The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - WHO SAYS NO: LeBron James to Warriors, Jimmy Butler & picks to Lakers | NBA Mailbag

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Jason answers NBA mailbag questions from subscribers including how a trade sending LeBron James to the Golden State Warriors and Jimmy Butler to the Los Angeles Lakers would look, and how it would affect Steph Curry. He also discusses Luka Doncic's defense, superstar player movement, whether the Detroit Pistons should make a trade at the NBA trade deadline, and more. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet.  #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? 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. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis'clock, 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 shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off.

And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. Welcome to Hoops Tonight here at The Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. As promise, we're getting to your mailbag questions today. Got a bunch of questions from around the league.

It's going to be fun. Can't wait to get into it. You guys know the Joe before we get started. Subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Excuse me. Don't forget to like this video. That helps us a lot. And the last minute, at least, if you want to get mailbag questions into our future mailbags,

just find our full episodes on YouTube. go into the comments, put mailbag with a colon, write your question. We'll get to them. Usually on Fridays, it's just a little different because I've got some friends in town to ski this week. But usually on Fridays we'll have mailbags throughout the rest of the season. That's how you get questions in. All right, let's talk some basketball. So our first mailbag question. This one is kind of funny. Who says no? The Lakers send LeBron James and Bronny James, and the Warriors send Jimmy Butler, Will Richard, and a 2028 first round pick. So, I don't know if anybody says no to this deal other than maybe LeBron. The tricky thing

with this is like, if I'm the Warriors, I'm turning a massive salary slot with a torn ACL into LeBron James, who's been very much LeBron Jamesy over the course of the last month and a half or so, and a guy that immediately puts the Warriors back on the map as a championship contender within this season. Ronnie James is just, you know, a throw-in, obviously. If you're the Lakers, you get Will Richard, who is the type of player that they need, just a guard with some athleticism who can dribble shoot and pass. So like for the Lakers, that's amazing. In a first round pick, turning 41-year-old LeBron into a first-round pick.

Like, wow, right? I think, I think, again, the number one thing that would kill this deal is probably LeBron not wanting to pick up and move his family in the middle of the season. But overall, we did see some discussion. I saw a report that came out that the Warriors want to get Janus and LeBron after this year. We talked yesterday about all of the specific reasons why making a deal for Janus is so difficult. If you do it by including Jimmy, I don't know why Milwaukee would take on Jimmy's contract unless you just had a ton of draft compensation.

And if you send every pick that you've got, you're just putting a lot of eggs in that basket. And I'm still not sure that's enough to compete with some of the offers they would get from around the league. So that gets tough. And if you don't include Jimmy, you have to bring a third. team in to take on buddy healed salary. If you do that, now you're sending another piece of draft compensation in that direction, which lessens the amount of picks that you can send towards Milwaukee. So like, Janus is just extremely difficult, but strictly speaking about LeBron, because while I do think that this is unlikely, and by the way, the framework, I think makes sense

for both teams. I think the Warriors would love to have LeBron. And I think the Lakers would love to have a first round pick and a two-way guard for their 41-year-old star that they're playing and on losing over the next couple years. So the framework you put together, I think makes a lot of sense. But I just think it's unlikely that LeBron allows a trade within the season. So more looking at the bigger picture. I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that LeBron goes to Golden State in the summer. If LeBron is out a complete unrestricted free agent after this year, you can sign with the Warriors on a mid-level exception. You could sign with the Warriors on a veteran minimum, right? Like, you can sign with the Warriors in a variety of

ways. And if he did, you start the season with all of the young players that they have and, you know, Steph and Dremont and Al Horford and everything that they have this season. But then maybe in January of 2027, Jimmy Butler comes back and all of a sudden you got Steph, Jimmy and LeBron and Dremont trying to go and win some playoff series. Like, I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility. I think LeBron is a wonderful basketball fit with Golden State. I think if you don't think Steph and LeBron wouldn't figure out a way to do a lot of damage to the NBA. Of course they would, even at their ages. And so even though your trade, I think, is somewhat unrealistic just on its face because of the, uh, uh, uh, LeBron's no trade clause, I think after

