The Mismatch - Time to Reconsider the Warriors and Lakers? Plus: Hookah Luka, NBA Centel, and More Loves and Loathes.

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Verno and Jacoby discuss Steph Curry’s historic night after he dropped 56 points in Orlando and also talk about the Lakers' win against the Wolves despite an off night from Luka Doncic, who's continued to struggle with his shot since arriving in L.A. Despite the struggles, the Lakers have looked strong with Luka, and the Warriors are 6-1 with Jimmy Butler and are currently on a five-game win streak heading into the weekend. Now that they have Jimmy and Luka, is it time to seriously consider the Warriors and Lakers championship contenders? Next, they give out their loves and loathes from the week that was. 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 Producers: Jessie Lopez, T Cruz, and Liz Jerry Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me to Des every week from the ringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What's happening to burn 0. 56 points from Wendell Curry last night. Can you, can you hear the part? It's Wardell and can you hear the party that is going on at Adam Silver's office after it looked like we were at the end of the road for both the Warriors and the Lakers and championship dreams for two of the.

players that they have promoted the most, both LeBron James and Steph Curry, over the course of the past decade. And now here we are on Friday, February 28. And the topics are all, are the Lakers a championship contender? Are the Warriors a championship contender? And we'll start with Curry last night, 12 threes on the road, including a half quarter right before halftime, 56 points. And the craziest thing is what I was reading about it this morning. What are the chances you play on a team where 12 is not the record? 14 is the record for threes with the Warriors with Clay Thompson's 14.

But just an unbelievable performance and pretty dreadful to hear the MVP chance raining down in Orlando. Yeah. Well, somewhere Palo Vancaro, he had like 41. He played well. The magic, I've watched this game. The magic jumped out to like a 9-0 lead. And the reason Steph had 56, and he actually mentioned this in the post game,

is they needed all 56 of those. Like this, you don't really get over 50 points in blowouts because you sit out the fourth quarter or whatever. But like, they needed every one of those points. And there's a bunch of free throws at the end. And he hit, there was one that he hit when he kind of like, he went between the legs a few times in front of Franz and kind of got past them and took a leaner from the right elbow. That was when I was like, this is one of those days where he's not missing because he, he missed a couple open ones in the first half and he had a lot of like nice, really on balance,

get your feet set, take a second, hit the shot threes. But around the fourth quarter, he just started flicking them up there from everywhere, not even getting his feet set, still running, just classic Steph Curry nuclear. There's nothing you can do he's going to win the game for. He was fantastic to watch. Well, and also a real throwback to what the Warriors used to be like. If you remember back during those championship days, it was always the third quarter. They would come out in that third quarter and just run you out.

It would be an avalanche you couldn't handle. And last night was a real throwback to that because they come out of halftime. They're down pretty big after they had been down nearly 20 in the first half. and they go on a 30 to 9 run right out of halftime. And I'm like, oh, boy, this is very reminiscent of those Warriors teams you watch for so many years, you know, a decade ago. It's like we're doing this again? There's, I'm glad you mentioned the third quarter because if you remember his first three, I think it was the first possession of the third quarter, he missed it. Like the ball hits the front rim, bounces super high off the back.

It was a miss. Like, you know, we've all watched thousands of hours. of NBA basketball. He missed that shot, but the basketball gods were like, no, no, no. Maybe it was Adam Silver, actually. Maybe it was the league. Maybe it's all rigged. But that ball just sort of found its way into the rim.

And that was after at the end of the half when he hit the 56 foot shot. Like it was just sort of his night that night. It was it was so fun to watch. And you know, you did bring up sort of them in contention. And it's just my question for you is this is do they need a bit? Like can't, can, how? far can they go with like post as they're big? I mean, I think with the addition of Butler, it is much further than we would have

thought at first because they can play small and punish you. And especially they get comminga back and if they could get something real out of him. You know, there might be some teams certainly at the top that could punish them. But like they're not going to get punished by the Oklahoma City big. obviously Yokic is going to punish anybody. But you look up and down the standings and you go, okay, who's the big that's going to trash you? I mean, Yokic and who's the next big that you think is going to like dominate a series?

Because most of these teams, you know, I guess if Dallas gets there and Dallas is like that guy who can absolutely take over. over a playoff series and be the best player on the floor. But you look up and down the Western Conference and you go, who's going to punish you for being small? I mean, so much that you can't play small. Not Oklahoma City,

not Memphis, not the Lakers, not the Rockets. Right? The clippers have Zubatch, who's playing well this year and I love him, but it does, the way it's,

that it would only be a playing matchup, if anything. I can't see the Warriors going up against the clippers. It's just the way the bracket's shaken out. So yeah. Yeah. You could also say the same thing for the Lakers, too. It's like they're, you know, obviously the Mark Williams trade falls apart

and they're playing Jackson Hayes. It looks super tan last night. He must have went somewhere nice during the All-Star break. But like there aren't a lot of bigs in the Western Conference outside of Yokic that you could see putting up 30 points. And two things real quickly on that game before we move to the next is, number one, we talked so many times. We talked about this with Mitchell Robinson.

the way, huge showdown tonight between the Knicks and the Grizzlies. But where I said, look, it's not always about the player. It's about how the player affects the group. And we talked about this with adding Jimmy Butler and how much, you know, this could help Steph Curry. And then you see what happened to Houston with having to try to play without Fred Van Vleet and Orlando every time I watch them. And especially on a night like last night, you're like, God, man, this Suggs injury is just

the disaster because he sets a tone. This is a team that wins with defense and he really sets that tone defensively. And you see what life has been like. Like they were even able to get by without Franz and Paulo, you remember. How many times did we come on here like, man, Orlando, this is unbelievable. They're, you know, they lose Paulo. They're still winning. They lose Franz.

