Sam Amick
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Hello, Dave and as appreciate you guys having me, we shall see. I have been dropping that comparison a little bit these past couple of days. I don't know that the Grizzlies fans will enjoy that one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And maybe I'll be wrong because we all know how things finished up with Fox, but the parallel to me, it's imperfect, but I do think it's worth drawing is that, you know, in Sacramento, you had a guy in Fox who over the course of time became increasingly uncomfortable with with the direction of the franchise, with the way things were unfolding on the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Now, the other parallel, Mike Brown gets fired. That's a guy that De'Aaron Fox rocked with until the end. Taylor Jenkins gets fired. That's a guy that, based on our information, that Ja Morant rocked with until the end. Now, the X's and O's stuff that you guys are well-versed in is that Taylor is a guy who, to simplify it, played more the way that Ja has preferred over the years.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Now, when the Grizzlies, after firing Taylor Jenkins, elevate a guy in Tuomasu Salo, the Finnish coach who they went out and got last summer, paid a seven-figure salary to. At the time, I don't know that a lot of us, certainly not in the national media, really picked up on the breadcrumbs along the way that showed that not only was Taylor in trouble,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
but that Tuomas was a guy that the organization and GM Zach Kleiman specifically really wanted to take a look at because he looks at offense in an entirely different way. His Paris basket team had done some innovative things internationally that got the attention of the Grizzlies GM.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
He wanted to integrate that into what Memphis was doing, but it wasn't working with, you know, the kind of vision that he had. And now they make this move. The part where I wonder where things are headed with Ja is that this is just
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
not really sat well with him in terms of the way he wants to play the game um you know he's saying all the right things for now the organization to be clear has been full-throated in their denial that he is going to be available anytime soon a couple weeks ago it was speculated in the media that they would start listening potentially this summer to john moran trade offers
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
not even a hard media report, more of just kind of chatter. And Zach went out of his way to refute that and said basically that opposing teams could keep dreaming and that wasn't going to happen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But I will say this, it's one of those situations where the noise always starts from the outside and sometimes it dissipates because a team gets back on track and the thing it has going, if that makes sense, is good enough that the star player gets comfortable again. But a lot of times it continues to develop like it did with the Fox situation. And the guy ends up leaving town.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
No, I haven't. I have not been given any indication about fireworks of any kind off the court that go beyond basketball. I mean, we know how challenging the last couple of years have been, you know, when it comes to John, the different kind of missteps that he has made.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And to be honest, he should probably, you know, and I imagine probably does feel thankful that the organization has certainly stood by him all the way through. And he's a guy that has been trying to just kind of get back to not to quote LeBron, but to making the main thing the main thing. Right. And, you know, this was basketball. This was a guy who has seen his star dim. You know what I mean?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
He was not too long ago, essentially kind of given that unofficial title of, you know, rising American star, the guy who was going to take the mantle from the LeBrons and the Steffs, potentially right there with, you know, Zion Williamson, who also has had. his own kind of obstacles. He's just his arc has gone in the wrong direction.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, it was crazy. A lot of shot making. Big threes. Aaron Gordon was hitting big threes. Alexander Walker obviously returning. And then, you know, the Westbrook thing is going to be like the headline probably tomorrow because they had it won. You know, he could have, I guess, dribbled it out with 10 seconds left. Then they probably foul him with eight. I actually don't mind taking the layup.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And whenever that happens with a guy like that, who is so talented and who is still very young and and on the early side of his prime, you know, he's going to obviously constantly assess the situation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
I think, S, that it speaks to Zach's continued belief in the roster. Now, I will qualify that by saying, you know, that is typically the sequence of events when things aren't going well. Like the GM is the guy who put together the roster is probably going to, you know, have losing belief in the roster be the last move that he makes because then he's got to look himself in the mirror.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And that's not... disparage zach at all that's just kind of the historical context um and the idea that you you have a guy in tuamas who again was challenging to get into your program you were excited about what he would bring to the table you weren't seeing it to your liking and the clock is ticking
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And then post all-star break, you know, the Grizzlies were, I believe, 35 and 16 as of February 8th. They start losing games at a pretty high rate after that. They were 11 and 20 against teams that were above 500. You know, coincidentally, that last OKC one-sided loss was, that ended up costing Taylor his job, or at least his last game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
It was on the front end of that streak going back to February 8th. They got boat raced by the Thunder at the start of that stretch as well. So the theme was that Zach, understandably, was looking at this going, we are not true contenders. And so try something different. But again, the backdrop that is worth unpacking even more deeply is that And this is across the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Once an organization has somebody in-house that is aspirational and who has a clean slate and who doesn't have any baggage, then the clock is ticking, I think, for the incumbent head coach. And that's, again, where you can maybe draw a parallel to the Sacramento situation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Although, like with the Kings and Doug Christie, that was more ownership-driven, the aspiration to get Doug in that spot when he was on Mike Brown's staff. But, you know, to me, now that you look back at it a little more clear eyed, you know, Taylor was was in a spot all year long. And the only way to to not get fired here was to be damn near the top of the West.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
How do you miss the layup? Yeah, you can't miss it. And then I don't know why you're even getting close to, you know, fouling Alexander Walker there. I mean, look, if he hits it, he hits it. You want some kind of a contest, but it was almost like a fake hustle late contest that put him in danger. And just, I mean, a combo blunder that will be the story. I mean, like Jokic's stat line.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
so this is me reading the room just to be clear not intel coming from the grizzlies just in my experience again given what we know of the context of bringing him to memphis and what he represented i would be pretty surprised if he was not the coach next season um that's just me talking uh because it it feels like a vision it feels like a philosophical shift
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And, you know, and one that I have a hard time thinking they're only going to commit to for 10 games. On top of that, when you give the guy a seven figure multi-year contract as an assistant coach, that does not typically portend, you know, a short term relationship. You know, we we don't have all of the coaching info around the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But as you guys know, that's a pretty steep salary for an assistant of any kind in the length of the contract.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yes. I was also in person for the Steph tonight who would be in that category. Yeah. And he had the only the fifth ever 50, 10, 10, five tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Which is funny because like you said, it's a little overshadowed. What did Jokic was 61 and then what else?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
You mentioned, and this is going to sound so hatery on this stat line, but how many minutes? He ended up playing like 50-something minutes. He played 53 minutes, yeah. You can bulk up your points a little in this massive shootout in overtime where you played 36 straight minutes. His second half was most stars. Full game, right? Because you're talking about 24 minutes plus an extra 10, 34 minutes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
I think Steph averages 32. But, I mean, yes, to your original point, yes, Nikola Jokic at this point is starting to get in that all-time – Top 15, best center ever. Steve Kerr called him the best center ever.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
No DiVincenzo, no Nas Reed because of suspension. No Rudy Gobert late because he fouled out. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's a huge win. He celebrated it, didn't he, right, when Jokic did that?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
By the way, how about the Jokic? There's .1 left. Yeah, and he's still trying. And he was still trying to find a way to, like, if I just bat this ball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
but yeah, no, you could tell how much like Edwards wanted this one. I mean, there's probably, you know, the playoff history between these two is kind of a, anytime you go through like a fierce seven game series, like there's just a little extra. Didn't Mike Malone have some quote this week that, They play them better.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, his coaching staff had been watching film, and it's like they play us harder than they play anybody. Yeah, this is big for Minnesota. I think if Minnesota loses this, they are the likeliest eight, which means that's the road playing team. And with winning this... Every result is swinging massively right now. I mean, we're going to get, I assume, to this Warriors-Grizzlies game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, we'll just go to it now. Yeah, that is huge standings-wise. If the Warriors lose tonight, they're one and a half games behind the Grizzlies. And the Grizzlies, it would be 2-2 head-to-head, but the Grizzlies have a better conference record, so pretty likely the Grizzlies would have the tiebreaker. Instead, the Warriors win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
