What’s Wright - Best Of - Nick Wright DESTROYS Eagles for Jalen Hurts' blood clots, LeBron James 76ers DEBUT, NBA Opening Reaction + NFL Week 7 Predictions

0:00 Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right with Nick Wright. The best takes and moments from this week on the show. Enjoy. Now let's get to one of the most fascinating NFL stories in years. Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles to Monzae.

0:20 Jalen Hurts is set to miss the remainder of the season with blood clots in the leg. So very weird situation. Schefter had reported that Philly wasn't putting him on IR, but that ended up being a lie or false, I guess. And then Pellicero reported that Hurts didn't sleep for 36 hours before the game and played in it, obviously. And now Sirianni's frustrated with the questions.

0:41 But also Pellicero then walked that back. The reporting around this has been wrong. The blood clots started in the legs. We now hear they're in the lungs. None of this passes the smell test, and it didn't from the very beginning. So I'm going to give everyone the timeline here, okay? Jalen, they get to London. Jalen Hurts reports that he's feeling funny in his calf from being cleated. They check it out.

1:17 They discover a blood clot in his calf, a superficial blood clot. This is, again, according to the reporting that we have. And they decide it is safe for him to play in this game. However, there is conflicting reporting about how safe it is for him to sleep before the game. Pelissero initially reported he didn't sleep for 36 hours leading into the game. They then came back and he came back and said, well, actually he was able to sleep some amount of time leading into the game.

2:00 Right after the game, Jalen Hurts said, you know, it was a very interesting, before we knew about the blood clot situation, more on that in a second. Well, more on that right now, because they didn't put him on the game day injury report. He popped up on the Friday injury report with a calf, but he had no game day designation, which to me is outrageous. And it leads to the next part of this story. The fact that they didn't even list him as questionable, even if he wasn't questionable because of the blood clot, questionable because he's not going to be on his regular sleep schedule.

2:36 And whether he was up for 36 hours straight or got a cat nap somewhere in there, there's a chance the game comes around and he's like, man, I feel drunk. Like anyone ever been up for 36 straight hours or for 33 of 36 hours? You don't have your wits about you. I can't imagine that is a safe way to play an NFL game. It's insane. They didn't put him at least questionable for the game, but they didn't.

3:04 Which is why when they got back to the US, they released, and I called this at the time, A very curious, long, let us cover all our bases statement on what exactly happened with Jalen Hurts. I'm going to read it to you because we talked about it. This is again, you know, three developments ago. But when it first came out, it seemed odd that they were being very, very clear about if you will, I don't even know if clear is the right word. They were being very diligent in trying to cover, in my opinion, cover their bases on everything that did or didn't happen with Jalen Hurts' initial blood clot. So I should have had this pulled up before. Here it is. I'm going to read you their initial statement from October 8th. On Thursday, October 8th,

4:11 Jalen visited the training room after practice requesting treatment for his calf. He informed the medical staff he had been cleated during the Rams game on October 4th. This was his first treatment session for the calf injury following the game. After having practiced in full both Wednesday and Thursday, on Friday, Jalen received treatment, practiced in full, and was added to practice report. Out of an abundance of caution, an ultrasound was performed on Saturday following the team's flight to London and walk through. The ultrasound revealed a superficial blood clot.

4:46 Our medical staff and doctors in London reviewed the results and concluded that activity and mobility were important and that Jalen could safely play. I'll get back to the statement in a moment. I love that little added piece of that. our doctors and medical staff concluded that activity and mobility was important. In other words, kind of safer to play in a tackle football game than not. I think usually when you have a blood clot and they're like, hey, stay active, they mean like hop on the treadmill, take your dog on an extra long walk, not have Trayvon Walker trying to spine bust you at midfield at Wembley, but neither here nor there. Doctors recommended a follow-up ultrasound within 72 hours of the game and the return flight

5:39 to Philadelphia. More on that in a second. Jalen played without limitation in the game Sunday, received treatment on Monday and Tuesday, practiced in full Wednesday. This is again from six days ago. As reflected in the practice report throughout our time in London this week, we remain in communication with the league office regarding the matter. On Wednesday night, a follow-up ultrasound revealed movement in the small clot. Jalen will be out for Sunday's game versus the Panthers as we determine the appropriate course of treatment. His health and safety are our highest priority. That last line is a tough one to fully believe. Because again, I am no doctor.

6:25 You guys know that. However, I do know that even if you have no issues with blood clots at all, simply going on a long flight can cause them to form. It's why some folks wear compression socks on flight. I don't understand the biology of it, but long flights and blood clots are a dangerous combination. And it is a very fair question to ask. A, why was, if you knew before the game in London 10 days ago, Jalen Hurts had a blood clot and you knew there was some type of, hey, we got to monitor your sleep.

7:12 You have to get less sleep. Jalen's sleep was affected enough that when he was asked after the game why he came out of the tunnel later than usual to warm up, he said, and I quote, I was trying to get some rest. That is worthwhile putting the quarterback on the injury report with a game day designation. They didn't.

