The Mismatch - Warriors' Silver Linings, the Clippers Are Back, and NBA Trade Season Is Here

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

Verno and KOC discuss what Draymond Green’s indefinite suspension means for the Warriors as well as Green himself (01:22). Can he control his emotions on the court? Or will there be another incident? Next, the guys discuss the odd behavior from Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Pacers after he broke the Bucks' franchise record with 64 points in a game (23:59). Despite the pettiness the Pacers showed, the guys hope this can develop into a legit rivalry. After a rocky start for James Harden and the Clippers, they seem to be steering the ship back in the right direction (33:16). Also, the guys discuss where Zach LaVine, Pascal Siakam, and other players end up as trade season will soon be underway (39:13). Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out http://theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Rigger Gambling Feed is back every Monday. Join myself, Joe House, Rahim Palmer and John Dershepsky for East Coast Bias. Sunday's action recap and our favorite bets for Monday night football. Then on Tuesday we got the Rosse Domen Show where I'll break down everything you need to know in the betting world. Plus, the East Coast Bias boys will be back on Thursday to help you get your betting card sorted ahead of all the NFL action. And then on Fridays it's me back with Warren Sharp, deep diving into the analytics. So be sure to subscribe on. Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every Thursday night from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien. It's Thursday night in the NBA. How are you doing? Man, we have had a lot go on since we last spoke. A lot of drama.

We are recording this. as the Clippers and the Warriors are facing off. Interestingly enough, the Warriors with a new starting lineup tonight, Curry and Thompson along with Pods, Cominga and Looney, Andrew Wiggins sent to the bench. And so everybody's trying to see what they're going to look like and how they're going to handle life without Draymond Green, which is, of course, the biggest subject of the week.

I was just watching an NBA TV game time segment with Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, and Matt Weiner about the, they came in after I watched Kurtz pregame press conference. And of course, the whole thing is about Draymond. And it's about we need to get Draymond help. And this is about life after basketball. And, you know, there's just no specifics on how long they are going to. to be without Draymond Green. They are taking the tact of it's not, there doesn't need to be a timeline

on this. This is about a guy healing, about a guy getting better and about a guy, you know, kind of being able to recover his legacy and keep playing basketball and then life after basketball because he's obviously got problems. And this all kind of started with the problems thing with Nurkich after he got slugged saying,

I don't know what's up with that. Dude, this guy's got, you know, this guy's got something going on here. He has been out for eight games already this year, either with suspension, injury, or personal reasons. This has been a very struggling team after starting five and one. They lost, what, 12 of their last 17? And what do you make of us being in this situation now where Draymond Green just has in indefinite suspension from the NBA? So for the Warriors side of things, let's just start there,

like with the indefinite side. The opportunity to look at some of these young guys could be a blessing in disguise for Steve Kerr. In that same game where Draymond got thrown out, we saw Clay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins not close the game. We saw Kerr go with the younger guys to close that game, which is something that Warriors fans have been asking for for a long time. give Moody and pods and Cominga more consistent opportunities.

So no Dremont for a certain amount of time, this could be the opportunity where Kerr has no choice but to give these guys heavy minutes. And we'll see how it plays out, but they've been good with the chances they've been provided. So I think that's A. Like that's the first thing I'm thinking about if I'm a Warriors fan right now, like, oh, great, we're going to get to see the young guys.

the the from the side of things but clearly that dude needs help right like I think like you mentioned the Kerr quote with him saying it's about more than basketball it's about helping Draymond the one who choked Rudy O'Bear the one who punched Jordan Bull

that's the guy who needs to change he's listing all the things he's done the one who stopped them to bonus like it's happened a lot in the past year it's been very very frequent clearly like he had a quote to Ramona Shelburne than a piece that went out a couple hours ago where he's like, you can't reach the level I have without knowing how to control your emotions.

Well, he's not doing a good job of that the past year. So you hope for him and you hope for the Warriors that it's a wake-up call to get an indefinite suspension. The other side of it is like, I don't know why the NBA just doesn't say 25 games instead they're just going with indefinite. Like, what does that mean? What's with these vague suspensions like what John around last year? Well, we saw that with John.

He has a checklist. Like, what's with the vagueness? I wish they would just pick a number that feels like more than just a little slap on the wrist. Right now, who knows what it's going to be? Well, and here's the other thing. Everybody acting like this is, this has always been Draymond Green. Yeah, but it's been so much more regular, Chris, and so much more extreme the past year. This is because he knocked out his teammate.

It is. Yeah, but he knocked out his teammate. And Dave didn't do anything about it. They didn't do anything about it. So you think because they didn't do anything about that, now he's like, I can do whatever I want. I think the NBA is saying, you can't be trusted with this player.

You can't. Because nothing you did, you have enabled this behavior rather than punish this behavior. And not only did you knock the guy out, You gave him the $100 million contract and jettisoned the other guy out. And so when you team that up with stomping Subonis, when you team that up with, but look, bro, there's, there's highlight reels going on. You've seen the mixtapes.

Of course. They're hilarious. This isn't from a year. I know, but that's, kicking Stephen Adams in the nuts. This is hitting LeBron James in the groin. This is getting so many flagrant fouls that he is kicked out of the 2016 finals. That's seven years ago. But this is more frequent than ever before and more extreme.

Just because he's done it twice in the first 20 games. Yeah, and last year with Savonis and with Jordan Poole. It's a lot in the past year. It's a lot. But you're right. But you're right. But you're right. It's just escalating.

It's escalating more. Well, and it's in the spotlight because he knocked out his teammate. Yes. Yes. Like that happened and they didn't do any, they didn't even suspend him. I still can't believe that actually happened. Can you believe they didn't suspend? I mean, in retrospect, even.

I mean, they, and then he was back for the regular season. Crazy. Last year. And so it's like, all right, you guys aren't going to. So this whole like, we just need him to get better. Oh, save it. Seriously. Save it.

Well, he had the whole Amazon thing last year. Steve. The Steve. The Steve. sitting up on the podium with his grand concern about this guy as a human and this is, you know, I know him and, you know, like he's like this like, oh, this is about, you know, needing to get him help or whatever. Bro, they, there's a video from inside your facility.

of him knocking out a team bait. And they made a whole documentary about it. Save it. Save it, bro. Like, you're the guy that I've got to listen to. Talk about how everybody just needs to, you know, Dremont just needs to get better.

You know, and whatever amount of time it takes, like, then that's the amount of time it takes. And it's like, oh, God, you cannot be serious. Serious. It's almost as if, like,

uh, lack of discipline might, be an issue. Oh, my God. The Golden St. Warriors. Wiggins has gone for four months last year. Trayvon's punching teammates.

