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00:00:10
Speaker 1: Good mornings, Weld and welcome to the Nodungks podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Friday, September twentieth, twenty twenty four. I'm Jay Skeats here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me, it's the Bearded One, Trey Kirby, Hi Hey, and over Yonder making the magic happen. Super producer JD. Hello, there is here. We are. Hello to everyone on YouTube. Hit the like button, subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and review. Survivor fans. We're back baby. Episode one recap of Survivor forty seven, which went down on Wednesday night. We did the pod on Thursday. No Buffs its own YouTube feed, its own podcast feed. Had a blast with the fellas here and my wife Nora, who has joined the alliance breaking it all down. I thought we did pretty good in a ninety minute episode for a whole bunch of stuff.
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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, one to one content ratio, minutes of show with minutes of pot. That's good. Point.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, once you take out the commercial the commercial, Yeah, that's right. And this is fun too. We got no buffs merch. Drop your buffs, baby, I'm loving this design from Breaking Tea So go to No Dunks dot com if you want to get the first ever No Buffs official T shirt.
00:01:28
Speaker 2: Great stuff. My mom put in an order.
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Speaker 1: The way discount.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: When I say she put it in an order, it means she took a screenshot of our Instagram and says I need this.
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Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, that reminds me I need to reach out to Breaking Tea and get us get us our kit of shirt so we can rock on the show. But go to No dunks dot com if you want to support the show. Helps us out there and check out that episode. A perfect time to get in. Only one episode in so go and join us on No Bus Okay, uh before we get to today's news and we have a lot of it, and then later on you're gonna take us through a sort of quick and dirty WNBA play on Premium Dirty It's good. Get us all ready for the postseason that starts this weekend Sunday. Yeah. In the WNBA, I have to know, how was basketball last night? How was our weekly Thursday pickup run? Because I didn't make it out because of a flat tire.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: The flat man couldn't come through in the clutch. Honestly, people were saying kind of a weird night. Maybe the full moon is getting to people. Oh, number one rule of the pickup League, everybody's like forty's ish on up. Number one rule is don't get hurt.
00:02:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's the second rule as well.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: That's also the second rule, and people were flagrantly violating the rules. We had a head hit which was pretty which was pretty bad sounding, though the guy seems to be doing okay today. We had a lot of fingers getting smacked, maybe like a poke to the face, and of course some shots below the belts. Oh geez, sorry, Greg, Sorry it happened to you. Oh wow, that wasn't me. That didn't but you know it's bad when you get hit in then and it looks like
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the guy got punched in the face because he was like, oh, grabbing his face. We're like, what's like, just nuts.
00:03:08
Speaker 1: So in a weird way, you're saying, the best thing that happened to me maybe last night was getting a flat tire preventing me from coming to this dangerous run.
00:03:15
Speaker 2: That might have been the start of things. Yeah, I know it was bad all around. But then Showy Altani went crazy and that was the talk of the rest of the night. From like nine o'clock on. Basically, this guy went insane. They had the best baseball game of all time last night.
00:03:28
Speaker 1: Nobody hit three dingers.
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Speaker 2: Three dingers, two doubles, two steals, and had RBIs.
00:03:33
Speaker 1: Yes and has created the created the fifty to fifty club, actually fifty one fifty club.
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Speaker 2: Now amazing.
00:03:41
Speaker 1: This guy's unreal. He's gonna win MVP as a designated hitter. Got to I don't know, but it seems like it.
00:03:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah.
00:03:49
Speaker 1: He's also he's also a great pitcher. He just took it off this year because.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they say he's gonna pitch in the postseason possibly. That's amazing.
00:03:56
Speaker 1: He's gonna turn into like mister Perfect. He's gonna pitch the ball and then on and catch.
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Speaker 2: It as well, films and stuff like that with him.
00:04:03
Speaker 1: That's a good idea. Okay, let's get to NBA news. We got a whole lot cut that baseball music. Jeez. A few hours ago, reports surfaced that Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia seventy six ers have agreed to a three year, one hundred and ninety three million maximum contract extension that guarantees the former MVP a total of three hundred million dollars plus through the twenty twenty eight to twenty nine season. The deal includes a player option on the back end Joel Embiid signing the maxed extension here. Were you surprised by this news here Friday morning?
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Look, I mean it's a little surprising just because Embiid is getting up there in age. You know, he's thirty years now, thirty years old now, and this is a little risky because you're going to be paying Joel Embiid sixty nine million dollars when he's thirty five years old. That is a big ass. But also that's a problem for future Daryl Morey to worry about current Darryl Mory. He's in the mix for a title here. I mean, it's time obviously for Embiid and the Sixers to make a serious postseason run. But they're at least in the mix in the Eastern Conference, and I think overall they're probably not at the top tier of title contenders, but they're in the second tier right after that, where if Embiid is able to stay healthy, Paul George stays healthy, Maxi progresses the way we've seen so far in his career, they've at least got a shot, and now they've got a shot, you would have to think for the next five seasons, tacking on a couple of years here to the deal that Embiid is already under. But the question is going
to be, and the way people are going to grade this extension in general, how much do you actually win? Like the regular season stuff with Embid right now is kind of kind of not matter. I don't think it wouldn't be surprising if they take the focus away from him winning individual awards and get him healthy for the playoffs, because if he plays these next five seasons and they don't go to multiple conference finals at least one finals, you're gonna think it's a disappointment. But it's awesome for the Sixers that he's locking in here basically saying, I want to be in Philadelphia for the rest of my career. Sad for me, I think I got to retire the future heat Joel Embiid take. It seems like he's going to be sticking around Philadelphia for as long as he can. Who knows, maybe he hops around at that very end of his career, but I don't know. Good stuff for Joel Embiid to be able to lock in this deal considering the one he signed after his rookie deal was like so many contingencies on it, right with like his injury history at the time, how many games he was going to be able to play. He's been fairly healthy considering the way his career started, missing a couple of seasons right there at the beginning. But yeah, we'll see how it plays out for Philly. Huge deal for Embiid. Hopefully he's able to play eighty percent of the games that are on this contract.
