Sarah is joined by NBA.com Senior Writer Steve Aschburner to talk about LeBron James breaking the All-Time Scoring Record, LeBron's new place in history, the latest Trade Deadline news, and the updates to his Rookie Ladder.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Lebron James. A shout at history stands alone. Scoring record
now belongs to Lebron James. Welcome into NBA Pulsar production
(00:22):
of I Heart Radio in the NBA. I'm Saracu Stack,
NBA analyst for the S Network, and today is February eighth, Wednesday,
and it is a special day, one because I am
joined by one of our esteemed NBA dot Com journalists,
Steve Ashburner, but also because a record held for nearly
four decades, Kareem Abdul Jabbar's old time scoring record was
(00:45):
broke last night by Lebron James. Uh Ash. I know
we saw this comment. Obviously, we we've been tracking this
for quite some time now, so the expectation was not if,
but when. When the moment happened, though, give me your
re action in just what went through your mind? Yeah,
I said, ah, several several things. Obviously, this is the
(01:07):
sort of thing that that seems inevitable. Um that it's
particularly the way at the rate that Lebron has been
scoring this season. I mean, he did not sort of
limp to this record. Um. And but you know when
when when it's basketball and you're scoring points, I mean
he could have made this as a free throw. I'm
glad that didn't happen. You know, it was a you know,
(01:28):
a memorable nice bit of of tape to uh to
show his fade away jump shot and uh, um, you know,
all kudos to him. Um. You know, I was thinking
about how long this record had endured with Kareem. I mean,
when Kareem passed Will Chamberlain. Wilt has been retired for
(01:49):
I think eleven seasons, and you know, now with um,
uh Lebron doing this, Um, what was it like thirty
eight years since since Kareem set the records so or
or established his his total. So you know, that to
me is striking the fact that there's nobody within ten
(02:10):
thousand points of Lebron active in the game today, and
and and the closest you know is like Kevin Durant
I guess we count Carmelo Is is not being officially retired,
and those guys are obviously not going to close the
gap on Lebron. So I'm not sure who it will be. Um.
You know, maybe it's one of these young guns that
are out there now, whether it's uh, Luca don Chet
(02:32):
or someone else. But there's nobody that you can just
point to and say, Okay, that's the next guy who's
gonna hold this crown. This is this is remarkable for UM,
twenty years of the sustained excellence for a guy who
he's not known first and foremost for his scoring. Um.
You know, he's not a scoring titles kind of a guy.
So UM, I just think it's that that UM durability,
(02:56):
the longevity, and UM almost the inevitability. When you think
about how early he started and how well he's played late,
it sort of makes total sense that this guy would
get that. Well, what about the moment itself? UM to
see as soon as it happened, obviously the game stopped.
(03:16):
Adam Silver came out the fact that Kareem was there
to be able to pass the ball to him. Lebron,
you are the NBA's all time scoring leader. Congratulations. You
have seen a lot throughout the course of covering and
watching this game. But a historical perspective take us in, UM,
(03:39):
the fact that that stage was set in that way
for that moment. Yeah, I mean it is a way
to reach back across across generations of NBA players. And
you know, last season we had the UH Um, the
good fortune because it was the seventy fifth anniversary celebrations,
so you had a lot of that history brought into
(04:00):
the present of the the NBA. And it was a
great reminder for younger fans um heck, I mean fans
under under fifty, you know, who didn't know a lot
about some of these these players. And for Kareem to
to be courtside and to be present for that, UM,
you know that that that's a great um kind of
(04:20):
kind of closure because when you think about when Kareem
came into the league and the guys he was playing against, Um,
you know, he played with Oscar Robertson, and you know,
Elgin Baylor was still around and Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West.
And so for this, you know, to sort of sort
of dragged the history all the way up to the
to the present. UM, I think it. I think it
(04:42):
was great that way. Now, Now, in terms of Lebron Kareem,
what this means, Um, does this elevate Lebron beyond where
he had been in a in an all time since
you know, one thing I don't worry about it. But
one way to look at this is that Kareem has
lost something that made his claims on um, you know
(05:07):
Mount Rushmore type things, maybe even all time greatest player. Uh,
he's lost something that made his case. And so you know,
it's it's it's one of those things. It's almost like
All Star snubs where you can say, well, this guy
should be on the All Star team, where you gotta
take somebody off then to to do it. And in
a case of Lebron passing Kareem, Lebron gains this on
(05:27):
his resume and Kareem loses something on his resume, his
career doesn't change at all. I mean, he's one of
the all time great top three, top five, wherever you
might have him. But I wonder whether losing this particular credit,
this bobble um, you know, will will have him received
a little bit more than he already had. Where do
(05:49):
you place Lebron with this newest record in terms of
the pantheon of all time greats. I know what I've
brought to the table. I know what I bring to
the table every single night, and what I can I
could do out on this floor. So um, you know,
I always feel like I'm the best ever played his game.
