The Mismatch - Mavs Mayhem, Standings Shuffle, Lottery Showdowns, and NBA Awards Race

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

Verno and KOC go through the East and West standings and discuss the playoff matches that are set before debating whether the Suns with Kevin Durant are a team to be afraid of going into the postseason (02:08). They also debate what seeding the Warriors should be targeting (15:15). The Mavericks continue to show their dysfunction as an organization after Mark Cuban calls out Jalen Brunson’s father during an impromptu press conference (32:26). This offseason is pivotal for the Mavs as they try to rebuild the team into a championship contender around Luka Doncic. Next, KOC shares who he has listed in his awards ballot going into the final weekend of the regular season and talks about the debut of his new show on FanDuel TV, ‘Beyond the Arc’ (54:24). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's official. One Shining Podcast is back, and I am your host, Tate Frazier. And as March Badness begins, we're covering everything from Selection Sunday all the way to the championship and beyond. We're going to have great guests that are coming through on the show. And look, if you're a friend of the program and you're already subscribed, you don't have to do anything. OSP is back. It's going to be right back in your feed. And if you're not a friend of the program, and this is your first time on the rodeo, then let me tell you this. You need to go to Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. and smash subscribe today because the OSP show is back. Welcome to The Misfatch. I'm Chris Varnan and joining me see us every Friday from the ringer.com. It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O. Obama, Kevin O. Concer, Kevin O'Conflict,

Kevin O Cannabis, Kevin O'Candyland, Kevin O'Blessarian, Kevin. Burdow! How is your Thursday evening going, my friend? I'm doing great. We're recording this before The Suns play the Nuggets, so we don't know what is going to happen in that game. could very well be a playoff preview. It does not really affect the status of either of those teams as the nuggets are locked into one. The sons are locked into four. We do not know either of their opponents.

We are here in the final days of the season. And each night, trying to keep track of these matchups and how these playoff spots are going to be determined and how these play-in spots are going to be determined. and I'll tell you, the east, really easy, Kev. This one is easy. We pretty well know the teams that are going to be involved. One through 10, we also know for the most part where they're going to be slotted. Obviously, seven to eight are going to be decided by a play in as our nine to ten.

But we're now to the point where there's very little that can change. I suppose we could have some crazy stuff happened by virtue. of the heat beating the 76ers in major fashion tonight, they could feasibly get up to six where they would meet that same team, Philadelphia, but the likely scenario is that we are going to get Philadelphia versus the Nets and Miami, who we figure would win the play in,

but obviously it's one 48 minute game, would then play Boston. So most of this stuff in the East seems pretty excited. The magic numbers won, just to be clear, for Brooklyn. They just have to won one of their final two games in order to clinch the six. And they face the magic on Friday and the Sixers on Sunday. So they're just going to win one of those and they're the six seed.

Well, and the magic desperately are going to lose out. Like they're in that mix with the 34 win teams. None of those teams wants to decrease. their odds at this point. They're all, they all kind of got the same odds. Portland, who is in a absolute battle with San Antonio in their game, who wants to lose worse. Yeah.

Portland's the one that really cannot afford to win. Orlando tonight, Chris, played Truma O'Keekeeky for 32 minutes. The first time since November 16th, Truman O'Kee has had over 30 minutes in a game. I like Chumokiki coming out of Auburn. Obviously, he had the torn ACL, but I like him. Yeah, well, he's also a bench warmer for the magic. Give me the starting lineup. Give me the starting lineup.

All right, we had Bulbul, our good friend, Mo Wagner, Chuma O'Kiki, Jalen Suggs, and Caleb Houston. Ooh. Yep. Pretty formidable. Pretty formidable. Look, I went to a game. We recorded on Monday night.

Then on Tuesday night, I went to a game where I saw The Blazers. And the Blazers had Skyler Mays, Shaden Sharp, Drew Eubanks, Kevin Knox, and Jonathan Williams, along with Shaquille Harrison, John Butler, Jr., Jabari Walker, and Justin Manaya, Justin Manaya. I mean, you want to talk about, who are you? Like, very rarely do I go to an NBA game? Because even if it's like, say like Chumokey, that's a good example, okay? Chumokie or even Caleb Houston for that matter, right?

I don't remember you from college. Like I saw you play in college or I remember you from draft night. like these guys it is the one of the only times where I had to constantly look down at the box score and match name and number then I would have absolutely no chance of picking these guys out of a lineup genathan Williams and Shaquille Harrison like all all these guys I was like who are these people and obviously that's what they feel to begin tonight against San Antonio, but Portland is in that situation. This is the opposite of the teams that are jockeying for playoff position,

this game that is going on as we are recording this, and Portland is up in this game. San Antonio is tied for the second worst odds with Houston. So they don't want to win a game. Portland. They want to lose to lock in a top six pick. Because I talked about this with Kyle Mann on the draft show where it's like top three odds are flattened at 14%. But pistons at the worst record are guaranteed a top five pick.

The second odds is guaranteed a top six and the third is guaranteed top seven. So the spurs want to lose. Right. And Portland, they desperately need to lose because there's a three-way tie at 34-week. Yes, yep. And so there's no choice at the batter here. Somebody's got to win. And right now, as we record six minutes up in the game, Blazers are up by seven points right now.

And there's a lot at stake there. A lot. A lot. Assuming they win, and we'll know by the time we're done recording, there will be four teams tied at 34 and 46. Four. Including Washington, right? Washington, Indiana, Orlando. in Portland will all be tied at 34 and 46,

which means they have the even, they split the draft odds. It would be equivalent. Yeah, these are the most funny when these games at the end of the season are between two teams, they desperately need to lose. Yep.

And somebody, somebody has to win the game. Somebody has to win the game. But that's what the situation is. So you've got, you got kind of two tracks going. You've got the teams that are desperately trying to lose and then the teams that are desperately trying to seal up their spot.

