Beach Steppin' | Vegas Expansion Bids, Offensive Push-Offs & Intriguing Newcomers

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Speaker 1: Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to another No Dunks podcast. It is Thursday, October 1st, 2026. I'm J.D. Skeets here on the Classic Factory, and alongside me, as always, it's Tass Mellis.
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Speaker 2: Happiest of Octobers, everybody.
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Speaker 1: Next to him is my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby.
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Speaker 2: Heyo!
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Speaker 3: Heyo!
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Speaker 1: And over there, making the magic happen, super producer J.D.
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Speaker 3: Hello!
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Speaker 2: There he is!
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Speaker 3: Here we are.
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Speaker 1: A little housekeeping before we get into the NBA news. First off, like, comment, subscribe, share the show. Five-star ratings and reviews. Thanks to everybody that does it and has done it.
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Speaker 3: We appreciate it.
00:00:41
Speaker 1: Secondly, check out our sub stack page for a couple of reasons. One, do you want ad-free episodes? Then pay $ 5 a month and you get ad-free no dunks sent directly to your inbox.
00:00:54
Speaker 2: That's true.
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Speaker 3: That's a deal.
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Speaker 1: Also, this guy right here, He's turning on the blog boy in him because he had a fun post yesterday. Trey Kirby, I'm talking about. 16 scary movies you're pumped to watch this fall.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: A lot of famous podcasters out there will tell you that their hands, their fingers, they don't work anymore. Mine do. All right.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: Okay.
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Speaker 3: Meet me in the writing streets, Zach and Bill.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Go check this out. I remember when I used to read what you wrote. Not anymore.
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Speaker 1: He's taken back up the mantle, everybody. So that link to our Substack page is in the show notes. Finally, this is exciting. These just went live over at nodunks.com. That's the link you want to hit. Reversible No Dunks basketball jerseys. People have been asking for some actual jerseys with the No Dunks logo. So we brought back this old school one. And here they are available in two colors. They're reversible, one side being white on both of them. But we got a red version and we got like a forest.
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Speaker 3: Green version there.
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Speaker 2: They look wonderful.
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Speaker 3: They look great.
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Speaker 1: I will say a couple samples were sent to us. I've seen TK play in one of these. I haven't seen Trey Kirby write a blog post in one of these yet, but I have seen him play basketball in it.
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Speaker 3: I actually have been thinking of ranking every shirt we've ever made.
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Speaker 1: Oh, I've had that thought as well. I've never talked to you about that.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Well, this is on its own scale because we've never made something like this before. It's totally different than... some dumb dinkers and dumpers shirt or, you know, it's like, we've.
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Speaker 3: Made a lot of jerseys. Yeah, that's true.
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Speaker 1: That's true.
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Speaker 2: This is our first reversible item ever. Yeah.
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Speaker 3: So we had to come up with two different colors.
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Speaker 2: That's right. That's right.
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Speaker 3: Two different colors.
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Speaker 1: I would like to see this.
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Speaker 3: I want to throw this out.
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Speaker 6: Okay.
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Speaker 1: I should say no dunks.com. I did say that part, but you only have one month to grab one of these. This is a limited run. At the end of October.
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Speaker 2: Hold on.
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Speaker 1: They're gone.
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Speaker 2: Is it on there?
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Speaker 3: Hell yeah, it's on there, buddy.
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Speaker 2: I was on there.
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Speaker 3: Oh, what time were you on there, Tass?
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Speaker 2: Oh, it got there later today?
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Speaker 3: I bet.
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Speaker 1: I checked earlier and it wasn't there.
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Speaker 2: It was not.
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Speaker 1: I checked an hour later and it was.
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Speaker 2: I was on it.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was on it.
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Speaker 1: Jamie Mottram's a man of his word.
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Speaker 2: Okay, well. It should have been there at midnight, Jamie. It doesn't matter. No, no. Why not?
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Speaker 1: Cause I've been emailing with Jamie and said, as long as that's live by 10 AM, we're.
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Speaker 3: Good to go.
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Speaker 2: 10 AM.
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Speaker 3: Okay.
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Speaker 2: Cause when we say it, well, I was there yesterday. No, no offense to Jamie Monster, but I was there.
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Speaker 3: I was there.
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Speaker 4: What?
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Speaker 2: I was there yesterday. I happened to see two men fighting about whether or not they should eat bananas in the morning after giving blood. I was watching a Skeets and Lee old fight on our old 24 seven class. It was on. You guys were arguing. My daughter saw the Mr. Temper Boy shirt pop up because you guys were quite angry. So I jumped on over. She said she wanted a black hoodie. We had a discussion. I hit up Jamie Montram. I said, you know, can we make it a little smaller? Shrink it down a little. My daughter's a little too small for it. Anyway, that's a side. That's an aside.
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Speaker 3: Okay.
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Speaker 2: And everything is on there now, including a reversible, which we've never made before. We've never made anything like a reversible tank top before. We've just had these one-off, like, The Utah, Salt Lake City, No Dunks jersey, that kind of thing. There have been a lot of those.
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Speaker 3: Yes, I remember.
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Speaker 1: So go grab those. NoDunks.com. And what I was going to say is I want to see an entire team. And I'm going to say this right now. If some team out there gets all these, they wear these, they win a championship, you take a photo of you wearing them winning championship, we'll send you something else.
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Speaker 2: Wow, yes.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what we'll send you, but we'll send you something from the Classic Factory. But I need a full squad wearing No Dunks reversible jerseys holding some sort of trophy in your rec league.
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Speaker 3: Okay. Happy Jalen Duren day to all of you.
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Speaker 2: Oh, it is.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. It is.
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Speaker 1: The Athletic reported yesterday that the Pistons have removed the weight clause from Jalen Duren's contract offer, which was initially included when the franchise upped the proposed deal to five years, $ 200 million. Now, Duren has until midnight to either sign this fully guaranteed long-term deal of $ 200 million over five years, with the franchise or sign the $ 9. 6 million qualifying offer, which means he would then be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. He has until 1159, Mottram style for Tass Mellis tonight to make this decision.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: That's why tomorrow is Jalen Dern day. When something happens here, this is just the fact that they've removed this weight clause, which I have never remembered a day when two parties were grappling between whether or not the clause should be on a contract. This has never been done before. This discussion back and forth, obviously, we know that it's on Zion's contract, but this whole fighting of whether or not it should be on there before, it's unprecedented. It just hasn't been done. So I won't believe anything until midnight, until something actually happens, whether or not he signs that qualifying offer.
00:05:49
Speaker 1: That would be unprecedented because no all-star or all-NBA player has ever signed the QO.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's why, because we've never seen two parties fight over this weight clause before, I think that is actually a viable option that I will not believe anything until midnight.
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Speaker 3: You're going to stay up?
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Speaker 1: No, the Braves game starts at 8 o'clock. Baseball's a lot faster now. It'll be over by midnight, unless it goes to extra innings.
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Speaker 2: Of course. We all assume... correct me if I'm mistaken, that he's going to sign a long-term deal with Detroit, right? I would assume that's going to happen before midnight. I thought that was true up until this week.
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Speaker 3: And now I'm like, maybe he will take the qualifying offer and go into free agency again next summer and become a Sacramento King like his heart has always wanted. I'm not proud to admit it, but my first reaction to this was, wait, they don't love you like I love you, but wait spelled differently.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
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Speaker 3: My second reaction was that impasse is a great word. And I love seeing it in this context. And I wonder if they're going to get over this impasse. It seems to me that the Pistons, though late in the game, are doing their part to meet Jalen Dern where he wants to be met. They up their offer to get him to the $ 200 million mark, which we heard was the starting point for him in these negotiations. Then they took out the weight clause because apparently that was a problem for Jalen Dern as well. They waited a long time to be able to do this, you know, until the very last moment, until 11.59 p.m.
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Speaker 2: Today.
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Speaker 3: So it's like, why did they wait so long? If they give him $ 200 million offer with no wait clauses in the middle of August, is he at media day this past Monday? Maybe so.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, but he still hasn't signed it. So is there still an impasse? Because they took the clause off.
00:07:37
Speaker 3: He hasn't signed anything. There's an impasse, clearly.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. So they haven't met anything.
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Speaker 3: But they're doing their part.
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Speaker 2: I suppose so.
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Speaker 3: He said, I want $ 200 million minimum.
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Speaker 2: Okay, there's the offer. They bumped it up $ 10 million.
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Speaker 3: He said, I don't want the weight clause. There's no more weight clause.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's unfortunate that this is even public at all. Why should this be public at all?
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Speaker 3: His team is making it public.
00:08:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's a huge mistake. I mean, he might get $ 200 million, but isn't this going to be a point of conversation for the rest of the season? Absolutely. And that's unfortunate. Again, It was in Zion's contract. It was in Boris Diaw's contract. It was in Big Baby Davis's contract, but it wasn't a public thing. And that's why this whole thing is strange. Even the Athletics article, the way they ended it, to me, how this line was inserted, that an earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the Wizards would have interest in a potential Durin-Anthony Davis sign-in trade. Well, now the article has been corrected by removing that reference. What happened there? Did Anthony Davis's party jump in? Did the Wizards front office jump in? and say, hey, we don't want that in there. This whole thing is just, where are we here? And they haven't apparently talked to the Sacramento Kings since July 1st, and so this trade possibility seems like it's more likely to happen, but I guess it's just he's going to sign, and they publicized this whole dumb bickering back and forth for no reason.
00:09:01
Speaker 1: So you think he takes five years, $ 200 million, let's call it, and you don't think he'll do this QO? which is obviously a massive risk. You'd leave millions upon millions on the table for now and risk getting injured. And then, oh my God, suddenly your contract with whatever team you would go to maybe doesn't look as sexy.
00:09:21
Speaker 3: I mean, he's threatening that, obviously.
00:09:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the way I lean. But again, nothing is concrete until midnight tonight. And this whole thing, even about his weight level, That whole thing is strange, too. Did we ever think that was an issue with Jalen Dirk?
