The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Tom Haberstroh on Victor Wembanyama arrival, Hornets-Pistons Brawl, NBA's Tanking Disaster | 02.11

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

Bomani Jones is joined by Yahoo Sports' Tom Haberstroh.  First, they discuss Victor Wembanyama's insane game against the Los Angeles Lakers and why he is already an MVP-level player.  Later, they discuss the brawl between the Pistons and the Hornets & why the NBA needs more players like Isaiah Stewart.  Finally,  they react to the league-wide tanking epidemic and postulate that the NBA needs to get rid of the draft once and for all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is that time of week where we have a guest join us.

Coming to us from Yahoo Sports. Also check out his newsletter, Tom the Finder. Tom Habistro. What's going on, brother? What's going on, Beaumani? Good to be here. Doing all right. I use Brother intentionally because it is very,

interesting when we go into our YouTube comments sometimes, and we have this run of comments that I will read to you if you have not seen. It starts with, okay, I'll say it. Tom Habistro looks like a brother with a beard. Brother spelled B-R-O-T-H-A. And it's followed by agreed, but a all-caps very light-skinned brother, which was followed by, honestly, I had this on mute and was like, oh, this is a new brother, also spelled B-R-R-R-R-E. T-H-A. Then he said it was Tom and I flummoxed, parentheses, S-I-C-Pritheses. He's not, question mark. We have that. Below that is, I honestly thought he was high yellow. And then it caps with Tyrell Haberstro.

Tyrell Haberstro. Okay. I got to tell you, I don't think there's an Isaiah Hartinstein thing going on in my family, but I have to go dig deep into Ancestry.com, my I'm just saying, brother, I was hanging out with you in Gardena, O'Compton. I can't remember which one. You look right at home, babe. Yeah, shout out to Trey. Yes.

Yeah, that was a good time. I had a great time at that. This is new for me, Beaumani. This is new for me. So I appreciate all the love in the chat. Yeah, man, just letting you know. You know what I'm saying? You've been out here hanging out with a few of us just long enough.

You know what to me? That like, a little overlap, little overlap, maybe just maybe. First, I forgot to tell you I wanted to ask you about this. because we were talking on Wednesday morning and it just happened. Victor Wemba Yama put up 37 in the first half against like a skeleton crew of Lakers because the Lakers were down a lot. At the same time, it was 37 points in the first half. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Bomani, the takeover is here. And I don't know if you caught this before the game, Mitch, Miss Johnson, the coach. He said, hey, I just want to let you all know. I noticed that he's the only all-star this year. Dearen Fox is not an all-star. You don't think Saffon Castle's an all-star. I'm inclined to believe that the only reason why you don't believe those are all-stars because you think Wimby's the MVP.

And I was like, oh, Mitch is out here. Like, I was like, that was an amazing line. I was sitting here saying he's really thought about that. He actually detoured. It wasn't even like a prompted question was like, hey, what do you think? I'm the only one all-star. He went there because he wants people to see who Wembe is. He believes Wembe is the most valuable player in the league.

And after the game, after he got his ass kick, J.J. Reddick said he's one of the top five players in the league for a reason. And I'm like, the way he played, he was top five all time, the way he played against the Lakers. Like 27 points in the first half, he scored 17 straight points. And it wasn't like classic shack where they were throwing it down into the post and no one could stop him. He was getting it in every single way possible. at the three point line off the backboards here in Fox at one point, just kicked it off the backboard in a fast break. It was every single button he pressed on 2K, he finished it.

And it was just, it was incredible. And I got to tell you, Bumani, we're looking at Sheigildjus Alexander sidelined right now. Luca Dantzich is sidelined right now because he's hurt. I'm seeing these prediction markets and whatnot, not even having Victor Wembe Nama on the board for MVP. and I am with Ms. Johnson. I think it is very underrated his case, considering the San Antonio Spurs,

have a very like Derek Rose Chicago Bulls vibe to them this year where they're coming out of nowhere and the young guy is making a statement. And I feel like if Shea Gilgis Alexander misses additional time, like after the All-Star break with this abdominal stream and suddenly OKC in San Antonio right there, neck and neck, we are going to be collectively talking about Wembe MVP

and it's not just going to be on this show on February 11th. All right. So where I think the Derek Rose comparison is interesting, it's where I would agree with it, but also where I would disagree, right? The part where I think I would be inclined to disagree is that was a team who's like number two and number three players who Joe Kim Noah and Carlos Boozer.

And I feel like it's a little different with Castle as being the guy that's next to him. Noah was a very good player, like a very good defensive player, obviously. and Boozer was a very good burly man. But neither of them, I think the Spurs have options next to Victor with Fox also that are a little bit more dynamic, right? And so, but where I do agree

and where I think it's interesting is that I talk about this fairly often on this show, that the one statistic that is proven to be the most clear predictor of who will be an MVP is winchairs for 48 minutes. It maps out just about every year. and when it doesn't map out, it is behind what I will often call a narrative MVP case. Case in point, Steve Nash in those two years in Phoenix,

where you can make the argument that he was at times the second and third best player on his own team. But when he showed up, everything changed. Derek Rose is a case like that. Russell Westbrook keeping the thunder where they were in 2017, when the winchairs were 48 winner that year was actually Kevin Durant. Like there's a surrounding, there's something surrounding. And I'm not saying that to minimize the case for MVP for these guys, but just to say what takes us there becomes something different.

I'm watching a 21, 22-year-old dude completely overhauled the culture of an NBA team where you can talk about the five championships. Spurs have been dog shit for years, right? Like we really downplayed it because we like pop, right? but anybody else would have got fired years ago behind. Like, we were like, so when is this going to turn around? If they hadn't gotten Victor, I have no idea when it is that they actually would have turned good.

They got the European soccer fan section that he decided that they needed to have. And he's out there banging on the drums. If you hear the guys on the team talk about him, we went from year one where we're like, yeah, why don't you motherfuck is past the ball to the eight foot tall guy that's open all the time. Now they talk about him. Like he's like, we follow you. Like you are, he went in hung out with them monks. And apparently he picked up on some game.

And now everything revolves around him. And we remember when we went from being like, yo, the Thunder could win 75 games, which was a real fair point to, you know, the spurs might be able to get them. And that to me, that's the MVP case right there. Yeah, he is the OKC slayer. I mean, they're four and one against OKC this season. and it's like, man, he hates Chet Holmgren. I love this about Victor Wenbanyama.

