Are The Lakers Real Contenders? LeBron & Luka Going Off

The Los Angeles Lakers are heating up fast as LeBron James delivers a dominant performance at 41 years old and Luka Dončić continues his scoring takeover. With the Lakers stacking wins, the big question is clear—are they legitimate contenders in the Western Conference?

On this episode of The Crossover, we break down the Lakers’ recent surge, including LeBron’s elite efficiency and Luka’s ability to completely control the game offensively. We analyze how this team is evolving and whether they can realistically compete with top Western Conference teams like the Nuggets and Timberwolves in a playoff series.

We also dive into the growing Giannis Antetokounmpo situation in Milwaukee, where tension between Giannis and the Bucks continues to build. Should Giannis demand a trade, or is he holding back when he should be using his power?

Another major storyline is Cade Cunningham’s injury and what it means for the Detroit Pistons moving forward. We also discuss the NBA’s 65-game rule and how it could impact All-NBA selections, MVP races, and player earnings.

Plus, we react to NBA expansion talks involving Seattle and Las Vegas and what it means for the future of the league.

If you enjoy NBA analysis, debates, and real conversations around basketball, make sure to subscribe and stay locked in.

 00:45 LeBron’s 30-Point Performance
 02:00 Luka Drops 40 & Lakers Surge
 03:20 Are The Lakers Real Contenders?
 05:00 Western Conference Breakdown
 07:00 Spurs & Underrated Players
 10:00 Giannis Injury & Bucks Drama
 11:30 Giannis vs Bucks Tension
 13:30 Is Giannis Wasting His Prime?
 16:30 Cade Cunningham Injury
 17:30 NBA 65-Game Rule Debate
 20:00 Eastern Conference Impact
 21:50 NBA Expansion (Seattle & Vegas)
 24:00 Expansion Impact
 26:00 Conference Realignment
 28:00 Outro 

#NBA #Lakers #LeBronJames #LukaDoncic #Giannis #NBANews #Basketball

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

LeBron has a vintage 30-point performance. Luca goes for 40. The Lakers are on an absolute roll. We talk about Giannis. Is he going to actually say what he wants to say or is he going to continue to hide in the background? Katie's got to say something. Got to. He's got to say something. Cade Cunningham collapsed long. He's going to be out indefinitely. A lot to get to. Plus NBA expansion all on the show. If you're watching us right now, wherever it is that you're watching us, subscribe there. If you're listening on Spotify, make sure to hit that like button, that follow button. The same goes for YouTube. And if you're watching us on TV, TV on WDFL, make sure you're showing some love to the app because that's where we want to send everybody. So check us out there. WDFL. Check out the app. Check out the channel. With all that, let's start the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

It's not the game. Yo, turn it up. Welcome to the Chronosol. Let's talk NBA.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

KD 13 of 14 from the field. A lot of dunks. Who? 90% from the floor. Who's that? One of the young guys? LeBron James. LBJ. LBJ. LeBron James has a monster night. Houston and the Lakers. Lucas score 40, by the way. Oh, for sure. Just to just to kind of throw that in the quick. But LeBron had 30. I think first time somebody has 30 points on 90% shooting from the field since Shaq in 02-03.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah. That's a monster game. You know what? It says a lot about his character. You know, uh JJ Reddick, who was one of my teammates, he was our young guy. He was our rook. Is it crazy to see him coaching the Lakers? It's not. You know, JJ's just always had this, you know, aura about him, this toughness about him, this competitiveness about him. So it nothing that he does surprises me. But think of the task of a young coach telling arguably one of the top two best players of all time that, hey, in order for our team to win and for this to work, I need you to step back. Take a step back in order for our team to take a couple steps forward, right? And I need you. I need you. So sometimes that means I need you in a dunker spot. Sometimes that that means I need you, you know, spacing the floor. Sometimes that I need your athleticism and transition. Sometimes it's I need you to dive on loose balls. And so for JJ to have the capacity to be able to get LeBron James, who's arguably one of the best players of all time, if not the best player, top two best players of all time, to buy into what his philosophy is. It says a lot about their coach-player relationship. And man, I just tip my hat to JJ and I tip my hat to LeBron for adjusting his game, um, you know, for the greater good of the Lakers.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

