The Mismatch - Can the Warriors Still Contend Without Jimmy? Plus: Eight Things We Care About.

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Verno and Jacoby react to the breaking news from last night that Warriors player Jimmy Butler is out for the season after tearing his ACL in the win against the Heat. They debate what the Warriors can do to try salvage the rest of the season, what they will do with Jonathan Kuminga now that Jimmy is injured, and the franchise’s outlook with Steph Curry. Next, the guys share eight things that they care about, including the Knicks, Anthony Edwards vs. Victor Wembanyama, All-Star starters, and so much more. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:38) Jimmy Butler tears ACL in Warriors' win vs. Heat (16:36) Thing no. 1 we care about: The Knicks (28:37) Thing no. 2 we care about: Ja Morant (40:58) Thing no. 3 we care about: The certified top team in each conference (46:37) Thing no. 4 we care about: All-Star starters announced (50:02) Thing no. 5 we care about: Anthony Edwards vs. Victor Wembanyama(50:02) Thing no. 6 we care about: Surging January teams (53:00) Thing no. 7 we care about: What happens next with Steph Curry and LeBron James? (58:28) Thing no. 8 we care about: NBA Europe and PIF (the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia) Leave us a message on our Mismatch voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me to does every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Just a tough night to be cruising around league pass last night. The Knicks look terrible. The pistons look awesome. And then Jimmy Butler gets hurt. It's just a tough, tough league pass night last night for now. The biggest news by a wide margin was the Jimmy Butler entry. The Warriors had been coming on, certainly offensively, over the course of the last couple of weeks. Since, Christmas, they had had a top five offense in the NBA. Recently, they kind of found that third leading scorer that we were talking about, like who's going to be the third guy? Because obviously the comminga drama has been surrounding them all season. And it's been my old buddy, De Anthony Melton, who has come on for the Golden State Warriors,

averaging 17 a game recently. And they really like started cracking. They were doing well. Jimmy Butler having a really good season. 20 points a game, 5.6 rebounds, 5 assists, all while shooting 52% from the field and 38% from 3. And then it ends. Jimmy Butler comes down awkwardly on his leg last night. Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors are praying for better news than they got.

and overnight, Sham Sharania tweets out that in fact, Jimmy Butler has torn his ACL and it will be season ending. Obviously everybody's mind goes to, is it career ending? Because of his age and where he is in the context of age versus how long careers usually last. And it's a long rehab, right, to come back from a torn age. ACL, especially when you're 36, 37 years old. That being said, we've got, we've got to dive into a lot of this. The Warrior season now gets incredibly interesting, especially as we hurdle towards the deadline.

This changes things dramatically. It was a team that was coming on. Usually the margins are very, very thin in the Western Conference. most of the teams are pretty bunched up. So you're talking a week can change the standings dramatically, especially if you're kind of in the mix. But you wonder where the season goes from here. You wonder what this means for the Kaminga Saga.

You wonder what this means towards the trade deadline. This changes everything dramatically for one of the, certainly the premier teams, a team that we see a lot on. national television and a team that still has Steph Curry, who's going to be starting the All-Star game. What's the first things that you're thinking about regarding this Jimmy Butler injury? First of all, watching it, it didn't look terrible. It looked bad, but it sounded terrible. And I think if you've played as long as Jimmy has, been in so many different situations,

Jimmy has been in playoff wars against LeBron and uncomfortable situations at team after team after team. I think that he sort of emoted the way he did because he knew the severity of the injury. That was the first thing that went across my mind. The second thing that went across my mind was what does this mean for the future of Wardell, Stefan Curry, and the Golden State Warriors? Because all the rumors for the weeks leading up to this incident last night had been, are they an MPJ team? are they a Lowry marketing team with the age and contract situations that are Draymond,

Steph, and Jimmy. Doesn't it seem like this is a last dancey, one final push, put all the chips in the middle the table, future draft picks be damned, young players be damned, let's just develop something that is a contender that could maybe make a miraculous playoff run to the finals. Let's gear up for that. Steve Kerr in the end of his deal, it just had this sort of like, not the, last dance, which was like in October of that year, clearly the last dance. But it had that sort of like Steve Kerr sees the sun setting on the dynasty and said so into a microphone. Like,

but it did feel like there was hope if you are a Warriors fan. And after last night, let's be honest, like that hope is gone. So what happens next with Kaminga? What happens next with Jimmy? What happened next with Kerr? What happens next with Curry? What does the rest of the the season look like? Do you package, do you put a trade together? Like everything. changed last night. And one of the focuses of this injury is the future of Jonathan Kaminga and Steve Kerr, who famously has DMPed Kaminga time and time again, including last night after Jimmy Butler got hurt, was asked about Kaminga's role with the team moving forward or whether or not he would look to him to sort of like make up for some of those Jimmy Butler

minutes he'll be losing. And here's what the head coach of the Warriors had to say. Could you go to Kaminga if there is a need for that position? Absolutely. Is he ready, I mean, in practice and all those things? Yeah. Do you believe Steve Kerr? Yes. Yes.

You believe him. Oh, because I think there's probably some stress within the building going, hey, man, this is, we gave him the contract in the off season. And more importantly, we just had to deal with this news that came out last week about him demanding a trade. His trade value is demolished, right? So I think this goes two different ways. I think, A, you don't have other guys to go to besides him.

He is the natural guy that you would go to when you're starting small forward goes out. And he did last year when Curry got hurt in the playoffs. That's what it finally took to get comminga on the floor. But B, I think if you are Mike Dunley, me, Joe Lake up in the powers that be at the Warriors, you're sitting there going, this guy has no trade. like we have demolished this thing. And now it's gotten to the point where he's saying he's demanding a trade. He wants out of here.

And it's like you have now, I think it's always hard when, and we'll get to this in another situation later, when you are trying to move a player that it is an unknown what you are getting, that you have to speculate, right? And that has been the thing with Kaminga. It's like somebody has seen him. It's not like he hasn't played minutes or we haven't seen him in the NBA context, but you do have to speculate and you have to say,

okay, he was misused. It was a bad fit. He had a bad relationship with the coach from the start. We could get a different version and a much better version. We believe in a Jonathan Kaminga that hasn't existed yet. yet in terms of, and that's what you're asking for, in terms of getting any value for him,

because right now, if you are an opposing team, why are you giving up a lot for Jonathan Kaminga? It makes no sense whatsoever. I mean, if I am the opposing GM and the second Mike Dunleavey says, asks me for more than what I offer, I say, fine, just keep him. good luck like you're not using him anyway fine just keep him one of the things i find so interesting about this situation and like well let's let's put the comminga thing to the side because i just feel like he just takes up too much airspace in the national basketball association

conversation is you mentioned dunleavy and laco up right let's imagine that they're having a tough time last night you happen to be in the bay area right and they're like berno we're at this dirty Irish dive bar, just drinking into our sorrows. We need your help as a constantly airy for the Warriors franchise. We really respect your master's updates. The mismatches gone to shit ever since KOC left, but that's fine. But we respect your opinion. And they're doing tequila shots and margaritas.

