January 22, 2024 • 42 mins
The 2026 World Cup final might be coming to Dallas. Pascal Siakam is definitely an Indiana Pacer. The NBA Trade Deadline is fast approaching, too. Marc Stein covers all those stories in the latest edition of The Saturday Stein Line presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles ... which also includes an extensive breakdown of Mark Cuban's recent in-studio visit with The Ben and Skin Show.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards and
Collectibles. On ninety seven to oneThe Freak, the official homes Well Dallas
Nevericks Games, hosted by legendary NBAreporter and publisher of his substackt The Steinline.
Here's Mark Stein. Everyone, Welcomein to the Saturday Steinline presented by
(00:32):
Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Gottastart with a bit of a disclaimer.
I would be lying if I didn'tsay from the jump that I am operating
at slightly less than full capacity today, and I just wanted to offer the
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warning that apologies in advance. Theremay have to be an occasional pause or
three along the way to gather myself. But I simply couldn't bear the idea
of missing a single show, especiallynow where we are moving into such an
(01:15):
important stage on the calendar. There'sso much going on in early February in
multiple sports. To be honest,that this show cares deeply about many dates
to circle that we need to keeptrack of. Foremost of course, for
our purposes. Here as always whatwe've been discussing all month already, the
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NBA trade deadline, hits on Februaryeighth. We're inside three weeks to go.
Now, that's going to be amajor topic throughout today's show, especially
in segments two and three. Somethingelse on the horizon that I'm not sure
a lot of radio stations in Dallaswill be showing love to, but you
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can bet that this show will becausewe are tennis people here. The Dallas
Open will be back soon for itsfinal year at SMU before a major move
north to the Star in Frisco,top shelf ATP Tour Tennis. The Dallas
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Open brought ATP Tour Tennis back tothis city for the first time since the
nineteen eighties. The timing and allcandor less than ideal for yours. Truly
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can't remember if I've told this storybefore. My plan last year was to
sneak out to the tournament just tosee at least one day of qualifying on
the Sunday, just one after CouldI sneak in one afternoon of tennis before
the trade deadline. My dear friendMitchell Krueger, the veteran pro from right
here in Dallas, was playing afirst round qualifying match, and I was
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like, I gotta at least seeMitch play once, so I found my
I found a way to SMU literallyseconds before Mitch's match begins, and he
ended up winning that first round qualifyingmatch against Jack Pennington Jones, who plays
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at TCU. He spent time onthe tour and also playing at TCU.
Literally seconds before the match, wordhits that the Mavericks were doing the Kyrie
Irving trade. So I had toorganize an abrupt escape to get myself out
of the SMU Tennis complex and getback home to start writing thousands of words
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about the trade. And it wasso cool because it was qualifying Sunday,
but the crowd was huge, Imean much bigger than what you would see
for a typical ATP Tour two pointfifty event in the qualifying round. It
was tremendously encouraging to me to seethat kind of tennis audience gathered again on
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a Sunday before the tournament had actuallystarted. So the Dallas Open is here
from February third through eleven. Thatis a big deal to me as well.
Of course, I will probably missalmost all of it because of the
on rushing trade deadline and how muchtends to happen that week maybe when the
trade deadline passes February eighth, twopm local time. That does lead me
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a couple days at the back endof the tournament. Very very hopeful I
can make it to the back endof the tournament. But something else that
is going to happen right in themiddle of all that. Yet another important
date to circle in early February,February fourth. February fourth is when we
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officially find out if Dallas I shouldactually say DFW since the game would obviously
be at Jerry World in Arlington.But is Dallas getting the twenty twenty six
World Cup Final as massive as itgets in terms of a single sporting event,
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and on this scorecard, with apologiesto all the gridiron football fans out
there, yes, even larger inglobal scope to me than the Super Bowl.
The whole world really stops for theWorld Cup final. The London based
Daily Mail reported this week that Dallaswill beat out New York to host the
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final of the twenty twenty six WorldCup, and of course, our CONCACAFF
neighbors Canada and Mexico are also WorldCup hosts. In twenty twenty six,
all three nations will be hosting gamesno official confirmation yet of the Daily Mail
story. The official word in circulationis that we're not going to get that
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one hundred percent stamp until FIFA's plannedannouncement on February fourth, But the signs
are obviously hopeful. People would obviouslylove, love, love to see that
happen here. This is such ahuge soccer community and at so many different
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levels. I mean, I thinkDallas is known for just how big a
deal soccer is here, and youknow, to imagine the World Cup final
in Dallas. You know, Ihad the privilege of attending and covering the
nineteen ninety four World Cup in Pasadena. The final was at the Rose Bowl.
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February of ninety four was my bigbreak in terms of covering the NBA.
I became the traveling Clippers beat writerfor the La Daily News halfway through
that season, right before the tradedeadline in nineteen ninety four, and then
a few months later I was partof the Daily News team covering the World
(07:38):
Cup. I only did World Cupgames in California, Southern California and Northern
California, so I did not getto make it here to see what the
games were like at the Cotton Bowldidn't get to see the International Broadcast Center
that was based in Dallas in nineteenninety four. All these years later,
soccer is so much more establish inthis country. Remember in nineteen ninety four,
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we didn't even have a top shelfprofessional league. That was one of
the stipulations for the United States tobe the World Cup hosts in nineteen ninety
four. They had to after thedemise of the NASL, they had to
start a league, and Major LeagueSoccer began in nineteen ninety six. This
is such a soccer hotbed, boys, girls, youth, college pro.
(08:26):
We have it all here. SoI mean fingers crossed that that Daily Mail
story is correct and that the twentytwenty sixth final really is on its way
to Jerry World. That would besuch sporting treat and such a huge,
huge thing for this city to host. The rest of today's show, I
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promise, is going to be veryMavericks heavy. The team is already home
from the West Coast. The reasonfor that, of course, as I'm
sure you are aware, is justincredibly tragic. One of the saddest stories
that, frankly, I've ever heardin all my years covering the league.
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The Mavericks played Wednesday night in LA. They were supposed to proceed to San
Francisco to play the Warriors on Friday, and I mean, what's happened to
the Warriors. It's I mean,it's not just tragic, it's dramatic.
The sudden death of Warriors assistant coachDeayon Miloyovich just a beloved figure internationally throughout
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the NBA. Nikolajokic and Boban Maryanovitchboth spoke of how they'm not sure they
would have made it to the NBAwithout Miloyevich's tutelage when they met him in
their native Serbia. Can't even imaginewhat the Warriors are going through as a
group right now. The Warriors weresupposed to play in Salt Lake City when
(10:03):
this tragedy took place. Golden State'sgame against the Jazz was obviously immediately canceled,
and then the league took the decisionthat Friday's game against the Mavericks would
also be postponed. I mean,let's face it, the Warriors were not
fit to play a basketball game thisweek after what happened, and because of
a quirk in the schedule, GoldenState has four full days off after they
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would have had four full days offno matter what after Friday's originally scheduled games.
So now the Warriors are in themidst of this week plus where they
get to be out of the spotlightand grieve away from the public's eye.
I do believe they are scheduled tostart practicing again on Sunday, but the
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Warriors don't have to play again untilWednesday at home against Atlanta. The Mavericks
after that loss in La, theyreturn home Thursday. They practiced Friday.
It was actually the mavericks first fullfledged practice as a team since before Christmas.
That's how long it's been since they'dbeen able to get the group together
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just for a real session, noton a game day, of course.
