The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Trade Rumors: Two trades to SAVE Lakers, Jimmy Butler-Suns, Zach LaVine-Rockets

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

Jason Timpf highlights the biggest trade deadlines rumors surrounding LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant's Phoenix Suns, and Jalen Green's Houston Rockets! Jason discusses the two trades he would target if he were running the Lakers to help JJ Redick build a championship contender around LeBron and Anthony Davis. Would Phoenix acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat or Houston landing Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls turn either the Suns or Rockets into title contenders? Timeline: 4:00 - Introduction 5:00 - Jimmy Butler to the Suns 11:45 - How to revamp the Lakers 31:30 - Zach Lavine to the Rockets #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hope all of you guys are having a great week. continuing our trade deadline series today, hitting three more teams. We're going to hit the Phoenix Suns as well as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets. We did a pack of three teams last week. We covered the bucks, the Warriors, and the Nuggets. We're going to be hitting throughout the next two weeks, just these little kind of like three team sets where we kind of talk about what they should do as they come up on the trade deadline. You guys know the Joe before we get started.

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Make sure you guys follow us there. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so that we can get to them in our Friday mailbags throughout the rest of the year. All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting with the Phoenix Suns, what if we got Jimmy Butler over there? This is a trade that's been widely reported, a trade that Phoenix would very much like to do. They conducted a trade yesterday with Utah Jazz where they turned an unprotected first into three first round picks, a nice little symbolic gesture that demonstrates the gap in value between a unprotected first and a protected first that has less potential to net you a high-level talent, right? So the sons get their three first-round picks, which should give them some more flexibility.

Who knows what they have to send over to Miami? Maybe it ends up being two of them, and then you can attach another one to Yusufiqch to, try to bring something in, but we're going to zoom in specifically on Jimmy Butler for this specific segment. So the way that a trade like this would work is it would be Bradley Beale for Jimmy Butler and probably a minimum contract. Could be Alec Berks could be a couple other guys, but a minimum contract coming back, but the gist of the deal would be Bradley Biel for Jimmy Butler. Jimmy slots perfectly into the Ryan Dunn spot in the starting lineup. I look at Ryan Dunn in a similar way to the way I look at Max Christie for the Lakers. And for the record,

not comparing them as players. They're very different. I think Ryan's much better defensively at this point in his career and Max is much better offensively at this point in his career, but I think they both project in the big picture at their specific position groups to be two-way role players, guys that you can eventually depend on to take on a substantial defensive role while also being a useful offensive player. I think they have similar kind of like long-term trajectories in that respect, right? But they both are playing on teams that have the ultimate like win now pressure, right? And ideally, you don't want to rely on them in your best five-man groups. I was watching the Cavs Suns game earlier this morning. And it's like, it's a couple wide open

corner threes from Ryan Dunn that miss. This year he's making about a third of his wide open catch-and-shoot opportunities. And so it's one of those things where like, you want Ryan Dunn to get reps? Him starting has been fine for his overall gaining experience journey, right? But at the end of the day, like, ideally, you don't want to depend on him in a big spot. Same goes with the Lakers for a guy like Max Christie, right? So, like, Jimmy Butler gives you this rock-solid veteran presence with real superstar upside that slots into that role in the starting lineup, but still leaves you with plenty of minutes available for Ryan Dunn off the bench to make sure that he continues to get the reps that he needs

to grow. The starting lineup, after that sort of deal would look like Ties Jones at the point, Devin Booker, Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant with Nick Richards. So immediately you get a more shoe-in fit in terms of a star that can actually play alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant without too much redundancy or without an inability to take on dirty work, right? Jimmy Butler can take the same sort of defensive assignments that Ryan Dunn took. And when he's really locked in, I think he can do nearly as well as a guy like Ryan Dunn,

if not a little bit better. When he's really locked in, I don't think you'll get that level of effort consistently in the regular season. but Jimmy is a playoff weapon defensively is a real asset to have in the bag. And he gives you a really good combination of both off-ball talent and on-ball talent on the offensive end of the floor. He's a guy who can set screens for guys like Devin Booker and KD and roll out of it and make plays when Kevin Durant's throwing the ball over the top when they get blitz

or things along those lines. Or if they switch, he's got the ability to punish mismatches matches. He's been hitting unguarded catch-and-shoot jump shots at over a 50% clip in the last few years, albeit at low volume. So, like, he's not a guy you can just leave wide open. He's a very good cutter. And then he also is a very, very good on-ball player. He's a much, much better on-ball player than a guy like Bradley Beal.

