The Mismatch - James Harden on the Move Again, Giannis’s Bidding War, and the Trade Deadline Outlook

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return ahead of the trade deadline to discuss the latest news and rumors around the league, beginning with the latest report that James Harden and the Clippers are working on a trade to send him out of Los Angeles. They then go through the latest surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo and debate which of the reported teams is most likely to acquire him. Next, the guys ask six questions ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch!(00:46) James Harden and the Clippers are reportedly working on a trade before the deadline(13:54) Giannis trade talks are heating up(24:10) What would you tell Jon Horst (Bucks GM) to prioritize in any Giannis trade?(33:11) Ja Morant's trade outlook(51:00) LeBron James, Lakers reportedly ready to move on from one another(46:23) Players with expiring contracts who could possibly be traded(53:35) Which player do you not want to see traded?(55:59) Which player do you want to see traded the most?(58:08) Which team that has no chance of contending needs a win-now move?(1:01:43) Best move to make for a team to contend next year(1:07:15) Realistic but hilarious trades that could happen(1:08:32) What non-NBA trade would you make? Leave us a message on our Mismatch voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David JacobyProducers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff ShearinSocial: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan and joining me see us every week from the wringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. So, Bernard, it's a trade deadline week and there's been a lot of discussion about a lot of things, mainly the honest with the group of whether or not he's going to go somewhere or where or win. And then last night, you got some news.

Sham Sharania reports right when I am trying to settle down for the night. Ding, phone goes off. I was like, hey, I hope nothing's wrong. The Los Angeles Clippers at 11-time All-Star James Hardin are working through whether the sides can find a deal by Thursday's NBA trade deadline, according to ESPN. Both sides are aligned in conversations together with interested teams.

Okay. So this one came out of nowhere because the Clippers had gone on this run after starting the season so dismally they had won, what, 17 out of 21 games, things were going well. And so this one was a shock to me. But then when you read the following stories,

and as we record this on Tuesday morning, this came out late Monday night. And so hopefully nothing has happened by the time you are listening to us. But just to suss it out, it appears as if this is one of those situations where the reason we didn't know about it is because we didn't. understand how James Harden would feel about the contract that he had signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.

And you get to this point and it's something that we, it's hard to keep an awareness of everybody's contract situation and that even if things might be going well at the time, which in fact they are with the Clippers, right? Things have been going great. that usually what happens in this case is Hardin or his representatives go out and say, hey, look, things have been going really well right now. What are we going to do about this long term? Does he need to worry about when we get to the offseason? So just to wit, Hardin signed a two-year $82 million deal.

year two is $42.3 million. He could pick up the player option for that deal, which would be expected, in June on the 29th. July 11th, the clippers could waive him, costing him millions and millions of dollars. You could see 42 million turn into 13.3 million. So it feels like you have, have this preemptive discussion that has gone on and has been like, hey, what are the chances

that my $42 million, that I don't have to worry about this $42 million deal, and that my $42 million in the off season is not going to instantly turn into $13 million? What are those chances? And if the answer is not, don't worry, everything's going to be fine, especially when this is the same guy that has no trust in any. stood up in a deal in China and said, I will, Darry is a liar. It's a liar.

Exactly. And I will never play for Darry again. Right. So this is already a guy that has, A, been perpetually unhappy, right? They brought in all manner of different players and coaches, et cetera, in Houston, then ended up in Brooklyn, then ended up in Philly back with Darry, only to end up hating him, to end up in L.A.

And so it feels like even though things have been going really well for the Clippers, he wanted some assurance that he's not going to have to worry that he's going to pick up that player option only to be waived and cost them millions of dollars in the offseason and would rather help them find a place where he might be able to get an extra contract, right? that he could be a part of their even short-term plans, right? We're not talking long-term plans.

We're talking, am I a part of your short-term plans? Like, are we fine through next year? And so, given that that is the circumstance, it's interesting that this one popped up last night and even more interesting, the team that was involved immediately in all of the following reports. So I thought you set that up well, and I don't like to compliment you as you know.

Because from the outside looking in, Clippers are a complete dumpster fire mess. Chris Paul's out. They're losing. We're worried about the thunder getting their pick. They flip it around. Now, Kowai Leonard's having the best scoring season of his career. He looks great. James Hardin's running the offense.

They can't lose. Everything's great. Why would anybody be unhappy? There are no trade rumors, not just about. James Harden about the clippers. Like they've got a roster that makes sense and the roster that's set up what it seems like by the front office to have a one year window, two year window, clear of a bunch of space then sort of reconsider what they want to do, especially around their star players, Hardin and

Kawhi. But when you look at the contract and when you consider how it ended in Philly, how he felt like there was a handshake deal, there were some words that were exchanged that were not made good. that he's like, I don't want to hear your mouth. I want to see my pen to paper on a contract. And he doesn't feel that the clippers are committed to him long term. So he wants out.

He's 36 years old. He's like, I need one more multi-year deal before I'm done with all of this. And that's not happening here. It's going to have to happen somewhere else. So let's get me somewhere else. It makes sense now. But I'm not sure it makes sense for the Cleveland Cavaliers now. Yeah, that is the team that is mentioned.

So interestingly enough, Mark Stein reported that those teams had been in contact about a possible D'Andre Hunter deal. D'Andre Hunter obviously got traded to the Sacramento Kings and the Keon-Ellis deal, but that they had talked about some kind of John Collins, Bogdanovitch-centered type thing. So it appeared as if, as a few days ago, they were like trying to like, make themselves even better for this short-term run, right? If they're going and trying to get D'Andre Hunter to go along with this deal. And so then by this point, it's like, where are they going? So on the Cleveland front, Darius Garland's name comes up immediately.

I mean, you have this rare instance where they could just swap them. Yeah. They could swap. They could swap these guys. Yeah. They could swap these guys. And though we did not necessarily, because we thought that when a team made like the first deal,

we talked about this in the last show. Whenever the team makes the first deal, are we going to get the Brian Winhorst moment because they are trying to acquire what is needed for something else? And though that was not necessarily the case as the explanation for what, what the Cavaliers were doing. You know, most people reported, obviously,

what it does to their payroll, how it frees up their money on the hunter stuff and whatever else. But it might have been one of those like, oh, this was a means to the next thing, whatever the next thing may be. And also, the Cavs have been a disappointment. They are that kind of team that would try to change it up because they won 60-something games last year,

had this flame out in the playoffs, Donovan Mitchell's never been past the second round of the playoffs. They come back into this year, Darius Garland perpetually hurt. Once again, this season is not going how they wanted it to. They're closer to the play in than they are the number one seed. And so the idea that they would shake things up to feel like they have a better chance to be able to compete

in the Western Conference playoffs is unsurprising to me. I just don't know if Hardens the answer to that. I think Hardin and Mitchell is an odd fit. I think Garland and Mitchell is an odd fit, to be fair. And I think that Garland is so good when he's right, but he just isn't right so often. And I think that there's been freak injuries, you know, the facial fracture. Like there's certain things that he can't control,

but one foot was hurt. Now the other foot is hurt. And when you watch the calves, how often after a big bucket in the time out, they pan over to the bench, do you see Garland is street clothes? Like, it happens more often than not. And if I'm the clippers, I don't understand why this would be beneficial for them.

