THUNDER SUPREMACY: OKC Thunder On Track For LEGENDARY Season With Start of NBA Cup Knockout Round

THUNDER SUPREMACY: OKC Thunder On Track For LEGENDARY Season With Start of NBA Cup Knockout Round

Good afternoon and welcome to Locked on NBA Daily. On today’s show, the knockout stage of the NBA Cup begins tonight. So, we make our predictions of who will advance. Meanwhile, are the Thunder in a league of their own? And do the Pelicans have a new face of the franchise? [Music] You are Locked on NBA, your daily NBA podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. All right, welcome back to Locked on NBA Daily, part of the Locked On Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. However you’re tuning in on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com. Place your NFL live bets all season long. I’m Wes Goldberg. Today we’re talking about the Thunder positioning themselves for something we’ve never seen before in NBA history and why the future might be brighter than you think in New Orleans. And we’re doing it with the help of Lockdown’s local experts and I have two of the best with me as always from the Lockdown Nuggets podcast. He’s a senior NBA writer for the Action Network. It’s Matt Moore. Matt, it’s World Beef Breeze birthday. If you don’t know who that is, uh, go read any number of books including Loose Balls is a great one about the ABA. But uh yeah, happy birthday to world be free books. People even read those anymore. Uh from the Locked on Bulls podcast, he’s also a Bears and Bulls creator for Bleacher Report. It’s Hayes. It’s time to talk about the uh Wes’s favorite thing to discuss. That’s the NBA Cup. Let’s get into it. Okay. Well, we might as well just start there. Uh it is the knockout stage of the NBA Cup tonight. Uh Heat at Magic, Knicks at Raptors, uh for the two Eastern Conference games. And then tomorrow it’s the Western Conference’s turn. Suns at Thunder and then Spurs at Lakers. Uh yes, we did uh make our picks for the four games. Um so let’s just start with tonight’s games, I guess. Matt, uh NBA Cup fan Matt Moore, who do you got? Uh Heat. Love the Heat. I love the Heat tonight. What could possibly go wrong? Um, you know, Miamiy’s on a three-game losing streak, but I really do think if you kind of look at it, it’s two look ahead spots sandwiched uh by a tough loss to Orlando. And so I look at this and as a really good opportunity for the Heat to kind of show where they’re at. Fron Vagner u hugely important in any number of ways to Orlando. Their half court offense is three points worse without him. Their half court defense is two points worse without him. their transition on like every single facet of the game is impacted by Fran Vagner being out. I think that’s going to be a huge factor here. I can’t wait to see DaVon Mitchell versus Jaylen Suggs. This is going to be such a great great matchup of just like tough annoying guards. I cannot tell you how excited I am for it, but I love Miami to go ahead and advance here. I think Miami has a real shot at going deep in this thing. Yeah, Mitchell vers Slugs is kind of a Spiderman meme of defensive-minded point guards. Hayes, who do you got? Uh, I got I got the Miami Heat in this game. Not to say the Magic can’t put up a fight, they can. Um, but I I I think the Miami Heat just they’re too good defensively. The pace offensively that they’re able to keep up with and with the Orlando Magic miss and Fron, I I I just can’t bet against the Miami Heat in this game. That’s really unfortunate because that’s going to make it a consensus, which means the Heat are definitely going to lose this game. Goodbye Heat. Goodbye Heat. Um, this was the furthest the Heat have ever advanced in the NBA Cup, which might have a little bit of something to do with why I’m not a huge fan of this thing. Maybe I just don’t get it. Uh, but you mentioned, uh, Matt that Fran Vagner out for Orlando, Paliban Caro obviously been back for a couple games now. The Heat are going to get a bunch of guys back. DaVon Mitchell being one of them and Norm Pal and Tyler Herro. The last time they had all three of them in the lineup together, they won a game. So, uh, it’s not, you know, exactly rocket science here. I, too, like the Heat in this one, unfortunately. They’re one point favorites on FanDuel right now on the road. Um if they’re able to get up enough threes with Hero and Pal back in the mix. I I just think that they’re going to end up winning the math battle against the Magic. Just limit the turnovers. They had like seven turnovers in the third quarter of their loss against Orlando on Friday night. So just keep the turnovers down with your three main play playmakers back in the rotation. They should be able to do that. I like the Heat on the road. This game, sorry. This game will be very much like many of my nights spent in my senior year of college, fast and