The Ringer NBA Show - Where Will Anthony Davis End Up? | The Mismatch (Ep. 377)

Episode Date: January 29, 2019

The Los Angeles Lakers are the clear front-runners to trade for Anthony Davis, but 28 other teams could look to acquire him (1:32). With the trade deadline fast approaching, teams bifurcate into buyers and sellers (28:54). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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go to yahoo.com slash daily fantasy. Use promo code Yahoo 25 when you make your first deposit for $25 in free play. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. This is The Mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan. And joining me every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.k.a. Kevin O. Bomber, A.k.a. Kevin O.O. Candyland. A. K.K. Kevin O. Kavana o. Kavanaugh.

I would love to hear all of those strung together someday, Chris. Let's hear our hour of Chris Vernon saying Kevin O. Blank. You know, it's been a couple years now that we have been together. That's a lot of episodes. I can probably get through about, I don't know, three to six minutes worth of Kevin O'Connor nicknames. A lot of stuff has happened since we last spoke, Kevin. Not the least of which is I know something that you talked about yesterday on a podcast. and then by this morning had written about for the ringer.com,

and that is the Anthony Davis trade request. It has taken the NBA by storm because now, as we are a little over a week away from the trade deadline, Davis is out there, and you kind of outlined the entire situation in an article this morning. And so let's do that as the jump off from there. The idea is that the Pelicans are going to have a decision to make. They released a statement yesterday basically saying, listen, we will do this on our timeline, not clutch sports or Rich Paul or Anthony Davis's timeline or anybody else. We're going to do what's best for the future of the Pelicans franchise.

And that's that. And we want the NBA to enforce any kind of tampering rules. And then there have been reports that Davis might actually get fined because if either a player or his representatives request a trade on the record that that is a findable offense. And so anyways, here we are. And since the news broke, we have those updates. And now I guess the latest is Adrian Ward Janowski reporting that the Pelicans are, you know, they're fine staying pat unless they get absolutely blown away. You had mentioned some other different teams. And then you kind of outline the situation. And I feel.

like, now tell me if I'm wrong here, after reading your article, you think the best mode of operation would be possibly to wait it out to see what kind of pick the Knicks get, see what you could get from the Celtics, and so don't trade him now by this deadline a week away, that in fact what would actually be best for the future of the Pelicans franchise would be to wait until July. Well, teams are going to come calling now. in the article I reported that the Lakers, Knicks, Bucks, and Raptors are all expected to make trade offers for Davis ahead of the deadline.

The Nuggets are another team that front office executives I talk to think is like an off-the-radar team that could put together the assets to make a really strong offer. However, if you're in New Orleans and you're reviewing the offers that are on the table now, even if you put the best offer that the Raptors or the Bucks or somebody else can put out there or the Lakers can put out there, I think there's incentive to, wait until the summer because of Dore A. Dore A being the Celtics can offer a package based around Jason Tatum, who's a better asset than these other teams can offer. And Dore B being Zion Williamson, if the Knicks were to win the number one pick or another team were to

get the number one pick and try to flip that for Anthony Davis. There's incentive to wait, but it's not like Norland should be sitting on their hands here because there's a chance, there's a chance that by waiting offers could drop as well. So they need to gauge offers that come in now versus the potential of what could be there in June or July. And it's obviously what do you want to get in return? There are a couple of different ways to look at this. Do you want really young, promising players? Do you want a multitude of draft picks?

Or do you want to get an elite level player as part of the return? Like the Spurs model, like the Kauai for DeRosen and Peril, like one proven player, one young player? And that's what was a little fascinating to me because I get it, right? The big market teams are always going to be front and center and the focus. And so as soon as this breaks, it's like, oh, the Lakers, the Lakers, the Lakers, what are the Lakers going to give up? And what are the Celtics going to give up? Well, as far as I know, you take the Pelicans out of the mix and those two, there's 27 other teams, all of which would like to have Anthony Davis on their team. I understand that not all of them can.

But that being said, why wouldn't you, there's a whole lot of teams that could make a pitch for this. And I was glad that you mentioned in that article about the deals that not only the Spurs made with Kauai Leonard, but also more importantly, the Paul George trade, because it was a foregone conclusion. I was having a little deja vu with this Davis thing. It was a foregone conclusion that Paul George was going to L.A. That's what we all said. He's going to L.A. He's going to L.A. I'll tell you this, even after the year in the year.

Oklahoma City. Everybody thought he was going to L.A. They got bounced in the first round. He wasn't going to resign with the thunder. And who knows what's going to happen with Kauai. But what we do know is that it was Kauai's threatening to sit out a whole season if he doesn't get traded to where he wants to.

Well, that's all bull crap. Yeah, well, teams have pulled that all the time, you know? I know. A bogey's agent tried that saying he's going to get up, not going to resign with a team that he goes to, which he didn't. He ended up getting hurt and leaving the Pelicans. And, you know, years ago, Annie Miller, Kevin Garnett's agent, publicly said he would not go to the Boston Celtics.

Publicly said that on the record. And he ended up being traded the Celtics about a month later. So that's why it's interesting to me that all of those names come up because who knows? I guess it depends on your opinion. Maybe Lonzo Ball does become a consistent All-Star or Brandon Ingram or Kyle Kuzmer or whoever. But they're not right now. And they haven't proven to be great players in the NBA. I just look around the league.

