First Things First - Cade Cunningham to miss time with collapsed lung, Lakers win 10 out of 11, BUD List

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

(0:00) Cade Cunningham suffers collapsed lung, Have the Lakers locked up the 3-seed? (24:36) Browns propose 5-year draft pick trade rule, Stefon Diggs to the Ravens? (37:37) LeBron James “not at all” part of group bidding on Vegas expansion team  (46:54) BUD List  (01:07:31) How dangerous are the Lakers? (01:15:56) Winners and Loers (01:23:50) Luka Doncic’s MVP case, Cade Cunningham’s absence impacts the East? (01:45:28) Frenemies (01:58:30) Ravens the best fit for Stefon Diggs? (02:06:03) Caleb Williams files Iceman trademark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From New York, it's a show that doesn't have March Maddenous. We're locked in to baseball, Otani stuff, Lakers we have. We have some football. There's a lot of other stuff. Shame nobody's watching to see all the other stuff. Put it on two, one on the game. Give us the sound. Give us the sound.

Yeah, yeah, that's how you do it. Be good. I'm telling you, picture in picture was the technology. Now people do the quad box. Yeah, I don't even know how to do. I don't think I have that. You may not. But several of the networks have it.

They all don't have them. They all don't have it. I would like it. And I don't need quad. You just want to picture or a picture. I don't need, no, I can't. But if you are with us right now, we appreciate it. And we'll have a lot on social media.

A lot of, a lot of tune in after the game. Thank you for watching first things first. Today, Houston, we don't have a point guard. What is going on? They ran into a better team. You probably like them now. You begrudgingly have to believe in. I believe in this team.

Okay. If Luca's gonna play like that, what are you supposed to do? Also, they don't have a point card. Get a point card. It's too late, Houston? The deadline's passed. Then why do the, I'll save this.

I have a great take. I have an all-time take coming out. The tiger's going to come out. I like, I like, always like the tiger. Meanwhile, free agency watch, could Stefan Diggs end up catching passes from Lamar in the very, very interesting social media action from Julian Edelman and Christian Gonzalez.

He's responding to Edelman. No, about A.J. Brown. Wow. Now Nick Wright's saying it. No, I'm not saying. Holy cow. And finally, the most motivational segment in all sports. The Bud List with a special cameo from the sports media embudsman who's really making some waves.

No. He's always. I saw someone retweet it and I said, I hope I'm not part of the shrapnel here. Oh, that was from a different show. Don't worry about that. Well, it's called What's Right. Have you seen this?

Don't worry about it. Let's focus on this. I keep Brew out of any controversy, out of my respect for him. So I try to keep, whoops, I try to keep those things separate. I'm telling you, we're going to get hit with this. Oh, wow. Yes. I'm like, okay, wow.

Yes. I think I'm intrigued. When Shaq shows up, like you were talking about what I do. We're starting in Houston. Lakers win their seventh game in a row. Luca went nuclear to close the game. I'm calling it Lukelier. Yes or no?

No. No. No. That's a no. For three. Dustin with a yes. Loop near? Nuclear.

No. When Luca goes nuclear. It doesn't work. 40 points found LeBron for a late emphatic dunk. LeBron. Maybe nuke a donchage. No. I'm like that better.

That's better. Thank you. He was great, but that's great. What is it? Nukkadont. I like that. I actually like that. That's still mine, though.

You can have it. LeBron shot 90% from the field. Here's JJ on the dynamic duo. He definitely put on a clinic down the stretch, whether it was in isolation versus fires in isolation, versus the shock with Shengoon. He just got us. offense, whether for himself or for his teammates every single time down the floor.

He was awesome tonight. And I think, too, you know, part of the evolution of him on this team has been, and particularly in this stretch, has just been his patience. His patience, knowing, you know, he's going to get the ball and he's going to have transition opportunities and he's going to have plays called for him and he's going to, you know, play off ball and get a corner three first play of the game. Okay, was last night more about Luca or LeBron or JJ Redick? Look, credit to JJ. Yes.

A few weeks ago, I said, look, he's got to figure out a way to make it work together and he's done that. He's fixed a defense. So credit to him. In a vacuum, Nick, this would be about Luca. 40 points, one rebound shot of a triple double. Eight points, three assists in the last five minutes to turn the target. sensational place.

Yeah, absolutely. Nothing normal. They were all bananas. So in a vacuum, it'd be about Luca, but in the context of the season, when you factor in the age of LeBron, his stature

in the league, just everything, it was about LeBron. And beyond him having a great game with the 30 points, only, what, 13 or 14 from the field, I think the story, and JJ was talking about it, is LeBron's first acceptance of being

the third guy and really like a role player on steroids or role player Supreme or something like that. Like that's kind of what he is. And he's mastering it. That's not easy. When you play it with the ball in your hands for 20 some odd years in the NBA and now you have switched to being off the ball. And he's doing it. He's getting better and better every game, every week at it. And so last night he was like the analytics dream.

Yeah. Like he came out, the analytics don't want you. They think we want one of three shots. We want a three-pointer. Yeah. We want something in the paint or a free throw. LeBron came out, hit two threes early on, and then every other shot he took was in the paint. Six dunks, three of them alleups, and then one shot kind of out.

It was in the paint, but a little out from the rim. and everything else was a layup at the rim. And so that's the efficiency was incredible. And so I think LeBron was the story, just his ability to not only accept the role, but now thrive in it. And that was key to the – and again, I said the other day

when I talked about kind of comparing him to Chris Bosch, Kevin Love, averaging 17 points a game. There would be times, though, when they'd have a big game. Austin Reeves is off last night. LeBron has a huge game, and it was about LeBron. So I want to, listen, I think Luca is building an argument that when you are discussing the MVP of this season, he's got to be one of the first names you say, not the first name, but one of the first names,

and is in the mix, I think right now a pretty clear at best second and for a lot of people third, but with a few weeks left in the season. And his play has been the story of the winning streak. And he has been like 49 and 10 is like his third best game of the winning streak. And so I don't want to short change, Luca, but I do want to stay on LeBron. So the point you made about him accepting his role,

so DeAndre Aiton had a really interesting quote yesterday is when I saw it where he was like, yeah, I'm paraphrasing. He was like, I wasn't bought in. initially, and I am now. We talk a lot about the tax of having a top two all-time player at this stage of his career when he's a top-two all-time player and some people don't even think he is a top-two current Laker.

And how does that lead to Luca deferring at the end of games? Is it clumsy? And not LeBron's fault, but the tax associated with it. The flip side to having a top two all-time player who's not the best player on his own team is when you see him go Dennis Rodman full horizontal for a loose ball maybe moments like that make DeAndre Ate and say

the hell am I doing? You know what I mean? If he can accept his role I probably can accept mine you know what I mean in service of a greater good and so there is that there is also the numbing to the record books which while I was on vacation vacation. LeBron James. Time out.

What? Working. Thanks, buddy. I appreciate that. The truth came out. You saved me. You know what? Freudian slipped.

Thank you guys. While I was off, LeBron set the record for most baskets in NBA history. Most made baskets. They didn't stop the game. When Steph was going to break

the three-point basket record, We had, we barely mentioned it. What? The field goal, like he broke the field goals record. You want him to stop the game? Well, I'm saying when Steph broke the three point record, we had a daily countdown. They stopped the game to his ceremony. Reggie Miller was there crying.

Like, and so it's just, and so in a couple days, LeBron's going to break Robert Parrish's record. Yeah. Most games played. This is the. He also topped 12,000 rebounds last night. Right. Nobody cares. 23rd player ever.

So there have been two guys ever to play in game 1,610. So I was like, hey, why don't we show what those two stat lines looked like? And again, shout out to Robert Parrish for playing 23 years and making it there. There's not a shot at him at all. But he didn't have Luca. Oh, yeah. If Luca was throwing a Malibuette, maybe Robert Parrish. Where what?

Who was on that bull's there? That was when they post-door. No, it was 97. Oh, so that was. Robert Perrin was on the 1990. He said. He got a ring with the movie. I remember.

And so the point that I am, you said he had six dunks. There have been three games in his career with more dunks than last night. You said the other day, he leads the NBA in fast break points. Second. Second. Oh, he's second in the NBA and fast break points.

It is stunning and wholly unprecedented that a night like that can happen. and the other, the famous dunk, I should have him pulled a video, bad job by me, his dunk on Jason Terry. Oh, yeah. That was 13 years ago to the day yesterday. And I just thought that was amazing. Like, 10 years into his career,

he was athletic enough to have that play on Jason Terry. And 13 years later, he's catching that lob behind his head. It's just, like, that is the part of it that we do get kind of numb to because we're not shocked by it, I guess, Off the top of my head, I think the only comparable athletes in terms of doing this at this stage of their career would be Brady, Tom Brady, and George Foreman, winning the heavyweight championship at 45. Maybe Nolan Ryan, like the, but there's not the baby. I don't want to take anything from LeBron, but I want to bring it back to Luca and try to give LeBron a compliment.

Luca during the seven game win streak, this is field goal percentage and points. The latest one, like you said, 40 points. He had 51 against the Bulls. He had 44 against the Pacers, which, you know, the Pacers curve there is still high 30s. The thing about, and this is credit to LeBron, obviously, he's 13 and 40. These are a lot, he was getting easy buckets. LeBron? LeBron, a lot of these were easy buckets courtesy of Luca.

So the fact that he is playing better defense, he doesn't have to carry the load, and he can still get you 30 points on catching lobs. It makes Luca better too. Can I give you a Luca theory, brew? Because I think we all agree Luca is at his best when he is angry and snarling and screaming at fans and opponents, not refs. Right.

When he directs his ire at the opposition or at the crowd, he needs to be in a froth. The Lakers should almost add a theory. The Lakers should put people in the crowd. Even home games. No, but I have a, I have a, I have a different theory. I think being one game away from the technical suspension has been great for him.

Yeah, he's been amazing. The fact that he's one technical away from being suspended, the fact that he knows he can't yell at the refs, but he's got to yell at somebody. Yeah. And so like, maybe it's a coincidence, but it has lined up with this stretch of out of this world play where he, because he does get too distracted by a beef with the ref, as opposed to his best moments when he's trying to make Devin Booker cry or screaming at the crowd.

Like, that's when he's at his best. Yeah, who's zealous. At heat, we think they're going to lose that one. I think they're going to sit everyone tonight. Look at magic, at Pistons, without Cade we're about to talk about. At Pacers, then home against the net. So there's going to be more. I think they locked up the three seed last night.

Yeah, they should be the three seed. All right. Head to Detroit where Cade is going to miss some time. After being diagnosed with a collapsed lung. He checked out of a game against the Wizards. after diving on the floor for a ball. Detroit initially thought this was back spasms, bro. Now everyone's different, obviously,

but Tim Bond temp's knowing that C.J. McCollum had similar issue twice. One time he missed three weeks, one time he missed six weeks. If Cade were to miss six weeks, he would come back to the tail end of the first round. That's kind of worst case historically. Your reaction to this news. Well, look, you first hear it collapsed lung and you think, man, is this serious? and thankfully it seems like it's not.

He'll be back hopefully to three weeks, but if not that, the six weeks, certainly this season assuming they go on. But look, if it's the long, like if he's back in six weeks, that would be after the first round of the playoffs. If they played Atlanta, which is hot, and I know they're beating up a bunch of teams that are tanking,

but still, Atlanta or Charlotte, without Cade would be. be very tough for Detroit. Because we've talked about it. Who's creating the offense? All right. So that's an issue. Even if he's just out the rest of the regular season,

they're only three and a half games ahead of Boston. So they fall to the, if they fall to the second seed, then they're probably looking at the Knicks, a second round matchup with the Knicks. Now, Cade presumably would be back by then. But I think that's something the Knicks don't want. Now, they won't admit it.

They shouldn't admit it. Hopefully they're not even feeling that way. They beat Detroit last year in the playoffs, but that was a tough series, and Detroit has owned them in the regular season. I think they, don't you think the Knicks would rather Detroit than Boston in a round two? I don't.

