 We are exactly one month away from the trade deadline. Break out the machine because Run It Back starts now. Good Monday morning and welcome to Run It Back. I want to immediately introduce everyone because I know Chandler had a big weekend, but Chandler has a big every day. So it's really hard to start to differentiate between them all. But before we can get to that, first of all, Stadium Insider Shamsharanya is always gracing us with his presence. On the end there, you see Eddie G. very serious and stern on a Monday morning. And Chandler, okay, take us through what happened over the weekend. So we're here, we're at Chileno Bay, and I'm shooting just a scorching 93 going into this shot. Yeah, it was bad. There was alcohol involved, and there was a 150-yard nine-iron par three right in the cup. You can't hear Chandler on the right now, but on the video he says, where'd it go? Like he had to go through whatever. Where's your shirt? I'm going to be honest with you, I drove, so my buddy told me it was long. So I drove the cart around the back of the green and I'm like, bro, there's no ball back here. And the caddy walked up to the hole and I thought they were messing with me, but it was my first ever one. Let me tell you something, all of Cabo heard about this shot by the time I was done. Well, yeah, that's like a lifetime achievement award right there. Do we address the no shirt? Is this a special club where shirts aren't required? What is this? It's one of these discovery properties where there are zero rules. So there's no shoes, there's no shirt, hat on backwards. It is not a classic stuffy golf course to say the least. I love that. God, that collared shirt thing always bothered me. That's very, very well done, sir. I see you celebrate it. So I'm not going to say I hope you guys had fun afterwards because I know that you did. Basketball was played over the course of a lot of basketball was played. Nets heat. This was a doozy. The Nets barely surviving this is a game winning attempt by Jimmy Butler in the heat. The Nets are now 14 and one over their last 15. Obviously in this moment, the whistle was swallowed. Do we agree with the non foul call on Butler's last shot here, Chandler? I mean, that one's tough because Royce tries to go vertical there, but he definitely kind of comes down a little bit. It's a 50-50 call. There's a call like this every single night. They're just not on the magnifying glass at the end of a game, but it's tough. You never want the game to end over a controversial call. It always seems to be the case, but this is why coaches tell you to drive the ball to the basket at the end of the game and not settle because usually you get the benefit of the doubt here and Jimmy didn't at home. It's frustrating, but this is a big win for me for Brooklyn Nets because this isn't an easy game. Everyone knows that's sweet to go play the heat on the road. And they showed me something here by finishing this game off and getting a dub and that they're a super dangerous team going forward. Yeah, obviously not a foul, but Jimmy flapped. He tried it. It's a tough call. I mean, if that was on the other end of the court, Jimmy wouldn't have wanted that foul to be called on him as well. Royce tried to go vertical. He's within the halo. It's a body bump, but that's basketball. He missed them with the hand, thankfully. I think if he had smacked them, he'd have got the call. But yeah, just like Chandler said, it's a great win for the Nets. It was a rough shooting night all around. They just were kind of going back and forth. They were obviously dealing with BAM and everybody thinks they're this small team and they stepped it up. And then of course, Kevin goes down and they have a big fourth quarter to finish off the win. You know, tough game. It's tough to win out there in Miami, especially when you get to spend the whole weekend out there. But they took care of business. And now they have a big game coming up on Thursday. The biggest of the games. I will say this, the heat announcers were going nuts, but to Jimmy Butler's credit after the game, he said, nah, it wasn't a foul. I should have made that shot. So he's saying all the right things. And Eddie, you touched on the fact that KD did go down. Butler lands on his leg or his knee in an awkward way. So Shams, I ask you today's day for Kevin Durant is going to consist of what? Well, first, he's got to go get an MRI at some point here this morning and as the day goes on and get further testing on that knee. But I think the one optimistic sign that occurred last night is that, yes, he was on the ground in a similar fashion to last year when Bruce Brown kind of fell into his knee. But the one saving grace is that he ran up the court, ran back down the court, had a couple of defensive slides, and then he realized something was off with his knee and went back. He did not move around like that last year. So that's the one sign that potentially this is not as serious or a significant of an absence as last year when he missed about six weeks with the MCL spraying in his knee. So the nets are going to be hopeful that he's going to be able to make it back sooner rather than later. But I would expect them to take a cautious approach, especially with just two games this week. I mean, look, they're on a nice little tear. Maybe he can afford a little bit of time to sort of chill out. But how concerned are you as far as this streak and this net team doing what they're doing without him? I mean, there's concern. You're losing your best player. You're losing what's probably your best defender as well. You're losing 30 points a game. Kevin hasn't missed a free throw since Christmas. Like he's on a tear right now. And, you know, so it's going to be tough. I think it's time for a lot of guys to step up. Ben Simmons has opportunity to really put his mark on this team. Royce O'Neill can be a little more consistent with what he's doing with his shooting as well. And I think they can tread water. They obviously have a tough game with the Celtics coming up and have the Thunder and then they go out West. And so it's not the easiest schedule that they'll have for however Kevin is out. If he's out, you know, he was in good spirits yesterday and we'll find out more today. And but I'm with Shoms. I expect them to take it slow. I think they should take it slow. I would tell Kevin to take it slow. And so it's just it's just on the guys to tread water. Kyrie has been amazing. And