CP3 Returns To Clippers, Marcus Smart Joins Lakers & Fresh NBA Trivia

Summary

Podcast Summary: No Dunks – "CP3 Returns To Clippers, Marcus Smart Joins Lakers & Fresh NBA Trivia"

Release Date: July 22, 2025 | Host: The Athletic's Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD

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I. Introduction

The episode opens with the usual camaraderie among the hosts, Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD, setting a relaxed and engaging tone before diving into the day's NBA discussions and trivia.

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II. Team Movements and Major Signings

A. Damian Lillard Rejoins the Portland Trail Blazers

The hosts delve into the significant news of Damian Lillard's return to the Portland Trail Blazers. Skeets highlights the discrepancy in reported contract details, noting, “ESPN and a majority of places say three years, $42 million. The Athletic going with three years, $45 million” (06:01). Tas expresses his support for Lillard's decision, emphasizing the personal aspect: “I think it's very cool for Damian Lillard to get to go back home. Home. You know, his adult home, his family, his kids” (06:38).

Trey raises strategic concerns about the Trail Blazers' roster, questioning the team-building logic: “they got two veteran leaders in Dame, Lillard and Drew Holiday making $46 million. That's 30% of their cap. And the guy they drafted at number three a couple of years also was a point guard. So I don't see any way that this makes sense from a team building standpoint” (07:38). The discussion underscores the tension between personal loyalty and competitive strategy within the team.

B. Chris Paul Signs with the LA Clippers

The episode covers Chris Paul's move to the LA Clippers, marking what is expected to be his final NBA season. Skeets introduces the topic: “Free agent point guard Chris Paul has agreed to a deal with the LA Clippers for his expected final 21st NBA season” (26:08). Tas remarks on the Clippers' roster depth, albeit with age concerns: “they have way better” (14:48).

The hosts analyze the implications of CP3 joining a team with established veterans, considering both the potential on-court contributions and the challenges posed by the team's aging roster.

C. Marcus Smart Joins the Los Angeles Lakers

The signing of Marcus Smart by the Lakers is another focal point. Skeets poses the question to his co-hosts: “...this is a guy who has not played over the last two years much, right? 54 games total over the past two seasons due to injury” (25:46). Trey evaluates Smart's fit within the team, highlighting the uncertainties surrounding his health and performance: “his contract slot essentially. I mean, who knows what they're going to get from Marcus Smart” (27:49).

Tas adds perspective on Smart's potential role, noting his defensive prowess but also expressing doubts about his availability: “...if they get the Marcus Smart from Boston where he's able to guard one through three, get hot from three sometimes and you can at least have them on the court with some of your bigger names” (27:34).

D. Pelicans Summer League and Rookie Injury

The hosts discuss the unfortunate news of Pelicans rookie Derek Queen's injury during the Summer League, which is likely to delay his debut: “Derek Queen is likely to miss at least the start of training camp after having surgery Friday to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist” (31:12). This development casts a shadow over the Pelicans' new era, with Tas lamenting, “It's hard to be excited for the new Pelicans era, which seems to be going exactly like the previous Pelicans era” (32:37).

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III. NBA Summer League Highlights

A. Charlotte Hornets Win First-Ever Summer League Title

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the Charlotte Hornets' historic victory in the Summer League. Skeets celebrates the milestone achievement: “the Hornets have ever won as a franchise” (33:21). The team’s standout performances, particularly from Conquer Nipple and Liam McNeely, are highlighted. Skeets praises McNeely's tenacity and Nipple’s impactful play, stating, “...Conquer Nipple gets after it” (36:18).

B. Rookie Performances and Injuries

The Pelicans' struggles continue to be a topic, especially concerning rookie performances and injuries. Tas provides a critical view on rookie Jeremiah Fears’ statistics: “jeremiah Fears, 13 assists, 25 turnovers in summer league” (32:37), emphasizing the challenges the team faces in building a promising future.

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IV. NBA Trivia Segment

The hosts engage in an interactive NBA trivia segment, aiming to test each other's knowledge about the previous NBA season. Key highlights include:

1. Worst Record in the League
   Question: Which team finished with the worst record last year?
   Answer: Utah Jazz, acknowledged by Tass: “Utah Jazz 17 and...” (39:23).

2. Western Conference Coach of the Month
   Question: Who are the only two coaches to win Western Conference Coach of the Month honors?
   Answer: Mark and Udoka, confirmed by Tass and Jay: “Udoka and Mark Dangall” (41:16).

3. League Leader in Total Rebounds
   Question: Who led the league in total rebounds last year?
   Answer: Boban Marjanović (41:40), with Skeets clarifying the distinction between total and per-game rebounds.

4. Indiana Pacers' Record on January 1, 2025
   Answer: 16-18, as detailed by Skeets (42:19).

5. All-NBA and All-Defensive Selections
   Question: Who were the only two players to make All-NBA and All-Defense last year?
   Answer: Jalen Williams and Evan Mobley (45:33).

6. Dunk of the Season
   Question: Who had the best dunk of the season according to NBA Dunk Score?
   Answer: Quentin Grimes, posthumously discussed by the hosts (51:19).

7. Sixth Man of the Year at Six Foot One
   Question: Name the three players to win Sixth Man of the Year listed at six foot one.
   Answer: Peyton Pritchard, Bobby Jackson, and Darrell Armstrong (49:20).

8. Most Miles Covered in the NBA Season
   Question: Who covered the most total miles last season in the NBA?
   Answer: Mikhail Bridges, as revealed by the hosts (54:19).

9. Players Scoring 55 Points or More in a Game
   Question: Name the seven players who scored 55 points or more in a game last season.
   Answer: Nikola Jokić, De'Aaron Fox, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Jamal Murray, and Jalen Brunson (55:46).

The trivia segment not only showcased the hosts' knowledge but also added a fun and competitive element to the episode.

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V. Additional Discussions and Anecdotes

Beyond the primary topics, the hosts share personal anecdotes and lighter moments, such as discussing golf outings, the longevity of NBA careers, and humorous takes on advertisements. Notably, Tas reflects on the evolving nature of basketball careers, mentioning, “20 year careers, when you're coming in at 19, ... we're going to see it pretty regularly” (20:25).

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VI. Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the hosts encouraging listener engagement, mentioning upcoming shows, and teasing future segments like ranking NBA players' golf shots. The upbeat and inclusive sign-off fosters a sense of community among listeners.

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Notable Quotes

• Tas Melas on Damian Lillard’s Return:
  “Damian Lillard to get to go back home. Home. You know, his adult home, his family, his kids.” (06:38)

• Trey Kirby on Trail Blazers' Team-Building:
  “they got two veteran leaders in Dame, Lillard and Drew Holiday making $46 million. That's 30% of their cap.” (07:38)

• Tas Melas on Pelicans' Rookie Injury:
  “It's hard to be excited for the new Pelicans era, which seems to be going exactly like the previous Pelicans era.” (32:37)

• Jay Skeets on NBA Career Longevity:
  “We're not even going to look back on 20 year seasons as a big deal.” (21:00)

• Skeets on Summer League MVP Notification Delay:
  “They usually announce it right away. ... That's so weird.” (34:16)

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This episode of No Dunks offers a comprehensive analysis of recent NBA developments, insightful discussions on team strategies and player movements, and an engaging trivia segment that highlights the hosts' deep knowledge of the game. Whether you're a die-hard NBA fan or a casual follower, this episode provides valuable insights and entertaining content to keep you informed during the offseason.

Transcript

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[Jay Skeets]

Beans, beans, beans. Beans on toast. Beans, beans, beans. Heinz baked beans on white bread with butter. I love it the most. Crumpets are one thing and bagels another, but me? I am a Heinz. Beans on white toast. Lava Yum. Beans on toast. Good morning sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks Podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Tuesday, July 22, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic Factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melas.

[Trey Kirby]

The hot tracks keep on coming in the summer.

