EPISODE 21: Let's go inside with the insiders

fired at us. We're working on a really, really tasty surprise that I don't want to spoil, I don't want to jinx, but as we're getting that situated, that caused us to kind of move some things around. But I think I think it's okay that we're going on a Tuesday instead of the usual Monday. Tons of stuff happening in the league. As usual, there were no games Monday, as the NBA gave the floor to the men's championship

game in the college ranks. But look, lots of news, and I think I think we're gonna focus on news. There's obviously, you know, we're entering the last week of the regular season, so there's a lot of talk about playoff positioning, but that stuff seems to change by the night. So I think we're gonna both Chris and I posted Newsy stories on Monday, so you know what, let's let's

dig in to some of those things. The first thing I think, Chris, and this is obviously maybe it's not the most entertaining podcast topic, but I do think it is the most important thing that has happened in the NBA in twenty twenty three. They have a labor deal. It happened in the wee hours of Saturday, April Fool's Day. They missed their midnight deadline, and that was after pushing

that deadline back twice. But at around three am on Saturday morning, the league and the union jointly announced that they have a tentative deal. There's a lot of details that have not been written in permanent inc We don't have a term sheet to look at yet, but just the most important thing, there will be labor piece in the NBA through at least twenty eight twenty nine. You will be seeing Chris Haynes in his beautiful custom suits

through at least the twenty eight twenty nine season. No work stoppage, because look the way this season started back in October, when the NBA was pushing for a hardcap. You know, I wrote a long story about how they wanted an upper spending limit, which was basically their way of trying to introduce a hardcap without calling it a hardcap. But in twenty twenty three, pretty much once the NBA backed off that push, I think behind the scenes there's kind of been this belief that they would get a

deal done and it took lawnger maybe than they anticipated. Again, they had to move that deadline back twice, but they did get the deal done in the end, and we will learn much more about it in coming weeks and months. But that, you know, the big thing is there is there is labor peace in the NBA, and that you can't understand how huge that is. Yeah, I you know, you can say, you know, they they extended the deadline.

I think people might have assumed that this was going to be a contentious set of negotiations, and from what I heard, it didn't really get to a boiling point where there was a lot of frustration. You know, we've we've covered a lot of we cover a lot of these situations where things got bad. You know, So you got to give Tamika the Players Association give her credit. You got to give Adam Silver credit for coming, you know, coming to terms and getting something done out the way.

Now they can kind of move forward toward looking towards the future. And that's going to be on the NBA side, the TV landscape and stide. That's going to determine if I'm still wearing some suits not on TV, you're gonna be fine. Bold predictions, You're going to be just because that's the thing this. And look, the NBA and the Players Association. No league gets along with its union better than the NBA. It is a very close relationship. I think some might even say too close, you know, in

certain situations and among certain personalities. But really, since the bubble and how closely the league in the union had to work together to get the twenty nineteen twenty season back on track after four months off and to make the bubble happen, and just kind of what came out of that season and being able to salvage it and crown a champion. There is just a stronger relationship between these twoes than we see in the other sports leagues.

But you would also have to say the NBA has rebounded from the bubble and is an overall such a good place a work stoppage would have been the dumbest in league history and maybe any league's history, because there is a massive new media rights deal looming in twenty twenty five twenty six. We just saw the Phoenix Suns

sell for four billion dollars expansion. We know that the league will start thinking about expansion after finalizing this labor agreement and after getting that TV deal done, so after twenty twenty five twenty six, expansion becomes a real thing. And now we're talking about more billions pouring into this league if it grows from thirty teams to thirty two. So there is so much money. Last season, the NBA recorded its first ever ten billion dollars season and revenue.

If I'm citing the figure correctly, if I'm not, apologies to Tim Reynolds, who he's the one who always points that out. I'm pretty sure it was the first ten million in revenue season last year. I will try to double check that as we go here. But that's there's so much money that is pouring in. It would just it would have if there was even a day in July, a one day lockout, it would have been foolish and disastrous.