Oh, okay. I think Boston, now Boston's physical, too, but I think Detroit's physicality bothers the Knicks. And so, and like I said, Detroit played them tougher than Boston did last year. And so it just changed. changes the way the whole Eastern Conference. Because I was thinking,

okay, Detroit's got, Cleveland, I'm not going to say easy, but they would have an easier path to the conference finals if Kate were healthy. Now without him, you've got to go through the Knicks and then maybe Boston if you get them in the conference finals. They do have the tiebreaker

with Boston, so that three and a half is kind of, so they have a nice cushion on Boston. They would have to really... Right, they'd have to really fall off in these next couple weeks. But the other piece of it is, again, just reading what the internet doctors tell me, is even, whenever he comes back, one of the lingering effects of the collapsed lung, not shockingly, is it takes a while to get your stamina back up. So that, you know, that's a, that is a real concern for, as we said,

a team that is so reliant on Cade for their offense. It also, he also has played 60 games this year. It's ridiculous. So, listen, he's going. The 65. game rule is not needed when it comes to awarding the league MVP because the voters have always basically self-policed that if you don't play, if you play 55 games, you're not winning the MVP to begin with. Now, but guys who have played in the low 60s have shown up on ballots, they have gotten, you know, third, fourth, fifth place votes. And this is where I care deeply about this. I know Brew cares deeply about this. I know some people may not, KW cares, but I don't think

the history of it doesn't mean maybe quite as much. I look at the all-MBA teams as important historical snapshots. And to tell the story of this basketball season

and have the archives say, oh, Cade Cunningham was not one of the 15 most important players of the season would be outrageous. And if he misses the rest of the rest of the regular season, he needs playing five more games, which seems like an impossibility. So he's

Cade Cunningham this year is not going to be on an all-MBA team. I hate that. So they should lift it. Adam should change it. It's just a rule. I said an all-star weekend he should have made a unilateral decision. So he should do that. And maybe he will.

But their ways needs to get a little bit louder. The talk is that they're not thinking about doing something like that. But this year, it feels like guys have obviously missed a lot of games, but it doesn't feel like as much low management. It's just injuries. and things like that. So I do think they should trust the voters

to police themselves. And you're right. It'll look terrible because we get it this year, but 15 years from now when people on TV are looking at, wow, Cade, he didn't have that great of a year. He didn't even make all NBA. Right.

And when he has, he was very recently in the discussion. Right. To be on the top five. And up until this moment, a lot of people would have had him fourth or fifth on MVP. And for his season, now, I do think missing games should affect your standing on all

NBA. You know what, like the, if it was going to be him or Jalen Brown from my last all-MBA first team. Well, if he misses games, you drop him down. Sure. But Jayland, or Jalen just takes his spot. It's not just a, it's not a KED penalty. Right.

Someone else gets to move up. Yeah. And so I just, yeah. I liked when they first put the rule in. I did too. And I thought it was necessary. but yeah, it's fakes It's backfired.

Okay, let's check in on your married friends who everyone thinks should get divorced. But they're on the fence, so they zap all of your energy with their drama in the process. The Bucks and Yannis. Two and eight in their last 10, seven games behind the Hornets for 10th.

Janus is hurt, knee injury. There's seven games out of 10th? Yes, six and a half, I rounded it. The Bucks want him to shut it down. He says, no way. Your reaction, bro. look, again, in an era of low management, it's gotten better, thankfully, but still, it's there.

I'm not going to criticize a guy for wanting to play. Games that are meaningless, games that mean nothing, he wants to go out there and play because he's a professional. And maybe because he wants to show the Milwaukee fans, maybe one last time, hey, I'm loyal to you guys. And he maybe heard Danny bought those 20 tickets to that box game. coming up. That feels badly about that.

But look, I'm sick of this Janus Bucks thing. Thank you. And if Janice does not come out at the, this summer, this off season, he needs to come out and say, ideally they do it as a mutual agreement. We mutually agreed it's in our best interest. To trade Janus is in his best interest to go to another team that's on the cusp of winning a championship. That's a contend.

Who cares? Just do it. But he, nobody, Yannis is going to think you're a bad guy. No one. If you come out and say, I want to go elsewhere. I think that's fine. That's what has to happen. And I'm telling you, Nick, the two teams that should be at the top of the list.

Everybody's talking New York. I don't know if they have the assets. They have to get a third or fourth team involved. Houston and Minnesota should try to move heaven and earth. Minnesota. I haven't heard you talk about Minnesota. I mean, they need something because San Antonio is going to only get better. O.K.C. probably only going to get better.

And Minnesota is just running in place. So they need to go try to get him too if they can. Golden State, I mean, I don't know. You're right. I don't think they're going to be. Golden State and the Lakers and the Knicks don't have the assets. So I support Januson wanting to play again this year, especially if he thinks this is his last year with Milwaukee. I respect the fact that he wants, even if it's not announced,

he wants to know, this is the end. Like, take the court knowing this is my last game and whatever he wants to do. By the way, their final home game of the season is against Brooklyn, which if I'm bam out of bio, I'm like, man, that 83 might not stand that long. If it's Yonnet's final game of his Buck's career. But can I, Put on my pro-labor hat for a minute.

Why is it Milwaukee? Why is it Janus? Why is it that Janus has to say I want to be traded? Why? Well, they may not want to trade him, even though I think they should. Right, that's what. But the same reason we feel it is best for Janus to be traded, he should do it. We all agree, it's best for Milwaukee to trade him.

They also don't want to be the bad guys. They don't want to. So is it not fair for me to say, there's just as much pressure on Milwaukee to say, I don't care what Janus wants. Our job is the Milwaukee Bucks is to serve the fans. And the best thing for everyone is to trade Janus. So guess what? We're trading Janus.

And the only reason they don't, both sides feel, to me, feel like they want the other side to make the first move. And all of the media pressure is on Janus to make it. And I'm sitting here saying Milwaukee is technically the only party involved that can actually make this happen. Janus can't execute a trade. Yonis doesn't have a no trade. Yonis can't call teams and figure out the assets. Milwaukee Bucks. This is over.

That's fair. And so make the move. This has just been a wasted year. Now they may feel, again, I'm totally with you. They need to move on. They're not going to be great with Yonis now. But they may feel like, look, we get one. of these top picks and we team him with Janus.

We're back. So keep in mind, so they get the worse of their pick in New Orleans. Right. So in theory, the best possible pick they could get is two. But that's still a great. Right. But that would take New Orleans and Milwaukee, both moving way up in the, but the problem is like five. The pelicans get one.

No. So the pelicans and the pelicans and bucks are both in the lottery. Yeah. Whoever gets the higher pick, it actually goes to Atlanta. Oh, goes to Atlanta? And then whoever gets the worst pick goes to Milwaukee. So if they end up with three and seven, seven goes to Milwaukee, five and six, six goes to Milwaukee. So that's the point is the best they could do is one and two, which is very, you know, there's like a less than a 1% chance of that, but that's the best they could do.

So that's fine. If they want to wait until the draft lottery to decide, but if they end up with the seventh pick, just like it's Janice's job to know I can't win here, it's the buck's job to know. we can't win until we start rebuilding. Right. And so they can make the first move as well. My goodness. Bucks are in Utah tonight if you want to check that one out. That's not must see.

That is not must see TV. Jazz have some talent. And they got Jared Jackson Jr. Drew will come in tomorrow. Like, hey, did you catch that Jack? No. He's falling. Stefan and Lamar, perhaps.

Oh, my. Next on FS1 on the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius XM. Join Fox in supporting our troops from daily needs to global emergencies. Help us be there for those who serve. Scan the QR code or visit go. dot Fox slash Red Cross and donate to service to the armed forces. Welcome back to the show. Still some NFL free agents available, Nick Shook of NFL.com,

writing that the Ravens should look at Stefan Diggs. Writing he'll bring the fresh experience of reaching the Super Bowl, a roaring, competitive fire and the skills, which he proved he still has to become a dependable target for Jackson and a core that could use him opposite Zayflowers and Rashad Bateman. He also said that. He said both things. Where's all that? You read one thing.

I like that I read. Yeah. Brody like this idea. I do. I love this. I love this. No misdirection needed. I love this.

No misdirection needed. He, look, he would go to, could go to Baltimore and do what, for them, what he couldn't do for the Patriots. It just helped them win the Super Bowl. Okay, we could help them get to the Super Bowl. How about that? It's about winning. He could do for, he could do it for Lamar, what he did for Drake May, help him get to the Super Bowl. And more.

That and more. And then some, all right? But look, the last two stops from what we know, Houston, New England, he's been a good soldier in the locker room on the field. Yeah. Off the field, you know, whatever. but on the field, in the locker room, he's been fine. He's been a leader. We saw DeAndre Hopkins have some nice success with Lamar and the Ravens.

I think Diggs would right away become their number two receiver to say, Fours. And he's at this point become a great possession receiver. Baitman had injury problems, so if he moves, you know, if he gets hurt, you got Diggs there. And losing, they lost their third string tight, not just like. Like, Coler, Charlie Kohler, they lost him. So it's going to be somewhat different, you know,

some of their formations this year. So I just think this would be perfect. I really like Diggs. I don't think they need like a superstar wide receiver. Their problem has not been their passing game or not having this top five receiver in the league. But I think that would help Lamar in the playoffs. I think having a reliable receiver.

He's, you know what I mean? Like, he's been some to blame, as you know, for a lot of it. But I think some of that may, like, I just think it would be helpful for him to have a reliable veteran receiver, which I don't know that he's ever had. I don't know. Diggs would bring that. Yeah, I think. I think Diggs has more left than Hopkins. Yeah, and listen, Zay Flowers is better than Stefan Diggs, right?

I know you might disagree, KW. But I think Zay Flores is better than Stefan Diggs. I'm going to Huse A. Flowers guy. But they're very different types of receivers and just the experience of Diggs is a good thing. But go ahead. Remember what I was saying when you talk about reliable pass catchers. And of course, Mark Andrews was Mr. Reliable until he dropped one pass. And that sort of.

That was a big pass. Ruin the game. And early on, I didn't have this stat. I'm like, man, it just seems like he catches every ball. And we would look at it through Drake May's passer rating. and it was really high when he was targeting Stefan. Here's Stefan's numbers for last year. His reception percentage is at 83.3, which I'm like,

that seems like a lot. And then Josh says it's the second best by a wide receiver this century. Who is it? Michael Thomas in his. Oh, Michael Thomas is huge year. So part of that is a Drake May accuracy stat. I'll give you credit for that. Like that, but part of it is,

you get some credit. We'll show like the, when you're running through those, um, running through those staff highlights. The catch against the Texans was cold and in a small window. And he grabbed it. He doesn't drop the ball. He'll come up big and big moments.

He was huge in the game against Buffalo, his old team. He is a leader. The other thing is, I think he's back with the Patriots. I don't know the contract and why we let him go. I don't know what exactly it is. But his exit was so far from messy. It was just like some nice goodbyes, and his caption was, till we meet again. It just felt like one of those contract maneuvers where I wouldn't be surprised if he re-signed.

So here's on that note, that actually leads me into my real point very well, but on the, that would be very odd because from a cap or contract perspective, it is almost never better for the team. to cut a guy, then resign him, rather than simply restructure the deal. You know what I? And so, like, if it happens, that usually is because the team wants to restructure.

The players, like, no, I can get more money elsewhere, then finds out, oh, no, I can't. But it almost never is, like, an agreement. We're going to cut you, and then months later bring you back. That's funky. If that's the plan, they could simply just restructure. So that would be not unprecedented but odd.

But if that were to happen, I think that only happens if A.J. Brown's not a patriot, which is what I want to talk about here. Why are the Ravens not top of the list trading for A.J. Brown? We know they will trade draft picks. We know that they have draft picks now to trade. I think that A.J. Brown is markedly better and younger and in every way than Diggs. He's obviously more expensive as well. Of course. But, you know, justifiably.

Why do you say they're willing to trade draft picks? Because I don't think when they made the Max Crosby trade, the moment they made the trade, the plan was, this is all fake. We're going to waste four days, screw the rate. I don't think you believe that either. At the moment it was just a whole fake thing. No, I don't think they did it for the first time in franchise history traded a first round pick. And then you think they then got cold feet? And then freaked out.

Yeah. But so, but I guess not being willing to trade two firsts for a pass rusher when you then find out you can get a really good pass rusher in free agency is different than not being willing to trade a second and a third for a wide receiver. when there are no excellent wide receivers available in free agents. Here's the thing, though, with AJ. Yes. With AJ, if I was a Raven executive, I would be thinking he's not going to be happy. He's going to do the same stuff.

Because Lamar does it throw a lot. Like, he'll throw it 20. He may throw it the same amount as Jalen. Now, he's more accurate and, you know, all that. But I think they would be like, man, he might cause the same problems. he's already won a Super Bowl, so it's not like he's just going to keep his mouth shut to win. But Lamar would be far and away the best quarterback he's ever had.

