The Lakers Shocking $12B Sale & The NBA Starts The Schedule Release

Welcome to Sports Illustrated's Open Floor podcast.

My name is Liam McEwen and I am back with Blake Silverman to discuss all of the latest news and transactions around the National Basketball Association, and what a week to have a podcast to talk about the NBA.

We are recording on Wednesday and what an entertaining day it's been for a middle of the offseason.

Uh, stretch here.

Uh, the biggest news of the day that took, I think, pretty much everybody by surprise was the Lakers selling to new ownership less than a year after Mark Walter took over as the majority controlling owner.

He sold, in case you it, the Lakers were purchased by Walter at a valuation of $10 billion in 2025.

In October of that year, he was approved by the NBA Board of Governors to take over for Jeanie Buss and the Buss family that famously ran the Lakers and the Showtime Lakers for all those years.

And out of nowhere, on Wednesday morning, we get the news that he's turning around and selling the Lakers again, this time for $12.

5 billion to an ownership group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.

There's a lot going on there and I'm not really sure what to think of it.

Walter is being investigated by the federal authorities for his finances and his businesses.

Meanwhile, Kushner and Eiger were reportedly a part of the process and maybe trying to found an expansion team in Las Vegas , turned around and offered a record sum for a North American sports team.

And the Lakers are suddenly in much different hands than they were this time yesterday.

So, I don't know how to feel about it.

I think it's the most shocking change of ownership hands we've seen in a long time, certainly very unexpected.

And now the Lakers are going from Mr.

Bottomless pockets and Mark Walter to someone with a lot more questions.

So, ultimately, it does, you know, there's a lot of, when it comes to ownership changes, there is a lot of, um, you know, One rich guy buys it, one rich guy sells it.

It's, you know, how much really changes, but You know, this smells a little different.

It's definitely shocking.

I was not expecting to wake up on Wednesday morning and get news that the Lakers were changing hands in ownership so soon.

Uh, everything you alluded to that is going on with Walter, that we're not gonna dive deep into, cause there's a lot going on there.

Um, it led to this.

Um, it's super interesting.

It makes I don't think much will change with the Lakers, like, this is still an iconic brand.

I mean, the one thing you mentioned is Mark Walter with the Dodgers spends endless, endless money, um, changing ownership, is that going to have an impact on what's going on, but Obviously, you get one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports, and one of the most recognizable brands ever, and they jump $2.5 billion in valuation within a year, and that's not a bad profit.

Um, but when you're buying the Lakers, I would think that it's a long term investment, so I would be super shocked if this new ownership group of Eiger and Kushner isn't.

Here for the long haul, um, the Buss family still owns their shares, which is a minority stake now.

But, um, I, I think this is, this is the group Luk Adancic tweeted that he's excited to work with the new ownership group.

Um, it's interesting how it's happening when you have your I mean, Luke Adoncic is the biggest star basketball wise, but name wise, greatest player of all time, LeBron James leaves to Philly.

Um, so you have a new ownership group, a totally new roster.

Interested to see how it, how it goes, but I don't think there will be too much of an impact, um, on the floor.

I mean, maybe we'll see if they're Any monetary uh impacts that happen over time, but I think in the interim, they're obviously most of the offseason has already played out, they're rolling with their roster, um, and then we'll see what happens here and now, but definitely one of the more shocking, uh, stories of recent memory.

Yeah, I wouldn't anticipate much in terms of on the court, because that is ultimately what I alluded to earlier, which is that These guys are all cutting relatively the same checks.

Obviously, Tom Dundon up in Portland with the Trail Blazers, which Chris Mannix has talked a lot about on this podcast, and the way that he's going about his business up there stands out as an extreme example of how an NBA, yeah, stands out as an extreme example of how an NBA owner can conduct themselves when it comes to business, but by and large, you wouldn't worry too much.

There's just so many unknowns with this, but here's what we do now.

Kushner, it's not his first rodeo in the NBA.

He was a minority owner with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019, and in 2024, purchased a small stake in the Miami Heat.

He obviously must give those up now that he's going to be the controlling owner of the Lakers.

Meanwhile, Bob Iger, surely you recognize his name.

He was the Disney CEO, the face of Disney for decades and decades.

Obviously, smart guy, great business sense and all that stuff that you kind of assume about people in those positions.

Um, he does have a little bit of a sports experience.

I think this is the part that people aren't real, not, aren't realizing like it's a bad thing, but might not realize about the situation is that Bob and his wife invested in Angel FC, the National Women's Soccer League team in Los Angeles in 2024 as majority owners.

So, there is a little bit of groundwork that was laid by them in terms of, you know, this isn't, they're not coming out of completely out of nowhere.

To do this.

How will it, it change anything?

Will it change anything?

It is absolutely impossible to say.

I think if I were a Laker fan, I'd be disappointed that Mark Walter is leaving because he broke baseball by being willing to pay everybody an unlimited amount of money, and to the point where there might be like a strike.

Like, you know how hard it is to be that guy to cause a strike in baseball, it's really hard.

And They, having that in basketball is not the same thing, like at all, obviously, there's a hard cap in basketball, there's, now there's all the apron stuff, the luxury tax.

His money would not go as far with Los Angeles as it would, well, in Los Angeles.

His money would not go as far with the Lakers as it does with the Dodgers in that regard.

But there was absolutely no doubt that he was willing to spend that money.

Not even an iota, not even a shade.

And I think every new owner that buys a team comes in facing the same question of, are you going to spend that extra $100 million to make this the best organization in sports.

And Walter seemed like he was doing that.

There were a lot of business overhauls that were happening inside the Lakers, scouting department changes.

He was kind of doing the typical ownership thing if he's bringing in his people, and those people were smart people, clearly, because they helped the Dodgers become perennial World Series contenders and multi-time champions.

Luk Aoncic is not locked down in the long term.

He only signed a three-year extension last offseason that ties into the franchise through the summer of 2028.