So to get this deal done now and ensure free agency will start on time, Summer League with mister wembon Yama will start on time. Like that's these are you know, it's important, it's important just for the for the overall health of the league. And I echo what you said initially, you have to start in the pot is that I want to wait until I see all the details of the term sheet before we go into who got the

best of who. I've seen some reaction. I've seen some reaction from some players off of the you know, the little details that's out there already. So I want to hold judgment as of right now full of grass. What exactly was agreed to before I wigh in. You know, yeah, I think you have to I think, well, you don't have to be I think you don't have to style because most people don't. No, you're right, but I think

it is the let me rephrase that. I think it's the wise move because there we're just getting this stuff piecemeal. We don't like, you know, a key element of this that that And I didn't do a great job of discussing of kind of explaining this in my Monday piece, even though I preach caution and said let's wait until these deals are all written in final and we can really dig into them. But not just that they're going

to be phased in. All these changes will not go immediately into this offseason because you know, they've they've made a provision, you know, reportedly they've made a provision, for example, for smoothing it anticipation of the new TV deal that

hasn't happened yet. Smoothing, of course, didn't happen the last time there was a huge TV deal and it led to the huge cap spike in the summer of twenty sixteen that you know, made salaries crazy for that one summer and basically enabled Golden State to have enough cap space to sign Kevin Durant. So we've heard that there's going to be some form of smoothing in this new CBA, but the specifics of how that's going to work, we

don't know them yet. So I think there are still many many details to learn and digest wise words, wise words, and we gotta stick with that. Now. With that being say it, stun, you have some news today, I asked, let's jump into the Yeah, I wanted to get that. I wanted your news is I wanted to well, if my first question is how many MAVs beat writers do we have on this podcast? At this point, You're putting out a notebook today and you got you have like

two MAVs items in there. Like now, I feel like my next piece I got to come back with some Dame news because I gotta. I don't know how I'm gonna get it, but I need to come up with something to to counter you. I get mass nuggets twice a year. Sty do you getting on me about that? Star? Let me get Let me get my two times a year. Come on, stun, don't don't haul the mask all season long. Man, Be careful, Just be careful. You never know when I'm

gonna drop a Dame Lillard exclusive on you. So you you reported in your piece today you had around the league notebook, and I did as well. But let's let's we're gonna start with yours, because I think you had some some really good stuff in there. You wrote that Kyrie Irving intends to he does intend to go all the way to free agency. He will be eligible for an extension with the Mavericks. He is eligible today for an extension with the Mavericks all the way up till

the end of June. But you reported he does want to actually go to free agency, and I think that's not a huge surprise because he can get a larger deal by waiting until the summer. But um, you know, obviously, even just a suggestion, and you didn't even suggest it, you wrote it very factually, but even the suggestion that Kyrie Irving might be going somewhere else naturally gets fans

in Dallas pretty nervous. And they're already living on the edge because the Mavericks, as we talked about last week, are if not mathematically done, they are they know they're done. You said they were done? Was it last week? I did last Monday and got to this point, and they have with their last week they were one in three on a four game trip East. So their chances to make me look stupid are dwindling. I mean they are.

They are one in seven since the Max, since the Moxi Kleiba three pointer at the buzzer that beat the Lakers one and seven. Not exactly a playoff drive. But Kyrie, I mean, what you know, he you know, Kyrie has said please don't ask me about my future. I don't

you know? That was his message on the day he was introduced to the local media in Dallas that he doesn't want to talk about his contract, but something tells me that at some point this week it's going to be getting contract questions because again, the season in Dallas is nearly over. What get out your crystal ball. What do you think happens? Well, I do think the Dallas Mavericks, we'll for sure. I know that they they want to resign him. I don't know what that would look like, though,

and that is the questionable part. That's where things can kind of go sour because we've seen what happened in Brooklyn when Kyrie wanted to get an extension done and how Brooklyn came back with terms that were not guaranteed and they were heavily laced with incentives. And then we know that was a straw that broke the Chemil's back as far as Kyrie was concerned, and that's what led him him to request the trade. So you know he's

going to go into free ac too. For the point that you mentioned as well, he can get more, he can, He's he's elgible for more if he goes that route. So I just think the Mavericks. You know, and this is a better question for you, Stein, because you know the DNA of this team, the history and the track record you have with that franchise. Is that the question I have. Yes, there's interests, Yes they want to resign him.