[Jay Skeets]

Next to him, it's the bearded one back from the golf course, Trey Kirby Ayo. And over yonder making the magic happen, super producer jd Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. Welcome back TK gotta know how many birdies did you get? How many eagles, how many hole in ones?

[Tass Melas]

2,00.

[Trey Kirby]

Two birdies, two birds.

[Tass Melas]

We were playing scramble rules.

[Jay Skeets]

Scramble.

[Tass Melas]

Not as much pressure on every single shot. Like giants out there smacking together.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

But you know, if you get four shots at every single attempt, somebody has to hit a decent one.

[Trey Kirby]

Sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So it's a way to play.

[Trey Kirby]

So if two guys hit it into the woods, you just scraped.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[Tass Melas]

Y.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the way to do it.

[Tass Melas]

Just a donation to the course.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. How many balls did you lose?

[Tass Melas]

I guess quite a few on day one. Day two, I woke up, basically couldn't see. And my friend Adam's like, it's not about hitting it far. It's about hitting it straight.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

So just playing it straight on day two.

[Jay Skeets]

There you go.

[Tass Melas]

Hitting my 140 yard drives right down the middle of the fairway. Hey, look, so few balls on Saturday. I was going up swing like a thousand years old. All right. Right. You played box.

[Jay Skeets]

You played a ton of golf. You said for a guy that doesn't.

[Tass Melas]

Golf 63 holes in. I don't know, I don't know. Not a lot of hours. I was calling it six times nine holes. We had three 18 hole rounds and we added an extra round just for fun before the trip even started. So it came out to 63. But yeah, six times nine holes is what I'll say the shirts next to.

[Jay Skeets]

And now you will not.

[Trey Kirby]

54. But I thought, yeah, that's 54 times three.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. 18 times 354. But I added. I added the nine before the trip even started. Nine Illinois holes.

[Jay Skeets]

And then you got four Wisconsin holes. Yeah. Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And now you won't play golf for one year.

[Tass Melas]

For one year specifically.

[Jay Skeets]

That's how you get good at it.

[Tass Melas]

That's how you get good. Let the muscle memories seep in. Really lock in for a year and then come back out. 150 yard drive.

[Trey Kirby]

But those drives are exactly the videos of guys trying to drive out there. Like what you just said. 140 yard drive. That's what people are doing in all their drives. It looks embarrassing. It looks embarrassing, but it's. It's straight as hell.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, keep it straight.

[Tass Melas]

It's better than hitting it on the ground. That's fine. That's what people are.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. People aren't ashamed of looking back and I appreciate that.

[Jay Skeets]

Any good footage from the golf course.

[Tass Melas]

Or haven't seen a single video? No, I had a nice, nice straight low one I sent to Laura. She said nice.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, all right.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, we were having too much fun.

[Jay Skeets]

Awesome. Well, it's great to have you back. Got the whole team here in the factory. I got some NBA news, obviously, to work our way through. And then I thought I could hit you guys with some NBA trivia. And the trivia is all based around the past NBA season. So play along here on YouTube and podcast listeners as well. We're going to test you. Test you sickos out there. See how much you remember from the season we just had.

[Trey Kirby]

But we're going to. Are we going to have teams like we used to have? I think you guys Clifford the regular size.

[Jay Skeets]

We're doing scramble trivia, baby. You got. You guys work together on this one.

[Trey Kirby]

Go get it.

[Tass Melas]

All right.

[Jay Skeets]

But I wanted to get your take on the Damian Lillard news. You know, coming full circle. He is rejoining the Trailblazers three year, $42 million deal. I say that in the form of a question because ESPN and a majority of places say three years, 42 million. The Athletic going with three years, 45 million. So I'm not sure which one it is, but he's coming back about 14 million per year. I did a podcast on Saturday, just sharing my thoughts on it. But again, I want to hear your take. Tass will start with you on Dame going back to Portland.

[Trey Kirby]

Come on, Trey, you started. You haven't been here in so long. You need to get to the tee.

[Tass Melas]

No, you say I'm closest to the hole so I can go first.

[Trey Kirby]

Nice one.

[Tass Melas]

I think it's very cool for Damian Lillard to get to go back home. Home. You know, his. His adult home, his family, his kids.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Basically has a year to rehab himself, get himself right for playing basketball because it seems pretty unlikely he's back this season. I guess he left the door open at least. But I imagine the fact that he rushed back from a blood clot and it led to an Achilles tear maybe slows things down. But I'm guessing it'll be next year or for another season before he goes the Portland side of things. I don't really know what they're doing except for that. This is a cool story because you look at it now, they got two veteran leaders in Dame, Lillard and Drew Holiday making $46 million. That's 30% of their cap. And the guy they drafted at number three a couple of years also was a point guard. So I don't see any way that this makes sense from a team building standpoint, but in a liking Damian Lillard standpoint, this makes a lot of sense.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. To me, I start looking at the roster and I think, whoa, maybe it's Allen Iverson reincarnated. You play with four GU guys that don't need to shoot but will defend and make sure that you don't have to defend anybody. Put them beside Drew Holiday, Tony Kamara, Matisse, Thible and Donvan Clingan. They don't need a shot, if you look at it that way. Now, I know guys like Denny Abdia, who's a hell of a defender, will be playing instead of him. Jeremy Grant will be playing instead of him. Matisse, Thibel might not even be there. And you got guys like you said, Scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp. That's the confusing part. The nostalgia part. Oh, yeah, this is fun.

[Jay Skeets]

But.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, but at the same time, the roster is. Is odd. You're trying to kind of merge this guy into the middle of a young era and an old era. Now with Drew Holiday and these guys, it's. It's strange. It doesn't seem to fit, especially in a bloodbath of the Western Conference. I mean, there's.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Look at it any different way you want. This team is not going to be going, obviously to the postseason this year without Damian Lillard or when Dame comes back and he's 36 and he doesn't look like Dame anymore. He didn't look like it at the end of his Milwaukee days. Unfortunately, he's not the same guy. But he's going to get his shots. It feels like they're going to give him a shot.

[Jay Skeets]

They've even talked about how he's like the most expensive assistant coach of all time here. Now, like Phillips was saying this because he's going to come in here for a year not playing, but will be in the locker room, will be on the sidelines and maybe can help coach up Scoot and Sharpe. I mean, this is an interesting part to me. Like, can one of those guys really pop off this year and sort of level up where you're like, whoa, convinced they're like a cornerstone guy? And then what impact does that have on Lillard when he is healthy and whether he's starting or coming off the bench and Drew Holiday of it all and how does he fit into it? I mean, that's. That's for another year. Now, you say they. They probably won't make the postseason is what you were saying in the loaded West.

[Trey Kirby]

But it's so tough in the loaded West.

[Jay Skeets]

What'd they win last year? 35, 36 games? They actually ended the Season on a pretty strong note. They started to play some defense, I think, you know, they were like a.500 team over the last 40 games or so, so maybe they're convinced they can still be competitive. But, yeah, there's a lot of really good teams, so we'll see. But, man, it's cool. Him talking about, like, just how pumped he is to be around his three kids who live there. That's what he's, like, most excited about. I just get to be around them while I rehab and then around this team that I love.

[Tass Melas]

They get to go to school with their dad.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it's very cool.

[Tass Melas]

But, like, you're saying they're trying to be good this year. Portland is trying to, at the very least, make the play in tournament.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

And there is a lot better uses for $14 million this year than Damian Lillard. If you're really trying to make any sort of noise in the postseason, you don't need another veteran backup. You could get a guy who's actually going to play this season if you're trying to win. But they won the press conference.

[Trey Kirby]

They sure did. And I don't want to play conspiracy theorist, but I saw John Hollinger write about this and the fact that the Blazers are up for sale and bring back the nostalgia. Go get young Hanson. Asia's gonna love you. Here you go. New, new owner. So that part definitely makes sense. And as far as Dame, it's. It's hard not to respect the guy. It's hard not to look at the guy and be like, wow, you're not playing the game, the contract game, like a lot of NBA players are. You just go to a team that's already towards the top of the conference, and you go win a title. He's just, he's going back. I mean, where he knows it.

