NBA League Pass Power Rankings

0:05 Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to No Dunks, the OG NBA podcast. It's Tuesday, October 20th, 2026. Happy NBA Day. I'm J.E. Skeets here in the Classic Factory, pumped for another NBA season. And alongside me, as always, Tass Millis. NBA fans. This one's for you. Next to him, it's my Top Shot hot boy, Trey Kirby.

0:25 Ayo.

0:25 Ayo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, Super Producer JD.

0:29 Hello.

0:30 There he is.

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1:02 What?

1:03 Eastern time. That's fun for people in Europe. Little primetime game. We're going to do some league pass power rankings. We're drafting our league pass teams. We'll do a couple rounds of that. Bounce around. Talk about a few of these teams a little bit more. We've had a lot of fun during these season previews and then later on. Pick'em is back, baby. We'll get our first pick of this season as we obviously pay it off with the wild and wacky things we do on this show. But we have some news. Came in right at the buzzer. Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller has agreed to a five-year, $ 209 million rookie-scale contract extension. So he's heading into his fourth year in the league. He's going to be stepping into

1:43 an even bigger role for the Hornets now that the team has traded away at LaMelo Ball. Five years, 209 tasks. Any issues with this deal?

1:53 No issues. This guy is a tough cover. You can watch him in the preseason, how he can get that release off over guys excited for him in this new role as they move on from the lamello era. Here we are, Brandon Miller. It's your time. I'm a little reluctant just because conca nipple is hurt because Kobe White, not really a conventional point guard, but I don't Judge Charles Lee Until we see the games We're going to see a lot of Guard guard Pick and roll Slips There's going to be A ton of shots So he's getting paid For the future Not necessarily for What he's done in his past But he's going to get better I don't think there's any doubt about that going into year four because he's a super good player. He's a

2:28 fiery guy. I think he's a Trey Kirby guy in that he gets angry. Brandon Miller?

2:33 Yeah, he does.

2:34 He can get fiery. He can get fiery. He can get mad. He can get mad.

2:36 I mean, there was a big fight between the Hornets and the Pistons last year, and I don't remember him being the main story from it. So I don't know. I believe you.

2:43 No, I just mean more... He's got an edge? Well, he's just... Fiery as in more like, I can score here. I can score 25. I can score 30. It's mine. That does sound like me. Yeah, but I think you like Lamello as a confident guy. Anyways, I do think that he can be a number one guy on this team. And him and Khan, it does stink that Khan's a little banged up to start the season because I think we're underrating Charlotte as a team this year a little bit because of the way Charles Lee coaches. But they kind of get off to a slow start. But I do believe in even if they get off to a slow start, Nas Reed and all them going with Brandon Miller as your new number one guy. I'm excited.

3:23 I think it was funny because they just gave him Lomelo Ball's contract. They traded him away after signing him to a five-year $ 203 million deal that would have paid him from 2024 to 2029. And now they're giving it to Brandon Miller. Five years, $ 209 million from 2027 to 2031. Also kind of funny that it's $ 1 million more than Nassar Thompson. He said, I need more than Nassar. And they said, you got more. That's all it tells. 20 to 22% of the cap for Brandon Miller. He'll be 24 at the start of this season. They're basically paying him through his young prime here. I do think he needs to take a leap though, to be a $ 40 million player. His usage percentage goes up with no lamello.

4:04 His counting stats go up with no lamello, but his efficiency goes way down. And the Hornets as a team, Their team-wide efficiency goes way down with no LaMelo and Brandon Miller out there. So a little more creation will be good, better finishing at the rim, better playmaking, better defense. Basically, he needs to go the Paul George route rather than the Brandon Ingram route. If I'm a Hornets, like, I'm feeling okay about this. If I'm a Hornets fan, you're like, okay, well, we were pretty close to making the playoffs last year.

4:34 But we traded away the guy who's the engine to our team, and now we're giving that exact same money to this guy. Hornets haven't made the playoffs in 10 years. They haven't won a playoff series since they came back to Charlotte in 2002. They had their best year last year and said, nah, we're going to reboot. And now how far away are they from making the playoffs? How far away are they from winning a playoff series? Farther than they were at the start of the offseason, for sure.

4:59 But this is a good deal for Brandon Miller. I do think he needs to improve to be worth 40 mil. But I think he can get there and we will see pretty early in the season what he's able to do because no Khan, no Kobe White. It's going to be just Brandon Miller out there.

5:13 Yeah, this is a long term play for sure. Organization wise and Brandon Miller was they're not going to be great from the get go. But even if they had their good, the best year last year, they haven't made the playoffs in a long time. So to be able to trade LaMelo Ball for a pick and to trade Miles Bridges for a pick, that was a sneaky good deal, along with all those other second round picks that Jeff Peterson is getting. along with your depth guys. You got Royce O'Neal and Grayson Allen in exchange for Miles Bridges.

5:38 They're building a whole different environment there. And Brandon Miller has to be that guy. But they are paying him for the future, not so much his first three years here. To pay him 40, it's a lot. It's heavy. It's a heavy number. But again, they're changing this whole program. this whole thing.

5:54 Oh yeah. And they, like Trey said, I think they decided, well, which one are we doing here? Who are we hitching our ride to? Is it going to be LaMelo or is it going to be Brandon Miller? And they, they have, they have decided, uh, we're going with the Brandon Miller route and the con canipple part of it for sure.

6:07 Now this is a guy too, that has struggled with injuries through his first three seasons. He had surgery to address that instability in the left shoulder. So you hope that's done and sounds like he's feeling healthy and he's going to be good to go. Um, But he did miss a majority of another season when he had a wrist injury. So sort of weird injuries, the wrist and the shoulder and all that. These are not chronic knee or ankle issues or stuff like that for an NBA player.

6:33 But still, you're going to hope he plays a lot when you hand a guy $ 209 million. But he has improved. He's on a lot of people's list to be the most improved player. So they're going to hope and pray that he continues to improve. I don't see why he wouldn't. But it's going to get much more difficult without LaMelo.

6:49 The stat is 63% of Brandon Miller's shots were assisted a year ago. That could change drastically.

6:55 Oh, big time with Kobe White. He's not an assist man. He's a self-create man. And so that is very, very different. I'm putting a lot of faith into Charles Lee being able to create opportunities using Khan as a screener and weird stuff like that. That being said, their backcourt is hurt to start the season when Kobe and Khan get back.

7:13 So it is going to be a slow start for them, most likely.

7:17 So seven first round picks from the 2023 draft signed extensions. Wemby, five years, 252. Brandon Miller, number two pick, five years, 209. As you said, Trey, one million more than number four pick, Amin Thompson, five years, 208 with the Rockets. His twin brother, Asar, five years, 155 with the Pistons. Cason Wallace the other day, five years, 139 with OKC. Keontae George, five years, 157 with the Jazz. And then Brandon Pojemski, five years, $ 110 million with the Warriors. So who missed out? Anthony Black, Bilal Koulibaly.

7:55 Scoot.

7:56 Derek Lively, Scoot Henderson.

7:57 Scooty Scoot.

7:58 Those are probably the most noticeable names that ultimately don't get the rookie extension there. Seven in the end, from number one through to Pojemski at number 19 pick there. Seven out of the... First 19 picks.

8:10 Way to look at it.