LeBron is 41 years old, just turned 41 in this past December, has the most transition points in the NBA. It's crazy. He has the most transition points in the NBA. Yeah. When I heard that, I was like, no, that can't be true.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

That cannot be true. It was almost like the other day when I had the stat of the most uh points per ISO possession was Pritchard. Was Pritchard or better than Luca, better than Shea, better than Jokic, but whoever. It doesn't matter. Peyton Pritchard's that one. So like you look at LeBron, you look at what he's been able to do. And we sat here in these very seats on these very microphones two weeks ago, three weeks ago, saying the Lakers are not a championship team. Yeah. The West is too tough. They don't play enough defense. All that said and done, they're winners of what, seven straight? Beat the Rockets twice, come to Miami tonight. Yeah. Uh are the Lakers for real?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Or are we seeing a good, a good little stretch right now? Well, I I think look, anytime you have Luca on a squad, you're for real. You have a opportunity to win. Um, but it's not just about the offensive end. Like basketball is a two-sided, two-tiered type system, right? And so offensively and defensively. Um, who we don't talk about a lot is Marcus Smart. He's been able to get his hands on a lot of balls and you know what I mean, like get steals and create chaos on the defensive end. And he's been knocking down threes. Um, Austin Reeves has been awesome with his ability to, you know, create and playmake and things like that. And a lot of LeBron's transition points comes off like Austin Reeves setting them up, either throwing it off the backboard. He said, No, I ain't gonna throw it off the backboard this time because I don't get the assist for it. So I'm gonna pass it off to you. But it's been fun to watch them come together. Um, look, I feel like if you're a top three contender, if you're a top three C in the West, you have an opportunity. You are a contender, but I just still think that there's two teams out there that they can't beat in a player. Really, I think there's three teams they can't beat, because I don't think they can beat the Nuggets in a in a in a seven-game series.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

I don't know if they can beat Minnesota in a seven-game series. Minnesota put the put the spanking on them last year.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

They they did, but and is out right now. Agreed. Right? And so injuries do play a part of that. I know we'll talk about Cade, you know, as we kind of come up later in the show. But like the Lakers have done a fantastic job. JJ's doing a fantastic job. LeBron has done a fantastic job of uh, you know, adjusting his game. Luca has really stepped up. He's always been a great offensive player, but I'm seeing him bitch a lot less at the officials. I'm seeing him try a little bit more on the defensive end. He's got things going on off the court personally, right? That might motivate him. And basketball right now is his sanctuary.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Because you look at some of those conversations that have been had on social media and things, you know, people talking about certain rumors or whatever. And if you watch the splits from pre-rumors of what's been going on in his personal life to now post that situation, he's averaging like 38, 40 points a game and he is balling.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah, man, it says a lot about his character. And look, I know I've been critical of Luca, and I've never criticized his offense, right? And his ability and his skill set. All I've said is that like Luca needs to play on both ends of the floor and he needs to stop junking up the game with the officials. Right. If he can get those things rectified while you have LeBron still like trending and still playing at a high level, and you got Austin Reeves, like it could be special for them, right? And your future. Um man, Luca is really stepped up. I I know he's going through a lot off the court, and he's doing a fantastic job of channeling it on the court.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

Yeah. I think the Western Conference is just such a gambit that even though the Lakers are playing well, it it it just there's there's always gonna be that rock meets the hard place when you look at wherever they get seated, right? Like, even though they've beaten Houston twice, I still think that that's a really tough opponent for them with the bigs, with KD. Like, you never know what can happen in a seven-game series. The the SGAs of the world, the Wemby's, who the Spurs are dominating. Yeah, yeah. The Spurs I saw since February 1st are 19 and 2.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Hey, did you see Castle's move the other day when he hit he hit him with the above the rim, behind the back, in traffic, and lay Brooke Lopez, who's a seven-footer, who's a historic, you know, good rim protector. Crazy. Like Castle to me, man, Castle is one of the most underrated players in the NBA. Like Castle is the real deal. Like he plays on both ends, he picks up full court, he's a big guard, he's physical, he's got a mid-range game, his range is expanding. He attacks the rim, he's got a good ground game and a good floor game. So the Spurs to me, man.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Playing out with Wemby or with another, you know, point guard like Fox or like Harper. Yeah, all of a sudden it's like they have another big three that they had 20 years ago. Now they got to redo in 2026. Castle is the most underrated player in the NBA. I love that. I love that take because he does so many great things. And like you said, like his range is expanding. If you could, if you could pick one thing that it's like, ah, that's the thing that it is, it's the three-point shot. Yeah. Doesn't shoot the ball great, shoots you know, 30, low 30s. But at the end of the day, you have all these other pluses that like you can work on the on the jump shot. Yeah, you can work on the three-point shot.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

