You're tuned into Heat Check with Trystal Quick. On this episode of the Heat Check, we talk about how Adam Silver is trying to turn the NBA into sucker. Yeah, and I explain the way it's going to change the way the NBA works. Donovan Mitchell inside feature on why he doesn't like Rudy Gobert. He finally breaks his silence. Good stuff there. Dallas Mavericks, we talk about them a little bit. Is again how they have finally admitted that it is time to pull the rip chord. That shit
is not okay and it's not gonna be okay. More stuff coming out about that, and that's some really interesting news about the Golden State Warriors and how they might not be just punting on this season, but maybe the entire idea of two timelines as a whole. Lots to talk about. Nick. Happy holidays to you guys. Do me a favor and drop that generic ass. But so we talked last episode about how I'm riveted. I am riveted
by soccer today. Actually, I spent fifteen maybe longer actually probably thirty minutes of my life deciding what EPL team I want to follow. I still don't know. It's still very tough. There's not enough stars that I like. I just am. I got a root for Harry Kane, like I can't like. I love Himbope, but he's on PSG. I just can't find one that I like. You got some issues with Chelsea and their age, and they're starting to be on the decline because you know the whole
Russian oligarch thing. Anyways, I'm in. I'm gonna try to find a team. I'm gonna follow said team. I might just wait in the wings for Mbope to choose where he goes in the EPL and just follow him wherever he goes. I follow wherever Memphis Depey goes, I follow. I like these swaggy strikers, which is why I don't
really like Christian polistic much. Anyway. Well, last Yesterday's final, well Sunday's final because it's coming out on Tuesday, between France and Argentina was like, if every game was like that, there might not be another sport on Earth. They might have just they might usurp everything if games all were like that. Goodness, greatest people people tell me, soccer fans tell me this is the greatest soccer game they've ever seen.
It was incredible, so much drama and star players doing star player things and Bope balling out, taking the team, throwing the whole entire squad on his back, messy showing the world why he's the greatest, playing with the kids after the game on hell de Maria, the fading star balling, killing them, benching my man, Olivier Jeru for what reason? Who knows. If you're an NBA fan, you don't even know these names. So I'm just gonna keep going. It
was fun, though, it was really fun. NBA fans of course, they know what this is like, right, They know it's Steph and Braun going at it back and forth, Tatum and Steph. Right, and you might, and I might emphasize might be able to steal a title though without a real superstar, but having a guy like Embappe who can steal it in a blink of an eye. The things that he did on Sunday, I just couldn't even believe it.
That's what separates though true contenders from pretenders, right. And the one thing that Adam Silver's trying to figure out is how to replicate some of that excitement. He's known as a huge soccer fan right. Adam Silver in particular loves the EPL and we talked about this before on the podcast. But Adam Silver is dying to add elements of European soccer into the NBA. Why because the NBA loves money and nothing makes more money than a bunch
of random tournaments involved in soccer. Just as past October, Silver let it known that he had actually considered relegation relegation to eliminate tanking, which I would personally love. I don't know that it would work, but it would be funny, right, Like, could you imagine the LA Lakers being relegated? I just love that so much. I would love that so much. I would love to see G League Ignite take the
Lakers spot in the Western Conference. He's also though, Adam Silver is on records saying that he's very jealous of the Champions League, the European soccer tournament that pits the top finishers in respect of European domestic leagues in months long competition to see what team is best. This is what Silver said to the BBC, which is a very funny place for him to do an interview. The Champions League is a fantastic concept, one we're always looking at.
There's so much that happens in European soccer that I'm jealous of. What would he be jealous of? You think in terms of the Champions League, probably the one point five billion dollars that CBS paid to broadcast the Champions League just here in America alone, let alone the rest of the world. That's just icing. On top of the other regional broadcast rights, the other rights that go for the NBA as a whole, it's just a ching, ching, ching, ching,
money making machine. It's a one way river into Adam
Silver's pocket. That's a Yellowstone quote. Silver just gave an interview in twenty eighteen where he noted, as head of the NBA Entertainment before he became Commissioner, that he intently studied the EPO's relationship with gambling companies and this deeply informed the way that he and the league have navigated the boom in sports betting in the US, and not just like straight up gambling, but in licensing data and video to gambling companies, which means what gambling companies are
going to be the premier broadcaster of NBA NBA games Just wait, NBA way ahead of other leagues in relation to Silver's love of soccer. Right, so, the biggest change that Silver is going to make is the in season tournament. We've talked about that before, he's been on record. It seems very destined to happen in the next year or two.
