Add Kevin Durant’s name to the list of superstars with a potential new home as we approach the NBA’s trade deadline. Dave DuFour and Zena Keita react to Luka Doncic’s introductory press conference as a Laker, the Celtics big win over the Cavs, and the Nets stolen win over the Rockets. Then, the Athletic’s Anthony Slater joins the show to reveal how long the Golden State Warriors have been pursuing a reunion with Durant, what a trade might look like, and who the Warriors have in mind as a fallback.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita & Anthony SlaterExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodyFollow our trade deadline live blog: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/nba-trade-deadline-luka-davis-trade/TCQ1VIMH3cPt/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What did Luka Doncic say during his introductory press conference?
i want to talk about luca's part of this because i think luca came across as surprised as we all are xena he was stunned if you looked at his demeanor at the desk there was so many times that he seemed as if he was in a daze um particularly when palinka was speaking but overall the sentiment and and feeling around it was very heavily emotional you heard words like loyalty
And you talked about just highlighting that loyalty is a big word for him. And he had envisioned spending his entire career in Dallas. Like you could feel that these things weighed on him. He described the trade like as a big shock. He actually thought it was a joke. He was on his way to sleep and he thought it was a joke.
And the first 48 hours after the fact were kind of just like really hard for him to process. We've been talking about it from a process or from a perspective of It's hard to process why the Mavericks would do this. The future of the league, like what does this mean for player autonomy?
Like we've been thinking about it from the business perspective, not realizing how deeply this has impacted Luka Doncic from the perspective of how he thought he was going to live out the rest of his career. the relationships he thought he had in that building that he had with his teammates. And it all really was present and felt within that press conference.
Chapter 2: How does Luka's trade affect his future in the NBA?
And then the same level of emotion was around the fact that he was grateful that he now gets to be alongside LeBron James and gets to learn from him every single day. So you saw him really be human in that press conference. And it definitely added a humanistic aspect that we, I don't think, as fans of the league have really thought about to that depth.
You know, I actually think that the human part of this is why it was so shocking, because we're just not used to these guys being true. You know, I've tried to think about, you know, if LeBron James had been traded to Miami in 2010 instead of leaving in free agency, like how would we have felt? And maybe similar to this, you know, Michael Jordan gets traded in 1990 before he wins a championship.
You know, do we feel differently? Probably, you know, I think. Yeah. And obviously there's some circumstances behind the scenes here that are coming out. Sure. The human part of this, though, is lost, I think, for the fans. I want to point out, you know, a friend of mine, Kirk Henderson, he runs a blog, a Mavericks fan blog called Mavs Moneyball. And he wrote an open letter to Nico Harrison.
I think it laid it out pretty perfectly. I encourage everybody to go check that out. I think most people listening or watching this is because you're a fan of a team. You know, that's how you get into sports usually. And I think he laid it out there. Like Luka Doncic is more than just a player on a basketball team or a number on a spreadsheet.
You know, they drafted this guy and, you know, they had an affinity and they watched him kind of grow up. They watched him hit playoff game winners. And, you know, he took them to a finals less than a year ago. And there's a bit of a... I don't... It sounds malicious when you say it this way, but I do feel like fans feel like there's a little bit of a rug pull that has happened to them.
I was going to use the word betrayal. Yeah, exactly. And that feels really profound of a feeling because, you know, There's some people that would say, fans, these businesses, these businessmen are making business decisions not with your feelings in mind.
But when you think about these fans purchasing tickets, buying jerseys, supporting these teams, allowing them to have the day-to-days that they have, the front office I'm referring to, you do owe something to them. And if anything, too, you owe something to the players that have dedicated their bodies, their efforts, their skills to supporting this business that you're trying to run. Um,
The biggest thing that was, if anything for the Lakers fan, is exciting, is that in this betrayal, it feels as if, and it was definitely apparent in the press conference, a chip the size of Mount Rushmore is sitting on Lucas' shoulder now. He mentioned the fact that, you know, the conditioning aspect, the fact that there's been this storyline around his conditioning.
You've awoken a sleeping giant. okay, you want me to get in shape? Don't worry. I've got LeBron James that spends a million dollars a year on his conditioning and his physique sitting alongside me that is ready to give me the game plan on how to become the face of a franchise and how to stay in this league until I'm 40 years old. And better weather out here, too. Better weather in L.A.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Kevin Durant potentially being traded to the Warriors?