00:06:42
Speaker 1: The seventy six Ers and Dale Moury that ownership they were not messing around this summer. Embiid's deal closes an offseason which the Sixers committed five hundred and fifty million dollars in new money. Because you have the extension for Tyrese Maxon, Tyrese Maxie two hundred and four million, Paul George signed for four years two hundred and twelve million. You got this Embiid here. They also read, you know, sign Caleb Martin, Eric Gordon, Andre Drummond, re signed Kyle Lowry, Kelly Hubray junior. They have over seven hundred million dollars in their Big three y Yes, we like they are. They obviously are seeing like the Celtics are still the team to beat. They think they're right there. That's the theory, adding Paul George and maybe can beat them whatever, right, and you know, injuries happen and all that, and then suddenly there is a window to go to a conference finals and finals, maybe win a championship, and that's what they're banking on here. It's not a surprise Embiid got this type of deal. You'll always go, yeah, risk injury, yeah, playoff shortcomings. But you said it the other day. When he does play, he's doing like Wilt Chamberlain like things where he's like scoring a point per minute, like he is one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. He's like, that's the fourth highest points per game average, and I mean history is sort of wild to think. Uh, and so you're going to be paid handsomely for that. But it's just you, Hey, we've seen the I was gonna say, eighty two game dwell, Embiid, you know a little less than that. We've seen the regular season, dwell and bid. Now it's time to see the sixteen game dwell. Embiid. Raising your game in the playoffs, and obviously staying healthy is the biggest thing. And he came back last year. He was pretty damn good coming back from injury. In the postseason, you know they lose. Yeah, he had some monster performances.
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Speaker 2: Monsters, he had monster games. The point was also dragging a leg around out. Yeah. He was kind of a liability defensively, I thought in the playoffs, and there were definitely times when he didn't necessarily want the ball. There were times when you would think this guy at the side should be rebou getting twenty rebounds a night, and that doesn't always happen with him.
00:08:39
Speaker 1: Bid.
00:08:39
Speaker 2: There are definitely criticisms with him, but yeah, of course you lead the league in scoring, you're scoring a point a minute, you're gonna get paid a gigantic contract here. So five more years of Joel Embiid with the seventy six ers, at least that he's agreed to, assuming he picks up that option as last year. How many times will they make the conference finals in five years?
00:08:58
Speaker 1: How many times do they have two for this to even be worth it? I mean they have to be They have to go one finals.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: They have to go to one finals. I would agree at.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: The very least. Yeah, I mean, I'm putting the line at one and a half. Honestly, do you go under or over? You're saying conference finals appearances, yes, have on Betton, I I guess I go under. Is that weird?
00:09:24
Speaker 2: Well, I mean the track record doesn't suggest that that's weird.
00:09:26
Speaker 1: Zero so far. Yeah, yeah, I'll take over. His career earnings are going to swell here to like fifty five hundred and fifteen million dollars with this new agreement, fourth highest in NBA history. Lebron, Steph Curry, and his new teammate Paul George what yeah, career earnings.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: Wow, I mean, those two guys have definitely been worth it in being and Paul George. When you compare their statistical accomplishments to Lebron and Steph Curry, you can see why they're up there.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: One billion for those two here. When it's all said and done.
00:09:57
Speaker 2: So, six Ers won the off season though, yeah, Like, I mean, yeah, they got the biggest free agent out there, yep. They signed their two guys in EMBIID in MAXI, yep, to big extensions to keep them around. And then like the coolest story of the Olympics was gershon Yabusele. They brought him over like they've been kind of one of the major talking points at every single step of the way.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: And this embiid news comes two days after Philadelphia's mayor struck a deal with the seventy six ers to build a new arena there. Oh yeah, because there was like misty spurs going around. Yeah right, But anyway, they're staying put in Philadelphia. They're obviously paying for this team, and now it's now it's like you got to actually perform here and
show that you're going to conference finals, finals and maybe a championship. But looks like a good squad. You're right, Mariy, and that team has had a really good offseason. Let's keep it moving here because we had the woj bomb of all woj bomps. Longtime NBA insider Adrian Wojmarowski retired from his role with ESPN on Wednesday in a shocking move. I mean, this one surprised everybody. Woes will become the gen manager of the men's basketball program at his alma mater, Saint Bonaventure. According to The Athletic, Woes is walking away from around twenty million dollars with ESPN. But he broke the news of course. Yeah, and uh, you know, had a little couple paragraphs explaining his decision. But how shocked were you? I mean it sounds like ESPN was shocked, Like, whoa, this is happening. I mean, the NBA season is about a month away. Yeah, and he's deciding to walk away from, you know, the grueling nature of like breaking news twenty four to seven to take on this new role of the gym.
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Speaker 2: What do you think. I mean, definitely shocking. If ESPN was caught off guard, all of the rest of us were certainly caught off guard. And I didn't even know that college basketball teams had GM, so I was, like I said, of a double shocker for me, Like, okay, but man, yeah, it's on the one hand, completely unexpected. But also when you think about the lifestyle that WOJ led to be able to do this job, it's not shocking that eventually you would be like I got to take a relaxing job of being a college sports team builder. Like, think about how stressful your job must be. If you think it's less work to go be a GM somewhere, yeah, significantly less would imagine I would rather deal with college students in NIL licensing than have to be on the phone twenty hours a day for eleven months out of the year. So great stuff, I mean, really cool for Woj. The guy was a New York Times bestseller when he wrote The Miracle of St. Anthony, and that's before like really getting to the Internet. When he was there at Yahoo, he was a major name both as a newsbreaker and as a columnist, like major rivalry with Lebron James during the Yahoo years, and then once he got back to ESPN really revolutionized the breaking news game. He was the perfect guy at the perfect time when Twitter was like on the upswing and he became the breaking news guy, tipping the picks before the draft, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, very cool, very cool. That's like a full circle story for him. He's from Bristol, Connecticut, became one of the faces of ESPN, eventually went to Saint Bonaventure, and now he's gonna go help build their basketball team. That's amazing. Yeah.
00:13:00
Speaker 1: No, and yeah, walking out on his own terms here for sure, even with years left on his contract there, he was like, Okay, I'm over this. By all accounts, like he told his bosses, like the thought of only having three hours of sleep a night to keep up with the latest transactions and the information. It was like suddenly unappealing to him and he was completely burned out. We've seen firsthand, like you know, there was some like some crossover with WOJ when he was Yahoo WOJ and when he was not only breaking news but like you said, drop in biting commentaries. Everybody was fair game. David Stern Lebron James. I mean, he would go at people. But I've seen it, you know, firsthand, Like it's sort of unreal just how much this guy worked and how I remember when he was with Yahoo, it was like he was David ESPN was Goliath, and he relished in beating an entire news organization, you know, the worldwide leader in sport and it was just wosh and he loved it. I remember talking to him about it, like it fueled him, like he was psychotic, honestly, like you meet the guy like it relaxed man. But that was he became the best at it, and he's the most influential news breaker I think probably in NBA history, maybe sports media history. He like I think Danny Chow of The Ringer put it good, put it well. Woj greased the wheels of an entire basketball media industry, including our show, like imagine no Wosh, Like we did a show when there was no Wosh, like breaking news way back in two thousand and six, right before he went to Yahoo. I don't remember much from those days. We talked a lot of raptors, but I know our show got easier once Woj was like tweeting everything and breaking every piece of news there was imaginable, And then Shaun's comes along, and then then the rivalry goppens.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it was. We could still do the show like trade deadlines, right, but we would be waiting until the six pm deadline has crossed and the deals are finally done. And now with the way woes Uh became a news breaker, we're getting the slop days early, We're getting the deals as they're done before they're called in and improved and that kind of stuff. So yeah, I mean the immediacy of the Internet turned out to just be perfect for Woes. You had to put a crazy amount of hours into it. Like we had him on our live show twenty ten, right when we were traveling around and he had two phones back then. Yeah, and a lot of guys that had two phones into twenty tens. Now, if you're doing this job, you got to have at least two phones.
