 Run it up, do run it back, run it up, do run it back, run it back, run it up, run it back. Welcome to Daydose of Run It Back. We made it an entire day into the next one. Three of the four of us are wearing shoes right now. What's wrong with you? It's day two. I'm comfortable and they can't tell unless you said something, but you did. I put it on the internet. Thanks. So we're good. Shom Shrani, a stadium insider. Chandler Parsons, Lou Will. We're going to get started right away because yesterday was one of those days where we all went about our business after the show. It's early. And then there was some big news, giant news, rich news, Yanis. I mean, he wasn't suffering before, but now he's doing quite well. A three-year, $186 million extension. Put it out there himself. Bucks and six. Shoms, what are the details of this one? Yeah, like you said, three years, $186 million. And this really came down to a series of meetings Sunday and Monday. He met with the team and with ownership. And I'm told from those around Yanis and those around the team, it really came down to a few factors. The peace of mind, not having the distraction because going into this year, everyone has been talking about Yanis, his upcoming free agency, his decision. He's got a player option for next season. So what happens after that year? Like next year is really the year where his future came into play. So now he's going to go into it with no distraction. Think about it. In 2020, the Bucks go out and get through a holiday when Yanis' future was up in the year. That's early extension. 2023, three years later they get Damian Lillard. He extends again early and hopefully for him, the one, you know, equal aspect of both those years is winning a championship. They won it in 2020. We'll see if they do it in 2023. Also him and his brothers just opened a retail store across the street from Fizerv Forum. Fizerv Arena. Close. So yeah, the Bucks Arena. So I would think that he's built a lot of roots in Milwaukee and now the focus is on trying to make the most out of this pairing with Damian Lillard. This feels big. I mean, look, I still kind of wanted him to go to the Knicks and maybe that could still happen. You know, papers, contracts, whatever. But it feels like it's a good sign for how he feels about playing with Lillard. Is that fair to read? Yeah, 100%. This just, it shows the commitment from both sides. You know, obviously this now he's happy with the Damian Lillard trade and then now it gives him security, it gives the team security. And this is a huge deal. Two million dollars a deal, like a year. It's getting up there. But obviously the show is that he's willing to be there. He wants to win a championship. He's happy with the current roster he has moving forward. And this basically eliminates them being bad, at least for the next couple of years. They're going to be contenders. They're going to be good. But if things do go sideways, he does have that player option and he can still opt out of that and get out of there, you know, in two or three years or whatever it is. But this is a huge sign going forward, obviously, to lock up someone of his talent, of his dad's yours. It's huge for them. And I think it extends the window of championship or bus, you know, it gives them an opportunity to grow as a team, build as a unit, create that camaraderie that's going to be needed going down in those stretches. And, you know, he's just won a championship. You got credit in the bank. So I think it gives them more time. That's a lot of money in Milwaukee. Another thing about Yanis, you get a lot of stuff there. I think we know he loves his money, you know, he loves money. I think he's like 150. I love his money. He's like famously frugal with his money. I think he's been on video saying like everything I'm wearing right now is for free. So I think this is a guy who saw the money. You have a hundred and six, you know, 86 million, 160 million, whatever it is after taxes, you have that amount of money on the line and you're Yanis. He just said, you know what? I'm not going to let this linger. I'm not going to wait another year. I'm just going to sign it now. It's as if the money is never going to be there for him, right? He's just like, I'm just going to get this over with. And also the peace of mind, I think is a big factor because if you, if this season plays out, there's struggling to start the year. His future is back into focus, but now the extension is out of the way. He's not going to be dealing with those questions. His kids are spending that money. He's not touching. His kids, kids, kids. Yeah. Generational wealth. That is, that's, I just like thinking about what would you do first? If I sign a deal like that, what do you do first? What do you buy first? He probably already has everything. You can't go, what about shams? What would he buy first? What would I buy first? Wow. Would you quit your job? Yeah. Would you quit your job? That's my question. Yeah. Would you quit something? No, no, no. I would double down here. I would probably get a house next to Chandler. That's what I would do. Just to bother Chandler. Yeah. Follow you around the world. Okay. That's actually a great image. Yeah. I know. Which compound in Cabo? By the way, this year, since we're back, we are doing a Cabo week. I would love to record the show in Cabo. That would be epic. Okay. I just want that out there forever. The show making it happen. Yeah. Make it happen. All right. We finally have games. I can't believe it's here. I mean, we have to start officially tonight. We get things kicked off with two games. And first up, the defending champs. Of course, it's defending champs. They're hosting the Lakers. Look, we've seen them. We saw them last year. They matched up. Feels like a little time has passed. A couple changes. How do they match up now? Well, I think it's continuity on both sides. But you look at the Lakers. They brought in Gabe Vincent. You go get Jackson Hayes, Tori and Prince Christian Wood. They beefed up that team. And it's not like they brought in another star. They're not star chasing. I think we're Rob Polinka. The Lakers for an office is done. We've gone back to the formula that helped them win that 2020 championship, which is like, we have LeBron James. We have Anthony Davis. Then we have a bunch of high level role players. You have Austin Reeves now, who people look at as a third star, third face type of guy. You extend AD, extend Reeves, extend Hatchimura, extend Vanderbilt. The Nuggets on the other side, they lost Bruce Brown. I think that's a tough loss for them. But I think they're looking at a lot of growth internally. They're doubling down on Jamal Murray. Calvin Booth, their GM just came out the other day in an article and said, we expect Jamal Murray to play like an all NBA player. We want to give him the super max. So they're going to be looking for a lot of internal growth from both him