Drive Time on a Friday afternoon ESPN seven hundred, Porter Larson Tony Parks filling in for Spence. Check it's here a little bit of a football Friday, as of course super Bowl fifty nine awaits us on Sunday, but we'll take a little bit of a break from the football conversation talk a little poops with our guy, Howard Beck of The Ringer and Howard, I know that Spence tries to always get hip with you, I think is what
he calls it. I'm not the guy for that. He always comes to me to ask like what the young people are saying, and I tell you, I just I don't. I don't have it for some reason, there's a disconnect there. Any idea, any any idea of the song we brought you in with you? Do you have any do you do you have any feelings on that one?
So a little embarrassing on my part because I know the song which A signs, but the one that I'm most familiar with, of course, with the one because in the eighties by Sacramento rock band Tesla Let's Go, and I don't know the original artist, which I should know, so shame on me.
You should not be embarrassed by that answer because Number one, this has been a topic on this show quite often because Tesla was my late father's favorite band. Like wow, Like there are autographs, there are pictures, there are I've been to don't even have account. I've been to twenty plus Tesla shows.
Howard Beck.
Wow, there's a piece of trivia or just factoi that I just did not anticipate in a million years. I never saw Tesla. They broke out when I was still living in Davis, not far from Sacramento. When I went to UC Davis, that was their time, that was their heyday, but I never saw them. They had some bangers. I liked them.
The Five Man Electrical Band is the original, but yes Signs by Tesla's is the one. They actually got a little more, little more run and Spence always gives me a little grief because it's it's kind of uh, I would say guilty pleasure because I think Tesla put out some really really good songs. But it's the only band that I would in any circumstance associate myself with. It's like the hair metal type of type of out there.
So there you go.
Yeah, I've seen Tesla live in windover in Sturgis, uh In Vegas. Uh as the designated driver for several of these, but yeah, there you go Spence.
Spence would then say some like man just should check these guys out, fire rabbits, You're gonna love them.
I'm like, who some Northeast saw them coffee shop? You never heard him? Who are we talking?
All the All their songs are twelve minutes long. They sound like Dave Matthews trying to.
Yeah, I can't. I can't handle that either.
All right, Howard Beck, Now that we've got seven minutes on Tesla out of the way, my my other is looking down in uh In in pleasure.
There.
I got to ask, super Bowl, how much does it move to the radar. I know you're not a football guy, but this is as much a pop culture events as it is a football game.
Yeah, I don't care. I don't even know if I'll watch. The NFL was my favorite sport of a kid, but I did my in adulthood. I just it's dropped off the radar for me. So yeah, I might just uh, I might just you know, binge something on Netflix on Sunday.
Who knows.
Despite that, I'm still gonna make you give us a final score. Everyone's doing it not happening.
Three zero, three zero? Which way Philly City, let's say Kansas City?
Why not?
Three zero?
Chiefs. I love it.
I love it.
Go go Taylor Swift team. That's what there's there's that's my contribution.
Go go enter that with your bookie three zero and telling Howard Beck sent you. All right, Howard, we'll get to the the NBA draft or the NBA trades stuff, the latest on the hoop side, and we got to start with the big news of the week. We haven't spoken to you since Luka Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, a kind of a franchise resetting move and NBA market resetting move and the talk of the league for this week and probably the focus of a
lot of the league going forward. For now. I want to get your read on what you thought when you saw that notification or I guess when you started hearing whispers of it. Luka Doncic to LA for Anthony Davis. And of course we'll get to the Jazz involvement and the pieces around it as well.
I mean, like everybody else, just absolutely shocked and frankly it's been almost a week. I'm still shocked. I still I mean people around the league are still kind of in this same state too, where it's like, did that really happen? How is this possible? You know, why did the Mavericks make what seems like such a rash move, not only to trade him at all, which is just unprecedented for a player of his caliber at that age, but the trade him for as little as they got
in return. And you know, sometimes your opinions soften on a really shocking move and unexpected move. It might soften over time you get a little more context, you get a little bit more you know, explanation, You kind of take a step back, and you know, take a deep breath and you say, well, maybe, but that's not the case this time. Like, there's no matter how many different ways you look at this, how many times you try to reassess or give them the benefit of the doubt.
