EPISODE 22: ODE TO KD

signals are promising. I don't want to say too much about it in advance. I just don't want to jinx anything. Yes, you're stuck with me. I'm a bit pod superstitious, so I'm going to exercise some caution here, some restraint. We've also had a bit of a funky week scheduling wise, because I had a game to cover Wednesday night, Sacramento at Dallas, and then Chris had to travel because he's

got Memphis at Milwaukee tonight on NBA TV. Of course, it's a rare Friday night assignment on the sidelines for Chris. Usually we see him on a Tuesday night or a Thursday night. But rest assured we will be connecting this weekend to record fresh material for you, some good stuff. Again. I'm really excited if we can pull off what we have planned. Let's see if that comes together. I did those still want to check in today no matter what, because we appeared to be on course for a very

interesting and absorbing scene in Los Angeles. If Kevin Durant would have played for Phoenix in the Sun's game against the Lakers, if we were to see that, it would have been the first time time both of these heavyweights. A Kevin Durant versus Lebron James showdown would have been the first we've seen since Christmas Day in twenty eighteen. Unfortunately, that does now not appear to be forthcoming. Montie Williams basically gave us that hint last night after Phoenix held

on to beat the Denver Nuggets reserves. Monnie Williams basically said Kevin Durant would play a half at most in the second half of this back to back. It now appears that even that much the plan to let him go a half has been scrapped, and you can understand why the Suns are locked into the fourth seed in the West. The problem there for us, it means that it's going to be the eighteenth straight meeting between Durant's teams and Lebron James teams. That we haven't had both

of these guys on the floor. You were talking almost five years ago. Now that one injury or another has prevented us from seeing Katie versus Lebron, and it just feeds into Unfortunately, what's frankly been this whole final week of the regular season. It's just been a dud, huge disappointment. I'm a huge fan of the play and tournament. You guys have heard me say it a million times. I love the way the play in Tournament has juiced the end of the regular season March basketball. From my seat,

it's more interesting now than I ever remember it being. Unfortunately, last week of the season, there's very little left it aside now teams left and right are resting. Guys. I can't even keep track of all the bulletins announcing who's not playing. Entering Friday's play Nineteen of the twenty teams either going to the playoffs or going to the play in Tournament. They were already known. It was basically down

when we woke up this morning. It is basically down to Dallas as the last team on the outside that could force its way in, and that's only if the Mavericks beat Chicago and San Antonio in their last two home games. And the Mavericks also need Oklahoma City to lose Sunday at home to a Memphis team with nothing to play for. And of course, the Mavericks have since announced that everybody not named Luka Dontchich that you would expect to see on the floor, we're not going to

see them against Chicago. Kyrie Irving, Maxi Kleiba, Christian Wood, Josh Green, and Tim Hardaway Junior. They're all out for the Chicago game. So the Mavericks even now are prioritizing draft position when they're still mathematically in a position to compete for a play in spot. So any game we were looking forward to this weekend, something is derailing it.

I do, though, want to go back to Kevin Durant, even though it appears he's not playing tonight against the Lakers, because okay, beyond that, what is going on in Phoenix in the big picture, it remains absolutely fascinating to me because Kevin Durant, He's only played eight games as a son. Maybe he plays in the last regular season game to take it to nine, maybe he doesn't. Either way, what's going on in Phoenix. This is unique. It's beyond unique,

It's really unprecedented. My old friend Bill Simmons tossed out a pretty provocative position on his latest podcast. Bill's view is that an NBA team has never traded for its best player at mid season and gone on to win the championship. Now, we can quibble a bit here, and Bill, to his credit, did throw this into this particular take. Rashid Wallace, to me, was the Pistons best player in two thousand and four when Detroit traded for him and

then won it all. But Bill's right, obviously, it wasn't clear cut that Detroit team was the rare ensemble cast that got all the way to the NBA mountaintop on the strength of its whole starting five with Chauncey Billips and Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace, all of them alongside Rashid Wallace. I do, though, think Bill's main point is still a great one. We've really never seen a star of Durant's magnitude who gets moved at the deadline period, so by definition, we haven't seen it

leading to a championship. And then, on top of it, a star of durant stature to get traded mid season and then he only plays eight or nine games with his new team because of injury. That's a lot of wonky variables to factor into a potential championship equation. Because remember Clyde Drexer traded to the Rockets in nineteen ninety five,

but that was a chem Elijah One's team. Marcus Saul traded to the Raptors in twenty nineteen and certainly made a contribution to a championship run, but that was Kawhi Leonards team. You could also say this certainly looks like the right year to try, it doesn't it. With the state of the messy West being what it is, absolutely there for the taking. I mean, the trust factor in

the Denver Nuggets is not high at all. That's a big reason why people say this West is so open and the pressure awaiting Nicola Yokis and the Nuggets in the playoffs, it's going to be a level of expectation they've never faced before. Because people want to see this team. They don't want to hear about what Denver has done in the regular season. They want to see them do it on the playoff stage. So wide open West. And then you factor in what Durant is doing individually this

season at age thirty four. Okay, injuries have limited him to forty seven games, and Durant last night even tweeted he sees the chatter, and somebody tweeted, what an amazing individual stat line he has, and Durant comes back with, don't count. Didn't play sixty five games. He's obviously being facetious. I'm pretty sure Katie thinks it does count. Don't worry, mister Durant. I do think there are plenty of people

out there who are counting it and taking note. Fifty six percent overall shooting from the field, forty point four percent shooting from three point range, ninety one point nine percent shooting from the line. People, those shooting splits are fifty six forty ninety two. If you take three pointers out of that first number, which some people advocate for, it's sixty one point seven percent. Sixty two percent. Basically, oh yeah. And Durant's teams, the Nets and the Suns,

the two teams he's played for this season. They're twenty six and two, twenty six and two in the last twenty eight games Durant has played so all. That is why, in lieu of a clear cut favorite in what for so long has been the NBA's power Conference, that's why you hear so many people saying they think the Suns can win the West and make it back to the NBA Finals, even though we've barely seen what a Sun's team that revolves around Kevin Durant looks like. We really haven't.

We really don't know. We're going to find out in the playoffs themselves. So look, there will be lots more to come very soon from this league. Uncut. Chris and I will be examining those very layers throughout the next couple months. We've got some great stuff planned. Like I said, fingers crossed that our big weekend ambitions come to fruition, and honestly, next week can't get here soon enough. The NBA scriptwriters owe us, They owe us some good playing

round drama. We deserve some drama to make up for what's been a very limp finish to the NBA seventy seventh season that we've been subjected to this week. It's going to get better. Let's hope for that talk soon everyone, and that'll do it for us. See you next time. This League Uncut is an i Heeart radio production bosucka Loca Chris Hanes and Mark Steyn