They're a half game ahead of the Grizzlies and they clinch the tiebreaker. We're talking about do the math for me there, but that's like a three, four game type swing. I was talking to Warriors people pregame and even at shoot around and the more realistic, clear eyed defense. people within the Warriors, and their thought was win tonight in Memphis, very likely you're avoiding the play-in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
They now have a really clear path to be the five or the six. If they had lost tonight, it would have been really hard for them to avoid because they think the Clippers are probably going to win a lot of games if they have the tiebreaker. Grizzlies would have.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
So that's what felt like was on the line April 1st in Memphis was playing or not playing, Warriors win, and I think they've got a good chance here to avoid it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, yeah. Somebody asked Draymond this, like a local Memphis reporter, like, is this the best Steph Curry game you've ever seen? He was like, hell no.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
they had projected they were going to be open at 1045, 11 a.m. basically at the arena. You know, y'all talked to me last night, late night in Oklahoma City. I took a really early flight to make sure I made shoot around for a few reasons.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But I got there when they projected to be open, and they didn't open for another 30 minutes, which told me, man, this is like a heavy game plan shoot around, you know, more than usual. And then once it did open, to me, he went through like a full – like pregame shooting routine at like 11 a.m., 11.30 a.m., whatever. And they mentioned it. You know, I didn't even say anything about it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And Draymond mentioned it postgame that he could see Steph's focus and shoot around. And Steph said he shot it really well and shoot around. And for him to mention it, I mean, yeah, I think he did. He had a week off recently because of that tailbone injury. I think that refreshed the body and mind a little bit. Apparently he played golf on this road trip twice, you know,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Including yesterday, although now I'm talking to you past midnight, two days ago in San Antonio at the La Conterra Resort or something out there. And for whatever reason, that really gets him going. They always worry that everyone has to fill up their cup their own way. Well, Steph plays golf. He was juiced up for this game. You could tell early, to your point. Really aggressive.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
19 in the first quarter. End of the first quarter, he had like 19, 5-4, and two steals. Yep. In 10 minutes. 32 at half. What was funny about his game is he hits his 11-3 with like four minutes left in the third.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
and it's a closed game right they're not offending that well jaws killing them uh and steph has like every three-part record imaginable except for single game one he was there his teammate did it broke steph's record clay has it 14. he wants it steph wants that record and he admitted to me post game like Because I had the same thought. He hit the three with the 16 minutes left in the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
He's already got to go for it. This could be the night. And he admitted he started the fourth. I don't know if you all remember. He had two really bad threes. He was even doing one of his like pointing at himself at the bench. Like, oh, my bad on that one. And he had to rein himself back in because he was like, okay. He was thirsty for it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But he's like, you know what's more important than that record? The fifth seed.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Oh, really? When the the month before the Ray Allen record a few years ago, he was like hit a deep slump because he he was just too antsy about just trying too hard.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
They were just really bad defensively, and I'm used to them being really good defensively. You know, there's a reason Steph had 52. Like, you know, they were trying some of their, like, top-locking and various stuff with, like, Jalen Wells, Scottie Pittman, whatever. They just were making a bunch of errors defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah. You know, the relocation stuff or, you know, leaving them at bad times. Aldama was turning his head and Steph's running behind. It's like clearly their game plan was very Steph Curry oriented, like it always has been. But two things defensively, they just, the personnel is not very good. It's like Zach Eady and Luke Kennard, guard and pick and rolls.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And, you know, like you said, a rookie is their primary perimeter guy. Jaw has his issues. Yeah. And then Jaron Jackson was obviously great defensively. Draymond roasted him postgame. No, I shouldn't say that. Draymond did not roast him postgame. Draymond is really friendly with Jaron Jackson. They have Michigan State connection.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And he was critical in a big brother way about it, where I would agree with Jaron Jackson. It's just silly fouls. Two in the first quarter, he's just running over Moses Moody. Handful of jersey half the time on rebounds. That changed the first quarter. They're up one. He gets the second foul, goes to the bench. It's Warriors go on a run.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And then you mentioned the one, the one that Draymond apparently went over to Desmond Bain during the game when it happened. It was basically like, dude, you got to tell your guy here. What's he doing? He misses a three and he's frustrated and Quentin Post is just going for a rebound. He just grabs his arm and yanks it. It's his fifth foul.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And then Jimmy Butler pump fakes him with two minutes left, gets the sixth foul, which, you know, Kirk called the biggest play of the game. So that, I mean, you asked me what I meant. That's what I see with the Grizzlies. They're really bad defensively right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
We'll see what happens. 28 of 28 from the line tonight. 12 of 12 for Butler. Yeah. That's huge. That's what they weren't doing. First of all, they don't get to the free throw line in the first place. And they were, for a large part of the season, they were the worst free throw shooting team in the league, despite having Steph Curry. As far as percentage, that's no longer the case. So, yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Thursday night, Warriors-Lakers. Marquee game, it's the 14th day of a 14-day trip for the Warriors, two-week cross-country. Then they go home Friday night, and it's Jokic-Curry in Chase Center. If Steph plays, because that's an absurd back-to-back coming off a two-game. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Appreciate you, Anthony. What's the big game tomorrow night? I'll just try to catch it. Oh, man, I haven't even looked.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
You go back to OKC? No, I'm good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
um they're they're in a bind i mean they're very active on the trade market right now um and in fact even kind of in the days leading up to the mike brown firing i don't know all the specifics but i was told that they were you know they were pretty deep in some different trade stuff that where they were looking for something to change
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They didn't have to be the coach, didn't have to be DeMar going to the bench. You know, this is what you do when you're struggling is you tinker. And I think if they and this is where the front office, to their credit, they do. They're willing to take accountability here. If the front office had been able to get something over the finish line, then Mike might still be the coach.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They don't mind admitting that. Now, I've heard them tied to Cam Johnson for quite a while now, but that is a very popular player at the moment. It's going to take a lot of the ball right now. It really is, yeah. They were tied to Dorian Finney-Smith. Now, obviously, he goes to the Lakers. There's some other options in there. They're perpetually tied to Kyle Kuzma.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They've kicked around the Zach Levine thing in the past, Brandon Ingram. At some point, they need somebody who can play some defense, though. That's the thing that's limiting. Yeah, a backup big is probably the number one priority. They've been... To me, it's a... Man, why am I blanking? I mean, you know, Robert Williams type would be amazing. Yeah, right. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And that's the thing where you fix the Sabonis defensive problem because that's such a major issue. Having that back line help defensively. Yeah, totally. Yeah, and honestly, one that is, you know, and it was in our piece last week, Jonas Valanciunas is one that makes a lot of sense, not only for how he would help them, but he's very close with Sabonis, you know, pretty –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
tight relationship there and by the way part of that pelicans team that uh that went six and oh against the kings last year so right you know how you know how decision making the nba a lot of times are are guilty of like they want to go get the guy who who kicked their ass yeah the guy that kicked their ass or the guy that they kicked ass with i mean you know doc rivers is kind of like the king of that i think so yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
It's like Kobe going to get Matt Barnes because he showed a little gusto type stuff. I like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Well, I mean, the Jimmy thing, I think, is going to have to play out until around the deadline. You know, obviously, Miami puts its statement out in pretty clearly Pat Riley language. So, you know, that might as well have been the Pat Riley Twitter account. announcing that they weren't trading Jimmy. Do I think it's partly a leverage play or a negotiating ploy? Yes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They don't like the level of noise right now, and they want to make sure, and they clearly didn't love whatever seemed to be available to them trade-wise in the conversations that they had. They were clearly not in love with. So now you've got to play hardball. Now you've got to push it. You have time to play those games. The Warriors, to me...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
are front and center on that issue because Phoenix has major obstacles with the Heat's, you know, what appears to be their lack of desire to bring back Bradley Beal. That is a deal breaker. The Warriors, of course, have this calculus of, you know, Steph and Draymond getting older. Could Jimmy come save the day and get them back into contention? Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
