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00:00One final full day of the NBA All-Star break. Tomorrow we are back in action
00:06with one game, a rescheduled game in Los Angeles between the Lakers and the
00:11Hornets. So DRS, here we are at the All-Star break in full for one final
00:17time. It gives us a chance to reset and look at those big questions all around
00:22the association for this stretch run and beyond. Of course, a ton of conversation
00:28yesterday, today, this week in the immediate aftermath of All-Star weekend
00:34and the change in format that we saw on All-Star Sunday night. Not just an
00:38All-Star game, but All-Star games. The product itself, not overly exciting. Those
00:46TV viewership numbers should be coming out shortly and that will be a serious
00:51indication as well. But a big report yesterday, DRS, from Ryan Glass-Spiegel
00:57of Front Office Sports on some potential changes ahead for All-Star
01:03weekend starting next year in 2026. It should be noted when NBA takes over the
01:09television broadcast in production for All-Star weekend, which has basically
01:13been on TNT for a very long time. Some proposed potential changes in earlier
01:20start time. 5 p.m. Eastern time for the All-Star game, tipped off this previous
01:26Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. A complete change in format. A $1 million
01:32prize for a one-on-one tournament and a guarantee, perhaps, of big names in the
01:40dunk contest as we play, buy, or sell DRS. Those are the proposed changes that
01:46inform this conversation. In the buy or sell to you, NBA All-Star weekend is
01:54unfixable. I sell that. I sell that because it's an easy sport to fix. Well,
02:00let's go over the layers here because I do like where some of these ideas are
02:03coming from. And I do feel, Ben, at times I am Nostradamus of sports. This is why I
02:08do. People think I joke around saying I want to be commissioner of every league.
02:11Ben, since you have known me here on this sports network, what do I scream at? Put
02:16the games on when every single person in the country can watch them and watch the
02:23ratings rise. Simple. 5 o'clock start time. How come when everybody was
02:28watching the All-Star games in the 80s and early 90s, Ben, it was an afternoon
02:32on a Sunday even if it was out in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
02:37wherever at this point? It only makes sense. Why are you starting something at
02:418 o'clock when you want to grow this? Oh, but the West Coast, you know, 5 p.m.
02:44start. Nonsense. More people live on the East Coast and Central Time than the
02:49rest of the country. So if you put it on at five, every single person in the
02:54country, if they want to watch, can watch it. Point number two here. One
02:58million dollars in a one on one tournament. We don't need that. Throw
03:00that right out the window here. Unless you're putting a hundred million
03:03dollars or how about this? The winner of it gets the guaranteed max contract
03:07extension in the NBA. Then you watch everybody come out of the woodwork and
03:11play in the one on one tournament. The final piece, their big names, the dunk
03:14contest. Isn't that easy? Just put the best players in there. Like if you have
03:1924 all stars, put all 24 in the dunk competition. If they don't want to
03:24participate there, they don't come here. It is an easy fix. And then we're not
03:28talking about supremacy of everybody's going to watch even more than the NBA
03:32finals. Just make us want to sit down and say, you know what? What are you
03:35doing tonight? I want to watch the all star game. Superstars playing hard in a
03:39semi pickup game. We can all get down and just enjoy that for at least a few
03:43hours. It's easily fixable. So I actually sell the notion that all by
03:49the notion rather that NBA all star weekend is unfixable. I just think we
03:55are lost the plot. I don't think we're all that close to fixing all star games.
04:01I think we are trying. I think it is a media conversation. I think we sit here
04:06and have these sweeping takeaways, but I don't really think it needs to be
04:11fixed. I think all star games in this current format should just be a
04:16glorified pickup game. If you are going to say a one on one tournament is the
04:20fix to NBA all star Sunday night. I am going to argue that that is no longer
04:26an all star game. That is its own thing in its entirety. And Donny, we had some
04:32NBA players asked about, Hey, would you be interested in a one on one tourney?
04:37Would you play Anthony Edwards? Oh, for sure. I go out there and whoops. Some
04:41you know what? You honest? Yeah, I would love to play in a one on one
04:45tournament. Donovan Mitchell basically said I would do it. I think it's cool.
