The Mismatch - The Warriors’ Uncertain Future, Dunking on Wemby, the Streaking Thunder and Razzamatazz Magic

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Vernon and Jacoby briefly go through last night's games, including Anthony Edwards’s clutch performance versus the Clippers, Malik Monk’s shot at Mike Brown, and how the Thunder have turned it around since losing to the Bucks in the NBA Cup (01:01). They then discuss how the trade deadline could completely reshape the Western Conference, as well as the importance of veterans and the contribution of role players in the playoffs (25:11). Next, they debate whether Steph Curry is destined to finish his career with this version of the Warriors and question why Bradley Beal has a no-trade clause (35:22). Also, they go through Coby White’s dunk on Wemby, Kawhi’s comments on Jeff Van Gundy, and what would it take for the Heat to trade Jimmy Butler to the Grizzlies (53:08). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody. It's Austin Rivers here and we are back for another season of OffGuard. Me and my guy, Pasha Giggy, are hitting your podcast feeds every Monday and Thursday talking everything hoops. Austin is bringing that 11-year NBA veteran perspective and of course keeping you guys entertained throughout the season. Make sure you tap into OffGard with Austin Rivers on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to follow everything we've got going on social media. The OffGar podcast, Ringer NBA, and of course check us out on Ringer NBA's YouTube channel. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every week from The Ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What's happening in Vernon? Let's get it.

Got a lot of stuff to get to. I guess let's start with a couple things that took place last night. I went to a game in person, which we'll get to in a minute. I guess the biggest story of the night was Anthony Edwards with the game ceiling bucket after he had had a monster game over the weekend and a loss against the Detroit Pistons. Chris Finch relents as his team has been struggling takes my beloved Mike Conley out of the starting lineup. Oh, he sure did. Does not have great results at the beginning, but they end up getting a win, and Anthony Edwards has a big night,

and certainly their underperformance this year, especially after the run they made last year, has been a story. There have been the subject, of a lot of different articles and talk about how decidedly mediocre they have been and now you have Anthony Edwards

I think attempting to put the team on his back every night up the scoring and at least for one night he was able to get him home, get him a win. I'm glad you mentioned the 53 point game against the Pissons in a loss because if you listen to the mismatch remember last time we were discussing

his post game comments in which he said that passing isn't fun. I want to shoot the ball. I'm 23 years old. And he shot the ball. He certainly did. And in this one last thing against the clippers, they were down in the first half.

Like it looked bad. It looked like they were heading for a loss against the clippers. And then as you mentioned, Anthony Edwards put the team on his back. And it wasn't, I think the shot that's going around on social was the final shot. But he had 15 straight points for this team. And that was the second of two threes in a row.

One to put them up by two. That one put him up by five and one in the game. But one thing I want to point out that I found really interesting about that one particular shot is, do you remember what they were doing to him that led to him saying he didn't want to pass the ball? And that was getting double-team. And James Hardin gave him sort of like a lazy double team on his right side. And he kind of surveyed the floor and said, I'll just take a long step to my left away from the double team. And then I can shoot my way out of the double team instead of passing my way out of the double team.

double team and he hit it, place blows up. And it was, it felt like, I don't want to say it was a positive win for the wolves, but what it was was avoiding disaster for the wolves. Like, it's not like this is going to catapult them into like momentum, but it's more like what they didn't do was lose to the pistons and then lose to the clippers and then have to deal with all that. It was more of one of those wins that they needed to avoid disaster rather than a win that's going to catapult them to momentum. And the answer is, obviously, take the only guy that passes out of the lineup. That's the easiest way.

We know you have a thing with Mike Conley, but you've watched Mike Connolly this year. He can't even make the signature floater. Like, he's not really contributing much on either end of the floor. You won't say it because there's a place. There's a large place in your heart for Mike Conley. But he has not been performing this year. It does feel like he does look old. He looks like he's in the last one or two years of his career.

And they do need to ignite Devinchenzo, which didn't go great for the first half of the game, but down the stretch, Devincento hit some big shots. And he can perform. He will outperform calmly at both ends of the floor. Oh, no. There's two guys that make me feel old and mortal to say the least. And that is two guys that I covered many, many, many, many years ago as two young point guards in Memphis. Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley.

They're both still going, but not to the most unbelievable results. They're both kind of like player coaches, let's be honest. You know what I mean? They're still great to have in the locker room, still great veteran presence. They'll put up double digits from time to time. Both had fantastic careers, but it's not how it used to be. That's what I'll say. It's not how it used to be.

And look, they've got to figure it out to do in Minnesota. And so you've got to just try stuff. So here's my question is, if they're willing to take Conno out of the starting lineup and put DeMichenza in, are they going, would they put Randall out of the starting line? I mean, I think anything is on the table when you start, the longer this goes and the longer you are mediocre, then everything is on the table, including at the trade deadline and everything else. Because you're looking up and you're going, you know, we aren't expecting San Antonio to be. in this mix fighting for these playoff spots if you expect phoenix to get better i mean you're looking down there there's going to be somebody on the outside looking in because oh hell yeah i'm talking of the 10 the warriors the sons the timber wolves the spurs not all of them are going to be in the plane

well because you know who did something drastic sacramento Sacramento Sacramento did something drastic and look, everybody busted them up for blaming Mike Brown. But the results are the results since they've done that. And it's five and one. It's a good transition into what they did last night, which was like I wouldn't say keep me up past my bedtime because I was in my bed reading my book. And I said to myself,

let me just check on that, that Heat Kings game. And it was going to overtime. Little did I know that the next, 15 minutes of my night were going to be spent with my wife telling me to turn down my phone watching Lee pass in bed

because this thing went to single overtime, double overtime, and DeMarge of Rosen, you said they did something drastic. You're obviously referring to firing Mike Brown, but I thought that bringing into Rosen into this environment, adding that fish to the fish tank was pretty drastic itself in the offseason,

although I mean, it's, I'm always going to support bringing on to Rosen. He's going to be additive regardless. But he, man, he put the team on his back like Anthony Edwards did. Well, and Monk over the course of the past couple of games before that, where they had these, you know, against Memphis and against Golden State, they just shot absolute fireballs.

They have not been a good three-point shooting team. That kind of reverted back last night, but, man, did they bail out Keon Ellis? That one would have haunted him for a long time. For those that don't know, point two left, he gets a foul called. He gets to go to the free throw line to win the game and he split them. And that's how that game was extended. I mean, how often do you see that? How often do you see a guy get to go to the free throw line with 0.2 left to go ahead and win the game?

And so that would have haunted him for a long time. I was glad they were able to get that. But look, it was kind of interesting. I think sometimes you got to find the guy that's willing to talk. And they have been rightfully criticized many times over the course of, the past several years for the management owner, the way they've conducted themselves. And I know they've gotten absolutely blasted

for what they did on the Mike Brown situation. That being said, the results are the results. They're five and one. And you've got to find the guy that's willing to talk. And I thought it was interesting the other night after they beat the Warriors. Malik Monk said, maybe the quiet part out loud.

Yeah, I saw this. Because we are responding to Doug Christie. Doug Christie talks to us like a guy that's played in the league. And it was like kind of a veiled shot at Mike Brown. But without trying to be. I don't think he was trying to take a shot at Mike Brown as much as he was trying to pump up why they are responding to Doug Christie. and it's like he talks to us in a way that relates to us he was a player in this league. And so, look, it might just be a flash on the pan.