Explain that to me. I guess what you're saying is he's 10 years younger and we can build around them? This is it. Well, yes, that's exactly, you just listed it off. That I've got this guy, if Darius Garland lives up to his potential

as a player, right? He's still, like, right now entering, like prime years. And if you've got, that's a guy you could have for the next five years and he is an all-star caliber player. And you believe in

Garland. And let me just say, like we are always a few months away or a month away from people's opinions changing on guys and you start to forget. Even if they are, have been perpetually injured,

you think about right now, think about the way you think about Kauai Leonard. Kaui Leonard is a great example. Yeah. Joe L. M. B. right now, right? Think about the way,

here's the best one. Think about the way you think about Lamello ball. That's, that calm down fast, didn't it? All that Lamello, you can't win with Lamello.

Lamello's the guy that's got to be traded. Lamello and Charles Lee are bumping heads. Lamello's coming off the bench. The Charlotte, you know, goes on his podcast, says they're tanking and all that stuff. You hadn't heard nothing about that in a month's time.

And so my point is, and obviously, look, you can all go the wrong way, but you're always a short time away from your perception being changed. And I would take that view and the long view on the Garland thing, where I would go, okay, I can't have a, this is the best. To me, that's the best possible return. you could get for James Harden because that is a devalued asset right now. I don't think you're getting as good a player as Darius Garland in a James Hardin deal. Oh, no.

I just don't. I just don't. So that's why I would do it. I would say, I will bet on this. Garland's got two more years left on his contract. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But if it does work out, I've got one of the better point guards in the Western Conference going forward in his prime.

And so that's why I would bet on it because, again, you can't have the disgruntled vet guy. And I don't think you would get any better return. Like, frankly, I can't believe that that would be the return on James Hardin. Because James Hardin, like, that's, it's interesting to me that a team would go, hey, we need to shake this up because we're not good enough and go, hey, who could really get us over the hump playoff wise? Oh, I know. James Hardin. We flamed out in the playoffs and underperformed the last three years.

So we need James Hardin to get called here. Just don't go to a game seven. Big game sevens. Yeah. Yeah. We're just going to play it on six game series. So I just, I don't know. Can't you see a scenario where they're in the plane and they and

Leonard's in the suite and garlands in street clothes and they're looking for offense from who? It's just like, it's James Hardin is at least available if nothing else. if nothing else, he plays. He plays. I understand. But again, you can't have the guy that, you know, is, is unhappy for the rest of the time, right? We've seen unhappy James Hardin.

And the reason this is coming to a head right now is because he's already thinking about what's going to happen in the summer and saying, all right, fine, if y'all ain't ready, if you're not going to tell me that everything's cool, then just get me out of here. now. And so that's why I'm saying. I think like, I think that would be a mistake for the Cavaliers. I do. I think it would be a mistake for the I think it would be a mistake for the Cavaliers, but that's the one that's on the board. And my God,

you want to talk about pushing Janus out of the headlines out of nowhere because Janus has been all of the talk recently. And as we record this on Tuesday morning, man, it sure does seem like we are torpedoing towards there being a deal

because both John Sharania and Jamal Collier who covers the bucks are both saying that like the deals have come in and the bucks are making counteroffers. So to me... So why does that say that it's happened? Because we've been going back and forth about this show and the rundown. We're going to talk about whatnot. You are in the camp of this is going to happen by Thursday.

I think so, yes. I mean, I do not know. But it seems to me that I'm not so, I'm not as solid as you are, which is I want to ask you, what makes you feel that way? Because I, because toxic situations, we just talked about this with the Harden thing. This is obviously going to carry on with the Barant thing. If he's not moved, like, what are you doing for the rest of the season?

And it with these guys. And like, once it came to the time, he was so, like, he tried to be so nice about all of this. But now he wants to. out. And here's why I say, because the reason I think that he will get moved is because we know there's at least like three. And you also know you're getting the report of Minnesota's being very aggressive, trying to pull in third and fourth teams so that they can make this happen. So what's happening here is people have made their Janus overtures.

And then Milwaukee has come back. Milwaukee's in the place of this unbelievable leverage right now. And the reason I think if you only had one or two, but the fact that we're getting to three or four as possibilities, that means that the price keeps going up. And you have these teams all fighting each other. and so you when you're

when you're having the discussion and they're saying you know what I like this deal but you got to find me another first round pick there's somebody that sits at the table this is how the deals end up happening there's somebody sitting in those war rooms going guys

like we're literally a first round pick somehow getting a first round pick that's what they want to make this honest deal happen right like once you get to the counter offers and you know kind of what they want, you're going to find one of those teams that's going to go make that happen. Because they're like, this is our, this is what it takes.

So you just talk yourself into it, right? It's kind of like if you're on a, have you, you've never been like an eBay guy, right? Like there's a, like, if. I don't even know what you mean by that, but no, not really. Not a big eBay. Okay. Or an auction guy.

is what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so you get in auctions and the price keeps going up for something. And then you get to the end and you keep on like outbidding. One dollar, one dollar, one dollar. You end up getting way higher on those than you ever thought that you were going to get on these auctions unless you have discipline. What I'm saying is someone becomes undisciplined. And the more teams you have involved, the better chance you have of somebody becoming undisciplined.

in the situation and somebody in the room saying, guys, it's Janus, who cares? It's a 232 pick. Yeah, it's a 232 pick. Like, who knows what the world is going to be like six years from now? We have Janus tomorrow in our uniform. And that's what happens to me. Like, when I used to be involved in those auctions,

I would go, it's five more bucks. Like, and then I've ended up spending way more than I thought I was going to spend on something I got the auction. But there is, what I'm saying, saying is there's somebody in the room that goes, guys, it's five more bucks. We're this close to getting Janice onto Tocoupo, one of the five best players in the world.

And this is how the price gets driven up for everybody, except for Luca Dachian. I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking about Luca earlier in this conversation while you're talking. I was like, imagine if there's a bit more for Luka Dantje's, what you could have gotten for me. But that's been covered plenty. When you see three or four teams,

we just want to be clear, the reports are the teams involved are the heat, the Timberwolves, the Warriors, the Knicks, right? There's been plenty of other teams that have been discussing potential Janus trades, whatever. I was at the ringer.com earlier today. I don't know if you're familiar with the website, t-h-e-r-n-g-r.com. And they're talking about the cavaliers being the Janus thing. I'm like, what is going on?

But let's just start with what's been reported is heat, timber wolves, Knicks, Warriors. Of those teams, we all know what the potential packages could be, right? just like if you add Janus to the roster, given the, you know, in the ballpark of what we've heard about the offers being, which one of those teams goes into true title contention of those four? Not the heat. That's, I would say not the heat. I would say Minnesota and the Warriors. I would say Minnesota, New York.

And the war. I wouldn't say the Warriors. I don't think, I don't think the Warriors are title contenders with Janus and Stefan. If I bring Curry and Yannis to the party, I've got a chance is what I'm saying. You have a chance, but in the Western Conference, I don't think so. Yeah, but I'm pairing up. I'm pairing up two of the best players. I mean, they had a chance.

