The Mismatch - Do You Care If Team USA Wins Gold? Plus: Steph Curry, Expansion Teams, and More From the Summer Mailbag.

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Verno and KOC discuss the latest Olympic basketball play, including the respect earned by the South Sudan team, Jamal Murray’s struggles with Canada, and the strong play by the German team (01:10). They then open up the mailbag and answer more questions from the listeners (15:32). They discuss whether the Warriors should look to trade Steph Curry, how they would tweak the rules to help make expansion teams competitive from the beginning, what musical acts they would want to see perform at Sphere in Las Vegas, and more. Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Bill Simmons. I am thrilled to announce our newest YouTube channel. It's called Ringer Movies. If you're a fan of our movie coverage here at The Ringer, then you're in luck. Because every episode of The Rewatchables and The Big Picture, now on YouTube. Like Bill said, Ringer movies will feature full episodes of my show, The Big Picture, the Rewatchables, as well as special live episodes, deep dives into movie history, and a bunch of other fun stuff featuring other movie-loving Ringer personalities.

Search Ringer Movies on YouTube and Experience the Joy, Chris Ryan impersonating Wayne Jenkins on camera. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan and join as he does every Monday night from the ringer.com. It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.A. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Compterian, Kevin O'Feer, Kevin O'Brien. How are you doing today, man? What's up? I'm good. We have got Olympic basketball that is going on. The United States has kept on rolling. They have moved through their group. And now we get to the quarterfinal. and they are going to play against Brazil, and they will play the winner of Serbia and Australia.

Serbia there, because of the, in the words of the South Sudanese, coach and GM, a travesty. There was a miscarriage of justice, they say, that took place with my Sudan team. I did not see this game, but evidently, Royal Ivy said,

the game. The free throws were 31 to 6. How do they take 31 free throws and we take six? And they just kept on saying that basically they wanted Serbia there. Obviously, they've got possibly the greatest player in the world in Nikolokic and that Greece got the last wow card in this. And so that will be obviously Janus performing now because it would have been South Sudan, except Greece got it because South Sudan lost. And Lu al-Dang, my beloved Lu al-Dang called it, quote, deliberate. So I hate it for the South Sudanese. Still a Disney movie. They got their respect playing Team USA. They got their win against Puerto Rico despite the Olympics playing the wrong national anthem. I mean, that's part of the movie too. Then they finally go and then they win, right, where they're

standing out there. I'm like, I had just told you last week, I was like, yo, this South Sudan team is like something from a Disney movie. And now they're getting everybody's respect and everybody's like, oh, I love this team. they play Puerto Rico, they get the wrong national anthem played for them, but they get their win. And then obviously gained respect from everybody that watched them playing against the team from the United States. And now we have the screw job that took place against them. But look, all in all, this is the team that we talked about last week on a mismatch, so I felt worthy of bringing them up. Great job by South Sudan. they certainly took a huge step for their country

and people now have an awareness of them. And as we said, I think we're going to look up maybe in 10, 20 years, and we're going to remember when Lualding started this whole thing. But a cool story nonetheless. It was an interesting, you know, I mean, we got a lot of emails as well about that South Sudan story told them all the wall thing.

Like a ton of people hit up NBA mailbag at Gmail.com with questions for the mismatch mailbag. And a lot of people commented about that. I think there's a lot of interest in general about the Olympics. People ask about the German team. Yeah. People, we had some of our Denmarkian friends emailing about the Olympics. I mean, a lot of people just are really invested, especially internationally, in the Olympics.

And, yeah, I mean, we'll see. I mean, like you said, USA is still rolling. But, you know, Germany wins gold on Fibba last year. you know, they're still in it. They have a chance. Canada beat the United States. Yep. Right.

And they're facing France after Germany just beat France on Friday. So, I mean, I guess we'll see. I think the USA will end up in the final. Like, I think they'll beat Brazil. I think they'll beat Serbia or Australia. But, you know, that other side of the bracket, Germany, France, Canada, those are three really great teams. If it is an NBA collision course, it is USA and Canada. And as I mentioned, they lost a candidate.

That was a different team. That was the world last summer, right? For that bronze medal game. But nonetheless, the Canadians have the second most NBA players on their roster and certainly have a bona fide superstar playing an insanely important position in Shea Gildes-Alexander. Now, that still may not be enough for the greatest of all superstars, which is, of course, Dennis Schroeder, who turns into, I mean, I don't even know who you want to compare him to, but he's in all time great when it comes to these international competitions. She was so good against France. Him and I know you saw I posted, you know, and tagged you in it, but Franz Wagner had another 20.

He was great alongside Schroeder. But yeah, Schroeder stepping up in the Olympics or in a FIFA competition every year is pretty remarkable to see with him. The one guy who hasn't right now is for Canada. Obviously, again, on Tuesday, France and Canada play. It was just Germany that faced France last week. But on the Canadian side, Jamal Murray has been terrible. On Canada, Jamal Murray, like really for the past year, going back to his time with the

nuggets, he has really been the one conservative. main factor for the Nuggets. And now for Canada, it's the same thing. In each game, he has eight points, five points, four points, and the total he's shooting from the field six of 18. So for a year now, Jamal Murray has not looked like quite the same guy aside from his game winners in the first round. Other than that, he has not looked like anywhere near the guy that helped

lead the Nuggets to a championship. And their title Hokes hang upon that duo. Yes, exactly. That's what's made them the most devastating team to have to deal with in crunch time over the last couple years. Just like for Canada, they need Jamal Murray to be an elite backcourt partner for Shagelis Alexander. Yep. It is odd that he has performed at such a low level in this deal. Now, I would have said in terms of France, who you talked about, Wembe deeply apologetic for his play,

he really takes everything just so intensely seriously. I love it. But he did not play well. He was upset about it. They were getting booed at halftime because they're down so bad. Now, they got a lot of booing done in Paris. In between booing their own team and booing M. B'd every time he's out on the court. And, you know, him getting to play and shoot so much in that last game against Puerto Rico because they were small.

