Stephen A. says he LOVES Houston for KD 👀 + How would title change thoughts on Hali? 🤔 | First Take

Stephen A. says he LOVES Houston for KD 👀 + How would title change thoughts on Hali? 🤔 | First Take

where will Kevin Durant be playing next season the multi-million dollar question the superstar will almost definitely not be in Phoenix and has made it known according to ESPN sources that he’d prefer to be traded to the Heat the Spurs and the Rockets our Shams Trani also says the Wolves are in the mix gil how motivated should the Suns be to trade KD motivated motivated they have no choice you know they’re the they’re the Phoenix Suns i mean there’s nothing over history that’s shown that they’re a welled machine so you have you have a group of guys that are elite at what they do in what do you have three or four coaches during that time span you haven’t figured out what type of coach they need as a group to make them functional right you have AAOU basketball play out there from elite scores in in this NBA so it’s not about like what you should do we all know what’s going to happen all three of those guys are going to be gone within the next two years right um go back to who you are right bottom feeding teams that that go through the draft and and sell hope to your fans but Katie needs to be put somewhere where do you want to see him play let’s go to that a team that actually has structure when you’re talking about elite we we seen them in OKC right very young but they they had success just made some miscalculations on who they who was more valuable between um James Harden and and who they picked um when he went to Golden State which was a well old machine he fed right in no hiccups in the play style from anyone he goes to Brooklyn bottom feeding team it looked exactly like that so when you’re talking about where should an A+ student go he needs to be put in Miami that has structure um Spurs has structure and right now it seems like Houston is going on the right path but I don’t think Houston is ready to win a championship with him and I don’t know if he’s going to go somewhere where they can win a championship next year so I’m just going to be selfish here and I’m going to just say the Lakers there we go you know you know the problem I had with Katie Stint in in Phoenix tell me i I think they have the wrong coaches what I mean by that when you look at Bradley Bill Devin Booker and Kevin Frein Durant but all three of those guys have in common they are great outside shooters right neither one of those guys really need the ball they could play without the ball why is Golden State so hard to guard because they have great shooting over there and what are they doing player movement ball movement it’s hard to keep up with with Steph and follow him all around the court and when they had Clay it was hard to guard the guys get a lot of action going on well you got three of the one of three of the best shooters in this league besides Clay and Steph why don’t you design a offense around three of these guys you have a play you had a player like Nerkage who can pass who can rebound who can start initiate your offense like a Jokic not to that level but to catch the ball in a position to make pass while a lot of action is going on on both sides of that court with great shooters no one has come in to put that in place kevin Durant is 36 37 years old still trying to take guys right but still taking guys off the dribble making the game hard on him whereas when you see him play in Golden State the game was so simple here’s the deal the game has never appeared as easy for him as it was for him in Golden State in terms of shots like he does what he does but it’s in traffic it’s under duress he just does what he does because he’s KD and so I’m looking at it and I’m thinking about Matt Espia and what you said and and I and I’ve had I’ve let my feelings be known about the job that I thought he is I thought he’s done as an owner but you know we going to leave it at that by by just reminding folks Monty Williams was there you got rid of him you brought in Frank Vogle who won a title for the LA and you got rid of him after one year you brought in Mike Bddenhoer you know who won a title all right and then you got rid of him after one year i mean damn now you got a situation where you got a guy in Bradley Bill that you can’t get rid of because he has a no trade clause they would love to get rid of him but they can’t and so KD like Gil said you have to get rid of him kd fits anywhere kd is an all-time great okay the brother is doing stuff in his 30s better than he was doing it in his in his 20s i’m talking about field goal percentage shooting three-point percentage shooting same points per game average the brothers elite i think Houston it’s perfect i love Houston for him i do i do Gil i love the Lakers too i don’t But I love the Lakers move to But Houston with Eay Udoka with the parts around him then you just do your job and you give that brother the number one option if he was an OKC right now it wouldn’t even be assisted that’s what Houston problem was in his playoff this year huh they needed a bonafide score defensively everything else they have everything else scoring is where they got in trouble in big games like I’m I’m looking more of the how the game is being played right when when when you talk about where’s the where’s the twoman game where’s the three-man game where’s the down screen where’s the up screen where’s the movement right the reason you couldn’t guard him step or Clay movement okay pass cut screen look away like there was so much movement in the game itself right when we talk about the triangle