8:12 That's a way to look at it. Another of the first 19 picks, Dalton Connect, got waived. Straight up got waived by the Lakers.

8:20 Yeah. That's crazy.

8:21 Trying to trade him was a smart move. He had like two good games and they're like, we got to do anything to get rid of this guy. And nothing has transpired since then. The Scoot Henderson thing I think is super interesting. The only guy in the top five who didn't get extended. There was a big debate at the time of the draft. Who's going number two behind Lemby?

8:37 Is it Scoot or is it Brandon Miller? Charlotte apparently made the right choice because now I think Scoot is gettable during the summer. The Blazers will obviously have restricted free agency matching rights if they assume I assume they'll offer him the qualifying offer. But it's like Drew Holiday is going to be a free agent. Damian Lillard, if they want to extend him in the future, if he has a good season, John Morant will be done after next season. His contract with the Blazers, it's like how many more millions of dollars are you going to invest to this three-point guards thing outside of Scoot Henderson? So he's playing for a contract going into next season. I think that's good for the Blazers, and I think it's

9:18 good for Scoot. I think he could be somewhere else next season.

9:21 During Monday's show, Tess, you did drop the breaking news that Dwight Powell was waived by the Mavericks. And then, Trey, you just said Dalton Connect waived by the Lakers. Kevin Porter Jr. was also waived by the Bucs. And Walter Clayton Jr. and Micah Peavy were waived by the Grizzlies. Now, they had a roster crunch there. We knew some cuts were coming here, but, yeah, you were a little surprised.

9:42 Yeah. It seemed like when Memphis made the trade, a trading wager in Jackson Jr., Walter Clayton was a must in that trade, that they thought he could be a leader as a point guard, but he does lack in scoring annually. has, and that's an issue. And they had a roster crunch, as you said. So Milwaukee releasing Kevin Porter Jr., I like it, and I like my over 25 and a half pick even more so because of what Taylor Jenkins is building there. He's building guys that want to be part of a rotation and can influence accentuate each other's talents. Ken Porter Jr. was not that kind of guy. He was his own type of guy.

10:23 He was like when they got Cam Thomas last year. So they moved on. Phoenix releasing Kobe Brea. I was a little surprised by that, but they wanted Timmy time. They went and got Drew Timmy instead. So that was surprising. They got Drew Timmy, man. Old Tim.

10:41 The tool man.

10:41 The tool man, yeah. Delta Connect, yeah. Somebody's got to pick him up.

10:45 Why?

10:45 Why? I mean, because he can score.

10:48 No.

10:48 He can shoot.

10:49 He had two good games, man.

10:51 He can shoot.

10:52 Everybody can shoot. You can find these guys for literally nothing.

10:57 Yeah, now he can be picked up for nothing.

11:01 That's just a no.

11:02 He probably will get a chance, an opportunity, I think.

11:05 Maybe, yeah, sure, sure.

11:06 Okay, yeah.

11:07 Kevin Herter got a $ 9 million contract this summer.

11:11 Why are you comparing Dalton Connect and Kevin Hart?

11:13 He also can't shoot. Like, there are guys out there that have the reputation.

11:17 I thought you said Dalton Connect could shoot. No, he can't. You said everybody could shoot.

11:21 Exactly, but like. If Kevin Herter is considered a shooter, if Dalton Connect is considered a shooter, they're not, you know? Duncan Robinson is a real shooter. Isaiah Joe is a real shooter. Walter Clayton is not. You know, you got to hit 40%. Everybody can shoot in an open gym is what I'm saying.

11:39 I just saw Shams. He couldn't miss.

11:41 You know what the key is for every Lethal Shooter video? Keep your release hand up.

11:45 Smart.

11:45 That's the key.

11:47 Shoot the basketball.

11:48 Also, they do a great job with the camera work on Lethal Shooter. Like, Shams taking, you know, 16-foot jumpers, and the way, I don't know if it's that fisheye lens or whatever it is, it looks like it's like he's shooting 40-foot bombs. It looks way further than it is. He's shooting pull-ups. No, he did shoot some threes, too.

12:03 And they look to appear to be NBA threes. So, hey, respect to Shams. It was a nice-looking jumper. But it's so funny, the jumpers, to me. It's like, oh, they look so far away, but they're just jumpers.

12:14 Anyway, great work.

12:15 Back to Brandon Miller for a sec. Now that Brandon Miller got paid, we need to find him a better nickname. I'll give you three options. You tell me which the best one is, okay? Okay. You ready to go? You okay? Okay, I thought you were hesitating there. Hold on, wait a second.

12:31 I'm not ready.

12:32 Hold on. Your first one.

12:33 I'm not ready.

12:33 First one.

12:34 Go for it.

12:35 Killamilla. Second one.

12:38 Not a good nickname for him.

12:41 At all.

12:42 So no.

12:43 Why?

12:43 Why is that? He had a lot of off-court drama before his draft. Oh, okay.

12:50 Involving specifically what you're saying.

12:52 So strike that one from the list.

12:53 So the second one, not so good either. I'm going to lump them together. The Alabama Assassin.

12:59 Nope, probably getting worse.

13:00 That was his nickname. That was his nickname. That was his nickname when he went to Bama.

13:06 He's jumping the sound effect.

13:08 Nice, JD. Very nice.

13:11 I'm going to go with number three, whatever it is.

13:14 B mill or B million.

13:16 Okay.

13:17 I like it.

13:18 Now, especially that he made $ 209 billion.

13:20 Do you like B Millie?

13:23 Yeah.

13:23 I'm not calling them B million. B mill.

13:26 Okay.

13:26 Well, a million. B million. B mill sounds good.

13:30 B Millie. I like that.

13:31 How many guys are going to be super excited? I'm going to get rich. B million. You know, like that kind of, that kind of angle. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Yeah. That was my first one, but then I saw it. The Killamilla? I mean, that's fun. So what? Off-court weapon issues?

13:47 Yes.

13:48 How did you not know? You've never heard this?

13:49 Exactly right. Okay.

13:51 Well, there's a lot of guys in the NBA that have had off-court weapon issues. James Harden.

13:55 He just had one in his car.

13:56 Still a good guy.

13:57 It's a little bit more than that, just having a weapon.

14:00 Okay. Give me the details, man.

14:02 I'm not getting into this.

14:03 All right. We brought a weapon to somebody who used it.

14:08 Oh, yeah. Oh, wow.

14:10 Yes. He said he didn't know it. He apologized.

14:14 Oh, that was his story.

14:15 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

14:16 Well, we shouldn't do that. He shouldn't do that.

14:22 The timberwolves forward jayden mcdaniels has agreed to a one-year 40 million dollar extension that will keep him under contract through the 29 30 season so you might remember that mcdaniel signed a five-year 136 million dollar deal in 2023 but with this extension minnie has 124 million now committed to the all-defensive forward over the next four years so So this one had people a little surprised. You don't get a lot of these, right? The one year, $ 40 million extension, like in the future here. Your reaction to this?