Yes. And I do think, I don't know, maybe I feel like it's not trying to be disrespectful to Jalen at all. Lamar has more cachet amongst players than Jalen Hertz. Even though Jailen Hurts won a Super Bowl, I get that and Lamar hasn't. I just, if I'm Baltimore, signing Stefan Diggs feels a, a hell of a lot closer to signing D'Andre Hopkins than a real needle-moving move. And I'm not saying it would be a bad...

He'll help him a lot more than D'Andre did. DeAndre made some nice catches here and there. If you get the digs from last year, he will. The other concern is that at that age... Yeah, just the... Now, I thought the cliff was coming this year, and I was dead wrong. You thought he would be really good. I didn't.

I did it. But I was based on part, like, blind Patriots optimism, part like he was just moving on the shuttle drills. very quickly. But I think he exceeded everyone's expectations. He came back week one and, you know, played pretty well. We got to the Super Bowl, in fact, easy schedule. You did get to the Super Bowl.

Very easy schedule. And then the other team was covered in Gatorial. They were great. No, we were not. Well, really? Yeah, look at it. You look at it. Cleveland Browns, who traded three first round picks for Deshawn Watson,

are proposing a rule change that would allow teams to trade more first round picks from the current three years out. to five years out. The Rams, Kevin Demoff, loves this idea writing on Twitter. Nothing creates more interest in the NFL than trades. More picks to trade equaled more trades, equaled more interest in team building options.

So the Rams like it. Nick, do you? Kevin Demoff liking this is like the guy who runs a payday loan store saying we're all for banking regulations being lessed. Like, of course, the smart teams love the idea of removing the restrictions so the dumb teams can be dumb more easily. Professional sports in America are closer to a socialistic enterprise than a capitalist enterprise when it comes to how the leagues are run.

There's profit sharing, revenue sharing, the salary caps, all these things. And there are guardrails in place in all these leagues to save teams from themselves. Why does a max contract exist in the NBA? Why can you not give guys 10-year deals? Why in the NFL can you only trade certain things at certain times? It's because teams can't be trusted to not be idiots. And GMs can't be trusted to put the long-term best interests of the team ahead of the best interest. of I don't want to move

and take my kids out of school. So I am all for the guardrails and I hate this idea. Listen, I think my team is one of the smarter teams. I think Vech is super smart. I think their ownership like cares and is at least engaged.

I think the chiefs would benefit from something like this. And they are the type of team that in seven years at the tail end of Mahomes' career is a time I'd be like, yeah, trade all future picks be as good as we can while we have Patrick and then be awful and I'll deal

with it, but I still think it would just be bad for the league. I don't think you should be able to have an absentee owner and a bad GM and it's like, oh, we're screwed till 2030. We're just out in the wilderness. And so I like the guardrails.

I think this would be bad for the league. Look, I think all those points make sense. The NBA's rule is you can trade picks seven years out. But only every other year. The NFL you can do every year. And that was, I believe, put in place because of the Cleveland Cavalier. Ted Steffey. Yeah. Seth. Cleveland. Right. Right. I think the work, but I, look, I, I would be fine with it.

If that's what they did, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be up in arms. But the thing that would raise my antennas is, I counted in Nix points, that the Browns suggested. One of the worst run franchises in sport. Yeah. All right. That they suggested it. If this came from the Chiefs or the Rams or some team that's well running smart, now you're right, maybe they'd have ulterior motors, but you say, this guy makes some good

decisions, look at how they run their team. The Browns are a mess. I totally agree. A complete mess. I'm shocked that the Browns. I'm shocked they had the audacity to even do stuff. Everybody's looking at it. You're like, really? You got an idea. The Browns raise their hand in class. Everyone's like,

what are you doing? You never do your homework. They made the Packers do the tush push because the Packers didn't have, have an untraditional ownership group. So it's like, look. It's just, like, no one's going to fall on this one. It's just the Packers do it and we'll all jump on. The Brown should have called somebody.

I'm like, listen, we did the Deshaun thing. Like, can you guys propose it and we'll support you? Right. Nobody's going to believe it from us. We can't do it. Okay, let someone else do it. All right. That's the story.

You heard it here first. The weirdest and most wonderful plays of the night. It's basically all Luke and LeBron. That's next on first things first. We're going to stay in Houston but talk about expansion. Afternoon headlines presented by Aspendental. Visit Aspendental.com. Get smiling today.

You know, in an old episode of The Shop, LeBron said he wanted to own the expansion NBA team set for Vegas. Yesterday, he said, no dice. I'm the goat. Are you surprised? Well, I'm definitely surprised because, I mean, for the past decade, 10 years he's been saying. LeBron's talked about one known the team, particularly the team in Vegas.

So when you saw that they were available, you naturally made the correlation. But I think this is related. There were some good articles about this. So the group, he's a part of Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox, and then Liverpool and the English Premier Soccer League, that they are not interested in buying one of the expansion teams. for $8 billion. And so that, I would imagine, has something to do with LeBron saying,

I'm not interested. And as much money as he's had, all the reports say he's worth $1.4 billion, that's not enough to buy an NBA team or even maybe have a majority ownership of a team. And I think LeBron, when he started talking about this 10 years ago, yeah, teams were a lot less. Michael Jordan didn't have to put in nearly this amount of money in Charlotte. And so LeBron, if he owns a team, he's going to want to be the majority owner and have final say and the decision maker. He's done that throughout his career in the way he moves. And so I think that is what this is all about.

And look, it'd be unfortunate. I want the league to have more black ownership. It'd be great if it's LeBron James. I don't think, look, I'd love for LeBron to be an owner. he actually ends up being an owner but I'm more excited about minority ownership, racially

minority ownership, black ownership, than it just being LeBron or Michael Jordan or whoever. Having Brady as an owner, having Jordan as an owner, that's nice, but LeBron will be involved with the NBA, whether he's an owner or not, to the degree he wants to. If he wants to be on television,

if he wants to, you know, talk about the NBA, everybody will want LeBron to be involved. So this is sad if this is the case, but, you know, we'll see things could change. All right. First of all, spot bonus. I saw that.

Fear of owning in Las Vegas. I don't know who it is, but that's $50 to one of our producers. That is an Ian, great job. All right, it's stunning to me. He first started talking about this list. You said 10 years ago. Four years ago, he said, oh, I'm going to own a team. Yeah.

He has seen and then the way this there was a story early yesterday, Fenway Sports Group not interested. LeBron then was asked after the game about, you know, is this something you're still interested in? And he just flatly said, no, not at all. And then I think the reporters were a little stunned and he just looked at them. And that was that. So a few things came to mind because I do that.

You say, Brew, he's going. to be involved in the NBA once he's done. I mean, if he wants to. Right. So that's... If he wants to. There's not a lot of ways to be super involved other than this.

He's not going to be a coach. He's not going to be a general manager. I feel very confident in that. I'm also quite confident while, again, seat open for him here if he'd like it. I don't think he's going to do television. Because he's in New York basis. I tend to agree with you,

but he's, look, he's doing podcast. He might do his own thing. There's a massive difference between owning a team. I get it. And I would be surprised if I see him on television, but look, Jack is on. I mean, I mean, it's possible.

It would be stunning to me. And Magic Johnson was on forever. And so it's He could do spot appearances. Right. But that would be stunning to me. That's fine. But it's also such a departure from what he had been consistent on. And I

I do wonder, so the Celtics sold for 6.1. The Lakers just sold for 10. I don't blame the Finway Sports Group or anybody saying that the expansion franchise in Vegas or Seattle is not worth 33% more

than the Boston Celtics and 80% of the Los Angeles Lakers. that if those, you know, if those groups are like, it's overpriced. Like the idea behind sports ownership historically has been, value only goes up, only goes up. And they might be looking at and say, not at $8 billion, you know, for, you know, table stakes. Right.

That's not, that doesn't only go up. And so the question I have is, what value to the league would having LeBron James B. one of the owners be if he's going to be a forward facing, you know, like, I know Pat Riley's not the owner of the heat, but Pat Riley is the de facto face and running, you know, operating the heat more so than Mickey Eris. And what if LeBron as an owner was going to have almost a Mark Cuban style ownership where like he is the decision maker in the face of the team, that to me has real value to the league. And the fact that he's bowing out of it is, for me, for me,

me disappointing. Do you, was your take that on this quote that he's bowing out of owner, team ownership or Vegas? No, I, I, that felt like the NBA, NBA ownership. That's what it felt like to me. Okay. I thought it was Vegas. So if the grizzlies come up for sale and it's not $8 billion,

then it becomes a little more interesting. You know, Jordan started with the wizards and then the Hornets felt more of like a, you know, home state thing. So I wonder if it's just Vegas, and he talked about Vegas, but if there's other, it feels like LeBron's cachet could take maybe not one of the premier franchises, the Grizzlies, and take them to another level, versus Vegas, which feels like it's going to come out of the gate and be sexy. By the Grizzlies and move him to Akron?

And it may depend on like his cashet. Because remember, when Jordan on, now Jordan wasn't as visible. LeBron maybe if LeBron were as visible as you mentioned Cuban that's a whole different thing and they do well Yeah but if he's not if he like Jordan after I was like oh it's nice Michael Jordan's an owner right but he wasn't He wasn't in the other stuff right right and Brady in the NFL is okay right no because Brady's main job is with us right right so I agree with you if he's just an owner the way magic is an owner of the Dodgers that's not But imagine is not the majority.

But it's like Jerry Jones, where you feel like you're part of the Correct. NFL cabinet. Right. And you're directing the league in major directions. Even to the small, there's a point yesterday. I don't know if you saw this clip. And I don't know if he was talking to Jabari Smith or the ref.

Did you see this clip? About the shirt tucked in. It's like that's, we're on national television. That's what we're doing. We're playing with our shirts untucked. And I don't know if he was asking for a tech or for it. No, I think he was telling Jabari. He was like, he's like, I'll tell your father.

used to play against him. But it was, it was like he cares about the league on a molecular level down to tuck your shirt in. And he'd be great in like collective bargaining because he knows the side of the players. He'd be great. I think all that and again, this is naked

speculation. And it's not like I talk to LeBron, but I think people know I'm tight with Maverick. Like I talk to people who are rich we talk to. I haven't talked to any of them about this. So it's true naked speculation. I wonder if he's a little pissed that there is these, that there are going to be two teams that he has planted his flag.

I want the Vegas team. He literally is about to pass, perish as far as, yeah, I've given more to the game than literally anybody as far as, you know, sweat on the court, years in the league, games played, and I'm just like, okay, I'm just going to be one of the bids. Well, what are you supposed to do? You got a billion dollar discount? Well, he made one. Yeah.

I mean, he made, LeBron. Look, all of his endorsement stuff, he was looking at all these companies he worked with. It was partnership. Yes. I want partnership. I don't want to just endorse your product and be an employee. I want partnership. So he's probably thinking of the NBA like, look at what I've done for the league.

Look at what I've done and work with me. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how that plays out. I'll be honest. I mean, the owners are thinking bottom line. All the other 29, 30 owners, you're thinking bottom line. Yeah, he might be upset.

Live from New York to show it's afraid to go home. My wife went to Wisconsin. It's going to be rough. Not great. It's going to be a rough day. You like to pretend you did, kind of. No, I just support my wife. So if that's a crime, then, yeah, luck enough.

Second hour, first thing first. Today, have the Lakers found their winning formula? Play the rockets. You can't do it. They beat the rockets twice in a row. They also beat, when they beat the Pacers, you were like, No big deal. And then they beat the Knicks Timberwolves,

Denver, and the Rockets twice. I'm saying beat the Rockets. Meanwhile, the curious case of Mike Evans leaving Tampa Bay. Very interesting comments. Not sure we even believe them. But right now, hard to believe. It's time for the most motivational segment in all sports.

Also time read viewer mails. We get mail from all over the country, all over the world. We pick a letter at random. Christina goes to the post office. Read him here today. Dear Wilds, love the show. Wow, thanks. Haven't seen Jackson Blade in a while.

Please tell me you guys aren't retiring him like Cowboy Brew, Bruto, and the other lovable characters from the show's lore. Cheers, Ryan and Brian. Well, Ryan and Brian. It's an old saying, a man can never step into the same river twice. You're not the same man, and it's not the same river. The world's constantly changing and moving and evolving. So, sorry to say, we might have moved on from Jackson Blade, Bruto, and Cowboy Brew.

