Hoops Tonight - Kevin Durant to Suns reaction, Lakers legit? Warriors big trade w/ Chris Mannix

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Happy Trade deadline Day. We are live on AMP. Don't forget if you're watching this on YouTube or the podcast fee that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get this analysis. We're gonna be breaking down the trade deadline at least three biggest moves and maybe some more as well. We have two special things going on today. First of all, we are going to be giving away some free merch based on a trivia question

that I think is very interesting. We're gonna be doing that at the tail end of the show, so stick around. We'll be asking the question, and the very first person to get that question right in the chat is going

to get some free volume merch. And we have a very special guest today, somebody that I have admired and respected from a distance for a very long time, and that I'm very excited to talk basketball with today um senior writer for Sports Illustrated and host of Three Points Here at the volume, Mr Chris Mannix, Welcome to the show. My guy, how are you? I'm good man. How you doing? I'm doing very good. So we I had a feeling

that this was gonna be a particularly busy deadline. I thought that the wide open Western Conference kind of made it so that if you were in some of these houses, in some of these front offices, that you could talk yourself into thinking that you were one or two moves away from having a real chance. And I think that's exactly what we saw, and we saw a ton of

talent shift over to the Western Conference. The Lakers make a big move, the Suns make a big move, the Warriors make a big move, and we're gonna be hitting them all. But we have to start with Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns. So the machinations of the deal, we got Michal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jake Crowder, four first round picks, and a swap going out for Kevin Durant

and t J. Warrens. My first question, Chris, what do you where's your head at with the Phoenix Suns right now, man, you know they're taking a big swing, and it's a It's a move that comes with a pretty significant downside if it doesn't work. I mean, if this team collapses in the next couple of years and doesn't win a championship, then they're gonna see a lot of quality draft picks going uh Brooklyn's way. That being said, it's the right play to make. Uh. You know, guys like Kevin Durant

don't come on the market very often. And if you can get a transformative player without giving back a player of equal value, with due respect to Mchael Bridges, Cam Johnson, uh whatever, Jay Crowder is right now, Um, you're going to take that all day long. So look, they've given themselves one of, if not the most dynamic one to scoring options in the entire NBA. I think Chris Paul

is the right point guards. Try to meld all that together, and you look at that starting lineup with eighting at the top of it, You've got as formidable a starting five as any team in basketball. So risky, but the move that I you know you have to make if you're the Phoenix Suns, the shot creation is going to be completely off the charts. I was looking at it earlier today. Kevin Dury basically has been the best pick and roll ball handler in the entire NBA this year.

His ability to draw multiple defenders and start those four on threes has been highly underrated as people focused on his scoring over the years. This is where I have two main concerns, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. So let's start with the Chris Paul element to this, um, how much sense does he even make to be on the floor, particularly with closing groups, now that you have Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on the

floor as shot creators. Given that Chris Paul is not the same defender that he used to be, that he's not the same score that he used to be, He's going to be in a spot up position a lot more. I like him coming off the bench, running bench groups and things along those lines. And obviously I have the utmost respect for what Chris Paul does on a basketball court. But is there a redundancy there now? Uh? I mean, what's the alternative? Are we talking Campaign as the point guard?

A we're talking Booker playing the one? I mean, I guess about like a defensive guard, Like what about something like going with Damian Lee getting a lot of minutes in the backcourt? Primary re you looking at that as a defensive role? Do you think that's something that's going to be an issue for them or do you think

they'll lean have defense? Defense is definitely going to be an issue for them, Like you know, you don't have a lot of plus defenders on that team right now, especially with Bridges out the door, and they're gonna have to figure out who's now going to be in that rotation, you know, night and night out. I just think the upside that Chris Paul is going to bring at least this season is getting these guys all on the same page.

I mean, very rarely do you see a superstar trade switch teams in mid season and that team have championship

level success. I think Chris Paul is gonna have to be the guy that makes sure Kevin Durant knows where he needs to be, make sure Devin Booker knows where he needs to be with Durants on the floor, And look, DeAndre and you gotta get him involved, Like you can't have DeAndre Ayton, you know, basically being John Collins in in in in Phoenix, Like he's got to get his touch as Russy's gonna check out on the other end of the floor. That's where Chris Paul. I think he's

gonna bring a lot of value to this team. Yeah, he's definitely not what he used to be defensively, but I think as a floor general, as a playmaker, I think most of these games he's gonna have more value than anybody else. Yeah, and I'm terrified of like Chris Paul running Spain pick and roll with Devin Booker and needing to bring a third defender over to contain that role man, and then Kevin Durant just attacking a close