They had a chance with Butler last year, for goodness sakes, until Curry went down in that Minnesota series. They did have a chance is what I'm saying. Yeah, and it seems like New York is like cooled on this. It seems like, it's easy to cool on things when you're on a winning streak. You've got a couple big wins. Right. You know, the big, you know, the big win Sunday night against the Lakers.

It's easy to be like, oh, we don't need Yonis anymore. I get that. But I think that the other thing's not been brought up enough in my opinion about this, the honest thing is he's on his second calf strain of the season. And he's out. He's going to be re-evaluated in like three or four weeks. That's like, you know, we're getting into March at this point. Where he's being evaluated and he has two non-contact injuries this season.

This season. The Warriors is the cleanest because of like the contract, right? Like the contract of the Pits and you've always, this comming a thing's been hanging out there forever. And then it's also the we're, we're giving up our future to make the most of the last couple of curry years. Can you explain something to me, which I do not understand whatsoever?

Apparently Mike Dunleavy comes out and be like, we're not going to trade Jimmy Butler. We're going to stay by Jimmy Butler. Yeah, but you know, but that, but that, but then that was. altered once the Yannis thing came up. Okay, because I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Why would you say that into a microphone? Why would you say that to anybody?

Because I don't think that's true. And why would you commit yourself to staying by an aging Jimmy Butler who's not going to be available for a year? Like, what's the point of that? I'm sure he's a great guy or whatever, but like, I don't need coffee that bad. He immediately had extenuating circumstances. Oh, wait, I didn't know Yonda. He's going to be available.

Yeah. Okay, we will move him. Hey, and by the way, he played at Marquette, so he's a Milwaukee guy. Oh, they didn't like that. You know what I think I'm so tired of in basketball media is like, well, well, Tyler Hero, he's from Wisconsin. He is. So the heat offer might be enticing.

Everybody wants to send star players back to where they grew up. That is not a factor. It's just not a factor. It doesn't matter. Darius Garland's a Nashville guy, so maybe I'll get him in Memphis. Yeah, it makes no sense to me that it's like, oh, they want to go. play where they came from. I'm like, oh, Steph Curry will probably finish his career with the Hornets. He's like, well, no, he won't. It's not happening. Or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or,

or Kevin Durant's going to be a wizard. Yeah. Well, maybe Yonos will finish his career in Greece. You never know. Penethonacos. He's entered the chat. So anyways, like, I do think, I was, interestingly enough, Polly Market, which does all of the, you know, the prediction market.

Yeah. People have been paying attention to that because for a minute it was like the bulls and everybody was like, what is that all about? So you don't have any idea. Like, even the guys on ESPN. Like, Winhorse and Bobby Marks were like, yeah, I don't know what that's all about. Like, they do have a lot of contract, expiring contracts and picks. But Polymarket has it 43% as up right now, as we're recording, 43% not traded, 27% the heat, 15% the Warriors, 4% Minnesota.

So that's the, that's where it is as up right now. and who knows what these prediction markets, how much information they have on anything. But I mean, it does seem, look, when we're talking about what I was saying earlier, who could you see getting irresponsible? I mean, it's Pat Riley's last go-round, a last hurrah for whatever he's going to do

with his iteration of the heat. You know, he's not going to be running that thing forever. And it's about to be Curry's last. to rah. I could see them getting the most irresponsible is what I'm saying. I can see the heat and the warriors as teams that would push in the most. But I mean, look,

never take for granted that that Minnesota guy, Tim Conley, because they're already saying he's mega aggressive. That's a team that came totally out of nowhere. They're already trying to rope in third and fourth teams. Who knows

what all? Like you could look up and Jaden McDaniels is this way and Devenzo's this. way and Randall's this way and somehow they've ended up with Ant and Janus. Also, also another team playing well right now, the Timberwolves. Last night against the Memphis Criticlies. No, they did not.

Did not. Yeah, they lost me $20 last night. So, Bruno, I think we should be very careful of what we say here. Because as you know, this is a very important week in the National Basketball Association. And all GMs are listening to the mismatch. Because they want to know what we think about,

potential deals and trades. And I preface that by saying, be careful with your answer to this. Okay. John Horst calls your phone. He's the GM of the books. And he says, Bruno,

what should I prioritize? What should I look for in a potential Janus return? Because a lot of these packages involve like a Tyler Hero or a Carl Anthony Towns, you know, Jimmy Butler. And to me,

I would tell, Mr. Horst, how about you just focus on picks and people on their rookie deal? Like, you don't need a Carly Anthony Towns. What does that do for you? Like, what? Now what? You've got Miles Turner and Carly Anthony Towns? And no, Ryan Rawlins. It's like, it's all, to me, it's all about picks and young players. So when you look at these potential deals, there aren't that many. They're truly rich with what you're looking for. I would say, John, my best friend, So this is an ongoing thing that John Horst is my best friend of which you have previously underway. I'm familiar with the story.

I'm familiar with the story. I'll answer to the mismatch. John is my best friend. So when John does call me, like, well, you propose it as if he called you, like he hasn't. Being my best friend, I have told John, John, you made that ridiculous Damien Lillard move. So now you're hamstrung. And so you need guys on cheap contracts. Like you got less money than everybody else to spend.

So yes, we are looking for young players and we are looking for like value players, guys that can outperform their contracts. And then I'm looking for the way this has gone before is who could I bet against going forward? Right. Who would be a good team for me to bet against going forward? Your own team. Trade him to the hall. Get your picks back.

No, he's not, he's not going there. I mean, I would say it would be wise to, because you have moved stars and then you say, but I want their future assets. I like that Warriors deal. I do like in terms of get, I like the idea of trading for future Warriors picks. So,

because I could see that going the wrong way. Butler, you know, I'm talking, you know, Butler, Caminga, Moody, Pajemsky, 28, 30, 32, and a 31 swap.

Oh, no, no, no, no. There's four first round picks. There's four first round picks because one of them is, like, is protected in the one through 20. It's potentially four first round picks. But it's 26, no, 26, 28, 30. 30, if it falls to 1 to 20. and then 32, yeah.

That's a lot of, that's a, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, I mean, that's one of them. Um, I know you like, kind of rolled your eyes about the Tyler Hero thing, but the Kalil Ware thing and maybe Hami Hawkes is. I love Kalil Weir and Hami Hakkas, but that's just a personal opinion that that's an objective valuation. Yeah, yeah, but I'm saying, like, those are, those are real young talents that are still on rookie contracts. You know what I mean? they're still on rookie contracts right now. And so I, again, I would try to get young players on good contracts and I would try to get draft picks that I think I can bet on going forward. That's how you trade stars, right?

You're building yourself out for the future, right? I am not, I'm not concerned with what this is going, what kind of team this is going to turn it me into in 2027. I am concerned what kind of team this is going to turn me into in 2029, 2030. I'm still taking it back by something here. Let's imagine this Warriors deal happens, right? What you like? I think it's fun for the league. It's great to have Stefan Yannis in the same uniform.

