Transcription
All right, here we go. Salute to uh, NBA and Knicks Nation. This is a Knicks fan TV and NBA report. Simo cast the franchise in the building. Uh, we got to talk about this breaking news that just dropped on the NBA news wire. You know, uh, Knicks fans yesterday told me, CP, we got to investigate. Giannis scrubbed his social media, his Instagram. We got to do a social media investigation. And I, uh, you know, I shrugged it off. But as of today, it was announced that Giannis and his agent, according to Shams of the, uh, of ESPN, Giannis and his agent are meeting with the Bucks to discuss his future. And it seems like it is inevitable that the Greek freak is leaving Milwaukee. The question is, where will he go? And so today, joining me today is uh, is our resident capologist. You can find him on the third apron newsletter on Substack, as well as Twitter. He's doing the damn thing. Rising star in the game. Yosi Goslin in the building. Let's get right into it. Hit the like button, hit the share button, subscribe to the channel. Number one show for the fans, by the fans. And once again, this is an NBA Report, Nick Knicks fan TV, Simo cast. Make sure you subscribe to both channels. Uh, Yoshi, how you feeling, man?
I'm feeling good. Really feels like December now. We've getting all these murmurs about who wants to go where.
And this is the big one.
Yeah. Will it amount to anything? I don't know.
I mean, it was only a matter of time. Like everybody knew the writing was on the wall here. I did find it interesting that he waited 20 games in to kind of, you know, see where things were, as if miracles were going to happen with this team. I mean, you're not going to know where your team ultimately ends until the end of it, but, um, this is where we are, man. So, let's start with the Knicks, because this is the guy, this is the team where earlier reports this summer was that this is the only team that he wants to go to. And this is a Knicks fan-heavy podcast. So, let's talk about what this scenario may look like for the Knicks, even given that they're on the outside looking in.
Yeah. So, uh, we and we also texted a little privately about like how it could have been in the offseason. It would have been much easier in the offseason because there's no roster restrictions. They can take back, uh, like now teams have to, uh, not exceed 15 players, which could make things a little difficult. In the offseason, you can go above that. Uh, you could have signed and traded players to help match make money match. So now it's a little trickier. Plus, the Knicks are hard-capped as second apron. So essentially, they got to do, they can't increase the money when they do a trade. They got to most likely take back a little less because they're going to stack players, and then you got to replace the roster spot. You can't go under 14 for a while longer. But the biggest thing, like, like those things can be taken care of. The bigger impediment, I guess, for the Knicks is how do they make a like a sufficient deal for the Bucks? Because I feel like the window to trade for Giannis for the Knicks kind of passed when they traded all their picks for Mikal Bridges. So if you're weighing, you know, all your picks plus Randle and, uh, DiVincenzo for KAT and Mikal Bridges versus all that stuff for Giannis, you know, I think it's pretty debatable which side you feel. I think there's, there's, uh, pros and cons for both. I think it's going to be really hard though at this point because if you're going to trade like two starters for Giannis, how do you replace the other guy? Are you really going to get better? Uh, like I don't think this team is all that well-equipped for Giannis if they end up trading one of OG or one of Mikal Bridges. I think they need to surround Giannis with those two types of guys. So if you're, if the primary player you're sending out is KAT, and then you don't have any picks to trade, you can trade maybe some pick swaps. I don't think really, like, other than McBride, any guy making like little, like, you know, one of the lowest-paid players, I don't think they really have that much value. I don't think they're increasing the offer. I'm not sure how you're getting a deal done and also, you know, trying without giving and then also like trying not to, uh, diminish too much of what you've got going on.
Yeah, that's the tricky thing for the Bucks, right? Because from a salary standpoint, or tricky things for the Knicks, rather, because from a salary standpoint, you're talking about, okay, quote unquote, a KAT-focused trade where it's basically, yeah, one for one with fillers on the side, right? Like, is Milwaukee really going to bite on that? I mean, Jon Horst, the GM of the Bucks, he just watched Nico Harrison get his head chopped off on the way out of out of Dallas. All right. So, if he's going to do this move and really want to help the Greek freak out, you can pretty much sign, seal, and deliver his job. Put his job on the chopping block. So, we're talking about Giannis here. Now, if it's, if it's not KAT, what other combination of salary? Let's just say, again, for argument's sake, one for one, quote unquote, Knicks with Bucks, what other salary combination would the Knicks be looking at here?
Yeah, so Towns is obviously the easiest because he makes basically the same amount of money as Giannis. Uh, but if then after that, assuming Brunson's off the table, you want to go down to OG. He's then the second highest-paid player, making at just under 40 million. So then if you pair him with, uh, at least maybe Mitchell Robinson, you're almost there at the at Giannis's 54 million. Um, maybe there's something to do like if you're going to start getting into OG. Two things. One, maybe there's a way you can also get back Miles Turner. I'm just, you know, I'm grasping at straws here, but like if you're going to bring in, if you're going to trade one of your top wings and bring in Giannis, who's not a shooter, okay, like if you could bring in Miles Turner, who's pretty much the one of the best centers you could pair with Giannis, that might make the trade-off a little better for the Knicks. I think though, realistically, they have to trade at least one of OG or Mikal or Mikal Bridges. I think especially OG has more trade value on the Knicks than KAT. Not just because of better contract, but I think more teams around the league could use OG, uh, than could use KAT.