14:57 Well, he's ready to get paid when he's able to sign that extension in 2028. He can sign a big one. I am interested just watching this Timberwolves core, because what they are is Anthony Edwards, this man, Jaden McDaniels, Io DeSumo, and LaMelo Wall. That's what they are. And to a lesser degree, Rudy Gobert, but long-term, that's what your team is now. And so I am interested to see this next iteration of this team, period. But they have a lot of faith in Jaden McDaniels. He's a number one, essentially, for Anthony Edwards. He's this guy. Has LaMelo taken that number one role as his number one buddy? I don't know, but he loves Jaden McDaniels. And so he's going to stick around. Again, I am interested to see where Tim

15:37 Connolly has gone with this team and who they are for this next few years. And Rudy Gobert, Will eventually get old. I mean, he's playing through it like he'll never be old. But Rudy Gobert is 34. So this is your team.

15:52 Yeah, this is definitely a funny extension. I think the reporting was that this is the first time in league history that a player has gotten an extension with three players. full years of contract already signed. So this, like you're saying, this doesn't ever happen. They didn't have to do this, but basically the way John Krasinski is presenting it over at the athletic is that it increases the chances that McDaniels is a lifer for the wolves. If you look down the line, it's probably not going to happen. Nobody is a lifer these days, but he could be a long timer at the very least, because this now means that when he's extension eligible for circa like 2028, it can extend off of the $ 40 million number instead of

16:34 the $ 30 million number. So they're giving him an extra year. They're giving him a chance to make a little bit more money as well. It helps that Jaden McDaniels has the same agent as Anthony Edwards and that he's good friends with Anthony Edwards. So there's a lot of backscratching going around and Everybody was itchy, so it feels good.

16:54 And he's coming off a career year here too. Shot the three ball extremely well. Career highs across the board. Got even better in the postseason, which you love to see. So yeah, it's just unique. Yeah, we don't see a lot of these. But at 29-30, $ 40 million will be 21% of the salary cap we're expected to be. So, you know, that's That's not crazy for a guy that you're hoping is just going to continue to turn into a better even offensive player. We know he's a great defense player.

17:22 He's an all-defensive guy already. And he is tasked with shutting down one of the best perimeter players. He's done a good job of that. We've seen him, like, bottle up Jamal Murray before in postseason matchups. But, yeah, just unique, the contract situation.

17:36 Yeah, we saw it from Steph, but we haven't seen it from a player like this. Tim Connolly is buying in to Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards. And the aisle got a big extension. And here we are. This is their team.

17:47 And I think Ant's on record too, right? Saying like, this is going to be McDaniel's all-star season. I've seen him say that. So he has a lot of confidence in his guy and maybe gets that first all-star selection. So we'll see.

18:01 Okay.

18:02 That's the news of the day there. Let's get to our NBA League Pass draft. So we're going to draft four teams each of teams we're excited to watch on League Pass for the most part this season. Got a little trivia question to decide who gets the number one pick between you guys. Now, hear me out on this one, okay?

18:22 Working backwards and alternating guesses, we're going to see how many NBA champions you guys can name. So I'm going to say the year. You're going to say the champion. You guys, I think, are going to be pretty impressive at this. Now, we'll see who slips up first.

18:39 It's like that guy in class that names everything. NBA champion.

18:43 That's right.

18:43 Yeah.

18:44 You guys are going to do it collectively, uh, going backwards and like, you can't look, you can't take 20, 25 seconds. Like I'd like to saw, I'd like some sort of speed with this.

18:51 Okay.

18:52 I hope so. There's a lot of years of the NBA.

18:55 Yeah.

18:57 Well, I have a graphic right now going back to 1985, but, um, I'm ready and prepared if you guys get all the way there.

19:02 Okay.

19:02 Task 2026.

19:04 Who?

19:05 New York Knicks. Here we go.

19:06 Trey, 2025.

19:06 Thunder.

19:08 Right.

19:09 JD, don't do that.

19:09 2024.

19:10 I'll always say the year. Celtics.

19:11 Okay.

19:11 2023.

19:11 Nuggets. 2022.

19:11 Warriors.

19:12 2021.

19:12 Bucks.

19:12 2020.

19:12 Lakers.

19:12 2019.

19:12 Raptors.

19:12 The best championship ever. 2018. Warriors. 2017.

19:13 Warriors.

19:13 2016.

19:14 Cavs.

19:14 2015.

19:14 Warriors.

19:14 2014.

19:14 Spurs. 2013.

19:14 Heat.

19:14 2012.

19:32 Heat. 2011.

19:32 Mavericks. 2010. Lakers.

19:33 2009.

19:34 Lakers.

19:34 2008. Celtics.

19:35 2007.

19:35 Spurs. 2006.

19:35 Heaters. 2005.

19:37 Spurs. 2004. Pistons.

19:39 2003.

19:40 Lakers 2008 Celtics 2007 Spurs 2006 Heaters 2005 Spurs 2004 Pistons 2003 Spurs 2002 Lakers 2001 Lakers 2000 Lakers 99 Spurs 98 Bulls 97 Bulls 96 Bulls 95 Rockets 94 Rockets 93 Bulls 92 Bulls 91 Bulls 90 Pistons 89 Pistons 88.

20:12 Celtics.

20:13 Oh, well done.

20:16 Though, gentlemen. Yeah, I mean, you hit the Lakers-Celtics part of the trivia, which was always going to be a decided, I think. Sometimes you can get a little caught up there.

20:27 Okay, that was great.

20:28 So, Trey, you get the number one pick. Great. NBA League Pass, you know, power rankings, I guess, so to speak. Now, I do want to clarify this before you make your pick. For the 26-27 NBA regular season, national television games are broadcast across Amazon Prime, Disney, which is ESPN, ABC, and then NBC slash Peacock. Every team has at least two national TV games led by the Lakers, the Knicks, the 76ers, and the Spurs each have 34 nationally televised games.

20:58 That is a lot.

21:03 Is every team in play here in this exercise? Because, of course, some teams are on national television games more than league pass. That might play a part in your equation.

21:15 Yep. Okay.

21:16 But you can take anyone.

21:17 Yeah, I cut the Sixers because of that, but, you know.

21:19 Okay, okay.

21:20 It's up to you. It's up to you.

21:21 All right, Trey, your first pick. Where are you going?

21:24 Look, I am factoring how many national TV games a team has. I want teams that are on league pass more. More, I think, increases their standing on my draft board, but not for the number one pick. I'm picking a team that's on national TV 27 times.

21:40 Okay, 27 times.

21:41 The Minnesota Timberwolves are my number one team to watch this year. Just read a great interview with Lomelo Ball over on The Athletic where he's talking about how when he comes to a new team, Not that he's done it a lot recently since he's been on Charlotte for the first six years of his career, but now he is with the Timberwolves, and apparently he did this in Australia.

22:02 LaMelo's like, I just pass all the time. It's an easy way to get people to like you.

22:07 And guess what it is?

22:08 If they think you're going to pass them the ball every time, they're going to want to play with you. He's just a hilarious personality. Him and Ant together, very funny. I saw people calling Ant fire, calling Jaden McDaniels ice. because of their personalities together. The way, you know, Ant's a big personality. McDaniel's a little more cool, calm, and collected.

22:30 I don't know what that makes LaMelo.

22:32 Wind?

22:33 Water? I'm not exactly sure what he fits in, but he's a funny guy. And I think they're going to be awesome to watch playing up and down style of basketball. I think Kaminga's going to fit in nicely with them from an entertainment standpoint. Playoffs are a different story, but watching this team run up and down and swerve from being a big ball muscles team to a speed and, you know, skill team, I think is going to be fun to watch. So give me the Timberwolves number one.

