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Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Tuesday, December 2, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the classic factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melas.
B
Podcast listeners, this is for you.
C
Next to him it's my top shot hot boy Trey Kirby Ayo. And over yonder making the magic happen, super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. On today's show, we're going to tackle a whole lot of trade rumors regarding your Chicago Bulls and the LA Clippers and we'll talk about a few of last night's best games and performances. Before we get to all of that, we had some hilarious reactions to Tass's pick em payoff goatee that we unveiled yesterday. Could I just share a few from the comments section on YouTube?
B
Yes, I saw some. I can't wait to hear how good these ones are.
C
Yeah, first one, I didn't write any names down, so apologies, but thank you for these Crying at the goatee reveal. Nothing fucking changed. They teased this payoff for a whole week, forgot to reveal it, then made the biggest deal out of their significant other's reactions to it. Then TAS looks exactly the same. Somebody wrote. This is simultaneously the greatest and worst pick and payoff of all time. TAS is too handsome, not fair, supposed to look goofy. And then finally, I never thought we'd see a pick and payoff easier than TAS eating that Arby's sandwich. But here we are. And holy crap was our howling to that one.
B
That was a good one because you.
C
Had to eat Arby's at 10am in the morning once.
B
I love that. I worked out. Before that I was so hungry I put some applesauce on an Arby's roast beef sandwich and I was Happy eating that. But listen, that's what a show is. A show sometimes steps up to the plate with these pick and payoffs. Hits a double, hits a triple, hits a ding dong. And sometimes they'll fricking swing and miss. And that's what this is.
C
We cannot knock them all out of the park. You're right.
B
I could have done this better. I could have. I did as we talked about, but.
A
I ain't d. It just looks nice.
C
It just looks good.
A
What is. What does your significant other think of your goatee?
B
Yeah, she. She basically said it doesn't look all that different. I said, so should I keep it? And she said, no, I like a beard better.
C
Right, right.
B
But, yeah, it ain't that different.
C
Well, look, we'll. We. We'll try and do better. If you have a really good suggestion for the loser of December's pick them battle, let us know. Some people are also sharing some of those ideas. So, anything good?
A
I don't know.
C
I didn't write them down. No, Honestly, I'd say no. Nothing that jumped out to me. Yeah, fair enough. But maybe the swerve is we do nice things now.
A
You gotta wear a shirt you don't like that much. You gotta wear a hat.
C
You know how I feel about wearing hats. I already wore one on the other.
A
Side of the table.
B
I did try. I did try and suit my shirt to a goatee. Like. Like I thought this would be a shirt that a person with a goatee.
C
Would wear, like a polo or whatever.
B
I know some people suggested maybe Trey should have a goatee, maybe Skeet should have a goatee. If you lose, just because it would be more of a punishment, because it's a stark difference than your actual day to day beard.
C
Oh, you literally want to just run it back.
B
That's the suggestion. I think that was the best suggestion I saw. Nobody wants it. I get it.
C
We avoided it. All right, so let's get into some trade talk here or rumors, and we'll sprinkle in some game talk as we do it. Because I want to start with the Chicago Bulls because they apparently have held internal discussions about acquiring Mavericks big man Anthony Davis. Sources told ESPN this on Monday. However, team sources said the Bulls will not sacrifice any of their young core to execute such a deal until the team is closer to contention. The Bulls believe AD though, could help with their rim protection and defensive issues. So that was the report.
B
I agree.
C
Yeah, if you watch last night's game, they absolutely could use Anthony Davis. Vujevic defense is literally stand in the paint and when a guy comes at him, he just puts his hands up and guys just go around him. It happens so many times. I know it's happened all season here.
A
But yeah, you forgot the last part of his defense. Shrugging.
C
Well yeah, he's like, oh God, Jesus, I put my hands up. What else are you going to do? So again, let's, let's start with the Bulls fan here and this is something I know that's come up before, but now that we have this report from espn, what's your opinion on this? Should they be active in trying to get AD if it doesn't cost them one of their young core pieces?
A
No, they shouldn't. I don't think the Bulls should do this unless the price is perfectly right. The Bulls are not in a position to trade any of their own first round picks. They have a second first round pick coming from Portland for this year's draft, but it's lottery protected. It's kind of a toss up right now, I think if the Blazers will be in the lottery. But the Bulls aren't close to winning. Adding Anthony Davis is not equivalent to adding Pascal Siakam as it's mentioned in the article. Basically trying to rip off the Pacers, even though I don't think Giddy is at Halliburton's level as a floor razor. And more concerns I think with Davis being healthy and even fitting the style that the Bulls play. The Bulls want to play fast like Indiana did, but Anthony Davis doesn't play fast. That guy's a slow player at this point in his career. But we heard from Tim Bontemps a couple of weeks ago on their podcast that nobody's lining up to trade for Anthony Davis. So if it's low ball season, then go for it. They could do vouch, they could do Kobe White, they could do Kevin Herder to make the contracts work. Include that Portland Lottery protected pick. Could it be a first? Who knows? That's not a great deal for the Mavericks, which is why I don't think a deal would get done. But there's basically no way the Mavericks should say yes to a deal from the Bulls unless it includes a Chicago first round pick because there's a good chance that thing could be nice. Or if it includes any of their young guys, which I don't even think the Bulls are silly enough to trade. Boozealous. But you know the Mavericks would want Kobe White or IO Dumu guards who could help their team alongside Cooper Flag and those guys are both on expiring contracts. The Bulls going to have to make a decision on if they want to pay him. I know they think Kobe's still part of the core. I like the way he's developed as a player. He fits nice alongside some of the guys that they've invested in, but he's not going to be a huge needle mover. So if he has to go to get the deal done, then it's fine. But the bottom line for me is that the price has to be so low to get Anthony Davis. Just because the Bulls are so far away like this would be a move that could get them into the top six in the Eastern Conference. And I don't think that's enough of a motivation to trade away big pieces of the future when you don't even know what the future really looks like at this point.
B
I think the Bulls should do it because Anthony Davis and what it will cost them won't handcuff them for the near future because they don't have a lot of money locked up next season. And you look at the 20, 26 free agents, they ain't all that spectacular. Even though the Bulls have room to have two maxes, according to my math, this coming. Who are they signing? So I, you know, I went through all the names and really it ain't all that spectacular. There's, you know, Trey Zach Levine and James Harden are all in player options for next year. So, you know, there's an outside chance you get one of those guys. But I think it's more in the realm of an Anferny Simons or somebody like that. So I don't see registering a little bit of cost here for Anthony Davis as much of a problem because if it's the deal which works, you know, vouch and Herder and one of either Dassum or Kobe White, that literally works without a draft pick. You know, if you can sneak that in because, because the cost is low for Anthony Davis, maybe that you can get it done. I mean, one pick probably has to go and it could be that Blazers pick which is lottery protected. I think you do it because again, they don't have basically no money tied up next year. It's giddy at 25 and Pat Williams is your second highest. Bayer 18 and then a Coral. So they have lots of room. And Anthony Davis for this year and his two guaranteed years after this one, I think that's fine. I think you, you give it a shot for that cost. I don't think it's really a lot of cost because as that report said, it Was Bon Taps reporting saying that no one's lining up. So how much more are they getting for Anthony Davis? That's the question.
C
I think it's interesting, especially from the Bulls fan that you were including Kobe White here into a potential deal. Like going to be vouch and it's.
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Going to be a big number and.
C
It could be Kobe White, whether or not he's a part of the young core or he's not. Right. Is it. Is it giddy bou zealous and Kobe White or is Kobe White sort of on the fringe of those other two and he would be moved and then. Yeah. Is it Kevin Herder in his expiring deal? If you're the Bulls, I'm sure you would love to get off of Patrick Williams contract. I don't think the Mavericks would want that. And then whatever sort of draft capital. Now the good thing is the Bulls do have a lot of picks. Like they could trade up to five first five second picks. They're not doing all that. I'm saying they have that sort of war chest and. And they will have a bunch of cap room like you're saying too. So they're in a good spot. It's just whether like a 32 year old Anthony Davis, given his contract, given his injury history. Yeah. How much better does he make you here in the Eastern Conference? You add him to the team. Like they're going to suddenly at least reduce the amount of points on the paint they're giving up. If he plays. If he plays. Right. They gave up 62 points in the paint last night to the Magic. They've given up a ton after the very hot start. It's something like. What was it? It's like 55 or 56 points in the paint like since the hot start. It's a hell of a lot. So 80 helps there for sure. And if I'm with you guys, I'm saying if the cost is very, very low, it's sort of like, hey, bring him back. You keep saying he's a Chicago boy. Why not? They got a bunch of those on the team too.
A
He's a trader. He's a Packers fan.
C
Oh yeah, right.
A
Still unbelievable to me that this guy is a Packers fan. He was wearing a Michael Parsons jersey to go to a Dallas Mavericks game. He's ruffling all kinds of feathers. The Bulls need to bottom out. They need to be bad. That's the thing. Like doing this Anthony Davis move is a very Bulls move because it keeps him competitive.