[Jay Skeets]

Did sort of try that.

[Trey Kirby]

He did. He did.

[Jay Skeets]

Two years ago.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Where he asked for a trade out, wanted to go to Miami. They said, screw that. You're going to Milwaukee.

[Trey Kirby]

But he could do it again. I know he could, and he's not doing it again. He's. He's playing that role in getting a, you know, a good contract that somebody else I'm sure, would have given him somewhat similar, too. But I do think the Western Conference is way harder than it is, or was last year. I, I. When we see OKC at the top, and then you saw Minnesota do what they did, and, and obviously the warriors look good, but now you strengthen the Rockets, you strengthen the Nuggets. The Wolves are still going to be good along with okc. LA is not dead. Golden State's not dead. I I don't even know how they even dream about making the actual playoffs. A play in tournament team, sure, yeah, they finished the season.500 over their last 40 games, but those games also don't matter as much as the first 40 games. So I, I doubt it. I doubt they're going to get there.

[Jay Skeets]

We'll see. And again the big questions when he's finally health, if he's healthy. That's the other party is coming back from a torn Achilles at, you know, pretty old in terms of NBA age, how he looks and will he start and who does sharp and scoot again, how do they blossom or not. But he's there to help, I guess. And it is it was cool to see him in the how happy he was in that press conference. Going back to pdx, we also had another homecoming of sorts. Free agent point guard Chris Paul has agreed to a deal with the LA Clippers for his expected final 21st NBA season. And according to Shams, CP3 had multiple suitors such as the Bucks, the Hornets, the Mavs. But the 12 time All Star chose to go back to the clippers on a one year $3.6 million deal and he is sort of on record making it sound like this is going to be his last year in the NBA's 21st season. Thoughts on CP3 going back to. Well, I was going to say Lob City. Not as much anymore.

[Tass Melas]

Not as many alley oop catchers.

[Jay Skeets]

No, not really.

[Tass Melas]

Derek Jones Jr. No.

[Jay Skeets]

Old City.

[Tass Melas]

Kind of the only other lob guy that's there. But yeah, you're going to be old.

[Trey Kirby]

John will be there. I guess.

[Tass Melas]

John's a lob guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe Conan as well. But if you're going to be old, be deep. They've got all old guys on their team. The young guys on the Clippers right now are Collins, Zubots and Derrick Jones Jr. Who are 28 years old. The Thunder just won a title with two guys over 28. So they're old. The Clippers are incredibly old. They somehow just like the warriors when they sign Al Horford. Like they found the one guy they can sign and get older. But the Clippers did it and now they got two guys at basically every single position. So when people miss time like Chris Paul played 82 games last year. Now James Harden doesn't have to play 82 games or I think he played 76, finished top five in minutes. There's a lot of ball handling in LA right now. Chris Dunn can handle the ball if he needs to. Chris Paul obviously playmaker as well. Bogdan Bogdanovich came over at the trade deadline last year. They're trying to save James Harden so that he will have his best shot at postseason success. So I'm like, great, talk me into the Clippers again in March. I'm sure it's gonna happen, but I just watched the playoffs. They lost in the first round even though they were totally healthy. So if they're totally healthy, maybe they got a chance. I think they're probably in the two and a half tier of the Western Conference right now.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, their depth is really wild when you look at it. Really. Eleven strong guys that they could play. Point guards Harden, CP3 and done shooting guards Beal and Bogdanovich, small forwards Kawhi and Derrick Jones Jr. And then at the power forward position, John Collins and Batum. And at the center, Zubots and brook Lopez. That's 11 guys. That's a lot strong. 11 right there. But a lot of them are old. I think Tim Bontemps was calling them the Expendables, which is a movie you might be familiar with. But yeah. What do you think about this? The Beal and Chris Paul here joining.

[Trey Kirby]

Lac look, as a storyline, it's kind of fun that their window is very, very small. Their window is ridiculously narrow. It's one year, maybe it's two if some of these guys come back. But Chris Paul said, I'm done after the season. Essentially what he told Jamel Hill. So everybody in the locker room's gotta be like, hey, this guy's done. Let's do it for him. This is his last season and he does help James Harden. Even though their window is very small, he does help a guy in James Harden. It was top five minutes, played that many games. Because you can be somewhat of a innings eater for sure off the bench. There's no doubt. The worrisome part is you got guys who have missed games in Kawhi, Bradley, Beal. They've missed plenty of games. But you brought in guys like Brook Lopez to help out Vita Zubots, who didn't have a backup center. He was going with Nicola Batum and Ben Simmons last year were playing against Nikola Jokic. So all those guys he mentioned, they are no doubt, undoubtedly they're deeper. So they have guys. I can't. I still can't put them in the bracket below okc, that is Houston and Denver. That's. That's the little bracket.

[Jay Skeets]

Minnesota is not there Anymore.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh yeah, Minnesota too. Okay. They still, they still exist and they still made two.

[Jay Skeets]

You have the Clippers in the third tier.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I think I do. But even watching them against Denver, I thought they were winning. That series took them to seven games, but Denver has gotten so much stronger. I. It's fun to look at this team and how they added John Collins and Brook Lopez and Chris Paul and Bradley Beal. That, that is for sure. That is. The lineups make sense. And seeing Lawrence Frank when he was being interviewed by our law, Murray gets so excited. We got Bradley Beal. I mean, he found out while he was talking in an interview he was excited to get Bradley Beal who I think will have a good year being off the ball entirely. But will he play? Will Kawhi play? There's still good questions here with this old, very old team. But then you look at it and you say, well, Chris Paul did play 82 games. So they have guys that do play. There's no doubt they were healthy last year.

[Tass Melas]

They just lost. They just lost in the playoffs.

[Jay Skeets]

They were healthy though, and they were already old. Last year they were the second oldest team in the league. I think when you're looking at just average age, it was like something like 27, 28. And then their off season moves are resigning James Harden, who's 36 next season. Chris Paul obviously 40, will be 41 in May, Brook Lopez 37 and then Bradley Beal, a spry 32.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but like you talked about last week, guys are off the floor now that couldn't score. Chris Dunn doesn't have to play with Bradley Beal there and Derrick Jones Jr. To some degree.

[Jay Skeets]

But that's the funny part. They're almost like that. That was becoming their identity. They were like this awesome defensive team helping them win a lot of games and then they saw the limitations of that maybe in playoff series and it's like sort of like let's go back to some more of the offensive scoring punch. And you're right. I mean now you have like you sort of kept Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. So you still have the option. So you can maybe through a regular season or in a potential playoff matchup, whoever you're playing, do we need defense more or do we hopefully need offense more? Ty Lue has, like you just said, he's got a lot of guys to pick from here and we'll see how many of them are healthy come. Come the postseason.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I don't necessarily. I think their perimeter defense is going to be bad, actually. When I'm really thinking about it next year. Maybe they play Chris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. To kind of negate that. But then why did you trade for Bogdan Bogdanovich? Why'd you bring Bradley Beal and why'd you bring Chris Paul in? So those guys don't have to play is the reason. But right now you look at who they're going to be starting for sure. Harden, Kawhi, Zubots. Those guys aren't guarding guards. No, not, not quick guards. No Batum or Collins at the 4. They're not guarding guards. So who's it going to be? Literally there's nobody left over. Bradley Beal can't guard. We just saw that in Phoenix. He's going to be doing the exact same thing in Phoenix. He was just the third banana over there and went poorly. He got blamed for everything and shipped out. But now he's like happily signing up to be the third banana and play off the ball. I just saw that.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it is strange. Yeah. Kawhi, was. Was it the playoffs? I think it was the playoffs where he said, I love playing with Chris Dunn. He is our dog. He. He inspires everybody, rubs off on everybody. So you need that. I will say Bradley Beal in the first season in Phoenix where he had to guard the other team's best perimeter player was a heck of a lot better at guarding the best perimeter player. Is he that guy now? Now, two years later? I mean, yeah, it's a fair question. They just have all this patchwork that can maybe work out again the playoffs.

