Bouns Pod - Halliburton's Heartbreak and Thunder's Triumph: Game 7 Analysis

so sunday night after game seven we are coming on to recap the nals and also there was a trade in the NBA. So Frontrunner Podcast Collective is on the air. I am your humble host, vince, and we're going to get right into it. We're not going to talk about all kinds of stuff, we're going to get right into this. First and foremost, I want to talk about the third quarter and how this basically salted the game away for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Let's congratulate them. Okc wins their first title as an NBA franchise. I understand people will talk about Seattle, but Seattle, let's not touch that. We're not going to touch that. Ok, seattle is his own brand, own city and, yes, oklahoma City has their title now. Congratulations to SGA and the crew. But we need to get into this third quarter Because this is where it changed. We'll talk about the Halliburton injury Momentarily, but I need to talk about what transpired in the third quarter and then we can get into all the particulars of the halliburton injury and how this affects them going into next year. So lock in because it's time to go all right.

So the pacers committed eight turnovers in the third quarter. Now we're going to talk about how many they had in this game and we have brought up turnovers in every single podcast when it has to relate to the nba finals. And it has been a such a turning point in every single game, it has been a narrative in every single game. And this game was no different than any other other sick games that we saw. So we saw six games, turnovers played apart, game seven guess what turnovers played apart and the amount and the avalanche that happened. So eight turnovers in the third quarter okc outscored indiana 18 to 0 off turnovers in the third. Several came off from traps and pressures. Tj mcconnell had a 5 second violation, which is crazy. There was interceptions on inbounds and sideline traps. It was a mess and it just went from there. Remember, when we got to halftime, okc was trailing by one, trailing by one, trailing by one point, and then this happened, this literally happened. So where do we go from here? We got a lot of places to go. Um one.

Let's get back to what probably everybody wants to talk about um, with uh 455 left in the first quarter. Tyrese Halliburton who gang who began the game, three of four hidden threes suffered a non-contact right lower leg injury. He collapsed onto the. He collapsed onto the floor. He took like one step off his driving and his calf just gave out. And as soon as it gave, as soon as we saw the kind of the rubber band recoil, we knew right then and there we had seen it, unfortunately earlier this year with Jason Tatum. This really reminded me of Kevin Durant in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. Then we got the news from Tyrese's dad. He gave it to Lisa Salter and he confirmed that it was an Achilles tendon injury. So next season for Tyrese absolutely obliterated, we don't have to worry about that next year, which sucks for him.

It was so reminiscent to the Kevinvin durant injury and the reason why I bring it up is because kevin durant was also playing well in that game. It looked like halleburton had free motion. Um yeah, he wasn't moving as quickly as he was like earlier in the playoffs or even in the late part of the regular season or anything like that, but he was moving smoothly enough to think, hey, man, indiana has a real chance to pull off this Game 7 win. And to see him just go down in a heat like that, it was absolutely crushing. You could see the energy in the building, just absolutely just like a balloon deflating energy in the building, just absolutely just like a, a balloon deflating it, just. Everybody was just astonished and just bewildered about what they just saw. He was not able to put any weight on it whatsoever. He was taken to the back and then you thought, well, this is it, this is it. But the Pacers responded after Halliburton's exit, indiana remained competitive at halftime and they were by one. Tj McConnell was dealing. He had a fiery performance in the third quarter, which we will talk about, because he was the only person that showed up in the third quarter, which was crazy. Now here's the thing that we need to get to with this third quarter situation. So Andrew and Nimhar hits a deep three to end the second quarter. So they're up 48-47.

We talked about the turnovers. We talked about what was going on. Let's talk about. Tj McConnell scored 12 straight points in the third quarter for the Indiana Pacers. Well, you would say well, if TJ McConnell's got 12 points, the Pacers must be cooking. That is where you're wrong, because all of the Thunder defenders stayed home on their assignments and they allowed tj mcconnell to go ahead and have a field day scoring now, anytime that he tried to pass the ball out to one of his teammates. As far as that's concerned, what would end up happening is that that ball would get turned over, hence all of the turnovers that happened in the third quarter. As we are looking this, efforting to get this information up for you, keep in mind we went live as soon as this ended. So they had 21 turnovers in this game. Now this from before in game six they had. They had 11 in the entire game. A lot of these turnovers happened in the third quarter and that is when the avalanche began, even though the heroics of TJ McConnell kept going.

As far as that's concerned, there were no match for all of the ammo that the Oklahoma City Thunder were bringing, the ammo that the oklahoma city thunder were bringing. Jay williams, who, who was absolutely anemic in the first half, showed up in the second half. Our guy, shea gilgis alexander, didn't have the most efficient game with his shooting. He was only 8 of 27. This tells you what a crucible the playoffs are. You almost have no legs left at the end of this, at the end of this uh journey, when you're trying to get 16 wins. Man, your legs are heavy. It is absolutely armageddon for your whole body when it comes to that.

Now the other big thing that transpired in this game Is that Chet Holmgren Was an absolute demon On the defensive end. He blocked five shots in total. You know what I'm saying. He also had eight rebounds. He scored a Saucy 18 points. Jalen Williams had another decent game. He scored 20. He scored a lot of them late and they needed him, because if you saw the fourth quarter, you saw Indiana try to edge back into this game. They were not able to do it. We'll talk about Benedict Matherin in a second and his heroics and what he was able to do it. We'll talk about Benedict Matherin in a second and his heroics and what he was able to do, and maybe kind of a little look Into what the future lies With this particular team. But with all that being said, let's get more into this. We do have a new champion. It is the OKC Thunder. We also have a superstar who will be out the entire year next year Tyrese Halliburton.

