Nikola Jokic & Valenciunas the BEST BIG DUO in the NBA + Alperen Şengün & Turkey Roll in EuroBasket

Nikola Jokic & Valenciunas the BEST BIG DUO in the NBA + Alperen Şengün & Turkey Roll in EuroBasket

On today’s show, Joic and Valenunis, are they the best center duo in the NBA? Where do they stand after the standoff? We’ll talk about the Nuggets. We’ll also talk about Euro Basket today’s locked on NBA Game Night. When that final buzzer rings, you know it’s time for Locked On Game Night. All the postgame reactions to every game across the league, every single night with insights only the hosts at Locked On can provide. It’s the true NBA fans one stop for all the action. Every game, every night, it’s locked on NBA Game Night tipping off now. [Music] And welcome. You’re locked on NBA Game Night. My name is Nick Angstead, host of the Locked On Mavericks podcast, part of the Lock on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks for being in every day, making locked on NBA your first listen. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchoney.com for 50% off the first year. And with me today again doing it again we’re talking about Jokic of course Swipa locked on Nuggets joining me. What did you see in Euro Basket today? Wow. What a what a great day of games. You know we’re we’re headed into the crunch time of Eurob Basket. So a lot of teams are vying for position. Uh some really really greedy games. We got some blowouts today but man I think some really really good basketball is on the way. This was a great day of basketball honestly especially for Serbia you know coming off the game versus Lapia they had that went down to the wire today it was a total deconstruction but that’s good because they have maybe the game of Eurob basket on the way versus Turkey and I cannot wait to see that huge one coming up we’ll make our way around Eurob basket we’ll talk about all the games that happened today so many NBA players stood out today and had really good games so we’ll talk about that of course we’ll play count it up where we count the most interesting fun things in the NBA including LeBron James’s a new Nike ad that is just parody upon parody upon parody of of what he is at this point. So, we’ll talk about that, but let’s start here. Swipe up. The uh Yic and Yonas Valunis both playing in Eurob Basket right now. Yonas Yonas Valunis and Lithuania get a win against Finland. We’ll talk about that here in a minute. Serbia gets a win against Chetchia. 82 to 60. Dominant win for Yokic. He only had to play 18 minutes and so they didn’t really have to do a whole lot. But I wanted to use this to talk about the Nuggets, especially having you on the Nuggets guy to talk about this. Um, where do we stand? Let’s just start here because as a as an outside Nuggets like observer, where do we stand with Yonas Valenunis, the standoff that happened before? Is everything just settled? He’s going to play. We’re fine with it. Like no bad blood, anything? Yeah, it’s all good. You know, I think a lot of this had to do with there seemed to be some prior agreements that Jonas had in place with it sounds like the Kings and his agent that if once he got done with the year, he would be going back to Greece to play. And it looked like about a three-year deal worth about $12 million. And I think some of this was about Yonas wanted to go not just have security long-term because obviously he has a partially guaranteed year that’s due after this season coming up. So he has two years 20 million million dollars remaining fully guaranteed the first year partially guaranteed the next year and so I think for him he’s playing behind Damonte Sabonis and so I think he goes to Greece he’d be able to be a full-time starter he’d basically be the best player on the team he would get all the run all the minutes he’s 31 years old this would be an opportunity for him that he could get a full run to be like the best player perhaps in the league and I think for him there’s a lot of upside and his family is over that way as well so from a family standpoint, a basketball standpoint, a financial longevity standpoint, I think there were so many things on the table for him and because he had already made an agreement, it sounds like with the Kings, this was all kind of going in motion. So when the Nuggets traded for him, Dario Sarge, so the Kings get underneath this the the the apron, which is what they were their primary concern was, but then now the Nuggets get a true backup center. I would argue the best backup center they’ve had in the Yokoic era. That’s where some of the back and forth was going between Yonas’s side and his agent and previous agreements with Greece and now the Denver Nuggets with uh Ben Tinser and John Wallace making sure that he’s following through with his contract because they really believe that he’s going to be a crucial part of this roster. So once everything got talked about and everything was put in the open, the