The Ringer NBA Show - Trade Deadline Winners and Losers! | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

What’s Poppin'? Now that the NBA trade deadline is over, Logan, Howard, and Raja look back at the teams who made moves. (0:00:00) Intro (1:17) Biggest winner of the trade deadline (6:27) James Harden to the Cavs (20:28) WTF award (21:07) Anthony Davis to the Wizards (31:42) Favorite sneaky-good deal (43:33) When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong Award (51:50) Bigger loser of the trade deadline (52:39) Did anything change the race? (54:50) Real One of the Week (56:20)Giannis stays in Milwaukee Hosts: Logan Murdock, Raja Bell, and Howard Beck Producers: Victoria Valencia and Brian H. Waters Production Supervision: Ben Cruz and Conor Nevins Additional Production Support: John Richter and Chris Wohlers The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠ ⁠⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping? We're in one's Logan Murdoch here. Howard Beck and Roger Bell in a minute. We had a good show today talking about all things trade deadline, putting a book in on the trade deadline. We get into the biggest winners, the biggest losers, the WTF Award. What are they thinking award? A sneaky good deal award. Get into the Yonah situation. Get into when keeping it real goes wrong and a whole bunch of other stuff. Very, very fun episode. Um, yeah, man. RealWans is popping. Uh, see you guys next week for All Star.

A, A, A, A, All of the Believe, Realwoods bellbag. Go, play the theme music. Bobbit. Realwoods. Logan, Murdoch there. Howard Beck and the motherfucking cut. Huh. End of a very, very, very eventful trade deadline.

I am very excited to get into it with you guys. This is, uh, as usually we have categories. Uh, biggest one. winners and losers. We got some what the fuck awards. We got some, we got a lot of things to get through to Cypher through this trade deadline. Let's start with the, the biggest winner of the trade deadline. Howard, start with you and then go with Rajah. Then I'll go with myself. Who was the biggest winner of the wild trade deadline? I do have a winner, but before I get to that winner, I just want to note part of the win here is for the NBA because all these people were

freaking out all the second apron and all the CBA. There's not going to be any deal. There was a shit ton of deals. And a lot of it was driven actually by the aprons and by the CBA. So we had like salary dumps and players being given away and teams ducking the luxury tax. And yeah, I know that that's not all interesting sometimes or fun. But we did have, this is the final tally I got from Keith Smith from Spottrack. It is Spottrack, not Spotrack. I would start like Spotrack, like Eric Spolster, but no, it's Spottrack.

Keith said 30 total trades, 71 unique. players traded and some were traded more than once. That's a big chunk of the league. And 42 picks and some of those picks were traded more than once. So that was a lot. Of all that stuff, I think the Pacers are my winner. The Pacers, a team that is vying for the top pick in the draft this season are nevertheless the winner because in a move that we dubbed pre-agency, they went and got Evica Zubach from the Clippers. Incredible get. We know the Pacers, you know, had to basically give up this season once Halliburton went down with the Achilles. But when he comes back, presumably healthy in the fall, he comes back to Zubach,

taking the, filling the vacancy that Miles Turner left behind, still got Seacum, still got Nievesmith, still got Nemhard, still got Obie Topin when he gets healthy. You know, they've got some little work to do around the edges, I think, but that's going to be a very good team, again, right off the bat. Zubach should be great for them. especially defensively. He doesn't have the, can't stretch the defense the way that Turner could with three-point shooting. But he's a great fit there, great move. They gave up a couple of firsts with a lot of protections on them to the clippers to get it done. And that's the one like downside here risk is the pick for this season is protected one through four and 10 through 30. So pretty creative there.

So if it falls five, six, seven, eight, nine, the pick goes to the clippers. And it's a strong draft. but it's a three to four player draft. And if they land to the top four, the Pacers are still getting to add a really nice player. I love it. And then the other pick is a 2029 unprotected first. But who cares what's going on in 2029 at this stage. So great move by the Pacers.

They're my winning. I really like, I was a sneaky good move. I really like that. Just because, I mean, it's obviously a break year for and a gap year for the Pacers in this time. but they got rid of Miles Turner and they got a cheaper version of what he provides and, or what he can provide. I don't think if I, uh, Zubots isn't a three point shooter can't necessarily stretch the

floor, but he's a really good big, um, can rebound and knows his role, most importantly. He was great for the last, um, few years with the clippers and has a cheaper deal. He's on a three or 58 million dollar deal. They have, I think they have them for 20 million next, next year and 20 million the following year. Like it was a, probably one of the three years. of the bargains of the league, his contract. I like it. They're right back into contention for next season. But assuming Halliburton comes back into full form, but I do like the deal. Roger, any winner for you? Yeah, I mean, I guess. I'm going to go with the cheesy generic.

We talked about it last time. I like the Cavs with James Harding. I think it's, yeah, I do. I think his playmaking ability. Now, on the back end of that, we'll see what that looks like. But his playmaking ability with what they have, I think helps some of those, you know, the Evan Mobley thing that we were talking about, how he hasn't become exactly the ball and hand type of score that you thought. I mean, he's proven James Hardin and that he's a table setter. So, like, I really like that one.

I like DeSOMU, is that how you say his name, to Minnesota? Yeah. Yeah. As a, you know, a rangy, defensive-minded PG. like I like that paired with Ant and company out there. From a team perspective, I kind of like the Celtics, like getting off of all of that. Kind of reset in their, I don't get into the aprons and shit, but I was reading about it. And I didn't realize how like dire straits they were in in terms of being in that repeater tax and stuff.

And the timeline now, you know, not essentially next year, but maybe in the years following them getting out of that. I liked what I read in terms of how that sets them up moving forward. So those three, in terms of the teams right now for what it does winning, I really do like the James Harden move. And I like DeSOMU to Minnesota. Love to Somo to Minnesota. That's what the Timberwills have needed for a while now, right? As a defensive-minded point guard who can score, right? And that was something that they were trying to get at a Conley.

It was just too old to provide that, right? Memphis Grizzlies Connolly would have been perfect in that role. But it couldn't do it. But I want to go to the James Hardin thing for a second because I don't think we fully. been able to flesh out our thoughts on that when we were doing it. We were like, is he going to the cat last episode? Is he going to the cabs? How does it kind of fit? I am wondering about the Mowbly part of it because I was reading Michael Pina's winners and losers and you guys should go read that on the ringer.com. And he was talking about just like how it's not as advantageous

for a guy like Evan Mowbly. And I kind of disagree based on, you know, what you're talking about. And the reason why I disagree is I think that like if he can evolve his game into maybe, you know, a Clint Capella role and the way that, and the way that Clint was in Houston and catching lobs and just being okay with that. And then when James is off the floor getting his offense within that flow, I think it can work out. I think that that he can be an effective big. And I think that he's starting to get into he is who he is mode right now. I don't think there's that we talked about. this last episode with Evan Mowgli.

