Jokic's Knee Injury, All-Star Voting Returns & Landing Spots For Trae Young

Summary

No Dunks – Dec 30, 2025

Episode: "Jokic's Knee Injury, All-Star Voting Returns & Landing Spots For Trae Young"

Hosts: Jay Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby (TK), Eshua Kid

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Main Theme

This episode of No Dunks dives into:

• The concerning knee injury to Denver Nuggets' superstar Nikola Jokic
• The first NBA All-Star fan voting returns and surprising trends
• Potential trade destinations and scenarios for Hawks guard Trae Young
• Reactions to last night's NBA games, plus a fun mix of listener questions, stat debates, and a “Top 5” watchlist from Trey Kirby's holiday break.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nikola Jokic’s Knee Injury & Nuggets Fallout

[07:00 – 14:00]

• Incident Recap: Jokic left the Denver-Miami game with a knee injury after teammate Spencer Jones stepped on his foot, causing his knee to buckle. He did not return, and Miami dominated the second half.
• Immediate Reaction:
  • Tas: “This could be bleak for a couple of reasons. Jokic never gets hurt, but also, they just don’t know who they are without him. He is them.” [07:56]
  • TK: “This is like a potential season changer for the Nuggets." [09:09]
• Team Outlook: Nuggets missing four starters; if Jokic misses time, Denver (on 56-win pace) could slide to play-in territory in a crowded Western Conference.
• Injury Context: Jokic has played in 93% of Denver’s games since 2015—he’s nearly always available.
• Speculation on Severity: Hosts reference injury analysts suggesting it might not be too severe, but everyone is anxiously awaiting MRI news.
  • Jay Skeets: "We're just hoping this is nothing serious…like a week or two and then he gets right back in there." [10:10]
  • Tas: “He is a tough, tough dude. There’s just one season where he played in the 60s of games.” [11:30]
• Impact on Miami: Heat scored 140+ for the 7th time this season (had done so 8x total before this year). [12:12]
• Heat Standings Note: Miami getting it done against sub-.500 teams (12–2 record vs. them); “good things happen” if you consistently beat weaker teams.

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2. Raptors' Comeback vs. Magic & Bench Depth

[14:55 – 21:18]

• Game Recap: Raptors came back from 21 down to beat Orlando thanks to their bench: Jamal Shedd (career-high 19 pts), Jacoby Walter, Colin Murray Boyles. Focus was on tough defense and clutch plays.
• Key Performers: Jacoby Walter’s defense, Boyles’ rebounding, Shedd’s game-closing hustle.
  • Tas: “Starters hit one of 18 from three ... This was all the bench.” [15:32]
• Scotty Barnes Clutch Defense: Leads NBA in clutch-time blocks; hosts praised both his performance and the stat itself.
  • Tas: “That’s a freaking cool stat. Our girl Keeks, that’s a freaking cool one, man.” [16:25]
• Magic Late Game Critique: TK didn’t like Paolo Banchero’s final shot (“very selfish … hero ball shot that just left a sour taste in my mouth” [17:27]), and surprise at Desmond Bane sitting much of the 4th.

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3. Cleveland Cavaliers Snap Slump with Vigorous Win over Spurs

[21:56 – 26:54]

• Allen’s Emergence: Jared Allen (27 points, 10 boards) led a rare hard-fought, complete-game effort by Cleveland.
  • “It was just dunk after dunk for Jared Allen … except for a couple wild circus [shots].” – TK [22:08]
• Garland's Impact: Set up Allen repeatedly with long assists; discussion on whether “assist pass distance” should be a tracked stat [26:16].
• Spurs Highlight: Castle-to-Wemby ‘Glassist’ dunk – wild, early play [27:07].
• Team Consistency: Cavs have been inconsistent but showed “their hardest game of the season” – Tas [23:47].

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4. Wedgie Watch: Pace for a Record

[04:52 – 06:30]

• Two more “wedgies” last night brings the season count to 26, on pace for 59. Wedgie stat-tracking nerd banter ensues.
  • “Six wedgies in a week. It was starting pretty slow in December.” – Tas [05:30]

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5. Listener Questions: All-Star Voting First Returns

[36:43 – 46:58]

• Fan Returns Surprises:
  • Top 3 vote-getters: Luka, Giannis, Jokic—all international.
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only 4th in West voting despite superstar status.
    • TK: “Shea is a guy I think connects with a younger generation … still only fourth in voting. I thought that was kind of surprising.” [38:06]
  • Scotty Barnes not in top 20 in East: Tas calls out Canada; Barnes has historic statistical profile [39:16].
• Method Critique: Fan votes are presented by point-per-game leaders in the app—skewing results.
  • Jay Skeets: “It tends to obviously favor people that score a lot more … People just click, click, click.” [39:54]
• LeBron’s All-Star Streak in Jeopardy: He’s far down in vote returns, raising debate if Silver will “cook the books” to include him as a legend.
  • “Right now, I don’t think LeBron’s going to make it. That’ll be weird.” – Skeets [41:38]
  • TK: “They’ll put him on anyway…It’ll be no different than when they said Vince Carter, you have to give your starting spot to Michael Jordan.” [43:37]
• Other Notable Results: Deni Avdia over KD/LeBron, reflecting international voting blocs.

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6. Listener Question: Trae Young Trade Destinations

[46:58 – 56:32]

• Is it time to move on?: General consensus that the Hawks should take what they can get and start over.
  • “Yeah, it’s time for Trae Young to be somewhere else than Atlanta.” – TK [47:29]
• Possible Destinations:
  • Washington Wizards: CJ McCollum, Corey Kispert, pick for Young.
  • Brooklyn Nets: Package with young players (like Nick Claxton) and guards.
• Market Realism: “Doesn’t sound like it’s going to cost a ton to get Trae Young … his archetype isn’t quite as valued.” – TK [49:46]
• Comps: Could be a return similar (or even worse) to what Toronto got for Siakam.
  • Skeets: “I think it’s going to be in the ballpark of something like that.” [52:17]
• Who would you want most (if cost was equal)?
  • TK: “LaMelo…then Trae, then Ja.”
  • Skeets: “Don’t love any of them, but I think I do. I think I go Trae, LaMelo, Ja.” [55:58]

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7. Quick-Hit Game & Stat Notes

[28:08 – 33:58]

• Bucks finally win two in a row – first since October [29:10]
• Deuce McBride shines for Knicks
• Julius Randle: 14 assists, 0 turnovers for the Wolves
• Phoenix Suns: Just 3 of 30 games so far vs the East, sitting at 19–13
  • “That’s a damn good sign for the Phoenix Suns.” – Skeets [33:24]
• **Colin Gillespie (PHX): “Five threes in this game … shooting really, really well.” – Tas [34:02]]

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8. Quirky Listener Questions & Top 5 Segment

• Weirdest Jump Shot in NBA? [57:17]
  • Spencer Jones of the Nuggets is the consensus (“He does not look like an NBA player … weirdest looking jumper … up there” – TK [57:47])
  • Honorable mention: Paul Reed.
  • Spirals into “Ondium” shoes and LinkedIn jokes.
• Trey Kirby’s Top 5 Things Watched Over the Holidays [61:59]
  • No. 1: Bears vs. Packers comeback football game
  • No. 2: Avatar: “Fire and Ash” – gets a surprise glowing (and comedic) review for its “hot” Na’vi
  • No. 3: Bulls-76ers game live experience
  • No. 4: Jokic 56/15/16 Christmas performance
  • No. 5: 49ers vs. Bears NFL game
  • Plus: Honorable and dishonorable mentions (“Jingle All the Way” = dud)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “He is THEM. If you saw the rest of the game, they started to play way too much isolation basketball.” – Tas Melis on Jokic’s irreplaceable value to Denver [07:56]
• “This is like a potential season changer for the Nuggets. At the very least, you have to imagine they will slip down the standings” – TK [09:09]
• “Our girl Keeks, that’s a freaking cool stat. Because sometimes stats are just like, yeah, whatever. But this matches the eye test.” – Tas on Barnes’ clutch blocks [16:25]
• “He looks so bad, but he’s still performing.” – TK on watching Joel Embiid live [63:56]
• “It’s impossible for me to imagine an all-star weekend without LeBron James. In LA, on top of that.” – Skeets [46:58]
• “It’s the three most depressing franchises you could possibly go to. That’s kind of what we’re talking about here.” – TK on potential Trae Young landing spots [54:06]
• “Weirdest-looking jump shot? [Spencer Jones] is up there. Weirdest-looking guy in the NBA, also up there.” – TK [58:03]
• “She seduces a man with fire and ash magic … most sensual performance in movies this year.” – TK on Avatar’s Varang [68:22]
• Tas, on Avdija’s All-Star votes: “There’s a reason they took this decision making out of fans’ hands entirely.” [45:56]

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• 07:00 – Jokic’s Injury & Immediate Fallout
• 14:55 – Raptors’ Comeback vs Magic
• 21:56 – Cavs Beat Spurs, Allen’s Big Night
• 28:08 – NBA Game Tidbits & Stats
• 36:43 – All-Star Voting Returns Discussion
• 46:58 – Trae Young Trade Possibilities
• 57:17 – Weirdest Jump Shot in the League?
• 61:59 – Trey Kirby’s Top 5 Holiday Watches

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Tone & Style

• Loose, comedic, and banter-filled, with a strong focus on basketball analysis but plenty of playful tangents (pop culture, movie reviews, running in-jokes about stats and “LinkedIn”).
• Great chemistry shines, blending deep NBA insights with offbeat humor and listener engagement.

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For New Listeners

This episode is a classic “No Dunks” blend of serious NBA breakdowns, hot takes on injuries and league trends, sidebars into stat-nerdery, and lighthearted pop culture reviews. Even if you missed any of the week’s games, you’ll come away up-to-speed on the league’s biggest stories – and maybe tempted to hit play on Avatar: Fire and Ash… but leave the kids at home!

Transcript

[Jay Skeets]

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[Tas Melis]

Guaranteed Human.

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[Jay Skeets]

All.

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This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rockin and the crowd lit. Chance, echo drum beatin. Everybody showing that school pride. Game like this.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

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It calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And in ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.

[TK]

Get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well groomed lawn delivered, but you can get chicken parmesan delivered. A little escape?

[Jay Skeets]

No.

[TK]

A delicious bowl of grapes? Yes. Yes, that. An afternoon stroll? Sorry, no.

[Coca Cola Ad Voice]

A burrito bowl?

[TK]

Happily, yes. A day of sunshine?

[Tas Melis]

No.

[TK]

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[Jay Skeets]

Good morning sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Tuesday, December 30th, 2025. I'm Jay Skeets here in the Classic factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melis.

[Tas Melis]

Podcast listeners. This is for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Next to him back from Illinois, it's my top shot, hot boy, Trey Kirby. And continuing to make the magic happen behind the board, it's Eshua Kid.

[Tas Melis]

How y' all doing?

[Jay Skeets]

What's up, ash?

[TK]

Hey, man.

[Jay Skeets]

T.K. welcome back.

[TK]

Hey, thanks.

[Jay Skeets]

Good times with the fam up in Illinois.

[TK]

And friends. Yes, good time with friends, family, flora and fauna as well. You know, going outside wasn't that cold.

[Jay Skeets]

There wasn't a ton of snow.