They were full-throated booze to where he, like, turned into. Embed the wrestler and he kind of looks like a wrestler these days too, but he you know, egging him on. Come on, come on, come on. But yeah, that France thing was a little disconcerting because they're playing at home. So you figure this is their, this is their time to shine, especially given their performance the last time around. But Germany just really took it to them.

Yeah, the only chance, the only chance they would have had was to. change into Cavs jerseys at halftime until Franz it's game seven. Like other than that, it was just going to be tough. That's cheap. That's cheap. That's cheap.

I'm not going to respond to that. Or they could have bench Rudy Gobert before halftime. I mean, they let it get all the way to halftime before they pulled him off the court. Funny guy. I mean, I just, it was kind of crazy to me that you were focusing so much on Fron's.

I thought that was odd. I mean, just they have friggin' French Bill Russell had to get, they had to get pulled again in a big game. That was crazy. Germany and Greece, you know, Yonis doesn't have a slew of guys with him. He's kind of, you know, it's kind of interesting. We'll see how much Janus could elevate, how much Yokic can elevate, because they certainly don't have the pieces all the way around.

Brazil, I mean, they don't have NBA guys on their team. They've got some former NBA guys on their team, but certainly you would not think have enough to deal with the United States. But that France-Canada game really big. I mean, Serbia, Australia is great as well. But certainly I would think going into it, the Germany should have a real inside track and the United States should have a real inside track. The other two, you know, France-Canada is good. And Serbia, Australia is good as well. What's our plan this week for the pot?

Are we going to record after the games on Thursday? I think we should. Why not record after Thursday? The both semi-final games. Yeah, those will be great, too. You know, put it out right away. And we'll be headed towards. How much Olympics have you watched outside of basketball?

Have you watched any of the other? Zero. None. Nothing. You don't care about Noah Lyles. You don't care about Simone Biles. You don't care about none of it. None of it.

I'll just watch the highlights on social media. Did you at least see the guy that lost the pole vault because he had a big winner? his wiener yeah so you saw that and you saw the turkish john wick right yeah i saw that's her i say everything i need to see it on the social media you see it on the social media right the the the uh the united states rugby women's player that's like marjohn lynch that trusts everybody i see i see all of it on social media i saw even like the clip of like a suny lee face planted in her warm up yeah practicing and then she nailed it in her routine and got i don't know a top three finish gold or silver, I don't know. So you have an awareness. Yes, I just don't watch any of it live,

but I see it all on social media. It's all fun and interesting, but I'm not going out on my way to watch it live, which is probably the way it is for like a casual basketball fan who catches the highlights on, you know, Instagram and TikTok and all that. That's probably the way I feel about the Olympics. It's like, yeah, I'll see what I need to see on social media, but I'm not sitting down in front of the TV or like they had, no, they have it like an AMC movie theaters. I noticed they have like the Olympics. You can buy a ticket for like four hours and sit in the theater, which must be pretty sick. I notice you can do that, but I'm not, I'm not doing that type of stuff. I was having, I was having a discussion with my buddies today. Do you view Team USA, like, so one of my

buddies, he didn't want Noah Liles to win the 100 meters. Yeah. Because he finds him to be super annoying and he didn't like the NBA comments. Like Noah Liles famously is the one that said, They call themselves world champions, world champions of what? They play in the United States. He was talking about NBA teams, right? A lot of people were rooting against him. Yeah, right. Right.

So, yeah, and then even the people that are rooting against him, like as soon as he wins, then they just ride the wave. Like, yeah, USA, USA. And I've wondered if, you know, I have been forced as a sports fan to root for all manner of people. that I would not root for under any other circumstance, but because they were on my team. And I wondered if it doesn't matter who is wearing USA,

will you root for them no matter what? Who me? Yeah, would you? I mean, I root for great competition. But do you want the United States to win? No, I don't care. I don't really. I just root for, I don't really feel that attachment in that way.

with the basketball team especially, the USA is the juggernaut favorite. They should steamroll opponents. I root for good competitive games. Like Devin Booker said earlier today, how he thinks it's harder to win an NBA championship than it is to win a gold medal. I think that's true for Team USA. It is way harder to win the NBA finals than it is to win a gold medal, but it is not true for every other team. Every other team, it's far harder to win gold because of the level of competition. because of the stakes, because of the pressure,

and because of the juggernaut that is Team USA that you actually need to get through and beat. So, I mean, in that regard, I mean, I just root for fun, high-level competition from a pure love of sport, regardless of, you know, who ends up getting most gold medals, silver medals, bronze medals. If Team USA plays against France, who will you root for?

France. How could I not? I'm not even Kevin O. Trader. How could I not root for Rudy Gober? Unbelievable. You won't even root for our own country. I know Rudy, Frank, and Wemby. How could I not root for them?