They might just be playing well for, you know, this last week. But the results are the results. And they got rid of the coach and they've started to turn their season around. I think it was an interesting quote because when he says, oh, we're responding to Doug Chrissy because he played before he speaks to us from a position of someone who has played the game before. It is a compliment of the way that Doug Christie speaks to his players, but you can't take it as anything but a veiled shot at Mike Brown. And I understand the sentiment, but that being said,

Greg Poppidge is a good coach. There's a good coach. You know what? It's like it doesn't mean that this is the end-all be-all. But I think it's also something that Larry Bird said to the podfather, Bill Simmons, when we didn't interview, when Bill didn't interview with him and I sat in the room and was nervous that the cameras weren't working, is he was like, after four years, no matter who you are, your voice just doesn't resonate the same

with the same group of players. And whether that's gospel or not, like I said, Popovich and Spolster seem to be doing a good job in their 10th year or whatever. Like that is not gospel, it's not binary, but there could be something to that as well, where Mike Brown has been there for a while and it's sort of the same song again, and bringing in new blood and new voice and a new perspective can jolt a team. and it certainly has done with this King's team who's in the mix. A game I went to last night,

it's not really worth talking about, except to mention that a team that we thought and still believe can be a Western Conference contender in the Dallas Mavericks. They are having a super rough go of it. I mean, you see Luca on that scooter on the sidelines, and then now you've got Kyrie Irving out with a backer, injury, which is never something you want to mess with. And they just don't have, I mean, it's going to be super hard for them to navigate any amount

of time without these guys. You got to have at least one of them because I watched them play in the game last night. And, you know, you're going to be trying to win these games with defense in the absence of. and you don't really have a bunch of defensive, you don't have a bunch of defensive players. You don't even have the Derek Jones Jr. You know, wing defender that you had last year.

And so it's going to make it a really tough go when they're without these guys. Because if you lose your offensive firepower, then, and we have seen other teams be able to do this, i.e. the clippers, i.e. Orlando, you've got to just bring the defensive. effort in this massive way and try to win like that and boy, you

still got to score some points and it's it's just, I mean, I think you're just looking at your watch and waiting until these guys can come back. And I know we're going to discuss this team later, so we won't discuss them much, but the blueprint that you're putting out there, the roadmap

of injured stars how to get to wins in the slog of an 82 game regular season when you're without your number one, number two, maybe number three, option. That's the Orlando Magic. But they have the defense they can fall back on. They're built for that. We'll get there.

We'll get there. We'll get there. They have the defense they can fall back on, but the Mavs aren't built for that. The Mavs are not built for that. They don't have that sort of like, okay, we're going to switch our speed and play a different way now. They just don't have it. And these two injuries

to Luca and Kairi are very concerned. They're very concerned. Of course they are. You know, it's like, if someone breaks their thumb. You're like, all right, like, I've seen this before. We know how it works. Thumb will heal and they'll be back and he'll play just like he used to. But with the cav and the scooter and the bulging disc, shout to Steve Levy, Google it. It's just, it's, it's so, it's so nebulous as to when they'll come back, what they'll look like when they come back, how much time they'll have to sort of truly gel as a team. It's a, it's a concern. It's

a concern. It does start to feel a little bit like the 49ers year this year, where it's like, maybe this is just the year where everyone's injured. And also, Luca, not known as the beacon of conditioning, you know, you're getting that guy off his feet for a long, long time. Right. And so that's the other thing is anytime it is a leg injury, then there's a real ramp up that takes some time in order to come back. Not to mention, who knows when that thing heals and feels good enough for you to trust it. If I had a leg injury, there's not enough OZEPIC in the world to get me back to fighting weight. It would take two years of Ozempic.

I have no idea why Jason Kidd did not double Jaron Jackson Jr. last night and bring two guys at him on a regular basis because that was just, I mean, there was no Desmond Bain, there was no John Morant. The Grizzlies were without a bunch of guys, but Jared Jackson Jr. Sharon Jackson's great. He's on his way to making the All-Star team and having a very legitimate chance at making an all-endom. NBA team that could make him $300 million in the future. All NBA is down the road, but it is one of those things where they're like top

three in the West. No, he's been amazing. Someone's got to be on the All-Star team. Someone's got to be there. It's not going to be Yuki. You know what I mean? It's got to be him. It's got to be him. And he's been amazing. He has been

easily their most consistent player. And every night is great on both ends of the court. And so it was just shocking in the absence of so many guys last night. He went crazy. I wish his three-pointer, like, it goes in. What's he shooting?

Like, 40%. Maybe not that guy. But it looks so weird when he shoots. It just doesn't give me confidence. That release, look, as long as it goes in. The release is like two feet in front of his face. It just doesn't the ball barely gets over the rim. You would never teach someone to, you would never teach someone to shoot like that.

Yeah, yeah. You wouldn't. All right, let's get to your team. No towns. No results? No deuce. It's, listen, this is three games in a row. Like that thunder loss on Friday night,

which is the night that we did the pod, which feels like three years ago. But that game was great. That thunder loss on the road in a tight game, toe to toe, blow for blow against the team with the best team in the Western Conference, that loss you walk away from you're like, all right, like, not bad.

We didn't win, but, you know, Brunson didn't play his, best. Townsend play his best. And we would toe to toe with one of the best teams in the league. Although it's not a win, you can still walk away with your head high saying we can beat that team. And they play again actually

this right. But then you lose to the Bulls. And then last night, the Magic don't have Palo. Orlando Magic. They don't have bronze. They don't have Suggs. They don't have

Mo Wagner. Yeah. I don't Yeah, they don't have that, Bagner. They don't have Gary Harris. So you can always say, like, oh, well, the Knicks were missing cat. But, like, that Knicks team should beat that magic team, especially at home. And watching the game, there's just absolutely no energy in the garden, sort of like a Monday malaise after the holidays. They gave him nothing to cheer for.

It was just, it was ridiculous. They shot four for 22 from three. They couldn't, I don't even remember the four. You know what? I'm going to audit that. I'm going to go back and audit. I don't think they hit four. I don't remember.

I don't remember a single three. It was a mess. And it was just so low energy and so disheartening of a loss that it's, it is a bit concerning. But, you know, I'm, uh, let's touch on that OKC game because I watch both of the OKC games. And everybody knows what I've had to say about OKC that I think people are a little ahead of their skis, uh, that the youngest team in the league is not the one to be. thought of as running away from everybody. But you know what they've done since you said that, right?

But my God. And watching them hold Boston to 27. Like, there were mirror images of those. And what was fascinating was to watch, not only do you have Gilders-Haldaneer, but also, you know, down the stretch of those games. So against the Knicks, it was, okay. And once you get to the playoffs,

your best guy very rarely gets to get you home. Like he is going to gather the extra attention. And so what happens is, and this is what happened, where it played against, you know, Dallas last year. And it's like, okay, it's not Luca that's killing us. But if PJ, you know, we're going to have to live with PJ Washington getting open shots. We're going to have to live with Derek Jones Jr. getting open shots. And likewise, and this is what's going to be fast.

as it comes playoff time. It's like, okay, when everybody loads up on Gilges-Alexander and tries to make his life hell. So when you watch the next game, it's Aaron Wiggins. And Aaron Wiggins catches fire. Yeah, but then you get to the next game. And it's not Aaron Wiggins. It's Lou Dort. And it's like, also stupid.

