FULL NBA TODAY | Anthony Davis trade to Pistons? – • Could LeBron’ return derail Lakers’ season?

FULL NBA TODAY | Anthony Davis trade to Pistons? – • Could LeBron’ return derail Lakers’ season?

What that means? It means it’s week three of the NBA Cup. It tips off tonight and all 30 teams, they played at least one game of group play. So, just as a reminder, the NBA Cup, it’s going to consist of two stages. You have the group play and then you get to the knockout rounds. Now, only eight teams will advance to the knockout rounds, the teams with the best standings in group games, each of the six groups, and then two wild cards. You got it? It’s all right. It’s okay. We got a little bit more time before you have to commit that to memory. Now, here’s a look at the favorites to win each of their respective groups, right? You have the Raptors, you have the Magic, the Bucks, that’s all in the East, and then in the West, you have the Oklahoma City Thunder, you have the Lakers, and the San Antonio Spurs. So, we will have a clearer picture of what the cup standings are going to look like tonight because we got nine. That’s right, Chen. Nine total games that you can see. There’s no better duo to break this down, this NBA Cup night, than Tim Leggler, Chana Gum, Jane, what are you watching tonight? First of all, I’m so excited. Tim, let’s go. Basketball nerds. Serious. I got the glasses on. You brought us up. All right. I have my eye on two teams that are trending upward in the Western Conference. The Portland Trailblazers and of course my Houston Rockets. And I’m going to focus on them obviously because right now they have the best offense in the NBA. And that’s because sometimes their second shot is actually better than their first. Steven Adams. Second chance points. That is their identity. One player right here who leads the NBA in offensive rebounds. That’s Steven Adams. But now being able to take on that identity overall as a Houston Rockets. Look how they pursue the basketball. Everyone is active. They attack. Katie finds a lob. But right here, Shenang misses. Doesn’t matter. They still pursue the basketball. Now you have options on the backside. All right. Who Who’s going to get the shot? I I think they made a great decision here. Passing it to KD to knocks down the three. This is the best offense in the NBA. And they do it the dirty way. You know what they call it? Perk. The dirty south for a reason. Um but KD, this is interesting. This is actually his lowest usage ever. only at 25% but he’s still giving you 50 40 90 from his shooting splits while averaging 24 points per game. Htown, we don’t have a problem. You know why I love this one, too? If you want a guaranteed investment to watch two teams play hard for two and a half hours right now, these two teams, cuz Portland has really caught my eye early and how hard they’re competing, I’m going to look somewhere else. I’m looking at a revenge game, right? A rematch. We get these sometimes in the NBA back to back. And I want to start by saying this. Weby’s next level of evolution is processing the situation and not being in such a rush to go be more comfortable squaring guys up and letting the traffic clear. And here’s what I mean by that. So here you go. Little transition opportunity. Eight turnovers the other night. And we’re going to talk about some of those and how he can avoid them. Now he doesn’t do a pretty good job right here of a processing. He thinks he could turn a corner right here on Pajki. Get to the rim. Okay, that’s fine. Early catch go. Doesn’t process anything. He gets cut off. No problem. Here’s where the next part of his game has to come. You have now occupied three defenders for all intents and purposes. This ball has to come out now. It’s going to make your life easier because now you’ll get the weak side spacing. If that ball comes out of the traffic right now to the top, one of two things is going to happen. You’re either going to get a closeout back by Buddy Heield and you’re going to attack this close out, you’re going to take on Jimmy Butler and now there’s going to be a shooter right here on the weak side of the floor or Jimmy Butler’s going to go. Maybe both guys go and now you’re still going to have an opportunity for that basketball to come to the top and then to the weak side. Instead, watch how long he holds it. Holds it. Holds it. By the time he processes this, thinks he’s shooting. It leads to a turnover. Now, this one to me is more important. This is the next area of growth for Wimby. They ran this play because they want an ISO on the side against a smaller defender. And this is winning time. It’s a four-point game in the fourth quarter. But take a look. He doesn’t allow the traffic to clear. I mean, that’s what Castle’s trying to do. He’s getting out of here. He’s going to take this defender with him. And now on the weak side, you’re going to get Champenny coming up and you’re going to have proper spacing to give him a one-on-one with the whole side of the floor. Watch how quickly he goes, though. He doesn’t let the traffic clear. So now as he gets himself in this situation, you have literally five players within about 8 ft of each other. It’s