I think, you know, he can pick up a lot of the slack as well. And yeah, we'll see what they can do. Yeah, you just got to hope for the best on the injury like this. This is, you know, this sucks. And hopefully the scans and the MRIs come back positive and clean and he can get out there and hope because what he's doing this year is impressive. And he's right there in the MVP hunt. And the fact that he's taken this team to one of the top two or three, four teams in the Eastern Conference is incredible. So like Eddie just said, this kind of falls on the other guys. This is a great opportunity for Ben Simmons to get back going to kind of, you know, fill that void, to be that long athletic wing that can go coast to coast that can initiate the offense. And he doesn't need to score 30 points. They have Kyrie Irving that can do that. But I look for guys like Curry and TJ Warren, all these other guys are going to have to collectively fill in because not one person can replace Kevin Durant. But I'm just hoping that's nothing serious. And because, man, they're an impressive, fun team to watch. But when the healthy and the league is better with KDNM. Yeah. And my hot take is that they're coming out of the East. So I hope I didn't jinx it because I do feel like I have witch-like powers in those regards. Here's a team. I can't jinx because they do it to themselves. How about the Clippers? Clippers and Hawks. Clippers lose their sixth straight. They're now sitting there at 500, seventh in the West. We don't need to go into the 20-minute spiel about Kauai Leonard and when he doesn't, doesn't play. But as far as the concern for this Clippers team that had the highest of expectations, Chandler, how concerned are you at this point? Yeah, I'm concerned. And it starts with Kauai and Paul George, obviously. But this is tough because the Clippers in the Sun had such high expectations. And the West is kind of wide open. They are good teams like Denver and Memphis and New Orleans. But there's no clear-cut favorite. So it's tough to see a team with this kind of depth and this kind of star power take a slide. Obviously, we're all going to wonder how good they can be with PG and Kauai on the court at the same time. And they do have the depth and the pieces to kind of stay afloat while they go through droughts like this. But I'm concerned because we're not exactly in the beginning of the season anymore. This is kind of starting to create the identity of who teams are and their rotations and their offensive schemes and defensive sets. This is starting to become who they are. And the West, like I said, is wide open. So they have a great opportunity here. And again, same thing that we just talked about with the Nets when KD goes down. This goes now on Norman Powell. This goes on John Wall. This goes on these other guys that are going to get the opportunities, that are going to get the minutes. They're going to have to come up big just to kind of get the Clippers off the snide here and keep them in the high. Yeah, it's really concerning. That was their 42nd game of the season. A lot of teams are coming up going to play their 41st, which is the halfway mark. And to me, this is who you are. You're an injury-riddled team. You're a team that just has zero consistency. And they're just lax adescal, it seems, like most Nets. When you have them right, they've done well. You could see the blueprint of like, yo, this team could make a deep playoff run. But they've been this now for three months. And I have no reason to believe that they're just suddenly going to turn it on and be healthy, be consistent, and be as sharp as they need to be to make a run. Yeah, tons of concern. And luckily for them, I mean, they have a lot of roster flexibility if they want to make some moves. But John Wall has kind of fallen off a cliff. They need to figure out their playmaking, their point guard situation. I know Reggie has been solid in times, but they've clearly tried to upgrade and find more hope there as they can. And then, you know, look, Kawhi gets on the court yesterday and then Ball George is off the court. So it's just ongoing. And the Hawks have not looked great the last few weeks. And they went in there and walked through them like it was nothing. So, you know, they finally get the benefit of the doubt with the second LA game for everybody making their LA trip, whereas the Lakers were catching everybody on the back to back and they blow it. So, yeah, really concerning for them. And when you look at the top of the West and as jumbled as the West is, they don't look like one of the favorites out there anymore. I would love to give Truth Serum to Tyloo and Lawrence Frank and all those guys as far as how pissed they must be on a daily basis. I mean, they've been on the court for 13 games out of the 42, 13. And remember when Tyloo was asked about how many games you guys need to really get this thing going and he said 15 all together. I don't know that he's getting his 15 all together this season, Shams. That being said, have they told, have they talked? Is there some truth being spread as far as the frustration level maybe behind the scenes there at the Clippers? I mean, Tyloo has spoken about it publicly, right? Like when he's been asked about both of their guys' health and having them in the lineup, you could just see the exasperation in his tone on his face. And so it's definitely tough. This is Clippers team that I think has only won two of 10 games without both of those guys in the lineup. They're 10-14 on the season without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup. This is a guy that they were having some success with. Tyloo was treading water through the first couple months of the season. And we were all, I came on praise Tyloo, the job he was doing. But at the end of the day, it's imperative to have Kawhi Leonard, Paul George on the floor. This has been, you know, four years, I think now of this process, right? They signed these guys in 20. They got Kawhi Leonard via free agency. They traded for Paul George in 2019. So they've had, this is now year four of this process that they've underwent. And they've had injuries. They've had different things that they can look at the bubble year. They had Kawhi Leonard's ACL. This should have been a no excuse season, but they've still had guys in and out of the lineup. So it's imperative for them to get these guys in the lineup because six losses in a row is not what this team