The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Thoughts on the NBA Draft

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Colin analyzes the first round of the NBA draft telling you who in addition to Duke’s Cooper Flagg will make an immediate impact in their rookie seasons He shares the 7 un-tradable players in American sports right now and why Lamar Jackson didn’t make the listSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, here we go. It is a Thursday, the day after the NBA draft. Everybody's trying to size it up. We are live. It's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.

J. Mack, good to have you back. John Middletoff filled in, great guy. J. Mack is back after hanging out with the kids and doing some, you know, parent and stuff. That's the way it works. It was, NBA draft is funny because unlike the NFL draft, it's just all projection, right? Like, you're just kind of, you're kind of guessing because everybody's so young. I don't know how I, you know, it's, I don't have a, I'm supposed to have really strong takes.

The NBA draft is one of the things that everybody has strong takes on, and my take is who can tell, right? Yeah, I mean, the Brooklyn Nets had five first round picks. Everybody was expecting a trade. They take five guys. Like, who knows what they're going to be next to you? All right. So my take is there's two guys in this draft that you will see immediately. and that's because they're going to good teams.

Cooper flagged in Dallas, he's going to score 18 to 20 a game, I think, very quickly, and he'll be on a good team. I think Dallas is really good. And I think Vijay Edgecombe, who goes to the Sixers, again, it's a good roster, good GM, good coach. That kid jumps off the television. NBA skills, athletic traits, those guys will play that. Dylan Harper goes number two.

I think he has a great future, but I think it's going to take him a while to kind of figure out he's young, figure out his fit with San Antonio. But in the NFL draft, you are plugging in holes immediately, often with second, third, fourth, fifth rounders. That's why with this draft, I can't get too high, I can't get too low. I mean, for God's sakes, I'm told Portland drafted me. So who knows?

SGA went 11th. He was the finals MVP. Yokic went second round. So did Draymond Green. Yonis went 15th. I think Kauai went 15th. Halliburton went 12th by Sacramento. So one or two times a year, it's not just projection, or if it is, they go to good teams,

you'll see them play. But if you go back 20 years, there's only been two number one picks who have been MVP's. One's obviously the brawn and then Derek Rose. I do think this. I thought San Antonio kind of crushed it. And my take is it used to be in the seven. and 80s. If you had a dominant center, a Wilt, a Kareem, a Bill Walton, you could win a championship.

And then in the 80s and 90s, it was like even Michael Jordan needed a Hall of Fame level number two. You know, Shaq and Kobe, and it's Jordan and Pippen, and it's Duncan and Parker. And then you could stack teams for a few years. And the NBA didn't like that, right? Kevin Durant, stuff, people didn't like that. Now I think we've moved into a different area. I would call it the core four. Because of the new CBA and aprons, you can't stack it with all stars. You have to draft and develop. So for instance, I would say, Indiana's got Halliburton when he comes back, Pascal C. Aukham, Rim Protector, Miles Turner, and Emhart. I think Orlando's got a really, really good core four. Bangcaro, Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and they

got Bain from Memphis. OKC. Lou Dort, who I think is undrafted, SGA, Chet Holmgren, and J-dub. I think the Spurs now have a really, really good core for it. So Wembe's your size, he'll be scoring size block shots. Stefan Castle is going to be defense and distribution. And then they go get Dylan Harper number two. I think by his second year in the NBA, he's going to be a real score. And then they got Carter Bryant.

Carter Bryant's the guy I talked about for the last month. He's the one guy I think is a bit underrated in the draft. I don't know if Carter Bryant's going to be a good NBA score, but that dude is long from Arizona, and he is going to defend day one. Like, he's disruptive. But, you know, I look at international guys. I look at domestic guys, 18 years old.

Remember, women mature more quickly than boys. I mean, a lot of parents have a teenage son at 17. Are they going to be valedictorian, or are you going to be getting them out of juvie? You really don't know. By 15 years old, you get a sense what your daughter is. So I don't know what to do with the NBA draft. Rick, I do think there's two guys that will come in, good teams, Cooper Flag, VJ Edgecombe, jump off the TV. We all watch them in March.

