Digital Social Hour - From Viral Dunks to 60M Views: YPK Raye's Content Empire| YPK Raye DSH #974

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

From viral dunks to building a 60M-view monthly content empire, YPK Raye breaks down his incredible journey in the basketball content space! 🏀 With an insane 46-inch vertical and the ability to touch 11'8", Raye shares how he's transformed from athlete to content king while staying true to his hooper roots. Get the inside scoop on Raye's training philosophy, his thoughts on the current state of basketball content, and what it takes to maintain relevance in an ever-changing digital landscape. From playing in 8-foot rim leagues to competing in the NBA Creator Cup, Raye opens up about his experiences and future aspirations. Discover how Raye balances authenticity with entertainment, generating over 50 million views across platforms each month while still hitting the gym daily. Plus, hear his candid takes on everything from WNBA rim heights to his dream of owning a professional sports team. Whether you're a hooper, content creator, or fan of the game, this raw conversation delivers pure insights from one of basketball social media's most explosive talents. Watch now to learn how Raye built his empire one viral dunk at a time! 🔥 #thinkmedia #creatoreconomy #contentcreation #creatoreconomyboom #contentmonetization #nba #digitalmarketing #socialmediamarketing #viraldunktrends #thenextchapter CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Should the WNBA Lower the Rim 00:31 - Catching Up with YPK Raye 05:42 - Racing Against Speed 09:24 - Improving Your Vertical Jump 11:35 - Making It to the NBA 13:16 - Playing Basketball Overseas 15:05 - Concerns About Creators Cup Players 16:12 - Last League Experience 17:20 - Dealing with Haters 19:18 - Introduction to Sports Betting 20:06 - Should the Rim Be Lowered? 21:26 - Favorite Basketball Player Right Now 24:03 - Future Plans for TJass 24:30 - Missed Opportunities in Basketball 25:32 - Watching Other Creators' Content 27:45 - Cash Nasty's Impact 28:47 - Julian Newman Insights 29:24 - Stat Line Predictions 31:00 - Playing Against NBA Players 31:40 - Cam Newton's Basketball Skills 32:22 - Where to Find YPK Raye APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: YPK Raye https://www.instagram.com/ypk.raye/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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or visit dove.ca to learn more and order online. I saw this viral clip of Shaq and I think it was Angel Reese. Do you think the rim should be lowered? I mean, it's up to them. But I also do think that tendencies do play a part. Just because the rim is lowered doesn't mean that they're gonna have

tendencies to still want to go up and dunk. I play like that on a 10-foot rim. For a girl who doesn't really go up like they want to dunk at all anyways, I don't think lowering the rims to nine feet, nine and a half feet is gonna make them want to dunk. All right guys, YPK Ray is back. It's been almost two years, man. How you been? Good, how are you? Good, man. You've been liking Vegas since we last talked? Loving it.

I think I just moved out here when... Yeah, literally a month before you came on the first time, I think. Wow. Yeah. You said you didn't start pooping yet, but now you've got a good feel of Vegas, right? Yes, definitely. Yeah, you've been running. You play every day, huh?

Fast, yeah. I've been pooping at UNIV. Yeah? It's cool, so yeah, that's You play every day, huh? Yeah. I've been hoping at UNLV. Yeah? It's cool. It's good runs? Great. Okay. NBA's Cups coming up, right?

You're playing in the Creator Cup next week. What are your predictions for that? Another dub. It's going to be the third one, I believe. Yeah, it's going to be the third one. They did one for the N-Season tournament last year, then Summer League now. Yeah, and you won the previous two? No, I won the first one to be the third one. They did one for the end season tournament last year, then summer league now. Yeah. And you won the previous two? No, I won the first one and lost the last one.

Ooh. So I'm on like a revenge tour right now. All right. Are you a captain? How does it work picking teams? No, there's just two coaches. Who is it this year? Professor and Lethal Shooter. Ooh. I think are the coaches.

Okay. Yeah. They're not playing. They're coaching. Nah. Damn. Lethal shooters videos are insane. Insane right now. Oh my gosh. He's popping off. Yeah. I thought he already blew up, but then he just blew up even more from all of it. It's insane.

I mean, dude, is he the best shooter you've ever seen? Definitely. For sure. I feel like he could, oh no, he got asked if he could play in the league, but he said he would score like six points a game or something. Yeah, I think there's something that keeps him from playing some type of injury or something like that.