I would watch the shit out of every one of those games. But I still don't see that high in the pecking order in the Western Conference when it comes to playoff matchups. you would not pick them over the thunder you would not pick them over the nuggets might not pick them over the timber wolves like I don't see them what are you talking about so you just put

them in the top three you found two teams that you are certain they would lose to no I would put the timber wolves over them as well I'm putting them in that like Lakers conversation we have two big stars and then not a lot else that's going to help at all you got Draymond and Janus at the floor at the same time

it's going to shore if you're sure of your defense, but like, neither those guys are shooting threes. Well, Draymond's the other one that's been thrown into this vix. Did you read the thing that's like Draymond leaves to the bucks that comes back next year? I'm like, what is happening? Oh, no.

You read that thing? No, what's his name? Would covet him? No, then they move that one. They move him to Phoenix. And then you get the full, yeah. That's his guy. Did he look at Draymond on the same team? That's his guy. Ishfia and Draymond.

He had him on the damn coach. What are we doing? He had him on the damn podcast. They got a frigging old Michigan State party going on there. You see Eric Snow at that Philadelphia thing? Huh? You're Eric Snow. They fedded the Iverson 2001 finals team in Philly.

In Philly. Eric Snow, he'll be on Oz epic soon. That's allowed to say. I don't think he cares. Other bigness. So, look, you, I think, honest is moved. You say no. Or did I convince you that because

life is leverage, there will be a team. There will be a team that is irresponsible enough to put together a package where they just, they keep on adding stuff. And next thing you know, it's like guys, we're, you know, that's the way of this works. I think it's very uncomfortable

and it's going to be awkward. And if you're a best friend, John Horst, if you don't pick up, the next thing he's going to do is call me. And I would tell him just waiting to the offseason, wait until after the lottery. I want to know what my 2026 pick is where it sits. Because if I'm trading for number 10 or number four, it's a huge difference. Well, and it's not the, here's the deal.

When we talk about like a toxic situation, whether it's Hardin or whether we think about, you know, the Morant thing as that's been out there for a long time in Memphis or whatever, here's what we know. Yonnas ain't going to be a dick the rest of the way. You know what I mean? Like he's not going to take you out of title contention. Like it's like, oh, Yonnas submarine does. Now instead of being 11, we're 13.

Like, okay. Well, and the only thing, the only thing we know for certain is he will do anything not to be perceived a dick, right? Yes. And most of these other guys, they will just, they'll sit out. That's for a trade last night. It was like a winning streak. We've seen Hardin gained 30 pounds and start walking up and down the court. Like just quitting.

We've seen Jimmy Butler quit on the floor. Like, we know that's not Yonis, right? That's not his MO. In a couple of these situations, it's like, man, it's better off to just not have them around after the trade deadline because this is going to get gnarly. In the honest, you wouldn't worry as much. So I will give you that. In the starting five doc that I loved the season for some reason, I just loved it.

They're talking about Hardin in Brooklyn. Like, oh, what happened there? And he's like, why don't you ask Katie? See if he'll tell the real. Oh, God. Like something happened in Brooklyn. Like Hardin was so pissed and he was so pissed with the Rockets. Like Hardin's had, it's sort of like, it's just gone.

It's like Jimmy Butler. It's gone bad everywhere that he's been outside of the Thunder. And that was a lot. I mean, it ends bad. Ends bad. Gone bad isn't bad as far. Yeah. Yeah.

Ends bad as much. It ends. All right. Here's other. Here's other names. Like, how about some of these other nays? Like, so now. This is the way the trade deadline week works.

Hardin's moved up to the very top. Like we started with Hardin. Then we got to the Yonnas stuff because that's obviously taking it over the headlines. These other names that might actually swing things. Like they're good enough players that if they were acquired could change the course of the last part of the season for these teams. When is the last time you heard something about John Morant, Anthony Davis, Demontas, Sabonis, or Michael Porter Jr. Nothing.

I mean, it's, it is crazy. And those were all players that, like, for the first whole part of the season, like we had the, we had the point guard triumphant, which was Tray Young, lamello ball, John Moran. Okay? Trey Young got moved. Lamello ball has made himself unmovable. And John Morant, there hadn't been a peep in three weeks.

Like, nothing. You're not hearing anything? Nothing. What are the vibes? I mean, great win last night. I'm a Venmo request you $20. But great win last night. You're not hearing anything.

You're not seeing anything. No. Look, what are the vibes? And here's the deal. I think, well, look, once he came back and played two games and then was out for three more weeks, there was a lot of people, even the, even the biggest supporters were like, seriously? Because you know, I came on here after the London game and said,

problems are all solved if you are awesome and available. Anything you want. If you want to get moved, that makes you easy to move. If you want to get a contract extension, that's your road to getting a contract extension. Awesome and available lasted two games. Two games. He was also available in those two games.

So at that point, you just throw your hands up. And as I said from the very start when all this Morant news came out, I do not think they would take a, I think the fear, at least my fear, would be that the biggest, that what is the tear down for the future, is it just Morant or is it more? And my fear would be that you move Jared Jackson Jr. for a ton of assets because he has great value with teams that are trying to win. and that quells what you do with Moran, which is not. But one of the things that has been very relevant over the last several years is that they are, for better or worse, and I would say to their detriment,

they have had a front office that has been willing to walk away from deals, right? Like exert patience because they have been involved. and it's one of the things that's frustrating. McHall Bridges, O.G. and Inobie, Doreen, Fennie Smith. They said they made a huge package for KD. Jimmy Butler ran around the world saying, I won't go to Memphis, so they obviously had a deal that they tried to put together.

So, like, they have put, they have not gotten past the finish line, to the finish line on all kinds of deals that they've obviously tried to improve their team in the past. And so that has made me think that they would not take a bad deal for Morant. And I don't think there's a good deal for Moran. So I think everybody's just confused.

Like what's going to happen here? I think AD is in the same spot. I think if these players were playing well, I think they would be much more likely to be traded. That's obviously not breaking news. But I'm not trading for AD or John Morant right now. Right. Why would I do that?

Right. Well, the interesting thing, the, well, here's the interesting thing. Do you have time to wait for dominoes to fall, right? So let's just say, if you are Minnesota, do you sit there and go, we were loaded for bear for Yadis Atta Tocompo? But maybe now, here's, you know, right? I'm saying like in Minnesota.

It's like quarterbacks in the NFL. It's like the highest, the highest one, the biggest, the biggest domino has to fall first. And the trade deadline is interesting because it's going to be two o'clock Eastern on Thursday. And Miami's been trying to get Yonis, trying to get Yonis, trying to get Yonis. Then they pivot to Jha with 45 minutes left on the clock. I would say that two of those teams, Minnesota, Minnesota and Miami would be possible Morant suitors. I know that everybody has said, Minnesota doesn't have any interest in Moran, Minnesota.

But again, things change if you don't get Yonis. and it also changes depending on who gets Janus, right? You may look at it and go, oh, he's going to Miami. It doesn't affect us. You know what I mean? Because he stays in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, it's possible. Whereas if he goes to the Western Conference,

you're looking around and going, well, damn, they got Curry and Yonis, and they got Yokic and Murray, and they've got Durant, you know, Shetoo. Yeah, Luke and LeBron. Right. Yeah. Yeah. We need to get a running mate here. here.

