Mike Harmon & Dan Beyer Talk NBA Finals Game 7, Kevin Durant To Rockets, & So Much More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Greetings and welcome
in a red carpet championship edition of Fox Sports Sunday.
I may or may not be wearing a tux in
the studio Theater of the Mind people. Welcome in Mike
Carbon alongside my tag team partner Dan Byer as we
get ready for another big day across the sporting universe.
As you heard, is a Low and Crowns update. We

(00:22):
already have baseball underway. We've got the travelers underway as well,
with Fleetwood atop the leaderboard, always keeping an eye on
Rory McElroy whether he's going to have a great round
or tell us something crazy in his post or just
walk off. Yeah, exactly at Dan Byron Fox where he
inviting me. Hear him during the week as part of

(00:44):
the Doug Gottlieb Show and Cavino and Rich's going on, Buddy,
A big championship.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Day, Absolutely big day at Fox Sports Radio, big weekend.
You may not be in a tux. We may have
someone here that was wearing the clothes they wore last night.
We won't reveal any names, but it is a crazy,
crazy day, and I thought we would at this point Mike,
I thought that we would get a Game seven. We
talked about it last week and the way that this
series has played out, what do you know? It delivers

(01:08):
tonight and who's gonna win is still in the balance.
I think in everything and everyone's mind, there's the reason
to pick Oklahoma City. But then you just have those
dare I call them the pesky Pacers for a literation purposes, Mike,
Game seven exciting days if you're a sports fan.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
When we looked at this one overall, I'm gonna hate
watch it. I'm just gonna say it right out here.
Three minutes into the hour of I didn't like Game five.
Absolutely loathe the lack of effort from OKC. Second quarter.
I was like, ah, shots aren't falling. Pack it up.
Terrible game from SGA. Go back to Game five, Haliburton

(01:47):
and all the excuse making and everything that went on.
Guy played thirty four minutes. Right, we judge a guy
in between the white lines, and what you do. You
can tell me you're injured, and then you said, well
it would be a multi weekend or injury. Other well
then he shouldn't be playing. If it's a multi week injury,
he'd be missing a game, wouldn't he.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
That's what they said him. If it was a regular
season game, he would not have played with that injury, but.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Also calling it this y you know, diabolical. Hey, it
would be a multi week but look out hard he's
playing and he moved just fine, swimming along. It didn't
have to play heavy minutes, but going after loose balls,
doing all the extras that normally you're you're a little
uh more cautious of if if you're on the border.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
In terms of an injury, well, I do think that
it has our senses heightened, just from what we've seen
not only in these playoffs, but in other final scenarios.
And not to jinx or say anything Mike, but calf
injuries have been known to lead to bigger issues, and
I think that's what we feared with Tyreese Halliburton. And
hopefully it's just a minor, minor injury that doesn't lead

(02:52):
to anything bigger. But I felt that that was something
that I was looking at that was not on how
effective he would or wouldn't be, but would he even
be able to make it through the game. Considering the
history that we've seen with a Damian Lillard, injury, Jason
Tatum injury, Kevin Durant nineteen those all of those reasons, like,
that's the scary part to me when it comes to Halliburton.

(03:15):
But didn't seem to really show any effects to your
point in game six, So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
I mean, obviously, game to game, day to day, some
days you feel better than others when you're off an injury.
Had a little medical incident my own self yesterday. I've
been feeling great, lost some weight, failing, all good, and
all of a sudden, the head starts swimming and I
almost met the front end of a truck while I
was standing going getting ready to watch my daughter socker games.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
So dizzy, gotta watch those sugar levels, right, Yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Know that's it. So come monitoring all that, but you
think you're doing everything right, and all of a sudden
it can go sideways on you in a hurry. But
all that to say, we get to a game seven,
which we haven't seen in a decade. We talk about
this series and what okay see was during the regular
season vanquishing all comers, sixty eight wins and the pay

(04:00):
being in the middle of the seeding and get into
fifty wins, but second best record to the Thunder since
the beginning of January, peaking right time rotations. Maybe a
different Carlisle discussion if they're able to pull this off
right he's just on the border of the top ten
and wins all time for regular season, this would be
his second title. All of those things got to go

(04:22):
finish the job. But it's the great contrast of roster building,
roster depth, and then we're always still trying to fight
Dan each year of what the regular season truly means
in all that.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yes, no, it is. I think your Carlisle point is
well taken. I think that is. I actually think he's
the biggest winner in this series, and it can be validated,
It could be put in concrete with a win in
Game seven on the road. But I think that what
we've seen from Rick Carlile is and I remember when

(04:56):
Rick carl Lyle, before he even won the title with
the Dallas Mavericks and wasn't a head coach or was
a young head coach in the NBA, there were great
expectations for him, and then to think that here's a
guy that only has one title. I don't want to
say that he underachieved, because that's not what I'm saying,
is saying that we kind of lost the narrative who

(05:17):
Rick Carlisle was. And I think throughout these entire playoffs,
he's been probably the biggest winner. And if you can
cap it off with your second title, yeah, absolutely, it
puts him in all time greats is a crazy word, Mike,
but at least puts him in that category of the
Rudy tom Janovic's, those with the multiple titles, the Chuck Dailies,

(05:40):
and puts him in his name in the conversation, and
then you can move the pieces about wherever. So I
think that he's actually been the biggest winner in all
of this. But I still don't back down to something
that I said on this program and I said on
Fox Sports Radios, whoever wins tonight will be the worst
champion that we've had in decades and in my lifetime,

(06:00):
Because for what makes you so mad about Game six
with Oklahoma City, or what makes you so mad about
the Pacers, and how we look at the NBA and
how we look at the regular season, there's just no
way that these teams, with their faults, are better than
any of the champions that we've seen, and you take

(06:22):
even the past couple of years where we've had these
one off championships, if you will, I feel like Golden
State was still an extension kind of of their of their.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Wins last yet that old dynastic approach.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
You look back at that Raptors team that kind of
came out of I don't want to say came out
of nowhere, because they were a good team that year,
but I don't think anybody legitimately thought that they were
an NBA title winning team. And I just point to
the fact of Pascal Siaka was probably the second best
player on that team, or maybe third, depending on how
you want to look at a Kuhi was number one,
but I'll even say just you know, maybe the robin

(06:57):
to Kawhi at that point, and you look at all
the pieces that were on him, with Fred Van Vliet
and Kyle Lawi and Danny Green and others. That team
is significantly better than this Oklahoma City team, or would
be better than this Indiana Pacers team that would end
up winning the title. Take other teams that we've seen
over the last couple of years. I think that the
Bucks when they won, would be better. So it's lived

(07:20):
up to that expectation in my way. But I've been
entertained with the series. I didn't hate Game six as
much as you did because I knew on the other
side was giving us a Game seven. I know you
hated the Thunders performance and all of that, but you know,
by by and large, for what we've got for this, Yeah,
I come out, I come out pleased, and we'll enjoy tonight.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah. In the in the end, when at once they
tip off, Hey, I got a game seven, I got
a Sunday night, I got a game yeah, right, I'll
have that. Got Sunday night. Baseball life is good, and
that part of it I certainly take and embrace. It's
just more the all right. I'm here in the studio
with Smith and we're doing our show eating seven to
a Love than Pacific Go on Fox, and we're breaking

(08:02):
down games and when they're contentious and when we've got flow,
it's great. But when we're also having to watch a
team and just basically say they have one in their
back pocket in a title series, like I get it
regular season game fifty eight. I may get it in
the best of seven in an earlier round, but in

(08:23):
the finals where anything, And you've already watched this series
be as odd in terms of its pacing and rhyme
or reason in terms of how fourth quarters have gone
that you would say in the second quarter essentially, and
they made a little run, I get it, they scored
some point. They didn't really close the gap that much,

(08:43):
though they may have played a little more functionally better
in the third quarter, but Pacers weren't given up that
And no point did you feel that game was in doubt?