too congested. He wasn’t patient. Leads to this offbalance. Throws the ball away. They go the other direction. Look, Chen, this year he has shown you more functional strength. We wanted to see it play through contact. This is the next part. Turn, face square up, let the traffic clear, process the situation. But Tim, between the Rockets and the Spurs, clearly my state of Texas, Lica, is on the rise. Well, the ballers at the big board. I don’t know that there’s anyone better than you two. Thank you very much. Let’s stick in the Western Conference here. A developing story out of Los Angeles. We’re following LeBron James. He practiced with the G-League South Bay Lakers again on Thursday. And here is the big news. Everyone was waiting for this. He had no residual effects from Wednesday’s practice. That was his first full speed five on five since his sciatica diagnosis. Remember that nerve pain on his right side. Since LeBron is getting closer and closer to joining the Lakers, let’s check in with our senior writer Dave McMinnon. Dave, what more can you tell us about LeBron’s rehab with this G-League team? Yeah, Malikica, as big as the news was on Wednesday that LeBron played five on five for the first time in nearly six months since the playoffs against Minnesota, Thursday was even bigger because he was able to get through the practice, I’m told by multiple sources, and he was a full participant. They did five on- five drills. He was able to to move without lingering pain in his lower back or his right side. And obviously, you know, he is now in the mode of if he continues to have this progression, he could get a practice with the Lakers on Monday when they return off this 5game road trip. And then there’s a game on Tuesday. I mean, we’re in in the the timing now where we can be looking at the schedule next week and say, hey, that could be the game where we see LeBron James making his season debut, which will be making some history. The only player in league history to have played 23 seasons the moment he steps on the court to begin this season. And could that history be made as soon as Tuesday against the Utah Jazz? That’s a question that we’re going to be following. And the Lakers, they need him back badly because they are coming off their worst game of the season against the Thunder on Wednesday. I don’t even know if we can call him a game. That was a beatdown. So, what’s being said of tonight’s NBA Cup game against the New Orleans Pelicans? Yeah, it was a trouncing. And Jared Dandervelt said it actually was easy to dismiss that one. You said the game tape when you watch when you lose by 30, you kind of just give in to it and you recognize that there’s a lot that needs to be done. And earlier in the season, the kind of Achilles heel for this Lakers team was the third quarter, but on this road trip, it’s been the first quarter. They didn’t look good from the very start against the Atlanta Hawks. And then the same thing was against Oklahoma City Thunder. And DeAndre Aton said, “We need to play with the requisite force from the very beginning.” Vando added that, hey, this is an NBA Cup game tonight. We performed well in the past. I don’t know what it is about it, but we seem to bring our agame to these type of competitions. So, look for an improved Lakers team to try to get back on track tonight in New Orleans. Right. And this New Orleans team hasn’t exactly been a juggernaut of of the NBA so far this year, but again, these are the games that you really have to dial into because it’s easy for them to fall into those trap games. Dave McMenan, thank you so very much. You mentioned the Lakers schedule. Let’s just take a look at it together. Yeah, it really eases up through the rest of November. Look at this. They have seven games left. Only one of them is against a team that has a winning record. That’s the final game of this road trip. That’s this weekend against the Milwaukee Bucks. So, Brian Winhorse is here. Kendrick Perkins is here. Kirk Sweater is joining us in studio as well today. Brian, I’m going to start with you here. The Lakers. What form of LeBron James do they need to come back to this team? It would be amazing if they could get second team allNBA LeBron. But even if he’s not that coming out of the gate, and I don’t think we should expect that, the Lakers need a little bit of assistance, a little bit of margin for error. And the reason I say this, they’re 8-4, which is great. Considering what they’ve gone through early in the season, to be 8-4 is tremendous. If you look at their defensive rankings, they’re in the bottom 10. They’re down there with the Charlotte Hornets, with the Utah Jazz, with a bunch of other losing teams. You look at their net rating, which is a little bit more complicated, but, you know, and definitely was affected by that blowout loss the other night. They’re again down in the bottom 10. They have a net rating of a team that should have a losing record and yet they’re 8 and4. That’s great, but it also means that maybe they’re cheating it a little bit and yeah, their schedule eases up, but you can’t continue to play this level of basketball and skate this close and think that you’re going to