Listener Mailbag | Morning Shoot Around

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily — Listener Mailbag | Morning Shoot Around

Date: December 26, 2025
Hosts: Dave DuFour, Zena Keda, Ben (S), Esfandiar Baraheni
Theme: Mailbag Special, Listener Q&A, Holiday Vibes & NBA Big Picture Debates

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Overview

This episode mixes NBA analysis with holiday cheer as Dave DuFour, Zena Keda, and Ben (S) answer listener questions live from their Discord and YouTube comments. They reflect on Christmas basketball traditions, debate lottery reform and anti-tanking fixes, analyze their favorite new NBA wrinkles, and imagine relocating teams. The tone is lighthearted, with holiday banter, but the conversations get deep into the nuts and bolts of NBA structure and strategy.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Holiday Warm-Up & Christmas Day Basketball

Timestamps: 02:26–05:04

• The hosts banter about holiday plans and family, with jokes about dealing with rain in California.
• Quick preview of the stacked NBA Christmas Day slate.
  • Zena's excited for the Warriors' “family reunion” and the emotional boost from Klay Thompson's return.
  • Some hosts think five games on Christmas might be overkill, especially with repeat matchups (Spurs-Thunder).
• Notable moment:
  • Zena, on Warriors: “They need a little family reunion. And Klay is the perfect energy to inject into that.” (04:21)
  • Quick reference to Cooper Flagg’s breakout and the rising star rookie narratives.

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2. Victor Wembanyama vs. Chet Holmgren "Rivalry"

Timestamps: 05:04–06:17

• The hosts discuss Victor Wembanyama’s dismissive comments on the Chet Holmgren rivalry.
  • Dave reads the quote: “No, I don’t think about that. At least from a basketball standpoint, there’s no comparison.” (05:44)
  • Ben likens it to the iconic Mad Men “I don’t think about you at all” scene (05:31).
  • Panel debates if these are truly “fighting words” or gamesmanship.

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3. Listener Mailbag: Favorite Holiday Movie

Timestamps: 06:57–09:25

• Zena: "Mine is 'This Christmas.' Such a good, like, family story... especially in the Black community." (07:00)
• Dave & Ben: "It's a Wonderful Life" is a favorite, also “Die Hard” (declared a Christmas movie).
  • Fun sidebar about how even the violence in Christmas movies gets normalized (08:23).

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4. The NBA Lottery & Tanking Problem

Timestamps: 09:25–17:43

A major mailbag segment:

• Ben: Tanking is inevitable for real talent acquisition; points out some teams get lucky (Mavs with Cooper Flagg, Hawks with Zachary), but Wizards need to lose for true star prospects (09:57–10:46).
• Dave: "If you incentivize losing, you're always going to have teams that lose on purpose. Period." (11:12)
• Guests debate reworking the lottery system:
  • Dave suggests flat odds for all non-playoff teams and restrictions on repeat top picks, stressing randomness and parity (12:43–13:16).
  • Ben: Proposes keeping high odds for lowest teams but with restrictions on consecutive top picks, believing bad teams “need to win the lottery” (13:53).
  • Zena: Advocates a formula considering competitiveness (point differential, effort at season end) to reward teams that try, not just those losing by design (15:02–16:16).
  • Consensus: Current system is flawed; need smarter, formula-based, and effort-rewarding lottery.

Notable exchange:

• Dave: “Nobody's tanking a good team.” (11:14)
• Zena: “The league is gonna need to give a star player to every single team over the course of time... but we want to discourage intentional losing.” (14:52)
• Ben: “Once you get eliminated from the playoffs, every win gives you a higher percentage...” (16:19)
• Dave: “Give me competition. Yeah, I don't want to watch 30 point blowouts.” (16:51)

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5. Favorite "New Thing" in the NBA This Season

Timestamps: 17:55–23:39

• Dave: “This rookie class has more All-NBA level players than any rookie class I can think of.” (18:44)
  • Highlights Cooper Flagg and Connor Knipple, and mentions Derek Queen’s surprising impact.
• Zena: Celebrates the resurgence of double-big lineups:
  • “I'm loving the size that you're seeing across the league... the NBA is putting some respect on size again.” (20:03)
  • Recalls the Warriors and Rockets driving the small-ball era, but now teams (Cavs, Rockets, Knicks) turning to size and “old school” basketball.
• Ben: Loves the “new look” Knicks, moving faster, more off-ball movement, and a varied offense that might make them the East’s best playoff team.
  • “The Knicks have a finals run in them.” (23:36)
• Mini-tangent: High press/trapping defense is on the way down statistically (23:39) but may resurge in playoffs.

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6. Rule Innovations: Stopping the “Hack-a” & Fouling Up Three

Timestamps: 24:39–32:29

• Mailbag Q: Should NBA teams have the option to inbound the ball or shoot two FT after being fouled in the bonus? Could this curb “hack-a” strategies? (24:39)
• Consensus:
  • “Optionality” could add strategic depth; inbounding creates a chance for turnovers but also less FT tedium.
  • Dave: “The inbound is a great way to have more turnovers… I’d rather take the points. Hit your free throws.” (25:28)
• Ben’s G League Proposal: Adopt 'One Free Throw For 2 Points' for fouls, as tested in G League (27:08).
  • “Speeds things up so much ... Maybe the NBA should adopt that.” (27:25)
• Hosts discuss refining late-game fouling rules, possibly making “intentional” up-3 fouls more punitive (e.g. 2 shots + the ball), but recognizing the difficulty of consistently defining intentionality and not overburdening refs/replay.

Memorable exchange:

• Zena: “All of it, I think, needs to have some level of a risk component to it. Some sort of strategy of assessing the risk.” (25:40)
• Dave: “Why is the coach having to do multiple jobs?” (31:48)

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7. Relocation & Rebranding NBA Teams

Timestamps: 33:13–38:49

• Mailbag Q: If you could relocate two teams, which and where?
  • General agreement: The Pelicans are the weakest candidate for current NBA cities.
  • Brooklyn Nets, LA Clippers also mentioned as possible relocations due to city market saturation.
  • Dave: “Pelicans and probably the Hornets. No one’s fighting for you, New Orleans.” (34:29)
  • Zena (NC native): “Absolutely not” to moving the Hornets (34:17).
  • Consensus: Washington (Wizards) deserves a team; the Pelicans are most expendable.
• Potential New Cities:
  • Seattle as the favorite, Vancouver, Kansas City, Louisville, and a possible Utah/New Orleans team-name swap.
  • Dave: “If Vancouver came back, they’d get the Grizzlies name. Memphis should be the Hustle.” (36:32)
  • Fun Fact: There are, in fact, pelicans in Salt Lake, Utah (37:05).

