Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Amazon Prime for January 30th, 2026. I'm Dave DeFore here with Espera Heddy coming up. A crazy night in the NBA. The Wolves pick up a big win over the Thunder. We're going to hit that. And then we go super deep with Eric Name on Giannis. His time covering Giannis in Milwaukee and potential trade destinations. Good morning, everybody.
What's up, S? How's it going? Man, I'm doing well. Look, I know we love to do a little bit of small talk. We don't got time for that right now, though.
We have no time because we legitimately have 27 minutes of Eric Name on the other side of the brick because I love Eric so much. Yeah. And we just went really hard on... Just his time covering Giannis. I mean, this might be the last time that he and I get to talk about potentially Giannis leaving the Bucs. How many times have you said this might be the last time?
Honestly, we've done this for eight years now together here at The Athletic.
Chapter 2: What significant event occurred in the Wolves vs. Thunder game?
It's kind of amazing. A little bit bittersweet, but it was fun. So I hope you guys enjoy that after the break. But ludicrous display by the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. Ludicrous display.
yeah in the big win over over the thunder look it feels like the wolves kind of own this matchup right now um 123 111 they get to win the score doesn't actually indicate how far apart this game felt um the wolves just dominated from the start they felt more physical they felt more engaged i mean it's rare that you watch a thunder game and you feel like wow, is everyone healthy?
Is there like a flu going around this team? They really just were not lackadaisical, but they lacked the usual energy that they have.
Yeah, and look, I keep saying this every time we talk about the Thunder recently. Injuries matter for this team. They don't just get to chalk it up because they're one of the most deep rosters in the NBA. Like missing A.J. Mitchell, losing Jalen Williams right now, all of that really hurts their bottom line. So I don't want to take anything away from that.
But I will say it again, there is a math problem in the NBA.
Yeah.
A bunch of teams just are not getting up enough threes, and the Thunder are one of them. Look, last year they win this title, and a lot of their offense comes off turnovers. And we saw that sustainability be questioned during their playoff run, especially in the finals against the Pacers, who did such a good job of cutting that off. But the same problems were here last year.
The lack of shooting.
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Chapter 3: How did injuries impact the Thunder's performance?
Who's the big threat from outside? Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins is about it. Yeah.
And look, Shea's gotten better as a three-point shooter, especially as a pull-up three-point shooter. But Lou Dort is inconsistent on that end. Chet can kind of be hot and cold in moments, too. And even just pure volume is an issue for this team. They took 31 threes tonight. Minnesota took 47 threes. Minnesota... made twice as many threes as OKC made tonight.
It's just a volume issue as much as it is actually knocking down your shots. And if you've been listening this entire week, we've brought this up when it comes to the Rockets. We've brought this up when it comes to the Raptors. It applies to the Magic. It applies to the Pistons. There are a lot of really good teams right now dealing with a three-point volume issue. OKC isn't immune to that either.
Yeah.
I mean, it's a make or miss league, but you have to take them to make them. And at some point that does become a big problem. And by the way, tip the cap to the Timberwolves.
Cause again, they showed up big time. That defense is so real. I would love for them to keep the black jerseys for forever. Always just the Timberwolves, the timber.
I don't know, man. I kind of like the blue ones that the icy ones aren't too bad. I don't know. The Prince versions of the jerseys are cool.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Giannis' potential trade request?
I agree there. Yeah. They have great colors. They got a lot, a lot working for them up there in Minneapolis. All right. We got to what's the what was the best stat line of the night outside of Minnesota and Oklahoma City, man? We had so many crazy games. Yeah. Let's just start with let's start at the beginning. The Sixers win 113, 111 over the Kings.
Now, they should not have had this close of a game against the Kings, especially when you go and look at the box score and you're like, hold on. Joel Embiid had 37 points, and they needed a game winner from Tyrese Maxey to put away the Kings. Tyrese Maxey had 40 points. The Sixers get the win, but I don't know. I'm sketchy on this one.
Sure. I mean, you could argue it that way. I'll argue it the other way.
