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Welcome in episode three forty What's Right with Nick Wright, presented to you by Boost Mobile. And this is an insane show we have today because last night we had something of the Yin and the Yang of historic NBA Finals performances, And that's not an exaggeration. It was as bad of a performance as you will see from a team's best player, from a superstar in a finals game
in your entire life. And it was just about as good of a performance as you will see from a team's second best player in an NBA Finals game, as you'll see in a decade. And so we will get into all of that, and then we will also I am going to make something of a faustian bargain with
the audience and we'll see how it works out. Because it has a little to do with politics, It has a little to do with solitaire, it has a little to do with interness in media beefs, and it has a little to do with the future of the Republic as a whole. And I know there are a lot of you that are not at all interested in a handful of those things, but are not like a moth to a flame. As soon as I say potential media beef.
They're like, well, I guess I'm gonna have to stick around for it, So so all of that is coming later in the show. Also demandse you, if you would like, might actually be able to leave the show about twenty minutes early, because not only do you are you not obligated to participate in the last third of the show.
I don't even know that I want you to for your sake, for mine, for ever everyone's so you're welcome to stick around, but you also are not obligated to and if you would like the legitimate deniability of I wasn't even there, you feel free to take the ear piece out and keep it moving. How are you doing this morning, sun?
Doing pretty good? Puffs. Good to see you.
Yeah, good to see you as well. You sound great.
Oh.
I don't know if they changed your microphone or what, but it sound better than ever in my ear.
All right.
We will get to Game five of the Finals in a moment, but first, thanks to our great friends at boost Mobile. Straight to Voicemail, brought to you by boost mob Mobile show Hey O, Tani pitches uh for the first time in a couple of years with the Dodgers, throws it inn we'll get to we won't actually get to that. That's why it's just missed the cut. Red Panda. Oh is Red Panda hall of Famer? Great take? Oh my goodness, it wasn't such a busy show. I would
I could do at least five minutes on it. Red Panda has certainly offered more to the lives of NBA fans over the last twenty years than a lot of guys who actually made the Hall of Fame. That I mean, that is a great take right there. And Joey Chestnut returning to the Nathan to hot Dog eating contest a story I do not care about it all, but because once upon a time I made the case Joey Chestnuts the world's greatest athlete in a segment called Nick Wright
Public Defender, Defend the Indefensible. The producers are convinced I care about Joey chestnutt no matter how many times I tell them, I actually do not care about Joey Chestnut. Remindered everyone like rate, subscribe, review, follow us on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, check out the you Know on iTunes, Spotify. All of that lee five star reviews. I never asked for reviews. It actually helps a lot. I don't totally
understand why, but that would be great. And here's the other thing about people watching live on YouTube right now. The listener questions today are going to be interspersed throughout the show based on the topics we're doing. We're not gonna have if if you have a question that's unrelated to everything, feel free to submit it and maybe we'll get to it Thursday. But we're not gonna do questions
at the very end of today's show. So it's interactive for people who are watching right now, and also about the topics at hand. But demons, let's get to what
¶ Haliburton's disastrous performance
is likely the deciding moment of these NBA.
Finals deciding Yeah, so okay, see went up three to two last night. It looked like the Pacers were gonna erase another one of those big deficits.
They couldn't do it. Huge game from Jada and Shay.
Halliburton got a little dinged up there early in the game, had four points. You said, you have a crazy, crazy take about Halliburn. Do you mind laying that one on us?
Well, I don't listen. I don't think it's crazy, and I think at times. So here's what happens sometimes in some kind of meta media criticism, if I will, if I may a little Amus boush before we get to
real media criticism later in the show. Because there are so many prisoner of the moment knee jerk over the top takes on a daily basis, there are then times when something actually might be the worst you've ever seen, and it gets lumped into that doesn't it's a media version of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, and where it gets lumped into other Oh, well, how many you know? We've heard this is the worst ever eleven times in the last three years. And while maybe some of the
tyrese Haliburton, why doesn't he score more? And the answer is because he's not a scorer. That's not where he makes his impact. Some of that maybe prior to Game five was a touch over stated. There is nothing that I can think of that could overstate what happened last night, which is on the very short list and maybe at the very top of the list of worst performances by a superstar and by a team's best player in a
Gotta Have It Finals game. I have my other computer, so I have the computer I do the show on. I have my other computer, right here that I am going to have to glance at because because I have so many basketball reference pages open to try to find the context for what Haliburton did last night or didn't do last night, that I was worried this computer would glitch on the pod even didn't.
You go ahead, and even with him being banged up.
Man, unless the injury was he lost his vision for forty five minutes, that's not an excuse. It's I understand he had calf soreness. I get it, and I understand that he probably because of what we have seen with
calf injuries, was a little tentative because of it. But zero for six, four points, a line of four seven six with three turnovers in thirty four minutes, simply in a game that somehow was a two point game in the fourth quarter thanks to what, in all honesty the backup point guard TJ McConnell was able to do in
his minutes. I've just never seen something like it, and I so here again just to go over the different qualifiers that I threw on there, and one other note, so Tyrese Halliburton last night again, game score is not a perfect metric, but it is pretty decent as far as a catch all stat fifteen is an average game. Anything above twenty five is exceptional, anything below ten is bad, anything in the negatives. It's one of the worst games
in NBA history. Basketball Reference is able to do game score in the playoffs dating back to the late seventies. Halliburton last night had a game score of two point three. Text on it. J. Dubb had a game score of thirty SGAT game score of twenty seven. If you want to say, like, how does this compare to the other Halliburton games these finals, because it's not like he's had huge point games in the finals previously. His previous game
scores were eleven, fourteen, twenty three, twelve. This was again, this was two point three. So I'm gonna throw some numbers at you, but I think they're noteworthy because it is not an exaggeration to say that in our lifetimes it might be the worst game a team's best player
has had in a critical game finals game. So I threw this in the old stad heead not stat muse stat Head, which partners Basketball Right Difference Hall of famers who played at least thirty minutes and made zero baskets in a finals game with a game score less than five two times. Dennis Rodman did it. Makes sense, the guy was a rebounder and a defender. Old Jason Kidd did it. And then Ray Allen with a sneaky, horrific game in the finals in twenty ten that they lost
to the Lakers. He had an OH for thirteen night, and Dennis Johnson for the seventy eight Sonics had an OH for fourteen night. So the Dennis Johnson game, who arguably was that team's best player, is the closest comp because Ray Allen, as great as he was, was in twenty ten the third best player on that Celtics team. If we expand it to okay, remove the Hall of Fame qualifier from it, and we do at play at least thirty minutes games score less than five field goals zero.
