The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Lakers, Kevin Durant, and the NBA trade deadline

Episode Date: February 8, 2019

Filling in for Colin, Doug Gottlieb discusses the Los Angeles Lakers last second win over the Boston Celtics, their mental state, why Golden State Warriors F Kevin Durant would have a tough time in New York, and a day after the NBA trade deadline. Guests include Chris Broussard, Greg Jennings, and Dahntay Jones.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Cowherd alongside the incredibly insightful and talented Joy Taylor. We're so happy to be with you on a Friday, especially off of what was a crazy day with the NBA trade deadline. And an even crazier night where LeBron James and Janice and Tenacupu first selected their rosters, then pulled off a trade, and there was discussion of tampering. And there was no disguising of it because it was just for the All-Star game.

Wink, wink, wink, nod, nothing to do with real life. And then we had the Lakers versus the Celtics, the greatest and longest-standing rivalry in the history of the league, which, oh, yeah, goes back to the Anthony Davis story, which pervaded over the NBA for the last week and a half. half. And the final shot of the game was by a former Celtic, who just happens to be arguably the worst shooter on the floor at the time for the Lakers beating the Celtics and maybe saving the Lakers season. Exhausting, but exhilarating all at the same time. What a random Thursday night in the middle of February off of the Super Bowl. Joy, good morning to you. Good morning. It's really, it's the night we deserved after the last two weeks. I like

that the night we deserve. Couldn't have put it any better. I've determined, though, that the LeBron James era didn't start last July when he signed on. Remember Magic Johnson waiting outside the house, supposedly an hour before go time. And then he walks in and they talk for three hours and a deal is consummated. And Paul George announces he's staying and, all right, this is the plan. And they slowly executed the plan. It didn't start then.

that was the signing but it starts now and the reason I know it starts now is because what has happened with the Lakers is the same thing that has happened at my place of work it's the same thing that's happened in the place where

Colin and I both used to work it's the same thing that happens sometimes where you work it happens in pro sports franchises where the new boss comes in this happens the new boss comes in and the first six months The first three months, they're just everybody's friend.

They just get to know people. You know, they get to know, you know, Bonnie who handles my audio. They get to know Bonnie. They get to, oh, John Goulet, we used to work together. They know people. What do you live now? What do you do? What would you change about your job?

They ask smart questions. And they're more listeners. They're wallflowers. That's what you do for the first three months. And then the next three months you put together kind of a plan. I like this, I don't like this, this is what we want to do. And then six months in, you call everybody in in a meeting. And you fire somebody.

And you shake things up. And you point somebody else in charge. And then everybody goes back to their desk and they start firing off emails. They start preparing their resume because they don't know if they're next. Right? They don't know. Wait, the guy who was the boss who the big boss just fired, he liked me. and the new guy

didn't like me. Hell, I might be next. Or maybe it's the opposite. He didn't like me. He's gone. Happy days are here again. I'm good with the new boss. This is Business 101. This is new CEO 101.

There's actually a book about this. It's called The First 90 Days. And the first 90 days, I'll save you a quick read. It's a good read. You just pick it up, especially if you're going to a new place of work. The idea is you've got to understand and absorb some of the new culture before you ever try and think about installing your own beliefs or your own culture because you've got to understand what you're dealing with.

That's what LeBron James did. Did you watch them play last night when they're down 18 points in the second quarter? Were they moving the ball and playing like the Golden State Warriors? No. They were playing like the calves. They were playing like the heat. They were playing like the calves before, which is let's get the ball to number two. 23 and let's all space out the floor and let him make place for us and just try and make shots try and get stops he's going to create all our offense why because that's how lebron plays like look the playbook is the same no matter where he goes why because that's what lebron you didn't hire lebron james to be to be a ball mover right you're not going to teach any old dog especially one

who has won as much competed as that high level, new tricks. It's just not how he's wired. You ain't rewiring this deal. He is what he is. Chris Ballard took over the Indianapolis Colts. It's going back a couple years ago. Did he fire Chuck Pagano right away?

No. No, no, no, no, no. He began the process of gutting and remaking his roster, acquiring draft picks, cap space, and slowly executed his plan. And then before this season, he fired his coach and thought, I'm going to hire Josh McDaniels, a quarterback guru to go along with my super bright quarterback.

That didn't work out. He went to his plan B. It ends up hiring a guy in Frank Reich who's former quarterback, quarterback guru, and it worked out quite well. Now, look, it wasn't a six-month plan, but the idea was he was still kind of a wallflower, the first couple of months, kind of figuring out the lay of the land, had a plan and slowly executed that plan. And then when he made the big move, it was the first in this. And eventually he'll bring in all his guys. That's what they all do. They go place to place to place and they bring with them people who worked with them previously.

I've worked in places in radio. I've worked a place in television. I know people in business and in sports. It's all the same. This is the way it works with a new boss. First couple months are everybody's friend. Next couple months, they start planning and plotting and trying to understand how can I execute ultimately my plan. six months in, big firing, big change.

And then slowly they start bringing in their old guys who know how they operate, know how to execute, and know what the boss likes and what he doesn't like. And that's what LeBron James is doing. Was it an ugly and weird week? Absolutely. Are there far more things to talk about in terms of how the Lakers managed today waking up knowing that their season could have been an abject disaster? had they lost last night, had Rondo not picked up the basketball that was loose after a bad

shot when LeBron doesn't touch the ball in the last possession of the game? Sure. But that's not what happened. This is why sports is so much better than real life. We have all this to talk about and we can only react to the fact that the ball did go through the basket. If you missed it, here's the final call of the Lakers' triumphant come from behind win after a wild week in Los Angeles. is in between the trade speculation. Come to Boston and defeat the Celtics 129, 1-28 on the last second shot by the one-time Celtic, Rochon Rondo.

That's the way to come home. That's the way to remind people what you did for. I don't know what Chris Weber's talking about because Roshan Rondo never did that for the Boston Celtics. But I do know that Marv encapsulated it perfectly. and lost by 42. There's trade speculation. They're down 18 points and they find a way to escape and to survive. And what an incredible game. What an incredible Thursday night. Just the whole day was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. The whole day would the Pelicans pick up the phone and re-engage in trade discussion? It doesn't happen. Then you have the all-star draft and you have LeBron's first couple selections, all being guys who could, essentially be Lakers next year if they so desired to do so. And then you have a game where they fall behind by 18 points. And then you have LeBron and Kyle Kuzmo, who's part of that deal. I didn't think should be included in the deal. Ends up, you know, hitting a bunch of three threes on the

night. And then even in the last possession, Brandon Ingram, also reportedly part of the deal chooses to go away from LeBron James, who's being face-guarded, but you could have found a way to get him the ball, drives in, takes a contested shot. It gets Bob. around and Rondo, Rondo of all guys. Rondo's the guy who when he lets a jump shot go, you go, no, no, no, no, no. Yes, that's how it ended. But essentially, the LeBron James era starts now. It does. Whether the plan is going to play out or he's able to execute it the way that he and Rich Paul thought it would play out, the fact is that they did shake some things up. They've checked Luke Wall.

Hey, man. We don't necessarily love playing for you. They've checked all of those young guys. Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, you're all replaceable. They've shaken guys up. Michael Beasley, you like playing selfishly down the stretch against the Warriors? When I'm not playing, we see you. You're gone.

Sometimes there's some ancillary guys, you know, like Zubach, who ends up getting moved in the deal. That happens. Sometimes guys lose their job. They don't deserve to lose their job. when the new boss comes in. But six months in, every boss seems to do this. They make a big change.

They make a big fuss. Everybody's freaking out, sending their resumes, not knowing what's going on at your place to work. Dude, I don't know. I don't know, man. I don't know this guy. This guy's only been here six months, and he already got rid of Michael Beasley.

And then you settle in, you go, okay, I get to go to work tomorrow. First and the 15th, they collect a check. Try and figure some things out. And that's the state of the lake. I enjoy a crazy week, isn't it? Like I said, I don't think it could have ended any more perfectly than that. There's so many layers, too, right?

Like, we haven't yet got into the All-Star draft where they're just openly laughing about the idea of tampering, right? There's the New Orleans angle to it where the reports from Brian Winhorst are, New Orleans had no intention of trading Anthony Davis. And so they're just tweaking. I'm just completely unprofessional. Right. And then there's that we haven't, and then the team they beat is the Celtics and Danny Aange, a former Celtic in his own right, whether he was tweaking the Lakers or he probably openly desires Anthony Davis.

The reason that the Lakers weren't able to consummate the kitchen sink trade was the idea that, hey, we're open to the idea in the offseason of trading anybody on our roster, anybody on our roster, even Jason Tatum, if possible. But we can't make that trade now because the Kyrie Irving and the Anthony Davis, the contract thing. There's the Derek Rose rule. We actually can't do it now, but we're open to possibly doing it. And that's the team that they beat last night on a last second miracle shot. And what do the Lakers do now for the rest of the season?

We got to get to that. It's a great point that you make. I want to get to. Speaking of the Pelicans, Del Demps and the Pelicans didn't trade Anthony Davis. And I will tell you why they absolutely. positively should have traded Anthony Davis. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning,

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Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

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This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

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Don't hurt your credit. Learn more at Discover.com slash credit scorecard limitations apply. Doug Gottlieb and Joy Taylor in for Colin here in The Hurt on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports won the IHeart Radio app. Still reacting to last night's crazy night in the NBA. Look, I understand that there are people that disagree with me in terms of my valuation of the assets that the Lakers were willing to move. And I do think that last night proved some of what I said to actually be true. Like Nick Wright and I have gone back and forth on his show, on my show.

My show, by the way, is three to six Eastern Time on Fox Sports Radio, following Colin on many of these Fox Sports Radio affiliates. So whether it's on first things first, his TV show, or on my radio show, or on social media, I just thought, look, look, it's just way too much. It's too much. I was okay If you want to give away Brandon Ingram, fine. You want to give away

draft picks, okay. But draft picks Brandon Ingram, Cap Space, and Kyle Kuzma, who I think has a potential to be you know, borderline All-Star. If he's not already borderline All-Star, he's just learning to shoot the three. And then

Lonzo Ball, who despite the fact that his dad is doing everything in his power to napalm his time with the Lakers, Laker's still hopeful as am I that he can be a legit quality starting point guard. There's some things that he does that no one else in the world

does, but some other cleaning up to his game that they need with an NBA offseason because the truth about Lovar ball is not really a basketball coach, didn't really know how to coach him. And though he did a lot of good things for his son, he didn't put him in position where he could immediately succeed the way

that, say, a Trey Young could. He doesn't understand pick and roll basketball. The point is, I wouldn't have packaged both Zoe and Kyle Kusma. But as reports that apparently the Norland's pelicans leaked out, they're willing to give them both up and Ingram, who you don't have to love Ingram. And he wasn't great at times last night. He was selfish down the stretch there, should have gotten the ball of LeBron James.

But he is a 17-a-game guy. He is still very, very only 21 years old. He's going to continue to get better. The question is how high is his actual ceiling? He's never going to be Durant, even though he looks a little like Durant and there are thoughts he, he's not. But just because you're a notch or two notches below Kevin Durant, that's a notch or two notches below, if not the best, the second or third best player in the NBA, depending on how you want to rate him. The idea of giving up all three and first round picks and cap space to me is a ridiculous,

I think, over-evaluation and almost panic move by the Lakers. And Del Demm should have taken it. Look, there's a multitude of reasons he should have taken it. I mean, you're waiting on the idea that the Knicks that don't have in terms of personnel anybody you really want. And even if they have the number one pick, like, well, there's so much unknown with the Knicks. They think they're getting Kevin Durant, but what if they don't? Because, you know, Kevin Durant, he seems to handle the Bay Area media so well. Kevin Durant would probably handle the New York media really, really well, right?

Like, if you struggle with the negativity in Oklahoma City and in Oakland, in terms of the media, how do you think KD is going to do in New York City? Because they're so gentle. And then even if you get Kevin Durant, do you get a Kemper Walker? Do you get a Kyrie Irving? What if you don't get either? Are you then willing to move off the number one pick if they even get the number one pick? And even if all those things work out and you get Kyrie Irving and you get Kevin Durand,

and you get the number one pick. Do you want Anthony Davis? Or do you want to see what Zion is because Zion fills up more seats? There's a lot of ifs there. The Lakers seemed desperate. The Lakers, by the way, this offseason will likely have a pick of a couple of other free agent options. They just do. And you were dealing with the team that was bidding on themselves,

which is the one thing you're not supposed to do in business. Never bid against yourself. But they were. But you want to know the number one reason that Del Demp should have consummated the move? Because the guy he's really waiting on is the guy who engineered three or four of the greatest trades in the history of the NBA, Danny Aange.

