Takes

Cooper Flagg is fully activated after his 40-point game

Cooper Flagg may have fully been activated. He has reached full activation. 18 years old. 40 piece in regulation. ... If we're talking just highlight tapes, he's looking good.

Klay Thompson is going to go nuts in his first game back at Golden State — taking every Klay over

I'm just gonna take every single Klay Thompson over. First time back in Golden State. He's gonna go nuts.

Doc Rivers is on the Hot Seat because the Bucks have no identity

My Hot Seat is Doc Rivers... They are one in three on the season 18 and 22 in the Doc Rivers era. Mm. And Giannis was talking in the post game and said, right now we don't have an identity... How are we gonna win the game? ... No identity's bad.

A wrist injury has turned Josh Hart into a lethal three-point shooter

Josh Hart said when he took a half court heave to end the second quarter... he felt his wrist click and it almost clicked back into place. Said he went to Brunson at the half and told him 'I can shoot threes now.' It is basically the plot from Rookie of the Year... Josh Hart is now just a lethal three-point shooter because his wrist clicked.

The NBA investigation into Jontay Porter for prop betting irregularities is a bad look

My Hot Seat is Jontay Porter. Raptors center is under an NBA investigation into irregularities on his prop betting involving him. There was a couple times where he basically started a game, took himself out because of a eye injury. And on those games there was a bunch of action on his prop bets. Unders... This is bad.

Tristan Thompson took cheap steroids intended for physical appearance rather than performance

Tristan Thompson... Got busted for steroids... I went immediately to my number one source of steroids in the world that I know named Billy Football. And he said the craziest thing is that he was taking Broke Boys steroids. Oh. Stuff Frat Boys and Talkers used to bulk up... He was doing it for the look, not for the functionality.

NBA officiating in the Celtics-Pacers game was 'very questionable' after reversing a clear foul

Last night against the Pacers... Jalen Brown had a game tying shot attempt that they call the foul. They reviewed the tape, he clearly got hit in the head. They reversed it, gave the pacers the ball back... very questionable. Very, very questionable.

Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world

Yoic. Did you know that He leads the NBA in points, rebounds, and assists right now. Jesus. It's fucking insane what Yoic is doing. He's so good. I think, I feel like we're in the trap of not appreciating how great Yoic is. Yeah. He's the best player in the world.

The NBA In-Season Tournament is a success

My Cool Throne is the NBA in season tournament because it kind of rocks... It was an awesome crowd. The crowd was awesome... I was critical at first. It didn't make sense in the beginning, but now that it's more organized... I'm a fan.

The massive Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum contracts will look like great deals in five years

When [Jalen Brown] is making $68 million in four years, it still will be a lot of money. But if we have two or three rings, it's worth it. In five or 10 years, when Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum are only 30, it's gonna look like two great deals because the cap is going up.

The Celtics own the Sixers and it's frustrating

We would get smoked. The Celtics just fucking own us and it's so frustrating. I just fucking hate the Celtics so much.

Victor Wembanyama is going to be out of this world good

Charles Barkley has come out and said he doesn't know if [Wembanyama] will be good because he's gotta see him play the physical nature of NBA basketball. This means he's going to be out of this world good because Charles Barkley... is kind of stuck in the past... talking about the Golden State Warriors that went on to win four titles shooting jumpers.

Ben Simmons will be one of the most hated and mocked players on the internet this season

Ben Simmons is back and he's shooting basketball... It's gonna be awesome when it's like a Thursday night primetime game... and he just misses a shot. And the whole, like this is now this we're we're looking at one of the most universally hated guys on the internet... There's not a lot of defense for Ben Simmons.

The Lakers are 'packing it in' and LeBron isn't trying on defense

The Lakers are so bad. It's awesome... LeBron... just doesn't try at all on defense. He's very close to packing it in... I watched the first quarter last night they were down 33 to 12 in the first quarter.

James Harden is unhappy living in Brooklyn

James Harden is upset. This is going well. I fucking love the Nets—they're going to Kevin Durant's hurt, Kyrie plays half the games. And I saw the quote... James Harden doesn't enjoy living in Brooklyn, not just because of the climate, but also the state income tax is different than Texas.