The Mavericks went five and two onthe very long homestand before what became a
one game trip to Southern California.It was a five and two homestand judging
by the way people reacted to it, it felt like a two to five
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homestand and don't get me wrong,the losses, the two losses that Dallas
took to both Memphis and New Orleans, with both of those teams missing numerous
frontline players, both terrible losses,but it was still five and two with
wins over Minnesota and New York andthe full strength Pelicans, and the latter
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two wins came without Luka Doncic interms of the aforementioned trade deadline. Of
course, the major development this weekIndiana's acquisition of two time All NBA forward
Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors.The Pacers built the deal to win the
Siakam sweepstakes around three future first roundpicks two in this draft one in twenty
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twenty six, as well as BruceBrown, who has a very trade friendly
contract, and that contract, Torontois widely expected to move Brown on and
possibly acquire some further assets. Ireported back on January first that the Mavericks'
(12:52):
interest in Siakam was overstated. Inever wavered from that. They really were
a factor in this race for starters. They just don't have that kind of
draft capital to compete with the offerthat Indiana ultimately made. And as we
covered last week, look, theMavericks obviously like Siakam. He clearly could
(13:16):
provide some of the things they're missing, but Siakam wants a max deal.
The Pacers are going to give him. If not a MAX deal, it's
going to be close. It's goingto be very expensive. If you're signing
Siakam to a Max or a nearmax and you're already paying Luka Doncic and
Kyrie Irving what they're getting, itbanishes you to the second apron of luxury
(13:45):
tax purgatory, and that just takesaway so much flexibility when you're trying to
build a team. So that's whythe Mavericks were really never a factor in
the Siakam chase and really never weregoing to be even if they wanted to
be. It's the same reason whywe saw Sacramento pull out of the Siacam
talks, because even though Sacramento likesSiakam, you know they've got so much
(14:09):
invested in Fox and sobotis when you'repaying dearon Fox and Demanda Sabonis max money,
can you really afford a third maxplayer? And then you lose tons
of flexibility. I anticipate the samewill happen with Portland's Jeremy Grant. The
Mavericks have limited draft capital capital tooffer. They would have concerns about the
(14:35):
long term finances. If they couldget Jeremy Grant. And again, as
we've been saying in the Blazer's case, it's really not even clear that Portland
is willing to trade Jeremy Grant.They've been resistant to it to this point
in trade season. Now, whatmight the Mavericks be able to do before
the trade deadline, or at leastwhat are they looking to do. We
(15:01):
are going to get some hints aboutthat in the next segment coming up.
When we go through the highlights thehigh points from Mark Cuban's in studio visit
with ben In's Skin earlier this week, we are going to analyze and dissect
some of the standout statements from thatconversation. You'll hear all that next here
(15:28):
on ninety seven Won the Freak.This is the Saturday Steinline with Mark Stein,
presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibleson your official homes to all Dallas
Mavericks Gangs the Freak. Yes,indeed, the Saturday Steinline dribbles On,
presented as always by Panini Trading Cardsand Collectibles. Normally, we have a
(15:54):
guest of our own lined up forthis segment, and I do have a
full on trade deadline summit planned fornext week's show at this time with Yahoo's
Jake Fisher, one of the mostplugged in reporters on the NBA map.
Jake already scheduled to join me inthis very segment next Saturday. But this
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week's show, unusually, we werepresented with a scenario where we have a
bunch of sound making the rounds thatfeatures local basketball dignitaries, and so we
decided, you know what, let'smake use of all these clips that have
(16:40):
made our way to us, andlet's let's dive deep into them. So
on Tuesday, Maverick's alternate Governor MarkCuban, still adjusting to saying it that
way, Alternate Governor Mark Cuban.We had Cuban on our show right at
(17:02):
the end of the year in twentytwenty three, after his sale of a
majority steak in the Mavericks to theAddlelson and Dumont families was made official.
So we did our own one onone here on the Saturday Steinline. But
this week Cuban actually came into thestation, drove down to ninety seven,
(17:23):
won the freak, spent an hourand a half with the world famous Ben
and Skin show. That whole showif you want to listen to it.
Of course, you can check theBen and Skin podcast feed and listen to
it all. But for the purposesof the Saturday Steinline, we've taken the
(17:47):
liberty of lasering in on three orfour separate sound bites that landed with us
as the newsiest through the lens ofthis show. We're gonna run them all.
We'll run through them all in thissegment, and for starters, we're
going to listen to Cuban expound abit on this unique arrangement, where again
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he has retained a twenty seven percentownership stake that would be enough with some
NBA franchises to be the majority owner. The Golden State Warriors Famously, as
I've mentioned a few times previously,Joe lakeb operates as the Warriors' majority owner,
(18:30):
and he holds a stake in theirteam that is smaller than twenty seven
percent. Cuban keeps telling us thathe will retain operational control over basketball endeavors,
though it's not in writing, it'snot spelled out in ink how long
that will be the case. Buthe is still calling the shots basketball wise,
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and given you know, we stillhave not seen or heard from the
Addison's were the Dumonts since the salewent through. And you know, we're
closing in on a month already sincethe sale went through. So I think
it's pretty clear this trade deadline forsure will remain. Mark Cubans show,
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Let's listen to that first clip.You know, it's never been done before
where someone who sold the team getsto retain the basketball side. So I
didn't put it out to bid.I've known Patrick and the Addison family for
a long time. I thought theywere perfect partner. Their expertise compliments mine,
and like I said many times before, in order to be compete financially
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in the NBA going forward, you'regoing to have you can't be dependent just
on media and technology anymore. You'vegot to be able to build that big,
you know, entertainment destination with hopefullycasino in it. And that's what
they're great at. I mean,they do that around the world. When
Cuban says there, I didn't putit out to bid, what he's essentially
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saying is that he sold the franchise, the majority stake in The Mavericks to
Las Vegas Sans Corp. Realistically forless than he could have precisely so he
could retain control of basketball operations.Yet, as we hear from Cuban in
the next clip, he does acknowledgethat for the first time in more than
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forty years, he has a bossin his professional life. Ben Rodgers actually
asked him when was the last timehe had to report to someone. Cuban
did the math and came up withnineteen eighty three as the answer. So
take a listen to this. Thisis Cuban here acknowledging that dynamic that he
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does have to report to the newboss. I'm not the governor any longer.
