Good Morning, Stumpers!

If you’re an NBA fan and you just happened to go to bed early last night, you missed a lot. I can’t wait for you all to get into this edition because yesterday was a MAD HOUSE from start to finish in the basketball world. Let’s get into it!

Today’s Rundown

Everything you’ll get from today’s edition, and more:

• 🤯 The biggest trade in NBA history

• 🤤 Upset after upset after upset in college basketball

• 🫠 Did we mention, the biggest trade in NBA history??

• 🎵 Sunday morning with Sir Elton John

On This Day

On This Day…

🏀 Packers Make Franchise Changing Hire

If you look at every NFL franchise, they each have moments in their history, good or bad, that define them. For the Green Bay Packers, it was on this day in 1959 that they made one of the best decisions in franchise history: hiring Vince Lombardi.

That’s right, on this day in 1959, Lombardi officially signed on to become the next head coach in Green Bay. Vince led the Packers to Super Bowl I and II victories, as well as five NFL Championships before it was named the Super Bowl.

Trivia Time

🧠 Test your sports knowledge…

Yesterday’s Trivia Answer: (D) Chris Paul! Most commonly known for his time in State Farm commercials, Christopher Emmanuel Paul, AKA “CP3”, is second all-time in assists with 12,263! Jokes aside, CP3 is one of the best PGs to lace em up! The Spurs might quietly sneak into a Play-In game with him this year.

Before We Dive In…

👀 Here’s Yesterday’s MUST-See’s

• 🤣 Mavericks tweeting Luka on the day they trade him… cold

• 🫢 ROYAL RUMBLE WINNER

• 🏀 Aaron Wiggins career night for OKC

• 😂 These Luka memes are going CRAZY

The Hot Stove

NBA Blockbuster

🏀 Uhhhhh Luka!? What. Just. Happened.

What to know: This may be the biggest NBA trade deadline BOMB of all time. That is not an overreaction. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, had this one coming. For those of you who aren’t sickos and weren’t pacing while reading this on their phones, at a little past midnight east coast time, Luka Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavs got back Anthony Davis in return.

Sure, people were saying the Lakers needed to make a move. But nobody had this one coming. I mean, this may be the biggest trade of all time. When was the last time that arguably the best player in the sport got traded out of nowhere?? I don’t think it ever has. A top player getting traded in the offseason, or signing somewhere else, sure. But this?? This is blindsiding, bananas, nutso factory, ludacris, insanity, any synonym you can think of.

Luka is a generational player. Generational! Like, once in a generation! He’s young, likeable, passionate, has leadership skills, uber talented, ice in his veins, he has everything you could want. Heck, the Mavs were in the NBA finals with this guy last year!

I don’t really know what Dallas is thinking... I can’t wrap my head around it. They get an aging, injury-prone Anthony Davis, a first round pick, and some other stuff. Great! But for Luka?? Even if you hit on your first round pick, the odds of him being anything close to what Luka brings is very slim, probably close to zero.

For the Lakers, I can’t help but think this is a slam dunk. Yes, Luka is coming back from an injury and his timetable is still up in the air, but a healthy Luka is coming, and when he’s on the court, he’s inevitable. To be perfectly honest, this may extend LeBron’s career. He doesn’t need to be the guy anymore, not all the time anyways. Luka is ice cold, and LeBron can play off of him. I may go out on a limb and say Luka may be the most talented player LeBron has ever played with. No matter what, this sets the Lakers up for success for not just this year and next, it sets them up for a decade.

I could talk about this for HOURS, but I will digress. I think this will be a topic of conversation for WEEKS!

College Basketball MASDNESS! In February!

🏀 Cal Returns To Kentucky! Down Goes Houston!

What to know: If you wanted a full day of College Basketball, yesterday was the day for you! It was STUMPSETS galore! Let’s go over some of the big storylines…

Arkansas def. (12) Kentucky in Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena: The biggest coaching move in recent memory, maybe across any sport, was when John Calipari left Kentucky for fellow conference member Arkansas. Yesterday was his first return to Rupp Arena. Arkansas came into the game 12-8, and Kentucky was the 12th-ranked team in the nation. Sometimes, special things happen in games like this.