But you know there's so many other great ones, and
I'm happy to just be a part of the part
of their journey. When you think about the qualities of Lebron,
(06:11):
the characteristics that make him the best, one of the best,
it's not always necessarily the scoring and the points that
you look at first. So where where does he sit
in rank um in your list of the greats? My
own personal opinion, I've got him um third or fourth
and and and everybody has their own. So you know,
(06:32):
I have no more validity just by having had a
little bit more of a ringside seat for all these years.
But you know, if I'm gonna rank, I'm really quick.
I just I go Michael Jordan, Will Chamberlain, Uh, and
then it's either Kareem Lebron or Lebron Kareem, and then
Magic Johnson would be on the number five. And that
would basically I would I would play around with the
(06:52):
position list basketball that we get away with now, and
and that would be my starting all time five. There's
no true power forward, but I think that between Wilt
and Kareem Uh, they'd find a way to cover the
four or five. So um, yeah, I mean, you know,
I look at it is durability. I give a lot
of points, I guess in in my all time rankings
for originality, and I thought that there would never been
(07:14):
anybody like Will Chamberlain, and there's there's never been anybody
like Michael Jordan's in terms of where he took this
game off the court, UM, globally UM. A lot of
this work was done by the time, you know, somebody
like Lebron came around. And you know, he gets a
ton of credit for coming in exactly as build maybe
(07:36):
better when when he was coming out of high school
and then being I've said, the best conditions, most prepared
physically UM athlete that I've ever seen for for the
duration two decades of it. His real claim to fame
is that he's just to me, the the best physically
prepared UM athlete that that I've ever seen. You can
(08:00):
said it better. And to see what he's doing having
just turned thirty eight years old, as you mentioned, two
decades his twentieth season one, and you alluded to this earlier,
do you think this record will ever be broken? And
this record sits as it is, we don't know how much,
I mean, how much longer will Lebron keep going, because
right now watching him, it looks like he still has
(08:20):
a lot left in the tank. Yeah, you're right. I
expected to be set somewhere north of forty thou points. Um,
you know that would that would be nice to to
get to a big round number like that, and that
would just make it that much harder for anyone to
chase down. Um, I assume most um records will get
(08:42):
we'll get broken. But then again, UM, things are changing.
I mean there's talk of shortening the schedule. Well what
would that do to a record like this? You're gonna
have fewer opportunities, no matter how good you are, UM
to to amass totals like this. Um. Other sports, I
mean you look at baseball and there's certain totals that
are never going to be touched because the game has changed.
(09:04):
Means young winning five games or whatever it is. And
and you know, guys pitching how many strikeouts Nolan Ryan
has or you know, you're just not going to see
the the chances to do it. And I wonder what
the n B A and uh, you know, being so,
I'll focus these days on load management and healthy nights
(09:25):
off as opposed to injury layoffs. Um, it's gonna be
hard for somebody to get the reps to um to
chase down Lebron. So once we go back to them,
no longer one and done. You can come in right
out of high school. Well, that will even the playing
field at the front end, and then it's really on
the player, his team and in the league's structure to
(09:47):
h to make sure there's an even playing field or
playing court throughout and on the back end. Yeah, it's
been extraordinary to watch, and I know we still have
plenty left, and we have plenty left in the show
because the secondary story, Ash was that there was actually
an NBA game that was played of which the Los
Angeles Lakers did lose. So we are going to get
(10:09):
to the game, the implications of it, and uh, we're
nearing the trade deadline as well, so we're gonna talk
about some chatter coming up with that next Welcome back
to and be a Pulse Saracoustack joined by the great
Steve Ashburner and ashes is all of us are talking
about Lebron James breaking that all time scoring record. The
(10:32):
the side note of it is that the Los Angeles
Lakers ultimately lost that game one three to one thirty
against the Oklahoma City thunder, which now, um, you know,
these Western Conference standings obviously are very tight, um, but
at some point there's gonna start to be some separation.
