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Speaker 2: Good morning, if you're watching on Peacock, Thank you for
Speaker 2: downloading the app. We will head to Dallas. We'll follow
Speaker 2: up with the Luca performance last night. The freshly minted
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer Dwight Howard is going to join us
Speaker 2: a little bit later on as well.
Speaker 3: We'll have Doubt Rankings.
Speaker 2: Keep an eye on what's going on at AUGUSTA, and
Speaker 2: we're winding down the regular season, Timberwolves and the Grizzlies
Speaker 2: coming up tonight, Nix and the Pistons thunder up to
Speaker 2: sixty six wins, and Luca and the Lakers steal the
Speaker 2: headlines last night as he goes for forty five. And
Speaker 2: it's one of those nights where you're not quite sure
Speaker 2: emotionally how locked in you can be.
Speaker 3: If you're Luca, you're going back. Are you sad?
Speaker 2: Are you angry? Are you excited? The wave of emotions here.
Speaker 2: In fact, Luca was asked about that last night after
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 4: It was a little bit of both, you know, happy
Speaker 4: and angry. But you know, it's nice to see some
Speaker 4: familiar faces here. You know, I spent a lot of
Speaker 4: times with them, Like you said, you know, it was
Speaker 4: a lot of emotions. When I woke up, I was
Speaker 4: tired and I didn't sleep much. I'm excited about this game,
Speaker 4: and you know, I reallypichet the fence the way they
Speaker 4: reacted it to.
Speaker 2: Me, and I thought they were going to give them
Speaker 2: a standing ovation. I thought they'd every time he got
Speaker 2: the ball. It was a home game of sorts for
Speaker 2: Luca on the road, and the fans made sure that
Speaker 2: he was welcomed. He felt that way, and it's not
Speaker 2: the same, but it's compartmentalizing. When Brett Farbe's father died
Speaker 2: and then Farv went out and had that unbelievable Monday
Speaker 2: night game, I think against the Raiders, and he just
Speaker 2: needed to have that escape from what happened with his father. Well,
Speaker 2: Luca is not exactly escaping. He's walking right into this.
Speaker 2: He's walking right into where it started. And then he
Speaker 2: was not so politely asked to leave. And the fact
Speaker 2: that the GM Nico Harrison is in the building, fans
Speaker 2: are chanting fire Nico, and the over under was thirty
Speaker 2: and a half points for Luca and he blew by
Speaker 2: that in the first half. He had thirty one at
Speaker 2: a halftime. But it was great to see that. And
Speaker 2: you can't forget about the Lakers are trying to get
Speaker 2: the number three seats, so you you've got to make
Speaker 2: sure you win the game. Don't get caught up in
Speaker 2: the emotion of it. Make sure you win the game.
Speaker 2: But he drops forty five, they win by fifteen, and
Speaker 2: you know this is what's going to be I guess
Speaker 2: ask of Luca the rest of his career, being a leader,
Speaker 2: being mature because you know Lebron's got how many more
Speaker 2: years left? Then it's Luca's team. And what you want
Speaker 2: to see is that maturity that I can be a leader.
Speaker 2: We know he can be a great player, it's now
Speaker 2: what are you going to be? Great players are always
Speaker 2: adding to their games, whether it's something that is tangible
Speaker 2: or something that you know, maybe not so much in
Speaker 2: being a leader, a leader on the court off the court.
Speaker 3: And yes, do I.
Speaker 2: Have I said things about his passion getting caught up
Speaker 2: in little things. Yes, and maybe that's something that he
Speaker 2: needs to have. There's certain players that like to have.
Speaker 2: It's almost like there's a pebble in your shoe. You're
Speaker 2: never quite comfortable and jawing with officials, jawing with fans.
Speaker 2: I hope he grows out of that. He might not,
Speaker 2: But to be able to put up these kind of
Speaker 2: numbers and remind us too of just how great he
Speaker 2: can be in a big moment was pretty impressive last night.
Speaker 2: All right, setan poll question today eight seven seven three
Speaker 2: DP show operators sitting by taking your phone calls, and
Speaker 2: we'll get to those coming up.
Speaker 3: So what do you have for a pole question?
Speaker 5: Here's one from Paul, if you gave Mark Cuban a
Speaker 5: mulligan dot h. I'm assuming this is Mavericks related and
Speaker 5: perhaps selling his a big chunk of a team.
Speaker 3: Do you think he would still do that? I don't
Speaker 3: know how much money he made. I don't know. I
Speaker 3: don't know what he wants to do.
Speaker 2: So he has a couple of billion now I think
Speaker 2: he owned twenty seven percent of the maps. Would he
Speaker 2: have kept the team and bec and not sold it
Speaker 2: so he doesn't get rid of Luka Duncis?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It feels like he wants to divest himself from being
Speaker 2: an owner. He was the face of the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 2: He was there in his jeans, in his Dallas jersey
Speaker 2: and T shirt and he's on the bench. Feels like
Speaker 2: he's got bigger plans like politics. But then you know
Speaker 2: they're trying to get gambling. They're trying to do a
Speaker 2: whole like neighborhood there. It feels like with the arena
Speaker 2: of the basketball team, the new ownership there coming in
Speaker 2: from Vegas.
