Brian Windhorst (2:53)

What Sham's reported was they're working with the team to find a trade.

Tim Bontemps (2:58)

Right. I understand the agents are calling other.

Brian Windhorst (3:00)

Teams and saying, well, yeah, that's what, that's part of what working with the team is. I understand. But it's one thing to work with.

Tim Bontemps (3:06)

The team and like, you know, let us know, we'll talk about. It's another thing when the agent's leading the calls so well.

Brian McMahon (3:11)

And I honestly, I, I think it's probably a situation where it's like, hey, please help us, we're trying to move your guy.

Brian Windhorst (3:17)

I mean, this isn't any different than the Anthony Davis situation. It's not different than almost any situation involving a significant player getting traded where in a situation like this representation is going to be involved. And it doesn't mean the Hawks aren't making calls. It just means that they're working with Trey to find a resolution to this that ends up with Trey not playing for the Atlanta Hawks. Because at the end of the day it's not a thigh contusion, it's a quad contusion. And I can tell you from when they were here on, well, it's just because that's what they're listing it as. But I was going to say I got it wrong. When they were here, when they were here. When they were here at Emmett Madison Square Garden on Friday. I watched Trae Young work out before the game. He looked like he was moving around pretty good. I don't, it did not seem to me at the time like this was an injury that should keep him up for a long time. It seemed like a pretty classic situation of let's find a resolution to this thing and make it as clean as possible for everybody. And the question is, can the Hawks find a resolution and what will that look like? That's what we'll wait to find out.

Brian McMahon (4:23)

Now I just want to say I don't get the sense I did just see the Hawks recently in okc. I don't get the sense this is some kind of like acrimonious type of thing. Like this isn't Trey's quitting on the Hawks like the Hawks had that month plus span without Trey and they feel like they are a better team without Trey. You know, Trey has been a multiple time all star, you know, is still a guy. He's not having a good year this year but still capable of giving you 25 points and 10 assists on a regular basis and feels like, okay, get me somewhere where they do want to give me the ball and let me run the show. I don't think this is necessarily a nasty divorce, but it's certainly. It's mutual at this point. And it's been like we've known this was coming since they didn't attempt to give him an extension this summer.

Brian Windhorst (5:17)

That's right.

Tim Bontemps (5:18)

And so has his agents. And these calls were not the first time his agents got on the phone with opposing teams.

Brian Windhorst (5:24)

Yeah, actions over words is what we say on the pod for a reason. And the action this summer of not giving the extension signaled where the Hawks were with Trey Young. And when you go into the season, as you said, McMahon, the Hawks are 2 and 8 in the 10 games Trey Young has played, and they're 14 points worse per 100 on defense. When he plays now, they're really 1 and 8, I would say, in those games because the second game they won was in Brooklyn here when he hurt his knee and he played seven minutes. So in nine games he finished. They're 1 and 8 with them, and they're I think 16 and 13 in the other games, or 16 and 12 or whatever. It's something. I think it's 16 and 13. So that, that's why this has gotten to this point. The combination of the struggles on the court and the fact that they weren't ready to commit to him long term. And when they have a roster that's built around all these long, athletic guys, it stands to reason that this was either going to work with Trey and they were going to play well this year. And then, all right, maybe you find some bridge deal where you keep them around for a while, or it wasn't going to work. And you would look at it and say this isn't a partnership that makes sense for the long term. Obviously, the latter path has happened, and now we will see if they can find a deal when, as we've talked about ad nauseum for months, there's not a lot of teams that need point guards, and it's hard to make a deal for a player making in the mid-40s or higher. And that there are two things that both apply to Trae Young, which is why this is a complicated deal to figure out.

Tim Bontemps (6:53)

So Mark Stein, over on his substack reported that the Wizards were one of the teams or a team that's having discussions about it. I would just say that, you know, the Wizards are a team that in the past has done deals taking on veteran players with money left on their contracts. If they can. Can get something out of it. You know, a classic comparison that you could make here. Even though Jordan Poole is not the same type of player necessarily that Trey Young is. If you go back and look a couple years ago when the Wizards now, they were sort of more at the beginning of that rebuild. They're still kind of at the beginning, which is part of the challenge there, but.

Brian McMahon (7:35)

Well, they're still the starting line.

Tim Bontemps (7:37)

Right? Well, this is a while. Yeah, they're not, you know, however metaphor you want to say, they're not out of the batter's box, maybe they're halfway to first, whatever. So in that deal, if you remember, they took. They sent Chris Paul out and they took Jordan Poole in, but really what they were doing is they were taking on the Pool contract. And in that deal, now, pool had four years left, I think bond temps, so we're talking about a lot of money.

Brian Windhorst (8:00)

He started his extension.

Brian McMahon (8:01)

Yeah, the extension was just about to kick in. Yep.

Tim Bontemps (8:04)

Yeah. So in that deal, they got a second round pick and a protected first, neither of which have conveyed from the warriors yet. And actually Ryan Rollins, who ended up not staying in Washington long, but that would have been interesting if they had kept him because he's turning in quite a player for the Bucs. That's another story for another day. Even like taking on Marcus Smart's contract, taking on Chris Middleton's contract. When you hear that the Wizards may have interest in Trae Young and doing a deal, it's not an unreasonable thing because this is something that Will Dawkins and Michael Winger have done since they've run the Wizards with the caveat that they can get something out of it. And although they did sort of the inverse deal when they moved Jordan Poole for CJ McCollum over the summer because they wanted out of Jordan Poole's contract like the warriors did a couple years before.

Brian McMahon (9:01)

That was a great deal that gave them this chip in CJ McCollum that they can use now in a trade, if it's not this one, you know, a trade of some significance. And here's the thing you mentioned, they're like, dude, they've got like, they've got to get out of the batter's box. You know, it next year is time for them to start showing tangible progress in the. In the standings or, you know, with the win loss record. And, you know, Trey's obviously a flawed player, but you're going to have a competent offense if Trae Young's your starting point guard. They do also have Travis Schlink In a high ranking front office position. He is the former Hawks GM who made the trade for Trae Young, who went to the conference finals with Trae Young. And the price for Trey, if they can get incentivized to do it, if they can get a pick along with them, great. But even if they don't, the price for Trey is. So they're not giving up assets that, that they value for the future to get a guy like this in the building if this is the deal that ends up happening.

