The Deep 3 Podcast - We Picked The Biggest NBA "What-Ifs" Of The 2020s | TD3 Clips

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

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Last year I run this time, we did an episode of this show about the greatest what-ifs in NBA history, the biggest needle-moving sparks in history that went one way, that could have went the other way and changed the game as we know it. Today, we're going to do that again, but specifically what ifs about the 2020s. So of the last five, six seasons, what are the biggest what ifs that are going to shape the league going forward? Okay. Okay, biggest what is? Let's do it. I have one. You go first time.

What's your first biggest what if? You're cooking last time we did this. My, my biggest what if happens in 2023. What if Tatum doesn't go crazy in game six against the Sixers? Because what happened was, it was a close game. Tatum was sucking. He was trashed up until the third quarter or up until the fourth quarter. He had three points and was one for 13 going into the fourth.

Then in the last five minutes, he hits four threes. And the Celtics win that game and they force a game seven. and then the Sixers collapse in game seven. If the Sixers win that game and they close out the series, Joelle and B gets to the conference finals for the first time,

do the Philadelphia's 76ers, then take that and then go on the championship. I forget, is that the first year they had James Hardin or second year? Yes. That was what James Hardin though, right? Yeah, and that was the year they would have played the Miami Heats.

Yes. Good chance. Good chance they beat the Heats. And that's... On the other side of that, too, then do they go ahead and decide go ahead they they would have ended up playing the nuggets and we would have gotten an embed yokech final we got the MVP big ball that would have been good for history i don't think it would have changed much because i think there's a good chance

that he would have beat the six years he were really good that year that was the year they were that was the one seed right in 23 i think that was yeah i think that was the 21 there was one of these years they were really good no no no my bad bad because that was the year that's the nuggets played a six seed in the finals it was like boo you didn't play any good teams So never mind The 8th scene Yeah 18 Yeah so never mind

Wrong year I'm thinking about It was 21 So yeah maybe the 6thers Could beat them You never know But also on the other side of that too Do the Boston social at that point in time Decide to split and break up

John Brown and Tatum If they lose I think that might happen Because they do end up eventually getting over the hump But that's after they go ahead And add Cape Prozingus onto that team

Probably not because they were already having Like they still lost the next round When they shouldn't They lost you an 8 seed So you know they still went outside and they didn't they had to wear with all to keep it together so they probably still do that even if it's around earlier yeah but that's that's the one where it's like

it's so it's so crazy like just four threes and five minutes like damn yeah and like and that's a difference between somebody being one the greatest chokers of all time for a superstar and Embed versus normal career yeah mind you I was I was going through through the game log Joe and B was no show okay I'll start with the Lakers one what if the Lakers never trade for Russell Westbrook

but if that doesn't happen and doesn't slam shut their championship window with LeBron and AD because they ran it back in 2021 post championship were once again the best team in the West

but Anthony Davis got hurt because the short off season coming off the bubble LeBron got hurt Solomon Thomas when I catch you or Solomon Hill Solomon Thomas

not the defensive line Solomon Hill did what he did all that happened so 2021 was a lost year when they were better after getting Dennis getting Marcusol

having Drummond having that better role player cast surrounding them and then they over fucking reacted and went out and got a superstar. What if they just run that same team back? I will say, I think if they run it back, eventually they're going to still make it trade regardless. But I think it opens up a pathway for them to go ahead and trade for someone like Kyrie back in 2023.

That's another one I have. What if they got Kyrie in that time? Yeah. Because, you know, when Kyrie went to the Mavs, the Lakers were in it trying to get them bring them back. They couldn't get it done for basically the none of assets and the Nets are like, fuck you Lakers. Yeah. If they had more assets, maybe they can get over that. Yeah, and I think with the, we're not doing our rest,

they obviously would have to, so I think that would have happened. And like, in 2021, that was the year that the sons made the finals. So they beat the Lakers because they were injured. They come back to next year. That's when the Warriors made the finals. If you tell me that Lakers team is whole again and Anthony Davis doesn't get hurt, which he did get hurt again the next year. So I don't know if we've been back by the playoffs or not,

because he had a weird year for two years. If that team was Holcomb playoff time, you could have easily seen them back in the finals. Yeah. I have another one from 22 From that kind of specific timeline Which is like What if the sons

Don't choke in game seven And they win that finals? Not even win that finals But like If they beat the Mavs in game seven Oh you mean the next year Oh god yeah They would end up playing

Instead of the Western Conference finals Being the Warriors and the Mavs And you have this like young star And Luca who they haven't been there before And now you're able to just You know, I'll execute Do all that stuff Now you're playing the Sons

Who they had the the best records in the in the west that year they they were two of like the top three teams in the western conference and you have you have so much Michael Parsons is a packer no you're lying they traded them what no no no no you're fucking lying all right so y'all are going to get an emergency episode of house call tomorrow the day after you post an episode that's coming out tomorrow no Michael Parsons is a packer we're going to record that right after this episode you know Jerry Jones went on this sorry let me just save it wow

We'll get to this after. We're going to record immediately. So you're going to see a household episode tomorrow. Wow. That's O. O.C. Okay. Wow. Okay.