Nuggets share their expectation that they they expected him to fulfill his contract. Reportedly, Jokic also talked directly to Yonas Valenunis and that also gave him some encouragement as well. And so Jonathan agreed to be fully in house with the Nuggets and he’s ready to rock and try to win an NBA championship. Good. Because that move happened. I was really high on it. Like you said, I think this is the best backup he’s had in a while. You think about some of the backups and maybe since Isaiah Hartinstein was there and he wasn’t even the Isaiah Hartstein that he is now at that point, but still was very good. Maybe even go back to Nerkish like all all the way back. Nerkish. Yeah. Nerkish, Mason Plumbley, Isaiah Hartenstein, and then you did have the Boogie Cousins year 2122 for a little bit. But I mean, this one is a a guaranteed come in, know exactly what you’re going to get from him, and can get guaranteed stuff from him during a game. And this was a massive thing for them. Uh, do we think this is the best center duo in the West or in the NBA in general? Because you start to look around and obviously the Mavericks have a really good one and Derrick Lively, Gaffford, throw Anthony Davis in there and all of a sudden that’s a conversation, but if you make Anthony Davis play the four, which is what Anthony Davis wants to do, then it’s not then it’s not a conversation with just Lively and Gaffford. But there’s I don’t know if there’s any centers that I would take over Joic and Jonas Valun. It’s just that combo because Joic is already the best player in the league. He’s going to be number one in our locked on top 100 that comes out later this week. Yeah. So, I think I was thinking about this a lot actually the other day. I would say the one that is probably the most comparable, but they don’t have the top end talent is Zubot and Brook Lopez. I think that from a defensive anchor standpoint, uh I think a shooting standpoint, and when I say Zubach, Zubach has some of the best post touch in the NBA. Those over-the-top hooks he has are devastating. He’s a great line finisher as well. Brook Lopez is a legitimate shooter on the outside. He’s also a good post player. He’s also he can pass a little bit out of that. I think that probably would be the other one. I think obviously you look at the Houston Rockets, they got Shenon, they got Steven Adams, and they got Clint Capella. I mean, just from like a having three centers at that level, is not the same that he used to be back in the day, but he’s still a good player, really good center. Um, do we count the Timberwolves with Goar and Nas Reed? And do we throw the the rookie Johan Behringer who’s who’s played pretty well in summer league? What do we think about that? Yeah, I think that’s a good one, too. Yeah, I think the Wolves have a good one. I think Nas is like he’s a more of a power forward than he is a center, but obviously their small ball units are really good. Uh, funny enough, the the Portland Trailers have one as well. It just depends on how you feel about, you know, Donovan Klingan, Hassan, Hassan Yang, uh, and then obviously having Robert Williams in that rotation as well. Like that’s also a really good one. I am in the Yong Gang. You can’t call it Yang Gang because it’s not pronounced Yang. That was a big conversation about summer league is whether you The Thunder also should get should get noticed here is Chad Chad Homegrren and Isaiah Hardin. I mean, that that’s a really good one as well. But all the ones we’ve named, I still wouldn’t I still wouldn’t pick any of them ahead of yoke having the number one player and then also a solid backup. And this is going to do a lot for the Nuggets because you mentioned those non Joic minutes. They were terrible this past year and it was really hard for them to get anything going at all and to have a a just like a solid center in that spot. What is that going to do for this team? So, one of the things about uh Yonas Valenunis is is I’m I used to when I used to do all the post test numbers uh for Joic especially, you know, just covering the team throughout the year, a name, two names always came up, Nick. One was Kristoff Porzingis, especially when he was with the Wizards. And then the other one was Jonas Valenun. And I would always have to kind of filter out the touches because Jokic is getting six post ups a game. I want to make sure I’m staying within four to six to get like a real grasp of like who’s the most dominant post touch players, most efficient players in the post. But then every time when you don’t filter out though, two names were always towards the top of the board. Yonas and Kristoff. And you see Kristoff when he went to the Boston Celtics, all of a sudden everybody’s like, “Wow, where did this player come from? Well, how good? He was always this good. Great shooter, good post player.” Well, Yonas two years ago when he was with the Pelicans, he was averaging 1.07 07 points per possession on every