The Lakers sit at um and right now you can
(10:53):
kind of look at it different scenarios. But two games
back in the tenth place spot, uh, you know there
are four games back at the sixth place spot of Dallas.
What does that loss? One of which Anthony Davis did
not play that well and you could tell there was
some discontent from him after the game as he spoke
a lot of cameras on him when the record was broken,
(11:13):
still sitting there on the bench. But what does that
loss mean for the Lakers and potentially what what do
you expect or speculate about them? Is this trade deadline
approach us tomorrow? Yeah? Probably in the in the adrenaline
and the giddiness of the moment, it might not have
hit home, um, but I think probably in that Laker
(11:33):
locker room, um after the game, and certainly overnight and
now for Laker fans, um. You know, losing that game,
that was not how anybody wanted to script that night,
you know, certainly not the Cilian and Lebron James, the
start of the evening, UM with the idea that he
would break the record in the third quarter and then
score two points in a defeat at home in the
(11:55):
fourth quarter. Um. You know, I'm sure the people that
pay uh, you know, through the nose for those seats
and the secondary market to be at that event, Um,
were relieved that he got the record and it didn't
lap over into a Thursday's game against Milwaukee. But I
think the Oklahoma City Thunder were probably the happiest people
(12:15):
of the night other than Lebron, because they got to
be witnesses to history and they still walked out of
there with a victory. And you know, they're sitting atop
the Lakers in the Western Conference standings, which you know,
maybe some people would have predicted that going into this season. Um,
I don't know who would have. But um, it's a
comment as much on the Lakers as as it is
(12:37):
on the Thunder. This Anthony Davis, Lebron James twinning UM
clearly hasn't worked, and and for various reasons. And if
you want to start out by saying, well, wait a minute,
they haven't been on the floor together as much as
they should be, Well, that's all part of it, you know,
staying healthy. I mean Lebron is the testament to being
available and keeping himself healthy and being able to play
(12:59):
night in, night out. Anthony Davis is like the flip
side of that coin, you know, a disappointment for most
of his career in not being available. Um, you know,
getting getting teased with you know, nicknames like street clothes.
So you know, Anthony Davis, um thirteen points in that defeat.
You know, I don't expect any any fundamental changes in
(13:20):
the Lakers. I think that they'll be as um as
focused on the buyout market you know after this trade
deadline as they are on anything um in the meantime.
So you know, really uh Hachimura, that might be it
for them for for you know this week, um, getting
that done before the deadline. But um, you know, I
(13:41):
think they're in a in a tough spot. And uh,
there aren't a lot of super teams in that second
half or after those first you know five or six
of the Western Conference. But the Lakers have no more
claim to any expected success um with the postseason situation,
particularly if it comes in a plan. Yeah, Um, the Lakers, Uh,
(14:02):
you know, that's one team that has been discussed. But
the big trade that just became official the other day
was that Kyrie Irving to Dallas trade of which brought
some picks and Spencer Dinwoodie Dorian Phinney Smith to the
Brooklyn Nets. Are there any other moves that you expect
or that you see coming at this point before we
get the funny PM Eastern deadline on Thursday. Yeah, it's
(14:25):
funny because some of the things that I see, I mean,
there's there's chatter about Bones Highland in Denver, and yet
I think he's a very helpful valuable player to the
Denver Nuggets. Um, some of these teams that toss around
names you or maybe have names tossed around involving them
is more accurate. You don't hear it coming from the teams,
(14:48):
but um, you know, maybe it's there's disappointment with certain players.