Oh, boy. And it all just, it all just boils me, too, as someone who covered the playoff series where he said Dylan Brooks broke the code. He just broke the code. He coaches Trayvon Green.

Who stomps people, kicks people, jokes people, and knocks out his own teammates. Like, I mean, this, like, and now, like, that I need to have a pity party for Draymond Green. He is an adult. He's an adult. He's not a kid figuring things out.

You know, there, uh, I, this guy's been a veteran in the league for a long time, and he's been doing this crap forever. He's been doing it since the beginning of time. And it was celebrated. Okay. So we, we know that in all likelihood, Draymond, whenever he comes back, whether it's after 10 games, 12 games, 25 games, whenever he comes back, if he comes back to the Warriors, that he's probably going to continue doing this type of stuff at some point in the future. For the Warriors, is it at the point where it's just not worth it to have him around

considering his offensive decline? And he's not quite peak levels defensively. He's still very, very good, still a high level defender, but not all-time great level peak that he was at prior. Is it worth it for them at this point? We talk about Clay. What about Drayman? So I think this is super fascinating.

Tim Kawakami, who's outstanding columnist who's been writing in the Bay Area forever, actually wrote a column about this. The title of the article, who's on The Athletic, the NBA is sick and tired of Draymond Green, which should get the Warriors thinking about an exit. And one of the things he says in the article is the NBA is now taking a step, right? You've got the flagrant fouls with the possible, with the points, which possibly cost them a title. they didn't do anything to him after he berated Kevin Durant very publicly. Well, in a game, we were all watching on national TV. They didn't do anything after he knocked out his teammate. They didn't do anything after he stomps a bonus.

They didn't do anything after he choked Rudy Gobert. And now he slugs Nurkich. And it's like, okay, they're going to, they're going to step in. There's a trend here. And it says it's recurring more rapidly and louder every day. And it's not likely headed towards an upbeat conclusion for anybody. NBA is giving out increasingly severe signals. Draymond either isn't listening to them or doesn't have the temperament to pay them heed

on the court and the cycle is speeding up. It's more than obvious the NBA is sick of dealing with Draymond. The league has been sick of it for a while. This suspension feels like less than a subtle message to the warriors. Maybe you weren't sick of him when he did all of these different things that I just mentioned, but will the warriors get sick of dealing with the NBA being this utterly, sick and tired of Draymond and suspending him and waiting to suspend him again and again and again. And then it goes on and it says there's many that believe a reasons to believe in Draymond.

He usually apologizes for every transgression. He's been a pillar of basketball court. He's been very close to Curry. And I've always said what's good for Curry is good for the Warriors. But however long this suspension lasts, the league seems to be setting up a potential season long suspension the next time he crosses the line. And after that, it's moving towards it.

Would it even matter how long the suspension goes there, that goes for? For anybody else, you could see that the threat of dousing a future Hall of Famer at 33 would be more than enough to end this to kind of behavior. But for Draymond, I don't think anybody, not even Draymond, can say that the threat of career implosion would halt any of this. It hasn't before. And he says, I like Dremont. I've covered Dremont.

I was there when Dremon, you know, had the groin thing with, with LeBron. I was there with the Stephen Adams thing. I was there through all of that different stuff. And one of the things that was super fascinating was he said in his article, and this is a guy that he likes the guy. he said that he does not believe that he will change. That it's just who he is. And you can, I mean,

I guess they're going to make him do counseling and they're going to do all manner of different things. You can blame whoever you want to blame, but that's... Yeah, but what do you think? Do you think it's at the point that it's not worth it? it's getting close at least right i mean i don't know if it's quite there yet but you're at least considering it uh i mean he's got four years left of his contract for what it's worth including

this year so let me read you this and i think this is probably the most fascinating part of the article it would shot me if draymond is able to avoid more incidents in the future or even in the first few weeks once he's back from a suspension after the next incident it's guaranteed that the NBA response would be swift and thunderous. Would the Warriors even care at that point? If he's suspended for the rest of this season, his contract essentially comes off the books and luxury tax roll. Then the Warriors will look to get out of the contract, trade him for pennies on the dollar, or just release him and take the financial hit. Just because it isn't worth dealing with him or the league's frustration with him any longer. So it's almost like

see this one through and then you know right you can do the whole hey this is about Draymond getting help and maybe he does you know maybe he goes the straight and narrow and there's not another incident but I mean

he's close on points to getting another suspension anyway I mean you know the people that Tim Kawakami's covered his whole career right so that's somebody that's been there and likes the guy and says come on

It's a matter of time. Do any of us believe that that's the last Draymond Green incident? Truly. And so if you're the Warriors, you go, all right, we're going to roll with him. We're going to stand by him. He's going to come back from this.

And then, like he says, that's the money quote in this article to me, where it says, if he's suspended for the rest of this season, his contract essentially comes off the books and luxury tax roll with the warrior even care at that point. It's almost like,

hey, play this thing out. He'll get, you know. And if he does something again, the league's going to, the league's taking care of this right now, and then the league will take care of it again. I don't think he'll be. What kind of odds can we get off a fan duel for?

The rest of his career is incident free. Come on. Like a billion to one. I know. Right. I mean, you know, the guy, and it's, I get it. It's a lot recently, but this is not, like, when, when I think of people that are able to, uh, that really need help and you could tell like, man, this guy's really going through something. This is a different. Something's up with him. That's a different guy than I knew before. Right. That's not. you know, this is, this is somebody struggling and maybe it's off the court stuff or maybe it's whatever or maybe it's the pressures, you know, maybe it's, they're not, you know, coming out in the third quarter and dropping 25 to two runs on people anymore. And so, you know, yeah,

it's frustrating. Like, you know, it's a hard part when you were the best of the best in the world. And now it's a struggle and you lose a lot. But in terms of this like, this guy, needs to talk someone and he really needs to get help. I would be so much more compassionate about that if this was like, man, what's up with this guy? He's really off the, he's really off the reservation recently. Is there something going on with him? Like, okay, there's been more crap recently, but he's always been like this.

All right. We've been through that. So what do you think about the Warriors right now, though? like they have an opportunity to play the young guys. Are there silver linings here for the Golden State Warriors? No. No, you don't think so? See, I do.

Like, that's literally like my first thought for Golden State. You get a chance to look at the young guys for extended period of time. They've always been bad without Draymond and they'll be bad. But this year, this year they are not as bad without Trayvon. Like, they've had a lot of time without Draymond. They have a minus six net rating on the year with Steph and Draymond on the floor, a minus one net rating with Steph on the floor without Draymond. Like it's not like they've been

horrible without Draymond so far this season. They've still, they've actually been statistically better without Draymond. They've been like in the pluses, like a plus six without Steph or Draymond on the floor with all those young guys. That's why I'm just, I'm just intrigued to see the way the team looks.

