The Mismatch - The Fading Cavs, Good Vibe Suns, the LinkedIn Warrior, and What Are the Wizards' Intentions With Trae Young?

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return as they discuss the Wolves' victory over the Cavs in which Anthony Edwards became the third-youngest player to reach 10,000 points and explain what could be causing the disappointing season from the Cavs. They then debate whether Anthony Davis is seriously injured, discuss the Pacers ending their 13-game losing streak, and just what the Wizards' plans are with Trae Young. Next, the guys go through their first loves and loathes of the year. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (03:01) Anthony Edwards reaches scoring milestone in Wolves’ win over Cavs (09:03) Cooper Flagg shines, but Anthony Davis appeared to get hurt again in Mavs’ loss (17:07) Pacers finally end 13-game skid with win vs. Hornets (24:30) Trae Young finally gets traded; goes to the Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert (35:42) Latest Giannis comments (37:41) Verno and Jacoby’s no. 1 loves of the week (44:01) Verno and Jacoby’s no. 1 loathes of the week (53:17) No. 2 loves of the week (01:02:28) No. 2 loathes of the week (01:12:20) No. 3 loves of the week (01:17:25) No. 3 loathes of the week Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan. And joining me as he does every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacobi. Verna, we're going to cancel today's show because there's condensation on my laptop. Oh, no. On my laptop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's some condensation on my laptop.

It's been working hard. I don't know if we can get this one off. I'll have to reschedule for later in the season. You know what was so crazy about the Bulls game being postponed last night because of condensation. There was a game the night before, of which I had an awareness of, because I grew up a St. Louis blues fan, so I still, like, follow them on social media and whatnot.

And they got destroyed by the Chicago Blackhawks in a game, like seven to three, the night before. And usually, like, regular season hockey games, I don't have an awareness of. But you may be familiar with the name Jordan Bennington, who's the goalie for the blues. He had given up his seventh goal. And you can find the video. Anybody can find this video. For those of you, I know you're listening to a basketball.

podcast, but it's funny for anybody. So Bennington gives up his seventh goal, and the coach goes to pull him out of the game, the backup goalie is hiding back in the locker room. And, hey, and his head is poked around the back corridor, whatever. So, like, I had an awareness. There was a hockey game in Chicago the night before simply because of this crazy video that I had just seen, but they've been playing hockey in Chicago for a hundred years. Like, this seems like something that's been figured out for a long time, right?

You would think so. We have a hockey game and then we have a basketball game and everything's going to be fine by time for the basketball game. I mean, we all watched the last dance during the pandemic and we all got to know sort of those in arena staff. Yes. And those sort of like hardworking, mustache Polish dudes, maybe extra 40 pounds on they're like in charge of facilities there.

There's some guy named like Gary Straubowski, who everyone's like calling his phone being like, Gary! There's a condensation on the floor. And Gary's like eating a chili dog at some bar with a beer being like, I don't know, man. Like leave me alone. It's not my problem.

And so now they've got to figure out what they're going to play the Bulls versus the heat. Why not just make it an extra game in the play in? Because those teams are always going to play in. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a playing game and a regular season game. They get to play extra games against each other every year anyway.

Every year. So what does it matter? There were some games. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, no. I had a ridiculous person story. It's not valid at all.

Sometimes you start telling a story, you have to have enough self-awareness. But like, no one gives a shit about the story. I'm bailing on it. Not I'm going to start. Not going to go down that road. I'm out. There were games that went on last night. Probably the biggest one was two winning teams between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Cleveland

Cavaliers. Big note out of. this is that Anthony Edwards became the third youngest player to ever score 10,000 points. No small feat when you consider the other two players are LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And he didn't exactly like lighted on fire his rookie season either. No.

I mean, he was a fantastic player. But I mean, like, did you know he was going to be LeBron or Durant is the question? And I mean, when you're in a. class of those two. I mean, it speaks to how much you have accomplished at such an incredibly young age and true superstar. Minnesota gets a really good win. Gobert has been absolutely awesome for them recently, defensively, and offensively.

Like, it seems like he just never miss it. I mean, again, it's not like he's taking jumpers, but he finishes everything. He's setting the screens and like they feel like they've kind of gotten cracking a little bit. And certainly, I read this morning, DeVincenzo has like the best plus minus in the entire NBA since the calendar turned. This good run for Minnesota. This is, I'll say, we'll talk about the run a second,

but last night was like the blueprint. It's like Edwards 25 and 9, hitting big shots, running the offense. McDaniels has 26. Julius Randall, you know, I have a personal history with Julius Randall, not my favorite basketball player in the National Basketball Association.

but I have to say he has been excellent. He's got 28. And then Devinchenzo goes six for 10 for three. Like, you remember Devincentzo October, November was not shooting the ball well. And it wasn't really working. But that was the blueprint. And you remember they lost that game. It's a couple days after Christmas a lot of people forgot.

They lost to the Nets on the 27th of December. And it was just like a weird loss. Like what? But the Celtics have lost to the Nets. But since then they beat the Bulls. They lost to the Hawks. They beat the heat. They beat the Wizards.

they beat the heat and then they beat the calves and they play the calves again on Saturday. So they can string together this nice little dominance of the Eastern Conference over the past six or seven games. You know, recently when you turn on like a Cavs game like last night, I am having this feeling. Are we just going to wait all year for them to like turn the corner? Like are the calves of the team this year that we know is better than what they've shown? But it's just this is kind of the way it's going to be. this season. Because I keep waiting for them to turn the corner, right?

Like they've gotten some guys back in the lineup. And at some point, they're going to become much more like last year's calves. But it becomes- Are they? How much confidence can you say that with? Zero now. That's what I'm saying. You're like, at some point, they're going to turn into last year's calves.

And I'm like, no, not last year's because, look, obviously they lost players and that's a function of when you pay guys, you got to lose guys. But, but I certainly, we all had them plan as one of the top four seats. That's what I mean. When are they going to start playing like a top four seat? It's never going to be last. Right? Because it's totally different team.

But when are they going to start playing like a top four seat? Because look, the surprise was Boston started playing like a top four seat. Despite recent losses, they started. So they were the one. It was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, they're playing like the team that wants to be a home court advantage team. That's what I'm saying. And maybe it will, maybe it will at some point turn. But the later it gets and the more towards midseason it gets, you wonder, is that in the cards for the second half of the season?

I don't know. I mean, they keep, I keep waiting for that corner to be turned and it's not. Three or four mismatch episodes ago, I looked at their schedule and I was like, they're going to go on a run. Right. It's like, be aware, this is the stretch where the calves go on and run. And they, you know, they beat the hornets and the pelicans. They lose to the Knicks. They lose to the Knicks.

Good win against the spurs. Good win against the sun. It just seems like they're treading water. And I do think that this Cavs team is a function of their health. I don't think it's a broken roster or they're poorly coached or they're not trying or there's bad chemistry. I just think it's health. And I think it's a lot of it has to do with Darius Garland. Because when Darius Garland is 100%, they're truly like a two offensive engine weapon,

all-star level, I could get 30 on any given night guys that can facilitate for others. But when it's just Mitchell, it just feels like a one-note band. Well, and I only mean this to the prism of what we talked about, which was trying to identify, is there somebody that's last year's Pacers who have been decidedly mediocre and then just crank it up in the second half? and next thing you know, they're like in an Eastern conference finals. And I'm not saying that that can't happen with Cleveland. I'm just saying I watched something last night and been like, man, I thought this was,

I thought the corner was turned. Yeah, I don't know. I guess you could say they could be last year's Pacers, but the expectations going into the season were so high for the Cavs. It's hard to like call them the Pacers. That's for sure. I think if there's a team that's truly like that, talking about preseason expectations

versus end result. You could identify the Raptors, but you're talking about a team that is right now in the plan that's going to end up in the top four. That we got to the calendar turn. And they were, I mean, because the Pacers were like below 500 last year. Yeah.

Well, the only team that's obviously that team this year, which is guaranteed to occur as the Memphis Grizzles. Oh, stop already. So, okay. All right. The Jazz played against the Mavericks. And never in a million years did I think you and I would be texting back and forth about jazz and Mavericks. But here we were.

