TAKETHECHARGE

The speaker introduces their new podcast, "Take the Charge," where they will discuss topics related to the NBA. They mention their previous podcast, "The Poverty Franchise," and their YouTube channel, KTS. They plan to discuss all-star starters, potential trades, and the Chicago Bulls. They also address controversies surrounding the fan vote for the NBA all-star starters, particularly in the Western Conference. They discuss Steph Curry's absence from the starting lineup and the deserving performances of other players like Shea Gilders Alexander and Luka Doncic. They also mention the treatment of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, and the potential future challenges for young players to make the all-star roster due to the competitive talent pool. The speaker then criticizes the selection of Damian Lillard as an all-star starter in the Eastern Conference, suggesting other players like Jalen Brunson or Donovan Mitchell may have been more deserving. They speculate on the potential bench selec She's been that and did that, could be a corporate lawyer, or a hoodlum, it's a ghetto type fraud. And her life was hard, catching me with the dope, and she's take the charge. She's a ghetto type fraud, and her life was hard, catching me with the dope, and she's take the charge. Alright, hello, welcome to the inaugural episode of the Take the Charge podcast, hosted by yours truly, I'm Khalil. I'm very grateful to be back in the podcasting game, but you may have heard my voice on my YouTube channel, KTS. I also had a podcast called the Poverty Franchise podcast last summer, and I also had the Six Men podcast. So this is the third go at the whole podcasting thing. This time I'll be just by myself, but nonetheless, can't wait to have some interesting discussions regarding the NBA and things in that world. As far as what we have on tap for today, I did want to talk a little bit about some all-star starters. I want to make some mock trades, because the NBA trade deadline is about two weeks away at this point. Wanted to talk a little bit of Warriors, wanted to talk a little Chicago Bulls, and just how they fit into the grand scheme of the trade deadline, and just the NBA as a whole. With that being said, before we get into it, you can follow me on Instagram at the Poverty Pod, not Poverty, wrong podcast, but Take the Charge Pod. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel if you end up liking this for similar basketball content, just more edited, more filtered on YouTube at KTS, which will be linked into the bio of my podcast Instagram account. With that being said, I don't see why we shouldn't just get into things. So last night, the NBA all-star starters were announced on TNT. I was expecting controversy regardless, because it seems like there's always some sort of controversy when we're having all-star discussions, especially in the more recent years as talent in the NBA increases, and not everyone can be a starter. But out West is where I really expected to see some controversy, especially with the fan vote being what it was, with Steph being highly voted over Shea Gildress Alexander, which in a way you have to understand, because he's a top 10 player of all time, I would say, and he has one of the biggest fan bases, not just based off of Warriors fans, but just in general, people love Steph. He's like the epitome of an all-star. He does things that it feels like are impossible many times throughout the year, but he didn't end up being a starter this time. First time since 2013, I believe, he's not an all-star starter, which is crazy to think about. But the starters for the West ended up being Shea Gildress Alexander, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Nikola Jokic. There was a lot of talk about Steph being over Shea, and again, like I said before, you're going to have that just because he's a top 10 player of all time. People are going to want to see Steph in that all-star starting group. But if we're all being honest, you could really make an argument that he hasn't been the third best guard in the West this year. You could say De'Aaron Fox has had a better season, and you could honestly maybe squeeze in Devin Booker into that conversation as well. But nonetheless, let's be real, Steph is going to be an all-star regardless. But what Shea Gildress Alexander is doing for this Thunder team, being the lead guy, not only providing on the offensive side of the ball, but playing at an all-defensive level as well, is all-star worthy. It's really MVP worthy. So you really can't argue that Steph's been better than that guy who's been top three in MVP conversations. And then when we get to Luka, I mean, it's like every other game he's doing something that feels is like out of a video game. Like the guy is not real, it feels like. So I don't see where you squeeze Steph in or what the argument is for Steph to be over a Luka or a Shea. So that was