continue to play at this level of winning. That’s why LeBron comes back. He brings margin for air. That is the entire thing he can do. It might take him a few weeks to get into that, but the Lakers have have weathered this with it brilliantly with all the injuries, including Duca and to Austin Reeves. They’re in good position to bring LeBron back and then try to take off. I mean, look, I believe, you know, once LeBron comes back, we know his IQ for the game of basketball is going to help any team, especially this Laker team, right? And I get the net ratings, you know, I don’t get caught up in the numbers. I don’t like to look at numbers and do all that. I don’t even like to read, okay? But I do like to watch. And what I’m seeing is is that a lot of GMs voted Rob Pelinka as the worst GM in the league right on their GM poll or whatever. I don’t think they said it that way. Well, well, you know, I got to be harsh. They didn’t the offseason. But what I will say is I’m on the wrong side of the bed today. But what I will say is this. LeBron James has proven that he will buy into any role long as the results are winning. And when I look at their depth, I’m looking at Ruy Hachimar have a career year averaging 16 points, shooting over 40 from three, 50 from the field. I’m looking at Marcus Smart, second in the league in steals right now. They have the depth. Now you add a LeBron James who, you know, you could play them in any position. I’m I’m waiting to see him at the fourth position in the pick and roll with Luca Don. So again, yes, LeBron is going to put them there. But here’s my question to you, Tim. When you look at the Western Conference, how many teams can you actually say that are that much better than the Los Angeles Lakers besides OKC and Denver? I’ I’d say those two for sure and probably Houston at their best, I’d probably give them the edge, too. But but that’s a great point. I think what happened to them the other night in Oklahoma City, but we’re trauma bonded over there. Yeah, a little bit because we we got a chance to hang out with the Lakers before the game a little bit. Talk to JJ. You could tell there was a very like almost a giddy confidence like, hey, let’s see what this Oklahoma City defense has for us because we’re playing so well offensively and two guys that were rolling the way Luca and Austin Reeves were dominating paint touches off the dribble and that was cold water dumped in their face. Okay, and I understand it’s the best defensive team in the league. I get that. But here’s where I’ve noticed it. They were not able to penetrate the outer shell at all. and LeBron James is gonna penetrate that. Even even some of the early stuff when LeBron’s coming up the floor, he can split two guys, right? You could see Luca doesn’t play fast enough to do that early. Austin Reeves isn’t strong enough. LeBron can penetrate a shell like that to break them down to create more paint points because that was a totally different style and number than they were used to on Wednesday night. And I think now get LeBron back solves some of that. A lot of that. We’re watching that game and saying, “Okay, it looked like the Lakers are missing a little bit of power.” What is LeBron James’ game? It is bringing that power even in a historic year 23 here. And let’s see how that works out here for the Los Angeles Lakers. They’re not the only team though that’s having to figure some things out without their startup here on NBA today. How long will the Knicks be down? Jaylen Brunson legs. He’s going to tell us who needs to step up for New York to keep pace in the East. Raptors last night against the Cavaliers. Barnes went for 28 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, five blocks in the win. Now, Toronto is 6-1 since Halloween with all six wins coming by double digits. They’re now just a half game out of second place in the East, and I know one NBA champ that’s not surprised at all about what’s going on up north. Previously on Jurassic Park. But big perk, that sounds like a job for a big list of who is a beast of the Eastern Conference. Coming in at number five, bam, put it up there, the Toronto Raptor. I have them making the playoffs this year being a top six seed in the Eastern Conference. Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Emanuel Quickley, Scotty Bors. A lot of people are sleeping on the Raptors. I am not simply majestic. [Music] Oh, who? Oh, me. Hype me up, Malikica. Hey, Gorilla Glow. Shout out to Gorilla Glow. She got not only me hyped, but she got her man Brandon Ingramman of Toronto Raptors hyp. Damn it, they’re making noise in the Eastern Conference right now. We’re talking about a team that is playing on both sides of the floor. They’re number three in the league in assists, but just watch this scramble right here. I don’t even know the defense that they’re in, but they have the athleticism. They have the length. They have the will and drive to force a a miss right here. And then check this out. They’re number one in the league in transition baskets. Scotty Boys, aka Baby Giannis. Look at this contest right here. Blocks this shot. This is Evan Mobley, by the way. He gets out in transition. Brandon