The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Straight Fire w/ Jason McIntyre - Trae Young and Devin Booker Doing Work & What's Next for the T'Wolves and Clippers

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

On today’s episode, Jason kicks things off with a deep dive into Trae Young’s heroic performance to keep the Atlanta Hawks’ season alive (38 points, 13 assists and the game-winning three pointer in the final seconds). The Boston Celtics may have melted down a bit down the stretch, but Young still took advantage of it. All the 'Trade Trae Young' jabronis can take a seat after this one! Later, Super Producer Rob G (Robert Guerra) checks in to help preview the upcoming round two showdown between the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets. Devin Booker has been the players in these playoffs and Kevin Durant is still an all-time great, but our guys are both picking Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets to win the series. Sticking in the Western Conference, J-Mac and Rob discuss what comes next for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers after they were both bounced out of the playoffs. Would Minnesota look to deal Karl-Anthony Towns in an effort to fix that ghastly Rudy Gobert deal and re-tool around budding superstar Anthony Edwards? Are the Clippers more likely to push all-in for one last bite at the apple or blow up the Paul George-Kawhi Leonard tandem altogether? Finally, the guys close the show by previewing Wednesday night’s NBA Playoffs action. Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

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This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up Straight Fire, fam? It's your boy. Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire. For Wednesday. April 26th, we are, goodness gracious, what, 20, 28, 30 hours away from the draft. 32? I don't know the exact number.

NFL draft on the horizon. Great stuff yesterday from Lance Erline. Tomorrow on draft day, we will have a special guest. He's been on the pod before. He's been in plenty of war rooms. He can be ornery. I like him. I don't know if he likes me.

But you guys will enjoy that draft chatter tomorrow. My goodness, this week is just off the hook. Draft NBA playoffs. Aaron Rogers to my Jets. I'm still buzzing off the excitement. People are real salty. That I went on Cowherd Show Tuesday, and I said the Jets are a 10 or 11 win team.

And Aaron Rogers makes a difference. I did this lengthy write-up, Fox Sports.com. You know, I write for them. They came to me, they're like, hey, what do you think gambling? Anything on the Jets in the Super Bowl? And listen, obviously,

I'm a Jets fan, so some of that is colored. I still like to think I'm a realist, and I'm not looking through the green and white glasses when I look at the Jets' chances of making the Super Bowl. As a realist, I just know they were able to cobble together seven wins, yes, five against backup quarterbacks.

And those seven wins were on the back of Zach Wilson and Chris Trevler and Joe Flacco and Mike White. Folks, Aaron Rogers is going to level this team up. Now, the question is, is he going to be motivated to dominate and rebound off pretty much his worst year in a while? Like Aaron Rogers had a bad season last year with the Packers. You want to see Bad Era Rogers? Go look at the Lions two games when he basically. he pooped his pants in both of them. Uninspiring stuff from Rogers.

But why would he be motivated? Well, the Packers clearly wanted to move on from him. Remember Brett Farv? When the Packers wanted to move on from him, he looked good with the Jets, was an MVP candidate for the first half of the season, cratered, but then still went to Minnesota and went to the NFC title game. Tom Brady, when he leaves Belichick, motivated his hell, wins a Super Bowl.

Matt Stafford motivated his hell when he goes to the Rams. Like, it can be done. It's just tough to get into the mind of Aaron Rogers. just, it's super difficult. Like, the guy's kind of wacky. If he's locked in and they have weapons, which they do, and they're healthy, there's something there. And I'll just, I'll just put this out there.

Robert Sala's coaching for his job. Essentially, this team will make the playoffs or they will completely flop. Rogers will retire early. He probably will, if they're like, if they're a four-win team heading into November, they're going to sit Rogers. He's not going to play the 65% of the snaps or whatever. and they're going to just save that first round pick and then they'll have to give the second to the Packers.

So I'm fired up about Rogers. This is exciting. We've seen quarterbacks in recent years move on and succeed. We've also seen Russell Wilson struggle. And Nathaniel Hackett is connected with Rogers and the Jets. But let's get to the NBA, folks. It's a little insane how wacky these playoffs have been. So let me just set the stage for you.