Unbelievable. I mean, but the truth is I'm not. Kevin O. Communist. The truth is I'm not even rooting for either of the teams. I'm rooting for a classic. I'm rooting for a game to go down to the wire. I ask you who you would want to win. Would you want the United States to win the gold medal or France to win the gold medal?

I just said France. But I'm not really. You're despicable. But I'm not really rooting for anybody, though. I'm just rooting for an amazing game. I'm rooting for a classic that they want to make a documentary about that we watched decades. Nobody's watching a documentary of France beating the United States enough. No, or it could be USA beating France.

It could be a documentary about, you know, the most dominant Olympic team. how the game went down on the wire against France. It's shameful. It could be a documentary about the start of a dominant French team four years from now, Victor in another level. I don't know what the documentary is, but I'm just rooting for great competition. People wonder why things are the way they are. No love of country. No love of country.

I feel great love for my country. It doesn't sound like it. I love America. You're frigging baguette. I think we love in the greatest country in the world. I can feel love for country, but also not directly care about it with sport competition as much. It's fine. You're a trader.

No big one. We asked for mailbag questions throughout the summer. You told me we got a lot of them and we got a lot of good ones, which, of course, we went through a sampling of them last week. And there were some very good ones. So what do we got for this week? We got a lot of good ones. Let's start off with Patrick. Patrick said, that's true.

That might be true. That's ridiculous. That's trademark, by the way. Yes, it is. So Patrick, you're going to pay a fee to Chris Vernon and the mismatch and probably bring her in Spotify, too. At least five bucks. Yes, yes. The right thing for the Golden State Warriors to do is to trade Stefan Curry for all of justice.

All right. That's ridiculous. No, I don't even need to hear the rest. Brian, a separate emailer, said, since the West is so deep next season, since the Warriors could be a team on the outside looking in of the playoffs, is it actually for the best for them to go into tank mode for the loaded 2025 and 2026 draft? So we had two emailers bring out the same exact topic. But you say that's ridiculous to Patrick's question about it. Yes, I would not trade Steph Curry. Okay.

Well, okay. I agree. That's ridiculous. I think you're going to do what you can to try to win with. Steph still playing at the level that he is for the 20, 24, 25 season. But let's say the Grizzlies make the playoffs. Let's say the spurs make the play in. Like, let's just say these teams take a leap.

Let's say the rockets move up the standings and, you know, the kings move back into the playoffs. That's three, four teams that could be knocking out three or four teams. The Warriors could end up being one of those teams. Next summer, if the Warriors missed the playoffs, Stefan Curry has already said, like, I don't want to be losing. I still want to be competing. I do wonder if maybe a year from now, if that all were to happen, that does become more of a realistic conversation for the Golden State Warriors. But it's ridiculous today.

I would try to get me a third piece. You still, you know, look, we still don't have any conclusion to the Cominga deal. No. I don't want to, I don't want to pay Cominga. Okay, that's fine. But that's a hell of a piece to be able to put in a deal to get somebody good. I don't know, but who does want to pay Kaminga? That's the big question. Who does want to pay him? Right. And I think, but I think, you know, remember when the whole stuff came up about

Markanin and market is obviously not signing his deal until next week, but and doesn't want to be traded and evidently they're going to stick with him. So the story goes. You never know. But what I'm saying is you do have some young good players and some big contracts that you could pair along with it. I would be trying to build with Steph Curry and

Draymond Green and for the next year. And again, yeah, we can revisit this in a year. This season goes poorly if you don't have a chance, but I would,

I would try to package some of those guys that I've got, who I do think are some pretty promising young players. I still like comminga in the right spot. I like Moody in the right spot. You've got the Wiggins contract you could do something with. Like,

You've got some maneuverability to be able to go get somebody and a team that adds another player to go along with those guys. For another run, that would be my mode of operation. I'd be trying to find a third guy to go along with Steph and Draymond for one more go. And we'll see what we can do. Well, for what it's worth, the Warriors are plus 4,500 for the NBA finals championship next year on FanDul. That's tied with the Pelicans for the 13th highest odds. There are currently eight teams at plus 100,000. Blazers, pistons, bulls, hornets, raptors, wizards, nets, jazz.

So those are the teams that are considered best probability of having the worst record. We have a question from somebody who wanted to be called, whoopty damn do he asked who has the best shot at having the worst record and those teams were again

Blazers pistons bulls hornets Raptors, Wizards, Nets, Jazz and Fort it's worth whoopty damn do thinks it'll be the

Nets that will have the worst record in a loaded draft class I mean it's them or the wizard I think it's got to be the Nets and the Wizards

I agree I agree it's going to be it's going to be absolutely embarrassing those odds should be more like

plus 200,000. They shouldn't be tied with some of those other teams, I don't think. No, there will be an effort made by some of those others. Yes, for sure. And with the smoothing of the lottery odds, it is not as essential that you have the absolute worst record, just as the Pistons who somehow still never get the number one pick, though they tank out. And so I would say those teams, though,

like there is just, they're not going to be competitive. They're not going to be competitive. They don't have good players. And I do think that they want to have the maximum amount of, yeah, I mean, you can never,

you can never underestimate the heart of a tanking champion. I know. And those two, there's going to, be a battle. God forbid when they play each other. I mean, somebody may just forfeit. I mean, I saw the Wizards last year, and I remember coming on the pod and saying, this is like towards the end of the year. And I remember coming the pod and saying, A, that team didn't even run plays. I've seen more structure at a lifetime fitness. And B,

there is no doubt in my mind that if you would have walked over to that bench and said, guys, we don't have to play this game tonight. You can just forfeit that every one of them would have gone back in, packed their stuff and jumped on the plane. They didn't even have any interest in competing. I mean, they were, is a mockery of the game. So both those teams stink and they want us think. And it'll be those two.