It went down to the end. Big rousing jazz win. I mean, it is a nightmare for Mavericks fans to watch a game play out like that. It's a bucket game with two minutes left to go, and Anthony Davis appears to hurt his fingernail. Okay. I'm not saying Anthony Davis isn't hurt because he is hurt, but there's just not a definitive replay that shows where and when he got hurt.

But when you watch the game, he's clearly hurt his left hand or finger or something. And then he goes, he tries to play out. He goes to the bench. And then they follow him with the camera. as he walks, he dejectedly, he's being helped by the training staff. And finally it's like, oh, no. We're not going to be able to fix this.

First, first he tries to play through it. But the whole possession, he's like holding his hand. And you're like, what is going on? This is just, it's the most Anthony Davis thing in the world. Well, when he was on the Lakers, it got to the point where he would go down and stay down. And his teammates wouldn't even come over. Like, they were just like line up on the free throw line. Be like, it's Anthony.

It'll work itself out. Don't worry about it. But this time. He's getting worked on the bench. He clearly can't get back in the game. So he goes back to the tunnel. But when he gets under the sort of roof of the tunnel, the camera can still see him because the cameras across the arena.

He gets under the roof of the tunnel thinking he's sort of like out of the sight of the public. And then he sort of doubles over. Stops walking towards the tunnel. Why are you rolling your eyes? Are you telling me he's not hurt? Bro. He got to have a broken finger, I'm not.

I'm not saying he's not hurt. I'm saying the whole situation was preposterous. There's two minutes left to go in a bucket game and the guy gets his finger hurt. Yeah. I mean, come on. And right after a week of, are the Hawks going to trade for Anthony Davis? I want to sign a long-term extension in Dallas, whatever. I mean, it was the most.

Honestly, if I told you write a hilariously possible, possibly accurate screen, of the ending of a game with Anthony Davis, you would say it's a two-point game and he's writhing in pain because something happened to his finger. Because his fear got caught in the jersey, I guess. Yeah. I mean, Josh Hart's-

I've watched the replays. I don't see it. I don't see us being caught in a jersey. Like, I know. And we all saw it on the replay. Yeah. I mean, Josh Hart stuck his finger in Brunton's butt and didn't hurt it that bad.

You're such a dick. I can't believe I didn't see that coming. I have to think it is a boy who cries wolf, but he has to be hurt. Like he wouldn't double over in the tunnel. I think he's a low pain tolerance person. That's fine, whatever. Like, you can't control that. But like, he wouldn't double over in the tunnel.

He wasn't like truly, truly hurt. But that's even more preposterous. What is he going to be out six to eight weeks with a broken fee? I mean, it's crazy. Well, imagine you're a team and you've got this whiteboard where you're like, should we trade for Anthony Davis pros or cons? It's like cons doesn't play basketball more than two games in a row. Has not played like seven consecutive games this season.

Let me get my. Oh, no. I was getting. Oh, the prop comic. Carrot top comes out. I was getting, I was going to get a like a real, I didn't have time to go get it, but a real tinfoil hat. Don't get it. He wants, he doesn't want to get traded.

Oh. He doesn't want to get traded. I don't think he's working on that level. Hold on. You just proposed that if you were in the opposing team and you were watching the game, you'd be like, oh, Jesus, we can't do this. Of course, right? So if he says, hey, man, I don't want to, I don't want to move.

I don't want to sell my house. I want to stay here. What if I just, what if I just acting like my fingers are doing? Nobody's going to want me. I don't think he would do that in such a tight game. I don't think so. It's an interesting theory. But imagine you're a GM that has an offer in to like the 17.

interim GMs that are you pull it back. You pull it back. I'd send a text immediately being like, that's off the table. Just like that's up the table. We can't do. At the time, I meant it. Right now, it's off the table. I apologize. Well, it's spoiled this unbelievable. The one thing that is that the mass

fans have to hold on to is Cooper Flagg is just free. I mean, freakish. Had the one three that was called off. That was, dude, that was the entire game. Cooper hits a three, right? And he doesn't shoot great from three, but he's shooting a great last night. Hits a three.

Next possession. Assists a three. Next possession is 0.5 left. And he catches it in the corner. Momentum going the wrong way. Turns around and hits another three. They put him up four with like two minutes left. And that was everything.

I don't know. And I don't think, I don't think the general public that's not watching Mavs games on a regular basis, which is understandable. understands how ridiculously impressive what he's doing this year is. Because when you watch those games, the circumstances in which he is doing what he is doing, the miscast role he has been thrown into as primary ball handler, there's really nobody creating anything for you on that team.

Right? So he's like the shot, creation and creating it for himself and like the degree of difficulty he is functioning as a like star number one on the whiteboard already it's crazy and he's putting up if it's down to a last possession they're looking for cooper flag yes and he's got the ball in his hands it's crazy to watch him and he is just i mean sometimes guys uh even exceed expectation and for rookie year so far. I read yesterday that there's like two guys leading the league in like all of their statistical categories, like the major ones for their teams, and it's Yokic and Flag.

That's incredible. I mean, that's incredible. And they're not terrible. They're not good, but they're not terrible. And he's the best player on the team. If you squint and you add a healthy Davis and a healthy Irving to this. You can, you can really start imagining some things. Well, the other thing is because, you know, the reason you can is because when you watch them last night and they've got Gafford back in the mix, you're like, God, they are massive. I mean, this is the Nico vision should a bunch of six, six, eight to seven footers, especially when flags playing point guard. It's like every, Nazi Marshall, everybody on the court is big. Huge. And I think, yeah, the vision is to have Kyrie sort of like, you know,

orchestrating all of this. But one of the things that impresses me about Cooper is just you can forget how tall he's tall. Oh, yeah. He's big, big, big player. He's a wing. He's a wing. He's a big wing. And who is being miscast at having to like run a team.

I think it's also, I have to shout out, you know, Bryce Sensible, who's, you know, not a household name. But he hit a huge three, got a big steal. Keon George. Keontte. a move. I always get him confused. Yeah. Yeah, Keante George put a move on Cooper.

He turned Cooper around and hit like a mid-range jumper to seal the game. It was a little like, yeah, still a rookie. Still a rookie. Facing the wrong direction on defense. Yeah. It was actually a pretty fun game. And then the other one, I mean, our poor guy, Eric Collins for the Hornets, somebody's got to check on him.

I mean, it's two nights in a row that the game has ended with Eric Collins going, No. I know. No. And a home, too, in front of the home crowd. First, it was Emmanuel quickly in the Raptors game with his game winner against him after Lamello had hit a would-be game winner. And then last night, it's on a T.J. McConnell steel to end the game after Seacob hits the would-be game winner. And then the sneaky T.J. McConnell sneaks in.

and steals the ball, which led to Eric Collins doing the, oh, no. And he did the home, the home thing. If you're ever watching the Hornets on league pass, no matter where they are, make sure you switch to Eric Collins. Oh, you know what I mean? You have the streams button, hit the streams button, get to Eric Collins. But if you didn't see it, Seacum hits a go ahead with like, I don't know, I don't know how much time is it eight seconds or something left.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think it was. Sion was inbounding it. Lamello like kicks it. Sion. Sion. Sion. I always say this wrong too.

It's Sion? I would say it's Sion. I would say it on like all season. Sion gets the ball and sort of like lazily kicks it back to Lamello's. T.J. J. J. McConnell steals it. But Collins,

being like the Hornets guy he is, he points out that Lee wants a timeout. Yes. But you can't like review whether or not the coach called a timeout before this deal happened. but Carl's trying to will it into existence, and he just couldn't.

Unbelievable. And so, and then Lamello had 33, 8, and three steals off the bench, including seven, seven threes. Yeah. So did you see Goldsbury's posts about the cockacity versus impact graph? No. That we requested, you didn't see that? He did it? No, he didn't do it.

Oh. But I have another Goldsbury request. I think he's mad at me. Why? I think he's probably not going to do it. Because I sent to him a picture of, you know, like the old Camron photo with the pink fur? Yeah, the pink fur, whatever. I've got one of those of Cam Spencer.

And after he hit the game winner against San Antonio, I sent to Kirk, hey, man, sorry you got killer cammed. And I haven't heard from him since. I haven't heard of him. He texts back, usually, too. Oh, that was the Instagram DM in fairness. I would like, Kirk, here's another commissioned piece from the mismatch, your friends at the mismatch, Kurt. I want a number of times between the legs per 36 possessions.