this season, it's something that is like a legitimate possibility. And as a basketball fan, I would certainly really like to see LeBron and Steph play together. Hello, Jason, mailback question for you. If you're the Pistons front office and obviously the way that they've been dominant as the first seat in the east, do you consider, them standing pat and letting this play out and see how far this goes in the playoffs or where they try making a difference making move for a player like lorry markanin and tray murphy or michael porter junior enjoy watching your shows and your basketball analysis thank you so much for the kind words and for supporting the show so i got a lot of pushback from pistons fans in our eastern conference

trade preview talking about how like i say is like this indiscible rotation player and this and this guy's going to cost this much and all this kind of stuff i think that fans, at least from what I'm seeing in the comments. And I'm not saying all of you guys are like this. But I think some of you guys are falling into a classic trap from the young team that figures it out in the first season. So like, for example, take the thunder this year. The thunder this season, Shea is much better than he was last year. He's gone up a massive level in terms of his efficiency and just his floor management and she's just really damn good. Chet substantially better than last year. A.J. Mitchell has exploded. onto the scene. There are a lot of things with Oklahoma City that is just better than it was last year.

The only real negative has just been Jalen Williams's injuries, but that's been part of what's allowed A.J. Mitchell to kind of pop onto the scene. They have a lower winning percentage than last year. Because when you're for the first time ever crushing everybody, it's fun. And you're in the grind of the regular season and you're winning and you're winning and you're winning and you're winning. You get addicted to winning and it all just kind of racks up. And then inevitably what happens is you go into a playoff series and you realize really quickly, oh shit, we're down 2-1 to Denver. Oh, shit, we're down to one to one to Indiana. No one gives a damn that we won 68 games. You got to win these two-week playoff series against these teams. And then all of a sudden you end up back in December and back in

January. And you're like, ugh, another game. Shit, we got to, the Pacers are like, like picking us up full court and like we're dealing with this big pain in the ass pacer's team and like no one's going to care if we beat them and you end up losing a game. That game against the Pacers is a game that the Thunder do not lose last year. But they like last year the Thunder were 29 and one versus the Eastern Conference and they barely lost a game in Cleveland against the Cavs. They already have three losses to the East this season. So the point I'm trying to make is the Pissons right now are in that phase where they're young and athletic and they're playing super hard every single night and they're racking up regular season wins. And then what's going to

happen is they're going to end up in a tough playoff series and they're going to be down to one to somebody. And it's going to be like, oh shit, no one cares that we won 62 games this year. No one cares. And then all of a sudden, after they lose, they'll be in December, January next season. And all of a sudden like, you know, Jason Tatum's back in the equation, Tyrese Halliburton's back in the equation and they're not going to be, you know, 38 and 10 or whatever it is they are at this point in time. They're going to be something a little bit less than that because a lot of teams in this cycle, Minnesota was a great example to the other couple years ago. Minnesota has this kick-ass regular season. It's all the same dudes. It's even better. You add Dante

Devenzo. Julius Randall's been a better fit than cat. All these things have gone their way, but they haven't been able to recapture the level of intensity they had in the regular season that first year, right? And you can find examples like that all the way down the line. The early John Moran, Desmond Bayne, Jaron Jackson, Memphis Grizzlies teams, for example. Like, it just, it's, it's very common for a young, talented team to have a regular season where they kick everyone's ass, and that doesn't necessarily mean that they're ready to compete for a championship just yet. So when I look at the Pistons, you want to know why I'm high on the Pistons? It's not because they're the one seat in the east.

It's not because their record is that of the, you know, the hallmark that we typically see with championship contenders. I'm high on the pistons because of what I see in the basketball, because I believe in Kate Cunningham as an offensive engine and the improvements he's made in crunch time this year that have been a problem in the past. Because I love how physically dominant their front line is and how they could just bully teams and how that's just one series before.

I've watched the Knicks beat the, the Cavs a couple of years back, literally just because Mitchell Robinson beat the shit out of Jared Allen and Evan Mowbly in a playoff series because he's too physically strong for them. And his rim protection was a problem for Evan Mowgli on short roles, right? Like, I've seen Detroit cause problems for the Knicks because of their massive physical front line. Like, I'm a big believer in what that does in the postseason. I'm a big believer in their depth of perimeter defense talent, how they get into the basketball and they're just a 48 minutes of ball pressure type of team that make you super uncomfortable

and they never really let up, right? Like those are the reasons why I'm high on Detroit. Like, it's, I'm always looking at these teams through the lens of what a playoff series would look like. And what I see right now with the pistons in a playoff series is when they get into these slow down half-court environments, they don't have enough scoring gravity on the weak side of the floor. They just don't.

