I am thrilled to announce my 189th Scorum Sports Cast! You can find me @thesportsguru and I will be giving you the best 5-10 minute sports rants here on Scorum every day. On today’s episode I will talk about all of the big news from the NBA.

First, congrats to the Los Angeles Lakers on getting their leader back, Lebron James. He was out over a month but finally jumped back on the court last night and helped guide the team to a very important 123-120 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers are now just one game back of them in the fight for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The biggest news of the day though had nothing to do with the Lakeshow. The New York Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks pulled off a huge trade that will greatly benefit both teams and I will explain why.

The Mavericks future is MUCH brighter today as they acquired Kristaps Porzingis from the Knicks. He is expected to sign a max deal extension and will be one hell of a teammate to pair up with young gun Luka Doncic. This European duo will a lot of fun to watch next year when Porzingis is healthy and the fans in Dallas should be thrilled.

But what did the Knicks get in the deal? As far as the players they picked up, DeAndre Jordan and Dennis Smith Jr. are nothing to brag about. But what they really have is a whole lot of salary cap space.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving can both become free agents this summer and I think they will both end up in New York. Combine them with a potential #1 pick in the NBA Draft, and the Knicks will be back on the map for the first time in a while. They could either draft Zion Williamson or try and pedal the draft pick for a potential Kawhi Leonard or Jimmy Butler or even Anthony Davis, assuming he isn’t traded before the February 7th deadline.

Either way, there is hope again in New York!

I would love to tell you all about it in my new Scorum Sports Cast. To check out my 189th show just click the play button below. I look forward to hearing your input and comments. Cheers!