And look, Danny Aange for his part, apparently said, all options are on the table. Sure. We consider trading Jason Tatech. him for Anthony Davis. But we don't know what considered trading him. Does that mean that you would make him take the Gordon Hayward contract? We don't, Danny Ains doesn't know if he's going to have Kyrie Irving at the end of the year.

If he has Kyrie Irving, then yeah, he'll probably be willing to make another grandiose move and get a great player. Take a listen. This was Danny Aange earlier today talking about Kyrie Irving and the likelihood that they would re-signed Kyrie in the off-season. The way I view the situation is that I think a lot of people, because of Kyrie's announcement at the beginning of the year, thought that there was a marriage. I think that it's more like an engagement,

and we're going to get married on July 1st. And I think that that engagement is still on. As far as I know, in my individual conversations with Kyrie, we're still engaged, but we really can't, you know, make those vows, sign that contract until, July 1st. Look, he's still got the ring on, so that means he's still in, right? That's what he's saying. Look, you're trusting Danny Aange. Danny Aange essentially amounts to Lucy from Charlie Brown. That's who Danny Aange is. Here's what I mean. Think of some of the

trades that they pulled off in Boston to build up this jugger. They built up this juggernaut twice. Remember, they pulled off a huge move to get Ray Allen, for example, as part of that big three, right? They got Ray Allen and Glenn Big Baby Davis. And they gave up Jeff Green, Wally Zerbiak, Delante West, and a second round pick. They landed Kevin Garnett.

They gave up Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green. Al Jefferson was the big get. Two first round picks. Here, please take Sebastian Telfer. Sebastian Telfer was one of the key players at the end of games when they were trying to lose to tank. That's what they thought of Sebastian Telfer. That was

the first time they built the big three. And then they got rid of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and Jason Terry and got all those picks from Brooklyn when those guys were over the hill. They got a bunch of expiring contracts and four first-round draft picks. Then I remember Markell Foltz, who was given away to the Atlanta Magic. He was the number one pick in the draft. They traded away Jason Tatum and got another first-round draft pick from Philly for a better player. I wouldn't ever, ever, ever.

The Kyrie Irving trade. They got Isaiah Thomas for a first round pick. He becomes an MVP candidate to get the Eastern Conference Finals. His hip breaks down on him. Then they move off Isaiah Thomas. Flip him to get Kyrie Irving, who's one of the best players in the league. Like doing business with Danny Aange and expecting a positive outcome in a trade is a lot like Charlie Brown lining up thinking,

hey, no, this time, this time Lucy promises that she's going to hold the football in place. I would ever, he's responsible for more GMs getting fired than Carmelo Anthony. Oh, oh. So, Del Demp's, who has authored a couple of the worst trades in league history, one that was so bad giving away Chris Paul that David Stern stepped in and said, no, no, no, no, no. We're not doing that. is betting on, is gambling on either the Knicks getting the number one overall pick and dealing it for Anthony Davis

or getting the positive outcome, the good outcome, kicking the football that Danny Ains is holding. They should have made the move when they had the chance. Let's get to Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So it may not be the way he wanted, but LeBron did find a way to team up with Anthony. Davis. He picked Davis in the All-Star draft, and there were also some

tampering jokes to go around with that pick. With my first pick in the second round, I'm going with Anthony Davis. You sure you want him to be your teammate? I'm very sure of that. Isn't that tempering? Tampering rules

does not imply on All-Star weekend. That's a little, you know, a little jokey joke. And that's the most soft-aware joke, to be fair. But he was very calculated with his picks. LeBronkis, LeBronkis, Kaui Leonard, James Hardin, Anthony Davis, and Clay Thompson. And if you look at their status after the season, amazing.

Just some of them might be available to move around. It's amazing. This reminds me. No strategy whatsoever there. One of my favorite movies is Hunt for Red October. You familiar with Hunt for October? Right? And there's a famous line from it where admirals on the, they're in the submarine.

And he says, the average Ruski doesn't take a dump without a plan, sir. Son, you know, and that's what, LeBron James, he is a thoughtful guy. All of this was planned. It didn't just happen to have all these guys that are up. It doesn't look accidental at all. And it's just, again, just another little tidbit from last night that's just the perfect ending to the last two weeks of chaos. So unlike what has been speculated heading into the trade deadline, New Orleans is not going to sit Anthony Davis for the rest of the season, but they are going to have a few

caveats according to Woge. He tweeted, here's what to expect with Anthony Davis's usage, the rest of the way with the Pelicans, fewer, if any, back-to-backs and a reduction in minutes from his 37 per game. Now, this makes sense for a couple reasons, because obviously if Davis were to suffer a serious injury, that would certainly impact his trade value. And they're not looking to contend for a playoff spot. now. So by limiting Davis's minutes, it'll help with their draft slot. And they'll give them an opportunity to play their

younger players since, obviously, he's not going to be there anymore. Look, they want to lose. And this is a way, the number one way to tank is to not play your best players, right? Like, Marcus All, who got traded yesterday, like, here's how big last night's game is. Marcusal is now a Toronto Raptor.

Like, that's a huge move. Former defensive player of the year. But if you go back to last year, watch the Memphis Grizzlies. Mark, they'd be leading in the second half in the fourth quarter, going in the fourth quarter, and all of a sudden, Marcus All is put on ice, like, not playing at all because they want to lose. I think this is, the whole thing is terrible for the league. Like, even the tampering jokes.

Like, imagine you're sitting there in any of these other markets, and these guys are joking about tampering, which clearly is happening, and LeBron and the Lakers are part of. It just, it's a, I'm sure Adam Silver's fielding phone cause. Like, are you kidding? It's not the best look on what is supposed to be, like, a cheeky, fun evening. I mean, it was funny. Although, if you want to take a positive look at them sitting Anthony Davis,

it does impact Carl Anthony Towns because he's buying with Anthony Davis for all NBA honors, and he can earn millions in incentives if he takes that from Davis. Good for Carl Anthony Towns. You know, spread the love around. Finally, much like the Eagles and Nick Foles, the Steelers are reportedly considering using the transition tag on Levi-on-Bell to sign and trade him. Well, that tag-and-trade plan violates the CBA, and it would also require the cooperation

of Levyon Bell and his agent, which we're imagining is very unlikely to happen. But he can't be traded unless he signs the transition tender. If he doesn't sign it, he can't be trading it. It ends up staying with the Steelers. So this little note in the CBA, Article 4, Section 8, that basically says that if you extend, a club extending a required tender must,

first so long as the tender is extended, have good faith intention to employ the player. So basically if you put the transition tag on it, it's basically because you want to keep the play, but you're still negotiating a longer-term contract, which is not the intention with Nick Foles and it's certainly not the intention with Levy on Bell. So I do like this because it actually does protect the player

from having another year where they shouldn't be and keeping them from getting a long-term contract and obviously they can get injured and these are not guaranteed contracts. But it's going to make things interesting for the Steelers and for the Eagles because they have these incredibly valuable players that you would want to get pieces for, but the CBA is, you know, protecting the player from this. It feels like the...

It feels like it's complicated, but it does feel like there's some wiggle room, right? You have to have good faith, but again, the Steelers can say, look, we showed good faith in extending a long-term offer before. And even if they transitioned, tagged him, we're willing to offer a long-term, again, it might not be the terms that he'd accept. I think the Steelers have more ground to stand on in fighting the CBA clause than the Eagles do. Yes. Because the Eagles have Carson Went. So it's like no one's going to believe it. You're really negotiating a long-term contract with the Coles when you have Carson Went.

And the Steelers literally have offered the Levy on bail. I understand. It doesn't say that we have to believe it. It just the wording says it has to be good faith. And that's like the classic, you know, depends on what your definition of is. I will say that this is one thing that has, I don't believe it's been said out of the Super Bowl. Remember, Todd Gurley was given a new contract a year before the Rams needed to. And Todd Gurley was on the milk carton soup bowl Sunday.

And I don't know if he was healthy, if he wasn't healthy. but the idea that C.J. Anderson was an equal part of that offense at the end of the season, does not bowl well for other running backs. We're hoping that Todd Gurley would change the running back mark. Yeah, for most of the season, it was looking like running backs were on the path to getting paid again. And then the Super Bowl situation with Todd Gurley did not help them. That's for sure. And that's Joy Taylor with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. He wrote for the New York Times. He's, of course, worked for us. He's worked for the other places. He knows everything that goes on inside the NBA. and she listened to his show.

It's a really good one. He partners with Crazy Rob Parker, crazy Uncle Rob Parker. He's Chris Broussard of Fox Sports fame. What's happening, man? If you were to write, you wouldn't write the headline, you'd write the kind of opening salvo

into all that was yesterday with the Lakers, with the league, culminating in that last possession where LeBron didn't even touch the ball. And somehow Rondo of all guys, the former Celtic, jumps up and hits a miracle shot to kind of,

I feel like he saved their season. How would you write it? What would it sound? Yeah, I tweeted actually last night that that game may have saved their season. It was a tremendous game. And if you want to be an optimistic Lakers fan, you can look at it just kind of how you described it and say, man, this was, this, it's all coming together.

You know, we had our heartache around the trade deadline. Now everybody's healthy except Lanzo who will be back. And we had this great win and we're going to roll from there. One thing I liked, Doug, is last night, you mentioned it, LeBron didn't, wasn't even involved in the last play. I liked it the young guys did not defer to him. Whether it was, I don't think it was out of anger or spite, but even if that was it, you know, or even if it was just their really true professionals with great character and could move past the trade deadline stuff right away, whatever the case, whether it was Kuzma hitting the big three, and whether it was Ingram going to the whole,

and saying, I'm going to take the last shot, which we've seen him do before. They weren't looking to LeBron like, save us. What should we do now? He's covered. I like that in those guys. I thought they showed a lot of heart. Joey and I got in this discussion, and I don't know if it's a guy thing. I don't know if it just depends on the makeup of a human being thing.

If you're upbringing, I have no idea what it is. I do think that certain people get caught on. I remember I texted Joy, and I don't know if I don't remember if we texted back. One day I was driving in. I'm listening to Joy, and she's talking about, like, listen, women don't forget. They, what was the expression you use? They put it up on the shelf, I think. I mean, we have a storage, you know, like a filing cabinet of the things, you know, that we would bring up later.

They do. And I was driving. And I'm, like, driving and I shouldn't be texting. I'm texting Joy, like, that was the greatest analogy I've ever heard because that's exactly, sorry, but that's what my wife does. Like, you're in the middle of a discussion about something. And then she goes into the storage cabin and brings that, like, damn it! I thought you forgot about that. Whereas my brain.

And I do have, it's not that I don't have a great memory, but I just, I, I, I'm just like, all right, I'm over it, like we're moving on. Right. People that have even done me wrong for the most part, you know, I've, I just, yeah, I take it for what you are today and what I'm hopeful of. Maybe it's the belief that people evolve into, I don't know what it is. Do you think they can get over this week? Because if you, if you look back two days ago, we're like, damn, they are not over it. Right.

I think one last night was proof that they can get over it. And you might say, oh, that was just one game and maybe adrenaline, whatever the case. But no, I think it was proof. And I also think that I said this, I expected them to have a few games at least where it was clearly they were still in a funk. They were demoralized, dispirited, all that. I wasn't 100% sure that they would get over it for the rest of the season. And I thought that magic needed to meet with the players and be like, look, I know it was a tough week. I get it.

Unless you're one of those top two or three players in the league, this is going to happen. This won't be the only time, perhaps, that your name is in trade rumors. But if you want to play in this league and be successful, you've got to be able to put things like this behind you. Whether it's you don't get along with a teammate, whether it's some scandalous stuff that went on within the locker room, whether it's you got problems at home, whether it's you think you should be making more money than the guy that, you know, is in front of you or whatever the case, or it's like this, you know, you were going to be traded. You have got to be able to play your A game despite stuff like this going on. And if you can't, this might not be the league for you. Now, that talk may not be necessary

because it looked like last night they went out and they handled their business. And so I definitely think they'll get over it. There are reports that Magic is going to meet with a team in Philadelphia. Is that really? I didn't see it. Okay. It just came down moments ago. He's going to meet Magic, you can use that speech if you need. He'll do the smile thing. He'll know what to say.

But honest to goodness, like you're right. That's what we say like what's a professional. I remember Jeff Van Gundy when doing his broadcast said, well he's a total pro. Like that's what a pro does. You're sick. You have a bad day. your daughter's sick, your wife is giving you a business, your girlfriend, whatever. You got to show up or you don't like a teammate.