The Boston Celtics have been the most impressive team through the first four games of any series, right? They are leading by, I think, 12, maybe 11, 13, somewhere in there in the fourth quarter. I have to go pick up my son from soccer practice. So I'm like, could I watch it on my phone in the car? Do I want to like listen to some music? I don't decide to turn on the game because I'm watching it at home and I'm like, you know, the Hawks can't get stops.

This defense is a joke. You know, this is just a bad matchup for them. Dejanta Murray's not here. who is their second best player. Like, come on. Their back court of Tray Young and Bogdanovich can't stop anybody. So the Celtics have this. I come back and I don't look at social media while I go to pick up my son.

I come back and dinner's on the table. I'm like, let me just check the score. And I look and it's like a tie game. I'm like, what on earth? And Jason Tatum gets one of the most ridiculous technical foul calls I've seen. I mentioned my men's league. We got a BS tech. I put the, our big guy got a technical for, he got fouled on an N-1 and they didn't call the foul.

You can see in the video the guy slaps his wrist. So our big guy running back up the court, not like in the referee's face or anything, just slaps his own wrist. Doesn't say anything. Slaps his own wrist against a tactical. I put the video on the IG stories. So Tuesday night, Jason Tatum is, you know, defending, Al Horford's defending Trey Young. Jason Tadon's behind him. And Trey Young kind of like gets fouled.

puts up a shot anyway, and Tatum, instead of catching the ball, just kind of slaps it well after the whistle. And they gave him a technical foul. There's like three minutes left in a playoff game, and he got a technical foul for that. It's just absurd. Like, what are we doing here? Nobody's here to see the referees.

It was criminal. Now, Tatum did not have a great game. Eight of 21, one of 10 from three. Finished with 19. Jalen Brown went off, had 35. But the bottom line is the Hawks fought back, outscored Boston, 37, 25 in the fourth quarter, and it was the Trey Young Show.

Now, I know some people. People are going to probably say, well, wait a minute. No, Dejant-Murray. Trey Young got his. No, Dejant-Murie. John Collins went for 22. He got 18 shots. This team looked kind of good.

Trey Young, 33 shots, 38 points, 13 assists, including a 29-foot three-pointer. Now, I said Jalen Brown had a good game. I don't know what Jalen Brown is thinking there. Defensively, he's like backpedaling and basically concedes a three to Tray Young. When that's what Trey Young does, he hits bombs. Unbelievable bad decision there. The hawks steal the win.

I'm not going to make anything big of it. Other than the Celtics have to be a little disappointed. They couldn't close this out. I mean, we're looking at Milwaukee who is supposed to be the biggest test for them. And now Milwaukee's down 3-1. They're going to need seven games. So there is an opportunity here for Boston to get a ton of rest. Philadelphia is already in the clubhouse, you know, to borrow a golf analogy.

Philadelphia's in the clubhouse. The longer this goes, the healthier Joelle and Bede will get. So this is just a devastating loss for the Celtics. It's at home. You got to go to Atlanta. What do they call it? The Highlight Factory? Listen, again, people want to bury the Hawks and Trey Young and Quinn Snyder.

If you want to be positive, and you know me, I am Mr. Positive, Jason McIntyre. Mr. Positive. My team got Aaron Rogers. Of course I'm positive. If you want to be positive about it, just consider this, guys. You're going home. You got nothing. to lose if you're Atlanta.

You get hot, maybe you hit another 19 three-pointers, and all of a sudden, all of a sudden, you got a game seven on your hands. And you got Trey Young, who can be a major problem. So this is a crushing loss for the Celtics. Hawks get the dub. I know everybody wants to trade Trey Young. I'm just saying, 38 and 13 in the garden,

including the game winner, against Brown and Tatum. Now, Marcus Smart had a brutal game down the stretch, Not his best effort. Between the fouls, the turnover is like team high minus 12. Boston, not soul searching here, not the end of the world, but certainly not the way you want to go into the night. All right, let's get into the other two games. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

Catch all of our shows at foxportsradio.com. And within the IHard Radio app, search FSR to listen live. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me.

Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health. purpose and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VM man's? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to stuff to your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So after the Hawks upset, you're like, all right, well, nobody else is going to be. going to lose, right? The favorites, the heavy favors should pull away and dominate.

And that's not the case. The Sons win don't cover a wacky game against the fighting Clippers. And then the Nuggets win don't cover against the feisty Anthony Edwards' and we've got our second round matchup. We've got the Denver Nuggets against the Phoenix Sons led by Devin Booker. Can we say that now? Devin Booker, I think, has taken the mantle from Deer and Fox is the best player in the playoffs. It's only five games, but DeBook is averaging 37 points per game after dropping 47 in game 5. He's now shooting 60% from the field. That's like a shack kind of number. 60% for a shooting guard.

46% from three. Like, remember when 50, 40, 90 was Steph Curry and everybody's like, oh my gosh, I know it's a five-game sample size, but Devin Booker, 60, 46, 85% from the line. I really do think his worst game was when they lost game one. and Russell Westbrook kind of outplayed him down the stretch. And since then, Booker went off, 38, 45, 30, 47. That being said, I'm not so sure the Sons are a lot to beat this Nuggets team. I think my pick initially before the playoffs was Nuggets.

I felt even better when the Sons lost game one. And folks, explain, riddle me this. You're going home for a close-out game. No Kauai Leonard, no Paul George. I believe they were a double-digit favorite. at home. The Phoenix Suns come out and allow the clippers to drop 70 points on them in the first half. Yeah, 12.5 point favorites.

They let the paper clips led by Russell Westbrook. I don't even know I can say led by Russell Westbrook since he was 3 for 18. And then you look at the box score and you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I know Plumley played okay, but did he really have 20 and 10? So you're telling me two essentially replacement-level big men. Zubaz. I butchered his name because I always do. Rob G. loves Zubaz.

Former Laker. 16 and 10 for Zubaz in 24 minutes. And then Plumley comes in 20 and 10 in 24 minutes. What is Yokic going to do against the Phoenix Suns? And I know people, listen, I just gassed up, Booker. I said he's the best player in the playoffs so far, which is crazy because he definitely looks better than Kevin Durant. But you can't take too much into the Sun's victory in the series, folks.

We're talking about a Clippers team missing their two best players. We'll get to them in a minute. The paper clips are done and maybe even worse than done, given the Kauai Leonard Paul George fiasco. But I think Denver, I even wrote this for Fox Sports guys, I think Denver matches up really well with this Phoenix team. In the offseason, they add KCP, that shooting guard who is a very good defender. Who did they used to have in that spot? It was like Gary Harris a few years ago and they tinkered with other dudes. Like, Jamal Murray's good, but you can't have him dropping 35 and then playing heavy defense. their guy defensively is KCP.

And he had his hands full with Anthony Edwards, but it's not like Anthony Edwards shot the ball particularly well in the series. KCP is younger than Booker. But I think KCP against Booker, listen, it's not going to shut down Devin Booker, but he ain't dropping 37 a game, I'll tell you that. That's not happening on KCP's watch. He's a good defender. And then Aaron Gordon doesn't need to do much offensively.

He's a tough, long defender. He's big, big body. He's not going to let KD have whatever he wants. I'm just telling you, I know people don't want to believe Denver. Minnesota is kind of fraudulent, but those two guys should be able to control, not stop, but like control slash contain the D-Book Kevin Durant tandem. If you said over under 60 points for Booker and Durant in game one, I would take the under. I think the game's at altitude.

Denver's going to play defense. Phoenix is coming off a series against the Clippers where they just don't even try defensively. The Clippers gave up, after scoring 70 in the first half, they gave up 50 in the third quarter. It's like they're not even contesting shit. It's like embarrassing. Here is one interesting thing to monitor.

We know they have Kevin Durant. We know they have Devin Booker and DeAndre Aten. They're going to force feed him early to keep the big guy happy. I just want you to keep an eye on this situation. Tori Craig, like the other guy who was consistently left opened down the stretch. And they're like, okay, well, Tori Craig going to beat us. We're going to beat us. We'll go down swinging with Tori Craig taking us out.