ugly. It’s going to be a lot of transition and a lot of uh a lot of missed shots. Like both these teams are really good defensively and not that good offensively, especially in half court. So like it’s going to be it’s re it’s going to be a real battle here with the Magic trying to get out in transition, but the Heat don’t let you get out in transition. Also, Wes, even if you don’t even if you I can’t we can’t get you on board with the cup thing. Here’s one. Heater down 02 in the season series versus the Magic, which could decide tiebreaker, but because of this extra game, if they win this one in the next two, they can still win tiebreaker outright. So, there’s a reason for you to take this one one seriously. Uh, other than that, it’s a basketball game that matters. But, uh, and now we make it matter ostensively even more because it’s NBA Cup. No, I get it. I’m We’ll see. We’ll see what happens tonight. Uh, Knicks at Raptors is the second game for the Eastern Conference. Uh, Carl Anthony Towns listed as questionable with a calf injury. Deuce McBride is out also for the Knicks. For the Raptors, RJ Barrett is out, but Hayes, who do you like in this one? Uh, this is a more difficult one. I’m going to pick No. No. I’ve doubted the Raptors every step of the way. I’m going with the Raptors in this game. I’ve doubted the Raptors a lot. I almost did it again for the same reasons, but they’ve proven me pretty wrong this season in regards to how I view them. Fourth best team in the Eastern Conference, as things stands right now. I I’ll take the Toronto Raptors in this game. This number absolutely shocked me. Here’s the record for the Toronto Raptors when RJ Barrett plays this season. 12 and five. Here’s the record when the Toronto Raptors when RJ Barrett does not play. Three and five, including one and seven versus the spread. If you look at the splits, here’s what happens. Barrett compensates a little bit defensively and offensively for Ingram, especially in the non- Ingram minutes. He does a lot to stabilize those minutes alongside Shed. Without him, they have to go to Jacobe Walter or AJ Lawson. Lawson, I thought played really well the other night versus the Celtics. But overall, those that drop is so significant that it absolutely craters them. You become more dependent on Ingram. And guess what? Ingram is a net negative for this team. in the minutes without him, they’re very good, but you wind up playing Ingram more because you’re missing Ingram’s handling and shot creation at the two. So, like all of this is very, very bad. I think the Knicks are absolutely going to roll tonight in Toronto. I think this is going to be like a 20point blowout for the Knicks. Are you assuming Cat plays? Yes, I am assuming Carl Anthony Towns plays because money in a trip to Vegas is on the line. Um, it’s a great call. I think without Cat, Yaka Purle can plant himself in the paint, make things really difficult for the Knicks. Um, and then to your point, yes, RJ Barrett is out. As long as one of Brennan Ingram, Emanuel Quickley, Scotty Barnes goes off, I think that gives Toronto a chance in this one. I’m also going to go to the Raptors. It just feels sort of like they’re due. If Towns is limited with this calf thing, he’s just not going to be the same. I I I like Yaka Purle as a differencemaker in the paint. And I think just one of these guys goes off for tonight for the Raptors. It’s the NBA Cup, baby. Anything can happen, right? That’s that’s what we keep saying. Hey, look. Hey, I I just look, if you want to know what the motivation is here, the winner tonight, the the winner tonight racks up uh if you make the semifinals, you make at least you make an extra $100,000. Now, you’re like, “What does that matter? These guys make 60 million.” They care. They They just do. It’s Yep. If you got if if it’s you and all you have to do is go to work and have a good day at work and you make $100,000, you can do it, right? Loser gets 50k, but if you win this round, you get 100K. You win the next round, you get 200k and then uh 500,000 for the winner. So, what do we get? Uh we get the joy of talking of meaningful basketball in December, which is very hard to find. You can’t put a price on that, can you? Um uh Western Conference games. We’ll do this quickly since this is a Wednesday night. We could still have some time to talk about it tomorrow. But Suns at Thunder, is anybody overthinking this? Are we all taking the Thunder? Yeah, taking the Thunder. I think it’s I think it’s going to be close. I think it’s going to be real close. I think it’s going to be an ugly game. And I think it’s going to be close. I I am not to a point where without Deon Booker I can pick OKC to lose this game, but I think this is going to be like we’re going to look up and be like, “Hey, like the Sun I I think that the Thunder are going to get off to like an 18-2 run and