CHECKMATE

[00:00:03] Yes, you are now listening to the sound of Sports Reports As Ordered, chilling in here with 2-5, wanting my movement like Larry Davis, guitar sounding like Parliament, going left so much you thought I was south of all. Watch out Deontay, here comes the hook. And then of course I got with me the one and only, a world renowned born in Texas, raised in Virginia, representing everything New Jerusalem.

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[00:00:59] What up? You know what I'm saying? Do not bring feelings to a fact fight. Don't do it. Tonight, we got a whole lot of basketball for you. We're going to save football for next week. So, do me a favor out there. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. Sir. Sir. So, Mr. Logical. There is a lot going on in the sports world. There's a lot going on in the NBA.

[00:01:29] So, we were talking about Jimmy Butler the other day. What's on the table for him? Where is he going to end up? And now we got a new name entered the chat. Apparently, De'Aaron Fox wants out of Sacramento. Should I be surprised? You shouldn't be surprised. It's been kind of precedent that the NBA has allowed for the last. The Boston Three Party was a trade deal between GMs.

[00:01:55] I'm going to say LeBron, D-Wade, Chris Bosch going to Miami in 2010 was a little bit more orchestrated. But they were all, like, out of their contracts and they were just allowed to be free agents. I'm going to have to, like, I hate to blame James Harden because I don't think that's the word I want to use. But I'll allow it.

[00:02:20] James Harden is probably, like, the, as I go back, I think his decision to get out of Houston. Because if you think about it, Houston had John Wall on the roster. They had Boogie Cousins. They had probably, I think Trevor Reeves was still on the roster. Maybe Eric Gordon was still on it. And James Harden. We had the whole fat suit theory. Like, did he come back?

[00:02:50] Was he actually heavy or was he just wearing layers in his warm-ups to look bigger? Because, like, maybe he looks slimmer in a Brooklyn uniform. But the way he forced himself to Brooklyn and then from Brooklyn forced himself to Philly and then from Philly kind of forced himself to L.A. The issue for me with Darian Fox, we talked about, is, like, there's not a lot of teams.

[00:03:19] I think after LeBron and KD made their moves, and then we could think about maybe some of the OKC moves where Kawhi, you know, kind of extracted Paul George out of OKC to get him to L.A. I think NBA GMs were looking around like, I don't know how this benefits my team. Because that was back when me and you used to have the conversation about the big market versus small market.

[00:03:48] So every big market, Miami was getting players. Boston was getting players. L.A. Even, I mean, the Clippers were getting players. The Lakers were getting players. The Lakers, you know, they pull A.D. from New Orleans. And then, like, the draft was coming around and, like, some big, you know, top one, number one picks were moving in certain places.

[00:04:09] But I just felt like the NBA was looking around like, yo, we are literally losing out because all of these guys want to go to big markets. Right. And then when it wasn't working, I wasn't going to get bet. It's not working. Dallas beating Miami was like, OK, at least it was flashy for the year. They had the heaters, but Dallas still won.

[00:04:34] So if you had another guy that was on the precipice of being a free agent, he can look at it like, I don't need to go to Miami. I don't need to go to one of these teams that's kind of already kind of stacked. I can go somewhere else because Dallas beat Miami and then Miami went on a run and then LeBron with the Cleveland. That team was kind of stacked. And then for some reason, the Knicks traded him, Shumpert and J.R. Smith, which was the exact pieces he needed.

[00:05:01] Like, if LeBron got two guys like Shumpert and J.R. Smith right now, they'd be the exact pieces he needed in 2025. So the fact that they did that when they made the trade was always weird to me. But I think the NBA, like I thought about baseball. I thought about baseball post strike. After the strike, baseball was baseball's always been America's pastime.

[00:05:29] That phrase America's pastime, it's not it's not it's not a bogus phrase. The same thing with Dallas with America's team. Dallas was built to be America's team. Midwest team, but they were on live early in the games and they had the glitz and the glamourers and the cowboys. They were designed to be America's team. Baseball being America's pastime was a real thing. And I remember after the strike when these guys started hitting the home runs.

[00:05:55] Ray Anderson, Lenny Dykstra, again, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Canseco was kind of on each end of that. But it worked out and baseball leaned into these guys breaking these all time records.

[00:06:12] But when those guys faded and then the obvious punishments had to come down, like they couldn't go 10 years ignoring that guys are going from 195 pounds to 245 pounds in the offseason. Yeah, what was it like Brady Anderson with 50 home runs and then he only had like one other season with 20 or something? I think Lenny Dykstra had like 34 home runs at the All-Star break one time. He was a shortstop. You know what I mean?

[00:06:42] Like John Kruk? Yeah, it looked like a guy who hit home runs. He was a dude with a beer gut. Those guys hit home runs back in the early 90s baseball. But when you had dudes 5'7", 5'8", 5'9", banging out 32 home runs before July 30th. You know which? I always wanted the bat like Mo Vaughn. I like the Sheffield thing, but I couldn't get the bat all over. So me, I just did this a lot.