For better or worse, he's the leader. I know. He's the heart and soul. And this is a longer, longer time period without them, which is where those problems could show through even more than they did prior. right so I agree with you there but I at the least I just think these young guys need time and they deserve time especially pods and moody coming has gotten some minutes but moody should be playing 25 plus minutes pod should be playing 30 plus minutes every single night there's so few

guys in that team that can shoot dribble make quick decisions play on and off ball pods is one of them and I think he fits this system and I am just very intrigued to see what he can do with more opportunity. Now that Draymond, the touches that he gets as a ball handler in that half-court offense, they're not there anymore. There's more for pods, more for CP, more for Steph. I just look forward to seeing the way these young guys look over however long it is without Draymond. I will say that's fine, but this is a team that we thought you still don't want to see them when it comes playoff time. Now, it got progressively worse and worse as this season has gone on, but they will not be a playoff team if C is out a long time.

right? They're already on the outside looking in anyway. And the clay thing is hanging out there too. You know, it'd be different. But he wasn't taking care of it. Now you've got that Shams report saying they offered him 2 and 48. Now there's nothing kind of on the table. So, I mean, geez, like they're going to have to do some real come to Jesus stuff

over the course of the next between now and February. Well, I mean, their GM, Mike Dunleave, he said before, the game. I think earlier today, like even before Steve Kerr spoke, he's like, you know, the next 15 to 20 games are an evaluation period for us. He's pretty much saying without directly calling out Clay and Chris Paul and Andrew Wiggins, hey, y'all got 15 to 20 games to show who you are still. Or else we're going to make changes to build around this guy who's still a top five talent in the NBA. That's the translation of what he said. So again, like that's, that's why I'm just, Well, you already wrote an article saying it was over? What? Like,

I didn't say it was over. I said that this current iteration looks like it's almost over and that they might have to make major changes. I don't think it's necessarily over for Stefan Curry. I do think it's over for Stephen Curry, Clay Thompson, and Draymond Green is the big three. They need to make it, they need to make a change in order to keep winning with Stephen Curry in that in that the current configuration that they have. All right. So how about this, Kev? I would present to you that That's the blessing of disguise.

If you're right about that, and I don't have any reason to disagree, I mean, they've had those three, and they've lost 12 or 17. I mean, this is not, it's not good enough. It's not good enough now that this would then spurn on something that was going to be a very, a much harder decision to make. Oh, yeah. Those are legends forever in that arena with that fan base on that, franchise, for that franchise.

And it is hard to break that up. You know, they all want to retire warriors. And they all want to be able to do it together, ride into the sunset, and maybe take another run at it. And maybe you would have looked at this and gone, you know what? Our problem's not that triumphant as much as we've got to figure out a way to augment things and make it better around them because Wiggins isn't good enough anymore for it.

And Chris Paul is not providing the scoring that they needed. Right. So we've got it, whether that is internal or whether that is, you know, leasing out, we've got to go build out around this. And we're going to take another run with these guys. These guys, because when you get to a playoff series and you got to beat them four out of seven, you've still got the best player on the floor most nights.

And Clay and Dremont could be three of the best five, but I don't think that they can be, you know, three of the top three with Steph being the, other one. Like, you just need someone better than those guys. Well, and tonight was the highlight where it's like, okay, Wiggins goes to the bench. I mean, you go back to their title run a few years ago. Wiggins was the second best player on the team. Yeah, legitimately was the second best player on the team. And he's been bad this year. And he's fallen back into some really bad habits, too, from his Minnesota days, the amount of like mid-range pull-offs that he's taken out of the flow of the offense. It's like, what

hell are you doing, man? What happened to all, everything you learned with the Warriors? Well, and he was mysteriously out of the mix completely last year, you remember. Yeah, that's what I... He's just gone. He's gone, yeah. He's just gone. And then came back. Mm-hmm.

And then, you know, they went out with the... What? I mean, they knocked off the Kings, and then they kind of went out with a whimper in the next round. And so now maybe this is just an agent for change. I don't know. For what it's worth with Wiggins, his years with the Warriors, he took 35% of his shot attempts from three in his first year with the Warriors, up to 39% up to 43% last season,

and now he's back down to 28% of his shot attempts from three-point range. And the last time it's been that low was his final season with Minnesota. Wow. It's just, like, weird how he's just gone right back to that after becoming, in this 3 and E guy. Like a 3 and E plus guy. Like what the hell is gone wrong with him? Well,

Draymond wasn't the only guy that got mad over the course of the last week. In maybe the most stunning turn of events on Sunday, I am watching football and I watch Patrick Mahomes losing his mind. And many times I've told you

that there are kind of, you know, Curry, Mahomes, Yonis, they're kind of all in this class of like universally beloved and respected and never really do anything, you know, off the field, off the court, and never have any drama particularly around them. They're all just kind of, you know, everybody, they're awesome and everybody likes them. And two of those three within the last week have had like the moment where it's like, what the hell? Mooms with this, you know, crazy, you know, profanity-laced tirade about the officials that was, you know, miscast. What a cry, baby.

He was off sides. You, baby. Everybody says Tom Brady's complained about the refs over the years, which he has. Never anything that goofy. I mean, come on. He was off sides. And then you have Janus dragging people through the tunnel. and I got to tell you,

I had the most hilarious experience watching that unfold. So you know how you're like scrolling on your phone and you're just speed scrolling, you're looking through stuff or whatever? So the video pops up and it's one of those like auto plays. And all I'm seeing is Janus flying into the tunnel. And I'm,

and my phone's on mute. So I'm like, oh my God. he looks like a guy running to get into a fight. Yeah, I'm like, holy hell. Yonah's got a fight. And then I read the story about him. It's about a basketball. And I'm like, what?

What is going on? And then you see the just intense pettiness of all of this. Yonis scores 64. Incredible. Franchise record for the Bucks. And you and I were texting about this last evening. It's like the bucks, I guess this goes in the good column for Adrian Griffin because we bitched at the play or at the IST that like Yanos was like 13 for 19 and totally

unstoppable. Why aren't you force feeding him? And then you get to the next game and it's like, wow, this team is flying guys at Halliburton getting the ball out of his hands. Why didn't you do that? And at least, it appears as if Adrian Griffin watched Anthony Davis go crazy, watched them get the ball out of Halliburton's days.