In the second half, sga, jay Williams and Chet Holmgren. They took over, like I said, to secure their first championship. They just continued to squeeze them defensively and you can see they were just like, okay, we're just going to advance and we're going to keep the pressure on. Lou Dort was an offensive rebounding machine and also a defensive stalwart in this game. He played phenomenal defense on whoever had the ball and then also whoever was going into the lane. The amount of actual verticality that Lou Dort got in this particular game where he could have, you know yes, it's physical, all these things do happen in a silo, but his presence of mind to go straight up and down so many times in a row was absolutely impressive to me. Textbook defense, just absolutely textbook. I hope that aaron e smith can uh take some uh film study on his way out when he has his exit interviews later on this week, because my man fouled out again Again Tonight and you know they needed him because it was all hands on deck.

Now, speaking of all hands on deck, benedict Matherin had 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter. He was doing everything he could to bring them back, but OKC shot 12 of 16 from the line to maintain control. And here is also where some of the uh advantages happen. When you can get 20 points, five steals from your bench guards, that's right. Case and wallace and alex caruso combined for 20 points a piece. They scored 10 points a piece case and wallace had two steals, a Alex Caruso had three steals and filthy, filthy defense and they just took control of the game. From there they had a lead of 22 points. The Thunder also had 22 second chance points. That goes to the rebounding prowess of Chet Holmgren and also Lou Dort Boy.

That boy earned his money tonight. I don't know what his uh playoff shares are going to be. I'm gonna tell you right now. Somebody need to take that dude out to the club and make sure that he is taken care of and taken care of well. He had himself a hell of a game, a lot of stuff that will not end up in the stat sheets whatsoever. But when we start looking at the breakdowns analytically advanced analytics and we start talking about his defensive pressures and we talk about the close vicinity of how he was to the person who was shooting the ball, I bet you those numbers will look even more electrifying than what he did in this game.

This guy yeoman's work in the game seven, where you had to have it win or go home, and here he was doing ludor things. And the funny part about the, the oklahoma city Thunder, is this Other than SGA, they have a lot of lunch pail type guys. Lou Dort no ego, just do what he does. Alex Caruso another one that just does what he does. Isaiah Hartenstein whether he's playing, starting, coming off the bench, playing 20 minutes, playing 28 minutes, playing 15 minutes, it doesn't matter to him. You know what matters getting that dub, getting that rank. You got a lot of ego list type players on this team.

Now that's going to be hard to duplicate because usually the NBA is a copycat league. The one thing about NBA players that we know they are not usually the most giving people on the face of the planet when it comes to like touches, opportunities, how much time am I getting on the court? Because that all correlates to your salary right. That all correlates to how much dollars, how much earning potential you have to get the group of guys that sam presty put together and then what mark dagnold molded into this team that you see now who are now the 2025 NBA champions. Man, it is going to be hard to replicate that. Hard to replicate that Because you got to have the mindset. Also, it doesn't hurt to be in Oklahoma City. You know. Less distractions, all that sort of thing. You know what I'm saying. So, at the end of the day, hats off to Oklahoma City Winning their first NBA title.

Let's get to a couple other things that we need to talk about, this actual series. I will say this and this is not sour grapes I do believe that if Tyrese Halliburton doesn't get hurt, I think the age of the Oklahoma City Thunder show up and they end up losing this game. Now, take nothing away from this team whatsoever. It's hard to win an NBA final. Only one team gets to do it and, as my wife would say, because she is a huge highlander fan, there can only be one. There can only be one winner. There's only one team hoisting the larry o'brien trophy. So we just, regardless to how, whether they were going to hold on to this game or not, if halliburton doesn't get hurt, or whatever the case may be, here's the thing Ifs, circumstances, whatever, it doesn't matter. It doesn't take anything away from this title that they got. It doesn't take anything away from the absolute incredible season they had. And then the tour de force that is Shea Gilchrist, alexander, my guy, wins a, his first NBA MVP, and I am sure he is also now the finals MVP.

We went live as soon as the struck the. The clock struck zero. This is a cherry on top for our guy, shea Gilgis Alexander, because we were wondering how this was going to play out. We were wondering how, if, for some reason, indiana won, how the NBA MVP will be looked upon after this series. We don't have to worry about that. Our guy won, spoils go to the victor.

And now we can talk about Halliburton. Are they just going to have a sabbatical next year? So let me get this straight, because we're about to talk about kevin durant in a second, his trade and everything that went along with that. But we have jason tatum, who's out basically for the year. We have damian lillard, who should be out at least until late april maybe the start of the playoffs or whatever the case may be, and now we have Tyrese Halliburton within Achilles injury as well. So three dudes with Achilles injury and they're going to miss prolonged periods of time in the 2025-2026 season.

Cleveland, new York I can't believe I'm saying this. Philadelphia If they get their act together, who knows? We have no clue, zero clue. Detroit, detroit we got some teams that can make a couple moves here and really put themselves in position To basically, in a sense, at least for one year, take control of the east and become, one year, take control of the East and become the representative coming out of the East to go to the NBA Finals.

But I am just, it's just absolutely heartbreaking to see what has happened to the Eastern Conference man no Dame time next year, basically no JT in Boston at all, and now Tyrese Halliburton who will definitely be out the entire year. It is painful, no doubt. Uh, as far as what the Indiana Pacers are going to do, that is a good question, because here's the here's the deal. He's a central figure to this team. He's been dazzling since game one with clutch shooting, putting near triple double numbers up. His absence will be felt deeply. You saw the raw emotion that his teammates had on the sideline and also when they were surrounding him when he had the injury. You could just see the graveness on their face. It was just, it was hard to watch. And now we got a whole season without three top stars in the nba.