Brian Windhorst (10:05)

Yeah, I mean, you're talking about a team that's got $80 million currently in space next summer. They don't need $80 million in space. They have two giant expiring contracts in both CG McCollum and Chris Middleton that don't have a ton of value in the current league. There's not. There's not a ton of big contracts out there that are trying to be moved. Typically the ones that are trying to be moved are guys like Trae Young and Anthony Davis and these guys that are star players. It's not like teams are trying to. There's not a lot of Jordan Pools like the guy they just got out of that are sitting out there. And like you said, McMahon, this is a Wizards team that has a bunch of interesting young players. They have not yet gotten a surefire guy to build the thing around, but they have Trey Johnson, they drafted six this year. They have Keyshawn George, who they drafted a couple years ago. They have Alex Saar, who's an interesting big who's gotten a lot better this year. What they don't have is a guy to get them the ball. And if you bring in Trae Young and you have him as your point guard, he's going to get those guys the ball. Like you said, they're going to have a good offense and you can at least start to build some foundation of something moving forward. Even if you're not going to extend Trey or have him for the long term, it's not like he walks into Washington and displaces like if they drafted Jeremiah Fears, say, right. Wouldn't have made sense to trade for Trey Young because you have Jeremiah Fears. He's going to be on the ball. You don't want to move him off the ball for Trey Young. So I think from a fit standpoint, it makes sense. And I would assume, you know, as Brian laid out and as you just said, you know, the devil in the details here will be what sort of compensation, if there is any that comes out of this for the Wizards. But I also don't think it's the worst thing for Washington to walk out of the trade deadline with a $49 million expiring contract going into next summer in Trae Young that they can either try to flip for other stuff or just have as a guy that they could start to, you know, move some of these other pieces around going forward for them.

Tim Bontemps (12:08)

Sorry, you may be saying to yourself, why are these guys talking about how the Hawks would have to put in draft assets in a deal where they're trading a multi time all star who's still in his prime for CJ McCollum who's in the back nine of his career? You may be saying to yourself, why would it come down to that? Why would you be comparing Trae Young to a guy like Jordan Poole who had a contract that no one's really wanted? And the answer is that Trae Young has, as Bontemps just referred to, he's got this $49 million player for next year. And yes, it's possible he could turn that option down and either become an outright free agent or negotiate a new contract with whatever team he's on. But that's $50 million is, it's 30% of the cap. And this is what we talked about a couple of podcasts ago. 30% of the cap for a player like Trey in the apron era is not a palatable number. And so it's this gray area, it's this nuance. It's not that Trey's a bad player, but his contract, relative to his production, relative to how it impacts teams aprons, it's not all aligned. And so his contract is viewed as an overpay right now. And so if you're the wizards, you have CJ McCollum who's contract is probably an overpay as well. But it comes off the books this year. And so to take on that extra $50 million beyond this year is what you know and get them off the books of the, of the, of the, of the Hawks, in addition to frankly getting them off the roster where they've been a more productive team without him, that's going to cost something. And that's what I think a negotiation between the Wizards and the Hawks would come down to is what would the Hawks if it does come down, I mean, I'm not even saying this is going to happen, but if does come down, my belief isn't the McCollum for Trey deal.

Brian McMahon (14:20)

Yeah, McCollum plus to make the salary work.

Tim Bontemps (14:22)

But yeah, you're Right. You would need another contract. It's what would Atlanta be willing to pay to offload that $50 million and what would Washington's price level be to take on that $50 million and by the way, take on the $50 million and a player who wants to get paid.

Brian McMahon (14:41)

But, but let me, let me just also point out though, one, like, if the Hawks could have traded Trey for value, they would have already have done it a while back. They traded dejante Murray and not Trey because the offers were for Dejounte Murray and not Trey.

Tim Bontemps (14:55)

It's true.

Brian McMahon (14:56)

It's not even production, you know, pay for production. It's impact because the production's there. The guy puts up massive numbers. But the, the, the impact on winning is the issue now. From a pure business perspective, though, I think you can make a strong case. This makes sense for Washington. They don't have people at their games. Trey is a big name who plays an entertaining style would at least create some level of buzz and interest for a franchise that right now needs butts in the seats. There is a business benefit to. If the Wizards pull the trigger on this deal.

Brian Windhorst (15:36)

No question there's a business benefit. Again, it doesn't cost them anything next year because they have so much cap space and they have a roster full of guys on first round picks. They don't have five roster spots to go out and fill. Right. Having a giant expiring.

Tim Bontemps (15:52)

You're not going to go sign Austin Reaves like it's, it's like you don't sign. No, you don't. You don't go sign a guy for $40 million when you're in a position that they're in.

Brian Windhorst (16:00)

No, it's a, it's a trade that makes sense on a lot of levels for Washington. It obviously makes sense for the Hawks to get out of the money. And the other thing you didn't mention, Brian, and what you laid out, which is totally right, that we do. Trey is the epitome of this new class of guys who are max players that in going forward, I don't think will be getting max contracts. And we're still working through those guys coming off those max contracts. Zach Levine, I think Anthony Davis at this point applies for this. Trey applies for this. The other thing that Zion Williamson, another one, John Morant, Lumb, Lamelo Ball, all these different guys. The other thing that factors in here though is the two deepest positions in the league by a mile are point guard and center. If you're trying to trade a point guard or you're trying to trade a center, the first thing you have to do is identify the teams that need a point guard or need a center. And the list of teams that need one of those positions that doesn't have a solid or better player at it is pretty short. There's really only a couple teams you could point to and say they really need a Trey Young on their team or name the point guard. So if you start from a place of there's four to six teams that really could use a point guard, and then you start to go, okay, can they take on a $50 million salary? What will their books look like next year? Where are they at in the cycle of their team? All of those things make it to where it's difficult to trade any point guard right now for real value, let alone one that's in Trey's position. And this is the kind of thing, it's what we've been talking about a lot. It's what's going to complicate this trade deadline, and it's probably what's going to complicate the next couple of years as these contracts still come off the books for these guys and teams are trying to figure out how to navigate them and where things are headed.

Tim Bontemps (17:48)

That's also why, if you're Washington, you can drive a bit of a hard bargain because you know that there's probably not a lot of you can.

Brian Windhorst (17:59)

Though I do think, if you're to McMahon's point, the Wizards have had zero buzz about their team. They're in the middle of another dreadful season by design. Like, they're trying to get one of these studs, and if they get AJ DeBancer or Darren Peterson or Cameron Boozer, like, then they'll have their guy and they could start to build around him and go forward. The other thing is they have these $60 million in expirings on their books. And if they do just come off the books with the new rules, you have to spend the money. You can't just have $50 million in cap space anymore. So having $50 million of it parked in one player is a pretty efficient way to get to the salary floor. And they might not have another trade for either CJ McCollum or Chris Middleton between now and the trade deadline that's going to get them anything of use, let alone a guy in Trey who, for all the reasons we've talked about, would be a pretty nice fit for them in the short term.

