NBA Trade Grades, Biggest All-Star Snubs, Weekend Winners & Losers

Summary

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No Dunks – "NBA Trade Grades, Biggest All-Star Snubs, Weekend Winners & Losers"

iHeartPodcasts | Feb 2, 2026
Hosts: J. Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD

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Episode Overview

This episode of No Dunks dives into a busy NBA news weekend ahead of the trade deadline:

• The crew grades two notable trades and analyzes their impact.
• They break down the 2026 NBA All-Star reserves, highlight biggest snubs, and predict who could be injury replacements.
• The discussion wraps with an engaging segment on NBA weekend winners and losers.

The tone is irreverent but insightful, filled with the hosts' signature banter and deep-dive basketball analysis.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Wedgie Watch & Weekend Opener (03:10–06:15)

• The show opens with their recurring "Wedgie Watch," as the rare basketball phenomenon continues at a record pace.
• J. Skeets: "Our record-setting wedgie pace continues. Two more over the weekend... We're on pace for 65 wedgies according to wedgietracker.com. So we're on fire, man." (04:34)
• Banter about Cooper Flagg’s back-to-back wedgies—hosts relish in niche basketball trivia.

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2. Trade #1: Cavaliers–Kings–Bulls (06:17–21:19)

Details:

• Cavaliers receive: Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder, Emmanuel Miller
• Kings receive: DeAndre Hunter
• Bulls receive: Dario Saric, two 2nd round picks

Cleveland Cavaliers Perspective

• Trey: "I think Dennis Schroder is the biggest factor here... The Cavs need a ball handler. Lonzo Ball has been bad this year; he has not been right."
• Keon Ellis is praised as "a great flyer," with potential to bolster perimeter defense beside Donovan Mitchell.
• Trade seen partly as a cap dump to gain flexibility.

Sacramento Kings Perspective

• Tas: "It just shows you how big of a mistake it was to sign Schroder in the first place... [The Kings] do need a big wing, but why do they want DeAndre Hunter on this team going forward? Doesn't make any sort of sense."
• Critique of Kings' asset management: "A masterclass in poor mismanagement." (16:29 – J. Skeets)
• A "buy-low" move, but skepticism Hunter will flourish there.

Chicago Bulls Perspective

• Tas: "Who knew? ...The Bulls won a trade! They gave up nothing, and they got two second-round picks." (20:02)
• The hosts jest that simply facilitating a trade for picks is novel for Chicago.

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3. Trade #2: Hawks–Blazers (24:30–28:13)

• Portland receives: Vít Krejčí
• Atlanta receives: Duop Reath, two 2nds (including their own 2027)
• Trey: "Portland could use a shooter, that’s for sure… Vít is making 44.6% of his catch-and-shoot threes this season, ranks very high across the league."
• Krejčí is seen as a potential rotation shooter for Portland; for the Hawks, it's a move to recoup assets and trim future salary.
• Tas: "The contract might be a little too team-friendly because I don’t think he has any guaranteed money left after this season." (27:11)
• Mild enthusiasm: a "sicko" trade, but logical for both sides.

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4. All-Star Reserve Selections & Snubs (29:52–41:20)

2026 NBA All-Star Reserves Recap

East: Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Johnson, KAT, Siakam, Norman Powell, Scottie Barnes, Jalen Duren
West: Anthony Edwards, Jamal Murray, Chet Holmgren, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Deni Avdija, LeBron James

Surprises & Snub Reactions

• Siakam (East) seen as surprise pick over Michael Porter Jr.
  • Tas: "Siakam has the pedigree… Indiana had a 7-8 January. That's good timing." (31:40)
• Norman Powell: Now 4th-oldest first-time All-Star since 1960; Raptors 2019 team legacy discussed.
  • J. Skeets: "Six All-Stars now on that [2019] squad. People will look back at the 2019 Raptors and think this was the greatest team in the history of the sport." (32:01)
• LeBron over Kawhi (West): The hosts echo John Hollinger, calling it "bizarre."
  • Tas: "Kawhi has been awesome when he has played; LeBron has been good... but LeBron's LeBron and Kawhi is under investigation, so I'm not super surprised." (33:20)
  • J. Skeets: Suggests All-Star ballots were likely weighted by votes and that LeBron 'snuck in' over other deserving names.
• All-Star format intricacies (World vs. Stars & Stripes teams), the Giannis injury, and who replaces him (likely Alperen Şengün or, if Cat/Powell are ruled 'international', possibly Kawhi).

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5. NBA Weekend Winners & Losers (44:20–68:34)

Winners (44:20–54:39)

• Oklahoma City Thunder: Win over Denver; team regains offensive form.
  • Tas: "It was the third quarter really that was the difference. OKC went 8 of 13 from three and at one point they hit five straight threes..." (45:30)
  • Trey: "Shea [SGA] was in that championship mode. I mean, he just looked like he was locked in." (47:34)
• Jared Allen (Cavs): Career-high 40 points, 17 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks in under 30 minutes.
  • "First player in NBA history with a 40-15-5 in under 30 minutes." (51:03 – Trey)
  • J. Skeets: "Does feel like he has one of these… once a season where he has a monster line."
• Mini-winners:
  • Jokic: Dominant return vs. Clippers.
  • Joel Embiid: 40-point game vs. Pelicans
  • Hornets: Longest win streak in a decade.
  • Pistons: Franchise record 53-point win.
  • Yuki Kawamura (Bulls): 5'7" guard wins a jump ball.

Losers (62:51–71:27)

• Paul George (Sixers): Suspended 25 games for anti-drug policy violation.
  • Tas: "It just goes to show, you don't say anything good about the 76ers..." (63:08)
  • J. Skeets: "He gets drug tested probably after that game where he hit nine threes... and this is why he gets the 25 game suspension." (64:37)
• Kawhi Leonard: Not named to All-Star team in a career-best scoring year; snubbed in his home arena.
  • Trey: "27 consecutive games with 20+, that's a career high... he's a loser just because he didn't get named an All-Star." (66:23)
• Sacramento Kings: Criticized for asset mismanagement and "losing" a tank-off game to the Wizards' G-Leaguers.
  • "This was legit a tank off. And I guess the Kings did win the tank off... but man, this was something else." (69:55 – J. Skeets)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Kings mismanagement:

  "A masterclass in poor mismanagement."
  — J. Skeets (16:29)

• On LeBron's All-Star inclusion:

  "John Hollinger said about the LeBron selection, it's the most bizarre and indefensible selection of my adult life. ... But LeBron's LeBron and Kawhi is under investigation, so I'm not super surprised."
  — Tas Melis (33:20)

• On Norman Powell's path to All-Star:

  "Norman Powell, now the fourth oldest, first-time All-Star since 1960..."
  — J. Skeets (31:56)

• On Thunder's impressive win:

  "You watch Oklahoma City play, they looked impossible to beat on this night."
  — Tas Melis (46:17)

• On Kings–Wizards tank game:

  "The Kings starting lineup was unable to close against the Wizards, who shamelessly leaned into a tank job... The [Wizards'] C team, really G League team, closed out the Kings' starters."
  — J. Skeets (69:54)

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Timelines for Major Segments

• Wedgie Watch & NBA banter: 03:10–06:15
• Cavs–Kings–Bulls trade breakdown: 06:17–21:19
• Hawks–Blazers trade: 24:30–28:13
• All-Star Reserves & Snubs: 29:52–41:20
• Winners: 44:20–54:39
  • OKC-DEN analysis: 44:30–49:35
  • Jared Allen highlight: 50:30–53:35
  • Mini-winners: 54:00–58:00
• Losers: 62:51–71:27
  • Paul George: 62:51–66:20
  • Kawhi, Kings, tank content: 66:23–71:27

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode is packed with sharp, funny, and in-depth NBA trade analysis (with a strong focus on the Cavs–Kings–Bulls and Hawks–Blazers deals), passionate debate over this year’s All-Star picks and snubs, and the crew’s idiosyncratic but loving roundup of the NBA weekend’s best and worst moments.
From critiques of NBA front office missteps to breaking down which All-Stars actually deserved their selection, this is essential listening for NBA diehards—especially during trade deadline season.

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Key Takeaways

• Cavs viewed as trade deadline winners for adding guard depth and flexibility; the Kings, as cautionary tales in asset mismanagement.
• All-Star debates centered on LeBron’s spot over Kawhi, Powell’s late emergence, and the complexities of the new format.
• The NBA’s midseason atmosphere is electric, with the Thunder’s rise, historic individual performances, and even tank battles proving captivating.
• Paul George’s suspension and the resulting shuffling in the standings could reshape the East down the stretch.
• Irreverence and authenticity remain a No Dunks hallmark—as much about the jokes and inside references as it is about breaking news.

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For more trade deadline coverage, All-Star debates, and all things NBA, stay tuned to No Dunks all week!

Transcript

[Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Trey Melis]

This is Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman.

[J. Skeets]

From Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. Rob, I've never asked, are you a dips guy? Like the workout? You can't tell.

[Trey Melis]

No, I mean for your chips.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, I knew that. Yeah, of course. You gotta try this new Daisy's French onion dip.

[Trey Melis]

Goes great on Sundays.

[Tas Melis]

I like the sound of that.

[Trey Melis]

I.

[J. Skeets]

Everyone knows you need a good dip for game day. Personally, I like to dip everything I can.

[Trey Melis]

Veggies, crackers, chips.

[J. Skeets]

Heck, I might even dip a buffalo wing in there. That reminds me, they also have Daisy's ranch dip.

[Trey Melis]

Now you're speaking my language.

[J. Skeets]

Yup. Seems like a no brainer on game day. So get out there and give the French onion dip a try. You won't regret it.

[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

Doing a ton of things at once. It felt like playing basketball. Five on one and I was the one.

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[Tas Melis]

Everything humming right along.

[J. Skeets]

Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by.

[Tas Melis]

Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Trey Melis]

Thy ticket lady, Jennifer of Coolidge.

[Announcer]

Well, many thanks, good sir. Here is my Discover card. They accept Discover at Renaissance Fairs? Yeah, they do. Here.

[J. Skeets]

Discover is accepted at the places I love to shop.

[Announcer]

Getteth with the times. With the tines. You're playing the loot. Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right?

[Trey Melis]

Discover is accepted at 99% of places.

[Tas Melis]

That take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.

[J. Skeets]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Monday, February 2, 2026. I'm J. Skeets here in the classic factory and alongside me, as always, Tas Melis.

[Trey Melis]

Basketball lovers. This is for you.

[J. Skeets]

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy Trey Kirby.

[Tas Melis]

Ayo.