Yeah. And they're like, Bruno, we don't have Jimmy. We don't really have a chance. We have the deadline coming up. We have an aging Steph Curry. What do we do? What should be our plan for the next two or three years with this franchise? I mean, this is a tough one because Jimmy Butler just got hurt.

And so this. That's why they're drinking the shots in the margarine. Yeah, this is why they're drinking the shot. When you're in a tough problem and you're the front office of an NBA basketball team is only one person to turn to. Chris Fern. It's me. Look, I don't know the ins and outs of the comming a thing.

but I this is what I would say. I would say, look, we've got to think about short term before we think about long term because we don't know on the whole, like we're going to lose Jimmy Butler for a year. So that's out of the plane, right? So now we have to plan for a life without Jimmy Butler because, and we don't have very long on this whole courage, Raymond thing anyway. So what are we going to try to do to accentuate what we do have right now? You still want to have a chance.

You still are in the mix right now. There's no sense in trying to tank this thing out, right? You've got a starter in the All-Star game and everything else. What I would do is my short-term plan right now. And again, I don't know if all of those guys would be together, but let's just say they are all together and I'm with them. You start Jonathan Kaminga and you try to get that trade value up over the course of the, you have a little less than a month, right?

So over the next three weeks, the biggest thing we can do is get that comminga trade value up. Okay. If I'm trying to build out and I'm just trying to give myself a chance, right? Like you never know. But to what end? I got it. I got it. I got it.

I got it. You want to go alongside Curry and Horford? I don't know if you're going to get a star, right? Like star doesn't have to, but I mean, I'm trying to build out the best team I can't. What are the best ways I can possibly accentuate? the end of the Curry Draymond thing. And so what kind of players would be best suited? And those don't,

those are just be role players, right? And maybe it's not enough. But at least I've got a fighting chance if I go and I try to bolster my team. If I'm not, so right now the deal is try to get the Kaminga stock to somewhere where you could actually get something in return. And even if that means role players, right? But, I mean, I don't think that right now, your best player on your team is an aged veteran who is still playing at an all-star level.

And you still have a puncher's chance when you have him. So I would try to, you never know the way this stuff's going to go. Punchers chance or what? People get injured every single year in the playoffs and it alters the playoffs. Right. It altered their season last year. If Steph Curry doesn't go out, they probably beat Minnesota. If, if, let's just say you got in a series with Minnesota and then I told you, Anthony Edwards is unavailable.

Still losing to the world. I mean, again, you could say that. But I am, I am one of those where you are in the Mitch right now. You're never getting to the bottom. You're already too far down the line. So I'm trying to just have the best season I can have. And if I'm not going to use comminga, if I still get offered nothing for him,

then I ride this thing out and hope that he comes along and there's like some kind of, you know, great come to Jesus moment with him and Steve Kerr. Otherwise, I mean, what else are you going to do? You're just going to say, oh, to hell with it. We're just going to blow the whole thing up. And, I mean, that can't be. So, again.

Oh, I mean, that's ridiculous too. Okay, so we're asking me what I would do. I mean, step number one is build up the comminga value to try to get something full. him. And even if that just means I get vet role players to throw around those guys that I, that Steve Kerr will trust and will play and I try to add some depth, then that's what I go with. That's it. I mean, I know what else am I going to do? What else am I going to do? It feels like the right thing to do is because the future looks pretty bleak without Jimmy

Butler, not just the end of this year, but presumably. some of next year. And honestly, I was not very high on this team fully healthy as it was. Right. And I think you have Steph Curry into the office and you say, what do you want us to do? You know, be like, I don't think Steph Curry's going to go anywhere. I think he finishes his career as a warrior. Like, where is he going? What is he doing? Right. Right. But it does seem to me that this injury puts us as a basketball, NBA, Steph Curry loving, uh, swath of the population in a really bad spot because it does feel like the last, let's call it three or four years of his career will be played on non-contending teams.

Certainly a possibility. Certainly a possibility at this point. I mean, this was the chance. And again, they had been coming on a little bit over the course of the past couple of weeks to where you could at least foresee a circumstance where they become a dangerous team, a team that you don't want to see when it comes playoff time. And that's that's that's, that low seed you don't want to play. That's what they were before last night.

And I think after last night, that's changed. Certainly with the, with the amount, because you have to give credit and you have to give honor to the amount of playoff success that those three guys have had. But now it's two guys. Four, if you even at Horford, you know, talking about playoffs. That's like,

we got to throw Horford in there. Right. And now it's two or possibly three. So I mean, that's the only thing you can do at this point, right? You try to, you hope that Kaminga could come in, can play well for you. and build up his trade value to where you could at least get some stuff in return that helps you win now.

Again, these are all like if you're trying to make the most of the end of the Curry era. I think it'd be really strange if they traded comminga for like a second year potential upside guy and two draft picks. It's like, no, what are you doing? You're building for the 2029 season? Like what are we talking about? No, you know what I mean? Like again, you build, you get some solid vets. And then obviously, look, you hope that these other guys, you know, you need Moody and pods and all of these guys, right?

Like when guys get hurt, that means more opportunity for other guys. And so I would try to bolster this roster because you are getting nothing, like literally nothing out of the comminga spot. Nothing. At this point. Not in minutes. Right? Not even minutes. You're getting nothing.

So to me, I look at that and go, well, that'll be a big bonus. at least if I got some, even if I got some guys with hearts and lungs that are out there playing for me, at least it's better than that because this is a sunk cause. It literally is a sunk cause. Hearts and lungs, the bar to get over. So it to contribute to the Warriors over Caminga. I mean, that's all you need. Is it somebody that can run up and down the court?

That's the bar. Because right now the guy is not playing at all. And so it just it just sucks, man. Oh, it sucks. It sucks. Because watching Steph Curry like score 40 and losses is just like, I don't want to see that anymore. The Jimmy Butler, the Jimmy Butler story was mega depressing to say the least. We've got eight things we care about this week. All right.

We've got to start with the next. We have to. I'm going to let you start with this. You always start, Bruno. No, no. We are starting with the next. Oh, do you think that my dumpster fire is burning hot? than your dumpster fire because you guys won a game in London.

