Best of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

Jason and Mike react to Luka Doncic’s Laker press conference. They debate if anyone had a worse day than Anthony Davis?  Kirk Cousins reveals that he dealt with elbow and shoulder issues following the Falcons loss to the Saints. And Ric Bucher tells the guys that he would be surprised if Kevin Durant isn't traded by Thursday!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Hello, Welcome inside. Happy Tuesday, The Jason Smith Show with
my bes friend Mike Harmon, live from the Tirack dot
Com Studios tirac dot com. I help you get there
an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection,
and over ten thousand recommended installers tirack dot com. He

(00:52):
is the way tied buying should be.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Well.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
One of these days at pesky super Bowl is going
to get some headlines. Guy. Maybe Tomorrow, Thursday, maybe Friday. Ugh,
everybody's gonna watch a game Sunday unless he can't make
a big trade on Sunday. We're past the deadline. But
I'll tell you the NBA is saying you want to
take Christmas from us. We're gonna take the super Bowl
from you. How about that you take something from me,
I'm gonna take something from you.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Well, I mean Travis Kelcey did say, you know blank
the media, Why why you so mad about referees? So,
I mean we got that from last night. That was good. Well,
sure they had to. I mean that that was your highlight.
There's your there's your encapsulation of media night in nine seconds.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
There you go. That's it again. Media. The worst decision
at the end of one of the worst has ever
made is moving media day to Monday night, where it
is absolutely irrelevant and it's becoming we don't talk about it.
Used to own the news cycle all day Tuesday media
day to no, no, no, We're gonna throw it on
at night because well a few more people will watch.

(01:59):
But in the end he lost relevancy. You've completely lost
relevancy with it.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, man, I'm looking at it.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
Today was how many times can someone retweet some chicory
coffee or ben Ye Mix? So I did add to
my shopping list ben Yet Mix okay for later the week,
So I got that going for me. Or I might
just go down to downtown Disney and I'll just pick
it up in person.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
There, but I got that going for me.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
A lot of references to the media party today and
then yeah, really all about the gluttony and how many
po boys people are gonna eat. So, I mean, other
than that, I really don't have a whole lot of
feel that there's a game going on. Just seems like
it's a culinary institute trying to display.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
I'm thinking more like, here's Adam Silver and Roger Goodell,
like in Vegas at a poker table, and Adam Silver says,
I see your taking Christmas Day for us, and I
raise you taking super Bowl week away from you. There
you go, good You're going all in, Roger going all in.
I mean, this is not so quick.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
Jason Well, I wass Lakers Friday nights bigger than the
Super Bowl Fluca Place.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, but that's Friday. I mean the whole week.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
It would take a whole week.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
It would take it would take the whole week.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
And ade Joel Embiid played today for Joe.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
I mean, hey, I got I was.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Gonna play the lottery day. Something told me in my
mind's eye that you know, this was an eventful day
that the stars were aligning for greatness. I had no
idea it would mean that Joel Empide actually showed up
on a basketball Holy good man.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
I really want to get traded too, man, I gotta
start playing. Look, I'm healthy, healthy. No, it's gonna make
that deal for me the next couple of days. Man,
I can't show that I could play a little bit.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Hey, hey, hey, triple double.

Speaker 4 (03:50):
And and the game clinching free throw. Look at me,
Look at me. I learned to shoot a free throw
while I was off for the Monk too.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
No, I'm fine, And look, I'm not tired shooting free
throws like I was earlier in the year. I can
shoot a free throw and not grabbed by shorts in
between you I'm so tired shooting.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
How about do you think when he was at the
free throw line was in his head?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I can't grip my shorts short cut through it?

Speaker 4 (04:17):
Man?

Speaker 1 (04:17):
You know you know he needs he needs that. What
what's that reality show where they put everybody through seal
training like the Cam Newton is on, like and b
needs to do it off season version of that. No,
I like that, and Louka and Luca probably does too.
The guy's got to get in shape. Okay, let let's
do it. Let's do the press or today and we're
gonna play. Look, we're gonna play the biggest. I miss something.

(04:41):
He was in shape at all.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
He wasn't.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
He wasn't talking and breathing heavy, so that was good.
He wasn't happy to be here. Just give me, give
me a second. I just walked ten feet hang on, Yeah, no,
this is uh exciting being in die like this is
a replay. You can only do like three or four
words at a time before. I gotta just you know what,

(05:06):
somebody else talk somebody else. Rob you talk, Rob you talk,
you talk, Robie. No, listen because today's a big day,
right you know. Luca is, you know, wearing his Laker uniform.
Here we are right now, the Lakers are getting set
to play the Clippers. The Lakers first game post ad
Luca likely to make his debut later on this week,

(05:26):
but he is on the bench in his Laker gear.
Got a standing ovation from everybody in the crowd as
we get ready to tip off. But there was something
absolutely huge from Lucas press conference today and it was
three seconds long and so many people missed it, and
it tells you and it just opens your eyes a
little bit to understand that, no matter what you see online,

(05:49):
no matter what you see experts and pundit say about
the Luka Doncicch trade, the Mavericks didn't trade Luca for
no reason. They didn't trade him because Nico Harrison woke
up day like you do in fantasy, and you go,
I'm just sick of looking at these guys every day
and make a trade. I'm gonna try. He didn't wake
up one day and just decide to trade Luca. Right,
There was stuff that went on because Luca had been

(06:10):
there for seven years, just got him to the finals.
He's there, big superstar, He's a top three player in
the league. There's a reason why they traded. This is
not something that just came out of nowhere. And I
heard a lot of Luca today saying, no, I never
talked about the Max. I don't know why I thought
it would spend my whole career there now Lucas. Let
you know, Luca's playing a little bit of Hey, I
did nothing, you know, this is just completely on them.

(06:32):
Oh so they just woke up one day, He's saying,
they just woke up one day and decided to trade
you their GM's a dummy. Understand they traded him for
a reason, whether it was hey, he doesn't stay in shape,
is drinking, which I you know was part of the deal.
You know, we told we saw the Michael Finley thing
in the playoffs, take and the beer away from Luca.
Whatever is, they had a reason to trade him. And
this is the sound bite from today that I think

(06:54):
everybody missed that tells you, Okay, there was stuff going
on behind the scenes, because Luca kind of walked away
from kind of stepped away from this after he said it, like, uh,
probably shouldn't have said it. I want to take it
into another direction. He was asking the press conference about,
you know, how he thought being in La now he
thought he was gonna play in Dallas forever. What do
you think about what's going on the last couple of days.