really the gist of the controversy. I also saw a lot of people pointing parallels towards the treatment of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, and how LeBron is a starter still. I honestly think there's an argument that Kawhi should have started. Kawhi had a little stretch between mid-December to now where he was just on one, and the Clippers' success, you've got to take that into account. So I thought maybe he could start over LeBron. I think the thing is with the LeBron versus Kawhi argument, it's a lot more justifiable to have LeBron be a starter than it is to have Steph be a starter. It's like people aren't really going to be in uproar if Kawhi doesn't start, even though he's been great. It's just not going to be the biggest deal in the world. And LeBron is LeBron. He's always going to end up being a starter. As soon as I said he was a captain, that was pretty much a done deal that he wasn't going to start. As far as Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic go, it makes sense. Especially for Jokic, I don't know when there's going to be a time where Jokic isn't the starting big for the Western Conference, bearing injury. Another interesting thing to really think about when it comes to the Western Conference All-Stars, just going forward in the future, is you have Shea, you have Luka, you have De'Aaron Fox, you have Devin Booker, you have Steph, you have Anthony Edwards, and you have John Morant, who hasn't really played this year at all. So next year, assuming all of those seven guys are healthy, at least one or two of those guys is probably not going to make it, which is really unfortunate because they're all spectacular players in their own rights, do their own things in different situations. But the conference and just the talent in the NBA at this point has gotten to a point where it's like, jeez, there's going to be some guys who are really, really good in this generation who might not have the accolades you would think they have. It feels like we've been putting Luka in MVP conversations every year since his second or third, and he hasn't even finished as a top three finalist just because of the amount of talent there's been. So it's just going to be interesting. With Steph and LeBron getting older, Kevin Durant getting older, that clears out some space for more young guys to take those spots. But for the most part, until Steph or LeBron literally retire, those spots are pretty much taken. So the competitiveness in making an all-star roster is pretty intense, especially out West. Now, the main criticism I have with the NBA all-star starter selections comes out East, where you have MB, you have Giannis, you have Jason Tatum, you have Tyrese Halliburton. Congratulations to him. And as the fifth starter, you had Damian Lillard, who, not saying he doesn't deserve to be an all-star, I was just very shocked that they decided to go with him. I was expecting it to be Jalen Brunson. The Knicks have been on an absolute tear lately, and I genuinely just feel like Jalen Brunson being the first option on that Knicks team is a bit more impressive than Damian being a second option. Jalen Brunson's averaging 26 points, six assists, 48 from the field, 42 from three. He's putting up great numbers, and he's the catalyst for a very, very good Knicks team that we'll talk about in a little bit. So I personally would have went with him. And even if you didn't go Jalen Brunson, you have the Cleveland Cavaliers with Donovan Mitchell who have been surging, and Donovan Mitchell has been playing at an elite level as well without Darius Garland or Evan Mobley. So I thought they could possibly go with him as well. Donovan Mitchell's averaging 28, five and six, 46 from the field, 35 from three. The efficiency's not perfect, but it's still pretty dang good. And, I mean, Damian Lillard, great player. I just felt as if, you know, there were other guys who deserved that starting spot over him. I mean, when you get the All-Star accolade, it doesn't specify if you were a starter or not. It's just kind of a popularity thing at that point. But it's still just interesting to see that Damian Lillard ended up being the starter because if I'm not mistaken, I believe Jalen Brunson had a higher fan vote. I'm going to check, but I'm pretty sure when it was time for fan voting, Damian Lillard might have been the fourth most voted guard amongst fans. And if that's the case, that just shows how, you know, the media and his peers, you know, perceive Jalen Brunson himself, which I'm pulling up right now. Let's see. Fan vote. Show me the fan vote. It is what it is. Regardless, Damian Lillard, well-deserved All-Star. Not sure if he should have necessarily been a starter. You know, who do I expect to take those other spots? For the West, I'd expect the bench to look like Steph. They're going to get Steph in there regardless. Probably Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, and