Speaker 3: But would he if he could do it again?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, unless we had him on to
Speaker 2: be able to be fair to him, to ask that,
Speaker 2: I like, I don't even know if I could wager
Speaker 2: a guest to say, of course he would, because I
Speaker 2: don't know. It seems like and we had Tim mcmahonnon
Speaker 2: who was there for ESPN. He's written a book on
Speaker 2: Luca and he said there's no way that Mark Cuban
Speaker 2: would ever have allowed this, and I understand that I
Speaker 2: agree with that.
Speaker 3: But and he didn't have a.
Speaker 2: Say in this either, which it's strange, but you know,
Speaker 2: he owns twenty seven percent of the team, I think,
Speaker 2: and they didn't run this by him, and this might
Speaker 2: have been ownership saying, hey, we're the ones in charge here,
Speaker 2: not our GM, not our coach, not our former owner.
Speaker 3: We're in charge.
Speaker 2: We're the ones that have to write a check for
Speaker 2: three hundred and forty five million dollars, and you know what,
Speaker 2: we're not comfortable doing that.
Speaker 5: Cuban man, that's hard to say. That's a hell of
Speaker 5: an investment from that guy. Though he bought the team
Speaker 5: for like two one hundred and eighty five million dollars
Speaker 5: something like that, Yeah, and then sold it.
Speaker 3: For like three three point five yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Damn good business man he's had. His resume is spotty
Speaker 2: in some of the decisions that he's made. But this
Speaker 2: is a now. He was all in on Luca to
Speaker 2: begin with, and that's why they traded for him, But
Speaker 2: some other moves that he's made haven't gone so elegantly.
Speaker 3: Yes, seton, Yeah, I think that was an interesting point
Speaker 3: from yesterday we were talking about that.
Speaker 5: I mean, he had a ton of bad moves during
Speaker 5: his tenure too, just maybe not quite this bad well though,
Speaker 5: I mean some of them were really terrible.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yeah, Pauli.
Speaker 6: Mark Cuban made an estimated three point five billion off
Speaker 6: the sale. He still retains a twenty seven percent stake.
Speaker 6: Dallas Morning News had an article last week where Mark
Speaker 6: said he expected to continue to run basketball when he
Speaker 6: sold the mask, but the NBA would not let that
Speaker 6: be put in the contract. That's where the mulligan comes in.
Speaker 6: He could have gotten the money and maybe still run basketball,
Speaker 6: but they wouldn't allow it. I wonder if that was
Speaker 6: his image, like you said, that was a big part
Speaker 6: of his image.
Speaker 2: Well, I think if he could have maintained control over
Speaker 2: the basketball operations still made his money, then sure he
Speaker 2: would want that. That's what he did want. But now
Speaker 2: they've taken away his baby and then somebody else is
Speaker 2: raising it, and all of a sudden you make this
Speaker 2: move one of the biggest moves in NBA history. And
Speaker 2: there have been times when you know, guys have been moved.
Speaker 2: You know, he saw this, leu Al Sindor when he
Speaker 2: was traded, Wilt when he was traded. So we've had
Speaker 2: these moments here, but that's still it's still shocking when
Speaker 2: you trade somebody who is that young. What other poll
Speaker 2: questions do we have.
Speaker 5: Let's see what else we've got here. We've got two
Speaker 5: from the t O dub. How closely do you follow
Speaker 5: the first round of the Masters? Okay, follow followed a
Speaker 5: little bit, Yeah, a little bit. See who gets out hot?
Speaker 2: Well, the odds are and if you look history shows
Speaker 2: that you got to be around the top fifteen. That
Speaker 2: that you don't see too many come from behind wins,
Speaker 2: at least some of the analysts that talk about that
Speaker 2: after the first day. Look in the top fifteen, you'll
Speaker 2: probably find your winner in the top fifteen the odds
Speaker 2: to win Scotty Scheffler, then it's Rory McElroy, then you
Speaker 2: go to John Rahm, Colin Moore, Kwa Xander Schoffley Bryson
Speaker 2: to Shambeau and Ludwig Oberg. But this is all about
Speaker 2: Rory because he's played well this year. He needs the
Speaker 2: masters for the career Grand Slam. Scheffler hasn't played great,
Speaker 2: but he's the odds on favorite. And then you got
Speaker 2: John Rahm. Can you dial it up? You know, can
Speaker 2: you dial up that tension that you need to play Augusta?
Speaker 2: You know that feeling when you're playing Augusta as opposed
Speaker 2: to playing on the lib Tour where you're listening to
Speaker 2: music and you're wearing shorts and really not playing for anything.
Speaker 2: Now you're playing for everything. But this is an opportunity
Speaker 2: for John Ram and Bryson de Shamba. Those are the
Speaker 2: two favorites from the along with Colin Morikawa, who a
Speaker 2: lot of people like you quietly played great this year.
Speaker 2: But weather condition should be great today and I think
Speaker 2: there's rain in the forecast.
Speaker 3: At some point.
Speaker 2: There was another story that I saw and I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's a thing or not, and that is TJ.