They're still winning. And it's like as soon as this Suggs thing really, took hold. It's like, man, they need him back so badly because they have just absolutely crater. Craitor. It's just, it's weird. It is strange that, like, I was more confident in the Orlando magic when they didn't have Faulkner and Big Carrow than I am currently right now where they stand.

And before we do move on, 56 from Steph Curry and, uh, coach mostly was asked about aside from Steph Curry, what went wrong? And here's how he answered. The man had 56 points. There is no aside from Steph. He had 56. Real quick, a moment for Steph Curry. Forty-fifth career game with nine threes. His ninth 50-point game since turning 30. That is the most in NBA history. Will Chamberlain had seven. He had seven. Curry now has nine 50-point games post-30 years old.

Obviously, the Warriors of won five straight. They've won seven of eight since the Butler trade, and they are certainly a wave right now. The other team that's a wave right now is a team that's won 14 or 17 and has moved all the way up there. They're one back in the lost column from Memphis, and that is the Los Angeles Lakers, who got a win last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves,

and they are rocking despite a bad Luca shooting game. LeBron's got 33, 17, 6 assist. Luke has 21, 13, and 5. That's a bad game. And on the other side, Anthony Edwards gets chucked out of the game and throws the ball into the stands. 16th tech, probably going to get a suspension. Yep, he's going to get a suspension.

I can't imagine what he said. I mean, the first tech they certainly earned. That was like him in Vando, I think it was, kind of getting into it pushing each other. He earned that tech. But the second one was such a quick tech. I can't imagine what magic word came out of his mouth. But like one of the things that I,

because people are going to talk about the Lucas shot, that like one-footed sort of super high arcing rainbow thing that he hit. But he did not play well last night. Like he did, he was missing wide open threes. He was taking contested stepbacks and just not even hit. in the rim. Like, it was pretty bad from Luca last night. And outside of the game against the Mavs and the game against the Nuggets, like he hasn't, he still doesn't feel like himself with the Lakers yet, which is natural because he didn't play for six weeks before he got there. But it was a,

it was a bad Luca night last night for sure. Also, uh, always fun to see games with 23 free throws for one team in a quarter. Now, Minnesota can play too much because they got a million three, uh, they got a million free throws in the fourth quarter of the Oklahoma City game, but they got their payback. I mean, 46 free throw, they only play 48 minutes. If I ever see a team with 46 free throws, it's like, no wonder Anthony Edwards is chucking the ball in the stands.

It also doesn't help that I'm, I gotta stay up and watch this thing because it was close. Like, without Anthony Edwards, like they were still in the game. This was pretty close at the end. If you just look at the score, you know, it looks like a 10 point game or whatever, but this was, you know, a two possession game with a couple of minutes.

it's left and and then Luca hit that crazy three. You see Jackson Hayes throw the ball at Nasree's his face? No. You threw the ball to face? So he's, uh, Jackson Hayes is falling out of bounds. Nas Reid is standing out of bounds. You know when you throw it off your opponent? Oh, yeah.

He threw it like a soccer throw in over his head right in Nasreid's face. It was wild. I was like, but he immediately was, you know, he's apologizing. He came over and was cool about it. But it was like, it was a, he was apologizing for it. Yeah. hit him right square in the face point blank point blanks right in the face right in the it reminds me about a quick aside uh earl watson tells this story about years ago guarding john stockton

and he's like you know rookie in the league and he's like running up on john stockton picking him up 94 feet all this kind of stuff just in his face right and just chasing him around every single play. John Stockton is an older player at that point, right? And at one point, they come down the court and Stockton winds up like a baseball pass and throws it to what is like a back cutter behind, you know, Earl Watson, like, that's going to cut, except Earl Watson turns around and there's nobody there. And John Stockton walks over and goes, back to F up.

He literally just wound up and threw it at his head. We don't weaponize the basketball enough. We really need to start weaponizing the basketball. Like, what are the refs going to do? Is that illegal? I don't think it's illegal. There's nowhere in the rulebook to say you can't throw the ball at your opponent. He threw it at his face.

That's hilarious. Anyways, where are we at on the Lakers? I mean, this is now, look, hey, you produced so many ESPN shows for so many years. I mean, that's the A block, right? are the Lakers real championship contenders? Well, this Nico Harrison trade Luca thing is just like catnip for the first takes of the world. You know what I mean? Like it's just like there's when you have Luca Dodgers,

and not only that is it guarantees Laker relevancy for another full decade, another full decade of Laker relevancy. Like this is, this, you mentioned Adam Silver up top. but like having Steph and having LeBron be on the sort of hottest teams in the Western Conference is absolutely perfect for them. And not only that, little tease for later in the show, I'm going to tell you later in the show how Kevin Durant is also going to be a championship contender within a year. Okay, okay. All right. Let's get to the things that we loved and loathed from the week that was.