00:15:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had him on a live show in New York City. I think a mere Blumenfeld was our other guest on that spot. What a combo we had to be only to have wo and a Mere Bloomenfeld on the same show. But I remember, excuse me, Woes was sitting there. We're asking him questions and he had his head down. He was like working those phones. Talk to him mirror because it was you know, summer and it was the lockout actually, and so he's just getting all the updates. So uh yeah, it's it was. It was wild. I guess my one question from him, you know, taking this job in college at his alma mater is like the why now? Why now? Is a little fascinating, Like he says he's burned out. Did it finally catch up to him or was like this deal to be the GM like
too good to pass down?
00:16:13
Speaker 2: You know?
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Was there anything like a little hangover from the weird like JJ Reddick Dan Hurley who's coaching the Lakers, sort of saga that we had where him and Shams had different information and and all of that. Like, I don't know if that had any play into this at all, Like did he feel like he lost his fastball? I guess is what I'm getting at. And this is a guy that doesn't do half measures and was like, Okay, I've done enough, I'll walk away now and try something. Yeah, maybe maybe a question. I don't know that. Uh, how do you think ESPN handles this in terms of like who fills that vacuum in the you know, the NBA side news.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, the rumors were all Shams obviously Chris Haynes Uh from Yahoo and then Jake Fisher from Yahoo as well. So there are people who have kind of followed Woja's path becoming newsbreakers, developing your sources, being the first one who's getting the calls from whether it be the agents, the players, the teams, whatever, and then disseminating that information he made. I mean, obviously reporter newsbreaker was a job before, but like he showed people, this is how you do it in the twenty first century. So that'll be one of his accolades.
00:17:17
Speaker 1: You have to imagine, Yeah, is Sham's the undisputed NBA scoop king now or will someone battle him.
00:17:26
Speaker 2: That's that's what the scoop scoop scoop Colin Colstone with all the scoops, so happy trails to wos.
00:17:34
Speaker 1: You'll be interesting to see what he can do with uh Saint Bonaventure. I mean, I don't know that. I don't know to be interesting organization that well.
00:17:40
Speaker 2: I mean, you're not gonna follow Sat bonam. I mean I don't follow college basketball into death.
00:17:44
Speaker 1: But you know, if they are successful or whatever transfers happened, you know, in this new world of college basketball, it'll be news. He'll still be breaking it.
00:17:53
Speaker 2: That's a great point. I'm hearing Saint Bonaventure signed Andrew Nicholson's brother. That's right, Britty Nicholson. That's the only same Bonto Venture basketball player I know till now. Canadian Boy's this.
00:18:07
Speaker 1: Saga I believe is where he was from. Wow, I hadn't thought about that guy in a while.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Played for the Magic, I remember only as a Magic. He did play for other teams.
00:18:14
Speaker 1: He was definitely a guy that was whatever, nineteen twenty, that looked like he was thirty five. Oh yeah, look at face. Oh he's got an old face. Old face there Andrew Nicholson. Okay, so happy trails again to Woach. We got some smaller transactions to let you know about. First, the Cleveland Cavaliers and restricted free agent forward Isaaca Coro agreed to a three year, thirty eight million dollar contract last weekend. In fact, this was the final NBA WOJ bomb. This was the final piece seeing.
00:18:47
Speaker 2: Is what did it? He was like, yeah, I'm waiting for Isaaca Coron.
00:18:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, I can't even take a shower. I can't even take a shower. I gotta wait on a Coro. News from Jeff Bartelstein and Hermits Sweeney. I don't know who I'm playing an agent.
00:19:06
Speaker 2: Hermit Sweeney, herbit.
00:19:12
Speaker 1: Names list fake namesless Hermit Sweeney. Anyway. A few days later, I love these all together. A few days later, the Lakers signed free agent center Christian KloCo to a two way contract, giving the team additional front court depth while taking on the seven to one prospect as a developmental project. He was the thirty third pick in the twenty two NBA draft by my Raptors. Missed all of last season with a blood clot issue, though, But the Lakers are going to give him a chance at least. And then finally, the Knicks have signed veteran forward Marcus Morris and guard Lantry Shammitt to Exhibit nine deals. Contracts serve as basically training camp invite so they'll get a chance to make the roster.
00:19:49
Speaker 2: That's what Exhibit nine is.
00:19:50
Speaker 1: Huh, Yeah, you got Exhibit tens, Exhibit nines. You've got exhibit himself, rapper.
00:19:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard you like a heard you like Scoop, So he put out woes in your trunk. Yeah, you're good, Scoop my player. Yeah, let's talk about some of these.
00:20:09
Speaker 1: I any thoughts on a Coro Coloco or the Knicks given these?
00:20:14
Speaker 2: This is a nice deal here for Isaac Acorro, three years, thirty eight million dollars. Who knows if he ever grows offensively as a player. At least now when he catches a wide open look from three, he's got a good shot of making it really good defender. I compare his deal three for thirty eight to Patrick Williams, who has taking one slot ahead of him in the twenty twenty draft. Patrick Williams got five years for ninety million dollars. Patrick Williams is better, but he's not a lot better than Isaaca Corro. So now that makes me a little sad about the Bulls deal because I was like, whatever, this is a young guy, you can pay him. But then when you see what the Cavs got a Korro for, you think maybe the Bulls could have negotiated better. But like, I mean, the Bulls are usually making good deals, so I'm a little surprised. But yeah, I think this is nice, you know, like the Calves. For all the talk we had about are they going to split up Mobile and Alan? Are they gonna split up Mitchell and Garland, what they've done the past two seasons is stress continuity, right, Like they brought back all of those guys, including Karris Lavert on the outside, and they've added to their team with Struce and kneeing last year. So yeah, the Cavs, who knows that they're able to take another step and get to the next level in the Eastern Conference. But they've got a good team. They've been playing together for three or four seasons now, so the mind meld is growing.