Like, it's better than Julius Randall. Julius Randall can be our second best player. That's what you would say. And so at that point, you become more willing to take a risk if he does go to a Western conference teams rather than an Eastern conference team. I wonder how it works with the deadline,

because at what point will it become clear to teams that Janus has moved or not moving? Because a lot of teams, teams want Janice Tentacupo. That's their A number one. And they might not even do anything at the trade deadline just because they'll want to do it in the offseason. If he doesn't get moved. If you're Miami, why would you bring in John Morant and then be out of the sweepstakes this summer for Yonis? Right. No, that makes sense. Why would you do that? Why would you do that? Again, the Yonnas thing has to fall.

Like, you got to know what's happening there. Am I in this or am I out of this? And that will lead to you. to some, if you are planning on doing something else, some like final offers where you just say, look, this is what I can do. Can we get it? Can we go ahead and get this done? Because otherwise, I'm going to look up. This trade deadline is past. I haven't gotten your guy and I've gotten none of these other deals that I could have had. I can see that happening. Like this, it feels like a trade deadline where we could get eight huge trades. And it also feels like one we could get zero because everyone's like, oh, I guess Janus isn't moving. So we'll just, we'll just, Keep that all of those draft assets and that war chest and that offer we have for Janus.

We'll keep it for the summer. It's not doing anything crazy. Let's go with the roster that we have. I mean, it'll be a couple, you know, a couple little players in the margins get moved. Maybe a little shooter here, a little point guard there. And then we don't see too much on Thursday. I could totally see that being the case, couldn't you? I, yeah, but I also think that there is a chance it actually gets done earlier.

Because you've got these teams involved. you've got them being mega aggressive, you've got them upping the ante for Janus. And let's just say, I am Milwaukee, and I say, all right, I'll do the hero wear,

Hawkes, picks, I'll do all that. I do that deal. And now I've got time to reroute hero somewhere for... That would make more sense to me. That would make more sense.

No, where I'm getting these expanse. firings and picks on that one. Or in the, in the Dremont instance, I'm rerouting Dremont because I know I've got, so I actually think if Yannis is going to get traded, I do not think it'll make it all the way to the deadline. I think you would actually make that deal to give you time

because some of the assets I'm bringing back. Like, whereas, you know, because even they talked about this with like, say you, you know, the Knicks thing got back hot and heavy. and it becomes a towns, Ananobe, whatever, kind of deep, right? No, thank you. No, no, no. But I'm saying, because then again, I'm rerouting Ananobe and saying who I'm doing an auction

for Ananoby now. So now I've turned this into four first round picks somewhere because I'm rerout. After some of this game, I kind of feel like Ananovi might draw more on the market than towns at this I'm just saying it's not necessarily, you know, the players that are acquired are not necessarily the players that are acquired for the Buck's future. It is if you get this done early, you could look up and at the end, yeah, you moved Janice, but you ended up with a couple good young players and eight first round picks because I got my four from here. I rerouted this to there. I rerouted this to there. That's the goal, right?

That's the goal of this, I think. And so on that end, I either think Janus will be get moved. I don't think we'll go all the way to the deadline. He's either getting moved early to where they've got time to get on the phone with other teams and reroute it, or he's not getting moved at all. But I would be shocked if everybody just gets struggled on to the end. No way, no way. There's too many teams that want to improve their teams.

Yeah. You know what I mean? and improve their rosters. So that's what you do. I think that's why they've made the counteroffers. And they say, all right, I'll take that. But then I need to, like if I'm John Horst, I'm calling around saying,

what will you give me for hero? What will you give me for this? What will you give me for this? And if you've already got it set up, right? I would say, look at the players you're getting, look at the pitch you're getting, now figure out what you can get for the players you're getting, from another place

so that I am maximizing the amount of value I am getting out of this deal. And that's how you do it. If I'm John Horst, I'm not doing anything. I'm not trading Yonis at the deadline. I'll probably just keep until the offseason. Why not?

You're going to get ultimately a better return. And I don't think the bucks are in a position where they want to win this season. On those teams that we talked about, J.A.D. Sabonis, Porter, Jr., those players that we talked about. Mm-hmm. So bonus is the biggest one of the, I think he is underrated now.

He's been longed away, but I do think could like change things for somebody. Like when they're talking about Toronto having interest in him, I was thinking about Toronto. If they, if he ends up in Toronto, especially because they've got all that size on the wings. You know what I mean? Well, no, no. The number one thing about them is it's, if the Yakop. portal. It's like portals there are big. And I just feel like they could really, if they upgraded that position, it's a completely

different proposition to play them in a seven game series. I actually think a bonus is perfect there in the same way that the town's thing has worked in New York. As long as I've got fleet footed guys that can stay in front of people on the perimeter, I'm okay with him being the last guy. Right? Because some of these teams don't have people that can stay in front of somebody, i.e. Cleveland, which gets even worse if you acquire hard. But it's already bad. Watch a Lakers game. Right. And what they do is they say, all right, we're filtering it all into, right, we're guiding you towards our big. Right. If you're, if you're in New York or you're Toronto, you're saying, you know what, we're not

guiding you into anything. We're not filtering you into something. We're staying in front of you. Yes. Because we've got a bunch of length on the wings. And we got this size. And so I actually like the subonis fit there. I do. And then the Porter Jr. one, I was watching this weekend. And I was thinking to myself, I mean, he is perfect for Detroit.

And I think, look, let's get to all of our questions. In fact, we'll get to this when we get to our questions. But I'll save that one. But when I was watching them, I'm like, boy, Kay just needs one more outlet. And just he, I'm being terrified of Detroit. I got it. But when everybody loads up on him, are you willing to say, you know, last year the kickout was to Malik Beasley.

This year, you know, Duncan Robinson. It's Sir Thompson, who's just going to drive it in. It's Ron Holland. It's Jade Knott. It's like having a wing, you got a real chance here, having a wing that you could just reliably kick that out to and you know he's going to bang that corner three with the kind of shots that Cunningham generates. Anyways, we will get to that. Here's some expiring deals like this is instructive for the trade deadline. Expiring deals like the Keon Ellis thing where the players become unrestricted.

so you're at this point where it's like, are they part of our future plans? No. Are we going to get something for them? No. Tell me which one of these you like or you think is somebody that could swing things. Anthony Simons, there's some big, like good names on here.

But he's played so well, like, of late that he's really made himself an asset for the current self-ins. Same with Colin Sexton for Charlott. I can't imagine the Hornets. They don't go on this wind streak without Colin Sexton. Okay. Kobe White. I mean, Kobe White's got a low contract. Okay.

Kobe White and I.O. Dissoon Moot. Two guys. I mean, there's a bunch of expirings on the Bulls, depending on which way they're going to go. Tobias Harris, Chris Middleton, John Collins, Porzingis, Rui Hachamura, Vucevich Ayu Dissoumou

Cam Thomas who we have not talked about Forever Turn that down his deal in the offseason Tyos Jones Kavana Luni Remember Kvon Luni Kvon Luni has just been wasting away With the Pelicans

Sitting there If I need like a big guy For the Celtics, why not? Or if I just need like some size And they can give me some playoff minutes I even think like the Rockets would be, you know what I mean, with them losing Adams. Them losing Adams, watching them without Adams, it's like it's a completely different. It's a completely different thing.

