IT IS WHAT IT IS - JALEN BRUNSON SINGLE HANDIDLY BRINGIN' THE KNICKS BACK!! | S3 EP.20

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

Ma$e, Cam’ron & Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson are back with another one!! ***NEW MERCH** Shop the Come And Talk 2 Me Store....https://comeandtalk2me.com  Please rate, review, and follow the podcast for more content.  Support the show and sign up for Underdog Fantasy HERE with promo code CAM and get a $100 first deposit match, and a Special Pick'em pick. Follow the show and our hosts on social media: It Is What It Is, Cam'Ron, Ma$e, and Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson.

Welcome back to It Is What It Is. Not today. No,. I get it. No show. Welcome back to it is what it is today. Welcome back to it is what it is. This episode is sponsored by underdog fantasy. The app is an easy way to make some cash just by making picks on your favorite players. Underdog is available in more than 30 states, including California, Florida, Texas, and New York. Just to name a few. Make sure to support the show by hitting the link in the bio and downloading the Underdog Fantasy app.

It will also match your first deposit up to $100, and you get a special pick when you sign up. I'm Treja Wilson, a.k.a. Stat Baby, along with your hosts Mace and Kim, and we are joined with our analyst, Mark Jackson. Woo! Killer, what's good? Mark, what's going on? Nigga, what's up, man?

How you doing, man? Chillin', man. Where you at at Juicy Fest, Killer? Literally. I'm in Miami. I'm in Miami Fest in my crib. I told niggas I got 28 Zoom days. I'm spreading my shit out.

This is my third time ever on the Zoom without you. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back.

I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm going to be back. I'm niggas I got 28 Zoom days. I'm spreading my shit out. This is my third time ever on the Zoom without you. I'll be back tomorrow. My building put me through the ring. Yo, Mark, what's up with your man Doc losing his first game and all that?

It's not easy winning the league, man. They lost the championship. Stir the pot, man. They lost to the Chiefs. Stir the pot, Mark. Stir the pot. Oh, man. That's crazy, man. You still think you're the man for the job, huh?

Okay. We're giving them 10 games, Mark, like they gave Ty Lue. Give them 10 games. Yeah, we give them 10. We're giving them 10 games. Y'all, y'all, this is over Doc, man. Hey, y'all, listen. He got just as many championships as Giannis.

Giannis may feel a way like, yo, what you did that I didn't do? Got the same amount of championships. What you did that I didn't do out here? Matter of fact, have you ever even been a league MVP when you played, homie? Come on, man. What you talking about? He can say that to anybody then. Notice I didn't like the post

when y'all posted that. That was on purpose. Yes. Yes, Mark. Be an objective voice. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. We're going to roll past that question. We're going to get to the pacer.

So Tyrese Halliburton is three missed games away from not being eligible for all NBA teams. He was out because of a hamstring injury. He said, I think it's a stupid rule like plenty of the guys in the league, but this is what the owners want. So as players, we got to do our job and play in 65 games if we're able to. So do you think it's a stupid rule? I don't agree with the rule because I think that the people that have a vote should take it serious and then have an understanding of, for example, how impactful

Joel Embiid was last year missing a chunk of games. He won MVP missing a chunk of games. You should be able to look at the impact that a guy like Halliburton has on that Indiana Pacer basketball team in the season that they're having and be able to make a solid vote based on how long he was absent and his impact on the team. So we should put restrictions on the vote. What'd you think, Hilla?

I don't think it's Tyrese Halliburton's fault. He may have had a significant injury. Look, a hamstring injury is no joke. I still have an actual lump in the back of my leg caused for a hamstring injury that was never treated right when I was playing basketball. So I know that hamstring injuries are really no joke. With that being said, it's not Halliburton's fault,

but it's other players' fault prior to this season when they made this rule. Load management, taking games off, rest, getting ready for the postseason. I do think it should be a significant amount of games you play if you're eligible for any award. I'm not going to blame Halliburton, but you got to think of all the people like, and this is probably my favorite coach, and then Mark Jackson after him, but you got to blame Greg Popovich for starting this shit. All the rest.

Not playing the Spurs on Christmas Day in Miami the following year that Miami went to the championship with the Spurs. Let everybody take off. Tony Parker, Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Kawhi Leonard, and then you sit there and say they need rest, they're old. The excuses he was given was crazy.

And I understand that people are revving up for the playoffs, so on and so forth, but it's a lot of games. You got a lot of guys that just take games off and they're still eligible for these awards. It's going to hurt other players like Halliburton, who is really hurt and injured, and I don't think he's faking it at all. But at the same time, the best ability is availability. And if you're hurt all the time, and I'm not saying he is, I'm just saying an example,

you shouldn't win the award. You know, we got guys that we talk about going in their ninth season of college football due to injury. It's ridiculous. A 28, 29-year-old or however old they are playing against 18, 19, 20-year-old kids in college because he's hurt because of COVID. Then this injury and that injury and that injury. And Maurice Corrette gave us a great breakdown of why they do that. But when I played college basketball, you get one year of redshirt whether you're hurt or not.

