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Speaker 1: We'll give you the top five reasons why Team Lebron

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Speaker 1: will beat Team Durant. We'll look at five teams that

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Speaker 1: are thriving heading into the All Star Break and if

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Speaker 1: one of them will make a tantalizing deal for Niko

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Speaker 1: Levucevic and a legend fails in his attempt to purchase

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Speaker 1: the team he's wanted to buy four years. Hey, I'm Tasmellus,

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Speaker 1: and this is what you need to know in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the midway point of the twenty twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one NBA season. Usually the All Star Break doesn't

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Speaker 1: land halfway through team schedules, but this year it does,

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Speaker 1: so basketball geeks like me have to be rejoicing out there,

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Speaker 1: kind of like when you crack open a soft boiled

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Speaker 1: egg and the perfect amount of yok runs out. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I gotta be rejoicing. Sorry, I just had breakfast Anyway,

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Speaker 1: the All Star Draft happened. Lebron and Kevin Durant made

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Speaker 1: their picks on Team T Thursday. With the first pick,

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Speaker 1: Lebron selected Janice Adetokumbo. The rest of Lebron's starting five

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry, Luka, Doncic, and Nikole Jokic WHOA Durant starters

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Speaker 1: are Kyrie Irving, Joel Embiid Kawhi, Leonard, Bradley Beal and

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. Very good but advantage Team Lebron. Lebron's bench

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, Paul George, Rudy Gobert, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul,

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Speaker 1: Demata Sabonis and Ben Simmons, while Durance bench is Devin Booker,

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Speaker 1: Julius Randall, Nikolavucevic, James Harden, Zaklavigne, Zion Williamson and Donovan Mitchell.

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Speaker 1: Lebron's team has already won this All Star Game. Here

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Speaker 1: are the top five reasons why Team Lebron will defeat

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Speaker 1: Team Durant top bye, top by tom By, top bye,

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Speaker 1: top by number five. On Thursday, Lebron gave us the

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Speaker 1: first look at his up coming movie, Space Jam A

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Speaker 1: New Legacy. Tweety Bird, Lola Bunny, don cheto do you

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Speaker 1: think Lebron is going to perform poorly in the first

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Speaker 1: basketball game that he plays in after revealing some photos

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Speaker 1: from the legendary Space Jam movie that he is going

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Speaker 1: to start in No chance. Also love how it's called

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Speaker 1: space Jam a New Legacy and not space jam two.

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Speaker 1: Forget about that, Michael Jordan, guy, this is a new series.

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Speaker 1: Number four. When number one overall pick, Yannis Adeta Koumpo

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Speaker 1: was asked his thoughts on the rosters. This is what

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Speaker 1: he had to say. So it's you and Lebron obviously,

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Speaker 1: and then Steph, Luca and Jokich. That does it? Started five? Yes, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's over, guys. I agree, Yannis, it's over done. Sorry

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Speaker 1: only had shredded chicken last second. Here number one pick

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Speaker 1: saying it's over. Oh dear, it is over. At number three,

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Speaker 1: the only two guys on either roster that aren't gonna

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Speaker 1: take a jump shot are both on Team Lebron, Rudy

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Speaker 1: Gobert and Ben Simmons. And that's valuable in an All

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Speaker 1: Star game. When teams aren't playing defense, dunks are there

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Speaker 1: to be had, especially if you're playing with shooters guys

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Speaker 1: that won't shoot surrounded by guys that will advantage Team Lebron.

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Speaker 1: Number two, Kevin Durant isn't playing. He's injured. Jason Tatum

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Speaker 1: has replaced him in the starting lineup, but Tatum isn't

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. He's been compared to Kevin Durant his old life, sure,

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Speaker 1: but the legend himself is not playing. And the number

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Speaker 1: one reason Team Lebron will defeat Team Durant is because

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Speaker 1: Drake dropped three new songs Friday at midnight and Lebron

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Speaker 1: has already declared his love for it. Team Lebron already

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Speaker 1: has their soundtrack for the weekend. Yeah, they can come

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Speaker 1: into All Star Weekend vibe into those same three songs.

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Speaker 1: That is team bonding. By the way of the songs

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Speaker 1: is called Lemon Pepper Freestyle. I think there might be

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Speaker 1: some partying in Atlanta this weekend. The only way Team

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Speaker 1: Durant can recover from this is if Saint Louis Boy

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Speaker 1: Nelly dropped some songs for his Saint Louis Boys Jason

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Speaker 1: Tatum and Bradley Beal, who are both on Team Durant.