wanted. At a point where they thought they'd get these guys back in the lineup and they find a groove, find a stride going to all-star break. It's been anything but that as of right now. Yeah. Again, and the expectations being so high is what's why it's so frustrating for these guys. When you have two top 10 players like this or that are supposed to be, the expectations are championship robust and they added so much depth, so much shooting. They have size on paper. The Clippers were kind of my favorite going into the season. Like they were supposed to be very good. And now it's just frustrating and they're running out of time on getting these guys chemistry and getting these guys on the floor together and having these other guys knowing how to play off them and where they like their ball and where their spots are. So like I said, we're getting into games 40, 50, approaching all-star week. These guys are not doing anything on the court together. And it's kind of the key to their entire season and team. So it's definitely frustrating. It's definitely concerning. But on the flip side, they are one team that is extremely deep and the West is still wide open. So back in my head, I still am giving them time and benefit of the doubt. But man, they need to get it in gear quick. I don't know, man. Like there was that game last week where they're blown out, quite didn't really play and then load managed the next day. Like this is, I would be pissed. Let's just say that. If I was the Clippers man and I was paying. Yeah. Like if I'm paying thousands and thousands of dollars to go to it and I never get to see this team the way it's supposed to be, at some point, I've already done this whole I've been mad at Kawhi in my life thing and I don't want to do it again. But it just feels very frustrating and I feel for the fans of the team. Thank God I'm not one. Okay. We can go from one team who's underperforming to another team who's greatly underperforming in the Phoenix Suns. They've lost six in a row, nine of 10 granted. They played last night without Booker, CP3, but they're 20 and 21 on the season right now Chandler. Again, high expectations. How much trouble or how how deep is this hole they're digging themselves? Yeah, they're in big trouble. I think they're in more trouble than the Clippers. They are there in the principal's office right now. Like it is not good for them. Just everything surrounding this team. I feel like we talk about it all the time with the first, the ownership and Deandre, eight in drama. But I will say that they're missing three starters and they pretty much have been for a lot of the season. And Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Cam Johnson, those are critical pieces to the way they play. And especially Devin Booker. You take Devin Booker off this team. They're not very good. These other guys can play around him. They have talent. They have pieces. But Devin Booker is the obvious key to this team. And when you look at the standings, they're a half game out of the play in all of a sudden, but there's still two and a half games out of the home court advantage. So again, there's time here. And I think with them, it's health. I do think they missed their window but they're just they're not really that champion of their team. Man, these other teams in the West are kind of keeping it wide open for up for grabs for anybody. But they're going to need Devin Booker because they are not very good without them. Yeah. I mean, that's the issue right there. They need Devin Booker. The standings are tight and they can tread water. They can hang around. And they're running their last 10. But they can, you know, figure out some wins somewhere and keep up with some of these teams. But they need Devin Booker to actually make a run. And if they get Devin Booker, they absolutely can win a play on the playing game. They absolutely can win around one series. And then who knows from there, but they got to get booked back. And to see him miss time, come back immediately, leave the game and miss more time is definitely concerning. Who knows what they get with Jake Crowder. I think if the Lakers do make a run and they're sneaking up, they're creeping up. We're talking about them in a second. This will probably be the team that drops out and it opens up the space for the Lakers to actually sneak into the playoffs. It's bad. And there's no signs of improving anytime soon because we don't know when Devin Booker's coming back. Two and 10 without Devin Booker this year. Like that's the type of team that they are. I mean, it's the facts of the facts. The record is the record. And I think that's what they've shown, unfortunately. And this team just doesn't have the depth right now. Can't paint his miss time with a foot injury himself. And Andrew Sham has been in and out of the lineup of times as well. Cam Johnson remains out. I think there is hope. He's going to be back at some point this month. He's starting to do more dunk, doing more in pre-game. So that's a positive sign. A lot of the burden on Chris Paul, DeAndre Aten, Mikhail Bridges, they don't have the depth right now. And we'll see when they pull the trigger on a Jake Crowder deal, you would expect it to be sooner than later because this team needs bodies, especially on the bench to provide some depth. But they've clearly shown a level of patience that they will only move Jake Crowder when they feel like they've gotten the 3-4 type player. But it's very rare. A team that's training for Jake Crowder, they usually don't have that 3-4 to get a guy like Jake Crowder. So the Suns are in a tough spot. I agree with Chandler. This is a really tough position that they're in. I feel like we have been awakened every day thinking is today that Jake Crowder moves. But it's just not happening. So it's a very desperate, weird situation. Time to talk a little America's team, shall we? Sacramento Kings. Oh, that's right. They are who we love right now. The Mose, the beam team. Look, they were on a controversial foul call, receiving end on Saturday. Darren Fox, three seconds left. Score tied at 1-34. Dennis Schroeder was the beneficiary. He went on to hit both of his foul shots. And then Fox leaves the arena. Doesn't speak to reporters. Later goes on the old Twitter box and says a caption that said, let the players just decide the game. He then deletes it. I mean, look, he's upset, Chandler. How upset would you be if you were in his shoes? I mean, I'd be upset