I love it. And we'll talk about it later maybe, but I love when these guys really care, really care. And they stand on their turf and they're like, I'm here for this. And Victor Wenam is here for this. And he is out here saying, I think it's good to be greedy after that game last night. Like he said after getting 40 points in 26 minutes,

the most, here's the stat. the fewest number of minutes to finish with 40 points since Sleepy Floyd, which we all remember. Oh, that game, like 87? Yeah. It's been 40 years since someone put up 40 in 26, right? So, Bomani, after that, people said, you know, what did you think about your performance? He's like, I think it's good to be greedy. Like, I think it's good to be out here and taking everything when it's in front of me. And he also said after the game, how the All-Star game is going to, he's to try real hard. And you're saying he's a savior for the Spurs, I would take it one step further. He has a chance to save the NBA with the way he's approaching all of these games because he cares.

He clearly cares. And this stuff means something. And I think he's pointing out a lot of things about the NBA product that needs improvement in ways that you're not hearing from the American guys in the same way. And I do think he is the perfect, right now the perfect candidate to kind of usher in this new era post-KD, post-Steft, post-Lebron, because he's new, he's different, he's a product unto himself that my six-year-old daughter can flip on the TV and be like, ooh, who is that guy? Right. And I think he's got this appeal and he's about all the right things. And if he turns this All-Star game into a competitive game, then all bets are off. All-Bets are off with Victor Wem and Yamma. It's so interesting that you say about the All-Star

gang, because me and the homie Rod, black guy who tips, we always, we have been looking at him now, for like two years like oh we've got the one right like i talked to a veteran on the spurs and early in the year and he's like he's the one like like they like it's it's it's it's obvious and it's immediately clear to everybody around right that he's that do but we talked about what if he's the guy that can turn the all-star game into something because the trick bag about it is dude him in the all-star game i can't imagine how annoying that is going to be for the people who are not on his program where he's decided we're going to make this a real game. And I mean, the dudes on the other team, obviously.

You can't just be out here pitching my shit in the All-Star game? What are you talking about? Yeah. Yeah, it's like when you're trying to play pickup with the guys and one guy is just fouling hard, taking charges, diving out of bounds, like going after you're like, yo, I'm 40 years old. I can't be out here doing this. Like, literally there will be 40-year-olds out there in the game.

And he's going to be 21 and trying to take over everything going super hard. So, you know, will people follow the line? I mean, we're not seeing stuff in the game. There's no Shay Gildress Alexander. There's no, we're going to see about Janus, which is an interesting little dynamic. Yeah. What if Janus decides I'm going to go play in the All-Star game, but the Bucks won't let me play in regular games. This is going to be kind of a weird injury-trodden all-star game where he can come out and make a statement.

And it's going to be Team World versus two teams of American teams. I don't think it's going to work as well as it could because I think Team World is going to embarrass team USA, the two teams that are diluted to two different teams. If it was just the best American guys going against the best international guys, I think I would be very into that game. But when you diluting the American team and then there's a couple guys missing on the international team, I just wish we would get everybody going at once. You know, with the spurs and the idea of like caring, because it's always it's a trick bag when you start talking about the NBA in these terms because of the historical rhetoric

that has surrounded the league forever, right? It's hard to get as far as these guys get without caring in some way. I think what has changed over the years because of the professionalization of youth sports is they care about different stuff, right? Like, it's a league full of, I'm a businessman, right?

And they've been in his way since they were 14 years old or whatever, right? That there's an effect that comes from that. you know, that happens. It's not about whether or not guys care. We want crazy people, right? Like, we don't simply want somebody dedicated to a hard day's work, and I'm going to do my job as it is required.

No, this game is powered by crazy people. Maybe not everybody is a crazy person, but we got to have a few crazy people out here, different types of crazy people, right? Victor is the crazy person that you, we, I'm trying to think the last time that we had a guy that was really this high up in it. Yonis is kind of sort of this variety of crazy person. He just can make it difficult to like him. He's becoming, I don't know how you say Dwight Howard in Greek. But, you know, that's that's where we're going. But if we get an actual factual, crazy person, like Michael Jordan, crazy person. Kobe Bryant, crazy person.

Wemby is the guy who goes to the park in New York City and just wants to beat up on kids on chess. He said it in the quote last night. He said, I want to win everything. I want to win the All-Star game. I want to win a board game. He's out here saying that he wants to win shoots and ladders and just doesn't matter.

He wants to win that. And Steph Curry is the same way. And that's why they're on the Pantheon, right? That's why they're there is because they are unhinged in a way that might be unhealthy in other contexts, but on the basketball court, in order for you to bring it at 21 years old, at that size,

doing splits on the sidelines because you're like, hey, whatever Kareem did with yoga and stuff, I want to play until I'm 48 years old. And that's what Victor Webminiama does. And, man, the Spurs, they're over under this year. Coming into this year,

their Vegas over under wind projection was 44 and a half. And they're going to get that in like a couple weeks. they are exceeding expectations way, way earlier than everyone expected. And I think it's because, yeah, they got Deeran Fox

and Stefan Castle was accelerated. You got a 40 point triple double the other night. But I think everybody's following Victor Wenbanyama. The reason why Rich Paul wanted Deeran Fox in San Antonio was not because of the Riverwalk. It was because of Big Vic. And I think the league needs to put everything

behind Victor Wenbaniama. And I've been saying to hear on this program, like I agree. I think he is capital T. capital O is the one. How do we get him and Chet to fight? Because one thing I do love also is the other spurs have come to hate Chet also. Like, like his hatred of Chet, which again, so hilarious, I don't feel like Chet hates him back in the same way. And how do we like me, I think it'll be Davidique talks about this. It'll look like Dalsing versus Dahl scene where they just standing on the

other side of the screen and just rubber band arms shooting across. But how do we get this fight to happen? because you know at least one of the, like Victor would love to fight, Che. Hey, maybe it's the All-Star game because Mark Dagno, I don't think is here for a fight on the Oklahoma City Thunder,

but if it's All-Star game, if his coach isn't there, like maybe he's actually, Chet's like, all right, well, the cats away, the mice will play.

Like I think maybe Chad Holmgren in the All-Star game might take it personally, maybe not this year, but maybe down the line. I think, look, I think it's really interesting where the NBA is right now, and I do think that fighting,

right, Beaumani is something that has been lost over the last 10, 15 years in the league. We haven't seen fights all that much. But I actually think that when Victor Weniamas calling out Chet, like personally and saying, don't you love to watch ethical hoops and calling out Shea Gilgis Alexander, this sort of WWE talking shit to the other team, I think is actually great for the league. And even if it quote, quote, crosses a line where there's fights out on the floor, I actually think the signal that it sells to fans is that these players are passionate about this.

