Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, it's trade deadline,
Speaker 2: but like the OKC Lakers game last night, it gets
Speaker 2: hijacked by Lebron James.
Speaker 1: We also get into Lebron's historic night.
Speaker 2: We dig straight into Christmas in February for NBA fans
Speaker 2: gets off to a hot start with Kyrie Irving getting
Speaker 2: moved to the maps. We break down the trade and
Speaker 2: it's aftermath, plus we'll get into a ton of other trade.
Speaker 1: Rumors for around the league.
Speaker 2: Get right into it, Nick, because shit is moving fast.
Speaker 2: Do me a favor and drop that generic ass beat.
Speaker 2: Well the entire association, let's be honest, stop dead in
Speaker 2: their tracks.
Speaker 1: Last night for a truly historic event.
Speaker 2: Lebron James is now the all time leading scorer in
Speaker 2: the NBA, having just surpassed Kareem with a I would
Speaker 2: call it a mid thirty eight point performance because he
Speaker 2: was really supposed to get forty for me because I
Speaker 2: had money on it. But you know, I digress. I mean,
Speaker 2: after he broke the record, he pretty much did absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2: But hey, you know who am I? Who am I
Speaker 2: to make fun of the fact that it turned into
Speaker 2: an entire fanfare on the court.
Speaker 1: There's pictures, babies are getting kissed.
Speaker 2: You got Anthony Davis sitting off to the side, which
Speaker 2: we'll get to in a second, but just a bucket
Speaker 2: short of the record. It looked like Lebron was trying
Speaker 2: to back down for a skyhook, which would have been fitting,
Speaker 2: but instead Patented's step back mid range. Kobe behind the
Speaker 2: free throw line, hit nothing but net. Everyone goes nuts.
Speaker 2: Of course, Lebron now greatest score in NBA history. People
Speaker 2: are trying to downplay this. I think he's better at
Speaker 2: thirty eight than Hall of famers were in their prime.
Speaker 2: That's pretty much facts, showing no sign of slowing down.
Speaker 2: By the time he hangs up the sneakers, he's probably
Speaker 2: gonna put so much distance between him and Kareem it'll
Speaker 2: be another forty fifty years before anyone ever sniffs the
Speaker 2: record again. And then there'll be a fourth generation of
Speaker 2: Lebron James Is in the NBA. It'll be Lebron, these
Speaker 2: kids will be in the NBA. A couple of interesting
Speaker 2: things to get into before my take. First, everybody is
Speaker 2: talking about Anthony Davis and his reaction right now, he
Speaker 2: was on the bench during which is like pretty common
Speaker 2: for Anthony Davis. During the record breaking play and before
Speaker 2: Braun took the shot, he sits down like a guy
Speaker 2: waiting for the bus at the stop after a ten
Speaker 2: hour shift. Like it's just where was he during the celebration.
Speaker 2: He was nowhere to be found. He was sitting there
Speaker 2: with no emotion on his face, looking I don't know where.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that there was any shade being
Speaker 2: thrown at Lebron James, because I'm sure that there wasn't.
Speaker 2: But the reaction was very weird. It was very odd.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what to make of it. I have
Speaker 2: really nothing I can speculate that was happening. But I
Speaker 2: think that's probably a product of everyone being pretty tired
Speaker 2: of the chase by now. We had the Lebron chase
Speaker 2: meter on the screen. Second thing, second thing Kareem didn't
Speaker 2: even like. Kaream didn't feel like he was that excited
Speaker 2: by that is wearing his captain jacket. His reaction very muted.
Speaker 2: Like muted's probably a very generous way to putting it.
Speaker 2: He doesn't like Lebron. We know that he doesn't. He
Speaker 2: said things about Lebron that haven't been exactly generous. This
Speaker 2: was all on video. You could see it. Kareem is
Speaker 2: a beautiful rider. He penned a great piece about what
Speaker 2: the record meant to him.
Speaker 1: YadA YadA, YadA, YadA YadA.
Speaker 2: He also explains why he's not sad that he no
Speaker 2: longer holds the record, which we know is false. Is
Speaker 2: at if I won a billion dollars in a lottery
Speaker 2: and thirty nine years later someone won two billion dollars,
Speaker 2: his winning in no way affects my winning.
Speaker 1: That's true. That's that's facts right there.
Speaker 2: Other people's success do not detract from your individual success.
Speaker 1: Kareem, probably the.
Speaker 2: Most unstoppable offensive player in history, has not suited up
Speaker 2: in a few decades, so two generations of hoops fans
Speaker 2: only know him through YouTube clips and him throwing shade
Speaker 2: up on James and winning time.
Speaker 1: Having the record broken.