Now, surely there'll be yet another lovable character that you can attach your heart to. But for now, so long, Jackson Blade. Wow. Hold on, is there no graphic coming? Are you being serious right now? Did I sound serious? You don't get to do that. It's not a dictatorship.

You can't just make sense. these unilateral decisions without consulting me or brew. You think it's, look, you guys, Brew worked at the New York Times. Yeah. You're out here, sports media on budsmen. Yeah. Do you think it's worth your time? I had to call you into my shared office and say, hey, I'm going to talk about stepping in the same river twice.

I am. If you're trying to kill off Jackson Blade, I would like to be consulted. Well, there's really nothing coming. It's time for the buddless. I mean, Dusty killed off Bruto. Well, that he needed, it was time. Well, they brought it back a few days ago. Yeah, exactly.

You never know. It's like WWE. Sometimes it pops up. I'll come up with something. It's exactly right. I'm ever creative. That's exactly right. It's nothing else.

All right, here we go. At number three, now look, John Shire, throw him up, head coach for Duke. Oh. This was going to be all motivation. I was going to be like, we need it. Shire, you got nothing to lose.

I mean, you have done a fantastic job at Duke in his four years there. Replacing a living legend in Mike Shashefsky, four years, well, three really that he's had a chance to do something, not before this season, made it to an elite eight, made it to a final four. Now you're the overall number one seed, so it's going to be like you've out recruited your rival down the street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by it. a mile. You keep getting all these great players, and it was all grave. Nobody's going to kill you if you don't win a championship in your first four years. But I was going to say, if you do win it this year, four years in, Shishowski won his first when 11 years in.

You know, several others, Patino, I think five years in at Kentucky. So Beheim, like 30. Yeah, right, right. I mean, so this would seal him. I think, no, Hurley was five years at Yukon. Okay. All right. I think Petino was even longer, I think.

But this would seal him as one of the greatest coaches right now in the game. Patino was seven years. His seventh year at Kentucky won it. But now it actually is duress. Yeah, we need motivation. Because Duke is down 11 to Sienna. Duke, not just the number one seed in their region, but the number one seed in the tournament overall.

and them going down to Siena, it would all of a sudden, for all the success that he's had there. No, this would be a night here. This would almost put him on the hot seat. Last year you had the number one pick in the draft. Not to mention con can'tipple. Yep.

Yeah. Now, I don't kill him for losing. Right. I'm not killing them for losing that final four game to Houston, but still people will look at that. Oh, you had these two great NBA points. players didn't win it. And then to lose to Siena.

So look, I think you're a great coach, but you lose this game. And all of a sudden, this is a live buddless. They're live. Real serious. Down 11 at the half. Oddly, that game's not televised. So just stay here and we'll. Is that true?

No. It's somewhere. I was going to say it's. And remember, I was on Duke all year. I still believe. Yeah, you're under the rest too. No, I'm not. I never doubt.

Okay, I'm going on the record now. I don't know if you'll match. me, Duke will win this game by double figures. I agree with that. Do you? No. You don't. I honestly, I haven't watched.

I have to see how the game is going because I've been locking in the first. It ain't going to have to turn it. Shire is going to have to say something magical. Well, the power of the butt. You need to be like power of the buzz. Oh, it will be the buttless too. Turn on FS1. All right.

Here we go. Number two. Victor Wimbaniama. Now this one is straight motivation. Of course you love it. But you remember, Nick. when he was in the draft and executives and scouts were saying, by his third year,

he's going to be the best offensive player and best defensive player in the league, in the world. And look, he's clearly the best defensive player. I think Luca is probably the best offense. But the thing about Luca is his style. There's an argument that that can take away from the rest of the team. And so when before.

fits in. He plays more egalitarian. He's not a better offense player than Shea, right? He's got on his skin. Who was the other? Joker. He's not better offensive players than those guys. Yeah, I would not say he's the best offensive player in the league right now.

But I think somebody could try to argue that the fact that he's 7-5 and can do everything. But he certainly is in the argument for best player in the world. I would say he's at right now. But if he were to go ahead and win the championship this year. Oh, well. He would, everyone would say he's the best player in the world. Yeah. I think that would, I think that's undeniable.

Yes. Best player in the world. And Nick, that is at 22 years old. Here we go. I only, look, only two times, and I don't know that anybody was ever the best player in the world at 22. The only two comparable, you would say, and this one didn't even a factual thing, is Bobby Knight saying that 21-year-old Michael Jordan was the best player. player he ever seen. And that was pre-NBA. That was when Jordan was running through the NBA

players in the team USA exhibitions. But the second one, Nick, or it was even before that, was Kareem. Kareem was 22 starting at the beginning of his second year when he won MVP and won the championship. So those are only two comparable, even possible guys that were best. I mean, just to be fair, Braun was 22 when he got into the finals in 07. Yeah, but he got exposed in those finals. Like he wasn't shooting. They were just giving him jump shot. And I was covering it.

Duncan was probably the best player in the world at that point. They swept him in the finals. That's fair. LeBron was certainly one of them. But this would be incredible if he were to lead them to the championship. And no 22-year-old. I mean, Kareem did win it. I think he was 23.

He was 23, but he was rookie year. I'm sorry, he started the year at 22. But he had Oscar Roberts. with him too. Yeah, but he, so I, Kareem was the best player. Yes. But Oscar was, you know,

still a great player. This would be, maybe unprecedented. Goat potential. To lead, well, he's definitely got good potential. But that would submit. So can I add something here? Yeah, yeah.

Goat potential and goat trajectory are different things. I, the goat potential is what we always say on this show. Right. But what I've really been arguing is because of the time missed and the injuries and this, that he has not been on a goat trajectory.

This would be more. A hundred percent. Like I would, this would, if he wins the title this year and finish his top three in MVP, that then is goat trajectory. Now it's a long path. And he still could be,

yeah. I mean, if they don't win it, then he still could be. Because Jordan got hurt his second year. Absolutely. But yeah, yeah,

but that would put him on the goat trajectory without question. And the thing about this, and I'm sure you guys feel this way, if you watch him, he still kind of looks like a kid, like his makeup, his body. Like look at Janus at his age and Janus four years ago. Like, you know what I mean? How much bigger and stronger he got naturally. If he does that, which I would assume it will, it's just going to be over.

So look, no pressure on him really. I mean, probably to win the first round. Yep. But after that, if they don't win, people are going to say it's, oh, it's just, this is how it goes. Yeah, you got to pay your dues and suffer some heartbreak and all that. But if he does, when it, like Nick said, puts him on goat trajectory, certainly in that conversation.

Can't jump on the wind band wagon now. That's pretty much. Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead. On the wind band wagon? Yeah, that's pretty good. Okay. Yeah.

All right. Number one, this is Ann Edwards. It's all motivation. It's all motivation. But here's the deal. And is young too, like Wendy, but 24 years old. But in his sixth season. And Nick, Anthony Edwards has reached the point.

He's a superstar. And he's reached the point where Luca's a little further along, but where people want to see you win. Because every year he doesn't win, that's what people are going to, is he ever going to win a championship? Is he ever going to win? You know, he hasn't accomplished as much as Lucas. and all that, but I'm saying he is a legitimate

superstar, and so now what people want to do is see him win the championship. What I'm saying, and it's never going, as tough as the West is right now, it's never going to get easier. The Spurs are only going to get better.

OKC is very young. They're younger than the Spurs actually. They may only get better. You know, Boston is not going away. Detroit is just going to get better. It is not going to get any easier. That's not even to mention the Lakers and the nuggets and teams that are good right now.

So this is, look, you need to try to get it done now. Look, I don't think you guys are going to win the championship, but you've been to the Western Conference Finals the last two years. You do have a good team. You need to take over, put the team on your back, and see how far you can lead them. Nobody's going to kill you if you don't win it, but the pressure will keep mounting for you to win the championship.

And I do believe in you as a great player. And let's go out there and see what you can do. And maybe he can see if his newfound friendship with President Obama, that Obama can petition Adam Silver that, hey, when you had those two teams, move the timbrelores to the east, the team you're moved to the east. Yeah, man, that's a great point. That's a great point. Geographically, it does make the most sense.

Not because they are the furthest east of the West teams, but because the five teams closest to them are all East Coast teams. Or I'm sorry, Eastern Conference teams. The Bulls, the Pistons, those are the closest teams to them. And the two that are coming in, Vegas and Seattle, are further west. Right. Well, those two teams are definitely going west. The question is, is it going to be New Orleans, Memphis or Minnesota that goes to the east?

Memphis and New Orleans are further. east, but they are closer geographically to Western Conference teams, the teams in Texas. So for whatever it's worth. I think Minnesota is the most likely. Well, it's 414. It's time now for the sports media on Buzz, and it's a great segment. Thank you, KW. Might get us in. It's not going to get us in trouble. This is the one you were saying.

Well, I just feel like sometimes he goes, you know. I don't know where he's going. So let me, all right. Well, let me say this on the front. Some people like this show. And the people that do, it's not that we get this compliment a lot, but occasionally there's a compliment we get that I think is the single highest compliment. Not bad.

Which is your guy's show reminds me of inside the NBA. I think that is. I've seen that a lot. I've seen the, I don't know that I'm going to say a lot, but when I see it, it is the highest compliment because I believe that show has an argument. that it's the greatest recurring sports show ever. I've written it in some of my burners. It's a compliment.

So that is the respect and affection I have for that show and the people on that show. Okay? I say that on the front end. With that said, our friend the Chuckster, your worst nightmare is approaching. Wow. The Lakers are continues. And he has been openly rooting against him. with, I think, the argument being the media overhypes them and they can't actually win the title.

But I and the rest of America is going to watch Chuck do March Madness these next few weeks. And he is going to give respect, attention, and affection for a bunch of teams that he doesn't think can win all six tournament games, that he doesn't think are going to make the final weekend, much less, you know what I mean, to have the confetti falling on him. but he's going to respect the journey. He's going to, and he is going to, seemingly, really enjoy watching the games, which at times it feels like we have Lakers Nuggets, one of the games of the year. Chuck, before the game is like, I hope they lose.

And after the game, Shaq's like, you know, shouldn't need to miss a free throw to win a game like that. That's how a championship team is. Guys, there is a level of covering the NBA that I think involves still enjoying the NBA. and there's a level of even if you thought, listen, I just picked the Celtics to win the title. All I've said about the Celtics for my whole TV run. It's been, I don't believe in them.

I didn't believe it. I was wrong. I came around. I am curious where Chuck is going to stand on the Lakers after this run. Because I don't think you can just keep saying they're not as good as Dennis. If that's what he believes, he can. I mean, that's, we all.

Chuck, and I'm just saying, they're giving their opinions. If that's how he feels. And here's the other thing, Nick, this ain't new. They've been doing this. This is being themselves has made them the most popular show. So you can't ask them to change. No, no, no. So I totally agree with that.

I just wonder, I wonder if Chuck really believes the Lakers are fraud. That's what I'm saying. or if he's painted himself into a bit of a rhetorical corner on it. And, hey, nothing wrong. Being like, hey, they're better than I thought they would be. Because I think at this point, a fair reading on it is, they're better than you thought they were going to be. Because they are legit.

I think it's fair to say, if the contender group is more than the Celtics and the Thunder, the Lakers are in it. I don't know how they couldn't do. It's not going to get us here. You're not going to get us here. I told it. No, that wasn't bad. We're going to get blamed.

I just think, look, their whole show, they've been critical of the current players. You know, this goes back decades. Current players, the league, things like the style of play, all that. And it's been wildly successful for them. So I think they're just doing what they do. And Chuck, you know, I agree. I think the Lakers are very good. But I, you know.

Can they win the title with that defense, which has been better? I don't think they'll win the title. I don't think they'll win is different than can they. I think they're on the list of teams that can. I think you get it on the head with, well, OKC and San Antonio in the West. Sure. I think of the two teams. I'm putting baseball food on the bud list.