Like, you know what? Maybe we should try that. And so he got another shot at it. And he played Andre Jackson more often in the game too. Andre Jackson was a big part of that in the first half. Even though he picked up like four fouls in 15 minutes, I thought he played really well. But like the Yonah's part of it,

hilarious. With the Griffin part, like, let's just say that was game one last Thursday, right, when they lost or last Thursday, right? Yeah, last Thursday. Game one, they lose. They didn't feed Janus enough. They didn't make the right defensive adjustment going to the zone in the second half, even though it got them back into the game.

It wasn't quite enough. The Pacers cracked that code. Then game two, essentially, this week, then game two, they went with the proper strategy, forcing the ball out of his hands. Andre Jackson getting minutes. And most of all, like you said, the Yonis adjustment where they're just feeding him touches all game long.

He had 91 touches in essentially game two versus 71 touches in game one last week in the IST. So they gave him a massive amount of more touches in the game, massive amount more of shot opportunities, let him go to work, let him attack that smaller Pacers front court, that court. Every position is small on the Pacers. it doesn't matter.

And look at the results. A Bucks franchise record. And we got gifted with some drama. Okay, so we did get gifted with some drama. Now, let me just say, I went, this is why I got so excited. I love the drama. I love that we might be developing some, like,

real animosity and rivalries. I went and looked. Oh, you're going to love this. For those that have not looked, I immediately went and looked. I'm like, when do they play again? January, right, twice? Dude, it's back to back, home home.

Oh, baby, let's go. Right, it's the first week of January, and they play a home and home back to back. Or like, you know, two games in a row. I think there's a day in between. But they play against each other. And I was like, oh, this is so good. Because now there's real smoke.

You had the whole Halliburton dame time thing. And so you knew the bucks were mad. then they're hard fouling him. Phanasis is acting like he wants to run on the court and fight in that game. And so there was a lot of animosity building up throughout the game and the hard fouls on Yonis. And then the whole ball saga at the end where Janus sets the franchise record, wants the ball. The ball is run away with. And he takes this as a personal affront.

and then the Pacers Carlisle comes out and said oh we got the ball because Oscar Chibway made his first bucket or whatever I text in a couple different NBA players I've never heard of that I know Richard Jefferson went on ESPN but I mean I've been at games and covering games

like in football there's a bunch of game balls and so people get game balls right a guy gets his first touchdown and then the equipment manager goes and make sure he gets a game ball or something like that, right? Your first touchdown or your first touchdown pass or something like that. Because there's a bunch of balls. You got Tom Brady knows. He deflated all of them.

So stupid. But in that's the dumbest controversy of all time. But in basketball, there's a basketball. I don't. It's ridiculous. I don't remember. I'm just saying I've never seen it. And I spent 15 years in locker rooms.

I have never. seen a guy get a ball for his first NBA basket. I'm not saying it hasn't happened. But it's not a thing. That's not a thing. And by the way, Oscar C-boy was like, O for two with a free throw.

Shut the hell up. Like, this is just them being petty. It's petty. They took the ball on purpose. And I love it. I love it that it's that petty. I mean, I think it's kind of BS and I think he should get the ball

because it's a moment in history. And I understand commemorating that. But his 64 franchise record is much more significant than Oscar Sheboy's free throw that he made. Like, give me a break. It was all just about being dick. They were being dicks. Of course. And I guess, I guess for Yonis, it may have been about more than just the 64 points because I saw someone tweet out a photo of a ball that he had had after a game before where it was like signed to his, you know,

deceased father to his mother, like saying, this is for you to their dad. And I guess apparently he gives some of the game balls to his mom as a gift saying, like, this is for him. And, and like today I scored 44 points was like, I think the ball years ago. I guess maybe this one he signs his and today I scored 64 points. It's just a, it seems to be a family thing for him, which I guess, I guess I can see why if he loses his mind over. It's also not unreasonable for him to want that ball.

course. It's 64 points. It's a franchise record. I'm sorry, Oscar Sheboy. And I think if they'd have just been cool about it, he probably doesn't get that angry, but I'm not defending his anger. His anger went too far.

I love to me screaming at Hallibur. Yeah, that's crazy. Like, there's a way to go about it and say, hey, this is important to me. I want this ball, but he knew, the reason he lost his mind is because he You guys are just trying to be dicks.

Yeah, exactly. There's no. It's the only reason that ball's not right here. And then coming up with the cockamamie, we got that for Oscar Sheboy. Oh, stop. Stop. Come on.

That's ridiculous. Mm-hmm. That's ridiculous. I asked three different guys if they had their ball from their first bucket. They were like, what? What? Like, they didn't even feel stupid asking for it. They were just being petty.

That's all there is. They were just being petty. You're 100% right. The Pacers were being petty. And hopefully this plays into the, the birth of a rivalry between the Pacers and the Bucs. Yep. All right.

So we're recording, as you said, right now where they're in the second quarter, it's a three point game between the Clippers and the Warriors. We're seeing the Warriors without Draymond Green. Clippers been good. Yeah. The Clippers have been really good.

There's something that we for sure wanted to point out, because they are 5 and 0 leading into this. Seems like they have started to figure some stuff out with their roster. 10 of the last 13, too, I believe, right? Well, and most importantly, they have treated their best player like their best player, and he has delivered like their best player. I was very fascinated that, like, you know, even when they first made the Hardin deal, Ty Lou was like, Kauai Leonard is our best guy.

and as we, you know, we will go as he goes. And like, this is not a equal opportunity, Paul George, James Harden, or whatever. Like, oh, we got three. Like, he's the guy. And the last five games, we've gotten vintage Kauai, 29 points a game, five rebounds, five assists, 60% from the field, 52% from three, and 100% from the free throw line. I mean, that is. and honestly, like, you can even go back to last eight games.

He's been great. Like, we have gotten, Kauai's, he's turned it back a little bit now. Do you remember last year, Chris, when this happened? Remember, like he was, like, missing all these games earlier in the year. He didn't look the same when he was playing. And then in the middle of December, Kauai suddenly flipped the switch and turned into a 26 point per game guy on elite efficiency, looking like Michael Jordan out there all through the playoffs until he got, hurt for the first couple of games in the postseason.

And that's exactly what has happened this year, minus the missed games. He didn't miss the games earlier in the season, but he was not quite the same way he was that finished last season. But now he's even better. He's like a 29, 30 point per game guy shooting like absurd percentages. It's like 50, 50, 59. He's like 50% above the field, 50% from 3, 90% from the free throw and getting wherever he wants on the floor.