We're not going to let KD. and Booker beat us. So Tori Craig had a pretty good start to the series, if you guys remember. 22 points in game one, 17 in game two. Well, water finds its level. And Tori Craig started to progress. 15 in game 3 in the last two games, 0 for 2 on 3s, 17 minutes in game 5,

0 points. Now, maybe they're tinkering with other guys. I mean, Josh Akogi played 33 minutes. I'm just telling you right now, they're going to have to figure this out, and this is Denver. There's a much better team than the paper clips. So if Torrey Craig's having an off game,

is it going to be Landry Shamet? I don't know, Rob G. I'm just not buying the Sun's team. Obviously, Booker's good and KD's good, but I am going to ride with the Denver Nuggets. Denver is six or seven, but I like the Nuggets in this series. I'm kind of with you. And even if last night wasn't a good indicator of what the Denver Nuggets can be because they really struggled against Minnesota, even though they closed it out there at the end.

But the reason being is that you saw everything that you love and everything that you hate about the Phoenix Suns and that went against the Clippers. That 50 point third quarter explosion with Devin Booker going bananas yet again in this series. I know I'm glad you call him the best player in the playoff. I think that's 100% accurate. Like they looked scary. Like if he's turning Kevin Durant to the number two guy, like that's the most lethal offense in the NBA. Like Kevin Durand is made Steph Curry the other guy in Golden State at the height of Steph Curry's powers, right? Like that's how good Kevin Durand is.

Well, let's go. I don't want to get sidetracked, but that's where... Curry put up some numbers. By the way, game one Sunday in Denver. We don't have a game time yet. Oh, no, wait, is it Saturday? No, it looks like... Yeah, it looks like it's Saturday, actually.

Okay, sorry. Well, anyways, like, Devin Booker's in an absolute zone right now. And then in that fourth quarter, we saw the sons that we've seen throughout this series, where it's super inconsistent. They forget, like, who's on their roster. The wrong guy they're taking the wrong. shots and they fumble away a 20-point lead where it's nip and tuck there at the end and

we're not for a Russell Westbrook's smoked layup followed by Russell Westbrook just running back on defense and standing in the middle of nowhere and Devin Booker pulls up and drains it in his eye like this could have easily shifted right back to Los Angeles for game six so the peaks and valleys with the Phoenix Suns is really really hard to you know get excited about and again, their big players had to play mid-40, high 40-plus minutes. Like, that is not sustainable moving forward in the postseason. Yeah, it's kind of the battle of teams with no bench because Denver doesn't have bunch of a bench either.

Fowl trouble could be an issue, although, I don't know, I haven't noticed fouls as being like a thing this playoffs. Has it been? Not necessarily. I mean, the one thing that's been a trend is that some series, they're letting everything go, and other series like in Phoenix and the Clippers, I thought that there was a lot of whistles being called.

I mean, there's a lot of free throws that were shot last night. I think the teams combined for like 70 free throws. So it was something ridiculous. Denver, 32 of 36 from the line. Yeah, Gobert and Towns fouled out. I don't know. Should we do a post-mortem at all in Minnesota or just nobody care? I don't know.

Carl Anthony Towns, maybe his last game with Minnesota, 26 and 11. It's clearly Anthony Edwards' team. I just don't know how quickly they can reboot. Towns will have a market. I made the case that he could be a great, great number three in the role of a Chris Bosch or Kevin Love. Hey, man, we need you to rebound. We need you to go stand in the corner on Barry 3s.

Now, Kat, is he going to want to deal with that kind of reduced role? I don't know. But I think in his career he has zero playoff series wins. which is pretty... Kevin Love had none. I think Bosch might have got to the second round once or twice in Toronto. But, like, Crawling to the Towns is 27. He's going to be 28 in November.