You don't like a coach. Like, this is a job. And I compared it similarly in terms of LeBron James, the first six months. Like any new boss, he's everybody's friend. And he plots and tries to figure out. And then he tries to make one big move. And in this case, it ended up being kind of ancillary bottom of the bench guys. But they thought about making a huge move.

It just didn't pull up. Speaking of that huge move, all right? Here's what I want to do. Coming up next. AD isn't going to L.A. for now. Right? So where is he going? Where's the most likely to go?

Want to get to that? Plus last night's All-Star draft. And Sixers made a big move. Raptors made a big move. Bucks made a pretty big move as well. How viable are these threats in the east to the Boston Celtics, who were everybody's favorite when the season began? We'll get to that upcoming next.

Joy Taylor, Chris Broussard. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin, along with Joy Taylor. This is the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening to the show.

Collins off today. Back on Monday, he misses all the fun, right? He misses all the fun. His boy LeBron and the Lakers survive the Celtics, and we're just left to react without him. Chris Broussard continues to join us. Oh, man, what a day. I've said that I thought they should have,

the Pelicans should have made that move. And my thinking is, look, you saw last night, Cal Coosb's a chance to be a hell of a player. The thing that was missing, defense has been missing, defensively has been better, three-point shooting's been missing, he hit five threes. And I still think Lonzo Ball's got a chance to be a hell of a player.

I know you've got to give up to get. And I'm not sure that offer will remain as such with the free agent market that's out there for the Lakers. They may decide, you know, we like some of these guys. So if not the Lakers, then who? Well, I think he ends up with the Lakers ultimately. But obviously Boston, and I heard you talking about, do you want to deal with Danny Aange?

Look, Aange has been great. But everybody makes mistakes, and he's not going to win every trade, or at least blow you out in every trade. And he can't do it, you know, he can't play a trick on you. You know, you do get to participate in the trade and look at his players and picks and all that. So here's the thing about Boston. If I'm Boston and I get Kyrie's name on the dotted line,

then I'll give up whatever I have to. Of course, I don't want to give up Jason Tatum, and we know Aange will try to make the best deal without doing that. But if I have to, I'll give up what it takes to get Anthony Davis in Boston. If I don't get Kyrie to resign, then I'm not giving up much to get him. If I'm Boston, because they still have a good team even without Kyrie, even though not quite as good, and I wouldn't just mortgage all my future and present for AD

because he hasn't shown yet that he's a number one guy. He's got the number one game, but I don't think he has the number one mindset right now. And so that's the first thing. And I'm also hearing Doug emphatically, emphatically for what it's worth, that under no circumstances will Anthony Davis sign long term in Boston. even with Kyrie Irby. Hold on.

Like, look. I'm telling you what I'm being told. I understand that's all I'm saying. I understand that. Emphatically, you're being told that. But remember, Kevin Garnett didn't want to go to the Celtics because Boston was a racist sports town. Remember that?

Now he's like the most, he was there last night. He's like the most beloved members of the Celtics family. And I said that to the same person. I said, look, KG, Paul Pierce, you know, Ray Allen, Rondo, they all loved it there. And this person said it's not just the racist thing. I mean, we saw KD's dad, I mean, I'm sorry, AD's dad, say what he did. He has a large influence on Anthony's decision as well.

No question. Again, I'm with you. I think if AD signs and Kyrie's there and they go to the finals or maybe win it or get to the Eastern Conference finals, whatever, and you're in that organization for a year with all their history, all their well-run, you know, the whole thing, Brad Stevens is a very, Very professional.

I think you would stay. I'm just saying that's what I'm being told. I understand. And part of that is if you're the Boston Celtics, you understand that diminishes the value of Anthony Davis. If he says, hey, unknown in certain terms, am I resigning with the Boston Celtics? You know, that's part of the damage that's done there by holding on to them.

And then you have the Knicks and all these kind of dream scenarios. Would you give up the number one, if the Knicks get the number one pick, would you give it up? Do they have KD? and Kyrie Irving? I'm with you. Because my thing is, if I've got KD and Kyrie, or even one

of them, I probably do it. But if I don't, if I strike out in free agency, I'm not doing it. Right, because then I have Zion Williamson who people are going to want to see, right? Well, you might not win, but you're going to be super, super interesting, which then brings us back to the... Now, here's my question with the Lakers.

And Joy brought this up in our meeting. Why would you ever do business? Like, if the reports are true, and Brian Winhorse reports are usually pretty true that New Orleans leaked all these trade reports in order to kind of poison the well in L.A. Like, why would you want to do business with this guy? Like, what they've done...

You mean if you're the Lakers? Yeah, like, look, I get it. You want to get Anthony Davis. Okay, but there are... I'm sorry, there are more fish in the sea this summer than there have ever been. I mean, look. Look, the wizards are disaster.

We agree the wizards are a disaster right now, right? Who? The Wizards. Yes. Right? Like, John Wall's going to now, nurse two injuries. They're selling off their pieces. Like, all right, what's to say you don't make a move to go get Brad Beale in the office? But I don't want Brad Beal at the expense of getting Anthony

Davis. Okay, but if I have to do a deal and I don't have to give up everything that I have and I prove to be close and I get somebody else in free agency, Brad Beal and a talented free agent, you'd consider it. And I get to keep Kyle Kuzma. I'd consider it. They're going to want to do business with DEL Dems. Because here's the thing, too. One, I do think the Pelicans were leaking stuff. I think it's also reasonable that there was a leak within the Lakers organization. I don't think it was magic. Maybe it was Polinka.

Maybe it was somebody closer to LeBron who also happens to rep Anthony Davis? Maybe. I don't know. I don't think they were leaking. As Anthony Davis's dad. I do not think Rich Paul was leaking the trade names. Now, that's my opinion. I'm not going to question you on your sources.

But I don't think. I'm not going to question Jackie McMullen and her sources. But remember, all of this happened. You reported that LeBron could play if it was the playoffs. Jackie McMullen reported that LeBron would prefer another coach. Anthony Davis's dad, who hasn't said anything. For the seven years he's been in the NBA, he hasn't said a word. Only now he speaks out and it all happens at once.

Huh, I wonder what all the connective tissue is there. I'm not saying that Rich Paul doesn't talk to people in the media. I'm saying was he leaking it's Zubach it's Ingram it's Lanzon I don't think that was happening now What I'll say is this Doug And I think I mentioned it before There was and maybe still is a growing resentment

Toward LeBron and Magic Johnson Around the league because rightly or wrongly They perceived that they were trying to manipulate And control this whole thing So I'm sure Del was talking to other executives Around the League about the offers maybe those were where some of the leaks were coming from too. Or.

Bottom line is I think, look, the Lakers are going to do what they got to do to get Anthony Day. I got 10 seconds for you. The All-Star draft stuff, all the talk, which was funny. How's that dude in the rest of the league? I mean, it's only so much he can tamper at All-Star weekend. That's Chris Broussard. Check him out on his own show, The Odd Couple upcoming on Fox Sports Radio. What now for the Lakers?

It's a good question. We'll answer it next. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. What up? Welcome in.

This is The Herd. What's that? Colin always says wherever you may be and however you may be making it as part of your day. Thanks so much. Listen to the show. Thanks so much for making this part of your day. I'm Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin. The Herd, of course, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports Radio,

iHeart radio app alongside the enjoyable, lovely, talented, Joy Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlie. Joy, one of the best things about you is a lot of great redeeming qualities. Of course, you have your own podcast. Call me crazy, right? Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm crazy.

Is that one, you grew up in a sports family, you know sports, but also you lived. You've actually lived a life, like a true life outside of the confines of this studio. Yes. And so I think you can relate to this. And if you can't feel free to tell me, I have no idea we're talking about. Which is in relationships, even good ones, but oftentimes toxic ones, you'll have a fight, an argument. Sometimes it's in text, sometimes it's in person, sometimes it's on the phone. And you will say something that you just can't take back.

You know, you just can't take it back. and I did offer up before that I'm the type of person that doesn't I try not to carry grudges I try to bury hatchets I really do but there are some ways in which you can tweak me and say some things to me where I will it's always going to be part of any conversation we have I can't I'm not getting over it you know hey that's why you or that's why that's why this happened to you that's why you didn't make the NBA I know I didn't make the NBA I didn't need you

tell me that I couldn't shoot. I didn't need that. Thank you very much. And I watched the Lakers last night, and there was joy when they won. And they were down 18, and they came back, and how about they made 22-3s in a very anti-Laker way, considering this roster? Look, I was somebody that sat in this very same seat and said, I actually think the leggers are pretty good when they're healthy.

They just haven't been healthy. and they made some moves in the offseason which didn't quite fit with what they really needed. And if they could fix those, there could be even better performance. Now, maybe it's too late. Maybe a seven seed is the best that they can hope for. It does look like the clippers have packed it in with the moves that they have made in this past week and said, we can make the playoffs, but we don't really want to. We're preparing for next year, hopefully, with Kauai Leonard and some other free agent or other.

But I always thought, like, look, if you add, a veteran shooter, they did Reggie Bullock, they added a stretch five in Mike Muscala, and they still have an open spot on that roster. And while some people think it's Carmelo Anthony, I think maybe it's a Wayne Ellington. You know, you add veteran shooters and guys that can play to come in and play with LeBron, and that has shown itself to work. But I also wonder if, like a what now, right? And so here's where it relates to our lives as human beings. You ever had a really, really nasty fight with some verbal sparring with somebody, and you say mean things, things that you can't take back?

But then you look on your calendar like, oh, we got to go to that gala for charity in two nights. All right, well, like, look, it's for charity. I get to wear my tux. I look good in tux. You get to wear your heels. You get to wear your red bottoms. You look and feel good. You can put on your jewelry.

you can put on your best dress and we go out and we have a couple of cocktails and we have a great meal we see great friends and they play our song and we dance and for that one night we're back right we're back and i remember why i loved you and you remember why you love me we remember why this whole thing got started but then you wake up the next morning and you and i look over you you look over me and you realize the mean things that you said the three days before. Remember those? Kind of what it feels like with the Lakers today. Like, yeah, they're down 18.

Yes, they beat the Boston Celtics in Boston Garden with the Patriots watching, right? Like Bill Belichick standing over there and all the other Patriots and Smitty and Murph and all those Patriot fans that got into a brawl fighting against each other that went that viral video, right? All those idiots are all there watching and making chance and beat L.A. This after the Patriots beat the Rams and the Super Bowl, this after the Red Sox beat the Dodgers in the World Series, and the Celtics strut out there, and they're up 18 points.

And we came back, and who hits the game winning shot? Our worst shooter who happens to be a Boston Celtic the last time the Celtics won a championship, like, that is awesome. And we're like, we got LeBron James, we got Lakers across our chest, we're feeling good. And then you wake up today, oh, and you're a little bit hungover. And you're like, wait a second, hold on. LeBron James, somebody said he wanted Luke Walton fired.

We did just get beat by 42 points three nights before. He wanted Ingram gone and Coosma gone and it will, Rondo gone and drafts. Half-pick's gone. Everybody gone because there was somebody else that was the, that he wants more. He even joked about it with the All-Star game selections. I just, Joy, I just wonder, like, can you get over it? For one night, you can always get over it. But can you get over it?

It was a nice thing. It was a nice thing that Rondo hit that shot. It's what the Lakers needed. It was a big, like, sigh. I actually felt good for them. Like, this has been, I'm sure. a very rough week, or two weeks, actually, for most of the members of that team, certainly for Luke Wall. And I'm sure it's been very stressful in the front office. And even for LeBron, despite the

fact that we all believe that this is his puppeteering at the end of the day. But yeah, I don't know what you do with the rest of the season. Because all those guys that kept getting their names thrown out there as disposable pieces. And look, like, it's part of the business. Everyone knows who's not LeBron James. I might get traded. Like, these are things, you're not actively thinking about that, but it's a possibility. Most people get traded or move to another team throughout their career. It's part of the business. But when you're just put in there as a package deal, like, what am I?

I'm sure their agents are blowing up the front office. I'm sure their agents are in their ear trying to figure out what the next step is for them. And how do you walk into the facility the next day? Okay, we had a good night. Now what? Yeah, that's my thought. And LeBron James, when asked about it after the game, said he told him to stay off social media. Like even that

I mean And everyone was saying that yesterday too About Kevin Durant And him, you know Lashing out at the media Stay off social media Stay off social media What do these guys have five

Press circuits they have to do On a game day? Even if you complete Even if you just throw your phone in the toilet And forget about it You don't even have a phone You still have to talk to the media They're still going to ask you questions

This is not impossible I mean it's not possible to avoid This whole conversation no matter what it is you do. I get it. Maybe you limit the intake that you have, but people are texting you and you're talking to your agent and your mom wants to know if you're okay.