[clears throat] So, for example, if the Bucks bring in OG, okay, maybe, uh, they don't necessarily want to keep him, but they could probably flip them for like three, four first-round picks. I think that might be out there if you saw what, you know, the Knicks paid that to get Mikal Bridges. Uh, the the Magic just paid that to bring in Bane, different type of player, but like there is a market for these types of non-all-stars. So that might be where realistically for the Bucks, just to get the ball rolling. I think they're they're going to want OG's to at least be able to loop in a third team who might be willing to give up, uh, maybe extra draft picks, uh, young players that could better fit the Bucks situation or whatever it is they're trying to do. Because also they have, uh, they don't really have the control of their draft picks after this year. They owe picks in '27 and '29. They owe swaps in '28 and 2030. So maybe they're trying to stay good also. So, it's going to be really difficult, uh, just for the Bucks to even like get proper value and just kind of figure out what it is they want to do. It's it's probably a big mess right now for them.
Big mess. And and as you said, their best-case scenario is trying to get OG in here. Maybe you get a third team involved. You can flip OG for a number of picks. We just saw Mikal Bridges and Desmond Bane go for about five picks plus swap combinations. So maybe that is a a preferred route because if the if the Bucks are going to go rebuilding, they have no draft capital, as you said, and they're going to want some sort of combination of draft capital and a young player. So, you know, let's say, again, argument's sake, I mean, where's OG's at? What, uh, 30? He's at 40 something. Where where's he at right now?
OG makes, uh, just under 40 million.
40, 39 and some change. So, you're talking about like an OG, Mitch type of situation. Just salary-wise. We're not talking about, you know, we're not talking about player, you know, stats here. We're talking about salary-wise.
Yeah. Yeah. Salary-wise. There's ways for the Knicks to get it done. Yeah. Um, and the other thing though, that's really important to, uh, well, one of these things we'll actually we could kind of get into. We we there's like the extension things, but I think more importantly is right now, uh, this is the last year before Mikal Bridges, uh, has that extension kicking in. So, right now he's making 24.9 million. Next year it's going to jump up to like 35, 36 million. The Knicks are going to be over the second apron starting next year. And once they are, they cannot aggregate contracts. They're not going to be able to stack contracts to trade for a player like Giannis. So even if they, they, they wouldn't be able to do the trade at all unless they save a bunch of money for get below the second apron. So they wouldn't even be able to do KAT and just one more salary to make the money work, cuz second apron teams cannot stack contracts. So, the Knicks in a way are, if they do really want Giannis, are going to be kind of under pressure to get a deal done sooner than later because it's only going to get harder for them to do something. If you can get a deal done for Giannis now, then you have a better chance at getting, uh, putting together a deeper roster next year. You, they wouldn't be hard-capped at the second apron next year if they get the trade done now. So they'll spend as much money as they need, uh, to put the make the roster as deep as possible. So that's just the other element of this. Uh, you know, maybe then internally the Knicks feel like they, they need to bring him in. In that case, they might end up trading more value than, uh, they might feel comfortable with. But yeah, time is kind of on the in the essence here, uh, if the Knicks want Giannis.
Wow. So we're talking about basically between now and before the league year starts next year, right? So now the league start date is that before after the draft? Just remind me, that the the new year, like '26, '27, would that be before or after the draft?
So technically it's July 1st when the new league year kicks in. M. However, uh, they made it where you can't, like, let's say it's like June, you know, you're still in this year's salary cap and you want to do the that type of trade that, uh, that would, uh, you know, then trigger the the hard cap.
Uh, they added loopholes for that. You can't, they can't just do that in June. Okay, KAT and one minimum salary. Okay, we did it, uh, right before the new league year rolled in. No, no, then that will actually hard cap them the following year. Uh, they made it really complicated where like they prevented all these loopholes, so teams can't just like do certain trades right before the new league year kicks in. So it's basically between now and the trade deadline would be the like the best time for the Knicks to get Giannis. After that,
it's it's going to be tough because like, yeah, they could figure out a way to get Giannis, but then they're going to be hard-capped to that second apron. It's going to be really tough to put a a deeper bench while then having this. You know, you can't spend more than like 215 million or so. What? Like that's not that much money when you want to have two max guys.
215,000? 20, oh wait.
Million. Million.
Million.
Okay. Gotcha. Got you. Got you. If you're paying, if you're paying Giannis like 54, you're paying, uh, Jaylen 37, Bridges 35, got Harty, got Mitchell, like it's, it's going to be, you won't be able to keep all those guys within the second apron. Uh, so, yeah, now would be the best time between now and the and the trade deadline to get Giannis.
Now, what about the Knicks' picks right now? Obviously, they gave up a ton for Mikal Bridges. They will have this summer's first-round pick, which they can't trade right now, right? Because they already gave up, uh, last year's for Bridges, right? You can't, you can't trade consecutive picks based on the Stepien rule, but then when the new league year starts, they would have the 2030 pick available for trade. So, talk about that a little bit in terms of, you know, first-round capital that the Knicks may be able to part with, you know, now and maybe after the the league.
So, I just pulled it up. I'm looking at it. Uh, so they've traded, they're out, uh, '27, '29, and '31. Um, because they traded those picks, they can't trade the picks in the even-numbered years in between. Uh, that's a Stepien rule. However, they could right now trade swaps in those even-numbered years. The only swap that they have outgoing in the Mikal Bridges trade, they traded a 2028 first-round pick swap to the Nets. So they could trade their '26, '30, and '32 as swaps right now. So there's there might be some value in that. I don't know how valuable that might be. Yeah. Uh, but the Knicks could offer that, um, in place of a first-round pick.
Once you get to the offseason, they'll be able to trade their 2026 first-round pick as is, and then they'll be able to unlock their 2033 first-round pick. '33.