But also, but the thing is, your second and third guys when it comes to the playoffs. I was like, what people are going to do, you game plan this and you try to work it towards, we're going to try to push as many shots to the guys that we want taking the shots as we can. And at least for those two games where they're playing against the two elite teams, and obviously they've been doing it each and every night. Number one, their defense is absolutely smothering. And those guys are the ones that are stepping up because you saw, as you're watching down the stretch of those games,

Wiggins put that game away one night, Dork put that game away the other night. And I'm not trying to take away from Gildes Alexander. It's some crazy floaters, an amazing place. And he's the one setting these guys up. But those are the guys that, you know, your role players are the ones that have to be able to bang the open shots because your best players are going to be getting extra attention.

So, Bruno, I'm not very active on Twitter slash X, but sometimes I get caught in the crossfires of, the Oklahoma City fans coming for you. Oh, my God. Because I remember watching the Emirates NBA Cup final. And they got pushed around. They look small. They look young.

They look underprepared. They looked like they were the junior varsity team playing the varsity team. That's right. And since that game, they have put so many pelts on their wall. They have a lot. They're like, wait. So who are the? best teams in the Eastern Conference will beat

them all. Do you think I should get credit? Do you think I should get credit a little bit? But like what they've, I walked away from that NBA Cup game because all the eyeballs were on it. We all kind of set time in our day to watch it. And they got pushed around. They look small. They look young. Since

then, and they're playing the calves tomorrow night. And then they play the Knicks again. And if they beat the Knicks, the Celtics, the Cavs, and the Knicks again, like, I don't know what to say. I just give them the trophy already, dog.

I don't know what to say. And they're still without Chad Holmgren and without Alex Caruso. Yes, that's another great point. Whenever they show Holmgren in streetclothes, I'm like, I don't even know what this team looks like with Hartenstein and Holmgren. And just a Dagonal will mix up lineups. That's one of the things he does. And it may.

He's got so much to play with. And honestly, like, as I was watching it, I was like, am I just going to have to rethink all of this in terms of what I think about young teams and their ability to get to the height. I couldn't, the Oklahoma City fans, fans, they couldn't hear you. Say it again, please. Am I going to have to rethink

all of this in terms of young teams and their ability to win at the highest level? The truth of the matter is this, Jacoby. The old teams win. No. There's not a lot of history. No, no. The veteran teams win.

Go look at it. Yeah. Think about your title. I mean, look how long it took Boston to get to that level. Look how long it, you know. No, Berno, look no further than this exact franchise with Westbrook, Durant, and Hardin, and that team that got to the finals, you said to yourself, this young core, this so good, so early, dynasty.

And we all know what happened then. Right. But, Ferno, when we get together on Friday morning to do the pod, If this team beats up on the Cavs in Cleveland and then beats up on the Knicks in New York, like, I may not show us. Who can challenge them in the Western Conference? All right.

Grizzlies? All right. With Yuki? Was can fill in on Friday. Yeah. If that happens, I'm out of here. Shout to watch. I'm not showing up.

Make your first NBA bet a switch with Fanduel. America's number one sports book. Fandul has all your favorite. favorite bets from who's going to win the game to how many points every player will score. Plus, check out newer bets, like the number of dunks, assists, or three-pointers in the next three minutes. I may or may not have been watching the Orlando Magic and the Knicks. And I noticed, hey, no one is hitting three-point shots.

Let me just say no one's going to hit it in the next three minutes. One. I was like, let me run that back. One. Sometimes you can benefit by your favorite team, bricking three-pointers, as I did last night. But it doesn't matter if you tap into Fanduil before the game starts or after it's already tipped off, you have a chance to pick up a W win ever. I have my eye on a couple of big games coming up this Wednesday.

The marquee matchup, of course, is between the best team in the West, Oklahoma City Thunder, the best team in the east, by the record, that is the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have a clash in Cleveland Wednesday night, and I will be using Fandual to wager a responsible amount of my hard-earned money on it. And I think the Thunder are going to take that contest. And I think the Shaggildas Alexander will score over 30 points. But I also know that my Fandall action won't stop there because the nightcap is a match-up. We just saw this man go toe-to-to-to-back-to-back, home-and-home against Nikola Yokic.

We just saw him get dunked on by Jacoby White. Victor Wambanyama goes toe-to-to-to. against the Greek freak Janice Tentecumpo in the nightcap on Wednesday and I but predict that Janus and the bucks will prevail in that one and Janus will have at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.

And now is the perfect time to get in on all the action because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $200 of bonus bets guaranteed. Just visit fanduil.com slash mismatch for your chance to score $200 in bonus bets. Have a ball betting ball with fans. Fendul official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Remember, you must be 21 and present in select states or 18 and present in D.C.

First online, real money wager only $5 deposit is required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets, which expire seven days after you get them. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.bendul.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. All right. Let's do a little my take, your take. We're going to each give a take, and then we will allow the.

other to respond. You want me to start? Yep. All right. So last year, Jacoby, one of the things I've been thinking about recently is it last year, and especially because I was watching the math last night, which featured PJ Washington on this team, Daniel Gafford on this team, that they made a deal when it came trade deadline time that swung the balance of power and enabled them to become a Western Coverage finalist and an NBA finalist for that matter, right? It was something that they did to augment their team that got them there. If anybody wants to poke holes in the Indiana Pacers being at the level that they were last year, that's fine, but they were there. They made it to where they made it and they made it in part because they took a big swing and added Pascal Seacum

to the mix last year. And so one of the things that I've been thinking, and maybe it is going to be much more relevant in the Western Conference than it is the Eastern Conference, but we will see. I really believe that the finalists, if we are to say that we think Boston and Cleveland right now would be the favorite, okay, or New York, none of those teams, you don't look at it. I would say New York could certainly add some depth to the mix, okay, if possible. But because that did show up in that Oklahoma City game, right? It is hard to have your best players playing minutes 37 through 44 when the other best players are playing minutes 27 through 34, right?

And that's the Tibbs way. I understand. I understand. Anyways, if we are to say that Oklahoma City is way ahead of everybody else, okay, in the Western Conference and they have proven to be such thus far. Yeah. Almost everybody else in that conference, when you look up and down, you go, what are they going to do to their team? Because there is nobody that you feel great about their opportunity to make the Western Conference finals right now. Is that fair?

Do you agree with that state? Right now, Oklahoma City, let's go ahead and put them there. there is no one else you feel great if I said, hey, I'll give you $100. You can put it on any other team to be a Western conference finalist. Feel great is hard to get to. But I will say that a healthy Mavericks team, I would feel good about taking that. But you don't have that right now. In the last two weeks, it's just been that Luca went down with something that's very concerning.