The names on that list are I'm not going to read you all of them, but it's Horace Grant, it's Dennis Rodman, it's Bruce Bowen, it's Old Jason Kidd, it's that Ray Allen game, and that Dennis Johnson game. There's also the most recent one. The most recent ones were PJ. Tucker four years ago and Jay Crowder four years ago. If we then say, okay, Hall of Famer, remove game score and or game score less than five, and just have it be two or fewer baskets made again, he
made zero. It's a couple man new Jenobli games. One Paul Pierce game that could qualify a Reggie Miller won for sixteen game. That one's rough, and I'm not picking on Reggie, but it is what it is. He was the best player on that team, and then a bunch of guys who weren't the best player on their team. Again, you just can't find it. Wes Unseld had a brutal one, Michael Cooper had a brutal one. Zero made baskets, best player on the team and playing thirty minutes. It maybe
has happened once in NBA history. And demon'sa you seem like you are you think I'm being unfair because of the injury.
The injury, I mean, he took six shots. A lot of those other guys you were saying, Denis Robins obviously not a score first throw them out. Neither neither is Tyrese Halliburn. You know, it's like the same thing. If he's not a guy that naturally looks for a shot. I think that in a game where he gets banged up early and he only takes six shots, like you said, Rayalna went oh for thirteen, it's I mean, he's if
he's already he's looking to get his teammates involved. I think in a situation like that where his leg is already kind of tweaked, he's definitely gonna be looking more to get his team.
All right, So this is where I guess I'm gonna be an old man. I I do not care if your leg is tweaked in Game five of the NBA Finals.
Right exactly, That's why he played through it, right, But yeah.
I mean you're I mean, he did play through it, and they had a they had a chance to steal a game, and he he was I I am not. I don't think I am known as like the like hot take negative guy. I might sometimes be known as the hot take positive guy. Mahomes is the greatest ever, Lebron's the greatest ever, like that, you know what I mean? Those types of things, And I think sometime people think of me as like the hot take trolling guy, like the Lamar James Harden thing, Like I know people that
rub people the wrong way. I get all that. I do not often come out and be like, that's one of the worst performances I've ever seen. I'm just here to tell you. I went to bed last night thinking was that one of the worst Finals performances in NBA history? And I woke up this morning and I said, let me check, and I checked and the answer was yeah. The Lebron game that people will bring up to this day the worst moment of his career Game five against Dallas.
He was three for eleven, eight, nine and seven were his stats. He had a five point nine game score. Worst game of his career. Worst moment of his career wasn't as bad as that. The Kobe game that people will bring up. In the two thousand Finals, he had a negative point four game score. He was four for twenty against the in a blowout loss to the Pacers. That one, I guess bothers me a little less because they were up three to one in a series they
couldn't lose. Wilt had an unbelievable Wilton sixty nine Wilt Chamberlain in nineteen sixty nine against old man Bill Russell. In Russell's final Championship, Wilt had a four point, an eight point and an eight point game all in one finals, and one of those four point games he was only one of six from the field. The eight point game he was one of five from the field. The yeah, but to that is, in those three games where Wilt scored four, eight, and eight, he had nineteen, thirty one
and eighteen rebounds. So I'm like, okay, like you really didn't do anything offensively. You did average twenty five rebounds a game. I don't really know. I didn't see those games. I'm not sure. Bill Russell, you know, all time legendary guy, So I don't it. But if I am looking up like the historic, memorable worst lebron moment of his career, the four for twenty Kobe game, the one of the
most famous Wilt series ever. Now again, you can say, those guys all are upper upper upper crust, top twelve players of all time, you know, Hall of famers, and this Tyrese Halliburton, and I totally understand that, and so I'm not holding him to that standard. What I'm saying is the best player on a team doing this in the finals does happen. It just doesn't even the Ray Allen game. He was the third option on that team. You I guess you could argue second he was the
third option the Dennis Johnson in seventy eight. Is I guess the comp the issue with that one if that's the one like you want to use, because that, by the way, in fairness, was a Game seven that Dennis Johnson did that they came back to win the championship the next year, So it's like, oh, well that you know that at least kind of makes up for it. And so and I guess, listen, they maybe could yea, oh you know, no, no, no, so maybe they'll do
that next year. He'll make up for it. But it is It's on the shortest list of worst Finals performances by a superstar ever. And not calling it that is actually more disrespectful to Haliburton than what I'm doing right now, because if you go on TV or on radio or on a podcast today and give him a pass, then what you're saying is, ah, I I don't really I don't think of you as one of those guys because everyone else that is the the old guys. Steph lebron
kd would get cracked if they had this game. The youngs, the Anthony Edwards, Shay Luca would not be allowed to have this game. Jannis Joker, Jalen Brunson would not be allowed to have this game. And so is it an indictment on his career? No do I think, though what demonds.
Every single player that you list are just so different from this player specifically, like every.