That'll be Patrick Dumont. I'm stillon twenty seven percent. We've said
that publicly, so you know that'sstill a whole lot of money's worth of
the Dallas Mavericks. Again, tobe candid, I have a boss,
right and if I screw it up, just royally, then they've got the
right to kick me out. Everyoneclose to the situation that I've asked,
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and believe me, I've been aspesky as possible on this point. Everyone
close to the deal insists to methat they do not think there's a scenario
that would come to fruition where Cubanwould just get booted out of the franchise
that he has openly loved so muchsince becoming majority owner of the Mavericks nearly
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twenty four years ago. Well itis twenty four years ago now January fourth,
two thousand. Still quite an eyebrowraiser, though just to hear him
acknowledge it so starkly that he knowsthings could go awry and he could theoretically
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be booted out if something changes inthe plan, which does make this whole
thing risky to some degree. Theother two bites that we've pulled from the
conversation are on court matters, moreof the pure basketball stuff. We start
with Cuban discussing the Kyrie Irving,Luka Doncic partnership and the promise that we've
(22:26):
seen in flashes. You have tosay flashes, because they've only managed to
appear in twenty one games together thisseason, and that's after a training camp
in which they were only able tolog seven minutes together. The good news
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for Dallas they're twelve to nine inthe games when both Doncic and Irving have
been able to play. The badnews, of course, is twenty one
games. Accounts for exactly half ofthe forty two games total that the Mavericks
have played this season. But Cubanin this clip We're gonna play Now,
(23:11):
he shares his theories, his beliefwhy this partnership has performed well despite being
faced with no shortage of skepticism.And the most important part is kind knows
this Lucas team. There's absolutely nomisunderstanding about that whatsoever. And then the
(23:32):
question everybody would ask was, well, Kai play off the ball? Yes,
he could play off the ball andhe's good at it too, because
his basketball IQ is through the roof. He knows what to do for the
team. Have to say. I'veheard this as well from executives from rival
teams that have watched the Mavericks.One Western Conference official made it a point
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to say this to me early thismonth that in his view, Kyrie Irving
hasn't gotten enough credit for how wholeheartedlyhe has embraced a secondary role with the
MAVs and off the ball roll whenhe needs to, and that he appears
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to be doing as much as hecan to give the partnership with Luka Doncic
the best possible chance at success.And also in this visit, again.
Mark Cuban spent three segments an hourand a half with Ben and Skin.
Ben and Skin have tricked me intospending two segments with them, but three
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is quite a feat. Skin Wadeask Cuban what the Mavericks are looking for,
at least conceptionally. Did I saythat right? Conceptionally? Concept wise?
What the Mavericks are looking for beforethe February eighth trade deadline? I
(25:03):
reported on January first that the Mavericksare eager to upgrade in the front court.
They'd like to find a four manif they can. That's the clear
hole right now in the roster whenyou've got the Luka Kyrie backcourt and Derek
Lively the seconds emergence. As youknow, he's not just I keep saying
(25:26):
it, He's not the center ofthe future. He's the center of the
present. So Skin tried to seehow much he could get from the alternate
governor who retains operational control of basketballendeavors. And look, Cuban has been
around the block. He knows hecan't talk about specific names of players on
other teams without getting in trouble.But I do think he did give us
(25:48):
a little something you can take alisten now and let me know what you
think. You're not allowed to talkabout it, like I can't ask you
about a player on another team.We know that, But as you look
at your roster, what is thetype of player that you, guys feel
like you need right now? Ithink we need a If we can get
a big who can also create offthe dribble, that'd be a plus.
When you say big, give mea SUSI six eight or bigger. Yeah,
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okay, okay, you heard thedescription a big man. Preferably someone
who can create off the dribble,someone who could someone who stands at least
six foot eight. If you havesuggestions, if there are players you would
like to see the Mavericks pursue,you should be texting that information to me
(26:37):
via the Steinlein text line at twoone four seven eight seven one nine seven
one or eight one seven seven eightseven one nine seven to one. The
text line stays live for you always. But remember in twenty twenty four,
we'd love to hear more of yourvoice in this show, and the way
(26:57):
to do that to register your thoughtsor ask me questions more directly. If
you're listening to ninety seven to one, The Freak via the iHeartRadio app.
You'll see a microphone icon down atthe bottom. Right click on that,
you can leave me a thirty secondmessage or ask me a question you'd like
(27:18):
me to answer on the show.And that's exactly how we're gonna get the
last segment of today's edition of theSaturday Steinline started. Get your questions and
comments in. Even if they don'tmake this show, we keep them all
Matty g as a special database wherethey are all stored and preserved for safety.
After the break, we'll see exactlywhat we already have in terms of
(27:42):
listener's submissions. I've also got aclip of Julius Randall the New York Knicks
all start forward, and of coursePresternwood Christian alumnus telling me a story on
the This League Uncut podcast that Ico host alongside Turner Sports Chris Haynes about
how much loves playing in Dallas.And then before we go, we've gotta
(28:03):
discuss got to we gotta discuss DirkDavitski's appearance on Dwayne Wade's new podcast.
We will do all that next hereafter the break on ninety seven to one
The Freak. This is Durkin Nowitzky, and you're listening to the Saturday Steinline
with my guys. Steiny on ninetyseven won the Freak. Thanks for sticking
with us here on the Saturday Steinlinepresented by Panini Trading cards and collectibles.
(28:30):
Lots still to get to in ourremaining time together in this Saturday lunch hour.
This segment is going to it juststarted with a little Dirk Davitzki,
gonna end with a little Dirk Davitski. But I mentioned this last week,
maybe even before last week. Iknow I've mentioned it on more than one
(28:52):
occasion. The goal for every showin twenty twenty four, my hope is
that we get at least one Worther, one worthy listener submission to lead off
this third segment. And let mefirst shout out the very loyal Kurt t
(29:12):
who hits us on the Steinlein textline every single week to let us know
he's listening. Kurt. We didget your audio, I have to say,
though you must have been outside becausethere was some wind interference. Let's
(29:33):
say that we're not gonna be ableto use it, but we did get
that submission via the iHeartRadio app.Give it a whirl again, preferably indoors.
We will make sure your voice isheard. We do have a question
about the Mavericks and their trade deadlineintentions as a show somehow really don't know
how we pulled this off, butwe managed tw require the services of Maddi
(30:03):
g via producer Free Agency. She'shere like seventeen hours on Saturday before we
get going piloting the automotive edge,but now she sticks around to make sure
we don't veer out of control.First person in the history of the show
with the access and ability to retrievethese messages, screen them, help me
get them on the air, allthe stuff that you guys know. I
(30:26):
am completely hopeless at So here wego. Maddie, please roll the tape.
Howdy Mark, This is Cheese,a friend of the freaking a fan
of yours. I think you're great, love the show. My main question
is do we need a trade.I actually think injuries have been our biggest
issue and that if everybody's healthy,we actually can make a run. Lively's
(30:49):
been a nice surprise. We obviouslyneed guys like Hardaway and Williams playing well,
but if that happens, I thinkthat this roster can kind of make
it happen. What's your take onthat? Jeez, First, thank you
so much for the kind words andthe listenership. Always great to hear that
the Mavericks do need a trade.They have been looking, they will continue
(31:12):
to look. They are not ifthey can avoid it, going to stand
pat. The question is what isgettable for them with a limited cachet of
trade assets compared to some other teams. And we talked about it in the
first segment when it came to iflet's just say throw out the concerns about
(31:33):
Pascal Siakam's max contract demands and let'sjust say that, Dallas was like,
you know what, we've got togo get this guy. He's the guy
we absolutely have to get there.They were not going to be able to
outbid the Pacers, who had threefirst round picks and leverage to do a
deal with Toronto where they were evenable to keep out players like Benedict Mattarin
(31:56):
and Jarris Walker and Andrew Nebhar ThePacers were able to really get the deal
they wanted to the Mavericks. Theyonly have one future first round pick to
move. You know, is theregoing to be interest in Jaden Hardy can
they You know, he should havebeen a first round pick in his draft,
(32:16):
but are rival teams going to regardhim as a future first round pick?