Ingram hits him with a perfect pass on time, on target, in stride. You’re watching this Raptor team. They’re playing with high energy. They’re feeding off the energy of their coach. Their eighth offensive rating, fifth defensive rating since Halloween. Well, Perk I Jurassic Park Jurassic Perk might be one of my new favorite nicknames here because the Raptors I mean maybe you’re on to something. They sit at sixth, right? They’re clearly in the playoff picture. They’re out of the playin picture and they’re nipping at the heels of one of the top of the conference. So that includes also the Atlanta Hawks who took care of the Utah Jazz last night getting their fourth straight win thanks to a huge night from Jaylen Johnson. The Hawks had an incredible performance. Atlanta got their fourth straight win of the year. They took care of the Jazz. And Jaylen Johnson, he flirted with a quadruple double. 31184 and seven steals in the win. That seems like video game numbers. Brian Dalen Johnson. He put up a stat line that we’ve never seen in league history. Nobody has ever put up 30, 15, 10, and seven in any game ever. So when you make history like that, you know how you have to celebrate. You have to jump on NBA today. Jaylen, we really appreciate the time. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate you guys having me. Four different categories that you record a careerhigh in. That’s absolutely wild, especially in year five of your career. Do do you think that this is the best basketball you’ve ever played? Um I think it’s just a start. Um, it’s definitely not where I want to, you know, I It was a great game yesterday, but I definitely want to just keep moving forward in the right direction. I’m always curious. Is it something where you get off the bus and you’re feeling a certain way? Is it something when you’re going through your pregame workouts, when do you know that you’re going to have a night like that? I mean, I just knew uh it it was going to be a tough one coming on a backtoback um on the back end of it. Um and I was just trying to help my team win. Um, we knew we needed a dub and we want to uh have a good road trip. It’s not necessarily a surprise to see the leap you’re making because last season you’re one of four players to average 1810 and five. You also have a chance to take all of those numbers to go up, right? If you keep playing like this, how how are you able to impact the game, do you think, in so many ways? I think the main thing is I just I do whatever it takes to win. Uh whatever the game calls for me to do that game, I take pride in. uh whether that’s passing, um scoring, defending, whatever it may look like, uh it may look different each night, but uh the main thing is I just want to help my team uh win. And you guys are doing that because winners of four straight despite being down your offensive engine here in Trey Young, and you’ve actually made a big leap here, right? You went from the bottom 10 in scoring to the top 10 in scoring since Halloween. So, what do you think’s been the key to this turnaround? I mean, we’re just we’re just all buying in. we’re we’re taking film sessions very seriously and uh more importantly we’re translating those film sessions uh into our next game and we’re executing our game plans um as best we can. So I think that’s that’s a big thing for us and we just got to continue to build off each win and focus on one game at a time. I remember in the NBA finals I was talking to Tyrese Hallebertton and he made a comment in passing and I don’t think he meant it as a huge disc but he essentially said you know we want to prove that we’re here for a reason. He said, “We don’t want to be the Atlanta Hawks from 2021 who was there for a second and then went away.” How do you collectively want to work as a team to be lasting in a wideopen Eastern Conference as opposed to being someone who maybe shows up here when the East is a little bit of a weaker year? Yeah, I I think the main thing is just just focus on one game at a time. It’s a long season. uh we want we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves and um focus on things down down the road, but uh what we can control is one game at a time and uh our next focus is uh Sunday at Phoenix. Sunday at Phoenix and Phoenix has been playing incredibly good basketball lately, so it’s going to be fun to watch that. Uh Jaylen, it’s not just your stats that we should have known, okay, he’s going to be leveling up, but your name, too. It seems like all Jaylen’s are ballers in the league right now. We know Jaylen Rose. He says his mom was the one who sort of made this up, but you got Jaylen Brunson, Jaylen Brown, Jaylen Williams, Duran Green. Hands down the best name in the game right now, right? Sure. Hands down. Without a doubt. So, you’re part of the Jaylen fraternity, but you’re also part of the Duke fraternity, the brotherhood there as well. So, if you look at this list of current NBA players, what hypothetical team do you think you would give the edge to? Would it be team Jaylen that has yourself, Brunson, Williams, Duran, Green, Suggs, Brown, Wells, or would it be team Duke? Ah, that’s a tough one. I probably I probably