00:09:35
Speaker 3: Seemed to come out of nowhere in the reporting over the last week. You're right.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:09:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. There must be even more to that. Like his BMI, his body fat must be this percentage, I think, because is it just his weight in general? I don't think so because he seems like he's chiseled. It doesn't seem like an issue.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. The Pistons obviously aren't as crazy about Jalen Dirk. as they are about Asar Thompson and as about Jalen Duren is. About Jalen Duren, part of it is the playoffs, for sure. Apparently, they think he is clunkier than he should be, because there is reporting that this was something... that the Pistons felt internally before the weight clause came was that like he slowed down in the playoffs and that was part of the reason he played poorly. I also wonder if they think he kind of played selfishly this season, going into a contract year, had a great regular season, upped his efficiency, upped his scoring, but he also completely fell off as a passer. He used to be a guy that was like a mid post, swing the ball around, could create plays here and there. Usage went way up. assists, turnovers, all of that went way down because he was out there trying to get buckets, trying to get paid. It worked during the regular season. And then when the playoffs came, it didn't work. So I wonder how crazy the Pistons are about this guy. Obviously, they don't want to lose him for nothing. They did offer him a $ 200 million contract. That's a little bit of respect there, but it's just been a terrible offseason for the Pistons and for specifically this Durin thing. So I don't know. He should sign the deal and request a trade. Everybody else does it. I mean, that's sort of where I'm at at this point too. I mean, I don't want to go through that, but that's, you're right. That's usually the play here.
00:11:14
Speaker 1: You take the money, you lock it in, and then you either give it a go and everyone's like, okay, we move on. Or it's like, okay, now look to trade me and you get assets back and players back. But man, like this idea, especially when you like crunch the numbers, I know I've gone over this before, but I want to do it one more time. Based on current cap projections, a four-year max deal in free agency from anyone besides the Pistons, would pay Jalen Duren $ 189. 2 million. Then if you include the $ 9. 6 million qualifying offer, Duren would therefore stand to make up $ 198. 8 million over five seasons. The one QO and then the four-year max with another team, be it the Kings, the Bucs, whoever it is. That's less, in theory, than the $ 200 million the Pistons are offering.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: Which they just offered in the last week or so. It was $ 190, 000 approximately. Sure, sure.
00:12:04
Speaker 3: And that's fine.
00:12:04
Speaker 1: That's negotiating.
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Speaker 3: But I'm with you, TK.
00:12:07
Speaker 1: Like, is this not a story at all if they just say five years, $ 200 million in end of July, early August? No weight clause, fully guaranteed. Now, still, it is $ 87 million away from the actual max that he could request.
00:12:22
Speaker 2: And that's where it may be lying. That's where the issue may be. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: To us, you know, outsiders like, wow, that's a lot of money, especially for a guy that fell apart in the playoffs.
00:12:32
Speaker 3: Well, there haven't really been reports of him seeking the.
00:12:35
Speaker 2: Max, right?
00:12:35
Speaker 3: No, there haven't. No.
00:12:37
Speaker 2: Yeah. The fact that there are this many reports is that it shows to me that his agent has a lot to be blamed for, that it's all out there and that we have, we're debating on whether or not he should take the 190 plus the, qualifying offer. Now the 200 plus the qualifying offer. That's the unfortunate part. He should have done it behind closed doors.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: We'll see a couple hours left here for him and his agent to figure out what they're going to do here.
00:13:04
Speaker 3: Times have changed. I was reading the athletic article by Hunter Patterson. He mentioned one of the most recent players to take the qualifying offer was Greg Monroe, who took the qualifying offer from the Bucks in 2014, ended up signing a max with the Pistons of all teams in 2015. Now the numbers are way smaller. His max was three years, $ 51. 4 million. But that's 23% of the cap. Pretty much similar to Jalen Duren's number. And Greg Monroe had zero accolades. They just gave him a max. Jalen Duren at least has a case here. I'm an all-star. I'm an all-NBA player, even if I got in kind of on technicalities. But you can lose. New Orleans Noel, he lost the qualifying offer dance back in the day. Greg Monroe won. Miles Bridges won. Ben Gordon won. So I think that I think Durant here is probably encouraged a little bit. He's like, yeah, I can go into the season. I can take the qualifying offer. If I get hurt, who cares? There's still going to be money out there. The Kings are still going to be desperate next summer.
00:14:04
Speaker 1: There'll be like seven or eight teams right now with salary cap room.
00:14:08
Speaker 3: So I don't think it's far-fetched he takes the qualifying offer. You can still sign a max. I mean, like I said, he should take the $ 200 million and request a trade. I hate saying that, but that's something that happens in the NBA. If not, I wouldn't be surprised if he takes the qualifying offer. There's no way he's on the Pistons at the end of this contract is what I'm saying.
00:14:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that seems probably likely. All right, we'll leave it and just wait to see what him and his agent do. Other piece of news, the NBA is expected to select the winning bid for ownership of the Las Vegas expansion team somewhat soon, maybe by the end of the year, with a price of at least $ 12 billion to $ 13 billion for the franchise and a new arena.
00:14:48
Speaker 3: That is a part of the equation here.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: Our three finalist groups include Who do we got? The daughter of a Walmart co-founder, a Greek-Canadian billionaire family, and the majority owner of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights.
00:15:03
Speaker 3: A lot of money here, though.
00:15:05
Speaker 1: It's got a lot of people going, whoa, $ 12 billion, $ 13 billion. Again, Arena would be included there, so that's a couple billion, I'm sure. But yeah, do you have any thoughts on this?
00:15:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, which owner do you want? This is the exciting picking of the Walmart heir and her husband, Bill Laurie, who is owned the St. Louis Blues once upon a time, or Bill Foley, who owns the Las Vegas Golden Knights and has them playing in the T-Mobile arena. But apparently, part of the deal, as you said there, they at least have to renovate the T-Mobile. They don't got to make a new one, apparently, according to Adam Silver, because I found this quote interesting. He said, there are groups who have presented plans to build what I would call a modern entertainment palace in Las Vegas. It's a unique market where you could truly see essentially 365 days a year activity. Yeah, it's Vegas. You can see through. But T-Mobile Arena is a fairly new arena. It's not old at all. They play hockey there. They have MMA fights there. But apparently part of this deal, part of your $ 12 to $ 13 billion offer, you got to at least renovate it, which I find.
00:16:10
Speaker 3: I think they need to replace it. I mean, T-Mobile Arena is fine, but it's not state of the art for a brand new team. It wouldn't be in the top 10 NBA arenas.
00:16:19
Speaker 2: Apparently, they're just going to renovate it.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, to get the team going faster, but they need to replace it and have a new arena, and that's why I hope the Walmart heir actually wins the bid here. Reading the ESPN article, you can tell it's tilted towards the Jerry Colangelo group. It's like we get one paragraph on the Walmart group, we get one paragraph on the Lazzari group, and then we have like six paragraphs about the Colangelos and all the connections they have. But the thing I like about the Walmart group is that they actually have money. Everybody else has like a billion dollars to their name. And the Walmart group has like $ 17 billion. So you can assume they can afford the team and not have to bring in private equity as well or sovereign wealth funds or whatever it is. So I hope they get it. But that'll be weird because there is already a Walmart heir that owns a team in the NBA. The Nuggets. So that could be pretty interesting since they would probably be rivals.
00:17:09
Speaker 1: Walmart Cup.
00:17:10
Speaker 3: Well, Walmart Cup between Denver and Las Vegas. Something exciting in the mountain time zone.
00:17:15
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, I'm in. Yeah, the interesting part about the Greek-Canadian as mentioned, Steve Apostolopoulos. Wow, even he can't say it. I feel a lot better than I did in the tribe. Yeah, I'm trying to rush.
00:17:26
Speaker 3: It's a crazy one, though. There were so many.
00:17:29
Speaker 2: Apostopoulos. Yeah, I'm just trying to rush through so we don't have to waste time on extra syllables. But his partner is Mark Lazzari, who used to own the Bucks. And that's interesting. He sold them literally three years ago. But I'm back in, baby, is his idea. So there's that part. And then The other one, the bill Foley led who also owns Las Vegas golden Knights. He owns like a billion teams in different leagues, but he's got Jerry Colangelo, former Turner broadcasting president, David Levy and Vinnie Del Nego. So three groups, the Walmarts, the Foley's and the Apple stop. This is, I don't mind the bucks former owner getting in there. I think that part is interesting too. Um, But hey, if you want a Walmart, man, I'm okay with that too. It's hard for me to like. Really get excited about one owner or another owner. Myself, I don't know about you guys. Same.
00:18:27
Speaker 3: I don't really care, but I would like to not have a Pablo Torre investigation on an owner. Sure, sure. Give it to the people that actually have the money to afford it.
00:18:33
Speaker 1: The Lorries with their $ 17 billion. I hear you on that. The other thing, the other takeaway is the league is closing in on Vegas here before Seattle for a couple of reasons. One, as we can tell, it's like a livelier bidding offer. We've got three, it seems like, legit bids here. So that could just up the price if they are bidding each other up. There's also the logistics here of this developing either a new arena or whatever they're going to do with T-Mobile versus the established arena in Seattle. So there's just more logistics. And then the real reason, and it was included in the article, it's like, well, whoever's a runner up here in Vegas, so whoever doesn't win this bid, hey, could I interest you in a Seattle franchise where we would love to have some more bids potentially with that one? So that's why it's like, do this first. Two of these people are going to strike out and not win it. Uh, cause it's a crazy amount as it is.
00:19:26
Speaker 3: And then maybe, maybe they're.
00:19:28
Speaker 1: Intrigued about, uh, the Seattle market as well and get in on that.
00:19:32
Speaker 2: But according to the athletic reporting, Seattle isn't ready arena wise. They need to have a new arena and that's.
00:19:39
Speaker 3: Seattle. Yeah.
00:19:40
Speaker 2: And that was super strange.
00:19:42
Speaker 1: No, I thought they were fine with their climate pledge arena.
00:19:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:19:45
Speaker 2: Apparently not according to the athletic. Uh, oh yeah unless i'm mistaken i mean i literally they're not they have the seattle kraken playing a hockey team they're playing hockey it's it's strange to me um but that's i think part of the stipulation there with seattle according to the athletic reporting.
00:20:03
Speaker 1: So anyway we'll get vegas done first and then we'll see if these uh losers uh Losers in the sense they didn't win the Vegas expansion bid is what I mean.
00:20:11
Speaker 3: Get into Seattle or not.
00:20:12
Speaker 1: But they might have no interest.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: Like, I don't want a franchise there or whatever, the market, whatever. So we'll see. Crazy, crazy numbers, though, that we're at here. I think the Seattle team will be more successful. They have a built-in fan base.
00:20:24
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
00:20:25
Speaker 3: I mean, Las Vegas has done well in the NHL. We'll see how things go when they finally get an MLB team. And the Raiders did build an awesome stadium. For sure. But I think Seattle will be more successful here. There's just I just I just feel that way.
00:20:41
Speaker 1: I mean, Vegas is obviously if they get this and they're going to like they have added basically every every league.
00:20:48
Speaker 3: While everybody's leaving Las Vegas.
00:20:50
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: That's the weird part. Like Las Vegas as a location is not where it once was.
