October 30, 2025 • 7 mins
"Can a veteran benchwarmer really save a franchise from an early-season collapse?"That’s the question at the heart of this high-energy, basketball-packed episode of The Ben and Skin Show, where hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray dive deep into the Mavericks’ early-season drama, unexpected heroes, and the fragile legacy of NBA stars.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Mountain Corown the sports KT tweets as all.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The sports.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
No audio from the MAVs TV broadcast last night.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Then he goes up with a shot here against Tony Bradley,
he doesn't totally land on his foot, thought he got fouled.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And then as he starts coming.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Up the floor, then you can see him he's fine
here and then he feels something. You know, you wonder
if it's just so Ben He goes.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Okay, So I got cut off on the viral clip
that was going around. Uh huh, and it cuts off
right before I was thinking you were gonna say, you
gotta hope it's just a cramp. Me too, I saw
the famous thing Romo said when Dark broke his ankles.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh no, was facing seas.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, I remember that. I was actually in Denver. We
went to go see Frenger. I think I was in
Boulder and I had to download Tube to watch the
Cowboy game. I had to buy a subscription to TB
because weren't going to carry the Cowboys in that region,
and I paid my money and then like we're into
(01:06):
the early second quarter and it's the most gruesome injury
to have to watch. KT has a subscription to Red Toby.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yes, it doesn't work very well in Texas that much.
Uh So, yeah, the Mavericks do get to win, so
we like that. We'll take that. But yeah, overshadows everything.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I just you know, you Anthony Davis gets hurt a lot,
and he's not in full his best possible shape, and
so you just know that. I mean, that's kind of
what we were talking about with Luca. Okay, he's not in
great shape and so he could have a bunch of
soft tissue injuries. Man, every time I watch Anthony Davis play,
(01:44):
I'm fearful he's gonna get hurt on every play. It's
an irrational fear, it's not, but it's fair. I think
that's a completely fair, uh fear. I'm just constantly worried
about it. Now when he plays, he's so good. I
saw he set some record for the most start games
to start a season in Maverick's history with twenty and
ten twenty pointe double devils, and he's awesome. But man,
(02:07):
he's just always hurt. And I even think last year
he knows that people call him Anthony day to day
Davis some street clothes and all those things, and so
I think he felt the pressure of being involved in
a horribly lopsided trade that hurt the franchise he went to.
And I think he tried to play while he was
hurt because he's aware of that, and so I hate
it for him personally.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, but the guy just has a hard time staying healthy.
You know what else, Our buddy Nick Van Exell said
this the other day. So Gafford hadn't played a second
lively got hurt, and so Nick said this on Tuesday.
So this was after the loss to Oklahoma City, which
you know, they were competitive and came back. He's like, man,
he's playing a lot of minutes early, Like, if you
(02:52):
just look at his history, I'm nervous that he's playing
so many minutes this early in the season. But to
Ben's point, I mean, Dwight Powell saved their ass last night,
and I realize Dwight Powell is a local punching bag
for sports fans. Man, if you have a what's called
a veteran minimum roster spot at the end of your
(03:14):
bench and you want a thirteenth guy Dwight, there's there
would be twelve teams in the NBA that would line
up to have Dwight Powell on a veteran minimum salary
at the end of their bench for exactly that reason
you saw last night. What you don't want is you
don't want Dwight Powell at this age having to play
thirty five minutes of center a night, which is what
the Mavericks had for three or four years. But do
(03:35):
you what the reason he's on your team is exactly
what happened last night. He won you that game. Dwight
Powell won you that game, and he probably may not
play for a whole other week and a half. But
that's why you have a guy like that.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
We knew a guy named Donald Hodge back in the
day that I think was roughly the same size. But
he wanted to, you know, like he if he wasn't
going to play, and he didn't play that much, he
would wear Adida's sheltos untied on the bit it's just
for swag. And it was like, no way. And then
one time he get called into the game. I think
he rolled his ankle. He did. I don't know whether
their shoes were even tied. He rolls it and uh,
(04:09):
you know, one of the hardest things to do, and
I don't always going to get out of tiny Violin
for professional athlete making all that money and living that life,
but it's got to be incredibly challenging when your numbers
not ever called and you never get to go in
to suddenly your number does get called and you go
in and you deliver like that. And it has to
do with his professionalism and his approach. H I was
(04:29):
listening to Cooper Flag talk about him after the game,
and he was just I saw this on social media.