How can I know who's going to lose more? Whoever wants to, I guess. whoever's more egregious and I hope neither of them get the first pick in the draft all right Jared of the 10 remaining teams

left without an NBA championship which team do you think will be the next of those to win it and which team do you think will take the longest to never win a title those 10 teams

sons timorls, nets pacer's hornets pelicans jazz magic Clippers and your Memphis Grizzlies. Which team is next and which team will take the longest or just never win a championship at all? Who's next? You didn't say Thunder.

Did you? Did I not say Thunder? I mean, I guess technically. Oh, stop. But like, so let's include the Thunder then. We'll include the Thunder as why I think we should. Because when the Sonics come back from expansion, I think the Sonics should get their history, right?

your own history. Yes. So 11 teams will include the 11th being the thunder. That's fair. So I think your best chances are Minnesota. It would have to be this year. Yes. Given their timeline.

I would say those three West teams, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, and Memphis are the ones with the best chance in the next four years. How about Phoenix, though? Why not Phoenix is the same conversation? It would just have to happen so fast. It would have to be this year. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think they've had enough reps.

Well, I mean, they'll get reps this year. I got it, but I mean, how many reps do they get even this year? I mean, the level of health is just, I mean, they got demolished by Minnesota. I know. Demolished. Despite crushing them during the regular season. Yeah, not like where I think Tyos Jones could have been the difference.

You know? No. I just, and they had their guys for that. Mm-hmm. They had their guys. Yeah, I think that's fair. It weren't even close. That's fair. And Minnesota could get better,

depending on what happens with their young guys. Leonard Miller, Rob Dillingham, Terrence, Shannon. Like those guys, and Anthony Edwards, too, is still a young guy. McDaniels is still young. And here's the deal. It has always been, And so regarding the conversation we just had, it's always been my point of view. You've got to have one of the best players in the entire league.

Okay. And Morant's already made all NBA as a young player. Gilgis Alexander has been first team all NBA. Anthony Edwards is going to be an all NBA player. And so I'm just picking the guys who I think have. These are under 24s all NBA guys already. So if it's an East team, that might mean it's the Orlando Magic. Correct.

Because you're betting on Paolo Bencaro, Franz Wagner, and an elite defense, continuing to get better in the years to come. And that would be the Eastern Conference bet. I've told you, I think Paulo can be one of the top 10 players in the league. Yes, and I've told you Franz Wagner can be one of the 20 best, so they could have two top 20 players. So, I mean, I'm just betting on, I'm one of those who have bets on the talent, and it's like, okay, those teams of the ones,

that you've talked about, those ones have players that you could foresee being first team all NBA players. For sure. And that gives you a chance. I don't think you have a chance unless you have a player that can be first team all NBA. And real quick, totally agree. And real quick, the team least likely, you know, and we'll take the longest, the Clippers, right? Yes. Yes, I would agree.

If they're not going to do it with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George. I'm giving their situation right now, too. because, I mean, it's a long road back. Yeah, it is. The argument in favor of them is the fact that Steve Balmer is one of the richest men in the world and will spend anything. But they made all the rules to make that. Exactly.

Exactly. Less significant. 100%. It used to be the best deal ever if you had somebody that could massively overspend. Totally agree. And I don't think that's as much of a argument in their favor as maybe it was once was was before this current CBA. With all that said about the magic, we did have an email or Tom from Australia who expressed

some concerns about the state of the magic. He is a magic fan. He said, I'm not sure if you've noticed Paulo Bencaro's sleeve tattoo on his right arm before, but it's dedicated to his hometown of Seattle. He literally has the space needle tattooed on his arm. On a scale of 1 to 10, once Adam Silver announces expansion teams, assuming Las Vegas and Seattle, how nervous should Tom from Australia be is a magic fan that Paolo could someday leave Orlando for Seattle. I would not be nervous about that. I mean, once you become an all-NBA performer, which I do believe he will, his next contract is going to be absolutely absurd.

Oh, it's going to be nuts. 60 million annually, whatever it is at that time. And people like playing in Orlando. And as long as you could put a- state taxes in Florida. And as long as you could put a competitive team around him, Just because a guy has, like, you need to worry about him, like, trying to go swan song at the end of his career. Or maybe after you've had him for eight years.

But, I mean, like with all these guys, you're seeing it now. How many guys are leaving where they are? How many? I'm talking about the guys that are making crazy money. Not many. Hell, all we talked about last year was how the scuttlebutt was. Everybody knows Donovan Mitchell's not going to be. there, even Donovan Mitchell

resigned in Cleveland. You know? And he probably would have resigned in Utah if he were never traded. So, and he has no connection to Cleveland. And he's a huge Mets fan, as we know. Right. And everybody always said, oh, he's going to go to Brooklyn.

Oh, he's going to go to the Knicks. Oh, that's where he's going to maybe go out to L.A. Or he's going to go where he resigned Cleveland, bro. As soon as that contract comes, and it's time to put your name on the dotted line. Really? I just think, don't worry.