(07:14):
And this is what Lucas said.

Speaker 6 (07:15):
At some point I knew this was gonna happen, but
I would say I always take the high road. You know.
I had amazing moments in Dallas with all my teammates,
coaches and the most important defense you know, and it
was it was an amazing journey.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Wait wait, wha waa play the beginning of that part again.

Speaker 6 (07:33):
Some point I knew this was gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
At some point the second Michael Finley took his ear,
that's when that happened.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well, Michael Finley took his bare and you didn't see
Lucas say I'm out. He did the levarn But.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
In that moment, I mean the look on his face.
I mean, we dissected it Scruder style frame it happened.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
But look when he said. You heard Lucas say, I
always knew it was gonna end like this. Then he
went on the rest of the press conference and said,
I thought I'd be the rest of my career. I
don't know what happened. And then he really went on,
you know, laid it on thick about that. But understand
all you that three seconds right there where he said
I always knew it would end this way tells you
there was stuff going on, and there was a reason

(08:13):
why the Mavericks credit him exactly. When I still see
today people go, oh, the Mavericks don't know what they're doing.
They didn't get enough, they didn't do this, and they
do what do they trade while you're trading Luca? Obviously
they had a reason, right, And you may not like it,
and you may not like what they got because for
some reason you ridiculously want three or four draft picks.
That's gonna make a bigger difference, you know. And so
it's not bad enough getting one of the top ten
players in the NBA and a D that's as good

(08:36):
a player as you're gonna get. All right, we talked
about it last night. What was gonna make everybody happier?
Four first round picks? Three OK players that are not superstars,
Because then the criticism would have been, well, if you
trade a superstar, you gotta get a superstar. You got ad.
Ad is still a pretty good player. Does he have
the same faults as Luca? Yeah, he can't stay on
the floor as much as you want him to, right.

(08:57):
Motivation might be a little bit of a thing, but
that goes both ways. That's Luca, that's a D. So
just get that. There's a reason why that the Mavericks trade.
That's what I'm reading all day, Frostburg, and I get
the I get the Laker part of it, because the
Lakers are celebrating, Hey, we did much, just got Luca.
Now that we open up our championship window. But for

(09:17):
for other NBA fans and for experts in here and go, oh,
I don't know what they're doing. They don't know what
they're doing.

Speaker 7 (09:21):
It.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well, go, there's a reason why you're not You're not. No,
I'm not in there. I'm not in there every day.
I'm not gonna be the first person to tell you
I was. But they didn't. They didn't just wake up
one day and say today we're trading Luka Doncic and
we're gonna start calling people just to see because I'm
sick of looking at him, sick of looking at him
on the injured list, you know, missing all these games
as he is. There's a reason why they traded him,
and and because neither of them have played yet, we

(09:44):
haven't seen anything go on. All we have to go
to go through is what we've seen so far, what
we've heard from Dallas, right, Because the biggest knee jerk
reaction is you find a way to make it work
with a top three guy. What if you can't find
a way to make it work. Lebron James wanted to
leave the Cavaliers. No no one said hey twice, no
one said hey, Cavaliers, you find a way to make
it happen with Lebron. You find out, No, the guy

(10:05):
wanted to go to free agency, and look what happened.
He signed twice, he left, right twice he left. He
signed with other teams. No one said, you find a
way to keep Lebron. No, no, that was no criticism.
It was I'm great and I want to go to
free agency. Right, No one is. No one is gonna
sit back and go, oh, yeah, you find a way
to keep him if there's no way to keep him, right,
I'm sure. I'm sure they decided we don't want to

(10:27):
give him the money. We're not sold on him for
whatever reason, that we're gonna get great stuff out of
him if we give him three hundred and fifty million dollars. So, yeah,
there was stuff going on. It. Just get that there's
a reason why they did it.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, I think you know, we talk about the business
of the league.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
There's a lot of conspiratorial stuff out there about the
Lakers and needing to prop them up the next run.
A lot of people uh running around like it's the
old Wizard of Oz singing dang dong. The witch is
debt cause Lebron's reign of you know, owning everything in
La with the Lakers is coming to an end and

(11:04):
passing hey.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Torch, just like in The Wizard. But see it all
comes together.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
But it's the also the idea when Luca says that
about I knew it would end that way, you know,
part of me. It's an honest moment, but it's also
I think a little bit of a recognition of not
very many guys get to go the full twenty in
the same squad, And maybe I'm giving him too much
credit in this moment that it's a little more of

(11:30):
a contextualized, bigger picture that you know, you got a
Steph Curry over there, who's probably gonna stay with one team.
You had Dirk in in Dallas. He's the torch bearer
there for for one team. But there's not a lot
of guys that get to do that. And so maybe

(11:50):
he'd already reconciled in his mind whatever happened in the
Postmark Cuban era that the likelihood of him being there
for as long as he wants to be. The other
thing is everybody keeps trying to extrapolate him to a
twenty year career. Who the hell knows the whether he
actually wants to play twenty years, So stop projecting that
crap onto him that he's got to suddenly be in
a hyperbaric chamber and hanging out and spending billions of

(12:11):
dollars on his body like Lebron. Just shut the hell
up with that. But in the interim, you know, the
guy had had his moment, and I'm sure there were
some battles behind the scene, that Michael Finley thing. You know,
we can chuckle about it, but we talked about it
very seriously that night, Right, We had our laughs. But
then it's like, all right, what the hell's going on here?

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Right? You don't even get to have a beer with
your old man.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
They emasculated you in a hallway, you know, after you
played forty some odd minutes a night carrying these guys
on your back up and down the court, and they're
still treating you with kid gloves. So I get it.
The three point fifty a daunting number. No question, he'll
be able to make that back up. Plenty of endorsements
will come running. Hell, Daron Fox already has extra shoe

(12:54):
deals and stuff with boot companies. A day after going
to San Antonio. I think, look, he'll be just fine financially,
but in the moment, you know, I I really wish
she could give him a little more truth, serum, Look,
but give a little more juice. You don't give you
something else behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
You don't even need any more than the guy's been
out since Christmas. Right, the guy's been out since Christmas.
There was no timetable from the return of the lineup,
there was no and all of a sudden today, Oh,
I could play Friday. Whoa really? All of a sudden,
you can play Friday?

Speaker 8 (13:27):
Right?