post up as a score. And Yonas has always been super efficient. Last year was about 0.96. Again, different situation with the Wizards, but if you look at his career, he’s always been a very efficient post player. And one of the things he does well, the DHO’s, the pick and dives. Yonas is not a reputational good shooter and even from a numerical standpoint, not a really good shooter. But Yonis has had some games where he’s hit some threes and there’s a notable one a couple years ago versus the Clippers where he just absolutely nailed Zubos for six threes in the first half and he just was going wild. Jonas also when he played with the Pelicans, I covered this also a couple years ago. They were starting a lineup of Jonas Valenunis, Jack uh Jackson Hayes, it was Brandon Ingram, it was Herb Jones and they had one of the top defensive units in the sport in part because of the way they were kind of maneuvering all their pieces. So Yonas has been able to show like when he has to play like higher level defense he can. When he has to play higher level offense he can. But one of the things that’s going to be special Nick is Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. off the bench with Pton Watson and Julian Strawther. You incorporate the fact they’re going to have Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Cam Johnson, and Aaron Gordon. You can play all of these different players with Yonas and he’s a great fasimile of what Nicola Joic is. Plus this is also the other thing and you know this watching the Western Conference. The Western Conference is super physical. And in the playoffs, it is extremely physical. So, the more size and versatility you have, and I think the Houston Rockets show this, when you play the two big lineup, you really can do a lot of different things to opposing defenses when you could offensive rebound at a very high rate. I do expect that Yonis and Joic are going to play together next year. And I’m actually really excited to see what those lineups look like. Uh, you saw it a little bit today. Militina played with Joic, played in a dunker spot. Him and Joic were having kind of a two-man game underneath the rim. So, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be exciting. I think actually NBA fans, if you just want like a little bit of like a a master class on like what postwork can look like, I think that Denver is going to have the best postscoring room in the sport of basketball next season. Yeah, I mean hard to hard to argue with that with with those two guys, especially the numbers that you just laid out. So, the Nuggets finally have a backup center. We’re feeling good about that. Serbia gets a win. They move on to what they’re they’re 4-0 now. And they’re they got one more game left. Lithuania gets a win against Finland and that was a big one for them. And so now let’s talk about the other teams that made big wins today in Euro basketball. We’ll talk about Turkey. We’ll talk about Montenegro. Germany just destroyed Great Britain in basketball. In basketball. We’ll talk about that and more coming up. Locked on NBA game night continues. Today’s episode of Locked on NBA Game Night brought to you by Monarch Money. Monarch Money is there for you when you have too much going on. All of us do. There’s too many things going on all the time and you have to keep track of all your different things, all your different investments, all your different uh things that that money can be in. Now, there it’s not just like savings account like debit card. It’s so many more things. You have 401k, you have maybe a mortgage, student loans, investments, you have savings account, maybe multiple credit cards because you’re trying to get different points on different things, travel or whatever. You’re trying all these different things. And Monarch is built for people with busy lives and even more going on with your money. If you put out organizing your finances, Modern Money is for you. It does the heavy lifting. You can link all your accounts in minutes. I’ve done it myself. It was easy and I love the visuals. It gives you straight, you know, graphics and and charts that shows you exactly where your money is going. It help you to categorize your spending and to know exactly where your money is going and why. So, go check it out at Monarch Money. Don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code lockdown NBA. It’s all one word. Lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com. Use the code locked on NBA. Thanks for hanging out with us on Locked on NBA Game Night. We’re here for you. We have a show that covers every single team every day. Locked on Nuggets. Go check out with Swipa, Matt Moore, and Ryan. Great stuff over there. Locked on Mavs. We’re talking about Cooper Flag every day until people complain about it, which has happened. We’ve had people in our comments say, “Why are you still talking about Cooper Flag? I can’t believe it.” It’s like, what do