That's what I think why he doesn't play anymore. Yeah. But I wouldn't even want to play if I was him. Why? Cause like, he has this like, I don't even know what to call it, but like the stigma that he doesn't miss. Yeah. But in a real game, obviously everybody misses. I feel like if he plays in the game, he can't miss. That's facts. Cause some people are wet pregame

and then they, they just fumble. Like he'll have a great warmup. But then like once he misses in the game, now that just looks crazy on him to uphold this image. She just can't play. I wouldn't even shoot a ball in the gym with too many people. Facts. Yeah. You saw when clay Thompson started image, he just can't play. I wouldn't even shoot a ball in a gym with too many people. Facts, yeah. You saw when Klay Thompson started missing, he started getting a lot of heat. Yeah, for sure.

He had some bad games and he's on the Mavs now though. How do you think the Mavs will do this year? I'm not a big Mavs fan, but they seem to play decent. They seem to incorporate him well in the system. I watched, I think I watched one game. Of the Mavs. Who'd they play? I don't even remember.

To be honest. They're decent, but I don't know. They got a lot of pieces. Kyrie, Luka, a lot of ball. I like Cuban, but he just sold his equity. What does that mean? I like Mark Cuban, but he sold his equity in the Mavericks.

Oh, so he's not an owner no more. He might have a little piece left, but he made a bag. Wow. Yeah, $3 billion or something. Imagine owning an NBA team. Exactly right. Even partially. Anything.

Would you consider owning a WNBA team, a little piece of one? I would own anything. Yeah? Somebody give me a good deal on it, I'll own it for sure. All right. Definitely. Is that a goal of yours one day? Yeah. But I feel like I want to find a way to finesse it so that I don't have to buy it.

You know what I'm saying? I want somebody just like, you know what, in exchange for this service, whatever, we'll give you a percentage of this team or that. Yeah. I mean, you're in that spot now. How many views are you getting a month or not? YouTube, probably like 60 something million. Damn. Like over, probably over 50 million on every platform. Holy crap. That's insane.

That's a lot of value to like a company though. Yeah, so I feel like I try to use that to my advantage whenever I'm, you know, inquiring anything. 100%. No, I do the same thing. I don't like paying for tickets these days. I'd rather just say, yo, I'll like shout you out, you know? For sure.

I went to, what was it, Complex Con a few weeks ago. And the first day I probably spent $600 and then I'm just walking around like, oh my goodness. And then I seen this guy that I know, he's walking with a big wagon full of stuff. I'm like, yo, how much you like, he's like, I didn't pay for anything. He's like, I'm just showing them my Instagram

and he's giving me stuff. And I'm like, what? Pay two? I probably spent like a hundred dollars. Bro. And I walked out with like two big bags full of stuff. I'm like, that's all I had to do. I should have did that.

I was there. I didn't get shit. Oh yeah, you should have did that for sure. I'm like, hey, I'm just working, seeing if you know, I'll give you a shout out on my Instagram, and it was just gone for it. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League.

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It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today. You definitely would have got a bunch of stuff. I'm going to start doing that. That's actually so smart. Cause if you shout them out, most likely someone's going to like check them out and maybe buy something.

You know, something. I mean, most, most brands they don't, but the only things that I did have to pay for stuff that's like one-on-one, there was a few people that were selling pieces that they really like. They only have three pieces in the whole store. So like, you know, pretty. That makes sense. The lines there were crazy. Yeah, insane.

Even to get food was like an hour wait to get food. Yeah. That was the first time I've been to Complexcon. Yeah, me too. I didn't even know what it was until I went. It was pretty bad, dudes. I think Speed pulled up. There were some big people there.

Oh, everybody was there. I seen so many people. I seen everybody. Yeah, it was nuts. Could you beat Speed in a race one on one? Honestly, I think so. Yeah. I think so.

He's fast, though. He's super fast, but I mean, there's always faster out there. I feel that. What's your, like, would you do 50 meters, 100 meters? What type of race would it be? I would do a 50 or a 100, to be honest. I mean, preferably a 50. Cause a 100, even though it's a short distance

in track reference, that's still kind of long. Like when you race as a kid, you're not racing 100 meters. You're probably racing maybe 50 from one street like to the other or something like that, a mailbox to mailbox. 100 meters is long. It's like 12 seconds. Yeah, definitely.