Speaker 1 (13:27):
What do I say about guys that quit on their
teams When they get traded, they magically get healthy and
I can play suddenly, I can play again now. Luca's
been out for over a month, glorious. No timetable for
his return, No, no, Hey, he's coming back this game,
this game, this game. But all of a sudden, Oh,
he can make his debut on Friday, really can. He's healed.
He's making that debut for Oh interesting, I'm telling you

(13:50):
they traded him for a reason. You can see what
the relationship is like. And and look, we'll get stories
on it. We'll find stuff out slowly, stuff will leak.
You know, both sides trying their best to be the
to be the bigger person in the breakup.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, but the bigger.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna find out, they're gonna
find out. Those are two big things we saw today.
He can play Friday and that I always do with
that in this way. Yeah, those are those are little.
Those are more than just hints that Luca drop that
you can tell you. Okay, there was stuff going on
and the Mavericks had to trade. They had a reason
and a good reason to trade him, because you don't
just trade superstars because you're dumb. I mean, go ahead, Frostburg. Yeah,

(14:27):
they did do that because they are dumb. There you go,
all right.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
No, that was just the guy that got the pitch
to Steph Curry wrong and called him the wrong name
back at Nike.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
And now what do you got for Frostburg.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
Not only are they gonna give Luca a statue at
Crypto dot Com Arena, but Michael Finley's gonna get a
statue there as well.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Wait, Michael beer in his hand. He's gonna have the
beer in his hand walking away. Hey, thanks Finley, I'll
tell you man. Wait, they put statue wait, wait till
they put the a D one up in Dallas where
he's in street clad. This transant nothing to do with
hits on the bench. He's sitting on the bench and
street clothes. That's the ad stas.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
You know what he might have been able to neutralize
Joel embead that triple double if he'd been able to play.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
You're listening to us now, but did you know you
can also see us. Be sure to check out the
Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Just search Fox Sports Radio
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from our shows. Be sure to subscribe you can always
have instant access to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Well,
coming up next, it was a big day for Luca
met the media triumphant with the Los Angeles Lakers. We'll

(15:32):
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Speaker 2 (16:58):
Be sure to catch live edition of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
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(17:31):
the first game of the Luca error underway. I'm obviously
Luca not playing tonight for the Lakers. He is scheduled
to potentially play Friday against the Pacers. A lot of
points so far. Midway through the first quarter, Lakers up
over the Clippers twenty eight, twenty three. And you want
to hear how the Luca era began in Los Angeles,
because you know, hey, just because he's not playing doesn't

(17:51):
mean there wasn't a big ovation. He comes out in
his Laker gear, He's got his black Luca was wearing
a black Lakers pullover. With a tiny Akers logo on
the left breast, black workout pants as well, to sit
on the bench and watch the game. And we're all
gonna watch to see if he's actually gets to eat anything.
I don't wait, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Oh sorry, was that when you were a going full
Kevin Harmon.

Speaker 4 (18:15):
That guy's a trunk, he's on the bench, he's wearing
a black polo when it's a pull over.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
By the way, it's Clipper game, so they're not announcing
his ass.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
They did they Did you think TNT didn't announce it?

Speaker 3 (18:25):
You think, oh no, no, I mean the I'm tucking
in arena?

Speaker 1 (18:29):
You okay, Well they talked about it on TNT, which
is where most of the world is watching this game.
There's people, there's people in all kinds of different countries
watching this game.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
You cats are up forty eight six second half.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
So from a game everybody is watching to a game
nobody is watching. That's you want to do?

Speaker 4 (18:45):
I bring the world together?

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Oh okay, okay, that's good.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
And everybody's watching this so they could see him pick
his nose on the sideline.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
I mean, what do you expect to know?

Speaker 4 (18:54):
I wanted something from the wall then they're gonna do
some cool stuff, like when they would shave a D's eyebrow. Wait,
what are they do with that? Now?

Speaker 1 (19:00):
I want to see him just get a whole bunch
of food, like nachos he's got and he's got like
big drinks, like a big slurpy in one hand, and
he's got Knock Joe's and burgers. And every time they
showed him, he's just eating. Like every time they show
Steph and he's chomping on his mouth. He's he's just
eating everything. All they got every scene he's eating. Yeah,
he's got Dodger dogs and the Dodgers delivered to them

(19:23):
already from to have before the season started. I just
eating everything every time it sounds that's awesome.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Oh you sitting there with what.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
You're just going off your your final supper. I could
I could sit there, I could sit down, Luke, and
I think would be a pretty good eating checking things
off your final dinner. No, my final dinner wouldn't be
a well would I have? Boy, Dodger dogs are really good.
Probably from would have a Dodger dog in there.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Nachos, would you really?

Speaker 1 (19:50):
I don't know if not. Dodger dogs are really good though.
I mean maybe you're a pinks. Dodger dogs are pinks
out at but Dodger dogs so good. Oh, Pinks is
really good though, but I'd probably go Dodger dog. No,
I go Dodger dog. There absolutely.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
No.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Pinks is pretty good. I gotta say Pinks is pretty good.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
I mean it's good people watching.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh yeah, I mean I wouldn't wait in line beyond that,
I got it. Hey, come on, that line is tremendous.
I gotta wait line for this guy. It's his last meal.
Just do it, Just do it for the guy. Uh So,
while Luca gets introduced, he gets a big ovation. Everybody
is very happy waiting for the Luca error to began.
Luca had a great day today, introduced to the media
for the first time, there is a Laker and answered

(20:31):
all the questions and can't wait for his debut. The
absolute opposite of that is the guy and superstar that
had the worst day in sports, and that's Anthony Davis.
There are three just absolute gut punches to a d
today that show you, just boy, did he have a
bad day? And while people are mad and don't expect
anything from him. Okay, first of all, the three things

(20:53):
that happened to Ad today. Number one, Uh, you saw
Luca get introduced by the Laker again, a hero's welcome,
holding up his jersey. Fantastic right, a whole big procession.
The media is there. Every media is there. It is
covered everywhere you go. On the flip side. Ad walked
off the court and answered questions just standing on the

(21:15):
court during Mavericks practice. To day, there was no there
was no Hey, look at a D. Here's his jersey.
He's fantastic. Oh, this guy's gonna lead us in the championship.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Now.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
A D is just hey, you guys want to talk. Look,
I'm over it. You know, it was this big thing
to I'm over and I'm ready to play. I'm excited
to be here and play. But you have one guy,
Luca who gets the big welcome with I'm sure there
was sandwiches out for people in the back, Luke, I'm
sure the sandwiches, sandwiches out there, and Ad is just, yeah,
you got five minutes practice going on. Yeah, what do

