Tim Cato, Zito Madu, and Whitney Medworth join for a free-flowing conversation on Lacroix -- and the NBA Playoffs, too. Topics include: -Victor Oladipo is really good. Goddamn. -What the heck happened to Chris Paul? -Can the Timberwolves please give Karl-Anthony Towns the ball. -Are the Spurs the worst team in the playoffs? -Is Kawhi Leonard ducking the team to go to Wing Stop? -Ben analyzes Sixers-Heat Game 2 in depth so nobody else has to, then unleashes his Brett Brown impression. -What is...

SB Nation contributor (and Athletic, Fansided, etc) Seerat Sohi joins the show to talk about her big Dwyane Wade profile, the Raptors, injuries ruining the playoffs, and Wednesday's Timberwolves-Nuggets playoff play-in game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're back after a bit of a hiatus! On today's show, friend of the pod Michael Pina (@MichaelVPina) of VICE Sports joins us to go through an exercise you see in the G-League: what if the top seeds could pick their first-round playoff opponent? Top seed in each conference gets first choice, second-place team goes next, and so forth. Mike, Ben, and Pina each make their choices if they ran the Raptors, Celtics, and Cavaliers in the East, and then the Rockets, Warriors, and Blazers in the West....

SB Nation friends Whitney Medworth, Hector Diaz, and Zito Madu join to recap All-Star Weekend, why the Celebrity Game has a deeper meaning, whether the new All-Star Game format was the cause of a more competitive game, and why the dunk contest gets so much scrutiny. Plus, Mike rants about the three-point shootout and Hector regals us with tales of STAPLES Center hot dogs.

Mike's back! On this week's pod, he joins Ben to chat about Cleveland's deadline-day demolition, the John Wall Wizards drama, Donovan Mitchell vs. Ben Simmons, the epic tankathon to come, and more. Plus, Ben gets pissed about Simmons missing the All-Star Game.

Ben is joined in studio by SB Nation's own Seth Rosenthal as well as friends of the pod, and LA residents, Mo Dakhil and Anthony Irwin, to breakdown the big Blake trade, and what it means for the great LA Hoops narrative.   Topics touched on: - The Blake era in LA; was he the greatest Clipper ever? - The Pistons have a one way ticket to the middle of the NBA - Is LA now back to being a 100% a Lakers town? Was it ever not a full on Lakers town? - What's next for the Clippers, more...

The Sixers have been one of the NBA's most intriguing soap opera's over the past 4+ seasons, and things are more dramatic than ever now. We welcome back to the show former Liberty Baller's writer and current Philly Voice Sixers beat writer, Kyle Neubeck, as well as SB Nation's own Tim Cato for this Sixerscentric episode. Topics include: - What has it been like for Kyle to cover the very unique and very cloudy Markelle Fultz situation? - Brett Brown is finally coaching against real...

VICE Sports' Michael Pina joins the show to laugh about the Clippers-Rockets brewhaha, lament the state of the Cavs and the fruitlessness of going against the Warriors, debate the Bulls' young core, and wonder why the Wizards can't be more like the Raptors.

Mike, Ben, and Alex discuss the factors behind the Timberwolves' improvement, why we're often slow to acknowledge them, why Karl-Anthony Towns gets nitpicked, Andrew Wiggins' struggles, and more. Plus, a Heat-Raptors discussion that predates Tuesday night's fight, Steph Curry is STILL underrated, and what the Lakers should do about LaVar Ball, if anything.

We're back! SB Nation Director of Vibes Zito Madu and friend of the pod Alex Rubenstein discuss Isaiah Thomas' debut, the psychology of the Kyrie Irving/LeBron James breakup, DeMar DeRozan vs. analytics, whether the Raptors can compete with the Cavs in the East, and an epic Ben rant on Marcus Smart's flopping.

The Pacers are thriving and Paul George's Thunder are struggling. Who saw that coming? With George's return to Indiana on the horizon, we dialed up SB Nation NBA assistant editor Whitney Medworth and Indy Cornrows writer Caitlin Cooper. Topics include:A series of mea culpas for our doomsday preseason predictions.Why Victor Oladipo has emerged and why the city has bought into him so quickly.Other reasons the Pacers have overachieved.From afar, do George's struggles and the Thunder's in general...

What is your unpopular NBA opinion? This week, SBNation.com NBA writers Tim Cato and Kristian Winfield join the show as we each argue a HOT TAKE we (kinda) believe. Including: -Mike on why the Rockets and Warriors are equals -Kristian on why the Spurs are gonna be the toughest team in the West by the end -Ben on why the Celtics won't even make the conference finals. -Tim on why the Timberwolves will miss the playoffs Plus, we read off and rate your unpopular opinions, some of which we...