In Dallas, it still doesn't make any sense. And when it happened, my thought was, you know, look, we there's nothing that we've heard in the wake of this that we didn't already know around the league in terms of Luca being kind of a diva Luca being kind of a pain in the butt, Luca having bad work habits, Luca being difficult to play with for some some players.
All of those things were true. But he's still one of the best players on Earth and took you to the Final just you know, less than a year ago. So none of this is new, and none of those things I think justify deciding to trade him at age twenty five, And none of it justifies trading him without having at least try to test the market and see what more you could get, because they just didn't get enough. Frankly, they didn't even get enough from the team they traded
him to from the Lakers. Because Anthony Davis Waller great player, it cannot single handedly carry a team the way that Luka Doncins can. And you know, they didn't get the Lakers' twenty thirty one pick, they didn't get swaps, they didn't get you know, Dalton connector Austin Reeves, Like, they should have gotten everything everything. When you're trading an MVP candidate who's twenty five years old, you should get everything,
and they got far short of that. So yeah, it's still it's still shocking, and it sets up the Lakers really nicely for their post Lebron years, that's for sure.
Yeah, turn is what shocks me the most. Right if you want to explain to me that you don't want to invest the super max into a player you're not sure is serious about the length of his career, and listen, I think some of that is maybe unwarranted on Luca because at the end of the day, while he does come into camp overweight, he does have some of those issues by springtime. Howard, by NBA finals time, he's right there. By Western Conference finals time, he's right there performing and
being productive. And this is a results oriented business. So I kind of scoff it. It's some of those excuses for why he was moved on. I want to ask you, though, of all the conspiracies, of all the reasoning, of all the blaming of Nico Harrison and the talk of it, why have we heard almost nothing about the head coach Jason Kidd, a guy who, from what I hear in circles around the league very much likes to have his fingerprints on basketball operations more than he publicly puts out.
He definitely had his fingerprints on this one. It may not be evident, but you know. The word around the league that I heard was that you know. And it's interesting because the press conference, the way Nico said it was like, no, I didn't bring him in, but I know what Jason wants in terms of didn't bring him in on the decision making on the trade itself, I have I have no doubt in my mind that Jason Kidd also had his concerns with with Luca, like whatever
the concerns of the front office were. I think we're shared on the bench and you know, but that's that's the way you're supposed to operate in the front office, right, Like, don't don't put your coach in the midst of all this. You know, you know, it's your decision, you you take it. I don't know that Jason is the one who pushed for this, but I have no doubt that he approved
of it. I'm gonna pop inside, guys and just throw my bag down real quick and then give me thirty seconds to get through security of your right back.
Yep.
Thirty second time out?
Yeah, can you that's that's the I forget the official term, just on the shoulders, right, thirty second time out doesn't go to.
The media, though, media, just stay here, how would be back here?
I'm with you, every bit is surprised about the fact that they didn't get as much back.
Clearly there's something under.
The hood there where the Mavericks felt like this is going to get worse before it ever gets better. Last year was the best it can get. It was not happy, it was not great, although the results were good. Now the results are good and there's some difficulty going on here, So to move on like the Jazz did with say Donovan and Rudy, Look what they.
Got for that. I mean that they got in the same way.
If you don't think you could have been able to get something like that in exchange for Luca, I mean, that's nuts.
That's where a shocker.
That's where I feel like there's there's gotta be more that we're going to learn about that was under the hood, right, More we learn about, maybe of Luca, of what's going on behind the scenes, because although there are whispers there have been stuff, you know about the way he approaches the game, nothing to the level of trading him not opening it up for bidding. That is that's a crazy one to me. Howard Jimmy Butler, the move finally materialized
and he is now in in Golden State. You look across the across the continent, and the Heat now have three all Stars under the age of thirty. So pat Riley in some ways gets what he wanted. There, give us your your latest on what the Heat made happen. And Jimmy Butler finally getting out of Miami, but not to not to Phoenix as he was rumoredly trying to force.
Yeah, I mean the Butler one is fascinating just because of the way that we got there, right and also not for nothing. But I'm standing in the battles of Barkley Center where the Heat are arriving any second now. Maybe maybe I'll just hand the phone to pat Riley in a minute.
Yeah, can you can you get him on the show? For us is that.