you mean? Yeah, talk about Luca again. The second best prospect we’ve had since uh Victor Womenyama. I mean, I would be excited, too. Thank you. Somebody Somebody finally said it besides me. I feel like Let’s talk about Euro Basket, though. We’re inching closer to the end of the group stage. They play five games and then the top four in each of these groups will move on to this tournament. And so, we talked about Serbia getting a win. What did the win for Serbia mean mean for them right now? Well, honestly, this is more about just the fact that they got a win and they’re able to rest. Yic played 18 minutes today. And if you just got to understand like one of the things Serbia did today was just a total deconstruction of what they were trying to do offensively. And look, you know, obviously Jackie is not like the most talented team in Euro basket right now, but they’re scrappy. And so what Serbia did is they were just super fundamentally sound in the first quarter. Nick, they just were turning them over almost every single possession and they were running from the start. It was 27 to5 after the first quarter. 27 to5 because they just were doing everything they had to do to get out in the transition, get uncontested baskets. They were playing super physical, super disciplined on the defensive end. They weren’t giving up a lot of good shots. Now, I will say this too. Serbia and the announcer were talking about this today as well. Serbia is like they kind of are getting the reputation that they’re like the cream delic cream of Euro Basket right now just because of the reputation of the country, the reputation of the players they have. They have a lot of players that have played in the NBA. Obviously, they have Nicola Joic. They’re just in a tier where a lot of people expect greatness from them. And now without Boyan Bananovich, they really or Bogi rather they’re they’re going to really need to find ways to be able to stabilize that point guard play and guard level play. And today was Meeches. So Misich hasn’t played well all of Euro basket so far, but he really got going today for a little bit and just in small parts, but Mises today giving you seven points, gave you four assists as well. He had a three-pointer that he hit. A really nice play, too. Like the ball got passed out to him, Nick. He tapped the ball over the defender, caught the ball, sideep, squared up, splashed the three, and you just kind of see his rhythm is kind of getting back. And I think he is going to be so important to what this team is going to do over the next game versus Turkey and then getting in the single game elimination cuz they’re going to have to find somebody outside of Alaska that can play point guard, play guard and get you consistent baskets. So Joic got the rest. Misich got more confidence and they got the win. That’s everything you can ask for. Great one for them. So they they continue to move on. We got we mentioned Lithuania and Finland. Jonas Valunis didn’t have to do a ton in this one. Larry Markin from Finland 19 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. But Lithuania eesks out the win. And so they look at their group and all of a sudden they are Lithuania is 3-1. Finland moves down to 3-1 and Lithuania is above Finland right now, which is better for them in the uh the next stage. Yeah, look, Lithuania I think is going to be an interesting uh them uh I think them being able to go in and you know, we’ll see what happens in the in the when we get the single game elimination, but they’re a really talented team. I like the way they constructed their roster. Obviously, Jonas has played really well over this run, but look, it’s just it’s when we get to that stage, it is going to be like who can last and who’s going to be able to survive because all of these teams are have a lot of really great things about them and it’s going to be a bloodbath when we get to elimination stage. And there’s so many good bigs in this. Like you see some of these teams where you just go, “Oh, they just don’t have any bigs that can hang with these other teams.” We talked about Slovenia yesterday. Yeah. They just don’t have bigs that can hang with some of these teams. They’re just going to get destroyed if they end up in that tournament round. Like they play a Shenun, they play a Yonas Munas, a Yokish. Like, god forbid. I don’t know what would happen to them if they played them, right? Um even Avousich is in this. So, speaking of bigs, Turkey 4-0. They’re in the group A. They’re in that same group as Serbia, Serbia, Latvia, Estonia, and Shangon. 