C
Yeah.
A
And he's a big name and he's a Chicago guy. Those are all things that the Bulls like. They need to be bad and get, they need to get Cam Boozer get up. Let everybody wear their Carlos Boozer Bulls jerseys again. They don't need to be in the middle here. They've been in the middle since the trade for Vucovic in 2021. Getting Anthony Davis keeps them right in the middle in the Eastern Conference because it doesn't vault them near the top of the standings. I don't believe Davis isn't that big of a difference maker in this career. At this point in his career. If he becomes the number one, they need to bottom out. And as we've seen in the month of November they're not going to be a super competitive team. They're going to somehow end up in the play in tournament. They're going to be in the 38 to 36 win range here. They need to be in the 20s for wins and they need to actually get their lottery odds juiced so that they maybe have a chance to get a franchise cornerstone because they still don't have that right now.
C
Right?
B
Yeah. And from Dallas's side they want picks. They've given away all their picks. That is, that is what they want. So that's what they're saying with the Chicago Bulls. We want one of your picks. The Bulls have every single one of their picks for the next seven years. We want one of your picks because it could be bad. We don't necessarily want the Blazers one because it's lottery and it rolls over the next two years after this one. Eh, eh. It's a Bulls pick that they want. So that's, that's what it comes down to really.
C
You brought up how the ESPN article also talked about this idea how the Bulls are reportedly trying to mimic the Pacers formula for success. And yeah, there's maybe you squint and you see the similarity between Giddey and Halliburton at least like these up tempo point guards who really want to move the ball and get off of it. But the big caveats are one, the Pacers were a much better defense. Like they were actually pretty average, above average I should say in 13th in defensive rating last year. And this idea of like they had a second star who's a really good player in Pascal Siakam and Bulls maybe are praying that Bouzelis turns into that but that's a couple years down the line if that even comes to fruition. And so yeah, they're looking for that second guy but hey, it's a copycat league. Exactly.
A
It is a copycat league. And they're like, we can wear guys down. You know, Karnishevus said it, we need to have 10 really good players and no great players. The teams at the top of the league have great players, like all time greats. Shake Elges Alexander is an all time great. Nicola Jokic is an all time great. You look at every team that's winning championships, they have a guy that's going to go to the hall of Fame. You need a Hall of Famer on your team to win in the NBA. Anthony Davis will be a Hall of Fame.
C
Yeah, there you go. You've just answered it.
A
You know, he's 32 pacers.
B
Almost got there. They're so close. But Halliburton 8 Josh Giddy or Josh Giddy 8, Tyrese Halliburton, I mean, that's a huge part of it.
C
About the game itself. The Bulls were leading by 15 in the third quarter against the Magic last night. This one on. On. Where were we on last night? I can never remember. We were on Peacock. Oh, yeah, we're also on Peacock tonight.
A
That was a Peacock one last night.
C
But the Magic, you know, stormed back into this game and got the victory in the end. 125, 120. And Desmond Bain, a monster once again. Another 37 point performance. He took over in the fourth quarter. Got some help though. Anthony Black played well. Some great defensive stands, I thought, or at least sections of this game from Suggs or Batazi was. There was a moment there in this game before he got hurt with the hip injury. He was blocking shots left and right. Thoughts on the game. I'll start with you here, Tess, on the Magic, you know, getting it going here without Paolo still.
B
Yeah, the, the Magic effort with Goga block Tazi. I don't have a really good nickname for him, but there's one coming. Jalen Suggs, I think is the effort. He is their spark, he is their heart on the defensive end. But watching Desmond Bain at the end of this game where the offense was literally going through him and it was just a, hey, you have the ball at the top, we'll get you a pick and you just get downhill. And he was doing it fantastically well. Jumped 37 points back to back games for this guy. 18 points in the fourth quarter. And as soon as he drew enough attention, that's when enough of the floor opened up for Anthony Black, who took it to the rim. That big body getting to the rim or Franz Wagner. He's still there. He did some great stuff in this game, too. So there was just enough space for them to get downhill. It is interesting to see how Bain has grown here in, you know, a month and a half. He looks like the offense at times when he needs to be in the fourth quarter. And they, I believe, can still have an offense that turns to Franz. And at one point they're going to turn to Paolo Bunker when he comes back. So they look spectacular. They looked really, really fun.
A
It's a lot of miles to feed. Yeah, because you're right, Bane has been playing better, basically since Paolo went down. The speed of the game is a lot faster for the Magic, but Bulls also just couldn't keep the ball in front of them at all. The Magic shot 65% on two pointers in this game. 62 points in the paint, and you mentioned it. Jalen Suggs made the biggest play of the game. Ripped the ball out of Vuch's hands on an offensive rebound. Bain finally missed the shot, missed the three from the right wing. Big board by Suggs, find him at the top of the key, knocks it down. But yeah, 37 for Bane and he only made three threes. I thought he was just getting downhill any single time he wanted to.
B
Yeah, the Bulls just had. There's a three possessions in the second quarter that was like shooting practice for. It was a Jalen Suggs, a Franz Wagner and a Tyus Jones in between there that were just open three after open three after open three. So, yeah, the Bulls just weren't there, unfortunately. Just not enough. Not enough of that defense thing.
C
It wasn't a great sign that, I mean, I watched the majority of this game that it felt like Tre Jones was the best Bulls player for a majority of the game. He played really well. He was. He was cooking his brother. He went at ties a couple times and put him in the basket or blew by him. So he played really well for the Bulls. But that's not probably the best sign that I was like, oh, is he the best Bulls player out there right now? He's doing the most, that's for sure. But it was close game, competitive game. Very funny to see Austin Rivers and Vince Carter sitting in the front row doing the broadcast like they're on their benches. That's what Peacock's trying out here with these guys, like, embedded with the teams. But usually they're like, you know, a couple rows back, you know, sort of like blend in a little bit more. They're sitting in the front row between fans and then I first assistant coach for the teams. It looked hilarious.
A
Very, very funny. They definitely got upgraded on their seats because you're right, they were like two or three rows back, like sitting kind of behind the benches, which is what I thought. Isn't even that what it's called, like behind the bench or something?
C
Good point. Yeah.
A
Maybe courtside. I couldn't believe it. You definitely want to be in LA though, because in Orlando, Austin and Vince Carter, they were the celebrities.
C
Oh, yeah.
A
Like that random dude sitting next to Vince Carter's probably.
C
This is awesome.
A
I get to sit next to Vince Carter in la. Derek Fisher was sitting next to Jimmy Iovine and Robbie Hummel was sitting next to Austin Butler.
C
Yeah, a little different.
A
A little bit different. That's weird, though. I actually can't believe they're doing that. Taking away a seat, port side seat from a fan.
C
Yeah, that part's strange.
B
It's a good point.
C
Unless maybe that is an additional coach's seat and they bump like one of the coach, like. You know what I mean? It's like they bump a third assistant coach back. I don't know.
B
Yeah, it's all strange because unless you're really locked into a game, you don't even know that they're there. Even as a fan, you really have to be paying attention for that one time. They show Austin Rivers there. We know because we geek it up. And Austin Rivers is talking up Orlando Magic teammates. Jonathan Isaac is such a good guy, I thought, Whoa, did he play there? No, he didn't play there. He didn't. He didn't know of him there, but Vince did.
C
Did.
B
Was Vince sitting beside the Magic?
C
Vince was by the Magic bench. Yes. And Rivers was down by the Bulls.
B
Do you even realize it after the game?
C
I mean, I realized it a lot more last night because you saw them all the time. Vince in his maroon suit, Rivers in a suit. So you always saw them otherwise. Yeah, they blend in a lot more. I gotta say, Austin Rivers, I think is great on the broadcast. I think he's actually pretty funny. Like, he.
A
At least he's funny.
C
He's saying things and he's like, always, like, he does a lot of like. I can't say that. Wish I could say that. It's like. Okay, okay, stop teasing me, man. But he like them being right by the Bulls bench. There was a couple things where he's talking about, like, the Bulls bench is like going nuts over Tre Jones cooking his brother. And I don't know, I think he brings a little color to the broadcast. Vince Is a little more even keeled. Doesn't say as much, in my opinion.
A
Yes.
C
So I compliment Rivers. I thought on at least making some interesting observations and bringing a little humor, but it's a weird setup. It's a weird, weird man. But they have a monitor on their lap. You notice that, like they're holding really full.
B
Yeah, yeah.
C
They need a monitor to see the replays and graphics and stuff. It's fascinating.
A
If you're sitting courtside, it should have to be the complete fan experience. Like, you can get somebody to deliver you popcorn and a drink. You got to look up at the jumbotron to see what's happening. They shouldn't give you all the amenities that a broadcaster gets. All you get is a mic.
C
Interesting.
B
Yeah.