I'll effort, We'll see what we can do. So listen, I might be in the minority in this one. I love the move for the Warriors to get Jimmy Butler. There's not much lifespan left in the Curry era, so whatever time is left of him being able to still play at a really high level, which he is, you got to get him whatever help you can and you know, Jimmy Butler's a winner. He might be a pain in the butt. He might cause a lot of ruckus when things aren't going well, and especially when he has contractual
beefs with the organization. But the Warriors gave him his two year extension, so the contract is not an issue, and the guy's a winner. The guy plays his butt off and at both ends. And the Warriors badly needed somebody else who can initiate the offense and get in the teeth of the opposing defense. And you know, Jimmy Butler's gonna draw fouls, He's gonna he's gonna, you know, get in the lane. He's going to distribute. He's a great passer. He's going to take a lot of the
pressure I think off of Steph Curry. I love the move for the Warriors and for the heat. You know, look like the obviously things had run their course. They didn't get a ton back, but the real point of the exercise for them at a certain point was just to alleviate the headache and move on. And you know they were able to do that.
How surprised were you that the Sons were not able to move Bradley Beal.
Not at all. There's nobody around the league who thought that that Bradley Beal was getting moved. Nobody around the league thought that somebody was going to be willing to take on his contract, especially with the no trade clause
in it. And yeah, look, the Sons, you know, starting with the Wizards, the Wizards made a very very very bad contract, you know when they you know, first gave Bradley Beal the contract with the no trade and the Sons made a very very bad deal in deciding to take on that contract and to not insist on taking the no trade clause out as part of the deal of acquiring him. So they're stuck with it, and there's nobody in the league who's going to want to acquire
that contract. So the Sons have really screwed themselves.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, I don't think made this splash of a move that turned as many heads, but to get there, Hunter, at least, it is something that I think does move them a positive step in the direction that they want to well, still trying to build their championship roster. What were your thoughts about kind of the move and what they were able to receive as they're on that mission to be the best in the league. Yeah.
I mean, listen, if you're weighing everything or assessing everything that went on in the last week, clearly like the Lakers are the winners of the trade deadline by getting Luca and then even by adding Mark Williams at center on top of that. I think, you know, people will disagree on the Warriors thing, but I think they're up there. I know, the Spurs getting deer In Fox, But the next tier after those big splashy moves, I think is
the Cavs getting DeAndre Hunter. I mean, they're you know, the Cavaliers obviously best record in the East, already having a great season. He's got size, he's having a career best year shooting the three. And if you're the Cavaliers, as much as you're probably very proud of and happy with what your team's accomplished so far, everything is going to be about can we beat the Celtics in the spring?
That's it.
Like, you know, all due respect to the Knicks, the Bucks and whoever else may emerge in the East as an opponent, but it's really about what do you do with Tatum and Brown? Can you beat the Celtics, and they've been spanked a couple times pretty handily by Boston, and you know, getting another big body out there and who can also stretch the defense at the other end is a plus. So nice move by the Cavaliers. I
think it does have some risk. It does come with some risk, only in that you know, the vibes are great there, right, Like chemistry is really important. These guys obviously all love playing together, and you know Lavert was was playing really well off the bench for them, and so you change up the chemistry a little bit when and you change up the personnel. So I don't think it's completely without risk, but I like the move all.
Right, Howard, rapid fire if you have to. We'll get your thoughts on on some local ties here. First off, the Jazz they get the Sun's twenty thirty one unprotected
first five total second round picks. They bring in kJ Martin and they do all of that while helping facilitate a few trades around the league and only really getting off of a few contracts that they didn't have any intention of staying with anyway, your thoughts on on the Jazz return, although minimal, and what it says for the strategy going forward.