And less than three weeks ago, it was announced that the NBA is planning the twenty twenty three twenty twenty four regular season that includes that regular season attorney, so it's an eighty game regular season and then two flex games to fill the gaps for the tournament winners. I'm confused,
Silver said, It's something I remain excited about. It will create more meaningful games, games of consequence during an otherwise long regular season, and I think fans might enjoy something else significant to play for as an aside, All NBA teams had to give the NBA Front officer available home dates for next year, so the schedule is already being
worked out right now as we speak. Those home dates include, Okay, what day is Lady Gaga coming to perform at the Motor Center, What day is Sting coming to the Madison Square Garden, what openings do you guys have, and the latest on the nd season tournament is that the first round play will begin early in the season, with the final eight facing off at a quarter final in December, which would be right now. No prizes yet determined, but the idea of an extra first round pick has been
floated out to the winner, which would be amazing. Could you imagine could you imagine a team that has no I mean back to the Lakers, team that has no first round picks could kind of need a first round pick. Don't know what to think about the Ncason Tournament because I don't know if people are gonna care. I don't know if the money of it and the pageantry of it is gonna get fans to really be excited. But you know, the NBA is a marketing machine. They'll find
a way to hype it up. They'll find ways to get first take to talk about it, They'll find ways to get Adam Silver to make it feel like an event. But Adam Silver's love of soccer will continue to impact the NBA and the World Cup. I think just underscored how much these two sports could possibly maybe have in common. Look Out for a Champions League type situation as well. That could be something on the forefront also, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert. That's the stuff that NBAT lovers can't get
enough of. So why did and does Donovan Mitchell hate Rudy Gobert so much? Let's face it, Rudy Gobert is a lightning rod. Rudy Gobert has been a lightning rod for hate since he put his mouth on all those microphones with COVID and shut the league down. Like we know that, we know that that is something that got Rudy Gobert to be the front and center poster boy for COVID hate. It continues, though, it continues, which we'll
get into in a second. But Donovan Mitchell didn't really like Rudy or fuck with Rudy before everyone else did. When asked recently whether Donovan Mitchell thinks his numbers should be retired, Donovan Mitchell actually said no because he hadn't accomplished enough in the time that he was with the Utah Jazz in order for him to feel like his
jersey should be retired. I think that's true because Mark Spears, who's been on a heater by the way as of late, was like, well you did you guys accomplished a lot, and Donald Mitchell was like, well, really did we? Well? We accomplished like we gave up a bunch of three one leads. We didn't really win anything of note. We didn't even go to the Western Conference finals. We got
booted to inferior teams like Denver and Dallas. And they asked them, well, okay, well why didn't you And Rudy like, if you don't think the basketball worked and you don't think you accomplished enough on the basketball floor, why do you think that was? Is it your relationship with Rudy Gobert? And he was like, well, honestly, the basketball between me and Rudy just didn't work. We live in a world where it has to be just so negative, really negative.
Basketball just didn't work. We didn't see eye to eye. We wanted to both win, but we wanted to do it in two different ways. It didn't work. Pause, if you're a fan of the Minnesota Timberwolves right now and or your aunt Edwards, you gotta think to yourself, rot Row, because if Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert couldn't work together and they had two completely different visions about what it
would take to win, let me just say this. Donovan Mitchell and Aunt Edwards probably have closer ideas about what it's gonna take to win games. Then say I don't know Aunt Edwards and Rudy Gobert do. That is very very concerning. It on paper should work beautifully and it has not unpaused as far as him and I go as people. Donovan Mitchell later said, I don't hate him. He doesn't hate me. I wouldn't say we're the best of friends, but we're not at that point where it's
like I can't stand him. Also pause, I've been in situations where I say I don't hate this person, they don't hate me. Are we friends? Are we close? Are we buddies? No? As soon as you have to say we're not friends either, you're you're nothing. At the very least, you're not dapping each other up. If you see each other at the bar, you're like, oh, yeah, there's Rudy. Let's go this way. You don't like each other whatsoever. Let's be honest, like there was no good feelings about it.
When you publicly say I don't hate someone, there's more than just neutral feelings about it. You just don't want to spend the energy explaining and then creating a beef, and then people asking Rudy about why and whether he dislikes you as much as you dislike him. So that's bullshit, Donovan continued. I wished him the best. There's no hatred, there's no ill will towards any of that. Basketball just didn't work out. It happens. Our relationship just happened to
be a little more out there than everybody else's. But honestly, it really started with COVID. He's like, listen, I don't dislike him. I don't hate him. Everybody thinks that we did, because you know, there was all this publicity about how I never gave him any passes and over lobbed in the ball, sit together in the lunch room, I unfollowed him on Instagram. All that stuff's kind of bullshit. But really it happened and started with COVID. I disliked him.
I just liked him when he rubbed his fucking face on the microphones and shut our league down and almost gave me COVID when I thought I could still die from COVID, and we had to sit in a fucking locker room for twelve hours together and nobody could stay in a hotel because all hotels were afraid of anyone having COVID near their people, and we had to just basically be on lockdown in Oklahoma City. So yeah, fuck
that guy. Then that was when it all started, the fact that he said, yeah, really, it started with COVID tells you everything you need to do. People forget that the world was so pissed at Rudigobert that his PR team somehow convinced ESPN to do a complete documentary on Rudy Goobert this offseason during the pandemic. I guess it ran that we've had. The only central theme was that Rudy Gobert wasn't as bad as you think he is.
Like that was the entire concept of the documentary, And that was a lie, obviously, because Rudy Gobert, Truthfully, I don't know if you've seen it, Rudy Gobert continues to be exactly the asshole that we thought he was, because just last week, Rudy Gobert liked a tweet from Elon Musk VI said Elon Musk's preferred pronouns are prosecute fauci. Are you fucking serious? Are you kidding me? Could you put together homophobia, transphobia, and anti vax all in one
fifteen word tweet? Are you serious? Who comes after people for their preferred pronouns and also says they want to prosecute Fauci? And if you're an NBA player, you should know these tweets that you like are public. They are all public. And then you throw in the fact that Rudy Gobert, his teammate, lost seven members of his family,
which is almost inconceivable. Karl Anthony Towns lost seven family members to COVID, including his mom who was not old whatsoever, and he decides to like a tweet that says to prosecute Fauci for what shutting our league down, shutting our world down at a time where I don't know something that has happened once in every three hundred years. He's telling people to be careful and wear masks and maybe stay inside, like you like that tweet, Rudy, when you
gave the world COVID? Are you serious? Along with my desired pronouns? I wonder this and I'd like you guys to give me your thoughts too. Is Rudy Gobert the most unlikable player in the NBA. I think he is. He is to me. I there is no one that gets a more visceral reaction just by his name alone than Rudie Gobert. If there's something redeeming to him, someone tell me, but I can't see it.