(21:46):
you guys got. I'll answer your question. What do you
guys have? I'll walk over to you talk to you
a little bit. Quite quite the different perspective from what
Luca got with the Lakers.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
I was looking for more clips of former Laker greats
that showed up to welcome Luca. I know, Magic and
Kareem are currently watching UCLA battle Michigan State, so they
got that going on on opposite sidelines there. But yeah,
I mean, look, Anthony Davis, maybe that shows what a
clowns show the and goes more to Justin's point that

(22:15):
these guys don't know what the hell they're doing.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
And they're not even giving Ad a chance.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
They've already turned their back on the whole franchise and him,
you know what I mean, Like, that's.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Such a half ass effort, right, you already lost the
breakup by all estimations, even though your team, when he's
available and gets past this ab strain, was it available
tonight against the Sixers. By all accounts, you feel pretty
good that while you're maybe not as as good as
you were a year ago when you ran to the

(22:45):
NBA Finals, that you still have a shot to be
really competitive in the West. Maybe one more move in
the offing. And and this is the guy you get back,
and this is the half ass welcome and reception you get,
Like unless you find out that adj just wanted to
be left alone and to do it quietly, unless it
really came from him in clutch sports, which I don't.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Believe for a second.

Speaker 4 (23:09):
Clutch sports wouldn't be like, hey, our guy's not damage
good blank you blank you get the balloons, get the festivities.
I want Emmett Smith. I want anybody that's ever been
anybody in Dallas to show up and kiss his ass.
But so I think they botched this. I think it
lends to what Frostburg's saying that I might give a
larger percentage of the pie to being a clown show.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Now, is this can can Can the Davis kid play
tight end a little bit? We have, we got some
weapons we need to we need to fix some stuff
up here a little bit on for the cow. I mean,
he's six eleven. We just can't we just run a
play where he walks to the beginning of the end zone,
puts his hands up and Dak just throws it up
really high to him and he just grabs it without
even jumping, Like like, can't that happen? Like can't we

(23:53):
just run him out there for hail Mary's put him
in the end zone? Throw it up really high and
let him catch a ball. And he doesn't even have
to wear pads. He could just win as Mavericks jersey
and a helmet and we'll just throw it up there,
he'll catch it. We'll win every We'll win every game.
Just have them stand up there in the Endzo, it's
all we gotta do. So yes. Number one worst day
for ad watches Luca's heroes welcome. He just talks to

(24:13):
guys on the side. Number two for Luka Doncics worst day,
The Mavericks announced they're gonna refund season ticket money because
of the Luka Doncics trade. But I thought A D
was here to win you a championship. Listen, hey, A D.
Glad you're here. But there may be some less people
at the games because everybody's really mad we traded Luca.
So I don't know how excited everybody is for your

(24:35):
arrival and to help out because we want to make
sure the fans still come to the games. We're gonna
offer refunds to people who want to cash in, and
it could be as much as two thousand dollars per person,
right depending on how many games you wanna sell back
to them. Like this. The Mavericks. Yes, we were so
happy to have ad. We're gonna give money back to

(24:55):
everybody because they're upset that we traded Luca.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
Again points on the side of what a clown show.
I mean, I get it, everybody bought themselves a Luca jersey,
figure out away with him and his people and do
a farewell t shirt giveaway or some crap. But giving
any money back, what are we doing. I'm canceling all
my season tickets. I hate the Mavericks because you got

(25:22):
rid of Luca, except for those clowns that were carrying
the casket and chanting crap outside the stadium who probably
you know, had their one game or maybe they just
watched it on TV and decided to go down and
share their feelings. I mean, that's an awful lot of
money to be given back. Here, What do we got
at this point? You have played twenty four home games,

(25:46):
So we got seventeen games, man, that's a If you're
looking around towards the courtman, when we're talking two grand
a ticket time, seventeen Nah, here's an extra beer.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
So that's two, all right, that's two that that would
be bad enough. Okay, So I really get a press conference,
welcome and now they're given they're given out refunds. But
here's the worst one because this is the shot out
the door, right, this is the shot out the door.
They get money back, right, but this is this is like, okay,
everybody's done, Rob Polinka, Lakers, GM who listen the Lakers
we know according to different reports we talked about this

(26:23):
last night, were upset when Ad gave his last Hey,
we need a center. Now, we need a center who
won a championship, which is kind of a ridiculous thing
to say. Dude, you're talking about you're saying that JaVale
McGee and Dwight Howard in twenty twenty were the reasons
why you won like that, that's why you want a
championship like we need You needed a couple of Jags
to win a championship like that. Supposedly was the last

(26:44):
straw that they were upset with Ad saying that, So okay,
and then you know, Ad winds up getting traded. So
now here's the third bit for Ad for the bad,
no good, very horrible Judy Moody bummer summer, bad day
that Ad had. Rob Polinka told the media today he's
still going after the center that Ad wanted for him
to get. He is hopeful to get somebody by and

(27:06):
he just didn't say yes or no. He went into
big and huge detail on this, saying, Hey, if there's
a difference maker center out there, we'll go get somebody.
We know it's something we're going after. I don't know
if I'll be able to do it for Thursday, but
clearly that's a position of need and if there's someone
we can get out there, and he ticks off all
the things that he wants to if someone that can

(27:26):
run the floor away and be a rim protector like
Rob polink is. Oh wait, he ask me the question,
ask me the question. Why do I just ask me
so I can give you a ten minute answer that
just basically says blank you Ad, you said you want
a center, We traded you. We're still going after that center.
Like this is ad. Ad got it from the media,
he got it from the team and the fans, and

(27:47):
now he got it from his former team like that.
If you're Anthony Davis, You're like, you know what, guys,
I think I need a minute before I'm gonna suit up.
I think I'm a I wouldn't blame if he needed
a couple of days before he's got to come play
in this, because wow, is this a bad day?

Speaker 4 (28:00):
Might might make your stomach ache a little bit more,
There's no question about it. Jackson Hayes is a guy
that you look at that could be pretty interesting getting
out ahead of some of the lobs from from Lebron
and Lucas.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
This thing gets cooking.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
Uh So, yeah, Unfortunately, sometimes you gotta wear it.