Speaker 2: Very inevitable when you have Lebron have a longevity of
Speaker 2: his career as much as he did. Just like when
Speaker 2: Krem broke the record in nineteen eighty four, it did
Speaker 2: not take away from the greatness of wil Chamberlain either,
Speaker 2: the previous record holder. There's room in the pantheon for
Speaker 2: all the greats together. Anyone who questions that Lebron doesn't
Speaker 2: belong there, well, like Jaji Riddick said, you just don't
Speaker 2: know basketball.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the trade deadline. Whoa, whoa, It
Speaker 1: happened fast. It happened so much faster than anybody thought.
Speaker 1: Anybody could have predicted.
Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving, Kyrie Irving the Dallas Maverick. Wow, we are
Speaker 2: trying to figure out what just happened. The timeline of
Speaker 2: it is insane. Kyrie demands a trade Friday, February third.
Speaker 2: By Sunday afternoon, he's in Dallas in one of the
Speaker 2: most shocking trades in recent memory. In those seventy two hours,
Speaker 2: so much happened. Let's break that down from the moment
Speaker 2: that the news broke that he was asking out, presumably
Speaker 2: because then Nets wouldn'tive him any money, which why would you.
Speaker 2: He's been unavailable. Speculation goes wild. Teams are rumored to
Speaker 2: be in the Kyrie mix. Were the usual suspects, of course,
Speaker 2: Purple and Gold, the Lakers, the Clippers.
Speaker 1: The Suns.
Speaker 2: I don't know if the Heat were really involved, but
Speaker 2: they were sort of mentioned. And then the dark horses
Speaker 2: like the Mavericks, and the Pelicans. Turns out only four
Speaker 2: teams actually made offers. The Lakers were the presumed front runners. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Braun and Kyrie have talked about reuniting. They've made no
Speaker 2: bones about wanting to play again together. The Lakers apparently
Speaker 2: offered Russell Westbrook more on this later, Austin Reeves, Max
Speaker 2: Christi and two first rounders. I think the first rounder
Speaker 2: element is a little bit muddled. It could be one,
Speaker 2: it could be two. The twenty seven twenty nine solid
Speaker 2: The Clippers apparently offered Terrence Man Luke Canard a first
Speaker 2: and two first round pick swaps. Kind of meh, if
Speaker 2: you're the Nets, I like Terrence Man fine. Luke Canard
Speaker 2: is trash, He's horrible, So that trade made no sense.
Speaker 2: The Suns, this is where it gets really interesting. They
Speaker 2: offered Chris Paul, Jay Crowder and some first round picks.
Speaker 2: Pretty intriguing except for the fact that Chris Paul has
Speaker 2: fallen off of a cliff. Paul right intriguing, And then
Speaker 2: Joe Say said, I was like, nah, I'm good, I'm good,
Speaker 2: so he fast tracked the traded Dallas that was finalized
Speaker 2: as follows.
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Mark Keith.
Speaker 2: Morris for Spencer Dinwoodie, which is like a wish version
Speaker 2: of Kyrie Irving, who already played for the Nets. Dorian
Speaker 2: Finney Smith, one of the best perimeter on ball defenders
Speaker 2: in the league, and two second round picks I think,
Speaker 2: a first round pick, two and a first round pick.
Speaker 2: Fascinating thing. According to those who are connected with the story,
Speaker 2: Kyrie was never going to get a long term contract
Speaker 2: from the Maps, and anonymous source reports no one in
Speaker 2: Dallas will come out and say it in those terms,
Speaker 2: but Irving is potentially just a rental lord, folks. I
Speaker 2: have thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: First of all, super excited to see this fit. People
Speaker 2: are saying, oh, Kyrie, Luca, they're not gonna be able
Speaker 2: to play together.
Speaker 1: They don't Those people don't listen to them. They don't
Speaker 1: know basketball. It's fine.
Speaker 2: They're just watching Sports Center and listening, and it takes
Speaker 2: and then regurgitating takes. Kyrie playing off ball is excellent.
Speaker 2: He is elite at that. Kyrie probably the theoretical player
Speaker 2: that's always in play. But one thing you never question
Speaker 2: is his work ethic and his ability to ball out
Speaker 2: in crucial moments. He's a top ten offensive player in
Speaker 2: the league. He's a top seventy five player in all
Speaker 2: of history, and he will play really well with Luca
Speaker 2: if he continues to come off ball like he did
Speaker 2: with Lebron James.
Speaker 1: In the time that he was in Cleveland.
Speaker 2: This does bring up a ton of questions like is
Speaker 2: Kyrie going to be the dinwitty two point zero? Is
Speaker 2: he gonna hit sort of those game tying game winning shots?
Speaker 2: Is that still gonna go to Luca? Uh? This could
Speaker 2: be very fun to watch. To me, he's not a
Speaker 2: selfish player. He's a player who can get guys involved.
Speaker 2: He can play, make, he can do a lot of things.
Speaker 2: The Cavs won a championship with Kyrie Irving coming off ball,
Speaker 2: so he's built in the lab for playoff time.
Speaker 1: That's what he is. He is winning time in human form.
