Mike Ryan (2:42)

Okay. I have honored every single punishment, no matter how difficult. And today is probably the most challenging thing I've ever had to do since freedom.

Ethan (2:53)

Get the hell out of here.

Mike Ryan (2:54)

I have to chew gum during the show.

Dan Le Batard (2:58)

The show just started.

Dan Le Batard (2:59)

Shouldn't you be.

Mike Ryan (3:00)

Do you know how much gum I usually chew during the show? 0. 00. There might be times during today's show where I have one, maybe two pieces of gum in my. In my mouth while I'm talking.

Zaz (3:10)

A lot of squatting too.

Mike Ryan (3:11)

That is a choking hazard. It's also. It also represents a 200% increase in chewing gum that's in my mouth during these shows.

Zaz (3:18)

Well, no. It's more than 200%. You went from zero to whatever it is. That's an infinite 700.

Dan Le Batard (3:24)

You're the president of the United States now. Playing with percentages.

Zaz (3:27)

Hey, Dan. Are you excited for 50 year mortgages? That's how we're going to solve this. A 50 year mortgage?

Chris Cody (3:34)

I mean, if you think about it.

Mike Ryan (3:38)

Yeah. It just did.

Dan Le Batard (3:39)

It's as good as an idea as Zaz's. Let's rest. Let's rest players in the first half and make them play the second half.

Ethan (3:47)

I'm dying on that hill.

Mike Ryan (3:49)

You literally.

Dan Le Batard (3:50)

You just sounded like you were dying on a civil war bayonet. What happened to you was that. I don't know. You and Ethan. Look, you and Ethan. The amount of cream cheese that you're costing Meadowlark is why I can't pay you Donnis Haslam to govern this. This. This punishment list.

Zaz (4:07)

Couple lucky Js.

Guest/Producer (4:12)

This is the Don Levator show with the Stugach podcast.

Dan Le Batard (4:20)

Tony's taunting me during the break, saying Udonis Haslam has become Diana Rossini's grandpa Santa on the phone, that it's an empty threat that doesn't mean anything to anyone around here. On the punishments and Mike Ryan is actively and this is disrespectful and it's an act of resentment, honestly, that shouldn't express itself this way. I think he's Pete Carroll today. This doesn't feel like a real punishment, but the only one who gets punished is me is because every time I'm talking Mike, Mike is whispering into his headset. 57 is the mic. 57 the mic. While covering his mouth with his play sheet. And he's trying to distract me from doing the show while also doing Pete Carroll. Not like Daniel Day Lewis as Pete Carroll. He's not leaving character.

Mike Ryan (5:04)

Let's settle down, take the air out of the ball. HP die big gap.

Dan Le Batard (5:08)

That's what he's been doing every time.

Mike Ryan (5:10)

I'm talking to safety run duo, he's.

Dan Le Batard (5:12)

Doing it when I'm trying to give points and while I'm talking and trying to organize the show so the team is actively playing defense against me today on a legitimately good, content day. Because 24 hours later, how silly does this show sound? Laughing at the warriors and celebrating the Miami Heat 24 hours later. I don't know that I've heard someone do what Norman Powell did yesterday where he's like, just put my name on the quote. That's a bad loss. Where that's something fans say. I rarely hear players say of losing to other professional players. Man, that's a bad loss.

Ethan (5:48)

I love. And he didn't even leave it at that said, it's a bad loss. That's a really bad loss.

Dan Le Batard (5:53)

How often do you hear. He's right. You're losing to.

Ethan (5:57)

Loved it.

Dan Le Batard (5:57)

You're what? What did you love?

Ethan (5:59)

No, I loved that he came out and said that.

Dan Le Batard (6:02)

Yeah.

Zaz (6:03)

Why are we.

Ethan (6:03)

Oh, it's a professional team. You know, they got guys who know. No, no, that's. That's a really bad loss last night. Good for you, Norman Powell. I like you even more now.

Dan Le Batard (6:13)

The headline is Heat waste big lead Wilts in fourth quarter in quote, very bad loss to undermanned Cavs. Mobley is not there. Come on, man. Mitchell's not there. Like, that's not their team.

Zaz (6:26)

Garland's not.

Dan Le Batard (6:26)

That's not their team. That's not what I thought. The Heat's bet. Like, you can't. You're undefeated at home like, explain that to me. So it's a very bad loss. And they were five and a half point favorites in the game with all of the Cavs back home because the Cavs were. That's as close to tanking as a team will do overtly. Is it not just sending its starters home like that?

Zaz (6:50)

Zaz, you know about that. Naquan Tomlin.

Ethan (6:54)

That's a made up name.

Dan Le Batard (6:55)

We want to do a spelling bee on Naquan. How do we spell it?

Zaz (7:01)

I mean, I know why y' all looking at me.

Ethan (7:03)

I'll take a try. I'll take a saddle.

Dan Le Batard (7:04)

Here we go.

Ethan (7:05)

N a Q. Nope.

Mike Ryan (7:08)

You sure?

Zaz (7:09)

Thanks for playing.

Mike Ryan (7:10)

That's how you spell Saquon.

Dan Le Batard (7:12)

Very bad loss. Norman Powell says you guys will. I'm not saying it's the rarest of things, but it's normal for. For fans to say, wow, that's a bad loss. You never. You rarely hear it in the locker room where a player will say that of other professionals. Generally, they respect the other team's backups.