It feels like he has hit a ceiling. He's still a very good player, but I don't know if he's going to get to that great to elite player at this very moment. But with that being said, I think it's good offensively for them. The problem that I have, though, with that deal is, you know, next year, James Hardin's contract is not going to have the guarantees on it. And there's no guarantee that he is going to assign a new deal with the cabs. And that could, all that is doing is kicking the can down the road of what James Hardin could dust up with, you know, in a contract dispute.

So I'm just scared for that. You know, maybe he comes off a disappointing postseason run. Maybe he finally gets over that cliff, but either way, they're going to have to talk money. So I am scared about that for the Cavs. I think that's fair. as far as the the Evan Mobley of it all like we are we still living in a world where how many years in is he now that's like four or five yeah yeah so are we are we it's not you're not everything that you're going to be but the question is the one you asked Logan like what do we

think the ceiling is on that is taking the ball and some of the playmaking that you would want him to maybe grow in the space of out of his hands, really stalling his ability to develop into that star level ball and hand offensive player. I don't necessarily think so. And I think, like, James Hardin is a table setter. And when you've got that type of length, that type of athleticism, and as James Hardin and Donovan Mitchell kind of do their thing, you can operate off of that. I don't necessarily see it as a as a as a negative for him unless we're saying we firmly believe that his development is taking us to upper level offensive ball and hand type of player and quite frankly i just i personally just don't see that as far as i had a question for you guys so it's good this is the

down the road of it all because i agree with you but like i kind of thought as i was watching it like and i told you where my vote would be for lebron next year um i don't know cap wise what that looks like but like, could you see a world where it was like Donovan, James, LeBron for LeBron's like Swan Song in Cleveland? So, go ahead, Aaron. Hardin has like a partial guarantee. And I think the expectation is he's going to opt out and it'll just do a new deal, right? You know, two, three years at a little bit lower number than what he's making now.

And how I haven't looked at the books to see how much wiggle room that creates for them. But I think it's kind of a given that if LeBron is anywhere but the Lakers, he's signing into somebody's cap exception, mid-level exception, bi-annual exception, could be the minimum exception if LeBron is willing to do that. It's been a long time since a player of his caliber did that.

And the one I always reference, of course, is back in 2003 when Carl Malone and Gary Peyton decided to join Shaq and Kobe with the Lakers, and one of them signed, I think Malone told Peyton, you take the mid-level, which was like $4.5 million then, and he says, and I'll take the minimum. And these were two guys who, like, obviously, like future Hall of Famers,

perennial All-Stars, still both playing at a pretty high level despite being at the end of their careers. Today's players are different. I'm not expecting or not saying anybody should do anything. But if LeBron wants to take the minimum, he can go wherever he wants. So yes,

the Cavaliers can just sign him to the minimum. Or maybe it's going to be like some piece of the mid-level exception. And if he's willing to work with them, knowing that they've got to resign harden to a new deal, knowing that they're going to have probably other pieces around the edges to deal. with. It's all possible for sure. Three primary ball handlers with Hardin, Donovan Mitchell and

LeBron is something. But he doesn't do that that much anymore. I mean, I was watching him the other night. Like, he's, he's transitioning. He totally is. And I, and it's been, I want to say subtle. It's not subtle when you're watching the game, but it's been subtle in that it hasn't been talked about enough, I don't think. He's done a phenomenal job of basically like, there are so many times on possessions where it's like, Austin Reeves, you take it, which we saw, last night now that Austin Reeves is back and Luke is out. And he was doing it with Luca as well. He is very much deferring and then getting back in the flow when the opportunities strike. And he's super effective in that role. He's like the role man on picking rolls and shit now.

Like he's really transitioned pretty. Yeah. Sorry, Howard, but keep going. No, no. But you're right. You're right to note that, Raja. I'm just saying like in general, those are three guys who are used to having a lot of the offensive load. But yeah, the older LeBron gets the more. more willing he's going to be to defer on that. And Hardin and Donovan Mitchell can soak up a lot of usage and a lot of wear and tear and a lot of the ball handling and ball pounding. So I absolutely think that can work. I am not worried about the Evan Mobley of it all.

Maybe Mobley just is who he is. Maybe the next evolution comes at a later stage. I generally think that when you're a big and not a primary ball handling type big, or a guy like Kevin Durant who's like a virtual seven-footer but who you can run the offense through. For most of those guys, you're a secondary option anyway. I don't know that I ever expected him to be Kevin Garnett or Kevin Durant or one of those kind of like mutant seven-footer types. It's fine. Having a bunch of ball handlers around you or a bunch of playmakers around you makes you better. It gives you easier opportunities. So I'm not worried about Evan Mobley's development

whatsoever. I think the whole point of this is to come back to the trade and the immediate is the Cavaliers are a better team right now with James Hardin than they were with Darius Garland. And I say that as somebody who's never been a big fan of Hardin's game or the way he's carried himself in his career and all the forced trades or his postseason fadeouts. Like all caveats being there, they're a better team with James Hardin than with Darius Garland right now. Garland is 10 years younger. They have moved their timeline. They are trying to win right now with Donovan Mitchell because he's up for an extension soon and they want to convince him. to resign once again.

But Hardin raises their ceiling right now. That's the point of the exercise. Whatever you want to say about his playoffs, fine. He does have Donovan Mitchell next to him, who I think has proven himself to be a pretty clutch player when healthy. He was banged up last year. So the calves are better today than they were before the Hardin deal. It's a trade-off.

It's a big trade-off on your timeline and on the whole age thing, but also like Garland hasn't been healthy. And, you know, they've got some urgency. see right now. I want to, you guys brought up an interesting point though with the, if LeBron does come back next year, who benefits the most do you think on that roster? Roger, who benefits the most you think? On the, on the cast roster, if LeBron comes back?

Yeah. Because I feel like they have two hubs, right? They have different types of hubs offensively. They have the table setter hub of James Hardin who can break you down, but also get in the lane and you know pass the ball to a cutter and also hit the three but you also have a different type of hub in lebron who can get it in the post can do a little obviously similar things that james hard can do but he's cool at this point just being in the post and being a hub you you screen that person you get over there you get into the three point line i'm a i'm a i'm a table set in a different way

uh who do you think benefits from that well i don't have a great i don't have a answer a great answer for that. So I'll answer it in the way my brains processed kind of the question a little bit. To Howard's point, I generally think that if you were a player, which I was, that was never going to be primary, you benefit from having more playmakers on the floor, provided those playmakers are unselfish and willing to give you the ball when you're open. That only helps them, right? Because now your defender's got to stay home, creates more space for them, right? So you're adding another playmaker, which I would say unlocks everybody. Like, I think that's good for everyone. But I would say that in the space that I've watched LeBron in recently, James Hardin might be, I mean, I don't know where

you put him in the pantheon of pick and roll players, but of all time, like, he's a, he's one of the highest level pick and roll players of all time. If LeBron is now playing as a playmaker and finisher out of the role in a pick and roll, yeah. I don't. know what it could look like. Like I haven't seen a large sample size of it, but I would, I would simply say that's, you have two of the best players of all time running pick and roll. And one is is now coming downhill at you. I mean, you see the lobby call last night? Nuts. Like out of horns at, you see the lobby call it? Like, that's nuts. I mean, it's still bananas. But then a step further into that, like he's a player that doesn't have to always finish on

the pick and roll. Like, he could catch out of pick and roll and play make out of that space. spot on the floor. You know, there's just a lot of things you could do. I don't have a great answer, but I think everyone benefits from having another guy with a brain like LeBron's, provided he's still playing at a level similar to the one he's playing at right now. I'm going to do my winner. It's the winner that keeps on winning.