Sabonis, I think. That's who it's probably going to be. And then out East, it's going to probably end up being Trae Young. Or Trae Young is kind of iffy. Honestly, Trae Young could have made a run at being a starter if the Atlanta Hawks weren't so bad, honestly. But the bench is probably going to end up being Donovan Mitchell. It's going to end up being Jalen Brunson, potentially. It should be Jalen Brown will probably sneak in there, or Porzingis. I think the Celtics are going to get two All-Stars somehow. You could argue Boncaro. You know, there's some guys who aren't going to end up making it out East. It's going to be very interesting. Tyrese Maxey's having a great season. He might not make it. Jimmy Butler, I wouldn't bet on making it just because he's missed so much time. McHale's probably not making it this year. I thought he would. It's just interesting. Maybe Scottie Bonds makes a run at it. The East is a little weird because there's been more injuries, I feel like, out East than there have been out West. I mean, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are both All-Star caliber players and have missed extended time. Jimmy Butler's missing time. So it's going to be very interesting to see who fills out the rest of the roster, just because, again, there's so much talent in the league right now. Yeah, so that's really all I have to say on All-Stars. I mean, regardless, the guys who deserve to make it are most likely going to make it. We're always going to have snubs just because there's so many people in the league. But on to the next thing, I just wanted to talk trade deadline just because we're getting close. I believe the NBA trade deadline is on February 8th, which would put it almost exactly two weeks away. And, you know, we've heard the same rumors over and over again. A lot of DeJounte Murray talk, a lot of Zach Levine. Who else have they been talking about a bit? You know, just a lot of Lakers stuff. It's always a lot of Lakers stuff when it comes to trade deadline time. So I went through and I, you know, made some trades myself that I feel make a lot of sense for both sides just because I feel like sometimes teams like the Lakers or like the Warriors, their perceptions of what they need isn't actually what they need, like in reality, just because I feel like they have a tendency to name hunt rather than go after fit. So we're going to work our way from like the most tame to more like big-name trades. So the first trade I had mocked up was between the Knicks and the Raptors. Again, they're going to make another deal. The Knicks will receive Bruce Brown in exchange for Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes in a first-round pick, the one that is via Dallas, I believe is top-10 protected, so it should convey. The logic behind this, you know, the Knicks are a great team. They just beat Denver by a bunch, 36, I believe, yesterday or the day before. They're legit. They've been very good on both sides of the ball since grabbing Ogion and Obi from Toronto. They have assets. I think, you know, if you get some secondary playmaking off of Jalen Brunson, that would be very helpful just to alleviate some pressure off of him. Obviously, there's bigger-name players than Bruce Brown. I mean, you could make a run at DeJounte or, you know, Zach Levine, but I think they also want to keep some of those draft assets that they've obtained over the years in case a big-name player, you know, becomes available, which I'm pretty iffy about just because, you know, you could hold on to those assets for as long as you want. A player could never become available. It felt like a month and a half ago it was almost certain that Donovan Mitchell would be gone after, you know, the trade deadline, but with how the Cavaliers are playing, who knows? Maybe he's there to stay. The NBA just moves too fast for you to just kind of hold your cards. When you're good, you kind of have to, you know, buy into that in some facet. So I think acquiring Bruce Brown from Toronto who, if we're being honest, you know, he doesn't really need to be in Toronto. Toronto's doing their own thing. He can go to a place where he can actually affect a wing in New York. As for Toronto, Evan Fournier isn't a starter or really a rotational player in the league anymore. It's just really to make money work. And then they also get Quentin Grimes, who's younger. He has came out several times that he's not really happy in New York specifically. So let him go to a young team or a team that's willing to give him some, you know, run at least in Toronto. He'll team back up with his boys, Emmanuel Quigley and RJ Barrett out there. And then they also get some draft compensation for Bruce Brown. So I think this is pretty fair for both sides. It is really going to be interesting to see what the Knicks do just because they are fourth in the East at the moment. They have assets. And just based off of, you know, their, like, history