I mean, I saw this morning Matissetible with Philadelphia. He
has probably a better reputation around the league than he
has right now within the seventies sixers in terms of
his potential. I mean a guy who it seemed like
all he needed was was an increase in playing time
(15:11):
to you know, fully flex his defensive chops. And improve
as a you know, the three and D guy. But
you know he's apparently being mentioned. I know that. Um,
you know, I've talked with people in Detroit and um,
Bogdanovich is um highly coveted. I mean, he'd be great
and he and he probably quote unquote deserves to be
(15:35):
on a contender where he could you know, fully make
an impact with his his shooting and his uh um,
you know, his experience. On the other hand, the Pistons
seem quite happy on a on a youth heavy roster
to keep him around as a veteran influence, even though
his game itself is is wasted at the bottom of
the Eastern Conference. So um, yeah, I think the trade
(15:58):
I think the trade market has gotten a little it
um warped for this year at the deadline by some
of the stuff that went on in the summer. And
I'm thinking specifically of the Rudy Gobert trade with Minnesota
where such a high price was paid and now I
mean the next deal, whether it was Donovan Mitchell or
anything since then, even the Kyrie Irving trade gets measured
(16:20):
against well, what did you talk I get for Rudy Gobert,
And so it sort of puts a chill on maybe
what some of these general managers are going to do
in terms of being willing to give up players and
picks and swap positions. And you know, it was such
a big bounty and the impact of it from Minnesota
was so to this point, UM minimal that um, I
(16:42):
think it gets harder to make big deals because of
the weariness and and uh concern about getting burned. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
And I know Toronto a team everyone has had their
eyes on. But as we said, one day away will
be interesting to see what happens. We are also just
about a week and a half away from All Star weekend,
UM Rising Stars game. A lot of the rookies on
(17:04):
your rookie ladder will be in attendance, and tell us
a bit about the rookie ladder this week. I know,
Paulo ban carro his head onto that number one spot,
a lot of the same you know, Benedict Mathrin, uh,
Jylan Williams, a lot of the same guys in those positions.
What are we looking at this week? Not a lot
of movement on the on the ladder this week, which
(17:25):
is which is fine, I mean, but it's a matter
of why there's not a lot of movement. UM. I
think what we've seen is, UM, let's say, the All
Star break is coming in a good time for a
lot of these first year players. UM. You know, the
proverbial rookie wall. Some guys hit it, some guys don't.
They hit it at different times, but it's generally January
February when that takes place. They've they've surpassed the number
(17:48):
of games that they ever played in college. Uh, you know.
And and so it's a real test. And four of
the top five rookies on the ladder this week, UM,
they struggled relative to their season long performance. Their stats
are off and and it includes Paolo ben Caro. Ash.
(18:08):
We appreciate you as always, Thanks so much for your time.
Are you welcome, Sarah. NBA Pulse with Saraku Stock is
a production of the NBA and I Heart Radio. Please rate, review,
and subscribe on the I Heart Radio app or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Lebron James. A shout at history stands alone. Scoring record
now belongs to Lebron James. Welcome into NBA Pulsar production
(00:22):
of I Heart Radio in the NBA. I'm Saracu Stack,
NBA analyst for the S Network, and today is February eighth, Wednesday,
and it is a special day, one because I am
joined by one of our esteemed NBA dot Com journalists,
Steve Ashburner, but also because a record held for nearly
four decades, Kareem Abdul Jabbar's old time scoring record was
(00:45):
broke last night by Lebron James. Uh Ash. I know
we saw this comment. Obviously, we we've been tracking this
for quite some time now, so the expectation was not if,
but when. When the moment happened, though, give me your
re action in just what went through your mind? Yeah,
I said, ah, several several things. Obviously, this is the
(01:07):
sort of thing that that seems inevitable. Um that it's
particularly the way at the rate that Lebron has been
scoring this season. I mean, he did not sort of
limp to this record. Um. And but you know when
when when it's basketball and you're scoring points, I mean
he could have made this as a free throw. I'm
glad that didn't happen. You know, it was a you know,
(01:28):
a memorable nice bit of of tape to uh to
show his fade away jump shot and uh, um, you know,
all kudos to him. Um. You know, I was thinking
about how long this record had endured with Kareem. I mean,
when Kareem passed Will Chamberlain. Wilt has been retired for
(01:49):
I think eleven seasons, and you know, now with um,
uh Lebron doing this, Um, what was it like thirty
eight years since since Kareem set the records so or
or established his his total. So you know, that to
me is striking the fact that there's nobody within ten
(02:10):
thousand points of Lebron active in the game today, and
and and the closest you know is like Kevin Durant
I guess we count Carmelo Is is not being officially retired,
and those guys are obviously not going to close the
gap on Lebron. So I'm not sure who it will be. Um.
You know, maybe it's one of these young guns that
are out there now, whether it's uh, Luca don Chet
(02:32):
or someone else. But there's nobody that you can just
point to and say, Okay, that's the next guy who's
gonna hold this crown. This is this is remarkable for UM,
twenty years of the sustained excellence for a guy who
he's not known first and foremost for his scoring. Um.