23:01 Gina McDaniels as ice is bogus. I mean, he calls guys out on the other team. Remember we went to Denver Nuggets playoffs and they can't guard.

23:09 No one can guard.

23:10 Every single one of those guys can't guard anybody. So that'll be funny.

23:14 Yeah.

23:15 I had him. Probably number one, too. Okay.

23:18 Yeah, I had him in the top three. I knew it wasn't unlikely they were going to fall to me here with the third pick.

23:22 Yeah, because, yeah, on court, guard, guard. I think we'll see lots of guard pick and rolls with him and Anthony, LaMelo and Anthony Edwards. That's going to be fun. But you've got off-court drama. You've got a lot of stuff there.

23:33 Yeah, there's a fascination just to find out whether or how this works, if it works. I mean, this was a good team, a good core with these guys, as much as we can roll our eyes at Randall or maybe some people think Nas Reed. overrated or not I don't know but like it worked at least in terms of going very far in the postseason so now this is a hell of a switch up here from Tim Connolly so yeah.

23:55 But it should be hella exciting to watch the Kuminga drama that's some fun stuff sure you want the number two pick no no no go ahead I kind of want I don't want the pressure now I'd rather I'd rather go number three then then I'll have an excuse to know who I'm gonna take.

24:12 I'm taking the Raptors number.

24:13 Two okay they were on my short list yeah.

24:15 It's easy to take the Spurs here. I was definitely debating between Spurs-Raptors, but we're ready. We're ready for a Scottie Barnes-led team. He was so, so good growing into that player last year when he led the Raptors in points, rebounds, assists. No, he didn't lead in points. Rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.

24:33 The last two guys to do that, Jokic and LeBron. 21-22 in 17-18, Jokic and LeBron. I mean, he's ready, man. He's ready for Kawhi right beside him. We were waiting for Scottie to develop. He's here. And can't wait to watch them with Kawhi and the depth that these guys have. So that was an easy one for me.

24:50 I can't imagine they're on national television too often.

24:54 Seven games.

24:54 Yeah. Okay. Seven. Yeah. Which nation are we talking about?

24:59 Yeah. Seven American national games.

25:01 Good point. Yeah. So we're ready to go. Yeah.

25:03 Down here, they won't see them on national television too much in the States.

25:07 Right.

25:07 You've got to seek them out on League Pass, as you should. Especially, I mean, I can't wait to see The first game where it is Kawhi, Scottie, and CMB closing out a game where they just win with defense. It's going to happen a handful of times, I'd imagine.

25:20 Yeah, so easy to debate and say, hey, they're going to be good defensively, but how amazing are they going to be offensively? Do you want to watch this team sometimes offensively if you watch the playoffs against the Cavs? Those were not good games. Now you say, hey, Kawhi's there. Their offense will be better. Will he be? I don't know.

25:39 Will he be there, you mean?

25:40 Yeah. Is he going to be on the court? That's a fair question, but I just love this team. You got guys like Jamal Shedd, just got this new contract, gets interviewed after getting a new contract. He said, you know what? That was really fair. Honestly, above fair. That's what he called three years and 24 million. So the squad is a real squad, man. They're just ready to ball.

25:59 So easy pick for me.

26:00 Okay. Wolves, Raptors off the board. I'm going to take the Indiana Pacers as my first pick. Three years ago, They had the number two offense in the league. Following year, dipped a little bit, still remained top 10 though. And then last year, no Halliburton.

26:13 29th.

26:15 I mean, Halliburton is like sort of this new generation Steve Nash, right? Just like he makes the team go. He's back. He looks healthy. Had some like nice preseason moments even, especially had that good performance in OKC where the injury occurred. So he got that monkey off his back. Other pieces, Siakam. Siakam is one of like the most underrated or at least like second star players on a team in the league. He's elite. Can't wait to see Zubats with Rick Carlisle and how this works in that system.

26:43 You know, Neesmith, he's forgotten. I mean, everybody that played for the Pacers last year is sort of forgotten because it was just like, okay, well, this is a down year. But this guy's been like a 40% three-point shooter over like a four-year run now. Andrew Nembhard, good old Canadian boy. He's sort of back in a position he's comfortable with.

26:59 And they're bringing back the yellow pinstripes. I think they're going to look fun here. They got the ABA Heritage game. So I like the Pacers. They're just a fun watch when they're humming. It's entertaining basketball to me.

27:11 Yeah.

27:11 It's all about Halliburton for me. Pacers were number two on my board, but like this team was together last year and they were unwatchable. Yeah. But you throw Halliburton in the mix and they're fast breaking and that's really all that matters. Yeah.

27:24 And if the season is a marathon, so it It would be fun to kind of see them start slow like they did when they went to the NBA finals. They weren't that good to start the season. A lot of bumps. But then finally they found their way. So if you're watching Pacers, they might go like it did in 25. They started 22-18, went 28-14 after that. Carlisle was going to have a great offense. The team is going to share the ball. It'll be a good watch.

27:49 Okay, second round. TK, where are you going?

27:54 It's going to be a reach.

27:55 It's going to be a reach, but I can't.

27:57 Let somebody else take this team. Doubles! Oh, hey.

28:02 I had my eye on him.

28:02 I know.

28:03 I don't know if I would have taken him in this.

28:04 Round, but yeah. But is it going to get back? Am I going to get him with the seventh pick? Who knows? I didn't have confidence. They're only on national TV three times. I am sad that we'll never get to hear Stacey King call a Caleb Wilson dunk, but there's going to be so many Caleb Wilson dunks. I just can't wait to watch Wilson and Boozellis together play There's apparently other players on the team as well, but who cares? It doesn't matter to me. It only matters how Caleb and Matas look together. I do like seeing the bonding on Instagram. I do like the idea of a team that's going to play really fast, but it's mostly about seeing how these two young guys fit together and what sort of cool highlights they can put together.

28:48 They seem to like Tiago Splitter.

28:50 Sure.

28:50 They seem to be a good squad so far if they're already... planning or planning the uh plan for every single guy they're playing in the preseason i mean scouting report in the preseason that's impressive.

29:06 It's about intention to detail that's impressive.

29:08 For a preseason maybe it was just for the video but they sold me they sold.

29:12 You yeah did you have the bulls on your list here way down.

29:16 Yeah.

29:17 I mean, I was going to take them in a later round cause they're going to be hell. I mean, I'm, I'm all in on Caleb Wilson too. I just, just to watch him alone. There's a lot of these rookies that I'm excited to tune in on late pass to see, especially early on, see what they got, uh, when the games matter.

29:30 Okay.

29:30 Bull's gone. TK gets his team. Feels good about it.

29:33 That's right.

29:34 Where are you going?

29:36 I'll go Portland. There's a range here. There's lots of good in terms of just the guard play is going to be exciting to watch with John Morant and Damian Lillard. I think you'll see lots of pick and slips with those dudes. What is Mike Inori going to do with all these guards? I think it'll be really, really fun.

29:57 He's going to try and get them all involved and John Morant should Try and get everyone involved. Just like we sort of talked about LaMelo Ball in Minnesota. I imagine John Morant's going to do some of the same stuff here. And then here comes Scoot. And here comes Drew Holiday, who told his new coach, hey, when you're in Minnesota, I want to help you win a championship.