The rich get richer, Oklahoma City Thunder, who snagged Jared McCain for a first-round pick via Houston and three second-round. picks that the Oklahoma City Thunder sent to the Sixers. I think this is going to get into our next award that we're going to get. Howard knows what that is. But I think, you know, it really helps out with Oklahoma City shooting. They're kind of like middle of the pack, three-point shooting-wise, right? It gives them another ball handler to take the pressure off of Shea and Dove, who hasn't necessarily

played to his ability this season and has been injured throughout the season. been a very frustrating season for him. And also spreads the floor even around Chet Hongren, who has often been put out to the corner to try to get some three-point shooting going for Oklahoma City. I think it really fortifies them. And I think we're going to see a lot more deals like this for OKC, whether they get somebody through the draft or they just supplement another team with draft picks in order to distract their young talent.

another team of the surplus of young talent. It was interesting because I was talking to Coach Dags earlier this season, and I was asking him, like, how do you, how do you, with all the abundance of talent that you have, how do you figure out guys that can put into a role? And he was talking about how he puts the, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a system that is put in place to where everybody can, if they do the things that they need to do for the team,

they are then able to do everything that they want. want to do within the framework of individualism. And I think that Jared McCain is going to have a great opportunity to be able to do that in this system to find his own way while being able to play for a championship. And I think also the Thunder, even as good as they've been this season, record-wise, feels like they needed a little bit of a shot in the arm, right? Like, it felt like they were, I mean, I think they were like 16 and 9 after their first, you know, their big time start to the season. But it felt like, you know, they were a little bit. stagnant going through with injuries.

And I think this is a really good snag for them. So Oklahoma City Thunder, I think, are my winner. They were my honorable mention winner, but it's not just because they made a really nice trait for Jared McCain, but everything you just said being the case, that's all nice. That's great. You know what else happened?

The clippers started tanking because they traded away Zubach and they traded away a healthy James Hardin for an injured Darius Garland. The clippers are going to get worse, and the Thunder owned their pick. outright. And right now, per tankathon, my favorite site at this time of year, per tankathon, the clippers are slotted 11th, but they're very close to 10th, and they're definitely going to switch there because Portland is playing better. They could keep climbing. The clippers could keep climbing the tankathon standings, meaning the lottery odds are going to get better

for the Thunder. But the Thunder didn't just win because of the Clippers, and they didn't just win just because they got Jared McCain. In my 20th straight year of this running bit, I always say that if the defending champion, if nobody closed the gap, they're the winner of the trade deadline. And nobody closed the gap. So the Thunder are the winner of the trade deadline. So they're winners three times over because the clippers are tanking because they got

McCain and because nobody else did jack shit to catch them. Yep. Which leads into my next award, the what the fuck award for teams or players that made just baffling moves over the course of the trade deadline. This is Howard motherfucking Beck's time to shine. Howard who won your what the fuck award for 26. Oh my God, there were so many ways we could go with

this. So many fucking candidates for the WTF Award. And then it was also the difficulty between this and one of our other categories. But ultimately, the Washington Wizards win my what the fuck award. Ruby six. This is the single, I want to, actually, I'll start with this quick practice. Michael Winger and Will Dawkins, who are running the Winsons front office, are really smart, and I think they have done all the right things the last few years.

And you're a tanking team when you're rebuilding, you maximize your cap room, and you use it to take on bad contracts and take on draft capital when you're doing it, build methodically. Like, they've done all the right things. But this is the single strangest pivot from tanking. to competing that I think I've ever seen. Because normally what happens when you tank, you try to accumulate a bunch of good young pieces. They've got some good young pieces, not a franchise changer yet.

But that's probably coming, or they hope is coming in this June's draft. But normally you come out of the tanking phase with a bunch of really intriguing young players, and then you add some like youngish mid-career type players to go with them, whether it be a trade or free agency, whatever. they just got two guys who have so many asterisks attached to them, both former All-Stars, Trey Young and AD, that I don't know what this is now. It's a really strange pivot.

Like, okay, at some point you have to turn the corner and decide to start winning. But your two anchor pieces to do that are Trey Young, and Anthony may play, may not always injured Davis? Like, it's really strange. And both these guys are on short deals with, player options and are going to, meaning they're going to want extensions soon, so you're going to have to deal with that. Maybe you just blow it off and say, you know what, we're going to let them both expire. They both, they got both of them effectively for free. They gave up some flimsy draft

capital to the Mavericks who just absolutely like, I get why they had to offload AD. The vibes are just really bad. You just want to expunge all memory of the Lucca Danchich deal. And so they took whatever they could get. They got nothing for Anthony Davis. So the Wizards gave. up nothing to get A.D. They gave up nothing to get Trey Young. A couple of free L-stars. Cool. But Anthony Davis always injured. Trey Young, a difficult player to play with and has only played 10 games himself this season. The Hawks were way better without him than with him. And so now you've got these guys around Alex Sar, Malal Kulibali, and Bub Carrington and whoever you're drafting in June. Maybe that's a play-in team next year.

it's a really weird it's a weird time to pivot and a weird couple of choices to pivot with but I get it they got them basically for free the risk is low and they could be kind of fun next year if Anthony Davis is actually playing basketball yeah there no yeah I mean I tend to agree with Howard on that I would if I'm playing devil's advocate it's been a while since I did that. If everything goes right there and Trey's playing and AD is having one of his

stints of health and good play, what is, they're, they could potentially have a pretty nice pick in this year's draft, right? No, they're definitely going to have a great pick in this year's draft. Now, you know, pending the lottery, right? So if they get DeBanza or Boozer,

but as of right now, the starting lineup for next season would be Trey Young, probably Kishon, George, Balakula Bali, Anthony Davis, Alex Sar. And also, I'm not sure about the Davis-Sar fit next to it. Saar shoots the three, but, like, not at the kind of clip that you'd want necessarily to, like, have a stretch big next to Anthony Davis. But and then the draft pick, Bob Carrington, Justin Champany, Tray Johnson,

DeAngelo, Russell, and Jaden Hardy, if they're still on the roster. Yeah, I don't. No, not, not vying for an Eastern conference. No, like, I feel you. I feel you. My pushback would just be like, I don't know. Like, I think it's not a really high draft pick at those two.

Your pushback is. I don't know. That's as good. That's as good as you can do. I will say. Listen, if I put a pin in, put in pit in this.