Ethan (7:29)

No, I. I like it. I wish sometimes player come out and say, yeah, that's a really bad loss. That team sucks. We should have won.

Zaz (7:35)

Sometimes you do hear that when it's a team that's actually bad, as opposed to a team that sat all of its starters. But I'm with Zaz, man. I like the accountability. I like the way, man, this is. We're not going to shirk this. We dropped the ball. They were up double digits in the first half. But then I'm watching the game all night. I'm like, this doesn't feel right. It's a lot of ISO ball.

Ethan (7:54)

They were so sloppy, so many, so.

Zaz (7:56)

Much isolation from the Heat, even when it was working for them. And then the other thing was, at one point, I looked at the person next to him like, is this the Jared Allen game? Because he just, he looked like Hakeem down there. Everything around the rim, I'm like, look, you can't keep falling for an up fake from Jarrett Allen. Make him make a shot over you.

Dan Le Batard (8:13)

And this is a substantive difference between whatever. Where is athletically that bam isn't. But what. Where is defensively that bam isn't like, this is not a minimal piece that's out for the Miami Heat. But regardless, yesterday we were out here loud and proud on what the Heat are going to be because they were undefeated at home and they're still scoring an incredible amount per game. But you lose that game and then Steph Curry does Steph Curry at. Wemby and 24 hours later, we all sound ridiculous talking about basketball in 24 hour terms. This is a punishment for you. It's a punishment for you.

Zaz (8:57)

You gotta raise it that you're like Steve Spagnolo. You don't know how you're holding a sheet down here. It's gotta be important.

Dan Le Batard (9:02)

What is the punishment? That you're chewing gum during the show or that you're doing the Pete Carol? Which is the what? Okay, the punishment is Pete Carol.

Zaz (9:08)

Yeah. The gum is part of being Pete Carol.

Ethan (9:10)

200% more gum.

Dan Le Batard (9:11)

I have to spend an hour in the bathroom putting on makeup with my wife to get my costume ready. You throw on a Raiders jersey and a headset and thr some gum in your mouth.

Dan Le Batard (9:21)

And I ate 70 nuggets.

Mike Ryan (9:23)

Well, I've learned. And I also took a gummy before the show. Just emotionally prepare for how difficult.

Chris Cody (9:31)

And the makeup stuff at Kuya.

Mike Ryan (9:33)

I mean, what do you want me to do? There are punishments on the. On the bucket board, and I take the punishments and I do the punishments, and I've done more punishments than anybody else.

Dan Le Batard (9:42)

All right, so when you say what do you want me to do? It doesn't surprise me that you don't wait for an answer and then you tell me what the answer is on what do you want me to do? What I want you to do is respect the audience and the punishment.

Mike Ryan (9:52)

Excellence is not an act. Respect a habit.

Dan Le Batard (9:54)

Respect the punishments and the audience by putting some effort into. We are a watched and listened to show an entertainment option for people, and you're cheating the punishments and the audience when you do the Pete Carroll this way. You should be ashamed.

Mike Ryan (10:10)

Give me a break. Can you give me a break?

Dan Le Batard (10:16)

Anyway, the basketball stories.

Dan Le Batard (10:19)

He called a timeout.

Dan Le Batard (10:20)

That's the same sound as the penalty box. Don't distract me. Be on my team. Please, someone here be on my team.

Dan Le Batard (10:26)

He called the timeout. What do you want me to do?

Dan Le Batard (10:28)

The NBA has 10 games in. You have blow up the clippers.

Ethan (10:34)

So distracting.

Dan Le Batard (10:35)

Yeah, no, he's been doing it in my ear. It's been private. It's been private.

Mike Ryan (10:39)

I've just been holding the private communications button. Chewing in his ear.

Dan Le Batard (10:43)

Just chewing in my ear. And also putting the playseat over him. And it sounds like a far away air traffic controller when he's like, no, no, no. 79 the mic. 79. Stop 59.

Mike Ryan (10:53)

Just doing it to you.

Chris Cody (10:54)

They dropped a D lineman.

Dan Le Batard (10:55)

No, this is what I'm saying. It's meant to distract me. I'm Thinking in my ear, talking to you guys. I'm like, you don't put a D lineman in the mic.

Chris Cody (11:03)

Drop it back.

Dan Le Batard (11:03)

The nose tackle confusing me with the defense. What is the nose tackle doing in coverage?

Mike Ryan (11:08)

One time, Gino. One time.

Dan Le Batard (11:11)

So I'm having an argument with the show in my head. And this is what it's like to be an insane asylum where you hear voices in your head, because it's not just chewing gum. He's also throwing marketplace at me, decoy plays at me. It's not just normal plays.

Chris Cody (11:23)

You got to be ready, Dano.

Dan Le Batard (11:24)

So I've got blow up the Mavs, blow up the Clippers. Okay, you got Mark Cuban getting back into management. Going to have some reportedly more voice around the Mavs as they try to fix. What I mean is Amin is calling a crater trade. You have the possibility of your franchise being doomed for 30 years. I mean, is shouting from the mountaintops. Do you know what's been done here? We're sitting here watching the smoldering crater, and Amin say, hey, it's a lot worse than this. This is now. It's hard to dig out of. This is if Cooper Flag doesn't end up becoming Luca. So you got blow up the Blow up the Mavs. You got Jason Kidd. Can we play this sound? You got Jason Kidd saying the Mavs.