have to go with team Jaylen. I go team. We’re going with team Jaylen. I mean, the Blue Devils might give you a little bit of a tough time, but uh we’re going with team Jaylen for this one. I can tell you this, that is a game that I would tune in for. Jaylen Johnson, you’ve been playing incredible ball this year. We really appreciate you taking the time and we look forward to seeing you against Phoenix. We got a crucial group play battle tonight just days after Detroit edged Philly by three. The rematch comes with NBA Cup stakes attached here. Now the Sixers, they need a win after dropping their first cup game, but the Pistons have been one of the league’s toughest defenses. Detroit’s 10-2 start, they are rolling and Philly short-handed without Joel Embiid. Remember both Kade Cunningham and Jaylen Duran are questionable for this contest. So for more, let’s welcome in our ESPN reporter, Tim Bontemps. Tim, let’s talk about the Sixers side of all this first. What is the latest you can tell us on Joel Embiid status? Yeah, as you just laid out there, Malikica, we’ll see if the league leading Pistons have Kate Cunningham endurance tonight. But the Sixers will not have either Joel Embiid or Paul George. As you see there on the screen, Embiid is going to miss his third straight game with right knee soreness tonight against Detroit. You know, earlier this week, the Sixers said he’s dayto-day with soreness in that knee and there’s no structural issues with it. Now remember this is the other knee from the one that’s giving Embiid problems the last couple years. So it initially popped up that the other knee was giving him problems. There was some concern that this could potentially be some longer term thing. Does not appear though that it will be. So hopefully he is back for the Sixers sometime next week. And the same is could be said for Paul George. He still needs another week to strengthen that left leg, that left quad after he had offseason knee surgery. Is yet to play this season. is going to get re-evaluated next week and potentially the Sixers could have both of their Max players on the court sometime soon along with Tyrese Maxi who as you said earlier has had a great start to the seasons up near the league leaders in scoring. Yeah, the Sixers have had a much better start to their season and been able to stay afloat without their without their two main guys. It’s a very different story than what we saw last year. Let’s stick in the East here, Tim, because the Knicks, they’re hosting to the Heat tonight. It’s in group play. What more can you tell us about how New York is approaching Jaylen Brunson’s ankle injury here? How much time is he going to miss? Well, it as Sham said yesterday, as you can see there on the screen, he’s going to be evaluated daytoday going forward. And there’s definitely some concern. You see here when Jaylen got hurt the other night against Orlando, he left the arena with a walking boot on. And remember, this is the same ankle that cost Jaylen Brunson 15 games last season and looked like it gave him some issues during at times during the playoffs, although he was able to play through the Knicks run to the conference finals and obviously had a great postseason. But Malikica Jaylen Brunson obviously it goes without saying is a gigantic part of what the Knicks do when he is on the court. The Knicks have an offensive rating of 123. That would be first in the NBA and they’re third ranked off the third ranked overall offense in the league because of that. But when he’s off the court, Malikica rating drops to 110. That’s 25th. Same rating as the Sacramento Kings. So that is a significant gap obviously and something we’ll see if the Knicks can uh bridge tonight when they begin the stretch without Jaylen Brunson against the Miami Heat at the Garden. What are you trying to say about the Kings, Tim? Just Just kidding. Just kidding. Thank you so much for stopping by NBA today. The Knicks will though, they’re gonna have to lean on their experience without Brunson to get through this next stretch of games. The Knicks showed last season they were up to the task. They went 11 and six in games without their allNBA point guard. So Brian, this stretch without Brunson, what’s it going to tell us about these New Yorkers? Yeah, so with this new offense with Mike Brown, they have really activated Male Bridges and OG Anobi. Their offense is way more a part of what they’re doing. So that’s really good. The thing is, even though Jaylen Brunson’s um usage rate or his minutes have gone down a little bit, his usage rate is up. They’re relying on him as much as ever. So, look, they do have Miles McBride, Tyler Col has gone from not being a factor at all to having some moments. So, they’re going to lean on their backups here, but they’re also going to lean on their highly paid wing players who they’re going to need more offensive creation out of. Right. And one of those OG Anobi we saw have to have a huge role when Jaylen Brunson was out last season legs. What exactly could that look like here? Yeah, here’s why it’s going to be important for Ojanobi to dial it back to what he did last year. Second half of the year, he had a six week