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8. Holiday Wishes & Final Thoughts

Timestamps: 38:49–43:47

• Mailbag Q: Finish the sentence: All I want for Christmas...
  • Ben: A healthy back for Jakob Poeltl (39:05)
  • Zena: “No more soft tissue injuries…they're killing momentum...” (39:49)
  • Dave: Jokes that no one wished for world peace, but earnestly wants an “85-point game” or “Steph Curry to hit 15 threes” — something to “make me giggle” on Christmas Day (40:21).
• They reflect on the joy of shocking trades (“Give me another jaw-dropping trade, like Luka to the Lakers!”), the fun/disruption of big NBA stories dominating media (42:10), and the emotional rollercoaster for fans involved in franchise-altering moves.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Lottery Reform:

  • Dave DuFour: “If you incentivize losing, you're always going to have teams that lose on purpose, period.” (11:12)
  • Zena Keda: “Let’s reward competitive nature…maybe raise your odds if you actually tried and just lost.” (16:01)

• On Rookie Class:

  • Dave DuFour: “This rookie class has more All-NBA level players than any rookie class I can think of.” (18:44)

• On NBA’s Evolution:

  • Zena Keda: “I’m loving the size you’re seeing... putting some respect on size again.” (20:03)
  • Ben: “The Knicks have a finals run in them. This is the best team in the Eastern Conference.” (23:36)

• On Rule Changes:

  • Ben: “The pace of a G League game is so different because of the one free throw rule. Maybe the NBA should try it.” (27:08)
  • Dave: “Why is the coach having to do multiple jobs?” (31:48)

• On Team Relocation:

  • Dave DuFour: “The Pelicans…no one’s fighting for you. Brooklyn and the Clippers, why do you need two teams in the same city?” (34:29)

• On NBA Holiday Spirit:

  • Dave DuFour: “All I want for Christmas? I want Steph Curry to hit 15 threes. I want something to make me giggle.” (40:21)
  • Zena Keda: “All I want for Christmas is no more soft tissue injuries. They're killing momentum and storylines.” (39:49)
  • Ben: “All I want for Christmas is Jakob Poeltl to get a new bionic back.” (39:05)

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Episode Timeline

| Timestamp | Segment
|-------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:26–05:04 | Holiday banter; Christmas Day NBA slate previews | | 05:04–06:17 | Wemby vs. Chet, “no rivalry” quote and context | | 06:57–09:25 | Favorite holiday movies — “This Christmas”, “It’s a Wonderful Life” | | 09:25–17:43 | NBA lottery, tanking, parity, proposed reforms | | 17:55–23:39 | Favorite new NBA things: rookies, lineups, Knicks, tactics | | 24:39–32:29 | Rule change debates: Hack-a, late-game fouling, G League FT innovation | | 33:13–38:49 | Relocation: cities most deserving, team rebranding fun | | 38:49–43:47 | All I want for Christmas... NBA wishes, healthy players, wild trades |

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Tone & Style

• Friendly, candid, humorous. The panel deftly switches from deep strategic NBA talk to lighthearted holiday stories and joking among friends.
• Interactive: Live listener questions from Discord and YouTube steer the show.
• Insightful but accessible: Even when discussing technical issues like lottery reform or rule tweaks, the explanations stay clear for casual and hardcore fans alike.

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Summary

This mailbag episode is an NBA aficionado’s blend of fun, food for thought, bold predictions, and playful debate. The hosts field creative listener questions spanning league structure, competitive integrity, basketball evolution, and the spirit of NBA as holiday tradition. They offer candid opinions on lottery fixes, award this rookie class near-historic stature, and air dreams of wild trades or memorable Christmas Day shows. The community feel and willingness to challenge norms make it a lively and thoughtful episode.

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Useful for: NBA fans, new listeners wanting a feel for the show’s vibe, or anyone curious about the league’s evolving landscape—on and off the court!

Transcript

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[Dave Dufour]

All right. Welcome to the NBA Daily Morning Shoot Around. We are live on YouTube. We got dogs in the house. Not my dog.

[Ben]

We do. I I'm not going to call her over.

[Dave Dufour]

She left.

[Zena Keda]

But yeah, that's why you have to have a small dog. Cuz small dogs they just have to go wherever you tell them to.

[Dave Dufour]

I. I'm dav. That's Zena Kada Esper Henny. You just heard no Andrew schlect today. Yep. Christmas Eve. How's it going guys?

[Ben]

Having a jolly holly Christmas, you know.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. You guys got family in town? How are you guys doing the holidays?

[Zena Keda]

I am the family finally in town. I am staying in the bay and I'm so excited to be at home.

[Ben]

Yeah. Yeah. Most of my family is. Is always in town for Christmas so we end up doing. Doing, you know, the holidays and whatnot with the parents. It's good that our both me and my wife's parents live next to each other. Not next, not like neighbors but they're very close.

[Zena Keda]

I was gonna say that's.

[Ben]

But we can kind of like two birds, one stone it. You know.

[Dave Dufour]

Right. But yeah, it's good.

[Ben]

Good.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. I'm gonna walk my dog in the rain. I'm assuming on Christmas. Look, this whole it never rains in Southern California thing, it gets me every winter. And we've got just four days of rain coming. Like historic rain. So I'm. I'm excited to hunker down for that. Speaking of hunkering down, Christmas day bunch of games. We got five games tomorrow morning. Christmas morning. We've got our Christmas Day preview. It's me and Andrew and S. We go through the games. We got a nice gift box from the NBA. Yeah. That was highlighting various games. So we went through the box and. And talked about the games quite a bit. Had a fun time. Xena, any. Any thoughts on the Christmas Day games before we get to the mailbag?

[Zena Keda]

I'm excited for, you know, the warriors to get all the nice little reunion. I think the timed. It's a perfect timing after everything that's been going on with the warriors this week. They need a little family reunion. And clay is the perfect energy to inject into that. But no, honestly, after. After seeing what Cooper Flag has been doing, I am just excited for him to get the big stage.

[Ben]

Oh yeah.