So now your dumpster fire is cooled off. I think. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. If we're having competing dumpster fires, yours is burning hotter, my friend. Look, it's far. I have not been in a situation where I have been in the home arena

and the whole arena starts booing and the owner gets up at halftime and never returns to his seat as he is losing to the 12th seed in the Western conference who is without seven players. I'm about to say, yeah, not only the 12th seat, like the G-League two-way version of the 12th seat in the Western. So, I mean, you can say that, but I mean, it is now nine of 11 that have been lost by the New York Knicks. Over the last 11, they've had the third worst defense and the third worst points off

of fast breaks. So not only do they not defend in the half court, they never get back. if somebody gets a run out against them. What has happened? Like, look, I do think that given our expectations, and that a lot of people think that the New York Knicks have a incredible chance of being the Eastern Conference representative in the NBA finals this year,

this has been beyond alarming. When you get back Brunson and you get back Hart, and you're playing this game yesterday and I think everybody has kind of waited over the course of the past week for the right the ship game and this was the complete opposite of the right the ship game

against the Dallas Mavericks. This was the ship is like at the bottom of the ocean. So can it be revived? I have to be like 100% honest into this microphone right now. Please. I don't know exactly how I feel about this wound. I could make a great case why the glass is half full,

and I can make a great case why the glass is half empty. Unlike some more reactive and emotional Knicks fans that are in my life and in my timeline, I don't think this is a let's get rid of cat as soon as possible, trading for whatever, this team is broken, this roster's broken, the system's broken, Mike Brown sucks, Tom Tivito sucks, James Dolan sucks, everything sucks out.

This is the worst. You know, we need to completely rebuild this. We should have traded for Yannis, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think during this 11 run, 11 game run has been really bad. In this run, they lost. These are the games. And they're not losing to the Wizards of the Pelicans. But the Mavs lost last night was sort of one of the worst.

But they lost to the Spurs. I mean, they lost to the Kings. The Spurs, the Hawks, the Sears, the Hawks. the Sixers, the pistons, bad. And they beat the clippers, they lost to the suns, and they beat the Blazers, and then they lose to the Kings. And that was bad.

Losing to the Kings was bad. That was the worst three-point shooting game of the year. They shot 19.5% from three in that game. So I guess you could do a little regression to the mean game there. But you expect, we'll talk about threes in a second, because I found something when I was looking at this. Then they lose to the Suns and last night they lost to the Mavericks. Tomorrow night they have the Nets.

They lose that. Then I'm just going to move to a different country and change my name. They play the Sixers, the Kings and the Rap. The Sixers one is a huge one because they've given up a boatload of points to the Sixers in the games this season. And they've just absolutely no answer for Tyree's Manx. Like none. Tyree's Maxi. If you have Fan Duel, just do Tyre's Maxi 30 points plus and just send me 10% of your winnings.

the um here's one thing i've found interesting about them because defense is the problem right offense doesn't look great of late but whatever like the real problem is the defense and the two best offensive players and the two best players frankly just are defensive liabilities so i started looking into their defense is do you know they give up the fourth smallest amount of points in the paint in the NBA which i was shocked by as i had to look at the sat at like seven times because Cat famously is a defensive liability. Mitchell Robinson is a great rent protector, but he plays, he's on minutes restriction. He plays very limited minutes.

So you would think that they would give up a lot of point paints. They don't. I don't know. You do have wings that can move their feet. You know what I mean? When they're trying, when they're trying. That is what it is. It's hard to get around the wings.

Heart bridges and Annanobi are all. Yes, exactly. They stay in front of a typical sort of like driver. catch it off a swing, up fake drive, sort of thing. They're really good at defending those, which makes sense. It's not rip protection, really. But they give up 43.9 points per game for three, which is 28th in the league. They gave up tons of threes.

And I was watching this run of losses. And I kept saying to myself, the other team is just having the game of their lives from 3.1. But that can happen once or twice. but when it happens like four or five times in two weeks, you have to start looking in the mirror instead of the sky. You know what I mean? Instead of being like, oh, just bad luck for us.

Because look at these reserves, these reserve, not like the main guy at the top of the whiteboard, as you say. These are the reserve performances against the Knicks in the last like five games. Zach Levine, four for, I mean, five for nine from three, a chew a two for four from three. And then against the Warriors, Moody was seven for nine from three. against the sons Booker, who's their main guy, was four for six,

Royce O'Neill, four for six, Dylan Brooks, five for nine. And last night, Max Christie eight for ten. Max Christie was five for six at the half. It was the first or second possession of the second half. Guess who's wide open from three on the wing, Max Christie? I mean, in fairness, that is the game plan theoretically. It's like, all right. But not after he's five to six in the first half.

Understood. Well, I think it all kind of goes back to the same thing, right? which is I told you how bad their fast break defense or their points off transition have been. It's the same thing. If we accept that these guys are good at guarding against points in the paint because they're able to stay in front of people. Most of these teams are doing the paint touch, collapse the defense, throw it out, now rotate it around, right? So it's swing swing after they throw it out, right? This is the commonplace offense that you see within the NBA.

Well, the same thing that leads to you not getting back on defense is the same thing that leads to not getting out there on defensive closeouts and having that level of intensity. Therefore, it all comes down to effort. And that's why the fans are booing yesterday. The reason they're booing is because they don't feel like they are getting an honest effort out of their team. And that, whether it is cup hangover, dog days of the NBA, you know, then you get to more dastardly opinions, which are, have they given up on the coach? Is his, is his message not resonating with them anymore? I'm just saying all of these things. But when you have a team that is coming out there, if there's one thing that the Knicks have been able to hang their hat on, as they have had this recent level of.

success over the course of the past couple of years is being a team that gives an honest defensive effort on a regular basis. And if you feel like your team is giving an honest effort and it's not enough, you live with it. But I think that both Knicks fans and the general public do not feel like the Knicks are two and nine in their last 11 games because of some kind of overhanging problem more so than you're not playing hard. That's what your problem is.

If you give it your, if you give it an honest effort, this isn't happening. And that's why the booze are raining down. And that's why the owner never returns to his seat. I think, uh, it also is worth mentioning if you haven't been paying close attention.

That the next during this run have been at times without Josh Hart, who is their effort guy. Like that's like his superpower. Can't really shoot. Can't really drive. Great transition on offense. Good defender, but he's just like an all-out effort guy. Any lose ball, any offensive rebound, any sort of hustle play, that's what he does.

And they've been without Brunson for a couple games because of a twist and ankle. And that hasn't helped. But I'm not ready to panic yet. I'm not ready to panic. I have only seen, now you, I'm sure that you're, I'm sure that you're, I'm sure that you're text messages amongst Knicks fans are a hellscape. I have only seen social media,

but my God, I mean, the turn on towns has been severe. Severe. I mean, to the point where I, and again, you can only take what you, you know, and it's probably a poor example, even though in New York,

I feel like it might not be as bad example as in other places. Because they're pretty, hard on their guys. But I got to feel like as of today, if Carl Towns calls a restaurant tonight, like they might hang up. Like, yeah, it used to be, you'd get the best table. And if they're like, yeah, this is, this is Carl Towns. I've seen if you got, yeah, we don't have any tables. Like, we don't have any tables. It's, when they turn on a guy, it's been a rough 10 days for Carl Town. When they turn on a guy, because when they look, when New York turns on you, it turns on you,

brother, buddy, he is, he's catching it. I'm not ready to panic. I don't think there's big trades that need to be made. I think that, uh, I think if anything, this is, uh, some, a tough road trip, mixed with that rhythm of the season where that like sort of post Christmas pre all star break sort of like dog days of the season, midway point thing is kind of happened to them in this little swoon, but it is a little concerning when you just, see Brunson, Captain, have a little midgame players-only meeting talking up the guys. We've all watched the clip online or during the game.

