The Drop | 2025 NBA Trade Deadline Winners & Losers
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Who's that? He's a little magician. Anything else happen? He does a job. Has he got a girlfriend? He has, yes indeed. He's not a kid anymore, but still young. Can't help me, it's really strange. He was an inventor as well. Okay, of what? Toys. What else happens? Chopsticks. On the piano. It's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. The wrong movie. Ah!

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dongs Podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Friday, February 7th, 2025. This is The Drop. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic Factory, which really has been a factory this week. And alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Podcast listeners, basketball lovers, this one's for you. Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Ayo! Ayo! And over...

And over yonder, making the magic happen, ending the week in style with that cold open Super Producer JD. Hello. There he is. Here we are. Oh, man, that one had us giggling away before we were live on air. Good cut. That was good. Shout out to everybody joining us live right now on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe. Podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews. You want to know why? Because you might make the next five-star Friday review. We got that coming up later in the show. Also, we'll look at the all-star draft results.

Was it fixed? We'll debate and we got some rapid fire fun. But now that the dust has settled on the craziest week of at least in-season trading in NBA history, it's time to hand out some trade deadline winners and losers. You don't have an NBA podcast unless you're doing winners and losers. Let's be honest. So we'll do a couple rounds of winners, then we'll do a few losers. TK, you get us started. Who's your big NBA trade deadline winner?

I'm going out on a limb. I got the Los Angeles Lakers as a big winner of this trade deadline. Luka Doncic is on the Lakers. I probably said it a hundred times in my house this week. At one point, Laura and I were starting to kiss. She whispered to me, Luka Doncic is on the Lakers. And that's what I knew. I had said it too many times, but it's big news, man.

Were you aroused by this? Who was turned on? That's the question. Who was feeling it? Okay, okay, okay. But that's what I had to feel like for Rob Palenka. Getting the call from Nico. Hey, Luca, you want him? He's like, yeah. Don't tell anybody. Okay, I will not. Swear to God. As long as you give us Luca Doncic. But man, he's on the Lakers. He's going to win a title. Everybody that comes to the Lakers, they win a title.

Wow. They also traded for Mark Williams. We talked about it. He's a good player. He's humongous. He gets hurt a lot. It costs the Lakers a couple of picks way down the line. I was worried about the cost, but then I started thinking about it. Don't worry about it, buddy. Everything works out for the Lakers. They're fine, guys. He'll probably become an all-star, you know?

He'll become an all-star. I'll find another guy to fit around him. It's just exciting. If you're a Lakers fan, obviously that you had LeBron and AD for a long time. It looked like AD was going to be the guy to take over for LeBron. You would need another star next to him. Instead, it's Luka Doncic as the centerpiece there. I got to say, LeBron also looks energized.

since the trade. He had 26, eight and nine and a blowout win against the Clippers. And then 42, 17 and eight last night against the Warriors. He just grinning ear to ear the entire time. Cause Luca Donchik is on the Lakers. Yes. He must be pumped. I am interested to see how Mark Williams plays on this team. Also,

What the Hornets got in Connect, Cam Reddish, and a first-round pick in 2031, which will be a year that LeBron James doesn't play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Oh, you're calling it? Yeah, pretty sure. Probably not, but... Probably going to be 45. So it is a good move by the Charlotte Hornets, that's for sure. But they should probably still be decent if Luka Doncic is playing at his level. So it won't be a great pick.

That being said, if they're going to win a title, as you said, they got to do it fairly soon. If LeBron's going to be on the team. If LeBron's on the team. That was awesome. Watching him against the Golden State Warriors, hitting back-to-back-to-back threes. Three straight possessions. And that third one, he was just messing around, I guess, a little bit.

He felt like he was smooching somebody. Like, he was just having fun. He stepped on the logo and just banged home a three because he was having so much fun out there. It's the second quarter, and he's just stepping on the logo just...

20 seconds left in the shot clock. There you go. Yeah. It's like he was playing the Raptors in a postseason game. The way he was goofing around. I'm glad you brought up the LeBron angle to this because that's the scary part to me. Luka hasn't played yet, obviously. Looked like he was going to play on the weekend. Now all reports are he's going to play on Monday night against the Utah Jazz. So we got to wait a couple more days to see Luka in the four blue and gold. But...

it's that LeBron is playing at this insane level right now. This isn't like LeBron sort of like, oh, you know, the dog days here of the season, just like get me to the all-star break. He's really turned it on over this last little stretch, even going back to that Madison Square Garden game where he had the triple-double there in a victory. So Lakers have won four in a row. He's balling out. Now you have Luka and Mark Williams. There might be some growing pains. That's to be expected in terms of just how they work together, but...

you're going to bet on two of the smartest guys in the league when it comes to basketball IQ making it work with the new pieces and continue to run as they try and get up the Western Conference standings. And I'm with you. It does feel...

It does feel strange he's going to be playing alongside LeBron. Yeah. It is tough to wrap your head around until we actually see it on Monday night, hopefully. It's like every photo I've seen him take. He's got to do the L.A. with his fingers. He has to. They keep asking him, just do it, man. I find that part weird. Do you really like doing that? Do you really like doing that? But...

He's going to be energetic as well. I don't think there's any question about that. On Saturday, baby. What's that? Saturday. No, they're saying Monday. Oh, they're pushing it. Yeah, they're pushing it. It got flexed, so it'll be on national television. But it sounded like Monday night on League Pass, Lakers-Jazz for the Lakers debut. I think it's the Bulls on Saturday for the Lakers, right? Is it? I think so. LeBron's going to have like 80.

He's going to destroy the Bulls. The Bulls only have guards on their team now. And Booch, of course. The Hornets deserve a tiny nod to get Dalton Connect. A very capable player under Charles Lee. Maybe he develops even more.

Cam Reddish, a flyer. We'll see what happens. They've tried. They've tried. And a first-round pick. A good get. And a pick swap, which may result in nothing, but who knows. Again, it felt to me like the deal was too good for them to pass up. And they heard the Lakers wanted a big. They actively called and said, we got one. You interested in Mark Williams? He's young. He's exactly what you're looking for. In theory, he can give you some defense. Obviously, a lob threat with Luka and LeBron. They're like, yeah, what's it going to take? Well, it's going to cost you Connect and future picks and stuff like that.

all right, we got to do it because we got LeBron playing like this and we're adding Luka and maybe we think the West is open. Yeah, I'm with you. Smart move by the Hornets. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and especially for a guy that is...

perennially injured at least early exactly and he's been playing pretty well putting up good stats right now so the time is now the horrors are doing a good job they're just getting picks and getting stuff back in hopefully their team turns into something in three or four years yeah all right lakers obvious winner of the trade deadline uh where are you going next test the cleveland cavaliers they say yeah we've had a really good season so far i mean

it's easy to forget that they started 16 to know they look like a championship type team. They're on pace for 66 or 67 wins, but they say we can get better and they're not worried about ruining their chemistry in their locker room. We got to get better at one spot, the small forward spot.

They've got Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, and Max Struess there. But to go get DeAndre Hunter, he's an improvement on all those guys. He's a better driver than Dean Wade. That is for sure. He's been making some beautiful beeline drives this season. When he's the secondary playmaker or even the number one guy on the bench, he's so good at that. He's obviously a better shooter than Isaac Okoro. He's shooting 39% this year, and it ain't.

It ain't just luck. He's just a good shooter. He's done it before. And he's a lot bigger than Max Struess. And I think that's where it might come down to.

There were switches the other night when they're playing the Boston Celtics, and this could be the conference finals. And Max Drews was just too teeny, too tiny to play a center, to play Porzingis or Horford or whoever. And so when they switch, like they want to switch, he can play defense. And that is a big thing for them. And he'll improve on Karis LeVert, too, whether he comes off the bench or as a starter. He's just so...

So deep. I mean, he's a very good player. And I know this team is deep. And maybe this will cost them Ty Jerome next season just because of the contract that DeAndre Hunter has. And maybe they've got to...

They've got to give up something. But right here, right now, it also gets them under the tax line. And I do forget that teams under the tax line do receive a payout at the end of the year for being under. And so here's $12 million, most likely. That's what they got last year. And it's just a nice move for the Cavs to say, we're going for it here. Now, most teams...

They already have their championship roster at the trade deadline and they don't need to make a move. There has been some like Marcus Soltoraptors or PJ Tucker with the Bucks or even the Lakers when they wanted in the bubble, they went and got Markeith Morris as a buyout and he helped out off the bench.

this could emulate that this guy this guy could start you can come off the bench he's the key he's just a very capable guy yeah we obviously talked this up yesterday uh when it was sort of the biggest news from the actual trade deadline day with all the other big deals happening the night before and the week before um anything to add to the calves do you have them in the winner category for the deadline absolutely i think having thought about it now i'm thinking about thinking uh

Hunter's probably going to start. I would have to imagine they did the trade here and there is kind of a clear spot for him as the three, but like you're saying, he's going to be able to play small ball four for this team as well. I know Dean Wade handles that spot for them, but another option, I guess, because that was a pretty valuable thing that Hunter brought to the Hawks as well as when they went small off their bench with like Larry Nance Jr. as their center.

Hunter is able to guard three or four a little bit. So I think he gives them some options there. And like you said, he was the biggest name that we talked about in our PM show for the trade deadline. So he was the biggest name that was available. This team's in first place, had a position of need, and they went and got a guy who can fill it. So I think this is a great move for Cleveland. All right. Cavaliers, a winner according to Tass. Let's keep it going. I'm going to go De'Aaron Fox and the Spurs as an NBA trade deadline winner. A couple reasons. Fox...

He looked at Wembyn Yama and he's like, that's the golden ticket right there. Let me latch on and let me get first in line to pair up with him. And who knows who also joins Wembyn Yama when he blossoms into probably the best player in the league. Is that next year, two years, three years, Fox is going to probably be there with him. And he wanted to go to San Antonio, an important part as well. It looks like a good fit. Only one game, only against the Hawks. But the stats are wild. When Wemby scores less than 25 points...

Spurs are 5-17. They lack a secondary consistent scoring option.

Enter Fox. I mean, that guy has averaged 25.6 points per game and six assists over his last five NBA seasons. That even caught me by surprise. I'm a huge De'Aaron Fox fan. I was like, damn, 25 and six over five seasons now? Consistent. So he gets to plug in there, gets to be that secondary scorer. Just sort of like an ideal dance partner, I think, to take pressure off of Wemby. Another reason why they're a winner, they did not have to let go of Castle, Vassell, Sohan.