and how adamant they've been about getting, like, a big-name star, and they're wanting Zion, Kyrie, Kevin Durant, you know, Donovan Mitchell. It's always someone with the Knicks. Eventually they're going to have to use these assets. And they show some sort of willingness when they went after OG Onanobi by trading RJ Barrett, trading Emmanuel Quigley, two of their best player assets, probably their best player assets other than Jalen Brunson, of course. But it's just going to be interesting to see what they do with the expirings and the other draft picks that they do have. Next up, I have a trade between the Brooklyn Nets and my Oklahoma City Thunder. Pretty just on the margins. I don't think the Thunder needs to go after a Lowry Marconin, and I also don't think the Jazz should really trade Lowry Marconin. So I have them acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Davis Berton, Trey Mann, and a first-round pick via the Utah Jazz, which, if I'm not mistaken, is top four protected. So there's a chance that that still conveys, especially with Utah playing pretty good basketball as of late. Logic behind this, the Thunder aren't a good rebounding team specifically on, well, really on both sides of the ball, but it really bites them more on the defensive side of the ball. Dorian Finney-Smith is one of the best rebounding wings when he is playing the wing position. In Brooklyn, he's playing more of a big-man position, but when he was playing wing for the Dallas Mavericks, he showed that he's a valuable player on both sides of the ball. He's a floor spacer. He's a good defender. Just gives the team a little bit more size, a little bit more defensive versatility, and a veteran who has some playoff experience come playoff time. As for the Nets, they get Davis Berton, which is just really money. He's not a very useful NBA player at this point. He's very limited offensively and defensively. He's really like a turnstile. And then they get Trey Mann and a first-round pick. Trey Mann, great player. As a Thunder fan, he's had his moments. But he's not really getting any burn for us. He's just kind of on the roster. And he's clearly a talented guy as he's played for us in the past and showed some sort of flashes. But send him off to a team where he can get some actual opportunity in Brooklyn rather than just hold onto him for no real reason. And then on top of that, they get a first-round pick, which the Nets need some sort of draft compensation considering all they went through with the Kevin Durant, Kyrie, James Harden saga. So again, another deal that I think is very fair for both sides. Moving on, we got some Lakers deals. And these next three deals all kind of coincide with each other. There's been a lot of talk about De'Jantae Murray potentially going to the Lakers. And De'Jantae Murray is a great player. I'm very scared with the Lakers and specifically LeBron teams in adding players who have kind of a higher usage or more demanding players. We saw De'Jantae Murray really struggled with De'Jantae Murray being a high usage player. LeBron is also a pretty high usage player. And then on top of that, you also have Anthony Davis. So it's just hard for me to really endorse them going after De'Jantae Murray. I think there are other teams that are a little bit more interesting than the Lakers. And we'll get to that later. But for this first deal I have the Lakers doing, it's between them and the Wizards. I have them trading D'Angelo Russell, Max Christie, a second-round pick this year, and a first-round pick in 2029. I didn't put any protections on it, but it will probably be protected for Tyus Jones and Corey Kispert. The Lakers defensively are very good, you know, led by Anthony Davis. They have Jared Vanderbilt. LeBron has his moments where he can be good on the defensive side of the ball. You know, Roy Hatchimore can show some defensive versatility at times. But it's just the offense is so abysmal. So I think it's very critical that they get guys who can provide on the offensive side of the ball. So I think, one, you get Tyus Jones, who showed in Memphis that on a contending team he can be very steady. A big reason why, you know, there was the narrative that Memphis is better without John Murray because they were able to have Tyus Jones step in and lead that Grizzlies team. Even if it's not in scoring, but just being a steady-handed facilitator, very efficient. He doesn't turn the ball over very much. He's just a very solid starting point guard. And it seems like to Washington, you know, everyone other than Bilal Kulabali is expendable. So if that's the case, I think Tyus Jones is one of the better options that the Lakers could go after. On top of getting Tyus Jones, you get Corey Kispert, who's a very good three-point shooter. We got us around LeBron with some floor spacing just because, you know, LeBron, he's gotten way better as a three-point shooter. He's not the best three-point