And there was no response. Just not. I did hear one theory that was proposed by me, actually. Does it involve Josh Hart's thumb? Because if it does, just move. Things did start going the wrong way when Josh Hart stuck his thumb up front of his ass on national television. Just go to the next thing. Let's talk about your stupid team.

I think it. Shut up. I hate it here. It's just a theory. Oh, and my twins, my 10-year-old twins went to the game last night. Oh, no. Oh, great. Hey, they're going to love Broadway now.

They're never going to be Nets fans now. You're telling you. Get them in MPJ jersey. If you build around Yeager Jamon or whatever his name is, Jomon. How do you say his last name? Jomon. What?

Just call him Igor Damon. Jesus. Well, things have gotten a little different for me, Mr. Jacoby, over the course of the past five days, because as we recorded last week, I told you that by time I left New York City and got on a plane on Wednesday and saw the John Morant practice video,

saw the press conference video, I was like, oh, we're done here. And this was after you had berated me for having any level of hope that things could possibly get worked out. And there's a day where I am in an arena watching John Morant be awesome for the Memphis Grizzlies. And then after we recorded and the team headed off to London, England, it was a series of good news. items that came out regarding said situation. And I only mean this in the context of first you have Brian Winhorse going on ESPN and saying, you know, you got this Janus thing going on in Milwaukee.

You got this summer that's going to be coming up with Donovan Mitchell available or this guy available. Don't expect the in Miami heat to be super to make some kind of big push. for John Moran. And immediately, I was like, well, if that's off the table, if I'm that guy, I'm sitting back and going,

all right, well, then where exactly would I go? You know what I mean? Like the Miami thing, you know that there was already an article that said the preference of team Morant, if he were going to be moved,

was Miami. And that became a thing. And then you have Brian Winhorne, and then following him, Tim Bondemps, shooting that down and saying, yeah, that ain't, that ain't going to be the place for John Moran. So first you have that coming out. Then you have a picture of Uncle Phil, who is a job's business manager and his father with T. Morant standing on the sidelines. and the post says something to the effect. I'm paraphrasing, but always understand the moment.

And then there's, he's listed as probable for the London game. So you have Adam Silver going to the podium and saying, I'm disappointed that John Morant is not participating in this Berlin game. And I am hopeful that he is going to play in the London game. The NBA puts on this huge deal over in London. And so then by Saturday, John Moran is listed as probable. And everybody's like, oh, he's going to play. He's going to play.

And then he comes out. And his old John Moran, he has six point or five points and six assists in the first five minutes of the game. He is dancing around. He's smiling. He's high fiving everybody. He's doing the salsa. Like, what is happening? What is?

is happening. And the coach is all happy. He's all happy. Like, everybody that's watching it is like, is this, is this really happening? He was the best player on the floor

versus the magic by a wide margin. Then comes out after the game. And Mark Stein asks him about the whole situation and the trade rumors. And he says, I'm a loyal guy. Everybody knows I'm a loyal guy. And then references the Grizzly's tattoo on his back,

everybody knows where I want to be. Well, if this doesn't throw a wrench in everything, we had gotten to the point where you and I were recording last week, and I was like, yeah, this is, this is untenable, right? Like, where are we going from here? And then you have, like, if we're continuing your analogy that you did on the show a couple weeks ago, The smoking hot wife has walked back in, buck naked, and is like, you know what, forget it.

Let's make this right. That's not what's happening. And so that's how it feels. And so everybody was, I think that once you play that way and once you say what you said, I mean, the fan base is now back in on your side. and they have six of their next eight home games, games at home. They very well may still trade him,

but I will tell you this, if you are the front office of Memphis, it becomes, I will tell you, I'm boots on the ground. It becomes infinitely less palatable than it was just five days ago. It looked like the end. And now what everybody wants,

is for John Morant to be available and awesome in Memphis. That's what they want. That is number one on the list. And my opinion has been if he is available and awesome, all of these problems go away. That's it. If he is the John Morant, but if he is unavailable or he is not awesome,

then these problems exist. And that has been the issue. He has not been available and he has not been awesome. And that's how we got to this point. Now, the hard part is going to be they have not given them a contract extension. If that is the reason for sore feelings that has caused all of this this year, I don't, as I said in the last show, if you want a contract extension, then go be available and awesome and you will get rewarded with said contract extension. If you're mad that they moved heaven and earth to give Bain a contract and Jaron a contract but haven't taken care of you, well, you've got to look in the mirror on that. but he looked happy and he looked great

and we will see it now it's like the greatest soap opera going because we'll see how he looks you know Wednesday night against Atlanta it's interesting Bruno when you talk about comminga and what the Golden State sort of operation and franchise should do with him you suggest they should play him to up his trade value correct okay but when you talk about John Morant

and he has a game like this, you talk about how that makes it hard to move him. Correct. And that that means that he will likely stay. Now, just a thought exercise here, a hypothetical. Imagine a world in which we live in, which was the world before the London game, which was this is untenable,

this relationship is over, and both the franchise and the star player want to move on. If those were your goals, the best way to achieve those goals for both parties, the franchise and the player would be for the player to play well, be happy, get his teammates involved, he had 13 assists in that game, and be smiling and perform one. That's what I've said. So does this performance make it more or less likely that he is actually traded?

Because to me, this doesn't convince me that it's all fine now because he got. got a tattoo three years ago that he's going to stay with the Grizzlies. This says to me that there's a mutual understanding whether, whether verbally recognized or not, that this is going to achieve both of their goals, which are to get him on a new, get him on a new. Okay. So yes. The answer is yes. That is exactly.

As I said last week, what do you want? If you want to be on a new team, you have to go out there and be available at awesome. that they can move you. If you want to be here and get a contract extension, you have to go out and be available and awesome, and that will take care of itself, right? Like those are the two different options that we're talking about, right? Staying here or going elsewhere.

I think that when Miami is off the table, there is a very real possibility that you sat around and you went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, where am I going then? do I want to be in Sacramento? Do I want to be in Brooklyn? Do I want to be? Right.

And so that's why when you held the press conference and say, everybody knows where I want to be, that does change the calculus. Jonathan, the difference between that and Jonathan Kaminga is Jonathan Kaminga said, I get me out of here. Well, he's also never sold a jersey in his life. Right.

