Joe, how are you?
Well, that's a loaded question given the last few days here on all of us who are following this kind of stuff. But I'm good. As you said, the deadline has passed and then they just held the All-Star Draft, the first one ever, and I had to write about that. And so to begin to unwind, I put the Buckeyes on FS1 and Billy Raftery is on the call. So inspired by Billy, I think I can tell you and your listeners that when I'm done with you guys, I may be opening a bottle of red.
I understand that. Get the onions ready. You listen to Mr. Raftery. Get the onions to go.
Well, Joe, what move outside of Durant did not happen that just makes you kind of scratch your head? Is there one? Oh, wow. But you know what? That is an interesting question. And I think I do have an answer. I was looking for the Warriors to do something else.
Wow. You know, they had Looney's contract and they had Gary Payton, that contract and, you know, Vuchevich, I thought, was out there to be moved. And so, you know, the Warriors are, they want to make one more run. Steph, you know, he's 36 years old.
They make the Jimmy deal, obviously. But I really thought that they would go and get a big. So I thought Vuche was heading there or at least that that was something like that would occur and Vuche staying put in Chicago did surprise me. Joe, do you share, in my opinion, that this is likely going to be a souring situation over the next two years in Golden State with the age of their players, their stars?
Oh, yeah. I mean, this yes, like dynasties either disintegrate and somewhat acrimoniously or you ride it out until these until the older players retire. But in the process of that, you know, they just can't win at the at the level that they're used to. And I mean, after the Warriors won it all in 2022, what has been the case for them the last two seasons? I mean, really difficult times even getting to the playoffs.
And now, you know, they start twelve and three this year and we're all riding high on them and then they just come plummeting back to earth. And now you just see this scenario where that's the only really viable option they had on offense and teams are throwing everything they have at him. And so, you know, we'll see what Jimmy does here. You know, a motivated Jimmy Butler is a dangerous thing for the rest of the league. There's no question about that. But he he averages like mid 50s in terms of games that he plays during the regular season.
And, you know, he he carries baggage. And, you know, I just wrote my big story that published looking back at the trade deadline. But the heat for five years, they actually really did bend their culture to allow for some of Jimmy's idiosyncrasies.
And then when he became disgruntled, they stopped, stopped with that. So the words have to figure out how to how to incorporate him on the floor and then also how to deal with what he's going to bring to their locker room, given that no matter who they have in that room, Steph Curry has been the boss. So we'll see how Jimmy reacts to all that, too. Joe Vardin is here with us covers all things NBA for the athletic. We know if you go south of San Francisco and go to Los Angeles, we got two bosses on that team right now, Luca Doncic. And then you got LeBron James. They added Mark Williams, who has his own injury issues. How do you think this this Lakers team is going to fare the rest of the season and then into whatever is left of LeBron's career? Oh, I mean, I loved that they went out and got got a center and, you know, they had to do something, you know, removing Davis there and adding Luca just made the Lakers beyond vulnerable, vulnerable defensively.
So, you know, Williams is 23 years old, as you mentioned correctly. He has had some quite a bit of injury issues, but when he plays, he's been good. And he has the skill set to give them a chance defensively.
You know, I love the pairing of Luca and LeBron and what they can do from an offensive perspective. I mean, you know, the reason why it's harder, much harder to win with LeBron now, especially during the regular season, is because he just doesn't defend. And that is not a knock on him. He's 40 years old. He's played, you know, I don't even remember the number of games, but just this absurd amount of basketball over 22 years. So more than anybody conservation.
Yeah, the conservation of energy has to come from somewhere. But so most nights the Lakers are playing like three and a half on five defensively. But he's still a great offensive player. And Luca is the same.
And, you know, there's a lot that they can do to you. So I think I think you're going to see a rejuvenated LeBron who even maybe, you know, applies himself a little bit more at that at that end. And with Luca, I think the challenge is going to be like he is not like, this is going to sound insane to say, but he's not really an assertive player. And I think you need to look at how it was a little difficult when Kyrie first got to Dallas. You know, Luca and Kyrie were kind of staring at each other like you shoot, no, you shoot. And I LeBron's gonna really have to urge him to get involved right away. Otherwise Luca, just out of the reverence that he has for LeBron, would probably defer to him. So I think that's going to be an issue. You know, I'm not going to come on here and say that the Lakers are a favorite to come out of the West.
I don't think that's true. But they've given themselves more of a chance than they had with the moves that they made. Okay, Joe. Well, that's nice that LeBron and Luca are going to throw flowers at each other. If we go over to Phoenix, are they just throwing darts right now? We got two guys that the team wanted to move them. They got salaries. They don't have depth.
What the hell is going on in Phoenix? Yeah, that's a mess. And it just there's no way to say it.
There's no other way to say it. You know, that's another team that got off to a really nice start. You know, Coach Budd got in there and, you know, things seemed fresh. And the addition of Tyus Jones, who a roster that had all these stars, but just no point guard.
You really felt great about it. But yeah, depth has been an issue. They're never healthy. The three of the stars like never seem to be playing together. And to your point, yeah, I mean, Bradley has been dealing with this for a while, right? Because the Jimmy situation led to all eyeballs looking at the Suns and for Beale to waive his new trade clause. So he knows that they were hoping he would move on. The Durant thing was a shocker to Kevin. And, you know, I had even heard, you know, that he was upset. Like, yes, he did roll his ankle.