And so having a Michael Porter Jr. or a Trey Murphy or a Lori Markan, instead of Tobias Harris. Even though Tobias has done a lot of good this year. Tobias's attacked post that mismatches. He's had games where he shot the ball really well. He's a better perimeter defender than any of those three guys. You have other perimeter defenders who can do those jobs. Isaiah Stewart, it's a depth piece.

Yeah, if you want to go get a super talented starting caliber power forward, it might cost you a little bit of depth. You know, you might have to lean on Paul Reed more in a playoff series if Isaiah Stewart goes out. These are all things that are worth discussing, but the point I'm trying to make is when I look at the pistons, even though their record is amazing, I look at them as a team that still needs that weak side scoring gravity.

And if they have that, I take them much more seriously because I do believe in their shot creation. And I do believe in their front line and how it can bully the shit out of people. And I do believe in their depth of perimeter defense talent. I'm seeing a gaping hole in that weak side. scoring gravity. And I just think having a more dynamic shooter in the Tobias Harris role is the

kind of move that would push that team over the top. How far out do you think the Blazers are for making a possible conference finals run? How much of a ceiling razor would Dame be if he came back in time for the playoffs for this current squad? So I think there are a few years away from a conference finals run, but there's a lot to be really excited about if you're a Blazers fan. And I think this next few years, is going to be a ton of fun because it can kind of go in a million directions, and I don't think that there's a ceiling

that I'm personally comfortable putting on them at this point. I don't, they have a lot of talent and they're already pretty darn good. And like when you really dig into it, it's like, they have a lot of young guys who have a lot of potential

for internal improvement over the coming years. Their center rotation. Basically everybody, but Robert Williams is going to make dramatic improvements in the coming seasons. Shading Sharp,

I talked consistent, about how my issue with him was just efficiency. Like he was putting the shots up. He wouldn't knock him down consistently. He's been much more consistent and efficient as of late. At the time of this recording, again, Saturday the 24th, he's at 20 plus and nine of his last 10 games. He's averaging 24 points per game in that span on 48% from the field and 39% from 3.

If Shaden gets to the point where that's not a two week, three week span, but it's a two, three month span and then a two, three season span, we're talking about a guy that could be potentially the second best player on a championship team. Like, that's the level of potential a guy like Shaden Sharp has. Denny Avdia, you guys know how high I am on him. He still has room to improve as a pull-up shooter. We've talked about how he can be kind of hitchy and he leaves a lot of his pull-up

jump shots short off of the front of the rim. Tamani Kamaro keeps adding more offensive polish each year. This is a team that has a lot of potential for internal improvement in they're already good. And as far as the vets, like Dame, or I'd even include Drew Holiday in this, because of Dame's injury history and how much he loves Portland, and because Drew Holiday's contract is borderline untradable, I think both of those guys are going to be around for a few years. And if they're going to be around for a few years,

you have that support, the veteran support behind the young talent. Who knows what Scoot Henderson will become in the coming seasons. Again, it's going to be fun because there's a million directions this can go. And even if two of those guys don't really improve that much, if the other two do, that could be enough to push this team over the top. I did get a kick out of the Washington, uh, um,

uh, I did get a kick out of the, uh, quote from Washington's GM about trading Denia obdia and how he felt like they made the right decision. I thought that was funny. Today show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet,

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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did 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 was... 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.

but we 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 Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, Michael'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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen, kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

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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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck.

Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. When you're evaluating a player, when you're evaluating how a player will do against a specific team, what are you looking at? The player position, play types, primary shot locations, or if a combo would you,

or if a combo would you be willing to share everything you value? Thanks, great show. Appreciate the content. So the way I interpret this question is basically to mean like, if I'm looking at like playoff series scouting and I want to see how this playoff. will look in this matchup, what am I looking at? There's two main things that I look at. There's coverage compatibility and then physical compatibility.

So, for instance, coverage compatibility. If there's a player out there to take Tyler Harrow, hero or Trey Young, for example, those are guys that thrive against drop coverage. And if they're playing against a team that's going to run a lot of drop coverage, I might feel more comfortable with them in that matchup. Whereas if they're playing against a team that does a bunch of switching, you know, different story, right?