Mike Ryan (12:06)

Coach, go ahead and play the sound.

Dan Le Batard (12:08)

And this will drown everyone in leadership in Dallas if they continue to underestimate how mad their customers are. Like, this is not the America to insult your customers when they pay a lot of money to support you by telling them to move on when they don't want to move on.

Mike Ryan (12:26)

Okay, hit it.

Zaz (12:26)

You know, can only hope that we don't have to go through that again because it was a little disrespectful because the guys are playing hard and they're trying to win. And so with that chant during. When we're shooting free throws, 30 on the clock, but understanding that they got to point across the fans, but we have to move forward. I understand the healing process for the fans, but these guys are playing hard.

Mike Ryan (12:58)

Ever since the trade, 10 seconds on.

Zaz (13:00)

The ball, these guys have given everything.

Mike Ryan (13:02)

Got a timeout.

Dan Le Batard (13:03)

You're clear, Zaslo. When I hear Jason Kidd and he doesn't mean this as lecturing, he's going to protect his players, but this bubble is getting smaller and smaller that these guys are allowed to exist in. And they're in the rarest of places. They're in. Our customers are coming to the arena, and they kind of hate us. And it's not because we're bad. They just want a place to kind of hate something because of how mad they are. Not a lot of teams play at home. Home that way.

Ethan (13:35)

I totally hear everything you're saying and I understand it can be hurtful for the franchise where let's say, you know, you got, you want to try and acquire a free agent and then they think, wow, do I want to go there where our own fans are going to hate us every game. That's certainly not going to help acquire players. But I don't feel like being lectured by Jason Kidd if I'm a Mavericks fan who had my heart ripped out. And now because we got our point across, it's time to move on. Like, there's going to be a time when Jason Kidd is no longer the coach of the Mavericks.

Zaz (14:08)

And that's.

Ethan (14:09)

I'm not saying he's going to get fired anytime soon. That that's every coach in the league. There's going to be a time where he is no longer the coach of the Mavericks. And guess how little he's going to care about the Mavericks on a day to day basis. He's not going to. But all of those fans who are in the building who have yet to move on, they care about that team for the rest of their lives. Don't tell me not to be angry and to move on.

Mike Ryan (14:33)

All right, tighten it up.

Dan Le Batard (14:34)

When you say ripped out the hearts of your customers, I do think that one of the things that you guys just have to, especially if you have kids that you just have to imagine. Just imagine explaining to your kid who's wearing the Luka jersey why your team did what it did. And that's his generation of fandom that's beginning. Or hers that's beginning right there. I mean, your thoughts on what is happening there. These people have the risk of being swallowed by continuing to underestimate the damage they've done.

Zaz (15:07)

Well, I think first of all, I got to disagree with Zaz. Like Jason Kidd's point is apt. Regardless of Nico is still there or not, that has nothing to do with anybody on the floor. Matter of fact, none of them even have control over that. They are all subordinates to a decision that is happening far above them. So how does. It's not. He's saying don't chant it. He's saying the game's on the line and our guy is on the free throw line.

Ethan (15:35)

What's going on?

Zaz (15:36)

Our guys on the free throw line. Why are you distracting him? Why are you Actively giving him negative energy. PJ Washington had nothing to do with this. And that's the question right there. So I agree with Coach Kid. It's like there's a time and place to do it, and that was the wrong time.

Ethan (15:51)

So is the team 3 and 9? Because the fans are being mean.

Zaz (15:54)

They weren't booing, like, boo, you guys suck. They're saying, fire Nico. That's. That's very different.

Dan Le Batard (16:00)

Let me ask you, though. I mean, is there another team in the league Pleasant, presently playing at home under the hostility I'm speaking of? It's not that we're mad at you because we think you're bad. This is a place for us to vent at what you did to us.

Zaz (16:16)

They're also bad, by the way. No, I mean, obviously not. There's no team. There's no team that even comes close to this because, again, nobody has ever pretty much done a deal like this in real time, even though.

Ethan (16:26)

So don't tell the fans to move on.

Zaz (16:28)

But again, like, hey, if you want to boo Nico, if you want to boo Patrick Demont, sure. Even if you want to, like, boo the team. But the game was in hand. Was not in hand. Excuse me. It was in the balance. The guy has a chance to make free throws and win this game. Why are you actively playing defense against that? I think that's the point.

Chris Cody (16:48)

And to that point, like, at what point is it going to be enough, right? The whole season, probably when the team.

Ethan (16:53)

Probably the team. Probably when they're good.

Chris Cody (16:56)

What if they're not going to go.

Dan Le Batard (16:57)

For another five years? Guys, the reason I keep thinking that this is being underestimated, emotionally. It's just super rare for a fan base to want to punish its team because it's mad at its team, because they want to blame somebody. So we don't care if we win during this season because miss the free throws. Because bleep. All of you. That's why I'm going to the game, to go and get into the crowd and have my outrage fed so that I can have lighter fluid. The country's paying attention to me. We have a bonfire in Dallas. Mark Cuban's rushing into the rescue. I got it. I'll save them. And everyone in Dallas is hurt, wounded, and lashing out at the home team.