We're about two weeks away from opening day. Is that a Sam? What is that? I don't know what that's a picture of. It's a picture of a hot dog. It's a hot dog, James. All right. We're about two weeks away from opening day, and teams are starting to roll out some of their

novelty items. Oh, you don't like this. Call me old school, brew. When I go to a ball game, you know what I want? A hot dog, some cracker jack, a beer, maybe a delicious Pepsi, so it keep me perked up. But now these teams are rolling out a lot of this food, which is really for the Instagram crowd. Is it to eat it or is it like a page?

picture of. And I had Hubbs pull some of the more ridiculous food items to show that not only do I not need these in my baseball viewing experience. I don't want them. So Hubbs picked five at random. Hubbs, let me see the first one here. The Seattle Mariners, crab nachos, old bay fries, and chicken tenders served in a ferry souvenir boat. I love it. That looks delicious. It does look good. This one I like. That looks good. If you're getting a souvenir boat as well, I like it as a fairy thing. So that is that is an exception to the rule.

Give me another one. That's an exception. The Miami Marlins machete, a two foot long cassidia with a house marinated carneasada that comes with a carrying case. Well, it's got the carrying case. A lot of the issue is the transport. That might, that's a little unwieldy. It has a carrying case.

I don't want to eat it. No, that's a lot of it. Look, if it has a carrying case, you got me on that one. If we go to the game, you like two of them. Hold on. You're super. If we go to the game, lady in the tramping. The fact?

Nass- Wild. The snakes take me out to the ball game shake with popcorn, nutter butters, and kit cats. Well, that looks gross. Again, that looks scary. This is going to be a yes from me. What? This is a, I support the snakes.

This one is a yes. What is in that again, Rebo? No, Parker Jackson's. Pop-Born, nutter-butters. Oh, this is sweet tooth. He might be out of the ball. That one is good. Give me another one.

Give me in one more. Two more. The Baltimore Orioles Crabbs smash taco. Again, if it's from Baltimore, yes. And that's fair. That's fair. All right. Final one, one more.

Jackson Blades, broccoli blades. That's going to be a no. So for me, that is a no. This is where I'm talking about. You brought it all the way around. That's a no for me. Wow. Jackson still in the show?

Well, my man. Wow. There you go. Good job. That was a long set-off. That was a 20-minute joke. Those acting lessons I gave.

Oh, you really paid on that. I see they're paying on. That was really well. Tom Brady back on the field for the fanatics flag football classic on Fox. Star-studied three-team round robin tournament, featuring the best in the game, including the refusers. turn of Tom Brady and Gronk. I think that was a strategic misstep by his opponents. By Jaden, Daniels, and Joe Barrow. You've got to take Grunk early to separate him away from

Brady. Yeah, obviously. And I bet you could then probably, you draft him and then hold him hostage via trade. Yeah. I mean, guys, like, that was just a bad job. A real misstep. Saturday four. Only on his mind, but only on Fox. Lakers took over the game late. They went back-to-back games in Houston. Look at 40, LeBron shot 90%. Here's LeBron post game. Look at me right now. Right now, I feel like . Right now, but in the game, I felt pretty good.

Before the game, I didn't feel that great. I mean, I was yawning and tired and telling myself, I literally just like talking to myself like, come on, here we go. Let's figure it out. Let's get through it. So, but I felt pretty good in the game. And like I said, I'm happy I'm able to make a few plays to help our team win. How dangerous are the Lakers with this version of LeBron?

Well, I think this version of LeBron, meaning to me, him being cool with being the third highest usage guy, like JJ said, and Luca doing what he's doing, where the team now fits. I think they're legitimately dangerous for the first time all year. I think the fact that they now have a four-man lineup that flat works with either big. LeBron, Luca, AR, Marcus Smart, with either Aiton or Rui, both work. They can defend, they have enough shooting, Luke is playing out of his mind, and then you add to it, they are,

and this does to me pass the eye test and the logic test, they are just far and away the best clutch team in the league. That's true. And if you look at what their clutch numbers are, it's a lot of games, because they don't blow a lot of teams out.

That part's not good, but they're 20 and 6. In the clutch, their offensive ratings 1.30. They lock in defensively. It's 104. They are 32 and 1 when leading after 3. And that makes sense because LeBron is as smart as any player ever. Luca can create a shot for himself or someone else against any defense. And so, Brew, I do think the spurs are better than.

then. I also think that if we think the one yeah, but about the Spurs is experience, well then playing LeBron and Luca in round two, it really tilts the experience

in a significant way and that would be the round two matchup. Because the Lakers are going to be the three seed. I don't think the Spurs are going to catch the thunder. They could, but the thunder would have to really trip up. So I think they're legit dangerous. And again, Celtics, Thunder, Spurs are all ahead of them, probably significantly so.

But I think, I right now think they're the fourth best team in the league. And if they're fourth best team in the league, that's dangerous to me. Yeah, I certainly think they're a top five team. And I'm not saying they're not fourth, but I think they're definitely a top five team. And you mentioned LeBron, one of the smartest players ever to play. He's showing that. It's like he looked at, you know, he got a lot of. little time with Luca, got a little time with Reeves, both of them together.

You know, what do we need? He looked at what they need, and now he's saying, I'm going to do that. So you override your ego, you override the way you've played for the bulk of your career, and he's been able to do it. A lot of players can't. And you said earlier, having one of the two best players of all time, you know, late in this career when he's not the best player on your team, that can be tough. I covered the Knicks when Jeff Van Gundy was the head coach

and that was a, there was a, like, he used to always say having a superstar at the end of his career is tough. And you saw the Knicks traded Patrick Ewing because he was the best player in the Knicks history, but he was older, he wasn't going to be the focal point anymore and he couldn't, they felt he wouldn't be able to handle it, which you get. And so for LeBron to be able to do this,

and really excel in the way he is. I said earlier off the air to you guys. He didn't have a ton of rebounds last night, but he played like Carl Malone. He's running the floor, getting fast break buckets. He actually made, he only had two assists, I think, but he made some nice drives and passes that guys either got fouled on or didn't finish.

So LeBron's playing great. If he continues to play this role, then that makes them very dangerous. And I agree, look, I agree with you on these three teams that we think are better. But yeah, the playoffs are just different. And we don't know how Wembe and Stefan Castle. Stephine Castle should be what?

A junior in college? Dylan Harper should be a sophomore in college. Deerrin Fox has never gone deep in the puzzle. Now, Harrison Barnes is won a championship. But, like, they are incredibly young. And so it is going to be different. Look, JJ Reddick has the experience advantage in coaching over Mitch Johns. This will be Mitch Johnson's first time in the playoffs too.

All right. And obviously with LeBron and Luke and all these guys have experience advantage, they are going to be able to come up with something that's at least going to trouble, I would think, trouble the Spurs and really challenge them. So they're a legit contender. I think OKC and the San Antonio are better. But yeah, the Lakers are a contender. Can I add something?

The biggest problem for the Lakers in the playoffs since that Western Armands finals run has been running out of gas. The fourth quarters of playoff games. And a lot of that was LeBron running out. Right, LeBron running out of gas at the end of those games. I really wonder how LeBron looks fresh right now.

Now, part of that is the fewest games he's played because of the injury the beginning of the year. Part of that is because the usage is down. I do wonder what having a theoretically fresh LeBron going into the playoffs and a LeBron who, for the first time in his entire career, will be playing playoff games where he is not running the offense, quarters one through three, what having that latent games is going to mean. We've never seen it.

You know what I mean? the, you may be year one with the heat a little bit. They would just train off. And so like that to me is intriguing and interesting. That's so much of a, I don't know if he enjoys this playing this way as much, but it is a lot less on his play. And it's so mentally and physically taxing when you have to discern in every play. Like, Luca, that's the only way he knows how to play.

But that also is taxing on him. So he's not going to be able to do all. the other things. Now LeBron is totally free to do all the other things. And that's what we're seeing, him running the floor like this. So, yeah, I think they're, look, I do think the way they're playing now, I said them in Denver kind of,

I think they're better than Denver. If they're going to play like this, obviously I think they're better than Houston. Minnesota would be interesting because of their youth and energy, but the Lakers are looking really good. And Minnesota also ants, re-evaluated in two weeks. Like that Denver just lost to a tanker,

last night. Denver's, something's wrong with Denver. Yeah. Something's up with Denver. So I have the spurs. You are taking the Lakers. You're slowly seeding your spurs. Everybody knows.

The Thunder Show why they're the favorites next on first things first. Right here on FS1. You think you're slick. Well, you just keep on talking. You got Duke. Where's Duke and Sierra right? I'm sure we're doing fine. You got Duke.

Reddick, might a Sunday, NASCAR Cup series right here on FS1. Catch the best of the best. Full throttle, Darlington, Sunday at three, three race coverage, 1.30, only on FS1. Quick episode of winners and losers. By quick, I mean, it's about 10 minutes. Yeah, it's not that quick. No. Winner efficiency. LeBron shoots 90% in his win over the rockets. Caught a lot of dunks, some high flying. And did you see his one miss? We got blocked. He was complaining he got foul.

Well, and if he didn't get fouled, it should have just been a turnover. The ball, the ball didn't get eight feet in the air. He jumped, got hit, and the ball just went out of bounds. He couldn't count as a shot. Shot 100%. I mean, that's what I thought. But the, yeah, and the fact that there's only, he had six dunks. There's only been three games in his career where he had more dunks as what.

And he's never had more alley-oops. Oh, I didn't see. I think that's what I read. Well, and I know we're going to talk about the rocket side of it. Oh my gosh. You saw it, Drew, Kevin Durant in the first game of this little baseball series, 16 first half points, two second half points. In the second game of the series, Kevin Durant, two first half points, 16 second half points. He did a 10 minute interview, again, we're going to talk about.

He did a 10 minute interview talking about the myriad of ways that he could combat the Lakers defense. And Jay's like, oh yeah, we're just going to run the same stuff at you. And guess what else it is? It's E-May's defense from the Celtics net. It's close to sweep series. Now Kevin Durant's on your team to do the same stuff. I don't want to see Durant dribbling the ball at the top of the three-point line and two Lakers facing me.

Like that that has not worked in these two games that's not working once. All right? Why are you doing it? What are you doing? I thought they got him off the ball more. But more on the Rockets. The Rockets. They got a hot second.

Loser competition. They got a problem. The Thunder hold the Nets to. 24 points at half time, Brew. Earlier this week, you were talking about how there's plenty of talent in the NBA for two more expansion scenes. The net scored 24 points. That's got nothing. And a half.

They got some talent. Well, I don't know if they do. 24. Michael Porter, Jr. That's the end of the list. 24 points is unacceptable for a half. Correct. And then you saw.

Give the thunder credit for taking the game seriously. Not taking them lightly. Just having a blast out. We're going out here. Also give a getting better Thunder's head coach credit for leaving Shay in to get his second half to get his 20 I think that ended up 40 the right no I know the but this game was over at half time the yeah 60 to 24 at halftime is as you said unacceptable it's unacceptable it's just can't do it they had five I don't know

what to do with the net I don't know what to do with the net I do I have an idea Contract? No. What? No, I don't want to be means. No, say it. It's too late. I think you might have to have a change in the executive.

Oh, the GM. Oh yeah, that's right. That is true. America, Google Kevin Wilde, Sean Marks. It's been here. Marks has been there a long time too. And it's gone nothing but down here. I mean, you're right.

He was right years ago. His job security is incredible. It was the first Super Bowl we ever did together. Wilds did that rant. That's right. Winners. You got to bring that back. That was hilarious.

Returns. Carson Wentz, re-signed by the Vikings. What do you think this means? Weird. This was bizarre. Bizarre. I didn't care enough to want to do a full topic on it, but I was stunned by it. Well, it doesn't, am I wrong to say, doesn't speak well at JJ?

That's what I mean. Right? Like, JJ should be the backup, right? Now he might not even, why are we carrying three name quarterback? I just can't imagine Carson Wentz doesn't have an opportunity to be the backup somewhere. Right? That would surprise me. Well, Andy, well, he wouldn't go to Philadelphia, obviously, but Eddie Dalton was in Philadelphia.

But he might be the backup here. No, so that, I mean, I know they're not saying that. That's the point that I'm making is that it's, it would be. It would be shocking if Carson Wins, with months left in the off season, signed up to be third string. You know what I mean? And so like, that you would think he would want to go somewhere where he's going to be the backup. Kyler is the starter, it would appear. I would imagine Carson Wince is thinking, okay, I liked O'Connell.

Obviously he's helped other quarterback, Sam Donald, Exhibit A. Kyler could easily fall on his face and struggle. Yeah. Jay J.J. I've been with JJ. I know I'm better than, I'm just saying if I'm in his head. You want five games. I'm better than JJ. Like he won.