But then what are you paying Jimmy this summer?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
No, he helps today, but then you got to recommit for tomorrow. That's the issue. And at the same time, you're going to be watching Jonathan Kaminga potentially flourishing in a heat Jersey and wondering what might've been. You know, the problem is right now you're seeing Kaminga continue to improve, but it's not part of a winning calculus as of yet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
You know, Golden State is dropping games and they barely beat Phoenix the other night, but they're on a bad stretch. So to me, the Warriors are front and center with Jimmy. And I hate to make this like the all things Sacramento conversation today, guys, but like the Fox thing is still right there. Yeah, because. You know, teams that are interested, they are doing their homework.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They are they are asking questions. They are figuring out what they would be willing to offer. There is a pretty significant appetite for De'Aaron Fox, you know, if and when he decides that he wants out. I mean, if he wants out, he's the best.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Of course. Thank you for having me, guys. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Juggling the day job with all this stuff. We put this tree out yesterday. Oh, no. It's time of year. The Kings put their head coach out the other day, if you happen to hear. The timeline, Dave. That loss to the Pistons, obviously, for the most part, was the final straw. They're up big late.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And by the way, everybody keeps glossing over the fact that Damanis Sabonis did not play. Kind of a big factor. But he's not playing because of an illness. Terrible ending to that game. A four-point play in the corner with De'Aaron Fox having an absolute boneheaded defensive decision.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And then this was a theme that continued Mike Brown's postgame press conference where he was pretty candid and cutting. And with his commentary on that play was the type of thing that, you know, kept getting everybody's attention. Mike being so publicly critical of the players.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
But they, of course, didn't make the decision until the next day after the Kings practiced after, you know, there were social media pictures of Mike and De'Aaron talking at practice. My understanding, our understanding is that it's essentially the procedural delays are the reason that they didn't tell Mike that he was out earlier. You had people in different places.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
You had meetings that had to take place. You had legalities, all of the above. It's not the first time a coach has been fired over the phone, but- Certainly it sparked a lot of support for Mike around the league with Michael Malone, putting the Kings on blast and Steve Kerr and, and, you know, people like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Anytime a coach gets fired, especially one like this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
It is. And I think, to me, the central question, I mean, yeah, the Coach of the Year thing, John Hollinger wrote about it the other day. It's an undisputable history of that being a curse. But for the Kings, it kind of was a tipping point where, you know, was Mike Brown the most central, important player? secure figure in the room who was going to lead this franchise going forward?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Obviously, the answer was no. It was not that long ago that that I would have said the answer was yes, that above the front office, that Mike was kind of taken over the franchise. And Within these struggles, the sixth game losing streak, you know, not meeting expectations, you started to learn little by little that Mike's voice was not winning out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And the synergy wasn't there between, you know, him in the front office and ownership. So, you know, interesting times in SAC again, and we'll see if it makes a difference here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Yeah. The Fox thing and the quick backdrop there to remind the listeners is like it's it's kind of getting glossed over. I was as we reported. I mean, it was a week before that, you know, De'Aaron's agent, Rich Paul, shows up. to Golden One Center. You know, he's out there kind of center stage, so to speak.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
He's sitting with the Aaron's wife, for say, for the entire game, talking to her the entire game. Before the game, as we reported, you know, he had a meeting with the front office. where it was made very clear that you're in the danger zone here. Basically, they are thinking about De'Aaron's future. They are clearly contemplating the prospect of asking for a trade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They have not done that to this point, but he's not happy with the vision here or the path that they are on um the part that is tough to speak to is how much of the mike brown decision was truly player driven because everybody i talked to that was downplayed um the influence and the pressure applied by the players for the most part
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
was was secondary if that makes sense like you can't there's a lot of the stuff we all saw the press conferences matter it's tough to be that hard on players when you are losing yeah um by the way this gets glossed over too mike mike's an old school coach you know it's practicing every day it's having shoot-arounds every game day um that stuff flies when you are
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
kind of the bell of the ball and you're the beam team and everybody loves you but when you're losing games that stuff you know kind of wears thin um sabonis and brown were known to have a tricky relationship where demonus would push back a lot on mike uh and so some angst on that front but you have to also realize that
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
You know, Vivek Ranadive, the longtime owner of the Kings, who has been through so many coaches at this point, my feeling is that at least part of this calculus was him being concerned about De'Aaron's future. He does not want to lose De'Aaron Fox.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
In fairness to De'Aaron, who has pushed back on social media publicly about the idea that he played a part here, De'Aaron is not responsible for the organization fearing what he might do, if that makes sense. If they made choices based partly on that, that's not his fault. He's simply trying to figure out his situation. So a lot of layers to it. I think where I land, guys, we don't really get...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
paid to pick sides here. We're trying to convey what happened. Mike Brown's a hell of a coach. If you look at the room and point the finger and say, yep, he's the problem right there, I would not agree with that. I like Doug Christie. I'm curious to see how he does as a coach. The roster is the roster. The roster has holes. This is not a good team. It has holes. You said it in your piece.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
He got, oh God, I forget exactly what it was, but he got blocked like 40 times last season and he's on pace for like 70 times this year. And, you know, it might not seem like a lot, like when you're looking at it, you know, just a game or five games at a time, but over a season it adds up and we really are seeing, you know, his worst finishing season, possibly in his career.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
I have to double check the stats, but at the very least in, you know, six or seven years, so.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Well, are you talking about with the Plumlee lineup or with the Plumlee? Yeah, I mean, it's no secret. So like you guys are wondering about what are the issues with this team? Like it's no one thing. There's the Bradley Beal piece. There's the Devin Booker piece. There's the lack of wing size piece, which is another thing that we haven't even hit on. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But it's like, you know, they either have guys who are good defenders or, you know, who are good defenders, but are like six foot four, like Josh Akogi and can't shoot. And they don't have the right blend of three and D perimeter guys. And then another big one is they have arguably the worst center rotation in the entire NBA. And I think it's telling, arguably.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
You know, it might be bottom five, bottom six. But I think it's telling that they close a game like tonight's against Philly with a rookie, Oso Godaro, who's drafted 40th overall.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
And their entire center... Yeah, I've been really impressed with his effort and the way he also can play at the elbow and kind of be that connecting piece offensively. He's also a 6'10", 230-pound rookie.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Yeah, their stars in some ways have let them down. I would say the exception to that is Kevin Durant, who I think will be their their only all star this year. I don't think Devin Booker has a chance, unfortunately, with the way he's playing. But then a lot of their role players have also let them down. Yusuf Nurkic has been one of the worst centers in the NBA.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Mason Plumlee, honestly, is only a veteran minimum contract. So, you know, I don't really blame him for it, but. is showing signs of age. I think he's 34 years old and just looks so much older than kind of the Mason Plumlee I knew from a few years ago who could still get up and catch some lobs. Right now he catches a ball in the short roll and he's just afraid to look at the rim.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
So it's a completely different player and they have issues all over the map with their rotation to the point where it's like, You talk about how to solve them. I don't think a Jimmy Butler trade solves this. I think they're three or four trades away from being the contender that they think they are.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
I'm glad you asked that. I figured we had to cover it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
I mean, if they were willing to trade one of their rookies, I absolutely do not want them to. Let me be clear from a fan's perspective, but like from the Matt Ishbia perspective of how do we. you know, how do we dig this even deeper and go all in, all in, all in? I guess, theoretically, that's how you could scrounge up an asset.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Otherwise, I think, honestly, Nurkic has been so bad that I think any sort of addition by subtraction is at play. We've talked about all sorts of centers. If they could just get a Jonas Valanciunas, a Nick Richards, someone who makes, you know, $15 million or less and is not good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Not horrible. Not horrible. That would honestly help them a lot. Again, I don't think it makes them competitive in, say, a first round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But I do think it would make them substantially better in the second half of the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