All right. Get back on rails. Wow. Yeah. Big recording day today. Get ready. You wanted to leave up live by five. Not happening.

Yeah, buddy. I got work. What if the Hawks never went ahead and traded for Desontam? Hey, man. Episode over. I can't think. I can't think. We got to finish.

This is a good clip. This is crazy. I was saying, what if the Hawks never traded away? or traded for DeJante Murray in my mind that also means that they of course like retain their picks

and there's a wide open pathway to get someone like Kevin Durant One of the biggest one is is the Hawks Yeah

yeah it is Because Because if we don't Because if we don't If we don't If we hold ourselves back Literally the following year later

We would end up with Katie You would have all the assets Hell yeah You're laughing about I'm dead serious. Okay, on the topic of Kevin Durant, if the Hawks were in that because they're capable,

that's a good one. So one of mine is we can mesh these together. Mine is, what if the sons never traded for Kevin Durant? They had this great period when they had the Young Wings,

Aton, Booker, Chris Paul. They blew it up in a decision that I think we all thought made sense, getting KD was good, didn't work out. What happens if they just don't do that? And they just run it,

they keep Aton, they keep Cam, they keep McHale. Do we have more excellence? Are they in a better spot? And where's Kevin Durracko? besides the hawks I mean I don't know it sounds like that's the prime destination

sounds like he he was destined to be a hawk yeah he was oh man I have no idea where he goes so in that time he was obviously he had preferences of where he wanted to go he wanted to go to the Miami heats

or the sons were his main things but the Celtics were also reportedly interested in a Jalen Brown trade I think that was debunk some people were saying they didn't actually offer Jalen Brown but the Celtics were interested and notably the Raptors

and the 76ers were interested You might have been a Raptor, I remember that The Raptors were super interested They were but they were asking Like the packages that they wanted back For the Raptors were just a lot Yeah they wanted Scotty Barnes Yeah and it was like well what's the point

Of trading for KD if you're gonna gut our team I think they would have did it though It seemed like the reports of that the Raptors would have did it Remember the haul they got from the Suns was like substantial Yeah They got those two wings and a lot of picks The Suns had no picks left like they got a lot from the sons to turn down a scotty barns package what if they'd have done that

what if they would have traded him for scotty barns that's just dumb and and like it it feels weird saying like you know i understand yeah dumb in the sense that they're far away so even what that's happening yeah it ambitious is the is the best word for that yeah but yeah i don't know if that would work speaking speaking about dumb i got another one but okay what if so there's support that came out back in late, mid to late May, that the Minnesota Timberwols were back in the 2020 draft, that the Minnesota Timberwolves were actually interested in falling back in the draft. And they offered up the Warriors, their number one overall pick for the sake of next year's pick. And also, I think a pick that ended up turning into John the Camino,

because, you know, the words, like, they tripled up that draft class. What if the Warriors and Steve Kerr specifically and their front office actually to work, had sentences? and were tantalized by Anthony Edwards. We're like, you know what? We see this guy. We see the young guy. It doesn't have to stand and necessarily had a rough workout, but we want to put all our tips in and his potential.

What if they went in and did that? That would change so much because in my mind, that means Cat is definitely timbreoles till this day that we're talking. Rudy Gobert trade probably never happens. Rudy Robert probably ends up in the most random area. Like, I don't know, the Cleveland Cavaliers or something like that. And this also like extends the prime with someone like Steph Curry.

and I think that the Warriors probably have more than one may probably have more than one sip to this day. All that is fine. Anthony Edwards going to the Warriors would have been the thing. That would have been insane.

I don't give me fuck where Rudy Gaubert goes. I don't give me shit where cat goes. And with Steph Curry would have been ridiculous. Like that is such an all time. Like we talked about what if they had to pick lamello. The fact that had an opportunity

to get Anthony Edwards, that is so under-talked about. I didn't even know about that until I saw Kenny talking about it like a week ago. Yeah. Yeah. It got released. Oh, my.

I think I was talking for it got released back in May, so... Spin the bottom part and loosen it up first. No, I'm going to just hold it. Why would you just hold it? I don't feel like doing this. You'd rather hold it? Yeah, I guess so. How do you get loose?