Single one, like they they all the all the.
Players that you just listed might be more similar to each other than Haliburton is to any of them, like, and it's just.
Like, if that's right, if that's already not.
The guys are passed first point guards.
Right like and if that's already his style. But it's we'll see what he does in the next game. You'll see.
Here's the thing here. I get what you're saying, but it's not like he had thirteen assists. It's not like he like, so you're if it was just low scoring, which is what it's been for him in a few of these finals games, you can deal with it. But his assists, by the way, have been six, seven, eleven, great six six. The he he's turned the ball over three plus times in all of these games. He didn't get to the he didn't get to the line, which he hasn't done. I mean, he has seven free throws
this series. I I you're right, demons that and I talked about the other day how history says, man, if your top guy is not a go get you a bucket guy, if you don't have the best defense in basketball, your name's not Magic Johnson, You're you're not winning the championship. I understand that, But oh for six and four points in the finals is OH for six and four points in the finals. And if we can't, if we can't call that for what it is, then I don't know. We don't have to spend more time on it. But
it's it is. It is as much of a no show as you will see in a finals game by a superstar if you live a hundred years, it's what it was. And to have that come off the heels of them blowing Game four.
I.
Again, I don't I'm not even one of the people that doesn't like Haliburton. So I don't love that. I And I'm curious what other people are gonna say today.
I don't know.
I hope I'm not like the face of like Anti Tyre's Halliburton it's not what I'm trying to be. But and this is the this is the part that will probably make you, because you're naturally a bit of an impath, uncomfortable. I think Tyre's Halliburton's gonna think of about these last two games for the rest of his career because I don't know that I think the Pacers are going to be right back here. I don't know that, I don't know.
I think it's probably the smart bet that Tyrese Halliburton that when his career is over, we look at the two The two biggest games of his career were these last two. And now, if Pacer fans are yelling, they are not anywhere close to there without him. Absolutely, it's still an all time playoff run. You bet your ass.
He has imprinted himself on NBA history with the clutch shots in this postseason and in thirty years when whoever the hell is going on an all time playoff run and the guy hits his third de facto buzzer beater of the playoffs and people say this is the greatest clutch shooting run in playoff history. Our AI over lords are gonna pop a graphic that says, nope, Tyrese Haliburton
had four in one year, Like that's gonna happen. And but man, oh man, the flip side is in thirty years when somebody has an over in a de facto deciding game of the finals and people are like, has a team's best guy ever done that before? His name's gonna pop there too.
When do we decide that he was the unanimous best player on the Pacers? What about Pascal Siakam Oh?
I think he's clearly the best player. I think everything runs through him. I think it's like his style and his and like Siakam's the best scorer. But I think he's the best player the team. I mean, to me, that's it's fair. But that's that's not a to me, that's not a question, all right. Ask a couple of these questions from the listeners or viewers.
I guess Argent asked, do you regret having Holly in club Superstar?
And is he still in the club?
No, I don't regret it, and I and yes he's still in the club. I I think that I think he's one of the twelve best players in the league. And he's had an unbelievable postseason.
And he.
Carried a team that no one thought was going to be in the finals to the finals. But I mean, this is this is this is really really, really really bad. Ask Liam and Alden's questions.
Yeah, Liam's in line with me. He says, why hog the ball when injured?
I let's not hog the ball, man, Let's get a bucket. Get get one bucket. I'man again like the I mean I and also I the maybe I'm looking at the injury different than you guys. I hit he had calf tightness.
I mean he almost did like the same thing that Paul George did. I feel like, like I want to say, like hyperintended totally and Paul George is gone after that happened.
I man, he but he was. He was running around like he did. This was not this was not og Nanobi in the playoffs last year against the Pacers, where it's like I have a strained hamstring, I'm gonna go out there and I'm limping up the court like I don't know. Man, that's a It's a tough one, all right, last.
One for him?
Move Adrian ass If you had to compare Halliburn's performance yesterday with the recent postseason performance, but NFL quarterback.
Which one would it be.
Justin Herbert's four picks? I mean, that's that's the answer, Like the in a in a very winnable game that he threw four picks and didn't, But it would be it would have been that if briefly Justin Herbert left the game, his backup quarterback came in and started dealing, and then he came back in and immediately threw another one. I mean, it's not good, guys. All right, NBA Finals are here, at least for a little bit longer, and this really is your last chance to bet on the
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¶ Jalen Williams joins exclusive group
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All right, demons, let's get to the flip side of that coin. Jalen Williams.
Last night, Yeah, we talked about how the burdens little's talk about jadobs hies.
He dropped forty yesterday.
Do you want to put that into context and being the second man and all that.