Adams is so important for them. Every team for the last decade that Adams has been on has been the best offensive rebounding team in the league. That is not a coincidence, right? I mean, the Pelicans were amazing at offensive rebounding when he was there. The Grizzlies immediately became an unbelievable offensive rebounding team. team. The Rockets were an unbelievable offensive. I mean, he is just, he is a savant when it comes to creating this kind of possession. I was watching them in the Pacers last night. It's worth mentioning that, you know, Jay Sean Tate, I came back and contributed in the game,

got a couple of three rounds down the stretch. They're showing, they're showing him off. He's another one that's unrestricted. The, I just, I no longer consider the Rockets title contenders. That Stephen Adams news kind of just changed it for me. I was like, I can't see it. I just can't see it. Adams is just so important for what they do, offensively and defensively. I mean, I've seen Kevalh Luni

win a playoff game against Memphis by grabbing every rebound in the game. Oh, what do you have, like, 24 rebounds or something? Do you remember that series? Kavon Luni was being celebrated. Do I remember that series? We're going back to his high school days when he was scored 50 points a game.

And all of a sudden Kvon Luni is like, is who's more important to the Warriors? Steph Curry or Kavon Luni? That week was bonkers. Like sometimes we have to look back and like who we are as media and we get so caught up at the moment sometimes the Kaban Looney Week blew my mind.

I was like, does everyone, does everyone lost their minds? Does everyone know we're talking about Kvon Looney here? He won them the series against Fippon. He did, but he's not a key of Olajuwon. No, I got it. But what actually he is, if you go and look up, you can find this is on YouTube.

Kavanaughan Luni is the next Kevin Durant. That was in high school. Yeah, I saw all of it. That week was nuts. That week was nuts. I was in the moment looking around, being like, is anyone seen Kabat-Luni play before this period? Anyway, there's a lot of players that I like that I mentioned.

Oh, Tom. I mean, I, the reason I wanted to shout those names out is because we're going to get up to this in the next couple of days, and there's a bunch of names that could be moved. I love Osumu. I love Kobe White. There's, there are, how many teams do we say need a point got or need a big? Right?

How many teams? And if you just want to. run the team guy. Tyos Jones is the run the team guy. Sure. I mean, you know, he is. He's never going to blow up for 24 or go 5% from three. He's an organizer. He's an organizer. A solid organizer who has been a terrible fit in Orlando. Yes. Yeah. There's some names, though, certainly to keep an eye on. We also have the Jake Fisher comments yesterday about LeBron. And Jake Fisher, I guess, was on a live stream NBA reporter, Jake Fisher, who said that, you know, basically, I'm paraphrasing,

but it's like, yeah, LeBron's ready to move on, and L.A.'s ready to move on from the LeBron stuff. So, you know, might get to the offseason, probably get to the off season, but that there will. And so, look, I've been sounding this alarm, I've been sounded this alarm where it's like, that would be the one that would blow everybody away. That would be the way that blows everybody away. A LeBron trade?

Yes. Oh, I don't see that. That he would okay. I mean, it has to. There's no trade clause, but I don't say that. That he would okay. I'd just say, hey, you know what? We're going to go, we're going to take our talents to wherever.

Where? Orlando? Home. Now he's in the next. No, him and Brony can go back home to Cleveland. I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know Jake Fisher. I'm not too familiar with his reporting. It's just, but that it seems like, is that sourced information or sort of like inferring from the vibes? Because I can infer from the vibes that this will probably be the last year

Lebron's and the Lakers. Because I don't think they're going to offer him a max contract next year. I don't see it happening. No. I'm saying it makes sense if they were, all of that adds up. If he waived his no trade,

it would not surprise me at all. It would not. We're at the end. We're at the last couple of years here, man. And if it's not going to be, if he looked up and he goes, I don't have a chance, we're not winning it here anyway.

No. Right. So. I can't believe we're talking about this. You got to go back. You got to go back. Your boy, Rich Paul, at the beginning of the season,

put out a letter. LeBron wants to win. That's what to what? If LeBron's going anywhere, it's going, it's to the Eastern Conference. Okay. To the Eastern Conference. Okay.

Because there's nowhere in the West that he could end up. I mean, God, I can't believe we're talking about this. It could have been. If the Warriors get honest. All right. Let's get to a couple of these rapid fires. Player you do not want to see moved. Got any?

I'm having so much fun watching the Hornets. It's just so. Yeah, no Hornet. Keep that together. It's too fun. It's so much fun. with Eric Collins and Del Curry. He's flying around,

Del goes he's flying around like a toupee and a tornado. I was just like, can I have them call every game? It's just so much fun. They had that, that 12 o'clock game on Sunday against the spurs because of the snow or whatever got moved. So it was like all alone by itself.

That game was phenomenal. Great watch. They had Luzbenyama looking like a human being. And then that game yesterday, I had no idea that that game was even on against the Pelicans in the middle of the day. I opened up my NBA app and it was like the second quarter. I was like, what? That was another.

And they were down by 20 in the second quarter. And I opened up my Fandle at plus 350. I was like, oh, sure. Hit that money line hard. This is a total homer one. I mean, it's Jerry Jackson. Like, I'm nervous about the whole what is the future. I mean, that's my daughter's guy.

That's my daughter's favorite player. I'm sorry. I can't do both. Do you know who really? I can't do both. Do you know who killed the vibes in Memphis? You'll never guess. I give you seven guesses.

One person has changed the course of the Grizzlies franchise that doesn't even work or play for the team. Who's that? Target guy. Oh, no. If you're the Grizzlies, you're looking at Cedric Coward being like, maybe this is the future.

Maybe it's a Cedric Coward. instead of a Jom-M-A-R-R-R-R-Ratson. Target guy is the reason that you're having this midlife crisis right now. I just don't. I just can't take both of them being gone. You know what I mean? There's already, we already dealt with all the Baran stuff.

What happened to Target guy? He DM'd me a country music song. He's a rad. He's a rat or something. Tell him a mess around. Tell him to DM me. DM me, Target guy. I'm missing.

Yeah, I saw him. I saw him in a game. maybe like two weeks ago. Oh, good, good. Yeah, yeah, he's still right. He was wearing a coward jersey. Of course he was. Of course he was.

All right. What team, what player do you want to see moves the most? How about that? The easy answer is Jonathan Kamenga, so we never have to talk about it again. In life. A bad team.

Put about a lottery team. It's over. Yeah. Oh, guess what? Now we average is 22 points a game. No one saw that coming. He's playing for the buck. He's playing for the ball.

Yeah, yeah. The player I want to see moves easy answer. It's honest. I want to see. It's just for fun. Yeah, it's easy. I'll say subonis. I've always fancied him.

I've always liked it more than other people. And I think he could like move the needle, like actually move the needle for somebody. And he's just wasting away. He's literally like this. What's a point? So like. And if you saw the first season of starting five, best human, best husband in the world.

