The NBA Is "Fox Hunting" + Around The Arc, Southwest Style!

[00:00:21] It's Wednesday, you know what time it is, Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air I am your humble host, Vince, and today's podcast is filled with nothing but trade rumors Conceptions of trades, things that make no sense whatsoever

[00:00:46] And we cannot wait to share it all with you A little bit behind the scenes that goes on here at Front Runner Podcast Collective So Ray and I were literally into the early morning last night And today, basically been just tracking down a lot of stuff that isn't going on

[00:01:16] And at one point, we're throwing things into the dock and whatever And I'm like, oh, we got the same thing We got a duplication And we looked at the dock And there was so much that had went on We were like, wait, we're not going to be able to get all this in Not to break this up or whatever And then we just start going through and getting all the important things A manicure for you guys

[00:01:44] But it's a labor of love and we love to do it So I wanted to give kudos to Soraya Who is a silent voice behind this podcast Every once in a while she pops on But she is indispensable at this point Because the thing that we are about to embark on And there's a lot of craziness The NBA, the entire NBA is about to go fox hunting

[00:02:14] As you well know, De'Aaron Fox or his representation Has issued kind of a soft demand If you, per se We would like to be extradited out of here And put somewhere else So we'll get to all of that And before we get to that piece I want to talk about a couple things

[00:02:44] We actually added something to the website Last night And what we're going to end up doing is It's a test run But we're going to take the three podcasts that we do weekly So this will start next Friday So look out for it Like not this Friday coming up But next Friday We're going to take the best excerpts And like maybe some behind the scenes Things that went into it

[00:03:13] And put it up on the website And obviously add some Couple more notes that probably didn't make the podcast So it can be a second screen experience for you When you listen to the pods Look for those starting next Friday And we are Going to be updating the The crossbacks I have started this process Over last night as well

[00:03:42] As trying to Effort to get De'Aaron Fox news for you With all that being said We can jump into this pod Because we have a lot to get to Let's start here De'Aaron Fox Are the Kings really going to trade him? We have Some sad news Coming out of Atlanta Jalen Johnson A shoulder injury And how this might shake up The trade deadline Unfortunately

[00:04:11] And are the Lakers desperate for a center? Now that AD is going to be at least out He's going to be Re-evaluated in a week I'm going to temper expectations right now AD being re-evaluated in a week Means that He's probably going to miss A lot more games Past the worst six At least until The all-star break So we might not see him until After The all-star break

[00:04:41] So Does this change What is going on In El Segundo? What is going on Between the walls Of Rob Palenka's office? Have the centers Of the NBA Been moved up on the whiteboard As far as possible Trade targets We'll get to all that And then the Warriors After all of the consternation After all of the

[00:05:10] We'll see And we'll see how the market plays out And we'll go And We don't want to make anything Too drastic Because We want to make sure We still have some stuff For the future Are they in on Jimmy Butler Or not? Are they in on Zach Levine Or not? We will get to All of it And we're going to Start right here So The front-running Thought of the day Has to be De'Aaron Fox

[00:05:39] Because we spent Too much damn time Chasing down This rumor Last night So with that being said This is how it all Goes out Let's start with The most polarizing Trade rumor De'Aaron Fox Possibly heading to The San Antonio Spurs It seems Now De'Aaron Fox Has come out Today and said I have not asked For a trade He can say That doesn't mean Necessarily

[00:06:08] That your Representation Didn't ask For a trade For you But The rumors are out there That he's trying To get him Himself Down to the Alamo And join Victor Wynwayama Now according to Sam Vicini Of The Athletic Fox declined His extension Offer And is expected To test Free agency In 2026 Why are the Kings Considering Moving him now

[00:06:38] Fox's trade value Is at its peak Teams get Two playoff runs Before he hits Free agency Sacramento Does not want To lose him For nothing In 2026 And also The The trade Offers Next year Will go down Considerably If they're not Getting that Second If they're not Getting that Second playoff run So if they go Into the summer Yes you get a Year with De'Aaron Fox And maybe

[00:07:07] You can talk Him into An extension Or what have you At that point And maybe that Brings some more Value To the trade At that Present time So you do Have more Time In the summer The problem Is that If you are Trying to Do this And add A piece Like De'Aaron Fox For the playoff run You want to Maximize As many times As you can Get the bite Of the apple As you can You get more

[00:07:36] At the trade Deadline Than maybe you Would get At In the Offseason So that's Where we Were going With that Where we Were going With that Now It would Give them Some roster Flexibility Moving Fox Clear space That opens Up the door For younger Core to develop Around a Keegan Murray And DeMontis Wellness Now Somebody put Out a Actual Trade Proposal So a

[00:08:06] Mock trade Sort of Speak And it's Interesting So I'm Gonna lay it Out for you Guys Here's a Rewind trade Proposal Fox to the Spurs So the Spurs Would receive Deion Fox And this Looks like a Three team Deal so The Spurs Would also Receive Simone Fontecchio From the Detroit Pistons The Kings Would receive The Poo Poo Platter And this Is where I Have a Problem with This trade

[00:08:35] So the Kings Would receive Trey Jones Blake Wesley Who can't Get on The court In San Antonio And Sandro Mickey I used To know My man's Name Mamou Killish Really That's What his Name is Mamou Killish Really He's a Seton Hall Guy So I Should know That And three First round Picks Now the Three first Round Picks Are pretty Much The The Highlight Of this Trade For the Sacramento Kings

[00:09:06] The Pistons Will Receive Harrison Barnes Vett Malachi Branham Nice Little Six Man Type Dude A Little Holdover With The J Nivey Injury And With The Broken Leg Or What Have You So I Can See Where This Goes Down Now One Reason Why This Is Interesting In One Way Is That The Talent Of Victor We Talked About It On Last Pot And

[00:09:36] You Guys Are Going To Start A Drinking Gang Because I Always Reference Like The Previous Pot But His Talent Is Leading Them Closer And Closer To The Plan Than He Is To A Lottery Pick Now Obviously As soon As you Get De'on Fox You Have Turned Up The Heat Tremendously Like We Started The Clock Everything Starts Now It's Go Time I'm Not Necessarily Saying That