Because Lombello has to be like, it's got to be Lamello and then like a 10 between the legs gap between the next person. That's just, His default thing is just to go between the legs three or four times before he even thinks about what he's going to do. Yes. Amazing to watch. Lamello had a good game. He had 33 off the bench, but he had some boneheaded stuff down the stretch.

That's the experience. He tried to throw an alley-up. There's a minute left. I think they're down two, and he's on the break on a two-on-one. And, like, he could have easily, you've seen a ton of two-on-ones. The NBA now you don't really even risk the pass, but he tried to throw an alley-oop when you think he would just, euro his way into a bucket. And I think in his mind, when he's on a two-on-one, and at all times, the only thought in his

head is, what's the coolest shit I can do right now? You know what I mean? It's not like what's the most impressive basketball play I can make. He's like, what's the coolest shit I can do right now? Which is why he's like the most popular player to anyone under 27 years old. He is fun to watch. Sure is. He is fun to watch.

Say whatever you want about him. The guy is entertaining. You never know what's going to happen in their games. But anyway, check on our guy Eric Collins. And our guy, Kirk Goldsbury. Yeah, oh, yeah. Kurt Goldsbury, I mean, I think I upset him. Well, I'll text him.

I think I upset him with the Cam Spencer pitcher. Also, shout out to our listeners who have absolutely ruined my idea for the unwatchables by alerting me that there are literally 5,000 podcasts that do the unwatchables, of course. There's no such thing as an original idea. They do, the variation of that.

You know, a real quick side story that I think you will be interested in. There's a guy, the guy that used to own the Grizzlies was a guy named Michael Heisley and he passed away years ago. And he was old and gruff and tough. and like a guy that like built his like paid his own way through Georgetown built his company from the ground up was a billionaire that still rode coach

and was a tyrant to people. No trust fun for the kids. No trust fun for the kids. But he, for whatever reason, took a liking to me. He loved me. And one day I would then by young age,

I would pitch him business ideas. And I was like, Mr. Heisley. I was like, you know, like, when you go to, like, Walmart and you're, like, pushing the cart around, and there's, like, a wheel that's, like, always, like, it's got a mind of its own. It's spinning around. And it's, like, it's crappy.

But then you go to, like, Target, and the carts are always good or whatever. I was like, I need to start a shopping cart company that sells shopping carts. But I sell them to these places because I think this is a massive part of the buying experience. So I'm selling them on these, like, shopping cards, whatever. And he's like, you don't think nobody's already thought it. at. And I was like, every idea I pitched to him, he would say, you don't think somebody's already thought of that? And that's how I felt when I pitched the unwatchable. I heard Michael Hysley's voice going, you don't think somebody's already thought of that? And then I find out

there's literally 5,000 podcasts that do bad movies. I got a C-Soo. You didn't get the letter? I didn't say bad movies. I said unwatchable. Like, we can't even make it through them. You didn't get the letter? What? For season to sit from Sean Fantasy. Yeah, from Fantasy and from Amanda and from Bill, frankly. They're like, it wasn't from them. It was from their lawyers.

It's all legalese. I sent it to my lawyer for review. So I'll let you know. I'll copy it. Well, look, it's not going to be long until we're on Netflix so we could like totally like parlay this into something, right? Where we're watching like, what is the worst Netflix thing we can watch? And then we like pump it up.

And next thing, you know, it's in the top 10 or something. And then Netflix loves us and we become billion. They call it the mismatch bump. And then we start the shopping cart company and then become billionaires. And then we'll all just share a compound and wear matching pajamas on Christmas morning. It'll be great. Perfect. All right.

Trey Young got traded since we last spoke. Everybody's already. Yeah. Everybody's shooting all the meat off of that bone. Yeah. So it's kind of whatever. But I guess here's the thing that's interesting to me at this point. Because we've all reacted to it.

Like who won, whatever, blah, blah, blah. What? let's imagine that you're your your your your your tray young's dad and he is your daughter just go with me on this okay and the wizards come over to to pick up tray young to take him out on a date and you say what are your intentions with my daughter right weird metaphor i wish i never did it but let me ask you this question what are the wizard's intentions for tray young like what do they want to do with tray young just just let me just give just give just give up Don't even,

wait. Are you trying to say the wizards want to have sex with Trey Young? Just pretend it never happened. I wish I never did it. I don't build on that story. I already built on this metaphor. But just answer the fucking question. What is the plan for Trey Young if you're the wizards?

Are you like, we're going to build around him and become the, he's going to be the face of the franchise, and the young guys are going to grow up with him. We're going to win a championship in 2028. One of these college kids that works for like fan-sided or what are these like, you know, blogs or whatever where nobody's really editing you.

I will send you 20 bucks to put up NBA analyst, colon, the wizards want to have sex with Ray Young. Leave me alone. I will send you $20. We're supposed to be partners for a no.

For you say, NBA analyst, Colin. You gave a fucking 35 second story about shopping cartwheels. I didn't say shit. It's moved on. I made a bad metaphor. NBA analyst, colon. That's exactly how I want it.

NBA analyst, Colin, I like being called an NBA analyst. That would make me happen. The wizards want to have sex with Trey Young. What's the plan for Trey Young if you're the Wizards? Extend him and get people back at the arena. He's fun to watch. And you don't have anybody better than Trey Young. But how much do they play him this season?

Probably not much. I think they trot them out there just like have him throw some al-y-y-ups and be like, just remind everybody how cool he is. I mean, look, I do think that next year is the bigger year because, I mean, if you assume that he's going to, if you don't tear up the contract and sign him to an extension, then he's got a $49 million player option, which he will, of course, pick up. And so it doesn't matter as much this year. It's not going to affect his money this year if he doesn't play. Next year is the one where it's like if he doesn't have an extension, then you get into that, right, we've either got to move. him. I mean, this is the, but I, I, one of the things, sometimes you have to connect the puzzle pieces.

And I was listening to, uh, Zach Lowe and I think he mentioned, you remember the guy, he was with the Warriors for a long time as their assistant GM. And then he went and got the GM job of the Atlanta Hawks, Travis Slink. And the reason everybody became very well versed in Travis Link is because he made one of the biggest deal. that has been made on a draft night, which was, we're not drafting Luca Donchich, and we're fine with Trey Young and future asset, right? Well, Travis Slinks with the Wizards now.

And we always talk about new owners, new management, new coaching coming in, and it's like, the people that are now in Atlanta, that's not the people that were married to the success of Trey Young. if you tell me that the guy that originally believed him, there's always a connection, right? And the guy that originally believed in him, believed in him so much that made that deal on draft day is now part of the brass at Washington.

When you ask me what's going to happen, they're going to sign him to an extension because there's a guy there that says you can win with Trey Young. And we made in East Finals with Trey Young. And Trey Young was, you can watch the Internet all you want. Here's the truth. He's the third leading scorer in points per game for the Hawks. He's the number one assist guy. He's the number one playoff scorer in Hawks history. He's the number one assist guy in Hawks history.

And they did win with Trey Young as a Kikog. And he is a multi-time all-star, and we're getting him for nothing. And I do think that they will, right, when it's a guy that originally drafted you is a part of things, that tells me it's long term. That's what I see. Yeah, I think so too. And I also feel like because we haven't had a pod

since Tuesday and we've been sort of digesting the commentary around this trade, I feel that Tray Young is being slandered left and right. I agree with you. I think this is ridiculous. I think he's been devalued

sort of like reputationalally. Yeah, he's not a great defender, but guess who else is not a great defender? Luca Dantzschean, Jalen Brunson, earmuffs, everybody, Steph Curry. Like you can win with a point guard that is an offensive engine that gets points and assist,

you can shoot from anywhere, spread the floor, spread the spacing, the geometry of your offense completely changes when you haven't got a 28 feet. Dame Lillard's not a shutdown defender. Like this isn't the first time we've had a score for his point guard that is not a great defender. You just have to build around that person to cover that up. I think you're right. I think consensus-wise, that he is in the, like,

he's like in the Westbrook category now amongst media members, right? Where a lot of, I would think the media's view of Trey Young does not match up with the public's view of Trey Young. That's what I would say. Is that fair? Yes, right? That's fair.

It's hard when you bring up Westbrook because there's such different people. I know, Westbrook is known for effort and whatever. I'm just saying the general public has a higher opinion of Russell West, or did have a higher opinion of Russell Westbrook than did the people that are dictating what opinion should be. And I would say the same is true of Trey Young.