He's bigger. He's stronger. He's a better playmaker. He's a real switch-beater. His last playoff run in 2023, he ran over 500 pick-and-rolls, ISOs, and post-ups in that playoff run, and was well over a point per possession in all three play types, including passes.

He's just a massive talent upgrade. and the kind of guy that immediately makes the suns a much more physically imposing group, especially with the Nick Richards upgrade at the center spot. And it's been a little bit of mixed results with Nick in the early going, just absolutely dominated in his first appearance, just benefiting on all the attention that the stars were gathering, but had some moments against Jared Allen where he looked really physically overmatched and didn't get as many of those high-quality role man opportunities,

but still I think he's a center upgrade compared to what they had in-house. So like you're changing the physical imposition of the group. Just to put it really simply, going from Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Yusuf Nurkich, to Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, Nick Richards. It's just a completely different type of physical imposition that you bring to the table as a team. I think his ability to attack in a different way than Devin Booker and Kevin Durant will be really useful. The Sun's offense has been falling apart in their losses. In the last month, in their eight losses, they've posted.

posted a 103.9 offensive rating. It's just not resilient enough. The Cavs game, for instance, it's tied 27-27. Late first quarter, they didn't score for three and a half minutes, zero points for three and a half minutes. They gave up a 90 run, right? It's 59 to 48 at one point. They didn't score for two and a half minutes as they gave up an 11-0 run. It was 82-68 in the late third quarter, only a 14-point game, very much still in reach. They scored two points over the next six minutes and completely lost control of the game. There's a certain amount of like the Devin Booker and Kevin Durant can go through these stretches where they get a little sloppy with the ball and they start missing jump shots

and the offense can fall apart or when the talent off of the attention they garner is unable to capitalize and their offense can fall apart. Jimmy Butler has a more resilient offensive approach. He can attack from the post like we talked about. But as a bully ball player rather than as a shot maker, which is more resilient. He's not going to be as dependent on make and miss when it comes to the jump shooting sign of things. He's also much better at getting to the foul line than both Kevin Ray and Devin Booker, but much, much better than Bradley Beale is. And again, you're just turning Bradley Beal into a much better offensive player,

while also being a much better defensive player. It's just a massive talent upgrade. And when the sons are trapped in the situation that they're trapped in, they don't really have a ton of flexibility. This is the kind of aggressive move that they could make. has real upside for them within this season. I think he's just a much better player who's a much better fit than Bradley Beal with this group. I think it's the kind of move that the sons should seriously consider. Number two, how would I revamp the Lakers? So obviously I prefer

a guy like Brandon Ingram. I just don't think that's going to happen under the circumstances. So I was trying to come up with the deal out there that best addresses the three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers have outside of trying to pursue a high-level, star-level offensive player. If we remove that from the equation, so take Brandon Ingram out, take Zach Levine out, take any of those like big-name star type of players, how would I go about revamping the Lakers? And I came up with two deals. One, I would call up the Utah Jazz.

I'd offer them Gabe Vincent and Jared Vanderbilt for Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler. in order to make the deal work, I think you'd have to remove the protections from the pick that you got back in the delo trade. And I think you probably have to add another first round pick that is lightly protected. So effectively, if you account removing the protections, that's roughly worth. Again, look at the Sun's trade. The Sun's Jazz trade is a clear demonstration. An unprotected first round pick is worth quite a bit more than protected first round draft compensation. So removing protections also amounts to a form of draft compensation, right?

So you're removing protections and adding a first round pick, and you're getting back Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler. Then I would separately call up the Toronto Raptors, and I'd offer them Rui Hachamura, Jalen Hood-Shafino, and Cam Reddish, with the other first-round pick, because remember, they have two first-round picks to trade, for Bruce Brown and Jonathan Mogbo.