I'll give you an example that I was thinking about last night. So you had the Toronto situation, you and I have talked about the Toronto situation 100 million times. But they had that dynamic back court that's kind of the ceiling with what they had in most everybody's mind, including Maasai Ujiri, right? So they moved off of DeRosen and they acquired Kauai Leonard. And a couple other teams that we have thought about that way,

where their two best players were backcourt guys, are Portland and Washington. If I'm Portland, you know, why don't I say, hey, I'll give you a C.J. McCollum, I'll give you Zach Collins, who's got promise, I'll give you a first round pick,

and I'll give you something else, right? And now I take a run with Lillard and Davis, and I've got a year to try to convince him to come back to me or whatever. And that's just one example. There's nothing out there about that. Don't report this as a rumor of something that could happen.

I'm just sitting there spitball and looking around the league and saying, you're in the Blazers' war room and you're like, should we make it off for now? Why not? It ain't just the Lakers that can trade for this guy. And if we've learned anything, Oklahoma City was able to resign Paul George.

And I guess we will see with Kauai if he's willing to walk away from Toronto. But he's on the best team in the East right now. Here's the thing, though. If you're in New Orleans, yeah, you should be thinking about taking an established player. However, C.G. McCollum only is two years left on his deal. And ultimately, that's what it comes down to the lack of security.

Same thing with Bradley Beal when he becomes a free agent in 2021. Even if those guys were theoretically offered with a bunch of nice surrounding pieces like Zach Collins, as you mentioned from Portland, still, I think other teams can offer more appealing packages. And from what I've heard, past couple months pretty consistently, is that Norland wants a mixture of younger players and draft picks. And if those younger players are proven, or maybe if they get a proven guy in there, that is needed for salary, great, because they still have Drew Holiday on their team.

And as of now, it doesn't seem like they would blow up the rest of the roster, even though Zach Lowe did report on his podcast this week that New Orleans began shopping, Mertich, Etouin Moore, and Julius Randall for picks, which is intriguing. Moore and Mertich were offered months ago in a Jimmy Butler deal, and they've been dangling those guys in trades to try to get better players. but if it's true that they've been trying to deal those guys for picks, I wonder if that means they are going to just send out everybody on the team and just go full rebuild.

That would be quite interesting if that were to happen. But ultimately, Chris, I still think looking at what teams can offer, the best packages are probably going to include young players and draft picks. And that's why right now with the Lakers, they're in a spot where they get to put it all on the table to get a deal done now. I think they have to give Ingram, Kuzma, ball, and then three or four first-round picks to try to get a deal done now. There's immense pressure on the Lakers to get a deal done at this moment, because if they don't

get a deal done now, somebody's going to be able to top it during the summer, and the Pelicans know that that deal would still be there for them in the summer if they decide to wait. So I think for the Lakers, they're in a spot now where they have to go all in. They have to go all in for Anthony U.S. And you know what? It's totally possible that a third team could end up. up being involved. And I say that because you saw last night, not like Lanzo Ball's camp matters, the grand scheme of things, but you saw that they would prefer or certainly want him to go somewhere

that doesn't have an established point guard, which of course led everybody to go, wait, like the Pelicans, like I get, I get it, Drew Holidays there, but it's not like you guys couldn't play together, but whatever. You know, maybe to make things a little bit easier, and for the Pelicans to acquire more assets, it's possible that a third team could even get involved if those teams were able to put together some kind of a deal. I can't help but mention. So, as we know, Brian Winhorst, who I'm a big fan of,

he's been covering LeBron since he was a fetus, and always, he's always in tune with everything that's going on. I have an image of Winhorse in the emergency. And he mentioned no less than two or three times recently, when talking to Zach Lowe on his podcast. I know what you're going to say. The whole Kyrie, Anthony Davis, together with LeBron. And I'm telling you, you listen to him over the years.

He's always got an awareness of what they have talked about. Like he didn't just come up with that out of nowhere, right? Like somebody said that to him, and it would lead me to believe that this was the interest of Clutch the LeBron camp, LeBron himself. whatever, possibly Kyrie, and that that's how they're going to try to massage this, to make it end up to where that's how you get your super team together, and that's who would be together. Kyrie and Davis are big fans. Now, obviously Celtics fans would hate to hear this because not only are they rivals, but one of the things has always been Kyrie is big buddies with Davis. They are.

Yeah, they're close. And the idea was that they can be together going forward for the Celtics. But Windhorst was throwing out there the idea that given their choice that maybe that's the kind of super team they build together in Los Angeles. What do you make of that being thrown out there? Well, Windhorst putting it out there. It's funny, Wendy always jokes about aggregators picking his stuff up. Wendy wouldn't do that unless he felt confident in the information that he was hearing. So first of all, it's intriguing.

I would say I would bet on Kyrie staying with the Celtics right now, despite all the noise about him potentially leaving. I would bet on him staying. But with that said, there's always a chance that he changes his mind. Happens all the time. People change their mind, right? You change your mind. I change my mind on what I'm going to eat for lunch. People change their mind.

With little decisions, never mind big decisions on life. So there's always a chance that instead of teaming up in Boston with Anthony Davis, he can end up in L.A. Or he could team up in New York. That can end up happening. But, Chris, if I were to bet today, I would bet on Anthony Davis being traded to the Celtics this summer. I just think they have the best. the best package they can offer around Jason Tatum or Janelead Brown with a host of draft

picks and other young players such as Marcus Smart to really complete that deal. We'll see what happens with the draft lottery on May 14th. We'll see if other teams are stepping up to the plate as you're mentioning that can also offer a proven player or a mixture of young players. But right now, I would have been on the Celtics acquiring Davis this summer. That's interesting. You do not think that we will look up in a way. week and a half and he is on a different team.