out on the backside, or maybe that's Devin Booker. If it works out the way, I am excited about that. I'm with you. I'm I'm really concerned about the wing. All of their wings now are very upright and slow. Tory Craig is a little bit upright and slow. He's more of like a power forward than he is a traditional wing. Kevin Durant can struggle sometimes with quickness and

strength when he's defending on the perimeter. DeAndre at and struggles a little bit with quickness, and so I I worry about them against teams that are are really quick off the dribble. So teams like the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors that are gonna try to uh really driving kick you to death. I worry about them against those types of teams. So this is my question. So Fan Duel says that they are the favorites to win the rest of the West right now. So do

you agree with that? No, I don't think so. Um. I want to see how they play first and foremost. And second, you're talking about three guys that lead the team that are injury prone. You know, Kevin Durant is not even back yet from a knee injury. Devin Booker just sat out a bunch of games. Chris Paul has a long history with injuries, oftentimes that occurred during the playoffs. So, like I I'd be a little nervous about that if I'm Phoenix, given the fragility of my team and the

chemistry does matter. Like Kevin Durant really is kind of a plug and play guy because you know, he can do it all all of his own. But you know, the integration I think they're gonna be a lot of nights early on where they just get you know, run defensively, like they're just not gonna be able to get stops or enough stops to win to win some games. Um. And we'll see, we'll see. But if I'm a betting man, I'm still probably leaning towards the Nuggets, or really just

the Nuggets, and we can talk about the Grizzlies. I have some issues with what the Grizzlies did but or didn't do. Um. But you know, I'd still probably lean towards Denver right now because that's a team that is on the same page with each other and is clicking pretty well. Yeah, I would probably put them second or third as well, because I've I've always been very bullish on the Warriors. It's just I've always been the kind of guy that doesn't pay too much attention to regular

season results for teams that have a championship pedigree. Um, But that's that. I kind of look at this deal similarly to the Dallas Mavericks going after Kyrie Irving, and obviously on a much greater level because they have more top end talent, But I don't look at it so much about this year as I do about next year.

Specifically for Dallas and for Phoenix, they can now because they have that core top end talent look this summer to find the complementary pieces to put around them, and specifically with moves for guys like Kyrie and guys like Kevin Durant. Like you said the plug in play element.

A big part of it too is Devin Booker and Chris uh and Kevin Duran are so good at shooting over the top of the defense, so you don't have to worry as much about spacing with guys like them, and you can do things like find, you know, dirty work guys that aren't great offensive players to put around them. So I I think going into next year, I'd probably be very inclined to pick the Suns to come out

of the West. But I'm with you this year, when you look at continuity, when you look at some of the physical mismatches that Phoenix is gonna deal with, I'm a little bit worried about them. Um, what do you think was the biggest reason that the Kyrie Kevin Durant pairing was a failure? Look, A lot of it was bad luck and bad timing. For all this, Like, you know, if if Kyrie doesn't get injured and James Harden doesn't get injured in this that Milwaukee series a couple of

years ago, did they beat the Bucks? Probably right? So they were. I mean, we say it all the time, they were Kevin Durant t o I from doing it. Anyway, you have James Harden who was out for what almost the entirety of that series, and Kyrie Irving who was injured, Like yeah, that that was bad luck in that season.

Then they come back the next year, it's the pandemic and everything that kind of goes into it, and Kyrie camp play half the games and and all that turned off James Harden and you have to wind up dealing him. So I think they were victims of circumstance. But towards the end it was all Kyrie, Like that's why it didn't work. I mean, before Kevin Durant went out, they had won eighteen in the last twenty. They were twelve and one in December, like what are we talking about here?

Like that was that led the look of a contender before Kevin Durant's injury. Kyrie wants to be traded because he wasn't getting the contract offer that he liked from Brooklyn. I mean, he can say now that he feels disrespected, and you know, things were ugly behind the scenes. But if the Nets had offered him in January a extension to his liking, whatever he signed there, he he wanted out because he wanted his bird rights changed to another team.