Brian McMahon (18:48)

So, you know, I will say his agents, you know, these guys at CA are good at their job. And so part of this is they're wanting Trey to be placed somewhere where there is a chance for an extension. There's a chance for a long term. Probably at this point, I'm going to say it. I'm confident they realize it's probably not at a max number or at a near max number, but at a healthy number. And so Trey as a rental is a dicey proposition.

Brian Windhorst (19:19)

Well, here's what I'd say to that. If you're Trey Young right now, okay, CAA is not, as you said, those guys know what they're doing. If you look around and there's not a ton of homes for Trey Young, what are your options? Okay, you could drive a hard bargain now and say, hey, we're only going to want to come to Washington if we get an extension. The Wizards just say, no, we're not going to do that. Okay, then what are you going to do? Just not play for the next year and a half and then have no value and you come a free agent? Or are you going to go to a team with a bunch of young players that in theory is going to want to run up and down that you could put up a bunch of numbers and at least even if they don't give you an extension, you're giving yourself the best opportunity coming off that deal to get a big contract from.

Tim Bontemps (20:00)

Well, this is the Chris Paul thing. This is like the same thing that happened. It's close. Chris Paul goes to the Thunder. They were in a full rebuild, you know. What did Tillman Fertitta say? McMahon, the worst contract he'd ever seen.

Brian McMahon (20:14)

He said, worst contract I ever seen in business and sports. And then he looks at me, that's off the record. And I said, tillman, that's already in the story. You know how many people you said that to?

Tim Bontemps (20:26)

So he goes to the Thunder, who are in a rebuild that was like their. Actually they. We thought they were in a rebuild. It was right after they had, you know, they had, you know, traded Paul George and. And Russell Westbrook. Westbrook was the guy that they traded Chris Paul for. Traded Chris Paul, got Chris Paul back in that deal. And Chris Paul, like went there, totally rehabbed his. Not rehabbed, but like had a great year.

Brian Windhorst (20:47)

He restored his value. He rehabbed his value for sure.

Tim Bontemps (20:51)

Went. Ended up getting traded for a first round pick to Phoenix and then got.

Brian Windhorst (20:55)

Another nice contract and went to the finals after that. And look, we're not. We're not necessarily comparing Chris Paul to Trae Young, however, like, that is the situation Here that we're. It's. It's a very similar spot that Trey Young is in.

Brian McMahon (21:09)

And. And what Sam Presti did was he had very clear and direct communication with CP3 when he brought him in. Hey, I know you didn't ask for this. I know you don't want to be here. Buy in for me. Let's have a great year. You know, let's restore your value, and then I'm going to work with you. Right.

Brian Windhorst (21:26)

And so who was one of the top decision makers in Sam's front office then? Will Dawkins, who's the general manager of the Wizards now.

Brian McMahon (21:33)

Right. And so I'm not saying that the Wizards need to promise an extension, but I think they, at least at the minimum, have to have very clear and direct communication, set out expectations. And if I'm Trey Young, I at least want to go there and say, hey, listen, man, have an open mind. At the minimum, give me a chance to prove that I can get these Young guys going. Because the Wizards are in a situation where it's. It's starting to be like, well, it's not. This is the last year that being bad can be the plan. They've got to go. Like, you don't get forever.

Tim Bontemps (22:05)

Can I just say that there's, like, four teams that are declaring that? Like, that's.

Brian McMahon (22:09)

I know.

Brian Windhorst (22:10)

That's.

Tim Bontemps (22:10)

That's the working theory in Brooklyn. That's the working theory in Washington. That's the working theory again.

Brian Windhorst (22:15)

I mean, well, and again what. And you get yourself some rope, I would say. And look, I think the wi. I'm not saying the Wizards guys are in any sort of jeopardy. They're not. But you get yourself some latitude. If you get an All Star for free, and at the end of the day, if there's no picks in this trade and it's CG McCollum and whatever the SAT. There's various salary fillers. You could have to get to the number to get Trey Young there. If it's, hey, we get an All Star point guard for an expiring contract, we were probably just going to have roll off our books and that's it. And it doesn't impact our money next year, that's a pretty easy win to sell. Now, doesn't mean Michael Winger and Will Dockets aren't going to negotiate over compensation. And maybe they. They're Both teams have complicated swaps. Maybe they swap those. Maybe the Wizards get a first. Maybe they get a bunch of seconds. Maybe they get a swap down the road. Like, who knows what they get. Maybe they don't get anything. But the coming out of this with Trey Young for an expiring contract I think would make Washington look pretty good and would give them some optionality next year.

Tim Bontemps (23:11)

As we've just Talked about for 10 minutes, I think this is a deal that could happen. But I also will tell you it's January 6th, so don't expect either team to necessarily bend on their asks and their positions on it.

Brian Windhorst (23:23)

So more Hoop Collective podcast after this.

Tim Bontemps (23:27)

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Brian McMahon (23:50)

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Brian Windhorst (23:58)

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Brian Windhorst (24:02)

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Brian McMahon (24:07)

Booyah. Stuart was exactly like you said.

Brian Windhorst (24:10)

I saw him on camera. Off camera. He dialed it up 10%. Can you imagine the impact of young.

Tim Bontemps (24:15)

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Brian McMahon (24:17)

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Brian Windhorst (24:21)

Booyah. Presented by Modelo right now on the ESPN app.

Tim Bontemps (24:32)

In the annals of Hoop Collective jinxing. We had a glorious. We had a glorious one where we talked about the Sixers all for Monday's podcast. You know, maybe they've turned the corner. They get the Nuggets missing seven of the top players.

Brian Windhorst (24:51)

I would. At least they're top seven players.

Tim Bontemps (24:53)

Okay.

Brian Windhorst (24:53)

At least.

Tim Bontemps (24:54)

On the second night of a back to back. On the seventh game of a road.

Brian Windhorst (24:57)

Trip, Nuggets flat out punted the game.

Brian McMahon (24:59)

Yes.

Brian Windhorst (25:00)

Sad. Everybody they won and lost.

Tim Bontemps (25:03)

I gotta say it may not be the biggest regular season upset of the last few years, but it's in the running.

