The Drop | LaMelo Ball Trade Rumors & One Month In Awards

Summary

No Dunks – The Drop | LaMelo Ball Trade Rumors & One Month In Awards

Podcast: No Dunks (iHeartPodcasts)
Date: November 21, 2025
Hosts: J. Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD (Super Producer)

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Overview

This episode dives into the hottest NBA topics one month into the 2025–26 season. The No Dunks crew begins with the swirl of LaMelo Ball trade rumors and why both the Charlotte Hornets and Ball might be open to parting ways. They then hand out "one month in" awards (MVP, Most Improved, Biggest Surprise, Underrated Storylines), break down the best and worst of the week in the league, and hit their signature rapid-fire fun questions. Sprinkled throughout are sharp stats, playful banter, and memorable moments fitting the "classic" No Dunks Friday vibe.

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LaMelo Ball Trade Rumors Discussion

Starts: 02:37

Headline: Yahoo Sports reported that Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball is frustrated with the team and open to being traded; the team may also be open to moving him.

Key Points:

• LaMelo’s Frustration & Retweet:
  • Ball retweeted the news with a clown emoji—casting doubt but not denying the story.
• Charlotte’s Stance:
  • Hornets sources are “hesitant about cementing Ball as a long-term foundational piece and have become disillusioned with the 24-year-old.” (04:36)
• Contract & Reliability Issues:
  • Ball’s under contract for three more years at $40–$46 million/year.
  • Only played 58% of possible games: "I just don't get what LaMelo wants... I just saw the Reddit comment that said LaMelo plays basketball like he has AirPods in and I think that's kind of what it is." – Tas (03:15)
• On-Court Efficiency:
  • Ball’s efficiency has plummeted: shooting under 39% FG and less than 30% from three this season (07:26).
• Trade Market:
  • Trey: "A team would absolutely trade for LaMelo. He's only 24. He's a really good player still. He's just not a winning player at this point." (04:58)
  • Hornets have draft assets and young talent, so can afford to trade for future value.
  • Suitors discussed: Kings, Heat, Blazers, Bulls, potentially Nets and Clippers—but many teams already have solid point guards.

Notable Quotes:

• On LaMelo's Style:
  • “He wants to come down, fly down the court, and just shoot. He's a polarizing player. People are like, he's really good, and others, no, he's not.” – Skeets (11:53)
• On Trade Value:
  • “The unreliability of LaMelo means the trade packages probably won't be all that interesting.” – Trey (06:55)
• On Organization Fits:
  • “Would maybe thrive in a more structured organization, but aren't they trying to do that now?” – Skeets (08:55)
  • “Player like LaMelo Ball would maybe thrive on a more competent team... Is there an organization that just says he's in our locker room and he's better?” – Tas (09:02)
• Trade Scenarios:
  • “Jalen Green for LaMelo”—hot take ideas thrown out for potential swap value (10:53).
  • “I saw [a trade proposed]: MPJ for LaMelo. I'd do that if I'm the Nets in a heartbeat.” – Skeets (12:08)
• California Homecoming:
  • “People trying to get him home to California... Clippers. But packaging a trade there would be tough.” – Skeets (12:34)

Timestamp Highlights:

• [03:15] — Tas on why teams would hesitate to trade for Ball
• [04:58] — Trey rebuts: teams would trade for LaMelo, but only with faith in his health
• [06:56] — Skeets: Ball benched late in most recent loss; stats context
• [09:37] — Skeets/Tas: Where could Ball fit? Scoot for Ball? Bulls interest?
• [11:51] — Skeets on Ball as a polarizing player
• [12:07] — Tossing out MPJ-for-LaMelo type swaps

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One Month In: NBA Awards Discussion

Starts: 13:27

MVP Race

• Trey’s pick: Nikola Jokic
  • "29 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, shooting 64% from the field. He is clearly the best player in the league right now." (13:41)
• Tas alternative: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA)
  • Thunder are 15–1, SGA "has played in every game" (14:51)
• Power rankings references:
  • SGA is current betting favorite (+135), then Jokic (+175), Luka, Giannis, Maxey, Cade.
  • Basketball Reference MVP tracker: Jokic 82%, SGA 14% (16:13)
• “If SGA’s OKC stays near 74–75 wins, the guy’s getting it.”—Tas (14:51)

Most Improved Player (MIP)

• Jalen Duren is unanimous top pick:
  • “He’s basically two different players in one... An athletic center and a canny elbow operator.” – Skeets quoting Hollinger (21:03)
  • "He's a go-to scorer, shooting 70% in November." – Trey (20:08)
• Runner-ups:
  • Trey: Austin Reaves (Lakers), big all-around jump
  • Discussion: Denny Avdija, Ryan Rollins also getting buzz (19:01)
• Josh Giddey has taken a leap:
  • Nearly a triple-double average, surging ahead more quickly than in prior years (23:22)

Notable MIP Quotes:

• “Ryan Rollins is fun. I can’t give it to Deni Avdija because… we knew it was coming.” – Tas (19:01)
• “Jalen Duren… blown past All-Star consideration. He’s now in the All-NBA conversation.” – Skeets (21:03)

Biggest Surprises & Disappointments

Biggest Surprises:

• Trey: “The Suns are a lot better and more fun than I expected... the vibes are good in Phoenix.” (25:33)
• Tas: Surprised by how bad the Clippers are (26:47).
  • “It’s going to be their first losing season since 2010–2011 if they stay below .500.”
• Skeets: “Even without Fred VanVleet, the Rockets look like a championship contender... I just didn’t see this level.” (31:31)

Clippers Discussion:

• “So bad. Because they’re sitting at 4 and 11. I don’t see where it comes from. They’ve already lost Bradley Beal for the season. Kawhi is in and out...” – Tas (26:59)

Rockets Praise:

• “They have the best offense still. They have this perfect balance—the synergy between Sengun and KD is awesome.” – Skeets (31:31)

Most Underrated Storylines

• Tas: Mavericks tumult doesn’t end with front office shake-up; Cuban is back courtside, and Kyrie could be returning.
  • “It’s not done. Just because they fired a guy doesn’t mean they’ll be terrible.” (33:36)
• Trey: “The West kind of stinks.” Only the top three (OKC, Nuggets, Rockets) look dominant; teams like Clippers, Mavs, Pelicans are struggling. A ‘great slop season’ is coming—lots of big trades on the horizon. (37:15)
• Skeets: De’Aaron Fox leading the Spurs to wins with stars out—“He’s been good and he deserves some flowers.” (39:57)

Quote:

• “Slop season right around the corner... Lamelo might be moved. AD, Ja, Trey, DeMar, Lavine, Sabonis, Zion, Markkanen, Kaminga... it’ll be exciting times.” – Trey (38:29)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Banter

• “He wants to come down, fly down the court, and just shoot. He’s a polarizing player.” – Skeets on LaMelo Ball (11:53)
• “One of my favorite quotes from Hollinger: ‘He’s basically two different players in one...’” – Skeets on Jalen Duren (21:03)
• “Bradley Beal out, Kawhi in and out, Chris Paul looks old. The Norman Powell–John Collins trade? Not a goodie.” – Tas slamming Clippers moves (26:58)
• “Even without Fred, Rockets look like a championship contender. Sengun and KD at the end of games—it’s awesome.” – Skeets (31:31)
• “The West kind of stinks. We’re gonna have a great slop season.” – Trey (37:15)

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Timestamps – Segment Breakdown

• 02:37 – LaMelo Ball trade rumors/opening news
• 13:27 – One month in awards: MVP, MIP, etc.
• 25:29 – Biggest surprises (Suns, Clippers, Rockets)
• 33:36 – Most underrated stories (Mavs, Western Conference)
• 39:57 – Skeets: De’Aaron Fox carrying Spurs
• 41:59 – NBA national viewership up/League Pass improvements banter
• 47:52 – Worst of the Week nominees (delay of game for mopping wins with 46% poll)
• 54:29 – Fantasy Line of the Night: Tyrese Maxey’s 54-point performance
• 59:24 – Rapid Fire (fun, offbeat questions: walkout songs, custom shoe slogans, Steven Adams/LaMelo all-clone lineups)

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Other Highlights

Worst of the Week Nominees:

• Delay of game technical foul for slow mopping (Bulls/Jazz) — Winner (53:00)
• Javonte Green wiping sweat on the basketball during free throws
• D'Angelo Russell dribbling out 21 seconds and then dumping the ball

Rapid Fire Fun:

• Favorite walkout song (Eks: “Northern Touch,” “Set it Off” by Strafe)
• Shoe slogans if you had a custom sneaker (Skeets: “Good morning, sweet world”)
• Which player would you choose if your team was all clones? (Trey: "Whoops, all Steven Adams!")
• Would LaMelo be happier if surrounded by a team of LaMelos? (JD: "He has nothing to complain about!")

Peloton Fantasy Line of the Night:

• Tyrese Maxey — 54 points, 9 assists, 5 boards, 6 stocks (blocks + steals), 18/30 FG, 47 minutes (54:29)
• “Put me down for no” — consensus that Maxey won’t average over 40 minutes for the year, but will be close.

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Closing Thoughts

• The LaMelo Ball situation is emblematic of NBA modern drama: huge talent, big contract, but serious durability concerns and questions about fit and commitment.
• Jokic and SGA stand atop MVP talk; Jalen Duren is the most improved; Rockets a wild, pleasant surprise.
• Trade season (“slop season”) looms over a Western Conference with many underachievers.
• Memorable for classic No Dunks chemistry, stats deep-dives, and uniquely silly rapid-fire responses.
• “Delay of game for mopping” — possibly the most No Dunks moment of the week.

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Useful for New Listeners?

Yes. This summary covers key arguments, debate highlights, best quotes, and the sense of the show’s camaraderie. For a full immersion in NBA talk, fun stats, and classic No Dunks goofiness, this episode delivers.

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For More:

• Listen to No Dunks on all podcast platforms
• Substack: Subscribe for supporting content
• Next episode: Monday, “Winners and Losers of the NBA Weekend”

Transcript

[Ad Read Announcer]

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[J. Skeith]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Friday, November 21, 2025. This is the drop. I'm J. Skeith here in the classic factory and alongside me, as always, Tas Melis.

[Tas Melis]

Podcast listeners, this is for you.

[J. Skeith]

Next to him is my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby, Ayo ao and over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd.

[Tas Melis]

Hello.

[J. Skeith]

There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. TK looking good in the no Dunks crew neck [e-mail] so soft.

[Trey Kirby]

Laura couldn't stop feeling my pecs.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Ooh.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, I'm gonna steal that. She said it is soft.