Like it's unavoidable. Well, here's the difference. You point out, and smartly so, that it's part of the business. But I ask anybody who's watched sports have been around sports their entire life. Can you ever remember a week like this where I can't recall ever

at an NBA game chance like we had in India we had last night. The LeBron will trade you. Well, I don't think there's ever been a in, has there ever been a superstar with the power that LeBron has to do that? Coaches, sure.

Yes. Yes. And no, it just hasn't been this public. That's my point. My point is that while technically people are right when they say, hey, it's part of the business, you can be traded. Yes. But the open discussion about your value, the trades, the fact that it comes closer to how it happens. And then people's response to it, like, that has never happened before.

It just hasn't. No, and I'm not saying that to say that I'm not sympathetic with those guys. I certainly am. Right. I'm saying that this is not an obscurity. No, no, no, no. But my point is there's never been, I can't ever recall in the NBA or even in any other sport, this open discussion about how many current players on a team are worth another player

on another team. and we're just talking about like it's nothing. And that's why this is different. That's why there is no blueprint for what you do or what you say or how you fix it. And I do think, like, look, the point we're both making is the same. And mine is, the best analogy I can come up with is you have this really nasty fight and you say things you can't take back. And you know what those things that you can't say.

and you said it and you even felt bad about saying it but you were so mad at the time no apology is going to work even lebron he didn't even necessarily offer an apology or any sort of sympathy he was like stay off your phone like that's that's not like no dude just go hey you could have said hey this is a business whatever was discussed was discussed this is the group this is who we got you know this is all we got for the rest of the year we got one lot about spot we had one more dude and let's roll. But that's not what he said. He just said, hey, staff at phones.

You know, that's like waking up. And she looks at you and you're like, do you want to take back what you said? You're like, let's just not bring it up anymore. Like, that doesn't work. It's that except for add every single person in the locker room. So you're waking up in a room full. Yes.

Let's call it 20 people because it's not just the members of the team. You're also looking at the front office. Like, what am I worth you? There's no trust. You're looking at LeBron's representation. like what influence do you have over my career? Correct. You don't know who to trust.

Your personal interaction is so weird because you're like, all right, first, if I talk to LeBron and he's nice to me, does he really like me? Because he was nice to me before and then he wanted to trade me, right? And then like if you're Luke Walton, you're like, look, can I, I mean, I guess you're Luke, you just coach and you don't care, but I'm sure you do care because you, who didn't want to be coached to the Lakers? And you're thinking with every win, more likely, or if I get fired now, can I get to UCLA job. Or if I get fired at the right time, can I get the Arizona job if that thing blows up?

Or do I want to, do I really want to keep this job for next year? Like all of these things, which might have been in the back of your mind all along, now are in the front of your mind, and I don't know how you operate. It's really a bad spot. Yeah. All right. But there is another angle to this. I, we talk about carrying with us the baggage. of the past and the most recent events. I actually think that Anthony Davis is quickly becoming untradable. Like it's really, they're going to be hard pressed to find the value on the market that was offered for them this week. I'll explain why next, along with Joy Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is the herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed the 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,

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And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience. in the mental health field and conversations

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough

because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and our students. and finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I gotta manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this series

because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Tomorrow, seventh-ranked Michigan looks for revenge against number 19, Wisconsin. Then it's a big East showdown. It's Marcus Howard and 10th-ranked Marquette take on number 14 Villanova. A college hoops double-header tips off tomorrow at 1130 Eastern on Fox in the Fox Sports app. Doug Gallupin for Colin, this is the herd. It's pretty awesome games this weekend in college hoops. You got that Marquette, I mean, you got that Marquette game against Nova where Marquette just lost at home to St. Johns.

chance to dethrone the wildcats and become big east champions. And then you got Michigan getting their revenge or chance of revenge against Wisconsin, lost the game up in Madison, called that one on radio, which Michigan led really tip to finish. Speaking of hoops, I kind of think one thing lost in the whole discussion. And look, yesterday was a yuck fest and a really kind of fun one. You pointed this out earlier, Joy. how about last night the All-Star game selection? This is the second year in which they've had two captains pick the teams,

the first year in which they televised it. And the fear was, last year, the reason they didn't televise it was, you don't want to be the last guy picked, right? All right, I got Jimmy. I got Jimmy, right? Fine, I'll take DeAngelo Russell. That'll be my, you know, you didn't want to be the last guy picked. because then there's the

well you're the last guy picked. Turns out that actually isn't the worst thing that can happen in the All-Star game selection. It's jokes about tampering, which were really, really funny unless you're one of the teams that feels like you're tampered with. This is last night's show on TNT

where LeBron and Janice were making their selections. With my first pick in the second round, I'm going with Anthony Davis. You sure you want him to be your teammate? I'm very sure of that. Isn't that tempering? Tampering rules does not imply on All-Star Weekend.

And they're laughing about, like, think about it if you're one of these small market clubs that has either these stars or future stars. Like, you're calling up to commission. Like, look, I get that it's funny and it's relevant, but you do understand you're destroying the competitive balance of the league or the idea that we can fill up the seats. That's just, and you can say, well, that's the reality of the business. Like, yeah, well, that's not the way it works in baseball. It's not the way it works in the National Football League.

But the report yesterday from Brian Winhorst, which was a really interesting one. which essentially said that Del Demps and the Saints, the Del Demps and the Pelicans did this because... It's kind of Del Demps and Saints. It is Del Demps and the Saints, right? That they did this because they wanted to poison the well. They just wanted to tweak the Lakers because people look at the Lakers.

And I actually do think there's a reality to the Lakers tax or the Dodgers tax. There is this, you go back when Justin Verlander at the, it wasn't the regular trade deadline. It was, it's the, it's the waiver wire deadline. Remember, they went in, and they weren't able to land him instead. He ends up in Houston. And that's because the ask for the Dodgers was greater than the ask to the Houston Astros. And he ends up going to Houston, even though at first he didn't want to go to Houston. He actually wanted to go to L.A. And so, this does exist in that people say, like, look, L.A. is so arrogant. They think they can do whatever they want, that they can spend more money, think that everybody wants to come there. We're going to ask more

of them. But look, you don't pull off the deal, that's fine. You don't agree to trade him and you feel like you're being strong-armed. That's fine. The guy says, I want to go to L.A. and he forces you to try and trade him a year and with a year and a half left in your contract and you're ticked about it. That's fine. You don't have to trade your guy. You can hold out for what you think is a better deal. That's within your rights. But you're going to poison the well and you're going to release. lease the offers just with the sole intention of doing damage to their current team. Like, that's a level of being diabolical. And that's one of those ones you're like, why would I do business with this guy?

Right. Because what happens if it doesn't work? Right. Think about the last time the Lakers tried to pull off a deal with Del Dems and the then Hornets, it was for Chris Paul. Now, it wasn't Del Demp's fault that that deal got, but Lamar Odom went off the deal. bend. And it took them like a year to get Powell Gasol back in. And as much as we don't like to

think of these guys as human beings, they are in fact human beings, believe or not. And you're like, well, wait, I was a Laker. I got a Laker tattoo. I got like forum blue and gold on my license plate and now I'm out. I mean, you know, the greatest day in Kyle Kuzma's life is when LeBron starts following him on Instagram and then you know, and then likes one of his videos. And now all of a sudden

and LeBron James wanted him out. But more importantly, that the Pelicans released all this with the sole intention of doing damage to the Lakers. Like, why would you do business with that guy? I mean, I think it's bigger than just the Lakers doing business with them. Yeah. It's just a terrible look. I agree. Have you, again, this is one of those, I've never heard of that.

And just to be, I'm not a Lakers fan. So it's not like, I don't like them messing with my team. I just think it's not professional. Correct. And when you're. I mean, are you trying to get free agents at any point? Well, they have, and they basically, in terms of asking for a ridiculous assortment of first round and second round picks, they have, they have signal to the world, we can't get free agents. Right.

As they said, like, we're not even trying. I know there's a certain reality to it, right? Like, one of the reasons Oklahoma City felt like they had to make a trade for Paul George was they realized they can't get free agents there. They just can't. It's really, really hard. and why they, even though they trade away hard and lost Kevin Durant, why they had to, and there's some parts to rust which are hard. The fact is they ain't getting another Russ of Westbrook in Oklahoma City unless they draft

them, right? So they have sometimes. And they've still managed to put together a decent team, a competitive team. Yes. I mean, even the move to get Victorola Depot. That was a move when they thought they were keeping Kevin Durant. And then they try to make it work with Victorola Depot. Right.

And Victora Depot's contract at that point in time was seen as a bad contract that Orlando had overpaid him. Turns out he became an all-star when he went to Indy. But the point is that Oklahoma City, like the Pelicans and like many of the franchises in those markets, feels like you have to either take on bad contracts or overpay guys you currently have so they can't go elsewhere. Right. But who's that news to? Like the purpose of Anthony Davis saying that he's not going to sign a long-term deal with the Pelicans is to give them opportunity in wiggle room to get players to rebuild their team. The purpose of that is to do. do them a favor, he's not going to resign. He could just stay there and just walk away and you get

nothing. That's the whole point. Well, I think that's part of the point. I think that's part of it. I mean, he doesn't want to be there. What was a shocker that he wants to play in L.A.? It's a shocker that guys want to play with contenders in big cities? No, I think it's that it became, I think it's that it all became public. And I think some of their, some of the, some of the, some of the pelicans vitriol was over the fact that Anthony Davis's camp made it public when they probably would have tried to move mountains to trade him this offseason. And instead, he tried to get it going this year, whether that was Rich Paul and LeBron and them freaking out over the possibility that wouldn't happen or that it didn't happen with, you know, they couldn't trade for

Kauai, they couldn't get Paul George to even take a meeting, whatever that was. I mean, okay, but you're the organization. Yes. So you have to think macro. No, I, listen, you and I actually agree on this. We're not disagreeing on it, that the Pelicans were completely and totally unprofessional if this, in fact, was true, which I tend to believe it's true, not because of confirmation, but because I think wind horse is pretty tied in.

And also it just kind of makes sense. It doesn't help the Lakers for them to get, have all of, it's not normal to have all of your, every single time you have a trade offer to be immediately public. It's not even normal. Right. And I would point out that I think that Rich Paul and their camp acted unprofessionally in what Anthony Davis's dad said. Like, look, dude, your dad hasn't been quoted in seven years of playing the NBA.

And only now he's quoted saying the Boston Celtics. Like, to me, it's totally transparent. You want to be in L.A. Got it. Everybody knows it. Not breaking news. Okay? And you went to the team and said,

I would prefer if you trade me now. And it's one of those deals where you can get more for me now than you could if you waited. All of that is, it's that it became public. That's, I'm sure, what irritated the Pelicans. And they probably thought the Lakers were behind it. But that doesn't mean you tell the world and leak to the world, look what they're willing to offer with the sole intent of doing damage, which is what's been reported.

And that to me is a level of diabolical unprofessionalism I've never seen before. And it leads me to believe that, like, again, Danny Ains has won almost every trade. The only loss that he's taken is in signing Gordon Hayward. And Gordon Hayward was the most sought-after free agent of that class. And the only reason it's become a bad contract was he broke his leg, you know, landing in the first two minutes of the first game we played with the Celtics, not because it was a bad deal. Right. And so if I'm, if Danny Aange who's done so many good deals, like he looks at the Pelicans like, they're a joke. the Knicks who have done everything right from their own perspective in terms of getting cast-based,

try and regain credibility. They have a head coach that people believe in, a general manager. They try to rid themselves at the past. Like, they're going to do a good deal with a guy who, with an organization that shows themselves to be unprofessional. And if I'm the Lakers, like, look, the Kyle Kuzman, the one thing Kyle Kuzma hasn't shown he can do on offense is make threes. You just made five.

The asking price, or the asking price for, Anthony Davis just went down if I'm the Lakers. It just did. I do wonder on, it's not just that Anthony Davis's contract gets shorter, but the way in which they purported themselves, as you pointed out, and I think you're right, in an unprofessional manner, if that doesn't hurt their ability, ultimately, to make a quality deal for the organization. Let's get to Joy Taylor with the news.

No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So the Eastern Conference contenders were big winners at the NBA trade deadline yesterday. The Sixers, Bucks, and Raptors all made some bold, aggressive moves, and LeBron watched it all as his Lakers failed to secure Anthony Davis from the Pelicans, we just discussed. And he told the athletics Joe Varden why he thought the Eastern Conference teams went big yesterday. He said, I was excited seeing all the moves they made,

those matchups in the second round and the Eastern Conference finals. That belief is going to be crazy. It's going to be fun to watch. They're going for it. Everyone in the East thinks then they can get to the finals because they ain't got to go through me. I mean, the level of arrogance in that quote is unbelievable. I mean, like, look. I mean, he's not wrong.