Brian McMahon (25:11)

It actually wasn't the biggest of the night by the numbers because The Hornets were 15 and a half point underdogs and beat the Thunder in okc.

Tim Bontemps (25:18)

We'll get to that in a minute.

Brian McMahon (25:20)

But massive it was. You know who probably really enjoyed that game? Calvin Booth. Because it was Jalen Pickett. It was Naji. It was all of his guys that led the Nuggets to victory, I guess with Spencer Jones. Spencer Jones.

Brian Windhorst (25:34)

His Spencer Jones too. Yeah, it was. It was like watching a real life version of when a video game decided you were gonna lose. Like. And I'm not saying that it's some. I'm not saying that as some kind.

Tim Bontemps (25:45)

Of a. I'm not. I can't remember which version of NBA Live that was, that was.

Brian Windhorst (25:49)

But when Madden would have that, the college football game, like you just sometimes if you play, you'd grow, I'd grow up playing these games. Sometimes the computer would just decide you're not going to win.

Tim Bontemps (25:58)

That's like you'd like in the fourth quarter, Ms. Wide open dunks and stuff.

Brian Windhorst (26:01)

And like in the fourth quarter in overtime of this game, Tyrese Maxey just forgot how to dribble for most of it. They had the ball on the final play of regulation with the clock off and Tyrese was dribbling on the wing. It just lost the ball. Didn't get it stolen. Didn't get a touch. Just dribbled it. Lost it.

Brian McMahon (26:17)

It was the hoop collective jinx.

Brian Windhorst (26:18)

That's the only explanation. It really was.

Tim Bontemps (26:20)

Speaking of hoop collective jinxes, how about the Knicks that we were fetting a few days ago, you know, and they have now lost four in a row by the way. The Pistons without Tobias Harris, without Jalen Duran, with Cade Cunningham battling through an injury go into Cleveland on Sunday and just embarrass the Cavs, quite frankly. Isaiah Stewart, he absolutely shoved Evan Mobley around the entire afternoon. I do not know what J.B. bickerstaff said to get this team ready to go, but you know, games against the Cavs mean extra.

Brian Windhorst (27:01)

JB sure do.

Tim Bontemps (27:03)

And let's just say that the Pistons, let's just say the Cavs did not improve their, their, their, their M.O. as a, as a soft team with that performance. Then they go play the Knicks on Monday again. Second night of a back to back. Knicks rested, Knicks rested. Waiting for them in Detroit and the Knicks had lost three in a row. So you're like, okay, it's a, you know, it's a big game. It's, you know, the Knicks were in, had been in second, were right on the, the Piston Pistons had a tough west coast trip. Took some losses, took some injuries. The Knicks a week ago were like looking at the Pistons heels. Not only did they slap the Knicks around, they knocked him all the way to third because the Celtics won against. And I gotta say, you know the one thing about the Knicks, their offense has been really good all year. Their defense in this four game losing streak has been atrocious and they've, I'll tell you what, it's been a real, not that we needed to be reminded that Josh Hart is an important player but Mike Brown flat out came out and said after the game like they essentially all the things that Josh is, you know, missing Josh Hart is. Is costing them. But it's not just about Josh Hart. So the Knicks have. Have hit a tough patch here. Bond temps.

Brian Windhorst (28:10)

Yeah. Look, this has been an awful week for the Knicks. Like you go back to last Wednesday. They're in San Antonio. Victor Wembanyama has the. The buckle in his knee and leaves the game. Knicks blow that game, lose it. Down the stretch, Justin Champagne goes crazy. Hits at 36 points.

Tim Bontemps (28:28)

11, 3.

Brian Windhorst (28:29)

11, 3, 11, 3.

Brian McMahon (28:30)

Record.

Brian Windhorst (28:31)

Yeah. Playing, playing great.

Tim Bontemps (28:33)

Launching 175 headlines about champagne on New Year.

Brian McMahon (28:39)

There you go.

Brian Windhorst (28:40)

That's true. It was a perfect, perfect setup for that. It was Julian, not Justin. I mixed him up. Justin's on the Wizards who we just talked about, but he goes crazy. Knicks lose that game. They come home, they play the Hawks, who had been really struggling. Carl Town's a late scratch from that game. They get blown out by the Hawks. The next night, they have the Sixers come in. Home game, Sixers blow them out. And then they go to Detroit, play the Pistons, as you said, down, guys, and not only lose, lose by 30. And it was not competitive. Like, they were just smacked in this game. And the irony of this is that it came a few hours after James Dolan decided to come out of hibernation from a media standpoint and have his first interview in two years, two calendar years, and had this to say, among several other things, we want to get to the finals, and we should win the Finals. This is sports. Anything can happen in sports. But getting to the finals, we absolutely got to do. And winning the Finals, we should win this. Which again, goes back to what we talked about the other day with the Knicks, which is when they fired Tom Thibodeau last summer, which James Dolan talked about a lot in this interview. Craig Carton on the Fan. The goal was very clearly laid out. If you make the conference finals for the first time in 25 years, we'll fire the coach. Well, whole. Holy cow.

Tim Bontemps (30:02)

It wasn't clearly laid out. It was laid out by what the. What the perception was.

Brian Windhorst (30:07)

Well, but actually, because.

Tim Bontemps (30:08)

Yeah, because the action. There were no words from the Knicks.

Brian Windhorst (30:11)

I understand that the Knicks never give interviews. However, when they fired Tom Thibodeau after that series, it was undeniable what that meant. It meant that whoever got hired was only going to have an expectation of reaching the NBA Finals. And by the way, Jim Dolan just came out and said it. So, Mike Brown, news flash. You better make the Finals.

Brian McMahon (30:31)

Well, you know what I just say, James, Jimbo, you had a chance to Raise a banner. You never have had that chance before. You might never have that. After he did talk about that, he.

Tim Bontemps (30:42)

Said, they're going to raise a banner. It's going to be for the championship. And I will say this. He. Now you may disagree with his, with his thought process on why he fired Tom Thibodeau, but he described what his thought process was. First off, obviously he had a huge say in Tibbs getting fired. Not that that was really surprising to anybody. Obviously Leon Rose and Tom thibodeau go back 30 years and he just said.

Brian Windhorst (31:10)

They just had made the conference finals for the first time in 25 years.

Tim Bontemps (31:14)

Of course, so. And you know, look, Dolan even made some reasonable points. Again, you can disagree with that decision. But he was like, listen, it's very important to us to have development. You have to develop players, which in the apron era is true. Like that.