[TK]

No, it was easy. No snow until we left. And then it was like blustery winds blowing us off the road.

[Jay Skeets]

But it was good.

[TK]

It was good.

[Jay Skeets]

12 hour drive, you said to Ash. Oh, no. One day, 12 hours.

[TK]

It's easy. You hear sing two playing in the background. Awesome stuff.

[Jay Skeets]

And you stopped at Buc EE's?

[TK]

Of course I stopped at Buc EE's. I was actually feeling a little Tasmelis esque when I was rolling into Buc EE's because I was looking at the miles left on my miles per gallon gauge. I was like, am I going to have to go neutral mode here? No. But I got in there with a cool 33 gallon.

[Tas Melis]

How is parking? Parking always sucks at Buc EE's. You know.

[TK]

Okay, so first time when we went on the way there, we left at like, you know, six in the morning. I'm rocking my Bears jersey. The girls are all in packers gear. Place was packed. There were so many people there. It was like 7am by the time we got there. A lot of conversations about the NFC North.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

On the way back yesterday, we probably rolled in at like, I don't know, 5pm it was the most empty I've ever seen at Bucky's. More of a breakfast crowd.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

I would say people want to get.

[Jay Skeets]

Their gas early, right?

[TK]

Exactly.

[Jay Skeets]

Both fuel for their body and their car.

[TK]

So true.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Well, it's great to have you back.

[TK]

Yeah, it's good to be back.

[Jay Skeets]

Welcome back to the Factory.

[TK]

Listening to the podcast.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

It's nice to listen to a podcast, guys.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, good.

[TK]

Like my friends.

[Jay Skeets]

How about when I lost my voice yesterday for a second?

[TK]

Yeah, that was cool. That's cool. Like kind of out of nowhere.

[Jay Skeets]

Very out of nowhere.

[TK]

Struggling at all.

[Jay Skeets]

That's rare for me. Hello to the stream team, everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. If you're a listener like Trey Kirby was over the holidays, leave us a five star rating and review. On today's show, we're going to take a Look at the NBA's first fan returns for all star voting. All of us will share our big takeaways from that batch of voting returns. We're going to hit the beach to answer a few of your questions. One about landing spots. Potential landing spots for Trae Young and tk. You got a top five for us? I do. A secretive top five that nobody knows anything about.

[TK]

It's not that exciting.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[TK]

If I told you what it was going to be, you'd Be like, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

We don't need that. Okay, well, we're doing it later in the show. But first we had two more wedgies last night. They are coming in bunches, baby. Number 25 was in Chicago where Trey Kirby just was Jalen Smith blocking Rudy Gobert at the rim. Didn't stick long, but they did do a jump ball. So it was a wedgie. And then a little later in the night, number 2026 was Daniel Gafford really denying Caleb Love's layup attempt. And that one was stuck real deep. And that gets us to, As I said, 26 wedgies. We're on pace for 59.

[TK]

Let's go.

[Jay Skeets]

Holy crap.

[Tas Melis]

Six wedgies in a week. It was starting pretty slow in December.

[Jay Skeets]

We had a whole. We had a whole week where we had zero wedgies.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Jay Skeets]

And then you're like you said, we had a three on last Tuesday and then another one on Friday and two more last night.

[Tas Melis]

So wonderful.

[Jay Skeets]

Got a few nights left before we turn to 2026, so. Man, I'd love to see that.

[TK]

Still time.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, I'm probably being a little. I'm asking for a little much, but it be nice to have 30 wedgies by 2026. We need 4 over the next 2 nights.

[TK]

Unlikely a lot of games.

[Jay Skeets]

Unlikely a nice round.

[Tas Melis]

You like the roundy numbers? I get it.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, 30 would be nice.

[Tas Melis]

I saw it because I saw a similar idea, similar thought when I looked at the pick. Em, we're gonna go into our 20th game tonight. If we, if I win, I'll be 16 and 4. It just feels.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, that feels nice.

[Tas Melis]

15 and 5. It's also good. It's a really good record.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, man. Either way, you should be grateful for.

[Tas Melis]

That Great record pace for 59 wedgies. That's huge. It's been the last few years where we've said, you know, we're going to get more wedgies, we're going to get more wedgies. Last year we only had 48. The two years prior we did have a 63 and a 58. So now it feels like we're back.

[Jay Skeets]

So 63 is the all time record.

[Tas Melis]

For a season for us since we've started tracking. No doubt.

[Jay Skeets]

I love that you always add that part. I respect it. I respect it. But like nobody was tracking it before us. It was a thing before us.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Then somebody will throw us. Oh, Michael Jordan had one against the New York KNICKS in the second round of what, 93 was it, you know, and we'll see that video. So I Don't know. Maybe. Maybe MJ had a few of them. Who knows?

[Jay Skeets]

Probably unlikely there was 50 plus in the season, but maybe there was. You're right.

[Tas Melis]

Who knows?

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, let's get into some of the games and we got to start with some unfortunate news or I guess we're like all holding our breath here today. On Tuesday, at least everybody in Colorado is. The Miami Heat pulled away in the second half to beat the Nuggets 147, 123 in a game where Jokic limped off the court with a knee injury. We're showing it to you here on YouTube. The injury occurred just before halftime when teammate Spencer Jones stepped on the three time MVP's foot and it caused the joker's knee there to sort of buckle or fold back a little bit and he went to the floor. You saw him there grabbing at it. He left. He did not return. And then Miami scored like 47 points in the third quarter and took control of the game. But not a lot of people talking about the actual game. It's this Jokic injury with him going down and we're going to wait for MRI results today. And everybody went immediately to Dr. Sutterer or whatever doctor of your choice that breaks these down. And the good news that he is at least saying is maybe it's not all that serious. About your thoughts.

[Tas Melis]

Well, this could be bleak for a couple of reasons. Jokic never gets hurt, but also they just don't know who they are without him. He is them. If you saw the rest of the game yesterday, they started to play way too much isolation basketball. And a part of that is that they now have four starters who are out. And I think the, the unfortunate part is that they don't really have guys who can break down other people. It's going to be all on Jamal Murray's shoulders here. But I say it could be bleak because it hasn't been extremely fantastic the last little while. They just played six games in 10 nights. They only won two of those six games. Most of those with Nikola Jokic there. They're on this road trip. They've got another five on the road and they're only three games up on the seventh place Phoenix Suns. Now they could get help towards the end of this road trip. They are sort of expecting Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown back. Very important. Again, four starters out for this team. But if you're only up three games on your former teammate Colin Gillespie and the Phoenix Suns, that is unfortunate. They're like pace for 56 wins here. But they could easily be a play in team if Jokic is out a month. So it's, it's, it is bleak time for the Denver Nuggets.

[TK]

Yeah, this is very strange. Never really seen an injury like that. You see guys step on feet, but it'll be an ankle problem or literally just the impact of a foot landing on another foot could break a bone in your foot. But for him to like instantly grab at his knee, yeah, was pretty surprising. And then he looked like he was in a ton of pain while he was limping off. So Tas is right. This is like a potential season changer for the Nuggets. I mean, at the very least, you have to imagine they will slip down the standings in the Western Conference and could easily end up playing a team like the Thunder in the second round rather than a conference finals or something like that. Depending on what the prognosis is. That says MVP implications, title implications. Yeah, all time legacy implications. If we're being quite honest, the Dude's already got three MVPs. If he wins fourth, that's pretty elite territory that he could be in and we just don't know what's going to happen. So yeah, when you throw in Yokoj's injury alongside all the other guys who are out with the Nuggets right now, scary times and Denver for sure again.

[Jay Skeets]

We'Ll wait the medical tests that come out today, in theory, I mean, I guess people will be refreshing Sham's Twitter account all day long or the Nuggets, you know, PR or their account if they're the first to tell us. Hopefully it's nothing too, too serious yet. Maybe a couple games, maybe a couple weeks. Maybe not even that. This guy, you're right, you slipped it in there. Task. Jokic has played in 93% of Denver's regular season games since joining the team in 2015. Yeah, we're talking a decade here. Guy almost never misses games. He was kicking ass in this game. Surprise, surprise. Like it's wild when you look at the box score. The Guy still had 21, 8 and 5. He didn't play the second half. I mean, that's, you know, sort of what this guy does as the mvp. And he was on pace to become the first player in league history to shoot at least 60% overall, 40% on threes over an entire season. We just say all this because we're just hoping this is nothing serious. And it's just like, I don't know, a week or two and then he gets right back in there as some of these Other guys come back, but.

[Tas Melis]

The unfortunate part is he never gets hurt and he never really goes down. I literally have been watching this game, watching this guy play for a long time. I can't remember one incident where he's literally gone down like this. I wouldn't listen to the DNVR podcast. Guys who watch every single minute of Jokic his career, they kind of were able to reference one moment where he went down like this, but this was odd.

[Jay Skeets]

I can remember him grabbing a knee.

[Tas Melis]

Once, but this one was odd. As Trey brings up, guy kind of rolls back slightly into a, an ankle foot area and then he grabs the knee. It's, it's, it was just all sort of unique. And because he's so tough, I automatically think, man, he must be hurt if he is sort of writhing in pain down there for a while. He is a tough, tough dude. There's just one season where he played in the 60s of games. There was a 69er in there, but otherwise the guy plays all the time.

[Jay Skeets]

The Heat get this win. Denver's next game, by the way, is on Wednesday when they play the Toronto Raptors in Toronto. So you wouldn't think Jokic is going to play in that, but we'll find out. But the Heat did get the victory. This is a team. They never beat Trey, and they needed Jokic to go out with an injury to help their chances. They had a huge game scoring wise. They topped the 140 point mark for the seventh time this season. And I shared this sort of stat before. Miami had eight such games from its inception in 1988 all the way through last season. So they've only done that eight times in the history of the franchise where they scored 140 plus. Now they've done it seven times this season alone. So scoring a ton and they get the victory over a team that couldn't usually beat in Denver.

[TK]

Hadn't Nicola Jovic never beaten Nikola Jokic?

[Jay Skeets]

Yo, it has to be right because Denver had won the last 11 regular season matchups.

[TK]

Yeah, they're always talking trash obviously as teammates. And 22 points for Jovic compared to just 21 for Jokic. A Pyrrhic victory I believe for the younger Nicola here. Eight guys in double digits though, for the Heat, but I kind of agree with Tas. Once Jokic went down, the Nuggets were just kind of like shock to the system for sure. So getting back on track was a little tough for them. But credit to the Heat for going out and taking it, because I tuned into this one I was like, what? Where's Jokic?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

And then suddenly the game was over and he was out. And it's just a big time question mark. And I mean, about the worst possible second half that could have taken place after he goes down with an injury. So not encouraging for Denver, but we await the doctors. We do, we await him. What did what Brian say? Patella tendon.

[Jay Skeets]

He sort of downplayed it. He did not think it was actually going to be all that serious. Yeah. So that was promising.

[Tas Melis]

To hear patella tendon, that would be tough.

[Jay Skeets]

You're right about the injury itself. It's like usually when you see like the knee injury like that from a teammate crashing into you, it's like the actual teammate falls into your knee.

[TK]

Totally.