For either deal, if they had to, they could include additional second-round draft compensation if the negotiations get tougher, but I think they have the draft compensation to make both of those deals. happen. Those two deals successfully addressed the three biggest weaknesses that the Lakers have with their roster at this point, separate from anything having to do with Star Talent. The three biggest weaknesses were, one, the backup center position, where they just have an inability to, to, like,

maintain a really high floor when Anthony Davis is off the floor. They've been getting killed all season long in the 80 off minutes. They've had some success in games, like they've won a game recently when Anthony Davis sat, but like for the most part in recent Lakers history, they've struggled when Anthony Davis has been out. So a rock solid backup center would go a long way towards, one, giving you a higher floor and giving you maybe a more legitimate too big look, which we'll talk about in a minute. Two, they need a higher floor option at the two-guards spot, right? I talked about this earlier with Ryan Dunn with respect to the Sons. You want Ryan Dunn getting his reps. You want Max Christie getting his reps. I have big belief in those two players in the long

term, but for either the Sons or the Lakers to be depending on those guys in their final five, like in the five that they would go down with in a big playoff series, I think is a mistake. That's not to say that you won't find yourself in a position where a Ryan Dunn or a Max Christy is feeling good in a big playoff game and you end up riding him out, but you just don't want to be in a position where Max's, you know, two turnovers and two bad missed threes in the first quarter of a pivotal playoff game and he's your best option at the two. because he's freaking out a little bit under the stress and pressure of the moment, right? Totally expectable for a young player.

There's just too many examples in NBA history of young players struggling when they get into that setting. So a higher floor option at the two-guards spot, I view as an important upgrade for the Lakers. And then lastly, back at ball handling. Ever since the DeAngelo Russell trade, the, you know, the Lakers have been in this predicament where once you get past Austin and LeBron, who's your next best ball handler? It's Gabe Vincent. right? It's just not a lot of talent in terms of perimeter ball handling because you sent D-Lo out in that trade for Dorian Finney Smith, who plays a very different type of position, right?

So if you don't get a star, the three holes they needed to patch were backup center, an upgrade at the starting two-guard spot, and backup ball handling, just somebody that can handle the basketball and take on a higher usage role on the offensive end of the floor. I think those two deals accomplish that by bringing in Colin Sexton, who, is a legitimate guard ball handler that can take on usage and getting a Bruce Brown, who is, in my opinion, a starting caliber two guard in this league if he's the fifth best player in your lineup, which he would be in that case. And then three, a backup center in the form of Walker Kessler. So here's what you'd be left with. If the roster and all the dust settled, you would have a

rock solid core five, Austin, Bruce Brown, Doreenny Smith, LeBron, James, and Anthony Davis. And for the record, you could start Max if you wanted to keep him in the starting lineup and keep him getting reps and just close games with Bruce, if that's what it came down to. But just for the sake of laying out the roster, because I think Bruce right at this second is a better player than Max, even though Max will obviously have the ability to pass him in the long run. Austin, Bruce, Dorian, Finney Smith, LeBron, and AD. That is a good core five. I like that as a core five that can, that the Lakers could go down within a playoff series. Because Bruce and Dorian are guys that have the ability to function within a five-man group offensively, while both being

really useful defensive players at their position, while bringing different abilities to the table. I think Bruce is better guarding guards. I think Dorian Finney Smith is better guarding forward. So it's kind of like a natural, kind of like pairing between the two of them. But at the same time, Dorian can slide his feet a little bit. Bruce can bang with the larger players on the floor as well a little bit, right? So like there's some switchability there as well. And then you've got your Austin, LeBron Anthony Davis, and it depends on those three guys to carry things offensively. But that was going to be the case regardless if your goal was to win the championship, you were going to need LeBron A.D. and Austin to all play great, right? Then you'd have depth

at key position groups. So Austin has a clear backup in Colin Sexton after that type of trade. Bruce Brown and Max Christie, regardless of depending on which one you end up starting with, one of those guys is a clear backup for the other, right? Now, backup forwards, it gets a little Finn there, right? You'd have Dalton Connect. Jonathan Mogbo coming back in the Raptors deal, just kind of a young athletic forward. It does some things well. He has a lot of

weaknesses, but he can just be a depth piece for you at the forward spot. Christian Wood, if he can come back healthy. And then Bruce Brown, I think there's a case to be made that like that's another upside to the Bruce Brown trade is like if you need to find more minutes from him, I think he can play a little bit at the small

