SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, it's Guy Raz here. Have you heard about this new podcast called Six Trophies? You have to give it a listen. Your hosts are New York Times bestselling author Shay Serrano and Emmy winner Jason Concepcion. They're back together again, this time aiming their wit and pop culture knowledge at the NBA. They'll cover the biggest storylines in the league by handing out six pop culture themed trophies for six basketball related activities. Some of my favorites are the Ryan Gosling in Drive trophy, which is given out to a player or team that did something incredibly cool that week, or the Walter White Tread Lightly trophy, which is given out to a player or team approaching dicey territory and many more. I'm about to play a clip from the newly debuted Six Trophies podcast and while you're listening, be sure to follow Six Trophies on the Wondery app or wherever you get your requests.
SPEAKER_02: Next trophy, the Lauryn Hill, you might win some, but you just lost one trophy. Give it out to whoever it is who had the worst performance of the week. And listen, we originally recorded this Monday morning. We had a whole different thing here, a whole different setup. But then Monday evening, under the dark of night, 2am Eastern Standard Time, Wogenheimer, Zuri, can you can you give me some like big bomb noises? Maybe some of those old time the news
SPEAKER_02: alert two o'clock in the morning, James gets traded to the Clippers. The Clippers get James Harden, PJ Tucker and Philip Petrasov. Is that how you say his name? The Sixers get Nicholas Batum, Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, KJ Martin and some draft picks. They win the trophy this week. Both sides, the Sixers and the Clippers. This is the rare trade, Jason, the rare trade where both teams come out of it and they're like, yeah, all right, we both got worse. Here we go. I disagree. First of all, I just want to note something. The Clippers
SPEAKER_01: love to do stuff late. Steve Ballmer, total weirdo. I just picture him sitting in the dark at like 1am and then he like texts his front office like, do it, James Harden, do it tonight. Like why is this stuff getting... When they did the Tobias Harris deal, also announced at 2am, just real weirdo stuff out of the Clippers. That said, I think the Sixers got better by subtraction. Yes, James Harden when he's flowing during the regular season is, I think you'd say like a better player than Tyrese Maxian certainly is one of the greatest offensive players in recent league history and league history. That said, the vibes were bad. You have a guy who's openly feuding with the GM. The GM's not going anywhere. Joel Embiid is watching his window slowly close. Tyrese Maxie, and I don't know if there's been more on a young player's shoulders than the stuff that's currently weighing down Tyrese Maxie that we've ever seen, but he is... It's like the whole reason they're doing this trade now is that they're looking at Tyrese Maxie and they're going, wait, I think this guy's a star. Hold on a second. I think he might be a star. Yeah, like he's giving us a double digit scoring performances plus rebounding, plus the assist. He's not a great defender, but neither was James. And he's got that playoff edge that James Harden has never displayed. He's got that little bit of like, I want to show you who I am. And I think they made a bet that whatever they're losing in James, Tyrese Maxie is going to bring back to them, maybe in a different way, in abundance. And I think it's addition by subtraction for the Sixers and for the Clippers, it's just weirdo stuff. I mean, they've now got four former MVP level players, potentially current MVP level players if they're healthy. And who knows how this is going to turn out, but you've already got Russ on the team who didn't want to play with James very recently. This is going to be crazy stuff. It's going to be wild stuff in clipper land. See, this is... You're making my argument out for why this is a lose-lose for both teams.
SPEAKER_02: Because the Clippers, they trade away some smaller pieces. Sure. I like PJ Tucker. Maybe I like him more than most people. I like him on the team. I think that's a big get. But when James Harden walks into the room, as you mentioned, we know it didn't work with Russ on multiple occasions. It's not going... I mean, you could make the argument, it hasn't worked with anybody. It's not worked with any
SPEAKER_01: co-stars he's ever had.
SPEAKER_02: Like, the Clippers are getting a guy who forced his way out of Houston, and then he forced his way to Brooklyn, and then he forced his way out of now Philly. Like, that's who's walking in to their building. An incredible offensive basketball player, yes. But also, in my head, like a very
SPEAKER_02: exotic plant that requires...
SPEAKER_02: Like, when it blooms, when it blooms, it's beautiful. This is like an incredible thing, right? But it needs to have the exact right pH balance in the soil, and the exact right amount of water, and the exact right amount of sunlight. And one single centimeter or one single degree in the opposite direction, and the car starts to shake. You know what I mean? Like, that's who's walking into the Clippers. And the Sixers are losing a former league MVP, a three-time scoring champion, like one of the great offensive basketball players ever. Even if you start to argue, like, sure, but he hacked basketball. Okay, he did, but it was incredible to watch, and it was very effective during the regular season anyway. Like, this feels... I don't know. It feels like they both lost here, so they both get the trophy.
SPEAKER_00: That wraps it up for now. But if you want to hear more, you can listen to six trophies ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