They put some bonus in the first season of starting five? How'd they get a second season? All his wife talks about is how he's the, I mean, his wife talks about him like he is the greatest human to walk the planet. Oh my God. I know, right? You can't relate. I can't relate.

I can not relate at all. The whole damn thing, I got so bored after two episodes. Like all of it. I couldn't watch it. You spent 30 seconds in my house. You all hate each other. So bonus. I have a personal thing with some bonus because when they made the Halberton trade,

I thought it was a bad trade for Sacramento. And then like, you know, they had the late the beam season. And the Sacramento media decided like I was the bad guy. Kind of like the Toronto hates me now. So now I've kind of got a thing against them. It's like I'm dug deep into Antibank.

I like, you know me. I like flashy highlights and, you know, plays that get the crowd on their feet and the show comes to town. Like, I like that sort of basketball. That's sort of like and one, like, lamello ball vibe. And Sabonis hasn't had a highlight in this entire career. This entire career does not have a highlight. What team needs a win now move that has no chance of winning at all? Celtics. Oh, God. It is not who I thought you were going to go back to your Rockets team. Well, I can't put them in the no chance at winning at all category.

Yes, you can. After the Stephen Adams move, I suppose I could. I mean, this is the perfect make a move because like the way things have gone. And if you want a chance to really win it all and make the most of the end of this, you know, these last couple of Durant years. Like you've got to, one of your best players is a win now player. And obviously you lost Van Bly, you lost Adams. do you become much more aggressive based on that? I mean, looking at the landscape,

who would that be, though? The Rockets. A point of Lakers. The Lakers are the obvious one, right? Like, they don't have a lot of flexibility. Obviously, you want the sneaky best one? Who's that? The number one C, Detroit.

Oh, yeah. It's a hard. You don't want to mess anything up, but I'm telling you that is regular season. in greatness. Playoff greatness is going to require you to have one more outlet for Kate.

I'm not so sure. Yes, it is. You need one more. You need one more that can knock down shot. It's supposed to be Jaden Ivy, man. It's just supposed to be Jaden Ivy and it hasn't been Jaden Ivy. Because they are going to run to it, Cade, and they're going to box and elbow you and just say,

fine, if we lose the dunk. Robinson, we lose the Duncan Robinson. We'll faceguard him and they'll, you know, I'm just saying you need one more that can knock down the shots. One thing about throwing to a Kade that's underrated is his height because he is just, he's so tall, like if you double him, he can just get over people and throw that over the head soccer inbound pass. And it's just like, it's, then you're just, then you're chasing around.

And then guys are just, then you're, you're rotating, you're closing out, sprinting at three-point shooters, up big drive. like rotate, rotate, open three, Duncan Robinson. And like, I'm terrible. I mean, I say this. Look, look, I say this is someone who loves the Pistons and I love their chances. And I would love their chances if they could get somebody else,

just a wing guy that I think could reliably knock down those shots. And I say this as someone who once upon a time had a team that was young and fun. And it was the two seed, you know, multiple years. And every trade deadline saying, look, dude, you're going to get to the playoffs and you're going to throw it out to Dylan Brooks and he's going to brick. And I'll be damned if that's how every series ended. And I'm telling you the Detroit thing, you never want to mess up something good. I got it.

But their structure, their coaching, their everything, and what they've got, their infrastructure is so good. Now is the time to be aggressive and go get that one. Because otherwise you're going to look up when it comes to the playoffs. And you're going to go, damn it, I wish we had one more shooter. Yeah. I, you might be right. I just wish it was Jaden Ivy. That's a team that could go.

They picked him, what, three, two? That's a team that could go to the NBA finals if they added a shoot. I think they go to the NBA finals as is. As is. Easily. Let's see. Best move that a team could make to contend next year? This is a tough one.

I had Celtics here, too. I had Celtics. So you look at it and you just say, you know what? We're making this move not to improve the plight of this year, but rather the full season Jason Tate. And so, yeah, that's a good thing. Yeah. I mean, I don't think Kada is going to be the starting center and the championship team.

Well, typically you've got to look at teams that are who is a year away from like doing something big, right? like not they're not going to win right now you know they're going to go into the playoffs they're going to take their lumps and then next year will be the year that they take the leap how about portland portland's a good one portland's a good one for this huh they're a good one because you they they totally follow the we're a team that's right around 500 right maybe we'll get into a play-in situation, something like that, but we're not going to be, you know, one of the top six teams. We don't have a chance at winning big in the playoffs.

But next year, we're going to, we're the ones that are going to take that big leap. San Antonio did it this year, right? And the big leap this year. Pistons too. Yeah. Yeah, and they took the big leap this year too, right? There's teams that fancy themselves as the ones that are going to take a big leap. Portland looks like the one.

I could see them making a deal that says, you know what? next year is when pedal to the bell, we're going to win next year. Because we still got some guys on low contracts, rookie contracts. We still got guys on super reasonable contracts, and we can build out. And it's not going to be this year,

but next year is the year that we take the huge. That's a good answer. Take the huge leap forward. And so my goals are for next year and making it. And they got guys right now. Like, you know what I mean? Value guys like, Drew Holiday,

Jeremy Grant, you know, some of these guys that might not fit your current, they don't fit your current situation, right? Because you got the young guys,

but you might be able to get value for them on teams that are trying to win today. Do you know who I would have thrown into this? I'm going to give you an answer. It's also a question. Okay. How come with all of this discussion and all these players that we've talked about today,

some sort of like marginal improvements, role players, some huge superstars. One team doesn't get discussed a lot. It's been wildly underperforming this year. It seemingly has chemistry issues. It's the Orlando Magic. How come we don't hear more about the Orlando Magic at this trade deadline? Capped.

It's just that simple? So hard. Who are you trading? Who you trading? I mean, and they just gave everything for paying. They gave up all those picks. Like they made their deal. They made their deal in the offseason.

That sucks. That was their deal. Well, it didn't work out. It was their deal. I mean, if you're them, you just convince yourself that when someone comes back will be okay. Did you see Bain, uh, hip check Wemby? He just, dude, he's had two crashes. What's going on with him?

He also threw down Emmanuel quickly. I don't know. He's crashing out recently. What's good? He needs a hug or something, dude. What's going on? What's going on? And then so I saw it.

So someone put together like a reel, like a sort of a highlight reel of him just like being random acts of violence. It's just like, it's like every month just like relieves steam. He has to randomly be violent, unprovoked. It's odd. I mean, testosterone, man. You see his biceps. No, now you call him. Now you're saying he's using pedis.

No, I'm saying he's got a lot of tests. That's what you said. I said he's got a lot of testosterone. That's a guy that's got a lot of testosterone. I have very little testosterone. as Frank Thomas just told me during commercial breaks. I mean, we're doing a highly successful podcast. Surely you could get a sponsor for this.