and Nikoli Okig. How much more is he going to do? What a difference a year makes for this Lakers team. What do they look like today compared to a year ago? Lastly, we're talking about Russ O'Wester. Well, here's the thing. Look what they got after getting rid of Russ. Now look what they got. And they spent the first couple of months of last season building basically this team. And they've added some pieces. Like Shyam said, Gabe Vincent, I think that's a huge sign. We know how important he was for the heat last year. How valuable he was in the postseason. Torian Prince, Jackson Hayes, these other role players, they're going to play big minutes for them. And then they brought back guys like Austin Reeves and Rui. But let's not get it twisted. This is LeBron and AD's team. And as big of a year AD needs, they need a healthy LeBron James. And we all know he's getting older. We all know he, we keep talking about, is he going to be his last year? How much longer is he going to play? For them to be a real championship-containing team, he's got to be LeBron. He's got to be LeBron that we know and that dominates night in, night out. But this is a, they're not going to spend time wasting time like they did the first couple of months last year. This is their team. They've had it through camp and they're going to go off and run to a good start. How surprised are we that this is year 21 for LeBron. And he still has such a high expectation level. Isn't that crazy? It's crazy to say that out loud. And watching him, it looks like he's not slowing down at all, bro. I'm excited to see it. Is this the deepest version that he's had since becoming a Laker? I think so. Outside the bubble championship, I think this is an even deeper team. Like the guys we just talked about, they gave in. Way more talented. Yeah, the D'Angelo Russell. You look at their roster. They have players. They are deep. 12, 12, 13 deep. And anybody, any night can be someone different on this team, which is great. So LeBron has said publicly that AD is the face of the franchise. Are we buying that? I think so. Really? Yeah, I think it's time. I think it's time to pass that torch. You know, AD going into his 12th year. You know, usually in between those years, 10 through 12, that's where your peak performances are. That's where you're reaching your prime. So I think it's time for him to give that responsibility to AD and, you know, for the rest of the team to start getting used to his voice being the lead. And like I said, AD, he's the face, right? He is the best player on their team. Like Lou just said, he's in his prime, but they need LeBron James. They have to have a productive LeBron James. AD can't do it himself. And like with the other guys we mentioned, they're going to contribute, but it's going to come down to a healthy those two guys. So he's more like face 1A. Yeah. LeBron's face. LeBron's got to be the face. LeBron's always going to be the face. LeBron's always going to be the face, but I think maybe this is what LeBron meant. Like Andy Davis has to be the best player on the team. Fair. You know, on a nightly basis. Obviously LeBron can have his moments too, but LeBron, again, if LeBron isn't LeBron, if he's not who we know, like this team is not going to, I think, contend for a championship, right? No, LeBron plays 40-50 games this year and they're not winning. I don't think I'm breaking news there, but if he's playing even 1B to Anthony Davis's 1A on a talent perspective, LeBron can do all the leadership and vocally, and Anthony Davis could just lead by example. It's a good situation to have. The Austin Reeves of it all, heck of a story. It's like a Hollywood script. His ceiling is what exactly? I love Austin Reeves. And his ceiling is exactly what he's doing right now. I think his ceiling is him being a consistent 15-5-5. He's not a player that's going to continue to exponentially get better, right? It's not like the potential through the roof with him. He is what he is. He's a great contributor. He's a solid role player. He's going to have nights where he's going to go off and he's going to do what he does in the fourth quarter. He's going to close games for them, but you can't expect that from Austin Reeves. That's not fair. It's not fair to him. It's not fair for the Laker fans to even assume that. He's a really good player and he's got a lot of hype now. He's got his own shoe. He's on Team USA. It's ridiculous. I was undrafted a couple of years ago and he has had a huge glow-up, which puts a bullseye on his back. And the kid couldn't be more humble. He couldn't be more of a pro. But with all that hype, there definitely comes expectations for him. Not only is he on the Lakers. He's playing with the Broad. He's going to be on Primetime. He's now got all this stuff going on in his life. He's got to produce or he is going to get roasted by the fans in the media this year. Yeah, I think it's time. I think it's time that he turns that corner. And like you said, you know, the first couple of years he's playing with house money. Anything that he did well was celebrated. I think now is expected. You know, he got to turn up. And once you get money, you're like, now you have to actually do it. When you get a white guy that all kicks his coverage, everyone loves to talk about it. God, you see so much color everywhere, Chandler. He has learned a couple things. I don't know where he was inspired. This is from the preseason against the Suns, but he is definitely in peak season form with that. What is that? Well, in all fairness, Grayson Allen was guarding him. So there probably was contact or some sort of thing. I mean, Grayson Allen deserves whatever punishment is headed his way at any given moment. But that being said... Did we still have an anti-flopping thing? Yeah. This is going to be a $5,000 plus. This year it's going to be text. Yeah, that's five for sure. This year it's going to be text. What do you get? You get one warning and then it's five. One warning? Is that what it is? Or is it an in-game text? No, it's an in-game text for a flop. But does the player get fined? No. Oh, flop a little. Well, they don't care. Yeah, flop a little. I mean, what do I care? I think guys would rather get fined than those points, though. Here's what I love. You should have left it at the money. Pins. I like when they do the cross-sport flopping. And I will say... This is a fact, okay? Philadelphia Eagles rookie right here, Jalen Carter. He did this Sunday night and he credited LeBron James after the game. I don't know if that's a credit you want. It's not a credit. Yo, I love how he just flailed like that. They always catch the second guy. I mean, that is... that is soccer level right there. Look at this. The fact that he turns around and then it's bad wrestling is what it is. It's like the worst wrestling I've ever seen. All right. So if everybody stays healthy and we're going to start every conversation