You know, at some point, he's going to have to realize, you know what, I'm okay being, you know, a third guy. Now, I'm looking at his history. Yeah, he didn't... You only played 29 games this year. Actually, geez. Three out of the last four years, he's played 50 games or less.

after being kind of an Iron Man early in his career. This guy who put up 24, what he's had six seasons of 18 and 10, 25 and 10. The guy puts up numbers. Are you feeling this Bosch or Kevin Love comparison? Yeah, I think it totally makes sense. The problem is, though, if I'm Minnesota, I don't know how I could justify making arguably the worst trade in NBA history with Rudy Gobert. and then feeling like the only way to fix that is to trade your second best player, right?

Like, I just don't know how that jives with the fan base, with the front office, the new ownership. Yeah, that's interesting. I think they're more likely to just, to even retrade Gobert and take a loss than they are to... No.

Well, nobody's going to want to pay, or at least Towns has a market, right? Yeah, but the problem is, like, that's cutting, what is it, robbing Peter to pay Paul that the argument, right? I think that is the same. Like, I just don't know how,

how you can say like, yeah, we totally screwed up this Go Bear thing. Let's trade towns and get two more first back. Like, I think they're... Well, I mean, this isn't an apples to apples, but, you know, Minnesota's getting old. And, you know, Chris Middleton, we don't know what his future is in Milwaukee. Hell, they play tonight in a... Tonight's a huge friggin NBA night. Oh, my gosh.

I think the bucks will win. But that being said, like, what if the bucks called up Minnesota and said, you know, you need a veteran in that locker room, somebody who's won something? we'll give you Middleton and a couple picks. Send Towns our way. Or some kind of package where they get somebody who's not going to hog and dominate the ball, and Anthony Edwards can do that, somebody who's going to create spacing in Middleton.

And, you know, you toss in a couple of picks or whatever, maybe another role player to make it equal. And then Carl and Anthony Towns becomes the third guy to Janice and Drew Holiday. I'm just spitballing. But, like, if the Celtics, you know, I can't imagine that they collapse against the Hawks. I'd be even more surprised if they lost. Well, not more surprised, but I'd be stunned if they lost to the Sixers. But, like, I don't know, Celtics.

Is there an argument where they part with Jalen Brown and bring on Towns? I don't know. It's just Towns feels to me a lot like a Kevin Love, Chris Bosch, final piece, who's the third guy. Actually, Boston, he would be the second guy. So that, well, Marcus Smart's not a two. I don't know, Miami heat, could they toughen up Carlinthian towns in that heat culture? I just, I wonder if Towns is kind of on his way out in Minnesota is like, you know what, it just didn't work.

Two years in a row get to the playoffs, can't advance, something's got to change. You feel in me? Yeah, I mean, like I said, everything you're saying makes sense, especially, you know, the town's portion where I think we've seen that he is not the franchise player that Minnesota, hoped he would be. Like I said, I just think the problem is that because they went all in on this Gobert deal, I cannot see them trying to undo it by trading away a guy who's a better player than Gobert. Right.

So I think that they'd be more likely to take 10 cents on the dollar for Gobert than to trade towns. That's just my opinion. Mike Conley still has one year left next year, 24. Mill. They'll lose Austin Rivers. They'll lose Bryn Forbes. Noelle. Oh, they're going to lose Nas Reid. I forgot they had Nas Reid and Jaden McDaniels. Huh. Maybe they just say, you know what? We were down two of our guys. Well, I don't know how they keep Nas Reed. But that may be worth something. The Jaden McDaniels is a good wing. He could have been that guy you put on Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. At any rate, let's go to a team people care more about. The Clippers

are now eliminated. And they've got some really, really tough questions. Russell Westbrook, Listen, up and down series, Rob, ends three of 18, starts three. Basically bookended by three of 18 performances from Russ. You know, I feel like I should take an L on, I don't even think Russell Wilson, Russell Westbrook's in the league next year. Remember when I was saying that with the Lakers? Because there was value when Kauai and Paul George were out. Russ was able to do some things, pad some stats, and make them interesting.