[J. Skeets]

Hey, yo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. I just realized, February 2nd, did Punxsutawney Phil see a shadow?

[Trey Melis]

Whoa.

[J. Skeets]

What's going on? I feel like Groundhog Day. Not a thing anymore.

[Tas Melis]

It's not as impressive. Or definitely not.

[Trey Melis]

It's not.

[J. Skeets]

Maybe you were always wrong.

[Tas Melis]

Okay. He said six more weeks of winter.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Saw that shadow.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Hey, everybody on YouTube, that just. Just hit me, right? When I said February 2nd, I was like, man, when we were younger, Groundhog Day was everything to us.

[Tas Melis]

I made a full movie about it.

[J. Skeets]

Good movie about it. Yeah, yeah. But we don't talk about it anymore. Maybe because. Maybe because Punxsutani fell. Then there's all these other ones, too. They like diluted the groundhogs.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they did, right?

[J. Skeets]

It feels like everybody's got one now.

[Tas Melis]

Everybody's got a hog of their.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah. Wiarton Willie. That's the Canadian one. Or the Ontario.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, I wasn't with Willie.

[J. Skeets]

No, you were a Phil guy.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Filler Willy. What you got? Hello again to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. We got a chunky podcast today. We're going to discuss the weekend's two trades that went down. We'll share our thoughts on the all star reserves, Paul, that were announced on Sunday night. And we got some NBA weekend winners and losers to highlight like we always do on Monday. But first, our record setting wedgie pace continues. Two more over the weekend. One on Saturday night, one on Sunday. Cooper flag going back to back with wedgies. This one on the offensive end in Houston on Saturday night. That classic three point wedgie from the rook. Good stuff. And then Sunday night, Naquan Tomlin, Superstar name, Wedgie game sticks it from the corner. Wedgie 42. So we are on pace for 65 wedgies according to wedgie tracker.com. so we're on fire, man.

[Trey Melis]

Superstar name Wedgie game for Naquan.

[J. Skeets]

Well, I just said Naquan Tomlin on last week's show. One of those shows we were talking about guys that aren't good but have great names.

[Trey Melis]

That's a great name.

[J. Skeets]

I said Naquan Tomlins. Pretty cool name. Now he's sticking wedges.

[Tas Melis]

Now he's sticking wedges.

[J. Skeets]

He saluted us back. He's like, thank you for saying me on the podcast. Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

I always think Mike Tomlin for. When I hear Tomlin, I'm like, tomlin, that's a. That's a Football name, but now it's basketball name. Now we're getting wedgies all the time. It feels like, as you said, this is going to be the record if we get there in the modern day era for wedgies In a season, 63 was our record. We are bumping. Yeah, as you said, up to 65. That Cooper flag one, though, I thought that was literally a snowflake. The thump that it made against the backboard. Maybe it's the microphones are turned up real loud. I just cranked my audio to see if I could hear it through our music. I mean, I got more music than I did thump. But that thump was loud on that broadcast. That was a thumper you love.

[Tas Melis]

Why he looks so, like dejected. He like drops his head and Charlie Brown's off the court.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, pick your head up, man. That's back to back wedgies. That's very rare. He is now tied as a clubhouse leader for wedgies this year. It goes Cooper flag, it goes Drew Eubanks, and it goes Jalen Smith.

[Trey Melis]

Wow.

[J. Skeets]

One of those things. Not like the other.

[Tas Melis]

Twos each.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, twos each.

[Tas Melis]

Twos each.

[Trey Melis]

That's bad.

[J. Skeets]

That's so keep your eye on those three guys. If they stuck the next one, they'll take the lead.

[Trey Melis]

That's like Reggie Miller comparing Caitlin Clark to Peyton Pritchard. You know, that's not a good comparison.

[J. Skeets]

Is that in the running for worse of the week already? Yeah. What a reaction from her.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, so just a laugh. Let's get to some of the trades. Southern lawyer, if you will. I mean, this is a big week here for possibly the Southern lawyer.

[Tas Melis]

We got ourselves a trade.

[J. Skeets]

Trades, plural. Yeah. Well, yeah, they're small, but let's get into it. Yeah, we'll start with the bigger of the two. The Cleveland Cavaliers traded DeAndre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroeder. As part of the deal, the Chicago Bulls received Dario Sarich and two second round picks. Emmanuel Miller also on the move. I guess he headed to Cleveland. If I have that cor. I forgot to put them on the old graphic there. So my apologies to the good old Canadian boy.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I can't believe I missed that. But anyway, the big parts here, Hunter to the Kings and then Ellis and Schroeder to the Cavaliers. What team do you want to start with here in terms of like the perspective or what they were thinking?

[Trey Melis]

You got to start with Cleveland Cavaliers for me.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Melis]

And I think people will say, oh, Keon Ellis A great player. I think Dennis Schroeder is the biggest factor here because last year Dennis Schroeder was very good in the postseason. Beside Cade Cunningham, he was literally the second best ball handler on that team. Literally finishing games in that six game series against the New York Knicks. It was a fun series and he was big, the numbers were big. He was super efficient. He was playing 27 minutes per game in that series. And the Cavs need a ball handler. Lonzo Ball has been bad this year. He has not been right. Last year after the postseason the Cavs said, all right, Ty Jerome, we're not offering you money. We're giving that money to Sam Merrill and we can turn Isaac Okoro into Lonzo Ball. And Lonzo Ball's been bad. Dennis Schroeder might be there to provide bit of insurance. Also could be a bad sign that Darius Garland is out. All his, all of his toes are injured. Basically his big right toe in the off season, left big toe now. So maybe that's a factor. That's unfortunate factor for them. But yeah, he could come in and help. Keone Ellis though, that's a great flyer to take on this guy. I guess Sacramento didn't want to pay him in the off season because he is a free agent now. He hasn't had a great year, but you could see him playing defense beside Donovan Mitchell, taking the other teams best ball handler and let Donovan Mitchell off the ball. But you know it would be a teeny tiny backcourt, that's for sure. But either way, gotta start with the cast for me as being cause I'm a positive. Pete, you know the Kings did something but really best player. He's on the Cavs now in this trade. And for me you think it's Schroeder.

[Tas Melis]

Is the best player. I think it's Keon Ellis is the best gate here because I'm not even sure that Schroeder sticks around in Cleveland. There are like cap reasons why they might want to move him. And it's just weird that they traded for two guards when like so many of their best players are guards of their top 10 in minutes played per season. Mitchell Garland, Jalen Tyson, Garter wing, your choice. Sam Merrill, Craig Porter Jr. Lonzo though, you're like you're saying he hasn't been good. They've got six guards in their top 10 and they just traded a wing for two more guards. There's not that many minutes to go around right now. There is because Darius Garland out and I do think Ellis can fit Next to Donovan Mitchell, he could play next to Garland whenever Garland comes back healthy. And you're right, maybe Schroeder does stick around as insurance for Garland. But who knows? This was a cap trade for the Cavaliers to do this. Getting rid of DeAndre Hunter, even though they're going to have to pay Schroeder longer if he sticks around Ellis. We'll see if they extend him or if they just say go and try and find a deal during the off season. But the fact that moving Hunter was mainly a cap dump makes me think that they would probably trade Shooter as well. Just because, you know, that's the smarter thing to do if they're trying to keep Donovan Mitchell around long term, which is starting to be a question mark, I would have to say, with the Cavs kind of flaming out in the playoffs the past couple of seasons. But I think this is good for Cleveland and, you know, I think this is good for all these guys to get traded the time they did, because there's no way we would ever lead Nablock with these names unless it was only the second trade of the NBA season.

[J. Skeets]

Saw some people over the weekend. Where's the emergency podcast? Where's the emergency podcast? Come on, guys. Come on. Not this.

[Trey Melis]

Well, I got. I got no problem doing an emergency puppet on a Sunday. It just wasn't. It wasn't for me.

[J. Skeets]

Because you do have a problem doing an emergency podcast when it's Hunter and.

[Trey Melis]

Ellis to some degree. Yeah. And Keone Ellis I was definitely supporting way before he really got in the rotation for the Sacramento Kings last year. Last year was his. His rise in the NBA. But at the same time, it's unfortunate he's fallen off a little bit.

[J. Skeets]

He barely plays.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, it's.

[J. Skeets]

They buried him.

[Trey Melis]

It's. It's a shocker that Doug Christie literally can see himself on the floor in Keone Ellis. Doug Christie was what Keone Ellis could be and has been at some times. So it's surprising that Kean Ellis hasn't played more. But yeah, it's a great flyer to take. I mean, in the end, I think he could definitely get a long term contract from the Cavs, but they are definitely looking at their books now. Dennis Schroeder, Yes. Signed for a year longer, an additional year to DeAndre Hunter, and that's a big part of it. DeAndre Hunter only paid through next year and. And Dennis schreute paid for two more years, but Schroeder makes 10 million bucks less, essentially than what DeAndre Hunter does.

[J. Skeets]

So, yeah, this gives The Cavs somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 million to 50 million in luxury tax penalties. Incredibly, it still doesn't take the Cavs out of the second apron completely, but it does give them some big time financial savings. In addition to Hunter's been garbage. He has not had a good year after they traded for him last year. Around the deadline and you get these two players. Intruder. Sounds like you think Schroeder is just one of these guys that when he's on a better team, maybe in a limited role he can help to winning basketball. Because you know, he was getting bench for Russell Westbrook and sort of rightfully so.

[Trey Melis]

Well, the Kings.

[J. Skeets]

And after he got that deal and got overpaid in the offseason.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, but he's still going to come off the bench like he was for the Kings. He should be. And he was for the Pistons last year when they took him into the playoffs and he literally was finishing games beside Cade because Cade just needed a guy to pass the ball to and to initiate an offense. And I think he can do that. You know, this is a guy who's obviously bounced around the league. This is going to be his 11th team.

[J. Skeets]

He's been traded eight times, which ties him for the second most trades in league history. I guess Ariza still holds that record.

[Trey Melis]

Ah, yeah, Trevor Ariza. So yeah, this 11 team, but he played with the Lakers twice, went back to the Lakers once. So do we consider that a 12 team? I guess not. Because when we talk about the guys who played for the most teams in NBA history, it's ish Smith with 13. And those are just 13 separate teams. I guess that's not a double. A double dip shooter could get there.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, he definitely could.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

He's still young enough.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And if he gets traded again at this deadline, four trades in like a year for Dennis Schroeder.