that way for the foreseeable future. Lou, do you think this is the best last chance? I say that in quotations because we are talking about LeBron James to get a fifth ring? I mean, you never know. I think throughout the history of LeBron's career and especially the Lakers, they've always used the trade deadline to their benefit. You know, if it's not right, it's not right. And they've shown. They'll go out and go get the pieces to give them an opportunity to win. So you never know. Plus 1,300 odds to win it all. I mean, I love the odds but like the teams we've talked about, they've got to go through some real monsters to get there. Real turbulence. Yeah. Yeah, they also have to go through tonight, which kudos to Denver for hosting the Lakers as they raise the banners. I would imagine that's motivation for guys like LeBron, oh, LeBron especially because he's the one that knows more than anybody what it's like out there. Is it tough to watch? I mean, do you think it's tough to watch banners being raised and it ain't you? This is the second year the Lakers are watching. Yeah. They were at the words last night. Especially what the Nuggets did to them in the playoffs last year. Trash talk. It makes it a little bit more sour. Trash talk. And all the back and forth with AD and Malone, all the stuff's been said. I look for an extremely motivated Anthony Davis tonight because there's been a lot of chatter, a lot of talking. They're going to sit there and just watch them celebrate. I expect the Lakers to come out strong. I look forward to LeBron's response. Yeah. He always kind of plays coy, but he goes out and he shows it on the court that he's a little irritated. So I look forward to this game. Then afterwards he admits it. But not before. Not before. Switching gears over to the reigning NBA champs. You mentioned it. Bruce Brown is the big absence. How big is that going to be for the team? I mean, it's going to be big. They feel like with Christian Braun, who we saw last year in the playoffs, he played games in the finals, meaningful minutes of the finals. He's giving Kevin Durant a hard time in the semi-finals. Like he's this athletic, tough-minded player that they're grooming. Peyton Watson also coming off the bench there. They feel like those two guys are going to be able to make up a little bit for the loss of Bruce Brown. But I think the Bruce Brown loss is sort of tough because that's the guy you could play at point guard, play at the three, play at the four. He even can play small ball five. Like he was so versatile. It's a tough loss for them. But again, they're banking on Jamal Murray taking the next step in his career. They're banking on him being an all-NBA player this year. Yeah. So Yochit, you got two MVPs, finals MVP. He is the champ. He's hilarious in how much he doesn't seem to really care about it when he's away from the court. Love that about you. Is he the best player in the game right now, Lou? You would think not. You would think not. Just how he carries himself and how he goes about his business and with all the hype surrounding the Boston's, the Bucks, the Phoenix Suns. You know, I think in my opinion, he's the most unguardable guy in the league. Unguardable. That's the compliment. Yeah. People say he's overrated. He's not overrated. He's a two-time NBA MVP. Possibly a third come. And it's just this aura that he has that he doesn't care, that instead of watching film in the Lakers, he's scouting horses. My favorite video. That kind of stuff, how the parade, he rolls his eyes. Things like that. But he's got hammered. Correct. But things like that kind of just make him that guy, the shy European guy who doesn't care, who just wants to go home to his family. But no, on the court, dude is a monster. I love that you said he's unstoppable. And it does seem like that is kind of the way to describe him. As long as that's the case, are we thinking of another championship? Like where are they in the landscape for you as far as doing it again? To me, they're right there. And they're the champs to have knocked off to me. And again, Shyam's headed with Jamal Murray. You see the difference they make when he's healthy and he's on. And last year, Aaron Gordon, he was a borderline All-Star last year and he's huge. But the Bruce Brown piece is key. They bring in guys like Justin Holliday and Peyton Watson, I think, is going to be that new spark off the bench that provides them energy. You can get out and transition as you see there. But yeah, they don't have to deal with what the Suns are dealing with, what the Bucks are dealing with. They don't have to work anybody in. They're main guys. Everyone's back. So they're chemistry. They're locker room. Everything's set. They're not creating a new offense. They're not going over a new system with a coach. They have their infrastructure set. They have their players. They have their rotation. And they're just going to get off and run. And I expect them to get off to a really good start. Chemistry goes a long way. I don't think we give that enough value. They've had that group together four or five years, got a championship out of it and like Chandler just mentioned, they don't have to go through all of the rigors of so much expectation. They're going to be there in that hunt every single season. When you have a two-time MVP, you always give yourself an opportunity. You've got to pick one team that can give them the best run for their money. Who is it? In the West or in general? Just in general. I'm open all of it. It's a bunch of them. I mean, I think in the West, it's going to be the Suns, right? Give me Phoenix. They've got a mesh, but those three guys are more talented than their top three guys. It depends if they're healthy, the bench, but I look at the Suns, then obviously in the East, I look at Milwaukee and Boston. But sometimes, haven't we seen it where we put teams together? We're on paper. You're like, these are gigantic names of the game and it just doesn't transfer over in that regard. Like a Brooklyn. Exactly. It could easily not work, but with those guys and the way they play, I can't see it not working. They're both, they're all three in their prime. They're all going to the latter half of their career. I think winning is now a priority to most of these big threes and dynamic duos. Jamal Murray. Top five point guard, Lou? On the bubble for me. Okay. On the bubble. I like Steph. Gimme Dame. SGA. You, Luca? Love SGA. I do. I told you that yesterday. I'm jumping out the window. I'm doubling down. SGA is going to have a big season this year. He's going to have a coming out party and establish himself as the top five guidance league. And then right there, I got Kyrie and I have Jamal as well. So he's on the bubble for me. Top five, top six. Top five, six. Yeah, same. He's right there. Like he said, but you got Fox, Garland. I think Murray's one notch above them, but one below the steps, the dames of the