Speaker 2: My second point, does anybody feel like it's weird that
Speaker 2: Mark Cuban makes this move? They know that Luca probably
Speaker 2: is going to ask out if they don't do something.
Speaker 2: This is sort of a roll of the dice move, right,
Speaker 2: you know, like kind of like what they did with
Speaker 2: russ and with Polinka. You have to sort of appease
Speaker 2: the player that you know needs to be appeased, possibly
Speaker 2: putting yourself in a worse situation.
Speaker 1: Down the road.
Speaker 2: Right, That's that's really really tough, which brings me to
Speaker 2: my third point, because I think this is a rental.
Speaker 1: I think one hundred percent this is a rental.
Speaker 2: I do not believe that Kyrie is in the MAVs
Speaker 2: uniform next year whatsoever, Dimwittie and Dori Infinny Smith. Is
Speaker 2: a very steep price to pay for a rental for
Speaker 2: thirty games, right like he is he is. I firmly
Speaker 2: believe that Kyrie will be a Laker next year. I
Speaker 2: think this was, in terms of the Lakers, probably the
Speaker 2: most savvy things that Kyrie has done in a long time.
Speaker 2: So he asked for a trade out in the summer, right, and.
Speaker 1: They were like, nah, we're good, We're not gonna do that.
Speaker 2: No, you have no trade value, nobody wants you whatsoever.
Speaker 2: That's just not going to happen, right, not. No, you
Speaker 2: did the vaccination thing, you got hardened move to ask
Speaker 2: out you uh, well, zero controversy for thirty games. And
Speaker 2: you know his stepmom who's his agent, saying to him,
Speaker 2: that's all you have to do, and you can ask
Speaker 2: out and get whatever you want, which is exactly what happened.
Speaker 1: He bawled out.
Speaker 2: He as that young woman said, who asked rus that
Speaker 2: question which I'm going to use forever now, which is
Speaker 2: he uses his impressive dribbling skills to successfully fake out
Speaker 2: his opponents multiple times.
Speaker 1: The truth is Kyrie did that.
Speaker 2: He's good at basketball, he can hit clench shots, and
Speaker 2: he's not stirring anything up ever since the whole thing
Speaker 2: that he stirred up. You can now use that as
Speaker 2: leverage knowing that their teams are going to be very desperate,
Speaker 2: desperate to make a move because this is a very
Speaker 2: muddled west a team where a Westwards very mediocre. Anybody
Speaker 2: can get in and anybody can make a run. And
Speaker 2: if you're the MAVs, you know that Kyrie is an
Speaker 2: upgrade over Spencer Dinwiddie. Like, this is not petulance, This
Speaker 2: is not Kyrie throwing a fit. This is him saying,
Speaker 2: I know what I need to do in order to
Speaker 2: get out of this organization.
Speaker 1: The clock is ticking. He forces the Nett hand.
Speaker 2: He does it down the stretch where they have no
Speaker 2: time to really pivot and figure things out and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, you know, he's gone fourth. The Nets
Speaker 2: did get theoretically a little bit better, you know, they
Speaker 2: did get not as much as probably they could have
Speaker 2: gotten for him if he was Donovan Mitchell like scandal free.
Speaker 2: Kyrie's not scandal free though, that's where we're at. He's
Speaker 2: not he's not de Jonte Murray, he's not Donovan, he's
Speaker 2: not Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 1: But he's a better player than that.
Speaker 2: Theoretically he should be worth more than the four first
Speaker 2: round picks it took to get them right, but his
Speaker 2: stock had fallen so low after everything that he's done.
Speaker 1: He was virtually untradable at one point in time.
Speaker 2: Right, what the bottom line is this, The Nets traded
Speaker 2: Kyrie a star for two good players, good players. Spencer's
Speaker 2: a good player. He's played for the Nets before. Right,
Speaker 2: He's a diet Kyrie. He has handles, he can shoot.
Speaker 2: He was one of the most clutch players in the
Speaker 2: playoffs last year. We saw that when they went to
Speaker 2: the Western Conference finals. He hit some big, big threes
Speaker 2: down the stretch. Drian Finney Smith probably one of the
Speaker 2: best defense wings. So you've got Katie, You've got Dorian
Speaker 2: Finny Smith, and you've got Nick Claxton. Those three guys
Speaker 2: are gonna be able to defend. You're gonna have probably
Speaker 2: the best front court defensively of any team in the NBA.
Speaker 2: And they get a first rounder and two second rounders
Speaker 2: out of it. So you kind of made lemonade at
Speaker 2: a Lemons now. Very solid deal for the Nets, considering
Speaker 2: that Kyrie has been a disaster. I think also the
Speaker 2: Nets need to make another deal. They need to figure
Speaker 2: it out. Maybe you figure out a way to get
Speaker 2: og Anobi, Maybe you find a way to get Pascal Siakam.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what the new Tea leaves say.