[00:07:11] I just moved my wrist a lot. But I was a single hitter. Like I hit a single stretch to a double. It was a small hit. I think the NBA, because they've been a star-based league for at this point, we're going to call it 44, 45 years. Larry, you know, Bird Magic, that's been the face.

[00:07:36] Because the Celtics were bad in the middle of the run, but Bird Magic never faded. No matter how bad the Lakers got when they were down, no matter how bad the Celtics got, the phrase Magic Bird still worked. And I think a lot of NBA teams just leaned into player, I don't even want to call it happiness. Player demand.

[00:08:06] Okay, okay. Whatever the players demanded, I think the NBA leaned into that because you had so many guys at their prime. From Russ, KD, Harden, Steph, Clay, Draymond, Kyrie, Kevin Love was a guy. Mello was still a guy. Kobe was still in the league. You had NB coming on. You got Ben Simmons towards the tail end of Kobe.

[00:08:34] It felt like the baton was always being passed to another guy that was going to take it around the track. Now, you got four guys just running laps like it's relayed for life. Well, see, the only thing that makes the NBA different today than it was in yesteryear is that there's so many people doing some of these things.

[00:09:00] So, like, back in the day, right, everybody talks about Jordan would have never teamed with Isaiah Thomas and, like, all that kind of stuff like that. But when you go back and look at it, imagine Johnson got Paul Westhead fired. You know, if you bring it back up into the 90s, Penny Hardaway pretty much got Brian Hill fired. You go through the early 2000s, middle 2000s, you got Dwight Howard getting Stan Van Gundy fired. So the player empowerment thing has always been a thing.

[00:09:28] That awkward press conference up against the wall. I know. I know. So the player empowerment has always been a thing. It was just that usually it was just what you would consider to probably be the best of the best that was doing it. Now, when it filters down to someone like, say, a Black Brad, Bradley Beal, for those not in the know, you know, De'Aaron Fox and those guys, you know, first of all, go UK. Okay, Coach Calipari, you getting your ass whooped tomorrow and Rupp.

[00:09:56] But anyway, so, you know, as I look at De'Aaron Fox, he did it a little bit differently than some of these guys do it. Because remember, when LeBron went to Miami, it was pretty much quiet. You had people like Stephen A. Smith and Chris Broussard who were making statements like, hey, I think Miami's a player. But for the most part, LeBron kept out of the rest. His contract was wrapped up. Like, he did seven years in Cleveland. But I'm just saying, as far as how he did it. It was set up probably 18 months earlier. Right. But ultimately.

[00:10:25] They talked about it at the Olympics, allegedly. They had, you know, it was like two years in the making. But I think if Cleveland had done better, maybe he could have got those guys coming to him to Cleveland. But it was like. I don't think they were coming. I don't think you were getting Wade to leave Miami. If you, if Cleveland, if Cleveland, keep in mind, he already, Dwayne Wade already had a finals MVP in the championship. LeBron had already been to the finals before the 2008 Olympics. Right.

[00:10:54] Now, you figure between the 2008 Olympics and the day of the decision. If any of those seasons would have ended with Cleveland in the finals, like from the day they went to the Olympics, like the day they landed in Spain to the, you know, until the day the decision was made. I think if Cleveland had a finals run in that window, I believe you can get Bosh.

[00:11:24] I think LeBron would have enough leverage to convince those two to come there because it's like, yo, we've had 2007 NBA finals run. We just had another one. Win or lose. Winning it probably would have helped. But those guys were at the pinnacle of their position. They were the sought after free agents. They were the sought after guys.

[00:11:52] They were the guys that were going to carry this baton, this proverbial baton around the track. These current crapper guys are just getting paid. Like they are the creme de la creme. And it's like, you're not driving the needle nearly as much as these guys when they were getting their, not even like the same amount of money. Like I think Bradley Bill got like, say, like, get 255.

[00:12:21] That's a crazy high amount. When LeBron went to Miami, they got 110 each. Because they took a pay cut to make it work. They took a $10 million pay cut. They could have got 120. Yeah. But even then, it was only 110. It was like four years, 110. Whereas Bradley Bill did four or five years, 255. Those guys, I think they're kind of looking at those checks thinking like, oh, I'm one of these guys. I'm like, you're not quote unquote one of them ones. I hate that phrase.

[00:12:49] See, I feel like every time the NBA tries to fix something, they just make it worse. Because after stuff like that started happening, they came out with the, if you sign the max with your current team, you get that fifth year. And you get, I think it's something like. I think that was a smart deal. It wasn't. But I'm going to tell you why. Because when we go back and look at it, this is how you end up with situations like Bradley Bill. Where. The five year deal. And in 18 months, he's already. Yeah. Right.