[J. Skeith]

Get it? Very soft. So you can get that in a crew neck. You can get that in a T shirt. Go to nodunks.com the problem with that though. So soft. It's so white. It's so nice. I don't want to wash it.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, great point, great point.

[J. Skeith]

I just never want to wash it.

[Trey Kirby]

You gotta be careful what you eat when you're wearing it.

[J. Skeith]

Wow. That true.

[Trey Kirby]

No spaghetti.

[J. Skeith]

On today's show. We got a lot to do here. We're gonna hand out some one month in awards. Mvp, mip, biggest surprises and so on. Tass, you got a batch of worst of the week nominees.

[Tas Melis]

Solid ones.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Good.

[J. Skeith]

And we're gonna end with some rapid fire fun. We also got Whoa boy and pick' em and all that. But first had some news yesterday.

[Tas Melis]

Oh yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Amidst a rough 4 and 11 start, Hornet star guard Lamelo Ball has grown increasingly frustrated with the organization and is open to a trade. This is reporting done by Yahoo. Sports. Our guy Kelly Eco. He, he was the first on the scene with this. Now I will say Lamelo Ball retweeted that news yesterday with a clown emoji. Lamelo says, I don't know buddy, but here we are. Lamelo Ball maybe open to a trade away from the Hornets, but when you read the actual article, maybe it's the Hornets are also open to the idea of trading Lamelo Ball.

[Tas Melis]

I don't think one team trades for Lamelo Ball right now considering he's got three more years after this one under contract between 40 and 46 million considering he's only played in 58% of possible games. I just don't get what Lamelo Ball wants. He wants a winning team. I guess they had a winning team once in his five years in his career and it was similar to what they have now. Miles Bridges was the leading scorer just like they have right now. Gordon Hayward was on their team, the token white guy. They've got one right now in Konkanipple who's really, really good. Yeah. And I think they're playing more fun basketball. I think they're moving a lot more that Konkanipple is setting a lot of screens. Their guards are sending so many screens. Their guards are setting over 700 screens or have set over 700 screens this season. The next highest team is 338 a couple days ago. That's from all NBA. That's a great stat of how much fun they're having. They're actually 9 points better per 100% possessions than last season. Offensively. What does a Meloball want? He just wants to shoot. I don't think anybody really wants to say hey, we want that guy on our team. I just saw the Reddit comment that said Lamelo plays basketball like he has AirPods in and I think that's kind of what it is. I mean he wants to come down, fly down the court and just shoot. I think again his team is better. I just don't personally get it from.

[J. Skeith]

The article from Kelly. It says, quote league sources say the front office this is Charlotte is increasingly hesitant about cementing Lamelo Ball as a law long term foundational piece and they've become disillusioned with the 24 year old end quote on that. TK do you agree with Trey that no team would really want to trade for Lamelo Ball and what are your thoughts on him Maybe being frustrated, them being frustrated with him.

[Trey Kirby]

A team would absolutely trade for lamelo. He's only 24. He's a really good player still. He's just not a winning player at this point in his career. He has been back on that team with Gordon Hayward. They just don't have any vets really to help out. He is an entertaining player as well and he's super talented. It would have to be a team that trusts that they can keep him healthy because I think his right ankle is pretty bad and seems to give him problems time and time again. He's played 36, 22 and 47 games the last three seasons, has been in and out of the lineup this year. But I don't know if you're the Heat and you're like we can keep him healthy. This is a buy low candidate. I actually think because he is on a contract 37, 40, 43, 46 through 2029, you're going to get him through his prime. If you're confident you can keep him on the court, you might be getting a good deal. But he may need a change of scenery. It would be good actually for the Hornets. I kind of think to trade Lamelo Ball. They've got so many picks coming up. The Hornets do they have their pick and the Orlando pick this year. Then they could have their pick and at least one other pick in the 27, 28 and 29 drafts. Not to mention they got young guys that are performing already in Knips and Col Brenner CEON James is at least a rotation level player. It seems like Brandon Miller also ain't ever healthy. They need to get that guy back on the court. Maybe they need to invest in a better training staff to get their guys to be able to play. But the unreliability of Lamelo means the trade packages coming back won't be all that interesting, I don't think. And they probably won't be where the Hornets want them to be. But since they have so many picks they they don't necessarily need to take stuff back quite as much. They've got a pretty decent war chest of assets going forward. So if they decide we would rather spend the $40 million on a couple of veterans who can help our team out and help our younger young guys, I think that's fine. But right now it just seems to be a lot of frustration because the team might be better, they might be a little bit more fun, but they still Stink.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

The timing of this report is not surprising. If you watch the last game where they basically benched Mellow down the stretch in the loss to the Indiana Pacers, who at that point had one win. You know, not a juggernaut of a team because they've had so many injuries. But Lamelo was bench for like the final 4:30 of a somewhat close game. He finished with 18 points. He shot brutal 5 of 21. He had six turnovers. He only played 27 minutes. This season's been very bad for him. His efficiency is in the gutter. Was never all that good to begin with, but I think he's shooting like sub 39% from the floor, sub 30% from 3. But he is still a draw. He's still a playmaker. He has his style. But you guys said it, man. The part where he just can't stay healthy and he's also plays the league's probably most crowded position. There's a lot of good teams with a lot of good point guards. So there's not that many hypothetical teams, I think that would even want to trade for him because they don't maybe need him. You don't think there are teams. Do you have any teams that you could see making an offer for LaMelo Ball and terms of a trade package?

[Trey Kirby]

You know, the Kings are involved.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. It's the same ones as the job. Morant talk. It's the Kings. Would the Heat be willing to deal with him and bring him into that locker room? Somewhat of a question, but are they willing to give up on Tyler Herro and what they are right now?

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. Would you rather have Tyler Herro or LaMelo Ball if you're in the Miami Heat?

[Tas Melis]

I would try to keep it working with Tyler Herro myself.

[Trey Kirby]

They probably would stay with the devil, you know?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Again, the 58% of possible games and just overall he hasn't. They haven't been a good team in years and they were once. But you just think that he can keep on, turn that thing around. The minutes played of his draft class that have played more than him are a little wild. Guys that have played more than him in his draft class. Patrick Williams, Isaiah Stewart, Cole Anthony, Emmanuel Quickley. I thought he was injured. Isaac Kokoro, Sadiq beyond, like, they just. He just hasn't been able to stay on the floor. I do, you know, player like ball.

[J. Skeith]

Though, would maybe thrive in a more structured organization. But aren't they trying more competent team? I. I do think that I feel.

[Tas Melis]

Like they're Trying to do that now. I think that Charles Lee is trying to. To change the offense so it's not just let's come and shoot it. I guess he wants to play faster. I guess because they played a little faster last year but this year they're just using other guys more. Like I was saying about the, the. The pick and slips, they're. They're fun. I, I guess there is a chance but I don't know. There were rumors when he was drafted that he wouldn't be able to be that and we've only seen it one year. I bought the ankle braces stories he's wearing ankle braces now that his ankles would be better. It didn't happen. I don't know. Is there an organization that just says he's in our locker room and he's better.

[J. Skeith]

What about the Blazers? They have vets that could help guide him, teach them the game, that sort of structure. They have good defense that you can sort of put around them. You know Scoot Henderson hasn't played. Could be Scoot. That's sort of a piece that maybe would be enticing to the Hornets. Jeremy Grant for contract reasons. I think it's possibility.

[Trey Kirby]

I think they need the or would appreciate the talent infusion. I think Lamelo is definitely a better player than Scoot and Scoot has the same injury concerns that Lamelo does. The Bulls should be interested Kobe White Vuch or throw Patrick Williams in there as well. Like if there's going to be expiring contracts and you want to throw in a first round pick, that's a good way to boost your talent. Because I think Lamelo is more talented than a lot of guys. A lot of team do have point guards but Lamelo is still better than a lot of those guys.

[Tas Melis]

Better.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. But will it translate into a play.

[Trey Kirby]

Young for Lamelo ball like Trey Young doesn't have an extension.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I don't think the Hawks do it just to bring him. I know he's a talented player. But the Blazers are an interesting one. They just signed Shaden Sharp to a long term deal. They brought in the old guys to help Shane Sharp and to help Scoot Anderson. Now you're changing it entirely. I think they just keep going. Same with the Hawks. I don't see them doing it.

[Trey Kirby]

Jalen Green for Lamelo.

[J. Skeith]

Oh, it's. I don't know it like. I mean I jokingly sort of tongue in cheek last night said Anthony Davis for Lamelo. You could get there. Lamelo Pet Connaughton for Anthony Davis. And let's say Brandon Williams was like a guard coming back. They need a guard, obviously, because there's no Kyrie. But when's he coming back? You would be then sort of going all in on. All right, we got Cooper flag, we got Lamelo ball, and then we have whoever we pick with the 26 draft pick. And that would be sort of our core of our team, I guess. It's not crazy. He only makes $38 million this season. I say only Lamelo Ball. 130 million remaining over the next three years.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, but that's the thing. The next three years. It's not. It's not short term. It's not as short as jahra.

[J. Skeith]

It's only 24. And that's like going to be 25% of your cap. I mean, it's not brutal. It's because he's not going to hit like the. The. Or didn't hit any of the. The boosts to get up there even higher with his percentage. I'm just saying.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, you're just saying in terms of what the.

[J. Skeith]

He's a polarizing player. People are like, he's really good. And other people are like, no, he's not. These are completely empty calorie stats. He's sure he's a walking highlight, but it hasn't translated into a lot of wins even when he does play. And that's half the time. Yeah, that's why he's polarizing.

[Trey Kirby]

Mpj.

[J. Skeith]

Mpj. Yeah, I saw that one too. Yeah, I mean, I'm doing that if I'm the Nets in a heartbeat.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the Nets are a struggle and they should be lumped into the. The Sacramento Kings will take on a chance. They just made five draft picks for point guards. They haven't hit a home run on any of them at this point. Igor Jim can maybe be okay, but they really. They could use somebody, that's for sure.

[J. Skeith]

And then of course, people trying to get them home to California.

[Trey Kirby]

Clippers.

[J. Skeith]

Clippers. They could use some young talent. We know that. A little more difficult to maybe get there in a sort of trade package that would work for Charlotte, but they have a lot of. Not a lot. They have two first round picks in the future. 2030, 2032. And they could do a first round swap in 2031. The Clippers could to Charlotte. But Trey, you already went through. They do already have a lot of draft picks and maybe that's not of importance. If they do want to, like get some real players around some of their guys that they seem to have hit on here in Knippel and Kalk Brenner and Charles Lee is their head coach. Maybe just want actual more. Some more vets and talent in here or pieces, I guess. So these are options. We're just spitballing lamelo ball. So now we got lamelo ball. Ja Morant, maybe Anthony Davis. So Mark Cuban says, shut up, Zion. I got it.