No, surely you could get a sponsor for this. Those ads are you, are you fatigued? Do you have less than you used to? All of the above. Yeah, it's like, yeah. Oh, I feel so targeted on Instagram. It's unbelievable. How do they know me?

be so loud. The ED stuff. It's just like, guys, every other, every other, every one's just another ED thing. Sparks, Roe, hymns. Everything. How many ED medications do you think I need? Every, every other, every other video I scroll to is like, do you feel like crap? Yeah. Are you depressed? Are you tired? Are you sad? Do you feel like you don't have enough energy to get through the day? Do you have less than you used to? I'm like, yeah. All the above. Take my money. They convinced me of everything.

They're like, did you get up to piss in the middle of the night? You might have it a large prostate. I'm like, damn it. I did get up to piss. How'd you know I got up to piss? Yeah. All right. Real quick ones.

Realistic but hilarious thing that could happen at the trade deadline. I put in, I put it, I got three of them. Okay. Realistic little bit. Because look, this was even mentioned in Markstein's substack, a ball reunion in Sharman. I saw that. Lonzo, Lonzo and LaBello.

So that's one. Then the hilarious thing would be a Janus deal or a LeBron deal that did not include sibling or son. Right. Oh, yeah. Yes. So LeBron. that LeBron getting moved without brawny or Yonis getting moved without the nazzo and those guys are just like, what?

This is so awkward. Either your dad's gone or your brother's gone. I'm watching the Knicks Lakers. My 10-year-old daughter, one of them walks in the room. She's like, I'm like, oh, that's the son. He was in street clothes. He's like, his son plays on that team. It's so fun to watch sports with like, you know,

feel had no idea what's going on. Yes. Yes, his son is on the team. Like, why is he playing? I was like, he sucks. Last one. If you could make a non-NBA trade, what would it be? You got a non-NBA trade for me?

Well, this one's easy for me. I would trade anything to get back the weekend I just had. I want to explain to you what happened at my home, which you have stayed at this weekend. just give me 45 seconds to vent here I've got it I need I need this I'm sitting back all right Friday go to my daughter's piano recital

boring drive the kids home oh it was awful oh it was awful God what kids art and kids music is just terrible my daughter can't play the fucking piano I got to watch 15 other kids play the piano two one by one it's torturous It's torturous. I don't even like watching my own daughter play the piano.

Forget like Sarah Smith. So I'm there and I drive the kids home. And one of my favorite things to do is to drive everybody home because I drop them off at the apartment and then I go park in the parking lot. The parking lot happens to be by my local bar. So I stop there on the way home. I stop at the local bar and I have a couple of quick ones. And then I go to my house. I get to my house at like five, six o'clock.

Again, I've only had like two cocktails, right? and then go to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, watch a movie, go to sleep, watch some MBA. Everybody goes to sleep. Around 10, 30, 11, 30 at night, I wake up and I get that feeling in your mouth when it's full of saliva, which to me is like a tremor. It means, like, I'm about to puke because of alcohol. I got a pretty strong stomach. I don't vomit a lot, but I had to go puke.

I puk. I end up puking all night long. You know that feeling you're just dry heaving? I'm lying on the tile in the bathroom in the fetal position, just puking all over. over the floor. It's just all night long, all night in the morning. I tried to drink some water, puke up the water, just dry heaving. It goes to my wife. She's puking all day, Saturday. It goes to the twins. They're puking on Sunday. My son is puking. We had, so also my twins have bunk beds and my son has a loft bed because we have like a small New York City apartment. So you get

these loft beds add more space in the bedroom. So I had two kids projectile vomit from elevated positions in their home in the middle of the night. Oh, no. So, like, at 3.30 in the morning, I feel like shit, because I've been puking all night the night before, and I feel awful. So now I've got to clean up the rug, and there's, there's puke, trapnel all over the place. Like, it was hell.

It was absolute hell. Like, I can't even explain to you. Like, what was it? Saturday night. Remember, I've been puking all night, Friday night, Saturday night, two in the morning. Margo comes in my room. I have to puke, dad. Four in the morning.

Quincey comes in the room. I just puked all over the room, dad. Seven in the morning. I just puked all over the room from Chloe. It was just nuts. It was nuts. And then I feel like crap. You didn't even mention the baby.

You didn't mention the baby. It's a baby. Well, the baby was fine. The baby was just laughing at us. Yeah. She's the only one. Somehow the baby is the only one not puked. Baby's fine.

Baby's just laughing at us the entire time. You guys are idiots. Why don't you go somewhere? So the whole weekend, spent just like playing video games and watching movies and being sad complaining. So if I would trade anything, I would literally trade my left pinkies to have that weekend back. It's awful.

It's awful. Awful. Awful weekend in the Jacob family. I'm sorry that happened to you. It's awful. I was going to say that I wanted TV back like it used to be. Oh, God. I would give anything.

Yeah. That's all. That's all I wanted. Dude. You know what I mean? I swear to God, I am on a search for. these games every damn night. I mean, I'm just searching.

And it's like, bro, it used to be like, I don't know how this went so wrong, but like, it just, it did not, like, it didn't get better.

This is so much more complicated than it should be. I was thinking about this yesterday for me. So much more complicated. So, I turn on Apple TV and then a, a barcode comes up and I have to point my phone at

to get to a link to sign into my account just to watch whatever I'm watching. And then do you remember the last button on your remote? Last? That was awesome. You'd be watching something. If a game goes to commercial now that I'm watching on the app, I just sit there and watch the commercials.

Because for me to close out of that game, to open another game would take 45 seconds. I mean, dude, you should have seen me trying to watch the Royal Rumble on Saturday. Oh, it's impossible. I mean, I was like, what do you mean? I was like, what do you mean I don't have ESPN premium? What do I have then? What do I, I don't even know what I have and I don't know why I'm not why?

And then it's like, do you accept? And I was like, I don't even know. I swear on my life, I have no idea what I accept it. And I don't know if I'm like now paying twice. You are. You are. I already, but I already paid, like, the year because I saw that charge. Like, I already got charged for the year.

So I don't know what I just paid for in order to be able to watch the Royal Rumble on Saturday. But I paid for something. I accepted something. But I don't know what I accepted. And the point is I shouldn't even have that. Why is that even a thing? Why is that even a thing? So I'm not a wrestling guy.

I was into it when I was a kid. I'm not into it now. but I enjoy it. I respect the game. It's fun. I totally dig it. I'm not an anti-resting person. But I was looking on,

you know, the home screen. It says Royal Rumble. I was like, oh, I'll check this out. It was on like 2 o'clock on Saturday.

It was like nothing else. You don't have it. No, and then I click on ESPN Unlimited. And I click on it. I'm like, oh, cool. I'll watch this.

And what they showed me was like a skyline shot of like Rydia or wherever it was. Yeah, yeah, and there was like a drone show. And it said like women's title belt and like drones above the skyline and fireworks were going off.

I sat there and watched it for like, this is embarrassing, like three minutes. Because I thought it was like in commercial break and going to come back or something. It wasn't even on. It never came back. It was just a skyline shot. At some point, I'm just like,

oh, I don't think I'm watching the oil rumble. I did watch it. I did watch it. And I paid for something. I don't know what I paid for. All right. That is going to do it for another episode of the mismatch. Thank you to Jesse Lopez as always.

And Jacoby, I'll talk to you. Oh, my God, later this week, we'll be talking right after the trade deadline. It'll be great. It's been up to be great.