Yeah. So they'd be able to trade two first-round picks, uh, in the offseason, and they could still trade like, you know, two, three swaps. So the the package, the the value, like, goes up substantially, uh, if you're the Bucks. Like it, it, you, you'd want to wait if, if Giannis only wants to go to the Knicks and no one else, and that scares other teams from trading for him, then the Bucks probably want to wait until the offseason when the Knicks could trade two, two picks. Um, so, yeah, it's, it's, it's really tough. I don't know exactly how this is going to resolve. Like, I figured now they're going to try to get Giannis to open up his teams. Hopefully, he'll be open to go into some other teams, like, I don't know, the Spurs or the Hawks or
Lakers.
Yeah. I mean, depends how much the the Bucks value Reeves. Maybe LeBron gets involved. Not to the Bucks, but like to a third team. So, I don't know. I right now I still need to look into it. I'm probably going to do my own show on this tonight. Really look into the market. I think Giannis just, he kind of messed it up for himself. Like, if he really wanted to get traded, I I think he should have opened up his trade suitors last offseason and gotten moved. I don't see why the Bucks would want to trade him, uh, anywhere right now. Like, like the Knicks, forget about the Knicks, like what their limitations are. Like, I don't really see a like a haul like that type of, uh, for three, four first-round pick package plus an all-star or some good young player. I don't really see that out there for the Bucks right now.
I think they waited too long to trade Giannis. I think they've waited like too many years to be honest. But now for Giannis to like potentially, you know, he committed, I suppose, to the year and now he he's kind of waffling now. He wants to get traded now.
It's weird timing. Weird.
It's, it's, it's going to, I, I, right now my gut tells me that it probably doesn't happen that the offers are just not going to be strong enough for the Bucks to make it worthwhile, and I think they most likely trade him in the offseason.
Wow. This this is very interesting. Now, let's go back to the Nick picks. And once again, this is emergency live stream, Nicks Fan TV, NBA Report, Simo cast. Salute to everybody watching on YouTube, on Facebook, on Twitter X. Please like, share, and subscribe to the channel. Share this video in your group chat, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Reddit, wherever you guys do your social medias. Email your grandma. Let her know. We trying to figure out how to get the Greek freak to New York without giving up too much. I can't lose OG, man. I'm still waiting for him to come back from the hamstring. I can't lose the dog. And and that's my thing. It's like, my thing on the whole Giannis thing, it's like, all right, the player aside, MVP caliber, if you're going to have to give up a number of your depth pieces, then how, what are you left with between this year, next year, and beyond? Giannis can't cover SGA, JDub, and Chet all at one time. We need help.
Yeah, I'm with you. I I think OG is too important. And I think having OG and Bridges on the contracts they're they're at is too valuable. And like I said earlier, I I think those are the type of guys you need to surround Giannis with. So, like, if you can somehow just get it done with Towns, and okay, you know, you can trade Hart and Mitch, get them involved, that's what it takes. As long as you've got that top four with Brunson, I think that's the goal. It's, it's, probably, it's improbable. Uh, I wouldn't expect it, but I don't think I'd do it any other way. I think I'd rather just roll with what, what the Knicks have right now, to be honest.
Yeah. Otherwise,
it, it's, uh, it's unreal. You know, people in the chat said, CP, that's a worst take. Well, again, man, you know, I lived, I've lived through the Melo trade. I've lived through all these things. On paper, it sounds hot that you get a guy, but you still need to go out there and win and win with depth and win with depth. And a guy that does get hurt every now and again. Let's, let's not, you know, let's not, you know, put that out. He's got a lot of mileage as well. He could, he's a great player, MVP caliber player, but he can't do it all by himself.
He can't do it all by himself.
And the Knicks' depth, uh, outside their top five, you know, it's, I think they kind of found something like to with like their their top like eight through nine guys, like as long as everyone's playing. But the margin for error now with their bench is so low.
It's low.
Where?
Yeah. Where like one injury, I mean, Sham has already got hurt, but like another big injury that could really derail things. So,
it's really tough, uh, that I think the Knicks have, they haven't, like, I think they're still working on trying to really optimize what they've got going on. I'm pretty optimistic they'll make it work with Mike Brown. Um, I'm, yeah, I'm curious though, what they feel internally now. Like, I know they've, they've kind of got, they're on like, not a rough stretch, but they've lost a couple recently. Do they still feel like this team is good enough? And if not, do they feel pressure to make this swing?
I'll say this, from the people I, this has, these they have been talking for a while now. Leon is staying on this. He wants him. The question is, can he land it with a Hail Mary? That's it. I If the Bucks say yes, they, they're going to get him. But the the question is, you know, here, here's the big question. You know, look at the Kawhi Leonard trade to the Raptors a couple years ago. They traded for him without a promise that he was going to sign. He ends up going to the Clippers, but he got the job done. He was a rental, and they got him, and he delivered a championship. So, what's to say? Remember, Giannis, he's got this year and next year left. So, what's to say a team out there can't offer even a better package than the Knicks, even on a rental?
Yeah.
And wouldn't mind doing that?
Go ahead.
Can I, can I share a trade that I just saw? Oh, I can't share my screen.
Okay.
Okay. This, so, this is by this Twitter account, uh, NBA trade report. I saw someone repost it. What if they, so basically, it's a three-team trade where the Knicks get Giannis, but they're also, so they're sending out KAT and OG. Uh, but the Suns are involved. They're getting KAT. And like, I'm not going to say the full details, but like the gist of it from the Knicks perspective is that they're trading KAT and OG, uh, and they're bringing back Giannis, Dillon Brooks, and Grayson Allen. What do you think of something like that? If, okay, if it takes trading OG and KAT, but you're bringing back another defensive-minded starter player. Okay, he's not quite, he's not as good as OG, but right now, Dillon Brooks is killing it. What do you think of some type of framework like that?