And You, there's no reason to assume he would leave, as there's never a reason to assume anybody would leave Los Angeles.

Ron just did that to, to go to Philadelphia.

So, you know, who knows, but there's not really, there's no concrete reason to believe he would leave.

We're not here to spread those rumors that he's the next superstar on the trade market or whatever, but that uncertainty does not ensure much for the future, and I think that's probably the only takeaway that we can have right now because we have zero idea what's going to happen.

I mean, the This agreement is just an agreement right now.

The board of governors still has to review everything.

They need to approve it.

The NBA needs to do their own due diligence, and I'm sure a lot of that was already done because these guys were involved in the expansion process.

And that is another separate aspect of this that's kind of interesting is that if there was an ownership group involved in the Vegas expansion that thought paying 12.5 billion was a better bet than whenever the NBA was gonna have to do, I wonder what's happening over there.

I'm curious about what the numbers , final numbers are gonna be for that.

Or were they, uh, was this ownership group that was led by Eiger and Kushner, were, what did they see going?

Was there something that they saw that was wrong with a potential path to ownership through expansion in Las Vegas?

Um, maybe it's just Every, all the billionaires in the world are trying to get an NBA team, and they had this opportunity presented to them.

Um, Iger and Adam Silver obviously have a relationship from all the years that Iger was at Disney.

Um, so I, I am the most interesting part of it to me, cause like I'm not worried about the Lakers.

I think the ownership group is the Lakers, they're gonna be 5, it's the Lakers, like pretty high floor in terms of how badly you can mess that up.

They have one of the most exciting scores in the league, it probably the best score, him and Shay up there, and you're in LA at Crypto.

com Arena, like, they are gonna be fine , they just retooled this roster, um, and it's another discussion on whether they're gonna actually contend in the Western Conference, what this roster is gonna look like together, but yeah, definitely the most interesting aspect to come out of this to me is What's going on with expansion.

I mean, I think it's this ownership group just having this opportunity to buy the Los Angeles Lakers, as opposed to starting a new team, where you have to build up a brand identity, and it'll be a great fan, like, it's a great city in Las Vegas to start an NBA team.

They've already had so much success with the Las Vegas Aces and the WNBA, so that's not a worry, but The Lakers are a totally different animal.

I think that from, I believe what ESPN Shams Charania reported this deal came together fairly quickly, like, and it was Ramona, Ramona Shelburne, apologies, um, came together within a few days, so I think it was an opportunity on Sunday about it, and if we're learning about it on Wednesday morning, that means it was done by Tuesday night, which that's incredible.

I, yeah, that is remarkable, and I think the, the Part that I'm most interested in, that is the most meaningless, the combination of my two favorite things, is.

How much was the brand value of the Lakers worth?

Because I don't think that, I may have implied this before, and if I did, I didn't mean to.

I don't think that the 12.5 billion valuation that they're paying for the Lakers is more than what they're going to have to pay to expand to Las Vegas.

It is not gonna be cheap, but I think that expansion fee.

Is gonna come in under $10 billion because there is a certain line of like, if I'm gonna pay over $10 billion just to start the team, I may as well just wait until someone's willing to sell, which now that Walter has sold is very much something that I think other very rich people are going to be calling about, just like, hey, if I offer you $2 billion more than your franchise is worth, will you give it to me?

Um, But how much was the brand worth basically?

Cause what these guys are paying for is not only an established team, but it is the Los Angeles Lakers.

They are the most famous franchise in the NBA.

Luke Adoncic is obviously one of the most marketable stars, especially from an international standpoint.

It's him and Jokic as like two of the world-renowned superstars, SGA 2 with Canada, and all that is just like worth an enormous amount of money.

So is it like, if, you know, let's say the Expansion fee is gonna be like $6 billion.

Does that indicate that they valued, you know, having the established brand of the Los Angeles Lakers at an additional $6.5 billion?

Like that's, it seems incomprehensible to us laymen in terms of how much money we're working with here and all of the gigantic enterprises at work, but it is also just I mean, how, how do the minds of rich people work?

The lay people wanna know.

We don't, we don't know what the expansion draft process will look like.

I mean, it's, it seems like the league is heading that way.

We don't know for sure, but on top of the brand identity, you get one of the league's biggest stars leading your team in Luka Dacic, like you mentioned, um, I think, I mean, This is not a game that either you or I played in, but I think that would be more enticing, even if it's a significant markup compared to starting a new franchise that has a much longer path to competing for a championship than the Lakers.

I mean, the Lakers still have a road in front of them, but Luke Adony dragged a team to the NBA Finals not too long ago.

So I think you're starting off in a much better spot, even though this is An expensive team, it will get more expensive.

You might have to.

Wiggle things around to make everything work and put a contender on the floor, but I think it's better than starting off at, uh, at square one, and obviously, it's an opportunity that starts whenever the league approves it, and ownership changes hands as opposed to expansion, which is sometime in the, in the coming future.

You can believe this, Blake, this is just the beginning of this whole thing .

Between, we have, there are a lot more steps to go before the purchase is finalized, obviously, but something of this magnitude, we only, the stuff we know right now is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we're gonna learn as far as how this deal went down, why Kushner and Iger wanted to do it, why Walter was willing to sell 8 months after buying.

The 2nd most valuable franchise in America behind the Dallas Cowboys, I don't think it's unfair to say.

I'm not sure what Forbes exactly valued them at, but they're pretty close.

They can't stay out of the news cycle, these Lakers, and that continued into the day on Wednesday when Russell Westbrook, former Los Angeles Laker, announced his transition.

Thank you.

I thought it was a pretty good one.

yeah, Russ retired.

His time with the Lakers was forgettable.

Uh, the rest of his career, not so much.

It is, I think, a little bit of a disappointment to me that his career ends with a little bit of a thud.

Played for the Kings in his final season , went unsigned in free agency, which indicates that he was still willing to play if somebody was wanting to give him a deal he felt was worth his value, and nothing could be struck.