[Trey Kirby]

I got a bit later.

[J. Skeith]

Zion. Okay, great, great.

[Trey Kirby]

Got a bit later.

[J. Skeith]

All right, well, let's move on. Let's start talking about one month in awards. We'll do a couple real awards and then some sort of big questions here. After one month of basketball, start with mvp. Who's the most valuable player one month in to you, tk.

[Trey Kirby]

Nicola Jokic is the MVP right now. Let me pull up his stats because I didn't write him down like an absolute fool. I said, I'll just be able to easily pull this up. 29 points per game, 13 rebounds per game, 11 assists, shooting 64 from the field and 40 from three. And that's what the poor for him. October, when he was shooting under 30%, and then he's like, oh, yeah, I'll just make every shot for the entire month of November. He is clearly the best player in the league. He plays hard for, like, two quarters, it feels like, in most of these games. And that's all it really takes for the Nuggets. So I think Jokic is kind of easily the MVP right now.

[J. Skeith]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

But the only other guy on the same tier right now is sga.

[J. Skeith]

Right. With his team only having lost one game and his stats, he's got a better team. Pretty damn sure. Yeah. Yeah. SGA still the favorite on FanDuel for MVP. Plus 135. Jokic plus 175. Luca plus 400. That was your preseason pick. And then Giannis has dropped off here with his injury. And then you got Tyrese Maxey, who had a monster game last night, and Kate Cunningham at +8000. They're sort of on the list there. Maxi jumped up to the Kate Cunningham odds last night.

[Tas Melis]

They've joined the list.

[J. Skeith]

It feels like it's one of those first three guys, though, does it not? Oh, yeah, it's sga. It's Yoka towards Luka winning this thing, but who would you have right now?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the Luka problem is that he hasn't played in a lot of games as we're here one month in, while Shea has played in every single one. And Jokic has been playing a ton, and he's absolutely incredible. But I would give it to the guy who's 15 and one right now, because when. If he gets to somewhere around that pace where he's 74 wins or 75 wins, the guy's getting it. Um, and obviously Jokic is best numbers wise. You look at the advanced stats. If you're a per, a BPM or a vorper, then you give it to Jokic. But this ain't a baseball podcast. I just give it to the guy who's 15 and one right here, right now. They get so close to these wins right at the end of the games and Shay just scores enough. He shoots more than Jokic does. You know, three and a half more field goals a game just to get them there. His teammates help him get there obviously to the end. And I know that they smash teams. They've been able to smash them, but you know, those. The moments that stick in my head are the overtime games that they had to win because of Shay and Jokic is fun. If you want to look at the. How tough the schedule is and all that stuff over 30 days here, 31 days, you know, they're both have kind of actual softy schedules to. To this point. They haven't had a lot of tough, tough games. But Jokic wins the numbers game. If you want to play the numbers game, that's, that's. There's no question.

[J. Skeith]

They're unbelievable. And yeah, that was after a slow start when we were like, oh, no, what's wrong? Well, nothing was wrong. Yeah, he's the favorite by far right now on basketball references MVP award tracker Jokic at 82% probability to win another one of these SGA is second there around 14%. And then it goes down. Luka Shengun, couple pistons, Tyrese Maxey, who. What a game last night we lost that in. Holy crap. 54 points Career high in the overtime win against the Bucks. Hitting big shot after big shot. Got some help from some guys late.

[Trey Kirby]

But Justin Edwards, maybe he's getting MVP odds. He's won him two games this year.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. Yeah. Grimes did hit a big three in that game too last night. But Maxi is awesome right now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, he is.

[J. Skeith]

So fun to watch.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

So his speed and his touch and he adds the three point shot to then everything he can do inside. Yet that floater at the end of the first quarter over Jericho Sims, like an NBA player going like, what? What am I supposed to do about that? The degree of difficulty on that, like blazing past the guy up top to then not even go backboard. He just floats. It in from like 15ft out. And Sims, you can see Sims go. Come on. How do you stop that? I'm like, I have a foot on this guy and I couldn't do anything.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I thought. Considering last year they didn't have Paul George and Joel Embiid to start, there was a lot of pressure on Tyrese Maxey and he wasn't able to do it. To see him grow this year, to be able to do it again without Paul George for most of the season and half of Joel Embiid minutes or games, he's been friggin awesome. The Edgecomb help has helped. The Kelly Uber help has helped. The Justin Edwards help has helped. But he's grown.

[J. Skeith]

He's averaging 33.4 points per game, eight assists, five boards. You know, flirting with two steals per game.

[Trey Kirby]

Double mip. He already won one Most Improved Player and he's still got better.

[Tas Melis]

Whoa.

[Trey Kirby]

He's not even in my top five MVP ballot. Maxi isn't. Who's your top sga? Cage, Sengun and Luka.

[J. Skeith]

It's a fair five.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And then Luca. Can't even count Luca though Giannis would be. But he's only played eight games.

[J. Skeith]

Well, how many? Honest, how many?

[Trey Kirby]

Lucas played 11.

[J. Skeith]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

That's more than 11 to 15. That's not too bad.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Played 13 games.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, I misread it.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's played 13 to 16.

[Tas Melis]

You're a lot. He's. He's in the. He's in there. He's only shooting 63 from the field. That sucks. Yokicho shooting 64. Those guys are machines this season.

[J. Skeith]

So Wemby's out of the mix now for you, of course.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Wembis. They're both hurt right now.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. Most improved player, TAs. I'll give you the odds here on FanDuel. Jalen Duran.

[Tas Melis]

Let's do it.

[J. Skeith]

Jalen Duran plus 175. Josh Giddey plus 460. Denny Avdiya plus 550. Ryan Rollins plus 800. He had himself a game too, last night. And then Jalen Johnson at +2200. Those are your top five MIPS on FD.

[Tas Melis]

Ryan Rollins is fun. I can't give it to Denny Avdia because we sat here at the end of 2024 and said a good team has got to get this guy. And that's what he did. At the end of the 2324 season, the Wizards traded him to Portland and he's grown. I didn't see this coming. This incredible growth into such a Lead role with the Portland Trailblazers. Even after watching him in his national games on Israel, where he was the guy, I didn't see this efficiency coming, but we knew it was coming to some point. So I go, Jalen Dern, I think he is obviously a machine on the boards, but the drives where he doesn't force it, I, I feel like he puts it on the floor and he sees the switches and gets a. A mismatch and he's just bigger than somebody. He's able to body them or if there's a monster in front of him, whether it's Drummond comes to mind, like Jock Landale comes to mind. These, these huge guys, he's able to pause, take his time and shoot over them. We didn't see it coming. I didn't see it coming. And so I would give it to Jalen Duran. Just what he is and what he means to a really, really, really good team.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Duran is the guy for me as well. He's added nine points per game and it looks like a go to scorer for them at some point. When he gets the ball underneath the hoop, he's going to score. He's shooting 70% in November. Number two on the list for me though is Austin Reaves, plus eight points per game, 285 and eight assists so far. That include some monster games early on when Luka was down and, you know, before LeBron got back. I think Reeves has become a go to guy for the Lakers and it wouldn't be surprising to me if at the end of the year, reeves is outscoring LeBron because LeBron will probably play a Swiss army knife type of season this year, kind of doing it all. Whereas Reeves will be a go to scorer for them because on that second unit, at least in the first game they played, it was Reeves keying a bunch of things alongside LeBron. And I think that that's the way JJ's going to play things with the Lakers is when Luca sits Reaves and LeBron go crazy. Then we'll sit Reeves and LeBron and Luka just gets to take every single shot if he wants to, or create every single shot at the very least.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, I also go Jalen Duran, not a surprise here. I love this line from Hollinger on Duran. He said, quote, he's basically two different players in one. He's a huge athletic center whom opponents can't keep off the glass and a canny elbow operator who can sling incisive passes and attack Biggs off the dribble. End quote. Well said. From Hollinger. He has shown so much here this season. Blown past All Star consideration. He's now in the all NBA conversation. He's fifth in per. He's a monster on the boards. He's carried this team when they were, you know, missing Cade along with other guys. How much is it going to cost the Pistons at this point? They're not going to be angry with it, by the way, but he didn't sign an extension, right? It was reportedly around 30 million per year, so that's going up.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but he's still on his rookie deal, so it's a cheap one.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, cheap max, for sure. But he's going to be worth every penny here with his age. What'd you say he just turned 20? Young guy and coming into the season, I think the reason he's like high on this list for a lot, including FanDuel, is like, there were so many centers ranked ahead of him. Remember, ESPN does their whole ranking things here. Were the centers ranked ahead of Jalen Duran before the season started? Walker Kessler, Jakob Pertle, Mitchell Robinson, Nas Reed, Zach Edie Jonas, Ellen, Chunas Akongwu, Derek Lively, Miles Turner, Isaiah Hartenstein. So this again, that's a part of the MIP narrative. It's like, oh, maybe we didn't think he'd be that good. He is leaping. He's ahead of all these guys with what he's done. In related news with the Pistons, too.

[Tas Melis]

Walker, Kessler. Well, yeah, go ahead.

[J. Skeith]

Dennis Jenkins, he's young, so he's not going to win mip, but man, like the little mini Lynn sanity run this guy went on here when Kane was out especially, it's nuts. And what's the one of the Pistons going to do? How are they going to find, like, playing time for all these guys when they're. When they're back? Like when Ivy's back. Device Harris. Okay, that's, you know, that's fine. You'll find him. Spot minutes. Paul Reed's been great, though. They got a lot of guys when they're all back and healthy. Yeah, it's a good problem to have.

[Tas Melis]

But it feels like the Houston Rockets making their move for Kevin Durant and that they have so many guys to package together for a star now. The Anthony Davis talk has been hot, but when you have Jalen Duran work in the middle like this, it's kind of hard to imagine putting those two together.

[J. Skeith]

Josh Giddy, your guy, he's the most.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm proving it. Player. Okay, 21, 10 and 10. I'm fudging things there. He's literally two rebounds and four assists total from averaging a triple double. But he looks like the same player from March, and Giddey has never been a good player in the first half of the season. He looks great right now.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, that's a great point. It's the Mickey Mouse March. We're always like, oh, that's where he shines.

[Trey Kirby]

Check the splits. Yeah, he gets better in the second half of the season, but he's doing it in the first half of the season.