Zaz (17:40)

So zaz a comp is when Portland had the quote, unquote, jailblazers, right? Their players were getting in trouble, getting arrested. Meanwhile, the team also wasn't so good. Right? That's a situation. I'm like, okay, you can Boo them. Yeah, you boo them because they are responsible. They are the ones who are doing this stuff. P.J. washington, Cooper, Flag. These guys have nothing to do with the workings of a higher up PJ Washington either. PJ Washington, like, yeah, trade Luka. I'd love to get him out of here. Those guys, of course they want to play with Luka. Of course they'd love to have him.

Ethan (18:11)

So you're. You're telling me when PJ Washington's on the free throw line, a professional basketball player who plays half his games on the road, where the entire crowd is chanting and yelling and booing and wanting you to miss free throws, the crowd chanting, fire. Nico is so disrespectful and distracting for him. He can't make free throws even when he knows it's coming.

Zaz (18:30)

It is. It is jarring. He doesn't know it's coming. In that moment, you're home, 12th man, you're home. And again, you're at home. And this isn't third quarter free throws. This is crunch time free throws. And you're like, wait, do they want us to lose? What's happening here? That is a jarring experience that I don't think most NBA players would expect in that scenario.

Ethan (18:52)

Do you think Jason Kidd really thinks that part of the reason that they're not playing well is because the crowd is chanting they're three and nine?

Zaz (18:59)

No, I just think it's like, hey, we're already having a hard enough time. We've got all these injuries, whatever. It doesn't help to have, you know, fans doing this.

Ethan (19:08)

Definitely doesn't help. But stop telling fans what to do when they're the ones who are. They're the ones who are the victims, the fans.

Dan Le Batard (19:14)

But so says they are not helping in this, in this regard. Right? I don't. I don't know how many people listening to this believe in any kind of energy stuff.

Zaz (19:25)

Okay, Zaz, this is the analogy I'll give you. If Dan Levatar did something to upset me, would it be okay for me to slap Mike? Whoa. Well, if I get all part of the team, I mean, I'm slap Mike, right? Like that. It doesn't make sense.

Mike Ryan (19:42)

Yeah. Percy Harvin choking out players in the locker room. He won a Super Bowl. It happens.

Zaz (19:47)

Ethan's dog.

Dan Le Batard (19:51)

When we're talking about energy as it relates, I mean, honestly, it's not bad enough he's trying to distract me. You go in with Ethan's dog as the joke, knowing you're gonna annoy me, knowing you're gonna annoy me because you're so inside on a joke for six people. It's not enough that Mike's doing this. When I talk about energy stuff says. I'm not talking about spiritual stuff. Okay? I'm talking about. Everyone listening to this believes what I'm about to say. Home field advantage is a thing because the energy of the crowd matters. Because the crowd gets into the game and supports its home team, that support is worth something. You're going to tell me the opposite of that does not affect players trying to be professionals at the center of that crater. Like, you can argue it if you want, but if they're playing in a place that's a misery energetically, where their own fans are not there for support, that's not an atmosphere I'm used to seeing basketball teams play at home in.

Zaz (20:45)

Right. Dan? I think. I think the important distinction is home energy positive is what we believe. Road energy negative. We also expect that Reggie Miller, LeBron James, all these players like, oh, I love it when they start booing. Right. It fuels me. The thing that I don't think any professional athlete in any sport is prepared for is home crowd negative energy.

Ethan (21:08)

I think what we could all agree on, though, because what you're saying is fine and it obviously makes sense. But I think what we could all agree on is this is as unique a situation we have ever seen. And in this unique situation, there's one person who is the victim here, and it's the fans. And I don't want the players or the coaches who are the ones getting paid when the fans who are showing up and apparently being disrespectful to you are still the ones paying to see you. I don't want the fan being told what to do.

Dan Le Batard (21:40)

Okay, but the next step on that, you're correct, right? I think most people listening to this would say, yeah, the fans paying customer, don't tell me how. Don't tell me how to care. I care. I pay for everything.

Ethan (21:52)

And they're doing it because they care.

Dan Le Batard (21:54)

My care pays for everything here. But when I'm describing the following to you, Jason Kidd is saying from at the bottom of this thing, ostensibly, they all care about, hey, guys, that's not helping. I need those free throws at the end to get all of this out of my building. I'm under the avalanche, too. I work here. It hurts me too. Please stop doing that. So that when my guys are taking free throws at home, not whether it affects them or not, we don't have the energy of that's not support. Our customers are not with us. If you guys believe that this is an emotional relationship between fans and their businesses and that it's the emotions business, this is a betrayal of that to have inside of your building. The energy of the home team doesn't want you to win, doesn't want to help you. The home team is there to blame you. And making it worse, it makes the entire relationship deeply emotionally dysfunctional. The home fan is not there rooting against his or her team.

Mike Ryan (22:59)

All right, we're stuck here. Gotta move on. Hey, Jeremy. Happy holidays.

Zaz (23:04)

Happy Januka.

Mike Ryan (23:05)

I want to toast you. Actually, I don't. I will toast with you.

Guest/Producer (23:09)

Okay.