A full out sprint. Yeah, for sure. It's no joke. People underestimate the Hunter. You could cramp up and shit. Yeah, it's a pretty long race. Yeah. Damn, I'd love to see that though.

You really think you could beat him? Yeah, I would do it. Yeah, why not? You kept up with Noah Lyles. Yeah, I seen that. But then again, it's like, and also correct me if I'm wrong, I have this stigma about track athletes.

I love track athletes, but I do feel like track athletes aren't the fastest athletes in the world. And I honestly say that because I feel like track athletes are the fastest athletes that aren't skilled enough to play other sports. Because realistically speaking, if someone was that as fast as Noah Laws and was very skilled at basketball,

very skilled at football, I feel like they would prefer to do so. You know what I'm saying? Because I feel like track does take less skill than all the other sports, to be honest. Yeah, you'll have to do is run faster than the next person or jump higher or further. You know what I'm saying?

But when it comes to like actual sports that involve, you know, a ball in it, it's like you have to run faster, be stronger and do something to put the ball in the basket. Be coordinated. You have to be coordinated to do so. So if you're just super fast, but not coordinated enough to play a sport with a ball,

whether it's baseball, this, that, I feel like you just do so. So if you're just super fast, but not coordinated enough to play a sport with the ball, whether it's baseball, this, that I feel like you just do track, but most athletes do do track in their past time. You know, if you play basketball, they're playing track in the spring. Yeah. So I do feel like track athletes are, you know, the fastest in the world, but I do feel like there is football players, basketball players that are faster than these people, but just more skilled. So they ended up playing a different sport. I could see that there's some fast football players. Yeah, for sure. skilled. So they ended up playing a different sport. I could see that. There's some fast-ass football players. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

But I mean, I can't put that into experiment, you know what I'm saying? But I do feel like a Tyreek Hill versus Noah Owes race. I think that would be- That'd be interesting. No, it makes sense though, cause the money in track's not as good. Yeah, it's not as good.

It's actually terrible. If you're not top five or top 10, you're not making a living. Yeah, they're just pretty much running for fun. Yeah. I love track. I did track growing up, but I just feel like most track athletes that I know didn't really do much other sports. Track and wrestlers were always terrible at other sports. Yes, for sure.

They're just uncoordinated. Yeah. I did track too, and the respect is like, you don't get respect. Yeah, not really. But I mean, it's understandable. It's like teachers, to be honest. I did track too. And you know, the respect is like, you don't get respect. Yeah, not, not really, but I mean, it's understandable. It's like teachers on, to be honest. Yeah. Do track. Well, no allows if you're watching this and speed this man, but I mean, I probably could, I mean, if that race was 100% real, I think I'd keep up. But if Noah Lowes was going 20%, like he said, then.

That makes sense. What was your event when you did track? I did 100, four by one, long jump, high jump triple. Damn. I was doing a track in college, but before the season started, that's when COVID had hit. So you got a scholarship for that? No, I went to a Juco school.

I played D2 Juco basketball. Got it. And then my second year I ended up wanting to do track after basketball season, but they cut the season short. I could see why you did high job. Your bounce is nuts. You just launched a program, right? Yes, I did launch it. For getting your vertical up. New heights. That's dope. I got to take that honestly. Yeah, why not, right? Okay. How long did it take you to see results? I mean, I wasn't, I was always pretty athletic. I was just super small.

I was probably four foot nine as an eighth grader, maybe five foot two as a freshman in high school. So like, I feel like I was athletic, but I didn't really know. As an athlete, you only test your, well, at least a basketball player, you only test your vertical. This is an ad from BetterHelp.

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That's BetterHelp.com. In reference to the rim, so if you can't touch the rim, you don't really think you jumped that high or the backboard or anything. So I'm super short and I can't grab the rim. But I think I started dunking maybe like five, five in 10th grade. Damn. Yeah.

That's crazy. And then just kind of elevated from there. I was just always in season. So I was just always constantly working out. So like. Nice dude. Have you measured your vertical before? I tested a 46 or 47, if I'm not mistaken at UNLV recently.

If that was accurate, you know. It's the one where you hit it, right? Yeah, the thing where you hit it. Yeah, I'd say those are pretty accurate. Yeah, for the most part. You can't really like fake that. Yeah. So yeah, I reached what, like 11.8? But the space in which you have to do it is kind of weird.