Speaker 2 (08:52):
No, And didn't Indiana also start out the second half
oero for eight from the floor, like nobody could score.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Right, they started their worst half terribory, Yeah, and then
went on fire.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
So it wasn't like Indiana was was this top level
team in Oklahoma still didn't bring the heat.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
And I get it.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
I get it from the chair that that you're sitting
in when this stuff is happening. It's it's a really
tough feel, honestly, it's a it was a tough casual
watch because of it. Like, yeah, yeah, the you had
the shift change, the change in momentum, the warm front
moving in if you will, in the first half, But
when nobody's hitting any shots, there's not much that that

(09:31):
you can you can flow.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
With so so, but it's a three point game after one.
Then OKAC has that drought in the second quarter. That's fine,
and they they get boat raced for the balance of
the quarter. But then it's it's just tough in a
final scenario. And look, Shay was careless with the basketball,
finishes with more turnovers than makes uh as a squad

(09:54):
just sloppy and whenever you start giving up big transition opportunities,
especially this pacer squad, that's what they've feasted on all
your laws.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, and it does, it does seem. And I
know that they did win a game in Indianapolis, so
it's not like they were skunked in Indianapolis. But the
way that they've played in their losses and turning the
ball over and becoming stagnant and not moving the ball,
it does feel that Oklahoma City has kind of succumbed
sometimes to the atmosphere. Maybe they just put it on

(10:22):
cruise control in game one and then we're just out
of their you know, out of their sorts in games
three and in game six. But for whatever reason, great
teams don't do that. I don't know if it's a
great series. I think it's been an enjoyable series, and
I'm not all over the map on this, but I

(10:42):
feel like going into the series, we thought a couple
of things. We thought that this general consensus was that
Oklahoma City was just significantly the better team, and that
this series, because of the lack of however you want
to say, market size, star pars, pizaz, whatever the case is,
oh boy, look out for this series. And I feel

(11:05):
that all of those things might have kind of been debunked.
Where Oklahoma City can be great, they can play great
in stretches, but to sit there and say that they're
one of the all time teams because they had the
best record in the NBA this year, I think this
series has proven that's not necessarily the case. The reason
why I said what I said about the being the

(11:26):
worst champions in forty years, and he used forty years
because that's all that I can remember. I can't tell
you how good the you know things were in nineteen
seventy five and seventy six and seventy seven. I don't
know those, but I know I know the Lakers and Celtics,
I know the Pistons and Bulls, and I know the
Lakers and Warriors and whatnot, and this is part of
that group. But to be able to at least have

(11:46):
it be competitive is and have a Game seven come
from it. I remember Game seven of the two thousand
and five or the series in two thousand and five
that went to seven games series in the Pistons and Spurs.
It's arguably one of the worst series we've ever had
in the NBA finals, because that's what the NBA was

(12:07):
back then, right, it was just a slugfest, and this hasn't.
It's not what the NBA was twenty years ago, and
this hasn't been that. So I can't ultimately hate on
this series. And so in a way, I feel like
the series has delivered because it's changed narratives that we
thought were there at the beginning of the seedon.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Heavy favorites before the series were the thunder. We're talking
minus six fifty, minus seven one hundred when we're talking,
you know, eighty eight percent probability rate of winning. Even
the odds for this game opened up, OKAC minus eight
and a half. As you're doing you're shopping on a
Sunday morning, might find it as low as six and
a half, might find a seven out there.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
It's why Game one was so important. It's, you know,
something we've talked about on the show. But of just
of that comeback, what it did was it showed that
Oklahoma City was not immune to having to face this
sort of sort of circumstance. But it also shows that
they weren't the super team and it gave the Pacers
confidence in the in the process of doing so, which

(13:06):
is if Indiana doesn't win that Game one and the
comeback that they have, I think the series was over
last week, you know, like I think it was. It
was it was over in Game five, like that's that's
what I on Monday, they were popping champagne. But that
Game one win really turned everything on its head and
delivers the game seven tonight.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
No, I had the thunder and six, and you know,
I'm a man that sticks with if his pick is
still alive, I don't hedge, so I'll take the thunder
to win tonight. But wanted to circle back real quick
because the Carlisle comment does it lends to the other
conversation that was swirling in the background, because you can't
go a full finals run without Lebron opening his mouth,

(13:49):
which he had to bemoaning ring culture because we don't
do that with coaches. But we just did right with
Rick Carlisle and what it does in terms of validation
and try to put him in proper perspective in a
coming out of that conversation with Lebron, you know, don't
do ring culture. I chased him. I didn't get as
many as I needed to, So now I'm gonna dismiss that.

(14:11):
That's what we talk about.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
But to give some.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Nods to these other guys that you know that Carlisles.
You know, we always had that dangerous word legacy, who lives,
who dies? Who tells your story? Like right now it
would be his most affected and I think I agree
with that looking at it right, we want that want
to validate SGA because you want to put him in
that Let's talk about new faces of the league. Halliburton

(14:35):
somewhat of a villain to a degree, as much as
you can push a guy right in the heroes and
villain's culture. Beyond that, I mean Pascal Siakam, does he
go down as the best number two guy and he
gets into those conversations. I mean, there's there's so many
of those, like Underling kind of or I guess the
underbelly of it versus the headliners that we normally get.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's funny because that win with the MAVs, and I
thought the MAVs were a better team and I didn't
think it was just Dirk and everyone else. But I've
had comments and conversations and arguments on this era about
that MAVs team and it did kind of change my opinion.
And looking back at what they had in twenty eleven
and how it was, it was so Dirk Leyden. But

(15:19):
Dirk's not going to beat the big three of the
Miami Heat. You need Rick Carlisle. You need him in
that role. And if you were to take this team
a four seed to end up navigating through what they
were able to navigate through to win an NBA Finals,
beating two to one seeds, doing what they did to
the Bucks and Giannis and taking out the Knicks, I mean,

(15:42):
it's quite the run. And I'm sorry for his greatest
Tyre's Halliburton is like he's not going to get all
the It's not just a Hymn show or a Pascal
Siakam show. It actually may be the even stronger argument
for Carlisle and the greatness that he's exhibited this series,
which by the way, sure is something that is known
in NBA circles, but not something that has talked about

(16:05):
on a daily basis.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Push him to that next level. I mean, we talk
about the McConnell games, we talk about the Mathron games
like this. This playoff for Indiana has been you know,
replete with different names. It's not just your quote star
power getting it done. So we'll see what that bench
has on tap a little later. As we do each
and every week in these final couple of months leading

(16:27):
up to training camps and there on, we'll continue our
fantasy watch. This week we're gonna go down to the
NFC South one team in particular, with a lot of
star power and a lot on the line. He's Dan Byer,
I'm by Carbon and this is Fox Sports Sunday on
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
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Speaker 1 (16:55):
Welcome back Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday by Carment,
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(17:19):
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(17:40):
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Speaker 3 (17:48):
Dan.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Let's continue our fun and exciting trip around the NFL
dial in the fantasy realm. If you got the NFC
South and there's one position that rises to the level,
like we know what Tampa is, right, you still have
that base of players coming back and trying to figure out,
all right what Godwin is health wise alongside Mike Evans

(18:12):
Bakman look great. Atlanta's just a giant question mark because
I'll starting the conversation off with one piece. Michael PENNOCKX
Junior is ranked twenty fourth.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
That's crazy, and it's crazy in my mind because as
we look throughout fantasy football, I think you can look
at the quarterbacks and see a lot of familiar names,
but we sometimes you think those familiar names, Mike, and
we just mischaracterize them as fantasy producers. I think Michael

(18:43):
Pennock Junior has an opportunity to be a top ten quarterback.
And I know rankings are more of your thing, but
I think everything is there for Atlanta this year. A
lot of us felt that was the case last year
of bringing in Kirk Cousins. But what I like about
it is now you're committed to Pennick Junior. You don't
have even though Cousins is there and we don't know

(19:04):
how long, but you don't have it hanging over of
if Cousins messes up, should Penix Junior play and how long?
Like it's Michael Pennock's job and Mike, we've looked at
this this team and said, what are you gonna do
with Kyle Pitts. How are you gonna use Kyle Pitts. Well, now,
Kyle Pitts was on the training block this offseason, still there,

(19:25):
but it tells me that they found their direction, their
backfield magnificent. The targets of Drake London emerged last season.
I'm gonna call him your boy, Darnell Mooney. Yeah, You've
always been a Mooney supporter. He emerged, and you have
an offensive line that is top ten in the National

(19:46):
Football League, something that Atlanta hasn't always had. So you
take all that stuff and even though Pennix is not
going to give you anything rushing, I think with all
of the weapons that they have and how they'll play offensively,
I think he could be a top ten quarterback this year.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Talk about jumping over and you got familiar names, and
this is where it's always fun. The fantasy the reality split, right,
because we used to do this years ago. I remember
arguing oftentimes with you know, big prominent guys that get
a lot of heat. I'm not going to name names
that sas guy that used to be here, and it
would be about Michael Vick fantasy player versus winning quarterback

(20:23):
and things of that nature. And we have those and
certainly where we have the landscape in twenty twenty five,
if you look at the quarterbacks currently ranked ahead on
average fantasypros dot Com. That I contribute to a small
voice and a sea of fantasy analysts, But you've got
Trevor Lawrence still above him by several spots to a

(20:45):
tongue of iloa. Lots of question marks going down there
in Miami. As we've talked about in the prior episode,
JJ McCarthy's not taking a snap as of yet. And
there were still some concerns this offseason that, at least
early on, maybe more noise in reality, but enough noise
of hey, maybe Aaron Rodgers, maybe Captain Kirk comes back.