We all know they can play because they're on good teams that will make the playoffs. Cooper will make it in Dallas. VJ will make it in Philadelphia in the East. Here's Rick Bettino on both yesterday. Well, he's physically ready. He's extremely athletic. He shoots the basketball. He's a tough young man.

And he's maybe one of like three players that are ready to have an impact right away for the Dallas Mavericks. He's ready for the NBA, and I think he'll be an impact basketball player right away. So you faced V.J. Edgecombe from Baylor. Okay, what did you see that you like as a pro, and is there anything he needs to work on as a pro? VJ is a tremendous athlete. Fast. He plays way, way above the rim. He's lightning quick in the open court.

He's got an average to good jump shot. He needs a lot of work on his jump shot. But that being said, most guys, when they go to the NBA, from being declared non-shooters, become great shooters by the time they're in their second, third year in the NBA. So Rick Petino knows hoops. Those are the two guys. I think next year, you'll see them on TV. They're on playoff teams, and they'll score.

I want to talk about Cooper Flagg. So actually, number one picks in the NBA, obviously Anthony Bennett, Markell Fultz, were just big misses. But if you go to the last 10 domestic number one picks, most of them hit Zion Williamson, lack maturity, Markle Fultz, I don't know what that was. John Wall to me was never a winning player. I mean, he once, like in 2018 left and they went on a five-game winning streak. I thought he was just talented. But most of these guys, Blake, Derek Rose, A.D., Anthony Edwards, Cade, Bancarro is a stud, Kyrie Irving. Most of them work.

And what's pretty clear, what's really clear to me, there's only one warning sign that almost always comes to fruition. If a guy's got an attitude. Ben Simmons, very early. Yikes. DeAndre Aiton, very early, doesn't play well with others. This ace Bailey guy going to Utah, like wouldn't work out for teams, looked like he was unhappy getting drafted. Like, I know everybody said he could be the second best player in the draft, but I don't care about your altitude. I don't care how high you jump. If I don't like your attitude, it doesn't work. So if you start looking at number one picks, international or domestic,

The guys that don't work usually just aren't ready for the moment. A lot of its maturity, you know, I mean, Zion, he just couldn't control his weight, his personal life. The Ace Bailey, to me, looks like trouble. My guess is I like Danny Aange a lot, and he was probably too good not to draft. But I think that's the one thing, the one warning sign to me. I mean, you got to have more self-awareness. you have not played in the NBA.

You haven't even played a summer league game, and Ace Bailey looks like he's not interested. But as far as Cooper Flag goes, this looks like another hit. And even more than the NFL, the number one pick in the draft, there's been a couple of misses, bad misses. Most of the time it works, and here's Cooper Flag.

We started to be a sponge to get down there and just learn, be surrounded by, you know, Hall of Fame caliber guys. and just to be able to learn from them. It's been to me an incredible experience. I feel so blessed to be in the position I am. Just to get down there, like I said, be a sponge, learn, and try and grow my game as much as I can.

Yeah, I don't know if we're getting better at the draft. I do think, and I'll talk about this later, and I've talked about this sort of ad nauseum in the last couple of months, Jay, is that I do think, you start looking at the picks, it was a very domestic-driven draft. think you're going to see more of that because I think what's happening, the universities in America that make March Madness, the NIL is allowing them to buy the best European players at 17 and 18.

And the other top players in the college basketball, many, maybe three or four, five or six a year now are staying for another year and not going to the G League because now the NIL pays more than the G League and the coaching's better. So I think last night's draft, if anything, I don't know if it's a great draft, but I do think drafts will start looking more like this, that even if it's an international player, he'll have played at Oklahoma or Illinois or Michigan or, you know, Kentucky. And I think, let's be honest, that helps. It does help.