And the jerseys where I'm playing, it actually matters because the turnover in the league has been so much over the last 10 years. And we can say, hey, player empowerment is great, but it also diluted, I think, of the bonds between the players and the organizations and the teams. And so when Victor Wembenyama is coming out here and saying, like, I hate this team,

I think we've, I think we took for granted how guys staying with one team for their entire careers. While it might have been unfair from a labor standpoint, I think it did build bonds with the city, with the team, with the region. And I do think we've lost that. And I'm hoping that we kind of, I don't know, revitalize that a little bit in the league right now. Yeah, I think the key on that one was staying with the teams is part of it. I've always, I feel like player empowerment has been a bit overstated. and in the end, what it has proven to be is, I think as you put it, is a dilution of trust

between these two entities and they're no longer with the accession of Steph Curry. You don't really see them together in that way. Like, it's weird that LeBron James is in year eight of being a Laker and they just kind of know each other, right? Like, like, that's like, you know, like, that's a weird thing. And I think you're right in him carrying all of it, all of it's been that he's been demonstrating is important. And the fighting part, I think these cats been playing for money for so long, right? Like it used to be, you got into it playing for whatever it was, and then one day

you play for money, but you are kind of formed by the idea that you play in for the reasons that you play, which is often because you're a little crazy person. You like the competition, whatever it is, maybe because you like to fight, you know, that whole range of things. That's where you are. it is kind of weird that somebody like Victor who was obviously been groomed for this still took on the feelings of I'm in this for other reasons like he's the guy that goes and hangs out with the monks right like he's different but I want to make a transition where he brought up fighting because we just had a doozy the other night where the hornets and the pistons got into a fight and I would like to point out number one that the pistons

appear to have a bunch of those guys, like guys who seem to be ready to fight, which I didn't know we were still making them in these quantities. They seemed to have them. And of course, it is thereby perfect that they wind up playing for the Pistons, the franchise that, like, that's the brand, right? This is Detroit versus everybody. This is what it is. And it looked like in Charlotte, they were ready to take on everybody, including the homie big stew or beef stew. That's what they call them, beef stew. Isaiah Stewart. And if you guys are familiar with Isaiah Stewart, he tried to fight LeBron. No, not just tried, tried many times to fight him.

Yes, yes. LeBron hit him in the face. And what Isaiah Stewart appears to be as a man of principal. And when certain principles have been violated, he's ready to fight. I also think forgotten about him, as I talk about these guys, we've been playing for money too long. He was like the number two recruit in his class coming out of high school. Like, this is a five-star guy. This is not some hard scrabble.

This is what I had to get here. No, he just believes that. fighting is a thing that you do sometimes. That one white dude for the sons called the police on them because apparently Beef Stewart decided it was on site with him every time and that white man knew. The only solution he had was to call the police. They were out there, Charlotte.

It was a Jaden Duren. That was on the other end. And Musa Diabate. And by the way, Mousa Diabate and Jalen Duran have a history together. Oh, I didn't know that. In high school. Oh,

Musa was at IMG and Jail. Dylan Duren, they, they were tussling back in high school. So this is a history going way back. So when they're going forehead to forehead, uh, I think there was a lot there. And I didn't realize this until after the fact. So I'm watching this. And they, they seemed like they were ready to throw down immediately. And that's what, you know, we saw in Jalen Duren. He, he, yeah, he got his fist ready. And he was ready to go like immediately. And Isaiah Stewart, the whole time I'm watching this is I'm like, where's beef stew? Where's beef stew? And then I heard the stone cold Steve Austin. And here he comes running down the ramp and he goes into the ring and he's coming after Miles Bridges. And man, Miles Bridges ducked.

And I am, man, it's like watching the mouse at the palace where I, who was it, Jermaine O'Neill slipped. And it was like, thank. Yep. Thank God he slipped because otherwise that guy. would have been six feet under, right? Shack and Brad Miller is my favorite example of that one. That's a great call. Yeah. Where it's just, you're like, oh, Brad Miller is alive to this day because it just didn't, it didn't land in a way that it could have.

But Isaiah Stewart came in, and did you notice he had his ice pack still on? Like his rap? Yes. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Important detail in this, right? By the way, when you turn and went back a little bit, you look a little bit like Carlos Boozer. I see what the YouTube people were talking about.

No, no. I've gotten this a bunch of times. Okay. I thought we were going to go there. That's a touch. Oh, see, you knew what was going on. So anyway, the fight is going on. So if you picture it and the court is set up,

the fight is going on. The ball's going right to left, right? And so it's to left where the fight's going on, and it seemed to be settling down. And then next thing you know, right at the mid-court line, and by the way, as this fight is going on, there's great shots of Duncan Robinson,

too old for this shit. he's like the veterans are like yeah I'm out of here I'm not fighting either they're not fighting for real or they are fighting for real neither of which is my kind of part so he's walking away the next thing you know you just see a flash run across the screen and it's Isaiah Stewart if you don't realize this he's like six nine like he's a big dude that flash runs across the screen because miles bridges squared up with him and Isaiah Stewart man of principle if he's a big dude that flash runs across the screen because miles bridges squared up with him and Isaiah Stewart man of principle if he's you put the hands up, that means it's time for us to fight. Now, the NBA is going to have to suspend beef stew for quite a while because they have the thing about leaving the bench and an antiquated rule, but I was around when it happened. You know, I get it. Tom, this is my thing. There's nothing that Isaiah Stewart could have done to make himself more popular, at least on Twitter in the NBA, then Russian Miles Bridges, a man who, quite honestly, you can make an art. You can make an art that there's a place for him in the NBA, right, with some measure of atonement for what he did.

And you can look it up and you can see the pictures of what he did to that woman. Like, there's just no, there's no making it okay. It was the fact that the Hornets brought him back. The y'all are already sorry. He's not really that good. Why is he here? Right? Like, you could have very easily made a, you costlessly could have made a very important point by

getting that dude out of there. But he's not out of there. And Isaiah Stewart was about to. whoop his ass. And if Isaiah Stewart had truly knocked him out, man, they'd have started to go fund me to get him all that money back. He'd have become an NBA legend right then. So the thing

about Isaiah Stewart in that moment is you're right to point out that he ran off the bench to go do this. So he knows. By the way, as you said, with ice packs and things on his knees, he did not even bother to take off his bench stuff. He looked like King Tut running out there.

Right? The bandages were flying off of him all theatrical and he just it didn't it didn't happen the way we thought it was going to happen the way he was coming down there on like running a 40 yard dash right but after the fact after he went after miles bridges he's walking the locker room and the and the cameras catch him he said you don't expect me to stay on the bunch the f i was drafted to Detroit for this is amazing this is incredible NBA theater and he knows what he's doing here and he knows why he was brought on the team.

But if he was on the floor when Jalen Duren got into it with Musa Diabate, I don't know what's going to happen. This is a whole different story. The Biles Bridges thing you brought up, once Jaron Jackson Jr. got traded at the deadline, once Trey Young got traded about a month ago, Luca Donchich got traded last year.

There's only two guys in that draft class that have remained with their team. And it's Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks and it's Miles Bridges. And to your point, it is very stunning that it's Miles Bridges is the only starter, really, that has stayed with his team over the last eight years. And I do think Miles Bridges after the practice the other day, he was asked about the fight and he said, no one comes into our arena and tries to punk us like that.