C
I mean, if I was one of those guys sitting next to them, like, I'm definitely like making some points, you know, trying to get on the broadcast. Hey, Vince, did you see that? That cut? See that off ball action? Don't miss that, man.
B
I don't know how long they can do it for if they have to have a monitor on their laptop.
C
They definitely do. Weird. They definitely do.
B
Yeah. Well, is Vince gonna like having a laptop on his legs? I don't think so. Is it like literally on there?
C
It's like they're holding it. It's like a. Yeah, it's like an iPad. I guess the size of that.
A
That makes sense. I thought that was like a clipboard, but, you know, it's 20, 25.
B
Yeah.
A
I should have better stuff. Austin Rivers, he loves to say no wasted movement. No wasted movement. That's not even bag work. That's just getting downhill. No wasted.
C
I love it, guys. Oh, my God. Okay, so good win here from the Magic as they again, they're racking up the victories here without Paolo. They're climbing Eastern Conference. Yeah. And Anthony Black, my final note on him, Guy does not want to take a left handed layup.
A
No.
C
But holy crap, is he good at going on the left side and finishing with his right? It's like. But the defense should know that. Not that Vuj is going to do anything anyway. But yeah, he just rarely takes a left handed layup. It's amazing.
B
Yeah. The question is, I hope Paolo is able to stay at that three point line because you have guys like Anthony Black who ain't the best of three point shooters. He needs to get downhill. Desmond Bain is freaking good at getting downhill. So they got to space the floor and Paulo's three point shots got to get better to keep spacing. That Thing.
C
Okay, let's. Let's briefly touch on Anthony Davis, who, you know, started this off with the rumor about him going to the Bulls. He did have a monster games. Was that his second game back?
A
If I remember correctly, he played against LA.
C
Okay, so second game back.
B
Sat. One game. Yeah. In between. Right.
C
Okay. 32 points for him as the Mavericks beat the Nuggets. 131. 121. You know, again, great game. 32, 13 and 4. And then Ryan Nemhard. Good old Canadian boy, Ryan Nemhard with 28 points, 10 assists and four threes. TK Thoughts on the Mavs shocking the Nuggets here.
A
Nemart Hoopin right now. Started the last three games for Dallas. Given them a little bit more shooting, I think, than Brandon Miller does. He's nine of 15.
C
Williams, you did the Brandon yesterday.
B
You called.
C
Yeah.
B
You called Brandon Miller. Brandon Ingram.
C
Yeah.
B
And now Brandon.
A
Unbelievable.
B
Let's go, Brandon.
A
How many other Brandons are there? Is that all of them? Brandon Williams, Brandon Ingram, the.
B
The big man for the Mavs is gone now. That Brandon. What was his name?
A
Brandon Wright. That was a guy. Anyway, Ryan Nemhard, brother of Aaron Nemhard, shooting it well. Brandon Williams.
C
Not necessarily Brandon Clark.
A
Hasn't played. Hasn't played. That's why it's tough to remember him. I also had Emmanuel Miller kicking around in my head.
B
Manuel, brother of Leonard.
C
That's right. That's right. Anyways, Brandon Boston Jr. Still plays?
B
I think so.
A
I haven't seen him on a court. I know that guy is a Brandon Ingram clone.
C
He hasn't played yet this season. I don't even know if he's still in the league. Okay, sorry.
A
Continue New shortcoming soon. Know your Brandon?
C
Sure.
A
Ryan Neard 28 points, 10 assists. Big pull up jumper with 2 minutes left. Next play down, breaks down the defense same way. Finds Max Christie, brother of Cam Christie, in the corner.
C
Everybody's a sibling.
A
Everybody has a brother or shares a name with somebody, but you guys totally called it. The Nuggets are playing to the level of their competition right now. Maybe part of that is having Aaron Gordon out. I do feel like he's an emotional leader for their team. But Dallas came in and is still 30th in offense and they had 102 points after three quarters. And it looked pretty easy for the Mavericks to score. They were totally in rhythm. So then when it came to the fourth quarter, they just couldn't miss. 35 assists for Dallas as well. The ball was really moving. 18 fast break points. They were Just running and gunning on the Nuggets. And I thought Davis played good big man basketball. Like there's a lot of times he's setting a cross screen for Cooper flag. Cooper comes around and is able to get to the rim. That's another guy that likes to take a left handed layup. He had quite a few last night, but Davis was just setting screens, finishing plays. I think he may have had four assists last night, but it wasn't a big playmaker for him. He was just doing his job out there, getting into the rhythm of things. You know, people were concerned that he was coming in out of shape this season. There are some photos where he looks like a big boy. For sure. He looked trim to me last night. Maybe the time off gave him a chance to, to get his body right and get ready to play for the Mavs. So they had a tough start to the season, but they're now 7 and 15. Nobody's really running away in the Western Conference. I don't think it's over for Dallas this year.
B
Yeah, it's truly interesting in the Western Conference because they're two games out of the play in tournament and they're getting their guys together and they're playing a point guard, which was a huge chunk of the story for the beginning of the season because coop flag was just fricking thrown in there. Then they tried d' Angelo Russell, it didn't work out there. They tried Brandon Ingram, Miller, Williams and now they're, they're giving it to Ryan Nemhardt who is now their starting point guard. Who's got to start. They're 2 and 1 since he started. And I think he's very, very good. That good Canadian boy from Aurora, Ontario, 28 and 10. Yeah, I think he's really important to this team. Now on the other side, this Denver Nuggets team with Jamal Murray leaving in the third quarter and not coming back and then losing the fourth quarter 29:17, that was the key to this whole game is because they didn't have Jamal Murray on the floor. With Christian Brand out, Christian Brown out and Aaron Gordon out. Huge worry for them if he's not there because this Denver Nuggets team has lost four straight at home. That's, that's yucky. But on. Yeah, hopefully he comes back. And hopefully AD keeps playing even though he had a finger wedgie in this game. And I don't mean sticking it in his own pants. I mean, yeah, like it literally between the rim and the board. Almost like it was like the rim and the board, I guess it wasn't right in between, but it was up there. But he's just out there doing what he does. And obviously Cooper Flag is getting better. Seeing him being pushed by Jason Kid. Jason Kidd wanted him to go at Jokic who plays like Vuch on defense at times. You know, it's just a hands up, just go buy me kind of thing. And Cooper Flag was doing it really well. They just got great contribution. As you said. The assists were up. They look look like a different team. So that's why the Western Conference is interesting. Do they want to trade Anthony Davis or do they want to be the team that Mark Cuban says they will be? We ain't trained that guy. They literally are not far. The teams that are at the bottom of the plan are the Grizzlies and the Blazers. They should be better than them. I took, I took the Mavs as an over preseason on their win total because I believed in them. Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving is going to play for them at some point. So this is an.
C
I mean like whether they trade him or not, this is still good. Him coming back and looking awesome and sort of dominating here against Jokic in Denver because it's just going to, you know, in theory increase his trade value. So that's great. If they keep him. That's also good too because he paired really nicely, I thought with Cooper Flag and a point guard in Ryan Nemhardt for the Nuggets. This was something we talked about when those guys went down with injuries. Like is Camp Johnson going to step up here now and sort of like take on more of a role? I thought he had a really quiet sort of like non existent game. 1 of 6 from deep, 3 of 10 overall. So only 10 points. I didn't feel his impact out there all that much at all. I sort of forgot it was the game started with just going to Spencer Jones for every basketball. That guy's got a funky looking shot, eh?
A
Yes.
C
Holy man. He's got the Reggie Miller like his arm like comes out weird. But he was scoring and Jokic was finding him because the Mavericks I think were like who the hell is this guy? But, but yeah, Cam Johnson. Come on, man. I need a little bit more here. Sort of especially stepping into the role with those guys out and then Jamal Murray going out. Yeah, it wasn't, wasn't great from the nuggets and they're 14 and 6 overall. So great record still. But like you said, struggling at home, which is weird.
B
Weird.
C
Very, very weird.
A
And most of their losses are against under 500 teams. Like they lost to the Bulls, they lost to the Mavericks here. Kings maybe. And then I think the Spurs.
B
It's been the Bulls, King, spurs and Mats in their last four losses.
C
Fascinating. All right, we're going to take a quick break, but lots more game talk and we'll talk about trading a bunch of guys from the Clippers because they got waxed last night. Don't go anywhere. FanDuel is your home for live betting. So even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus you can even combine your live bets into same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. And today, Tuesday, December 2nd, you can get a 30% SGPBT. What's that? Je. I said 30% SGP. PBT. Huh? What the are you talking about? 30% same game parlay, profit boost token.
B
Nice.
C
Yeah.
B
What an acronym.
C
Learn your acronyms however you want to play. Now is the perfect time to join because FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So visit FanDuel.com to sign up today. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, as we pivot into some Clipper trade ideas, let's start with the game itself. Miami Heat on fire from three tied a franchise record 24 three pointers last night. They rolled the Clippers 140 to 123 and they at one point Tas went on a 30 to two run. The Heat did in the second quarter. Yeah, they shot nine to 12 over that stretch. Powell had 11. His revenge game. Clippers missed all 11 of their shots. It was clank, clank, clank, clank, clank. And so you know, the score almost looks closer than it was. It wasn't that close.
