Is SGA-Ant-Man beef good for the NBA?

Another week means another edition of All The Smoke Unplugged! Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson touched on a variety of subjects, including a little bit of a dust-up between rising stars Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Saturday night.

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Matt doesn’t want to come off as one of those old heads talking about how things were back in his day, but the reality is the NBA is different now. It used to be war out on the court, but now, thanks to AAU and other factors, guys are friendlier and closer than ever before. So Matt actually thinks SGA and Ant getting into it was a good thing.

SGA finished with 33 points, 12 of which came from the foul line, while Edwards put up 19, although he missed three crucial free throws with the game in the balance. After the game, Ant-Man made comments about the calls Shai gets from the officials.

Shai, somewhat uncharacteristically given he usually lets his play do the talking, delivered his response via his Instagram page, noting people talk about him because of his post game, not his postgame, seemingly throwing shade at Ant.

So how good does Stak think it is for two of the best players in the league have a little bit of back-and-forth?

“Great for the league,” Stak says.

Stak says he loves the competition and we know both of these guys are stars of the future for the Association and we know that it’s not going to go any further than what happens on the court. It’s just basketball.

Stak does have a message, however, for Ant-Man: “When you miss three free throws to send the game into overtime or to win it you can’t say nothing in the postgame.”

Stak says as the star, it’s the three free throws he should be harping on, not the fouls that Shai got. No hate, just some free game from an OG, especially since Ant-Man got his shots at the line as well. That said, Stak likes both players and notes that they are his two front-runners for MVP. Currently on DraftKings Sportsbook, Shai has +400 odds to win the MVP. while Edwards is sitting at +8000.

Matt says to Stak’s point about free-throw attempts, Shai had 13 free-throw attempts while Edwards had 10, so they weren’t that far off from each other. Matt’s favorite thing about all this is that SGA is only 25 and Edwards is only 22, so this is something that could keep going for a long time. Stay tuned!

Speaking of beef, it appears the Fab Five beef has been squashed, with a reunion recently going down. What other beefs do Matt and Stak want to see get squashed?

Watch or listen to the full episode below and keep an eye on DraftKings Network for new episodes of All The Smoke Unplugged every Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET!

SHOW BREAKDOWN

Shai vs. Ant Beef, Wemby’s 9:30 Bed Time, UD Jersey Retirement Drama | All The Smoke UNPLUGGED

• The latest ATS Unplugged episode is coming in HOT! Matt and Stak discuss the growing beef between Shai and Anthony Edwards, Wemby’s 9:30 bed time, and the drama surrounding Udonis Haslem’s jersey retirement. Plus, Stak makes an announcement and the guys recap their ATS NYC trip.

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Check out the DraftKings YouTube page and the All The Smoke Productions YouTube page for more. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on Instagram at @Matt_Barnes9 and @_Stak5_ as well as All The Smoke Productions.

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