Brian Windhorst (31:30)

I mean, well, and this was a, and this was a sore point all season. There was, there was discussion around here. Yes. Well, it was not a secret around these parts that the Knicks wanted their young players to play more. They wanted to have a deeper bench. They wanted to have all these things. And Tom Thibodeau didn't do that as much as they wanted. And it's not a coincidence that when they fired Tom, they replaced him with Mike Brown. And what has Mike Brown done? He's done the Steve Kerr thing. He's playing Kevin McCuller in these last couple of games. He's played Modi Iwara, who was a second round pick. Tyler Kolek has developed into a rotation piece for them. Like he's playing virtually everybody on the roster on a regular basis. Ariel Hokorti is, had some real nice games. So, I mean, he had a great game against Atlanta. It was one of the few bright spots in that game. But it's not a coincidence that Mike Brown has come in and the mandate was develop players and play younger players and play more players than Tom did.

Tim Bontemps (32:26)

And that's. And by the way, like, I think it would have, you know, behooved the Knicks to say that. Yeah, you know, you don't, you know, of course, I understand that. I sort of support the idea that your GM is not giving regular interviews, but I just think it's bad business to give no interviews, to give nothing.

Brian Windhorst (32:44)

The last time Leon Ross gave an interview, Leon's given. And I personally like Leon a lot. He's a very nice guy and he's done a really good job with.

Tim Bontemps (32:51)

I agree.

Brian Windhorst (32:52)

He's done one interview in the I shouldn't say this for sure. The last interview he did was before the season started, I believe, in 2021 at their facility in Tarrytown.

Brian McMahon (33:06)

And you're not counting the in house thing, like they did an in house thing after signing Brock.

Tim Bontemps (33:10)

I think he did something with Breen. But look. Yeah, that doesn't count if you don't want to. You know, Donnie Walsh used to hold court when he was the GM of the Knicks. He would hold court before every game if. Okay, I get that you don't want to do that. Phil Jackson gave a lot of interviews. You know, he. Whatever, I. But you can't give none. And this is just the point. I think if Dolan had just said, or even had Leon Rose say it for him last summer, that there would. It would have had a different view on this. But. Okay. The other thing that I think is interesting is that he said, and by the way, in the pantheon of Dolan interviews, which there have been quite a few over the years, not that many in recent years, this was not a bad interview. It ended up having bad timing. He gave the interview like in the, in the afternoon, and then the Knicks get beat by 30 at night, two.

Brian Windhorst (33:54)

Hours, two hours before the game started. He gave this interview and then they got obliterated by a team they're going.

Brian McMahon (33:58)

To have to go through to get to the Finals.

Tim Bontemps (34:00)

Probably we just praise the Knicks up one side and down the other and they lose the next four. It's not like I'm going to.

Brian Windhorst (34:05)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (34:05)

For timing. But not only did he talk, you know, he talked about how great the chemistry is with this team. He's like, I've never seen a locker room more copacetic. That was a, that was a quote that came out of his mouth. Like, that was very interesting. But the other thing was he talked about how in his tenure as owner, which I agree with, the Knicks have gotten in trouble when he has gone for the shiny new thing. Craig Carton, to his credit, said like Giannis and Jim said.

Brian McMahon (34:35)

Yes, well, but I would say was. Let me read not a shiny new thing last year.

Brian Windhorst (34:41)

Well, he. He was. Let me, Let me read the quote. As an owner, you have to be patient, which I've not been. When I get impatient is when we veer off the plan and reach for the shiny new thing and we think we can win a championship or build a championship team in one fell swoop. I've been at this now for almost 30 years, and I can tell you that it does happen once in a while. But I don't think that's how we're going to win. So I would.

Brian McMahon (35:01)

That's an interesting quote when we veer off the plan, because I would argue their plan has been to poach Giannis for quite some time now.

Brian Windhorst (35:09)

So I don't know if I don't think he's. He's referring to, for example, when Donnie Walsh, as you mentioned, spent two years creating cap space to have cap space in the summer of 2010. They get Amari Stoudemire, they start to have some success. Then the Carmelo Anthony stuff happens. And as Donnie Walsh is negotiating with Messiah Jiri then in Denver to get Carmelo Anthony, and they're going up against Mikhail Prokorov and the Nets, who were about to go to Brooklyn. James Dolan came flying in at the end and said, we're getting Carmelo Anthony. Throw everything out the door, trade all the stuff, all the whatever we got to get this done. And that short circuited any chance the Knicks ever really had to build a good enough team around Carmelo to actually go up against the LeBron Heat and win. So they had an okay team and made one one playoff series, but they never did anything. That's just one example of Dolan coming in and yanking the steering wheel to the right.

Tim Bontemps (36:11)

Well, he flat out made it clear that he loves the way the team is right now. He thinks it's a championship team and doesn't want to change it. So now look, the NBA, you sometimes have to change your mind. He absolutely can change his mind, but I mean, he was on the rescue team.

Brian Windhorst (36:25)

He's very famous for changing his mind.

Tim Bontemps (36:27)

And by the way, not just now, not just, you know, in talks now, but they had a chance last summer to make some sort. Now, maybe the Bucs don't ever do the deal, maybe the talks were just to satisfy something, but there were talks between the Knicks and the Bucs, and the Knicks clearly did not go all in on that. Just like they didn't go all in on Donovan Mitchell talk.

Brian McMahon (36:49)

There's not a lot of all in to be done because they went all in on the bridges, Macau Bridges deal. They're like the picks have been spent. And you know, I will say that that kind of mid season deal rarely pays immediate dividends. It rarely pays dividends that season. You know, like with the Lakers, the Luca deal didn't really pay dividends for them last season. Now you have to make that trade because it's a chance to get a generational talent for a team that didn't have A clear path to getting another one of those guys, much less wanted to enter in his prime. But when's the last time a superstar was traded mid season and was a driving force in a championship run?

Brian Windhorst (37:27)

I mean, the closest example to that is Rasheed Wallace, 2004, which underscores your point.

Brian McMahon (37:33)

Yeah, and again, not a superstar.

Brian Windhorst (37:36)

More Hoop Collective podcast after this.

Tim Bontemps (37:45)

The Thunder 74 win talk has been retired. 70 win talk is probably in jeopardy. Although, you know, I don't know, they could win 20 in a row. But after a stunning loss to the Charlotte Hornets, they're 6 and 6 in the last 12 games. By the way, Bobby Marks pointed this out when the Hornets have had their quote unquote preferred starting lineup, which is Khan Knippel, Lamelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Miles Bridges. They're nine and four. Food for thought, keep an eye on the Hornets. So the Thunder remain a very good defensive team. Maybe they've had a bobble here and there. And by the way, like a couple of these losses, of these six losses, two of the losses have come on relatively challenging. Last second inside. The last couple second shot.