[00:13:18] That's not the intention of the rule because he got the money. And with that, with his, I'm not sure if this works like that with everyone's. But with his, he got the no trade clause included as well. So when you look at Aaron Fox. He got a special deal because I think Washington was over a barrel. They were desperate. Yeah. And they had. Because they just lost John Wall. And you remember, I said they should have let him walk then. You know, I said that. You know what I mean? But. You got to start. You got to start your rebuild somewhere. It's like. There's only so much hurricane damage you can fix in your house. Like, listen. Right. Turn it down.

[00:13:48] Turn it down to the foundation and just keep the property. Right. The team. And build it back up. But it was like. No, no, no, no. I think I can see it in his closet. I like the way that De'Aaron went about it, though. Because. He's extension eligible. You know. And he's not a free agent until after next season. But he came into this season and said, I'm not signing the extension because I want to see how this works. So he didn't say, yo, give me money right now.

[00:14:17] And then by the trade deadline or whatever, I'm going to be raising hell. He was just like, let me see how it goes. Because we talked about it. There were rumors before the season started that he was real close with Bam Adebayo. And there was a chance that he might try to force his way to Miami. So then it comes out. He wants to go to the Spurs. He wants to play with Wemby, which forces the Spurs to make a decision now. Because you got a De'Aaron Fox who's out here averaging 25 points. But now you got a Steph Castle.

[00:14:46] And a lot of people are like, well, he's only averaging 11. He's a rookie. If you look at the numbers, his rookie season looks just like De'Aaron Fox's. But he has more potential because he has the defense side of it. He has the long arms. So he brings a different value to the game besides just scoring. Especially when you're on a team with Wemby. So the Spurs, so far, it sounds like they're not wanting to include Steph Castle. So now you might have to get these other teams involved.

[00:15:14] But now a team like the Hawks, Jalen Johnson, my most improved player. There goes my money. He's out for the season now. But now the Hawks are allegedly looking at Brandon Ingram. You know, then you start getting. But the problem is, so the problem is, is that, you know, going back to Jimmy Butler for a second. Now that Bradley Beal has that no trade clause. You know, it's been rumored and speculated that Miami doesn't want Bradley Beal.

[00:15:44] So Chicago said, okay, let us get in here. We got a Zach Levine. We'll take Bradley Beal. But then Bradley Beal said, nah, Chicago too cold. You know what I mean? They're not a winning team. You're playing your doors. Yeah. It's so great. It's probably the biggest market in America. It's probably regarded, like I was watching Colin Carhart. He's moving to Chicago from L.A. It's probably highly regarded as one of the greatest cities in America.

[00:16:12] And by default, if you're one of the greatest cities in America, you're pretty much one of the greatest cities in the world. Right. So for Bradley Beal, it'd be like, nah, it's too cold. Like, dog, just get a jacket and a Uber. Yeah, Milwaukee's on the table because Milwaukee. This is fucking cold. It's in the same block. Yeah, I mean, it's like an hour and a half away. But, you know, I call it bootleg Chicago, first of all.

[00:16:34] But, you know, but at the same time, like Milwaukee is theoretically closer to a championship than Chicago is, even though I don't think Milwaukee's close to a championship. So De'Aaron Fox now. I don't think most of these teams that are looking. I don't think most of the players who are looking to force their way out of their situation to other situations. They're looking at it like, like you're not a GM.

[00:17:00] You have no idea what this team's going to look like when you get there. And the teams have won championships. We if we go back the last five years, there's a level of superstar level continuity that you don't just create by being traded to San Antonio in February. Right. Right. You know, playoffs are in April. Right. April. It's you.

[00:17:24] You play 40 and 50 games with your current team of people you practice with in the offseason and it didn't go well. And we've seen this before, right? Like Martin went to Philly, you know, like they they fizzled out in the playoffs and then people said no. But they only played 40 some odd games together. Next year is the year that this is going to take off. And it didn't. You know what I mean?

[00:17:48] So so that's where like the NBA is in a tight place because you want the players to stay home for the most part. Like, you know, go back to your magics and your birds like you were talking about earlier. But, you know, you incentivized it by adding that fifth year and some extra money. But now guys have got hip to the game that they can just get the money and run. So and that's where Bradley Beal, a player like Bradley Beal, messes it up. They messed it up by pretty much.

[00:18:19] Think about it like this. You got. You have a kid, teenage kid. They got two households. And one parent's like, listen, now you're going to be here at 10 at the latest 9.59. You in the house locked in. I want to check your homework, whatever, whatever, whatever. And then you got the other parent on the weekend is like, now you can come in by midnight. You know, I'll let your other parent deal with the homework.

[00:18:50] A lot of NBA players are like, now I want to go stay with the weekend parent because it's all fun over here. And I think I think the fun I'm going to have here is going to translate to the things that I want ultimately as goals. It's like more than likely the strict parent is going to lock you into success, stability. The Denver Nuggets. You got the Boston Celtics. OKC has been pretty consistent with their team and how they built their team.