No, this is if it gets past the deadline, and I wish I think it will. Oh, okay. I think it will get past the deadline. You do? Yeah, I do. Man, I kind of think that, like, right now, because of that trade request, I think you could really get some great offers. You can.

I do. I mean, think about what the Raptors could put on the table. Just think about, like, what if, this is theoretical. But if they were to offer Pascal Ciacom, O.G. and and Obie and a bunch of first-round picks, like an all-in-move. by Maasai Jerry to win a title this year, and you're betting that AD, making that finals run in the Eastern Conference,

would be like, you know what, I'm staying here in Toronto. Maybe Kauai does too. That's what you'd be betting on, at least a one year run at the finals, and maybe a lot more than that. That's a pretty appealing offer. I'm a Siakam fan.

I don't know if Siakam's going to be like All-Star, All-Star, and I think if that's the best player I get in the deal, I can do better. Granted, it's the East. I'm just saying. Yeah, no, but I can do better. But I can do better than that.

Okay, fine. How about the Nuggets of package built around Jamal Murray? I'm going to tell you this. If I'm the Nuggets, I would certainly consider that because

I went to the Nuggets Grizzly game last night. I saw history, in fact, unfortunately. It was the worst blown lead in the... Think about the Grizzlies horrible franchise

for so many years, even when they were in Vancouver and then losing seasons even in Memphis. They never blown a 25-point lead. And in fact, no team in the NBA has blown a 25-point second-half lead all season.

Going into last night, teams that faced a 25-point deficit in the second half were 0 and 174. And last night, I saw the Nuggets come back. And I say all this to tell you that when you're talking, they did not have Marie last night. I'll tell you, they won that game on the backs of Will Barton, but maybe more importantly, I fell in love with that Malik Beasley. Oh, I love Beasley. Oh, my God. He got on one break, Kev.

It was like the guy jumped off a damn trampoline. Yeah. I mean, he has got crazy athleticism. And if he sees a sliver of daylight, that Joker attacks the rim. I loved him. Oh, my God. You know, you never really got, I never seen him play big minutes before. He's always been a guy that plays low minutes coming off their bench.

Until recently, when Gary Harris got hurt this season, he was really thrusted into her role. And it was the opportunity to get to see him in person, play big minutes, and I fell in love. I did. So that's why I'm saying when you're talking about Murray or whatever, like, they got somebody like that on their bench. For sure. They have an overflow of guards. And Yokic is a point guard anyway.

He's their playmaker. Yes. If, like, they were too able to flip Murray, who's a really, really good young player, really good. If you could flip him as a centerpiece and ideal for Anthony freaking Davis and have a front court of A.D. and Yokich. Oh my goodness. Talk about a matchup issue for Golden State or any team for that matter

because both Yokic and AD with their ability to handle the ball, space to floor, AD's ability to defend on the perimeter. Jeez, man. And then I can plug and play. I can plug and play Beasley and Barton. Yes.

I mean, along with Harris. And then Isaiah Thomas comes back too. I mean, the Nuggets know more than anybody else how good he'll be, right? It's like when the Celtics made that trade with the Cavaliers, they knew there was a chance

that Isaiah is never going to be the same. Right now, Denver has him. They can value their own player more than the 29 other teams can. If they can feel confident that IT returns and he's going to be 75, 80% of what he was, that 16, 17th season with the Celtics, well, you know,

maybe that makes you feel a little bit more confident to trade a young asset like Murray. We'll see what he's like, athleticism-wise, and how hindered he is, but I watched him warm up before the game last night. I mean, he's obviously out on the court before the game. He's burying everything. Murray? No, Isaiah Thomas. Thomas, yeah, okay.

Yeah. I mean, that dude can always be able to stroke. And the other thing is, it's so funny because it's just the forgotten guy. But at one point over towards the scorers table. They have a lot of forgotten guys. Michael Porter, too. That's what I was about to say. I was over there by Scorter, and you forget, he is huge.

You forget how big that guy is. We're talking about when I say it Thomas, right? I'm talking about Porter, you know, in street clothes. And it's like, when he gets up off the bench and he was walking towards the scorest day, to give somebody a high five, I was like, damn. Like, you know, he thought of as a guy, a face-up guy that can really play off the dribble. But, I mean, when you see him, like, giving, you know, a high-five to somebody like Malik Beasley,

he's a friggin' foot taller than the guy. You know what I mean? In my Nuggets feature that went up on the Ringer last Wednesday, Tim Connolly had a quote in that article where he's like, it's nice reporter that he doesn't need to be viewed as the savior. And it's true, like, they don't need to rush them back. They have a really good team already. there's no reason for Porter to be rushed back

and there's no pressure for him to even be a great player if he were drafted number one. For Porter, he's in a position where he's the X factor. He's the guy who can elevate this whole thing for them returning to the floor and becoming the potential number one prospect that a lot of people expected with his size and his scoring ability, potentially, that's exactly what they need. When you look at their roster, they have more than enough guards.

They have Yokic who is one of the most unique players, that the league has ever seen. He's a point card at 7 feet, 270 pounds. But what they lack is that real go-to-scoring presence with size at the wing slash forward position. And that's what Porter could be, unless you use him no trade to flip him for Anthony Davis. Well, because it was interesting.