And so he may be thinking this is a chance where eventually I may get a chance to start. I just, I, I'm baffled. Okay. Are they going to trade J.J. McCarthy? But added not much value. No, yeah. Rear low. Winner top tens, Jalen Brown becomes the 10th leading score in Celtics history.

Passes Cowans and Jojo White. That's impressive. I mean, the Celtics, that's a serious franchise. Can you need? I already did it to Nick. I already did it to Matt. Did you get it? Yeah, but not in order.

But just the- Can you do it, bro? I don't want to put you on in the spot. Can you name number one, bro? Have the check. Correct. Have the check, bird. Not in this order, but have the check, bird.

Yep. Cowans. No, he just passed down. He just passed. He just passed out. I'm going to say Russell. Correct. Correct.

Coozy, eight. Coozy six. Sam Jones. Sam Jones seven. Paul Pierce. Paul Pierce, two. You're missing four and five. Number five is, number four has already been mentioned on this show today.

In a bull's uniform. Oh, Robert Peres. And one more. McKale. Now, is it McCall? Correct. And well, he's all. Oh, you're missing one more.

You're missing one more and he's active. Oh, Tatum. And then it's Dayton. Yeah. Great job, bro. Thank you. Live on TV. Talk about on TV.

I mean, I did have it here for the whole time. But I didn't see that. Loser runs. Otani throws four in a third scoreless innings. Dodgers hosts the snakes in 14 days. Could you see Otani going for the Cy Young this year? Yeah. I mean, I think he's obviously competitive.

He's won two World Series now. I mean, if I was as good as I'm just trying to rack up everything I can. And so, yeah. I mean, if I'm going to pitch, I want to do. Be the best pitcher I can. So yeah, I think he'll go for it. And I think he'll still hit 50-ish home runs. So he could have pitched last year and I chose not to.

Hit 99 yesterday. Didn't pitch in WBC obviously could have. He did that simulated game with striking out his own teammates. To me, it's all lining up. We're like, you know what, I'm going to go for this. I'm going to win the Cy Young, maybe win the home run title, and have what might be, this is going to sound crazy,

in arguably the greatest baseball season of all time. Well, he's already got what we say is the greatest game ever, right? You talked about goat trajectory. I think he's clearly on that. Yeah, I mean, that would, that would. And even if he doesn't have an amazing hitting season, adding a Cy Young to his resume, is the only thing missing. Live from New York, it's a show that always believed

Duke, I told you guys. You were sweating. No, I wasn't. It's not over. I was sweating. You discovered it. Today is Luca making a run at MVP, we discussed. Meanwhile, maybe Stefan Diggs is Lamar's latest wide receiver.

Or is he going back to New England? Also, did we sneak in the AJ Brown to Patriots news? Is anyone ready to talk about that? Whatever you give us the green light. Julian Edelman is in the know. Hall of Fame adjacent. And finally, special episode of Frenemies.

Talk about Janus's future. And by we, I mean, I'll be on a train home. Thank you for your support as all of us. Oh, Frememies. Alongside Chris Bressard did an excellent Budlitz. Did you see the Budlis? I did. I think it's why Duke's going to pull it out.

Exactly. That's got to be the power of the Budlis. It's got to be the fastest turnaround for the Budlis. I think that's true. And it's a lot of responsibility on that. Yeah. And y'all talk nice to me. I'll put your team

but the budliss doesn't really the budlis is always motivational I don't think it has a downside doesn't it could just don't test very powerful Danny Parkins is here Nick Wright Kevin Wilde's Chris Resort's a great episode of First things first overtime

starting to catch our stride to be honest with you okay good head to Houston Luca went for 40 closed the game out told the crowd about it too here he was on the Lakers mentality at closing time. I mean, winning games, that's it.

You know, win, when everything is easier. Win, it's fun. So just the way we play, I think it's a lot of fun. That's what we usually. You win. We have a good time. How would you guys be able to switch that so you can bounce back from like a 20 to five third quarter run tonight?

I mean, yeah, they did it today in the third quarter. You know, we just responded, you know. We say it's time to close the game and that's what we do. Here's Luca's numbers during this seven game win streak, Danny. A lot of people are saying going nuclear, like Luca going nuclear. A lot of people are saying that nowadays. Yeah, I'm hearing at least one. Is he making a run at MVP?

Well, I like how Nick said earlier, you know, he's got to be one of the first names that you mentioned for MVP. Which could be 10 names. No, but I would say, like, would it count? I don't have a ballot. Brew does, but if I did, if I was like, the guys I'm considering would be Shea, Wembe, Luca. Yeah. That's one.

Because that would be my top three. And I think that Shea is going to win. I think he might even win by a wider margin than he did last year. And I think that he is deserving. But Luca's been ridiculous. Like he's playing incredible basketball. But he's been playing statistical. great basketball all year.

It has been translating to winning more recently. And so I just pulled this stretch a little bit longer than the seven game win streak, but just like in the month of March. Oh, I love. Well, Luca's been great. He's been incredible. 35 a game, eight assists, they're

nine and one. The problem is the guy who's the favorite for the MVP, who's the one seat. Hasn't been as good? Well, I mean, that guy on the right hasn't been as good. He hasn't, he's also taken six So we can reveal Shea as the guy on the right. In terms of wins, I think when you get a statistical argument like this,

and Shea has 11 more wins than Luca, I think that is a totally reasonable deal like tiebreaker to say he's on the better team, but because Jalen Williams has been out for as long as he has, Shea is carrying as much of the load as Lucas is. I mean, listen, I do not think Shea is carrying as much of the load as Luke is. That, I don't think that. His second best players missed two-thirds of the season. But his second-best player is Chet, like that, which is the guy we thought was supposed to be the second-best player. Chet. They're eight and four without him, right?

Like they are the Thunder without SGA. Again, I say he's not carried like. No, I- Luca has LeBron still playing at a high level, and Alston Reeves winning. Hold on. Two big scores. What are you laughing about, Katie? Nothing.

Do you think, hold on, maybe I'm in the minority here with you, I would be shocked if you disagree with me on this. The Lakers without Luca, the Thunder without Shea, which teams better? The Thunder are better. But the Thunder are also without Jailen Williams? No. No. Because they haven't had Jalen for essentially this year. And the Lakers have went through a long stretch of the Brown and a stretch without Austin.

Yeah, but not close. They've played twice. Those two have played essentially twice as many games as Jaylin. I understand that, I understand that entirely. I just the idea that the thunder, we were discussing the thunder as this historical juggernaut that's not going to be stopped because they have all of this talent, these waves of young players. Again, I also think Shea right now is the MVP, but I think both of the leagues that we talk about the most, the NFL and the NBA, I think the media does the MVP wrong in both leagues. And I think it's the opposite. I think the NFL has skewed way too much to MVP is December player of the month, like it's just the finishing kick.

And the NBA, it's way too much to whoever the MVP is on March 1st is the MVP. Like, okay, it's over. Like, there is 20% of the season left, or 18% of the season left. And I think the general consensus is, yes, Luke is surging, but he can't catch him. I don't think that. Shea is still playing great. He's shooting 56% from the floor. I think he cannot catch him.

I mean, if she would have to really fall off. Which is just, that's unlikely. I think the other thing, like, I don't think it's even close to who carries the bigger, Like, Luca carries this load because that's how he plays. And Luca is sensational. Like, just one-on-one individual play, you don't see better in the league, all right? And you've rarely seen better historically. But it's also like there's still a question, is that the best way for them to play to win?

He's a one-man show, even when I got LeBron James and Austin Reeves. How can we? Yes, he throws assists. Chauncey Billups once told me he said if I dribbled the ball for 15 to 20 seconds and then I either shot

or pass to the guy that's going to shoot my numbers would be through the roof too and I love Luca I just gave him all these props as an individual player but he makes like he doesn't have to carry this load for the Lakers he's choosing to carry it because that's the only way

he knows how to play He doesn't have to carry that load and play that way for the Lakers. I mean, so I think that the way he is playing for the Lakers is the way that makes them the most dangerous. I think that he has shown that playing this way does lead to winning. It hasn't led to a championship yet, but it's, again, we're not even halfway through his career. And most guys have not won a championship at this point in his career. I think of only Yannis won one of the contemporary guys by, you know, by this moment of the. his career.

Where's Shea? She's older than Luca, but I think came in the league a year. Shea's 27, right? Yeah, She's a few months older than Luca. But, I mean, if we put up Shay, the point I'm trying to make is, I think it is closer than the conversation has allowed for. Here are their numbers for the year. Shea is clearly the better defensive player.

Luca, in my opinion, is better at all aspects of all this. I think he's the better rebounder. I know he's the better passer. I think he is the better. I understand the three point numbers. Oh, Shea's a better three point shooter. I don't think that's true. He shoots a higher percentage, but Luca takes much tougher shots and much more.

Right. But he wants to. What, Dan? Well, even, like, doesn't that speak to the efficiency of the scoring for Shere? Efficiency is fairly important. Luka is an amazing offensive player. and better scorer than Shea? I think we're parsing a very little thing here.

But like if the percentages are that much higher for Shea, I don't think you can say that Luca is a much better. I said he's a much. Hold on. Well, I mean, I do think he's a much better score. I mean, I think he's a better three-point shooter, even though the three-point numbers, like you agree with me, Brew, that somebody,

that all three-point percentages are not created. Yeah, yeah, sure. And so I think- I think She's gotten really, lot better at the three. Historically, Shea hasn't been very good three-point shooter, but this year he's added that two. I think Luke is the best offensive force in the league.

And I think that now at this, and they have played as the same amount of games, and I don't look at the Lakers supporting cast as better than the Thunder's supporting cast. And again, I said on Twitter this morning, I'm saying now, I think Shea is right now clearly the MVP favorite and deserves to be. I just don't like with 20% of the season left that the MVP does people said when I was on my working vacation. Yeah. When Shea hit that shot against the Thunder, the universal response was MVP over, that the game, when Shea hit the three against the thunder, that it was, okay, that that was. I'm sorry, against the Nuggets.

Pardon me. When Shea hit the three against in that game. It's probably because it was a big game against Joker. and it was like, okay, you know, everyone's fighting for second, and I just don't have it right. I think Wimby is actually ahead of Luca. Right. And that's why I said, for me, it would be Shea, Wembe, Luca. Because, like, where in that equation does wins come in?

Because last year, Shea won 16. I wrote it down. He was, yeah, it was 18. It was 16 more wins than second place, 18 more wins than Joker. Like, that was the debate, right? It was between Shea and Joker. He was like, well, his team had 18 more wins. Like that has to matter.

So if it was a Shea lucid debate and one guy is the one seed with the most wins in the league and in the tougher conference and he's got 11 more wins than the Lakers, I feel like a double digit win difference should tilt it to Shea. Whereas Shea having four more wins than Wembe, it's like, well, I'm willing to listen to a Wembe argument over Shea when their teams are that close. I mean, Wimby's carrying a team that won 34 games last year. It's a much younger team. It's, you know, so I think Wimby's second. I think Lucas making an argument to be on the ballot, not to win the war right now. Now, we'll see.

I'm giving the last 20 games. We'll see how it goes. But Kate, if you're talking about record, well, first, if you're talking about statistics, Joker still is averaging a triple double. Still on pace to lead the league and rebounds and assists for the first time ever. Now, his PR has come down. He still got the best P.R. ever, but it's below

33, where nobody's ever hit 33. Now, their record is worse, though, and they're in the sixth seat, okay? But then you look east, Kay Cunningham certainly carries more of a load than Luca, and his team has a better record. Like, if Kaye doesn't

have a LeBron James, again, I know it's not peak LeBron, but still a very good LeBron, and another second score. And then Jalen is just, is interesting, they have a better record than the Laker. Jalen Brown. Okay.

Jalen Browns, he's like, Jalen Brunton. Finally. So I think Luca is making his way on to balance. So I guess this is my, here's my frustration. And by the way, on the three-point shooting thing, and thank you to Jeff for saying in my ear. Shea shoots four a game, Lucas shoots 10.

That's why I'm saying the guy who's shooting 36 and the guy who's 308. But Luca takes some bad. Look, I am a stickler now. Lucas style of play is questionable. Well, so that's... It just is. Until he wins a title, that's going to be what people say. I think he has, his style of play has carried less talented teams further than their seed repeatedly in the playoffs.