So these teams definitely match up against each other well. But last night, Boston made Cleveland look small. You saw Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland really struggle to keep the ball out of Jason Tatum's hand, out of Jalen Brown's hand, running in transition. Derek White had 14 points of his 20 in the fourth quarter.
Just, again, utilizing his size advantage over the guards on the Cavalier side just to be able to get that offensive boost in the last parts of the game. This is a huge win. And because we're in trade season, we barely talked about it. But right now, the battle in the East, now the advantage is to the Celtics over Cleveland. And so that's there's something to be said there.
And I definitely think that the Celtics are probably feeling a little bit more of a confidence boost. They haven't made any moves and it doesn't look like they need to after this win.
Yeah. And again, the Cavs just having to figure out how they're going to deal with that size once they get to the playoffs and then figure out what they're going to do about their offense when the shots don't fall at the historic rate that they were shooting them to start the year. It's similar problem to what to what Boston's got when the shots don't fall. What are you going to go to?
Well, they shot 41 last night from the. Yeah.
Cavs offense, they struggled to start the game. It was a rough first six minutes for both teams, by the way. It was a bit of an ugly watch. Joel Embiid came back. First time in a month he played. He got a 29-point triple-double against the Mavericks. Obviously, no Anthony Davis for the Mavericks, although Max Christie did play.
And, you know, I had a little decent game for a guy who was just joining the team. But Embiid's really the story from that. You know, Maxie put up 33 with Embiid out there. Again, those two guys look good. But I thought Embiid looked good. He was moving around well.
For someone that's only played 14 games this season, he looked great. And Dave, in his last five games that he has been able to play, he scored over 25 points. He's doing what he's capable of doing. You can't deny the talent that is within him. It's just a matter of getting him out on the court.
Four games in November, nine games in December, and now this is your first game back after a month-long absence. Overall, All that matters is keeping Joel Embiid on the floor and then being able to stack wins. It's wonderful.
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Chapter 4: What went wrong for the Houston Rockets in their recent game?
Chapter 5: How are the Celtics performing against the Cavaliers?
And these are the types of things that you've got to watch out for if you're trying to make a deep run or a run to the playoffs, period. If players and teams know that they can get in your head at the end of the game and that you're going to rush and that you're going to be made to be felt uncomfortable, they got you. That's an easy lock. That's an easy lock.
You look at what the Boston Celtics were doing to the Cavaliers all night. Oh, okay, cool. Even if... the Houston Rockets were to make it out of the West, which playing like this, they won't. But if they were the East, it's easy. It's an easy lockup. Let's just make sure that these young men feel uncomfortable at the end of the game. The ball will be ours. They'll literally give it to us.
yeah i the rockets are a first round out as presently constructed and i don't think anybody should have any expectation that they're not and and by the way that doesn't even mean that the season's a failure they're so young as you mentioned yeah they're young um but as currently constructed no of course no one should have any any expectations they've been outperforming what they are on paper which is why they've been so fun so uh hopefully they figure out some of these late games because i it's better when they're winning i actually i don't like them as much when
they lose you know it's a little bit more fun athleticism is always there but yeah you want you want the dubs you know yeah uh guys stick around after the break because anthony slater is going to explain to us how the warriors could get kevin durant why they would get kevin durant and if they're going to get kevin durant actually he doesn't tell us that
Zena, a couple of days ago, the craziest rumor popped up. And now that rumor has turned into something of, I don't know, is it a roiling fire? I don't know what's happening, but there's a lot of smoke behind this rumor. So we had to get Anthony Slater on here to point us in the right direction. Anthony, are the Warriors actually trying to make a Kevin Durant trade?
Yeah, they've been doing it for a little bit now. Amazing. Dating back to what, even last week when they were in town, and it was interesting to note who was sitting next to Joe Lacob during that Suns-Warriors game. It was Rich Kleiman. And in the Bridge Club at halftime, and in the Bridge Club postgame, and somewhat coincidentally, Bob Myers, because he was doing the game on ESPN, was also there.
around those conversations. And again, I'm not saying that is when an idea sprouted or, you know, this sparked. But, you know, the Warriors, as we all know, kind of been, you know, trying to go big game hunting in some ways. I mean, they've been in the Butler mix a little bit more the last couple weeks, partly because...
I think they've sat back, looked at the chessboard, realized that Jimmy's been trying to muscle himself to Phoenix for a while now, but there's a reason that hasn't happened. That's because of the Bradley Beal domino, which remains unsolved.
