SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now it's time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: Lakers-Celtics - the rivalry's back. Fifty thousand points for LeBron, and the Mavs continue to (imitates yawn). Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine. But, boy, we got to begin with Nikola Jokic - his game last night. The Denver Nuggets star - the first ever 30-20-20 game - 31 points, 21 rebounds, 22 assists.
BRYANT: (Laughter).
SIMON: Nuggets had to go into overtime to beat the Suns. This is extraordinary, isn't it?
BRYANT: Nuggets - he's great - Jokic. If you love watching basketball - I know people love to complain about how the game is played, with too many three-pointers, and it's essentially a shooting contest. But if you really love skill, he's the guy to watch. Night in and night out, he just does remarkable things, especially from the center position. The skill of these players is just off the charts.
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: And he reminds you - for the old-timers, he reminds you of Bill Walton and his passing ability. But also, he can shoot. He can shoot with the best of them, as well, and he's such an unselfish player. And every night, you just don't know what he's going to do. And he doesn't look like he's moving very quickly anyway, and he's still dominating the game. He's remarkable.
SIMON: Greatest rivalry in basketball back on tonight. The Boston Celtics host the LA Lakers, as they might in the finals. The Lakers are scalding. They've won eight in a row with their new star player, Luka Doncic, on the same team as a guy named LeBron. What are you going to be looking out for?
BRYANT: I'm going to be looking to see how the Celtics respond to this. They've already lost to the Lakers once before the Luka trade. They're - they are the defending champions. They do not play well at home. And yet, these are statement games. I know that it's a long season, and everybody has to get their rest and all the load management stuff. And, you know, in an 82-game season, it's hard to say that anything is a signature game, but it's March now. And the Lakers made a blockbuster trade, and the Celtics are the defending champions. And this is when you start circling the games, even when you're the player. You start saying to yourself, hey, we might see these guys in June. And so there's that, and then there's also the biggest thing - it's Lakers-Celtics. They're...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: You're always supposed to get up for that - for those games. And even if you're a player and you've got a whole bunch of these things, for the fans, this is a game that everybody circles. And we want to see what the Celtics are going to do.
SIMON: I also want to take a moment to acknowledge that this week, LeBron James became the first 50,000-point player in NBA history. He entered the league when he was 18 - Cleveland's own, playing for the Cavs straight out of high school, now 40 and still playing like one of the greatest ever.
BRYANT: He's - he is - there are no more superlatives for LeBron James. When he came into the league 22 years ago - believe it or not - I remember thinking he is the ultimate basketball player, in terms of he's the most dominant physical specimen that's ever played the game. He's got the size to dominate his opponents, the same...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Way Shaq and Wilt did. He's got the speed of a guard. He's got the agility of a Michael Jordan. He's got the eyesight and the passing ability and the peripheral vision of a Magic and a Larry Bird. He can do it all, and he's also indestructible. If you look at - to be 40 years old and to - usually, your body tells you that it's time. And his body is unlike anything that we've seen in terms of his durability and his ability to stay healthy.
SIMON: Yeah. Look, I got to ask about the Dallas Mavericks, the team that traded...
BRYANT: Oh, boy.
SIMON: ...Away Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, who's now injured. He'll miss the rest of the season. Kyrie Irving of the Mavericks tore his ACL. He'll miss the rest of the season. Do you think that next year, their general manager, Nico Harrison, will be shouting, OK, who had the latte over here?
BRYANT: Next year, Nico Harrison - he might be in the stands watching. I mean, this is incredible in terms of - there's a reason why you don't get these trades very often in sports, Scott. And that's...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Because if you're going to trade a player like Luka Doncic - your franchise guy, your signature guy, the guy that the fans pay money to see and who is easily one of the best five players in the NBA when he's right - you better be correct. You cannot get this wrong. And right now, this could not have gone worse for the Dallas Mavericks. In addition to everything going poorly for them - you get Anthony Davis is hurt, and then Kyrie Irving just tore his ACL - you trade him to the Lakers? And the hard thing is that they actually may be right in the long haul. But boy, this is looking...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Like one of the worst trades in history.
SIMON: Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media, thanks so much. Talk to you soon, my friend.
BRYANT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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