00:20:57
Speaker 1: Right.
00:20:57
Speaker 3: Right.
00:20:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe I'm incorrect in reading that Seattle needs a new arena. Maybe it's the Vegas part that I was reading as I look at this paragraph. But I guess Adam Silver just sees Vegas like so many leagues do now as it's baked in, baby. This is going to be a successful city. And I agree that, yeah, Seattle has got a fan base. But everybody just thinks Vegas is working, baby. And you make it this 365-day arena a viable option for us, we're cooking. He seems very excited about that option over, yeah, it's unfortunate, a city that used to have a team. And my mistake, they could literally go there and play. Because they did stuff on that, yeah, exactly. They did the renovations on the climate pledge. That's what I thought. Yeah, that's why it was odd to me, but that was just my odd reading.
00:21:49
Speaker 1: I did hear Bill Simmons, who seems to, I don't know, seems plugged into the rich guy world. He did say on his podcast, he thinks Vegas is going to get an expansion team here and that like Seattle will not be like coming in at the exact same time is how Bill said it. I hope I'm not misspeaking for him there.
00:22:06
Speaker 3: And I was like, Oh, interesting.
00:22:07
Speaker 1: Cause then there was the talk like, so if only one comes in, now we have 31 teams. And remember we had all the talk about if two West teams come in and one West team's got to go East, we're going to balance things out. Is that going to be Minnesota? Is that going to be Memphis, New Orleans, whatever we've debated that.
00:22:23
Speaker 3: But okay.
00:22:23
Speaker 1: What if one comes in? There'll be no rush, I guess, to take a team over. So we'll see.
00:22:28
Speaker 2: We'll see.
00:22:30
Speaker 1: New points of emphasis just dropped. The NBA has instructed its referees to crack down on offensive players who use their arms to push off against defensive players during the upcoming season. One of several new things officials are apparently going to have their eyes on earlier in the year. So a push off most commonly occurs when an offensive player uses his non-dribbling arm to contact a defensive player so he can create space to attempt a shot. You know, the old chicken wings. Push-off now, they had some clips that the NBA officials' account shared. We're showing you the Jalen Brown one, just for an example. Don't get upset, Jalen. This one was called an offensive push-off on Kelly Oubre Jr. But TK, I'll start with you here. Your reactions to the points of emphasis.
00:23:15
Speaker 3: I love a point of emphasis. I love learning new ways to make calls, and I loved learning about the four Fs of offensive push-off fouls. Feeling, firming, force... And full extension.
00:23:27
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, baby.
00:23:28
Speaker 2: Nice two-order there.
00:23:29
Speaker 3: Feeling and firming up, good. Force and full extension, bad. So still a judgment call is the way I read this one. People are going to be so mad because this comes out and everybody's like, they're getting Shea Gilchrist Alexander. No, they're not. There's nobody better at the push-off without extending your arm than Shea Gilchrist Alexander. Because you know why? He's a shoulder man. He's not an elbow man. That's right. Shoulder, fine. Elbow, bad. More judgment calls. I just don't think they should tell us about this stuff. Oh, interesting. They should just institute it and let us notice. Same thing they did, what was it, 2025? Second half of the season, they just stopped calling fouls. And it was like, what in the world? Nobody's taking free throws anymore. This is awesome. Nobody would have been mad if they just made the change and we weren't educated about it. They'd be like, wait, they're calling more push-offs. That's great.
00:24:15
Speaker 2: But.
00:24:17
Speaker 3: What'll probably happen is they call a bunch of them at the beginning of the season, and then it falls off. That's what always happens with points of emphasis. And then it'll be like, how come you're not calling these? Should've just let it play out.
00:24:27
Speaker 2: I totally hear you. I do think Jalen Brown is the one who's way more guilty than anybody else, it feels like. That's the one that stands out to me.
00:24:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, he does it.
00:24:38
Speaker 3: I mean, a lot of guys do, but he definitely does.
00:24:39
Speaker 2: That's why they use him as an example.
00:24:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah.
00:24:42
Speaker 3: I did.
00:24:42
Speaker 2: I was watching last year and I said, yes, we do need to emphasize that a little bit more, but damn, is it hard to determine how far we go from firming, because that's allowed, firming to extending at all even. Force. Any force.
00:24:59
Speaker 3: Firm and force, man.
00:25:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's where the F comes into question.
00:25:04
Speaker 1: They even, McCutcheon acknowledged that. This is going to be tough. Like this is a tough thing to officiate. It's a tough challenge. It's like, Yes, you can firm, but you can't push off and force. And, like, look, then you immediately go to the defensive player can embellish. He can embellish a firm arm and make it look like it was more of a force with, you know, flopping back with the head back.
00:25:27
Speaker 3: I mean, you can.
00:25:27
Speaker 2: In real time, it's very difficult. But flopping, again.
00:25:30
Speaker 3: That's another F.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Well, flopping is an F that they'll always be watching. And they mentioned that again.
00:25:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, new points of emphasis on that as well.
00:25:38
Speaker 2: No flopping.
00:25:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, but they said head snaps are okay. They literally said when you throw your head back offensively, that is not embellishment. Throwing your arms up, that's too theatrical.
00:25:49
Speaker 2: Again, that's subjective again, it feels like to me. It's all subjective. No, it's a tough thing. Although I did think one thing that will be a little bit easier to do, and I know we've talked about it several times on this show, screeners who push their hands while screening. That has become something that Draymond Green is perfected. Everybody perfects really, really well. You just got to stand there according to these new rules. And that does make sense. And it's something which is the screeners have been trying to been taken advantage of. And it is something they should be taking advantage. taking a look at, and now they have, and we'll see if they shake it down.
00:26:25
Speaker 3: That one should be easier to officiate.
00:26:26
Speaker 4: Exactly.
00:26:26
Speaker 1: You just, you don't need to set a screen like that with your arms at all. Whether you push them really hard or very little, that, like, just call it right away. If your arms are out when you're setting a screen, just call it, and they'll stop doing it.
00:26:38
Speaker 3: They'll put them away.
00:26:39
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:26:39
Speaker 3: So, yeah.
00:26:40
Speaker 2: That one's easier.
00:26:41
Speaker 1: Like, all this stuff, like, I know it's going to be tough. I don't think any of us are like, Like, no, that's a horrible rule. Like, I think these things to try and help out the defensive players to obviously keep up with the talented offensive players in this league, I think makes sense. And we've seen other things over the last couple of years, like stopping short to create collisions. You know, the classic Chris Paul comes to mind where you got a defender on your back or Trae Young has done it too.
00:27:04
Speaker 3: And you just like literally stop.
00:27:06
Speaker 1: They've tried to like, you know, just allow play if that happens and not call a foul immediately. splaying your legs out on shots. Like that's just, doesn't look realistic. It's silly jumping sideways into defenders, like all these things. These are, these are good officiating implementations, I think, to make a better game in my mind, to make it where the defense can try and play defense and not get called for everything. So this is another one, but going to be tough on the push offs and firms and the forces and the other two F's.
00:27:35
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker 2: The one that's easy and I think will be implemented, no problem. The screener pushing. The ones that are hard, yes. Off-arm as well as the grabs, touches, bumps on guys on the perimeter, which they're emphasizing. Defenders grabbing on the perimeter, they're calling it. There's going to be bumping. And so that is going to be difficult to do. And these straight path, again, it's another bump. It's your Trae Young or your Shea or whoever driving and getting bumped. What do you call it? who's it on? I mean, that's subjective again. There's going to be contact.
00:28:11
Speaker 3: I'm with you. I think those are the like hardest ones to call the straight line pathways. And I think it's kind of interesting that they're doing the push off and the straight line pathway, that those are both forms of emphasis. Cause I'm with you skates. It's like the offense has a ton of advantages against the defensive team, including the push off, but also like these straight line pathways are so impossible to judge because It's like Shea Gildress Alexander never moves in a straight line. That's like the key to his success is he's never moving in a straight line. So like, how do we know where the straight line is? You get bumped up, you fall, you chuck it up to the hoop, you're shooting free throws. I think that one is so hard and so infuriating to watch those calls.
00:28:53
Speaker 2: I guess the one that they could do separately here, I mean, part of the being grabbed on the perimeter is when there's an inbound happening and guys running around and being grabbed, that should be, A little easier to take out, right? Like hands on the body, like slowing a guy down that way rather than being in his way. That could be taken away. Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker 1: Just let some more freedom go here.
00:29:16
Speaker 2: The freedom of movement.
00:29:17
Speaker 4: All right.
00:29:18
Speaker 3: No standing on the bench. Finally.
00:29:20
Speaker 6: Finally.
00:29:21
Speaker 3: That's what we were all worried about, right? The guys on the corner standing up there.
00:29:25
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:29:26
Speaker 3: What's the point of that? That's unnecessary. Don't have emotion for your team.
00:29:30
Speaker 2: Don't support your team. I thought that was a stupid one to include. Was it like it's literally standing on the chairs?
00:29:36
Speaker 5: No.
00:29:36
Speaker 3: Like standing and clapping. Like the end of the bench guys. Maxi Kleba going nuts for Austin Reeves out there.
00:29:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's so weird to me. Yeah. I guess they're trying to ensure that they don't take a step forward, right? Like get closer to the... They think it's.
00:29:52
Speaker 1: More likely it would encourage a player to run out on the floor type thing?
00:29:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, or just get closer to the sideline.
00:29:59
Speaker 3: Distraction, who knows?
00:30:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, you sit, now you won't be anywhere closer.
00:30:04
Speaker 1: Enough rich people that bought $ 1, 000 tickets down behind the bench have complained to the league and to teams that I can't see because the team.
00:30:13
Speaker 2: Won't sit down.
00:30:14
Speaker 3: Probably so.
00:30:15
Speaker 2: They're like, oh.
00:30:16
Speaker 3: Okay, we've upset fans, rich fans. These guys are tall. And they are tall, yes. It is difficult to see around them. Next year's point of emphasis, 18-foot chairs. You guys can stand, but we got really tall chairs in the front. Oh, my God.
00:30:29
Speaker 1: Imagine going to a Bulls game right now, standing behind 10-foot-6 Caleb Wilson.
00:30:32
Speaker 2: Good luck.
00:30:32
Speaker 3: You're going to see a damn thing.
00:30:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sucks.
00:30:34
Speaker 3: You'd be very upset.
00:30:35
Speaker 2: So fans, I guess, in the NBA are allowed to stand up and yell, unlike in the WNBA, a player pointing at Asia Wilson. You're out of the game, but also Asia Wilson... you're getting a technical foul for yelling at that referee. What a strange one that was.