There were some weird fake rumors out there that he was gonna go play in Israel, which obviously isn't going to be the case any longer, and now he has hung them up.

And I will remember him as one of the most exciting players to watch in the 2010s, and I think Probably the, mm, I would go 3rd most exciting point guard to ever watch behind Magic Johnson and Steph Curry.

I think they're certainly better point guards you can make the case for if you're making a top 5 ranking.

I don't know if he makes it cleanly.

I think that's certainly up for debate, but I mean, my God, you wanna talk about a perfect combination of basketball skills and athleticism.

That's what this guy had, packed into a 6'4 frame.

It was, it was unreal.

And my favorite Russell Westbrook highlight that I will share here is, of course, his breakaway transition and one in the 2012 playoffs against the Lakers, one of the best, this just showed up on my social media feed highlights ever, where he gets out there, he gets like grabbed around the free throw line, he throws it up, banks it off the glass, and he just screams to this Oklahoma City crowd.

And like, that's what Russ was about, man.

He did not just feed off of the energy in the arena from his home fans, he grabbed it and like forced it to his own, uh, he like grabbed it and forced it to do what he wanted in order to win games and make awesome moments.

And the last 6 years of his career were not that, and that is the unfortunate reality, but those first like 10, 0 my God, man, like, what an unbelievable player and athlete.

The thing for me is the past, I mean, going to 6 different teams in pretty much the same amount of years since he left the Thunder, definitely puts a thorn into it, but over the, other than the time with the Lakers, which you already mentioned, he was a pretty good NBA player, and obviously he had that.

Crazy season in Washington, but even last year in Sacramento, he was legendary 82-0 season of Washington, the best 82-0 player out there, Washington Wizards, Russell Westbrook.

Oh yes, yes, that game, I need to go back and play that game just as got an app now.

Oh, that, that is not on my phone somehow.

I'm definitely going to download that, but um.

Yeah, even Sacramento last year, Denver the year before, like, there was some wonkiness, but he was a good NBA player, and I think if he wasn't so good in his first step, like, He just turned in from this incredible NBA player to a good NBA player, which Is how a lot of careers go, and I think sometimes he get Mer got a little bit of flak for it because of how much fire he has, and he'll compete as he as hard as he does in the playoffs to like a January game in Sacramento, like that's what's great about him, and I think that's something that some fans don't like, which is fine, but I loved.

Just the whole uh character that Russell Westbrook is, from the dancing with campaign when he was with the Thunder, to all the memes that he's created, to all the trash talk stories that we've heard from other NBA players, like, he, you can never say the effort wasn't there with Russell Westbrook, and On top of that, like, he's not just an effort guy, he's an incredible basketball player, he led the league in scoring twice, he won the MVP, um, he's the all-time leader in triple doubles, which one thing that's gonna come off of this retirement, and if Russ played next year, who knows how many triple doubles he would have gotten, but Nikola Jokic is gonna take that record over like pretty early first, man, Russ did it, and that's, that's, I think.

Maybe one of, I mean, it's obviously impressive from, like, you just look at it on a piece of paper, but I think one of the things that you almost can't grasp is how much he normalized the triple-double, like, before he became the 2nd player ever to average a full triple-double throughout a season during his MVP campaign, the 1st year after Kevin Durant left.

It was a remarkable feat to get a triple-double, and then Russ kind of made it like, you could do it every night as long as you try hard enough, which isn't true.

And there is a certain amount of, you know, the way that the NBA has changed over the last 15 years with the increased pace of play, more shots, means more rebound and assist opportunities, more points scored and all that stuff, but it went from this like monumental achievement that Even the best players would feel fortunate to have 3 or 4 of in an entire season to not quite ho-hum, but a little like, yeah, you got a triple-double, like, good job.

And that's it.

And to do that in like a good way, in a positive way, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's, it's, that's so difficult and so, so interesting, and that, that, I mean, it's, he is going to, I mean, when you, he's one of those guys, you look at his basketball reference page in 25 years and you're gonna be like, oh my God, like, these are obscene stats.

But what I always really liked about Russell was that he grappled with his career in public in a way that few other players do.

And like you said, right, like most players go from being great to being average, and that drop off is severe for us who watched him be great, but it seemed like he struggled with that too, which was kind of part of the problem that he, like, couldn't stick.

It was, you know, when you're a backup point guard, you kinda have to play like a backup point guard, and he played like he was still the number one option, but he was the backup point guard.

And he was willing to embrace that role and his usage rate and his touches and all that reflected it.

But at the same time, the, like, the way that he would dominate possessions was that of a star point guard, and it didn't quite match his skills.

And the way that Every great player goes through that, but few of them have the bravery to just keep on going out there and being like, screw it, I'm gonna keep trying to do what I used to do, no matter what , is, it was really, really fun to watch, and obviously really frustrating too, because you could easily see that if he totally bought into this, like, idea of being Russell Westbrook, the 8th man.

Who used all that, those basketball smarts and like, his, you know, his athleticism getting sapped from injuries was a big part of that decline too, but using the hops that he had left to kinda impact the game on the margins and play defense and stuff like , We could be talking about championship winning Russell Westbrook right now if he ends up in the right spot, but he didn't, he didn't end up in the right spot, he didn't quite embrace that to the degree that I think a lot of players do.

But then on the other side, like, His OKC days, and in particular the last few.

He got totally left alone.

James Harden and Kevin Durant both left, and they gave the ball to Russell Westbrook and were like, be the most extreme version of yourself and try to carry us to wins, and then he did.

And I cannot, I mean, how many times in the NBA in recent NBA history, can you make like a, you know, straw straight through line with like, well, this guy's really good at this, and now this guy's leaving, so this guy's just gonna be more good at all those things.

That was exactly what happened to Russell Westbrook.

Right, and I think when you get to the end of his career, when he's making this transition to becoming a role player, a spot starter, a bench player that worked in some situations, that didn't work in others, I think the big reason why maybe it has a little bit of a sour taste to it, which I Like, I think this is the narrative.

