The Hoop Talk Podcast with Jalon Dixon and Ryan Leshko

The climactic midway point of the 2021 WNBA Regular season is around the corner and teams are preparing for a much needed break heading into the month long Tokyo Olympics.

For some this will be a chance to wind down, recuperate their strength and prepare themselves for second half of the season. There are also those who will be using this break as a chance to get better in order to comeback and make a strong impact on their teams in hopes of making a late season playoff push.

And the of course we cannot forget about those who will be representing various countries in pursuit of a chance to bring home a gold medal in the sport of basketball in the name of nationalism.

On this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast, Jay and Ryan discuss some of the biggest storylines in the WNBA with just a week left before the Olympic break.

Players on the move, All-Star team selections and the final push towards the Commissioner Cup Finals! We discuss all this and so much more! Stay Tuned!

Social Media Handles: @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @thehooptalkpod

Back at it again with yet another edition of the WNBA 2021 Season Power Rankings here on the Hoop Talk Podcast!

The All-Star selections are in. Those who will be representing the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics have been chosen. And most of all, the WNBA season only continues to heat up team chemistry is on full go and the talent on the floor at an all time high with the litany of MVP candidates and championship contending teams!

On this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast, Jay and Ryan share their 3rd editions of the WNBA Power Rankings! The fellas compare/contrast each others rankings, discuss some of the biggest storylines in the WNBA right now and even make some bold predictions to look ahead to as the season progresses.

Stay Tuned every week for even more WNBA action and so much more here on the HTP! Enjoy!

The NBA Conference Finals are coming to a close and the stage for the climatic Finals showdown is soon to be set.

On one side of the bracket there are the Phoenix Suns led by Chris Paul who have officially punched their ticket to the NBA Finals after a 41-point performance in Game 6 to close out Paul George and the LA Clippers.

In the other bracket, the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks square off with a chance to represent the Eastern Conference, but both teams top stars in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Trae Young currently sit out due to injury.

On this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast, Jay and Ryan discuss some of the biggest storylines left in the playoffs as well analyze some of the most recent Conference Finals games.

But of course we had to bring you guy yet another excellent guest so we had the liberty of welcoming co-host of the Around the League Podcast, Jake Endara to talk some hoops with us. Jake is also a big Miami Heat fan so along with some Playoffs talk, we also reflected on Miami's season and discuss some of their potential moves to make this offseason.

We are coming down home stretch in this long 2021 NBA season, but the content never stops and the hot takes just keep on coming! Stay Tuned and Enjoy!

Social Media Handles: @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @thehooptalkpod @_aroundtheleague_

The NBA Playoffs continue to ramp up so does the WNBA regular season! As we have now cracked double-digit games in the WNBA, we are slowly starting to get an idea of what teams are contenders and which ones are pretenders.

The Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces look like they have not lost a beat since last season. The young Dallas Wings are making names for themselves by being competitive and even closing out a few big games against top competition.

Washington Mystics' Center Tina Charles is looking like a top contender for league MVP. But you could also say the same about one Candace Parker who has led the Chicago Sky to an undefeated record in the games she has played. The storylines are endless and the talent is on full display!

On this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast, Jay and Ryan discuss and analyze some of the biggest storylines thus far in the WNBA season. Teams on the rise, big time players missing time due to Olympics play and of course we had to talk a little about the state of the MVP Race!

Need a place to get your WNBA content fix satisfied! Tune into the Hoop Talk Podcast every week to get the latest news and analysis focusing on everything WNBA! Stay Tuned!

Social Handles: @Jalonsworld @Rleshko_10 @thehooptalkpod

We're coming down to the wire and the NBA Playoffs are full of storylines as we progress through the NBA Conference Finals!

The Atlanta Hawks are the NBA's new darling as Trae Young led the charge to a big time upset over MVP Runner-Up Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks survive two virtuoso games by Kevin Durant to take down the Brooklyn Nets.

Then in the West, the Phoenix Suns cruised to past the Denver Nuggets and the LA Clippers overcame yet another 0-2 series start to take down the Utah Jazz.

The Conference Finals are underway, but we have a few things to discuss like: What is the future of Ben Simmons? Can the Utah Jazz somehow do any better than they did this season? Is this a bust season for the Brooklyn Nets?

We answer all these questions and more! BUT, we could not do this alone! So of course we had to bring friends of the show Ian Evans of The Impact Podcast and Brooks Warren of the Hear Me Out Podcast to talk a little Playoff hoops.

There is a ton of debates, a lot of bold claims and a lot of rambunctious behavior in this one 😂!

Then to close out the pod, we share out reactions, winners and losers following the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery.

Definitely another great episode as always with the fellas as we are slowly approaching the END GAME as these four teams are playing for the chance to reach the 2021 NBA Finals!

Social Handles: @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @broookkss @ianacevans @strongimpacts @hmo.podcast @thehooptalkpod

The WNBA continues to heat up and things are getting really interesting across the league!

Candace Parker is back for the Chicago Sky and they are undefeated (4-0) when she is on the floor. The Dallas Wings have Jay's girl Satou Sabally back on the court after an impressive run in International play.

The Las Vegas Aces look primed to make another run at the Finals on the backs of reigning MVP A'ja Wilson and Liz Cambage. And we cannot forget the defending champion Seattle Storm who continue to reign supreme at the top of the league.

On this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast, Jay and Ryan share their second WNBA Power Rankings of the season. The guys compare each other's lists, discuss changes from 1.0 to 2.0 and analyze some of the biggest storylines in the WNBA and highlight some of the league's top top performers thus far.