And they kept their really more valuable draft picks as well. And that's the third part of all this. And the reason I have the Spurs as a trade deadline winner because of what the Hawks did and where the Hawks are going. Because...

The Hawks were sellers at the deadline here. Obviously, DeAndre Hunter, Bogdanovich goes out. There is no Jalen Johnson. He's injured. So they ship out those guys. They get a handful of second-round picks, nothing to really help their team right now. Well, they included those picks in the Bogdanovich trade that they had to salary dump them. That's true. But those Hawks first-rounders that the Spurs got in the DeJounte Murray deal, including the 2025 pick, I mean, they are aging like a fine wine right now. And Chris Haynes then...

Telling us yesterday, Trae Young's future with the Hawks. Becoming murky, to use Chris Haynes' words. That clip is making the rounds. Within it, Haynes says, quote, he's a fierce competitor, talking about Trae Young. He wants to win. And they know where he stands and what he wants to accomplish. I mean, if you read the tea leaves here, it sounds like now after this and where this team has gone and where they've floundered, the Hawks, like, could we be seeing Trae Young moved this summer? Yes. Yeah. It sure feels like that.

Where's the team? Is it the Rockets? Is it the Magic? Is it another team that would want him? But do they really lean into...

Rish Ashae and Jalen Johnson and like we get our draft capital back or young prospects and go like that here's the problem the Spurs are not going to give them their draft capital back because there's no trade now De'Aaron Fox is the point guard yes trade young is doesn't fit next to De'Aaron Fox there is no way the Hawks are getting their own draft capital back from the Hawks get hit the lottery win the first draft pick the next three years goes to the Spurs there's a dynasty for you so

But they could trade Trae Young for obviously other draft capital. They're going to have to trade him to Houston. They're going to have to get back probably Jalen Green. Like I haven't done the math. That's kind of tough because his extension hasn't kicked in. But the Rockets have a ton of future picks. Like they have Suns picks that are pretty valuable. We've seen what's happened with the Rockets lately. Like Anthony Edwards took over in the fourth quarter against the Rockets last night. They're struggling a little bit here because they can't produce in fourth quarters. Fred VanVleet's contract is coming off the books. There's going to be a spot in their backcourt.

Trae Young would look nice in Houston as their go-to scorer when it comes down to it. Rockets coach. Yudoka even said after that Anthony Edwards game, I'm paraphrasing, but he'd be like, it's nice when you have a guy that can take over in close games. It's like what he said after Anthony Edwards did it.

And they can cover for Trey Young defensively with all of the talent they have around there. It only makes sense to me because there's not really a way for this Hawks team to improve going forward around Trey Young. And he's the only guy you could trade right now who brings back a lot. Yeah, he doesn't fit with the Spurs. That's for sure. That ain't happening. The Hawks just tore it apart here in the last eight months. They said goodbye to Jontae Murray, and now this Bogdan...

And DeAndre Hunter trades. I mean, that is quick to get rid of them. This is tearing apart their starting lineup if they were to trade Trae Young. Because I understand right here, right now, the other guys around them, Risa Shea and Dexon Daniels, they're not leading a championship-type team. No, they're good players. We'll see. We'll see if Trae basically follows the Fox role and says...

I want to win now. That's exactly right. And that man, you watch that Haynes clip and this guy is pretty plugged in. He is saying without saying, to me it felt like, Trae Young's a little tired of this and would like to start playing some winning basketball and maybe...

This is something that they're going to have to look at this summer and have some teams lined up to maybe go and make a splashy deal for him. The guy has averaged 25 and 10 for his Atlanta career and made three all-star teams. And it's always because the team is not a winner at all-star time. That's probably important to Trae Young, too. The guy talks about getting snubbed all the time. You win some games, put up those kind of numbers, you're making it to the all-star game every single year. So...

It kind of makes sense for everybody, I think, unfortunately. Yeah, at his age, too, it's starting to become a thing. We saw what happened with Donovan Mitchell in Utah, with De'Aaron Fox now, and Trae Young matches around the same age at 26. Could be happening.

You've made your money in this league, right? You've gotten your fat, big contract. You're going to continue to make more. That's not a worry. But yeah, at a certain point, you're like, what is our organization doing? And I want to start winning some games and playing in these post-seasons. And like all three of those guys, some play off, you know, runs, be it with the Jazz or Kings finally getting in there with Fox and obviously Trey making a conference finals. But it's like, where's the consistency? And also maybe it's like a little self-realization of like,

I'm not the number one guy on a team. I'm maybe better suited to be a secondary guy. Again, that's why I think Fox has got hip to that. Like, oh yeah, this is good for me. This is going to be great for my career and chances to win. Oh yeah, Donovan Mitchell definitely realized that and was comfortable with sharing it as he's done this year. That's for sure. So it's happening. And you can see...

It helps the Spurs. I mean, when Webby goes to the bench, they have stunk this year. The numbers drop off like crazy. So De'Aaron Fox leading even the second unit and being that number one guy on the second unit will help out a lot. All right, let's do another round of trade deadline winners. TK.

I got Steph Curry as a winner. I'll also throw Jimmy Butler as like a minor winner. He didn't really get his way. He wanted to go to Phoenix, but he ended up on the Golden State Warriors and he's making an extra $60 million. So still a winner in my book. I don't know how much better the Warriors are going to be. That's still to be seen. Like it was kind of odd that they didn't do any moves after the game.

After the Jimmy Butler trade, I guess they're rolling with Quentin Post. I guess they're going to try and find somebody in the buyout market, but it feels like they've got a better chance after the Jimmy Butler trade. Also, less on Steph Curry's shoulders, so maybe you're going to get a better Steph Curry, but it seems like he's excited. Anthony Slater reported at The Athletic that at halftime during the Jimmy Butler trade, Steph Curry texted Jimmy Butler.

To say he's excited for him to come play in Golden State and his response, it was a very pleasant message from Jimmy Butler on the return. He's not giving you details. Yeah, it was just pleasant. Yeah, get off. But I'm not super worried about the chemistry concerns. You literally hear Draymond saying, I love guys like this. Yeah.

You said he wins. I win. That's the fit. I love that quote. So I think they will get along. I think that Jimmy does a lot of what the Warriors need. Like when the offense is stalling out in the fourth quarter, maybe Jimmy Butler gets a touch at the elbow, pump fakes 100 times and goes to the line. That would be so helpful for this team. He makes layups. He rebounds. I think he's a good defender. And I think he'll be turning it on here now that he's motivated. He already said he has his joy back. He hasn't played a game yet.

Yeah. He said, I'm happy now. The only thing he was concerned about was he just opened the Big Face coffee shop in Miami, and now he's got to open one in San Francisco. That's a potential downside. The new... Sure, real estate sucks. The next persona for Jimmy Butler, a tech bro. I don't know if I'm 100% on board with that. We'll see how it goes. Did he say he feels like he has to open a second? Yeah, he said, well, I mean, he basically alluded that he was going to open another one. Yeah. You got to stay close to home. Yeah. Keep your eye on the shop. So they're going to shut down the Miami? That I'm not sure. I don't know.

I don't know. It would be nice for him to just play basketball because Steph just needs help out there. I mean, he's taken 35 and 31 shots the last two games. He's been shooting a lot. He shot 23, didn't he not, last night? It was a lot. It was a ton. They just need help. Yeah, because Wiggins was not playing. And Jonathan Kuminga, those last two games. So that's a part of it. But Jonathan Kuminga also isn't there. And if they want to get to that next level of Jimmy helping...

and getting anywhere close to what they did in 2022. Jonathan Kaminga has to be that guy to replace Wiggins, to be enough on both ends.

That's still up in the air. Big time. Because he has hurt, number one. And number two, whether he can be that guy in the playoffs because he hasn't been there. So it is odd that they go get Jimmy and they're just getting older by the day and they're not getting any better. Yeah. And they sort of need to figure it out really quickly. That's the one worry. I mean, right now they're in the 11th spot. Under 500. Yeah. They're 25 and 26 now after losing last night. Where it's like we were just saying, the Lakers, growing pains,

that's okay probably because of where they are, you know, having already 30 wins and looking really good and being like fourth or fifth there in the West. But like, yeah, the Warriors got to figure it out really quick and start putting W's together with Jimmy in the mix. And we'll just find out. I think the goal this season would be

Make the playoffs. Hopefully win a playoff series. But then next year will be the year that Golden State really goes for it. You heard Dunleavy say afterwards that they get access to another draft pick. They've kept most of these young guys that they will then perhaps be able to ship and bring in some help. Maybe somebody decides they want to come play with this trio of Curry, Jimmy, and Draymond. They're going to be able to get some more players rather than the guys who were left over from the trades. They didn't do the Vooch deal because...

Understandably, you know, he wasn't going to fix the problem, but they'll find somebody in the summer. And I think the Warriors, I think they improved for this year, but I think they'll be much better next season. Yeah, I agree. Tass, who do you have for another winner? I've got the Toronto Raptors because, yes, I am buying what Masai Ujiri is doing here with this team. Because it's like when you've got three good investments that you've made. Now, they're good, but...

They just have a lot of bad days. They're up and they're down, but mostly down. So what do you do?

Do you just say, you know, it's a sunk cost. I'm going to sell. Or are you patient? Do you wait and see what their destination is? And if there's another opportunity where there's a buy low of a really shiny gem out there, do you go buy it and add to your pile of gems that aren't doing too well? Well, that's exactly what they did with Brandon Ingram. Money mellows here. It is definitely a bit of a long term.

look, it's not going to happen tomorrow. But we also just haven't seen what those three gems have done. And it is...

going to be on the same part of the floor. That's the confusing part. Your three gems, just so I have this right, Barnes, RJ, and Quickly. Barnes, RJ, and Quickly. And then you add Ingram to them, and they operate on the same part of the floor, so that is the confusing part. That is for sure. But if you look at it and you think Scotty Barnes is in the mid-range and can make assists to everybody around him, and Brandon Ingram is comfortable...

Getting those assists and shooting the three ball. He's up to six threes this season, shooting at 37%. And he's done it before. He has one all-star season. He shot 39%, shot six threes. So I think he'll be okay with that. And then you've got other guys that also want to drive and want to handle the ball in R.J. Barrett and Emmanuel quickly. So that's the question. Are they going to play like...

your Cavs or your Celtics where everybody's sharing it and nobody just needs to have the ball. And I think Brandon Ingram will be okay not being the number one guy every single time, every single possession. And they have to be able to share the responsibility. So it's hard. It's hard. And if you do go through a little bit of trial period in these two months or deeper into next season, I think RJ Barrett is the guy that would be first on the list to be tradable because of these four gems that

He's got the shortest of contracts remaining with only two years guaranteed. Everybody else got lots guaranteed besides Brandon Ingram. So we shall see what they do with Ingram's contract. So what's the best case scenario for the rest of this season? I don't even know when Ingram's even scheduled to come back. Yeah, it might be a slow play. That might be a problem because they may...