I still thought he was very good over, especially over the past two seasons in Denver and uh Sacramento, but I just think that he's not a three point shooting guard, like, that skill set, like, obviously helps when you're not the primary option and don't have the ball in your hands at all times, and I think that might be why, like, I'm gonna miss.

That Russ so much, because I feel like he's one of the last players with his place out.

We've like never really seen anything like it before, just how explosive he is, how incredible an athlete he is, and The league is just getting more and more as prospects come into the year, uh come into the league each year.

A lot of it is, can they space the floor for your primary option.

Russ really was a guy that proved you don't have to be a floor spacer to be an effective basketball player, and I know there's the He didn't win a championship, uh, narrative and all that, which, which he didn't, which is like he, this guy is on the NBA seventy-fifth anniversary team, he's one of the best players in this league of all time, certainly one of the best guards.

Um, so, I hope just this.

Russ, if you can take one thing from Russ's career, it just proves that you don't need to be making the logo threes, not every guy has to do that.

I mean, I love watching Steph Curry and um all the all the other incredible shooters that this league has, but I think there are many different ways to be an effective basketball player, and Russell Westbrook is a prime example of that, and like , I'm just gonna miss him.

Like, he's hilarious.

I love the antics.

I get a lot of people, uh, it might be not be their taste, but all the memes we got from him, all his like facial expressions, rocking the baby, everything like that, um, he's just a fight with babies during the bubble.

Yes, incredible stuff, if no one knows what Liam just mentioned, like, please go look that up because it's, it proves that Russ will just Try his hardest and be as intense as he is, no matter what the situation is, so, um, and I think he still could have been an impactful player next year.

I know there might, like maybe it wasn't worth it to come back for a veteran minimum deal, or he didn't have an opportunity that he wanted to go for, but I still think he had some left in the tank, and I mean, I don't, uh.

Like, good for him going out, maybe on his own terms, maybe not, um, it's a shame that his last season was not very watched too often by a lot of people, because it happened on a bad Sacramento team, but he was still a very good player, and just an incredible career, and certainly one of the the best guards we'll ever see.

Definitely the most athletic and explosive.

Yeah, I mean, for all I was saying about him grappling with his decline, he was a perfectly acceptable player in his final games, and there are not a lot of NBA guys who can really claim that.

I will tell you what I will miss most about Russell Westbrook, is those mid-range jumpers that he would hit where he would just spring like 4 ft straight up into the air.

I loved watching him do that when he was in Oklahoma City.

I thought it was one of the most exciting shots of basketball because I am a mid-range truther, and When he stopped hitting those, I was like, it's done, we're over, like, it's, it's never, it's Russell Russell Westbrook I knew is not coming back, and that was a disappointing realization, but like that shot, man, there are guys who have their iconic shots, and I would not argue with anybody who would say that Russell Westbrook's iconic shot is a dunk, because he is.

Top 5, top 5 in-game dunker of the 2000s for Shersky's.

That mid-range jumper was like, that was it for me.

That was like the, the weird stiff form and then the way that it would just drop right into the basket.

Oh man, beautiful stuff.

What a career.

There's, there's so many guys that this league has so many stars that, um, when they're coming to town, like, you want to go see them play, whether it's LeBron, uh, Luca, Jokic, and like, Russ was one of those guys.

I remember driving 2 hours from where I went to college to the old palace of Auburn Hills in the Detroit area, to, because the Thunder were coming to town, because I wanted to see Russell Westbrook up up close and play, um, and he's one of those guys, like, all these NBA players are incredible, when you see him up close, like, They move so quick, they're huge, they're athletic, they can do it all.

But Russ is one of those guys that definitely does move differently, and he's One of those players that, OK, maybe not the last few years is is that he got older and his career reached its twilight, but He, he sold tickets, man.

He, he put up views on, on YouTube, whether it's highlights or a meme of him eating a cookie or whatever that was on the bench.

So it's, uh, I'm I, I'll miss him for sure.

I know, I'm sure he'll still be in the NBA stratosphere in one way or another, but just an incredible, incredible career, um, even though it didn't amount to a ring, I think it's OK, that hasn't happened for a lot of players, it's, it's a shame he wasn't in that situation, but still accomplished a lot of great things and gave a lot of fans like plenty of memories.

Well, our flawed athletes are often our favorites, right?

The perfect guy, the LeBron James, not a lot of relatability there.

But Russell Westbrook being really good at a lot of stuff, but not being so good at some stuff, you know, failing to win the, you know, reach the pinnacle of NBA team success despite being one of its very best players for like a five-year span.

Makes him a very relatable character.

It makes him way more human, even in light of his obscene athleticism and his 45 or whatever inch vertical.

It kind of, uh, you know, it makes, it makes us connect to those kinds of players in a way that's different than these, you know , absolutely.

born perfect genetic marvels that typically grace the NBA floor, so.

And obviously we can Discussed Russell Westbrook without mentioning his off-court work, which has been a huge, huge part of his entire career.

The Why Not Foundation is an amazing initiative, and even I think it was only a couple of days ago, he was on CNN talking about his, like, work in the community and uh his how important that is to him, and so, I'm, you know, that should get him flowers just as much as anything else.

He is, he is a, he's a good guy, nobody can doubt that.

Yeah, and seeing him still like be a huge pillar in the Oklahoma City community even, and it's not just that, obviously, but after the um I basically the place where he started his career, um, just going back there, even though he hasn't been there in 6 or 7 seasons, just still making that a priority is, is awesome, yeah, you can't argue that he's not, he's not a great guy, um, and just one of the Funniest, most explosive players and an MVP like there aren't a lot of NBA MVPs, so, uh, definitely see a guy like him.

We'll never see a guy like him again when it comes to the combination of meme ability and basketball ability.

It's very difficult, narrow, very difficult and narrow needle to thread.

Yeah, they, uh, in his retirement video, which was narrated by Michael B.

Jordan, uh, everything, yeah, he said that Russ was a meme before we even knew what that was, and I think that was very accurate.