It was interesting just watching them last night. They were a disaster when they had Torrey Craig on the court. And so they just ended up going with the three guards. Imagine you replaced Tori Craig with Michael Porter. Well, last night it was out. Honestly, Malik Beasley that was playing there instead of him, and it flipped the game completely. I mean, it's hard as hell to match up with Harris, Barton, and Beasley on the court at the same time, especially when Yolkich is in there whipping the ball around.

Beasley has become the guy that he was at Florida State. In college, I really like Beasley. He showed that 3-n-D-style potential. He's a very good defender in the NBA. He's shooting the ball at 41% from 3 this season. He's been pretty much the guy he was in college. really good two-way player and a superb athlete, I think Beasley has upside to be even better than what we're seeing right now, though.

And like you mentioned last night, Chris, we're getting away from AD. I've got 80 thought that I wanted to. If we wrap back around, the whole point of that was, I don't want to say Murray's expendable, but I'm telling you, they got another guard that doesn't get to play all that much.

He sort of is. Yes, I think you could be just fine if you played Beasley in that lineup. And by the way, like even with Jamal Murray, And I was wrong about Murray. I didn't love Murray in the draft. I think I had him ranked eighth or ninth, something like that. He's better than I thought already. The dude can drop 40 points.

But he's still inconsistent, inconsistent shooter, inconsistent with effort on defense. Those are things that have always come and go for him. And I do wonder, that's one concern I have moving forward. Will it always be a thing where it's like, oh, sometimes you get Murray when he's on, sometimes when he's off. He's only 21. That could be something where he's just young. but oftentimes from a lot of players across the league

that does not ever change. All right, back to AD. The AD thought that I had is, granted that, you know, I said that I would wait until summer for that Celtics offer and, you know, see who gets the number one pick.

I feel like it's being a little bit overblown that it's just easy for the Pelicans to wait. It's not. It's not at all because there's always a chance offers could get worse by the summer. You're the one overblowing it. I don't know. Not.

Who's overblowing? Oh, I don't know what, Chris. People are all on Twitter like they just wait till the summer for the Celtics. Just wait. Just wait. You have to at least think about doing it now because offers could drop. AD could get hurt and then their leverage could be gone. I didn't say anything different.

The sales could be like, you know what, we're not giving Jason Tatum. Rich Paul could do exactly as, you know, what Wode reported yesterday could happen, say that he's only going to resign with the Lakers, which would effectively drop other offers. It could get worse for New Orleans. I think there's a real possibility. Possibility things could get worse. And here's why. If you are a team right now that makes the huge offer for him, you get him for the rest of this year and you get him for next year. By the time you get to the summer, you've got them running around telling everybody, he ain't resigning there.

He ain't resigning there. So don't give a bunch of crap up. Don't give a bunch of crap up because he ain't resigning there. And so then you bring that leverage into the situation. Also, you get to the summer, everything about the summer is viewed through the prism of the Celtics, which I get it. It's out, it's been out there for a long time. People have thought that the Celtics could pull off a deal for him. Okay, let's say Danny Ains says, I don't want to give up all of that. Or, or, how about this? You get to the summer and everybody's already made it a foregone conclusion. They're the ones that are going to make the huge offer. And so now there are, in fact, 20-something other teams. How many of those do you take out of the mix if you get to the

summer? Whereas I would think right now, everybody's in the mix. And so what? The Celtics can't make their deal right now. And maybe you do bypass what is the best deal. But I'll bet you that you could get a hell of a deal out of one of the 28 other teams. You know what I mean? and so yeah, I understand what's best for the Celtics, but is that the only team I'm waiting on for July? That's the thing. I'm going to put this all on hold to wait for one team. Pretty much, exactly.

That's the thing. What the hell with that? You're effectively just waiting with two teams, really, the Celtics and whoever gets the number one pick. And there's only a 14% chance that the Knicks get the number one pick. Only 14%. So, like, effectively, of teams that could get the number one pick and actually offer it, offer 9%,

years to the rights of Zion Williamson for one year of AD, I think there's only one that would do it, and that it's the Knicks. I'm not even sure the Sixers necessarily would. Okay, and so then somebody else... It's 14% chance and the Celtics. Yeah, right, so now the friggin, whatever, the Bulls get the number one pick.

Now what? AD doesn't want to play in Chicago. No, no, I'm just saying... Yeah, I'm just saying, like, even if they were to, I don't think they would give it for AD. Because they didn't want to put Anthony Davis in New York, Boston, or L.A., but there's a whole slew of other teams. And a lot of them, I would think, that could put together some pretty great deals. And then,

like Maasai Yiri did, wait, are you making an argument for them to, like, another team that could get number one and give that up? No, I'm saying that we talk about if the Knicks get the number one pick. Well, what about if the other teams get the number one pick, right? I mean, because everything, that's what I mean. Like, if another team gets another one pick, the odds are the team would not give up that pick for AD, because AD would express their not going to go there. Okay, no, this is my point. My point is we always talk about all of these guys where it's the big, big markets, Boston, L.A., New York.

The other teams are not even considered. We're talking about if the NICs get the number one pick. Well, like, what if the other teams get the number one pick? Or what if another team makes a great deal? And we're talking about holding off on making a trade because the Celtics can't make their offer until July. And it's like, okay, or L.A. because, you know, wow, wouldn't it be cool to see LeBron paired with AD? But there's a whole other rest of a league out there. And I think if we learned anything from Paul George getting traded to Oklahoma City and then resigning there and Kauai Leonard getting traded to Toronto, it's not about necessarily what market these guys go to.