Speaker 2: Watt had a social media post and he posted an
Speaker 2: image of himself giving the peace sign from his Instagram story,
Speaker 2: no caption, and then all of a sudden, fans are wondering,
Speaker 2: does he want to be traded? I don't know if
Speaker 2: that's a piece out sign, but you know, he's entering
Speaker 2: the final year of a four year deal, he's thirty
Speaker 2: years of age. He's probably looking at Max Crosby and
Speaker 2: Miles Garrett's deals and maybe he's looking to cash in.
Speaker 2: I guess that's what I can read into this. Once again,
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's a thing or not. Here
Speaker 2: you are the Steelers, you're waiting for Aaron Rodgers. You're gonna,
Speaker 2: I think, host Shador Sanders today, and now you have
Speaker 2: your best defensive player, your best player who just gives
Speaker 2: a peace sign. Should we read anything into that? As
Speaker 2: we head towards the draft, a couple of defensive players
Speaker 2: getting bigger deals than his.
Speaker 3: Does he want a new deal? Now?
Speaker 2: Is that what he's saying? Or is he saying peace out?
Speaker 2: I want to be out of here, which would surprise
Speaker 2: me because he's the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah. See it's possible.
Speaker 5: He's a huge point break fan and he's asking for
Speaker 5: two utah, oh give me two?
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, I didn't factor that in.
Speaker 5: Might be that might be the poll question. What else
Speaker 5: could TJ. Watt be signaling here? If not I want
Speaker 5: to trade?
Speaker 2: Okay, thirty years of age, but tied straighthand for the
Speaker 2: most acts in a single season twenty two and a half.
Speaker 2: I mean it's the final year of his contract, so
Speaker 2: you should be able to cash in one more time here, Yeah, pony.
Speaker 6: Yes, one more year in his contract. This year TJ.
Speaker 6: Watt will make just under thirty million dollars.
Speaker 3: Okay, but I could see.
Speaker 6: Wanting a yeah, obvious, wanting a contract now because entering
Speaker 6: thirty two, you're not gonna get the monster contract. I
Speaker 6: don't think even if even if the production is there.
Speaker 3: Okay, so is he asking out, do you trade TJ. Watt?
Speaker 7: And Uh?
Speaker 2: Once again, I don't know if it's a thing or not,
Speaker 2: but it felt like people were making it into a thing.
Speaker 2: And granted, it's the Steelers and you don't know what
Speaker 2: they're doing. You don't know, you know, are they going
Speaker 2: to draft a quarterback at twenty one? Is Roger's going
Speaker 2: to go there? And now you have this. If you're
Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin, you're like, come on, I need something positive
Speaker 2: to happen here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Paul.
Speaker 6: Maybe he put up two fingers. Last year, we had
Speaker 6: two quarterbacks. Right now we basically have zero.
Speaker 2: I'm going deep dive, okay, okay, yeah, but you know
Speaker 2: it's all about timing that Miles Garrett was up and
Speaker 2: Max Crosby was up and they got bigger deals. Okay,
Speaker 2: if you're TJ. Watt, just play this year and then
Speaker 2: sign your contract extension. Yes, Tom, let's.
Speaker 8: Give Aaron Rodgers two more days or two more weeks
Speaker 8: at de same what he's doing, and then we've got
Speaker 8: to move on because this is getting embarrassing.
Speaker 3: I see what you're doing. Okay, all right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's something there or not, but
Speaker 2: it just felt like it's the NFL. It's the Steelers
Speaker 2: heading into the draft. Aaron Rodgers should or Sanders going
Speaker 2: to be there today. Wait a minute, what's TJ watsaying?
Speaker 2: Just put up a peace sign? Maybe it's nothing or
Speaker 2: maybe it's something. Eight seven seven three DP show email
Speaker 2: address DP at Danpatrick dot com, Twitter handle a TP show.
Speaker 3: Good morning.
Speaker 2: If you watching on Peacock, we're gonna check in with
Speaker 2: Joe Varden. He covers the NBA. He was at the
Speaker 2: game last night. He works for the athletic Dwight Howard
Speaker 2: will join us a little later on as well. Your
Speaker 2: phone calls, stat of the day, play the day, poll question,
Speaker 2: all of that forthcoming. We're back after this Dan Patrick show.
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Speaker 2: We'll settle on a poll question and get phone calls
Speaker 2: coming up eh seven to seven three DP Show email
Speaker 2: address Dpadanpatrick dot com, Twitter handle at DP show. Joe
Speaker 2: Varden covering the NBA for the Athletic He was at
Speaker 2: the Lakers MAVs game last night, joining us from Dallas.
Speaker 2: How would you describe the atmosphere, Joe.
Speaker 11: Well, I've been to a few reunion games, including Klay
Speaker 11: Thompson's as a member of the Mavericks at Golden State
Speaker 11: this year. I've never seen anything like this. There really
Speaker 11: wasn't a boo to be heard, and the Lakers always
Speaker 11: get booed on the road, but every time that Luca
Speaker 11: had the ball, there was a roar. Every time he scored,
Speaker 11: it was louder. Now At the same time, there was
Speaker 11: an incredible sense of negativity and frustration and anger in
Speaker 11: the form of when either team was at the foul line,
Speaker 11: fans are channing fire Nico for general manager Nico Harrison,
Speaker 11: who made this trade. So yeah, I mean, you know,
Speaker 11: Lebron's talking about this afterwards. I mean, if you think
Speaker 11: about all the reunion games that he's been a part
Speaker 11: of and how emotional they were for different reasons, he
Speaker 11: was saying that it was a cool moment that he'll
Speaker 11: remember for the rest of his life.