Chapter 5: What insights does Eric Nehm provide about covering Giannis?
I think it's impressive that Joel Embiid is stacking together multiple 30-plus point games. This is now his fifth game in six times, I guess, that he's had 30-plus points. Five out of six. I don't know why I described that so poorly, but anyways. Five out of his six games, 30-plus points for Joel Embiid. Also, the minutes are up. He played 35 minutes tonight. I think that's the big win there.
And also, on the game winner, it was an action between Joel and Maxie, a little pitch-back action, like we've seen those two dominate all season like that.
I mean, this is why we're high on him for the playoffs. Yeah, sneaky team. Okay, the most unlikely 40-point game. Let's go to Dylan Brooks. Dylan Brooks had 40 points in a blowout win over the Detroit Pistons for the Phoenix Suns. I mean, look, I don't know what's more surprising. that the Suns blew out the Pistons without Devin Booker or Dylan Brooks going for 40. I don't know.
Both are equally shocking.
This is a fully healthy Pistons team, too. They weren't missing anybody here.
But the Suns are good. And we keep saying they would have been the two seed maybe in the East. And you're going to get punched, especially on the road sometimes. I'm not going to knock the Pistons for losing to a pretty decent team. But I don't know how you give up 40 to Dylan Brooks. Well, no.
Look, if you remember Memphis Dylan Brooks, he was liable to go off every now and then if he wanted to. And when his number is called, especially when Devin Booker isn't in the lineup, I mean, he took 22 shots tonight. And the shots fall sometimes for you if you're Dylan Brooks.
I will say this kind of adds to our point about how important he is to this team and now this franchise, elevating them to a top six, seven seed. He's been important to every team he's been on.
If you want to win... get Dylan Brooks on your team. That's right. The sons just absolutely cannot trade them, but teams should maybe be trying to trade for Dylan Brooks if they can. And okay. We had a battle between two fun young teams, but our Hornets pulled it off. Hornets are now 21 and 28 on the season. Are they going to make it to 500, man? Like they're just, they're on this role.
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Chapter 6: How do recent performances affect trade discussions for Giannis?
Teenagers with multiple 40-point games. It is LeBron James with three, Anthony Edwards with two, and now Cooper Flagg joins that illustrious list with two 40-point games.
And I believe 49 – is the most by any teenager ever in NBA history. Wow.
I mean, look, if you don't know that Cooper Flagg is all-time, you know, like franchise level, you know, generational, if you want to call it, whatever, he's definitely making a case for himself.
Absolutely. Where would he go in this year's draft if he didn't reclassify and go a year early?
I've seen people say like four or five, but I just – I don't believe it.
believe that i don't after watching him i i'm i'm higher on him than than what i was from hearing the buzz about him on the way in yeah yeah um i mean this guy i to play at this level as a rookie i mean con canipple you can kind of say the same thing uh but but with coop obviously it's a little bit of a harder job i would say just the role that he's playing on that team yeah guy's been impressive but uh
I agree. Khan gets the win Hornets playing much better basketball right now, and they will make the plan to the Cooper point though. I think his role on this team, if we're doing the whole rookie of the year here, his role is much more difficult than what Khan can implement his work right now.
Absolutely. Brandon Miller, Lamella ball. They attract a lot of attention. Yep. Makes your life a little bit easier, but anyway, all right guys, making our life easier. Eric name after the break. Well, it's that time of year again. We are trading Giannis to somewhere that's not Milwaukee. Here to do it with us, our guy Eric Naim. Eric, we've been doing this since we got to The Athletic together.
2018 for you, I came in 2019, and probably the first podcast we ever did together, it was, where's Giannis going this summer?
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Chapter 7: What are the potential trade partners for Giannis?
And we're still doing it. But we will see where this one goes.