B
No, it wasn't.
C
And it's get. You know, it was already bad and it's gotten worse here for la.
B
You're watching that Clippers run. I thought the Clippers had their own run because early in the late first, early second I saw Jordan Miller come off the bench for six straight points. Jordan Miller, when they need somebody on the bench to come off because we talked about them the last two games because they have swung and missed on all of their off season transactions and everybody looks old. Their bench has been struggling but to see that guy score six straight and then Kawhi was awesome. So they had an 182 run. I thought that was the best part of their game because then here comes that Heat run that you mentioned.
C
It was 30 to 2.
B
It was 32. Yeah. 20 to 0 to start. And they had a 41 point second quarter. The Clippers were just dropping on every single pick. They were dropping and allowing the Heat to fire from three. And so that's why you saw so many. And Tyron Lou said, you know what, A couple minutes into the third quarter, you guys are all sitting. He sat every single one of his starters. Some. Some of them came back. But it was a real hockey move. All five of you guys, after two minutes, sit down. Yeah, he was mad, obviously, because they were getting destroyed. So that drop defense wasn't working. James Harden finally had a bad game. So overall.
C
And he was the guy that didn't come back, by the way.
B
Right.
C
When they pulled all five guys, that's the worry. We did not see James Harden, I don't think for the rest of the game.
B
Right. Yeah, this is.
C
That was worrisome thoughts on the game itself here on. On the Heat putting up another one 40.
A
It looked like the Clippers were shocked that the Heat were taking these threes like they had never seen him play this year. Miami likes to play fast. And they walked into so many open three pointers starting with Bam out of bio on one of the first possessions of the game. Just wide open from the top of the key. So many of these looks were wide open for Miami. Unfortunately, the NBA.com video box scores were not updated today because I feel like Eric reed was like 20 for 24 kabooming.
C
Oh, he was kabooming hard.
B
So hard.
A
Hit kabam for a bam out of bio. I like that. But a disappointing effort from the Clippers. They're really struggling this season and it's because they're not playing defense. And this to me looked like they didn't have a game plan at all for how to combat a team like the Heat, which are a bad matchup for them just because of the athleticism difference and the commitment to pace that Miami has made this season. So if the Clippers come out and they aren't gonna run, they're gonna get smacked like this. 24 to nine from the three point line. That's really the story of the entire game.
C
Yeah, you said Bam hit that one early. He finished with five threes. Norman Powell again, revenge game for Norm. Six of ten from deep. Wiggins hit two. Davion Mitchell didn't miss from three. He went four for Four. Tyler Hero went four of six. Couple guys on the bench chipping in a three here or there. But the starters, I just went through the five starters there, they all were on fire from deep. So everybody, this wasn't the case of one guy was on fire. It was all weird fluke games. They were all wide open shots. Because there's no defensive backbone to this team. Nobody cares right now too is concerned.
B
Yeah, that's, that's a lot of threes. 24 threes overall. They had 14 in the first half and yeah, a lot of them were just, hey, we're, we're playing drop defense and they didn't want it. They're obviously struggling to get back in transition. They're. Oldham is obviously a big problem with that. And you know, literally when I start, I started talking about Jordan Miller because I have hopes for somebody off the bench just to help out. But nobody really else was helping out off the bench. Otherwise, you know, he had six points and then Batum had three. So that's why they got spanked in that second quarter and they ain't coming back. Even though Tyloo said you all sit because we need something.
C
I mean, Maxwell, at that point, I can't even blame them.
B
Yeah, no, no, no. It kind of helped them. But what they really want is what the Heat are doing. The on ball defense of Davion Mitchell. Andrew Wiggins is just there every single time. And that's important. That's, that's their, their defense. And Clippers, they do not have that.
C
That was Miami's fifth time reaching the 140 point mark this season after getting there a total of eight times in the franchise's 37 seasons. They've done it five times this year. 140, they hit that mark. They did it eight combined times in the franchise's history. So that's how great this offense is clicking right now. But let's pivot back to the Clips and let's trade some guys because they need to like, they legit need to blow this up. I think. Yeah, I don't think this is going to fix itself here. So maybe they look at moving one of their main guys for whatever. Some, some players, some young players, some draft capital. So what do you got?
B
I agree. It's December 2nd. The Clippers are 5 and 16. They have to be thinking about trading some of their big parts because their off season transit transactions were all swinging. Miss Bradley Beal, he's already out for the season with an injury. Brook Lopez has been yanked from the rotation and The Norman Powell for John Collins trade really, really hurts them offensively. Their old guys are not getting younger. So I propose some deals for each one of their big guys. Okay, let's start with Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi Leonard to the Miami Heat. Now, this trade works on all the trade boards out there, all your trade machines.
C
Okay?
B
The Heat received Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers would receive Andrew Wiggins, Simone Fontechio, Nikola Jovic. There's a young guy. We need a young guy who's been.
C
Brutal this year, but yes, young Kashad.
B
Johnson and a 20, 29 first round pick. What do you guys think of that? Wiggy Fontecho, Jovic, Kashad Johnson and a first round pick for Kawhi Leonard.
C
So if I'm the Heat, I'm upgrading Andrew Wiggins for Kawhi Leonard. Sign me up. I don't mind that at all. For them. For them, this is a, you know, are the Clippers sort of getting enough here in exchange? I don't know, but I think Miami is definitely considering this because that's what the upgrade is and they're playing well and it's a wide open east, as we keep saying, feels like it is. So I don't mind that.
A
I actually think this is a pretty good trade from both sides. I don't think I'm totally convinced Kawhi is a huge upgrade over Andrew Wiggins at this point.
C
Okay.
B
Oh, respect for Wiggy.
C
Sure.
A
Kawhi has better stats across the board in literally every single category, including percentages. Except for Wiggins is a little bit better passer. But Wiggins plays.
B
Yes, that's huge.
A
That's huge. And he plays fast. Kawhi Leonard doesn't play fast. We see it with the Clippers. This is a huge key for the Miami Heat. Running and gunning, shooting three pointers, getting off the ball, driving and kicking. Wiggins is bought into this system right now. Whereas you play with Kawhi. All he wants to do is ISO and shoot mid range jumpers.
C
But there are a lot of ISO possessions on the Heat too, and he is still an elite ISO player. So it sort of fits that mold. I hear you. On the pace of everything. But he also then is not asked to do as much in this really good Heat team. With Cam and Tyler Herro and Norm playing the way he is, it was interesting. He didn't have Tyler Hero going out in this, I thought, which is what I think the Clippers would be like. We want Tyler Hero because we want a younger guy that can Score and play with some juice, but okay. He doesn't mind the deal.
B
Yeah, I was trying to make the package the one that I think the Clippers could actually get that type of quality. And I know Kawhi Leonard's a fricking good player, but he's 34. He's paid for this year and next year. And as you said about Andrew Wiggins, that guy plays. I'm just. That is a huge factor here with Kawhi. We are. We're getting close to a point in Kawhi's career where we don't know if he's going to be playing in the playoffs. Yeah, that's clear.
C
And that's why you're trading him to a team that believes they are one guy like Kawhi away from like competing for a title. Be it the Heat, I guess other teams would be the Warriors. Let's say the Bucks, like that are like struggling right now and need to get back up to that level in their cases. But like, it's tough to make a deal with those teams.
B
Exactly. So they are. They are. I went through the trade machine for the warriors. Didn't look good just because of how top heavy they are in their salaries. You ain't trading Steph, you ain't trading Draymond, you ain't trained Jimmy. Right.
C
Kaminga is a part of it.
B
Yeah.
C
That's what the Clippers would want. Okay, now you're talking on about something. But then, yeah, to get there is very.
B
Yeah. And the Heat definitely want a guy to play ISO ball at times in the playoffs. Like come playoffs. I think Spoelstra will say we need somebody to just produce. Will Kawaii be out there? Is a fair question. Are what they're giving up here a first round pick, Is that too much for. For the. For the Miami Heat? I don't know. I think this is doable. Jovich has not lived up to that contract that he signed this offseason. He's coming off the bench and he hasn't been one of those quick movers. Move that ball. Play ISO if you need to. So he's turning ball. This was comparable.