And that's what Dallas has, like in DA else could be in a position where they're so desperate to appease Luca that they'll sign him for the kind of deal that that he wants in the off season. So I think I would have liked to have seen what this next team could have done with healthy Durant, healthy Kyrie, some pretty good defenders. You know, Royce O'Neil has had a pretty good year on that team. I think that they could have been a tough out in the playoffs

with those two guys playing at a high level. But Kyrie decided to be about Kyrie in that moment, and that was the last, you know, vestiges of one of Like I said this earlier, like now Sports Illustrated back in twelve did one of the most absurd in retrospect covers of all time with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard saying this is gonna be fun. These guys might have exceeded the lowest of expectations that they had coming in

like that. To not be able to win more than one playoff series with three in their prime all NBA All Star m VP candidates is really a remarkable achievement. No, it really is that. I'm I'm with you. I would have loved to have seen them play, now, I I to be clear, I think I would have. I would have been a hundred percent certain that the Celtics would have beat them. It was just such a series, like the Celtics series last year, Like the entirety of that

series was decided about like seven points. So even though she's a sweep, they you know, Celtics had some problems with them, for sure, But there's kind of like a perimeter strength mismatch in that in that particular matchup that that I think really worked against Brooklyn. But aside from that matchup, I might have picked Brooklyn or given them a very good chance to win in any other matchup

in the n b A I'm with you. I wanted to see what they could do and from the moment Kyrie got suspended to the moment k D got hurt, you could make an argument that they were the best team in the league. And so if there's one thing that's genuinely impressive about this is I have never seen a player blow up a championship intending bona fide championship

contending team within the season. It's it's it's seriously impressive, and like I mean, in retrospect looking back, Uh, honestly, this was probably the most reasonable move that Kyrie made because it really did make sense. There wasn't many There weren't many good cap space teams out there this summer, so the bird rights thing really was his best bet to try to get to a team where he could

sign a good deal. I'm with you, I actually, I know there's intel that the Mavericks are still considering it, but I would be shocked if Mark Cuban didn't make him a MAX offer this summer. I believe. I don't think he guess full max. I think they do three years aligned. That aligns Kyrie with Lucas contract, which he can opt out of after six, and you can sort

of keep them together as that goes. Look, I don't disagree that it was the right move for Kyrie, but he just told his teammates I'm more important than you, like for sure. I mean, and I saw Nick Claxton say afterwards like Kyrie is the best teammate I've ever had, or something to that effect, like he just blew up your season. Like you went from being a team that in a year you, Nick Claxton, are one of the

defensive Player of the Year candidates. You are now going from a deep playoff team to one headed for the lottery most likely or at least the play in at this point. So that to me is not the hallmark of a great teammate. I would agree with you. I do have a quick bonus question before we go to the Lakers. Do you think there's any chance in the world that he ends up getting a sign in trade to the Lakers after this season. I think there's a chance. Um,

I think Phoenix remarkably might actually be in play as well. Really, although if Kevin Durant hitches himself to Kyrie again, I don't I'd have to question the sanity of that decision. Um, I do think there's a chance, Like I don't think the look whatever we however, we play this out, Kyrie is gonna do whatever it takes to get the contract

that he wants. And if the Lakers, who could still decide that, you know, D'Angelo Russell's not for them, uh rui hashi more is not for them, and they could clear the necessary space to give Kyrie the deal or close to the deal that he wants. I could see Dallas, in an effort not to lose him for nothing, do a deal that gets something back in return. Yeah, someone like D'Angel Russell to basically be a backup shot crater kind of like a double signing trade type of deal Russell.

If they give 'angel Russell big money, Like, you know, I don't know how that apieces Luca. I don't know how, you know, Like, hey, Luca, like, here's our solution to your problems. You know. We let Jalen Brunson go, we let uh to Kyrie go, but here comes d'An angelo Russell to be your you know, backcourt made for the next three years. That's I'm not sure how well that's gonna go over with Luca do Yeah, the worst guy of the three. Um So we're looking back at the

Lakers deadline. They basically turned Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, and a second round pick and a lightly protected first round pick into D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jared Vanderbilt, and Mo Bamba. So my question for you this and I have some strong opinions here, but I want to hear. I want to hear your take on it. Did the Lakers do enough to make themselves a legitimate threat to get out of the Western Conference? Look, I thought they had a

great deadline. I do, and you extend the deadline back about a week when they made the Hashi Moor trade. That's kind of part of it. They are operating like a team that has Lebron James should operate. They are putting shooters around him. That's what Miami did, That's what Cleveland did, That's what l A bizarrely the last couple of years refused to do. They are now doing that so Beasley can shoot. Russell January, he shot from three

this month, He's at like fort um. You know, Ruey Hashi more from certain spots on the floor is a pretty efficient three point shooter, and guys that can shoot traditionally thrive playing off of Lebron James, like, how many extra years did Kyle Korver get on his career because he was playing with Lebron James like, he just he's looking to find guys and because of the attention Lebron draws, these guys get open looks, so they're doing the right thing.