You just take the best deal for the future of your franchise. not what's best for the player or what's best for the other franchise that's getting them. That's what's going to happen. They're going to do exactly that, which is why it would be a little bit surprising if they took a Lakers deal right now. You wouldn't take that, the Lakers deal, the three? If I'm the Pelicans? Well, what else is on the table?

I mean, I need something to compare it to, you know? All right. How about this? Do any of those three guys, in your opinion, make multiple All-Star teams? If you had to bet on them, rank them? Can we say All-NBA instead of All-Star? Star is sure yes

all MBA Lonzo Ingram Kuzma I would say no Kuzma Okay Lonzo I'd lean towards no as well Because this league is so loaded With guards

And he still can't shoot at all And then with Ingram I could still see one in his future I mean he's only 21 years old man And you know he's still He's still showing a lot of two-way potential I could see Ingram making it I still really really like Ingram as a prospect

But that's the thing to me Where in that deal I'm not sure what Lonzo is. Kuzma is a good player. He's a good player. Don't get me wrong, but he still hasn't shown that he can defend or pass

or do much of anything else besides score. And even that's still fairly inconsistent for him. And then those picks aren't going to be good either. If you're getting, even three or four unprotected picks, Lakers with AD and LeBron and whatever else they add

are going to be good for a long time. So maybe one of those or two of those picks are good in 20, 23, or 2025. But the front office, you might not be there by then anyway. I think there's more appealing offers out there, whether it's something from the Nuggets

since we've speculated about or something that happens in the summer, I think there's more appealing offers out there for the Pelicans and what the Lakers can put on the table right now. Yeah, I mean, with the whole Lanzo thing, I guess the question is, you know, this can go two different ways. Are you getting Chris Dunn or are you getting DeAngelo Russell?

Because if you get DeAngelo Russell, that's a hell of a deal. If he turns out to be that, he turns out to be Chris Dunn, it's like, I mean, Lanzo's Lanzo. Lonzo's already a good player. I mean, he's a really good defender. He rebounds at a high level.

His passing is magnificent. It's just the scoring ability. That's going to be the big hurdle for him. But Russell looks like a guy that's going to be an all-star now. He just does. He looks like a guy that can be an all-star. We'll see. Whereas, you know.

Yeah. The funny thing is about Lonzo, though, is, you know, as Sham Sharani reported yesterday, he said if the Lakers and Pelicans trade talks pick up, Lonzo's camp prefers ball to be moved to a 13. that doesn't have an established point card. So it's like, Lonzo's already demanding a trade from a team that he hasn't been traded to. Demanding a trade from a team that might don't even want him for that matter. All right.

So here's news for everybody out there. One of the big names or two of the big names. Something you wrote about yesterday was about the whole Mike Connolly and Markasal, at least the Grizzlies listening to all first four of them. I would tell you, at this point, I would be very, surprised if Mike Conley gets moved somewhere. How come? I think I would also be surprised if Mark Gassal doesn't.

Ooh. Because last night, I know the people weren't paying attention, but the post-game press conference. Who says we weren't paying attention on the Grizzlies, Chris? Come on. I'm talking about what guys are saying in the locker. Oh, okay. He presented the whole thing like a swan song, the whole driving to the arena.

Now, because the grizzies are going out of town now, and they won't be back until trade deadline. February 5th, I think, right? That's their next home game. Well, it's actually right before. I think it's next Wednesday. So if it's next Wednesday, you wouldn't play in that game. There's a real chance that that's the last game inside FedEx forum. Tuesday, February 5th, they face the wolves.

So, yeah, we'll see. Yeah. And so, Margasol did the whole driving to work today. And, you know, it's been a great run. then like, I mean, you know, like that kind of stuff. And so that's why it leads you to believe, you know, his contract's up at the end of the year. He's got the player option. Conley's locked in for two more years.

And I've always been of the opinion that if you were to move Marcusole, it's not a death sentence to being terrible, right? Whereas if you moved Mike Conley and Markasol, you're a death sentence. You're going to be terrible. And for a long time. and my colleague's got at least three good to great years left in him. So his situation is different, and he's got a huge contract, and so getting the value back seems to be a lot more difficult. Here's what I'm going to ask you,

through the prism of the Davis thing, do you think there's a possibility that Mark Gassau deals get better because of this, because the Davis thing is out there, that if a team is able to attain him, and so let's say in the Lakers case, right, So you're the Lakers and you say, well, Davis just got traded to wherever. Just make up a team. He just got traded to wherever.

He got traded to Portland, okay? Or he got traded to Denver. He got traded to Toronto or wherever. So we ain't going to have him this year and we ain't going to have him next year. And there's not an infinite amount of time we got with LeBron. And we don't want to throw away this year. And we know he's going to pound it into the ground. LeBron teams are when it gets to the playoffs anyway.

maybe we should go and give up a young asset and some stuff to be able to get Mark Gassau because we don't want to throw away this year. Are you saying for the Lakers to do this? Yes. I say no way because Gassol is. I'm saying any of these teams, any of these teams that say, hey, I don't know if I'm going to have my job next year. Because you had mentioned the Pistons and the Kings. Those are both teams that are right on the outside looking into the playoffs.

And so if you're whoever running those teams, if you're Blotty Devak running the team, or obviously they've got all new management in Detroit. So that's not necessarily the same situation. But wouldn't you say, hey, I need to make the playoffs this year or I need to, in the Lakers case, make a run at the title this year because this stuff isn't lasting forever. And you see a lot of teams make rash decisions to try to win now rather than think about their future.