Kawhi uh like this is this is this is this is the version of kauai lennar that the clippers need in order to people feel like they can win a championship like you need this kawai because as we've said and i think we have already discounted him as but we've said it a hundred times on this show over the last eight seasons in the end you got to have one of the five best guys and right now he is like this like this at this current moment. Right. You got to have one of the five best guys. Mm-hmm. And then you got a chance at the title.

And that guy might be playing like one of the five best guys in the league, right? Like Jimmy Butler plays like one of the five best guys in the league for a good portion of playoffs, right? And then in the end, it's not enough. He gets trumped by the best guy in the league. But history tells us that very rarely are you ever going to find a team that you can't make the argument? And I got to tell you, as you were talking, I'm sorry for laughing. But in the background, I see Daniel Tice screaming. And he went in for a rebound and Chris Paul just leveled him.

Now I go, so Traymond's gone. And now Chris Paul gets to do that. Like now we're going to get the Chris Paul moments. So unbelievable. So unbelievable. Oh, we got a flagrant forward. Yeah, they got a flagrant. So he's got, they haven't lost their edge yet.

I'm watching the clip right now. Dreybond goes out and Chris Paul comes in. Yeah, Tice goes in for a rebound. Paul just like pushes him. It's hysterical. That's what was going on in the background while recording this. I don't know if that's a flagrant. I like the aggression on a boxout.

I like the little guy boxing out. It wasn't really boxed out. I don't know. I'm cool. Pushed him down. Maybe it's the one angle what I'm seeing, but, you know. What's the ceiling for the Clippers? Is this just a hot run and we're going to be, and we're going to look back at this and go,

hey, remember when they won six or seven in a row and Kauai was playing so awesome? I think the answer is simple. It's simple. If Kauil entered his 30 plus point per game guy on elite efficiency, they can be a championship team. It's that simple. Yeah. He's certainly been amazing recently. I guess the whole thing is, what's this is?

of this. 100% can he stay healthy? Can he stay healthy? Can he sustain it? I will say this. Because we've been hard on the Clippers. I like that he's able to do it with James Harden, Russell, Westbrook, and Paul George.

And I know Paul George isn't even playing tonight. But like, I like the fact that they might be able to, you know, that this is something that they might be able to pull off with him being the guy. and then other guys kind of falling back a little bit, right? And Hardin also. You got that kind of consistent output, it seems as if it can happen. We know it can happen. And Hardin's also been better, too, like in that role next to him.

Right. Yeah. Houston has been one of the hotter teams. They have been four and one in their last five games. I watched them play against Memphis last night. I'll see him in person tomorrow night. The Dylan Brooks return. But the reason I am bringing up the Houston Rockets is because they are eliciting some rumors as to what they might want to do with their roster tomorrow and going forward because it kind of marks the unofficial start of trade season.

I was reading an article today. It mentioned some of the guys, like whether it's Jeff Green or Jock Landell or, you know, guys that they had signed and like, okay, maybe they move some stuff around. because they try to get from where they are to where they want to be, though they have had a drastic improvement this year. And while Houston has been good recently, great at home, miserable on the road, you look at them and I see those contracts and I'm like, you know what?

There's probably some of these teams that are in the middle like them that are going to try to go for it and try to improve their teams. and then there's these other ones that are going to get all this focus on these next couple of weeks. And those are, first of all, the Raptors and the Bulls, seems like we're in Raptors Bulls, coup pipe season already. Levine didn't play tonight. The Rosen did. You've got the Rosen.

You've got Levine there. Caruso. Yeah, Caruso. Two major components in Toronto in Siacom and. Seacum and O.G. and Anobie as possible moving parts. And so what do you make of it? With now guys that have been signed, everybody's available to be traded for the most part, starting tomorrow. And you also have the stories coming out about guys that have not been able to come to contract extensions. And so that informs us like, okay.

Now we're kind of between now and February, and we know this team is going to try to get assets back and doesn't want to lose said players for nothing. What do you make of it? Both the Raptors and the Bulls. I mean, we talked a lot about DeRosen on the last pod. So, you know, kind of leave that to our past conversation. But I think with Levine, I know Michael Pina and his article today on the ringer, like suggested Zach Levine to the Pistons for Jaden Ivy, Joe. Harris and Alec Berks. Like just, you know, kind of like get the pistons, a higher upside score next to Cade,

Ivy, get him in a new situation. I heard when I was in Vegas that the Lakers aren't really that in on him. Like Levine and Clutch might be in on the Lakers, but my impression is that the Lakers aren't in on Levine. I don't really know what the best fit is for Zach Levine. Like, looking league-wide, I still look at the Sixers and I remain intrigued there with the backcourt fit next to Tyrese Maxie, having them both fly around Joel and Bede. I think Embed, you know, having him and the back line and having Kelly Ubrey and all their

guards and wings that they have covering on the wings. I'm still intrigued by the Sixers. I think that is the best fit. I do. Then you're not counting on him. Yeah, not at all. You're just highlighting his greatest strengths. That's right.

He is an asset for you, but he doesn't even have to be your one or two. even. And I don't know, like, but who, like, who else besides that? Like, the Detroit idea that Pina had, like, I get it. I think it's a solid idea, but I would not, I could see the Pistons doing it. I would not do it if I were Detroit. I would not do that, but I could see them doing it. I just, I just had a hard time looking around the league and seeing a fit for Zach Levine.

There's like a lot of teams that already have guys that can kind of do what he does for their teams. I don't know. Like, the Philly. You don't like the Lakers thing? I don't I don't love the Lakers fit unless they can also get Caruso in the deal too.

But what if you could package up like, you know, if you're not losing anything that you really care about, like Russell. Well, if I'm the Lakers, I'd rather get DeRosen and Caruso. I would do something like DeRosen and Caruso for DeLo and Ruy

or DeLo and Vincent and Hoodshafino like some combination of players that work financially. What if they ask for Reeves? No. You wouldn't? No. Not a chance.

Even to get those. You don't think that better equips you to beat Denver who wiped the floor with you? I think you need to keep Austin Reeves. He's too important to your team. Unless it's an obvious upgrade. I'm not sure he's an obvious, you know, upgrade from Reeves. Are they good enough right now? Are they good enough right now?

Are they better equipped to beat Denver than they were a year ago? No. Not necessarily, no. But Denver also needs to prove that there is great. as they were last season too. Yeah. Well, maybe so.

