Danny Parkins

So a little six-hour marathon for me.

But what a great day to do it ahead of the NBA playoffs and the NFL draft.

We have James Palmer later on this hour.

We'll see if he agrees with what I think the Chiefs owe to Patrick Mahomes to do with the ninth overall pick.

But there's also a fun wrinkle to today's show.

The NBA awards ballot is due in two hours and 59 minutes.

It is due.

And Rachel Nichols, FS1 analyst, esteemed journalist, longtime voter.

Rachel, have you submitted your awards yet?

You have no idea what a thrill this is for me because I do not have a ballot in my head.

I feel like I deserve one.

I probably don't, but I've spent way too much time thinking about this stuff.

So any questions you have, I will at least have my somewhat informed answers on it.

it's amazing so we will talk about that over the course of the show get rachel's ballot i'm assuming defensive player of the year uh... is locked up so we're going to get everyone yeah that one's pretty easy other than that but i want to begin with sga and the thunder because while i assume sga is about to win his second mvp i believe this is about to be a coronation of the oklahoma city thunder and frankly it's kind of amazing

They're the preseason favorite.

They're the odds-on favorite to win the title.

And I still think the public, and frankly the media at large, underestimates what's going on with both SGA and this team.

And in an era where Adam Silver and the NBA have deliberately made moves to go away from dynasties with collective bargaining and kind of spread the stars out, they've admitted that they've looked to the NFL to try to increase parity in the NBA.

I don't think people fully understand what Shea is doing and the uncomfortable conversations he's going to force people to have and what the Thunder are on the verge of being able to do when we talk dynasty.

Let's just start with Shea, who is, again, the favorite to be the MVP.