(21:06):
Like there were a little there were whispers of a
lot of these things, perhaps just planning to give folks
to talk about in the long off season, but they're there.
We've got Matthew Stafford well winning versus numbers at this
point right last year. Not exactly a fantasy darling, but
winning football games is what it's all about. You got
Bryce Young just ahead of him, a guy who had

(21:28):
a fine finish to the twenty twenty four season. Sure,
maybe some expectations of moving forward go up a little
higher in the rankings. You're looking at CJ. Stroud, everybody
looking for a bounce backs, Like, have they fixed that
offensive line? I don't think they fixed that offensive line.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
You've got Drake May, You've got who's got better Who's
got better weapons offensively? Drake May or Michael Pennix Junior. Yeah,
I mean rhetorical question. Yeah, yeah, Like it's and and
yet who plays indoors? Who's who Who's likely to be
affected by the elements for the second half of the season.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Like that's it.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
I'm looking at a site that isn't fantasy pros. I'm
not gonna name who it is, but Mike, you've rattled
off a bunch of the names. We know that justin
Herbert and how the Chargers play football. It's not about
fantasy stats, right. I see one ranking where Joe Flacco's
ahead of Michael PENNOCKX Junior.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Wow, I just I do not.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
I just do not believe that his value is being
appreciated for what it could be. I think they're gonna
score a lot of points. They have an offensive line,
they have a running game, you have the ability to
get yards from your back your backs as well. You've
got two solid wide receiver options and Ray Ray McLoud

(22:45):
who is actually a productive player as well, and we
haven't even figured out the Kyle Pitts portion of it.
I just like I am bullish on the Falcons this year,
and specifically Pennick Junior because of everything that is around
him and how they've now they have the team for
him set up to succeed. Doesn't change my opinion on

(23:06):
how we all came to the team and what they
did with Kirk Cousins. But we are where we are,
and I love where Atlanta is at this point.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, you mentioned Mooney and now McLeod like two guys
that are being drafted as deep fourth wide receivers for
fantasy purposes, the opportunity perhaps to outperform at Outshine there.
You mentioned Bijon Robinson, depending on your flavor, either the
first or second back off the in most drafts that

(23:33):
we're looking at Gibbs and Barkley shortly thereafter, and then
you start sliding down. Bucky Irving staying in division with
the Buccaneers. He's ninth or tenth, depending on which boards
you're looking at. Alvin Kamara is still a top fifteen guy,
but questions on his health and whether they're going to
kind of downgrade his touches per game. But with the

(23:55):
quarterback situation there probably gonna have to lean on that
run game a bit more. Do you have enough balance
to where he gets to be at his best? Certainly
a question mark.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
It's the running back scenario that you've got in the
NFC South right now is actually more fruitful than I
think people would realize.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
Now.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
I don't know what's going to happen in New Orleans, Mike,
so as we break down down this division, it's not
a lack of investment that we have in the New
Orleans Saints is. I just think they're going to be
so bad that I have no idea how it turns out.
So I kind of remove, like Alvin Kamara, you know

(24:37):
Miller from the conversation, But if you have Bijeon, who's
borderline number one? Bucky Irving sure seemed like he fit
a lot more than Rashad White did. Even after White's
solid season that he had in twenty twenty three, there
was still some questions you were like, does this work?
Is this him? Is this not him? It seemed to
work with Bucky Irving and with Carolina Hubbard was amazing.

(25:02):
And when you look at what Bryce Young has done,
the bar was so low for Bryce Young that anything
that he did above that bar was considered progress. But
the reason they were a team that you thought at
the end of the year was because of the emergence
of Bryce Young and because of how good of a
back Chewba Hubbard ended up being for them. And there

(25:22):
was a lot of what conversation with Jonathan Brooks and
other guys coming in trying to take over the spot
and instead Chew Bobbard ends up holding on to the
to the gig himself. And yeah, I really like what
he I really like his spot in Carolina because they
we do expect them to get better. But just running

(25:44):
backs in that division I think are underappreciated, not Bijon
but even Tyler l Jeer for what he does being
the you know, the number two guy in Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, for fours near to five yards of carry. Yeah,
absolutely moving the curiosity right when we look at Carolina,
Jonathan Brooks, he's going to be on the shelf again. Yeah,
So they bring in Rico Doubtele of the Dallas cowboy
fame and Trevor at ten. Yes, so we'll see. But yeah,
certainly Hubbard with every opportunity to capitalize and parlay great

(26:20):
success from a year ago moving forward. Uh, when we
look at the division as a whole, it's look, it's
not going to get talked about a ton, right it' yes,
it's they who's the last team standing more or less
as much as there's a renaissance of Baker Mayfield love
and such that it's just kind of pushed to the

(26:41):
side a bit.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
I I think the Buccaneers are the given okay in
all of this, But I'm gonna go to Georgia and
in sant Trevor et and I gotta say Florida and Georgia.
It's the only fair thing to do. Sorry Bulldogs. But Mike,
I do love this Falcons team. There's there's I think
that there is there's something different about them. But the
one thing that is holding me back from saying that

(27:04):
they can supplant the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the top
spot is this schedule. Okay, if you'll bear with me,
I did a breakdown of the Falcons schedule and this
isn't a win or loss This is just to hear
there and everywhere. They have their buy in Week five.
Never great to have an early buy, and one of

(27:27):
the things the NFL does for some reason, I don't
know why they do this, but they'll put a team
on buy and then they'll have them play Monday night,
so they almost give them like an extra day, which
I think is weird because I would rather just play
on Sunday and be a normal week the next week.
But that's not what the Falcons get. They get Week
six home against the Bills on Monday night. Then they
have to travel to San Francisco on what is now

(27:47):
a short week against one of the better teams that
you would think health if they stay healthy in the NFC,
come back home to face Miami. Then they're at New
England in Germany against the Colts, come back and play
at home against Carolina, then have back to back road
games against the Saints and Jets host the Seahawks. The

(28:08):
reward for that is going to Tampa on a short
week and play Thursday night football, and then they're at
Arizona after that. So after their mini bi of playing
on Thursday night, they still have another road game. They
basically have three home games between Week four and Week seventeen.
Very wacky schedule. So what happens when you get with
the seventeen games schedule? But to have your buy so

(28:30):
early and to then not have it after the Germany
trip when you're traveling to San Francisco and whatnot. I
if there's anything that could mess them up, it could
be just how irregular it is. And then you and
I can rant on schedules forever. But they're here, there
and everywhere with very little break during the middle of
the season.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Buccaneers the division favorite plus one hundred, Falcon second favorite
plus two to forty. Then we get to Carolina four
to one, Saints all the way out there at ten
to one, the over under for wins for the Atlanta
Falcons seven and a half.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Am I crazy?

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Do you like the Falcons as much as I think
there's certainly the opportunity. It's all dependent on what we
get out of Penix? Right? Is he the guy that
we saw play college ball that we can now plug
in and we look I like that receiving court, right,
we mentioned like the secondary tertiary guys. Kyle Pitts is
an enigma, like we've been trying to hype him. It
seems like you and I do in the Fantasy podcast

(29:31):
the I watch flex podcast by the way, get it
wherever you download your podcast, trying to evaluate him for
years as to is he a top five guys? He
ever going to be a top five guy with consistency.
It's one thing to get to the final numbers based
on two or three Monster games that come out of nowhere,
but he's never been that consistent contributor that I say

(29:53):
that with the tight end position, because there is so
much fluctuation that you can still be a monster just
off a couple of games. By he's like one of
the hardest players to rank year to year. Just is
it finally the breakthrough? But for Pennix Junior, the expectation
like I don't worry about Captain Kirk like he's there,
it's it's his presence is a nuisance to what they're

(30:14):
trying to push forward. And I'm not saying he's a
bad guy or whatever. He wants his his space. And
if you believe the reports that he had no idea
that Pennix was coming into the room, does he make
a different decision. I don't know, Maybe, maybe not they
paid him a lot of money. Kirk spent a lot
about getting his dollars through his years. Right, He's the

(30:36):
the Business Hall of Fame is what we joke around
the hallways here with him all the time. So I
don't think that really, if anything, it means they'll be
better at some point because there will be an injury.
There will be a team that was in the throws
the white towel like Duke in the Rocky movie or
well that he didn't throw the towel, sorry spoiler. That

(30:57):
you get to the point where team wants to make
it make a deal, and really it just becomes about
how much money Arthur Blank's willing to eat to get out.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, And there will be a team.
You're right. There will be an injury in somebody that
wants UH to do something. It just isn't happening right now.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
There you go, excided to go over to the news desk.
We have some breaking news and an update from our guy.