Might have been you interviewing him. I didn't see, but
it was like he was like, Cooper Flag was like, dude,
this guy is the first one there every day. He
lifts weights more than any athlete I've ever seen, Like
he is ready for the moment. And to have a
guy like that show Cooper Flag that professionalism, that in
(04:50):
itself is valuable, But I love the Cooper Flags looking
at that with such admiration. What Dwight Powell did last
night was phenomenal. It was a huge thing he did
to help them MAVs early in this season.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Do you realize how f they would have been if
they didn't have Dwight Palllin started the season one in
four with five home games and three of them are
against the Eastern Conference, which if you're going to have
a playoff spot, you better beat the Eastern Conference. Yeah,
like they would have been ft And He's say he
might have honestly and truly no exaggeration, he might have
saved their season. And this is why eu Donnis Haslam
was a Miami Heat for a thousand years.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What about Brandon Williams.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He was great, I mean good, gud.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
He had twenty He looked great. It was awesome to see,
you know, when he was in the game and they're like, hey,
let's let this guy bring it up. It was just
awesome to have a point guard. He's a score. I
loved him last season. Has he been battling an injury
early on?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I don't know if you guys remember this, but when
we were doing our game one preview, I said, if
Brandon Williams had played in the preseason, I think he
might be starting tonight. And I'm not saying that because
someone on the coaching staff told me that. I just
know what he does, and it's very evident that what
this team needs is him, you know he And the
thing is is that you know, I know people like
man I really like Ryan Nimhart, dude, and nim Hard
(06:00):
is a third of the athlete Brandon Williams is he is.
And here's the other thing. He was one of the
best players of his class. It's not like he came
out of nowhere and they just found him off the trash.
He even gave him a two way. He was an
elite prospect that got had a good year at Arizona,
got hurt, then tried his luck at the NBA. Should
not have come out, should have played another year when undrafted,
(06:21):
had to work his way back. But it's not some
guy out of nowhere. He's been on radars for years.
I mean he's a Kyrie, He's Kyrie Light. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Like I like the idea of like, look, we don't
have to have PJ. Washington and and you know, Cooper
Flagg bring the ball up. Let's actually have a point
guard out there.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And I'm with that.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And so it's like he can he can be that
while you're waiting if those are your two point guards,
that they're very similar in a lot of ways. And
I'm not trying to take a shot at Kyrie in
any way. But Brandon Williams with Brandon Williams can score man.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And he's elected.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
He had a couple of really nice passes last night too.
I love him out there.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
He absolutely pushes the tempo. All right, well, well, I'm
sure we'll get back in. There'll be more news about
Anthony Davis Maverick's head to Mexico City for the weekend,
and dude, you have to have peacock to watch it.
What Been and Skin Show ninety seven point one The
Eagle coming up next. We'll talk about something we've been
avoiding for months. On the weekday Update.
Mountain Corown the sports KT tweets as all.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The sports.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
No audio from the MAVs TV broadcast last night.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Then he goes up with a shot here against Tony Bradley,
he doesn't totally land on his foot, thought he got fouled.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
And then as he starts coming.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Up the floor, then you can see him he's fine
here and then he feels something. You know, you wonder
if it's just so Ben He goes.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Okay, So I got cut off on the viral clip
that was going around. Uh huh, and it cuts off
right before I was thinking you were gonna say, you
gotta hope it's just a cramp. Me too, I saw
the famous thing Romo said when Dark broke his ankles.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh no, was facing seas.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, I remember that. I was actually in Denver. We
went to go see Frenger. I think I was in
Boulder and I had to download Tube to watch the
Cowboy game. I had to buy a subscription to TB
because weren't going to carry the Cowboys in that region,
and I paid my money and then like we're into
(01:06):
the early second quarter and it's the most gruesome injury
to have to watch. KT has a subscription to Red Toby.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yes, it doesn't work very well in Texas that much.
Uh So, yeah, the Mavericks do get to win, so
we like that. We'll take that. But yeah, overshadows everything.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I just you know, you Anthony Davis gets hurt a lot,
and he's not in full his best possible shape, and
so you just know that. I mean, that's kind of
what we were talking about with Luca. Okay, he's not in
great shape and so he could have a bunch of
soft tissue injuries. Man, every time I watch Anthony Davis play,
(01:44):
I'm fearful he's gonna get hurt on every play. It's
an irrational fear, it's not, but it's fair. I think
that's a completely fair, uh fear. I'm just constantly worried
about it. Now when he plays, he's so good. I
saw he set some record for the most start games
to start a season in Maverick's history with twenty and
ten twenty pointe double devils, and he's awesome. But man,
(02:07):
he's just always hurt. And I even think last year
he knows that people call him Anthony day to day
Davis some street clothes and all those things, and so
I think he felt the pressure of being involved in
a horribly lopsided trade that hurt the franchise he went to.
And I think he tried to play while he was
hurt because he's aware of that, and so I hate
it for him personally.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, but the guy just has a hard time staying healthy.
