Loading summary
Ad Host
This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human studies show that 100% of everybody in the world wants to curl up indoors and do nothing because it's so darn cold out there. That's why many people are turning to Bombas, whose pillowy plush slippers and warm merino wool socks have been said to be the most comfortable in the history of feet. Bomba's products have been found to boost coziness by up to 1 million percent. Okay, enough fake statistics, but could Bomba socks and slippers really be the Cure? Go to bombas.com audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B O-M-B-A-.com and use code Audio.
Sponsor Announcer
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures there's.
Sponsor Announcer 2
No championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes Pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free at lenovo.compro Lenovo.
Ad Host
Lenovo New Year New you begin at loseweightnow co and make this the year you finally feel in control with orderly meds access proven GLP1 tirzepatide starting as low as $149 a month. It's simple doctor guided and delivered right to your home so you can finally focus on feeling healthier and more confident. Get started today at loseweightnow.
Taz
Co.
Ad Host
Individual results may vary. Visit loseweightnow.co and get started today. That's loseweightnow.
Guest or Producer
Co.
Jay Skeets
Good evening, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast, presented by FanDuel. It's Saturday night, February 14, 2026. Happy Valentine's Day to all you NBA sickos. I'm Jay Skeets here in the classic factory, which smells like pizza and farts. And alongside me, as always, Tasmolis.
Taz
It wasn't me. Basketball lover, this is for you.
Jay Skeets
Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy, Trey Kirby. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. We just wrapped up our NBA All Star Saturday night watch party. Had the live stream going on YouTube. Appreciate everyone who joined us for that. If you're new here, hit the like button. Make sure you subscribe. Podcast listeners, go check out the live stream and then come back and leave us a five star rating and review. Actually, you know what? No five star ratings. 50s only here tonight for our all star Saturday night recap.
Tasmolis
Just 150?
Jay Skeets
Oh, no.
Tasmolis
Just 150. But we want many 50s.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Dwight Howard would give this a 50.
Tasmolis
Oh, yeah. Easily.
Jay Skeets
Brent Barry, maybe not harsh judge. Yeah. Much more strict when it came to judging.
Taz
Have you smells like farts in here. Then Dwight Howard would like.
Jay Skeets
Oh, yeah. Did you say farts? 50. All right, so we're going to regap all that just went down here on All Star Saturday night. We'll maybe talk a little bit about Friday night, the celebrity game and the rising stars little tournament. And did have Chris Paul news. He is officially retired. But we start with Kesha Johnson dancing his way to a dunk contest. Wow, the dancing is infectious. This guy brought the energy. And some good dunks, no doubt. Let's start with you, TK Your thoughts on Keyshot Johnson winning and this whole thing, the whole dunk contest here tonight.
Tasmolis
Keisha Johnson won. Good for him. He seized the opportunity. Kind of an unknown player around the league. You can't find a lot of his dunks even on heat social media, Right? So he said, I gotta make a name for myself. And guess what? He did. That's what you get for going in the dunk contest. We're gonna know who Keyshot Johnson is. Had some good dunks. Most notably, he was dancing at every opportunity. People think it helped. Like he. He squeaked into the finals just ahead of Jackson Hayes, only one on the scorecards at the end of two dunks in the first round. Was it from selling the dunks afterwards with his dancing? Maybe so, but the finals, yeah, and he showed nerves of steel. Kept dancing the whole time, even when the cards were down. Carter Bryant hits a big 50, first one of the night. What's Keyshot Johnson gonna do? He's gonna do a solid dunk. He's gonna get a 48. He did the windmill from the dotted line, but danced hard. And that got in Carter Bryant's head. How do I answer?
Jay Skeets
The dance. Right, right.
Tasmolis
And he couldn't meet the moment, unlike Keyshot, who did his thing.
Jay Skeets
It is funny that Keyshot, arguably his worst dunk in the night, was his final dunk. You know, the. The windmill, as you called it, from well within the free throw line. That looked to be, I don't know, maybe three or four feet from the free throw line, but he did the windmill. But the other one's tas. I mean, the one. The first dunk took him an attempt or two, but he dunked over E40. He did a little, you know, hand behind the head, Karl Malone style as he was smiling. That guy has the biggest grin in the world. And then he did the two hand reverse because he switched it up after a couple of missed dunk attempts where he was trying to go baseline through the legs. But then he did that one in his first dunk of the final, and it was like, oh, that was his probably best dunk. He threw that one down and then. Yeah, like I said, the final windmill. But overall, not bad.
Taz
No, not at all.
Jay Skeets
The kid's dancing his art out.
Taz
You know what they say, make sure you're dancing before your first dunk attempt. Because he came out there. He came out of the hallway dancing.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Showing his abs. And showed his abs a lot.
Tasmolis
A lot, a lot of those abs.
Taz
And his smile, also infectious. He just couldn't stop smiling the entire time. Yeah, he brought it. He did. Seize the moment. Carter Bryant lost the moment that could have been his losing the ball, slipping out of his hands on that reverse move after talking to Vince Carter mid 90 seconds that he had. You know, I don't know, he probably talked to Vince for about 15, 18 seconds after multiple misses. He just had to throw it down. Vince did talk him up. He looked like he was going to throw it down when he went up there. He just somehow reversed in the air. The ball was in his hands and it looked like it just slipped from the left to the right. And out. And so this could have been Carter Bryant's moment.
Jay Skeets
I mean, it probably should have been.
Taz
It should have been.
Jay Skeets
And if he puts that down, you think he wins is what you're saying here.
Taz
Yeah, I think everybody.
Jay Skeets
He had the 150. He had the lone 50 in this dunk contest.
Taz
The lone 50. He had it. And both those guys were smart in that they knew they didn't have to throw down something spectacular with their second dunk. Their second dunk on the first round, Kea Johnson and Carter Bryant, they just kind of threw it down. And what they had planned for their second dunk, they brought it for the third dunk in each of them. So the dunkers are getting smarter. That was obviously well planned.
Jay Skeets
Well, they were helped out by one guy in Jackson Hayes having a hilarious brain fart and just dunking it. Honestly, we're thinking, is he going from the free throw line? No, he just. Just ran way back there and then ran up and then just did a dunk.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
So that was a big brain fart. And then obviously Jace Richardson, who was trying to get one off, like a pretty creative pass from this guy in a leather jacket off the corner of the backboard. And he was trying to, like, 360 while I caught it. You know, there's a lot of moving parts, is my point. And he was not really coming close to ever putting it down. And then he fell and wiped out on his ass and looked like he smoked his head. At first hair, at least.
Taz
Yeah, well, he kept rubbing his head.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
I mean, it's nice.
Jay Skeets
We were a little concerned there for a second.
Taz
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't see that monitor at the bottom of it, so I couldn't see him lying on the ground. I had to. I said. I said shit. And I got up. Literally had to stand up to be able to see him on his back. And it's nice of us to start with the winner and the runner up.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
But really, the two moments that are on social media right now, unfortunately, are that. Because unfortunately, Jason Richardson ran into the side of the backboard. He hit the side of the backboard, and it's Jackson Hayes. Those are the two moments that are taking over, because those are the moments. Not just because of what Twitter is right now, but because it wasn't a spectacular night otherwise.
Jay Skeets
No, no. This is not as far as the dunk contest. Do you think this is the worst dunk contest of all time, though?
Tasmolis
Not immediately, No. I don't think so. I think this was a perfectly fine Dunk contest. Just somewhere in the vast middle.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. And a big part of that is we came in with the lowest of expectations. So that is playing a part here. And obviously no big names. Basically, nobody knows these guys.
Taz
What happened to Jalen Dern? Just a question. I don't know. I know that would have been an all star. Who's there?
Jay Skeets
But.
Taz
Yes, yes. As far as these go. But you know the two guys, the young guys in Carter Bryant, Keisha Johnson, who's a little older actually, they were there.
Jay Skeets
They were there. We always say it just takes two guys to give us a good dunk contest. And we were getting there. We got there until it just ended like a wet fart when Carter Bryant couldn't put down the final one.
Tasmolis
I mean, the three things you're going to remember are Jackson Hayes, Jace Richardson and Carter Bryant. Running out of time.
Jay Skeets
You don't think keyshot's dancing.
Tasmolis
Maybe. So. Yeah. Yeah. When you're saying who winners of all time, his name will come up.
Taz
Oh, yeah.
Tasmolis
He was dancing the whole time, right?
Jay Skeets
Yeah, that's what we'll first think. You're right.
Tasmolis
But I mean, you could say that two things we saw, two things tonight that we'd never seen before. The worst made dunk of all time in Jackson Hayes. That's going to be on the list.
Jay Skeets
It's. Yeah, it's there.
Tasmolis
He just. He just ran up and dunked it.
Taz
Unbelievable.
Tasmolis
Even he was like, oh, man.
Jay Skeets
I think he forgot where he was.
Tasmolis
I forgot to do something. I saw what I was supposed to do when I was in the. Couldn't quite grasp it. And then Jace Richardson. It's gonna go down as one of the worst misses of all time.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Yeah. That's unfortunate for him.
Tasmolis
Yes, I guess.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. No, it is. That. That you wouldn't want. Like, what's worse, I think. I think Jace is gonna be like. Him falling, unfortunately, is worse than Jackson Hayes just doing a completely normal dunk.
Taz
Yeah. Like his. Jackson Hayes's dunk. Worse than Chris Anderson.
Jay Skeets
Like missing.
Taz
Yeah. I think it is not as.
Jay Skeets
Well, it's not as forgettable or. No.
Tasmolis
Yeah.
Taz
It's not as memorable.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Not as memorable. Yeah.
Guest or Producer
Yeah.
Taz
Because it's. It's just. He actually did dunk it. It's unbelievable that he came out there, didn't know what he was doing, and then he had to talk to his dunk coach. His dunk coach had to sit him.
Jay Skeets
Down and tell him, hey, do you know where we are right now? This is what we.
Taz
This is what we live for. And then he brought it on. The second dunk with the tap thing.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, it was okay. It was okay.
Tasmolis
It was better.
Jay Skeets
He nearly made the final.
Tasmolis
He was one point off.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. It wasn't that much of a difference. And that was when keyshot was struggling a little bit on his second attempt, which was the one he did in the final, which was awesome. Like, off the bounce, through the legs, sort of under the rim. Look great in the final. But he was struggling with it on his second attempt, so he switched it up, and he wisely switched it up. I mean, that was just smart. He was aware. Can't say Jackson Hayes was a lot of this.