Speaker 4 (31:22):
Bus from Fox Sports.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
ESPN has just reported that the Phoenix Suns are trading
Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jalen
Green Dylan Brooks. The number ten pick in the twenty
twenty five NBA Draft and five second round draft picks. Again,

(31:45):
ESPN reporting thirty six seconds ago to be exact, that
the Phoenix Suns are trading Kevin Durant to the Houston
Rockets for Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, the number ten pick
in the draft and five second round picks.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Ouy, I's gonna say, Isaac's just tell us the baseball
scores and that could be his update honestly, because that's
about what's going on right now.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
Right Uh yeah, Oils to to one over the Aches
at the top of the fourth, the Tigers won nothing
over the Rays and the top of the third, and
repeating our top story, the Phoenix Suns trading Kevin Durant
to the Houston Rockets.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Back to you guys, Thanks so much. Illo. There you go.
Break next speed at Isaac Lowan Krown see what he's
the work he's doing with Angel City FC. We'll break
down the trade in earnest in about twenty minute.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, yeah we can, and if we need to hold
off the feud, we can because of this deal. But
let's just say that the timing couldn't be better as
we tease the feud. I'll just leave it that.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
How about we do the feud okay as as scheduled
as Brob do you want to? Yeah, So that'll be
the tease that it ties to everything we're doing here,
and we'll talk about the Kevin Durant trade coming up
in about twenty minutes. Crazy action on a Sunday morning.
He's Dan Byer, I'm Mike Carbon, and this is Fox
Sports Radio. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 4 (33:00):
Go back in.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
It's Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday by Carbon. Dan
Byer with you here as we have a momentous Sunday morning. Yeah,
it's Game seven of the NBA Finals. We got the
draft coming up in short order. All of that funds up.
We got some corn hole on the TV as well
as some golf and throw back to old playoff games.
But we have the trade that Isaac Low and Cron

(33:22):
brought you, Kevin Durant being dealt to the Houston Rockets
for a number of draft picks Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks
and in the number ten in this week's draft. We'll
get into that Ian Ernest coming out about ten minutes
from now, breaking down the good, the bad, the ugly,
and as I say that, the bad, the ugly, I'm
triple underscoring with a giant question mark. But we'll leave

(33:45):
that and tease that ahead because now it's time to
give the stick microphone today and buyer, because everybody's here's.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Time to play the feud with the Fox family. He's Mike, Carmy,
Chris Purfett, Producer Shay and Isaac loin Kron are here.
By the way, David Stern never would have let this happened.
There is no way this trade is broken on the
eve of a Game seven of the NBA Finals if
David last.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
Night, you guys, yes, I'm so sorry to interrupt. So
there's this collectible event, Fanatics Fest. Apparently Kevin Durant was
on stage when the news broke, and that's how we
found out about the trade.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
There's a video on social media that I'm looking at
right now.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
He's got Sorry, We've got a big interest in the
collectibles marketplace. We'll talk about that as we go. That
is that is great stuff, all right. Top twelve answers
on the board. Tonight in an NBA Finals MVP will
be awarded and for whoever that is. It'll be the
first of their career. What I want to know, who
are the twelve multiple NBA Finals MVP Award winners.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Okay, here's the catch, three strikes in a pass. If
you get to ten, I will reveal one of the
right one of the remaining answers, which will leave one
answer remaining. Okay, so if you get to ten without
striking out, I'll reveal one of them. Mike Harmon was
start with you. I'll just take Jordan and walk all right,
show me Michael Jordan six of them, most of anybody

(35:06):
at NBA history. He's the number one answer. Over to
Chris Purfett.

Speaker 6 (35:11):
How does to take the other easy one? I'm going
to take Lebron James.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Lebron James.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Show me Lebron James, four time winner twenty twelve, twenty thirteen,
twenty sixteen, and twenty twenty. Over to producer Shay NBA
Finals MVP is on multiple occasions. Good Kareem, Kareem, show
me Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Yes, there he is on the

(35:34):
list nineteen seventy one and nineteen eighty five. Over to
Isaac Lowencroft.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
Irvin Magic Judson.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Once not twice. Show me Magic, a three time NBA
Finals MVP nineteen eighty nineteen eighty two, in nineteen eighty seven.
Back around to Mike Carmen Kevin Durant, Show me Kevin Durant.
There I was fit. The timing couldn't have been better.
Twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen Finals MVP. We are five for

(36:05):
five Jordan Lebron, Magic, Kareem, and Durant all off the
board in our multiple finals MVP category. Over to Chris Perfett.

Speaker 6 (36:14):
Well, since we've well trodden ground in the nineties, what
about Hakim Elijawan.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Show me the dream? We are six for six nineteen
ninety four and nineteen ninety five. Over to Shay Oh
give me, I don't know those big mic Or Shack
two thousand and two thousand and one, two thousand and two,

(36:40):
a three time award winner. There's one three timer left
and the rest are all two time winners. They're not
two timers, they're two time winners. Back around to Isaac Lohenkron.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
Our winner is Larry Bird.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
All right, show me the hick from French Lick. There
he is number eight nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty six,
with his QW Finals MVPs. We are eight for eight
looking for four other names. We are two away from
me revealing one of the names in a perfect game,
still intact, Mike Carmen, over to you, Uh Duncan show

(37:15):
me Tim Duncan nine for nine, nineteen ninety nine, two
thousand and three. In two thousand and five he was
the other more than two winner of the Finals MVP.
This is big, Chris, because if you get this, I
reveal the answer and then it could be all on
Shay for the perfect game.

Speaker 6 (37:34):
You know what, since we're saying in San Antonio, yeah,
Kawhi Leonard, Kawi Leonard's a multi MVP.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Show me Kawhi Leonard. There it is Kawhi Leonard twenty
fourteen and twenty nineteen. That allows me, because you guys
got to ten in perfect fashion. By the way, to
reveal one of the answers, I will reveal willis Reed
nineteen seventy and nineteen seventy three. The award dates back
to nineteen sixty nine, so that leaves one player for

(38:03):
producer Shay, who just four hours ago was doubling down
on a six and a five. What do you got, Shay?
I did not have this answer until he said Kawhi
Leonard because the Spurs.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
I I thought it was screwed here.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
Tim Duncan guarant Tim dun.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
No, that's okay, that's okay, don't.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
Worry about that.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
It was Tim Duncan.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
Don't worry.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Michael Jordan, Lebron, James, Magic Johnson, Shaquille and Neil, Tim Duncan,
Willis Reed, Kareem Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Durant, and
Kawhi Leonard all off the board. There's one name remaining.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
There's one name, Shay for the perfect game. Come on, Shay,
this is easy.

Speaker 6 (38:48):
Come on, Sha this is easy.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Okay, it is easy.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
It has it has to be.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
Come on, search Kobe. We said that you think.

Speaker 6 (38:57):
No, we haven't said that. We said we have not
said Kobe, Kobe, give me cous that your final answer.
That's my family answer.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
Give me Kobe.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Show me Kobe Bryant.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
That's got he does.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Two thousand and nine, two thousand and ten, he does
it all right, perfect game.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Could joby Bryant. So he got chosen twelve out of
twelve No. In the NBA All Time Greats Draft.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
I just like that.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
It's Laker Dodger officionado. That we got to coax that
out of I know, I know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
When he said I got it, I got it, I'm like,
oh yeah, then he knows that it's COVID, so I
got it.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Stumbled there, but but we got it to find fashion
it was.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
It was.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
It was early morning.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
She just flew in from the Cavino and Rich fest
in Las Vegas.

