You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick. On this episode of the Heat Check, I'm back from Sacramento, baby, and I've got a first hand report on the Kings and the Lakers, and goddamn it, I didn't get to warm up on that beam.
No beam for me.
But what I got was a massive once in a generation storm that just cleared out three hundred thousand homes worth of power, put one hundred year old trees on roofs right next to my Airbnb. So I saw some shit that was historic. I had get into some drama surrounding Lebron. We move forward and we talk about John Collins, who has been just circulating in trade rumors since pre pandemic. Honestly, like he's had it. He's had it with the trade rumors.
There's now trouble brewing in Brooklyn now that Kevin Durant has gone down with an mcl sprain, and oh my god, what is happening in Chicago with Zach Lavine and Billy Donovan because no one's seems to know the path forward. And of course we talk about what NBA player said he wanted to beat Skip Bayless's ass. Lot to talk about Nick so drop that generic beat. So I had the pleasure the honor of going out to Sacramento for the very first time. I had never been there in
my life, let alone seen a King's Game. Let alone been to the new Golden One Arena, let alone enjoy the presence of Casey and Dill, Kenny Carroway, Damian Barling, who are the absolute best.
But that King's Game was some bullshit. Let's be honest, Like.
Kings Lakers, let's just before we get into it. The pageantry. It was I think their eighth or ninth consecutive sellout. The fan base was rocking. We got there, we went to dinner right across the way. The way that it's actually set up is really cool. So they've got this Kimpton hotel called the Sawyer right across from the arena, and all the players stay there and it's like you can tunnel in so you don't even have to leave.
And I tell you what, when you know and you're a woman and you know where the players are staying one thousand percent, the lobby was wild, like even pregame before the team buses showed up. I mean, there were girls basically naked out there in the lobby of the hotel, just sitting there and just milling about.
It's like, oh, I know what you're doing.
You're trying to catch a lebron You're trying to catch a shrewder like you're waiting.
They had so much.
This was like three point thirty four PM, right game starts at seven. They're like, nope, I'm not waiting for after at the after show. I'm gonna try to get them when they're in their pregame warm up and warm them up on my beam. And they were this amount of makeup that the women had on. It was crazy. Anyway, it's like maybe like maybe one hundred yards from the entrance of the arena, which is fucking awesome.
And they have these Kings residences too.
So there's like this frosty glass door and it's like King's Residences. Apparently Demona Simonis stayed there for the entire duration of the season and he got traded there like a awesome condos, just very pimp shit, and so that was awesome. So we went to dinner quote unquote, it was like the it was like the Grandma Special. We ate at four because the game started at seven, so we went and got steak at this place inside the
Sawyer Hotel called Echo and rig awesome steaks. They had like nine different steaks to choose from, all grass fed, really great. Chopped it up with Kyle.
And Kenny and Damien.
Then we went into the arena, met up with all the you know, big jay journalists like James ham and and we got to meet I got to meet Deuce and Mo who I've been on their podcast before.
They're awesome, give them a follow.
It was just one big, one big reunion of people who have never met each other, they had met each other. I got to see Phil Handy. He gave me a big hug. That was a whole thing.
It was awesome. Got to be on the court.
And then because we were just like ten deep of journalists like, oh.
No, I love you, Oh no, I love you. Oh no, I'm a big fan of your stuff. Oh my god, we gotta get together. Oh where'd you go at sacramto the security of the team. By the way, these are.
King's journalists who have been there every single game so far. They're like, hey, you guys can't be here. You're too much right now, this is too much. There's professional photogs taking pictures of us. We've got like fans coming up. It was a thing, right, it was a thing. And and Damien and Kenny were like, we do this every game, like whatever's happening with you?
They're not, they don't want this. We go through the tunnel, they're.
Hardcore checking our credentials now, which, by the way, my credential, which was made out of paper, ripped off my wrist, so I had to just like show it like a badge, and they're like, just make sure you see it. So we all hung out in the media room, did our thing, go up to the media area, which is a great, incredible view. They were kind, they're kind of spoiled. They want to be down on the floor. But I've been
in Staples before. They put you in the like six hundreds, you know, they like put you in the noseblazes, so really cool stuff. But in terms of the game, probably one of the better games of the season. I would say, back and forth and back and forth again. Final score one thirty six, one thirty four, so no defense was being played at all. Daron Fox is amazing, Like he's one of those players that you see up close and personal where you totally understand why he's better than you
think he is on TV. In the fourth quarter, I don't know what he had in the fourth quarter. I want to say it had to been twelve.
