The Warriors’ Old-Man Strength, With Nick Friedell. Plus, the Rolling Rockets, and a 2026 Draft Crash Course. | Group Chat

The Ringer NBA Show

The Ringer

Sports

4.2 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 103 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Justin starts today's show by talking to Nick Friedell from The Athletic. They talk about the up-and-down start to the season for the Warriors. They run through all of the major players and storylines that have made this such an interesting start for Golden State. Then, J. Kyle Mann joins Justin to talk about how the Rockets continue to roll after they defeated the Magic in overtime. Lastly, they wrap up with some NBA draft talk. The guys talk through some of their early thoughts on the top prospects in the draft. (00:00) Intro (1:14) FanDuel ad break (3:08) Warriors with Nick Friedell (45:58) FanDuel ad break (46:59) Rockets (1:06:40) Draft crash course (1:09:04) Darryn Peterson (1:15:27) AJ Dybansta (1:23:07) Cam Boozer (1:30:42) Mikel Brown Jr. (1:34:47) Caleb Wilson (1:38:39) Sleepers The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Justin Verrier and J. Kyle Mann Guest: Nick Friedell Producers: Ben Cruz, Isaiah Blakely, and Victoria Valencia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to group chat. I am Justin Verrier and well, at least to start with,
0:04.8	you got just me, a little bit different on the show today. We're going to go first to my interview
0:09.6	with Nick Fidel talking about the Golden State Warriors, a team that's been pretty lively
0:14.9	over the course of this NBA season thus far, but this past weekend, one of the better back-to-back series with the Spurs,
0:22.9	all the consequences of that series, the Wembe matchup, what's going to go on with the spurs
0:26.9	down the road, deadline, all that type of stuff.
0:29.3	Awesome interview with Nick, one of my former teammates at ESPN.
0:32.3	So check that out.
0:33.6	And then we're going to go with Kyle, talk about the Rockets, who are fast becoming
0:38.5	one of the more fascinating contenders in this early going. Reed Shepard, his guy. We'll talk
0:43.3	a little bit about him. And then he's going to walk us through a draft crash course for the
0:48.0	2026 NBA draft, already starting to see some prospects on the floor, Darren Peterson, A.J.
0:53.9	DeBanza, who got smacked by
0:55.5	UCon, by the way, just an FYI, over the weekend. So he's going to give us a little meet and greet,
1:00.9	basically, to all the guys you need to know about. No Rob this week. But Nick up first, Kyle in the
1:07.5	back, that's the pod. Why don't we get to Nick right now after we hear from our sponsors?
1:14.5	You're listening to The Ringer NBA show presented by Fandul. Fandul now displays your bet directly on your phone's lock screen.
1:21.4	And with the latest updates to the live events and player pages, it's never been easier to be part of the game.
1:26.5	And Missouri, get excited because Fandul's coming your way December 1st.
1:31.2	Download the Fandall Sportsbook app now and play your game.
1:34.5	21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus in present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.
1:39.8	Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com.
	...

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