You know, he's not a scoring titles kind of a guy.
So UM, I just think it's that that UM durability,
(02:56):
the longevity, and UM almost the inevitability. When you think
about how early he started and how well he's played late,
it sort of makes total sense that this guy would
get that. Well, what about the moment itself? UM to
see as soon as it happened, obviously the game stopped.
(03:16):
Adam Silver came out the fact that Kareem was there
to be able to pass the ball to him. Lebron,
you are the NBA's all time scoring leader. Congratulations. You
have seen a lot throughout the course of covering and
watching this game. But a historical perspective take us in, UM,
(03:39):
the fact that that stage was set in that way
for that moment. Yeah, I mean it is a way
to reach back across across generations of NBA players. And
you know, last season we had the UH Um, the
good fortune because it was the seventy fifth anniversary celebrations,
so you had a lot of that history brought into
(04:00):
the present of the the NBA. And it was a
great reminder for younger fans um heck, I mean fans
under under fifty, you know, who didn't know a lot
about some of these these players. And for Kareem to
to be courtside and to be present for that, UM,
you know that that that's a great um kind of
(04:20):
kind of closure because when you think about when Kareem
came into the league and the guys he was playing against, Um,
you know, he played with Oscar Robertson, and you know,
Elgin Baylor was still around and Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West.
And so for this, you know, to sort of sort
of dragged the history all the way up to the
to the present. UM, I think it. I think it
(04:42):
was great that way. Now, Now, in terms of Lebron Kareem,
what this means, Um, does this elevate Lebron beyond where
he had been in a in an all time since
you know, one thing I don't worry about it. But
one way to look at this is that Kareem has
lost something that made his claims on um, you know
(05:07):
Mount Rushmore type things, maybe even all time greatest player. Uh,
he's lost something that made his case. And so you know,
it's it's it's one of those things. It's almost like
All Star snubs where you can say, well, this guy
should be on the All Star team, where you gotta
take somebody off then to to do it. And in
a case of Lebron passing Kareem, Lebron gains this on
(05:27):
his resume and Kareem loses something on his resume, his
career doesn't change at all. I mean, he's one of
the all time great top three, top five, wherever you
might have him. But I wonder whether losing this particular credit,
this bobble um, you know, will will have him received
a little bit more than he already had. Where do
(05:49):
you place Lebron with this newest record in terms of
the pantheon of all time greats. I know what I've
brought to the table. I know what I bring to
the table every single night, and what I can I
could do out on this floor. So um, you know,
I always feel like I'm the best ever played his game.
But you know there's so many other great ones, and
I'm happy to just be a part of the part
of their journey. When you think about the qualities of Lebron,
(06:11):
the characteristics that make him the best, one of the best,
it's not always necessarily the scoring and the points that
you look at first. So where where does he sit
in rank um in your list of the greats? My
own personal opinion, I've got him um third or fourth
and and and everybody has their own. So you know,
(06:32):
I have no more validity just by having had a
little bit more of a ringside seat for all these years.
But you know, if I'm gonna rank, I'm really quick.
I just I go Michael Jordan, Will Chamberlain, Uh, and
then it's either Kareem Lebron or Lebron Kareem, and then
Magic Johnson would be on the number five. And that
would basically I would I would play around with the
(06:52):
position list basketball that we get away with now, and
and that would be my starting all time five. There's
no true power forward, but I think that between Wilt
and Kareem Uh, they'd find a way to cover the
four or five. So um, yeah, I mean, you know,
I look at it is durability. I give a lot
of points, I guess in in my all time rankings
for originality, and I thought that there would never been
(07:14):
anybody like Will Chamberlain, and there's there's never been anybody
like Michael Jordan's in terms of where he took this
game off the court, UM, globally UM. A lot of
this work was done by the time, you know, somebody
like Lebron came around. And you know, he gets a
ton of credit for coming in exactly as build maybe
(07:36):
better when when he was coming out of high school
and then being I've said, the best conditions, most prepared
physically UM athlete that I've ever seen for for the
duration two decades of it. His real claim to fame
is that he's just to me, the the best physically
prepared UM athlete that that I've ever seen. You can
(08:00):
said it better. And to see what he's doing having
just turned thirty eight years old, as you mentioned, two
decades his twentieth season one, and you alluded to this earlier,
do you think this record will ever be broken? And
this record sits as it is, we don't know how much,
I mean, how much longer will Lebron keep going, because
right now watching him, it looks like he still has
(08:20):
a lot left in the tank. Yeah, you're right. I
expected to be set somewhere north of forty thou points. Um,
you know that would that would be nice to to
get to a big round number like that, and that
would just make it that much harder for anyone to
chase down. Um, I assume most um records will get
(08:42):
we'll get broken. But then again, UM, things are changing.