What do you mean? It's like in between a few machines. So like, if you like fall the wrong way or jump the wrong way, you might hit another machine. Oh wow, so it's like a tight area. Yes, it's like a tight area. I want to like actually be on the court, you know, warmed up and actually like do it, do it.

Oh, so were you standing? It was a standing test? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. My standing vertigo, it was like running. I'd like to take a few steps. Damn. Dude, 11, eight, you could no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, probably get up to the top. Oh, definitely easily. That dude's different. He could probably stand and grab the rim. So he definitely should be able to.

Yeah. These players these days are insane. Yeah. And I feel like that's what people don't necessarily understand is the athletic ability and also the size of these guys. Cause there is guys that have 40 inch verticals or 47s. Like I do, but they're six five or six six,

you know, say it looks way different when they're jumping that high in reference to the rim and the backboard. Then when I do it. True. Yeah. Everyone's more athletic and everyone's chugging up threes. Now there's teams shooting 50, 63s a game. That's crazy. I don't know how I feel about it.

You know, you like it though. Cause you're not, you're not a shooter. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's you've had to adapt, right? You got to develop a shot now. Yeah. I mean, I, I used to shoot a lot more before, you know, I got super athletic, but now I

just kind of try to mix it up. But I mean, it's the game changes so much, so drastically, so that you've got to be able to adapt if you want to make it anywhere, to be honest. I feel that. But also different levels are also different as well because everybody's different sizes. I think college is dominated by six foot, five, 10 guards.

But once you get to the league, the league minimum for guards is somewhere around six, three, six, four. For a guard? And the average of NBA players, I think six, three, six, four. For a guard? You know, and like the average of NBA players, I think six, seven, six, eight now so a lot. Yeah. Really doesn't.

If you were six, six, do you think you would have made the league? Honestly, I could see myself in the league. Yeah, because- In the right situation, you know? Because it's all situation. There's a lot of six, six guys that just don't make it. Yeah.

But I feel like if I'm six, six and keep all of my abilities, I feel like easily I couldn't in the right situation. Yeah, because you're getting to the basket with ease. Yeah, for sure. Your slashing is nuts, your speed. You'd probably be one of the fastest in the league. Hopefully.

I guess I'm just dreaming about it. Was that a goal of yours growing up though? Yeah, it's everybody's goal. But I mean, I feel like I gained consciousness pretty early and realized, okay, this might not be practical. So I want to be a trainer. I want to do this. I want to just play college ball and then maybe go play pro.

The only reason I'm not pro right now overseas is because I do content. Yeah. It's probably better money doing content than overseas. Ain't really paying no money overseas unless you're in like the first league, you know the leagues that like Luca, those guys kind of.

Europe, maybe China too. Yeah, those guys make money, but I mean, I mean, if I got the offer to do so, that's guaranteed money, you know? Yeah. Like the thing with social media is if you're not getting the views, you're not getting the money, you know?

No matter how much following or what you were trending for last year, this year, it's like, if you're not getting the views, you're not getting the money. Facts. Yeah, you gotta maintain it. Yeah. Would you take a million a year to play overseas?

Instantly. Oh, you would? Okay. So you got a level. Yeah, definitely. I would take, I would take. What about 500K? Okay.

Yeah. All right, if you're watching this. I would do 500K. Not nothing less though. At least I feel like when the money's sitting right there in front of you, you don't know what. I don't know what I would accept in that situation. 500K, plus you could still do the content on the side.

So you would probably make decent money. But I don't know. You would go all in if you got an offer? Yeah, for sure. You would stop the content? Nah. For 500K, no. But for a million.

You know? If I had to stop the content, and they're like, yo, you can't do no content that you have to just play basketball. It would have to be a million. I feel that. Well, there's probably some teams watching this that can hit you up, you know?

Hit up his agent. Anyone in the Creator Cup you're worried about? No. What about Tristan Jazz? I mean, he's good, but I mean, I don't worry about anybody. I'd like to see you match up with him. That'd be a good match up.

We've been playing on the same team the past two years. Okay. We kept the teams the same. It's kind of like a rivalry at this point, but I mean, I would love to play against him. Damn, you and him lost? Who was on the other team? Marcelis.

He's decent. Yeah, Marcelis is decent. Who else? Did they have Frigga? No. I don't even remember who they had. Chris Staples. Oh, he's good.