[Jay Skeets]

And then you go back. But you're right. This whole like him stepping on the foot to then tweak the knee because of the pressure back.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Hopefully it's nothing serious, but yeah. We had somebody yesterday saying, where's the Miami Heat love for winners of the weekend on Monday show? Because we didn't really talk about them, but I was like, come on, man, they beat the Atlanta Hawks, who suck. And then they beat the Indiana Pacers, who are the worst team, one of the worst teams in the league, record wise. I was like, come on, we couldn't go overboard with that. And then they get this one here again, helped out a joke. It's not playing because it was a tie game in half. Completely different when he's not out there. But the heat are 18 and 15. They are, you know, it's a solid record. And they're at least trying to separate themselves a little bit from some of those teams. Maybe like the Hawks or the Bulls or whatever, stuff like that.

[TK]

You got to beat the bad teams. Yeah, they're 12 and two against teams under.500. That's like a key part of why they're one of the teams in the top six. Because as we're going to get into here with both the Raptors, with the Magic, certainly with the Hawks, a lot of inconsistency in the Eastern Conference. If you can consistently beat the teams you're supposed to beat, good things happen.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep. Well, let's move to Jamal Shedd scoring 19 points as the Raptors overcame a 21 point deficit to beat the Magic. 1:07 106. Toronto down 21 in the second quarter and still trailed by 10 after three. But they ripped off a 130 run in the fourth. They take the 105, 102 lead with three minutes left, and then they held on. Tas, they do it again here after, you know, coming back against the Warriors. And this one led by a lot of the bench guys who came through. Shed, cmb, Jacoby Walter, all played a instrumental part in the. In the victory here, especially on the defensive end.

[Tas Melis]

This was all the bench. I thought Scotty Barnes said before the season, we're 13, 14 deep. We go real deep. We need all these guys. Those guys came through in the fourth quarter, going down double digits, going to the fourth. I thought Jacoby Walter started on ball defense, getting absolutely after it, forcing a moving screen, pick a steal in the corner. He was getting after it. Also adding 10 points in this game, splashing a three there in the fourth. You mentioned Colin, Murray, Boyles, the boards, the board, man, the offensive boards, swatted blocks. And I think Jamal Shed was fantastic. His career high, right? 19 points, the drives there.

[Jay Skeets]

And he closed the game, too.

[Tas Melis]

He did.

[Jay Skeets]

And that was the part. Like Darko is like, quickly, you're not playing anymore.

[Tas Melis]

No.

[Jay Skeets]

You don't have it offensively, and you're getting exposed defensively. So at least Shed is giving us something on that end.

[Tas Melis]

To have the starters hit one of 18 from three. The top score only had 17 points. And, yeah, obviously going to Brandon Ingram and Scotty Barnes a little bit alongside these three guys that were hustling definitely played a part. But then I loved watching Scotty Barnes. This was a stat that made the eye test match the stat. When I saw Scotty Barnes with that huge block, three minutes left. He leads the league in blocks in clutch time in the NBA. That's a freaking cool stat. Our girl Keith, that's a freaking cool one, man. Because sometimes stats are just like, yeah, whatever. But this matches the eye test. You see him come through in clutch all the time with a big block. He did it again in a key moment there where Wendell Carter could have easily put one back, and then Orlando would be talking a different type of game. But that block came through, and so did Keeks. Our girl who came out with that stat, shout out to her. That's a good, cool stack. It's a freaking cool one.

[Jay Skeets]

Thoughts on the wraps here, TK I.

[TK]

Didn'T love Paolo's last shot. You know, the Magic get the ball back with, I think, 11 seconds. They don't call a timeout because there's a little bit of transition. Nothing's really happening. So Paulo, on the other side of the floor, he's the one that called the timeout. He's like, I'm having a pretty good game here. 23 points, 15 boards, 10 assists, only one turnover. He's like, give me the ball. I'm taking this shot no matter what. And he took a terrible shot. Yeah, like a step back, three to the left. I guess he was two for three from three at that point. But he wanted no part of trying to attack Scotty, probably because he's leading the league in blocks in the clutch. He's like, man, that was a cool stat I just saw from our girl Keeks. I can't attack her in this him in this moment. But yeah, that kind of just left a sour taste in my mouth to call. It just seemed very selfish to me. I'm calling a timeout to get the ball and then take a hero ball shot. I love it when a guy plays.

[Tas Melis]

Hero ball, but it's got to go.

[TK]

In and that was just not the way to do it. If you're going to take a dumb shot like that, just run over and get it from Tyus Jones. He'll give it to you. You don't care.

[Jay Skeets]

He'd gladly give it to you.

[TK]

He'll give it to you, you know, Mosley wanted to play in the flow of things and Paulo didn't want to play in the flow of things. Could have got it to Desmond Bain, who knows? Good win though, for the Raptors. Held the Magic to 12 points in the fourth quarter. And Colin Murray Boyles, I think, got every rebound in the fourth quarter. Devlin was loving it.

[Jay Skeets]

He was. Colin Murray boards. Yeah, they were big, those guys. Shed, Walter and cmb, they don't win this game without them. And I'll even say Grady Dick in the first half was keeping the Raptors alive when nobody could score. You said like their three main scores, they couldn't hit a shot in the first half.

[Tas Melis]

First quarter.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't think Barnes, Ingram or quickly even scored a point, but Grady Dick got an opportunity in the second. That was the best he's looked in a while. To me. He was hitting some threes. That's nice. He is three point shooter. He was attacking off the dribble. He was actually creating plays for other guys. Somewhat shocking, he didn't get back into the game in the second half, but Darko was like, okay, we're going to win this game is going to be with defense, so let's get those three. As I said, Shed, Walter, CMB and then Scotty Barnes, all defense. And then Ingram is just enough offense out there. And he even came through with the clutch block. So that Was a good coaching decision from Darko. To be like, looking around at the sort of this type of game, it's like, we're going to win this on the defensive end. And, man, like, the Shed heads got to be loving this one. I know it's sacrilegious to say this, but there are moments with Shed where he takes over a game for like two minutes just on pure hustle and smarts. And it looks like Lowry. That's what Lowry used to do. He'd have a garbage game going. The team looked dead in the water. And Lowry just sort of through moxie and just hustle and fight could change a game, could sort of ignite a team. And this, that one to me was. That was like, whoa. I mean, there's like. There's a little Fred Van Vleen in it too, I get. But that to me was like, oh, that's Lowry. Like, so great game. And when the Raptors were winning early in the year, a big part of it was their bench. Then they had that huge stretch. You talk about inconsistency, Trey. The bench sort of disappeared for a good chunk of the losing streak. And then now they're back here in these two games, helping them get across the finish line.

[Tas Melis]

I was confused a little bit by the Magic not playing Desmond Bain more in the fourth quarter. Literally sat for over half the fourth quarter. Surprising to me because nobody was really clicking. Bancaro was scoreless in the fourth, Bane was scoreless in the fourth. They kind of relied on Anthony Black to create. That was just a little tough for him. And I don't know, he was looking at Palo Banchero when he shot that buzzer beater attempt. He's kind of looking. I don't know if he wanted the ball or what. I'm just. I'm just speculating. Huh.

[Jay Skeets]

Bane, you're saying?

[Tas Melis]

No, no, Black. Black was looking. Yeah. Anthony Black probably didn't want the shot, but I don't know. He was. He was wide open, but either way, it was like a step back. Paul Bunker has not had a good season shooting the 3, and that was a deep. Pretty deep 3 for him. But overall, a good stat line until that fourth quarter, really.

[Jay Skeets]

Before the game, the Raptor said Purdo will not play for at least a week here, too, with the back injuries. We did see Mo Bama. Mo Bamba. Excuse me. He played to get a block. His first play. Somebody tried to throw him an alley oop. It was an absolute brutal throw. And he got, like, wiped out because he got crushed by A couple guys. It was a rough start. Mo Bama, but you know, he is a big guy. He's going to get a little more opportunity here, I would assume moving forward. Have to check to see well they play. The Nuggets might be without Jokic, so that helps them at least in terms of a smaller Denver team.

[TK]

Mo versus Jonas.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Moving on. Jared Allen, 27 and 10. 27 points, 10 boards helps the Cavs overcome Wendy and the Spurs. This is a quality win here, TK from the Cavaliers, and I thought Jared Allen's one of his best games of the season.

[TK]

Quality win and I would say maybe their best win of the season. You know, everybody actually back playing for Cleveland. Mitchell and Garland, Mobley and Allen, they all did some stuff. It was their first road win against a.500 or better opponent since November 12th. That's a month and a half. This is one of the most inconsistent teams we've seen so far. But I was actually pretty impressed with what Darius Garland was doing. Finished with 11 assists, three turnovers. Didn't really shoot the ball all that well. Mitchell didn't either, but Garland was getting in the lane enough that Mitchell didn't have to put the entire team on his back and just carry things. I think it's a huge part of why Jared Allen was able to go 11 for 21 from the field, 27 points. It was just dunk after dunk for Jared Allen, except for a couple of wild circus. Yeah, he was looking the other way.

[Jay Skeets]

He was flipping it over his head.

[TK]

Twice at the second time. And Grant Hill's like, he looks like Baryshnikov out there.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, you can count on Grant Hill.

[TK]

For he's really old reference for sure. Mikhail Baryshnikov. I was like, oh, that Baryshnikov from 1977's the Nutcracker? Yeah, he does look like that out there. But a great game and a great win for the Cavs to. To beat the spurs, who played okay, but it was basically the shooting that did it for Cleveland. This is a team that I've said they're a jump shooting team that can't shoot threes, but they made eight just off the bench last night. Meanwhile, San Antonio, only seven threes total for them. So this is kind of the recipe for the Cavs. I thought Hunter looked okay. Most of the guys in the starting lineup playing well and Garland looking a little bit better. He's been up and down, mostly down since coming back, but when he looks quick, they look better.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I thought Jared Allen's key to him just playing harder. Number was him playing harder, but also Darius Garland assisting his buckets. More than half his buckets were assisted by Darius Garland. Jared Allen was getting it after it on the offensive glass. And I would just say, overall, you know, to really, really simplify things, the Cleveland Cavaliers played their hardest game of the season. It felt like they played for 48 minutes. You know, this is the hustle, the defense transition. They're really, really pushing it. They're getting on the glass. And they came through in the fourth quarter when Donovan Mitchell didn't have to do much at all. They were down to going to the fourth quarter. You think, okay, it's Mitchell time. But he only had to score five of his 10 points in the fourth quarter. Jalen Tyson helped out. Splash, splash, splash. Three threes in the quarter himself. Garland had seven points. It was just a key.

[Jay Skeets]

It was.