But Stein, considering how things ended with Jalen Brunson losing him for nothing, then what they gave away to get Kyrie, or do you feel like they're in a position where they just cannot lose Kyrie or do you feel like no, there there still should be boundaries. There should be still should be a limit on what you're willing to offer this guy in order to keep him a part of the club and franchise. And that's what I wanted to

ask you about. I think the truth is they want it all like Kyrie Irving's eligible for a five year deal with the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks, I would be stunned if they're going to be presenting Kyrie with the five year offer now. But because of what you said, they lost Jalen Brunson for nothing, and all Jalen Brunson has done is gone to New York and improved as a player for the fifth successive season and didn't get an All Star. Berth might not get an All NBA spot,

but has a case for both. He has been absolutely fantastic. He has gone to a new level in New York. Under the supposed pressure of playing in the Gotham spotlight, it hasn't bothered him a bit. So yeah, I mean, on one hand, the Mavericks absolutely positively cannot lose Kyrie Irving after losing Jalen Brunson without compensation. But the Mavericks also can't give him a five year deal or I

don't even know if it's me, I've said it. You know, if it's me, I would want to offer one plus one, and I'm sure Kyrie Irving has zero interest in that kind of deal. But from the Mavericks perspective, I'm sure they want to make They want to do a deal, you know, as as team friendly as they can. Kyrie's aiming for a deal that's as close to the five year max as he can get. The question will be

what leverage can he generate? Will Coo out there wants to bid on Kyrie in free agency, And to this point in my searching, I have not been able to find a team that's interested. I wrote this two weeks ago. I think it was when I did a piece on

Kyrie's first six weeks as a Maverick. The Lakers and the Suns are the teams that are most frequently mentioned in league circles as potential Kyrie suitors, but we have no tangible indications that I know of from either team that they planned to act on that and actually make a bid for Kyrie. Erie. Maybe there is a team or two out there that is planning to make a free agent run at Kyrie that we don't know about, but to this point, I haven't been able to pinpoint one.

I don't know where his external interest is coming, and so he's going to have to generate that to get the offer he wants. And I think it's a little bit too early to tell as of right now what is for him. You know, we've heard the teams that the teams that were he was tied to in previous seasons, the Lakers, Phoenix, Suns. I just don't know how feasible that is from a cap situation, going into free agent and trying to pursue Kyrie Irving. But one thing I

will say Stein, you mentioned the one in one. My fear is that you're you're really asking for problems. If a one and one that is presented to Kyrie, that is my fear. And I think we're back at okay. Where does Kyrie go from here? And I will say this, I remember when Brooklyn let me see was it last? Was it last offseason? Had to be last offseason? There was a threat that Kyrie will opt out of his

player option. It was before the off season started, a threat that he will opt out of his player option and potentially sign with the Lakers or some team for the minimum, the veteran minimum or something like that. And I think it was a bluff, But I will say, if there is a player that would I don't know that he has to go down this road, but if there's a player that would think about, Okay, hey, I'm not getting the offer that I feel I deserve from

my home team. You know what, if I'm gonna do a one in one or do a one year deal, I'm gonna go do it somewhere where I want to play at and build up my market value for the next summer. If it's somebody that I would do that, Kyrie would do that. I don't know that he will have to. But I just think that if if an offer is presented that he feels is a low ball pitch, I wouldn't discount. Well, excuse me, I wouldn't be surprised

if he were to take that type of approach. Now, just to be clear, though, the one plus one idea, that is what mark Stein would do if he was in charge. I'm not in charge. So you will start a whole summer frenzy of Kyrie watch because you made him that offer and and star and star. Let's get okay, one and one is one thing, But what are you offering or is he getting his max doing that one and one? Yeah, I would offer him. I would offer him max at least. But again, this is just what

I would do. If you're asking me what I think the Mavericks will do. I think the Mavericks will make a multi year offer. It will be better than the offer that I would be presenting. I don't know the specifics yet. I don't know how many years, but my instinct is my early read, and again it's still way too early. I that would be my expectation of some sort of multi year deal. Is it going to be long enough and rich enough to make Kyrie happy. I

can't answer that question. I genuinely don't know, but I guess. You know, I also wrote in that piece, and you know, Bobby Marks was the first one at ESPN who I kind of heard say this, and I've adopted the same of approach Kyrie. Talent wise, the dude is still a wizard. He just turned thirty one, same birthday as his coach, Jason Kidd, who turned fifty. I mean, Kyrie in Atlanta, second out of a back to back incredible Sunday. I mean, the guy can still score like few on this planet can.