If you have March Madness or big games at Duke or Connecticut or Arizona or Gonzaga and they make television, it helps your branding. Part of why we love sports and the NFL, because Tim Tebow, whether he's, you know, can play or not comes into the NFL and he's the number one jersey seller or reggie bush and i think a big i think a big part of the NFL's advantage over the NBA is we love the players before they get to pro football so i think last night's draft is the beginning of a really good trend we'll have watched almost all these guys even the international guys mostly will have seen them in march yeah and you had the great point a couple weeks ago about the international young teenagers now coming to

the U.S. to play college basketball. And I think branding is also part of it in addition to the NIL. And, you know, that trend of, hey, European players at the top of the draft that nobody knows, maybe that cycle is over. And now we're transitioning back to American players. And listen, I know there's Cooper Flagg is divisive calling. People are like comparing him to Christian Leitner and stuff. I think, I don't think people have watched this kid. He is unbelievable. He is. And this attitude, you could hear him in the interview. He's going to be dominant. And I like Dallas a lot next year. I don't know about you. I mean, like, Anthony Bennett and

Markell Fultz didn't work. But by and large, considering how little you've seen the guys play before draft night, I mean, a lot of these guys come out at 18. NBA does a pretty good job of nailing their number one picks. I mean, Blake Griffin, probably, he was dynamic.

Maybe he's not as good as you thought, but Blake Griffin had a great career. He was one of the most talked about and commercialized players over his career. So there's not a lot of huge misses and it's usually an attitude. Anthony Bennett's one of the few guys that we were like, and I remember that draft, it was a horrible draft and nobody knew what to do with it. And it just didn't work.

But by and large, basketball does a pretty good job of identifying, often at 14 years old, Kobe, LeBron, Luka, at 14, 15, way before they come into the draft who the best player is. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Hi, this is Jay. I'm the producer of the Paul and Tony Fusco show. Usually in these promos, they ask you to listen to the show.

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Oh, 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.

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And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, welcome back. You're now entering the No Bull Zone, sponsored by Credible Great Rates, none of a boy. So I always think it's interesting how we cling to certain people. We have these very fond memories of certain people. And I think sometimes if you're artistically beautiful, that we look past your warts. And I'll give you an example. Dan Marino's last two years in the NFL with Jimmy Johnson, he couldn't move 35 touchdowns, 32 picks.

He was bad. It was bad. But yet you never hear about that. You never hear about Michael Jordan's wizard years. Joe Montana, who is viewed as more of a system quarterback, his last two years, 17 wins, eight losses, 2 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. Joe Montana was very good until the end. Marino was horrible at the end, even with a legendary coach.

But when you talk about Montana, it's like Montana doesn't even get mentioned anymore. well as a system and he like has four Super Bowls and I think three MVP's in those Super Bowls Marino went to one Super Bowl ended horribly and we have these

just maybe the aesthetics were so beautiful I've always found this with Brady Tom Brady's entire career who is a system guy was Patriot Way it's Belichick Tom Brady at 45 years old was a top five quarterback

and had six games of over 300 yards. To the very end, that's why he went to Tampa. And for the record, the minute he left New England, Belichick, it was humiliating for Belichick. He's now coaching college football. He got fired. But Brady was always system guy. He had to go to Tampa until everybody finally wised up and said, yeah, he's actually great.

But Aaron Rogers, like Marine. who is more beautiful to watch, here's how we remember him. Here's Big Ben, former Steeler Great, talking about Aaron being now a Steeler. You're going to get to see one of the greatest of all time, play one more season. I think it's going to be, you know,

every week is going to be kind of must-see TV in a sense. Fans of football are going to be coming out, whether it's at home, on the road, because you want to get a glimpse of greatness one last time. Yeah, he hasn't had greatness. His last 30 starts, he's 11 and 19. He's four years younger than Brady and Tampa at the end. He's not accurate.

His passer ratings in the 80s. He's barely got a two to one touchdown interception ratio and one 300-yard game. But we remit. Everybody's like, oh, this thing could be beautiful. It hasn't been beautiful. in the last 30 starts. He's had one big time game. And I always feel this. We never talk Montana

because it wasn't as beautiful as Marino who had two brutal years at the end. Tom Brady was magnificent until his final season. 45 years old. Aaron's last three years, there's no beauty left. But we remember him so favorably. And I'm sure he'll be fine there. But I've always felt that with Marino and Aaron, that they are arguably the two prettiest passers of my lifetime.