And I'm sitting there and I'm saying, how many guys are with their team since 2018 to say something like our arena? and Miles Bridges is one of the only vets. There's 14 vets in the league that have stayed with their team since 2018. 11 of them are all-stars. Or sorry, 10 of them are all-star players. And four of them are like Miles Bridges, where they're just like veteran guys who have stuck around over the years.

And so it is kind of an illustration of the NBA right now that when these guys squared up, these were guys who have been with this team, their entire careers, and they were ready to go. And I think Jail and Dern is going to get suspended. Miles Bridge is going to get suspended. Musa Diabate is going to get suspended. But Isaiah Stewart, man, who was it?

It was a few years back where it was a suspension, and some of the teammates were like, we'll pay for your suspension. Like, we'll pay you whatever money you lost. And I think, I think Kate Cunningham and the rest of them, the front office would be wise to make sure that he's taken care of in the end. Top.

He is a $15 million a year goon. He's more than that, though, Obama. I don't want to sell short. I know that. I know that. But at the same time, he's here to goon. Like, and look,

I don't want to minimize what it is to goon. You understand what I'm saying? Like, I don't, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to, I hope people don't hear that

and think that I'm saying that he's not like a good basketball player or a talented basketball player. But the fact that he's like, why do you think I'm here? A significant part of why I'm here is because I'm out here to goon. And we ain't got that many goons left, right?

too many guys in this league are good at basketball. I understand that the nerds can't understand the logic behind that, but the truth is having a goon out here is better for the aesthetic, it's better for the product. They got both things going on at once. He a goon and he shoots 76% from the free throw line. You understand what I'm saying? Like, he's here to do the thing in basketball is better as a result.

And Bomani, I'm not just saying this because I went to Wake Forest, but everything changed after the Indiana Pacers signed James Johnson. Everything changed. Tyrese Halliburton, they got in this little tussle with Janice and Accompo and the next day, Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan and the GMs there in Indiana signed James Johnson to the team. And he didn't play a single minute the rest of the year. But everything changed after they signed James Johnson. And that's why he was on the finals roster at the end of the year last year

because they need a guy like that to just kind of, you know, be there, right? Just be there and let them know. So I think the fight is interesting. The fact that the Hornets were on a nine-game win streak, it's weird in this town in Charlotte to feel the kind of vibes around the city after they went to the, after the Panthers went to the playoffs.

It's a weird place to be right now, Bomania and Charlotte. But I think it's good for the NBA. I think the NBA needs these kind of rivalries and this physicality because I do think NBA fans secretly crave. Like, you know how human beings secretly like cheese because there's a little bit of funk in it? Like there's something about the decayingness that draws people to funky cheese, the blue cheese out there?

I do think that in a weird way, NBA fans are craving for these games to matter or the actual fights, the rivalries to happen again just because it's a signal to the audience that they're passionate about this, and they do care about this game. All right. And coming up next,

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All right, NBA fans, I don't know you if I have really talked about this, just generally or in specific terms, but the idea of tanking nauseates me. But at the same time, I'm not stupid about it, right? And so when I say that, I don't think what the Thunder did after trading Russell Westbrook and Paul George

is the same thing as what is going on in Utah right now, for example. I feel like what Presti did was really not terribly different than what happened in the early part of his tenure, started with Kevin Durant and Westbrook was, when we have a young team, we're going to play the young guys, and we're going to see what we can do with them. But we're going to try to win pretty soon.

And I feel like the Thunder really only had one year where they were just flat out awful. the next year they were like playing and then the year after that I want to say they have the number one seed in the west right so I think there's a difference between we're going to go young and play these guys versus we're just flatly trying to lose like that's the point and if it looks like we're going to win we'll do what happened the other night with Utah where they just flat out set all their best players in the fourth quarter of a game because they were going to win and they didn't want to do that yeah it's a weird place right

It's a weird place where we're at in the league where Larry Marketing, All-Star starter, a couple of years back. He's averaging 26, 27 points a game. They trade for Jaron Jackson Jr., All-Star defensive player of the year. And I'm sitting there at the trade debt. And we did the Kevin O'Connor show in New York last week on Thursday. And I'm just sitting here. I'm like, what are they going to plan on doing with Jaron Jackson, Jr.? Because we all know what time it is.

A.J. DeBonsa at BYU is in this. draft and they have a top eight protected pick, why are they trading for Jaron Jackson Jr? It didn't make any sense to me. And I was curious to see if he was going to have, you know, turf toe or Achilles tendonitis, something that it was going to knock him out for the rest of the year. But they decided to play him. And then they sat him up seven against the Orlando Magic. They just sat him in the fourth quarter, sat Lowry Market in the fourth quarter. And then against the Miami Heat the other night, same exact story. They sat Lowry Marketing and sat Jaron Jackson, Jr. And they were playing great, great basketball together, a little too great. So Will Hardy,

the longtime coach there in Utah, said, all right, pulling you. And he did the same thing with Keonté George the other night. And they lost the first game. They did not lose the second game. Miami actually lost that game. And Bam out of bio after the game said maybe the saddest quote I have ever seen in the NBA. He said, we've got to figure out a way to win against teams trying to lose. And I'm like, man, that is, that has got to be a really sad place to be in the NBA where you're playing the Utah Jazz. You know that they're trying to lose and you still lose the game. You can't beat that team. And I want to educate the fans a little bit on this, on the history of tanking, because last year, people weren't talking about this and it blew my mind.

Bomani, last year, the Toronto Raptors, and I think this is part of the time. of the puzzle why no one seems to care or doesn't realize that this was happening last year. The Toronto Raptors had Scotty Barnes averaging 25 and 5, and they were resting him in the clutch situations last year. There was like six straight games where they were in winning time and they said, Scotty, you are sitting on the bench because we got Cooper flag in this upcoming draft. And they tried to tank those games. It did not work for them. They ended up with like the ninth pick in the draft. But the Dallas Mavericks went from 10 to 1 and they got Cooper flag. And After that, I was expecting, oh, like, they didn't get fined.