I mean, you mentioned the Lakers. It's no way for them unless Gasol declines that player option right now because you need the cap space this summer. It's no way if the Lakers other teams, sure. I think if you look at Gassol's season as a whole, I mean, you and I probably agree on this, he's had some really bad games where he just does not look the same. However, recency bias is a very powerful thing to your point about maybe offers increasing. These last five games, he's been really good in the offense event, averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists,

shooting the ball well from 3 at 36%. Gasol might be turning 34 actually today. Today's his birthday. Turn 34 years old today. But he can still produce when he's really, really on, when he's really hustling on defense. And he would do that in a playoff situation for a team. He's also a guy that I know that he grows his own food. Like he has his own garden.

Are he serious? Oh, yeah. Wow. He is very, very serious about his health, very serious and about what he eats. And he literally grows his own food. He has a massive garden over in Spain. I say that to tell you, he's a guy that keeps himself an incredibly good shape. He goes to Whole Foods and buys fish once a week and he eats fish and vegetables and he is

clean as a whistle when it comes to all of that type of stuff. And so the extension of his career is not something that would be far-fetched, considering the shape that he keeps himself in. Yeah, Gassol's still a solid player. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just like for the $25 million or $26 million next year. That's like the problem right now. his next contract, whatever that is, if it's like $8 to $10 million.

Oh, love to have Markersoll. Oh, by halftime, Alaska, it's one of those moments. If you were another team and you tuned it in, I mean, if you just watched the first half, he busted Yokic's ass, whole half. He ended the half with 21, 6, and 3, the half. And Yokic is the best thing going at center. And so he's got that in him. It's just a matter of what does he look like in a different roster?

or the different team and whatever else. And so I didn't know if the AD stuff, depending on what happens with that domino, if that increases possible value. Maybe I'm talking myself into an increase in possible value, but there's just so many teams that become desperate. They are. Listen, it's all through the prism of the Grizzlies

having to give a pickup to Boston. And the reason they're having to do that is because of a stupid-ass Jeff Green trade where they're trying to take a run at it. Teams do goofy stuff when they're trying to win right now. As long as the Grizzlies can't get something good for them. Yeah, I think they can. I could. I agree.

I think they could too. Just not what they could have two years ago. Would you give up Lonzo? Give me him. I'm not giving up anything if I'm the Lakers unless he declines that player option. What if I'm not getting A-D? I'm not giving up a single thing because he has a player option for next year and you need to preserve a cap space for the summer and your assets.

For Paul George again? No, for one of the numerous other free agents. Well, we just went through this. Trading Lonzo-Balford Grusole would be a bonehead move, dude. Who's a free agent you want? From the Lakers? You at least want to have the cap space to have an opportunity to sign, not just a Clay Thompson, but even like a Tobias Harris type for that matter. You need to preserve your cap space because the best order of operations for the Lakers is to sign a free agent using cap space and then trade for Anthony Davis.

I wouldn't expect that second part to happen, but they need to preserve their cap space. to sign a guy. Let me tell you this. If the Golden State Warriors trade for Anthony Davis, I'm quitting. That would be fascinating. Imagine if they gave up like Draymond and Clay. Can you imagine that? It would be the worst thing ever.

Seriously. I thought about it last night. I'm like, how can they trade for them? And I'm like, oh my God, they could. That would be something else. Oh, the Pelican nightmare, right? Because then you'd be teaming up Davis with cousins. And I thought about that yesterday.

you know, the margin of this stuff is just so slim. And who knows what would have happened with cousins after last year. But, I mean, everything is different if he doesn't tear his Achilles, right? Everything. Everything's different. Who knows? You know, AD definitely doesn't go on that tear that he did to finish the season. Or how about if that trade never happens?

They still got Buddy Healed, who would be a nice piece to have right now. And they still got... They still got some stuff. Really freaking good, man. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. wouldn't he be a great fit with AD right now? Perfect.

Right? That's just bad luck, man. You make that big trade and the guy rips his Achilles up. Just bad luck. I'm really glad buddy Hill's good. I'm glad. I mean, he was such a fun player in college.

I mean, he's one of those guys where you're like, you're just hoping and praying that he pans out in the NBA, just with the attitude and the energy that he plays with, with his shooting ability, that that guy could throw up a ball from anywhere and it can go in. I'm glad that he's good. And that is not. by mistake. I think I mentioned this

a couple months ago, but there was a day at the arena where the Kings had canceled their shoot around, their practice, whatever for the day of the game. They weren't there at all. And he was in the gym for two hours that morning by himself. Like everything had been canceled for their team. And whenever I talk to people that have been around him, they say, whatever his apex is, he's,

going to reach it because you're not going to find somebody that works harder. Like he is just always working on his game. And so when you say he can hit shots from everywhere, that's not by mistake. Even when they cancel all practices and everything, he finds a gym and he's out there for two hours, figuring out how to make every shot too. And I love guys like that.

I do. It's kind of like how every time before games, Steph Curry and Carrie Irving, you see them practicing these weird little funky wrong foot offhand, shots that they end up doing in games. It's like no wonder these guys, not everybody has the skill and the talent to do that, but it's no wonder that these great players do these just really unbelievable moves that you don't see most guys do. It's because they practice it often and they have talent, of course. All right, Kevin, we've been talking a lot about the

Lakers and what they may do headed to the trade deadline. And we're going to make our NBA watch of the night a game in which I am going to be looking for you on television, because because you will be in attendance. The Lakers of Los Angeles are hosting the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center. That game is going to be on TNT at 1030 Eastern 930 Central. And I guess it sounds like LeBron is targeting Thursday to come back. What? It's disappointing.