00:30:51
Speaker 1: All right, so those are the latest NBA news or NBA headlines, but lots more here still on No Dunks because we're hitting the beach to answer your questions.
00:30:57
Speaker 3: You got the buzz, I got the rockets. You got the nuts, I got the chocolates.
00:31:03
Speaker 1: We got that chit-chat down pat, blah, blah, blah. You got that certain special, je ne sais quoi.
00:31:10
Speaker 3: Let's go to the beach!
00:31:12
Speaker 1: We are on the beach, baby, reading your, well, emails this batch. If we have a little time left at the end, though, we might be doing some live beach step-in, answering a few of your questions here in the stream team. And shout-out to everybody joining us here.
00:31:25
Speaker 3: On a Thursday.
00:31:26
Speaker 1: But the first one from Timmy T. By way of email, sup, boys? According to former No Dunks guest Ben Gulliver, and currently writing for ESPN, 15 players with at least one All-Star selection in the past five seasons are set to take the court for new franchises this season. Note, this number includes Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard, who changed teams last season but have yet to play due to injuries. The question, though, is who's the most intriguing newcomer for this upcoming season of all these super talented All-Star level players?
00:31:59
Speaker 3: TK, I'll start with you here. It's Lomelo Ball for me. One-time All-Star. Also beat out Anthony Edwards for Rookie of the Year in 2021. Lomelo is an elite offensive player, and the way he plays kind of overshadows the fact that he's very efficient, and he generates a ton of threes for his teammates, takes a ton of threes on his own. There are obviously weak moments in his game, and the decision-making can be ridiculous.
00:32:25
Speaker 7: Like, he.
00:32:27
Speaker 3: He's the Steph Curry heir to, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yes. But it doesn't always end in yes. And a lot of the times it's with passes as well. The other fascinating thing is that LaMelo has never played in the playoffs. And this is a team that has had a lot of playoff success making back-to-back conference finals before having a down year. Last year, LaMelo's actually seventh amongst active players in most games played without making it to the playoffs. You want to guess the top 10?
00:32:57
Speaker 2: Lowry Markkinen.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: Number two. Colin Sexton. Number three.
00:33:00
Speaker 2: Oh, this is where it stops. I think there wasn't there.
00:33:07
Speaker 6: No.
00:33:07
Speaker 3: Who's number one? It's not a guy you like to think about.
00:33:12
Speaker 2: Miles Bridges.
00:33:12
Speaker 3: Miles Bridges, number one.
00:33:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, because he was with LaMelo forever.
00:33:16
Speaker 3: There's a lot of LaMelo teammates on this list.
00:33:18
Speaker 2: That's an interesting factor.
00:33:22
Speaker 3: Who else then? Who's been there?
00:33:25
Speaker 2: It's not Brandon Miller yet.
00:33:27
Speaker 3: No, no Brandon Miller. Okay, let me give you, this guy was a life teammate of LaMelo Ball. A life teammate, a high school teammate of LaMelo Ball.
00:33:40
Speaker 6: Life teammate high school teammate who was yeah I mean he played for the Hornets he played for Chino Hills yeah he played for the Bulls he played for the Pelicans he played for the Lakers.
00:33:52
Speaker 1: Lonzo he's out of the league he's his life teammate.
00:33:55
Speaker 5: Maybe yeah he never made it is he in the league he says no wow he says he's not he's like the NBA season's long somebody give me a call until then I'll be podcasting he never made the playoffs never played in the playoffs because he was hurt when the Bulls made.
00:34:07
Speaker 2: The playoffs oh In the 22 season The way he talks on his podcast seems like.
00:34:12
Speaker 3: He's done Another NBA brother Who is The exact same style of player As his brother His brother is known for never turning the ball over.
00:34:23
Speaker 2: Oh, not Seth. No, not Seth. Never turning it over. Not a Morris.
00:34:29
Speaker 3: Not a Morris.
00:34:30
Speaker 2: Not a Tyus Jones.
00:34:31
Speaker 3: Not a Tyus Jones. Trey Jones? Trey Jones. Another NBA brother. Another LaMelo Ball teammate. This guy is very large. If he makes his team, he will probably make.
00:34:43
Speaker 2: The playoffs this year.
00:34:44
Speaker 3: If he makes his team? Yeah, I'm actually surprised he didn't play in the playoffs. Maybe he was hurt last season. Okay, so his team... But he was a LaMelo baller for a while. Mark Williams?
00:34:55
Speaker 2: No.
00:34:56
Speaker 3: No, but a lesser Mark Williams.
00:35:00
Speaker 1: What a diss.
00:35:02
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, this guy backed up Mark Williams quite a bit. Yeah, who are we forgetting?
00:35:07
Speaker 2: What's his name? Yeah, that guy. He went to Phoenix, played in Phoenix last year. What's his name?
00:35:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, he ended up on the Bulls. I think he wore number 13 for the Bulls.
00:35:16
Speaker 2: He's too small. No, he's not.
00:35:17
Speaker 3: He's big.
00:35:18
Speaker 4: He's big.
00:35:20
Speaker 3: I'm drawing a blank here. He's got a big rhyming nickname. Nick Richards. Oh, big dick Nick Richards.
00:35:28
Speaker 2: He's undersized. That's what I mean. He's too small for the 6'9 or something anyways.
00:35:34
Speaker 3: A number one draft pick. He was talking about his dick. Famous one.
00:35:38
Speaker 2: Anthony Bennett? Nope.
00:35:41
Speaker 3: Famous number one draft pick. I mean, even he said at media day, my career is not where I want it to be.
00:35:48
Speaker 2: Oh, Zion. Yeah, of course.
00:35:50
Speaker 3: And then you're not going to guess the guys who are tied for 10th. Ochai Abadji, Simone Fontecchio, and Cody Martin.
00:35:56
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:35:57
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think that's four lamello ball teammates in the top 10 for most. career games played without making it to the playoffs, which is pretty interesting since the Timberwolves are like, we failed in the playoffs. Let's go get LaMelo.
00:36:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker 1: This is why it's like a, it's a must see chemistry experiment. I think Oliver called it and I get that. He also had a great line. He said by replacing Julius Randall's jackhammer drives with LaMelo balls, balletic, uh, approach, the Timberwolves are headed for an undeniable aesthetic makeover bars there from Gulliver.
00:36:29
Speaker 3: It is.
00:36:29
Speaker 1: It's, it's quite a switch up.
00:36:31
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and he's making the playoffs for the first time. There's no doubt. Simone Fontecchio, he's making the playoffs for the first time. He's a Miami heater.
00:36:39
Speaker 1: Do you have another intriguing newcomer?
00:36:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, Peyton Watson, I think, is really intriguing with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They went from a 64-win team to a 52-win team over the last two years. Big problem with that, they're playing DeAndre Hunter at the starting small forward spot. And they said, all right, Jalen Tyson. All right, here, Dean Wade. And they just didn't have any chemistry. But Peyton Watson... can play off Donovan Mitchell and James Harden everywhere on the floor. I think he can be perfect if there's some gravity going towards Harden or towards Donovan Mitchell or towards Evan Mobley. He can be in that mid-range. He shot really, really well from 10 to 16 feet. I was surprised to see this number. The 16 to 24 feet is even better at 48%. I mean, that's surprising. And I think he's got the handle to be able to pass from there once he gets in. Of course, the question is, Can he do it for 82 games? He's never done that before. And we all are talking about that streak that he went on last year as a guy who can create and a guy who can defend. And I think he's just going to be that glue guy that they've always waited for. And he's going to be much better than a Dean Wade or a DeAndre Hunter in that role or a Jalen Tyson. So I think there's a good chance that this team goes and takes the number one seat. The number one seat is there to be grabbed. And they can do that like they did two years ago.
00:37:59
Speaker 1: Other big names, of course, are Giannis with the Heat as a newcomer, a couple of guys on Philadelphia in Jalen Brown and LeBron James. But I like the Ja Morant pick also making Gulliver's list. I'm just sort of intrigued to see where Ja Morant fits in Portland's guard heavy rotation first off. Like there is the whole idea of like, I mean, I think he's starting alongside Dame, but is there any possibility of one of those.
00:38:22
Speaker 3: Guys coming off the bench?
00:38:23
Speaker 1: And the idea he's sort of at a weird crossroads, even though he's only 27 years old. I think like Gulliver put it, like he could, if it goes poorly, could John Morant be facing sort of like a John Wall-esque early decline? And it's like, God, I hope not. Because when John Morant plays, he's electric, right? And went healthy and stuff. But big season and just sort of excited to see how it works there. New coach and obviously some new elements there in Portland.
00:38:51
Speaker 2: It's funny you mentioned John Wall. I'm going to bring him up. After this question.
00:38:56
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:38:58
Speaker 1: Hello, NoDunks brethren. With Jalen Duren claiming he's way better than the Thompson twins and with the entire Jonathan Kaminga situation, I'm realizing that we've had a striking lack of overconfident players in the past couple decades. I grew up in the early 2000s era, and that's all I remember. Players with a delusional level of confidence in their abilities. Don't get me wrong, I feel this type of delusion is required to get to the NBA level, but it seems like it goes far beyond reality with some guys. My question, who is your favorite... delusional confidence player of all time? I think mine is Deion Waiters.
00:39:35
Speaker 3: That's a good one. Best from a stream team mainstay.
00:39:39
Speaker 1: That's Tall Guy Greg. Hey, no standing on the bench, Tall Guy Greg. All right, so you already teased it.
00:39:45
Speaker 2: John Wall for me. Even though it's a weird one because he's a really, really good player.
00:39:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:39:50
Speaker 2: Unlike a Deion Waiters, this guy was an all-star. He was really, really good. But after LeBron was gone from the East and John Wall was kind of towards the end of his career, he got on a podcast and he said, we were going to beat the shit out of LeBron. They didn't want to see us. And he starts to go and compare the Cavs team that was led by LeBron to and his wizard team that never played in the playoffs. And he says, you know, I match up with Kyrie, and I'm taking Beal over J.R. Smith. Okay, Trevor Reza versus LeBron. You know who I'm taking. Kevin Love versus Markeith Morris. Okay, Kevin Love's better, but Markeith Morris, he can post up. He can shoot threes. And I'm taking Gortat over Tristan Thompson. And that's some delusional stuff. You never saw him in the playoffs. Never saw him in the playoffs. And LeBron went to every single finals while he was there. So that's the weird thing, and that's why it's delusional, and that's why it's great. And that's why. I guess he's in another tier than the Dion Waiters or whoever because he can sort of squint and be like, okay, maybe if there was a good series, maybe you could take out LeBron.
00:40:57
Speaker 4: Maybe.