7:33 But the thing I'm most interested in, would a doctor not related to the Philadelphia Eagles have told Jalen Hurts, buddy, Do not get on a nine-hour flight back to Philly right now. Stay here. Get an ultrasound here. Let's see what these clots look like. Even if you have to stay here indefinitely while we address it. It's not what happened.

8:02 He then goes back to Philly. They practice. They do whatever. Wednesday. They see the clot has moved. That is when they ruled him out for the game on this weekend. And that is really, Demanze, just where the story starts getting interesting. Because Saturday morning, Adam Schefter sends out this tweet. More about the Eagles, it's a link to an article. Not planning to place Jalen Hurts on injured reserve, even as he remains sidelined indefinitely because of a superficial blood clot.

8:50 In which they say, this is an article posted at 7.30 a.m. Saturday. Graph 2, the team, according to sources, has not even discussed the possibility of injured reserve. which would sideline Hertz for a minimum of four weeks. That is Saturday morning at 7.30 a.m. that goes out. Saturday evening or afternoon at 3.56 p.m., this tweet, breaking after consultations with numerous doctors and experts that went into Saturday evening, the Eagles are placing Jalen Hurts on injured reserve. The move will sideline Hurts indefinitely. So Saturday morning, sources say they've had no discussions. And he even writes, the team, according to sources. So you know what? I'm going to go ahead and say those are sources on the team,

9:53 not sources with Jalen Hurts camp and Jalen Hurts agency. Within eight hours, an about-face, actually not happening. And then we don't hear anything until not the Philadelphia Eagles, but his agent releases The following statement, we can put it on the screen. And now she releases this. Did I just freeze? Gosh, darn it. We're going to have to do this camera thing again. Okay, I'm okay. All right, sorry.

10:36 It just might, maybe my return froze. But the, okay, no, I did. Hold on, I think I'm back.

10:42 I think I'm back.

10:43 Sorry about that. Now his agent said, This is a joint statement, but she's the one who released it. I will read it exactly. Over the last few days, Jalen Hertz has received comprehensive medical evaluations, this is from yesterday, by physician experts. In the interest of transparency, we are providing additional information on the diagnosis and treatment plan related to his condition. Jalen was initially diagnosed by specialists in London.

11:17 with left calf superficial vein thrombosis. That's a superficial blood clot. After further testing and monitoring, the current diagnosis is deep vein thrombosis. So that's no longer a superficial blood clot. And then the very scary part, as well as bilateral pulmonary emboli, pardon me, that is blood clots in both of his lungs. And the reason blood clots are scary if they're in your leg is because they can travel up to your lungs and kill you flatly. The risk is not that the blood clot in your leg is the problem. It's that it travels, gets to your lungs, which is exactly what happened to Jalen Hurts. Now they caught it and he'll be treated for it. And if treated for blood clots, you know, your risk is very,

12:18 I don't want to speak out of school here, but as long as they catch it and treat it, usually okay. I'm going to go back to the statement. He is clinically stable and has no significant functional limitations. His treatment should only involve anticoagulation, which are blood thinners, during this time.

12:36 He will not be allowed to participate in any contact activities, including football. And that is very simple. Blood thinners do it. Anticoagulants do exactly what they sound like they do. They thin out your blood. So if you get cut or even suffer a bad bruise, which is like internal bleeding, you can die because your blood doesn't clot. Like you just bleed and bleed and bleed. So you can't play pro sports on blood thinners. Now, Most people have to go on blood thinners for only a period of time.

13:13 The blood clots never come back, and then you're good to go. That's what everyone is hoping happens with Wimby. Wimby's, by the way, never traveled to his lungs. However, Chris Bosh, and there's other NFL guys who had blood clots in the offseason, went on blood thinners. They're playing right now. Chris Bosh, sadly, Demanze, got a blood clot, went on blood thinners, wanted to come back. got another blood clot, and if you get them multiple times, the way I understand it is, the medical recommendation is you got to be on blood thinners forever. You're just somebody who develops blood clots. And that ended Bosh's career. I don't think they're worried about that with Jalen because Jalen's happened due

13:55 to a trauma, due to being cleated in the leg. His body didn't just spontaneously create this. But it is a concern. Back to the statement. Jalen's prognosis is very good. We expect a full recovery. We anticipate that he will have the opportunity to resume contact football activities when all flood thinners. All good. In the meantime, he will remain active around the team and continue to condition. More importantly, we anticipate that he will have no long-term effects. We're thinking of Jalen looking forward to a strong recovery. Okay.