I mean, they had a good team, but. Hard to see you and T-Jaws losing together, bro. That's 30 game from both of you. Yeah, for sure. I don't know. We just couldn't pull it off. Maybe you had a weaker bench or something. I don't even know. It was probably like seven people on the team.

It wasn't even really an out the bench. Yeah, probably like seven on the team. You got your boy Mecca on it too? Yeah. Yeah, I got Mecca on. I don't know what the teams are yet. I think they might do like some type of draft or something. Ooh.

If I'm not mistaken, but I mean, we'll see. Damn, we'll see. And you won the Creator League last year, right? The one-on-one thing? No, I didn't play in the Creator League last year. I won DreamCon, but that was earlier this year. Oh, okay. That was earlier this year. Oh, that was a one-on-one tournament? No, that was a 5 on 5 at DreamCon with the RDC World guys.

That was the last thing I did with Creator League. Oh, nice. You picked your own team? No, they did a draft. The Duke and Urage were the captains. I remember watching that now. Yeah. You were popping off. Yeah. I think I had 30. Dude, they couldn't stop you.

I mean, it's like creator stuff. So like, I mean, and that's why guys like me, T Jazz stand out and things like this, because we're actual basketball players that just happen to do the content creation, you know, and just, you know, we just came up off of that. You know, I'm like, I actually play basketball. I should be playing somewhere right now. But now we're just going up against guys that just might sit at a computer

or sit in front of a camera all the time. So like, it looks easy cause it kind of is, you know what I'm saying? It's not really that, that competitive in most of these settings. I can see that. You get any haters on social media? Yeah, but I mean, for the most part,

I kind of got a cult following, but they're just sometimes it's some outside influences. Yeah. I had Hezzy God on and I was asking him about that. Yeah, I mean, Hezzy God has a lot of controversy because of like the way he plays and stuff like that, but he's basketball, who cares? Yeah.

Realistically, it doesn't matter. Cause none of us are in the league. It's like, we're taking critique from people who don't really necessarily matter. It's like, okay're taking critique from people who don't really necessarily matter. It's like, okay, this guy's criticizing my game sitting behind the screen. I'm like, let's see, I'm not trying to get scouted by anybody right now.

I'm having fun going to a gym or going and playing a- I saw you playing in an eight foot rim league. But I was fun. That looks lit. That was fun. That looks super lit. So everyone's just slamming it? Yeah, basically.

Put a little fire, yeah. Did you win? No, we lost in championship my first tournament and then it was another tournament. We lost like in the playoffs. Damn. I don't know how. Did you have a big?

Yes. We lost with a stack team too. Both times. Well, there's people probably just practicing that all the time, that type of setup. And you're just going in there for the first time. It was crazy. I got to see some highlights from that.

Yeah, that was insane. You were probably windmilling and stuff. Yeah, crazy highlights from that game. I saw you at slam ball too, right? Yes. That's like the funnest thing ever. You played it? Yeah, I played it. That's one thing I also won with Creator League as well.

They did a slam ball tournament. Oh. What was it like? Two years ago or last year? They did a slam ball tournament in Atlanta. Okay. And I won that. That was cool.

That shit looks nuts. Yeah, that's insane. But that was before I even knew how to play slam ball. I was kind of just playing how I play regularly on the court. I didn't really know how to jump or nothing, but like I started going to Skyzone cause they had built one. They had built the court eventually.

And I started going crazy. Damn. I didn't know Skyzone had one. Yeah. I got to pull up to that. Definitely. That looks fun. You do any sports betting? No, I want to get into it.

I'm scared. I don't like losing money. So I'll be mad if I put a bet in and lost money. Yeah. But I definitely want to sports bet. I don't even know how to do it. I want to get into it. I'm scared. I don't like losing money. So I'll be mad if I put a bet in and lost money. But I definitely want a sports bet. I don't even know how to do it. I want to. You in Vegas. Yeah.

I mean, I know what I'm doing. You have to go to the thing. You can't use the apps, right? Certain apps are banned in Vegas. Yeah. Yeah. I heard you got to like pull up. I don't like leaving my house.

I feel that. You're a homebody? I don't want to go. Yeah, I'm a homebody. I thought you were an extrovert. Well, I feel like I'm more of an extrovert like just when I'm out places, but I don't really like leaving my house that much. I'm outside for the most part.