Now how do teams pull themselves together Off of this? Is this a gap year for Indiana? Is there a chance that they kind of Use this next year as a year of Retooling, seeing what they have in Jairus Walker and some of their younger guys and then they are back to Full in 2026, 2027, because here's the other thing that people aren't talking about. Pascal siakam is 32 years of age, so he? Has he just signed a contract? So you haven't won the contract for a while? Has he just signed a contract? So you haven't won the contract for a while. What he? But who? Indiana? To go ahead and try to move pascal siakam, who had an incredible uh nba final series and it seems very crass to be talking about future and what have you?

When tyrese Halliburton, a couple hours ago, was laying on a court screaming in pain, we got to bring up what the front offices are doing, because I'm going to tell you, right now, the buzzards are circling Indiana, because if you don't think there are GMs or presidents of player personnel that aren't calling indiana right now talking about hey, so you got a gap year, is there any way we can pull our, you know, some of these uh talented players you have because of the fact that you want to kind of, you know, let go of the rope next year, get yourself a really advantageous draft pick, because next year's draft is stacked. From what I have been told now, we were told that about this year's draft and it turns out that nolan traore wasn't who we thought he was. Ace bailey is out here just turning down draft interviews left and right. He he just told the sixers he ghosted them, said nah, I ain't coming. They set everything up. By the way, from my contacts they said everything was set up where our guy, ace bailey, was going to have his meal, where he was going to work out, at when the interview was going to be held. And my man at the last moment said we are not coming, we are not doing that.

I wonder if this is a year where Indiana and they got some real smart people in that building Kevin Pritchard has done an excellent job, because the one thing that we know about Indiana, they do not tank. But I wonder if, because of these special circumstances, because of the awful injury to Tyrese Halliburton, do they go ahead and maybe shift their philosophy just a tad, just for this one season. Because again, like I said, pascal Siakam played his ass off in these NBA finals. But I wonder if there's a way where you can turn him into multiple pieces or drive compensation. Then you are really kind of loaning yourself up for whatever the next iteration of what you're going to be, because the thing that indiana doesn't want is they don't want to end up being the sacramento kings.

Now people will say, vince, you're being real hard on sacramento. Listen, I live in the state. I understand that it's the state capital, but here's the thing that franchise is being mismanaged, and they may. By the way, that's where tyrese halliburton came from in sacramento. So I'm sure that ind Indiana has looked at the sins of Sacramento and said we don't want to end up being like that. How do we avoid looking like that, looking like Chicago West with Zach Levine and a 36-year-old DeMar DeRozan? Now, if you're sitting there thinking to yourself well, vince, this is really, really dark and we are bummed out as Pacers fans, can you give us anything to hold on to? Absolutely, andrew Nembhard is a real dude and what he was able to show you and what he was able to do in these NBA finals and throughout the postseason were absolutely impressive.

You also might have found something with, uh, benedict Matherin. Now, I don't know if he'll ever be a starter, but that dude as a super six man coming off the bench, being able to get you 18 points at any given time or explode for even bigger numbers is very exciting and very enticing all at the same time. Because the one thing that he's he's a little bit different. He kind of reminds me of jonathan kaminga. But let me hold on. Let me preface what I'm saying.

Golden state likes to play the beautiful style basketball. There's a lot of movement, a lot of passing, a lot of cuts, things. Every everything is perpetual motion. But it's always good to have that one guy who says you know what, just give me the ball, I'm my iso, I'm gonna use my move set and I'm gonna get to the basket and I'm gonna score points.

Now jonathan kaminga doesn't do all the stuff that Benedict Matherin does, because what we saw with Benedict Matherin tonight is that he rebounds. He might get lost on defense every once in a while, but as far as his point of attack, defense very good, his rebounding very solid and he's a tough SOB, tough SOB, tough SOB. So, and he has what I love Is he has a rational confidence. He's like I am not scared of anyone on this court. I don't care if the NBA MVP is on this court, I am the best player In the world. And Benedict Matherin believes that. It's not true, but he believes it and that's all you need.

So I wonder if this is a way for the Indiana Pacers to allow development to happen with, with Andrew Nembhard, with Benedict Matherin, and also remember, a couple years ago they drafted Jarius Walker Out of Houston With the 5th overall selection. Now he hasn't been able to get off the bench In Indiana. Well, you see why, right, you got Aaron Neesmith, you got all these dudes. But I wonder if, because of the injury to Tyrese Halliburton and because Pascal Siakam, who was absolutely essential for you in these NBA postseason and in these NBA finals, I wonder if the move is to kind of reset and get ourselves ready for the 2026, 2027 season. Get some of these young guys, some, uh, some games of absolute development where they can try things, do things and see if all their hard work during the off season, during the summer, pays off, and then move into a different stratosphere, come, not next season, but the season after, when Tyrese is whole and healthy and this actually might be a blessing in disguise and I hate to say this Because I am not this big like hey, you know this is a terrible situation, no doubt, but if it was going to happen this way, he's going to have the entire next season and then then the off season To get healthy. So he's going to have a total Of let's see so, june Okay. So he's going to have a total of 16 months Of recovery time.

If this plays out the way I think it's going to play out, there's no way for him. I mean, don't rush yourself back. Just to you know, be in a situation where you can contribute 12 to 15 minutes, you know, to a playing team next year or whatever case may be. Don't do that. Go ahead and get yourself completely healthy. Go into next offseason healthy, and then you can work out and you can work on your game. And what have you so, the Completely healthy, going to next offseason healthy and then you can work out and you can work on your game. And what have you? So for Tyrese Halliburton, what we're looking for is just complete rehab through the 25-26 season and then in that offseason he can have a regular offseason where he can work out and work on his game. So that would be the silver lining through this whole situation.