14:23 Amen to all of that at the end. And I hope this is a one-off thing for Jalen Hurts and his health and his career. But none of this passes the smell test on the Eagles side of things. None of it. The way they handled it going into the London game, the way they handled it right after the London game, The very weird reporting, which seems to obviously have come from, and this is why, like, I know I hammer on the NFL insiders, but sometimes the reporting actually matters. And then the fact that it appears to me the Eagles messaging on Saturday morning was not even putting him on IR. He should be fine. And by Monday morning, the messaging from the agent on behalf of the Eagles is, my client has blood clots in both

15:27 of his lungs now. And we have to include things in a statement like the term medically stable. And he's out for the year. Speaks to a massive disconnect. Massive. So I, and I, poor Nick Sirianni is up there yesterday to Monze stumbling and bumbling around a press conference. That guy's got a hard enough time explaining what offense they're running, much less anticoagulants and, but you know, bilateral pulmonary emboli. This is not my guy's area of expertise.

16:07 Where's Howie Roseman?

16:09 Okay.

16:09 Where's Jeffrey Lurie? Where is someone on the Eagles medical staff to explain why they thought Jalen Hurts was definitively so healthy going into the London game he didn't need to be on the injury report? Healthy enough to get on another long flight back from London. Didn't get the secondary ultrasound until Wednesday where they saw that the clot had moved. And why, on Saturday, were you guys telling reporters, basically, he'll be fine, and on Monday, he's dealing with a very serious, significant medical condition? If I'm Jalen Hurts, I am livid.

17:00 Do you think this will cause a problem for them, like him and the Eagles, for when he gets back? What happens when Jalen Hurts gets back and can play again?

17:08 He could have died. I.

17:13 I don't know. I do know that people that are talking about, oh, he has no guaranteed money left in his deal and the Eagles could tank the year and all of that, flatly don't understand the salary cap. So let me just explain something to folks because, again, this is another thing that I hammer on because it matters.

17:36 We've talked ad nauseum about the way the Eagles do their cap and void years, all of that. I don't have to do that again. but I want to explain something to the audience that everybody seems to have wrong, okay? And again, I have not read the contract. I am trusting the people at SpotRack who do this for a living.

17:57 Jalen Hurts, this offseason, Demanze, if they were to trade him this offseason, if they trade him before June 1st, It is $ 85 million of dead money because of the way they have structured the deal. If they trade him after June 1st, it's $ 30 million on this year's cap and $ 54 million on the following year's cap. It's not tenable.

18:33 And by the way, it's one thing to trade A.J. Brown after June 1st because... The Patriots know they're getting him and it is what it is. We need to do it for cap purposes. Hard pressed to trade for a team to be like, oh yeah, we'll give you the draft capital necessary to get a franchise quarterback, but he's not going to be allowed to be in our building until halfway through the off season. So the way I read the contract, if Philadelphia did want to move on from Jalen Hurts, It would be the offseason after this one, 2027, when again, still trading him then is $ 54 million of dead cap. So I don't know that they can just move on from Jalen. By the way, I don't think they should want to move on from Jalen,

19:36 assuming he's able to play football again. With that said... What if Jalen's like, I don't want to play for you guys. You guys... did not do this properly. That salary cap Armageddon moment that I've talked about with Philadelphia could be on the precipice. So, None of that is good. Go ahead.

20:06 Does it seem like Jalen hurts? Wasn't fully aware of the situation.

20:09 Like I know the Eagles, like the does, he was told that he had to stay up. Like he was aware of the blood clots. Is there a chance that he was like, I'm playing in this game, you know?

20:21 Yeah, but that's, but that's what doctors are there for. I'm sure he wanted to play, but no, it's not Jalen hurts his job to know the ins and outs of blood clots and risks. Like it's, And it felt to me, and I said it on the TV show a week ago, before we knew any of this was going on, that the Eagles were, they gave such a detailed cover your ass style statement last week when the news first broke, that it felt to me like they knew something, they had screwed something up. And the reporting since then has not been has not moved me off that.

21:05 I'm going to add one other point because there's a piece in The Athletic this morning about Sirianni's job security. I do wonder if when Jalen Hurts comes, of course I wonder, but I'll make a prediction. I don't think Jalen Hurts has played his last game as an Eagle, but I bet he's played his last game for Nick Sirianni.

21:31 Said it before, I'll say it again. The Philadelphia Eagles and Jeffrey Lurie have fired far better coaches than Nick Sirianni. And there's not usually a lot of extenuating circumstances around it. Andy Reid went 4-12 in 2012. He got clipped. It didn't matter that prior to that, he had had a winning record in God, what is the number there? 11 of 12 seasons that he had been to five conference championship games in a Super Bowl. They went 8-8 and were disappointing the year before. They went 4-12 and he got clipped. The next coach, Chip Kelly, went 10-6 in back-to-back years, then went 7-9 one year out of there.

22:31 The next coach... Doug Peterson, after going 7-9 his first year, went 13-3, won the Super Bowl, 9-7, won a playoff game, both the Super Bowl and that playoff game with a backup quarterback, Nick Foles. The next year, won the division at 9-7. The next year, 4-11, out of there. Jeffrey Lurie's history is one disastrous season, extenuating circumstances be damned.