If I'm not in the gym, I'm probably home. Wow. So you're just hooping and at home? Yeah. Every day I go workout, hoop, then go back home. Yeah. I didn't know that about you. Yeah, just seeing your content, I thought you were out and about, you know?

Yes. I mean, sometimes I go and do whatever, but. You think the, and I think it was Angel Reese. He was like, do you think the rim should be lowered? Oh yeah. And she said no. I mean, it's up to them. What do you think?

It doesn't matter to me. I mean, it would make it more entertaining if, but I also do think that tendencies do play a part. So just because the rim is lower doesn't mean that they're going to have the tendencies to still want to go up and dunk everything. And I used the eight foot rim reference as well. I play like that on a 10 foot rim. So it's going to be my game transferred over to a lower rim.

But now it's like for a girl who doesn't really go up like they want to dunk at all anyways, I don't think lowering the rims to nine feet, nine and a half feet is just going to make them want to dunk everything. To be honest. I could see that. Yeah, that's just- I feel like that'll only increase maybe a fast break dunk here. Yeah.

To be honest. No, that's a good point because if you're just shooting so many layups, you're used to that. Yeah, you're not going to just really just be like, OK, the rims lower. Now let me go up and dunk on this girl. You know what I'm saying? I don't think that that's really going to be. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, she was saying she didn't want to, but Shaq was saying it would get more viewers. I mean, realistically, I feel like it will get more viewers initially for the first however long. But once they realize that there's not more dunking or whatever going on, I feel like the viewership might just drop back down again. I feel like. To be honest, I feel like.

Who's your favorite player right now? Curry. Steph Curry. That's my all-time favorite player. Right now, probably like Jai, Anthony Edwards, something like that. They're fun to watch for sure. Yeah, definitely entertaining. Yeah, and they're saying he's going to be the next guy.

Yeah, I think so. He's got the mentality. Yeah, for sure. He's definitely got it. Yeah. Just the team though. I was not upset, but when they got rid of Carl Anthony Towns, I thought that was a weird move. Yeah, I don't, that was random. They were doing so well. Yeah, I don't know. Random.

And they got, who'd they get from Randall? Yeah, they're not doing that good anymore. I'd rather have Cat over Randall. Yeah, and their record is not so well this year. Well, the West is stacked too. I mean, the East is. There's only two, three teams in the East. Yeah.

Right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Cavs and Celtics and Knicks. Yeah, I was just about to say the Cavs and the Celtics. Because the Sixers suck this year and the Bucks are randomly sucking, so. I watched, oh yeah, I watched the Cavs versus Celtics the other day. Ooh, that was a good one.

That game was insane. They said Donovan Mitchell had like eight points coming into the half. Yeah, I turned it on during the third quarter. He scored probably like 20 points straight. He popped off.

He's insane. They were undefeated that game, too. Right. That was a Celtics given their first loss, I believe. No, I think the Cavs won that game. Oh, they won? Yeah, this was- Oh, maybe they played twice.

Did they? Yeah, cause the Celtics- I think they won that game that I was watching. It might've been their second game cause they were, Cavs were 15 and 0. Yeah, I remember somebody gave them a loss, but I think they won the game that I watched. Oh, okay.

Do you like watching in person or on TV? In person. Really? Yeah, definitely. I like watching the games in person. I like being close to, I don't really like, and that's probably the reason why I don't really go to a lot of games and stuff as well.

Like I have to be court side. I have to feel like I'm there. Sounds bougie, but like I have to be court side cause I'm not even going to feel like I'm at the game if I'm just watching. Can't even really see that well. I don't want to watch LeBron from the top of the thing. Like I can't even see him. I don't like nosebleed seats, but I feel just watching. Can't even really see that well. I don't want to watch LeBron from the top of the thing. Like I can't even see him.

I don't like nosebleed seats, but I feel you though. Core side is the move. I want to be like right there so I can feel like I'm there. Core side are sweet, but core side for NBA games are like thousands, right? Yeah, I never sat core side at an NBA game. But I mean, I sat in what, like the commissioners? Oh God.

He's like that one row that's like right above like the clock and stuff like that. I sat like there, that's like pretty close. But I sat of course at a lot of G League games. Those were fun. I was watching basketball and like in person, but just like TV. Well, G League is actually good competition.

