Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Coming up on the Zach Lowe Show, Howard Beck is here. What up, Beck? Giannis, did he ask to be traded? Did he hint that he wanted to be traded? Did he suggest that it was maybe time for a mutual parting of the ways? Is that the same as asking to be traded?
Chapter 2: What are the latest Giannis trade rumors?
Something happened, and the whole league has gone from a ground stop because of waiting on Giannis to... A ground stop because the Bucs are now listening on Giannis and it's unclear for when they're going to act or what exactly they want or who's really chasing him. Howard and I get into all of that. Yeah, you're tired of Giannis. You know what?
He's at worst the third best player in the NBA this season and the whole league is talking about it.
Chapter 3: Which teams are interested in trading for Giannis?
has been stopped for it. So, yeah, we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about what questions teams need to answer before they dive all in, what this looks like this season, offseason, whether the Bucs are even going to do anything. And then we're going to table Giannis and move on.
We each picked, Howard and I, our biggest non-Giannis X-factors, swing factors for the second half or last part of the season. Joel Embiid is prominently involved. The Celtics are prominently involved. The Orlando Magic, still funky, a little funky. They beat Miami last night, but a little funky.
Chapter 4: Why are the Miami Heat considered the most interesting team for Giannis?
I had an Orlando Magic X Factor. Who is it? What is it? Why do I have them as an X Factor? And the Thunder. The Thunder have one of my X Factors. Interesting.
Chapter 5: What are the biggest X factors for the rest of the NBA season?
Yeah, the Thunder, 14-9 in our last 23 games. Is there anything to worry about? We dive into that question and who my Thunder X Factor is, how the West stacks up. And we talked a little bit about that Houston-San Antonio barn burner last night. Woo!
Chapter 6: How would Jayson Tatum's return impact the Celtics?
That was fun. The West, man. The West... It's different than these. All right, that's all coming up after this on The Zach Lowe Show.
Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show, live from, I think I'm at Bill Simmons' house. What's going on? Howard Beck, how are you?
Chapter 7: What are the chances of Joel Embiid staying healthy this season?
I'm doing great. That's not a fake background. That's not a virtual thing. You are literally in Casa Shea, Bill. Yes, I am. We did a phenomenal.
We recorded a few things last night and now I'm recording here this morning. I didn't sleep over. We didn't have a sleepover party. And and I did not break into his house this morning. We are in the hot zone, Howard.
Chapter 8: Can Jalen Williams return to form for his team?
The check your phone every 10 minutes zone. The trade deadline is one week from today. And yesterday it was reported by Sham Strani at ESPN. I'm going to read verbatim from the story. Sources said Giannis Atetokounmpo has informed the Bucs for months that he believes the moment has come to part ways after 12 plus years together. And so the NBA is officially on high alert.
Everything had been ground to a halt awaiting Giannis. Everything is kind of still ground to a halt as they see what the as the Bucs navigate the Giannis offer landscape. But I read, I mean, I'm going to, we're just, we've done Giannis to death. We're just going to do like five big checklist items. Okay.
But before we do that, has informed the bucks that he believes the moment has come to part ways. Why are we doing this? Why can't we just say that he asked for a trade? Even today, I'm reading coverage like, well, this is more about the Bucs taking offers and not, you know, Giannis, I'm not sure he explicitly has asked for a trade. Why are we doing this? This is so dumb.
And why is everyone afraid? of an ugly breakup that is never going to be ugly. This dude won a championship in Milwaukee, the first one in 50 years. He's been there a dozen years. He is living the natural life cycle of 90% of NBA superstars where team rises, team gets old, team does everything possible. Credit John Horse, you can love him, you can hate the moves, you can do whatever.
The dude swung hard and swung big for Drew Holiday and Damian Lillard and this Miles Turner disaster thing that has happened. They tried. The team got old. They didn't hit on draft picks in the 20s because that's your most likely outcome. And now the team's bad.
And this is why I never shut the door on a Giannis trade in season, despite the fact that we all know offseason is more likely because of the extension variable, which more or less serves as a yes or no. Do I want to be in Milwaukee moment? Because teams like Miami, the Lakers, other teams have more picks that free up to trade in the summer. All of that.
I never shut the door because if the team stinks, it stinks. And they stink. And now Giannis is hurt. And here we are. But why are we doing this? Why do we have to do this strangulation of the English language and maneuvering? And then even Shyam Singh has informed the Bucs for months that he believes the moment has come to part ways.
Has other people being like, well, I don't know if he ever explicitly asked for it. What are we doing? Why?
It's a great question. You and I lived through the melodrama back in the day. That was the Carmelo trade demand out of Denver, which lasted many, many, many, many months. We survived the Dwightmare, the Dwight Howard saga in Orlando, which had so many bizarre twists and turns. We don't have some fun, clever wordplay nickname for this one yet. The Greek Freak Show, maybe?
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