Takes

The Milwaukee Bucks should not play Giannis Antetokounmpo for the rest of the season

I don't even think Milwaukee would want Giannis to come back and play... They should want to do whatever they can with this pick 'cause they don't have many of 'em. And Giannis probably shouldn't even wanna play and risk health and risk this contract extension that he can get before next fall. So the tanking is gonna get egregious.

Nikola Jokic will force a trade from Denver to the Chicago Bulls because of the large Serbian population in Chicago

I think Nikola Jokic is gonna force a trade out of Denver at the end of the season to the Chicago Bulls. Whoa. Number one Serbia population in America. Wow. That's just a wild one.

The Wizards should draft Caitlin Clark to sell tickets

Why don't the [Wizards] draft Caitlin Clark? I think she'd sell tickets. I think she'd sell tickets. Now is, is she at the ability level to be an NBA player? No. Obviously not. But sell tickets. She can go out there, there ball and hoop. She can hit a couple threes.

The Knicks are going to hire Rick Brunson as their head coach

There's a theory that they're crossing all these names off. They're gonna ask everybody get denied and then they're gonna go back with a Rick Brunson being the coach. That's a theory I saw out there.

The 2025 OKC Thunder championship will be the worst title of their upcoming dynasty

We have gotten ahead of it and we think this actually will be the worst Thunder team to win a title in their dynasty run. 'cause you guys [Alex Caruso] are probably gonna win like six in a row. So you're saying this is the worst this year? Yeah. We just back where we'll be like, can you believe that team won?

Steph Curry is the West Coast version of Joel Embiid in the playoffs

Some are saying that Steph Curry is the West coast version of Joel Embiid in the playoffs.

Jayson Tatum is not a superstar

Jason Tatum is not a superstar... He didn't play on the Olympic team. He didn't play.

Jayson Tatum has officially replaced Joel Embiid as the worst playoff superstar in the Eastern Conference

I guess that a super embarrassing that Jason Tatum has now taken the crown of the worst playoff performer in the Eastern Conference... Joel Embiid for a long time was known as the worst Eastern Conference superstar to play in the playoffs. And Jason Tatum simply has worst playoff stats than Joel Embiid. And that's a fact.

If Steph Curry wins FMVP with a torn hamstring, he is ahead of LeBron James

If Steph Curry wins NBA finals, MVP by the way, with a, a torn hamstring. He has a, a torn hamstring I think... You gotta put him ahead of LeBron.

New Rule: If you win Game 1 of a playoff series by 50 points, the series should immediately end

If you win a game one by 50 points, a series should be over. Okay. 'cause when this game was such a blowout, it was like 30 points in half. How much more exciting would it be in the second half if the Grizzlies were literally fighting to keep the series alive... If you win the game one by 50 series over, we've seen enough.

Jalen Brunson is the next 'Can't Win The Big One' guy in the NBA

How about this one? Hank, you're gonna like this one. Jalen Brunson. Mm. Does that do anything for you? Yeah. Not clutch at all... I'm trying to predict where the narratives are gonna go next... The Knicks were built to beat the Celtics this year.

Paige Bueckers will be a better WNBA player than Caitlin Clark

I do think that she [Paige Bueckers] might be a better WNBA player than Caitlin Clark. I think she's more athletic. She's more explosive. Caitlin Clark obviously shoots better from the outside and she's like a once in a generation talent. But in terms of, I'm talking about winning.

LeBron James' best dad move ever was getting Bronny drafted into the NBA

Lebron is a better father than he is basketball player? Yeah, I think, didn't we we determin that on Friday. Yeah. The fact that he got Bronny drafted. Yeah. No basketball player has ever done that before. But I do think he went up to him [Stephen A. Smith] like Stephen A. Smith played the role afterwards.

The NBA internally tried to send Luka Doncic to the Lakers to stop LeBron James from starting a rival league

What if the NBA forced Luka [Doncic] to the Lakers to basically like forced LeBron to stay? Because the Luka thing still doesn't make any sense. ... LeBron is clearly like doing something, like something's going on where he is protesting... and maybe the NBA knew about this internally and they tried to send Luka to LA to somehow stop LeBron from doing what he's trying to do.

Paul George is essentially just Tobias Harris with better branding

Paul George is Tobias Harris with better branding. Whoa. Yeah. I mean they're all back tonight... Paul George, Paul George, I know he had a better January, but like off key, he, he needs to be a dude while MB is out through all of this. And instead he's totally comfortable getting his ISO 17 footer up.