Yeah, I mean, listen, the example everyone's going to go to correctly is Kyrie twenty sixteen Game five. Lebron scored forty one. Kyrie scored forty one in an all time duo performance. This to me, I I'm not gonna this was different than the Kyrie one in that SGA was like even in that Kyrie performance, I think for Lebron it was he had forty one eight and eleven and he had forty one sixteen and seven and back to
back games. I don't know which one was Game five and which one was Game six, but even in that game, Lebron was the driving force and Kyrie was right alongside him. This game, j Dub as good as Shay was, and Shay was excellent. J Dubb was their best guy last night. And I had heard somebody I forget who be like, man, could Jalen Williams be kind of this generation Scottie Pippen? And when I heard that, my initial reaction was that is so ridiculous and so disrespectful to Scotty. Now this
is going to be prisoner of the moment. He But now I'm like, I don't know. Maybe Scotty's career playoff high with Chicago career high was thirty two. He had he never scored forty in the playoffs. I know he had one huge scoring game with Houston in the playoffs. I remember it, but it wasn't it was so high thirties. But with the Bulls. I looked it up this morning, it was thirty two. And now Scotty Jadob's an excellent defender. He's not Scottie Pippen defensively, but I mean he's also
not a fully formed player yet. I Jalen Williams what he's his ARC is super fascinating and super fun to talk about in a positive way because Jalen Williams in a lot of ways. If someone wanted to say, why did the thunder lose last year to the Maps other than Luca was unbelievable and the MAVs shot the lights out. If your answer to that question is Jalen Williams didn't
show up, that's a fine answer. Last year Round two against the Maps, seventeen points a game on forty two percent from the field, and his prime I Mary Guard or one of them, Luca just lit them up right for him to respond. And then this year in the Nuggets series in the same round, it looked like, uh oh, is Jalen Williams gonna be one of those playoff guys, and not in a good way. When we saw him in that Game four that they ended up winning, he
goes two for thirteen. Game five, he's five for fourteen. Game six, he's three for sixteen, and it's like, uh oh, are they gonna have sneakily a Jalen Williams problem. And then Game seven of that series he was exceptional. And then in these Finals, after two pretty non descript offensive games, he scored two twix on fifty percent in Game three, twenty seven on forty four percent in Game four, and
forty on fifty percent in game five. And this is another thing I looked up, like forty point games in the finals. Demonse, forty point games in the finals is thirty ever in NBA history. If we switch it to and then in fact, let me just leave that there just for a second. So guys who are not on that list, Larry Bird not on that list. Tim Duncan not on that list. This one's not a big Oh Magic is on that list? Shout out Magic? Oh yeah,
of course, what am I thinking about? The most famous game Magic s career, Game six, when he jump center filling in for Kareem as a rookie, he scored forty as a Magic as a rookie Game six, played center and scored forty And it was the only time you
ever scored forty in the finals. But so when we're talking about like all time, guys, a team not on that list, if we want to zero it in and I just switch it to, uh, if they're active or not there we go, let me click active, yes, get results all of the active players with forty point finals games. Lebron's got the second most all time with eight. Second by the way, two. If it's not Michael demons, I'm gonna throw this one at you.
Yeah.
Well no, I was talking to myself, but now I'm gonna throw it to you. It's Jordan's got six, Lebron got eight.
So it's so Lebron's two, Jordan's three, and then there's this number one.
Game correct, correct. So I'm gonna give you one hint.
Oh, this is is final, Final Finals.
I'm gonna give you a hint. He's a guy that, in the last couple of months, all of a sudden, we didn't impromptu like eight minutes on his career, and how great but unlucky he won.
It's us, is it? Russ? No, no, no, ok great but unlucky. Jerry West Oh, Jerry Oh yeah.
Jerry West as has ten Okay. But here is the full list of active players with a forty point Finals game Bron eight, Giannis three, Kyrie, Steph Booker shout out Booker two each, and then one apiece Russ so you were close, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Chris Middleton, Joker, Jalen Williams. That's the list. So that's remarkable. I mean, that is utterly and thoroughly remarkable. It is it is in line with and the best example of that performance is the
Chris Middleton game. And I should have mentioned this before I mentioned the Kyrie game, the game down to one to the Suns, the game that is famous for the Yiannis block on eighton Chris Middleton dropped forty on fifteen of thirty three from the field. And similarly to how Shay was really good but not exceptional Giannis twenty six, fourteen and eight and that blocks, I mean, that's might
be exceptional. That's pretty damn good, but you know, didn't match his score it And so if I this, doing it as a second option is just such a special and unique thing. And I'm that's the only he's the only guy on that list. Well, fairs Fair Russ in twenty twelve would have been the other one. Russ he had forty three on a you know, Durant obviously was on the team, so he would be the other of
the active guys. That was a true and Kyrie, who I mentioned earlier, a true second option to go out there and drop forty And it really does for a kid who just turned twenty four and is an awesome two way player for him to get better and better and explode offensively like this. That is the type of thing that makes you incredibly optimistic about what. Yeah, the
thunder future. Another like all time game by a team's not their best player, the famous James Worthy game that kind of I don't want to say got him the nickname Big Game James. Oh you know what that game? I'm wrong, I'm looking at it now. That's not the game where he's because Worthy scored forty in a finals loss. Worthy had some big ones, but his only forty point game was a finals loss, And so like Kobe as great as Kobe was young Kobe, I mean scored forty
with Shack. He scored forty once in the finals, and it was when he the first championship they won without Shack. It's a special thing this kid just did, and you have to raise the ceiling of what they and he can be because of it.
Uh, Like, well ahead with that game that he just had.
If Shae where to like say, okay, see wins the next game they win the finals, Jadab drops like thirty six, thirty seven or something. Shae drops like twenty two to twenty three points. You think there's a chance Shadeo gets finals MVP over Shae.
So I saw that percolating. That to me would be crazy, Like, I don't think that right now. In the series, Shae is averaging thirty two, five and five with two and a half steals in two blocks. Jadab is averaging twenty six, six and four with one steal a game and zero blocks, and Shay's been more efficient. So I think that.
Hard to do.
Yeah, I mean it would take kind of what you described, Like if listen, it's it's only seven or nine voters, it's in the heat of the moment, you just vote for one name. So is there a scenario like if Jadub goes out and drops thirty five plus again and Shaye is Shae? Would the thing is this? And I don't think this can happen. Really, Shaye would have to
be bad like Shaye would. They would have to win despite shit, Yeah, he'd have to have like fourteen Like could you imagine if he was like zero for six with four points? Well, that's impossible and so like I So I don't right now, I would say Shaye has to be minus one thousand for maybe that maybe you guys can look that up for finals MVP, And so I I don't I get it, But I think Shae I also am of the belief demands that if it's
close and right now, it's not close. Right now, it is clear right now if the it's last night was the clinching game, yeah it should be. Also, she is only minus five point fifty and the thunder to win the series or what like minus fifteen hundred or something, so that they're saying it's closer than I think it is. But if it is close, I think the best player should get it. And right now I don't think it. I don't think it's close. All right? What are some follow ups before we get to.