[00:10:06] You Are Expected To Be Completely Formidable In The Playoffs What We Expect That You Show Up We See Some Growth We See Some Things That We Probably Never Seen Before And Then We Can Speculate On The Future And How This Is Going To Work For The Next Three To Five Years Now All That Being Said Fox Is An Elite Downhill Attacker The Spurs Ranked 25th On Drives Per Game

[00:10:36] His Pick And Roll Threat To Compliment Victor Wynn By Yama The Floor Spacing And The Rim Protection That Victor Provides Is Going To Help De'Aaron Fox On The Defensive End No Doubt And Then Also The One Thing That Now You Might Want To Say These Tactics And We'll Get Into This In A Second You Might Want To Say That These Tactics That He's Using At This

[00:11:06] Current Time Are Unsavory And I Can Understand Where You Might Be Coming From But I Things This Is The Long Game And This Is Where We're About To Get Into So Sacramento Has De'Aaron Fox Now De'Aaron Fox Is 27

[00:11:36] Years Old They've Had De'Aaron Fox For A While This Is He's In The Second Of His Of The Second Contract He's In The Second Contract Now It's Not The Rookie Deal He's On The Max Deal That You Get When You're The Guy For That Team I'll Get Two Years Ago They Had A Really Good Run In A Really Weird West They Ended

[00:12:06] Up Third Got Bounced In The Playoffs And That Was That Then Last Year They Made The Plan Got Bounced And That Was That They Added De'Aaron De'Aaron They Said Okay De'Aaron Fox Is One Of The Best Clutch Players In The League We'll Add De'Aaron De'Aaron He's From California He's One Of The Best Clutch Players In The League

[00:12:36] As Well We're Going To Lose Something On The Defensive End But Herter Kevin Herter Hadn't Been Giving Us Anything On The Offensive Side Anyway They Get De'Aaron De'Aaron They Pair Him

[00:13:24] Struggle Signed Everybody Let's Keep Everybody In House They Signed Savonis A Year Early And At That Point I Said Why Would You Do That You Have This Money Push Some Of The Pieces In The Middle Of The Table Get The Team A Little Bit Better And Now You Can Deal With Savonis At The End Of The Year You See What You Got You See Where You Are And Then You Can Start Making Adjustments From There A Lot Of People Praise

[00:13:53] Monty McNair And Listen For The Job That Monty McNair Has Done In Sacramento I Give Him A Lot Of Credit Because That Franchise Was Floundering It Was Going Nowhere He Gave Them Some Stability And He Gave Them A True North Star To Chase After Now The One Thing I Will Ding Him On Two Things The Trade Of Tyrese Halligurton

[00:14:23] For Demantis Sabonis I Still Think You Never Give Up On A Talent Like That But Since We Had Moved All Past That When He Signed Him To That Extension I Didn't Understand It Then And I Think It Basically Caused This And I Understand What He Was Going For He Was Going For Continuity He Was Like You Know What Demantis Sabonis Likes To Play Here We Don't Get Stars

[00:14:54] He's Productive He's Absolutely Going To Give You Everything He Has He's A True Professional He's Going To Score 20 Points A Game He's Going To Get You 13 Rebounds And He's Going To Run The Offense For You Sometimes As Well That's A Lot To Get And You're Already Paying Him So Extend Him Yes There Are Some Very Valid

[00:15:24] Points In That Situation But True Were The Sacramento Kings And I'm Not Saying Any Of The Names Now Would Tickle Your Fancy But This Is Not How We Were Thinking About Him Last Year Jeremy Grant Was Out There There Were Thoughts Of Bruce Brown Remember That And We Couldn't Understand Why Toronto Didn't Trade Bruce Brown Now Now Look Look At What You Might Get

[00:15:54] For Him Now There Were A Couple Other Guys Another Guy That I Thought Made A Lot Of Sense And I Didn't Think It Would Take A lot To Get Him And It Seemed Like You Had A Good Relationship With The Team Already Bring Bring Back Bad Bad Donovan Good Solid Vet Get You Some Defense Get You Some Can Run Your Offense For You Can Hit An Open Shot Can Play Off The Bonus Maybe Be Able To Help The

[00:16:24] Perimeter Defense That You Struggle With But You Didn't Do Any Of Those Things You Sign Some Bonus And Now We Fast Forward What A Year And A Half Later We Fast Forward A Year And A Half Later And De'aron Fox Wants Out What Are The Sacramento Kings Going To Give Back If They Allow De'aron Fox To Escape Their Clutches Their Ownership

[00:16:54] Wants Win That's Coming Out Of Sacramento At This Very Moment Now We'll See How This Goes As The Heat Turns Up So To Speak In This Trade Situation Because Remember Tomorrow Marks A Week Before The Trade Deadline And Remember Frontrunner Podcast Collective Is Going To Be Back On The Air On Friday

[00:17:23] We Will Do A Pod On Monday And Wednesday You Will Have Like Trade Primers There And Then We're Going To Do A Special Pod On Thursday After The Trade Deadline So Keep It Locked Here For Frontrunner Podcast Collective Get Us We Handled The

[00:17:53] NBA For You And We Try To Do It In A Pretty Funny Way Hopefully We'll Bring Some Funny A Little Bit Later But This De'Aaron Fox Thing Took Some Seriousness That We Need To Deal With Now With All That Being Said What Do Sacramento Fans Think Now Where Do You Go From Here Who Are The Building Blocks Keegan Murray Is There's Nothing

[00:18:23] Really Spectacular About Him Malik Muck Signed With The Sacramento Kings To Be With De'Aaron Fox Now Does Malik Muck Want Out If De'Aaron Fox Is Gone And Is There A Whole Domino Effect Where Now Demantis Bonas Starts Chirping Now Usually We In America His

[00:18:53] Dad Played For Portland This Dude Is Been On The Continent Since Birth So He Might Not Hold True To The Old World Sentiments Or He Might Look At This And Go This Is A Tire Fire And I Think I Would Like To Take My Talents Elsewhere It's A Very Precarious Position For The Sacramento Kings To Be In Especially A Franchise That Does

[00:19:23] Not Attract Free Agents I Know Sacramento Doesn't Want To Hear That I Know They Feel Disrespected One Of The Reasons Why De'Aaron Fox Wants To Leave Is Because He Wants To Be Able To Maximize His Earning Potential And The Only Way For Him To Do That Is He Needs To Get To A Bigger Market Or Attach Himself To A Player That He Feels Is Generational Victor Win By Yama