because I actually don't think he fouled him here. But this is the same thing that I was just talking about with the Jimmy Butler foul. With the game on the line, you would much rather see someone drive the ball to the basket like this and put that onus on the referee. And most of the time, it works. They're going to blow the whistle. But sometimes they don't. And for Jimmy Butler, he didn't get it. But I mean, look, does he kind of hit them right here and give them a little bit? Sure. But I mean, I'm with Fox. Like this is game on the line, NBA. You're calling this a foul to essentially lose the game. I'm upset. I don't think tweeting anything is going to help. I think he's now just going to look at a fine here. But this is exactly what Schroeder should do here. He should make them blow the whistle, which he did. And then he stepped up and made the free throw. So it's frustrating. But again, one play usually doesn't end the game. But yeah, I'm pissed off on Sacramento because I didn't have a challenge, I guess. And then this wasn't really a foul. Like, I think if they reviewed that, I don't know if they keep it a foul. I mean, look, we started the show with the Jimmy Butler play. So it feels, you know, same thing, right? This is what you can do. But yeah, different ref crew, though, Eddie. The air is right. Let the players decide it. And that's why a call in that moment is so frustrating for really anybody, the fans. I mean, I guess not the Lakers. They were excited at the game. But it's frustrating as a viewer watching that. And that's why, yeah, you get why he's annoyed. But that's not why they lost the game. The Kings had plenty of opportunities to score down the stretch. The Lakers actually had a really great defense. There's a video going around with their rotations. And while the Bronn with the crazy clothes out on the wing, which you don't see as much anymore, you know, the Lakers put them in a bad spot. And on top of that, Darren, like you got beat right for no reason. He just walked right by you and put you in that spot. I don't think it was a foul. I think, you know, that's basketball. You're going to bump into each other a little bit, kept his hands off them. But yeah, I mean, you know, they have more reasons why they lost the game other than that call. So I'm with Fox, let the players decide the game. But the players kind of did. And there was the Kings deciding to lose. That temptation to tweet a reaction is so great. And he couldn't help himself. But he did realize after. All right. So LeBron James to Sam Amick. This is on the roster plans. Y'all know what the F should be happening. Um, this is the thing though, because then Sam had the whole article and here's his wording more here on his waning patients and how his greatness is forced in the conversation. So of course LeBron takes to Twitter to clarify that. Hey, Sam, actually my patience isn't waning. You make it sound like I'm frustrated when I'm really not. I told you over and over my job is focused on the guys in the locker room. My job isn't the roster. No, we'll get to that. Shams, the realities of the Lakers and what they have as far as trade options is what? We've been talking about the trade front with the Lakers like every single day. I think the reality has been the reality, which we've spoken about the last several weeks. They only have two first round picks that are eligible to be traded as of right now for the rest of the decade. Now they're going to have more picks open up as the years go on. But right now they have two first round assets and their position. And I think one that other teams have felt is one of being cautious with those picks and really being careful in terms of deciding what trade they want to make. You don't want to burn those picks. The few valuable assets that you have. You don't want to burn them on a trade that's barely going to move the needle, especially with the uncertainty of Anthony Davis' health status. When exactly he's going to be back. I do think he's making a level of progress. They're still not sure when exactly it'll be. We're already nearing the mid month period that's going to mark the one month mark of his absence. As we spoke about it could be even longer than that. When he comes back. But I don't think there's an expectation that the Lakers are going to do much that's of significance in this trade market just because of the uncertainty of the season. Because you don't want to burn those picks and it's not going to move the needle for where you're really expecting to go. I do think there are people on this roster that do understand that predicament this team is in. Not a great predicament at all Eddie. So as far as the influence that LeBron has on this roster and the building of this roster. How much does he have? I mean look it's been widely reported. They call him LeGM for a reason. They he called himself that jokingly. Like he we understand the implication. We understand the idea that if we make a big move we're going to talk to LeBron. This is a partnership. The Lakers have called it that over and over and over since they've signed him Magic Johnson at his house at midnight on the deadline day. Like let's let's be honest. And so that's what I don't understand about these quotes here. And it's just about LeBron in general. There's a little bit of a lack of accountability here. It's been widely reported that him and A.D. are the ones who pushed for Russell Westbrook and that trade that has essentially gutted the rest of their future assets and put them in a weird place. You can play all that for Anthony Davis and you eventually get a title. But then to break up that gang to get Russ a little bit of looking in the mirror there as well for LeBron and for A.D. The reports are true. The thing I don't understand about this and then the recant later is you did say this. Like it doesn't matter how we read that what's on. Yo you saying mid five game streak. We know what we need to do with this roster. Cuss word cuss word whatever. That's clear. There's no mixing that up. There's no like yo I was sitting there with a smile on my face. However you said it you're telling the world and your general manager that yo something needs to happen. You're also telling your teammates that it's not the first time you've told your teammates that. So it's you know look there's a lot going on here and the fact that you said this after the fifth game and a fifth five game win streak is hilarious. So