So I'm not if I'm not sure if that's 100% true, but I think it's like.

95% true, which is a lot closer than you'd think for the, uh, grandiosity of that claim.

Like the Vine days, that's when, that's when Russ was growing up for, for all you millennials out there.

Bring me back to the Vine days, little Vine, 6 2nd Vines of just Russell Westbrook dunking on fools.

Those were the days weren't they like, God, do we sound old.

But it is remarkable that those two pieces of news were so large and significant worth talking about that we're only just now.

Getting to discuss the thing most relevant to the upcoming NBA season, which is the NBA's schedule release.

It started on Tuesday.

It's going to run through Thursday .

Tuesday, the NBA dropped the opening week schedule.

National TV schedule, as well as the Christmas Day schedule.

Wednesday brought the announcement of all the NBA Cup games, and we finally have dates to look forward to in terms of wanting to watch the games that we knew were already going to be played.

Uh, opening night comes with an interesting twist this year, one that I initially was not a huge fan of.

Uh, the Knicks will be, of course, hosting .

Uh, the seventy-Sixers as the marquee game of the evening.

They will be doing their championship ceremony, raise their banner, get their rings.

It's going to be a lovely night.

Um, they'll be followed by a Western Conference Finals rematch.

The Thunder will be visiting the Spurs, which should make for A tremendous nightcap, but the day will be starting with a 30 p.m. Celtics Pistons game.

Now, according to the NBA they are trying to, they're just trying something new with opening day.

They're trying to make this an all-day, like kinda, you know, you're gonna get basketball the whole time affair and It feels weird because 3 p.m. is not a usual start time for an NBA game and certainly not on a weekday since, uh, and the first game won't be the defending champions even though they do get the prime time slot.

Exactly.

So there's a lot of like oddities around it, but really all they're just trying to do is to kind of, you know, it's a marquee moment, it's a big moment, they're trying to make it bigger.

Dave McMenamin went into pretty good detail about it on ESPN yesterday.

Um, I think I'd feel, I'd have my feelings a little hurt if I were a Knicks fan, just because it feels like I earned that moment, you know, I earned the right to make everybody else watch my banner raising ceremony before the games are actually played, but, I mean, as a basketball fan and viewer, it certainly could be worse than having games from essentially.

Well, there will be a gap between the end of the Celtics Pistons game and the start of the Knicks Sixers game, but largely just basketball from 3 o'clock to what, 11:30, 12:00 Eastern, not bad.

Yeah, and uh getting just the league is going more global every year, and getting this game allows like the European market to, like, it's a prime time slot for them, maybe a little late in some places, but those prime time games in the in the states are The wee hours there, um, and obviously like the super fans still wake up, but the normal fan might not catch those, so I think it's good for that aspect, and also, I mean, yes, it's, it's during.

Business hours when most people are working, but I do think it's a nice appetizer for the banner ceremony and everything, and I like, I like the matchup that the league chose, and a part of me likes it because it's local to me .

I'm in the Detroit area.

I, I will be at this game.

But I also like that it's two teams that are good teams in the Eastern Conference, but there is obviously the Celtics made one of the biggest trades of the offseason, but this Pistons-Celtics game that opens the season won't have like uh LeBron James' first game with the 76ers.

I mean, It, there's not a huge debut, neither of these rosters made superstar additions, one made a superstar, uh, subtraction.

So I like that aspect of it, like I don't think it's gonna start us off.

Yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna overshadow, um, or I don't think it's gonna overshadow like what goes on at night just because of the matchup, and I, I think it's fun, um, I know people who are questioning it, it's probably like, will be tough to make it work, but everyone can't watch every game.

I think it's fine, like.

I love when the World Cup is on at like 10:00 a.m. on a Monday, and same thing with the Olympics, so, like, I, I am not mad at an early start by any means, and yeah, personally, like, going to this game, I'll get out of there like 7 or so and be home by 8, like.

It, it'll, it'll be awesome.

When I was last time I was at Little Caesars Arena for game 7, Pistons Cavs, I think I got home around like 1:30 or 2 in the morning, so this will be, this will be incredible.

There might still be some daylight out, hopefully it sticks in October.

The NBA has finally answered the question that we've always been asking.

Won't anybody think of the writers?

Yeah, they're, they're catering specifically to me with this, that, that's, that was my takeaway.

Yeah, I was a little hot about it.

I wrote a fairly critical piece about it, um, when it, when it first happened, but I, I will admit that I've cooled off a little bit on it.

It is.

It's, you know, there is a tradition aspect to there only being 2 games on opening night, but, you know, the champion doesn't always play the very first game, it's most of the time, and in recent years, enough East Coast slash Mountain Time teams have won that they played the first game, but like, 4 years ago, the, you know, the Celtics and Sixers were the first team to play before the defending champion Warriors took the floor at 10 o'clock just because they're playing in, you know, the bay, and they're not gonna do anything super crazy timing wise there, so.

You know, there isn't as much of a tradition buck as um as it as it seems, and then, and I completely agree with everything you said, and especially just as a guy who's probably just gonna be watching it at home on his couch, like, there are worse ways to pass the day.

It is going to be impossible for that not to be overshadowed by LeBron though.

I disagree with what you said there, you're like , it's not gonna be overshadowed, it is, everything is overshadowed by LeBron, such is the nature of LeBron, and that's why Josh Hart so sarcastically was shocked by the Knicks drawing the Sixers for the opening night.

Like, that's always, there's usually a little bit of mystery around who the defending champs will host on their very first game.

There was not very much mystery here, and I am stoked, obviously, that's gonna be really, really interesting and really, really fun.

But, I think that of all the opening week games, there's one that stands out to me as I think going to be like my personal favorite, and it's going to be the Wolves Heat game.

Which is not October 20th, but instead, the marquee game of October 21st, the second day of the season, first primetime game of the second day, and I cannot wait.

I thought that was a great, great draw by the NBA to put two superstars who are playing with new teams against each other on the first day.