[Tass Melas]

Got to look at who you got to beat and I don't see anybody on their team that can guard Shay Gil, just Alexander.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Tass Melas]

I don't think they can stop Jamal Murray. Really.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

These are teams that are ahead of them.

[Jay Skeets]

Anthony Edwards, they're going to have to go through.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah. Batum, Derrick Jones Jr. And Chris Dunn can be thrown out there.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, but those guys are like numbers 8, 9, 10 of the 10 guys that we're listing here.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not offensive guys.

[Jay Skeets]

Chris Paul heading back where he had a lot of success, obviously when he was with the Lob City Clippers, five time all star when he was there, a lot of all defensive selections. Now he's gotten way older and has bounced around. But I saw Justin Russo tweet yesterday, Chris Paul is going to be playing basketball during a season in which three of his former Clippers teammates are head coaches. J.J. redick, Chauncey Billups and Willie Green. And two are commentators, Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford and CP3 still going here. One more shot at it.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. I thought I was like, is Doc Rivers their head coach? This feels like a Doc Rivers move. Like just bring back the old, Bring.

[Jay Skeets]

The band back together. Yeah, we'll see. How do you think about, you know, you want to just call them Old City.

[Tass Melas]

Old City.

[Jay Skeets]

Just do instead of the Lob City text work on that shirt.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I think it's great actually. I mean it's Perfect. And look, 20 year careers, they're becoming the norm now. This is not going to be news in like five seasons. We're not even going to look back on 20 year seasons as a big deal. It used to be huge. We had Kareem, we had Robert Parrish and we had Kevin Willis. There was like one 20 year career in the 80s, the 90s and the 2000. Since then, 12 players have played 20 or more years.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Tass Melas]

Including Chris Paul, who's six feet tall. And if a six foot tall guy can do it, it's going to happen more and more often. Like Lowry is getting up to 20 years this season as well. Yeah, that's a short guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Totally.

[Tass Melas]

You don't even have to be big to play a long time anymore. So I don't know, I'm starting to think that 20 year careers, when you're coming in at 19, with the way we know how to take care of ourself and the longevity of careers, we're going to see it pretty regularly.

[Jay Skeets]

What's going to, what's going to impress you?

[Tass Melas]

25.

[Jay Skeets]

25.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. LeBron's still pretty short at 25.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, it's true.

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[Jay Skeets]

This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. It's hot in Atlanta right now, 95 plus sunny, mad humid. But ball is life. So you know I still gotta get my shots up at the local outdoor basketball park. Thank goodness for my Liquid iv. No matter how hot your summer gets, Liquid IV helps keep you hydrated. Helps keep me hydrated whether I'm shooting hoops or or I'm out on an adventure. And the summer heat means it's the perfect time to try their new Arctic raspberry flavor, which has jumped to the top of my power rankings. Plus, Liquid IV has sugar free solutions powered by Liv Hydra Science for Smart Hydration and I got the hookup for you. Visit liquidiv.com and use the code no Dunks at checkout for 20% off your first order. I've recently started throwing a packet or two in my suitcase when I travel and I'm going to Vegas where it's even hotter because not only does it hit after a workout, I like the boost Liquid IV gives you after a long night out or after A long flight. White, peach, green grape, lemon, lime. This new one, arctic raspberry. They're all great flavors and I'm always switching them up. Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. Powered by Liv Hydra Science, you're getting an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients that turn ordinary water into extraordinary hydration. We're talking three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink. Come on. So squeeze the most out of your summer with Liquid IV tear. Pour live more bars. Go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off your first order with code no dunks at checkout. Thank goodness for my Liquid IV Liquid IV.com and get 20% off your first order with code no dunks at checkout. In other guard news, Marcus Smart has agreed to a contract buyout with the Washington Wizards and he plans to sign a two year, $11 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers after he clears waivers. So this is a guy who has not played over the last two years much, right? 54 games total over the past two seasons due to injury. Both in Memphis, there in Washington. But how do you like this for the Lakers? Adding obviously a defensive minded guy and some backcourt depth if, if he can play, if he's healthy. Are you a fan of this signing here?

[Trey Kirby]

I like the patchwork that the Lakers are doing when you look at the team going into the offseason or going into the playoffs. Last year to support their big three of Luca LeBron and Austin Reaves, it was Ruyama Dorian, Finney Smith and Jackson Hayes. Now it's Ruya, Marcus Smart and deandre Ayton, plus a little Jake Laravia that they throw in there as well. So in patch in the patchwork look of things, yeah, it's good. But these guys are all questionable. I know they're all sort of friends. Luca was the guy who recruited Marcus Smart. He called him, talked to him. And same goes for Jake Laravia. Austin Reeves is his buddy. They're sitting in the car when he gets the call from front office sports to talk about him coming in. So there's, there's good patchwork. But all these guys, I'm. Marcus Smart's gonna have to guard Everybody. When those three guys I mentioned, LeBron's a year older, Luca saying, hey you, you come on in. He's got to guard literally everybody. Will deandre Ayton be able to guard? I don't know. Will Jake Laravia be a, a contributor player on this team? Remains a question. There's so many question marks with this team. So yes, in theory it's better than what I think many expected coming into the postseason. The names are good, but they are. Yeah, it's a Doc Rivers mood. Let's bring back the old guy. Marcus Smart hasn't been able to play for a couple of years. DeAndre Aiden hasn't been the same guy for a couple years. So in theory it's good.

[Jay Skeets]

But how are you? They lose dfs, shake Milton, Goodwin, they bring in Ayton Smart, Laravia. They do have their rookie there, adu. How would you grade this so far? How they've done B minimum. Okay.

[Tass Melas]

I mean they lost one guy basically Dorian, Finney, Smith and turned it into what, four guys. His contract slot essentially. I mean, who knows what they're going to get from Marcus Smart. Like you said, he's played 54 games the last two seasons. He's going to be 32 during this year, the last two seasons, 195 assists, 116 turnovers. He's had one good three point shooting season in his entire career. It was 20, 18, 19 when he was above league average. But if they get the Marcus Smart from Boston where he's able to guard one through three, get hot from three sometimes and you can at least have them on the court with some of your bigger names, I think that's good for the Lakers. It just literally, who knows what you're going to get from Marcus Smart. It's basically like he made a three pointer, he looked at his hand and his fingers were going sideways and he has been out of the NBA ever since then. It's kind of what it's felt like. It's been a weird tenure for Marcus Smart there with the Grizzlies and then the Wizards. Doesn't seem particularly motivated. Didn't really ever want to go to Memphis in the first place, so I'm sure he didn't want to go to Washington. Maybe being wanted, desired and relied upon a little bit for Los Angeles will be good for him.

[Jay Skeets]

But yeah, I don't know.

[Tass Melas]

It wouldn't surprise me as well to see Jake Larabia playing over Marcus Smart. When it comes down to it, he.

[Jay Skeets]

Know he's going to play balls to the wall. Like as soon as he gets in there he's gonna be diving all over the floor and living in the front row like he only can play that way. And he's. When he, when he's doing that and he's obviously healthy enough, he does contribute to winning basketball we have seen that, and that's what they're hoping here. And that's why I think Luka's like, yeah, go get a guy like that. That's exactly who I want. Beside me, taking on the best offensive player, leaving it all on the line, like, that makes sense, but at his age, and maybe he just needs this, like, to be on the grand stage, as Shams tweeted in his breaking news about this, that's what he needs. The Wizards, like, they got a million guards, so it's like, no loss to them. They still have bub Carrington, George, two Johnsons, and AJ and Trey Kispert, CJ McCollum. I guess Malcolm Brogdon is still technically there. It's like, I just listed, like, eight guards, so, you know, obviously they decided to waive him and he goes here to la. But, yeah, I think they've done pretty well.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, a lot of options to do stuff. Yeah, they got way better.