[Zena Keda]

And to be honest, I think it's a. It's a little overkill on NBA on Christmas Day. It's a very long day. But the main reason is because we just saw the spurs go up against the Thunder and it feels like this was too close for comfort. However. Yeah, that's my main takeaway for Christmas Day. I'm excited.

[Dave Dufour]

Well, I'm glad you brought up that game, Xena. Look, Sni, we got a chance to talk about that game on the show that came out this morning. Any thoughts on Thunder spurs, too? I mean, this. Look, this is a rivalry. We. We're gonna pump this up. You know, we got Victor saying he doesn't pay attention to Chet. Basically, he's not.

[Zena Keda]

Wait, you gotta read that quote. Can you read that quote, please?

[Dave Dufour]

Quote is fun, guys. This is. This is real.

[Ben]

It's kind of like the Mad Men.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Ben]

In the elevator, where he's like, I don't. I don't think about you at all.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Victor Webanyam was asked if he considered there to be a rivalry between he and. And Chet Holmgren.

[Ben]

Right.

[Dave Dufour]

He says, no, I don't think about that. At least from a basketball standpoint. There's no comparison. Yeah, well.

[Ben]

Well, yeah, that's fun.

[Zena Keda]

Those are fighting words.

[Ben]

Yeah. If I was chat Holmgren, I would be trying to rationalize it like. No, he meant, like, there's no comparison the other way, you know?

[Dave Dufour]

Right.

[Ben]

I'm no comparison. You know, that's what it means. I'm a champion, you know, all, etc. Etc.

[Zena Keda]

That's. I mean, that's. That's a good point. Someone has arranged and someone does. Not yet, so.

[Dave Dufour]

Oh, yeah.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

We'll see how that goes. All right, guys, so we decided to make this a mailbag Christmas edition, you know, if you will. I'm gonna start out with an easy one from this is. Questions that I'm reading are coming from the Discord, which in our show description, you guys can join the Discord, come hang out, we'll watch games there. Or also from the YouTube comments themselves, as we're going live here. First question from the Discord from H. Failer Thorin, which I. I always want to call half Thorin, actually active member on the Discord as the icebreaker for the show. Guys, what's your favorite holiday or Christmas movie?

[Zena Keda]

Oh, that's easy.

[Ben]

Oh, man, you go for it.

[Zena Keda]

Mine is it's this Christmas. And the. It's. This is awful. Guys, I just got Invisalign, so if you're hearing me lisping on. Oh, don't worry.

[Ben]

Nobody.

[Dave Dufour]

Invisalign doesn't sponsor the show, though.

[Zena Keda]

No, they don't. They don't. But I'm excited for it. But I'm just saying, if you hear that. And of course, the film, I have to say, has three S's in it. But, yeah, this Christmas, it's such a good, like, family story. It's got great singing. It's got a lot of, like, heavy hitters, especially Black community. And It's Great from 2007. And little Chris Brown's character, Baby, is like trying to secretly become a singer. And it's hilarious because obviously he can sing. But no, the. There's like so many different storylines within this family and it kind of perfectly plays out. There's comedy, there's some sad stories, there's some various secrets that kind of come to light in the movie throughout the family. And yeah, it's just a good old time.

[Dave Dufour]

Mine are pretty basic, you know, the classics. It's a Wonderful Life, I think. Amazing.

[Zena Keda]

Oh, wonderful.

[Ben]

That's the one I was gonna say right now.

[Zena Keda]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

Especially, you know, if you happen to share my politics. It really is kind of an amazing movie.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

And you know, and Die Hard just two classic Christmas movies.

[Ben]

I agree. Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

I watched Die Hard the other night.

[Ben]

Die Hard is absolutely a Christmas movie.

[Dave Dufour]

No, they made it as a Christmas movie. It's not even a debate. It's funny.

[Zena Keda]

That it.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. You know, I gotta rewatch Santa Claus saying yippee ki.

[Ben]

I would even say the second one is actually.

[Dave Dufour]

That works, by the way. What if it was? What if it was Instead of John McClane, what if it was Santa Claus doing Yippee Kaya?

[Zena Keda]

Well, what if Santa Claus's quote was not ho ho ho.

[Ben]

But you know, it's funny. They. They do so many like, violent night movies where Santa has to save the day, but he has like a machine gun, you know. That is definitely Inspired by Die Hard 100. I'm glad you brought up It's a Wonderful Life because I literally watched it for the first time in years yesterday.

[Zena Keda]

Oh, wow.

[Ben]

Oh, it was.

[Zena Keda]

Did it hit the same?

[Ben]

Yeah, absolutely. It's crazy that a movie that is 80 years old still resonates in such a massive way. And to your point about the politics of it, very, very good in that movie for something that's made in 1945.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, well, they kind of understood who the good guys were back then. But anyway, let's move on to the rest of the mailbag DK42 guys. A lot of lottery questions, a lot of people asking, you know, about tanking so far. Obviously it's a big, big story that came out that the NBA is going to try to solve this problem that they're looking for the guy who created.

[Ben]

And we're going to figure this non existent problem.

[Zena Keda]

Oh, continue.

[Ben]

So I feel like teams have to tank. It is a part of the life cycle. I know we hate it and I know it sucks and et cetera, et Cetera, and we've talked about this a bunch of times, but you kind of have to tank in order to get the franchise changing talent. And I know, I bet you there's people right now in the comments saying, well, the Mavs didn't tank. They just, you know, they got lucky. They got Cooper Flag. The Hawks didn't tank. They got lucky, they got Zachary. I think that's true in some cases. But if the Wizards want a franchise changing star, they need to suck, and they need to suck bad for a few seasons. And in order to get an opportunity to get a Darren Peterson or a Cam Boozer or whoever, because those guys aren't walking through the door in Washington.

[Dave Dufour]

You can't do it on the honor system of just like, oh, no, we're actually this bad. Yeah. Right. This is why the rosters look the way they do. It's like why the Brooklyn Nets are built the way that they are. Those players don't tank. Organizations do the way that they build rosters. And so I, I look again. If you incentivize losing, you're always going to have teams that lose on purpose, period.

[Ben]

But you also always need a loser.