I mean there's talk of shortening the schedule. Well what
would that do to a record like this? You're gonna
have fewer opportunities, no matter how good you are, UM
to to amass totals like this. Um. Other sports, I
mean you look at baseball and there's certain totals that
are never going to be touched because the game has changed.
(09:04):
Means young winning five games or whatever it is. And
and you know, guys pitching how many strikeouts Nolan Ryan
has or you know, you're just not going to see
the the chances to do it. And I wonder what
the n B A and uh, you know, being so,
I'll focus these days on load management and healthy nights
(09:25):
off as opposed to injury layoffs. Um, it's gonna be
hard for somebody to get the reps to um to
chase down Lebron. So once we go back to them,
no longer one and done. You can come in right
out of high school. Well, that will even the playing
field at the front end, and then it's really on
the player, his team and in the league's structure to
(09:47):
h to make sure there's an even playing field or
playing court throughout and on the back end. Yeah, it's
been extraordinary to watch, and I know we still have
plenty left, and we have plenty left in the show
because the secondary story, Ash was that there was actually
an NBA game that was played of which the Los
Angeles Lakers did lose. So we are going to get
(10:09):
to the game, the implications of it, and uh, we're
nearing the trade deadline as well, so we're gonna talk
about some chatter coming up with that next Welcome back
to and be a Pulse Saracoustack joined by the great
Steve Ashburner and ashes is all of us are talking
about Lebron James breaking that all time scoring record. The
(10:32):
the side note of it is that the Los Angeles
Lakers ultimately lost that game one three to one thirty
against the Oklahoma City thunder, which now, um, you know,
these Western Conference standings obviously are very tight, um, but
at some point there's gonna start to be some separation.
The Lakers sit at um and right now you can
(10:53):
kind of look at it different scenarios. But two games
back in the tenth place spot, uh, you know there
are four games back at the sixth place spot of Dallas.
What does that loss? One of which Anthony Davis did
not play that well and you could tell there was
some discontent from him after the game as he spoke
a lot of cameras on him when the record was broken,
(11:13):
still sitting there on the bench. But what does that
loss mean for the Lakers and potentially what what do
you expect or speculate about them? Is this trade deadline
approach us tomorrow? Yeah? Probably in the in the adrenaline
and the giddiness of the moment, it might not have
hit home, um, but I think probably in that Laker
(11:33):
locker room, um after the game, and certainly overnight and
now for Laker fans, um. You know, losing that game,
that was not how anybody wanted to script that night,
you know, certainly not the Cilian and Lebron James, the
start of the evening, UM with the idea that he
would break the record in the third quarter and then
score two points in a defeat at home in the
(11:55):
fourth quarter. Um. You know, I'm sure the people that
pay uh, you know, through the nose for those seats
and the secondary market to be at that event, Um,
were relieved that he got the record and it didn't
lap over into a Thursday's game against Milwaukee. But I
think the Oklahoma City Thunder were probably the happiest people
(12:15):
of the night other than Lebron, because they got to
be witnesses to history and they still walked out of
there with a victory. And you know, they're sitting atop
the Lakers in the Western Conference standings, which you know,
maybe some people would have predicted that going into this season. Um,
I don't know who would have. But um, it's a
comment as much on the Lakers as as it is
(12:37):
on the Thunder. This Anthony Davis, Lebron James twinning UM
clearly hasn't worked, and and for various reasons. And if
you want to start out by saying, well, wait a minute,
they haven't been on the floor together as much as
they should be, Well, that's all part of it, you know,
staying healthy. I mean Lebron is the testament to being
available and keeping himself healthy and being able to play
(12:59):
night in, night out. Anthony Davis is like the flip
side of that coin, you know, a disappointment for most
of his career in not being available. Um, you know,
getting getting teased with you know, nicknames like street clothes.
So you know, Anthony Davis, um thirteen points in that defeat.