One thing about like as an NBA player, you're gonna become a better shooter, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Byproduct of just shooting a thousand times every day.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

You gotta put the work in, you gotta get comfortable, you gotta like know your release and you gotta know your form. Sometimes you have to tweak that thing, and then it's a confidence thing as well. But look, I'm gonna tell you this, just from my playing experience, uh, when I went to the New Jersey Nets, I made more threes in that season than I had made in seven seasons prior combined. Really? Yeah. And that was one summer me and Remy. By why? By like what was it? Just work? Yeah, it was just work. You know, I had a uh um, you know, in Orlando, uh Brandon Malone, Lord rest his soul, um, who's Mike Malone's dad. Right, right, right. Who coached the Nuggets, uh, he told me, hey, he said, Keon Man, you know, the game is changing. You need to expand your range, you need to become more consistent as a three-point shooter. You need to make, you know, 500 shots, make 500 threes every day this summer. You got what? I said, no, I took it. I received it. Brandon like was an OG in the game. Like, if you look back on it, like Isaiah Thomas when he got split in the eye, like he like grabbed Brandon Malone and he and he fucking loved it. Um, so what I did is I got in the gym and I made 500 threes every day for one summer. And I made more threes in that eighth season than I had made in seven seasons prior. Wow. Combined.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

And that's just a byproduct of hard work and just being in the system of like, all right, this is what I'm doing. I'm gonna get my trainer, I'm gonna get my team, I'm gonna make sure that I'm doing what I need to do. And that at that point, I mean, people were shooting threes, but like to have the foreknowledge and see where the game was going to be like, hey, this is what it's gonna be. And I'm sure Castle is looking at you know his team probably in the in the in the offseason being like, all right, we got to get this up to mid 30s, high thirties as far as three-point percent.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

I mean, he's got all the other things, like you don't work on your game just to be working on your game, you have to work on your deficiencies, right? And a lot of times for players, people in general, like we don't like to work on our shortcomings, and that's a place where he can grow. If he grows to that, like he might be a creative player, yeah, right, correct.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Like he he he could really be special, correct, 100%. Um, really quick on a guy who is kind of a creative player, Giannis Atenta Kumpo, who is uh out for an indefinite amount of time, uh hurt his knee against the pacers. Now, there's been a lot of back and forth between the Bucs front office and the ownership group and everybody over there versus Giannis and his camp. The Bucs want to shut him down completely, say, hey, this is this experiment is done. They're currently sitting at 28 and 40, the 11th place in the Eastern Conference, uh, half a game up on Chicago. The rest of the teams in the Eastern Conference are all eliminated. So it looks like the Bucs front office wants to kind of let this you know sleeping dog lie and be like, all right, we're done. Giannis's camp says, No, I want to come back and play, right? The back and forth of all this stuff that happened prior to the trade deadline. Now we're seeing it play out again. When back then they said when he was hurt with I think was the calf, right? When he was hurt during the trade deadline, the Bucs were like, Yeah, we're gonna shut him down.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

And then he's like, No, I want to play, I wanna play, I'm gonna fight to come back. He comes back, hurts his knee, and now he wants to come back again. If you're the front office, what's the play? And and is this, are we we're kind of tired of this back and forth game with Giannis?

