The Phoenix Suns traded their 2031 first round pick to the Utah Jazz for three future first rounders. Dave DuFour and Zena Keita discuss the Suns trade, what it means for Jimmy Butler, and the season Nikola Jokic is having. Then, the Athletic’s Marcus Thompson joins the show to discuss the idea of Rivals Week, how Cam Johnson can swing the championship, and why the Thunder have title pressure this season.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita & Marcus ThompsonExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodySubmit your questions to The Athletic NBA Daily mailbag: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5939460/2024/11/25/nba-podcast-mailbag-athletic-daily/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for January 22nd, 2025. Coming up, the Suns have made a trade. Maybe it's the first domino in a Jimmy Butler trade. Nikola Jokic still in the MVP conversation. And Marcus Thompson has a, is that a wild take? But it's a strong Oklahoma City Thunder side. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. We had some blowouts last night.
It's supposed to be rivalry week, kickoff night or something. And man, a little bit of a dud, no Embiid for the Sixers. So, you know, you kind of knew what you were going to get there. Although Nick's net's pretty fun last night.
Yeah, they kept it competitive. I am a little disappointed in the way that some of these big national TV games have played out. I mean, between the Cleveland Cavaliers being blown out by OKC last week and then the beating the Warriors took by Boston on MLK Day. Of all days, we're supposed to talk about unity and good competition and fighting. Yeah, it wasn't pretty for them. And then you see.
Well, they rolled over peacefully.
I mean, you know. Hey, that's not what MLK would have wanted at all. But yeah. And then you see Denver just take care of business against the 76ers. It's just like, yeah, some of these games are not panning out the way that the, you know, these TV outlets definitely anticipated. They got to pick it up.
Yeah, it's the dog days. But, you know, look, we're leading up to the final push to the playoffs. I mean, everyone's thinking about, you know, the all-star break coming up. But the biggest date on the calendar in the next few weeks is, of course, February 6th. We've got the trade deadline coming up. And the Phoenix Suns have made a trade.
And this is, Zena, this is the first step in what it appears to be is the push to get Jimmy Butler. They have moved their 2031 first-round pick unprotected. to the Utah Jazz for three future firsts. So they're going to get the 25, 27, 29 pick. That's the worst between the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Utah Jazz.
So they're going to get the worst one of those for three years. But really, Zena, this is about being able to put together a more appealing trade package for Jimmy Butler.
But the thing is, even if you have these picks, it's a matter of who wants these picks. I mean, they're not necessarily something that's incredibly desirable on the market. And then Jimmy Butler, another team's going to have to be involved in order for Jimmy Butler to find their way to Phoenix. And that's what you got to find is that third team that's willing to move some assets.
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