How comfortable do you think okay See should be going into this next game comfortable at all?
I think they're gonna be quite comfortable. De Monsey, I think the Pacers know they missed their shot.
I hope that's not how they feel.
I mean, I think they absolutely have a shot with this next game being at home. I mean, hopefully the Hallerbird injury isn't getting everybody's head. You know, you've got a couple days to rest, got him at home. Those role players for okay See, or like night and day when it comes to playing in Oklahoma or Indiana.
So listen, I've underestimated Indiana every step of the way, so you might be right now. I mean, I also, if Oklahoma City wins Game six, it will so validate why Bet of the Year was Bet of the year. They lose a game on a buzzer beater. The Pacers are playing better than anyone could have possibly expected. TJ. McConnell has a game, Benedict Mathern has a game. Like, all of these things happen, and Bet of the Year still comes in.
If you're hedging, you know you can't.
Really, here's the thing. It's very very difficult. Not that I would, but it's very very difficult to hedge minus odds bets. This was a minus two sixty ish bet to begin with. So now all of a sudden, like and and so now I'm gonna bet the Pacers plus you know what's the Let me look the Pacers on the money line for Game six. I mean, I'm not thinking about it. No, I was gonna through, but there's no chance I'm doing it. And so no, this is better. The year was better the year for a reason, boys
and girls. Now I will tell you Friday night in Miami watching Game four, the bet of the Year was dead because is the Pacers were gonna win that game. And I still think the Pacers are going to look back on They had four consecutive possessions demand at the end of the third quarter of Game four, up ten,
¶ Will OKC become the NBA's next villain?
where the Thunder had gone empty trips four straight times, and it was a McConnell miss back to back top and missed free throws and then two Siaka misses, and it just felt like that was their moment to take the game and maybe take control of the series, and they couldn't do it. All right, let's move on to the Thunder as villain's theory.
Uh yeah, so you know how about that? So you know how every time a team gets.
Good or there's the threat of a dynasty, everybody starts to hate him. You know, Shay's Foal Bayden in Indiana being a leveable team and then beating him. How long do you think it'll take for fans to start hating Okay, see.
I think it's going to It's very hard to go from uh apathy to hate, and I I apathy is too strong. But I don't think there's a ton of people right now that have super passionate opinions about the Thunder in a negative or positive direction other than obviously their fans, and like die hard basketball fans that just really appreciate what they've built and who they are. So I like this. At one point won three championships in five years. They were never hated at least I don't
think they were. And by the way, as far as Foubating, I know he wasn't their best player, but nobody was in NBA history was more guilty of that than Manu.
Wait wait, wait oh the Falbating You said, ye, yes, Spurs is just a different team. I feel like, okay sees those guys are just monotone to me. I don't know, Like you can't listen right, So that you're saying that the thunder Avenue.
More personality, very.
Gen z, I mean, yes, they are very They would be our first true gen Z champion, and in god, I don't even know if they're even are they Zoomers.
I don't even know if they're gen Z, Like I'm not even sure, like uh, and so or is it jenn Alfa, I don't even know, but uh, but I don't think I also, and you thought I was premature when I did this after Game five of the Western Conference I'm sorry East after game after game four of the Western Conference finals, when I did the thunder winning the championship of pump the breaks on the dynasty talk,
I wasn't premature. They are winning the championship, and I still say pump the breaks on the dynasty talk with the caveat of let's see how much better Jadab can get, because I am not just like I am not going to underreact to Shay's performance last night, I'm not going to underreact to Jadab's performance either. Uh, And I think that is a stop you in your tracks. Wait a minute here, what can this guy be at twenty four years old when he does this type of moment. It's
forty points in the finals. Again, thirty guys ever have done it forty points as a second option in the finals, Kyrie Russ, James Worthy, Chris Middleton, and we're close to the end of the list. So that is that's something really really special. All right, So let's let's ask some of these chat questions before him move on.
TS, do you think Shay is essentially what Jordan would look like in the modern NBA just more shifty, but less athletic and not the best guy in the league, but like top five.
No, listen, Michael Jordan would be the best guy in the league right now. Yeah like that. I mean, guys, you're Jenna. I understand that. I think Jordan's legend might be a little overstated. But prime Kareem and prime Lebron are not active in the league. So I am couple saying Michael Jordan, like prime Michael Jordan would pretty comfortably be the best player in the league. So that's first
of all. Second of all, I am very I do think there are I think that's a fair comp like a killer in the mid range, But Jordan's prime Jordan's Jordan before the first retirement. His athleticism was just so unbelievable, and like Shay is more, you know, more of an artist. Yeah yeah, uh and so but I understand the I understand the point. I like Scott's question.
Uh.
Scott says, well, SGA in spar king A to want to be basketball players more than ever before.
I bet if the MVP of the league and champions from your country, like that's one of the great things about the game expanding and the you saw once the NBA got some stars or not even necessarily stars, just big time players from Eastern Europe. We're getting getting paid
the dividends now. Dream comes over the NBA puts a real investment in Africa, that we're getting paid the dividends now, Like yeah, I mean I would imagine, I you know, Steve Nash had a real impact on this as well, and so yeah, I mean I think I think that when you have a true superstar from a place that otherwise wasn't producing stars, that yeah, that there is a groundswell. I think there's no there's no doubt about that. All right.
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¶ How the Desmond Bane trade shakes up the NBA
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speeds not available in all areas. All right, let's get to some of the NBA trade stuff before we get to lying media beefs and the future of the Republic as a whole. So go ahead to mind.