It was nuts.
It was at absolutely nuts, and he just couldn't miss. And the King's got into this huge deficit. We're starting to freak out because we're out by the concourse and by the NBC Sports Bay Area little booth meeting fans. We look up and they're down like nine, or like down twelve. Kenny's like, they'll cut it. Lebron's on the bench in the fourth quarter, They'll cut it to two and we'll see what happens. And I tell you what, Fox just took over.
Insane.
Also, we've got to give love to my man Demonisa Bonis. He had a horrible, horrible night and Sabonis had what did he had? He had twenty five twelve and seven and he had one rebound in the first quarter. He was largely garbage in the first quarter. He got fouled out early and he still had twenty five twelve and seven.
That's insane.
He's so good.
Thomas Bryant, though, this team, this King's team, needs.
A backup five.
This is the most Kings Talk will probably do in this detail.
But I was there. So they need a backup five, right, they need one. They found one. His name's Thomas Bryant. He plays for the Lakers. He gave them twenty nine and fourteen. He was making he was making Sabonis look like a like a wet tissue paper. He was so movable, demonic. Sabonis is known for being so strong. So you know, like Steven Adams light and Thomas Bryant, Thomas Bryant. Can we just say Thomas Bryant put up twenty nine and fourteen. He's not that good.
He's fine player.
He had the second most points of his career that night, so he was a beast. Dennis Shrewder, the one who turned down eighty four million dollars from the Lakers, now is back on a veteran minimum. He had twenty seven, four and two. He had four threes, four for five from three, eight for eleven shooting. His drive is pretty much what sealed the game for them because Darren fox
hip checked them. They called him for a foul. There's only two seconds left, and now, what what do you figure they're gonna do like, there's tie the tie game, Dennis Shooter now goes to the free throw line, but they call a challenge. They don't have any more timeouts now, and so Dennis Shooter hits both free throws. You're down two, You've got two seconds, no timeouts to advance the ball. I think they moved it actually up to three point
six seconds. Daron Fox actually gets slapped on the arm while he's shooting from three after that hip check foul. No call on Russell Westbrook, just absolutely insane. And then of course Mike Brown after the game is like Barry and Keegan Murray because he had zero rebounds. So that's like what he came there for. It's a mess like the Kings right now. Don't let the national media foolia like me. The in Sacramento, they are quietly worried.
They are quietly feeling like the only.
Reason that we are still here is because the Clippers are on a slump six game, five game losing streak. The Warriors are on this little baby slump, and the Suns are on a massive six game slump. In terms of Golden One, I think it's a top three arena in the league. It's so insane. It's so amazing. You walk in the front entrance. I love stadium reviews. You walk in the front entrance and you immediately see the court.
It's in like think about that. You immediately walk in and you're like, oh, yeah, basketball is being played here. There's no walls or cylinders that keep you from seeing. Oh there's well, there's not banners, but you know what I'm saying. There's not banners, but where banners would be, you can see that. You can see the raptors where the banners will be. You can see like the dip into the bowl of the arena. You walk in and
it's very much like indoor outdoor vibes. There's windows that they open up in the middle of the spring so that like little birds can fly through. I guess sunshine, wind, noise, who knows, just fresh air. There's a bar up top that functions as a standing room only section so that you can watch the game while you're at the bar.
Just a total meat market. It's I think it's Sierra Nevada.
Draft house spelled like drought house, you know, but that's how you spell draft I guess anyway, awesome. Lebron James amazing in that game, just insane. But at the end of the day, no beam for me, lots of trees down, lots of power out. Went to Little Speakeasy something after the game, hung out, got back to my Airbnb. No power, no heat, no power, no phone charging ability, nothing.
So it was eventful, very eventful.
Met some guys, one guy named Travis the Terror at a bar.
It was awesome.
I recommend going to Sacramento. That's enough Sacramento talk. Let's talk about Lebron James. Lot of rumors surrounding Lebron James, tons of them. We got to get to the bottom of what's real, because it was. It was awesome seeing Lebron James as Laker. That was my very first time seeing him in purple and gold. He's probably better than I've seen him in a long time, going to the rack, not settling for jumpers, impossible to stop just to freight train.
I mean, he's been doing this too. I think he's probably better now than he is in his rookie season. That's crazy.
He's better now than he was in his rookie season.
So just before the game again Sacramento, Lebron was interviewed in an article in The Athletic. They claimed he was growing impatient with the lakers lack of action in the trade market, in the trade front, so he ends this interview. It's a full back and forth where he's playing cat and mouse with one of the Athletic reporters who will not be named.