Yeah, you got to do it.
Okay.
You got to do it. I look, I'm,
I think I would probably do that.
You got to do that. You got to do that. Um,
Okay, if you tell, if you tell me something like that, we need defense. We need defense here, bro. You know what I'm saying? And like, again, if you're going to bring in Giannis here and you're taking away from your three-point arsenal, you need some shooters in here as well. And so, yeah, we, we can get a little bit gritty with Dillon the Villain and bring in Grayson Allen. Dirty player, but I'm sure we'd love him here in New York. But we, but if you're telling me that I'm bringing in more defense and I'm bringing in some three-point shooting, I can live with that. I can live with that.
Yeah. Well, yeah, you're getting way better just by going from KAT to Giannis. And then, you know, you can even argue maybe Dillon Brooks is a little better defensively than OG. I don't, you know, I think it's like, if you really want to dissect it, but I think they're like in a pretty similar tier. So, at least you're replacing OG's defense in that deal. And then, okay, Grayson, more of a bad contract, but I know he's been shooting really well. I mean, he's kind of like one of those shooters who, he kind of goes like, he, like, kind of his percentage will flip-flop. One year shooting really well, the next year it completely disappears. Uh, but if he's playing at this level, then that's that would be a major addition for the Knicks. So, I, I, I just bring up this framework. I think that just kind of makes a lot of sense.
That would make sense.
Yeah. If you have to make sense.
Yeah. Can you bring in a a high-level defender, then I think it makes, uh, it makes it a lot more palatable.
Yeah. I, I, I can, I can stomach that. Um, like I said, man, they, they'll get, if they can get them, they'll get them. It's just a matter of, can they get, can they do this? This is, anything's possible in the NBA. We, we saw the Luka thing go down like that.
Giannis holds the cards, man. If he puts a gun to these guys' heads and says, "Hey, listen. It's New York." Again, I'd be interested to see like, does San Antonio offer a rental package? Do the Lakers offer a rental package? Does Detroit? That would be dangerous. That would be dangerous if Detroit goes in there and offers a significant rental package. If Trajan Langdon puts a couple pieces in the middle, for rental, remember did it. He, he rolled the dice for Kawhi and it paid off. I'm, I'm a little bit leery about that. I think that could happen by the deadline. I'm just, I'm super curious to know just how much Giannis can control this because he's got this year and then he's got two years left on his contract, but really only one, then he has that player option, so he can opt out after next season. Like, I kind of think if he really, if he's really adamant about going to the Knicks, then I would guess that no team is going to offer something more than like what you're suggesting, like a rental package. Okay. What are some things we can, we can, uh, like, like the Kawhi type package from when Toronto traded DeRozan and Poeltl, one first, like something that a team could just, that a couple parts that, okay, there it is, a value, but we could afford to lose it and make a short-term run that might, yeah, like, if, if that, I, I think that could really, like, he could really control his market in that sense, that could really, and in that case, it could really play into the Knicks' favor. So, we'll see. It does seem like the longer he remains with the Bucks, the more likely he it is he'll be a Nick eventually, one way or another, whether it's by trade or free agency. It'll be tough. It'll probably have to be trade because,
uh, the Knicks are just not going to be able to,
they won't have the money.
But the, they won't have the cap space if,
they won't have the bread. Did, well, you know, Stefan Bondy and the New York Post dropped the KAT article last night. They didn't come to an agreement, even though the window was, I think it was October 20th, so it was a while ago. Did that, do you, did you read anything into that into the Knicks and Towns not coming to an agreement? Does that play into any of this as it relates to a potential trade with the Bucks and, you know, salary cap implications?
I don't think I don't. I would just imagine that it's just very tough for players with multiple years under contract to make to extend. Uh, the rules generally, you can only extend during the offseason. Uh, so now KAT cannot extend in the middle of the season. So, it's rare for players to with like more than one year left under contract to extend because on the team's side, they got to really be confident that we're, we're putting a value on you two, three years from now. Like, we're going to be confident that you're going to produce at this level that we're going to pay you in advance. It's really tough and it's pretty risky for players that are getting older. KAT just finished his 10th year. So, and now he's in, he's making like 50 million plus a year. His max extension amount exceeds 60, 65 million a year. Uh, so I'm sure there's like a big difference in terms of what each side wants. If I'm the Knicks, I would probably, if I'm going to get him to extend early, I'd probably want to lock him into something around to what he's making now at the at the highest end. Um, and maybe he wants to just play things out and see if he can get a little more. So I don't think it's totally, it's, I wouldn't say they're related. Um, but it is worth just mentioning, yeah, if he did extend in the offseason, he probably, if he extended early enough, he would be trade eligible by now for a potential Giannis trade or whatever trade. Uh, but I think that's just more so about trying to figure out a number that makes sense.
Copy. Copy that. Uh, one more question, then we're going to take calls. Call us up on the KFTV Discord. Knicks versus Hornets tonight at the Garden. Knicks looking to bounce back after getting scrubbed out in Boston. And now we talking trades. You know, it's that time of year for Knicks Nation. We never not talking trades. No matter where this team is, it's just very, very interesting. Now,
'Tis the season.
'Tis the season. 'Tis the season. Now, we talked about the the '26 pick and we talked about they have the '33 pick. So, now in in relation to the the league year, right, would they have to make the pick to be able to trade it?