And if we're sitting here next year at the same time, and they're, and they're like competitive in the East. Yeah. No, I'm going to, I'll say this, man. It could have.

I tried maybe the bulls. Probably not. But I tried to Zag because I thought I knew that Howard was going to pick the wizard. So I tried to zag and maybe pick the bulls. But like the bulls, you could make a, I guess you could make a case that, hey, man, we're trying to get off these pieces that we don't necessarily want to pay, want to get draft picks, and maybe we can try to reset this once again, right? Or be average, right? The Wizards thing is indefensible for a number of reasons, right? Because on one hand, you know, the rumor around the league was, uh, around this trade. Because I made

like calls after, um, the trade deal, like, what the hell is going on? And the, what I got back was like C.J. McCollum just, he's in a contract year, didn't want to not play hard and didn't want to shut himself down for the rest of the season so they could tank. And then you, you bring so, because he's buying for a new contract. And then, so like, okay, bet, well, you know, you can get your new contract. You got to go. Bye. Right. But they trade him for Tray Young. And me and Howard talked about this at the beginning when it was just a Tray Young trade. It's like, you're basically betting on your own player to be terrible so you can continue to build, right? And I feel like the, where it's deja vu all over again with Anthony Davis,

you're basically betting against them to betting that they're terrible so you can continue to build your builder on your team. He's not going to play. He's not going to play. No, no, he's not going to play this season. They're not playing. Well, they're betting that they're not playing, but next year, right? I guess they're going to compete, but you're not going to compete with those two with those two type of guys, right? Like, you're, you're just not. And then they're vying for contracts, right? They're vying for new deals. And then on the back end, you're, you're fucking up the growth of the young guys that you say you think are good. Like, this is a 26-year-old Anthony Davis. Listen, it's not. This is, let me, all right, hold on,

hold on, hold on. Now you got me at a point where I, why the fuck am I defending Washington here. I don't know how I got to this point. You were going to go. It's all say like you just getting to this point. You were revving to do it the whole time, devil's advocate. No, no, no, Oh, here I am. Trey Young, right? Like, okay, how many years ago was that where he had them in New York, almost beating them? That was five years ago. It was five years ago.

Okay. Who was his best sidekick in that? I've never defended. I'm not an A. You know I'm not an A.D. Apologies. Like, anybody listened to this, you already know. I'm simply saying that, like, those two together, if you were to capture, like, health.

And I think they'll still both be playing. I mean, AD was playing at a pretty high level this year, right? When he played. Yeah, when he played. Like, that's all I'm saying, right? You got him for nothing. You're not ruining your chances really this year of affecting your lottery status. Like, I'm just saying, like, I feel you guys, but I, that's just my pushback a little bit.

I don't think you ruin your chances at the lottery and you got a free AD. I'm not really attacking the the The Trey Young of it all But those two together with some good young pieces Like I They basically saw the Mavericks and everything that was going on I was like we want some of that We want to just we want to do two things at once here

And I don't think that I just don't think that that's going to work Because there's two agendas going against each other When the option could have just been We could do nothing They could do nothing They're not going to ruin They're not ruining their lottery odds Because those guys aren't going to play

It's more about next season and, you know, is there some opportunity cost? I should throw a couple caveats here to push back against my own premise here. One is that, you know, you always have to spend anyway, and they were looking at being free agent players this summer. And so AD and Trey Young are essentially their free agent buys instead of being in the free agent market. And, you know, who was, who of substance was going to assign with the Wizards this summer with their cap room anyway?

So, yeah. So there's that. When you decide to make the pivot, even though I do think this is one of the strange pivots I've ever seen, you do need some veterans who can provide some stability and structure and a little guidance even. And Anthony Davis, for all of his injuries and everything else, he's a good guy, good player, good example. Maybe Alex Arr picks up a couple things from him along the way.

Trey Young for any of his flaws, and certainly there have been rumblings for years in Atlanta that guys didn't always like playing with Trey. but Trey's really skilled and a really good basketball player and he could make life easier on some of those younger guys by, you know, they really didn't have an established point guard. So he's that guy now. And if he's willing to be more playmaker than score than featured player, we'll see, then he could hasten their development too.

And so, like, there is an upside there. It doesn't take away from the fact that I still think this is a very strange pivot and a strange choice to make with these two guys. but it was basically just being opportunistic. Like, oh, we can get a couple of really established stars for free. They have their caveats. That's why we're getting them for free. But hey, why not?

Give it a shot. I don't think it necessarily hurts their development. It might even help their development for all we know. And, I mean, Raj, I'm sure you've seen various versions of this over the years. But is there a scenario here where Trey Young and Anthony Davis make Alex Sar, Bilalculabali, Bob Carrington, all of these guys. And of course, the draft pick to be named, whoever they get in the lottery.

And in June, maybe those guys are better because of it? Not even a question. Howard, there's a world where that happens. Like, I'm not guaranteeing you that happens. But I've always said, like, I'm very leery about bringing in a bunch of young players and having them have to learn the ropes by themselves

in a culture that I don't want to call the culture is the wrong word, in a losing situation, right? Because you just don't have enough to really be competitive. They learn losing as as their first experience in the NBA in that way, right? And no real backbone of leadership and experience to kind of, even if you're losing, help them understand the process with which you have to go through to get from losing to winning. Like, I think there's real, there's real value in having pieces around them that can help break them into that. Right. And so, yeah, there's definitely a world where they're, they're better for having those two there as anchors.

And we are back. Favorite sneaky good deal. I don't know if it's a, mine is a favorite sneaky good deal, but we have to talk about it. The classic feaster famine trade for the Warriors. Trade a commingga, one problem for someone else's problem.

And they got Christophezegas, which could yield great results. If he's healthy, that's a huge if. If he's healthy, great loud threat for Draymond Green and also can spread the floor and honestly the big that the players have been searching for, honestly, since 2014. And they got them, but it's going to be a lot. It's going to be really tough sledding though because on the other end, the lawyers are

going to be chronically injured next season, steps another year older. It could be, it's going to be a really interesting summer for them. I don't know. It's kind of feast your family for me. What does the panel think? I like the idea of Chris Staps. You had to get rid of Comingo. Like that was that had to happen.

But I like the idea of Chris Staps. I don't know how often I actually get that on the court with Chris Stabs, right? Like, do you know what I mean? Like it's in, in theory, if I could plug Chris Staps in, I knew he was going to be healthy. And you put him with Draymond and whenever Jimmy Butler is going to be healthy. And Steph, I kind of like that. I'm not going to front. I just, I mean, you don't know exactly when Jimmy's coming back.

and who knows about Chris Staps. What is Chris Stabs? I'm sorry, I don't, you know, there wasn't production for this. But like how, Chris Stabs had the year in Boston when he played. How often has he been on the court for most of a season in and around that year? I'm okay with it just because like, like you had to, what else were you getting for Jonathan Cominga? He had to go.