Mike Ryan (23:09)

We're co workers.

Ethan (23:10)

Mm.

Chris Cody (23:11)

Friends, you could say.

Mike Ryan (23:12)

No, we cannot say that. But we both enjoy an ice cold Miller Light.

Dan Le Batard (23:16)

That's true.

Mike Ryan (23:17)

Especially around the holidays. You know, it's a 50th anniversary Miller Light.

Chris Cody (23:21)

It's really amazing.

Dan Le Batard (23:22)

Every time we say that, I can't believe it.

Mike Ryan (23:23)

Well, it's crazy because, like, they've basically been partners with the Dan LeBatard show for half of their existence. When I put it to you that way. We got an old ass show. Yeah, we do. That's crazy. Hey, let's look around at our friends, not each other and our family, even though they're not here. I do miss your brother, though. Yeah, I know. I'll bring him back and take that first sip, look around and know that we made the right decision. When it comes to a domestic light logger, Miller Lite is the best. And it's the holiday season, as we mentioned. Why don't you enjoy that holiday season by drinking a beer that won't weigh you down? The original light beer since 1975, still hidden different 50 years later. Brewed for flavor with simple ingredients like malted barley, rich balanced toffee notes, and that iconic golden color that you can see from across the room. The best holiday beers are the ones you don't expect. Miller Lite great taste. 96 calories. Go to millerlight.com dan to find delivery options near you. Or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Co. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Chris Cody (24:27)

One of my big goals for 2026 is just less money stress.

Mike Ryan (24:31)

How about that?

Chris Cody (24:31)

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Guest/Producer (25:36)

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Mike Ryan (26:49)

Went in the margins. I'm like. I'm like, you're money ball of sex. I'm basically Scott Hatterber stalks, but I'm on base when it comes to sex. Other, other dudes, they can be Giambi.

Chris Cody (27:03)

You know your role, you play.

Mike Ryan (27:05)

I know my role.

Guest/Producer (27:05)

This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats.

Ethan (27:17)

Well, and it's. It's probably why you need to blow it up.

Mike Ryan (27:21)

Run game not working.

Ethan (27:22)

Like, we. We need a start.

Chris Cody (27:24)

Okay, so what does that look like? What does that look like? GM Jazz comes in, he's like, all right, the full gambit of everything's at my disposal. What do I do?

Ethan (27:30)

I would trade Anthony Davis today. Today.

Dan Le Batard (27:33)

That's not getting very much hurt that you're paying. You are. You're basically trading Luka for nothing. You sent Anthony Davis away. You're not going to get very much.

Zaz (27:40)

So this is a really important conversation because at the same time, the Clippers are dealing with their own issues. Bradley Beal is out for the year with a hip injury.

Mike Ryan (27:48)

There we go.

Zaz (27:49)

They're horrible. Quiesman out. Right. And so we were talking who needs to blow it up more. The problem is the Clippers, because of the Paul George deal from way, way back, still owe picks. So they can't blow it up even if they got a zillion assets in return. Because if they go bad into the toilet, you know what happens, Dan, if they go in the toilet?

Dan Le Batard (28:10)

Yeah, the OKC is going to take.

Zaz (28:12)

The best team in the league.

Ethan (28:14)

Amazing.

Zaz (28:14)

Gets like the number one overall pick. Meanwhile, Dallas. Dallas actually owns its pick this year, but after this year, it turns into swaps and picks obligations. So this is the time. Right now, you push a red button in Dallas. You've given yourself an opportunity to start building something. You're not going to get equal return, Dan, as you asked right there.

Ethan (28:35)

But they had their pick this year.

Zaz (28:37)

At this point, it's not about.

Dan Le Batard (28:38)

I mean, it's not for other mistakes. It's not that they're not going to get equal return. Right now, you will be trading what you got for Luca. What you told everybody in the league was the future that we get for Luca. You'd be trading it at its lowest value in the career of Anthony Davis.

Zaz (28:55)

Dan, you can't keep digging a hole and thinking, if I dig deeper, maybe I'll get out of the hole.

Ethan (29:00)

Jason kid told us to move on, so move on from the awful trade.

Zaz (29:03)

The people, Dan.

Dan Le Batard (29:04)

Anthony Davis is a top 75 player all time. You trade him for nothing. And what are you going to get for him?

Zaz (29:12)

Amin Dan, this is the moment, the mo. It's more about the timing than it is what I'm going to get for him, Right. If I wait until his value goes up, I may have jeopardized the one small window of time. We've got a very tight window to turn keys and push that nuclear option outside of that window. We can't have that option available. So it's more about the timing and whoever comes in to take control. You can't be worried about what the other guy before you did to mess this up. All I can do is do the best thing moving forward from this point on. And right now, the best thing moving forward probably for Dallas, 11, 12 games in, is blow it up.

Chris Cody (29:49)

On the Clippers end of it, though, you're talking about they, they don't have the luxury that Dallas has to get their first round pick right. So it's not, it's not good for them to blow it up this season. The problem is they're already in the toilet, right? Kawhi is going to be out for who knows how long. He's got a foot sprain and an ankle sprain. The team is just not good. Bradley Beal out for the season. Like, you have all these things that are pushing. The inertia is pushing you that way anyway. Why not? And I know Tom Haverstroe wrote this in the summer. Go, go trade Kawhi Leonard. Go get somebody else. Go trade him to the Pelicans for Zion Williamson. Like, there's plays to be made that, yeah, you're not going to be exactly what you need. But, like, you got to get out from the hole that you're in.