No one owns a single Kaminga jersey. And if you go to a game and you will not see a jury coming in a jury. He also said, get me out of here. Right? Get me out of here. I don't want to be here. That's the problem with the press conference. The problem with the press conference is he said,

so now you turn the front office into bad guys if they move you. Because you, and you can always say, bro, I wanted to be there. Now, he has not. That's his intent. He has not conducted up until Sunday, he had not. conducted himself in the manner of a guy that wants to be in Memphis. But if you are saying Milwaukee's not trading for you, Miami's not trading for you, look around, who's trading for you, bro?

It's not any place you want to go. It's not any place that's going to love you like the place that you are loves you. Maybe there is a come to Jesus moment. You said, you know what, I'd rather just do it this way. And things will end up taking care of themselves. I think that is more logical, and that's why it's different than the Kaminga spot. The Kaminga thing is like, I mean, he wants out. He wants to leave.

Yeah. He wants to leave. When you hold a press conversation saying you don't want to leave, now they have traded you. But you do that because the player never wants to be the bad guy. You see it happening with Yonis. Yonis, he doesn't want to be the bad guy so much that he refuses to ask out of the situation to his own detriment. And I feel like the players want the person. fan basis to love him.

Well, also, look, you can conduct yourself in a way. He did literally conduct himself in a way that led to the team saying, we will trade you. That's what he did. He conducted himself so poorly that the team said, you know what, to hell with it. Fine. We'll listen. If this is the, if this is the John Morant that's going to be here, then we'll trade your ass. I just want to end this by saying that it hurts.

me to see so much hope on your face and hear it in your voice. Why? I think this is over, just like we discussed in the last episode. Just because he played well in London doesn't mean that they've turned a corner and the hot wife is back naked. Like, yeah, the only reason she's naked because she was just flirting with somebody else down the block. Yeah, but I think the hot wife saw her options.

And when I'm, you know what, let me go back to this one. Yeah. Next thing I care about, something tells me we'll be talking about Jai every episode forever. This is a little bit pegged to last night's, last night's events. I discuss a lot how I enjoy that there is not this inevitability that we had for the years when LeBron was on the Cavs and Steph and Katie, we're on the Warriors where it was like, well, Cavs Warriors finals, once again, here we are.

And it just seemed inevitable. At this moment, especially after last night, we have a clear-cut number one in each conference. And is the Pistons and the Thunder. And as I extrapolate the rest of the season, I see both of these teams establishing that stronger and putting the gap between them and the rest of the conference further than the opposite happening.

Even with the Thunder's, I don't want to call struggles, but swoon of late. The Pistons last night beat the Celtics in a close game. it was a great game. And the Pistons defense is just absolutely unstoppable. And I want to call these the clear-cut favorites in each conference. And I want to say that in the great words of Nico Harrison, no one ever said this before Nico Harrison. Defense wins championships.

Just give you a few stats about these two teams that are leading each conference. Opponents points per game. Thunder first, Pistons third. Opponents field goal percentage. Thunder first, Piston, second. stocks per game, Pistons first, thunder, second. Like, in my opinion, these are the two best defenses in the league. They have to be the best team in each conference.

And I don't see the rest of the regular season playing out, barring injury, obviously, of the gap getting closer instead of wider. And that excites me. The other thing that's interesting is the way that the Pistons do play is more of a throwback because I was reading an article yesterday that said, they outscore their opponents by over 13 points per game in the restricted area, in the paint, which is first by a wide margin, by wide margin. Like you just can't keep them off the glass, like they get to the basket and they get to the restricted area

and they score from there because we went through a whole swoon where it was like, these teams would bomb you out from three. they are they are dominating their opponents right next to the basket and I think that there was a realistic chance that after that crazy unbelievable start that the Pistons had that it would slow down a little bit but they just keep on hum it. We're halfway through this season exactly. They're 31 and 10. It's an unbelievable record. It's an unbelievable record. And they have had injuries themselves.

Like we've done shows where we came on here leading with Danish Jenkins for God sakes. Dern's been out, beef stews been out, Ivy's been out. And I really thought that they would not, these aren't huge names, but like I thought losing Manique Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. And just the shooting that they provided, Beasley hit like more threes than anybody last year. Like he was on fire last year.

And I thought Duncan Robinson, who played really well last night, stepped into a really good role for them. And guys, like you mentioned, like Dennis Jenkins and, and just beef, Stu and Dern, like when you say throwback, like, Stu can hit some threes. You can't just like absolutely leave them alone there, though, but they're not a five out team by any stretch of the imagination. And it is a team that has, you know, because they, they have a lack of national television games, they are going to get their just dessert when it comes to all-star weekend because

J.B. Bickerstaff's going to be coaching the team. Cade Cunningham's going to be on the team as a starter and Jay LaDurran is going to make that team too as a coach's selection. And so they will have two all-stars in the coach and a great record heading into it. And that's when people like the second half of the season, people are going to be like start to really notice.

This feels a little like what happened with the calves last year. Remember we were talking throughout the year? And it's like, yo, does anybody pay attention to the calves are like 40 and 24 games in a row. You know what I mean? And nobody really cared. And then it got, you know, later in the season, it was like, hey, now.

And then they kind of fell back a little bit because their lead was so big on everybody and didn't close the season like gangbusters. This feels like a team that can continue this because, as he said, they, like, their offense can come and go. Kate Cunningham was like four for 17 last night in a win. Yeah. When you hang your head on the defensive end, over the course of an 82 game season,

we talked about this in relation to Phoenix and them being a surprise team this year. When you give an honest effort and hang your head on the defensive end every night, you give yourself a chance. Offense can come and go. But defense remains and like Detroit will guard you every night. With everybody. Yeah. They don't have suckers.

You never look up and they're giving up 138. There's no like pigeon. There's no one, someone that they call over to get put in the action every single time. You know, as a Knicks fan, I see it all the time. Like, they don't have that guy that you can just pick on. And they play so well defense. And I also think that you could look at Cade and say, oh, 4 for 17, like not a great shooting game, which is true.

It wasn't a great shooting game. But they loaded up on Cade and, you know, Tobias Harris. He's hitting Tobias Harris for a huge three at the game. He's hitting Duncan Robinson for three. He's like he's Dying up. He's staying in front of Brown. You know, Tobias Harris is staying in front of Brown. And like, yeah,

That 417 is not a good game and Kate has had huge games in his career. But like that 417 is a bad box score. But watching the game, I watched the second half, just watch some of the Indiana Miami thing. Like, Kate looked pretty good to me. You know, like he didn't really contribute in sort of scoring points, but he contributed to that win for sure. All right.

Next one, we'll try to burn through these. All-Stars were announced. The big headline from the All-Star being announced was that it's the first time of 22 years that LeBron James isn't a starter. So we have Janice, Jalen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham and Tyrese Maxi, as the All-Star starters in the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, we have Steph Curry, Nicola Yokic, Victor Wimbunyama, Luca Donchich, and SGA.