Speaker 8 (28:20):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
I did like the look of Rob Polinka as well.
He was channeling every bit the Rob blow Brat packet era.
So that was good jacket he was.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
I think the fonds he was fonds must be like
five to two.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
He was wearing a because the sleeves were so short. Yeah. No,
And the thing is he was wearing a jacket that
you could tell it was zippered in the middle, but
it wasn't on the top and it wasn't on the bottom. Now,
I don't know if that's a look. Well, I don't
know if that's a look. But if I had a
jacket like that, it meant the bottom of the zipper
broke and when I zipped it up halfway on, now

(28:55):
it's broken. I gotta get rid of this jackway. But
that's what he's But that's what he's wearing.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
I think it was painted on, like what.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
GM dresses like that? I mean really he's he has
he's going full Rob Low, you know, like dresses that way.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
Laugh and say yes, sure, we'll make that trade.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Who did Frostburg? Who do you think did Who do
you think did more Rob Polinka to make this trade happen?
Or pat Riley when Lebron and Bosh and Wade showed
up and said, we all want to play in Miami.
For sure, he had to do three contracts instead of one.

Speaker 5 (29:30):
Okay, all right, Literally Polenka picks up the phone, laughs
his butt off and says, yes, that was that's it.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
Made sure the fax machine was connected, or the e
facts account that everybody knew the proper pass where it's like,
get that thing over as fast as you can. I
need to get by.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
It would have been impossible to even fathom the idea
that somebody would hold Jerry Jones' beers in the state
of Texas.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, Noverick's well done.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
Look you're not laughing about shot. I'm ready more worry.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
Now I will I will say, Look, we've talked about yes,
it's it's it's all one sided right now. We mentioned
this in the beginning of the show. There's a reason
why they traded him. There's a reason why it happened.
And when you need to make a move like that.
I respect the fact that Mavericks know we're going to
take so many arrows and we're okay with it. We're
okay with it. We're not worried about the reception we're

(30:23):
going to get. We're not worried about what the media says.
We're not you know, we want to be nice to
our fans clearly because you know they're the ones to
buy the tickets. But you know, we know this is
going to be really unpopular, and they still made the trade. Anyway.
That's a lot of guts too. It's a lot of
guts to get that. And again, they got a d
It's not like they it's not like they just got
Austin Reeves and Ruey Hachamoor.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
I mean, come on, and even if they did is
a legend.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Exit? How about a Fresca exit? Swollen dome. Jason Smith
Mike Harmon Live from the tirec dot Com Studios. Travis
Matthews Apparel design for confidence and comfort no matter where
the day takes you, from performance driven styles to everyday
essentials from women Travis Matthew. How's you covered? Visit travismatthew
dot com and receive twenty percent off your first order.
That's twenty percent off your first order when you sign

(31:08):
up for email, that's Travismathew dot com. Time out to
find out what's trending in the wide world of sports. Macguy.
Many people say he's the Rob Polinka of Fox Sports Radio.
He answers his phone, laughs and does good things. It's
deep desager sometimes answer the phone. The Lakers are dominating
the Clippers in the early going at the Clippers place tonight,

(31:29):
forty five points in the first quarter, early second it's
now forty seven to twenty nine.

Speaker 9 (31:34):
Lakers in the lead. For the Clippers, James Harden zero
for five shooting from the floor, Kawhi Leonard one for six.
The Lakers shot seventy five percent from the floor in
the first quarter, eighteen of twenty four. The other late
game well nuts such good shooting from Indiana. They're at
twenty nine percent. They're trailing after the first period at
Portland twenty seven to eighteen. The other five games are

(31:56):
final New York a winner at Toronto one twenty one,
one seven seventeen, Kyl Anthony Towns twenty seven points twenty rebounds.
Houston did not win, lost by two at Brooklyn. They
did get back All Star center Alpa and Shngon after
the Bruce caf he'd missed three games, did have twenty
four points twenty rebounds in defeat. Philadelphia got Joel Embiid

(32:17):
on the court for the first time in about a
month and beat Dallas won eighteen one sixteen. Embiid, after
the bad knee, returned and had a triple double tonight,
including twenty nine points. Boston ended Cleveland's four game winning streak.
Won twelve one oh five Chicago over Miami in a
comeback one thirty three to one twenty four. Kevin Durant
to the Suns, is doubtful for Wednesday with a springed ankle.

(32:39):
Among the college basketball games, about thirteen minutes to go.
Number one Auburn leads Oklahoma fifty nine forty six already
wins in the top ten for Houston, Florida and Purdue
number nine. Michigan State is down at UCLA late first half.
Twenty nine twenty three Bruins Old Miss beat Kentucky ninety
eight to eighty four. Among the fourteen NHL games. Winnipeg

(33:01):
Jets ahead late in the game, three nothing over the Hurricanes,
New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
And this is the only time I'm okay with the
Hurricanes losing if they lose to the Jets. Oh, because
it's the only time, because it's that you can't lose.
It's Jets against your hockey team. I can't lose. It's
okay the time you have to take this. This doubles
as an actual Jets victory. Well, it's more points than
they usually scoring a game. They have three, So it's
all right.

Speaker 9 (33:23):
New Jersey with a shootout win at Pittsburgh three to two.
Washington six ' three over Florida, And we do have
baseball news is Max Schurzer officially gets the one year
deal from the Toronto Blue Jays fifteen and a half
million dollars. The Orioles agreed to a one year contract
with Alfieler, Ramon Loreano, and the Cubs acquired righty reliever
Ryan Brazier and cash from the Dodgers. The Chicago Cubs

(33:45):
full squad workouts at spring training start February fourteenth.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Why so early?

Speaker 9 (33:50):
They opened in Tokyo against the Dodgers in March.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve. The Jason Smith Show
with Mike Carmon Live from the Tirack dot Com Studios.
Don't forget right after the show are podcast goes up.
You miss any of tonight's show, be sure to listen
to the podcast. Just search Jason Smith and Mike Harmon
wherever you get your podcasts from, and be sure to
follow review the podcast. Rate it five stars again. Just
search Jason Smith and Mike Harmon wherever you get your podcasts.

(34:14):
You'll find today's show at a best of version posted
right after we get off the air. Coming up next,
the star NFL quarterback says, wait a minute, the reason
I stunked the end of last year was because I
was hurt.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Do we believe it?

Speaker 1 (34:28):
That's next?