NBA trade season has opened up. Memphis traded Desmond Bane to Orlando for Contavious Cabo, Pope, Cole Anthony, four first rounders, and a swap. So now the Magic have the fifth best odds to win the East next year.
Where's your reaction to this trade?
All right, bunch of quick hitters. First one is this it's a low key diss of the Pacers. Here's what I mean.
Because they're saying we could take the East right now, right, They're saying.
Yeah, the Magic are like, well, Paul is our guy. Yeah, if Indiana can do it, why can't we? So like, I don't I I'm not exaggerating when I say I don't think this trade happens if Jason Tatum doesn't tear as Achilles, honestly, Like, I know that sounds silly, but I think that the Magic look at it and they're like, Okay, Paolo is gonna take a step. We like Franz, we could not shoot at all. Let's go for it. I also,
I am not as certain. I know there's been some reporting that, oh, the Grizzlies, they're not making any more moves though they're standing pat with Triple J and Jaw eh maybe and Brew and I talked of this yesterday. He's like, well, do you really want to sell low on Jaw? And the question is do you think this is selling low or even because here's now the new problem with Jaw.
Even if he has cleaned up everything off the court, which I don't know if he has, but let's say he has, he now has a different red flag, which is the injury stuff. He missed a bunch of time this year. He got hurt in the playoffs again, Like, so you might be selling low or it might you know, it might only feel low now compared to where he was a couple of years ago, but will feel high compared to where he is a year from now. So you know, I do think the Magic are real, a
real threat in the East. If Paolo takes one more little step forward. They needed shooting, they now have shooting. Here's my other reaction to this trade, demonse, So what's Austin reevesworth if Desmond Bane is worth four first rounders? Because I know KCP is a negative value contract, so maybe one of those first rounders was to take CACP off their hands. So then it's three first rounders in a swap. You also got Cole Anthony and those first
rounders are not nothing like, they're not gold. But it's the sixteenth pick this year. It's a weird like triple swap between Washington and Phoenix. Next year it'll probably it'll will probably end up being Phoenix's first round pick next year that should be top half of the draft, and then unprotected Orlando twenty eight and thirty and any team's unprotected thirty is interesting because the NBA is so crazy
because things change. So those picks aren't fake first rounders, none of them are, like you know, an unprotected Utah twenty twenty six. I like, it's not, holy shit, this is gonna be a top five pick guaranteed. But they're they're not. I would say they are good, not great first rounders. And if that's what Desmond Baine gets you, then is the Lakers real path to getting a center? A three team trade where I will use Utah as an example where Utah doesn't want Austin Reeves because they,
you know, don't want to compete yet. But you flip Austin Reeves to a team that does want him, that has a bunch of picks. Those picks go to Utah and Walker Kessler goes to the Lakers. Like, if that if Desmond Baine's worth four first round picks, Austin Reeves worth three and a half first round picks, Like, is it is it fair? Tell me if you disagree with me to Monse? Is it fair to say Baine and
Reeves are the same tier of player? Different players? Yeah, but like if we're ranking players, they're within a few spots of each other. Bain's a better defender and a way better shooter. Reeves is a better shot creator and a better driver to the basket like Bin's on four years, one hundred and fifty five million left on his deal. Reeves has one year, thirteen million left on his deal, which just means you're gonna have to extend him for
you know, thirty five plus million a year. Probably So I So, I think that if Mikale Bridges goes for five firsts and Bain goes for four firsts, then the price of cost controlled relatively quality top fifty but not top twenty five players has been set. Uh, And I know it. It is a lot. And I also though, don't I know. Listen, the Luca trade was obviously a disaster. I get that, but people were like, you get four
first for Desmond Baine and one first for Luca. You got Anthony fucking Davis with Luca.
I was just conversation with producer this morning, like I.
Don't understand, like the I'm if they wanted, I'm you could have gotten I'm sure five first for Anthony Davis. So if you're Dallas, you would have felt better if
¶ Durant's trade demands
you got six first round picks. But no, Anthony Davis and Max Christy was probably worth one first round pick, like you got two players in the deal. And so KCP on his two years forty million left on his deal is worth a negative first round pick. Cole Anthony is probably worth just less than a first round pick. So those two kind of cross each other out. Uh so, yeah, I think the Luca trade something different entirely. All right, let's do Kevin Durant before we get to the other stuff.
Kevin Durant has preferences. He would like to be in Houston, San Antonio, or Miami. Sham's reporter, he doesn't want to be in Minnesota with his boy Mark Spears report of Katie Kity wanted to go to the Knicks, but they weren't interested for some reason, being said that.
They'll take the best deal available. How do you think think? How do you think? How do you think things change for Katie in the market so far? I'm sorry for the mill, You're fine.
I don't think the Bay trade impacts Kevin Durant's trade much. They're just such. One guy's ten years younger than the other. One guy's on a contract that you know exactly what it is. The other guy's got a year left but probably wants to extend. And if you trade for him, you want to extend him, but you have to make for two years one twenty. You got to make sure he'll do it. You know, the Magic are taking a long view of things. Whoever trades for Durant, you have
to feel like you can win. Right now, I just think Houston makes the most sense. Uh. I think that I don't think Katie wants to live in the cold, and I think that might be one of the reasons he's not high on Minnesota. And I know every like everyone's gonna mock Kevin Durant for that.
I I don't know man Minnesota.