Tasmolis
No, definitely not.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
Yeah, definitely not. And Jason Richardson, his first dunk was pretty good. It was kind of like J. Rich reignited dunk. That was the nickname they gave him. And he did do a father dunk.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
Replicating off the glass, you know, kind of turn and reverse. Looked good.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. He's much smaller than his dad. He obviously can't jump as high. I mean. Yeah. Like, I was shocked by it because I talked all week about, like, I wish this guy can even dunk. Like. Like, I was. Like, I was joking, but sort of joking. Like, he sort of dunks like Kyrie Irving. Like, he just gets it over the.
Tasmolis
Rib, gets it right.
Jay Skeets
Any game dunk we've seen. But that did shock me. That was pretty good.
Taz
It was.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
It was a good start, that one.
Jay Skeets
I mean, the guy who passing it was not doing a great job.
Taz
Was the passer to blame? It's a fair question.
Jay Skeets
It was difficult pass. He's trying to pass it off the.
Tasmolis
Corner, off the foam, off the backboard.
Taz
Yeah. And I would say the passer didn't get better after each attempt multiple times to try and give it to him. It wasn't a good spot. And that last one was really close. And literally, Jace Richardson ran into the side of the backboard because it was so close and hit the floor real hard.
Jay Skeets
Why did they. Why did the pass have to come off the corner of the backboard? Couldn't you just moved over a little bit and just put it on straight glass?
Tasmolis
Yep.
Jay Skeets
Would have been the same thing.
Taz
Like the actual glass. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jay Skeets
It's just an easier pass is what I'm saying, To probably successfully complete.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
And so the dunker trying to do a 360. I get that.
Taz
But. Yeah. And so the dunker doesn't run into the backboard. Well, that was a problem.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Yeah, he. And that's. And I. I bring up Social media, unfortunately, because those are the. The things we'll remember, as you said.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
That Jackson. Maybe some dancing. Yes, yes.
Jay Skeets
Should have been Carter Bryant's. But you were very upset about Vince Carter talking to him. You were. You were on the live stream. You. You were. In fact, I'm paraphrasing, but you're like, he should get another 10 or 20 seconds.
Taz
Yeah, yeah.
Jay Skeets
Because he was talking to Vince this.
Taz
They each have 90 seconds. I think Vince started talking to him about 35 seconds left on the clock.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, he's trying to hype him up.
Taz
He's trying to. And he did.
Jay Skeets
And he did.
Taz
Good job. Because the dunk attempt looked pretty good.
Jay Skeets
And also Carter Bryant, as the stream team was pointing out when we were doing this, they were like, he's basically doing Vince dunks. That's what Carter Bryant was doing. Like, worse versions of Vince Carter's awesome dunk.
Taz
Yeah. The reason why I thought we could have got a time pause because Vince is part of the broadcast. He was bringing it tonight, you know, and so it could have just sort of been part of the show. Here's our pause. You know, here's our. In between the rounds of the boxer, you know, like, just give him a little. Little. Little huff. A little break. Yeah, just give him a sec. Just give him a sec.
Jay Skeets
You got 90 of them. What are you talking about? Give him a sec. Here's 90 secs.
Tasmolis
You gotta call a timeout in that scen. If you're having a full conversation with Vince Garner. I gotta take one here.
Taz
A dunker should be able to get a timeout now.
Jay Skeets
Oh, you want timeouts in the dunk contest?
Taz
Like, you can call time when you're in the home run derby. You get one break.
Jay Skeets
Step out.
Taz
Give me one break during dunk contest. Actually, we'll get to batting practice. Pitchers sort of the vibe a little bit later on. But yeah, I. I do also think that it's because you can't pause the clock. Carter Bryant should have known. I gotta go offense. Like, I like you. I respect your game. I respect your performance in the dunk contest. I will always remember that. But please let me go dunk, because literally just ran out of time.
Jay Skeets
But hold on. Like, Vince did his part. He got him hyped up. He said, come on, kid.
Tasmolis
Is that your nickname?
Jay Skeets
Yeah, they told us it was your new nickname. You're the kid. Go throw it down. And he threw it. Jamal Crawford on the broadcast, like, that's it. That's the one. Because it was a perfect toss.
Tasmolis
He Was high enough.
Jay Skeets
He was high enough. And he just like. You thought he like it slipped out of hand. I think he just like, he just had the angle ever so slightly wrong on the reverse thinking, obviously he's just going to put it straight in the rim.
Taz
But he thought he was good, right? He thought, oh, yeah, while I'm up there.
Jay Skeets
It was good. Yeah.
Taz
Oh, it's going down. And yeah.
Jay Skeets
And then he. And then. And then obviously the panic set in because then the clock was really low and it was like, okay, he's just trying to get it down.
Tasmolis
Young Pep Dash is saying here in the stream team, he should have kept missing because if he misses all of his dunks and his time runs out, an untimed attempt.
Jay Skeets
Wow.
Tasmolis
You got to know the loopholes.
Jay Skeets
Is that a real loophole?
Tasmolis
I don't know. But young Pep Dash is saying it with authority and it sounds like something that they would have rule, doesn't it?
Jay Skeets
So the clock ends and then one more.
Tasmolis
You get to do one farmer's chance of one last.
Taz
That would have been memorable. You win it after the clock, after the buzzer. That would have been awesome.
Jay Skeets
Okay, so, yeah. Not the greatest dunk contest. No, Amazingly not the worst, which is pretty wild.
Tasmolis
I would agree.
Jay Skeets
It's. Yeah, we won't. Look, we'll be struggling to remember who won this dunk contest in, I don't know, probably next year with us as we're old. But give it a three or four years, we'll have no idea. We'll have to really rack our brain and go, yeah. Well, Keyshawn. No, Keyshawn.
Taz
It's like. It's like Jeremy Evans won a dunk contest because he jumped over a paint. A painting of himself. Right?
Jay Skeets
He painted, apparently. So that's basically Keyshawn like that. His, like his easel and paint was just dancing. It's the arts, baby. Give it up for the arts, JD.
Tasmolis
People express themselves in different ways.
Taz
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll remember.
Jay Skeets
Have we ever had spoken word or anything like that?
Tasmolis
Anybody rapping the poet.
Taz
So Aaron Gordon came out too. I'm a classic, man. But he didn't sing.
Jay Skeets
No, Oladipo sang, didn't he?
Tasmolis
Oh, yeah, Oladipo sang.
Taz
Yeah, yeah. He's got good voice.
Jay Skeets
New York, New York.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Contest is so stupid.
Tasmolis
Pretty dumb when you're talking about it.
Jay Skeets
It's great. It's great.
Taz
I just. I compared it to Jeremy Evans because it's like a similar guy that we won't remember, but we'll remember the painting more. So Than the dancing, I think anyways. Because it's just there's a visual that he did.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Like Fred Jones comes to mind, like when he won his dunk contest way back. Like, oh, that was not a good dunk contest. I mean, Fred Jones is like a. Everybody's like, who the hell is that type thing. Like, yeah, he's probably where. That's where we're at. But the problem, like, it's unfortunate because like we did have two guys that were throwing down dunks. They weren't taking a ton of attempts. They were bringing, you know, some energy, especially a lot of energy in Keyshot case. So, like the recipes are there. They were, they were trying. And they're also dunking at like four in the afternoon here. It's not even All Star Saturday night. We gotta change that lower third. It's All Stars Saturday evening or afternoon.
Taz
Yeah. And. And as. Who said it here? Ink Hog neat. Oh, we said Jeremy Evans over the painting was actually 2013, the year Terence Ross won. So Jeremy Evans won it the year before when he didn't have the painting. You see, that's how much it's left. It's burned in my brain.
Jay Skeets
Is that right?
Taz
Yeah. You see, you guys didn't even call me.
Jay Skeets
Jeremy Evans went in it again to defend his title.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
In 2012 he did jump over Gordon Hayward sitting in a chair. I remember that. Yes.
Tasmolis
Yeah, he definitely did that.
Jay Skeets
I don't know why I remember that, but I do. Yeah.
Taz
Was Gordon Hayward painting?
Jay Skeets
No, no, no, I think, I think Gordon threw him.
Taz
Yeah, yeah, okay. Yeah, but we remember that even though he lost.
Jay Skeets
All right, anyway, look, respect for them going in it.
Taz
Jackson Hayes, come on. That's unbelievable.
Jay Skeets
No respect to him.
Tasmolis
No respect at all.
Jay Skeets
I do not think that is a smart guy. I literally think he just like, where, where am I? What are we doing here?
Taz
Yeah, that's fair.
Jay Skeets
Oh, man.
Tasmolis
Do I get a warm up?
Jay Skeets
Any other thoughts on the dunk contest? Nice to see our guy Bones obviously scoring this. One of the judges, he had on the Clippers jacket from his dunk contest win 30 years ago to the not day maybe, but to the weekend at least.
Taz
Yeah, somebody could have fixed it. He had his collar he was wearing underneath his jacket was like flared out over top of his jacket.
Jay Skeets
Well, maybe that's why he took the jacket off.
Taz
Uncomfortable.
Jay Skeets
He only have it on at like the first one.
Taz
Yeah, yeah. But when they got to him when they showed him on the camera, like, here's a Brent Barry. Somebody's gonna fix his collar.
Jay Skeets
Anyway, I liked how strict he was with judging. He was the lawyer, should be back.
Tasmolis
Almost the whole time.
Jay Skeets
Him and Dr. J. Dr. J's been on a lot of these and he's always pretty good too.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Dwight Howard, he was like sort of.
Taz
Brent was calling him out. Brent was looking at Dwight. What are you doing? 49 on that? Dwight, come on.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah. And McGetty. And who's the other one? There was somebody else there. Dominique was. He's pretty kind when it comes to the dunks. He's done this a lot, too. I need somebody to do a breakdown on how many, like, who's our all time dunk contest judge, leader, like, who's doing the Most. I think Dr. J's got to be the leader.
Tasmolis
Yeah, it's kind of like LeBron. He's got the longevity. He started so long as he did it.