23:01 I don't care what you're you know, track record of success has been, if we think we can do better, we'll do better. And so Sirianni's winning percentage is great. The resume is great. I understand that. But the Eagles all of a sudden demands a, they're the easy game on people's schedule. And I just don't.

23:27 Season over.

23:28 I don't think Sirianni survives it. I don't think he survives it. And I think I would really appreciate if some actual NFL insider, not somebody trading favors so they can get their Twitter count up, so they can get better brand deals, but if an actual NFL insider gets to the bottom of what the fuck just happened here, Because we got a Super Bowl MVP, one of the faces of the league, who the too-long-didn't-read timeline is this.

24:14 Gets to London. Team finds out he has a blood clot. The doctors tell him, according to the team, actually, you know what? Crazy thing. Kind of like if you've got brittle bones, drinking milk's good. If you've got a blood clot, playing in an NFL football game, good for it. It's helpful. In fact, you know, we wish that when we had regular civilians who come up to our office with superficial blood clots, We try to tell them, hey, the first thing you should do is try out for your local football team, see if you can get in next week's game.

24:48 It helps you there. By the way, try not to sleep before the game. Hopefully that doesn't, you know, lead to any other type of injuries. But if you do got to, you know, get a, you know, catch a few Z's, no problem. But throw that off. Fly back to Philly. Couple days later, they're like, is there anything we forgot? Oh, Jalen's ultrasound. Let's do that follow-up. Oh, the blood clot's moved. Uh-oh. All right, he's not playing this week. But hit up Schefter and Rapp. Don't worry.

25:17 It's no big deal. We haven't even discussed IR. It hasn't even come to our mind. A few hours later, turns out he's on.

25:27 IR.

25:28 36 hours later, wonder if Jalen was up for the whole piece of it. He's got blood clots in both his lungs. His season's over. He's on anticoagulants and he's medically stable. Give me a break, man. You're supposed to be one of the best organizers. Say it again.

25:43 Give him a key to the city.

25:45 I mean, this is, you know, I picked this team to go to the Super Bowl. And was that in part to curry favor with the fans that I'm going to be seeing all the time? starting literally Thursday. They couldn't even make it to the home opener before I got to torch the team. But I think Eagle fans should. Eagle fans on this got to hear this and totally agree with me. This is messed up. And Jalen Hurts deserves better than this. And I think his agent knows it.

26:22 And I'm very curious. I don't think this story is close to over. I know that was a half hour. I know we normally, you know, we're going to still hit all the games. I think this is such a massive story. And it's clear we're not getting the real version of it. It's so clear. All right, we'll get to week six in the NFL in a second. But first, I want to tell you guys about the new prediction market, Polymarket.

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28:09 NBA is back.

28:09 First couple nights are finished and in the books and we got a lot of new tandems, a lot of new landscape, people with new teams. Um, so you got to see LeBron with his new squad. You got to see OKC and Chet get a little bit of revenge against Wimby. Um, Giannis with Miami, Lomelo and Ant. Uh, what'd you see that stood out the most to you and, uh, what did you like?

28:29 So, okay. Let's just go in chronological order of the nationally televised games. Um, And so your Celtics in a game that started at 3 p.m. It started at noon for you.

28:44 It was a very early game.

28:46 Weird spot. Had a huge lead and blew it to the Pistons. 23-0 run for the Pistons. Did not see that coming. Paul George was playing great and then, you know, cooled off. And listen, your guy, who I like a lot, Tatum, just had a really, really rough night. There's no way around it.

29:07 The team was very similar to the team that it was last year and what our flaws usually are, but game one.

29:14 Yeah, and so I'm not overreacting to that. Tatum shot six of 23. That's not going to happen very often. Anyone like me that is a Bill Simmons fan and listens to Simmons' podcast, I'm sure got a little wry smile out of his beloved Hugo He gets mad when people say this, but untouchable Hugo in trade talks playing Tin Man. and scoring zero points. And it is hard for me to watch the Celtics and not think, yeah, I wonder if they'd look a little better with Giannis on that team. Maybe a little better. But, again, it's game one, and it was good for the Pistons, for Duren to look like Duren, not play off Duren, especially after the postseason drama. But then, for me, the main event of the evening was ring night in New York City.

30:05 I did not go to the game, and it was the Philadelphia 76ers announcing to anybody that wanted to listen, they are real contenders. They play if... If they are able to have a hierarchy of, offensively, Maxie is the man. Maxie is going to have the highest usage. Maxie is going to average the most points. Most nights, the number two is Jalen Brown. He will be in that secondary score role, and that will be his job. With LeBron being Swiss Army Knife orchestrator, along with Embiid, and Embiid said it, and obviously Embiid's health is... you know, the biggest question of the season, but that goes without saying.

