Cooper Flagg vs. Luka Doncic in NBA Cup 🍿 + Are 76ers the biggest WILD CARD this year? | NBA Today

Cooper Flagg vs. Luka Doncic in NBA Cup 🍿 + Are 76ers the biggest WILD CARD this year? | NBA Today

Let’s start with the big game that everyone can now circle on their calendar. Mavs at Lakers. Now you add the NBA Cup. All of that drama into the mix. Chen, what are you watching for that first matchup? I’m watching two things. First things first, Cooper Flag. What do we say about him? He’s built different. He’s built up. I want to see him go up against LeBron and Luca. We know that will bring out the best in the young rookie. But also, if you’re going to try to go micro a little bit, the weakness of the Los Angeles Lakers, they address by getting DeAndre Aton. I want to see the front court as well. But as we look at Cooper Flag, we know it’s going to be showtime. I mean, this has all the tentacles. You have the competitive firepower. You have the inside outside game. You have him just trying to exert his dominance as a rookie against LeBron. Like, we’re going to get those moments that we’re going to play on highlights here on this show for years to come. But then also that front court, that’s what I’m looking at. like Gaffford, Lively, AD, they’re going to be wanting to punish the Lakers, especially knowing that the Lakers, that’s the area that that’s where Luca made like he helped make them and now it’s like you flip-flop, you roll reverse. So, I think on both sides of the ball, whether it is the guards, the post, the wings, the forwards, like there’s so many cool storylines. So, you ready for the video? What’s the movie? I’m gonna still call it Staples. I’m never going to change that. You have to. The video can’t get with the times. the return to Anthony Davis, his return playing against the Lakers for the first time. I’m curious to what the Lakers fans feel about him, his feel about his legacy in the Lakers uniform. I mean, he averaged 25 points and 11 rebounds and two blocks a game for his five and a half season career. Is it worthy cuz he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame? I have a feeling. Is it worthy of putting that jersey in the Raptors? H Jamal Wilks, he’s in there. He played a couple more seasons, eight seasons, but Anthony Davis won a championship, won an NBA cup. I don’t know if Lakers fans care about that. They like the championship more, but Oh, do they? Did he do enough to get his name in the Raptors? I don’t know. I’ll have to think on that. Speaking of LeBron and AD, guys, there’s always drama on the gram. You know, there’s always drama on Instagram. Did you see this yesterday? They both posted the exact same images, LeBron and AD to their Instagram accounts. quote, “Becoming the best version of yourself sometimes comes with a lot of goodbyes.” End quote. We have no idea if there’s a deeper meaning here. But Mark, what do you think of this post? And I feel like we have to pull out the Brian Winhorse. Why is that? The same quote on the same day. I don’t understand the AD part of it, but in terms of LeBron part, the tea leaves are there. It’s the end of the road. Should we Should we get boys the men playing or something like that? We’ve come. Oh, don’t do that. We’re not trying. Oh, you talking to her or to me? both y’all. Um, he said that we’re going to miss him when he’s gone using Drake, right? Or Jay-Z. And then now he’s golfing. When do people start golfing? They start golfing because they have free time. Especially athletes. They start golfing when they need something competitive to do, right? Golfing is the thing you can do until Why is he starting to golf now? Maybe he just has a new hobby. park. Uh, that’s that’s a hobby that sport OG’s take when they don’t have to work no more. OG athletes take. So, I’m I’m just wondering if all these tea leaves are there and this latest tweet that tells us it’s the end of the room. Hey, don’t send the bill to Did I do it better? No. No, don’t send the bill to me. All right. I don’t want to be messy, but like at first I was like, how’s the relationship between the two? I know that was a tumultuous last year, but I we all know these guys are brothers. So, going off of what you’re saying, if this is the end of the road for LeBron, you see him playing golf. I don’t read too much into that. I more so watch him doing Pilates alongside Queen Savannah. That’s what I watch because that’s what keeps you top tier form. Pilates is like the ultimate foundational every woman. I’m speaking the language right now across America. like Pilates. We’ve seen multiple players do it, but it just shows that he is so great at his craft and it starts with his body work. I mean, if LeBron wanted to play probably two, three more years, he absolutely can. If he made that choice, if he wanted to play golf during the free time, he absolutely can. I’m not trying to say one or two or play more. But if this is we do, we do know that LeBron James does do subliminals. And so, if this is the beginning, you know, we better soak everything up. Last year we saw a total of 15 games. Just 15 with Embiid, Paul George, and Maxi on the floor. Chen, are the Sixers the biggest wild? Absolutely. If health is on their side, we’re saying like we always do. And sometimes it makes us feel the biggest if in the NBA. What What’s the saying? If ifs were fists, we’d all be what? Drunk. Drunk. If and beats healthy. This is a team. This is a guy that’s an MVP. This is a guy that can pace, you know, the NBA at the top three or five in scoring. This is a guy that could also win DPOI. They also have Paul George who’s a certified 20 plus bucket whom we need to see consistently as