Now, they didn't do anything. They won one game in the series. done. I don't, Russell Westbrook's a really tough one, man. Do you bring him back? Because, you know, you could say fine. You know what? Paul and Kauai will be healthy next year. Try that. You still got Eric Gordon. Norman Powell's back. I like Norman Powell. You got the Morris twin Covington. I mean, you got a lot of guys back. Do you just run it back again? Have you seen this payroll? My gosh. Terrence Mann, $10 million next year. Zubak, 10 million. Batum

11. Covington, 116, Morris, 171. Oh my gosh. They're going to have to... You know, I read this, Rob. If they get eliminated in the first round,

the Warriors and the Clippers, payroll taxes are going to be like nine figure checks that they're going to have to write to me. I mean, I think it was just John Hollinger at the athletic. Something like that. Like, the numbers are just insane.

They're going to have to just pay so much for losing in the first round. I don't see an easy path away from Paul and Kauai, especially given the arena that they're building. But I would love to hear something super creative where, I mean, you can't get Victor Weniam. I don't know. Would you even make a play for one of those top picks in this draft

to get a young guy and just say, you know what, we're starting over? I don't know. Do you want to wait out the Warriors dynasty? I mean, hell, they could lose this. They could be out of the playoffs this weekend. LeBron and AD probably, you know, if they win the series,

are going to have like maybe the clippers just say you know what we're done with these these guys who keep getting hurt we're going to punt we'll start over and um in a couple years we'll have something ready for action but we're not winning with these guys as we're constantly currently constituted let's just let's just think about the future and build toward that is that even an option probably not for a billionaire yeah we're it not for the new arena then that that could be an option but i i don't think there's any way you can open up a new was it three billion dollars stadium with a rebuilding project. I just don't think you can.

I think they go the other way. I think they go all in even more so than they have been the last couple of years. Because if you look at their salary cap table, they got $60 million in expiring contracts. They have their picks, I believe they have a first round this year from Milwaukee, and I think they can trade 27 and 29 first rounders. Wait, wait, who are the expiring? Is Gordon? Gordon, which is a non-guarantee.

Oh, they have the team option. which is a non-guaranteed deal, so they can definitely get off of that if they wanted to. Marcus Morris, Robert Cunnington, Nick Patum combined make $40 million next season. So you think someone might take that? It's possible. Like I said,

I think that they are much more likely to either package some of those, all of those, and try to either go big game hunting and go after, you know, a Bradley Beal type player. Kyrie? Well, Kyrie is a free agent,

so they can't. you know what I mean so sign and trade yeah but I think I think that they get hard capped so I don't think they can do a sign and trade and they probably wouldn't do that right but but like like again I'm not saying these are actual possibilities but just it's not crazy to say hey Clay Thompson wants to get extended in Golden State and they're not going to give it to him so they he's in he can get moved um the bulls have reportedly depending who you listen to have been looking to get off the Zach Levine deal ever since they signed the contract oh Lakers. But I'm just saying, like, there's guys who you could conceivably get if you have enough money to match and you're willing to give up their picks.

I think more than likely, though, they're going to take those draft picks. They're going to take that expiring money. They're going to try to reconfigure the roster to get younger, to get more athletic to withstand the inevitable injuries to Paul, Georgia, Kauai Leonard. Ineatible injuries. So I think they're going to go all in for at least one more big swing in 2024. and then from there we'll see what happens. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And within the IHard Radio app, search FSR to listen live. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a break.

new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Boar Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's spin it forward to tonight's games. Rob, interesting scenario.

if let's say the Lakers close out the Grizzlies in game five in Memphis would you rather face the kings or the warriors kings let's see here Sabonis AD who guards LeBron Harrison Barnes Keegan Murray can't put a rookie on him Barnes you got Davy on Mitch I don't know who guards Fox that's gonna be a heavy Shruder series huh Jared Vanderbilt. Well, I mean, look, in all fairness, nobody guards Fox.

Like, we're seeing that with Andrew Wiggins. Like, nobody. Malik Monk Revenge series. Former Lake or Malik Monk? Davian Mitchell on Austin Reeves. Sure. Listen, I don't know. Kings are fun.

The Fox in finger injury is just crushing. He apparently is going to try to give it a go tonight. He went from doubtful to likely to play. I can't imagine him not playing, but he's going to be playing with this clunky thing on his finger. And as such, the Warriors are one and a half point favorites on the road where they have lost two games outright. Warriors had an extra day in between for the old guys to heal up. Bucks are huge favorites.