00:21:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're playing the offseason coaching card. Yeah, it's like, Okay, we're a
good team, We're not going to switch it up. I know everybody wants us to trade one of our star guards, one of our sort of like young promising bigs, but we're not gonna do that. Instead, new coach, new coach Kenny Atkinson time. You know, it's similar but quite different because of the players involved, like the Suns getting Bootenholzers, Like, well, we were committed to this team and that's what the big three and all the pieces around them. We'll work around the fringes, but we'll just go with the new coach see what they can get out of the squad. Obviously health comes into play here too, but yeah, that is a good deal. I thought that as well. I was like, wow, that's good work by the Calves and the coreo obviously has a role on that team. He's like their best defender. Yeah, you know, whether whether he's starting or coming off the bench, you need that in a postseason. You know, hey, go try and shut down star wing player at least contain them. And if you're gonna do that, you also have to be able to at least be somewhat of a threat that you can maybe hit a three and space the floor a little bit. Well he's not, but he has he improved, yes, but no, he's not a knockdown shooter. Any other thoughts on any of the other little minor moves there.
00:22:29
Speaker 2: Not really No. I mean it's cool that Christian Koloko is going to be back in the NBA. Yes, yea, it's good for him, a good roll of the dice for the Lakers. But like, ultimately, maybe he could be Jackson Hayes. Right, that's kind of what they're thinking. But the Lakers don't have a lot of depth and definitely not at the big man spot, so I think this is worth a worthwhile gamble for them to at least try it out.
00:22:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's get to some leaks. The NBA usually unveils its latest batch of City edition jerseys in November, but fans got a early look at these because yeah, they leaked. Baby, you have to assume these are real. It'd be really weird if they were. They're all fake. But here for everybody on YouTube, we're showing you all thirty of them on one screen. Here on one shot. You know, we've done some short form content around these already. I picked out five of my favorites. You picked out seven of the worst ones. Yeah, it definitely feels like, not only this season, but the last couple of years, the Misses outnumber of the Gems.
00:23:30
Speaker 2: The miss is definitely outnumbered the Gems, and.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: That feels like it woul this crop here as well.
00:23:34
Speaker 2: But yeah, if I were going to go through all these, i'd be like up on six or seven. Okay, you know, like, I think the five you named were pretty much the best ones. I would add. I like the Hawks. I just like white and baby blue together. It's like it feels like a mashup of a lot of their jerseys they've had. I also like the Golden State one. I don't think many people do, but in general, I like a jersey that has a circle graphic, So I think that one's okay. The Pistons is maybe my favorite.
00:24:01
Speaker 1: I love I love the I sort of like that cream colored with that little I don't know orange, and I love the wordmark same.
00:24:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks good like a I like a cream jersey. It reminds me of the Boston Red Sox. I don't know why. I feel like Ted Williams would wear that jersey if you we're an NBA fan these days. And the other two I would throw in the mix. I think Denvers fifty to eighty is an improvement over the one they wore last year. Of course, we're looking at this without their team number on it. Yeah, it's kind of look weird.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: They all look sort of weird without a number.
00:24:29
Speaker 2: Definitely true.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: And then I think I think I might.
00:24:33
Speaker 2: Like the Valley jersey that the Suns did, which is kind of like a take on their ninety five All Star jerseys a little bit. Yeah, but that's one I'm gonna have to see when it's actually on the court. But I'm I'm holding out hope that it looks cool.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, And for those that haven't watched my short yet on it, I did pick Memphis as one of my favorites. You know, we've sort of seen these before, but you know that bright red Memphis sounds from the ABA days. I like that one. I like the Sixers because I really liked the dark colorwave version. Now they just have the white one that's like a spectrum sort of homage the Raptors. We got a Vince Carter Duncan Dino, which is sort of amazing.
00:25:09
Speaker 2: We have got to be the first jersey on a jersey, Yeah, I have to.
00:25:13
Speaker 1: I think so. Yeah, it's sort of like a Miami dolphin.
00:25:16
Speaker 2: A Dolphin dolph. Yeah.
00:25:19
Speaker 1: I like the bones. You can't really see them on this graphic, but the Nola the New Orleans Jersey there has uh you know, the bones are their dollars all over it. But I like the colorway there. And what was the other one I liked? I can't remember.
00:25:33
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think, Yeah, we talked about the Pistons.
00:25:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, and then yeah, you went through the ones that sucking. I mean, like, what's the worst one to you? Is it the Celtics. The Celtics is so bad.
00:25:44
Speaker 2: I don't like the Celtics for sure, But for me, the MAVs I think is my least favorite, just because it is so boring white and silver. There's nothing to it, Like I thought they there wasn't much to it last year. I think these are Leon Bridges designed jerseys or something. It's definitely a take on the ones they were last year, which I don't remember if they were black or if they were dark navy, but flipping it just looks like hardly any design to it. And same with the Celtics. Really like the Celtics to me have jerseys that are hard to mess up, but as soon as you go away from just green and white, they always messing up.
00:26:17
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and like you said, it just sucks absolutely so generic, very just like, look, every year, each NBA team has given new city edition
jerseys. Here. We've been doing this every year for every team since Nike took over the NBA contract in twenty seventeen. Eighteen were wow, we're coming up on ten years of this. I mean, we're getting close. That's too many jerseys, is what we're getting out here. Like I almost I'm almost at the point. I'm not even blaming the designers. I'm like, well, what sports.
00:26:51
Speaker 2: Do I mean mapping it out. That's two hundred and forty jerseys to come up with. That's ridiculous. That's just the cities. That's just the cities that other they do have other ones.
00:27:02
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
00:27:03
Speaker 2: But then you go to a game and you see people wearing every city jersey that has existed for every team. You're right, people buy them. People like who buys these jerseys? Go to a game, you'll see every single city edition jersey that your team has ever worn.
00:27:17
Speaker 1: And I have also as I've gotten older, and you know, you have kids, obviously, and I've got god kids, and it's like you start to realize everyone that I think looks like shit and looks crappy. I asked Andreas my ten year old gods, he loves it. It's like the coolest jersey's ever seen, Like that looks like garbage. Nope, that's cool. You don't know anything, old man. I was like, damn, yeah, they're not really making them for us, just for the youth.
00:27:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know what, the merch always looks cool, like that's the thing. Like the sweatshirts look great, the long sleeve T shirts.