21 points, eight boards, five assists. Turkey has a bunch of NBA players if you haven’t followed them. Shane Larkin used to be in used to be in the NBA with University of Miami was uh drafted over Giannis if you’re if you’re not one Chedd Osman Corkmas Adam Bona and Yarzan is uh there’s they have a bunch of NBA players and so but they rise to 4 and0 they’re also plus 95 because they have that point differential and so I don’t know they’re running away with this group. Yeah, Turkeyy’s really good and you know if this if what we’re seeing from Alpin Chenon and I don’t want to say real but like if Alpi can find his touching in I mean he is just a really dynamic center and I really like the way that he’s been playing. He’s been aggressive. He’s been smart. His defense has been good. That’s a talented team and I think that Turkey they’re making a case that they can win it all as well and so they look really good. They’ve been the most dominant team in their group so far. I’m actually really excited. I like I said I can’t wait for Serbia and Turkey to play. I want to clarify, Shane Lurin didn’t get taken over Giannis in the draft, but the Mavs traded their pick that was taken before for Shane Lurin. So, the Mavs ended up with Shane. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Uh, Mont. Who would have thought Giannis was going to be that though? You, you know, you got to let that one go. Well, the Ma the Mavs did draft Kelly Lynn and then they traded him for Shane Lin and I don’t know. I think you’d rather have you rather have Kelly at this point. He’s still playing in the NBA. Montenegro gets a win against Sweden 87 to 81. Sweden falls to three and to one and three and they’re out of the top four. Montenegro rises to fourth. So now they’re in that group with the win. That was a big one. Uh Nicolola Vutovich 23 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and Pel Larson for the Heat. He plays for Sweden. He had 28 points in this one. And so that was a good win for Montenegro who uh move up into that group. Yeah. I mean, Vousvich, like Valenunis, Shinkun, so many bigs. Then you getting Kristoff Porzingis, like yo, this is this is crazy. Like the the big Do you think the bigs internationally are just are they are they just better than us bigs? It’s It feels like at that we’re getting there because they they grow up and they they’re also we’re talking about a lot of skilled players. These are all players that can pass like really good passers. A lot of them can shoot, too. And so you just you get these guys that that grow up with and they have better footwork too because they’re playing other sports. They’re playing soccer. They’re playing they’re playing other things. But it is interesting to see the the disparity in talent right now. If you’re somebody that watched the NBA and goes, “Oh, I just miss when big men were dominant.” Like watch some Euro Basket, man. You’re going to scratch that itch for sure. Two more games. Germany 120 to 57 against Great Britain. Just dominating. Talk about a team that has NBA players. Germany rises to 4-0. They’re plus 134 in their point differential right now. That means they’ve won their four games by 134 points combined. They’ve basically clinched that number one spot in their group. Um Lithuania is 3-1 and they’re plus 35 just they’re the next team in that group just just for comparison. But they have Tristan Dilva he had 25 points today. France Vagner at 18 points. Dennis Shruder 19 points. Daniel Ty 10 and n squad dog. Just a dominant group right there. Yeah, I’m really excited for Tristan Dilva. I think this could be a real leap year from him. Yeah, huge. That’d be that’d be massive for the Magic. Last one, Latvia against Portugal. Again, this is a a backto-back. We talked about them yesterday. Um, Latvia rises to two and two and two. Portugal falls to one and three. Porzingis has 21 points, nine boards. The Bertton’s brothers combined for 25 points and six threes. And then for Portugal, Namias Kada, the Celtics big, had 16 points and seven rebounds, but that was a good win for Latvia. Now, you look at where Latvia is. They’re 2-2 and they have a pretty big lead against over Estonia as far as point differential. Lafia is minus 6, Estonia’s minus 42. And so it feels like Lafia’s like entrenched themselves into that the top of group A. Yeah. I mean, Estonio’s just he they might be the worst team like so far in Euro basket. I mean them they’re it’s pretty close. So Cypress. Yeah, Lafia is good. Lafia is good. Kristoff’s having an amazing tournament so far. Great one for them. Another big coming up. Let’s play Count it Up where we count on the most interesting fun things in the NBA, including LeBron James, the forever king. This is nuts. I could I could not get over this commercial. We’ll talk about that and more coming up. Big chicken, baby. I think a lot. I’m a very smart take that it count. It’s count it up. Should we have counted up how many times we mispronounced the players players names now? I should go a I’ve been messing up. Uh his name is uh Patrusive, not Petrusv. I’ve been saying that wrong for a while now. So, excuse me, Patrus. I know. I wrote some of them down. I was still like, I just mispronounced that name so so badly. LeBron James and Nike released a new commercial with a quote. He carried the weight of every