Speaker 3: What kind of message do you think Luca wanted to
Speaker 3: send last night?
Speaker 11: You know, I think that Luca is an introspective, sensitive
Speaker 11: young man, and I mean that in the best way,
Speaker 11: and I don't think he was looking to send a message.
Speaker 11: I think he was hoping to get through it. And
Speaker 11: you know, he even said postgame that when he's he's
Speaker 11: sitting there alone on the bench, you know, they've already
Speaker 11: announced the other four Lakers starters, and he's sitting there
Speaker 11: by himself, and there's twenty thousand people on top of him,
Speaker 11: all kind of looking at him. And yes, they are
Speaker 11: looking at the video tribute that was playing before his
Speaker 11: name was called. But I really felt like it was one.
Speaker 11: It was like the you know, a case of a
Speaker 11: singular man in the arena and he's sitting there and
Speaker 11: he's become he's overcome with emotion and he has to
Speaker 11: wipe his face before he can even get up. And
Speaker 11: as he walks through the Lakers after his name is called,
Speaker 11: I mean, Mark Eith Morris has to like grab him
Speaker 11: and like lebron hugged him the way he'd hugged Bronnie
Speaker 11: after a tough high school game or something like. It was.
Speaker 11: It was really incredible to see the genuine emotion that's
Speaker 11: coming out of everybody. So you know, Luca has all that,
Speaker 11: and then he goes out and scores fourteen in the
Speaker 11: first quarter, and I think he felt a rhythm and
Speaker 11: a familiarity with the arena. I think the retribution and
Speaker 11: the payback probably comes in the future years, you know,
Speaker 11: when he's now through this part. And that's assuming that
Speaker 11: Nico and Jason Kidd and those guys are there in
Speaker 11: the building, you know, in future years to for those games.
Speaker 11: But I think that's when Luca will be over the
Speaker 11: emotional part and he does have a vindictive side for sure.
Speaker 11: I think that's a great observation on your part, But
Speaker 11: I just don't think he was ready to use that
Speaker 11: part of himself yet.
Speaker 3: Was Nico Harrison made available to the media.
Speaker 11: No, No, though those days are largely over. You know,
Speaker 11: guys make trades all the time, and you know, maybe
Speaker 11: they don't even speak, you know, very short press conferences
Speaker 11: when coaches are fired a week before the playoffs. So
Speaker 11: that's a long way to say. No, he didn't address
Speaker 11: it yesterday. He was in the building, standing there in
Speaker 11: the tunnel, listening to that. You know, I also want
Speaker 11: to bring up this point, if it's okay about all
Speaker 11: of this. You know, there was another superstar last night
Speaker 11: who had a reunion game, and that's Anthony Davis. He's
Speaker 11: a ten time All Star. However many gold medals, NBA Champion.
Speaker 11: In any other case, last night is about him and
Speaker 11: playing the Lakers and playing Lebron. But of course he's
Speaker 11: overshadowed because of the Hole Lucas situation. But every night
Speaker 11: that he's in the arena and he listens to his
Speaker 11: home crowd chant fire, Nico, he knows it's not directed
Speaker 11: at him, but he also knows that the trade that
Speaker 11: brought him to town is why these fans want him gone,
Speaker 11: and as a player of his caliber, to just feel
Speaker 11: how upset everyone is. Essentially that he's in the building,
Speaker 11: that's tough on him. And I think you could see
Speaker 11: that wearing on him last night too.
Speaker 2: If you gave Mark Cuban a mulligan, does he sell
Speaker 2: the majority of his interest ownership stake in this? And
Speaker 2: because I think he still wanted to run the basketball
Speaker 2: portion of this and maintain twenty seven percent. But if
Speaker 2: you ask him, what do you think he would say?
Speaker 11: That's a tough question, Dan, just because like even even
Speaker 11: you don't move in that kind of money, but I
Speaker 11: you know, I don't. I don't understand what billions means.
Speaker 11: And so yeah, I mean I think that he he
Speaker 11: achieved the financial goal that he had set out to achieve,
Speaker 11: and obviously he wanted some kind of freedom and that
Speaker 11: in that way, uh in shape. But but yeah, like
Speaker 11: if if if he has to decide between that and
Speaker 11: then you know, retaining control of this franchise that he
Speaker 11: built really and build it into what it was. Yeah,
Speaker 11: I mean I see the point. I I I think
Speaker 11: I'm gonna say he still does it because there there
Speaker 11: was a reason why he made the sale, and you
Speaker 11: have to know, you know, even if when you when
Speaker 11: listen when when the New York Times bought the Athletic
Speaker 11: for for a year plus two years that the two
Speaker 11: founders were still around and advising and doing this and that.
Speaker 11: But eventually, you know, ownership takes over and there's a
Speaker 11: new plan and and that's that's how it is with
Speaker 11: any big sale like that. So I think Mark had
Speaker 11: to know it, and you have to be able to
Speaker 11: live with those consequences, including the trading of the franchise
Speaker 11: player that you that you maneuvered to get and nurture.