we’re like, well, this is done, right?” And then in the fourth quarter, it’s like Suns are only down six. Like they’re only up Dylan Brooks hit a three. I think it’s going to be close, but I will go ahead and say, “Okay, so he gets through because I’m not that brave.” So Jordan uh the other day was hinting that Devin Booker could play. He’s been practicing the last couple of practices for Phoenix. So if he’s available and to your point, Matt, maybe the money is enough to convince him to play in this one. Uh maybe that could swing something. I don’t know. Um Spurs at Lakers. Hayes, who do you like? This one’s tough. Man, this is tough. Lakers are playing good basketball. I I’ll say the Spurs on this one. uh to just I I I fought against my belief for the Raptors, but the Spurs, I’ve been in on their roster. I’ve been in on their depth since the start of the season. Wimby is amazing. I I’ll go with the Spurs here. We are very likely to get Webby back for this. He practiced this week. We’re getting the fully operational Death Star here versus the Lakers. Luke, I I cannot wait for this. If we get WMBBI, Luca versus Webby, are you kidding me? Like, this is terrific in the cup. That’s what it’s all about. Um it’s abs I I really am I’m very excited for this game. I like the Lakers here. I actually like the matchup um quite a bit. I think that Aton is a good counter kind of foil for Wemanyama. Um Spurs perimeter defense is good, but I don’t think it’s ready for the onslaught of I actually think Austin Reeves is going to be the deciding factor in this one. Um I actually sneaky think there’s a chance that Austin Reeves steals Cup MVP. Can you bet on that? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Of course. many times. You can do it with FanDuel, the code block that NBA. Um, I’m going Lakers here only because of what LeBron looked like the other day. I I think I probably would have picked the Spurs if LeBron still looked a little shaky, but if he’s going to be like this, if he’s kind of got his wind, I like him. WBY probably coming back, but even if he does, is he a little limited? Is there a minute restriction? Just too many questions on the Spurs end. I just feel a little bit more comfortable with the Lakers. So, I’m going to pick the Lakers here. Um, we talked briefly about the Oklahoma City Thunder. NBA Cup or not? are the Thunder in a league of their own. We’ll talk about that next. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you could place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into that moment. Live spreads and money lines adjust instantly. Player props update as guys heat up. You can bet next touchdown scorers, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, and every possibility. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season to visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast. So can you. Thanks for making Locked on NBA Daily your first listen. The best way to support the show is to subscribe on YouTube. We are Monday to Fridays at 1 PM Eastern wherever you get your podcast. Let’s talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder who are 23-1. Uh they’re double- digit favorites in seemingly every game that they play. And over at Locked on Thunder, Ryland Styles said that the Thunder are in a league of their own. sitting here looking at this Thunder team today. I mean, they’re 21-1. They haven’t played a game healthy or with their typical starting five just yet. Shay is the best player in the league and in the clutch. Jaylen Williams returns, shows that he’s an elite playmaker, elite defender, and got that efficiency back as a score against Utah in his last game out. Chad Homegrren has been vastly improved. And you go down the list here, and we will. Everyone in this roster feels so much better than they were a year ago. And most of these improvements, Brandon, I think, will really shine through come playoff time. You’ll feel to what degree they’ve gotten better when you see SGA, when you see Chad and his offensive ability in the postseason and how different that looks compared to a year ago. And I’m sitting here and I really think that the Thunder just run this league, Brandon. I really think that the Thunder are in a class of their own. Hey, is your thoughts on on what Ryland was saying there? The Oklahoma City Thunder and everybody else in the NBA. I mean, it’s starting to feel like that. I mean, especially in the regular season, I can agree with him feeling that way. I mean, what we saw over the playoffs against the Nuggets, we saw it against the Patriots. Like, it’s not that they can’t be beat, but I do think they are in a league of their own. They’re still very beatable though, especially with the shooting still being spotty at times. But yeah, I don’t think any team’s in the same class as the OKC Thunder right now. I like how