Speaker 2: You'll probably have to give up Nick Claxton for that,
Speaker 2: but I still don't hate it. And also to show
Speaker 2: Katie you're not tearing it down to the studs. There's
Speaker 2: a possibility he gets moved and wants to be moved
Speaker 2: if you don't show him that he is going to
Speaker 2: be on a team that's gonna win. Right, this is now,
Speaker 2: and the fact really is Sham's reported Kyrie asking for
Speaker 2: a trade now makes it so that so many more
Speaker 2: teams are asking about Kevin Durant than they were about Kyrie.
Speaker 1: They want to know, Hey, is he on the move? Like,
Speaker 1: can we get him for nothing?
Speaker 2: Can we get him for just a couple of maybe
Speaker 2: the three first round picks and Dyson Daniels who knows
Speaker 2: more on that later. By the way, Kyrie left for
Speaker 2: three games and Cam Thomas exploded, So this is going
Speaker 2: to be really fun to watch Cam Thomas.
Speaker 1: He's crazy. He's had more than forty points three straight games.
Speaker 2: Now, insane, we do went off for forty four against
Speaker 2: the Wizards, forty seven against the Clippers, and had forty
Speaker 2: three last night. So dude's going to be a star.
Speaker 2: First player in NBA history to have three forty point
Speaker 2: games at his age.
Speaker 1: Nuts.
Speaker 2: And then Ben Simmon's not getting talked about enough. He's
Speaker 2: been trash. He's maybe the most untradable player in the
Speaker 2: league right now. As for Dallas, they are rolling the
Speaker 2: dice and Jason Kidd thinks that they can fix Kyrie.
Speaker 2: Kyrie his mentor his idol is Jason Kidd obviously had
Speaker 2: the relationship with the front office executive Nico Harrison, who
Speaker 2: came from a Nike where Kyrie had his signature shoe,
Speaker 2: so they had a long standing relationship that Kyrie since
Speaker 2: Kyrie got into the league, and you know that's what
Speaker 2: they said.
Speaker 1: Jason Kidds said, Hey, we have a relationship.
Speaker 2: He's all about basketball, he wants to win, he wants
Speaker 2: to be coached, and this is a great opportunity for me.
Speaker 2: And Kyrie has great things to say about Luca. He
Speaker 2: loves Luca, and before this trade was even possible, this
Speaker 2: is what he said about him.
Speaker 3: I think first we got to discuss just how long
Speaker 3: he's been playing professional basketball. I think it's been since
Speaker 3: like fourteen fifteen years old, so he's used to seeing
Speaker 3: so many different defenses, so many difer you know, different
Speaker 3: roles that he's played shore overseas, and now that he's
Speaker 3: in the NBA, I mean, you just see him. He
Speaker 3: plays at an incredible pace. He makes great decisions. Most
Speaker 3: offense goes through him, and he takes his time a lot,
Speaker 3: and he gets to the free throw line. So he
Speaker 3: maximizes on all the rules of the game of basketball
Speaker 3: and uses it to advantage and all the rest of
Speaker 3: the guys around him play their role really well. So
Speaker 3: they're a good team and they're only getting better. And again,
Speaker 3: I'm glad we got to see a team like this
Speaker 3: that you know down the line, the continuity that they
Speaker 3: have in the trust because they've been through certain battles,
Speaker 3: you can see it and they don't panic. That's just
Speaker 3: good to see traits of a great team.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean this is gonna be very interesting.
Speaker 2: So now that Kyrie is a Maverick for probably twenty
Speaker 2: five games, and if he doesn't sign from them with
Speaker 2: them in the offseason, which I don't think he will,
Speaker 2: that's a hefty price to pay for a rental unit.
Speaker 2: But if he keeps Luca happy, and that's what Cuban wants,
Speaker 2: who knows.
Speaker 1: And also for the Lakers, why would you do that
Speaker 1: deal if you thought Kyrie would be there anyway for
Speaker 1: you in free agency? Why you wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Why would you pay all those first round picks and
Speaker 2: your young players if you think you're gonna get Kyrie anyway?
Speaker 2: And so we'll talk about this in a bit, but listen,
Speaker 2: Lebron James is not happy about it. So the Lake
Speaker 2: Show never disappoints, which we'll talk about in a second
Speaker 2: up next.
Speaker 1: In related news, stephen A is trending.
Speaker 2: Because of a fight over Kyrie that occurred over first
Speaker 2: take with Jay Williams. People are losing their minds. If
Speaker 2: you haven't heard it, it is tremendous. Here are some
Speaker 2: of the audio Daily News.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna happen.
Speaker 4: We put a different kind of onus on our athletes
Speaker 4: than we do and you may mention that on your podcast.
Speaker 4: I don't deny that. First off, I'm not the one.
Speaker 4: I don't deny that I'm being sensitive.
Speaker 1: I don't deny that.
Speaker 4: But you're the one that seemed very emotional.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Jack, I'm.