when you run the Twitter to then clarify what you said you know you stepped in it and look it is what it is. This is LeBron. This is a LeBron experience. He can't be traded this year and we're already talking about him. Can he be traded this summer. Will he be traded. Will he ask out what is he going to do. Who knows. It's LeBron. You got to do what LeBron says or you got to send him to Brooklyn maybe and let him win a title there. Oh god you want that. Hey wait you would want that. Hold on. Yeah I like I like the idea of point four LeBron with Kyrie KD. Oh big clags and playing defense. I could see it. Look at Charlie he's nodding. He can see the remnants of that team. Wait is he nodding good or bad. I can tell. He's nodding good. First of all LeBron would be unbelievable on the net. When I was the second and third year player in Houston I had juice with Daryl Maury. They would ask players top one top two top three players. Do you like this guy. Do you think he meshed well. Same thing happened then in Dallas with Cuban and with Carl out. I had juice. If you don't think for a second LeBron James at least going bouncing ideas off him. And that's what's so confusing to me is is he frustrated. Yes he should be. He's having an unbelievable season. He's not getting much help. But if you think for that he didn't okay these moves in the off season to put them in this situation. You're out of your god damn mind. Rich Paul controls that. LeBron James controls Rich Paul. There is no way that he wasn't okay with these moves. And yeah they're not working out and the team's probably going to miss the playoffs and that's a tough break. But to sit here and say this and act like you're clueless about the you know the team and the design of the team. That's not that's that can't be true because if Chandler Parsons got access and juice with the GMs and the owners when he was playing LeBron James definitely does. So it's frustrating for him. They're losing the team's not working but it's hard for me to believe that he didn't okay these moves in this off season. So that's the problem right. Like for those of us who do not care for LeBron James antics. This is a very prime passive aggressive example of why we get so irritated. It's because on the one hand we know how things went down or we know how big a role you had. And by the way I don't argue with that. If I have LeBron James on my team I'm 100% going to him about everything right. But I can't have you with the same breath turn around and then feign stupidity as far as like I don't really know what's cool but that's like that's the problem. I don't like you can't do both. It's weird to say you know what the fuck should be happening and then try and be sorry for cursing and then try and be politically correct on your own social platform and kind of ease the pain a little bit of what you just said. So that's where it gets a little confusing and it's obvious that LeBron James is the best player probably of all time. Well I wouldn't be asking. Why wouldn't it is blessing. Why wouldn't they say would this would you want to play with this guy. You have to make him happy. You have to make Joel and me happy and Philly. I guarantee you there's not a trade this deadline. Well it doesn't okay. That's just how it works. No doubt. I love LeBron. I think he's the goat. I think you know he's smarter than he's pretending he is on Twitter because he knows who Sam Emick is. He knows what that court means. He knows what it means when he sits down with the other network and has to sit down with them on a night they don't even have a game. I don't know why he's sitting down talking to them having a one on one. But whatever he knows exactly what he's doing. This is LeBron. Like the basketball IQs out the chart. He has an agency and kept it all above ground because somehow it makes sense. It's cool. I love LeBron. He's running the game. He's running the team. He knows exactly what he's doing and how to do it. And if he's playing his passive aggressive don't fit out fit in game and whatever he's done it before. Trust me. That team is made in the image of LeBron. I'm talking if they want to wear blue uniforms tomorrow and he wants to wear purple. What color do you think the Lakers will be wearing when they try down on that court? It's just is what it is. So LeBron is hilarious. I get what he's doing. I guess he's putting public pressure on Rob Polinka to make some move. I don't know what that move is. Like Sam's already said himself. I don't know my breath. I would not hold my breath on a Lakers move. This is my thing. It's like you ask any player in the NBA especially a top player. Of course they're going to say I want moves made. So I don't like I guess you caught LeBron in this moment but like you ask any of these top players whoever it is. Yeah of course you want upgrades made to the team. But again the reality of this situation and I'm here only for the reality is that there's not as of right now the Lakers aren't in the marketplace to make a significant trade because of those two first off picks the uncertainty about anti-Davis health status and just that star player isn't available in the marketplace and they're not just going to make moves on the margins for a team that even if you add a player like that you don't know where you're going. So that's the reality situation. That's all you know I'm going to speak on. And you know that we're going to get a lot more passive aggression and it's going to be awesome and we're here for every single bit of it. I'll take a quick break when we come back. Shams has the latest on the dunk contest and speaking of dunks the latest addition of that man has a family when run it back returns. Born to turn over by Tauri Eason. Now to KJ Martin. Look at this Tauri Eason since KJ showed me how it's done and Tauri a prince man. Where'd he jump from? Where'd he jump from? He's outside the outside the dotted for sure. It wasn't free throw. Oh my goodness. Looked like he was what about a foot and a half or so. Foot and a half is always a good way to be described. All right so that's KJ Martin which is perfect timing and what we call a segue in this business because Shams you do have some breaking late information on the dunk contest. Still my favorite. Yes KJ Martin the son of longtime NBA player Kenyon Martin. He's committed to doing the NBA slam dunk contest at All Star weekend in Salt Lake City in February. You know for KJ Martin he's had a