00:40:59
Speaker 2: Because he was good. But that was my guy. That line was amazing. That line was just too good.
00:41:04
Speaker 3: I mean, you put an NBA player on a podcast and they turn into Uncle Rico. They all think they can throw the ball over the mountains.
00:41:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why they're great.
00:41:12
Speaker 3: Tracy McGrady would have won five titles if he played with Shaq. Probably true. I believe that one, but don't say anything. And I'll tell you how hard it is to spend $ 100 million. We don't care. Yeah, we don't care. That's tough, man. It's only $ 60 million, really? Ugh, sucks for you. For me, favorite delusional confidence player 2022, Jordan Poole. Yeah, I thought this guy was going to be the next Steph Curry during that 2022 season. During the regular season, he averaged 18 points, four assists per game on 60% true shooting. Pretty solid for a guy coming off the bench for most of the games in the playoffs. 17 points per game, another four assists, 65% true shooting. He had five games or 25 or more points. There's no way the Warriors win the title. If Jordan pool doesn't play his best season of basketball in his entire life during this specific season, they win the title. He gets punched in the face. The warriors feel bad. They give him a four year, $ 128 million extension. And it was over that very second. He did have a nice year. The year after he signed his extension, I think he was like 18 points per game, but the chemistry was all messed up because he got punched in the face by Draymond and they didn't give Draymond a contract right away, even though they gave it to him like a year later.
00:42:23
Speaker 5: So.
00:42:24
Speaker 3: What was the fight between these guys anyways, but Jordan Poole was awesome that season for the Warriors. He played almost exactly like Steph Curry. His crossovers were Curry-esque, the way he was getting into his shots, and he was just playing with ultra confidence, getting into his three-pointers as well. You saw him playing in a similar style to the way Curry was, and you're like, okay, maybe this can be the second part of your two timelines. Him losing whatever he was bringing to the Warriors was, is a huge part of why their two timelines plan failed in the first place. Good pick.
00:42:57
Speaker 1: I'll take a classic delusional guy, overconfidence guy that was like pre-Curry. So I love this Warriors chain we have going here. Monte Ellis has got to be in the mix for this. He's a Dion Waiters type. He was fun as hell to watch. He played a ton of minutes. He was a shooter, a scorer. He was a bucket, as they say, but probably overconfident. Other names that come up, J.R.
00:43:20
Speaker 3: Smith.
00:43:20
Speaker 1: You brought him up when John Wall was going through the teams there. He's definitely one. Vernon Maxwell is a classic one. Current guy that sort of Maxwell-liked me, Dylan Brooks.
00:43:30
Speaker 2: Sure.
00:43:31
Speaker 3: And when we say this, it's not a complete diss.
00:43:35
Speaker 1: First off, to be in the NBA, you do have to be sort of delusional, if you want to call it that. You have to think you're the best. You got to think you can throw the football over the mountain. But he's sort of comparable there. But one that goes under the radar a little bit, and he was our era when we were doing the podcast because we were doing this forever. Aaron Aflalo was a good bit.
00:43:54
Speaker 3: Of a delusional guy.
00:43:56
Speaker 1: He would have monster games and then he would have the, you know, a rough like three for 20 shooting game. Like he was the type of guy that lived by the motto of like, I'd rather go, you know, 0 for 30 than 0 for 5 in a game. You know, you go 0 for 5, then you got scared. You know, you were afraid of the moment. Oh, for 30, you were like, next one's going.
00:44:17
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:44:18
Speaker 2: Right.
00:44:18
Speaker 1: So I think of Flalo. Remember he flirted with an all-star selection that one year?
00:44:22
Speaker 2: He was very, very close.
00:44:23
Speaker 3: He was a good player. But yeah, fun question. Delusional guys.
00:44:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:44:28
Speaker 3: Overconfident guys.
00:44:29
Speaker 2: Monte Ellis was great because this was before podcasts. He just said in an interview that he belongs in the Dwayne Wade group. Like he was that good.
00:44:38
Speaker 4: Whoa.
00:44:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:44:39
Speaker 2: That was just an interview.
00:44:40
Speaker 3: That was the Monte Ellis have it all interview.
00:44:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, that one. No, that one.
00:44:43
Speaker 3: He was a believer in himself, for sure.
00:44:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, the interviews are good. See, they even do it in interviews. It doesn't even have to be a podcast. Like John Moran, when he was asked by Malika Andrews, who do you fear? Who do you fear? He goes, Celtics. He didn't give a flying about anybody in the Western Conference. Fine in the West.
00:45:00
Speaker 3: Fine in the West.
00:45:02
Speaker 2: Those are good ones.
00:45:02
Speaker 1: All right, next one here.
00:45:04
Speaker 3: G'day, boys. G'day. G'day, mate.
00:45:07
Speaker 1: Just finished listening to Skeet's solo pod on best franchise exclusive players. And when he mentioned Wes Unseld winning Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, it got me thinking about other award doubles or award quirks. Do you think we'll see any more award doubles anytime soon? Obviously, Wemby has a chance at MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. But will we ever see a rookie win MVP? Will we ever see co-Rookie of the Year winners again?
00:45:32
Speaker 3: Will we ever see a.
00:45:32
Speaker 1: Player win Sixth Man and Most Improved? Who in the NBA currently has a chance? This is from Simon in Sydney. A fun question here. I'll give you a little history lesson. Only two players in NBA history have won both MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Wes Unseld in 68-69 and.
00:45:52
Speaker 3: Will Chamberlain. That's all he's got to say, Will Chamberlain. 59-60, he did it. And one WNBA player. Right, good call. Very good call. Cam's Parker, yes.
00:46:01
Speaker 4: And then.
00:46:01
Speaker 1: Aside from those two winners, the closest rookies to sniff, let's say, a first-year MVP trophy would be Kareem. He finished third in MVP voting. Larry Bird finished fourth when he came to the Celtics and they won a ton of games. And Tim Duncan, I think, finished fifth in his first year before he eventually started winning those things. Only three players in NBA history have won both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.
00:46:25
Speaker 3: Jordan, 87-88.
00:46:26
Speaker 1: Hakeem, 93, 94, and then Giannis most recently in 1920. But what do you think of Simon's question? You know, Wemby is a.
00:46:37
Speaker 3: Fair pick. I mean, it feels like it will happen. It could happen this year. It could.
00:46:41
Speaker 1: It could. Could he do it multiple times?
00:46:45
Speaker 3: Sure, maybe. Why not?
00:46:46
Speaker 1: But any other either crazy award doubles or award quirks that come to mind for you?
00:46:51
Speaker 3: I'll start by saying I doubt that MVP and Rookie of the Year ever happens again. I'm with you 100%. Players are just.
00:46:57
Speaker 2: Too good now. Yeah, there's a reason why it happened 50 years ago.
00:47:00
Speaker 3: Players are too good.
00:47:00
Speaker 1: I'll add to it, like, also, like, not all cases, but most of them, actually, like, these guys were older when they were coming into the league.
00:47:07
Speaker 3: Like, now these kids, they come in as kids.
00:47:10
Speaker 1: They're 19, 20 years old, and it's like, yeah, you're playing against guys in their prime in that first year. These other guys we've mentioned that did it, they were older when they were coming in, for the most part, yeah.
00:47:20
Speaker 3: I'm with you. Okay, so Wemby is the obvious choice here, MVP, DPOY. I actually think Cooper Flagg could do the same. Unfortunately, he would be going against Wemby for.
00:47:30
Speaker 2: Both of these awards.
00:47:31
Speaker 3: So I also think co-rookie of the year is still possible. And this is kind of a good year for it. It seems to me there are four, the top four picks all have like good starting points for rookie of the year cases. Like if AJ DeBonsa has a great year and the Wizards are challenging for the play-in tournament, that's a rookie of the year case. Exact same thing for Darren Peterson and for Cam Boozer. with the jazz and the Grizzlies. If those two teams exceed expectations, they play huge roles. They could win rookie of the year. I think Caleb Wilson will put up numbers for the bulls and he'll have great highlights as well. So there's four guys coming into the season that at least have a chance at rookie of the year. And who knows what people will value. If Caleb Wilson leads rookies in scoring, but Cam Boozer is super efficient and the Grizzlies have more team success, they could split votes and get very similar. Um, I also think defensive player of the year and most improved player could happen for the same guy. Wow, a double. And this would be a guy who's already awesome on defense. Take a Rudy Gobert before he won four.
00:48:38
Speaker 5: Sure.
00:48:39
Speaker 3: I mean— If Rudy Gobert averages 25 points per game this year, he's going to win MIP. And that's what I'm saying. A great defensive player who takes a massive leap offensively could win MIP alongside DPOI. Asar Thompson's a good one.
00:48:52
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:48:52
Speaker 3: Like if he.
00:48:53
Speaker 1: Suddenly worked all summer on a three-point shot and like is suddenly a 22, 23-point per game score. And then, you know, Wemby misses enough games where he doesn't win a DPOI. Asar's already in the mix, right? He finished top three.
00:49:03
Speaker 3: So yeah.
00:49:05
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:49:05
Speaker 1: It hasn't happened, but I guess it could.
00:49:07
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:49:08
Speaker 2: That's a good one. DPOI. and most improved player. Co-rookie could definitely happen. I found one, I went deep into rookies that could come off the bench and win because of that sixth man of the year. It's tough. It's tough. But I think there's a chance with the way the Utah Jazz are playing, Larry Markkinen at the three alongside Triple J and Yusuf Nurkic, that Darren Peterson comes off the bench and he could be great. he could score a ton against second units because he can score. And they like to slow play their young players like they did with Ace Bailey last year. So if they decide to start Keontae George and Ace Bailey in the backcourt, Darren Peterson could beat everybody at six minutes and win Rookie of the Year, depending on how you're looking at that award as a voter. But it's tough, man. It's tough to award stuff.
00:50:02
Speaker 1: I actually, to push back on you thinking maybe we could have a co-rookie of the year again, what's going to be difficult is the way they do the voting now. Because back in the day when we had our ties with what, Kidd and Grant Hill, Elton Brand and Steve Francis, I believe it was like, hey, who do you think wins and deserves rookie of the year? Just like a straight up one vote. I don't think you were ranking and all that. Now, of course, it's more of this you know, the point differential, whatever it is, I don't know if it's the 10 or the five, it.
00:50:30
Speaker 3: Just becomes the numbers games becomes very, very difficult. Could it happen?
00:50:33
Speaker 2: Yes. I guess it.
00:50:34
Speaker 1: Technically could if we're just like split perfectly between two guys, but makes it more difficult. Also, unfortunately, like there's much more of a group think mentality, I think with a lot of the voters too. Um, so they attach themselves to maybe one narrative more than the other.