SPEAKER_01 11:05

I'm definitely tired of you know hearing about like the back and forth between Giannis. Look, if you're gonna be a Buck, it's in your best interest to like shut it down, right? You got a legitimate reason to shut it down. So you they can't say they're forcing tanking and those things. Um look, I just think he plays too much of the political game. Like Giannis, like be who you are. There's so few players who have the authority and the power to be able to say what it is they mean and mean what it is they say. And he's one of those guys, and I think he's like uh wishy-washy when it comes to that a lot of times. And and it creates confusion. And if the organization definitely wants to get better, they're gonna have to do it through the draft. They're not gonna like a free agent isn't just gonna sign with Milwaukee. So they got to get better through the draft. This is a great draft to be able to like kind of take a step back in order to like take a couple steps forward. Right. And if he wants to be there long term, he's gonna have to buy into what the team wants. And if he wants to just, you know, do what it is that's best for himself, he's gotta exercise that authority. He's gotta say it. He's he's a front, he's scared too.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

But but why? That I think that's the issue that me and you were looking at. We've been talking about it's like we're tired of talking about Giannis because he won't go out and say the thing that he needs to say to make sure that he's in the position that he wants to be in. He lets these things happen to him, yeah, right? Gets hurt, says, I'm gonna come back. Uh, I want to get traded, but like I'm not gonna say I want to get traded. I want to tell my agent to tell the Bucks that I want to find the new place to play. And then when they don't trade me, I'm gonna come out and say, No, I was always gonna stay in Milwaukee and I'm gonna bring people to Milwaukee. Yeah, which we knew is cap because nobody went over there. It was just you and everybody that they had on that squad. And you guys won a title. Okay, great. Now, what does the future look like? You know what?

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I think he was sorry. I think what he should do instead of letting his agent, if he don't want to speak for himself, don't let your agent speak for you. You know, he's you know, you hired Thanassus to be able to be the voice. I think he has the personality and the mozzie to be able to communicate that. Like, like use whatever you need to use if you're uncomfortable putting that out there, if you want to be revered in Milwaukee. Look, those fans in Milwaukee will always love him, respect him, and appreciate him. He brought a title, he brought light to a city that is extremely gray for 10 months out of the year. Um, so I don't know. I'm just tired of kind of talking about Giannis. I feel like he's still in his prime, and I want to see him like, you know, get to a market where he can be celebrated, appreciated, and have an opportunity to compete for a championship. If not, like we'll be wasting his prime. Even if we waste his prime, his resume is Hall of Fame worthy. Right. He's still gonna go down as one of the best players of all time. But I think there's more. At least you want more.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Yeah, 100%. At least you want him more because you have this amazing player that is so unique and special in the the halls of basketball, right? Like nobody has been able to be that size and that strong and that quick and the ability to jump and play defense and like just everything that he can do is so one of a kind that it's like you're one of a kind and special in all these areas. Yet the one place that can get you out of where you need to go, you don't use it. Yeah, you don't you don't exercise the power, like you said, where you're one of the five guys in the NBA that can snap his fingers and make something happen. I mean, if James Harden can snap his fingers and make something happen, yeah, how much more can you, Leonis and Decuba?

SPEAKER_01 14:23

He's got to channel his inner Thanos, you know, and and just kind of like get all the the rings that you need and just snap your finger and say, He's got the one that's right here.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

He's got the one, he's got the one ring.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

But he's holding all the cars. I've if I'm not mistaken, I think Doc Rivers has announced that this is gonna be his last year coaching. Um, I don't know if that's room or speculation. Um, but Milwaukee is in a rebuild, right? And the best way to rebuild is through the draft.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

I think there's two timelines because you can't be bad and then wait for Giannis or wait for somebody else to fill Giannis's shoes and then have to, you know, play that that same game that the Lakers are on, right? Because the Lakers are looking at two timelines LeBron's timeline and Lucas timeline. Yeah, whose team was it? Now they figured more than halfway through the season, all right. You gotta hand the keys over. You gotta hand the keys over. So now Giannis is gonna be there. He's gonna be what 31, 32, whatever it is. Let's say they can somehow, by by a miracle, get a decent pick, right? Maybe, maybe a situation happens like happened last year with Dallas, where they're supposed to pick 12th or 11th and then ended up getting the number one pick. You put an agent debancer there, you put a Peterson there, you put a Boozer there, you put a Acuff there.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

All of a sudden now you got the two timelines where is this Giannis team or is this whoever's team?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah. And it's look, at the end of the day, for me, Milwaukee doesn't, they're reluctant to trade him, right? Because like you don't get a superstar like that anytime. So if they can, if he wants to continue to, you know, like kind of handicap himself and not say what he means and means what he says, like men like Milwaukee, they'll they'll keep like the season ticket holders are coming to see Giannis. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