They may not be able to play him. Yeah. But then obviously want to sign him and keep him. And what's that money look like as we talked about when this news broke? It's like what type of deal? Is it three years, 120? Is it more than that? Is it four years? The deal that they didn't want to give him, if I remember correctly, the Pelicans, was four years, like $208 million. We don't feel comfortable doing that.

So you assume that's something around what he would want, probably feels like he's worth, but where does Messiah Jiri, Bobby Webster, and the Raptors agree upon? And are they helped out if he doesn't play at all in a weird way? You can look at it that way for sure. Yeah.

Him being 27, though, he definitely wants a big contract. So I think you want him to come back and play basketball because they haven't seen these three guys play together. Now you add a fourth. You want to see all four of them play together. I mean, two of them are healthy. Manuel Quigley's still not back completely, although he is playing. And...

Brandon Ingram, you just want to see all four as much as possible so you can make a decision, number one, on Brandon Ingram's contract and number two, on I.J. Barrett's availability. But it could go into next season. So I think they do sign. They probably sign Ingram to something juicy. He is 27. He is an all-star. He is a very, very good player. So I think it is investing into these investments and seeing what happens next year most likely. I would say for the most part, Raptors fans were pretty happy with this draft.

of getting Ingram. For what it cost, you know, in the end, it was not a ton. I mean, Ingram is a good player. It was a buy low. It was a buy low situation, as we said. I mean, they were in our comments yesterday going, well, you guys are way too down on this. What's wrong with you? Then again, Raptors fans are delusional. And more than any other fan base, well, there's a handful of them, but like,

You get a player on the Toronto Raptors, that player is suddenly one of the best in the world. I'm sorry, it's true. And I'm a delusional Raptors fan, but maybe not as delusional as some. Well, sure. But at the same time, they're also just buying into the now. Like most sports fans. This team is 16-35. Yeah, but it can't get worse. They haven't been good now, but they also haven't been playing with their guys. I came into the season thinking those three guys playing together when healthy are definitely a...

Squint in looking at a 500, at least a play-in tournament team. So yeah, at Ingram, I think they are capable of being a 500 team if that was them, if they were actually playing this game of basketball. So TBD on what they do with Ingram. I guess my counter to that is all this money spent on what will be four of these guys, you don't want to be better than 500? No.

Right? You want to just like sniff the plan, be the bulls and like, okay, thanks. We got a couple, you know, got some gate money there and see you later. I mean, that's not inspiring to me. They're looking at free agency and they're saying not everybody wants to come to Toronto. No, I get that. And that's a part of this equation. No doubt. That's slick from Masai. It's like, okay, again, buy low on Ingram, get them here. You know, you've seen the clip. He likes Toronto. There's that part of the equation. You know, he's like literally on record. Hey, what are your favorite NBA cities? I mean,

We had Toronto very high on the list. Good. That's great. Great city. And then obviously maybe get them on the floor, see what it looks like. And again, it's the contract where I'm like, what is that? Because that could be very, very good. And this is a hell of a move. Or it could be like, holy crap, that's a lot of money for four guys that we don't even know if they work together. That's the gamble of all of this. Well, the now is painful and that's for sure. And everybody's seeing that.

But as soon as you get them playing, it'll be different. And I understand the 500 record. Maybe you want to do better. RJ Barrett is the guy that would be traded first, I think, because it's tradable. And it's only two years. And...

Other teams would definitely want him. And he's their worst small forward of the three that they have. And Scottie, Ingram, and RJ Barrett. Yeah, they emulate each other. And has played well, obviously, for the Raptors for the most part. Again, the graphics that you see making the rounds yesterday, when you look on that graphic, on paper, or on digital paper, quickly, obviously, Scottie, RJ, Brandon Ingram, Pirtle. You know, that's the five. Grady Dick coming off the bench. People are like...

Like, there was a lot of like, did the Raptors cook? Is this like, this is pretty special. And I guess it's good. It's good. It's good. I'm not convinced it's great. I don't know if any of those guys are top 10 at their position. Yeah. I mean, the hope is Scottie will eventually, of course, be that. That's the hope. Yeah. Yeah. But like, will Ingram ever make another all-star team? Probably not.

Yeah, they'd have to have a great record. They'd have to put me there and be 500. Probably not getting two All-Stars. Yeah, we're banking on Scottie growing for sure, and then they can get to 45, win two, baby. You never know. Okay, but ultimately you have his winner. Yes. The guy was an All-Star, a one-time All-Star. It's a buy low, and they're going to get a discount on his contract because there was obviously no market for him. Yeah, there was not a market for him. That is true.

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NBA is back, baby. Remember the first two months of the season when the entire discourse was these teams are taking too many threes and we got to fix basketball and the freaking TV ratings are, you know, they're dead and the NBA is dead and oh my God, shut it down, rest in peace, all that. Well, as Kevin Palton wrote, players changing teams increases interest because it serves to shake the NBA snow globe and that's what's happened this past week and interest through the roof. People love transactions. Yeah.

more than they love actually watching basketball. It's sad, but true. We've been doing this for 20 years and it's a guaranteed thing. They just love the transactions and talking them out and the winners and the losers of the trade deadline, who won this deal, who won that deal, who's going where they just like it more than basketball. Now I have many theories as to why that is, but that's irrelevant right now. The past week was catnip for MBA fans and it

It like incredibly has overshadowed the Super Bowl, which they tell me is this Sunday. It was a good week for the NBA. And I think that's going to translate into these big games where Luka comes back. Obviously, Jimmy plays. Fox has already played. AD will play with the Mavericks. That becomes some appointment viewing. And it gets a lot of interest in these regular season games, these midseason games, the shakeup. So that's good. That's a winner. Yeah, let's hope so. Let's hope that people want to watch the games.

Yeah, they did want to watch the trade coverage. I 100% agree with you there. But I think what people really love is super teams. And now you've got one in LA and you've got a beefed up Warriors team. These teams are on TV all the time anyways. Maybe now they'll be a little bit more competitive. Maybe the Lakers shoot up the standings. We shall see. And the Warriors are going to be making a run into the play-in. We'll see.

Hopefully it translates. Yes. Yeah, I'm definitely tired of the NBA ratings stink because part of it is the NBA has struggled with pushing the stories of these teams

Middle-of-the-pack teams that are really, really good. I mean, has John Marampin pushed it enough? There's just so many. Yeah, at times. Well, he plays games. You know, the Houston Rockets. There's just so many stories in the league that is definitely more full of parity right now rather than super teams, and that's an issue. Whether they want...

or NBA betting. People love that as well. And maybe that is sort of rub people the wrong way with seeing every single commercial coming on. And there's just a bet happening here. And there's a bet happening there. More so than pushing of these actual teams. And it's rub people the wrong way, I think. It happens in our city of Toronto. I went in there just talking to fans who are definitely unhappy with the team. But also just like, is there good...

to follow this year? Are there enough stories to

about just individual players or individual like storylines within teams it just hasn't great games on every night oh yeah like really good games i mean you're almost like guaranteed to have one two or three or if not more that are really like entertaining close like i mean even that rockets wolves game last night holy crap anthony davis going for 41 he had 49 against the bulls the night before he's like jawing with dylan brooks he's like it was like amazing i

So that is happening, but are we doing, or is the media doing a bad job of pushing that and getting people to watch the games? Like, I still think they can improve the product, the television product of basketball, not like the rules and what's going on and who's shooting threes, like actually, you know, reducing timeouts and all that stuff and get rid of reviews, stuff we've gone over a million times. That would make it better. But at least this week has shown that, holy crap, people love this stuff.

And big things happened that everybody wanted to weigh in on and hear what people had to say. And hopefully, you're right, TK, now want to see what it looks like. Luka beside LeBron, Fox with Wemby, Jimmy with Steph, and so on.

That game was on League Pass. Timberwolves versus Rockets. Meanwhile, it was LeBron versus Steph on national television. People really, really like big names. So you're going to see more Lakers and more Warriors. Not a lot of Thunder. Not a lot of Rockets. Not a lot of Grizzlies. These teams will definitely overshadow those teams. The Mavericks, I think, as well, are probably a buzzier name than those young squads that are on the build-up right now.

I'm like halfway in between. I'm like, this is kind of like LeBron and Steph saving the NBA once again is kind of what it feels like until Wemby is ready to take over. Sure, sure. Yeah, I mean, Lakers-Warriors, obviously, big draws always. So now that they've added these two guys, it should. We should see a big bump here over the next couple of weeks, I would assume, in these nationally televised games that involve them for sure. So that'll be good. At least it puts to bed a little bit of like, oh my God, the ratings, ratings, ratings.

Yeah, the league pushed Anthony Edwards before the season as the guy to take the biggest jump from a local sort of story to national TV. They pushed him the most. They gave him the biggest bump of games on national TV.

That hasn't worked out extremely well, so that didn't hit a home run because they haven't been all that good. Turning it on lately, though, which is good. Yeah, he looks great. I mean, that would be a great storyline because Dylan Brooks really peeved him off yesterday. He said, I'm going to put him to bed. And he did a great job. That was a great story. And then the trash talk continued after the game where they got a mic in front of Anthony Edwards, which is always gold. Yeah.

And, you know, he had more to say about, I love the competitiveness from Dylan Brooks, but when he crosses the line, goes too far. I mean, it was great. It was like, you know, must watch. Seek out that clip for sure. The Rockets are going to fight whoever they play in the playoffs. Like, they have a beef with every team right now. Yeah, yeah. That's awesome. This would be a very, very fun matchup, this one, too. I know we've said that about every Rockets team, but...

Give me a Wolves Rockets in whatever it takes. 4, 5, 3, 6. Sign me up for that one. They're going to have a camera on Dylan Brooks during the National Anthem because he's going to turn the opposite way and look at a fan. They do everything. Some other quick winners. I just wanted to slip this in. Post-deadline buyout hype.

It's going to be at an all-time high, which is hilarious because as we've discussed, buyouts generally overrated. They almost never have an impact, these late additions, despite being big names on any sort of team success or any sort of playoff race. But...