One thing, Chris, speaking about desperately trying to lose, the Nugget starting lineup tonight. This is one reason why we're not waiting. DeAndre Jordan starting at center. Big time. Bruce Brown, Reggie Jackson, Christian Brown, and Peyton Watson is the Nuggets starting five tonight. Yeah, so it's really not a playoff.

off preview. It's not. Well, I wouldn't think that Michael Malone would start that if they got in the second round against the Phoenix Suns. Now, who Phoenix is going to play is still completely to be determined. And this is the thing to watch over the course of the next couple of days. Obviously, we want to see what all the matchups are, but Phoenix now with Kevin Durant in the fold, would not be, I think it's fair to say, would not be, it's not your typical four seed. Now, you could say this is true of many of those teams at the bottom, that that's not your typical six seed in the Warriors, or it's not your typical seven seed in the Lakers, or it's not your typical,

however it shakes out, which is true. But Phoenix being four, they are going to have home court advantage, not that it mattered to them much last year in their series against Dallas because they did get in game seven on their home floor. And they all got coat. Right. They all got their ass kick, too. They have clinched that four seed. Their first round series versus number five seed, and then it's got in parentheses,

the clippers, the Warriors, the Lakers, the Pelicans, or the Minnesota's rules. I'm like, what is the point? What is the point of me even trying to figure this out? One of the things we do know, though, was the Clippers win over the Lakers last night was immense. Immense towards this because the Lakers, I thought, and I said on Tuesday, I thought they're going to sweep the board the rest of the way. And we had said that they're in one of the weirdest streaks going. that you looked up while we were out of the air because you couldn't believe it.

That is 11 games in a row now that the Clippers have beaten the Lakers. That is just unfathomable to me. I know. 11 in a row. Given that no one plays for the Clippers, they sit out like every other game. Kauai Leonard was asked after the game, why do you guys think you keep beating the Lakers? His answer was, I don't know. which is honestly one of the top 10,

that's one of the top 10 most revealing answers that Kauai Leonard has given this year. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely out there with, I'm not sure. Ask Paul. That's a question for coach. This guy is the king, revealing quotes.

Why do you think you've won 11? What do you think it's like to actually talk with Kauai? Like one-on-one, like you're hanging out over his house. You think Kauai is like, it's just a totally different person than what you see in front of media? Like what percent of the Kauai you see with microphones in his face is the Kauai Linder you get when you're like throwing down beers, you know, smoking weed with Kauai at his place in San, in San Diego, you know? Like, what do you think?

So I'm going to tell you something crazy. I did not know you were going to ask me this. I had a friend literally earlier this week tell me that they were at All-Star Weekend and they happened to be at the same place, a party where Kauai Leonard was. Kauai was there for the 75. He did not participate in the All-Star game or anything,

but he was there because he was named one of the top 75 players in NBA history. Because I made a comment like this. Like, it's just a strangest guy. You know what I mean? Like, you never know what he's thinking. And like, we got those two clips of laughs that come up every once in a while, which are hilarious. And.

It's so great. I love him. This person said to me that they were at this place with Kauai. And that not only was he talking, he was funny. And I'm like, no way. And they're like, yes. Like I was around him and like he was talking just like everybody else is talking. And he was laughing and having a good time.

And I was like, what? like I think that would be the most the only thing like more shocking to me would be like if I was like hanging out somewhere and like Russell Westbrook was the life of the party you know what I mean like he was just like the coolest dude like high five and everybody

having a great like he always seemed so surly in his public persona I know that he's not that way I know people that know him personally but he just comes off that way And the same way he goes, I would just think that Kauai is the guy sipping on a drink in the corner. They said he was like in the mix, talking, hanging out, laughing, having a good time. And I'm like, man, you know, about not showing that in public.

Oh, I know. I would love to hang out with Kauai Lennard. I thought you might say, I thought you might say that Kauai Leonard is a fan of your master's updates of your local show. No, I can't, I can't, I fathom that. It does seem so strange that maybe it would be possible. I do know this. They winning that game, I said after I had seen them last week

that I didn't think they were good enough to be able to jockey this way, to control their own destiny. But it appears as if they are going to be able to do exactly that. Okay. Now, they would need a lost from the Pelicans. But if the Pelicans lose either one of their last two games,

which are the Knicks and the Wolves, if they lose either of those, then the Clippers are going to be able to get into a situation where they go into Sunday against the Suns, and they just dump that game. They dump the game because if the Pelicans lose one of those two games, then the clippers can just sit on 43 wins, which they would need to beat Portland on Saturday.

But that's, we're going to expect they do that. Okay. And if they win that game, they'll be at 43 and they can guarantee themselves the six seed, which would then avoid the sons in the first round and leave them to the Warriors. And this puts the Warriors in a super precarious situation because then they wouldn't have any choice in the matter. They lose tiebreakers to everybody because of their dreadful road record. But they enter that final game. If they do with 43 wins, which is probably what's going to be the case, the Lakers will have 42. And so for Golden State, it'll either be your choice is this,

44 wins and play the suns in the first round, or 43 wins and then you. You know, you know, you've got a spot in the playing tournament. And the tough part of the goal of state. They face Portland, Chris. So even if you're trying to lose, you know, like they might not be able to. I mean, well, the thing is, is maybe they have to lose the Friday game against Sacramento. That's the easier one to lose. And then Golden State could be in the play in.

Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. Like, well, maybe not. Like if something shake out in their favor, they could still end up six. Would you rather play the Suns? You'd rather play the sons in the first round. Even if it's Kevin Durant, you'd rather play the sons in the first round

than be in the play in. Because anything could happen in the play in. You don't want, you want the guaranteed spot. I don't know. I'm not sure. You want the guaranteed spot. You do.

I don't know. And the other thing is, I know that the son. I don't know you do. I don't know if you do, Chris. I really don't. You might rather have to win one. You'd have two chances to win one

in order to face men. Fissor, Denver. Yeah, I know. If you get beat in that one game, now you're facing the nuggets. Is that any better than facing Phoenix? I think so. I do. I genuinely do.

I know you're in love with Phoenix, but they haven't beaten anybody, Kevin, and they've only played like eight games together. Yeah, but they are undefeated with Kevin Durrance. They, look at this, look at who they've beaten, though, Kev. It tells you nothing. What is the time that you were mega impressed with it? we don't know. They're a great unknown.

Phoenix is. They've only played eight games together. I mean, the nuggets are on paper, a matchup for the Warriors that you're like, okay, maybe we get a shot here. Why are the suns not?