30:17 Any one of those years, if I was there, we'd win a championship. Good locker room guys, then you get a Denny. Then you get a Kling. And then you get a Kamara. And then you get the bad stuff. The owner drama. the scoot non-extension, if that's a thing going into this year, Chauncey Billups trial coming up. Nobody cares about that. I'll take it back. Uh, we'll drop pan out. I mean that it could erupt and it could be a bad season to watch this team, but I doubt it. Uh, I think it'll be, you know, kind of like you'll see the, on the court. I think it will be sort of like Charlotte last season, like guys flying around guards, just getting open to fire away, but I'm buying in to all these guards liking each

30:50 other at this point.

30:52 So.

30:52 Could that go wrong i suppose it could but uh you know jaws playing looks seems like for his career a lot of good guys i think their locker room will be good did i even say denny i guess i said denny um he's probably the number one scorer they're gonna buy into that there's enough enough good also enough bad and so i'll click in and see what happens.

31:13 Our first uh western conference team here or west coast team i should say uh selected obviously the late starts here for our eastern conference uh watching ability so it's either a late late night or early early mornings with the portland trailblazers yeah.

31:26 They always uh finish very high on the wedgie ranking boards as well for whatever reason they happen all the time.

31:32 In portland yeah Going to miss our man Tom Haverstraw, who came through on that little box on the screen that would say, our No Dunks boys, let me know that this is wedgie number 41 of the season. So we won't see Tom.

31:45 Oh, well, I docked the Blazers a little bit. As excited as I am to see them play, no Tom, no Calabro, excuse me, too. So some turnover there in the production, actually.

31:56 No new guy that they fired the same day?

31:58 I don't listen to the radio much anymore, so I wouldn't even know.

32:00 Well, hold on. He wasn't the radio guy that they fired.

32:02 I thought it was. Was he a TV guy?

32:04 No, he was a TV guy. Wow.

32:05 Yeah, I don't know who their TV guy is. No, I thought they did hire and fire him on the same day.

32:09 Yeah, he was a kid. I thought he was a radio guy. He was a child. He was a young guy. He was 28, I think. I can understand Tom Dundon going cheap with a 28-year-old, but it was a TV guy.

32:18 Braden Bell, you're right.

32:19 Yeah.

32:20 I don't know why I thought he was a radio.

32:24 No, you're right.

32:24 Yeah. But anyway, he's not there.

32:29 They don't have a play-by-play guy right now?

32:31 Just the sounds of the game. Now I'm in.

32:33 Now I'm interested.

32:33 Lamar Heard. He's the only one back.

32:36 You're just there to talk about wedgies.

32:38 I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Dundon said, this is a one-man booth.

32:42 Hey, Lamar, can you just talk to yourself for three hours?

32:45 I would not be surprised.

32:47 Okay, my next pick here in round two. I'm taking a team that's on national TV a lot. And that is the San Antonio Spurs because they have a guy named Wemba Nyama who is basically must-watch television. And he's like the only guy Nora cares about. He's like, is Wemba playing? If he's on the screen, she's, oh, I'll check this out. Or if he's here in Atlanta, oh, I wanted tickets to that game. Let's go see who Wemba Nyama plays. So they're going.

33:13 To be good.

33:14 They're a title contender. They're still super young and just obviously finding out their own powers, what they're even capable of, especially him. Could be his MVP season here very, very early. I'm intrigued. Will the three-guard lineup work? They're starting with it. Okay, here we go.

33:30 Is that because Tobias Harris is hurt?

33:32 What, the three-guard lineup?

33:33 Yeah.

33:34 I don't think so.

33:35 I think so. He's been hurt for a couple weeks now.

33:39 So you think only because Tobias Harris is injured.

33:41 He's literally out. He's not playing right now.

33:43 So you think once he's back, they're going to go away from it?

33:46 Yeah, we'll see.

33:47 Unless it's dominant.

33:48 Unless it's awesome. And, yeah, you're playing with Wemby, so it's probably going to be good. But I think they got Tobias Harris to start.

33:53 Yeah, yeah.

33:54 Yeah, you tune in for this team. The guy is throwing it off the backboard in the preseason. Yeah. I mean, come on.

34:00 Oh, my God, I know. He's starting to realize, yeah, other things that he's going to add to his game here. So Spurs, even though they're on, again, all of these, you know, Prime and ABC, ESPN, they've got a million games, but who cares? I'll watch all the other ones. I'll only pass. That's right.

34:15 Yeah.

34:16 Third round here.

34:16 Hmm, hmm.

34:20 Tough call. I'm going to go heavy national TV as well.

34:24 Give me the 76ers.

34:25 Yeah. I mean, they are going to be good. They are going to be fascinating to watch. Even the games when LeBron needs to play not on a back-to-back. Joel Embiid is out with a scratchy knee. You got Maxie, my favorite little guy in the league. Jalen Brown and Vijay Edgecombe. That's an exciting nucleus to watch running up and down the court. figuring out how to play alongside each other. And then the games when the two Hall of Famers are healthy, it's going to be even more interesting to watch to see how the pieces all fit together.

34:59 This is a team that's going to be experimenting for the entire season, figuring out the best ways to play and the best ways to piece everything together. So 76ers are a fun experiment in super team building and they've got a ton of talent. So give me them Sixers.

35:13 Yes.

35:15 No problem with that pick because intriguing at the very least.

35:18 Yeah, I docked them because they have 34 national TV games. It's nearly half of their games. Same with the Spurs. Same with the Lakers up there. But, of course, we're going to want to find out.

35:33 I just want to know if it starts poorly, too. What will be the first weird story we get out of Philadelphia? Probably from LeBron, if it's a slow start.

35:43 We had one in the preseason. where Mike Breen said that Joel Embiid didn't show up to whatever on time, and LeBron's like, we didn't say that, and Mike Breen had to apologize?

35:53 Yeah, right, right.

35:53 Like, he didn't show up for the practice on time, right? Right. And LeBron gave him hell, according to Mike Breen on the broadcast. And this is well-respected Mike Breen. So you just believe it automatically, and then LeBron has to confront that. I mean, that is, that was something. For a preseason?

36:09 Yeah.

36:09 Yeah, that was good.

36:10 Preseason game.

36:11 I expect just a, still cam shot of a helipad in Philadelphia to see if the helicopter lands. Like the LeBron takes a plane or takes a helicopter from New York and lands. I just like, that's not going to be on the broadcast, but there should be a website for that. I just want to watch it. You know, just put it on. Like right now I've got the, uh, the no dunks live station on 24 seven. I'd rather beside it. I want to see live helicopters.

36:35 Yeah.

36:36 See when he lands, you know, the whole fanatics, uh, drama there so that could be a part of the the first big story.

36:43 Well i just mean to like a not so subtle uh quote from lebron about something nurse did or didn't do or joelle did or didn't do like this is classic lebron stuff i mean we've seen it for 24 years running if if it starts slow and there's you know trying to figure out okay whose ball is it and all this like there's a lot of offensive uh talent on that team i gotta try and make it all work i just yeah They're a must watch. They're on the short list for me as well.

37:10 Jalen Brown just did a stream where he said he bought a harp for his house and has somebody come over and play the harp while his personal chef.

37:17 Cooks him dinner. And he said twice a week.

37:19 Yeah.

37:20 Sunsets.

37:21 Play me my favorite sonata. Yeah.

37:24 That's, that's cool.

37:25 That's cool.