Yeah, it was when Ron Holland and Matos was still. What do you got next? You've been making some fun videos lately. Anything planned? Yeah. The program was one thing that I was working on for a while. Dropping a line for basketball, like a hooping line of clothes. What else?

You just played in Heelys? Yes, that was fun. That sounds dangerous. Yeah, I'm honestly just trying to elevate, man. Just do so much more. I feel like one thing I messed up with doing is not capitalizing on my name trending. You know? And I feel like everybody just kind of gets caught in the moment.

I feel like I got caught in the moment and didn't, you know, take the business route of using my buzz. I feel that. Say this is trending right now, maybe make some merch out of it. Maybe do this, maybe do that. didn't take the business route of using my buzz. Like say this is trending right now, maybe make some merch out of it. Maybe do this, maybe do that. Because there was a point in time where my dunking videos were super, super trendy. I'm mad I didn't come out with the program then, because that could have made me some more money than now.

But I'm learning. Yeah, you live and you learn. I will say a lot of basketball content creators kind of fell off. Yeah. But you're still, you're still relevant. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it just comes with a trending as well. Oh, okay.

Well, um, like five on five was hot for a while on YouTube, but now it's like one on one, I heard, right? Yeah. It's decent. I'm the, what did they got? Like the next chapter? Yeah. They got, um, a lot of stuff going on.

Uh, that's the only really one got a lot of stuff going on. That's the only really one V one league that I even see. I don't watch it though, I don't watch the games. I'm not really. You don't watch other people's basketball content? Honestly, I barely even watch my own. I don't watch my YouTube videos when they come out like that. Unless I'm like super interested or edited it myself.

My editor, Grady, he puts the videos out and then I'll see it on my For You page or like my explore page on YouTube. Like, oh, I forgot I put this video out and I might watch it. But like, I'm not really too into content creation that much. It doesn't really keep me like entertained for the most part.

I watch like nature stuff on YouTube. My YouTube is like insane. Like I watch a bunch of like nature animal documentaries and stuff on YouTube. My YouTube is insane. I watch a bunch of nature animal documentaries and stuff like that. And people, you ever watch those guys in India or stuff, they build houses and stuff like that? I've been watching stuff like that on YouTube. Those are- Or TV shows.

I don't watch shows anymore. I watch the animal stuff though. Those are lit. Definitely. Like the hunting ones. Yeah, and then like, yeah, like the hunting, like the catch cleaning cooks and stuff like that. We're completely off topic. I know.

I love that stuff though. Yeah, no, those are addicting, man. Yeah. I go on long arms with those. I like binge watching. Every time I'm like eating and stuff like that, I just throw stuff like that on. I feel that.

Yeah, I really only, for basketball, I watch Jesser. Yeah. His stuff is really cool. I mean, he's kind of learned from Mr. Beast style. Yeah. I really only, for basketball, I watch Jesser. Yeah. His stuff is really cool. I mean, he's kind of learned from Mr. Beast style. Yeah. I actually like Jesser's content. I like it a lot. His content's pretty cool.

I've watched a few of his videos before. Yeah, he's cool. But yeah, I don't really watch the like five on fives anymore. Like I used to watch Freega, I used to watch MK, I like T-Jazz, but I kind of got sick of it. Yeah, for the most part, I mean, it kind of just gets repetitive. For real.

I feel like you just got to keep yourself entertained. So I feel like that's why a lot of basketball creators have fell off because they aren't necessarily entertaining. You know, I feel like it doesn't take much to go viral. Anybody could go viral. Anybody that I can possibly imagine had told me, you know, because you talk, you know, you talk to people and they're like, yeah, I went viral for this. I went viral for that.

I'm like, it's easy to go for this. I went viral for that. I'm like, it's easy to go viral. Anybody can go viral for anything. Yeah. You know, but it just like to keep that and have that longevity within the field is kind of difficult. You know, you got to stay trending and stuff like that. Agreed.

That's what has kept me around is I just try to always look for new ways to stay trending. Yeah. For the most part. No, I feel that. I'm just kind of looking for what's next. You need that personality these days. That's why Cash Nasty is still doing well. Yeah.

Because he's actually cool. Off the court. Like he's funny. Have you played him yet? I played him last year, two years ago. I played him one on one. I think that's like one of the only one on one games I've ever even played. Oh yeah?

He asked me to play after 3v3 Creator League. This was like two years ago. 2023 I think or 2022. Who won that? I did. You won? Yeah. He didn't back you down?