Across the board as we go to different ball handlers, like, oh, this guy is going to struggle against this type of defense. This guy is going to struggle against that type of defense. Those are the kinds of things that I'm going to look at. For instance, with Oklahoma City, if you don't have a certain amount of physical size and playmaking talent, I don't like your matchup against Oklahoma City because they're so quick and so fast and so into the basketball, they'll just turn you over a million times. If you're not strong enough to hold off their guards and calm enough to process and pass through their defense, right? The physical dynamic is really the fun one for me

because it just kind of like has always been a big part of the way I see the game of basketball. Essentially like, can that dude guard me? Right? Like it doesn't matter how good a defensive player is in the large conversation surrounding his placement in the league. Like take for example, Jaden McDaniels in the table, 24 Western Conference Finals against Luca.

That is one of the very best apex perimeter defenders in the league. Too skinny for Luca. Luca just threw him around, got wherever he wanted. And the one time they played this year when he was in shape, he threw him around. It was last year when he was fat, Luca, that Jayden didn't really have too much trouble with it. But essentially the point that I'm trying to make is, is like, if I see a guy that's like, okay, he's a good perimeter defender, but he's too slow for Tyrese Mast.

or he's a good perimeter defender, but he's too skinny for Luca or he's too skinny for Kauai or whoever it might be. You know, Shea, Jade McDaniels also struggle with Shea. Like, Shea was too low to the ground and too good at beating his ball pressure, like even 30, 40 feet away from the basket, right? Like, there's a lot of like different physical dynamics I'm looking at with matchups. And if I look at a team and I go, okay, this team has a better record, but the team they're playing has a guy that thrives against their defense. of coverage and he has a physical advantage versus their primary perimeter defenders, that's going to be a thing I look at and go like, oh, well, this would be prime candidate for

an upset because even though they have a better record, this guy's got some clear advantages against their coverages and against their defenders that are going to work really well. So those are the kinds of things that I look at. Hi, Jason, big fan of the show. Curious your shots on your thoughts on this. Have teams do baseball style games, meaning have the spurs play the thunder back to back at the spurs? And then later on in the season back to back of the thunder, you decrease traffic.

time, you get increased competition because the team that loss will be salty and get closer to the playoff game like planning because you face opponents twice. They're basically already doing this. Again, a perfect example of this was just this last weekend with Minnesota versus Golden State. It's a back-to-back. It would have been not a back-to-back if it wasn't for the shooting, but like you have Minnesota at home for two games against Golden State. That was a big thing after COVID was the league started changing the schedule to add more of those baseball-style series to make the travel schedule later. Next question.

Big fan, let me mention that I am from Slovenia, therefore a Luca fan. I wonder why I don't hear any stat-based facts about Luca's defense. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Luca is in the top five players in the number of dealing, in the number of defending isolations, and his percentage of points allowed is around 42%, which is below league average.

I would like to hear more about this topic. First of all, thank you for just being a reasonable Luca fan. I have so many crazy Luca fans when I mentions that, because I criticize him from time to time, just take it personally for some reason and it becomes a big problem. I talk about all of the stars when it comes to the top. Like, Yokic is the definitive best player in the world. Go talk about Nuggets fans about how I talked about his defense against Minnesota in 2020, 2024, or that year that he couldn't make a three-point shot to save his life.

I think it was the same season. Like, I am critical of the top-tier superstars because I hold them to a very different standard than I do the rest of the league. because now we're talking about the sacred belt of the NBA. Who's the best player in the world? That is a very like kind of historical conversation surrounding basketball fans. We love to talk about this. You know, MJ's the goat. LeBron's the goat.

Like these are the kinds of debates we have. And when we're talking about that caliber of player, it comes hand in hand with criticism because of the standard that you're trying to meet. So seeing a Luca fan that can have a reasonable conversation surrounding Luca, I do sincerely appreciate that. As far as the defense set, two things that I want to get into. One, defensive metrics in general are flawed. So two different ways of looking at it.

One, catch-all metrics in general are flawed, but they're especially flawed on the defensive end. So like, you know, defensive box plus minus, for example, or D-Lebron or whatever. Like that kind of from B-ball index. Those kinds of things, they're just incredibly incapable of capturing the entirety of a basketball game. It's just there's too many moving parts.

too many variables to synthesize a player's impact down to one number. You'll notice I never use catch-all metrics on the show. It's like a personal, it's like a personal, like standard of mind. I just don't, I don't believe in them. I don't believe in their ability to capture the game of basketball. I just don't, I think it's basketball's way more art than science in general. I'm a big believer in using metrics. You guys will see me use metrics all the time, but I'm usually looking at very refined metrics.