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Fox.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best
friend Mike Harmon OBO Livethetirec dot Com Studios. It is
already a blowout in LA. The Lakers shoot seventy five
percent in the first quarter, they score forty five points.
They are absolutely waxing the Clippers right now in a
game where they may score three hundred. Tonight it is

(35:04):
sixty two to thirty nine midway through the second quarter,
fourteen assists, zero turnovers. You think the Lakers are ready
for the Luca era, Yeah, I think they're I think
they're excited. I think they're ready for the Luca Dotta
Cherra to begin.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
We didn't need him at all. Look at me, I'm
Lebron James. And if they get towards three hundred today,
short yelling spot.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
So we'll have more NBA coming up in a few minutes. Again,
Lakers are just crushing the Clippers. No Luca tonight sitting
on the bench, not playing. Could make his debut against
the Pacers later on this week. But big football news
super Bowl week here. Kirk Cousins goes on Good Morning
Football NFL Network earlier today and a month after the
regular season ends, looking I lost his job to Michael

(35:49):
Pennix Junior. He's probably gonna be traded. There's gonna be
teams looking for him. House thought after his Kirk Cousins
after a really bad year, but Cousins wanted to explain
that his falloff was directly related to an injury he
suffered midway through the season.

Speaker 7 (36:04):
And you know, we were six and three, was playing well,
doing a lot of good things, even if the right
ankle wasn't perfect.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
You know, nobody's perfect in this league.

Speaker 7 (36:12):
We're never feeling one hundred percent, so it didn't really
affect me too much.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
But then I guess the Saints got hit.

Speaker 7 (36:20):
Pretty good in my right shoulder and elbow, and from
there kind of dealing with that, you know, it was
something I was working through and just never really could
get it to where I wanted it. And so now
kind of now the season's over, the hat the time
and the energy to say, okay, let's get the right
ankle back, let's get this.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
So there he was saying, you know, against the Saints,
and oh, by the way, the downtick he had had
to do with his army just couldn't get it right now.
In the subsequent time following that injury, he appeared on
the injured list for one day and then said I'm
one hundred percent and was never on the injured list again. Yes,
is there part of it that, hey, you quarterback might

(36:57):
not want to admit that he's injured. It gives a
target to the other team. Okay, but the NFL is
pretty good with making sure that when players are injured,
they're on the list going into the week, even if
they're questionable and they wind up playing. How much do
I believe this affected Kirk Cousins and why he stunk
the end of the year. I believe it more if
we heard about it then or if we heard about
it right after the season. I don't believe it so

(37:19):
much that here a month has gone by, we're getting
set for the Super Bowl, which is going to go
into free agency, and now here's Kirk Cousin saying, hey,
I was injured. I'm okay now, but I was injured
because it is a convenient way to explain away. Oh yeah,
I couldn't get it right, and I struggled that That
was the next four games. The New Orleans game was
the beginning of the four games. I struggled. Then he
was bench from Michael Pennix Junior. Everybody gets dinged up,

(37:42):
everybody gets hurt, but wow, especially for a guy like Cousins,
who is very deliberate about his career, that is very
smart about with his business decisions in the NFL and
how he presents his image going forward. I feel like,
really a month after, like right before we're getting to
free agency, this is this is when we're hearing about it.
We didn't hear about it then when hey, if I'm

(38:03):
hurt and something's going on, I would have said that.
Or when he gets benched, he doesn't say that he
couldn't get his arm right. Then that's not something the
time of you say, hey, I've been hurt and I
couldn't get my arm right. Now a month after, when
teams are turning the page on this year looking towards
next year, now is when you say it. Yeah, I'm
gonna call a little bit of shenanigans on that.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
Mike Harmon, Well, you know, you play gamesmanship with the
injury report, which is why I've always kind of chuckled
at it, right, you know, with the law lean and
nod and wink towards gamblers all those years ago when
they started requiring it, And every once in a while
some one of the teams will get slapped on the
wrist for an erroneous report or rope a doping towards

(38:48):
the end of the week. But for the most part,
everybody kind of shrugs. I assume my other the other
fifty three were getting ready to come at me, and
that's that right until they and then they line them
up as they were. For Kirk Cousins, I mean, he
was adamant that there was a clerical error, that there
were problems that you know, he was perfectly fine after

(39:08):
that Saints game, uh, coaching staff, perfectly fine. Look, you're
trying to hit a guy and knock him on his
ass and run through his shoulder anyway, so disclosing if
you're having an issue, I don't know what you're hiding there, right.
I mean, it's not like you're gonna suddenly get what
was it George Cumby where suddenly go up and body.

(39:29):
That's not the way we do things.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
You gotta explain, Tom Lenni, you gota explained the Generation
X who George Cumby was. Come on, man, that's a
that's a that's a deep pull right there, okay.

Speaker 4 (39:38):
Or it's not like that guy Speed who was in
the Royal rumble the other day and then bron Breaker
did his shoulder shoulder smash, and then they had to
put him in a neck brace and on crutches, all
of those things. No, no, no, I thought they booked a
man in half.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
I saw the replay.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
I did see the spirit leave his body. Although now
he's getting like a hundred bucks a signat sure from
tops now, but that's a whole other thingth no, not.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Yeah, yeah that was Yeah, that's a move I wanted
to see. Is there. Can you find a way to
put that on a card? Can you put that in
a trading card? I want to see that movie.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Well, I mean that would be an old sport Flix
kind of thing where we tilted and we get to
see him. Let me break it that way them like.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
The lenticular eyes on the cars, you know, the whole
Cars movie. Yeah, I just have that happen.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, I mean they we'll get to some of those. Well, well,
I'm sure we'll find it.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
It'll be like Harry Potter. It'll be like Harry Potter.
You'll get moving pictures on a car, just like they
do for with Dumbledore. You can't expect me to hang
around all day like well.

Speaker 4 (40:37):
But if he leaves, I mean I got no value
to it now and I just got a frame.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
I bade the trade when Dumbledore was in the frame left.

Speaker 4 (40:46):
And suddenly I have the million dollar card like Keith
Olberman for a guy that ended up not panning out.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Man.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
But anyway, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
It's that's the way it goes.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Man.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
Uh, he's a lot a lot of lion in the
silly season because he wants a job.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Exit out about a Fresca exit swollen dome. Jason Smith,
Mike Harmon, Life Inmthetirack dot Com Studios. Coming up next,
we'll tell you exactly what the vibe of this Luka
Doncicch trade reminds us of. And boy, this is really
good news for the Lakers. More on the biggest story
in sports next Fox.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Guess who got introduced today? Luca met the media and
then he went away. Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith
Show with my best friend Mike Harmon.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
That wasn't terrible.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Speed up your hiring process with Express employment professionals. Reduce
time to hire, cut costs, find the right talent for
both contract and full time roles. Visit expresspros dot com
today transform your hiring process. That's expresspros dot Com. So halftime,
the Lakers lead the Clippers one hundred and seventy five
to three. They seem motivated for the beginning of the

(42:08):
Luca Doncicchero joining us now on the hot line. Nobody
better then Fox Sports One NBA insider extraordinaire, host of
the On the Ball podcast. He's on Twitter at Rick Buker.
It is Rick Buker. What's happening, Bud so slow? Less
couple of days for you.