The Mavericks trading Luka Doncic is absolute malpractice

Nico Harrison — this guy should be in person... Malpractice. Malpractice. Yeah. The only guy literally deserves to be in prison. The only — it was, it's malpractice. The only way you could reasonably get over it is if like, Luca ends up being like 320 pounds.

LeBron James was born without a clutch gene

The poor man was just born without a clutch gene, and we see it again and again and again. MJ or LeBron? Stop it. Don't even go there because it's offensive to me. You would put those two in the same sentence because LeBron could not carry Jordan's sneakers.

Kobe Bryant is overrated relative to the all-time elite tier

I don't want to say what I think—Kobe's, he's very overrated. Because he is rated so high. Like he gets talked about like LeBron or Michael Jordan. I don't think he's in that spot. He wasn't the best player on the three-peat team... Shaq was an absolute monster.

LeBron James is on steroids because of his size and longevity

I will go with LeBron James. I mean, how is he not on steroids? That big. I'm not throwing a flag. That's probably an honorable mention. I mean there's, that's probably an honorable mention.

Joel Embiid is the worst player in the entire Olympics

[Joel Embiid] is the worst player on the fucking team, probably in the whole Olympics.

LeBron James is just a Brian Windhorst merchant

I would make the argument that LeBron is just a [Brian Windhorst] merchant that [Windhorst] made LeBron not the other way around.

I was a better basketball player than Ray Allen

Ray Allen... I'm not saying Ray wasn't great but... I'm a basketball player. I wasn't one dimensional. I just didn't shoot, I just didn't play defense. I did everything. So I look at myself as different than a lot of these guys that were one dimensional... I just felt like I was a better player.

Coach K is using his role as a Lakers consultant to force Dan Hurley out of college basketball

Coach K did all of this... Coach K sees Dan Hurley win his second national title back to back. He looks around, he says, look, there's a lot of, a lot of guys in, in college basketball that will never reach where I'm at. They won't be the old school. Tough style Like Dan Hurley. He's a throwback. He's a relic. I gotta figure out a way to make sure that Dan Hurley doesn't surpass me as the goat... He's getting Dan Hurley to go to the Lakers. So Dan Hurley can't take everything from John Scheyer and Duke and Coach K and all his legacy and stuff.

Jalen Brunson is a better player than Jayson Tatum and would never lose an NBA Finals

Jalen Brunson. Say what you want about he would never lose in the finals. Yep. Yep. Yes. He will not lose in the [finals].

LeBron James should retire immediately to protect his 'GOAT' legacy

I wish [LeBron James] would retire because at this point I'm looking at it, what else is it for LeBron to accomplish? He have nothing else to accomplish... every single season that you don't win, then you give more animosity or more arguments to come at you about the GOAT debate... his legacy now is measured on the GOAT conversation and the firing of Darvin Ham does not look good on him.

The Celtics should intentionally lose two games to the Cavaliers to get battle-tested for the finals

I stand by my take. I still think they should intentionally lose some games to the Cavs... I think two. That way when they get to the Finals they're like, yeah, we've had our battles.

Caitlin Clark is a bust because she can't win the big one

Are we sure Caitlin Clark is actually good. Ooh Bust can't win the can't win the big one.

LeBron James isn't that special because he merely lived up to the expectations we set

LeBron's actually not that special because we kind of called it... he just kind of lived up to his expectations. He was the chosen one. He didn't do anything that we didn't predict. We were right, man.

The NBA All-Star game should be changed to a 'White vs. Black' format

What about the Rashard Mendenhall rules? What if we make the All-Star game white versus black. So who's the white starting five? Luca [Dončić], Jokic, Caruso, Kristaps [Porzingis] and Grayson Allen. I'd put that five up against [everyone else].

Bronny James will win an NBA Finals before the Patriots make the playoffs again

Bronny James will win an NBA finals before the Patriots make the playoffs again.

James Harden will do something so egregious that he ends up in jail by the end of the week

I think that James Harden will end up in jail by the end of this week. I think he's gonna do something. He's gonna do something so ridiculous that someone in the front office is gonna call the cops on him. Like I think he may just like show up on the court naked.

I would understand if the 76ers decided to trade Joel Embiid

It's not that I want to trade Embiid, but if we were to get like a very great offer... The Sixers are nowhere near [winning a title] right now... If that did happen, I wouldn't be like devastated. It would make sense to me.

Baron Trump will eventually be the first overall pick in the NBA Draft

How awesome would that be if Baron Trump was the first overall pick in the NBA Draft. We were right. It was gonna happen.