Don't worry. You're not even the year. You're not even the year three of this guy. He was drafted in 2022. It wasn't that long ago. He's still on his rookie scale, Dale. Like, it's not something to worry about until, like you said, after seven or eight years, towards the end of his second contract with the magic, then maybe you start

to worry a little bit. But even at that point, the Sonics might suck at that time. and it might not even be a place that he would want to go yet because just because it's home doesn't mean that you necessarily want to go back there necessarily. You can have fond feelings for where you're from and love where you're from and appreciate where you're from but not want to go there. And like that's what the sleeve tattoo might just be is a remembrance of what shaped him into the person it has become.

We're doing this off the top of, I'm doing this off the top of my head. And so at the risk of everybody screaming. at their iPhone or their Bluetooth or whatever they may be, speaker, whatever they may be listening to. Just off the top of my head, the great player, not like a traded guy, right, but the great player that wasn't with his first team at least eight years. I mean, because even Trey Young were going to be getting there, it feels like. And the Tray Young aspect is good

It's good to bring up, Chris, because it goes both ways. A, guys are resigning because the money is so significant. And B, teams are reluctant to trade for players because the money is so significant. One of the reasons why Tray Young wasn't traded this year is because it's like, I don't know who wants to pay that money. That's one of the issues Atlanta had when it comes to listening. And the saying, and I'm not talking about like trading them, right? Like Ben Simmons ended up getting traded or like you didn't even want him any. And he doesn't even count for the qualification of what you're talking about with one of the great players.

I want out. Like not even Zion has done the I want out. And he was the one everybody brought up before the draft. Right. And even he has got that second contract with his team. That's true. I mean, it's just very, very rare. I think we're kind of past the era of being terrified your guys going to leave you.

Yeah. Because I just, and again, there might be somebody I'm just forgetting. I'm not talking about trades, you know, because Halliburton got traded as a great player, young in his career, Gilgis Alexander traded young in his career. Those are different. That's completely different. I'm talking about I was there. I want out.

Get me out of here. Yeah, it didn't go the way I wanted. And I'm not signing the second contract. Like everybody said that if anyone's, ever going to do that, it's going to be Zion. That was the, that was the common. And it didn't happen with him. And so I don't think, I mean, you know, I feel like when you get these guys, you get him for eight years.

Again, for eight years. All right. So, I mean, you know, I think with that said, call me in seven years and I'll tell you if you should worry about Paula. I agree. So we do have an expansion question. We got a very nice message from Philly from Seattle. Thanks Phil for listening. He found our pod at a time where he missed talking NBA.

All right. We helped fill that void, he said. So Philly from Seattle said, growing up in the 80s and 90s, we were used to expansion teams being trash for years before finding the winning mix of players. But in the NHL in recent years, we've seen teams like Las Vegas and Seattle find early success. How would you guys alter the expansion process? so that the next upcoming teams,

likely the Sonics and Vegas, can be competitive early on like they are for the NHL. Higher draft picks, modified rules for expansion draft, bonus cap room. What do you guys think? Okay.

So the first thing I would say is that the NBA has never been more prepared for the amount of players it takes for expansion. If you go back and look when Philly grew up, If you go back and look, those teams are pathetic.

There wasn't enough guys to warrant having the teams. And now I think there's a plethora of good players. There is a whole, there are a lot of NBA level players not in the NBA. You see this when you go down to the G League. You can see this with guys that are playing overseas. but more importantly, you can see this now deeper in rosters. And I think given how careful teams are going to have to be about what they spend, and we've talked about the economics of the NBA,

where you have the massive contracts and then you have the small contracts and there's not as much in the middle, I think in terms of your protected guys, and I believe the last time around you could protect up to eight guys. that's correct. Yeah. Way deeper than it wasn't 04 when the Bobcats. You are going to be able to put together two good rosters out of unprotected guys in the NBA

in a way where you could not put together good rosters with unprotected guys and unrestricted free agents years ago. So you give them some high draft picks. You give them the same parameters. And in the end, I think they will be able to be competitive or field teams. immediately, but I also don't think that they should be given such advantages that they should be able to field better teams than the ones that are already there. There should be some growing pains with an expansion franchise. That's, you're getting a team. You don't get to just be good

immediately. Like that's the way it works. But I also don't think there's an in-between here, right? You don't get to be really good immediately. And I don't think you can do it like Hawks. like they did with Vegas or whatever. So I don't think you're going to be really good immediately, but I also don't think you're going to be destructively terrible. Is it possible, though? I mean, like, I don't know a lot about hockey, but from what I understand, like the NHL has similar depth right now

that NBA has, right? So the cracking and the knights were allowed to get, like, better quality players for some teams were letting go with salaries. Some guys had to let go of some younger guys. you could see a similar thing happened with the NBA. Like you're more of a hockey guy than me. Is there anything else?

Like why were those teams able to get good so fast? Oh, I don't know enough about the details of how they were able to get so good so fast, except for, um, look, they're very well may be an unrestricted or unprotected star level player that could come along when it comes to it, you know,

that might be available to, Like with the salary cap, like a team could sign a free agent, of course. It is possible. That being said, we know. I think this is one of those deals where you could, you could have a expansion draft and get yourself eight to 10 good players on your team. But in terms of the highest level players, which is what all, like, name any really good team. and they've got at least one, most of the time, two all-star caliber players. If they're not all-stars, all-star caliber.

