Zach Lowe and ESPN colleagues dissect NBA trades, cap rules, and roster fit.
The Lowe Post treats the NBA as a living puzzle of contracts, rotations, injuries, and title windows. Its best episodes move from Joel Embiid’s extension to Knicks center depth, Team USA, Western Conference tiers, and the strange incentives facing rebuilding teams.
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The Lowe Post is a recurring interview and panel podcast covering the NBA, hosted by ESPN senior writer Zach Lowe. Each episode typically pairs Lowe with one or two guests for a conversation running roughly 80 to 100 minutes. Recurring guests include Kevin Pelton and Bobby Marks for salary-cap and trade-mechanics analysis, Seth Partnow for advanced-analytics framing, and reporters like Fred Katz, Ian Begley, and Steve Jones Jr. for team-specific coverage. Discussion centers on trade rumors, contract extensions, free-agency moves, and how second-apron and tax-line rules constrain what teams can do. Individual episodes often move through several unrelated storylines in one sitting — a Knicks center rotation problem, a Sixers extension, and a coaching hire might all appear in the same show. The show also covers league news events, such as Adrian Wojnarowski's retirement from reporting, and preseason content like win-total over/under debates. Team-by-team roster construction is a constant thread, with recurring attention to both conference contenders and rebuilding franchises. The format is conversational rather than scripted, with Lowe and his guest building out an argument or prediction on each topic in turn. Listeners who already follow NBA transactions and want the reasoning behind them, rather than highlight recaps or hot takes, are the core audience. Production is a straightforward audio interview/panel with no narrative or scripted segments evident in the sampled episodes.
Made for: NBA fans who follow trade rumors, salary-cap mechanics, and team-building decisions in detail.
What sets it apart: Leans on recurring cap-and-trade specialists like Kevin Pelton and Bobby Marks for mechanics-level detail rather than general debate or highlight recap.
ESPN's Zach Lowe talks to various basketball people about various basketball things.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Zach Lowe turns NBA moves, roster choices, and contender debates into clear questions about how teams will function on the court.
The Lowe Post treats an NBA transaction as the start of an argument about how a team will actually work. Zach Lowe moves from contract mechanics to lineup fit, asking guests to test the basketball consequences behind each move rather than stopping at who changed teams.
Second-apron panic becomes legible here, so your trade-machine confidence can survive contact with cap reality.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A smart East pressure check on Embiid, the Knicks' frontcourt, seeding math, and JJ Redick's Lakers jump.
Joel Embiid's three-year Philadelphia extension gives The Lowe Post a natural way into the East's pressure map: how much risk can a contender carry when health, seeding, and depth all tug in different directions?
A sincere Woj tribute turns into sharp bottom-tier NBA scouting, with Washington's young pieces getting the strongest case.
The Lowe Post starts with Adrian Wojnarowski's surprise move out of NBA media and into the St. Bonaventure GM job, and Zach Lowe treats it with the weight it deserves: a personal, rattled salute to a colleague who changed how NBA news gets covered.
A sharp East preview that measures Indiana's rise against the defensive details still waiting to be solved.
Zach Lowe and Mo Dakhil work through the East in the way this show is best at: less hype, more pressure points. The cleanest section is Indiana. The Pacers know what they want to be on offense, but the defensive questions pile up fast.
A smart NBA pre-camp listen for fans who like trade ideas tested against the cap sheet.
The Lowe Post catches the NBA at that odd pre-camp moment when the games are close enough to smell, but the biggest questions still live on spreadsheets.
A smart NBA preseason check on Celtics pressure, Thunder belief, Spurs hype, and the next cap-space squeeze.
The Lowe Post frames the 2024-25 NBA season as open, even with Boston bringing back a 64-win title team. Zach Lowe points to the obvious pressure points: Kristaps Porzingis missing the start of the year, Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum carrying Olympic slights, Minnesota still…
A smart West check-in on Markkanen, Ingram, Denver's margin, and Minnesota's next title question.
Zach Lowe frames the West as a conference stuck in late-July limbo, starting with Lauri Markkanen's Aug. 6 extension window and the way one extra day could effectively keep him in Utah for the season.
A sharp offseason NBA check-in on Team USA nerves, Cavaliers optimism, and the Knicks' creator math.
The Lowe Post settles into late-July NBA mode: Team USA is three days from the Olympic opening ceremonies, exhibition games have gotten tighter than expected, and the offseason is quiet enough for win-total arguments to take over.
A sharp offseason roster audit, with the LaMelo Ball discussion giving Charlotte the clearest edge.
The Lowe Post uses a slow NBA offseason pocket to ask why a few rosters still feel unsettled. Zach Lowe tees up Toronto and Charlotte as the main WTF teams, with the title nodding to the broader Banchero-versus-Barnes frame, then the conversation drifts into the kind of style…
Bill Simmons debates NBA tanking, MVP races, and movies with Zach Lowe and friends.
Big Cat and PFT Commenter cover the NFL, March Madness, and NHL for laughs.
Ryen Russillo runs weekly NFL and MLB recaps with beat reporters like Jeff Passan and Mike Sando.
Two hosts break down the ATP and WTA tour week, daily through every Grand Slam.
Race journalists and Damon Hill break down F1 driver markets, team history, and car tech.
Jim Hamilton, Andy Goode, and Rob break down every Six Nations and Champions Cup weekend.
Tuesday morning in Los Angeles.
Woj's exit hits first.
Zach Lowe is back with Moe DeKeele, first with the New England hello and a quick pass through Moe's post-Spurs, post-Clippers work.
Monday morning, 10:30.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, comes off as the West's safest regular-season bet, even if the title case is messier than the standings suggest.
Late July, and the West stalls.
Late July means basketball limbo.
The offseason is dying down.
Jalen Brunson takes the team friendly Knicks extension.
Start with Kawhi.
The NBA offseason is mostly done.
Free agency is slowing, not stopped.
Free agency is underway.
Round one of the NBA draft got strange in a hurry.
Zach Lowe and Jonathan Givony open with the Cleveland Cavaliers hiring Kenny Atkinson as head coach and the looming question of whether Donovan Mitchell will sign a max extension to keep the Garland-Mitchell-Mobley-Allen core intact.
Dallas dominated Boston 38 points in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, narrowly avoiding the largest margin of defeat in Finals history.
Zach Lowe and Mo Dekeele break down Boston's wild Game 3 NBA Finals win in Dallas, where the Celtics built a massive lead, collapsed to score just two points in eight minutes, and survived a Mavericks comeback to go up 3-0.