Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
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Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Friday, January 16th, 2026. This is The Drop. I'm J.E. Skeets here in the Classic Factory, and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Podcast listeners, this is definitely for you. Next to him, it's my Top Shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Heyo! Heyo! Over yonder, making the magic happen, Super Producer J.D. Hello.
There he is. There he is. And he's back! to help us celebrate 20 years of podcasting. He was a staple on this show for over a decade before heading out on his own to play hoops against the world. It's the international man of mystery, Lee Ellis.
Lee, Lee.
Can you tell we're pumped to have you back? I'm kind of horny in here right now. Excuse me. I'm being honest, man. This is like, what are you shooting in the off season in here? So you like it? Oh, my God, I do. I do. Lee is looking around right now for the podcast. Taking it all in. Taking it in, yes.
Very sexy. We are excited to have you, obviously.
It's great to be here.
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Chapter 2: What are the highlights of Lee Ellis's basketball passport journey?
And it was not just like a pickup game. This was like a tournament where there was referees and prizes and teams. And people actually usually have that tournament on a Saturday night, but they moved it to a Friday night for me. Yeah, I was going to the Masai Mara the next day.
So they said, all right, we'll do that.
And playing under lights there with the crowd and everything like that. It was just such a cool experience, especially, you know, I chose that one because, you know, Kenya is not automatically where you associate basketball. No. And that was such a cool experience because they had to take me into this special area and I was there and had all the jerseys to give away and stuff like that.
And the clinic was incredible. It was about a million degrees.
So they like rolled out the red carpet for you too.
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Chapter 3: How did Lee Ellis's 20-20-20 challenge turn out?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they did. I mean, they changed the date. They obviously were excited to have you. Yeah, and Will, who's a big fan of the show, I'm certain is going to be watching it. Will was instrumental in making that happen. So, yeah, that was just a really, really special moment, a great experience. And the athletes out there were great.
And also playing pickup, which was interesting because depending on where you play, you know, sometimes it's physical, sometimes people call fouls, whatever. In Nairobi, it was physical. Yeah. And there was no special treatment on the court for me. Like I got whacked a few times.
Hell yeah. How young were the people playing?
Well, the players were older. The clinics, as you can see, were a lot of those young kids.
So this was like a full day thing or afternoon thing?
Afternoon into the night. Okay, cool. Did you play with your Crocodile Dundee hat? Not there I didn't, but in Zambia I did because it was even hotter. I had a hat and sunglasses on while I was playing and it was like 10 o'clock in the morning. It was Have you ever gotten injured on any of these games?
the ankle a few times yeah I'm just curious because like I mean I don't know how your insurance is when you're traveling but you know no no I mean yeah the ankles have been rolled a few times but you know at this stage they just sort of roll back into place as well I hear you man I'm going through it right now I've rolled my ankle like four times in the past six weeks yeah so that was number five now number four oh yeah that's right now this one was just last year in Argentina in Buenos Aires the team down there Tarzan my friend Tarzan helped me organize that
I love these shows so much. A ton of people there, mate.
Yeah, this one is huge. This one was huge. And this was just after Christmas. I think this was December 27. And so Tarzan and I, because we were in Lima anyway, and so I was like, all right, I'll just zip over to Buenos Aires. And he put a message out in his group chat and said, we're doing this. And that's how many people turned up. Holy crap.
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Chapter 4: What surprises have emerged in the current NBA season?
What was the worst you played? Well, there's probably plenty of those, you know. But again, like I'm not trying, you know, this is not about me trying to play basketball. So I'm way more interested in just like, again, the big community and people coming out and supporting.
But look, you're making an Instagram reel. There's got to be a bucket or two.
There's a odd one or two. number two this one was in Belgrade and this one is Calamegdon Park and this is just look at this unbelievable setting and this one actually came after Dubrovnik so when no one showed up in Dubrovnik the next day I was on the DMs to everyone who said they were coming to Calamegdon Park I was like are you coming are you coming and So a bit more of a turnout, yeah.
Actually, a lot of guys had left as well at this point. But this is what's cool because this is only like 4.30 in the afternoon as well, and it was in November. So it was a chilly day, but it was perfect because it wasn't raining. As long as it's not raining, it's fine. And those guys all stuck around, and it was just so cool. Those courts are amazing.
Belgrade is such an incredible basketball city. Serbian people are so welcoming. They still smoke in a lot of restaurants, which is like going back in time. You go to a restaurant, it's just like woof. Did you have one? Fire one up? Well, no, because I had all the secondhand smoke was enough for me. I mean, that whole Balkan region is incredible, but Belgrade itself was amazing.
And we had a great crowd turn up for that and just a lot of fun. And again, when you get photos like that, you're just like, wow. That's a framer right there. And that is just on the iPhone, just off the iPhone.
What were your settings?
Yeah.
I don't know.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of the USA vs. World format in the All-Star game?