00:50:50
Speaker 3: So tough, tough. Could it happen? Yeah, but probably not. Six votes separated Cooper and Khan last year.
00:50:57
Speaker 1: Six points or votes?
00:50:59
Speaker 3: Six votes. So, I mean, if Khan got six more first place votes, it was a tie.
00:51:03
Speaker 6: Okay.
00:51:04
Speaker 3: Okay. Because what?
00:51:04
Speaker 1: In those instances, everybody was putting them in second?
00:51:07
Speaker 3: That's my point. Yeah, I would think so.
00:51:09
Speaker 7: Okay.
00:51:10
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know about that specifically. I'm only looking at first placers. Yeah.
00:51:14
Speaker 1: Yeah. Good question there, Simon.
00:51:18
Speaker 3: Final one here.
00:51:19
Speaker 1: From our emails at least. Hey guys, I know you love obscure players more than anyone else.
00:51:23
Speaker 3: This is true.
00:51:23
Speaker 1: And I honestly think I found the single most obscure basketball referent page ever. Luca Vildoza is the only player in NBA history to play in the postseason, but never logged a single minute in the regular season. This might be the craziest stat ever. Let me know your thoughts.
00:51:42
Speaker 3: That's from D-Bob.
00:51:43
Speaker 1: D Bob wanted us to take a look there at Luca Vildoza's basketball reference page. We just threw up a, there's what he looks like for everybody out there. If you're on, on the stream team from Argentina and you know, at least according to basketball reference.
00:51:58
Speaker 3: This is true, right?
00:51:59
Speaker 1: He only played, he actually played, he somehow played in seven games in the 21, 22 post season for the bucks.
00:52:06
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe it. I'd never heard of this guy. Didn't know this, that he played only playoff games, never played in the regular season. and was surprised to see that I was there for his NBA debut.
00:52:17
Speaker 2: Oh, look at you.
00:52:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, when the Bucs blew out the Bulls in game three of the first round back in 2022. I do know a ridiculous stat from that game. Tony Bradley went five for five in the fourth quarter, scored 10 points, and was a plus five in a blowout. So that's elite ball knowledge, as is knowing Luca Vildoza. I don't think I've seen anybody say that on Nick Knows Ball, but if you pull that one out, that would blow his mind. Oh, my God.
00:52:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a shocker. Literally never heard of him. And I would think that I've heard of every Argentinian basketball player who's made his way to the NBA. You know, just guys have gotten around. But he played some garbage minutes, and then he was gone. He played garbage minutes in one series, and then he was gone. That's it. Those were all garbage minutes. He was battling Tony Bradley in that fourth quarter, and that's it. Well, he played in two series. Did he? Yeah.
00:53:10
Speaker 1: He played in the Celtics series too, like garbage time crap.
00:53:13
Speaker 2: I was just looking at that.
00:53:15
Speaker 3: What happened?
00:53:15
Speaker 1: So he just got picked up in April by the Bucs. I mean, he wasn't on the roster all season and not see the court. Like that's bonkers. So he gets picked up late in the year and then it makes the playoff roster and yeah, it gets into these games. Like the one game you saw his debut, Trey, he played eight minutes because it was a complete blowout. And he did score.
00:53:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, he had a three. That's crazy. He made, that season, 21-22, he made $ 42, 789.
00:53:42
Speaker 2: Because he was signed, it looks like, on April 6th.
00:53:46
Speaker 3: He would have been signed super late, and then surely he gets playoff bonuses and, I guess, championship bonuses, because the Bucs did win the title, right?
00:53:54
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
00:53:54
Speaker 3: They lost the Celtics. But he also made $ 3. 5 million in 2021 for the Knicks. Had a contract with the Knicks, but he never played for them. Never played for them.
00:54:04
Speaker 6: Interesting.
00:54:05
Speaker 3: Well, this was a great, this was a great stat here. A very obscure stat.
00:54:10
Speaker 4: Very good.
00:54:10
Speaker 1: Thank you, D-Bob. And thank you to everybody that sent in emails. I know we didn't get to every single one. The good ones we save and maybe we'll sprinkle in a little bit later, but a good batch.
00:54:20
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:54:21
Speaker 2: Weird one that was weird for me was Patrick McCaw for a long time. Number one, his page is starts off different because he's six, seven and only 180 pounds. He was a skinny guy. He was extremely skinny, but As a three-time NBA champ who only scored 760 points in his NBA career, it's a different one. That's a strange one.
00:54:43
Speaker 3: Three-time.
00:54:44
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:54:45
Speaker 3: That's amazing.
00:54:46
Speaker 2: Three-time NBA champ, only played 199 games because he won his first three years in the NBA. That's when it was really weird. But then he tagged on another couple quick years with the Raptors. And it was weird when Colin Gillespie hadn't played in an NBA game but was an NBA champ. But then that went away, too.
00:55:07
Speaker 3: You did always love that.
00:55:08
Speaker 2: You brought that up a couple times. He hadn't played one game, but he got a ring.
00:55:11
Speaker 3: Right.
00:55:11
Speaker 2: He was part of the parade.
00:55:13
Speaker 3: But that's, I mean, more common. There's guys.
00:55:15
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:55:16
Speaker 2: It's not. It ain't Bill Dozer.
00:55:18
Speaker 3: Topich, right? He would have.
00:55:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, those two guys. Yeah, we made a short about it. Did we? Those two guys, I think, are the only guys in NBA history.
00:55:25
Speaker 4: Oh, really?
00:55:26
Speaker 2: So it's rare, yeah. Unless it happened in a. the 50s or 60s or something and I don't know yeah.
00:55:33
Speaker 1: All right thank you thank you thank you do we want to take a live question from the stream team you want to try it yeah sure why not if you got a question get it in right now make it good though Yeah.
00:55:42
Speaker 3: We probably should have asked for it.
00:55:44
Speaker 1: Well, but then you got to like, I guess, can you save it?
00:55:47
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a little difficult in the stream team chat. It would be great to have a save feature. I guess you can in StreamYard.
00:55:52
Speaker 2: There is a save feature.
00:55:53
Speaker 3: Okay, well, that's good. Good to know for future live. Yeah, they're going to chime in here. We can just talk about who's like an obscure player that you think about a lot.
00:56:03
Speaker 2: Okay. Nikola Topic.
00:56:06
Speaker 3: That's good.
00:56:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's surgery. Those testiculars.
00:56:13
Speaker 1: I mean, we bring them up a lot. I do think of Roderick Bobois a lot.
00:56:17
Speaker 3: He comes up more than you would think.
00:56:18
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:56:19
Speaker 1: It's like just the era of our show when we were starting too.
00:56:23
Speaker 2: 40 point game.
00:56:24
Speaker 1: He was like good and he was untouchable. Couldn't trade for him. I was shocked when I did that. That was alluded to in one of the emails when I did that. Best players to play for just one franchise. So they couldn't have played for another team. I couldn't believe he didn't play for another team.
00:56:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:56:39
Speaker 5: I don't know.
00:56:40
Speaker 3: I was like, only played for the Mavericks?
00:56:43
Speaker 2: I don't know.
00:56:44
Speaker 3: It was a short run. Yeah, like some team didn't pick him up, like the Magic or something. That's what I mean.
00:56:48
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe some crap team wouldn't at least have him.
00:56:52
Speaker 2: Could have sworn he What happened? Went to a Lakers camp or something. I feel like.
00:56:56
Speaker 3: Never played for a team. You have to have a camp invite somewhere. True.
00:56:59
Speaker 4: Yeah. All right.
00:56:59
Speaker 3: We got some questions here. This one's going to be impossible. Nick Erdman says, what's your third favorite dessert? This is why we don't do live.
00:57:07
Speaker 5: All right.
00:57:07
Speaker 3: Here's a different one.
00:57:08
Speaker 2: Nick Thirdman. Nick Thirdman.
00:57:12
Speaker 3: Third favorite dessert for me, pie. I mean, yeah, sure. Maybe, yeah.
00:57:16
Speaker 1: Like, well, what's one two then?
00:57:18
Speaker 3: Ice cream and cake.
00:57:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, I'd probably ice cream brownie, so.
00:57:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, yeah, you're right. Maybe I'm downgrading cake.
00:57:26
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:57:26
Speaker 3: Ice cream cookies. Oh, cookies. That's the Mount Rushmore for you right there.
00:57:31
Speaker 2: The question could be, what dessert is better than the actual fruit? Apples.
00:57:36
Speaker 3: You think apple pie better than apples?
00:57:38
Speaker 1: No way. I love apples.
00:57:40
Speaker 2: Well, I do love apples. I love apples. I just went apple picking, but then there's all this talk about where we're going to go get dessert. Because you got to make an apple pie with apples. What else are you going to make with apples? And there's apple pie everywhere. And then you start, then I start thinking, okay, apple pie, is it better than apples? No, but you know, you know, I don't know.
00:57:58
Speaker 3: What other fruit?
00:57:59
Speaker 2: What other pies?
00:58:00
Speaker 1: Give me some other pies because I think we can get to a fruit where it is better.
00:58:03
Speaker 2: Rhubarb.
00:58:03
Speaker 3: I don't know. Probably.
00:58:06
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:58:06
Speaker 2: What's a rhubarb fruit?
00:58:08
Speaker 3: I don't even know.
00:58:09
Speaker 2: Have you ever eaten a rhubarb fruit?
00:58:10
Speaker 3: Not a fruit. I've only had rhubarb in pie for sure. Yeah, I'm with you on that one.
00:58:15
Speaker 2: Rhubarb. Some people like pumpkin, eating pumpkin. I don't.
00:58:22
Speaker 3: I don't.
00:58:22
Speaker 2: I'd rather have a pumpkin pie than actually eating pumpkin. I don't. Some people love it. pumpkin pie pumpkins no eating pumpkin eating pumpkin yeah.
00:58:33
Speaker 3: Eating not for me pumpkin i.
00:58:34
Speaker 2: Go eat korean food where you can just get it off the the salad bar i'm not.
00:58:40
Speaker 3: Into it pump you up gerg 18 says what's your favorite live basketball moment.
00:58:47
Speaker 1: Oh okay i'll give you mine um I'm assuming he means like I was in attendance for it?
00:58:52
Speaker 5: Sure.
00:58:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:58:54
Speaker 1: I will go game six Bucks-Raptors conference finals when the Raptors won to go to the NBA finals.
00:59:01
Speaker 2: Nice.
00:59:02
Speaker 3: Now, the NBA finals was awesome too.