world. It's a good place to be. I don't hate it. Great place to be. Yeah. To be worse. Western Conference Finals in 2020. NBA Finals Championship in 2023. Like Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, I don't know what they are in this day and age. I mean, obviously the Warriors are probably the closest thing to San Antonio. We're thinking about Tim Duncan and that group that was together for all those years. But they have the longevity here. Like they really believe in Denver. We would have been either the Conference Finals or the finals the last two years when Jamal Murray toured ACL. So I think they have a long runway here. Long runway. We got another game. We get two games tonight. Warriors and Sons. Ooh, it's a good time to be on the West Coast. It's a good time to be on the West Coast for sports tonight. Yeah. There's Bradley Beale news, though, right off the top. Yeah. Sources tell me that Bradley Beale is unlikely to play tonight in the season opener. He's got a back issue that the Sons are going to take a patient approach with. I think if this were a playoff game, probably throw him out there. But this is a situation where this first game of the season, the back is bothering him. And I think they're looking at Thursday in LA or Saturday's home opener against the Utah Jazz. Either one of those two games is a window so unlikely tonight. You know, 50-50, I think, going into Thursday. And I think if this does go into Saturday, they're optimistic he can make his debut. Devin Booker also questionable on injury report. What? He's got a toe issue. Oh, come on. I'm told he's going to warm up, try to play. But he's 50-50 for tonight as well. I can't start the season like this. Yeah, I want to see everybody after tonight. This is disappointing. Look at her. It makes me sad. I'm so sad. I even tuned into some of their pre-season games. Have any of all three played together yet? They played together, I believe. One game? Definitely once. It might have been twice. But Beal missed the last pre-season game of pre-season and with his back issue. And I think they're just trying to make sure with the back. You don't throw them out there and you mess it up even more. They both practiced yesterday. They're trying to both ramp up and play. Toasting, though. Come on. On the warrior side, the big thing. The big addition was, of course, Chris Paul. As soon as it happened, where is he going to play? Is he going to start? What's going on there? I think Steve Kerr has had a lot of conversations with Chris Paul. I think they're both on the same page. When you think about trying to figure out his best role. Of course, I think there is a level of momentum of him coming off the bench and then you have a guy like Jonathan Kominga or Gary Payton, the second start, trying to get some size in there. But Chris Paul, I think he's shown in pre-season. He's willing to come off the bench. He's willing to play whatever role is necessary for him. And I think the Warriors, they know they have a good thing going with Kavan Luni and Dremont Green when he's healthy. So probably have a bigger guy in there for Dremont Green's spot. Dremont Green will be out tonight. He's got a name card. First day of school. It's getting worse and worse. Come on. It's a bummer. Okay, so the Chris Paul thing was funny, too, because immediately it reminded me when Carmella Anthony was asked about coming off the bench. He was like, I'm Carmella Anthony. I'm not doing that. And then Chris Paul sort of had that same vibe and nobody would answer the question. But he's there now and things look fun. Is he an upgrade over Jordan Poole? I think so just because that situation was messy, as everyone knows, all the drama with the punch and the situation there, it's almost an addition by subtraction. And Jordan Poole is extremely talented, but he never really fit that DNA of that culture. He never really got along. You could see a lot of the clips that went viral of him just kind of doing his own thing, making extra pass. And that's Warriors basketball that got to the pedigree that they're at now. So I do think CP, it's interesting. Now we're going to see more, even more of Steph coming off screens and playing more of the two guard when CP is controlling the offense. And you go, their small ball lineup is one of the best. When they go to CP, Steph, Clay, Wiggins and Dremon, they can switch everything. They can switch one through five. They can guard every action. That, to me, is going to be their most interesting lineup. But I think with the maturity that Chris Paul has, he's old enough, he's wise enough now to not go and ruffle on your feathers there. You think so? I think so. He's got to at this point in his career. I'm curious to see how it works out. You know, with the style of play that Golden State has, you know, they fly up the floor, a bunch of possessions, a bunch of three-point shots. They play at a fast pace. And Chris is such a methodical guy. He always plays at his own place, always controls the game. I'm interested to see how he fits in. When that move happened, did you think to yourself, this makes sense, or were you like, I don't know. I was on the other side of it. You were. I don't think it made sense initially. But Chris is going into his 18, 19th year. You know, a future Hall of Fame guy, obviously. You know, I think you plug him in anywhere. He gives them a better opportunity to win. Style of play is just a concern for me. I'm quizzing you on this because you were once traded for Chris Paul. First of all, I don't know how you guys remember everything because I would not. What's your memory of that? What is it like? You have none? No, I've been traded a few times. That's true. I did read that. You get traded once, you get traded a bunch of times. So I don't remember much about it. I'm fascinated by that. What was your first memory when you first got traded? I don't remember. I literally don't... Listen, you play long enough, your head starts spinning. All of these things start running together. It's kind of crazy to not ever have... You can't take anything personally. You just keep it moving. Just keep moving. But when you got traded from Houston to the Clippers, you thought about where's my future now. Yeah, I was at a crossroads. I was at a point in my career where I didn't know which way was up. I think that was the third time I got traded in a six-month span. And so I kind of felt like I was nearing the end. And I just remember those emotions being there. And if you ever go back and look at my press conference for the Clippers, you can tell by my facial expression, I was not excited to be there. And obviously that changed over the years. I had the best run of my career as a Clipper. So shout out to whoever traded for me. Shout out to whoever that was. Look, CP3, obviously a very strong personality. There are strong personalities on this team. There's one really strong personality. Let's