And maybe if they could claw their way all the way back to like the fifth or sixth seed, they could talk themselves into having a chance against whoever they'd play in the first round. But if they're just going to be an eighth seed, like... they have quite the ladder to climb at this point. And it's going to take more than just a minor move to get there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
what okay not next year that they own is 2031 yeah 2031 yeah they have a 20 they have a pick in 2026 which is swapped like three times and they get the worst of it or whatever and uh yeah their next one that they own is 2031 yeah which they will probably trade good luck yeah yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
First of all, Dave, as appreciate you guys having me on. This was the most fun I've had watching a Suns game in probably three or four weeks. Wow. I wouldn't even say it was a perfect game by any means. It was a fairly horrendous first half. But yeah, they were smiling. They were having fun. The rookies got in and gave some good production.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Bradley Beal goes to the bench and drops, I think, 25 points in his first game off the bench. So people are making jokes that he's Manu Ginobili now. I would say.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
well let's pop the brakes but i do appreciate the settlement yeah there's joel so yeah joel didn't play it's a shorthanded sixers team your question is everything fixed obviously everything's not fixed yeah um i i do think there is a certain level of professionalism that these guys um this particular locker room maybe has approached this game with and they did feel connected something i want to say to
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
There are a lot of athletes who kind of in these types of situations, especially his situation, could easily pout. Yeah. And he did not look like that. If you want to be a body language doctor, a body language expert from tonight, he looks like a guy who's who wants to go out there and play and win games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
There are all sorts of issues with the team this season, and one game is not going to solve that. And potentially, even as we talk about it, one trade alone is not going to solve that. But it was it was good just to see them smile a bit for once.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Yes, it was a great question, but it was absolutely necessary. It's maybe a little bit counterintuitive for people who write some people. I mean, I think a lot of people have been saying for a long time, these three stars don't fit together. Yeah. But what helps that it happened now is a you have the whole Bradley Beal trade rumors looming. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Of course, we all know that he has the no trade clause and and maybe, you know, that is a way to sort of push him to be willing to waive that. So that's there. And you have to consider that. But there's also a statistical objective argument for as a as a basketball team, why this was a good move for them. Yeah, just throw a couple lineup stats at you guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
When Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant share the floor this season, I think they have a net rating of minus seven when all three of them are together. When just Booker and Durant are on the floor and Beal is off, that flips to a plus six. And so, you know, which doesn't make them doesn't make them an elite contender or anything.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But the difference between a plus six and a minus seven, there's been this consistent thread throughout the season of kind of every lineup Bradley Beal has been a part of. He's sort of tanked the net rating a little bit with a couple of particular exceptions. And so, you know, it was something that had to happen again. I don't think that one move by itself fixes this team, but we'll see.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Maybe, you know, they have a weaker schedule coming up here over the next couple of weeks and. And maybe they can generate some positive momentum before the trade deadline even comes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Yeah, I think it's a good question, Dave. And I think it's something, uh, this, this sort of greater existential thing that we're going to have to touch on, on our pod. We haven't really touched on, uh, Like with more depth and we're probably going to have to cover pretty soon. You know, with Book, it's year 11. And this is something we don't really think about with him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
You know, we don't think about him having this extent of mileage on his body at this point. But, yeah, he's got a recent groin injury. He did play in the Olympics this summer. So maybe there's some residual effects there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But personally, I think, you know, you combine, thankfully, knock on wood, he hasn't had a major injury in his career to the extent of he hasn't torn an ACL, he hasn't torn an Achilles, but he has had multiple hamstring strains, calf strain here, a groin injury there. And I do think over time it starts to add up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
to a point where as exceptional as he's been delivering passes this season, and he really has become such a smart playmaker over the course of his career, he does seem to be lacking a little bit in that burst. And I think we're still hoping that it's just kind of a slump that he can get himself out of.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But even a little bit of like the lift on kind of those 15, 16 foot elbow jumpers, which for Devin Booker's entire career has been his bread and butter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
It just doesn't seem to be there to the same level.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Well, it was 60%, but yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah, 21-1 run to finish that third quarter and eventually take the lead. It was basically a combination of just crazy shot making from the Hornets. And then the Lakers, like you said, bottoming out. The turnovers were bizarre for them. You know, Luca for the entire game had a lot of turnovers. I think he ended up with six overall. And so eight assists, six turnovers for him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
He enjoys the sport. Yes, he absolutely enjoys the sport. You know, it's funny you brought up like Jackson, because I think generally there's this conversation about younger audiences and how does the NBA tailor their product to younger audience? And I think if you saw The all-star game format, you have this situation where it's like you get bite-sized basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
It's 10 minutes here, 10 minutes here. The attention span is all over the place because you got a performance here. You got all that stuff. So it's interesting how much they're putting their eggs in the basket of let's try to tailor this thing towards younger people versus we have this audience already. How are we going to create a good broadcast for television?
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
And then that's interesting because you look forward to the new TV rights deal and how they're supposed to kind of approach this situation. We're leaning into streaming more often. So I think that's why these questions come up mostly. It's how they're going to use this next little bit to tailor their audience to the next generation. I agree.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
It was sloppy overall for the Lakers as they were trying to move the ball. Still feel like a team that's trying to figure out who they are. And you could tell that one in this. It just felt like they were discombobulated throughout. And so Charlotte took advantage. They're like, hey, you're going to let us get into this basketball game. Sure. Why not? We'll take this one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
it was it's a weird that's a weird angle also it's like there's there's too many of these conventions now so you have nba cup has its own convention summer league has its own convention nba all-star weekend has its own convention every player has a podcast that you can have access to so that level of access now has been so integrated into our everyday life whereas it doesn't feel as special anymore to get that sort of access
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
People in Canada here will love it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
S. Now that we see it, Mark Williams would not have been good enough to elevate. No, no. Mark Williams would not have been good enough. I don't know if there was a solution to this Lakers defense other than Anthony Davis staying there. That would have been the solution.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah, fair enough. No, there were a few possessions, especially in the clutch where, you know, teams tend to especially teams that are playing small like the Lakers, like they finish. out with Dorian Finney-Smith and Jared Vanderbilt. They're trying to pre-switch everything to get LeBron out of actions, get Luka out of, out of actions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
There was one possession where they tried to double Lomelo ball and Luka is guarding Lomelo and, you know, they double him, but then he doesn't rotate over to get the guy in the corner, ends up being a wide open three for Nick Smith Jr. And so there's just, there's little wrinkles like that where you can see their defense falling apart.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
And so if you are having this switch everything mentality that they're trying to have, you got to, you got to rotate over. You've got to be in front of the guy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
I think even in that year with Dallas, they still had some bigs to go to. Maxie Kleber was another big that they could go to. Dwight Powell was another guy, God bless his soul, could still be able to be a guy who could play some minutes for you. This Lakers team is relying on Jackson Hayes, who has been playing well, playing better, but Alex Lenn does not play the part here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah, and I'm not worried about Luka's rust. He just couldn't hit anything tonight. And I think part of that is probably the vacation and coming off of six weeks of missing games and trying to get your legs right under you. There were a couple of possessions where you could see the connection between LeBron and Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Obviously, the transition play has been awesome between the two, but there was one time... This was actually the massive dunk that LeBron had on Mark Williams, which is funny out of all things. Imagine going from...