Yeah. And I think the idea that that Trey Young, you can't win with Trey Young is ludicrous. I think it's absolutely ludicrous. It's like saying you can't win. I mean, I'm not going to. Yeah, there has been comparisons between Trey Young and Steph Curry. I'm not calling him Steph Curry, but like the idea that you can't have one defensive liability on the floor and still win a championship, I just don't agree with it. Also, let me just say, they have not won 50 games in Washington since Wes Unseld.

Who cares? I mean, it's way more fun to have Trey Young. Yeah. You would have a chance at it if you got good, some good players. Yeah, like, like we're on. context with Joe House who doesn't like this deal or whatever. I'm sure he'll say it in the microphones. And like, you know, Andrew Sharp is another

guy I know. It's like, if you're a Wizards fan, this is awesome. This is awesome. Watching Tray Young every night is much better than watching C.J. McCollum every night. It's just more fun. It's a better experience. I agree with you. You know what is a crazy

fallout from this? This is wild. So when the Tray Young thing went down, one of the things that I thought about was, immediately am taken back to that draft, which I cover. Of course. And the number one pick was DeAndre Yaten. The number two pick was Marvin Bagley. Number three was Trey Young slash Luca Donchich. Like DeLuca and Trey were three and five. And then four was Jaron Jackson Jr. Okay. All five of those are elsewhere. So then you start

going down the rest list. And that is a great draft. Like great. Check this out. It's a 2018 NBA draft. The only players still with the team that drafted them, and that ain't that long ago, right, when you think about are Jaron Jackson Jr., Miles Bridges, and Mitchell Robinson? That's incredible.

Well, so the way it works, that would be your third year of your second deal, right? So that's where it gets tricky. heat because there's not too many players that play out their first and second deal on the same team. I mean usually guys that are multi-time all-stars do. I mean, we

would have never end up. That's good point. We would never have expected it in a billion years. Also, by the way, SGA's in that trap. Also on a different team than the one that drafted them. There's only three guys still with their team from the 18 draft.

Jaron, Bridges and Mitchell Robinson. That it. And go look at that draft. It's SGA. It's DeVincenzo. That draft is loaded. Oh, yeah. Loaded. Loaded. All kinds of awesome players in that draft. And still, like, I guess the point is you just don't get to root for guys all that long anymore. I mean, no. You know what I mean? You figure if you draft a guy and the guy is awesome, at minimum, you're going to root for him for eight years. Right? Of course. Like, if you. Because you got you got the first contract and then you've signed them to a four-year extension. Or in some cases, five-year extension, right? But yeah. Why?

I mean, I can't believe that of all those players, number one pick, Aiton, number two pick Bagley. Yeah. Moamba? Yep. Oh, God. It's a really good track. Jerome Robinson. Yeah.

Michael Porter Jr.'s in there. Yep. Lonnie Walker. And a different team. Oh, Red Velvet. There's a lot of good players in that draft. A lot of good players. It's certainly the top end.

I mean, you've got guys that have made multi-time all-stars. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, there's some great players in this draft. Luca, Sharon Jackson Jr., Tray Young, sexting. Oh, Kevin Knox. All right, I'm not going to look at this anymore. I forgot about that.

Do you remember Kevin Knox's Summer League? Oh, do I ever? He looks so good. Well, I remember the first game, which was Zion's debut. And he ripped the ball away from Kevin Natchez. Like, give me that ball, bitch. I was like, this is a different deal. This is a different deal.

Anyway, all right. The Trey Young deal is done. And certainly I will tell you, if he does, I hope they do play him. I'll watch way more Wizards games because Trey Young's out of that team. That's all awesome. So if Trey Young was your daughter and it was prom night. Come on. All right.

Janus says he'll never ask to be traded. All right. I mean, the perfect follow-up would have been, well, what about your agent? Yeah, it's just kind of like,

Janice, like, I had a friend that broke up with his girlfriend without breaking up with his girlfriend. He just, like, forced her to break up with him, you know,

that move. We just sort of like to stop doing like the basic boyfriend things to the point where like, she just like, force her to break up with you. That's what Janus is doing. It doesn't, to be the bad guy.

He's the bad boyfriend who's going to end up being like, yeah, she broke up with me. It was crazy. It's like, well, did you text her back? Like, no, not once in the past two weeks. Did you take her out? Nope. Did you call her? It's like, well, it sounds like you broke up with her.

Like, that's what he's what he's going to do right now? Well, he's, I mean, we're what? Or a month removed from the show we did where he had made the comments like, I can't control what my agent does. And like, for sure you can. And a month or half removed where he took all the post down that involved the bucks except like the championship. Yeah.

And the MVP. me. He's like, oh, no, I just do a little house cleaning, a little spring cleaning on my social media account, which no one ever does ever. My, my favorite, honestly, though, my favorite was the, I can't control what he does. Like, he does. Well, he literally works for you. This was equal to like, if they decide to move on without me, then I'm just going to have to accept that. Like, what? Okay, bro. What are you talking about, Yonis?

Nobody's going to hate you, bro. You delivered a title. It's fine. Nobody's going to hate you. If you spend your life worried about what other people think about you, you're going to be unhappy. Like, Janus is too concerned about his reputation and how people think about him and whether or not he asked out and what his character and ethics and morals are.

Like, dude, if you want to leave, just leave. Because you're not playing on the bucks next year. Because we all know how this is going to play out. Where are the bucks going to end up? Playing out of the playing. They're not winning the championship. They're going to lose in the first round if they even make the first round. And then he's going to leave in the offseason.

It's inevitable. Let's get to our loves and loaths. All right, I'm going to start with a quick little shout out to Rick Carlisle. I'm going to give him a love because he got a thousand wins last night. And that is no small feat. There's only 10 guys that have won more games than that. And I was surprised it was 10 to be honest with you. Greg Popovich, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkins, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley, Doc Rivers,

George Carl, Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Rick Adelman. Those are the guys that have had more wins than Rick Carlisle. But here's the deal. Outside of like Spolstra, you wonder if this is just going to be, and obviously Doc's still around. But like, this might be the last time we ever see something like this. I'm serious. the guy getting to coach 24 years in the NBA is just like not going to happen anymore.

Look, you're going to have, like attention spans are already shortened and pressure is already heightened. And so, like, you look at the next ones on the list. It's like Spolstra at 807. Then Steve Kerr at 586 and then Tibbs is right behind him. I just don't, I don't know if anybody's going to be able to be able to beat. an NBA coach for 20 plus years. But not only would you have to be a coach.

That was his head coaching though, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm saying. So he did a bunch of years assistant coaching too. But you would have to be a head coach for 20 plus years and be awesome for 20 plus years. Like I really think that the reason I'm shouting this out is because I think this is like, this is something that we're not acknowledging at the time as being crazy. But you're lucky if you make it five years in the NBA now.

You know what I mean? And all the, it used to be the coach was the big dog for so many years. And now the players of the big dogs, you know what I mean? Like they'll, they can get rid of you. When you're paying the amount of money that you're paying for these players now, like being a head coach that gets to like you're the coach, you establish the culture and it's my way or the highway. Like all those guys are like, you know, those old school guys,

They were all like my way or the highway guys. And now you have to be the, it's a, you know, we're all pulling the same rope. We make our decisions as a collective, right? That's the front office coach relationship now. And so they hire generally young guys of which will, you know, be on the same page with them. Whereas these guys are typically the Carlisle. And Carlisle has gotten obviously has evolved. So he gets credit for that.

But the Tibbs guys are, let me coach the team, get the F away from me. You know what I mean? Like, I don't care about your analytics. I don't care. Let me win basketball games. And that's the bygone era. And that's the era of which guys are just not going to be allowed to coach for 20 years. No way.

No way. When there are numbers like this and people say like, oh, probably won't be broken. Like you just said, usually I push against that because time will tell that like, even the most unbreakable records end up going down. But you do make a good point. Just the tenure of coaches is shortened to the point where I can't imagine someone coaches over 20 years. No way. Because a franchise, a single franchise can't be successful for that long.