So it's like when when remember in Space Jam where Michael Jordan he was trying to make the bet against the alien, they said, All right, you're gonna be here playing everybody against one-on-one with the thing attached to your leg and you'll never be able to win. That's basically what's happening with Giannis right now. He's gonna be his own in his own universe and his own plan of thinking that people are gonna come play with him when it's like nah, bro.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Like wasting his prime, he's too good. He's too good.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Like, let it be known, Giannis. Come on, bro. Uh, we said it here already. Yeah, man. Use your voice, make it happen. Uh, in in the Eastern Conference, a big domino just fell. Cade Cunningham collapsed lung. Yes, he's gonna be out an indefinite amount of time. They said the regular season, but they're trying to get him into the playoffs. We'll see the severity of the collapse lung happen on a play where he kind of dove for a ball, and then somebody kind of landed on him with like a knee or like a another part of the body. So it didn't look terrible, but I saw him go to the sideline and I thought it was an oblique or rivers.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

It was a collapse lung. Collapse lung is no joke. It's no joke, man. And that team is not a team without him, as far as like being a number one seed, number two seed in the East. They are no good without him. He is the the motor, he is the soul, he is the essence of that team on the offensive end, as well as the defensive end, because he really, really tries and he's a versatile defender. Um, but injuries are part of the game. It brings me to another discussion. Um, think about this. Like, like Cade probably was gonna make first team all NBA. For sure. Right? And it's not that he was like resting or, you know, like he played, right? And so if he only played 61 games in the regular season and now he doesn't get to make all NBA, I think that's something that we got to kind of revisit. I know the rule was kind of implemented to, you know, um, you know, combat load management and things like that and the integrity of the game, but this is a real injury. It's a collapsed lung. And what what other injury? It's crazy. If if if if Cade Cunningham is not first team all NBA after, you know, leading Detroit to being the number one seed in the East and having the statistics and the stats that he's had and the impact that he's had on his team, like you know, that we we might have to revisit that.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

And it's a conversation we were having in the MVP race too, because Shea is only a couple games away from missing, you know, the eligibility for that. Jokic, if he misses one more game, I think he's out. Uh Luca, like all these guys are kind of close to that threshold of the 65 games. And it's like, all right, I understand that you wanted to combat tanking or you wanted to combat uh low management or whatever it is, but like we got to lower the threshold at least. Yeah. At least. Like if you don't abolish, if you don't want to take it away completely, put it to 42 games, 50 games.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Yeah, because usually if you play 42 games, you're not gonna make all NBA anyway. Like the voters and the people already know that. Right, right. Um, but I do understand the sentiment for that because there was a lot of load management kind of going on, but now you're dealing with like real injuries, and superstars are getting injured. The superstars are blowing out their Achilles, superstars are having Kalam blow on.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

How many, how many injuries have we seen this season to basically every superstar?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Tatum wasn't out there. Yeah. JB's actually been pretty healthy. We haven't seen Kyrie all, you know. We haven't seen Kyrie all year. Uh Kawhi was hurt, Wemby was hurt, yeah. Giannis was hurt, LeBron didn't start the year. Like, Cade's now hurt this year. SGA was missing, you know, 15, you know, 12 or 13 games. Jokic messed up his knee. Like, boom, boom, boom. Everybody's falling. Halliburton didn't play a second.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

I know, I know. And then like some of the, I think they put that that in there for like maybe a Joel Embiid. And the legitimate thing that Joel Mbi, he needs load management because his body is breaking down, it's deteriorating. So you want to have him when it's time, when, when all the marbles are on the line. And you know, they just I don't know if you can litigate and and and kind of you know put rules in for everything. You know, some things just have to be organic. I just hate, I would hate to see him not make all NBA, and then that impacts his money when we all know that K was top five this year. Easily. He he deserves to be first team on NBA.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

The one of the best point guards we've seen this season. I'm trying to think of you know where you would slot him in. Because you slot SGA as a point guard.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Yeah, him, Luca, him, Luca, and SGA, they're all like these hybrid guards. They're the new things.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