31:06 It just, like, Embiid's health is what it is. You would be shocked if he's healthy for the majority of the season. Can they make do when he's not? Will he be healthy in the playoffs? That is the sort of domically he's hanging over the season, but you have to evaluate the team as it is. Embiid saying his goal is to make an all-defensive team for the first time in a couple years, or in a few years, is super positive. Because Embiid's, for that team, Demanze, Embiid's defense is more important than his offense. And LeBron was dialed defensively. And, you know, I know people get, you know, roll their eyes and, you know, are just waiting for me to do the Let's spend a moment talking about LeBron James. But let's spend a fucking moment talking about

31:55 LeBron James. Let's do it. We are just numb to the fact that this dude is in his 24th season. Do you know how absurd that sounds? It's his 24th season. Do you know how many all-time greats didn't play 14 seasons? This guy, Bill, again, you know, different era, obviously. Bill Russell didn't make it to 14. Bird Magic didn't make it to 14. Jordan didn't play 14 with the Bulls. Like, he's in his 24th year. The guys who are in, like, he's in his 24th year and with 90 seconds left in a tight game, getting to the top of the box to block a layup. Just never, it's just incomprehensible.

32:53 And folks are so grasping for what we're going to whine about with LeBron that we've moved to means of transportation. We've gotten to, let's talk about the carbon footprint and whether or not Fanatics is getting their money's worth in the endorsement deal. Get the fuck out of here. I mean, just be happy, guys, that this guy loves basketball this much and he's still playing and is going to be a wildly important piece of a contender. And so, Knicks, there's no concern at all about the Knicks, but I do feel this way. I think in the Eastern Conference, and I felt this going into the game, it's the Knicks and the Sixers here, and then everyone else a grade and a half below. Those are the two best

33:52 teams in the conference, I feel like. I think the Celtics are a transaction cycle away. I think that, you know, I think that they are take a small step back. I will talk about Miami in a minute. Well, the Pacers are an interesting, don't forget about us. And they played last night at the smoothie King center. Halliburton looked good.

34:12 They looked good. Um, the pistons are fine. The calves are fine. I'll see. We'll see the calves tonight. Um, But I think it's the Knicks and the Sixers. Go ahead. Am I leaving somebody out?

34:25 No, you're just talking East right now.

34:27 We haven't gotten to the West yet. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm only talking East.

34:31 I'm saying those are the two. It would surprise me a lot if someone comes out of the East other than Knicks, Sixers. I think those are the two best teams. The producers are saying I'm forgetting about Toronto. I. I do not feel as strongly about Toronto as my friends in the media who every single Sixers conversation is littered with, well, Embiid, well, Embiid, well, Embiid, well, Embiid, Embiid's health, when he's probably their third or fourth most important guy. And the Raptors, I'm supposed to feel like, oh, they'll be fine, even though their far and away most important guy has not, given us a healthy regular season in playoffs this decade. So, like, I'm just, again, like, the reason you can be optimistic about Philly despite Embiid's

35:36 health and be pessimistic about Toronto because of Kawhi's health is because Philly's whole thing is not built around Embiid anymore. Philly flipped Paul George for LeBron James and Jalen Brown. They're no longer, like, that's what happened. I know it's crazy. You can't even believe it when you say it.

35:56 Like.

35:57 It's ridiculous.

35:58 I think both, like, I think LeBron is still better than Paul George. Jalen Brown's obviously better than Paul George. And there's no disrespect to Paul George. But, so I think that in the East. But then out West, Amonzeh. I was happy for Chet.

36:18 Yeah.

36:20 Chet– No, he got embarrassed last year, and that was like almost like a– like you deal with that after the.

36:25 Game, like in your head. Like that's not just in the basketball game. And that is really– that's nice for him.

36:33 And so I don't want to glaze over what you said. That could have been a career changer for him. in a negative way. It could have been, it could have been whenever we play this team, I'm going to be timid and like, and instead he won the matchup with Wimby. He outplayed Wimby. They, the, I forget who was at Fox.

36:54 Somebody threw him on the ground. Um, yeah, it during the game, but whatever that's going to, that's going to happen.

37:01 Um, and Chet probably threw himself as well.

37:04 Yeah. I mean, but Chet's also, you know, I think they said this off season, they're like, you put on weight. And it was two pounds. Like, Chet's going to be, you know, this is going to be a problem for him. But he played great. And the Thunder looked awesome. I thought the Spurs were going to clobber him. Thunder looked awesome.

37:24 And one of the reasons the Spurs didn't clobber him is because Victor Wimbinyama refuses to accept that he's 7'6. He's trying to play out on the perimeter. I've. I've discussed this before, but I will discuss it again. Victor Wimbinyama has never been a good three-point shooter. Ever. Okay? Victor Wimbinyama, his second to last year playing pro ball in France, shot 26% from three. His last year playing pro ball in France shot 27% from three. Victor Wimbinyama in the U.S. has never shot better than 35% from three.

38:23 Last year, he shot threes at the same rate and the same efficiency as Lou Dort and Scoot Henderson. who are all fine three-point shooters, but none of them were like, man, knock down.