So that's not probably not going to happen. I'm going to say it's like a Popovich again. And I mean, it would have to be somebody like a Will Hardy or a Jordy Fernandez or something like that just sticks. Or maybe a championship in their 20s or early 30s and then sort of like move to three teams. Maybe Dagnall, who started as the youngest coached in the NBA. If he coaches 10 years at Dunder and the 10 years somewhere else and has success in two places. You have to have success in two or three places to get to that many wins. But if they don't win the title two years in a row, they'll probably bail on him.

You know what I mean? Every coach of the year gets fired like the next year. It feels that way. Shot to Rick Carlisle. Yeah, Rick Carlisle, still doing it. Got a big win last night despite the, It's dreadful season. I mean, there's 13 straight losses.

He sat on 999 for 13 games. That's rough. Come on. That's tough. All right. I got a, here's my first love. Great losses from terrible teams. Allow me to explain.

Okay. Pacers lose to the cab by four start the trend. This Nets magic game was electric. I want to call him Igor Demmon, but apparently it's Yeager Juman. So I'll call him by his name. But Jomon against the magic, remember his reputation was like at a BYU, he was like great playmaker for others, can score, but can't shoot. This dude lit it up at the end of this game.

I'm talking like three or four threes in the final two minutes in overtime, like was just phenomenal. And they end up losing to the magic. why is that a great loss young player proving himself getting great experience being competitive but you still might have the worst record in the league right jazz lose to the thunder in overtime which was a very important game for the thunder because if they lose that one who knows what their narrative becomes but again a team that's not trying to win trying to have good lottery odds going to overtime against a playoff team is a great loss for a terrible team that was a trend of the week that I loved.

I told my my favorite point that you have made on today's show besides the wizards wanting to have sex with trey young was uh eager is so much cooler than yagore. I know it's tough. It's hard. It draft night we're all like, oh, Igor. And then they're like, Yeager Joman. You're like, uh, yeah.

Yeah. Igor is so much better. So much. There's so much more you can do with Igor than Yeager. All right. I guess we're going to start with my first. loathe. My first loathe,

I don't like to talk about guys' personal lives much. It's not something we do typically on the show. But let me just explain to you. As basketball fans and as observers, keen observers of the NBA, it has now become

absolutely impossible to not have an awareness of salacious headlines, and then they overtake your Instagram feed or your Twitter feed or whatever the case may be. And my first loathe is Zion Williamson's personal life. I mean, every time something comes across, it is like this, it's some girl with this comically huge ass accusing him of dastardly deeds.

And I'm like, I can't, I can't, I can't look at this. I can't look at this. You look at it. I looked at it too. We all looked at it. Bro. And it's something like, you know how we were saying like you're writing something from like, like I told you if you're writing a script for the Anthony Davis injury or whatever.

I mean, dope chick 69. With that's your handle. That is crazy. Absolutely. Our group text was the funniest thing. I mean, come on, bro. Don't chick 69? That too made the accusations that she...

Well, and also there's a... One thing I hate about this whole thing, and who knows whether the accusations is true or not? We have no idea. But she's like, do you want proof? And there's a video of like, Yonnet, I mean, Zion, like, picking something up on his floor? Yeah, it's like, he's like in his house and his socks,

being, like, secretly filmed by a house guest. That's just so nasty to me. I'm just saying, like, look. To be at someone's home and secretly film them and then put it on the internet later, it's just like, that is just carmically so wrong. I love Zion. He needs some vet leadership. Do you love Zion? Yes, I do.

I do. I find him to be so messy. Like, this is so messy. And it just overtakes my feed. And it is funny, but I don't need to see about your personal life. And especially when it's. dope chick 60. That is the funniest

table answer. You know the dope chick you gotta be a, you gotta be a maniac to mess with dope chick 60. That's crazy. She tried dope chick. It didn't work.

She tried it without the C, like C-H-I-K, it didn't work. Try it without the K, C-H-I-C, two Cs. And she's like, fine, I have to add a number to this. Like, what number should I add to this? Like the year I was born, like, no.

what about one, two, three. Come on. Come on, Zaya. All right, good, let's do this. Come on, Zaya. We're trying to get that trade value up. I haven't heard anything about him being traded. And it just seems like,

oh, it's about to be as soon as the trade thing. It seems like it has to happen. Yeah, well, because it's going to become, it's going to become another one of those, you know. We didn't draft you. Also, we don't want to sign you to the extension. So it's either, what are we doing here? What are we doing here?

What are we doing here? And they want to build. out around Queen and Fears. Of course, as they should. Well, I don't know. As they're going to, maybe they should not, but they're going to. But here's the thing outside of the way the basketball goes, this is like three consecutive years where some like OnlyFans model has overtaken our feeds.

Like, come on. I know. Come on. This is so messy. I've never put my credit card into OnlyFans, but I've thought about it. Oh, no. I thought about it. I've thought, I've never done it. I've never done it.

I'll go to like the profile and I'll just be like, and then I'll be like sign up for OnlyPans, but I've thought about it? This is when you know your wife has no chance of listening to the pod. Oh, she never. Oh,

she doesn't. No, she doesn't. She's, yeah, but she has explicitly told me that can't spend money on OnlyFans models. You can't spend a penny.

So I don't care what you look at on the internet, but you cannot spend a penny on anything on OnlyVans. That's where she draws in a lot. Yeah. Yeah. So she drew the line. That's fair. I think it's a fair line.

Yeah, I think so too. It's like, pretty much. On December 7th, Jonathan Caminga did not play against the Bulls. Okay? So that was a month and plus ago. Okay. He since played nine minutes and 31 seconds in a game against the Suns.

Has not played at all. Do you remember, you texted me about this, that game against the, Thunder when Steph and Draymond and Butler were out? Yes. Guess what happened with Cominga? DMP.

Lower back soreness announced before the game. So he didn't play either. And do, like, it's easy to forget this summer. Do you know how many minutes on this podcast we spent talking about Jonathan Gaminga and his contract and what's going to happen with him? It just sucked up the entire news cycle.

All summer long, we talked about Jonathan Cominga. Minga. They dragged it out. And now nothing is happening. You guys not even playing. So he's going to like end up on the Kings, I guess. Like it's just so weird what has happened with that.

Especially. I just feel like there's more to it. I mean, I think it's probably he was Joe Lacob's guy, right? You always have to figure out who's got like, who's got stock in this. You remember how we were talking earlier about how Travis Slinks got real stock in Trey Young. Like even he might be in a different place now, but he's still the guy that didn't take Luca and took Trent Young. Like you can't have more belief than that, right?

So he's still got stock in him. And I think, you know, this goes back to when that draft was going on. And there was that weird story about Joe Lakeup, like Jonathan Caminga, like there's a, you could find it. And he talked about like, you know, his conversations with her. And he's like, I haven't talked to the coach. He went to dinner with Joe Laker. like before the draft. He had never met Steve Kerr before the draft.

Oh, comminga did? Yes. So I just, I've always thought it's probably the owner's guy. And Steve Kerr has never been able to be able to stand him. But so then you have that, you know. Well, I don't know if you know this, but Joe Laker may or may not have answered an email from a fan. Yeah, right. He did.

And he may or not have said something about the coach. and his agenda. Right. And then you do have to wonder, and I'm going to take this way too far. You've got the owner kind of like sub-tweeting you and what he thought was a private email to a fan. You've got Draymond walking off.

You're on the lame duck year of your deal. I think it's fair. They're not going to win another championship with this core. Yeah, I think it's fair. I think what you're saying is fair. I think it's fair to say that we will not see Steve Kerr as the head coach. for the Golden State Warriors next year. And he just focuses on the 2028 Olympics?

I don't know. Focuses on hanging out and doing nothing. Playing golf. But don't you think that if he was going to coach next year, he had an extension? I think so. Because if he wanted to, he'd get a five-year extension right now for $50 million.

I don't know if he wanted to, if he could. Given the lake-up thing, given the lake-up thing. You know what I'm saying? Regardless at that point, he could get an extension. If he wanted to continue to coach the Warriors, they would not, they're not going to usher him out the door. I agree with you. Whether it's five years or whatever.

But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. This era might be just, you know, the clay thing happened and now the Dremont thing, you know what I mean? Like, I think Curry's the only, I think Curry will be last man standing and the others will probably be elsewhere. I bet we see Dremont Green in a different uniform before his career's over. And it wouldn't be surprising to me if we saw Steve Kerr either out of the NBA or on a different sideline before it's all sudden done. But I don't even know if he'd ever coach anybody else, honestly.