[00:19:20] Milwaukee's been pretty solid by not really. They haven't made any crazy moves. I think getting Dane was one thing, but you can kind of move other guys in the place of the guys you lost for Dane. But I think a lot of their problems has been those guys they kept. They've gotten older than injuries. You know, an injured 26-year-old might miss six games. An injured 29-year-old, it could be 12 to 16 games.

[00:19:48] And they're talking about trading more than Portis. But I think they're two years beyond it because they try to keep the stability. And I think so many teams are doing this, but when they look at the success of other teams, they don't step back and say, all right, that team has success.

[00:20:09] These are the elements that they excelled at that were the ingredients to their success. They just look at success and say, how come we can't do that? But they don't look at like, if you look at Boston, Boston drafted their two superstars.

[00:20:31] And everybody else that they put around their superstars either plays great defense, shares the ball well, or shoots three well, shoots the three well. There's not one guy on Boston that dribbles the air out of the ball. There's no James Harden there. I'm not knocking Kyrie, but right now there's no like Kyrie or Luka player that comes in.

[00:20:58] There's a bunch of guys that you got your two superstars as you drafted and a bunch of guys you can build around those two superstars. A lot of teams don't have that dynamic. Like OKC, they made a trade to get SGA from L.A. with the PG trade and everything else. And then when they went to the playoffs last year, they were the youngest team to win a playoff round because they were like, you know what? Our best player is 25.

[00:21:27] Let's surround him with talent that's under 25. We could play this certain style, whereas Houston went out and paid Dylan Brooks and Fred Glynn Fleet in the same offseason. I just want you to know, Dylan Brooks last week, he hit 10 threes and ended up with 36 points in a game, by the way. That's dope.

[00:21:55] They're paying like a hundred something million dollars that they didn't need. They could have taken any one of those guys that they already had on the roster, mixed it with Idoka, and then made it work. But they made their team half young, half old, and the old part's getting all the money. Right. And while we're talking about the NBA real quick, let me shout out Oklahoma City and Cleveland.

[00:22:23] You know, we're about almost 50 games in, both still under double-digit losses. But the Houston Rockets are right on OKC. They're only five and a half back. You know, don't play SGA on a Wednesday. You know, last Wednesday he put up 52. This Wednesday he put up 54, even though they lost the Golden State in that game. But Mr. Logical, the slam dunk contest was on my mind. Okay. And, you know, so I was like, okay, Mack McClung is back going for the three-peat.

[00:22:53] Okay. Like, I ain't necessarily here for Mack McClung, but you know what's up, Mike? You know what I'm saying? But we here, you know what I'm saying? One Mike podcast, Mondays and Thursdays, y'all. You know, but like I was looking at it, and I was like, who else is going to be in the slam dunk contest? So I saw Zach Levine playing around in the gym, talking about should I make a comeback? And I'm like, yeah, as long as you don't tear your knee again.

[00:23:17] But so far, so far for the slam dunk contest, I've seen Mack McClung. Check. The aforementioned Steph Castle. Check. Young rookie, okay. Matis Buzelas. Check. Another rookie. Personality. And Andre Jackson Jr. Check. Who was my guy from the Milwaukee Bucks that wasn't getting minutes last year, but he's being effective this year, as I said he would.

[00:23:46] And I was just sitting here because for years, right, we've heard people like Stephen A. Smith talk about, why won't LeBron get in the slam dunk contest? And then when I look back at it, but when I look back at it now, and I'm focusing on today, I'm like, why Anthony Edwards ain't in the slam dunk contest?

[00:24:12] Because LeBron didn't do it 12 years ago. John Morant, you know, especially for somebody who had the troubles that he had or whatever you want to call it, that's a great chance. Wade didn't do it 15 years ago. Because these other guys didn't do it. Well, it's, if you think about it on a competitive scale. Okay, think about this. The problem is real quick.

[00:24:40] The problem is the dumbasses out here that if they lose the slam dunk contest, you're going to shame them on social media and they don't want to be embarrassed. Possibly. Possibly. Dumb. You're a millionaire. Go get, go, go lose it. Go lose the slam dunk contest. Think about this. Who gives a fuck? Just win the title. It's, it's group think, but it doesn't make any sense. But it's group think. When I was stationed at Osan, right? I was stationed at Osan.

[00:25:11] Song Tong Alley is right outside the gate. Literally, you walk out the gate. You don't look at the driver. You cross the street because you look at the driver. That means you saw them. They saw you. They're going to keep going. You put your head down. You go across the street. The bars are right there. Bars, clubs. You want to get a suit. You want to get a blanket. You want to get some dirty Air Force ones. You want to do any work. Everything's right there. So I remember curfew was 1 a.m.