Who's guarding Steph Curry? They got Kevin Duran. Who's guarding Steph Curry? We got Kevin Duran. Who's guarding Steph Curry? They got Kevin Duran. Josh Akoki. Yeah

Devin Booker Yeah but like you who guard Steph Curry is true for every team It doesn't matter that it didn't matter that the Celtics had The defensive player of the year and Marker's smart It doesn't matter who you have Who defends Steph Curry Who cares He's gonna get his

I think you'd like to make it hard You'd like to make it at least make it less efficient I think for gold state you want Memphis I'm not just saying that because it's you right here In front of me But you want Memphis or Sacramento. So you want the six or you want the seven. If you face the sons at the four,

I pick the sons when you're the five, if you're the Warriors. And you face the four, I'd pick the sons. If they're the eight, I'd pick the nuggets over the Warriors because I think Yokic would just pummel, you know,

that smaller Warriors front line. I think that's a really tough matchup for Golden State, especially Andrew Wiggins is apparently not going to play over their final two games. of the regular season, he'll only come back either in the plan or the playoffs. It's really tough. Like, you know, you mentioned we haven't seen Phoenix. We haven't seen Golden State either.

It's going to be a tough task for that. Look, dude, we just cannot disagree more. It is a no-brainer to assure yourself being in the playoffs. I guess I just think that high. Taking that chance is madness to me. I guess I just think that highly of the Sunsville. I mean, that's where we differ is how we perceive the suns and what they are. Because you live in fairy tale land where you act like you've seen them play 60 games together.

I live in reality where they've played eight games against nobody and have won them. So we just don't know. The three games that they won that were legitimate is they beat the Mavs. Oh, congratulations. No one has beaten them recently. I know. I know, but this was a little bit before all this started with Dallas. At the buzzer, by the way, at the buzzer.

They beat them. They beat the wolves. They beat the wolves, a team that at the time was playing a bit better. And that was Rudy Gobert saying that the league cheated them. Yes. That was that cam. And what's the third one? And they beat Chicago.

Oh, fuck. All right, dude. A team. All right. I stand corrected. I stand corrected. You really listed a who's who. You listed literally three play-in teams.

They have. Literally three play-in teams. I get it. As the good ones. But they have. And those were close, right? The Chicago one was a blowout. Okay.

And obviously, Rudy was furious about the Minnesota one. And the Dallas one went down to the last play. You're telling me just because you haven't seen Phoenix, you're not afraid of him? I would not be afraid of him to the point where I was willing to risk not being in the playoffs. I mean, Golden State played this like this a couple of years ago and had to play Memphis to get into the playoffs. And John Morant went and urinated on their head in their home arena in the great forgotten season that no one wants to remember when the rivalry really got started.

he bounced them from the playoffs. And you're always capable of being victim of that. I'd rather be in the, you know, since we're in a position where teams are straddling for their spot, I'd rather be on the 6-7 side of the bracket if I'm the Warriors. If I'm thinking about what's the best path to win the NBA finals, I want to be in the 6-7 slot instead of the 4-5 slot. That's just me. And you know what?

If you lose in the playing, if you lose two games in the playing, You weren't beating any of them anyway. And that's that. So you would dump it. You would risk it. I mean, I want the six. You think it's worth the risk. I want the six.

That would be the ideal. And if we end up with the seven, and I think the Warriors, they should at least be able to win a game. That's the problem, though. Their problem with getting sick. So this is why the Clippers can dictate it because of all these tiebreakers.

It's hard. It's hard for the Warriors. get there and get six and not be tied with somebody and lose that tiebreaker. They're kind of in peril of if it's a tie, they lose it. And so now they drop into the play in. It's very hard for them to be six. They kind of have to be five or seven. It's tough.

They really do. It is. It's tough. Like they really need the Lakers to lose, which would be, you know, it's possible. They face Phoenix on Friday. The Lakers do. and then the jazz on Sunday. Have you cooled on them after watching them get beat by the Clippers again?

No, that was a weird game. I'm honestly surprised those guys even played. They got in like at 1 a.m. in the morning of the second night of a back-to-back. I'm surprised that they played. It was a massive game. Yeah, no. It was an enormous game for them. I thought they were going to sit.

Yeah, I certainly thought Davis was. Yeah, I'm surprised there. I think they probably did a lot of convincing of DeAngelo Russell because it sounded like Russell wasn't going to play and that game was just so immense that I think they convinced him, you know, because Russell has been, he's never been one to want to come back from the injuries. He's missed an extended amount of time already with the Lakers a couple of times.

You know, he's got a contract on the line. And so he's kind of straddling that fence of the contract versus, you know, the team he's playing for right then. And you might be shooting yourself in the foot by not giving it everything you've got, laying it on the line for the Lakers in terms of them resigning you, right? They may not be the ones that resigned you because of the way you're doing. On the other hand, look, he went out there and he played. He went out there and he played in that game. And so I think I was more surprised about Davis. Davis sat the second half of back-to-backs.

But that was a huge game, huge, huge game. And now the Lakers are looking at very possibly being a play-in team as well. And I honestly thought they were going to sweep the board and get up there and ended up playing Phoenix. That's what I thought. But I think now, I do not think that the Warriors are going to do what you think they possibly should do. I think the Warriors are going to end up five. Clippers will end up six where they wanted to be.

It's going to turn out they weren't able to jockey it. And then you're talking about seven, eight, nine, and ten being, who knows, sort it out yourself. It's just really hard to sort it all out. Well, and you also can't rule out, you know, the Pelicans as some type of, you know, variable here. the same record right now as the Lakers and on their schedule. They have the Knicks on Friday and then the Wolves on Sunday. Well, and the Knicks, you can't imagine are going to go full bore. I mean, they're locked in.

So you don't want to mess around. Yeah. Yeah. And then for the Pelicans, I mean, like, we'll see how this plays out. Yeah. It'll come down to the wolves. This is going to come down to Sunday. I mean, like, we're recording this pod today.

And we could record a pod. record upon again tomorrow and Saturday night. We're not going to know until Sunday. Yeah. And all those games are early. They get out here on the West Coast. Pelicans wolves is?

Most of them are at 10 a.m. Pelicans Wolves is at 1230 Pacific. So they're in the later slate of games. Okay. So 3.30 Eastern, 2.30 Central. Yeah. Yeah.

That one is going to change everything. Yeah, and the later slate is Pelicans Wolves, Jazz, Lakers, Clippers, Sons, Warriors, Blazers, all at the same time at 1230 Pacific. The Warriors, there's just absolutely no way to beat the Blazers. But who knows? Maybe you never know, man.

You never know. At this point, maybe they just, I don't know. I mean, as we are, we told you that we are recording. during that game that was going on between the spurs are up. The Blazers and the Spurs and the never doubt the Blazers. They have found a way. They have found a way to be down now by three points with five seconds left to go in the game. Oh, the poor spurs.