He might just retire. Should we report now that Steve Kerr signed with the ringer? Do we report that now or do we wait for the summer? I think you wait for the summer. What's the podcast called? Dangerous Curves? No. This is a big brainstorming meeting.

This is not like a, hey, throw it at me. It has to be called like the Steve Curve. podcast. That's what's what sucks about podcast because of like SEO optimization. It basically has to be like the Steve Kerr podcast. Dangerous Curve doesn't get it done. It doesn't get it done.

My next, I guess where I love still, right? Yeah, yeah, because I did my love. My next love. Spencer Jones, the LinkedIn warrior and the short-handed nuggets. I mean, what a run we've got here for Spencer Jones and for Jalen Pickett and for the rest of this group. Peyton Watson, just career high after career high over and over again.

Them holding down the fort. Jamal Murray putting up like 17 assists, like holding down the fort while their guy is out. And their schedule has not been easy. No. And they've been able to pull this off. But the LinkedIn warrior is my favorite. So I don't know if you know about the Spencer Jones, the Stanford guy. I didn't even know you could post like long.

posts on LinkedIn like that. I didn't think that that's what that was for. But he puts up a post like you would on Twitter or Instagram or whatever else. Some games you'll remember for the rest of your life. On paper, this one didn't make sense. Shorthanded by seven players, no starters available with a lineup made almost entirely of guys that began their careers in the G League. We're on the road against the top team in the Eastern Conference with multiple NBA All-Stars. Everything about it was unlikely, including my defensive matchup with a near 300 pound center. But nights like this remind you of what teams are really built on. Effort carries belief compounds and everyone commits to the same goal.

Logic stops mattering. On? Why is that on LinkedIn? Why is it on LinkedIn? I don't know. Why? Because he's the LinkedIn warrior. Of all the outlets and platforms you could possibly put that on.

why LinkedIn? I don't know. I don't understand it. He uses it to, you know, they say that there's like some other guys that are out there. Evidently Mike Muscala who was on there for a while. And like there are other people,

I guess for like business opportunities that have their active LinkedIn profiles. But like using your active LinkedIn profile as like your, you know, sounding board like your Facebook or Twitter or Instagram for your captions. He's like, I gotta love it. I love it. He's the nerdiest thing to do ever. I like it.

I like it a lot. But shout out Spencer Jones, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett, all those guys that are being given this opportunity for the nuggets. And they have proven like they can rally together and get some wins in the absence of their NBA MVP. And he's the LinkedIn warrior is my favorite. Oh, yeah. I mean, the idea that he's,

using LinkedIn is almost more more sort of like of an outlier than them winning against the Sixers and the Celtics. Agreed. I can see a world in which they win against the Sixers and Celtics. I cannot understand a world in which they beat the Celtics and Spencer Jones opens up his LinkedIn app and it's like, let me just sound off right here about this big win. Amazing. Amazing.

Love him. What's my second look? Like we're doing loves, right? Yep. I didn't love what happened when the Knicks traveled to Detroit. We spoke about that in the last game. But I love what's happening with Isaiah Stewart. And I think before this season, if you asked an NBA fan who's really into the league, you just said, tell me about Isaiah Stewart. What would they say?

Psycho. He wants to fight. Oh, he wants to fight. He always wants to fight. He's too. He's always starting fights. Isn't that the guy that had to be held back by 50 people? Yeah.

Yeah. He actually wanted to fight when he was being held back. Like that is his reputation. That is like the first and lasting that everybody ever said about him. And I think this season, he's proving that he's so much more than that. And he had 31 against the Bulls with no Duren. He has 2.03 blocks a game. He's the only player under 7 feet averaging 2.0 blocks a game.

He was defensive player of the month or whatever that is in December. And he had a, his defended field goal percentage at the rim. So this is what people score against you when you're at the rim is 43%. Wow. And also, if you look at him, you would think that he is not the type of player that can shoot a three. But he's been shooting him this year. He's 37% from three. Like, he's awesome.

And he has been so much more than just like an enforcer or, a physicality play. Like, this is not like Bill Lambier out there. This is a skilled, defensive weapon that can spread a defense that can score underneath the basket and that can switch on to perimeter guys too. Like he's,

he's been really, really good this season on both sides of the ball for the pistons. And I'm so glad that he's proven his value outside of like, oh, he'll get in a fight. You know? And you know what's crazy is, um,

when I think about him, there is there's all these old school guys when I first started covering the NBA that were really big on the look if there's not there's not a lot of sure things but and certainly the draft can become a crap shoot but if you want to find a guy with the NBA career they were they were like generally and again it's not an all and I'll be all and it's the reason every year during the draft I always go back and look at it they'll say top five, top 10 high school players. Find out who were the best amongst their peers.

And go back and look and then check that list against guys that either became huge stars or had NBA careers, like long NBA careers. And one of the years when I was going through it, I was going back and looking at all of them. Dude, Stuart was like a top five high school. And so, and what's crazy is now you get this far down the road. and there's some old school guy, I promise you going, yep.

Like, I mean, he always had this. Like, he was always going to be good, right? Like, I mean, it is what it is. Like, sometimes it's even guys like that that you go back and look. And again, it's not an end-all be-all, and they're certainly b-all and they're certainly busting anything that you're doing. But the track record of those guys has been very good. And I don't think that, I think we think of like the cameradishes of the world.

Like those kind of guys were like, you know, high school top 10 type of guys, right? But like people see Isaiah Stewart and I think would be surprised that he was. You are not surprised. You think he was probably just an absolute monster and destroyed everybody? No, I'd be lying if I say I saw this from Isaiah Stewart early in his NBA career. No, no, no, I'm just saying like he doesn't. I mean, I didn't fall him in high school.

I know, I know, I know. But he doesn't, even you watch him now, he doesn't fit the profile of what you think of when you think of high school stars. Can't dribble. You know what I mean? It's hard to be a top high school guy when you can't dribble. Jaylen Dern. Also, Jalen Dern was. Yeah.

And well, Jailen Durn's, I love the two of them together on the floor. Their whole team. They're just hard. They need shooting. It's just hard because if you have, Stuart can shoot, but like, you know, he's still getting left alone. A lot of that 37% is because people are letting him shoot from three. So, you know, the algorithm knows what I like.

And there was a picture that Beefstew took. with an adult film star. And they're at like the practice facility. This is Zion's fault. I know that's the thing is he scored 31 points after this, but I'm almost sure that he had no idea who that woman was. There's like, hey, Isaac, you take a picture and he comes over and he's a nice guy. He takes the picture.

And then all of a sudden the internet is like, ah, here he is with Kendra Lust. I've never heard of Kendra Lust before. Not that I don't watch porn, but I'm just not familiar with her particular work. But like, it's like, I'm like, I'm like, it's like, I'm sure he just took the picture with no idea. And next thing you know, he's looking at his phone, he's getting all these texts, like, I had no idea. No idea.

I got to tell you, boy, you are giving him benefit of the doubt. Yeah. Okay. All right. You think he didn't know? He's at the practice facility. He's like in uniform. So she came to like watch a practice probably with some VIP.

I'm assuming. How would you be a baby? Okay. All right. She's a big fan of the business. All right, my next loath. I got it. They've been doing it.

But now, after what took place with that Hornets Raptors game, I have been, we have been so good to the Raptors this year. So good. They've been a fun team. We love Darko. We love the juice in the locker room. We love the chains. Hold on.

I did say fuck Scotty Barnes. You did see that. like in October. You did say that. Okay. I want to apologize to Scotty and the Barnes family. That's not of that. That notwithstanding.

Yeah. You stop the call five thing. That can't be. They've been doing it and it only gets to happen like twice because it's not like the guy regularly wins the game for you. But John Morant started call 12 and it's just this most bootleg ripoff ever of Emmanuel quickly and it hurt my soul because that's my guy, Matt Devlin, going

Call Five! And they're all doing the call like they do call. It's like, bro, get your own thing. Get your own thing. Get your own thing. John Morant was doing Call 12 like two years ago. It's like something they promote. There's pictures with them doing it.

They just did a giveaway with a lunchbox with the Call 12 and whatever. And there you're, watching the Raptors game and Emmanuel quickly hits the game winner. They're like, call five. And like call five is like, no. Get your own thing. You don't have to be biters.