He actually is wrong if you look at the history of it. Other teams in the East had made moves in order to compete in the East. Matter of fact, his calves last year. But they weren't in the NBA finals. No, but they were in a complete, like, again, we're, all right. So, was it two years ago, the Raptors went forward and got Serge Abaka. The Serge Abaka move is no different than the move to go and get Mark assault. These moves have been made before.

The only difference is that the Sixers are at a better place in terms of their growth than they were a couple years ago. But other teams had made moves to try and go for it. They just, they weren't there yet. The Celtics, the Celtics last year had injuries, so they really couldn't go for.

But basically he's saying, like, it's really cute. Everyone's going for it because at the end of the day, they don't have to play me. So they, so now everybody has a chance. Yeah, but they all had a chance previously. Like, did they though? In the same way that most people are assuming the Warriors are going to be in the NBA finals, that was the assumption. I mean, it was, okay, we push them to seven games, give them a little pushback.

By the end of the day, LeBron James is going to be in the NBA Finals' knees. Well, part of the reason was when he went to the heat, in the process of building the heat, they destroyed the Celtics got old and eventually they got Ray Allen, right? That, like, pull out the legs of that chair. Then they pulled out everything from the chair of the Cleveland Cavaliers who had won 61. games and the Toronto Raptors had their start taken away. So in addition to building up Miami, they destroyed any likely competition in the East. Smart. Right? Then when he goes to Cleveland, they get Kevin Love, they have Kyrie Irving, and they began the process of, and all the other teams were in rebuild mode. We're in tank mode. But I don't think there's as much correlation

with LeBron being out as much as where those teams are in the growth phase, who's available, and the fact that they're going for it. Teams had gone for it in the past. They had just calling it coming up short. Well, LeBron would disagree with you. So injuries have been a constant for the Lakers this season. So has speculation about Luke Walton and his future. The decision whether to cut Luke Walton loose will be made by Rob Polinka and Magic Johnson, although Jeannie Bus is reluctant to say that she wants to make a coaching switch during the season.

That said, Palinka is at least publicly throwing his support behind Luke Walton. Luke's done an amazing job. We're totally unified Magic. And Luke and I talk all the time through this whole. trade deadline process. Our communication is lockstep and he's been, you know, tremendous. I think he has a passion to get this team in the playoffs and you're going to see him aggressively coach us to the very end and we're going to all stay together and support one another. I don't know. I don't buy it at all. Look, I think that they're in communication a lot. That I don't disagree with. I do think that

they probably let him know every time a conversation is had. especially about the roster. I don't imagine they're leaving him hanging out to dry. But the whole feeling for the rest of the season is kind of doom and gloom. I mean, the optimism or the excitement that we had about the Lakers at the beginning of the season and after just really the past two weeks, actually I would say really since LeBron's injury, it's just been on a steady decline. And I don't think that it's Luke Walton's fault because like you said,

I think the Lakers are a competitive team when everyone is healthy. That's not. Look, I agree with him that he's doing a good job. Lakers are a very good defensive team that I thought the roster that was put together was flawed, and they've tried to fix some of those flaws with the two moves that they made. But I blame, this is a LeBron James deal, dude. It's the LeBron James 101. This is why Kyrie Irving doesn't want to play with LeBron.

It's not the actual game play. LeBron James will let you take the big shots. That has nothing to do with it. It's all this other stuff. He won't say it, but he wants to pick his coach. He won't say it, but he wants to... Everything with LeBron is temporary. Right.

You're trying to win a championship immediately. You're not building for the long term. It's right now. And all of the carnage that comes with that, you're going to have to deal with. I've also heard in NBA circles that there's not great communication between Polinka and Magic,

Polinka and Luke, and that they went from having incredible chemistry before LeBron's injury to having really dysfunctional chemistry. So we'll see. Finally, the NFL's offseason started this week, and for Chiefs fans that meant talk of Patrick Mahomes and his basketball games. A video of Mahomes playing pickup went viral this week. Quite good, actually.

There you go. Boom. So, Chiefs GM Brett Beach says he wants Mahomes to quit. Yes, I did see the tweet of Pat Mahomes playing basketball. and we did address it. And as soon as I thought, probably took me two seconds to call his agent and tell him that was a big no-no.

So I think the kingdom can rest assured that we have that under control. No more basketball for Pat. You know, in general, I would tend to agree. The thing is, a lot of football players play pickup basketball. They all want to be basketball for it. Not even in the off-season,

I would say during the regular season as well. It's not uncommon. A lot of football players played basketball in high school are actually quite good. Some of them could actually play in the NBA. Nick, Nick Foles can really shoot the basketball, can really play. And Mahomes obviously can play. Right.

But if you're a chiefs fan, it's good two spin moves. You don't want to, you might get a little nervous seeing him out there on the court. I mean, that would not be great for the franchise for him to get injured doing that. Again, I get it overall. Oh, he could get injured in the, you know, training room. Yeah, but at least it's with football. I understand it, but it's just not going to happen. Like, you can't.

You just got to tell me to play old man. basketball. That's what Richard Sherman said. He said that's going to work. If they don't want him hooping, then put it in the contract. It's not there so he can do as he pleases. Most players do. He's right.

Most players do play big of basketball. Yeah, it's a great way to stay in shape, right? He's going to be careful who you play with. You don't want to play with. That's the big thing. The overzealous guy is trying to prove himself. It's not just honestly. Honestly, it's not the, it's not the, it's not the, it's not the, was

Mani Machado said Johnny Hustle. It's not the Johnny Hustle guy. It's the guy who hasn't played basketball because he doesn't really know how to move or where to be. He's like in the wrong place at the wrong time. He doesn't mean to. That's the guy that hurts you. Actually, he should play with higher level guys. Higher level guys playing with

higher level guys, almost never get hurt. That's why when you see those like Zabruder film footage, right, of Carmello and LeBron, they only play with legit guys because they know how to get out of the way and where to be. There's no surprises.

That would be my advice more so than not play basketball. That's news. Aaron Boone got hurt playing with his friends, right? Yeah. That is the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lie News. Greg Jennings is going to join us upcoming next. He can relate to being kind of a lame duck player. And I want to ask him about a new story about Aaron Rogers and how coachable Aaron Rogers actually is. That's upcoming next in The Hurd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays and noon Eastern, 9th. am Pacific. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Coward.

This is The Hurd on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports One, the IHeart Radio app alongside the super talented podcaster of the year. I gave out my own awards. Is that me? Yeah, Joy Taylor. Podcast of the year, I'll take it. Listen, I can think of several the podcasts in my cue. I love the fact that we, it's like it's a word that they've used in Europe for years to say line, right?

Cueing, right, to line up. that we only now use in America because it fits with, you know, with things on your podcast, right? But I can, oh, the ones in my cue, like, I kind of think you're one of the only ones I quote, I quote, because you have some really fun topics on it. Anyway, Greg Jennings, right there. Huh?

Yeah. It's good. Have you listened to the podcast? Absolutely. I've been on it. I know. Not the one that you were on. Wow.

Hold on. Can you answer the question, please? Yes, actually. I'm teasing, Greg. Thank you. phone. Because I'm because of Brandon. Give me the phone.

Let me see it. I want to see it in the queue. I believe it. I actually don't have my phone. Oh, no, he did the Patriot thing. He destroyed the, destroyed the phone. Greg Jennings joins us from a Pro Bowl wide receiver.

You've been in, and I do want to talk about some of the latest comments about Aaron Rogers, now that Matt LaFleur is officially their head coach. And some of your thoughts on Super Bowl, now we've had a chance to catch our breath. But you've been in kind of a, A little bit of a similar situation to many of the Lakers, right, where there's this thought that they're not, you ain't going to be here next year. When you're last year with the Packers, you knew you weren't going to be there, correct?

I did. I had a great idea that I wasn't going to be there. But it's one of those things where you have to be realistic with yourself. You have to be honest with yourself. Obviously, understanding my value to the team, I didn't want to overstand. my value or overthink that I was so valuable or such a vital piece to their success that I wouldn't be moved on from. But having said that, like, when you know that there's a chance that you will not be in that uniform or there's a possibility, your mind wonders. And it's not so much about what everyone else is saying. It's about trying to mentally stay locked in where you are and not look at what the future is because you have no idea what that future looks like.

For me, my time in Green Bay, I wanted to stay there like most of these Lakers. They want to be a Lakers. They want to be a Laker before LeBron came. They wanted to be a Laker after LeBron came. They want to be champions. And they feel like they are doing their best to do that. But if someone else controls your destiny, you have to be real with yourself and say, you know what, am I doing enough?

And in Lonzo Ball's case, I'll use him as an example. My last year in Green Bay, I got hurt. So mentally, that even weighs on you. Now you're questioning yourself, man, I'm not out there. I'm not able to prove that I'm an asset to this team, that I'm valuable to this organization, or to any other organization for that matter. So there's a lot of things that go on in a young player's mind. I'm not really exactly sure what the positive outcome is dad thought he had by a couple of

coming on this show and other shows yesterday. That's not, I don't, I don't get it. Doesn't help Lonzo. No. It doesn't, you know, hadn't been healthy a whole year yet. The organization's kind of bought into him and I, it's doing more harm than good. But how hard is it to perform when you have that carrying over, you have that weighing in your head? Like, I think there's the, I think there is the assumption out there.

And sometimes I have that, which is, hey, you're in a contract, if you're in a contract year and some of these guys aren't in contract years anyway, but you're in a contract you think you're going to go elsewhere next year. The idea is, well, that'll motivate you. You play at your highest level, but there is a lot of pressure. What's that like? A ton of pressure, because you're trying to eliminate all the mental hurdles that come with that, meaning the pressures or the obstacles.

You don't want to think of injury. You know the risks that are in front of you. They don't change ever. But in a contract year, it's like they're all sitting in front of you ready to be read and looked at every single day. You're trying to stay healthy. You want to not get injured. You want to put up great numbers.

You want to be a great teammate because you want people to say the right things about you if you are exiting. And so there's a lot of pressure that you kind of put on yourself sometimes. And I think the best thing to do is just go out there and try to play free, which is what I felt like we saw last night. A young Lakers team that's like, you know what, we're here. Let's just go ball. Well, they were locked up a little bit when they were down 18. They were. And then I think, yes, then they kind of let it fly.

They got back to playing an old way of LeBron James, played through him, spot up, shoot, and they got after defensively. But yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see. There's a couple new articles out about Aaron Rogers. One's in the Minneapolis Star Tribune where it kind of compiles quotes. And it should be noted that you're quoted in this article as well. But so is Jim Michael Finley. Quote, he's coachable to a point.

Once you try and overcoach him, that's when he's going to do his own thing. McCarthy used to call play, and Aaron would look at him, and then it's a whole different play. KGB, Kabir Baja of Amelia, said, when Aaron became the man, he was the man, especially in his own eyes. Let's put it this way. Things just changed.

With everything Brett accomplished, you'd think he'd be a little bit more arrogant. He was actually more humble. I felt that Aaron was a little bit more arrogant. And then there's Jeff Janice, another former wide receiver and teammate of yours. I think positive reinforcement works a lot better than negative. it can tear you down and break you as a player.

You can be a really good player and just keep doing stuff to them. What's your take on this recent series of quotes, most of them negative in regards to 12? Well, first, I was gone before Jeff Janice got there. But for me, it's all real. It's all real. And what people have to understand is that these are guys that have been in the locker room with Aaron Rogers.

Some both with Brett Farr, Van Ann Rogers. obviously. But when I look at the situation and I mentioned on undisputed a quote that he had, change is tough at first. But it typically works out in the end. What the end looks like. We don't know, but we understand change is going to be tough. And I mentioned had Aaron Rogers reached out to Matt LaFleur and everyone's panic. Oh, they have communicated. I understand they've communicated. but from a player's perspective who holds all the cards in his hand

I want to know am I important enough that you're going to reach out to me because in my opinion Matt LaFleur is going to dump everything into this organization that he possibly can. We know that. He wants to be successful. Aaron Rogers wants to win

but is he willing to give up and tear up this narrative of someone who doesn't manage relationships well, can be hard to grow with and partner with. Can he eliminate that narrative by, yeah, reach out, show us that it's important for a young quarterback that I be assertive, that I put my best foot forward first. Well, look, there's two different things that you can learn from the Super Bowl. Okay. Second thing I'll get to and I ask you in a second. The first is,

let's look at Tom Brady. Like, look, Tom Brady did not play great. He just didn't. He actually probably didn't play well by his own, by anybody's accounts. And he should have thrown three interceptions in the EFC championship game. Now, he was great on the last drive, on the touchdown drive, which gave them. But they didn't win that game because of Tom Brady. They won it because the game play in the defense. And they did just enough running the football to put him in position to have Tom Brady make great plays on one drive.