Speaker 6 (39:42):
This was his arms tired.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
So yes, there you go.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
He's Dad, I'm by it, got Shay, that's Chris, that's Isaac.
Coming up next, we break down the trade Kevin Durant
and watch his reaction as we go on on Fox
Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome in hour or two of
the program of momentus Fox Sports Sunday. Thanks for spending
a few minutes with us here. As we drift into

(40:07):
the early afternoon on the East Coast, We've got some
day baseball, We've got the Travelers Championship. We've got Game
seven later on tonight. But that's not the story anymore.
Mike Harment alongside Dan bayer ab a tag team partner
at Dan Byer on Fox Where you find it, find
me over at swollen dome. Isaac Lowenkron last Hour gave
us the gem the off season of great expectations for

(40:32):
movement across the league, a lot of big names moving
across the chessboard, while one of them has fallen before
Game seven of the NBA Finals. As you said, I
think absolutely correctly, Dan last Hour, like David Stern, many
other people in charge, are not allowing this to happen
on the morning of a day seven.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
No, not on the eve of your deciding championship game tonight.
And I tweeted the same thing. Stern would never let
this happen because this was not a coincidence. This was
not a coincidence that Kevin Durant is on stage at
the fanatics fest that you know so much about for

(41:12):
a conversation involving the boardroom, which is Kevin Durant and
Rich Clemban, their company, their deal. This was not This
is so the NBA mic and I hate to say it,
but this is so why it gets so tiring, and

(41:33):
I love trades tomorrow on this network, on your TV networks,
on all of the other channels, it will be fifty
to fifty on whether they're talking about Durant or they're
talking about who is just crown the NBA champion, And
that is what's so crazy to me. This is so contrived,
This was so put out there. And if you're the

(41:54):
Houston Rockets, yeah, absolutely go do what you want to do,
Kevin Durant, how you want to do it. There's no
way that this was just a coincidence that it was
announced while he was on stage at fanatics Fest.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Now we mentioned fanatics Fest for those unaware. You may
you may have bought some sports memorabilia, maybe he got
trading cards, whatever. They've got Michael Rubin getting into that
working with tops and everything. But this is the second
year of a massive event at the Javit Center and
taking over New York City, where you've got a lot
of activations from the leagues, from league partners, and then

(42:29):
a cavalcade of stars coming through for photo ops, autograph signings,
things like this live podcast. So sitting down for a
conversation with Taylor Rooks, smile on his face as it's announced,
crowd goes nuts and as you would never convince me
that this wasn't. I mean, he knew obviously, he's a
veteran of the years that he has in the league.

(42:50):
I mean, that's a done deal before he walks on
to that stage. But he's going back to his time
with Golden State. It's been interesting to watch the business
side of the Durant move. How many big friends and
businesses he partnered with there. But he also got into
the memorabilia business. I'm not surprised that he would make
it part of this event which has gone next level.

(43:12):
I was telling you during the break, you know, Victor,
when when Yama comes back from his sojourn at the
monastery and he's buying twenty five hundred dollars autograph Mark
Hamill Star Wars cards. You got Emma Roberts, the actress.
She's out and buying stuff Livy don buying up all
the rare Paul Skiings cards, and they're talking to her
like she's five. On principle, I wouldn't have spent a

(43:32):
dime of my money on these booths. You know who
you are. They'll talk down to her. She knows what
a numbered out of ten card means.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
You dopes what you're talking about. But anyway, but all
of that to say.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Well, but look, if the card's out of five, there's
five prints, like they're talking to her like, you know,
realize there's only a handful of these talking talking, talking
down to her like she was a child. Like, no,
she's now been in this game a couple of years
at a minimum. But walking around and there's a video
for negotiating deals and you know, trying to do the

(44:07):
sales pitch. Some of the most cringey things I think
I've seen in recent memory. And I used to traffic
in doing these these shows.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Yeah, the U I know that.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
I thought Isaac Longcrown, Hey, just that's a lot of
stuff going on here. Yeah, but Mike, this is this
is the opportunity to present it to to to do
your thing. If you're Kevin Durant, and this is I
don't mind Kevin. I like how Kevin Durant engages. I

(44:38):
like how he does have conversations, but it's never really
a give and take. It's he's telling you how it
really is. Now, granted he's defending himself a lot of teams,
but it's just the fact of.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
The timing of this.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
In advance of today, we knew it was going to
be tight because of the draft on Wednesday. No. One
of the draft is on Thursday, and now the NBA
says we're going to do a two night deal, so
you start a day earlier. The draft in the NBA
Finals have always been a tight squeeze because of if
you have a seven game series and now you got
the tightest of squeezes, you have to get this trade

(45:16):
done at some point. But it's the fact, Mike that
it not only came prior to Game seven, it happened
when he was on stage to get this viral moment
that all of these cell phone cameras have been able
to take and now put up on social media. That
is the reason why Kevin Durant like gets flack at times.

(45:38):
It's not that he's, you know, an attention hog, but
he knows what he's doing. Like he knew what he
was doing when he left Oklahoma City to go to
Golden State. He's so in tune to where he is
and what he is and he kind of plays it
off of like, hey, it's just ball. You know, I
did my thing. We had a crap year this year
that going back and forth with the Marcus Cousins, whether

(46:01):
there were fights or not, Durant is always in the mix.
And I just think It's a really bad look for
him in this scenario to do this. At this point,
we had a report out of Phoenix somebody was saying
that the deal was likely to get done on Monday,
which you could say Monday or Tuesday, but obviously somebody
had some intel that Monday was likely going to be

(46:21):
the day because he needed to do it before the
NBA Draft. But to do it here when he's on stage,
when it could have happened at any point today or
prior to Game seven, it just kind of rubs.

Speaker 4 (46:30):
Me the wrong way.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Well, it's part of what we talk about it as
a superstar league, and certainly a lot of ink slung
and radio and TV segments about the NBA just for
that right team versus player. Right Kevin Durant making headlines
during the year after the trade deadline if he just
didn't want to move, not that they expected to win
or anything, just here's an opportunity to go to and

(46:54):
maybe play deep into the playoffs. No, I'm not, And
it was boiled down to he didn't want to move
in season right, and they sputtered one to nine the
final ten games. You brought up the DeMarcus Cousin thing.
We talked about it Jason and I a little bit
at the weekend. But for those that missed it engaging
in beef online, DeMarcus Cousin, Hey, one of your teammates

(47:18):
was by source that there were multiple rounds of fisticuffs
in the locker room over the course of the year,
and Durant trying to tamp that down. Believe what you will.
Clearly it was not a team that got along in
any way, shape or form throughout this season. They end
up finishing miserably thirty six wins despite the star power.
And that's I think where you jump off into the

(47:40):
analysis the trade of what are you getting At this point,
we've got the principles of it all. It's the Jalen Green,
talented twenty one points, a game guy but doesn't really fit,
doesn't work in offensive sets, his long chronicled of could
be but dot dot dot in terms of becoming a
more concer to start one of the greatest agitators of

(48:02):
all time, protectors of all time, and in Dylan Brooks,
we'll talk about protection and needing those for your stars
A little bit later. The number ten pick in this
week's draft and then five second round picks. So here's
here's a bevy of stuff. Houston was one of the
rumored places, along with Miami and San Antonio, where the
leaders in the clubhouse this whole time. Insert your jokes

(48:23):
about going from the two point five percent flat state
income tax to none with the three that that he
was looking at. You know, Penny saved dollar earned, right,
But well, let's say, is he a difference maker at
this point because he doesn't want to be a leader?

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Right?

Speaker 1 (48:39):
He's And then you've got a Houston squad that played
pretty well this year, they had they just re up
to a long term deal. Is a guy to push
them forward in a crowded West?

Speaker 2 (48:52):
No, But what he does do is he helps you
beat the Warriors. And when I say that, I say
that in the sen So not Golden State being who
Golden State is, because Golden State's probably gonna look different
next year. It's the fact that you need a guy
when you're a two seed to beat that seventh seed,
or you need a guy like you know, the Cavaliers

(49:15):
are in a situation where they're the one seed and
they get ousted by the by the Pacers. You have
Donovan Mitchell, they were they were injured throughout the year. Okay,
maybe Donovan or throughout the series they were. They were
really banged up. But you need to get over that hump.
You need to get over that. The Bucks had to
do it right. The Bucks had to get over that
hump before they won an NBA title. They had the

(49:36):
year that they wanted. They had to beat Miami like
it was even though they were better.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Like, you have to do that.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
So what I say by when they have to beat
the Warriors, they just they can't be losing the seven
seeds or they can't be losing the teams that maybe
aren't going to finish in the top three in the
conference but are going to be there in the playoff
hunt because of who they are. That's what he does
for that team. It's a perfect package for everything that
you laid out because it gives Phoenix, the young guy,
gives them another vet, they get a lottery pick, and

(50:04):
then they get a bunch of flexibility with all those
fifth round picks. But again, the pikest ted overall right,
Like when the Spurs were involved, Number two is never
discussed at all because of Kevin Durant's age, and then
you're likely going to be paying him a substantial amount
of money as he wants a new contract. But it's
the perfect package for me and probably the perfect fit