We'll start with team. Team that I love by Detroit Pistons. Oh, I love them. Sixth place, 33 and 26. Since December 21st, they are now 22 and 9 in the last 31 games. They have won eight straight. They play against the Denver Nuggets tonight on Friday night, a big game. Cade is in the top 10 in scoring in the NBA.

Malik Beasley already has broken the franchise record for most threes in a season with 28 games. to play. And Asar Thompson has been the new wave. We talked a lot about his brother earlier in the year and how much fun he was to watch and has been to watch in Houston. His twin has been having a massive impact, scoring double digits, also has 12 steals in their last three games. And big wins this week, not the least of which was running out on the Boston Celtics, keeping this thing going. So we talked about the wave in our show earlier in this week. It keeps on going and we'll see what they do against Denver tonight.

But clearly the team I loved. I mean, that Boston win was really impressive. I mean, that wasn't just a win. It was pretty dominant from start to finish. And that was an extremely impressive performance. I did not have them winning that game. You know, I wasn't even paying attention to it in the first half because I was watching other stuff because I just assumed that the Celtics were going to win that one.

It's been great in Detroit. And you know, they need it. this Jacoby. I got to tell you, after our episode on Tuesday, you said, when we were talking about this wave and kind of light the beam kicks, it's like, yeah, they're going to go, they're going to lose in the first round, they'll have some moments, all this kind of stuff. Immediately, one of my friends that's a big piston supporter, he texted me and he said, Jacoby sure does talk spicy, considering Detroit's work to New York twice. I was like,

If the playoffs were to start today, if the playoffs were to start today, I know. That would be a three six matchup. I know. That would be a three six matchup. Oh, I was just saying that was noticed. That was noticed immediately.

It was like, hold on. Jacoby thinks we're going to get axed in the first round, huh? Don't be so quick when it's Detroit playing against New York, because those teams have played this year, you know. And I was like, uh-oh. Uh-oh. And they had a good win against the Clippers on Monday night. They had a good win against the Celtics on Wednesday night.

I understand whether. And also there's also this, not only that is I have Jalen Rose to deal with. And I don't know if you've seen it, but he's in the front row of all these games, standing up like he's the coach. I think he coaches the team more than Jamie Bickerstap, does. I've attended, I attended a game in Detroit with Jalen and he, you know, he gets taken care of. And he got to the point where Steph Curry is taking the ball up. He's got the ball in his hands.

And he goes, shut up. Team that I loved, and this is pretty simple. It's Cleveland Cavaliers. You know, it's, you know, they've got a game against the Celtics tonight. And I did say on Tuesday that I expect the Celtics to coast through the Eastern Conference. And I still feel that way. Not much has changed in the last few days. But this game tonight, I think, is important for the Cavs.

They're going to be the number one seat. But I think it's really important for the Cavs to win this one. had a three-game losing streak in late January. Since then, they've won 12 or 13. Number one offense in the league. Sixth defense defense in the league. Everybody always says like, oh, top five offensive defense, top five offensive defense.

They're one spot away from top five offense and defense. Right. And, you know, they got Garland's coming back tonight in the game. They've been winning without Garland. I'm just really impressed with them. Like, obviously, it's not hard to say you're impressed with the number one team in the Eastern Conference, but they've just really put it together. And that high pick and roll with Garland or Mitchell is,

It's just, they've just really, really nailed it. And I would say that's the team that I've been watching. And I really, really, really will be rooting for them to beat the Celtics evening. Okay. Let me add something real quick because I saw something this week and it is very relevant with Memphis and New York playing tonight, who are both 38 and 20. What happened last time they played? It was terrible and we were together. Oh, that's right.

I have tried to erase it from my memory. That being said, in 2008, Phil Jackson famously talked about the 40-20 rule. The championship teams get to 40 wins before they get to 20 losses. And it's something that people have paid attention to over the years. Only once, 16 of the last 17 teams that have won the title have gotten to 40 wins, before they got to 20 losses. Then that was the 2000, 2021 bucks. Okay.

Okay. This year, the Knicks had a crack at it, didn't do it. The Grizzlies had a crack at it, didn't do it. The Nuggets had a crack at it, didn't do it. The Lakers had a crack at it, didn't do it, right? Getting to 40 before you get to 20 losses. There are only three teams that did it. So we'll see if this holds as the year goes on.

But the reason I'm mentioning this is because your team that you love is the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they are in that mix. The three teams that got to 40 wins before they got to 20 losses, if that holds are the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Boston Celtics. If that holds, the championship team comes from one of those three. Yeah, and if you check your fan duel, that seems to be, you know, seems to be pretty consistent with the championship favorites.

Yeah. Right. And we'll see. But I think the Knicks get to 40 and 20. We'll get tonight. We'll get that win tonight. You have to get the 40th win before you get the 20th loss. Eh, whatever.

And both Memphis and New York are 38 and 20 as of right now. The team that I loathed this week, I'm not spending a lot of time on this, because they're so disgusting. And I know they played a nip-tuck game against the Mavericks last night. But what the Hornets did prior to that game was downright historic. And we have seen a lot of sorry teams over the course of NBA history. But none performed as sorry as the Charlotte Hornets.

As the Hornets wrapped up their road trip, they made an unfortunate bit of NBA history Tuesday night with their 128 to 92 loss to the Warriors. Okay. Charlotte's 36 point loss to Golden State came on the heels of a 53 point loss to the Portland Trailblazers and a 42 point loss to the Kings. They lost three games by a hundred. 31 points

breaking the previous three game point differential record of 114. They had the biggest margin of loss over three games in NBA history. And that was, by the way, that was the 2022 Portland Trailblazers who lost three games by a margin of 114 points.