[J. Skeith]

And what, four years, $100 million was the contract.

[Trey Kirby]

That's a good deal.

[J. Skeith]

We're like, whoa, I don't know, is that good? Is that too much? And yeah, for sure. He's playing like a max contract guy with those numbers and how well they've played. All right, but we all got dirt.

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[J. Skeith]

Right, next question here. Biggest surprise one month in TK well.

[Trey Kirby]

Of course the bulls are back, but otherwise I would say the suns are a lot better and more fun than I expected. And Devin Booker is totally back right now. He's kind of Carrying this team like Dylan Brooks, I think has been pretty solid for them. He was out with injuries. They had Jalen green for like 30 minutes. It feels like so far this season it's been addition by subtraction. See you later, Brad Beal. See you later, Kevin Durant. The vibes are good in Phoenix. They have one win against the team that's.500 or better. So they have played an easier schedule. But you can only beat the teams that are ahead of you. And the Suns are taking care of business. There have been a lot of disappointing teams this year and the Suns definitely haven't been one. The guy they drafted in the top 10, Malawatch, he never even plays. All these former Hornet centers are doing okay for them. They seem to be a lot more enthused this season and there's a lot better chemistry and it's nice to see Devin Booker playing like an all NBA player again.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, it's a good one.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. If Mark Williams, or excuse me, if DeAndre Ayton wasn't playing well for the Lakers, the Lakers fans would be upset. Look at Mark Williams.

[J. Skeith]

We could have had that guy, but.

[Tas Melis]

We traded for him and then he left and then. But yeah, the Phoenix Suns have been been incredible. Jordan Knott again, coach of the year votes.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, for sure. If they stay winning at this, they gotta win.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. The schedule has been somewhat soft and the fact that Jalen Green isn't around for a while, that hurts not having a score. But I'm most surprised by how bad the Clippers are.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

They're bad.

[Tas Melis]

So bad. Bad. Yeah. Because they're sitting at 4 and 11. It's going to be their first losing season since 2010, 2011. If they remain below.500, that's been a long time. We expected their defense to be decent even though they got older. Their defense has just fallen apart. So shouldn't they be able to outscore teams with all these former All Stars? It ain't happening. I don't see where it comes from. I don't think there's any answer. They've already lost Bradley Beal for the season. Kawhi is in and out, unlike last year when they just kept him out and then he came back in January and was playing for most of the season. Chris Paul looks old. Unfortunately, the Norman Powell for John Collins trade, not a goodie he could use. Norm. Derrick Jones Jr. Is hurt. Yeah, they have just lost it. And I know they're relying on Harden and Harden looks all right. And that's what they did for a lot of Last season again win.

[J. Skeith]

But they had a good defense.

[Tas Melis]

They had a good.

[J. Skeith]

That was the difference. Harden was carrying them, him and Zoo, but yeah, the defense and Normie and Norm.

[Tas Melis]

Norm was leading, leading their team and scoring for months. And they decided. Lawrence Frank at the head office. I have the video in my head of them getting Bradley Beal was announced. They're getting Bradley Beal and Lawrence Frank was on a call. He was on a call with, with LA Murray, I believe with the Athletic. They're just doing an interview. And then he found out while he's talking to La Murray, we got Bradley Beal. So they get Bradley Beal. And then because of that I think they felt comfortable trading Norman Powell for John Collins. And now look at this team absolutely falling apart. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. They've got the whole Steve Ballmer circumvention of the cap scenario going on there that they're not going to have an answer for until after the All Star Game. That's going to be in the Intuit Dome, which is unfortunate, but I guess that's going to happen somewhere. They may lose a pack. So pick. Excuse me. So they got the off court drama and this team again, I don't, I don't know. They were playing in the West. They're not just going to float up the standings. There's too many teams.

[J. Skeith]

They're 4 and 11 here one month into the season and like losses are getting worse and worse.

[Trey Kirby]

It feels like too much turnovers for the Clippers only. Harden is playing well for this team, but if anybody turns the ball over, it's an easy bucket. The other way. You could outrun guys on the Clippers.

[J. Skeith]

Well, this is the thing.

[Trey Kirby]

They're so slow getting back and today's.

[J. Skeith]

Game is like all pace. Like have we seen this league play this fast? Like obviously pushing this much. Obviously the defense too. 94ft. Yeah, that's. You're going to have, have an issue if you're the oldest team.

[Tas Melis]

They're trying to get younger. They're throwing out their, their Sanders.

[J. Skeith]

The Colonel.

[Tas Melis]

The Colonel. But yeah, that ain't enough.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, okay, that's a good.

[Trey Kirby]

They came in wearing those shirts that get the back.

[J. Skeith]

Guard your grill.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, get back. Get the shirts back.

[J. Skeith]

Jeff, no one even cares about the Ballmer aspiration scandal because they're 4 and 11.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, and then we had a scandal after like way more serious than a guy not planting trees.

[J. Skeith]

But my point is if they're four, we're like, well what the hell?

[Trey Kirby]

They cheated.

[J. Skeith]

This isn't fair. But everyone's like, yeah, they cheated, but they still suck. So Allegedly. All right, good surprises. I'll go with this one. Even without Fred Van Vliet, the Rockets look like a championship contender. Because when he went down, a lot of us were like, okay, they're gonna be good, they're gonna be a solid team. But man, they're gonna miss Fred. Who's gonna be their point guard? You know, Amin Thompson, that might be too much for him. Reed Shepard, he was brutal as a rookie. Like we were worried. They're awesome right now. And the more I watch them and I know I'm going off of recency bias with the I thought ass kicking they handed Cleveland. I'm convincing myself like, oh yeah, they, they, they're right there. Maybe with the Nuggets and the Thunder just below them. Last year though, Houston had the 13th most efficient offense, but they couldn't shoot. Their whole offense was don't turn the ball over and hit the glass. That was sort of their offense. We'll win it with defense, will hit some timely shots and maybe get those victories. And that worked. But now they have the best offense still in the NBA. They've jumped to eighth and true shooting percentage. They've increased their free throw volume and they are still the top three point shooting team in terms of accuracy, making 42% of their threes. Now they have the lowest volume of three point attempts, but so they make them count, I guess when they shoot them. They're sub 33 point attempts per game. But you had that better offense with the injection of KD and the defense hasn't slipped at all. It never is going to with Udoka led team. So they just got this great balance right now of like they play a little bully. They still play bully ball because of the defense and the glass. But then they have this offensive execution going. And I love the synergy between Sengun and KD right now at the end of games. It's awesome. So yeah, I mean I just didn't see this like this level without Van Vliet, especially when he was off, you know, he's important. We've seen it with the Raptors. He'd helped his team even, I'm sure. But oh yeah, they haven't missed a beat. They've gotten so much better.

[Tas Melis]

I want to see them in a matchup with okc. Wishful thinking here. I would hope that they would have a Fred Van Vliet just to run things against OKC that's so good at pressuring the ball. But at the Other side. The Rockets would be big against this OKC team and be able to get extra rebounds. So it would be fun. But I gotta count on OKC's defense to be able to get after whoever's handling.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Well.

[J. Skeith]

Every team's chasing okc. Yeah, that's what you're chasing. Well, yeah, they're champs and they're better. So yeah, that's them. But we find out tonight. Nuggets Rockets is a hell of a game.

[Trey Kirby]

That's nice.

[J. Skeith]

That's tasty. In Houston. Bit of a measuring stick for both those teams.

[Tas Melis]

That's why it's the pick em game, that's for sure. There we go.

[Trey Kirby]

OKC played Houston, obviously. Game one of the year two OT Classic. But they don't play again until January. That's a long time from now. But you gotta be impressed by the Rockets. They may not have a point guard, but when it comes down to it in the fourth quarter, they have two guys who deserve a double team. And Kevin Durant. Pick your poison.

[Ad Read Announcer]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

That's why we saw Aaron Holiday basically win him a game by going for 14 in a fourth quarter just recently. They seems to understand exactly how they want to play. And they don't hit a lot of threes. They're making them like you said. And they get to the free throw line a ton. They're fifth in free throws made this year. Sengun generates them quite regularly. You know KD is going to knock him down when he gets to the line. So even though they're not getting the three point efficiency bump, the free throw efficiency bump is where they're making up.

[J. Skeith]

For it for sure. All right, final one here. We'll start with you, Tas. Most underrated story in one month. In.

[Tas Melis]

I know we've been talking about the Mavericks, but ever since Nico Harrison was fired, I think everybody's kind of like, okay, we're done with that. There's the talk that Kyrie Irving would come back. If it were the playoffs right now, he would be ready to play, according to Mark Spears of espn. And after watching some of those offseason videos, I mean, literally off season videos before the season, the guy looked pretty good. So there's that part, there's the Anthony Davis part that rumors, yeah, they're going to trade him. And then all of a sudden, Mark Cuban is back into things. He's back at courtside and he's running the show. All of a sudden he says, no, we're trying to win. So there's that whole drama there where he is kind of leading the front office with Michael Finley, Richardi now who are supposed to be leading, but he's the guy in Patrick Dumont's ear as the owner and as the current owner, current governor. And Patrick Dumont has to listen to the other guy in Mark Cuban. I mean, they're listening, they've been talking. They've always been buddies. Mark Cuban trying to help out Patrick Dumont grow. So I think all that on the floor is very interesting. Just the whole thing is it's not done. Just because they fired a guy, that doesn't mean they're going to be terrible because they do have good players. They will be playing soonish. So there's that whole drama. I think that's. That's still going to be a story for months to go.

[J. Skeith]

So Clippers 4 and 11 not loving their chances to turn around their season. Mavericks 4 and 12. You have more confidence maybe because of the Kyrie part.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. We don't know when Kyrie's coming back. That's the thing. I mean, yes, part of the story is that he's coming back now, but I don't think they're just going to say, hey, we're getting. We're going to give up and use our pick. I don't think that's happening. I think I'm buying into play the.

[J. Skeith]

Lottery odds once again. Hey, we hit Cooper with very for.

[Tas Melis]

A couple months at least. I think they're still going to try and be decent, you know, if they have to turn it off in March like they did when they were able to get Derek Lively back, back when they gave up those few games and was that 23? I guess that worked out. That could happen. But I buy the Cuban. I'm buying Cuban, see, at the cigar.

[Trey Kirby]

Shop, buying the Cuban.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know how much I buy him backing Steve Ballme as a guy who didn't circumvent the rules. But I do buy him that he's going to try and win because that's what he did. And, and listening to him interview, get into interviews this past, these past, like, few months, he basically said the problem with ownership in the NBA is that it's all about money and it's not about the fans. And that's, you know, pretty bold of him as a former NBA owner. So I like, number one, hearing that and number two, I buy that he is going to try for his fans and try again. It's so weird that he's sort of leading the front office again, but that. But he wanted to be back.