But you know, Bobby kind of threw out there that he's a MAX player one year at a time. If you can get that approach, and that again, that is you know, that is a that is a what's the word I'm looking for? It's a It's an approach that I have basically copied and swiped and agree with. But again, that's just me. I don't speak for the team. I don't know exactly what kind of contract they're going to offer Kyrie, but I suspect it will be longer than

I'm suggesting. Yeah, I can pretty much know what to expect that if that type of offer is presented. But that's fine, get clarity. Let's make sure for the aggregators out there, this is Stine, not the Mavericks. This is Stine. Like Jake Fisher would say, please don't aggregate this, but I'm sure it won't work. Um. Yeah, So that so, look that those these are the two variables missing that we do not know what kind of offer exactly. We know the Mavericks want to keep Kyrie Irving. You had

that in your piece today. What type of offer will it be? How long will the offer be? And then what kind of market can Kyrie generate? Can he get interest from elsewhere that forces the Mavericks to make an offer closer to what he wants. I mean, we'll see, we'll see what kind of market there is for Kyrie. Because you know, again at this point it's you know, we've we've just clicked into April free agency is still

nearly three months away. But you know, may attacks to pinpoint what the Kyrie Irving market would will be not super successful to this point. Also, in your piece today you had Stephan Curry. You convinced Stephan Curry to share with you his mythical MVP vote. Steph does not have a ballot. He is not voting, but he said if he were a voter, he would be voting for Joel embiid. Were you surprised by that selection? I was surprised that it didn't take any pulling of the teeth for me

to get that out of Steph. That's what I was surprised about. You know, Steph is real calculated, real calculated. If there's something he's not sure of, if there's a question he's not sure of answering, he will kind of pause, go into space, think about it for a minute before he responds, or even if he responds. It didn't take that. He went straight to Joel. He was with Joel, and he went on to talk about the lead that he feels Joel had this year and how he's pretty much

carrying his team, And you know, I was surprised. I was surprised he had that. I was surprised he had that take. But I think it rings volumes because steps a two time MVP, no know what it takes to win that award. He's the only player in NBA history who's won that award unanimously. So I think from from what he sees and how he judges it and bases his MVP off of I think his I think that speaks volumes. But you know, I do look at occasionally look through skim through social media and see what fans

are saying. You know, I like to get a pulse. Not all the time, but I like to get a pulse. And I started seeing there was a there was a little trend, a little minor trend of people saying, hey, what do you expect Steph to say? Him? And him and Joel Embi share the same Uh, they're both with under armor. And I forgot about that. I don't know that I know Steph pretty well. I don't know. I don't know that that played a part. You know, he's really he's going to keep it real. I do genuinely

that's his choice for MVP. UM, But I wouldn't you know, I was. I was surprised that it didn't take It didn't take really anything at all to get the answer out of him. Are you surprised by his answer? Stein? Um Na not. You know, I think I think a lot of people feel the same that you know, Joe is and look, he's come in second two years in a row, and a lot of people around the league, not just Steph, feel as though he's due that he should have one, you know, but that shouldn't decide Stein

like I don't. I don't like that premise of Okay, he was robbed before, he should get it this year. No, it's a year of the Year award. Now, if you ask me personally who I think I will vote for, I think I will go for Joel. And let me just announce this real quick, because I told you I didn't I haven't told the public on this podcast. I'm actually I actually would not have a ballot of postseason ballot this year. I declined to vote last season for a reason and they forgot to take me off the

non voting list. So I'm not I won't have a ballot, but as a right now, like I think I'm leaning towards MB, but I just don't agree on the premise

of voters fatigue. I don't leave in the premise of all he shouldn't have got last year, So let's reward Joel now, like I'm going by year to year and so that I just wanted to interrupt and say that, well, that makes two of us because I haven't voted since twenty seventeen, so that means this league, uncut, will be casting zero official ballots when it comes to year end awards. And I was thinking, do we need to do We