And.
In the back and forth he ends the interview.
Lebron James ends the interview and says, y'all know what the fuck should be happening. I don't need to talk to you because they're trying to prod them. Hey, do you wish they would do more? Do you wish they would do more? And he's like, listen, it's not my job to make them do more. And they're like, well, but you're you're playing so well, Like what do you think You're sort of still in your prime your championship window. And he's like, dude, just get off me, get off me.
In at the end of the interview, he says, y'all know what the fuck they need to do, Like, just get I don't need to talk to you. So then they published the article, and in response to the article, because the headline was like Lebron's patience is waning, he says, actually, my patients, he quote tweets the article, by the way, I think by the reporter. He quote tweets the reporter,
which is always a great sign. I think there's six thousand quote tweets, and he goes, actually, my patients isn't waning. You make it sound like I'm frustrated when I'm really not. I told you over and over my job is focused on the guys in the locker room. My job isn't on the roster. That's the reality of that conversation. And I said what I said with the utmost respect and calmness, because that's the mood I'm in. You're welcome, five game
winning streak, smiley face, laughing emoji, wink emoji. Case closed. Right, that's the case closed. It's over, no drama. Lebron wants to stay in LA and everything's fine. He's happy with the lack of action. Nothing's happening, No one's going to trade for him, nothing. Right, this is the end of the segment. Well, it's not this league without this league. Right, you don't know the NBA If you don't think that GMS didn't see that article and say, let's just make
a Callie call. Let's just ring ring, just do a little phone conversation, because the rumors today were full of gms.
Preparing for a Lebron trade.
According to Seandavaney at heavy dot Com, multiple teams are preparing for exactly that a Lebron trade. Let's break down this rumor. Devaney wrote, the notion of any team for enough to employ Lebron James in a trade sounds ludicrous, But if circumstances around James's current team, the Lakers continue on their current path, that could be the next step
for James. According to executives around the league, multiple teams multiple teams are preparing for the possibility that James will seek to force a trade this summer, as he, having just turned thirty eight, looks to finish his career in a winning environment. And unlike this past offseason in which teams were blindsided by the trade demand lodge by star Ford Kevin Durant on the eve of free agency, front offices around the NBA will be prepared for James's potential move.
Everyone was stunned when Kevin Durant asked for a trade. They couldn't even make it happen. They weren't in preparation mode. They didn't know Star was going to be available, so they didn't have assets or cap space or anything. They're like, fuck, I didn't know Kevin Durant could be available your Phoenix, and you're like, damn short of Devin Booker, we can't do shit. No, no, that's not gonna happen this time. And you know what, I hate to say, I saw
it coming, but I did. The second this Westbrook trade went sideways, Lebron was either going to never make the playoffs ever again, that team would need a complete restart and he would be in hell in the most beautiful weather environment possible, or he'd be like, let me get the fuck out of here, let me get the hell out of Dodge, because there's just no way he could spend the rest of his career in like the goal being the play in tournament. His goal now is to
play in tournament. That's where it is. That's just the facts, and the problem, of course, is that's Rob Plink's fault.
The Lakers have no more aces in the hole.
They have two first round picks that they are refusing to trade, and fair enough, because it's probably not gonna take him over the hump right, They're not gonna be a tender If they do that. Now, they're just even more fucked for the next year. It's kind of a no win.
Situation, a hole that they've dug themselves into.
And at this point you might not even be able to get Buddy Heald and Miles Turner anymore for the two first round picks that it was going to require, because Buddy hild is playing awesome, Miles Turner is playing awesome. An executive for the Eastern Conference Contender says this that is the most likely thing if he wants to end on a good note. The most likely scenario is to go back to Cleveland one last time.
I'm coming home. I'm coming home.
It is a good team, you can win, and it's where it all started. No one's gonna hate him for going to Cleveland again. The trick is that is getting the numbers to match up.
If you could do.
Something with Kevin Love's contract, that could be key. Pause what that is well, I think last year during the All Star break, he started to put the breadcrumbs out in the ether about how much he appreciates Kobe Autman, how much he loves what JB.
Bickerstaff is doing.