Would they have to make the pick first? We're talking about like a draft day trade or could they potentially trade it before? Procedurally, they have to officially make it, but like, you know, the day of, the day before, the weeks heading, a week heading into it, you can, they can come to an agreement that, hey, um, you know, assuming this player is available, uh, yeah, we want you to pick that player and then you're going to trade them to us. So, uh, so then, yeah, then like they can agree to it ahead of time, and then they can only officially trade it like after the first round ends.
Copy that. Copy that. Once again, we are talking to Yosi Gazen. Check him out on the Third Apron, uh, newsletter on Substack. You could also follow him on Twitter, YosiGoslin NBA. Does great work breaking down the salary cap as well as reacting to NBA front office transactions and breaks this thing down, man. Does the numbers and gives you the analysis. Check out our guy Yosi, man. All right, let's get to the phones. Hear what the people got to say. Let's get to the Knicks fix. Knicks fix you up. Uh, up. Go ahead. TP, Yos. What up, fellas? How you doing?
Hey. Yo, man. I remember I called CP, there was a show with CK and Alex 10 nights ago when we played against Orlando, and I was like, I said the first thing I said was like, yo, the more we lose, the more the Bucks lose, the more we lose on the road, the more the chat is going to become is a topic about Giannis. I said it last night too. I said it, like, watch Giannis. The problem is, man, I don't want to include OG in the trade, man. I mean, I don't know if you guys saw this, but uh, Wendy said earlier today that the Bucks are not expected to open up a Giannis sweepstakes to the entire league. He said that NBA Today. He said Giannis will get to pick a team, and Milwaukee would try their best to get a trade done with his preferred team. Now, Giannis ain't done, man. Like, he knows if he goes to the Knicks, he wants to play on a roster that's not depleted or,
That's right. He don't want Milwaukee.
He don't want to go from Milwaukee to Milwaukee.
You know, I said he don't want to go from Milwaukee to Milwaukee. I mean, the heroes out here very nice. You know, I'm very into my Greek food, but, I mean, come on, bro. If he's going to come in here and have the roster depleted, what's the point?
Right? That's what I'm saying. I'm going to leave out with this, cuz I know there's a bunch of guys who want to talk about it. But, man, I mean, he can't, he can't go to a depleted team. If he goes in and tells Horst that, yo, trade me to the Knicks, but don't include OG in that package, then you got something really cooking. Let's see what happens. Let's see how KAT plays tonight. Well, well, if I'm Jon Horst, I'm going to be like, "Well, guarantee me a quarter of your salary because if I'm making that deal, I'm for sure packing my bags with you." So, you know, that, that's it, man. That's career suicide. But you just never know. Giannis is holding the gun, and we'll see if the, if the Bucks blink.
No. And I feel like he probably, you know, now Giannis has been in the league for a while now. I'm sure he's starting to get a grasp of like, what's a good organization versus like, what's a mid-tier organization. And I don't think the Bucks have been like a top-tier organization. And now I'm sure he's looking at the Knicks thinking, "Wow, this is a great place. I feel like if I go there, they, I'm confident they'll be able to keep a competitive team around me for the rest of my career."
For for sure. Shout out to,
Shout out to, uh,
Dexterity as well.
I got another sound clash with with my, uh, my bang sound. Shout out to Nicks Ireland franchise channel member number one on the chat leaderboard. Says, "$10 super chat says Ireland in the house. Good to be back on live and not replay. KAT never going to change his ways. It's time to bring him to the Mecca." All right. So, he's he's ready, man. Hella high water. He wants Giannis on the Knicks. Okay. No, no problem, man. This is the show to talk about it. Hit the like button, hit the share button, subscribe to the channel. Hooper, you're up next. Hooper, Gadd. Yo,
how you feeling? You listen. The trade that Yogi just said for the the three team, Yosi, Yosi, sir. Yoshi, sir.
Yeah, Yoshi. Yeah, I take him. I take Giannis in that. I mean, Giannis will cover up a lot more. Will be better defensively when it comes to just overall being a better player than KAT.
Okay. All right.
I say take it. I say do the trade. Whatever it takes, get him here.
All right. Let's go. Let's go, man. That's That's Hooper in here. Shout out to Hooper. Uh, LD, go ahead and unmute your mic. LD.
Yo, it was Gucci.
How you feel, bro? I'm goody. I'm good. We had this conversation before the season even started, and I said, we pull the trigger. Giannis wants to be a Nick because in American sports, there are currently two teams that have the most important rings to win. The New York Knicks and the Dallas Cowboys. Giannis knows if I win a ring with the Knicks, I climb multiple steps into the all-time list automatically. You go to the Lakers, you're just another big that went to the Lakers. OKC's ring. Nah, we might as well just stay with the Bucks. That Knicks ring is what legacy chasers are now chasing. Before, we were the laughingstock. Now, you win that Knicks ring, it's legend status times 10. He knows that. That's why he wants to come here. And I've said it before. The gentleman Nicks fix, much blessings. If OG needs to go, I will help OG pack his bags. I love the dude. But we're talking about Giannis. You know what I'm saying? Talking about Giannis Antetokounmpo. I would not want to lose OG either. But I mean, if it's Giannis coming this way, you just kind of, you don't want to deplete the roster as everybody said. That makes a lot of sense. And in the, in the new CBA, if you really want to investigate how trades are actually working, it doesn't really favor,
the team with the superstar going somewhere where he wants to win. If you look at even the Luka trade, the Luka trade happened because of this new second apron because the Mavs first didn't want to trade him to, you know, they didn't want to pay him the money that they were going to have to pay him. But also, prior to this, you're not getting Luka Doncic for AD. You're not really getting KD for Jaylen Green. You're not getting Cap for Julius Randle. So, the second apron has kind of suppressed a lot of the value of superstars in trades, especially if it's somebody like Giannis who said, "I want to go to this team." Any other team taking a risk? Ask Giannis why he wants to come to the Knicks. It's that ring. If your ring is not as valuable as the Knicks, he's not coming to your franchise. You might as well just let it go. That's where I leave it at.