The Toronto Raptors didn't get fined for sitting their best player in crunch time and resting R.J. Barrett, Manuel quickly, Yaka Purdle, their best players, sitting them random nights. Okay, there's going to be a copycat somewhere in the league next year, and it's Danny Age. Danny Age is out here sitting there and watching how that went last year with no fines from the NBA. They said, it's okay. By the rules, if you play a guy, we're not going to step in and say how many minutes. you have to play that guy. And the Utah Jazz are daring the league office to do something about it

because they didn't do it about it for the Toronto Raptors last year. But there's one big variable that's different, Beaumani. The big variable that's different between last year and this year is the gambling scandals. And so Adam Silver, after the gambling scandals, and a lot of those gambling scandals happened because of tanking guys being rested in games in which the public did not know they were going to be rested in those games. And before the public knew about it, there was a gap of time that the gamblers could have that inside information

and allegedly go bet those games in the millions of the dollars, right? That happened a few months ago. And so I'm curious to see if the league office finds some ground in order to penalize what the Utah Jazz are doing because otherwise it's open season. I think a lot of teams are going to be going the same route if they haven't already. And keep in mind, it's one thing when teams are doing this in March or April,

we're not even at the All-Star break. You can't even fucking pretend through President's Day. Like, we can't even go that, like, we can't even go, it is, it goes back to what we talked about. How is anybody else supposed to care? If these guys don't care, like, like this,

these games are not popular because people can gamble on them. These games are not popular because people want to see the private equity inspired jockeying about getting the pick, right? The other thing that gets me is that they have tinkered with the lottery odds so much that the likelihood of you getting the number one pick from doing this is not that high. Like we've seen it over and over again. And oh, by the way, drafts are deeper than ever and you can get good players later than you have at previous points.

Go look at who the superstars in the league are, Victor Wimbenyama, notwithstanding. And go look at where they were drafted. Like a Cooper flag, you know, obviously looks like he, is going in that direction. Right. Or your point is, your point is, is backed up statistically is that the best players in the league

are not as correlated with their draft position. For sure. It's not what it was before. However, this draft is different because people think it's a bunch of them in there. And what you want to do is just kind of land in that top three.

And if you land in the top three, it'll work out okay for you. I would simply like to point out that the last time we talked like that was 2014 and we were so sure there were three superstars in that draft, and those three superstars were Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Joelle M.B. One of them became a superstar that you ultimately could not trust at the end, and the other two, it didn't go that way.

Bomani, I think what is most interesting to me about the flattening of the odds is we're both econ guys, right? So if you flatten the odds, the slope of that curve actually is pretty high around 8, 9, and 10 pick. Why are the Milwaukee Bucks trying to tank these games the rest of the year? And Janus isn't having that? Because they know if we finish in like the 7, 8, and 9, we have a good shot at A.J. DeBonsa. We have a good shot of Darren Peterson.

We have a solid shot at getting those guys. 10 years ago, they'd have no shot being at the 7, 8, 9 slot getting one of those picks. But now people are talking about the number one. one pick odds. I'm talking about the number 10 pick odds. I'm talking about those guys, or in the draft lot, the number 10 slot, the number nine slot, the number eight slot. They actually have real chances at getting a franchise guy. So why are these teams, Utah, Memphis, Dallas, Milwaukee, all pulling that ripcord. The clippers were 16 and three, Bomani, and they just traded James Hardin and Evitia Zubots because I think part of it is, hey, we got to figure out a way to tank this year or

next year. I know the pick this year is going to OKC, but they're trying to figure out, hey, we got a bottom out because some of these draft years we're going to have here. We've got everything lined up with James Hardin and Kauai Leonard. We got to reset this. I think teams are looking at this draft like it is all-time good,

but I think what's different is that slope of that curve means that the number six slot, Utah is currently in the number six slot, the number seventh slot, the eight and nine are all going to have a shot at getting one of those top four guys with top five guys depending on what you look at. And so what the flattening of the odds did, it meant that it wasn't a race to the bottom.

It was just a larger race. More people are being invited to the race. And that's what I think the Adam Silver League office did not, there's this thing called unattended consequences, negative externalities. By flattening the odds, they actually didn't solve tanking. They just created more tankers.

They redirected it. See, this is why I fuck with you, because you use these numbers in ways that are actually helpful, right? Like the understanding of this is, that was like thoroughly incredible explanation of the whole situation. I'm sorry, I'm just here to salute.

Yeah, man, hey, those, the econ degree at Wake Forest. It didn't get me into finance. It didn't get me onto Wall Street, but sometimes... They got you a much happier life. That's... Man, all the time, my buddies who are, you know, out as eye bankers or whatnot, you know,

they reach out to me from time. Even when I was making nothing at ESPN as an intern, they were like, I would trade whatever you're doing in a second. I mean, I'm like, I'm sitting here, you're making six figures right out of college and you're saying you would trade spots. But it is, man, I'm sitting here talking to you about Victor Wembeyanama, 21 years old, and Isaiah Stewart beefing with Miles Bridges. And we get paid for this.

And still using the Econ. That's right. So I'm still using it with the draft lottery. And I think you're right. You're not hating on Utah in the sense that it's not smart that they're doing this. I think the math is the math. And last year we saw Cooper Flagg get drafted by the Dallas Maverish who had the 10th best odds. We saw in the year before that, Zachary Risa Shea, who I was out on from the start,

he actually number one pick goes to the ninth best odds in the draft lottery so i think gms we're already looking at the odds flattening out and saying like hey all we need to do is getting that six to nine range we'll be good and now after two years in a row that kind of recency bias even if it is illogical and irrational i think owners and gms are seeing cooper flag and how he washed away the whole lucca dantsch travesty washing that away and saying like hey i love yonnet but like can we just get a shot at getting AJ DeBanza or Cambooser or Darren Peterson? And I think that's the mentality right now for the next two plus months. I'll just, there's only one kind of person who tries to lose called losers.

And that is the NBA is, and I believe, and I think this is the other part of why it's a big part of why it's so problematic that I don't think we discuss enough, which is you create a bunch of players who are losers by doing this too. Like you have these guys and you put them in these environments where you have guys who for you like if you play for Utah, every year we hear they're going to trade Walker Kessler, right? Walker Kessler has just been, has spent basically his NBA career around a bunch of people trying to lose the whole way. You're not going to tell me that doesn't have consequences.

You're just not. There's, there's, this is, it is an existential threat to the league because it's a threat to the purpose of the league and the idea that, well, hey, there's a logic behind it. I think it fundamentally misunderstands why we do this in the first place, what is important about this, and why people are into it. And maybe like you're a team like Utah, you feel like you can do this because y'all, I mean, they got a hockey team now, but you're kind of the only game in town. And so when you get good, you think the people are going to show back up. Because I understand, the Utah Jazz were good for basically 25 straight years. Like, I mean,

they were that whole Malone era, even the years after that, they didn't put a lot of bad product out there. I just don't think that you can just consistently put out all this, like put out terrible product and have a terrible environment ultimately, and it doesn't have long-term effects on your team. Yeah. And I think we, at a certain point, we did not have a team that tanked to win the NBA championship, but then we saw Oklahoma City Thunder. And you're right, it wasn't a prolonged period. It was two years when they were in the 20s, the wins in the 20s, right? there were two years that they were bad, bad, bad.