[Tas Melis]

The key was pushing it in that fourth quarter. And it felt like the Cavs. Yeah, definitely their best game of the season, where they all came together. They all played hard. As simple as that sounds, that's what happened.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it was nice to prove that they can actually win a game without Donovan Mitchell carrying them completely, either throughout the entire game or in the fourth quarter. Because he was struggling with a shot. No, I think a part of it, too. He was like. He couldn't get to the rim as easily when you got Wemby roaming around there. That changes sort of your shot attempts or your shot diet. So he was settling maybe for threes or he was going to the three ball, and it wasn't falling. So 10 points from Donovan Mitchell. That's crazy. This guy scores 25, 30 in his sleep, but everybody else contributing. And back to Jared Allen, that guy. There has been stretches where he's been invisible for the Cavs team this year. Like, barely even notice he's out there, which is crazy, because this guy's huge. He was held to just 13 points on seven field goal attempts in the last two games combined. And so him attempting 10 or more shots, that. That's a good recipe, honestly, for the Cavs, that means Garland's getting in there, setting him up. That means he's aggressive on the glass. He's looking for those little dinkers and dumpers that he'll sometimes do in those little flip shots over his head. Because it was the first time since that November 12th game that you alluded to TK where he had shot 10 or more times in a game. And I went and checked the box scores. Cavs Are six. And, oh, when he attempts Ted plus shots. So again, a lot of those were coming earlier in the year, but it's. Maybe that's something to keep an eye on, like when he's just involved a little bit more as the big guy in there and then everybody else can sort of fill in the. Fill in the blanks.

[TK]

Here's. Tell me if these are cool stats. One is a stat. I just found 10 points is the fewest points that Donovan Mitchell has scored in a win this season.

[Tas Melis]

Cool stats.

[TK]

Okay. This is a stat that we would have to use tracking data to calculate, but I would like to. Did Darius Garland have the longest average pass distance for assists? He had so many assists that were from like two or three steps outside the three point line just on a bead to underneath the hoop.

[Jay Skeets]

True.

[TK]

For a layup, like, he was just finding backdoor cutters. Some of his assists were like, you know, we're driving in Wemby's coming and helping drop it off. But some of them were so far away. Yeah, I know Jokic would be a guy that would have long pass distance as well.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

But if we could find that out, would that be a cool stat?

[Jay Skeets]

That would be a great stat.

[TK]

Please try and find past distance per assist.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow. I mean, we have the technology.

[Tas Melis]

We have the technology.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

It'd be so easy to find out. We'll have to talk to Keeks about.

[Jay Skeets]

That one cool assist from the game from the Spurs.

[TK]

Nice one.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. How about that? Segway, baby. Was Castle throwing the ball off the backboard to the trailing Wemby, who was flying through the lane to throw it down. But this is not one of these ones off the backboard. The Glassist, as we call it, where nobody's around, where it's just like a 2, 1, 0. There are so many guys, like, we're between Castle in the backboard, between Wemby in the backboard. Then he's just like, I'm just gonna chuck it up. It's like, I love. We're like, this guy's huge. Just throw it up every time. And Castle's like, all right, I'll give it a go. Just chucked it off the backboard and Wemby dunked it home. That was cool. That was cool. Like, pretty early in the game, if I remember correctly.

[Tas Melis]

I don't think they track the length of assists. This may be be. I may be being naive, but I don't think they have it because I.

[Jay Skeets]

They don't have it. But they could.

[Tas Melis]

They could have it.

[TK]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Long assists are fun to track. Like I thought. Even the Paolo Banquero alley oop to Anthony Black in the fourth quarter. That one, that was long and that's fun. When they're long, they're fun. Oh, so true.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Any other. A lot of other games on. Any other takeaways from last night's NBA slate?

[Tas Melis]

Oh, the slate. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, the slate. I'm the only one that uses slate anymore. I hate putting games, like 11 games or busy NBA schedule. I have used that before, too, but I like slate. Look at that on the ground.

[TK]

Slate's nice. Real nice.

[Jay Skeets]

Talk about the slate, man.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, let's slate it up. This is the first time. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Turn your chair around backwards.

[TK]

Let's talk about last night's slate. Oh, it's tough to do with the back of a seat this wide.

[Jay Skeets]

Hey, man, let's talk about the slate last night. Zach, timeout.

[TK]

Timeout.

[Tas Melis]

I would do it, but I've been pulling on my. My headphone cord for like an hour because I got this hoodie. It's been bugging me, so I'm not going to do it. I would love to talk about. This is the first time on back to back slates that the Bucks have won since October. It's not back to back sites like back to back nights, but two games in a row. They haven't won two games in a row. Serious October.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, that's cool stuff.

[TK]

A lot of losses. That's a cool stat.

[Tas Melis]

We'll see if they keep it up.

[TK]

That was a funny game. That was a pretty close game. And then Giannis just did a baseline spin move like five times in a row. And Eric Collins was hating it. The coaches must have talked about the baseline spin. That's why Charles Lee's so upset.

[Jay Skeets]

It was awesome.

[TK]

But he did it so many times.

[Jay Skeets]

He spontaneously go into it if it's working.

[Tas Melis]

Nothing else about that game. I did think it was interesting. Deuce McBride, I thought was the key for the Knicks to beat the Pelicans in the fourth quarter. It was Deuce time. I think Deuce is the happiest he's ever been. At the end of last season when they got bounced in the playoffs, he was interviewed post game. He said, quote, twice. He said this twice. A lot of things in the year sadly got exposed to me. That means I didn't play enough. And that's a big reason why Tom Thibodeau was axed and why Mike Brown finished or entered that this season. He played 12 guys yesterday in the fourth quarter, it was all deuce, 12 points, four free throws to end it. His on ball defense was really good. He had zero turnovers in the game. He had a steal, a couple offensive boards. He was the key. This was a super close game and he got it done. Pell stink. But either way it's, it's funny. It's, it's. It was. That win streak is over. I mean watching Jordan Poole in that fourth quarter, he just can't get together in the fourth quarter. He just can't run a team every single time. Bad decision making over and over.

[Jay Skeets]

I saw a lot of tweets going on last night. I wasn't really watching that game, but I saw a lot of what the hell is Jordan Poole doing? Type tweets. I was like, oh, that can't be good.

[TK]

Antonio Diaz was like, you're not gonna trick him.

[Tas Melis]

You're not going to trick him.

[TK]

They're not going to bail you out on that one. And they didn't. But I thought the worst play that the Pelicans made was Jalen Brunson's game winning layup where, you know, they run sort of some sort of screen and roll up top. He wants to get Trey Murphy off him, I think was the defender at the time. And Looney switches and he I don't think wanted to switch on to Jalen Brunson. Yeah. So easiest layup Brunson's ever going to get in the final minute of the game. Just drives to the hoop left handed. No crossovers, no hesitations, no herky jerkiness at all. Just a straight line drive for a left handed layup.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[TK]

He's probably like what? I. I haven't done that since high school.

[Jay Skeets]

Right, right.

[TK]

That was an easy bucket. Looney looked pretty confused about what was happening. And you know, this is a team that is near the bottom of the standings for a reason and it's a. Miscommunications happen, you know.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

We're a young team.

[Jay Skeets]

We don't know what we're doing.

[TK]

I mean, yeah, Looney's an old man. Trey Murphy's been there forever as well. Those are the guys you should be able to.

[Tas Melis]

They did won a championship. This shouldn't happen in the last five seconds of a game.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Any other games TK you want to address?

[TK]

I only saw a tiny little bit about the Bulls and the Timberwolves. Josh Giddey went out with injury. Kobe white out with injury as well. But right when I turned it on, I saw Kevin Herder cross up Julius Randall so nasty that Randall, like, ran down the court upset with himself, like throwing his hands in the air, like crossed over by Kevin Herder. People are gonna be talking about this on podcast tomorrow. But they destroyed the Bulls then in the third and fourth quarter.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that was a big second half.

[TK]

That was an easy win.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. 40 points in both quarters. 40 and 41 for the Wolves in the third and fourth quarters. Randle had 14 assists and zero turnovers last night. That's hell of a line from this guy. 17 and 14 with zero turnovers for Julius Randle. That's pretty amazing. I wanted to note something about the Suns beating the Wizards last night in D.C. crazy. You tell me whether it's a cool stat from our guy, Ghostface Ziller. Phoenix, very strong, capable 19 and 13 record here as we get closer to 2026 last night in that win against the Wizards, it was just their third out of 30 games against the Eastern Conference this season. Most fellow Western Conference teams have racked up about 10 games. So that's more of like the normal sort of schedule, you know, a third of your games or whatever. 3.

[TK]

So that's crazy.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a damn good sign for the Phoenix Suns, I would say, too. They're halfway done with their games against the Western Conference and they're solidly in the number seven spot right now. And they got a whole lot of Eastern Conference games to play, which is obviously the more subpar of the. Of the two conferences, I think we would all admit. So Sons, man, they're gonna smash that over.

[TK]

Probably.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I think so. I don't want to jinx it, but.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Anyway, they got. They got the win there. Dylan Brooks getting there early helped out.

[TK]

Yeah, he scouted out so he could go eight for 20.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

[Tas Melis]

And you know, I like to give my boy Colin Gillespie some love.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Good game. Yeah. Five threes in this game. Last four games, he's hit at least four threes in each of them. Two fivers and two fours. There was a four game stretch about a month ago where he had four, six, four and eight threes in four consecutive games. The guy is hot, shooting really, really well from three. I'm looking forward to the Jalen Green return when he does get healthy to see what happens there. If Colin plays in, you know, whether or not he goes to the bench. You could see Colin Gillespie finishing games for this team because he does come through in fourth quarters. But yeah, they've won four in a row. 1, 5, 6, no Mark Williams yesterday didn't matter.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right. He was serving a suspension. Do you have any thoughts on the. The fight between Jose Alvarado and Mark Williams? Do you think Mark Williams got shafted by getting a game suspension? Because some people were saying, what the hell was he supposed to do with Alvarado? Sort of the one instigating.

[TK]

Yeah. I mean, he probably did. He probably realistically did get shafted a little bit. But when there's a skirmish, they're going to come down with punishments on both sides. I forget who I was showing it to. This must have been when we were having a friend's, a friend's Christmas party. Nerf guess maybe it was Tom Poro that showed me. He showed me what was happening. And somebody could not believe that Jose Alvarado was a basketball player.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, interesting. I mean, he's a tiny guy.

[TK]

Oh, yeah, exactly. Comparatively. And there also are a lot of guys that have like a flowing ponytail.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, you're right.

[TK]

You know, so that was the big takeaway for me. But I definitely think Alvarado is more of a fighter than Mark Williams.

[Tas Melis]

Yes.

[TK]

If I were going to pick guys who get in a fight, Alvarado would come way higher on the list. So. Yeah, that's why he gets to.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep. All right, let's take a break and then we'll talk about all star voting returns and hit the beach and a whole lot more. Every Friday from 6 to 7:30, it's NBA happy hour on FanDuel. Your pregame for the weekend. We're talking limited time specials you won't want to miss. Boosts, bonuses, surprises all dropping in the app during that happy hour. So before tip off, check the FanDuel app to see the week's specials. Then make your move before the shot clock expires at 7:30 Eastern. Perfect way to start your weekend. A little basketball, a little action, whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA happy hour every Friday from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern only on FanDuel, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA and proud sponsor here of no dunks. All right, Ash, it's a little cold here today in Atlanta, so let's hit the beach.