But so much of this obviously is impacted by where Lebron James Junior lands Bronnie, and I doubt that Bronni wants to be spending the beginning of his career in Cleveland. Ask Lebron Senor how Cleveland is when you're single, young, rich. It's not great. It's not great destination. Truthfully, there is another option out there. According to a Western Conference exec, if there's a bidding war going on at some point, this is where it gets really interesting for very important team,
our team. There's a bidding war going on at some point. The Warriors are in a great position because they can give you the young guys, Wiseman coaminga moody Pat Baldwin. I can't believe Pat Ball wants thrown in there whoever the Lakers want. But you have to either add Jordan Poole Andrew Wiggins. And that's not easy. Pause, Yes it is, Yes, it is. For our dubs. I'll give everybody. I'll give Pool, I'll give Wiggeds, I'll give Wiseman. You could have them all,
you can have them all. We'll take Lebron for our dubs. Get another chip, you know, what I mean, just continue the dominance. But if they want to win now, you can give up pool. If you're getting back Lebron, he says. If they keep Draymond and come back with Steph, Clay, Draymond and Lebron, that would be a fun, fun team to watch. There would not be a possibility that average people could afford tickets to go to those games. No one would be I mean, they would be sold out
months in advance. The Nosebleeds would be like six hundred dollars court side, like Taylor Swift concert tickets. He's like thirty k a ticket for a courtside show of Steph Stephan Braun, even for one year. Oh my god, I don't think the Warriors could pull the trigger fast enough.
If Stephan Braun.
And it's fitting because they've been basically warring this whole time, right the first ten years of Lebron's career, twelve years or whatever it was. He just threw subtle shade shots at Staph. Steph kind of went back and forth. It was all very low key, nothing above the ground, but you knew there was like this little mini rivalry. If they come together, they will be in spot. It's like, I don't even know, I don't have words for it. This team would break every attendance record in every arena,
every single game. It would be like Kobe and mj or Bird and Magic playing on the same fucking team in their prime years. It would transcend a superteam. It would be super super team. And somehow, now if you add Bronnie James in the mix, maybe you keep Lebron there for well past this prime. It doesn't matter if Joe lacob is paying five hundred million dollars with the luxury tax, our dubs still swimming in money. You raise the prices, you raise the popcorn, you raise the drinks,
you raise the parking, you raise everything. Everything changes. Championships En Sue Katie was the story last offseason. Is Lebron gonna be the story this off season? If so, I cannot. Is there anything worse when a really awesome party just comes to an end way faster than you want, where they just cut the lights, they cut the music, and you're like shit.
I was starting to get into this.
I was starting to feel like maybe this party could be something. That's how I'm feeling right now about the Brooklyn Nets. I was just starting to believe. I was just being like, oh yeah, Kd's MVP caliber. Right now, Kyrie is leading for guards, scoring and clutch time. Nets are on fire. They're the hottest streak in franchise history eighteen and two. In their last twenty they had a little kick to the teeth when Jimmy Butler got knocked into Kevin Durant's knee, and now all of a sudden,
something's bad. Katie went to the ground, He gets up gingerly, he leaves the game. He does not return.
Today.
The Nets announced that Katie is going to miss a minimum of one month, say minimum two weeks, but later Adrian Warzanowski came out with another tweet said month isolated MCL sprain in his right knee. This is what happened last year as well, if you remember that kept Katie out six weeks.
I mean, this is going to be tough.
On average, and MCL sprain takes six weeks from diagnosis to full healing. Of course, this is changing from case to case. Of course, if you've sprained your MCL before, they're going to be a little bit more cautious. Not fun.
Fun levels on all time low.
Though fun levels on low, more minutes for Nick Claxton, more touches for my guy Seth Curry. It's tough because Katie was having this historic season in a year where everybody's going off for fifty or more. Katie probably the most consistent, dangerous offensive threat in the league. And I know what you're saying, it's Luca's Lucas, Lucas Luca. But listen, hear me out in terms of how well Katie was playing. According to Kurt Goldsbury, Durant is having one of the
best shooting seasons I've ever seen. He leads the NBA in both jumpers attempted and made by a wide margin.
But that's just the beginning.
Among the NBA's fifty most active jump shooters this season, Durant has the second lowest shot quality. Via Second Spectrum, they estimate that an average shooter would produce an effective field goal percentage of just forty percent, which is awful
on those durance jumpers. But Kevin Durant's actual efficient field goal percentage is fifty eight point four, which is elite in some Kevin Durant is taking extremely difficult shots but still producing hyper efficient results, and his team is following suits. So even when he's being defended nearly perfectly, being draped by multiple guys, he's hitting tough, fade away mid range shots. He's shooting nearly twenty percent above what is expected. That's crazy.