I mean, that's really the kindof issue. Those are the issues
that the Mavericks are facing. ButI mean, you heard it directly from
Mark Cuban earlier in this show.They would like to get a fore man,
someone with some offensive ability. Ithink they'd like a scoring for man
(32:38):
if they could. They know,I mean, this team is badly undersized,
and you know they know they needmore size as amazingly well as Lively
has played. As you yourself mentioned, everyone, remember you too can get
some run on the Saturday Steinline byclicking that red microphone icon the bottom right
(33:05):
of the ninety seven to one TheFreak feed on the iHeartRadio app. Ask
me a question, leave me amessage, leave us your thoughts. How
you know That's exactly how it's goingto work. Maddie will screen them,
and the very best submissions will maketheir way onto the show and onto ninety
(33:25):
seven to one The Freak, wherewe say what we want. For the
rest of this show, we're turningto podcast matters. I wanted to continue
the theme of this Saturday get togetheris we've been sharing all these clips of
sound that we've amassed. Julius Randall, of course, is a New York
Nick. He's trying to play hisway to the All Star Game as a
(33:46):
Nick for the third time. Buthe's a local product. He played his
high school ball at Prestonwood Christian Academy, and man does he love coming back
to Dallas to play something I suspected. Of course, probably something you suspected.
I didn't realize though to what degreehe feels that way. Didn't fully
(34:10):
grasp it until I had the chance. With Turner Sports Chris Haynes, we
do this League Uncut podcast twice aweek. We had the chance to interview
Randall. It was right after theday after the Knicks lost here in Dallas.
Gave me the chance to apologize toRandall because it's always bothered me that
(34:37):
I didn't go see him in highschool, even when I lived in the
vicinity of Presternwood Christian Academy. Andlook, I've given enough backstory. It
all led to this pretty fun exchangethat we're gonna share with you now.
I'm actually glad that you set thisup because this is my chance to actually
(35:00):
apologize to mister Randall for one ofmy worst basketball fails. I used to
live very close to Preston Wood ChristianAcademy, where he played, and because
I get so wrapped up in myday job, I didn't get out there
to see him. That was amiss on my part that I didn't get
to see you, and I feltdoubly bad about it when I heard last
(35:22):
night Brad Townshend from the Dallas MorningNews, I heard you picked him out
and said, this guy interviewed mewhen I was ten playing for the Texas
Titans. And you should have seenit, Chris last night. I mean,
he had a deep squad with himthat almost took up the whole hallway
after the game, and there werea lot of Julius Randall fans in the
(35:44):
hallway after the game. What isthat like to play in your hometown?
And I know MAVs fans don't likeseeing you because they usually put up big
numbers when you come home, Butwhat is that like to play in front
of your whole family and come homelike that and kind of you're expected to
deliver something big. I mean,it's just one of those things that never
(36:05):
gets old. It's like, likeI said, it's another one of those
things just kind of brings the bestout of me. It's a level of
comfort. You know, that's thesame court that I grew up, you
know, talking about the Texas tymeand I used to grow up going to
games. I was a Laker fangoing up, and I would go to
all the Laker games when they playingin Dallas, And that's the court that
(36:27):
I grew up watching Kobe on andI would watch them come in there and
just put on a show every singletime. And you know, going to
games watching dirt, you know,like it's almost like I grew up in
that gym in a sense, youknow what I mean. I grew up
I understand the drive, like everything, all the little details of drive to
(36:47):
the arena, of the entrance,like where the players going, all that
different type of stuff. So it'slike when I come there, it's like
a level of comfort and familiar justlike familiarness, just it's different, you
know what I mean. So likeI'm extremely comfortable when I go out there,
and then just to see my familythere, to have my son of
(37:09):
course on talking trash, it's justlike full circle for me. So I
love it. It'll never get old. Finally had the good sense to choose
a clip that lasted more than thirtyseconds to give this voice a respite.
Loved hearing Julius Randall get all nostalgicabout young Julius Randall going down to the
(37:34):
AAC to watch Kobe Bryant, towatch Dirk Novitsky and for further Dirk nostalgia
hand. This week we got thepodcast that I'm not sure anyone would have
dreamed could happen when these guys wereplaying against each other, but it really
(38:01):
did happen. Dirk Novitzky sitting ata table with Dwayne Wade, his old
nemesis from Miami. Tony Parker andPau Gasol were there too. This actually
happened back in August, on theday before they were all enshrined together in
the Hall of Fame in Springfield,Massachusetts. We're only hearing the podcast now
(38:22):
five months later. It's Wade's newpodcast, The Why with Dwayne Wade and
iHeart Production, finally debuted this weekand let's just get right to it.
Here we go, Dwayne Wade pointblank inviting Dirk to tell him how much
he used to not like him,how did you feel about me in two
(38:44):
thousand and six, Well, therewasn't a lot of love there. I'd
say there wasn't a lot of lovethere. I think there were just things
said on both sides that weren't appreciated. I think you took offense to and
I said, we kind of gavethem the championship, which is which I've
(39:06):
would have probably taken offense too,because you worked extremely hard, you played
your butt off and carried them.I came back swinging in the media.
Yeah. And then even weeks later, or or maybe I said something that
the training camp the following year,and I remember in the next year and
I'm already moved on. Obviously,some reporter comes up to me and shoot
(39:27):
around me like, hey, didyou see what Dwayne said? And I
was like what this is? Likemonths now later, he's like, yeah,
you weren't the finisher, you weren'tthe leader. And I'm like,
oh wow, that came out ofnowhere. So I didn't appreciate that,
of course, But now twenty almosttwenty years later, I see where both
sides were were just not happy withhow that whole thing went down. But
(39:51):
honestly, I say this all thetime. There can't always be friendships during
the highest level of competition. Imean, it's just not how it works.
Were old school. I always wantedto win, but there was there
was no love lost there at thebeginning, I remember, and the old
seven. The All Star game wasin Vegas. I think we were the
only two All Stars ever on recordand not shake hands pre game. So
(40:16):
there was definitely, Yeah, therewas definitely some some cold times. And
mind you, we've never had aconversation to this point, exactly, we've
never talked. And it shows youthe power of the media and how they
you know, they came back tome and they said, well, Dirk
said this, Oh really, wellwatch this, and then Dirk said and
(40:36):
then said that, and then nowit goes and now you don't even talk
to each other. We're the we'rethe biggest stage in our game, right,
We're two of the best players inour game, and we don't even
know how to just forget that moveon. And you know, because because
we played each other at the highestand that was a very intense, emotional,
emotional series. And then the theact effect was you know, was
(40:58):
a lot. I knew Dirk wasgoing to be doing that podcast with Wade,
because I had traveled with him toSpringfield and that, let me tell
you, was an experience in itself, watching Navisky fly the same commercial flight
as me, seeing him exit theplane at Hartford Airport and accommodate selfie request
(41:22):
after selfie request. I've said itbefore, I'll say it again, applaud
him for how gentlemanly he handles theWade situation now, how he can downplay
the level of animus that once existedbetween these guys, between these franchises,
definitely between the two stars. Imissed the tension, I missed the frostiness.
(41:49):
I missed the absolute iciness of themnot shaking hands before that two thousand
and seven All Star Game in Vegas. I covered that, and I'm sorry
Dirk and d Wade is pals cannotprocess it, still can't process it.
Any Dirk fan is gonna want tolisten to both parts of that maiden episode
(42:12):
of The Why with Dwayne Wade.Trust me, if you haven't heard it
already, just to hear Tony Parkertalk about Dirk's place in the game among
European players. Really thoughtful and meaningfulperspective from yet another Hall of Famer Guys
we Gotta Go
Welcome to the Saturday Steinline with MarkStein, presented by Panini Trading Cards and
Collectibles. On ninety seven to oneThe Freak, the official homes Well Dallas
Nevericks Games, hosted by legendary NBAreporter and publisher of his substackt The Steinline.