expectation on his shoulders. There’s like this kid narrating this this, if you haven’t seen it, you have to go watch it. He never broke. We were all witnesses. Every rival was defeated. Every idol was destroyed. He took the crown and kept it. My question is, swipe up. Was every rival defeated? Was every idol destroyed? Because I don’t think either of those things happened because I was there in 2011. I remember what happened. Look, I I asked this question and people got mad at me on Twitter. So, I mean, I’ll just ask it here. And like I’m a huge LeBron fan. Like, so I have LeBron literally mellowing weight on my header on Twitter. So, like people you’re still mad at me. I just don’t understand that language. if you absolutely flamed out versus the Mavericks in 2011. I just don’t understand how you just conquered every one of those those hurdles. And then Duncan, you never you got swept, you know, when he’s 22 years old. Well, that’s something that happened. And again, this is later LeBron LeBron’s still an MVP candidate, though, cuz I still know people when I talk about LeBron’s ranking, they say, “Well, LeBron finished, you know, he got fifth place in MVP this year.” Okay, so if we’re doing that, LeBron is 1 and8 versus Nicola Joic in the playoffs in the last two seasons and then he just got one forward versus Anthony Edwards. So like still some hurdles like but again it’s like well he was too early in 07 and it’s too late in 2025 24 and 23. So I don’t know. I just thought the commercial was interesting. Again it’s marketing. I I have no issue with LeBron like he’s always been the chosen one. He’s always had the crown. Always been called King James. But yeah, you know, I just want to hold true to the language, you know, that’s that’s all I’m saying. Every rival was defeated. I don’t know. Feels like Steph Curry beat him a couple times in the in the finals. Hey, I’m not I’m not doing that. That’s crazy. If if Steph Curry, you you had missed Steph Curry had the advantage in at least three of those finals by a Oh, for sure. But if we’re talking about every rival was defeated, like you talk about the language in it, every rival was defeated. It wasn’t Yeah, cuz the rival was way better. And we get it. Like I understand, I don’t think it was a bad thing, but they’re the ones that made the statement. And so it’s just it’s just the thing with LeBron this whole his whole career just set him up for like they even say it in the commercial, he was called he was called the chosen one, right? Like they set him up to fail because the expectations were so high. Like he has exceeded anybody’s real actual expectations from when he was coming out of, you know, high school and he was 18 years old in the NBA. Like if if we had just said an 18-year-old player, well, I don’t know. That’s tricky. There’s some 18-year-old players that have really like not not panned out in the NBA and then you saw what LeBron did, you’d be like, “Wow, this is incredible.” But because always been so high, could his career have gone better, do you think, man? Like 11. Is 11 really the only one you’re just like, if he wins that one, then it’s basically a perfect career. A perfect career relative to like LeBron. I mean, I feel like Cleveland could have done Cleveland could have done some more things to get better players around him, right? Like that’s that’s where I think the fault is. I don’t think the fault is with LeBron himself, except for that 2011 where he he averaged 18 points a game. He was getting guarded by JJ Berea at a certain point best player for him on and he just did not show up in that moment. And so you can’t call it a perfect career if that’s the case. But I mean, he was he’s been as good as you could have ever expected somebody in that spot. I just think that they they’ve that the marketing and everything around him has set him up to be this like mythical creature when if we just looked at him as a human, we would just appreciate the greatness because he has been so great. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of appreciating greatness or not maybe appreciating greatness, Nico Harrison was at a Twin Peaks restaurant with his family recently. Have you seen this video? Have you seen this video? Okay, this is going around M’s circles right now a lot. like like my group chats are all are all sharing this video and it depends on which side of this argument you’re on if you agree with this person or not. Nico Harrison and and seemingly his family I’m I’m not sure are in this restaurant. It’s it’s actually a Twin Peaks which is adds to the hilarity. Wait, is Twin Peaks a family restaurant? Definitely not. I mean depends on how old your kids are and depends on how like open you are with your kids, I guess. Like I don’t know. I I grew up with people like some of my friends their parents let them watch like South Park and stuff. So I don’t know. Maybe that family is going is going to fix. So they’re they’re there and