The ball comes out faster, the spirals tighter, they're good-looking guys, they've got a lot of confidence, and they were unbelievable in their prime. But let's not deny Marino at the end and Aaron now. 11 and 19, one 300-yard game. Joe Namath, by the way, final two seasons, seven touchdowns, 21 picks. and the worst knees in professional sports in any league in North America. But nobody remembers that. Jay Mack with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, you know, I know you banned Shadour Sanders last week, but he's back because the Cleveland Browns' four-quarterback situation is really percolating now. T.J. Hushman Zada was on the facility yesterday, and he said, it ain't going to be Shadour. All signs currently point to

Kenny Pickett getting the week one knot. If Kenny Pickett starts, then that shows me Kevin Stefansky feels like his job may be on the line. If he starts Shador, he know he has a little leeway.

We can develop this guy. Because if you start Kenny Pickett, it's as if we have to win out. I was told Kenny Pickett or Dylan Gabriel, one of those two are going to be the starter. I was told this a long time ago by somebody in the building. Yeah, and I would love to say Kevin Stefansky is safe because I think he's a really good coach. I think he's had to deal with a lot of nonsense. I know people that know Andrew Barry, I don't, but I have GMs that really like Andrew Barry.

I think Stafansky's, you know, he's like an Ivy League guy, super bright, had to deal with nonsense upstairs. But I mean, I think you have to do, like the Celtics this year rebooting. Now, they'll be really good because the Celtics are the Celtics. But I do think you have to go into years. You don't want to have to say it publicly. It's a reboot year for Cleveland. They have two first round picks. I mean, I think they're better off playing Dylan Gabriel and Shadur early.

So you can show the owner yet next year, we're going to draft another quarterback, despite the fact that we drafted two this year. Like I said this with Jackson Dart. Next year could be a five to six first round quarterback draft. You have to convince the owner when you draft a quarterback. We're going to draft another one. So I would rather put Jackson Dart in early, let the owner watch it. And you don't have to convince him.

I know we just drafted this guy. I want Dylan Gabriel and Shadur to play. So the guy upstairs is like, yeah, that's not good enough to beat Joe Burrow in our division and Lamar Jackson. Yeah, the tough problem, Colin, is you know these coaches want veteran quarterbacks. They win with veterans. It's tough to win with rookies, especially Dylan Gabriel, a third rounder, who, according to you, is just too small to see over the line. So if you start Gabriel, you're waving the white flag on the season. Are you not?

This ain't Jaden Daniels, okay? This isn't Bo Nix. Like, we like Dylan Gabriel, but if you start him, you're essentially saying we're not going to the playoffs. We just got to see what we got. Well, is Dylan Gabriel just a slightly smaller Tua? I mean, I guess is that his perfect comp? You know, left-hander, accurate, undersized, moves okay. Tua was an elite recruit, top five pick, you know, led Alabama to the promised land.

Like, Dylan Gabriel was a good college quarterback. I don't know that you can compare the two, can you? Not probably not. I just try. When I watch him play, I always thought, because I always watch these college guys and think, what's their pro comp. Yeah. Undersized, moves a little, left-hander, pretty accurate, throws a pretty ball, without, you

know, not a guy that's going to fire it in cold weather, windy weather up north. Like, so I thought he was a weird choice for a cold weather team in Cleveland. Like Cleveland, if you go look at football, Brady had a big arm, Big Ben had a big arm, Flacco's got a big arm. Look at the northeast. Drake May is a guy with a big arm. In northern climates, I'm not going to take an undersized guy with an average arm. Tua works in Miami or a dome.

Drew Breeze works in a dome. Drew Breeze. I mean, go look at Green Bay historically. Jordan Love, Farben-Aaron. Big time arms. That's what works in cold weather. Let me ask you, Shador, right now, it's trending toward, hey, week one, he's probably going to be inactive, okay?

They asked Dionne Sanders about this in Colorado. You think he's going to chime in? I can't believe my kid's not even dressed for the Cleveland. Colin, this is a dicey situation for Stefanski. We still have to see the preseason. But right now, with hearing this report, Pickett or Gabriel, they're probably not going to have four quarterbacks week one, are they? No, no, no, no.