Zaz (30:27)

So there is a blueprint for this. The Nets, when they traded for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry, they had all those picks going out unprotected, all those pick swaps. And so once they figured out this isn't working, all you can do is build, like the most rugged, competitive team. The picks are gone. You can't say that. But all you can do is build a team that's going to be healthy and available and win games in the short term to make sure those picks are the 10th pick as opposed to the second pick.

Dan Le Batard (30:57)

Can I just stop all of you for a second, okay. Because I know we run from 10 games to 10 games in sports with just blinders on. And so many people not that long ago wanted Bradley Beal, and now Bradley Beal has sabotaged a Couple of different plans. And in the middle of those plans, I don't want to just skip past this Clippers part of it. Pablo detonates a bomb in the middle of that, all of us are a little confused by why. Why would the Clippers trade Norman Powell for Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love when he's an important, almost all star on three delicate pieces there that nobody trusts before him. You guys are telling me after I thought that the Clippers had a championship chance last season the way that they finished the season 33 and 13 and could have beaten any team in the league. And it wasn't an asinine opinion to have except. But four, it's the Clippers and you can't trust James Leonard, Kawhi Leonard or James Harden in game seven. You guys are telling me six months later all of the Clippers stuff is done and we can pronounce it now given specifically the part that we're ignoring, which is OKC is totally overwhelming. Totally overwhelming.

Mike Ryan (32:07)

I mean, tell them about John Collins.

Zaz (32:09)

Yeah, they didn't trade for Colin to Kevin Love. It was a three way deal. They got John Collins from Utah in that deal.

Dan Le Batard (32:14)

Thank you for the addition. The Clippers, you're telling me, are now a nuked thing, fried thing, finished as a product. Blow all of it up. When I was not asinine in saying that that team could have won the championship. The one that headed into the playoffs last year.

Chris Cody (32:33)

No 100%. And they played so well to end the season. The problem is that's what it is for championship windows with guys in their mid-30s. Right. The window is open one year and then the next year is completely shut. And then you're looking around saying not only do we have an issue with the NBA, who's looking up under every crevice we got about the aspiration situation. Kawhi is not even healthy now. James Harden's okay. He's good. Like you can get something for him. Zubots has been bad to start the year. Like Norman Powell's not there. John Collins is an okay piece off the bench. Like what do you have in the Clippers organization?

Ethan (33:00)

It's a really old team. Leonard Harden, Bradley Beal, Brooke Lopez, they got Chris Paul's corpse. You know they had Chris Paul's corpse coming off the bench.

Zaz (33:11)

Dan, I did a bit a long time ago about Doc Rivers decision tree process. It's like, hey, did you play for me 100 years ago? Come back, welcome to the Clippers. Right? And it's funny, he's not there anymore, but it's still the same kind of thing when you're playing scrapbook gm like.

Dan Le Batard (33:26)

Oh, I remember him.

Zaz (33:27)

Remember when he was good somewhere else, Brooklyn. Oh, look at the names he just said. Other than John Collins, who's young, who's somewhere close to their prime, they're playing off of memories. And yes, those guys are all still very good basketball players. But the other part of this, Dan, is when you go and get old guy after old guy after old guy, you're saying, by the way, father, timing will come around here with a sprained ankle or a broken hip.

Dan Le Batard (33:50)

But do you guys realize what you're saying? If you guys are right, if you guys are accurate in saying demolish everything with the Clippers, when I parrot to what OKC is doing at the start of this season and after last season, we're over here talking about this Luca trade again and again and again and this other one's going to go down as one of the worst we've ever seen in the history of sports because you've just given so much fuel to OKC that when you're bad this year and it blows up on Steve Ballmer's face, you've got the legitimate possibility. I think there are worse teams in the league. But if it's really bad with the Clippers this year, then you're going to be giving the number one overall pick to a team that already has two key pieces out and has lost one time this season. The stage is set. The college football playoffs are here. Every snap, every Drive, every touchdown. DraftKings Sportsbook the number one sportsbook for live betting puts you right in the middle of the action. From real time wagers to season ending thrillers, DraftKings keeps you locked in from kickoff to the final whistle. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use Code Dan. That's Code Dan for new customers to turn five bucks into $200 in bonus bets. If your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Pass through of per wager tax may apply in Illinois, 21 and over.

Dan Le Batard (35:27)

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Dan Le Batard (35:33)

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Zaz (36:11)

LeBatard if Daniel Day Lewis did it, you'd be jerking off all over yourself.

Dan Le Batard (36:15)

Oh, come on.

Mike Ryan (36:16)

Yeah, I would be.

Dan Le Batard (36:17)

Aggressive description.

Dan Le Batard (36:18)

I mean, what is it? What is that?

Zaz (36:20)

I'm just saying.

Dan Le Batard (36:21)

No, that's just saying what?

Mike Ryan (36:23)

That's me. Daniel Day Lewis does something. I see that photo of Daniel Day Lewis looking like Lincoln before he's about to start filming Lincoln and you know what I do? Amin stugats. I jerk off all over myself. That's what I do.