Kyrie went down with something that's very concerning. So no, I don't feel great about it. So current state of all the teams aside, there's the thunder and then there's literally no one else. You know they say the thunder and everyone else? There's the thunder and no one else. P.S. It's an abject disaster. One of the things that ran through my mind last night,

I'm like, I don't know how many games this team is going to win. You know, they do have a decent head start. They were up 15 on the Grizzlies, just for the record, in the first half. Yeah, they also got beat by 15. I don't know. I watch. I don't know how many games that team is going to win, but it's an abject disaster for those top seeds if they are the ones that fall down. Well, this happened in the Easter conference last year.

I got you. As a Knicks fan, as a Knicks fan, I'm like, wait, we're paying Joel and B and Maxi. Let me just tell you something. The first round is a two seed. Let me tell you something. If you're Oklahoma City or you're Houston or you're Memphis, those are the top three teams right now in the Western Conference, the last thing on earth you want to see is Dallas at 6, 7, or 8.

That is an abject disaster. You win your way into a Luca-Ky matchup. You win your way into it. And that is a real- On the Tuesday, guys. And that's a real thing that could happen. Oh, yeah. Given their circumstances. You see step there.

You can see Wimby there. You know, there's some, there's some, There's some lurkers down there in the 6th through 10. My point is this. You see Kevin Durant there? My point is this, much like we saw last year with Dallas, I am convinced that these teams augmenting their teams within this next month's time is going to change who we think can be in the Western Finals.

I do. And I actually think, by the way, because we didn't talk about this much, I thought it was absolutely enormous for the Lakers to get Finney Smith. I love that piece for them. Also, another team, if they are healthy, and they're bringing Reeves and LeBron and Davis and Finney Smith and Ocimuth and that group to the party, again, another team, a young team does not want to see. And I say that as a fan of a young team.

Like, you don't want to see that team when it comes playoff time. Oh, hell no. But they augmented their team and I think improved their chances. I think the Lakers' chances of being a Western Conference finalist improved greatly by adding him to the mix. I mean. And now it's going to be the other teams. The other team's got to have had people.

I think that here's the thing that I love what you said is just looking at the top three. in the Western Commerce because I think it's fair to say those three and there's a pretty big drop-off right and we're talking about the Grizzlies the Rockets and of course Thunder every one of those teams feels like a susceptible first-round exit team. There's not a huge drop-off between those

look the regular season is a much different world in terms of standings. I know in terms of a playoff team quality in terms of like where they're going to end up in the standings. I don't see the Rockets going into the plane even though they're only four games away from it. No, no, no. But all of those teams will not be as favored as one through three seeds are traditionally favored in the playoffs,

depending on the matchups, of course, because there are some Hall of Fame veteran basketball players that are going to be in the playing. I'm talking about Kevin Durant. I'm talking about LeBron James. But look at all, I'm saying all those teams, all those teams, because you know Memphis tried to get Finney Smith, all of those teams, and they're that, and there too, and you don't know, I know the rockets have been leaking to everybody, we're not doing anything, We want to keep it all together.

We want to keep it all together, whatever. But, I mean, if you're looking at it, and especially anybody with eyeballs and you're watching Oklahoma City and you're going, how am I going to be able to compete with them? If you want to win right now, all of these teams from two down, and you might even say Oklahoma City would want to even improve themselves if they had the opportunity to do it and add, you know, because their name had been floated around with a Cam Johnson or whatever, right? another guy they could chuck it out to and reliably knock down shots to best fit around Gilders Alexander. But I think honestly, from two down, all of them realistically look at their team and go, if we want to make the Western Conference finals, we're not good enough right now. So I agree with your take that a team on the verge, I like the Mavericks last year,

make some trade deadline moves. I think Washington was before the deadline, whatever. But here's the thing that I'm going to take your take and sort of twist it a little bit. It was Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington, right? It wasn't a superstar. It wasn't an all-star. And the thing that we love to talk about the big names

of the trade deadline. We love to talk about, oh, Jimmy Butler, where's Jimmy Butler going to go? I'm sure we're going to get to that. Deeran Fox to the Spurs, what a perfect fit that would be. Right. But the guys that are really going to change the sort of playoff picture and the contenders or pretenders line aren't always the biggest names.

Like last year, it's Dan Gaffer from the Bulls and the Wizards. Like most people that just like the NBA have no idea who Daniel Gafford is. He was tearing it up for the Wizards. I don't remember that, like a little couple weeks that he had after he got traded. So to your point, it might be. And you look at those names. You look at those names.

It could be a Cam Johnson. It could be a Jeremy Grant. I got one for you. I like Jeremy Grant. I got Nick Claxton. People, no one talks about Nick Claxton. It could be a Colin Sexton.

It could be, right, Jordan Clarkson, you know, as a heater off your bench, like, that's what I'm saying is we spend so much time talking about would Deerrin Fox fit with Wemby?

Or Zach Levine? Yeah, yeah, or Jimmy, is it, what would Jimmy Butler on the Warriors? Like, probably not going to happen.

But what is going to happen is Colin Sexton's going to end up somewhere. Right. Jordan, Gregorkech is going to end up somewhere. Nick Clack's going to end up somewhere. Cam John's going to end up somewhere. And to take what you have to say about the trade deadline being as impactful this year as last year,

I don't have the specifics of who's going to wear. But I think we spend a lot of time talking about the big names because the big names get the clicks and the ratings and the whatever. But it's going to be like Colin Sexton. That's right. That's going to change the Western Conference. And they're the harder ones because now it's so punitive to deal for the big names. Yeah. They get paid so much money.

Yeah. Even the little names are hard to get done. But like, we've been talking about Jimmy Butler getting traded. We will later in the show, I'm sure. But like, it's just hard to do. It's just hard to do. No,

the amount of teams that even have a possibility of doing it is so narrow. So here's my second, my first one. And it dovetails right off of this. I'm going to lead with the thesis and I'll offer some supporting. Now, again, this is somewhat bombastic. but I'm just going to say it out loud. The Warriors are washed as a franchise

and repeats of this season over and over might be how Steph Curry's career plays out. Oh, wow. Listen, they're four and eight since December 11th. They're six and 14 in the last 20 games. Right now, they're tied for the eighth seat. behind them are the timber wolves, the spurs, and the kings, all of which could end up with a better record than the warriors.

All of which, I'm pretty sure the kings and the wolves will end up with a better record than the warriors. The sons are behind them as well. I'm sure we'll get to them. They're the 19th offense in the league, the ninth defense. Their biggest trade chip, If they're one of these teams that wants to improve, the latest reports are that they've got their eyes,

not on Jimmy Butler, but on Busevich. Who would be a great fit for this team, in my opinion? But Kaminka just got hurt. That was a disaster. Kaminga just got hurt. That's the thing that could not happen. And if you look at the salaries of Curry and Dremont, they're not going to move with you to one of those guys.

I just don't see a roadmap for this team to be, not just a contender, but to be a sort of like a guaranteed playoff seed one through six. Oh, I see, okay. In the next couple years. I don't see it. Okay.

I think this is where you and I are going to split ways. I think they're going to go all in. I think they're going to take their, I think they're going to take their big risk. I mean, obviously the Kaminka thing is troubling, but I think you're, you are pulling the win now trade that you have not pulled. that's what I would do as a franchise

but right now with Camilla, imagine you use car sale in you're trying to sell them a Buick and they get in the car for the test drive and the car won't start. That is Cominga right now. It's like that's what you're selling. You're selling Cominga and he's not playing. Again, there's a twisted ankle. It'll probably be like

Well, it's also you're also selling them a Buick that is going to want you to pay $200 million for it in the off season. It wants the best gas. It doesn't want regular gas. It wants that expensive gas. You know what I mean? So that's a tough part, man.