forward, which can keep Max's minutes up, but supplement you in terms of depth at the forward position. But again, the whole point of this trade is that you're swapping forward depth to anchor your core five and for a rock solid backup center. When you have a rock solid backup center, a guy like a Walker Kessler, it anchors you physically in a way that allows you to be smaller in other positions. Remember, like Walker's just like one of the most physically imposing players in this league. He, uh, at this point in time, is leading the league in offensive rebounds per game at 4.3 offensive rebounds per game, and he's second in the league in blocks

behind Victor Wembenyama, despite playing less than 30 minutes per game in both of those categories, right? So like a really big physical player that creates an easier physical responsibility down the roster, right? So like, yes, there's, you're trading to address those weaknesses, you're creating a new thin spot in terms of forward depth, but I look at it more in terms of Playoff rotation and regular season rotation, right? In the playoffs, you can scale up minutes. Do I think that the Lakers would have an eight-man rotation that could all be reliable is a hard word, but like at least be playable playoff players. Austin, Bruce, Dorian Finney Smith, LeBron, A.D., Colin Sexton, Max Christie, Walker Kessler. That's your eight guys right there. You got to wing,

a guard, and a center off the bench. You could see, so like in the play. In the play, You can see a playoff rotation take shape. You start the game. Let's say you start with Max. You start Austin, Max, Dorian, LeBron, and AD. When LeBron checks out, you can have a LeBron off group that's like Austin, Bruce, Dorian, Finney Smith, and then a two big look with Anthony Davis and Walker Kessler. When AD comes off the floor, you can see a LeBron-led group that has Walker Kessler with

LeBron at the four, with Bruce Brown at the three, Max, Christi at the two, and Colin Sexton at one. You can see how they can piece together lineups where even your your AD off group with LeBron and a guy like Walker Kessler. That's a really big front line. Bruce plays bigger than he is at the three. You're going against bench groups with that lineup too. So like you can kind of see a playoff rotation that makes sense. And then there's still a closing five there, which is like, oh, it's a big spot. We're on the road at OKC. It's game two. It's 95.95 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. And we're down one oh, but we have a chance to steal home court advantage here.

You have a guy like Bruce Brown that you can go to in the closing group that is a higher floor veteran experience playoff player that's won a championship that you can slide into that spot. But then in the regular season, you have depth options. Like that's the upside to getting a guy like Magbo back because he's a guy that can play some forward minutes in the regular season. Christian Wood, when he gets healthy, you can play forward minutes in the regular season, even next to a guy like Walker Kessler.

Dalton Connect is the guy that can play minutes in the regular season. That can carry you through those stretches. you just have a better playoff upside, in my opinion, because of that rock solid core five and a big look that is an important flexibility for specific matchups in the playoffs. So like, like, let's, I want to like kind of take a little bit of a step back and I want to zoom out and I want to look at what this move really creates

for the Lakers in terms of their playoff upside, right? So like we can all acknowledge that this team isn't, winning anything unless LeBron James, Austin Reeves, and Anthony Davis are all playing at a super high level on offense. It goes without saying, we just have to acknowledge that, right? We kind of removed the possibility of a superstar trade. Once you take that out of the equation, it's like

if this team's going anywhere, LeBron, Austin, and AD have to reach a certain level offensively. I think they can't. As recently as last year in the playoffs, in that first round series against Denver, I thought they were playing at that level. It was the surrounding talent around them that let them down. They struggled tracking shooters. They struggled rebounding.

There were a bunch of specific issues with role players. That's where I really like the idea of Bruce Brown. He will embrace a bench roll, meaning if you want to start Max, you still have that option. He's a monster rebounder for his size. It gets seven rebounds per 36 minutes so far this season. He's averaging 6.1 rebounds per 36 minutes in his career. So at his size, a very good rebounder. He's good at defending opposing guards, but he has some switchability.

he's actually hit five out of ten on guarded catch and shoot jump shots so far this year. Again, that's a low sample size, but he's a, I think a guy that can be functional on the offensive end of the floor. So you're bringing back a playoff rotation piece in Bruce Brown for a guy in Rui Hachamuro really struggled in the Nugget series last year. So it's kind of a swapping a less reliable playoff player for a more reliable playoff player. Walker Kessler, though, is the option where I see a real upside in terms of playoff, optionality, right? So when you look at the playoffs and you look at the types of teams that have massive front lines,