[Dave Dufour]

And you. And they're bad teams, though. That's the thing. Nobody's tanking a good team. Yeah. Period. Yeah, but we have seen teams tank out of the playoffs or the play in actually here in the last few years. Yeah, I think that's a concern. Right. Like, why are you not trying to compete for the postseason anyway? All right, let's get to the questions. DK42 from the Discord asks, what would your ideal lottery layout look like? Would it be flat odds? No, repeat, top four picks. The. The what we have now. Do you have some new idea? Okay, we're gonna make a change. So I know s you've thought about this so much.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Hyper into the draft because I do like the draft.

[Ben]

I don't think the whole soccer system could work where it's a free market and everybody just gets to draft whoever they draft and sign whoever they sign. I don't think that would work in the NBA. The big markets would just have the advantage.

[Dave Dufour]

Well, it's bad for the franchise league model because you want. You actually want talent to spread around. Absolutely. I want you to bring your stars to town as much as you want me to bring my stars to town just from selling tickets. Right. But also I want you to watch it on tv. And if you've got a Globetrot like the Globetrotters don't do Numbers. I don't know if you guys noticed this. You know who's gonna win? Well, if you know who's gonna win, it's not like I gotta turn it on TV when it's. I'm not gonna see it in person.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

But I'm not turning it on like I know who's gonna win.

[Ben]

Do they let you gamble on the Globetrotters?

[Dave Dufour]

That'd be. Honestly, they pretty much let you gamble on anything at this point. So who. Who knows? But that's true. Look, I've said this before. Flat odds to me. Look, throw every team in the lottery every year and make it dumb luck. And then you could even put stuff like, you can't be top five two years in a row. You can't. You know, you can't be top 10 three years. If you're gonna put those sorts of restrictions, then make it all random. And then, you know, you just hope that the math works out, but sometimes it won't. And you may have to live with that.

[Ben]

Can I push back now?

[Dave Dufour]

Right, but. But we could do it. We could do the exact same randomness, but without the losing on purpose. And it's. I understand it. It sounds weird because, look, you might get a. A situation where the Oklahoma City Thunder get the number one pick, but the world we live in now is the Oklahoma City Thunder might get the number one pick, and it's, you know, for what? Because, you know, I guess I would say in this instance, at least the Clippers will. They're losing. Honestly, they just stink.

[Ben]

I. I'll push back on that real quick scene. I'll throw it out.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Ben]

So the. I think the teams that are bad and naturally bad. So I'm looking at the Wizards, I'm looking at the Nets, who have, like, gotten themselves in this situation here. Those teams need to win the lottery. And so my. My case here is, instead of making it even odds is give those teams more. A higher percentage at this thing.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Ben]

So it used to be 25 for the top three picks or top three odds. Give them 25 again. But also incorporate the rule that you can't be in the top four two years in a row.

[Dave Dufour]

So why do they need to win the lottery? What. What got them there? What if I. What if this was my plan?

[Zena Keda]

Well, this is my.

[Dave Dufour]

Okay, what if I was like, I gotta win the lottery, guys. I gotta go out. I gotta win the Powerball, otherwise I'll never be able to make it? Well, you would tell me, go get a job. Go get a job.

[Zena Keda]

This is fair. But I think to ensure parity, the league is gonna need to give a star player to every single team over the course of a period of time.

[Dave Dufour]

Sure.

[Zena Keda]

But to. I think the biggest thing is that we want to discourage intentional losing. Right. Like we don't want teams to be tanking, but there are some teams that aren't trying to lose that are still losing. And that is why I think that let's introduce, actually looking at how teams are competing, point differentials, right. Like let's say two teams miss the playoffs. Who in the last month were they losing games on purpose versus competing and losing games? Or maybe they, they won eight of their last 15 versus the other team that won one game. Okay, you're competing, you're trying. You just still unfortunately suck. That's okay. You were competing. We're gonna actually raise your odds because of that. So it's still going to be the non playoff teams.

[Dave Dufour]

We need a formula.

[Zena Keda]

I feel like there could be a formula where there's still non playoffs formula. A non playoff teams, those are automatically in the pool, but then there's tiers to it and you're looking at the people that at the, are at the bot very bottom. But how do they compete at the end? What's that port differential? Like what are those, those matchups looking like? And then from there you then have some sort of formula that helps increase your odds because you are competitive.

[Dave Dufour]

But this, this checks a lot of boxes.

[Ben]

A lot of people have brought up a similar idea where once you get eliminated from the playoffs, every win you get gives you a higher percentage of getting the number.

[Dave Dufour]

I like the point differential. I like it as well because it does, it shows competitiveness. You know, think about the Nets and how we talked about how they were too good to tank. Like really what it was. They were well coached and they played hard. This was not this season. Okay. This is previously. And you know, we, we would watch them lose close games. That's ideal. Give me that. Just give me competition. Yeah, I don't want to watch 30 point blowouts.

[Zena Keda]

Exactly. We're seeing like I, I look at the Utah Jazz, I look at the Kings, even I, I look at all these teams that are, that are fight fighting in games and keeping things close. But they're, they're competing and they're losing because they don't quite have the talent to close things out. And I feel like that shouldn't, I don't know, felt very off to see Dallas win over those type of teams last year. And so yeah, I I want to, I want to reward competitive nature.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, I, I like the idea of adding math to this. I, you know, everyone's already math. We need, we need Mike Tirico on television explaining the formula for how you, how you win the lottery. Which by the way, Mike Tirico awesome at calling basketball games. It feels like every game feels like a big time game.

[Ben]

Valiant legend right there, Mike.

[Dave Dufour]

It's awesome. Okay guys. Basketball question or bigger picture? Basketball question specific or big picture? Go big.

[Zena Keda]

Let's go back. Oh, go ahead.

[Dave Dufour]

All right, bigger picture basketball question from long, long time hang guy who has hung out with this podcast for a very long time. Ipod who's also in the. In the discord. What is your favorite new thing this season? Is it a team? Some new strategy from a team? A player taking a new role? A new skill from a player? Maybe it's a player on a new team. What's your favorite new wrinkle from the season?

[Ben]

It's a good question.

[Zena Keda]

It is a really good question.

[Ben]

Dave, do you have an answer?

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, I do.