just call it like it is. Is there a possibility that this can go extremely badly? Yeah, I think so. Anything's possible when you have so many guys that have accomplished so many different things and they've been able to have such an opinion and such being vocal leaders on different teams. And then you put them all in one pot. I'm sure those guys are butchers. But like I said, at this point, and so many of those guys' careers, they're professionals. They'll figure out a way to talk to each other and get the job done. And since we're talking about Jermon, Tomás will go to you on that. He's not playing tonight? Not playing tonight. What can we expect? He's got an ankle spray. He just got back into five-on-fives the other day. And I think the plan for the Warriors and for Jermon Green, it's so early in the year, don't want to throw him in there after missing four and a half, six weeks with an ankle spray. You don't want to throw him in after just one five-on-five. They want to ramp him up, I'm told, over the next week. And then hopefully at that, you know, around the next week or so, make his debut within this week. So he will be out tonight, unsure about his status over the next couple of games. Bummer. Steph Curry's sort of the guy that, as long as he's there, it feels like things can be on track. As far as still having enough in the tank to make a run for MVP, does he? Oh yeah, he's got enough. I'm not counting Steph Curry out until the wheels have fallen off. And that's not going to happen anytime soon. He's still the greatest shooter to ever step foot on a basketball court. He's still playing in the same system with the comfortable guys that he's used to playing with. I expect him at the end of the season to be right there in the hunt, depending how good the Warriors do and how this works out with Chris Paul. And if they're in a top four, top five seed, Steph Curry's going to be in the MVP race. As long as the chef is in the kitchen. Yeah, he's good. It's just that easy. It's kind of cool. He's like Patrick Mahomes to me. Like as long as they're out there, anything's still possible. Yeah. Can't count them out. Not at all. Okay, so I want to talk about the window for this Phoenix Suns team. We sort of mentioned it earlier because Bradley Beal being out, which again, and Devin Booker having a bad toe. But the window for them. And again, deja vu. We're talking about Kevin Durant and windows. What does that look like for this Suns team now? It's when now. And especially, I think Kevin Durant has that pressure. Everyone talks about his teammates in the big leagues. We covered it yesterday. He's had an enormous amount of talent on his team. And with that, there comes pressure. And there comes, it's almost like he's taken the safe road. I know he hates that. I know the media is going to continue to talk about it. But this is a really, really, really big, good assembled team that has the championship expectation. It seems like every year Kevin Durant's team has those expectations. Yup. There's pressure to win. And there's pressure to coexist with these guys and to be selfless. And that's going to start, you know, tonight. And it's going to go all season long. I think if these three can stay healthy and they get sparks from the guys we mentioned yesterday, the Grayson's out, the Grayson Allen's, the Nurkitsch has a good year. I love Drew you banks as they're back up big. They have guys that can contribute to relieve a little pressure. But Kevin Durant is the go-to guy on that team. Devin Booker is the face of the Phoenix Suns. Okay. But game on the line, Kevin Durant is getting the ball and he's the best score on that team. It's fair that we put this sort of expectation on him, right? I mean, it's an honor, I would suppose, to be one of the best of all time that we expect this from you. Absolutely. Like Chandler just mentioned, super loaded team. They all deserve the expectations to be a championship team. I got another top five. Where's Katie on that? In the league? Yeah. Come on. He's top five. Yeah. He's always top five. He's always top five. Until there's a drastic drop off. I'm somebody that says he's not. Yeah. Until there's a drastic drop off, which we haven't seen yet. No. The guys has gone through injuries. The guys has gone through different teams, different situations. He's top five. Everywhere he's gone, he's had a championship expectation. He went to the Warriors and was the best player. There. You know what I mean? Which is the argument. He's going to the Suns, and you know how good Devin Booker is? He's going to the Suns, and now he's the best player on that team. You know what I mean? Everywhere he goes, he is. Well, who are the other four? With what? He's top five. I mean, you got to put Steph, you got to put Yochich, you got to put Embiid, and then Giannis. There it is. God, I feel like we're missing someone. We probably are missing someone. I know we're missing like seven, but we'll get to that at some point. We'll take a quick break right now. Joel Embiid. Are you going to finish in Philly? Load management as well. We got to talk about that next. That's such a fancy graphic, Shoms. It makes it sound very official when I go to you and I say, Giannis, not the only one celebrating yesterday. I mean, a lot of guys signed extensions. Josh Green, three years, $41 million. Bargain. Yeah. That's a bargain there for them. A lot of extensions, but one major extension that we, I'd love to get Chandler's thoughts on, but let's get to a five years, $136 million deal for Jaden McDaniels with the Minnesota Timberwolves. And this solidifies him and Anthony Edwards. It's the two young cornerstones, Anthony Edwards earlier this year. Got a, got a max extension. Not Jaden McDaniels. And this is with Rudy Goldbear, who's on his massive deal. Call Anthony Towns, who's on his max extension. So significant luxury tax commitments moving forward for Minnesota. I think, I think definitely you have to keep an eye on them. Moving forward. I mean, that's, they have a lot of tax bill concerns moving forward. And obviously it's Minnesota. If you're not winning and you're a serious luxury tax second apron team right now, it's going to be an issue. But right now, I think give, give kudos to Minnesota. They grew and developed Jaden McDaniels and Tim Connelly, their president. He values players. He's, he's the king really in the league right now. Offers early extensions, offers his guys money, wants them to feel values and really doubles down on his guys. And I do think Jaden McDaniels is the type of guy that can be a defensive player that you're a candidate moving forward. That is okay. So this is a lot of money, duh. But it's four players now on this one team making over 120. How does this work? It's a lot of money. And it's a lot of money for the fourth or fifth best player, you know, on a eight to 10 seed in the conference. So it's tough, but I will say they