Here's Mark Stein. Everyone, Welcomein to the Saturday Steinline presented by
(00:32):
Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Gottastart with a bit of a disclaimer.
I would be lying if I didn'tsay from the jump that I am operating
at slightly less than full capacity today, and I just wanted to offer the
(00:55):
warning that apologies in advance. Theremay have to be an occasional pause or
three along the way to gather myself. But I simply couldn't bear the idea
of missing a single show, especiallynow where we are moving into such an
(01:15):
important stage on the calendar. There'sso much going on in early February in
multiple sports. To be honest,that this show cares deeply about many dates
to circle that we need to keeptrack of. Foremost of course, for
our purposes. Here as always whatwe've been discussing all month already, the
(01:40):
NBA trade deadline, hits on Februaryeighth. We're inside three weeks to go.
Now, that's going to be amajor topic throughout today's show, especially
in segments two and three. Somethingelse on the horizon that I'm not sure
a lot of radio stations in Dallaswill be showing love to, but you
(02:01):
can bet that this show will becausewe are tennis people here. The Dallas
Open will be back soon for itsfinal year at SMU before a major move
north to the Star in Frisco,top shelf ATP Tour Tennis. The Dallas
(02:24):
Open brought ATP Tour Tennis back tothis city for the first time since the
nineteen eighties. The timing and allcandor less than ideal for yours. Truly
(02:52):
can't remember if I've told this storybefore. My plan last year was to
sneak out to the tournament just tosee at least one day of qualifying on
the Sunday, just one after CouldI sneak in one afternoon of tennis before
the trade deadline. My dear friendMitchell Krueger, the veteran pro from right
here in Dallas, was playing afirst round qualifying match, and I was
(03:15):
like, I gotta at least seeMitch play once, so I found my
I found a way to SMU literallyseconds before Mitch's match begins, and he
ended up winning that first round qualifyingmatch against Jack Pennington Jones, who plays
(03:37):
at TCU. He spent time onthe tour and also playing at TCU.
Literally seconds before the match, wordhits that the Mavericks were doing the Kyrie
Irving trade. So I had toorganize an abrupt escape to get myself out
of the SMU Tennis complex and getback home to start writing thousands of words
(04:01):
about the trade. And it wasso cool because it was qualifying Sunday,
but the crowd was huge, Imean much bigger than what you would see
for a typical ATP Tour two pointfifty event in the qualifying round. It
was tremendously encouraging to me to seethat kind of tennis audience gathered again on
(04:29):
a Sunday before the tournament had actuallystarted. So the Dallas Open is here
from February third through eleven. Thatis a big deal to me as well.
Of course, I will probably missalmost all of it because of the
on rushing trade deadline and how muchtends to happen that week maybe when the
trade deadline passes February eighth, twopm local time. That does lead me
(04:54):
a couple days at the back endof the tournament. Very very hopeful I
can make it to the back endof the tournament. But something else that
is going to happen right in themiddle of all that. Yet another important
date to circle in early February,February fourth. February fourth is when we
(05:18):
officially find out if Dallas I shouldactually say DFW since the game would obviously
be at Jerry World in Arlington.But is Dallas getting the twenty twenty six
World Cup Final as massive as itgets in terms of a single sporting event,
(05:40):
and on this scorecard, with apologiesto all the gridiron football fans out
there, yes, even larger inglobal scope to me than the Super Bowl.
The whole world really stops for theWorld Cup final. The London based
Daily Mail reported this week that Dallaswill beat out New York to host the
(06:03):
final of the twenty twenty six WorldCup, and of course, our CONCACAFF
neighbors Canada and Mexico are also WorldCup hosts. In twenty twenty six,
all three nations will be hosting gamesno official confirmation yet of the Daily Mail
story. The official word in circulationis that we're not going to get that
(06:29):
one hundred percent stamp until FIFA's plannedannouncement on February fourth, But the signs
are obviously hopeful. People would obviouslylove, love, love to see that
happen here. This is such ahuge soccer community and at so many different
(06:55):
levels. I mean, I thinkDallas is known for just how big a
deal soccer is here, and youknow, to imagine the World Cup final
in Dallas. You know, Ihad the privilege of attending and covering the
nineteen ninety four World Cup in Pasadena. The final was at the Rose Bowl.
(07:16):
February of ninety four was my bigbreak in terms of covering the NBA.
I became the traveling Clippers beat writerfor the La Daily News halfway through
that season, right before the tradedeadline in nineteen ninety four, and then
a few months later I was partof the Daily News team covering the World
(07:38):
Cup. I only did World Cupgames in California, Southern California and Northern
California, so I did not getto make it here to see what the
games were like at the Cotton Bowldidn't get to see the International Broadcast Center
that was based in Dallas in nineteenninety four. All these years later,
soccer is so much more establish inthis country. Remember in nineteen ninety four,
(08:03):
we didn't even have a top shelfprofessional league. That was one of
the stipulations for the United States tobe the World Cup hosts in nineteen ninety
four. They had to after thedemise of the NASL, they had to
start a league, and Major LeagueSoccer began in nineteen ninety six. This
is such a soccer hotbed, boys, girls, youth, college pro.
(08:26):
We have it all here. SoI mean fingers crossed that that Daily Mail
story is correct and that the twentytwenty sixth final really is on its way
to Jerry World. That would besuch sporting treat and such a huge,
huge thing for this city to host. The rest of today's show, I
(08:50):
promise, is going to be veryMavericks heavy. The team is already home
from the West Coast. The reasonfor that, of course, as I'm
sure you are aware, is justincredibly tragic. One of the saddest stories
that, frankly, I've ever heardin all my years covering the league.
(09:13):
The Mavericks played Wednesday night in LA. They were supposed to proceed to San
Francisco to play the Warriors on Friday, and I mean, what's happened to
the Warriors. It's I mean,it's not just tragic, it's dramatic.
The sudden death of Warriors assistant coachDeayon Miloyovich just a beloved figure internationally throughout
(09:41):
the NBA. Nikolajokic and Boban Maryanovitchboth spoke of how they'm not sure they
would have made it to the NBAwithout Miloyevich's tutelage when they met him in
their native Serbia. Can't even imaginewhat the Warriors are going through as a
group right now. The Warriors weresupposed to play in Salt Lake City when
(10:03):
this tragedy took place. Golden State'sgame against the Jazz was obviously immediately canceled,
and then the league took the decisionthat Friday's game against the Mavericks would
also be postponed. I mean,let's face it, the Warriors were not
fit to play a basketball game thisweek after what happened, and because of
a quirk in the schedule, GoldenState has four full days off after they
(10:31):
would have had four full days offno matter what after Friday's originally scheduled games.
So now the Warriors are in themidst of this week plus where they
get to be out of the spotlightand grieve away from the public's eye.
I do believe they are scheduled tostart practicing again on Sunday, but the
(10:54):
Warriors don't have to play again untilWednesday at home against Atlanta. The Mavericks
after that loss in La, theyreturn home Thursday. They practiced Friday.
It was actually the mavericks first fullfledged practice as a team since before Christmas.
That's how long it's been since they'dbeen able to get the group together
(11:15):
just for a real session, noton a game day, of course.