Speaker 4: Not sitting up here on National TV absolving Kyrie Irving
Speaker 4: of every every decision. I'm not going back and reaccounting
Speaker 4: every decision. I'm just saying how it's interesting to me.
Speaker 4: It just carries such a bigger momentum, in particular with you, Abody.
Speaker 4: You know what I would what I would ask you is.
Speaker 5: Do me a favor.
Speaker 4: Stop telling us what you find interesting to just tell.
Speaker 1: Us what you feel. No my job.
Speaker 3: You say I find it interesting?
Speaker 1: You always say that. Say what you're saying? What do
Speaker 1: you say?
Speaker 5: What did I just?
Speaker 1: What do you say?
Speaker 4: See what am I saying? I just said what I'm saying,
Speaker 4: steven A with you in and I'm not allowed to
Speaker 4: say what I find interesting you are, but like, once again.
Speaker 1: You're going to show what's interesting. Hey, thinks you're too
Speaker 1: preoccupied with Kyrie too hard on Kyrie?
Speaker 4: Did I printed printed Kyrie Arvin last week before he
Speaker 4: demanded the trade. We were talking foot Paul, how many
Speaker 4: times have I mentioned Kyrie Arvin over.
Speaker 2: The last time?
Speaker 4: I didn't seem to go. I don't seem to me
Speaker 4: the one being triggered right now?
Speaker 5: Well, let's I'm always triggered.
Speaker 4: No, you're not.
Speaker 1: I mean it gets worse from there. This is anybody
Speaker 1: shocked that two former duke players are aligned.
Speaker 2: Dookie's gonna Duke right, that's Jay Williams and and Kyrie Irving. Second,
Speaker 2: stephen A Smith got personal because Jay was hinting at
Speaker 2: something that he wanted to say and wouldn't come out
Speaker 2: with it. Stephen A does come after Kyrie hard and
Speaker 2: they've argued about him before. They've had been very adversarial
Speaker 2: to the point where it feels that they are personal.
Speaker 2: Like discovering I don't know your favorite aunt is like,
Speaker 2: you know, you love her and you guys talk all
Speaker 2: the time, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: she's a truther.
Speaker 1: She's a truther basically how steven A and j R.
Speaker 1: Right now they feel that same way about one another.
Speaker 2: Jay feels like steven A is standing up for Dana
Speaker 2: White and Jerry Jones and their improprieties, but will not
Speaker 2: go out of his way to defend Kyrie or at
Speaker 2: least create some nuance or context about Kyrie. And Jay
Speaker 2: is asking why why do you allow that energy for
Speaker 2: Kyrie and not for them? And stephen A would say, well,
Speaker 2: I have to go after Kyrie more because this is
Speaker 2: a professional thing versus a personal thing, and there are
Speaker 2: many things that Kyrie has done that has hurt his
Speaker 2: team and kept them from winning. And I think that's
Speaker 2: why he got triggered. Daniel White's trans transgressions are personal
Speaker 2: and domestic. Those are societal questions. Kyrie's issues were a
Speaker 2: professional thing that bled into professional lives. Back and forth
Speaker 2: was really interesting. I would listen to the whole thing
Speaker 2: if you if you can, because of really what was
Speaker 2: not said steven A was kind of like, I know
Speaker 2: what you're trying to do. You're trying to sneak me
Speaker 2: in front of my audience, and you're not about to
Speaker 2: do that. I know that that's what you've been doing,
Speaker 2: and I know that how the culture views me, and
Speaker 2: I do not like it. Say what you mean, or
Speaker 2: don't say anything unless you're gonna say it with your
Speaker 2: full chest. And all of this is a reminder that
Speaker 2: there are probably no two more, no more polarizing players
Speaker 2: than Kyrie Irving, even with people who traffic in hot takes.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing, though, Kyrie is not going anyplace, not
Speaker 2: by a long shot. So we're gonna have more of
Speaker 2: these Jay Williams of the stephen A. Smith conversations and altercations,
Speaker 2: unless Jay Williams is not allowed on the show anymore,
Speaker 2: which is definitely possible.
Speaker 1: What would a Kyrie trade be?
Speaker 2: Without checking in on what the newly crowned NBA scoring
Speaker 2: leader Lebron James thought, I want to know what does
Speaker 2: he think about something that did not affect him at all?
Speaker 2: Does he think about something a trade that did not
Speaker 2: happen that he thought was going to happen for him?
Speaker 2: Because ESPN, through Michael Wilbon, out to interview Lebron James
Speaker 2: one on one to get I don't know, like to
Speaker 2: just get his perspective on the trade, the non trade
Speaker 2: for them and the trade to Boston or to Dallas.
Speaker 1: Excuse me.
Speaker 2: So when Kyrie asked out Lebron, this is the timeline,
Speaker 2: Lebron responded by tweeting a crown and a big eye emoji.
Speaker 2: That's hilarious, hilarious. That's like Lebron in Twitter for him,
Speaker 2: that's what he is. He's just setting the stage up
Speaker 2: for what he thinks is gonna happen. He's getting excited.