have something with Anthony Edwards. They're going to, they're going to build around this guy for years to come. And Jaden McDaniels is a great compliment to him, right? He defends. He's going to defend the best player on the opposing team every single night, which relieves pressure for Anthony Edwards. But when you look at this contract, that's, again, there's going to come pressure. There's going to come expectations. And hopefully he's ready for it. And I do love this kid's game. I love his versatility. But when you look at the western conference and you look at their team and what they're doing, I don't see their game plan. I don't see the Rudy Go Barrett trade. Obviously they give up so much for that. That hasn't really panned out the way they wanted to. They have Anthony Edwards as a bona fide star. They now just locked up McDaniels for five years for a lot of money. I don't know, I don't know where they go. This doesn't make them any better. This doesn't make them a contender. So I don't know which direction or what their future holds. Does it feel like there's a plan or are they just writing big checks? It doesn't feel like the plan. It sounds like they're writing big checks. They're definitely writing big checks. The days of the overpaid guys back in the day, which you know I love, Hold on, Chandler, go on. Again, the guys deserve to get paid. I am not a hater on guys getting paid. I got paid to get hurt and not play a lot of games. But that was like 14, 15, 16 million a year. These cats now are, it's awesome. And I love to see it. But as an organization, I just, I don't see the end game. Right. No, this one feels disjointed and kind of weird. Everybody knows about the Go Bear thing. Like you got to move a player off this team, Lou. What are you doing? Style of play wise, I say Rudy Go Bear. Okay. Open that lane up for Anthony Edwards to get down the hill more. Cat is going to be a pick and pop guy. Can give you a lot of different looks. Business wise, I say you move cat. You'll be able to get a lot of assets for him. Get some young guys, some draft picks. You know, so that's my, that's my, that's my thoughts on it. Okay. So cat is fascinating to me because there's such a polarizing opinion on what kind of a player he is. What kind of heart he, all those things, right? Who would want cat? Am I crazy to ask that? I think a lot of teams. And I think Lou had on the head. Contenders? I think cat is, is, he's a different dude and he's a little quirky, but he can play and he can shoot and he can stress the floor. He can play four. He can play five. He can run the floor. He gets out in transition. He can bring the ball up himself. He is a extreme high talent. And like Lou said, they can get the most for him. They're in bed with Rudy now. They're stuck with Rudy. All that, that whole trade, I don't know what they could possibly get for him now. So I think organization wise, their best move is to try and get as many assets to pair with now McDaniels and Anthony Edwards and just roll the dice with Rudy who can still be valuable, but the two big operation that they were going for, that's not working. And I love Nasrede too, who's had a great year last year who they can also just kind of sub in for cat. Do you think they pay like their employees the same way in Minnesota? Like should we get jobs in Minnesota? Stuff's very nice there. I will say this about Jane McDaniels. A lot of money for him for sure, but you know, whenever Minnesota's talked about, they inquired about Damian Lillard. They had some conversations with Port Linden. The one player that Portland would ask about is Jaden McDaniels along with a boatload of picks. When they talked to San Antonio last year about Dejante Murray, the one player that San Antonio asked about was Jaden McDaniels and Picks. So the one thing Tim Connelly's done is he's prioritized Jaden McDaniels, he prioritized Anthony Edwards, and he's living up to that. I love that. Yeah. Congrats. We're taking a quick break right now. We want to talk about Toronto. I can't wait to see you with that team. We're going to figure that out. And Luca, is he not the best player in Dallas? That's a Ron Burgundy moment. Run it back. America's basketball team? Is this a trick question or is it no? No, it's no, man. It's whatever you ask. I think it's, I think it's, I think it's Boston. I would say Boston. Well, no getting no, no politics stuff. I mean, it's either Boston or L.A. for me, but I'll say Boston. What? What? No. Those are, no. Okay, hold on. It is not Boston. We call this segment, say what? Thank you. Here we go. Because that was Tim Hardaway Jr. on the Run Your Face podcast. Boston, and if it's not Boston, it's the late. Okay. Who is America's team in the NBA? It's the Los Angeles Lakers. Is it? It's the Lakers, and then it's the Warriors. It's not. Not in the Warriors. Recently the Warriors. Yeah. It's kind of like Cowboys are America's team. No, they're not. Everyone loves the Chiefs. Everyone loves the words. Everyone loves Steph Curry. You feel like, you know what I mean? The Detroit Lions are America's team. Boston, I almost feel like it's the opposite. I feel like they're like the most hated like team. What do you say? The Detroit Lions are America's team. They stink. They don't stink. All right, we're not going to. They always get the Thanksgiving game. You watch the Ravens game. We're going to get a fight about that. They always get the Thanksgiving game, right? Yeah, and they like, after last year, they made a run. And they're fine. They're in it right now. Ugh. Shout out to Detroit. You know what? But the irony of this is that most of America hates when we just refer to the two coasts as America. Now, if you're sitting here going. I played for the Lakers and we played about 78 home games. That's okay. The exception of like Boston, New York, everywhere else feels like a home game. Yeah. In fairness to Hardaway, he did freeze. He looked like a deer in hell. He wasn't even. He knew better. He wasn't even sure of it. He knew better. He didn't mean that. We'll excuse him. We'll excuse him. Okay, so it's Lakers. We've all decided Lakers. That's, I will not say that out loud. But we do have Pat Beverly next. Oh, of course we do. We have Pat Beverly next. On a recent episode of his podcast said that Toronto doesn't have any dogs on their roster. And if he saw Siakam or Ananobe down a dark alley, he would not be threatened. Well, that's your guy. You lead us off here. Well, look, I know Pat. He's, it doesn't matter who's down that dark alley. He's scared. So I think this is, this is typical Pat Bev. Stirring a pot, getting himself going. I think he does this for him. You know, classic KG style of ribbing your opponents a little bit. You know, so he, he wants to go to Toronto and get booed for his comments. Clearly. That makes his day. So I think he's just stirring the pot. Well, is it fair to, are they, do they have tough guys