I thought that Thomas Bryan deal was interesting because Bryan's played really well for them. And I don't know if Davon Reid has a spot in the rotation, but maybe they needed a guy that can play defense with that group, so he might be it. But I thought they had

a really good deadline. I thought they got measurably better UM overall, and if Anthony Davis is healthy, if Lebron is healthy, if they can get a spot in that final late UM, I like their chances of of knocking off one of the top four teams in the West, They're gonna be dangerous. I think that the two biggest weaknesses that I had for the Lakers coming into this season was athletic size, like size that could move and backcourt skill uh specifically pull up jump shooting and spot

up jump shooting. And D'Angelo russell affective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots this year. He's been very good in pick and roll this year. Did you know that D'Angel Russell has been the best isolation player in the league to run at least fifty this season. He's averaging one point to nine points per possession. Classic contract year stuff, you know, as he's been probably working harder

than he has in recent years. Malik Beasley actually is having a down year in terms of his ability to convert spot up possessions. But he's been gunning in Utah in a way that he probably won't with the Lakers, and he'll get better. Um uh, he'll get better opportunities with the Lakers. I really like Jared Vanderbilt. He's actually my favorite guy probably in in in these deals because I think of him is just a much better version of when you and Gabriel the Thomas Bryant thing um.

And I really appreciate what Thomas Bryant did over the last couple of months with Anthony Davis getting hurt and just him playing his ass off to to help build

the Lakers stay in games. But he's kind of like another Montrese Harold, a guy that I genuinely think would be disastrous for the Lakers in a playoff rotation, and so I think the idea there was you move Thomas Bryant to bring in Davon Rudy probably won't ever play with how much depth they have on the wing now, But what you do is you make it so that Darvin ham has no choice but to go to Jared Vanderbilt and Mo Bamba, and when you in Gabriel in

those front court minutes, and Mo Bamba is like interesting to me. He's been very good in spot up situations this year, but he's never been as good defensively as people hoped he would be. Overall, I do think that Rob killed it this deadline. But here's my question for you. My concern before the season when Rob and Geennie decided to kick this can down the road was I do believe you can get marginally better trade packages than you could over the summer, but I was concerned that it

would cost them in the standings. And here we are in their twenty five and thirty. There are four games from getting out of the plan, two games to even get into the plan, and here Lebron's gonna miss tonight. So it might even be even worse after tonight. And so the Ruey Hatcher Mura deal was unrelated to the summer. They could have made that at this deadline, no matter what. The Mobamba deal was unrelated to this summer. They could

have made that deal no matter what you. I believe that Buddy Healed is a better player than Malie Beasley. I believe Myles Turner is a much better player than Jared Vanderbilt the swing piece. There's D'Angel Russell, who's interesting. So I would say that our arguably it was a little bit better than what they could have done this summer,

and you saved one first round pick. Uh as a result, Anthony Davis and Lebron James now from the middle of February all the way through to whenever they lose and or the middle of June have to hit the Jets while Denver can chill, while Memphis can chill, while Boston can chill, you know. And so as a result of that, I I again, results are going to tell the story,

and maybe this all works out. But my concern is that the real urgency here was Lebron's late prime and your twenty and maybe you're twenty one if you're lucky and so I'm I'm worried that this gamble might have put them in a position where it wasn't worth that extra bit of trade capital. So what what's your take on that? Do you think the Lakers made the right decision by waiting? Uh? Hindsight, Look, the Lakers have made some bad non calls in the past, like one they

should have gone and gotten Kyle Lowry. You can debate whether they should have gotten out this past summer and made that deal or whatever. The deal was available for Turner and healed. Uh, they were holding out and had been holding out for one of the big names to come available today. Basically, they were looking for Bradley Beale hit the market. They were hoping that Portland's pulled the

shoot on the Damian Lillard experiment. None of that happened, so they couldn't turn Russell Westbrook into the star player that they were looking for. Given that, again, I think they did pretty well here. I think they built a team that you're right, is going to have to claw to get into the playoffs and are one bad Lebron game or one Anthony Davis ankle turn from getting beat