Like you look up and down the Western Conference, and you're going to find that virtually everybody has that. And so that's going to be the trick in the NBA. We know that one player has such a profound effect in a way that one player can't even have that level of effect in, in high. hockey. One player cannot have the same effect in hockey that they have in in basketball. And so, and, and like the night in night out performer in basketball, like the high level player, that's what's hard to attain in the expansion draft. Totally. Whereas in the NBA, like, let's just say

the NBA expands for the 27, 28 season. Let's just say that's when it happens. So that would be the 2027 NBA draft and free agent class has these players, these two teams signing players, upcoming free agents and all that. Like, Janus can be a free agent that year. AD can be a free agent. Embed Mitchell will only be 30 at that time.

Trey Young 29 years old, Luca, 28 years old. Just some names off of, you know, that I'm seeing off of a 2027 list. To the point, like, that we're getting at, maybe one of those guys would want to go to an expansion team. I don't think so. I think those guys would want to go to a championship team. But who knows?

That's the argument for those teams getting good really fast. Any other thoughts on that, Chris? Yeah, whoever LeBron recruits to come to Vegas to play for his team. Of course. Yeah, more than likely his son. Yeah. For a max. Yes.

This guy signed his name. Pooping at work. Come on. That's it. I mean, it's also a ridiculous thing to do. But he sent a very nice email about you, Chris. He said, I've always been impressed with Verne. I've always.

The complimenter email comes from pooping at work. Amazing. That is a story of my frigging career. The funny thing is, under pooping at work, it said sent from my iPhone. Of course. I believe it. Anyway, he said, I've always been impressed with Verno's vocabulary and figures of speech, such as Luca is perpetually aggrieved, no shrinking violets, etc.

Do you read much, Verno? If so, what book do you think I should read next? I do not read as much as I wish I write. I mean, you're a dad, you're a busy guy. You get a lot going on. You host shows. Yeah. I'm on TV. You're busy golf.

You're a busy man. Well, you know what I've been doing recently. What's that? Oh, I've started to understand you a lot better. You're watching The Bachelorette? No. God, no. I became an online gamer.

Oh, yeah. What are you playing? You play with your fun? It got me out of the, it got me out of retirement. Are you talking trash on Mike? You talking trash with your opponents? Let me tell you something, Kevin. Here's what's happened to me.

Nothing better. I have a headset and I don't have a head. I don't even plug it in. But on a PlayStation 5, there is a speaker on the controller. I think you talk great trash. The people I play against, It's made me understand young people. It's made me understand internet culture, how people talk so crazy.

You strangers they've never met. So this is going to make me sound old. When I was a kid, if you played video games against your buddies, you did it in person, right? You played at each other's houses against each other. There was no manner of which you could play online. against each other. And if you talk to each other the way people talk to each other, it would have been fist fight. But these people live in a world where they can, they talk crazy like this to complete strangers with no repercussions. So of course they act like that on the internet. Because they've

lived their whole lives growing up being able to talk to people they don't know in some kind of a crazy way. Like, I play and I don't even, how about this? This is how crazy the online gaming community is. There are guys, as I'm playing that game, my mic is on mute. So I can just hear it through my controller. And guys will like catch a bomb or something. By the way, I'm terrible at the game.

So I, of course, have to take it. But I mean, they'll complete a bomb. They'd be like, yeah, bitch, you like that shit? And I'll be like, what? It's coming to my controller. I'll be like, what? I'm like, this is crazy. We should play.

We should play. I'd love the talk shit to you. Oh, I'm awful. I'm awful. Anyways, I do read, I'm trying to look over at my bookcase to tell you. Honestly, I read a lot of like the either. lately it's either been like it's like self-help books uh what's the one i just started on a flight i just started one that had been recommended and oh unreasonable hospitality there you go

unreasonable hospitality it's about a guy who started a restaurant in new york the remarkable power of giving people more than they expect yeah and decided decided that customer service was oh and I'll tell you the other so I started that one I have not like unfortunately I started on a flight and then I just set it down since I've been home I started playing video games yeah yes I started playing video games the other thing and I hate to I mean I don't care maybe they'll promote us I have this app which someone recommended to me because I don't have as much time to read as I wanted to

have you ever heard of Headspace? Yeah, I think I have. It's like a meditation app or whatever. No, but it's got this, this app, I believe that's what it's called. I think that's the one I use. No, Headway, I'm sorry, Headway. Headspace is a self-help app. You're right about that.

I have that as well. Headway is a, it's got every book like you can imagine. and a lot of like self-help books and a lot of whatever, but it's all basically Cliff Notes audio versions. So it's all the basic principles or it's all the lazy, lazy reading. So you, but you could read,

you know, you could get like, say the seven habits of highly, seven habits of highly effective people, rich dad, poor dad. Well, name the book about whether it's about finance,

whether it's about self-help, whether it's about, in my case, I listened to a bunch about, procrastination and how to be better about that. And so those books are condensed and I

so maybe I just hear big words a lot. Sounds like you're feeding into the same. People don't normally say. It sounds to me like you're feeding into this like a root of the procrastination by just listening to like the bullet point. Right. I should just sit down to read the book. I agree. Yeah, I know. No, I agree.