131. And by the way, the only good portion was on Tuesday night when they lost by 36 to the Warriors capping off this historic run. They at least made a got a couple buckets at the end because they would have been the only team in NBA history to lose three straight games by 40 or more. Jesus. I mean, come on, bro. You know what?

The team that I loathe is in a similar boat where it's not just how bad they are. It's, I actually thought this team would be not competitive, but fun to watch. Like, they're now in that group with like the jazz and the wizards for me where I just watch other games. Like that's where they are for me now. And I love Lamello Ball.

I've loved Lamello Ball since before he was in the league. And I think that he is sort of like worth the price of admission. But I don't watch Hornelow. its games anymore. They're a foregone conclusion. They're a foregone conclusion. I do not watch them anymore. In the words of my beloved friend, rest in peace, Bert Sugar, they could be playing in my backyard and I wouldn't raise the blinds. For real. Honestly, they were like one of my league past favorites to start the season. I know. Remember preseason? And I love their announcer. Yeah. Remember preseason when you, when you saw the vibes of the body language and the new coach?

This is not Fannie out It's not fanny out the way we wanted to The team that I load this week is Again I'm honestly A little sick of talking about the Sons and the Sixers But I wanted to Bring them up

Because their last five game They've lost to the Spurs The Raptors They beat the Bulls They lost to your Grizzlies in overtime Embarrassing for the Grizzlies And the Pelicans They

like they gave up a triple double to Zion the first is a whole entire career. That Memphis game was soul crushing because Beal Booker and Durant all had big games. Bull, bowl had a big game. If you score a hundred and forty eight, like three hundred total points in that one. 299. If you score, hey, if you score 148, you have to win. You have to win. Yeah.

Oh. And, uh, and here's one of the things I want to talk about them is. Kevin Durant went on Draymond Green's podcast, and here's what he had to say about the potential trade to the Warriors. I get why y'all want to trade me and, you know, you're all looking at it just from simple fact, that's just business. But from me looking at it,

I'm just like, it just don't make sense for either side right now to go, go through that. You know what I'm saying? When we just play the season out, and if that's a decision you want to make, you know, in the off season,

then, you know, you figure it out. So big, yeah. It's such a big change to make, and I've been through it before. I was like, damn, it's not really it. He's gone. And I was watching a game on Wednesday night.

And I said to myself, I cannot believe it's this obvious right in front of me that Kevin Durant is going to be a Houston rocket next season. It's so obvious right in front of it. Wow. Wow. Right? We've been talking about how they could color up. I always call it color up.

Like when you're at the blackjack table and you want to leave, you have to color up. You have to take all your fives and tens and 25s and hopefully turn them into hundreds, but usually I just lose it all. but they're going to color up with a bunch of their young players and their draft assets and they're going to get Kevin Durant and they're going to be a championship contender next season. Where else is he going to go? The sons aren't going to keep him.

He said right there, he's like, you want to do it in the offseason? Go ahead. He's going to be on the Houston Rockets. Why wouldn't? That works for both sides. Where else is he going to play? Right, because the deal that Memphis probably proposed because evidently Memphis threw a massive deal.

deal at Phoenix at the trade deadline of which they did not take. But you'd imagine that that trade probably doesn't exist anymore. I'm sure that included a bunch of draft picks, expirings, Marcus Smart, Luke Kinnard, all this kind of stuff, right? But they don't have like young. They're G.G Jackson. The Rockets have more enticing young players if you're the sons and you're really starting sort of trying to start over.

And when we talk about the rockets, we always say the same thing. is at the end of the game, is it get the ball to Shangoon? Is it Jalen Green? Is it Thompson? We all, that's what we all say about the Rockets. It's like, who is their go-to guy? And if you put Kevin Durant on that team and you're going to have to give up some stuff, which is fine, they have stuff to give up.

That team, there's no who is our go-to guy to get a bucket at the end of the game. And it's a championship contending team. I'm predicting Kevin Durant to the Rockets, this off-seat. The player that I loved this week, And this has nothing to do with this performance. Because as you mentioned, wasn't that great. It was good, but not that great. It was bad.

It was bad. It was bad. It was fine. Is Luca Donchage. And the reason it is Luca Donchage is because they were obviously not going to let him have the 50 points that he would want against the Dallas Mavericks. And he's doing things other than scoring the ball, right? He has shot very poorly. but the other counting stats have been good thus far.

And by the way, they've won four straight games. That's not the reason. The reason is because everybody was looking forward to that Mabbs-Lakers thing. And Nico Harrison dressed up in a bright blue suit, went out for warm-ups to the scorers table to stand there. Like there was good. And it's like your ex showed up and is standing at the bar and he's just standing there watching you. And Luca did not give.

He wouldn't even make eye contact with him. Just wouldn't even. There was not going to be any pleasant trees. There was not going to be any. And so that's why he's the player I love this week because I love the way he handled that. I love the way that this guy went and stood there for. It was like going to be a spectacle. I'm going to show my face.