Now, specifically defensive metrics surrounding isolations. So when I look at isolation metrics on offense, there's two different ways that I look at them. There's the regular standard isolation tracking from Synergy, for example, which is like shot attempts and fouls drawn and turnovers in ISO. I will look at that sometimes strictly as a measure of shot making. Like, oh, this guy hits, when he takes an ISO 3, he hits 36% of them. You know, there's some value there where like, that's how well this guy shoots if he's attacking a switch and he takes a pull up 3. But even then, I don't use that metric as much as I do the isolation, including passes

metric. Isolation including passes, the way that will track is like, if I beat the guy one on one, it counts. But if I go to beat the guy one on one and a double comes and I throw a swing pass and he hits a three, or if I beat him off the dribble and make the next pass and that guy hits the shot, they will count that as an isolation including the pass, right? The tricky thing is, I have not seen anywhere that tracks defensive players, isolation, and passes. So, yes, when a defender shoots on Luca, he's actually performing pretty well statistically,

but that literally does not count any of the possessions where Luca gives up a drive. If Luca gives up a drive and he kicks to a wide open shooter and he knocks down a three, that's not being tracked there. And I have yet to find a place that does track that. Even Synergy, which is like one of the most, like, wide-ranging statistical platforms in the world, it's a workhorse for me with this job,

Synergy doesn't even track it. So they only track that for offensive players, not for defensive players. So until we see a metric that accurately captures the drives that Luca gives up on ISOs, because you and I both know, like Luca will sometimes be an ISO

and the dude will just go right around him. And sometimes that dude doesn't get a layup. Sometimes that dude drops it off to a big man for a dunk. Sometimes that dude kicks it out to the three point line. Sometimes the defense gets in rotation. and it gets moved two or three times before someone makes a shot. And so I will say, like, the Luca defense has been substantially better recently. I think in general, since Christmas Day, the entire Laker team has been defending much better.

Since Christmas Day, at the time of this recording on January 24th, I think they were seventh in defensive rating in the second halves of games. So they've been really active in the second halves of games defensively. but I don't look at really any defensive metrics in terms of whether or not a guy whether or not a guy is getting a catch-all defensive metric or an individual isolation metric. Those are just really difficult track. When it comes to defensive scouting, it's the one thing I really, like, I can look up numbers to get information on just about everything else.

Like, I can look up a guy's catch-and-shoot three-point percentage when he's guarded versus unguarded. I can get a guy's pick and roll efficiency, including passes. There's a lot of data I can get there. The defensive data, I really don't trust. So, like, when I'm scouting defensive players, it's a lot of film. It's a lot of just digging into the tape and seeing the specific things that they're doing defensively. And I will say that Luca has been better defensively since Christmas Day. Hi, Jason, love the show. You've covered your reasons for moving to Colorado a few times, but if you had to convince someone to move there as well, what's your pitch. I'm a college student looking for potential destinations to move after college and that area

does appeal to me. So I feel like I'm a little underqualified to talk about this because I've only been living here for like six months and change. But the obvious stuff, if you like doing anything outdoors, whether that's skiing, whether that's hiking, whether that's biking, whether that's fishing, whether that's literally golfing, like anything outdoors, it's just one of the absolute the best places in the world to live because you have world class skiing, world class hiking, world class fishing, unbelievable golf, all of it is just right around. There's something to do all year round. It's also, and this is one of the other parts that I think are underrated about it. Like, I moved up here thinking it was going to be super, super cold and don't get me wrong,

it's been a warmer than usual winter, although right now it's like 10 degrees outside. It's super cold day here on Saturday in Denver. But the thing with the weather here is this is very mild. The summers get warm, but they don't get super, super hot. And the winters get cold, but you're not going to get the negative 20 degree exploding tree shit that you get around Chicago, right? So it's like generally mild and it's very dry. I was actually really surprised by this. Tucson, where I'm from in Arizona, gets 12 inches of rain a year.