Speaker 2: Talking to Joe Varden, he covers the NBA for the Athletic,
Speaker 2: He was at the game last night in Dallas.
Speaker 3: How threatening are the Lakers? Yeah?
Speaker 11: I like them because you're you're talking about Lebron somehow
Speaker 11: playing at a A plus level, one of the best
Speaker 11: players in the league. Lucas certainly is one of the
Speaker 11: best players in the league. And they play so well
Speaker 11: together like I kind of knew they would, and I
Speaker 11: actually I think there is some writing somewhere that backs
Speaker 11: that up. So this isn't hindsight. They're playing great and
Speaker 11: then you know, you trade away Anthony Davis, so you
Speaker 11: say they got smaller, but also like Jared Vanderbilt is
Speaker 11: finally healthy and he's super long, and Ruey Haschimura is
Speaker 11: is healthy and he's super long. So you're playing those
Speaker 11: two and Lebron is playing a traditional four sometimes a
Speaker 11: small five. You know, Jackson Hayes has been okay, and
Speaker 11: then you have Austin Reeves who is really blossomed into
Speaker 11: a scorer and the playmaker or that they need. So
Speaker 11: you know, we always talk about experience, and that is
Speaker 11: the one bugaboo that's that that Oklahoma City has. They've
Speaker 11: only won one playoff series, you know, for as great
Speaker 11: as they've been the last two regular seasons. And if
Speaker 11: experience matters, you obviously have Lebron. We don't need to
Speaker 11: go over his credentials.
Speaker 3: And then you have the.
Speaker 11: Key representative for the Western Conference in last year's finals
Speaker 11: and Lucas. So yeah, I mean they're I mean that
Speaker 11: they're a tough out for sure.
Speaker 3: How threatening are the Warriors?
Speaker 11: I mean I hate to be a prisoner of the moment,
Speaker 11: but last night's stunk. Uh. You know, they've been tremendous
Speaker 11: since they acquired Jimmy. The trade did exactly what the
Speaker 11: organization wanted to do. Uh. It gave Steph some breathing room,
Speaker 11: It injected some life in there. And and now you're
Speaker 11: talking about them like, you know, flashing their finals and
Speaker 11: championship credentials. And then they go and they lose to
Speaker 11: San Antonio last night on a buzzer beater. And now
Speaker 11: if the playoffs were today, they wouldn't be in them.
Speaker 11: They'd have to play their way in via the play
Speaker 11: in So I you know, when when Boston got to
Speaker 11: the finals with e May a couple of years ago,
Speaker 11: at in February, they were in seventh place and they
Speaker 11: they rocketed up. So so I don't want to say
Speaker 11: that that isn't possible, but I'm always gonna pump the
Speaker 11: brakes on a team that's been between sixth place and
Speaker 11: eighth or ninth for most.
Speaker 7: Of the year.
Speaker 3: Who's your MVP?
Speaker 11: My MVP is Shay Gilgess Alexander, and I understand the
Speaker 11: year that Nicola is having. You could certainly make the
Speaker 11: case arguably that statistically he's better this year than he
Speaker 11: has been in years where he's won it. Shay is
Speaker 11: the best player on the best team uh and has
Speaker 11: has certainly built his case in any number of ways.
Speaker 11: And then, on top of that, in a year where
Speaker 11: ownership decides that this that the performance of the team
Speaker 11: is so objectionable that you have to fire the coach
Speaker 11: a week before the season's over, the MVP is not
Speaker 11: on your team.
Speaker 2: But I think most analysts will say the best player
Speaker 2: on the planet is Nicola Jokic.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I would say that, And I mean, I don't
Speaker 11: know how many times I've voted. This is my eleventh
Speaker 11: season doing this on a on this kind of stage,
Speaker 11: so I've had a lot of votes. I admit that I,
Speaker 11: along with most of my colleague struggle is to what
Speaker 11: the what valuable means? Are we talking about the best player?
Speaker 11: Are we talking about the team?
Speaker 4: Who is?
Speaker 11: Who are the player who's the most important?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 11: I think it comes and goes. There was a year
Speaker 11: where we voted for us because he averaged a triple double.
Speaker 11: There were years where Lebron didn't get it when he
Speaker 11: was obviously the best player in the league. So I
Speaker 11: think it's probably going to go that way. I don't
Speaker 11: think it'll be unanimous. Nicole is a tremendous player, but
Speaker 11: I just I think there I think when you consider
Speaker 11: where the Nuggets are right now and the everything they're
Speaker 11: going through, and then where the thunder are and why
Speaker 11: I think that's the Uh, that's the decider for me.
Speaker 2: And I wonder about this with Joker moving forward, who's
Speaker 2: going to be the coach and what's going to be
Speaker 2: the philosophy. He's thirty years of age, he's got a
Speaker 2: couple of years left on this deal. But and we
Speaker 2: had somebody on yesterday who said that he thinks he's
Speaker 2: a loyal He's like Dirk Novitsky, like he's loyal to
Speaker 2: the franchise. But I wonder, can you see a scenario
Speaker 2: where Joker says, hey, I want out?