in the play in tournament. That's a huge risk. But if that team gets into the playoffs, I'm not gonna bet necessarily that Denver is gonna beat them four at a seven. I'm not gonna bet that Memphis is gonna beat them four at a seven. Like, if that team gets in the playoffs with those two guys healthy and the guys around them making shots in a weird season where the number one team is a lot is pretty

close in terms of overall talent and potential. As the number eight team, I like the Lakers chances in that position. So it's really about the next couple of months, you know, jelling getting into that play and mix getting into the playoffs. But once they're there, to me to look out, because that would not be the team I'd want to play in the first round, that's for sure. I agree. I Like I said earlier with the Warriors, I've always been

very bullish on championship cores that i've seen win it before. Um, and you can always make up ground, Like say, for instance, it's you get into the first round and you get Memphis and and Lebron and a d are just on level one hundred and they beat Memphis in five games. Then you get that rest and things could work out.

I'm not saying it can't work, but I do think it was a risk to put them in that position to have to gun the way they will the rest of the season and then a d going against Steven Adams one round and then Yokich and you know what if he has to play zoo Bach in the second round, you know, like it could be one of those things

where physically it gets difficult for him. But I do agree with you, and I think you hit the nail on the head, like, regardless of what you feel about what they did this summer, in the last couple of weeks, Rob Linka has done an excellent job and and and they like moving Westbrook was the right move because it was getting bad there with the last couple of days, especially not just the report to blow up in the locker room, but you know, Lebron has been out there

basically saying do something or you know, talking about roster moves for for weeks, if not months down and any roster moved Russell Westbrook knows involves him, like it knows he's got to go. Um I thought, I mean the report that day mcmnhimon said on ESPN, where he's like and he with the vampire sucking the blood out of locks somewhere. Like I'll tell you what. I didn't get that exact quote from people in that involved there, but I got some version of it like that. You know,

this is addition by subtraction. Russ was sucking the life out of that team. Like I got some version of that from from people in and around that organization. Uh So, the knives are out for Russell Westbrook right now. And it just tells me that, you know, taking him off that roster and plugging D'angela Russell, in, plugging Milik Beasley, in plugging the guys, they're gonna add to that group in um that that's gonna relieve some tension that was

going on within that team. Yeah, you don't have to tell me, man I. Uh I. In my time being a basketball fan, I can't remember many things like rooting for Russell Westbrook has been. It has been one hell of an experience. But let's move out to the Gold State Warriors. So there are a bunch of different uh details in this trade, guys getting rerouted like Seek Bay and Kevin Knox. But the gist of it is is the Warriors managed to flip James Wiseman for Gary Payton.

A second. I had somebody very close to the Warriors tell me this morning that, uh, Steph basically made an ultimatum. Uh not really. Ultimatum is probably the wrong word, but he made his voice hurt. Apparently he went to the front office and said, I want Wiseman out of here. I don't think he fits with us. I don't think he's made the efforts to try to to become a winning impact player with us. There's a conversation to have about Wiseman, but the gist of it is they have

flipped him for Gary Payton. The second, So my question is does this renew any optimism for you with the Golden State Warriors. Well, in Gary Payton, they at least they're getting a guy that they know they can count on, who knows the system, who knows how to play opposite Russ or Clay or whoever else he's on the floor with, who can play defense at a high level. And that's

the piece they were missing. I mean, they people inside the Warriors would liberally bring it say it that they know they needed something as while they publicly say, you know, we just need these guys to develop, give them time, commend to all that stuff. They knew they needed a piece. They were going to get a piece at this trade deadline, and it was Wiseman was an obvious candidate to go, and you knew they'd have to sell low on him to get anything back in return. I'm just a little

surprised they sold this low. Whatever you think of James Wiseman, he is the former number two pick in the draft, and I know summer leagues not the end all be all. When you watch him play, you can see there's talent there, and he's had a couple of moments with the Warriors during this season where it's like, Okay, I know that guy,

that guy, that guy can play. So I thought maybe they'd sell for like Alex Caruso, who is more of a two way player, a little bit of a juiced up version of Gary Payton with championship experience to sell for effectively Gary Payton also to throw five second round picks in there, that's a lot of picks um to

do that. You know, I guess if that's the only thing they could possibly do, and you needed to get something to upgrade that bench, it is what it is, But I thought Wiseman would be able to bring back more in a deal for Golden State. Yeah, you're right, it's the desperation thing. Um. Them selling low, everyone knew, but they had to do something and the only guy they could use to do that would be Wiseman or

maybe Moody. Um. I thought the Warriors made two huge mistakes in the in the in this last couple of years. From the front office standpoint. First of all, James Wiseman was a star potential big, not a dirty work big. And what they needed from that second overall pick was a dirty work pig uh big. So I thought from a strategic standpoint that pick was such a huge mistake.