Taz
So far, so long ago. Yeah, I do want to know. Just Giannis was there really into the dunk contest. That guy just loves everything. And we'll get to Damian Lillard and how we respect how much he respects the game. But yeah, Yannis was there at celebrity contests or the celebrity game. He was the coach and he was into it. He was eating popcorn and getting interviewed. Not playing charms, not playing choms.
Jay Skeets
He sucks at hooping. He's saying he might be right.
Taz
He's saying we're not stacked. You know why? Because we got shams out there. That guy can't hoop. But he's there the next night. He didn't have to be here at the dunk contest. He didn't have to, but he was into it. Like with the dunkers.
Jay Skeets
He's recording it on his phone.
Tasmolis
Yep.
Jay Skeets
Why?
Taz
Yeah, it's like an old man.
Tasmolis
You don't think he honest watches it back?
Jay Skeets
No, I don't. I don't. I'm sorry.
Taz
Show it to his kids.
Jay Skeets
Maybe he hands it off to like a social media manager for his accounts. Like, hey, do I have anything, can you edit this? But yeah, his kids are.
Taz
Yeah, he's into it. He's. He is so into it. He would have been so into playing tomorrow night at the All Star game because he really wanted this USA versus the world thing.
Guest or Producer
True, true.
Taz
He picked it up.
Jay Skeets
He likes basketball there on the bench, I guess with team World, right?
Taz
Yeah, yeah, I would think so. Unless. Unless as Damian Lillard asked him in the hallway after winning the three point contest. Unless he's got some, some Kelsey thing to do. Damien Lillard asked him, did you play some money on Calshi? On me to win the three point contest. And that's caught on camera and he said whoa, whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Don't do that buddy, don't do that. That's too fun.
Tasmolis
Have you been waiting for the perfect time to upgrade your tech? Good news. The wait is over. Dell Tech Day's annual sales event is here and they're celebrating their best customers with fantastic deals on the latest PCs like the Dell 14 plus with Intel Core Ultra processors. They've also got incredible perks like Dell Reward, fast free shipping, premium support, price match guarantee and more. And while you're upgrading your PC, you may as well go all out because Dell is also offering huge deals on their premium suite of monitors and accessories. You know what that means? That's right, you can get a whole new setup with amazing savings. Clearly this is a sale you don't want to miss. Visit Dell.com deals that's Dell.com deals.
Sponsor Announcer
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures Pro Drivers.
Sponsor Announcer 2
Live for race day, but for small business owners, every day is race day. That's why going pro with Lenovo Pro Matters one on one advice, IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors. Keep your business on the right track. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro Lenovo Lenovo.
Ad Host
If you're struggling with weight loss, start your journey at loseweightnow co. Because orderly meds helps people get real results with proven GLP1 semaglutide, starting for as little as $74 a month. No waiting rooms, no confusion, just real support and guidance you can count on all year long. Get started today at loseweightnow.
Taz
Co.
Ad Host
Individual results may vary. Visit loseweightnow.co and get started today. Bestloseweightnow co. All right, let's go to.
Jay Skeets
The three point contest. Let's talk Dame. Let me hit you with a McMenamin lead here. Damian Lillard hasn't played in a game this season for the Portland Trail Blazers as he recovers from an Achilles tear. But when he stepped on the court for Saturday's All Star three point Shootout, it was Dame time. Just as always. Thanks, McMenamin for that. Dame won competition with a final round score of 29. Edged out Booker. He edged out Knipple. This was fun because those were our three picks to win this thing. I had Booker, you had Khan, you had Damian Lillard. So we all had our guy in the end. And Booker, I guess, sort of similar to Carter Bryant in a way, had a chance to win this thing. Had basically had to hit what, two out of the final three balls. Two out of three of his money ball rack, and he wins it.
Taz
Yeah. And just one to tie it to go on.
Jay Skeets
Right. So just two out of three and he has it. But he misses his final three and Damian Lillard gets it with a very good score and obviously a really great performance. And he did it all in pants.
Tasmolis
Did it all in pants. That was my first note. All caps, pants. A lot of guys were wearing pants so only fitting like an elastic waistband that a guy rocking full legs would win it. But dame. Yeah, a 29 like you're saying. Booker, I think had 30 and the first round could have got to 31 or 33 if he made his shots at the end. Very high scores all around, but cool that Dame did it. Like we're gonna get into. The dude really respects All Star Saturday night.
Taz
Yep.
Tasmolis
And he's one of the all time greats. Maybe this helps him enter the great shooters competition. As somebody mentioned when we were live streaming, like, hey, he's got three championships. That's pretty good. And you know, he's got like top 10 all time in makes, shoots, a good percentage, deep range. One of the all time greats.
Jay Skeets
Playoff series walk off. Yeah.
Tasmolis
So, yeah, put some respect on Dame Lillard's name.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
Cool for him to get a win. Undefeated this year.
Taz
Wow. One for one baby. Yeah. Respect to him. Respect him for doing it again. I did see on Fanduel today there were odds for each shooter and where they're gonna hit or if they were gonna hit from the starry ball.
Jay Skeets
Don't call it that.
Taz
Yeah. It was called starry ball until tonight. Until the state farm ball. And Dame had the best odds because he hit some deep balls and he was ready for this moment. So good for him.
Jay Skeets
I don't think anybody in the contest hit both from the logo. State Farm deep balls in the same.
Taz
I don't think.
Jay Skeets
I don't think so.
Tasmolis
There weren't a lot of deep ball makes, period. Yeah, I think.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Booker hit up every once in a while.
Tasmolis
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
But I don't think Dame hit one at least.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Maybe another one or two.
Tasmolis
Sure.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Anyway, this was awesome.
Taz
Great.
Jay Skeets
Starting with it, I think.
Tasmolis
Yes.
Jay Skeets
You know, I mean you could argue you could end with this thing.
Tasmolis
Start with it and end it.
Jay Skeets
Well, you heard my idea on the live stream. This should be the only thing on all star side.
Tasmolis
That's it.
Jay Skeets
But we have like 100 shooters.
Tasmolis
Like a deep tournament, 64 teams.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Yeah.
Tasmolis
Oh, you gotta shoot a lot of times.
Jay Skeets
Oh, it'd be fun. Now once we expand to 32 teams.
Tasmolis
Everybody sends a representative, everybody sends a rep. That's interesting.
Jay Skeets
We just have a advanced. We're just shooting, baby. We could just put them. We could do it like old school, like they used to do it. Two shooters at once, split screen. We could fly through that. Be fun as hell.
Tasmolis
Why not?
Jay Skeets
That'd be really cool.
Taz
Anyway, this is always dependent the positive about that. No one would say no to a three bunker. Unlike the dunk on test.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, well, yeah.
Taz
Like they'll never say no. I'm not going to shoot. That would never happen. They're all.
Jay Skeets
They're in the NBA. They're majority when there's no defense.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
And these are the best of the best.
Taz
Yeah. And production wise it was cool to see the fireworks behind the background.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. The stanchion.
Taz
Yeah. Those kind of neat like as a shot goes down. Like. I don't know if it blinded anybody. I blinded a shooter. I don't think so.
Jay Skeets
When were they firing the fire off? Like definitely between racks or like on big makes or was it just definitely.
Taz
For the long balls? Like if you. If you did hit the state farm slash starry ball. Yes.
Jay Skeets
It went off other times.
Taz
Other times. Yeah. It was hard to tell when. But it looked cool. It looked cool on camera.
Tasmolis
Anytime I lead Them a little more juice.
Taz
Passed it off.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. I thought you were going to bring up when you said production, the camera guy they had in the one corner. Camera guy or woman? I'm not sure. Um, they were doing the worst job of the night because they were the whole night. Obviously they were moving too much with their camera because they were behind the shooter, behind the rack. And they were really always wanted you to see the guy pick up the ball and so he would go over and then because of the graphics on the left hand side of the screen, sometimes he would not get back in time to then see whether the shot went in. Yeah. And it was always in that. I guess I don't know what you call that.
Tasmolis
Bottom right corner.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, bottom right corner. Sure. Yeah. You're looking at the rim. Yeah. On the right side. So that happened a lot. There was a couple times we're like, did it go in?
Tasmolis
That's got to be a blocked off camera. I may be one wide angle lens. What do you think, J.D. how do we keep that, how do we keep that in frame so we can see? I mean, I don't care that much about reaching for the rack.
Jay Skeets
No, we don't need to see them pick up.
Tasmolis
If you want to see it, what's the best way to accomplish that?
Guest or Producer
Well, yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. Like either pick the rack or the arc in the air. And I would argue, I would argue you don't need to see the ark.
Taz
Right.
Guest or Producer
You want to see the grab and the basket go in. But when it flies out of frame, I know it's where it's headed.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
Guest or Producer
You don't need all of it. That's the thing that was causing all the movement, I think.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, well, yeah, because he just. Yeah, it kept going, rocking back and forth where all the other ones it felt like that wasn't an issue. We were always seeing it. But anyway, it was very entertaining. And Lillard joins Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only three time winners of the event, which started in 1986. So I imagine he's going to go in this again. Why wouldn't Damian Lillard compete again? He's not even playing this year. He's in the thing, so he'll have a go at number four. And to have the all time record.
Taz
You called Devin, who got there super, super close to Dame. And I wanted to bring up this tweet here because it's an observation from our friend, our old friend coach Nick, who says Devin Booker started in the left corner unlike everyone else. I thought Conka Nipple did. But anyway, he said the cheat code is that it allows him to have the initial rack on his right side. That means the right corner rack is also on his right side. And it led to a 30 point round. How did the others not know this?
Tasmolis
What are they.
Taz
Yeah, I'm a little confused. Coach Nick never messes up. But.
Jay Skeets
But what are we running here? What rack are we running here?
Tasmolis
What are we racking here?
Taz
Yeah. I don't get that. Yeah. Sorry to bring that up, but I thought, I thought, I thought maybe somebody.
Jay Skeets
Was getting angry at us for a second.
Taz
No, no, no. But what anyway.
Tasmolis
Is important.
Taz
It's super important.
Jay Skeets
Yes, but the start that came up with that. No, that's our very own Le Ellis. Yeah. Who was early to the game. Who helped Steph Curry arguably win his first three point contest.
Taz
Oh yeah. And yeah.
Tasmolis
And Del Curry to this day is talking about rack placement.
Jay Skeets
Yep.