Littleton, where I live right now in southwest Colorado or southwest Denver, they get 18 inches of rain a year. So it's like relatively dry. I have been amazed since I moved here in July at how many days I look at, outside and I'm like, that's sunny and 75 degrees. There's just a lot of days like that. So the weather's incredible. There's a ton of outdoors activities to do. It's a big enough city that if you're in any big city shit, whether that's sporting events, concerts, you know, obviously we've got some of the best concert venues in the world here, including Red Rocks,

you know, bar and restaurants scene, all that kind of stuff. There's one of the five biggest dinosaur museums in the world or in the country here that I really like to go see the Denver. It's just right in downtown Denver. There's all sorts of big city shit. it to do. And the people are all super nice. So like, I've really enjoyed it so far. Whether or not we stay here in the long run, I think more comes down to just our kind of situation in missing family and friends and whether or not we decide we want to put down roots in Tucson or not in the long run. But in the meantime, for the years that we live here, my wife and I have really liked it. Do you have any particular thoughts on the change in free agency from massive superstars changing

teams to now when I only see role players changing teams if another team is willing to overpay for them. I think it's neat to see these homegrown high chemistry teams, but it's also a bit boring and odd when all NBA players don't want to leave in free agency to collect a Supermax, but I don't want to see, but I don't want to stay on a team either. Any other thoughts on the recent rule changes like the second apron and so on? So I think that there's two different ways to look at this. There's when it comes to the player movement piece being restricted, talking about like the second apron, for example. trades are just harder to do.

Having less turnover might have long-term benefits in the form of, like, more involved fan bases. So if there's less roster turnover and your local basketball team looks more or less the same for about five years, there's a lot of investment emotionally in the team. And that can build local fan bases really well. I think that's one of the strengths of baseball, for example. They just have these remarkably loyal, local fan bases. The tricky thing is if you make it very difficult to make trades and you restrict player

movement, you lose some of the intrigue that's around the NBA. Now, I just like everyone else, thinks that the NBA can be a little too much of a soap opera sometimes and it's a little too much drama, player movement. This guy requested a trade. This guy, that, this guy, this. That does take away from the pure love of the game. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that that doesn't. exist. But that stuff does drive interest. It just does. Like guys, like after Luca got traded to

the Lakers last year, all of the interest in the league exploded. So we can, we can pretend like that stuff is not necessary for the league, but it kind of is a little bit. And so I do wonder if the league kind of over indexed on, on kind of like restricting player movement to the point where there is like these longer termed rosters that are building more local support, but you're not getting some of that intrigue on the day-to-day kind of transaction cycle, if that makes sense. The second piece of it, when it comes to like the, I've called pre-agency or the unwillingness of all NBA players to get to free agency, to me, that's more like with how bad the

injuries have been, the Achilles tears, the hamstring strains, all these different things that can knock you out for extended people. periods of time, I think players just want to take the security financially. Like they just look at the situation and they go, I got to take the money. I got to take the money because what if I tear my knee up tomorrow? Yeah, am I sure I want to be with this team for five years? No, but like if I go to free agency and I get hurt, I'm fucked, right? So like, I don't blame the players for taking that angle because I just think it's the

kind of safest thing for them to do with the potential for injury. Last question. Why don't the rebuilding teams ever try to make moves to win? For example, why doesn't a team like the Wizards ever try to overpay for a superstar and then build around them? I'm completely baffled how a team cannot even have desires of competing from playing after decades of losing. So it's tricky because, so for instance, like let's say Janus, for example, like if the Wizards tried to make a deal for Janus. If Janus is unhappy in Milwaukee, do you think he's not going to be unhappy in Washington? You know, right?

Like, so if you're going to make a trade for a star, you've got to have them be willing to buy in and commit. to your team after you get them. And there's really only two ways you can do that. You can either present to them a clear-cut chance to compete for a championship or present some sort of other reason for them to stay, whether it's they really like that city or maybe you just have a really strong basketball culture. Like, yeah, like, if, let's say, say, for example, if Washington made a trade for Yonis,

they would have to, let's say they made a trade at this deadline. they would have to, within the next few months, convince Janus that this is where he wants to be, right? Even though they're not competing. And it just would be really hard to do so. And that's why superstar trades are so hard to do, right? You got to have the perfect storm of, like, a team that has the assets to actually get the player,

but that can present something to the player after those assets that are sent out that are more appealing to them than the situation he was just in. That's what makes superstar trades hard, and that's why we don't see them every single one, right? All right, guys, it's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We get to ask other people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until 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 shoved me out of the way and said, move.

And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car. and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.