[J. Skeets]

Well, yeah, last season he was traded three times in 18 hours because he didn't play for the Jazz. He was traded though. He went from Golden State to Miami, then from, wait, in Brooklyn, Utah to Detroit. He officially played for the Nets, the Warriors and the Pistons last year. Yeah, and then the Jazz were a.

[Tas Melis]

Team they didn't play for just a weigh station. Oh boy. I do like that he has tude. Cavs need a guy with two.

[J. Skeets]

We talked about that.

[Tas Melis]

So I can see them.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

You know, he's not like a Dylan Brooks level of agitator, but get in a fight.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. And again, like I mentioned, the Darius Garland thing, he's not playing. He's out injured. Does that change their trade deadline? Look at Garland. Just what's going on there. I mean, is this strictly because he's injured? Because we talked about earlier in the season when the Cavs are struggling, are they going to move on to save money from guys like Garland or Jared Allen, who we'll get to a little later in the show. But it looks like they're just going with what they got for the rest of the season though.

[J. Skeets]

Like Trey said, Dennis Schroeder could be moved here again, like they could. They may still want to duck that second apron, which obviously really handcuffs a team and what you can do. So they could try and move Schroeder maybe. Max Drew is, I guess, a possibility. He's like 16 million. But we'd have to take not back a lot of contracts to do that. So we'll see. But they get these two guys with Garland out, there's a need for them. And again, Hunter has been pretty brutal for them. Let's talk about the Kings. How you grading this side from the Sacramento Kings?

[Tas Melis]

TK that's okay for Kangs. I mean they just this individual trade, fine. I guess if you're just talking about DeAndre Hunter for Keone Ellis, who they weren't going to pay, and Dennis Schroeder, who was a mistake. But you have to take it as a whole and it just shows you how big of a mistake it was to sign Schroeder in the first place. They gave him a three year deal, basically outbidding everybody to get him. And then they immediately signed Russell Westbrook, who took his spot and has been honestly probably the King's best player this year in year 18. That's ridiculous. So they had to trade a three for one. They gave up the best player in this trade, whether it be Ellis or Schroeder, and they had to include picks to get off of the Dennis Schroeder contract, all to get DeAndre Hunter. So it is a buy low. They do need a big wing. But why do they want DeAndre Hunter on this team going forward? Doesn't make any sort of sense. The Kings are. They're still dumb. I mean, they are. They, you know, unfortunately, Scott Perry's like, we're trying to win. And then he instantly rebooted it to we're trying to rebuild. We don't want any of your dumb players like a Jonathan Kaminga. And then they still do stuff like this.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's the fascinating part when you look at it from the King side of things and all the things they said they were thinking are gonna try and do. We're looking for young players. DeAndre Hunter is not necessarily young. Right. I mean, I guess he's in his prime, but he's 28 years old and he has a bit of a checkered history with some injuries. There's that. We're looking to trim salary. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Nope. They added more money this year at least. And next. And then Hunter, because of the Hunter for Schroeder, adds like $10 million to their next year's payroll. And then what else? We're looking to add draft assets. No, they didn't here. They traded away, you know, a second round pick, second round draft capital because they had to get off or wanted to get off the Schroeder contract and had to attach Ellison and these picks to do that. That's just poor. Like management of assets really is what we get down to. It's like a masterclass in poor mismanagement.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. I can't disagree as much as I like DeAndre Hunter in that six man role last year. I mean, he was thriving in that role with the Cavs. That was a team that had it all together and the Sacramento Kings do not. So I doubt that DeAndre Hunter is going to go to a team and just all of a sudden be that same guy. And hopefully Doug Christie will put him on the bench. I mean, I don't even know why I'm saying hopefully. I don't know why I'm trying to make this wonderful scenario in Sacramento happen. It ain't happening. So that that was the optimal Deonja Hunter last year. Great situation in Cleveland, but that's not happening in Sacramento.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Kings fans are pointing out the one positive of this, like three for one sort of nature of this deal does open up a roster spot for young big man Dylan Cardwell, who the Kings can plan on converting. His deal, great guy, he's played well. Gives him some energy. Opens up, I guess, more room for like their other first round pick of the 2025 draft in Nick Clifford is as well. So, I mean, but this is like.

[Trey Melis]

They could have just played him more. I know, I know. That's a weird thing about Doug in this situation.

[J. Skeets]

And by all reports, Keon Ellis was highly sought after on the market. Yeah. Despite struggling to get regular minutes there in Sacramento in a crowded backcourt. And in the end, like we thought, oh, maybe they can get a late first round pick for Keonellis. Like, you know, a team could do that. Maybe that'd be Pretty good for Sacramento. They probably should after they botched obviously his whole contract stuff. And they don't do that like again, they do the opposite of having to give the draft capital even if it is just second round picks.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, basically they use Keone Ellis to get off of Schroder and Sarridge's deals, both of whom they acquired over the summer as well. So I don't know, I guess maybe, maybe the market really isn't there for Keon Ellis. He hasn't had an impressive season.

[Trey Melis]

No, he's been bad this season. He hasn't been himself. He hasn't been what he was last year. But it sucks for Sacramento fans. I mean they chant his name to get him in the into the game more. They're asking Doug, get that guy who plays really, really hard defensively even if his shot isn't there. Get him into the game. And now. Well, I'm sure we'll see him in Cleveland rotations and he'll be doing a great job defensively. It is interesting to see what they're going to do with him going forward in Cleveland because he is an expiring deal and they still have so much time tied up in so many guys next year. 50 for Donovan, 50 for Evan Mobley, 42 for Garland, 28 for Jared Allen. The list goes on and on and on. So that's why it does sort of make sense that they would move on from Dennis Schroeder just because of that.

[Tas Melis]

He's got an extra left on his contract though as well.

[J. Skeets]

Hunter does.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Oh, Hunter. Yeah, Hunter. Just for that one year. Yes, exactly. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

So they have to hope he is decent in a zero expectations sort of scenario and then they can trade him again next deadline.

[J. Skeets]

And Hunter, that's got to be the goal.

[Tas Melis]

There's no reason to pay this guy.

[J. Skeets]

I, I am. I'm with you. Yeah. He's having. He can all. It almost feels like it can't get worse with him because he's having a career worst year. I think he's scoring like 14 points per game on very bad efficiency. Everybody knows my opinions on DeAndre Hunter too. I mean I've been saying for a very long time the idea of DeAndre Hunter is great, but he's not that and he's proven he isn't. And maybe there's the odd flash of it, but that's just like infuriates you even more because you see those little stretches and then you can't put it all together.

[Trey Melis]

So nobody makes a great six man, if you have great five men in front of him. That's just not happening in Sacramento. That's the. That's the problem.

[J. Skeets]

And as for your Bulls here, they. They get in, they get two second rounders for taking on Dario Sarch's $5 million contract moving forward.

[Tas Melis]

This is huge.

[J. Skeets]

This is huge.

[Tas Melis]

Two things I didn't know that you could do. Get picks back in a trade. Who knew? Number two, the Bulls won a trade. Like every trade grade. The Bulls won this trade. They gave up nothing, and they got two second round picks.

[J. Skeets]

Yep, yep.

[Tas Melis]

Unbelievable.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Just taking on that party. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. That's what you got to do. That's. That's a smart front office. To get that to be 13.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah. They're geniuses.

[J. Skeets]

Well, that. Genius. I didn't say that. Said smart. Smart front offices, three things.

[Tas Melis]

No one's ever said that about the Bulls. Now, first time ever, somebody's called them a smart front office. Let's go.

[Trey Melis]

I guess that is. This is one instance where they could be smart because no one's calling them, asking for their players. Really? They're calling, saying, hey, we see your salary cap. Take this, take this. So then you got to be smart. I mean, these are only options here. I guess people may be asking about Kobe White. I'm just trying to make them seem smart because all you. All you're doing is hearing, can.

[J. Skeets]

Can we give you this? Get.

[Trey Melis]

Can we give you. So maybe they're just smart, you know, just because of osmosis here. You know what I mean? And in this situation. But I. Yeah, I do wonder. They. They were smart.

[Tas Melis]

They did good on this trade.

[Trey Melis]

They did good.

[Tas Melis]

They giving up nothing and getting something.

[Trey Melis]

They took stuff.

[Tas Melis]

They did a great job.

[J. Skeets]

Yes, they helped. Help facilitate, for sure. Anything else on this one?

[Tas Melis]

No.

[Trey Melis]

No.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Kings, Cavs, Bulls.

[Trey Melis]

This is Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman.

[J. Skeets]

From Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. Rob, I've never asked, are you a dips guy? Like the workout? You can't tell. No, I mean for your chips. Oh, I knew that. Yeah. Of course. You got to try this new Daisy's French onion dip.

[Trey Melis]

Goes great on Sundays.

[J. Skeets]

Daisy, like the sour cream brand? Yep. That's how you know it's going to be fire. I use their sour cream all the time. Goes perfect with my taco Tuesday dinner.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, Jules the chef.

[Trey Melis]

I love it.

[J. Skeets]

Yep. And now I've added the daisies French onion dip to my Sunday spread.

[Trey Melis]

They make it with all natural herbs and spices.

[Tas Melis]

I like the sound of that.

[Trey Melis]

Everyone knows you need a good dip for game day.

[J. Skeets]

Personally, I like to dip everything I can. Veggies, crackers, chips. Heck, I might even dip a buffalo wing in there. That reminds me, they also have Daisy's Ranch dip.

[Trey Melis]

Now you're speaking my language.

[J. Skeets]

Sundays on the couch just got even better. Yup, seems like a no brainer on game day. So get out there and give the French onion dip a try. You won't regret it. 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 we're celebrating our best customers with fantastic deals on the latest PCs like the Dell 14 plus with Intel Core Ultra processors. We'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 we're also offering huge deals on our 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.

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[J. Skeets]

Morning.

[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

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[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

V E L O.com underage sale prohibited Velo synthetic nicotine pouch products website restricted to age 21 copyright 2025 MBI we had another one Sunday delivered a little trade for us sickos. The Atlanta Hawks Ka ka ship guard and no dunks favorite and John Hollinger favorite Veep Kreche to the Portland Trailblazers for Doo Wop Reith and two future second round picks. I thought it was quite funny to see how many people did not realize Doo Wop Reith underwent season ending foot surgery this week or last week I should say. He's likely to be waived I would think. But there was a lot of people that didn't know that like oh right Dua breathe. He could play like well it ain't going to be this year anyway. Vee Kreitry obviously the key part of this and the Blazers grab him. Do you have thoughts? Do you like this move for Portland?

[Trey Melis]

Portland could use a shooter that's for sure. Let let him rip from the outside because they take a lot of threes but they don't make a lot of threes and Vite likes to do that, that's for sure.