stretch where he averaged over 23 points a game when they had guys out. And how do you do it? He took advantage of early driving opportunities, more so than he would if Brunson’s on the floor. And this is a good push here by McBride. I love this. But here’s where Anobi is so good. You’re going to see him start to come into the picture right here on the trail. He is so good at attacking closeout defenders. And you don’t see him do this as much if Brunson’s on the floor because they’re going to get into a half court set. When he catches this ball, he’s going to put his head down and he’s going to attack this big right here. And when he’s really rolling and aggressive, he doesn’t even have regard right here for the back two defenders. He doesn’t care. He’s got one thing on his mind right now. He’s going to get past one and then he’s going to step through two more and get to the rim because of the aggressive scoring mindset. The other area that I think you’re going to see him take advantage of as long as Brunson’s out, the early throw ahead. It doesn’t happen as much when Brunson’s on the floor. But here’s an example. He catches the basketball right here on the wing. And actually, if you look at the defense, they’re pretty good position, right? Four guys ahead of the ball and a fifth over here. But OG Anobi recognizes that the big is going to be lifted as he starts to put it down. Here’s the only shot blocking presence on the floor. Anobi knows he can just overpower the defender, get to it. Now, watch this. The best part is at the end. He misses. Watch the athleticism. The second jump, he beats everybody the ball, gets his own putback. So, I think you’re going to see Ananobi be much more aggressive early in possession with his driving ability because he can overwhelm guys physically. And that’s what we saw last year when Jaylen Brunson was out. That’s a perfect example. But Carl Anthony Towns perk, he looks more comfortable maybe in this new Knicks offense now that he has a couple more games under his belt under under Mike Brown system. He do. I mean, you said that this system activated who? Bridges and Anobi. Well, it seemed like it deactivated Carl Anthony Towns because his points are down right now and I’m looking at this league and what it takes to win a title, especially with Brunson being out. The most important position in the league is the big man position. Sen power forward. So, I’m looking at Carl Anthony Towns and this is his moment to show why he’s one of the most skilled big to ever play the game of basketball and show his engagement. And when I say it’s engagement, being locked in, not just on the offensive end, but on both ends of the floor, defensively as well. I ain’t going to look at the game uh that they lost to that last game that they lost to Orlando, but the game before that. Three steals, two blocks. Like they need him to be consistently good on both ends of the floor. And now he needs to take his play up to Giannis type numbers in my opinion. And he could do it. It seems like they’re trying to play him almost in like a sabonus type of role. Brian, yeah. Uh I think that’s one of the things that has Carl has not done before and that was one of the things that he wasn’t sure. But I will say this, Mike Brown’s offense worked in Sacramento. It turned them into a turbocharged offense. Well, as Tim just laid out, their offense working in Cleveland, I mean in uh New York. So something some of it is the player trust in the coach. But look, let me say this. For a big man, you like to feel good, right? Then they used to say they ran the first play for you all the time. All the time. But I wouldn’t call Anthony Towns. And we know Carl Anthony Towns is a is an emotional guy, right? I got a ring. He don’t. So call Anthony Towns is an emotional guy, but sometimes you have to stroke their ego a little bit, right? And you have to feed them to get to get the best on the defensive side of things though. He’s got a $200 million contract. He trying to look for extension, too. Well, that’s all happening tonight, but how about next Wednesday? We have Kevin Durant and the Rockets going to be taking on Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs. That’s at 7 o’clock Eastern. And then the Knicks, they’re in Dallas taking on AD Cooper Flag and the Dallas Mavericks. Tim Leggler, he is going to be on the call for that second game here that tips off at 6:30 Eastern with NBA Countdown. And Legs, all season long, you have had one of the best seats in the house at NBA games. It’s been so fun to watch you and hear you on the calls, but I’m curious if you can give us a little bit of that Tim Leggler vision now that you’re here in studio. Your your top takeaways from from being courtside for all of these games. Well, I think first just the individual offensive eruptions and from a team standpoint as well here early in the year. Five guys already topped 50 points. And I think a big part of it is the free throws and take a look at this Malika. Last year the Denver Nuggets led the league in free throw attempts per game at 23. This year 24 teams are taking more than the league leader last year. So the whistle’s been favorable and I say that because it’s played into a lot of these big scoring nights individually for guys. And look, you expect Shay to do it and we called that game 55 and you expect Jokic to do it. He had 55. But then you get guys like Lorie Markin and Aaron Gordon and Austin Reeves doing it as well. So right now the offense absolutely at a premium guys taking advantage of the whistle a little bit. Second thing for me, Austin Reeves going to get that money. He’s going to get that money, man. And look, I know he struggled against Oklahoma City. Uh, but a lot of guys are going to do that. But take a look at what he has done this year. And for me, it was the Minnesota game that stood out more than any because Luca didn’t play. We know LeBron is sideline. 