[Zena Keda]

Okay, well kick us off.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, I want to look this rookie class, this is a little bit of a cop out. This rookie class has more all NBA level players than any rookie class I can think of.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

I'm. I'm shocked. And like the number 4 pick con canipple being the, the guy who looks like he's the front runner for rookie of the year out of nowhere, you know, Cooper flag obviously is just breaking rookie records. It's. It feels like every single night. What was it? S 33, 9 and 9. Last. Youngest player ever to have those stats. I, I just. This rookie class I've been extremely impressed with. I feel like they've added, it's, they've added new all stars this season. It feels like it's a lot of new players that you have to pay attention to. Yeah. Unlike last year, which you didn't to be fair. I mean it was a revolving door of, of main characters in the rookie class last year and this year it just feels like this class is just overwhelming. Even Derek Queen who kind of got to a little late. I think we've all fallen in love with. That's right.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

So yeah.

[Zena Keda]

Really good one.

[Dave Dufour]

My favorite new thing is the rookie class.

[Zena Keda]

That's a really good one. I don't know that mine is a new one, but I think that it's, it's the league is reverting back or turning back and being like, you know what, I'm so sorry that I Wasn't paying attention to you. Let me bring you back. And that's double big lineups. I'm loving the size that you're seeing across the league just from and, and being able to see, of course, post, being able to stretch the floor, etc. But I feel like the warriors for a while dominated the. Have one big that's a true big and then have a bunch of guard like, or, you know, wings that can play alongside of Stephen Curry guards, basically small ball. And now we're seeing a nice little reversion to like old school NBA of, you know, Stephen Adams and Alpert Shangoon, Isaiah Hartenstein and Holmgren. Like, I mean, it's just been so many different bigs, big lineups around the NBA that I'm like, okay, I'm a fan of this. I mean, I think Cleveland had a little bit of it last year with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen being really loud about that double B lineup. But this year more teams are tapping into size. And I mean, we, we just watched Dallas last night. I think Denver still doesn't. They don't have the talent to be able to have a double big lineup. But even size, I mean, Jonas Valentunas being in Denver, I really like that. As a backup for.

[Sports Broadcaster]

Yeah.

[Zena Keda]

So, yeah, as a person that's big on bigs, I like that the NBA is like putting some respect on size again.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Ben]

It's always kind of funny because you look at the, when we joked about this a couple days ago, but you look at the warriors, and the warriors are one of the only teams that haven't leaned in on this size phenomenon that's happening. And it kind of feels like they're being left behind in this. Right?

[Zena Keda]

Yes.

[Ben]

And it's, it's always funny because the warriors started that small ball movement and ushered us into this new era along with the Houston Rockets and obviously the Miami Heat before them. Like, they, they, they helped usher us into what felt like a five to seven year period where everybody wanted to find a Draymond Green type of player. Now you want to find your double big lineup. Yeah. Which I, I agree is definitely the, the cool new wrinkle here.

[Dave Dufour]

It's easier to find, by the way.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Draymond's. Draymonds don't grow on trees.

[Ben]

Draymond's do not grow on trees. And also, like, there are a lot of players that can replicate Draymond for five minutes, for 10 minutes.

[Dave Dufour]

Hey. Including Draymond, by the way. This, this idea and this. I do this on the Christmas Day show this idea that Draymond Green can be your full time five. Yeah, that should have ended years.

[Ben]

I mean, he knows that now too, right?

[Zena Keda]

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

[Dave Dufour]

Insane. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Ben]

Okay, wait, let me, let me give you my new.

[Dave Dufour]

Oh yeah, your new thing.

[Ben]

This is, this is very easy. I think the fact that the New York Knicks are playing a different brand of basketball this year is my new. It's a little minutiae stuff, but like they're moving faster, they're moving off of the ball more. Their offense looks very good for it. I actually think their offense is even better than it was last year where it felt a little one track minded with Jalen Brunson doing the isolation stuff and then it was Carl Anthony Towns at the high post area. Now there's just so much more variety to it and I think they're a better. They're going to be a better playoff team for that. Like this is, this is the best team in the Eastern Conference. They have a finals run in them. So. Yeah. Nick, good.

[Zena Keda]

I love that. I got one more new.

[Dave Dufour]

Oh yeah, Lawrence Field in the, in the chat on YouTube mentioned the high press and I should say. I'll point you to Fred Katz. Fred Katz over at the Athletic. Last week he wrote a story about how the, the high press is actually dying. Yeah, there's numbers are way down. So you know, again, like things, things that we see early on in an NBA season. Like a lot of times, like you'll see referees calling moving screens for the first 20 games and then that goes away. I think the high press is one of those, it will come back for the playoffs. Teams were working on it early. And I think that what we've seen is an increase in that in the playoffs from, from the pacers two years ago, picking up, you know, 75ft up to. To obviously what we saw last season. So the high press, I'm guessing we'll see it in high leverage moments, but it was more an early season. You know, I think working out the kinks sort of thing. All right, from deleted user and then a bunch of letters. I don't know if this person deleted their account. I don't know if this is just. Anyway, what do you guys think of the idea of either choosing to inbound the ball or to take two free throws after being fouled in the bonus. It could solve the hacka, you know, whoever. We got to come up with something that's not hacka, but it could solve the intentional fouling. Like, you know, I don't want to watch a free throw contest between Mitchell Robinson. Yeah. And, you know, the Washington Wizards, for instance. They stink. So what, what would you guys do? Would you, would you like the idea of being able to take the inbound? To me, I'll tell you this, as a coach, the inbound is a great way to have more turnovers. I don't really want to do that. I'd rather take the points. Hit your free throws.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Is it.

[Ben]

I would like a solution also if we're adding on to it, the foul up three stuff.

[Dave Dufour]

Well, we'll talk about that after. I've got a follow up.

[Ben]

You. Okay.

[Dave Dufour]

But in this instance, intentional filing.

[Zena Keda]

I'm with the, I'm with the option, the optionality. I, that I think that is going to be the answer to hacka, whatever. Fouling up three. All of it, I think needs to have some level of a risk component to it. Some sort of. Okay. Some sort of strategy of assessing the risk. And so in what you're talking about, Dave, when you're inbounding the ball versus taking two free throws, there is this factor of there's a lesser chance of you being able to actually score the ball and then potentially turning it over and a fast break the other way for the, the opponent. I, I think though, at the end of the games, maybe in the last two minutes, particularly if you were like looking for a three, if a team really needs a three and they get that, they, they, they get fouled or whatever, I don't know, they just want to put themselves in a better cushion than just two. They get the choice between the inbound or the free throw. But I, I just don't know if during the regular game I would, I would absolutely put my, whoever on the line to take those two, two shots.