Speaker 2: And I just have never seen this sit down for
Speaker 2: something that's like a non trade.
Speaker 1: Never seen it.
Speaker 2: Just Broun candidly came out and said he was disappointed
Speaker 2: that they did not get Kyrie Irving and made sure
Speaker 2: to say that he thought Kyrie Irving and him would
Speaker 2: win championships together, and which is again part of the
Speaker 2: reason that I don't think he's in Dallas long.
Speaker 1: This is what was saying.
Speaker 5: Well, definitely disappointed. I can't sit here and say I'm
Speaker 5: not disappointed on not being able to land such a talent,
Speaker 5: but someone that I had great chemistry with and know
Speaker 5: I got great chemistry with on the floor that can
Speaker 5: help you win, you know, championships in my mind, in
Speaker 5: my eyes. But my focus is shifted now. My focus
Speaker 5: is shifted back to where it should be, and that's
Speaker 5: this that's this club now and what we have in
Speaker 5: the locker room. These guys quick pivot, quick pivot. It
Speaker 5: don't take me long. It don't take me long. I
Speaker 5: don't I don't get too excited about the possibilities of
Speaker 5: things that can be. I kind of envisioned myself on
Speaker 5: what it can but I don't. I don't invest it
Speaker 5: all the way into until I know what's happening, and
Speaker 5: when it does not happen, I'm back locked in on
Speaker 5: the job at hand. So you know, we had an opportunity.
Speaker 5: I think our names was out there, the Lakers name
Speaker 5: was out there. We had an opportunity. Didn't happen. We
Speaker 5: move on and we finish the season strong, try to
Speaker 5: get a bid into the postseason, where I feel.
Speaker 2: A bid into the postseason is the only thing that
Speaker 2: matters right now. He is just throwing Russell Westbrook under
Speaker 2: the bus because he knows that he was going to
Speaker 2: be in the trade for sure, like absolutely was gonna
Speaker 2: be in the trade. Bron This is so strange to
Speaker 2: me in this interview because he just never does anything randomly.
Speaker 2: You know, he just is one of those strategic players.
Speaker 2: He broke the scoring record at home. He made sure
Speaker 2: that things get set in place with Clutch whenever he's dropping.
Speaker 2: Even with Brownie's announcement about where he's going to go
Speaker 2: to college, it's all gonna be done strategically. This interview
Speaker 2: was done strategically. I am disappointed we did not get
Speaker 2: Kyrie Irving. I think we can win championships together. I
Speaker 2: think we have great chemistry. I think we still will
Speaker 2: have great chemistry, and I bet I'm moving on. I'm
Speaker 2: a good teammate, I am a good team player, and
Speaker 2: we are now going to try to get into the
Speaker 2: play in tournament now that we don't have Kyrie Irving.
Speaker 2: That is something very funny. That's just something that you've
Speaker 2: never seen before in history. Is an athlete come out
Speaker 2: and say, Hey, I am mad that we didn't trade
Speaker 2: for this guy. I'm going to do a one on
Speaker 2: one sit down with Mike Wilbon, one of the most
Speaker 2: premier commentators in all of the NBA, who's been in
Speaker 2: this business for a long long time, writes books for players,
Speaker 2: all that, and he's going to come out and see
Speaker 2: me so that I can say I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed
Speaker 2: we didn't get Kyrie. That's wild the.
Speaker 1: Lakers that were smart. I don't think they should have
Speaker 1: done it.
Speaker 2: I don't think they should have given up all those pieces,
Speaker 2: Max Christy, Austin Reeves, two first round picks, Russell Westbrook's
Speaker 2: coming off the buck books, whatever it's coming off regardless.
Speaker 2: So if you can use those picks and get Jared
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt and Mike Conley Jr. And Malik Beasley, and then
Speaker 2: you can just get Kyrie in the off season for
Speaker 2: whatever it is that it's going to be. I think
Speaker 2: maybe a two year deal, our a three year deal
Speaker 2: while at like while keeping Max Christy and keeping Austin
Speaker 2: Reeves and who knows what you can do with resigning
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt, who's awesome. He's another good defender who can
Speaker 2: score a little bit. Malik Beasley can score a lot.
Speaker 1: That's that's a really good team.
Speaker 2: Or you could have just spent all that for Kyrie
Speaker 2: when you can just get him in the free agency.
Speaker 2: So but with Braun now the scoring record holder, it's
Speaker 2: going to be fascinating to see if the Lakers do
Speaker 2: anything at the deadline at all. Windhorse just tweeted that
Speaker 2: the Lakers have two options, trade Russ and improve marginally
Speaker 2: but screw over their cap space immensely, or keep Russ,
Speaker 2: maintain cat space and signed Kyrie this summer because that's
Speaker 2: where he wants to be.