The Mavericks went five and two onthe very long homestand before what became a
one game trip to Southern California.It was a five and two homestand judging
by the way people reacted to it, it felt like a two to five
(11:39):
homestand and don't get me wrong,the losses, the two losses that Dallas
took to both Memphis and New Orleans, with both of those teams missing numerous
frontline players, both terrible losses,but it was still five and two with
wins over Minnesota and New York andthe full strength Pelicans, and the latter
(12:03):
two wins came without Luka Doncic interms of the aforementioned trade deadline. Of
course, the major development this weekIndiana's acquisition of two time All NBA forward
Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors.The Pacers built the deal to win the
Siakam sweepstakes around three future first roundpicks two in this draft one in twenty
(12:28):
twenty six, as well as BruceBrown, who has a very trade friendly
contract, and that contract, Torontois widely expected to move Brown on and
possibly acquire some further assets. Ireported back on January first that the Mavericks'
(12:52):
interest in Siakam was overstated. Inever wavered from that. They really were
a factor in this race for starters. They just don't have that kind of
draft capital to compete with the offerthat Indiana ultimately made. And as we
covered last week, look, theMavericks obviously like Siakam. He clearly could
(13:16):
provide some of the things they're missing, but Siakam wants a max deal.
The Pacers are going to give him. If not a MAX deal, it's
going to be close. It's goingto be very expensive. If you're signing
Siakam to a Max or a nearmax and you're already paying Luka Doncic and
Kyrie Irving what they're getting, itbanishes you to the second apron of luxury
(13:45):
tax purgatory, and that just takesaway so much flexibility when you're trying to
build a team. So that's whythe Mavericks were really never a factor in
the Siakam chase and really never weregoing to be even if they wanted to
be. It's the same reason whywe saw Sacramento pull out of the Siacam
talks, because even though Sacramento likesSiakam, you know they've got so much
(14:09):
invested in Fox and sobotis when you'repaying dearon Fox and Demanda Sabonis max money,
can you really afford a third maxplayer? And then you lose tons
of flexibility. I anticipate the samewill happen with Portland's Jeremy Grant. The
Mavericks have limited draft capital capital tooffer. They would have concerns about the
(14:35):
long term finances. If they couldget Jeremy Grant. And again, as
we've been saying in the Blazer's case, it's really not even clear that Portland
is willing to trade Jeremy Grant.They've been resistant to it to this point
in trade season. Now, whatmight the Mavericks be able to do before
the trade deadline, or at leastwhat are they looking to do. We
(15:01):
are going to get some hints aboutthat in the next segment coming up.
When we go through the highlights thehigh points from Mark Cuban's in studio visit
with ben In's Skin earlier this week, we are going to analyze and dissect
some of the standout statements from thatconversation. You'll hear all that next here
(15:28):
on ninety seven Won the Freak.This is the Saturday Steinline with Mark Stein,
presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibleson your official homes to all Dallas
Mavericks Gangs the Freak. Yes,indeed, the Saturday Steinline dribbles On,
presented as always by Panini Trading Cardsand Collectibles. Normally, we have a
(15:54):
guest of our own lined up forthis segment, and I do have a
full on trade deadline summit planned fornext week's show at this time with Yahoo's
Jake Fisher, one of the mostplugged in reporters on the NBA map.
Jake already scheduled to join me inthis very segment next Saturday. But this
(16:19):
week's show, unusually, we werepresented with a scenario where we have a
bunch of sound making the rounds thatfeatures local basketball dignitaries, and so we
decided, you know what, let'smake use of all these clips that have
(16:40):
made our way to us, andlet's let's dive deep into them. So
on Tuesday, Maverick's alternate Governor MarkCuban, still adjusting to saying it that
way, Alternate Governor Mark Cuban.We had Cuban on our show right at
(17:02):
the end of the year in twentytwenty three, after his sale of a
majority steak in the Mavericks to theAddlelson and Dumont families was made official.
So we did our own one onone here on the Saturday Steinline. But
this week Cuban actually came into thestation, drove down to ninety seven,
(17:23):
won the freak, spent an hourand a half with the world famous Ben
and Skin show. That whole showif you want to listen to it.
Of course, you can check theBen and Skin podcast feed and listen to
it all. But for the purposesof the Saturday Steinline, we've taken the
(17:47):
liberty of lasering in on three orfour separate sound bites that landed with us
as the newsiest through the lens ofthis show. We're gonna run them all.
We'll run through them all in thissegment, and for starters, we're
going to listen to Cuban expound abit on this unique arrangement, where again
(18:08):
he has retained a twenty seven percentownership stake that would be enough with some
NBA franchises to be the majority owner. The Golden State Warriors Famously, as
I've mentioned a few times previously,Joe lakeb operates as the Warriors' majority owner,
(18:30):
and he holds a stake in theirteam that is smaller than twenty seven
percent. Cuban keeps telling us thathe will retain operational control over basketball endeavors,
though it's not in writing, it'snot spelled out in ink how long
that will be the case. Buthe is still calling the shots basketball wise,
(18:55):
and given you know, we stillhave not seen or heard from the
Addison's were the Dumonts since the salewent through. And you know, we're
closing in on a month already sincethe sale went through. So I think
it's pretty clear this trade deadline forsure will remain. Mark Cubans show,
(19:15):
Let's listen to that first clip.You know, it's never been done before
where someone who sold the team getsto retain the basketball side. So I
didn't put it out to bid.I've known Patrick and the Addison family for
a long time. I thought theywere perfect partner. Their expertise compliments mine,
and like I said many times before, in order to be compete financially
(19:36):
in the NBA going forward, you'regoing to have you can't be dependent just
on media and technology anymore. You'vegot to be able to build that big,
you know, entertainment destination with hopefullycasino in it. And that's what
they're great at. I mean,they do that around the world. When
Cuban says there, I didn't putit out to bid, what he's essentially
(19:59):
saying is that he sold the franchise, the majority stake in The Mavericks to
Las Vegas Sans Corp. Realistically forless than he could have precisely so he
could retain control of basketball operations.Yet, as we hear from Cuban in
the next clip, he does acknowledgethat for the first time in more than
(20:22):
forty years, he has a bossin his professional life. Ben Rodgers actually
asked him when was the last timehe had to report to someone. Cuban
did the math and came up withnineteen eighty three as the answer. So
take a listen to this. Thisis Cuban here acknowledging that dynamic that he
(20:48):
does have to report to the newboss. I'm not the governor any longer.