And if you get, if you can figure out a way to get Chris Staps out there with them, I like it. But like, I mean, I'm not moved in any way, shape, or form by it. little subplot of the trade deadline. And again, these are items that could go in a different category, but I'll just mention them now while we're talking about the Cominga deal. One of the subplots of the trade deadline was just teams offloading their mistakes. Most of them were like recent mistakes, right?

Like Cleveland acquires Lonzo Ball. Oops, he can't play anymore. They offload him to Utah, who could absorb his contract. And then Utah just waives him. And it's a sad truth. But I think Lonzo Ball's career just makes. be over. Orlando signs Tyos Jones. They offloaded him yesterday. The Timberwolves had given up a bunch of draft capital to draft Rob Dillingham. They offloaded him to get to Sumu. A good deal yesterday,

but a bad deal in all the maneuverings they did to get Dillingham in the first place. Clippers finally offloaded Chris Paul. That was a mistake. The Knicks had signed Yabuselli, which I think we all thought was a good pickup at the time, but they offloaded him. Milwaukee, Cole Anthony. Chicago finally moved off of Vooch. They should have done that years ago. The Kings gave Shruder a ridiculous contract last summer. They offloaded him to Cleveland. So a lot of what happened yesterday or the last few days, the last week of the trade deadline was just teams, you know, kind of saying my bad and moving on from guys that were bad bets. But, you know, comming it for Porzingis, like, there's a, there's a, there's a best case scenario here for

the Warriors where you got a really skilled big man. Like Porzigas is the ideal, the outline of Chris Staps, Porzingis, is what the Warriors have always needed. Defends the rim at one end, can shoot the three at the other and stretch the defense, and let Draymond Green do what he does at Power Forward and not have to play up at center. Almost an ideal fit. Porzegis is great for them if he's healthy. And we're going to say if he's healthy a thousand times between now and next season and during next season, assuming they resign him because I think he's an expiring deal.

So this is another pre-agency type move, right, where you're basically saying, saying like, this is a guy we like, we think fits us well, pick him up now, have his bird rights, have him already in house, we'll get our medical staff on him. Maybe the warriors can figure out some things. It's not just been injuries with Porzengis. It's that mystery illness that sapped him of all of his energy and that was really hurting him down the stretch with Boston last spring and into part of his time with Atlanta. But look, Cumminga, as Mike Dunleve, Jr. had said there was no demand in the market for Jonathan Cominga. Turning him into Porzingis if they can get Porzingis healthy is a real win for them. But yeah, it's an

if on the health. I know this is going to make Howard make a wild face. But I think I like that Dallas is at least just cutting their losses at this point and at least just trying to get picks. And it's something that, and they're trying to now build around Cooper flag in this moment because in beginning of the season, they were. trying to accomplish two goals at once, which is compete for a title while building around a guy like Cooper Flag. Cooper Flagg has been bawling over the last week. Trade all of your established stars for picks. Trade some of the bronze off of Dirk Novinsky statue. Get anything that you can get for some picks to build around this roster. And they got OKC's first round pick,

which is a late first round pick. We'll see what they can get for Kyrie. But you need to at least just put all of your energy around building a, some sort of contender around Cooper Flag. And I think this is the start of that. And that's, that's, I like the intention right now. I mean, it's, everything that happened in the past was terrible. It's been well documented on this podcast. I just glad that they picked aside. We just talked about Washington, not picking what they want to do,

and just kind of living in two worlds. Dallas has said, we're going to live in one world and that is Cooper Flags. That's, no, that's fine. I'm fine with that premise. I mean, it's hard to praise giving away Anthony Davis. They did need to move on partially for vibes. There probably wasn't a market for Anthony Davis, though, right? Like, just get them off of our hands and get him out of the building and not have somebody that is trying to compete for something in a time when we're trying to build something.

The right time to move him was yesterday, yesterday's yesterday and yesterday before that, right? Like, they never should have acquired him in the first place. But once you got him, really, once you won the lottery and got Cooper flag, they should have immediately traded Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. They should have immediately, it's just, it's a tear down to rebuild around Cooper. And yes, per our Washington conversation, a few minutes ago, you don't want, you know, no infrastructure whatsoever around your new franchise star, a young player. You need something. But I don't know what Kyrie will be next to Cooper Flag next season.

Anthony Davis, the idea of him, you know, maybe that provided some of that infrastructure, trading him for a couple of like meh picks. Okay, fine. Like after this season, like the Mavs have their pick. They need to tank the rest of this season. They have this pick, but they don't have control of their pick for years to come after. So getting back some draft capital was okay, but they're not going to be great picks. There's just not a lot of other young players to like say is like this is our new,

this is our new group around Cooper Flagg. This is the Cooper Flagg era. You're still kind of straddling, right? You've got an older Clay, an older Kyrie. You got some mid-career guys like PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford. Derek lively once he gets healthy Max Christie you know I just I don't know

I don't know I feel like there's still kind of straddling the previous agenda I think that they should obviously just tear it down to the studs right and get especially with the cap not with the cap excuse me the pick situation I mean trade lively you should trade all these players and build a new and I think this is a start of that

at least I hope that and maybe wasn't a sticky good deal by any means but i just wanted to acknowledge that like i'm happy this at least starting to make a decision towards the future like this is what we should do nothing's under the radar anymore unfortunately in our world because of social media and because everybody is is is just analyzing the living crap out of everything so it's hard to find a sneaky favorite but i'm going to go to my backyard anyway um the nick's getting jose alvarado is awesome uh Brooklyn native shout out to Williamsburg. And he's a perfect Nick. He's like all hustle and heart and he's annoying as hell

in a good way. If he's on your team, you love him. If he's on the other team, you hate him. He's going to get under the nerves of every opponent they have. He's phenomenal. Decent three-point shooter, not great. Great point of attack defender. And they needed somebody to do that. Like, we know that Jalen Brunson is not exactly a defensive maestro. And the guy that they have really leaned hard on over the last couple years is Deuce McBride, who currently injured with what the Knicks were calling some sort of ankle thing, but which the athletic, shout out to Fred Katz and James Edwards, they have revealed the athletic. He's having surgery for a sports hernia. By the way, once again, NBA, get on your teams, get your house together about injury reporting.

Like, yeah, the fans deserve better transparency than this. Adam Silver was the transparency commissioner once upon a time. So if he's having surgery for a sports hernia, that's going to be a bit. I don't know what the timeline is, but it could be rest of regular season, could be longer perhaps. And so without Duke McBride getting a guy like Jose Alvarado, I think was a real necessity for them, somebody who can defend, handle the ball a little bit, so Brunson can play off ball a little bit or just, you know, take a breather now and then. And they had other needs the next. You know, I think they absolutely needed big man insurance. You know, they offloaded Gershanyabassele in the first of the couple of moves that eventually brought back Alvarado. And he hadn't worked out

well for them anyway. But, you know, Mitchell Robinson obviously has a pretty rough injury history. Towns gets banged up now and then I think they could have used one more center, especially a defensive-minded center or a big of some sort. Those were hard to find. But they did a great job in getting Alvarado and didn't really give up anything. Okay. Can I do a sneaky good one that I liked? Yes, Roger. I apologize.