Right. But if there's a lesson to be learned is at some point there's got to be a sacrifice of ego for the betterment of the team. He's, Brady has sacrificed financially, however much he can as a poet because his wife's rich as well. He still has sacrificed. And he's sacrificed his ego enough where they become a power running football team. And I know he's at a different stage in his career. But is there a chance that Aaron Rogers, though he has some personality quirks. He's also a pretty smart guy. Do you think he can learn from watching Brady? And be like, dude, Brady is half the player I am right now. But because he's kind of given himself to the team in the organization, it's end up working for

more. Of course. Aaron Rogers is one of the smartest guys you'll ever meet. He might be too smart. And I don't think there's a such thing as being too smart. There may be a such thing as knowing too much about everything to where, I don't think that's like too smart. I think

it's an expression though, right? You're more too informed. Right, right? You know, there's an expression there where he's just too smart. He just, he thinks he has all the answers, right? Where the really smart guy knows enough to know what he doesn't know. Exactly. And I think he knows so much. much that he sometimes doesn't feel like I don't know. I do know.

But when you look at Tom Brady, it's not that he sacrificed his ego. He learned how to manage his ego. It's a great way putting it. I know how great I am. Aaron Rogers understands how great he is and the asset that he is to that organization and how valuable he is. But more importantly, we haven't been able to get it done with just me doing it this way. If I am willing to, you know what, let me.

Let me take a note page out of Brady's book and say, let me dial it back. That doesn't mean dial back your play. We still need all of that. We still need you to be fiery. I still need you to kind of get on guys. But let me look at me a lot of times and say, you know what, I can be better and mean it. Last year I sat on the set and I said that the reason the Patriots had been to, at the time, eight super pulls is the reason that I'm okay with him not playing Malcolm Butler.

because he may lose the battle, he wins the war. And it feels like that came to fruition. He wanted guys that were all in and that were completely locked in. Is there a chance that the league and other coaches learn from this? The type of control he had that he was willing to sacrifice possibly last year's Super Bowl, but that helped him win this Super Bowl. Yeah, it all starts when you first get to an organization. You can't evolve into that.

It has to be who you are from Jump. And I think when you look at Bill Belichick, this is who he was. It's like, I'm going to start this way. I'm going to stay this way. I'm going to be this way. And this is how we're going to win. He's Greg Jennings, along with Joy Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlieb.

Why the LeBron James era starts now. This is The Herd. One more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. What up? Welcome in.

This is The Herd, wherever you may be. And however you may be making a sound. you may be making this part of your day. Thank you so much alongside Joy Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlieb. NBA champion Dante Jones stops by in 30 minutes. You can find us on Sirius XM Channel 83. Later on, we got the best for last,

including in honor of the failed Anthony Davis trade. We have five other trades that would have completely shifted the power and some of the history of the NBA. had they been consummated. Plus, I like to use the word consummated in ways that are non-sexual. I always think that's funny. Anyway, we'll do that a little bit later on. Well, the Lakers, as we mentioned, didn't get Anthony Davis yesterday.

But regardless, let me tell you why the LeBron James time in L.A., the era starts right now. The LeBron James era didn't start last July when he signed on. I remember Magic Johnson waiting outside the house, supposedly an hour before go time. And then he walks in and they talk for three hours and a deal is consummated. And Paul George announces he's staying and, all right, this is the plan. And they slowly executed the plan. It didn't start then.

That was the signing. But it starts now. And the reason I know it starts now is because what has happened with the Lakers is the same thing that has happened at my place of work. It's the same thing that's happened in the place where Colin and I both used to work. It's the same thing that happens sometimes where you work. It happens in pro sports franchises where the new boss comes in. This happens. The new boss comes in.

And the first six months, the first three months, they're just everybody's friend. They just get to know people. You know, they get to know Bonnie who handles my audio. They get to know Bonnie. They get to, oh, John Goulet, we used to work together. They know people. What do you live now? What do you do?

What would you change about your job? They ask smart questions. And they're more listeners. They're wallflowers. That's what you do for the first three months. And then the next three months, you put together kind of a plan. I like this. I don't like this.

This is what we want to do. And then six months in, you call everybody in in a meeting. And you fire somebody. And you shake things up. And you point somebody else in charge. And then everybody goes back to their desk and they start firing off emails, they start preparing their resume, because they don't know if they're next. Right? They don't know. Wait, the guy who was the boss who the big boss just fired, he liked me. And the new guy didn't like me. Hell, I might be next. Or maybe it's the opposite. They didn't like me. He's gone. Happy days are here again. I'm good with the new boss.

This is Business 101. This is new CEO 101. There's actually a book about this. It's called The First 90 Days. And the first 90 days, I'll save you a quick read. It's a good read. You just pick it up, especially if you're going to a new place of work. The idea is you've got to understand and absorb some of the new culture

before you ever try and think about installing your own beliefs or your own culture. Because you've got to understand what you're dealing with. That's what LeBron James did. Did you watch them play last night? When they're down 18 points in the second quarter, were they moving the ball and playing like the Golden State Warriors? No. They were playing like the calves.

They were playing like the heat. They were playing like the calves before, which is let's get the ball to number 23. And let's all space out the floor and let him make place for us. And just try and make shots. Try and get stops. He's going to create all our offense. Why?

Because that's how LeBron plays. plays. Like, look, the playbook is the same no matter where he goes. Why? Because that's what LeBron. You didn't hire LeBron James to be, to be a ball mover, right? You're not going to teach any old dog, especially one who has won as much competed as at high level. New tricks. It's just not how he's wired. You ain't rewiring this deal. He is what he is. Chris Ballard took over the Indianapolis Colts. It's going back a couple years ago. Did he fire Chuck Pagano right away? No, no, no, no, no. He began the process of gutting and remaking his roster, acquiring draft picks, cap space, and slowly executed his plan. And then before this season,

he fired his coach and thought, I'm going to hire Josh McDaniels, a quarterback guru to go along with my super bright quarterback. That didn't work out. He went to his plan B. It ends up hiring a guy in Frank Reich who's former quarterback, quarterback guru, and it worked out quite well. Now, look, it wasn't a six-month plan, but the idea was he was still kind of a wallflower, the first couple of months, kind of figuring out the lay of the land, had a plan and slowly executed that plan. And then when he made the big move, it was the first in this, and eventually he'll bring in all his guys. That's what they all do. They go place to place to place, and they bring with them people who worked with them previously.

I've worked in places in radio. I've worked a place in television. I know people in business and in sports. It's all the same. This is the way it works with a new boss. First couple months are everybody's friend. Next couple months, they start planning and plotting and trying to understand how can I execute ultimately my plan. Six months in, big firing, big change.

And then slowly they start bringing in their old guys who know how they operate, know how to execute, and know what the boss likes and what he's. he doesn't like. And that's what LeBron James is doing. Was it an ugly and weird week? Absolutely. Are there far more things to talk about in terms of how the Lakers managed today, waking up knowing that their season could have been an abject disaster? Had they lost last night, had Rondo not picked up the basketball that was loose after

a bad shot when LeBron doesn't touch the ball in the last possession of the game? Sure. But that's not what happened. This is why sports is so much better than real life. We have all this to talk about, and we can only react to the fact that the ball did go through the basket. If you missed it, here's the final call of the Lakers' triumphant come from behind win after a wild week in Los Angeles. There's angry we got to stop. The trade speculation.

Come to Boston and defeat the Celtics 129, 128 on the last second shot by the one-time self-time. rush out wrong door. That's the way to come home. That's the way to remind people what you did for. What an incredible game. What an incredible Thursday night. Just the whole day was exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. The whole day would the Pelicans pick up the phone and re-engage in trade discussion?

It doesn't happen. Then you have the All-Star draft and you have LeBron's first couple selections, all being guys who could essentially be late. next year if they so desired to do so. And then you have a game where they fall behind by 18 points. And then you have LeBron and Kyle Cusmo, who's part of that deal. I didn't think should be included in the deal. Ends up, you know, hitting a bunch of three threes on the night.

And then even in the last possession, Brandon Ingram, also reportedly part of the deal chooses to go away from LeBron James, who's being face-guarded, but you could have found a way to get him the ball, drives in, takes a contested shot, it gets bobbled around, and Rondo, Rondo of all guys. Rondo's the guy who when he lets a jump shot go, you go, no, no, no, no, no. Yes, that's how it ended.

But essentially, the LeBron James era starts now. It does. Whether the plan is going to play out or he's able to execute it the way that he and Rich Paul thought it would play out, the fact is that they did shake some things up. They've checked Luke Walton. Hey, man. We don't necessarily love playing for you. They've checked all of those young guys.

Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, you're all replaceable. They've shaken guys up. Michael Beasley, you like playing selfishly down the stretch against the Warriors? When I'm not playing, we see you. You're gone. Sometimes there's some ancillary guys, you know, like Zubach, who ends up getting moved in the deal. That happens. Sometimes guys lose their job. They don't deserve to lose their job.

when the new boss comes in. But six months in, every boss seems to do this. They make a big change. They make a big fuss. Everybody's freaking out, sending their resumes, not knowing what's going on at your place for work. Dude, I don't know. I don't know, man.

I don't know this guy. This guy's only been here six months, and he already got rid of Michael Beasley. And then you settle in, you go, okay, I get to go to work tomorrow. First and the 15th, they collect a check. Try and figure some things out. And that's the state of the Lakers.

And that's only part of the overall story of the last 24 hours or the last week. The whole thing is, I don't even think you could script it. If you did, you would have a deal down the street or on this lot here, on the Fox lot, be making the movie. And it culminated last night, not just in the game, but in the all-star selection before the game. We'll bring it to you if you missed it and talk about the irony in who LeBron selected and how he selected them. We'll get to that next. Joy, Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlieb.

This is The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. 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 Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the hard way. Open your free I Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the play. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, Mom, I want you to wave at. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Times is almost here, and 1-800 flowers is the best bouquets and amazing deals around. Like 18 red roses for 299 or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more. To order, go to 1,800. Plowers.com. Click on the radio icon. Enter the code. Heard. H.E.R.D. Doug Gald have been for a call in the herd. So many things going on yesterday in the NBA, which did not really pertain to the games, which, of course, we had last night. What did I read? Russell Westbrook had his, what is 10th consecutive triple double? That's obscene.

Eighth, excuse me, eighth consecutive triple double. It should be pointed out that Russell Westbrook suddenly now can't shoot a basketball at all. They can't make free throws at all. It's really bizarre. But, but, bizarre. But, The LeBron, the Lakers stuff, the Anthony Davis stuff is completely overshadowed. Mark Gassall is now a Toronto Raptor. You know, like, look, I love the Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers. They're kind of top heavy with their big five, but their bench is completely depleted. How does that work out in a playoff series? I'm intrigued by it.

And, you know, now Mirittich is a member of the Bucks, creating even more space for Yannis. And the Bucks have the best record in the East. But I'm trying to think what was the, man, it was a crazy last 24, 48 hours here following the Lakers and into last night where, I mean, think about this story, Joy, where first you have the 42 point loss with all the rumors. And that was after preceding the 42 point loss was the report that the Lakers were no longer getting a bit against themselves, right? I thought, I just thought, you know, look, the Pacers are depleted by injury. are going to get it together and just hammer the Pacers. Then they lose. They don't just lose.

They get basically mercy ruled. And LeBron, there's three seats between him and the rest of the team, right? It was an incredible visual. And so you think, okay, well, maybe they're still going to find a way to get this done. It doesn't get done. Then you have, before the game, you have the All-Star game draft. I want to get to that in a second. Then you have them down 18.

They come back. They win the game. They had 22-3s, Rondo of all people. There were shooter. I have been told the Rondo is actually a great practice shooter. Like in terms of all the drills they ever have shooting drills, he wins many of them. He's just not a game shooter for whatever that's worth.

But Rondo of all people, the former Celtic and the guy who's the worst shooter on their roster in terms of perimeter shooter makes the game winner against the Celtics, the team that was tweaking the Lakers and considering maybe we'll move for Anthony Davis. Maybe we won't. We don't know. Plus, they're the long time. rivals, all of that. What's your favorite part of the story?

My favorite part of the story is what the Lakers do now. You know, I was thinking about it yesterday. We do this with every LeBron team, like the first half of the season. We all just freak out. They're not who they need to be. There's some major injury. They've got to move a bunch of pieces. We do it every year. Up until the All-Star break, it is just complete mayhem with every single LeBron team. Even if it's a solid team, even in Miami, it's always a disaster. And then somehow they usually make a trade and then they pull things together. Now, the trade didn't happen, obviously, but I just don't know how they move forward. It was mayhem for the last two weeks.