[Ben]

Can.

[Dave Dufour]

I think I'm almost always choosing to take the free throws as, as the coach, but I don't want to watch it as a fan. Right. I. So if the hacka, whatever goes away, I mean, there's a lot of stuff I would take away. Again, the jump ball. Go to a possession. It's a waste of time and it's also a dangerous play. It's just a waste of time.

[Ben]

Can I, can I throw out an idea real quick? So.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Ben]

The G League for fouls. All fouls.

[Zena Keda]

Oh, I love that.

[Ben]

Until the end of the last two minutes. One free throw, one free. And it speeds things up so much. The pace of a G League game is so different compared to an NBA game where, you know, usually NBA games are two and A half hours. G League games you can get done in two hours. And the free throw.

[Zena Keda]

And it's one free throw for two for two points.

[Ben]

Exactly.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Ben]

So. So I, I mean I would love for the NBA to adopt that. They're obviously playing around with it in the G league to see how it would work. I feel like maybe on these hacker shack attempts or even the fouling up three attempts, I don't know. But there's just a world where that makes a lot of sense.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Speed up the game.

[Dave Dufour]

The fouling up three, it needs to be cleared up for the same reason that the clear path foul was, was created.

[Ben]

Absolutely.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. It is taking away exciting game play. You know, I, I mean, and you're.

[Zena Keda]

Not really getting punished for it. That's.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Well, because it's the right move. It is the smart strategy. Usually it has, it has backfired on a few teams here and there. It's not always the right move. It depends on the team. I mean, I think that I would rather play defense. But we know so much of 3.0 shooting variance is about luck. I mean you can luck adjust three point shooting and it's pretty dead on. And so there's a, there's a certain degree of. It does become a crapshoot as to whether or not to foul up three. So I think coaches are, they're going to be more conservative. Take the foul, like do the foul up three, put you on the line for the two free throws, assume they can either get a rebound or continue to make, you know, make you shoot free throws. Yeah, but it takes, like I said, it takes away an exciting play. Now Livingston in the chat says if you foul up three, it's two shots in the ball.

[Zena Keda]

See, that's, that's exactly what. Okay, I didn't even see that.

[Dave Dufour]

Too punitive. No, I disagree too, because now all of a sudden. Okay, but, but who's to say what's a foul up three and what's not. Like now we're gonna have to read it.

[Ben]

Last 24 seconds. Last 24 seconds of the game. Last 24 seconds. No shot clock left. If you foul up three, it's two shots plus the ball.

[Dave Dufour]

So what happens in a league where defenders already cannot play defense? So now we're just saying. See, now we're going the other way, guys. See, this is why, this is a hard problem to have.

[Ben]

But there's a difference.

[Dave Dufour]

I agree with you there. It's a spirit of the game rule that they need to adjust. But also you're going to have to have the, the referees and NBA owners can't stand this. But you're going to have to have the referees make decisions, be guys who know basketball and say, hey, I'm interpreting the rule like this.

[Ben]

It's an intentional foul. And.

[Dave Dufour]

Right. It is a harder problem to solve than it looks. And I know that I've been like, leading the charge on that. I'm not saying it's going to be an easy one to fix, period. Europe, I mean, we could look at what they're. But they need to figure it has to be fixed for the, for the game. I mean, it's much more fun.

[Zena Keda]

But don't you think that if a team knows that they're going, if, if they don't play impeccable defense and they do intentionally foul, that they could potentially not only get two shots, but also give the ball away. You are going to be, I mean, going back to fundamental. Slide your feet hands up like your, your butt's going to be down to the ground.

[Dave Dufour]

You're not gonna foul. You're gonna, you're gonna make sure they're gonna.

[Zena Keda]

You're not gonna foul, but you're gonna probably get some really good defense coming out of that. I think that that's more.

[Ben]

Let me, let me get a wacky kind of suggestion here. Out the way. What if, if you foul from the three point line and beyond, it's two shots plus the ball. But if it's inside the paint, it's a regular foul, common foul. So now it's, you know, when you.

[Dave Dufour]

If you're down 3, you're not going inside the paint. You know what I mean?

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Ben]

Yeah, exactly. So then it still creates that kind of conundrum of, hey, we obviously can't foul up three if they're trying to go for. You know what I mean? We just have to get a shot contest up right.

[Dave Dufour]

Again, it's going to be one of those rules that, that they wind up. I think there's going to be some interpretation and they're going to be a lot of reviews just like the clear path has been. I, I just don't add more reviews. But let's find a way to, to get this.

[Ben]

I will say I think they're, they're incorporating the, the head pieces for the referees moving forward this year. That will probably speed things up a little bit.

[Dave Dufour]

I mean, we've all wondered.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

We've all wondered how come there's not a referee whose job it is just to watch each play on replay and confirm yeah. Hit the. Just light it up. I don't like the coaches having to challenge.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

A missed call. That is a weird. Why is the coach having to do multiple jobs?

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

It's not getting paid to referee when.

[Zena Keda]

You'Ve got 12 people standing or sitting beside you.

[Dave Dufour]

I get it.

[Zena Keda]

It's not really.

[Dave Dufour]

But I'm not into this having to, like. Like we have to go and. And go back and check the work of the officials while we're going. I would rather have no replay whatsoever or a replay official. That just takes care of all that.

[Zena Keda]

I'll say. There's a. There's a comment. That's very good. I don't think y' all are accounting for how good offensive players are drawing questionable fouls. You're absolutely right.

[Dave Dufour]

That's true.

[Zena Keda]

This era of basketball, the Griff era, the grifting era. Yeah, you're absolutely.

[Dave Dufour]

But I will.

[Ben]

I will push back on this. So the. The Thunder, Kevin Durant, when he was in okc, he created that sweep into a foul. They completely eliminated that, so.

[Dave Dufour]

No, they didn't.

[Ben]

Yeah, it's now on the floor. It's now on the floor. It's not a shooting. They still call it.

[Dave Dufour]

Yes.

[Ben]

Yeah, they still call it, but it's an on the floor foul versus it being a shooting foul. That's such a huge difference maker for guys who grift now because SGA can't. Can't rip on a stand.

[Dave Dufour]

Why is SGA the first guy you think of?

[Ben]

Because everybody thinks of sga, unfortunately.

[Zena Keda]

That's funny for me. Jalen Brunson. I was gonna say the two of them immediately come.