That's literally that doesn't make any sense. And that's one of the reasons that the Nets are eight and two hunderd Jaqvon is in part because one he's obviously a better coach than Steve Nash, which we know, but also because Kevin Durant is leading the best offensive team in the league and they're following his lead. I don't know how it's gonna work without him. Very fascinated to see how the Nets respond. I need to know. Is Kyrie gonna just put up fifty now? Are they going to?
Are other teams going to double and triple team Kyrie? Who's gonna step up offensively? Are we gonna get bucket bucket after bucket from TJ. Warren the bubble God. This is gonna absolutely test shock funds coaching chops. It's gonna put a ton of pressure on Kyrie. The Warriors without Steph for six and five, it's pretty much it's better than I expected. Five hundred. I thought they would be
like three and seven the Nets without KD. They have the Celtics, the Thunder, the Spurs, the Suns, the Jazz and Golden State the next two weeks.
It's a bummer.
It's a bummer if you're a Nets fan. But now you're gonna get to see what this team is really.
Made of without KD.
Maybe some more Ben Simmons minutes Other than Miles Turner, is anyone more tired of being rumored to be traded than John Collins. John Collins has been in trade rumors since before I was born.
Really like he's been, He's been. It's just the thing.
It's death taxes and John Collins on the trade block. Because John Collins had to be asked about it again, and he's just like so sick of it. You can just tell I'm over this. He goes off on this reporter when they're like, hey, you're still on the trade blok. This team still wants to get rid of you. What are your thoughts about being traded again? There's just nobody in the NBA who doesn't know that John Collins would rather be anywhere than on the court watching Trey Young.
Like we know that trade. Hug's not a fun player. We all know that they fucked up when they traded Luca for nothing. This is a team that absolutely fumbled the bag worse than Dennis Shruder. But you know, we have Collins who doesn't like trade. He was the first to call out Tray back three years ago. There was articles written about it. But damn, here we go. So Collins finally has had enough. Right, they ask him about his status. Does he actually know his dad?
Wed? No, one knows his status. I don't even think the Atlanta Hawks.
Know his stady. So he decided to just say, you know what, I'm taking off the kid gloves.
I'm gonna say what I.
Really think, he says. I could say, hey, I want to do this, I want to do that, and they can.
Just do whatever they feel.
It's fair. You saw it with Kevin Durant last summer, right, He's begging for a trade in Brooklyn's Like, nah, not saying that I'm Kevin Durant.
But that's just the mentality of Yeah, you.
Can say whatever you want to go wherever, you can make a public scene, you can do whatever. It does not matter. That's pretty much the crux of the issue. Right, you can desire a trade. Teams can do whatever they want with you. They can decide where you go, what it takes. They can hold you hostage. That's the nature of being in a contract. Right and right up until he resigned, Travis Schlank was bound in the termines to keep Collins in Atlanta. Who knows why Collins does not
want to be there. Schlank does not want him there, and Collins will pine how hard it's been playing for three different coaches with three different systems in Atlanta. Obviously, so much of what happens with his destination, what happens with the teams outside of his control. But then the reporter, of course, probably the same one that pressed trade young Uh pressed him about a possible trade again.
And he finally had enough. He was, Oh god, it's best. I don't give a damn, He says, I don't give a damn.
Honestly, you know what I mean. I play basketball every day, You know what I mean. I play basketball. Come in and I play basketball, and whatever happens happens. Because I don't control that side. I don't have any control over the decisions to get made. Where I am, where I play I don't have any control over that. Is it safe to say John Collins is sick of this bullshit? Is it safe to say John Collins would like to be anywhere but to be asked about, Hey, you're on
the trade block again. One thing is for certain, like the Hawks are not going to allow Trey Young to go. And it is very hard to see where John Collins and Trey Young fit on a team that is centered on a guy who really his first, second, and third option is to score. His fourth option is to lob the ball up, really to keep the defense honest for option one, two and three. That's really it. You're only getting lobs to help Tray Young, that's it. And you're
not getting play calls for you at all. So how bad are things in Atlanta? Well, according to Shams, Nate McMillan strongly considered resigning after the whole Trey Young incident that we covered a couple weeks back. Now, Nate insists that that was not true. He says, these are allies. But come on, we know what Shams does. Shams is getting multiple sources. He is not peddling in rumors. There is fire behind the smoke, so do not hold it against John Collins. Think about how toxic things are there.
I heard from somebody within NBA circles that reached out to me. Hey, they said, players don't like playing with Trey, Coaches don't like Trey. There's nothing they can do. He's the franchise. That's it, end of story. So yeah, retirement looks a lot better than dealing with the freaking chucker every day who's gotten attitude issue. And I like Trey Young ish, But do you want to bet John Collins's
pro nate on this little beef? I would bet. I would bet so bottom line very safe to say there's a lot of teams that would like Chun Collins on their roster. His points are down, But let's be honest, why why is there point? He's why why is this points down?