C
He's not good with the ball. I. I had higher hopes for him. He's in year four. I talked with KOC on his podcast yesterday about Yovich. He came up and I was. I expected bigger things. Like we brought up the game that they just had against the Pistons, I think where he coughed the ball over like twice in a 10 second span. And they were just like, they were the bad turnovers. It was like, I don't know, what are you doing? You're panicking. You're giving it up. You don't trust your handle. So. Yeah, yeah, like. But I mean, I'm all that to say, like, I understand, like, a player like that going to the Clippers or going to a new spot, maybe, like, he unlocks something and he's still not, like, going to be out of the league next year. I'm not saying that, like, there's something there. He's just really been bad. And the Heat have so many guys that Spoelstra just goes to ahead of him now. Like, no. Like, obviously Hawkeye's junior is, like, bounced back, but there's so many other guys on the wing, Paul Larson and stuff like that, so. So he's also just getting squeezed in terms of opportunity, so. But maybe going to LA and playing in the Intuit Dome would unlock something. Okay. I love it. I mean, it's interesting. Yeah, it's interesting.
A
Pretty fair, I think.
C
Yeah.
B
Okay, let's move on to James Harden. James Harden moving to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The package that would be coming back to have James Harden playing beside Anthony Edwards, would that work? The package would be Naz Reed, Mike Conley, Rob Dillingham, a youngie there for the oldie Clippers, and Joe Ingles. Now, this can't be done till January 15, and Minnesota would have to sign three players because that's taken a lot of guys off their roster. So there are two ways. With great names like Johnny Juzang, Enrique Freeman and Rocco Zacharsky. You're up, boys. You're no longer two ways. That being said, what do you guys think of Nasrid, Conley, Dillingham and Ingles going to the Wolves? Excuse me, The Clips. Yeah.
C
I mean, what do you think about Hardin on the Timberwolves here?
A
I don't hate it.
C
So you want a point guard that you're. Yeah. Trust here, I guess, obviously, with Conley too old, Dillingham too young, you know, not there yet or maybe never will be. So here you go. You get harder.
A
I don't think they're really giving up all that much. The Timberwolves wouldn't. Conley is a good guy to have around. I don't have a lot of faith in dealing him right now. Joe Ingles in Bob Bounce the Ball always knows the play. The best part, Naz Reed is the best player leaving for the Timberwolves, but he's kind of struggling this season. He's got a long contract. They've got players at his position, though. Maybe Gobert isn't long for the Timberwolves with his contract coming to a close pretty soon here. They would have to pay Harden right away because he is going to be a free agent or at least extension eligible after the season. So would you rather play pay nas Reed at 26 years old for the next four years or James Harden at 36 for the next four years? I think that's a tough question to answer there. My dream location for Harden is somehow making his way to the Rockets go back home shot maker for them. But that's almost impossible without Fred Van Vliet being included or a ton of picks. But I don't know, it does feel to me like the Timberwolves need some sort of a shakeup. Like they're a good team, but there are teams that are clearly ahead of them right now. Right.
B
And so that's why I included Harden here going to Minnesota. The other option was, yeah, the Rockets, as you said, they need somebody to make shots. Is Anthony Edwards in this scenario okay with Harden handling the ball so much? Because he has been focusing and increasing his possessions at the end of games as the guy can Harden play off that at times in the postseason he can. And so I do think this is an interesting one. I do think this thins out their front court, the Timberwolves a little bit because it's Rudy Gobert getting older along with Julius Randall and then you're getting super young beyond that. So that's, that's the scary part, I think for the Timberwolves. So I'm not sure they would even, even do this.
C
Were you tinkering with the trade machine in a Wolves Clippers Harden, Randall sort of thing here?
B
I didn't throw Randall. I didn't throw Randall in there. I know Trey mentioned him on our sub stack page when he's doing his power rankings and talking about moving away from Julius Randall. I didn't do the math on him.
C
Okay. I didn't either. So I was curious.
B
Yeah. Just because, I mean he is such a big part of their team, but he would make, I think he makes basically what NAS plus a Mike Conley would. So it could work financially, I do think.
C
Right. The idea of the Wolves shake it up though, it's like get a guard and get rid of one of your bigs in having sort of the luxury of having three, you know, pretty good. Even though I'm with tk, I think Nazrid has struggled. I think he had he Das Reed's had a weird career. He like facilitates back and forth between underrated and overrated. It's like I feel like it switches all the time with him. But that's the plan at least. You'd move out one of your bigs and then you would try and get a guard. But James Harden, man, is the defense gonna, you know, around him gonna be good enough? Maybe you believe in. You'd still be fine if Edwards plays at an elite level. McDaniels, go bear. You still like your backbone? Sure. It's a hell of a shakeup.
A
It'd be a big time shakeup.
C
Big time.
A
And you could.
C
You kindly ain't afraid of that stuff.
A
Big time. Yeah, he loves a big swing kind of trade. And bringing in Harden to the Timberwolves would be a big swing. You can make it work with Randall slotting in instead of Nas Reed and some other contracts there. It's just a little bit more complicated. But teams don't usually sell high. That's the thing. Like, Randall's playing well. He's leading the team in assists. But to me, his assists are all, I can't get a bucket so I'm going to drop it off for an assist. These aren't like in the flow of the offense creating for other assists all the time. That's something Harden is good at. It would take a lot of responsibility off Anthony Edwards plate. Those two in the same locker room seems pretty hilarious. Imagine Harden and Edwards. They'll be on some Instagram pages. I do believe if they were together, but I don't know. Like I said, I think the Timberwolves need some kind of a shake up. Even though they've gone to two straight Western Conference finals, once they get there, they haven't been super competitive in either of them.
B
Yeah. And yeah, I wonder if this is too much of a shake up for a team that's made two conference finals. That being said, they traded away Carl Anthony Towns. Would they want to trade another one of their bigs again, it's Rudy Gobert. And then you're just hoping like a Yoan Baron J can fill minutes because yeah, you'd rely on Randall, but you're pretty thin up front. So this is an interesting one.
C
The return for the wool, I mean for the clips, like for this hypothetical heart into Timberwolves. Like, like that's not bad. Like the Dillingham piece is obviously very enticing.
B
Yeah, it is.
C
You know, Nasrid is a good player. Conley a great vet. You know, whether he's like swung somewhere else Joe Engel, same thing. Like, these are obviously professional guys, so that's, like, not brutal.
B
No, it's not. And Naz Reed, I don't know. It feels like he's been around a while. He's only 26 and Dillingham's super young. I wonder if there's more out there for James Harden in return. I'm not sure. That's a pretty good return. That being said, the last guy I'm going to go to with the Los Angeles Clippers moving somebody up, it ain't moving a huge name out at all. Maybe they want to go for it. Maybe they want to say, go for what?
C
Well, for six wins.
B
Yeah. Well, basically. Basically, when we saw Norm Powell traded away for John Collins, we saw so much of their offense just go poof. They need somebody to be able to score the ball. So let's say they bring in Zach Levine from the Sacramento Kings in return for John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovich, Yannick, Conan Niederhauser and Kobe Brown. The Kings are basically getting some size, and John Collins are getting a little younger. And Niederhauser. Conan Niederhauser. And I mean, they get off Levine. That's what it is here.
C
My crap for your crap. Yeah, exactly.
B
Right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Money wise, lavine is paid this year, and then he's a player option for next year. So the Kings say, well, I'd rather have a John Collins in here. We'll see what that big guy, old Niederhauser, can do for us.
C
Yeah.
B
Even though he hasn't done much for the Clippers at all in year number one. And the Clippers just don't have draft picks. So they may say, I don't think this is necessarily a season here where Ballmer says, we gotta trade Kawhi or Harden. Maybe they just say, we need somebody else. We need talent. As our guys said. As Kawhi basically said, we need talent. Zach Levine's talented. He can put points on the board. I don't know if this is enough for the Kings going back to them, but how much is coming back for the Kings, Right. For Zach Levine?
C
Not a lot.
B
Yeah.
C
Yeah. What do you. What do you think, TK this almost.
A
Makes too much sense.
C
Yeah.
A
Because it would change nothing. It would just be moving a lot of guys around. So I'm like, do it. You're like, oh, Levine, man, he's an efficient scorer. The Clippers need somebody who can go get a bucket.
B
They do.
A
Can do that. He doesn't do anything else. And he's gonna want to be paid as well. He'll have an extension or be eligible for an extension going into next year. Unless they just say, just play it out. Take your player option. I suppose they could do that and then start the rebuild and in earnest in la. John Collins. Like, the Kings could use a big guy.
B
Yeah.
A
Bogdanovich going back home.
B
Oh, yeah.
C
I actually think the Kings are more interested in this weird deal than maybe the Clippers are, because at least they get some flyers. Yeah. The guys to fill some. Some holes in there, obviously roster. And Kikamari's back, so they obviously have power forward now. But this is. This really is the equivalent of like, the. The Kings on one side of the street and the Clippers on the other side of the street and got garage sales going. And the Clippers are like, ah, I got a bunch of Beanie Babies here.
A
What do you guys.
C
That TV work? No, it barely works. So let's just swap them. Tired of looking at these Beanie Babies? Well, yeah. I'm tired of holding this tv, man. It's cost me a fortune. This works. This is for works.
A
Beanie Babies.
C
What's that?
A
Who do you think is the Beanie?
C
Well, the Beanie Babies are the Kings. The Clippers have a bunch of Beanie Babies.
