuries and Philly looked awesome. Rule number five, beware of the everybody believes in us team and the nobody believes in our QB but us team. So Casey's a little bit of

the everybody believes in us team just because everybody's like Casey can't go against my homes. Philly's got a touch of the nobody believes in our QB but us stuff. Although I don't know. Hertz is making 50 million a year and he gets taken high in fantasy drafts and people know he's good. So Casey a little bit, Philly a little bit, but I'm not too sold on any of them. Rule number 10, when in doubt, a little bit, Philly a little bit, but I'm not too sold on any of them. Rule number 10, when in doubt, gravitate toward one pick that would screw over

the most gamblers and experts and would definitely go against the single worst gambler you know. Again, there's some KC stuff. I still feel with people just the infrastructure, 3P, don't go against my homes. I still feel like when we get closer to game time, I think this line's gonna move.

I think it's gonna move toward Philly. Right now it's still KC minus one and a half. So I don't think this comes into play. There is a prop that I wanna hit when we do props that I think qualifies for rule number 10. Rule number 16, take one last look at the quarterbacks and remember, there's plenty of time to bet against any QB or coach except for the Superbowl

where you don't have a lot of time. Take one last look at the quarterbacks, Mahomes, Hertz. What happens in a three point game with nine minutes left and Casey's down three and they have the ball and they're driving and you realize you bet on Philly and you didn't have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. You just have to factor that in and you also have to factor in rule number 17.

Don't try to be a hero, just try to win money. The hero move is to take Philly and to say, this has been the best team. When you think about it, they only had three losses. They could have, they were three plays away, basically from being undefeated for the season. They're loaded everywhere. They're gonna lay the smack down.

And the only reason you're not gonna take them is because of Mahomes and Reed. The counters, KC has just been spectacular at winning close games against teams where they do all the little things correctly and they make the little coaching decisions correctly. And they always get one little break around halftime when the other team does something stupid

and maybe there's a bad special teams player. They get one fumble. They always kind of hang around, hang around, hang around and take care of business in the fourth quarter like they did with Buffalo. Mahomes is 17 and three in the playoffs career. He's 17 and zero in the last 17 one score games. That zero means no losses. This team just takes care of business all the time, over and over again. Meanwhile, Philly, their best wins this year, Green Bay twice, Washington, they went two and one, Baltimore, they beat by five, and Cincy.

So the record is awesome, the stats are awesome, the fact that they're three plays away from being undefeated is notable. Their defense has looked great, and yet you can make the case, Casey has just had a much tougher schedule, a much bigger bullseye in them. And, uh, over and over again has delivered. So I was trying to think, I always try to do this for the Superbowl.

I do scenarios, best case, worst case, because I was started leaning toward the chiefs over the weekend. Best case scenario, comparing the chiefs to Brady in the past, because I think there's a lot of similarities, including like the infrastructure, the coach, the experience in big games, all the veterans you have, just the ability to just pull out these close games over and over again. What Brady Super Bowl win would this be like for my homes? And I settled on Patriots 28, Seattle 24, ironically, 10 year anniversary of that game this week.

Really great YouTube clip that the Patriots put up with all this extended audio and video stuff from the game. I watched the whole thing. I made my dad watch it. I think it's probably my favorite Patriots win of all the wins that has the Malcolm Butler game. Anyway, they're down 10. They win the game by four, 28 to 24.

It was a Pick'em line, so similar to this. 47 for the over-under, pretty close to this. It was a game that had 10 punts, three turnovers, seven touchdowns, and a field goal. So 10 possessions on each side. That feels a little similar to what I think the game's gonna go on Sunday. Patriots couldn't really run the ball.

21 for 57 running it, but 37 for 50 for 328 passing. That feels like what's gonna happen in this game for them. I don't think they're gonna be able to run the ball that well against the Eagles, and I think the Eagles are gonna try to push them to do short, medium passes. Just keep trying to move the ball downfield, and eventually we're either gonna get a sack or a tip or we'll break up a play something, but just take your time going down the field.

Seattle on the other side in that game, 29 for 162 from the run for the run, which kind of feels like what might happen with Barkley. They were 12 for 21 passing for 247. That feels in the ballpark of what usually happens within a Hertz Eagles game. The Pats were eight for 13 on third down. Big time of possession for them, 33-46, because it was a lot of the short medium completions that just kept the clock moving. Brady ended up 37-50 for 328. So close game.

They had to throw the ball a lot because they weren't able to run it. And then they took care of business down the stretch. And then Malcolm Butler came up with the most famous play in the history of the Superbowl. I think that if the chiefs win, I don't think it's a big win. I don't think they win by 10 plus. I think the game is tight in the fourth quarter and they pull it out. All right.

What would be the worst version of the game for the chiefs? What bad Mahomes loss would this be like? That's obvious. That's bucks 31 Chiefs nine. That was the Superbowl result. Casey favored by three. They ran the ball a little bit in that game. 17 for 107, 26 for 49 passing. Mahomes was okay, but he had a couple of turnovers. And then Tampa ran the ball on them 33 for 145, only 18 completions for Brady, no turnovers, took a big lead, held them off, took over the game in the second half with their pass rush

and KC just couldn't do anything, nine points. I'm a little scared of that result for this. And I think if you're taking the Eagles, you're almost better off taking them by 10 plus. That's the, they're not, I don't think winning a close game against my homes and the chiefs in the fourth quarter, which makes me think if you're taking the Eagles, just take the minus nine and a half at plus three 50 and get some juice on it and root for a game like that bucks game, the 31 to nine game.