nice breakout season over 10 points a game. Quick shooting percentage. He had like three highlight dunks just last night. He's good for at least one or two highlight plays every single night. That's why he's so exciting to watch. That's why he's transformed himself into a really good 3 and D wing type player able to get to the rim. So he's your first one of your first two commitments for the dunk contest this year. All right this is good. I mean I still would like some more. I think John Morant was one of the people that everyone's like what about John Morant including his own teammate. What is that? Can we see a John Morant? Is that possible? So Shaden Sharp of the Troubles is a rookie phenom athlete. He's the second commitment so far for the dunk contest. So you've got those two as of right now. So Shaden Sharp is a big time athlete. The way he's able to get up. I know Chandler had commentary on him. I'm sure he's going with Shaden Sharp already. I know he's got all his money down. But just he's had a few dunks this year where he's literally having to battle not hitting his head off the backboard. He gets up pretty high. But I don't think John Morant is a guy that the league is expecting to be a potential participant. But John Morant did have some thoughts yesterday in terms of who he thinks should be in the dunk contest. He mentioned Jericho Sims and Shaden Sharp himself. He's going to get at least one of the two in terms of Shaden Sharp. Okay but this can we all just agree this is silly. The man everyone wants to see dunk is now nominating other people. Which no offense to Jericho Sims. But we're all just wanting I mean including because Kuzma who was like what about you. Like we want to see you. So I'll ask you guys who else should join the dunk contest. Just simple. Yeah I mean you want star players. When I was a kid I used to love the dunk contest because I would see Vince Carter. I would see guys like that that I knew who they were. Like most people don't know who Jericho Sims is. He is bouncy. It's crazy. Shaden Sharp I think is going to win this and it's not going to be close. This kid is so bouncy. I love him. I love his game. But again he doesn't really have that name. It doesn't pack that punch. And it's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting. And it's a great opportunity and a great show for these young guys that you know aren't household names get a chance. But yeah I'd love to see Joe. I'd love to see Zion. And you know I'd love to see these star guys who dunk crazy and are super athletic. You know do the dunk contest but again with load management with injuries with the length of the season. I just don't see it happen soon. But it would be a lot more entertaining. Chandler said the right name. Zion like of course we'd love to see Zion in his own contest. I'm going to go with another number one overall pick as well. Anthony Edwards. Can we see him like what is the reason he's not going to be in the game. He's probably not going to make the All-Star game. He's rookie sophomore game. Days are long gone. That's Anthony Edwards on All-Star Saturday. We've seen him put down some of the craziest dunks the last three years. We know he's got that in him. Well he likes that fun. Let's try to get in. We get in. We get job. We get these two we already got. We might have another legendary dunk contest on our hands. So I don't know. Salves you got some juice man. Can we put that in the air. Can we try to make it come out there. Like you got it out there running back. Let's see running back and make it happen. I think the issue is a lot of these kids that don't make a lot of money get huge bonuses from their shoe deals and the stars don't really care about making the bonus. So you see a lot of guys like KJ, like Jericho Sam, these guys, because they want that $500 grand or whatever it is to win the dunk contest. Anthony Edwards I think would rather go to Bahamas or do something like that. So it's tough. But back in the day like we got to see Dominique. Well yeah, there's probably also that. Let me just want to break. But I do feel like I agree with Chandler and I'm much older than Chandler. So the names I remember were also gigantic names at the time. I would almost rather just watch and see if we can get any of the old legends. Can any of them still dunk? I'd rather watch that. I'd rather watch the broken try to dunk. Like at this and it's nothing against these young guys. I 100% understand why they want to do it. But it's as a person consuming the all star festivities. The dunk contest was once a great great pillar of the weekend and I just I miss it. This is oh man, I'm not get off my lawn. I miss the good old days guys. Damn it. All right. Look, Shoms just break the news that Yuta is going to do the shooting at the three point contest. That's what we're all waiting for. He's got to be in it. You don't want to be in it. Leading the league and shooting. And also one of the best names to say in excitement. Please. You can't put that man in the three point contest. I don't I don't I think he would buckle severely under pressure. Whoa, really? What do you think of the October's in the NBA? I know he's having a great year. I know his percentages are high. But what do you think of the best years in the NBA? You think of Yuta right now in this moment in time? He's got to be in the three point contest, Chandler. The way he's he's leading in three point percentage on in the corner. It's not even I think he's like 60% from the corners. I mean, yo, if he if he if he doesn't step up in the moment, then you're right. But you got to get you maybe you will not win it. That's fair. But if the history books, I would say the history books show it. And then people will be like, who's this guy? And I'll be like, well, that year, he was very hot from the three point line. Hence the invitation to the three point contest. It's a history book, a living one. Shoms, we'll see you tomorrow. Chandler's falling a shot right now. I know Chandler's just like, no, you can't. Fine. We'll see Shoms tomorrow. We're going to do a little that man has a family and we will start things off with a man who we just finished talking about at least the very beginning. KJ Martin on Eddie, this is all you. Look, this is clearly the best dunk of the season so far. I mean, when you take into account who it's dunked on, I just kind of like when guys swing on the road. Like just let them know you dunked on them. But a