Ben and Mike run through their early picks for the 12 All-Star slots in each conference, including a bold pick from Mike for the second West guard spot and a spirited discussion about whether Ben Simmons deserves consideration for a starter spot. Yes, starter.

Former Clippers and Spurs video coordinator Mo Dakhil, Basketball Dictionary editor and onetime D-League assistant coach Dylan Murphy, and former Nets assistant coach Steve Jones join Mike for a super in-depth discussion about some key league-wide Xs and Os trends they've noticed from the first month of the season. We chat about the rise of defensive switching and whether teams need to practice it more, how to attack dynamic defensive teams like the Celtics that can switch at every...

We all have players we like more than others. Instead of pretending to be unbiased, Mike, Ben, and Alex decided to admit their favorites and asked listeners for theirs in the following categories: no-brainer superstar, former All-Star transitioning to their twilight, possible first-time All-Star, role player, and random bench/rotation guy. Consider this the Limited Upside All-Star team! Plus: Ben and Mike talk about how they'd react if they saw LeBron James on the subway, and Alex explains...

Mike and Ben are joined by SB Nation college hoops/preps/draft guru and longtime guest Ricky O'Donnell. We briefly discuss Milwaukee's trade for Eric Bledsoe, then spend a solid hour chatting about this awesome rookie class. We hit every key player, including Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz (sorry Sixers fans), Jayson Tatum, Lonzo Ball, Dennis Smith Jr., Lauri Markkanen, and almost every other first-year player doing cool stuff.

LeBron James' Cavaliers are 3-5, with a string of double-digit losses and the worst defense in the NBA. Should we worry? We bring back Chris Manning of Fear the Sword and MMA Fighting/Cavs junkie Eric Jackman to figure out what's wrong with Cleveland, how much fans are worried, and which issues will actually carry over once they begin to try.

SB Nation's Tim Cato and friend of the pod Alex Rubenstein join Ben and Mike to assess whether a bunch of early-season NBA trends will actually carry over, including:The Cavaliers' awful start. The Magic suddenly being an offensive juggernaut.Kristaps Porzingis taking over.Ben Simmons playing at an All-Star level.Giannis leading the NBA in scoring.Boogie and the Brow thriving in New Orleans.Whether a team can actually score efficiently without shooting a lot of 3s.And much more. Featuring...

Ben Epstein and Mike Prada run through the first week of the NBA with SB Nation friend of the show Alex Rubenstein. Topics include: the plucky Grizzlies, the teams we're already changing our minds about, the Spurs plugging along without Kawhi, Max/Play/Trade with three early-season player performances, some Giannis talk (but not enough), some Sixers talk (too much), the sad Suns, and more.

After 30 episodes diving into each NBA team, Mike and Ben fly solo to make their own predictions, including Mike's bold Warriors call, which West team gets the 2 seed, who makes the playoffs from 5-8, which team will tank most blatantly, how many games does Joel Embiid need to play for the 76ers to make the playoffs, the Celtics vs. Cavs, Wizards talk, MVP, and more.

How do you talk about a team that seems a near-certainty to win it all? We went all over the place on this Warriors preview with good friend Bram Kincheloe of Golden State of Mind. Among the topics:Are Warriors fans more confident or even more confident after the flurry of activity this summer?Who actually poses the greatest danger to the Warriors, whatever level it is?How do Warriors fans process expectation-setting when they are such overwhelming favorites? Is there an odd sense of...

The Spurs looked like they'd make a big splash this summer. Instead, they've brought the band back together, including a surprise contract extension for LaMarcus Aldridge. Are Spurs fans worried, or has the team bought itself enough goodwill. We brought on J.R. Wilco and Bruno Passos of SB Nation Spurs site Pounding the Rock to discuss the following:INSTANT REACTION to LaMarcus Aldridge's new 3-year, $72.3 million extension. And we do mean instant, because we began recording minutes after...

Last year's Rockets were fun. Then, they got Chris Paul and demolished their supporting cast to build a new one around Paul and Harden. Never say Daryl Morey sits on his laurels. We brought on Ethan Rothstein and Jeremy Brener of SB Nation's Rockets site The Dream Shake to discuss the following:How stunned were they when the Chris Paul trade happened? Why is this different than previous Rockets alpha dog experiments that didn't go quite as well?Can they name every non-guaranteed player Daryl...

The Celtics had the East's best record last year, then promptly turned over more than two thirds of their roster. What's left is a new superteam built around Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Al Horford, but also one with youth waiting in the wings and a whole lot of uncertainty for how this is going to work. To help us make sense of the madness, we brought on SBNation.com senior writer Paul Flannery and Celtics Blog contributor/CLNS Radio founder Nick Gelso to talk through the following.The...