The Bill Simmons Podcast

Episode: An NBA Holiday Mailbag and the Jokic Scare With Rob Mahoney
Date: December 31, 2025
Host: Bill Simmons
Guest: Rob Mahoney

Episode Overview

This lively holiday episode dives into the state of the NBA as 2025 ends, featuring a classic mailbag with Bill Simmons and Rob Mahoney. Their discussion swings from urgent news like Nikola Jokic’s injury, to all manner of league trends, awards, trades, and even pop culture tangents—delivering equal parts insight and entertainment. For NBA obsessives, it’s a quintessential deep-dive roaming from the MVP debate to the fate of “multi-time All-Stars,” all anchored by Simmons’s signature banter and Mahoney’s sharp analysis.

Topical NBA Discussion

The Jokic Scare and Ripple Effects

[04:23-08:08]

• Jokic’s Injury:
  • Simmons reacts viscerally: “I went through the death spiral of oh my God, no more league pass with the Joker, no more playoffs with the Joker… I didn’t realize how much he meant to me.” (04:23)
  • Mahoney notes the timing: Nuggets were surging, Jokic looked like an MVP frontrunner, and his absence will “throw everything for a loop.”
  • Possible impact on standings and awards: If Jokic misses significant time and games, MVP eligibility and the Nuggets’ playoff seeding are in question.
• Nuggets Without Jokic:
  • “We’re going to actually find out how truly valuable he is… I think they could fall as low as 6 and they’re fine. I don’t want to see any part of the playing game.” (06:17)
• Spurs Seizing the Moment:
  • Spurs could now “get a death grip on the two seed.” (06:54)

League Notes: Clippers, Phoenix, Cleveland, All-Star Voting

[08:13-14:30]

• Clippers Revival:
  • Kawhi’s resurgence post-criticism leaves Simmons “reconsidering” the team; Mahoney wryly calls betting the Clippers “100-to-1…some real sicko shit.” (09:47)
• Phoenix Outlook:
  • Simmons questions if the Suns can survive an incoming tougher schedule; both agree January will “tell the tale.”
• Cleveland’s Health:
  • Renewed Cavs optimism after a win when healthy, though Mahoney is skeptical: “There just might be something a little busted there that's never going to be quite right again.” (11:43)
• LeBron and All-Star Ballot Manipulation:
  • Simmons ponders if the league would rig votes to keep LeBron as a starter, “because they don’t want to have a game without LeBron,” calling the process “funny business.” (13:09)
  • Mahoney: “From a league standpoint, an All-Star Game with LeBron is better than not… if there is tampering afoot, I would think it would be…getting LeBron into the game.” (13:20)

Deep Dives: Mailbag Q&A

Top NBA Awards: Rethinking and Expanding

[21:02-25:45]

• Breakthrough vs. Most Improved:
  • Simmons: “Why can’t we have both?... Breakthrough is... ‘where the fuck did you come from’ guy. Most Improved is like Michael Porter Jr., Jaylen Duran, guys who showed up a level up.” (21:13)
  • Mahoney: “We end up just giving it to, ‘Okay, who’s scoring more points this year?’” (21:40)
  • Emphasis on wanting to capture surprising success and reward overlooked players (Powerball Ticket Award, Best Non-Lottery Rookie).
• “We’re Sorry We Mocked That Trade” Award:
  • Nominees include the Brooklyn MPJ trade and the Giddey-Caruso swap. “The nominees would be… Brooklyn traded for Michael Porter Jr., the Giddey-Caruso trade… Maybe the Derrick Queen trade.” (24:46)
  • Mahoney: “That’s turned out be quite a nice deal for Brooklyn, honestly.” (25:01)

Tanking, Ownership, & Lottery Reform

[43:41-48:13]

• Detailed email and debate about what incentivizes tanking (owners vs. GMs), plus radical ideas (forced sale after eight non-competitive years, Simmons’s “no top-5 pick two years in a row” lottery rule).
  • Simmons: “There’s really only three things that were bad. The process in Philly was outrageous… San Antonio had Wemby, Castle, and Harper… Houston goes 2, 3, 4 three, four straight years.” (46:00)
  • Mahoney: “Every small market GM [would be] calling us frantically trying to get this rule banned.” (47:38)

The Spurs vs. OKC “Kryptonite” Debate

[30:07-38:01]

• Fan email claims the media’s overreacting to the Spurs beating OKC thrice in December; Simmons and Mahoney debate the impact.
  • Simmons: "If OKC is just going to make 24% of their threes, I think there’s probably eight teams that could beat them night to night." (32:31)
  • Key insight: Spurs’ guard depth “kryptonite” for OKC’s defense, and Wemby’s rim presence disrupts SGA’s midrange game.
  • Mahoney: “If you aren’t forcing turnovers, if you’re the Thunder, then all of a sudden those Caruso shots, those Dort shots, like they really really have to hit.” (33:15)
  • Both agree: Spurs present a legitimate concern, not an overreaction; Simmons compares the matchup to the ‘86 Rockets “kryptonite” for the Lakers. (37:46)