[Jay Skeets]

But. But these are all. These are all, like, not like, oh, Yeah, I feel 100% confidence in Deandre Ayton as, you know, a great center, or even Marcus Smart to be healthy. And even Jake Laravey, like, there's. There are question marks, but, you know, decent roll of the dice. I think, all things considered.

[Trey Kirby]

Will they play in the playoffs? Mainly I'm speaking about Smart and Deondre. Will they play well enough to be there? Marcus Smart definitely puts the body on the floor at all times. But does that mean he's getting injured? It's possible.

[Jay Skeets]

You almost have to protect him from himself. And I wonder if they. Do they try and do that, like, slow play him some extent or. Obviously. Yeah, like, because he's getting older. Take time off here and there to have him ready for the postseason. Yeah, it'd probably be smart.

[Trey Kirby]

It would be ironic.

[Jay Skeets]

That's.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Yes. And LeBron is going to get older at some point. I mean.

[Jay Skeets]

No, he is getting older.

[Trey Kirby]

He is. He just got older.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, just got older. He's going to be 41 going into next year's postseason. So this player, along with DeAndre, they're going to have to do so much on this team. So it is questionable whether or not they'll be in the postseason and contributing. We have to wait. And the names are good.

[Tass Melas]

That's it. Exactly. If I'll take a question mark of DeAndre over a period of time. Jackson Hayes. I know the answer with Jackson Hayes.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a good way to put it. We all knew that. Yeah, we knew that when he was the starting center there for a hot second. Other news here. This sucks. Pelicans rookie Derek Queen is likely to miss at least the start of training camp after having surgery Friday to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist. He was hurt while playing at NBA Summer League. Pelican said he would be evaluated again in approximately 12 weeks. Here, Trey. So their, their, you know, their rookie that they traded up to get gave up an unprotected pick in the 26th draft with the Hawks. They wanted Queen, they got him. And going to have a slow start at least to his regular season.

[Tass Melas]

Sucks whenever a rookie gets hurt before they actually make it to their debut game. But especially so for the Pelicans because Derek Queen is basically emblematic of this entire new era that hasn't even started yet and is getting called into question. There's a chance this is nothing, right? He could be healed up in time for the season or he could be behind the eight ball starting his rookie year, which is never a good thing, especially since he's the guy they traded the entire future for to move up and he's not even going to be ready to go. That's sad. Their other Rookie, Jeremiah Fears, 13 assists, 25 turnovers in summer league. So it's hard to be excited for the new Pelicans era, which seems to be going exactly like the previous Pelicans era.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh yeah. Yeah. The drama has begun. It's official. It's. It sucks for Derek Queen. Yes, he can come back in the first season, but he's going to miss a training camp. This Pelicans team isn't going to have their training camp to get things in order because yeah, Jeremiah Fierce and Jordan Poole, I mean there are so many new guys that have to get acclimated with their teammates. Dejante Murray is still not healthy. When is he coming back? They have so many questions.

[Jay Skeets]

And then the Zion Williamson of it all as well, which is always a roller coaster ride.

[Trey Kirby]

I couldn't even get to him on the list because there are so many questions. It sucks that it's July 2025, but it feels like the 25, 26 season has already got off to a bad season or a bad start. I should say for the Pelicans, it really, it really does.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, just a bummer. Not much more to add to that. I mean the Hawks are. They're probably were smiling when they saw this news. Like, you know, they don't want to know ill towards a rookie like that. But they got that unprotected pick when we all were like, what are they doing? And then it's the guy that gets hurt as they get in. Oh, it's like they're cursed, man. The Pelicans. It feels like. Well, Vegas summer league is officially in the books. The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Sacramento Kings 83 to 78 on Sunday night, concluding the 11 day event there in Sin City. They won something. This is the first thing the Hornets have ever won as a franchise.

[Tass Melas]

Never won a division.

[Jay Skeets]

Never won a division. Can I. Thank you. So they now have this. They got the rings and they got the trophy.

[Trey Kirby]

First time on rings, right? Or is it.

[Jay Skeets]

No, they've done.

[Trey Kirby]

Last year.

[Jay Skeets]

They've done that before.

[Tass Melas]

They're. They're pretty good rings though.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure they've done that before.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they look nice.

[Jay Skeets]

Con canopy. The fourth pick in this year's NBA draft scored 21 points to help lead the Hornets to their first ever summer league title. And he was named. He was named MVP for the championship game. Yeah, I don't think they've released as of this morning the actual summer league MVP and the, you know, the all tournament team. I couldn't find it and I'm like, what are they doing? Are they not doing it this year?

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe they stopped doing it.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe that's just weird if they did. But yeah, he was good. Knipple looked really good. He looked hilarious in a headband. Had a headband, yeah. Which he was not liking. But over his last four games there in Summer League, he averaged 18.3 points per game. Again, name championship game MVP. And he hit the big dagger three in that game. When the king sort of came back with like 31 seconds ago, he hit the, the three on the wing to get the victory.

[Trey Kirby]

He looks ready.

[Jay Skeets]

It looks good.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Being a sicko and watching his last few games, you could see that he really gets into his own offensive game. It feels like he's ready. He will get into that mid range. He's got that turnaround shot. He has no problem getting hit in the eye and getting bloody. It feels like there is a. From his, from him. From Liam McNeely, their first round pick from Ryan Calbrenner who got the winning rebound to end the summer league.

[Jay Skeets]

That dude, I know this is gonna sound stupid as soon as I know that guy sets bone crunching screens.

[Tass Melas]

That's why he's gonna be good.

[Jay Skeets]

Holy crap. Do guys get caught up on him? I know summer league, all that, but no, just go even watch the highlights from this championship game.

[Trey Kirby]

He sets huge screens that's why the coaches in the NCAA gave him defensive player of the year. Yeah, he was. He was one. He won coaches defensively there he is a second round pick. So will he play a lot? Well, I will say, how can you not after watching him. He is a little tiny bit slow but. Because he's monstrous. But he just brings the attitude. Him and McNeely. The Charlotte locker room hopefully has a different mentality led by those guys and by Conquer Nipple he gets after it.

[Jay Skeets]

Thoughts on the Hornets win here or anything from summer league for the Hang the banner. Hang the banner.

[Tass Melas]

Hang the banner until you win something else.

[Jay Skeets]

Hell yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. Then you can take it down when you get something real. 2025 Summer League champs. We won the NBA 2K26 Summer League in 2025.

[Jay Skeets]

God, that's so annoying. Isn't it dumb? Stop naming it that. Just call it 2K. Like don't call it. Yeah, the 2K 26 because we know that's the new version of the game coming out. But you can't call the 2025 Summer League the 2K26. That's so weird.

[Tass Melas]

Throws you off.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah. I gave my kids the lanyard that we had for our credential because it says 2K 2626 because I thought they thought it would be cool.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

It's the future, dad. But even they're like, this is. This is not right.

[Jay Skeets]

Did you find a first team?

[Tass Melas]

No, they didn't find anything.

[Jay Skeets]

What's going on with this? Very odd. They usually announce it right away. I thought, I guess. Who would you have on it? Kyle. Kyle Filipowski of the Jazz was a monster. In his three games he averaged like nearly 30 points per game. Seven boards to assist. I think con canipple would be on here in totality of what he gave to the Hornets in their championship run. I talked about Nick Clifford with Utas last week. I thought he was really good overall. Didn't have a great final, but he was good. Ron Holland II for the Pistons maybe makes your team. He showed a lot of improvement with his shot. So if that's for real, super small sample size, I get it. But if he can hit a three with some consistency and that jumper looks a lot better. That's big for him because he's super athlete. And then I'll throw a bone to, you know, if you remove guys that only played two games like Cooper Flag and Reed shepherd, even Liam McNeely, they only played two. David Jones Garcia for the spurs had a really good summer league. Averaged like 21 points per game in five appearances. So those were guys being my mix. I don't know if there's anyone else I'm forgetting, but maybe they'll announce this thing officially. That's so weird. They have it to me.