It's a weak roster. They'll carry two probably. Yeah. All right, let's move on to the NBA with the Celtics column. They've been making big moves this week, moving off Porzengis and Holiday, and potentially making more moves. There are reports that Jalen Brown is floating around and Derek White maybe. but following the draft last night,

listen to what Brad Stephen says. This is huge for the future of the NBA talking about the dreaded second apron. I think the second apron basketball penalties are real, and I'm not sure I understood how real until they were staring me in the face in the last month. So I do think that there's, you know, I think that that can't be overstated.

Obviously, anytime you make trades, those are tough conversations. but I do you know I tried my best to I've tried my best to communicate in general that you know what our priorities were that I talked about here so Colin no I mean real quick let me just give you the numbers according to some of these capologists

who track this stuff the Celtics with those two moves got out of the repeater tax and essentially saved the franchise around 200 million dollars yep okay this is that is insanity Yeah, no, no, I saw the same numbers you did. And, I mean, clearly ownership told him. Yeah. And they should have, hey, we, you got to shave 200-some million dollars off this.

And for the record, I would have moved off poor Zingas, can't trust his health. Drew Holiday got, I talked about this with John. Drew Holiday got old really fast over the last, just second half of the season. So I think the moves, I spent some time on this yesterday. This is what Boston does. Austin reboots and is still conference champion viable. I mean, you start looking at no Halliburton. Nick's going to have a second tier coach.

You start looking at injuries in the East. I never trust Philly. I think Cleveland will be good. I'm not sure. Tatum's gone, but I still think that roster with Pritchard, with Derek White, with Jaylen Brown. Let me give you their starting lineup, Colin, before you say, Derek White and Anthony Simons in the back court.

Yeah. The front court is Jalen Brown, George Nying and Luke Cornett. Yeah. That is not sniffing 50 wins. Well, remember. Not even close. This is the East.

44 gets you the third seed. Miami didn't get KD. In the West. Keep an eye on Detroit. Detroit could be coming up. Detroit will be good. Orlando is going to be good. Very good.

Yeah. I don't. I mean, listen, Peyton Pritchard obviously is good and he's going to play a lot. But I don't like what the NBA did, man. The second apron is total garbage. And the Celtics having to dump guys. two years after an unbelievable run, looking like they were set up for the future.

And now here it is, hey, we don't want to write a check for $80 million. No, but you know what? That's stupid. I think the NBA is going to look more like the NFL, where it's virtually impossible. Nobody wins three in a row. It's almost impossible, not even Brady and Belichick won back-to-backs. The NFL, you can't win back-to-back.

You have to move off people. So the NBA, which has always felt like big cities, coastal areas, stack rosters win. Adam Sober's like, no, no, no, the NFL's got it right. Eight teams every year with a chance to win. Health plays a big factor. Coaching and bench plays a big factor. That's the NFL. The problem is the NBA's never had that.

In the 80s, it was like four teams, right? In the 90s, it was like two. And in the last decade, it's whatever, whoever's a super team. But remember, in the 80s, the NBA, was still trying to get great TV deals. Go look at Magic and Michael Jordan's contracts. They made nothing in the 80s. So the reality is the league is much healthier.

I mean, think of this, 11 years, $76 billion. It's an insane number. That doesn't count what teams are going to make in parking, in suites, in advertising, in radio TV, locally. So it's just, it's a different league. Adam Silver said, we're going to copy the NFL a little bit. Very punitive. Anybody can win every year. Final story, Colin, is a big moment happened in the draft last night. Obviously, Cooper Flagg went one, but the Grizzlies made a trade with the Blazers to move up to the 11th pick

and make this dramatic selection. So the Portland Trailblazers select Colin Coward here. Wow, Colin. Hey. Hey, congrats. You're going home to Portland. Wow. You're loving Northwest. Well, but they traded me to Memphis. Oh, yes. I was very excited for about five minutes.

They got the jersey there, you and the Portland gear. Where'd you get those pipes, man? Geez, you back on Creates? I felt bad because Malika does a great job. That was one of those moments that you regret, and of all people, she had to challenge the people. You and I have never, we've never messed up a name ever. on television. Yeah. I've never done that in my career. Never. It just doesn't happen.