Indiana pacers fans, it absolutely sucks that you lost your guy. It absolutely sucks that that man sacrificed himself. Tyrese halliburton knew after game five that he was on borrowed time. He was like I know the risks, I know what I'm putting myself through, but there's no way in hell that I'm not gonna be there for my guys. So he's a true warrior. He is a. He's an absolute animal and, as far as a leader is concerned, you couldn't ask more from your leader Than what he was able to give you. He left it all out on the court Legitimately, and now here's the consequences. It has happened. Ladies and gentlemen, the day of reckoning has come.

There was a Kevin Durant trade, and what did the Suns get for a 6'11 unicorn? What did they get for a mid-range assassin, somebody who has a career average of over 26 points a game? Somebody who has a career average of over 26 points a game? What did they get for a guy who can basically be a self-created offense onto himself? Not very much, because here's the trade Kevin Durant goes to the Houston Rockets. The Suns receive Jalen Green. Now here's the thing with Jalen. I think this year is this the second year or the first year of the contract? Okay, he signed a contract year ago where it was a two-year with a third year option. So he's in the middle of that contract at this point in time. So Jalen Green goes over to the Suns, dylan Brooks, who is a defensive 3 and D wing, also a complete irritant and a menace to society see his battles with LeBron James to figure out what the hell I'm talking about there.

And then you say to me well, vince, what else did they get? Did they get reed shefford? Did they get tarry eason jr? Did they get jabari smith? Did they end up with cam whitmore, who would have been a solid sneaky? You know acquisition? No, they got jaylen green and dylan brooks. And then they also got the 2025 10th overall selection, which is theirs to begin with theirs to begin with and five second round picks.

So we will talk about what they got in a second, but let's talk about what the Houston Rockets have done. So what we saw with the Houston Rockets In the playoffs Is we saw a team who struggled on offense and wasn't able to have any kind of like Offensive Creation Independent on it's own. Now, jalen Green Did all he could, but he has a lot of Inefficiencies in his game and you know he's still 23, so you gotta give him a break there. But getting kevin durant to add to what you already have and also what you did not give up. So if're going to talk about what they have right now, you got Kevin Durant, you got Alcorin Shingun, you also got Fred VanVleet, who is a champion. You got Amon Thompson, who is absolutely going to be a great player in this league. You still got Jabari Smith Jr, you still got Tari Eason and you still got my boy, cam Whitmore. Cam Whitmore, who I think is going to be Latrell Sprewell reincarnated, is still on the Houston Rockets roster.

I don't know how Houston was able to do this. I was talking to a friend of mine who is a huge Houston fan and I told him congratulations on what's going down in Houston. And I also talked to a couple other people in Houston and we were just going crazy about the job that raphael stone has done, first of all, the picks that he's made throughout this journey of remember what was it? It was three phases, right. Phase one was like, okay, we got to get real bad and we got trade james harden. They did that. Then we sat there and we were wondering, in that trade they could have got jared allen. But they, then they, they repurposed jared, jared allen, to the cleveland cavaliers and we were like what the hell is going on in houston. Then we started to see the draft picks again.

I just mentioned a couple of these guys shengoon, absolute hit. Jabari smith jr. To me there's so much more there. I don't know if we'll ever get to see it, especially now that you got kevin durant, but you got tari eason as well. You got cam whitmore. You also have um Reece Shepard on this team.

So, and all Amon Thompson I forgot Amon Thompson. How could I ever forget my guy? And Amon Thompson is a defensive demon and also he is the type of guy that I believe um can be a offensive uh initiator for you at the highest level, because the one thing that he can do is he can just levitate in the air, drink a cup of coffee, read the wall street journal and then make a decision on whether to pass or shoot, all before hitting the ground. Because my man is bouncy okay, he is super bouncy on the realest levels of all levels. This is a one percenter as far as athleticism, and these are all raphael stone picks. These are all raphael stone picks, right here. And all of these guys are still on team.

And then you just add kevin durant who, like I said, as far as iso, as far as mid-range assassin, as far as getting buckets, kevin durant is still one of the best ones in the league now and he's one of the best to ever do it. Kudos to the houston rockets, kudos to rafael stone and just how he's being able to curate this team. Be patient, keep his powder dry, wait for the big acquisition to kind of you know, kind of cozy up to the bar and then, bam, make your move. He's done that and I'm excited for what Houston has. And it just makes the West even, just harder. The West is absolutely stocked.

I wonder if Kevin Durant Bemones this situation. And again, indiana Pacers fans, my heart goes out to you, it really does. But I wonder ifvin duran is looking at this injury going like damn, I could have went east, man. I could have went east and just had like just ease, ease, probably to the finals, if I would have picked the right team. But that's neither here nor there because he's a houston rocket. So now what else happens? They maintain here's the best part they maintain their flexibility because, like I said, they kept amon thompson, they kept cam whitmore and they kept all of phoenix. Future first round picks post 2025. So they got the 2027 pick, 2029 pick, 20, 20, 20, 30 pick, 20, 20, 31 pick. They got them all. Now here's what he shot.

Now, defensively, udoka is going to have to build an infrastructure around kevin durant, which he has a lot of bodies and a lot of guys who are eager to go ahead and defend and especially when they know that Kevin Durant is going to be able to get buckets, let's go ahead and defend. We can defend our ass off and then we can just watch. Kevin just put up 30. So you're going to see a lot of Tari Eason. You're going to see a lot of Cam Whitmore. You're probably going to see a lot of Amon Thompson as far as that's concerned. So he has enough horses that are still in the stable that will be able to hide some of the let's say, at this point in time in kevin's career, maybe some of the warts when it comes to the defensive end of the court.