Speaker 1: I think option two is what's happening. Lakers aren't doing
Speaker 1: anything of the deadline.
Speaker 2: WOJ also just reported that Darvin Ham and Russell Westbrook
Speaker 2: just got into a heated argument at halftime at the
Speaker 2: OKC game over Russ, apparently lingering on the court after
Speaker 2: getting pulled. Yikes, how does this change things? Are they
Speaker 2: tired of us?
Speaker 1: I don't think so, but it's just weird. The whole
Speaker 1: thing is weird.
Speaker 2: As Wendy notes, moving Russ would probably be a mistake,
Speaker 2: so I don't think that they'll do it. I think
Speaker 2: they have become a more competent franchise. They're just trying
Speaker 2: to fix their incompetence from the past. But the Lake
Speaker 2: Show and their dysfunction never disappoints moving on. So we're
Speaker 2: gonna dissect the entire trade deadline on our next show.
Speaker 2: Keith Smith's gonna come on as well for probably thirty
Speaker 2: forty minutes to tell us kind of how it all
Speaker 2: went down. What things didn't happen, et cetera. But I
Speaker 2: did want to address a couple of the rumors floating
Speaker 2: out and give you my opinion ahead of time. So
Speaker 2: we did have another major trade, a shocking a but
Speaker 2: we'll call it a buzzy trade. You know, like they
Speaker 2: had to massage this deal in order to make it work,
Speaker 2: if you know what I mean. So Miami ships Dwayne
Speaker 2: Deadman to San Antonio for a bag of chips and
Speaker 2: a Thera gun. So let's get into some of the
Speaker 2: trade rumors as well. This one's hot off the wires.
Speaker 2: Brian Windhorst just reported this on his podcast, and I
Speaker 2: am shook big one.
Speaker 1: This is huge. And I don't mean Dwayne Deadman to
Speaker 1: this burs. I mean like a real trade.
Speaker 2: Now that Kyrie Irving has been traded, maybe the NETS
Speaker 2: position on not trading Kevin Durant as it really was
Speaker 2: kind of last summer may change. That is an interesting
Speaker 2: development that has happened over the past forty eight hours
Speaker 2: since the Kyrie trade.
Speaker 1: From the people that I have talked to, Why isn't
Speaker 1: this bigger news? Is everybody talking about this?
Speaker 2: I haven't seen this on first agg I haven't seen
Speaker 2: anything on NBA today. Nobody, no Shams, no Chris Haynes.
Speaker 2: Where are we at with this? Does Kyrie? Does Kyrie
Speaker 2: move everything for the Brooklyn Nets? Is Kad going to
Speaker 2: legitimately say, yo, I'm out. I know you guys have
Speaker 2: Cam Thomas and he's dropping forty seven on against the Wizards,
Speaker 2: but I got to go.
Speaker 1: I to go.
Speaker 2: Does that mean Kevin Durant is gonna be on the
Speaker 2: move like now, like before tomorrow. I don't think he's
Speaker 2: gonna be trade I don't think they're gonna able to
Speaker 2: get a deal done by then. But the off season
Speaker 2: is fascinating to me. The entire trade deadline again gets
Speaker 2: hijacked by Kevin Durant as usual, he likes to you know,
Speaker 2: easy money sniper, just likes to lay in the weeds
Speaker 2: and funck shit up. Uh So, no one is gonna
Speaker 2: risk throwing away their assets when they could get Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2: So we might have a very dead deadline in advance
Speaker 2: of this offseason, which I think is really interesting.
Speaker 1: Every year there's a bizarre rumor that sometimes turns out
Speaker 1: to be true.
Speaker 2: Well, this year it is the buzz that Chris Middleton
Speaker 2: might get traded.
Speaker 1: What what're you talking about? Will?
Speaker 2: It's according to something called Wolfle's press box. This NBA
Speaker 2: officials believe there's a chance the Bucks may move Middleton
Speaker 2: before the deadline.
Speaker 1: Why who would they get back in return? Really?
Speaker 2: I mean, they were bad without Chris Middleton? What are
Speaker 2: they gonna be without them?
Speaker 1: Again? Not?
Speaker 2: I don't know where this rumor came from. This feels
Speaker 2: like fake news to me. This feels like when I
Speaker 2: ate the garbage on a tweet about James Wiseman officially
Speaker 2: asking out, which made perfect sense but also wasn't true
Speaker 2: factually James Wiseman speaking of which rumored to one out,
Speaker 2: I do not think that's true.
Speaker 1: He has very little trade value.
Speaker 2: But the only reason and incentive that the Warriors would
Speaker 2: want to trade him is cap space. He would help
Speaker 2: them out with one hundred and thirty one million in
Speaker 2: salary and penalties over the next two years. The question
Speaker 2: for y'all, is Wiseman worth sixty five I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't even I can't even get it out. Is Wiseman
Speaker 2: worth sixty five million dollars a year? I think you
Speaker 2: know the answer to that. Truthfully, that is just short
Speaker 2: of the sixty eight million that they had to pay
Speaker 2: Kelly Oubray to be on the Warriors. There's been some
Speaker 2: bad deals for the Dubs, for our Dubs, excuse me.