B
Okay.
C
Yeah. Yeah. The TV's the old Zach Levine's. The old TV.
B
Yeah.
C
I think it's good.
B
What are the new Beanie Babies? The Boo Boo.
C
Yeah.
B
Boo. Boo. Boo Boo. Yeah.
C
And.
B
And as far as the head of the Beanie. Beanie. Beanie Babies on the Clippers, they look at this and may say, we have got our entire roster paid through next season. And I don't know if we can give away Kawhi and Harden and all that. So let's just try something here with Zach Levine to. To up our offense, because that would help.
C
The issue is, like, their defense also sucks.
B
Yeah.
C
So he ain't gonna help that.
B
No. No, he's not. Yeah, that's a tough spot. They're in a super tough spot. But this is the year of the Intuit Dome having the All Star Game. You know, Bomber might say we are going for it, because I don't know if they're. If they're pulling the plug here on a Kawhi or a Harden. I. I think it's a fair possibility that they trade for somebody to shake things up. So there's three deals. Tell me how dumb they are. If they're doable. I know they don't really excite a lot of People, I'd say from both sides.
C
What are you talking about? These are emergency podcasts.
B
Oh, cross the board.
C
All three of these.
B
Yeah. Harden on the Wolves.
C
Depending.
B
It's interesting.
C
Depending weekend. Are we jumping on to do an emergency podcast on the weekend? Kawhi, yes. Kawhi, yes. If he goes to a team where you're like, whoa, whoa. That maybe changes the landscape.
B
Harden on the Wolves. Yeah.
C
Yeah.
A
I would say quiet and hard.
C
I'd say do it without me. Both.
A
I'm busy. Kawai and Harden to me are both emergency podcasts and a Beanie Babies for TV trade. Levine, Collins, Bodanovich. That's only if it happens during the week of the trade deadline. You know, like. Like on a Monday afternoon.
C
Yeah. Okay.
A
All right.
C
I can hop in the yard, right? That's fair.
B
That's fair.
C
All right. Great stuff, Tas. We're gonna have a lot more fun with the trade machines here as we get closer and close, closer to the trade deadline, which is February 5th is the actual trade deadline. The reason I know that I noted last night during the broadcast, the Olympics, the Winter Olympics start February 6th. I said, thank God. Thank God. The trade deadline will be done before the Olympics start. So I thought in my head, although I'm not as into the Winter Olympics as I am in the Summer Olympics, but still, you know, you can catch me, you can get me with a good story. Give me a good speed skating story.
A
I'm in.
C
Bonnie Blair.
A
What a legend.
C
All right, some other games we gotta briefly touch on the sun snapping the Lakers seven game winning streak with the dominant 1:25, 1:08 victory. Luca, nine turnovers tied a career high. And this is wild. All nine of his turnovers resulted in steals for the Suns, which was the most live ball turnovers by any player in a game this season according to ESPN research. Whole bunch of live poll turnovers. And on the other side, Dylan, the villain, a guy you wrote about on substack, Tas hit the link in the show notes. Join our substack page. He was awesome and he was agitating the crowd and he's mocking LeBron, doing his shoulder flex, poking the bear and backing it up with a great, great game from him.
B
The Sun's played harder. I want to give Dylan Brooks credit. I want to give Colin Gillespie credit. At the same time, they simply just played harder. We all know even though Luca came out, dropped 20 in the first quarter, they didn't have it. And you could see the absence of what Marcus Smart means to this team. He was out I don't know why Vando didn't come in because I know JJ Reddick doesn't trust him. But no one was. No one was moving the ball right. Ruyamura, he almost had a Tony Snell line in this game.
C
A lot of cardio. Yeah.
B
Super close, but he did.
C
Yeah.
B
One big board. I don't know how many times he touched the ball. He didn't touch it much. He's out there.
C
Speaking of the box score, do you see the Lakers had one steal, zero blocks. Yeah.
B
Wow.
C
I mean, it's rare.
A
That is pretty rare. But it also kind of felt like that, like, yeah, this has got to be a little bit of a concerning game, I think, for J.J. redick. Just the way the Lakers were completely shredded on pick and rolls. Like deandre Ayton. He was in V shrug mode all night long, like, you know, trying to help on a pick and roll, but easily to pick off whoever was the point of attack defender for the Lakers. So that guy gets lost the Nate and doesn't really step to anybody. He's like caught in no man's land in between, and nobody's tagging the roller behind. I thought Rui played a pretty bad game. Maybe influenced by this post that's going around on Twitter of just the Lakers yelling at Rui nonstop. For him being in the wrong place all the time. He's always in the wrong place on both ends of the court. They're like, go stand over there. And then it's just LeBron somehow finds him for a pass. Wide open, three in the corner. But 26 points or 28 to 2. Fast break points for Phoenix.
B
That's huge.
A
It was steel after steel going the other way. 18 assists for the Lakers. It was just the Suns doing a great job of being smart with their help defense. Like, I don't know if Mark Williams can technically have a revenge game against the Lakers, but it felt like he was really, well, well, he was really good help defense. And then the perimeter guys were able to stay attached to the shooters probably because not a lot of threatening guys out there all the time for the Lakers. So a great performance, I thought, from the Suns. Gillespie went nuts in the fourth quarter and Dylan Brooks was hilarious.
C
Oh, my God. He was hitting some, like, Kobe like shots. Yeah. Amazing. He had 23 in the first half, 15 in the second quarter. That helped them get that big lead. There was one, one span where Dylan the villain was 10 of 11 from the floor, and he was definitely feeling it. I love this quote after the game from Colin About Dylan Brooks. Sometimes I'm trying to tell him to chill out but I think he just blacks out. I think Dylan Brooks blacked out last night. But look he was backing it up. He was. And this is a feud especially between Dylan Brooks and LeBron James. Goes back into Dylan Brooks time with the Grizzlies when that's the whole poke the bear thing came about and then it didn't go well for Dylan and I don't think he ever played again for the Grizzlies after that series. But obviously has sort of reinvented himself a little bit here with the Rockets and then now here with Phoenix and they're 13 and 9 and this is a very tough part of their schedule here. It's like they're playing the best teams basically in the Western Conference. Got the win over the Lakers on the road. Now they go to Houston so could be a revenge game there for Dylan Brooks. Then they go to Minnesota a little bit lower obviously in standings and then they go to OKCs and then they play two games against the Warriors. Then the Lakers again. Very difficult stretch.
B
Yeah, that first game against Houston though they've. Houston's got to make up for losing against the Utah Jazz the way they did last night. But we're talking about a Phoenix Suns team that goes and beats la. We didn't even mention Devin Booker because he left this game after only 10 minutes played. They didn't need him. They had Brooks and Colin Gillespie combining for 61 frickin points. That's a lot of points against a team with Luka Doncicu again. Yeah, he scored a lot. As I said, 20 points in the first quarter. But you could just see even from the first quarter this team was not going to move the ball. You mentioned those, the lack of assists, Trey there with you know 18 or 19 depending on the box score that you look at. That's just not a lot for this team. They did not look cohesive at all. Too many turnovers for this team and the Suns were just running 28:2 in fast break points. I mean that's. That just tells you the Lakers turnovers were self inflicted though as well. Like the Suns were good and playing hard but they were. Lakers were not ready to play.
C
You said Luka scored a lot but that may have been the game plan from the Suns because Luka after the game said I feel like it definitely was a different defense than other teams play. They were kind of trying to let me go score instead of creating for others.
A
Absolutely.
C
So it was kind of confusing but like I said, I just can't have it. And he's talking about the habit with the nine turnovers. He took full responsibility. Sloppy play, but was a little perplexed by how the the Suns were more staying at home on other guys and letting him maybe try and operate one on one.
A
There were a lot of passes that Luca often makes to the corners. You know, like driving in, getting the help and then just chucking it to the corner. And there was just the guy standing there the entire time. So I thought pretty smart stuff from the Sun's coaching staff. Did you see a mirror sitting courtside?
C
I did not.
A
He had great seats. Damn. Two seats down from Derek Fisher. Him and the guy he was with when Colin Gillespie was going nuts. You should have seen this guy.
C
Was it Jake?
A
That was not according to the gram. Probably Amir's agent if I'm guessing.
C
Yeah, sure, the seats are that good. Very nice. Very nice.
B
Nice.
C
So great win from Phoenix. Another game I wanted to get your take on. Was Kate Cunningham starring late again as the Pistons hang on to beat the Hawks. Sad kaka. Close game though. 99, 98 trey. Any takeaways from the under 100?
A
What's going on over here? Yeah, I think Nuggets and Mavs were both over 100 by the end of the third quarter. But Hawks got into this game in the fourth, had taken a lead by playing his own defense and daring Detroit to take some three pointers. Detroit went 5 of 26 from the three point line on the night, but for whatever reason, the Hawks gave up on the zone midway through the fourth quarter. I thought that's when Cade Cunningham started playing the way he wanted to. Whether it be in pick and roll or just attacking one on one with a tie game. 3 minutes and 57. 50 seconds left. Cade scored eight of the last 10 points for the Pistons. They were making good defensive plays. Ron Holland played really well. Karis Lavert was active in passing lanes. That's our Thompson, I thought was really good in the fourth quarter. And then Kate had an incredible shot.