threat. Anthony Davis at this point, he can hit them, but, you know, I wouldn't bet on him being a reliable three-point shooting threat. And then it feels like everyone else, as soon as they go to the Lakers, forgets how to shoot. So I think getting Corey Kispert to come in and just be able to be a floor spacer, you know, I think that's useful for LeBron on the offensive side of the basketball. As far as what they're giving up, you got to give up D'Lo. D'Lo's been cool, like he's had his moments. He's just a bit too inconsistent. And I think Tyus Jones is just a bit more steady than D'Angelo Russell at this point. Personally, I'd say Tyus Jones is a bit better than D'Angelo Russell, and I think that's pretty fair to say. For the Wizards, it is a two-year deal. It's not overly expensive, so it's not like you're really harbored by it in any way. As far as the Wizards go, they might be the team that's farthest off from being close to competitive. They just have a lot of work left to do. So get D'Angelo Russell. Maybe you move him a second time in a second deal somewhere else, or this becomes a three-team trade where D'Angelo Russell goes to some sort of contending team. But I don't think there's much of a market for D'Angelo Russell. And, you know, he's helped the Lakers in some sense, but I think you got to give up something to get something. Max Christie, he's cool, I guess. Young guy, doesn't really play like that for the Lakers, but he's cool. I mean, maybe in Washington he could get some burn, second-round pick and then a first-round pick. So, again, I think pretty fair deal for both sides. The second deal I have the Lakers doing is with the Portland Trailblazers for Matisse Stiebel, where they give up Gabe Vincent and Jalen Hood-Cefino for Matisse. Matisse has really came into his own the last couple years with Portland. In Philadelphia, he was always a very good defensive player, and he always got his recognition for his defensive ability. But the offensive game was very, very limited. And, you know, that just kind of made him a hard person to have on the team, especially on a roster that also had Ben Simmons, who at that time was a relatively good offensive player, but not a floor spacer. So having another guy who's not really a great floor spacer next to him wasn't that much of an option. So, I mean, in Portland he's completely turned it around. He's, I believe, a 40% three-point shooter at this point, or close to it. And the defense is still there, as it always really has been. So I think having a guy like him in L.A. who can provide on both sides of the ball would be very useful. You trade Gabe Vincent, who hasn't worked out at all. I thought it was a really good signing, but he's been hurt all year, and we really haven't gotten to see much of him on the team, which is very unfortunate. Hopefully he gets well and can get back to how he was in Miami. And then Jalen Hochefino, he was a first-round pick. I don't watch college basketball, so I can't tell you too much about his game, but he's young, 6'6". You know, there's got to be some sort of potential there. And then there could be some sort of draft compensation involved. It's just a little hard with the Lakers because they don't really have all that much. So, I mean, if they threw in maybe a couple seconds, I could see that taking place. I'm not sure if Matisse is worth a first-round pick. But then again, first-round picks aren't all that valuable when you have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and both of them are above 30, and you're trying to win a championship the next couple years. So with that being the case, you're probably wondering where DeJounte Murray is going to go, considering the Lakers just used four pretty big assets in a potential DeJounte Murray trade in two separate trades. I think DeJounte is a very interesting player, but he's shown that with the ball in his hands, that's pretty much where he's best. You also have to take into account he's on a five-year extension. It's not the most expensive deal in the world, but it's definitely something you have to take into account. It's going to get up to $31 million in 2027 if he does accept that player option. So wherever he goes has to be really in it for the long run, and where better for him to go than the San Antonio Spurs? Very weird for a team that is as bad as the Spurs are record-wise to be buying in on an all-star-level player, but the Spurs really do need a point guard to further the development of Victor Webb and Yama. The Jeremy Sohan point guard thing, that doesn't work. It's not going to work. And take DeJounte back to where he started. It is a little weird giving DeJounte back to the team you traded him from a year after, but sometimes you've just got to admit you were wrong and move on and just try other lanes. The Hawks just have a lot to figure out. They have a lot of money tied up to a lot of different people, whether