Speaker 2: Seems impossible, though, the Warriors will hold on to him,
Speaker 2: considering how much money he's going to cost and how
Speaker 2: little he does. He's basically a Santa Cruz Warrior for
Speaker 2: the rest of his career, as long as he's there
Speaker 2: moving forward. Another player who asking for a trade makes
Speaker 2: no sense because what kind of leverage do they really
Speaker 2: have is Ferkmond cork Moss. He has demanded a trade
Speaker 2: from Philly. Okay, does anyone care about that? Firkhon cork
Speaker 2: Moss has demanded the trade.
Speaker 1: He's he wants out.
Speaker 2: No one knows why, probably because his role is diminishing,
Speaker 2: and it would because he stinks. Fresh off of getting
Speaker 2: jumped by the Georgia national team. Everyone thought he might
Speaker 2: break out. Has not happened this year. He's looking for
Speaker 2: a new home. See you later, frick On cork Moss.
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon. The Raptor is moving on easily, looking
Speaker 2: like the most active team at the deadline. No one
Speaker 2: knows though, I actually think maybe Masai Zieri does nothing
Speaker 2: at all. Ognnoby's been rumored to be on the move.
Speaker 2: Fred van Fleet has rumored to be on the move.
Speaker 2: Pascal Siakam rumored to be on the move. That's a
Speaker 2: lot of picks you're gonna have to get for those
Speaker 2: three guys. Pascal Siakam and Ognobi are elite wings. This
Speaker 2: is a wing driven league. If you're moving past and Og,
Speaker 2: you better get six seven picks. You better get what
Speaker 2: Utah got for Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. I tell
Speaker 2: you what, that would be an upgrade for any team
Speaker 2: who gets them. I'm very, very fascinated Fred van Fleet,
Speaker 2: he's rumored to be on the move.
Speaker 1: I think actually that's probably a.
Speaker 2: More likely scenario given the fact that he's on inexpiring.
Speaker 2: He's gonna want a lot of money and Clippers are
Speaker 2: the potential landing spot for him moving forward.
Speaker 1: Portland. Portland's got to do something right. They have to.
Speaker 1: They're linked to Nerlins. No Well, I don't know how
Speaker 1: much of that moves the needle Mobama just fresh off
Speaker 1: of his fight with Austin Rivers, the team pr representative for.
Speaker 2: The Minnesota Timberwolves, and Jay Crowder. I don't know how
Speaker 2: that helps him. I don't this team is going nowhere.
Speaker 2: I think Josh Hart could probably be on the move
Speaker 2: as well. Nuggets definitely are trading Bones Highland. The other
Speaker 2: rumor that's in the mix on that is Alex Caruso
Speaker 2: to the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: I think that works.
Speaker 2: Probably for Bull teams. I don't think it makes Chicago
Speaker 2: any better. I think Alex Crusoe is a key piece.
Speaker 1: Of the what the Bulls want to do moving forward.
Speaker 2: Uh, Miami apparently is done with Kyle Lowry. That trade stinks.
Speaker 2: That is a horrible trade. He hasn't been healthy. We
Speaker 2: all know that Kyle Lowry is kind of fat. And
Speaker 2: the truth is Time is undefeated. You know, Father Time
Speaker 2: continues to win. So that's where thirty eight year old
Speaker 2: Kyle Lowry is at when he doesn't take care of
Speaker 2: his body.
Speaker 1: So he's probably on the move to where who will
Speaker 1: want him. I do not know. Mattis Thible seems to
Speaker 1: also be on the move.
Speaker 2: A lot of suitors, Hawks, Kings, Warriors, Pacers, Blazers, Bucks, Mavericks, Hornets, Raptors,
Speaker 2: and sons pretty much all interested in Matist Stible. His
Speaker 2: attitude is not very good. I would be very curious
Speaker 2: to see how he looks on another team with another
Speaker 2: identity in another role. Clippers apparently, well we know not.
Speaker 2: Apparently they need another point guard. They need to figure
Speaker 2: it out. They're looking at d Lo, They're looking at
Speaker 2: Eric Gordon, They're looking at Fred Vanfleet.
Speaker 1: So all that's all the rumors.
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens. We've got one day and about
Speaker 2: twelve hours left to go. We will bring on Keith
Speaker 2: right after the deadline. That will go up Friday morning
Speaker 2: very early. I will have my thoughts Friday, sort of
Speaker 2: mid morning, the early afternoon East Coast time, so we'll
Speaker 2: drop that as well.
Speaker 1: But that is all the time that we have for
Speaker 1: the Heat Check.
Speaker 2: Come back Friday for an all new episode recapping the
Speaker 2: trade deadline. Do not forget to follow us on Twitter
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