Victor Wembanyama is a bust

Victor Wembanyama from France. The Frenchman not played in Summer League. Bust. Oh, okay. I like that take.

Chris Paul is going to win a championship with the Washington Wizards.

I don't think that this is a buyout situation. I think that Chris Paul's gonna win a championship in DC.

Ja Morant flashes guns on Instagram Live as a safety precaution to deter potential threats.

I kind of get why he's flashing a gun on Instagram live. Because his location is revealed. He wants anyone watching his Instagram live to know that he's strapped. It's a safety thing.

The Celtics need to blow the team up

First is stop talking about that video because Celtics lost and it doesn't matter. First they, you gotta blow it up. You gotta blow it up. How many times can you get close? I mean, as a Celtics fan, I cannot stand watching this team get so close year after year and then falling short. It's bullshit.

The Celtics will become the first team in NBA history to come back from down 3-0

They [the Celtics] just need to win two and if they win two, they're winning four. And everyone in this room knows this... It was exactly reminiscent of the Yankees and Red Sox game three. They lost like 19 to eight. Got absolutely blown out... They came back, they won. They shocked the world First team to ever do it. Why not us?

The 1990s Rockets would have beaten the Bulls even with Michael Jordan on the court

They would not have won eight in a row. They would have been a small team trying to defend Dream [Hakeem Olajuwon] and us. We would have beat them. Now if you ask me the same question and go, can you beat that first three-peat team or the second? I don't know... But those teams, that how they were constructed and just add Mike to it, we would've beat them for sure.

Kobe Bryant's spirit won Game 4 for the Lakers, not Lonnie Walker IV

I think we can all agree that Kobe Bryant actually won that game for the Lakers, not Lonnie Walker. RG3 said Lonnie Walker's performance in the fourth quarter was out of this world. We know it was you Bean.

LeBron James is a better Laker than Kobe Bryant

I started just doing a bit that LeBron is the best Laker of all time. And I had like my top fives and Kobe wasn't on it. [Ari: Kobe's the sixth best]. Yeah. It was like Nick Van Exel. It was like Shaq. So all these like... Will Chamberlain, Kareem, Magic, I'll give Worthy. And then LeBron.

The NBA gave LeBron James a 'stimulus package' in the 2016 Finals by suspending Draymond Green

Game four, LeBron and them is about to lose the game. LeBron gets frustrated, he takes Draymond Green, throws him to the floor... Somehow some way revisionist history comes in and the NBA decides to give LeBron James and Cleveland a stimulus package. They suspend Draymond for game five... That is the one final that I will never accept being wrong about because the NBA suspended Draymond Green.

Seahawks fans deserved to lose the SuperSonics

The Seahawks take, which was correct... I think what people got really mad about is when you said like you deserve to lose the Sonics. Yeah. That Joe sports... because the Sonics like just straight up, they left, they fucked over the city of Seattle.

The Warriors are dead

My fire Fest is obviously a, the warriors is dead. I truly believe that.

The Warriors are dead

I think right now it's too early to do the thing that we all want to do, which we kind of like, we dipped our toe in earlier and said the warriors are dead. Fuck it. I'm just going to say it after game one, the warriors are dead.

If Steph Curry wins Finals MVP, he is a better basketball player than LeBron James

If Steph Curry wins an NBA finals MVP this year, I'm ready to be the first person to [say] that he's better than LeBron James purely at basketball.

Ime Udoka is the best at laying pipe among NBA coaches

You look at the Celtics Ime Udoka lays pipe better than any of these motherfuckers. Feels like he could spoil shit and he goes down. Yeah. She knows that he's not the whole package though.

Coach K is the worst NBA coach to never have coached in the NBA

Coach K would be a worst head coach than Calipari was when he was head coach. He's the worst NBA coach to never have coached in the NBA.

Isaiah Thomas is a better player than Steph Curry and people only rank Curry higher because Isaiah is short

The greatest player I've ever played with is Isaiah Thomas. And I have played with Michael. I have played with Kobe and Shaq, but the greatest player was Isaiah Thomas... He's six foot. And he did everything everybody else was doing. And in the same amount of time that Steph Curry was playing, Isaiah had better stats, but no one wants to mention it.

Kyle Korver is a better 3-point shooter than Steph Curry

I actually am looking at the list right now [Big Cat speaking]... Kyle Korver does have a higher percentage than Steph. [Salley]: You guys did cheat in college. I can tell because you only looking at the cliff notes. [Salley earlier arguing Dell Curry, Reggie Miller, Dale Ellis were better than Steph].