that's Klinkapella, DeAndre Hunter, DeJounte as of now, Trey Young, Onyeka has an extension already. So it's just like they have this money tied up, but it doesn't feel like they're getting closer towards really being anything at all. So it's going to be really interesting where they go in the next couple of years. And yeah, I have them going back to San Antonio for a package of Kelton Johnson and Doug McDermott and a first-round pick that is actually the Hawks, so they get their own pick back. So, I mean, Kelton Johnson, he's a good player. He's been in San Antonio for a minute. He's had his moments where he's been very good, and both defensively he's not the best, so I'm not sure how well he'd pair with Trey Young, but as far as just being able to shoot the rock, he's had moments where it's like, yeah, this guy has potential, but as of late hasn't been there. 35% from three, league average, not awful, but at one point he was shooting 40, so the last couple of years have been pretty rough for the guy. I think, you know, put him on a team with much better playmaking than the Spurs have, and, you know, maybe he can figure it out, but it's just very difficult to facilitate a DeJounte-Murray trade elsewhere, so it's not like they have a lot of options, and it seems as if he's gone, like it's pretty solidified that he will not be on the team come post-trade deadline. That's probably the person I'm most confident in not being on their team. The rumors have been going on since it feels like the summertime, and he's still on the roster, so I would expect DeJounte-Murray to leave. I'm not sure if San Antonio is where it's going to happen. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lakers, you know, pulled the Lakers and went after the star player rather than, you know, making switches on the margins and surrounding LeBron with depth and actual quality players, more than, like, three quality players on his roster, but it's just going to be interesting what the Hawks decide to do. All right. Now, with that being the case, you know, and when I did my trades, I had this— I was doing this from the perspective that all of these trades could coincide with one another. Like, you're on 2K and you're playing my league. I could do all of these trades, and there'd be no, like—I'm not using assets more than once. So DeJounte-Murray at this point is off the market. The Lakers have done everything they have to do, and now you're just really looking at the Western Conference as a whole, and things are pretty competitive as is, but now the Lakers are looking serious. So this puts a lot of pressure on Golden State, and I put a tweet out the other day saying, the Warriors' GM job might be the worst job—GM job, at least, to have in the league. It's a really ugly situation just on so many different levels. There's so many pieces that feel like aren't working right now that I would want nothing to do with this. So first, you have the big three. You have Steph, Klay, and Draymond. Klay was very bad to start the season. He's turning it around more so now, but he's still obviously not the Klay Thompson that he was before. Then you have Steph playing at, you know, Steph level. I mean, he hasn't been as good as in years prior. There's been some shooting struggles, but for the most part, he's still a top-ten player in the league. Then you have Draymond, and Draymond, you know, he's gone through so much this year. It's just—it's getting to be ridiculous with the off-the-court things. I mean, he obviously needed help, and it looks like he's on the way to getting that help that he needs, but at this point, the, you know, 15, 20 games he's missed this season has not helped him, especially when those 15, 20 games haven't been due to injury. It's been due to suspension. Then on top of that, you had the whole Jordan Poole thing from last year, which was a whole fiasco. Then you have the Kevin Durant thing with Draymond that was also a whole fiasco. So at this point, you—obviously, you know, Draymond's Hall of Fame player. You can't say he's not. He helped you win four championships. But at some point, just based off of all of the off-the-court issues that Draymond has, you know, surrounded your team with, you have to wonder how positive of an asset he is, especially with him getting older. And then on top of that, not only is he not really the most positive asset to you, having him on your roster, around the league, everyone's seeing this. Like, we're all well aware of what Draymond is as a player, what it seems like he is as a person off the court. You know, there's not really any avenue to move off of a Draymond Green, not because he's not a good player, but because who wants Draymond Green to, you know, be a potential fire hazard, if you will, for your locker room at this stage in the year, even if he can, you know, provide defensively? You also have to have the right offensive personnel around a Draymond Green to