38:41 Lou Dort can get hot. Lou Dort can have some nights for sure.

38:45 And listen, I think Dort last year actually, his three-point percentage dipped. And Dort's maybe the wrong example because that's actually the only thing offensively Dort does because he's a three and D guy. But last year, Wimby shot five and a half threes a game and made 34.9% of them. And in the playoffs, he shot five and a half threes a game and shot 34.2% of them, or made 34.2% of them. And the year before, he shot nine threes a game and made 35.2% of them. And his rookie year, he shot five and a half a game and made 32.5% of them. It is cool. He is a legendary shooter of the people who are 7'1 and above.

39:31 No one denies that. Whenever you say that he's a bad shooter, that's where my mind goes. I'm like, dude, he's 7'6 and 3'4. No, he's the greatest....

39:44 Shooter ever of guys taller than 7'3. Fine. But that can't... DeMondsey, he started this game 0 for 12. Yeah. He... He didn't... 10 of his 13 shots were outside of the paint. Yeah.

40:08 It's... Dream shakes.

40:10 It needs to be a. Fourth pitch that he has not his go-to and it is he will not be a consistently great offensive player until he accepts I am not Kevin Durant I should not be modeling my game after Kevin Durant I should be modeling my game after Kareem All this time I'm spending working on my handle, which is, again, he is the greatest ball handler ever of guys 7'4 and above.

40:51 But amongst just, if we're taking away the curve of the height, he's just a fine ball handler. Like, he's not unbelievable compared to the guards in the league. He just plays the offensive game strategically incorrect right now.

41:11 And with him being more of a defensive player, like he did play good defense in the game.

41:16 So with his offense, like you can kind of deal with it. Like it's not as, Oh, of course.

41:21 If, if, if when B scored, if when B average 10 points a game, he'd still be a top 10 player in the league because he's so great defensively, even in that game against the thunder, he was one for 13 and he, was a net blocks yeah it was like it still had an impact on the game but you just can't play that way at seven it's it defeats the purpose of being seven six i don't understand it like it would be let me again i'll i'll use a lebron comp for a second here And let me, LeBron, once he got to, well, in Miami, he was, he shot 40% from three one year. So that's probably a bad example. LeBron back in Cleveland. LeBron's four years back in Cleveland, before he went to the Lakers and after Miami.

42:29 Those four years, he shot exactly 35% from three. Okay. Okay. It was on four a game. It was one of the things he did. But LeBron in that moment, and certainly young LeBron earlier than Cleveland, the second time around, his version of being 7'6 was, I'm the fastest player in the league. I can jump the highest of any player in the league. I'm the strongest player in the league.

43:07 I'm the best raw athlete the league's ever seen. And if he just decided, ah, there's going to be games I drive to the basket one time, it would be absurd. And that's Wimby not, hey, give me the ball. I'm taller than everybody by a lot. Like, I just don't get it. I don't understand not trying to use the thing that gives you a chance to be one of the greatest players ever. And then after the game, he was like, I got to get back to having fun and playing with joy. Buddy, it's game one of year four.

43:50 Why are you so melancholy?

43:53 No, for real.

43:55 He was like, I got to get back to playing the game the way I love it. Like, it's the first game of the season.

44:00 You're 23.

44:00 I think he just went from 1 for 13.

44:04 So that was weird. All right. And then last night, quickly here, Ant was unbelievable. Unbelievable. And LaMelo, they seemed to be having a ton of fun. You want me to say something, DeMond? I'll say, go ahead. I can tell the look in your face. Go ahead.

44:23 They're looking good. They're looking good.

44:26 I told you.

44:27 I host for this team. It's just bro ball. And I think it's going to succeed. I think it's going to succeed. Just good vibes.

44:34 Did you hear what?

44:35 You probably need a little bit more offense.

44:38 Well, yeah. I mean, Giannis scores 35 on 19 shots, and they get annihilated. because they're 8 of 33 from 3. Like, that is... That game was concerning for Miami. Not like panic, but Giannis was unbelievable, and it went exactly the way people were worried it would go. Which is, you play teams that can hit threes, you can't hit threes, and what are you going to do? But back to the LaMelo...

45:16 ant thing. Did you see what, hear what Chris Finch said about the mood of the team? I think you'd like it a lot. You talk about your guy, LaMelo. Yeah. And he's like, last year we were a moody bunch, but this, I'm paraphrasing. He's like, this kid is always in such a great mood and always is so joyful that we traded out moodiness for happiness. It's basically like, Julius Randle was a pain in the ass and moping.

45:48 We brought in the vibes guy. And LaMelo, right.

45:51 And LaMelo seems like he's, you know. Vibes in buckets.

45:54 Like, he's not.

45:55 No, and so that, you know, credit where it's due. People love the kid. They love him. They like playing with him. And, you know, he creates offense in a very unique way. Last night was obviously about Ant. I mean, LaMelo and Ant last night, between the two of them, shot 33s.