Taz
So he's saying on the broadcast. He's. He was advising that for Con Canipple, who was great finishing third.
Jay Skeets
Hey man, that's pretty good. Yeah, that's right. And they obviously the whole thing was like, who was the worst shooter, what was the worst score? Bobby.
Tasmolis
Bobby had a low score and there's Maxi.
Jay Skeets
I feel like had it made.
Tasmolis
Max had a low score. He might have had the lowest.
Jay Skeets
Okay. But you know, a lot of other decent scores because we were like, I always like when the starts because you're like, oh, what's it going to take to make the final?
Tasmolis
Yep.
Jay Skeets
And we were like, ah, probably 25. I think we were throwing out. I don't know. We were pretty close. Well, I guess he had to almost be higher than that. But they all were. So. Yeah, you had to put down a good score and they. A lot of guys did. So it was great. Donovan Mitchell, I like, he seemed pissed that he wasn't in the final. He's like, damn. Yeah, he wanted it. These guys want it. He had pants on too.
Tasmolis
He just can't stop.
Jay Skeets
Is it cold in the Intuit Dome? We need a report.
Tasmolis
Let's hear. Was it cold in the Intuit Dome?
Jay Skeets
The igloo, they could call it, if it's really cool. The ice. They have the ice wall.
Taz
Oh wow.
Tasmolis
Yeah. Like Game of Thrones, the wall.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
Perfect. Curious that the wall was so well attended.
Jay Skeets
Oh yeah, yeah.
Taz
So fired up.
Jay Skeets
Well, they're paid actors.
Tasmolis
Locals.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Local.
Jay Skeets
Our friends at. Hello and welcome, Will and Alex and our guy Jerome, who we had on the monitor behind us with Ash for most of the live stream. They were hypothesizing from Friday night's events at least that they were paid actors on the wall. The rest of the place was empty, apparently. Yeah, I don't know about tonight. I can't speak to that. But Friday night it was like half empty for this, for the Rising Stars game. And. But that wall was still.
Tasmolis
That wall was filled.
Taz
Some inside information. We got some inside information that said it was pretty empty tonight as well.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that. And that's three o' clock in the. Two o' clock in the afternoon. So it's a weird time for people.
Taz
And that's in part why they started with the dunk contest. Excuse me? The three point contest. So it didn't start with the. The shoot around.
Jay Skeets
They were trying. What you're saying is they're trying to get people in their seats to the start of it. Because if it's a skills competition or shooting stars, nobody's gonna show up. They'll be like, I'll show up an hour in.
Taz
Exactly. Yes.
Jay Skeets
Maybe you show up for the three point contest. Yeah, yeah. But didn't work.
Taz
Well, guess not. Guess that. Not. Not full. Anyway.
Jay Skeets
Any other thoughts on the three point contest? Yeah, no, just. Good, good. Should we end with it? Should it be the final?
Tasmolis
Give it a shot. Why not start with the dunks? Yeah. Less pressure. Try it, try it, try it. Literally, we'll try anything with All Star Weekend, except it has to end with the dunk contest. Change the format a hundred times. Three point contest used to be split screen. We've done 8,000 different formats of the All Star Game.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
Just try the three point contest last. Let's see what happens.
Jay Skeets
The good thing about that is, like, you know, you're just going to end on a fairly like above average moment.
Tasmolis
Yep.
Jay Skeets
Like, more times than not, I know you could have the odds like, wow, that guy in the final really shit the bed and he couldn't hit a shot. It's like, okay, that doesn't happen all that often. It's pretty close. It like more times than not comes down to like a final rack. It's like, oh, here we go. Can he do it? Can he win it or not? And obviously Booker didn't tonight in the end, but the dunk contest is like the ultimate high or the ultimate low. And it was like tonight was like.
Tasmolis
A. Oh, we had a chance.
Jay Skeets
Damn. All right. Another event made its return to us here tonight. The Shooting Stars is back in our life. What was it? 11 year hiatus?
Tasmolis
Wow.
Jay Skeets
Yep.
Tasmolis
I didn't know it had been that long.
Jay Skeets
It'd been that long. And you know, after Chris Paul and Wembanyama ruined the skills competition, they completely broke it. Didn't take it seriously. At the shooting spots in last year's event, they just like throwing the balls because they knew, oh, this is just a time thing. Get them out of the way. Anyway, we had the shooting Stars and we had all these teams and you had seven spots to shoot from. And then we learned tonight, I swear we didn't know this. A celebrity passer was incorporated to all these teams who played like a sort of important part. Not like you got to hit the shots like those are the most important part, but like you could sort of screw up bad passes or where you put them. And we saw a couple hilarious passes, especially from Drew Ski to Scotty Barnes. One in particular sailed like 10ft over his head. And I don't appeared to hit somebody. I didn't hit Jason Richard. And so yeah, we had all these passers, these celebrity passers. And Rick Brunson for team Knicks who was the star of the night to us as he helped his son and his team get the win.
Taz
Like I can pass. Those are sweet passes.
Jay Skeets
He was had the most zip on his passes. 100%. That's an assistant coach right there.
Taz
Yeah. We brought player. Yeah. When and when you mentioned like a, A practice pitcher, like in batting practice.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. The Home Run Derby.
Taz
Yeah. Yeah. He was your guy. You brought him up. You brought that.
Tasmolis
You know that position has to groove it.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Jesus Figueroa, he was a great Blue Jays one way back when. He was fantastic. Unfortunately, some of the things on social media were, as you said, Drew Ski throwing it into the front row. Yeah. We did not expect a celebrity passer. We just thought, I just personally thought there would be a rack at each spot so they could just go to a rack and shoot it. Which makes sense.
Jay Skeets
Well, I thought they were going to do the whole like you got one ball between your team that's like.
Taz
And just hustle after the ball.
Jay Skeets
That's how they used to do it until they got to the half court shot and then they could just pull a bunch of balls. Maybe I'm misremembering it, but I don't.
Tasmolis
Remember having a passer involved at all.
Jay Skeets
No, no, but I'm saying you rebounded your own shot to get it to your other buddy and it was more.
Tasmolis
Of a dance like that bounced off though. What would they do? Just got a free ball.
Jay Skeets
Maybe. Maybe. Yeah.
Taz
That's why I Think the racks solves it.
Jay Skeets
But you want seven racks.
Taz
I know.
Jay Skeets
And then we got Nick coach saying, oh, what side?
Taz
I think the NBA can afford seven racks to put out there. So. Yeah. But I will say Jalen Brunson and the Rick Brunson relationship. That was great. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because Jalen Brunson got the mic before he went for the first round and said, I'm not happy right now. But it all came back around to explain itself. He just. That's his thing with his dad. He just. He's just the jokey thing with his dad.
Jay Skeets
Right. Whenever Rick is around, he was not upset to be at the Shooting Stars event or to be at All Star Weekend. It was more joke. I just have to do this with my dad.
Taz
Yeah. And honestly, it's good that Drew Ski wasn't there for the second round because he was horrendous. Rick Brunson was the guy. Who are the other passengers?
Jay Skeets
Anthony Anderson. It was okay, actually. Two chains and two chains was. Yeah, fine. His team obviously didn't make it.
Taz
Yeah, yeah. Those three were good.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
Taz
I mean, Drewski kind of. I think he kind of wanted the moment for himself. Like when he threw it out into the front row or eighth row, he's gonna.
Jay Skeets
Was he making a social media moment with that? Is that what you're throwing out there?
Taz
No, I like it. I don't know.
Tasmolis
But with it did it for the, for the memes.
Taz
The sell afterwards was definitely.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah. It's like, come on, pass the ball.
Taz
Yeah, okay. But what we didn't like is that the seventh spot wasn't at mid court. Yeah, that's kind of weird.
Jay Skeets
The best part about the old Shooting Stars competition was Chris Bosh inevitably hitting a half court shot. That was fun.
Tasmolis
It was exciting.
Jay Skeets
So then they take that best part out of this and have them shoot like just a deep three. That Corey McGetty props to him. He was splashing off his one legged deep balls. But come on, man, go to half court. What are we doing?
Tasmolis
Yeah, we. We see these shots that long every night.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
From the logo. But I got to give some Credit to Corey McGetti. Like you said, he. He was Chris Bosch esque.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
In this one. And as he kept making, he made three in a row in the finals. And after he made the second one hit the fist pound, after he hit the third one, he's strutting it off as the ball is in the air. He was feeling it like. That was one of the hottest shooting nights of Corey McEtti's career.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
What's funny is they lose.
Taz
They lose. Yeah, probably.
Jay Skeets
He was awesome. Did Alan Houston hit that many shots for the team Knicks?
Tasmolis
Yeah. I don't know. I don't know who. I mean, Towns was hitting a lot of.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, I think it was the NBA guys, the NBA All Stars doing the heavy lifting for them. I don't remember hitting a ton. Maybe did. I don't know. But yeah.
Tasmolis
Anyway, gotta go back and check.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Scotty Barnes also not hitting shots. No, no. I will just say, all in all, entertaining.
Jay Skeets
It's better than the skills competition.
Taz
Oh, not a question.
Jay Skeets
It's just better.
Taz
Not even a question.
Tasmolis
Final round was good.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The celebrity passing.
Tasmolis
If the celebrity passers are going to be that big of an influence on the scores, they need to be on the headshots with the other guys.
Jay Skeets
Right.
Tasmolis
So it's got to say Team All Stars plus Drew Ski.
Jay Skeets
Right. Well, they handed Rick Brunson a Victor Solomon.
Tasmolis
He got a victor. Yeah, he was flexing the victor.
Jay Skeets
To the vict goes the Solomon. Is that what we came up with? That's our new slogan. Everybody gets a Solomon. Yeah, you're right. It's important. And I don't think we even knew Rick Brunson was going to be on this team.
Tasmolis
No.
Taz
Until like, on this team.
Jay Skeets
Until they announced it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is still. Why was there even a team Knicks to begin with? Throw them in there.
Tasmolis
Not a team Clippers.
Jay Skeets
But they won. But they won. Yeah. Team Clippers. Why aren't there team Clippers?
Tasmolis
It's going to be Kawhi Harden and Zubots.
Jay Skeets
But you know, Kawhi Harden, Brent Barry or Kawhi Harden and Corey McGet or.
Taz
Yep.
Jay Skeets
I wonder if this could have done it.