they’re sitting next to an open window which is adds another odd layer to this whole story and a Mavs fan walks by and his friend is recording him and the Mavs fan leans up against the window like over the hedges like the bushes that are outside the window. Leans over and like Nico and Nico kind of like slowly turns like anybody would if your name got called out randomly out in public. He turns over and the guy gives him like a, you know, dabs him up and then the guy goes, “We’re always gonna hate you forever. Still hate you. F you.” And like and like yells at him and walks away and just look has just the dumbest smug look on his face. And I’ve seen both sides of the story. I’ve seen people say, “That’s unacceptable. You can’t do that. If that was his family, like you just can’t be that guy that does that in person. Like it’s sports. Leave it to sports.” And then I’ve seen so many Mavs fans be like, “Hell yeah. He should never be allowed to have peace. continue to do this like maybe we should we should do this until he’s gone. That’s the only way to fix this. My question is which side of the spectrum do you land on? Did he go too far or is this just the fans speaking for the fans? Well, I think that’s weirdo behavior, but you know my background. I just I think that’s crazy to be, you know, bothering people when they’re with their family at a restaurant like especially at Twin. What if they traded Jokic before he won the title? I wouldn’t care. Like not that much to be bothering people. Like first off, the fact that I would somehow recognize Calvin Booth, you know, outside like, you know, he’d be he he’d be sitting at Blanos, which is a Mexican restaurant. Like it’s pretty nice. Twin peaks for No, not at all. Like, not not at all. No, no, not not at all. First off, I wouldn’t even like if he was at a Hooters, first off, that’d be an enclosed building, so there’d be no way for him to even be in there. So, I think for me, Texas, they have open windows. Exactly. I just think no. Like, I just don’t think you should ever bother somebody like uh who was it? Uh Justin Jefferson was at uh at an event with his family in in uh Minnesota and like fans were trying to walk up to him get a autograph and he was ignoring him. So fans were like butt herb. I’m like why would you inter why would you ever interact with somebody in that in that space? Jokic went to uh he went to a function with his kids in Denver maybe like last year or something like that and like there’s video of him with his like children and for all I remember nobody messed with him because it’s like he just you know let him be like it’s just mind day business. I don’t know that’s not my thing. But in this age where you can video everything and this guy went viral because of this interaction like he’s he’s riding high on it because so many people are happy that he did this and that he’s speaking for the fans and all that. So I I think it’s too far too. I I would never endorse doing something like this, but we’re going to keep seeing it. It’s not going to stop for sure. Also, I have there’s a video of me that went around me getting harassed at a Target not too long ago. So yeah. So it’s just I’m good. I’m good. I don’t I don’t I don’t like that stuff. I don’t believe in that stuff cuz now now if I fire off on you now the story changes. You know what I mean? All of a sudden it’s like, “Oh, Swipe was, you know, No, don’t do that.” The uh the guy that was going viral for Fire Nico and made the mural with had a mural with his hat and all that. He he came up to me during a Mavs game, too, and he was trying to get a rise out of me and I was like, “What did he say?” Oh, just like that. I wasn’t speaking for the fan. I wasn’t I wasn’t hard enough on the trade. All that like all that kind of stuff. It was right in the thick of it. I mean, so what did you say? Oh, I just kept asking him what what he means. What did I say? I asked him if he listened to the show. He said, “No, I stopped listening after blah blah.” I was like, “Well, then you don’t know what I’m saying on the show.” So, you have no I thought you were very notably medium member level in sense. Called it called it the worst trade that the Mavericks have ever done. Worst trade in NBA history. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do with it, right? Like, still haven’t gotten over it. I mean, with Cooper Flag has helped for sure, but I I mean, I’m still going to think about it. We have an update on the uh the Luca Donic Overwatch like billboard. Oh my gosh. My co-host Isaac Harris drove by the AAC this morning and the billboard was up in three places at the AC at the AC. So the Mavs requested it to get removed and it has not been removed because it is still up as of Monday, September 1st. I just think that’s such that’s which one the Mavs lost the Mavs lost in both ways in this scenario because they requested it. The request got leaked which makes him look really soft and then it’s still up. So wait, which is worse? approaching Nico saying, “We’re all we’re going to always going to hate you at a Twin Peaks, by the way.” Or the Maverick’s asking that a banner or a billboard across the street be taken down. Which is worse? Oh, I think the Mavs asking asking for it. It’s going to be worse cuz they just got to let it they let it go, man. Oh my god. I won’t tell I won’t ever say a fan needs to let it go. Do you feel your feelings now? You You got to act a certain way in public like with people and be nice and courteous and all that, but yeah. like Thunder fans when uh the Pacers lost in game seven because Tyreek Hallebertton popped his Achilles and there were these helpless like Pacers walking through the street. Yeah. Just no. Why? For what? It’s a It’s a game. Like relax. Speaking of Tyresese Hallebertton, he got asked about his nickname on a podcast recently and he said it’s unfortunate the Taliban is and then he paused for a second and said, “A terrible group of people and it’s unfortunate that on social media it’s become the thing. Obviously, I can never publicly acknowledge it or respond. People will come in my Twitch chat and spam that. My question is, are you pro or against the Haliban? Bro, that’s not even the worst name. I’m not even going to say his name. I’m not going to say his There’s another player I’m not going to say his name that has a worse nickname that’s much more current today. So, no, that’s Twitter. Twitter going to do what Twitter do. You I just Yeah, I think you can’t acknowledge that. There’s just no way. There’s too way too way too much way too politicized to acknowledge that. So, I’m fully with him on that. Haliban is wild. Like just just the implications of it alone. But that is like you said, it is what Twitter is and it has been that way for a long time and it has only gotten worse because the platform itself has grown to the point where it has chased away any decent people that are left on it and it’s just all of us. Just imagine if Carl Malone was playing today, you know? I mean, Patrick Beverly just realized why that was nuts apparently recently. Do you believe Do you believe Patrick Beverly didn’t know? We did probably heard it in passing, but I think the details of like a 13, you know, that’s like that’s like, you know what I mean? That’s probably not like not common knowledge for a lot of people. Yeah. You think in the NBA though people would it would talk in the stories. I mean, we we you’ve been around NBA teams like we’ve we’ve heard stories of people and you’re like, “Oh man, well that story is getting around to me.” Then it means that what are the stories that are shared with players, right? Like so there’s probably just so much that Mhm. Mhm. There you go. That’s some Euro basket. We’re talking about nuggets. We talked about a whole bunch of things. Uh, go check out all the great shows. Go check out locked NBA Daily. Wes Goldberg, Matt Moore doing great stuff over there on that show. Go check out Locked on Nuggets. Locked on Mavs. Guys, thanks for watching to lock on NBA game night. Boom.

NBA, Nikola Jokic, Jonas Valanciunas, Denver Nuggets, EuroBasket, Serbia, Lithuania, Turkey, Alperen Sengun, Kristaps Porzingis, LeBron James.

In this episode of Locked On NBA Game Night, hosts Nick Angstadt @LockedOnMavericks and Swipa @LockedOnNuggets dive into the latest EuroBasket action, focusing on standout performances from NBA stars like Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas. They analyze the impact of Valanciunas joining the Denver Nuggets and debate whether they now have the best center duo in the NBA.

The conversation shifts to other EuroBasket teams, highlighting impressive showings from Turkey, Montenegro, and Germany. The hosts also discuss a controversial LeBron James Nike commercial, sparking a debate about the accuracy of its claims. The episode concludes with a lighthearted segment called “Count It Up,” where they address fan interactions with NBA executives and players’ nicknames on social media.

0:00 Jokic and Valanciunas, top center duo in the NBA?
12:27 EuroBasket updates and team performances
20:10 Count it Up: LeBron James’ new Nike commercial controversy

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nba

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nba

Follow the Locked On Podcast Network
Twitter 📲 https://twitter.com/LockedOnNetwork
TikTok 📲 https://www.tiktok.com/@lockedonsports

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! | Offers: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/offers/

Follow Your Team Every Day
📲 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nba/

Locked On NBA: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nba/

📢 Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! | Offers from our sponsors: lockedonpodcasts.com/offers
 

Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#NBA #Basketball #Podcast #NBAPodcast #Sports #SportsPodcast