[Trey Kirby]

Told you I'm still in charge.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he never wanted to leave but the fact that he says that I think they're not going to trade AD anytime soon and what are they getting for AD anyways? But we'll see, we'll see.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they could get something which is important.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

They have no picks going forward after this year. That's why it's a question mark of what they'll actually end up doing.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Don't they have a top two protected pick in 2027?

[Trey Kirby]

All I know is they don't control their pick from 27 to 30 after this year. It's either traded away or they're on the swap.

[J. Skeith]

But I think you are right. If it hit one, if they hit.

[Tas Melis]

Again, if they hit a Cooper.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, they would keep it.

[Tas Melis]

But I believe it. But anyway, far fetched. They could give up at some point.

[J. Skeith]

What about you tk Most underrated story.

[Trey Kirby]

The west kind of stinks. Like they've got the best teams in the league for sure. In the Thunder, the Nuggets and the Rockets. I think you would even throw the Lakers in there as a team that has a puncher's chance with how we've seen how good they can be offensively. Defense will be a problem I do believe for LA once it comes down to playoff time. Minnesota, okay. Like they're winning games. I don't think Ant has really had his stamp on this season so far. He was out of the lineup for a little bit. He's kind of been inconsistent when he has been playing. Julius Randle's carried them to a couple of wins. But right now Basketball Reference projects the warriors to be the 8th seed in the Western Conference with 41 wins. All of the pleasant surprises are in the Eastern Conference. We're talking about the Raptors, the Pistons, the Bulls, the Hawks. Really. Only Orlando disappointed and even they're back over.500. But then you look at the Western Conference. Memphis, the Clippers, Dallas, Sacramento thought they were going to be in the mix for a play in Birth.

[J. Skeith]

Pelicans.

[Trey Kirby]

Pelicans. All the disappointing teams are in the Western Conference. Which is why it's not super panic. Like the Clippers have stunk to start the season. They're a game and a half out of the 10th seat. They are six games out of the six playoff spot.

[Ad Read Announcer]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Like they can easily turn it around and that why and that to me is what my real point is. We're gonna have a great slop season. It's going to be awesome this year. Free agency is dead. Trade season is when things actually happen. Lamelo might be moved. Ad Ja Trey, any of the guys from the Kings. DeRozan Levine, Sabonis Zion, Trey Murphy, Markkanen Kaminga. Guaranteed to be traded. Embiid and Paul George. Pretty unlikely. But I think that their names will at least be in the rumor mill when it comes down to it. So it'll be exciting times come December 15th through February 15th, basically.

[J. Skeith]

That's a good point. Slop season right around the corner, I guess. What do we do? It starts December 15th. Is that what we're saying?

[Trey Kirby]

That's when all these guys be traded.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. A little more manageable to make deals because of contracts you can put in because of players being able to be traded. Yeah, hopefully. Hey, trades are good for content.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[J. Skeith]

Let's get them.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. It is odd in the west that there's teams in the nine seed intensity that are way below.500. I mean I could say way below at six and nine and five and nine. While in the Eastern Conference they're above.500 in the ninth and tenth seed. And when I looking at the little mellow ball history in Charlotte, I'd forgotten that winning season that they had there. 43 and 39 and they finished in the 10th seed. That's a pretty good record for friggin 10 seed. So that could happen in the east again. But it is odd to see it in the west where there's better teams and then. Yeah, a drop off.

[J. Skeith]

This sort of goes to what you were saying about the West. But my most underrated story right now is Dear and Fox leading the spurs here without Wemby. Really without Area 51. The duo in Wemby and Castle. Three straight wins now, they haven't played the greatest talent in the world. They beat the Kings, they beat the Grizzlies, but they did beat the Hawks last night. That was a quality win. Fox is averaging 27, eight and three in those wins. He's hitting three. Three, three. Three threes per game. That's not easy to say. And he's chipping in a bunch of steals. That's what he does. Swipa himself. But he's like, this is good. Like when your main guys are out, especially your young talented guys, you have these vets like Fox, Harrison Barnes. Devin Vassell's had some good moments. Kelton Johnson had a great game last night. Our guy, David Jones. Garcia, David Jones, Garcia, man, 12 points in 18 minutes. Guy's a bit of a bucket.

[Trey Kirby]

No hyphen. I don't think he Even has a hyphen.

[J. Skeith]

No hyphen, baby.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, three names.

[J. Skeith]

So it is getting these wins. You got to beat these bad teams and then the Hawks is a quality win and Fox is. He's leading them and this is why you get them. Six teams with 10 plus wins in the west. Spurs are one of them despite missing Wemby here for a little bit of stretch of time and they're going to miss some more. So the no fall off is pretty impressive. I think it's gone a little underrated, dear. And Fox gets overlooked, I think. Or maybe it's perfectly looked at, I don't know. But he's been good and he deserves some flowers right now with this little stretch of him leading them.

[Tas Melis]

I thought the only hyphen guy or three name guy that was new to the league that would get pub was Nigel Hayes Davis of the Phoenix Suns. But no, he's been outdone by David Jones Garcia.

[Trey Kirby]

No love for Yannicka. Conan Nederhauser.

[Tas Melis]

Oh yeah, he's a three namer.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

He's a dash though. Is he? I think so.

[Trey Kirby]

He's a. He's a no dasher.

[J. Skeith]

He's a dash on his. On the back of his jersey.

[Trey Kirby]

Interesting.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Didn't you say that was going to be the. The longest name tied? Gild just Alexander Conan need and how. Yeah, it's a good one. It's a good name. I should give him love because it is pretty fun. I can't help but say it with an accent. It's fun.

[J. Skeith]

Some news here too. I don't know if this is underrated, but the national NBA games being shown on Peacock, NBC, Amazon, ESPN. They've drawn more than 60 million viewers through the first month of the regular season and the league says that's the highest opening total in 15 years.

[Tas Melis]

Adam Silver told us in that press conference there'd be more exposures. He called them exposures.

[J. Skeith]

That's not wrong.

[Tas Melis]

No, for the national broadcast channels. That's why they got in NBC.

[J. Skeith]

Yep.

[Tas Melis]

He can just turn it on. Whether you're in the country, whether you're an urban fan. You'll like this too though.

[J. Skeith]

League Pass subscriptions up 10% I guess, viewership up 8%. So people are also enjoying league pass. I have to say I have had no issues with league pass this year, which is nice.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, I've had some.

[J. Skeith]

Oh really? It's been working really well for me.

[Tas Melis]

Oh good, good.

[J. Skeith]

Multi views. It's always loading. It's never buffering or anything.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, I'm A buffer man. That's my problem.

[J. Skeith]

Maybe check your Internet. Call him Bruce.

[Trey Kirby]

He's a buffer.

[Tas Melis]

Sometimes I'm a Bruce, sometimes I'm a Michael. Just because I know both names. Yeah, but I mean, Silver did say. And Con Knippel said. I quote, Con Knipple who came out and said, whoa, we're going to be on Amazon. Means my family can watch again. Just because they have a. The Amazon app and people are watching on Amazon Prime. I mean, just exposure. Because people use.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, well, his family could watch every game of his if they wanted to.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, yeah, I guess the league pass.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

I got a lot of mouths to feed.

[J. Skeith]

They do. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I don't know.

[J. Skeith]

Fajitas.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know if he's talking immediate family, but I think he was talking more like, you know, aunts, uncles, people. People who are like, whoa, I have that. I'll watch them.

[J. Skeith]

I have Amazon.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't think he's sharing his login. Seems like a family first guy. He should be sharing that login. Is the price cheaper? 160 for premium only. 109.

[J. Skeith]

That might be standard.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Smart move. And I feel like they've beefed up the. Beefed up the features. Watch key plays.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, I like that.

[Trey Kirby]

That kind of thing. They have like several versions of a condensed afterwards. 15 minute. Or you can watch in all possessions, which. That always confuses.

[Tas Melis]

They had. They always had that. But.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, but like a 48 minute game. 43 minutes. When it's condensed in all the possessions.

[Tas Melis]

Are we.

[Trey Kirby]

I want to see a guy walking.

[J. Skeith]

The ball up the court.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. They don't show that. They cut that.

[Trey Kirby]

Watch key plays. It doesn't work for basketball. Too fast.

[Tas Melis]

It is fast.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

I mean, it is ideal in baseball. They have that on. On YouTube for baseball.

[Trey Kirby]

Football too.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

There's so many scores in basketball, it's odd.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. You know where it's okay, I don't mind if I come into the game, like maybe midway through the second quarter, I'll keep playing up and I just get a taste of the first quarter.

[Trey Kirby]

Sure.

[J. Skeith]

I agree with your statement overall. But like. Yeah, okay. Oh, Maxi was on fire there. All right, I got the idea here.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

He cooked in the first. Okay, here we go. We're live.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Especially if you tune in the second quarter. You just want to watch some quick keep.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, just like five or six plays.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. But as we've said about. Number one about the NBA YouTube page, they've done a better job of condensing games into 10 minutes even.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, the extended version one that they pick like a key game. I like that.

[Trey Kirby]

Extended highlights.

[J. Skeith]

Extended highlights. Yeah, but that's only for like the. The best game of the night. Hey, look, they're doing a great job.

[Trey Kirby]

A lot of exposure.

[Tas Melis]

Adam Silver did say it's a highlight league. They've made the highlights better. And also the league pass is cheaper. I know people on our playback channel come in and say, whoa, league pass is good. It's cheaper. Good. So 109. Yeah. That's way more than reasonable. They have reduced it for sure.

[J. Skeith]

Let's hear from you guys out there. Mvp, most improved, biggest surprise, most underrated story. Now that we've played about 30 days of basketball, let us know in the stream team, as I'm sure you are in the YouTube comments, you can tweet at us as well. No dunksync. Okay, we gotta take a quick break. When we come back, worst of the week nominees. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton cross training tread plus.

[Trey Kirby]

You know that.

[J. Skeith]

I know that it's powered by peloton iq. So peloton surely knows that. And I know what you're thinking. Yeah, they know that. They made that. I know. That's why I said it. Okay. The new peloton cross training tread plus is peloton's most elevated equipment with real time guidance and endless ways to move either alone or with your favorite instructors. It's cross training reimagined with features designed to make your workout more personal. Peloton IQ plans your workouts, tracks your progress, corrects your form, which I desperately need, and offers insights and guidance that help you unlock new breakthroughs. And you know that I'm not doing an ad read without talking about that swivel screen, baby. That bad boy offers endless ways to train and level up. You can go from running on the tread plus to strength training or yoga off of it with one smooth spin of the screen. Peloton is built for breakthroughs. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go explore the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail] it's NBA tip off month.