But it wasn't six years, right? Right. It wasn't the process. It wasn't Utah right now. So they would be the first. They would be the first to have prolonged three plus years of being in the basement. And I also, it's a weird place in the NBA because the incentive structure is such that you're actually the carrot for these bad teams is to continue to be bad because you have a shot at Cooper flag or a shot at AJ DeBanza. what it was really weird to me

is seeing what the Washington Wizards did at the trade deadline, which is Acquire, Trey Young and Anthony Davis, because it felt like to me that they're trying to get back to being on that hamster wheel of mediocrity in the Wizards being always 42 wins. Like the goal is to win 42 games. I did not understand that. Like, the Wizards have been bad for a while,

but they actually have never won 50 games in the last 50 years. In my life. I say this every year. I'm now 45 years old. And the Wizards haven't won 50 games in my life. And so you think Trey Young and Anthony Davis are going to do that for you? I'll give you a stat here. Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving played one game together. Chris Staps, Porzingis, everyone was talking about the Atlanta Hawks coming into this year and how they were a sneaky team to win the East. Trey Young and Chris Staps, Porzingas played three games together. You're telling me that the Wizards are going to make a run next year. man, I'm out. And Anthony Davis, he hasn't reported or he hasn't played.

Seems like he's going to be out for the year. There's a lot of back and forth about whether he's going to be out for the year. But I'm also here, like, I also don't like that. I don't like that they're trying to chase 42 wins with Tray Young and Anthony Davis. I'm not buying that either. So, like, if you're asking me, would I rather be a jazz fan? Well, I guess they did get Sharon Jackson, Jr., too. If you're asking me, would I rather be, let's say, the Brooklyn Nets, right?

or would I rather be the Washington Wizards that said, all right, we're actually going to try to win next year. I don't feel great about what the Washington Wizards did either. And so there's 10 teams that are in the tank trying to lose this year. But I also don't really love the idea of trying to go get guys to get back to the middle. I just don't see that Jared Jackson Jr. is going to be the difference between Utah Jazz being relevant and irrelevant. I still think they're going to be fairly irrelevant next year.

By the way, shout out to you, Jerry Jackson. I don't know what you did to those people in Memphis. I just can't imagine anything more jarring culturally. Maybe Atlanta, but going from there to going to Utah, I just can't. Like, he's going to be begging and be a young boy to let him come over there and hang out with him at that compound. This is how I feel about the middle. And I think that sometimes perhaps we can stand to divorce ourselves a little bit from the bottom line. Okay.

And I mean this. If you're a Wizards fan, you're telling me that you wouldn't mind. going back to what it was like when Gilbert was there, right? You're telling me you wouldn't mind going back to what it was like when John and Brad were there? Because at the very least, you guys are having a good time. It was fun. You might not have won a legitimate championship contender.

Remember, they had a little rivalry with LeBron, right? They had, you know, playoffs. But they were those guys. They were born and bred in Washington, right? They were drafted by the Wizards. Like what they're doing now, it just, I don't know, man. Yeah, I'm just saying, but like,

how about put out a fun team? We'll work it out. Like, give people something to enjoy because the thing about, I understand the idea everybody wants to win a championship, obviously, the idea that it's a goal to win. Yeah, I get that.

But I also think that fundamentally what people really get attached to about teens is not just strictly about the winning part. And so when you sacrifice all this time with this intentional losing, you sacrifice goodwill and you sacrifice kind of a warmth

that's around the team that you've got. So like right now, Hornets fans seem very happy with this team that is not going to win a championship. And sure they would like that team to win a championship. But I think people, by and large, just want a pretty good team that they could like. Memphis, Grit and Grindrind Memphis. That's what that was.

Now, great, if they had a year, they went to the conference finals, and that's going to power those people for a long time. They have four players whose jerseys, I think they'll ultimately retire. And I noticed some people would be like, well, you can't retire any jerseys. They didn't win nothing. They won the hearts in my.

of the people. And I do think that, you know, there's something to that. And so it's easy and all the numbers to tell everybody, all the other stuff. But I'm looking at Aange and I'm like, go look up at the rafters in Utah, the names that are up there. It's like Daryl Griffith is Adrian Dantley. It's Mark Eaton. It's Jeff Horton.

Like those are names that are actually there. Now, granted, Adrian Dantley was an incredible player. Darryl Griffin, you know, but Adrian Daly wouldn't win in no championships in Utah. But that that's what this is. You know what I mean? And so that's where I think Silver also needs to look around and realize, man, you brought all these quant people in here.

They only think in ways that are often countered to why people like your league. Yeah, I think it's, I think was it last night when they were advertising the Spurs and Lakers game. It was Victor Wembeyanama's face. And on the other side was Rui Achimura. And I'm like, man, that's tough sell for the NBA is like, and next time the Utah Jazz are on national TV. And Oklahoma City, by the way, is being investigated by the league right now because they had a bunch of guys out on national TV last week.

I feel like this happens all around the league. And we're going to have, let's see, if 10 teams are trying to lose and there's 30 games left, you do the math of how many games left in the season are going to be compromised because the teams aren't trying to win every game. So, I mean, if you want to go radical, we don't have to do that. I think we might have talked about this is getting rid of the draft altogether is the only way you're going to set. All about it. All about it.

It's the only way. We can all day, we can talk to we're blue in the face about, what if we get rid of pick protections and what if we lock in the lottery odds on March 1st? None of that's going to change things. None of that. The only thing that's going to actually fundamentally change the way teams operate and not try to lose is if you take the draft all together and now you've got to sign these guys out of college. You know, I did something for game theory about doing the NFL draft.

I'm about all of it. First of all of it. First of all, it's amazing how wedded the average fan is to the idea. idea of the draft. And like, so for example, remember, and I'm not trying to get into a political argument with nobody here, but you remember when people was talking about defund the police and they talk about stuff like abolishing the prisons, I admit to you, I feel where you're coming from, but I don't have a good enough imagination to figure out what we're going to do this, right? Like I don't, I'm willing, you can sell me on it because I think you're coming from a good place,

but I can't imagine what you're trying to get me to, right? now. I'm just not that good at it. People can not imagine a world without a draft when it's so simple, right? Like it's not it's, I mean, there are ways that you could come up with things like, like I say, if you want to, if you want to try to make it about competitive redistribution, then give people the salary of allotments. And then like the worst team gets more or whatever it is. And then go for it. We could we could call it National Signing Day. And everybody announces where they're going. And we figure it out. Like it's a it's a sellable proposition. position soccer seems to do just fine in these world.

The product is right there. Are people really out on college football and college basketball because there's no draft? No, they don't care. Right. They love it. The fact that there's no draft. So the idea that in pro sports we need a draft is so antithetical to what we already know about what are the biggest sports in the world.

College football is not out here saying, hey man, this sport is great. But I really wish there was a draft where, where NC State could get the number one prospect recruit out of high school. We're not worried about that. Wake Forest, I'm not even out here being like, wait, Wake Forest is part of this ACC. We should have a shot at Cam Boozer and Caleb Wilson.