[00:19:55] On TV Trust And Believe And If That Happens That Means That De'Aaron Fox Makes Some All-Star Teams That Means That De'Aaron Fox Becomes A All NBA Guard Because It's All About A Prisoner Of The Moment We Try To Devoid Ourself Of That Here Because We Try To Look At The Numbers We Try To Look At The Video We Try To Watch These Games We Try

[00:20:30] To This Straight It's A Tough Situation For Sacramento I Am Sad For

[00:21:00] Their Fans Who You Know The Light The Game Stuff In A Lot Of Places People Would Think It's Corny But You Know What Having Civic Pride Having Real Skin In The Game For Your Team Knowing That You're Up Against It Because You're Not The You're Not The Flashy City In California It's Just The Harder Deal In Sacramento Than It Is To Sell A Free Agent Going To San

[00:21:30] Francisco Or Going To LA And That Is Just How It Is Unfortunately This Goes Back To Sacramento Is Less Desirable Than Los Angeles And Or San Francisco For An NBA Player Build Through The Draft Get The Players While They're Young

[00:22:00] Get As Many Picks As You Possibly Can Teach Them The Sacramento Way And If NBA Players Don't Know Any Better If You Get Them Home Grown And You Hit On A Couple A La OKC Magic Can Happen So Not All Is Lost For Sacramento But It's A Tough Break Right Now Speaking Of Tough Breaks And This Is Where The Tone Of The Podcast Gets A Little

[00:22:30] Darker Because What Are Our Guys And Actually Jalen Johnson Of The Atlanta Hawks Is Out For The Rest Of For Us Basketball Watching Podcasters This Is A Sad Day Because

[00:23:00] Jalen Johnson And We Just Talked About It Jalen Johnson Had Helped Quinn Snyder Perform An Absolute Miracle Trey Young Was Getting Off The Basketball Trey Young Was Utilizing His Other Teammates And Passing Them The Ball And Getting Off Of It And Then He Was Actually Moving Around He Wasn't Just Standing On The Perimeter Off To The Side

[00:23:29] Just Standing There Doing Nothing It Was Amazing It Was Probably Like The Feeling That In A Christmas Carol Ebeneezer Scrooge Had When He Woke Up From The Ghost He Had Visited By Three Ghosts In The Christmas Carol I Am Absolutely Sure This Is How All Of Hawk Nation Felt When They Saw Trey Young

[00:23:58] Consistently Get Off The Wall This Year Be More Productive As Far As His Assist Totals His Turnover Rate Seems To Be Lower And This Guy Is Playing Within The Construct Of Offense And Now Jalen Johnson Is Out For The Season And The Guy That Was Helping Initiate The Offense Along With Trey Young A Guy Who Was Almost Averaging 20 Points A Game He Had Emerged

[00:24:27] As Basically Trey Young's Running Mate And Here's The Thing Do You Pivot If You're The Hawks Do You Trade Off Maybe A Couple Older Pieces For Draft Capital I Have A Couple Thoughts Here's The Other Thing That We Know About The Hawks They That Ownership Group Does Not Like The Luxury Tax They Will

[00:24:57] Find A Way To Get Under This And They Will Use This As The Reason Why Little Trades Where You Shale Off Four Million Here Couple Million Here I Can Definitely See The Hawks Doing That Now What Does This Mean For The Trade Deadline Because Everything That We Talk About Today Is Going To Be Tied To The Trade Deadline In The Baseline Buzz What Does This Mean For The Trade Deadline Glad You Ask Could The Hawks

[00:25:27] Move Bogdano Bogdano And Start Reshaping Their Future Teams Like The Lakers Teams Like The Heat Might Swoop In And Get Valuable Assets The Lakers Please For The Love Of God This Is My Fan Hat This Is Not My Analytical Hat For The Love Of God I Have Been Enamored With Bogdan

[00:25:57] Bogdano For Years Ever Since He Was In Sacramento He's Been My White Well I Know That They Need A Center And We'll Talk About It Shortly But I'm Gonna Tell You Right Now If There's Any Way We Can Utilize These Seconds And Get Bogdano Donovic I'm Gonna Tell You Right Now I'm Be A Happy Dude About Darren Fox

[00:26:27] Pretty Much I Would Say 40 Per Made A Call On Darren Fox Just Saying Okay So Let's Talk About The Lakers Real Quick The Lakers Were Already Searching For Front Court Help Because AD Had Said Some Crazy Stuff On ESPN He Did An Interview With Sean Sharania And He Talked About Playing With A Sinner And Yelvan Buha

[00:26:57] Followed It Up With A Question In A Media Scrum I Think Later That Night And Asked Why Was That Important To Him He Says He's Always Felt Like A Power Forward He's Always Felt More Comfortable In That Role And It Was Just Basically Insight The Basically I Think What It Comes Down To Anthony Davis Is That He Sees Himself As A Physical Player But He Sees Himself As More Of A Cerebral Player And

[00:27:26] Allowing Him To Be More Off Ball Allows Him To Utilize His Super Power Sort Of Speak And Banging With Sinners For 36 Minutes A Game Is Bad For Your Health Speaking Of Abdominal Strain They Don't Want To Call It Oblique They Say Abdominal Strain And He'll Get Re-evaluated And On February

[00:27:55] 6th Oh The Trade Deadline Interesting Now With All That Being Said He's Going To Be Missing Some Games Before The Deadline The Lakers Got Blown Out In Philadelphia And As Soon As AD Left It Was Like Every Philadelphia Guard Or Wing Said Oh The Lane Is Open I Didn't Even See This Corridor Here I'm Going Straight To The Hoop

[00:28:26] It Was Just A Parade To The Hoop They Had 27 Paint Points In The Second Quarter 27 Paint Points In One Quarter Now Again Austin Reeves Is Not A Defensive Maven Dorian Finney Smith Got In Foul Trouble We Listen I Know There Are Big Time Rui Fans Out Here For For The Lakers

[00:28:56] I Understand You He Just Can't Play With LeBron At The Same Time You Can't Have Both Of Them On The Court Defensively It Just Sets You Back So Much I Understand His Offensive Prowess I Understand What He Provides As A Legitimate Person Who Can Get You 18 To 20 You Know If Given The Opportunities To Do I Got You I Just Need