I want to read. It came out, I think, three years ago now. I've had it on my desk for about a year now, crying in H-Mart by Michelle's honor. I've been meaning to read that, and I'm going to actually make it happen this summer. I've been meaning to read that one for a long time. Yeah, pretty much only read sports, self-help, golf books. I've been reading John Sherman. He's a golf writer. I've been reading his new book, Fundamentals book. I like, you know, that kind of stuff like atomic habits, stuff like that.

Tomic habits is great. I love the habit stacking technique in there. A couple quick hitters. Yeah, just stuff that I feel like might make me a better person. Yes. A couple quick hitters from Will, just something to address from last week. Longtime listener, first time caller. Last episode you talked about traveling overseas to Montreal.

Which season you travel over? I meant to say, or we meant to say, out of the country. We were just mixed up as a simple little mistake. From Joshua, if you could choose one, artists or band to see it the sphere in Vegas, who would it be? For me, that would be Tame Impala. I just think they would take full advantage of the interior screen with the graphics and make it the most satisfying live experience ever.

So Tame Impala would be my answer for the living band, the currently touring band that I'd want to see most. Well, it's hard because I'm trying to think of concerts that I've been to that would have been beyond spectacular in there. Still gonna go to a show there. You should come out for the Eagles. I mean, I

went to like one of the Beyonce big concerts. That'd be wild. And I could see that being like Beyonce and Jay-Z like if they would like if they did it together.

I went to the floating stage one, the Kanye floating stage one. Can I just ask a question about that? It's just a floating stage. it was awesome but wasn't it the energy of the crowd

that almost made it for sure but it was because it was unlike any place I had been with a floating stage yes but was there like crazy lights and lasers or was it just the floating

okay there was too okay yeah well here's the deal I went to Bridgestone Arena which is in Nashville where the Nashville Predators play so if you can imagine like where the hockey

rink would be. And, you know, like under the hockey rink, it's just, it's just concrete, right, before they lay down the ice. So all the ice, obviously, the boards and everything, that was all taken down. And then you still have the seating around. And then we were on that floor where the ice would have been. Okay. So, like, it's just concrete floor.

But that whole, like, bottom floor, that GA section. and then the stage is like going over us and the lights are coming down and he's standing on the top of the damn thing. It was, oh, it was unbelievable. Yeah,

unbelievable. I wish I got to see that tour. It was unbelievable. That was Life of Pablo tour. Yeah. Yeah, it was great. So,

I mean, he'd be put on a hell of a show there for sure. That was his real great last album, right? Life of Pablo? Or was there one since then? I forget it. He did?

I liked it. It's okay. I liked it. I would say, who else? Could the answer actually be Kanye? Like Kanye's back, that type of thing? Like Kanye Best of Kanye? I'm trying to think who else is like a big, big megastar that might actually make use of it.

Because like there's a lot of big megastars that I don't think we make. Like I love Ed Sheeran, but I don't think he'd make best use of it. Ed Sheareran. I saw him open for John Mayer. earlier last year at the Will Turn, a small venue in L.A. And it was just him and his guitar. And it was magnificent. But that's how you need to see him in the sphere.

Bruno Mars, that might be cool. That'd be a good residency. I think he's like a super entertainer. Yeah, yeah. I think Bruno would be good. I was trying to think of like the big, big ones. Obviously, my daughter would love to go see Taylor Swift. She ain't playing the sphere.

She's playing frigging stadiums. Do you know I looked up tickets and the cheats? and the cheapest ticket for like when she's back in the state. 3,000. Yeah, it was going to be over 2 grand a piece. Isn't that something else? In a stadium. I know.

I'm like, yo, Haley, you ain't seeing Taylor Swift, dog. We can watch that. We can watch on Disney Plus again if you want. You better wait till these things calm down a little bit.

Ain't a way. I don't know. I don't know when it is going to calm down. A piece. Especially for ERIS tour. The show is amazing. It's spectacular. It really is.

What do you pay? Zero. What? How? You got ways. We'll talk off the pod. Zero. Unbelievable.

Wow. Very fortunate. But it was a religious experience. I was like in the road. You dressed up like security? I was. Yeah. I snuck in.

But I was, I was like in the nosebleeds, which is fine. It was like, it almost didn't matter where you were sitting because of the crowd. But I remember my row

was like all moms and like teenage daughters. And my entire section was all women. I don't think there was a single dude in my entire section except for me. I bet. Which is the most funny thing about it. Like,

that crowd is like 80% woman. I'd say, I'd say, so I'm trying to, think of when you talk about the sphere, I'm trying to think of it through the prism of all the extras. I think Yonse is a good answer. Beyonce G's JZ. Beyonce, JZ. They could each get a set. Yes. 40 minutes each and then 40 minutes together. And it would be epic. I think that's a really good I'd like to see. But I don't think would make is the best use of the sphere. I totally agree.

And plus with both of them, JZ and Beyonce on on any night, they could have a feature. somebody could come in on a particular night and there could be a feature and that would, it's just like right now with dead in company, it's a different set list. Every single night,

there's people, like deadheads who have been to like 20 shows, which is unfathomable spend all that time in Vegas when you don't actually live there, but there have been because every night there's a different set list. Beyonce and Jay-Z have enough of a discography

that they can do something like that. So I hope, I mean, like they get the Eagles coming next. Yeah, I'll give her credit because I went to her years ago, I went and saw her arena tour. And I've, maybe I've, I mean, it's not like I drive around listening to Beyonce, okay?