Yeah, no, no, you're okay. I liked, I liked, well, I liked it. I still like it, but it would have looked. Look, the West, if you look at the West, right, where we kept saying the East was wide open and clearly at the top of the West, like, it's not as wide open. But you get into that second tier of the West, it is kind of, it's up for grabs. The Lakers, all the shit we've talked are kind of sitting there. I like Luke Conard to the Lakers.

Yeah, absolutely. I need a shooting. I like that. I like that. You know, anytime you have, you know, Austin Reeves is back last night, you have those creators, like Austin and Luca, now he's out. But like, and LeBron to some degree, I like supplementing with shooting. And they were a bottom third three-point shooting team in the league, and you address that.

So I kind of liked it. I mean, if they're not going to make the big splash, you, move, which I don't even think is out there for them, you know, based on what they have at this current moment, their war chest and picks just isn't existed at this very, very moment. They got to wait until they replenished. Yeah, build around the margins. See what you can do. That's why it was sneaky. That's why it was sneaky. I mean, discussion for another day, but the Lakers have a massive offseason coming, massive, massive, massive. Between LeBron's free agency, probably leaving it still. LaBron's free agency, Austin Reeves's

free agency, and what are you resigning him to to, like, you've done. almost nothing to improve this roster since you got Luca. It's been a year. Like, better, hit the gas soon and figure out who those pieces are. New ownership, which means everybody's got to be watching themselves. Everybody's possibly up for review. I'll just leave it at that. All right. This is a segment that I added, guys, I didn't tell you at all. It's a little segment I like to call when keeping the real goes wrong. And I think there are two candidates, and this is a co-race, which with two people who I think are going to share the end of there. I think Jonathan Kaminga and I think Cam Thomas Jonathan Kaminga because he did all that posturing all the

offseason either him or his representation all to get traded at the deadline and have an eight-week audition for a team that doesn't really know him like that in a system that he may or may not know while he's getting acclimated to an entirely new city good luck with that it's going to be really tough because by and large if he doesn't show that he's great Atlanta is not incentivized to pick up that that team option I think he's about $25 million It's going to be tough sledding. And he may very well enter free agency and with a lot less leverage than he did last summer. He didn't have a lot of leverage last summer as well.

So Jonathan Kaminga, from keeping the real goes wrong. And also Mr. Cam Thomas, who also did a lot of posturing with the Brooklyn Nets all to get waived because the nets could not find a deal to trade for him. Tough scene. We'll see what happens with Cam Thomas. he said that he told mark spears that he can give the team a lot of scoring punch i don't think that i think he misses the whole point of the exercise and the reason why he got released but uh we'll see what happens so such a weird arc there was so sorry this someone told me a long time ago that that's who he was like um and then for a while like the shot making of it all kind of

captured some people right is this fair to say uh for for a period of time it captured some people, but this person had told me that this was who this person was as a player a long, long time ago. And it's unfortunate because then, you know, you wind up not maturing in that space at all over the course of however many years he's been in the league. And that, that's just unfortunate. I don't wish that on anyone. But like, I was interested by that because that person's probably sitting somewhere right now saying, I fucking told you. I nobody listened to me, but I told you. He is an incredible, incredible shotmaker, an incredible, like, difficult shot maker.

He's like the epitome of in this era, the Instagram reel or the YouTube reel where it's just like, just play after play, like, oh, my God, like Cam Thomas makes impossible shots and he's awesome at it. And there's a world where a competitive team, playoff team of some sort, says, you know what, this guy's instant offense off the bench and can carry us for a, a, a spurt here and there when our starters are resting, whatever. And I think somebody will roll the dice on him, but clearly nobody was willing to give up value for him or the Nets would have traded him. But again, this is in the category of guys that you should have tried trading

a year ago, two years ago, whenever. Like they hung on too long. They got to restricted free agency with him, and they had a whole stare down, and that got really nasty and all that. It takes a qualifying offer. And the second the trade deadline was over, the second it was clear that they weren't going to get anything in return for him, they cut. And when you were cut by one of the worst teams in the NBA, that's a really bad sign. And yeah, there are all kinds of reasons why the market is tough, this, that, the other thing. But like, if they could have traded him for a second round pick, they clearly would have. So there wasn't a single second round pick or anything to get for him. That tells you something. And I would hope at a moment like this,

that Cam Thomas and whoever is advising him, family agents, everybody else, would say this is a time to kind of like look in the mirror and reflect on on how this ended up happening because you can blame the nets for some of this if you want and certainly there's some responsibility there. But the bottom line is you have carried yourself in a way and played in a way that not only alienated the team that drafted you in the first place, but that made the rest of the league so leery of you that they weren't even willing to give up a second round picture of class. Yeah, that's uh. And I don't mean not to sound too harsh. It's just like, that's just the reality. That's like literally I'm just,

stating what we saw. That is objectively just what happened. I don't mean to be mean about it. I don't know Cam Thomas and a lot of guys, including Kevin Durant, speak highly of him and our big boosters of his and maybe Cam lands with the rockets with KD. I just, you sometimes this is just, you have to recognize that when reality is staring you in the face of space. Some, find someone in your orbit or they're probably not in your orbit, and that's why we're at this point, right? No one exists in your orbit that will tell you what needs to be heard. heard, even if that isn't going to be received by you in the most pleasant way. Someone has to be there to have the tough conversations with cats.

It's just life. Like someone has to do that. And so if they don't exist in your circle, which I'm assuming they don't, man, go find you somebody like that can keep it a buck with you. Like it could be a vet in the locker room. It could be, I don't know, sports psychologist. I don't know. But you got to find, get a mentor, dude.

Find someone who can really kick to you what is important. because it becomes too late very quickly. It sneaks up on you. You don't think it's coming. You definitely don't see it coming. And before you know it, it's too late. And so before it becomes that, and hopefully it's not already that,

find someone that you can put in your circle of people that will have the conversations that Howard was talking about because, you know, both of them have misplayed that. And listen, the person, I didn't know if you were getting to, like, and I don't mean to hijack this, but maybe you guys could tell me if keeping it real went wrong, like who this would apply to in the conversation I'm about to have because there's a third person that falls into that category for me. I've talked about him a lot. It's John Morant, right? Like, you'll get you somebody in that circle. Like, clearly he hasn't found that person yet. But like, my question is, was who did keeping it real hurt more in that? The grisiness. who I thought should have moved him a while ago or him for still being stuck in fucking Memphis. Honestly, Roger, I don't think there's been a market for John Moran over the last three years, if we're being honest.