Because Trey Young's first, second, third option is scoring for himself and he's shooting twenty nine percent from three, but he is averaging eight rebounds in a block and a half and a steal per game.
So will John Collins be on the move? I don't know. Again, this is well before my time that these rumors started. But like Miles Turner, don't bring up the trade number. The word trade around them if you don't want it to be a confrontational situation.
No team is that.
A bigger crossroads right now? Well, maybe I don't know that's actually true, but the Chicago Bulls are at an impassed the Bulls currently nineteen and twenty one. They're currently ninth in the East.
But here's the little wrinkle that kind of makes it more interesting.
They've also won seven of ten, so they're the second hottest team in.
The Eastern Conference behind Brooklyn. So what do you do?
What do you do if you're the Chicago Bulls? Do you try to salvage the rest of the season in hopes of maybe trying to make a play in tournament like seven or eight seeds? Do you cut bait? You rebuild? Do you hope that a Lonzo comes back fully healthy next year? I don't even know if the Bulls know what they want to do, Honestly, I don't. They keep making these statements, They keep doing one thing, saying another. But everyone seems to be on the trade bark right now. DeRozan, Levine, Crusoe,
Vooch all rumored to be on the move. That's a lot of players that are superstars or stars, so Caruso I would consider to be a very high valuable piece. Derozen was leading in clutch field goal percentage for most of last year, had MVP buzz. Levine is obviously a certified bucket. Vouch is a guy who can get you ten rebounds, doesn't play a lot of defense, but he can score his ass off and all are rumored to
be gone. What might seal the deal though on this are the rumors courtesy of the Chicago Sun Times, is that there might be big trouble with team chemistry. You say it ain't so, say it ain't so. A growing rift between Zach Levine and Billy Donovan. Could not have
seen that coming whatsoever. According to the Sun's Times reporter Joe Cally, Levin Billy Donovan player relationship player coach relationship remained somewhat strained in the wake of a November eighteenth late game benching in which Donovan chose to ride out the final minutes minutes against Orlando with Leavin out of the game. I remember this like it was day, Like it was just yesterday. Why is Levin not playing in the fourth quarter? It became kind of a thing. Lavin
expressed his displeasure. That's one way of putting it right. He was pissed with Donovan's decision immediately after the game, stating, Yeah, that's Billy's decision.
He's gotta lay with it. They lost that game. He's gotta lay with it. Do I agree with it?
No? I think I can go out there and still be me even if I miss some shots. That's his decision and he's gotta stand on it.
Whoo whoo whoo.
November eighteenth, guys checks notes.
It's coming up on two.
Months ago that that happened. He's still upset about this, Yeah, apparently so. The trouble, though, of course, is that both of them just signed long term deals like just last fall, Donovan in secret in like September. Did Levine sign a max contract in June or July that pays him through the twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven season he will where he will make a shocking forty nine million dollars per year.
This is like a very side road.
I don't think secret extensions should be a thing. That does not make sense. Why are we signing Billy Donovan to an extension in secret? Because they know nobody is for it, you know, and you know you're gonna get heat for that. Do not try to sneak this in on a slow news day, do not anyway. Lavigne obviously balling, he's a bucket, but he's battling injuries. He's averaging twenty three game his knee, I think is going to give
some teams pause. I do good enough probably for someone to take a chance, because he's just that good at scoring, if the Bulls actually choose to shop them. But that's the big question. The trade deadline is a month away. If the Bulls fade or go through a slump, he actually could be on the move. If they play well, he'll probably stay. They might actually be buyers at the deadline. And now you've got Kdie out for a month. At least, you got the Celtics in disarray. Other teams are struggling
at various times. He obviously have been okay recently, but not really good period, and I think it's probably going to take a big time falling out for the Bulls to give up on the season. So you're looking at all these other teams that are struggling and you're.
Saying, this is our opportunity. I mean until then.
The Bulls are a team to watch closely, and people will say, like, which one do you choose if there is a big time riff like Nate McMillan and Trey Young, do you choose Billy Donovan or do you choose Zack Lavine? For me, it's very simple.
It's actually like should have been done a long time ago. Neither neither.