But the show is great. I knew every song, Kevin. That's when I'm like, okay, this is different. How do I know every single song this lady is singing? She's got a lot of great songs over the year. She's been around forever. A million hits. Yeah.

I mean, she can go, she can go back to the, to the Destiny's Child Day. There was a rumor, too, that she was going to be doing the sphere thing. I mean, I hope it happens because, like, all the artists they've had so far have been older artists, rock bands, you know, and I think getting a younger demographic there would be really cool. A couple other quick hitters, let's see, from Dave. My question isn't about basketball. I teach high school. And I think a big part of my job is to help kids see a path to becoming happy, contributing members of society.

You both seem to have achieved that. You know, agree or disagree. But Dave asks, what advice do you have for young people that might help them become the best versions of themselves that they can be? It's interesting because I was just talking about like this online community and whatever else. I do think we have gotten far away from. from treat people how you want to be treated. It's very simple, but I think that's a good one. The principal at my elementary school used to have like a poster inside.

Like you could see it when you walked in the front doors that had that written. And that's always stuck with me. It's simple but true. Yeah. And I do think that and I also think that with that said, treat people the way you want to be treated. That is exactly how I want to be treated when I play online video games. It is. So that's how I'll treat you.

You know, and I... But yeah, okay, back to serious. And I haven't really thought of, you know, it's a very heavy question. It is. It's something that, you know, I ponder a lot as a father. My son starts high school tomorrow.

Literally tomorrow. That's how long we've been together. You remember when he's a little kid. Oh, my God. Laying on a bed behind me while I was recording the pod. I didn't even realize he started tomorrow with this question. So you must be feeling really deeper in your emotions with that. Yeah, right?

Wow. It's just a weird. It's a weird deal. And I think that I think one of the things that I have been very aware of my life as a parent is my kids, and I say this to them a lot, you've never seen me treat somebody poorly. Never. I don't think my kids have ever seen me treat somebody poorly. Have they seen me get upset about a situation?

Sure. But I have always been of the opinion that even if there is somebody that I do. I do think that once upon a time that there's good in everybody. It clearly goes sideways for a lot of people at some point in life. But I do always attempt to see the good in people. And I think that that is the easiest way to have a healthy and productive life is to go into things assuming the good. I feel like so many times now people assume

the worst of situations and assume the worst of people. And they have passed that judgment before a situation might even play out. But I've been very aware of how I treat people not only, you know, in my own house, but obviously out in public or whatever. And I don't think they've, I'm not trying to be. you know, pompous here. I don't think they've ever seen me be mean to somebody.

Yeah, because you're treating strangers with kindness. That's the way my dad was. My dad was nice to servers. I don't believe in it. I don't believe in being mean to people. He was nice to the people behind the cash register. He was always nice to everybody and asked how their day was and just kind.

Just kind. Yeah. And I don't think you understand how far you can get just by being nice. I agree. I think that's a very good one. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not super smart, not extraordinarily talented, but I am nice to people. Yeah. I am. And I do think that that there's a lot of pricks in media too. Oh, there are. There's no question. I feel like in some ways I've been able to have the success I've had in part because I've been nice to people, whether that is listeners caring about an audience, caring about people, caring about, you know, and, and that's not something that's

taken extraordinarily effort. I'm very lucky. My mom was actually over at my house tonight. My mom is 75 years old. I've never seen my mom be mean to anybody. So I come by that honest. That's like me with my dad. I get it from him. I've never seen her. like act like a care and or I've never in my whole life 75 years I've never seen her be mean to someone ever yeah never so I just don't like I mean and I think like to get back to Dave's original question like that's that's how it like helps you become the best version of yourself as by treating others that's right nicely you just you'll get it back you you you get it back and you also just naturally train yourself to become a kinder

nicer, more forgiving, more loving person in every single regard. And I think related to that is kind of just, especially for someone your son's age, learning to love yourself. Like, there will be people in high school that think he's weird or make fun of him or he'll get denied at certain points in life. Everybody does when they're going through it teenager in college or whatever it is. And it's learning to love yourself through that, not in a way that it's like, inflated ego where you think you're perfect in a way that I am who I am and I'm working at myself to become the best version of myself that I can be. And I know that takes time. It's like an athlete. You're a rookie. You're not going to be what you are in year seven,

year eight, year nine, year ten. You're just taking the steps that you can to get to that point and building compound interest over time. So I think it's having patience with yourself and knowing who you are and appreciating who you are while also treating others with respect and that in turn gets back to you. And I think the other thing is, you know, surrounding yourself with people of that similar energy. I do think there's something to that as well.

And by the way, what was the guy's name? Thank you for being a teacher. You are intensely the most underappreciated people on planet Earth. I agree. Truly. I agree. Thank you, Dave. have a profound impact on these kids.

You really do. And your example has a profound impact on them. Absolutely does. It's one of the best most important jobs in the world. You're actually like doing something important. We're just talking about fucking Rudy Gobert. Yeah, you're the real contributing member to society. We're just talking about Rudy Gobert.

I'm trying to be nice to people. Yeah. Well, we get a bunch of other good questions as well. Again, these are going to last the summer, Chris. We get a whole bunch and more. Dig it. All right. Yeah.

If you want to send any more in NBA mailbag at gmail.com, we'll try to hit some every episode during the summer. Obviously, we'll be talking about my team USA and Kevin's French team next episode. And we'll try to get some mailbag questions in then. Thank you. Our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. And Kevin, I'll talk to you on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it.