[Tas Melis]

And NBA tip off month has 31 days. We are 31 days into the NBA season and FanDuel is your home for live betting any day, anytime. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand. FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. They Got it all. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. However you want to play. Now is the perfect time to join because FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. That's a lot of bonus bets. Play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA.

[J. Skeith]

Okay, just joining us on no Dunks on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. Let's get to worst of the week, ladies and gentlemen.

[JD (Super Producer)]

The worst of the week.

[Tas Melis]

We've got three nominees. You tell us who the winner is. If you're on the stream team here at the desk, let us know. The poll has begun. Well, let's copy and paste. It's almost there. I want you. I want you to hear it first before I click post. All right, so the first nominee, a ref, handed out a technical foul because the mopping crew took too long. It was a delay of game, which ended up being a technical foul. Bulls, Jazz, fourth quarter, Bulls player falls. The mop boys, as they're commonly called, come out and do the job.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Referee Mark Davis says, oh, that's a delay of game. You're taking too long. Will Hardy, the Jazz coach, came over and said, what a delay of game for mopping? They had to bleep him out. The Jazz broadcast, they cut it. They cut it all together. And he was basically saying, he said, you're kidding me. And they were bleeping out Will Hardy, who was just mad about a foul that ended up or technical foul that resulted in a free throw for Kobe White. Literally one point was decided because of those.

[J. Skeith]

See, officials are saying you're. You're. You're game in the system here. Jazz and Hardy, that. That sweat's gone. What are those boys doing? Boys doing.

[Tas Melis]

They were taking too long. Were they gaming the system or just taking too long? That's all.

[J. Skeith]

Well, I mean, by that, right?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I guess. But what are they doing?

[J. Skeith]

I'm not agreeing with it. I think that's why they're handing them the delay a game.

[Tas Melis]

It's like, okay, yeah, speed it up. Yeah, mop faster. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Be quick out there, I guess, huh?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Multiple guys out there, too. Yeah, that's deserving of a mop up. A guy was down. These are sweaty NBA players.

[Trey Kirby]

Slide as well.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

That is weird.

[Tas Melis]

It wasn't that long. I mean, I timed it.

[J. Skeith]

It was like, how long were they out there?

[Tas Melis]

I'd say 11 seconds.

[J. Skeith]

Okay, that's not unreasonable.

[JD (Super Producer)]

No.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

No. Mark Davis. I was surprised with Mark Davis. An incredible NBA referee would hand that out. A delay of game and a technical free throw in the fourth quarter.

[J. Skeith]

So the Bulls got a point. Second delay a game. Yes, that's happened.

[Tas Melis]

Yes, yes. The second delay of game. The first one's just a delay of games. The first time is just a warning. But it was just an extra. It was an extra point. Then it turned from a three point lead for the Jazz to a two point lead for the Jazz and they went to overtime. They did win, so it was all right. But, you know. You know, things happen weird. All right. Second nominee, the Pistons, Javante Green. He literally wiped his sweat from his forehead onto a basketball during free throws. Twice on two different free throws. It was here in Atlanta the first time, passes it back the second time. You see it here, he gives it to Keaton Wallace, who shoots the free throw and misses because of it. Oh, so not just once, but twice worked. And sometimes we do see this.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

But twice in the same game. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't remember that. And the referee didn't do a thing about it in this scenario. He just took the ball.

[J. Skeith]

Now that's delay a game. We're more of a sports. More of a delay game.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah.

[J. Skeith]

But we have seen guys do this.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, exactly.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. Let me. Let me grab that. Get my sweat on it. They usually.

[Trey Kirby]

Usually know. On the face.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, yeah. You see the jersey break out?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm having some forehead skin problems recently.

[J. Skeith]

Don't put a ball on your head.

[Trey Kirby]

I would never. I would never do that. I try and not touch my forehead as much as possible.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

We should put a hat on you.

[Trey Kirby]

I guess you have a problem. I wore a hat yesterday.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Get a little irritation.

[J. Skeith]

My.

[Trey Kirby]

My forehead skin is too sensitive. It's just how it is.

[Tas Melis]

Is this just dry or is it.

[J. Skeith]

I don't.

[Tas Melis]

Dirty hat.

[Trey Kirby]

No, I cleaned my hat.

[J. Skeith]

Clean my hat and everything.

[Trey Kirby]

I went to the dermatologist. They said it's contact dermatitis.

[J. Skeith]

Fine.

[Trey Kirby]

I'll never touch my forehead. I haven't touched my forehead for a year. I gotta get like a James Brown, like, character to come out and dab my forehead.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

It's all about pushing, not rubbing.

[J. Skeith]

Rubbing. Yes. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Shout out to Steph. No. For the sweaty forehead videos. We appreciate that. Last one here. This one is just. It's beautiful. It's art. It's D'. Angelo. Russell dribbling for 21 seconds. And I think this is great. If you're watching on YouTube, it's the entire possession. I had to speed it up here. You had to.

[Trey Kirby]

It's 21 seconds where it's like yakty sacks now.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Where he ends. Literally tripled the whole freaking position everywhere too. Yeah. And doesn't pass it. And then he gives it to Najee Marshall.

[J. Skeith]

You shoot it.

[Tas Melis]

You shoot it at the end of a possession Miss. Yeah. The whole d' Angel Russell thing obviously has not gone well in Dallas whatsoever. Maybe he's mad that he started on the bench this season. I guess I would have expected to start for that team, but anyway, those are your three nominees. Let us know.

[J. Skeith]

Two sweat related ones. And d' Angelo Russell.

[Tas Melis]

Quite sweaty.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. What would you vote for?

[Tas Melis]

I would. I would go with a delay of game for mopping.

[J. Skeith]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

It had an impact on the game.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it did. It did.

[J. Skeith]

What would you pick?

[Trey Kirby]

Forehead.

[J. Skeith]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Just wipe on your shirt.

[J. Skeith]

I'll go d' Angelo then. Come on, man. You're a point guard. Pass the ball. Yeah. What are you doing?

[Trey Kirby]

Get in the offense.

[J. Skeith]

You're not even going to attack after all that? We're just standing there watching you bring it up and dribble all around.

[Tas Melis]

A poll is there.

[J. Skeith]

Okay, Vote on a poll.

[Tas Melis]

Vote on a poll. Wow. 83%. Very quickly. The delay of game. Tech for mopping. Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

I mean, Will Hardy is like, what the hell are you doing?

[Tas Melis]

I've never seen him mad before. He was so mad. I mean, that man. He's swearing.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

It's like, are you kidding me? He called him. You're giving that to a ball boy. Call him a ball boy.

[J. Skeith]

A ball man.

[Trey Kirby]

They need like a Giannis like speech. Our ball boys got to be faster out there.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Our jersey's got to be cleaner.

[J. Skeith]

That's right.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[J. Skeith]

All right, get your votes in for Tess's worst of the week nominees. Who is your selection? Bye bye Lovey. Fantasy line of the night presented by Peloton. This was an easy one last night. Tyrese Maxey poured in A career high 54 points to lead the 76ers to the 123, 114 overtime win over the Bucs. Look at this line. Maxey went 18:30 from the field, 6 of 15 from deep, 12 of 14 at the free throw line. He added A team high nine assists, five boards and six stocks. Three blocks, three steals for Tyrese Maxey. How unreal is that?

[Trey Kirby]

Near five by five.

[J. Skeith]

Played 47 minutes, man. Nick Nurse, he plays his guys.

[Trey Kirby]

He's averaging like 41 minutes almost right now, huh?

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, yeah, but I'll say that guy's in shape because late in this game, must have been in the overtime period. Bucks were getting a little desperate, had to play the foul game. And Maxey gets fouled obviously in the backcourt. Great free throw shooter. He's having a monster game. Put him on the line. Sprinted. Sprinted from the back court to the free throw line. Let's go. Let me get some more points here and get that career high so he wasn't tired. What a game. And that is your lovely fantasy line of the night. Presented by Peloton.

[Trey Kirby]

Pick up Maxi. I think he could lead the league in scoring. He's second right now. I think he's number one. He's number one in minutes. I think he's number one in shot attempts and shot attempts per game. He's just a hair behind Luca, leading the league in scoring.

[J. Skeith]

I do, though. I think he could. I kind of agree. That's Iverson like that, like you said, he's gonna like he can get up the most shots. He can get the most minutes because of his conditioning and what they need from or they're fine with and their coach that likes to do that too. So, yeah, I think it's in play. I think Luke is going to tick down a little bit here. Right. With LeBron back in the mix a little bit, probably. I. I think. But not that Maxi's gonna stay at. What's he had, 33. That's hot. Yeah, 33 and a half, but I think 30. Yeah, maybe.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. The. The Tick down playing beside LeBron makes a little more sense than the Tick down playing beside Paul George.

[J. Skeith]

Hey, Paul George had a good game.

[Tas Melis]

Exactly.

[J. Skeith]

He did play well.

[Tas Melis]

Season high. Because he's only played two games. That's what 21 points was, buddy, that, you know, he is sort of limited in terms of his minutes, but I thought the. The Maxi points would come down because of the combination of Edgecomb, Paul George and Joel Embiid. But again, Paul George ain't gonna play a lot. Joel Embiid ain't playing all the time. So maybe Maxi stays high.

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, okay, okay. Question number two, regarding Tyrese Maxey. Like we said, 40.7 minutes per game right now, there hasn't been a player in the NBA to average 40 minutes per game since Montales in 2010. 11.

[J. Skeith]

Is that true?

[Ad Read Announcer]

Whoa.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. Oh, that's a lot of minutes, but that's a long time ago.

[Tas Melis]

That's about.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, exactly 15 years. You know, we've changed our thinking on how players play. Will he stay over 40 minutes per game?

[J. Skeith]

What's he at right now?

[Trey Kirby]

40.7 minutes per game.

[J. Skeith]

Put me down for no.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a ton of minutes.

[J. Skeith]

Put me down for no, but pretty damn close.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Damn. Monte Ellis led the league in minutes, played twice two years in a row. 41.4 and then 40.3. Who is it? 41.4. He's with the Warriors. Was that a Don?

[J. Skeith]

I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

2010, 11. Oh, Keith Smart.

[J. Skeith]

Of course, Keith Smart.