Memphis four point favorites against the Lakers. The Cavaliers, five and a half point favorites in an elimination game for the Knicks. Interesting. I got to stay away from Warriors Kings. And I did have somebody this week say, dude, what's up with no best bets? And I'm being honest, guys. This is 100% real talk. I'm looking at these games and the lines, and I'm like, I don't have a great feel because so much crazy shit's been happening with the injuries.

Like, Bucks heat. I mean, if you had found anybody taking the heat against the Bucks in game four when Janice was back, like, you know, I would love to have heard that. I don't know any. And then Tuesday, everybody liked the favorites, right? You got the big favorites. You got Dejanta Marie out. It's like, come on, elimination game, paper clips. You know, all three dogs covered.

I don't know, Rob. This is tough. Warriors Kings is the marquee game. I do love the early 430 tip out here on the West Coast, Lakers Grizzlies. And the NBA wisely only has one game Thursday. And as a matter of fact, NBA draft, obviously Thursday. Rob, there would have been no games if the Celtics had closed out the Hawks. So Wednesday, they're heavy with four games. Thursday just won.

But like Jason, I got 100 bucks. I want to bet it on something. I'll let you go first, Rob. If you're getting texts like that, that dude's a straight up degenerate and he should not be gambling. Well, that's not a text. But whatever he should not. Look, whoever emailed you or texted you, DMD you, whatever that said, hey, what's up with the best bets? And you're saying, I'm not going to give any out.

I don't feel good about it. That is what you were supposed to do. If you're one of those guys who's giving out gambling advice on games that you don't actually feel good about, then you're a crook. So I'm glad that we established that J-Mac is not that kind of a guy. Yeah, no, no, no. If I don't have a feel, I'm not just flushing money. I mean, come on. Like, NCAA tournament is a little different.

Like, you can have a vibe one way or the other. It's an elimination, one game deal. There's numbers you can dig into. NBA is crazy. I mean, there's guys missing every, like, John Morant, do you see how many times he fell on his hand the other night? Yeah. And he's like, in pain, shaking it.

I don't know how much is that. Like, is he 100%? I mean, I know he scored 22 in a row in the fourth, but he didn't shoot it well. in game four well looking at tonight's games though the one game that I

as much as it pains me to say the one game that I'm confident in is Grizzlies minus 4 using Memphis I think Memphis rolls them I don't want it to happen but that's what I think is going to happen my read would have been the bucks come out

very angry Jimmy Butler has to be gassed 56 friggin points I would say bucks smash the heat and everybody's like, oh, this is not close to over. I just can't wait for Warriors Kings, Rob. Listen, I'm torn here because you know I root for Curry, my favorite player, but I like this Kings team.

Like if they advanced, I'm watching their games, even if it's not against the Warriors. Even if it's not Lakers, like Kings Gris, I'm all in on the Kings. Love me some De Aaron Fox. Davion Mitchell. Rob, you're athletic. You played football. Just watch Davy on Mitchell.

And it's funny. I know I'm referencing the men's league again, even though the game was like three days ago. So I came out and I'm guarding a point guard who, you know, played professionally in like Taiwan or something. Low level, not like the top league. And so I told myself, you see what Davy on Mitchell is doing, I'm going to do that.

Like arms around, not restricting because you can't touch. and I came out on the very first ball denying and he couldn't get the ball and he was pissed and then another guy goes to the foul line and he walks right over to the ref and he's like, are you seeing what he's doing? So I see this during the first free throw. After the first free throw,

I go right over to the ref, I say, you see how Davy on Mitchell's guarding Curry? That's what I'm doing. I'm not restricting. I'm just in his airspace. He's not going to let him get the ball. And the guy, Mark, is his name. You know, he's a friendly guy.