with Michael Jordan the triangle was never for Michael Jordan the triangle hate Michael I mean he hated the the triangle the triangle’s for the team where’s the offense for the team movement man Allan Iverson he’s supposed to be in the building at some point today he’s got a new book coming out entitled Misunderstood his memoir his personal memoir is coming out October 7th all right it was announced today by Charles Sweet publisher of 13A Gallery Books uh you know happy for my man AI as always anytime anytime he’s doing something I’m going to always support my brother so I just want everybody to know the book coming out in October October 7th and he he was directly involved in all the every little every little thing about this from what I’m told so this is a big deal i love the title misunderstood he don’t talk to he don’t talk to everybody absolutely as well all right guys let’s get back into the NBA big blowout in Naptown last night the Pacers keep their title ups alive with a 10891 game six win and it wasn’t really close we now get our first Finals game seven since 2016 here’s SGA after a disappointing loss the way I see it is we suck tonight we have to learn the lessons um and we have one game for everything for everything we’ve worked for and so do today and uh the better team Sunday will win the Thunder are eight and a half point favorites in game seven tied for the fourth largest favorite in any series game seven over the last 35 years the largest in NBA Finals game seven in that span as well stephen A smith yes what will we say about Tyrese Hallebertton on Sunday if he pulls this off and wins the finals in game seven we’ll give him props we’ll recognize that he he’s a damn good player uh that he’s the straw that stirs the cup for Indiana’s offense and we’ll give him the props where it’s due what we’re not going to do is call him a superstar we’re not going to do that okay because that’s not what he is in the eyes of most basketball afficionados he’s a damn good player he’s young he’s got a lot of promise uh the clutch gene you can’t take that away from him when you consider the fact that coming into the finals or after game one of the NBA finals in 15 seconds or less uh with the game tied or or being able to win the game on the line he was five or five from the field the rest of the league was 426 that’s who this brother is in terms of clutch you give him credit where credit is due recognizing his promise his level of production the way that he did things for Indiana this year and you and you give him his respect can I can I ask you a question yes sir i know he’s not a superstar but let’s say hypothetically Indiana wins this championship yes right and they come back next year come back next year and win a championship sure and he’s the starting point guard got to look at him differently no question as a superstar as a superstar no no superstar come on Mac come on Mac no no i wouldn’t look either i’m I’m asking no I wouldn’t either i would agree with you okay okay i thought I was a superstar until I went to China with you no no and and I realized it was two levels i I was just a question no I mean everybody’s going off about but the problem that I had with it is that because I say that somebody and and I thank God y’all agree with me but because I say that it’s like it’s disrespectful it’s not disrespectful i’m like “Yo you can play he’s He’s a really good player i’m give him his I give him his respect but superstars come on now.” Yeah i I I I think that’s not what he is when you look at this team um obviously they don’t have a superstar like OKC has a superstar but they have a really good point guard that fits them in order for them to get you know reach the highest level of basketball um Tyrese Halenber to me this may sound crazy like when I when you watch a person like Manu Janei play you identify him as a left-hand player when you watch a Derek Fisher you identify him as a left-hand player okay tyrese Halenbertton is the one player other than Magic Johnson who I watch them they’re all predominantly righthanded players right and for me he’s going to have to learn to play on the left side of that court to use to use the left side of his body right he’s he does a great job of pushing pace but I think if you only you know dynamic on one side of the basketball court and what Shay and Jaylen Williams bring to the table there’s no way you can beat those yeah it is it’s It’s rare to see a right-handed player that likes shooting going right usually all your creativity goes left um he can be a superstar he has a look he has the smile um he’s in you know he’s married right he has all the the tools to become one tagiz team for the road it has to be win for him because he didn’t come into the NBA with that tag it has to result in winning you know what I thought was interesting we had Magic Johnson on the show and he defined superstar pretty simply and he said it’s someone that sells out arenas on the road that he’s a draw on the road that people are coming to see so I think when we put it that way it’s it’s a small list yeah no it’s always been a small list when when you’re talking about superstar most superstar are high school it started then right there’s only a few that once they got to the NBA the winning like Steph the winning turned him into a superstar yan uh Giannis turned him into a superstar but most superstar names came from uh high school and college so he’s going to be one of those guys that has to build it through winning one of the things I want to say in front of y’all is this one of the biggest reasons I don’t want to hear anybody being upset about me not labeling him a