Tasmolis
Interesting.
Jay Skeets
Probably not. I mean, I don't know. Who knows? Who cares? What else do we have? Tonight we had Ludacris performing Stand Up, Turn on Mike. Hey.
Tasmolis
It was on in some formats.
Jay Skeets
Apparently some local affiliates heard the Ludicrous concert. We did not. I don't know about you out there. We. We were watching on Peacock here in the classic Factory victory. And for us, we legit could not hear Ludicrous rapping. Like, it was just. His mic was not on. It would every once in a while like, cut in for a second stand and like when I put my necklace. But for the most part, we couldn't hear a thing. And it became sort of. Sort of funny. But I guess other people were hearing it and in arena, people were hearing it. We have people like on the Scene were saying, oh yeah, it was great. You could hear him. You could hear him.
Taz
Yep.
Jay Skeets
You were disappointed. You like music. You're grand hill about it.
Taz
And I'm a grand hill about it.
Jay Skeets
This was disappointing. This was disappointing for you.
Taz
You know. You know what the good thing about it was? It wasn't super long. The NBA can mess up on Saturday nights quite often, right? Eating time for no reason. Like their tazmal is telling a soliloquy for no reason. But he did four tight songs even though we didn't hear him.
Jay Skeets
It was three or four. Yeah.
Taz
But I looked at the clock. I just checked. I was checking that clock. I'm keeping the time here. It's like I'm Matt Austin or I'm Tim Frank or Paul Benedict. I just want to be the time here.
Jay Skeets
My favorite thing about is you keep time on things more than anyone. But somehow we're always late. Make it make sense. Well, are on timing for everything.
Taz
Yeah, yeah. Not. Yeah, not great. They're not great at the beginning. It's all about the ending. It's all about the close.
Tasmolis
It's all about the cl. It's all about the.
Taz
I was concerned.
Jay Skeets
This whole thing took three hours still. And.
Taz
Yeah, you were.
Jay Skeets
Like when we. When you first showed up, you were like, this is going to be three hours.
Taz
Yeah. I couldn't believe it. They had a three hour, three hour block here in the middle of this Winter Olympics. I was surprised by that. On a regular Saturday night, nothing else going on. Yeah.
Tasmolis
Not on Olympic Saturday.
Taz
Eat. Three. Three hours.
Jay Skeets
This is actually. This is why they put it at 5, because primetime in Milan, 8 o'. Clock. Of course. I've been watching the Olympics and right now there are no Olympics going on because of the time difference. Like it all happened.
Tasmolis
This is editing time.
Jay Skeets
I don't think anything is actually live right now. It's like the middle of the night in Italy.
Taz
Well, yeah, it's done after six probably.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Yeah. Right, right.
Taz
Yeah. It's like midnight.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. I'm just saying they had nothing else to show.
Taz
Yeah. Anyways, didn't need too much time. Luda didn't need too much time. Even though we didn't hear us particular. I guess the mics were working as.
Jay Skeets
We were going through.
Taz
We're asking. I was asking JD well, what's going on in the truck? What's happening? What? Why is that one particular mic off anyway?
Tasmolis
He said busting with the boys. It was the problem. Busing with the boys.
Jay Skeets
I didn't understand what you were talking about. What did the bus with the boys.
Tasmolis
Have to do with this? Having trouble routing.
Sponsor Announcer
J.D.
Jay Skeets
You care to explain what happened in.
Guest or Producer
All, like, I honestly don't know, but fits. But it's coming off the board. The soundboard. So if it's bused to the truck and they're hearing it in the truck and they're hearing it in the arena, but it's not going out to the live feed, or there's a mix that goes to the live feed, it. It could be going through like a, A, S and P person stand standards and practice. And that person was just leaning on the button the whole time.
Taz
Who knows? Okay. It's like when were doing worst of the week on Friday and. And we could hear what I was calling a worst of the week nominee. The NBA broadcast the voiceover guy saying Jill and Brown making his first career All Star game. We could hear that.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
But people watching couldn't.
Guest or Producer
That's right. It was incorrectly bust. Thanks for bringing that up, Cash.
Taz
What a dick.
Jay Skeets
Okay. Busing with the boys.
Sponsor Announcer
Welcome.
Taz
Directed for the podcaster.
Jay Skeets
Will and Taylor hear it tonight. I need to know now, could they hear Ludicrous in the Bus? The other thing with the Ludicrous performance is there was a small. I don't know, at least for like a minute or two where we weren't sure if he was wearing the fake big arms or not.
Tasmolis
He was jacked.
Jay Skeets
Because he was jacked. And I guess I didn't realize how jacked Ludacris had become.
Taz
Wasn't he jacked in when he did Fast and the Furious?
Tasmolis
Yeah. I just don't think of him as like a. Like, I think a Dr. Dre and Busta Rhymes and Timbaland as guys who got, like, notoriously very strong and muscular.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Yeah.
Tasmolis
But I guess Ludicrous has as well.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
And he was showing off the guns like he'd been working. I'm sure he got a nice pump in right before the show started. And he was. He was arms forward.
Jay Skeets
He's got good triceps. We said really huge. Yeah. He's working on.
Guest or Producer
Anyway.
Jay Skeets
Unfortunately, we couldn't hear it. But also probably would have hit a lot better in Atlanta maybe than la. I don't know. Yeah, whatever.
Tasmolis
He makes a crowd. Friendly rap or he.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Tasmolis
You know, these are not new songs. We were here.
Jay Skeets
I told Nora, like, when I was heading over here, I'm like. She's like, what else is happening? Ludacris is performing Ludicrous. What? That's all they could get. And I was. I Took offense to it for Luda. I was like, what are you talking about? That's not a bad.
Taz
No.
Jay Skeets
I'm like, nora, you gotta remember, like, they're not paying top dollar. We're not getting Kendrick Lamar. I mean, he's already done it. First off, we're not getting someone like that level. You gotta go like a guy that's like, maybe needs some money a little bit, like, to do the performance.
Taz
You're saying Luda needs money?
Jay Skeets
I'm saying he did it for money.
Tasmolis
For the love of the throwback.
Jay Skeets
You're right. A lot of these people keep showing up. Anthony Anderson, he's been at 100 of these now. Queen Latifah, always there.
Tasmolis
Always there.
Jay Skeets
Kevin Hart, incredibly not there, but usually they all are. And I'm like, convinced. They just tell their agents, like, I want to be at NBA All Star Weekend. I like being around the guys, social media. I'm saying I would.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Hell, like, I wanted to be in the Celebrity Game forever.
Taz
I get what Nora is saying, though. He hasn't made a. Yeah. A hit for a while.
Jay Skeets
She's just was shocked.
Taz
What NBC is going with the old heads. John Tash tomorrow. Lenny Kravitz doing the intro a few weeks ago.
Guest or Producer
Yeah, that's the problem that. This is the problem with All Star. Right? Like, you guys love it. You're all 40 plus guys.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, we don't. Hold on. Love it.
Guest or Producer
I mean, the all. All Star Weekend. You're telling me you don't love All Star Weekend?
Jay Skeets
Okay, comp.
Guest or Producer
We've been doing this for 20 years.
Jay Skeets
Everybody else. Yeah, okay. I had the time of my life tonight. Yes, exactly.
Guest or Producer
Exactly. It was a pretty mediocre night at best. And you guys are having the time of your lives.
Jay Skeets
Oh, we had mellow mushroom pizza.
Guest or Producer
Yeah, okay, fair enough, Fair enough. But everybody's excited about John Tesh. John Tesh is here.
Taz
Blah, blah, blah.
Guest or Producer
It's like John, the host of Entertainment tonight in the 80s is headlining everybody's. He's the only one I'm hearing about. Who's the halftime show? There is no halftime show, because. Okay, so. So he's the headliner. He's the guy.
Jay Skeets
He's introducing them. I'm sure he's gonna play stadium arena. Right.
Guest or Producer
And all the kids. You think my kids are excited about that?
Jay Skeets
You. Who?
Guest or Producer
What song are you talking about? This is the problem. Like nostalgia. They're being smart about the celebrity game, which nobody watches because it's the celebrity Game, but it's. It's influences and they're trying to go young. Like, I watched a bit of that broadcast.
Taz
I was like, who?
Guest or Producer
Who are these people? And that's how it should be. I'm 55 years old. I should not be into this at all, Right? And this is the problem.
Taz
Problem. This is the problem.
Guest or Producer
It's cringe. It's cringe. You. Skeets, we're talking about. Talking about, you know, Snoop Dogg being the Olympics guy. I don't mind that because Snoop Dogg is perennially cool, right? Like, he's just a dude. Everybody loves him.
Jay Skeets
Not cool, though.
Guest or Producer
Incredibly cool. Exactly, exactly. That's my point. Yeah, bring him back. Next, he. Well, he'll be obviously part of LA Olympics, but, God, all the dads. All dads are super happy. Oh, look, Snoop Dogg.
Jay Skeets
The dads are happy about snooping around during the Winter Olympics.
Guest or Producer
They are very happy. The kids are like, I'm not even watching it because who cares, right? Like, kids. This is the problem.
Tasmolis
The kids don't watch sports.
Taz
Yeah, right.
Tasmolis
But there are kids, so why would they chase young audiences? Well, that's the problem. If they're caught in. They're caught in between two paths, right? It's like, we want a younger audience, but guess what? They're not. No kid is tuning into All Star Saturday Night.
Guest or Producer
I know. And all the kids who are playing in the All Star Game don't want to be there because it's cringe.
Jay Skeets
They don't like it.
Guest or Producer
And that's. That's the main problem. Right? So get artists that they listen to. And I'm not even. Like, I don't even know who they are. We don't know who they are.
Jay Skeets
Okay. I think I want to say a K pop band performed during the either Celebrity Game or Rising Stars Game. Game, yeah.
Guest or Producer
Okay.
Jay Skeets
I want to call them Cordis.
Tasmolis
But.
Jay Skeets
I don't know if that's Right.
Taz
There was a Soldier Boy in the Celebrity Game. Huh? Was there not?
Guest or Producer
There was a what?
Tasmolis
What?
Jay Skeets
Who?
Taz
A Korean pop band. Maybe there was Dylan Wang, and that's fine. Oh, yeah.
Jay Skeets
That guy's a ball hog.
Taz
You know him by name.