[J. Skeets]

He's making 44.6% of his catch and shoot three pointers this season, which ranks very high across the league in terms of guys that shoot like a decent amount of them.

[Trey Melis]

Open up the floor for Denny a little bit more to provide him a little space. I mean that's what it comes down to. It's unfortunate Doo op Wreath is out because literally the Hawks would play him I imagine a little bit. You know these trades they make me realize well do up. Wreath doesn't have a W at the beginning of his last name. I totally thought he did. I thought it was W R E A T H V Craiche. It's wild that we see guys that we watched in front of us playing in the G League in the NBA moving around. People want them. Yeah, that's why also wild to me when I see some of these trades. But yeah that's it is also a move for the Hawks that they're just saving some bucks here and getting some picks for it.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, the Hawks get back their own 2027 second round pick which had been sent to the Celtics in a 2023 draft night trademark. Atlanta grabbed the rights to Mogay with that second round pick that got then moved around everywhere. I don't know how many times it got rerouted. Good luck keeping track of that stuff. But it comes back to them. And yeah Vito a team friendly Contract trey and he obviously can shoot and he can play. I mean, we've talked about him before way more than most people.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the contract might be a little too team friendly because I don't think he has any guaranteed money left after this season. Which means it's easy to slice him off at the end of the year if they want to. But this is just a good, good solid trade. If you are a sicko, sell high by the Hawks to move vite Krechi shooting 42% from three this year. Once they did the Trey Young trade and got Corey Kispert back, it's like, okay, we have to pay this guy. Let's see if we can get anything for V Creati. They get a couple of second round picks and basically they're going to use Dwap Reith as a guy to wave. And then they move Christian Coloco in from a two way contract to a real contract. He's been pretty solid for the Hawks, so good for the Hawks business side of things. And good for Portland to get a guy who can shoot. Like taz said, their 30th in three point percentage this year. Veets like a rotation guy, he's like an eighth or ninth man, but we're talking about like a CD Sissoko, another G League legend. Chris Murray, Ryan, Rupert, those guys have fewer combined three pointers than Vite does this season. So cool.

[J. Skeets]

Good work.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

All right. At least we got some trades. Yeah, maybe that's the start of something this week. Trade deadline on Thursday. We will be doing sort of an all day livestream here from the classic Factory starting at 10am Eastern, going all the way through to the actual trade deadline buzzer at 3pm Eastern. So we're gonna go absolutely mental in here. We'll have some fun. Yeah, but this is. At least we got something over the weekend.

[Trey Melis]

The buzz is already here. The buzz is here for trade deadline week. I felt it. I felt it walking in today.

[J. Skeets]

You think Giannis is gonna get traded today as soon as we log off?

[Trey Melis]

Nah, he's there till the summer.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, okay.

[Trey Melis]

He's sticking with it.

[J. Skeets]

He's sticking with it. All right.

[Trey Melis]

There's gotta be an offer. There's gotta be an offer.

[J. Skeets]

Uh, let's hear your thoughts on those two minor trades. But let's talk about the All Star reserves. Those were also announced over the weekend. Once the V. Kreche trade goes down, you should have to wait a day to announce the All Star reserves. But the 2026 All Star Game Reserves were announced on NBC. Slash Peacock during the premiere of Sunday Night Basketball last night, seven players from each conference named as reserves. Selections made by NBA coaches without regard to position. So let's show them to you here. I'll read them for the podcast listener. Your Eastern Conference reserves, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Johnson, Karl Anthony Towns, Pascal Siakam makes this team. Norman Powell, Storm and Norman. Scotty Barnes and Jalen Duran. Those are your seven Eastern Conference reserves. In the west, it's Anthony Edwards as a no brainer. Jamal Murray, Kitchener's finest Vince Carter said on the broadcast, I couldn't believe it. He makes his first All Star Game. Chet Holmgren does as well for the Thunder. Kevin Durant makes his, I don't know, 16th, Devin Booker made the list. Denny Avdi of The Blazers and LeBron James sneaks in there. Maybe, maybe was the last pick. I think they sort of announced these in the order of, you know, total votes from the coaches. It doesn't matter. LeBron makes his 22nd consecutive All Star Game. So your takeaways and your snubs, of course. What jumps out to you? TK from the reserves announced Siakam was.

[Tas Melis]

The biggest surprise, I think, in the Eastern Conference just because it was like, how are they going to get to enough All Stars here in the Eastern Conference? We had MPJ when we did this a couple of weeks ago, but I'm fine with Siakam going over mpj. The Nets totally fell off. Siakam has better like impact stats, advanced stats, box score goes to mpj. But Siakam has the pedigree. I would personally argue that Indiana has been disappointing this season, even given all their injuries. Look what Boston's doing. They didn't fall off the way Indiana did. Meanwhile, Brooklyn, I think, has still been surprising, even though they've had a rough stretch lately. But it ain't that big of a deal. Siakam over mpj.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, when the east released their picks, that's exactly what I was thinking. I was. And a couple weeks ago I was looking at Michael Porter Jr. Up against the Magic. I was looking for somebody to take from the Orlando Magic. Somebody. Where's my Desmond Bain? He didn't have an All Star War this season, but I thought when it came down to it, we'd get a Franz Wagner in there. But Franz has been hurt, so it hasn't happened. So, you know, Trey went hard on Michael Porter and I was okay then thinking I'd get a few weeks to see what happened with the Orlando Magic. But really, Pascal siakam was the one who went and grabbed it. They had a 7 and 8 January, the Indiana Pacers did. Good timing. That's good for them.

[J. Skeets]

Good timing.

[Trey Melis]

So they're basically at the same record as the poopy Brooklyn Nets, which is sad. But you watch Indiana play, they go to Pascal Siakam at in the mid range to allow him to operate. He's their guy and he's so good at it. So I understand why the Eastern Conference.

[J. Skeets]

Coaches made this pick and sticking with the Eastern Conference takeaways before we go to the West. Norman POWELL now the fourth oldest, first time All Star since like 1960. I think everybody was just old back in the late 50s or something like that. But Sam Cassell was 34 when he made his first All Star game. Anthony Mason 34, Kyle Korver 33 and now Norm 32. I've talked about this before, weeks ago when we were wondering if Norman Powell would make his first All Star game. So that's cool. And, and in addition to that, I think it was trill, bro. Dude tweeted last night. People are going to look back at the 2019 Raptors and think this was the greatest team in the history of the sport. Well, that's true Tril, bro, but six all stars now on that squad. Kawhi, Lowry, Fred Van Vliet, Marcus, all Siakam and now Norman Powell and then three all defensive guys in Serge Ibaka. Can't believe he never made an All Star game. Did shock me a little bit. Danny Green and then OG Anunoby. So all those guys have made an all defensive team. So yeah, six all stars in that squad rotation guys we're talking about. Then the other guys were good too. Oh, she didn't play much obviously in that championship run, but pretty impressive. Six first time all Stars in total too.

[Trey Melis]

Okay.

[J. Skeets]

Just a good percentage. I like that. I like some new blood. But then a lot of the. Oh geez. One quarter. So Western Conference, who's the biggest snub here or biggest surprise TK from the West? Of those seven guys, I think the.

[Tas Melis]

Biggest surprise is LeBron getting in over Kawhi Leonard. Games played pretty even. LeBron 31 games versus 35 for Kawhi. I saw John Hollinger say about the LeBron selection, it's the most bizarre and indefensible selection of my adult life. He also said this is the worst reserve choice of the century. Adding LeBron over Kawhi Leonard. I mean Kawhi has been awesome when he has played, LeBron has been good when he plays. But LeBron's LeBron and Kawhi Leonard is underneath investigation by the NBA, so I'm not super surprised by it, personally.

[J. Skeets]

I wonder how much that came into play with the coaches when they saw LeBron. Well, yeah, yeah, that part. I mean, the more the Kawhi part of it, the guy is averaging 27 points.

[Tas Melis]

He's killing. He's like 50, 40, 90, basically. But he's been a top 10 player in the league when he's been out there.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Strong words from Johnny Holly. Yeah, I think that comes from somebody who watches every single night of basketball. And I think when we're looking just at the coaches and what they see, I think part of it is the Clippers stunk for a long time, and they kind of are already making their picks. And I know LeBron wasn't playing for a big chunk of it, but LeBron just gets the check because he is LeBron. Coaches respect LeBron James. I. I get why they respect LeBron James, but I do want to see the ballots. I. I would love to see the ballots.

[J. Skeets]

They're not going to release those.

[Trey Melis]

Come on, come on. Walk in there and grab the ballots.

[Tas Melis]

I didn't realize the way they do the coach voting is they do it in order of, like, who they want. The top two get five points per vote. The next two get, like, three points per vote. So it is, like, weighted thing, like, similar to the MVP ballot. I didn't know that Hollinger wrote all about it.

[Trey Melis]

Oh, I had no idea.

[J. Skeets]

I also do think, like, I don't have anything to back this up, but my gut says they announced those in order of, like, total votes they did receive from these coaches when they did it last night. Because you see the NBA when they tell you the All Star reserves always alphabetical order, always. But NBC and Peacock, they were announcing them like, Anthony Edwards was the first name they said. It's like, okay, yeah, of course, he should have probably been starting maybe over Curry and Jamal Murray. And then I think as it went down, I think it was like, less and less and less, and LeBron was the last name. Now, maybe they did that for drama, but I think they. I think that's what him just, like, probably sneaking in over an Alperin Shen Goon or a Kawhi Leonard. That's what my gut says. So I sort of like how they did that. Interesting. Good on them.

[Tas Melis]

And with the weighting system, like, it's definitely possible that coaches were choosing between Kawhi and Harden for a Clippers All Star, right? And Harden's having a great season as well. Dude's averaging 25 a game. I can't believe that. Actually, he's been like 20, 21 a game for the past couple of years, but he has carried the team. When Kawhi was out. It's complicated by the fact that when Kawhi was out, the team sucked. So that's kind of hard to say. But if they're splitting votes and they're at the bottom of the ballot, you can see how LeBron would sneak in, which is weird because it's LeBron sneaking in.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So we know we're gonna get a 25th All Star because Giannis is not playing in this game. And so we therefore know it's gonna be an international player.

[Trey Melis]

But it's funny with Giannis because he. There was no sort of MRI done. No, no report about the MRI as to what happened.

[J. Skeets]

Maybe he told us, four to six weeks, I'll be out. And then we haven't heard a thing since.