[00:29:25] Him To Be A Little Bit More Impactful On The Defensive End And We're Just Not Getting It And That Team Looks So Much Better When Dorian Finney Smith Is On The Court And Rui Is Not I Don't Want To Take Anything Away For The Contributions That Rui Has Provided Because There's Been Physicality There's Been Rebounding I Like That He's Able To Win Up When Somebody Crashes Out To Him In The Corner He

[00:29:55] Can Put It On The Deck And Go To The Rim And Dunk On Somebody I Love That Part Of His Game I Love That He Punishes Small People Anytime There's A Pick And Roll Situation And They Do A Switch And He Gets A Guard He's Going To The Post He's Going To Drive The Ball And He's Going To Get Paint Touches And He's Going To Be Around The Rim And It's Great But The Defense Man You Get

[00:30:25] Lost Too Much For As Somebody As Athletic As He Is Which Is Much Body Control As He Has He Gets Lost On Defense A Lot With That Being Said What Are The Lakers Top Trade Targets In Fantasyland Walker Kessler Of The Utah Jazz And The Reason Why I Say Fantasyland Is Because

[00:30:55] Rob Has Been Risk Averse This Whole Time Now This Is An Immediate Need For Sure And You Don't Take Care Of Immediate Needs With Long Term Viewpoint Right You Just Don't Do It That Way But Your Superstar Ad Asked For A Big Before This Injury Happened So We Were Walking Down That Road Anyway

[00:31:25] Now Can Rob Somehow Finagle Way Where He Unprotects That 20 27 Pick And Then Maybe Throw Utah A 20 29 Pick Or 20 31 Pick To Keep The 29 For That I Been Asking This Whole Time Is There Any Way That We Can Unprotect The 20 27 Pick Maybe Get A Couple Seconds Back For That Bad Boy And

[00:31:55] Then Give You The 20 29 Pick Or The 20 31 Pick Probably Want Our 20 31 Pick Right Since You Got Phoenix You Call Sexton Or Somebody Like That Because That's The High End Fantasy Situation Dealing With

[00:32:25] Danny Ainge We Talked About It Is One Of The Hardest Things On The Face Of The Planet He Wants To Know That He Won The Trade At Every Turn And So We'll See How That All Works Out I Don't Think Unless The And Really Just Roll At Their Sleaves And Work Some Sort Of Deal Out With Danny Get What His Real Parameters Are For The Trade Maybe You Have To Throw

[00:32:55] In Dalton Dalton Connect Into This Deal And Say Hey Listen Here's A 23 Year Old The Guy That We Want Is 23 Years Old So Basically You're Swapping Out A There's A Ways To Sell This So Rob Is Going To Have To Be A Little More Creative And A Little More Persistent In

[00:33:25] His Asking Now Another Choice Who Does Not Seem To Be On The Market But Laker Fans Want This Name Out There Miles Turner There Was One Whisper About Indiana Not Knowing Different Between Out And Out Saying They're Never Going To Do It They Said They Were Undecided On

[00:33:55] Whether They Wanted To Give Miles Turner An Extension Or Not And Lakers Fans Went Into An Absolute Frenzy Oh My God Miles Turner Is Back On The Market We Can Finally Get Him We Can Finally Pair A.D. With The Perfect Center Somebody Who Can Shoot Threes By The Way Miles Turner Career High In Shooting Threes This

[00:34:24] Year 39% Which Brings Even More Of The Heightened Awareness Of Miles Turner In Los Angeles Laker Fans Have Been Screaming For This For Two Days Straight Takes Two The Tango I Don't Think Kevin Pritchard Wants To Do This So We Throwing Cold Water On That Situation Too Unless The Lakers Want To Be Aggressive With Those First Round Picks You Gonna Have To Give Up Something To Get Something

[00:34:54] Rob Now Little More Let's See Manageable Options Here Yaka Purtle Now Yaka Purtle Doesn't Shoot Free Throws He Does Not Shoot Threes Good Room Protector Rugged Rebounder This Is Something That JJ Reddick Talked About In The Summertime That We Needed To Get A More

[00:35:24] Rugged Center Jackson Hayes Nor Christian Coloco Fit That Bill And The Return Or Lack Of Return Or The Legend That Is Christian Wood Also Does Not Fit That Bill But Yaka Purtle Does Now Another Name That Enters The Center Emporium Is Clint Capella Of The Hawks Now Due To The

[00:35:53] Injury Of Jalen Johnson This Course Correct Atlanta And Maybe Pivot And Older Big Man The Big Man Who Is Making Way More Money And Finally Give The Job To Aneka Okongwu Now You Know How I Feel About Aneka Okongwu I Love That Dude And I Think He Needs To Get More Opportunities But For Some Reason He Cannot Beat Out Clint Capella

[00:36:24] But If Clint Capella Is A Laker We Don't Have To Tunez And Yonis Valanciunis Has Been The Guy That Has Been Like Break Glass In Case Of Emergency An Emergency Just Pulled Up And If You Got Two Second Round Picks You May As Well Go Go And Throw Him Right Now To Washington And Go Get Him Because This Next Ten Game Stretch You

[00:36:54] Don't Want To Get Yourself Into A Situation Where The The Kind Of Little Cushion That You Built Up For This So After Start Playing A Lot Better Basketball After This Trade You Do Not Want To Lose That Cushion Because You Were Afraid To Use Your Draft Capital To Help This Team If The Lakers Don't Add A Center See The Perimeter Defenders In

[00:37:24] The Secondary Ball Handlers Of In Time But You Got Injury Risk With Both Of Those Guys Both Have Lower Limb Injuries That They're Coming Off Of And Then Lonzo Had The Wrist Injury But He's Back It Looks To Be Playing Well Personally I Think At This Point That Rob

[00:37:55] This Inflection Point Needs To Really Go One Way If You Got LeBron And You Got AD And They're Playing At This Level You May As Well Maximize Their Chance I Understand That You're Mortgaging The Future But In A West That I OKC Is The Best Team In The West You Don't Want To Meet Them But Anybody Else In

[00:38:36] Maybe Minnesota Might Be A Team You Be A Little Bit Afraid Of Or Whatever Houston Another Team Who's Super Athletic Be Afraid Of As Well But It's Neither Here Nor There All Right Let's Get To Golden State Because Golden State After All This Time And Now That They're 23 And 23 And They Need A Second Scorer Next To Curry Who Is It Going To Be Will It Be Jimmy