whether it's the Nuggets with Aaron Gordon and Nicole Yokic with Michael Porter Jr. Or it's the clippers just with how big Zubotches, right, and what Kauai Leonard can do. The Grizzlies who run a lot of two big looks, the Timberwolves who run a lot of two big looks. There are specific teams that you're run into in the playoffs where you might have to match up with size and physicality. some of those teams have centers that Anthony Davis has struggled with straight up. Anthony Davis has struggled with Zubat straight up. He's struggled with Nicole Yokic straight up, right? So like by having a bigger look, by having the ability to put together front lines of LeBron, James, Anthony Davis, and Walker Kessler together,

you at least give yourself an option in those settings to match physicality for physicality. You may be better off going small, but at least you'll have that optionality. An example that I would give you is like, do you remember when the Lakers tried putting Rui Hachemura on Nicole Yokic? And Yokic has dealt with the center guarding Aaron Gordon before and he's dealt with that well. So I don't want to sit here and pretend like it's some sort of magic fix for how to deal with the Denver Nuggets. But Yokish was just too good at shoving Rui Hachemur wherever he wanted to get to and just scoring on him, right? If you try Walker Kessler in that spot and Walker Kessler is on Yokic, he's going to have a better opportunity to fight Yokic off spots with Anthony Davis and help on the backline. It's a look. It's about having a look.

But Walker Kessler also provides that optionality in the regular season, right? Like the ability to rest Anthony Davis. Walker Kessler can be a starting center in this league. He immediately gives you a better floor in the regular season when you rest AD, which brings me to the final piece of this. There's a real regular season upside, especially when you factor in the Colin Sexton edition. So Colin Sexton is a guy that can step into a high usage role. He gives you a better chance to win if you give Austin Reeves a night off

or if you give LeBron James a night off. So if I look at these two deals in the short term, in the regular season, we need to get to April, mid-April with LeBron and AD and Austin ready to go. If Austin needs a night off, LeBron needs a night off, Anthony Davis needs a night off. Colin Sexton and Walker Kessler give you a substantially better option to win on those nights when you're giving guys a night off. Fast forward to the postseason, Bruce Brown gives you a clear closing five when the shit hits the fan, and Walker Kessler gives you a big look that you can use against some of the massive front lines around the NBA.

So again, it anchors the core three, Austin LeBron and AD, with the best possible group of role player talent that you can't. within the short term because this might be your last best chance to win a title and right now it looks like a very very slim chance right this might be your last chance that anchors those three with solid role player talent that puts the outcome of the season in lebron ad and austin's hands it's on them to figure it out at that point i think i think that's the responsibility that the front office has here is to at least put the outcome in their hands and with the giant holes in role player talent It doesn't really feel like it's in their hands. This is a way to appease that.

Now, I would rather have had this sort of deal done last year when LeBron and AD looked like better players, but better late than never, I suppose. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news.

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth.

He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president. of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life.

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Number three, our third trade of the day. What if the Houston Rockets got Zach Levine? The way this deal would look is Fred Van Vleet for Zach Levine straight up. It shouldn't take much of anything in the way of draft compensation just simply because Fred Van Vleet has one fewer year on his deal. But even if the Rockets did have to include some. draft compensation. They just have so, like, I think they have 10 first round draft picks between now and 2031. So they, they could throw in some second round draft compensation or maybe a heavily

protected first or something like that if that's what they wanted to do to make something like this happen. But I've talked all this year about how the Rockets have a shot creation problem. I think they're a bit closer to legit championship contention than people realize. They're so big and physical on the perimeter. And that's just such an important part of playoff basketball, pressuring the ball, being physical, rebounding, all. those sorts of things are what carries you when you get into the postseason and things get really ugly and physical. The Rockets are the third best defense in the league. They are the very best rebounding team in the league. All of that translates to the upper levels of competition. They're

11 and 4 this year against teams that are in the top 10 in point differential. That ranks just second in the league to the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have the second best record in basketball against the top 10 teams in the league. They're top five in both offense and defensive efficiency in those situations. There's a lot of upside, but there's one big downside. Their offense has had a tendency to break down, especially in clutch situations. They are 25th in fourth quarter offensive rating and 18th in clutch offensive rating. They've dropped nine games in the clutch this year. And in those nine losses, they've had just a 94 offensive rating in clutch time in those games. There's been a pretty consistent through line with their offense between the success of Fred Van Vleet