Dan Le Batard (36:36)

Lincoln, who you outed the other day.

Mike Ryan (36:37)

Don'T make this a rejoin.

Dan Le Batard (36:39)

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats.

Zaz (36:46)

By the way, another team we haven't talked about at all but is in the similar situation, the New Orleans Pelicans. Because their pick is going to Atlanta and they're awful this year.

Ethan (36:56)

Good job by Joe Dumars.

Zaz (36:57)

Zion's still fat and, well, not still fat, but he's still not healthy, right? And Derrick Queen, while he looks like a good player, is not all NBA. Yeah, he's not enough to lift the Pelicans beyond where they're at right now, which is a 29 team. And so this then is just like the Ballad of hey, when you give away a pick without protection, you are playing the most dangerous game in basketball.

Ethan (37:20)

By the way, it's not just this pick, this 26 first round pick that the Thunder have from the Clippers, that's unprotected. They also have their pick next year. It's a swap next year. But like if the Clippers are really bad again, the Thunder get it again.

Zaz (37:36)

Zaz. This, this, this is my, my whole Nico thing. It's like you can't tell me that Anthony Davidson won first round pick. Even if you think Anthony Davis is the best thing since sliced bread, you can't tell me that was good enough value. When the Clippers are still paying off for Paul Jordan, they still have like installments left on their layout.

Ethan (37:53)

See, my biggest thing with that was also. There was no time in that conversation that Nico Harrison said, you're also going to give us Austin Reaves. Like Rob Pelinka, who had this gift fall on his doorstep. You think he's not acquiring Luka Doncic because he won't hand over Austin Reaves?

Zaz (38:12)

Do you think Rob Polinka is going to be the guy say, hey, I could add Luka. Why didn't you? I didn't want to give up Austin Reeves.

Ethan (38:18)

Like, it's inexplicable, right?

Zaz (38:20)

But this goes back to kind of what I talked about yesterday when I read the quote from Jeremiah Sengelman, who used to work in the front office. When you surround yourself over the course of years, not just in that window of time, but over the course of years with people who don't tell you the realness, who don't provide critical feedback that is opposite of whatever your impulse is. I used to say when I worked in a front office, as people always ask, oh, what did you do? Did you make trades? Did you draft people? Like, no, I'm not the gm. I don't do that. My job was to provide enough critical evidence to the contrary of whatever you wanted to do.

Mike Ryan (38:55)

A little too much mean.

Dan Le Batard (38:56)

Well, I'm just saying play the Barclays sound here because he is defending Nico Harrison. And I am probably remiss in falling into the trap that we do with all of the NBA soap opera, which is blow up the Clippers, blow up Dallas, nobody pay attention. Then that's jokic putting up 55 to end the Clippers last night.

Chris Cody (39:20)

That, that, that's like 90% true shooting. By the way.

Dan Le Batard (39:25)

The top two players that I believe that all of us would say for the last three years, the best two teams in the league are OKC and Dallas and Boston snuck in there with like this spaceship that just took threes better than everybody else.

Mike Ryan (39:36)

Let's run a play for Roy.

Guest/Producer (39:39)

Well, the Panthers play tonight against the Washington Capitals.

Dan Le Batard (39:42)

That's my play right there.

Mike Ryan (39:45)

Gadget guy kind of like taste some Hill.

Dan Le Batard (39:48)

Honorable Odyssey we are. Good idea. Thank you. You've thrown the quarterback.

Mike Ryan (39:54)

All right, let's not go back to.

Dan Le Batard (39:57)

It was just a terrible play call. I don't understand why on third and 11 spike the ball when there were no clock issues.

Guest/Producer (40:04)

Now you got go for it on fourth down.

Dan Le Batard (40:06)

I. But I hit fourth and 11. I don't trust my coach because he just told me to spike it and we weren't even dealing with a clock situation. I don't understand why he made me.

Mike Ryan (40:14)

Throw the ball out of the playbook.

Dan Le Batard (40:16)

All right, Dan, we're paying. We're paying attention to the wrong things.

Zaz (40:21)

Okay?

Ethan (40:21)

So let's.

Zaz (40:21)

Let's pay attention to the right things. If I asked you, what do you think Nika Jokic is shooting from the field this season?

Chris Cody (40:26)

It's crazy.

Zaz (40:28)

100.

Chris Cody (40:29)

Oh, what are you doing?

Zaz (40:30)

He knows how to play this game.

Dan Le Batard (40:32)

How? How? Yeah, I mean every time.

Chris Cody (40:34)

14.

Dan Le Batard (40:34)

He's at least his bad games are. He went 9 for 10.

Zaz (40:39)

So give me a number. Give me a number.

Dan Le Batard (40:41)

Well, okay, I'll say. I'll say 58%.

Zaz (40:44)

He's shooting 68 from the field.

Chris Cody (40:47)

It's insane.

Dan Le Batard (40:48)

That would be better than anyone ever, right?

Zaz (40:51)

He's shooting other 42 from three. He's shooting 78.

Dan Le Batard (40:56)

What?

Zaz (40:56)

On non three point shots. So he's taken about 12 of those shots a game inside the three point line and shooting 78.

Ethan (41:03)

That's.

Zaz (41:03)

That, that.