Feels like the only ones you could even argue. And again, this is inarguable considering that what are you going to do, argue with what the fans voted for? like the fans voted and the fans voted more for Wembe than they did Anthony Edwards. Thus he's there instead of Edwards. That would be the other natural pick to be a starter in the Western Conference. And then on the other side, Donovan Mitchell, who even addressed it last night. He's like, look, you got to win if you want to.

Like, I'm having a great season. But and so Mitchell would probably be the best performer that is not listed as one of these. I will say the biggest thing that stood out. to me from all of this because fan voting plays such a big role was the fan voting on maxi and i mean philly stand up because they got their guy in and you do what like when it comes to fan voting whether that is the individual market or you know voting goes on worldwide um tyrese maxi was in the fan rank he was second in the eastern conference you got the second most vote

behind Janice. Behind Janice. Yes. So that was the thing that stood out to me the most was Tyrese being that high in the fan voting.

And whether that is just Philadelphia getting totally behind him, I mean, it takes more than just, you know, your city getting behind you when you're accumulating that number of votes.

But I was pretty impressed by that. Like the fans had Maxi that high. He's certainly moved into a different realm of fame. Absolutely. And N. Norriding, and I think that one of the things about his game, which will translate

to fan excitement, is he's so fun to watch. And he's so fast and athletic that he plays a little bit differently than sort of like a Cade or a Brunson who's technical, methodical footwork, fouls, free throws, whereas Maxie's just, he's like the roadrunner

blurring down the court and somehow finishing a floater over somebody. So I think that translates to fan voting in sort of a lamello ball way where it's like you're not, I wouldn't have you. I wouldn't start a franchise with you instead of Kate Cunningham, but you're going to cut together a better highlight clip and be almost as effective and have good numbers. That's why I think the fan voting sort of leaned that way. He's also cool. Yeah. I mean, this is what happens to fans. It's cool. It's a popularity contest. It's likeability. He's cool. He looks awesome. He has highlights. He has, you know, big long threes to win. games like you know he pops up in the algorithm a lot more than the jalen brunson does he just does

yep i think that's what that's the like that lamello ball effect find someone under 25 years old who's the best player in the NBA at least in a bunch of i'm going to say lamello ball it's just sort of like the social mediation of it all um i'm gonna peg mine to the all-star starters thing my next one that i care about is i was watching that game on saturday there's a lot going on this weekend with all the NFL football games and, you know, just like a holiday weekend and everything. And a lot of people probably miss this, uh, Wolf Spurs game. But my God, 55 from Anthony Edwards. Unbelievable. And what did Wemby end up with the 39 and 9? And just there was a stretch with about between like four and three minutes left in the game where Edwards hits a huge two point jumper.

And then Wemby comes down and immediately hits a two. point jumper. And then Edwards hits like a crazy three from the left wing and the place is going nuts. And then you know, they can't even imagine what's happening. And then Wimby comes down, it's in San Antonio. Wemby comes down and matches the three

and I'm sitting there watching this. And then afterwards, the reporters like Anthony Edwards says he's going to try to dunk on you as much as he can in his entire career. And Wemby answers by saying over the years I hope to block him more than he dunks on me. And I'm going to talk about the future of the Durants and Stephs and

LeBron's in a second. But that game, and the way that he said over the years, I plan on blocking him more than he dunks on me, just made me feel like the kids are all right. Like between Massey and Cade and Wimby and Edwards, it just made me feel like there is a next generation of superstars that are under 27 years old that will be taking the baton and running with it. And Saturday was a perfect example because everybody wants to put Chet and Wemby in this rivalry, but like it does feel like Edwards and Wembe might be a more

suitable sort of tete-a-tete back and forth basket-for-basket, big game rivalry that we could see moving forward. And I was just so inspired and comforted watching that game feeling like, yeah, I could see this in three years being

them having this huge history of big games and big plays against each other. Forget three years. I mean, you just want some more juice in a matchup like that because it's very plausible that we get to the Western Conference semifinals and we've got Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota and San Antonio. Yeah, I mean, depending how the seating works out. Right.

The way the Bulls have been playing in the last month is like they're doing, whatever the Knicks are doing, the Bulls are doing the opposite. And, but literally, if it is those four, if those four are the ones that are able to do it, there's literally no bad matchup. No. You can mix and match those four any which way, and it's amazing. It's amazing. Well, all of those teams in every combination possible have had really good games and tight series.

And, you know, and it is sort of a coin flip in all directions. Yes. Next one, the surging West team. So we talked about leading to Christmas break. We were talking about, all right, we come out after the calendar, and who are the teams that are going to be able to surge ahead? Is there going to be a last year's Indiana that has a infinitely better second half than they had first half of the season? And so if we are just keeping an eye on that and we are looking at the surging teams,

one of the ones that we talked about as a possibility was the Clippers. another one that we talked about as a possibility was Portland and both of them have done exactly what was possible. No, just say what we said they would. What we said they would do. Yeah, they're responding to the mismatch podcast. Well, we knew their schedule was going to break their way. The Clippers have now won 12 or 14 games. Jordan Miller, a massive piece coming off the bench for them.

and their bench, the first, John Schumann had this yesterday, the first 27 games of the season, their bench was ranked third from the bottom in the NBA, 27. Now they're fourth over this stretch. Their bench has become the fourth best bench in the NBA over the course of this stretch,

and four of their next five games are against teams with losing records, of which they have an outstanding record against. They have been able to take care of the lesser than teams. Meanwhile, Portland, also another one of these teams that is eight and two. They're six and six the last time they're 500. They're back there now.

They're eight and two since the calendar turn. A top eight offense, a top eight defense, and four of those wins have been Houston twice, San Antonio, and the Lakers. You've had the Caleb Love breakout, out and you have this also really strange thing, which has compiled their record. They are 18 and 14 versus the Western Conference. They are four and eight versus the east. Figure that out.

Wait. Yeah. Because you would think it would be the opposite because all of the, because a lot of those West Coast trips start in Portland and they go south. Correct. Correct. So it's 18 and 14 versus West six straight games. against the Eastern Conference coming up.

So we will see if that record could get straightened out. But, and, you know, they've had Deni Adia out. They've had Jeremy Grant out. They're getting Drew Holiday back in the mix full time. They still haven't had scoot in the mix this year. He hadn't played a game yet this year. Like, keep an eye on this. It's something we said to keep an eye on.

And it has played out the way we thought it could where you're looking now. and these teams are the ones that started off the season. Certainly, Portland was kind of holding down the fort more than the Clippers, but they have been mediocre to bad record basketball teams that then flip the switch and all of a sudden we're looking up and over the course of 30 games, they're like 22 and 8 or something, and they have changed the fortunes of their season completely. So far, so good on the, these teams will be the ones that have a much different second half of the season than first half. I just want to push back a little bit on sort of like putting these two teams parallel to each other.