They play more point than shooting, but like still, you know, they have the body of the ball a lot.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Yeah, they have the ball a lot and the way they play, but they're they're the new age point guard. It's not the traditional John Stockton point guard who's like making post entries.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Like, no, these guys are initiators of offense and and are big enough to do three things at all three levels, right? The Stocktons, the Nashes weren't in there. Even Jason Kidd to a certain extent, he had a little bit more of a post-up game, but like he's not Cade sitting back there, one, two turnaround jumper. Yeah, SGA getting to the hoop the way he does, Luca just bodying people, hitting stuff off the glass. Like Cade was the the motor, like you said, on the best team in the Eastern Conference, records-wise. Like, and now he's not gonna get any love for that. Yeah, I feel like they may make us uh a special case for that.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Well, I I I would hope so. Hoped on the severity of the of the injury, he's deserving.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

So it's gonna be interesting now. I may have to change my pick a little bit because I know you had Cavs and Spurs. Yeah, I had Detroit and Denver. Yeah, now I'm not loving the Detroit pick.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

But that's that's a part of it, right? Because, like, you know, with Jason Tatum coming back, the Celtics are a different team, right? And we didn't know how that would look. Now we see it, we know how that looks. It's like our super legit, you know.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

That's stuff we always talked about, though, right? Like if Tatum can come back and be a fraction of what he was, me and you have been saying it the whole year. Yeah, Celtics might be one of the best teams without Jason Tatum. Yeah, and now add him in the mix, yeah. And now all of a sudden it's like an extra pass here. Oh, wait, that's not Garcia or the Gonzalez or whoever they have. Oh no, it's Jason Tatum. Yeah, bang. Yeah, yeah. It's dope. It's dope. Uh, what'd you think about the news? And we'll we'll end the show on this topic because I feel like there's there's a lot of stuff. Which news? The expansion news or the expansion news, two new franchises for the NBA.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah, Seattle. Yes. Vegas. Hey man, I'm excited about that. I I've always said this, man. There are more, there's more NBA talent out there than opportunities to be in the NBA. There's so many good players who aren't playing in the NBA who are NBA worthy. And I believe, like, and this is just like I know a lot of people say I hate on the younger uh this generation and things like that, but these this group of talent that we have is the most talented players, holistically, that I've ever seen. Like, like these guys can dribble, shoot, pass, they're athletic, they're they're disciplined in their work ethic. Like the talent is there. This will create more opportunities. I know Seattle was a great place to play, man. I mean, it was a great city. They love basketball out there. The Pacific Northwest is uh beautiful, especially on a sunny day. Seattle is like one of the most on a sunny day. On a sunny day, come on. It's a beautiful city, man. And I'm glad that they'll get a team back. Vegas is the spot. Like summer league, when you go out for summer league, like it's lit out there. Vegas, they love their sports out there.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

They're they're they're it's it's look how they've they've embraced the golden knights, the hockey team. Come on. They won a title, but like people go hard for the knights.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yep. A couple, I think, back to back. Yeah, like the the Raiders are out there now. And there's just so many, there's so many opportunities in Las Vegas for the NBA to, you know, grow and you know, connect and build the brand. I think it's a beautiful thing, man. I think it's a really beautiful thing. I do also believe that this will be a great thing for veteran players, right? Because like the more jobs that happen are available, um, there's a lot of veteran players that could really benefit from this. And I think it'll be a good thing for the game. I think it'll be good for the business. I think those cities are cities that, you know, should have some tourism. Um, and I think it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Now, the question is if you put both of those teams in the Western Conference now, who do you kick over to the east?

SPEAKER_01 24:03

You gotta either send uh Memphis has to go. Yeah, Memphis, Memphis, New Orleans, you know, or some of the places that I've talked about. Well, you know what? Maybe not so garbage in the east. Maybe not so garbage in the east.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Pelicans are not good.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, they are good. Regardless of where you put them, I think they're not gonna be able to get the good. Yeah, I feel you. I feel you.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

I think Minnesota is a interesting one to kind of move over. And then all of a sudden you you have Minnesota in the Eastern Conference.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

You put Anne in that in that east, you know, it's a it's a different ball game for hold up. Yeah, that changes things completely. Yeah, completely. Hey man, I saw Draymond said the other day, he said, hey man, let's stop playing around. Let's move Memphis to Nashville. You know, not feeling on that. Your thoughts about that? I feel them on that. I really do. I feel them on that. And you know, it's not to discredit the the Grizzlies fan base because man, they got some great fans now. They really do, but just like the aesthetics of the city, man.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

It is I've never so I've never been to Memphis. Yeah, man. You ain't yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