[00:39:06] Butler Who Basically Thrown A Fart Grenade Into The Miami Heat Locker Room With His Comments And His Some Of The Choices He Has Made Of Late Or Will It Be Zach Levine Who's Having A Pretty Stellar 2024 2025 season Shooting Above 40% At Three He Has Won Some Games Against Really Good Teams In The Last Ten Boston Being

[00:39:36] One Of Them And He Was Really One Of The Best Players On The Court At That Time In That Game Or Will They Go For A Lower Option But A Teammate Of Zach Levine In Nikola Vucevic Now Vucevic Will That Would Allow Draymond Green To Fall Into His Role Basically Being In The Paint You

[00:40:06] Would Have Somebody Who Is Averaging 20 Points A Game He's Shooting A Career High 42% From Three At This Point In Time So It Would Give Some Firepower And Some Consistent Firepower In The Way So Those Are The Three Guys I Think It's Funny That They On This Like Horrific

[00:40:35] Like Stretch Of Bad Play They Get To 23 And 23 Because Remember They Started Out Like A House On Fire And Now They Falling Back And Reality Setting In And This Doesn't Look As Much Fun As It Was Before So Now It Might Be Time To Reassess And See If We Want To Go Ahead And Trade Some Of Our Future Assets For A Short Term

[00:41:04] A Game So We'll Keep You Up To Date On What The Golden State Warriors Should Do Now Here's The Thing Dove Nation Hit Me Up On Twitter At Frontrunner PC Or Hit Our Producer Up At Raya Underscore Funch FRPC Which One Of These Gentlemen Would You Like To Join The Warriors Is It Butler For The Tenacity And The Defense And The Playoff Pedigree Or Is

[00:41:34] It Zach Levine's Just Pure Scoring Arsenal He Would Definitely Be A Super Charged Klay Thompson Be Able To Do Some Things Off The Bounce That Klay Couldn't Do Now He's Not A Defender He's Super Athletic Lives Would Be Plentiful For Him And For Others You Be A Fun Team To Watch Or Is It Nikola Vucevic

[00:42:04] Is It Somebody Who Like He's In The Middle Like He'll Definitely Help Us I Don't Think He'll Help Really Help Us But He'll Help Us He'll Help Us But Not That High Level Help That Levine And Jimmy Butler Bring To A Team Now I Personally Think With The You Have To Give Up Wiggins You Have To Give Up Gary Payton And Your 2025 First Round

[00:42:34] Pick With Levine You Have To Give Up Wiggins And Kevon Looney I Don't Like That As Much And For Nikola Vucevic To Make The Money Work It Would Be Gary Payton And Kevon Looney I Like That The Most Because Vucevic Is Basically A Replacement For Kevon Looney As Far As The Rebound Is Concern And Then Gary Payton Is Providing Defense But The Three Point Shooting And Nikola

[00:43:04] Vucevic Is Definitely Going To Be A To Provide That For You In Spades Couple Other Things From Around League That We Kind Of Need To Get To On This Wednesday And Let's Go Ahead And Do That Before We Get To Our Around The Arc Segment To Everybody Clammers For Even The Governor Of Our Fair State Gavin Newsom Or Clammers For Around The Arc The Greatest Segment On The Face Of The Planet Now

[00:43:35] Jimmy Butler Is Basically Suspended Indefinitely He's Just Waiting For The Trade To Happen He's Going To Sipping On Mai Ties And Going To Plenty Of Miami's Tremendous Night Establishments Until This Trade Goes Through Bruce Brown Is On The Market We Said That The Lakers Have Some Interest Obviously The Suns Any Warm Body The Suns Can Get Their Hands On They Have Interest Cameron Johnson Update

[00:44:05] You Johnson I Don't Think They Have Enough To Get Him Cameron Johnson Might End Up Going Somewhere Weird Look For A Stealth Team On Him I Don't Have Anybody Out There In The

[00:44:35] Cosmos In My Mind Right Now But Because Some Of The Usual Suspects Are Drying Up We Might Get A Pivot Trade Like A Paradigm Shift With Cameron Johnson Now Colin Sexton He's Rumored In A Lot Of Places He Like The Extension Of Walker Kessler A Little Bit Zach Levine Is Not Getting The Interest That I Think He Deserves This Year

[00:45:05] He's Playing Really Well And He's Had A Really Great Attitude This Year The Only Problem Is Is That Salary And When You're Talking About Adding This Dude And He's Probably Like The Third Dude 43 Million Is Hard To Swallow That Means No Depth On Your Bench Whatsoever We Going With Six Dudes And I Don't Think Anybody Wants That Now Let's Get To Our Segment

[00:45:34] Around The Arc We Gonna Start In San Antonio Where Else Will We Start Who's In San Antonio Victor Weng Bayama That's Why We Start There The Spurs Currently Are 23 And 20 20 Let's Start That Again The Spurs Are 20 And 23 They're 12th In The West Currently They

[00:46:16] And Basically Now You're Hearing These Rumors About De'Aaron Fox Joining Him In All Of This The Thing That Weng Bayama Has Done He's Changed The Calculus Of That Team Because You're Able To Rely On Him For Scoring You're Able To Rely On Him For Rim Protection He's He's Allowing That Team To Be To Think More Of Themselves Than They Currently

[00:46:46] Have To And It's A Luxury Because The Spurs Really Don't Have To Do Anything This Year This Is Still A Gap Year Now Sometimes Things Present Themselves That You The Corner And Him Being 27 Years Of Age And Being A Really Good Professional Basketball Player Not Just On The

[00:47:16] Court But You Know What I'm Talking About The Habits The Work Ethic He Puts In During The Off Season What Have You You Know That He Has That Mindset That He Wants To Be Great I Think One Of The Reasons Why He Is Like Here And If You're Looking Like You're Not Really In The Mix To Do Anything Big In The Playoffs And

[00:47:46] You're De'Aaron Fox Evictor Win By Yama Just Sitting Out There Going Like Damn Can you Imagine If I Was With That Dude You Imagine The Havoc That We Could Cause The West Just Him And I Not Even Necessarily Everybody Else And This Is How NBA Players Think Don't Let Them Fool You And This Is He's Making Them Rethink Their Calculus They Have To Rerun Their