[00:25:38] So we would go out the gate like 930. So from about 930 to about 10, you just went to wherever you would go to get your quick shots. And you get your soju kettles. You went to here. You went to this spot. This spot. This spot. You had great soju. Yeah. So then after that, you went to the spot called The Bounce, right? And you got there about 10. The Bounce was like a little hole in the wall spot. They played hip hop. All the Lil Jon. All the dirty stuff. Hip hop. Whatever. All the rowdy shit.

[00:26:08] It was kind of like a cage. And then right at like 11 o'clock, everyone would lead a bounce and go to the roadhouse, which is literally right around the corner. So everyone would lead a bounce, go to the roadhouse, and they were always trying to get in there, get in the roadhouse, do the same thing. But to me, I remember one night the police were sick of the fights. So they blocked people from getting into the roadhouse. So everyone's yelling and trying to get back into the roadhouse. I'm like, yo, let's just go back to the bounce.

[00:26:38] We were doing the same thing that we were going to do with the roadhouse at the bounce. In the NBA, these guys are like, yo, I want to join this team. I want to join that team. I'm like, yo, you could do that same thing you were doing with your current team. You can sit there and be like, yo, this guy's a free agent. Let me get this guy in. Or you can work with the coach instead of getting the coach fired if you don't like him. You can build here. But everybody's like, I want to go here.

[00:27:08] So when it came to the dunk contest, it was like, I'm not doing it because I'd rather be over here in the audience in my expensive outfit versus being on the floor. Like I said, I was thinking the same thing. Like I said, it's like, yo, we could do the same thing over at the bounce. Let's go back to the bounce. We dance, whatever, whatever, curfew come. We got to get back on the yard anyway.

[00:27:34] But it was like, nah, I want to do what everybody else is doing. So, Ja Morant, you look to dunk on people all the time, but you haven't looked to be in a dunk contest ever. Makes no sense. It's an easy victory for you because what he does in his warm-ups, they are winning dunks. I mean, look at Jalen Brown dunks last year. He didn't even need to be in it because his dunks weren't really that good at all.

[00:28:01] But, like, you got guys that are explosive, that can really jump out of the gym. But once these guys decided, like, I'm not doing it because my legacy is wrapped up in this ESPN-built legacy brand ideology, and it never included a dunk contest, it doesn't include the fans. The fans are probably the worst on these guys than the people who like them.

[00:28:28] I'm ready to just get rid of the slam dunk contest altogether. But that's just me, and how's that for a long time? My idea last year was basically pair NBA player with one of these dunkers from YouTube, these dunk academies or dunk app academic groups from YouTube, pair those guys up, have them practice together, give them access to the facility,

[00:28:58] that way for two weeks, you got this regular dunker and the NBA dunker working together. And then when the show comes, because the All-Star game is supposed to be a show, they put on a real show. Because not a lot of people looking at YouTube for slam dunk content. So these guys that are going through their legs twice on East Bay dunks, they could probably teach that to a guy like Ja.

[00:29:27] They could probably teach it to Stephon Castle. They could probably teach it to Mack McGlum. So when it's on the biggest stage in the middle of February, it looks like a real contest. People are lining up to see the three-point contest. It's just people shooting. But Mr. Logical, so in 2026, the NBA looks like what? All right.

[00:29:54] So it says right here, in two years, the NBA. Let's think about this, people. October 2026. Yeah, you're watching the Raiders. When they tip off, you can still watch them. Because Marshawn Linsko be on the sideline. When the NBA tips off in October 2026, that's technically next year. Granted, it's going to be another 25, 26 season in between that.

[00:30:23] But that's next year. So if I'm thinking conservatively, I'm looking at it like this. Let's start from the top. October 2026, NBA marquee matchups. It won't have LeBron.

[00:30:49] It would surprise me if it had KD, Steph, James Harden. He, Joker. I don't think Joker's there. I don't know if Westbrook is still around. He's a draw. I don't know if Jimmy Butler's still there.

[00:31:17] AD might be on his way to the retirement home. AD might be there because I think he's young enough as far as how the calendar looks. I'm just talking about injuries. Injuries. I don't know if I'm talking about guys who. Zion. Healthy. Healthy should be available. Oh, not Zion. Okay. Not Zion. Like healthy. If they're healthy, they should be available. But. Frey Young, Jalen Brunson, Kat, Anthony Edwards. Those guys are there.

[00:31:47] Those guys are still available. But I can't see a situation where any of these guys, any guy in the league right now that's 35 or older finishing out this season. Then playing the 25, 26 season. Then going through all of next season. And playing again October 2026.

[00:32:16] And because the NBA has kind of hitched their wagon to the faces of these guys, they put them on planes and take them to China. They put them in the Olympics. They put them in every commercial. They put in, you know, LeBron made them Space Jam 2 movie. They put these guys in parade. They put them everywhere that they possibly could. I don't see James Harden being an NBA chapman between now and then. Giannis probably won't be one. KD won't be one.

