Dustin Tran

WU Alum
Follower of CHRIST
Faith, Family, and Football
Coach @FootballLatin
YouTube Channel: Sports Guy Talking
“Don’t settle for good; chase greatness.”

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

Here are my 2026 NBA ECF/WCF Predictions!

[Isaac Bassey @0xBassey]

Magic Johnson says he regrets not calling LeBron James before resigning as Lakers president and reveals wanting to fire Luke Walton led to his exit

“I regret not calling LeBron, telling him I was stepping down.”

“I really regretted that.”

“I owed him that.”

“I had to.”

“I thought I had the power to do what I wanted to do.”

“I wanted to fire Luke Walton.”

“I knew he wasn’t the right guy.”

“He was not a great coach for the Lakers.”

“They wanted to keep him.”

“I didn’t want to fracture the great relationship I had with Jeanie Buss.”

“Instead of sitting there and not saying what’s on my mind, I said let me just exit.”

“It was gonna be best for everybody.”

“I’m glad I did it.”

“I just regret not calling him.”

[databallr @databallr]

Yeah to be honest, at first, i was shocked they made the LaMelo trade. But I think I know why they made it.

LaMelo + Kon + Brandon Miller + Moussa lineups are the blueprint for the 2030 NBA. 3 super high volume 3 point shooters applying massive pressure outside the arc which amplified a monster offensive rebounder to clean up extra misses. Similar to how 24/25 Boston lineups destroyed opponents with 4 high volume 3p shooters + Kornet. Losing LaMelo doesn’t prevent them from continuing with this strategy but LaMelo was shooting the most threes in the league so he was obviously a key part.

The question is how many wins Charlotte is projected to have over the next few years. There is a, newly created, big incentive to be bad enough to not make the playoffs the next few years as the draft lottery odds rules has changed. The absolute worst seed to be is a #7,#6, or #5 seed where you have 0% of first pick. 8-10 has 5%, 11+ has 8%.

Charlotte owns their own picks the next 3 years.

If you think Charlotte with Lamelo was between a 4 and 7 seed the next few years, it makes sense to downgrade the current roster, get some assets for LaMelo, and realize your 5-8% of the top pick the next few years.

I think Charlotte was afraid to peak too early with a team that wouldn’t be able to win the east and they would lose the big benefits of owning their own picks as a weak playoff team the next few years.

What’s frustrating for fans is some of them thought this Charlotte team had enough as is to compete with LaMelo, Brandon, and Kon all still very young. They led the league in net rating for the last 3-4 months of the season.

The other factor is, while LaMelos impact was awesome last year, he hasn’t been very durable for his career. If he was an iron man I doubt they make this trade. That’s just extra risk around building around LaMelo relative to the option they took.

Before the draft odds changes, the absolute worst place to be was was the 6-10 seed where you were bad and had poor draft pick odds. Now it’s changed, 8-10 is a fine place to be. The worst spot is the 5-7 seed.

[Future Of The Retro @TraeK_]

The days of seeing a Lebron from a single mom isnt over. Because a 2026 Lebron would have 45 trainers in his DMs talking about “lets work”

And a shoe company connect lining his pockets

Poor kids are still making it they just dont have to struggle until they make it anymore

[NBACentral @TheDunkCentral]

Vince Goodwill says parity is bad for the league because championships are starting to feel like participation trophies, with a new champion every year 😬

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

@TeamYouTube For The Jalen Brunson video, why is the video saying, "Checks are taking longer than usual to complete but are still running." I uploaded the video earlier in the morning.

Title of video is:
Jalen Brunson OFFICIALLY CEMENTED Himself As A New York Knicks LEGEND

[NBA @NBA]

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 53 YEARS, THE KNICKS ARE NBA CHAMPIONS 🏆

New York defeats San Antonio 4-1 in the NBA Finals, capturing their third championship in franchise history!

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

Congrats to the #Knicks for winning an NBA championship! The Knicks END their 53-year title drought as Jalen Brunson was INCREDIBLE throughout the ENTIRE NBA Playoffs! Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in a close out WIN! Jalen Brunson is now a NY legend for the rest of his life!