[Tas Melis]

It's back.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, we're on the beach. People were sending in some emails. People were hitting us up on YouTube and our social media channel. So thank you to everybody that sent in a question yesterday. First one is about all star voting returns. Hey, boys, happy holidays. The NBA all star voting first returns are out and the top three vote getters are international players In Luka, Giannis and Jokic. That's not much of a surprise. But did anything jump out to you from the first batch of All Star votes? That's from Brucey B. Thank you, Brucey B. Let's show you the All Star returns start in the West. Luka Jokic, Steph Curry lead the Western Conference after the first round of fan voting, with Luka currently leading the way for most votes overall across both conferences. SGA sits fourth. Wembanyama fifth. Reminder this year, no positions. You're just voting for who you want. And again, this is the first fan returns in the east you can flip over. Esch Giannis leads his conference early. He's followed by three guards with also over a million votes. Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson and Kate Cunningham. Donovan Mitchell currently in the fifth spot in the East, a slight lead over Jaylen Brown. So I've set the table there for you, tk. As Brucey B. Said, a lot of international guys leading the way, but any other takeaways from these voting returns?

[TK]

If we still had front court and back court voting the way we always have, Shai Gildress, Alexander wouldn't be a starter. The guy is the reigning mvp, reigning scoring title leader, second in the league in scoring right now, playing on the best team in the league, and he's fourth in voting. Yeah, I don't think Jokic is a guy that has like a monstrous fan base either. And he's far ahead of Shay Gil, just Alexander. All of that was kind of surprising to me because I mean, Shea is a guy that I think connects with a younger generation as well, with his style, his Instagram life, you know, the way they do their post game press conference or their post game celebrations, all this kind of stuff. But still only fourth in voting. I thought that was kind of surprising.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that's a good one. It is odd to see top 20 on both sides, right? I know they did 10 forwards and 10 guards, but seeing that you could be 19th, just. It's worse, right? You're further on down. And to see Scotty Barnes not In.

[Jay Skeets]

The top 20, yeah, that's shocking. That's disgusting. What's going on? Canada?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, Darko.

[Jay Skeets]

Darko was asked about it.

[Tas Melis]

He got to the. He was, he said, do you know that There are only two players in the NBA that have 500 plus points, 200 plus rebounds, 150 plus assists and 25 plus box? One of them is Nikola Jokic and the other is Scotty Barnes. Why isn't Scotty Barnes One of the top 20. Come on, Canada. He called out the freaking country and said, canada, get to voting. Yeah, I get it. I get it. And he leads the NBA.

[Jay Skeets]

Clutch blocks. How about that?

[Tas Melis]

Let him know. Yeah, yeah.

[TK]

Surprising.

[Tas Melis]

It is surprising that he's not top 20. Ingram is up there, but Scotty's nuts.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, a lot of people. And this isn't the first time we've heard this sort of complaint about All Star voting when it comes to the fans. It's like when you go and fill out the app, it is ranked in terms of your points per game leaders. So it tends to obviously favor people that score a lot more. I think when maybe. I always think people go to the app to fill it out, they have a couple of their favorites. Let's say, like, you're a Brunson fan or you're a Yokich fan, whatever. And then it's like, do I care all that much about who the other ones are? Not really. Oh, these are the leaders in scoring. I guess I'll. Click, click, click, click, click. I see. I could see that being a case that a lot of people do. You do wonder if they wanted to make it, like, more fair. Like, you could randomize it, you know, and you really had to seek out who you wanted to vote for.

[TK]

Seriously, like, oh, man, I voted for Harrison Barnes.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, my point is, like, it could just randomize, like, who you see first.

[Tas Melis]

Sure.

[Jay Skeets]

When you go to fill out the thing because you're presented with these guys because they're the leading scores in a lot of cases now, those are usually your All Stars. I get that. But I don't know. I think it does have people just, like, not half assing their vote or their. But I guess that's the best way to put it. Like, all right, guys scored a lot. I like scoring. Cool. Put that in.

[TK]

Who would you pick as the All Star from the Raptors?

[Tas Melis]

That's a great question.

[Jay Skeets]

Scotty Barnes.

[Tas Melis]

I would pick Scotty if I had.

[Jay Skeets]

To pick between the two. And I want to make it very clear, neither of them are worth starting the All Star game. They're not that good. I think there are other guys. I was happy to see Brunson finally, like, up there in a vote. Remember, for a couple years, I know you and ITK were, like, calling out Knicks fans, like, where the hell is all this? The New York media backing their guy here. This guy's awesome. And he was always, like, quite low, but nice to see him getting some love here. It takes a couple of days.

[TK]

No Hate on the Knicks fans here. They put five Knicks in the top 16.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, right, right, right.

[Tas Melis]

Pretty good.

[Jay Skeets]

Have a Hawk situation here. So many All Stars. The other big takeaway right now, it would appear that LeBron James, who has been named an all star starter for 21 consecutive seasons, is going to miss that honor in 2026. Forget starting. He may not even be an All Star unless Silver cooks the books a little bit and we have a Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki situation where he's like, I want that legend in. But right now, and I remember us talking about this a couple weeks ago, we're like, I don't know if LeBron's going to make it because a big part of it was the injury, too. But then even coming back, the numbers are not wowing you. They shouldn't. The guy's turning 41 today. Happy birthday, LeBron. Happy birthday to Danny as well. Happy birthday to Tiger woods as well. I'll never forget those three people, but I don't think LeBron's going to make it. Yeah, that'll be weird. That'd be very weird in a game where we're going to have USA versus the world.

[TK]

You think LeBron's going to make it?

[Jay Skeets]

No. Wow.

[Tas Melis]

I think if.

[TK]

I mean, I think they'll put him on anyways.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Okay, well, so you think Silver does do the old. Let's just add him because I don't think he's going to make it from the media vote. And if he's this far low in the. In the fan vote, then that really.

[TK]

Could vote him for sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe players.

[TK]

So that's only a quarter.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe.

[TK]

I think he will probably go up in voting as time goes on after people see this. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, he'd played like, what, probably four or five games by the time voting started.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

For this here. So the fact that he's behind the news, as I put Julia, Denny, Abdia. Yeah, it's pretty surprising. Abdia has more votes than KD and LeBron.

[Jay Skeets]

Avdia, honestly, ridiculous. 7th overall in the west was surprising to me. I had that in my notes. But hold on. He's way more deserving of an All Star selection than Zaza Patulia.

[TK]

Yeah, sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, sure.

[TK]

But I mean, he's getting voted in because he's got an international fan base behind him.

[Jay Skeets]

He definitely helps out.

[TK]

That's. That's the reason. Yeah. But I still think that coaches will pick LeBron. How are you going to keep LeBron off an all Star team.

[Jay Skeets]

When he's not deserving of an All Star spot, I guess.

[TK]

Nah, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if the All Star game does not matter. Well, no, the only thing that matters is honoring the great players and LeBron James is a great player. It'll be no different than when they said Vince Carter, you have to give your starting spot to Michael Jordan. They like to honor the best guys there. This could be his last season. He's not going to be an All Star. Come on.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I see. That's the thing.

[Jay Skeets]

We don't know if it's his last season. I mean, he hasn't said. It is true. If he had come out and said this is my last season, I guarantee he'd be in an All Star Game. But because he hasn't said that, I'm a little less convinced he will be.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Because it's not like. So we'll put him in twice. I don't know.

[Tas Melis]

I see Adam Silver getting him there. I think it's less about the USA and who's playing if the. It's going to come down to the coaches having to vote seven guys to accompany the five starters in the Western Conference because that's how they select it. I know it's complicated, but basically it's back to normal. Seven extra guys. And when the coaches look at the seven additional players that they're going to select, LeBron probably won't be part of them. It's going to have to be Adam. Adam, it's up to you. I think they have done a better job of designing the ballots. They actually include the date and the time of the game on the ballots that we're seeing that was revealed. I just mean these published produced turns of the voting. I don't know if they actually are when you digitally pick them, but right now we're all talking about it and they're there. Usually I wouldn't know when the game is or when I would, but I mean it's being pushed for other people and I think that's smart designers. Good move. That's all really. But yeah, when it comes down to Denny Avdia making it like having double, basically double the amount of votes that Alper and Shen Goon does. Which is crazy because Shen Goon is on a far better team and is the best player. You know, called Durant the best player. Whatever. There's a reason that they took this decision making out of fans hands entirely.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Of it all.

[Tas Melis]

It is about the fans. It's about the fans. But they can't pick. They're not allowed to pick anymore the way they used to.

[Jay Skeets]

As it stands right now, when you're looking at the everything, US Team is going to be pretty guard heavy. And the international team is going to be all big boys. I mean, they're Shay and Luca too, as guards. But a lot of the best big guys are obviously international. If Jokic is good to go. Giannis, of course, Wemby, of course. We don't know about Karl Anthony Towns.

[TK]

Of course he could play anyway.

[Jay Skeets]

Still TBD on that. But anyway, that's first returns. Hear what people think about the LeBron all because again, the guy hasn't said this is it. Here's the thing. He probably doesn't want to play. He just complained about playing on Christmas for the whatever, 20th time.

[Tas Melis]

He doesn't even have to fly there.

[TK]

True.

[Jay Skeets]

It's in la.

[Tas Melis]

Great place.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[TK]

Good guy shows off like 30 minutes before everything starts at the All Star as well. Exactly. He's put in his time there, that's for sure. But it's impossible for me to imagine an all star weekend without LeBron James.

[Jay Skeets]

In LA on top of that. Yeah, maybe. All right, next one here. No, no, no dunks. If the Hawks trade Trae Young as rumored, what's your favorite landing spot? Can you find a team or a deal that makes any sort of sense turn up? Love you guys. Super. Awesome. That's from Larry the Table Guy. Hey, what's your job? Tables. TK let's start with you because we talked a little bit about Trae Young and the trade rumors yesterday. Do you have landing spots or what are your thoughts on the trading Trae Young of it all?

[TK]

Time to go. Yeah, it's time for Trey Young to be somewhere else than Atlanta. Seven straight losses after losing to the Thunder last night. I don't think it's all Trey's fault, but they've lost every single game since he's been back. And at the very least, you can say they're not better with Trae Young. They're probably the same with Trae Young. Maybe there's a higher ceiling. It's just time to figure out if that's the case. So there are weird places you can send him. There's definitely been Dallas rumors like you guys talked about with the Anthony Davis of it all. But it's kind of like the Hawks don't want to trade Trey Young and the Mavericks don't want him anyways. So how what's happening there make any sort of sense to me? Like, could he end up in Milwaukee.

[Jay Skeets]

As a last ditch effort?

[TK]

I think so.

[Jay Skeets]

Tried Damian Lillard 2.0.

[TK]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe. Yeah, it's doable. It's like Kuzma Portis, maybe Gary Trent Jr. Picks coming back for the Hawks. I don't know why the Hawks would want to do that. Like they they lacking ball handlers anyways I think. And that's with Trey Young coming back. Kuzma Portis, Gary, none of those guys are ball handlers. The size would help with Porzingis being a question mark for how he goes forward. So maybe having Porters around helps. So I think that probably falls through on Atlanta side for the most part, especially since they would want to be trading for Giannis if they can. Another weird one, I thought. How about the Washington Wizards?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Have them on my list too.

[TK]

CJ McCollum, Corey Kispert, future first round pick. It's not terrible.

[Jay Skeets]

No, no it's not.

[TK]

I mean the thing would be the Wizards have to talk Trey Young into wanting to stay. Maybe that means picking up his player option for next season. Or maybe it means signing a longer extension and them saying, hey, you're our guy right now. He'd be a nice fit with Alex Sar, a guy who needs somebody to create shots for him. We've talked a lot about how the Wizards have a lot of good support pieces, but they don't have that main guy. Trey Young could be a main guy for him for that team, but I think that would be kind of risky for Washington to not know if Trey's gonna stick around. But if he can do it for CJ McCollum and Corey Kisper, that's an.