Oh, yeah. That was your groaning. Yeah, it's just disappointment. But we do you get Jimmy Butler, Chris. Oh, all right. Well, Jimmy Butler's coming back. Philly at the Lakers and also Joe L.M.B. Do you remember that one? Was it last year where he started talking crazy to Lavaar Ball and all that stuff was going on? And he posted that Instagram thing where he said he found that, he found that city. It was some city in some country that had to do with Lovar Ball after he mangled Lanzo on a play. anyways, Billy at LA. Maybe I probably won't be saying goodbye to any of those young guys just yet. Probably get some more games in a Laker uniform.

But this one tonight, I guess you never know. Sometimes the nightlife becomes undefeated when you have to play in L.A. And so I think that the only thing that could stop Philly from winning this game tonight would be an unbelievable last night at one oak or wherever they may have gone. We'll keep monitoring TMZ to see where the Sixers were last night. Well, we know where JJ Riddick was last night. The ringer's own Tommy Alter posted a couple of Instagram stories. They went to Major Domo, Dave Chang's place.

And Tommy said, put one photo up of him and JJ that says, bet the Lakers tomorrow with a bunch of crying emojis. So JJ might be stuff. All right. Well, I don't know if I would take Tommy Alter's advice. But it will certainly lead to watching this game with more interest. And remember, if you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com, Amazon, or your local cable or satellite provider. Did I or did I not recently see an Instagram story from you yourself, Kevin O'Connor, that you went to that restaurant?

Yes, me and Isaac. We went out with Liz Kelly, Kate Hallowell, was our birthday. and Alex Shibutani, Olympian Skater at Major Domo, was my first time having fine dining. I believe it was also Kate's first time there, too, Isaac. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the best food I've ever had in my life. It was so fun watching Kevin eat good food for the first time in his life.

Wait, wait, wait, you're not kidding. You've never been to, like, a super nice restaurant? I mean, I've been to nice restaurants, but not a nice restaurant like that in my entire life. No. Wow. Yeah, I've never been to a place like that. You know what I'm saying? So what did you get?

Like, when you say, What do we get, Isaac? Is it like delicacies or something? Yeah, what do we get? So, I mean, we had a full course meal. Shout out the team at Major Duma, who took care of us there. We got the Bing, which is the, now this is turning into House of Carves. We got the Bing, which is their starters of, like, calling it Peter Bread would be very unflattering, actually.

It's this delicious bread that you eat it with the spread. It's the best bread I've ever had. Yeah, and then, right, we got some appetizers, we got some fried cauliflower. Oh, so good. We got some entrees. We got truffle mac and cheese. We got a ton of things and then we finished it off

with the dessert this thing called Kakikori which was a This is massive shaved ice It's just getting weird I like have my eyes shut Just imagining the flavor

I was worried I hear these sounds coming from over my headphones And I'm like For goodness sake Kevin Not on the podcast Dude it was the best food I'd ever head on my life

And I can't wait to go back I'm glad to have taken you there I mean I had some like Major FOMO seeing Tommy and JJ there last night it's like, geez, I got to go back. It's like Jack and lost. We got to go back.

Wow, wow. Got to go back, Isaac. Kevin O. Culinary. All right, let me get to another team that I do want to mention before we get out of here today. And this is the biggest injury that has taken place since we last spoke. And it was crushing to see this take place last week, which was the Oladipo injury, something you and I had not talked about. I am a huge Ola Depot fan.

The image of him being on a stretcher last week was absolutely awful. And as we know, he is going to miss the rest of the season. I saw that team in person on Saturday night, and they lost to a grizzly team that was on the second half of a back-to-back and was on like an eight-game losing streak. Okay, so they had a rough go of it. They turned around, played last night, and got absolutely mollywapped by the Warriors.

So here's what I'm asking. A team loses a player like Oladipo, who is an all-star level player and extremely important to them for the rest of the season. If you are Indiana, do you try to swing deals as to salvage this particular season? And so you're currently still a home court advantage team, but it does not appear, at least at first glance, that you're going to be able to be really good after losing Ola Depot. So are you out there a big buyer if you are the Pacers? What do you think, Kev? I mean, this is really a cop-out answer.

What's on the table, man? You know, like what's out there for you? I think when you look at something that will keep you a playoff team and they're going to be a good playoff team. They're going to be a playoff team. A good playoff team. You know this team ain't win in a playoff series as it's without Ola Depot. It's just not.

Probably not with any guy that they can acquire, because when you look at what they would have to give up, I don't think you're giving up Miles Turner or DeMontasabonis. So, like, what are you going to give up that's getting you something of quality back? Not sure what it is. I think you kind of just probably ride it out. You have a ton of cap space this summer if you ride it out with what you have, and then you can build for Oladipo's hopefully successful return.

You got to find a point guard one way or the other going forward, right? because you got Collison at the end of the line here. And so do you try to package a deal together with some expirings, maybe a draft pick and a corner of a point card? I mean, there was a talk about them trying to go for Mike Conley. You know, I think that would be an interesting backcourt fit with that Oval Depot. That would be really nice. But I would like to see them trade one of Joseph or Collison

and then give Aaron Holliday some more time to end the season because he's shown some real flashes with opportunity that he's been getting. His numbers aren't great. as raw numbers, he's only shooting 30% from three, only with a 52 true shooting percentage, but he's shown some real flashes. I would like to see some more Aaron Holiday down the stretch. I would like to see Sabone is getting even more opportunity.