(50:27):
because I do think that this helps Houston. So even
though I think the whole deal is contrived in him
having it announced while he's on stage, and I just
I think it's actually a really good fit for them,
And he doesn't have to be the leader leader, because
I still think that that's Udoka and if it's not,
maybe Fred van Vlietz, that guy, you know. I mean,
that's one of the reasons why he was brought in,

(50:49):
So I don't even think that he needs to necessarily
take that role with it. I just think it helps
them beat a team like the Golden State Warriors or
All Akers team or whoever you may end up facing
a few advance later on them having.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
That veteran presence and a guy that can hit shots
and has proven to hit big shots in the moments
that the stage isn't going to be big enough.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Yeah, you don't are too big. I should say, you
don't give away Aman Thompsons never thought to be part
of the package deal. You keep your core there. I mean, yeah,
I think it's I think it's the perfect deal for Houston.
Houston Rockets making moves.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Obviously, we go back to the regular season and something
we've talked about a little bit with the finals in
terms of how you finish, they were the number two
seed with the strong finish, good core veteran presence there.
You mentioned Van Vleich. Sengoon doesn't have to go anywhere
because his name needs come up in a number of
would be trade scenarios. And look, there's a lot to

(51:48):
go on before the draft tips off, and I think
to some degree where we're at in the NBA, this
might actually be for the best because all the negative
conversation around the finals and what this season was, and
beyond the one guy in the draft, it's Cooper Flag

(52:08):
and you got guys that won't even take workouts for sure,
the second third four team. So so you got that right,
You got that giant gap there, So why not have
a star delt in a big spot here? It helps
further conversation. How about this as well?

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Now it becomes a thorn on the side of or
has the opportunity to be a thorn on the side
of Oklahoma City again. So now because you're going to
be rivals. Phoenix was not a rival this patch year
of Oklahoma City. It was separated pretty significantly. Now you
go to that contender, you go back and you're going
to be challenging Oklahoma City for the West. I think

(52:48):
that that's intriguing. I like this landing spot Mike more
than the other two of the Heat. Even if you
went to the Heat. The Eastern Conference just needs they
need some more star power. They really do. They need
the conference needs this youthful injection or the star power
injection because right now it's a bit of a grind,

(53:11):
and you can name names and then you're going to
realize on how much of a grind it is. But
I don't think Durant would have changed that with the Heat.
It's an aging Durant. If it was eight years ago,
different story, But it's an aging Durant now. And then
with the Spurs, it just doesn't fit because of how
young they are. And when you make the deal for
Diera and Fox to bring in, now, all of a sudden,

(53:34):
you gotta fit Durant in. They haven't had a lot
of time with Wembinyama because of his health. I think
it would have been more of a negative and more
of a work, especially for a first year at coachin
San Antonio. So I think Houston was the right fit
for these three. And the package again they gave up
is you're no trading cards like they got the I
think they got the better end of the deal. Maybe

(53:56):
maybe Jalen Green ends up being that cards that it's
worth a thousand down the line, but this, this trade
at least fits.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
I like that we bring it back to the fanatics
fest and and the base of what's going on there.
But for for Durant, you know you bring up the
Miami Heat, Well, we look at where the Eastern Conference
is right and do the deep dive of contenders because
you've got a lot of veterans that are hurt right
your bucks. No Damian Lillard. We've talked about it in
prior episodes, but circle it back here Boston. There's no

(54:27):
Jason Tatum. There was already questions of what that roster
was going to look like based on where they're at
in terms of their spending and what they would need
to shed to move forward. Anyway, Cleveland great collection for
this year is that do they replicate that for another year?
But they're going to be there. Okay, fine, but the
rest of the conference, Knicks are going to go through

(54:49):
some changes. They're still looking for a head coach at
this point, right, so go throughout the process. So for
the Heat, there might have been an opportunity to inject
them back. Now that may them championship level, No, no,
but they'd be interesting and they can compete. But that's
the question, right, how much does it raise the bar
for Houston when you're at that precipice when you look

(55:10):
at that regular season mark that a guy thirty seven
years old, Obviously you have to be judicious with his minutes,
past injury history. He came up in terms of the
calf strain with Halliburton and his past before that to
push them over the top. Because, as we've discussed at
nauseum on this program and in other iterations, Dan the

(55:33):
thunder knot while as good and as well as they
played sixty eight regular season wins, you've had some warts
exposed here in terms of they're played at the back
end of the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
And even when we were on was it last week
when the Desmond Bain deal goes down, that that right,
the Magic felt that they could give up that much
to try to move up from the seventh spot in
the East, like acquiring Desmond Bain. I don't think that
was on anybody's radar, but I feel that they feel
that the East is for the taking, and even that

(56:04):
level of deal could have a big effect for Orlando.
There's also something else that's in play that I think
that has now been answered. I don't think Giannis is
going anywhere. We thought that Giannis was going to be
the first Domino, but for the last month or two
since the Bucks have been suppose it was April, so

(56:25):
it's two the Bucks were eliminated. There hasn't been a
trade offer that has been drawn up by an insider
or a blogger or a podcast er that said that'll
get it done for Milwaukee.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
And I don't know if.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Jiannis really truly did want to leave, but there's been
no action. There's been no word on that. And Mike, again,
we're three days out from the start of the draft,
so to not have any traction whatsoever to have the
Durant deal go down first, when I think in this offseason,
we thought it was going to be the one that
would maybe follow the Giannis if you didn't get Giannis.

(57:01):
Then you go after Durant if you're a huge stand
or you're san Antonio or whoever. I think we have
our answer on what Giannis is gonna do, and then
what the Bucks are going to do, and that's he's
gonna stay in Milwaukee.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
I mentioned all these stars wandering around fanatics fast. We
joked off air, you and I about the Brady Eli
Manning WWE nonsense that they were doing and everything. I
think it would be a really great move if Yannis
just walked into that convention center and started walking around,
just to put the fear of God. Why is Giannis here?

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Put him on the stage. Maybe they'll an ounce of
he's traded. What a coincidence? Wow, what a shocker, unbelievable.
What are the odds, Mike, that this has leaked to
an insider? What are the odds that this is happening?
Oh my gosh, I've got egg on my face?

Speaker 3 (57:49):
Wow?

Speaker 6 (57:50):
Oh geez, what.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
A viral moment. So you don't like you don't like
viral moments? Oh?

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Just just how how crazy that was with Brady and
Eli Manning. Wow, how spontaneous, geez.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
But it is one of the worst cells we've ever
seen by the way. Oh my goodness, the guy look
like they wanted any physical engagement, just like when they
used to get skittish with guys at their feet. He's
Dan Byer on Mike Krmen. As you can tell a
lot going on here. On a beautiful Sunday morning, Kevin
Durant headed down to the planet Houston. We just celebrated
the anniversary of the release of Superman two, and that's

(58:28):
how General Zod called it Houston. So that's what we
do here on Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday continues.
Dylan Brooks, one of the principles in this deal, enforcer, agitator,
superstar in the WNBA has found hers Will there be
more in her offing. We'll talk about that next year
on Fox. Welcome Acka in Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Sunday,

(58:50):
My Karma, Dan Byer with you the big news of
the day. Kevin Durant headed to Houston. Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks,
the number in Wednesday's draft and five second round picks.
That's the bounty Houston gets to keep the remainder of
their core. Not unreminiscent or not too different from what

(59:11):
we saw when San Antonio acquired dearon Fox. All right,
he shows up, here's a bunch of stuff going out,
but all the actual core that you would want gets
to stay.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
Yes, And there was never gonna happen. There was gonna
be no Shinghouon, there was gonna be no Thompson delt.
That was never the case. And what I find funny
Mike is just the reaction that we see on social media,
because this is NBA Twitter at its best. Anybody who's
NBA Twitter hates this deal for the Suns absolutely hates it.