and Jalen Green and whether or not they can win games. games. When Jalen Green scores 30 or more points this year, they're undefeated. I think he has eight 30-point games this year. Just look back through their recent losses. When they lost to Detroit, Fred Van Vleet and Jalen Green, 39 total points on 36 shots. The loss of Sacramento, Fred Van Vleet, didn't play, although that was more of a shootout between those two teams. The loss of the Boston Celtics, Fred Van Vleet, only at eight points. The loss to Miami, Fred Van Vleet and Jalen Green combined for 35 points and 37 shots. You guys get the point. This is an elite, physical, playoff-built roster,

but they have shaky perimeter shot creators, especially when things slow down at the end of games. A Zach Levine trade accomplishes two very important goals for the Rockets. One, it capitalizes on the short-term opportunity, while also maintaining the long-term flexibility. In the short term, Zach is just a much better offensive player than Fred Van Blee. Fred is averaging 15 points per game on below 40% from the 4%. field, field goal percentage.

52% true shooting. Zach Levine has 13, 30-point games this year. That is four more than Fred and Jalen have had combined this season. Fred's had one, Jalen's had eight. Zach Levine's had 13. He's averaging 24 points per game on 64% true shooting. How many players in the league this year? Do you think there are that are averaging at least 24 points per game

on at least 50% from the field and at least 40% from 3. Pretty low parameters. 24 points per game, 50, 40. There's three guys in the entire league. Nicole Yokic, Carl Anthony Towns, and Zach Levine. He is the type of offensive threat that could give this group, this elite defensive and rebounding group,

real championship upside. Especially in the context of how well Jaylon Green's been playing as of late. He's averaging 29 points per game on 52% from the field, 49% from 3 and 92% from the line in his last nine games. Give Zach and Jalen that type of group of athletes that defend and that rebound, and you have some real upside in the short term. The same upside that we've seen manifest in this regular season

as they've been beating a lot of really good teams this year. So I really like it as a short-term gamble, but in the long run, you're still staying committed to the long-term potential of this group. You're not trading Jalen Green. who's been playing great. I talked about him the other day. Like, Jalen Green to me represents a kind of player that's really difficult to give up on

as like a bigger freaky athlete shot creator. There's this thing where like these small freaky athlete guards that have a certain ceiling when they get into the NBA. But when you're like Jalen Green, like when you're over 6'4 and you're freaky athletic like that,

it just comes with a, another layer of the ability to get free from elite NBA defenders. And that's really the thing that I noticed when I watch it. When things get really tight, Jalen Green can get to his spots. And he's got the ability to make shots as he's demonstrated in this recent stretch, right? And throughout the season from time to time, right? So I like Jalen Green as a guy that the Rockets should continue to take a bet on. But you're giving up a guy in Fred Van Vleet that does not fit into the long-term potential of this group. Now, I've heard some talk behind the scenes from

people that think that it's more likely that Houston tries to re-up with Fred at a discounted deal, something in that like $20 million range for a certain number of years. And maybe that's the direction they decide to go. I think that's just this punting on this season. What I like about the type of deal that is Zach Levine deal does for you is yes, you take on one additional year of salary over what the Fred Van Bleet deal has, but you might be able to, first of all, you might be able to negotiate a similar type of extension with him that you could with Fred Van Vleet. And then secondly, You're not giving up any sort of big picture asset that's going to alter the long-term potential of this team.

So you're not including one of your really nice young players, like a men Thompson. You're not including massive amounts of first-round draft compensation. You still have the flexibility to make a home run trade for somebody like a Kevin Durant or something like that down the line. Hell, you might be able to use Zach Levine salary to pull that off if you end up in that position. It is an instant upgrade that gives you the ability to win in the context of this season while maintaining the big picture flexibility you have as a team that has a ton of potential.

A team that's a second seat in the West with a ton of talent and a ton of draft picks in the hopper ready to go when the time comes. I like that as a deal that capitalizes on the short-term potential while maintaining the long-term flexibility. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. we'll be back tomorrow with some really good game reaction content. Several really interesting NBA games on tonight.

The Celtics are on the road in Los Angeles against the Clippers. I think the Warriors are on the road in Sacramento against the Kings. I want to say it's Cavs Rockets is another one that we got. There's a lot of really good games. So we're going to switch back towards game reaction content tomorrow. But that's all I have for you guys. Appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow.

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If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to him. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of family secrets. He kind of showed me out of the way and said,

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