Ethan (41:04)

That one has to be a record, right?

Dan Le Batard (41:06)

Well, no, but shooting. If you shot 68 for a season, I don't.

Ethan (41:10)

I DeAndre Jordan like 75.

Dan Le Batard (41:13)

Okay, but I'm talking about somebody who.

Ethan (41:16)

No, it's still 78. Jokic twos is better than DeAndre Jordan.

Dan Le Batard (41:19)

But 78, 78. Shooting 78% from twos is ridiculous. But having an efficiency from all of the floor of 68%. There's no. But Michael Jordan's best seasons would be at 58%, 57%. There's nobody on two pointers.

Zaz (41:37)

I think. Yeah, Jordan was pretty high obviously on two pointers, but not, not that high.

Dan Le Batard (41:42)

Because again, that would be a record field goal percentage. That's not sustainable. He can't do that. LeBron's best season was the one in Miami where he shot 58% from the field because he decided that season. I'm not going to play a game that allows for inefficient shots.

Mike Ryan (41:55)

Jordan, LeBron, good stuff.

Chris Cody (41:57)

Wilt in the 71, 72 season shot 72% from the field.

Dan Le Batard (42:02)

Okay, because. All right, but we know what that is. That's not shooting. That's a lot of dunking and being bigger than everyone else.

Zaz (42:07)

But I think that's.

Chris Cody (42:08)

That's the best comparison.

Mike Ryan (42:10)

No Chamaran trade.

Dan Le Batard (42:12)

Well, it, it. The only reason it's not the best comparison is because Jokic is shooting what he is from three. Wilt Chamberlain never took a three. Wilt Chamberlain would never shoot.

Chris Cody (42:19)

For me, that's the air of the conversation. Air conversation. Put that in.

Dan Le Batard (42:23)

The thing that I am just saying, I mean is we will not stop talking about Jalen Brunson limped off the court. We will not stop talking about the daily soap operas of what's happening in Dallas. We will not stop talking about Steph and LeBron. But the best teams are not the best stories. And so Denver and OKC and all of that excellence will turn to ashes around all the other. Correct. Like, no. That during the regular season there is nothing OKC can do. Maybe threaten the record of 73 wins in a season, but there's next to nothing OKC can do that will matter. Their regular season is not interesting to the public.

Ethan (43:00)

No, you just named it like threatening the 73 wins. That's, that's the thing. And they're certainly on pace for it.

Zaz (43:05)

And I think the manner in which they're winning, I mean again they beat the Lakers who have been good this year and everyone's been really excited and, and, and inspired by them. They smacked them. And again Shay goes to Alexander, scores 30 and again he doesn't play the fourth quarter. And so at some point this is going to sound kind of crazy. It becomes bad TV because if every game is a blowout, then it's really hard to keep people tuned in.

Mike Ryan (43:32)

All right, we got two minutes here.

Dan Le Batard (43:35)

The part that I find most interesting is storylines bang against excellence. Boston snuck in there for a year and took the. You need me to talk fast? We gotta go Dan. Roy. Roy. What should I do?

Guest/Producer (43:53)

Audible out this place.

Mike Ryan (43:54)

Yeah, don't go to Roy. Don't go to Roy.

Dan Le Batard (43:56)

We don't have an audible. Don't go to Roy.

Mike Ryan (43:58)

Don't go to Roy.

Dan Le Batard (44:03)

OKC is not going to be talked about this season and they're going to be better than everybody. Again, they're winning by 30. They're not like they had the two overtime games, games at the beginning of the season, but they're, they're dragging everybody.

Ethan (44:14)

How did they lose that one game to Portland?

Chris Cody (44:16)

They didn't have anybody play.

Zaz (44:17)

No, they played. They played their guys. What happened in Portland was they. When they played against a Portland team that they were playing on a back to back city.

Dan Le Batard (44:26)

Oh, wow.

Ethan (44:27)

No one rested.

Zaz (44:28)

Nobody rested.

Ethan (44:29)

Wow.

Zaz (44:29)

And they lost that game.

Dan Le Batard (44:30)

Did you just make that up? Did you from that seat just make up that nobody played in that game? Who? Who?

Ethan (44:35)

I didn't say it. Tony did.

Dan Le Batard (44:37)

Mike did. Tony just pointed at Mike.

Ethan (44:39)

I didn't say it. What are you talking about?

Mike Ryan (44:44)

Thought we could trust Roy in that, in that situation. Really Thought we could.

Guest/Producer (44:50)

Yeah.

Mike Ryan (44:51)

Thought we could trust him.

Dan Le Batard (44:52)

Have a lot of. I don't know.

Mike Ryan (44:54)

You know, it starts with me.

Dan Le Batard (44:55)

It's.

Mike Ryan (44:56)

I made the call. I made the call to go to Roy. Panthers didn't play last night. I should have known that. You know, he's a lot like Leroy Horde. You need three yards, he'll give you three yards. You need four, he'll give you three. And I just got to do a better job there. I thought the fans were great. A couple calls didn't go our way. Probably stayed on basketball way too long, especially with the CFP rankings. That's bread and butter right there. That's, you know, that's our identity. We'll talk politics, push away the remainder of our audience. Next segment.

Chris Cody (45:34)

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Mike Ryan (45:40)

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