I don't know. I don't know. It's just been... All right. Keep going on. Yeah, so so much changes because who the fuck knows what happens with the Nix? Bro, you can't. I'm trying to unscrew and screw this thing back with one hand.

I think you're good now, right? Yeah, it's fine now. Nice. I'm just wondering where you stop to stare at him. Because all this movement, I'm like, what's going on, man? All this movement's happening, distracting me and shit. But yeah, like, I easily think with Andy Edwards, a part of this nucleus. Obviously, they evade James Wiseman.

They don't have any discussion. Yeah. They escape this terrible John. They escape this terrible John. I don't think Kaminga Moody. They get less wise because Moses Moody isn't there. Dramon and Anthony Edwards, that's such a weird ass, like, personality, mesh. Yeah.

But God damn, it will fucking work. Clay Thompson, he probably becomes more expendable to and he still ends up going to wherever the fuck at that point in time. Yeah. They're still heavy hitters. I have another Timberwolves kind of related one. What if, what if Rudy Gobert doesn't hit that fade away against the nuggets? And I use all of that.

one, I just had to bring that up, but also, like, if, if the nuggets don't choke in game seven, do they win the title, do, does, like, do they go back to back? Because then we would assume that they would end up playing, they would have played the Mavs in the next round, and then they would have played Boston in the, in the finals. And that would have been, like, the matchup that we were all talking about. And in that regular season, the time that they played, like, Boston wasn't great executing against them like Denver was doing all the stuff where it's like we're going to get

to the fourth quarter we're going to get to five minutes left and we're just going to boom boom boom do our normal thing if that happens and like if Denver and if them went back to back to back yokech is he's already rising up there he's stamped as like top three because if you have like three out of four MVPs and back to back titles and that it's one of the four best peaks where'd you have them in your all time list uh seven if he did that he would be probably like he's top five he was packed to back man I would have gotten stupid with my conversations he's he's top four at that point the only

people it would just be Kareem Russell and Shaq and then he would be right there at four damn which even right now to be fair they didn't win the game because the fade away it was also a fourth quarter meltdown no that's what I just had to bring it up yeah it's just a good moment but like if that didn't melt down

like that's the the fade away is when everybody knew oh they're going to lose this game right because and mind dude there was still like five minutes left on on the clock whenever he hit the the fader and they went up by four but it's like i mean frugal bears hitting fade away jumpers at the end of the clock we're not really gonna like we clearly this is ordained by by somebody else and not us yeah okay this is the biggest elephant in the room in terms of recent history yeah what if the patience

win game seven oh what if they win the finals yeah that was like if he doesn't tear his achilles yeah both let's say they win game seven because tyrese doesn't get hurt and that That means they are the biggest, the biggest Cinderella run in NBA history, I think, in terms of a team that had no business winning the finals on paper, not led by a superstar all-time great, legendary player, straight team basketball,

upends an all-time great regular season team after inexplicable game-winning shot luck and just dominates everybody in this way. That would be one of the best runs of all time. We'd be going to a summer in which Tyree Taliburton is clearly going to be talking about as a top-10 player in the league right now, going into defending his chance.

happy a run he just had. Shea is going to be the most hated player in the world for choking in the finals. Everyone's calling Chet, bowl, even more than they already are. Discourse would be insane. Man,

the works that I would do what Pascal Siakum was going to. She, you're lucky. No, it would be crazy. Like, Tyrese also, just because of like that one year

would instantly be thrust into certain all-time conversations. Who'd be a hallfamer? Of that one run, he'd be a hallfamer. Instantly, but I'm talking about like, if we're...

When we do all-time point guards or whatever, he's instantly like top 30. He's instantly pushing top 20 if he has the ring and he has the clutches playoff run that we've ever seen. And he's so young still in this scenario we're saying if he doesn't tear his Achilles. He would have so many years in front of him of being this good for this long,

just getting started. Like, it would be a legendary career. And also on the side of that, too, OKC would be one of the biggest disappointments in NBA history as well. That'd be on the short list of best teams to not win a championship. given year?

Most definitely. I don't think they do anything drastic with their roster still because of course, like, the season they had was ridiculous and their superpowers were ridiculous too. But I don't know. They probably do something. They do something small. I think their head coach would definitely San Precii would be fucking cooked to oblivion because he had plenty of opportunities to make other niche trades during the NBA season like Cam Johnson as well.

Yeah. But he remained and stood pat, he would be fried. I think that's something they would do. They probably would have got a Cam Johnson or something. the summer yeah they probably would have made that happen and like sacrifice some long-term viability and gone in on next year and said we will be able to shoot the basketball we will not be ignored in corner threes this year yeah i agree one one that i have that i will say this is just a personal weather it's not super like consequential because i don't think that the end result of the

season would would have changed but if jimmy beller had hit that pull-up three in game seven against the celtics yeah i i was going to pick the warriors to win that series regardless But that would have been one of the craziest moments of Jimmy Bullitt, getting the rebound on a fast break, stopping, doing all that stuff, and him the three to beat the Celtics. I literally, I think about that a lot. Yeah. I remember that. Last one I have. What if the heat get Dame instead of the bucks?