[Tass Melas]

How have they not?

[Jay Skeets]

Like, I thought I was going crazy. I'm like. They usually put this on NBA.com right away. Here's the old tournament team.

[Tass Melas]

Jordan Miller's got to make it okay. 22 a game, and he played five games.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a. That's a lot of games. It's a lot of games. Anything else on the Hornets or the Kings summer league? It's all done. We officially start the real off season now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I thought the Raptors would get through the Kings in the semifinals, but they couldn't score.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, they came back, made a game of it, but I thought they were winning the whole thing, too. Tass couldn't believe I was actually disappointed.

[Tass Melas]

Can't believe the Kings lost summer league finals.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. First time ever. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

[Tass Melas]

Would have never happened to Ray McCallum.

[Jay Skeets]

No, that's right. Came through in the clutch. All right, well, let's. Let's pivot from NBA news to some NBA trivia. Let's hit you with a little quiz pop. Like I said earlier in the show, all of these questions, for the most part, all of these questions are about the last NBA season. Just want to see what you guys can remember. And they sort of start easy. And I think it'll get a little tougher as we go on the first one I think is easy. Guys. Tell me, which team finished with the worst record in the league last year?

[Tass Melas]

Utah Jazz.

[Jay Skeets]

I thought I might get you because I sort of thought in my head it was the Wizards or even the Hornets. Now, they won 18 and 19 games, respectively. But, yeah, the Utah Jazz 17 and.

[Tass Melas]

Had him on the nut dust bowl.

[Jay Skeets]

You had them on the nut dust bowl and they went 2 and 20 over their final 22 games. Yeah, really did.

[Trey Kirby]

And then they didn't get the number one.

[Jay Skeets]

No, they did not. No, they did not.

[Tass Melas]

Ace.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Okay. Like I said, started with an easy one there. I thought the nut dust bowl would play a part in you getting it right. Okay, question number two. Who are the only two coaches to win Western Conference coach of the Month honors?

[Tass Melas]

Mark.

[Trey Kirby]

It's got to be Mark.

[Jay Skeets]

Mark is one of the guys. That's right.

[Tass Melas]

In IME Udoka.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, good job. Good stuff. Good stuff.

[Tass Melas]

It's easy so far.

[Jay Skeets]

Bonus question. Can you name the four in the East.

[Trey Kirby]

Kenny.

[Jay Skeets]

He won it twice. Kenny Atkinson with the Cavs.

[Tass Melas]

Kenny Atkinson.

[Trey Kirby]

Who else had four of them?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that's this. I was gonna make this the question, but I thought it would be a little too difficult, so it's just a bonus. Rick won one.

[Tass Melas]

Yep, with the Pacers.

[Trey Kirby]

Tibbs.

[Jay Skeets]

No, not tips.

[Trey Kirby]

Couldn't do it, huh?

[Jay Skeets]

Nope. Think of two teams that also made the playoffs, though. One that had a disappointing end to their season. And JB Bix. I was gonna say one that had a great season. J.B. bickerstaff with the Pistons. And then the final one. Not Mosley. Too injured.

[Trey Kirby]

I thought they had a one early.

[Jay Skeets]

I wish I knew a quote from this movie. I would give it as the hint, but I don't from. Yeah, this guy just watches one movie, apparently. I don't know. A quote from the.

[Tass Melas]

We're gonna rob Fenway Park.

[Jay Skeets]

Exactly.

[Tass Melas]

You know that line?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. All right. Good stuff. It was Udoka and Mark Dangall as the only two coaches to win Western Conference Coach of the Month honors.

[Trey Kirby]

Trey saying easy. I don't. Yeah, well, that's why I threw the Knicks in there. I mean, they should, but I don't remember Coach of the Year, Coach of the Month.

[Jay Skeets]

Nor should you. That's why this is tough. Here we go. Well, Trey got it. All right, next one here. This gets a little more difficult. Who led the league in total rebounds last year? Not per game. Total.

[Tass Melas]

Sabonus.

[Jay Skeets]

Incorrect. He led them in average.

[Tass Melas]

Oh, so somebody played more games than bonus.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, total. I'll tell you the number.

[Tass Melas]

Rudy Gobert.

[Jay Skeets]

No, you're in the right. You're in the right conference, I'll tell you that. Okay. Big board, man. 10. 10 rebounds.

[Trey Kirby]

Zubots.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, well done.

[Tass Melas]

Nice one.

[Jay Skeets]

Done quite a lot. He had the most total rebounds. He averaged 12.6 rebounds per game. But three players did average more. Sabonis, Yokich and Towns.

[Tass Melas]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

In terms of. Per game, but he had the total. All right, here's question number four. We go to the Eastern Conference. What was the Indiana pacers record on January 1, 2025? 10 and 15. No, they were 10 and 15 at one point.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, that's the one that comes up.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

So I don't know if that was what it was. January.

[Trey Kirby]

It's higher, right?

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, it's a little more games played.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but you're gaining 20.

[Jay Skeets]

You're close. You're very close. I'll just give it to you. You're very close. 16 and 18 on January 1st they were 8th in the Eastern Conference at that point. It went Cleveland, Boston, New York, Orlando, Miami, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and then Indiana, who were only like a half a game up on the Pistons at that point. But man, what a, what a turnaround in that second half of that season for the Pacers. You guys were right there.

[JD]

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[Trey Kirby]

5 far off. I'm disappointed.

[Jay Skeets]

Who are the only two players to make all NBA and all defense last year Jalen Williams. Correct.

[Tass Melas]

Another all NBA, all defense player. Not Wemby.

[Jay Skeets]

Not Wemby.

[Tass Melas]

Not Wemby. Not Jaren Jackson. Evan Mobley.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, well done. Way to get there.

[Trey Kirby]

That's it.

[Jay Skeets]

Mobley and Jalen Williams. Mobley. I guess he did second all NBA and then first all defense, and then you can bump. Bump Jalen Williams down a tier for both of those. He was third team all NBA and second all defense. Only two guys, though. Good stuff. All right. This is a fun 1. Question 6. We're going to the All Star weekend.

[Tass Melas]

Oh, boy.

[Jay Skeets]

Who is Charles Barkley's last pick in the 2025 NBA All Star Draft?

[Trey Kirby]

So he was the international team.

[Jay Skeets]

So that's. Hey, good thinking. Task you can get there. He had the international team, but then he. But then he sort of took this guy last and he. And he, like, he had a reason why he was on the international team. Go ahead, Trey.

[Tass Melas]

Donovan Mitchell. And why his mom is Bahamian.

[Jay Skeets]

Is that right? From Panama. Oh, Panama.

[Tass Melas]

I don't know what it was, but I was like, I know. I know. He's got a mom.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So I went and fired it up, like, the way they picked the last three guys, because I was going to make it, like, yeah, who was the last pick overall? But, yeah, they did the draft, and then there was three names left on the board. They were Donovan Mitchell, Tyler Hero, and Jalen Brown. And Ernie did this thing. He's like, all right, on the count of three, everybody say who you want. And so Chuck said, donovan Mitchell. And he had the hilarious reason that he just knew off the top of his head. Yeah, Right.

[Tass Melas]

I was just thinking about this, doing some research.

[Jay Skeets]

Donovan Mitchell's mom was from Panama. And then Kenny and Shaq both said, tyler Hero, but they gave it to Kenny, and Shaq said he was playing, like, you know, 4D chess because he knew Kenny was gonna say Tyler Hero, and he really wanted Jalen Brown. Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Got him.