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
about to be lebron's teammate to getting dunked on lebron by lebron in a week uh but luca was in the post they they sent the double team and then it was a swing lebron was one pass away he just attacks the closeout goes out and dunk on mark williams so like it's easy when those guys are on the floor together it makes a lot of sense offensively defensively it's different questions
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah. Yeah, you mentioned the Warriors. They went 3-1, like you said. And Draymond made headlines when it came to a big declaration for a lottery. Actually, yeah, he had a lot of comments throughout the weekend. But there was one that jumped out, which was that the Warriors were going to win the championship this year. I know you kind of got a chance to catch up with him as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
How do you feel about that comment? Do you think there's some validity to it? And what did Draymond say when you asked him?
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
You know, not a big deal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I'm going to pull the curtain back a little bit. We workshopped this off the air. Your answer is insane to me. I said the number that came to my mind, which I'll share in a minute, but the reaction has got me second guessing myself.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I said five. I mean, we got some good pizza joints in my town. You know, it's like. Good ingredients.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I'm not a, talk about a hot take. No pun intended. I'm not a cold pizza guy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
Yeah, so I would put this in the category of just things to monitor, not trying to sit here and take that spotlight and put it fully on Milwaukee by any means. Admittedly, the main reason that I looked into this particular topic was because it had been reported that Memphis and Milwaukee were told by Jimmy's camp to not pursue him, that he did not have any...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
hopes or dreams of a long term future in either of those cities. Now, admittedly, in terms of my reporting style, I've got a real aversion to I don't like, you know, pushing back on stuff that is out there just professionally. That's not always something I love to do. But I also kind of want to make sure that we have stuff correct.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
And I was told by both sides that Milwaukee was not told that they are out. Now, to the question of, you know, how they see the situation, are they interested in Jimmy? I would just say stay tuned. I think the background that is worth remembering is that, you know, a couple of basic things, right? We know Milwaukee is underperformed.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
When they got beat the other night by the Knicks really badly, Giannis got my eyebrows raised when he talked after the game about how they were 0-8 against the top three teams in the East. They have a history of going after big fish, if you will, obviously, with Damian Lillard coming to town that way. And they have a short runway there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
when it comes to age and i think a level of desperation potentially that if i was in that front office with john horst and their group kicking this idea around i think it would at least be worth chewing on it's interesting to talk about the bucks and the urgency that they have but what about from the miami heat side
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So they are signaling patience, which is obviously the prudent thing to do. Again, I'm going to go back to the old stay tuned kind of label on this one because as we get to the end of this week and we have the Miami-Denver game on Friday where all eyes are going to be on Miami. how the Heat handled Jimmy's return. As I reported, he does plan on showing up and clocking in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
He doesn't want to lose any more money. He's already lost about $2.3 million. And so that side is kind of clear. Are the Heat going to put him on the floor? And I'm just hypothesizing. Are they going to send him home but pay him, which is there's a gray area in terms of the league rules, whether or not you can do that. We don't really know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So the urgency to me is going to or the lack thereof is going to depend on how uncomfortable is it when he comes back? Because I do think as much as they are preaching patience, they've got some elite basketball players on that team, some pros who want to accomplish things. And I don't think want to spend the next three months with this hanging over their head. Bam on a mile being number one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I think, you know, sometimes we forget about the human part of these situations because pragmatically, yes, the best chess move is to wait for the summertime and just tell Jimmy to get over it. It's just it's never that easy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I admittedly don't have clarity here. It's one of those things where, man, the vast kind of difference between the narratives and the information on both sides is tough to reconcile. And by that, I mean that all kinds of extremely strong smoke signals that Phoenix has produced pursued this heavily and it's a priority and it's something where they want Jimmy in-house.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
Matt Ishpia being the guy who chased down Kevin Durant, chased down Bradley Beal. You know, this is kind of his ethos and he wants Jimmy to be a part of this team. Now, by the way, quick subplot that I know you guys are aware of. Son's CEO, Josh Bartelstein, is the son, no pun intended, of Mark Bartelstein, Bradley Beal's longtime agent.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So you've got this father-son dynamic that is really, really fascinating. And you have Mark, who I spoke to on the phone earlier this week, continuing to be comfortable publicly stating that there is absolutely nothing going on
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
between the suns and the heat that relates to bradley beal he says he has not talked to brad about potentially waiving his no trade clause that is obviously the biggest factor in a potential heat suns deal and considering that brad going either to miami which the heat are known to not want brad uh you know at the moment they did in the past not anymore uh or to a third team like
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
that's the only way to really get this done. And so that's where it doesn't add up. I don't think they're going to shock the world and, and send Devin Booker to Miami. So that is where, you know, I don't know, maybe Jimmy doesn't get what he wants and that to swing it back to the Milwaukee thing or another team like Milwaukee.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I do think that could be where this story goes next is that Jimmy might not get to where he wants to go. And then he's got to consider some other options.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I've got a 15 year old who's just got his permit. It was on my mind. It's so perfect.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So, you know, it's just kind of this angst from parts of the league teams that would potentially like to get something done with Zach Levine, with Nikola Busevich or Alonzo Ball, where, you know, if I'm being frank about it, they continue to just look at Chicago on the other side of the negotiating table.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
And just be shrugging, like, at what point are you going to realize this is the hand you have? It's time to play. And to give the listeners and the viewers the quick math, the Bulls have to finish in the bottom six to absolutely guarantee that they hold on to their pick.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
if they are the seventh worst team in the nba then and it's it's real small but a three percent chance of getting uh the uh you know of losing their pick and from there then you're talking about a 75 chance if they're the eighth worst team you know then you're kind of giving it up uh in this day and age
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
where the CBA is structured in such a way that lottery picks are just absolutely integral to a team's building or rebuilding. It seems just absolutely insane for most teams or to most teams for them to give this pickup right now, considering that nobody thinks that Zach has a long-term future in Chicago or Vooch or, you know, Lonzo is a different discussion.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
Maybe they want to get something done with him. But yeah, Admittedly, we don't ever know all of the details about what's being put on the table and what they're saying no to. But the general idea is that they're asking prices continue to be higher than some other teams believe should be based on their situation. And what those teams are counting on is the clock.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
right right and the idea that go ahead keep winning because if you want to be bottom six in the nba even though they kind of claim they don't the you know you need to be literally in the neighborhood of a 300 winning percentage and then they're pushing 500 right now yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I thought they were crazy. Yeah, that's a good point. And it's worked out. So our batting average is not great on that front, and it goes back to the fact that you just have to see it. So I don't know if any other examples come to mind for you guys, but my general rule – Every year we do preseason predictions, right? And I just have it in my head.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
The early signaling was we do need help, but it was so messy in Miami with Jimmy, there was some reservation about him being the perfect guy. Now fast forward to the trade deadline getting closer and closer, the Warriors' pursuit of Kevin Durant and that possible reunion that honestly two nights ago I went to bed thinking, man, I think this is going to happen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