[00:48:15] Numbers Because He's So Good Defensively And Offensively He Creates Challenges For The Opposing Team On A Myriad Of Levels And Adding A Really Good Piece To That Team Could Skyrocket Them Into A Playoff Contention So I'm All For This If This Does Go Down But I Do See Why

[00:48:45] The Spurs Might Want To Take A More Patience Approach Especially With The 2025 Draft Being As Loaded As It Is When Bayama Sitting Here And If They Get Lottery Luck If For Some Reason They Fall Into A Situation Where The Second Half Doesn't Go As Well You See What's On The Horizon Now I Do Know That Deion Fox Is Definitely Going To Improve What You

[00:49:15] Have On That Team I Just Wonder If If This Is Too Quick To Pull That Trigger Is It Too Quick Let Me Throw Some Numbers That You About Victor Went By Yama Right Now He Leaves The League In Blocks With 3.9 If This Holds He'll Be The First Player Since Dikembe Mutombo In 1995 To Average At Least 3.9 Blocks Per Game His Block Rate

[00:49:44] So This Is An Advanced Analytic Is Over 10% For The Second Consecutive Year Only One Of Four Players In NBA History To Achieve This And Then Let's Get To Rick Carlisle Reaction To Win By Yama Defense It's Rare To See A Guy That Might Block Three Shots Or Four Shots In One Possession Then Grab The Ball Then Go Down And Put It Between His

[00:50:14] Legs And Dunk With His Right Or Left Hand And Yet He Makes These Things Look Very Routine And Again I'm Not Trying To I'm Not Trying To Glaze Him Up I'm Not Trying To Say Hey You Gotta Go For It Now I'm Just Saying That There's An Argument To Be Made By Upgrading The Talent In This Situation Now Again It All Comes Down To What The Actual Cost Is

[00:50:44] Now Do You Want To Give Up Three First Round Picks Right Now Or Do You Want To Kind Of Put Yourself In A Position Where As Victor Wynn By Yama Grows The Team Grows You Got Stefan Castle He Wants To Be A Point Guard He's Learning From Chris Paul There's Some Things In The Calculus That You Have To Keep In Mind When You Are Looking At These Trades It's Not Like 2k Where Oh He's A Better Player

[00:51:14] Let's Just Put Them On This Team And It Just Makes Us Better And Makes Our Rating Better 100% But Vi And Guess De'Aaron Fox Is A Complete Talent Upgrade Than What Anything They Have On The Roster But Does It Stall The Development Of Stefan Castle Does Stefan Castle Need To Be In This Tray See These Are Questions That You Gotta Ask Yourself Before You Jump Immediately On

[00:51:51] Highlights Are How Seemlessly Victor Wimbayama Transitions From Elite Rim Protector To High Level Offensive Creator When These Defensive Trajectory Places Him In Rare Historical Company Could Become The Only The Second Player Ever After David Robinson To Win Rookie Of The Year And Then Defensive Player Of

[00:52:21] Player In NBA History To Win Rookie Of The Year And Defensive Player Of The Year Without An MVP Yet Though His MVP trajectory Is Wily Assumed No Shit Now Let's Ask This Other Question If You Get De'Aaron Fox Your Lob Situation With Victor Is

[00:52:51] No Offense To Chris Paul He Is Also 39 Years Of Age Chris Paul Used To Be Devastating In The Pick And Roll Offense The Only Problem Is That When He Turns The Corner He Is Not Fast Enough And His Guy Is Able To Recover Now So The Passes Aren't As Good As They Used To Be If You Upgraded That To De'Aaron Fox Who Was One Of The Fastest Players In The League With The Ball In His Hands Could You Imagine What That Pick And Roll

[00:53:21] Would Look Like Or Pick And Pop That's The Problem In Sacramento Right Now Is That Sabonis Can't Really Step Out As Much As He Kind Of Needs Him To Step Out And The Lane Is Clocked You Imagine A Lane That's Completely Empty Because Victor went By Yama Standing 30 Feet Away Asking For The Ball And De'Aaron Fox Has A Clear Lane To Go To The Basket What Does That Look Like Who Wants To Know De'Aaron

[00:53:51] Fox That's Who Wants To Know That's Why He So Jones In To San Antonio San Antonio They're Two and A Half Games Out Of The Plan Right Now They Have Wildly Exceeded Expectations A Move Like This Would Then Set Expectations Ablaze And I Caution People On This There's Two Rows To Go Down

[00:54:20] There's No Question That De'Aaron Fox Will Help You But Then It Raises The Expectation Level Of The Team And Now Do You Want To Start The Clock Now Or Would You Rather Start The Clock Organically Next Year Around This Time Depending On The Lottery Pick Depending On How It All Worked Out We Can Start The Clock This Time Next Year I Don't Know Victor Doing His Thing Allow It Go And Here's The Other Thing

[00:54:50] It's Not Your Whole Staff Is Together Grey Popovich Is Still Going Through Rehab For The Stroke That He Had So I Just Wonder If This Is Like The Most Accortune Time To Do It Now It Doesn't Change The Fact That When Rayama Is On Course To Be The Face Of The League Rick Rick Kyle Had This To Say In All Of His Talent His Size His Aptitude For The Game His Skill His Feel And

[00:55:20] In Due Time It's Very Possible That He'll Be The Face Of Basketball Not Just The NBA Basketball But The World Of Basketball High Praise For Our Guy Here We Knew When We Is Special We Like To See Coaches Say These Things As Well Because It's Just The Things That He's Doing Is Just It's Nutty At This Point

[00:55:50] And We Love Just The The Process Of Development With Him Not Pigeon Holding Him To Taking Just Paint Touches And Whatever The Case May Allowing Him To Be To Stretch The Range Out And Shoot It

[00:56:32] You're Fun To Be Around Gray Hang I Like This For San Antonio Keep It Airy Keep It Light Right Now It's All Good Now We're Going Move On To The Mavericks Where It's Not All Good Derek Lively Hurt Luka Dodgers Hurt A Lot Of People Hurt But You

[00:57:02] And The Reason Why We're Bringing This Up And We're Bringing This To Your Attention About The Dallas Mavericks Is That They've Been Navigating All These Like Catastrophic Injuries That Have Been Going Down But With Veterans Like Kyrie Irving And Klay Thompson Finding Their Flow State And Getting Getting Up These Opportunities They Held It Together So Let's Start Here With