Brian McMahon (38:29)

Last minute shot.

Tim Bontemps (38:30)

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Windhorst (38:31)

Ant.

Brian McMahon (38:31)

Ant and Booker. Booker was last second. Ant was last minute.

Brian Windhorst (38:35)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (38:35)

How much?

Brian Windhorst (38:35)

A two point game and they lost a two point game to the Spurs.

Brian McMahon (38:39)

Ant was. Because Ant had the block.

Brian Windhorst (38:41)

25 seconds. That's 25 seconds.

Brian McMahon (38:43)

But it was, it was, it was.

Brian Windhorst (38:44)

A late shot back and they lost. And the spurs game was really close. And the other two spurs losses were bad. And this loss is obviously very bad.

Tim Bontemps (38:54)

Yeah. So like, look, some of these law. You know, it's not like, you know, they did get boat raced in this one, but it still takes a high level of play to beat the Thunder. I will point out though that in the stretch and you know, look, Isaiah Hartenstein is out right now and that is a factor. Although they've had dealt with injuries all year in this stretch, their offense has wavered a little bit and they are I think 22nd in the league in offense over the last. And there's a bunch of games Tuesday night, so it might be different by the time the pod posts, but they're 22nd in offense after these 12 games and that stretch, 12 game stretch. So. And Shea has actually had a couple of games where he's been human. He's not like he's had four of 17 nights where he scored seven points, but he's had a few games where he's failed to score 30.

Brian McMahon (39:36)

Believe it or not, he's hitting 20. But it's, it's not. These last two games been two of his most inefficient games. Maybe his two most inefficient have to look games of the season. I mean he, and I think Shay right now is fighting through mid season fatigue physically and probably mentally. I think the hype that this team dealt with after that 24:1 start got to be a bit heavy. And the other thing, Jalen Williams coming back and I look, it's not fair to this guy to say they were 18 and one with him and now they're I think 12 and five are 18 one without him, 12 and five with him or 12 and six with him. Okay. Jalen Williams, their number two guy offensively is learning how to, how to shoot jump shots again with the surgically repaired wrist. He's regaining his field. This is going to be a process. The guy had major surgery on his shooting wrist. Now he also had 40 points when that wrist needed to be surgically repaired in a piVotal Finals Game 5. If you're down on Jalen Williams after a dozen games, I don't know what to tell you about basketball.

Tim Bontemps (40:51)

Yeah, I'm not down on the Thunder one iota, just for the record. Yeah, but they're going to be, they're.

Brian Windhorst (40:58)

Going to be fine. I mean, for the same reason that we see the Brooklyn Nets have a hot stretch during the season, the Washington Wizards have a hot stretch during the season and the Utah Jazz have a hot stretch during the season, sometimes the really good teams struggle and I certainly thought this team was going to push for 70 plus wins. They're probably not going to do that. Doesn't mean they're not still an awesome team. Doesn't mean they're not the favorite. What it does mean, I think is that the doors open a little bit. And I think it only underscores that this has got a chance to be in unbelievable playoffs. Knock on wood. With people being healthy. Between this Denver team with Nikola Jokic with the spurs, with Victor with the Rockets with Kevin Durant, now Perrin Changun and Amen Thompson and Stephen Adams and all the size they have, this Thunder team could be the last hurrah for LeBron. We'll see. The Wolves have made the conference finals the last two years in a row. You know, like there, there's a lot of fun teams out west in particular that it's going to be fun to watch knock heads in the spring.

Tim Bontemps (41:54)

I would just say next Tuesday they play the spurs at home. Oh, I'll be there another i35 showdown.

Brian McMahon (42:00)

And I right over the Red river, baby.

Brian Windhorst (42:02)

I looked till after that one, that's for sure. See how.

Tim Bontemps (42:06)

I guess we. I guess we. I guess we probably should.

Brian Windhorst (42:08)

We not gonna. Are we not gonna.

Tim Bontemps (42:10)

I would find we're going to the Hawks Lakers game that night here in la so I can leave after pregame and I'll come to the pot.

Brian McMahon (42:19)

Anyways, as you were saying.

Tim Bontemps (42:21)

Just saying that that is like, you know, let's see. So they have three games to sort of right the ship a little bit between now and then. That is a barometer game. In fact they played next Thursday then at Houston, those two games. And so next week if you want to see where the Thunder are and let's see what happens next Tuesday and Thursday, I'll give them this week. They got a get well game against the Jazz on, on Wednesday who they're annoyed at anyway because they're messing around with their draft pick. But. But they have a couple of games to get themselves right after this Hornets game. And my guess is that losing by. Well, I think that they lost by 27. That may sober them up a little bit. Not that they need sobered up, but it may refocus them. To use a better language, next week's a big week for the Thunder to really remind everybody who they are or to show that they're maybe still a little shaky.

Brian McMahon (43:17)

Well, and, and you know what? I was in their locker room after a couple of those losses. I was in the locker room after the loss to the, to the spurs in the NBA cup and it was very like, you know, they didn't like they lost but you know, like it was a very loose locker room. Honestly, I was in the locker room the other night after Booker hit the game winner on him. Still a very loose locker room. I, I would have thought the way that the spurs just absolutely annihilated them in the second and third times that they played that would be kind of a slap in the face like refocus moment. But dude, the way they were humiliated against the Hornets, that's gotta be like a harsh. Tonight, you know, when they woke up in the morning, it had to be like a harsh feeling. They had won 45 straight games against teams with sub 500 records. 45 straight games.

Tim Bontemps (44:12)

Wow. I didn't see that stat. Yes, that's how you get a 60 win team. Yeah, forget everybody you're supposed to.

Brian McMahon (44:18)

They had a 24 game winning streak regular season against Eastern Conference.

Tim Bontemps (44:22)

Yeah, that was five basically.