Because I feel like Portland has a good foundation of players that are just off the national radar like, you know, Kamara and Abia and Shaden Sharp. Klingin. They've got, yeah, cling in. Like they've got really good sort of like plus role players, right? And they've been pretty consistent throughout the season. And there have been a tough out and they've been in tight losses like well coached under Splitter. Whereas the Clippers were a team that there's like an overachieving consistently overachieving performing well in Portland. Whereas the Clippers were a team that was supposed to be a contender.

Right. One of the worst teams in the league. and no one could figure out why we're sitting here being like maybe it's a Steve bomber Pablo Tori stuff maybe Chris Paul in the locker room is the problem maybe it's Kauai Leonard sort of not being a leader can't figure out what to do with John Collins yeah like yeah Colin sucked for the first month like we were just like what is happening to this team that was supposed to be in the top four and I was in the bottom four of the west and we're talking about the the draft pick that the Thunder have and they've completely like I feel like Portland has been consistently overachieving where the clippers have been wildly underachieving

and now wildly overachieving. And I'm just sitting there being like, what team is the real team? Like, what is this? Right. And those are the difference between those two teams, but that's astute. And I would say that I really do believe that the real clippers is what we're seeing now versus what we saw before. Like I would not want to play the clippers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Here we go. This is my last one since I went first, which is a little uncomfortable for me. is I'm lying in bed last night after watching Jimmy get hurt. And I sort of expressed this before about LeBron when I said that he might retire after this year because I'm like, what is next? And I kind of feel that way about Steph now too.

Because Kevin Durant is on, whether you call him a contender or a fringe contender, whatever tier you want to put him in, he's on a successful basketball team with young players where he has a defined role and it makes sense for him, right? I don't feel the same about LeBron and Steph as we watch the sunset of their careers.

I feel like- Steph's got more juice left than LeBron does. Come on. Totally fair. But I'm talking about the position they are in their team and the position their team is in the National Basketball Association. Because you want that, and I'll go to football here, you want that Tom Brady on the bucks.

All they need is leadership of veteran quarterback to sort of like organize the offense. The defense is great. We'll put a veteran leader in this one position, and that will get us a Super Bowl. Peyton Manning on the Broncos, similar situation. And I want that for Stefan LeBron. I currently don't see that for Stefan LeBron.

You know, I see LeBron deferring to Luca. It's Lucas franchise. Luke's scoring 40 in losses that can't stop anybody. And I see Steph now with the second best offensive option on the team being like moody, Wiggins. Melton. I mean, not Wiggins. Melton.

Yeah, Melton. Who is I thinking of pods? I was thinking of pods, not Wiggins. But it's tough. Like, I don't know what the next two years or two seasons bring to these two Titans of the League, top 10 players all time. I don't know what it brings. And that's somebody we asked like, the question is what do you care about?

And I really care about this. Like, is Steph Curry going to be on like a playing team for 40 years in a row, his last four years in the league? Is LeBron just going to like stay on the Lakers and like lose again? and cost the team $60 million? I thought about you the other day. I almost texted to you. You know, I follow all of these like golf Instagram accounts.

And I'm scrolling through it. There's like this. It was a video of Nelly Korda, who is one of the best female golfers in the world. And it was like, do this drill that Nelly Korda does to improve your swing. whatever, right? And so I'm looking at that and literally the first comment was LeBron James. And I was like, okay, okay. He's living my life. Like, I mean, he's watching the same video I'm

watching of a Nelly court and golf drill. I was like, all right. Maybe, maybe Jacobi's right. And he's like, going to look up and be like, you know what? I would just rather play golf every day. Well, you know who can't wait to play golf with an early in his golf career, LeBron James? Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Oh, for sure. Michael Jordan can't wait. Oh, do golf now, LeBron? Here's a private plane to come to my golf course, bring $400,000 in cash, and we'll figure this out.

Okay. So one of the things that did take place regarding the All-Star game yesterday, and here's a bet. You could put this on Fan Thule because it's, minus 5 million on Fanduel. LeBron will beg out of the All-Star game and say, look, even if you were going to name me as a coach, you probably weren't, but even if you were, I'm going to make it clear like,

hey, I don't want to be there. Like, I don't, I'm not starting in the game, so I don't have to be there. I usually fly in on Sunday and then fly out immediately after anyway. I'm done with all that. So it's minus $5 million on Fanduel. All-Star Week. weekend will be LeBron James golfing videos.

Minus 5 million. Minus 5 million. That's what I put it on. I'm not at the All-Star festivity. You don't see me in the front row, but here's where I am. Yes. I took this weekend to fly to, you know, Hawaii to play the best courses on the islands. Correct.

There will be LeBron James golf videos during All-Star weekend. That's minus 5 million on Fandul if you want to take it. Don't you think the coaches will make him an All-Star? I think they'll try to and he'll like beg out. No, I think he does. I got the sciaticas but bother me, bro. I don't know. Last one.

The NBA Europe and Piff. Okay. So this is the Saudi investment fund. And there are the stories that came out that Adam Silver, while he was over in Europe, met with Powell Gasol, who's going to play a big role in this NBA Europe thing, but also that they met with the guy,

from the Saudi investment firm and PIP. So let me just say on the front end, obviously I was honed in on watching these games that took place in Berlin and in London over the weekend. Everything about the way the NBA did that was unbelievable. Like, truly unbelievable. Like the content that they got out of that, then watching both at the Uber Center in Berlin

and the O2 Center in London and watching the fan interaction and the fans trying to pile into those arenas. Then they made the lighting, the set, like they made it feel like a big deal. The court was awesome. The setting was awesome.

You had all these European fans that never get to see live NBA games that were super excited about it. How about this one? This is when I, maybe the most shocked that I've been on, for those that were not watching the Sunday game between the Grizzlies and the Magic,

So they make a big deal out of it on Amazon Prime. They've got all these like dignitaries there. They've got Dirk Novitsky and Steve Nash addressing the crowd to everybody, the whole thing. And then they come out and they say now to sing the National Anthem. And you may not have seen this, Jacoby. They bring out. And it is someone who is so significant in our youth that I, for 20 years, I have not heard the name. I didn't know what.

I didn't know what happened to her. Hold on. It's a female recording artist. Correct. I'm imagining English. Not. Not English? Not English?

Not from the UK? No. She's an American. Wow, you got me. I mean, Tiffany? That would be a good one. That would be a good one. Tiffany had an important role in strangers things.

I was like, oh, Tiffany, I remember that. They said, now singing the national anthem. They said, you see her. performing on Broadway in London at the Devil Wears Prada. Ladies and gentlemen. There's a Devil Wears Prada play? Yes.

And she's a lead on Broadway in London. They said, ladies and gentlemen, we would like to welcome recording artist Vanessa Williams. And I went, Whoa! Vanessa Williams! Former Miss American.