Speaker 11: Well, I mean the way the last several years have
Speaker 11: gone in the league. The short answer is, of course,
Speaker 11: did a little reporting on this last night, not talking
Speaker 11: to Nicola. Uh, he would be a hard guy to
Speaker 11: get to get a hold up on the phone. But
Speaker 11: but people who you know, who are around that team,
Speaker 11: and and and sort of trade in the in the
Speaker 11: business of of knowing these things suggests that that Nicola
Speaker 11: is not looking to get out, and that isn't reacting
Speaker 11: to the firing of the only coach he's played for
Speaker 11: as a kind of a how dare you think? You know,
Speaker 11: I think that there was some frustration on his part
Speaker 11: too about the direction of the team. And so yeah,
Speaker 11: I do view nicolea as a player who who does
Speaker 11: or could anyway stay in Denver for his entire career.
Speaker 11: I mean, I think if if they get into a
Speaker 11: situation where it's clear that they are going to regress
Speaker 11: and and be in the lottery for a while, I mean,
Speaker 11: that's not something anybody wants to do. But you know,
Speaker 11: he Nicole is very set in his life and what
Speaker 11: matters to him. You know, he enjoys going back to
Speaker 11: Serbia in the summers, you know, not that Denver is
Speaker 11: a tiny market or whatever you want to say about it,
Speaker 11: like it's not. But we could also easily say Nicole
Speaker 11: is not like lusting for New York or La or
Speaker 11: Miami or anything like that. So I you know, I've
Speaker 11: always said that Lebron will end his career in Los Angeles,
Speaker 11: and I'm going to be in the boat of Nicole
Speaker 11: is not looking to push his way out of Denver
Speaker 11: in the near future.
Speaker 3: Great stuff, Thank you, Joe. Great to talk to you again.
Speaker 11: Great to see it. Thanks Dan.
Speaker 2: That's Joe Varden. He covers the NBA for the athletic
Speaker 2: and spends a lot of time with the Lakers. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the Golden State loss and a buzzer beater in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: I just don't understand. Now. Granted, you've got players in
Speaker 2: San Antonio trying to prove themselves and sometimes that's a
Speaker 2: dangerous team.
Speaker 3: But you don't have Victor Winbin Yama. You can't lose
Speaker 3: those games. The Miami Heat losing to the Bulls, like,
Speaker 3: you can't lose these games, but they do. David in Dallas, Hi, David,
Speaker 3: what's on your mind today?
Speaker 12: Hey? Man, I'm going to tell you right now. The
Speaker 12: last night that Adelson's owners of the MAVs, they were
Speaker 12: cheering for one hundred from Luca. They want to move
Speaker 12: this team. They cannot get their casino and arena combo built.
Speaker 12: They've been turned down multiple times since they bought the team.
Speaker 12: They bought the team with the idea they were going
Speaker 12: to get the first ever casino in Texas in the
Speaker 12: DFW area.
Speaker 3: Yep, they can't get it.
Speaker 12: I'm telling you right now. They want to get that
Speaker 12: team to Vegas by twenty nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the commissioner has to know this, and if
Speaker 2: you're going to approve a sale, I think you have to.
Speaker 2: You know, you're going to have meetings with the owners,
Speaker 2: and you're going to want to know exactly what they're
Speaker 2: plan is. I mean, that would just be normal course
Speaker 2: of business for a commissioner. Now that doesn't mean you
Speaker 2: have to tell him the truth. But I don't know
Speaker 2: if they went in there to basically bankrupt this team
Speaker 2: performance wise to then go hey, it's not working here,
Speaker 2: we didn't get our casino.
Speaker 3: We're going to Vegas.
Speaker 2: The commissioner is going to have to approve that. Now,
Speaker 2: does he want an expansion team in there? Or as
Speaker 2: Seatan is brought up, well what if Dallas goes to
Speaker 2: Vegas and you put an expansion team in Dallas, which, yes,
Speaker 2: that could happen. I just can't imagine this commissioner going
Speaker 2: all right, tell me exactly what your plans are. Well,
Speaker 2: we're going to buy out Mark Cuban. He's going to
Speaker 2: own twenty seven percent, but he's not going to run
Speaker 2: the team. Well who's running the team? And then you
Speaker 2: lay out your game plan there, because you can't just
Speaker 2: go hey, come on in, you got the money, here's
Speaker 2: your team do whatever you want. You're running a league.
Speaker 2: You want sustainability. This has been one of the Marquis
Speaker 2: franchises here for a long long time. But I know
Speaker 2: that people jumped on this and they're like, yep, that's
Speaker 2: exactly what's happened. That's why you traded Luca. I think
Speaker 2: they traded Luca because they didn't like where he was going.
Speaker 2: I think that you're going to put that kind of
Speaker 2: money in the hands of somebody twenty five, twenty six,
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 3: Do you want to be in shape?
Speaker 2: Which is strange to say because you play in the Olympics,
Speaker 2: you went to an NBA finals. It's just he didn't
Speaker 2: pass the eye test.
Speaker 3: You go, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, Joker is not exactly cut. Yeah, he just plays.