I don't want either of these guys. Zack Lavine one of the most ball dominant dudes in the NBA with one knee. He's had multiple arthroscopic surgeries. Like, this guy is getting paid fifty million dollars. He can't play defense. He's going to eventually slow down in terms of getting separation to the rim, getting buckets on his own. They both make way too much damn money because they are not affecting winning in any way considering that this team
is hoping to be a playing team. Billy Donovan is a classic college coach, like Yukon's head coach Dan Hurley, where it's like he's yelling at players, he's a control freak. He's just absolutely benching dudes for no reason. Both of these are trash. Both these are trash decisions for the Bulls, and lately we saw it. So happened today Arizona Cardinals gave up on Cliff Kingsbury less than a year after extending him. He gets fired to day, So neither should
have been extended. If the Bulls want to rebuild, they blow it all up. They get rid of the be and they get rid of de Rosa, they get rid of Donovan, and they get rid of I guess you get rid of Caruso because you're gonna get a lot for him, get rid of Vouch. Literally, just rebuild it all up. You gotta ditch both bad contracts for sure.
Send Levine off, probably can get two first round picks for him, Send Billy back to some college team like maybe like some other version of Iona, and you know, take those picks and rebuild that team from the bottom up. So there was some news recently that someone in the NBA wanted to beat the shit as Skip Bayless. Yeah, that doesn't shock me. There's no sports media commentar that has had a worse week than Skip Bayless. There's plenty of people who have had worse weeks in Skip Bayless
outside of that. In the week, wait though, of the Monday night game between the Bills and the Bengals. Skip obviously tweeted a bunch of dumb bullshit about how the game needs to be played. It was not really well worded. He took a bunch of heat from the Fox Exacts. Shannon, his co host, didn't show up. As you can imagine, everyone was mad at Skip Bayless. Shannon Short Sharp was mad.
They got into an argument. As it turns out, according to Matt Barnes on All the Smoke, he had to hold back an NBA player from losing his shits on Skip Bayless.
This is what Matt said.
I have personally had to diffuse two situations, one with a coach and one with an NBA player They wanted to fuck Skip up. One was this year, one was last year. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed. But it's just gone too far. In my opinion, Does this shock anyone?
I don't think so. Skip is the king of saying shit.
He does not mean that degrades and dehumanizes people in sports, these personal biting attacks. Remember the Richard Sherman back and forth that happened in Richard Sherman's like second or third year, somebody's gonna end up hurting Skip. I think now, I don't wish pain and suffering on anyone, but if your Skip Bayless, you probably want to ratchet down those takes you do when you're doing things like questioning why teams would pay someone when you have that big of a microphone.
This is probably not gonna end well.
The question that I have is like, who is the player?
Who was it? I need to know. I don't know who it was. I need the tea, I need Matt Barnes to tell me. Let me know who you think it is. I need to know is it. I could see it being like a Pat Beverly. I could see it being like a like a Boogey Cousins Man. Boogie Cousins would small Skip Bailoss All right?
Quick update.
Remember our episode before Christmas about the Dallas Mavericks. I went on record saying that of all the moves that the MAVs could make, signing Kemba Walker, probably the most inexplicable move made no sense. According to people on social media, I should just get into the kitchen and let the big boys talk. But the who was I really to question? Mark Cuban the MAVs for an office et cetera, et cetera. Guess what. Guess what, folks, I have an update for you.
The MAVs just waved Kemba Walker after three dismal weeks for two way guard McKinley Wrights, just days before Kemba Walker's salary was guaranteed.
Are you guys kidding me?
You see what I sang?
They waved him three weeks is all.
It took three weeks.
Color me stunned. Stunned, folks.
I could not have possibly seen now that was gonna go sideways. I could not have possibly seen how that was going to be an impossibility for them to be good in any way with someone who does not play defense, with bad knees, who's undersized, on a team that needs buckets and defense.
Listen, I am.
Really floored that Facundo Composo and Kemba Walker weren't the answers for the mass. I just thought it couldn't see it, couldn't see it. Jalen brunts and leaves and yeah, that's a hole that Fakundo Composo and Kemba Walker can fill. This is wild. He's a legend. I love Kemba Walker, but he's broken. He's broken, and for people to say, oh, you don't know what you're saying.
Our eyes tell us everything we need to know.
Just know that our eyes see everything and the and the key to life is to not allow other people with bad eyes to tell you your eyes don't work. That's the key, because they will gaslight you. And sometimes people with perfectly good eyes try to tell you your eyes don't work when they see I'm talking to you, famous los talking to you got into my comments section about Jordan
Poole being an absolute disaster. There are people who try to gaslight you that see exactly what you see, and they will tell you in a quiet moment that they see that. But on the internet they tell you you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know basketball, and you're seeing something that no one else sees.