But I do think the Lakers need to make a move. Yes, I do. I do, but I just, I don't know, I don't,

I don't think it's Levine. I think it's more DeRosen Caruso, or one of those two. Well, DeRosa, you know, DeRosa would love it. He's an L.A.

guy. Absolutely. And it'd fall off your books. Mm-hmm. Right. Or you might actually, he might be one of those guys that's at the point of his career

where you could get him on an unbelievable deal. The mid-level. You're getting him for 12 million annually potentially. You get him on an unbelievable deal because he's back home. Yes. He's in L.A.

competing for championships. Competing for championships, right? Yeah. To me, that's the guy I want to go for if I'm the Lakers is DeRosen Caruso. I would rather have DeMarosen than Zach Levine. If you're the Lakers or just in general for any team. Any team?

Right now? Even the Sixers? He is the better. Even Philly. Even Philly. See, with Philly, I'd rather Levine, which is the weird part of it. No, because of his contract. I understand.

Levine's got the monster contract. DeRosins is falling off my book. It's reasonable and falling off my books if it doesn't work. Fair, fair, fair. That's very fair. That's why to me, he is the, he's the asset. Yeah. And then you can re-sign him for like 20 million, like, or even 15 million, potentially.

If you're in the Lakers, it's a hometown discount. Right. Or if you win big, you could also possibly get him at a reasonable price. He's made a fortune over the course of his career. He's kind of like, you know, now he's, this is now like. It's winning time. Yeah. And it's also.

And he's still a good player. For sure. He's still a guy that could get 40 last week in a game. So, I mean, this guy is still a bucket. Yeah. I, um, yeah. And what about, what about Siakam and, uh, and Anobie? Do you think that Maasai played this wrong?

Because do you think the value didn't go up on those guys? no value's not up now with siakum i'm intrigued by indiana indiana for siakum makes some sense to me because he can do some two-man game stuff with halibur and ideally you'd rather have someone a little bit bigger than siacum like who can run dhos with him and all that type of stuff like you see with yokech and jemal murray or you know your former center de monta sabonis with all their guys they have at the guard spot fox monk all that um but siacum halibur and two-man game stuff could be really fun. You think it's still five first round picks for O.G. Ninovier or no, it's not. Oh, you don't think so? No, I don't think so.

I saw an article where it said that Mark Spears mentioned Kelden Johnson as kind of like odd guy out in San Antonio. If somebody moves, I love Kelden Johnson. He's Rock Salon. I take a run at him if I'm somebody if I'm a team out there and needs a wing. Yeah, I think Kellelah Johnson is one of those guys who he's just like almost too far ahead for where the spurs are and will be the next couple of years. Yeah. He's like, it's just such a good two-way guy.

They got Sele. They've got Sohan. It's kind of like where does he fit amongst, you know, you got to, you got to, they're figuring out who they're going to dedicate to. Are you building this out with Bacel, Sohan, Han, and Wembe? And, right, then there is an odd man out. Sure. And you could also get a good amount for him in return, too, because he,

He is one of those guys who you project him as a good fit for a championship team. And you want to talk salaries. He makes 20 million this year, then 19 million, and then 17.5 million, and then 17.5 million again. So he hits free agency in 2027. And at that point, he's only going to be 28 years old. Like, he's still young. And he's on a descending contract. So for the Spurs, like you could make the argument, then it makes.

sense to keep him for that particular reason. But if you're another team, that also increases his value even more with his youth and his current skill set and his salary if you feel like you're actually contending over the next two, three, four years. Well, and if you're not going anywhere, he's a guy you could really get assets for him, as you said. He's got about it. He's got back. I like 100%. So when I saw, I perked up when I saw his name out there. I'm like, wow, Kelton Johnson maybe. So if Kelden Johnson is available, right? Let's just say he is available.

Isn't he the type of guy that might actually be more intriguing for, like talking about the Sixers with Levine and we're talking about the Lakers with the Rosen, isn't Kelton Johnson actually the more intriguing fit for those teams and basically any other team that is trying to add something because of the skill set? I think he fits in virtually any team. Anywhere. And I believe Spears brought him up in conjunction with the Warriors, which is an interesting one.

Bingo. Another wing, especially with the Wiggins crass. With Warriors, you talk about like Seacom and OGE, but Kelton Johnson, cheaper, younger. He fits both timelines. I'm very, very intrigued by San Antonio. I feel like they can get a lot for him, actually. I think that the demand could be pretty high.

So with all of this going on and everybody becoming virtually everybody, there's some of the guys that are like January 15th or whatever. But the league kind of opens up. It marks the unofficial start of trade season tomorrow, Friday. The ringer has this super cool thing called the offer sheet. It's like on the NBA page. People could look at. And it kind of names different guys.

NBA rangers. NBA rankings. Theringer.com. Yeah. And it names different guys and whether, you know, how big the rumors are or not.

But the thing that stood out to me the most when I was scrolling through, which made me think the most. And let me give credit where credits do. Justin Verrier wrote this. Said, essential question, are the Cavs missing a golden opportunity

by not dangling Mitchell? And it is this mini article about Donovan Mitchell. And Cavs lost again tonight. They lost to the Celtics. Celtics. And it's kind of about, hey, it's the worst kept secret. People don't think that Donovan Mitchell is going to be there long term anyway.

And so are you best off that his value would be an absolute apex right now, you know, before it becomes a thing and it starts to dwindle down. And is this the golden opportunity, especially when you're in the middle? And you go, all right, we're building this out around Garland and Mobile. And that's going to be the timeline. Yes, it got sped up with our opportunity to get Donovan Mitchell. But we have our big. We have our point guard.

And we're going to build this out around them. remember when they made, what was it, the play in a couple of years ago, I remember tweeting out like, God, I'd love to buy stock in this. When you got a young guy like Garland and a young guy like Mobley, it's like, this is, this is built to last. Those are two hard things to get as a perimeter all-star and a post-all-star and being able to team them up together. And then obviously Things have changed a bit with them having Mitchell in the mix. But I actually think this is super intriguing. He says if Mitchell became available, Golden State, Indiana, the Lakers, Miami,

both New York's teams, Orlando, Philly, Toronto, all probably you're thinking about acquiring him in some way, shape, or form. And so I just kind of look at it and go, man, if you're 13 and 12, you know you're not better than the three best in the East. And it's going to come to the point where it's the worst kept secret that Mitchell's not going to be there long term. Boy, you can get a crazy haul for him right now. I mean, that is a great all-star, an amazing playoff performer. at his absolute apex as a player. Like he's ready to help you go win right now, and it's not the best fit there,

and it doesn't necessarily fit the timeline of what Mowgli will eventually become and what Garland is when he's at his absolute best. I actually buy this. I was convinced, I was persuaded by reading this. Like, man, this would be, this would be a perfect time. And I actually think you could still build out a hell of a team. They don't have enough good players.