(59:42):
They don't like Jalen Green, they don't think Dylan Brooks
is a value, and they get the tenth pick in
the draft. I think, if anything, it adds more flexibility
for Phoenix and Phoenix whether they're good or bad. Mike
seems to come up as a destination for players to
want to play, if anything, for the location and the weather, whatever,

(01:00:03):
whatever the reason may be. Maybe not all the time,
but some of the time. But what I find funny
is NBA Twitter hates it. Yet ESPN is like dynamic
duo in Phoenix, a new one. Jalen Green and Devin
Booker like buckle up like dynamic duo for what And

(01:00:23):
I think that's the frustration of NBA Twitter is could
the Sons have gotten more? I don't think that they
could have. What young piece does the Miami Heat have
that would be better than maybe Jalen Green working out
right well.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
But the other part that you have to it, Dan
is I mean, we've been around the block with this
sporting universe in the world at large, right any of
you out there, maybe shopping for a home, starter home,
maybe you're adding another child, looking for a bigger place.
What are you looking for? Distress properties? Somebody lost a job,
someone had a loss. You don't root for it, but

(01:01:00):
it's part of the economics of it all. Kevin Durant
is a distress property. At this point for the Phoenix Suns,
they knew they were not moving forward together. So if
you're circling in the marketplace, you're not coming in with
the top offense. How desperate are you? How much can
we move? It was like, all right, we've got all
these parts, and Jalen Green's a guy, he's got three
years on his deal, he's got two more years before

(01:01:22):
the player option, and then we look at free agency
thereafter twenty one A game score guy who's had a
nice run hasn't translated to the player consistently that they
expected him to be a guy that in the fourth
quarter would become a go to guy, which is why
he's expendable, right, which is why he's in the marketplace
a little higher contract than maybe they want to carry

(01:01:46):
at this time for what he brings them. So he
goes to Phoenix and maybe they can coax the next
out of them. But that's what you're getting, right. You're
not getting the established player that you're not getting the
guy on there as you separate the haves have now
of your roster. These are the non negotiables. Here are
guys that with the right fit, with the right package,

(01:02:07):
we're willing to send out. Oh and draft picks, forget it.
We're trying to win now, which is sure how I
would always want to operate here. You want a giant
roll of draft picks, selections, have at it. But for
Phoenix they reset. Whether it wins them anything, you don't know, right,
because now we're talking about draft picks. You got to
get it right. You got to have continuity in your

(01:02:28):
front office, your coaching staff, and how many teams actually
allow you to do that process.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
It's I think it's the most that anybody could have
gotten in return for Kevin Durant in a game that
I debuted in the spring on Fox Sports Radio. We
haven't played it yet, Mike, but it's called in the Neighborhood. Okay, okay,
And I want Chris Perfetts, in, Shae in, Isaac lohen
Kron to play along with this. I don't think Chris

(01:02:55):
is listening because he's talking right now. Hey, Shay, can
you tell Chris Purfett that we're I'm talking to him
right now. So I want you guys to guess. Okay,
I want you guys to guess how old Kevin Durantis
within one year? How old do you think Kevin Durantis?

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Thirty seven and change?

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Okay, how old do you think Kevin Durantis. I'm gonna
go thirty six? Okay, Shay, you could same or different,
doesn't matter whatever you think. Thirty eight Okay, thirty eight,
Isaac thirty six Okay, he's thirty six going on thirty seven.
So you all were pretty much in the neighborhood like
within a year of where he is. What are you
gonna get for a guy who's thirty seven years old

(01:03:35):
when the season starts. Okay, he's not thirty two, like
people are even saying with Giannis, who's had some injury
history as of late, like, well, Giannis is now thirty.
You know, there's a lot of years in the league
on that Kevin Durant's been when you're at Texas before
coming into the league. Heck, again, he was in a
super Sonic uniform. So it's not exactly fresh legs either.

(01:03:55):
In talking about this, well, but add all the playoff games.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
Yeah, right, we always do this conveniently, you know what
we want to do it with Lebron James either plus
or minus. Yes, right of selling what the next season
might be. It's like, well, battle test, look at all
the extra years he put on his legs here, so
it becomes the badge of honor. Kevin Durant has had
a lot of big runs as well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Correct, And if you're the Houston Rockets, or if you
were the Heat or the Spurs and all of this,
you're signing him to a contract extension knowing that he's
not going to be worth what you're paying him in
the latter years of whatever that deal is, because you
are paying him for next year. Like that's it, Like
that's what you're you're paying for, Like it's he's not

(01:04:38):
going to be doing this in three years what he's doing.
I'm sorry, I just I don't think he's not going
to be averaging twenty seven points per game. There's going
to be a fall off between now and at some
point in the next three years. So when you are
overpaying him, then at the latter part of this contract,
which is part of this deal, he wants a new contract.
He wants a contract extension, as he has fifty four
point seven million dollars left on this current deal. So

(01:04:59):
if you're making the trade, you also have to say, well, yeah,
we're giving up this much and we're bringing him in,
but there's gonna be a point where this isn't a
good deal for us when he's on our roster. So
that's also why you can't give away a boltload of talent.
So I get why people don't think that the Suns
are getting anything return. I just think that the Sun's
got the best deal that they could possibly get.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
Get into the marketplace ahead of the draft make a
splash again. We talk about the timing of it, and
a lot of negativity around NBA coverage, something Adam silver
Is lamented a bit curious to see his feelings on this,
how much he was happy to see a fax come
floating through the league offices or the DOCU sign for
the league approval versus you know what, it's game seven day.

(01:05:41):
We don't need this any positivity. I think the NBA
will take, particularly this event that he was at Fanatics
fast being right in the belly of the beast in
New York City. He's Dan Barra on Mike Carment. We'll
get to the enforcer part of things and what it
may be worth to you again talking social media clout
in history, But first let's start it over to our guy,

(01:06:02):
Isaac Loewenkron get an update on what else beyond Kevin
Durant as well as the particulars of that deal got on, you.

Speaker 5 (01:06:09):
Would think, guys, and on the morning, in the afternoon
of Game seven of the NBA Finals, you would think
all the attention would rightly so be on the Oklahoma
City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.

Speaker 4 (01:06:21):
Well, enter former Thunder, former Warrior, former.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Nets and now former son Kevin Durant.

Speaker 5 (01:06:29):
Because ESPN reported earlier this morning that the Suns, trading
Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks,
the number ten pick in the draft, in five second
round picks, and in the most Kevin Durant fashion ever,
he allegedly found out about the trade while he was
on stage during a panel at Fanatics Fest, shocking. Here's

(01:06:53):
the audio, courtesy of someone named Jonathan Macary.

Speaker 4 (01:06:57):
You're gonna hear Kevin.

Speaker 5 (01:06:58):
The audio is not that great, but you're gonna hear
him say we're gonna see, man, We're going to see
in response to the trade. But the best part is
the way all the fans watching the panel informed him
of the trade.

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
Listen, Oh wow, jeez, how did Taylor Rooks know that?

(01:07:43):
What was amazing was, yeah, she did not even have
her phone on her at the top.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Did you know that? I'm just a note card in
one hand and the microphone and the other.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
Unbelievable, just some of the things in journalism. But anyway, yeah,
he said, we will see, we will see what happens.
And what's happening in Major League Baseball right now? The
Yankees a two to one lead, excuse me, the Orioles
a two to one lead, over the Yankees going to
the bottom of the seventh. Tigers and Rays tied one
to one in the bottom of the sixth, and again
Kevin Durant on his way from the Phoenix Suns to
the Houston Rockets.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
Guys, thanks so much at Isaac Low and ground where
you find him in the Twitter verse. Thanks to the
squad making a sound so pretty today bringing the audio
from Fanatics Fest the shocker of Kevin Durant going to
the Houston Rockets. Knew he was getting dealt just a
matter of timing down in distance, and here we get
it on the eve of the game.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
All of those people didn't realize the pawns that they
were in this scheme that all of a sudden, everybody's
yelling you got traded, you got traded. Imagine imagine that.
Imagine just people yelling something and then the host just
saying what they said without vetting it, Mike, like that
would be amazing. Yet Taylor Rooks was able to find

(01:08:55):
out via everybody yelling at her that Katie got trade
and he was going to the Houston Rockets.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
So there we had Dylan Brooks part of the deal
going back.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
What an organic moment, But it's positive, but.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
It's a positive story for the NBA. They needed, they
needed some positivity.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
Dan, this is the Yeah, Game seven wasn't gonna do
it for what It wasn't moving the needle enough for
going to move the needle enough.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
We'll talk about the game itself coming up in a
couple of minutes as we we finished off. But Dylan
Brooks agitator, enforcer at times, uh, he's rivaled now in
the w NBA. Sophie Cunningham has become that person for
Caitlin Clark. You got a boost of five hundred thousand
TikTok followers because people realized after the hard fall of

(01:09:45):
last week not only hey, she's gonna protect Caitlin, so
I'll sign up for that, but also supermodel looks and
her own ig account that was suddenly it's the wait
a minute, hold on, sure, who's this girl?