46:19 A lot.

46:20 Yeah. 33s, bro. I mean, that's... But they made 14 of them. So you'll take that every single night. Ant was phenomenal. And they are... You know, they're very interesting. My concerns about LaMelo are well-documented... My maturity concerns, we haven't seen him in the playoffs, but his play-in resume of how he's performing in those games, not good, obviously, but that's down the road. Right now, the first game, they couldn't feel better about. Jaden McDaniels, fresh off his contract extension, played great. Kamingo was solid. Gobert was great defensively, great defensively in that game, and they won by 25. So, you know, and then there was one other nationally televised game, Luka and the Lakers against what is going to be,

47:22 I fear, a very sad season in Golden State for the Warriors, Steph, and Draymond. You know, but the story of that game, Walker Kessler was 12 for 12. It's pretty good. And, you know, Luka's doing his thing. The story of that game, however, is the rookie, Yaxel Lindenborg, and Luka. Go ahead, Demondze.

47:51 So, yeah, Yaxel got his taste of the NBA, played Luka for the first time last night, and said that he didn't like his whining. He said he complained, but he had a lot of respect for Luka before this game and didn't like his complaining the whole game. What do you think of that?

48:05 And he said he lost all the respect he had for him. Yeah. All right, I am now going to sound more like a grandfather than I've ever sounded on this show. I am going to sound like such an old man over these next 45 seconds. Who the hell does Yaxel think he is? It is your first game of your career, Rook. And you are talking about your levels of respect? for a future first ballot Hall of Famer, chill out, man. Like, there is an amount of... I'm not talking about on the court. On the court, back and forth everything. You know, Luke is talking trash, you talk trash back. All of that, all of that is fair game, and I like a rookie that won't back down.

49:06 But after the game, holding court at the press conference... talking trash about one of the five best players in the sport after the first game of your career.

49:19 You're going to see him later, too.

49:22 On the heels of the weird offseason between him and Draymond, I don't like that at all. I'm just telling you right now. I thought that was a terrible look.

49:36 Draymond kind of vindicated on the way that he talked to him?

49:39 Except I think Draymond kind of liked what Yoxel was doing. I did not like it. I don't love rookie first game. I don't know if I've ever seen it, DeMonte. First game ever by a rookie afterwards talking trash about a legend. A.J.

50:02 DeBansa dropped 45 on us, I think, in his first game and didn't say anything like that in his rookie year last year.

50:10 No, not DeBansa. V.J. Edgecombe. Oh, V.J. Edgecombe.

50:15 Yeah, V.J. Edgecombe.

50:17 Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, I think he had 36 or something crazy. Yeah, of course. Can you imagine? Like, I just, I mean, you just can't. That's probably Drayvon rubbing off on him, though.

50:30 I don't know.

50:31 Draymond doesn't seem to mess with him. It seems like that's who Yoxel is, like whatever. I just didn't like it at all. But the Warriors, I think, are going to be bad. I just think they've got a rough season ahead of them. Boost Mobile is proving you don't have to overpay for great wireless. Unlock the savings with the $ 25 a month forever unlimited plan. It's a permanent price with no contracts and no price hikes. You can keep your phone and your number, but you save up to $ 600 a year compared to the major carriers. Stop overpaying and switch to a fair price at BoostMobile.com today.

51:09 Based on average annual single-line payment of AT & T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit BoostMobile.com. All right, it's time now to Monze. For Nick's Picks, brought to you by our friends at Polymarket. So, let's get right to it.

51:35 Jets minus four and a half versus Miami.

51:39 Listen, there's a lot of reasons. All the trends say Miami is the play here. They're off a bye, which I care about. They are winless. It's a divisional game. All of these things. I don't know that off a bye helps Miami as much as it would a normal team because I do think there's a possibility some of the guys on the Dolphins are like, yeah, I mean, we kind of know what's what this year. Like, let's enjoy our week off. So I don't know if they're going to come back like totally dialed. So there's that piece of it. I don't think it's like this week, get in that training room, feel better, get ready for this push. I don't think that's how it's going to go.

52:29 It's also the Dolphins literally have not come within four and a half points of any team they've played this season. They have lost by 14, 22, 14, five and seven. Jets on the flip side. Decent. Week one beat the Titans. Week two, close, kind of blown game against the Packers. Week three, the Lions controlled that game, if I remember it correctly. Or did the Lions have a late?

52:59 No.

53:00 That game against the Lions is 24-24 with three minutes left. Lions, you know, Lions end up winning it. The Bears dominated them, dominated them. They beat the Browns. And I thought Geno looked good against the Patriots. So like Gino is this year to Monza seven touchdowns, one pick a one Oh two rating. They're at home. I, the dolphins are not good now. Am I nervous as I'm talking about it? Yeah.

53:35 Does the Aaron Glenn factor make me anxious? Sure. But jets minus four and a half we're rolling with next.