00:27:50
Speaker 1: The raptors with the Dunken Dino in the non in there, it looks awesome. Yeah. I like to like the merch on a hoodie and stuff like that. I gotta get myself one of those hay Raptors out to me slid into those. In other leaks, Facebook user Christian Soleno has shared NBA two K twenty five screenshots of twenty five of the thirty NBA Cup courts. Again, these were in two K twenty five. Uh, and I mean, I would I assume these are real. I don't know why they wouldn't be, but Anyway, this season's design has large circles that radiate from mid court, so no more contrasting stripes down the center of the court. Yeah, we're showing a few to everybody on YouTube. Here Rockets, Wolves, Raptors going purple. Who else we got here? The Hornets, you know, with the honeycomb, but that radiating circle. And one more. I like the little details there on the on the Blazers, like sort of roses or something like that.
00:28:47
Speaker 2: Looks like an inside of a suit jacket a good way. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right.
00:28:53
Speaker 1: So, okay, that was just a give you a taste of these leaked NBA Cup courts. Your thoughts.
00:28:59
Speaker 2: I think they're better than the stripe. Okay, I think I like them more than the stripe. I tweeted that out yesterday, and unfortunately, somebody tweeted back at me Blazer's UNI track and here's what they said. Okay, don't kill me for this. I assume those lines are like a rocket blast off lines or something, but I'm getting some butthole vibes. Can't unsee it.
00:29:24
Speaker 1: And then I read that, I was like, Uh, these are the butthole courts.
00:29:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, look at the rockets. One looks like a baboon walking away from you, not in a good runs he said that. I was like, uh, now, I'm gonna think that every time a game comes up. But I think these look better than like just the stripe running from baseline to base.
00:29:44
Speaker 1: I do too, because what I like about again, if these are real, every one of these has some sort of like almost subtle element to the team's jerseys, right like there you know, you see the little trees there for the wolves, like like and obviously there you got the the pin stripes put in like the little uh zigzag there for the rafts and stuff like that. So I like that because they're like now they're they're all similar because of the butthole radius, but you know, they have these little elements that they're pulling in. I don't mind them, and I think I do like them more. But you also got to see them, you know, you got to see them in action, some of them like shot from the rafters. How'd you get up there? And I don't know, you could take your character in the in the my park up there.
00:30:26
Speaker 2: They've added a lot of features to the game, including rafter mode, no balls one yet I'm assuming it's gonna be red. Some of them look okay, they're like I think the ones that are either yellow or gold they just look like a cork because yeah, the gray ones are fine. I thought the Hornets is kind of cool with the honeycomb going everywhere. But it is weird because you'll see highlights at the end of the season and they've got these crazy courts on it. You're like, oh, yeah, right right. We played a whole month of the season with different courts.
00:30:53
Speaker 1: We absolutely did. This is I thought was interesting too. The twenty three designs matched every team's city edition uniforms, which were warmed by the home teams during the tournament, whereas this year's courts pull elements at least from their respective statement jerseys. I know, okay, are you following here? So me, I think what they're saying is we may not be seeing those city leak jerseys we just showed you on these courts.
00:31:17
Speaker 2: They don't necessarily correlate. I don't think so that makes sense because Memphis is their court is like gray and stuff, and it has like their three stripes M E M on it. It's definitely not Redphis.
00:31:28
Speaker 1: So I think it's the statement jerseys that the home team will be wearing on these NBA Cup courts.
00:31:33
Speaker 2: Nice.
00:31:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, cool, the NBA Cup.
00:31:36
Speaker 2: I'm excited it starts.
00:31:40
Speaker 1: It starts in less than two months.
00:31:43
Speaker 2: It does what November twelfth, that's right. Clay Thompson returns to Golden State's absolutely look like I think, yeah, I think it was. We don't have it pulled that? Yeah, yeah, yeah?
00:31:54
Speaker 1: Why why
are why do we have five secret ones? I don't know why did they Why didn't they hit it patch?
00:32:02
Speaker 2: Maybe they're not approved yet. Yeah, maybe going for something wild.
00:32:05
Speaker 1: We will see final piece of NBA news here. Bronnie James jersey from his NBA Summer League debut sold at auction for thirty eight and four hundred dollars on Friday. The jersey was originally estimated to sell for six to ten thousand dollars. Bronni's summer league jersey a game in which I think he scored two points, right, he went for nine or so. He struggled, but not a high score. It was not a great performance, but it was his first game thirty eight k and this was like a part of like Southerb's like Summer league selects auction, so they had other jerseys from some of the rookies that.
00:32:40
Speaker 2: Was clicking through. Oh yeah, saying all kinds of stuff, a lot of obviously a lot of Summer League rookies, like Bronni's went for a lot more than Zachary Resachez dead.
00:32:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, that went for under four thousand dollars steal, I know, compared to straight up steel right, compared to Bronni's.
00:32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, but this a look Sweden Lebron's man, cave you about it. I don't know, thirty eight thousand dollars is a lot of money unless you're a billionaire. Yeah, on a summer league jersey.
00:33:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it could be could be Broun, it could be Lebron.
00:33:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it does. But nice.
00:33:15
Speaker 1: But then it's like, I mean, couldn't he just say, hey, I want that.
00:33:19
Speaker 2: That's a good.
00:33:21
Speaker 1: Deal with middleman has to go to harsh Reed. Shepherd's first Rockets jersey at Summer League sold for fifteen six hundred.
00:33:29
Speaker 2: No.
00:33:29
Speaker 1: Had sort of shocked me. I know, he looked great. He was maybe the best rookie at Summer League. I have high hopes. I drafted him to our under twenty one team and we did that a few weeks ago. But you know, going for a ballpark close to half of what Bronni James nice. Yeah, so you can get.
00:33:44
Speaker 2: Some weird stuff in here though, Like you want a Chumo Caky City edition jersey. They were for sale, Like what did that go for? I don't know. It was estimated five hundred to one thousand dollars. But I would have had to create a profile with sothabest to be able to view the results of the auctions, and I wasn't gonna do that.
00:34:02
Speaker 1: There's too much work. Yeah, you're right. I I got to that page too. I'm like, I'm not doing that, But then I found the info from somebody else. If it would have had continue with Google, I would have done it. Oh goow.
00:34:13
Speaker 2: But you can just log in and register. I'm like, yeah, you can have all of my in if I have to type it ain't no way, no way, no way. All right.
00:34:21
Speaker 1: So that's some NBA news, But let's pivot now to the w NBA. It was the final night of the regular season last night, so we now know the eight teams in the postseason.
We have the playoff bracket by way of Yeah, who's sports? Thanks for this? So it sets it up TK nice graphic, Yeah, beauty, Yeah, I love that. I like their trophy. But yeah, like, let's uh, let's get like sort of you explaining for especially someone like me who only casually follows it, what I need to watch, who's gonna win? Whatever you want to do here in these matchups?
00:34:50
Speaker 2: Okay, So if you're a casual fan, I would say I'm probably a hardcore casual fan.