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
It was about time that somebody stood u for And
she even said as much in her comments yesterday, like yeah,
this has going on now, and she was making more
of a comment about the officiating in the WNBA. But
I also does think it reflects upon the opposing teams
and those that have tried to tried to do stuff
and I don't mind any of that. Like, I nothing,

(01:10:19):
nothing that happened in that game with the Connecticut son
did I think was was out of bounds except Elijah
Boston not coming to Caitlin Clark's defense again, And like
I just, I mean, how many times you have to
see it? Can't you can't you get in someone's face.
Finally someone stood up and you had the frakas that

(01:10:40):
you had at the end of a game where it
was what seventeen points with forty seven seconds left. Ys,
somebody did something about it. And I think now I'm
curious to see if this continues, like if other teams
will continue to try to take their shots, which I
think will be significantly less after what happened. But also now,
how do the other Fever players respond if something like

(01:11:02):
this happened.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
Yeah, because Clark's going to continue to get into it.
This goes all the way back to her time at Iowa.
This is nothing new. So you know, folks that jump
the into the conversation this week, it's like, no, this
is she chirps, she's physical, she gets in people's faces.
We go back to the exchanges with Angel Reese during
their battles IOWA and LSU and going on down the

(01:11:25):
line that we've seen this from her for a couple
of years, but there's always that expectation. This star needs
the agitator slash goon roll.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
If you've got a big goal scorer in hockey, you've
got a guy that's looking out for your star. For
Caitlin Clark, she causes probably as many issues as she
gets from the other side. But now you need your
teammates to rise up because otherwise you're going to keep
the hard files. Like the history with Sheldon goes back,

(01:11:56):
I mean twelve meetings that they had never want one
by the way, but you know it's a rake across
the eyes. That was not a wolverine quality. This is
my defensive No, it wasn't inadvertent shot there. But you
talk about the physicality of where the game is, Yeah,
it gets a little bit chippy, but you need someone
to step up. Enter Cunningham and that fall at the end,

(01:12:17):
two hands over the top. I mean Sheldon went, she
was going to she was gonna elbow her, you know,
up around the chops her own self.

Speaker 2 (01:12:24):
I'm sure the WNBA will put the kebash on it.
But the next time they play, somebody better do something
to Maybury for her head, because nobody really did anything
to her, right, That's that's like the next Domino. So, hey,
another rival for the fever. If the Sky art winning games,
now you can have the Connecticut Sun be that rival.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
Fever and aces a little bit later on today and
it's like we were watching the Dodgers and Padres tell
me manjor League baseball. While they might be worried that
one comes up around show his upper back and neck again.
But by the same token, what are we talking about baseball?

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Yep?

Speaker 1 (01:12:58):
In June. Sure, so they won't meet again until August,
so you've got weeks for that to just date. In
the interim, we get the accelerated WNBA schedule and the
Fever back on the court. Today, he's Dan Byer a
Mike Carman coming up next we get back into game seven. Yeah,
there is a Game seven of your NBA Finals. Okay,
see Indiana. How does it play out? What do we expect?

(01:13:20):
We'll tell you next here on Fox Welcome back in
finishing up our tour here Fox Sports Radio, Mike Carmen,
dan Byer with you. Hey, be sure to check out
the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Touch of great videos
from many of our Fox Sports Radio shows. Search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a whole bunch of
video highlights from the shows. And be sure to subscribe
so you always have instant access to our Fox Sports

(01:13:41):
Radio videos on YouTube. No doubt one going up from
this show as we have the big breaking news earlier
this morning, brought to us by our guy Isaac Lowenkron
from the floor of Fanatics Fest, that Kevin Durant. See
how that was a lot of pieces the from the
floor of Fanatics Fest. Kevin Durant will become a member

(01:14:02):
of the Houston Rockets, a trade that we knew he
was not going to be in a Sun's uniform was
just a matter of the execution of it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
So at some point by Wednesday he was going to
be traded. That was going to be the case again.
There's a report earlier today out of Phoenix saying it
was likely to be Monday, but Kevin Durant in the
boardroom his group decided to break it. I'm sure the
Houston Rockets had no problem with it. I'm sure Adam
Silver has a big problem with it. I don't think

(01:14:33):
fanatics has a big problem with it. I think they
absolutely love it. But it's interesting on whose mouth you're
feeding as you give out this information. Again, the whole
Kevin Durant fighting out on stage thing was completely contrived
and done by Kevin Durant and his people at the
benefit of fanatics, at the expense of the NBA. And

(01:14:54):
that tells you a little bit on what you need
to know and maybe why people get a little sick
of the NBA because of stuff that may be like that.

Speaker 1 (01:15:04):
Well, star power, star turns and secondary plots. Right, there's
not the Hey, this is what we're supposed to be
pushing towards. Right, We're going to crown a champion here.
But we know all this is swirling. You can weigh
on an announcement. I know there's a big, big event
and fanatics fast. It's in year two, got monstrous returns
this year, star Power Entertainment and sports icons all showing

(01:15:29):
up to sell their wares, sign autograph, take pictures, go
into bad comedy skits and whatever else. And then on
Sunday morning we get this. So now it becomes a
day replete with Kevin Durant and Durant trade reaction. What
does this do for the Suns, What does it do
for the Rockets? What's the next domino of the fall?

(01:15:49):
Whereas at some point we still need to talk about Halliburton,
his calf and whether the Pacers have enough to vanquish
the thunder at home.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
It will go, It will Tomorrow's talk on Game seven
will evaporate so quickly, and we will then be on
by Onnesday, we're going to be on the Cooper flag anyway. Sure,
that's where to that point, the lifespan of this Game
seven is going to be the shortest. It actually may
be negative because of the Kevin Durant news.

Speaker 1 (01:16:17):
But you always have such a compressed schedule, which I've
never understood for the NBA in general. Right where we
set the finals dates and then you have the draft.
I know you're thinking momentum to a degree, but you
still have another month before the NFL gets back in earnest.
You have several weeks before the MLB All Star Break.

(01:16:38):
I know you want to start the next offseason. Trade
forty eight seventy two hours.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
Doesn't make sense. Like your best case scenario is that
you get a sweep, so then there's no momentum in
the finals and you get some breathing room.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
They do it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
I mean it's because their new league year starts in
early July, so that's where everything turns over. So everything's
got to be you know, I guess done by that point, Mike,
I I. You know, you have your free agency. It's
it's interesting in terms of the draft comes first and
then it's free agency the NFL. It's the other way around.
But yeah, I just this is this hijacks. Remember when

(01:17:15):
Ken Rosenthal announced that a Rod was opting out of
his contract during the World Series in Colorado. That was
a sweep, but people were up in arms that a
Rod and Scott Boris would hijack the World Series with
their announcement. And that's again, David Stern would never have

(01:17:35):
let this happen. There would something would be happening to
Kevin Durant or the Houston Rockets if this happened, if
David Stern was still alive and commissioner of the NBA.
It's on Adam Silver's watch and somehow this let go
again boom for fanatics, not a boom for the NBA.

Speaker 1 (01:17:53):
So the first time that Durant goes to play in Okay.
See they run the mister unreliable backpage.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Now you talk about rivalries like this is now one
again for another reason.

Speaker 1 (01:18:07):
Injecting back into a rivalry number two seed where the
Houston Rockets will see how this continues to build as
we get towards Draft Day. On Wednesday, Thunder a seven
point favor at home shake gilgis Alexander coming off a
terrible game six as a team, twenty two or twenty
three turnovers depending on which scorecards you're reading. Too many

(01:18:29):
of them unforced lazy cross court passes that got picked
and went the other way. Thirty two points off turnovers
for the Pacers last time out. Halliburton played really well
and inspired basketball for the twenty three minutes he was needed.
What are you expecting? It could go one of two ways?
And that's not to sit on the fence. And I'll
let you have the last word in all of this.

(01:18:51):
If the Pacers are going to win, it's gonna be
like Game one. But I just don't think that it happens.
I think that it's Oklahoma City. I actually like Oklahoma City. Tonight,
I'm convincing fashion. I think that they win by double digits.
The Pacers were a great story and a great run,
but I just don't think it happens tonight. And okay,
see road players on you know, bench players trying to

(01:19:13):
come up big. I'm looking for the thunder secondary players,
and Williams has to get me some more balance. Right
he was forty point score than he's minus forty. I
gotta get something that he and lou Dort for their
defensive acumen, that's got to count for something in a game.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
So I hope Halliburton is as close to one hundred
percent as it can be. I just I hope that
he is not limited from what he did in Game six.
Had a couple of days rest, but I hope he's
almost full.

Speaker 1 (01:19:39):
Gots well well to turn in later on coming up next,
Fox Sports Radio continues, He's daying on Mike. Thanks for
giving us a few minutes of your time.

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The Joe Rogan Experience

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Mike Harmon & Dan Beyer Talk NBA Finals Game 7, Kevin Durant To Rockets, & So Much More!