You got the Heat and the 76ers. They both maneuvered their way below the lower luxury tax apron, so it gives them the ability to sign bio players who previously made more than $12.8 million, non-taxpayer, mid-level exception. Man, let's get geeky. So they can sort of get active is what I'm getting at at the bio market. And then names, I mean, there could be like Bruce Brown, Ben Simmons potentially, Marcus Smart potentially, Daniel Tice is, Reggie Jackson is. There are names. There are people that you know.

Will it matter at all? Probably not. It almost never does, but hey, it's always good for the content creators. The Raptors already waived James Wiseman. Who wants him? So he brought the cash. Literally. And I said, thanks, man. It was like an Uber delivery. Oh, thanks.

I also have the Pistons getting Dennis Schroeder. I know we talked about it a little bit. I like that little move. I think he's going to fit a lot better with Bickerstaff's sort of offense that he did with Golden State in that system. And Jaden Ivey is still out for a month, so there's a role there. And this is a team that's trying to

trying to get into the playoffs, trying to stay in the play-in. So I thought that was nice. They needed another guy who could make a play. Yeah. Too much on Cade's plate. So yeah, I think Schroeder will help. He seems to do best in low pressure situations. So getting a team to the playoffs, I think is good for him. Yep. Okay. Let's do one round of NBA trade deadline losers. TK.

Disappointing deadline for the Memphis Grizzlies. They struck out on Dorian Finney-Smith. That was a little bit ago. They tried to get involved with Jimmy Butler. That didn't happen. Then Bob Myers revealed that they were chasing after Kevin Durant as well. None of those guys are Memphis Grizzlies. Instead, they traded Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, and a first for Bag of Beans, Marvin Bagley, Johnny Davis, and two second-round picks.

The Grizzlies got worse yesterday, and they were coming in trying to upgrade. So that didn't make sense to me. You look back at the way things played out with Marcus Smart and Jake Laravia. They traded two first-round picks to get Marcus Smart, who played 39 games for the Memphis Grizzlies. Those picks have turned in thus far to Marcus Sasser and Bub Carrington. They also traded two first-round picks to get Jake Laravia, the draft pick, to draft him. Those have turned into Walker Kessler and Ty Ty Washington. So, you know, one for two.

Not too bad. The good stuff for the Grizzlies, they got Gigi Jackson back. They got Vince Williams back. They're clearing money here for a Jaron Jackson Jr. extension, which they knew was coming when they did the smart trade. Never needed to do it. They're also trying to sign Santi Aldama in the summer. He's a restricted free agent. It's been really, really good for them. But it seems like they took a little bit of a step downwards.

I think yesterday, and they were obviously trying to upgrade their team, find somebody at the wing spot. They had to go the other way. I would just be bummed if I was a Grizzlies fan because it feels like they've got a little bit of a chance. Jaron Jackson Jr. is playing out of his mind. Ja Morant has been good when he's been on the court. Maybe they're just slow playing it so it will be healthy for the playoffs. I don't know. It still feels like they probably need shooting on the wing. I guess they're probably hoping Gigi Jackson can find that. Maybe Vince Williams could find that.

I don't know. But it seemed like the Grizzlies, for a front office that's usually pretty good, pretty smart, really forward-thinking, the whole Marcus Smart thing of it is just very, very weird. They, like, guaranteed the Celtics a title by doing that as well. Yeah. Yeah. That part is strange. That front office, like you said, traded a first-round pick that became Bob Carrington to get Marcus Smart and then had to turn around and trade another first to get off of Marcus Smart. That is...

That one did not work out. Three first round picks for the 39 games of Marcus Smart is what it cost them. Total. Jeez. And they're a good drafting team. Like all those guys we named are like Grizzlies draft picks. They always find somebody. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited to see what they do with their team. That's still deep, but yes, when it comes to the books, it wasn't ideal with the Marcus Smart. I thought we've, we all thought he'd be just inspiring on that team.

And maybe he was in the locker room, but not on the court. I've got a potential addition for them because Ben Simmons is finalizing a contract buyout. Oh, is it happening? It happened. It happened. And he is meeting with the Clippers, Cavaliers, and Rockets today. Shout out to our man, Ash, for sharing this because Ben Simmons is available. Give me those teams again. Clippers, Cavs, and Rockets. Cavs can't do that.

I just, it's a little, you know, they gave up. I don't know why. Why would they do that? He's going to end up on the Clippers. Kiaris LeVert was their ball handler on the bench, so maybe that's what they see him as if they see DeAndre Hunter as their starting guy. Because Kiaris LeVert was a better guy at

guys and making plays happen for others than DeAndre Hunter. DeAndre Hunter, as I said, he's a beeline man, which is going to be so good for when Mitchell and Garland create. He's going to be so good at grabbing the ball and going straight. Anyway, Ben Simmons, I guess he makes sense in the caps. Hey, man. See, look at what I told you. The buyout market, baby. It's hot. What about the Clippers? Will the Clippers take a chance? Another chance. They've got so many question marks. Yeah.

We'll see. Rockets? They don't have any bigger question marks. I mean, they've got bigger question marks. You can throw Ben Simmons in the mix. Yeah, I know. They've got big ones. I think Clippers is where it is for Simmons. They don't really have that small ball five look. Yeah.

That's my guess. If I'm going to guess a man, I'm putting Ben Simmons on the clips here in the buyout market. Yes, the buyout market. Buyout Ben. Oh, I love it. It ain't going to work, by the way. Tess, do you have a trade deadline loser that's not the Grizzlies, another team here or a player or whatever? I got to say the Phoenix Suns. Oh, yeah. They gave up a first-round pick to send Yusuf Nurkic away, and that's unfortunate. Now they get Vasilij Micic, Vasa, as they call him,

He might do some things, but really the team just has bad chemistry and it doesn't seem like it's going to be better after the trade deadline. They do play okay occasionally, but sometimes you just watch this team and there's just no energy they've lost to a bunch of bad teams over the last month. And they have the toughest schedule the rest of the way. So as they say, with the toughest schedule the rest of the way in ninth place in the Western Conference, the Warriors are a half game back of them.

And they could just jump them and take them out of the playoff position or the play-in tournament position because the Warriors aren't going to bed. The Warriors aren't sleeping. But the Suns team sure feels like after trading away their center, the other one that they got weeks ago, and Nick Richards just doesn't finish games at times. He doesn't look like he can play great D and work all the time because teams are taking advantage of him in situations

And so this team could easily miss the entire postseason. I don't think it's far-fetched to say that at all, especially with their tough schedule. Expensive payroll to miss the postseason. We got Brian Windhorst on ESPN yesterday saying Kevin Durant not happy that he was included in trade talks.

involving the Suns, the Warriors, and Heat this week, especially because he wasn't informed he was even in them. KD did have an opportunity to be traded, maybe to the Warriors, but he communicated that he didn't want to return to the Bay and team up again with Steph Curry.

And so this is my concern. We talked about it yesterday on one of the podcasts that was like, oh, can he bounce back from this? Because he seems very unhappy with maybe not even just being included in trade talks, but them not really doing anything to obviously improve this team at all and just...

Vibes are bad. Vibes are quite bad. And somehow they even made their future worse by trading that 2031 unprotected pick to split it into three picks, one of which they used to get off the Nurkic deal, which was the whole point of it, doing the three for one. But now it's like you didn't use the other two. And we were talking about when the trade happened that those two picks aren't even going to be all that juicy. And we know James Jones literally doesn't like drafting. He's like, I don't scout.

That's crazy. That's too much work. So, yeah, there was like reporting out of Phoenix this week that said, wow, we're not going to be able to make any moves. So we're just hoping we're better in the second half of the season. They got swept out of the playoffs last year. Yeah. And they have been bad even the months leading up to this. I don't read too much into the chemistry is bad reports, even though they're right. You know, they are. They're definitely usually right.

That being said, even going to play the Charlotte Hornets on a random Tuesday, they just don't play hard. No. They don't play hard. And that's an issue. Obviously, the leadership is an issue. Devin Booker just does not look like Devin Booker this season. He's not the same guy. They're going to be forced almost to trade Kevin Durant in the offseason if they don't make the postseason. You've already done the coach move.

It feels that way. So you've already tried that, so it then has to be that. So you mean tear it up. Tear it down. Well, yeah, like you have to, like the Beale no trade clause, there's that part, so you're screwed there. So it has to be Katie or Booker, and it feels like,

I think they would go KD over Booker. Booker says he wants to be a Sun lifer and all that. And you still get a good return, I think, on Durant to some teams. Maybe that's who Yudoka was also talking about last night when he was like, we could have had a closer because there was a lot of whispers that the Rockets were in play for KD and ultimately didn't make the move. And they made the move in the summer to get the Suns' future picks. But you shouldn't trade for Kevin Durant at this point.

You shouldn't give up a lot. I mean, maybe the Rockets. It depends on the team, but I'm thinking specifically of the Rockets. They would rather have Devin Booker than Kevin Durant, I do believe. Kevin Durant's won two playoff series in the past four years on teams that are pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. It's not great. They got swept last year by the Timberwolves.

Yeah, that's why he would fit really well with the Rockets, I think. As a team that's got a lot of spunk, and he doesn't have to lead them. He just has to score and be the best scorer. Don't worry, he's not going to lead them. He's not going to leave them? Lead them. Oh. Well, no, he's not going to lead the Phoenix Suns. He might leave them. No. Okay, one more loser. I've got to give it to Chris Middleton.

I feel bad for Chris Middleton the more I think about this. A few years ago, this guy was winning a championship, HELPING the Bucks win a championship, INSTRUMENTAL in them winning a championship, and now after the deadline he's on one of the worst teams in the league. Insult to injury, he was traded for Kyle Kuzma too. And look at this! I know we have a photo, the photoshop of him in the Wizards uniform. Man, this looks... this looks wrong to me!

Because this guy, we've really only seen him in green. I know he played for the Pistons as a rookie a handful of games, but for the most part, he was in Milwaukee Bucks green, so now he's in the Wizards uniform. And man, the guy was coming back from double ankle surgery, and he wasn't filling up the box score, but 12-4-4 in limited minutes on very high efficient shooting splits, 51-41-85. He was still really good. He was trying to get better, obviously,

But the NBA business, man, it's ruthless. It is. And I was like almost tearing up reading Michael Red give Chris Middleton his flowers on Twitter. I don't know if you guys saw this thread about Michael Red wore number 22 before Middleton came, but then obviously he ran with that number. I assume it's going to be

hung in the rafters when it's all said and done. Played 11 and a half seasons in Milwaukee. He's their third all-time leading scorer behind Giannis and Kareem. And yeah, it just sort of like just sucks. I have him as an unfortunate loser here that he's not on this Bucs team. Not that they're maybe going to win a championship, but he was still trying to help. And now he's on a team that doesn't have 10 wins. Or maybe they do now. They are on a run right now, but yeah, they're at nine. Nine and 41, the Wizards, yeah.