Yeah. The only reason I said keeping it real went wrong for them was because you did not have to hold. You could have done this before when it was when there was a market. I mean, even at his peak, he was very injury prone. He had the off the court stuff. And he hadn't really evolved his game much, right? still the same guy, can't really shoot, can't really spread the floor, can only go to the rim

and is heavily relying on his athleticism. I don't think that there was a team that really wanted to take that on, especially at that salary, man, right? Like, he's going to, he's going to make 40-some million dollars in each of the next two seasons. Who wants to take that on? And it kind puts the Memphis Grizzies in a rock and a hard place right now because they have to pay that money. I think in 2023, right? The answer to that would have still been yes. because he was still playing at a level, not for everybody, mind you, but there would still be teams. Like in 2023, correct me if I'm wrong,

that was like prime John Morant, right? Like he was in his, that was prime John Moran. Now, we had the troubles and shit like that that you would have to get over as an organization. I don't think that anybody was clamoring and knocking down the door for John Moran, which puts Memphis Grizzlies in a precarious situation. Because, like, I don't know what they do. Do they stretch him?

Probably not, right? Like they're just going to have to ride it out with Jai. They're kind of stuck with each other over the next two seasons unless, you know, until Job he comes from expiring and maybe he can get away, Dalai Cam Thomas. But we're two years away from that. And that's really going to be tough when they're trying to rebuild on the fly in the way that they are and accumulate draft picks. And this saga isn't ending any time soon.

It's really going to up in what Memphis wants to do and their plan going forward. I mean, that's why they shipped off Triple J because it was literally no market. for a job. I think that's just where we're at right now where we've always been at the last two, three years. Oh, and one other thing, I just wanted to talk about the Houston Rockets.

I mean, we didn't really get into trade deadline losers, but like, I don't know what they're doing necessarily. They didn't make a trade going to the deadline at all. In a season where there was a trade out there that they needed to make, right?

They needed a point guard, needed probably some front court help. Why didn't they go after Zubak? I'm curious to see reporting on that. That would have been a great pickup for them. Or maybe it was a calculated thing for them to keep their assets. They still got the Phoenix picks. They still got some Mets picks that they can use.

Maybe to go getting honest. And maybe that was the calculation there. We'll just pull back this season. But as we all know, nothing's promised in the end yet. It's a day-by-day thing. So I was just curious to see what they were doing. Was there any trades that you think changed the race and how we see? the Western Conference right now, guys.

Did anyone knock off OKC as a title? None. Nothing. Yeah, not in my mind. The Thunder were the favorites going in. The Thunder are the favorites coming out. I think Memphis, I think Memphis might have gotten a little closer.

It doesn't reset anything. But like, not Memphis. I'm sorry. Jesus. Minnesota. But like it didn't reset anything. All right. Wait, wait, wait.

We got out of here. I have one more What the Fuck Award candidate. Howard. what the fuck of the Sixers doing right now? I haven't seen all the quotes yet. They were coming in while we've been talking, but Darryl Morey addressed it today, and he basically said he sold high on Jared McCain.

They got some good draft capital for him. Well, the thing is, like, he was, yeah. I mean, look, Darryl Morris keeping it real. I sold high on Jared McCain. Real over the week. Like, they, you know, they're stacked in the back, court, right? They've got Maxine Edgecom, they've got Grimes. He wasn't going to play enough, arguably McCain to keep raising his value in a later trade. And he wasn't going to break through

that trio. It's hard to play a fourth guard. I mean, even in today's NBA where you play small a lot. And they've got a lot of other, you know, they've got wings and whatever. When Paul George's back, like, they've just got all these other guys. Like, I could kind of see it. Maybe they needed that draft capital for moves to come. I don't mind it. Like, I don't think we should go crazy. Like, yes, Jared McCain was looking like potentially the rookie of the year, six, seven weeks into last season before he got hurt.

He has not quite recaptured that magic this season for a variety of reasons, probably partially just coming out of the injury, partially just opportunity because they drafted BJ Hedgecombe. And they brought back Grimes, who was a late season acquisition. I'm not going to wring my hands too much over it. It was surprising. I didn't see that coming. but like, whatever.

I don't, it's not that big of a deal. All right. You know, what time is is this Friday? We've got a real one of the week where we point out a organization, person, entity that won the week. Who is your real one of the week? Raj, I'll start with you. You guys know the Super Bowl's coming up this weekend.

And one former quarterback of one of the teams, he's mentioned in the goat conversation. Well, he's probably universally regarded as the goat, was asked about the game. And he caught a lot of flack from fans and ex-teammates because he said he did not have a dog in the fight. Tom Brady. And I'm giving him real one of the week because he clearly holds onto some feelings

about the way it ended there with the Patriots and asked about it. The man simply said he wanted to see a good game and he didn't have a dog in the fight. Now, he'd probably tell you that he was just saying, I just want to see a good football game. Like, you know, he's got ties to Oakland Raiders and shit now. But I do think there was a little bit of the pettiness in there. And I can appreciate that. Like, that shit did not go down the way he wanted to go down at the end with that team.

And he's telling you he really ain't tripping off of like what happens in the Super Bowl. And I found it refreshing. People didn't love it, especially Patriot, you know, fans and former teammates. But like, I thought it was a real take. I thought he was telling you exactly how he felt about it, whether you liked it or not. And so for that, I gave him real one of the week. Howard, who is your role in the week? Because Logan had reshuffled several things in the course of our rundown.

I'm just going to shoehorn in an item here. This will be like the unreal one of the week. Is that possible? Can we go the unreal? Not so real, not real enough. I mean, your name is on the marquee, but you're real you want. I mean, Janus, man. Oh, you didn't even get to that.

Yeah, because you kept reshuffling the deck here. Janice. You know what I was trying to do? Talk to a little Howard. I was trying to talk to his ass hour. We're talking about Janus during this time. But let's let's, you know, let's do it. We can't, we can't wrap up the trade deadline without talking about the biggest guy who didn't get traded and who I already.

That's how annoyed I was about him. I'm just, I know. Look, if all else, all else fails, we, we are done with Cumminga trade talks, right? Like that league, that saga is over for good. we still have to deal with Janus, Logan. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We did shed one headache as podcasters covering the NBA. The Janus one continues on. We can't talk about the trade down without talking about the fact that they did not trade him. I've talked to folks over the last couple of days about this. I think the sense around the league is simply that while Janus clearly wants out,

we'll get to why he's on the unreal one of the week in a second here, he clearly wants out. The bucks, we're only going to do it at the deadline if they were absolutely blown away. They weren't blown away. So they're doing what logic dictated, which is wait until the off season when there will be, as we've discussed, more teams in the mix, good or better offers available. And in the meantime, they've now got a good sense of what the market looks like. So this was an intel gathering week for the bucks, if nothing else. But Janus gets unreal one of the week here because after not being traded, he goes to all of his social media accounts and posts a Leo DiCaprio clip from Wolf of Wall Street

in which Leo, with a nice big dramatic pause on the microphone, I'm not leaving. I'm not fucking leaving. Everybody cheers. They go crazy. They start partying. And then the caption that Janus put on it was, Legends Don't Chase, they attract.

Okay. That would all be great if, in fact, Janus weren't behind the scenes telling them I want to be traded. And he is. He is. And the mixed messaging from Janus, like, if you're a Bucks fan, I don't blame Bucks fans for being mad at all of us in the media because they think we're all like misleading them lying somehow. We did not get to this point, folks, without Yonis wanting this.