Because what I did see last year is we did see some tail off with kevin durant. Now he is six. He says he's six, ten that do seven foot one, but whatever, he also has a tremendous long wingspan so he can be a weak side rim protector. But what we did see last year is we saw some tail off and he wasn't as quick to those situations and you would think after all these years in the league, being 36, damn near 37 years of age, you probably was going to lose a step somewhere. That's where all the young legs come in. We got enough of them in houston. Where all the young legs come in. We got enough of them in Houston. My guy Ryan Hollins will tell you all about it. And shit, why am I even suit up? For he might get a 10-day. I'm saying, you know, need some rim protection. You know our guy Ryan Hollins, he could do it for us.

But show, shout out to former ucla brewing legend ryan hollins, who is the color analyst for the houston rockets. Let's talk about the sons, let's talk about what. What they got now, before jalen green got there, right before we even get to jalen green, you, you got Devin Booker, who's a 6'5 guard. You got Bradley Bill, who's a 6'5 guard. You got Grayson Allen, who's a 6'5 guard. What is Jalen Green? A 6'5 guard?

So you, in your infinite wisdom of trading kevin durant to the houston rockets, did you get a center? No, did you get a switchable big wing like tari eason, who's 6, 8, 6, 9, 230 pounds, who could provide weak side rim protection. No, did you get Jabari Smith Jr, who's also 6'10, 6'11 and really, if you think about it, he's kind of redundant. When you talk about having Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith on the team, did you get Jabari Smith Jr back in this deal? No, you didn't.

What did Phoenix get? They got Jalen Green, who is not just redundant. I mean, we're like past redundant here. We're on the verge of ridiculousness. This reminds me of a team Now I'm going way back. So you guys, so the? So you guys, so the young people, you guys are going to have to get on the Google machine and probably go to the YouTube machine.

There was a team that played in college basketball I want to say like Like 30. 30 plus years ago, and they were playing for Illinois and illinois had a team where they didn't have anybody under six foot four and they had nobody over six foot eight. Well, man, they were entertaining to watch and, boy, they could stick it on you on defense. And I wonder if that's what phoenix is trying to build, because if you got devin booker, bradley, bill jalen green and grayson adam, grayson allen, all on the same team, who is not gonna get touches because somebody is gonna lose touches in this deal. And if your hopes is to kind of squeeze bradley bill out of the lineup, he's still not going to renege on his no trade, because the weather in phoenix is lovely, there's plenty of golf courses and, like I said before, he's a hop skip and a jump away from vegas if he wants fine dining, if for some reason, the uh natives in phoenix are restless. Because I'm gonna tell you right now there's certain areas for our guy, bradley bill, that he is persona non grata because of the fact that he did not want to be traded and did not give up his no trade Clause in his contract. It got a little hot For Bradley Bill's Significant other and his kids Last year when Word got out that my man was not going to give in On his trade Clause so Phoenix could just trade him To anywhere or whatever.

So now here's the one thing I will say about this. That's not being reported a lot, man. I did some checking on it. This trade will not be final until july 6th because of the phoenix suns not making the playoffs and Houston making the playoffs. Jalen Green and also Dylan Brooks, are owed like bonuses For those situations. Now, the great thing, it doesn't hurt Phoenix on the back end of this, because their salaries will revert to what they are. So, as far as salary cap, it's not going to add any more extra to their Enormous Enormous, because they're already surpassed the second acre and all those type of things. But this trade will not go through until July 6th, and why that is important Is because of the fact that I know that it's being reported out there that they are going to keep Jalen Green.

But I'm gonna ask Phoenix Suns fans this question does that sound reasonable to you? Does that sound plausible to you? Are you just gonna have a team of six foot five dudes, and then what ryan dunn, because that's what it looks like right now or are you going to reroute jalen green through the draft process, through right after that and into free agency, and then the trade will be finalized and then you will have a completely different team. Because if we're going off the reports that, oh, jalen green and devin booker can coexist on this team, you, you are correct, they could. You know how they cannot coexist.

If you also add in Bradley Bill and also Grayson Allen, you got four dudes, one position, one basketball, and I'm sorry you can't ask Devin Booker to play point guard anymore. Cannot do that. My man is trying to win. Okay, he is not into sacrificing anything anymore. It is time. It is go time. I'm 28. I've had incredible seasons. I put up big time scoring outputs. I'm a 25 plus point game scorer. I have scored 70 in the nba basketball game. You can't ask me to sacrifice anymore because I was in the finals well, three or four years ago and now I'm as far away from the finals as we are to like landing on Mars and like inhabiting Mars.

Jalen Green redundant, with Booker for sure and Bill With no trade clause. His true shooting percentage Is also troubling, 54.4%, and his playmaking hasn't progressed enough when he could be like the de facto point guard. So how do you stagger the minutes between Jalen Green and Devin Booker? You don't. So somebody's going, somebody's going. Now here's the other key to this Does Devin Booker finally look around and go? You know what? I know? I wanted to be loyal to the soil and I wanted to spend my whole career in Phoenix, but right now this is an absolute clown show and I'm going to need to find a serious, serious franchise who is dedicated to winning, because all Devin Booker has to do is open his mouth and say I'm ready to go and that'll be it.

Now they did get the 10th pick in the draft and we got some dudes that are going to be very enticing as we get closer and closer to the draft and then, when you get to the 10th pick, there's some people who will sit there and go oh, I don't know, there's some dudes out here that I kind of like, and there's some dudes I don't know. We'll see if they can make it in the league, I don't. Yeah, I think there's some people that you can absolutely be able to get at 10 that can help you. Now, the dream scenario for the phoenix suns is this is for duke center, common molly walk to fall to 10, and then they basically get their rim runner and rim protector. This dude is 7, two, 250 plus pounds. He's got feet like a ballerina, oh, and here's the best part of this whole deal. Common model lock is only 18 years of age, oh, and he's only been playing basketball for five years and he's this good now. Can you imagine what this dude is gonna look like in like four years. Think, ease me, see, but bigger.