Dame wanted to go the heat. He demanded to go the heat. He said, trade me to the heat. That's the only place I want to go. And the trailblazers front of office said, watch this and send him somewhere else. against his own wishes and you know because the package is better

or whatever but what if they got him and they had a nucleus he said Packers I said package yeah he's so excited I said package

but like what are they a nucleus are Jimmy Butler Bam and Dame going to 2024 nice nice Comprecee no that would have been

a great team that would have competed with the Celtics I don't know they were at all time it's also like super dependent on like what happens

with the Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks to be Because, like, that also means Drew Holiday ends up, I don't know if he ends up being on the Celtics or even on the Bucks still as well. He's probably just, he's probably on the Bucks still or somewhere X-Team else, but that's I don't know because he still was a disappointment to a degree. Sure, sure.

And a part of their flaw. So they probably ship him out regardless, but. But if there's no dame available, who didn't ship him out for? Like, there's not, there wasn't that many deals done with those type of players. But you're right. Maybe they would have done something else. Who knows? That's a huge question.

Yeah. So maybe the 24 Celtics don't even become the dominant team they are. They don't. It's a whole different universe. Maybe they still are elite because Prazingis is there, but I don't know. Shut out of here. Well, like, what that's what I'm hearing is,

does that mean Luca win the championship because he would have beat the heats? Hmm. Very, too, a moment. Yeah, I think so. All I'm hearing is Luca would have been on goat path if this goddamn trade didn't happen and if Dame got to go to the Miami Heat.

Don't question it. That's what we're hearing. I don't know. No, no, don't question it. I don't know. I'm here questioning. You know what this is? What is it?

He's telling Luca and the if, man. All his favorites. You got to stone him, man. That's the last one I got. I think that might be all for me. The other ones that I have is obviously, what if Katie's toe was on the line? Oh, yeah. We didn't even get the 2021 Nets is the biggest what if by far.

We talked about that in the biggest what-est of all-time episode. but even so much around that even that what have adam silver had some sense and was like let's not start the season in December and let's actually push it back and give people an actual offseason because so many of the stars got hurt in 21 because it was a very limited off season and people were at home for two three months so it's not like you're at the at the facility doing all this other stuff the season ended like the lakers won the championship in october and then the season started in December. That's just like impossible

to recover for a lot of people. It ruined several years of Anthony Davis's prime. Yeah. Which in turn ruined several years of LeBron James' Prime. This is cheating a little bit. But what if Kauai Leonard for the 2019-2020 season decided to stay on the Toronto Raptors?

What if he decided to go to the Lakers? Fuck no. And make a super team with LeBron and Anthony Davis. Even if that's the case too, I think what I'm trying to hint at still gets to that point to, She is still a clipper. I don't know if he still progresses in the same way

because he did come into paths with someone like Chris Paul and Dennis Short or all that which is super important to the development. But I don't know as well because then his vets are Lou Will and Pat Bev and that's just a whole different dynamic too. Well, I think we overestimate the fact like he didn't like suck powers out of Chris Paul literally. So I think he still would have been a superstar.

But that is interesting because like if he is a superstar to what avail on the clippers, where they've been able to build a team that Presti was able to build because of this trade and all the assets they got because they also got J-D up from that trade. They also tanked and got Chet. Damn, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So J-dub is where in this scenario? Well, the pick would be a clipper's pick if they still keep that same position. Damn. So let's say J-Dubb is also a clipper. The clippers got Shay and J-Dubb. If they're smart and I don't know, because they made some dumb moves and then B. They saw this guy named Jerome Robinson, bro. Oh, yeah, they're not going to do.

Hell not. They made some dumb moves. I don't know. That's a good one. Yeah, that. Paul George and Westbrook still are. She was still becoming a superstar, I think. But would he have the opportunity to contend?

they win a championship and do all this stuff, I don't know. Oh, I don't know. I would say probably yes because I do Tailu's still there. True, true, true. Tailu is there and they still, like, Zubach is there too. They still have good team building abilities. They just suck in the draft. And then not to doubt the clipper is.

I'm just saying like, would he have to walk into Chet and Jada as his crazy nucleus and all these picks? Like he's in like the best case scenario you can imagine for a slashing guard. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I agree. And then Russ is still there and Paul George is still there in O'KC fishing and shit. Fish him?

All right, man.