It's been interesting actually to watch this in terms of the way the Laker fans are kind of portrays like Laker fans are gleeful that they feel like Rob Polinka got over on Danny Ainge by making this deal for Luca with the Jazz, and Danny Ainge noted Laker hater, noted hated former Celtics Right. I have a lot of Laker fans in my life and they are all gleeful. And social media has been as well about Danny Ainge
presumably unwittingly helping the Lakers get Luka Doncic. So I don't know how that part's playing in Utah, but it's playing very interestingly in La. I don't know that. You know, Look, nothing the Jazz did, obviously was meant to move the needle. You know that it's they're just continuing to kind of mark the time and you know, keep their their heels cooled and and you know, add assets as they can. Am I surprised that they didn't move off of you know,
whoever Clarkson or Sexton or Walkerkest or whoever. Like I know, the entire rosters and trade rumors perpetually but there wasn't really I didn't really pick up on anything around the league about anybody really aggressively going after any of those guys. So, you know, all all attention turns to, I think the lottery and the draft and what the Jazz do this offseason and are they keeping lowry marketing or are they
try to acquire somebody to play with him. He becomes trade eligible again when the season ends, and who knows, maybe they're moving off of him too.
But it's.
It's hard to get a gauge on what exactly the plan is other than stockpile assets, keep tanking, hope to get Cooper Flag or somebody great in the draft, and then reassessed when July hits.
And yeah, worst case scenario, you bring in kJ Martin, a guy who's proven he can play at the NBA level, and he's I think he just turned twenty four, so at least not that that's a needle mover, but it's something, and you mentioned it. There is a lot of talk around here about how that actually went down and if Danny knew and how that really did play out. I'm excited to learn a little bit more. If we do learn a little bit more about the inner workings of
the Luca Donta trade. All Right, Kyle Kuzma, the former ute, Delon Wright, the former ute. Both of those guys played in the Sweet sixteen here at the University of Utah. They both got dealt on deadline day. Kuzma to Milwaukee, Delon to the Knicks, both of those two teams contending for the playoffs. Any movement, any needle moving with those two local guns.
Yeah, I mean, look, Kuzma's hard to assess right now because he hasn't been on a team that had any hope of doing anything in so long. And I think a lot of people are kind of down on him or off of him just because he's become a guy who looks like he's just going for his numbers and not really doing much at the defensive end and all this.
I think people need to remember that. And granted it's ardly has been five years, but it was five years ago that Kuzma was a really key part of the Lakers winning that championship in twenty twenty, and he was the guy who could score, who could shoot, who could rebound, and who could defend and defend multiple positions at his size and you know, he's going to a team in Milwaukee that is really trying to you know, get itself back into contender status and has two superstars to play
off of, Like Kyle Kuzma can't just say I'm going to get mine on a team like the Bucks the way that he could in Washington, where there's nothing to play for other than yourself. So you know, I'm sure the Bucks are hoping they're going to get the best of him. He's still, you know, really talented player in his prime. I like the move, and it you know, it did cost them. Chris Middleton, who's a really talented player,
was a key part of the Bucks championship. But you know, the word around the league is essentially that you know, Middleton is is pretty well cooked that you know, you know obviously he's had a ton of injuries and you
know there's there's a lot going on there. I think the Bucks just kind of realized we've reached the end of the road, and you know, they got a younger, healthier player, so it's a good move and then DeLong right with the next So like the Knicks have severe depth issues, or at least did, and I think Thibodeau's been uh you know, riding his starters pretty hard. They could use another you know, uh, you know, spry, healthy body there who's you know, uh, you know, been around
the league, knows how to win. I think it's a good move for them.
Howard, we appreciate your time. I'll let you get to it. I know you're you're in the bowels of the Barclay Center and uh, not the place for a for a radio interview. We'll we'll set you loose and let you get to the hoops.
Appreciate it.
Let's take thanks man at Howard Beck of course at the Ringer and uh on this here radio program each and every Friday, the Daily assist, uh, the NBA Daily Assist here on the drive. I'm with him Tony on on a lot of that stuff. With the Luca deal, we're gonna we're gonna learn more about it, or we're gonna see Luca go to l A and learn from Lebron and maybe change something that that's the hope is that is that la wants to uh put a a tale on his career that he maybe isn't thinking about
right now. Because that's the thing I talked about it there and kind of played Devil's advocate, where, yeah, he comes into camp at two sixty, isn't in shape, but he's there at the end of the year. That's fine for now, But when you're thirty one and you're on a super max deal, that's a different story. And I think that's the bet that the Mavericks are making, and it's the bet that the Lakers are hedging one.
Well, sure, and this is a I mean, there's a transcendent talent. I mean, he's unbelievable. I mean it's unreal watching him, and I'm sure that the Mavericks had their disappointments with him. You know, when when you're winning, and even then it's irritable, but when you're not winning at you know, conference championship level, it's not irritable.