Just figure out your own thing. What is your own thing? That's got to stop. That's embarrassing. I love you, Raptors. I love Darko. That's embarrassing. Stop that.

That's crazy. You can't just rip off somebody's thing. And I'm going to see video of him in like junior high doing call five. I need to say, I need to, he needs to prove to me that he didn't just rip off. Just ripped off. Because call 12 is pretty,

it's pretty like creative and unique. Of course it is. And I look, I'm going to hell and back on the whole Morant thing. He's going to be on center stage now that the tray stuff's done. Like that's, I'm well prepared for what's about to take place. It's going to be like,

the next to be traded, right? I got it. But don't take away call 12. You don't get to do call 5. That's goofy. That's goofy. Do you? I don't think that there's going to be a lot of jaw traded action this year.

Oh, it's already starting with him and Zion. You just find who are the guys that you are not unsure that the team's going to commit to them and give them a big extension. And then you say, all right, well, like, I mean, it's a trade thing, right? They're trying. All right. If you're either committing to them or you're not. I'll just tell you this.

Morant was listed questionable three games in a row to play. Oh, oh. And did not play in the games. And now tonight for the Thunder, he's listed as out. Just bizarre. Well, I don't know what it means. C.J. McCollum didn't play before he got traded. Trey didn't play before he got traded.

I'm just telling you it's strange. It's strange. If you were looking to trade a player. I mean, I'm just saying it's strange. Like, I don't know if he had a reaggravation of injury or whatever, but I mean, there was three games where he was. was listed as questionable, and we thought he was going to be playing. Oh, I'm going to Grizzly's Thunder tonight.

Go look at the injury list because, dude, they're sitting out chat, SGA, all their guys, too. Like, I don't know who I'm going to see. I'm going to watch AJ Mitchell versus Cam Spencer. Could win. And I love Cam Spencer. Who doesn't? Who doesn't love Kim Spencer? It's just not what you thought you were, you know what I mean?

This one is simple for me. If you're listening to this podcast, you don't need to go into the history. of Isaiah Thomas and Michael Jordan not liking each other. But Isaiah Thomas was on my girl Michelle Bito's show on Fandoul. And here is what he had to say about sort of Michael Jordan and his reputation and his legacy. Here's what we'll make you change your mind on, or at least critically think about, right?

And I'm a historian of the game, and I'm not a hater. I'm just, when I speak facts, people think it's hate. But you can't, in no sports category, when we talk about track, we talk about tennis, when we talk about football, baseball, that arguably the best players or athletes in those sports, they hold the world records.

You know, I know we talk about Jordan, but he leads in no statistical basketball basketball basketball, basketball category, but yet we say he's, there's an argument about him being the best. But then when you look at Kareen and you look at LeBron, those guys lead in several statistical categories. Here's what I love about this, Verno. Like, let it go, Isaiah Thomas. I get it.

You guys don't like each other. It's been like 30 years. Like, let it go. You don't need to use other people's platforms to slander Michael Jordan. to act like he's irrelevant in NBA history because he doesn't have records anymore. Like, let's not act like Michael Jordan was not one of the best five. I'll give it five basketball players of all time. Like, let's just not act like it's like Michael Jordan is a mediocre star for his era.

Like, give it up, Isaiah Thomas. The anti-Jordan agenda is just sort of silly at this point. All right. I can't believe I'm going to disagree with. you. What? I hope they hate each other till the day I hope they show up to each other's funerals.

I love it. I love that they still hate each other. I love that. No, no, that's fine. That's fine. They're petty. And they're petty and they tried to embarrass him on the last dance. And like,

I love it. I love it all. I love that it's old men that refused to let 30 years ago go. And I think Jordan hates his guts and I think Thomas hates his guts. And so I prefer, I love that they don't fake it. Okay. You make great points.

You make great points. And I love petty and I love tension. I like, I love conflict. These are the things that are interesting in life, right? Yes. My thing I loathe about this is the evidence that he provides to back up his thesis that Michael Jordan sort of like isn't that relevant and his legacy isn't as important as we think it is because he's like, well, in track and tennis, those people have personal records.

Where are Michael Jordan's records? He doesn't have any. He's just hate. No, he's hating. He's hating. That's what I'm saying. It's like it's hating is fine, but like citing the fact that he doesn't have personal records is just silly to me.

It's silly. I love it. Because I love it. I love how much he hates Michael Jordan. Who else hates Michael Jordan? Scotty Pippin. That's it. Those two guys are the only two guys.

I'm sure. I'm sure you can find some people that played golf with them or something that actually can't stand Michael Jordan. I'm sure there are. A chameleonair. I watched a video one time. You can find it on YouTube of a millionaire telling his Michael Jordan story. Oh, yeah. I remember that.

Michael Jordan was so mean to him. Yeah. I respect celebrities and it was like, don't fuck with me. Don't come up and talk to me. I don't want to take a picture. I don't want to hear about your cuff. that knew me. I don't,

like, do not interact with me. I'm famous. You're not. Leave me alone. There's something very respectable about that. I saw a video yesterday of this guy saying that he got to meet his hero,

Barry Bond's as a baseball player. And I'm paraphrasing, but he walked up to him and he's like, oh, bro, I've been wanting to tell you this my whole life. You're my favorite baseball player of all time. And Jerry Bond said to him, you remind me of my idiot.

If you ever, hey, he goes, if you ever call me bro again, I'll knock your ass out. He's sleeping my idiot son. His son is taking straight. Yes. If you ever call me bro again, I'll knock you out. That's what he said. And, of course, this guy is like a young guy. And he goes, you know what my response was?

That is awesome. Of course. It's better than him. Oh, cool, thanks so much, man. Want to take a picture? He can get a story out of it. He's like, I got the full Barry Bond experience. A very brief personal story.

I love Lance Stevenson. When he was like in eighth and ninth grade, I used to go watch and play like outside New York City Street ball. And he won four straight, you know, city championships for Lincoln Rail Splitters. Like, he was just the guy when he was in high school here. And I've been a fan of his ever since. And, you know, I celebrated him on Jaylon of Jacoby constantly. They used to call him the 8th.

eighth grader at the park the eighth grader like because he was like in eighth grade going in ninth grade pushing around dudes i met him at this espie's after party and i don't really go up to people but like i was like it's lance like i'm gonna go up to him went up to him shook his hand i was like hey you know i'm dav jacobovian and he's p.n like i've been celebrating you for years and years and years before i said i've been celebrating you he was already looking over my shoulder like are there any girls here can i not talk to this guy he just had zero interest in the conversation And I read the room and I bailed. But it was like, oh, man, I should have never done that.

I should have never done that. He just had no interest in talking to me whatsoever. He's like, bro, like, leave me alone. What am I on? Love or loath? Love now, right? You sure? Yes, you just did.

Or no, it's me. Yeah. We're so messed up. This one, you know, you end up going too long on a podcast, right? My last love. I saw Phoenix in person last night. well, I guess two nights ago. I saw them two nights ago.

I understand why they're having the season that they're having. Watching them function, watching how hard they play, watching them, like, as a collective. Like, there's different teams that come to town. And I really watch how they interact with the coach, how they interact with each other. The vibes are so good. Even the people around the sons that I was talking to,

Like they're just, the vibes are like good vibes. It's really, really, really good energy with that Phoenix team, really good energy. And obviously, you know, I have said my piece about Dylan Brooks in the past, but one of the things I've always told you is I've always respected this is a guy that cares about the result every single night, 82 games a year. He cares about the result. And that permeates a team. It really does.

And I do not think you can short sell his. impact on that, but also just watching Booker and the way he functions with them, and he was fine, not taking a ton of shots and be the man. And they also, if not, by the way, had Jalen Green this season playing for them because you, when you watch them, it is not a collective that you look at and go, wow, they are not doing this because of talent. They are doing this because of every night they bring an honest effort. And over the, and it will, it will not work in the playoffs as a team. But over the course of an 82 game regular season,

you bringing an honest effort and really committing to the defensive end and sharing the ball on offense every night is going to get you a bunch of wins. It really is. And I like the vibes. So credit to Phoenix and that coach and the group that they brought in there because, I mean, look, I watch, they shot a million threes, but like the ball comes off the rim and Jordan Goodwin goes for it. And Colin Gillespie goes for it.