Speaker 8 (42:24):
Huh yeah, pretty cash, you know, and kind of figure
out what I can do with myself. I will say,
I don't know that I've ever and this is TV problems,
I don't know that I've ever put on and taken
off makeup more times than I did yesterday. Appearances across

(42:45):
the board. We'd like you at seven, we'd like you
at ten, we'd like you at one thirty day. Come
on down.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
You're like you're on a like you're a Hollywood star
that has a movie coming out and you're just doing
all the local morning show interviews.

Speaker 8 (42:59):
That's what, yes, exactly exactly doing doing the uh the
car wash back at the old place.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
So yeah, Rick, this w d I V and Wheeling,
West Virginia. You got ten minutes down at w p
i V in Philadelphia, then you're gonna have it.

Speaker 8 (43:14):
We got ourselves, Rick Butcher on the line now, all.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
Right, So before I want to go back and then
and then go forward. When you heard this trade go
down Saturday, where were you? Did you believe it?

Speaker 6 (43:28):
What?

Speaker 8 (43:29):
What?

Speaker 1 (43:29):
What did you do when it happened.

Speaker 8 (43:31):
I was on a plane. I was changing planes. Actually
I was on my way back from the East Coast,
changing planes in LA because it changed my flight at
the last second, had to connect through LA to the
Bay Area. And I saw I saw the tweet, and
I was like, oh, somebody got hacked. And I'm reading

(43:53):
the comments and that was everyone's reaction. And so then
I got a text from someone and they were going,
is this real? And and I wasn't seeing any pushback.
I wasn't seeing any hey I was hacked. I wasn't
seeing anybody like nobody was immediately coming out and say
this is wrong, et cetera. There was no pushback. So
I was like, Okay, wait a minute. So then I
texted someone in the mix who would know someone who

(44:15):
involved in it, would be involved in the deal. I said,
this is real and they said yes, and I was like,
oh my god. And so then it was talking to
execs and gms and scouts around the league, because if
everybody was caught off guard, and we just started comparing

(44:36):
notes in terms of why, what, how, all of that.
And so then the next day it was it was
unpacking all of that. And I will say, you know,
at first, I was like, this is the craziest trade ever.
And then it got me thinking about all of the
things that I had been hearing, not so much from

(44:57):
the Lakers side, but from the Dallas died of a
certain level of frustration with Luca and what I believe,
and this is the big thing. We're at a sea
change point in the NBA. The Los Angeles Clippers were
not willing to pay Paul George. It used to be

(45:18):
if you had a star player, you didn't want to
pay him all that they had coming. You knew it
was going to be a huge contract, but you just
bit the bullet and you paid him because you didn't
want to. They were still an asset. It was still
worth more paying them because you could still potentially move
them than not paying them. But then we saw the

(45:38):
Clippers not pay Paul George, and then we saw the
Miami Heat essentially announce we're not going to pay Jimmy
Butler what he won, and the Dallas Mavericks were in
the exact same position. They just got ahead of the
curve and they were like, we're not willing to pay

(45:59):
Lucat It's three hundred and forty five million dollars if
losing in the final because he wasn't in shape doesn't
convince him to come back and be in shape the
following season. We're just not going to invest that in
that player. So what is it that we can do?
And they found what I think is a reasonable alternative

(46:20):
in terms of getting a guy who can still keep
you in the championship hunt this season and next, and
they decided, let's go ahead and do it.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Look, I'm with you. I'm with you for all of
the all the the Mavericks don't know what they're doing
all the They traded Luca for a reason. They didn't
just wake up Saturday and decide to do it, and
you know when Lucas said today really quickly at the
press conference, I always do it would end this way,
and then he kind of moved past it. You're okay,
maybe there was something there. And then when he's ready,

(46:54):
he can make his debut Friday. He'd been out since
Christmas and now suddenly, oh I'm healthy. I could play Friday. Right. No, No,
talk about the timeline for him to return. So you
know there was stuff going on. And look, if and
I get the Mavericks, if you're faced with, hey, we
can either lose him for nothing this summer or get
a top ten NBA player in return, we're gonna get that. Yeah,

(47:14):
people are gonna want us to have first round picks
or three guys of the Spencer, Dinwoodie Elk, and really
that's not gonna help. But you got a D. I
think that's a pretty good get for if they decided
they're gonna trade Luca getting a D. What better player
are you gonna get from any other team than Anthony Davis.
I don't know, you get anybody that's better.

Speaker 8 (47:31):
Yeah, No, it's a great point. I think that's a
point that is overlooked when people immediately go, would you
if you had put him out on the on the
on the open market, what could you have gotten? Look
what they got for Michale Bridges five first round picks
and uh Bojan Bogdanovich. And it's like, okay, So let's

(47:53):
say you did that. Let's say you traded Luka for
Austin Reeves and found a way for the Lakers to
go get eight first round picks. What does that make you?

Speaker 7 (48:06):
Right now?

Speaker 8 (48:07):
Where are you? How long are you waiting for those
first round picks? So you can make a case where
you could have gone out on the open market and
you could have gotten more assets for Luca, But what
would have happened in the meantime? And here's the thing,
maybe you wouldn't have even because now you're not just
dealing with the Lakers who are as desperate in a

(48:31):
way to get their next superstar as you are, and
so they are willing to trade a guy like Anthony Davis.
What if Luca and his agent now say well, we're
only going to this team or this team the same
way that Jimmy Butler. What Jimmy Butler is doing to
the Miami heap right now? Now, suddenly you don't have
control over this. I think that's why Nico kept it

(48:55):
as close to the vest, and he found a number
of things. One Anthony Davis still keeps them as a
title contender, at least in my mind and certainly in
Deco's mind for the next two years. He also you
get to make a decision on him at age thirty three,
in terms of what happens over the next two years.
Do we resign him, how much do we resign him for?