might need to do a pod? Where should we do a pod next week where after the regular season's over we go through our mythical choices and say who we would have voted for in every category. I don't know if no problem, I don't know if people would be interested in that. I am still leaning Yokich and I'm with you. I came into the season. I don't want

to hear about voter fatigue. I don't want to hear about But now he'll have three in a row and only Bill Russell and Will and Larry Birder at three in a row, and we can't put Yoki on the three in a row list. I'm with you. It is a season two season award. The way that I've always voted has been who has the best season? Every season? Is a story unto itself. I think the combination of Denver leading the West wire to wire with only one All Star, and then all the numbers that Yoki has

stacked up along the way. That's why I think he has a slight edge. But I have to say, you know, and Beat is right there, and I continue to be marvel. I continue to marvel at how little mentioned Yannis is getting because the Bucks are going to have the best record in the league. Chris Middleton will not be playing even forty games this season due to all the injury woe he's had. Yes, he's still as Drew Holiday as

a teammate. Yes, Broke Lopez is born again. The Bucks have a lot of good vets who know what they're doing. But Jannis has had another MVP caliber season that we really don't discuss. So I think you could make a case for any of the three that is and it is the correct one. They all have a real strong case. You know. If I were voting, I would wait till, you know, the season end Sunday. Ballots are not due

back to the league office till Monday. I would not turn my ballot in until Monday, because the choice is that hard and that important. But like I don't as long as your choice is Yoki or Joe or Janie, you know, do you As long as it's one of those three, I'm fine with it. You can make a case for any of the three. So okay, you can say that, but you know good and Wales Stein, there's gonna be somebody out there who gets a first place. There's my dog again. Oh boy, your dog's name is Prince. Correct,

my dog's name is Prince. So does Prince. Do you think that's because he doesn't like our performance or he just wants to be known. I can tell you exactly what it is. Our neighbors just got a dog two weeks ago, a male dog, and so every time they come, oh man, it's it's brutal. It's I told you the origin of Prince. How we how we got him? No, I don't if you did, I've already forgotten, which is no surprise because my memory sucks. I don't think you have.

I don't remember that. So boy, I'm dreading. I'm sorry. I'm sorry everybody. If I'm saying that, yes, this this is not my pet, it's my daughter's pet, I should say that this is their dog. So when I got called to go into the bubble, it was three days before. It was three days before they wanted me to go. So they wanted me to go in the bubble for spending spend, spend three and a half months in the bubble. Leave Monday, but they informed me on Friday and I

had to make the choice within two days. So my kids, my two my two youngest daughters, who were like ten to eleven at the time, I told them, Hey, I gotta go in the bubble. I gotta be going for three and a half months. And they just broke down, cry, broke down, crying, and I knew they wanted a dog. So I said, baby, so just to just to make this a peaceful transition for me leaving the house all that time, I said, girls, girls, don't cry, I be a dog. I'll give you a dog. And they just

tears dried up. What okay? So I was happy, happy. It was a peaceful transition me going into the bubble. And then I didn't have to deal with the dog for three and a half months because I was in the bubble. And then when I got here, oh boy, it's it's another it's another. It feel like another human I'm taking care of. And so I get the dog, get the dog barks. They they're asking me to walk the dog, and I'm like, no, this is your dog. You should walk the dog. So there's there's a lot.

I love the dog, really good. Dog barks a whole lot because there's other dogs around. That's the origin of how we became a dog family. You one bazillion percent did not tell me that story before, because I would remember. I remember, I would have remembered if it. I mean, it's it's an NBA story. It's it's I mean the bubble. Man, I was there fifty three days, and you were there

twice as long as me. I mean like you were there over you were there more than one hundred days, and like I'm a born traveler, but that number still staggers me because after fifty three days, I was ready to be done, and I can't believe that you had to basically go another fifty plus days. I believe it was in nine I believe. I believe it's one hundred and nine days and there. I mean, yeah, I really don't know how you did it. I mean, it was it was a you know, it was it was hard,

it was real. I'll tell you right now, Stu, I feel like going back in that bubble right hearing this dog bark right here right beside me. Man, I will say this like I'm so glad I went, Like, I love that I can say that I was there for that, Like that was. Yeah. I mean I think we'll always remember being you know, I mean living living on planet NBA. I mean it was. It's just so crazy to think about. Like I still, like I actually was going through my