Then obviously Gary Payton the second. I mean, if you've watched the games, you could see it, but it especially showed up on the scoreboard in the playoffs last year. The Warriors were plus three per one hundred possessions when Gary Payton was on the bench, and they were plus sixteen per one hundre possessions when Gary Payton was on the floor. They played at their best when he was out there, because, like you said, he's that connective tissue

piece within the Warriors. He's such a good cutter, he's such a good you know, uh passer he makes keeps that engine moving while at the same time being able to do the things that he does on the defensive end of the floor. I thought letting him go was a serious mistake. But to Joe Macop's credit and to Bob Meyer's credit, they acknowledged it. We messed up. We messed up on Wiseman, we messed up on Gary Payton,

So why don't we clean this mess up? And yes, in retrospect, you can look back and be like, man, you could have had both, you know, like, obviously it's an issue. But at the end of the day, within the urgency of this season and how good stuff is right now, I respect the fact that they just had admitted that and decided to move on at that point.

And I forget what it was like at the time because moving Wiseman actually saves them money at the time bringing back Gary Payton would have cost them like thirty million dollars or something like that in luxury tax penalties. Like I I know it's we we always say that's not you know, billion their billionaire owners. They can do whatever they want. But the Wars have been spending the last few years. They have highest salaries I believe in

NBA history, highest payroll. Rather when you factor in luxury tax, Like I almost don't blame them for not, you know, giving Gary Payton that that contract because of what it would have cost them on the back end. Yeah, I agree, And it's not it's not like the Crusoe thing or they're a little bit in the tax and they absolutely could have afforded to bring him back. Like this, I'm with you. I understand Crustal Wiseman would have worked straight up like you could do that deal. And I mean,

look Chicago, it's a different story altogether. Like they are in that weird place where losing doesn't do anything for them because Orlando gets that draft pick. So they weren't from what I know, they weren't eager to make a significant deal at the deadline. But you know that. I look back like Caruso two years up in his contract, manageable money, really good two way player, that's the guy would have done everything to try to extract out of

the bulls. I agree. I'm as big a Crustal fan as you'll find I I I really, really enjoyed covering him when he was with the Lakers. So I got two quick questions for you before you get out of here today, Chris, who was the biggest winner of the trade deadline in your opinion? I mean, Phoenix got Durant, So like it's it's oftentimes the player that that makes the biggest impact, and the Sun's what they forked over.

The highest value was probably those four first round draft picks, which five years from now we'll be able to look back gone and say, you know that right or wrong move at that point. But Kevin Durant for the next three years is now a member of the Sons. He's going to be with Devin Booker for at least this year, possibly next. He's going to be with Chris Paul. And they've given themselves more than a puncher's chance to win a championship this year. And you know that that to me,

you know that represents the biggest winner. Yeah, it's really that simple. They went from a team that I thought had zero chance to win the Western Conference to the team that's the Fame Dual favorite. I think that automatically makes you the winner at the deadline. Who do you think was the biggest loser of the trade deadline. Oh,

that's easy, Memphis. Memphis was a loser with a capital l you know, they like I can't criticize the organization because they have built something there, like not just drafting high with John Rant and Jaren Jackson Jr. But you know, getting the Desmond Baines, getting the Dylan Brooks. Like they're one of, if not the best drafting team in the entire league. But they should have been operating with the

same mindset that Phoenix was. Like Phoenix is sitting there right in the middle of the Western Conference, playing for the playing field behind Memphis, and they took a big swing. Like Memphis has all their draft capital, They've got one extra pick from Golden State that they could use in a deal. They've got some intriguing tradeable young talent on their bench, Zie Williamson probably the most marketable. They have the contract of Dandy Green, and all they walk away

with is Luke Kennard. And I like Luke Kennard. But there's a reason that the Clippers, who just totally shredded their bench, We're willing to deal Luke Canard in every trade permutation possible, like they were everything you talked with the Clippers, including Luke Nard going out, that tells me something that that maybe Luke Nard is not the answer that that some teams think. Look on paper, I get it because Luke Canard shoose the three that teams a

bottom third in the NBA three point shooting team. Um doesn't defend the three. They're also bad at that, but that that can help them at the back end of

their rotation. But I'm telling you, if this team goes out in the playoffs and gets cooked by Kevin Durant or cooked by Luca don Ch or cooked by the Kauai PG transformer out in l a Like, they're gonna look back and say, gee, maybe those three first round picks they're all gonna be in the twenties might have been worth it to get o Gianna Nobi out of Toronto or to get Michael Bridges as part of a multi team deal with Brooklyn. Brooklyn was sitting out there.