You know what else, Our buddy Nick Van Exell said
this the other day. So Gafford hadn't played a second
lively got hurt, and so Nick said this on Tuesday.
So this was after the loss to Oklahoma City, which
you know, they were competitive and came back. He's like, man,
he's playing a lot of minutes early, Like, if you
(02:52):
just look at his history, I'm nervous that he's playing
so many minutes this early in the season. But to
Ben's point, I mean, Dwight Powell saved their ass last night,
and I realize Dwight Powell is a local punching bag
for sports fans. Man, if you have a what's called
a veteran minimum roster spot at the end of your
(03:14):
bench and you want a thirteenth guy Dwight, there's there
would be twelve teams in the NBA that would line
up to have Dwight Powell on a veteran minimum salary
at the end of their bench for exactly that reason
you saw last night. What you don't want is you
don't want Dwight Powell at this age having to play
thirty five minutes of center a night, which is what
the Mavericks had for three or four years. But do
(03:35):
you what the reason he's on your team is exactly
what happened last night. He won you that game. Dwight
Powell won you that game, and he probably may not
play for a whole other week and a half. But
that's why you have a guy like that.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
We knew a guy named Donald Hodge back in the
day that I think was roughly the same size. But
he wanted to, you know, like he if he wasn't
going to play, and he didn't play that much, he
would wear Adida's sheltos untied on the bit it's just
for swag. And it was like, no way. And then
one time he get called into the game. I think
he rolled his ankle. He did. I don't know whether
their shoes were even tied. He rolls it and uh,
(04:09):
you know, one of the hardest things to do, and
I don't always going to get out of tiny Violin
for professional athlete making all that money and living that life,
but it's got to be incredibly challenging when your numbers
not ever called and you never get to go in
to suddenly your number does get called and you go
in and you deliver like that. And it has to
do with his professionalism and his approach. H I was
(04:29):
listening to Cooper Flag talk about him after the game,
and he was just I saw this on social media.
Might have been you interviewing him. I didn't see, but
it was like he was like, Cooper Flag was like, dude,
this guy is the first one there every day. He
lifts weights more than any athlete I've ever seen, Like
he is ready for the moment. And to have a
guy like that show Cooper Flag that professionalism, that in
(04:50):
itself is valuable, But I love the Cooper Flags looking
at that with such admiration. What Dwight Powell did last
night was phenomenal. It was a huge thing he did
to help them MAVs early in this season.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Do you realize how f they would have been if
they didn't have Dwight Palllin started the season one in
four with five home games and three of them are
against the Eastern Conference, which if you're going to have
a playoff spot, you better beat the Eastern Conference. Yeah,
like they would have been ft And He's say he
might have honestly and truly no exaggeration, he might have
saved their season. And this is why eu Donnis Haslam
was a Miami Heat for a thousand years.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What about Brandon Williams.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He was great, I mean good, gud.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
He had twenty He looked great. It was awesome to see,
you know, when he was in the game and they're like, hey,
let's let this guy bring it up. It was just
awesome to have a point guard. He's a score. I
loved him last season. Has he been battling an injury
early on?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I don't know if you guys remember this, but when
we were doing our game one preview, I said, if
Brandon Williams had played in the preseason, I think he
might be starting tonight. And I'm not saying that because
someone on the coaching staff told me that. I just
know what he does, and it's very evident that what
this team needs is him, you know he And the
thing is is that you know, I know people like
man I really like Ryan Nimhart, dude, and nim Hard
(06:00):
is a third of the athlete Brandon Williams is he is.
And here's the other thing. He was one of the
best players of his class. It's not like he came
out of nowhere and they just found him off the trash.
He even gave him a two way. He was an
elite prospect that got had a good year at Arizona,
got hurt, then tried his luck at the NBA. Should
not have come out, should have played another year when undrafted,
(06:21):
had to work his way back. But it's not some
guy out of nowhere. He's been on radars for years.
I mean he's a Kyrie, He's Kyrie Light. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Like I like the idea of like, look, we don't
have to have PJ. Washington and and you know, Cooper
Flagg bring the ball up. Let's actually have a point
guard out there.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And I'm with that.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
And so it's like he can he can be that
while you're waiting if those are your two point guards,
that they're very similar in a lot of ways. And
I'm not trying to take a shot at Kyrie in
any way. But Brandon Williams with Brandon Williams can score man.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And he's elected.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
He had a couple of really nice passes last night too.
I love him out there.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
He absolutely pushes the tempo. All right, well, well, I'm
sure we'll get back in. There'll be more news about
Anthony Davis Maverick's head to Mexico City for the weekend,
and dude, you have to have peacock to watch it.
What Been and Skin Show ninety seven point one The
Eagle coming up next. We'll talk about something we've been
avoiding for months. On the weekday Update.
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