The leaks, what's going to happen with Luke Walton? I mean, is he now coaching just a – But remember they had – was it his first year in Miami or second year in Miami with the spolster thing where he bumped shoulders with him, right? Yeah, I mean, it's always something with the coach. Like, that's a given. There's always some sort of power struggle going on. They need to move pieces. LeBron likes control.

And to his credit, he's earned the right. He went back to Cleveland under the premise that he's going to have basically control of that entire organization and he got them a championship. Lakers is a little different of a situation. It's not Cleveland. There's some other power brokers here. There's some other people with a little bit of way and say who have some rings. Yeah. The whole thing's fascinating.

And look, that's the way it was in Miami. And frankly, they were really more successful in Miami. I mean, not just number of championships, but it felt like a better run deal. And remember, he challenged Spolstra. And there's the old story that, you know, he goes in, meeting with Pat Riley and asked him about, you know, why don't you coach again? And Riley wasn't biting, right? Riley pushed back against him.

It didn't feel like the Lakers have actually pushed back against him. It felt like the Lakers tried to do what he wanted. They just couldn't get it done. Right? I mean, that's really what feels like. How about the irony to last night? We're talking about all this tampering. talking about LeBron, and then he is, in fact, the coach GM of the All-Star team,

and, you know, he gets to make his selection. And then there's this back and forth between him and Janus. With my first pick in the second round, I'm going with Anthony Davis. You sure you want him to be your teammate? You know, I'm very sure of that. Isn't that tempering? No, no. champion rules does not imply on All-Star weekend.

I mean, it's funny. It's funny unless you're sitting there in your small market team and you're just crawling out of your skin. The whole thing is the theater of the bizarre. But in terms of how they continue to function, how they go forward, I don't know. I don't know. Like, look, there is a certain, not all basketball players,

but a lot of them, they've played on multi-AAU teams, a lot of multi-high school teams. They've had it out with guys in the past. but it did, man, a couple nights ago, it was bad. And then they're down 18 and it is bad. And they're not a 22 make three-point shooting team. Like, that was, making shots covers up a lot of warts. I just, I don't know how they go for.

They wake up the next day. Because obviously that was unload the energy tank. Now they got Philly. You know, Phillies, the same chance are going to be out there, the same energy. And Philly's legit good as well. I don't know how they go forward. I'm fascinated by it. I was the one.

I thought this year was different. I didn't freak out. Even when he got hurt because I had the, it was a realization of he was hurt, then Cusmo was hurt, Rondo was hurt, Alonzo's hurt. You're without three starters in the NBA in the West, and it's not like the East was the last couple years.

Just not. And so I wasn't freaking out. It felt like the last week and a half they did, and now we're back to where we were before, but I don't know if you can, I don't know if you can put that genie back in the bottle. It feels like the toothpaste is out of the tube. It does. It really does.

I guess it's TBD, to be determined. Magic Johnson apparently on his way to meeting with the team before they play the Philadelphia 76ers. But, you know, again, words ring hollow. It's action's not words, right? That's what I've been told by my wife. Like, he can tell me all you want, but it's what you do. And when you've, unless you've told players in the past, which it doesn't feel like you that, hey, listen, you might be here, you might not.

I don't know how that will, anything he stands and says in front of players will really matter. The same thing with LeBron, especially considering LeBron's response to how the young players should handle it last night was they should stay off social media. Like that doesn't. It feels like you need a little bit more from LeBron in this spot. Like it's the visual of him at the end of the bench and I get it. He has a special seat and that's where he likes to sit or whatever. a million excuses for why he's there. You're LeBron James. You are aware

everyone is watching every single thing that you do. Move the chair. Just stand up and get in the huddle. You're not above that. It felt like an abandonment of everything. Not just the players, but the coaches. No, that was it. That felt like, the last week felt like a, it feels like a failed

coup d'etat. Failed coup d'et. That's what it was. And LeBron wanted the coach out. He won the players out. He wanted his deal. And I don't know whether it was New Orleans or them, or the combination of the both, but that's a failed coup d'etat. And it always gets interesting after a failed coup exactly what takes place. Let's get to joy with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Heard Line News. So the All-Star draft was last night, as we just mentioned, tampering jokes, and the first time I've televised it, I don't like the idea of televising it. I don't like the idea of somebody getting picked last. I think if you're an All-Star or you're an All-Star, and it's just unnecessary.

I get it. Everybody wants more content, so it's good for the networks as far as that goes. But someone's going to get picked last, and last week, Bradley Beale spoke about the notion of being the last pick. No, I told Sid Miller earlier,

I said, I can pick me last, man. I mean, because at the end of the day, I'm still an art star doesn't change anything. And I know it's going to be people are going to be mad. I pick last. I don't care. Pick me last. Well, let's show the final pick of last night's draft.

That leaves Bradley Beale, who leads the Eastern Conference in 20-point games this year, LeBron, to round out your squad. I love it. Bench mob. I mean, look, they're all all-stars. It just, it's so, I don't like it. I just don't. You know what they call the guy who finished his last medical school, right? He's a doctor.

He's kind of like the doctor from that commercial. Like, you know, he just got reinstated. sort of, you know? You nervous, me too. It's kind of like that doctor. I just don't like it. Like, he's an all-star. It's a great honor.

It's something that should be just appreciated and celebrated. I don't like it. Call me, you know, down or daisy if you want to. So the Eastern Conference contenders were big winners at the NBA trade line. Deadline yesterday. Sixers, bucks, Raptors all made moves. LeBron watched his Lakers not make any moves.

And he told the athletics Joe Varden, why he thought the Eastern Conference teams were so aggressive. He said, I get excited seeing all the moves they made, those matchups in the second round in the Eastern Conference finals. That bleep is going to be crazy. It's going to be fun to watch. They're going for it.

Everybody in the East thinks they can get to the finals because they ain't got to go through me. Oh, man. This is going to be everywhere. The thing about it is he sounds very arrogant in saying this. There's no two ways about that. But he is right also.

Like not that people weren't making moves, to try and beat LeBron and the heat and the Raptors made moves both the past two years to try and beat him. Yeah, it did. And when and the Cavs got their roster last year at trade deadline because they weren't good enough. You make moves based upon did they make your team better? Are you going for? You're not going for it. I don't think it's necessarily that people are making moves and that's surprising. Right. I think it's the

It's because I'm not there. They don't have to go through me. That's the important part of it. But he's not wrong. I don't I don't actually have a problem. with him saying this. Of all the things that he's done in the past two weeks that completely lack self-awareness, this one he's actually right about. I don't think he's right. I do think that he's right in terms of teams are going for it. I don't think the teams go for it or don't go for it based upon whether or not LeBron James is there. I think they go for it, but not go for it based upon they do all feel like they have a chance to get to the NBA finals because LeBron's not there.

No, I think they have a chance to get to the NBA finals based upon their roster. And can they pluck off a guy because there's more teams tanking now? There's more teams. teams don't want to be in the middle anymore. Like the Clippers were a playoff team and they don't care about being in the middle of the playoffs. That's what it's more about. It's more about... The Memphis Grizzlies have decided, we're done. Right? Last year, they decided to tank

because they didn't have Mike Connolly. This year, they have Conley, and they had Gasol and they said, hey, they're both out there. They thought about trading both. Like, Utah wanted to trade for Mike Conley, not because they think they're... But they thought it would be a good value, and he's better than Ricky Rubio. They couldn't pull off the deal. couldn't get it done. I just, it is really arrogant, and I don't think it's particularly true,

although it is something, it is a narrative that some in the media, and I think you, you buy into, I do not, I do not actually buy into. Based off how many finals he has been to, I do. Speaking of tanking, unlike what had been originally speculated, heading into the trade deadline, New Orleans is not going to sit Anthony Davis for the rest of the season. They are going to have some caveats, though, according to Wode. He said, here's what to expect with Anthony Davis's usage the rest of the way with the Pelicans, fewer, if any, back-to-backs and a reduction in minutes from his 37 per game. So this makes sense for multiple reasons.

Obviously, they don't want Davis to get injured and hurt his trade value. They are not looking to contend for a playoff spot or be in the middle, like you said. So limiting David's minutes will help with their draft slot, and it'll give them an opportunity to play their younger players as well. I don't know why they came out. I don't know why they would, again, I don't know why you would leak this, right? Like, hey, we're going to play them and let's accept the fluid. We're wondering if they're going to sit him for the rest of the season.

You don't have to tell anybody? I mean, I don't know. And oh yeah, by the way, if you have an asset, you're going to have to trade. Like, we're going to play you. You didn't play you. Sorry. And maybe if you come to us and you don't want to play in a back-to-back because, you know, the, what is it, load management? Load management.

Yes. But I just, this is trying to please everybody. And you know what happens to you're trying to please everybody. No one. Please no one. That's Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

He played 13 season in the NBA and, of course, won a championship with LeBron James and the Cavaliers. He's Dante Jones. He joins us in the herd. He also, it should be pointed out, huge game in college basketball this weekend. And I'm going to ask our guys on a very short notice to look this up. He had probably the coolest post-dunk celebration. Duke plays Virginia this weekend, okay? They used to play in that old place, that little dump they used to play in, but it was a zoo.

I don't know if you remember. Dante had a dunk against Virginia. You guys can YouTube it where he dunked on like two people. Good morning, Dante. And then he started doing push-ups. Oh. It was a great post-dunk celebration. I'm sure Coach Kay loved the push-ups after the dunk.

Did he ever say anything to you about it? No, I don't think I got in trouble for it. It's just that the level of emotion and passion that show. I think that's what he appreciated more. Okay. How would you, what would it be like to be a member of the Lakers today? Today would be a better day because guys, their lives were up in the airs. And they didn't know where they were going to be,

how they would have to move and things, those nations, because they're young. They haven't been through this process before. But at the end of the day, it's either I got to get better. We're going to try to contend for a playoff spot and then make somebody nervous in the playoffs. And if I'm better, then I won't have to go through this again, basically. That's it.

do you think the Lakers are a viable like playoff threat? Like I like their team before all of the injuries and before all of this trade. I just thought, hey, you've got to add some shooting, especially to that bench. And they add Reggie Bullock. They added Mike Muscala.

I thought they should have held on to Brooke Lopez instead of where they went. But they did add shooting. I like their roster. I just don't know about how the chemistry fits together now, even if the pieces may fit together better. If the chemistry fits together, then you're in a good situation.

situation. But I think they got a little bit better, but I think they're a scary seven-eight seed in the Western Conference. Like you got to really pay attention to them. You got to have your A-game on. They're the team that could upset somebody in the playoffs if they don't come to play and are not prepared. Joy, are you familiar with going Carlton Banks at the end of a game? Yes. Okay. Am I wrong or did Brandon Ingram go Carlton Banks last night, right? Like, I get that they're guarding LeBron Full Court, but you can get the ball to 20. like just he'll he'll find a way to get open and instead he goes one-on-one takes a shot that gets blocked and they luckily i thought he got fouled twice on that play too like alhaw for holding his arm and then

pushing his shoulder down when he like i i commend him for taking that shot and trying to make the best play for the game winner because some people won't even won't even try that in that situation i thought he got fouled twice but then it is what it is like you you live with those decisions you try to do the best thing for your team was he trying to i mean do you think there's a mentality of I'm going to do it myself. I'm going to show I can do it because you would think you'd want to get 23 the basketball. I don't see him as a selfish player. Like I see him as a guy that tries to make basketball plays and him being aggressive is another step in his maturity and his growth because he wasn't as aggressive when he first got to NBA.

So him being aggressive trying to make a play and trying to win the game for his team, I'm with that. Joy is anti-all-star game draft being televised. I'm pro. I like every, I think everything should be televised. I think I think I think every, I think I'm a guy. I think boardroom should be, boardroom conversation should be televised. I think the NCAA selection process should be televised. I think the college football playoff selection should be televised. Don't be afraid of the truth. If you're willing to say it in a boardroom, you should be able. Okay. What about all-stars? You're an all-star, but Brad Bill, you're like, you're the last guy picked on the playground. You're still an all-star. And Bradley

Bill handed it the correct way. Like, I'm an all-star to end of the day. You can say whatever you want to first or last all-star. I'm still an all-star. I'm still an all-star. I'm still. still in a select few of grace in the NBA at this point in time. And if I'm picked last, so what? It was a lot of politics going on in that draft as you saw. And it just is what it is. Dante Jones joining us in the herd course NBA champion 13 season in the NBA. I'm Doug Gottlie filling in for Colin. Do you think teams will be or should be hesitant in terms of doing a deal with the Pelicans considering what Brian Winhorse wrote about, which is like, look, they weren't trading AD all along. They put this thing

public just so they can poison that well. It feels at least moderately unprofessional if not completely unprofessional. Would that hold you back from doing a deal if you're running one of these teams? No, I wouldn't because it's all a game of chess. And at the end of the day, you're doing the best thing for

your franchise and you're trying to get better and get in contention of a championship. I just thought to put him in a tough situation going into trading AD because now you've got to deal with Danny A. He's the king of the fleece. And at this point in time, he may not even, he could, if his young core goes to the finals, let's say. Why is he going to break it up?