I feel bad for Chris Middleton too. He's going from a good situation where he is a franchise legend to an ugly situation, but the Wizards absolutely cooked yesterday. They traded Kyle Kuzma, Marvin Bagley, and Johnny Davis. They got back Chris Middleton and Marcus Smart. Those guys are going to be

helpful veterans for a team that has literally three 19 year olds on their roster. They also got two first round picks yesterday. They got a Milwaukee swap for 2028. They have an extra 2029 draft pick from the Denny Abdiah trade. They've got a protected first round pick from the golden state warriors in 2030. And they have swaps with the Phoenix suns who are falling apart in 26, 28 and 2030. So,

The Wizards are getting things organized. They moved off the Bradley Beal deal when, what's his name, Mike Winger came in? Yeah. And he's doing a great job. Yes. He's building perfectly here. Who knows if any of these guys are going to turn into players, these 19-year-olds. Like, Sar has had moments. Super athlete, Bub Carrington has had moments. Really big point guard. Yeah.

They still need, it looks like, a franchise cornerstone, but man, they've got a lot of chances at it. They're obviously going to have good draft picks in the next couple of seasons. Maybe Middleton goes and scores 20 points a game for the last 30 games here, and they can move him in the summer. I wonder if Chris Middleton pulls off an Al Horford with OKC where he just sits out the second half of the season. Could be. Rest up and then... Play next year. Yeah. Because he has looked...

good at times. There's for sure. There's last three or four games as I keep saying, cause he's looked decent and Milwaukee has played him on the floor. Um,

To score 20, 21, and 22 in the last three or four. He's been a good playmaker. And we'll see if Kyle Kuzma can emulate any of that. We'll see what he is. But Middleton, yes, definitely a legend. Some of those plays that he had are forgotten in 2021 when they won the freaking thing. It's a key place. Huge place. He was their second best guy. He was their chemistry with Yannis DiGupo. He was their guy. Middleton's Bucs career is a really good reminder, too, to not discredit Middleton.

other names in trades sometimes you know and we're guilty of it for sure you know we say okay don't worry about that name or that guy but he came to milwaukee as like a secondary piece in the brandon jennings brandon night swap in 2013 you know just a scrawny sort of second round dude who barely played in detroit and like you again why would you think or really expect anything and then here he is he turns into like a bucks legend so it is like a friendly reminder to be like you know

especially when he's that young, they get a chance, they find a role, and they can blossom. And yeah, highly encourage you to check out the Michael Red Twitter thread. I thought that was really cool of him.

On the flip side, the Bucs used Kyle Kuzma as camouflage. This was a completely financial move to get underneath the apron. Everybody's like, okay, great. They're going to be able to aggregate Pat Connaughton or Bobby Portis or Brooke Lopez and make another move. Instead, they did nothing. So now they have to hope that Kyle Kuzma is their savior for this season.

I think that's a bummer for Milwaukee, especially considering the Dame deal didn't go necessarily as anticipated. They've been better in year two than they were in year one. But prior to the Dame trade, Giannis was talking about leaving Milwaukee. He was saying, we need to get a winner in here. They have not been a winner. And now they're trading away pieces, a close friend in Chris Middleton for Kuzma. And then they're not really doing anything else to improve the team. I think...

even being a bit of a Kuzma backer, like disappointing for Milwaukee. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if Giannis ever wants to leave Milwaukee. You can start to, you know, read the tea leaves and say, oh, he just said that he thinks Luka should play on the West Coast. Nikola Jokic should play on the East Coast. It's great for international players. Maybe he wants to go to a big team.

He loves Milwaukee. There's no doubt, but he also wants to be good. Yeah, as long as Milwaukee's competitive and in the mix for championships, I believe he wants to be there. Yes, I do. But if there's bad organizational direction, moves that continues, then I would not be surprised at all if he's like, no, I want to go to a winner again. I want to win. He seems wired like that. So, yeah, that's why the pressure's always on when you have a superstar of his nature to build up around. I mean, we saw the Denver Nuggets. They didn't do anything.

There's a handful of teams that did nothing. Blazers, Magic, and Wolves, I guess, did nothing. Yeah, it was surprising that they couldn't move or didn't move. Somebody like Pat Connaughton, there was a rumor that he'd go to the Raptors and Bruce Brown would come back to Milwaukee Bucks. Absolutely just something. Didn't happen. All right. Those are our NBA trade deadline. Winners and losers, let's hear from you in the comments as well. What do you got? One last loser is the Chicago Bulls. Okay. Yeah.

This guy's got to go. AK, no way. The moves are terrible. The moves are bad. Please tell me you have the quote that he said. There's a few ways to win, Skeets. You could either have two or three stars, you know, like every team that wins, or nine to ten very good players. Yeah, what's he talking about there? How many very good players do the Bulls have?

Well, also find me a championship over the last, I mean, ever that just had nine to 10, very good players and no two or three superstars. People are like, Oh, what about the Pistons? Okay. Hey, that was 21 years ago. Two of those guys are Hall of Famers. Ben Wallace was winning defensive player of the year every single year when the Pistons were good. They're going for the play in.

He's like, that's achievable. That's what he said in the press conference yesterday. So they've traded their three best players in the past six months in DeRozan, Caruso, and Levine, and they got back their pick, which they were going to keep this year. All getting that pick does is make it so that they can keep trying to go for the play-in tournament. The only saving grace is that the Eastern Conference is so bad that they can finish in the 10th seed and still be like bottom eight in the entire NBA draft.

So we need the lottery rigged for Chicago. It's time. That's it. You know, in the next two years, they got to rig it at least once because there's Ron Harper's son is coming into the draft this year and Carlos Boozer's son is coming into the draft next year. The jerseys are already made. Nine and five. Please. Something.

Oh, my goodness. The Bulls have eight guards on their roster right now. Sweet. Yeah. It's like one of these all-star teams we're going to get to here. Yeah, you want a guard? Too bad. The Bulls are keeping them all. Crazy. All right. I'm glad you slipped the Bulls in there. Loser of the NBA trade deadline. I'm sure there's a lot more. You tell us in the comments.

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Okay, let's move to those All-Star teams. The rosters for three of the four teams in the NBA All-Star game were determined through the NBA All-Star draft held last night on TNT. I watched this live. What the hell is wrong with me? I saw you sharing it. A live share. Hey, man. What's going on here? I'm committed to this podcast. Here's a look at team general managers. You got Shaq, Kenny, and Chuck. These are their rosters. We're showing everybody all

on YouTube for the podcast listener. Here's what you need to know. LeBron went number one overall. Anthony Edwards went number two to Kenny and then Chuck took Jokic number three. I mean, it was a snake draft, but it was a very confusing snake draft the way they were doing it. I thought they screwed up at one point, but maybe not. Anyway, as you see, we have Shaq with the old guys. All right. Only Brown and Tatum.

Those are the only players under the age of 30 on Shaq's team. So he went with the OGs. Kenny, meanwhile, he went with the young guns. Kept saying, like, Gen Z.

And, you know, American at that. So that's where he went. And then Barkley, of course, built like this super international team. His only American is Donovan Mitchell. And that's because no more foreign born players were available in the last round. I believe it was, well, it was Mitchell, Hero, and Jalen Brown. So he took Donovan Mitchell and he made note to say it's because his mother is Panamanian. I kid you not. Chuck said that? Chuck said that. It was in the draft prep.

Yeah. We have here, again, olds, youngs, and internationals. Did they rig this?

That's what people are wondering. Was this planned by TNT and the NBA and inside, and they just handed the guys sort of a list? They did look down a lot of that list. And like, okay, let's just do this. People want Team USA versus the world. Well, let's sort of just do it. They sort of got there in a weird way. If he says Donovan Mitchell's got some Panamanian roots, then yeah. That's what I thought, Tess! That's what I thought!

Why would he say that? Why would he say that? He took literally every other international player. I was even surprised he knew Carl Anthony Towns was Dominican. Yeah. He plays for the DR, so that's acceptable. Yeah, but then when he dropped the Mitchell and his mother is Panamanian, I was like, well, maybe this was planned.

But then I'm like, Inside is notorious for not planning anything. They got rid of pre-production meetings because they're like, oh, crap, this actually hurts the show. So I can't see these guys talking through anything in advance. Yeah, but things are changing for TNT now. They're working with ESPN next year. It's like they got a new job. So they got to really perform differently. I don't know. I honestly can't decide if this was basically rigged to give us this. It's fun to say Panamanian. Yeah, it's nice. It is.

Thoughts on, I guess, these teams, TK, and your opinion on whether they plan this. Well, if it's rigged, it's awesome. This is what people wanted to see. And my first inclination is, oh, Team Chuck has the best players. There's like eight MVPs on that team. It's amazing what his team looks like. But then I'm like, wait a second, Team Shaq.

He's got all these old guys. These are legends. They don't want to go out getting beat by an international squad or a younger squad. And then I look at Team Kenny. I'm like, ooh, I'm sorry, worst team. But they're going to play the hardest. They all got something to prove there. Yeah, that's what his thinking. It's exciting, actually. And the other part for maybe, I don't know, does this help?

the conspiracy that it was rigged or not, but they came into the draft talking up their game plans. And it was basically like, Shaq's like, I'm taking all the legends. Kenny was like, I'm taking all the hungry young guys. And Shaq, or Chuck, excuse me, was saying, I'm going to take all the international players because they're the best in the world. So they followed their game plans perfectly. We'll see. I do wonder how they're going to decide the first games. Who's playing who? Because we have the Rising Stars team. Whoever wins that on Friday night, they'll be the fourth team. But...

Who is, who's playing who here? Is it, are we going the two American squads against each other so we can set up a potential international versus Team USA in the final? That's what my gut says is going to happen.

If it's rigged, that's how it's going to go. If it's rigged, it's old versus young Americans, right? On one side of the bracket. International versus the rising stars. And that's hopefully we'll get to the final. Yeah. That's amazing. If it's rigged, yeah, the Barkley team will have to have some sort of team world or team international jerseys or no speak English jerseys. Something weird, right? Really weird. No, they already got the jerseys, Tass. Nice segue. Beautiful. Let's show them to you. We've shown them to you before, but they are confirmed.