00:59:04
Speaker 1: I wasn't there for when they won the championship in the Bay, but that game six in Toronto. which unfortunately, unfortunately, Taz missed because of a flight issue. But it was an incredible game, and that was just, like, the scenes were amazing.
00:59:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:59:19
Speaker 1: Then the party after was next level.
00:59:21
Speaker 3: So that's my answer. Back home.
00:59:23
Speaker 1: Come on.
00:59:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and that's why I'm more likely to say something back home but it was the all-star game in Toronto where we watched the slam dunk contest, Zach Levine versus Aaron Gordon. It's a good one. That was a fun one.
00:59:35
Speaker 4: Yep.
00:59:36
Speaker 3: Where would you go? Game seven, 2016. Yeah. That's pretty good. You were at one of the greatest games of all time. Yep. Zolotis, what's the possibility of Kevin Durant finishing his career in Seattle?
00:59:48
Speaker 2: Hmm.
00:59:49
Speaker 1: I mean, look, we're not seeing an expansion team until 28, 29 at the earliest.
00:59:54
Speaker 3: Yeah. Earliest. Will he still be playing? He loves the hoop.
01:00:00
Speaker 1: A guy who loves the hoop.
01:00:01
Speaker 3: Yep. But he is getting old and they're delaying the Seattle start. That hurts. Well, yeah. That's a possibility for sure.
01:00:07
Speaker 1: If they're there 28, 29, I don't mind the chances of him still being around and playing one year or whatever. A little swan song.
01:00:17
Speaker 2: It's what does he want? Is he trying to win? Because it's unlikely to happen in Seattle. It's more likely to happen somewhere else. Like if he hasn't.
01:00:25
Speaker 1: I think he's not trying to win at that point is.
01:00:28
Speaker 2: Part of the equation. So he's just like, I'm done.
01:00:32
Speaker 3: It would be cool.
01:00:33
Speaker 1: I don't think it's.
01:00:36
Speaker 3: A 0% chance. It's like a 10%, 5%. Maybe it's like 43%. He played for the last Sonics team. He's playing for the new Sonics team. That would be pretty cool. Pretty cool.
01:00:42
Speaker 7: Oh, yeah.
01:00:42
Speaker 2: No doubt.
01:00:43
Speaker 5: Okay.
01:00:44
Speaker 3: Good one. Quorum 22. NBA player you think you can beat one-on-one. Oh, God. Do you think you can take Oscar Robertson right now? Oh, I see.
01:00:54
Speaker 1: I mean, he would struggle to stay in front of me. I think I could get around him.
01:00:59
Speaker 2: I don't know. He looks pretty agile when he's sitting courtside.
01:01:03
Speaker 3: He does look good.
01:01:04
Speaker 2: He does look good.
01:01:05
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:01:06
Speaker 2: Oscar's going to beat me.
01:01:11
Speaker 3: I don't know. No, he's... He's in his 70s? Oscar Robertson? Yeah, I don't know exactly. He could be older. He played in the 1960s. That's a great point. He's 87!
01:01:22
Speaker 2: He looks good!
01:01:23
Speaker 3: He does look great.
01:01:25
Speaker 2: He's far more awake than a lot of people sitting courtside.
01:01:28
Speaker 3: Oscar Robertson looks so good that you're like, this would be embarrassing to lose to an 87-year-old man.
01:01:33
Speaker 1: He's a big dude. He's 65, obviously. He's got some weight to him now. I think I can score on them.
01:01:41
Speaker 3: I think I can get a bucket on Oscar Robertson. 2026 Oscar Robertson. Matt says, if you had to convince an old fan that today's game is thriving, what's the single game or series you would show them to convince them? Okay.
01:02:00
Speaker 1: An old fan that this is the basketball is great right now.
01:02:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
01:02:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely got to be playoffs. Because it's not regular season. Because I'm watching the WNBA playoffs sometimes and Danielle looks up and she says, they play way harder in the WNBA than they do in the NBA. They're playing hard because it is the playoffs. So we got to go playoffs.
01:02:20
Speaker 3: I have an answer.
01:02:21
Speaker 1: I would probably show Thunder Pacers finals was awesome basketball.
01:02:28
Speaker 3: That was a great series.
01:02:29
Speaker 1: It was just aesthetically pleasing, pretty damn fun. obviously went seven to, uh, I'd probably go there. I mean, so Nick Spurs was, had some crazy moments for sure too.
01:02:40
Speaker 3: Game four. But like I think of the basketball being played. Yeah. I'd probably go. That's great. Yeah. Good choices. It's a good, you mentioned the WNBA. Gigi Beno says, who's the WNBA champions this year? Hopefully it's the Liberty. I disagree. Hopefully it's the dream baby.
01:02:54
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:02:55
Speaker 3: Dream look good. They look great in their first two games. They definitely did play the Liberty.
01:03:00
Speaker 2: Not right.
01:03:00
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:03:01
Speaker 3: That's the reward. They were either going to play the one seed or the Liberty. So that's a tough draw on that side of the thing. But the defense looks tight. Absolutely.
01:03:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't like the defense led by Angel Reese. Had a great block shot to finish off that series. Literally right at the end. Does a little trash talking to the person she blocked. Like a little tiny trash talk. Like, get out of here. That kind of thing. Technical.
01:03:26
Speaker 3: Immediately.
01:03:27
Speaker 2: You can't say a word in the WNBA without getting teed up. Don't like that. Anyway, I don't know. The Aces have a chance.
01:03:36
Speaker 3: Big game tonight.
01:03:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:03:37
Speaker 3: So we got two game threes tonight? Is that right?
01:03:40
Speaker 2: I think so. Is it? Well, the Wings play tomorrow.
01:03:43
Speaker 3: Fever Aces tonight. Oh, and then there is another one, I thought. I thought I saw that. I'll look it up.
01:03:48
Speaker 2: No, maybe not.
01:03:49
Speaker 3: Dream one. Liberty one. Wings. Valkyries.
01:03:52
Speaker 2: Isn't that tomorrow?
01:03:53
Speaker 3: Oh, tomorrow. I'm sorry. I meant two game threes. They played last night. That was a great game, too.
01:03:56
Speaker 2: That was a really, really good game.
01:03:58
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:03:58
Speaker 2: Eureka went off.
01:04:00
Speaker 3: That was a crazy shot.
01:04:01
Speaker 2: That shot was incredible.
01:04:02
Speaker 3: That was awesome.
01:04:03
Speaker 1: Shoot, what'd she finish, 45?
01:04:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. Arike was so good. She's so good.
01:04:08
Speaker 1: You didn't love the camera angles you were writing in the Slack channels last night, on the Dream game at least.
01:04:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Dream angle was crazy. They're playing in Washington, and it seemed off-center and very high. It didn't seem even like a 2K angle of a broadcast. It just was too unique for me. I was like, you couldn't see the player numbers?
01:04:29
Speaker 2: It's a small arena, and I think that's the part of it.
01:04:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure the sight lines have to be different.
01:04:35
Speaker 2: It's like a 4,000-seat arena. In Dallas? No, it was in Washington you're talking about.
01:04:41
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, you're right. It was in Washington. They don't play at the NBA arena?
01:04:43
Speaker 2: No, they don't. Well, not last night.
01:04:45
Speaker 1: Even playoff games.
01:04:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why I thought a playoff game. I thought, why would they be playing there?
01:04:50
Speaker 3: Are the Dream going to be playing at State Farm, or will they be playing at McCabe? Game one was at State Farm. Yeah, I would think they would. Sean Boy, Sean Boy McCabe. What is the best kind of buffet?
01:05:01
Speaker 2: Excuse me?
01:05:02
Speaker 3: Considering the price. I don't know if you need to consider the price. What's the best kind of buffet?
01:05:08
Speaker 2: Overall, just any food, any type of food.
01:05:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, like for me, I will say that specifically here in Atlanta, Chai Pani, Indian lunch buffet, it's unbeatable. Yeah. That's the best one around here for sure. I'm with you on that. Or you could pick like a Vegas buffet. What was it called?
01:05:26
Speaker 1: Well, not when price comes into play.
01:05:27
Speaker 3: Not when price comes into play.
01:05:29
Speaker 1: I ain't never getting my values out of a Vegas buffet. Yeah, what did you say the one?
01:05:34
Speaker 3: Wicked Spoon was the one at the Cosmo, I think, right?
01:05:37
Speaker 1: God, it was like $ 80. I was like, I had toast.
01:05:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were not hungry enough to go to that at all. No, no. But LeBron did decide to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. When we were sitting there. That's something I'll always remember. We were at Wicked Spoon when that LeBron thing happened. That's exactly right. The only other buffet is like Chinese Buffet.
01:05:58
Speaker 2: Yeah. I guess.
01:06:00
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:06:00
Speaker 1: But I'm taking Indian. And then I think of like a resort buffet.
01:06:04
Speaker 5: Sure.
01:06:04
Speaker 3: Just like everything.
01:06:05
Speaker 7: Yep.
01:06:06
Speaker 1: I mean, that depends on the price range. You go to a good resort, I'm sure you can get good food or you can get good food, but go to a cheap one like we did back in the day.
01:06:14
Speaker 3: Dominican Republic. Remember that buffet? Way back. That's not the greatest buffet we ever had. I remember by day two, people were like, I'm just not going to eat anymore.
01:06:27
Speaker 4: I can eat as much of this food and i have no more i'll just drink how do you feel about two people in here are saying 90s pizza hut slash rip cc's pizza the pizza.
01:06:37
Speaker 1: Buffet the pizza buffet was iconic in high school absolutely that was you know you're there was a time crunch we would pile into the van head to pizza hut buffet and it was always how many slices can we take down as a team everybody was counting How many total pizzas?
01:06:53
Speaker 2: Isn't pizza coming back with the.
01:06:56
Speaker 3: Okay. So they do have, there's like maybe 15 to 20 across the United States. They're called pizza hut classics. And it's like decorated like a nineties pizza hut with the Tiffany style lamps and the red cups, drink cups. And I think they have buffets and there's one in LJ. Oh, not that far. Not that far. I drove by it. We were with a big group of friends for a weekend and, And only me and one other person wanted to go. Wanted to go. It's still hard to sell people on going to a Pizza Hut buffet.
01:07:25
Speaker 7: Oh, what?
01:07:26
Speaker 2: I'd be so in. Well, see.
01:07:27
Speaker 3: I know your personality. This is the right audience right now.
01:07:32
Speaker 2: You're excited for it before you walk in.
01:07:34
Speaker 3: Oh, my God.
01:07:34
Speaker 2: You might pay for it the next day. Oh, possible.
01:07:37
Speaker 1: Yep.