And when you talk to people across the league, there's just a belief that Bradley Beal won't accept to, you know, anywhere, you know, he won't waive his no trade clause for anywhere that is willing to trade for him. And the reality is nobody might even be willing to trade for him anyways.
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Chapter 6: What are the late-game struggles of the Houston Rockets?
Now, the word desperate has been thrown around. And I definitely feel like the Warriors are that person at the end of the nightclub. You know, the lights are about to come on. DJ's playing the last little bit. And they're trying to find out who's still on the dance floor trying to dance. Who's willing to give their numbers at the end of the night? And I feel as if Teams are noting that.
They've been noting that the Warriors have had their back on the wall all night, and now they're trying to get some action. How do you, what do you feel is the sentiment from other leagues, from the teams around the league?
Yeah, I saw Joe Lacob a little bit pregame yesterday before the Magic game. And, you know, he hears some of this stuff. And he was talking about this desperate idea. And it was like, do you not want me to call people? Do you not want me to call around the league? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're like Steph Curry turns 37 next month.
even if they get one of these guys, I don't think either, you know, we're not picking them to, to win the title this year. I don't know. Are you picking them to go back past the second round? I mean, they're just, they're trying to be a more entertaining product.
They're trying to be a better product and they're trying to position themselves better for next season where, you know, maybe they can strike something even bigger this summer, rebuild their roster, even better to get into more legitimate contention. Or as Steve curse put it to me, Just give fans more of a thrill in the final years of Steph Curry.
Not drown out these final Steph Curry years with such anxious 500-type seasons that people don't seem to be that happy about locally. They do not need to win another title to solidify anybody's legacy in the Bay Area, but they want to be better. And They're trying to find a way right now, for sure. And if that sniffs his desperation, I think they're okay with that.
Yeah, they're kind of desperate to get better right now because they're 25 and 24. They should be desperate. I was going to say, they should be.
Yeah, be desperate. Just trade for all the Brooklyn Nets. Get those guys in here. They give you a thrilling product. All right. Well, look, if it's not Kevin Durant, then who? What are the other names that they're kicking around that they would like to bring in?
Yeah, I mentioned him. I think Brandon Ingram is like kind of a fringe possibility, but not somebody in the past they've been that interested in. But, you know, it's an expiring deal. I don't think it would cost that much. Right. It seems like the Pelicans got to get off him regardless. I'm just considering his situation.
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Chapter 7: What does Anthony Slater reveal about the Warriors' pursuit of Kevin Durant?
of the front office wanting to do something.
He's so diplomatic. And it's like you mentioned the little scrums we have. It's like, you know, typically it's me being like, all right, Steph, I'm going to ask you what you think about the trade deadline. And I'm going to ask you what you think about still being 500.
And like, you know, I remember in Minnesota, like, you know, remember he has the Toronto quotes that really, where he was like, patience is okay. Which he didn't, he was a little stunned about how big of a national story that became. Like he was just basically saying like, Remember the wave and the white flag? That's what really offended him, that he wasn't competitive anymore.
And I chatted with him a little in the locker room the next game, Minnesota, and he was just like... Y'all the ones that asked the questions. Y'all the ones that drummed up that storyline. Yes, in a sense, I don't think he loves that first takes can have a segment. Everybody's just debating his existential future.
He is not only diplomatic, but he's a very... Part of his good soldier approach, which has been different from other stars, is like... say what you want. He really likes to be a good teammate. He doesn't want to openly be shopping the guys that he's next to the locker room in.
He really is delicate about that type of stuff and wants to live in the moment and clearly wants to have a number two scorer next to him. He would certainly love some of his offensive pressure to be relieved. Some of these defenders and these schemes to get off of him. But I actually... It's weird. You might think I'd go one way with it, but I would actually go the other.
I think he's almost tired of the existential debate about him where he's like, look, I'm trying to win a game. I'll try to win a game tomorrow. Yes, I want some help, but I don't sit here every single day and...
you know just think about what is what can't be what was any of that it's just sure i want some help but i also i want to win more games but i just kind of want to focus on the nightly game not like the overarching you know thoughts well we have this tendency to dissect these guys in real time uh now and when you're one of the greatest to ever do it it feels like it's probably just every day
we're kind of ripping his career apart or, you know, taking some sort of a retrospective. How can you waste the final prime years of Steph Curry's career as like a constant theme? So, yeah, I get that.
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