They need more good players. And so how do I build out around Garland and Mowgli? This would be the way. I like it. What do you think? Who were the teams Justin listed in the article? Oh, he listed everybody. I mean, he said Golden State, Indiana, the Lakers, Miami, both New York teams,

Orlando, Philly, Toronto, all kinds of teams, maybe even Chicago or Houston. You're like maybe a third of the league. Yeah, so we listed a lot of teams there. Yep. I think seriously, and I believe that. A third of the league would be interested in Donovan Mitchell. I think you could even add like, you know, like a Charlotte to the league to that list. Somebody like, oh, pairing with Lamello and Brennan Miller and then we get a high-powered offense.

You could add a team like that, but it needs to be a team. And that's just the point to me, Kev, is like you're talking about a third of the league. if you said, hey, he's available. You'd have a third league. You're going to get to the point. How about the Spurs? Terrible. Terrible idea.

For who? He's not on the wimpy timeline. I'm just asking. I'm just throwing a name out there. I don't necessarily believe it. Okay. So I mentioned Hornets. You didn't scoff at that.

So you hate it for the Hornets? You hate it for the Spurs. I just saw him in Garland. I don't want him. in Lavello is my back court. I agree. How about the magic from his list? Perfect.

I think the magic or a team. They got big guards too. But you also need to consider though, will he stay? Well, that's a difficult part there. Here's what I take him. If you moved him now, you'd have a third of the league,

I believe that. A third of the league going, oh my God. And now you're getting bidding war, It's going to get to the point where the word is out, out. He ain't going to be there. Or even worse, it gets to the point where he's trying to force his way to where he wants to go. The next to the nets. Yeah.

And now you're taking best possible deal you can get from one of those. It's like you, you usurp that if you move it. You know what I mean? There's always that timeline. I mean, isn't this what we talked about earlier in the year with the Cavs struggles? Like they probably at some point if this continues, need to break up Garland and Mitchell or Mobley and Allen. Like I think as this continues,

they continue just being blah, blah, average. Right. They're nothing special. And here's the thing, though, even if you do move Mitchell, even if you do, Evan Mobley still has not improved in the ways they need

in order for the Allen Mobley front court to be optimal. that right now the team is better with just one of those two bigs on the floor rather than both of them that shows up in the numbers, it shows up like when you just turn on the games on your TV and you're watching the way that offense operates. Mowbly needs to extend his range

for it to work with the both of them. And it hasn't happened yet. I agree with you. He needs to improve. I would also tell you that right now Evan Mowbly is 22 years old and he will be a better player at 23 and 24 and 25 Did you accelerate?

Did you accelerate too fast? Of course you did. Okay, so that was the mistake was going for Mitchell in the first place then. Teams always do this, but sometimes it works out. I know. Sometimes it works out. So are you willing if you're the cast?

Look, that is the soft. Okay, go ahead. Are you willing to take a step back then? That's what you're saying. If you're Cleveland, you don't need a deal that maintains your playoff footing. You're willing to take a step back is what you're saying.

I don't know if I'm taking a step back with what I could get for return for him. But if you lose a 30 point for game guy who's a proven playoff performer, you're taking a step back unless it's like getting. What if I get four good players? I mean, I got, I need players from that team. Look, you could speed up the timeline and sometimes it works. Last year, it looked like, you know, they were one of the teams that was like a home court advantage team.

They got waxed by the Knicks. Okay. But the best team in the league right now outside of the Celtics is a team that did that exact thing. And they've got one year to make it happen. One in Minnesota. They sped up that timeline. And that was my argument. Bro. Your best player is Anthony Edwards. We know that the best player on title teams, these guys, even the best of the best, they're usually 20. 28, 29. Absolutely. And they get their first one. And so why are you doing that now? Because next year, they ain't going to be no $20 million into the luxury tax.

They ain't spent it $100 million on three bigs. Like they got to win right now. Can I just ask, are we sure, despite Mitchell being a potential flight risk, are we sure he's the guy to deal and not Garland? Mitchell himself is young. You can build with him as part of the future with Mowley. I think the reason that you're considering that is because, A, I think Garland can be a multi-time All-Star.

I still love him. I don't know why he turns the ball over like crazy now, but I still love him. And also, yes, I think I could have him as a career player. Yeah, Garland's 23. Mitchell's 27. And also, if I deal Darius Garland and then Mitchell leaves me in the year two. then it's a disaster around Mobley. Yeah.

Garland might be a like a, you know, a lifer. Yeah. I mean, look, trading for Mitchell was in hindsight the mistake. They tried to accelerate things too quickly, and now they need to recalibrate and find the best situation for their team by moving him. I do think trading him makes a lot of sense. Yeah.

There's a lot of teams that do that, though. I mean, and then they got to get their way out of it, right? They become, there's so many of these middle of the pack teams right now. You know it's not good enough, but like, and we started this off with Houston, and they could really improve their roster. Atlanta, obviously, crossroads going to improve their roster. We think Toronto and Chicago probably go the other way. Brooklyn, one of those teams.

Yeah, I don't know what you do if you're Brooklyn. Do you try to get better from right where you are right now? or do you I don't know I mean if you're a tough one if you're Brooklyn you don't you don't have your picks

until 2028 so you're not worried about you're going nowhere yes you're going nowhere with what you've got I mean so how do I approve it you look at the Nets roster

and they got everything you want except for the stars that's right which are the hardest thing to find and in fairness they built themselves to the middle once before and then got the stars with all those guys. And so you might look up and go,

geez, we're going to move off of all these guys, you know, that there's a bunch of wings that have value to other teams. Dorian Finney Smith has value to other teams. Obviously, Bridges has valued other teams. Royce O'Neill. Yeah, they have value to other teams where you could get something back for them,

but I don't know if you could package all of it and get a star back. I don't know. They did it, though, once upon a time. He's pulled that off before, where he's just gotten a bunch of good players, and they won, you know, their middle team, and they were fun to watch that DeAngelo Russell,

Lavert team. And then next thing you know, they've got bringing James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving. Like, how the hell did that happen? I do think the timing makes sense for Brooklyn to make a move, though, because if you're them, right? If you're the Nets, if you acquire Donovan Mitchell ahead of the deadline this year, you know, you make the first round, you're a scrappy group, you look like you have upside.

You enter free agency in 2024. You don't have cap space, but you do have the expiring salary for Ben Simmons. And you could use that deal in order to say, like, hey, Toronto, we'll take Pascal Seyakum. you get Ben Simmons and you get a first round pick. If they don't trade them ahead of the deadline, it could be like that, that type of deal where it's a sign and trade for your expiring salary.

