Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor reacts to San Antonio’s loss at New York on Sunday and whether the team not making a deal at the trade deadline will end up hurting its title chances this season. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Watching the Spurs against the Knicks on Sunday, very fun game.
not, not like the most competitive, you know, Knicks pretty much handled them, and that’s part of the reason why I have this thought on my mind is, will the Spurs regret not making a trade?
Because the way the Spurs defended Josh Hart, they do what a lot of teams do.
They had Victor Wembanyama on him, they sagged off and let him roam.
And but instead of ignoring Hart, what the Knicks did was they got him involved, and that led to opportunities for Carl Anthony Towns to crash the boards over and over again and just overpower those smaller Spurs wings players.
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And I thought, I thought the Knicks nailed the game plan by putting Cat down low.
They nailed it by giving opportunities to Hart, and the team just swarmed overall.
They were constantly on the boards, constantly crashing, looking for second chances.
They had 18 offensive boards in the game, five of them by Cat, who was, tough in that game, really good.
And the thoughts were crossing my mind while watching, as it has a few times this year, but especially against the Knicks.
The Spurs are small.
at the four, the three-four spot, that Vassell and Barnes, they got bodied on the boards.
Are they gonna regret not trading for a forward, cashing in some of their picks or youth?
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Could’ve gotten, you know, Michael Porter Jr. Would’ve been pricey.
Could’ve gotten Trey Murphy.
Would’ve been pricey, but you could’ve made that offer if you wanted to.
What about even, like, an, Onyeka Okongwu from Atlanta?
Okongwu in lineups with Victor Wembanyama would’ve been pretty awesome, I think.
I would’ve loved to see that two-big combination.
And, and I think San Antonio, they’re probably doing what OKC did last year, where or in the year before as well, where OKC just didn’t make a trade.
That OKC loses in the playoffs a year prior to winning the finals.
They made their changes during the off-season.
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I think we’re in that spot this year for San Antonio, where they’re like, “We’re gonna stick with what we have and then reevaluate this summer,” rather than make a mid-season trade and risk hurting chemistry.