Yeah. And now, no poor Trey Jones, because you're up by three. And the thing to do would be to go miss two free throws in order to have a chance. to tie, but instead. Yep. And he hits them. So the Spurs now do not have the second worst odds. They have the third worst odds behind Detroit and Houston.

Hmm. And Portland found a way. Never underestimate. I always say never underestimate the heart of a loser. Never. You know who's been pretty good? Zach Collins. He's back.

You say, oh, geez. You haven't watched a Spurs game. Yes, I have. I've seen. I had to watch him in person. Yeah, you saw Zach Carl. I just pulled up his box scores. He had 24 against your grizzlies in that overtime game.

Wow. Zach Collins has been doing that like every night. And I know it's these garbage time games against teams that aren't taken seriously. Yes, but for a guy who's been hurt every year of his career and it's healthy for the first time and five years. Actually not. It's cool. He was listed on the injured list with a finger injury today, but he gutted it out.

I mean, hopefully his lower bodies, okay. I remember being in Las Vegas one time, seeing him wheel in before on one of those knee scooters at Momofuku in Las Vegas after the game. That was, yeah, that was, I think a couple of years ago. But, yeah, Zach Collins always seems to be hurt. But right now it's cool to see him playing well. Did you not see that? To the Spurs detriment.

The only reason I remember that is because I saw it on the injury report a couple of days ago, you know, on those, it's probably like one of those fantasy basketball things. It's like telling me, I'm sure he's been a good daily fantasy guy with all these stats that he's been putting up recently. He's probably rather cheap. But anyway, it put out like one of the things. And I thought it was a joke at first. It said,

Zach Collins is questionable to play Tuesday night against the suns due to a cut on his pinky finger. Like it was very specific. And I got to tell you, that's warrior stuff to go out there and play against the Blazers with a cut pinky finger. I can't imagine the agony he was in playing against the Blazers, but also with the cut pinky. And for him to, look, I think it's, you're rightfully so. For him to do that against John Butler Jr., man. I mean, I didn't see that coming. I like John Butler.

Of course you do. Super skinny, seven-footer. I just saw him the other night. I just saw him the other night. He looked like he was running on hot coals when he runs. Again, had to look at the box score. Never seen that human being in my life. Yeah, he really sucks right now for the Blazers.

But that's what they're trying to do. I know. Yeah, but at Florida, Sandy is pretty good. Blazer. Oh, yeah. As soon as I saw, I went and looked at his bio. I was like, of course he went to Florida State. Oh, I know.

He's like 6-9, 6-10, skinnier than hell, longer than hell. Of course. He was a Florida State Seminole. And then the other game currently going, Thunder Jazz, Thunder up five in the middle of the third quarter as we record here. That's a big one. Big one. Well, it's big for the Thunder because they'll get eliminated if they drop a game.

Yeah, in all likelihood. The NBA season is coming down to the wire, and now is the perfect time to download Fandul, America's number one sportsbook, because new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the Fandul Sportsbook app. It's safe, secure, and super easy to use.

Then you can bet on everything from the money line to point scores to three-pointers drained. So don't miss your chance to get your first no sweat, first bet up to $1,000 and bonus bets when you go to fandul.com slash mismatch. That's fandul.com slash mismatch to learn more. By the way, Fandul is now live in Massachusetts. Just download the app now and take advantage of their great special offers boost and more. Make every moment more with Fandul an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 plus in select states, first online real money.

Wager only. $10 deposit required. Refund issued as non-addrawable bonus bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See full terms at Fandul.com slash sportsbook. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with the Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. In Arizona, call 1-800 next step. In Connecticut, visit ccpg.org slash chat. In Indiana, call

1,8009 with it. And Kansas call 1,800 522470. 700. In Louisiana, call 1-8777-7-0 stop. In Maryland, visit MD gambling help.org

and New York. Text Hope, New York. In Wyoming, visit 1,800-5-2-4,700. And West Virginia, visit 1,800 gambler.net. You know, one of the teams

that could have gotten back in the mix in a big way, is the Dallas Mavericks, Kevin. If they would have been awarded the opportunity to replay the game against the Warriors, they might have had a chance. But in unsurprising fashion, the NBA denied their protest of the game that had taken place on March 22nd. And the NBA put out the following. The Mavericks protest asserted. With approximately

two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call and a subsequent throw-in that was followed by an uncontested lay-up by the Golden State Warriors. You and I talk about this, what had happened. Easily one of the craziest plays I've ever seen in my life. Like, you just

never see that, where a team just doesn't even know what's going on, and another team just throws it in and lays it in the basket. And so, of course, they end up losing that game by two. Cuban, rose of fit. The incident occurred with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the game, and Dallas thereafter took the lead twice in the final four minutes. Under these circumstances,

Dallas was not able to show, as required, under the standard for the NBA game protest, that it was deprived of a fair opportunity to win the game, and the protest failed on that basis. Following the game, Mark Cuban posted on Twitter that officials had originally awarded possession at Dallas on the play and then during the timeout changed the call. Those public statements... This part is so uninteresting compared to what Cuban actually said in front of the media yesterday. Like this, that was... Get to it. Whatever. I mean, like, what happened yesterday, Chris, was just absolutely wild. Cuban had an unprompted media session, a little scrum. unscheduled, yes.

Unscheduled. And he read text messages between him and Nico Harrison, his general manager that he hired, talking about, you know, Rick Brunson and Jalen Brunson last year as evidence that they didn't have the opportunity to resign him. And he says, you know, we thought we were going to keep until the family, the father, Rick Brunson got involved. I mean, what a shit show, dude. Like, cute. Like, what stood out to you from what he said yesterday? I think that this is someone trying to cope with the fact that he's now,

it's super gotten under his skin with the Luca quotes the other night, about how awesome brunts it is, how much they miss him. We miss him a lot. While laughing hard, he said it. We miss him a lot. Right. And so, and it was widely reported.

In fact, here's what it says. It says, let's see. Cuban adamantly disputed that Brunson was willing to sign a four-year, $56 million extension with the Mavs, as early as January last year, which Jalen's father, Rick and Jalen, have both said was the case. So the dad and Jalen Brunson said that he was willing to sign for four years, 56 million. dollars. Everybody reported that. Tim McMahon reported that. Mark Stein reported that. Everybody. Everybody reported that. This is after the fact, this guy is an all-NBA, All-Star, 48 points against Cleveland performer.