I think there's websites dedicated to us. Malika, you're great. That's funny. And all good. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. So I saw this story. Now, I don't know who this is.

The staff does reporter Scoop B. Robinson on the Zach Gelb show Tuesday. So I'm A staff says, is it legit. Basically, he was a guest on a show. Scoop was. That's a very appropriate name for a guy scooping stuff.

Right. I mean, I got drafted by Portland. Scoop is scooping people. So anyway, he says the Jason kid wants the Knicks job. First of all, you'd be crazy to take the Knicks job and leave the Dallas Mavericks. Number one, Cooper Flagg. by midway year two he's better than everybody on the Knicks and you're not paying him for years secondly Dallas has the best front line in the NBA and their best young guy after AD is Derek

lively from Duke and he's on a rookie contract so you have massive debt I mean the bigs for new York one can't score and the other can't defend Kyrie Irving the best small finisher in the league will come off an injury clay can catch and shoot The other thing is, no James Dolan. James Dolan's impulsive. Doesn't mean he's a bad owner, but boy, when he was building the sphere, and he wasn't paying attention to the Knicks, they got really good, really fast. So if you look around American sports, I always love it, how everybody's always saying,

oh, this manager wants the Yankees. There is no American city that, in the last decade, that has spent more money and got less for it than New York City. It can be the Giants. It can be the Brooklyn Nets. It can be the Jets. It can be the New York Mets. It can be the Yankees. Nobody spends like New York and gets less in return.

So this idea that a Jason kid, oh, he is itching for this. Folks, the Knicks right now have very clear ceilings. Brunson and Cat on the floor is not great. Robinson can't score is a big Cat can't defend All the Dallas guys can defend A D more than any of them

And then Cooper Flagg is probably our best domestic number one pick I mean I'd argue Honestly is it since LeBron Seriously last 20 years He could be as good as anybody So this idea that New York I was talking about this this morning

I always do an NFL Super Bowl bubble. And I'm very, very high on Orlando. And I think it's much easier to get to the championship in the east than the west. But right now, if I did a day, my 2026 NBA championship bubble, I would have Houston, OKC, Cleveland, Minnesota, Orlando. And then I would have the T-Wolves, the Celtics, and the Nuggets close. No, J. Mack, there's no Lakers if Austin Reeves is your third best player.

And now, again, I'm higher on Orlando than everybody else. I think Orlando is going to be, I think Ben Carroll is going to be all NBA next year. I think Bain is exactly what they need. I am totally high in Orlando. But I, there, I'm, I'm sorry. New York, you could say New York. New York's two best offensive players can't, are both terrible defensively. Time out.

We need a 20-second timeout here. Eliminating the Knicks and Lakers is a travesty. I demand you do this over. First of all, the Lakers were third in the West. Just a reminder with no AD. Luca missed a bunch, third in the West. So you can boopoo all you want, Austin Reeves. And the Knicks were two games

from the NBA finals, Colin, after taking down the Celtics and the Pistons. I don't see how you can eliminate the Knicks from the bubble. Is that Minnesota? Really? Oh, I think I think Minnesota's best players getting better. Where are the Warriors?

The Warriors are tiny and old. In the NBA, here's two things that no longer work. Old and small. Okay. That doesn't work. You keep betting against

Steph Curry and LeBron James. I'll take the other side. I mean, honestly, when your best player and at this point, if Luca can defend, he would be their best player. He can't.

So right now he gives up 24 and scores 28. But I old, look around the NBA. Old doesn't work anymore. Indie's young. I mean, honestly, Orlando's young, Houston's young, OKC's young, Boston has young players, Minnesota's hidden a little bit of, I mean, one of Denver's problems, they're too old. Denver's got to get younger.