[Jay Skeets]

Easy nothing for me.

[TK]

So hearing the reporting on the various podcasts, it doesn't sound like it's going to cost a ton to get Trey Young because you got to pay him right away. His archetype isn't quite as valued in the NBA as it was even three seasons ago. But for me, I think it is time.

[Tas Melis]

I do agree that it's going to be one of the bottom of the league type of teams. It's not going to be a team that's going for it. I think the Milwaukee Bucks are even too high too good of a team right now to give up that many parts that you have to give up for Trae Young and to redo the whole dame try thing that didn't work out as a one two with United States Kubo. I think it'll be one of the bottom teams. Washington is a good team. I Think the Brooklyn Nets are a comparable team because they've got so many young players. They need to upgrade on a super talented guy like Trae Young. They could do it. Nick Claxton, one of their guards, Igor Gemmin and Zaire Williams. Click done. Especially because they are sort of like a Hawks Model 2.0 in that they have a really, really good defense and that Trey Young could play with those guys that they've all. All of a sudden they've started to go extremely big. Playing Michael Porter Jr. At the three and positioned up or sized up at the four. So I could see that happening. I think we're talking about not a great package. Sorry, Ash. That's what's going to be. It's not going to be a huge entire. It's not. There's not going to be a star coming back for Trey Young. And I could see, I could see that package type of thing working from the, the Nets because Nick Claxton has not panned out extremely well in the NBA. But they need a tall center, they need a big guy. They're lacking Chris Asperthing is going to be done after this season in Atlanta, it sure feels like. And you give a shot with Claxton, another young player in Demon, one of their 6,000 point guards in Brooklyn. They need to try something there in Brooklyn and the Hawks do too. I could see that happening.

[Jay Skeets]

A few years ago the Raptors traded Pascal Siakam for not a lot of players. It was Bruce Brown, Kira Lewis, Jordan noura and then three picks. Right. It was 2, 20, 24 first round picks. And then there was a conditional 26 first round pick. This was a three team deal. Pelicans got involved. But I do wonder, in a potential Trae Young trade, does it look like that?

[Tas Melis]

It might.

[Jay Skeets]

Does it look worse than that? Which is pretty bad. But obviously Siakam was coming up with a contract on the way and the Pacers elected to be that team to pay him. I think it's going to be in the ballpark of something like that where that was bad at the time. I remember I was angry. We didn't get any, any of like the young talented Pacers players. Not one returning guy really going back to Toronto. In that case there was picks. Okay. They're whatever, fine. But nothing special. Yeah, it's probably going to be something like that. If he's traded here at the, at the trade deadline and I'm with you Tk 100% get anything back. I'm sort of at that point with them.

[TK]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

And they have to be. If it's a couple picks, if it's maybe a promising player or something, just to fit what they have. And they have. And the Hawks, like, have a good core here. I mean, there's some talent there, obviously, in Jalen Johnson and Nikhil Alexander, Walker and Dyson Daniels and Akongu and, you know, if Rhys Sachet is there for the long run, who knows? There's something there. But I don't think it's going to be led by Trey Young.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. So there was a reason that they didn't sign him to the extension before.

[Jay Skeets]

This season, and wisely so.

[Tas Melis]

And they need young talent. So if you are able to get some young players to help them out, to have that long vision of a team, then that could work, because I think that's what they're doing. Anse Salai didn't give Trae Young that extension like you would. You see an old team say, oh, we got to give our guy here a good long contract because we got to pay him. He's our guy. They did that because they've got this long vision and they need young players to help out. So I like the Nets. The Lizards make sense. So I think we're talking in that sort of ballpark.

[Jay Skeets]

I can't wait for. I can't wait for the Kings to trade for him. I literally can't wait.

[TK]

Yeah, find a landing spot for Trey Young. It's the three most depressing franchises you could possibly go to. That's kind of what we're talking about here. He's in the Zach Levine situation right now. When Levine became a free agent, this was a different cba, and they're like, yeah, we'll pay you right away. We'll give you a gigantic maximum contract. And it looked bad immediately. Different CBA right now. Even more harsh if you make a mistake. And that's why Ansi's like, I can't make this mistake. And that's why he's going to be gone. Same with Porzingis. You can't have guys that don't raise the ceiling taking up that much of your salary cap.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

I do wonder if the Charlotte scenario, the Atlanta scenario and the Memphis scenario help each other out, considering that John Morant and Louis Ball and Trey Young may be dealt. And maybe, maybe there is a bit of bidding that some teams want one of these players, but I don't think that's the case. Like, I don't think there's going to be enough teams bidding. And if you do want one of Them. You want one of them, I assume. I don't see. I don't assume. You see one taken and you start again bidding with other teams. I think it's just, hey, maybe somebody wants Trey, maybe somebody wants to know. Maybe somebody wants Morant and that's about it.

[Jay Skeets]

I know it depends on your team, but who would you want the most of the those three?

[TK]

LaMelo.

[Jay Skeets]

LaMelo over. And then who would you put second?

[TK]

Trey.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Low on John Morant. Fair enough. Would you go the same order?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, definitely depends on my situation a little bit.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. But let's say it cost you basically the same thing. Who would you want?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it depends on how what Trey's going to sign afterwards. I think I'm going Trey first.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Then second. Yeah, that's a tough, tough part.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, so you're not lamello immediately?

[Tas Melis]

No.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Yeah, so that's a good question.

[Eshua Kid]

There you go.

[Tas Melis]

Write that question in for next week's probably Lamello. What would you take? I mean, yeah, it's mine. It's tray Lamello jaw.

[Jay Skeets]

It's a really tough question. Honestly. Don't love any of them, but I think I do. I think I go trail a mellow jaw. I mean, the jaw not being able to shoot is a scary proposition for a guy that was relying on his athleticism. Though I am on record, if he gets moved, John Moran, I do think he'll have a bounce back sort of passion and drive again and maybe get back to like trying to posterize guys. I sort of believe that in my heart of hearts that he's like really mentally checked out there in Memphis, but I could be wrong. So that's a tough one.

[TK]

You know who else can't shoot?

[Jay Skeets]

Trey Young. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[TK]

Guys. 30% from three this year, 41% from the field last year. Like he doesn't finish inside and he's not that good of a three point shooter for a guy that shoots ten threes a game.

[Tas Melis]

He's struggling this season and maybe part of it was because he's been out so much. But then you see what he did to the Chicago Bulls when he scored 150 points.

[TK]

You mean when the Bulls scored 152?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[TK]

That was awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I mean, he's had, you know, in his last four games, he's had two 30 point games. He has looked fairly good. And then he sits another game out again. So we're. He's sitting a lot of games up. So physically. And I think that's the whole John Morant problem. And Still a mellow problem. That's the entire all three guys problem. Well, they're not going to be able to be on the floor.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. All right, final one here. Hello, Dipsy Dunkaroo. Simple question for you. Does the Nuggets Spencer Jones currently have the weirdest looking jump shot in the NBA? Thank you for your assistance in this matter. That's from Sid K. By way of Brooklyn. Who wants to take this one? I mean, Spencer Jones has a crazy looking shot. We've talked about it before on no Doubt.

[TK]

He is the number one guy for me right now. When I just look at his physical form and I'm like, that guy sucks.

[Jay Skeets]

I know what you mean.

[TK]

He does not look like an NBA player. He looks like he should be a middle linebacker or something like that. Even down to his haircut. I'm like, that's. That's not a 20, 25 haircut you've got going on there. Every time he scores, I'm like, what happened?

[Jay Skeets]

Yep. Yep.

[TK]

So, weirdest looking jump shot. It's up there. Weirdest looking guy in the NBA. Also up there.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, is there anyone else with a crazy shot that you'd add to this.

[Tas Melis]

Short list where the elbow comes in that far? I can't think of one. I think of Michael Kidd, Gilchrist. It's not the same, but yeah, that. Where it's coming from and where it ends up like, it starts way left, ends up right. And he's hit a few. He's. He's come through.

[TK]

Paul Reed. Paul Reed's got a weird jumper, and that's a guy that's making three pointers this year.

[Jay Skeets]

Doesn't matter if it goes in.

[TK]

43% from three this season.

[Tas Melis]

Wow.

[TK]

Paul Reed is taking a whopping point six.

[Jay Skeets]

I was going to say how many, but that's still.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Spencer Jones, 14.

[TK]

Yeah. Yeah. That one's unusual.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, Spencer Jones has been hot. I mean, he's only taken a couple per game coming off the bench for most of the season, but he's now coming to the starting lineup with all their guys out shooting 43% with that wild, wild, wild.

[Jay Skeets]

He moves. He does move weird. And I'm with you, TK I know exactly what you're saying. It's sort of tough to describe, but, like, his body size and his look and his funky game. But he isn't bad. You're right. Like, Jokic loves him. He's obviously, when he was out there.

[Tas Melis]

Together, now plays like a linebacker. Defensively, he's tough. He's a tough dude.

[Jay Skeets]

All Right. Who else are we forgetting? Let us know here in the stream team. Let us know in the comments.

[Tas Melis]

And I didn't bring it up when we were talking about Nikola Jokic because it's way too soon to talk about anything surrounding an injury when it's not just the injury, but Spencer Jones. You know, it's kind of veering into. We talked about Joel Embiid yesterday, and maybe it's marketing for Skechers when Joel Embiid comes out in the sockless form. Spencer Jones stepped on Nikola Jokic with his. With his brand shoe, Ondium Shoes. So maybe, maybe. I don't think it was. I don't think it was a marketing special.

[Jay Skeets]

Is Ondium.

[Tas Melis]

Well, only me, Spencer Jones and Norris Cole. No, because Norris Cole and Spencer Jones started.

[Jay Skeets]

How do I even spell this? Ondium. A, N, D, I, E, M. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I didn't want to know. I didn't want to mention the other person who. Who does know. Former president at Hoka, Wendy Yang also started on him shoes. Those three people started. Andy.

[Jay Skeets]

$250.

[Tas Melis]

Apparently they're good.

[TK]

I mean, the big baller zone look terrible again.

[Jay Skeets]

They got a big strap. They got.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know. They're not as bad as I thought. I don't know if it was a marketing move.

[TK]

Is this not the pivot 1.0?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that's what I'm looking at. I can't believe they're $250.

[Tas Melis]

He's wearing the pivot if you want.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, so they're like crazy ankle support, I guess.

[TK]

Oh, wow.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[TK]

Well, strapped in, which maybe I need to try.

[Jay Skeets]

I know I keep tweaking my ankle, man. I might have to wear these.

[Tas Melis]

No problem. We can get him on the show. We can talk to him.

[TK]

Who? Spencer Jones.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know if you're talking about Spencer Jones or Norris Cole.

[Tas Melis]

I mean, we can have Norris Cole and I assume. But if you want to know more about them, head to a website called LinkedIn.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm either wearing these. I'm either wearing these or Skechers that say je on the tongue. I can't wait to. To find out who. Whatever arrives first I'm wearing. So it's a race.

[Tas Melis]

It's honestly a good debate whether or not Spencer Jones is a better basketball player or LinkedIn performer. He's a LinkedIn man.