Not yet with the Lakers, but throughout his career. And it can do that, but can it get you all the way to the time? And he was, he came up three wins short, you know, two years ago and we'll see. But I, the point that I just want to make, maybe why I'm passionate about this, even though I don't think he's the MVP right now. is it feels like there is a bit of arguments that haven't, that don't apply to other MVPs apply to Luca a lot. I'm hearing the record argument, totally fair, that's always applied, except for Joker, of course, who won the MVP as a six seed

and won, like, that then we didn't care because the stats were so crazy. I hear all the time with Luca, the defense is disqualifying in a league where Steve Nash, Steph Curry, Dirk Novitsky, and Nicola Nikola Yokic combined for nine MVPs this century. Like,

and so that to me is what... They showed more effort defensively than Luca. I think, well, I mean, I think Luca has... In spurts, he shows effort. And so, I mean, I don't know how much effort Steve Nash was showing defensively. I thought Nash, he took a lot of charges.

I think he was a smart, a smart communicative defender. And so, but you understand what I mean. Like, Your defensive, if you're a great defensive player like Wimby, that helps you in the MVP race, obviously. But historically, for the league's scoring champ, who also is a great distributor,

I didn't hear a bunch of, yeah, but what about his defense, but you hear it with Luca a ton. And that just feels a bit double standardish that bothers me. That's all. Head to Detroit. Where Cade is going to miss time after being diagnosed with a collapsed lung. He checked out of this game against the Wizards after diving on the ball. Danny Detroit

thought it was a collapsed lung, but he might be out for three weeks, might be out for six weeks. I read that it's 26 days on average, although, of course, everyone is different. What is your reaction in his latest news? Yeah, I didn't 100% know that you could have a mild collapsed lung, which was like, right, it just felt like those two things,

those two things felt like they were in conflict with each other. So I think probably among us, I was the person who believed the least, in the Pistons as a contender to come out of the East anyway, because I just... You love the Cavs. I do like the Cavs. Hey, listen. Do you still like the guy?

Jared Allen, James Hardin, Evan Mobley, and Donovan Mitchell have played three games together. Oh, yeah. So, so we still have not seen... It sounds great on paper. We still have not seen the big four of the Cavs play in real safe. The big four. They've got a big four. They do.

And they're going out in the second round. I didn't know they get a big four. Get Jared Allen back to play with Mowgli. It's going to be very nice. Just I see the vision. Okay? I see the vision for Kobe Altman there. No, so I think that there is a chance if I'm being very generous that this could be a blessing in disguise if Kade comes back.

Because to your point of how much of a burden. Really for Detroit? Yeah, because to me, like, they try really hard. They are really well coached. They're probably going to get the one seed because they're three and a half games up with the tiebreaker with 14 to go against Boston. But if you do points scored and assisted, because you were talking about the load that Kate carries. Actually, it is fourth in the league compared to two of the guys that we were just talking about. But it's a fun list to talk about how much it would be a huge loss to any of these teams if these guys went out.

But the difference is, Jamal Murray has been amazing. LeBron and Reeves at times have been amazing. Chet has been great. The thunder are such a – the drop-off for the Pistice. behind Cade, and I did put this one together also. There's so clearly not a second player. Like the next most for points is Duren and it's a five point drop. For assists, it's a seven assists per game drive.

They desperately need a second playmaker. So like, Tobias Harris, Duncan Robinson, like can someone step up? No, Tobias Harris or Duncan Robinson? The answer is no. That was the answer. Okay, I just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, blessing in disguise is not just Kay gets a little rest. It's someone else. They have to figure out a way

to generate scoring chances when the ball is not in Kate Cunningham's hands, because this wasn't sustainable anyway. And so I love Cade Cunningham's game. He might be the starting point guard for Team USA and the Olympics in 2028. Maybe they'll win the title in the next two years. This to me is not sustainable through four rounds of an NBA playoffs. And so maybe for the next 15 games, you can figure something else out just because of opportunity and usage. That makes sense. I mean, and that's an optimistic way to look at.

It's the most optimistic. Earlier that his win might not be the same when he gets back. And I just, look, they could, I get it. They got essentially a four-game lead over the Celtics. If they fell to second, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world, you wouldn't have home court in the conference finals. but I think they could beat the Knicks in the second round. Or they face the Cavs if they're the one seat.

So it's going to be tough either way. But I don't see this as a positive. I think the rest of the east, I mean, I felt like Detroit, Boston probably looks the best right now. But now, look, I think, Danny, if he's out longer than three weeks, if it dips into the playoffs and they play Atlanta or Orlando, not Orlando. I guess they could end up

New York. Yeah, Orlando is a half game up six to seven. Yeah, it could be. Brew, wouldn't you say or Charlotte. If Cade missed the first round if he missed the whole thing,

I would make every one of those teams live against Detroit. Yes, Orlando and Atlanta, Charlotte. Miami, too. Yes, yes. Philly has a terrible bottom. But their best is. If M.D's back for that.

Yeah. So Detroit could really be in trouble. They could lose in the first round. Yeah. So, yeah, and we hope the best for Cade. It also will be criminal if he's not on an all-MBA team, which if he missed the rest of the season unless Adam by Edick changes the rule,

which he should and no one would be mad if he did. It would just be a shame. He deserves all-N-B-A. I'm really glad what would be the real shame is if he was, if this was one of those super max eligibility years. Yeah, that's what you didn't even thinking about that. Like, where it's like, oh, this clapflung cost him 50. million dollars, but thankfully he's

already got his max deal. But my takeaway for the conference is, and this might not be fair, and I'm not trying to put more undue pressure on Jason Tatum, who came back months early from the Achilles, but it now will be stunning to me if the Celtics don't

win the conference. Wow, stunning. So if the Nick, I hear you because I like them, they probably look the best right now, but if the Knicks beat them again, if the Knicks be stunned? I would be stunned. Wow. And so, like, and I understand the Nick Celtic series has nothing to do with, you know, this injury. But the one team that they wouldn't have home court against, I now think is going to have a really hard time getting to the conference finals.

Because I think one of the mistakes we make in general in sports media is when a guy misses time, we're like, once he's back, we're like, he's back. Right. And usually it's like, no, especially if that's in the playoffs. So I just, I don't want to say this is a season ender for Detroit, but it is a season shortener to me, which means Boston's going to be home through the playoffs. Tatum's only going to get better. And, you know, I am not as fearful as, you know,

Danny thinks I should be of the big four in Cleveland. When they had LeBron, they didn't even have a big four. That was only a big three. I mean, this, the big four in Cleveland. I said I see the vision. It's a scary team. And so I think it means. If it wasn't already Boston's conference to lose.

It's so strange. It is now. Have you on the Boston. Not bandwagon, but. No, I said it. It was before Tatum came back that I picked him to win the title. I know. It's still.

The title. Yeah. He's all the way. I picked Boston. Do you not watch the show? I just blocked that out of my title. It's crazy. I remember.

I still feel like it's going to change over. No. Yeah, it will. Well, if the Lakers. If we have a Lakers Celtics NBA finals. I reserve the right to root against my pick. Rule changes, courtesy of the Cleveland Browns. That's next.

Frenemies time. Happy Frenememones Thursday to all who celebrate. We begin in the NFL. This is a fun one. The Browns are proposing a rule change that would allow NFL teams to trade draft picks up to five years into the future. Currently, you can only trade picks up to three years into the future. The Rams president came out. You know, he of F them picks.

Fame with Les Neas as his GM. Yeah, I'm on board. There have already been six first round picks that have been traded. So, Nick, good idea, bad idea. Horrible idea that I'm guessing you like. I like it more than you, but I actually agree with, you said earlier that you have to protect teams. From themselves. From themselves.

And I actually agree with you. Okay. The NFL, what, the thing that it has going forward, it. A couple things, obviously. But every game matters. Every game feels big. And right now, what do you think? 20 teams believe they can win the Super Bowl? More. 25? Yeah. Right? About 25 teams can talk themselves. Well, and there's only one. There's only one team whose fan base right now is not excited for the season to Miami. Yep. Every other team, maybe the Jets a lot. And little, but the Raiders are psyched.

The Titans are psyched. Browns? Browns, I think they're, Browns, when told six and a half, they have soft schedule, they're like, you know, no, I think the, I think that unlike baseball and certainly unlike the NBA, you don't have a third of the teams that are like three years from now, right? They're excited for the upcoming season. So I, so we actually are more in agreement on this than you expected us to be.

But here's where I wanted to like kind of pivot. and explore it. I do think the spirit of the idea is correct. I do think that if you're in a fantasy league where there are no trades, you're in a boring fantasy league. When a trade, when we're on the air and the Micah Parsons trade happens, it is like a stop the presses moment that everybody loves and everyone has an opinion. It generates interest.

It generates offseason buzz in baseball. The trade deadline is an event. The leagues that have more. movements transactionally, it just, it builds interest in your in your sport in a way that the NFL, this is just on their trade deadline day, they don't have. So I do think something to juice trades in football and now part of it is it's hard to go from one system to another and pick it up midstream in football compared to these other leagues. But I have a few ideas, but go ahead.

Just leave this up for a second. Yeah. To me, this graphic says if I run any of the other leagues, you know what we need? Fewer trades? Less trades. See, I don't agree. I certainly don't think the NFL should be like, hey, what's hockey been doing? No, no, no.

More of that. Like, this, what the NFL does works. I agree what it does works, but it can be better. Yeah, I don't think. And again, at the deadline, it's, at the deadline, It is tough because you're not going to trade a quarterback in season. He has to learn a whole new offense or a receiver has to learn a whole new offense. Past rushers can do it.

Yeah, I don't. I just, I love the NBA. I don't like that there seems to be more interest in the transactions than the games. And so I don't think that's positive. Baseball is to me different because I do like the buyers and sellers component of baseball, which is why there's so many trades. And a lot of that has to do with the special. of like we need a left-handed pitch or that's different.

But what are your ideas with the trade salary cap space? Only a year into the future. So I can't be a GM on the hot seat and trade salary cap space five years into the future or for the next five years. But to we are willing to pay some of your cap for this year for a team to go for it because we want a draft pick in return to help our rebuild. or do it like the NBA where you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't, you have to make a first round pick at least every other year.

Yeah. Like, just some things to juice trades. Because when you say you don't like that the NBA cares more about transactions than games, to me that issue is you got to make us care about the games more. Shorten the regular season, make the games feel more like an event. Like, I don't think the transactional care that we have is a bad thing. And I do think the NFL could get a little bit more creative to get some wheel and So the trading cap space, I think, is something you and I find interesting, and I think the average fan would have no interest in whatsoever.

But it would facilitate trades. You would just be trading like 10 million bucks. You would be trading 10 million bucks and a pick for a player. So I think that that strikes me as maybe something that would lead to richer owners having it, a sizable edge that I'm glad they don't have so much in the NFL. There are things you can do about borrowing money from future years, things like that. But in general, the idea that to remove restrictions from how far in the future you can trade picks, I think is a horrific idea.

And people say in the NBA, yeah, you can trade up to seven years in the future. But you really can only trade a maximum of four firsts. And in the NFL right now, you can trade. trade three. So because in the NBA, it has to be every other year you have your pick. And I do think that there is real damage that would be done to franchises for half decade plus by desperate GM and absentee owner. And even though my team, I think, could take it, would benefit from this rule. One is, I think we have like the Rams. They're sharp team. They're like, yeah, remove rules. Let the dumb teams be dumb. We're the smart

team. That would benefit I think the Chiefs. Also I, if this let me say this. When Patrick Mahomes is 37 years old, I want the Chiefs trade in future for, like I want them to treat the end of the Mahomes

era like the end of the franchise. What I thought the Patriots should have done at the end with Brady. Like forget the next phase. We're trying to maximize this window. But I just don't, I think teams are too irresponsible. And I look at pro sports teams almost as like a public trust.

And I wouldn't want a GM on the hot seat to be able to kneecap the next half decade. Yeah, I thought it was reasonable. Paul DiPedesta, he's back in baseball, but he was a baseball exec who was Jonah Hill did, played him in Moneyball. He was with the Browns for forever. And then the Browns proposed this rule. I almost wondered if it was like a Moneyball carryover. Like they have baseball people in their front office that proposed. It's a very baseball idea.

All right. Speaking of teams who have really screwed their upcoming and near and long-term future, Milwaukee Bucks, I'm going to do this one because Danny, so the Bucks want to shut Yonis down. Yonis doesn't want to be shut down. And I happen to be on set with maybe the only person in the world that wants Yonis to stay a buck.