53:43 All right, you got some crazy games in here. You got Indy plus six and a half at Minnesota. These are like stay away.

53:51 No, I mean, no, you can say they're stay away.

53:52 It's totally fine. No, I was going to say stay away from the TV.

53:57 Oh, yeah. Oh, games you don't want to watch. Yeah, I understand that. The Colts lost last week because of their special teams. The Vikings offense, to me, does not deserve to be touchdown favorites against a team in Indy that I do think, because of Jonathan Taylor, is going to be able to move the ball somewhat. Week one, the Vikings blew out the Packers in the weirdest blowout of all time, where they were down in that game 22-10 late in the third quarter. And then scored 29 consecutive points to blow them out. Aside from that, they're not blowing people out. They beat the Bears by six.

54:51 They beat the Dolphins by five. They beat the Bucks by seven. They beat the Saints by 10 in a game that, again, was tied going into the fourth quarter. Now, they are off a bye, which I do like for them. And we will find out this week. If the Colts don't like Shane Steichen, I imagine they do like Shane Steichen.

55:13 I say that the players I'm talking about because GM just got fired, and if you don't like the coach, you can kind of roll over and he'll be clipped too. But I'll take the Colts plus the points to keep their season alive, basically fading the Vikings offense.

55:29 Next. Atlanta plus two and a half versus San Francisco.

55:33 So this is the one where, you know, Most places are going to have it at three. So we're either two and a half or three and a half, but I'm the, the more accurate, closer to no vig number would be two and a half. So I'm costing myself a critical half point.

55:54 You think the Falcons are going to win?

55:58 I don't. Oh, here's what I do think. Hey, I don't have a rationale as to why the Falcons will win. Let me say that. Aside from the fact, no Mike Evans, I think, could be really, really problematic for San Francisco. 100% of my analysis on this game is, if we were to get a room and put in the room the 100 worst NFL pickers in the country, The hundred most losing pickers there are. And ask those hundred, what is your favorite game of the weekend? 85 of them would say the Niners minus two and a half. That's it.

56:49 Every single bad NFL picker is going to love the Niners this week. Now listen, even the bad pickers get some right, but I just know you are going to see from Covers.com or somebody Sunday morning, 88% of the picks and 92% of the money is on San Francisco. Everyone is going to be on the undefeated Niners against Atlanta, whose quarterback just got his ribs cracked up and, or, you know, got knocked out of the game. Last time we saw him was to a, however, Niners played Monday.

57:31 Atlanta played Thursday, right? The Falcons game. That was a Thursday night game that where.

57:38 Falcons Bears.

57:40 The, am I, am I tripping?

57:41 Hold on.

57:42 When did the Falcons play?

57:43 Didn't the Falcons play the Bears last Friday?

57:45 No, they played the Bears. It was the Thursday before against the Ravens when we saw. So it's only a short week. It's not X-Rest for Atlanta. The Falcons did play on a Thursday, but it was Thursday before. Short rest for San Francisco. Again, I don't have. I just know all the bad. The people who are the worst at this love San Francisco this week. So I'll go with Atlanta. That's the rationale. Next.

58:16 Kansas City plus two and a half at Seattle.

58:21 We don't have a lot of rules on this show. One of them is Patrick Mahomes is getting points. We take the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes as an underdog. 13-3-1 against the spread. 12-5 straight up. Patrick Mahomes... as a road underdog. 10-1-1 against the spread. That's it. I think the Chiefs can lose. I think they're supposed to lose. I think they likely will lose, but we must stick with our rules for this show. If the Chiefs, if Patrick Mahomes is getting points, they're an auto fire, which means we're going to have a few opportunities this year. We're going to take him plus the three and a half. Last but not.

59:10 Least, Philadelphia plus four and a half versus Dallas.

59:18 What have I said about bad young quarterbacks? The thing that can make teams believe in them or make the public think they're better than they are, is if they get to play a defense that reminds them of their college success. First read open. Dallas' defense is that. Philly's defense, on the other hand, as banged up as Philly is, as bad as this season's been, Philly's defense still can be an elite defense. So I think Tanner McKee will look much better than he did last week. I think I've got a Philly defense that might be able to slow down this Dallas offense that has struggled mightily the last two weeks of it. I am getting four and a half points. It's a divisional game. They're at home.

1:00:08 And for Philly, this is, you know, there is a real, even all the injuries on offense, there is the real chance that the defense by itself keeps them in this game. So not saying Philly's going to win, but Philly getting four and a half at home in a divisional game against a bad defense, I'll take it.

1:00:33 Maybe a little bit of do it for Hertz energy in there?

1:00:36 Yeah, maybe.

1:00:37 Yeah, I mean something, or at least temporarily. So I'm taking one favorite and four dogs. Jets minus four and a half at home against Miami. Indy getting six and a half at Minnesota. Atlanta. getting 2.5 at home against San Francisco. Kansas City getting 2.5 at Seattle. And Philadelphia getting 4.5 at home against Dallas.