It's the blues, the reds, and the dark blues. These are all-star jerseys that the three teams will be wearing. I forget off the top of my head who's wearing what, but they did show Chuck on the back of one of them, Kenny and Shaq on the back of the other ones. And then the Rising Stars team comes in with their jerseys. Yeah, yeah. We'll have a fourth one. There's a white maybe? Yeah. I've seen a white one kicking around. Yeah, there'll be four more of those too. Wow. Here's a look at the floor.

that we'll have at All-Star Weekend. That's a lot. Flooded with the Warriors' vibrant blue and yellow color palette. What do you think about this one, Tass? It's so busy. From this perspective, will it look different in person? It's still busy. It'll still be busy. It's very bright. Yeah, the keys are bright. A lot of yellow. What happened to the state-of-the-art LED cord for Saturday night? Are they not using it? I haven't heard a thing.

In San Francisco of all places? I know. I know. But then I was wondering, is Saturday night... Because last year in Indianapolis, Saturday night was in the football stadium. Yeah. And then the Sunday game was obviously in the field house. Whereas I know Oakland's being used for some of the stuff, but I don't know if... Is Saturday night in Oakland or is that just Friday night? That might just be the Rising Stars in Oakland. And then I think Saturday is actually in the Chase Center. So...

That turnaround, you know? Can't flip that LED cord out that quick. Maybe they don't have the space, too. I remember us talking about that at the time. You need more space. That's why they could do it in the football stadium. We were there. We saw it in person. Would you want to play on that? I think it's fine for Saturday night, but to have these LED actually for games? I don't. It was super duper bright.

Have you seen the court we just showed you? At least it's wood. I mean, it'll feel. It's not glowing. Hey man, look at how off your right-handed banker was when you were shooting around in Paris on the light-up court. Yeah, but I was also shooting on a lit-up LED backboard. Also true. The floor, as I said, when I shot on it, that didn't bother me.

Because it's like, oh, okay, go to that star. I thought it was pretty cool, actually. You could incorporate that even into the game, you know, Rock and Jock style. But, yeah, don't make the backboard and the background an LED cord. I couldn't hit my patented banker for the life of me, man. I couldn't see where the backboard was. It's all these freaking animated things. Just put a little icon on it. Bank here. Hell yeah. That'd be a great way to teach kids. I'm always trying to teach the YMCA kids. Come on.

Just put it at the top of the square. Trust me, it'll go in every time. Every time. We got to start making backboards. LED backboards. Yeah. Oh, remember, there are those some that like keep track of like your shooting percentage and stuff like that. I've never shot on one. I've only ever had an app on my phone. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You can like set it up and it tells you your little stats on shooting.

Did it once. I did it once and I was thrown off because if I miss a shot, I got to take a layup and I don't want that factored into my total. So I got to keep it in my head. Yeah. Do I shoot 50 jumpers every day and then record the times in a spreadsheet? Yeah, I do. Oh my goodness. Oh my God. What are you talking about? Just like how long it took you. Yeah. Why the times? Just how long it took you to make 50 makes. So I can get better. But why is the time important? Are you rushing through it? No. I want to see how fast I can do it.

Oh, I mean, okay. I want you to work on your mechanics more than speeding through it. But I thought you were just keeping... Hey, you see my jumper? You see my jumper? I'm a much better shooter now. 11 minutes and 30 seconds on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Sorry, it was my last time. Now, same spot on the driveway? I assume this is the driveway? On the driveway. Okay, okay. I've been 50 jumpers every day.

Respect, man. Two laps. Two laps. So my first 25, I run over to the phone, boop, hit lap. You know, four and a half minutes or something like that. Lap two, run over, hit stop. The only two things that must occur are after I've gotten to 48...

I have to hit back-to-back threes, 49 and 50, and then finish with a left-handed hook shot. Oh, wow. If I miss the hook shot, back to the three-point line. Okay. So you're really, when you're timing it, you're only counting really your makes. You're not counting your percentage. Right. I'm counting up to 50. And that's why I keep track of the time, because more makes, lower time. Now it makes a little more sense. But you got good excuses to do that.

to say I've had a really long time here because I missed my left hook, you know? It happens sometimes. It happens sometimes. Well, what about your driveway's on a sloped hill? You might lose a lot of time if you get a bad bounce. You're telling me. I can't miss, Skeets. That's a lot of the pressure. If it bounces off crazy, rolls down the road, I'm putting up a double-digit number, guaranteed. Call me over. I'll rebound for you.

Let's set some record times, man. All right, the record so far this year, eight minutes and 45 seconds. 50 makes, 49 and 50, three-pointers, and then a hook shot. Yeah, it was February 3rd. February 3rd, wow. Hey, February 3rd, that's the day for getting buckets. That's the day for getting buckets. Isn't it? I don't remember.

I don't remember. I'd have to check our shorts. Or was it January 3rd? Oh, man, it was January 3rd. It was January. All those guys that scored 50-point games on January 3rd. Yeah, but then there was a new article about some recent day, too. It wasn't as juicy as January 3rd. January 3rd was the one. Anyways, as far as the All-Star game goes, we hope to have Joe Dumars on next week from the league office to tell us why they made these changes. Oh, okay. The optimal situation, what's going to happen out there. We got an exclusive with Joe Dumars? Yes.

I hope so. I don't know what Joe's doing. Nice. Maybe he'll be on another show. Maybe he's doing a car wash, but that's fine. We'll take him. Maybe. All right. If you have questions, honestly, for Joe Dumars, you want us to ask, let us know. Drop them in the YouTube comments. I already think that playing to 40 points each game, that's what each game is. That helps the old guys, right? They're like, okay, I don't have to play 48 minutes. I just got to win. Well, I did this when we first found out they were doing the mini tournament. So I forget the exact number, but I...

I went and looked how long it took for them to score 40 points in last year's All-Star game, which obviously there was no defense played. It was like... I want to say it was like five minutes, four minutes. It was hilarious how quickly they got to 40 points. So what I'm saying is we might need another event...

on All-Star Weekend and I think we found it Trey Kirby hitting 50 shots how fast can you do it yes okay I think we found it see you later skills challenge that's him can you beat NBA players scoring to 40

Oh, you're on another court doing it? That's kind of funny. Split screen. I like it. I like it. ESPN 2. Why not? Let's hear your thoughts on the draft. Was it rigged? Your thoughts on the jerseys. Your thoughts on the court. Let's get to some five-star Friday reviews.

Oh, Five Star Friday, first Friday of every month. We read five five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts because we love them. Love hearing how great we are and also they are good for the rankings and we want to be number one someday. Our first five-star review, it's trade time, baby. Two emergency pods in one day? Now that's commitment. Double classics make me double happy. Great pod. Keep it up, lads. Here's a question for you. In regards to how crazy and unbelievable the Dontich and AD trade is...

Is there a moment in your lives where something so bizarre happened that telling the story seemed unbelievable? That's from Jamoni. Oh, geez. I know. It's like a curveball. Do you have a quick story? If not, you have one. Yeah. I just told a story about a grown man, 40 years old, who got a basketball hoop for his birthday and spends days every single day shooting baskets outside. I have neighbors. I see the same guy walking his dog every day. Yep. Working on my game.

Why? So I can be good in pickup? Yeah, man. That's why. Do I keep my pickup stats? Yeah. Just wins, losses, and rebounds. That's it. Wins, losses, and rebounds. That's what they're going up. I thought you were going to tell us.

They should have never given me Google Sheets. Google Sheets. You've got to release that to the public, all this information, man. I thought you were going to tell us the kissing story. You've got double stories for the Luca. Kissing story. Your wife whispering in your ear that Luca's on the Lakers. I've been told a lot about house stories. I've told every story. We've got two, man. I want one and three this morning, 18 boards.

I can't believe it. I can count rebounds, man. That's the geekiest thing to do. I remember playing in a pickup game. I thought you stopped doing it because I remember a very long time ago, I remember you grabbed a board over and you were like, six! I'm like, oh my god, shut up. I wanted to punch you. What the hell are you talking about? Cracking his rebounds. Now it's funny. I can't believe you stayed committed to the bit. It goes back to 2022.

What's your best rebounding night at Pickup Hoops? I've gone over 30. Well, yeah, we've had some rough shitting nights. Best rebounding season was last season, 2024. I averaged three and a half a game. Rebounds? Yeah, yeah. Oh, a game, a game. Okay. Short games, yeah. Up to seven usually, sometimes eight. Yeah, I won 60.7% of my pickup games last year. This is crazy, man. Honestly, bro, if I worked as hard at Pickup Basketball...

worked as hard at high school basketball as I did at pickup basketball I wouldn't be in this room right now you'd at least be playing internationally you'd be talking about me this guy's still doing it at 40 unbelievable

I am dumbfounded. We are talking about you. People are saying in the comments, Boardman gets paid, though. For sure. For sure. Nice reference. It started in 2022. We were coming off the pandemic. I was rusty. Couldn't do anything. So I said, I'm going to just rebound and shoot layups. And the game has grown and expanded from there. Three and a half. You rebound more than Jaron Jackson Jr., man. You're a rebound machine. You're better.

You're better, man. All right, keep the reviews going. Next review. Oh, man. This one comes from Google Sheets. Tell me some more stats. No kidding. Consistency is key. I've been watching and listening to you guys since 2016, and I'm not positive I've stuck with a program quite like this one. You've been through late high school, college, my first job, my first fan title, which was the Bucks in 2021. I'm now married and own a house, but the

That's just nice. That's just very nice. I assume these are five stars as well? These are all five stars. Yep, yep. That was well done.

Had to stand up for that one. Yeah, that was a beauty. Our next five-star review, Trey Kirby, the take lord. There's a trillion reasons no dunks is an easy five-star. The reason I chose is Trey Kirby has the best takes around, except for early Cade Cunningham. That's an L for me. He sucked last year.

He's awesome this year. I've eagerly waited someone brave enough to say Arrival should be talked about how Interstellar is. DK being the man to finally do it was incredible for me and not surprising at all. Hey, Interstellar is good. Yeah, of course it is. But Arrival is also good. Interstellar is just talked about way more than Arrival. Yes. That's fair. And I did listen to the Is This Good podcast, I guess, for the movie review shoot-off of ITG. Is This Bad. Is This Bad. And one of the rare movies that you re-watched

And you were like, oh, actually, it's not bad. We do like Interstellar. Yeah. So that was nice to hear. Yeah, well, I couldn't say it was bad and continue having you come here every day. You've said this a couple times. You make it sound like I come in here every day talking about Interstellar.