in Toronto? Is this a fair ish statement? First of all, it's a difference between tough and a dog. Yeah. Yeah. Pat Bev is saying that I believe it. And I mean, and he is, he comes from that. That's not a fake order. I do think like Lou said, he does say some stuff to get himself going and to get clicks. But I think he's got a good dog meter on who is. And look, prove it. Fair. If you're offended, prove them wrong. All right. Fair enough. We got it. We have an item. I'm going to be surprised by this. We have an image. Let me see it. Hold on. Let me see it. You say it's fun Conrad. Let me see if it's fun. Oh, oh no. Yeah. That hurts. Not helping that. That hurts the dog image. This doesn't help at all. I don't want to say much about the uniform on the left. I don't like it. Not flattering. Break that down for us. Break. It's nuts. Look at that. I don't want to go down any dark alley, but yeah, I'd have no problem. First things first. Too bad costume. They are bad. They're cheapy looking. Why? Too bad costume. Is this what provoked that? That doesn't fit. Scotty's doesn't fit. What is Scotty's? What is that supposed to be? I think that's the, I don't want to guess. Is it? I don't know. Incredible. Is this what provoked that to say? Incredible. Is this what provoked him to say? I certainly not. I think that's comments. Well, he didn't mention them. Yeah. Or that's just us throwing some sauce on him. What do you do? That's just Conrad just being a bully. Yeah, because he didn't mention these two guys. So now he will. I'm a positive guy. Both guys are talented players on the court. I can't with him. He's running for office. Neutral. All full costumes. Switzer running for office. Horrible costumes. You have money. Be better. You know what, that does bring up one quick question because it's sort of become a topic lately especially. Where are we on players more and more now having podcasts while they're still very active? I mean, listen, everybody is their own brand now. Yeah. Everyone has a voice. Everyone has an outlet. And they're getting paid a lot of money to do it. So you, when you can kind of control your own narrative and control your own media and it's not a distraction to the team, I'm all for it. But yeah, now it feels like everybody has, right? The market's getting a little watered down and not every, you don't care about what every single player thinks. But yeah, like the Pat Bev podcast is great. Paul George is great. Like they say, they give you a different look and details of things that they won't say to their regular NBA or team media. Which is hilarious. It could be worse. Yeah. It could be worse guys sitting in their hotel rooms, talking to a laptop and going live. Yeah. We could be outside. There's some good, Mike Parsons. I know a lot of outside guys. So if I'm a team, I'm cool with the podcast. Okay. Keep the podcast. Don't do anything different. I like it. But I think he's a rockstar in the field, he's a great player. He's talented, he's a great player. He's a great coach and he's got some excellent football and board material out of it. And it's good for what we do. Canyon Martin. Oh dear. On a recent episode of, kind of run it back. Yeah, he's a friend of the show. Gil Doreen is the show. He was on that, said that the best player on the Mavs is not Luca, it's Kyrie. He wants to go first. Who wants to go first? Oh yeah. You're. He's just, he's, he's wrong. say that though. Why? He's also the same guy that said something about George Carl on this show last year. Did he ever? He did. They got the people going, but no, this is ridiculous. Luca is the best player. He's top five, top two player in the NBA. It's not, it's not close. Oh, he's top five? We wanted to do that again. Well, our top five switches. It's, when do you get a mistake? When do you get put on the spot? You know what I mean? We just throw some names out there, but it's hard to do that. Luca is a better basketball player. Everyone agrees, right? Absolutely. Is that just, I'm friends with Kyrie and I need to say something. I don't, I don't know what that motivation is for that. I mean, it's, it's, it's not really outlandish to say Kyrie Irvin is, but it kind of, yes. Yeah. You know what I mean? Kyrie is, is one of the, one of the best players in the league, but you know, Luca's the guy. Luca's the guy. Done. All right. Pat Riley on a 25 point score said that the heat need another 25 point a game score. I don't know who is going to be bam, Tyler, but somebody is going to be a 25 point a game score. Oh, okay. Just pick one of those. What's the better odds? I don't think either of them average 25, but it would, it would be, it would be Tyler Hero, I think, because that's what he does, right? Bam, bam controls the defense. Bam is in the paint. He's rebounding. He's bringing the ball transition. Tyler Hero is a bucket. He goes and shoots a lot of threes. He's going to get a lot of reps up. If I had to pick one of them, I'm going Hero. But I think they're going to be a more balanced with Jimmy, with Bam, with Hero, with Duncan, with, they're going to kind of have an attack from eight points to 19 points a game. I don't think it's going to be one guy. I'm going with Tyler. Yeah, I can relate, you know, being the former six man of the year, Tyler being a six man of the year, he's going to have a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the basket. So if I'm picking one of those two guys, I'm going Tyler. You know, we all had our eyes on Miami the entire off season because the Dame Lillard stuff was there. Got Tyler Hero posting Instagram sad story. You got a lot going on. People looking for houses in other places and then nothing happened. How did that go down that way? Yeah, I mean, listen, the heat did have multiple teams lined up for a Tyler hero trade if they were able to get Damian Lillard. You know, that deal would have been Tyler hero being rerouted to a team like Brooklyn, like Utah. And then that team would have sent assets and then Miami would have sent their assets and they would have gotten the deal done. So they looked into it. But now you have Tyler hero coming back. Tyler heroes even made light of it a little bit, you know, Twitter joking around like, Oh, you know, maybe it's next summer. I think I'm not saying Tyler is going to average 25 points, but I do think he's shown him preseason. He's had some big games in preseason. We've seen him perform at a high level in the playoffs. It's unfortunate he didn't play in the playoffs last year. He's played high enough of a level in the playoffs and so far, I think could he become a early to mid 20 point for game score? I don't think that's super outlandish. But this is a team that will need him to take a step. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't ever want to count out the heat and Jimmy Buck. We've done that enough. We've done that enough. Yeah. With that being said, I think they got worse. I think losing streus, losing Gabe Vincent, that's going to hurt them in the long run. Those two guys were super valuable to their team. I think this is one team that I think is going to take a step back. Yeah, I agree with you. Although again, we say that and then you agree with me. Barely. Oh my God. What is happening? For some of you buying that. Oh man, Zion. Damn. We had found with Zion, didn't we? But it was clearly he was working his way back into game shape during the offseason. Some incredible moments. There he is. He's smiling. Are we buying Chandler that he will be dominant in New Orleans? I just can't and I'd be crazy to think he just all of a sudden figures it out and changes his diet and his nutrition, his drink program. I would love nothing more to see this man do that all season long. He looks good though when he's when he's good. See, it's not like I watch him and oh, he's soft though. He's injury prone. It's almost like a Greg Oden type feel where it's I'm sad because the guy's so electric when he plays. He is a generational talent. He's so much fun between him and guys like John Moran. These guys are next level fun and entertaining to watch. They are prime time and it's just a damn shame that he hasn't been able to play enough and I hope he does and I hope he figures it out and I hope he's healthy. But just that kind of impact and that kind of load and that size and weight. I just physically I just don't see how it's possible. Fingers crossed because I think we all want the same thing. Lou Pozingas on the Celtics. Are you buying that he will have a bigger impact than Lillard will have with the Bucks? No. Okay, we're done. Let's move on. Yeah, there's not much more to say. I mean, why is it? Have we as the window for Pozingas? I mean, there was there was a mania for a while. Yeah, it's just it's just time to it's just time to show improve. You know, he's dealt with some injuries, had a lot of adversity in his in his career. I would love to see him get over that hump and just make a positive impact on that team. But having a bigger impact than Damian Lillard. I don't can't imagine that. It does look a little stronger, though, like not quite so. Yeah, he looks good, but but that ain't it. Okay, fair enough. Chandler, the big one. Are you buying that Joellen bead is going to finish off this season in Philadelphia? I'm not. I think he's out of there. I think once they get off to a slow start, James Harden holds out and they inevitably move him. I think, you know, come post season of this year, I think you see Joelle and bead on the New York Knicks. God, there it is. I think they're willing to give it all anybody not named Jalen Brunson. And I think Philly, that's going to be probably the most they can get. Randall's young enough, Barrett's young enough, Grimes, Picks, whatever that they're going to throw. If you think about what Rudy Gobert brought in, Shoms, what is Joelle and bead going to bring in? That's think, you know, I mean, from a value perspective, does he like, this is a hypothetical we're talking about. Darryl Moray trade him to New York, you know? That's a big one. Are there other offers that are out there? I think he's so obsessed with getting assets in the most out of it. If the Knicks is the best deal, I don't think he cares. I think it's already started. We got, you know, rumors, Randall Barrett, Mitchell Robinson and up to three first round draft picks for Joellen bead. That's one out there. I mean, that's three starters. You're getting for one. You know what I mean? Like that. That's not a bad deal. Don't take Mitchell Robinson. You love Mitchell Robinson. Adorable. Don't do it. When we come back, it's the return already a fit or brick and run it back. NBA season. There's no better place to get on the action than Fandall because right now Fandall's hooking up all customers with three months of NBA league pass when you place a $5 bet on the NBA. Doesn't matter if you're new to Fandall or already have an account. Everyone can watch and bet the action live with NBA league pass. So download the app today. See why Fandall is America's number one sportsbook. All right, bitter break. I love it. We're starting early. These are the city connections. Anyone? Horrible. Brick. Don't love. Yeah, you get the game. We're good. It's a no. It's a no. It's not a yes. It's bad. It doesn't it doesn't match. The colors are horrible together. It's no bueno. It looks. I'm telling you. It looks like wreck league. Kind of cheap stuff. Like we need your $20 for your jerseys guys. That's what it looks like. Those aren't going to sell. All right. That one's out. That's not going to keep in bead. I know that. Wizards are next. Okay. Let me see the wizards one. Brick. What team is it? The wizards. I don't like colors. They speak the same color schemes for every jersey. What's happening? What are these are just like the alternate city connections. Are you the city jerseys? Yeah. Brutal. Okay. We're down. Oh, it's over too. All right. Timberwolves show us something. Wow us. I like the better. The best of the three for sure. Right. Better. Better. I mean, I'm not like and I'm not going to go buy it. Well, I did. Yeah, it's doing that. I mean, tell me when you're going to buy one. That's how we're going to judge the jersey. It's appropriate. It looks cold. It's cold. Okay. What's this next one? It's honestly, I like this the most out of the four. It's just basic. It's simple, but it's still a brick. It looks like it's coding language, like not real. I'm not digging it. No, Lou and I hate it. Next. These are some of these are awful. What's the deal here? We're running out of ideas. Hopefully we're done. No, there's clippers. No, I like a loose. I like this. Lou would play with him. It is what it is, man. I'm matching my shoes though with these right now. I don't know. I like these. I don't like it. You're not going? No. No. I like like the old school retro I prefer to throw back. Throwback, pacer jersey. This is yeah, bring those back. I think I'm a less is more now. It's like a black one, a white one and then one alternate. Let's just keep it simple. All right. What Denver's next is not. It ain't it. Absolutely. What is it? Now you're messing with it. They're not. That's the mile high. They're not actually wearing these. It's on the court already. Why does it need to be on a jersey as well? That is also why are we stressing so much about how high it cares? Those are it. Well, no, the other people have them. Those are the good ones. You guys, they know what they're doing back there. All right, guys, everyone Chandler's house to watch the games tonight. Yeah. Let's do it. My birthday's at midnight officially. All right. Good week for birthday. No, not officially. He's not even inviting us. That's going to do it. Right? Happy birthday to you. Yes. Thank you. Michelle. Happy birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday. Friday. Running back.