Ryland’s like acts like it’s some sort of bold statement like, “Oh man, what you think the team?” Here’s one. How about this? Let’s just take the double digit wins. Double digit. Let’s say they that that we remove every other loss that’s single digits, okay? Or win that’s single digits. They’re one loss and they’re single digits. They would be 16 and eight, third in the Western Conference if you just picked them their record of double digit wins versus singledigit wins and losses. That’s how good they are. Every single indicator. Now, the problem here is like it’s very tempting to like I’m a contrarian by nature be in part because that’s what sports has taught me. Do you know how often I’ve been here where it’s like last year it was like what could I mean this Boston Celtics team, what could stop them? Two years ago it was this Denver Nuggets team look exactly they are rolling nothing stopping the champs like this is what happens. We are five months from the playoffs. There is so much basketball left and then the hard stuff begins. But I cannot like I I dig through the numbers for this is what I do is I try and find like are you as good as everything says that you are and every single number with OKC is yeah there is they’re they are probably not as good as the record but they are still in a class of their own. Like they are three points better by schedule adjusted net rating than the second closest team. Right. That is a huge gap. I want to play that out though what you just said um in comparison to that Celtics team. And it’s an interesting comparison because even with that Celtics team, we’re like, “Yeah, overwhelming favorites, whatever.” They still didn’t feel like this Thunder team, right? We still had doubts about Jason Tatum. We never talked about him as an MVP guy. Well, they felt like that to you. Fair enough. um like I mean no because here here’s the thing is um there were actual people that actually work in in sports analysis who I may or may not disagree with a lot of the time who were literally tweeting like I just don’t see anything that’s going to stop Celtics versus Thunder being in the finals. You could just go ahead and wrap it up and it’s like it’s too early man. It’s just too early. Well, and what put Boston down in that in that series against the Knicks was, you know, missing three-point shots and then they obviously Tatum gets hurt, but we’ve been over that a million times. They probably lose that series even with Tatum healthy. Yeah. With that Thunder part of it, Matt, is there like what’s Let’s play it out. Like, let’s say the Thunder do lose. Okay. Cuz Ryland is talking in that in the rest of that podcast about what the one thing that could undo the Thunder essentially is injuries. And this is kind of an injury-prone team if you think about how much time like Cadet and Isaiah Hartinstein and Jaylen Williams have missed. Kind of freak in freak injuries, but they’ve missed a lot of time. Is that it? Is it just because they basically said if healthy nobody’s beating them? Is there if the Thunder lo is that the only reason why they lose? Do you feel like Go ahead Dave. No, I I mean I think what we saw like that’s why I keep going back to the Pacers. Are the Pacers are more talented? Were they were they a more talented team than the Thunder? No. But you saw throughout well coaching, well execution, and a team that really took care of for trying to force them to to have to take jump shots that they were were beatable. So we’ve seen how to beat the Thunder. And that’s why I separated like playoff basketball in regular season. They’re they’re in a class of their own and they’re going to be. But I think if you give a team seven games with a really good X’s and O’s coach and a team that buys in, you can beat the Thunder. The Thunder can be beaten. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it can be done. Does this offense feel unstoppable to you? No, it does not feel unstoppable. There’s there’s times where Shay feels unstoppable with the offense overall and Shay struggled a lot in that play in that playoff run last year. Now, I think the secret here may be like Shay got through that and now he’s a better better player and he’s not like he’s the experience like totally reasonable, right? Like if you’re listening to this and it’s like why are you working so hard? because like that’s because the quite simply this could be a 3se secondond or a 20 second segment of just like yeah the Thunder going to beat everybody but I will say like they are not they don’t feel like the Warriors in 2016. They don’t who didn’t win the title. They don’t feel like the Warriors in 2015 or 2017. That’s not what they feel like to me. They feel like a team where look it’s hard. Don’t turn the ball over. Make your threes. They give up the third most three-point attempts in the league. like you can do it. No one