[Tas Melis]

Well, the first year it was Don Nelson. Then he got fired.

[J. Skeith]

For Keith, they're like, you're playing them too much. And he came in like, let's keep playing.

[Trey Kirby]

He cut his minutes from 41 to 40.

[J. Skeith]

Reined back a little bit. All right, pick them tonight. Task. We already talked about it. It's going to be Denver, Houston. What's the line?

[Tas Melis]

Oh, it's too good. That game is too good. Houston favored by 2 1/2 at home. It's. This is exciting. These two teams, that should be the best competition for OKC in the West. This is the first time they're playing this season. This is an NBA cup game in the Group of Death, where every team is one and one going into tonight.

[J. Skeith]

A huge game.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. This game is on Amazon Prime Video. This is Jokic versus Sengun, which was great in Eurobasket. That Turkey Serbia game where Turkey won. Sengun gave to Jokic. So that's why I'm taking Jokic. Revenge for Nikola Jokic. But who knows? Who knows? You guys both have the Rockets to win by three or more at home against Denver.

[Trey Kirby]

Should be a nice match.

[Tas Melis]

Should be a very good match.

[J. Skeith]

Awesome. I don't have it in front of me, but there are a couple things that could happen tonight in the NBA cup that could either have a team securing a spot to the knockout stage. Our Toronto Raptors are one of those teams. They win and Pacers lose.

[Tas Melis]

That's correct.

[J. Skeith]

They secure a spot and then there are a lot of teams that will be officially eliminated if they lose again tonight. Like, there's a whole bunch that are basically already for being honest.

[Tas Melis]

Brooklyn, Utah, Dallas and New Orleans.

[J. Skeith]

Okay, so if they lose, their officially out. Yeah, I mean, let's be honest. They're already out. Yeah, I think a lot of those teams got waxed. If I remember correctly, point differentials would hurt them regardless. But anyway, cup games tonight, respect the cup and we'll be respecting that game. For sure. Denver in Houston. I think it's a 9:30 start here on a Friday night.

[Tas Melis]

Yes, Eastern.

[J. Skeith]

Eastern for us. Ooh, as in good or no?

[Tas Melis]

Cool, cool, cool.

[J. Skeith]

I thought you said ooh, cool. It's Friday. It's the drop. That means it's rapid fire. Fun. Rapid fire. Not usually all that rapid, but let's find out.

[Tas Melis]

On Monday, the Raptors starters came out to their own songs for player intros. RJ Barrett at Back on Road by Gucci Mane, Emmanuel Quickley, Set it Off by Strafe Yaka Purdle. Heart of the City by Jay Z, Brandon Ingram. Reason by G Herbo and Scotty Barnes. Evil Jordan by Playboy Carti. What's your work walkout song? What's your workout song? What's your walkout song?

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, you're not getting a lot of the song I assume, are you? Pretty quick intro.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, 15. You know they got it. I'm guessing 15 seconds.

[J. Skeith]

15 seconds.

[Tas Melis]

I don't know why it's gotta be quick.

[J. Skeith]

Well, look, I'll wave the Canadian flag. Give me Northern Touch. Oh, the start of Northern Touch is pretty good.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. With. With that beat, so.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Hell yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Hell yeah. Northern Touch.

[JD (Super Producer)]

He likes the pick it, as the kids say, slaps.

[J. Skeith]

Okay, well, I'm happy with my pick then.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, you've already picked which part of the song too. Because you have to pick.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

As you said, like you got to know. You got to know which part.

[J. Skeith]

You're also known. A lot of people know that. That instrumental. That beat from dmx, of course too. He had a very popular song with that exact same beat around the exact same time.

[Trey Kirby]

What one?

[J. Skeith]

I forget the DMX song. I forget the name of it.

[JD (Super Producer)]

It's instantly recognizable.

[J. Skeith]

I know. I forgot the name of the song though. But you know it. You want me to play it? Copyright. No, we're not doing it.

[Tas Melis]

That's a problem.

[J. Skeith]

We're not doing it.

[Trey Kirby]

Not copyrighted here.

[Tas Melis]

Trey, what's your walkout song?

[Trey Kirby]

What you see is what you get by the dramatics. Nobody knows the song, but it's a beautiful song. And it's the only song that's finished in my top two. Played the past couple of years on apple music. Beautiful 60s song.

[Tas Melis]

Mm.

[Trey Kirby]

Wouldn't fit at all for walking to a basketball game. But I love the voices and I love the ad libs.

[J. Skeith]

Get at me, dog.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, okay.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, it's a great song too.

[Trey Kirby]

Realize that was the same.

[J. Skeith]

Exact same. It's from. It's a sample from BT Express. Cool. Yeah, they were using It. At the exact same time. It was really weird. Like, I think the exact same year. 98. Yeah, it was 98.

[Trey Kirby]

So somebody sold that to. And then also Cardinal Official.

[J. Skeith]

Would you say it was no Rascals or. Okay, they did it. But yeah. Yeah. It features Cardinal Fishel and Checkmate and Thrust and Checkmate. Of course, they name in the song.

[Tas Melis]

All right, J.D. take us home. Here. What's your walkout song?

[JD (Super Producer)]

I'm gonna assume that I'm not gonna be happy to be there.

[Tas Melis]

Why? I don't know.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I don't like the bright lights.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[JD (Super Producer)]

So I'm going Super Trooper by abba. You know the part where I said. Where she says, facing 20, 000 of my friends how can anyone be so, so lonely? Part of a success that never ends. Still I'm thinking about you only. So I'm just melancholy.

[J. Skeith]

Right.

[JD (Super Producer)]

But still killing it out there. You know what I mean? Like. Like undeniable superstar. But I don't want to be there. I just want to be at home hanging out.

[Tas Melis]

What a turn of events. Yeah. For somebody who's now on their own podcast with Rachel.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Man, that's.

[Tas Melis]

And doing a no Buffs as well. Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

No Bus. This guy was a superstar on no Bus. You gotta go watch no Bus or listen to no Bus. Yesterday, JD Was on one. The comments were going nuts.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Jd I haven't even looked.

[J. Skeith]

Oh, my God. Yeah, it's. I highly recommend, everybody. Check it out. Yesterday.

[Tas Melis]

Grown man crashing out of bed.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Stupid reality.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, Those questions. Great.

[Tas Melis]

So, Ab, what year was that Abbas song?

[JD (Super Producer)]

1980. I want to say.

[Tas Melis]

We got an 80. We got a 98.

[J. Skeith]

What was. What was yours from?

[Trey Kirby]

Mine's from 1973.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Old years.

[Tas Melis]

I was surprised with Emanuel Quickley's. Set it off. I listened to it. That's a 1990.

[J. Skeith]

Oh.

[Tas Melis]

Older than yours, Skeets. I was surprised. Jeez, that's a catchy. I can understand why he came out to that.

[J. Skeith]

Do you think this will catch on across the NBA? Doing the old baseball? Everybody gets their own song. It's not one team song.

[Tas Melis]

Little mix.

[JD (Super Producer)]

It's too fast, though.

[J. Skeith]

I think it's too fast.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Too fast. A baseball. You got time, too.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, yeah. 30 seconds at least to walk up to the plate.

[Trey Kirby]

It's all about the intro.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. You need it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

You got to have a heavy intro.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. All right, Next one here.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Nardwar has announced the release of his very own shoe in collaboration with Nike. It's all plaid. It's got a pom pom. And the heel of each sneaker has his signature call and response sign. Off on the left and do, do on the right. What words would you get on each of your shoes that are dedicated to you?

[J. Skeith]

Skeets, you said Doula. Funny.

[Guest or Additional Announcer]

When you read.

[J. Skeith]

I know, it's weird.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I never knew it was Doula. I thought it was just, oh, doot, doodle, doot, doot. Yeah, I guess it is.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[JD (Super Producer)]

And sometimes they don't know.

[Tas Melis]

Sometimes they don't know that it's coming. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Well, okay.

[J. Skeith]

That's just. I could go for hours. That's my favorite part of any nerdwire. When it ends and he just freezes and they just gotta wait.

[Trey Kirby]

Gotta do it.

[J. Skeith]

Say it, do, say it. Do some people just freeze with them? Some people just keep going. Is it over? Like, they go, is this done? Some people just, like. They're so cute. I love it.

[JD (Super Producer)]

But he's waiting for them to say do too, right?

[J. Skeith]

No, No.

[Trey Kirby]

I thought so.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[JD (Super Producer)]

He goes, yeah. And then he. He lets them.

[J. Skeith]

But then. But then he just freezes.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Oh, then he freezes after.

[J. Skeith]

He just. Usually just freezes.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah, like Police Squad.

[J. Skeith]

And then they just see what happens.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

It's amazing.

[Trey Kirby]

How old is Nardoir?

[JD (Super Producer)]

He's gotta be my age, I would think, not old.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, I thought he's in his 50s.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm a long time.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, exactly.

[J. Skeith]

The human serviette.

[Tas Melis]

Nickname.

[J. Skeith]

The huge I Fall Down Nardoir rabbit holes on YouTube all the time. I. They mean, there's so many good interviews. Anyway, I'll answer your question.

[Tas Melis]

Okay.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. What words do I want in my shoes? I mean, I don't need to overthink this. Good morning, sweet world. Throw those on the back of the heels.

[Tas Melis]

Go to.

[J. Skeith]

It's a go to. It's not too long either if you got a doodle on wine.

[Tas Melis]

I think. Good morning. And they're also the do, do, do, do, do are also on the sole of the shoes. They're on both.

[J. Skeith]

Oh, nice.

[Trey Kirby]

Easy to fit there.

[Tas Melis]

Easier. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

A lot of space.

[Tas Melis]

Trey, what are you putting on your shoes?

[Trey Kirby]

I want two eyes on the left shoe and then a red circle on the right shoe.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, that's your Bulls.

[Trey Kirby]

That's exactly right. Call eyes and red.

[Tas Melis]

Do my eyes look big?

[J. Skeith]

Yeah, they look for me. For you guys.

[Tas Melis]

Jd, what do you got?

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah, I was. Rachel has his mug. You see it? I'm all over Etsy. It says ol on one side and unt on the other side. And the. The handle is the D so it's old then. C word, right?

[Tas Melis]

Oh, okay.

[JD (Super Producer)]

So I was thinking that. But in that spirit.

[J. Skeith]

It'S one of.

[JD (Super Producer)]

My favorite, like, you know, prank pages where it's like, could you ask my friend? I'm looking for my friend. And this one is my favorite. It's Harry C word. Right? Like, you know, somebody pages Harry C word.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[JD (Super Producer)]

And it's, you know, it's the C word, but Harry C word. Anyway, that's what I want on my show. Harry on one side, C word on the other.