Like if the clippers implode, we're talking about them on the up and up right now, but if they implode, Paul George or Kauai Leonard, like that type of deal is, like there's not a lot of free agents to be clear. There's just not many available this offseason, but it does make sense to make a move now

and then set up for the summer. And then right as we are about to go off the air, I will tell you that at a four match again, the clippers are up at halftime. They're up by 13. Wow. And the Kings and the Thunder in a battle, three-point game into the third quarter at the moment.

The Jazz. Up by 30 on the Blazers right now. You ready for this? This was the first game all season long that the Portland Trailblazers were favored. Wow. And I saw it at three and a half. It closed.

It looks like at five and a half. So not only were they favored, it went up, and they're losing by 30. This is the first game they have been favored all season. That's crazy. Boy, Jeremy Grant, you can get some real assets for him.

Yeah, I know. They kind of got him on ice right now. He's a kind of guy that would be great to plug the play for a good team. Right. Yeah. Okay. I see he just got back to practice today from his concussion. So he must be due back very, very soon then.

Yeah. But yeah, he's another one. I mean, he's another one. He's just, he's just got that. He's got that big salary. Asset accumulation, though. Him, Brogden. they'll just be moving all those guys.

I don't know, man. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not totally sure. They still suck even with them. Like, they don't, you know what I mean? Like, they don't need to move that. But those guys, those guys can help teams and teams will give them assets for them. So they'll just rally together, caps, face, and picks. I don't know.

I'm not, I'm not sure. My impression was with Portland is that they're not in a rush to move any of those guys. Maybe Brogden. Because with Brogden, he has overlap with Scoot. and with Anthony Simons and Shaden Sharp is one of the guys getting touches on the team. So maybe Brogden, but I don't know about moving Grant.

I'm not sure if they're going to do that. What a waste. Maybe. But if he provides infrastructure next to Scoot and helps him develop. They're losing by 30 at home to the Jazz. Yeah, but he's not playing. Grant's not playing.

It's because they don't have Grant out there. That's why. They've been favored at one. They've been favored at one basketball game all year. They're terrible. They are terrible. They stink. They don't stink as much as the spurs and the pistons, though.

I cannot get over. Or the wizards. Wizards are three and 20. The pistons are two and 22. The spurs are three and 20. And the Grizzlies are six and 17. Well, I feel bad for all those players on all those teams. Yeah.

Job back soon. He is doing a media availability. tomorrow. So that will be headlines everywhere. I'll be at it tomorrow morning. 11.15 central time. He's doing his first media. Are you going to ask a question? I don't know.

I'll probably just, so my show's at noon, so I'll probably just pop in because I'll have to run back up to the studio. Do you have questions? Do you have questions? It just depends. It depends. If I feel like there is something that is unasked, but I think that pretty much everybody knows it's going to be about,

you know, not being there for 25 games, what changes have you made? Like all the, I don't think that there's going to be some type of question out there that he is not, that somebody's not going to ask that people will want answers to. You should ask him if he saw the trailer for Grant Theft Auto 6. I'm sure he has. Sure he is. It's a changed man, though. Yeah, he's not going to play it anymore.

He's a changed man. Yeah, probably doesn't play any. Or maybe he'll play it more in order to get a fix in the video game world. Well, it works for a lot of guys. It doesn't even come out until 24, I've read, right? 20, 25. God. I know.

Why? That pisses me off when somebody puts out a trailer for something and then I can't play it for two years. I don't know. It's been 10 years since they really. least five so but why are you put out a trailer if it's not going to come out for two years they did that with that golf game and by the time the golf game came out i didn't give a shit how old is william right now 13 he's gonna he's gonna want to play gta six when that comes out oh i know he's gonna be of age for that game you know i found when he was little i found it he did a free download

on the on there was like a free download thing five tv and i saw it no so i because the account was in my name, it emailed it to me. He was probably like, I don't know, 11. What a dummy. He didn't know it was your email. It showed up on my email. It said, thank you for your download of Grand Theft Auto. I went up to him. I said, what the hell is this? He learned his lesson there. He's like, oh, my, my friends were playing it. And I was like, get that off of there. Kids have no idea how to lie. I'm like, get that off of there, man. What is wrong with you? I saw, I saw, I saw a, video posted the other day. It was like Instagram

reels or something of some kid going home. He opens his backpack and he's saying, oh, I lost my report card, mom. I put it in my bag and fell out of my bag. It must have fallen out. Kids don't know how to lie at that age. Oh, I know.

They're the worst. But also the best. Yeah, I got it off. I got it off of there. All right. I'm excited. I'm hoping there's going to be, I think I would not be surprised if we get early movement in the NBA.

Seriously. Before Christmas even. It wouldn't shock me at all. Not at all. No. There's been guys sitting out of games. There's been like guys sitting out with injuries that aren't very clear. Like I just feel like there's some guys around the league

that have kind of maybe been put on ice as to not screw up some things that they know can happen post tomorrow. This might not be a trade season in which a star gets dealt, but it will be a trade season that is active, I would expect. For sure, especially with the way the luxury tax and the new cap is. Bingo. Yeah. I think now probably more than ever,

you've got guys that are just working on those cap sheets overtime, because now it is punitive. That's why we were talking about earlier with the Minnesota. thing. Like, you can't make a salary reduction move with the team you've got this year. You can't. But under any other circumstances, you probably would just knowing what's ahead. But you just got to let this ride, try to win the title with it.

And then you deal with it. You see Nas Reid tonight, Nas read 27 points on 7 of 11 from 3 point range. Dude, they got those three guys 100 million on centers next year. Like, that's untenable. And so you would typically make a move.

You can't make a move with that. You got to ride that thing out. And they got new owners and everything, right? So we're about to find out if A-Rod's got them deep pockets. Luca had 39 tonight. That dude is on one right now. Man.

Post baby, his numbers are freakish. Man. Thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez as always. Kevin, I will talk to you next week. Have a great weekend. Must be 21 plus in President Select States. FanDul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fanbule.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Call 1-800 next step, or text next step, 533-4-2 in Arizona. Call 1-888-7-8-8-9-7-7-7 or visit CCP-G-GGGGAT-org slash chat in Connecticut. Call 1-800-9 with it in Indiana. Call 1-800-522-470-7-0 or visit KSgamblinghelp.com in Kansas. Call 1-877-7-70 stop in Louisiana. Visit MD Gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Visit 1-800-Gambler.net in West Virginia. Call 1-800-5-2-4-7-0 in Wyoming.

Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, MA.org, I'll call 1-800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. Or call 1-8778 Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York.