superstar others not labeling him a superstar you know the Detroit Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004 let’s look at that tony Bilips wasn’t considered a superstar rip Hamilton wasn’t considered a superstar taan Prince wasn’t considered a superstar rasheed Wallace wasn’t considered a superstar ben Wallace wasn’t considered a superstar nobody had a damn word to say but all of a sudden in this day and age you know if if we don’t give you that tag all of a sudden it’s an insult to the players no Shaq was a superstar kobe was a superstar and Detroit kicked their ass in five games blew them up out of there nobody said anything but suddenly we got to be we got to be ultra sensitive because we don’t want to give you that tag no I’m not doing that because everyone’s looking for the next superstar who is it because Braun is about to leave curry’s on his last the back end of his career so we’re trying to identify the changing of the guard there’s a lot of international players you’re 100% right who is it and that’s and that’s and that’s the thing people wanted to know because of that cuz no one’s been anointed we might have to look at it from a different lens than what we normally look at it right if this cat can get back to it next year we might have to consider him being who get back sh Indiana different lens point guard goes back to back come on man but look this series has he has he been the fourth best player in this series no has he been the fourth most impactful player in this he hasn’t even been the second most impactful player on his team tj has been more impactful obie has been more impactful so when you’re talking about superstar you’re not doing anything that makes us say you’re playing very well besides that last shot in game one we haven’t seen we can’t think of one play that he has done since game one that says he’s arrived see Gilbert Lena said that not me yeah fair enough gil let me ask you this who do you have ahead of Indie next year in the East obviously there’s injuries with everyone being healthy everyone well we know I I’ll take you know Cavs i’ll take um What do y’all think about Orlando i’ll I’ll take your thing i’ll take Orlando detroit i’ll depend on It depends on what they get this summer but I I like Detroit um depending on what the Knicks do be back depend yeah so I’ll take Detroit but I mean I’m not going to knock them for what they have they might get better yes they they they might get better they’re going to have more confidence right so they’re going to be a good solid team but as a champion even if they win it they’re not that that they’re not that they have eight players from last year’s game seven against the New York Knicks in Eastern Conference semi-finals and those guy the top eight guys are still here Indiana together that continuity is something that we can’t ignore i would tell you right now with an injured Jason Tatum I’m going with obviously with a great coach with an with an injured Jason Tatum i have no problem if somebody’s looked at me right now and said Indiana should be the number one team in the Eastern Conference to look at next season i can’t fight that i have no problem with that i can’t fight that because of the You can’t put the gloves on on that can’t fight that yo I can put the gloves on helmet and everything because of the continuity and the coaching what was that all during regular season what since January 1st they’ve been the number one team in the east since January the season started over i understand that but but bottom line is caught y’all striving for late top five seed the top five seed that played that basically was considered like a number one seed them and OKC have been the two best teams in basketball since January 1st now it ain’t like it’s since April it’s since January january February March and April and May and they’re both playing in June come on listen I I like them it’s not like I don’t like them i like them but they’re not championship ready to win what Draymond said is you can get to the championship but you’re not close enough to win they’re not I know it’s game seven but they’re not close enough to win it yo they have a great Hey listen the coach can’t play the coach can’t play yeah but he can make adjustments and make stuff he He out there making some I can understand if you said that Monday after they lost game seven but what if they win game seven i mean you are you going to talk about them the same way they’re the champions i wear a clown suit all summer they win game seven oh I I do that what i wear it all summer ladies and gentlemen he’s already been in a clown suit you already did it all right come on now hey you already made that they got to do it by committee i I wear Carl Anthony Towns jersey oh my all summer long all right but first it all comes down to this game seven Tyrese Hallebertton and the Pacers sj and the Thunder sunday night 8 Eastern 5 Pacific on ABC ESPN ESPN radio our coverage tips with NBA countdown at 7:30 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Jay Williams, Gilbert Arenas and Tracy McGrady join Molly Qerim to discuss the latest surrounding a potential Kevin Durant trade and which team would be the best fit for him. Then, they discuss the Indiana Pacers’ win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to force a Game 7 in the 2025 NBA Finals and what’s at stake for both teams.

0:00 How motivated should the Suns be to move KD?
1:30 Which team needs KD the most?
6:00 Allen Iverson’s new book
7:39 Narrative of Haliburton if the Pacers win title
13:35 Top teams in the Eastern conference next season

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