00:00And John, I'll go to you first, this OKC thing,
00:02because freak injuries from both guys, J-Dub and Kaysen Wallis.
00:08And obviously J-Dub fractured his ankle, fractured left fibula,
00:13dislocated his ankle, really gruesome Gordon Hayward-esque injury.
00:17And it's just so awful for a guy that was looking incredibly healthy,
00:20looking spry, looking very good, making OKC look like that formidable OKC
00:26that we remember from before the Spurs series.
00:28And then on top of that, the newly extended Kaysen Wallis,
00:33who's expected to be one of their top perimeter defenders
00:36and a very good role player, he's probably out for the season as well.
00:40The ink hasn't dried on his contract yet.
00:43I mean, my goodness, Josh, you're right.
00:45And so, John, let's just focus on OKC first.
00:48How does this affect their title odds so far?
00:52I think they're dead.
00:54Wow.
00:55I think their title odds are dead.
00:58Because what were they missing last year?
01:01J-Dub being hurt.
01:02Yeah.
01:02Because I think that after watching what we saw the Spurs do in the actual championship,
01:07not having a healthy J-Dub at that point really now shows you that they could have
01:12easily won that series and gone to the finals and gave the Knicks a far better run
01:18for their money than the Spurs ended up doing.
01:20And now you take away the other guy who they were expecting to come in and carry and add
01:26more weight to that.
01:27The plan was to have J-Dub, to have Kaysen Wallis, to have a Daimara, to have all these
01:34things as you go into the postseason against the Victor Wimbenyamas and against these championship
01:40contending teams.
01:41The recipe was not to have J-Dub miss it.
01:45And so he's a very vital part of their success.
01:48And will they have a good season still?
01:50Absolutely.
01:51But their title hopes are done.
01:54Their title hopes are done.
01:55They needed him to be at the top of his game to compete for a title.
01:59As great as Shea is, he does not do the things that J-Dub does.
02:03And that hole in their team can't be filled by somebody currently on that roster.
02:08And the thing is, also, is people are saying, well, OKC can just trade for somebody.
02:14They can just go get this big name.
02:16They have their own salary issues.
02:18I don't think people realize that, yeah, sure, they do have a lot of assets they can trade.
02:22They have tons of picks.
02:24Trust me.
02:24I know.
02:25They have tons of picks.
02:26But they just, like I said, they just signed J-Dub a few, what was it, last year, a few
02:30years ago.
02:31They just signed Kaysen Wallis.
02:32They have SGA on this big contract.
02:34Chet's on a big, like, they have a ton of big contracts.
02:37J-Dub got a max, dog.
02:38Yeah.
02:38But they're a second apron team.
02:41Right.
02:42So you can't just go, oh, we'll get Zach Levine or something.
02:45It's like, no, I don't think you want to take on the contract.
02:48So, Josh, like, what are your thoughts on this OKC team?
02:51Because I still believe in them to be one of the top teams in the West.
02:56But I just don't know over the course of a playoffs if they can sustain that.
03:00Now, there are reports that people are saying, well, maybe J-Dub can come back for the playoffs.
03:05So maybe he's an April guy.
03:06Or maybe Kaysen Wallis can come back before then.
03:08I don't know about that.
03:10That's really risky if you put them right into playoff action after those.
03:14Yeah, it really is.
03:16I definitely see them still being, regular season-wise, they'll be a top four team in the West.
03:25But like you were saying, once the playoffs come, again, pending whatever other injuries might happen in this season,
03:31because we've already lost so many players.
03:33We're going to have a 12-point-per-game guy make All-NBA this year, because there are going to
03:38be so many guys that missed a 65-game requirement.
03:42And they're just going to, you know, all of a sudden, someone like Kyle Kuzma is going to be All
03:47-NBA third team, for all we know.
03:50Please don't let that happen.
03:53That's the potential.
03:53But yeah, I mean, the question, though, is which other teams in the West are going to be healthy?
03:59Because Ant is gone for who knows how long.
04:03And that was one of the guys.
04:04As soon as J-Dub and Wallace went down, we have a group text.
04:08I said, like, it's now Minnesota's time.
04:11And then the next day, Ant goes down.
04:13And it's like, well, that was their time.
04:16So you have these guys.
04:20You want to make sure Luka's fine.
04:22I know he just, like, sat a little bit.
04:24He had a lingering injury last year.
04:26Want to make sure he's just good at good as well right now.
04:29No nights off, Luka.
04:30Yeah, definitely no nights off.
04:33And then, of course, you know, if you look out east, well, the biggest question, everyone's not asking if,
04:39but when is Joel Embiid going to get hurt, and what are the Sixers going to do then?