[Trey Melis]

Right, Dr. Yanis? Yeah, he probably just wanted to sit. There was a teenager. There's a teeny tiny smile as well. When he told the media in front of him, I'm out four to six weeks. I know that I'm going to get the MRI done. And that's what. And that comes from my NBA experience. And then he smiled a little bit. Now I don't know what he was smiling.

[J. Skeets]

So what are you reading into there? Him saying, like, I'm just going to shut this down until I'm traded.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, totally reading into it. Or maybe he's just smiling because he liked the way he said, that's my. That's talking from my NBA experience. I don't know. Maybe because he just wanted to seem knowledgeable. But when do you. When does that happen? Would that never happen? No, we get that and then we don't. We don't see the results from the MRI at all. Yeah, that. Yeah, it was more like a shutdown. I'm done till the trade deadline because I'm older and I get injured a lot and I want to be out of here.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, probably so. Okay, so this is fascinating now, though. If Towns, who has played international basketball for Dominican Republic, and Norman Powell, who has played or wants to play. Right. For Jamaica, has he played on a roster?

[Tas Melis]

He might have played it at a qualifier tournament.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So. So Townsend, Powell, if they are, they're American born players. So if they're on the American team or one of the American teams, then that means we would have eight international Players Luka Jokic, Wemby, Giannis sga, Murray Siakam and Denny Avdia. And like we said, if Giannis doesn't play in this, who knows what his actual status is. But you would assume then El Princengun will be the selection unless it has to come from the same conference. I don't think so. Why would it matter? So I feel like Chen goon's most likely to replace Giannis. But then again, if Powell or Cat are considered like an international player, then it could be a Kawhi, a bump for Kawhi to replace. So we'll find out. I think they said next week the actual teams which matters. It actually matters for this it to depend on whether Kawhi or probably Sengun is the pick the replacement for Giannis if he doesn't play that weird.

[Tas Melis]

That is really weird. And apparently Donovan Mitchell is advocating that he can be an international player.

[J. Skeets]

Come on, man. No, no, no.

[Tas Melis]

Grandmother is Panamanian, I believe.

[Trey Melis]

Yes. He seemed very excited about the possibility of playing for Panama in interviews. He would love that.

[J. Skeets]

Well, I don't think he's going to be Team World. Sorry.

[Trey Melis]

Because he's never.

[J. Skeets]

It's going to probably go Cat most the best chance to play for World and then Powell and then Donovan Mitchell and I think they'll all be on the American team. Like they probably should be.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, well, very, very weird.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. As far as Donovan Mitchell goes, I don't think he's ever played for Panama ever. No. In any sort of international competition.

[Tas Melis]

He's played for Team usa.

[Trey Melis]

Well, yes, he's definitely played for Team usa. As far as Cat goes, I mean, he plays for them every. He plays for the Dominican Republic.

[J. Skeets]

That's what I'm saying. That's why I put him like the most likely.

[Trey Melis]

I could see him. I could see him.

[J. Skeets]

But also I don't think they will because it's like they don't need more big guys on the World team. They already have a million of them and the best ones.

[Trey Melis]

So they have set themselves up very well to be able to decide. Okay, international roster, a lot of big snap. Let's get a little guy in there. I mean, who are they going to put on there though? Sengun.

[J. Skeets]

I think it's going to be Sengun replacing Giannis.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, I guess.

[J. Skeets]

But the Kawhi part is fascinating but like, is the NBA just going to be like blinders on? I don't want to draw more attention to the whole obviously investigation into the Clippers.

[Trey Melis]

That's his arena. They're Playing in his arena. That's the weird part.

[Tas Melis]

It's a catch 22.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Because if he's not there, it's like, oh, is he not there? Because he's under investigation. And if he is there, it's like, tell us about the investigation.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, exactly.

[Tas Melis]

What are we supposed to do?

[J. Skeets]

So we also learned that the two USA teams will be referred to as Stars and Stripes. Oh, yeah, they said that they slipped that in there yesterday. Maria Taylor did. I saw. And they had the. They sort of showed the graphic. It said, like, you could see stars on the one USA team and then the world team and then stripes on the other USA team. So I think what we should do is we should draft those teams at some point this week. The two American spots. Right. We got all the American pool now of players, and we can draft them, see who does the best.

[Tas Melis]

I also saw that Mitch Johnson is the coach from the Western Conference, but they still don't know how they're picking the third coach. This is awesome. The All Star Game is two weeks away and they're like, yeah, we don't know how we pick reserves or the third coach that's going to be there, but we'll figure it out.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, we really don't need coaches if we're being.

[Tas Melis]

No, no, we don't let Bill Murray coach the Stripes team.

[J. Skeets]

There you go. I like that. All right, so let's hear your thoughts. Who are you most upset about when it comes to snubs? Is it Kawhi? Is it Shen goon? Michael Porter Jr. Who else? I guess Julius Randall. Very little buzz for him. Bam. Maybe Bam out of bio.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And then any of the Magic players.

[Tas Melis]

The two like Norman Powell over Bam is one of the. Like, we have to pick one from this team. We had Bam, I think the first time we ever talked about All Star reserves, and then we flipped to Norman Powell. So fine with us. I would have to say I think.

[J. Skeets]

Norm was helped out by the way last year's incredible year with the Clippers and not making it, too. And I think that carried over a little bit.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. And then Katie versus Sengun, I think was probably a question for the Rockets. Numbers pretty similar. Katie leads Houston and scoring. Shengun leads them in rebounding and assists. KD leads in some advanced stats. Sengun leads in some advanced stats. Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant, and I think that's probably what took it over the edge for him.

[J. Skeets]

And then we're saying, like, maybe LeBron got in over Kawhi or Sengun. Like, people are saying, like, well, what about, like, Devin Booker maybe was a surprise to some people, but obviously he's like, the leader of the Sun's team. Maybe his stats haven't, like, wowed you. Maybe. But there were other people saying, well, you could have taken Kawhi or Sengun over him as well. And the coaches elected not to. But we had them all on our squad, and we did it.

[Trey Melis]

Phoenix Suns are 10 games above.500. Their best players got to be there, in my opinion.

[J. Skeets]

So Dylan Brooks should be there.

[Trey Melis]

No, I'm kidding. Is he Kitchener's finest?

[J. Skeets]

He's not Kitchener's finest. Where's he from? Mississauga?

[Trey Melis]

Medillin? I don't know. I don't know.

[J. Skeets]

Why do I think he's a saga boy?

[Trey Melis]

He's a saga boy.

[Tas Melis]

I think it says Mississauga on his.

[Trey Melis]

I didn't realize that.

[J. Skeets]

Where'd he go?

[Trey Melis]

Philip Bocock.

[J. Skeets]

All right, let's take a break, and when we come back, we'll do NBA Weekend winners and losers.

[Trey Melis]

Are you ready for some football?

[J. Skeets]

Super Bowl's coming.

[Tas Melis]

Kickoff is too late.

[Trey Melis]

6:30Pm Way too late.

[J. Skeets]

That's too late for you. 6:30.

[Trey Melis]

6:30.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Okay, Grandpa.

[Trey Melis]

I want it earlier in the day. I wanted a long term, a whole day thing. I don't want to make it a whole day thing.

[Tas Melis]

Don't worry.

[Trey Melis]

I don't need 10 hours. Oh, yeah. The Puppy bowl might be the best part of the Super Bowl. The final chance to place your bets before the NFL season closes. Its tap is this week. It's tap. Did I say tap?

[J. Skeets]

But I was like, yeah, people. Did you keep any taps dripping over these last couple days with the stuff super cold weather we had here in Atlanta tested.

[Trey Melis]

I'm Canadian. No, no, I'm Canadian.

[J. Skeets]

Supposed to keep a little tiny stream going. Oh, you're not supposed. I don't know. I read conflicting reports on the drip to the tiny stream.

[Trey Melis]

It's got to be stronger than a drip. Yeah, apparently. Anyway, Super Bowl 60 this weekend, FanDuel is making sure you're in on it. If you're a new customer, bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets if you win. So whether you're back in the favorite ride in the underdog or building one last same game parlay, it's your time. It's the last call for football on FanDuel and official sportsbook partner of Super Bowl 60. Visit FanDuel.com podcast to get started.

[J. Skeets]

All right, we've talked trades, we've talked All Stars. Let's do what we usually do on Monday's podcast and that's a round of NBA Weekend winners and losers. Trey, you get us started. Who's your big winner of the weekend?

[Tas Melis]

I got the Oklahoma City Thunder as a winner of the weekend. Take you behind the podcast. I was picking a winner from Denver or OKC regardless. Oh, that game went oh it could have been. Jokic had an awesome game on Friday in his return but kind of struggled against the Thunder. But I am giving it to OKC ultimately because they did play great. Got a win on the road against Denver and one of their best wins lately. It was the three point shooting that really did it for OKC. They went 19 of 48 from three that is their sixth most makes this season, fourth most attempts. They've been struggling to even get attempts up lately. So to get up 48 was pretty huge. Basically Denver was just putting two on the ball anytime Shea goes with Alexander had it and he would either find a dude for a release valve three pointer or give it to Jalen Williams and he would find a guy for a three pointer. It was the third quarter really that was the difference. OKC went 8 of 13 from three and at one point they hit five straight threes on possessions to blow the game open. Chet hit one case and Wallace hit one, then another one SGA hit one and then finally Aaron Wiggins knocked one down as well. Part of the reason OKC has been struggling since the NBA cup is they just haven't been shooting the ball well. They've been in a major slump. 21st in 3 point percentage since January 1st, 34% on the month and a couple of days. So to see them shoot the ball the way they did, they looked impossible to beat on this night. Denver, I do think that's like the right defensive strategy. Make somebody else beat us. Make Kayson Wallace hit seven three pointers. Yeah, which he did make. Lou Dort make some threes. Unfortunately they didn't take away anything else shake El just Alexander went for 34 on 11 of 16 shooting. Also had 13 assists. So even though I understood what they were doing, they weren't really doing it was the problem. So I think you throw that in with Jokic looking ordinary. Pretty great defense. I thought by the Thunder it was either Hartenstein or J. Will guarding Jokic, being physical with him and then Chet was just hanging out and helping on the backside. A lot of guys injured on both sides for these teams, but we had SGA out there, we had Jokic out there and the Thunder looked Like the better team for sure.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. Watching that game, I just thought, well, the NBA is a winner. We're getting Sunday night basketball. It is now being promoted as Sunday night basketball. And they're getting the broadcasts to free over the air networks here on NBC more and more year to year as their new TV deal has kicked in. They're called exposures, as Adam Silver called it, preseason, these over the air broadcasts. And it's helping. I mean, Sunday night basketball, it's now the new Sunday night football. It didn't used to be called Sunday night basketball, but it makes sense to just tap in to these networks television stations here. Well, NBC specifically, and I consider them a winner because NBC, this is what you're going to get in the Western Conference final. You're getting to broadcast the Western Conference final this year. NBC along with Peacock, because we've got to cover all the bases here.