If the majority of this team has not played together before, I don't care how good it looks on paper. I'm not handicapping them as a West champion or East champion, whatever. I've got to get eyes on it first.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It's like Minnesota a couple years ago. They get Rudy Gobert. We all do the math and we're like, oh, this is going to be a top five defense no matter what. But it took them a year to figure it out. This is the argument here for making the trade at the deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Versus something that's going to be available in the summer, in my opinion, because they get the next few months to figure all this stuff out. And they already got a jumpstart on building this team around Luca by picking up Mark Williams. And I think the LeBron and Luca thing is going to be, I think it's going to work. I'm not worried about those two guys working on the offensive end.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It's all defensive. But, you know, again, we need to see them play. Sam, there were other moves.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Can I jump in before we move on? I just to add to the LeBron discussion, I think it's worth noting. And, you know, we'll see how this ages if it holds up OK.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I'm now of the opinion that the LeBron Luca thing is probably going to be awesome because partly because, and I'm talking on the court, but also just, I mean, my goodness, you can't ask for a better fit with Luca and all the conditioning and health concerns. Go put him next to the guy who is the best of all time at taking care of his body.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And also LeBron and his family love living in LA so much that, I think if he got sideways in this situation and it turned sour when it comes to his part in Laker land, then he might end up having to retire somewhere else. And I think that that is enough to make him say, you know what? I'm reading the room. Let's go. I'm going to be the Luca whisperer and try to make the most of this. I love it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
He's going to be Yoda. Is that what you're saying, LeBron? I'm like eight years old, but yeah. He's going to be Yoda. Let's see. The Cavs, they pick up DeAndre Hunter. They're already a championship contender. I think this solidifies that in my book. How do you feel about that move? How did they pull that off?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
No, I love it. And this one, admittedly, I don't have a lot of the inside stuff on how the talks came together. But, you know, you're talking about George Niang and Karis LeVert and some draft capital. I like it. I mean, DeAndre Hunter, two-way player. having a fantastic year. You know, the Cavs, as much size as they have, we know physicality at times is an issue for them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So more versatility, more kind of, you know, chippiness and aggressiveness on the wings, a little bit more edge, which is when the Cavs play Boston, when they, you know, play OKC with what they bring defensively. It's just another very, very strong role player. to a team that has been incredibly dominant, you know, and, and until recently it was on a historic pace.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So, um, Colby Altman out there, the Cavs GM who, you know, has been through it, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You talk about a tenure that, you know, started with LeBron coming back and LeBron leaving and, and, uh, and, and Colby kind of made his way up through that front office, uh, you know, takes the gamble on Donovan Mitchell that so many assumed was not going to pay off because Donovan would, would head off to New York eventually, uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And that obviously played a big part here. It showed a couple of things. It showed the level of desperation with the Warriors because they knew at that time that Kevin wasn't going to be thrilled about coming back. Now, they were willing to do the deal with a certain level of discomfort. And as we reported yesterday, I think it was, the Suns had interest in Draymond, for example.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
uh continues to build around him uh i i'm i'm kind of a big fan of what the calves have built up there yeah kobe altman does not get enough credit for his rebuild in cleveland i mean it started with just getting in on as a third team fourth team and picking up second round picks that they didn't have because the cupboard when lebron was gone completely bare um yeah that's a good point
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Exactly. Exactly. But this aspect of.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
just a high price tag. They wanted two firsts, you know, teams, you know, in my neck of the woods, last I'd heard the Kings had, you know, one first on the table and they felt like it was a good first. And so there was a, I think across multiple teams, a discussion about, as we know, not all firsts are created equal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So there was some frustration in the Nets direction that they just, they sat on their price tag. They obviously knew, that it seemed to know that it wasn't going to get done near the deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I forget exactly where they were, but somebody tweeted a picture of Nets GM Sean Marks and one of his kind of right-hand associates scouting a game in middle America where it was just not exactly the same as working the phones a day before trade deadline. They kind of knew what they were doing, and if somebody wanted to call Sean and offer the moon for Cam, then maybe they'd do it. But
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
that hits a guy that he could have been a game changer. Like you look at Milwaukee getting Kyle Kuzma, you know, in my head, I kind of go, man, like, you know, what if you got Cam in that role instead, that kind of a player and, and youth wise and upside wise, you know, there's more untapped potential there, I think, but yeah, I mean, Marcus is right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, the baddie leaves alone and, and we'll see if there's, there's another.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
This has been a banner day on this show.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
If MTV can't make me feel young, then nobody can.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You want to give us a trade that nobody did or you want to save that?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
A trade that nobody did. I'm going to disappoint on that front. We might have one that we shared a little bit here. But, yeah, I'm going to disappoint for now. That's okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
That's okay because the summer is coming. Some of these trades, this is important to remember, that Cam Johnson is probably getting moved this summer, right? A lot of these trade talks are starting now for stuff that will happen later.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I don't have anything sexy worth sharing on the pot. Again, we mentioned the Kings. John Collins is a funny one. going to the Kings just because near about a week before the deadline, I mean, you had people even saying that some players were already getting messaging that John was likely going to be on the team. And, and so that one kind of faded. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, that's not a star player, but it's a very well-known name, but yeah, we can never get enough of that stuff. Right. Like, you know, there's, there's 200 different moves that could have happened that didn't
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Yeah, I'm sure Danny Ainge was involved in a bunch of them. We'll find out later.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I'm going to leave you guys with this because I can't let this go. And I'm stealing this from, I think this was Draymond Green talking to Baron Davis on his podcast. I had not slowed down to think about the fact that they were dying laughing that Danny Ainge, known Laker hater, helped the Lakers get Luka Doncic, and didn't know about what he was doing until the very last minute of that trade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And there were some folks talking about how, man, would the Warriors think about – maybe even moving Draymond to relieve pressure from those dynamics to make Kevin more comfortable to come to the Warriors. That's the kind of stuff they were looking at.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I find that admittedly hilarious, and I like Danny a lot. I'm not trying to put salt in the wound. But the idea – it's a real thing around the league that people believe – Danny won't trade certain players to certain teams based on old rivalries from back in the day. Like Knicks, like, no, we're not doing that. Like, so Danny's old school.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And I'm pretty confident that had he known that he was going to help gift wrap Luka Doncic to the Lakers, he might've ducked out of that deal. I love that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It's crazy. That's how it ought to be, by the way. Have some pride. All right, guys, this has been a great day for us here at the NBA Daily. If you were on the stream, thanks for hanging out. If you weren't, go and check it out. The YouTube channel is pretty fun. Sam, thank you so much. We've leaned on you like a crutch for this entire trade season. So thank you so much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I hope you're taking some time off for All-Star or at least after All-Star. So thanks for hanging out with us. Appreciate it. For Zena Kata, I'm Dave DuFour, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for hanging out with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But when Kevin decided clearly to broadcast the level of disinterest and discontent that would be there if he went to the Warriors, that was a game changer because the level of uncomfortableness went up for the Warriors. They had to then figure out, okay –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
That option that had all that history and basketball-wise, obviously, you would just put Kevin right in and get back to doing what they did a few years ago. That's off the table. Then they turned to Jimmy. And really, it's, I think, a win-win for both sides. I still think Jimmy Butler is one of the best players on the planet. Take all the drama away.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
He's an incredible ballplayer who, honestly, if you talk about making the most of your talents, he's on my short list all time. For sure. And the Warriors... Give him this extension that really is one additional year because he declines the option for next year, has a year after that. So you are talking about two and a half years potentially.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, that's the contract relationship where we're going to see what what Steph and Draymond and Jimmy can do. But it was a pretty interesting path to get there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Right. To me, Zena... The optics, there's just enough there where they can say, oh, no, we have young guys that are going to improve and we'll see if we can get a new deal done for Kaminga this summer. And so you can sort of check the young box in the future box.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But where I land on this and where it feels like they landed is that one way or another, Steph Curry is going to one day not be on your team anymore. And when that day comes, the best case scenario of whatever strategy you come up with right now is going to pale in comparison to what you had in him and what you did with him. And so that leads you to say – All right. Jimmy's crazy. He's nuts.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in dysfunctional ways. But, you know, I was in the bubble when he took the heat to the finals. And like that dude was a monster. And that dude, when he's motivated early in the Miami years. Incredible. I mean, if you would have given him one more guy, then, you know, I think they put a better fight up against the Lakers. Yeah. So he's 35. I get that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Uh, he does take very good care of his body. He's going to be motivated. Uh, you know, I think it could be a good fit. I kind of like the fire when you talk about spark and competitiveness, my God, Jimmy Butler and Draymond green. Are you kidding me? Shooting is, you know, something I think in the buyout market, they got to start trying to find some shooters.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