I'm going to stand here boldly standing at the scorers table. Every camera in the world is on me watching this. And Luca wouldn't even acknowledge his existence. It's like he didn't even exist standing over there on the scorers table. And so look, we love drama. Forget all the basketball stuff. I wanted to see. And he didn't, you could have done the fake.

crap and gone up and been like, you know, giving the fake dab or the fake half hug or whatever, you know, and they say, oh, they've let by God, you know, everything's going to be fine. It's just business of basketball. No, no, no, no, no. He acted like he hated his guts and I love that. That's what I like to. I love, I like petty. I like vengeance.

I like spiteful. And Luca gave it all to us. And like, I'm not going to fake this. I'm not going to fake this. Like, oh, hey, Nico. Oh, hey. And even, he doesn't even, he doesn't even give quotes like, listen, I understand this is a business. They made the decision that they thought was best for the team.

He hasn't even given quotes like that. You know, he's pissed. Pulling up with the luxury automobile with the 77 on the side and the whole day. I mean, it's just awesome. Well, I thought you were going to mention the rumors and reports about the hookah and beer thing. I am. I want to talk about that. I want to discuss that.

I want to discuss that. Oh, don't worry. I will. Okay. Well, I'll start here. Huka and beer, right? it's not like heroin and prostitutes.

You know what I mean? Like, first of all, you don't even, you know, I don't smoke hookah because I used to smoke cigarettes and so I would inhale. Like, I was naturally inhale whenever I smoke a cigar or hookah

so I can't do it. But you don't even inhale hookah. Like, is it really that bad for you? If you're a basketball player, and what's wrong with a couple beers? All right, then we're knocking this out now because on the rundown,

I have that as the thing I hate, Load this week. Well, you should have put it there then. Can't put Luca twice in the rundown. All right. We're going to do this right now. The Luca hookah story in the athletic. Like, bro, that is right after the trade stuff.

Stop leaking stuff out. Now, we're done. We're done with what a dirtbag Luca was. All the reasons that you're shorting his career. Like, enough. We know the guy likes. to smoke hookah and drink beer. By the way, like 90% of the league is smoking weed.

So shut up. They don't even test for it anymore. Like hookah? That's your problem. Really? I would love for you to know what everybody else smoked. I see players that I know are high in games. Oh, yeah.

Who was it Beasley? You started Beasley on the live stream a couple weeks ago? you've got all these, look, all these pods now, all these former player pods. And by the way, they were testing back then. Do you how many guys have said they played after they blazed up or they did their media sessions after they were, like, I mean, that's not uncommon, right? It's not uncommon. So the idea that like, ooh, Andy really likes hookah.

Like, what? You got to be kidding me. I would be more surprised. If guys didn't smoke weed, then if they did. Thank you. Are you a cigar guy? No. Yeah, I can't do it.

And I can't hookah, I love the idea of hookah. Like whenever I'm out and someone that gets a hookah thing, I'm at a hookah place, I'm so excited about it, smells so good. It's just the idea and the look of hookah is so much better than actually smoking hookah because it tastes bad. You don't inhale it. So you just kind of blow it out. And it's the same thing with cigars.

Like I just don't, I don't understand what the reward is. But when you trade Luca Donchich at his age for that return, and then this is your smear material? He likes hookah and beer. Like, that's what you got? It's got to be a better clear. You've got to do better than that. It can't be he likes a bud light and a hookah bar from time to time.

Like, you've got to do better than that. Seriously. honestly, the only thing that I'd be like, you know, okay, is like sleeping with somebody, like all of your teammates' wives or the front office. Like, you know, look, Ema Odoca is the coach in Houston for nefarious reasons, right? So, but we were all kind of like, all right, like, I get it. You can't have him around anymore. You got to do what you got to do, I suppose.

Yeah. Like, it has to be something where I'm like, all right. I understand why you couldn't have him around anymore. But to your point, it can't be because the guy It can't be hookah and beer. It can't be hookah and beer. What are you talking about? And I can't believe.

And I also like, I, that, I've seen that Finley video since he's been traded like everyone else like a million times. At the time, I thought that was rude as well. It was after a playoff game. Guys drinking a beer. What are you doing? What are you doing? Too much.

They're doing too much. You know what? I just want to apologize that I jumped out on in the rundown. but I also want to say that you put Luca twice on the rundown. That's your fault. Player that you loved. So the problem with this one is it is related to Luca. Oh, you want to bust me up, but now you want to come right back to you.

You got to be getting me. That's called a smooth transition from a professional broadcaster. Smooth? Yeah. Yeah, until I was interrupted. Max Christie. he wasn't great in the last two against the Lakers and the Warriors, but he's averaging 14.7 since he's been on the Mavs,

and he's shooting 44% from three with a steal a game. And he really didn't feel like he was going to be a valuable piece of this trade. But if you look at it from the Mavs side of things, obviously they don't have anyone over 6'8 right now, but that's another problem. But they're just saying we want defenders, we want length, and that's going to be our sort of identity as a team moving forward around Anthony Davis, Derek lively. And I think Max Christie fits that mold really well for them.

And I'd love seeing him from sort of a, I won't say unknown, but sort of like an unproven asset in the offseason that he sort of like worked his way to the starting rotation for the Lakers and is now being a real contributor for the Maver. That's why he's the player of love this week. Why don't you do the first take thing? What's that? Oh, the real, the real, it's not the Anthony Davis trade. I can't get into it.

