Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers discuss the week of NBA Basketball, Who was SNUBBED from the All Star Game, 6th Man of the Year Odds, a surprise team update, the best and worst lineups, and much more. Then they are joined by Jay King of the Athletic to discuss the Boston Celtics and if they are close to overcoming their slump, how good Tatum has been, and what’s up with Jaylen Brown’s shooting. Then the boys play a fun edition of Andrew vs. the Beat, a trivia game where Andrew is pitted against a beat writer.Host: Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersWith: Jay KingExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Jake Kleinberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Welcome to the Saturday Slammin' Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show, we're talking schnubs, we're talking surprise teams and an update on that. And then we're talking to Jay King about the Boston Celtics. But before we get to all that, Al, tell me about the top stories this week.
Andrew, the top story this week is I'm sick, so if my voice sounds weird, I apologize. The top story in the NBA this week was the announcement of the All-Star Reserves. In the East, we got Jalen Brown, Pascal Siakam, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Kate Cunningham, Damian Lillard, and Tyler Hero.
Now, that is three All-Stars for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is the fourth time in franchise history that they've had three All-Stars in the same season. Now, in the West, we've got Anthony Edwards, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Jaron Jackson Jr., Alperin Shingun, and Jalen Williams, a.k.a. J-Dub.
This is James Harden's first All-Star appearance since 2022, his 11th overall, which ties him with Steph Curry for fourth most among active players. Wow. of the All-Star Reserves always brings with it cries of snubbery. And this year was no different.
One of the biggest snubs was King center Damanis Sabonis, who is averaging 21 points per game with 14 and a half rebounds and six and a half assists. He's been a big part of Sacramento's turnaround this season, bringing them back from the depths of despair and firmly into the play and race.
Unfortunately, anytime something good happens to the Kings, anytime there's a whiff of good vibes, the universe must unleash all hell on Kings fans. And this week that came in the form of a report from multiple reporters saying that the Kings were listening to trade offers for guard De'Aaron Fox.
Now, Fox has been with the Kings since he was drafted in 2017, made an all-star game in 2023, helped the Kings break their 16-year playoff drought. Fox has made it known that he wants to go to San Antonio to play with Victor Weminyama. But our own Sam Amick reported that the Kings have heard from over half the teams in the league about Fox's availability.
Now, another popular all-star snub was Trey Young, who was averaging close to 23 points per game, to go along with a league-leading 11.4 assists per game. Now, the Hawks were having a nice season, Andrew. They peaked at around 22-19. They were the sixth seed just a couple weeks ago. Similar to the Kings, however, there's more drama in Atlanta than just a snub.
Since hitting that 22-19 mark, the Hawks have lost seven in a row, tumbling down to the ninth spot in the East. And to make matters worse, it was announced this week that Hawks forward Jalen Johnson has a torn labrum in his shoulder. He's going to miss the rest of the season.
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