They've gone from splash brothers to, you know, cannibal brothers. Uh, So I, you know, yeah, that's better job, Dave. But you know, I'm kind of digging it for now. I think it'll be fun to watch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Yeah. Let's talk about the KD side of this, because when the reports came out that Jimmy Butler wanted to go to the suns, I don't know if you were like me. I mean, you you're more plugged in than I am. So maybe you weren't as blind as I was, but I thought, Oh, Kevin Durant wants Jimmy Butler to come play. And they're going to try to get these guys together.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Welcome to the NBA Daily. It's trade deadline day. So we got Sam Amick to break down all the big moves from the last 24 hours and the fallout ramifications. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. Good morning, Sam. Although it's afternoon, let me not pretend like we're not talking right after the trade deadline. This is probably going to go out pretty fast. This is an emergency podcast.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But then we wind up in this situation where to get Jimmy Butler, the Suns were going to have to get rid of Kevin Durant. And that to me seems absurd. And apparently there's like issues now in Phoenix where KD is not necessarily happy. But how did that happen? Like, how did you get to the point where the Suns are actively shopping Kevin Durant around?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
We just finished the live stream. If you caught us there, thanks for hanging out with us all day. It was a pretty good time. Sam, I know you're the busiest guy on the planet right now, so let's jump right in. Jimmy Butler, he's now a warrior. We thought he was going to go to Phoenix. That didn't work out. How did this happen?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So the sense I get is that, and you nailed the breakdown there, Dave, because it was supposed to be Jimmy to Phoenix with Kevin. And then you started realizing that if the Suns didn't get Jimmy, that there was, beneath the surface, there was a level of impatience or frustration that the team was feeling from Kevin in some form.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And I'll be honest, it's funny, as long as I've covered Kevin, I've joked in the past couple of days with colleagues, And I like and respect Kevin, and we have all learned how sensitive he can be at times to being represented publicly with his feelings and his emotions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So all I'm saying is I'm not speaking for how Kevin felt, but the Suns and people around the NBA were getting intel that Kevin might be available if they don't get Jimmy. So the idea was that he's not satisfied with the Suns. He was hopeful that they would get Jimmy, and then he would have renewed hope. And once that wasn't going to happen, this is the part that I love.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
There were strong indications that Pat Riley was kind of sitting up in his chair a little bit and going, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. If the Warriors are going to get Kevin Durant, I think I want Kevin Durant. I think I'm going to swoop in and take Kevin and box the Warriors out and go that route.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
In fact, as we sit here on our podcast, one of Kevin's producers, whose name is escaping me, I've talked to him before, but one of his closest kind of Friends in the media space had tweeted out a picture of Kevin in a heat jersey or put it on IG. And so that got people's attention, you know, and so that's the sequence of events.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And now I don't know how far you guys want to go down the Kevin Durant road, but certainly as you want. Well, I mean, I wrote the other day that the Warriors were not alone and talked about Dallas and the fact that they made the trade for Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And, you know, myself and another one of my colleagues, David Aldridge, had multiple people telling us that Dallas had their eyes on KD as a possible, you know. Domino 1 was AD. Domino 2, what about KD? And they didn't expect that to be something that would unfold at this deadline because, again, people didn't think Kevin would be available. So I think that's worth watching in the summertime.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Another team that I hit on was Houston. Now, admittedly, man, Houston's always a tricky one because – They feel so good about what they have now, where they're going, that their message had been, we want to see this group through at least until the summer. But leading up to the deadline, there were some indications that they were kicking the tires on Kevin.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Now, admittedly, when we wrote our piece, You know, they were messaging immediately, like, I don't think we're, you know, a home for KD. So that is a case where the dynamics are interesting. GM Rafael Stone is there, Coach Ime Odoka. I definitely get the idea that, you know, I think there's just people in the room talking about this. But Houston became part of the conversation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Guys, thanks for having me. I think you're as busy as I am. I just saw you on the live stream and now you're on the pod. So appreciate you joining me here. I mean, listen, it's funny if you go back a couple of weeks on the Jimmy Butler front. Myself, Marcus Thompson, Anthony Slater had detailed in a story how the Warriors. seemingly did not have interest in Jimmy Butler.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Now, if you look at the summertime, and we'll see how Phoenix plays the rest of the way, I think it's 100% fair game to say, you know, You know that the the monitoring of Kevin Durant is now on a whole different level with people wondering, you know, what's going to happen there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
They just – the Suns, they're pretty – I mean, so far, they've never signaled a willingness to get off of Devin Booker. So, yes, and I'm glad you mentioned that, Zena. The idea was that Houston was going to essentially do like a routine check-in on Devin because it's widely known how much they think of him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Devin is the type of guy that, largely because of not only talent, resume, but age, that his age is much more in line with what they're trying to do. And like I'd written a couple times, the Durant thing was unlikely because same idea with James Harden previously is that they're trying to keep the timeline on a certain track. But yeah, Booker not available.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Don't believe the Durant discussion even happened. And now Houston is perfectly content moving forward to see what this group can do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Guys, stick around. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, I'm going to ask Sam about the Lakers and if he agrees that they're now actually championship contenders. So the Lakers shocked and have kind of muted Super Bowl week by trading for Luka Doncic Saturday night. And they weren't done. They picked up Mark Williams, good young center from the Hornets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
They get this, you know, floor spacing, like vertical spacing, big to pair with Luka Doncic. They are serious contenders now in the West just by adding Luka Doncic. But now they've got this perfect fit. And offensively, I think they're going to be a pretty big load.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
How did the Mark Williams trade come about for the Lakers and like, were they, were they thinking about other guys or was this the guy that they had their eye on the whole day?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
First of all, Dave, I got to rib you a little bit, my friend. Like, man, how many times have we said on paper, like, this is a perfect fit and it's going to be great. And the Lakers famously had the Sports Illustrated cover, like, this is going to be fun with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash and Kobe and all that. So I'm going to reserve judgment on paper.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It looks good. Luka's coming off a calf injury. You know, I think his general health obviously has been a hot topic lately. Mark Williams, I like the addition. Some health concerns with him that, you know, people have obviously talked about his struggles on that front. But yeah, the roster looks fantastic. I love, absolutely love Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
what i've been hearing and i have not been to la since the trade but um from here hearing from lebron about his headspace in relation to luca um that clip from the game the other night with luca on the bench when lebron just goes beast mode through the lane and finishes and one looks at luca and says basically this is what we do you know like that sort of Chemistry could be a lot of fun to watch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So I'm still a little bit in shock that this deal went down. To your question about getting Williams, you know, before the trade, Lakers obviously already on the hunt for a big – at that time it was to satisfy – well, I shouldn't say that. We didn't know at that time. We thought it was to satisfy Anthony Davis' desire to play at the four spot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And we had information and insight from top to bottom. You're talking ownership, front office players. There were certainly people in the building who thought it might be a good idea, but really in Warriors world, as Zena knows really well, where the prominent voices there matter so much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But considering the Luka discussion dates all the way back to February 7th, that was not the case. They had talks with Houston about Steven Adams. No deal gets close there, just not enough on the table. We heard names like Robert Williams out of Portland. Jonas Valanciunas, although I, you know, pre-deadline or pre-Luka trade, been told that he was too kind of plotting for their preference.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So once you get Luka, then, you know, I would love to have seen their list. And who knows, maybe I could still track it down. The list of lob prets and these types of players, because, you know, Luka's skill set is so unique and so dynamic that, you know, you knew what kind of player you wanted.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, defensively, some concerns here, but offensively, I think a wonderful fit in the vein of Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford. You know, we've seen how much damage Luka can do with guys like that. So, you know, kind of like the Warriors, I'm fired up to see this team too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So I wasn't on board with this, but the most recent obvious one that has become an absolute disaster is Paul George going to Philly. Yep. Like when Paul went to Philly, that was I think if we had a rotten tomatoes gauge, it'd be like a solid 80 percent, you know, like that. People were digging that move. One that I wasn't on, and this is the inverse of your question, Zena, is Kyrie to the Mavs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