(49:17):
Do we move in another direction? Do we use the
cat flexibility that so many teams do not have now
because they've they're locked up with the Joel and Beets
and the Zion Williamson's and all these guys that are
so different than possible to trade because they're injury prone
like Luca And I know there's people out there like
he plays plenty of games, yeah, but he plays them
all hurt and he's had the same calf injury three

(49:41):
times in the last year. That's a huge red flag.
So I understand why Nico did it, and I respect
the fact that he put it all on him. He said,
I this wasn't on anybody but me, and I could
have sat there and not done any anything, and people

(50:01):
would have been fine with my job, but I didn't
see a way forward paying Luca three hundred and forty
five million dollars. We're supposed to be playing for championships.
I think this still gives an opportunity to play for
a championship for in the next two years. So I
pulled the trigger on it. And this isn't on Jason Kidd,

(50:24):
It's not on anybody else. And I respect the hell
out of that because I'm sure that Jason was aware
of the reasons that they would want to move Luca.
You know, maybe he didn't know exactly when it was
going down or the particulars, but those two are very
close and you have brand new ownership, and he would

(50:48):
have had to sell them on this idea. And Nico said,
but it's on me. I'm taking all of it, and
I look, it's a huge hambell. But I can understand
why he did it, and I beck that he stood
up and said I'm the one who did it.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
Rick.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
I would have liked to see Anthony Davis arrive with
a little more fanfare. I don't think they really rolled
out the red carpet to say, hey, we got our guy.
That's taken us there as much as Nico saying defense
wins championship and well, at some point it sounded like
he was trying to convince himself.

Speaker 8 (51:24):
Yeah, well, look, I think that there's the shock of
moving a guy like Luca. And keep just keeping in
mind that like no one saw this coming. This wasn't
like the rumor that was finally realized. This was like wait,
what what what just happened? And and I and I

(51:45):
think it was in some ways, I think Nico felt
like he was somewhat forced into doing this, and he
made the best of the situation. Again, you were do
you do you wait? If you wait, are you going
to get a player better? Uh? And I and I

(52:09):
think that there's a couple of things. One one, the
fact that Luca wasn't doing any Cardio who's putting on weight?
You know, all of that, All of that is legit.
And then the team this season playing better with him
at times, certainly against the best teams in the Western Conference.

(52:31):
Maybe not the overall record, but performing against the best
teams better without Luca than with him. And I think
all of that, like this wasn't man, we just we
got to get rid of Luca. It was more like,
how can we keep Luca? Maybe we need to pivot,
And and I think that that still was jarring even

(52:55):
for Nico at the moment. So I think there's too
much mourning's going on in Dallas for very good reason.
Look look at luc as a monster. He can be
a monster, even you know, with with all of the flaws.
It's not I think this is where Dallas fans and
those fans who are upset, really upset with Nico and

(53:16):
the trade, it's because they don't realize that you don't
pay him three hundred and forty five million for what
he's done. You're going to pay him three hundred and
forty five million for what you expect him to do
over the next five six, six years. And if you're
looking at his conditioning and his health and the price

(53:39):
that you're going to have to pay, which is double
what he's making now, and you're saying that's a that's
a bad bet. Like I don't feel comfortable making that bet.
That's why Luca got traded, not because he's not appreciated
for what he did, it's can he do even more?
Because he's going to get paid need more over the

(54:01):
next five six years, and that's where Nico had his doubts.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
Rick Bucher our guest the Jason Smith's with Mike Carmen
Love from the TIREC dot Com Studios. Okay, so with
as we wait for Luca's debut and AD's debut, Kevin
Durant out tonight for maybe he's hurt, maybe they're gonna
trade him, maybe he goes back to the Warriors. Rick,
what is Kevin Durant the next big domino to fall
before Thursday?

Speaker 8 (54:26):
I would honestly be surprised if he wasn't, because the
Phoenix Suns are in a tough position. They know they
can't move Bett Bradley Beal. And it's it's largely because
once it gets out there that a team and again
this is why the Dallas Mavericks kept it quiet with Luca,
because let's say it didn't happen, like then you got

(54:47):
to move forward. Like, once it gets out that the
team is looking to potentially move a superstar player, you
gotta move that superstar player. He's not feeling the same
way about you going forward, and that word is out
there that the Phoenix Suns are exploring what they could
get for Kevin Durant, So you know, there's a lot

(55:08):
of talk about this is what I'll be interested in
is whether Jimmy Butler becomes the last player to get
his way. I think power player empowerment is is being
being cut back, and the Paul George, Jimmy Butler, Luka
Doncic like teams and GM's are are sort of resting

(55:28):
back some of the authority and control. And I'll be
interested to see if there's a There's been rumors of
a multi team deal where KD, where Jimmy gets his
wish and he ends up in Phoenix and KD would
end up either at Golden State or with the Houston Rockets.

(55:50):
I'm very interested to see whether that happens. But I
would be Let's put it this way, I would be
more surprised if Kevin Durant was a Phoenix Sun on
Friday than if he.

Speaker 4 (56:03):
Wasn't well at this point, how do you follow up?
I mean, you can't be shocked about anybody getting moved
at this point, Rick, I mean it's over.

Speaker 8 (56:11):
You know what if if the two of you Jimokes
started ended up ended up like you know, I don't
know it Amazon or someplace someplace down the road. That
would be just a shocking to me.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
We come a long way from you know, a guy,
a big personnel guy in the NBA. So and I
hear you with those two knuckleheads on the radio all
the time. You guys sound pretty like you're having a
lot of fun together.

Speaker 8 (56:37):
Oh, we appreciate that. We appreciate. I appreciate you knuckleheads,
and I appreciate the guy for recognizing that. I come
on with nucklehead. I love the whole. I love everything
about that.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
All right, lastly, really quick, if I said to you,
all right, we talked about KD. We're waiting to see
what's next. If I said to you the big name,
you wouldn't be surprised to see Delves by the deadline.

Speaker 8 (57:00):
Oh, come on, Like, what are you kidding me? You
are so what you're not statisfied. We had look at
and Anthony Davis. We're talking about Kevin Duranton and Jimmy
Butler and you're like, okay, but Kimmy.

Speaker 4 (57:12):
Moore, Joel Embiid play tonight, Rick, Yeah, come on, Rick, Joe.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
Joellen Beiid said Hey, if I want to get traded,
I better play tonight. I'm expecting you to say Joel Embiid.

Speaker 8 (57:21):
Yeah, well no, I wouldn't say Joel Embiid. But the
other name that came to mind.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Was he's on Twitter at Rick Buker. That is at
Rick Buker. Check out the On the Ball podcast as well.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
UH.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
This week of course, all about the biggest story in
the NBA. Who can the Knicks add by the deadline?
Oh boy, that championship team in the East. Rick is
always many appreciate it. We'll talk to you Thursday night
after the DEADLINEO. All right, let's go say Rick Man.
Great stuff there from Rick Buker.