I just, I'm looking at the Warriors team and the 12 and five start was so great and the defense was so good. But man, have they fallen off a clip? And on top of that, I have another prediction for this Warriors team. No, but they're a perfect risk team. Exactly what we were talking about, though. Like, you can't, nobody's fooling themselves there. They're like, what does it matter if we take a big swing? But we have to augment this roster because we've only,

got X amount of curry time left. I just don't. You just don't think there's a big swing to be taken. I think Busevich would be like a, a Bother, I just don't see it. I mean, I just can't see a world in which. Levine? But so. Levine?

I love Levine. I love Levine this year. Like his last five games, Levine is 37, 15, not great. 32, 33, and 35 points. Wouldn't it change your opinion if they added him? Yes. But depending on what the cost, if the cost is Kaminga and Wiggins, yeah, I'm in. I mean, again, they're not contending.

So I think there is a swing. They're not contending. I think there's a swing to be made, though. I think they'll be active because they see what happens. To where you're going to look up and you're going to go, man, they got Dennis Schrooter and they got Curry and they got Draymond and now they added blank. The question is, who's that? blank. So here's another thing I want to point out.

Here's my question for you, right? Because I just, I just see with this Curry-Dremont pairing, I just, I see them repeating this season over and over. And is that just because they've had a tough schedule and their next like 10 games are like easier to win? Is this a rough patch or is this a rough season for the Warriors? I think probably more towards a rough patch. I think they are pretty good, which is like a lot of these teams, right?

I think on one night we can watch and we go, hey, man, watch out for the spurs. And then the spurs lose to the Bulls. And I think one night, like over the weekend, I watched the Warriors beat Memphis and shoot fireballs from three. I mean, Steph went eight for eight in the game. No, no, no, no. That wasn't that game. I know. I know.

I'm saying, but right. No, he did go eight for eight. And then he didn't play in the Memphis game. And they made like 23 or 24 threes in the game. They just saw fireballs on Saturday night. And so I think a lot of these teams are like that. Catch them on a night and you'll have a much different opinion on if you catch them in another night. But certainly a rough patch.

I have a very quick Warriors prediction because I've got my eye on the Warriors games. And I can feel something bubbling from deep, deep underneath. the San Andreas fault there in the bay just feeling some murmurs some tremors Draymond Green remember he yelled at Chavano Heald

told him sit on the bench And then remember he I know you saw this And that Warrior's Memphis game He got into it with Eady a little bit After that little soft back and forth I know you saw that And then you see him after he

He put a really strong pick On Keon Ellis who just didn't see it coming It's one of those blind side hits You saw that And then him and Kerr lost their minds yelling at the ref, it occurs like it's a flop, it's a flop. You watch the replay, it's not a flop whatsoever. I feel some murmurs and some tremblings that we're going to get a Draymond Green blowup

in the next two weeks. A full on multiple game suspension. I feel it building. I feel the frustration, the loss is mounting, the small incidents getting bigger and bigger, that there's going to be a huge Draymond blowup in the next 10 days. Just remember where you heard it first, the mismatch. I think this is a really good prediction. You can feel it, right?

You can just feel it coming. There's been enough like towing the line, not exactly exploding, but he's going to explode soon. He gets suspended for five days, and he's going to come back and we're going to pretend like it never have. Okay, next one.

So we have had a lot of impressive seasons. We've mentioned Oklahoma City. We've mentioned Cleveland many times throughout the last couple of months doing this podcast. I would say that in terms of most impressive teams thus far as we are almost to the halfway point of the season Orlando has to be at the very top

I mean like they've lost everybody as you chronicled earlier like it's what Paulo has played like five games four games Franz Wagner then took over and ended up being their best player and they were getting wins on a regular basis And then they hold this team meeting and they say, all right, now we've lost Franz.

Everybody rally behind Jaylen Sucks. And then Chailen Sucks kids are. And Mo Vogner has been like this revelation and like what are the best bench guys in the league for them? Not to mention bringing like this fight and fire every single night. And you look, they are in like the bottom five or six in the league in offensive rating. But they are too in defensive rating. Like the ability for Mosley, no matter, this is truly no matter who plays team. Because for them to be able, and now like Cole Anthony's making plays and having nights and Cole Anthony was completely out of the rotation.

And Juan Howard's kid is knocking down shots. You're cussing his name last night As you're texting me like, oh my God, the Knicks are getting done in by Juan Howard's kid. John Juan Howard's kid, give him the business. It's crazy. So not only am I all caught up in,

like they bring their hard hats and defend you every single night, and they're such a bitch to play against, and that's how they get wins. Like, it's the most non-esthetically, pleasing to your average fan because they are winning solely because they are amazing on defense.

Like, we know that. And they are offensively putrid. The numbers bear that out. And they are without, like, their starting lineup last night against the Knicks is unfathomable. Like, truly unfathomable. It's Cole Anthony, Contavius called well Pope. Tristan de Silva, Goga Patazzi,

and Caleb Houston. That's the five guys that started last night. And handily beat the Knicks. They wasn't a buzzer beater. A win. All right. So how can you make them

more fun and more entertaining? Because they're without their guys, how can you make them more fun and entertaining? Their social media presence is, I mean, it's a hundred out of ten. A hundred out of ten. The video they put up after the Raptors win, where they had the fake Drake singing or acting like, you know, where they mimicked it like he was singing along to the song.

And this whole play the song thing. Play the song. Dude, I love the song. I love it. The Orlando Magic song is like, I look forward to their win. just so I can hear it. So good. It's so good.

Oh, dude. I want your team to win. It's honestly, this is very reminiscent. And I know it was manufactured. Oh, it's light the beam. This is like the beam 2.0.

It really is. And it's like, it's better. It's better than light the beam. It's better than light the beam. This is like light the beam and Leangelo Ball's latest song had a baby. That's what this is. It's just got the zeitgeist.

And, Bruno, I saw that you mentioned this in the rundown. So I did some digging. There's a three-minute documentary about the making of this song. And there are this father-son duo in like a studio in South Florida. And they just cooked up this song. And there's this one point when the news reporter, again, investigative journalist is talking about the creation of this song. Wait, when was this made?

A couple years ago. It looks like it's kind of recent. Okay. But here is the part of the song in which was discussed. And these are some of the greatest lyrics to ever, ever be written by the human species and spoken into a microphone. Listen to this. Bra, cadabara, Rasmataz, slam dunk, sesame. Amazing.

Sesame. And then he's asked, the man who wrote the lyrics, he goes, the journalist goes, what was the motivation behind that? He goes, just a lot of jack. Daniels. That's amazing. What? Dude, I want them to win just so I can hear the song. Orlando Magic.