That'll be Patrick Dumont. I'm stillon twenty seven percent. We've said
that publicly, so you know that'sstill a whole lot of money's worth of
the Dallas Mavericks. Again, tobe candid, I have a boss,
right and if I screw it up, just royally, then they've got the
right to kick me out. Everyoneclose to the situation that I've asked,
(21:11):
and believe me, I've been aspesky as possible on this point. Everyone
close to the deal insists to methat they do not think there's a scenario
that would come to fruition where Cubanwould just get booted out of the franchise
that he has openly loved so muchsince becoming majority owner of the Mavericks nearly
(21:37):
twenty four years ago. Well itis twenty four years ago now January fourth,
two thousand. Still quite an eyebrowraiser, though just to hear him
acknowledge it so starkly that he knowsthings could go awry and he could theoretically
(21:59):
be booted out if something changes inthe plan, which does make this whole
thing risky to some degree. Theother two bites that we've pulled from the
conversation are on court matters, moreof the pure basketball stuff. We start
with Cuban discussing the Kyrie Irving,Luka Doncic partnership and the promise that we've
(22:26):
seen in flashes. You have tosay flashes, because they've only managed to
appear in twenty one games together thisseason, and that's after a training camp
in which they were only able tolog seven minutes together. The good news
(22:48):
for Dallas they're twelve to nine inthe games when both Doncic and Irving have
been able to play. The badnews, of course, is twenty one
games. Accounts for exactly half ofthe forty two games total that the Mavericks
have played this season. But Cubanin this clip We're gonna play Now,
(23:11):
he shares his theories, his beliefwhy this partnership has performed well despite being
faced with no shortage of skepticism.And the most important part is kind knows
this Lucas team. There's absolutely nomisunderstanding about that whatsoever. And then the
(23:32):
question everybody would ask was, well, Kai play off the ball? Yes,
he could play off the ball andhe's good at it too, because
his basketball IQ is through the roof. He knows what to do for the
team. Have to say. I'veheard this as well from executives from rival
teams that have watched the Mavericks.One Western Conference official made it a point
(23:56):
to say this to me early thismonth that in his view, Kyrie Irving
hasn't gotten enough credit for how wholeheartedlyhe has embraced a secondary role with the
MAVs and off the ball roll whenhe needs to, and that he appears
(24:18):
to be doing as much as hecan to give the partnership with Luka Doncic
the best possible chance at success.And also in this visit, again.
Mark Cuban spent three segments an hourand a half with Ben and Skin.
Ben and Skin have tricked me intospending two segments with them, but three
(24:41):
is quite a feat. Skin Wadeask Cuban what the Mavericks are looking for,
at least conceptionally. Did I saythat right? Conceptionally? Concept wise?
What the Mavericks are looking for beforethe February eighth trade deadline? I
(25:03):
reported on January first that the Mavericksare eager to upgrade in the front court.
They'd like to find a four manif they can. That's the clear
hole right now in the roster whenyou've got the Luka Kyrie backcourt and Derek
Lively the seconds emergence. As youknow, he's not just I keep saying
(25:26):
it, He's not the center ofthe future. He's the center of the
present. So Skin tried to seehow much he could get from the alternate
governor who retains operational control of basketballendeavors. And look, Cuban has been
around the block. He knows hecan't talk about specific names of players on
other teams without getting in trouble.But I do think he did give us
(25:48):
a little something you can take alisten now and let me know what you
think. You're not allowed to talkabout it, like I can't ask you
about a player on another team.We know that, But as you look
at your roster, what is thetype of player that you, guys feel
like you need right now? Ithink we need a If we can get
a big who can also create offthe dribble, that'd be a plus.
When you say big, give mea SUSI six eight or bigger. Yeah,
(26:11):
okay, okay, you heard thedescription a big man. Preferably someone
who can create off the dribble,someone who could someone who stands at least
six foot eight. If you havesuggestions, if there are players you would
like to see the Mavericks pursue,you should be texting that information to me
(26:37):
via the Steinlein text line at twoone four seven eight seven one nine seven
one or eight one seven seven eightseven one nine seven to one. The
text line stays live for you always. But remember in twenty twenty four,
we'd love to hear more of yourvoice in this show, and the way
(26:57):
to do that to register your thoughtsor ask me questions more directly. If
you're listening to ninety seven to one, The Freak via the iHeartRadio app.
You'll see a microphone icon down atthe bottom. Right click on that,
you can leave me a thirty secondmessage or ask me a question you'd like
(27:18):
me to answer on the show.And that's exactly how we're gonna get the
last segment of today's edition of theSaturday Steinline started. Get your questions and
comments in. Even if they don'tmake this show, we keep them all
Matty g as a special database wherethey are all stored and preserved for safety.
After the break, we'll see exactlywhat we already have in terms of
(27:42):
listener's submissions. I've also got aclip of Julius Randall the New York Knicks
all start forward, and of coursePresternwood Christian alumnus telling me a story on
the This League Uncut podcast that Ico host alongside Turner Sports Chris Haynes about
how much loves playing in Dallas.And then before we go, we've gotta
(28:03):
discuss got to we gotta discuss DirkDavitski's appearance on Dwayne Wade's new podcast.
We will do all that next hereafter the break on ninety seven to one
The Freak. This is Durkin Nowitzky, and you're listening to the Saturday Steinline
with my guys. Steiny on ninetyseven won the Freak. Thanks for sticking
with us here on the Saturday Steinlinepresented by Panini Trading cards and collectibles.
(28:30):
Lots still to get to in ourremaining time together in this Saturday lunch hour.
This segment is going to it juststarted with a little Dirk Davitzki,
gonna end with a little Dirk Davitski. But I mentioned this last week,
maybe even before last week. Iknow I've mentioned it on more than one
(28:52):
occasion. The goal for every showin twenty twenty four, my hope is
that we get at least one Worther, one worthy listener submission to lead off
this third segment. And let mefirst shout out the very loyal Kurt t
(29:12):
who hits us on the Steinlein textline every single week to let us know
he's listening. Kurt. We didget your audio, I have to say,
though you must have been outside becausethere was some wind interference. Let's
(29:33):
say that we're not gonna be ableto use it, but we did get
that submission via the iHeartRadio app.Give it a whirl again, preferably indoors.
We will make sure your voice isheard. We do have a question
about the Mavericks and their trade deadlineintentions as a show somehow really don't know
how we pulled this off, butwe managed tw require the services of Maddi
(30:03):
g via producer Free Agency. She'shere like seventeen hours on Saturday before we
get going piloting the automotive edge,but now she sticks around to make sure
we don't veer out of control.First person in the history of the show
with the access and ability to retrievethese messages, screen them, help me
get them on the air, allthe stuff that you guys know. I
(30:26):
am completely hopeless at So here wego. Maddie, please roll the tape.
Howdy Mark, This is Cheese,a friend of the freaking a fan
of yours. I think you're great, love the show. My main question
is do we need a trade.I actually think injuries have been our biggest
issue and that if everybody's healthy,we actually can make a run. Lively's
(30:49):
been a nice surprise. We obviouslyneed guys like Hardaway and Williams playing well,
but if that happens, I thinkthat this roster can kind of make
it happen. What's your take onthat? Jeez, First, thank you
so much for the kind words andthe listenership. Always great to hear that
the Mavericks do need a trade.They have been looking, they will continue
(31:12):
to look. They are not ifthey can avoid it, going to stand
pat. The question is what isgettable for them with a limited cachet of
trade assets compared to some other teams. And we talked about it in the
first segment when it came to iflet's just say throw out the concerns about
(31:33):
Pascal Siakam's max contract demands and let'sjust say that, Dallas was like,
you know what, we've got togo get this guy. He's the guy
we absolutely have to get there.They were not going to be able to
outbid the Pacers, who had threefirst round picks and leverage to do a
deal with Toronto where they were evenable to keep out players like Benedict Mattarin
(31:56):
and Jarris Walker and Andrew Nebhar ThePacers were able to really get the deal
they wanted to the Mavericks. Theyonly have one future first round pick to
move. You know, is theregoing to be interest in Jaden Hardy can
they You know, he should havebeen a first round pick in his draft,
(32:16):
but are rival teams going to regardhim as a future first round pick?