He's just not messaging that publicly because he, again, as we've covered here, he doesn't want to be the bad guy. And we're going to see the truth. The truth will come out in a few months because he'll be extension eligible. And if he signals he's not signing the extension, then he's going to get traded. and maybe he could just say, oh, no, no, I didn't want this. The bucks wanted that, like, fine. But it's not believable.

It's not believable. And so, Janus is a good dude. And I wish for him that he had been traded because clearly that's what he wants, that he will be happier traded. I know he loves Milwaukee. I know, like, he's raised his family there and everything else. And he has all these heartfelt sentiments that he mentioned in interviews with the Athletic and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week.

I believe all that. But he's of two minds. he believes all those things but he also wants to move on because the bucks are dead in the water and unless there's some miracle that happens in the next few months maybe via the lottery

maybe via something else they just don't have the means to rebuild a contender around him and what he wants is a contender and that's his right so he will be traded eventually it is what he wants but he's the unreal one of the week

because he keeps trying to send the opposite message publicly this is why like he's the classic case of like you just alluded to it Howard of like the guy that wants to be liked at all times and on the in the quest to be liked it just gets annoying and then people just stop liking you for that same reason that's what's going to happen in Milwaukee you keep fucking around with the fan base's heartstrings right like you you're lying to their face you're absolutely

lying to their face and then to be like and then to put the Instagram post up and say what you are saying just say nothing just say nothing say absolutely nothing because Milwaukee I am and way I view from where I'm at. Milwaukee will be fine if like if you just went ahead and just kept your mouth shut and just got traded. Like they'll be fine with that because they know that the the franchise put its best foot forward to try to win a championship and it just didn't work out. The reason why we are in this position in the Milwaukee buck standoff with Janus is because they emptied the cupboard to of draft picks to try to get Dame

Willard. Before that it was Drew Holiday. But throughout this whole time, Yannis has been showing who he is because before he did all of this, back in 2019, when they lost, there was a report from Malika Andrews back when she was still a writer, talking about how

if they don't compete for a title, if the bucks don't compete for a title, he's going to want out. His representation of people around him were talking about it even back then. And he was still speaking out of both sides. his mouth talking about and shit non-journalists who are reporting what people are saying behind the scenes that are close to him that wouldn't say anything that he doesn't approve. So it's really

annoying to see him continue to do this even after all these years. It's, it's annoying. Like, and you're going to, they're going, first of all, fan base is going to probably shut up, Bradson. Fan bases are, if they want to react terribly, they're going to do it whether you try to be nice of them or not, right? Like, you're not going to win in this. Go get all the greener pastures, but stop fucking. You don't have to do this rigabler row because you're lying. You're not lying only to us. You're lying to yourself. You're lying to Doc Rivers. It's not cool. Well, y'all just salty because that man's coming out calling your liar, bro, on the media side, man. Leave that man alone, bro. Y'all to stop tweeting, though.

Shut up, Roger. You just said everything. Look at you playing both sides. Look at you playing both sides. I'll just say, I've had conversations within the last 24, 48 hours that reaffirmed all of it. He absolutely wants out. And the next battle that's looming is that the bucks are going to want him to not play again this season because though there's a swap rights thing with the pelicans and the hawks own the better of the two picks, blah, blah, blah, the bucks still have incentive to be as bad as possible, right? Like, there's a world here in the lottery where if the pelicans are one and the bucks are two, the bucks keep their pick. Or as long as the buck's pick is below the Pelicans pick after the lottery,

the bucks keep their pick. So they could get a really nice player or maybe it's a draft ship to try to attract somebody else to play with Janus in some last ditch effort to keep him. But the next battle looming is they're not going to want Janus to play again. And he's, you know, he's a prideful guy. He's going to want to play. So keep your eye out for that one. But I guarantee you. Yeah. That's really interesting. Yeah. I guarantee you. Yeah, there are two tension points now. y'all didn't trade me when i made it very clear behind closed doors that i want to i want to be moved to a team that's relevant and two um i'm going to want to play once i'm healthy enough to and they're not going to want him to so um those those things are real it's going to be going to be a really

interesting summer guys it's going to be it's going to be a long drag out ugly summer for this is this is the other thing that yannis is not realizing no matter what he does it's going to be it's going to be a break up, no matter what. But also he got them a championship. And I just, I always look at LeBron's second departure from Cleveland. The first time it's, it's insanity and burning jerseys and everything. And, you know, it was a different time and a different context to it. But he comes home a conquering hero. He wins them a championship. And when he leaves for L.A., Cleveland's just like, you are our hero forever. We love you. Unconditional. The key difference between Janus and LeBron. LeBron wouldn't make no promises at the end of each one of

his tenure in Cleveland. He wasn't. Janus is over here blatantly lying to his fan base talking about, oh, I'll be back. I'm still here. I'm still here. I'm still here while on the back. Like, LeBron wasn't messy like that. He just, he was very cutthroat in that moment. And it underscores, the first time around.

It underscores another important difference, which is when LeBron wanted to have all the, the authority in his hands, he did it by signing shorter term deals. So he always left in free agency. He never forced a trade. Janus is trying to go the forced trade route, but trying to do it in the last. like the nicest, cleanest way possible, because he keeps signing the max extensions. Well, if you want more autonomy over where you go, you could have signed a shorter deal. Like, I don't have sympathy for a guy being like, quote, unquote, held hostage. You signed the deal.

The contract stipulates that they pay you and you play. And if you want to be traded, they can trade you, but they don't have to trade you on your timeline. And if you wanted to be able to move on your timeline, then sign a shorter contract. Like, it's pretty simple. All right. For one of the week for me, somebody that I want to shout out. My guy Marcus Peters, who has been doing the rounds with his what I'm slapping platform. He went out to Super Bowl Media Day and went in and put into work as a member of the media,

which no one saw coming if you know what his pedigree is during his career. in the NFL. But I liked what I saw out of the content that he brought out. So shout out Marcus Peters. Go listen to what I'm slapping. And yeah, I think that's all I got right now. It's going to be a really, really fun week coming up. Howard and I are going to be in Los Angeles all week next week.

Raja, we'll catch you on the back end. You are invited still if you still want to show up. Yeah, I appreciate that. You know what I mean? You'll be sending you some frequent flyer miles, Raja? I can get you out there. No, Spotify got it. Spotify got the bag. It's fine. We can pay for him to come if he still wants to come.

Anyways, so next week, look out for a lot of content coming out of real ones. We have some special things for you guys going into next week. I think we're going to have something like three episodes next week. But starting Tuesday with myself, Rajabelle and Howard Motherfucking Beck, who will be live from Los Angeles on Tuesday, Real Onesmailbag at gmail.com. real ones mailback at gmail.com. Real ones mailback at Gmail.com. Tap in with you guys. We'll see you next week. All the shits. Bye.