37:26 Rich guy shit though. I gotta be honest.

37:28 That's like, yeah.

37:28 If you were super rich, like, yeah, bring over, buy a harp and have somebody come play it while you watch the sunset and somebody cooks you dinner.

37:36 I mean, really.

37:37 Yeah they can't argue i think you ever flicks the chords or what do you call it flings i mean plucks.

37:44 It you think that could be like a philly celebration they started playing the heart oh.

37:48 My god that would be pretty funny actually heart mode oh man okay yeah back to you oh this is a tough one this is a tough one here as we get a little deeper.

37:59 Um I'm taking the Jazz. Ooh, I thought I could get them at this round.

38:05 Yeah, so many offensive weapons. Do you want to see a great County George Knight? Do you want to see a great Darren Peterson Knight? We're going to splash in some Ace Bailey Knights or Larry Markin and of course see what Triple J can do. Offense is going to be abundant on that team and they're going to get scored on plenty. It feels like right now, especially with the use of Nurkic out. So some of the more questionable defenders take floor without that size, but a fun place to watch. I think just television wise, I do enjoy watching Utah games and the steep arena. Those, your fans are on top of the court. So yeah, give me the jazz.

38:48 You got Keontae George scoring 50 at some point earlier in the season too. That'll be exciting when that happens on League Pass. Oh yeah. League Pass alert. Can't wait for that. Oh, Keontae George has got 42. People will be, ah, Jay Skeets, ah, Jay Skeets. He's close. I had the Jets on my list here.

39:03 Definitely.

39:03 Because it's going to be an exciting team. It should be. Hey, they get to try to win basketball games. That'll be fun. All right, my third pick. They're on nationally televised games a lot, but not as much as the top teams in the league. Give me the Denver Nuggets. It's sort of along the same thinking as Wemby on the Spurs must watch. So is Jokic still. Look at the things he's done in preseason. Obviously, he had one of the greatest passes we've maybe ever seen in a preseason game.

39:28 Then you look at a couple of ones that were just like maybe not to that level but are like wow easily like top play of the night worthy on any given night so you know you get to watch a Nuggets game on League Pass when they're there it's like you see the highlight before it makes its way around social. There's something about like, I watched that live and it's going to get clipped and it'll take 10 seconds before it's up and then it'll go everywhere on all the social media channels and that's fun. And Jamal Murray, you never know when he's going to pop off for a 40 or 50. And you hope some of these guys bounce back and they're a good team. So I'm not overthinking it. Give me the nugs. Great home court

40:04 advantage too. One of the rare ones probably still in this league.

40:07 They're good. Do you think that Jokic will have a highlight that's more impressive than the behind-the-back pass from preseason?

40:15 I don't want to dote the guy, but that is just an unbelievable post.

40:20 The answer is no, but there's going to be some awesome ones.

40:23 Yeah, he's going to have great highlights.

40:25 I mean, a three-quarter bomb that he's going to hit. I could see him hit a three-quarter bomb shot with a hook shot. something weird like that. He could.

40:33 He could, yeah.

40:35 And he's a really good three-quarters shooter. Yes.

40:37 But it's all the passing with me.

40:40 Yeah, it's not as sexy. I agree.

40:42 I mean, to try and outdo that pass, though, that will be difficult in a real game because he's doing it in a game where, of course, it doesn't really matter. But also, he could. I don't want to doubt him. My answer is yes. My answer is freaking yes. He's going to somehow one-up that. That was just teasing us, getting us ready here. That'd be great. And the Nuggets, like my... Whoa, actually, I just realized. I have all three ABA teams. Who's the fourth one out there?

41:10 The Nets.

41:10 Is anybody going to take the Nets? I got the Pacers, Spurs, and Nuggets.

41:13 They're all on my board.

41:14 So I'm getting some ABA heritage. Come on, give us the blue, red, and white ball, too. Come on, NBA, do it. They won't, but please do it. Final round. Final round.

41:27 I got two teams that have a lot of national TV games. So this is a team that doesn't have a lot of national TV games, but I'll watch them a lot because they're on early. The Washington Wizards.

41:39 Seven o'clock starts. Let's go.

41:41 You better be good at seven o'clock. I just saw Drew Gooden showing off what he called the best candy selection in the entire NBA. Him and who? Chris? Chris?

41:52 Chris Miller.

41:53 Chris Miller. That's his last name. I was thinking Chris Mills, but that was a basketball player.

41:56 Yeah.

41:57 They did go to high school with a guy named Chris Miller. Nonetheless, they were looking at their candy. It looked nice.

42:01 Yeah.

42:01 They got a lot of alley-oops coming with Trey Young. AJ DeBonsa should be very fun to watch, even though he's dealing with a messed up ankle right now. These 20 to 25 games of Anthony Davis are going to be stellar, I think. I'm still a fan of some of their young guys that are around as well. It'll be interesting to see them playing games that matter a little bit more, playing with Better veterans as well should be helpful. So I'm in on the Wizards this season.

42:27 Looking forward to watching them.

42:29 What's the best Chris? That sounds like Chris Mills. Chris Mills, Chris Miles, or Chris Miller. tough one uh or should we call them all kilomillas no uh okay those ones we can't uh yeah those ones we could do wizard that's a good one yeah and that's the early starts important here important here oh.

42:47 Yeah like we're the funny part is we're always sort of watching a little bit of wizards action over the last couple years when they've been garbage and then you click away 20 minutes in you've watched the first quarter maybe a little second quarter you're like see you later wizards you might be sticking around a little bit more at least keeping your eye on it coming back to it that's that's something um Now, I think they're saying they're going to do a whole rebrand, too. Not this year, of course, but they're saying for next season. They need one.

43:13 They're due for one. Though their City Edition court does have the cherry blossoms all over it.

43:18 I like that.

43:18 Looks good.

43:19 I do like that. Okay, Wiz, is your last pick here in our League Pass Power Rankings or draft? Where are you going? Final pick, Taz. Lots of teams to pick from. Want me to list them all?

43:28 I mean, this is a tough one. I've got to be completely honest. I'm taking the Miami Heat. Homer. Homer, yeah.

43:38 Greek Homer.

43:39 He's a Greek.

43:41 Classic Greek.

43:42 Exactly.

43:43 Yeah, I'll sip an espresso while I'm watching like Yanis does. You see his videos? He's literally sipping an espresso with his hat on. Like he looks sort of, you know. Oh, I saw with his hat that he's sporting a fedora.

43:59 Yeah.

44:00 Fedora. Yeah. Uh, it's an interesting hat. Uh, anyway, it's more, it's more, it's.

44:06 A stands up.

44:06 So he's doing it so much. Oh, wow, yeah.

44:10 He's doing it so much.

44:12 He is.

44:12 He's committed to the fedora?

44:14 Multiple times in the last couple months.

44:16 That's a choice.

44:17 Yeah. This has got to be a Miami tie-in, right?

44:20 Yeah. Oh, Excel stuff? No, no, yeah, it's a Miami tie-in, of course.

44:24 Yeah, just trying to be like an old espresso-drinking gentleman.

44:27 Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you said Homer, that's what I thought of. I thought Miami, that's what this guy is doing. But what he's going to do on the court is be part of a really fast-paced offense, so. It's weird to hear Giannis part of that, but this was the fastest pace in the league last year. He's going to be super excited for that. Defensively, they're going to be maniacal, man.