[J. Skeets]

And you think we'll see Thunder Nuggets in a Western Conference final?

[Trey Melis]

I think so. Obviously Shea was in that championship mode. I mean he just looked like he was. He was locked in. I thought the Peyton Watson defense, when they did get him a little one on one was, was pretty solid. The lengthier guy to get on him as they try something out when they don't have, you know, their three starters. But it did hurt like one pass away that they were just a little too slow from getting out to Case and Wallace or you know, they were. They're bringing the double and they're. They're locking in on Shea, but they're just a little too slow to get out to Casen Wallace who had his career high because of that. Because Shea was awesome at finding those guys. But she was just great. I mean he was, he was breaking ankles. He was breaking the andium shoes of our guy. You know Andy. Do you know Andy? Are you familiar with Andy? Anyone familiar with that?

[Tas Melis]

Spencer Jones.

[Trey Melis]

Yes. Yeah, I could think of Andeum, but I couldn't think of Spencer Jones for a second. Anyway, Spencer Jones Andiums were crushed. He was, he was locked crushed in. He was lucky.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. And this was our first Thunder Nuggets game of the season. So they got three more still and they've really spaced them out here. I think they play later this month and then they play in March and then they play in April near the end of the regular season. So we'll see if that last one matters at all. But a couple more. I think those next two are on ESPN and then back on the cock so they get another one of these. All right. OKC gets the win. This guy was waiting till late Sunday night to pick the winner. Came down to that final game, but.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, what else am I supposed to pick?

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

All right.

[Trey Melis]

What do you pick? I was totally with you. I was doing the same thing. And I know you tend to do that. You're a Sunday person.

[J. Skeets]

That's the most recent.

[Trey Melis]

You're a late night guy. You're the latest of us all.

[Tas Melis]

Something happens on Friday, like, did it happen? It's got to be very impressive.

[J. Skeets]

We're the only show of record for it. So, I mean, we make note of it. We try to. Yeah, but you're right. I mean, if it happens on a Sunday or even a Saturday, it's more likely to make the Monday show than a Friday night big game or big real talk.

[Trey Melis]

This is Sunday night basketball. It's like Sunday night football.

[J. Skeets]

Sunday night basketball is back. Well, not next week, but then it's back again, right?

[Trey Melis]

Are they not doing a Sunday night basketball tomorrow?

[J. Skeets]

Super Bowl? I'd imagine not.

[Trey Melis]

Especially with that late start.

[J. Skeets]

And the Olympics.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, no, and the Olympics.

[Trey Melis]

That's a great point.

[J. Skeets]

I don't even know if we'll see Sunday night basketball for weeks now.

[Tas Melis]

Soft launch.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Friends and family opening only. Kind of an underwhelming turnout. I thought for the OKC post game interview. There was like a guy in warmups. Brooks Barnhider was out there. All the good guys are like, shay, just go talk.

[J. Skeets]

We don't need to talk right now.

[Trey Melis]

Wow. That's it? That's all they had was Brooks.

[Tas Melis]

They had like three guys out there. Brooks guy in war, like in a. Not an Oklahoma City sweatsuit, just like a sweatsuit. And I forget who the other one was, but it was like the 15th.

[J. Skeets]

Men.

[Trey Melis]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

Coming out there. I guess they need their shine too.

[J. Skeets]

Maybe.

[Trey Melis]

Sunday night basketball winner for me this weekend was Jared Allen.

[Announcer]

Whoa.

[Trey Melis]

Jared Allen had a 40 spot, a career high. They were just going to him and he was literally out Sprint guys. Yesterday he was going right at Donovan Clingan when he could. He was just showing it all. He was clearing with that big body. He showed you. He showed a post move where he went ball fake to the left and then went back to his left hook shot. A hook shot with his left hand from Jared Allen. He was just ready to fight. 40 points, 17 boards, five assists, four blocks.

[J. Skeets]

That's a whoa boy.

[Trey Melis]

That is a whoa boy. 29 minutes and 30 seconds of play. I saw it was the first player in NBA history with a 40155 in under 30 minutes. We're going down to the second season.

[J. Skeets]

Jokic hasn't done that. Yeah, because he's got all those other records for, like, fastest sort of, like, crazy stats. Yeah, he doesn't have that one, but.

[Trey Melis]

He probably plays over 30 minutes at the end of the game.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Anyway, awesome night. And they interviewed Jared Allen. Well, they didn't interview Jared Allen. They had the. The mics going when Jared Allen was in the locker room saying his thing to the Cavs after they splashed him with water. And he said, appreciate, y', all, fellas. I don't score for myself a lot. Tonight's my night. Everybody got so excited.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, he doesn't seem like a guy that swears. Probably good F bomb. Yeah, he's one of us.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, I bleeped it out because they also bleeped it out on. On the Cavs social media. That was. There. There was their decision. But the Cavs are going at the right time. Obviously. There's. They're. They're rolling. But this is Jared Allen's one game a night where he has a. Or one game a season, I should say, where he has a monster.

[J. Skeets]

Does feel like he has one of these. One or two a season where he has these crazy lines where it's like a. Yeah. A 30, 20 type game. Or this 40 and 17 with all the blocks. Yeah, he's good for one of these.

[Trey Melis]

And we've discussed for months, is this the season that they decide to move on from the front court of Evan Mobley and Jared Allen or the backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland? I don't see it happening in. In either situation.

[J. Skeets]

They don't ever need to move on because unfortunately, one is always injured in the front court or the back court. They rarely get all of them out there.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, but that's a good point. Look, will. Will they. And can they trade Darius Garland with an injured toe? Are people just, you know, saying he's gonna be fine and. And take a chance on Darius Garland? And with Jared Allen, it's. It's a good question as to whether or not they're just going to go to Evan Mobley and say instead of Jared Allen as their five type of thing? So I think it's a fair question, but right now he ain't going anywhere because that's the first 40, 15, and 5 in under 30 minutes in NBA history. He had a good game, obviously. Obviously a lot. It's not a lot of. It wasn't post moves. It's just bang, bang, bang, offensive rebound off that type of thing. Because that's who Jared Allen is.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he had 16 makes. Six of them were dunks. And I went through and watched all the makes. I think he took 10 dribbles. So I wonder where this ranks on like fewest dribbles in a 40 point game.

[J. Skeets]

Klay Thompson has the record.

[Tas Melis]

Clay's up there like Shaq and Wilt, I'm sure, have 40 point games where all they're doing is dunking just like he was. But it was just leaving Donovan clinging in the dust the entire time. Cleveland huffing and puffing, getting back and just dunk after dunk for J.R. allen. So this was a nice, nice one.

[Trey Melis]

And nice finds from Jaylon Tyson. A lot of them too. And that's a big reason why they said, DeAndre Hunter, you're out of here. We got a new guy. Jaylen Tyson is our new guy. He's fine.

[J. Skeets]

I got a bunch of like mini winners to chuck at you guys chime in on any of this. You already brought up. Jokic, who did return over the weekend. On Friday night dominated the Clippers in his first game back from a knee injury which he suffered in late December. 31 points, 12 boards, 5 assists in 25 minutes of play for Jokic. So good return. Didn't play as well, obviously against the Thunder, Joel Embiid scored A season high 40 points to lead the Sixers to a victory over the Pelicans. This guy, man, came on a little too later, otherwise he would be an all star snub. Maybe he is for some people, but obviously started slowly and that was part of the game plan. But he is playing his best basketball in a long time. The Charlotte Hornets are a winner.

[Tas Melis]

Yes.

[J. Skeets]

Extended their win streak to six straight. That's the longest Hornets win streak in like a decade. And they got that win over the Spurs. The Hornets also are never playing a night game ever again. All they play is like these crazy like 12 o' clock and 3 o'.

[Announcer]

Clock.

[J. Skeets]

So there's been a lot of poor weather down here in the south that's affected them. They've like bumped up a lot of start times to try and, you know, get people in safely and out. And it's working because.

[Trey Melis]

And today's game has been bumped up.

[J. Skeets]

I know, it's amazing.

[Trey Melis]

It is amazing.

[J. Skeets]

I think they play at 3 o' clock today.

[Trey Melis]

They do.

[J. Skeets]

And it was supposed to be a night game, but the Hornets are hot right now and we talked a little bit about them last week. Any thoughts on on them? Brandon Miller again, another Great game.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Game and a half out of the 10th seed, which is the Hawks right now. They play here in Atlanta on Saturday. That's right. I go through the Hawks schedule at the beginning of every year. Highlight the games I would want to go and see. I guarantee you I don't have the Charlotte Hornets one highlighted from October, but if I were doing it now, that'd be an instant highlight. I might be there.

[J. Skeets]

Anyway, our buddy John. John's coming to town this week, so we're trying to get tickets to that game. So we're all going to probably.

[Tas Melis]

I'll see you there.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

What a weekend.

[J. Skeets]

I know you got your weekend Olympics.

[Tas Melis]

Opening ceremony Friday night.

[J. Skeets]

That's right.

[Tas Melis]

Biggest game of the weekend. Hawks versus Hornets Saturday night. And then a late start. Super bowl on Sunday.

[J. Skeets]

That's right. Sports are back. Sports are back, baby. Another winner to the Pistons. Set a franchise record. They beat the nets by 53 last night. 53 point route.

[Tas Melis]

That's a big route.

[J. Skeets]

Piston. That's a big route. That's a franchise that's been around for a long time. We've seen a lot of good teams from Detroit. That's a record for them. Winner to the Celtics and Bucs competing in the inaugural NBA Pioneers Classic. So this is going to be an annual game to honor the league's first black players in Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nathaniel Sweetwater. Clifton. I thought that was sort of a cool presentation. Now the game. The game was a blowout. An absolute shellacking by the Celtics on the Bucs. But cool of the league here on February 1st. Black History Month to do this. And I guess it's going to be a thing going forward. That's a winner. 5 foot 7. Yuki Kawamura winning a jump ball for your Chicago Bulls. Oh, yeah. I said five foot seven guys. This is one of the tiniest guys in a long time. Tiniest guy to ever play for the Bulls. Shorter than Nate Rob by inches. And he went and got it. Timed it perfectly.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Six foot five. Casperus Yakachonis. Can't jump. Apparently Aplamine went insane on this one as well.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that was a fun one.