[00:32:46] Steph won't be one. LeBron won't be one. So as far as like. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Before you do that. The Lakers. We saw the report. The Lakers believe. That Chris Paul is the missing ingredient. That's dope. I think they'd be a great ingredient in like a spinach soup or like pumpernickel bread or something. But it's championship. Not going to happen. Your champions are probably going to be.

[00:33:16] I mean, let's keep it a beam. You got Cleveland. OKC. I'm Boston. The Knicks maybe. Maybe. I think the pressure to garden always seems to like it just Thibodeau with the. So like I think Thibodeau kind of like runs their guys down. Maybe after another year, maybe Houston's more of a contender. If they get if they can get off of Brooks and Van Fleet and then give these guys the money they need.

[00:33:46] And neither one of these guys pull like this D. Aaron Fox move where it doesn't start off great. And they want to slide when it gets rocky. Or realistically. Orlando would have to make a move where they pull a guy from like Houston. They're not. They'd have to pull like a young athletic guy. Maybe Detroit keeps their core together. Maybe they start getting better. You get some veterans on the bench. Like you get a guy. Luca and Dallas. But the problem is I think Luca and Dallas.

[00:34:15] Every move they make is going to make them feel as if they are. That person's filling in their championship recipe. And when it doesn't work in the first 30 games, it's going to fall apart. So like and that's and that's what I feel. Maybe Indiana can make a move, but they got to know. Minnesota. Minnesota. Minnesota is going to be one of those teams that make a desperate move.

[00:34:40] They're probably like they're probably already regretting the Julius Randle deal because I don't think the Julius Randle deal made them any better. What happened? How they felt with cat. Have you looked at the NBA standings lately? What we got? So of course OKC. I'm talking about the West right here. So of course OKC is the one seed right now. Houston's five and a half games behind them as the two, right? Memphis is a half game behind Houston.

[00:35:10] Denver at four is three and a half behind Memphis. The Lakers at five are a half game behind Denver. The Clippers are tied with the Lakers. The T-Wolves are a game behind the Lakers and Clippers. Dallas is a game and a half behind Minnesota at eight. The Suns are a half game behind Dallas at nine tied with the Kings and the Warriors. And there goes the old San Antonio Spurs. Two and a half games back. And they're the 12 seed.

[00:35:39] This is nuts. You know, so I think that in 2026, you know, when we get to that point, I think. The Suns should be way higher up. Well, that's what I was about to say. I think that's when the Wimby takes. You shouldn't be slumping. You shouldn't be in the bottom. I think that's when the Wimby era takes off. I think that's when the Wimby era takes off. The problem with the NBA is that I don't know if they're willing to wait until 2026 for it to take off.

[00:36:02] Well, I don't know if De'Aaron Fox, not to bring that back up again, but I don't know if him going there moves the needle in that way. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know what he adds outside of scoring because you got Vassell who's averaging, you know, close to what he's averaging, even though he's not a point guard. You got Steph Castle developing, you know, so I don't know. They still need something else. But the good news is that.

[00:36:29] A lot of guys looking from the outside saying to themselves, oh, I can unlock this with Wimby. Right. Because they have an idea and a thought about how to play the game. But if you look at it ultimately, like, you know. We could get LaMelo with Wimby. And LaMelo. LaMelo's average in 28 points a game. His team is 12 and 32. There's no reason for an NBA team.

[00:36:53] You have NBA talent to be that bad when you have a guy that's dropping 30 points. You need 110 points to win games. I'm not trying to hear that shit as a fan of a team that's 6-41. I'm not trying to hear it.

[00:37:18] I just feel like the NBA, we talked about the contracts. And I think that was a great. They're like the Raiders of the NBA. I think that was a great, like, I mean, fuck you. The NFL just does a better job at making sure teams. Because the NFL likes to take over so many days of the week with, you know, singular games. It's like. Right.

[00:37:43] We are going to put Houston versus Indianapolis on Monday night. Stroud versus Richardson. You two teams, you know it's week 11. These are your two teams. You need to make sure you guys are good enough. So when it gets around to that week, because we can't flex you out on Monday night. We got to play it. So you need to make sure you hold up your end or we won't put you on national TV the following year. Because the NFL will do that.

[00:38:12] So when we start 2026 in this season, that season. Is the NBA going to be playing 10 quarters? 10 minute quarters? 10 minute quarters? I doubt it. I doubt it. The man out here talking about, bro. That impacts guys playing. Contract. That impacts their money. That impacts their scoring, which in turn impacts their money. It impacts the negotiations for owners. Because the owner's going to be like, yo, you're only playing 40 minutes.

[00:38:42] They're like, nah, I'm not doing that. Don't tell Tom Thibodeau that he will play everybody the whole game. Oh, yeah. He's going to hope for overtime every game. You've got an extra minute. Now, I think the NBA, what they're going to do, it has to be something with the salary cap,

[00:39:02] max contract exclusions, or just what the teams can do locally. Because you talked about it with those players saying, hey, you're up for an extension. You are De'Aaron Fox. You play for the Kings. They can offer you five years 300.