44:49 That's going to be really tough with him and Bam at the back side of things. And then Davion Mitchell and Wiggins and probably Pella Larson. It's going to remind, I think, people a lot of your Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, P.J. Tucker up front with Bam behind them. Just all over the place. We'll see what Pella Larson can do with this offense. I am a little reluctant because I think it is a little skeptical as to what they can do offensively. That's fair. And will it be fun to watch?

45:17 I'm not 100% sure because there is a lot on Pella Larson's shoulders, I think. That's who else is going to create on that team. But I'm taking them.

45:24 Okay.

45:25 Taking them. 25 national TV games for Miami. So they're just cracking the top 10 when it comes to that, but not as much as some of those top, top teams.

45:32 Yeah. Okay.

45:34 Any issues with the heat? Had them in the running there, TK?

45:37 Um, for me, not really because they're a defense first team and that's not my flavor that I really like. I, and I think offensively they're going to be tough to watch a lot of nights.

45:48 Yeah. That's why I was definitely reluctant along with the Toronto Raptors last year.

45:52 Could be some rough offensive nights, tough.

45:54 Nights, but I got to believe in Darko. I got to believe in Eric. I got to believe in calling coaches by their first name and first name only that they'll get things involved and that it's going to be a turnaround year for Giannis. completely getting everybody else involved. I didn't even say Nikola Jovic. I think he's going to be good. I think he's going to be good. Okay.

46:13 All right. That's your last pick. That leaves me with the final pick here in our draft.

46:18 Hmm.

46:20 Trying to figure out where to go. Like you look at like sort of the bottom teams that are never on national TV. It's like the Kings. Sorry. We're getting to 21 wins, but I can't do that. Pelicans, you know, no. uh bucks no thank you the grizzlies i'm a little i'm intrigued by i'm intrigued yeah i feel like it's a bit of a reach though so i'm gonna jump up to a team that has 21 national tv games but i'm excited for because of one guy being back and that's kairi irving back with the dallas mavericks i'm excited i'm excited to see the kairi cooper show here uh and and you know i think it's gonna be i think they're gonna surprise some people i really do as long as kairi's there and he's healthy and he

47:00 appears to be so I'm excited for it, and I'll be tuning in. This is a real, like, I'm tuning in early on League Pass in the season for the Dallas Mavericks. You'll have to check back in with me when we get into 2027. Am I still there, or have I given up? Has Kyrie been dealt? We'll see. But, I mean, look, sophomore Cooper with Kyrie, it's going to help.

47:22 They're going to have some fun, fun, entertaining games. I think they'll probably be in a lot of close games, too, for whatever reason. My gut says that. So Dallas Mavericks is my final pick.

47:33 Any big teams that you left off that you're thinking about now as a team that you're going to watch anyway?

47:43 Thunder, I like. I'm obviously a Thunder fan. I'm going to watch them. I was going to ask you who is like, who do you think will watch the least this year of all the teams in the league?

47:54 Magic.

47:55 Orlando Magic. Wow.

47:57 Okay. They were ranked 30th for me. Wow. I've seen it. I've seen this team a lot.

48:03 Because of their offense. Really?

48:06 Offense and it's the same team. I mean, they added Desmond Bain last year.

48:10 They added a Sweeney, though.

48:13 Am I going to watch them? Obviously, I am.

48:15 Yeah, we'll see what the offense can do. That's why I had them higher because I think their offense is going to look totally different with Sean. Not Sidney. Doing stuff out there, just making them move the ball. They'll be different.

48:29 Who was low on your list then?

48:32 Oh, lows? Yeah, yeah. Like, who are you?

48:34 My Zacks?

48:36 Who are your Zacks?

48:37 I mean, the Kings. Even though I do want to watch Darius Acuff.

48:41 Look, it's tough to argue with that.

48:43 Yeah. Yeah, they're down there. I did want to consider just visually, aesthetically, I want to hear a great play-by-play man. So I almost want to pick the Pelicans and a Joel Byers.

48:58 Man's got to have a dog.

49:00 Or Eric Collins of the Hornets. You know, they're up there.

49:05 Yeah.

49:05 It's a big part of the league pass experience.

49:07 No doubt.

49:07 The look, the jerseys, the court, the announcers.

49:10 Yeah.

49:10 That's what Zach Lowe takes into consideration.

49:12 Visually, the Pelicans, I don't like watching.

49:14 Oh, one of the worst.

49:15 Yeah. The lighting. There's something about it in that New Orleans arena.

49:18 The crowd, no fault of their own, but not all into that half the time. We have friends that live here in Atlanta that drive to New Orleans to sit like two rows back or sit courtside because it's, you won't believe this, it's affordable compared to basically every other arena. Yeah. I hate how it looks on TV though. I hate the lighting.

49:38 Yeah, and I also wanted to take a great play-by-play person because I am skeptical what the Blazers are going to do. Because, well, actually, I don't know about that. What happened was they fired that young guy they hired for TV.

49:55 Brayden Bell.

49:55 He's 28 years old. And because of tweets a decade ago, they fired him immediately. They replaced him with the former radio guy. Oh, maybe that's why I was confused. Yeah, exactly. OK. shout out to Noah for mentioning that, who I believe was laid off by Tom Dundon when he was coming in and just axing people. Now he's back? Yeah, I think they lowered, I believe it's him, they lowered his salary immediately, or the offer for him to continue as a play-by-play guy on the radio, and then they brought him in as a TV guy. I guess that's what happened.

50:30 But they're an organization that's going to be doing the simulcast, I think. They're not separating radio and TV. One in the snow. As in, yeah.

50:40 Sounds like a cost-cutting move to me.

50:43 Yeah.

50:43 It means you need one broadcast team instead of two. And I saw that whoever this radio guy is who's going to be doing the TV broadcasts is on, like, a trial basis. Like, the entire franchise is on a trial basis right now.

50:57 As in what? Like, you try out for, like, a week?

51:00 He's essentially an interim.

51:03 Oh.

51:05 That's just what I see from one Blazers edge article. I don't know if it's true, but weird.

51:09 Don't screw up with the cough button.

51:12 You're out of here.

51:13 All right, let's recap our NBA league pass teams. We've got four each TK, your squad.

51:17 My squad, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers and Washington wizards. Okay.

51:25 Tess, the Toronto Raptors, the Portland trailblazers, the Utah jazz and the Miami heat.

51:31 And my league pass teams are ABA heavy, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets, and then my wildcard pick, the Dallas Mavericks with Kyrie Beck and Cooper Flagg in year two. Let's hear who we missed. Yell at us right now. How could you miss this team in your league pass rankings? Here's the thing.

51:52 Don't worry.

51:52 We'll be watching them all, as much as we can at least. And we try and talk about it a lot of teams here on No Dunks as well, to the best of our ability.

51:59 Real quick, this episode is brought to you by CalSheet. CalSheet is an exchange where you can trade what you actually think is going to happen in sports, politics, culture, or whatever's on your mind. You're going up against other traders directly. There's no house setting the odds. It's people putting their own opinions on the line. Trade $ 25 with code NODUNKS to get a $ 55 bonus. Go to the App Store or CalSheet.com and sign up. Trade responsibly.

52:26 And that goes right into our pick'em tonight. It's back, baby. Every night we pick a game. We add it all up at the end of the month. And we got to figure out October because obviously not a lot of time here. We could just put it into November if we want to. Or we could do a short month with a pick'em payoff.