You know, I don't expect any any fundamental changes in
(13:20):
the Lakers. I think that they'll be as um as
focused on the buyout market you know after this trade
deadline as they are on anything um in the meantime.
So you know, really uh Hachimura, that might be it
for them for for you know this week, um, getting
that done before the deadline. But um, you know, I
(13:41):
think they're in a in a tough spot. And uh,
there aren't a lot of super teams in that second
half or after those first you know five or six
of the Western Conference. But the Lakers have no more
claim to any expected success um with the postseason situation,
particularly if it comes in a plan. Yeah, Um, the Lakers, Uh,
(14:02):
you know, that's one team that has been discussed. But
the big trade that just became official the other day
was that Kyrie Irving to Dallas trade of which brought
some picks and Spencer Dinwoodie Dorian Phinney Smith to the
Brooklyn Nets. Are there any other moves that you expect
or that you see coming at this point before we
get the funny PM Eastern deadline on Thursday. Yeah, it's
(14:25):
funny because some of the things that I see, I mean,
there's there's chatter about Bones Highland in Denver, and yet
I think he's a very helpful valuable player to the
Denver Nuggets. Um, some of these teams that toss around
names you or maybe have names tossed around involving them
is more accurate. You don't hear it coming from the teams,
(14:48):
but um, you know, maybe it's there's disappointment with certain players.
I mean, I saw this morning Matissetible with Philadelphia. He
has probably a better reputation around the league than he
has right now within the seventies sixers in terms of
his potential. I mean a guy who it seemed like
all he needed was was an increase in playing time
(15:11):
to you know, fully flex his defensive chops. And improve
as a you know, the three and D guy. But
you know he's apparently being mentioned. I know that. Um,
you know, I've talked with people in Detroit and um,
Bogdanovich is um highly coveted. I mean, he'd be great
and he and he probably quote unquote deserves to be
(15:35):
on a contender where he could you know, fully make
an impact with his his shooting and his uh um,
you know, his experience. On the other hand, the Pistons
seem quite happy on a on a youth heavy roster
to keep him around as a veteran influence, even though
his game itself is is wasted at the bottom of
the Eastern Conference. So um, yeah, I think the trade
(15:58):
I think the trade market has gotten a little it
um warped for this year at the deadline by some
of the stuff that went on in the summer. And
I'm thinking specifically of the Rudy Gobert trade with Minnesota
where such a high price was paid and now I
mean the next deal, whether it was Donovan Mitchell or
anything since then, even the Kyrie Irving trade gets measured
(16:20):
against well, what did you talk I get for Rudy Gobert,
And so it sort of puts a chill on maybe
what some of these general managers are going to do
in terms of being willing to give up players and
picks and swap positions. And you know, it was such
a big bounty and the impact of it from Minnesota
was so to this point, UM minimal that um, I
(16:42):
think it gets harder to make big deals because of
the weariness and and uh concern about getting burned. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
And I know Toronto a team everyone has had their
eyes on. But as we said, one day away will
be interesting to see what happens. We are also just
about a week and a half away from All Star weekend,
UM Rising Stars game. A lot of the rookies on
(17:04):
your rookie ladder will be in attendance, and tell us
a bit about the rookie ladder this week. I know,
Paulo ban carro his head onto that number one spot,
a lot of the same you know, Benedict Mathrin, uh,
Jylan Williams, a lot of the same guys in those positions.
What are we looking at this week? Not a lot
of movement on the on the ladder this week, which
(17:25):
is which is fine, I mean, but it's a matter
of why there's not a lot of movement. UM. I
think what we've seen is, UM, let's say, the All
Star break is coming in a good time for a
lot of these first year players. UM. You know, the
proverbial rookie wall. Some guys hit it, some guys don't.
They hit it at different times, but it's generally January
February when that takes place. They've they've surpassed the number
(17:48):
of games that they ever played in college. Uh, you know.
And and so it's a real test. And four of
the top five rookies on the ladder this week, UM,
they struggled relative to their season long performance. Their stats
are off and and it includes Paolo ben Caro. Ash.
(18:08):
We appreciate you as always, Thanks so much for your time.
Are you welcome, Sarah. NBA Pulse with Saraku Stock is
a production of the NBA and I Heart Radio. Please rate, review,
and subscribe on the I Heart Radio app or wherever
you get your podcasts.
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