Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast.

We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on Thursday evening after the NBA trade deadline.

Joining us from New York City is Tim Bontas.

Oh, everybody.

Join us from Dallas, Texas, where they saved money and got some first round picks is Ban McMahon.

Howdy, partners. It might not be plural on the first round picks. We'll see how that plays out with

the top 20 protected one, but it was a great day for the Mavericks yesterday. Saved a ton of money.

I know everybody loves that. A little flexibility, some draft capital. And the bucks and grizzlies

both won, baby.

Yes.

All right.

Well, we're going to start off with what I think was one of the most fascinating trades of the deadline and certainly of deadline day.

And that is, and I know that you might be surprised we're starting with this,

but I can't stop thinking about it. Vitsia Zubach being traded from the LA Clippers to the Indiana

Pacers. Now, why would we start with that trade? Well, here's why. So obviously the Clippers are, I was told not to use the word rebuild, but I don't know what you want to call it, whatever you want.

Retooling for sure. They were 17 and 4. James Harden all of a sudden is declared out for personal reasons. You know, he was in Arizona. He's got connections there. I don't know. There's a lot of different reasons guys. Guys get to personal.

Yeah, personally, he wanted to get traded. Then they came back to L.A. and James wasn't there. And next thing you know, James Hardin was a calf. Okay. So then a couple days later, Vitz's Zubots out for personal reasons. Had a good reason, though,

the birth of his child. Congratulations, you're getting sent to Indiana. That's, by the way,

that's a tough hand to be dealt. It's a tough business. You've got a relative newborn. He's getting

old. He's getting big and old. But, uh, bond temps. But, you know, imagine, um, having to move or leave your wife. If I was making $20 million a year, K. Bonn would deal with me moving. I can tell you that right now. She'd probably tell me to move tomorrow if I was making $20 million. Give me that check. She would outsource your, uh, your duties. She would just, she'd go buy herself a Chanel bag and wait till I could come home between games.

Okay.

Anyway, so Zubach was out for good reason, but he gets traded on deadline day.

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