[TK]

That's a good argument.

[Tas Melis]

The guy is. The guy's writing on LinkedIn a lot. Not that I see, but other people see and let me know. And then I say, whoa. He's writing on LinkedIn a lot. He doesn't write on Instagram. I don't think. He's just a LinkedIn guy.

[Jay Skeets]

Does no dunks have to get on LinkedIn now, too? We got another social media Jesus.

[Tas Melis]

Ain't gonna be able to do it.

[Jay Skeets]

All right. Thank you for the. The beach stepping questions. All right. TK has a very secretive, maybe special top five. Let's find out what it is. Oh, yay.

[TK]

Yay.

[Jay Skeets]

What is this about?

[TK]

Love a top five list. Here are the top five things I watched while I was off last week.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. I. I sort of had a feeling you would go this.

[TK]

I consumed a lot of things.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Not all basketball. Some basketball.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

At number five, the 49ers beat the Bears 4238 on Sunday.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

That was an awesome game.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Came down to the second goal from the three yard line. Incomplete pass from Caleb Williams. Couldn't find a receiver in the end zone. Too bad. Fun game, though. 42 to 38. They were scoring touchdowns. Less than, right?

[Jay Skeets]

Hell, yeah.

[TK]

Hardly a punt, hardly a field goal. That was amazing to watch. Tough loss, though, for the Bears. Had a chance at the one seed. Ain't gonna happen.

[Jay Skeets]

But. But looking good for the playoffs.

[TK]

Oh, they're in, baby.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

They're in. Oh.

[Jay Skeets]

Are we to the final week of the regular season?

[TK]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

One more week.

[TK]

Number four, Nikola Jokic. 56, 15 and 16 on Christmas. This was pretty sweet.

[Jay Skeets]

Hell, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Pretty good.

[TK]

Last game of Christmas night.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[TK]

Came home, came from my mom's, over to Laura's parents early morning. They're all tired and they're going to sleep. Just see what Timberwolves and Thunder are doing here. Awesome. Fourth quarter. Anthony Edwards hurting his arm. Looks like he can't shoot. Knocks down the three from the corner. Then they scored 50 points combined at overtime. Worth staying up for all by myself.

[Jay Skeets]

You stayed up good.

[TK]

Absolutely.

[Jay Skeets]

I had. I was exhausted after watching too much basketball during the day, but I caught it in the morning.

[TK]

Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

And talked about it.

[TK]

That was a.

[Tas Melis]

That was cool.

[TK]

I like that.

[Jay Skeets]

I said. He won MVP that night. Christmas night.

[TK]

It was the Christmas night MVP.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

For sure. At number three, the Bulls beat the 76ers on December 26th. And I was there.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, you were there. Yes. Yes, yes. Yes.

[TK]

Leading scorers for the Bulls that night, Trey Jones and Zach Collins.

[Jay Skeets]

Hell, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[TK]

People are going nuts. That was great, though. We had a row of bros sitting in front of me. Laura and the girls.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[TK]

How old are these bros? 28.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

26 to 28. They're having a great time. And I just gotta say, current Joel Embiid is the weirdest watch in the league.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[TK]

Because you watch this guy and you're like, he is a human glacier. He falls over every time he dribbles the ball. I'm just yelling at Nick, Nick, Nick Vuchovich and Zach Collins. Me and the bros. He's got no moves. Don't go for the pump fake. He pump fakes every time. He just wants to draw a foul. Then you look down. He's got 30 points in 30 minutes.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Like, what is going on? How is this happening? He looks so bad, but he's still performing.

[Jay Skeets]

And you were one of the first people to notice.

[TK]

D. I did notice the no show socks.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Was killing it with the bros. Does the beat have no show socks?

[Jay Skeets]

Like what? Or sockless. I mean, we still don't have an answer.

[TK]

Do we see in his feet? Yeah, we don't know.

[Jay Skeets]

We don't know if there was no show socks or not.

[TK]

Don't know. Great moment for Skechers, though, like you guys said. Yeah. I will say the two other guys I know who wear Skechers, Julius Randall and OG Anunoby. Oh, have they been wearing socks? Was this a Christmas week activation? I think they have been wearing socks.

[Tas Melis]

Wow. That's deep sketches. Isaiah Hartenstein has a Skechers endorsed shoe. I don't know if he wears it game to game, but he probably does. He's hurt now, too.

[TK]

It's the Skechers.

[Jay Skeets]

Literally.

[TK]

All these guys have been hurt. Right. Randall was hurt last year.

[Jay Skeets]

Last year. Yeah. He's been pretty good this year. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Otherwise, yes, OG was hurt.

[TK]

Interesting.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

You might want to get the. On DM. This is what I'm saying.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Getting the pivot 1.0 is me, Spencer Norris. Yeah.

[TK]

But fun to go and see a basketball game live. I don't get a chance to see the Bulls in Chicago all that often. And they got a win.

[Jay Skeets]

It was very cool. How was game ops? How was the, you know, the crowd? I guess the Bulls were. They were winning for, like, they had a little win streak, did they not?

[TK]

This was their fifth straight win.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Brought them back to 500. People were hyped, of course. Got a chill down my spine when Todd ran past me. Oh, he was too busy, though. He was doing a lot of stuff.

[Jay Skeets]

Did Benny come up to your section or.

[TK]

No, he cruised on by, but I didn't get a chance to see him. And I don't Think I know. Spoiler alert. I. I don't know the man that's in there anymore. Yeah, well, yeah, there's humans that are inside a mascot.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

I don't know if you guys knew this. I think there's a new one.

[Jay Skeets]

We don't. We don't know this version of Benny.

[TK]

We don't know this one. I will say when one. My one critique of this Bulls game, they didn't drop enough T shirts from the ceiling. I think during Christmas week those things should be flopped.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, good point. Good point.

[TK]

Should be like five times the amount that there usually is. And I felt like they went the other way.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe they had. Did they have a home stand or something? Maybe they were running out of shirts.

[TK]

They started a home stand.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

I think that was like the first district straight. Yeah, they got a ration the shirts, but no, that was awesome. Awesome. That was awesome. I love to spend money at the Mad House on Madison store.

[Jay Skeets]

But, I mean, you have a new Jordan.

[TK]

This is my Michael Jordan. The Michael Jordan's restaurant shirt.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a great shirt.

[TK]

This is completely separate. This was a Christmas gift from my mom. I love you, mom, but you know, what did we buy? We bought. I bought a. I bought a bowl shirt. So Chicago Bulls on the back has got six championship rings.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, that's cool.

[TK]

Girls Got some gigantic sweatshirts. Classic baby blue Bulls sweatshirt. My daughter Ada has. Looks very much like Tasses with some tonal stuff on it. I only got a big one. Big old sweatshirt says balls on it.

[Jay Skeets]

You easily spent a couple hundred bucks.

[TK]

Yes, I did. Yes, I did. I got to support the team. They tell me, vote with your dollars. And I'm voting for the 10th seed once again. I'll do it every year.

[Tas Melis]

Sorry.

[TK]

They got the best logo that's ever existed in the NBA. Never change that. Number two, Avatar, Fire and ash.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay, interesting. Number two. Number two, you say it's good.

[TK]

It's great.

[Jay Skeets]

It's great.

[TK]

If you like Pandora, you're gonna be taken to a dream world, new creatures, but most importantly, a hot Na'. Vi. Oh, there is a sexy Na' Vi woman in this.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Whoa.

[TK]

Varang. Oh, Varang.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, man.

[TK]

I haven't seen a woman this gorgeous since Martha Stewart. She's the leader of the fire people, the ash people. I don't know. I actually don't know which.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, man.

[TK]

There is a scene in this where she seduces a man with fire and ash magic. And it was amazing.

[Jay Skeets]

This is the.

[TK]

The most sensual performance in movies this year. Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

Are they still having sex with their tail or whatever?

[TK]

Oh, my goodness. Skeets. Okay, plug me in. She's doing new things with this USB horsetail. You could not imagine. She's. I mean, I'll say. I. I don't know all about Na' Vi culture, but it seems like some of the things she's doing are a.

[Jay Skeets]

Little over the edge. Okay, wow. Honestly, you're selling this movie to me?

[TK]

Take your horse tail away from me.

[Jay Skeets]

Navi porn. Go see it. I'm more interested.

[TK]

It is 3 hours and 15 minutes long.

[JBL Ad Voice]

Holy.

[TK]

It's a Chunky boy.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[TK]

But it flew by.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Well, what. What's. What's the name? Yeah, y. What was the name of the character?

[TK]

Varang.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, Varang.

[TK]

I thought it started with R A.

[Tas Melis]

N, G. Gotta Google. Because I always thought Zoe Saldana's character was always nature.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Extremely.

[TK]

For a treat.

[Jay Skeets]

Because they.

[TK]

They throw down.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh.

[TK]

Yeah, I'm picking up the phone.

[Jay Skeets]

Do you see it in IMAX or.

[TK]

No, we saw it in 3D.

[Jay Skeets]

3D.

[TK]

Laser.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

The laser.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[TK]

I also voted with my dollars on that one. I'm voting for James Cameron to make another one. Please go back.

[Jay Skeets]

Right. Because he says if it doesn't do well, he's not gonna make four and five. Yeah. So they're probably doing it. I'm gonna keep this from you. Yeah.

[TK]

I got all these ideas in my head. I got new creatures, new terrains, I.

[Jay Skeets]

Got new sex scenes.

[TK]

I think, you know. Spoiler alert. It's a motion capture performance.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes.

[TK]

And it's Charlie Chaplin's Granddaughter plays.

[Jay Skeets]

I heard this.

[TK]

Just physical movements run in the bloodstream of the chaplains.

[Jay Skeets]

She's not walking like this the whole time. I did think it was weird that.

[TK]

She had a mustache the whole time. No, variety. You gotta see it.

[Jay Skeets]

You got. If you like.

[TK]

If you like Pandora, you're gonna love it. If you don't like Pandora, you're not gonna like it. Yeah, I never.

[Jay Skeets]

I never finished the second one, nor reminded me. Because we were thinking about going Way of Water, and she's like, we didn't finish it. I'm like, what? We didn't. She's like, no, we turned it off, like, halfway through. Like, well, that's not a good sign. So, anyway, we'll see. Well, you're selling it to me, I'll tell you that.

[TK]

Yeah, well, Way of Water is my favorite one.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh.

[Tas Melis]

So.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know.

[TK]

But I will say the thing about Way of Water is you watch the movie for an hour, and then it like sets in and you're like, they haven't even got to the water yet.

[Jay Skeets]

Right. We're.

[TK]

But number one, it's the Bears beating the Packers 22 to 16 last Saturday. We drove in from Atlanta to Chicago on Saturday specifically to watch this game.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow.

[TK]

With my in laws who are all packers fans. And it was the most incredible comeback I've ever seen from the Chicago Bears to the point where my father in law, Dwayne, big Packers fan, had more faith that the Bears were going to pull it off. I was like, dwayne, this never happens. So much good stuff would have to go down for the Bears to be able to pull this off. They're not going to get the onside kick. They got the onside kick. They threw a perfect pass to the corner for a guy I've never seen before, a receiver, number 20. Who's heard of that?

[Tas Melis]

Oh.

[TK]

Gets his feet in. It worked. Then Caleb Williams throws another bomb.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, he threw a bomb.