Orlando Magic. Whoa. I love it. I love the song. It's such a good. I'm glad we're on the same page. Oh, absolutely. And again, please just Google Orlando Magic song and you'll see this three-minute piece this

guy did about it. You'll see the interview with the guys that made it. It's just great. I mean, to make a, they are a defensive team. It's like if, if the, you know, the 04 Pistons had like a goofy song that comes along with it. It's like, okay, nobody particularly likes to watch this, like in terms of the team that grinds you out and beats you. But then you have this goofy ass song and I'm like, and the other thing is that they are a young team. that is doing it as every,

they get bad news. It feels like once a week and somehow I've kept winning. It's crazy. I love last night is Wendell Carter tried to do a sort of between the legs drop pass for Col Anthony because, but Col Anthony cut the other direction and he's kind of like threw it to no one. Instead of Jamal Mosley on the sideline cursing out and like getting mad, he just laughed with them.

He's just like, you're ridiculous. This is stupid. Let's beat the Knicks and go on. I'm going to go on myself, and we're going to pick up the pace here. So there's a lot of discussion about the trade as we headed the trade deadline, and Jimmy Butler, we all know we've chronicled what's happening there, blah, blah, blah. But one of the things that keeps coming up, which is just baffles me, is I'm going to read the history of players in the National Basketball Association,

and this comes up every once in a while, so I didn't like do this research myself, that have ever had no trade clauses in their contracts. David Robinson, John Stockton, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzky, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Bradley fucking Beale. How did this happen? Mark Bartle's theme. The guy is amazing. In 2022, he signed a five-year extension worth $251 million, and that wasn't enough to get him to sign. he had to have a no trade clause in his contract.

How did this happen? I mean, how is he on a list with every, like the, I don't know, all of those people I named are in the top 50 players of all time. No,

and Brad Beale has a no trade clause. So Brad Beal has the power that LeBron James does, that Dwayne does, that Dirk Nowitzky does, to say, oh, you want to trade me? Well, guess what?

I will trade me. I will say no to anything I don't want. The idea that this was putting, contract by a franchise and signed by Bradley Beal is just negligence. It's just negligence. Oh, wow. Unbelievable. I can't believe that you would accuse the wizards of negligence considering they haven't

won 50 games in like 50 years since Wes Unseld was playing. But it's also the son's trading for that. It's like you traded for someone with a no trade clause thinking, did you really think this was going to go swimmingly? You think you're just going to just rip off a couple of. back-to-back Larry O'Brien trophies. Hey, but look, he's been moved to the bench with great result. They had great result after they, after, uh,

where they beat the nets? Yeah, they just decided to move him and Nirk, right? They're going to be coming off the bench, though. They beat the stupid Sixers last night. That's what happened. Yeah. The two most underperforming, unlikable teams going. Yeah, I call it the disappointment bowl in my notes.

I was just like, this is just the disappointment bowl. It was gross. I didn't even watch any of it. But how did Bradley Beal get a no trade clause? Like how? It's the Wizards, bro. I don't know. Was there another team that was in a bidding war for Bradley Beal?

It was going to offer him a no trade clause? You could have, I mean, if you were to run through all of the business decisions made by the Washington Wizards over the last 50 years, you would be absolutely mortified. Can't do that to house. Can't do it to house. Hey.

Look, to your point, though, everybody is tradable. Everybody, we were talking about this with the Jimmy Butler thing. And you say, who could possibly do it? Bro, Brad Beale got traded. Ben Simmons, who wasn't even playing basketball, got traded. But everybody can be traded. We never know how it's going to happen. But everybody can.

Would the Miami heap be like, you know what, Jimmy Butler is a problem. He's poisoning our franchise. He's sabotaging us. Let's trade him for Bradley Beale. so he can poison our franchise and sabotage us for longer at the same amount of money. Like, why? All right. My last take.

You got two more. Oh, yeah, two more. Dunking on Wemby, which happened last night. I'll let you hear it. Kobe White dunked on Wembe. Joe Kobe White. He's Levine against Paul. The drive.

The kick. Kobe White drives it. Oh, they're up. He said maybe at the rim. What's this? Whimby, Wimpy! So give me a poster, but I've got my poster machine. We sold it in all these.

Oh, Lord. My poster machine. Come on, we need to get the poster. This is a perfect poster. Oh, shout out to everybody. I'm sorry, I can't even make a poster, ladies and gentlemen. I love Stacey K. I love him.

Shout out to everybody. Shout out to everybody. Shout out to everybody. Just shout out to everybody. All right. Here's my take. Dunking on Wemby. Wemby is the best person to dunk on ever.

So hear me out. Oh, Sean Bradley just raised his hand. Sean Bradley's like, how dare you? Those guys, so we have had freaks of nature prior to, right? Like the Bobons and the Bradleys

and the Murissons and the minute bowls. Yeah. And whatever, right? But, and then we've had the unbelievable shot blockers like the DeKembe Mutumbos and the Alonzo Mornings, the 6-11, 7-foot guys, right? When you combine the freakish height with ability, right? So not only does he have, he has the freakish height of the guys who are the most fun to get watched somebody dunk on them.

But he also has the abilities of like the mutumbos and the mornings and the great shot blockers and rim protection. that we have ever seen. To me, that combination put together because the tallest guys, the freaks of nature, didn't always have that talent that goes along with it. And the talent guys, the greatest rim protectors ever, in many cases, didn't have that kind of circus height. You have the circus height and the talent. I say he is the best person to dunk on ever.

I think that's the best poster you can have. I'll say this. You make some good points. And I think that people take particular pleasure in dunking on him right now at this stage in his career. Because there is the like, oh, this is your king? This is the future face of the league? This guy? Kobe White was probably six, two, just dunked all over.

But I'll say this. I will say this, though. He has not caught the resent, though, that, like, guys do love dunking on Gobert because they don't think he's as good as people say, and they don't like it. Well, another thing about Whimby. They all think he's awesome. When you notice, when people dunk on Wimby, a lot of the time, like, that Kobe dunk, Jacobi, I should say, is he's always, like, turning.

He's a little late in his health, or he's like, it's not really his guy. They're not, like, measuring each other up from two-step. out. It's always like he's kind of a little late to the party and kind of half jumps. If he gets a full on, like, I'm going through my brain. I've not seen someone just chest to chest rise up overwimmy. Like straddle him. Yeah, like really dunked on it. When he sees it coming a second before it happens, it's usually like he's the help defender that's turning and gets there a little late and is disadvantaged in the air. But here's why I will say that I've always said that the good defenders get dunked on a lot

because they're trying to defend the rim. And here's a quote from Wemby that I can read because it was in French and most of our listeners don't speak French. Bonshoot. Quote, getting dunked on is nothing. It's part of the game. I dunk on a lot of people and a lot of people dunk on me too, but I think I block more often than I get dunked on.

So that's a positive. God bless you, Wimpa, Yama. We've always talked about how we, he's sort of a philosopher. He's got a good head on his shoulders. I fucking love that. He's like, it's nothing to me.

I'm going to keep blocking shots. He had eight blocks in that game last night, by the way. I'm serious. We're going to talk about him getting dunked. I don't get eight blocks in the game. Like, he's going to, he's blown away blocking records. He's going to be a defensive player of the year. And he's like getting dunked on is nothing.

Bring it on. I'm going to get dunked on. I'm also going to block a bunch of guns. Because I think he's the hardest one to do it against. Yeah. The 7-5 and he's awesome at blocks his shots. He's skilled at it. He's a great rim protector.