Who sits atop the list? Did anyone jump into our Top-5 that was not there in the 1.0? Has any stood out as the surprise team of the season?

We discuss all these topics and so much more! Stay Tuned!

Social Media Handles: @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @thehooptalkpod

THE NBA IS ON FIRE AND THE WOJ BOMBS ARE COMING FROM EVERY DIRECTION!

Donnie Nelson steps down from his position in the Dallas Mavericks' front office. Rick Carlisle steps away as the Mavs' coach. Rumors are swirling amongst the franchise regarding the happiness of star guard Luka Doncic and even stud big man Kristaps Porzingis. THE Dallas Mavericks ARE DOMINATING THE NBA HEADLINES AND WE LOVE TO SEE IT!

So with that, we absolutely had to get our good friend and avid Mavs fan Lauren Gunn, host of the The Blue Hardwood Podcast, the Gunn Shot Podcast and writer for Mavs Moneyball on SBNation.

On this edition of the of the Hoop Talk Podcast, we get Lauren's thoughts on everything Mavericks from their coaching situation to trade scenarios involving Kristaps Porzingis.

To close out the podcast we talk about some of the other big things in the news including Rick Carlisle already being rumored to the Milwaukee Bucks and the potential moving of the New Orleans Pelicans to a new city.

This was a really enjoyable episode an was filled with so much interesting conversation pertaining to bombshell news that we all have barely even had 24 hours to process lol.

Definitely a fun one that we enjoyed and we hope you enjoy it as well! Stay Tuned!

Social Media Handles: @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @laureenngunnnn

You can find Lauren's work using all of the following links:

The Blue Hardwood: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blue-hardwood-a-dallas-mavericks-podcast/id1383996163

The Gunn Shot: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gunn-shot/id1552001106

Mavs Moneyball: https://www.mavsmoneyball.com

The NBA 2nd Round is coming to a close and boy oh has a lot happened in such a short period of time.

Kevin Durant goes crazy for a near 50-point triple double in Game 5 with a hobbled James Harden an no Kyrie Irving to take down the Milwaukee Bucks.

Paul George turned into Playoff P with a near 40-ball to help the LA Clippers take Game 5 against the Utah Jazz. The Phoenix Suns are chilling after sweeping the 2021 NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, BUT just when you thought Chris Paul was safe, he is reported to be out indefinitely due to Covid Protocol.

Then the cap things off, Ice Trae and the young Atlanta Hawks are showing that they are a force to be reckoned with in the East after raging back to take down the Philadelphia 76ers to go up 3-2 in the series.

The Playoffs are going crazy now and things are only heating up as the remaining three semifinals series are all coming down to one more victory for each team to either finish off the series or live to fight another day!

With events of mass proportions there was no way that we could discuss this all by ourselves. So on this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast we had the pleasure of sitting down with our good friend and first time guest on the show, Miles Johnson, host of the Real Talk with MJ Podcast!

We get into all these series, make our final predictions of the 2nd round and we close out the podcast by discussing the recently released All-NBA team selections that were announced earlier this week!

We had a great time and an even greater discussion surrounding everything NBA Playoff! Hope you enjoy!

Social Media Handles: @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @realtalkwithmj

Check out Miles' Podcast on YouTube, Apple, Spotify and even TikTok!

-YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDgNX74Ed3P8GHJ0l_2aw4g

-Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-talk-with-miles-johnson/id1521885420

-Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bXtv2Vgrb35YtWoMjjvyt

-RealTalkwithMJ on TikTok

We have a special NBA Playoffs edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast for you guys with this one!

On this edition of the HTP, Jay and Ryan sit down and discuss and analyze the results of the first round. But what makes this is so special is that we got to sit down with a great group of our fellow Towson University alum to kick it with us and talk some NBA basketball.

Welcoming an avid guest back to the pod, we of course had to get our guy Brooks Warren, host of the Hear Me Out Podcast. We also welcomed back our other friends of the program, Rashad Christian and Tommy Parker who both are making their second appearances on the HTP.

We had a great time talking about the futures of the teams that were eliminated and we even looked ahead at the semifinal round matchups!

Really enjoyed this one and we hope you do as well!

Social Media Handles - @jalonsworld @rleshko_10 @broookkss @shad.piper @piperproductions_ @tommyparker2

We are three to four weeks deep into the 2021 WNBA season and things are picking up quickly.

The Seattle Storm still sitting atop the WNBA throne. The Connecticut Sun continue to pile on to their surprisingly hot start to the season. The New York Liberty are slowing spiraling in the wrong direction. The entire league is in a dog fight and outside of Seattle, Connecticut and the Las Vegas Aces, no other teams have really solidified themselves as Top-5 contenders.

On this edition of the Hoop Talk Podcast, Jay and Ryan discuss some of the latest happenings in the WNBA and share some of their biggest takeaways of the season thus far. But WE HAVE A TWIST!

Welcoming our first official guest of the WNBA season, we had the luxury of having our good friend Carson Huelle aka @wnbafansonly on Instagram to sit down and chat with us about everything WNBA.

Carson has a really great social media beat following everything in the WNBA and he also has an Instagram page called @nuggetsfansonly to share his NBA fandom of the Denver Nuggets as well!

It was great sitting down with him and getting some outside perspective on the WNBA besides our own opinions. You can definitely expect to hear from Carson Huelle much more on the HTP in the WNBA department and we may even get to talk a little Nikola Jokic sometime down the line.

Really enjoyed this one, hope you guys do as well!