We talked extensively last podcast about how fun the Timberwolves are going to be.

Obviously, we want to see and we love to see, we can't wait to see Giannis.

Tekumbo in his first non-Bucks game of his entire career.

How is he gonna fit next to Bam Adebayo?

What kind of insane magic is Erik Spoelstra going to be concocting down in South Beach in order to make an offense that will work with those two guys?

It's just gonna be, it's, it's gonna be super fun.

The narratives and the storylines throughout the opening week are going to be really like, uh, very tasty, very, very, very appetizing for us because it will be, at that point, it'll have been a long time without basketball.

Yeah, that, that's gonna be a fun one.

Wolves heat, I mean , two teams that are going to be adjusting to uh A big, a big addition, uh, and just two rosters that are gonna have to gel together.

I'll be interested to see how, how that one looks and what Lamelo Ball looks like in this, uh, Timberwolves offense, and also like how they try to hide him on defense, whatever happens there.

So yeah, that's, um, that's a super exciting one, and like.

So I agree, obviously the LeBron uh debut is going to overshadow like the Knicks banner, and I, I still think it'll be an incredible ceremony, those guys deserve their flowers, but obviously when LeBron is playing his first game for a team that he had no prior connection to, and decided to join, seemingly out of nowhere when they started making some moves, yeah, it'll That'll be a huge thing, but imagine if the Knicks go out and win that game.

I know it's a lot of times teams come out on like a little championship hangovers, the other team wants to prove that they're uh they're there to to beat them, so it could go either way, but MSG will be will be rocking that night, and I also like.

What the NBA did with LeBron's home debut for Philly, they're sending the Cavs to Philly for LeBron's LeBron's first game there.

Obviously it's different as, uh, what a brutal twist of the knife for Cleveland, that's like rude, right?

What great storytelling, but damn, I'd be a little upset if I was Cleveland.

I mean, it would be different if Philly was going to Cleveland.

I wonder what the home crowd reception would be to that, but I like LeBron playing in front of his new fan base against like, the, his hometown fan base, the franchise that he spent so much of his career with that drafted him.

Um, I think it'll obviously be a crazy Philly environment, but I like, I like that narrative too.

And also we get, uh, not to keep piling on the Sixers, but we do get Knicks Sixers again, as the NBA Cup opens, like 10.

Days after they play on uh opening night, and that one will be in Philly too.

Um, and obviously we just talked all this without mentioning Thunder Spurs on opening night too, as, as the nightcap.

So that's gonna be a fun one.

Obviously, OKC is gonna want to go out there and get their revenge as much as revenge can look like in a regular season game.

Wemy obviously has a sour taste in his mouth after.

Losing the finals, and that's just gonna be a heavyweight battle for years to come.

So, I mean, sign me up for as many Thunder Spurs games as I can get, so I'm, I'm excited about that one.

It's gonna be, it's gonna be a great day and week and weekend of basketball when the action kicks back on.

And then Wemy goes to MSG on Christmas, was the other big reveal from the schedule uh announcement earlier this week, and it is.

That's great.

I love that.

I love that the Knicks get the 12 p.m. game.

I think that's one of my favorite slots of all the Christmas Day games, just generally speaking.

I love that they're leaning into Wemby.

He was on, he was, he played on Christmas in 2025, but he played the Knicks in 2024 at that same time.

Who, there was, who went off in that game?

I think it was someone on the, on the Knicks.

I have to look into it too.

There was like a random 30 point.

Performance, I'm pretty sure, um.

I should have prepared that before, but I like just had this this thought in my head.

It was like a random, a random game, um, bridges.

Yes, cause Wemy had 40, because of course he did, but so did McHale Bridges.

OK, yeah, yep, that's what I remember.

It was, I mean, MSG was just, I love big games at MSG.

It was so awesome that we had the finals there.

Uh, it's just like it was pretty spectacular.

It is, it's nice to have a reminder cause I think obviously the Knicks have been good for a couple of years, it just takes a while for like the stain of what the, how bad they were for a while.

Out of, out of it, and I think for everybody, the finals, like really ensured that that's not how it feels anymore, and now MSG is once again, like a majestic theater of basketball that is just so awesome and on Christmas Day is going to be such a sight, and I really hope everybody's healthy, cause that's the only thing that can tank these Christmas games is health.

The rest of the slate, the Christmas Day slate, starts off, as we mentioned, with Spurs, Knicks, and then the Heat and the Celtics will play, which is another really awesome one in 2.

30 assuming full health for everybody and then we have Sixers, Lakers, LeBron's return to Los Angeles .

He gets to spend the Christmas Day with his son Bronnie, who will be coming off the Lakers bench this year.

For how much we do not yet know, but they are, everything they've said and done suggests that they're pretty invested in turning him into an NBA rotation player.

If JJ Reddick doesn't give him the opportunity to guard his dad on Christmas, I personally am going to be very disappointed.

I think he needs to give the people what they want.

And then that's just the middle of the day.

Then at 8 o'clock, we have the Thunder and the Timberwolves playing, which is a, you know, Western Conference Finals rematch from a few years ago.

Anthony Edwards always gets up against Shai Gilgs Alexander.

And then finally , we have Mr.

Christmas, one of the greatest NBA players on Christmas in history, as well as what I consider to be by far the best modern NBA player on Christmas, Nikola Jokic.

His Nuggets are taking on the Warriors.

If you can't tell, I'm, I love Jokic on Christmas.

He is so ridiculous.

He had 56, 15, and 16 last year, with in an overtime win.

Two years prior, he put up like the 3rd 40, 10 and 10 game in NBA history.

It was just so, he, I don't know what it is about the Serbian man and Yuletide, but he gets up for it, and especially as, given the Nuggets are often the nightcap game, it's really fun to watch that as you doze off after a long day of festivities and You're finally being left alone to watch basketball maybe for some people like me, um, and the kids are asleep for you.

Nothing beats it, yes, and it's, it's a, it's a great slate.