Okay. All right, ladies and gentlemen, LD on the Discord. Rate that call in the chat. A one being trash, five being facts. That's what we do here. If you guys are new in the chat, leave us a hashtag new and, uh, rate that call. Are you with LD? Is it fire? Is it tomatoes? Let us know in the chat so we can, you know, sort things out. Man, we, we got to get to the bottom of this. What is going to happen? Is the Greek freak coming to the Knicks? Uh, sounds like it's, it really sounds like a Hail Mary, man. But you know what? Let's, yeah, go ahead.
I've, I've got a question for you, CP. Where, let's say the the Knicks do end up trading KAT and OG for Giannis and like one other forward, not necessarily Dillon Brooks, but,
Oh, are you saying in like a three team?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, let's say they, they bring in, uh, they bring in Giannis for KAT and OG and they bring in another forward. They don't bring back a new center.
What do you think would be your, your closing lineup? Uh, your starting and closing lineup because the only concern I've got is, you know, the Mitch, Giannis pairing.
Are you, are you concerned about that?
Well, I, I've been getting a little bit more concerned about Mitch as the time goes on, man. He looks very slow out there. He's looks a little bit labored. I don't know if the ankle is, you know, some sort of chronic thing that he's dealing with and they're not really mentioning it, but he's looking very slow out there. He can get his boards, but defensively, guys are challenging him. They're beating him to the rim. So, I'm not even sure. I'll tell you right now, as of today, who would be closing? It would be Giannis at the five. It would be Josh Hart at the four. It would be Brunson, Mikal, and you know, you throw that third forward if, if he's worth anything, most likely that. Um, so, you know, it'd be that situation. Now, I don't know if Duce is going to be here. I hope he is, but the, the Mitch thing right now, I don't, he's looking more situational than must close. I, I'd love him in the closing spot. And maybe he does at some points, but I'm with you. Yeah, from a spacing standpoint and and things of that nature, it may not make sense, may get clunky, but if you give me who I know can protect the rim and is going to be able to block shots and we can play faster and be more athletic, I'll be fine with that. Depending on who we're getting to replace OG with, that's more the issue than who closes.
So you like your, so you like your chances more with a Brunson, Mikal, Hart, ex-forward, ex-forward?
That that other forward has to be a shooter though. That other forward has to be able to shoot. We, we need a, we need a knockdown shooter. Knockdown.
Let's, okay, let's just say it is a Dillon Brooks type. Uh, like if you, you, you like that lineup more now against OKC versus what, versus what the Knicks have right now?
Yes. Okay.
Yeah. No,
it's interesting because like, it's just the, the, it'll be, I feel like if the Knicks do bring Giannis, it, it feels like he's going to have to play a lot of five. Uh, unless we're unless they bring in some big man that, uh, is going to be able that makes that fits well, and that's just going to be tough to pull off as well. If you're already trading for Giannis, like no one's just going to gift you a 3 and D center at the same time.
For sure. For sure. Yeah.
Um, but the one thing I'm trading for, I'm trading for championship pedigree, reliability, and trust in a big spot. And Carl, you know, we had this debate about Towns yesterday. And, you know, Brunson can't, can't do everything. And Brunson had an off night. He, it happens. It happens every once in a while. I'm talking about in a big spot in the playoffs, you know, who are you going to trust to go get it done for you on both ends? You know, it's not just offense where where Towns shines. That's great. But defensively, we got to lock in and get stops too. So,
yeah.
Again, depending on who you, who you're going to replace OG with, hopefully that's a much better, a good shooter, you know, if you're going to put Brunson, Mikal, you're going to put Josh, you're going to put put Giannis, you want to need somebody who, damn, you can't leave this guy open. He's going to kill us, you know, from three. So,
yeah.
That's interesting. But, you know, as I was saying, it's one of those things, man, where it's like, despite the fact that it, it feels like a Hail Mary, it also feels inevitable as well, for some reason, man. [laughter] You know, I was telling my lady this just now, like,
I've, I've never, I've never looked at a trade like this in that way where it just seems like, they're a long shot, but it still might happen. And, and I'll say this, the fact that the Knicks are in a situation where they could potentially get Giannis really just encapsulates how well managed they've are they've been just from drafting. Like they've had the best free agency signings of the past five years between IQ, Dante, uh, Randle. Like, if you're trading KAT and OG for, uh, for Giannis, that means you're basically turned IQ, RJ, Randle, and DiVincenzo for Giannis. Two of those guys were really great draft picks. Two of those guys were great free agent signings. Uh, like that's just a really good turnaround, uh, for those guys. Now, I, now that you say that, this is, this is one of the last questions I want to leave you with, because people, you know, people on Twitter are saying this because I said, look, you know, Leon's been, he's on this thing. He wants him. And, you know, they're definitely doing the dance. They've been doing the dance. But then people say, then, well, why did you trade all the picks for Mikal Bridges? What do you think, man? Because again, like, when, when we're talking about the aprons, the salary slot, the player of that potential, my my thing has always been, you, you can't wait around for these things,
because you don't know.