That dude was scary in new orleans last year and he picked up the game so quick. Because the one thing that you heard about Eves Meecy when he got to New Orleans Is how coachable he was, but how also he was able to learn and pick up things on the fly. And I'm starting to hear the same things About Common Mollowock. It's the same type of situation you show him once Okay, I got it and now I can apply it on the court in real time. That is impressive. And it's also impressive that he's 7 to 255 pounds. He can switch on to guards.

I don don't want to get the Phoenix people excited because there's a good chance that you're not going to get him, because he's going to be going probably in the top seven. Your pick is top is 10. So you will be outside the sweepstakes of Common Moloak, unfortunately for you. But there are some other dudes in this draft that can help you. There's big wings, no doubt. Or here's the other thing you could do you could trade the 10th overall pick for the center that you want you. You could do that. Now here's the problem that dude, when you trade for him, he's probably making a ton of money that's going to add to your, your second apron and your tax payment that you have to pay out To the rest of the league. But hey, our guy, matt Ishbia, he don't care about money, he got a lot of it and he thumbed his nose up to Adam Silver, especially by pulling off this trade before Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

You know what I'm saying. I know Adam Silver was sitting there like you got to be kidding me. We got a game seven. We got all for all, the, all the marbles, everything on the table and y'all are going to trade Kevin Durant and just, basically, just to suck the spotlight away from these two teams that struggle to get the spotlight on them the whole year. I still think it's embarrassing for the league that okc might have been on national television 11 times before before the playoffs started and, like the lakers were on national tv like 20, like 27 times or something like that. I understand that the league knows where their bread is buttered and you know the lakers are a marquee franchise. No doubt you know it's my favorite franchise. So what have you? But even I, even I as a laker fan, can sit here and go. That's not right. You know what I'm saying. Okc is clearly the better squad, clearly the better run franchise at this present moment and they deserve to be on national TV. Yes, their dudes aren't sexy. When they do like interviews they're very team oriented. Whatever they're not giving you a bunch of like quotes and little bits of you know, just like wildness or whatever, but they play exquisite basketball and that's why they're the NBA champions.

Getting back to Phoenix and getting back to Jalen Green so this isregory's first four way into the trade situation and what we were hearing like two or three days ago, and the reason why this this had not gone down is that the sons were not enamored with some of the offers they were getting and for them to go and and make this trade. And you don't extract tarry eason, cam whitmore or somebody else like reed shepherd or somebody like that. I think it's a failure. You have an overcrowded guard room that hints of a follow-up trade likely involving Jalen Green, even though I know the reports have told us that is not going to happen. I just look at it this way it's Occam's razor. You got one basketball, you got four dudes for one position. You do the math. How does that work? It doesn't. So I'm going to grade this trade for the Phoenix Suns as a D+, because here's the thing it has some room to get better. It has some room for enhancement, get better, it has some room for enhancement if you can make a proper trade of jalen green and get some, some assets that are going to work for you and fill out your roster and give you a little more balance in your roster that you don't currently have.

Now. What else? What? What else do we got going on? Booker has an extension coming up. I wonder how those talks are going right now. Of course, bill is untradeable because of his no trade clause. So now, where, oh where, do Phoenix turn to? Well, the Brooklyn Nets, who you made trades with previously Ha ha, you got Kevin Durant from there. They need a guard. Could you rekindle your trade relationship with the Brooklyn N nets and maybe offload jalen green and maybe get some of, uh, some drive capital and maybe a couple young players, because, uh, brooklyn has a couple intriguing young players that you might want to. You know, have a look at another team that might want to join this little party. How about the Orlando Magic? And I know what you're saying. They got Desmond Bang. They do, but you know, jalen Green could help out there too as well.

Now, if you wanted to stay in the same conference, you can look at Utah. I don't think Utah is going to be your candidate because they are still on super tank mode because of where they ended up in this draft situation. They are trying to get AJ DeBasta next year, who's going to BYU and he's going to be an absolute monster. When we talk about 2026 NBA draft, aj DeBasta is one of the probably top three or four prospects in that situation, if not the number one prospect. There's a couple other dudes that are claiming that as well, but there are some teams out there that could use a Jalen Green. Um. The one team that I thought of would be like the Toronto Raptors. They have a ton of wings. They keep trading for wings, which is weird. They got brandon ingram right now they got scotty barnes. I'm saying they got grady dick. Who who doesn't, who doesn't need some grady dick in their life? That dude can shoot it. He can shoot the damn basketball. Um, so if you were looking at maybe rerouting Jalen Green, there are some options out there for you to go ahead and do so now. Another team that might be looking to upgrade their guard situation because they got a injury that is going to take some time for it to heal is the dallas mavericks. Now dallas, he's not a point guard. Maybe they can do some other stuff, because I think what they also. Oh no, they don't have tyus jones anymore because he's a free agent and y'all can't sign nobody in phoenix right now because y'all so far over the cap. So if you're sitting there and you're, jalen Green, like Dallas needs a guard, you know what I'm saying, and maybe this is a place where you can go ahead and get your ball handling on. You know, as they wait for Kyrie to come back, and also remember Cooper Flagg is there, anthony Davis is there, anthony Davis is there. So it's not like we're gonna put all this pressure on Jalen Green to cover and run the offense to a point where it's like, hey, bro, you don't have no help. You know you got a ton of help there.