Yeah, don't let them do that. Never let them do that.
As an addendum, Jason Tatum is lobbying to bring Kemba Walker back to Boston, as if the Celtics have any more reason to add drama to their plate. Kemba Walker in Boston made Brad Stevens never coach again. Literally, he gave up the game. He was like, you know what, This isn't for me, This isn't for me. X is in a leader of men. Kem is leading a revolution in the locker room. There's a coup happening, don't I mean,
don't sleep. Kemba was leading a revolution in Boston. Joe Missoula is gonna need a new set of prayer beads.
What are those called? The rosary beads. He's gonna need a.
New, a new, brand new spankin set of rosary beads to try to handle Kemba Walker, Brogden and Marcus Smart in the same Walker room. If that ship were to go down, that's absolutely bonkers. That's just something that needed to be said that There's really no news there other than hey, the MAVs wave Kemba Walker. But that's this podcast.
Finally, let's move on. We've covered Kyrie.
A lot, because, let's face it, he's just a walking soap opera and that's just lovely. His entire tenure with every team, not just the Nuts, the Celtics, the Calves, all that. Since though, what was it anti setematism gait, Kyrie has been absolutely insane, quietly balling the fuck out.
The question, though, is why Kyrie was asked this recently and told Brian Lewis, a reporter for the New York Post, is what we said, Well, if basketball is a very simple art for him, So if I don't bring all my extra distractions or anything that I'm going through mentally into the game, that's something that I've taken responsibility for on my own end, just to be positively reinforcing what we can do to win games no matter what's going on. Dare I say Kyrie Irving? Is Ben Matrid say it ain't.
So he continued just being mentally prepared, using a lot of sessions in the summer, challenging myself to be ready for these moments where I don't have to be swayed emotionally. I'm in control of my emotions, in control of my thoughts. Listen, He's always said he's a mental warrior on the court, and I think this is very in step with that philosophy.
But it's really not always worked. People can say that they control what they can control, but let's be honest, the mind is a dangerous place to let play out. And right now he's doing what he says he's gonna do. Since his suspension at Kyrie Irving is averaging twenty six, five and five, and the Nets have just won every single game. It feels like eighteen of twenty. There's nothing you can do to stop them. Fourth quarter scoring Banana's
just like first quarter. His poise is elite, His calm demeanor is even making Kevin Durant absolutely gush over him. And yet yet the big Kyrie news this week is that he wore a pair of shoes that said free all oppressed people.
It's probably an old pair of shoes that he just forgot had that on.
It Sunday in his game versus the Heat, you know, the one same game where Kevin Durant went down with an MCL's brain. Of course it made news. But again, like I said, are this old pair of shoes? I've had these for a while. You know, I'm not trying to make any new statements. I've had these sins, you know. October of twenty twenty one. Who is he speaking of? Who is he speaking of these oppressed people? Is he talking about you know, just the collective, just everyone, like
the wigurs in China? Is he talking about the Native Americans, indigenous people who lost their land? Is this a continuation of this HOTEP message about the original black Israelites. I have no idea. I don't know.
I'd like to know.
He probably won't say because he's maturing. But the fact is, the two days previous, Kevin Durant wore a pair of shoes that read free all of My people in a game against the Pelicans, and no one said anything. The reason is because Kyrie Irving says a lot of dumb shit and everyone's waiting for him to say something dumb again. That is maybe the right thing, maybe the wrong thing.
I don't know, But in these quiet moments when shit is not hitting the fan, you have to say the Brooklyn Nets and Kyrie Irving are one of the greatest shows on the court, and I love watching him play basketball. I need more of it, please and thank you, because we know what's gonna happen. There's gonna be another Kyrie
Irving controversy and his play is gonna diminish. He's probably gonna step away temporarily, and before you know it, you just kind of have to enjoy the sunshine before the next bomb cyclone comes and drops another tree on a house. So that's all that's all the time. That we have for the heat Check. We will be back Friday with an all new episodes. Check the feed for past episodes, many episodes which drop every single day follow the Heat
Check in twenty twenty three. Please follow us on social to grow the social account so again we can continue making this beautiful product me and my amazing producer Nick Berlanski A Burlow.
Follow us on this heat check. Follow us at Trister Creek on TikTok.
Burlow's on the heat check on TikTok now to find him Nick Berlanski. He's not posting any clips, but he's awesome.
That's all the time that we have.
We'll see you guys next Friday.