[Ben]

I'm not the SGA foul baiter guy.

[Dave Dufour]

Don't throw it on me. You know, what was the term. What was the term that was thrown out there during the finals? I don't want to repeat it here. All right, guys, we got a question here from YouTube. If you're listening to the show on audio version. Thank you for listening. Give us a five star review if you want to watch. Hey, we. We smile a lot on YouTube here. Yeah, we're hanging out over on our YouTube channel. All right, guys, from. From shaft 151 9. Question. If you could shut down two teams and change their location, who would be shut down and where would you relocate them? So, okay, this is just moving teams. This is not shutting down teams. But if I was shutting down teams, man, I think probably the Pelicans and the Wizards. Maybe the Hornets. What?

[Ben]

The Wizards, Washington.

[Dave Dufour]

Maybe the Hornets.

[Zena Keda]

I feel like.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, Washington should have A team. I just. Look, I would change them back to the Bullets, but you know, that's. Yeah, I know. Rebounding. Ls, man, rebounding. Ls, I don't know. I. I mean the Pelicans and probably the Hornets.

[Zena Keda]

Oh, not the Hornets. No, no. I. I feel as a North Carolina girly. Absolutely not.

[Dave Dufour]

I think North Carolina has to have a team.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[Dave Dufour]

Pelicans. No one, no one's fighting for you.

[Sports Broadcaster]

No.

[Dave Dufour]

New Orleans.

[Ben]

How about. How about the teams. How about the cities that have two teams? Brooklyn and the Clippers. Move those teams.

[Zena Keda]

That's a good, good one. I don't know.

[Ben]

Why do you need two teams?

[Dave Dufour]

I. Clippers have a billion dollar stadium that they're probably not going to leave.

[Ben]

The. The guy who just bought the Lakers.

[Dave Dufour]

Can buy the stadium. There you go.

[Ben]

Call it a day.

[Zena Keda]

I don't know if I don't. The reason I don't want to move the Nets, even though that is a really good one, is just because I like Brooklyn Sports Entertainment as a whole. I think that their whole business brought like, model is good and I like the size. I like the size as owners. But Pelicans, I mean, the Nets do make sense.

[Ben]

I just feel bad because we always say the Pelicans.

[Zena Keda]

I know the nation's capital needs a team like.

[Dave Dufour]

Well, yes. I mean, listen, it was a joke about the Wizards. You can't not have a DMV team.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, what. What cities are we talking about moving teams to? Seattle feels like a gimme.

[Ben]

Yeah, Seattle for sure.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

How about non Seattle, non Las Vegas? Is there a place where you guys think. I mean, Kansas City comes up quite a bit.

[Zena Keda]

I was just thinking that although it.

[Dave Dufour]

Seems like the Chiefs are leaving. They are leaving Kansas City. I don't know if that's real. I never know what's real and what's just same team ownership trying to.

[Ben]

Oh, I thought you were gonna say.

[Dave Dufour]

No, I'm okay. No, that I'm good at.

[Zena Keda]

No, some people like.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, yeah. You know what? This is a pretty good one. Louisville and you know, they've already got the KFC Yum center right there.

[Ben]

These American minds, man. How about Vancouver?

[Dave Dufour]

Okay. Vancouver, a basketball town.

[Ben]

They are a basketball town. And they're also in a better position now than they were 25 years ago.

[Dave Dufour]

Can I. Can I tell you guys one of, one of the ways I would change the league?

[Ben]

Sure.

[Dave Dufour]

Okay. Let's say Vancouver came back.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Okay.

[Dave Dufour]

They would get the Grizzlies name.

[Ben]

Oh, I like that.

[Dave Dufour]

Sure. Memphis should be the hustle. There are no Grizzlies in Tennessee. Go ahead and be the Hustle. You've already got the branding. It's easy switch. Obviously, the Pelicans should be the Jazz. If anything, Utah could be the Grizzlies.

[Ben]

Utah could be the Pelicans.

[Zena Keda]

I was thinking about the Jazz.

[Dave Dufour]

I don't know about Pelican. No, there's no Pelicans in Utah.

[Ben]

You know what? There are Pelicans in Salt Lake. Yes.

[Sports Broadcaster]

Really?

[Ben]

Yes, man. You learn something new every day.

[Dave Dufour]

I did just learn something new. Pelicans in the salt. I guess it is big enough. It's salty. Yeah, man. Interesting.

[Zena Keda]

I think Utah. Now I'm, I'm. I'm homing in on Utah and New Orleans, but I'm trying to think of who.

[Ben]

Where Move Utah. Wow.

[Zena Keda]

I would move Utah.

[Dave Dufour]

Move the. The Jazz. Wow. Would just change their name. You know, been to Utah, not a lot of Jazz. So. By the way, the Chiefs are leaving from Kansas City, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas.

[Zena Keda]

Okay, so 20, 2030 or 2031, I believe it is.

[Dave Dufour]

Is there any NBA team that could move to a same name city? It feels, by the way, feels like a downgrade to go from Missouri to Kansas. I've been to Kansas City, Missouri. I've never been to Kansas City, Kansas.

[Zena Keda]

Very different.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Ben]

Which one, I imagine which one has better barbecue?

[Zena Keda]

I mean, in my opinion. Casey. Mo.

[Ben]

Okay.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Ben]

I don't know. I have no idea, guys. Maybe we'll do a little food trip.

[Sports Broadcaster]

You know, go to Casey.

[Ben]

Casey.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Zena Keda]

Do we think that needs three teams?

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Texas is huge. Texas is the size of Europe. You know, that's like saying it feels.

[Ben]

Like we're talking about the electoral college right now.

[Zena Keda]

Kind of does. Like, do they need all those seats?

[Ben]

Does California need five teams?

[Dave Dufour]

Should California have eight senators? This and more on cross. All right, guys, last question as we wrap it up. And it. This could be, you know, anything. Another one from. Again, it makes me want to say half Thor and. But it's something else.

[Zena Keda]

Thorin.

[Dave Dufour]

Yes. All right, guys, finish this sentence. All I want for Christmas.

[Zena Keda]

There you go.

[Dave Dufour]

I think we've just got to pay a million bucks to Mariah Carey now, so thanks for that.

[Ben]

S. All I want for Christmas is Yaka purdle to be healthy and get a new bionic back.

[Dave Dufour]

We're all saying that. Yeah, you stole my ass.