And he looks terrible when the dad and the son both say, we would assign. We would assign. We would have for four years, $56 million. And it says that Cuban says the man's were not given the opportunity to negotiate before he signed a four-year $104 million deal with the Nixon Free Agency. I mean, look, that was their bed and they had to lie in it. The truth of the matter is they probably did not want to sign him to that contract at that time. and then he went absolutely bonkers in the playoffs, absolutely bonkers, and they ended up having more success than they probably even expected to have,

and went to the Western Conference finals, and at that point, you'd made your bet. Now, once you don't re-sign your player, and here's the other thing, Kevin, that would stand out to me. bro, that was not the only chance you had to sign Jalen Brunson. It wasn't the chance. You could have re-signed Jaila Brunson at any point. Okay?

Well, Cuban claimed that they didn't have the opportunity to resign him to the five-year maxee. No, no, no, that was after the year. I'm saying at any time leading up to that, you could have given him, you could have made him whole. Instead, you left him out there dangling. He was not made whole. Okay? Whether they want to dispute what number he says he would have signed for, bro, here's the deal.

You didn't get to negotiate after you didn't sign the guy all the millions of times you could have signed the guy. At any point, you could have given him a long-term contract if you wanted him there at any point. It's not just about January, but they say in January they would have taken this paltry contract. When you don't do that and then the guy pops off, yeah, you didn't get the chance to negotiate. No shit. He's like, screw them.

I'm not staying here. You want me now? Like you created that resent. You also created the opportunity when he says, oh, the dad got a ball, Bronson got a ball. you don't think that of course they were going out. That's what any agent's doing. They're already looking for landing spots for their guy because they don't have a commitment from their current situation.

So you can say that's tampering, that's this, that's that that. That's what good agents do. They're sitting there looking and Jalen Brunson's looking and the dad's looking, I'm sure, and going, hey, are we going to have a landing spot if he doesn't get resigned by this team. And so whether or not, they can bitch and moan about not having the opportunity to sign him after the season. Why didn't they sign him before the season? Why didn't they sign him in January? Don't complain to me about after the season. This is just egg on your face. You look dumb.

And so now you're trying to bury them. The fact Cuban is going so out of his way to do this is the fact, like just regardless of what he's doing, regardless of what the truth is, the fact that Cuban feels so compelled to me is just a symptom of their dysfunction. The fact that he's going out there saying, you know, kids are a guy, despite everything, going out there reading text messages in front of the media.

Like, this is just another sign of all the dysfunction that we can observe from the outside that we hear about, whispers around the league with the sources that we have, people that we talk to, the fact Cuban is doing this is just putting it out there in front of everybody how dysfunctional that franchise is right now.

He said, I mean, there was no negotiation. They didn't give us a number. I mean, you would think that when you're the incumbent team and you can match anything that's the way it works, right? You have a relationship with the agent, and they want to at least give you a chance because you helped develop the player. You had him for four years.

Okay, let's work together. and so Chris, like he also said you know, there's a number that will he have for Kyrie. And when I asked about will they give him the max? He's like, there is a number. They can offer him

272 over five years. Yes, and he said that there's always a price too high was what he said, I believe, right? Yeah. You've got to be able to improve your team, right? You have paid attention to that there's a new CBA coming, right? You're aware of that, right?

and you've read some of the things that have been reported about team building and those type of things, right? That's a Cuban quote, right? That's something he said yesterday? Yes. I just think we're approaching the point. I think we're one year away

of the Luca, where will he go, conversation. I think this summer is pivotal for Dallas. They're going to have either, in all likelihood, they won't keep their 2023 pick at this point. Like, let's just,

even if they missed the playoffs, it seems unlikely that they'll be in the bottom 10 for draft odds, which would mean they need a miracle moving into the top four. So in all likelihood, they're going to have their 2025 first round pick and their 2027 first round draft pick. And so for the Mavericks right now, they're going to have to use those and get something back. We know that first round picks don't go so far nowadays.

You know, like, McKell Bridges, you know, the Brooklyn Nets say no to four first. O'GN and Obie, the Raptors say no to three firsts. We saw the Lakers get a collection of role players for one first. We see the Celtics get Derek White and Malcolm Brogden for one first each. You can get like good individual talent for one first, but you're not going to get like a significant amount of game-changing players. like the Celtics getting Brogden and White. They're like finishing touches to an already strong roster.

The Lakers getting Jared Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley and DeAngelo Russell for their future first round pick is bringing them into a roster that has an all-world defender in Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Like there's a big difference. Whereas Dallas, like Luca doesn't defend. He's one of the worst defenders in basketball. Kyrie has his own issues. Like that roster needs a heck of a lot more work than just what I think.

their two future first can do. They need this off-season and then next year ahead of the deadline is the most pivotal time in the history of the Mavericks, especially over the last five years during the Luca era, or else we're going to be nearing the point where we talk about, hey, where's Luca going to go? And Cuban himself in that presser yesterday alluded to that as well. He's like, you know, everybody's had a player for five years

and not always been great. Look at the Warriors. Yeah, they were, you know, two years. they were losing guys were hurt it's not unusual you know there's only one winner like you know you know you can't say lucca's going to be here for 20 years like dirk you know but we we just got to win championships well they're a long long way away from that chris they're long ways away and they're entering a most pivotal summer right now well and there's been a lot of chaos there right in between all of the the terrible workplace stories that came out and then

all the stuff with Donnie Nelson, the Rala Bob, and like the front office turnover, and the business office turnover. Like, it's been pretty chaotic there. Yeah. All around. And every level.

And every way. Coaching, front office, ownership, everything. Right. And you've got a guy that is coping with having to watch Jalen Brunson be the leader of a team that is now going to be. playing in the first round of the playoffs with a chance to win. I mean, that's a toss-up series against the cabs.

They could very well be in the second round of the playoffs, and he could have another amazing playoffs. I mean, we just saw him play that exact team and at 48. So he might be able to have some big games against Cleveland when they play against each other in these playoffs. And I think he's just coping. It's hilarious that you're trying to build around this, transcendent superstar,

and you brought in Porzingis, and it was a bust. You brought in Kyrie. It's been a bust. And the guy that you drafted, literally in the second round, is the exact kind of thing that would be great to have right now.