Why am I breaking it up and why am I trading it for AD? Now you're stuck talking back to Magic Johnson or somebody else with lesser assets, and then you lose your leverage. So it's a lot of ifs going forward with this process because the Boston Celtics are still trying to win a championship and get to the finals. If they get to the finals, are you going to gut your team for AD at this point in time? Are you? I'm not. I don't understand the push. I think Anthony Davis is tremendous.

I think he's tremendous. But Anthony Davis is one year away from a colossal deal that he says he doesn't want to resign. He's still on a big deal. And Jason Tatum is going to get markedly better from year two to year three. And he's on a rookie contract. I don't think it's just that easy as we're going to make this move. My second part of that is what does that say to your Boston Celtics team that you're trying to push towards the championship at this point in time?

That, yeah, we're going to trade you in the offseason. We're looking at packages to possibly trade you in the offseason. You want them to contend for a championship. You want them to give you their best effort going forward, knowing it's a possibility that we could be putting a package together of some of you, especially Jason Tatum and what's the name, Jaylon Brown. Yeah. Especially those two. You're possibly going to go for AD, but I want you to still do what's best for the organization. How is that going to motivate those guys going forward?

I think we'll find out. Especially when they brought you to a conference finals a year before. They were a part of that. The whole, like, maybe the least discussed part about it is, what about the chemistry of the Celtics, right? Right. Because Kyrie, though he hit the big shot, didn't shoot particularly well. But he had been playing at a super high level. But, of course, Kyrie's trying to show everybody that they're better with him, even though they got to the conference finals last year without him.

Plus, is he, you know, Danny Aange came out earlier today. I don't know if you heard it. And he said, like, look, I think we're still engaged, as far as I know. And we just, we got to get, we'll see if we get married July 1st. Right? but no one really knows any of that. I think the chemistry of the Celtics is really interesting. Right, and it puts some volatility on them at this point.

I wanted to ask you about Zion Williamson. You're not just a former Duky. You play in this league, and we'll see him this weekend against Virginia, that team that you dunked on and then did all the tips against. There's also an assumption like, hey, if the Knicks get that pick, they're going to deal him for AD. That would be stupid. Why?

Because I think he's a generational talent. He is the one for this generation. I think he has so much unscratched talent and what separates him from a lot of players is how hard he plays. He plays hard. He has a tremendous set of athletic gifts and he's getting better by the day in college basketball.

He's dominating college basketball. Scotty Pippen's quote saying, like he was the best thing since Michael Jordan. I think Scotty meant to say that came through college because we all know LeBron James. Kevin Duran was more powerful. But he has a body. Like Kevin Durant, we knew he was going to be good

and he had a set of skills. But you can work on some things with him and make him even better. But his body and his passion and how hard he plays makes him an unstoppable force. Well, look, I'll give you one other reason I like Anthony Davis. I mean, I like Zion Williamson even more

maybe than R.J. Barrett. Okay. R.J. Barrett is, on that team, he's the go-to guy. He's the alpha. I don't know if he shoots it well enough to play the way he plays in the pros. And I don't know how he, he's always been the go-to guy on any team he's played on.

Zion is not the go-to guy on Duke's team. Not even close, right? Like everything he gets, they get almost without running a play for him. And as you know, like, that's the hardest adjustment guys make when they get into the NBA because for our entire life, like it's hard enough usually when you get to college, your entire life, if you can make it to the NBA, you can be a top-five, top-10 draft pick.

You've always been the guy. And we're out the ball in your hands. Right. That's the biggest part of NBA basketball. Yeah, we all look for it. Can he be an alpha? Can he be an alpha? But it's really hard to find a team where you can be an alpha at 19 years old.

And I actually think that Zion fits better now on a pro team. My only question with Zion is, how long can you play at 285 pounds? That's a lot. It's not the jumping. It's the landing. And landing at 100 games a year with that kind of weight. I know it's not bad weight, but it's a lot of weight in a small package. And that's a possibility.

whether he can lose weight and when you get with an organization that can help you manage your weight or put you in a better position to be successful. But I would like him next to two max players than the possibility of 80 or gutting because he can play without the ball in his hands. He plays with energy and his ceiling is like is the highest one we have at this point in time. I thought you were going to go Michael Jordan. His ceiling is the roof. Remember that one? His ceiling. His ceiling is the roof.

Great stuff from you as always. Dante Jones. I appreciate it. It's coming up. In honor of the failed Anthony Davis trade, we'll look back at five other trades that would have, could have, should have changed the entire landscape of the NBA. But they didn't happen.

That's upcoming next in the hurt. Doug Gottlieman for Colin, Joy Taylor alongside. Speak for yourself upcoming on Fox Sports 1. Man, we got a lot to get to. Of course, you can tune into my show, which on many of these Fox Sports Radio affiliates follows it. That's 3 to 6 Eastern Time, 12 to 3.3. Pacific time. And of course, you can listen on the I-Heart

radio app. But listen, we don't ever have, we're never empty-handed. We're not filling time at the end of a show. We always say the best for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last. I don't know what Colin said. Honestly, since the Anthony Davis trade. So Joy, maybe you can fill me in. I feel like the Norland's Pelicans missed on a great opportunity.

I think Lonzo Ball has a chance to be a very good point guard in the NBA. I think Kyle Kuzma's already showing himself to be a big-time score, and he's only going to get better. You see how well he shot the three. He's only shot three balls for the last year and a half, as he continues to learn, evolved being more of a perimeter player. And I'm not a huge Brandon Ingram fan, but it's because I don't think he's a superstar.

I think he's still a very vital and valuable weapon to any NBA team at 6'9, 21 years old, he's only going to get better. And remember, the Pelicans could have gotten potentially Zubotu, of course, they ended up trading as well as the chance to get Capram. I thought that was a, it was a ridiculous offer. And some picks, too. And some picks. I thought it was a kitchen sink. I thought it was too much.

Way too much. It was, I felt like it was beneath the Lakers, honestly. You and I are lockstep. And I don't know if beneath, I just look at value of assets. And if you wanted to move up. from Ingram? Okay. And you said, all right, we really like, really like Kuzma and Lanzo and Zubach. Pick one of the three, but not three of the three. It was your entire future. Yes. As it is set right now for one player and you still need other pieces to win a championship.

And he was going to command a huge contract the following year. That would have limited you as well. It felt like the Knicks moved to get Carmelo Anthony. And the Knicks were a young, fun team. They could have gotten Carmelo had they waited, and they chose not to because of the expiring CBA and depending lockouts. Speaking of Mello, that may be the Lakers next move. They still have a roster spot. Marquif Morris, if he is healthy, might end up being an option for the Lakers too. Yeah, Marquif Morris. You have Wayne Ellington.

You have other buyout guys. We'll see who fills that. Who's going to the Pistons? Ellington's going to Pistons. All right. There'll be other buyout guys, though. We'll see if it is Carmelo Anthony. If they throw LeBron that bone, like, all right, we didn't get you, Anthony Davis.

but here we'll get you, Carmelo Anthony, who did not make it to Thanksgiving with the Houston Rockets. But anyway, that failed trade made us think about maybe the five other biggest failed trades in somewhat recent memory that could have shaped the league. You ready for it? I'm ready. All right, here we go. Number one, and I said this to Colin years ago,

and people thought I was making it up. But I had really good sources. And in the last year, it's come out to be completely accurate. In 2012, the Bucks were trading Andrew Bogot to the Golden State Warriors. And the Golden State Warriors said, we got Monta Ellis, we got Steph Curry. Pick one. The Bucs selected Monta Ellis. Now look, this proves, anyone who says, Gottlieb, you were so wrong in the NBA draft,

I'll follow my sword. I was wrong in terms of my evaluation of Steph Curry. But it also proves that not only did the Bucat, not know what Steph Curry could become, but the Warriors didn't know what Steph Curry could become. What a different world we would live in. Yes. Warriors GM, Larry Riley

claims he never intended to trade Steph but wanted to get the talks going so he could trade Monte Ellis. That is called covering your rectal area. All right, number two. In 2014, this is just five years ago. The Warriors almost traded

Clay Thompson to the Timberwolves for Kevin Love. Jerry West reportedly told the Warriors not to make the trade and threatened to quit. He did the stand on the table over my dead body. That's a good move by him then. Correct. Soon after Love was traded to the Cavs for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett. That's two former number one overall picks, Anthony Bennett, killing it in the D League.

Andrew Wigan is still a good player. And look, we know why that moves made because LeBron won a veteran. Number three, and this is the big one. with the Pelicans, the history with the then Hornets. It was a three-way trade. Houston would have received Paugasol. The then-horned's would have gotten Lamar Odom, Gorin-Dragish, Louis Scola, and Kevin Martin.

The NBA then owned the Hornets. And of course, the Lakers were going to get at Chris Paul. That trade was nullified by David Stern. I mean, how many more titles would Kobe have had or would he have had? And what would the, all of those guys that became clippers? What would that have looked like at that time? All right, how about this one? This is from the way back. In 1992, Charles Barkley was almost traded to the Lakers.

It was Barclay and Ron Anderson for Big Game James Worthy and Eldon Campbell. Wow. Barclay's agent told the Lakers, told him the Lakers had agreed to the deal. Then hours later, Philly backed out of the deal. Barkley wound up getting traded to the Sun. Remember, Barclay wanted out, he wanted to win. He'd win the MVP. They'd go to the NBA finals where they would lose to Michael Jordan and the Bulls. And here's the big one.

In 2007, Kobe Bryant went on radio shows and leaked it out that he wanted out of L.A. The Lakers reportedly asked Chicago for Lou Aldang, Tyrus Thomas, Ben Gordon, and Joe Kim Noah. The trade fell through because Kobe insisted that Lou Aldang stayed with the Bulls so he could play with them. And the Bulls never got Kobe Bryant. And the Lakers would go on to win a couple more titles, retire both of his numbers. And that, as they say with that, what's the biggest miss in those trades? Oh. Two-time MVP and three-time champion Steph Curry.

I don't know that Steph Curry would be what Steph Curry is in Milwaukee. Clay Thompson also. I mean, Clay is a great player, and I think probably the most undervalued piece of that team, but I don't know if it would be if he'd have the same career. No, he wouldn't. I think of any question. Charles Barkley to the Lakers seems a bit crazy now looking at Charles

career being an all-time great without a ring. But Kobe being MJ Jr. to the Bulls, I'm kind of glad that. that didn't happen. People forget that Kobe used to walk and talk exactly like Michael Jordan. Literally his, the way he spoke, how he licked his lips was he was doing a Jordan impression for a good four or five years of his career. It's one of the reasons he changed from Adidas to Nike. The whole thing is fascinating on deals that don't get made. So anyway, now what is it? There's a Garth Brooks song. I hate to be the guy that brings up the

Garth Brooks song here on the show. But what is it called Unanswered Prayers? I'm the wrong person to ask about this. You don't know the song Unanswered Prayers? He goes to, the song basically is Garth Brooks goes to his old high school football game and he sees the girl that was the one in high school, that he used to pray that this is going to work out. It didn't work out.

How does it go? One of God's greatest gifts is unanswered prayers. One of goals, greatest gifts. It's not that country. That was like a country hymn almost. I don't know if that was a him. Actually, I don't mind country music. Well, I mean, look, it's Garth Brooks.

Is he country? Yes. He's also, like, the most successful individual artists in, like, the history of music. So, anyway, look, fascinating times. Magic apparently going to meet the Lakers. I didn't want to do a Lakers-centric show, but it's just, it's an incredible soap opera that we're seeing. It's, it is a soap opera, and it's just, it's honestly just going to continue because I really don't know where they go from here. The moves they make for the last roster spot will be interesting, especially moving forward.

Look, winning cures a lot of ills, that's an expression that actually fits here. I don't know if winning in 22 made threes and beating your heated, hated rival the Boston Celtics cures everything. You wake up today and where do you go from here? This weekend we'll find out. Collins back Monday, my thanks to Joy Taylor and the entire crew,

making me feel welcome. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is The Hurt. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise,

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