[Tas Melis]

All right, that's it. Okay. Funny Instagram video produced by the NBA 2K League and the NBA Research and Development Department that featured Dante DiVincenzo finding out that they traded every one of his teammates for more Dante DiVincenzos. The 2K Timberwolves were all Dante DiVincenzos. It's very funny, him playing with him. Which player would you choose as the only player on a team, Skeets?

[J. Skeith]

Well, this is a very funny Instagram account. This NBA research and development department bares dev and they had another video where they were trying to find out the most average NBA player using their scientific measures. And they decided on Derrick Jones Jr. Which, I mean, I get it. Like they're. They're doing everything. Stats and size and weight and all that. Derrick Jones Jr. Though, I mean, that guy's a former dunk champ. It's above average to me in that aspect. But whole point of this is I've always said P.J. washington is the Chevy tracks of the NBA. To me, he feels pretty average. In a good way. In a good way. So I would like to see an entire team of PJ Washingtons. And could they win the chip bunch of PJs. It's B. Is still a pretty good team. He's 6, 7, he's got a little bit of weight and yeah, he plays up a little bit. Yeah. I don't know. He can play down. He can get hot from three. Yeah. I mean, the guard plays gonna be tough, but I think he would be.

[Tas Melis]

He's an above average player, though.

[Trey Kirby]

I know.

[J. Skeith]

But anyway, he's the Chevy tracks of the NBA.

[Tas Melis]

It's fun.

[J. Skeith]

The Chevy tracks is an above average vehicle.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Just now you know. All right, Trey, which player would you choose as the only player?

[Trey Kirby]

Whoops. All Steven Adams. 100 offensive rebounds, but also 100 misses.

[J. Skeith]

Just offensive rebounds. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Imagine the Steven Adams point guard. How's that guy doing?

[Tas Melis]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

No three point attempts. Probably no jumper attempt.

[J. Skeith]

Superior.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's see what happens.

[J. Skeith]

It'd just Be five guys, like in the paint on both ends, just smacking.

[Trey Kirby]

It off the glass to each other.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Here, you take it. You take it.

[J. Skeith]

He's too funny around like they're cats.

[Tas Melis]

This guy is too funny. He was. He jumped in from out of bounds and a ball was under his leg, but he didn't want to touch it because he just jumped from out of bounds. But he's going in slow motion. So he just let the ball go through his legs and a player scored. It's just hilarious because he's just not fast.

[Trey Kirby]

No, no. Big tough guy.

[Tas Melis]

Very funny. All right, J.D.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Give me a lamelo ball because I can't abide a complainer. And if he's on a team with all lamelo balls, he has nothing to complain about.

[J. Skeith]

Wow. We've unlocked how. How to.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Tap into lamelo ball's potential.

[JD (Super Producer)]

That's right.

[J. Skeith]

Just put them with a bunch of lamelo balls.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Exactly.

[J. Skeith]

Interesting.

[Tas Melis]

I agree. I think he would be happy.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I mean, would it be a good team? I mean, yeah, probably. Like highlight. Lots of highlights.

[J. Skeith]

Of highlights. Lamelo ball balls. All five lamelos out there. Yeah. So but would they win?

[JD (Super Producer)]

But yeah.

[J. Skeith]

No.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah. I don't think so.

[J. Skeith]

Would a team of PJ Washingtons beat a team of LaMelo balls? Five on five. Here we go. Discuss. That's a tough question.

[Trey Kirby]

We gotta ask the res.

[J. Skeith]

Dev or whatever this is. Talk to this department. The official unofficial testing lab for the NBA. That's what they go by. MBA Research and Development. Development Department. All right, great questions. TAs. Rapid fire. Semi rapid.

[Tas Melis]

Semi rapid.

[J. Skeith]

Not bad for us. Fun questions, though. Fun Drop podcast. Before we go, we need to thank our next 10 founding members on substack. We're making our way through these week by week. So today's 10 that we thank in all sincerity for being co founding members on our substack page range. Let's give it up for Cody.

[Trey Kirby]

Cody.

[J. Skeith]

We got Eric coming through next.

[Tas Melis]

Where'd you go, Eric?

[J. Skeith]

Jono John. OM A long time fan.

[Trey Kirby]

Andy E. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Was it Gradient Gordian? Somebody said Gradient.

[J. Skeith]

Ed Martinez is up next.

[Trey Kirby]

I see you, Ed.

[J. Skeith]

We got Maher. Thank you, Maher.

[Tas Melis]

Thank you, Maher.

[Trey Kirby]

You've been in the shed with me before.

[J. Skeith]

Yes. Steve L. Is here on our founding members list. Ramez Classic. And finally, Jom. Thank you, guys. I think that was all guys this round. Thank you so much for supporting us on substack. We're having a blast over there. Get in. You don't have to be a founding member if you don't want to be. $5 a month will get you in the door. And we have the newest edition of what we like, all of our link recommendations and other things that we like dropping a little bit later today. Always drop it on Friday, usually coming soon. Coming very soon.

[Trey Kirby]

Four hours.

[J. Skeith]

We got time right now. I don't have a lot of wedgies to write about for my this week in wedgies posts that will come on the weekend. We got one this week, I think, but they've been coming during the cup and they'll be coming on Friday and Saturdays. So we'll probably get some tonight. I bet we get another wedgie tonight.

[Tas Melis]

Hopefully.

[JD (Super Producer)]

The.

[J. Skeith]

The working theory in the post, the last one I did, is that the ball is afraid of the NBA cup courts. Doesn't like some of them. Like we saw that Wolves, you know, highlighter court. That's tough on the ice. So the ball's trying to get away from the court. I don't want to touch up here. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't want to bounce.

[J. Skeith]

I want to get up there. Just working theory. Hey, MBA research and development. Get on that.

[Tas Melis]

Check it out.

[J. Skeith]

They probably will.

[Trey Kirby]

They probably will.

[J. Skeith]

There are more wedgies on these NBA cup courts. The answer right now is yeah, it's crazy. That's it for us guys. That's a drop podcast, hopefully a classic. But you tell us by hitting the like button, by subscribing, by leaving us a five star rating and review. We're back on Monday now, short week next week because of Thanksgiving, but we'll be here live Monday through Wednesday and we'll have some special things dropping on the Thursday or Friday, but we won't be live for the those. But Monday through Wednesday and Monday we'll have winners and losers of the NBA weekend, hopefully the Toronto Raptors going through to the next stage of the Cup. Hopefully that happens for you and me.

[Trey Kirby]

If the Raptors win the cup, will you get commemorative T shirts?

[J. Skeith]

I'll get a tattoo.

[Tas Melis]

What's the tattoo going to be?

[J. Skeith]

I'll definitely get gear. That would be a hilarious shirt to have.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, yeah?

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. What's the tattoo going to be?

[Tas Melis]

The NBA cup trophies.

[J. Skeith]

All right. It's not a bad looking cup. Yeah. Yeah. There's some little poker chips popping out with the Raptors logo on them.

[Trey Kirby]

You should have Victor Solomon design your tattoo. I know you love his work.

[J. Skeith]

Very colorful.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[J. Skeith]

No, I'll get a Jeff Hamilton jacket.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, Raptors.

[J. Skeith]

NBA. Raptors. NBA cup champion. Jeff Hamilton.

[Trey Kirby]

That would be awesome. That'd be so cool.

[J. Skeith]

You Know, he'd put some poker chips on that. That easily down the sleeve. Well, maybe some claws. Raptor claws. Free ideas, Jeff. How much would that cost?

[Trey Kirby]

Okay, this is. I'm watching this video later.

[J. Skeith]

What?

[Trey Kirby]

Jeff Hamilton reveals his favorite championship jacket ever.

[J. Skeith]

Oh, the Lakers one. Oh, that one's badass.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeith]

Kobe's in the shower rocking that one. That one's awesome.

[Trey Kirby]

How much would a Jeff jacket cost for the NBA Cup? 750 minimum.

[J. Skeith]

Wait, no, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, I would go way higher.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. These are 1750 minimum.

[J. Skeith]

Yeah. Whoa. So if I'm getting a, like, one off.

[Trey Kirby]

One off.

[J. Skeith]

What do you think Hamilton's quoting me on? He's 25, 000.

[Trey Kirby]

He's at least 25, 000 or 2500. 25, 000, because it's, you know.

[J. Skeith]

Okay, 5000 then. I thought you're probably right. Yeah, he's gonna be like 5,000 for that.

[Trey Kirby]

5,000 for a Jeff. We should put on our own leather jackets.

[J. Skeith]

Breaking tea. Can they do it?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, let's see what they can do.

[J. Skeith]

All right, go to nodungs.com get the crew neck, and keep your eye on potential Jeff Hamilton knockoff leather jackets. We'll see if we can make this happen. We should do that. All right, until Monday, everybody. Have a great weekend. Clipper Bros, you heard it here first. Have a great time.

[Trey Kirby]

Turn up.

[J. Skeith]

Love you guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, the Toronto Raptors can clinch their NBA cup group with a win and an Indiana Pacers loss. Both have to happen. Okay. All right. That could happen.

[J. Skeith]

Could happen. And as we sign off here to end your poll, pretty close in the end, delay of game. Tech for mopping 46%. D' Angelo Russell dribbling 42%. Yeah, but the people have spoken. Mark Davis, worst of the week. You think about that all weekend.

[Tas Melis]

Martinez.

[J. Skeith]

Brace the day, people. Ah, greetings from my bath, festive friends. The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling this season with PayPal and making the most of my money. Getting 5% cash back when I pay in 4. No fees, no interest. I used it to get this portable spa with jets. Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body. Make the most of your money this holiday with PayPal. Save the offer in the app ends 1231.

[Tas Melis]

See PayPal.com promo terms.

[J. Skeith]

Points can be redeemed for cash and more. Paying for subject to terms and approval.

[Tas Melis]

PayPal Inc. And MLS 910457.

[Ad Read Announcer]

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.

[Tas Melis]

You're almost at the finish line. But first.

[Ad Read Announcer]

There the last one.

[Tas Melis]

Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes. It's football season and now you can get anything you need for game day delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost.

[Trey Kirby]

Almost anything.

[Tas Melis]

You can't get a running back, but baby back ribs.

[J. Skeith]

Yes.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Uber Eats official on demand food delivery.

[J. Skeith]

Partner of the NFL.

[Ad Read Announcer]

This is an iHeart podcast.