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Speaker 1: But there's no chance it's over. Team Lebron is going

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Speaker 1: to defeat Team Durant. With this being the midway point

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Speaker 1: of the season, I wanted to take a look at

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Speaker 1: the state of five teams and how they're looking forward

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Speaker 1: to the second half for very different reasons. Let's start

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Speaker 1: with the Portland Trailblazers. They finished off an incredible first

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Speaker 1: half of the year for them twenty one and fourteen,

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Speaker 1: despite so many injuries. Their finish was brilliant, indicative of

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Speaker 1: their entire year. Damian Lillard fifteen points in the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter to beat the Kings. He had forty four overall.

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Speaker 1: Lillard has had to do so much because CJ. McCollum

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Speaker 1: has been out for so long. He could have been

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Speaker 1: an All Star himself, having a career year twenty six

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Speaker 1: point seven points per game for him. He should be

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Speaker 1: back very soon after the break, great news, and Yusuf

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Speaker 1: Nurkis should also be back. So those two guys coming

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Speaker 1: back to a twenty one and fourteen team. What a solid,

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Speaker 1: solid start by the Blazers despite all these obstacles they've

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Speaker 1: had to overcome. Moving on to the Los Angeles Slippers,

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Speaker 1: they've lost three in a row. They absolutely need the break.

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Speaker 1: They're looking forward to the second half. The latest loss

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Speaker 1: was to Washington on Thursday. No Paul George in the lineup.

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Speaker 1: He was a late scratch due to dizziness. You don't

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Speaker 1: see that often, so hopefully he's all right, and they've

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Speaker 1: got some reasons. They didn't have one of either Paul

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Speaker 1: George or Kawhi Leonard for two of their last three losses.

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Speaker 1: But they haven't looked entirely cohesive. Stop me if you've

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Speaker 1: heard that before when talking about the Los Angeles Clippers,

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Speaker 1: and the fact that Koir Paul George aren't getting reps

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Speaker 1: together is a negative. That's what happened going into the

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Speaker 1: Bubble last season when they flamed out after having a

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Speaker 1: three to one lead against the Nuggets. Moving on to

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Speaker 1: the Bucks, just like he I said that the Boombo

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Speaker 1: eat that chicken, the Bucks have to be grinning from

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Speaker 1: ear to ear with what they have in Drew Holiday.

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Speaker 1: Drew Holiday hit the game winner versus the Grizzlies on

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Speaker 1: Thursday Night. This is exactly the reason why the Bucks

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Speaker 1: traded for him in the offseason. They gave up the

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Speaker 1: Moon and Stars for a situation like the Bucks faced

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Speaker 1: against the Grizzlies late. The Bucks were struggling the last

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Speaker 1: couple minutes in that game. They just couldn't score, and

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Speaker 1: after John Morant scored what looked to be the game

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Speaker 1: winner with seven seconds left for Memphis, Drew Holiday calmly

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Speaker 1: took it upon himself to create a Bucket, went up

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Speaker 1: the floor no time out, called his own number created

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Speaker 1: space by the baseline. A mid range baseline jumper went

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Speaker 1: swish Bucks win. They need a playmaker like that when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the postseason. Moving on to the Denver Nuggets,

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Speaker 1: They've won four in a row after beating the Pacers

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Speaker 1: on Thursday. All those wins on the road. Denver a

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Speaker 1: good road team this season. They moved up to six

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Speaker 1: in the standings after a very slow start. The interesting

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Speaker 1: part to me, they're winning with a couple guys out,

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Speaker 1: Gary Harris and Paul Millsep. Do they mess with what's

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Speaker 1: working when those guys come back? This could be a blessing?

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Speaker 1: Could this be a changing of the guard and forward

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Speaker 1: in Denver? Gary Harris has essentially been a starter since

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen with the Nuggets, but he hasn't evolved to

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Speaker 1: the player they thought he would. He's had a bad year.