the degree to which his energy issues impacted his play. Cause the Spurs had fallen off. And some of the Spurs fans who are watching every single game have already jumped in my timeline and said, we could see this for a while. This was like a, a conversation topic among Spurs fans. Like what is going on with Vicky looks more winded than normal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
So the, you know, the short term though, is like, if they were headed toward, you know, not being in the playoffs anyway, like, You know, their future is just as bright when you talk about bringing Wemby back, bringing De'Aaron Fox back. Obviously, you know, he pushed his way there largely because of the chance with Wemby. You know, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, all these guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And by the way, two first-round draft picks in this June draft. You know, they've got Atlantis pick. and they have their own. So, you know, they're going to come back even stronger. I am very curious, as a quick aside, you know, and this is maybe worth a whole pod down the road, you know, who's going to be coaching the Spurs next year?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I think their questions remain about Greg Kopovich's health, his future. You know, Mitch Johnson has done a nice job as interim, but a lot of rumors flying around about maybe a change happening there. So lots to be figured out, and I do still think a bright future for Wemby and the Spurs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
yeah i mean it's a fair question dave i just don't know first and foremost they got to get clarity on the medical stuff like when you know can they can they pinpoint when the clot began forming why it was forming uh you know without that clarity it's going to be tough to attach it to certain trips But everything you're highlighting is fair.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I mean, again, kind of online doctor degree here, but reading about deep vein thrombosis, it can certainly be exacerbated by travel and by airplane rides. And so we'll find out, I guess, if those are dots that are fair to connect. You know, and again, Victor's perspective is going to be really interesting here because we all know our systems better than anybody.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I just want to learn more about when did he start not feeling like himself? You know, and we'll see how he sees it at some point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I mean, I don't know, Zena, what the takeaway would be for me if I was one of those guys, because on the one hand, you know, each situation we've seen like this, you know, and Dave, you highlighted Chris Bosh and, you know, Oscar Thompson, Christian Coloco, there's some other ones.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
you know those all kind of independently felt like outliers i mean i guess that's the nature of of a blood clot right is that it's it's very very difficult to figure out um the whys and the hows and the wins of something like that so i if i was a player i think my focus would probably just be on the idea that for one this particular young superstar
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
has captured the attention not only of media and fans, but of his peers. In my column that is out on The Athletic now, I talk about how that whole idea of who's going to take the torch next has been something where Vic feels like the only guy who really wants to grab it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Anthony Edwards comes out this week and tells the world that he doesn't want to be that guy and even said, that's what we got win before. That's what they got win before. You know, some other guys have tried and fallen a little bit short, at least to this point. You know, you got John Moran and the fact that injuries and his PR fall off has been pretty steep.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And he kind of fell out of the running for that unofficial job. You got Zion Williamson with his injuries and some of his PR stuff. Luka Doncic, you know, like good candidate, but an imperfect candidate for that role. SGA is probably the one guy that right now his star is as bright as anybody's. But Wemby...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
added ads i shouldn't be saying past tense adds that international element the combination of charisma confidence um and you know culturally as well at a time when the league is trying to grow you know uh well beyond the american borders and they have been for decades but this is a a new chapter you know they have
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
investments in interest in trying to start a new league in europe that lines up very well with having wemby as the face of your of your your franchise and of your league all of those things made him so unique not just on the court but off and i think even his peers the other players out there are probably just looking at that and wondering you know what it means for him going forward
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Thank you for having me, guys. The podcast that none of us wish we were doing. Yeah. You know, Victor was on the ascent doing incredible things. I decided to rock the Paris Olympics hat today in honor of the young man who we all want to be healthy and happy going forward. So
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
My understanding is, to your question, Dave, in terms of how it happened, I don't know the exact timeline, but he has been feeling low energy for quite some time now. And it sounds like it might be even a matter of weeks before the All-Star break. Complaints about low energy, confusion about low energy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Gets to All-Star weekend, obviously took part, had his controversial strategy with Chris Paul and the skills competition on Saturday night, and then ends up playing in the two different versions of the All-Star game on Sunday. 13 combined minutes, still feeling behind the scenes, low energy. Then decides. All right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And he even said to reporters, you know, I'm going to spend a couple of days not thinking about basketball. And his hope at that time was to go on a two day vacation of sorts and to finally get his energy back. But when he got to the end of that little stretch of time and still wasn't feeling like himself, then the alarm bells were going off.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
even more than before they began the testing process and thankfully found something that if not detected could have certainly been a lot worse i would never pretend to be a doctor on this show or any other but you know it's not a real complicated problem you're talking about a blood clot
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
that if it were to continue growing or being in his system, it could break free, and the life-threatening part potentially is that it can go within his system down to his lungs, and at that point, it could be an embolism, and that would be the absolute worst-case scenario. So glad they found it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
The Spurs are signaling optimism as it relates to him being ready at the start of next year, and they do feel like they avoided something that could have been a lot more serious.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Yeah, it was kind of wild in terms of just our jobs and how, you know, you're to a certain extent, you're a prisoner of kind of where your head is at when certain news happens. And so I'm literally sitting on my couch, had just finished the sixth and final episode of Court of Gold, the Netflix doc that chronicled not just Team USA, but all the teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And I mean, probably four or five minutes after the end of the documentary, which I absolutely loved and which I need to highlight the Six episodes finishes with Victor Wimbanyama as the focal point, as the dramatic mic drop where Team USA wins gold. They have footage of Victor behind the scenes with tears welling in his eyes, getting spoken to by Boris Diaw, the French team GM.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Everybody's trying to lift Vic up because he's devastated that they lost to the Americans in the gold medal game. And it was such great insight. to the competitor that he is, to the care factor that he has. And then he then, they cut to the scene where Vic is talking to the media after the gold medal game loss. And he says, I'm learning and I'm afraid for everybody else.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And they said, well, who are you talking about? The NBA or the rest of the world? And he said, everybody. You know, and so it was like this dramatic, like, damn, like this guy is coming next. So, man, like from a mental standpoint for me to be watching that and just going, oh, that was some good storytelling. That was a fantastic doc.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And then to see this awful news where, you know, you're looking at a big time setback for a guy that that is obviously on the ascent is unfortunate, to say the least.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I mean, truthfully, you know, I mean, this I don't want to downplay any of it. But now that we know and let's really hope that it's safe. Yeah. Healthy is good. You know, I can make an argument that it's a setback, honestly, for the fans. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
folks who wanted to see him finish his year, who, you know, expected to see him win his first defensive player of the year award, which he's now no longer going to be eligible for. The Spurs had fallen a bit in the standings. I am very interested whether it's, you know, next few weeks or next few months, whenever Victor speaks to hear his perspective on the,