Um, I am looking at this as a chiefs win and a nail biter of a game. There's some advantages for the Eagles. Number two, eliminating explosive plays, according to Shokapadia, um, really good tackling team, and then they have that recipe that used to work against Brady in the past, and I think the Eagles have it where you just rush the four, they're constantly pushing the pocket. And then you have the other seven guys can basically be doing all kinds of, you know, are they blitzing?

Are they bouncing back? Are they pretending to blitz and then blitzing? Um, that's what used to frustrate. My home. So I, uh, uh, Brady, so I feel like, uh, there's some recipe stuff here, but ultimately I just can't take, I can't take hurts over my homes and I can't take serianity against read. And if anything has taught us about this chiefs team over the years, they just

benefit from dumb shit from the other teams or just the place shouldn't have made the moment that you can't believe this happened and it just, it always works out for them. I'm not going to talk about the refs. So here's what I'm doing for million dollar picks. We lost 211,000 last week. We are still up $1.071 million for this season. I'm going to try to double it.

We're going to bet 500K in the Chiefs minus one and a half. We're going to bet a 250K parlay. Listen to this one. Eagles plus eight and a half, we're going to bet a 250 K parlay listen to this one. Eagles plus eight and a half. Mahomes 200 plus passing yards under 60.5 points. So it's a little bit of a hedge against that chiefs minus one and a half. Cause I think the game's going to be close and I'm going to try to middle it with that parlay and, uh, that parlay is dead even unfandel.

So doing those two and then 50k on the following Super Bowl props. Ready? Hertz anytime touchdown minus 115. I just at some point the tush push is happening near the goal line. That's just the way this goes. Mahomes over five and a half carries minus 128. You go back, you look at all the Super Bowl. Sal and I talked about this on the Super Bowl props. He uses his legs in every big game. And even if he doesn't get the five and half carries, it's five instead of five and a half. So the odds are in your favor on this,

especially if they're gonna rush four and he's gonna be able to scramble around and buy himself some time. Think about the Eagles defense, if they get a little tired in the fourth quarter, who knows? I just think he gets the six carries. I like that a little more than the yards because the yards, if they had the lead, the kneel down, start cutting in the yard total, not doing that. Mahomes over 11 and a half yards for biggest rush. Taking that. I'm also taking Hertz over 11 and a

half yards for his biggest rush. Figure one of those guys is rushing for 12 yards, maybe hit both. Worst case scenario, you split them. Chris Jones sack plus one 36. We talked about this on Sunday line pushes forward. Hertz holds the ball, holds it too long. And then all of a sudden Jones gets them. Both teams get a fourth down conversion minus one 24. I think there's probably going to be a point in this game where both teams have

to get a little bit aggressive, um, because they're going to be worried about what happens if the other team gets the ball back. So even fourth and ones, fourth and twos, I just think both teams are getting a fourth down conversion. And then we have a boost on FanDuel that I'm just going to jump on for 50k. Casey wins, Mahomes over 225 yards of passing, which you can use the profit boost token and go nuts on. And then I have some small 25k Super Bowl props. Mahomes 40 plus rush yards is plus 180. I like that one because if I'm betting on his rush over, I might as well just go for it and think he's going to go like eight for 45, whatever. Eagles first half, Eagles to win the first half, Chiefs to win the game plus 750.

This is the Cousins South special. Can see it happening. So we're putting 25K on it. I think this is gonna be a tight game. I do not think the Chiefs run away with this by any means that I could totally see the Eagles winning in the first half, so we'll fly on that. And last but not least, going back to the manifesto, no Barkley touchdown is plus one

50 and at Fandl they were saying, uh, I heard through the grapevine, this is the least bet Superbowl prop. So you want to have the prop that everyone has been in the other side on plus one 50. We're putting 25 K on that. And those are the million dollar picks. Super Bowl edition. Don't forget, Sunday night, me and Cousins Sal, at some point after the Super Bowl ends,

we will be going full tilt on everything that happened in the game. We're not going live on YouTube, but it will be on this podcast. We'll get the video up as fast as possible on YouTube. So there you go. All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Kyle Crayton and Sarudy and Gaha for producing.

Don't forget, you can watch all the videos and clips from this podcast on the Bill Simmons YouTube channel. You can also check out the rewatchables on the Ringer Movies YouTube channel or on the rewatchables feed we did before sunset. We have a monster movie coming on Monday, a movie that was always on the Ringer Movies YouTube channel or on the rewatchables feed we did before sunset. We have a monster movie coming on Monday, a movie that was always on the short list, so stay tuned for that.

I'm not gonna tell you what it is. You don't need to know what it is because you've seen it. So there you go. I will be back on Sunday after the Super Bowl. We're not going live, but we will be doing a Super Bowl reaction pod with Cousins Sal, the final podcast of the year. Don't forget to consume all of our NFL content on the Ringer Podcast Network, on the Ringer.com.

We're doing some great stuff. We have a bunch of people down in New Orleans. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the game. See you Saturday night. I wanna see them on the wayside Never said I don't have a few years with them On the wayside, on the front side Never said I don't have a few years with them Must be 21 plus in President-elect states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus in President DC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-887-897777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org

in Maryland. Hope is here, visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.