Come on. The best player in the Luca Dodgers, Anthony Davis trade, isn't Luca or Anthony Davis. It's Max Christie. Remember where you heard it first. We'll be back right after this. Everybody thinks it's going to be known and everybody talks about it like the Luca trade. There we go. There we go.

But what we're going to find out, it was actually the Max Christie trade. He's the one going to Springfield. Yes, with Frank Bogle. All right. Player that I load this week, what happened to you, Deeran Fox? It started so well in San Antonio. Now these last three, New Orleans and New Orleans, Houston, okay? Three for 16, 13 points.

Six for 21, 15. and then tops it off with three for 12 for seven points against Houston. 17 assists, 12 turnovers, three for 21 points against Houston, Bernal. Three for 21 from three, bro, just because Wemby went out doesn't mean you can turn terrible. It feels like if Wemby's going out, you should be more productive. That's what it feels like. And by the way, Zach Levine's killing it, by the way. Yeah.

So I was, yeah. And look, I got to be honest with you. Much like I told you on Tuesday show, I was scared to bag on the suns too much. And then as that game's playing out, I'm like, dude, I knew our future. Deer & Fox is playing in Memphis tomorrow night. Oh, no. Look, go ahead and chalk up his 30. Oh, guarantee.

Get out your Fandual app right now and betsy over on Deer & Fox everything. It is a guarantee. It's a guarantee. It's a lock. It is a lock that Deer and Fox. I might even do that right now. It's a lock that the air and Fox goes crazy tomorrow night after I just crapped on his week.

I'm glad you brought it up because I saw that, that Rockets game and I was just like, what is going on with this guy? And I just kind of like slipped my mind because the Spurses are pretty irrelevant. But like I was thinking, I was like, I thought that Wimby would go out and he would put up 30 every game.

Right. But he is not. Player I load this week is Paul George. And listen, We all know it's been well documented that he has not been playing well this season, especially of late. His last seven games, this is what he is from three, two for six, two for six, oh, for five, three for nine, one for six, two for seven, four for nine against the Knicks. The Knicks game, he started like one for seven. Now he had 25 points and they had a little comeback in the third quarter, fourth quarter.

But like, if you just saw it 25 points from Paul George, you'd be like, oh, okay. But it's also the first time he scored 20 since January 24th. And what really bothered me this week about Paul George is he caved. He caved to the pressure, to the voices, to the stupid tweet that we all saw on our timeline, that he's got more uploaded videos from his podcast than points this year for the Sixers. He caved and said he's going to quit podcasting to focus on bringing the Sixers a championship. Podcast P. Just keep podcasting through it.

it, man. You got to. You've got to. That's the part that really bothered me this week about Paul George. Not that he was terrible to start off against the Knicks is the fact that he did this thing where he's like, I'm not going to podcast anymore. I'm going to focus on winning a championship this year with the Sixers. Yeah. Because I think the annoying part is, now you're going to focus after you're like 18 games under 500. Like what? These are like, do you actually go, please podcast. We want to lose now. Yeah, it's too late now.

Yes, good point. Now? Now you're going to focus. Joel and B is going to have his leg taken off and put back on. And now you're going to focus on podcasting. Thanks. Thanks a lot. It was a, that, that eight strength loss was a bridge too far.

That's what it was. That's what it was. Please. That was a bother me. He caved. thing that I loved this week, NBA Cental, being gone, everybody reacting to it, and then making the triumphant comeback. Because I feel different, I think, that many of my peers.

And I think that's because I have gotten so much joy. This is just behind the scenes thing. I've gotten so much joy in, and I hope there's people that relate to this in what NBA Central has done for group texts. Forget on. I like it. I like this angle. They, it's a MVP of group text. There is nothing funnier than you texting something out to all of your friends and then.

the immediate, oh my God, you got scented. Right now, obviously, this can happen on a huge level. I've gotten sentled. I've gotten settled on this show. I got ball sacks. Huh? I got ball sacks. It's even worse.

Centled isn't as bad as ball sacked. Ballsacked is bad too. Look, they keep you on your toes. They make you check, check, and recheck. And it's part of the reason that all of us were like checking 50 times to make sure that that was the real shots. When that happened, every single person that saw that trade was like, this is not real. Wait, let me let me just make sure.

And the other thing is they're all, and many times they're like on the line to where I'm like, is that for like the one where they had recently where they said the Dallas match were not going to allow people to wear Luca jersey? Yes, because that's close. You could see it. You could see. All right. And it's like there will inevitably be one of your buddies that goes, holy shit, did you see? this. And you're like, bro, you got settled, bro, you got settled. And so I just enjoy the group

text and us. I will tell you all of my friends, we have all gotten got by that. You know, you're quickly scrolling through and then that pops up. And then you, then you get, you say it to all of your friends. And they're like, bro, that's not real. And then everybody has a laugh about it. And so I don't mind that it's, you know, that it's goofy news that sometimes leads people astray. No. I like that it keeps you on your toes. And I would say for the value that it brings group text, I need it. NBA Cental is it's, it's, I consider it a very welcome part of my internet experience.