[Underdog NBA @UnderdogNBA]

Charles Barkley at halftime of Game 5:

"I hate to say this... [Mitch Johnson] has gotta go with Castle and Harper. He's got to take Fox out of the game ... If you're coach Johnson, you can't be worrying about people's feelings out here."

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

#Knicks have a chance to end their 53-year drought tonight with a win against the #Spurs. Too bad that won’t happen tho. Spurs should win Game 5 and extend the series as the Knicks will still win this series. Wemby will have an incredible performance in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

[NBA on ESPN @ESPNNBA]

“We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization. … The San Antonio Spurs helped the New York Knicks win this game.”

Charles Barkley after the Spurs allowed the largest comeback in NBA Finals history 👀

[Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpears]

No team in NBA history who has lost the first two games of the Finals at home has ever come back to win it.

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

Expecting the #Spurs to play great team basketball tonight. I know a lot of folks are sold on the #Knicks winning the NBA Finals rn, but they’re not a better team than the Spurs when the Spurs don’t inflict themselves with stupid mistakes. Spurs will beat Knicks in Game 2.

[Slime🐍 @ItsKingSlime]

2 months ago, Stephen A. Smith said the NY Knicks are NOT winning a championship after their close win against the Warriors 2nd string players and BLAMED Jalen Brunson for the Knicks failing to have more depth due to him wanting Mikal Bridges on the team 😳💀

“Knicks ain’t winning a damn thing… The person I’m blaming most for all of this is Jalen Brunson… You can’t let your organization give up that much to get a dude that’s gonna ultimately handicap you from winning a championship… How this team gonna beat Boston? How this team gonna beat Cleveland? They damn sure ain’t gonna beat Detroit looking like this.”

[LeBron History 🏀 @bronhistory]

Kendrick Perkins clapping at LeBron and daring him to shoot will never not be funny 😂😂

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

Even though I have the #Spurs in 6, I believe #Knicks can STEAL Game. Knicks have won 11 games in a row as they have dominated teams in the NBA Playoffs. Knicks have the rest advantage over the Spurs and weird things tend to happen in Game 1. Sensing a Knicks upset win tonight.

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

HYPED UP FOR THE NBA FINALS! Media wants the #Knicks to win the NBA Finals, but I don’t think the media is going to get their wish. Wemby is too good and too dominant atp. I don’t see how the Knicks will have a long-term answer to stop Wemby. Therefore, I have #Spurs in 6.

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

Here is my 2026 NBA Finals Prediction!

[Dustin Tran @dustinstran]

Perk will be wrong again

[NBABase @TheNBABase]

Kendrick Perkins predicts the New York Knicks will BEAT Wemby and the Spurs in 7 GAMES in the NBA Finals:

"Look, it's going to be a brawl for it all. And I know a lot of people was saying the winner of OKC and the Spurs was going to win the championship, but they got the Knicks messed up. The way the Knicks have been playing, and they have one thing that no one else had — nobody else have. The Knicks have Karl-Anthony Towns, an offensive threat that could pull Wemby away from the basket, which is going to open up so many other areas offensively for the New York Knicks. And so when I look at how the Knicks are jelling in this postseason, playing the gender-free basketball, doing all the little things, losing themselves in the team, the Spurs got their work put out for them. I'm not saying that it's not going to go the distance, but right now I'm leaning more towards the Knicks winning this series in seven, to be honest with you."

(Via @GetUpESPN)

[Slime🐍 @ItsKingSlime]

Old footage of NY Knicks fan Stephen A Smith PISSED OFF while reacting to the Knicks pursuing Jalen Brunson in free agency after the 2022 NBA draft is resurfacing 👀

“I’m tired y’all… The Knicks are acting like he’s KD… JALEN BRUNSON ISN’T THE ANSWER… You creating this cap space to get Jalen Brunson? Is he KD? Is he Kawhi Leonard?… All of this stuff you’re going to because you’re selling New York on Jalen Brunson?”

[DubsVault 🎥🏆 @DubsVault]

ESPN Opening Monologue, G4 2015 WCF:

Steph was fresh off the best 3-game stretch of his young career at that point.

Breen/MJax/JVG always made sure games felt like a big deal.