[TK]

Oh, that was awesome. That was the best Bears football moment since Devin Hester returned the opening kickoff in 2006 Super Bowl. Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Which was really awesome. But it's also very funny because, like, every stat during this is like, the packers have beat the Bears 13 out of the last 14 times. They pull off this comeback, which is like their first comeback with down by 10 in the last two minutes since 1960.

[Tas Melis]

Whoa.

[TK]

This is a miracle win for the Bears. And I'm like, it's a new era. The tide has turned. There's no way we're ever going back to the packers being the better team, only to find out that after the Bears lost this Sunday, the nightmare scenario exists that the Bears and the packers play for a third time within a month in the playoffs as the 2 and 7 seed and guarantee the packers will win that.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, no, don't say that.

[TK]

Yeah, so I'm a little. A little scaredy cat about that one. But the comeback was awesome.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. What a way to like after a long drive from Atlanta to Chicago, a room full of packers fans for this miracle comeback.

[TK]

So good.

[Jay Skeets]

What a way to start your trip.

[TK]

That's exactly right.

[Jay Skeets]

I noticed you did not have Marty supreme on the list.

[TK]

Haven't seen it yet.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah. I want to talk to you about it, my man.

[TK]

I'll see it before Friday.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Yeah. Well, I'll say, I don't think it would have made your top five list because that was a pretty good list. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because it wasn't as good as I Thought it was gonna be. Yeah, I was a little disappointed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was overhyped. No doubt. Or at least in my opinion. I'm sure people love it. All right, great. Top five. Great time to be back.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

You did watch a lot. A lot of sports.

[TK]

I mean, I got. I got honorable and dishonorable mentions, if you want.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Honorable mentioned Die Hard with Laura.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, she's never seen it. Yeah.

[TK]

People say it's a Christmas movie. I was like, let's turn it on. And so every time they would mention Christmas, I just say, christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Also honorable mention, the pool scene in It's a Wonderful Life.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, man, I can't even remember.

[Tas Melis]

Me neither.

[TK]

They're. They're at a dance, and apparently the. They're like, in a dance competition. George and Mary. But the basketball court opens up in the middle, so, like, one of the guys that's jealous of George Bailey opens it up and, like, it starts opening, like, dancing. Back, back, back, back, back. Oh, is he gonna fall? And they fall and keep dancing.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. There's a pool under the court.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[TK]

Pool under the court.

[Jay Skeets]

Which is so weird.

[TK]

That's something they had back in the 1920s.

[Tas Melis]

Suppose.

[TK]

Also honorable mention, Peter Sawkins was on the Bake off holiday special.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, our guy, Peter.

[TK]

Great to see him.

[Jay Skeets]

How do you do?

[TK]

I don't remember.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, he baked his ass off, I'll tell you.

[TK]

Yeah, exactly. But I did see him, and I was happy to see him. Also an honorable mention. A skeleton wearing a Santa hat in a sauna.

[Jay Skeets]

I saw your photo. Yeah.

[TK]

Went over to my friend's house for Nerf Miss. And specifically for me. His family said that they set up a skeleton in the saa.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, that's nice.

[TK]

And I really appreciated that. I very much appreciated that. Dishonorable mention. Jingle all the way.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh.

[TK]

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad. I thought it was going to be funny.

[Jay Skeets]

People like that movie, though, don't they? Yeah.

[TK]

People are like, it's not as bad as you think. And it was just as bad as dumb as I remember.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, okay.

[TK]

But I was happy to watch it.

[Jay Skeets]

That's the one where they're trying to get the toy, right?

[TK]

Turboman.

[Jay Skeets]

Turboman. That's it. Yeah.

[TK]

I was Turbo Man. Of course.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[TK]

So those are my things. Those are my things.

[Jay Skeets]

Those are his things. All right. I love it. Well, let's get to of the night. This goes out to Kartik and Larinda, who are expecting a baby boy. Yeah. So their good friend T Coming through with the sponsorship for Wo Boy, T wrote, I think woah boy fits best. They're having a boy. Let's not overthink it. But I also considered Moe boys.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Jay Skeets]

Because there's another boy coming to the Woah boy I don't like. I don't mind it at all. So congratulations to Kartik and Larinda. And your woah boy or mo boy, goes to Shay Gildous Alexander, who scored a game high 39 points to lead OKC to a win over the Hawks. He shot 15:24 from the field, 7 to 7 at the line. Six boards, six assists, two steals in 36 minutes. Guys, the Thunder are back.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

The victory columns here getting them some more W's. Congrats to sga. And again, congrats on the new baby boy coming. Okay, pick them. I guess I'm still technically alive. I did pick up a win last night and I'm 7 and 12. Trey is 9 and 10. Now we're off after today's show until Friday. TK, if you're willing though, if I can somehow get another victory tonight, we could just make picks online. Of course.

[TK]

I'd love to do tomorrow for the 31st.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Great attitude.

[TK]

What's that? I'm on to you guys.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, come on, you guys.

[TK]

Anytime you need me to lose, you put the Bulls in a pickup.

[Jay Skeets]

I know. That was slick.

[TK]

Yep. It's happened the last three months now.

[Jay Skeets]

It was one of the shorter lines or closer lines. So I, I. But I did think of it as like, well, I know he'll take the place. Bulls. I'll take Minnesota. Yeah. So, yeah, I got the victory. Tas, you also are on Minnesota. But where are we going?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, tonight, four games. The doubleheader on Peacock is. And NBC. I should say it's not just on Peacock. 76ers Grizzlies could be good. I think Jaw's gonna play. But we went with the second part of the NBC doubleheader. Pistons visiting the Lakers. Pistons. You know the road trip ain't going so well.

[Jay Skeets]

They're playing good teams, right?

[Tas Melis]

They are.

[Eshua Kid]

They are.

[Tas Melis]

They didn't have to go anywhere after their Clippers lost. So they are here in LA to visit the Los Angeles Lakers. And they're favored by three and a half on the road in Los Angeles.

[Jay Skeets]

I had to double check. When you put that in the dock, I was like, is that right? Did you mean the other way around? Lakers are favored, but it seems big line has changed since you put this in this morning. It was Two and a half, but we have it as three and a.

[Tas Melis]

Half, so it's dancing.

[Jay Skeets]

I got Detroit and you got the Lakers here, tk so you might be able to wrap this up, avoid last place in December.

[TK]

We shall see.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, we shall see. No Reeves. Is that right? He's out?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, still out.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep, Yep, yep.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Jay Skeets]

LeBron's got to send a message, though, if he wants to make an All Star team.

[TK]

Disrespectful to me.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right.

[TK]

It's vote me in.

[Jay Skeets]

Unless he doesn't want to make the All Star game.

[TK]

Mail it in.

[Jay Skeets]

And he mails it in. Go Pistons. I need the Pistons to win by four or more. To somehow stay alive.

[Tas Melis]

Rui Yachimura is out.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

You know, I don't know if you feel bad about that or if you feel good about that.

[Jay Skeets]

That's probably good.

[TK]

Two starters out, though. It's not. Not ideal.

[Jay Skeets]

No, no, no.

[Tas Melis]

More time for Nick Smith to let her rip. Probably out there. Yep.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Big game for us here in no Dunks Land. Only four on tonight. Yeah, weird, weird, weird. No show tomorrow or Thursday with that being New Year's Day. But we will be back here with JD in the Classic Factory on on Friday for the Drop podcast. Hope you join us then. Much love to our guy, Eshwa Kid stepping up over the last two weeks filling in for jd.

[Tas Melis]

Yes, sir.

[Jay Skeets]

Esh. Thank you, my man.

[Eshua Kid]

Hey, appreciate you guys letting me be back. It's been fun.

[Jay Skeets]

Come back whenever you want. And you don't have to go back there. Like have JD here. Let him do that. Okay. Come sit over here.

[Eshua Kid]

Yeah, man, Coops, anytime. Just let me know.

[Jay Skeets]

All right?

[Eshua Kid]

Let me know.

[Jay Skeets]

You're always welcome here, man. In the Classic Factory.

[TK]

I didn't hear you pipe in on Avatar. You see it yet?

[Eshua Kid]

I haven't seen it yet, but we were planning to see it today. I don't think it's gonna happen, so at some point before next week, I'm sure. But I think you're selling me though. I want to know.

[TK]

You might want to go by yourself.

[Jay Skeets]

I was gonna say don't take the kids over Avatar.

[Eshua Kid]

Fire and ass.

[Tas Melis]

Huh?

[Jay Skeets]

Damn, that's good. That's a way to end it. Ash. Hit the like button for Ash. Subscribe fresh. Five star ratings and reviews for Ash. Everybody have a safe and happy New Year's. Alright, everybody be smart out there and be safe. We'll see you again on Friday. Until then, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.

[TK]

Have a great time. Turn up.

[Jay Skeets]

Love you guys.

[TK]

Awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, Ash, you gave us the final quote. It's not fire and ash. It's fire and ass. Although I did see you with a reaction to the old Schwarzenegger and Sinbad movie. You laughed. Do you like it?

[Jay Skeets]

Jingle all the Way.

[Eshua Kid]

I liked a lot as a kid. I showed my sons the other night. They watched it, but I don't know. It's funny. I think they were watching it with their friend in the room. So I still didn't get to see it. So I think. I think it's good enough. It was funny as a kid, like, but the. The few minutes that I was watching Sinbad like it, his first appearance in the movie, that man was over the top. I was like, all right, I see why people may be like, a little annoyed.

[Jay Skeets]

Maybe more hits as a kid.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he was.

[Eshua Kid]

He was going at it, boy. I was like, okay, bro, like, yells.

[TK]

Rodney King at some point, right?

[Jay Skeets]

What?

[TK]

They said, like, almost all of his lines are ad libs.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, you can tell.

[Eshua Kid]

It seems like they did not write one single, like, thing in the script for him. They just said, hey, S.B. you want to be in the movie? He said, yeah, yeah, go crazy. Did you know there's a sequel?

[Jay Skeets]

Jingle all the Way to Jingle all.

[TK]

The Way to Jingle all the Way of Water.

[Jay Skeets]

I was going to say that.

[Eshua Kid]

That's good. No, it's. I think it's got Larry the Cable Guy in it.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, not Larry the Table guy?

[Eshua Kid]

Yeah, Larry the Cable Guy. I know. It's worse. I think it's got a zero on Rotten Tomato.

[TK]

Zero. Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

We should watch it, actually. All right. Yeah, we'll watch that on Substack, everybody. We'll have to do that at some point. Thanks again, Ash. Everybody have a safe and happy New Year's. We'll see you on Friday. Embrace the day, people.

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[Jay Skeets]

Hey, audiobook lovers. I'm Cal Penn.

[TK]

I'm Ed Helms.

[Jay Skeets]

Ed and I are inviting you to join the podcast Best sounding book club you've ever heard with our new podcast, Irsay The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[TK]

Each week we sit down with your favorite iHeart podcast hosts and some very special guests to discuss the latest and.

[Tas Melis]

Greatest audiobooks from audible.

[Jay Skeets]

Listen to Earsay on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Earsay and start listening on the free iHeartradio app today.

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[Jay Skeets]

All.

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[Jay Skeets]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Tas Melis]

Guaranteed Human.