Man, it feels like it was only yesterday that you were asking Giannis if this season was a failure or not. And that ended up being a whole thing on itself too. It's kind of crazy to recollect all of the moments that have happened throughout this journey. I'm assuming for yourself and obviously for everybody who's covered the Bucs over the last decade or so.
when you think of how close we've gotten to yannis potentially getting moved you know if you want to call it the doomsday clock or whatever this is the closest we've ever gotten right
Uh, yeah, I think so. Um, I'm trying to think back over the years. Um, most of the time it's always been about, uh, whether or not it'll sign an extension. Right. Um, and we're not to that point yet, uh, as you know, I'm sure all of our listeners have read or heard, uh, Giannis is eligible for his next extension on October 1st. Uh, so we'll see, uh,
what team he's playing on, who he's thinking about signing it, how many years he's thinking about signing it for when that comes around. But most of the time, it's whether or not he's going to sign that. It's not, you know, are the Bucs going to trade him? Because in the past, the Bucs just don't listen. They gave you call about Giannis.
we don't really care right great i think thanks for calling um whatever your offer is multiply it by infinity uh i don't even know like whatever you got make it even bigger and we're still gonna say no so um just know that that is where like the baseline is in in any honest trade but we're not even gonna talk about it so uh no and and this time it's different because
the Bucs have gotten to a spot where this is really the first year. Man, this is the first year Giannis has struggled in this way, or the Bucs have struggled with Giannis on the team in this way since 15-16, if I remember correctly. I think that's the last time they missed the playoffs. So it's been 10 years since we've been through something like this. And because of that, because of, you know,
first round exits year over year here, not being able to get out. And there are reasons for those. There's a lot of injuries, both to Giannis and to the other stars on the team since they won that championship in 2021.
But yeah, to me, I think 2020 is the one that might stick out to me the most about, I really did think we were on the edge there of whether or not he wanted to sign a super max extension and stay in Milwaukee and and kind of re up because, uh, they hadn't won a championship yet. Right.
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Chapter 8: What challenges do teams face in trading for Giannis?
Like that, that was the year before they, they won a championship. Um, and you know, it's the middle of COVID and it's, it's kind of everything. Um, it's just a lot of stuff that isn't going the way that everyone in the world was hoping it was going to go. And then Yana signed and they win a championship the next year. And, um, Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
I think one thing I always try to emphasize in these conversations is I don't really want to hear any comparisons to Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett. Pick whoever you want about who's asking for a trade or who deserves to be traded because they haven't won anything because... Giannis has a championship ring. He's held the Larry O'Brien trophy. I've seen it. He's held the Bill Russell MVP trophy.
He's done those things. And that, I think, is always where things can get a little sideways when we're talking about Giannis because it's not that he hasn't won one yet. It's that he wants more.
that he wants he wants to keep adding to his legacy uh to be in the conversation with all-time greats i think that's a conversation he's going in on no matter what he was already on the top 75 team um i think in our athletic rankings of the the 75 greatest players of all time i think we had him at 22.
i would guess he'd be even higher than that at this point if we would do those rankings again today for sure um and yeah he he is he is an all-timer like that right through through 13 seasons he has done enough his resume says he is an all-timer uh and now it's just how do you fill out the rest of that resume well that's to me why i i think that if you're the bucks the excuse is like why you haven't traded him yet or whatever is because like how do you let this guy go
And if they don't trade him right now and they're holding out just for a better package or maybe holding out to reconcile, I mean, is this a relationship issue or is it purely competitive basketball issue? Could they possibly drag this out to the summer, sell him on some changes, and Giannis is there to start the season next year?
I mean, it seems unlikely at this point. It just has... This was a really rough season. I have not... And I do feel bad for Giannis because as the best player, you always have to answer for the team's struggles. Like, that's a part of being a player or being a superstar player. And when they weren't winning games and when they were struggling...
He was the one that had to answer the post-game questions. And sure, we talked to a guy like Ryan Rollins or Miles Turner or Kyle Kuzma or Bobby Portis, but that isn't the same. It's Giannis. And there was just so many moments this year where you could tell, like, He just hasn't had a play with young point guards. He hasn't had a play with a bunch of young guys.
He hasn't had to have a roster that... There were times when they had injuries and that occurred, but for the most part, he's never had a play with...
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