The Word Podcast: Sports, News, & Stuff · The Word Podcast

Game 7 Preview, Durant to Houston! "2 Dunks & a Lie", Fantasy Football Last Place Punishments

·1 hr 38 min·5 clips

Kevin Durant is traded to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick, and five second-round picks.

1. The Word Podcast: Sports, News, & Stuff centers on a June 22 Game 7 preview, a Kevin Durant trade to Houston, and a new NBA draft game called '2 Dunks and a Lie.' 2. James Mundia hosts with Richard Bruce Abernathy, and their back-and-forth matters because Mundia drives the questions while Abernathy offers the basketball analysis and trade reaction. 3. The episode is trying to answer how a Game 7, a Durant trade, and the upcoming draft fit into one Sunday broadcast. 4. Mundia and Abernathy open by debating the phrase 'talk about this,' with both saying interviewers often use it as a lazy way to hand off responsibility. 5. The conversation then shifts to Game 7 of the NBA Finals and the idea that nobody expected Oklahoma City and Indiana to still be playing on June 22. 6. They say Indiana continues to defy predictions after another convincing road win in Game 6 and another 20-point comeback earlier in the playoffs. 7. Abernathy argues that the Pacers have a real chance because they have already shown they can recover from bad stretches and win in unusual ways. 8. The hosts also note that Oklahoma City is strong at home, which makes the road environment in Game 7 a major problem for Indiana. 9. A long segment focuses on how small-market teams like Oklahoma City and Indiana have built contenders through the draft, trades, and sustainable roster construction. 10. Abernathy says the new NBA salary-cap aprons and roster limits are shaping how teams can keep together deep, competitive cores. 11. He points to bench players such as Alex Caruso, T.J. McConnell, and Benedict Mathurin as examples of players who have changed individual games. 12. He also names Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren as the stars driving the series. 13. Mundia says the discussion sounds like 'the Sports Reporters,' and Abernathy agrees that older weekend sports shows had a different kind of structure and pace. 14. The show then gets interrupted by breaking news that Kevin Durant has been traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets. 15. The trade package is read on air as Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in Wednesday's draft, and five second-round picks going to Phoenix. 16. Abernathy says Durant gives Houston late-game scoring, stronger shot creation, and a clear path toward becoming a Western Conference contender. 17. The hosts then pivot to the NBA draft and suspend their recurring Trump-themed game segment for the weekend. 18. They rename the game '2 Dunks and a Lie' and use it to identify fake draft prospects from a list that includes Derrick Queen, Thomas Sorber, Tyler Booker, Brady Martin, Noah Essengay, and Colin Murray-Boyles. 19. The tone stays loose and conversational, with sports analysis, media criticism, and several jokes about old television formats and the show's own structure. 20. Basketball fans who like roster-building talk and draft games will get the most from it, while listeners wanting a tightly edited news segment may skip it.

As heard by us

A Sunday Game 7 special that moves from urgency talk into prospect jokes and self-aware banter.

The Word's Sunday Game 7 special stays close to the pressure of a must-win night, and it does a good job of keeping the conversation grounded in the small tensions around urgency: what broadcasters ask, how a simple phrase lands, and why that can turn into a mild argument.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Game 7 preview that keeps side-eyeing its own seriousness.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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