That deal wasn't official till like a couple of hours ago, because they were looking to expand that deal to maybe get more draft capital back in return. I think Bridges was available for an high price, but a price uh and the Grizzlies don't do it. I'm not saying they didn't try, but this was the year they should have gone all in. That team might be one piece away from being, if not the favorite to win the conference,

maybe the favorite to win the whole damn thing. So if they get into the playoffs and they get beat by, you know, one of these top tier teams because they can't defend on the perimeter at the level day to defend, we're gonna look back on February nine as maybe the day that that they should have done something. Yeah, I don't take Memphis seriously. I think in the half court defensively, they have too many entry points that you can attack

them from. And then offensively in the half court, they've never been able to score because John Ran it's the only guy on the team that can really warp the defense the way that he does. And then you mentioned the three point shooting, and I mean, maybe they're looking to be aggressive sometime in the in the future, but I was concerned with them as well. My biggest loser

to tread that on is Portland' um. I really don't understand how turning Josh hart um by, how getting back tees sty Bowl and Kevin Knox and Cam Reddish for basically what was it Josh harden Um, Gary Payton the second how that improves them. I don't understand what exactly their vision is for the future. I don't Portland is the team that I can't figure out. I I genuinely don't know what direction they're looking to move here in

the next couple of years. You know, they're like their goal is to like immortalize Damian Lillard is like on solo kind of you know whatever they call that carbon fiber or whatever the hell is carbonite. Yeah, Like it's just like at the end of when he's finally done playing, they'll just preserve him and put him outside the Modus Center there, Like I've never like and Damian Little is one of my favorite players, Like he is unreal, But I'm just wondering if there's ever gonna be a time

Little is like what are we doing here? Like it's a year after year where a five hundred team or worse, and you know, unless Shaden Sharp turns out to be this superstar in the next two years, the clock is ticking a little. It's like what early thirties at this point. You know, he's had some injury history the last couple of years. Like I just I'm with you. I don't know exactly what their players And I I actually kind of tried to pick Joe Cronin's brain on this at Summer

League briefly when they announced the Lilid extension. And I still don't get it. I still don't know what the plan is except to be competitive and to make Damian Little the face of that competitiveness. It just it does. And I come, look, I'm from Boston, so I've I've grown up in journalism around Danny h and Danny always operated with the same kind of mindset, like you're either really good or you're really bad. There should not be any in between. What is the point of just making

the playoffs? Like what who gains anything out of that? And that's how he's conducted himself during his time as executive including it right now, just gutting that that Jazz team before the deadline. So I don't Maybe it's because Portland's a smaller market, Maybe this is what Lillard wants, But just being like a playoff contender year after year with one of the great players of this generation just doesn't make any sense. Yeah, they've been healthy and bad

for a long time. Um, that's the thing. This year healthy healthy, Like, you know, they haven't had significant remember looking this up, you know a couple of weeks ago where like most of their starting guys or minute high minutes players that played forty plus games like Lillard was in the mid thirties at that point. But they can't point to like, oh, if this guy came back, they'd be a lot better, or that they've been healthy and

they've have been a middling team. Yeah. I was looking at the date of the other day and it was like Dame Anfrey Simons and uh Jeremy Grant all on the floor at the same time, and they were barely positive this season, which is just insane. He deserves he deserves to be like and look, he never do this because he is so committed to that city, so committed

to that organization. But I just hate to see a situation where he's like thirty six and not at the level he used to be, kind of hoisting jump shots in Portland. Like, I just he deserves better because he is one of the generation's great talents. Me too, man, that would be so sad um, but bonus points for the Star Wars reference. Chris, You're someone I've respected for a very long time. I had so much fun talking basketball with you today. I sincerely appreciate you hopping on

The show Man anytime. Jason the Volume