C
Oh, that was awesome.
A
This Dagger layup. Yeah, there's what, maybe 20 seconds left. The Hawks are trying to trap him. He somehow scored on all five Hawks. He splits Johnson and Daniels with a spin move at about half court. And then he goes through Wallace Akongwu and Nikhil Alexander Walker to get to his left and finish on the other side of the court. He's been an awesome clutch player all year long and this was him putting the team on his back when they weren't looking all that efficient on the offensive end and saying, hey, I'll take us to a nice W here.
C
Yeah. How many times this season already have we said basically Cade Cunningham scored eight of his final points over the final three minutes to help the Pistons pull out or rally in a victory so many times. All the AP reports start with that in every Pistons win, it feels like because he's done it time and time again this season. But that was a fun game. I mean it wasn't high scoring but. But two of these teams on the come up for sure. Yeah.
B
And. And after Cunningham hit a pull up jumper, it was a two point game. 30 seconds left. We saw our guy was it. It was Dyson Daniels inbounding the ball and he got it back and I thought he had a beautiful path to the lane and he had. Jalen Duran was there, but he decided to pass out to Anyika Kongwu who is hilariously still jogging out to the three point line, then turned around and caught it and then shot a three pointer that he missed. I thought Daniel should have shot that thing and tied that thing. And I just mentioned that because the fourth quarter was fun to watch. The Atlanta Hawks play basketball in the offensive end. Just how many guys are touching that thing? Jalen Johnson's on this incredible run that we talked about yesterday. Last three games now 33 points, 13 boards, almost nine assists, 50% from the floor. Just doing it all. Nikhil Alexander Walker on a fricking run. Those three games, 26, 34 and 30 to go along with Dyson Daniels, who I just mentioned. Anyaka Kong was stepping in as a fourth guy. I believe in the Zachary Rhys Sachet growth at some point. It is fun just to watch this team. So this was just a good game. Even though they weren't scoring, it was.
C
Fun to watch the other games last night. Wizards beat the Bucks. Yeah, Kevin Porter Jr. Had a big game, but 129, 126 Middleton revenge game. McCollum played well. Lowry Marketen scored 29. Keonte George, he bounced back after. Did he have an offer? I mean he went over.
B
He had an offer in the previous game against the Rockets.
C
That's right. But the Jazz got their revenge against Houston there, so they took care of business. Michael Porter Jr. Scored a bunch. Nets beat the Hornets. And then Donovan Mitchell scored even more. 43 points. Cavs beat the Pacers. Any of those games you Want to highlight?
A
TK I watched Nets vs Hornets live.
C
You are who you are. My guy.
A
Literally. I turned it on. I was like, people need to know that we actually watch these teams that stink facts because they're good. They're still good players out there.
C
Some great plays in that game.
A
It was a fun game to watch. MPJ Curious Mike Peanut man himself. This guy was killing 35 points, four assists, four assists for Michael Porter Jr. That's like when Scott Skiles had 30 assists, 73 equivalent. Yeah, it's about the same. Seven threes for Michael Porter Jr. Was his sixth 30 point game of the season. He had three last year for the Nuggets. Totally different roles at this point. But he was just letting it fly anytime he had a sliver of daylight. And that's why he owes Nick Claxton some kind of a dinner. I know Michael Porter Jr. Doesn't like to tip for his dinners. You got a tip even if you're spending a lot of money on your dinners. Nine screen assists for Claxton last night. 24 screen assist points.
C
Damn.
A
Yeah, I was deep.
B
Whoa. That is deep in the data.
A
Checking the screen assist and it felt like he was just able to pick off whoever was guarding Michael Porter Jr. And then it didn't matter if they double teamed him anyways. He would just shoot over the top.
C
Yeah.
A
Danny Wolf played the entire fourth quarter.
B
That's your guy.
A
Cock literally hit and I'll after he hit a deep three in the fourth quarter. But 10 points, five boards. He moves the ball. I don't think he ever touches the ball with two hands. When he passes it. If he drives to the lane it's like a one hand dish to the outside. If he's swinging the ball it's just a little scoop underne. It's a very funny way to play. He's very big. He's a seven footer.
C
Yeah.
A
And he's maybe not going to block a shot the entire year. He just stands in the way and hopes you miss. Sometimes it works. And so I don't know. He played well on Saturday. I think he had 22, his first real run for the nets. But it looks like he's at least got something. I don't know if he's fast enough to be like a starter in the NBA but just an unusual skill set that and it threw down a huge dunk on top of Miles Bridges.
C
I was going to ask you what.
A
Was the better one?
C
What was the better dunk? The Wolf man himself or Clowny had a huge one on Cal Brenner too. Monster they were throwing down. Yeah.
A
I got to check the dunk score to know which one was better. That's the only way I can tell.
C
Okay.
B
I had no problems watching the Hornets. Nets. This was a great night for a multi screen NBA app. That was good. It was good. But Danny Wolf has got some jokes too. They put him on, you know, with the IN arena feed. If you're watching on the NBA app, you see him or you see whatever's going on in the IN arena. And yeah, he had his little own little segment where he was the guy making the jokes and they're asking him and people were laughing. Danny Wolf. So yeah, it was fun to watch that.
C
Segments called People were Laughing.
B
Yeah, people were laughing. I will say people were crying watching the Milwaukee Bucks and the Washington Wizards. They went to Washington. Milwaukee went to Washington. It was Greek night. Halftime. There was Greek dancing happening. It was enjoyable to watch because. Because Giannis is. There they go doing that kind of stuff. And they're destroying the wizards in the third quarter. They're up double digits. You mentioned Kevin Porter Jr. He had his best game of the season so far. And the Bucks were ball. And they had 21 threes in this game and they still lost because in the fourth quarter they kind of, they, they took their foot off. Off the pedal and they said, I think they, they assumed we're going to win because The Wizards had nine second chance points in that fourth quarter. You know, 15 offensive rebounds overall, 22nd, 22 second chance points. That's where they lost this game. And then, you know, without Alex Sar, they're getting those boards and then guys like Middleton and McCollum column hit this freaking shot with two seconds left on the shock lock. That was huge for them. But somehow the Bucks, yeah, again, took their foot off the pedal. And I will just say about the Cavs, a day after you mentioned Jaylon Tyson's quote saying we got to play harder. He had his best career game and they had 28 second chance points. So they played hard even though it was the Pacers. But still, I mean, the Pacers are definitely a more respectable team right now. So that was a good win for the Cavs. Anyways. It seemed like they played.
C
I also thought of TK Saying they only win when Donovan Mitchell goes for like 35. Now, I, I don't think that was really the case last night because it was a pretty comfortable win. But he got there, he got there and he looked amazing again.
B
He's the guy.
C
Yeah, 43 there.
B
Like I said, it's not good for them that they need that. That's for sure.
C
Right, right, right. All right. Those are the games from last night, it was some good action. You're right. You had the multi view. So all four. You had four boxes. Quad box.
B
You can go four, you know, and you could switch quickly. Switch one, drop one from, you know, the multi screen. If they go to halftime and you don't want to watch the Greek dancing, you want to watch something else.
C
Plates being broken or. No, just.
A
Are you kidding me, bro?
B
No, no, no. You know, those traditional.
C
Like, the big.
B
The traditional garments come out. Okay, so did you know the song? Well, yeah, they all sound the same. Oh, okay. And they go like this anyway. And people dance. So, yeah, that's. That's how it goes. But, yeah, an arena. It's fun. Was Christian and Scooby out yesterday or the day before?
C
Because I didn't see him last night.
B
No, Christian's always out.
C
Oh, God. The guy's. He's a busy man. Dogs are busy, Scooby. Dogs are busy, Scooby as an agent.
A
Man, full social skill.
C
I bet you Christian's his agent. Agent, which I think is a conflict of interest, if we're being honest.
A
Why Christian takes 10% of Scooby's fees.
C
I think a lot more than 10%.
B
Yeah. Sometimes I watch it.
C
Scoobs, if you're listening or watching, I'd love to represent you.
B
Yeah. Because Scooby doesn't get enough cam time. He doesn't get enough camera time. Christian will be out there doing his headstands for, like, four minutes, and I say, where's the dog? It's literally just Christian doing head sand.
C
That's what he wants.
B
I know, I know, I know. But maybe he wants the attention. Maybe Christian just wants the attention. What about the dog?
C
We love our guy Christian, man.
B
Scooby is nothing without Christian. That's my hot take.
C
Is a take. You think Christian is the show? 100%. I could not disagree more. I am telling you right now, pull. People leaving that arena that had the honor to watch Christian and Scooby perform at halftime, poll them, say, what do you remember from halftime? You think they're gonna remember Christian?