I understand the dynamics and I'm okay with it. The NBA, NFL, it's different. But like you said, soccer's doing pretty well around the world, I would say. And so this is what I think with the draft and where it gets lost, what I think would be interesting. Major League Baseball has now gone to a slotted draft like everybody else has gone to. But it used to be, I want to say this is around, like 25 years ago is really the time where I think that this really thrive. But what, beyond not having slotting of salaries pick by pick, what you also didn't have was the assumption that the number one pick had to make

more than the number two pick who had to make more than number three pick and all the way down the line. So what would happen in baseball, because you had this prospect of high school players who could come into the draft or anybody and then decide they didn't like where they got drafted and then they could go back, like go to college or even in some cases, go back to college, because you didn't make yourself eligible for the baseball draft. Everybody's just eligible and then you make those decisions. What you wound up with were cases where maybe the best player in the draft might go in the third round. Like I remember any of you guys who remember Rick Ankeel, who started as a great pitcher and then couldn't pitch no more and then became

a very good hitter. And then they got him, you know what I'm saying? Hitting that, hitting that, hitting that juicy juice. And then it all went a different way. But he gets drafted in the third round. And I forget how big his bonus was. But the argument was we wait till the third round to take him because it's such a great risk as to whether or not we can sign him. And so that's how we reach equilibrium in that way. You have guys that could get drafted early because I know I could offer him this, and now we're going to take him, he's going to come in. By limiting salaries in all the ways that they have limited salaries, they've created these problems in doing this, right?

So this isn't like 1983 pre-Lottery where one player could change fortune so much, which is really not the case now either, right? The impact of drafting, Ralph Samson was the one that led to the last, like, super duper tank situation. And then Akian Malajuan the next year for the, it was the rocket's tanking so hard. that made people be like, hey, we ain't going to do that. You draft Cooper Flagg now. It's not like drafting Shaq was in 92 and your 25 wins better, right? But the behaviors are molded by the history and all the things that we've done.

But if you got rid of cap and no salaries, we could get rid of a lot of these problems. But of course, they're never going to do that. No. I haven't watched too much college basketball, but I do know one thing is that, AJ DeBanza being at BYU where the owner of the Utah Jazz is a big supporter of BYU and I got to imagine that if they are available, if A.J. DeBanza is available. If they're like the fifth pick and you're trying to get into number three to get at DeBanza, they're going to move everything to go get that guy.

He's so invested in that guy. He's been invested because they moved him to Utah for high school. And I can't remember if I missed you saying that part. His investment is a little weird, actually. Yeah. So they're trying to get him in Utah for sure. And I just, if you open it up, I'm sure they would, they would, you know, offer him the most money, the biggest package to go to Utah in a way that like everyone would know

what time it is, right? They would know, hey, this guy, he wants, he's at BYU, he wants to be in Utah and it would be very different. And I've made this argument before, but it's like to people who are, like, oh, the Lakers would just get everybody. The Knicks would just get everybody. That's not how 18-year-old basketball players think.

They want the ball. They want the organization. They want the power. And if you're going to a team that has LeBron and Luca and Austin Reeves already averaging 25 a night and they don't have much use for you with the ball on your hands, that's not a place I want to be. And so if you need any evidence of that, look at college basketball. There are guys going to Lawrence, Kansas, you know?

Like they're signing, you think small markets? How about Lawrence, Kansas, there's a powerhouse there. Or upstate New York and Syracuse got Carmelo Anthony. There are ways that these small markets can offer something to these players that they will sign up for. And I know the culture in the NBA is such that we just expect that once you're a superstar, you're only going to want to play in Hollywood or in New York or Miami. But there's so much evidence in college basketball, that is not true. Look at Lexington.

Look at Durham, North Carolina. and look at Lawrence, Kansas. These aren't metropolises, okay? And that's how they, look at college football is another example, man. These powerhouses are not in metropolis cities. They're not. So when you look at it, I think the NBA is not going to switch to a no draft anytime soon. But when you are asked about how do we fix tanking, that's the only solution, I think we should really spend some time.

Well, well, let me throw you another hot take. I don't know how many of you youngsters out there are familiar. with Sam Kinnison. But he had a routine back in the day that may offend some of y'all but was really funny when it came out because we used to have a whole lot of commercials and we sang songs about sending money

to the people of Ethiopia because they was a little bit hungry. And Sam Kinnison said that we needed to stop sending money over there and sending food over there. That that's not what those people need. He said we needed to send them U-Hauls so they can move where the food is.

right? A little harsh, very funny. I'm just saying, it's your stupid-ass fault for having a team where black people don't want to live. It's basketball, right? Like, if you're, if the thought is, well, nobody will want to go live in Utah. Well, maybe Utah shouldn't have a team. How about that? I don't want to live in Sacramento. Why the fuck did you move a team to Sacramento in the first place? Like if where you are is so unattractive to the people who play the games, maybe you shouldn't have a team or you're just going to have to spend a lot of money to get people to play for you. Or not win.

Yeah. Or not win. These are your, these are your choices, right? And look, it's interesting because back in the day, you had teams. It was the Celtics, the sons, and the jazz. Howard Bryan always taught us about this. Those are the teams that always had all the white dudes, right? Like it was the brand to have all the white dudes,

not terribly different than what I do basketball was for, you know, for stretches. Like these were the teams that always had all the white dudes. NBA, you couldn't survive like that no more. That wasn't it. Like Utah, I can't think of the last Jeff Hortar said that they had over there. They did draft Kyle Philpowski. Okay. So in the second round.

Yep. But what team did take a chance? But, Kyle Phil. That is, that is fair. That is fair. But, you know, they, there's a lot going on, but you're correct. They did make, they, they, they, they, they, they did make that move. You took that, that steering wheel and went, okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But hey, man, if you ain't got what the people want, that's your fault. Yeah. Yep. Yep. And look, I just, uh, Utah did it. They, they, they acquired Jaron Jackson, Jr. in a trade. They sent out three picks and pretty good picks, by the way, to get Jerry and Jackson Jr.,

who's going to make a lot of money next year. Part of me thinks that this was just straight arbitrage, that they felt like the price for Jaron Jackson Jr. and his contract was such that they can move them this offseason and get more for him for a team that's actually trying to win because I don't know, man, it just seems very confusing why they made that move in Washington. And if VizuBats, the pick that they got, the Clippers got,

is 1 through 4 protected and 10 through 30 protected, Meaning the only way that the clippers are going to get this is if it's five through nine in the draft. Otherwise, it stays in Indiana. And that was a stunner to me too. But they just beat in, I thought they were tanking and Evita Zubats hasn't suited up, but they just beat the Knicks and double overtime last night.