[00:39:31] The next team can offer you this. I mean, I don't know the exact number, but I'm going to say something like they can offer you more than four years 220. So the incentive is for you to stay with your current team. We talked about Bradley Bill. He took that incentivized deal and was like a week and a half later. All right, I'm out. I think there's going to be something easy to wear.

[00:40:02] Either you can, as a team, you're like, you know what? We're not going to sign max contracts. We want extra first round picks. So we don't have, we have, you know, you have two max guys out of your 12 man roster. We'll go with that. Simple numbers. 12 man roster. You got two max guys. Max is $50 million a year plus.

[00:40:30] Orlando Magic said, hey, we don't think we have two max guys. So we're not going to, we're going to sign one. Paulo Bancaro, he's going to be our max guy. And then NBA is a guy cool. We'll give you another draft pick after your first round pick. Like if you got 16, we'll give you 16 and 16, eight. You get back to back picks.

[00:40:58] You get the both of your team because you might get it wrong, but at least it has to be. Something to wear. Because right now Jacksonville was what? Third in AFC South and NFL last year, give or take probably third. Yeah. Cause they swept the Titans. So, you know, they, they had a down year. They're going to be able to get their new coach.

[00:41:28] Do ball. Do ball. They're going to be able to get there. I know a top 12 pick. Maybe that guy works out. A couple of free agents because of the money, the money they're allowed. And they could go from six and 11 this year to 11 and six. It happens in the NFL all the time. The Orlando magic.

[00:41:55] Haven't done anything close to that in 20 years. Right. You know, the Clippers tried even with the superstars. It didn't work. Portland's been in that for years. Houston has been a bottom feeder since, uh, since he left. New Orleans, even with the top, that top one pick hasn't worked. So it was like, I think you have. Yeah. Remember he wants to play back to backs, but he works for the Pelicans. It's just.

[00:42:27] Jokic and Luka for sure, but I don't know about the rest lethal. What do we got? After 30. In the 10 minutes? No. Because as a coach, as a coach, I'm going to look at it like. I'm going to give you set. I'm going to give you 14 minutes in the first half. I'm going to rest you for a bunch of time. Then I'm going to get you four or five minutes in the third, maybe six. I'm going to rest you for the last four.

[00:42:56] And maybe I'll play you the last nine or eight of the fourth. Right. Um. So in 2026, are we going to be shopping for newly designed Seattle supersonic hats? Well, we got 30 teams in NBA right now. Me and you discuss Vegas and Seattle as potential locations. Yeah. That would mean you have to move. I don't familiar with Melo.

[00:43:26] You would have to move. In my opinion, I'd move Memphis and New Orleans to the east. Mm-hmm. And then give me Vegas, Seattle. So real quick, I kind of like Minnesota in the east. I like Memphis because of John. Well, no, I like Memphis in the east too, but I think Minnesota instead of New Orleans. I think geographically. I'm not sure exactly how far west Memphis is as far as the state of Tennessee and as

[00:43:55] far as Minnesota is being north of it. No. So I agree with Memphis. And I think that Minnesota is close enough to Chicago and Milwaukee. And, you know, you have like the NFL. You got Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago. But in the west, like New Orleans is close to San Antonio, you know, close to Texas. Close to Texas. Yeah. It's the next state over. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So one of those three, definitely Memphis. I'm moving Memphis to the east and you get your new Vegas dude aces because you got the lady aces.

[00:44:24] You get the man aces or whatever, whatever, whatever you want to call them. You already have the infrastructure in Vegas to make it happen. Seattle has the, they got that Microsoft money through the Seahawks. And I know he owns like his family estate owns the Portland Trailblazers. And you already got Climate Pledge Arena where the Kraken play. Yeah.

[00:44:52] So you have the infrastructure to make it happen. And it's just the NBA has to be honest and be like, yo, do we have the, do we, do we have the attention of the fans to make that happen? So, so, so, so talking about that last question, as we look down the road, so we're talking about 2026 right now. 2026. 2026.

[00:45:17] Like I said, all the, oh, anybody that was a, any, any guy older than 35, that was a primary contender on the NBA or on the Olympic team in 2024. So I don't slander Julius Randall. I just tell the truth and I say the things out loud that people want to say. None of those guys are available.

[00:45:42] So you got Steph, KD, LeBron, who else was a big playmaker? Joel Embiid, not available. I don't see these guys being, not necessarily not available, but I don't see these guys being marquee guys either because of retirement or just, you know, trying. Right, right. And then, then last question.

[00:46:06] So like I said, we're talking about 2026 right now, but if I look at say 2030, if I look at 2030, is there a, another foreign team added to the league? And if so, is that a good thing or not? I don't think foreign teams are necessary. You got enough. Well, I know, I know he brought up, well, I know he brought up Europe. He brought up Mexico, you know, he brought up wanting to expand, you know, the league.

