Welcome PAU!

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Malika Andrews (0:30)

You know that's right. Hey, coming up here on NBA Today, the storm and the fever pulled off the improbable. Chiney, she's actually just now recovered from watching Nneka to show us exactly how they forced a game three. Plus, Stewie's first comments ahead. Also, we do a deep dive into what the past six years have been like for Kawhi, Leonard and the Clippers. What's next in this saga? And we have a very special guest on today's show, my friends. Hall of Famer Pau Gasol makes his NBA debut. NBA Today starts right now and Chiney, this is such a treat. I'm always excited to share the desk with you, but it's special. This is a bucket with some special today to have Pau Gasol with us. Thank you so much for joining us.

Pau Gasol (1:11)

Thank you for having me. It's awesome to be here.

Malika Andrews (1:12)

We are really, really excited. We got a lot to get to on today's show and Chiney and I were chatting. We're like, what can we do to start the show with Pau? Probably just get to hoops because that's exactly what he wants to talk about. So let's get right to it, shall we? We're going to start in the WNBA here with some news. Brianna Stewart exited the Liberties Game 1 win over the Mercury remember on Sunday with a knee injury. And then on Tuesday, head coach Sandy Brandello said that the two-time MVP's MRI came back quote, relatively clean. Now Stewie is currently listed as a game time decision, but we did get to hear from her this morning for the first time since the injury.

Brianna Stewart (1:48)

I wanted to make sure I tried to shoot around so barring anything crazy happening between now and then, like that's my plan. But like, I just want to make sure that I don't make up for my nap and feel like s**t. I have like a strain, no sprain. I sprained my MCO basically. But I think that what I felt in that moment scared me more than anything. And I'm very happy to have gotten my MRI results back and know that it's something that I can play through depending on how much pain I want to be in.

Malika Andrews (2:27)

I think all fans are relieved to hear that as we say hello to our Holly Rowe, who's been with the Liberty All Day. And Holly, we know that sometimes medical staff, right? They have to protect players from themselves, maybe a little bit here. So what advice is Stewie weighing as she tries to play tonight?

Holly Rowe (2:44)

Well, first and foremost, Stewie is stubborn and she is absolutely adamant that she is playing. She did say that she was going to take a nap and see how she wakes up. She went through everything she did around today, but she is being smart about this injury. She showed the imaging to two separate doctors and they have told her that structurally the knee looks fine. Of course, there is always a risk for re-injury. Keep in mind, she injured the right knee, had a procedure in April, came back, got a bone bruise midway through the season that kept her out for a while. So this is the other knee, the left knee. So something she's got to be conscientious of. But if you know Stewie, you know she would rather lay down and die than not play in this game today.

So I do expect her to play and why that's important, Malika. Her defensive presence, if Stewie scores, that would be a bonus today. But what she does defensively, they use her as a rover, as a defensive back. She is all over the floor in these defensive situations with her length, getting tits, getting rebounds, tipping balls out. So I think the biggest issue right now is just having Stewie on the floor changes how Phoenix has to guard her and how Phoenix gets guarded. So her presence will be big. She did tell me that it will be a pain tolerance. She said she's going to look into what she can do to minimize the pain. But as of now, it will be as tolerated with that knee injury.