04:51I'm not sure everybody would be bought in to this idea. Of course, this
04:56follows what unrivaled has done in their one on one tournament that has
05:00been exciting basketball that NBA players have vouched for and have
05:05enjoyed watching. It's a very different thing to say, Hey, that's cool. And hey,
05:09yeah, I'll play and risk my reputation as one of the best hoopers in this
05:14league as I get cooked by a second year player and a first year all star. So
05:20Donny to me again, NBA all star weekend is unfixable because we are getting
05:25further and further away from an all star game, a television production, all
05:31star games and now a one on one tournament for a million dollar prize.
05:36That's not an all star game. That's not all star weekend to me. Yeah, big
05:40names in the dunk contest. We have heard that for 25 years and it hasn't
05:45happened. So I don't believe it's going to happen. I buy the idea that NBA
05:49all star weekend is unfixable. But I say that with a caveat that although it
05:54might be unfixable, that's okay. We can just try to enjoy the product that we
05:59have. If we stop trying to make it this gimmicky weird thing for casual fans
06:04that don't even tune in to watch in the first place. Yeah, but also you have to
06:07understand that that one on one competition is also with the all star
06:11game. So that'd be like the NBA saturday night per se with the dunk
06:14competition, one on one competition, three point contest. That's how it's
06:17listed like potential changes. Five p.m. Start for the all star game, then one
06:21on one tournament and big names in the dunk contest. So I took it as a whole
06:24like that was some of the ideas they're looking to fix the weekend as that's
06:28just part of that. Yeah, no, no, no, no. They take away the all star game, put
06:31a one on one. Like I'm actually gonna fly out to the game to protest why the
06:34games actually happened at that point. Yeah. So I just thought that was like an
06:37extra layer of sort of like, okay, maybe more people tune in. I have no
06:41interest in a one on one tournament, to be honest, unless it is for a super max
06:44contract that a rookie might be able to get. Like Mac McClung wins the thing
06:48gets a super max contract. But come on, man, who's gonna take that up? Like you
06:52have to, like, roll the dice or pick out of the hat. Like, congratulations,
06:55Spurs, you're paying Mac McClung $400 million over the next six years. Like
06:59that would be hilarious. So I was locked out of the article needing a log in to
07:04read it in its entirety. I thought that was the proposed change to make a $1
07:09million one on one tournament in lieu of the three games that we saw this year.
07:14Still believe it's unfixable all star weekend, at least to our expectations of
07:19what it used to be. However, now that I know there will be an all star game as
07:24well, and not in lieu of the all star game, a $1 million one on one tournament,
07:29if there is zero chance that one on one tourney is going to happen, zero zilch,
07:35nada, not happening throughout all star weekend with the risk of extra playing
07:40the risk of having to be out there and competitive while everybody else is
07:45sitting out. And you're not going to get the biggest superstars in the world in
07:49that tournament. I don't know, Donnie, for me, I basically fall here right in
07:54kind of the conversation that we had yesterday. We got so mad at things in
07:59years past. Oh, these guys aren't playing. All right, let's make an elam
08:02ending to at least make the fourth quarter competitive. Well, that's stupid.