[Tas Melis]

It was Eric Collins mode.

[J. Skeets]

I want to give a winner of the weekend to the Los Utah Jazz fan club. I don't know if you guys saw this. With the help of the owner of the Jazz, there's like this big group of Jazz fans, especially in Uruguay and other South American countries that came up for games over the weekend. And Friday night against the Nets, they had like a soccer like Atmosphere going. There's like only 30 of them. That's all it takes sometimes. And like, they had the chance going. Like it was really good scene. So that was very cool that they did. Did that. So shout out to them. And then finally the Knicks taking care of the Lakers on Sunday. One more winner match the season high. Their sixth straight win for the Knicks. Most of them coming pretty easily. And they finally beat a Lakers team that had a lead going into the fourth quarter. So first l all season where that was taken back from them and victory was snatched from them. And, you know, nationally televised game. The Knicks came through, got it done. So there's a bunch of little mini winners for you.

[Tas Melis]

Mini Winnies.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if the league will make sure that Wemby's games aren't bumped up the way they were, the way it was against the Charlotte Hornets ever again. He likes snaps. Apparently. He's a man of schedule and that's.

[J. Skeets]

He likes his meditation, too. His naps. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Regimented.

[J. Skeets]

Well, what are they gonna. They couldn't get out of. Well, they were in Charlotte, weren't they? They were stuck. The spurs were. Because they were trying to get back.

[Trey Melis]

So they made it earlier.

[J. Skeets]

No, no, no. The spurs game was delayed.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, they played, like, six hours late yesterday because they got stuck and they had, like, plane problems. They said it was pretty scary. They had to touch down here in Atlanta. Switch plans.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So it was supposed to be an earlier game, I thought, and it kept getting pushed back. Do we have that?

[Trey Melis]

That was a 12pm Eastern start.

[J. Skeets]

What are you talking about, though? Yesterday?

[Trey Melis]

No, Saturday. Saturday.

[Tas Melis]

I think that one may have gotten moved up earlier. And then the Sunday game got pushed back.

[J. Skeets]

Yes, as well because they. They played last night.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

They beat the Magic.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. That's a bad. That was supposed to be an earlier game, but it kept getting pushed back because they could not get back from Charlotte because of the bad weather in a game that was already bumped up. You're right. They've just been, like, through the ringer here in terms of start times, so. Been very difficult. Also, this whole LeBron thing in Madison Square Garden is funny, like, because he is not saying that this is his last season. Right. We don't know. And, you know, people sort of are having to approach it, like, maybe it is so, like, the ticket sale prices were, like, insane for Madison Square Garden. Yeah. It's the Lakers, Knicks. It's going to be an expensive ticket always, but could be LeBron's last MSG game. Like, seats were, like, up in the nosebleeds like 500 plus dollars and then obviously thousands of dollars to sit courtside. So it's like he's really. LeBron's really doing the league a favor here. I just realized, like not 100% saying it, whether it is or not, because then you're going to sort of treat it like maybe it is good way.

[Tas Melis]

To get if you want to see retirement season.

[J. Skeets]

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Sounds good for LeBron.

[J. Skeets]

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[Announcer]

Hey, y'. All, Love is about to get real complicated. Mark your calendars for February 4th because Prime Video is bringing the heat with the new movie Relationship Goals, a romantic comedy starring Kelly Rowland, Clifford, Method Man, Smith, Robin Thede and Annie Gonzalez. The film is based on Pastor Michael Todd's New York Times bestseller, where Kelly Rowland plays Leah Caldwell, a powerhouse TV producer who's this close to shattering that glass ceiling. As the first woman to run New York's top morning show, she's got her eyes on the prize. But then, plot twist. Her ex, Jared Roy, played by Method man, slides back into the picture, competing for the same job. But he says he's a changed man. All thanks to that best selling book, Relationship Goals. Lea is laser focused on that career. Glow up. The only problem, the chemistry between her and her ex is undeniable. And those old flames might just be ready to reignite. So if you're ready for laughs, love, and a whole lot of heart, stream relationship goals on February 4, only on Prime Video.

[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

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[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

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[Trey Melis]

Mom, actor and advocate.

[J. Skeets]

I know how overwhelming it can be trying to decide which treatment is right for you. I've been there.

[Trey Melis]

But you should know you're not alone. You can do this.

[J. Skeets]

Start with some research, talk to the community, and most importantly, don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions. You might find results that speak for themselves. That's how I landed on qysimta. Ask your doctor if Qsimta ofatumumab could be right for you. You can check out the [e-mail] all right, let's do NBA weekend losers TK.

[Tas Melis]

Paul George gets a loser of the weekend. He's been suspended 25 games for violating the league's anti drug policy. In a statement, George took full responsibility for taking an improper medication. Don't think we've heard yet what said medication would be. Who knows. Yeah, but it just goes to show you don't say anything good about the 76ers. We talked up how well they were playing in the middle of December, said they had a chance in the Eastern Conference. They instantly lost three straight games on Friday. We said it's a good vibe season for the Sixers and then a guy gets suspended for a quarter of the year. Good news. Sixers did beat the Pelicans on Saturday in the first game of Paul George's suspension and be went for 40 points, 11 rebounds. But Philadelphia is sixth place in the Eastern Conference right now only three and a half games back of third. You would think maybe they could make a run at a top four seed had Paul George been healthy. But now it's more like let's take a look at the other side of things. They're only two games up on the 8th seed heading out on a five game Western Conference race road trip that starts tonight. 15 of the 25 games that Paul George is going to miss are going to be on the road. It has been a home heavy schedule to start the year for the Sixers and now they're going to have to go figure out how to win on the road going into a trade deadline where they're probably looking to upgrade at Paul George's position anyways. Kelly Oubre will step into his role play a little bit more. He's been banged up this season, but he was back. He can play more Uber, but they still got to find a wing and they're never going to find a guy who's able to switch the way Paul George is. He's probably been their best defender this season. Maybe edge comes in the mix as well. The only silver lining I can really find is that Paul George was supposed to come back with 10 games left this season. So it'll probably be healthy for the playoffs.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, he did say quote Paul George, over the past few years, I've discussed the importance of mental health and in the course of recently seeking treatment for an issue of my own, I made the mistake of, of taking an improper medication. So this was to combat mental health. But whatever this drug was, it's on the list. He gets drug tested probably after that game where he hit nine threes because you only get drug tested, I think like randomly, like three or four times a season. So randomly they see him have a great game, they drug test him. And obviously this is why he gets the 25 game suspension here. But yeah, he should be back and you're right, he should be healthy. But they are fighting against the Heat, the Magic for the six seed right now, you know. Yeah, you don't want to lose them.

[Trey Melis]

I still don't think that 10 games is a good sign, you know, not to. To go with what Michael Jordan said in his interviews here on NBC, that you just want to have that camaraderie every single game, every single week. But, I mean, we have seen Paul George hurt before, you know, when he broke his leg and then he tried to come back. I know it's an injury and it's different, but he tried to come back late in the season. He just wasn't right in the playoffs. I mean, 10 games is not a lot for a guy who's older and not really all that together every single game. I mean, he has picked it up now, but I don't know, you just cut that off. I don't think that's just a great sign.

[Tas Melis]

No, I agree.

[Trey Melis]

Really great physically to literally not playing basketball for two months.

[J. Skeets]

But he in theory could stay playing basketball because it's not a physical thing. It's not a broken knee or ankle or something.

[Tas Melis]

Less chance he gets hurt while he's suspended. That's the main thing to me. Like that's, that's the biggest worry for the Sixers is having all their guys healthy.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So hopefully he is back and they are a decent road team. You know, they are playing on the road, but they're 12 and 8 on the road. Somehow they get it all together. They obviously Got good camaraderie so it shouldn't be a bad thing.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's all. That's all.

[Trey Melis]

We'll see what Paul George can do.

[J. Skeets]

Do you have a loser of the weekend?

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. We got to go for Kawhi Leonard. I'm giving it to Kawhi. Not named to being an All Star in his home team's arena. Sad. He obviously is a Great player. Had 21 and 25 this weekend in two games, 27 consecutive games with 20 or more points. For Kawhi Leonard, that is a career high. That is unbelievable to me that that's happening now at this point of Kawhi Leonard's career that he's that consistent. He's just looking so good. He's either looking fast, which you don't really ever say about Kawhi Leonard when he's splitting double teams and throwing down dunks. He's looking strong as he was against the Phoen Sons. Jordan Goodwin literally draped all over him and he's able to fight through and shoot over top of him. And that's exactly what you need from Kawhi Leonard because that's what Kawhi Leonard is. But to come through with a key bucket late in a fourth game, late in the fourth quarter with Jordan Goodwin on him, being able to fight for three and a half quarters and be able to be that guy, being able to fight through every single game and be that guy who scores 20 or more. I just didn't see it coming. Nobody saw it coming for this year. This far into Kawhi Leonard's career. 15 seasons now that he's been around. One missed because of an injury. So incredible stuff. He's a loser just because he didn't get named to be an officer. You know, it's unfortunate for him. Does he care? Probably not. I gotta assume.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, maybe not. But it is crazy. Like Kawhi Leonard is a six time All Star. And this up at least until the All Star break is the best season Kawhi has had in terms of scoring the ball like that is pretty wild. But there's all these other circumstances that we've already gone through. Maybe played a part and maybe you agree with them, maybe you don't like is that it's not really that part could maybe not be his fault at all, but. And maybe his owners. The investigation is still ongoing so who knows. But yeah, we'll see if he gets a selected. There could be another injury or two before we actually have the All Star.

[Tas Melis]

A little bit of time.

[J. Skeets]

Unfortunately that that Happens before. So, yeah, we'll probably get up to, you know, 27 total all stars. And if we do, he will. Guaranteed. Well, I think he'd be one of them.

[Trey Melis]

I know he has only played in 35 of his team's 48 games, and I think that's a big factor if you're just looking at it.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, but like, player versus player. Played like 31.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

So, I mean, there's other quiets been better than Denny Abdial, but Abdi has played 44 games.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And the Clippers are better now. That's weird.

[J. Skeets]

And how many has Booker played? He missed a decent.