LeBron James is the ultimate coach killer

LeBron and the coach killers back. It looks like Frank Vogel might get fired. There's a lot of rumors right now. No one does it better than him. No one kills a coach better than LeBron... Bron is going to come off the court and just be like, all right, he keeps his job one more game. Give him a look like, yeah, he's just doing the fucking gladiator up and down after every game for Frank Vogel's life.

Steph Curry will break the all-time three-point record tonight at Madison Square Garden

Steph Curry is going to, by the time you're listening to this, Steph Curry has already broken the record... I'm actually going to go to the game. I'm excited for it.

Russell Westbrook deserves significantly more respect for averaging a triple-double for a fourth season

Russell Westbrook doesn't get enough respect. This is now the fourth season that he will average a triple-double for the entire season. He could record zero points, zero rebounds, and zero assists in all the rest of the games this season, and he would still have a triple-double... The dude is fucking crazy. He's really, really good.

The Nuggets are 'cooked' for the season after Jamal Murray's injury

Jamal Murray tears ACL. So the Nuggets are cooked and that does suck because they actually were like one of those teams like, oh, maybe if they get a nice run going. So we're going to be Jazz fans now.

Doc Rivers will never be able to successfully ditch his nickname for 'Glenn'

He is going to get rid of the Doc Rivers nickname and just go by Glenn and somehow he thinks that that's just going to happen. Yeah, that doesn't happen. You don't go from a Doc to a Glenn because of anything.

Chris Webber is a terrible announcer

Chris Webber is a terrible announcer and he's getting exposed because he's been calling it feels like the important game every single night and holy shit does he suck. Chris Webber is the Michael Scott? Sometimes I start a sentence and I don't even know where it's going. It's hard to trend as an announcer two nights in a row without saying anything actually controversial... he's just trending because he's bad.

Carmelo Anthony will dominate in the NBA Bubble because it mimics the Olympic Village environment

This is actually the perfect environment for Carmelo Anthony because when does he perform at his best? In the Olympics, right? When the athletes are confined to a certain type of village with each other living under the bubble... and this is exactly what's happening in Orlando.

College coaches moving to the NBA often fail because they treat grown men like kids

I love when that happens. When a college coach thinks they can go to the pros and be just as much of a dickhead as they were in college and then everyone in the NBA or NFL is like hey, we don't really have to do all these things that you're making us do because we kind of know how to do it ourselves.

Ben Simmons will hit a three-pointer in his first preseason game tonight

He has his first preseason game tonight, so we'll see if he hits one. Do you guys think he'll hit one in his first game tonight? A three-pointer? ... I think yes.

I love Cameron Payne playing in the NBA Summer League after four years in the NBA

My hot seat is the summer league... except Cameron Payne, who is in the summer league, and he's just finished his fourth year in the NBA. He is competing in the summer league. I fucking love this... I hope he plays past when he retires from the NBA and he keeps showing up for the summer league.

Magic Johnson is a master of the media and spinning narratives

Can we just for a second note that Magic Johnson is a master of the media? Like, I know he's been getting dragged for a lot of things... but the guy can spin any spin zone. He went on First Take. He basically gets Stephen A. Smith on his side all like two hours before Rob Pelinka has to announce Frank Vogel as the new head coach and basically bringing up the fact that Frank Vogel was their sixth option. So Magic Johnson, hats off to you.

Gar Foreman and John Paxson are the idiots in the room now that Ernie Grunfeld is fired

Gar Foreman and John Paxson because now they are the idiots in the room. So it's like you never want to be the last to leave a party. They are the dum-dums. And you could always say, well, it's not Ernie Grunfeld. Well, guess what? Now Ernie Grunfeld's gone, so you are on the hot seat.

The Lakers will miss the NBA playoffs this season

The Los Angeles Lakers, if the playoffs started today, would not be in it. They'll be three games out after tonight's loss to the Hawks... LeBron [James] out of my arm. I don't want to miss the playoffs. Rondo hit the game winner, and it was like, well, problem solved. The Lakers are okay. And then they're out of the playoffs right now.