I think Toronto to me, as far as the candidate is concerned, I think they would be a absolute slam dunk just because of what they could provide Phoenix back. They could provide Phoenix back a wing, a big scoring wing. They have other pieces that they can also add on to. As far as I think the money is pretty close with Jalen Green and Brandon Ingram if you wanted to do it that way or does, because I've heard through the grapevine that it looks like our guy Masai Jiri is looking to make some deals in Toronto and expect Toronto to be completely active from during the draft, after the draft, throughout the free agent period. So these are the words that I'm getting from. You know some of my sources out in. You know the canadian. You know over there close to the canadian border, maybe not exactly in canada, but close enough where I can see what's going down. Maybe not exactly in Canada, but close enough when I can see what's going down. But that's the rumors Is that our guy Masai Jerry Is looking to make some moves. So if that was a case that they wanted to do that, I could see that happening.

Now, the thing that a lot of people don't want to talk about what happens if it's Devin Booker? Well then, guess what? If Giannis is not getting traded, we need another superstar to replace Giannis on the superstar disgruntled carousel. Do you think that our guy Devin Booker is a is a likely candidate for that, with all of what he has seen over the last three or four years man again, he's been loyal to the soil. All the rhetoric that he has said I want to stay a Phoenix Sun throughout my career, but when is enough enough? Because right now, my guy I hate to tell you, devin, you seem like you in a real abusive relationship. Right now, my guy and you are not getting the benefit of anything off of this, except that you know, maybe you play a lot of golf and Phoenix has some great golf courses, but what they doing to you as a talent and wasting your prime years right now is abysmal.

Years right now is abysmal because, again, I go back before the kevin durant trade. They made that trade and I sat there I was like wait, hold on. They gave up what? Because, remember, they gave up mikhail bridges, cam johnson, a couple other things and all the picks. Now, I didn't mind the picks because I was like you're getting kevin durant. What I did mind is you're trading all the wings, all of them. Oh, and here's the best part. Then they doubled down that same in that next offseason and they traded DeAndre Ayton for basically almost nothing, like absolutely nothing they got Nurkic back, who's not with the team anymore.

They got a couple other dudes. There's literally like I don't even know if they would get playing time on on a real like competitive playoff roster if they would have. If they would get playing time on a real competitive playoff roster If they would have just been patient with DeAndre Ayton. I'm not saying that he would have turned the corner as far as his play and production is concerned, but you might have gotten a better offer in the middle of the season when the trade deadline was coming up, instead of just making a snap decision oh, we got to get him out of here because he's going to be a cancer. You should have took the daryl morial approach when they didn't trade ben simmons until they got the right offer. You didn't do that, you rushed into it because your owner has that new owner syndrome that we gotta, we gotta go now gotta strike while the iron's hot all it is. Sometimes patience is a virtue and also it pays off big time dividends if you can just hold your water for five seconds.

Now the jalen Green outlook is this if you're not trading Devin Booker, he has to be rerouted, and he has to be rerouted by July 6th. No, I mean really no questions really to be asked on that. You are completely redundant in your roster right now. So change needs to happen and it's not just oh, we're going to take a gap year to kind of assess what we have. There are no gap years for you right now. Devin Booker is in his prime. You wasted last year, you wasted the year before that. I don't think he's going to stomach a third year of this. Oh, I'm gonna just chill. I'm gonna just chill. Where do we stand here? Durant to houston is it a short-term deal? I don't know. Is he going to get the? Is he going to get the extension in houston? Probably the fatas will pay him.

I will say this Phoenix not getting Tari Eason or getting Cam Whitmore in this deal is a derelict of duty. And I will be remiss if I don't speak up about James Jones and the job that he did in Phoenix when he didn't have his hands handcuffed behind his back by his owner his owner. This dude was neutered. This is the dude that got Cam Johnson. This is the dude that got Mikael Bridges. This is the dude that brought in Chris Paul and made that team a championship contender. He drafted DeAndre Ayton, and during the finals run, deandre Ayton was an absolute animal, averaging 22 points a game and 14 rebounds a game, so he was doing something right at that point. Now we got brian gregory in here, who has michigan state ties also. The new coach is also michigan state ties. Where's the owner from michigan state? So this is the deal that you ended up with. So I'm gonna just say it like this and then we can get up out of here and then we can talk about what's happening this week.

So you don't get any of the. You don't even get Reed Shepard in this deal, somebody who could definitely bring some excitement To the Valley of the Sun and also play the point guard position. Fathom that he plays the point guard position and, by the way, reed Shepard couldn't even get off the bench for the Houston Rockets. So it went like oh, this is an integral part of our team, this is a dude they still don't know about. They don't know if Reed Shepard is going to be a long-lasting Houston Rocket in the sense of being like a productive Houston Rocket that's going to help you get to the playoffs and beyond and get you long, long playoff runs. They don't know. Now, I love Reed Shepard. I think he is awesome and I think he will be good. But I mean, like I said, this team doesn't still know, because they didn't play him a lot. He was in the G League most of the time, so the Suns don't get him Okay lot. He was in the g league most of the time, so the sons don't get him, okay. Well, at least you got a big right. No, you didn't get one of those either. So it's an absolute fail. It's a fail until jalen green is traded for the talent that is going to balance out your roster.

And I'm going to tell you right now. You know who's smiling through this whole situation. You knew I was going to get a Laker reference in there. Right, rob Kalinka is smiling right now. He's going. Man, there's somebody who looks like a complete idiot. I'm so glad that the spotlight has been taken off me and it just goes right over to Phoenix. Now, rob, I'm going to tell you right now my eyes are directly on you and I'm going to tell you right now if you don't get a rim running center for our guy Luka Doncic, you will feel my wrath come after free agents period is over, so you are not out of the woods yet, my guy, yes, there is a clown show going on in phoenix, no doubt, and we will have so much fun with them throughout the 2025-2026 season, because I can definitely hear the music now going on in houston I mean going on in phoenix but, rob, if you don't get this right, you're gonna be right there with him and also know this Mark Walter is the new owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and you know what he likes to do.