I do not. I enjoy the movie. I think it's good. And I definitely, if it's on, I'm re-watching it. You're watching it. Yeah. It sucks me in. I'm in. And next week, I got to do the Pick'em Payoff, which is the Interstellar Challenge. That's right. And, well, you'll see. You'll see what I got to do all week long. It's going to be so stupid. It is stupid. It's going to be stupid, but I think pretty funny. Anyway, great review. Beautiful review. And you are the take lord, my man. I don't know about that.

that do you keep track of your takes in a goodwill uh i'll never forget a take locked in all right our next five star review i think you guys are famous

Right. I guess we did know this. Yeah. I'm happy to see it's still number one. I guess it sounds like it. I remember a couple years ago, it was like...

a lot of millions sure like wow that's number one and you always get like people watching it or seeing it like shared somewhere else and you can hear our voices in it and people always like tag us in it like yeah is that you yeah yeah that's us talking about uh rihanna sitting courtside yeah yeah that's what it was right yeah yeah we got to get in touch with uh cute steve and see if he can put the starters are now no dunks oh that'd be awesome with a little linkski oh geez

Yes. On all of our stuff as the starters on NU. Follow up with these guys. Related videos. Was that number five, JD, or was that number four? We got one more. That was number four. Here's number five. The best show out there.

An essential for any basketball sicky wicky. Can't keep up with 15 games in one night? Then come to No Dunks and get everything you need. From in-depth analysis to cutting-edge critiques on the dunk score, these guys have been doing it all for so long. I'm so appreciative for all the info, laughs, and memories over the many years. Here's to 19 more. This is a hell of a crop. Great crop. Oh, good crop, yeah. Of reviews. Sicky wicky. Sicky wicky. You think it's going to catch on?

Everybody says Sickos now. We're changing it. Sicky wikis. Shout out to the sicky wikis. I like NBA Sickos, but you're right. Sicky wikis. That's great. Thank you so much for those five-star Friday reviews. You don't have to leave them just on Friday. You can leave them whenever you want, and then he finds the best ones. No names this week.

Okay. Sometimes when I do it, I'm on my phone looking at the reviews. And then you can always see the names. But I did this via my desktop. And when you click into it, it doesn't show the names the same way. Yeah, it's weird. Very odd. Anyway, we love them regardless. So thank you if you left those. Pick them for tonight. Obviously pitched ahead next week. Starting on Monday, I'll do the Interstellar.

payoff challenge because I lost last month, but I'm not losing this month. Tass still looking for his first W. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you need one here tonight. Well, I messed up because I picked the Pistons, getting plus three and a half at home to the Philadelphia 76ers, so they just got to lose by three or less. So I'm okay with that. Yeah. But after looking at the injury report, which I was definitely skeptical of, the Sixers didn't know if NBA or Paul George was playing, but they ain't on the list, so it looks like they're playing. Yeah. Yeah.

That's why I made my decision. I just wanted to see, is Embiid playing? He is? Okay, I'm going to go Philly. Looks like you got everybody. You got Embiid, a Maxie, and a PG. We shall see. That's why you guys all took the Philadelphia 76ers to win by four or more. Yes. Congratulations to you on your first win. Yeah. That might be the one. Yep. That always happens. So you'll get that one tonight. Pistons will either win or just lose by less than three. What the hell was that? It was a car. Yeah.

Cool. I mean, we're talking about the Pistons. I guess it makes sense. It happens. A lot of drops are back up. I didn't know if that was in my head or I heard that. All right, before we go. I always hit the panic button by accident. Oh, that was you? No, it wasn't me. I'm just saying. Doesn't it happen to you? No, I've never hit the panic button. Really? Not by accident? Never. Never.

I think I've hit the panic button like three times a month. That's gotta be the lamest like brag I've ever said. I said it with my chest too. I've never hit the panic button on my car by accident. Ever. No, I guess it does happen. You keep it cool at all times. I'm not surprised. Unflappable.

All right, let's end this, you know, pretty lengthy drop podcast here with some rapid fire fun. Let's try and make it rapid, but good luck with that. Yes, the first one here, the Luka Doncic negotiation was kept quiet for weeks. From everybody, what's a huge decision you made that you were able to keep under wraps? Skeets. I have a pretty good answer for this. Making Nora's engagement ring with her uncle, who's a jeweler.

So, you know, yeah. So I had to meet up with him in secrecy to get the diamond, to then build the ring. I had to keep it quiet from everybody else. I had to trust this man with my life. How long did you have the ring in your possession for? I took that ring to Mexico. Oh, yeah, yeah. That was ballsy. Did you declare it? No, I did not. No, I did not. But, yeah, probably on me for...

Yeah, a couple weeks. A week at home in Toronto at that point, and then, yeah, the trip to Mexico. But then you're there, you know, you're like, okay, where do I put it? Do I keep it just in my bag? Were you swimming with it? No, no, I didn't go swimming. Wearing with it? I wore it. Oh, it was just something. Yeah, so that's my answer. All right, Trey. I had my engagement ring for, I think, four months before I gave it to Laura. Yeah, just hidden in the corner of my room.

Dumb tough. But my answer is joining you guys, joining TBJ. You recruited me at a Blogs with Balls conference once upon a time, and I knew I was going right away, but I was so scared. I didn't want to break his heart, man. He just hired me. This is my dream job to work on Ball. Don't lie. But then a new dream job came about, and I was like, man, I want to be on TV someday, dreaming big. Who knew it was going to happen? It really happened. That was pre-television for sure when you joined.

back up there. We made that a certified classic recently. The introduction of you. That's right. Check out that YouTube clip. It's...

It's about Inception. To swing it back to Nolan. Yeah. That's good. That's a good one. Good one. Yeah, 100%. Mine's job related too was when we got hired at NBA TV. We were living in Toronto. We were working at the score. We had a six-month non-compete with the score. Remember that? Oh, yeah. It was really weighing on our minds. But we hadn't said anything about, you know, hey, we're probably going to move to Atlanta and join NBA TV. Yeah.

And then one day they, a miracle happened and they came in and fired us. And we're like, oh, man. Devastated. The guy, our boss, Joe Ross, shout out to Joe Ross. Yeah.

Like almost in tears firing us. I felt actually bad because then it was all somber. They walked out and we were high five and we're like, yeah, go down to the pub. We're like, we're out, baby. We're out. This whole, this thing that's been looming over as this, this non-compete that we would have to deal with. We didn't have to deal with and it was great. So yeah. Yep.

Secrecy. Industry secrets. They're the best kind. Oh, yeah. I guess we did something similar when we were leaving the starters in NBA TV. Like, to the fans, at least. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We kept it under wraps. We were let go three months prior. And then we had, luckily, a Raptors championship run. Yeah, yeah. The whole time knowing, well, this is the last time we'll be on the starters. And then that last show was like, well, bye. Bye, see ya. Bye.

People are still finding us. Check out our celebrity reactions. People are still finding us. You're not wrong. I saw some people during some Trey Deadline emergency podcast. Oh, that's where the Starwings are. Oh, it's these guys. Next one. Trey pulled out an old camcorder to film De'Aaron Fox's debut with the Spurs here in Atlanta. You can check out our social media to see Foxy and Wemby. Question, though. What's the oldest piece of technology you have? I originally had down some CDs.

as the oldest technology in my possession. Yeah, definitely some like mixed tape CDs that Nora made for me when we first started dating, which is, you know, almost 25 years ago now. But I actually do have VHS tapes. And to sort of spin it back to Trey Kirby shooting on his driveway, on these VHS tapes are me and my buddy Grish, your buddy Grish, our buddy Grish dunking on like a seven foot high rim.

Where, you know, a lot of... With the giant camcorder, we had to film these. And, like, we would film us dunking and then run down to his basement, fire up inside stuff when they would do, like, the NBA jam. And then, like, film the cool interstitials and then run back up and dunk again. So those are on these tapes. Why haven't you copied those to... I know, I know. Do you have a VHS player? That's a tough spot. No, I gotta... Oh, you can go to places. Go to a place? I gotta do it. It would be, like, the content gold, man.

Definitely dunking. I'm dunking in a backwards hat like I'm Kelly Olenek for sure. And I think I'm wearing... At one time when I was super young, I had like an all flannel fit. And it had a hood...

Yeah, so I assume I'm dunking at one point in all flannel. You're describing pajamas. Well, yeah, those are not pajamas. They're shorts, too. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A flannel with a hood, that's a 90s thing. Yeah, totally, totally. You can see Ben Savage wearing one of those. And then there's like, there is definitely on one of these tapes, like me breakdancing to like crisscross, you know, and I'm sure things got turned, like clothing got turned around backwards. So yeah, that's on these tapes. So you're right, I got to convert them.

All right, Trey. I have a Game Boy Color on my desk downstairs. Still work? Sort of. It has... I think it has Pokemon Blue in it. It's the game. I turn it on, and it says Game Boy Color, makes a noise, and then nothing. So I don't know if it's the game that's a problem or the Game Boy...

I don't know if I have any more games anywhere, so I can't really figure it out, but if anybody has any tips on how to fix a Game Boy Color, I would love to try it again. The clear purple one looks awesome. Game Boy, the original, introduced in 1989. That's old. Wow. I didn't think it was that old. When did the color come out? I had it in my head it was 90s, but I guess we were playing it in the 90s by the time I got my hands on it. I don't know. The color Game Boy, I'm not sure. What, 94? 94?

98. 98? Wow. Wow. Now we're old. I didn't know we'd get... Not very colorful. No, no. Slightly colorful. Yeah. Asking this question for old technology, I knew we'd get some old answers, but we got some old answers for the...

you made under wraps. So we've had some oldies back to back. I wonder if we can make it nine for nine answers. I can't wait to hear. How old? Let's hear your... It's just like Shaq's all-star team. How old is my piece of technology? You should trump that. Oh, it's very old. It's called a clothesline. Have you heard of it? It's in my backyard. I was like... You have a clothesline? Yes, of course. Although we live in Atlanta, so it's...

You don't get as many good days for clothesline as you think because there's pollen, there's a lot of insects running around. Humidity. Humidity. But I do have a clothesline. It's the oldest piece of technology I have. And this week has been great for clotheslines. I assume we are talking the classic loop. Oh, hell yeah. We had one of those growing up. Wooden pegs or pins or whatever.

And, you know, put sheets out there. Oh, yeah. Blowing in the wind on a good day. All right, Bob Dylan. Yeah. So, yeah, clothesline. All right. That and a manual toothbrush.

Just old school. It does feel good to go back to a manual. You're really getting in there. Yeah, it's true. Driving a stick. You know, you don't have to turn on your electric one. It's kind of manual. It's like a broken escalator still stares. You're right. You're right. Okay, last one. Let's see if we can get old. There's this video going around of a student just ripping off every NBA championship team of every year since the inception of the league.