01:07:37
Speaker 2: But, yeah, I drove by one, too. And I'm like, I've heard that the buffet is back. I'm ready to go in. Danielle's like, nah. Not going to do that. I hear you.
01:07:47
Speaker 1: I mean, Pizza Hut, like, did I love Pizza Hut pizza?
01:07:50
Speaker 3: No.
01:07:51
Speaker 1: I'm more of a thin crust guy, and that was, like, cooked in, like, inches of oil.
01:07:55
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
01:07:56
Speaker 3: And obviously a thicker crust. I mean, it's tasty still.
01:07:58
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong.
01:07:59
Speaker 1: But I would go for the nostalgia play alone.
01:08:03
Speaker 3: Exactly.
01:08:04
Speaker 2: I do Korean buffet hot pot all the time.
01:08:07
Speaker 4: Nice.
01:08:07
Speaker 2: It's too good. That's my number one. Although, you know, Indian... It's great. Sometimes some bad Indian wants around some buffets.
01:08:18
Speaker 3: You got a favorite kind of buffet, JD?
01:08:25
Speaker 2: I hate a buffet. I'm not a fan.
01:08:29
Speaker 3: What don't you like about it?
01:08:31
Speaker 7: I don't, it's antisocial. Like half the time you're at the buffet and your table is empty and then, oh, I'm getting up. And then, you know, you're just basically sitting by yourself eating half the time.
01:08:44
Speaker 3: That's a good point.
01:08:46
Speaker 1: You know what, that's why it works good at a resort, a buffet. Because you're hanging out with each other 24-7 as it is. Like we can, we don't need to be conversing this entire dinner or lunch.
01:08:55
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:08:55
Speaker 7: There is a very good buffet. This is very specific in Puerto Vallarta. I had a golf club where my parents stay. It's like 30 bucks. We drank that in mimosas. Oh, we got a breakfast.
01:09:07
Speaker 2: And the food is amazing.
01:09:09
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:09:09
Speaker 2: So it's like a Sunday brunch. Yeah. Like we spent like five hours.
01:09:12
Speaker 3: There before just endless mimosas.
01:09:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much.
01:09:20
Speaker 3: $ 30, that's a deal. I think that's about it for our questions, but big shout out to PowerDuster3000. Came through with a super chat. Okay.
01:09:29
Speaker 5: $ 2.
01:09:30
Speaker 3: Damn, no dunks with a chat segment? Worlds are colliding.
01:09:33
Speaker 2: Damn, all right, man.
01:09:33
Speaker 3: We should do more of this. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, PowerDuster.
01:09:37
Speaker 1: No question from PowerDuster.
01:09:38
Speaker 3: No, but also chimes in more stream team segments.
01:09:41
Speaker 4: Sure.
01:09:42
Speaker 3: Thanks for helping us make the show great. Appreciate it.
01:09:45
Speaker 2: I see Power Duster also said, what about the elusive KFC buffet?
01:09:49
Speaker 3: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:09:50
Speaker 2: That's not a thing.
01:09:52
Speaker 3: I don't remember ever having a KFC buffet.
01:09:54
Speaker 1: I've never heard of such a thing. And I love KFC. This is blowing my mind.
01:09:57
Speaker 2: Just mounds of macaroni salad to put beside your fried chicken.
01:10:02
Speaker 3: You know.
01:10:04
Speaker 2: I mean, that's not the main draw, I don't think. I think it's the chicken. Well, that's why I led with the mac and cheese, because that's the number one thing it KFC for me.
01:10:15
Speaker 3: Wow. Really?
01:10:16
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:10:17
Speaker 2: Sloppy. Sloppy mac and cheese. I mean, if you've got a KFC buffet, is there like five items? There's not a lot of items at KFC.
01:10:26
Speaker 3: It'd be like mashed potatoes, obviously all the chicken.
01:10:29
Speaker 2: They do mashed?
01:10:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:10:30
Speaker 2: Oh, they do mashed. I forgot about that. It's been many years. Coleslaw.
01:10:34
Speaker 1: The problem with a KFC buffet for me, if such a thing does exist, is I actually.
01:10:40
Speaker 2: Have since before. Power Duster, you're getting your $ 2 worth. Yeah, maybe.
01:10:43
Speaker 3: I like my KFC cold.
01:10:45
Speaker 1: So I would have to ask them, can I accumulate all of my food, all of my chicken? From said hot buffet. And then take it with me. How cold are you talking? Like fridge cold?
01:10:57
Speaker 3: I like it next day chicken.
01:10:59
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:10:59
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:11:00
Speaker 1: I find KFC is better for some reason for me the next day after it's been in the fridge. I like it cold.
01:11:06
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:11:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:11:08
Speaker 2: We've got to get KFC as a sponsor here. You can eat cold chicken right here while we do our show. Sure. Next day, so you get it the day before, then you have the next day. Apparently, according to Power Duster, there's a lot in the U.S.
01:11:23
Speaker 3: We'll find one. Okay. We'll, we'll explore this. We'll find one. He's going to go and say, uh, this, this looks great, sir. Uh, but do you have any chicken from yesterday? The stuff that nobody ate? That's very cold right now. I'll take a bucket.
01:11:34
Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of buffets do have a cold bar, so they have a cold chicken bar.
01:11:39
Speaker 3: Do you have a cold chicken bar here?
01:11:40
Speaker 2: Please, sir.
01:11:41
Speaker 1: All right, guys, thank you so much for the questions. They emailed in no dunks, ink at gmail.com. And for all of these, uh, live beached up and quiz questions from the stream team. We would keep going, but we actually have another podcast to record at 1 p.m.
01:11:54
Speaker 5: Eastern.
01:11:55
Speaker 1: We're breaking down last night's hilarious episode of Survivor 51. So many funny moments and Let's be honest, nauseating moments. If you don't like seeing a guy get his thumb chopped off, if that happened, we're going to break it all down at 1 p.m. Eastern.
01:12:12
Speaker 3: Link is in the show notes. Come on over. Check it out. No buffs.
01:12:16
Speaker 1: Trey, JD, myself, and then Nora comes in here to recap the episode. So we'll have a lot of fun at 1 p.m.
01:12:22
Speaker 2: Eastern.
01:12:22
Speaker 1: Otherwise, we are back next week here on No Dunks. And Wednesday, we're starting up our season previews. Over under predictions time, baby. So start doing your homework, boys. Has anybody started on crunching their numbers, looking at their over-unders, their leans, how many you got are over, how many you.
01:12:42
Speaker 3: Got are under?
01:12:42
Speaker 1: You done that yet or no?
01:12:43
Speaker 3: Is that a weekend sort of thing? No.
01:12:45
Speaker 5: Okay.
01:12:46
Speaker 2: I have not, no. But I don't even need to look. They just come naturally, these over-under numbers.
01:12:53
Speaker 3: Just catch a vibe, huh?
01:12:54
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:12:55
Speaker 2: It's all vibes. Part of it.
01:12:56
Speaker 3: All right. It's a big part of it for sure. Uh, but that's next weekend and we'll see if we're, uh, that's on Wednesday, but we'll see.
01:13:01
Speaker 1: If we have a show, if there's enough news there, uh, on Monday and stuff like that. You're, you're headed, uh, what are you going camping or something?
01:13:07
Speaker 3: Well, interesting. We were going camping, but there was a hurricane on the Pacific coast that has traveled across the United States and it's going to rain us out on the East coast.
01:13:15
Speaker 5: Oh, dang.
01:13:17
Speaker 3: So you can't sling or we're canceling that. We're canceling that trip. We may schedule another trip, but, uh, humiliating moment for me laura and i are like looking at the forecast and stuff she's deep in the accu weather she's like there's a hurricane off the coast of california i said i'm not worried about a hurricane in the pacific ocean and guess what we're getting rained out by is a hurricane from the pacific why are wives always right you know what's that hold on she's not right yet Weather could change.
01:13:49
Speaker 1: It's not the weekend yet.
01:13:50
Speaker 3: That's also what I kept saying. Just wait. Just wait.
01:13:52
Speaker 1: I say that because my neighbors next door, they are getting married this weekend. In Blue Ridge, in the area. And I was like, okay, I'm praying for you. I was like, outdoor wedding?
01:14:02
Speaker 3: He's like, yep.
01:14:02
Speaker 4: I'm like, okay.
01:14:04
Speaker 3: Okay. Hopefully it'll be all right.
01:14:06
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Yeah, things are being canceled in our area for sure. We had something canceled, but... Yeah, you can never predict the weather. Although women make the best meteorologists. That's for sure.
01:14:17
Speaker 3: They know more than us. We're dumb. You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather.
01:14:22
Speaker 1: Does that picnic include cold KFC chicken?
01:14:25
Speaker 3: That's a great picnic treat, actually. Absolutely. Bring a bucket.
01:14:29
Speaker 1: Fucking bring a bucket, man. We used to love saying that. That's a Kenny classic. Hey, Ken's going to be here next weekend. Hopefully he knows about hurricane weather next weekend.
01:14:36
Speaker 3: You should get him some chicken now. For next weekend. Yeah. Real cold.
01:14:40
Speaker 1: I liked cold KFC chicken. He, I've shared this story before. When he was in college, he would put, they would get drunk, order chicken, and then he would put it under his bed and just leave it there for like days. And like whenever he was hungry, he'd grab his, but now he's a Filipino, crazy Filipino.
01:14:59
Speaker 3: And he's got like an iron gut. Like nothing can affect these people, man. Especially him. But that's crazy. Even I got drawn to lunch.
01:15:07
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:15:08
Speaker 3: That's lukewarm chicken. Cold for me, old for me.
01:15:11
Speaker 2: All right, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
01:15:15
Speaker 3: Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.
01:15:19
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us. And remember, there are buffets for KFC, apparently. And this is a good suggestion here from Ziggy Dunk. Biscuits. The biscuits at KFC.
01:15:30
Speaker 3: See, I like Popeye's biscuits way more.
01:15:33
Speaker 2: Do you like them cold? Sir, we'll give you some old biscuits.
01:15:37
Speaker 3: Those I like warm.
01:15:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:15:39
Speaker 3: We got to go find a KFC buffet, man.
01:15:42
Speaker 1: I wouldn't know how much it costs.
01:15:44
Speaker 2: Power Duster said there's one within a few hours. Within a few hours.
01:15:47
Speaker 3: This was all an ad for KFC.
01:15:50
Speaker 1: That was the best $ 2 I've ever spent by a Power Duster KFC.
01:15:54
Speaker 2: KFC corn on the cob.
01:15:56
Speaker 5: Okay.
01:15:57
Speaker 3: What? Embrace today, people.