08:06None of us can do math. All right, then let's just go back to a pickup and we'll
08:10have captains draft and maybe the guys will be more bought in from that. Oh, it
08:14didn't matter. Okay, let's go back to east and west. It's just glorified
08:17pickup. It's layup lines. It's dumb. All right, let's try to make it
08:21incentivized in a race for 40. Why is Kevin Hart on the floor? We're trying to
08:25make all of these changes to something that should have just been fun and
08:29appreciate it for what it is and understanding that unlike the 1980s, we
08:34can see every one of these guys instantaneously each and every night
08:39they play in an NBA game like the fans that ruin it. The NBA itself didn't
08:44ruin it. You know, the commercials didn't ruin it because they've always
08:47been there. The players actually ruined it. They let you know how this game is
08:51like, you know what? I just want to go out there and party, pop bottles, VIP
08:54for the weekend, mess around and just get home and then take an extra 3-4
08:57days to go to Cancun before the season actually begins. We would never have
09:00any issues here. Nobody would care if they just somewhat cared about an NBA
09:04All-Star game and we're okay. Ben 169-158 is the final. That's fun. They
09:08played a little bit of defense, a lot of showcase, but when you're scoring a
09:11couple hundred points, that's ridiculous, man. It is. Completely agree. More big
09:16picture questions around the NBA as Buyer Cell continues next. Buyer Cell
09:21around the association on the final full day of the All-Star break. Back in
09:26action with actual NBA regular season games tomorrow. Just one. That would be
09:31the Lakers and the Hornets before most of the league gets underway on Thursday
09:36evening in DRS starting this home stretch of the NBA campaign. Everybody
09:41out west looking up at the Oklahoma City Thunder. Everybody out east
09:46looking up at the Cleveland Cavaliers and everybody else except for the
09:50Boston Celtics looking up at the Seas, the reigning NBA champs in the two
09:55spots in the Eastern Conference standings. Right now, where things
09:59stand in the odds board, everybody looking up to the Thunder in the Western
10:03Conference and in the Eastern Conference. It's still the Celtics as a
10:07minus money favorite. We have now at the All-Star break as the markets have
10:12reset. It may be some more investment for this stretch run when we return
10:17from the All-Star break. Some more wagers into the Celtics and the Thunder
10:22odds on favorites in minus money to win their respective conference crown for
10:27the Celtics to see the Thunder in the NBA finals. Of course, that's the most
10:31likely matchup and the shortest price at plus 220. So Donnie, buy or sell? The
10:37NBA finals matchup will indeed be the Celtics versus the Thunder. I'm selling
10:42it because we're still too early to determine who's gonna be the best team
10:45by the time we have what late May and the finals start to begin in early June.
10:49So for me, I will sell it. Now that doesn't say that the Boston Celtics I
10:53don't think are going to get to the finals or Oklahoma City because if
10:55you're just saying right now and the question is asking the two best teams in
10:59the NBA, forget about record-wise, you probably just go pedigree would be these
11:02two teams and they should match up in the final. But as we said, nothing is a
11:06given here which includes the Boston Celtics probably not being the number
11:09one overall seed in the Eastern Conference. Why? They're five and a half
11:11games back against a quality Cleveland Cavaliers team. So then Boston will have
11:15to go on the road at least let's just say for the Eastern Conference finals to
11:19make it to the NBA finals. Then you're talking about the Oklahoma City Thunder
11:22who I love are fantastic and yes right now far and away been the best team in
11:27the Western Conference but you are also mixing in teams like the Denver Nuggets,
11:31the Los Angeles Lakers, the LA Clippers. You might say wait a minute where's the
11:34pedigree on those teams? What I'm saying is Oklahoma City is not like hey they're
11:38the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL. Every year they play in the Western
11:41Conference finals and get to the finals here. They haven't done that yet. So
11:44until they get to that mountaintop there's still going to be
11:47questions that need to be asked. It's easy to say both of these teams will
11:51make it but I'm gonna sell that. Still too much basketball game left to play
11:54and a lot of other teams are going to factor in here. I'm going to sell it as
11:58well but ever so slightly because I think you could give me a couple of
12:02bets a make or miss or this team versus the field Donnie and I would actually
12:07take one option. What I mean by that is if you were to give me a bet will the
12:12Celtics and or the Thunder at least one of those two teams reach the NBA
12:17championship series? I would say yes. I would take that bet one or the other
12:23potentially both but if you were to say the field versus this matchup I would