I mean, tried to. Yeah. I mean. That's his game. He just backs you down. He's strong, but there's basketball strong. And then there's like weightlifting, you know, maybe wrestling strong. I feel like he's that type of strong, but in basketball, if you don't know how to use your body,

it's just a little bit different. Yeah. So, I mean, he is strong though, but it's just like not the type of strong that like is dangerous on a basketball court, you know? And that makes sense. I could see that. I've seen him back down people,

but they don't know how to play ball like you do. So you probably know like how to guard that. Yeah, I feel like I can guard for the most part. Yeah, have you played Julian Newman yet? I played against him in the 3v3, but I got hurt. We played three games. It was like best out of three. It was like the coed.

It was me and Jenna Bandy and then him and Stephane. We ended up losing, but I got hurt in the last game. Damn, what'd you think of his game? It's cool. Good, everybody. I'm not a critic. I really honestly don't really analyze people's games that much. It's just like, okay, like you're good. Yeah. You know, I don't really think anybody sucks. It's like, everybody has their strength and weaknesses. Everybody's game is different.

So I don't really analyze people's games like that. I don't care that much. I feel a lot. To be honest. What's your stat line predictions for NBA Creator Cup? First game I had 22 or 24. Second game I think I had 17 or 19. I think I could easily go for 30. But there is other people playing in the game too.

And I feel like I'm just gonna adapt to whatever role they assign me to. I feel like that's the reason why I, it was crazy. I had a lot of hate for a while after the DreamCon game when I had 30. Yeah, they was like, oh, he didn't pass the ball. He doesn't pass the ball.

And I'm just like, well, I feel like they looked to me to be the scorer of that game to win the game. But then everybody's like, oh, it's not that serious. But it was that serious to everybody. They're giving me the ball. So why not take up the role to be what they need me to be in this moment to win? You know what I'm saying?

So I feel like I'll just adapt to whatever, you know, cause I played with T-Jazz and T-Jazz is also ball dominant. So we kind of just took turns and kind of just got in where we fit in for the most part. But. I feel is there an MVP trophy? Yes. I think J-Dub got it last year.

T-Jazz got it the first year. I mean, this is your year now. But basically I just want another NBA collab. Let's go. Cause I got two NBA collabs right now. One for a block the first year. And I think something last year But I just want to get a few highlights so I could just get an NBA collab

That's really what I'm worried about. You think they'll post it? Yeah, they do. They do from the Creator Cup They always post a few clips from the Creator Cup. So all I gotta do is dunk it They'll probably just throw it up there. Let's go. Have you ever played against an NBA player? Um against as... Like in a run or anything? I've played, yeah, I've played against NBA players, but I never matched up with an NBA player.

Like I've been on the same court, you know, while they're there, but I've never played like matched up with one. I've matched up with a lot of like overseas pros and stuff like that. That's like, you know, regular, but never no NBA guys. Marcus Cousins, they're not some Vegas runs. A couple other NBA. He played in the Cradle League. Oh, he did? Yeah, he played in, we did another 2v2 at final, no 3v3 at final four. Okay. This year in Arizona, he played in that.

Was he still nice? Yeah, he killed. Him, Paul Pierce and Nick Young. Damn. They all played in it. That's nuts. Yeah, it was cool. Holy crap. Yeah, those guys can still hoop Paul Pierce and Nick Young. Damn. They all played in it. That's nuts. Yeah, it was cool. Holy crap. Yeah, those guys can still hoop. Oh, and Cam Newton.

Yeah, he was there too. He played. Cam Newton? Yeah. He can hoop? Yeah, he's all right. I mean, he's huge. He's like six five.

And if you play football with that height. Yeah, he probably played basketball too growing up. So he knows what he's doing. Build up. I feel like everybody plays basketball. That's like a universal sport. Like, I feel like basketball is one of the sports that like, even if you don't know how to play, you still play.

Everybody just always casually plays basketball. These days, yeah. You don't see nobody just picking up a football and playing, pick up football randomly. You know, old people, you'll see a 70 year old man at 24 hour fitness or lifetime. Just, you know, that's like probably like the only sport that does that. Yeah. Where can people find you, man? YPK Ray on everything. Right, well Link below.

Thanks for coming on again. Sure, appreciate you. Check him out, guys. Peace.