Yeah, I for being like, oh like, I just I think that there's the so like in our business, right, let me just defend Kevin. If it's true Katie doesn't want to go to Minnesota, and it's just like I don't want to live in Minnesota. I want to live in Texas where I went to college, or I want to live in Miami because that's sweet. Here's the defense of Kevin Durant on that. Okay, in our business sports talk, right, there's hubs in LA, hubs in New York City, and
a hub in Bristol, Connecticut. LA is also New York's awesome. Bristol Connecticut is Bristol, Connecticut. I'm not just you know, small town and not a lot to do other than you know, the As Dan Patrick put it, the mothership is there. Guess what, guys, every single person that has found themselves with enough juice that was working in Bristol got moved, Like every single one. Greeney wanted to be in New York. They went to New York. Will Bond and Corneiser were like, we're staying in DC if we're
doing the show. They did it. Levittard was like, I'll come to you, guys, but I'm staying in Miami. They built a thing in la Like Scott Van Pelt was like, guys, I'm gonna do the eleven BM Sports Center. I'm gonna be awesome at it. I'm also from Maryland. I'd like to live there, like.
You got it.
Like there's the people who have like options on this stuff. The usually end up. Where they live is a big part of what they use their juice for. So Kevin Durant at the end of his career is like, man, I don't want to live in Minnesota. I don't And I don't know if that's what it is or not, but if it, everyone's like that would be ridiculous. I don't find that ridiculous. I would like I would understand it, and I understand Durant doesn't have, you know, a wife
and kids, but he's still got people. I'm sure, people that you know kind of move where he moves and stuff like that.
Like if we're like five ten years ago, I think it would have been crazy. I don't think crazy, but it would be like just because of the weather man you don't want to live in the cast, right.
Or if you would never want a championship, or if you had been kind of an underachiever or any of those like, but if he looks at me, it's like, man, I think there is about as good of a chance to win a title next year, the Cup, next couple of years in Minnesota, San Antonio or Houston. So uh, send me to the place that's the state I went to college has better, whether you know is I'm more comfortable no state taxes, whatever it is now. The Miami thing, I would look a slight a scance at because I
just feel like you can't win. But maybe you'd be like, it's the East, I can win. So I don't know, like, but I think Houston should be the team that doesn't. I think Jalen Green plus a guy, I said Dylan Brooks. I know other people have said Jabari Smith. I try to keep Jabari and give Phoenix back the pick of theirs that you have. And I think Phoenix with that coach with if you just just think about Houston this year with Kevin Durant, that series against the Warriors, even
place of Jalen Green was Kevin Durant. I mean that's a that defense. Shingoon be in the hub of everything. That's a real thing. So I would like Houston. It seems like some people think Scham's like body language like told us it was the Spurs. I don't know that. I'm buying that. The Spurs are certainly an option. Also the argument of hey, Katie's bad at picking his teams. So you know, he picked the Nets, it didn't work.
¶ Solitaire and lying
He picked the Suns. It was a disaster, so you should send him where he doesn't want to go. That sounds good, but teams are only gonna want him if he wants to be there, because if you trade for him, you want to sign the extension. Okay, Demonse, you're sticking around, are you leaving?
I'm gonna watch it. I'm gonna. I'm gonna watch it later. I think you're gonna.
You're out of here, all right, demons out, Thank you pal. So here's the deal. So I am going to talk about the Steven A. Smith Solitaire thing, but it's going to be quite the bridge I build to get there, and you're going to have to deal with what I'm sure some of you will think are is a lot of political commentary. It's not a lot, but all of you will think is some. And so it's kind of, you know, got to eat your vegetables to get the
dessert at the end of the meal. But we're going to have a real conversation for I don't know tenish minutes here about a scary direction to me the country is heading in which the country is heading, And I promise I'm not being over dramatic in my view when I say that. So I think right now, the single biggest problem in our country is lying. I saw a couple months ago a tweet that was like a long form tweet talking about how we need to get back
to treating outright lies as moral degeneracy. And I've thought about that tweet probably one hundred times since I saw it,
because I one hundred percent agree, and here's why. And here's why I think it's important for us that we make outright line, not shading, not presenting facts in a way that they're most beneficial to you, but outright, bald faced, undeniable lies need to be a subject of shame and ridicule once again, because while a lot of people of a lot of different political stripes, for very different reasons, feel we're in a dangerous place in this country, our
collective inability to agree upon singular truths, actual facts that did or that, facts that are or aren't true, events that did or did not happen, and any a lack of any real societal or media pressure to stay true to objective facts, especially when we're in the midst of a fledgling age of deep fakes and real actual fake news, and artificial intelligence and different things that can really paw at our conception of reality in a way our brains
probably are not yet fully equipped to deal with. I think as a society, our moving away from the way debates work on. Everyone agrees what happened, but then we argue about what should be done about it, moving to a all of the time that should be spent arguing about what should be done is actually spent litigating what actually has already occurred. Is incredibly damaging and incredibly dangerous, and it wrecks our ability to live in a collective reality.
And no matter where you stand politically on anything, this should be scary, okay. And so that is the premise with which I am going to explain to you why, and eventually we will get to solitaire why I have not talked at all about something that I personally have found horrifying. Seems like you know about half the country as as well, and half the country hasn't. But I haven't said a word about it. And that's the ice raids and the different things that are been happening to
immigrants in this country. The reason I have not talked about that, and some people are like, Nick, you have platform, you have strong opinions, you have you know, a voice that matters or doesn't.
I don't know.
The reason I have stayed out of that is because as much as I hate it and I think it's anathema to what America is supposed to be, and I think a lot of it has been lawless, it is exactly what they said they were going to do, and I do believe in democracy. I don't believe that the election was rigged.
Or.