Brian McMahon (44:23)

If you were a bad team, you Were getting your butt handed to you by the Thunder. And then, dude, the Hornets blew them out. And I tuned in midway through the second quarter because I was at warriors clip. So I put it on my phone midway through the second quarter. I'm like, oh my goodness, this is, you know, the Hornets are up, you know, 16 or whatever. This is crazy. And I kept waiting for the Thunder run to come. It never happened. And so if this isn't the thing that gets them refocused. But a lot of this, again, they're not as sharp defensively, but they're going through the muck right now offensively. Against the Suns they had two fast break points. This is the best team in the world at turning turnovers into points. They're not able to, you know, for whatever reason, that's not happening right now. And Shea is going through, by his standards, a nasty funk. And do I think he's going to come out of it? Yes. Do I think he's going to end the season averaging 32 points extraordinarily efficiently for a mid-60s plus win team? Yes. But right now this is a funk. And you know when their toughest funks were last year, they were during the playoffs. It wasn't a smooth ride to the.

Tim Bontemps (45:37)

Champions League two seven game series.

Brian McMahon (45:39)

Yeah. And they were down two one in both of those series. So they've dealt with these things. They just did it in the playoffs last year, not the regular season. This is, this is as rough a regular season stretch as they've had, you know, since they became a really good team.

Brian Windhorst (45:53)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (45:54)

Kevin Durant hit a nice shot in the final seconds to clench the Rockets with a victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday. Tough back to back for the Suns because their plane broke down. So it's always a bit of a challenge when you're going west to east on a back to back because you lose the hour. So, you know, it's about maybe two hour, two and a half hour flight. They didn't even get to their hotel until 2 o' clock on game day. But whatever, you know, just thought I should point that out. But the Rockets with a good victory. KD's been having a great season. And after the game he got asked the clip, I think he had asked a couple of times. The clip I saw was when Dwayne Rankin from the Arizona Republic, who he obviously knew was asking the question to the B writer for the previous two years, asked him. And KD basically said, yeah, it feels really good to hit a game winner, especially once against the team that was scapegoating you.

Brian McMahon (46:51)

I liked what he said. He goes, I don't want to be dramatic, but I will. Against the team.

Tim Bontemps (46:56)

He does want to be dramatic.

Brian McMahon (46:57)

Yeah. Against the team that basically, you know, kicked him out of town and that scapegoat him. Those, you know, and hey, I understand why KD feels that way. They tried to trade KD essentially behind his back last year and as he said, this was the first time he basically a team wanted to get rid of him. He's obviously left before, but it crushed OKC when he left. You know, the warriors desperately wanted to keep him. You know, the Nets. He forced his way out there. This was the first time a team decided that franchise wanted to move on from Kevin Durant and that, you know, that stuck with him a little bit, for sure.

Brian Windhorst (47:40)

No, it's totally true. No, it's totally. I thought. There was a moment where I thought my son might be waking up, so I was a little distracted. No, it's. It's totally true.

Tim Bontemps (47:48)

It's interesting to watch the Bontemp's new dad season. He's doing pretty well, McMahon, but it's, it's definitely a different Bontemp season.

Brian Windhorst (47:55)

Well, we're home, we're home by ourselves tonight. So just trying to make sure the cinder block is in one piece. But. But yeah, It's. It, it's 100% true. And look, for all the things we've said about the Suns and how good a season they've had. Right. The undercurrent of that is that Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are no longer there and it's a different vibe there.

Brian McMahon (48:13)

Right.

Brian Windhorst (48:13)

And Mike Budenholzer and Mike Booneholzer, the coach for sure, they've gone through several coaches, but like that's been an undercurrent of it. And like we've talked about going back to the summer. They, they didn't exactly get a haul for Kevin Durant either. It's not like they got six first round picks and three great young players. They got a bad contract in Jalen Green. They got a mid lottery pick in common, Malawak, who ended up being the draft pick they made there. Yeah, he hasn't factored in their season at all. And they got Dylan Brooks who's a, a nice solid starter, but no, they.

Brian McMahon (48:47)

Got Dylan Brooks who's been a massive part of helping reset their culture, who they absolutely adore.

Brian Windhorst (48:52)

Dillon Brooks has been a great fit there, but Dylan Brooks is not the other guy.

Tim Bontemps (48:57)

Demarcus Cousins on fanduel said that you know, they should trade Dylan Brooks for Austin Reeves. And, like, the Ishpie is tweeting, like, the whole. Who else. Who else could we offer Dylan Brooks for? Just to see, like, how far up the chain would you have to go before Ishba would tweet? We're not trading Dylan Brooks.

Brian Windhorst (49:15)

I mean, the point is, Dylan Brooks has been a great fit there. It's not like Dylan Brooks is an All Star. He's not. He's a. He's a solid starter, and he was the best asset they got in a Kevin Durant.

Brian McMahon (49:24)

Yes.

Brian Windhorst (49:24)

Okay. Like that. That's the bottom line. So Kevin Durant got traded for almost spare parts.

Tim Bontemps (49:29)

Dylan Brooks for Victor Wembanyama. I.

Brian McMahon (49:34)

Aggregated. This is the one time when he wasn't aggregated.

Brian Windhorst (49:36)

Aggregate me.

Tim Bontemps (49:37)

I said it.

Brian Windhorst (49:39)

And. And look, Kevin has gone to Houston, and it's been an awesome fit, and it's a. It's a deal. You know, I don't know if necessarily say that part of the deal has worked out as good for Phoenix. Probably would have been better if they had Kevin Durant with the rest of what they've got going on, but they're in a good spot now, at least this season. And Kevin is obviously very happy to be in Houston, where he's been a very nice extension and they're playing Great extension. Yep.

Brian McMahon (50:05)

A significantly submax extension, which was an indication of just how happy he was to be there.

Tim Bontemps (50:12)

Listen, Durant talks about the game all the time. Adds spice to the game, sometimes says stuff that I think he's off on, but I love that he, you know, talks stuff.

Brian Windhorst (50:27)

He's an extremely deserving winner of the Magic Johnson Award, which is the Writers association award for the best person with the media. And obviously, part of that is being a star player. And Kevin has always been an awesome guy to interview because if you ask him a good question, he'll give you a good answer. And if he doesn't like the question or he thinks it's a dumb question, he'll say it's a dumb question, which is great. It's totally fine.

Tim Bontemps (50:49)

And also, sometimes Kevin doesn't agree with something that you do or say, and he'll come and tell you, I don't agree what you do or say. You talk it out and then you move on.

Brian Windhorst (50:59)

Yes. He's been awesome to deal with his whole career.

Tim Bontemps (51:01)

Yes. Right. All right. Big, big. Another feather in his cap. He's got a bunch of game winners in his career. On Tuesday, the NBA put out its second batch of all Star voting. We just talked about Kevin Durant. He's ninth in the west and 15th overall in total votes, which is remarkable because he's having an unquestionably All Star season. And you could make the case that the guys who were in the top five maybe should be ahead of him, but 15th is a bit surprising. With all due respect, but LeBron James is 14th and eighth in the west, and I think we can pretty much say will not be starting in the All Star Game, for neither of those.