But playing last night was out of the question, because, you know, he's not going to put himself at greater risk for a team that now was looking to move him. So, you know, they're what are they? They're towards the bottom of the play in in the West. And, you know, I mean, they still have those three stars. But they you know, they moved on from Nurkic, which is something they wanted to do. But like how they go from where they are to a team that makes noise in the playoffs is just like, you know, I mean, it's I guess the best way to say it is it is incumbent upon the three stars, two of them who are upset to decide on their own that they're going to be better. Well, Joe, does this line or pretty much start pushing Kevin Durant to say, you know what, I don't want to be here anymore?
Is that what's next in the summer? Well, I think the entire NBA, if you polled them polled, whether you talk about players, scouts, executives, or even media, you know, we're not paid by the NBA, but we spend all of our time in it. If you polled us, we'd say that this is not Kevin Durant's last team.
And that was way before this happened. So there was always the suggestion that, that Durant was either going to leave the Suns or ask for a trade or just get traded in general. So heading into this summer, I think it's fair to say that both sides will be considering a move.
I think that's the easiest way to say it. Joe Vardon is here with us, covers all things NBA for the athletic. Maybe he ends up back in Brooklyn.
I have no idea. But let's talk about the East. The Cleveland Cavaliers add DeAndre Hunter, get him from the Hawks.
The Hawks end up offloading Bogdanovich, send him off to the Clippers. Do you feel the Cavs are now deep enough still to go for a run? I mean, that starting lineup is pretty, pretty tight.
Oh, they were always deep enough to go on a run. I do not think that any team in the East outside of Boston could beat the Cavs this year in a seven game series. And that includes the Knicks. I just, I, you know, I think we need to consider what the Cavs have accomplished and deem it to be real.
But that's a separate issue. What matters and what we still don't know is do they have enough to beat Boston? The Celtics are so deep that they couldn't, like there's no like there's no trade out there for them, you know, other than I mean, if Dallas had called the Celtics and said, what do you think, Luca for Tatum?
Okay. But outside, they didn't make that call. So so there was nothing the Celtics could do to get better than they already are.
They're they're bored. They're hurt at times. And, you know, it's harder to defend a title like it's harder to be focused in the regular season after winning a championship than it used to be. So there's still the deepest team in the East.
And, you know, the Cavs problem in the 10 games they've lost for the most part has been physicality, especially on the perimeter. So, you know, DeAndre Hunter is six eight. He's shooting 40 percent from three. He's averaging 19 points a game. He gives you almost a block and almost a steal per game.
So from the prototype perspective, he is what they needed. He is the player that they haven't had since they got good again. But when the chips are down and Porzingis is in that starting lineup along with with Tatum and Brown and Derek White and Drew Holliday, I mean, those are rugged, rugged, physical, big guys all across the board. And so this Cavs team that is that now has that, they now have three guys who who can play, you know, either in the poster on the wing. And then you have the two all star guards who are brilliant offensively, but, you know, they are smaller.
You know, is that enough? So I think the Cavs are going to have the home court for that series in the in the Eastern Conference Finals. You know, I don't see said the Celtics catching them here over the next two months. So, you know, that'll be great. But but it's going to come down to, you know, like, well, will the Cavs with this new trade, will that be enough to match the experience and the physicality of the Celtics?
And I don't have an answer for you right now. And Joe, as we wrap things up, what team do you think has bolstered their chances? I mean, we can look at a lot of minor trades that took place. OKC is pretty sad. And we saw the Hawks kind of continue to break things down. Is it the Lakers and the Cavs who better position position themselves to go on a run? What do you say?
No doubt that that's who it is. And I mean, you know, I just I went on and on about how I don't know if the Cavs have enough yet to beat the Celtics, but they did what they had to do. You know, I mean, they had a team good enough to win 60 plus games in an NBA regular season. And they went and made that team better. They got a player who will make more of an impact in the postseason than the two players that they sent out. And of all the major contenders who I considered to be in no order, the Cavs, the Celtics, the Thunder and the Nuggets, the Cavs are the team that made the biggest splash. So, you know, they are the team, I guess, who won the who won the deadline, because at the end of the day, what are we trying to do here?
We're trying to win championships. And in Cleveland made the move that puts them in the best chance. You know, the Lakers changed their trajectory, I think, more than any team. You know, you love what the Spurs did by getting the Aaron Fox. You credit the Warriors for taking a swing. Miami, they're seventh in the East, but they've been playing without Jimmy. Now they get Andrew Wiggins, who's a really, really good two way player. You put him on a gritty team like the Heat. Maybe they become a tough out. But, you know, those are the teams that made the biggest move. They're the moves that I get that I would say put them in the best position. Dallas would say, hey, what about us?
You know, with Davis, but it's what they have to do is they have to, Kyrie has to carry the load among their guards and they have to get the ball to Davis for him to be able to average those 26 points. Yeah, good. Good for Nico. I think he will be thinking about his next gig at another shoe company. I don't know the way he's making that.
I don't know about that one. Hey, Joe, thank you so much for taking the time to join us and talk about the deadline. Where can people follow you and all of your work with the athletic?
Oh, I just said the athletic dot com, you know, we're owned by the New York Times, so you can see our stuff there, too. And we appreciate the business. No doubt about it. I know they I looked at my statement this morning.
They took more money from me, Joe. OK, well, thank you very much. I'm reminded. Hey, thank you again. And enjoy all star. Have fun in San Fran, OK? I'll do it, my man. Thanks for having me.