[Jay Skeets]

It was insane rewatching this. How Just crazy it was. And then just building their teams, which are, like, old guys, young guys, and then the international squads. Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, good stuff. Question seven. Who led the 2025 NBA playoffs in total, three pointers made and fouls. Led in both categories.

[Tass Melas]

Total three made and foul.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Weird.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So it wasn't from the two NBA Finals teams, right?

[Jay Skeets]

Well, yeah, he played. No, not Dort.

[Tass Melas]

That's his specialty.

[Jay Skeets]

Good guess.

[Tass Melas]

Threes and files.

[Jay Skeets]

I would say this guy's the Dort of the other team.

[Tass Melas]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Pacers forward Aaron Neesmith. He hit 63s in the postseason. He shot 49 from deep.

[Tass Melas]

Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

And he also had 95 fouls, which was nearly 20 more than second and third place, which was catching. And Dort. 77 and 76, 20 more. Yeah, I know a lot of. Now, Cat played less games than those two guys, but. Yeah, that's a lot less. But, man, this guy did it all when it came to hitting threes. Incredible stuff. All right, way to get there. Question 8. This one comes by way of Statitudes, which is a newsletter I love. Again, it's sort of about last season, but this one's a little different. Can you name the three players to win sixth man of the Year at the listed height of six foot one? So I am looking for the Short Kings. When it comes to six man of.

[Trey Kirby]

The Year winners, it's Peyton Pritchard.

[Jay Skeets]

Peyton Pritchard is one great one. He won with Boston. He's listed at six foot one. There are two other guys in history. Now, this is a difficult question, and I'll tell you right now.

[Tass Melas]

Shorty, six man of the Year award winners.

[Jay Skeets]

There are a lot of guys that were listed at six' two that won't six man of the Year and a lot of guys listed at 6.3that also won. So there's a lot of short guys that win this thing. But I'm looking for the tiniest of tiniest guys. Ricky Pierce. See a shorty?

[Tass Melas]

No, not short enough.

[Trey Kirby]

Daryl Armstrong.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, I didn't put one.

[Trey Kirby]

I didn't think he was listed.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. That's for the magic in 98, 99. And then one other guy. I'm going to Western Conference.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, Western Conference.

[Jay Skeets]

This guy had a. This guy had a moment, man. Like a. Like a year or two or people loved him. And then I feel like we never talked about him after that show era.

[Tass Melas]

The show era.

[Jay Skeets]

It sounds like just pre show era for us.

[Tass Melas]

Not Jason Terry.

[Jay Skeets]

Not Jason Terry.

[Tass Melas]

Six two, six two.

[Jay Skeets]

I'll tell you right now. Lou Williams, also listed at 6. 2.

[Tass Melas]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Not Lou Williams. 02. 03. I'll give you the year. Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Like Bobby Jackson.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

Nice.

[Tass Melas]

He was awesome. Bobby Jackson was cool to watch.

[Jay Skeets]

It was cool to watch.

[Tass Melas]

And then it was like he was.

[Jay Skeets]

Gone just like that.

[Tass Melas]

Maybe on a bench somewhere as a coach.

[Jay Skeets]

So six foot one. Six foot one. Six man of the Year winners. Peyton Pritchard last year. Bobby Jackson with The Kings in 0203 and Darrell Armstrong for the Magic in 98.99.

[Tass Melas]

I didn't know he was that small.

[Jay Skeets]

6 Three guys to win it, though. I thought you didn't say any of these guys. I thought you might because they're small. But Jordan Clarkson.

[Tass Melas]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Is only 6 3. Eric Gordon, I thought you may think he's 6'3, though. I thought he was shorter. Ben Gordon, 6 3. And Leandro Barbosa, 6 3. And then like I said, Lou Williams And Jason Terry, 6 2.

[Tass Melas]

Nice.

[Jay Skeets]

Good stuff. Way to get there. All right, question nine, two left. According to NBA dunk score, who had the best dunk of the season?

[Tass Melas]

Oh, boy. It's not John Collins.

[Jay Skeets]

It's not John Collins.

[Trey Kirby]

He got replaced.

[Jay Skeets]

He got third. John Collins had a dunk on the Kobe white. Trey. Kirby always said he pushed off on his face. And it was the third biggest dunk of the season.

[Tass Melas]

Jalen Green.

[Jay Skeets]

No. Yeah, yeah. A bunch of great dunks.

[Trey Kirby]

It's not the other Jalen. Jalen Brown had one. Put the seat belt on. No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Jay Skeets]

I'll tell you, this dunk happened against the Celtics, though.

[Tass Melas]

Happened against.

[Jay Skeets]

This guy is not thought of as a dunker. So it's like sort of wild that this guy had the dunk of the year. According to dunk score, it was a 118.2.

[Tass Melas]

Okay, I'm gonna need to know the maximum height of the ball. I'm gonna need a dunk velocity.

[Jay Skeets]

This had it all. It had power, had style. It was on a guy. It was on like a big guy. It was on a big white guy, I'll tell you that. I don't know if that'll help. It was on Luke Cornet.

[Trey Kirby]

It was on Luke Hornet.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

What position did the dunker play?

[Jay Skeets]

He's a. He's a shooting guard. Yeah. And he's known for his defense and his. Honestly, his three point shooting. Not three. I think it was a nationally televised game. I'm pretty sure it was probably on espn. Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Playing against the Celtics, he's got a.

[Jay Skeets]

Gary Trent Jr. No, no, no, no, no. He's more probably way more athletic than that. You love. You love this guy. You've brought him up a million times.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got a great name, nationally televised.

[Tass Melas]

Too much.

[Jay Skeets]

I'll tell you, the team he's on, that's probably to give it away.

[Trey Kirby]

It's not the Lakers.

[Jay Skeets]

No. He played for the Mavericks at the time.

[Trey Kirby]

Dante X.

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

What, are you kidding me?

[Tass Melas]

Max Christie.

[Trey Kirby]

No, no, at the time, it wasn't a Josh Green. No.

[Jay Skeets]

Where the hell is this guy now?

[Tass Melas]

Josh, That's a forgotten guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, so he left the Mavericks. This.

[Jay Skeets]

This guy actually had. This guy had a monster second half of the season. He got a lot of opportunity. Qg.

[Tass Melas]

Quentin Grimes.

[Jay Skeets]

Quentin Grimes. The dunk of the year. Quentin Grimes, Dunk of the Year. We have it. I think JD has run it back of Quentin Grimes. He's just gonna posterize Luke Cornett. Okay. It's a good dunk, but it makes me laugh. That's the dunk of the year. That guy loved it.

[Tass Melas]

Off two feet.

[Advertiser 1]

I like that.

[Jay Skeets]

Of course. Yeah. I mean, he. It bad for sure. It's huge.

[Tass Melas]

Hit him in the back of the head.

[Trey Kirby]

Talk some trash.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Flexed on them extra points because it's a large white center, I guess. But the dunker go. The blocker goes after. That's part of it, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Of course.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, I don't know. These dunk scores, you can't even trust them.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, geez. No, that's why I asked this silly question. I thought you guys were gonna say Shane Sharp.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

He had a monster one on Champagne, wasn't it? I mean, there was, like, a turnover in the back court. He just exploded on him.

[Trey Kirby]

No, he back.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. And Collins, like you said, Those were the. 1, 2, 3. I think Anthony Edwards had the biggest dunk in the playoffs according to dunk score. I'm pretty sure that's true. Final one. I got a bonus one after this, but final one here. Who covered the most total miles last season in the NBA? I want regular season and playoffs total miles combined. Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Ooh.

[Tass Melas]

Halliburton.

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Tass Melas]

Played a lot.

[Jay Skeets]

I think he's. I think he's up there.