52:42 I think we can do a short one. It's up to JD if he wants to produce.

52:46 We need ideas then. We need ideas.

52:47 What about that cold bucket of KFC? You said you like cold KFC.

52:52 So what's the payoff? What's the payoff?

52:54 You get chicken.

52:55 I like it. So why would I?

52:57 ASMR payoff. You get to hear Skeets eating chicken.

53:00 God, I mean, they're all losers. I'm the winner somehow out of it. Eating cold chicken.

53:06 Well, we could lose too. I don't want to eat a bold chicken. We're talking about cold chicken. We're talking about chicken from the day before. It's not fun.

53:15 You would have to eat a huge.

53:18 Quantity of chicken.

53:19 Yeah, a bucket of it.

53:20 Full bucket would be interesting. That would suck.

53:24 But is it good?

53:25 I was going to say good television, good podcasting. Not really.

53:29 That's fair.

53:31 Anyway, the game tonight, the one we're picking, is Thunder Spurs. That is the late game here tonight. Spurs favored by one and a half at home. taking on, you know, what appears to be their nemesis here. And then they had their number last year. And that's why, Trey, you're just sticking with San Antonio.

53:49 Why not, man?

53:50 They got their number. Wemby's got Chet's number. Keep running them back.

53:53 Exactly right.

53:55 I don't know.

53:56 How's it going to play out? Last year, the Thunder played a 2-0-T game in their very first game of the year. And I think they played double overtime in the second one as well. But, you know, Wemby seems pretty focused. He's like, yeah, I want to win MVP this year, but I really want to win a championship ring this year. Meanwhile, Chet is like, he does whatever he wants with him and he has nothing to do with me.

54:16 Right, right.

54:17 Very different approaches to this season, which I think is funny.

54:20 But Tass, OKC, a little, I gotta say, I was a little surprised you took them.

54:25 Yeah, because of last year, it's easy to take the Spurs during the regular season. They own them. But OKC's been waiting for this for almost five months.

54:32 They've been stewing.

54:34 Stewing.

54:34 Yeah.

54:36 They're ready to go. They're champing. They're champing for this game. They're healthier. They're healthier. While the Spurs, they don't have their number one free agent acquisition in Tobias Harris. They're hurt.

54:48 Most underrated acquisition in the entire league.

54:50 You sound like an NBA GM.

54:54 Is it a bit of a hurdle that they're starting Dylan Harper instead? That's not the team that they thought they were going to start? I guess not. But I always don't want to take the team at home. I kind of like the road team. Okay.

55:08 Look, I'm with you. But who knows? It's a small line. I mean, this could go either way. I'm super excited. I can't believe NBA basketball is back tonight. Today, excuse me. Today.

55:18 Four hours.

55:19 Yeah, we got to get out of here. Celtics Pistons at three o'clock. All three games today on Peacock slash NBC. But that is the first game. A matinee game for our friends in Europe as everybody keeps pitching it. Primetime game over there. I mean, look, we do this for Olympics. This is awesome. You see people complaining because they're at a normal maybe 9-to-5 type of job and they can't see it or watch it. We're like, hell yeah, this is great.

55:45 The league pitches it as we just want to have a full-day event. They're not talking about international viewers at all. They're like, people will tune in if we do it during the middle of the day. Sure, sure.

55:54 We'll be tuned in. Then we've got Sixers-Knicks. That's at 7. Oh, my God, Ring Night in Madison Square Garden. And then Thunder Spurs, our pick-em game. And you need to get us suggestions for Pick'em Payoffs here.

56:04 All right.

56:05 Sounds like we're doing one for the small month of October. I mean, it'll be like, I don't know, eight games we'll have picked probably when you take away weekends.

56:13 You don't want to miss any.

56:14 Something like that. So let us know if you've got a suggestion.

56:17 I asked the.

56:18 Girls last night at dinner. They love Pick'em Payoffs.

56:21 It's their favorite episode for sure.

56:22 They actually had great suggestions. Okay.

56:26 Trampoline for an entire episode. Just like a small little one?

56:29 That's what they said. I think outside is funnier. Oh, wow. Not the last trampoline I thought was a good one. Dog man was a suggestion. You have to act like a dog for an entire episode. And when you laugh, you have to bark. Instead of laughing, you're, oh, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.

56:46 Okay.

56:47 And then Laura's suggestion, a grown woman, my wife, suggested that one of us has to wear a diaper and use it during the show.

56:56 Oh, God.

56:56 And I said, how about two losers and the other loser has to change the first guy's diaper? You guys in?

57:05 Absolutely.

57:06 Don't listen.

57:07 I'm not in on that.

57:09 You're not in on that.

57:10 Why not, bro? Legs up on the table, either being wiped or wiping one of you.

57:16 I'll pass.

57:16 You guys can do that.

57:17 Which is worse? Changing a diaper or having somebody change a diaper as a man? I don't know. As a grown-up. I don't know.

57:24 Yeah, those both suck. All right, so enjoy NBA opening day slash night. We're back here tomorrow, of course, to overreact to whatever happens. I mean, you were saying, like, the three-guard lineup here with the Spurs. You can basically guarantee tomorrow morning somebody's going, it's just one game, but this doesn't work. Worst plan ever here from the Spurs, or they're going to win the championship with the three-guard lineup, right?

57:50 Yeah, absolutely.

57:50 Gotta be what happens.

57:51 Yeah. So the Spurs lose. I got dibs on if, uh, it's just one game, but Tobias Harris is the piece.

57:58 How many times can Tobias Harris be said on this podcast? Well, the last couple of days, it's been a lot, a lot, a lot of times.

58:05 All right.

58:06 Enjoy the basketball today. Back tomorrow. Hit the like button, subscribe, share the show, five-star ratings and reviews until then clubber bros. You heard it here first.

58:13 Have a great time. Turn up.

58:15 Love you guys.

58:16 Awesome.

58:17 Thanks for joining us. And remember, Knicks super fans get a ring, I think. I'm assuming. I'm assuming Timothée Chalamet gets a ring.

58:25 Ooh.

58:25 Interesting.

58:26 Spike Lee gets a ring for sure.

58:27 Ooh.

58:28 And much deserved. But how far do we go down? How far do we go? John Turturro? You know, I disrespected him last year during the NBA championship. I didn't think he was an actual fan who goes to games. I was wrong.

58:40 Yeah.

58:41 He gets a ring.

58:41 That was offensive.

58:42 Give it to him. Fat Joe? I don't know. Jimmy Fallon?

58:45 Nah.

58:47 Trace Morgan?

58:48 Yes. Yeah.

58:48 Yeah.

58:49 Marissa? Marissa?

58:50 Yes. Ben Stiller?

58:52 Yes. Taylor Swift?

58:53 No.

58:53 Oh, I saw there's the Ben Stiller documentary is off now. The Ben Stiller Knicks doc from last year is off. Why? I think... They couldn't get out in time before the season started? I don't know, but I think it had something to do with... Who had creative control?

59:10 Over it.

59:12 James Dolan wanted an executive producer title. That's a little bit what it seems like.

59:18 I think he wanted to be a little bit involved with the way it went down.

59:21 They just scrapped it. Too bad. Too bad. All right, guys. Enjoy the hoops. Embrace the day.