It's infuriating. And so whatever the issues were.
Behind the scenes between the two, when everybody's reaction was, how could you possibly trade a guy who's twenty five years old who does Oh yeah, absolutely you need to if.
You feel like.
That the good is never going to outweigh the bad to the point that this is going to get worse before it gets better.
And you can see that happening like I one.
I believe that's what Danny Ainge saw with Donovan, Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, whatever the dynamics were, whatever was going on behind the scenes, he could see that, you know, the Rensom repeat was not going to get them where they wanted to go, and so to get such a haul for each of those individually was remarkable for the Mavericks to get nowhere near as much as I think they should have been able to get for that, that's the stunning part. Now for Luca, you go to an organization
where Lebron's not going to play forever. You could be a huge part of the face of the franchise there in a place like that, in another era when the page happens to turn, and in the meantime be a championship level and be a key part of that altogether. I'm with you going forward. Now, Luca needs some self examination.
Hey. The self examination is you're getting away with some things.
And I've seen that in my career being around NBA players, I've seen them have some issues and they get away with it long enough and just enough actually keeps them from being what they possibly could have been. I don't think that Darren Williams was as good as Luca. But that was my issue with Darren. I felt like Darren was just he was so good, but he was getting away with some of these other issues and some of these other things that documented.
For long enough. Yeah, and I think he would.
And by the way, he's been very open and honest and yeah, and you could see that. And I think it's, you know, Lucas still so good that he could take a team so far, even with some of the issues that he has. So I think that the Lakers now, as you said, they're hedging on that. They're saying, like, okay, man, different chapter your career. I don't know what it is in terms of diet, focusing on the entire twenty four seven, three sixty five.
Maybe being all around Lebron Lebron.
James can help with that. I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot that goes into.
That and still all of that included. If that is your concern, you're hedging your bet now on a thirty two year old Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. Yeah, long term right, which to me, okay, yeah, if if, if that is your concern with Luka Doncic. I like Anthony Davis, and when Kyrie is right, I love what he brings to the floor. But I just don't see how that works.
It was so much more. It's very odd there was so much more out there. Yeah, I mean there are teams out there who would be willing to say, wow, you know what, we'll give you this that I feel like he's a key part, even the Lakers alone. I thought Howard pointed that out really.
Oh yeah, even within the Lakers, you could have brought a whole a whole different uh return back. It's it's interesting. I wonder, Tony if there is something that, something maybe specific, that Nico Harrison, the Mavericks told the Lakers about Luca, maybe medical, maybe something there that brought the price down in exchange for not opening this up to market. That is the only conspiracy that makes sense to me. Is there anything Is there an I ri I that we
haven't seen? Like That's that's it. That's the only thing I can think.
Of something like that, because if not, you're looking at a scenario where you can say, and by the way, Jazz fans who want to see their team winning sooner rather later.
I got it.
I'll listen to you there. But in terms of giving something up and getting something back, I mean, you got a GM that just you never feel like, wow, we could have got more, yep. I mean if you were to tell me sixty percent as much as the Jazz got with Donovan and Rudy when it was known there were issues, I would have been like, that's pretty good. When I saw it, just how much they got, I thought, man,
that's that's remarkable work. So the other thing I'll say about, yeah, the trade deadline, I don't think it could have worked out better for Jimmy Butler. I never saw it working out quite that well, especially with the two years added on.
I'm going, my gosh, man.
Yeah, then giving him more money, then giving him more time on the end of that is a win for Jimmy Downard, his agent.
The one I'll say is the Bucks with Kuzma. I like the Bucks for Kuzma. I don't know if I like Kuzma for the Bucks. Okay, that's fair, and I like Kyle but I man, I'm going, wow, Milwaukee, like.
Three years ago, I would have really liked it. I agree, Kyle Kuzman today is a different player than he was. You know, when you're a six nine wing whose value in the league is based on, of course your ability to create on the offensive side knockdown shots, but also your ability to match up physically with other front court players. That downhill slope it comes quick, and yeah, Kusma's not quite the guy he was three years ago, The Delawn Right one I like in New York as a Knicks fan.
That's a versatile guard. Always room for a guy like that on your roster as long as he is healthy.