Will LeBron Retire at the End of the Season? Plus, Trae’s Future, Tanking Teams, and More 2026 Predictions!

The Mismatch

The Ringer

Sports

4.7 • 5.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Verno and Jacoby return with the last episode of 2025 as they recap the action from Monday night, including Nikola Jokic’s injury (ESPN’s Shams Charania reported after the recording that Jokic has been diagnosed with a hyperextension in his left knee and will miss at least the next four weeks), the Raptors getting it done by committee against the Warriors and Magic, the Cavs getting back on track against the Spurs, Deni Avdija’s continued success for the Blazers, and how the Mavs are handling Cooper Flagg's development. Next, the guys give out their predictions for 2026. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:26) Nuggets fall to the Heat after Nikola Jokic goes down with injury (05:30) Raptors bounce back after losing to the Wizards with comeback wins against the Warriors and Magic (12:51) Cavs end two-game skid with win over Spurs in San Antonio (16:34) Deni Avdija continues his quietly great season in Blazers win against Mavs (18:53) Will Cooper Flagg ever play with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving? (24:45) Verno and Jacoby's prediction no. 1 (37:13) Verno and Jacoby's prediction no. 2 (41:44) Verno and Jacoby's prediction no. 3 (51:20) Verno and Jacoby's prediction no. 4 (58:59) Verno and Jacoby's prediction no. 5 The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Leave us a message on our Mismatch voicemail line! (323) 389-5091 Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez and Stefan Anderson Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the mismatch, I'm Chris Vernon to join me to us every week from The Ringer.com is Dave Jacoby.
0:18.7	Jacoby.
0:20.7	Uh, tough one last night, Farno. Yeah, we got... every week from the rigger.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby.
0:22.9	Tough one last night, right now.
0:28.7	Yeah, we got a little worrisome as we're recording this on Tuesday morning.
0:35.0	We still do not have news on the Nicola Yokic injury that took place last night.
0:38.2	He went down in agony, which is something that we,
0:43.9	we see all kinds of guys go down each and every night, unfortunately, in the NBA.
0:49.9	Rarely do we see Yokic go down and gets kind of collapsed into,
0:51.6	grabs his knee.
0:55.1	Coach is saying he's not going to sleep at night.
0:58.9	Everybody's going to kind of just wait and see on this.
1:07.0	But there is no question that this injury is so big that it would literally change the NBA season.
1:12.6	He is making history right now, as we have chronicled many times on this show. He is having the greatest PER season in the history of basketball.
1:22.6	His PER right now is 35.5. The highest ever is 32.8, which is 2021, 22, 22, Nick Leokic.
1:36.2	He is having his masterpiece season.
1:39.4	They have been unbelievable.
1:41.7	Certainly one of the handful of teams that has a chance at the NBA title.
1:46.5	And so now we just all hold our breath.
1:48.8	And hopefully this is not some kind of terrible injury.
1:53.3	The mismatch is presented by Banduel.
1:56.8	Bandoul's got it all same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in live and your way to build the bet that fits your play.
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