Well, other than diehard Bucks fans. I don't, I think if you're a diehard Bucks fan, I think they're split at the very least over whether or not. Do you still want Janice to stay a buck and do you still think he will stay a buck? Because both of those were your takes. You want him to and you think he will. So do I want him to is easier?

Yes, I still want him to. Why? Listen, man, the grass isn't always greener. Did it work out for KD leaving and going to all these days? different places? I mean, I think in Golden State, yes. I think it got exactly what he wanted. What he wanted, and then we kind of moved the goalposts on him, and I certainly judge that title as not. Like, I judge Janus's one and Yokic's one as more impressive than KD's multiple, right? And so, Janus is, it's Dirk's career. He got the one. He was an international player who

was drafted, who was developed, who stayed there, who became a franchise icon who's got the statue out front of the stadium. Yanis saved basketball in Milwaukee. They were going to move the team. The league owned the building. They have fired coaches. They brought in Drew Holiday. They brought in Dame.

They did the stretch. They brought in Miles Turner. Some of it's worked. Some of it hasn't. Some of it's been bad luck. I do have a romanticism about Janus and Milwaukee. Will he stay there? I don't know that either one of these teams has it in them.

You mean Janus or? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. These parties involved. I don't know. that either one of them have it in them to be the bad guy. Well, the bucks need to grow up then. I agree. That's reasonable. That is a totally reasonable stance. But Janus saying, I'm hurt. Okay. I don't care. I want to play. That's just who he is.

Oh, he's always been. I totally respect that Janus heard. You bought 36 tickets to a bucks game here in 10 days. You keep inflating the numbers. It's 16. I'll see you against the Clippers. And he wants to play in that game. I also respect that if, Yonis is going to, this is going to be his last year, he wants to have a final home game that he knows is going to be a final home game. Yep. I respect all of that. I reject the Dirk come because Dirk got his title so much later than Yonis.

He hadn't won yet. Got it later. And then at the very end when they weren't great, he was no longer great. this team has no shot of competing at any point during the remainder of Janus' prime, even if his prime is another three or four years. Well, let's see what happens in the lottery. Because I don't think that they would, like, if they get the fifth pick in the draft, I think that what they would talk to Janus about is,

let's see who the best player we can trade the fifth pick is for. And that would be a disaster, man. That would be a further disaster. And so I don't blame Janus for not demanding. out. I do blame the Bucks for not just taking the onus of we're in charge and the best thing for us. Forget Yannis. The best thing for us is to trade him. And so I think it's obviously the best. And I think Bucks fans would celebrate another Yonis title the way I always forget this hockey player, the Boston hockey player that won the title in Colorado. And then they threw a parade for him.

But like Ray Bork was it? Thank you. and I think they could live. The only chance Bucks fans have to watch high leverage playoff games that matter to them in the next three years is to be watching Yannis play for someone else. And what if Yonis gets traded to a team and it doesn't work out there? Here's the thing. It might not work out. He might not win a title.

There is no shot that he gets traded to a team. team and they're hopeless. And the bucks are hopeless. They're, Danny. Listen, in the east, they're in the east and there's seven games out of the 10 spot. He's been hurt. Danny. Ryan Rollins, a new coach, a top five pick that you trade for an asset.

You do something creative with Miles Turner. Listen, man. They do something creative of Miles Turner. They did something creative to get Miles Turner. That was a disaster. I agree with you. Listen, man, I'm the guy in the Titanic that closes the door and goes down with the ship. I want you to think of me that way.

And I'm the guy saying, hey, there's a life boat here. Get on it. And you're like, no, I have good memories about this boat. It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I am a basketball romantic for Janus in Milwaukee. Okay. You can roll your eyes at it, man. There is something to a guy being in one place for an entire career and having won a title there.

And there's something to Janus at 32, not foregoing any opportunity as to play in big games again, which is what you're advocating for. Or that somehow they're going to turn Ryan Rollins and Miles Turner into a real player. It's not going to happen. Okay. We'll see. We'll see. Side bet?

Any amount you'll add. Any side bet? Are you sure? We'll bring out Willie Colon coming up on the O.T. Thanks for hanging out with us on the O.T. I got Willie Colon out here. He saw a non-competitive game at Barclays last night. 60 to 24 at the half.

But that's not what we're here to talk about. Let's talk football. Oh, Willie Stefan Diggs, he's a free agent. He was released by the Patriots. Some speculation has suggested that he could just go right back to New England on a different deal. But if not, maybe Lamar Jackson. Nick Shook over at NFL.com posted the theory.

If he doesn't consider returning to New England, it would make plenty of sense for Diggs to become the latest household name to latch on with Lamar Jackson in pursuit of a ring. Fresh experience of reaching the Super Bowl, a roaring competitive fire, and the skills, a dependable target for Jackson, and a court that could use him opposite Zayflowers and Rashad Bateman.

Willie, Ravens, Patriots, somewhere else. What's the best fit for Stefan Diggs? Well, listen, it makes sense for the Ravens because I think if he was adjoining the Ravens, it would be under the understanding that he's a Band-Aid, right? He's 32 years old, still productive. Yes, he would be a reliable target for Lamar Jackson. But if I'm Stefan Diggs,

I possibly won't want to go to L.A. to the Chargers. I think him You keep putting everyone with Justin Herbert Well, because I don't think one I don't think AJ Brown is going to walk out of Philly I think Howard Roseman is going to hold on to him and chain him to the building But I think if you're Justin Herbert

If you have a short-handed receiver in Stefan Diggs who's still productive Who can still blow the top of a defense I think it's worthy of taking a shot at him Now nevertheless man You know there's a lot comes with him right Although off-the-field issues Sometimes he could be a distraction

But he still has a little explosive in the tank, so we'll see. I don't mind it. I was kind of floored by how good Stefan Biggs was this year. Yeah. Still had a thousand yards. Just and like, praised for the leadership, accountability, said the right things.

I mean, this highlight package that we put together, it's like, that is a diversity of routes. You know what I mean? Like there's just kind of everything. There's the scramble drill. There's outside the numbers. There's red zone. There's over the middle.

There's double moves. lose, there's deep shots. Like, he had a very, very impressive season. And so Lamar getting another weapon makes sense. Is he as stylistically different from Zay Flowers as I would like? No. Like, AJ Brown would be like, that's a true number one who can be there for a couple of years, right? But while I do think that AJ Brown is going to get moved, if he does, everyone's going to,

it's only one team is going to be able to get him if he does. Stefan Diggs is a really nice fallback option. But I will just say the flirting of him and New England, as soon as he left, I just, I think he's going to go back. Back to New England? Yeah. Yeah. He left.

It seemed like we are going to, we can't work on a restructured deal. Right. So we're going to take a little bit of a break. You know, sometimes you take a break in a relationship. But you're not, you're not deleting the number. You're not blocking the person on social media. Sure. Like, this was an amicable breakup.

And so I think New England is going to be in on the AJ Browns. sweepstakes in a post-June world. And now Stefan Diggs is the fallback plan. Yeah, I can see that happening. But I also think if you're if you're the Ravens, you haven't had a dynamic receiver who can really threaten the top of a defense since Hollywood Brown, right? And you also look at you brought D.Hop in, but he was a no show in the red zone for

whatever reason. He didn't pop off the tape for you. So if you're the Ravens and you're Lamar Jackson going into this year, you need a true number one. Stefan Diggs is essentially that. Zay Flowers can still give you separation. He can still be dynamic in the second level, all that good stuff. Masha Bateman is still in there.

You still have Mark Andrews, but you need more weaponry. And also, if you're the Ravens, also understand what, like I said before, he is a Band-Aid, but you may have to go into the draft. You're selecting at the 14th hole. You may have to get you if Cornell Tate pops at Lansor, or you go get Cornel Tate. A lot of people think he'll be gone before that. But, you know, we talk about Stefan Diggs as a Band-Aid, and I get it.

32 years old. Mike Evans just signed a three year deal at 33 years old. So like I think I know I have to like always be like recalibrating like the modern athlete. They stay in great shape. Can you be productive luck? Because there's not a lot of examples of post 32 year old wide receivers

on new teams having great seasons. I know we did that once before. So it's it's kind of a cliff. Like at some point Stefan Diggs's production. Yeah, it's going to. It's going to fall off a cliff, but if you're a contending team, and this was just not a very good year to need a wide receiver. In the free, right?

Alec Pierce got $116 million. 47 catches. Right, right. Mike Evans coming off a hamstring at 33 years old got the huge deal. It's just, it's always a good year to draft a receiver, but this was not a good year for a veteran wide, for needing a free agent or veteran wide receiver. Stefan Diggs is a pretty good option. for a win now team, whether it's the Chargers, the Patriots, or the Ravens,

because he was really, really good this last year. Well, I agree. I think if you're a team who feels like you're in win now mode, you want to get somebody that's proven because I think the worst place you can be as a ball club is going to the draft and trying to address a need, rather than getting somebody who has potential that can develop in your system. And I think this has been the biggest pickle for the Ravens. They haven't gone to the draft and say, all right, this is a young man we're going

to get. We're going to build through the system. He's going to grow with Lamar Jackson. And everything they brought in, nevertheless, has been a Band-Aid and it's hurt them. So they seriously have to look at stuff on a digs on making him an offer he can't refuse. Well, the Ravens are interesting because, listen, this story, I think, is tied to the AJ Brown story. Because we're just talking about receivers who could be on the move between now and when the season starts. And so it seems like if, and I know you think he won't, but let's just hypothetically.

Gotcha. If A.J. Brown's going to get moved, it seems contractually like it's going to be after June. Well, so if it's after June, that means it's after April because that's how the calendar works. So that means you would be able to use the draft. So, like, Baltimore could make a selection at 14. Because they didn't have to give up that pick in the Max Crosby fiasco. I know, they're like this. They got it.

Yeah, so, like, they sign Trey Hendrickson. They make a selection at 14, whoever it is, whether it's a receiver, a tight end, an offensive lineman to replace Linderbom, whatever it is. And then you see if you win the A.J. Brown sweepstakes. And if you do, you're the favorite to win the Super Bowl. And if you don't and you pivot to Stefan Diggs, like Trey Hendrickson was a great fallback for Max Crosby. It's like Stefan Diggs can be a great consolation prize for whoever loses out on A.J. Brown come June 1st. But if you're also Lamar Jackson, you want to get with your guy ASAP. So hopefully a decision is made ASAP so you can move forward.

But don't you just like, yes, you'd prefer that. Yeah. But like if I can have Joanne Jennings tomorrow or if I have to wait until June 2nd and I get A.J. I'm going to wait until June 2nd. Don't do that to my man Juan Jenner. It was a little bit of a drive-by. I did not mean that. But I'm just saying he's not AJ Brown.

I get it. He's not AJ Brown. And so I think now there's just like a waiting game of who doesn't get A.J. Brown. And then everybody else kind of falls in line. Makes sense. Behind him. Caleb Williams in the news in March. Oh, yeah.

So cold. That makes sense. So cold. It's not as cool one I do. So if you're a fan of us here at first things first, you know that Kevin Wilds likes to trademark his own sayings that he came up with. Okay. Defense wins championships. Houston, we have a problem. He's the only one who's ever said that. Caleb Williams, though, he's getting in on the trademark game. Iceman. I guess I have to retire calling Caleb Williams the one. You went with Iceman. It's okay. It's fine. It's a great celebration. He also wants to do the imagery of that after the pass to DJ Moore.

He's going to make merch. He's going to sell it. And at first I was like, man, I got to get a T-shirt. Well, I was like, I mean, I kind of wanted his nickname to be the one. And then I was like, I'm obviously going to buy every piece of merchandise that has the zombies. So, you know, my hope is that it brings back nicknames. Nicknames? Oh, okay.

Like, sweetness. Well, we grew up in the nickname error. Like, in basketball was everything. Like the rain man, magic. His air and it's all that. Yeah. Mean jokes. Green prime time, the playmaker. It's like the modern athlete.

Nigerian nightmare, all that. That was a great one. It's like the modern athletes gotten too cool for the nickname. And I like that Caleb Williams is like, not only am I not too cool for it, I'm going to make money. I support that. You know, the issue with nicknames, you got to show up. Like you, the reason you got the ice made because you showed up in clutch situations. Yeah. You have to live up to. And I like that he didn't give it to himself. His teammates started calling him, Iceman. Oh, and then now he's just going to run with it.

You can't give yourself a nickname. Kobe did it. Yeah, I know. And I didn't love it. I got to be honest.