28 points, 16 assists. He completely controlled the game against a team with some elite perimeter defenders and hit the buzzer beater when everybody in the building knew that he was going to take the last shot. He’s made himself a ton of money. A max player Austin Reeves has turned himself into. And then the last thing, the Oklahoma City Thunder coming out of the gate the way that they have. Look, if it wasn’t for blowing a 20point lead against Portland, they’re un without all their guys. They’re undefeated and they’re short-handed. Their their depth is almost unfair. And now look what’s happened here at the start of the year. A guy like AJ Mitchell has emerged taking advantage of this extra opportunity for minutes with Jaylen Williams sideline. But they did that the other night to the Lakers. We were talking about it without Lud Dor, a first team all defensive player and without Jaylen Williams, one of the best defenders in the league. So they’re this is rare for a champion to start that following year the way that Oklahoma City has. Just incredibly dominant. They’re on pace for 75 wins if this holds. And as JDub reminded us in that walk-off interview, he goes, “Don’t worry, ESPN. I still play basketball.” Oklahoma City was so impressive what they were able to do to the Los Angeles. The Lakers are a top seed in the Western Conference. Top four, five seed in the Western Conference doing it without LeBron James. Skinny Luca has been on a tear, putting the world on notice, leading the league in scoring. Right now at this moment, he got the Lakers playing some damn good basketball. Wendy, you close. You know how we rock. Bam. Put it up there. Damn it. Yianniso, the Greek freak, the most dominant player in the game right now, averaging 33 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. So, he’s making people around him better. He got the Bucks with a seven and four record in the Eastern Conference. He’s embodying and empowering others around him. They’re playing exceptionally well. He’s at number four legs. Where you at? I need your energy. I ain’t seen you. I missed you now. Blazam. I like it. Hey, I like that. And I like that suit. Kam Cuttingham. Damn it. They number one in the Eastern Conference. He’s averaging 27 points, nine assists, and five rebounds. And guess what? He looks unguardable right now. I’ve been waiting for that one American to step up and be in the MVP conversation and hold it down. It has been this young man right here, Chen. Come on up here with them red shoes. Hey, hey, hey. Put it up there. Jokic, the most skilled big ever. I know he had 55 the other night in three quarters, but the man is averaging 28 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds. Unreal. He’s leading the league in assists and rebounds. Yep. First team all whackbody. One of the greatest centers of all time. He got his team number two in the Western Conference and at number one. Bam. Shutter SGA. The man went to the finals last year, y’all. He led the league in scoring MVP. And guess what? He got his team with the best record in the league without the second best player had. And Jaylen Williams hadn’t touched the floor. And this guy right now is averaging 32 points and he hasn’t missed a single game. So again, you could get in your feelings. This is not Wendy list, legs list, Malikica list or Chenade list. This is big perks list of early MVP candidates. I have one question as you box me out and I got to answer. Okay. Did you at one point have Victor Webbing up here early in the season? I I did. I did, but I had to go and look. You know what I’m saying? His his numbers dropped a little bit. You know what I’m saying? He ranked 13 in the league in scoring. He had a They’re like top three, I think, in the West. Ryan, you had a big reaction when Kade Cunningham said, “Listen, like um like it’s appropriate like I I hadn’t thought about it. Um but this, you know, this is he’s earned it to this point. Legs. I love the list. I really do except talk to me. I think I’d have to flip-flop.” I ain’t mad at it. I ain’t mad. It is a coin toss. It was a coin toss. I ain’t mad at it. It was hard. It was hard. eat this. But this man is shooting almost 80% on two-point shots. Yeah. He’s leading the league in rebounds on two point shots is absolutely insane. Can I also say though, Kirk? Yeah. If this man brings this team to number one in the east,

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