[Tass Melas]

Gotta get a guy. Gotta get a guy who played a long time. Played a lot.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, you say this guy played. Guy played a lot. Whole lot. That's what he's sort of known for.

[Tass Melas]

That's what.

[Trey Kirby]

So Josh Hart.

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Tass Melas]

Jaylen Bronson.

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Tass Melas]

OG And Anobi.

[Jay Skeets]

No. Mikhail Bridges.

[Trey Kirby]

Man, this guy was like his brother.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right. Mikhail Bridges.

[Trey Kirby]

That's not his brother.

[Jay Skeets]

No, same name, though. Mikhail Bridges covered 23.1 miles in the regular season and another 54.7 miles in the playoffs, according to the tracking data. What? That's nearly 11.

[Tass Melas]

Doesn't make sense. There's no way that's true. That's what it says. I'm just telling. He did twice as many miles in the playoffs.

[Jay Skeets]

No, no, no, no. I said What? I misspoke. 231.1 miles in the regular season.

[Tass Melas]

That makes more sense.

[Jay Skeets]

54 points.

[Tass Melas]

He didn't run a marathon over the course of 82 games. I thought this guy moved.

[Trey Kirby]

Moved.

[Jay Skeets]

He ran nearly 11 marathons. Yeah. When you combine the regular season and playoffs, most ever tracked by the NBA since introducing speed and distance.

[Tass Melas]

He's no reptiles.

[Jay Skeets]

Exactly, exactly.

[Tass Melas]

I would love to see prime RIP stats in the player tracking era.

[Jay Skeets]

I know, I know. You feel like we should be able to go back and track that somehow? You know, just watch it, estimate, plug it into something. All right, my bonus question for you guys. Yeah, let's go to wrap this up here. Seven players scored 55 points or more in a game this past season. All right, seven different guys. Okay, can you give me the list for the seven to do?

[Tass Melas]

Tray on.

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[Tass Melas]

De' Aaron Fox. That's what I meant to say.

[Jay Skeets]

60 points for De' Aaron Fox. Number two on the list. Somebody had 61.

[Trey Kirby]

Did Chase get to 55? One of his.

[Jay Skeets]

No, he never did. 54 was his highest. Then he had 52. He had 50. 51. He had 50. He had a lot, but number 55. So you got one. Fox.

[Tass Melas]

Jokic had a 60 point game.

[Jay Skeets]

61 point.

[Tass Melas]

61 point game.

[Jay Skeets]

Jokic, Fox. One, two. Okay, then you got a 59. A 56. A 50. Oh, I misspoke. There's only six guys. Jokic had a 56.

[Tass Melas]

Giannis.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep, yep. 59. You got three guys left to go. 55 points in a game.

[Trey Kirby]

Did Luca have one? No, no.

[Tass Melas]

Stephen Curry.

[Jay Skeets]

Correct. 56 points.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Against the Magic.

[Tass Melas]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Where he hit 12 threes. Two guys left. So six total guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Donovan.

[Jay Skeets]

No, not Donovan. One east, one west, one. An all star one. Not one.

[Tass Melas]

Not no 50 point game.

[Jay Skeets]

Not all star, 55 point game.

[Tass Melas]

Devin Booker.

[Jay Skeets]

No guy is very Devin Booker like, though. I would say just never an all star.

[Trey Kirby]

Jamal Murray.

[Jay Skeets]

Correct.

[Tass Melas]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, I'd forgotten his 55 point game against Portland back in February. One more. Carl. No, close, though.

[Trey Kirby]

Jalen Brunson.

[Jay Skeets]

Jalen Brunson. Okay, 55 points against the Wizards in overtime. He also shot a lot of free throws that game, but yes, there you go. Jokic, Fox, Giannis, Curry. Jokic had a 56 point game. Brunson and Jamal Murray the only guys to go 55 or more. You guys are sickos. That was pretty good. Hey, it was pretty impressive. What was the toughest one of the bunch there? What do you think?

[Tass Melas]

I don't.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, honestly, it ended up being Quentin Grimes.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I was like the player we couldn't think of on the dunk score. Yeah, Quentin Grimes.

[Jay Skeets]

I thought you might get it because you were pretty locked in with me on how dumb dunk score was.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, but that was later in the. Later in the season, I guess. Not too late because he's still in Dallas.

[Jay Skeets]

He dunked on. It was late January, that dunk.

[Tass Melas]

Dunk. Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. So, yeah, it must have been. He must have been gone after that, soon after that. That big dunk.

[Tass Melas]

You think that's why.

[Jay Skeets]

That's why.

[Tass Melas]

Got the eye. Philadelphia 76ers like, Whoa, that's gonna go number one dunk score.

[Jay Skeets]

Nobody gonna be 118.2 again. Why is it not out of 100? No one's sure, but no one knows. Good stuff. Hopefully you had some success in answering those questions, playing along in the stream team or listening to the podcast. All right, we'll call it there in and out here, the classic Factory. We'll be back later this week, probably Thursday or Friday. If you've got an idea, NBA related, let us know. We're open to suggestions right now because now we have officially hit the off season.

[Tass Melas]

There's a much going on.

[Jay Skeets]

There's not a lot. I mean, all these restricted free agent guys, like, I mean, don't hold your breath on them happening this week. I don't know why they would.

[Tass Melas]

I'm like, see some of these numbers I'm seeing for giddy. We're under 100 now.

[Jay Skeets]

We're getting lower. Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

4 for 90 was the most recent rumor. That's a great deal.

[Jay Skeets]

That'd be good. That'd be good. Kaminga wants more, obviously. And then there's Cam Thomas. He's getting into fights with Zach Lowe online.

[Tass Melas]

Grimes, he's like, whatever. Contract is fine. I'm the king of dunk score.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He should get a dunk score boost.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. Or like a pair of shoes.

[Jay Skeets]

Silver pair of shoes. Hey, Victor Solomon, can you make one more vase? Throw a little dunking GI Joe in.

[Tass Melas]

It, give it to Quinn James.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. But we'll be back later this week, so make sure you subscribe so you know when the show is going to go live and about to drop in your YouTube and podcast feeds. Enjoy the rest of the week. Until then, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.

[Tass Melas]

Have a great time.

[Jay Skeets]

Turn up.

[Tass Melas]

Love you guys. Awesome.

[Trey Kirby]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, when you hit multiple holes in one, is it hole in ones or holes in one? It's got to be holes in one.

[Tass Melas]

It is.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Did Charles Barkley have one? He did, yeah. Recently.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

That.

[Trey Kirby]

That ball.

[Jay Skeets]

Some bad. Right, right, right, right, right. It landed like way over the green and came back. Need a little luck though. Need a little luck, don't you?

[Trey Kirby]

He's only hit one, though. Just a hole in one.

[Jay Skeets]

Not his entire. Not a hole his entire life. Yeah, I think you're right.

[Trey Kirby]

Probably. Where's the stat?

[Jay Skeets]

On. On the the podcast later this week week we're going to look at all the great shots by NBA players on the greens and rank them.

[Tass Melas]

Okay. We're going to rank golf shots.

[Trey Kirby]

Steph's number one.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes. Well, isn't Iguodala a really good go over? Steph's the best.

[Trey Kirby]

Ken Bazemore is really good. He's not underrated.

[Jay Skeets]

I saw Kent Bazemore at a golf tournament here in Atlanta.

[Trey Kirby]

Told you he's good.

[Jay Skeets]

Went up and said hi. Had him on the show once upon a time. All right. Embrace the day, people.

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[Tass Melas]

Comcast business high five hotline.

[Jay Skeets]

I signed my business up for the five year price lock guarantee and I can't stop high fiving people.

[Tass Melas]

That's perfectly natural when you sign up for gig speed, Internet and advanced security.

[Trey Kirby]

Locked in at a great rate for five years.

[Jay Skeets]

Really?

[Tass Melas]

That's great news.

[Jay Skeets]

High five everybody.

[Tass Melas]

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