12:30probably also take the field. So I think one of these two teams for sure into the
12:36NBA Finals but I'm going to sell this notion right now because that was not
12:41the question that was asked. It was Boston versus Oklahoma City in the NBA
12:46Finals. Donnie I think it is more likely that Boston is the one of these two
12:51teams into the NBA Finals than I do Oklahoma City. The Thunder are a very
12:56promising team. We have expected to see their year-over-year improvement over
13:00the past two to three seasons and OKC has delivered exactly on that. Last year
13:06losing in the second round of the Western Conference postseason to Dallas
13:10in six games learning you would think from their postseason lumps but now we
13:15have to see it. We don't have to see it with the Celtics the reigning NBA champs
13:19and a team that factored in to the Eastern Conference Finals a ton in the
13:24last half decade and to your point about playoff pedigree there are a few
13:30other teams in the Western Conference. The Nuggets certainly LeBron and the
13:34Lakers and now adding Luka Doncic and a couple others that I think could stand
13:39in the way of Oklahoma City at the end. Not like the Thunder getting upset in
13:44the opening round and I still probably take OKC to play in the Western
13:49Conference Finals with home floor advantage but at the end maybe that's
13:53what knocks the Thunder off its perch. Donnie I really do believe that until
13:59proven otherwise I've got to see somebody really challenge the Celtics in
14:03the Eastern Conference come playoff time. You are right it would be different this
14:07year for Boston to be on the road in Cleveland perhaps in an Eastern
14:12Conference Finals matchup and although we still have the entirety of this
14:17stretch run about 25 games or so after the all-star break it's a five and a
14:22half game advantage that's a lot of ground for the C's to make up but the
14:26Cavaliers would really have to stumble down this stretch to even allow the C's
14:31to sniff that number one overall seed. I still think Boston is going to win the
14:35Eastern Conference Finals and it's not just me saying that you can see the
14:39price at minus 140. Yeah and that's the pedigree they have just won it last year
14:45and let's just say they do come in healthy into the playoff run it's not as
14:48if like hey you can get away in a short series Ben beat him best of three best
14:51of five you're gonna beat the Celtics in a best of seven and yes even though if
14:55it is in Cleveland and still a monumental task for Cleveland to do that
14:58but I do think they have the weapons and the pedigree to do that but it is
15:01tougher than where we see in college football professional football hey just
15:05got to beat them and bring your best on Sunday anything can happen well not
15:07really anything can happen in the seven game series the winner of that seven
15:10game series is fairly calm and they got lucky to win that seven game series no
15:14they didn't outside of catastrophic injury you beat a team four times in
15:17seven games you deserve to move on and that's not a fluke at all a one game
15:20series three game series absolutely could be the questions there for
15:24Oklahoma City who would actually challenge them like for me probably the
15:27Denver Nuggets if the Nuggets can get them an elevation championship pedigree
15:30on a team maybe the best players on the planet going toe-to-toe but for me I
15:33look at the Boston Celtics you're gonna have to go through the Cavaliers which
15:36would be tough also the New York Knicks and who's to say that once you get to
15:39the playoffs with a healthy Giannis on the Milwaukee Bucks I just think that
15:43path to victory for Boston is a little bit tougher but I do agree if you're
15:46just saying Boston's been there done that depth and they should be able to
15:50get by yes we should think that the two best teams talking about the Thunder and
15:54the Boston Celtics but for me I'm just gonna sell that notion because there's
15:57quality teams a lot can happen which includes injuries I'll stay away from
16:01those two teams just at this point right now again I'm selling that NBA Finals
16:05matchup ever so slightly as well I would be surprised if neither of those two
16:10clubs made it to the NBA Championship Series but I don't know necessarily if
16:15that is going to be our exact matchup despite what the odds makers are saying
16:19plus 220 for that to be the exact NBA Finals matchup before we emerge out of
16:25the all-star break is insane that we have two minus money odds on favorites
16:30to win their respective conferences at this moment let's talk the head-to-head
16:34NBA MVP race between Shea Gilgis Alexander and Nicola Jokic now is the
16:40NBA MVP race all but over for Shea Gilgis Alexander it's what we discussed
16:46on this final full day of the NBA all-star break here in NBA by or sell we
16:52are going to chart the MVP odds throughout this regular season so far
16:57October 22nd on opening night Luka Doncic actually the favorite at plus
17:01330 but SGA not far behind Nicola Jokic third best number after winning three