[Tas Melis]

And he's out right now a little bit.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So, okay, Kawhi. I guess Booker's up to 41. I thought it was less than that. I have the Sacramento Kings to go full circle here with today's podcast. I have them as a loser of the weekend. Not to do with the trade that we started this show with, but I don't know if you saw yesterday's game against the Wizards. This was something else. This was legit. A tank off. And I guess the Kings did win the tank off. So that's maybe a winner of the weekend helping the lottery odds, but against the Wizards. Let's call them C team. Really? G League team. The Kings starting lineup was unable to close the game down the stretch against the Wizards, who shamelessly leaned into a tank job in this game. Brian Keefe pulled all of his starters on the Wizards when they were up, like, five points with, like, four minutes ago in the third quarter. They never returned. The game was close. And he was like, no, we're closing this game out. The Wizards did with Sharif Cooper, AJ Johnson, Will Riley, Anthony Gill, and Scal. I forgot how you say this guy's last name. Thank you. Four players who have spent time in the G League this season, and they. The King still lost. And they were playing their starters, by the way. They're playing their guys for the most part. So the Kings now have the worst record in the entire NBA at 12 and 39. But, man, this was something else.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, this is. I didn't even know Scal was back.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, that was a recent sign.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Recent signing.

[J. Skeets]

Scal and Marvin Bagley III getting revenge against the Kings, who they once upon a time played for.

[Tas Melis]

Hey, Bagley's having a good season.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I know. I know.

[Tas Melis]

Wizards are winning some games here.

[J. Skeets]

I know. They're trying not to.

[Tas Melis]

I know. So this is actually good for Sacramento. The only thing that will turn around the Kings is getting a top three pick. So every loss for them is a win.

[J. Skeets]

And they figured out we don't even need to sit our guys. It's amazing.

[Tas Melis]

This is like one of the most incredible tank jobs that's ever been.

[J. Skeets]

Their strategy is Zach Levine. DeRozan. You guys need to score 30 points each. Okay. Do that shoot all the time and nobody else will do anything and we'll get a loss. And it's worked a lot of the time this season. Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. Zach Levine's ballin out there.

[Tas Melis]

He had a chance to tie it up. Took a deep three and he missed.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Strategy perfectly played.

[Tas Melis]

Perfectly played.

[J. Skeets]

So is that. That's an ethical tank to you.

[Tas Melis]

So that this is maybe the most ethical tank there's ever been. They thought they were going to be good. I thought they were going to be good. I'm dumb too, Scott.

[J. Skeets]

All right, so just start with the Kangs. I'm with the Kangs. Well, boy, oh boy. Of the night. Sponsored by Brandon. Medic Brandon on YouTube here. Sponsored this one. So. Thank you, Brandon. Jared Allen gets what boy you already Talked about at TAS as a winner of the weekend career high 40 points. Led the Cavs to a win over The Blazers. Made 16 of 23 shots. Game high 17 rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals. And he did it all. Just under 30 minutes. Way to go, Jared Allen. You're the man.

[Tas Melis]

Way to go, Jarrett. And since we're in the sponsorship zone, Daniel here in the stream team came in with the super chat. Says Kawhi make the all star team if it's Adam Silver that has to fill out the roster.

[J. Skeets]

Well, yeah. I mean that's who does it. In theory. Yeah. Yes. I think he would ultimately pick him, but I think it's gonna. He's going to be saved by the international aspect and will not need Kawhi. You're probably right as an American, but maybe they'll need more. We shall see. Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

We'll find out.

[Trey Melis]

I agree. I think Shen Goon gets picked first from Western Conference as we tend to be picking teams now if we're still in the conference mode, even though it's international mode.

[J. Skeets]

Doesn't matter at all. All right. Tonight's pick em tasks. We're starting it back up here for February. I owe a pick and payoff for January. We'll see if we can get it in this week. Hell, maybe I'll do it on the last live stream on Thursday's marathon trade deadline special. Could be a time to do it if we think of the right thing.

[Tas Melis]

How about you can't go pee the whole time?

[J. Skeets]

Oh, damn. That would suck. It's not healthy.

[Tas Melis]

Pretty hard, huh?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. I drink a decent amount of coffee here, too. Yeah, that'd be tough.

[Tas Melis]

Six hours, no pee.

[Trey Melis]

It's not easy. Can be done.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

I could do it.

[J. Skeets]

I could do it. Maybe I just wear a diaper. Like New Year's Eve. Like in Madison Times Square.

[Trey Melis]

Great. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Diaper payoff. Yeah, diaper payoff.

[Tas Melis]

But you have to use it.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Deuce. Do it.

[Tas Melis]

Deuce it.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Tonight's game, we go somewhere where peas happen because they have so many toilets in the Intuit Dome.

[J. Skeets]

Nice.

[Trey Melis]

That was Steve Ballmer setup for sure. Now the Los Angeles Clippers are hosting the Philadelphia 76ers. This is an intriguing game. What will the Philadelphia 76ers be able to do in Los Angeles? Clippers playing on a back to back. They're favored by two and a half in this one. Trey, you brought up how the Sixers now got to go on a bunch of road games because they've played a home heavy beginning of the schedule. So that's why I'm surprised you pick the Sixers to go into Los Angeles and basically win. But they can lose by two.

[Tas Melis]

Exactly. B2B for the Clippers. Maybe it's negated by the clip by the Sixers having to travel, but I don't know.

[J. Skeets]

Philly's good. Yeah. Good.

[Trey Melis]

Still good.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, we'll see. I was shocked that you both took Philly. I was. I was. I was the last one into the dock here to make the pick and I was like, oh, they're both taking Philly. All right, I'll take Clips.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

But I'm on an eight game losing streak right now, so.

[Trey Melis]

Wow.

[J. Skeets]

Philly will probably cover or win.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. I looked at the first time that they played earlier this year, played in Philadelphia without Joel Embiid, and Embiid should be playing in this one, so.

[J. Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Melis]

He should have it. Will play him well. Questionable, huh?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, he was last I saw, but I think you're right. I think he will play. Okay, so that's our pick him game. It's really the only good game on tonight. Pelicans, Hornets. Hornets are hot.

[Trey Melis]

Early Pelicans are playing better, too.

[J. Skeets]

That's an early three o' clock start. We got Rockets, Pacers at seven, Wolves, Grizzlies on Peacock and then six Rich Clippers. Is the second game on Peacock. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Or NBC time.

[J. Skeets]

It's the cocktail, baby. Getting ready for the Winter Olympics. You pumped?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Listen, I'm never super excited about the Winter Olympics is anybody. But I have been watching a few of the 101s that Peacock offers. Oh, yeah. Like, that's what this is. What happens in this sport. It's mainly for my kids to be like, oh, yeah, interesting. Okay, interesting. So, yeah. Kind of into it.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Like, once it's on, you'll be into it maybe a little bit more. Following the story.

[Tas Melis]

Sports.

[Trey Melis]

Are you having a podcast? Winter Olympics podcast?

[J. Skeets]

Nah, it's been. A lot of people have been asking, but, no, Nora and I will not be back for the Winter of Champions.

[Tas Melis]

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

[Trey Melis]

No, no.

[J. Skeets]

I mean, I. I do like the Olympics. I love both Olympics, but. Yeah. I'm just more into the Summer Olympics.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah, of course.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Way cooler. Oddly enough.

[Trey Melis]

Ironically, actually, the hockey. Now. Now that we're saying. I mean, that's the only thing I really, truly get into in the Olympics. That should be fun.

[Tas Melis]

That's pretty fun because I'm sure you've watched zero NHL games.

[Trey Melis]

Well, I've been to Canada during the winter and it's on. So I watched some.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Melis]

I watched some of the Maple Leafs. There's another. Yeah, it's still a good game.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, totally.

[Tas Melis]

Olympic hockey is awesome.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, my God. Yeah, I did play off hockey, but always remember, I was talking about the arena, though, in Italy for these hockey games. I just saw this. Well, it's built. The ice is there, the rink is there. But like. Like corporate boxes, a lot of the vent. Like. Like vendors sites or whatever. Like places you buy food and drink. Like, they're not completely built yet. They're going to be starting the games in this building with not everything done. Just amazing.

[Tas Melis]

No concessions.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, concessions. That's the word I was looking for. I mean, I'm sure they will, but it just will not look good. It's just like some guy just throwing the pretzel. Yeah.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

You want this pretzel?

[Trey Melis]

I don't mind not having concessions. You got to watch the game, lock in.

[J. Skeets]

The Olympics actually start Wednesday. I saw early events start. You know how they do that? Yeah, I don't know what, but it starts on Wednesday and then Friday night's the opening ceremony. Cool.

[Trey Melis]

Yeah. It could be curling.

[Tas Melis]

I feel like curling lasts the entirety of the Winter Olympics because they have so many, like, prelims and stuff.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And those stones move so slow that they gotta start soon.

[Trey Melis]

Wednesday. Curling.

[J. Skeets]

Wow. You guys called?

[Trey Melis]

Oh, lots of stage and freestyle skiing. Freestyle Skiing.

[J. Skeets]

I was gonna say. I was gonna guess skiing because there's so many ski events.

[Tas Melis]

There's a lot of events.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. But then again, I was like, how many mountains do you got? Are you all using the same mountain?

[Tas Melis]

No, I don't know which mountains there is.

[Trey Melis]

All the mountains are available, right?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, man. That's why you're doing it over there. All right, that's it for today's show. We touched on a whole bunch, the trades, the All Stars and winners and losers. Let's hear your winners and losers and your thoughts on those things we talked about previously in the show. Let us know in the comments. Hit the like button. Subscribe Podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews. That would be great. Share the show this is a big week here in no Dunks land, right? Could have some emergency podcasts if maybe Giannis has traded or some other big names are traded this week. We have this NBA trade deadline special coming on Thursday. This is new for us. We've never done like turn the cameras on and just go all day. Or at least we haven't in a very long time. So we're going to do that at 10am Eastern and we'll be here in the Classic Factory just chilling with you in the chat and commenting on any of the rumors and trades that happen. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. That's on Thursday, so make sure you subscribe and you're all set for that. Otherwise, we'll see you tomorrow. Till then, Clipper bro, you heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys.

[Tas Melis]

Awesome.

[Trey Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, the Olympics this year are called the Milano Cortina Olympics. Why are they called Cortina? What does that word come from?

[J. Skeets]

Well, it's two spots, isn't it? These are the two spots. Milan and Cortina.

[Trey Melis]

All right.

[J. Skeets]

Embrace the day, people. Warning.

[Trey Melis]

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[J. Skeets]

Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Trey Melis]

Hey, it's Velo plus here to debunk the conspiracy. Less is more. Total lie. Why? Because more is more with Velo Plus. More flavors, more strengths, more comfort. Discover the nicotine pouch with [e-mail] that's.

[J. Skeets]

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[Trey Melis]

To age 21 copyright 2025 MBI at.

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