[00:57:32] Kyrie Irving When He Got To Dallas The Conversation Wasn't About Basket It On Him Whether He Could Fit Next To Luka Listen To Niko Harrison He Took A Gamble No Doubt But Credit To Niko Harrison The Gamble Was Paying Off Kyrie Is Missed 10 Games Already This Season

[00:58:02] But Let's Be Real Only 10 And My Man Took A Sabbatical In The Middle Of When He Had KD And James Harden Him Missing Games Because He's Actually Hurt These Are Steps Forward For Kyrie But It's Not Just His Availability It's Been The Way He's Playing He's Bought In Defensively Which Has Been A Legitimate Question Mark Given His Inconsistent Effort In Brooklyn And Boston

[00:58:32] One Scout Put It Best He Defended Much More Consistently In Dallas Than He Did In His Previous Two Stops Cause He Gives Shit And Offensively You Know What He's A Complete Artist Out There Kyrie Is Still One Of The Best Trick Shot Makers In The League Whether It's Off Balance Three Point Shot One Legged Three Point Shot Floaters Going In The Spin That He's Able To Put On

[00:59:02] The Basketball When He Gets It On To The Glass And Just Go In He's An Absolute Wizard With His Handle Nobody Has Been Able To Fit With Luka And Luka Has Been Able To Respect Him And Give Him His Kind Of Leeway As Well And That's Allowed To Keep Dallas Afloat Kyrie Showing Up Performing And Keeping Dallas In The Mix

[00:59:32] And That's A Credit To Niko Harrison Not Just For Believing In Kyrie But Setting Expectations And Holding Him To Them Then Another Guy That He Picked Up Is Klay Thompson So He Gets Klay Thompson And For What He Gave Up Are You Klay Dropped Seven Threes In The First Quarter Putting Up 21 Points In

[01:00:02] Less Than Nine Minutes This Is Vintage Klay This Is In The Last Game And Even His Teammates Notice Ricky Or Second Year Guy Olivier Max And Prosper Said This Says That's Vintage Klay Thompson Right There I Told Him On The Bench He Said That's The Klay I Know Now Klay Is The The same Guy Who Scored 37 In A Quarter For Golden State But He Still

[01:00:32] Has The Ability To Hit A Different Gear He Still Has The Ability To Get On A Streak And Just Light The Nylon On Fire Because He Just Stroking It From Deep Just Craziness And He He He He Klay Going To Be Less

[01:01:02] Of A Second Side Initiator He Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay

[01:01:38] Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay Klay killing it and we need to get to amon thompson and the reason why we need to talk about amon

[01:02:07] thompson is because he had a game winner he had a game winner against boston and they won 114 to 112 let me just tell you right now minutes after amon thompson sank the game winning floater the houston rockets second year forward made a tiny but loud gesture in the locker room just a congratulatory text from his twin brother asur and a finger pointing to the his vein

[01:02:35] to his right arm ice cold i'm saying because that's how he is this is eme adoka on thompson he's learning on the fly he's shown glimpses last year when he came back from the injury and started the last 18 now he's getting a chance to show even more with increased minutes in a starting role and let's talk about the role on this team he's moved into the starting lineup

[01:03:03] after jabari smith went down with the injury and the numbers are ridiculous if you compare him to some of the other young talents in houston jenny green tarry eason jr even past lottery picks and what have you amon thompson his impact is on both sides of court he's additive on offense because he's a

[01:03:29] facilitator he's also a tremendous offensive rebounder his athleticism is there i don't think there's really another dude in the league more athletic than amon thompson let's just be that real about it in his 39 points 33 points 9 rebounds 4 assists 13 and 19 shooting against boston proves it

[01:03:55] averaging as a starter 19.2 points a game 11 and a half rebounds 4.4 assists and 2.2 still steals a game and 1.2 blocks that's nuts and here's the other thing he still can't shoot threes not a lick 21 percent from three as a starter now he's shooting 32 percent from the corner so let's

[01:04:25] give him that i'm still i don't know if the shot will ever come up come around but the defensive prowess the versatility that he brings his competitiveness he's a very serious about his craft type of dude he really didn't get all he wanted to out of the overtime elite situation him and his brother

[01:04:52] and i think that his development kind of stymied there now i don't know if the shooting would have come around if he would have went overseas or if he would have went to college or whatever the case may be i don't know i just wish that as he continues to grow that shot is going to make a break what he

[01:05:14] could really be i think he can be high if the shot never comes around he's still be a high level role player but if the shot comes around we're talking about a different stratosphere altogether because this dude is as athletic as anthony edwards for sure so that's my that's my takeaway from him

[01:05:41] is that he's such a sick athlete and he's on the he's on the level on anthony edwards no doubt but if that shot doesn't come on come around people are going to be able to sag off him you're going to be able to devise defenses that will minimize his ability to really be effective on the team so

[01:06:04] his development is still ongoing you see the glimpses you see just the eruptions that he can have but it will come down to the shooting and this is another thing that email doka said he said i coach a guy like ben simmons where people did that and tried to take away the paint but amens is so fast

[01:06:31] and explosive that we can put him anywhere in the actions and he could still get we could still get him downhill he's just not a stand in the stand in for injured jabari smith anymore he's raised the rocket ceiling if you combine that the steadying production from guys like algrin shangun fred van vliet

[01:06:54] and suddenly you have a playoff worthy rotation that's beating teams like cleveland boston both are the top contenders in the east they are definitely letting you know that they are here to stay so the bigger question is this is where does this take us and what does this all mean because there's being like a

[01:07:19] revolving door about which player is going to step up we told you in previous iterations of this podcast that ime adoka has a certain way of playing he has a certain mentality him and thompson hits that this is jalen brown before the jump shot but more explosive athlete

[01:07:45] can you imagine a more explosive athlete than jalen brown without the jump shot and more offensive creativity volumes to more offensive creativity because he came up as a point guard so he sees the game differently and this is the best quote that i heard from ime adoka people watch film and they see

[01:08:10] physicality and the way we play it's a little bit different than the rest of the league i wouldn't say we are sneaking up on anybody anymore and this is thompson's mindset we feel like we can be anybody in this road trip has really proven that so dude the best part about amon thompson is