phone there day. I found some old pictures and like, I loved the beginning when there were twenty two teams in the Bubble and literally, um there were some teams that nobody was paying attention to, including at the time, the Phoenix Suns. I mean, you know, Phoenix went there with the longest odds of anybody to try to get into the playoffs, and that was kind of the start of Phoenix's success Undermany Williams, and and you know they went I think they went eight no the Bubble. Yeah,

they missed by like a half game. But I remember going to the Sun's practices and being the only reporter there, like nobody was paying attention to them. Same thing. I remember going to a Washington Wizard's practice and Scotty Brooks was so happy to see me. I thought he was gonna let me jump in the layup lines because like they they were so happy that somebody was paying attention. I mean it was an incredible I mean, once in a lifetime experience for sure. But yeah, you doing you.

I was happy with my feet three days, one hundred and nine, Man, one hundred and nine, you had Stein, That's that's that was a time where you you got to know your colleague is on a different level and a more personal level. And me and you always been tight. But just just seeing how you move was always common. I mean, just just to see like Stein would actually you know Stein, you know, he's a weird guy. Hold on, what's what's one? Hold on? Where do you think I'm

going my writing habits? Yes, you're right, so Stein. You know, common folks, regular people. We tend to go on our laptops and write our stories that way, you know, the traditional way you go gather quotes, get your information. Then you go sit at a desk, sit at a desk, you know, go to your room. You know, common folks stuff. So I would say this though, my time working with working at ESPN and working alongside Stein, that was when so I got to ESPN. What year was that, probably seventeen, yeah,

sixteen seventeen, So that year working with you. I started because I saw you. I started writing on my phone and so I would probably I'm being honest, probably seventy eight of the stories are right, or the reports that I that I report on. I write strictly from my phone, and that's from Stein. I just got better at it, and it's a habit. But Stein takes it to another level. So Stein writes his stories from his BlackBerry for the

most most of the time. But not just that. Stein would walk in a circle for hour, maybe even longer than hour, just walk in a not a big circle, just walk in a circle. And he's writing and I'm like, what are you doing? And he was like, well, writing the story and I'm like, no, this walking around the circle we're doing. Oh, I'm just getting my steps in just just exercise. It's my way of getting my steps. I'm like, you are so weird, Like go sit down, I go see Like I get right in on the

phone now because I do it. No, he will pace, pace around, just walk in a circle writing. He can do that, Like I'm I would be afraid that I'm gonna run into something. Stein That's how he gets down. So it's that that was just just seeing how you roll, just seeing how you get down with your job. That was pretty cool to see. You know, there's a couple

of things. See what happened. The reason it was is because in kind of our wing of the bubble, the the you know what was that what was it called Disney. We were Coronado Springs. We were in the Coronado Springs Hotel in the bubble, and in our building where all the journalists were, and there were about twenty of us at one time. We're all basically in the same building. There was a courtyard, a circular courtyard, so I would just walk in that courtyard and right on my phone.

But here's the thing. In that Orlando humidity. You combine that Orlando humidity with the fact that we were I was eating less than I ever have because I could not stomach the food that was provided for. I basically only ate once a day because there was a very There was like a window from like four to ten where you could order delivery, so I would only eat basically once a day. You combine my lessoned eating with writing in the heat, and I came back from the

bubble and I was down about twenty pounds. Is the best the best physical shape I've been in in ages, and unfortunately it didn't last. So that right was actually good. Man, It was like it was like an exercise course. Stein. Remember I got reprimanded in the bubble for coming over to your to your coming over to your hotel road while you were in quarantine. Oh my goodness, that's that's

knocked on. You knocked on my door. And like the security guards were interviewing us, like, what did you what happened? They hear me up in THEIA ladd the bubble. Multiple security guards hit me up. I went through it. They investigated. Chris Haynes and Malika Andrews got to go to the bubble like ten plus days before the rest of us. So you two were already through protocol able to go out into the world and report everybody else who got there. The first thing you had to do was quarantine for

seven to ten days. I can't remember it was seven or ten seven seven days. First seven days, you're just behind. You're in your room, you can't leave, and I'm in there for fifteen minutes and Chris Hayes is trying to break in, and man, I went not I took video of it. I don't know why I did that. I took video. I went to Stye because it's the quarantine area. So again Start is in his room. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go over there. I'm a knocking is doing run.