It's an absolutely loaded one, and I'm really, really excited for it.

I think the only one that has like real flop potential for non-injury related reasons is the Thunder, uh.

Timberwolves won just because I expect the Thunder to be much better than the Timberwolves this year, in a competitive imbalanced way that isn't quite as obvious um in the rest of the the games, but I mean, between opening night and Christmas Day, we have a lot to look forward to.

Yeah, I'm not, uh, I, I was trying to think of if I disagreed with any of these matchups, which, I mean, you could wiggle them around, sure, but I think it's a.

I think the only one you can go to is, is the Warriors, but are you not gonna put Steph Curry on a Christmas game and however many years we have left with him, especially against a star like Jokic too.

Um, so I agree with the NBA's decision.

I don't think there were any, any snubs really, and if we have a Game where Jokic and Curry are going at it, like, I'm all for that as a nightcap.

I mean, I, I'd say I'm most basketball wise, I'm most excited for Knicks Spurs just to see that again, see Wemy go back to um MSG, the fan reception he'll get there, uh, hopefully they're in the holiday spirit, but we all know how Knicks fans feel about Wemy these days, um.

So, since that's the early game, I mean, maybe that is a bit of a flop, but the early game has been good in recent years, um, that's the only reason I would be concerned about that one is if some guys have a sluggish start or health, like you mentioned, um, and then narrative wise, like the one I'm most excited to watch is Sixers Lakers, just to see LeBron go back to LA and See what happens with him playing against his son.

I mean, there, there are gonna be some cool moments from that.

I mean, I love watching LeBron and Bronnie check in for Bronnie's NBA debut, the, the lob that LeBron, just all the moments that they had as teammates, so to see them as opponents and what happens and If we see LeBron guard Bronnie, Bronnie guard LeBron, like, that's what the people want.

I hope we get that, even if it's a Sixers blowout or something like that, I hope, I hope we see uh Bronnie try and check up his old man, cause that would be a sight to see, and just pretty funny, and like, what an awesome photo for them of the million of epic moments the James family already has.

And what a moment for us to use that as a cover image for whatever the stories we are gonna write about it.

We're running out of pictures.

One thing that is, I thought while we're talking about it, I realized is sort of interesting is, so the, the way that the league chooses these national TV games reflects the league's belief to an extent, not 100%.

But reflects their belief to an extent of like which teams will be good and interesting and like appealing to fans like or who has the biggest star like what are the biggest stars in life and the whole, you know, it's, it's, it's that like, you know, it's a formula, but ultimately what they're the core of what they're trying to do is to give the fans what they think they want by putting the teams that they think the fans want at like the best possible time slot.

There's a certain lack of Mavericks and Cooper Flagg in the initial rollout of national TV games.

I am sure that they're going to get more than their fair share of national TV games at large, you know, with between Prime and NBC and ESPN.

There's a lot of inventory to go around, a lot of, you know, windows for Cooper Flag to shine, but I, it's, it's just interesting to me a little bit, in the same way it's interesting that they didn't put the Sixers at Boston at any of these, like, the biggest windows they have, uh, Jalen Brown's return to Boston after he got traded.

It's interesting to me because when me and you were talking about the Christmas Day slate before this podcast, and we were discussing, you know, if there was anything we would change.

The Mavericks stood out to me as somebody that I would have guessed the NBA would try pretty hard to include because Cooper Flagg is so obviously that next guy, and maybe like someone like Mavs Rockets would not have been like a terrible inclusion over like Nuggets Warriors from a competitive standpoint, but, you know, you're not missing out on Curry, so I, I get that it was a squeeze, but I do think that This might be the last year that that's the case.

I think Cooper Flagg is setting up for such a great sophomore season that he's gonna kick down the door of the league offices, metaphorically speaking, to demand that he gets as much national TV time as possible going forward, even though his team may not catch up to him.

And I think there was a little bit, you know, if I had to guess, there might be some hesitation about, you know, if Kyrie.

Irving isn't the same Kyrie Irving and how interesting is this team to watch outside of Flag and all that.

But like, as, you know, an American up and coming superstar, he's going to be, you know, Anthony Edwards got the national TV treatment like really early despite playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves who historically were awful.

And I think Flag is gonna end up with that treatment.

It is a mild surprise to me that he hasn't got, he didn't get that treatment this year.

So I mean, so maybe you just, you just really want some Marcus Sasser minutes on Christmas or something like, no, I'm, I, I agree.

I, I think uh flag is, is this is probably gonna be the last year we don't see Cooper Flagg on Christmas.

Um, the other one, I think, like the only player, the first team all NBA that will not be playing on Christmas is Kate Cunningham.

I think it, I think.

Those are the two teams, and there's another one I'll bring up, but um there's only so much time left of the LeBron, Curry, Durant era, um, and I mean, we're not gonna see KD here, but I think the league is just trying to capitalize on that, uh, give the fans what they want, sort of mesh the, the old guard with the new guard to the best of their ability, they can only do.

So many games, um, so, I mean, maybe like Pistons Mavs would have been a decent, I mean, I think the Pistons and the they are gonna be a lot better than the Mavs this year, but Cunningham is from Dallas area, that could have been a decent storyline there.

they also could, the other team that was somewhat interesting to me is the Pacers, just because.

I'm upset for Pacers fans that they got snubbed from a Christmas game, like a finals rematch last year, because of the Tyresee Halliburton of it all.

I mean, there's a lot of unknowns, so I understand why the league didn't include them, but it would be fun to have a like a Christmas game for any fan base, and they missed out on that because of Halliburton's injury, so.

I think if LeBron hadn't signed with Philly, I think it would have been Pacers at next opening night, which would have been so awesome.

Obviously, like you said, a lot of unknowns of Tyrese coming back from the torn Achilles, but you wanna talk about setting up a guy for what could have been an incredibly.

Epic villain moment, like, that would have been so great.

I obviously, they're always gonna go with LeBron , but what, uh, I agree too with the Christmas aspect of it.