Brian Windhorst (51:46)

Guys will be starting.

Tim Bontemps (51:48)

Not voted as a starter. He certainly didn't start in the All Star Game last year because he didn't show for it.

Brian McMahon (51:52)

But also, one of the guys who doesn't deserve to be above Kevin Durant in the All Star voting is LeBron James.

Brian Windhorst (51:59)

That's correct. But. And really?

Tim Bontemps (52:01)

Yeah. And it.

Brian Windhorst (52:01)

Yeah. And you have to. It's a little. It's a little odd to be doing it as the total votes because it's. You're. You're picking five from each conference. So naturally there's going to be guys in the east that are going to have more votes, whether if you're just picking 10 players to start the All Star Game. Kevin Durant, LeBron might be higher, but that's fair.

Tim Bontemps (52:19)

But this is the 8th and 9th.

Brian Windhorst (52:20)

In the west is the more notable part for both of them.

Tim Bontemps (52:23)

But especially Denny Avia remains significantly ahead of both of them.

Brian McMahon (52:29)

Yeah, that's fascinating.

Tim Bontemps (52:31)

And I will say this. The league has tinkered a lot with All Star voting over the years, but one of the things that they did is now you have to have an account@NBA.com to vote, although they have different days when votes count differently. So I don't know. But it takes sort of another level of investment in the NBA to vote. And frankly, I think the All Star voting has gotten.

Brian Windhorst (52:58)

Well, they changed the. They changed the rules a few years ago to eliminate the ability for essentially people that they didn't think should be starting the All Star Game to start. And it's worked in the last three or four years, the voting has been much better. And again, it's like McMahon said, if you look at the five guys leading this voting, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry, Che Gills Alexander, and Victor Wemanyama, those are the five guys that should be starting in the All Star Game. The only guy you might want to argue is maybe start ant over Steph, and he's 6. So, like, I think those guys, you could toss, flip a coin and pick one or the other but like, those are the six best players in the west this year, and they're the top six guys getting votes. And I'd say it's the same thing in the east. So.

Tim Bontemps (53:42)

Except for Jaylen Brown is sixth and probably.

Brian Windhorst (53:45)

Oh, well, Jalen certainly doesn't think he should be six. But I mean, boy, if you want to put no wrath like his Twitter.

Brian McMahon (53:51)

And Twitter, if you want to put.

Brian Windhorst (53:52)

Jalen Brown ahead of Donovan Mitchell or whoever of those top five guys, sure.

Tim Bontemps (53:57)

But by the way, I like that Jalen is advocating for himself, but you know, just the complaining about the player of the month was a little bit funny and I just thought it was funny.

Brian McMahon (54:07)

But then he backs it up. That's okay.

Brian Windhorst (54:09)

I certainly did.

Tim Bontemps (54:09)

I know. And. And then he didn't win player of the week. Tyrese Maxey won player.

Brian Windhorst (54:17)

And then they lost to Denver. So, you know.

Tim Bontemps (54:20)

I know. And Jalen did not lose. Jalen did not lose.

Brian Windhorst (54:24)

Yeah. I mean, Jalen Brunson, that's true. I mean, Jalen Brunson's team has gone off a cliff and now Tyrese Max's team has lost to Denver. So the end of the day, you don't want to get one of these awards over Jaylen Brown. That's all that.

Tim Bontemps (54:34)

A couple years ago, before the All Star and I granted, he's been hurt a lot, but a couple of years ago, before the all Star voting changes, I think we had to register. And if I'm. If I have this timeline wrong, I will stand corrected. Lamelo Ball got voted in as a starter and the players and the media who get 50% of the vote, players get 25%, media gets 25%, fans get 50. The players in the media's vote pulled Lamelo out of the game. His voters are started by the fans. He is now 12th in the East.

Brian McMahon (55:04)

That's interesting.

Tim Bontemps (55:04)

And that's no offense to him. He's just. He's not an all Star starter.

Brian McMahon (55:08)

Well, he's also become less relevant, a lot less relevant over the years.

Tim Bontemps (55:11)

Well, okay. I'm just saying I don't.

Brian McMahon (55:13)

That's interesting.

Tim Bontemps (55:14)

You know, he has been a worthy all Star in the past, but he's not an all Star starter in the Eastern Conference.

Brian Windhorst (55:19)

But the same with the Braun.

Brian McMahon (55:20)

Obviously the Braun hasn't been on the floor enough to merit deserving to be an all star starter based on performance this season. But Kobe late in his career wasn't an all star caliber player anymore. And he was a shoe in every single time because he was just that popular. He was always going to be up there, right?

Brian Windhorst (55:43)

Well, he always going to get the votes, right?

Tim Bontemps (55:45)

That's what I'm saying.

Brian McMahon (55:46)

But LeBron doesn't have the same. The same connection with the Lakers fan base, essentially.

Tim Bontemps (55:52)

That's a good point. Biggest fan base, luka Doncic has 2.2 million votes and LeBron has 1 million votes. Now, Luka had a lot of fans before he was a Laker. He was getting a lot of votes, but that's one point.

Brian Windhorst (56:05)

He's been better and healthier all season. Both factors, too.

Tim Bontemps (56:09)

That's true. But all star voting isn't. Doesn't always reflect the real time.

Brian Windhorst (56:13)

I'm just saying in the current setup that we have, whether, whatever you think of it, it reflects current performance.

Tim Bontemps (56:20)

Well, Austin Reeves has 700,000 votes. So, you know, it's interesting. Like, I don't know, maybe the Laker fans aren't voting as much. I don't know. So. But that's what that is. All right.

Brian McMahon (56:31)

Maybe they think you have to have like the station that has a Lakers game that nobody can get to vote.

Tim Bontemps (56:36)

A lot of people can get it, though. That's why they get like nine figures a year for it.

Brian McMahon (56:41)

I'm trying to figure out how to get in my hotel room tonight.

Tim Bontemps (56:43)

Well, yet you're not going to get in your hotel room. You're going to have to rely on the good old league pass for it. All right, thank you very much to Devon and Jackson for producing. Thank you to Bon Tempson McMahon. Thank you for listening and watching the Hoop Collective. We'll talk to you later this week.

Brian McMahon (56:57)

Adios, amigos.

Tim Bontemps (57:04)

It.