is right. You have to do it at some point. But I look at teams like I look at the West and I look at the the a lot of this honestly though. Here’s here’s the other part of this. If Denver and Houston wind up 23, whoever comes out of that second round series is going to have nothing left for OKC. So like that’s one of the problems is like who’s going to catch you is you can’t turn the ball over. You have to play great defense and you have to be able to get the game where you want it to be and not like again you don’t turn the ball over and they become mortal. But that’s the real key here. Hayes, I want to throw something at you here because FanDuel has the Thunder as the overwhelming favorites to win the NBA Cup at minus 135. The next closest team is the Knicks at plus 500. So even FanDuel is just like regular season NBA cup, it don’t matter. This Thunder team might just accidentally win the NBA Cup. But we’ve never seen a team win the NBA Cup and win the championship in the same season. The NBA Cup’s only two years old, so that that’s probably the main reason for it. But the Thunder are the favorites to win the cup and they’re the overwhelming favorites to win the championship again this season. We’ve never seen anybody sort of run the table here. Do we need to have a name for this if the Thunder do it like this? And would it matter? Like is winning the NBA Cup and the championship does that almost give more weight to this season for the Thunder potentially? I I don’t personally think so. Like while I do enjoy NBA Cup games, I I still look at winning the NBA Cup like it’s cool. It’s an accomplishment. I don’t know if it changes like if you win the cup and and the finals in the same year if it if it changes anything for me personally yet, but it could be like like you said, we’re still in in the infasy of the NBA Cup. So, it could be you start stacking things like that, you know, retroactively, it it can mean more. We do need to come up with a name for though. Matt’s pretty good at that type of stuff. I’m sure Matt got some. I mean, I love stealing from other sports. It’s the triple crown. If you get the cup, the best record in the league, and you win the title, I like that. That’s a flaw. Like, that is a flawless season. You won you won a a a single game elimination tournament. You got the best record in the in the league and you won the NBA title. There is expectations cannot be higher for you and you fulfilled every single one of them. And there is also a very good chance here that Sha Gilgus Alexander goes for the MVP triple crown cup MVP regular season and finals. Wow. Okay. So you can have a team triple crown and the player triple crown. I love the triple crown as an idea because the Thunder are definitely running towards that at full speed right now. I also had some ideas like could we call it like the NBA grand slam? Um, if you don’t win the regular season record thing, is it like the double banner season because you get to hang two banners from one year? A wire-to-wire championship? I just think there’s a lot of things that I I don’t know. I think it would actually be pretty interesting to see a team kind of just be this wire-to-wire champion from the NBA Cup through the regular season to the NBA finals. Two trophies, one cup. No. No, we’re not. No. Is that I will say this. If you win MVP, finals MVP, and NBA Cup MVP, I feel like that player should get a crown. Like they should they literally a literal crown. Yeah, LeBron would be so mad. He would not be pissed. He would be so He would be so upset. Uh, speaking of crowns, Derek Queen went off for a 30point triple double last night. Is it enough to excuse the trade that the Pelicans made to move up to get him in the first place? We’re going to talk about that next. Today’s episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile. You know, there’s no reason to let big wireless strain your wallet, especially during the holidays. Right now, Mint Mobile is running their best deal of the year. All of their unlimited plans are 50% off. That means you can lock in three, six, or even 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for just $15 a month. It’s the easiest way to take your overpriced phone bill and give it the full Scrooge treatment. And what makes this even better is now how simple Mint makes the switch. No contracts, no nonsense, just real savings and real quality service. Switching to Mint lets you keep your same coverage for a lower price. Setup takes only a few minutes. You can bring your own phone number without any issues. And the service is fast and super reliable, even on the go. It feels good knowing that you’re not overpaying just to stay connected. Turn your expensive wireless uh present into a huge wireless savings future by switching to Mint. Shop Mint unlimited plans at mintmobile.com/lockedonba. That’s mintmobile.comlockedonba. Limitedtime offer upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, and or $180 for 12 months. Plan required $15 a month equivalent. Taxes and fees. Initial plan term only. 35 uh 35 gigs may slow when network is busy. Capable device required. Availability speed and coverage varies. cement.com. Welcome back to Locked On NBA Daily. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. The Locked On Podcast Network is a show for every team. Check out Locked On Thunder and Locked On Pelicans for more on today’s top stories and the teams uh shows that are playing tonight for postgame reactions to the NBA Cup Knockout stage. Uh but let’s talk about last night’s action. We got to talk about Derek Queen. 33 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, and four blocks against the Spurs last night. There was a bunch of these stat muse type graphics and lists out there last night after Dererick Queen did that and and sort explaining the company that Derrick Queen joined with that performance. And he’s on list with guys like Victor Webinama, James Harden, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and it’s got Pelicans fans excited. Here’s more from locked on Pelicans. Trading away the unprotected first round pick from this year is bad business. But sometimes you luck out and bad business turns into a great end product. And that might just be what happened with the Derek Queen trade. You want draft picks to turn into players that you can build around. That’s what you want a top four draft pick to to become. The Pelicans already have that. Derek Queen continues to prove that while not perfect, he is a great building block for the future of this team. Tonight’s 33 10 and 10, four blocks, triple double. It was a a special night. Matt, I know we’ve talked about this um earlier in the season, but with the way Derrick Queen has played now in that starting lineup for the New Orleans Pelicans, is his performance lately enough to excuse the trade that the Pelicans made in the first place to go up and get him, man. Man, okay. No. No. Because if you look at this just from a logical perspective, okay, there the idea is well, we knew we like we did the work and we scouted him and we talked to him and we did the interviews and we did the work that we’re supposed to do and we knew this was our guy. And that’s a really good process. The problem is the is you didn’t limit your downside at all. If Derek suffered or suffers an injury, god forbid, if like we don’t have a good indication right now of like Queen’s career, there will like this is the great part of it where it’s like, oh my god, he’s awesome. There will come the part where it’s like, well, yeah, but when people get tired of the hype because nobody can stand anyone being hyped anymore. Like there will be downsides that are revealed about him. So there there’s there’s that side of it. You didn’t leave yourself any downside. It’s so risky where it’s like, hey, no one minds you going to get Derek Queen. They mind you giving up an unprotected first that might wind up being a number one pick because the only thing better than Derek Queen is Derek Queen and Camboozer. So, it’s like you can’t you you the I get the idea and I like the idea of doing that, but I can’t get around the process side of it. Um, it is just really fascinating to me though to see like if he wins, what if the other side happens, right? That’s a downside. What if the other side happens? What if Queen wins not only rookie of the year, but he becomes and it’s too early. I’m What if he becomes an MVP candidate? What’s the level to which you’re like, “Okay, fine.” Like process was bad, but the result was good enough. It was a good trade. What’s the What does he have to do in order to make it worth it? Hayes, see, this is the thing, right? And and this is such a unique situation because in most trades, you look at what Derrick Queen’s already done and you say they won that trade, right? Like, or at least they didn’t lose it. But because the Pelicans are still so bad, this pick could still literally turn into the number one overall pick. And if that’s the case, and then Camboozer or whoever ends up living up to the hype and being better than Derrick Queen, you still got yourself a good player, which is the point of every trade is get yourself a good player. I think either way, they got themselves a good player. Derrick Queen turned out to be great, but you can still lose this trade. It’s such a unique situation to be in. So, even if Derek Derrick Queen wins the rookie of the year or whatever else it is, you could still lose this trade if the pick ends up turning into a truly transformative player for the Atlanta Hawks. And that’s the problem in this. You could argue that the Pelicans lose the trade if the player that the Hawks choose with their selection ends up being better than