B
That dog is literally riding around Christian's shoulders.
C
The dog also dunks. Thank you very much. They've added that. And the dunk does the transfer from ball to ball, which is always one of the more impressive things.
B
Okay.
C
And he goes in the little boombox.
A
Yeah, that's where the dog is.
B
It's in the boom box.
C
Christian taught him everything he knows. Well, I understand that. Okay. Christian's dad taught him everything he knows.
B
100%.
A
It's literally true.
C
We know a lot about these guys. All right.
A
Was just walking on earth.
C
L l of the night. Unsullied by sponsorship since November. But if you'd like to sponsor Woboy, get in touch with us. El Pryn Sengun is getting Woah boy the night even though it came in a loss, 31 points. Matched a career high with 14 assists. Shot 12:19 from the field, 6 of 8 at the line. Grabbed eight boards, game high five blocks and two steals. So Elpy did it all there again in a loss, but doesn't matter with Wellplay, 38 minutes of action. We didn't talk about that game either. But good, good stuff from the Jazz there. You know, it's tough no matter how bad or good a team is, tough to get those back to back wins. The old little baseball series. Right? Right. Pick them tonight. Tas. Where are we going, my man? Because you and I got a victory last night.
B
We're going to the NBC game leading the night. We're going to Boston. Knicks are visiting. Okay, so I had to go with that. The second one is Thunder warriors on NBC and we got a decent skid overall, six games overall. But I had to go with Boston hosting the Knicks. They're one point and a half favorite so they gotta win by two. Skeets, you're taking Boston while Trey and I are taking the New York Knicks.
C
I thought the line was a little funky if I'm being honest. What's going on here? I would have thought the Knicks maybe would have been favorite.
B
I hear you.
C
Now I know there's some questionable guy. I don't. Is Derek White playing? I would really like Derek White to play for my chances here, but I think he's questionable last I saw. But yeah, I'll take. I'll take Boston. They're a weird team. Man. Is this scrappy Pritchard's. He's found his shot. He's on a heater right now. Jalen Brown's like one of the top 10 players in the league that never gets talked about either. So I'll take Boston at home.
B
Yeah, they're not talked about a ton as we've talked about on this show. We. Jalen Brown's barely been talked about, but they are 11, 9 compared to the Knicks. 13 at 6. It feels like the Knicks are way farther ahead.
C
Right.
B
Than the Celtics. But you got the Knicks, Trey.
A
Yeah, they got the points. You know, that's kind of what it all comes down to for me because both teams are playing pretty well, right now, concerning stat. I heard after I made the pick though on Zach Lowe's podcast, talking with Moda Keel, the Knicks give up more threes than any team in the league. Celtics do take a lot of threes.
C
Just need to hit them. Just need to hit them tonight, boys.
A
Derek White probable is what I think probably gonna play.
C
All right, so that's one of the games on Peacock for all NBC for some, right. It's a coast to coast night. So the people on the West Coast.
A
That's right.
C
I do not believe on NBC get the game. Yes, confirmed.
B
They don't get the early one. That's right. But then on the west coast they get the late one. Yeah, okay.
A
See Golden State. That's nice too.
B
Yeah, that's nice. Nice.
C
We got Wizard Sixers. Okay. Blazers, Raptors, Wolves, Pelicans and Grizzly Spurs.
A
Grizzly.
B
Yeah, that's a good one.
C
Okay. Okay. We will be here tomorrow to potentially talk about some of those games. But also this is fun. We got special guests tomorrow. Pierre Andreessen from Numbers on the Board and his own pod teed up is swinging by. Well, not swinging by. He's jumping on a zoom call.
A
Zooming by.
C
He's zooming by. But we'll have some fun asking Pierre some questions as we hit the quarter mark of the NBA season. This guy, always good for a take or two. Oh, yeah. And I don't know if we want to do it. We could try and stump him on players, what school they went to. You know, he's like an encyclopedia with that stuff. Oh, he's very, very good.
A
Okay, that's a good idea.
C
He's just one of those people that knows 99% of where a guy went to college.
A
We're gonna have to find some freaks.
C
We could try. I've seen him. I've seen him do some amazing ones.
B
It's like, whoa, that's wild.
C
So anyway, very excited for Pierre from Numbers on the Board. We've had Kenny on before, so let's have Pierre on. That's tomorrow. We'll see you live at 10am Eastern here from the Classic Factory. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
A
Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.
B
Thanks for joining us. And remember, when it comes to the Christian and Scooby halftime show, according to our fans, which is the only opinion that matters, Scooby is the show 80% to 20% in our poll. J.D. j.D. Just drops a. Wow. Unbelievable. Wow.
C
Brace the day, people.
B
Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first. There the last one. Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.
C
Ah, greetings from my bath festive friends. The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling this season with PayPal and making the.
A
Most of my money getting 5% cash.
B
Back when I pay in 4.
A
No fees, no interest.
C
I used it to get this portable spa with jets. Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body. Make the most of your money this Holiday with paper PayPal Save the offer.
B
In the app ends1231 See paypal.com promoter.
C
Points can be redeemed for cash and more. Paying for subject to terms and approval.
B
PayPal Inc. And MLS 910457Amazon Five Star.
A
Theater presents Real Customer Reviews performed by Ed Helms. Tonight's Review Tactical Jacket I was living a simple life. Didn't get out much. Then I bought this jacket and everything changed. Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign. On the 245 day sailboat voyage home, I was attacked by a shark. I knew it was the jacket he.
C
Was after giving up the jacket in exchange for my life.
A
5 stars Amazon Customer 69 Shop the perfect gift this Holiday on Amazon this is an I Heart podcast.
B
Guaranteed human.
Episode Theme:
The crew tackles major NBA trade rumors featuring the Bulls, Clippers, and Anthony Davis; debates if Chicago should go all-in, proposes bold Clippers blow-it-up trade ideas, and celebrates the villainy of Dillon Brooks. Also: analysis of the night’s wild games and memorable NBA moments—all in the No Dunks signature fast, irreverent style.
Main Discussion:
Key Points:
Trey (Bulls Fan) skeptical:
“The Bulls are not in a position to trade any of their own first round picks... The Bulls aren’t close to winning. Adding Anthony Davis is not equivalent to adding Pascal Siakam as it's mentioned in the article.” (05:37)
Tas advocates for the move at the right cost:
“I think the Bulls should do it ... Anthony Davis and what it will cost them won’t handcuff them for the near future because they don’t have a lot of money locked up.” (07:52)
Skeets points out the reality:
“The Bulls need to bottom out. They need to be bad... Getting Anthony Davis keeps them right in the middle...” (11:03)
Comparison to Pacers’ playbook:
Notable Quotes:
Game Breakdown:
Panel Insights:
Fun Moment:
“Usually they're a couple rows back... now they're sitting in the front row.” (17:30)
Rivers gets props for humor and candor in the new TV format.
Clippers Crushed by Heat: (30:15–34:20)
“There’s no defensive backbone to this team. Nobody cares right now, too is concerned.” – C (33:19)
Blow-It-Up Trade Proposals for LA Clippers: (35:01–40:21)
Are These Emergency-Pod Deals?
Suns Snap Lakers’ Streak; Dillon Brooks Mocks LeBron: (52:25–57:49)
“Dylan the villain was 10 of 11 from the floor, and he was definitely feeling it.” – C (55:26) “Sometimes I'm trying to tell him to chill out but I think he just blacks out.” – Colin Gillespie on Brooks, postgame (55:42)
Pistons-Hawks: Cade Cunningham Clutch Again (58:41–60:35)
“He somehow scored on all five Hawks... This was him putting the team on his back...” – A (59:43)
Rapid-Fire Roundup:
“If it’s low ball season, then go for it... There’s basically no way the Mavericks should say yes unless it includes a Chicago first.” – A
“These are emergency podcasts!” – C
“Austin Rivers, I think, is great on the broadcast... he brings a little color to the broadcast.” – C
“Sometimes I'm trying to tell him to chill out but I think he just blacks out.” – Colin Gillespie
The episode is marked by the usual blend of rapid analysis, insider banter, running gags (Beanie Babies for TV!), and NBA trivia deep cuts (the “Brandon” naming bit, 22:17). Panelists balance skepticism and humor, calling out team dysfunction (“the Clippers just need talent—any talent”), celebrating surprises (“Danny Wolf moves the ball... never touches it with two hands... very funny way to play”), and keeping it real with signature irreverence.
This episode is an NBA trade rumor deep-dive and a clinic in balancing fandom hope with harsh realities. The guys break down wild trade ideas, call out NBA team mediocrity, laugh at broadcasting experiments, and assign the “Woah Boy” with a shoutout to Scooby the Halftime Dog. Essential listening if you want to understand why it’s not just about winning or losing in the Association—it’s about front office gambles, meme-able moments, and, always, the thirst for better content.