00:34:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you are, you are, You're a level above me.
00:34:57
Speaker 2: And that I checked the scores regularly.
00:35:00
Speaker 1: I have focus on the Dream, the Dream.
00:35:02
Speaker 2: Of course.
00:35:03
Speaker 1: I was happy to see they won last thing. Yeah, they made it in.
00:35:05
Speaker 2: How about that? Back to back playoff appearances for our Atlanta Dream for the first time since twenty fourteen. Unfortunately, they're running into the New York Liberty. They have the best record all season long. They finished thirty two and eight. They lost to the Aces in the WFNBA finals last season. That was their fifth loss in the finals all time. They've never won a championship. This has got to be the year for them. Wow, they at least that yeah, never won. They've been very very close, obviously, and they've got one of the best teams here. They are kind of the Boston Celtics of the WNBA. Stacked. Breonna Stewart is their star. Sabrino Yenescu also great. They both made Team USA won a gold medal this summer. John Quell Jones a former MVP from her time with the Sun. She's also an All Star. They've got the best title odds in the w according to bet MGM. They're at a plus one twenty favorite right now. And then our Dream they did make it in They had an eight game losing streak heading into the Midsummer break. They finished fifteen and twenty five, the bottom two tame in the playoffs in the WNBA, both under five hundred. But they're on a little bit of a nice streak here the Dream are. They beat the Sky and the Mystics, the two teams that were also in the mix for the eighth seed here, and then they beat the Liberty last night, and I love seeing this. They all packed for having to play three games in New York. They're not coming back to Atlanta. They said, we're gonna go to Barclays, we're gonna win, and then we're gonna stay in New York to play on Sunday and then I think maybe their Game two is on Tuesday.
00:36:30
Speaker 1: Right, And can you remind again, casuals, especially the first round here is a best of three. That's the three and the first two games are at the higher seeded team, So those first two games are New York. There will only be a game three if the Dream can obviously win one of them, split one, and it would come back here.
00:36:46
Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
00:36:47
Speaker 1: It's so weird.
00:36:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's unusual that the lower seed will have the elimination game at home, but that makes more sense than like, you know, play a game in New York, game one, game two in Atlanta, game three back in New York.
00:37:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're only doing a best of three.
00:37:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeh yeah yeah.
00:37:04
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:37:04
Speaker 2: Atlanta was in the same spot last year. They were the they might actually finished at the seventh seed. They got bounced in two games last year, and I kind of think that that's what will happen this year. I will take Liberty two.
00:37:14
Speaker 1: Oh, and you said the Liberty similar to the Celtics in the NBA in terms of the structure of the team. The big difference though Celtics maybe have one of the worst mascots in the NBA a human. The Liberty have the best Ellie, Ellie the Elephant.
00:37:28
Speaker 2: Ellie's awesome. Elli's like probably the third in their big three with Stewie and Sabrina.
00:37:33
Speaker 1: I agree's sick. Okay, So you like the Liberty to advance. I like the Liberty, and you don't even think we get a game here in Atlanta. Unfortunate.
00:37:41
Speaker 2: I would love to. I would definitely be a Gateway Center arena if there's somehow a Game three, but not anticipating it because the Liberty had been locked in all year. In our next matchup, it's the Minnesota Links. They finished with the two seed thirty and ten this season.
00:37:55
Speaker 1: Oh wait, oh, sorry, I think JD went to Ace's Storm. No, no, no, that's okay, that do it. I guess they're on the side, the same side of the bread.
00:38:02
Speaker 2: That's true. Let's say I'm sorry Aces in Storm. Theace has finished in twenty seven and thirteen. I think it's fine actually to start talking Liberty in Aces. Since these are the two title favorites. The Liberty are two time defending champions. They're looking to become the first three peat since the Houston Comets back when the WNBA started they won the first four titles ninety seven to two thousand. I didn't realize how good we had it back then. Skeets. Wow, the last NBA three peat was in the early two thousands. Yeah, with the Lakers. Obviously, the Comets were the last in the WNBA. There hasn't been one in college basketball since Ucla like in the nineteen seventies. And the last women's three peat was Yukon in the early two thousands as well. Just happened all the time back then.
00:38:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:38:45
Speaker 2: Will it happen this year? I don't know. We'll see. The Aces started six and six this year. They eventually got Chelsea Gray back. They finished the season twenty seven and thirteen. The difference this year last season best defense in the league by far, they may have even set records at the time. This year, not nearly as locked in. They're only fifth in defense. They don't have a ton of death because four fifths of their starting lineup is number one overall draft picks, so you run out of money eventually the play players. But they have the second best title odds according to Bett MGM, and of course they have Asia Wilson,
who is gonna win her third MVP. She's the first WNBA player to score a thousand points in the season. She also broke the record for most rebounds in a season. She's like, I don't even try and rebound. She averaged twenty seven points per game this season. Yeah, number two.
00:39:33
Speaker 1: Seasons across all Yes, Yeah.
00:39:35
Speaker 2: Twenty seven per game, twelve rebounds per game, two steals, two and a half blocks. Jesus, just a monster. They said, you're She finished third I think in MVP voting last year and took it personal. And then she's got a bunch of awesome players on her team as well. Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray all were on Team USA. All won the title the last couple of seasons together as well. So they are gonna be tough to beat. They're going to out up against the Seattle Storm twenty five, five and fifteen. It just feels like time has probably passed this team by. They should maybe be a little bit better. They got Jewel Lloyd. She scores twenty of games. She's thirty six percent from the field, so you know, more of a volume scorer. But you'll see her in state farm commercials, handling, handling in the in the living room, Necka Gluomackay's there, Skyler Digg and Smith. They're both still pretty good fifteen sixteen points a game, but they're just towards the end of their career. They're getting into their thirties. Asie Magmagore block shots Aces two zero in this one.
00:40:26
Speaker 1: As all, well, you think so and so we will. There's no reconfiguring of the bracket, right, It's it's going to be if they win one versus four, Liberty versus Aces, Yeah, in the in the in the next round.
00:40:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. I don't think I don't think they result anymore.
00:40:42
Speaker 1: I don't think so.
00:40:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have they used to, Yeah, change the WNBA playoff format often.
00:40:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, regular. I mean, if we can, if we go by this bracket, it doesn't look like they switch it up. So yeah, what what a what a second round battle? That would be?