And he just starts laughing. And I'm like, I mean, listen, if you get the ball, we're in trouble. And Rob, this is going to probably be the loseriest thing I've ever done. So I watched the video because the game's on YouTube and I jotted down all the stats. I'm not even kidding. I charted shooting it. The guy who I guarded ended up one of eight. He made one layup and it was not against me. He made one basket in the game. Now he made a ton of free throws, not on my fouls. and their best player who gave us 47 he was

one of four in the second half three of six in the first so four of ten he went from 47 points to that now they did make 15 more free throws I'm pissed about it and now I've admitted that I'm a massive loser who charts men's league stats off a YouTube video

that's embarrassing it's almost as bad as when you put the point spread to last year's championship game on your Instagram when you're like look we're going off as six and a half point favorites if you wanted to get in. I'm like, you got lines on this game. That's a, that's a joke. That's a joke. I'm not taking any. I don't want anybody to think it down. I'm taking numbers. Did you get good two-way action on that game? I joke. I told my buddy Dan, seven and a half. So he

texted me before the game. He's like, how's your knee? And I was like, dude, I just went to get some shots up. And it was like, not great. It's weird. I'm going to take some Advil. He's like, that's great intel for the line. I may have to, uh, I may have to give the points. And of course, we covered seven and a half. We had a guy bank in a three. Uh, uh, we had a guy bank in a three. with like, you know, 12 seconds left and covered and lost by six. But anyways. Rob, real quick, we haven't done a lot with your Raiders. What do you want them to do in the draft at, I believe, it's seven?

Peter King came out Tuesday and said, there's a chance C.J. Stroud does not go in the top seven. And I wonder if he said top seven because he knows something that the Raiders just are not interested. They got Jimmy G. They have no backup because they lost Stidham to the Broncos. Who do you want at 7? I want a quarterback. And if they're not going to get C.J. Stroud, maybe you take that flyer in Anthony Richardson because you already got Garapolo for one season. But, well, wait, he's got longer than a one year deal. Yeah, but I mean, you, at a minimum, whoever takes Anthony Richardson cannot play him as a rookie.

You just can't. He's too raw. He's not ready at all unless you're going to get him like week 12 just to get some reps there before into the malling season. but if they're not going to get a quarterback, I'd rather them trade down because their defense needs a hell of a lot more than what the guy at number seven can give them. They need multiple corners,

multiple defensive linemen, linebacker, I don't know if this is a great draft for linebackers in the first round, so maybe get them later. They need offensive line help. They have a lot of holes to fill. And yeah, if it's not a quarterback, trade down, accumulate more stuff.

get after it again in a year. Yeah, I just don't know if anybody's actually interested in someone that that much that they would move up to seven. You've got to give the perception that you really want, Anthony Richardson. So that Tennessee says we're going to come up, we're coming up four spots to get him before Atlanta has a crack at eight or, I'm trying to think off the top of my head, who is at nine? Damn, I don't have my list in front of me.

but I don't know if the Raiders are built like that, you know? Well, they came from the Patriots, you know, brain trust, right? One of the Patriots famous for trading down all the time. Oh, yeah. So we'll see what happens. All right, so we'll do some draft tomorrow. Obviously, recapping the hopeful Lakers suite. But I'm leaning toward agreeing with Rob that it's a toll order for the Lakers to win this game.

You know, LeBron and AD looked absolutely gassed after that game and only one day off. Should be a good one. I would rank Kings Warriors as the best game. I'm more intrigued by Buck's Heat, but obviously Lakers, we'll see. Listen, if Desmond Bain gets hot, Dylan Brooks gets hot,

and then they get in their zone, like it's not out of the realm that they win three straight. This is a, what, 53 win team or something. People want to, it's so funny, Rob. All the anti-Lebron people are like, it's friggin' Memphis. These guys stink.

It's like, bro, they've been the number two seats since January. They've won like 50-something games. John Morant probably is going to be all NBA. I didn't vote them for it. And these are the same Jordan fans who were like, Michael Jordan had to go through those Mark Price, Brad Doherty Cavs teams. They were really good. Like, motherfucker.

Craig Elo! Mark Price, Brad Doherty? Really? When this series wraps in the Lakers Round 2, it's going to say the Lakers beat, the defensive player of the year and an all-MBA point card. That's a good point. Just saying.

I forgot. Hey, Jaron Jackson. He's good. All right, we've gone long enough. That's it for today. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan,

so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.