And so it's a very confusing NBA season. And I'm going to try to be here a lot more often this year, BOMani, to help people understand how the NBA works this year. but I will tell you, it is confusing even for me watching that trade deadline and trying to, you know, square some of these circles because it is very confusing why some of these teams are operating this way. I would never have imagined. And I think a lot of people, insiders, newsbreakers, I don't think a lot of them pegged that the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz and the Washington Wizards would be the buyers at the deadline. It is very, very strange. You're like, it's a fascinating trade deadline that requires you to be really into the NBA

because otherwise it just didn't make any sense. And I will say this last thing before we go, and this is about Jerry Jackson, me personally, I feel like wherever Jared Jackson ultimately ends up, I don't know if it's going to happen in year one, but I think it's going to be in year two, like what's happening right now with New York with year two of Carl Anthony Towns. Year one, you're like, oh my God, this guy is so good. Why would anybody want to give him away? and then you get to year two, and it's like, oh, that's what they were talking about.

Got it. Like, it takes the honeymoon year and with Jared Jackson, that is the, I don't, if he stayed in Utah, amen, and people ain't here for somebody that big getting those six and a half, seven rebounds of game. Like, he, I don't, he, he's so maddening and confusing to me, right? Because big guy who can block shots and shoot threes, fouls way too much, but somehow doesn't get rebounds. Yeah. What?

Yeah. He's a big wing, right? Big wing player who likes to go off the dribble, doesn't rebound. And Larry Markinen, he are the two biggest guys in the league that rebound like guards. So Walker Kessler is going to be out here with 20 rebounds a game. If they re-sign him this offseason, he's a restricted free agent, but he's going to have 20, 25 rebounds a night. He's going to look like Moses Malone, peak, Pete Wilts Chamberlain on the boards next year, because he's got Jaron Jackson Jr., Larry Marketing, who are two, seven-foot.

who rebound like they're six footers. Let me tell you something by Jaron Jackson, Jr. Let me look this up right now. Okay. He got on his contract, he's got, okay, kicks in next year at 49 and then 50 and then 52 and then a player option for 53. Those are millions just so everybody understands, okay?

If he's still in Utah to start next year, he's going to be out there playing like I would be playing if I was Clay Thompson without a care in the world. I'm out here playing for this team that ain't actually trying to win nothing. And if I do, and if I keep playing like this,

what I'm going to get out of this is I don't have to play in Utah no more. Bet. I'm going to be a Mosy and motherfucker, man. I ain't got nothing for you. I can't, the protests I'd put off of you trade me to Utah, I can't begin to explain that to you.

Yeah. My sneaky prediction is that I think they're going to get rid of the jazz name. They're not putting jazz on the front anymore. Hey, man. They're just putting Utah. You know those classic jerseys with jazz on them? Yeah, yeah.

With Carl Malone and John Stockton and Jeff Hornsuck years. It's just Utah now. Yo, it's too late, right? Like, you, I feel like we both agree about this that the time to do that was immediately. It's, it's, like, y'all are now the Utah Jazz. This is the most delightfully ironic name that has ever existed in the world.

I can't believe that the people of Utah let them name that team after the devil's music for even one day. But they did. Okay? The pelicans are in New Orleans? Come on. Come on.

It is too late to make them the New Orleans jazz. Is it? No, I'm here for this. No, I think it's too late because Utah had been the jazz for so long. Like, this isn't like going back to the Hornets where the Hornets name was out of circulation. Hey, I still, I think it's never too.

What's the line? The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, and the next best time is today. I think that they need to adapt to the present, and it should be the New Orleans bounce. If we go name it after local music, it should be the New Orleans bounce. But it can't, the jazz,

I can't believe I'm saying this. It belongs to Utah now. No, it doesn't. No, I can't believe I'm saying that. I can't, I know, I know, but I mean, I think if they'd be an honest with themselves, they know what I'm saying, you know what I'm saying,

like that's what y'all are now. You've been to jazz for what, 50 years? You want to, you're out here saying that the jazz, the Utah fans, they want to harken back to the Carmelone years. Okay, all right, fine, fine. If you want to die on that hill that Utah.

I'm not dying on it. I'm just saying that this is, this is what they've been, this is what the person, what they're going to change the name too? And I want to be careful with my guesses because some of them might be, cancelable.

Something to do with mountains, like peak, not Rockies because the Colorado Rockies already exists. I don't even know if it is the Rock. I don't think it. I'm not up on my. Yeah, I think it's the Rockies. The hockey team is the mammoth. See, I'm down with that. I like that. The Utah Yetis don't really work. I'm not, and there's probably copyright issues with that. But I just think the jazz, they're already turning the page. The jerseys are already just Utah now. So they're already, I think, and it's a new ownership.

I just, I don't know. I ain't a lot, man. The Utah ages? Is that what you're- The idea that they even want to change it, it feels, it feel real Trumpy to me, dog. You know what I'm saying? Like, it feels real.

Like, why would you want to change it if not to take the black off? That's all you would be doing. Like, this is who y'all are. Y'all are the jazz. I can't believe this. I mean, they should have done this. a long time ago. That's all I'm saying. Man, Pistol Pete is rolling over in his grave right now.

You're saying that that's the jazz over there. Yeah. I mean, did Pistol Pete ever play for the Utah Jazz, by the way? Oh, boy. Now, this is actually, we are getting into a very interesting way. Like, how, let's see this. I think he only played for the New Orleans Jazz. And that is, oh, no, he played 17 games for the Utah Jazz. and then they sent him on the pilgrimage that every Pete Marevich-like player was always intended to go on

and they sent him to his ancestral home of Boston. That's a rap. That's a rap. You know, and ladies and gentlemen, that is Tom Havistro, who realizes it's time to get off this ride. Check him out in Yahoo Sports. Check out Tom the Finder, his incredible newsletter.

I get it every week. You need to check that out. My brother, I appreciate you. Oh, that was great, man. Always appreciate it. And thanks for having me on. We'll do it again soon. Yes, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this four days a week. Ryan Brumley handled the thing behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail line. 3, 2, 3, 3, 5, 9, 677, 6.

Damn, it's not too late. I'm going to put you on the spot, Tom. What is the funniest name that you could imagine being in the Epstein files? The funniest name? Yes. Bomani Jones.

That's not funny at all. That's why it's funny. It's not funny. Yeah, I know. I keep coming up. with different ones. Now I got Brad Stevens. That would be amazing if Brad Stevens is in the FSTee files. I just thought we were going to watch basketball.

Like that's what we need. I want to see the emails in the F. Steam files from dissatisfied people. Yeah. What was it the Elon Musk? And I can't believe we're doing this now. But Elon Musk, then he wasn't he like, oh, yeah, I don't really like to hang out with diplomats. Like you think that's what Brad Stevens would be like, I don't really see, do they play basketball? Do they know how to do a crossover dribble? Like how's their jumper looking? No, I don't really want to go to that event. Yeah, that's it.

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