00:40:54
Speaker 2: All right? The two seed Minnesota Links. They have had a great season. They're thirty and ten. They won the Commissioner's Cup, basically the NBA Cup that the WNBA does. They were seventeen and eight at the halfway point of the season, finished thirty and ten, so they went thirteen and two in the second half, and that includes losing last night when they didn't play their start and a piece of Collier or their sharpshooter Kaylee McBride. They've got the best defense in the league. Collier puts up twenty points ten rebounds a game, that's fifth and third in the WNBA. She I think we'll probably finish second in MBP voting after Asia Wilson great season for her cool dark horse title. Pick I think as well. They got the third best odds after the Liberty in the Aces Mercury nineteen and twenty one. Biggest story is this might be the last time. Diana Tarrazzi's plan could have been her last home game last night
since they're the lower seed. She hasn't officially announced her retirement, but she kind of gave like a going away speech last night. In her last game nine points to assist. They lost to the Storm. She was out in the third quarter of the fans started going crazy. They brought her back out a that would laugh. It's her twenty seat wow twenty a season, she's averaging fifteen points, four rebounds and three assists. Of forty two years old, so it's kind of like do you want to retire, It's up to you. You've been putting your life into this game for half of your life. Do you want to chill go be the GM of Saint Bonaventure or something like that, or do you just want to come back? Because she's still obviously a solid player. They also got one of my favorite players in the league, Kalia Copper twenty one a game this season, third in the league. She won a Finals MVP with the sky Back in twenty twenty one. Awesome Britney Grinder is still there. Eighteen points, six rebounds, two blocks. They got a great villain in Sophie Cunningham and I just recently watched a video of them. I believe it was on Instagram and as their players are coming in, they the admin is holding a picture says, can you sign this picture? They handed to the minutes a picture from like high school. Yeah, and they're all disgusted.
00:42:50
Speaker 1: Did they start this? Did they start that? I don't know that other teams you're doing it? Yeah?
00:42:56
Speaker 2: Would you be disappointed to see a picture of yourself from high school?
00:42:58
Speaker 1: Disappointed? Would die last?
00:43:01
Speaker 2: Yeah? I would be like, oh my god, I'd showing it on.
00:43:04
Speaker 1: And sign up for sure. I guess it depends a little bit on the photo of there's better photos than there are and then there's some crappy ones. But no, I wouldn't be like some people take offense to it. Do be tearing up their photos?
00:43:20
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:43:20
Speaker 1: Exactly. Do you think the Mercury can win a game? Could this be like a possibly a deciding game three?
00:43:26
Speaker 2: Ah? My pick would be the Links in two games. They got the best defense in the league, and you know, CALLI a copper can score. Maybe we could have a Tarazzi throwback game hot enough, I would at least give I would at least give the Mercury a chance.
00:43:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going Link. I'm going Links obviously winning, but it's gonna have to happen in Phoenix. One more game, one more game from the home crop.
00:43:51
Speaker 2: Everything last night was like if this is it?
00:43:53
Speaker 1: Yeah?
00:43:54
Speaker 2: I thought that was funny. All right. Our best series of the first round is no doubt going to be the number three Connecticut Sun versus the number six Indiana Fever. The Sun finished twenty eight and twelve. They are the Sissifus of the WNBA because they keep getting very close to winning the championship and they never do it. They've made the semi finals or the finals in each of the last five seasons
without a championship, and they're good again this year. Like I said twenty eight and twelve, they're led by Alissa Thomas and Dewana Bonner, kind of like a do it all forward, the all time leader in triple doubles in the WNBA, Alessa Thomases and then Dewana Bonner more of a scoring wing. They're engaged, and they did a photo shoot together on the cover of Slam magazine. Love and Basketball.
00:44:35
Speaker 1: Holy, that's awesome.
00:44:37
Speaker 2: Okay, what a wrinkle? Huh? Yeah, my god.
00:44:40
Speaker 1: It's like, how do you beat love? How do you beat Love's im Probably the Knicks are doing friendship. They like straight love. Yeah, Okay.
00:44:49
Speaker 2: They don't shoot many threes though they're a low three point shooting team. They're like an old school smash and bash kind of basketball team. They traded for Marina Maybriy right after, like hours after we recorded with Sabrina Merchant back in July. They're kind of like the Eastern Conference against Lebron. They're good, The Sun are so good, but they just don't have that number one to take them over the top. They're playing against the Fever, who are the most famous team in the history of women's basketball.
00:45:16
Speaker 1: I would have to say, yeah, I don't think that's a stretch. It feels like every week I see Fever because of Caitlyn' new Lark smash whatever attendance record. I think they did another one last night in Washington probably, I think so. Yeah, it's like twenty one thousand or something.
00:45:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've been awesome. They lost their first five games this season, started one to eight, they were only eleven and fifteen at the break, went nine to five in the second half of the season, finished twenty and twenty, and it basically feels like the reason they got so good is Caitlyn Clark finally had a chance to rest. The way the WNBA works, it's like she played her college tournament, her last tournament there with Iowa, went into the draft weeks later, and then is like into WNBA regular season pretty quickly as well. Obviously there was the controversy of her not getting selected to the Olympics team, but it meant she got an entire month off, came back and has been awesome. Yeah, for the Fever, they've been playing a lot faster. She's obviously feeling pretty good, getting comfortable in the league. She had one of the two best rookie seasons in WNBA history. It's like her and Kandas Parker. Cannis Parker won MVP when she was a rookie because she's the goat. But Caitlyn Clark did break the all time single season assist record, first for rookies and then just for every player. She iver just twenty points and eight assists per game, finished in the top twenty in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, free throw percentage two point percentage, led the league in made threes and turnovers, and.
00:46:32
Speaker 1: So it's like Rookie of the Year lock. Especially I know Angel Reese and her like first month or so, it was like neck and neck. Maybe it
was a conversation, yes, and then obviously injury takes out Reece and Caitlyn Clark like up her game.
00:46:42
Speaker 2: She will win.
00:46:43
Speaker 1: It wasn't the whole part too, didn't the fever have just because of the draw of Caitlyn Clark, all these nationally televised games, all these marquee games, and like their schedule was from what I recall, like really difficult, like they're playing all the best of the best teams because start of the season, the hype is real, let's cash.
00:47:00
Speaker 2: In on that totally.
00:47:01
Speaker 1: And then you know, as they started to play the wrestler of the season start racking up the wins.
00:47:05
Speaker 2: They played a lot of really good teams, like you're saying, and they were just jammed really close together, so it felt like they were playing every night that there was a WNBA game. And once they kind of got into the normal part of the season and Caitlyn Clark adjusted to playing and the w they've been great. She's an awesome pair with Kelsey Mitchell, another guard for the Fever. She averages twenty points per game. She's forty percent from three. You got those two in the backcourt. Tough to beat, especially with a Leah Boston up front fourteen points, nine rebounds, and every other big in the league hates her, hates her so much, like she gets in a fight almost every single game, and they're like, she like turns around and just looks very friendly. There's a lot of calming down that goes on with the Fever because Caitlyn is firing.