even have him be that valuable, you know, because Draymond's offensively not really that great anymore. I mean, he had his years where he was pretty solid. He was never an elite offensive player. The jump shot's been better this year than it has been in the last couple years, but I'm not really buying stock into Draymond Green, you know, three-point shooting ability going forward. He's getting older. He's already a smaller guy. I mean, although there's not very many guys, there might not be any guy that's of Draymond's size that can guard players taller than him better. You know, he can definitely guard one through five very effectively, but it's just like who's buying in on Draymond Green right now? Also take into account the fact that he is on a four-year deal that is at $22 million this year, 24, 25, and gets up to 27 on a player option in 2026, which would have him at 37 years old. I'm sorry, but Draymond Green is not LeBron James. At 37, I'm not sure if he's even in the rotation if we're being real. Like, he's a good player. I don't believe in the longevity, and I don't believe in the offensive ability on a serious level enough for me to really invest in Draymond Green. So you have him on the team. Klay is an expiring deal and is going to be a free agent this year, and that's a whole other conversation that the Warriors have to have. They traded for Chris Paul, who's been hurt. Although when he was playing, he was pretty solid, but he's been hurt nonetheless. And then you have Andrew Wiggins, who's been terrible this year, and he is on one of the worst contracts in the league that you also can't get off. He was a huge contributor to that championship Warriors team. I personally felt like he was the second-best player on the team. You know, that was the year he was an all-star. He did so much as a rebounder, as a defender, as a cutter. You know, the three-point shot looked pretty good. That was, like, peak prime Andrew Wiggins. And once again, he's just kind of lost it. It's like he can never consistently be a contributor on any sort of team. So I don't know what you do with Andrew Wiggins now. Now on top of that, you have Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, who neither of which want to be there because neither of them get consistent minutes, even though they're both clearly very talented players, more specifically with Kuminga, where, you know, there's been times where Steve Kerr will just flat-out not play Jonathan Kuminga, even though he's shown that he's probably deserving to be a starter or something of that sort, at least a consistent, like, sixth man for the team. And he's just not getting that PT. But then at the same time, the front office is very unwilling to trade Jonathan Kuminga. So it just feels like the front office and the coaching staff are on completely different, like, wavelengths right now. It seems like nobody's on the same page. So for Golden State, assuming that all of these trades that I already named happened, right, you got the Thunder getting Jordan Finney-Smith, and I didn't even go through all of the Western teams. I could have made way more trades to have a lot of these Western teams already getting better than they are. We didn't even talk about the Rashawn Holmes $12 million expiring contract that could be moved or, like, a Harrison Barnes contract that could be moved. The Clippers could trade P.J. Tucker. There's a lot more things that could happen. But just if the Lakers and the Thunder do these two deals, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Denver, the Clippers, the Pelicans, the Suns, the Kings, the Mavericks, the Lakers are all better than the Warriors at this point. The Jazz have been better as of late. You could argue they're better than Golden State. That's 10 teams that I just named that are better than Golden State. And the thing that's even more scary about this is the only teams that are worse than Golden State actively in the West are the Spurs, who just had the first overall pick in the draft, the Trailblazers, who just traded Damian Lillard and are entering a rebuild, and the Memphis Grizzlies, who have been so injured all year. The Warriors are in that tier of teams. And I was low on the Warriors to start. I thought they were a playing team just because I wasn't that impressed by their moves they made in the offseason. But this has catapulted into a whole different issue of where are we even supposed to go now? Just because the market is really weird right now. There's not a trade out there that I thought of that, one, is realistic and, two, well, one is realistic. Two, I believe is a good move. And I can't, like, the player's available. Like, there were rumors that the Jazz wanted to trade or were willing to move Larry Markkanen. I don't think he's going to get moved. He's just an all-star level player on one of the best deals in basketball. The skill set that he has makes him very easy to put