It's, yeah. Yeah. I do. I am still critical to this day of that negotiation. Like five first-round picks. Like, just put us, put a, let's put aside how Mikal played last year. It, it was, you know, an adjustment for him. Now he's playing really well for the Knicks. It, his defense is getting back to the levels he had in Phoenix. So, like, if this is who he's going to be consistently, then I don't think the Knicks are really going to think about it. But at the same time, I do think that was a lot of first-round picks. Uh, so, like, yes, they identified the right player, they brought him in, they paid a good price for him, but like, you couldn't maybe keep one first-round pick that could help a long way right now towards bringing in an extra rotation player, uh, an extra guard, or maybe towards inching a little closer to a potential Giannis deal. So, um, I'm with you, though. At the same time, they were on the come up. They had to do something, and you can't control who's available. And we might be looking back at this in a couple months and Giannis isn't on a different team, and you might be thinking, oh, well, you know, we never should have done these trades, but you can't predict that two years ago. We couldn't have known that Giannis was finally going to ask two years later than he probably should have, that, oh, now I want to be a Nick, like I did a whole video on this when I started my, my, uh, when I started Third Apron, I did a whole video. I'm like, okay, yeah, dude, Randle, uh, assuming they could have kept Isaiah Hartenstein because I really like the idea of pairing Giannis with Hartenstein. Unfortunately, that didn't, that couldn't have happened. But assuming they could have kept him, I really [clears throat] love the idea of trading Randle, uh,
I guess Mitchell Robinson, but then you have all those first-round picks. You bring in Giannis, pair him with iHart, uh, keep Dante, Brunson, and OG, uh,
And Hart off the bench. That was my vision of how the Knicks should have done it, but he didn't ask for a trade back then, so it couldn't have happened.
Good, good stuff, man. Shout out to We got another super chat in the building here. NYC 94 salute to you. Fight out super chat. He says, "Rose will do it." He's down to his last legendary move. Okay, so he's saying, "And Leon, we trust." Hey, I've been trusting Leon, you know, for the longest, man. He's done a fantastic job and I you know uh I just I just feel like something's something's cooking here and and uh what what was the charms report that by Tuesday things should be settled.
Uh no he said in two weeks I think two weeks but there is a now there is an update I I'm seeing.
Um do you do you know about Dallas Hoops Journal?
No I don't know. I don't know. Let's see who what they're about. They're they're like kind of they're pretty reputable on some things and like I know my guy Grant that he's reports on there. He's but is a different reporter for them.
Uh he's saying that the Knicks and Spurs are expected to aggressively pursue Giannis uh at the trade deadline.
Okay. Which you know it's pretty uh standard like I think everyone like when you're looking at who's going to be the potential top team to pursue Giannis the Spurs automatically jump out.
Yeah.
Um so I don't know just something to put out there. We we just don't know how serious the Bucks are right now. That's what I really want to know.
That's true. That's true. Yeah. I mean from from the Knicks perspective yeah you know that that's um that's there. Like we've certainly known that, but the Spurs, they've always been the team that I've been looking at. Like you're looking at WBY, how he's playing, his his durability. Like you can't wait around with him. You you got to go try to win a championship ASAP with this guy because you just don't know how at 7 for five how long he's going to hold up playing at the NBA level. You just don't even know.
So let me say this about the Spurs where Fox asks for a trade specifically to them and they went for him. They didn't really give up anything to bring in Fox, but kind of like, you know, you can't really control who you're going to get, who's available, who wants to come to you. Now, in hindsight, they didn't know they're going to get the Dylan Harper pick. I'm sure they would have done things differently, but like at that time, it just made sense to do that trade at that price. I think there's going to be more players interested in joining the Spurs wanting to play with WBY. And if Giannis is one of them or maybe like maybe Lorie Markin I think that those types of players is like who you want to pair WBY with right now with the based on the rest of the roster construction. The Spurs can get something done. They've got enough salaries. They don't have those apron restrictions so they can actually help the Bucks save money. Not they need to but it just they don't have to like do dollar for dollar and they've got like four draft picks they can trade right now. They're not like the nicest draft picks, but it's pretty good quantity. They've got Carter Bryan, recent draft pick. Maybe Harper could be on the table or Castle. Like I I imagine the Bucks are going to like try to push for one of those guys. And I'm sure the Spurs are going to try to give up everything but the uh everything else. But that's just something I'd be caution about if cautious about if I'm a a Knicks fan that if if Giannis is open to going to a team like the Spurs who has the assets, I think they they'd be able to get something done like pretty easily.
Okay. All right. Very interesting. All right. We're going to take one more call, but before I do, shout out to John Ferry on the Facebook. Let's react to this real quick. He says, "This is my mock trait. Knicks get Giannis. Bucks get OG Mitch Sham. This gives the Bucks a good player who's under control and buildar around plus Turner at the center. It gives them two expiring deals and they will have a good pick this year. We can start Josh at the three. We don't need to take back a big contract to do this. Cat doesn't have an inside game so they can play next to each other. This works for everyone unless someone has given them 50 billion at expiring contracts this year.
All right. So he's he's trying to pull off the ultimate fleece. All right. So he's going OG Mitch Shamut and nothing nothing else. I mean, if if the Knicks can do that, uh, that'd be amazing.
But,
Yeah.
Yeah. No, unfortunately, I think after, you know, we've been discussing this for an hour, I think we're kind of in agreement. Unfortunately, one of OG or Mel's probably going to have to be included in a digital cat.
Yeah. No, no, I don't think Nico works on the Bucks right now.
No, no 2K trades. No 2K trades, ladies and gentlemen. All right. All right. Let's get to Let's get to Nick Raldi on the Discord. Nick Raldi, go ahead with your question or comment. Do we have Nick Raldi going once?