Preach. They don't care and they don't care. And so this is the sort of thing that it's like, okay, maybe there'll be a little bit of like, hey, we've got to beat the Americans, you know. Yeah. But I don't think so because I asked Nikola Jokic, I said, hey, what do you think of the new format? He's like, I don't know, it'll probably stink like the rest of them.
I mean, he doesn't help that, does he? He takes it the least serious of anybody. He does. But that's what it comes down to. It's like, no, I don't care. And so it doesn't matter what gimmick you do, how you do it. If the players aren't interested, they're not going to try. So how do we make the players interested? Or is it impossible?
I think it's impossible at this point because there's no stakes in it. So you have to put stakes in it. Money is not stakes. Like you have to put something on the line where it's like, again, I know people throw the baseball. They don't do that in baseball though anymore. No, no, no, no.
Chapter 6: How does Lee Ellis view the current NBA All-Star game format?
But there has to be some incentive that is not financial that it's like, okay, if we win, then if you are the Nuggets, right? And they're what, second or third in the West right now?
Second, yeah.
And it's like, well, if we play the Pistons or the Celtics, whatever, we really need home court advantage.
You need like them to be like- Okay, so Jokic and Jamal Murray maybe try harder, but-
But then, you know, you would hope like Shea Gildersleeve. I guess, yeah.
I guess you're right. The All-Star is generally coming from better teams. You're the top of the conferences. Like everybody's playing for the same thing.
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Chapter 7: What are the challenges of keeping players engaged in the All-Star games?
You need the players to feel like we've got to win this game. And they don't. And they're not going to. And, again, it's like the whole NBA Cup. Like paying guys half a million dollars now, sure, but they don't care.
You don't think the NBA Cup โ ramps up the competition a little bit more for these games?
I can't believe you don't respect the Cubs. You don't respect the Cubs? Get the hell out of here. Adam Silver's trying things, giving credit for that, no question. But the biggest problem still is tanking, which teams are tanking, and He likes to follow the soccer modules a lot of the times right now. You can't have a promotion relegation.
We know that doesn't work, which is a big thing in soccer.
Maybe we can once we get this whole international.
But what I would do instead is there's still an incentive to lose. There's still a chance like, hey, man, we could get the number one pick. Like, who cares? I would be more extreme and say, if you finish last in the East and the West, you don't get a draft pick. We're trying to help these bad teams. No, but that's the problem. These bad teams, it's good to be bad.
And so if you say, hey, listen, if you're the Pacers, and I think it is the Pelicans right now, it's like the Pelicans already just threw away their draft pick, which was just insane. Oh, well, that was crazy. But it's like, no, you're not going to get rewarded for being an incompetent franchise again and again and again.
Okay. Well, then maybe I think the compromise then is, and we're not the first to say this, like the idea of like, you can't be in the lottery or that top five or top three, whatever we make it multiple years in a row. If you're one of the bad teams, maybe you get a crack at a number one pick to help turn your franchise around, but you can't keep getting bites at the apple.
And the reason I, you know, like in relegation in soccer, it's devastating for the teams because they go down. They get less money. They don't get the TV deals, right? So it's devastating for them. And those teams at the bottom are desperate every single week to not be in that position. Their fans don't want to be there, right?
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Chapter 8: What personal experiences does Lee share about his travels and basketball?
You want the Pelicans to be like, we've got to win this game tonight. Or what, they go to the G League? No, no, that's where it's like if we don't win, we don't get our draft pick. Again, they've given away one. So there's punishment there rather than an incentive like, yeah, but who cares? We're still going to pick no worse than fourth or something like that.
But the other one is like, yeah, you can't pick in the top 10 three years in a row because too many franchises are being rewarded for just disgusting play and bad management.
And I think you don't think that's the players as much as you think it is the organization and sitting guys and all your injured.
Like imagine Man United, right? Had such a bad season. They haven't had a bad season. Imagine they had such a bad season. They got relegated and then they go, yeah, well, you get Ronaldo though because he's the next available and you can sign him. Like it would be like, well, that's. That's dumb. It's backwards. Yeah. It's dumb. It should be like, no, you were bad. You badly managed your team.
You get punished for that rather than, oh, you land. Like the Hawks, for example, you know, like getting Risa Shea, who's been okay. You know, he's still got a lot to work on, but you get Cooper Flagg one side and Wim Benyam on the other. And it's like, you shouldn't just luck into those. You know what I mean? It should be like, It should be a real lottery for one, right?
So 30 teams, two teams don't get a pick, 28, full on lottery. Whoever gets it gets a pick. Spicy. I just think that why not? Because right now it's these flattening the lottery odds, but teams are still tanking and teams are like, oh, this guy's injured. We load managing, we're doing all that. It sucks when you go to a game and there's a lot of dudes missing.
Lee Ellis bringing the hot take here.
I think it is time to actually do something meaningful and punish teams.
We'll see. Let's hear what the people think out there. If you're just joining us, Lee Ellis back, helping us celebrate 20 years. Hit the like button, subscribe. Five-star ratings and reviews. We're going to take a quick break. Then we've got Worst of the Week.
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