And if I think if you're against NBA Cental, then like you've got the wrong attitude about life itself. Because it's funny. I agree. It's really funny. And you know what? It's also like freezing. cold takes. Like it's like yeah sure it's coming from place of negativity but it's just funny to me. And if I end up on freezing cold takes sometime, fine. Before the draft, I thought Steph Curry would

be a terrible NBA player. You know what I mean? Like he dropped 56 last night. Like who cares, but I love NBA Central and there's also something to be said for like there's something about taking something away and then getting it back that makes you appreciate it. I agree. Because I never thought that NBA Central would ever go away. But then when it was gone, everyone's like, oh, that sucks. Like, it's kind of like, it's like faking your own death and just watching your funeral. You know what I mean? It's a part of the conversation.

Yes. Yes. Like, I've got this weird thing on Instagram where I just love following like all this, like, uh, shark stuff and deep sea stuff, like just ocean videos. I follow like 17 ocean accounts. So now that it keeps sending me more and more ocean accounts, right? So I always get all these shark attacks and, and mantarays and all this crazy. stuff in the ocean and today I got

a whale eating a boat and I'm like is that a whale eating a boat or is this an AI thing? I have no idea what's real anymore. I have no idea. I'm like did a whale just eat a boat or not? I don't know. It looks fake. But don't get eaten by a boat

or a whale. All right. The thing I love this week and I love this so much so, so so so much. I'm not going to set it up. Just play it, Chessie. Twang Wade. We get on the plane and we play cards at the front of the plane. We play cards.

And then at some point, Brong him would like, hey, bring me those cookies. And there's one day, he was like, hey, what my cookies is at? And they had to come up there and whisper his in and tell them they want no more cookies on the plane. Yeah. That motherfucker sat back away from the game. He pushed that table, that cars back. He sat there quiet. He didn't play cards no more.

He sat there like this. That is Dwayne Wade telling a story about full. flying with LeBron James on the team playing with the Miami Heat. And he said at the end of LeBron's run with Miami Heat, he would always have a bag of food that his chef prepared for him before a flight, and he would have a bag of cookies. And he loved his cookies that was part of his routine. And Pat Riley removed the cookies from LeBron.

LeBron requested his cookies and did not get his cookies, got word that they were removed without his permission. And that is when Dwayne Wade knew that LeBron's run with the heat. was over. And that was the level of micromanagement from Pat Riley that drove LeBron away. And this whole story is wild to me. Because number one, if I have LeBron James on my team and we won two championships, he can have all the damn cookies he wants. I do not care. I do not care. Number two, how many cookies is LeBron James eating on a flight? And who removed the cookies? How do you remove the cookies from the plane? Who's denying LeBron James' cookies?

And they could have had three more championships. If you didn't, if you just let LeBron James eat his cookies. Oh, that's for sure, Pat Riley said, no, he's mad about something. It said, no what, you know what, no more cookies. No more cookies. Yeah. It's one thing if, like, they have cookies as part of the spread in the locker room and they remove the cookies from the spread.

But LeBron James cultivates his own cookies and brings them on the plane and then was refused his cookies. And Dwayne Wade tells the story. He's like, that's when I knew LeBron James was gone. That moment. This guy, this guy, Pat Riley, he is so hardcore. I mean, like making them do body fat test and everything. Like, look, the GM of the Grizzlies, Chris Wallace used to come on with me weekly when he was the GM.

And he used to tell this story about how when he got there, he got in the best shape of his life because Pat Riley, like, Pat Riley degraded him and told him, you can't be some slob. These players see you. You can't be. and said, and he ended up losing like 40 pounds. And Pat Riley told him if he lost the weight, he would buy him a brand new Armani suit. And sure enough, he bought him a brand new Armani suit. But he's like, I had to get on the treadmill like every morning,

just to work there because he didn't think that players should see front office people that were out of shape. I'm like, that guy is a tyrant. I mean, and I also like to think of the logistics. I don't think Pat Riley removed the cookies himself. So he had to write an email to somebody and steal LeBron's cookies from LeBron. The thing that I load this week was

the hookah Luca story and the athletic, as we covered already. It's just too late. It's too late. Bro, that happened too. We're way past the trade deadline and then all the crappy things you can tell me about Luca. All the crappy things have to come out

when the reporter's notebook gets unloaded, but there's a timeline on that. You can't do it a couple weeks later after the Lakers are winning and everybody is like moved on. And also like I said before, if this is what you have, this is your slander material,

this? Yeah. Bucca and beer? Terrible. And I'm watching the Lakers last night. And as a slow... What if they said he smokes crack? That's what I'm expecting.

Or he's sexually harassing. employees or something like this is what you have or he's just like a no respect for the coach you know what I mean where he's had to make a call or something like if this is it this is what you got this is what you got trade luc but I'm watching the game last night and he when he doesn't have the ball and he's jogging down the floor he does not look like a professional basketball player like he just doesn't he's just got some way since he's got to L.A. though he has it well Everybody does. I lived in LA for a few years. And actually, Bill, Bill, Bill sent me a picture from, like, the LA days.

Like, Bill's good at that. He always keeps old photos like, every once in a while, it's randomly send you one. And I was like, man, I was tan. I was skinny. I was like, I moved back to L.A. So I drinked some green juice from Arawan because this New York stuff is tough. Jesus. But Lucas.

I saw a lady eating a $20 strawberry from there the other day. Do you see that? Of course. It's from Arawan. They ship it in from Japan. You can listen to Food News every Friday on the Ringer Network. A $20 strawberry. You know what?

I would do it just to say I did it. Like $20 strawberry is actually kind of enticing to me. It is kind of enticing to me. All right. A good strawberry is a good strawberry. Thing that you load. This is tough. I'm not a tattoo person.