Okay. Uh doesn't What does it say? Okay. Doesn't look like uh he's playing Rune Light. Okay. I don't never heard of it, but seems like he's busy getting to his game. All right. So, you go ahead and get your game on. call back during the Charlotte game. Postgame live at uh 10:00 tonight. Knicks back at home against the Charlotte Hornets. Looking to get back on track. Second night of a backto back. Let us know your thoughts, man. Let let us know your thoughts on this. Where will this thing end? Giannis, they told me, man, CP, we got to do a social media investigation. I said, "Ah, that's for the for the birds. I'm not really into that." And here we go. Now, now they're meeting. So, I I guess, you know, the the breakup is on the way if he's uh you know, scrubbing his social media and things of that nature. I guess I should have taken it a little more seriously. Uh I apologize to you people.
Okay. All right. There we go. Now, uh definitely want to shout out one of our sponsors of today's show and uh shout out to our guys at Doer, man. Shout out to our guys at Doer. Uh make sure you guys check them out, man. Shopd.com is where you want to go. Especially as you guys are shopping for holiday gifts, man. I got I told you guys about Doer. uh keeps me lace, keeps me well dressed, especially during these times, man, because I got this going on, might have to head to the garden for the game, might have to go to a watch party. So, I'm always looking for a good pair of jeans that is going to keep me good and and that can meet uh my active lifestyle, man. And that is where our guys at Shoper come into play. They're the most comfortable, durable pants I've worn in a long time, man. They stretch, they breathe, they move with you, and somehow they still look clean enough for any fit. You can literally feel the quality. That is how perfect of a holiday gift for anybody who wants to look good and stay active. Man, doers got jeans. They have joggers, tees, everything built with performance fabric that lasts. So tap in for the holidays. Head to shopd.com and upgrade your wardrobe. Trust me, once you try Doer, you're not gonna go back, man. So, uh, once again, you go to shopdoer.com/kftv for 15% off your order.
All right, Yosi, man. What else you got cooking, uh, for the rest of the week, man?
Um, I will So, I just posted something earlier this week on the Clippers and that whole train wreck and that is before the whole Chris Paul thing. That's s It's such a weird uh situation. super weird that I don't know if you saw that Chris Haynes tweet when uh Chris Paul Tyoo and and and the organization basically told Chris Paul hey you're a negative presence to the organization to the team and Chris Paul basically asked well can you elaborate on that and and could we meet and talk about this and Tyler's like no no
like what
so I talked I wrote so yeah everyone check out my substack third apron I wrote about that I'm going to write something about uh the Rockets and if they should try to do a trade, not for Giannis, but like if they should do something with that Fred Vanley contract, bring in another guy cuz I kind of feel like they have a shot, not like a great chances, but like a better shot than just about anyone else in the league and potentially take down OKC just with that roster construction. I think they match up pretty well.
Um and uh follow also uh yeah, it's it's basically Third Apron Media. I've got my podcast with my partner Sam Quinn. We are gonna probably go live in a couple hours and get more into deeper about the Giannis market. We'll get into all the other teams that could potentially make a run. We'll we'll throw in uh full fake trades in detail with down to the pick and the protection. Uh we get into the nitty-gritty when we do our fake transaction. So, uh, yeah, we'll that's Dirt Apron. You can uh we'll do it live on YouTube. You can follow, subscribe wherever you get podcast. We'll probably go live in a couple hours to discuss.
Okay, there there we go, man. So, our guy Yosi Goslin, you know where to find him, man. Does the great work. Does the damn thing. Uh Yosi, great job as usual, man. We'll we'll connect.
Hey, hopefully, you know, maybe there's going to be some breaking news or something down the road. We'll see. Man,
listen, man. I I feel something, too. I I You're saying you feel like something's brewing. I I feel that, too. I I think I'm sure we'll be in touch. I defer some more uh discussion
There, there it is, man. We'll chop it up. Great job as usual. So, it's everybody in the chat once again. Hit the like button, hit the share button, subscribe to the channel. Uh shout out to my guy Yosi, man. Does a great job. And yeah, leave us some comments. Let us know what you think. Just just when I thought I was going to get ready for this game. You know, we did we did a a show earlier on the NBA report. We talked about CP3. Uh some of you guys were asking, are the Knicks going to go after him? I don't see him coming back east. anything's possible as he has a relationship with with Leon and Wes. I don't see him coming back east. You know, since he's been at OKC, he's gone. He's done San Antonio, he's done the Clippers, he's done the Warriors. So, I don't think he's going to come back east, man. His whole point in staying out west was to be closer to his kids. So, I have a hard time believing that. Plus, he's washed. And this is what you this is the what happens when you have washed stars. Nobody ever leaves this game gracefully. You know, maybe Kobe did late great black mama. Was that the last player who, you know, left his team on his terms, so to speak? Jordan certainly did, even though the Wizards thing was kind of like, you know, a a tour, if you will. I guess Jordan kind of did at that at that point. He was kind of just having fun with it, but it never typically ends well. We saw it in this town with Jeter, you know, Eli El remember when Eli got benched with Gino Smith, but the Giants, like it never ends well, man. So, you know, this is just kind of what happens when the guy's at the end of his rope. But the Clippers are a complete mess. But that's their problem. And over here, it's always orange and blue skies, man. So, great show everybody. We'll see you guys at 10:00 for postgame live.
Let us know what you think, man. Never a dull moment in the Nick Verse. But as usual, if anything goes down, I got you covered, man. Like, share, and subscribe is all that I ask. The number one show for the fans by the fans. We out of here, man. Head over to mixfanv.com. Get your holiday merch as well.
See you guys later, man. Peace.