The Pacers did not get, and we'll discuss this in an article we're publishing soon, but the Pacers did not get their, you know, kind of their, their, their tour last year is like defending Eastern Conference champs and NBA finalists who, you know, with Halliburton getting hurt, they did play the Thunder on opening night, but it It wasn't the same, there wasn't any juice, like everybody knew it was a little bit of a, a bummer for nobody's fault, of course, but it is the unfortunate reality of just how much wind got taken out of that whole situation, um , with Halliburton's torn Achilles, and so.

This is gonna be a little bit of a warm up year, for sure, but I think he's gonna be back in that national TV picture too.

Yeah, I mean, like, Pistons Pacers is a fun national matchup, just like two star young guards that are sort of on the back burner of Eastern Conference talks, cause everyone's talking about.

Philly and the Knicks and and the Heat, um, I mean, you can add the, the Raptors as a Christmas game candidate too, depending how the Kawhi situation shakes out.

Um, hey, I'm just trying to get new, new names in there, but no, I said, I said I agreed with, with what the league did.

So, um, it, yeah, I think it it'll be a great day of hoops and like, I'm with it, just going back to Curry, even if the Warriors.

Might not be a good team at that point, and if they're not good at that point, then Mike Dunleavy Jr.

is gonna be making some, uh, trying to make some magic happen ahead of the trade deadline to try and capitalize on what's left at the time, little time we have left with Curry.

So he's trying very hard, he told everybody yesterday, so we do know he's trying.

It thankfully, he, he needs to, but yeah, I, I'd say the other biggest part of it, or possibly like the biggest potential miss, maybe not a miss, is no Cooper flag there, cause that seems like a guy that the NBA wants to promote and put on the center stage as much as they can.

I think there just wasn't the room this year, and This will probably be the last year that we don't see Cooper Flagg on Christmas.

And in support of that decision, the Mavericks are probably not gonna be very good, and as a fan and not someone who wants all the different storylines possible to like analyze and discuss in mediums such as this, all I want are 5 bang.

games.

And this is definitely, I think, the best combination that they have for like 5 legit good games.

Usually, the hit rate for reasons that are nobody, like, mostly related to injury and don't have much to do with anything else.

Usually, the hit rate's like 40 to 60% in terms of how good the games are on Christmas Day.

And, you know, that's just kind of the reality of most sports is that not every game is gonna be awesome, but the, these 5 games have the real, a really strong potential to be like, really good across the board, which I think is reflective of how interesting this NBA season is gonna be and how varied the outcomes are in basically every manner.

Like, we're not that far removed from the Warriors' days where We basically could write them in like pen as an NBA finalist.

And now we're coming into this season with like 1000 new storylines, multiple new contenders that were formed overnight during the offseason.

You have no idea what every night in the association is going to get you in the best of times, and these are the craziest of times when it comes to how much play star movement there was this offseason and how just, you know, we have no idea what's gonna happen, and it's gonna be awesome.

I can't wait.

And, and if there's gonna be, there's gonna be a stinker somewhere in there, I mean, you can't, Celtics can't avoid my pick for the stinker.

That is, that is my pick.

I think Steph is gonna surprise people, but I think between the injury risk that on uh that Giannis carries now, like on a yearly basis, the question marks surrounding whether or not the Celtics are gonna be any good, cause they'll be pretty good, but like, you know, competitive on Christmas good is another level.

And questions about, honestly, whether like the heat can make it work that quickly because it's only 2 months between the start of the season and Christmas, it's not that long.

There's a lot of more pitfalls than the other games, but I'm gonna choose in this beautiful month of August, so far away from the actual day that every game is gonna be great.

I will choose to believe this.

Well, I, I'm, I'm a realist, so I'm, I'm convinced there's gonna be enough of those dude.

I'm I'm hoping for just 11 staker, that's like my optimistic take, and hey, that.

You just go pay attention to the friends and family during that time, but it's unavoidable.

It, there's, that's, that's box checking time.

That's any dish done.

Did I not talk to Aunt so and so?

That's, that's, you know, there is value.

I'm not saying there's not value.

There is value.

But I will say all Christmas presents at my household will be open before tip off of Knicks Spurs, because I will be, I will be seated for that one, and if it turns into a blowout one way or another, then we can Get back to the uh festivities, but I, I'm very excited to watch a good one.

Wemy's gonna have that date stapled to his locker, cause that's his measuring stick.

He's a very like he's, he's that kind of guy who like views these moments.

He wants to be the best, and right now the Knicks are the best, and there's no way to, yeah, exactly, there's no way to measure.

Up whether he improved substantially year over year in any way other than to try to beat the last guys who beat him, and who, in particular, the Madison Square Garden, the last time they stepped on that court was when they blew that lead in game 4.

It is the most painful basketball memory for, I have to imagine, everybody on that roster and To see how they kind of encounter that in real time, cause there's no way to prepare that, or there's no way to prepare for that.

To see how they cope with that in real time and how it impacts their game and how motivated they're going to be to try to avenge that, and if they're gonna be too motivated to avenge that versus just playing their game and all that stuff, is just, I mean, it's theater in the making.

There is no, there's no doubt in my mind that it's gonna be a good game.

Yeah, and also like the little roster tweaks too, even not like the biggest ones that we'll see during the day with LeBron and all that, uh, I mean, the Knicks don't have Mitchell Robinson anymore, so they're, it, I'll be interested to see how the slightly tweaked rosters go up against each other and Obviously that's not even taking into account, like, what's the 2nd year leap for Dylan Harper gonna look like, how much better is Steph Cassel gonna get, and how can the Knicks get better than they were in the playoffs.

Uh, so, I'm, I'm most excited for that one, but it's, it's gonna be a great day of hoops all around.

We have many, many to look forward to, but that's gonna be our time for today.

Thank you, listeners, so much for tuning in to SI's NBA Open Floor podcast.

We are so excited to be back with you again next week where maybe there will be another team shockingly sold.

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