Speaker 2: He knows how to play. But Luca, we tend to
Speaker 2: focus on you. You know, when Michael Finley grabbed the
Speaker 2: beer out of his hand after a game, boy, oh boy,
Speaker 2: that was one of those telling moments. Finley was saying
Speaker 2: in Finn Dog. Former NBA players like, uh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: You're not going to do that out in the hallway
Speaker 2: for people to see. But yeah, I just think maybe
Speaker 2: ownership said, well, they had to sign off on this.
Speaker 2: Do we want to spend this kind of money for
Speaker 2: a guy who may not want to be the best
Speaker 2: that he can be.
Speaker 3: There's no other. First of all, you can't trade somebody
Speaker 3: like this, no matter what. You can't.
Speaker 2: But if you do, you must get Austin Reeves with
Speaker 2: Anthony Day. You have to have to, you just, you know,
Speaker 2: no matter what, you got to save face here. And
Speaker 2: they didn't do that, yes, Mark.
Speaker 8: What still mind boggling is the Mavericks went to the finals.
Speaker 3: I know the year before.
Speaker 8: It'd be different if A's out of shape and they
Speaker 8: got bounced in the first round.
Speaker 7: What do we do?
Speaker 8: No, I say, I'm not gonna say he dragged because
Speaker 8: he did. But he played great and they got to
Speaker 8: the finals in a really tough Western conference. And now
Speaker 8: you're saying you want to trade him, a twenty five
Speaker 8: year old in his prime, for a thirty two year
Speaker 8: old who's off injured.
Speaker 2: I know, but I wonder what other deals they could
Speaker 2: have gotten, because there was a report that they did
Speaker 2: reach out to Minnesota and say, hey, you're interested in Luca,
Speaker 2: we want Anthony Edwards. Okay, I can sign off on that,
Speaker 2: at least the potential for making a deal that I'm
Speaker 2: getting somebody who's two years younger and is going to
Speaker 2: be a star already a star. But even then I
Speaker 2: can't trade. There's there's how many guys who are like
Speaker 2: Luca in this NBA. There's there's nobody like him. But
Speaker 2: you got this guy. He was better than you thought
Speaker 2: he was going to be, and then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden you'd say, can he get in shape? I just
Speaker 2: feel like somebody should have been able to motivate him
Speaker 2: to take care of himself. If that was the main issue,
Speaker 2: then you find somebody to say, we need help here.
Speaker 3: That's all I mean.
Speaker 2: You know, all of a sudden, he's not listening to us,
Speaker 2: he's not in shape, or he won't get in shape.
Speaker 2: You know, he's known as Hookah don Chic instead of Luca.
Speaker 2: He drink's beer. You know, I get I understand that,
Speaker 2: but I just I don't know how you come to
Speaker 2: that decision where you go, you know, what, what if
Speaker 2: we trade Luca?
Speaker 5: Uh huh, Yeah, I mean it might be from months,
Speaker 5: if not years, of trying to do exactly what you
Speaker 5: just said. Yeah, you know that that video to me
Speaker 5: of the assistant coach taking the beer out of his
Speaker 5: hand is everything I need to.
Speaker 3: Know that one has stayed with me. It's weird.
Speaker 2: That's the first thing I thought of when he got traded. Yeah,
Speaker 2: first thing. All right, take a break. More phone calls
Speaker 2: coming up back after this.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
Speaker 1: on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAP Oh my, God.
Speaker 3: Of the day. This is the play of the day.
Speaker 1: Check this out.
Speaker 11: Steph Castle to Harrison Barnes outside the argon left side
Speaker 11: will throw off a three left wing.
Speaker 1: That shot is god. Harrison Barnes nails.
Speaker 9: The left wing three out the buzzer, and the Spurs
Speaker 9: have come back and taken care of business against the
Speaker 9: Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 2: Spurs Radio Network not too enthusiastic with that call that
Speaker 2: you peak the Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 3: Maybe it was just like I'll be damn we won
Speaker 3: the game. Harrison Barnes. Isn't he a former Warrior? Marvin?
Speaker 7: He is ANBA champ? Yeah? Uh.
Speaker 2: Steph Curry made five to three pointers. He has over
Speaker 2: three hundred three pointers, his NBA record sixth season with
Speaker 2: at least three hundred made. That's your play of the day.
Speaker 2: Play of the Day is brought to you by Mako.
Speaker 2: You need a little TLC with your car. They will
Speaker 2: help bring your car back to life. Affordable paint jobs
Speaker 2: like collision repairs. Get a free estimate today. Uh oh,
Speaker 2: better get Mako. Mark Cuban, he was court sided last
Speaker 2: night and the camera was on him when they were
Speaker 2: doing the fire Nico chance and he wasn't He wasn't
Speaker 2: too thrilled with that with the home crowd, but he
Speaker 2: did have a nice moment with Luca after the game
Speaker 2: and was able to say hello and say goodbye. A
Speaker 2: couple of phone calls in here, let's see Robert in Sacramento.
Speaker 2: Hi Robert, what's on your mind today?
Speaker 7: Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. You know, I
Speaker 7: think I think the question on who the MVP is
Speaker 7: kind of over. It's got to be It's got to
Speaker 7: be Joker. There's no way they make that move without his. Okay,
Speaker 7: this guy is most valuable because he said, yeah, get
Speaker 7: rid of the coach and yeah, get.