The 5 starters for Arkansas combined for all but 9 points in what was a late pull away and STUMPSET for Cal and the Razorbacks, 89-79! Despite their record, everything is still in front of the Razorbacks. They have games against (4) Alabama as well as (1) Auburn coming up, and if they rack up some more stumpsets, it will be hard to deny them a spot in the tourney!

(25) UCONN def. (9) Marquette on the Road! Silence the doubters: Have A Day UConn Huskies! In a game where they were undermanned, the heavy underdog, and picked against by almost anybody with a voice in college Basketball, the Huskies just put their heads down and fought! Sophomore Solo Ball had a career-high 25 points which included 7/9 from 3. If you saw this game those 7 threes from Ball might have been the most timely threes you could imagine. Every time Marquette started to get some momentum, he shut that down very fast! Samson Johnson had 13 and Alex Karaban added 15 of his own! Huskies win, 8

The Huskies are still without star freshman Liam McNeeley, but Coach Hurley said he should be 100% for the squads big upcoming matchup against (15) St. John’s. The Huskies have had doubters all season, but on the first day of February, maybe they begin to start their ascent! March is coming!

Not One, BUT TWO TOP-5 STUMPSETS: These two games we’re about to talk about were NOT EVEN CLOSE! (5) Florida went on the road to take on (8) Tennessee. The first half ended 24-21, but after that, it was all Volunteers. The Gators could not get anything going on offense, their leading scorer ended the game with 10 points. Chaz Lanier led the Vols with 19 points. The Vols ended up winning 64-44.

Tennessee was supposed to defend home court; this next one however was a SHOCKER. Kansas State face off against (3) Iowa State in Ames, Iowa! The Cyclones home stadium is one of the toughest to play in the entire country. You wouldn’t have been able to tell however from the game, as Kansas State MANHANDLED Iowa State, 80-61! The Wildcats are still under .500, but this will be a huge resume builder if they can rattle off some more wins. A loss like this also makes you ask, how real is Iowa State?

Quick Hitters

• 🤐 Arizona St HC calls out Arizona after testy finish

• 🏈 2025 Resees Senior Bowl Highlights

• 😶 More accusers come out against Justin Tucker

• 🏈 Mike Evans joining Team USA flag football???

What We’re Watching

🏀 NBA on ESPN Sunday Double Header!

• Celtics @ 76ers (6:00 PM ET on ESPN), Grizzlies @ Bucks (8:30 PM ET on ESPN)

• Rest of the slate: Bulls @ Pistons (3:00 PM ET), Mavs @ Cavs (3:30 PM ET), Clippers @ Raptors (3:30 PM ET)

🏒 9 Game NHL Slate on the Ice!

• Highlights: Golden Knights @ Rangers (6:00 PM ET), Islanders @ Panthers (6:00 PM ET)

🏀 College Basketball ranked action:

• Men’s: Ohio State @ (18) Illinois (1:00 PM ET), (19) Memphis @ Rice (3:00 PM ET)

• Women’s: Butler @ (6) UConn (1:00 PM ET)

⛳️ AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM

• Here is the leaderboard after MOVING DAY! We’ve got 18 holes left to play before we crown a winner at Pebble Beach!

⚽️ What’s Cooking Across The Pond?

• Premier League: Brentford @ Tottenham (9:00 AM), Man U vs Crystal Palace (9:00 AM), Arsenal vs Man City (11:30 AM)

• LALIGA: Barcelona vs Alaves (8:00 AM)

• Serie A: AC Milan vs Inter Milan (12:00 PM)

The Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

Can’t thank you enough for sticking to the end of this thing we call The Daily Stump. If you know anybody who might want this bit of daily juice in their life, send them this link, it would go a long way. Appreciate the hell out of you all!

Trees may get chopped. Stumps hold strong 🌴