Unbelievable. Now, look, I don't want to say, I believe that they could have resigned Jalen Brunson at any time before that. And I think it's cockamamie to talk about after the season. I think, yes, you weren't getting him after the season. That was done. He had already moved on from you. Once you didn't lock him up, and I do think that especially after the playoffs,

you really had no chance because he said. sits there and goes, am I going to unlock, you saw what I did without Luca in the playoffs. I carried this team. I can do that. I'm that good. I could be that guy. Some of those games he had against Utah were just freakishly great, like star, superstar level stuff.

And could Jalen Brunson say to himself, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm capable of this, but I'm never going to have the ball this much unless this guy's out. I'm never going to have this opportunity. And so I want to go do my own thing. Is that something? Should Luca be blamed for that, Chris? Even though Luke is a transcendent force, even though he's one of the best offensive scorers we've seen in recent years, should Luca be giving the ball a lot more often?

I think he's hard to play with. Okay, but can Luca make himself easier to play with? Like you pull up the way he played for Real Madrid before he was in the NBA. Off ball movement, cutting, motion, screening, all this type of stuff. He still does that for the international team, right? Yeah. Like, he still does that. Like, but he's not for Dallas.

For Dallas, it's, you know, my best James Hardin impression. Part of that is the way they play. Does he need to play more like he does internationally? I just think that they have kind of fallen into the LeBron, you know, great year, Hardin, they go as he goes, he's the one controlling it literally every possession. And if he's not controlling every possession, you know, so you just got a bunch of guys that got to space out and got to be able to knock down threes. It's a way it is.

I know, but that's like, that's what I'm saying. Yes, that's what it seems like it is. Yeah, it's a game plan thing. Luke is talking about how we miss Jaylen Brunson a lot. You know, I think back to when I was in Dallas at the beginning of the poor Zingas era, So what is this? The 18-19 season, whatever it is. I sat down in Donnie Nelson's office, and I interviewed him about a whole bunch of topics.

And I asked him, I was like, will we ever see a day that, let's say you find a guard who can shoot off the dribble from three? Like, I mean, I didn't say like Kyrie Irving, but like Kyrie Irving. If you ever find a guard who can do that, will we see Luca operate as a screener for that player? creating mismatches with switches, you know, Draymond Green style rolls to the basket, you know, in the short roll. Will we ever see that day if you find a guard like that to pair with him? And he's like, I hope so. You know, that's part of the, you know, the vision is like bringing in a perimeter guy

who can score and play alongside Luca. You know, he's like, has an on ball screens. You know, that's where you create mismatches. That's where you've gained an advantage in the half court, yada, yada, yada, yada. And I remember, like, when I interviewed Luca, it was like, only like five, ten minutes. We didn't talk long. He was like eating lunch while we're talking. But I said that, I relayed that to him. I was like, you as a screener and like a Dremont, you know, type of role with a superstar teammate. And he looked at me like I had two heads.

And this was like early in his career at the beginnings of his career with Chris Daps for Zingis. And that just, it sticks in my mind all these years watching him play. Stick with my mind with Brunson last year with the way he developed. Still today with Kyrie Irving, where they don't screen for each other all that often. When they do, they produce a lot. Like, the numbers are really good when teams are switching against them and the mismatches that they create. But they don't do it a lot.

But I just, that sticks in my mind when it comes to how Luca coexists with scoring talent and how he shares the ball with them. It's too much of your turn, my turn, instead of playing together in the way that I think he shows that he can do overseas. And I do think, look, I think this comes a lot more into focus when that team sucks. Yeah.

Yeah. They made the West Finals last year. You're right. We can make all the excuses in the world, but they made the West Finals last year. They had a better supporting cast, and he made the West Finals. You could say it can, you know,

well, it wasn't good enough to win then. But, I mean, like, he still was dragging, you know, Phine Smith, Maxie Cleaver, Bullock, Kim Hardaway, Jr., you know, and Brunson. Like, Brunson was the best guy he had with him. Totally.

And he was great in those games. And he's one of the last four teams standing. And so I don't think it's like, you know, Luca Dodges is nowhere near the reason that team stink. Yes. You're right. Like he's averaging, he averages 32 points for a game against the Warriors,

32.6 points for a game against the Sons. After, you know, 29 points for a game against the Jazz. We know what he did. His first two years in the playoffs against the Clippers where he went toe to toe with Kauai Leonard in the Clippers. Totally, you know, overmatched. He's amazing. He's amazing, but is there another level?

Sure. What I'm thinking about. Line him up on a wall, though. The thing is, like, what's the big star or the co-star that he would be able to play with. Well, right now it's Kyrie. And Kyrie did it with LeBron. We did see, you know, Kyrie, LeBron play it together well.

And right now with Luca, like, you're a guy who's been compared to LeBron in a lot of different ways. Well, here's the thing. LeBron played defense. And Luca does not. That's why it's not, that's why it's an impossible pairing. And it's not his fault. Kyrie has actually played great. God bless that fourth quarter last.

night. You see why people are, will, till the end of time, people are going to be able to, we'll pay and will trade for Gary Irving. That was, absolutely unbelievable. There's like three guys in the world that you think are capable of that. I mean, seriously. Yeah. The shop was like, that was truly magical stuff.

Really. He is a offensive supernova. Uh-huh. When he, and that's why he's still, despite all the weirdness, he's still so popular. He's still so popular. Because most people just want to watch basketball. That's all. Most people don't care about the other stuff.

That's right or wrong. That's the most people. Well, they also want to basketball. That's all. And they also don't pay attention to all the, the, your warp and your war and your, you know, your class. They see that. They just, it just looks cool. cool when he plays.

It is cool. It is super cool. It's amazing. The shot he hit in the corner, the pull up, the one on five pull up. Oh, my God. I screamed when I was watching that. That was wild. His handles are nasty, too.

I know. He's so special. He's just so quick. He is. He's a special talent, man. And so you see it sometimes. When he unleashes it, he catches one of those heaters, there's nothing like it. And then like with Dallas.

