Harden’s Last Chance for a Title? Plus, Who’s on Notice After the Trade Deadline.

The Zach Lowe Show

The Ringer

Basketball, Sports

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zach is joined by Mo Dakhil to determine who’s on notice following the trade deadline. They discuss how Darius Garland and James Harden fit on their new teams, debate where Kawhi Leonard ranks among the NBA’s best, and challenge the Rockets and Timberwolves. (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (1:53) Mo Dakhil joins the show! (2:44) Who’s on notice after the trade deadline? (3:38) Darius Garland is on notice (10:54) Kawhi has been playing like the best player in the league (25:01) The Houston Rockets and their offense is on notice (35:27) Tanking in the NBA is ugly, and the rules need changing (53:34) Miami’s front office has been bad (57:50) Timberwolves need to prove whether they’re a serious contender or not (1:01:28) Can the refs stop calling fouls when offensive players throw their bodies into defenders? (1:07:13) What in the world is the Bulls front office doing? Host: Zach Lowe Guest: Mo Dakhil Producers: Mike Wargon, Jonathan Frias, and Billy Gil Social: Keith Fujimoto This episode is presented by State Farm®️. Dishing the assists you need off the court. State Farm®️ with the Assist. #ULTRAinstructor could get you closer to the action! https://michelobultra.com/instructor MICHELOB ULTRA®️ ULTRA Instructor. No Purchase Necessary. Open to US residents 21 plus. Begins on January 30, 2026 and ends on February 22, 2026. See Official Rules at https://michelobultra.com/rules for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We're into the thick of the season now and so's Coral's reward-shaker with even bigger rewards and offers.
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0:29.1	Gambleaware.org.
0:36.3	Coming up after this on the Zach Lowe show, Motta Keel is here.
0:40.4	We're going to talk X's and O's, how new players are fitting in in new places after the trade
0:45.6	deadline and we're going to play my favorite post-trade deadline game.
0:49.1	Who's on notice?
0:50.4	This goes back to my column writing days at Grant Land way back when.
0:53.9	Who's on notice after the trade deadline? It could be a player elevated into a new position within his team. It could be a team that stood pat and now everyone's under more pressure. Could be the league with tanking rules and other such things. We talk about a whole bunch of teams and players in this context. The Rockets, the wolves, James Hardin. Is this it for James Hardin? Is this the last best chance to rewrite his postseason legacy? Darius Garland with the Clippers. Clippers are still sneakily kind of rolling along. Kauai Leonard. Talk a lot about Kauai. So you've been the best player in the NBA for like the last three months? Yokic has been hurt a lot. So there's a little caveat there. We talk about the Bulls. What are the Bulls doing? Where do they go from here? The Knicks. Tankapalooza, 2026. What in the hell are we supposed to do about that? It's already happening. It's February and teams are pulling their players in the fourth quarter. We get into all of that and more with the one and only Moatikil, the best of the business.
1:46.5	That's all coming up on the Zach Lowe Show.
1:50.5	This episode of the Zach Lowe Show is brought to you by State Farm.
1:55.0	Life's better when you've got the right help.
1:57.1	Think of that perfect pass that sets everything up, smooth, effortless, just what your team needed.
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	...

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