Jay Skeets
That guy's a ball hog. I got thoughts on him.
Tasmolis
I saw Keenan Allen block a shot.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, that guy doesn't pass. If he's in a boy band, I'd be shocked because he's not sharing the mic.
Tasmolis
Okay, so, J.D.
Jay Skeets
You think if.
Tasmolis
If you think Playboy Cardi. If he's the halftime act at the All Star Game, does that change anything if he. If it's Playboy Cardi instead of Ludicrous.
Guest or Producer
If it's two minutes and you put it on Tik Tok, I guess.
Taz
I don't know. Exactly right.
Guest or Producer
Touche to you like that. That's. That's exactly right. And look, Ludacris is a big star. Like, he's in 10 or many fast. Many fast movies. And that's where kids know him from probably.
Jay Skeets
Right, right. You know, also there. Yeah. I mean, they. They are selling these tickets to people, in theory, to show up to these events. And they do want to, like, give you a show. Like, you know, a three hour show. So we gotta have a bunch of filler.
Guest or Producer
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
And while we're in commercial break here watching on tv, like, we've been at these things before. It's like, here's Christian and Scooby, or here's the dance pack, or here's the mascots doing something. Something silly. Or here's a video. How many video packages do they always show us?
Tasmolis
Totally.
Jay Skeets
Stuff like that many videos they're trying to give the crowd that are actually there something. But fair enough.
Tasmolis
That is why, though. I agree, jd. Like, I think it was a good idea to do this 200 influencer thing because it's like if you're gonna reach a younger audience, it's going to be via social media and these people who are just there being at the events.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tasmolis
More so than who they're booking.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Like, we're gonna roll our eyes at it and like, who cares? But you're right. Like, that's the whole point of to get younger.
Taz
Now we know who Dylan Wang is. Appare. He's a Chinese actor and singer. I thought he was a Korean K pop guy, but I just know he's good at basketball.
Jay Skeets
Despite somehow three times in a row in the celebrity. This guy sucks.
Taz
He's played three times.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Wow.
Jay Skeets
How do I know this? Jesus Christ. All right. Wow. We got fired up over Ludicrous and Dylan Wang. And we'll even talk about that celebrity game. Let's take a quick break and when we come back, some Friday night reactions.
Tasmolis
Have you been waiting for the perfect time to upgrade your tech? Good news. The wait is over. Dell Tech Day's annual sales event is here and they're celebrating their best customers with fantastic deals on the latest PCs, like the Dell 14 plus with Intel Core Ultra processors. They've also got incredible perks like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, premium support, price match guarantee, and more. And while you're upgrading your PC, you may as well go all out, because Dell is also offering huge deals on their premium suite of monitors and accessories. You know what that means? That's right. You can get a whole new setup with amazing savings. Clearly this is a sale you don't want to miss. Visit Dell.com deals that's Dell.com deal deals.
Sponsor Announcer
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Broken Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc, SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures there's.
Sponsor Announcer 2
No championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice. IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes Pro with Lenovo Pro Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro.
Jay Skeets
If you're struggling with weight loss, start your journey at loseweightnow. Co. Because orderly meds helps people get real results with proven GLP1 semaglutide starting for as little as $74 a month. No waiting rooms, no confusion, just real support and guidance you can count on all year long. Get started today at loseweightnow co. Individual results may vary. Visit loseweightnow.co and get started today. That's loseweightnow.co.
Taz
When it comes to betting on your favorite NBA players, nobody does it like FanDuel. For the three point contest, you could have bet on the over under number for each player's first round score or which guy was going to make it to the final, or if a particular player was going to Hit a state farm ball. Those are some bets and that's just Saturday night. The actual games are even more in depth. From points and rebounds to threes and assists. FanDuel is a place to build your player prop stories, combine your favorite picks into a same game parlay or track every stat live all in one easy to use app. Whether you're back in a breakout performance or Your favorite star, FanDuel gives you more ways to play. And right now is the perfect time to join because new customers get $150 in bonus bets if your first five dollar bet wins. FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Okay, so you don't want John Tesh tomorrow.
Tasmolis
JD.
Taz
No JD. You don't want no.
Tasmolis
JD's right about John Taps.
Taz
Well, what if we had the SNL guys? What if we had SNL guys doing NBC basketball?
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Oh, that would be awesome.
Tasmolis
Yeah, that would be.
Jay Skeets
That's the only reason we're getting John Tesh. It's like, oh my God, we're back on NBC. People love this song. He they've remixed it. Get him in here. Are you kidding me? We can get John Tesh? Yeah, we can. Like that's it. Don't worry, we're not getting John Tash next year.
Taz
Can we get John Tash?
Guest or Producer
I love it.
Jay Skeets
And incredibly I was right. The the K pop band was called Cortis.
Tasmolis
Cortis. I love Cortis.
Jay Skeets
Can you name any member of Cortis in the five people in Cordis Peewee? No, but honestly there's two like super American names and then a bunch of Korean names. But Rick, Mark. No, there's Martin and James and then there's Korean names. Kim. We got a Kim and a Ken Ho. Okay, where were we? Oh, Friday night. Let's go to Friday night. I don't think this is going to take as long as Saturday night. But we did have 76ers VJ Edgecomb getting named MVP in the rising Stars, winning it all for team Vince and Vijay Edgecombe did take the game or a couple games that he played semi Seriously.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Competition. And he was awesome. In the semi final game where he scored the final 10 points. I think it was to get the victory for team Vince and then he clinched the final with two big free throws after he attacked. Who was it? Donovan Clingan. I think he put the pressure on Clingan at the rim, got hacked on the arm. It was definite foul.
Tasmolis
Big foul.
Jay Skeets
And he hit two free throws to hit the target score. But anyway, any other takeaways from the Rising Stars game. Are you a fan of this?
Taz
VJ Looks good. Vijay looked good. He gave it to Cam Spencer got lots of separation to score 10 straight. You called it, skates. You said VJKIN was gonna do it.
Jay Skeets
I did. This is the one I got. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Taz
And I. In general, they all did care, I thought.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
Taz
About. About the. The shorter, you know, tournament style games. The shorter games. Maybe that helps. I think it does. In general. It kind of does. Instead of going four quarters on a Friday night and Rising Stars, it kind of lasts a long time.
Tasmolis
You get enough moments if they're going to the target score and it's close, like they're going to try hard for those four possessions and that makes it exciting for at least five or six minutes there.
Taz
Yeah.
Tasmolis
And, you know, I think it's funny to see if you're a pickup basketball player, that even NBA guys where it's like, we don't have to get a three pointer here, but if we do, we win. They're going to take a three pointer every time. Just like when you're playing pickup and you're playing to nine and you have seven, nobody's taking a layup. You're only taking the two. And even NBA guys are like, I'm only shooting threes.
Guest or Producer
Right.
Tasmolis
Right now.
Taz
Does that still happen? Everybody shoots a two when you need two.
Jay Skeets
Generally in our runs.
Guest or Producer
Yeah.
Tasmolis
I mean, come on, walking off with a game winner is so much cooler when it's a jump shot.
Jay Skeets
Nobody wants to continue to play defense, though, too. That's the main part. Like, oh, we scored. Oh, man, now we got to get another stop, too. Yeah.
Tasmolis
The other thing I think, though is you said VJ won it by going to the free throw line. Can't win it at the free throw line.
Jay Skeets
You know, target score being ended there.
Tasmolis
Jamal Crawford said, you should have to win by two if it's at the free throw line. Fair enough. Or you should do it like pickup where you can just keep hacking the guy.
Taz
Yeah.
Tasmolis
Every time they try and score inside.
Taz
I'm totally with what I would do. Yeah. Don't end it on a.
Tasmolis
Don't end up anticlimactic.
Taz
Yeah. So you get a foul, it's your ball. You get the ball back.
Tasmolis
Yeah.
Taz
You know. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Although, you know, VJ respects the game. I did like how he got to the arena with his Vince Carter throwback T shirt because Vince drafted him. And he said, when I was drafted by Vince, I remembered I had a shirt. So you know, paying some love to the og. So that was pretty cool.
Jay Skeets
He also talked about getting a chance to talk to Kareem Abdul Jabbar a couple nights prior or something like that and how that meant a lot to him. I thought that was pretty cool. And they talked about, like, set the tone for the weekend, like, or at least for the All Star Game. Like, who knows if it actually translates?
Taz
But come on, that's not translating.
Jay Skeets
Probably not.
Guest or Producer
Which is.
Jay Skeets
But here's my thing. That's so funny. It's like, this is the game that I actually don't give a shit if anybody plays defense or tries. This is the one where they should just be going crazy and doing insane alley oops and insane dawn and doing olad. Like, this is the one. Like, I truly don't care at all. Like, they're just a bunch of kids put on a show. So it's funny. Like, the All Star Game is one. I'd like to see them, like, the best of the best compete for a little bit. I don't care about this one. But they did.
Tasmolis
But they did.
Jay Skeets
They did.
Tasmolis
They did.
Taz
So you don't want the kids to care?
Jay Skeets
I mean, I just don't. This one, I've never really truly cared all that much about the Rising Star, especially, like, once it went into this tournament thing. I get the understanding behind it, but yeah, I think with this class we have coming in next year, maybe go back to a nice old rookie versus sophomores.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
I'm just saying.
Tasmolis
Sure.
Jay Skeets
We could have a good one.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
If they take it seriously and maybe it'll be a good game.
Taz
But take into account the amount of talent coming into the league. Adam Silver knows there's tanking is hot right now in this particular season, and there's a reason for that. They're going to be really good going up against this current rookie class.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. It be a game.
Taz
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Be a good game.
Tasmolis
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Any other thoughts on Rising Stars?
Taz
I did see Dylan Harper hit a game winner over his bro in that.
Tasmolis
That was cool.
Taz
That's a moment.
Jay Skeets
That was a moment. There wasn't a lot of like, like sick highlights though, from either of the games. No, there was that. That was a memorable moment. The jumper, Vijay, like little run where he hit a bunch of threes. Reed shepherd crossed somebody over and hit a three. That was pretty. Bouzilla's had a couple okay plays. Like maybe one nice dunk, but nothing like, crazy memorable, I don't think. But that's fine. I like the jerseys.
Tasmolis
I thought the jerseys look they were okay looking.