The fact Luca and Kyrie were even playing last night is of interest because you got the report from super, he would not report this if it weren't from a super trusted source. Shams Chorani reported over the weekend or late last week that the Mavericks were considering shutting down Kyrie and Luca. And then Luca came out to the media and said, if we have a chance, I'm playing. it's not the only time that there's been murmurs of them potentially tanking in recent weeks and then murmurs in return

that Luca's not going to let that happen. It lets you know they are going to do what Luca wants to do, not the other way around. And the fact that they're going to do what Luca's going to do, but the fact that stuff is out there, disconnected and dysfunctional

is what Dallas is right now. We have a lot to be decided with all of these playoffs standing, so it's probably a fool's errand to go through all of them again. We'll just let these games play out. What might not be yet to be decided are all of the awards. Do you think there is anything that can happen in these last couple of games of the season

that would change your opinion on any of the given awards? Or are they all pretty well locked in in your mind? So just to be clear here, I still have not finalized my ballot in the NBA app where you vote. I have not done that. Is it done on Sunday? When does it have to be in? It is Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern, I believe, off the top of my head. Okay, so will that include the play-ins?

Coach of the year, I will be voting for Mike Brown with Sacramento. Defensive player of the year, in all likelihood I'm voting for Jaron Jackson Jr. year. Most improved will, I'm going to do like my final deep dive research over the weekend for all of these, just to be clear. Likely will be Lowry Markinen or Shegildas Alexander. Rookie of the year will be Paulo Bancaro. Sixth man of the year in all likelihood will be Emanuel quickly. And then MVP will be between Yannas and Sondacu and Jowell and Bid. That's where I'm at. And clutch player of the year will likely be Deeran Fox. I'm going to dive in over the weekend, hours of research. But that's...

That's where I'm at right now with what I will be doing and what I might be doing. I'm going to tell you, Kevin, you've been replaced. I thought that you were the king, grizzly hater until I read Michael Mina's article today on the window. Oh, God, yeah. Holy hell. I tweeted that out. I tweeted out saying, like, this is intriguing, you know. What did you call it?

I said, I tweeted out, I'm finding it. Intriguing. Traymond Green winning defensive player of the year. And I threw up on my phone and had to go and wipe it off in order to read the rest. I guess I didn't expect every single Grizzly's fan in the universe to see that. When I tweeted it out, I was, I thought it was just intriguing argument. Like, I hadn't, I hadn't thought about Draymond. Intriging.

I just hadn't thought about Traymond Green. Intriguing, that's an adjective, all right. Oh, my God. And then, look, to make matters worse, as I'm reading through it, he doesn't even have Jared Jackson in his top three and present, because Jerry Jackson doesn't have enough minutes, that's the reason, because he doesn't have enough minutes, okay? And then he could scroll down a little further,

and he's naming his all NBA team. of which Jaman's not on any of the all NBA teams, of course, never broached that subject, and has Steph Curry, who has played 54 games. After he has made an entire argument about how your availability is the reason why the guy that has been the most dominant defender in the NBA and is setting records and literally is doing things that have not been done in 30 years, that guy should not be winning that award because he hasn't played enough.

Why don't we just have Anthony Davis out there? He's played 54 games too. And by the way, and defense opinion, you can't put John there when he's making shoe salesman cower in the back room. Oh, stop already. Good grief. And he has it,

if you want to say Deerrin Fox deserves it, More so, that's fine. But Moran averages more points than De Aaron Fox. Moran averages two more assists than De Aaron Fox. Moran averages two more rebounds than Deeran Fox. Moran's team has a better record than De Aaron Fox. But never mind. And Steph Curry played 54 games.

And I just had to read a thousand words about how Jarant Jackson should not get defensive player of the year because he can't play. playing up. And Evan Mobley is second, who is Jaron Jackson in four years. Like, Jared Jackson is just a better version of Evan Mobley. What the hell are we doing here? I thought, I thought you, I thought you were the worst. This guy. The disrespect for the number two C, unbelievable, unbelievable. Step Curry. The argument literally came down to, yeah, I know he's played 54 games. But it's Steph Curry.

Good argument. If we get Grizzlies Warriors in the first round, we're going to bring on Peanut for a quick segment. Oh, please. For goodness sakes, I would love it. And let me tell you something. You've been begging for that Pelican series. Tell me you didn't tune in last night.

You don't want that smoke. You've got to know now. Grizzlies played basically their G-League guys and went to overtime with them. They would bomb that team out. The Pelagos team is not that good right now. I mean, they don't have Zion. They don't have Zion.

And they're, I mean, wow. I don't think, I saw an updated timeline yesterday. And they said there was no updated timeline. Yeah, that was quite an update, huh? No, he said, we don't know when he is coming back. So, I don't know. And then I was reading something saying that he may come back. I don't know.

Who knows? I would love to see a plus. I didn't see that. I would love to see him playing. Who, who, who said that he might come back? It was like a headline on, uh, I think it was like, a ball sack sports or something? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it was like a, uh, where is it here?

I'll find, no, no, I love ballsax sports. I do love ballsac sports. Yeah. I've gotten, uh, clip that. I've gotten a lot of, uh, getting a lot of stuff out of there, uh, a lot of stories from there. Yeah, I know. They did great stuff. Really a respectable news organization. It might have. Maybe it was, maybe it was just one of those like click baity things, you know, they get sent out.

But it was like something about a possible Zion return and so and so and so and so. And I clicked on it and then I don't even remember what it said. He's not coming back. Oh, it was a, it was an ad for a Jake Fisher podcast. That's what it was. So I didn't listen to the podcast. So, and not because I don't like him. It was because I just didn't, like it was the headline.

It was like a headline on Yahoo. Maybe that's how they got people to. You just hate Jake. No, maybe that's how they got people to like click the link or something, right? I see. I was like, oh, is he coming back? And then you click on it. It'd be like, no, he's actually not coming.

Jake went over to Yahoo recently. I thought he already was it Pretty recently, right? No. A year ago? It's been a lot. It's been a long time. I don't know.

I guess, I mean, look, obviously, I like it more than you. I knew where he was. I knew where the guy worked. It was like a year ago. That's recent. I can't wait for all of this these weekends games because you've got teams that are

trying to win, you have teams that are desperately trying to lose, then somehow it's got to shake out to get our playoff match. By the way, Chris, you know, just on that note, OKC up 11 with eight minutes and 39 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. So if OKC wins, that is going to, that means the jazz are highly, highly unlikely to make the playoffs, which keeps them in the lottery, keeps them in the race for a better pick. And that means Dallas is in an even tougher spot on that playing bubble as well. Dallas is. Dallas needs some real help.