[Ben]

Clearly, he has not been healthy, and it's been terrible. So I just. For his sake, I hope he gets a healthy back. I don't know if you guys have ever had back issues. Oh, actually, yes.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ben]

Tough to be with back issues.

[Zena Keda]

Also, I know Santa is just like every list he opened started with that. I. I just feel like everyone was putting Jakob at the top there.

[Dave Dufour]

How about everyone being healthy?

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, well, that's what I was gonna say. I was gonna say.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Sports Broadcaster]

I.

[Zena Keda]

All I want for Christmas is no more soft tissue injuries. Oh, I hate these things. These two to three, two to four week soft tissue injuries. I just don't want them. They're killing momentum for a lot of teams and killing some storylines. Like we haven't been able to see some of the best matchups be actually consequential because folks are out. So, yeah, no more soft tissue injuries.

[Dave Dufour]

That'd be great, guys. I can't believe neither of you went with world peace, which is just disappointing.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah, damn. That's. That is.

[Dave Dufour]

Honestly, guys, you know what I want for Christmas here? I want someone to do something ridiculous on Christmas day. I want an 85 point game. I want Steph Curry to hit 15 threes. I want some stuff to make me giggle. Right. It's raining outside here in Southern California. I'm gonna complain about it because the weather's so good every day. It's so crazy.

[Ben]

You guys don't rain at all one.

[Dave Dufour]

Time it's like we're running Vegas and s senses snow pictures and I. It's like, oh man, I'm sweating outside. Yeah. But I'm gonna complain about this rain while we got it. But yeah, I just want to see some ridiculous stuff that makes me giggle.

[Ben]

Right.

[Dave Dufour]

That's my favorite thing about watching the NBA is why Steph Curry will go down as one of my favorite athletes to watch ever.

[Zena Keda]

Because they know how to put on a show.

[Dave Dufour]

To this day, that guy, almost every single game does something that I just giggle at. So I'm hoping for some ridiculous stuff on Christmas day. I, I mean, I do think now we're getting into the better part of the season. The NBA cup is behind us, which was a lot of fun for us especially, but now we're getting into the meat of it. I think these back to back Thunder spurs games games are starting to mean something. We're starting to see some fight. And as soon as, and as these players get more and more healthy, I do think that the season's going to wind up being pretty good. Last year was the season, the best season I've ever covered. This one's gotten off to a rough start for quality of games.

[Ben]

Yeah, I agree.

[Dave Dufour]

But the players are so good and these teams are better than I think we've seen. So I'm. I'm very excited for what the rest of the season looks like. You guys have any closing thoughts as we. We finish off before Christmas Day and we all break for the rest of the week?

[Zena Keda]

I kind of have one more thing that I want for Christmas.

[Ben]

Go for it.

[Zena Keda]

I want another jaw dropping trade like.

[Ben]

Luca to the Lakers type trade.

[Zena Keda]

Think about how fun it was trying to contemplate what the hell happened. Like we. We. I'm talking like I'm part of the NBA ether, but you are the NBA. The NBA dominated conversations. Dominated sports conversations. Like, that was so guys fun.

[Dave Dufour]

I was on npr.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Zena Keda]

It was a conversation on npr on cnn. Like it was. It was. If you talk about world peace, this disrupted world peace. Like it was. Yeah. So I wanna. I want something like that again.

[Dave Dufour]

Is it.

[Ben]

Would it be Giannis?

[Zena Keda]

Yes.

[Ben]

Okay.

[Dave Dufour]

No, see, but Giannis we see coming. We.

[Zena Keda]

We do not wish other end.

[Dave Dufour]

Okay. But we would never wish the Luka Doncic trade on a fan base again. Yeah, that's.

[Ben]

No way.

[Dave Dufour]

It was.

[Zena Keda]

We wouldn't wish Luca really. But yeah, the way they felt betrayed.

[Dave Dufour]

We talk about it being the worst trade maybe in sports history and we don't know about that because we don't know how it's going to play out. I would say it's the most unfair for sure.

[Zena Keda]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Ben]

It would be like if. If the Wolves tomorrow said we're trading Anthony Edwards for Carl Anthony Towns. I don't know. It's.

[Dave Dufour]

That's. That's. That's a better trade.

[Ben]

It actually is.

[Dave Dufour]

You know, I actually. I couldn't find.

[Ben]

Find a proper example.

[Sports Broadcaster]

There's no.

[Zena Keda]

There is no comparison.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, but.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Zena Keda]

I just want one gm just like trying to cook up something crazy.

[Dave Dufour]

Norm. No AD is better.

[Ben]

All right.

[Zena Keda]

Okay.

[Dave Dufour]

We're off the rails, guys. Again. Hey, if. If you're listening to the show, thank you so much. You've been with us a long time. Or. Or if you're just joining us, thanks for being here. And if you were here on YouTube again, we've been doing this every week and we're trying to build this into a thing. So thank you guys for hanging out. We want to wish you guys happy holidays. I know there's a lot of different holidays. I don't know them all. So happy holidays to everybody. And we'll be back next week. So we'll say Happy New Year then. But hang out with us on these streams. We're. We're having a good time here. For Esperahenny and Zena Keda, I'm Dave dufour. This is Ben the NBA daily. Merry Christmas, everybody.

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[Esper Henny]

Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.

[Commercial Announcer]

Zoe. This thing weighs a ton.

[Zena Keda]

Drew ski, lift with your legs, man.

[Ben]

Santa.

[Dave Dufour]

Santa, did you get my letter? He's talking to you britches.

[Zena Keda]

I'm not.

[Esper Henny]

Of course he did. Right Santa?

[Zena Keda]

You know my elf Drew ski here.

[Ben]

He handles the nice list.

[Commercial Announcer]

An elf?

[Dave Dufour]

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[Zena Keda]

Right Mrs. Claus?

[Esper Henny]

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[Ben]

Keep your old phone or give it as a gift.

[Esper Henny]

And the best part, you can make the switch to t mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[Zena Keda]

Nice.

[Dave Dufour]

My side of the tree is slipping, Kimber. The holidays are better. AT T mobile switch and just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now t mobile is available in U S Cellular stores. Credits for well qualified customers plus tax and 35 device connection charge. Credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Case and finance agreements. 156 gigs830 eligible for in a new line 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line.

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