I mean, they do. After Yoke, it's just like Porter doesn't work. Jamal Murray feels like he's a tweak away from not being available. So, I mean, I think, by the way, Nico Harrison was asked last night about the rumor of Jason Kidd becoming the next coach. but since it keeps being asked since the rumors are still out there just wanted to see if you can conclusively say that J-Kid is going to be the head coach next season

are there rumors still out there about J-Kid apparently oh okay I thought I shut him down yes he will be the he will be the coach next year yeah I forget the state tax it's a winter league the weather

forget the obvious stuff like Dallas is I think Dallas is going to compete I mean Dallas is going to compete for the Western Conference Finals with Houston, Denver maybe, OKC. I think they're that good. I still think the Spurs are a full year away. Coming up next, a comment, I really like staying Cronky who owns the Rams. His son now is one of the Denver Nuggets. He made a comment two days ago, and it got me thinking about who is truly untradable in American sports.

Completely untradable. That next. Additions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 a... 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 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 and oh 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 for 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 Smyl 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 IHeart 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. 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 Levan 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 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. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

The road to 2026 continues Sunday on Fox. with the Gold Cup quarterfinal as the U.S. Vens national team takes on Costa Rica. No easy path. No second chances. Covers begins Sunday at 6 Eastern on Fox. Okay, now you were very good. You were a little bit of a soothsayer on the Team USA.

You said, Colin, slow down. We're going to fly through the group stage. What are you predicting for Costa Rica? This is a much better team. Give me your thoughts. Can I just save it for tomorrow? We have a good segment here. I want to get to it.

Okay, okay, okay. So yesterday there was, you know, sometimes you just shouldn't bring stuff up. You could be on a date. You could be in a business meeting. You could be in the back of an Uber. Like certain things just don't bring up into the conversation. There's trigger words. There's things that frighten people.

So Stan Cronkey owns the Rams great owner. Josh Cronkey also owns the Nuggets. Josh Cronkey's his son. And he's running, he's kind of running day to day the Nuggets President. He's running things. So he was talking about, you know, this was pre-draft, and he had this to say frightening. For us, as an organization, going into that second apron is not necessarily something that we're scared of. I think that there are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of with our injury history.

The wrong person gets injured and very quickly you're into a scenario where, that I never want to have to contemplate. And that's trading number 15. Don't bring that up in front of a microphone. Not for like nine more years. He's the best player in the NBA. That's one of those things don't even complicate. You just gave Sports Talk Radio in Denver four weeks of off-season chatter. Broncos and Yokic is getting traded.

Like, don't say that. And I was saying this. So I was talking to the staff yesterday after the show. And I said, you'd be amazed how few players. are completely untradable. So I have the significant seven. Cannot trade them. Number one is Caitlin Clark.

Literally moved merchandise up 550% for the league. She is not only the face of the WNBA. She's the greatest face, the most popular face ever. If Indiana moved off her, and I'm not, joking here. I think the fan base would absolutely revolt. She's turned the fever and the league around, untradable. Number two, Patrick Mahomes. It's not that he's just talented. He's the only guy in the last 20 years. He's going to surpass Brady here. Like, like, we're serious here. Like Brady picked up the greatest of all time a long time ago, right? Like, is he the guy?

unbelievably marketable Kansas City was swimming in average even with Alex Smith and Andy Reed a one in Dunner can't trade him most talented quarterback probably and come from behind quarterback

even better than Elway second most untradable American athlete and a good guy number three Shohei Otani I'm sorry his connection to the Pacific Rim he drives road attendance he is better than Babe

he is the best most talented baseball player in the history of the sport in a market that has, I think, is it Dodger Stadium the biggest stadium in baseball? It's certainly close. It's like 56, 57,000. He makes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We live in an event era. He makes every Dodger game an event. Completely untradable, Shohei Otani. Number four is the world's best basketball player, the Joker. Listen, Denver's a football town. The fact that, they have the best basketball player in the world, can't trade him. I mean, best passing big, best shooting big, one of the best scoring bigs, elevate your

roster. And when your coach got fired, he became sort of a surrogate coach for the Nuggets. I mean, they took Oklahoma City 7 and they had no bench outside of Russell Westbrook. So untradable. Number five is Josh Allen. I know he doesn't have a ring. Outside of Josh Allen, outside of Patrick Mahomes. Privately, if the bill's called every single team in the league and offered him, everybody except Kansas City should take him.