I mean, you can go, well, you can go get some good barbecue. I heard that. You know, it's it's dry rub, so like down here in South Florida, I know we like our stuff with a little sauce on it. A little sauce, but I'll take the dry rub in the case. The music scene is good down there, but it's just it's no, no five-star hotels. It's not really good restaurants that are healthy where you can really go to a lot. And this is not the shit on Memphis, it's just like for NBA Ambiance, I think that Nashville would be more suitable.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

I mean, they're gonna have to do something because those teams are way too far west to be anywhere near the Eastern Conference. Yes, yeah. I mean, you're talking Seattle, one of the furthest cities, yes, north and west, and then Vegas, which anytime you go to Vegas, I've been to Vegas a bunch, obviously. That trip is not easy.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

It's not an easy trip, man. But it's gonna be lit, man.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

I think Vegas, you know, they Any downsides you see from expansion or no?

SPEAKER_01 25:51

No, I don't, man. I just think that there's so much talent out there that the talent it won't drop off. I know T Mac said that, you know, it's just not enough like talented players.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

That's why, that's why I was gonna ask. I know it's dismaying.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

I I disagree with that assessment. I think it's a great opportunity to bring veterans back. You know, it's it's it's an opportunity where you don't have to like hide a young person, a young player on the bench and cultivate them and develop them, incubate them to a sense where they don't get on the court, they're just in developmental stage. Right, right. Um, you can bring some vets back. It it it'll be good. I think that is interesting. It'll be good for the game.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Because you always talk about it, like there's a lack of OGs we need them on benches, being able to be like, hey, this is like Eddie Jones was for you. Hey, this is how you live. Yeah, it's how you tie a tie, this is how you order your steak, this is how you dress, this is how this, this is how that. Like now it's just a bunch of young guys, and nobody's really the leader anywhere. We saw that in Memphis. Yeah, nobody stood up there and was like, hey, Ja, Jaron Jackson Jr., Desmond Bain, like this is how we do things.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

It was like, all right. Uh let me finish this point though, real quick, Tone, if you don't mind. Go ahead. Um, you asked if there were any downsides. I would say that like in Las Vegas, you you do have to think about the gambling element.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Should be seen.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Yeah. And we have to kind of, you know, with all the things that have transpired, you know, in recently, we have to put that out there. But uh, you know, aside from that, man, like there's great restaurants, there's great neighborhoods out there. Um, it's a beautiful city, it's a lot to do, um, a great economy, and I think it'll be good for the game.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Fun place. I'm excited for expansion. I'm excited to see what happens. They got to do the expansion draft too. That means they, you know, pick a couple guys from a couple teams. It'll be interesting to see a new jersey out there. Yeah, an old jersey out there with Seattle. Like, that'll be fun for the for the older generation to see that yellow and green back to the rain man. Yeah, it'll be great. Sean Kemp and them, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

GP. Yeah, man. You gotta bring them back, right? Hey man, listen, man. Every time I go out to the Pacific Northwest, like it, like my inner twilight wolf comes out. That's where I got into the fight with Ray Allen at. So every time I go out there, it's like I feel like I'm one with nature. It's a beautiful place, it's very green, a lot of water. On a beautiful day, man, there's not too many places as beautiful as Seattle.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

I've been to Seattle on a very sunny day, and you'll see the mountains in the background, and you're on the Ferris wheel, and you're like, damn, this city's fire.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Catch you a couple fish. Come on. Like, literally, they'll throw you. Yeah. I've seen to have the fish like this big. Yeah, man. They threw it to me. I'm about the way real quick. It's it's dope, man.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

So, you know, really quick. I want everybody to stay on our YouTube channel because we're gonna do a little March Madness conversation. We gotta have that talk. So we did NBA. Head over to our other video, it should be somewhere on the playlist. We're gonna talk a little March Madness a lot to get to all the games are starting and they're happening right now on Thursday throughout the weekend. So we'll be chopping it up over there. Follow him at Keon Dooley, follow me at 10 Day Tony. Make sure that you're liking and subscribing on Spotify, on YouTube. If you're watching us and you're not subscribed, please subscribe. It's the best way to show love to what it is that we're doing. KD, I'm ready to talk some college hoops, baby. Let's go, baby. Let's go. We'll talk to you guys on Monday. Peace.