He's not just like, oh, I'm going to block some shots because I'm 7.5. I'm 7.5 and I'm a shot blocker. No, when you're that good, people don't even try. That's why you don't see guys trying to dunk on him. You see guys look up and they stop their drives and kick it out. That's what happens more often than not. So shout out to Kobe White. That was crazy.

Joe Kobe White. Okay. I'll make this one quick. Quay Leonard has returned. we've all watched. He's been fine. He wasn't great last night. He looks really skinny,

which I kind of like, because I hate, you know what I mean? You see Luca coming off of this injury. He's going to end up looking like me with his shirt off. You know what I mean? But Kauai looks trim, looks in shape,

and I'm sure he's going to round himself into playing, you know, stuff. But I'm, I'm biased on this. I'm a Jeff Van Gundy fan. I loved him when he was the Knicks coach. I can't sit here and act like I know him well from working with him.

His number is not in my phone. We probably exchanged quick conversations about hoops, once in a while, but I love him as a commentator. I love him as a personality. I love him as a basketball mind. And here's what Kawhi Leonard said was an adjust was, was, was it, what it's like being coached by Jeff Van Gundy, who's essentially

like the defensive coordinator for the Clippers. Here's what he said, quote, he's locked in. This is Kauai on Jeff Van Gundy. He's locked in. He watches a lot of film. He lets you know he watches a lot of film. He tells you, nobody watches this shit more than me. When you hear a coach say that, it gives you

confidence as a player to know what he, he knows what he's talking about when you step onto that floor. I love this pairing. Here's my question for you. And I think it might be true. Kauai Leonard coming back, getting into sort of like midseason form, with a defense that's already good, with one of the best defensive coordinators in the history of the league, and one of the best players defensively in the history of the league, could a Jeff Van Gundy and Kauai Leonard pairing

catapult this Clippers team into that sort of top tier in the Western Conference. I think he would have to be awesome offensively. You know he can be. No, I know. I mean, he would have to be healthy and awesome offensively.

Because they, I got it. Norm Powell's been very good. James Hardin and the Subot's thing has worked out. But I mean, if, if Kauai Leonard was the guy that like, I'm going to war and he's, I can count on him getting me the 30 point game tonight in a playoff game.

Then, yeah, I mean, but again, are we, are we, are we at that moment? Are we at the moment where we think that Kauai Leonard can still do that? Just listen to me. Okay. Kauai Leonard, Norm Powell, Derek Jones, James Hardin, Zuba. A lot of vets. That's a closing five. Yeah.

That's a closing five. Derek Jones and Kauai can play defense. Zubach can do what he does around the room. And they have held. the fort down without him and they are doing it much like we've talked about. You look and you go, how do they have as good a record as they have? And the answer is because they are great defensively. And that's a nighted, night out thing that they are able to do it.

Now, we know that when it comes playoff time, what happens is the same way that they are on a night in, night out basis, there's not that many teams, honestly, because I get to see all these teams come through, that you feel like they have truly game planned against you extremely well for that night. And I think the teams that do stand out. Your Knicks are one of those teams that you very rarely, when you play against a Tibbs team, you know, they've got a game plan. This is what we're going to be trying to do. They're going to be showing you something different. Rick Carlisle teams back in the Dallas days did that a lot. It was something that you would see. And so you have a true

advantage on a night and night out basis with defense in the NBA. But when it comes playoff time, now everybody's doing that. Everybody's game planning in that way. And now you have to be much better

offensively than what they have proven to be thus far. Like you can't win with defense in the playoffs. You still it's going to expose that your guys have to be able to make shots. So So how about here's my final take. Yep.

I'm not saying the clippers is going to win the NBA championship, but I'm saying the clippers will outperform current expectations from now until the end of the regular season. If they have a healthy, Kawhi Leonard, another one of those teams.

He's going to load, man, he's going to play three out of four games. But that's fine. I will say, if you told me that that clippers team is healthy, again, another bitch for a young team to play against.

Yeah. You don't want a part of that. Well, that's a part of that. All right, my last one, and this is a goofy one. Make a confession here, Jacoby. And I shouldn't even, this isn't even, it's not even fair to say it's a guilty pleasure. Do you want to stop recording? You want to talk?

No, because everybody likes this. I'm in of the Leangelo Ball song. Oh, yeah. And, yeah, I must swear bend the corner, whoa. And one of those things where it's like, it's nostalgic. It's the throwback. And it's also like, are we making fun of? of this song or do we love this song?

Because I think we love this song. If you guys are making fun of it, I'm also making fun of it, but I think we're not making fun of it, right guys? Do you see who's credited with the lyrics? Of course I did. Lonzo. Lonzo. Lonzo writing.

So, and I saw somebody post this, Lamello's like leading an all-star vote. Leandro is the hottest rapper in the world. Fact. That's an indisputable data-backed fact. out streaming everybody on YouTube. And Lonzo is writing the song and back on the court for first time in three years. Dunking.

Did you dunk last week? Shout out to LeVar Ball. Look at him. Yes. Shout to LeVar Ball. Thriving. Do you remember, like, it's one of those things. Do you remember like the probably four months where LeVar Ball had the sports media industry in an absolute chokehold?

Oh, yeah. It was the biggest thing you could get. Remember when Kwame Brown had sports media in a chokehold for a month? What happened to him? I wanted to hate on the song. Can't do it. You can't. No, I like it too much.

I like you too much. The lions, the Lions, they get the number one seed. They beat their division rival, you know, Vikings. The last game of the last week of the regular season with all the eyeballs, they get into the locker room and all you can hear is play that jello. That's all you can hear. And Donovan Mitchell was mad. They were playing into the background of the Cavs.

The locker room. Of course they were playing it. Of course they were. Of course. Everybody, it's taken over. It's like a Hoctua thing. It's just like sometimes certain things inexplicably strike a nerve that it would take a million psychologists to figure out why and they still wouldn't be able to figure out why scientists, people to try to break this all down.

There's certain things that just catch fire. And this song has. Everybody's trying to make hot songs. Leangelo and Lanzo did it. They did it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's like, there are artists, like, you know, they're going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

They're, you know, quadruple platinum selling. Yeah. They have marketing teams and had the best producers in the best studio and their video cost $10 million. And they've got the social media managers and they've got millions of dollars of people behind them. And, you know, and they're just trying to capture one-tenth of what this dude did by going, I bend the corner. Whoa.

G3. G3. All right, my last one is this. I just wanted to, first of all, this isn't my last one, but I want to give a shout out to this quote from Russell Westbrook. Because one of my favorite things happening is the buddy cop film between Westbrook and Yokich. They were all getting to witness every single Nuggets game. Here's what he said, quote, a lot of the time we communicate without having to say nothing.

We be thinking the same thing. I love Westbrook and Yokch pairing so much, so much. How could you not? But here's what I really figured out. I know the Jimmy Butler's days in Miami are over. And I know this because I saw a headline. The Jimmy Butler mural was vandalized. Someone wrote, I quit on it, the headband.

Someone put a trade badge on his jersey. And on his coffee mug, someone wrote, pay me. And I saw the headline. I said to myself, this is crazy. I thought it was going to be vandals with spray paint all over the mural.

