Well, I don't think so.

And the reason why I don't think so is because as great as materialist eyes, Kyrie Irving is as much of a box office draw as he is.

Three.

Only argument I would make on the on his behalf is being a box office draw.

Kyrie Irving has shown you he's not interested in being, ah, part of a retooling situation, which is exactly what it would be.

A.

Both Russell Westbrook and James Harden are going.

If you're talking about pairing him with a superstar, that would be entirely different.

But if you're talking about him being the face of the franchise, I think he's graduated from that point.

I think that if that's what he wanted to do, and it's clearly what he wanted to do in the past, uh, that would be a situation where you're the Houston Rockets.

That's not gonna be enoughto win basketball games.

You're Tilman Fertitta, your GM stone, your new coach, Stephen Silas.

Considering the level of success that you've had, you certainly don't want to fall off the map and not even be a playoff contender when you have James Harden locked up for the next two years along with Russell Westbrook.

If you're going to lose those guys, you wanna get multiple picks.

You want to get really, really good players that have the potential to approach greatness, and that's the direction that you want to go on.

You don't wanna go.

Even though he's a superstar talent, he's injury prone.

There is no doubt about that.

His temperament is questionable and the war.

And to be the success of that James Harden in H Town, I think that would be too much to put on Kyrie Irving shoulders alone.

I think that would be a bad move, and I don't think that they would think about doing it well, I do think you need to insist upon Kyrie or something like him now, as I keep bringing up the example of the late, great Dr Jerry Buss, by far the greatest owner in the history of American team sports.

The Lakers owner went to Kobe Bryant when Kobe wanted to be traded at a certain point in his career and I keep bringing this up.

Kobe, you're a five carat diamond I'm not breaking you down into 51 carat diamonds.

You're very rare.

I can't get equal value for you.

I'm not gonna trade you.

But if Hardens in is coming up as a free agent, he's like, Look, you're gonna get nothing for me unless you trade me.

Then you got to get something back.

And as it so happens, I have a rating system that matches up very well with Dr Busses.

Five carat Diamond thing five stars, five stars You're in M V P.

Four year in All Star three year starter to your rotation piece.

One.

Your replacement level.

James Harden is a five star player.

Kyrie Irving is 4.5.

He's not just a regular All star.

He's more than that.

Are you getting exactly equal value?

No, but you are getting something special that's hard to find now.

If it's not Kyrie Irving and the Sixers would be willing to take, say, Caris, Levert and din witty and draft picks for an injured Simmons.

Right?

And you could flip.

You could do a three way trade where Simmons winds up on Houston, Kyrie or liver.

It rather and din witty wind up in Philadelphia.

Something like that.

And you have hardened winds up in Brooklyn.

Something like that.

Yes, but the incoming piece to the Rockets can't just be a revert or a din witty or a couple of them.

A couple of 3.5 star guys were one of the Maybe he's a four star guy.

You need some peace coming back that you look at?

You think I think that could be a five star player?

I think if it's not already a five carat diamond, it can be.

Kyrie fits the bill.

Then Simmons fits the bill.

And in in terms of New York and Brooklyn and Philadelphia, those were the only two pieces you could realistically expect to get back where you're approximating James Harden value.

You see, Max and Stephen A.

I agree with you guys both ready for this one, Max.

Of course they should ask for Kyrie Irving Stephen A.

Just because they asked for K.

I doesn't mean that uh, you know, Kevin Durant, Child Marks and these guys, they're gonna actually give up K I and the whole thing.

Look, these guys been balling out in l.

A.

In these secret games.

Okay, Kevin's look amazing.

They've been finding this rhythm that they've been playing with James K.

I and Kevin Durant.

So look the juices there.

The question comes down to Raphael Stone.

Not a lot of people make mention of his name.

He's a passionate, actually basketball mind.

He knows what he's doing.

And my thing is, if you can't extract the value that you feel like you deserve for a N D P caliber player like James Harden, you don't have to make any move.

No, like we can actually hold both of you guys hostages here with our team with the Houston Rockets and weaken weight.

And we can see what the trade market is like in a couple of months after a season has already got going.

Where teams or even Mawr, desperate to put assets on the table to give me for James Harden, our Russell Westbrook.

That's how you operate this thing.

So if you if you can't get Jared out, if you want.

Jared Allen, Spencer Dinwiddie, Cara Subvert careering If you feel like that's your dream scenario for a guy like James Harden, who is one of the most prolific scorers you've ever seen in history of the game.

You don't feel like you get that.

Then you hold off, then you hold off and you wait.

And maybe one day, if things aren't going well enough in Brooklyn, maybe they come to the table with something different.

Maybe still not kept kept.

Uh, Kyrie Irving essay.

But still, maybe they give you future draft picks.

They give you a lot more than what they originally intended to do.

So well, a couple of things.

Number one.

We're not talking about it from the standpoint that Houston's been offered Kyrie Irving.

And should you take him or turn him down or anything like that, we're just saying that, you know, you're speculating as to whether or not that somebody you would want on your squad and replacing James Harden.

That's number one.

Number two.

Rafael Stone.

You actually, you're absolutely right.

He has an impeccable reputation in basketball circles.

Ah, lot of people speak incredibly high off him, and so I wish him nothing but the best happy and proud of the brother to be in the position that he's in until my fatigue A and those guys definitely love him.

Number three, though here's the reality of the situation.

When you talk about Kyrie Irvin, we have to think about why James Harden appears to be reportedly so fixated on going to Brooklyn.

You want your own version of a Big Three?

Apparently, you haven't just been talking to Kevin Durant.

It's the both of them.

We all know that Brooklyn wanted Kevin Durant at all.

Of course, we all know J that Kyrie probably wouldn't be in Brooklyn if it were not for K D, because Brooklyn wasn't that enamored with bringing him on.

Boy, you don't turn down a talent like that, but he wasn't their prized possession.

They were after K D.

Kevin Durant.

And so this is Kevin Durant situation.

Kevin Durant ain't trying to sit up there and and play with Kyrie Irving.

And then all of a sudden, okay, before you ever play a game in a Brooklyn uniforms, that doesn't matter anymore, because we're gonna take James Harden instead.

The fantasy is the Big Three, their own version off a Big Three created and spearheaded by Kevin Durant.

That's where James Harden comes into the equation.

That's what he's bought into.

It's not just about being with K D, even though that's his former teammate, It's the combination of the three and the show that they can put on together.