with other people in the future. There's not really any reason for the Jazz to trade Larry Markkanen. DeJounte Murray is already gone in this universe. Let's see, who's another big-name player? There's not that many. It's Zach Levine and Demar DeRozan. That's, like, potential all-star caliber players that are really available. Trae Young, I don't believe, is available. Mikael Bridges is not available. No one on Toronto, or Scotty Barnes is not available. LaMelo Ball, not available. No one on the Wizards or Pistons is, you know, of all-star caliber. And then out West, no one who's better than you is going to be willing to trade with you. There's no reason the Timberwolves would make a trade with the Warriors because why would they help the Warriors get better? There's no reason the Suns would make a deal with the Warriors. Why would they help the Warriors? So if you're Golden State, what do you do here? You could go after a Zach Levine who, you know, is definitely talented. He's a very good scorer, but he can't stay healthy. He's on a huge deal. He's not a good defensive player. And, like, what are you giving up to get Zach Levine? Because, hey, to break it to you, no one wants Andrew Wiggins. No one wants Chris Paul. No one wants Draymond. So you're going to have to trade a Kaminga. You're going to have to trade a Moses Moody. That's a decision you have to make. And they've been so reluctant to make the decision to decide between now and the future. And that's why they're in the position they're in now. Kaminga, great player. He's never been really given the opportunity to see what he is. And as fortunate as it is that he may leave and end up being a very good player, at some point you kind of have to, like I said with the Knicks, you have to – you can't just hold onto your cards. Like, you have to make a move. Yeah, you have to make a move in some facet, whether that's, you know, a trade. And that's Zach Levine. Or DeRozan, who's not a great floor spacer. He's only on a one-year deal, so we're trading assets for a rental. You know, how would he and Draymond really work together? I'm not really sure. It's just a little like – there's not really much there for this team. And they've had the worst defense in the league by far the last ten games. It hasn't been close whatsoever. They're worse than the Pistons. They're worse than the Blazers. They're worse than the Hornets. They're worse than the Pacers. The defense has been awful. They can't stop a nosebleed. And there's not really any quality. I mean, not to say there isn't any. There are quality defensive players who are available. But, you know, it's just if the Warriors are willing to meet the asking price for what the market is. I mean, we saw Ojean and Obi go for two young players and draft compensation. The Warriors couldn't have did a Kuminga. I mean, obviously, R.J. Barrett and Quickly are better. But, you know, Kuminga and Moses Moody are not terrible players. They can get somebody who fits that role if they're willing to make that decision. But if they're not willing to make that decision and they want to keep these young guys, then these young people need to be getting consistent minutes. So that's a conversation that needs to be had within the organization as far as what the future of Golden State basketball is going to look like. Is it going to be, you know, is it Steph, Clay, and Dre? Is that where we're going? Are they going to retire together? Are we keeping the family together? Or are we, you know, trying to move towards a new kind of group of players around Steph? Because you can't have both. Either Kuminga and Moody need to go or Clay or Draymond has to go. That's a decision that has to be made. Next year, because their season at this point looks pretty dead. I don't think there's a move that's out there for them to make that will really take them to the next level. Come next season, if they still have Steph, Clay, Draymond, Kuminga, and Moody, then there's going to have to be some sort of conversations about, you know, maybe a change at coach or a new GM because they have to choose a direction. Because once Steph is gone, once Clay is gone, once Draymond is gone, it's not like you have draft assets like that. You're going to be in a world of hurt. Like, you're going to have to decide. You're going to either have to capitalize on these last few Steph and Curry years or you're going to have to move towards the future. And that's just the way things are. With that being said, I think that's going to conclude our first episode of the Take the Charge podcast. I thank you for listening. And make sure to follow the podcast account on Instagram at TakeTheChargePod. It will be linked in the Spotify if I can do that. If not, TakeTheChargePod. Make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel for more content. KTS, it will be in the link in the bio of the Instagram. And, yeah, I'll see you guys next time. Thank you.