great put back. Sometimes they just bounce perfect and it just works out for you. You can't block him if you don't see him coming. Right. That is just basic basketball fundamentals right there. Bam. This is crazy too, because he's two foot. He's left foot. He's right foot. He can do it in many different ways. He's everywhere. Poor Joe Harris though. I mean, what? Oh man. That's hurtful. I swear to God, I think bam out of I was 50 sometimes. I can't understand anything. You know, we got to we got to get the white guys to stop trying to take the charges on the much bigger players. No, that's all we got. There you go. You got to try to get the charge. Or you got to wrap him up because if not, this is going to happen. I like how everybody looks around. Everybody looks around like concerned. Like was it a was it a charge? Oh no, and it was not. It was definitely wasn't. It's a very weird fall. It's a very soccer-esque fall. Well, his heels are also in the hash there. So he just set himself up for a complete disaster. I'll be honest with you. I don't. When your face is level with another man's parts, I just don't think that's a good night. It's a team bag. I just wanted to lead. I wanted to lead Chandler to the water and see if he would drink. Oh, he would drink. Seven foot violence. This was amazing. But by the way, Eddie, this is two white dudes. What do you want to happen here? I don't know. I mean, you know, now we're splitting hairs here. Either way, this is a Finnish man. And I'm not I'm not sure we're butchers, but I'm not going to guess. Impressive. Don't know. Like, you're not so strong out of nowhere. He's like he is bouncy. He is thick. He is jacked. Like he he hit the weights crazy this summer. You know, that's a crazy runway off of off of that drive to like got the two feet, got the steps. All right. That that was nice. I watched that. Yelled at him too. I watched that. He did right. What did he yell? The rim might pick him up doing the ah. I hear two of these back to back. This is this is great. That's pretty good. See, this is just this just sucks for the film session tomorrow that bogey has to sit there and and rewinding this rewinding this just showing that all the other things he could have done besides just get out of the way and give him a free two point. She did get out of the way. Just why not? I mean, you saw the Joe Harris clip, right? That's why I got out the way. I know. But like, but what if what if it played out differently? A little bit. The only chance he has is to take a charge and I still don't think that's going to work. But just trying. I'm just trying to play double. I mean, could it something else could happen. Josh Hart with a nice, nice little dunk, little donkey dunk on Chris Tuarte. Yeah, he's a big right foot left hand, which I think looks just way cooler than a left foot. Yeah. He's had some nice dunk in his time. One of the stronger guys in the NBA too. And yo, just inside the dotted line. That's that's a nice takeoff right there. I like this. Yeah, that looks pretty in the quarter. Yeah. Also, again, your first door had just zero change. Look at it. It's your chance of blocking this block. I'm blocking this job like the effort. That's what I was wondering. Like he just kind of got up. Yeah. I'm going to say it's not really a full jump. Is it like it's sort of like he's going to go vert. It's late. What do I do? It's like a but this is a buzzer beating dunk on too. Anything Josh are dead in them. No, he had no. They're having fun. Pacers are anyways. But not in that particular clip. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, should Kyrie be an all-star? And will Jason Tatum? What? Be the odd man out? Oh, this whole thing is rigged. I tell you, run it back when we return. Time to look at some lists, guys. All right. So the first round of all-star voting returns. These are the fans' votes came in late last week. Yeah. I mean, it's I don't know if there's anything super shocking, but except for Kyrie Irving is sitting pretty atop that guards list by a bit. Actually, it's a pretty good chunk between he and Donovan Mitchell. Are you guys surprised? I'll start with you, Eddie. Are you surprised? I mean, you see the reaction every night for him. He's still a fan favorite. No, not surprised at all. I mean, he's one of the most exciting players in the league and has been for a decade. It's one of the most fun to watch. And he has a ton of fans. Like, I know that he had a bunch of controversy this year and he has only the last couple of years. But, you know, the Twitter noise can kind of be inflated and different from real life. Kyrie's a fan favorite in just about every arena he goes into. He gets massive ovations. And I'm not surprised to see him leading the guards in the East this year. And, you know, this is also the same reason why he's such a coveted sneaker free agent at the moment. And, you know, everybody's kind of wondering, did Nike make a mistake? So, yeah, not only do I am I not surprised? I expect this to keep up. I don't see Mitch or James catching him up, catching up to him. And I know this is only half of the vote for the starters, but the players also respect him as well. And I expect him to start this game, for sure. Yeah. And first of all, he's balling. He's playing really, really good. There's second in the East. And, man, they have their short-term memory. And Kyrie Irving is the epitome of someone that you want to see in an all-star game. He's flashy with his handle, his layup package, his Isis one-on-one. Like, that's what you want to see in an all-star game. You don't want to necessarily see centers. You don't want to see kind of boring textbook players like that. So, yeah, I'm not surprised at all. He deserves it. And we're talking about an all-star for this season in basketball. Yeah, he's the best guard in the East. Well, it's not going to hurt. 26 and 98, 48 on the floor. Like, that's an all-star. He's an all-star by his numbers as well. I like that. Well, and if KD has to sit out now for any amount of time, that's just the spotlight gets even hotter, which Kyrie seems to very much enjoy. The thing about it is, though, that's weird. And again, it's a fan vote so far. But Jason Tatum, at this moment in time, is the odd man out, which feels kind of wrong, Chandler. Doesn't it? Yeah, we kind of predicted this because those four guys with Tatum, KD, Giannis, and Joelle, one of them were going to be the guy out. I thought it would