Like, you see guys, like, they play every possession. They play every possession hard. And I respect it, man. I respect it. They have the Knicks tonight in Phoenix. Interesting. That's a tough one for the Knicks. Then they play the Wizards.

What's what going on with your team? Dude, we'll talk about on Tuesday. Let's see what happens this week. A lot of people say it's cup hangover. What do you think? I. Do you think it's the, curse of the

butt thumb. I'm never letting that go. It's a tough one. I can't explain it. I'm never letting it go. Let's see. Let's talk about the Knicks on Tuesday. We'll see what happens over the weekend. But the sun,

the sons play like the Eastern Conference. They got the Knicks, the Wizards, the Heat, the Pistons, the Knicks again, then the Nets and the Sixers, the Hawks, the Heat, the Nets, the Pistons, the Cavs. The month of January is basically the All East. All Eastern Conference teams at home and away. So we'll

see what happens there. But we'll see. All right. Speeding this up. I want credit for curse of the butt thumb if anybody. Yeah, yeah. Please don't steal that. Trade mark that. If you use it, just make sure you credit Chris Fernon hit the mismatch.

Very quickly, I think Lamello gets his reputation of being a goofball and not playing not being a serious person and playing well and we earlier sort of spoke about some of his mistakes down the stretch you try to throw an alleyup in the minute left we didn't need to basically trying to do the coolest thing he could i think that he had the ball with the game in the line and the waning seconds he started driving to his right and every one of his teammates is like oh this is another possession where lamello doesn't pass and he just shoots and i think everyone's cool with it

and he gave the ball to collin sexton and section was kind of caught it like oh no it's my turn And he missed a long-range mid-jumper. But here's some sound of Lamello addressing those plays afterwards. Well, a little bit of that was the time. So, like I said, it didn't start today. So I can finish the back-in. And I'll take full responsibility for Jay. I think that was my fault.

That last lob could have dribbled that out. And then there's some silly possessions before that. Even the last pass, I should have shot that instead of putting bull in that position. And one thing I love is him after a loss. that he didn't start in just being a pro and pointing out what he did wrong and take accountability.

So I loved the seriousness that Lamello took to his mistakes and the accountability that he had after the loss in which he had 33 points and he did not start the game

because he could have easily spun that differently and made it more for his agenda instead he pointed the finger in himself and I really appreciate that from him. Last loat. You and I live across the country And this is just from the week and this has nothing to do with basketball.

You and I live across the country from each other, so I don't know if this is the same in your life as it is in my... Literally every single person in my life is sick. Everybody. Like, my entire house has been sick. My mom is sick. My dad is sick. My producer is sick.

Everybody at work is sick. Like, we just started 2026. It's January 9th, and everybody has been sick for the last two weeks. I don't know one healthy person over the last two weeks in my life. I've been watching Pluribus. Have you watched that one? No. It's good.

You're basically Carol and Pluribus. It's like everyone else in the world is broken except for you. And this happened to us, but we in New York, it went through, it was kind of like COVID. Like, we got it first. So we had this. This is called like the Thanksgiving disease. So right around the end of November, early December, we all had it. Mid-December, we all had it.

We're kind of on the other side of it now. So there is light at the end of the sick tunnel. Yeah. Have you gotten it yet? What? My wife did. And so I don't know. I don't know.

I'm one of those that like, I'm like, I try to power through like literally everything. Like, you know how some people like really like lay down and like, you know, like I just, I can't function if I don't feel good. I just don't acknowledge. that I don't feel with. That's ridiculous. It's mind over matter. I mean, you got to really lay me out.

You really do. That's ridiculous. I don't think I've missed a, I don't think I'm not lying. Maybe, I bet you can count on your hand the amount of sick days I've ever taken to my life.

I really, I just don't. I've never taken one once I became on-camera talent. Because I feel like, if you take a show off, someone else might check them to your spot and be great. It's insecurity is what fuels me through that.

I've missed, I've never unscheduled. I've never missed a show that I was scheduled to be on, ever. Right. Ever. I've taken a couple off for, like, vacations or whatever this and that. But like, no, no, no. Because once people start sitting in your chair, you never know, they might stay there.

You never know. Steve Kerr is going to be hosting the mismatch with Chris Vernon next year. Damn it. Oh, with Chris Vernon. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, with Chris Vernon. Yeah.

I thought you were going to say with you. you. All right, your last load. My last load is the one I load the strongest. And no one's talking about this anymore. And they need to because this pisses me off. On October 21st, when the season was starting, this is what the PR people from Peacock had to say about Michael Jordan's involvement in the season.

quote, in an exclusive appearance on Tuesday on NBC and Peacock, airing at halftime of Oklahoma City Thunder versus Houston Rockets, Michael Jordan spoke with Mike Tarrico about how he spends his time post-retirement, why he felt it was important to launch his MJ Insight to Excellence series. Later on, he says Jordan's conversation with Toriko was the first edition of a series that will appear throughout the season on NBC broadcast. this summer they made it sound like Michael Jordan was going to be an analyst for NBC. What did he do?

He sat down in his living room with Mike Torrico for 40 minutes. They put out four clips, spread it through a month, and we haven't seen that fucker since. When you're the first edition of a series to appear throughout the season, have you seen anything else from Michael Jordan that was not that one interview with Mike Tariko on NBC? I have not. they made it sound like he was going to be the new Charles Barkley on NBC, that we're going to get Michael Jordan throughout the season. Instead, we get a canned interview where he says he doesn't like load management.

No, you got real Isaiah Thomas energy, Jacoby. I can't stand it. I want to hear Michael Jordan's thoughts on basketball. He does he, did he give us all this? Also, none of those were insights to excellence either. None of them were. none of them were it's i'm like old man complaining i remember i hate this i want to see michael jordan no i if i'm fair if i'm being fair the one thing i remember was that like story about him

being nervous to shoot a free throw when he was like renting out his house yeah yeah he had like a camp and he was like yeah oh the last time i shot a balls when i shot a free throw i'm and i've never been and i've never been more nervous in my life and no one's it No one's up in arms about this except for me. You promised us Michael Jordan, you gave us nothing, absolutely nothing. You hate insights to excellence. No, somewhere there's an executive at NBC that's like his boss, like whoever the president of NBC is called the president of NBC sports.

They're like, didn't we sign Michael Jordan to like a $5 million deal? Hey, hey. And he's like, call Michael Jordan and tell him we need more from him. And then the guy calls Michael Jordan and goes to voicemail, text Michael Jordan, stays unread, calls Michael Jordan, it goes to voicemail, text Michael Jordan goes in red. And then his boss calls again. He's like, what happened with Michael Jordan? He's like, nothing.

I'm working on it. I hope you get a text today that says, we gave you Snoop Dog, you jerk. I love Snoop Dog. Just let it go. They gave you Snoop Dog so you'd forget about Insights. That's a great point. You know, he's got more insights to excellent Snoop Dog.

And Snoop was wearing the peacock change. The Snoop, we better get another Snoop game. And I, if you missed the Snoop game, listen to the next Snoop game. We've all seen the clips online, but I cannot underrate the full experience. And also just the anger of the play-by-play guy while Snoop is talking over him the entire time.

It was amazing. They will for sure do it and lead up to the Winter Olympics. Because they're going to milk the Snoop thing for the Winter Olympics. Here's my prediction for Michael Jordan. He's going to do one, he's going to do one more interview with Mike Tariko towards the end of the season. And then he'll do one more interview with Mike Tariko

before the playoffs. and then a final interview during the finals. So he's going to do four sit-down interviews with Mike Tariko, and that's supposed to be like a season's worth of stuff with Michael Jordan. We can save insights to excellence. I want the next episode to him just spend the entire time to talk about how sorry Isaiah Thomas is. Oh, that'd be crazy.

Just crapping. They should do the Jason Hare who he directed the last dance, and he sort of invented the like, hey, here's an iPad. Look at what this person said about it. That's what they need to do. Just don't even ask a question during the interview. Just play Isaiah Thomas talking about Michael Jordan and listen to him respond. And let him respond.

That's insight to excellence. Perfect. That is insight to excellence. And then the next episode is him and Snoop Dog smoking weed. Perfect. We figured it done. You're welcome. Yeah, you're welcome.

You're welcome. You're welcome. Don't say we've never did anything for you. All right. Thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez as always. Jacoby. I'll talk to you next week.