They do. They need, and it's, you know what, you're going to be there. Oh, you won't be there. It's on the road. But OKC Memphis on Sunday, that's the last game for Oklahoma City on the year. The Dallas Mavericks would need Oklahoma City to lose that game. Yeah, the Grizzies are going to end up. No, they're going to end up keeping them out then.

because what's going to happen is tomorrow night Milwaukee has already announced they're sitting everyone they're even sitting like Pat Connathan I mean they're sitting everybody no holiday so Memphis is Memphis gonna

is Memphis gonna try to win that game on Sunday? Yeah because then the two's locked up the magic number is one against the Kings now is there something that could happen ahead of that could lock it up anyway if Golden State beats the Kings on Friday.

They won't know yet, though. So they've got to play it out. And they'll beat Milwaukee. They'll win that game against Milwaukee. So they lock it up then. That would be it. And then they won't play Sunday is what I'm saying. Okay.

All right. So Dallas is... So Oklahoma City could... Oklahoma City will win the Sunday game against Memphis. So that, I mean, if that happens, then they'll be in the playoffs and Dallas won't be. The play end. to play in, yes. So, I mean, we'll see.

This game is still going on. It's a nine-point game as we sign off here. Yeah, because, yeah, because if, that's what you need to pay attention to. If Memphis, if Memphis beats Milwaukee tomorrow night, and they're going to play their guys and Milwaukee's not playing their guys, then the two-seat is locked up and Memphis will not play their guys on Sunday.

Yeah. Against Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City, I mean, I mean, look, Either way, it would be a must win for Oklahoma City in their last home game. Yes. They probably win the game anyway. And they're playing out. I mean, like, they've lost three in a row now, but they've all been, like, pretty competitive games.

Like, they put 79 on the Warriors in the first half. Yep. I mean, like, they've had some really tough competitive games. And another one against Utah, 14. Yeah. 7-0-2 remaining. So. And who would we want to see against Oklahoma City?

What would be the most fun of those matchups, of the teams that could possibly land there? I mean, I guess it's a lot of teams, but Minnesota and New Orleans is most likely right. Yeah. I don't know. I think I'd like to see Minnesota and that. Because then you could root for the Thunder.

Oh, that would be tough. I just feel like I just feel like that'd be a good game. But then your guy, Gober would get knocked out. Yeah, I mean, if he does, he does. You don't want them knocking off the pelicans. What would be the best? Is if Oklahoma City had to play like the Lakers or the Warriors or somebody? I mean, at this point, that would be the craziest.

At this point, I think it would be really cool to see Oklahoma City get in. Oh, for sure. That'd just be really cool if that ends up happening. It'd be easily the most shocking development of any of those. Yes. Because, I mean, look, there's somebody good that's going to get left out. Because any of those teams at their best, Golden State, the Lakers and Minnesota, all those teams at their best are very formidable.

When they play their best, the problem is it has been the story of all of those teams that they have been wildly inconsistent. Therefore, they are in this spot that they're in because their seasons have been mediocre. But they all have things that you fear. And then you've got Oklahoma City, which is that sleeper cell. You know, whereas Dallas,

there will be some people that think like, oh, man, you never know, you never want to play Luke in a one-game set. No chance. They get crushed by Denver. I know. I'm just, you know, responding to them. walloped by Denver.

Yeah. I can't wait to see how it all plays out. And then by the time we come on the air next Tuesday, all of the matchups will be set. Tuesday is going to be, I mean, that's the first day of the plan. My fan dual TV thing launches that day, beyond the arc.

That's coming out Tuesday. Yeah. What fan dual TV thing? If you had to text about this, you didn't know about this, Chris? I didn't know. I didn't know. the Fandul thing. So the Ringer

and Fandul are having some of our podcasts like Fairway, Rowland, East Coast Bias, among others, are going to be on Fandul TV. They started airing this week. Tate Frazier's hosting a show called Through the Ringer. I was on that

with Big Waws and Nora Prince Yachti on Thursday. So today, as we've recorded that aired, we recorded that yesterday, Wednesday. And then on every Tuesday, at 9.30 a.m. Eastern 6.30 a.m. Pacific on Fandual TV. I'm hosting like a 30-minute

NBA show called Beyond the Ark. With who? With Kevin O'Connor? I'm hosting it, you know, bring on Ringer people. I'm sure I'll bring you on at some point, Chris. Is it like video screen stuff? Yeah, it's like, you know, on video, all on video on

on Fanddil TV, and I believe it's going to be on the Spotify app where you can watch the whole thing as well. I believe that's going to be the case. But what is the show? Is it you, it's just you talking about the NBA? Yeah, like a basketball kind of variety show. You know, some analysis, conversations.

And bringing on different people. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is it just you in the studio? Yeah. Unless I'm bringing someone on, it'll be super cool. Look at you. You and Kay Adams on Fandual TV.

I don't think she'll flirt with me the way she does with Sham Sharani. Are those two got something, don't they? They do. they do they got something special i don't want to intrude on that what's the name of the show beyond the arc beyond the arc with kevin o'connor yeah right yeah and it starts next tuesday have you already you can't report in advance is it live

recorded yet no that'll be recording monday so that'll be like the tough thing is like we're recording on mondays and then uh airs tuesday so that'll be a little tough during the playoffs except like just like it but it's no different than you you and I. Sometimes we record on a Monday night and we might miss the lake game. So it's going to be a Tuesday morning at 930 Pacific. I'm not sorry, at 930 Eastern, 830 Central, 630 Pacific. So make sure to set your DVR.

There we will. I will. Hell yeah. I'm going to set the DVR. I can't wait to watch this. This will be great. It'll be a fun little experiment over the next 15 weeks or so during the postseason. And it gets to happen right during the.

the playoffs, right? Yeah, it's a good time a year, man. It's super cool. It's great. I mean, it's super cool to have all these shows, all these pods with the ringer,

you know, Aaron on there. I mean, who knows, maybe next season the mismatch could, you know, Aaron on there. What the hell? I don't know why we're not on video.

I would love our pods to be on video to see our reactions and laughs and stuff. Like, I think our pod should be on video. Who are the ones? Well, they know I'd ask them for more money. So, yeah.

Pay me. An immediate. renegotiations. Yeah, immediate, an immediate renegotiation. The other ones, they just said, hey, you want to be on TV? They're like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, I'll be on TV. But come off that pocketbook.

All right. Always a pleasure. Thanks to our executive producer Jesse Lopez. As always, Kevin. I'll talk to you next week. Yeah, have a good weekend. Enjoy.