00:47:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's fired, So they have I.
00:47:46
Speaker 2: Think they call it the de escalation committee so that she doesn't get technicals. Then I call him and calm her down. And then Leah Boston gets into fights like oh, I think he's just very physical and it wears on people. Like I said, this should be the best series of the first round upset watch, Yeah, Fever two to one over the Sun because.
00:48:02
Speaker 1: The way they're playing recently, and yeah, yeah, I just.
00:48:06
Speaker 2: Things change in the playoffs. But I don't think that the Sun can score with the Fever. As long as they're able to play their game, get into the open court and shoot a bunch of threes. It's definitely a possibility that Indiana could knock off Connecticut. Here. The Sun, though, are favorites in this series. I think they're a minus one eighty five according to Bed MGM.
00:48:23
Speaker 1: Okay, So, Liberty Aces, who would you have winning that in the second round going to the final? I would pick the Aces whoa okay, and then hypothetically links versus Fever, you got Clark keeping the dream alive or is that links with the defense?
00:48:39
Speaker 2: I would pick the Links.
00:48:40
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, and then Ace's links Aces. It's a wow. Tk's calling it a hardcore, casual, hardcore, good stuff of breakdown. You cut me up. Hype that starts on Sunday.
00:48:53
Speaker 2: You said Sunday. All four games on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday sun everybody's playing. It starts with New York's at on Connecticut, Indiana at three. That one's on ABC. A lot of eyeballs for sure, Phoenix, Minnesota, that's at five pm ESPN, and then Seattle Las Vegas ten pm ESPN, which I assume means we're waiting until after Sunday night football.
00:49:12
Speaker 1: There you go.
00:49:13
Speaker 2: I don't know who's doing.
00:49:14
Speaker 1: Okay, great stuff. In other WNBA news, too, professional women's basketball returning to Rose City for the first time in more than two decades after the WNBA announced Wednesday that has awarded Portland an expansion team that will begin play in twenty twenty six. League record one hundred and twenty five million dollars for this franchise. That was ten million more than the ownership group in Toronto paid for its expansion team, which is coming in twenty twenty five. Yeah, but Portland will join the WNBAS the league's fifteenth franchise. After we know that San Francisco and Toronto are coming. So Portland and I'll be us. I'd forgotten Portland had a WNBA team. It wasn't there long. What was their name, Portland Fire? Was there three seasons?
00:49:58
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I don't, Yeah, I don't.
00:50:01
Speaker 1: My God says they won't go back with that. Yeah, yeah, it was two thousand to two thousand and two. That's it. But Portland getting it.
00:50:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we got Golden State Valkyries start next season, and then Toronto and Portland are there for the next two.
00:50:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:50:14
Speaker 2: Portland. Their team does not have the same ownership as the Trailblazers, just like the Raptors don't have any ownership over the Toronto franchise. So I'm guessing the names won't have anything to tie in, which like when you think back, it's like Trail Blazers Fire. Maybe that's the league the link there. Yes, yes, yes, Portland though they do have the same ownership as the National Women's Soccer League team that plays in Portland, the Portland Thorns. That's a cool name.
00:50:41
Speaker 1: That's good.
00:50:41
Speaker 2: Every rose has its thorn, and Portland is famous for the Roses. I don't think Portland Roses necessarily sounds great as a basketball team, but man Thorns is cool. And they got a sweet logo.
00:50:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good looks cool. Well what else do they have? What other was? It must be a MLS? Is it the timber? Timbers? Yeah, timbers?
00:50:59
Speaker 2: Okay, well maybe it's timber. I don't know, I don't know, No one knows.
00:51:03
Speaker 1: You know, when you yell when a tree is falling in a forest.
00:51:07
Speaker 2: It's a timbers. It should be timber.
00:51:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, well timbers is what I was. Yeah, Paul Bunyan, maybe just chopping all on one swing. But yeah, the league is still planning to add a sixteenth team as well. I know. Uh, the commissioner's on record saying that because this league WNBA, it's a damn rocket ship, like get in right now. Maybe we can pull some money together. But uh, Philadelphia, Denver, and Nashville are all among cities that have been most often reported as that potential sixteenth slot. Cool, which I think they do want to bring in not next year, but yeah when we start talking Toronto and Portland, so maybe that would be announced somewhat soon.
00:51:48
Speaker 2: Philly, Denver, Nashville, Nashville seems like a.
00:51:51
Speaker 1: Curveball a little bit. Yeah, with no I.
00:51:54
Speaker 2: Mean Philly and Denver, obviously NBA teams. Maybe that's like Tennessee. I mean Tennessee is a women's or at least they were a women's college basketball powerhouse. Yeah, similar to how Connecticut has a team because Yukon is a powerhouse and women's NCAA.
00:52:09
Speaker 1: At the point, that's a good point.
00:52:10
Speaker 2: I don't know how they've been since pat Summit passed away, though, I don't know if they've been at the same level. Well, they got a big they got a big fan base there, so I'm sure that makes sense.
00:52:17
Speaker 1: So we will see. So enjoy the WNBA playoffs this weekend. We'll call it there. We will have new No Dunks content next week, so make sure you subscribe, hit the lake button and share the show five star ratings and reviews, and we will be back next week with a few As we get closer and closer and closer, yeah we are. We are one month and change from the start the NBA season, which is man, it's almost here. So we'll start again gearing up to our sort of prediction content, you know, where we start looking at the awards and looking at the over unders and stuff like that. We're getting closer. We're getting closer, but thanks for joining us. Until next time, Clipper Brooks.
00:52:56
Speaker 2: You heard it here first, have a great time, turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And I always forget about thinking of a quote, but more hand Yeah, like Portland fire, Is there anything there?
00:53:11
Speaker 1: Like, nope, you got nothing.
00:53:16
Speaker 2: Have a great weekend. There you go, have a tremendous weekend. Oh, it's the Falcons playing something. So the Falcons Chiefs.
00:53:23
Speaker 1: Oh it's pretty well. I was gonna say it's pretty good game.
00:53:26
Speaker 2: Actually, it probably will be a goodame because the Chiefs just play close games. That's right. That's right there, Like I let's just keep it close and we'll wins. Why don't you check down again? It's like talking trash. I know, I'm a Falcons fan.
00:53:37
Speaker 1: Oh, we're getting your buddy. No, are they going for a three peet?
00:53:42
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:53:42
Speaker 1: There you go. It might be the year of the three pet three peaz are back to repeats? Aren't back there? That's your quote? Finally we got there. Brace the weekend, people,