NBA Trade Chatter & Theory

Pistons’ Roster Fixes

[14:30-18:45]

• Simmons: “This is clearly the team… there’s one easy fix for them that would make them go up a level. They don’t have anybody who can guard big wings…” (14:30)
• Mahoney: “If the problem is they don’t have someone to guard Kawhi or Jaylen Brown, the answer is NOT Michael Porter Jr.” (16:20)
  • Still, expanding on a hypothetical multi-team trade involving Ivy, MPJ, and others.
  • Simmons: “MPJ’s morphed into this different person… now it’s like, he’s got this year, expiring contract next year… 40 million is tradable in this new apron era.” (19:14)

The Giannis “Trade Value Paradox”

[49:54-53:33]

• Simmons observes: despite Giannis’s accolades, “multiple contenders” have passed, possibly seeing him as someone the team must build around, not effortlessly plug in:
  • “If you bring Giannis in, you have to fit the team around him... he’s not a fit-into-the-team guy…” (50:09)
  • Mahoney: “He’s a guy who wants to play a pretty specific way… you would have to tear down or compromise part of who you are...” (50:16)
• Dilemmas for teams like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio—do the wins outweigh the stylistic overhaul?

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Simmons on the Jokic injury:
  “He’s my number one ‘Oh no, so-and-so got hurt’ guy in any sport who’s not a Boston guy.” (04:23)
• Mahoney on Clippers optimism:
  “Betting the Clippers 100 to 1 to win anything is some real sicko shit, and I salute you for it.” (09:47)
• Simmons on trade regret award:
  “The ‘We’re sorry we mocked your seemingly horrific trade—our bad—award.’” (24:46)
• Mahoney’s trait for white American NBA players:
  “It’s always the shooting, it’s the surprising athleticism, it’s the feel for the game, competitive savvy…” (77:15)
• Steph Curry Award brainstorm:
  “I propose… the player who was the most dominant at a certain skill that season… What a great idea.” (81:04)

NBA Culture, History & TV Tangents

Best/Worst Multi-time All-Stars Debate

[62:14-64:52]

• Simmons and Mahoney roast Andre Drummond, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and others as history’s least deserving repeat All-Stars.
  • “Getting your All Star birth off rebounding… is kind of a tough beat.” (62:40)
  • “You’ve thrown Z under the bus like this.” (63:06)

TV “Holy Shit” Moments

[57:58-61:32]

• Simmons’s all-time “Whoa!” TV moments:
  • #1: Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding.
  • Others: Omar’s death in The Wire, Jack’s reveal in Lost, Kimberly’s wig in Melrose Place, Bernthal’s death in Walking Dead.
  • Mahoney: “Has to be it, at least in terms of the last 20 years of TV…”

Comedy, Awards, and Inside Jokes

[54:50-57:46]

• Deep riff on Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the “Kobe” of television, comparing career arcs (“If Seinfeld is the Kobe Shaq Lakers, who is the Shaq?… it’s Jerry Seinfeld.”) (56:09)
• “DQ Blizzard” proposed as Derrick Queen’s spin move (fan email, 73:39) — both hosts are delighted.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:23] Jokic injury reactions
• [09:47] Clippers and Kawhi discussion
• [13:09] All-Star voting “rigging” banter
• [14:30] Pistons fix talk, fake trades
• [21:02] Awards: Breakthrough v. Most Improved
• [30:07] Spurs-OKC matchup analysis
• [43:41] Tanking, lottery, and ownership rules
• [49:54] Giannis's paradoxical trade value
• [54:50] JLD/Kobe comparison
• [62:14] Multi-time All-Star debate
• [73:39] DQ Blizzard nickname
• [81:04] Steph Curry award idea brainstorm

Tone & Language

The episode is casual, smart, and irreverent. Simmons and Mahoney trade jabs, drop pop culture references, and turn listener emails into thoughtful hoops analysis—without sacrificing their conversational, self-deprecating rapport.

• Example:
  “Betting the Clippers 100-to-1 is some real sicko shit, and I salute you for it.” (Mahoney, 09:47)
  “I still feel like, all right, next one’s from Gray Zabel in Denver. You keep missing the actual most appalling part of the Luka trade…” (Simmons, 26:05)

Final Thoughts

NBA fans will love:

• The rapid-fire, deeply informed award and trade debates
• Honest, big-picture takes on star value and team-building
• Hilarious analogies (TV, GM award names, nicknames)

Don’t miss:

• The “Kryptonite” breakdown of Spurs vs. OKC [30:07–38:01]
• Radical new award proposals [21:02, 81:04]
• Nostalgic/irreverent sidebars on TV shockers and NBA “white guy” rankings

For listeners:
A classic, sprawling Simmons holiday mailbag—full of bravado, astute NBA chatter, and more than a few laugh-out-loud moments.