I don't care. I don't care if it's Cincinnati. Burrell's been hurt multiple times. He is the most physically gifted quarterback in the league's history. And I was an Elway zealot. Nothing like him. 6-6-250, all about team, jumps over linebackers. He's more talented than Mahomes.

He is. He's bigger, he's stronger, his arms as strong. Number five, Josh Allen. Number six, Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge is so great that if the Dodgers called and said you want Otani for Judge, they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it, and they shouldn't. He is so unique.

He's a mountain man. He's 6-6-6-7. He's a great guy. He's by far and away. He's the only guy outside of Otani that a casual baseball fan would probably pay to see. He's got a Paul Bunyan-esque kind of gravitas. Most home runs, he's already a record setter. Most home runs in American League history for a season 62.

And I'm serious. If the Dodgers said we'll give you Otani for Judge, they wouldn't move off him. He is a beloved player. And number seven, you're going to think this is crazy. I think it's Jaden Daniels. I think he is our next. superstar in the NFL. I thought last year was the greatest rookie season by far. He took over a laughing stock for 15, 20 years of franchise. Relevance, maturity, arm, movement to the nation's

capital. There is an argument over the next 20 years, they're going to become Kansas City in the NFC. That kid was bizarrely good as a rookie. You cannot trade him. So J-Mack, I'm only doing seven. You're going to bring up. I do think there's a number eight that you're going to jump on. I'm not going to put it in there. Who's the first one that jumps out to it's not on it? Okay, so I'll throw a bunch of guys at you.

We got some time here. Let me just start with the guy who just won the NBA title, right? With the MVP of the league, scoring leader, finals MVP, won a chip. He's in hallowed territory. SGA. I'm just going to start. Do you think he's tradable? If the Denver Nuggets called and said, we'll trade you, nice title.

Yokic for SGA, you would be a moron. I get six, 11 and a half, a better passer, a mountain man. The only guy in the league, Draymond Green has said in his career, wave the white flag. There is no way. Anthony Davis can't defend him. Draymond can't. SGA had three bad games in the finals. I want to lay up.

I would largely agree. SGA is not on his list. But if that's your measure, Yokic, would you do the trade? Wendanyama, you do that in Arpeas. Okay, ask yourself this. You get 15 years of Wembe. Okay, okay. Wembe has already missed 40 games with a blood clot.

So what? 40. So what? Oh, interesting. That's what people said about Chris Bosch. Oh, come on. He went from an All-Star to out of the league. Big guys get hurt.

Blood clots for taller players. Do I think Wembe's going to be great? Yeah. He's 7-4. Nobody is really supposed to be built to be 7-4. and play the style and pace of the NBA. I think he's going to be great. But if I told you,

he had another injury this year, he is 7-4. So you say, whoa, well, well, Yo, Kitch is seven feet. He's 275 pounds. Well, I don't know. Caitlin Clark's hurt for the second time in two weeks. Maybe maybe we add her to the list because of the injury.

There is no history of guards being hurt. Let's go. Joe Burrow. You're telling me the Bengals? One more injury, and you have to draft a quarterback in Cincinnati. Are you serious? Yes.

You think the Bengals would actually trade Joe Burrow? Second game of the year, ACL Terrell for Joe Burrow. You are drafting another quarterback. I got a big list here. Janice, he doesn't have injury, so what other card are you going to play? Yeah, he does have a big injury. And can't hit a free throw late. No, I mean, does not have a jump shot.

And what if they can't get out of the first round since his best teammates left? Can't get out of the first round. They waited 40 years after Jabbar to win a title. Yonis brought it to him. He makes them relevant. Can't get out of the first round in the east. Let me hit you with Lamar Jackson, who's kind of a divisive player. Again, Josh Allen has lost playoff games, but has played brilliantly.

The criticism of Lamar is totally fair. He has struggled in the postseason. If Buffalo called today and said, hey, Baltimore, you want Josh? You make the deal immediately. And I love Lamar. You make the deal immediately. Sorry. 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. Nice. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. 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. 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 IHeart 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 in to you, 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. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation.

I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get. get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.