I mean, that's really the kindof issue. Those are the issues
that the Mavericks are facing. ButI mean, you heard it directly from
Mark Cuban earlier in this show.They would like to get a fore man,
someone with some offensive ability. Ithink they'd like a scoring for man
(32:38):
if they could. They know,I mean, this team is badly undersized,
and you know they know they needmore size as amazingly well as Lively
has played. As you yourself mentioned, everyone, remember you too can get
some run on the Saturday Steinline byclicking that red microphone icon the bottom right
(33:05):
of the ninety seven to one TheFreak feed on the iHeartRadio app. Ask
me a question, leave me amessage, leave us your thoughts. How
you know That's exactly how it's goingto work. Maddie will screen them,
and the very best submissions will maketheir way onto the show and onto ninety
(33:25):
seven to one The Freak, wherewe say what we want. For the
rest of this show, we're turningto podcast matters. I wanted to continue
the theme of this Saturday get togetheris we've been sharing all these clips of
sound that we've amassed. Julius Randall, of course, is a New York
Nick. He's trying to play hisway to the All Star Game as a
(33:46):
Nick for the third time. Buthe's a local product. He played his
high school ball at Prestonwood Christian Academy, and man does he love coming back
to Dallas to play something I suspected. Of course, probably something you suspected.
I didn't realize though to what degreehe feels that way. Didn't fully
(34:10):
grasp it until I had the chance. With Turner Sports Chris Haynes, we
do this League Uncut podcast twice aweek. We had the chance to interview
Randall. It was right after theday after the Knicks lost here in Dallas.
Gave me the chance to apologize toRandall because it's always bothered me that
(34:37):
I didn't go see him in highschool, even when I lived in the
vicinity of Presternwood Christian Academy. Andlook, I've given enough backstory. It
all led to this pretty fun exchangethat we're gonna share with you now.
I'm actually glad that you set thisup because this is my chance to actually
(35:00):
apologize to mister Randall for one ofmy worst basketball fails. I used to
live very close to Preston Wood ChristianAcademy, where he played, and because
I get so wrapped up in myday job, I didn't get out there
to see him. That was amiss on my part that I didn't get
to see you, and I feltdoubly bad about it when I heard last
(35:22):
night Brad Townshend from the Dallas MorningNews, I heard you picked him out
and said, this guy interviewed mewhen I was ten playing for the Texas
Titans. And you should have seenit, Chris last night. I mean,
he had a deep squad with himthat almost took up the whole hallway
after the game, and there werea lot of Julius Randall fans in the
(35:44):
hallway after the game. What isthat like to play in your hometown?
And I know MAVs fans don't likeseeing you because they usually put up big
numbers when you come home, Butwhat is that like to play in front
of your whole family and come homelike that and kind of you're expected to
deliver something big. I mean,it's just one of those things that never
(36:05):
gets old. It's like, likeI said, it's another one of those
things just kind of brings the bestout of me. It's a level of
comfort. You know, that's thesame court that I grew up, you
know, talking about the Texas tymeand I used to grow up going to
games. I was a Laker fangoing up, and I would go to
all the Laker games when they playingin Dallas, And that's the court that
(36:27):
I grew up watching Kobe on andI would watch them come in there and
just put on a show every singletime. And you know, going to
games watching dirt, you know,like it's almost like I grew up in
that gym in a sense, youknow what I mean. I grew up
I understand the drive, like everything, all the little details of drive to
(36:47):
the arena, of the entrance,like where the players going, all that
different type of stuff. So it'slike when I come there, it's like
a level of comfort and familiar justlike familiarness, just it's different, you
know what I mean. So likeI'm extremely comfortable when I go out there,
and then just to see my familythere, to have my son of
(37:09):
course on talking trash, it's justlike full circle for me. So I
love it. It'll never get old. Finally had the good sense to choose
a clip that lasted more than thirtyseconds to give this voice a respite.
Loved hearing Julius Randall get all nostalgicabout young Julius Randall going down to the
(37:34):
AAC to watch Kobe Bryant, towatch Dirk Novitsky and for further Dirk nostalgia
hand. This week we got thepodcast that I'm not sure anyone would have
dreamed could happen when these guys wereplaying against each other, but it really
(38:01):
did happen. Dirk Novitzky sitting ata table with Dwayne Wade, his old
nemesis from Miami. Tony Parker andPau Gasol were there too. This actually
happened back in August, on theday before they were all enshrined together in
the Hall of Fame in Springfield,Massachusetts. We're only hearing the podcast now
(38:22):
five months later. It's Wade's newpodcast, The Why with Dwayne Wade and
iHeart Production, finally debuted this weekand let's just get right to it.
Here we go, Dwayne Wade pointblank inviting Dirk to tell him how much
he used to not like him,how did you feel about me in two
(38:44):
thousand and six, Well, therewasn't a lot of love there. I'd
say there wasn't a lot of lovethere. I think there were just things
said on both sides that weren't appreciated. I think you took offense to and
I said, we kind of gavethem the championship, which is which I've
(39:06):
would have probably taken offense too,because you worked extremely hard, you played
your butt off and carried them.I came back swinging in the media.
Yeah. And then even weeks later, or or maybe I said something that
the training camp the following year,and I remember in the next year and
I'm already moved on. Obviously,some reporter comes up to me and shoot
(39:27):
around me like, hey, didyou see what Dwayne said? And I
was like what this is? Likemonths now later, he's like, yeah,
you weren't the finisher, you weren'tthe leader. And I'm like,
oh wow, that came out ofnowhere. So I didn't appreciate that,
of course, But now twenty almosttwenty years later, I see where both
sides were were just not happy withhow that whole thing went down. But
(39:51):
honestly, I say this all thetime. There can't always be friendships during
the highest level of competition. Imean, it's just not how it works.
Were old school. I always wantedto win, but there was there
was no love lost there at thebeginning, I remember, and the old
seven. The All Star game wasin Vegas. I think we were the
only two All Stars ever on recordand not shake hands pre game. So
(40:16):
there was definitely, Yeah, therewas definitely some some cold times. And
mind you, we've never had aconversation to this point, exactly, we've
never talked. And it shows youthe power of the media and how they
you know, they came back tome and they said, well, Dirk
said this, Oh really, wellwatch this, and then Dirk said and
(40:36):
then said that, and then nowit goes and now you don't even talk
to each other. We're the we'rethe biggest stage in our game, right,
We're two of the best players inour game, and we don't even
know how to just forget that moveon. And you know, because because
we played each other at the highestand that was a very intense, emotional,
emotional series. And then the theact effect was you know, was
(40:58):
a lot. I knew Dirk wasgoing to be doing that podcast with Wade,
because I had traveled with him toSpringfield and that, let me tell
you, was an experience in itself, watching Navisky fly the same commercial flight
as me, seeing him exit theplane at Hartford Airport and accommodate selfie request
(41:22):
after selfie request. I've said itbefore, I'll say it again, applaud
him for how gentlemanly he handles theWade situation now, how he can downplay
the level of animus that once existedbetween these guys, between these franchises,
definitely between the two stars. Imissed the tension, I missed the frostiness.
(41:49):
I missed the absolute iciness of themnot shaking hands before that two thousand
and seven All Star Game in Vegas. I covered that, and I'm sorry
Dirk and d Wade is pals cannotprocess it, still can't process it.
Any Dirk fan is gonna want tolisten to both parts of that maiden episode
(42:12):
of The Why with Dwayne Wade.Trust me, if you haven't heard it
already, just to hear Tony Parkertalk about Dirk's place in the game among
European players. Really thoughtful and meaningfulperspective from yet another Hall of Famer Guys
we Gotta Go
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