17:07MVP awards in the last four seasons on Christmas it was Jokic the short
17:13favorite about a dollar in front of Shea Gilgis Alexander middle of January for
17:17the first time Shea Gilgis Alexander becomes a minus money odds on favorite
17:23to win the NBA MVP hardware in today is February 18th at the all-star break DRS
17:29SGA minus 440 to win the NBA MVP award Nicola Jokic second best price at plus
17:36300 so bought so buy or sell to you Nicola Jokic will become the MVP
17:42favorite again at some point in this season you know what I'm gonna buy this
17:48and I do think sometimes the human element does creep in the problem is we
17:52give it the Jokic so many times he has to average 40 20 and 20 to get back in
17:56the picture when SGA has been on the cusp of an MVP specifically last year
18:00he's playing well his team by far is the best team in the Western Conference so
18:04he probably should win MVP just under the criteria of Oklahoma City never gets
18:08to the finals he played an MVP level last year now the team's actually proving
18:12it on the court with his play as well so it goes hand in hand but I always like
18:16to get back to the points man we just throw up those you know mirror images
18:19and silhouettes of player a versus player B and you just vote that way
18:23forget about what the team is actually doing what is the player actually doing
18:26in the moment and if you go side-by-side 30 points to 32 points it was like okay
18:31that's close here then 13 rebounds the five rebounds not close 10 assists the
18:35six assists not close steals per game almost identical you get the points it
18:39well the better player is Nicola Jokic just based on his numbers but again it's
18:43the human element it's not an algorithm that goes in it goes you know what we're
18:46gonna feed this through like the BCS fan and the best numbers come out on the end
18:49there's no humans that are going to pick or vote on this because we know how it
18:53works Jokic has a couple this could be SGA's
18:55best chance good team here let's just give it to him but I do think there's
18:59gonna be times in this season where yes SGA puts up eye-popping numbers he's
19:03done that for pretty much the entire season but you're gonna get a couple of
19:06these Jokic games Ben that we're gonna come on the early line of like now wait
19:09a second 36 points 28 rebounds and 19 assists which all you know is those
19:15games catapult your odds on the Fandula Sportsbook in your direction so I'm
19:19gonna go on the limb I'm gonna say yes at one point Jokic is going to cross
19:23over on SGA to keep this thing interesting on the way out before the
19:27votes come in. Nicola Jokic who has won three NBA MVP awards in the last four
19:33years is putting up numbers consistent if not better than what he has during
19:38those MVP winning seasons he is top four in all the main stat categories around
19:43the NBA points per game rebounds per game assists per game he is basically
19:48Nicola Jokic averaging a 30 point 12 and a half rebound 10 assists triple
19:54double throughout this season and yes Johnny you see that gap in terms of the
19:59MVP odds it is not fair believe me I do not believe it is fair but that has
20:05become expectation for Nicola Jokic if he doesn't have a triple double it is
20:11more noteworthy than Nicola Jokic recording a triple double in any given
20:16NBA game so Donnie I'm going to sell that Nicola Jokic will become the NBA
20:21MVP favorite at a certain point and out this regular season I believe Shea
20:27Gildress Alexander has won this award I believe Shea Gildress Alexander will
20:31remain a minus 20 favorite through the entirety of this NBA year barring
20:36obviously injury and knock on wood that doesn't happen for SGA who is leading
20:42the NBA in scoring 32 and a half points per game this year about six times and
20:47five boards per game second in the NBA in steals per game as well just shy of
20:53two thefts each and every night and outside of that Donnie outside of the
20:58just the statistical numbers between these two individuals it is also team
21:02success this is what we expected at a Shea Gildress Alexander to lead this
21:07young OKC team to be one of the best in the NBA they are four and away the best
21:12in the Western Conference an eight-game lead right now for that number one
21:16overall seed and more than likely going to end as the one seed when the regular
21:21season is through in my estimation Shea Gildress Alexander has already won the
21:26NBA MVP award yeah and again it's an argument that I'm probably going to lose
21:31if I say they're going to cross over because he is a heavy favorites I think
21:33we're both looking at plus 100 number two on this is you do have that ace in
21:37the hole where OKC like what would they have to do to sort of damage SGA season
21:43lose 10 in a row and all sudden the Grizzlies are the one seed of the
21:46Nuggets overtake them it's not as if the Nuggets are three and a half games back
21:49of the Oklahoma City Thunder and say you know what that's the crossover point
21:52great play can go into that so probably gonna happen that way where SGA takes it