Voting centers were hacked or anything of that nonsense. I think the guy who said we're gonna deport twenty million people, as insane as that sounded to me, and kept saying it, and at the rallies they had signs that said mass deportations. Now all of it. I think that guy won as much as I hate it. In a way, they're just doing what they said they were going to do, and we had a contest to see if people liked that idea,
and that you know, that guy won. So it feels it has felt to me a little set like almost sour grapesie for me, in my position, who's not a political commentator by trade, to talk about that a lot or at all, because it has felt like, well, they said they were going to do it, and they're doing it. So we can fight back against it, but we can't say we didn't see this coming. But I do find it abhorrent, and I find it so important that I find anyone in bed with them or aiding and abetting.
I think the packaging of it uh to be a real sting and a staying on the country that I
don't know if we're gonna quickly recover from. And so with all that said, and with everything that's happened over the last few months, the thing in relation to these raids and deportations and the military and the streets and all of that that really struck a chord with me was not when Senator Alex Padilla got you know, kind of shoved and then pushed to the ground and handcuffed, but that the response to that, despite it being on video and everyone knew it was on video, the response
was blatant line and everyone just accepted that that, oh, of course, that the immediate message was he lunged at Secretary Gnome and that he quote never identified himself, and that as soon as he identified himself, he was you know, unhanded. No, and none of that was true, and they knew that none of that was true, but they said it anyway.
And so it's not that I'm more bothered by one United States senator being roughed up than I am by tens of thousands of people being deported or anything like that. It's that one thing was, Hey, we're gonna do this if we win the election. We won the election. We're doing it. The other one was just fiction, and it
was fiction that they knew. They they felt they could get away with because they felt that either people are numb to it or in an effort to both sides everything, folks will justify it, or they won't flatly call it
what it was, which is degenerate line. And so when I then saw a guy who I have always really respected, a guy who I've always liked, a guy who I've always had a good relationship with, that last of which is sadly probably in the past tense at this point, but maybe not, Steven A use his massive platform to essentially kiss the ass of the people who were lying about what happened to Senator Padilla, didn't care that they were lying about it, and abandoned any obligation, in my eyes,
to truth or fairness in just a relentless pursuit of a bigger and bigger tent and larger and larger audience and more eyeballs. I found it just awful, And I'm like, really, your takeaway from this was he should have acted with more decorum, which, by the way, is a fine opinion to have. I suppose, but everyone's takeaway, the top takeaway should have been they're lying and we saw it, and they know we saw it, and we know they're lying,
and they don't care. And then you saw an even more egregious example by the Utah Senator Mike Lee on Twitter this past few days after those horrific political assassinations in Minnesota, just outright lying about what happened there, and folks barely noticed because we've become numb to it. We become numb to the fact that folks with all the power that we've been trusted so much society and are unrepent liars. And this part, I think is important, lying
without actually hoping to get away with it. It's not like, oh, they're not gonna know, it's that they know they're gonna be called liars. They don't care because there is no damage right now to being a liar, and they just want to muddy the waters enough that people can then claim there's a disagreement or a debate or confusion about what happened, and they don't have to confront any real truth, which oddly and hilariously brings us to Solitaire, because here
is the truth. I and I don't think many people actually give a shit that stephen A was playing solitaire, don't I think that it was just an easy way to hit a guy that they don't like. And I do think it's objectively funny that it's solitaire. But he would have been just as distracted if he was doing
online banking or sports betting or on Twitter. The sin of not being locked in on the game would have been just as it would have been just the same, but it wouldn't have been as memorable or as you know, just objectively funny. And so people are I think, feigning a bit of outrage about how awful it was that during a game he wasn't locked in because they don't like him. So and I don't really care. It's funny and solitaire of all the games, like if you were
playing chess. Some people were like, oh, how about that. My issue is with the response because the response was instantaneous and easily disprovable as a lie during a time out, knowing he's a very smart guy, knowing uh, if someone took a picture, someone might have a video, they have a video, the court might be in it, or sound might be on or someone or in the picture. Everyone in front of me is standing. Even in the still picture, it sure looks like the game is going on. But
so the response just lie because who cares. And then even when it's the video comes out and it's clear you lied, turn it into your own joke and meme and move on because ah the truth, you know, And that actually is the lying or at least what I would call not as a greevous but lying to Jason behavior is what really caused my first tete a tet with steven A, which was I thought it was that's not lying, to be fair, but a misrepresentation of the
Lebron stuff and a misrepresentation of what Lebron was mad about, and a misrepresentation of you know, things that have been said in the past. And so here's the sad thing for me is I don't like I said. I I have always had a really uh positive even though we've never worked together, a relationship with steven A. He's always been very kind to me. He's said nice things about
the show. He is very tight with brew and I do think there are a lot of things about his sportscasting that are unfairly maligned, and I've said as much and I would imagine he probably is not gonna listen to this whole thing. And I don't know if you listen to this whole thing or just a clip, if it would be better or worse, But regardless, but I
am I I am certainly not making my life easier here. Uh. But now that Stephen A has decided two, at this moment in this country, in our history, to swim in real political waters, and he wants to have a real political voice, whether or not he ever runs for office, which I would doubt, but I do think he will have real impacts when we're talking about, you know, the left needing a Joe Rogan and the impact of podcasts and media and all of it, and he is dove
headfirst into these discussions. I think it's important that those people are held accountable. And I think that in a time where we cannot rely on the people who have actual power and our elected officials to give two shits about what is or isn't the truth, what is or isn't reality, what is or isn't easily disprovable, I think it is.
And you have.
In concert with it what I would call a lot of very very gullible media of which I am not lumping stephen A in at all, who just the last thing they were told is what they believe and can be duped and tricked when you have those things going on, I think it is wildly important for people of which I think I am. I check all these boxes. I
think Steven A checks all these boxes. Smart, more often than not, on the right side of important things, knows what truth actually is, and has the ability to really move people with their words that those people move us back in a direction where we have at the very least a collective dedication to the truth mattering. And right now we're losing that one game of Solitaire at a time. I guess talk to you guys Thursday. We'll train