[00:46:36] And I know that. People can't figure out how to get dudes to play back to backs. You need to stop with all this. This was a gerrymandering or whatever, whatever the term is that we've used. It's not going to happen. You're not getting a team in Mexico City. You're not getting a team outside of the lower 48. Best case you got, you got Toronto. We can't get another Vancouver? No. Okay.

[00:47:03] Because you got to keep mind, the reason that, the reason, the NBA's problem is they can't get the small market teams onto TV because the small market teams, for some reason, can't keep their players. There's no reason why Sacramento isn't better. That game seven that they had with Golden State a couple of years ago should have launched them forward.

[00:47:29] But what happens is, very similar to Minnesota, you get a taste of success, you get a little salt on your tongue. And now all of a sudden, you think you're the greatest chef known to GMs, the greatest chef known to owners. And you make all these moves. And then it falls apart. The Julius Randle Minnesota move is not going to help them. Well, apparently the Miami Heat want Julius Randle for some strange ass reason.

[00:47:58] But once again, that just puts that puts Minnesota back in this space where they were two years ago. Instead of just being like, you know what? Fuck the personality conflicts. Can you guys put the round ball on the hardwood paws and score some buckets? Yo. But if you can't do that, like if you can't coach these guys to success after they've already tasted success.

[00:48:25] And that's the thing when we talk about like coaches, when they take over teams at success, like Steve Kerr. Steve Kerr didn't bring the Warriors back. He was like, yo, this is the formula you guys got? How can I push that forward? Minnesota, they were like, oh, this is the formula we have. We got two seven footers. One of them plays defensive player here defense. The other one shoots and rebounds a little bit. 23 and 11, I think, for his career.

[00:48:55] Let's go get the guy that doesn't do either one of those things to pair him up with the guy that could be exposed. Because with Cat being there, if I'm a point guard of San Antonio and Cat is on one side of the paint and Rudy Gobert is on the other side, at least I got to think about, do I want to drive this to the hoop or not? Julius Randle doesn't make you think about that. He's not trying to defend at all. He's hoping you miss.

[00:49:24] He can get the run out and pull up the three. Right. And Steph and LeBron. They made that move. Steph and LeBron are all-star starters because the all-star game is for the fans and fans love holding on like Americans are brand whores. So, you know, even though there might be other people that should be starting, they never will. Those guys didn't ruin basketball. You can't allow somebody.

[00:49:47] It's the fact that these guys are excellent at what they did, didn't ruin basketball. The fact that other people thought they can manufacture that level of excellence ruined basketball. You can't do what I do. You can try to emulate it, but it doesn't work. LeBron not doing a dunk contest is too old. He's 40.

[00:50:13] That argument was great in 2012, but in 2025, it is what it is. He didn't do it. Or cups. Yeah. Like, you know, he didn't do it, but we don't sit around all year long waiting for the dunk contest. I don't give a damn about the dunk contest. It would be dope if guys spent that weekend making it more entertaining, but I'm just as entertaining with the celebrity game. Oh, yeah. This year, real quick. This year is that the new all-star game, right?

[00:50:41] With the four on four or three on three or whatever it is. I ain't watching it, but I think that's what it is. But, you know, all-star weekend can just, I don't know. I don't want to say it can go away because I know how much it means to a lot of people, but the all-star game is basically the Pro Bowl now. So, you know, I don't know. Which is what it should be. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be. What's up?

[00:51:11] Say hello. What up, Rage? It shouldn't be like this showcase where you have to explain to the NBA world what the NBA looks like. It should be fun. It should be a showcase. It shouldn't be taken so serious that we have arguments about who had a better all-star game. That's not what we want. It is an exhibition game. The issue is that the guys in the game don't want to be there.

[00:51:41] They don't want to be there. And the guys who are there a lot aren't going to be in the league going forward. Remember when SGA made his first all-star game, they asked him, like, what could we do to, you know, he was like, pay us more money. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? These guys, it just is what it is. And that's what it's all about. But hey, Sports Reports is Ordered is all about you. And we'll be here October 2026.

[00:52:11] Yes. We are your show. And we will be back on Tuesday with a little bit of football talk because I don't know if you know, but there's a big game happening next, not this Sunday, but next Sunday. Yeah. So, you know, he is the world-renowned Mr. Logical. Do not bring feelings to a fact fight. Don't do it. And I am the unorthodox statistician going left so much. My God, Lethal's got the mojo.

[00:52:42] Check out the one mic Mondays and Thursdays. Check out the pursuit of forever, Residente and his wife. You know, every other Wednesday. Check out Cups and the Gang. Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday. And of course, we're here. Tuesday and Friday. We love you. Check it out. Review, subscribe, share, rate. Do all the free things. Do all the good things. Enjoy your football this weekend.

[00:53:11] Watch the Royal Rumble. We got the Royal Rumble tomorrow. We out. Losing over. It was.