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Speaker 1: Can he be better off the bench? Keeping? Monte morse

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Speaker 1: starting beside Jamal Murray may be the answer the Nuggets

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Speaker 1: are looking for. Same goes for Paul Millsp. He's started

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Speaker 1: essentially since twenty ten in this league. But who goes

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Speaker 1: to the bench when he comes back scoring? Will Barton

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Speaker 1: or a young star Michael Porter Junior who has finally

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Speaker 1: found his groove recently. Do you mess with that? I'm

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Speaker 1: not so sure I'll be interested to watch them in

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Speaker 1: the second half. The Boston Celtics, I've saved them for

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Speaker 1: last year. They've won four in a row, but it

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Speaker 1: hasn't really been convincing or anything. We're talking about a

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Speaker 1: team that had championship aspirations. They're sitting in fourth in

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Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. But there are plenty of positives here.

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Speaker 1: After beating the Raptors Thursday, Jason Tatum had this to

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Speaker 1: say about his COVID recovery. It's a long process. I

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Speaker 1: know guys who said it takes months to catch their

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Speaker 1: breath back, their win back. I think I'm on that

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Speaker 1: same track. Well, Tatum has played twenty one games since

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Speaker 1: returning from COVID nineteen. That's six weeks of basketball. So

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Speaker 1: the positive here is that Tatum's best is yet to come.

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Speaker 1: The Celtics should get Marcus Smart back when games resumed

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Speaker 1: Thursday versus the nets for them, well that's a big one.

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Speaker 1: Can't wait for that. So Mark Smart should be there.

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Speaker 1: If it's not Thursday around there, that's their heartbeat back,

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Speaker 1: And there seems to be some smoke to the rumors

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Speaker 1: that Danny Ainge could acquire a big forward or center

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Speaker 1: type to go along with Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown

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Speaker 1: and Kemba Walker and Smart. According to Sean Sharanya in

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Speaker 1: his juicy Inside Pass, call him on the athletic, Blake

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Speaker 1: Griffin and the Pistons are going to agree to a

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Speaker 1: buyout now, Blake don't really fit the timeline for the Celtics.

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Speaker 1: I get that they want somebody younger, somebody on the trajectory,

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Speaker 1: somebody who can play a little bit better defensively. Okay,

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Speaker 1: let's just get this rumor mill going. Sham Also, Scham's

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Speaker 1: also mentions the Celtics and Hornets are among teams interested

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Speaker 1: in Magic two time All Star Nikolavucevich. What is Nikola

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Speaker 1: Vucevic going to be traded from the Orlando Magic having

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Speaker 1: an All Star season this year because he's incredible, probably

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Speaker 1: overlooked by most fans, but he's so good offensively. Maybe

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Speaker 1: I'm buying it because the Celtics have struck out on

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Speaker 1: acquiring Anthony Davis, and my brain says, Okay, this is

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Speaker 1: a tiny step down from Anthony Davis, so maybe they

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Speaker 1: can get Nikola Vucevic. Maybe they just have to go

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Speaker 1: for it now, but they don't have the draft capital

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Speaker 1: they once to have. They don't really have the young

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Speaker 1: players the Magic would want. Orlando Cordy Toscham's wants a

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Speaker 1: massive return, and Vuch told Trumps he likes the idea

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Speaker 1: of playing for one franchise his whole career. He mentioned

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Speaker 1: Damian Lillard in Portland, so I'm not sure this happens,

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Speaker 1: but the fit makes sense. An incredible offense of five

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Speaker 1: those guys would be in Boston if Vouch somehow gets there,

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Speaker 1: speaking a big man who can shoot. Kevin Garnett's group

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Speaker 1: will not be purchasing the Minnesota Timberwolves. Current owner Glenn

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Speaker 1: Taylor is selling the team, and Garnett had declared his

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Speaker 1: goal of buying the team in the summer of twenty twenty,

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Speaker 1: but this desire goes way back to twenty fifteen when

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Speaker 1: he went back to the Wolves. The strange thing here

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Speaker 1: is that Glenn Taylor on Thursday said he was never

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Speaker 1: contacted by KG nor was Kevin Garnett's name listed on

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Speaker 1: any of the buying groups. Why is life so weird?

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Speaker 1: There's more on this story on the Athletic by John Krazinski,

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Speaker 1: who's been all over it. Unfortunate for Kevin Garnett, although

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Speaker 1: on his Instagram page he said he's turning his sites

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Speaker 1: towards potentially new teams in Las Vegas or if the

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Speaker 1: NBA goes back to Seattle, so look out for that.

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Speaker 1: Enjoy All Star weekend. I'll be back on Thursday after

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Speaker 1: the games get going on Wednesday night, I'll talk to

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Speaker 1: you then