I'd like to see them start picking Pop and Miles Turner to 3. Use this time for development of some of the young guys. That's what I'd like to see moving forward for that team. Okay, we think that the Lakers are going to be buyers, possibly. Same with the Kings. We've already talked about them. What would you do if you are Dallas? Do you throw together deals and try to make a go for it and acquire really good players this particular season?

Or do you wait it out? Again, it depends on who. Let some of those guys fall off the books. I'm saying is this team worth trying to get into, they are five games out right now. Once you get past them, Pelicans, Grizzly, sons, we know those teams are not going to be making runs towards the playoffs. Dallas is the one kind of in between because the Timberwolves, the Kings, and the last. Lakers all have playoff hopes. Should Dallas have playoff hopes or just plan for next season?

I think they should tank and hope and pray that they win the draft lottery and... It's too late now. It's not too late. Yes, it is. How is it too late to tank? Right now, there are only three games back from the Grizzlies in the six-sour-spot. That's what you tank to. Because of the odds now, the six-less spot.

It doesn't matter. The odds are significantly different. Right now, they have a 2% chance to getting the number one pick. Well, that ain't worth running off your fan base. It's only three games difference right now in their current slot. They have a 2% chance at Zion Williamson. If they were to fall to the 6th worst team, they would have a 9% chance. That's a big difference.

It's a 91% chance you don't get the number one pick. Of course it is. But what I'm saying, that ain't worth it. But the alternative is you're saying give up assets to try to push for the playoffs so you can lose in the first round. And what I'm saying is you can have a chance at a transcendent level player in Zion Williams.

I'd rather, I'd rather, I don't know. This draft is not good. I don't know. Maybe you don't lose in the first round if you got up to any of these teams. You get up to the seventh seed. I mean, it's going to be Denver's first time through with young players. Also, what are you going to add if you're Dallas? That's actually going to help you.

There's not a lot out there right now. There's just not. There's not a lot of guys that move the needle. How about Julius Randall? Besides this 80 stuff. How about Julius Randall? Besides the Grizzlies talk, this could be a dud of a deadline. How about Julius Randall?

players like that. I think I'd rather just try to sign Randall in the summer. Okay. Rather than give something up for him now. So you would go the opposite way rather than take a run at the playoffs. I just probably wouldn't do anything. That's all. I probably just wouldn't do anything.

I'd probably just ride it out. All right. I think they're going to be a buyer. It wouldn't surprise me. They wanted Kemba Walker. And the Hornets aren't giving him up. They did want Kemba. So it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they're buyers, but what are they buying?

I think it depends. I mean, if it's a player that actually, actually helps them make a push now and would help them later, then sure, I think you make a move, but I'm just not sure what's out there. I think Randall's intriguing, but I think I'd rather hold off until the summer when he can become a free agent,

and then maybe just, all right, try to sign them, because I do have interest in Randall, I've heard. I've heard of the Hornets. It's funny you mentioned the Kemba thing. I've heard the Hornets like Gasol, and if that's true, I mean, obviously they'd have to take back a beyond,

Bo. Kaminsky's totally out of their rotation. Mleek Monk. You know, you probably get, I mean, I would Hornets, that'd be interesting. I would die for bridges. That's who I'd want. I don't think they'd give him up, but that's who I'd want. Tell you this, I saw Malik Munk a week ago in person. He is way smaller than I remembered. He's little, man. He's skinny, very lean. Nobody's short, too. I always thought he was more like a wing size, and he is not. I mean, that's one of the issues with him entering the draft. This is like an old school thing to say, but he's like a two guard and a point guard's body. He really is. And there's so many of these point guards that are bigger now. Point cards are bigger than ever right now. I know it. You see the Shea Gilges is and you see

the, you know, whoever runs the point. Nicole Yokic seven foot, 275 pounds. It's so crazy because so many times the guy with the ball on the court is a monster. You know what mean like because so many of these teams kind of run their offense through somebody that's not a traditional point guard necessarily. I mean, you see that, you know, Dallas brings the ball if they throw it to Luca, it's huge. Even like a Dinwiddie type, six foot six, strong, you know? I mean, Luca is like a foot taller than Malit Monk. That's what it looks like when they're out there. I mean, that's a big dude that's hard to match up with and he's kind of running the show. So I don't know. Anyways, Kevin, it is going to.

to be a very interesting next week about time we go on. Maybe there will have already been some deals. Inevitably there will have been. And then we will be 48 hours away from the trade deadline. So I cannot wait to see, I think it's either going to go one way or the other. There's either going to be a massive amount of movement or just so little. And maybe it's the Davis thing that decides that. You know, if that domino falls, maybe it sends everything into motion. I'm at least glad that we're able to have the conversation leading after the deadline. It's going to make it more interesting, even if AD ends up not being dealt, even if the grizzlies end up keeping Gasol and Conley. It makes it a lot more fun, Chris.

I'm excited. There's certainly a lot more. There's names that are coming out every day, you know, which makes me hopeful. Everybody loves movement. Everybody loves the trade deadline and loves free agency. So you've got to turn our notifications back on. It's that time of year. Kevin, it is always a pleasure.

Thanks to everybody out there for listening. Go give us a rating and review on iTunes, five stars, five stars. Thanks, Kevin. We'll talk again next week. Thanks, Chris. Have a go on.