It is impressive. Oh, it's so good. I love this kid's moxie, man. The way he's ripping them off. Yeah, it's funny. It's good. It goes back. It goes in reverse. It goes from 20, 20, 24, all the way back. And he got 100 on his paper because he did that, apparently. Nicely done. Respect. What's something pointless you have memorized like this kid skates? I used to be able to list every single Survivor winner. Hmm.

I know I can't do 1 through 47, but I could still probably hit you with the first 20, maybe 30. 20 I could do pretty comfortably. You got a Google sheet with all that? I don't. You want me to do it? If somebody can track me, if you want me to give it a go, I can do it quickly, I think.

20 survivor winners in a row. All right. TK's looking it up, so fact check me here. Okay, yeah. We got a good order. Okay, computer's down. You know I'm not cheating. It starts with one. Okay, yeah, one. Borneo, Richard Hatch. Two, Australia. That's Tina. Three, Africa. That's Ethan. Four is Marquesas Vesepia. Five, that's the Iceman, Brian, in Thailand. Six, we go to the jungle. We're in the Amazon. That's Jenna. Seven, Pearl Island. Sandra's first win. Eight, AMBA. And...

in All-Stars. Nine, Chris Doherty. How did this guy win? There was a bunch of women. He was the only guy left. Chris wins Vanuatu. That was nine. Ten, Tom the Fireman wins Palau. Eleven, Guatemala Danny. Twelve, Aris in Exile Island. Thirteen is Yule, Cook Islands. That's where we first meet Ozzy. Fourteen, Fiji. Earl. I think his name's Earl Cole. Fifteen, Todd wins China. Incredible

Final performance at the end. 16's Fans vs. Favorites, that's Parvati. 17's Old Man Bob in Gabon. 18's JT and Token Chines. 19 is Natalie. Whoa, that was a surprise win in Samoa. And then 20 is Sandra in Heroes vs. Villains. Wow. Did I do it? You had it, man. You had it. Number 20, Nicaragua. Do you remember?

21? I thought that was 21. 21 is Boston Rob. No, 22. I thought 21 was Fabio. 22 is Boston Rob. 21 is Fabio. 22 is Boston Rob. Okay, so I was right. So what's 20? What's 20? I was right. 20 is Fabio. No, you just said 21 was Fabio. 21 is Fabio.

Interesting. I think Sandra, Sandra won 20. I think it's because they have her marked down. You're probably right. Yeah. Because he is 21. Yeah, they just skipped her because she already won twice. The way it's written is odd. You're exactly right. Okay, so Fabio 21, Boston Rob Redemption Island 22. Sophie Clark wins South Pacific. Yep.

Wow. 24, One World. Kim, awesome winner. 25, Denise, Philippines. 26, Cochran. I want to say Fans vs. Favorites 2. Blood vs. Waters, Tyson in the next one. Tony wins Triple B, Bronze, Beauty Brains. Is that right? It's whatever. It says Cagayan. Is that what they called it? Yeah.

29 is Natalie Anderson, probably San Juan del Sur, and that's a blood versus water too. And then 30 is Mike in a stupid one named Worlds Apart, white collar versus blue collar versus no collar. Boom, all 30, I think. Yeah. Hell yeah. You want to keep going? No, I can't. Jeremy wins 31. Yep. I can't. No, I can't. Jeremy wins 31. 32, maybe Michelle. Yep. Yep.

Is it Adam? Yep. 34...

Oh, we're running into it now. Now it's maybe Ben. No, no. 35 is Ben. 34 means, what's the season? Just give me the season. It says Game Changers. Oh, Officer Sarah. That's right. Then Ben. Okay, we'll stop there. Hey, man, that was nice. Yeah! All right. What a loser. It could be worse. You could be tracking your pickup stats. Actually, 39 career high rebounds. I'll be doing it. Four and four on the net.

Most people liked it on the stream. Oh, yeah. You know, they're giving the beautiful mind Russell Crowe comments or saying... Man, when did I get to 34? I forgot Officer Sarah. But now, see, the crazy... Isn't that weird? The 40s I couldn't do. And those are the most recent. I can't even... These are podcasts. We did podcasts on them. Who won last time? I can't even think of it. Rachel.

But then tell me who won the year before that. I think it's Kenzie. Somebody Canadian. Kenzie. When did that guy Tommy win? Tommy won in the early 40s, I want to say. Yeah, maybe. Maybe he did. Yeah, because I think he won after Tony, maybe. All right. Who cares? Hey, no buffs coming back soon. Yeah, a couple weeks. Leo Goman coming in. This is worse than the TAS opening line. Hey, Leo. Put the camera on me. Hey, Leo. Fuck off. Fuck off.

Get the fuck out of here. He made a joke. I'm just kidding. This is worse than the TAS opening line. That was a good joke. Yeah, he loves your opening line and he loves Survivor. Leo. It's his two favorite things. This feels like a throwback drop. You know? Like we've had a long, fun week. We've been here in the factory a lot and it's getting really loopy. Oh, yeah. It's getting a loopy.

Yeah, Trey, you need to up that. You gotta beat that. You want to be old? Yeah. Yeah, when I was a senior in high school, Tom Green hosted Saturday Night Live in the year 2000, and one of the sketches was him and Maya Rudolph go on a fake rap city kind of show. Sounds like a good show. And Tom Green sings a song that goes, I'm a nice boy, and I like to wear undies, undies, undies, undies.

I wear undies it's really really funny funny funny funny funny funny undies undies are funny I like to wear undies because they're so funny midnight at the Oasis put your camels to bed why do I know that wow

What? That was a skit on Saturday Night Live. I was researching it. You can't find it unless you go into the Peacock and actually watch the episode. Apparently Tom Green brought his own writers to Saturday Night Live. It sure sounds like it. And it's one of the weirdest episodes ever. There's multiple sketches of him and Lorne Michaels in a tub together.

There's him and Will Ferrell dressed as bald eagles feeding each other from their mouths. Okay, I haven't watched this. Tom Green is back now. Have you seen the doc? I haven't watched it yet, but he's got four new things out, like documentaries, he's got a stand-up special, something like that. I'm definitely interested. And then Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary shows. Is that next weekend? I think it's next weekend. Is it next weekend? Yeah, I think so. All-star.

Yeah. I remember watching 45, I guess, or 40. And one was Brooklyn because that's when I was sitting in the hotel room. You guys were. Must have been 10 years ago. Must have been 10 years ago. That's 2015. Listen, the new Saturday night on Netflix. I would have happily seen that. Watch that.

Tom Green would have been better than what they did as their opening scene. Yes, the first time I watched it. But I thought you were talking about because there's something that must be on Peacock. There is like a documentary series. Yeah. Like looking back over the last 50 years. They did an entire episode on the Needs More Cowbell sketch. Yeah. And they did. It's pretty good. I like it. The writer's one is bleak, man. Yeah. It's like what?

I thought this was supposed to be fun. These guys are, it's like they're working at Starbucks or something. But, highly recommend the music one though. Oh, I haven't watched that one yet. Oh, it's so good. It is so good. And I was reluctant to watch it because I had just come off the writer's one.

But it's directed by, what's his name? The guy from the, you know. Christopher Nolan? Fallon's band leader. Questlove. Questlove, yeah. The opening sequence is fucking amazing. Like, just the edited together 50 years of musical acts. And it's just very, very, very well done. Okay, we'll fire that up tonight. It's great. It's great. They got that Tom Green performance on there?

Tom Green is not in that one, I don't think. Yeah, unfortunately. Radiohead was an awesome SNL performance. Radiohead didn't make the doc. Didn't make the doc. Didn't make the doc. There's so much. There's so much, you guys. It's like 50 years. 50 years. That's a lot of guests. That's a lot of guests. Ashley Simpson, did she make it? Ashley is in it, yep. Yeah, got to. Yeah. Lip syncing, remember? She got busted lip syncing. They did like a little dance. It's walked off. Yeah.

It's brutal. Ooh, got to see that. What's something pointless you have memorized, JD? I have the entire original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. The original album that came out, I know I could sing every single part. I'm not going to. Just take my word for it. From front to back, I can sing the entire thing. And it's the most usual. Nobody likes that musical. It's just that I'm alone on a highland island.

But if, hey, this weekend, I highly recommend you fire it up. Murray Head is playing Judas. You got Ian Gillen from Deep Purple playing Jesus. It's amazing. So, yeah. All right. Anyways. We've had some incredible humblebrags on this episode.

on this episode I will say exactly what a lineup that was a baseball lineup nine for nine just old things three the first time three the second time and three the third time turns out when you're old you remember old stuff

All right, let's call it there. Man, that was like an old drop podcast right there. That was epic. That was long. Appreciate everybody sticking with us here on YouTube. Hit the like button, subscribe. Podcast listeners, leave your boys a five-star rating and review. Helps us in the rankings. We're back on Monday.

I'm in a bookshelf doing the interstellar payoff challenge. Yeah. Every time Troy Murphy's face comes on screen, I got to yell Murph. And we'll do a show. We'll do weekend winners and losers. You know, we might have some debuts for some of these guys. And then obviously waiting on the Luke one on Monday, but we'll be here all week long and then takes us through to all-star weekend, which is next weekend.

I don't know. Will we talk about the Super Bowl at all on Monday? I'm sure there'll be comments on Kendrick's performance and maybe if it's a close game. Sure. It's a repeat. We're talking about the greatest football player of all time. What are the big games on Sunday, though? Basketball. Oh, there's probably not many of them.

They would probably be early, I guess. It's like the Raptors play on Super Bowl Sunday a lot. They do. They play that early game. Sunday, we've got Charlotte at Detroit 1 o'clock, Toronto at Houston 2 o'clock, Philadelphia at Milwaukee 2 o'clock. That's it. That one's on ABC. Oh, okay, okay, okay. So we'll be back Monday to talk about that and a whole lot more. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

Thank you for joining us. And remember, you just reminded me of the Super Bowl. So I forgot about it. But I think my homie Patrick Mahomes is going to win that. Okay, I was going to say, final predictions as we go out here? Three-peat happening? I hope so. I hope he will shut up everybody criticizing the Kansas City Chiefs for being too good. That would be so sad. Well, it's the referees helping him a lot. Oh, no, Josh Allen should have just completed that.

Kinkade should have caught that ball. Kinkade! Who you got? Who you got? I'm rolling with my homies. JD? You going Eagles? Go Birds? Let's go Birds! I'll swerve. I'm with you. Go Birds. Go Birds. Go Birds. Race to weekend, people. Oh, baby.

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