well. They have Tyrese Maxi who has been dubbed the franchise by Joel Embiid. And people sleep on Jiren McCain out to injury early in the season. He’s someone that was definitely in that rookie of the year convers, you know, conversation. They have a lot of strong players. But if I am a betting woman, would I bet on them? Absolutely not. Because we have yet to see it all come together. And I feel for Philly. They’re really excited, I’m sure, about those young players, but this team and their success rely absolutely. But their their success is going to be due a lot of course, uh, Mark, to those older guys. I’m waiting for it. I’m waiting for it. I I I think they need to give their trainer a raise. Yeah. Or or therapy. make sure they have therapy. But the but the my wild card, I’m gonna go with the Orlando Magic. I I think a lot of people expect them to take a jump. Can they take a jump in terms of competing for the Eastern Conference? Yeah, they’re they’re definitely the wild card and it’s because of that guy right there, Paulo Bancer. He’s outstanding. Vagner is going to make his first All-Star team along with Paulo. They’re going to have two allstars this year. Getting Bane from Memphis, it’s huge. Quietly huge. They needed some more shooting. They needed some defense. They needed a veteran leader who’s played in some big games. He could do that getting Taius and then their young talented players get older. Just keep an eye on these guys. I I I really expect Paulo to make a MVP caliber jump. All right, we do have breaking news this morning. Another NBA team is changing hands. Shams Shirananya reports that NHL Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundan has agreed to buy the Trailblazers from the estate of Paul Allen for a valuation of over $4 billion. Mark, anytime you have someone buy a team that does not live in that team city, the questions always begin, will the team stay in Portland? Yes. Uh the Allen estate has made it where anybody that bought team has to keep the team in Portland. So Blazers fan fans, you could certainly take a breath of relief. The team’s not leaving. And their new owner is quite interesting. Uh yeah, he’s a Texas guy and Carolina guy, but he turned around the Hurricanes in uh in terms of, you know, making them a winner. And he also has refurbished their arena. He’s going to refurbish this arena, get it ready for the 2030 uh final four, women’s final four, and let’s see if he could add some extra juice. But he’s an owner that will be a new NBA owner, but I think because of his NHL background and pickle ball and other things he owns, I think he’s going to do it the right way. The Bucks are going to look different than they did when they were winning the second ever NBA Cup. No more dame. And insert Miles Turner for Brook Lopez. They have the eighth best odds to win the East according to ESPN Bet. Are we underrating them at all, Mark? No. The best point guard on that team is Rajan Rondo on the coaching staff. Cole Cole’s nice though, man. My bad. This this this team needs help. They didn’t replace Damon Lillard. Until they replace Damon Lillard. You can’t play one-on-one. This ain’t a one-on-one league. It’s going to be a long season. I thought because you were wearing Bucks Green, you would come a little bit more chipper. But you’ve been throwing some jokes. Uh they still have Giannis. Well, I’m keeping it honest. They Oh, yeah. He can’t play by himself. It’s true. And he can’t play every position. Even though I do like what Giannis did last year. I mean, every year it seems like he seemingly gets better and better and he’s perennially in the MVP conversation. Number two, number three of voting. He’s won everything possible, but this is a guy that we believe is so competitive. Yeah. But if if they it was so great, then why do we keep hearing he might leave? Well, I think that’s more about like, you know, after he wants to win, he wants to win now. And but but this is a team that has honored his wishes so far. Changing coaches, changing players. The problem is when you swing like this, sometimes you miss. You like that swing? I I do. I I like that. All right, before we go, tomorrow’s the full schedule release. So, Chennate, what’s one game you just can’t wait for? Ooh, what is the one game that I can’t wait for? I think it’s going to be probably Luca back in Dallas this time going up against Cooper Flag. That to me will be fun because this is the choices that we have made and the repercussions of such. Maybe Nico will actually like sit courtside, be closer. He’ll feel a little safer. I like this. Like that kind of um that kind of matchup to me is gonna be cinema again. Mark, one game you can’t wait for. Uh I want to see the Cavs next series. We talked so much about the Western Conference. I want to see all four games. Probably a preview of the Eastern Conference finals. So probably. So you got the season opener in New York. You got Christmas in New York. And I’m curious to see what the when the other two are in Cleveland. Shann, I know one team that’s gonna have their schedule released that I know you can’t wait to see. My Houston Wait, wait, should I say my or our? Our for those who don’t know, she is fabulous with us on the Houston Rockets. We love you. I’m really

Chiney Ogwumike and Marc J. Spears join Vanessa Richardson on NBA Today to discuss the Lakers-Mavericks NBA Cup matchup, biggest wild cards across the league and more.

0:00 Lakers-Mavericks matchup
2:01 LeBron & AD Instagram stories
4:14 Biggest wild cards
6:27 Tom Dundon agrees to buy Trail Blazers
7:26 Are the Bucks underrated?
8:58 Biggest matchups

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