I just wanted to see his star pokes his head out, so I go over there. I recorded it. So I go to his room, knocking is doing it. I run, So I run and hide around a quarter. I am about fifteen feet away, and I see stein head piece's head out. He's like, what are you doing? What are you doing? And from that point though NBA got a hold of the video, saw it, investigated me, interrogated me, talk to you star. Can you imagine if I had been kicked out of the bubble, if I had to

I was at the New York Times. That if I had to call the New York Times and say, I've been here for an hour and I've already been forced I've been asked to leave because Chris Haynes, not Chris Haynes had the temerity to knock on my door. Unbelievable. We you know, we've gone so long with bubble stories. I'm gonna next. I'm gonna figure out when to tell a bubble story about you. But we're not gonna do that now because we've gone too long. We need to get back to the NBA news. Let's let's let's do

a little coaching before we go. The Nick Nurse situation in Toronto is fascinating. There have been rumblings about Nick Nurse and Toronto parting ways at season season's end. It's kind of been percolating. I think I heard it for the first time in February, but I didn't write it, and frankly, I wasn't sure how much credence to give it because the Raptors got off to that terrible start. They were twenty three and thirty. But since then they're

sixteen and nine. They've you know, basically been you know, a much better team here since the trade deadline, and you know, all their main guys have been in trade

rumors all season long. But the other night before a game in Philly, you know, Nick Nurse was asked kind of where his head's at about the future, and Nick, with his quotes basically gave gave some life to the idea that you know, yeah, you know, Nick said, I've basically Nick and I'm paraphrasing here, but Nick basically said, I've been with this team for ten years, five five as in assistant, five as the head coach, and at season's end, we're all going to step away and kind

of evaluate things. And you know, the quotes have just kind of given life now to this storyline, and I, you know, I I tend to think we're going to be hearing a lot more about it between now and the end of the season, even though the Raptors, you know, have picked up their play and you know they're they're not going to get in the top six, but they're certainly in the mix for seven or eight and needing

only one plan when to get to the playoffs. So, I mean, kind of what was your reaction hearing hearing where Nick Nick took the conversation the other day, Not really that surprise, because yes, I've heard those rumblings myself. It reminded me of a similar quote or comments that Nate McMillan had before he was let go from the Hawks. He said that he would take time after the season to decide his fate, and usually that's that's interesting to hear that when when a coach still has years left

on his contract. You know, when the coach starts talking about, hey, i'll evaluate you know where I'm at. You know, when you when a coach has a year or two left, I'll let you know there's some trouble brewing behind the scenes. So with Nick Nurse situation, you know, we've been hearing this for a while. Toronto Raptors had a disappointing season, definitely for their standards, and you know, we've been hearing

about players being disgruntled with their roles. Um, you know, there's other things behind the scenes that have happened that that hadn't seen the light yet. But I think, um, I think Nick's Nurse. I think Nick Nurse is a really good coach. You know, I used to talk to him a lot when he was a G League coach, when he was on the when he was just on the on the up, and you knew, you knew he

would find his way. And so even if this is the last season with the Raptors, I it would be hard to imagine that he will not be a head coaching this league somewhere next season. So I'm trying to I'm trying to up segue that, you know what I mean, Try to lead people in the right direction here, but Nick Nurse is going to be Yeah, I mean, the reality is the talk has already started about Nick potentially surfacing in Houston. And then the other layer of this

that I didn't mention. Uh, you know, Steve Bullpet and Doug Smith have both written this before I'm saying it. You know that that Emay Udoka's name is coming up in Toronto because I think it's pretty well known that Massiau Jerry is an Emay Udoka fan, and Emay was considered in Toronto's search previously when Nick Nurse got the

job to replace Dwayne Casey. So it's it's it's just interesting that this Toronto talk has already started and it's really picked up here in the last week plus, when you know, Toronto's season is still very much alive again. They're in the play in. Whether they finished eighth, ninth, tenth in the East is still to be determined, but you know, Toronto is going to be in the play in and could very well emerge from the plan with