I have zero tattoos. I don't judge people who have tattoos, you know, whatever you got to do to make yourself happy. But I sometimes I see certain tattoos and I just want to ask the person, like, you know that's permanent, right? Now, I'm not an anime guy. I just never got into it.

And I don't begrudge people that like anime. But I don't know if you saw this. Zion Williamson got a Naruto-themed tattoo around his belly button. So it's sort of like a spiral around his belly button with a sort of ring around. It's kind of like the size of like a dinner plate. And it's centered around his belly button.

button. And I just said to myself, like, this is the, the, I mean, I don't know what the Naruto thing represents or whatever, but I'm like, this is the, this is a really bad decision, Zion, like a really, really bad decision. And I also, I think I want to applaud Zion for the triple double last night. I also want to applaud him for he's, I've read a report, he's one of the lowest weights that he's been at since he's been in the league. And he is getting himself into shape. But post-NBA Zion, That tattoo is not going to look good. Because he's in shape now, but there are certain NBA players that you're like three years out of the league, that guy is going to be blown up.

And Zion Williamson is one of those. And that is not going to be a good look post-MBA career. And these are things you have to consider, and it only comes with age. You know, when I was younger, I considered at one point getting one like on my chest. and then I was like, bro, I'm going to end up with like man boobs. That's going to look terrible. Like there's no way that like, I mean, at what point am I not going to look good with this? And it's, I've probably got about three years of this looking cool.

And then it's going to look ridiculous for the rest of time. And I'm going to be ashamed of it. And so I did not do that, but you're right. But the other thing, it's the belly button tattoo is. Dennis Rodman is the only one I can think of that's done it before. No, no, Reggie Miller. Oh, he's got a belly button tattoo? Famously, it's like the sun or something.

Oh, no. Yeah, it's, yeah, Reggie, look it up. It's terrible. Hold on. There is one belly button tattoo that is worth celebrating. Have you seen that? First of all, I just want to say this. I might have been centelled.

I hope that this is real. This is a Naruto tattoo from Zion. I know. I question everything. I question everything. The first time, time I saw it, I was like, this can't be real. And then I saw it somewhere else.

And if you once, I sort of like see it twice, I assume it's real. But I could have been ball sack. They make a killing with Zion too. Like the whole like Zion's, you know, responding to Joy Taylor and they stay on Zion's ass. I was going to, I walked into the tattoo shop and like got to be like 98. I walked into a tattoo shop on Canal Street. And I was going to get a black dragon on my arm. and I wanted it,

and I don't even know if I admitted it to myself at the time, I really wanted it because Jason Williams had it, you know, a big white chocolate guy. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and here's the tattoo

that I, that bothers me the most. And anyone listening to this podcast that's played any pickup, anywhere can relate to this. If you have a basketball-themed tattoo, you better be getting buckets. Because I play pickup against dudes

with basketball tattoos. I'm like, at what point were you good enough to get a basketball? basketball themed tattoo because you're trash. I'm shocked whenever that happens. I'm like, you've got a basketball theme tattoo and this is how you play. Generally, basketball players don't get basketball.

Well, they do, though. I've played against a lot of guys that have a basketball themed tattoo and they, they, really? Oh, yeah. And I do not cover them. And they're much better than I am. But usually, yeah,

I think you got to be kind of like D1 college level to get a basketball tattoo. I agree. You know what I mean? I think you have to be like an actual good basketball player. That one bothers me every time it happens. A belly button tattoo is just... What was going on your chest? Huh?

What was going on your chest? It was just going to be a name. Oh, okay. My best, it was my best friend who passed away. Oh, yeah, that's good. And so I was going to put his, I was going to put like maybe his initials or something on it. Yeah, that makes sense. But I decided, you know, you're very emotional at the time.

You want to do something. And then I'm like, okay. Of course. He would, you know what? But in fairness, he was just like me. He would have made fun of me forever for doing that. And there was a moment in time where I was like, you know what, dude, he would just goof on me for doing this. I want to say this, though, on belly button tattoos.

There is one that I haven't mentioned yet that I was going to mention that needs to be celebrated. And I hope you know who this man is. there's a Philadelphia super fan who's got like an Eagles tattoo and a Philly's tattoo and a Sixers tattoo and like Liberty Bell

and do you know the the Philly fanatic who's got that like trumpet nose mouth thing right he's a fat guy and he used his belly button as the trumpet

mouth thing is as a tattoo of the Philly Fanatic. That is the only acceptable belly button tattoo that I will accept. Very creative. I will give him that. That's very creative. I'll have to look this guy up this afternoon. And then I will immediately,

my algorithm will be inundated with people with goofy tattoos. Yes, I was. You know what I'm doing right now? I like, hey, this guy likes to look at goofy tattoos. I'm betting the over on Deeran Fox against the Grizzlies right now. I'm not even joking. All right, Nick's, Nick's Grizzlies. Nick's Chris.

You're lucky we're all. until Tuesday or I'm lucky we're off until Tuesday. One or the other. One or the other. Honestly, and I mentioned on Tuesday, I've lost all faith in both of these franchises. Damn, dog. I really have. You called it the fraud off.

The fraud bowl. It is. This is the fraud bowl. This is the fraud bowl. No. All right. Jacoby. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always.

And Jacoby, I'll catch up with you next week.