Jay Skeets
Yep. I like the colors. All right. Then we had the celebrity game. Rome Flynn earns his second straight mvp. Team Giannis wins the celebrity game and a lot of people upset online. How did Taco fall not win MVP? That guy had 20 points, 21 rebounds, 5 blocks robbed. Guy was shafted and Rome Flynn got it done. I think he had 17 points or something.
Tasmolis
He looks like he could play.
Jay Skeets
He was okay. Yeah, he's got moves.
Tasmolis
He's got finishes.
Jay Skeets
Yep. Sham's rough night. 0 for 5. I want to say from the field, I think all three point attempts. Fell in love with the three ball.
Tasmolis
Just wanted to see one go down.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, but take it to the rack, man. Just get an easy one.
Tasmolis
That's right.
Jay Skeets
See the ball go through the rim. Get off your phone, man. Also, the funniest clips from Seams in this game were like, anytime somebody else had the ball, Shams was doing the wacky waving, inflatable arm foiling tube, man. Like, I'm open, man, I'm open. There's so many clips. I'm like, I'm open. And people like, yeah, well, you just missed a three. I'm not going to pass it to you again. But yeah. Rough night. Rough night. Lots of shots of him on his phone. People were clowning him for that. I don't know why that's funny to me. He should have been playing with, doing bits.
Tasmolis
Yeah, yeah. He should have gone Ben Simmons mode, had it in his pocket.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
Tasmolis
Maybe he was going to like make a shot, get a tweet off or something like that.
Jay Skeets
Maybe Giannis like really shattered his confidence though, talking a lot of about. He was to the point where it almost became like, is this a bit. Is this like, is he joking here or is like he legit upset with them for all the reporting?
Taz
I like the pregame interview. Richard Jefferson said he's, hey, Janice, I saw the rosters. They're not fair. Basically saying, yes, you got a great roster. Yanis said, you know, it's not fair. Shams, he cannot hoop. Yeah. Then Mark Jones was also part of the interview. Mark Jones also said. We know that.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, yeah.
Taz
Did he mishear him?
Jay Skeets
Did.
Taz
Does he know.
Jay Skeets
Was he complying that we know he sucks. He doesn't suck. But yeah, he couldn't.
Taz
But they also, also production. They cut away from Giannis trash talking chomps. They cut away to show the. The little practice. What are you doing?
Jay Skeets
Right?
Taz
Show the. The former MVP calling somebody out on espn. That's good stuff. Don't get away from that. But yeah, yeah. He was also eating popcorn as he was saying that. It was kind of funny.
Tasmolis
Had a box of popcorn with him.
Jay Skeets
Any other memorable moments from the celebrity game?
Tasmolis
Keenan Allen had a great game.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, Yeah. I didn't know who he was, but he's a football player. Yeah, yeah.
Tasmolis
Receiver. He played for the Bears.
Jay Skeets
He looked like an athlete.
Tasmolis
Yes.
Jay Skeets
Like, yeah, his shots look decent.
Tasmolis
I saw him swat Jenna Bandy on a jump shot.
Jay Skeets
Come on. No. The best shot of the night in all honesty. Matt Ishbia.
Taz
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Tasmolis
Oh, yeah.
Jay Skeets
Teardrop Insane. Yeah. Teardrop over Taco fall. Like he had to put it that high or it was getting rejected and it somehow dropped. That thing went so damn high.
Taz
It was incredible.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
There's several angles of the Matt Ishbus shot from the opposite end to see how high he had to put it over Taco fall. It was great. I didn't think I'd come into the celebrity game appreciating Matish basketball game, but. But he went and ripped a rebound from taco falls hands.
Jay Skeets
He also picked up Sham's 94ft at one time. Bumped him out of bounds.
Tasmolis
Yeah, I saw him throw behind the back pass. Wasn't converted. Missed layup by whoever his teammate was. But Matt Ishmael acquitted himself pretty well. I think he did.
Taz
He did. We thought we'd. We'd see Shams hit some shots. That's what I thought.
Jay Skeets
Yep. Oh, yeah. I mean, HBS stole the show.
Taz
He did. HBS stole it.
Jay Skeets
Jeremy Lin also hit an eight point shot in this game because they had this thing where you could like double points. I. I don't really still understand how it actually worked. But once it was activated, every shot for whatever particular player or team or something was doubled. And he hit a four point Ruffles shot. And that meant it was eight points. And that was basically the game I think that wrapped it up for.
Guest or Producer
Yeah, it was a dice that they rolled. Seu.
Jay Skeets
Oh, is that what it was?
Guest or Producer
Yeah. Simuli and Glorilla each rolled a dice.
Jay Skeets
Look at the old guy over here. Liking the kids game.
Guest or Producer
That's right.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Guest or Producer
That's where I live. I live with the kids.
Jay Skeets
They rolled it.
Tasmolis
And it was double time for Jeremy Lynn to hit the four point ruffles shot.
Guest or Producer
That's right.
Tasmolis
Obviously.
Guest or Producer
And they were inflatable. They were inflatable dice. So they were. They rolled for a very long time. Simu is like, okay, ladies first. To Glo says, no, you go first. He rolls the dice and then she kicks his dice. When it lands on eight, she kicks it, it rolls a little more and more and more and lands on eight again. So in your face, Glorilla.
Jay Skeets
I guess she was having fun. I saw she bringing some energy to this. What a game. What a game.
Tasmolis
Game.
Jay Skeets
Celebrity game. That's all I got from the All Star Weekend festivities. We can pivot here to Chris Paul real quick if you want.
Taz
Yeah, let's pivot.
Jay Skeets
Finally, before we go, Chris Paul announced that he has officially retired. In a post on Instagram, Chris Paul wrote in part, this is it. After over 21 years, I'm stepping away from basketball. As I write this, it's hard to really know what to feel, but for once most people would be surprised I don't have the answer. Lol. But mostly I'm filled with so much joy and gratitude. While this chapter of being an NBA player is done, the game of basketball will forever be ingrained in the DNA of my life. And he went on to say a lot more, but that's the part we'll share with everybody here on the pod. Sort of weird. Chris Paul ends this way via an Instagram. Like this past summer he returns to la. He joins the organization. That's one day, I assume. Still going to retire his jersey number. I would hope so. And then he announced early in the season that this would be his last year. Okay, here we go, the swan song. And we don't really get a retirement tour. Instead he gets told to leave and go home and then gets traded and waived by the Raptors. So just sort of just an odd ending to Chris Paul's incredible NBA career.
Tasmolis
Definitely the going out with the Clippers in your last season would have been perfect like if he would have stuck around the whole time. Obviously they had their friction and got sent home. So yeah, bummer end to the way things went. I do really like that he included LOL in his little post here. You can tell he's a millennial for that one. But yeah, I mean we were talking at trade deadline and even a little earlier, like would he ever get bought out? Would a team pick him up or anything like that and guess not. Yeah, a lot of what he talks about further on in this post is that he has been away from his family for basically six years after his first run with the Clippers ended. And that's why he was really going back was to be closer to them and spend more time with them. And apparently if he's not going to sign with the Lakers, there's no other teams in la, so. And time Was up. I guess so. Yeah. Just a weird ending to his career for sure.
Taz
Very weird ending. Does it count for the Toronto Raptors to be his last basketball team? Will that ever be a trivia question?
Jay Skeets
Maybe. Where was he traded to? Yeah, but not.
Taz
Yeah, he never played for them. And I don't know if it was just because there wasn't a team in LA that signed him, because I feel like if there was a team that was on the cusp of winning a championship and Chris Paul could be on the floor to play for them, to have a role, he would have done it.
Jay Skeets
He would have done it. But by all reports, no team was calling and asking.
Taz
Oh, nobody did. Or else he would have done. I think, you know, in my eyes, there was a chance that Minnesota Timberwolves would have gone and got him if they didn't get IO to sumu. Maybe just to have somebody out there. But he also wanted to be playing. Chris Paul's not a guy to go sit on a bench or sit in a locker room to be a, you know, rah rah guy. So that's.
Jay Skeets
That's a part of it. He was the opposite of a Raw.
Taz
Raw. He needed to play.
Jay Skeets
He was sitting on the bench for the Clippers.
Taz
Yeah. And that was a problem. Yeah. Well, you know, in an ideal world, he was going to come off the bench for a team that was going for a championship.
Jay Skeets
So I thought it didn't start 6 and 21.
Taz
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was not possible, I suppose, anywhere in the league. So it is odd just to see him go out like this right here, right now. But when we all look back, we'll say, wow, what a career. I can't believe he has 11 million followers on Instagram. Seeing that post, I had to double check for him. I wouldn't think he's an 11 million type of guy, but seems high.
Jay Skeets
He thought high. Okay.
Taz
I thought lower.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. You thought he would have lower?
Taz
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, why? I mean, no real reason. I did. Just since we're on the Clippers. I did think this was of note from this weekend. Kawhi Leonard doing that interview with Chris Haynes. I'm not sure if you guys saw that, but he was asked, do you feel like you have enough time to get something together in the postseason? Is it too late in the season? Basically. And he said, you know, hopefully we do. Obviously, right now with the roster, we're not contenders just calling it out. We ain't gonna be good. Essentially, we got a lot of young guys that's learning we want Darius to be healthy for the second half. If he's there available for the second half, he is, but really need him to be ready to go next year. That's what this guy's thinking about. So that's my mindset. Then he talked about Benedict Matheran last two games. Okay, he kind of got it together. But looking for us to get a playoff berth and have some fun in the playoffs. He's got no aspiration, no real expectation for this team this season. That was Norwegian.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, I know, but weird to hear somebody say usually, but one of the.
Taz
Best players in the league last few months to say, okay, you, you traded Harden, you traded Zubots. We ain't gonna do it. But he's already looking forward to next year when he wants to be there, I suppose, you know, there was the talk about him leaving, possibly because they are not looking like they're going to be great, but maybe, maybe next season is totally different before the trade deadline. But either way, he's already looking forward to next year.
Jay Skeets
Back to Chris Paul, I want to know where do you rank him as when it comes to the greatest point guards of all time? Is he top five, top three? Where do you have them?
Tasmolis
Top five?
Jay Skeets
Okay.
Tasmolis
Three, four or five.
Jay Skeets
Yeah, I think most people have them there.
Tasmolis
No. Okay. I wouldn't have any higher than fourth.