LeBron James clearly tampered with Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis and LeBron James had dinner together. Wouldn't that seem kind of perfect that they waited about a month after their dinner for Anthony Davis to demand a trade? ... LeBron James probably doesn't have to pay an agent's fee. He probably owns part of Clutch Sports. And guess what? Anthony Davis is going to go to the Los Angeles Lakers... LeBron James completely tampered here.

You have to be a world-class dumbass not to tamper in the NBA

I would say that you'd have to be a world-class dumbass not to tamper in the NBA. If you're not tampering, you are dumber than a pile of rocks.

I successfully recruited Carmelo Anthony to the Chicago Bulls

It took five years, but I have gotten Carmelo Anthony to the Chicago Bulls. Congratulations. Thank you. We're going to wave him, and he's never going to play for the Bulls. But I did recruit him in the summer of 2014... last laugh, me.

Dwight Howard's plan to evolve into Kevin Durant and take jumpers will be a disaster

First one is the entire NBA because Dwight Howard, his trainer, has said that Dwight Howard wants to evolve into Anthony Davis, into Kevin Durant, but his own version of that... So Dwight Howard is going to start taking jumpers, which is going to be hilarious. It's going to be fun watching him try to shoot and take shots from John Wall and Bradley Beal.

The Lakers have 14 players other than LeBron James who know how to play basketball

the narrative that LeBron James doesn't have any good teammates... super cool Michael Beasley said... you got 14 guys other than LeBron James that know how to play basketball. Also fact.

LeBron James will not sign with the Houston Rockets because he hates the city

Houston is my hot seat because the word on the street from, directly from LeBron James' lips. During the season when they were in Houston, he hates Houston as a city... The strip malls? The congestion? When you pull up Google Maps and it's just a ring of red... I believe that he hates Houston. I'm taking them off. We're officially taking them off the Pardon My Take big board for LeBron.

LeBron James is signing with the Lakers now that Bronny has enrolled in an LA school

Gary Payton, recurring guest Gary Payton, is saying that LeBron, Bronnie Jr. has enrolled at a school, private school in L.A... My two favorite things about free agency... is school updates where the kids are going to go to school and then realtor updates. Who's looking for houses where?

LeBron James is breaking his social media blackout by using his wife's Instagram

LeBron James, who said he's not going on social media one time the entire playoffs... decided that after the Eastern Conference Finals that he was going to do an Instagram takeover on his wife's Instagram account, which to me seems like he was on social media and not focusing on the biggest series of his life.

The Sixers are easy to guard in the playoffs because Ben Simmons can't shoot

Ben Simmons can't shoot, so if you just take them out of his hands, it's a lot easier to guard a team with four players instead of five.

The Chicago Bulls' 'TNT Bulls' home winning streak is still alive because they weren't scheduled for any TNT games

The NBA has run away, cowards. They have not scheduled the Bulls, the Chicago Bulls, on TNT Thursday night this year... the record, the 20 straight home wins on TNT, you can't lose if you don't play.

Derrick Rose signing with the Cavs is sad and marks the end of his relevancy

Derrick Rose just signed with the Cavs... He's going to be LeBron's little sidekick. Is he going to be Robin? It's very sad how his career has turned out. $2.1 million to play with a guy that he absolutely despised when he was in Chicago.

Paul George's rivalry with LeBron James is completely manufactured

All rivalries pale in comparison to the Paul George-LeBron James rivalry. ... Paul George said that his rivalry with LeBron James is for the culture. ... a crazy rivalry that I don't think anyone including LeBron James knew existed. ... it's kind of like what we're doing with that snowflake cuck Mark Cuban just creating a rivalry out of nowhere.

LeBron James is a coward for not participating in the NBA Dunk Contest

LeBron James that's not in the dunk contest again. Kind of a coward move. Michael Jordan was in the dunk contest. Back in the day, you had your best athletes in it. Vince Carter. You had your Vinces, your J.R. Smiths. You had everybody.

Phil Jackson is only at the Knicks because James Dolan is a sucker

I respect [Phil Jackson] for spotting the sucker in the room and basically saying, oh, James Dolan wants me to come and work for him, and I don't have to move, and I don't have to do anything, and he's going to pay me millions of dollars. What's the worst going to happen?