Speaker 3: Rid of the GM.
Speaker 7: How is he not the most valuable player of the NBA.
Speaker 7: Who else has that type of who else, I masci
Speaker 7: whose who else has that that type of poll?
Speaker 2: Well, maybe the most powerful player in the NBA, he's
Speaker 2: not going to be the most valuable. It's going to
Speaker 2: be Shay Gilgess. But thank you for the phone call.
Speaker 2: And I don't have any problem with that. I don't
Speaker 2: Shay Gilgess has earned that right to be the MVP.
Speaker 2: And what OKC did in the West, a very very
Speaker 2: competitive West, and they blew everybody away sixty six wins.
Speaker 2: You know, you end up winning the conference division by
Speaker 2: more than you know, in double digit like what thirteen games.
Speaker 2: And he's been great. He's been consistently great. No problem
Speaker 2: with that at all.
Speaker 3: If Joker and Denver had a similar record, then you
Speaker 3: have a conversation.
Speaker 2: But they didn't. They haven't played well since the All
Speaker 2: Star Break. Coach get fired, GM gets fired?
Speaker 11: No?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 3: Tim in Orlando? Hi Tim, what's on your mind?
Speaker 13: Hey DPU five? Uh Hey, just calling back. Called a
Speaker 13: couple of weeks ago, had a scare in the twig
Speaker 13: and berries area. I wanted to follow up and let
Speaker 13: you know that after uh we had the test go removed.
Speaker 13: It did turn out to be cancer. So just encourage
Speaker 13: the listeners and uh to you know, check check your
Speaker 13: twigs and berries every day.
Speaker 3: Are you okay though the rest of your body?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 13: They believe they got it all. We'll do some follow ups,
Speaker 13: but you know it's I'm fifty one, so it's not
Speaker 13: normal to experience testicular cancer in a fifty one year old.
Speaker 7: So doing good.
Speaker 13: My wife is super supportive. She's been really really good
Speaker 13: through this whole thing. And you know, knowing that I
Speaker 13: have you guys helps too.
Speaker 3: Do you have a sense of humor?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: Can people have fun with this?
Speaker 13: Yeah? My So I got my son listening to the
Speaker 13: DP show after years and years and years of talking
Speaker 13: it up, and finally he's a huge fan, and so
Speaker 13: he sent me a picture of Solomon Ball, and you know,
Speaker 13: he's referred to a solo ball. So he said he's
Speaker 13: going to buy me a jersey for Christmas. I can
Speaker 13: wear it around.
Speaker 2: I remember John Cruck, the great baseball player. He he
Speaker 2: had one of his testicles removed, and I remember him saying,
Speaker 2: I'm mad and I'm going to take my ball and
Speaker 2: go home.
Speaker 12: Tim.
Speaker 3: It's great to hear from you, and thank you for
Speaker 3: the update.
Speaker 7: Thanks TV.
Speaker 13: Thanks boys, all right?
Speaker 3: Him and Orlando? Yeah, Like, what's the grace period before
Speaker 3: you can have fun with it?
Speaker 6: Yes, paulm once you found out that he's generally okay,
Speaker 6: then we can enter joke.
Speaker 7: Bode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he said he was fifty one. I get you,
Speaker 2: not fifty two fifty one Mike and Tennessee, Hi Mike,
Speaker 2: what's on your mind today?
Speaker 14: Hey guys, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 7: Bear with me.
Speaker 14: You know, I worked in a mex Security forensic facility
Speaker 14: with the criminally insane for about five years, but for
Speaker 14: some reason, I'm pretty nervous at the moment, so bear
Speaker 14: with me. I wanted to talk a little bit about
Speaker 14: the live versus PGA tour convos going on. So I'm
Speaker 14: totally overall on your guys' side. Like PGA tours for
Speaker 14: the competitive nature, like you know, you earn your money
Speaker 14: while you're there being watched, you know, for the true athlete.
Speaker 14: But if we look at the flip side of this token,
Speaker 14: my mom always used to say, be good to yourself.
Speaker 14: If we're all striving for better physical, mental, spirit health,
Speaker 14: we got to look at the flip side. We can't
Speaker 14: blame these guys for doing what they love with no stress,
Speaker 14: they're already paid.
Speaker 3: No, no, Mike, Mike, I don't begrudge them if they
Speaker 3: take the money. I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't want them to be able to come back
Speaker 2: to the PGA Tour. I mean, you made a decision
Speaker 2: and thanks for the phone call.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 3: You want to better yourself good, but there's repercussions there.
Speaker 3: That's all.
Speaker 2: You want to be loyal to, live good, Go ahead
Speaker 2: and play. It's just meaningless golf, Like you can't even
Speaker 2: play four days, you play three. Like that is something
Speaker 2: where I go, Wow, that's what the PGA Tour is missing.
Speaker 2: Shorts all that's it music, bad music being played. These
Speaker 2: are great players. I want to see great players play
Speaker 2: under pressure against each other. And how about we play
Speaker 2: seventy two holes. It's not asking too much. Dwight Howe
Speaker 2: word joints is coming up.