She was the hottest thing going when we were kids. I remember Vanessa Williams. Are you ready to, are you ready for me to floor you? 62. Oh, so she plays the, she looks unbelievable. The editor of Vogue role.

She looks unbelievable. Sounded great. Vanessa Williams. That was a big deal. Remember she was married to Rick Fox when we were kids? Of course. She was Miss America, then had to save the best for last song.

I mean, she was like, I didn't know whatever happened to her. I swear, it's been 20 years since I heard somebody say, Vanessa, and I was like, I'll be damn. Vanessa Williams on Broadway in London. Yeah. So I'm telling you, NBA made the biggest deal. They got Vanessa Williams to show up.

And so anyways, you've got this whole Piff story. And one of the things I've talked to you about is as a golf fan, you know, there's this famous video from a driving range before a tournament when all the stuff was going down in golf. And Rory McElroy is caught on a live bike saying, why don't they just get together and get the money invested here? And then, of course, they didn't do that, right? Like Jay Monaghan, who is the head of the PGA, said, we don't want anything to do with this. We're not having it. And then they said, fine, we'll just start our own league and we'll steal your players because we've got the money to be able to do it.

And there was a story that came out of February about how, oh, they're going to start, the Saudis are going to start this globally. It's going to be six men's teams and it's going to be six women's teams and whatever. Like, bro, if you're Adam Silver, this is like, first, without everybody knowing, they have started to allow private equity to get invested in NBA teams. And this was their way around it, without it just being out and out. and everybody saying, oh, they're sports washing and how can you do business with these, you know, people, whatever.

So you've got that. You've already got like the games that have been taking place in the Middle East or whatever else. I mean, the most important thing is to get them to be involved rather than be your competition for your business because golf learned, right? Like, big bank take little bank when it comes. comes to business.

You know what I mean? And I think. Two chains reference. The biggest thing, the biggest problem would be, I think, on the WNBA side too, with this project being whatever. Like I, I would imagine that it's like, hey, we will have you, we will get you a footprint in the NBA. We will get you a footprint in the NBA Europe.

Like, hey, chill out on that whole other league thing, right? Like, because that could, that could destroy the WNBA. It could. Like, they go, again, like you might be able to withstand some of it. But, I mean, like, especially with labor strife, there is no salary cap for them. So if they want to go and say, hey, whoever, Jalen Brunson, we'll pay you $100 million a year to come be a part of this. Like, again, if you didn't learn anything from the whole golf situation, it is don't let them be your competition. Because if there's your competition, you will lose great talent.

There's no way around it. And I think it is much more relevant on the women's side than it is the men's side. Because guys like Jayla Brunson get paid $65 million a year, right? So that one's not as big a deal. But on the women's side, I mean, if they just decided like, hey, we want to make this. And so if you're trying to expand globally, the best thing you can do is have a meeting and say, hey, don't do your thing globally. Like, be involved in our thing. And let's, yeah, do this all the thing.

That's the thing. If you're in the market for a European international basketball league, you're trying to start your own, guess what? We are the NBA. We are FIBA. We are starting our own. So instead of you building something with blueprints and breaking ground, why don't you just partner with us?

It makes perfect sense. Let's be partners rather than competition. Let me take it one step further. The previous thing that I cared about, what is the future? for LeBron and Steph Curry might have something to do. The current thing that we're talking about. You got Steph and LeBron in these kind of like lame duck teams that are not contenders,

but they still have one or two years left. I could. And you're like, I can lose on the Lakers while Lucas shoots 30 shots a game and handles every possession. Or I can go to. I could see LeBron. Barcelona. I can see LeBron doing like the barnstorming.

tour more so than I could stuff. That seems like a LeBron thing. But ownership, you get, you know, part ownership and whatever. Well, and I think that was leverage. Basketball club London or whatever. I think that was like the threat, right? The threat was, hey, me and Mavre Carter and all our guys, we're going to, we're going to on the boat.

Remember he was on the boat with Yokic's? Yeah, yeah. If you're not going to, if you're not going to let me own the Vegas franchise and have a big part in that one whenever you get to expansion, then I'll figure out how to be an owner. Something else that competes with you. I just think Adam Silver's biggest thing now with the NBA Europe, with the Saudi Arabia investment, with the LeBron Js of Averick Carter, like the most important thing is to make people partners rather than competition.

Yes. I think that's true, too. And before you go, there's one thing that I didn't mention earlier, that now that we're in the end of the podcast, I have to mention. I'm watching the fucking Knicks last night lose to the Mabbs G league team and Carlianty Towns has been in the crosshairs of the Knicks fans

for like 10, 14 days now watching the game last night and you might not have caught it. There's a big football. And all that. This dude. And for some reason, you know we all have those like players that we irrationally like?

For some reason I love Dwight Powell. I don't think he's ever scored more than like 14, points in a basketball game, but I just always ride for this guy. He got to start last night, right? Because there's no Gafford and there's no lively and blah, blah, blah. He's, you remember when you were a little kid and he played like somebody had to play all-time quarterback? He's all-time math.

Yes. He's been there forever. There's no reason to re-sign him ever. Like, he rarely contributes. He doesn't even, when they're successful, he does not get off the bench. He does not have a contract. He's just never, he's just never left. Yeah, he's just never left.

His contract ran out 10 years ago. He sleeps in a sleeping bag in one of the sweets. He just never left. And he's like, if you need me. Yeah, I'll be here. Early in the game, Carly Anthony Towns kicks him in the balls. And he gets like a flagrant for it. And like, oh, okay.

No lie. Carl Anthony Towns kicked Dwight Powell in the balls four or five times during the game last night. Oh, my God. And the last time he knees Dwight Powell in the balls. This must have been the fourth time with a flailing leg. Dwight Powell responds by kicking him in the balls. We've all seen those like double knockouts in boxing. They did like a double ball kick.

And I was in there being like, Carl Anthony Towns with everything the internet has to say about you, with everything my group chats have to say about you, with everything that's going on, You've decided to respond to all of this by kicking Dwight Powell in the balls five times during a single basketball game in which you're losing by 30 points to the reserves of the Mavs. I've got to see this. It was just weird. We're about to wrap the pod.

The first thing I want you to do is just put into search, Carl Anthony Towns, Dwight Powell. The broadcast did a like a montage of ball kick. of ball kicks and elbows to the face. Carlyne The Towns has no control over his limbs and that is the best and worst thing about him on a basketball court. Unbelievable. I hate this.

If they lose to the nets, I'm not doing the show on Friday. Right now. If they lose to the nets, I'm not doing the show on Friday. I'm dedicating the rest of my life to being a better golfer than LeMron James. Fair. Fair.

Thank you, Darry. I will not do the show on Friday if they lose. I don't buy me. I might not even watch the game on Gotham, the Gotham Sports app. I hate it so much. I hate this. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Jacoby, I'll talk to you maybe later this week.