[01:08:33] that we still got to continue to worry about the shooting we cannot sugarcoat how glaring a weakness that is but his ability to defend legitimately one through five his ability to be able to be a rim protector at six foot seven his ability to rebound at a high level at six foot seven and be able to take

[01:08:56] the physicality levels that he's able to take and his ability to be so quick to the ball the steals the blocks whatever this is generational talent it's just the jump shot we're going to talk about the grizzlies real quick and the reason why i want to talk about them is jaron jackson jr jaron jackson jr

[01:09:19] has gotten out the shadow of job morant and it's starting to look very scary in memphis he's the defensive anchor and he can be an offensive hub for the team he's both the leading scorer and the best defender on a team that's 31 and 16 which is has the fourth best net rating per john hollinger of

[01:09:45] the athletic jackson jr impacts the game on both ends of the court the grizzly lean on him for his rim protection but they also have now zach edie and that's where his switchability on defense comes into play now that he doesn't have to sit there and rim protect he can come and be a weak side rim protector he can now get out on the wings and be able to switch he's such a fluid athlete and it's devastating

[01:10:14] to see somebody who is seven feet tall with a seven foot four wingspan out there mirroring you on defense and disheartening in a way you see him bring the ball up full court he has been he has had better awareness of his teammates this is what coach jenkins had to say about him jackson isn't just a standstill shooter or a rim runner anymore he's trusted with bringing the ball up and creating

[01:10:43] transition and even facilitating for others and then obviously he provides spacing oh he's an incredible three-point shooter now he provides that that four-hour style that you definitely want to play especially if you're going to have zach ed in game and then if you take zach ed out and you put him at the five you can now have a five-hour system with the amount of shooters that they have

[01:11:11] at their disposal and this opens up the lane for who john morant and john morant then can get the sports city of sports center dunks and jaron jackson jr can still be the most impactful player on the memphis grizzlies that's been my thing all along now what is memphis going to do at the trade deadline

[01:11:36] there are rumors about jimmy butler going to memphis now jimmy said he didn't want to go to memphis but i think jimmy needs to reconsider that i think memphis as far as what the team has to offer him and what he can do for that team i think he can elevate that team and that team could really

[01:12:02] give okc all they wanted if he was on that team and because jimmy has sunk his trade value it's not necessarily that memphis is going to have to go give up a whole hell of a lot to get jimmy butler so just saying and then i want to leave off with the pelicans and we're not going to talk about

[01:12:28] anything of the heavy situation we're going to bring up some lightness we're going to bring up some celebration i want to talk about my guy trey murphy the third that's who i want to talk about when i want to talk about the new orleans pelicans because in light of all the ongoing uncertainty surrounding zion williamson and his availability yet again trey murphy the third has emerged as a

[01:12:56] pivotal component in the new orleans pelicans quest for tank job 2025 now his consistent development in his adaptability his adaptability has not only filled the void left by williamson but also positioned him as an indisquisitable asset for the team's future murphy has elevated his

[01:13:23] scoring to 21.2 points a game this season it's a significant increase from previous seasons his shooting effectiveness has maintained he's shooting 45 field goal percentage he's shooting 88 80 almost 89 percent from uh free throw and what kind of three-point shooter he is he's crazy three-point shooter

[01:13:49] defensive contributions beyond scoring he contributes 5.1 rebounds a game and 1.2 steals a game he's just long athletic and he is the modern day wing now oh murphy ranks in the 88th percentile in transition efficiency reflecting his prowess in fast break opportunities again when you get a long

[01:14:16] lanky wing on the break well you got some time for some true excitement to happen and he doesn't disappoint and then he can stroke the three and i like that now his true shooting percentage is at 64.7 this is crazy development and this is what willie green had to say he lauded murphy's maturation

[01:14:41] and his enhanced ball handling skills it's rewarding to see one of our young players just continue to mature in his basketball career and his credit goes to trey he puts in the work he is watching film getting in the gym getting in extra work in at night really good to see he see he he will be very good ahead he his career

[01:15:10] as it progresses so let me what is he trying to say here okay so basically because he's getting the film work in he's getting in the gym he's getting in the work extra work at night he sees just a very positive career trajectory for trey murphy the third green further emphasizes murphy's expanding offensive record car he's getting to the free throw line rebounding is going up and we're starting to see

[01:15:38] trey handle the ball a bit more in our offensive possessions and he attacks guys off the dribble as long as he continues to work on it and he and he does it with confidence like what he has been doing sky is really the limit for him what does this all mean the one thing about this season even though

[01:16:02] it's pretty much a lost year because of just all of this the buffoonery that has gone on with a couple guys there they're still in a good state because trey murphy the third is a baller and also i like jordan hawkins as well eve meesey is a revelation shots out to david griffin on his draft situation because

[01:16:28] that's been right and here's the thing because this year has not gone the way it needed to go you have a chance for a real high lottery pick and basically replace the guy that you thought was going to be your number one option if everything plays out you're going to have a shot at dylan harper cooper flag ace bailey and a couple others who are in that kind of range as far as that's concerned

[01:16:58] so you're going to get a talent upgrade irregardless and here's the other thing maybe you'll get a talent upgrade that will play yeah zion i know i know i know it's a shot fire whatever but hey at least you're not joel mb congratulations to joel mb and before we leave

[01:17:23] let's go ahead and do this let's give our guy joel mb a little love when he sat out the laker game the other night it was career game number 400 that joel mb has not played philadelphia 76ers fans

[01:17:46] how do you feel about that i'd like to thank saraya again for all her help getting some of these things together and pulling some of these quotes she she is indispensable i like to again say that the other thing that we would like to tell you guys is that we'll be back on friday unless something happens with one of these trades you know the deal it's one of those crazy times of year and

[01:18:14] we are up for the challenge front runner podcast collective keeps our eyes and our nose to the ground we stay on our grind to make sure you get the best basketball podcast you can possibly get and with that being said until next time the best part of you is you surround yourself with genuinely

[01:18:39] supportive people that are additive to you in your situation show those people who exhibit those behaviors the appreciation that they deserve and then if you have some time go out and do some good in this world and we'll see you back on this feed on friday where i'm sure there'll be more rumors

[01:19:04] we'll have more speculation and probably some erroneous reckless trade speculation so come back on friday we'll see you then