be Joelle just because, you know, they've kind of flirted with that fourth, fifth, sixth seating in the East. Tatum has carried the Celtics pretty much all year long to be the most consistent, best team. And every time he's played, he's the best player on the floor. I think Jason Tatum should start. Now, I would probably put him over Joelle, but Joelle's also having a crazy year and is vital to his team and dominates, but I got to give Tatum the nod here to start. And that is, again, fan votes. That's just half. So there's a lot more time and it is pretty close. The West also getting their votes in right now. I don't think it's a shock, but it is sort of maybe a spotlight on what's kind of wrong with the system sometimes. But Steph Curry right now, first among West guards and fan vote, which again, half the vote, is he going to get player in media votes as well, even though he is out, Eddie? I mean, he should be back relatively soon. Maybe Friday. I mean, yeah, as soon as this weekend and I think ultimately he'll end up missing, I think something like maybe 11 games, which is, you know, we've seen worse osmars in our time. People want to see him in the All-Star game. He's the reigning MVP of the game. I'm cool with him getting in. I'm not shocked he had these votes. I'm kind of shocked that LeBron continues to lead the conference and we may be headed towards team LeBron versus team KD yet again. I keep expecting Giannis and Steph to overtake them, but no, it's not shocking at all. I mean, I think, you know, his competition for the guards out there is Luca. And what does surprise me is third place right there, John Morant, barely above Shay Gildes Alexander. For all we hear about him being as popular as he is, and he's a Nike signature guy, kind of shocking to see him, not even a million votes thus far. So who knows when we get the next results, maybe they'll change. But yeah, he's behind. He's way behind in that race. And it looks like he won't be starting in this All-Star game. Yeah, for Steph, as soon as he gets back, obviously, the more we can justify it. The people want to see him play. People want to see him shoot half court threes. He's very, very exciting to watch. If he continues to miss more and more time, do I think it's fair that he's in? No, but he's Steph Curry. He's going to come back this Friday, maybe, and he's going to dominate. And we'll probably, you know, two, three weeks from now, we'll forget he even missed this time. So again, I have no problem with him in it, but I just think he needs to get back on the floor here to kind of solidify that. Well, I know the Spurs are filling up the Alamo Dome this Friday. It's the big, trying to break history thing. And Steph may or may not return for that particular game, which is a big deal. But yeah, you're right. LeBron on one side, Katie on the other. It's just deja vu all over again. And the drop off, like John and not having a million, I would think by the time we do this again next week, things will have changed. I think we're taking a quick break here. When we come back, Eddie, Eddie's responsible for losing our latest pilot. And we'll talk about that and we'll do another one. And we'll probably win you guys tons and tons and tons of money all when we run it back for a turn. Football fans, when you bet NFL Same Game Parleys on the FanDuel Sportsbook from now through January 16th, you can get up to $100 in free bets, win or lose. All you have to do is place a total of $20 or more on NFL Same Game Parleys bets during the wild card round. The more you bet, the more you'll get back in free bets. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official Sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, before we get to today's three leg Parley, we'd like to take trips down memory lane to see how we did it before we left way back on Wednesday. And Eddie, you know, tough break buddy. We still love you. We still do. Yo, look at, look at that over under. Like I went to bet the over because I just knew Stephen Adams was going to terrorize the Hornets. I seen that number and got scared. I said, stuck to my gun's pipe. What was I thinking? All I see is 1W. All I see is 1W. Yeah, but which is weird because I thought I got it right. And I'm like, oh, I guess I was right. That graphic was wrong. Here's the deal, guys. I know that we all are sexist in this world, but let's not try to take away my shine on my role that I'm on here on this. I am so good at this. Ever since we brought you in, you have been hot, Michelle. Yeah. So for the record, Eddie was the only wrong one on Wednesday's par. I just want that written down in somebody's diary. Okay. This means we start a new streak today on this beautiful Monday. Eddie, take it away. Look, I'm riding the Lakers train. I'm sorry. I'm going to Russell Westbrook over eight and a half to six. And really this is just because I wanted to highlight that video of the Lakers put out over the weekend where LeBron is saying, yo, let's get greedy. Let's keep winning games. And then Russ from across the locker room goes, hey, guys, let's just have fun. How about that? So it was the funniest thing I saw a weekend. So, you know, go watch that video. But Russ has been killing it in his role. And I expect him to pick up a bunch of assists. They play the nuggets, ton of drop coverage, walk straight into the paint, drop a little drop off, bucket off to a bunch of guys. Let's get that ninth assist, Russ. Please, please. All right. Feels doable, right, Taylor? Yeah, I like that one. I like that one. I also like the Bulls plus eight and a half. Listen, they're playing very good right now. They're healthy. They can score the basketball. That's a lot of points. And again, I just, I like when you see a margin of points that big and the talent of the Bulls, I think, can help us cover the spread. So I like the Bulls plus eight and a half, and I feel like I've been pretty hot lately. I think you've been on a nice chair. The Celtics have also been confusing. Mine right here, CJ McCullum. They play Washington tonight over to 25 and a half. I feel, I feel decent about that. I get scared sometimes on these specifics, but we shall see if you bet 20 bucks, you went about 113. That ain't bad, but that's going to do it for us on this Monday. I know Eddie looks surprised. We will be back as always tomorrow and Wednesday, 10 Eastern Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It's run it back. We'll see you mañana.