Jay Skeets
Well, do you consider Steph Curry a point guard first off? Okay, if you do, then obviously he is behind him.
Tasmolis
So he's behind. He's behind Steph. Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas.
Jay Skeets
Thomas guaranteed for me. And then Oscar Robertson. Right.
Tasmolis
I just. Yeah, I don't really know how to judge Oscar Robertson.
Jay Skeets
But you haven't probably had a John Stockton.
Tasmolis
Yeah.
Jay Skeets
Yep. Yeah, exactly.
Tasmolis
Even with John Stockton, actually, he made.
Jay Skeets
11 all NBA teams. Chris Paul did nine, all defensive teams, which is really pretty incredible when you remember the guy's six feet tall. Like if that led the league in assists five times, in steel six times. And he ranked second in NBA history in both of those categories. Race assists over 12,500 and steals over 2,700. In retrospect, Chris Paul's NBA career, I think can be summarized by like five moments or developments. I saw Sean Powell at NBA.com put together a great list. I included a different one here, though. The first one is just his rookie of the year win. Like, he comes into this league, he's the fourth pick overall, and he's basically asked to rescue a New Orleans franchise sort of right away because they were in a transition they had previously located from Charlotte. Then Hurricane Katrina hits and then they're suddenly playing games in like Oklahoma City and he's like seeing that franchise like through that pretty tumultuous time. And he was elite right away. Nearly a unanimous Rookie of the Year winner. Just awesome from the jump and helping them turn into a really good team too. That was the thing with Chris Paul. Everywhere he went, the team for the most part got really good. Like way better than they were before. The non trade to the Lakers in 2011. Yep, that's going to come up anytime we talk about Chris Paul. The league had temporary control of the Hornets. Then commissioner David Stern just shut down the proposed deal that would have shipped Chris Paul to LA to team up with Kobe. Crazy what if scenario.
Tasmolis
Yep.
Jay Skeets
For everyone involved, you know, how does that play out? Does he win there with Kobe? Obviously the trade after that ended up working great for the Lakers. Like it's like a crazy sliding door moment. If the league said, no, you can't do that trade. Lob City. Yeah, duh. He's going to have his jersey retired. He eventually got back to la. It was only the Clippers, not the Lakers. And he helped turn a laughingstock of a franchise into. Yeah, like, okay, were they a championship contender? They never made it there, but they were a good team that made some deep runs and they were the joke of all franchises forever. Until he sort of came with Blake and DeAndre. Untimely injuries would be fourth on this list. Two notable ones in the postseason. Hamstring injury benched him for two games in the second round against Houston in 2015. Clippers blew a 31 lead against against the Rockets, lost that series. And then the big one as a member of the Rockets, he pulled his hamstring again. Team was up 32 on the warriors in the 2018 conference finals. And a lot of people think the Rockets would have won the title. Maybe if Chris Paul's hamstring doesn't fail him there. And then the final One is the 2021 finals. Lost to the Bucks, where, you know, everything did seem to fall in place for Chris Paul and the Suns that year. They won 51 games in a 72 game shortened season. They beat the Lakers, they swept the Nuggets, then they beat the Clippers in the conference finals. And I think he had a monster, monster game to help advance to the finals. They're up 20 against Milwaukee. Okay, you lose game three, that happens, whatever. And then game four was the Chris Middleton versus Devin Booker sort of shootout. They both had great games. Chris Paul did not have a Good Game four from what I remember. And didn't have a great end of the series as the Bucs came back and snatched what maybe would have been Chris Paul's lone championship. And instead he's on the list with your Patrick Ewings, your Charles Barkley's, your John Stockton's, your Karl Malone's and Chris Paul, those are like maybe Reggie's in the mix too. But five or six guys that were elite guys that never won a championship.
Tasmolis
Yep.
Taz
Chris Paul, he's close. He's super close. That was his only finals. Yeah. And that's why, you know, I have him a little higher than John Stock. Like, there's many reasons. Whatever. We can, we can go through the whole list, but there's the Steve Nash comparison. You know, Chris Paul got to the final. Stevie didn't. Never did.
Jay Skeets
Nope. All right, we'll call it there. That's your All Star Saturday night recap. Talked a little. Chris Paul. Talked a whole lot of Ludacris 2 Chris Bridges.
Tasmolis
Chris Paul.
Jay Skeets
That's right. That's right. Here's the fun thing. We're going to do this tomorrow night, the live stream again. And we're doing it for the All.
Tasmolis
Star tournament and for the Tesh heads out there.
Jay Skeets
Oh, yeah. Oh, God.
Tasmolis
And Tesh head.
Jay Skeets
Well, John Tesh has got to win over J.D. he's got to be like, the kids got to be watching this.
Tasmolis
I heard he's playing Deep Cuts, only rock. I'm playing my other, my other hits that people love.
Jay Skeets
That would be a swerve.
Tasmolis
It was a little new because he get two songs.
Jay Skeets
Yeah. Yeah. So we will go live at 5pm Eastern once again on YouTube for a live watch party. We had a lot of fun tonight, despite making maybe what you thought of All Star Saturday night. We had a blast. Eating pizza, drinking beer, sort of trying to hear Ludacris sing and watching the events. Let's hope tomorrow night is just as entertaining. So 5pm and then we'll do a podcast after recapping all the fun. Will the guys play hard? What are you doing? You're picking up your.
Taz
Yeah, just looking at my. The non alcoholic beer that we had.
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
And I was just contemplating what my. My end of the show quote was going to be. So we'll just go there.
Jay Skeets
Okay.
Taz
Clipper Bros. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.
Tasmolis
Have a great time. Turn up.
Jay Skeets
Love you guys.
Tasmolis
Awesome.
Taz
Thanks for joining us. And remember, tomorrow, more non alcoholic beer for us and less pizza, right?
Jay Skeets
Yeah.
Taz
Are we gonna do.
Jay Skeets
We can't do back to back. Jack no, we gotta either do something else.
Tasmolis
Salads delivering salad.
Jay Skeets
Salads, salads and John 10 with no dunks tomorrow night. We'll see ya.
Sponsor Announcer 2
Pro drivers live for race day. But for small business owners, every day is race day. That's why going pro with Lenovo Pro matters. One on one advice IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors keep your business on the right track. Business goes probably with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro.
Ad Host
Ready to feel healthy this year? Find everything you need at loseweightnow.co. orderly meds gives you access to proven GLP1 medications at a lower cost backed by real medical professionals. And yes, they ship in discreet private packaging because it's nobody's business how you're improving yourself and your journey deserves dignity, privacy and confidence. Get started today at loseweightnow.
Jay Skeets
Co.
Ad Host
Individual results may vary. Visit loseweightnow.co and get started today. That's loseweightnow co. Here's the truth no one in pet food wants to say out loud. If it isn't just fresh from just food for dogs, it isn't fresh, period. Because a lot of fresh dog foods in those cute little packages. They're not 100% human grade, they're not backed by real science, and they're definitely not something you could eat unless you enjoy mystery meat puree with a side of marketing spin. Just fresh is different. It's real beef, chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans. Actual food you recognize. It's cooked daily in real kitchens. Vets recommend it. Dogs lose their minds for it. And honestly, if your dog could talk, they'd ask you why you ever fed them anything else.
Jay Skeets
New Year? New you.
Ad Host
But what about your dog's fresh start? Make the switch. Make it just fresh from JustFood for dogs. Get 50% off your first box at JustFoodForDogs.com that's JustFoodForDogs.com no code, no fine print, no fake fresh. Just real food. Finally, you see it instantly. It's Coldwater Creek, the mark of exceptional workmanship and signature touches inspired by a Mountain west heritage. Distinctive styles created from quality fabric silhouettes perfected with just the right drape. Feel good fits offering ease of movement and thoughtful details to elevate your look. For a wardrobe you can count on season after season, visit coldwatercreek.com shop the new spring collection at 20% off $75 or more with code iHEART20. This is an iHEART podcast.
Taz
Guaranteed human.
The No Dunks crew gathers for a lively, pizza-fueled recap of NBA All-Star Saturday night 2026, running through all of the evening’s contests: the Dunk Contest, Three-Point Contest, and the return of the Shooting Stars event. They also discuss the Rising Stars and Celebrity Game from Friday, and reflect on breaking news of Chris Paul’s official NBA retirement. Expect the classic No Dunks banter, irreverence, and insightful analysis, plus passionate tangents about Ludacris, influencer marketing, and the nostalgia crisis of All-Star entertainment.
[03:56 – 21:42]
Winner: Keshad (Keyshot) Johnson, an NBA relative unknown, stole the show with infectious dancing as much as his dunks.
Finals Drama: Carter Bryant posted the contest’s sole “50” score and seemed poised to win, but a botched final dunk and time mismanagement cost him.
Unforgettable (for the Wrong Reasons):
Judges: Brent Barry was a strict judge (“He was the lawyer, should be back...almost the whole time.” – Jay Skeets [20:34]), Dwight Howard more generous.
Overall Impression: Not as bad as feared, not historically terrible, but instantly forgettable.
[25:53 – 35:48]
Winner: Damian Lillard, with a final round score of 29, beats Devin Booker and Con Knipple.
Historical Note: Lillard joins Bird and Craig Hodges as the only three-time event champions.
Energy and Execution: High level of play, fun finale, and production touches (fireworks behind the stanchion) add flair.
Contestant Insights: Booker's rack placement possibly gave him a scoring edge; Knipple finishes an impressive third for a rookie.
Debate: Should the 3-Point Contest be the final event? (hosts generally in favor)
[36:10 – 42:26]
[42:43 – 53:35]
[58:35 – 68:48]
[68:48 – 78:25]
On the Dunk Contest:
On All-Star Entertainment:
On Chris Paul:
On All-Star Format Tinkering:
The hosts bring their signature mix of basketball savvy and humor, creating an All-Star wrap-up that both critiques and celebrates the NBA’s annual mid-season spectacle. From dunk contest mishaps to the weirdness of influencer-heavy entertainment and the end of a point guard legend’s career, it’s a richly detailed debrief for fans who missed the festivities or want to relive every awkward, amusing, and awe-inspiring moment.
Next Up: Live recaps return for Sunday’s All-Star Game and more sharp banter, nostalgia, and pizza-fueled analysis from the No Dunks crew.