a playoff spot. So, I mean, their season is not necessarily even close to being over, and this stuff is already bubbling, So that that's the surprise, and then you know, Greg Popovich is another situation where Greg Popovich. Look, I don't want to sit here and act like I know what he's going to do, but if you ask me to look in my crystal ball, I tend to believe that Pop will be back next season, even though he

just turned seventy four in January. And I think even I can say with even greater confidence, you know, he's not just gonna walk away before the draft lottery. The draft lottery is May sixteenth. What if San Antonio wins the lottery and wins the right to draft Victor wemban Yama. I would imagine that Pop would want at least one year coaching Monsieur Wemby, So you know, I don't you know, maybe Pop will decide that this is it, but I don't imagine that that's something that he would declare before

the draft lottery. But just like Nick Nurse, Pop's own words here have kind of put some doubt into the mix. Because Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News had a piece last week and there's the quote in there from Pop where Pop himself says their quote, there are those nights when I say, what the hell am I doing here? Do I need to do this? So when a coach says that publicly, it naturally makes muckrakers like you, and I wonder if he's trying to tell us something.

And you know, again, I don't think we have a definitive steer one way or the other. You know, if I was forced to forecast, I still tend to think he comes back for one more. But let's see, let's see what's Let's see where that goes. Yeah, I understand why he would say something like that with the current team that he has. He doesn't have Victor on that roster. I think his team would change a little bit if they were to get that guy. He does not the Spurs.

I'm actually assembling. We're taping this on a Monday night. I'm assembling my last power rankings of the season. The Spurs have eight losses by thirty five points or more this season. That is a league single season record. Have you had any Spurs games this season? If they've been on national TV? Have you had any Have you had any sideline interactions with Pop lately? No? The last Spurs game idea was for TNT. That was my last game when the NBA postponed the season when they stopped playing,

I was, I was it was a Santonio Spurs. I forget who they were playing, but I was in San Antonio, so it was it was a Spurs game. And that's when it was Actually it was funny because they were NBA was trying to implement a you know that the distance or where you should stand back. So that was like the first game they were trying to implement some type of protocol. And then right after that game that was it. NBA, NBA stop. So I was in San Antonio when all that happened. That's the last time. So

that's twenty twenty three years. Dan. Wasn't that your very first game or I'm not not that my first sideline assignment my first So yeah, my first sideline assignment was Lakers Spurs in LA. Yeah. But yeah, so I haven't had yet. So I haven't had a Spurs game since my first year UM as a sideline porter for TNT in twenty twenty. All right, I think we're gonna put a on this one before that, well on before that, let me let me throw this just please tell me

this is not another story about one of my bad habits. No, No, we'll say that we got more time. We'll say that, hey, I got another I had another mask, little minor masks, nugget, Let me rub it in your face, Stine an little little another man, as nugget, Jared Dudley's sources told me, will be coaching the Maverick Summer League team on his quest to game more experienced, to be coming a top flight head coach candidate, head coaching candidate in NBA. How

you feel about that? Start? As soon as we finished recording this, I'm gonna call everyone I know in Portland to see what I can come up with. A congress to Jared Dudley, I'm done. Start, I'm done, No, Jared Dudley. Jared Dudley was, as you noted. You also wrote in your piece about how Kenny Atkinson wanted to bring him to Charlotte, had Kenny Atkinson taking the job that he

initially accepted. Of course, he decided not to take that Charlotte job in the end, But yes, I you know Jared Dudley is He's had a very strong impact in his short time as an assistant coach in Dallas, and I do think I do think we're going to see him someday as an NBA head coach. I agree with you, that would be cool. That'd be really cool. Stun Just stay off my beat, though, I will. I'll look out

for you next. I'm like I said, I'm hit. I'm hitting the phones as soon as we're done, seeing how many five or three numbers I can find in my phone. That does it for another edition of This League Uncut. Chris and I will be back in a matter of days with another episode. This week, we are still working on the aforementioned surprise. That's all I can tell you for now, but I promise everyone is going to like it. Everyone enjoy the final week of the NBA's seventy seventh

regular season. And this is very important. Please rate, review, subscribe to This League Uncut, Stay with us. We'll be back with another episode of Careboy and that'll do it for us. See you next time. This League Uncut is an I Heart Radio production bosucka Loca Chris Hanes and Mark Steyn