Derrick Queen or Jeremiah Fierce. like both of these guys end up have to be better than the pick that the Hawks eventually make because you could have just had Derek Queen at seven instead of taking Jeremiah Fierce. Um but look, Queen’s awesome. We want to feel good for New Orleans on the heels of this triple double with four blocks. And the way that he’s been playing and the way that James Burggo is using him, I mean, Matt, you you see you watch Nicola Joic up close in person. Nobody’s calling their queen Joic, but there’s clearly some influence in how the Pelicans are trying to operate with their queen. You see a lot of similar stuff from Alpurn Shenun in Houston. If he’s playing like this and if he’s really the new face of the franchise for the Pelicans, how should they move forward? And then I guess the elephant in the room is like what happens then to Zion. So I like Fears a lot, but I think they need to go get a point guard and like there’s some good options here, but I think you need somebody who can teach who can help uh Queen on the short roll. Like that’s what you really need is like you need a guard that can just come off force help and then hit him on the short roll so he can operate out of that and space around him. He won’t do it because I know I understand like because of his family but just like I would really love Chris Paul to finish his career in New Orleans. I know it’s like you want Chris Paul finishing on this terrible Pelicans team. It just for me from a from like a heartstring standpoint Chris was so good in New Orleans. That was the best of his career and I would like to see that. Um, if the if the Blazers came off of Drew Holiday, I would love to see Drew back there finishing that out. Again, you don’t want to see Drew on that kind of a team. But like somebody like that who’s a veteran who could be like, “All right, okay guys, let’s try and actually be professionals here.” But look, they are going to get Deonte Murray back at some point and Deonte might be that guy that can actually help with that regard. I’d like a little bit better of a passer. But that to me is like you now reorient everything where it’s like everything that we’re doing is around Derrick Queen, which makes Zion Williamson expendable. It makes Dejonte Murray expendable. It makes And honestly, the what’s cool about this Hayes, they can now start being like, “All right, maybe we do want to move Trey Murphy. Maybe we do want to move Herb Jones because if we’re building around Queen, we want guys specifically to go with him and we can start looking at the best options younger to do that. Maybe get a pick back.” Yeah, I mean, they they could do that. I I I think I do think Trey Murphy, if you get the right point guard, probably will fit regardless. but he’s probably also the player that you can get the most back for considering he’s 25 years old, averaging 20 players. He’s a solid defender as well. So, I think you got to weigh what you’re what you’re getting back for that. I do think the Pelicans should be looking to get a pick in this 2026 draft if they can by moving, you know, one of those players. But, you know, Herb is one of those uh Jones, he can fit on just about any team because of his game, defensive focus. He can fit on any team. But, he is 27 years old. not old, but if they want to redo their timeline, restart their timeline, it would make some sense to move him as well. If you like what you heard today, subscribe to Locked on NBA Daily, wherever you get your podcast, including on YouTube. Thank you to Matt and Hayes for their expertise every day. Thank you for making the Locked on Podcast Network your first listen. We’ll see you right back here tomorrow on Locked On Daily. [Music]

Oklahoma City Thunder surge to the top—are they truly in a league of their own? Wes Goldberg, Matt Moore, and Haize weigh in on the Thunder’s historic 23-1 start, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP case, and why analysts believe OKC could achieve the NBA’s “Triple Crown.” The roundtable debates what could stop this powerhouse, dissecting playoff scenarios, coaching X-factors, and statistical dominance. Can anyone slow their march through the NBA Cup and regular season?

Plus, as the NBA Cup knockout stage heats up, the hosts break down pivotal matchups like Heat vs. Magic and Suns vs. Thunder, with strategic insights on Franz Wagner’s absence and Victor Wembanyama’s return. The episode spotlights the New Orleans Pelicans’ bold move for Derik Queen—after a dazzling 33-10-10-4 performance, is he the new face of the franchise? Catch expert analysis on roster construction, potential trade targets, and the evolving landscape of NBA contenders.

0:00 Intro
1:30 NBA Cup Knockout Predictions
11:50 – Thunder: League of Their Own?
23:08 – Pelicans & Derik Queen Trade

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