He likes to acquire GM types, player evaluator types. Just look at the Dodgers. My guy, you talking about having chefs in the kitchen. My man got chefs. He's got master chefs. He's got retired chefs that have like emeritus status. He's got Up and coming chefs. He's got sous chefs. He's got a lot of chefs, bro. So, palenka, do yourself a favor. He's got a lot of chefs, bro. So, palenka, do yourself a favor and go out and absolutely kill the offseason, because if you don't, you might have some GMs around you. You might have a group think tank. By the way, phoenix needs a group think tank. By the way, phoenix needs a group think tank Because what they got going on right now is terrible.

Last thing on this this was an asset salvage. This wasn't a strategy. They flipped KD for volume, not fit. They flipped KD for volume, not fit, and now the new coach who's coming in has to deal with all this. So I wonder, what kind of conversations did Matt Ishbia and the new coach had leading up to this? Kevin durant trade like. It's not gonna look pretty early, trust me, but we're gonna go ahead and get this squared away now.

The one thing you can say for phoenix is remember when they were trading all those second round picks, like a drunken sailor who was just out on leave. Well, they got five second round picks from houston. So guess what, they can go crazy again and trade second round picks until their hearts content. Kevin durant did get traded, but it was like a whimper. I wonder kd feels kind of disrespected. That's the only things you got for me. This is all you got. I mean, I'm sure he's appreciative because he's like damn I, I'm playing with a bunch of dudes over here. Man we got. We got a embarrassment of riches. We might have to trade some people because we can't get enough people playing time. Phoenix could have used some guys, but they decided nah.

Phoenix blinked when rafael stone did not. Rafael stone stayed steadfast in his belief and he just stared them down and said, hey, listen. And he just stared them down and said, hey, listen, you can tell us that you want your 2027 first round pick and we are going to tell you every single time. Absolutely not. Just like the San Antonio Spurs did when you called and asked for Stephon Castle in the second overall pick in the draft and they immediately hung up on you. By the way, that's not, that's not innuendo, that is not a rumor, that is absolutely 100 fact. That is exactly what happened. So phoenix is stuck. This trade didn't solve a damn thing and it just made their books messier and their floor as far as how successful they're going to be this season even lower. They're trending towards desperation and they look thirsty as hell.

What do you think? I think of the trade? I think it's good for the Lakers, good for the rest of the Western Conference, because we don't have to worry about Phoenix until something else happens. And due to what we have seen with this trade, are we 100% confident that Brian Gregory is going to be able to manifest a somewhat cohesive trade situation for Jalen Green and get the assets that they need back in return? That might be a question for another day. So we have a Kevin Durant trade. He is in Houston, shouts out rafael stone and his crew, and we also have a new nba champion.

I would like to send out my congratulations to sam prestey, who has uh, he is the last remnants of the seattle supersonics. That is, in OKC. He has been there a long period of time. He built the Kevin Durant, james Harden, russell Westbrook team and then saw that team basically completely fall apart due to this money, and they weren't going to be able to hold on to these players as far as what they were looking for as salary is concerned, and they were also looking for greener pastures. What did Sam Presti do? I'll build a better, a better big three, a big three that is more cohesive, and that big three showed up In the most Awesome way possible In game seven, in the deciding game, and they are now your 2025 NBA champions. So shout out to Shea Gilgis-Alexander Jalen Williams, chet Holmgren, isaiah Hartenstein, our guy, isaiah Joe, who shot a bunch of three corners During the regular season, and, uh, shout out to former Laker Alex Caruso, because Alex Caruso Now is a two time champion.

So, ac Fresh, we miss you here in Los Angeles, my guy, but salute to you Getting your second ring. And so AC Fresh. We miss you here in Los Angeles, my guy, but salute to you getting your second ring and we'll see your ass down the road. So, with that being said, I want to thank my crack staff. I want to thank Soraya for all what she does. I want to thank Maya for putting these things together. I want to thank my guy, vanceance, for doing what he does every single day, bringing nothing but all kinds of models and all kinds of statistical analysis. I just want to thank my crew, because I can't do anything without them. So, with that being said, we can't do anything without you. So thank you for joining us.

The audience is why we do this. This is why we do the emergency pods. Now, keep in mind, you are going to get a three times next week as well, because tuesday we will have like draft pre-coverage, then on wednesday night we will come back and talk about round one, any other trades that might have gone through through round one, and then on friday, we will cover the entire draft, all his ramifications. We will have grades for every team, and then we will not leave any stone Unturned. We will See if there is anything percolating On the free agent market and also the trade market, because I'm sure, sure, once the draft starts, we're gonna hear a lot of rumors about what's gonna happen, like right around july 6th, right? So that's what we're looking forward to.

I hope you enjoyed the recap of the nba finals game seven. I hope you enjoyed our coverage of the Kevin Durant trade. And, again, the best part of you is you Make sure you surround yourself with people who are supportive to your mission, right, that they are speaking words of affirmation to you, that they are giving you that type of encouragement that just fills your soul. If you got people like that in your life, return the favor, acknowledge them, appreciate what they do for you and then, with all that being said, that means you're a full person. You are just just robust in every single way, and we here at front runner podcast collective salute you in your fullness of life. So, with that being said, we are out of here. It is late, I'm getting my ass off this podcast mic and we will see you down the road. We'll see you on Tuesday Late.