But I did some research. Pat Riley did it. Kyle Holbrook is the name of the man who did it. Oh. Kyle Holbrook is the artist that painted the mural. It wasn't vandalized.

It was remixed. The artist who spent probably a month designing this thing, another book painting it, heard Jimmy Butler's words about Joy in Miami playing basketball, and he went back to the mural that he made of this man and did a remix of it. This wasn't like some kids coming by with some spray paint and vandalizing it. The actual artist himself did this disparaging commentary on Jimmy Butler's position in Miami, and when I saw that, I said, there is no future.

he will never play another game for the Miami Heat. It's not even vandalism at that point. It's not vandalism. The artist did that to his own art. It was not vandalized. And I looked at some other headlines. They say like, oh, Miami fans write this on the mural. No, no.

The artist himself did this. Wow. That leads me to say, Jimmy Butler will never play another second in a Miami Heat uniform suspension or no. Do you disagree? Oh, no. I don't think he's going to be playing there.

Another second. You've seen the updated odds. Let's talk about it. Listen, if the people got this far into the podcast, they deserve to know. What if Jimmy Bucket comes to Memphis? Hold on. Hold on a second. Hold on a second.

Let's let the people behind the curtain a little bit. In the group chat, Bill sends you a missive as the local Grizzlies expert in the group chat. Bill just simply says, why wouldn't the Grizzlies trade for Jimmy Butler? And your response was, then we'll never trade Desmond Bain but I do think that there is a trade that could be put together what's it looks like Chris's guy

I mean you've seen it everywhere it includes Marcus Smart and includes Luke Kinnard maybe Brandon Clark picks what picks I mean why would Miami do this why would Miami do this

is that the best they're going to get for Jimmy Butler yes Marcus Smart yes how many games he played this season four what is the best they're going to get out Brandon Clark. Where in the depth chart? Where in the depth chart is Brandon Clark for the grizzles?

All three of those guys are in their rotation. Give me a break. Luke Carr just got back in the rotation and you know that. He just got, he had two DMPs like last week. You know that. You don't mean me to tell you about where Luke Carnard is in the rotation. Please refresh me on the Jimmy Butler value right now.

Please. Oh, I don't want them. I don't know who wants them. Okay. So then what are you talking about? So why do you want them? You can extend Jimmy Butler in the 2029? How are you getting better players?

Are you going to extend Jimmy Butler into 2029? I mean, make it a two-year deal? I don't think that's what he's looking for, bro. Okay. Well, I mean, could you play this out and then say you want to do whatever? Two years, two years, 90 million or whatever? Are you, do you really want this to happen? Do you want this to happen?

Bro, I live through Dylan Brooks. Yes, yes, I'll take anything in a small forward. What are you talking about? I don't think the heat want Brandon Clark, Marcus Smart, Luke Kinnard in like a second. You ask me if I want Jimmy Butler. Look, I'm trying to go to war when it comes to the playoffs. And if I get to bring him to the table, I'll bring him to the table. Again, the core of your, if I do not want him unless the core of the team could be

completely kept intact. No matter what, you're going to have John Moran, Desmond Bay, and Jared Jackson. If that is additive and they have tried, you know they swing, you know that they've been swinging to try to get a piece like that. They tried for Miles Bridges. They just tried for Dorian Phiney Smith.

And then, you know, and then the Lakers swooped in for him. And so you know at some point, but I mean, if you could get him for, you know, you know, pennies on the dollar, which very well may be the case. They just suspended the guy for seven games.

What are they getting for him, bro? I don't need to tell you about the Grizzlies, but they're not going to miss Luke Nard. They're not going to miss Marcus Smart. They'll miss Brandon Clark. But you would also have. And you also have Vince Williams and G.G. Jackson both coming back into your lineup within the next couple of weeks.

I mean, I don't see why the heat would do that. understand why the grisies would do that. But what I'm not doing is giving Jimmy Butler a three-year extension. The reason that you built up all these assets is for this moment so that you can take a run at great players. You know. No, Bain. You would not put Bain in. Hell no.

What? No. Absolutely not. You draw the line at Desmond Bain? You not even entertain? At his age. A Bain for Butler? One of the best three-point shooters alive?

No. way. Bain's had 30-point playoff games himself. That's happened already. I know nobody has paid any attention, but that's happened. Interesting. If Jimmy Butler ends up on the Grizzlies, bro, you're already insufferable? Hey, you want to walk into a gym and see John Moran, Desmond Bain, Jimmy Butler, Jaron Jackson Jr. and Zach Ead? Okay. But you had me until Zach Eadie. I was like, Dog, dog, dog, eh, not really a dog. Zach Eadie, a freak show.

A freak show, you're right. Freak show. John Morant and Jimmy Butler on the same team would make me very happy. And Jamerant and Jimmy Butler after, after like going up 2-0 on the Suns or whatever, would make me so happy just to see them in the post-game podium. Oh, and look, wherever Jimmy Butler lands, it's going you're going to watch the media reaction is going to be it's dependent on where he goes is what the reaction is going to be people won't love it if it's memphis people will love it if

it's golden state what mark my words i think that's fair to say but people will love it if it's memphis too you can't do this like underdog no one loves us no they won't these things because people love the grisleys like come on it's a very lovable team it's a very lovable team it is and i'll say this. I was looking at the conduct detrimental to the team thing, the seven game suspension. There's no chance they could possibly uphold this. Like there's no chance. I mean, I don't know. I think you could show that. Did you see the

clip during the Pelicans game where they did swing, swing? They threw it to the corner and he shot the thing off one foot. If I did that in a pickup game, my friends would be like, bro, what are you doing? So I think that, I don't know. I think that does kind of hold up. I think if you showed that video, you could be like, come on, bro. But I don't remember. Looking back, I remember he had this illness that kept him out for like seven games. And I was like, how sick was this man?

Let's just act like it's a court, like, let's act like it goes to like arbitration or whatever, right? Yeah, it will. And I show that. Okay. No, no. And I show. And that's what I present is my evidence. I say, we swing, swing, you caught this ball in the corner, lifted up your foot and shot it like you're dicking around.

Okay. Why did you shoot that off of one foot? Okay, Jimmy, I ask you, Jimmy. Why? As Mr. Butler's defense, I will now offer up many clips from some of the best players in the NBA doing the exact same thing. Here's Yokic three-time MVP. Here's Lamella Ball, an average of 30 points a game. And here we have one of the best scores of all-time dirt and whiskey.

They're all doing the exact same thing. So you're telling me that my client is not playing hard when he's just mimicking to the best players of all time, including lamella ball. I just added as one of the best players of all time. The little mellow ball. Sware around the corner. Whoa.

All right. It's a ridiculous shot to say the least. I agree with you, though. I doubt that he's not going to lose too many. You can't prove someone's not playing hard. You just can't. I can show you clips of Yokic. You'd be like, this guy's not even running.

He's not even trying. He barely looks like he's trying the whole time. He's the best player in the least. or DeAndre Aiton's entire career. He's got one speed, first year. All right, that's going to do it for another episode of the mismatch. Thank you to our executive producer Jesse Wilfell. As always, Jacoby.

I'll talk to you later this week. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. You got a gambling problem? Call 100 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-88-78-98-9-77-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling help line m a.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. Or call 878-8-Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York.