And that's that. And I think that this is a great rule because my opinion is, look, it isn't your fault that you're injured, but blame the guys before you that was just taking time off because they wanted to take time off. CJ McCullough made a great point.

I'm not sure if he's still the president of the Players Association or not but he was last year or the year before that when I was watching the interview and he said sometime that players don't even want to take games off that the team makes them take games off saying look you're a non-digit investment we need you for more important games so sometimes it's not even the players that want to take games off it's the coaches or the staff or the training staff or the gm said let's reduce his minutes let's make sure he's available in april may and possibly june i think all this factors into the awards and i'm not mad at the rule at all. Yeah. Go ahead, Mark. You want to share before I share?

No, the only thing I agreed, you know, to a certain extent of what killer just said, the only point I'll make is if I'm a franchise player and my coach or the training staff comes up to me and try to tell me to take a day off for load management, I'm from New York City. We played every day. Yeah.

Anytime. Yeah. I'm looking like he's crazy. I'm playing. Yeah. We have some guys like that, but you also have some guys that it's easy to convince. And it's proven

the commissioner and the experts came out and said, there's no data that justifies node management. So that's my concern. I come up from a place of, if the ball is in the air and we playing, I want to play. I don't want to come to the arena and put on a street clothes and sit down. I'm not comfortable doing that. What was that gadget just happened on Mark's screen? Mark, the thumbs up. The thumbs up. He's speaking facts.

Okay, Mark, you just did that, Mark? I don't know. I have no clue. Oh, that was crazy. What I would like to say real quick, Mace, before you go, look, and it's a different mind state for players today as the players of yesteryear, so to speak. I don't know your resume, Mark, as far as attending games and so on and so forth.

But I do know Karl Malone's in his first 18 seasons. Karl Malone's first 18 seasons, he missed six games in 18 seasons. Six games in 18 seasons six games and 18 seasons we got niggas missing six games in two days they're already we already know they're not playing next week or the week after this 93rd that is amazing stat and i can't speak for everybody and i'm not saying that everybody got the endurance of Karl Malone. But listen, man, it wasn't a big deal to play 82 games years ago. Now we got to put laws on the league, so to speak,

to say if you're going to nominate a first-team, second-team, third-team, MVP, defensive player of the year, rebound player, whatever it is, whatever award you can win, you got to play a certain amount of games. I remember 82 games was not even a stat. Now when you talk about it, you're like, oh, by the way, he played all 82 games. One year the Joker won, and I'm not saying he didn't deserve to win, but it was actually a stat that he played all 82 games the year before last when he won the MVP. And I'm like, why is that a stat now that players play all 82 games?

It's kind of crazy to me. Yeah, I think it's really interesting because, for one, if somebody is not playing the game, the first thing you want them to know is that the fans want to know is that they're hurt. Because if we're paying all of this money to sit front row and to be at the games and you're not showing up, then that's kind of like false advertisement. Another thing that I think one of the reasons why they make people just not take the low management because, pause, if they show up in the game and you rest them during the game,

then they mess up their numbers, they mess up their averages and things like that. So I think we got both of those things to consider simultaneously, when really it should be like, if you're not going to play, then it should be penalized because it's starting to affect the people that come to watch the games. We're paying them to see people play. They should play. If they're not going to play, then it should be definitely super penalized because the people I grew up watching, they played all the time.

Just like Mark, we played all day. We played all night. We played until the sun came up. So it's like I don't understand how people that love the game can't suit up. And if you don't love the game and you're just playing for the money, then that's another conversation. Then you're wasting the roster spot. Yeah, you're wasting the roster spot.

And then when that happens, then I understand why Giannis can give a spot to his brother. We're just wasting spots. Niggas ain't going to play. Put my cousin down. No, a coach made a good suggestion. I don't mean to cut you off. That makes sense. But a coach once made a good suggestion because the training staff

and those experts are the ones that come to the coach or the general manager and say it's a load management day. I believe, and he said something I totally agree with, that training staff's contract should be in line with the coaches and everybody else. Because it's easy for me to say, give the joker a day off when I'm good and I'm secure. But if I know he's going to miss a game,

and we're potentially going to lose that game and we're potentially going to be fired in the long term because of him missing a game, now all of a sudden it's not as easy for me to say, give him a day off. I have something invested in me and I want him to play as much as possible as opposed to giving him days off.

Why not take a day off on your day off? Why take a day off on a work day? Yeah, because you get days off. Yeah, that's a great point. I like that, Mace. Yeah, take a day off on your day off. Take a day off on your day off. Yeah, we're paying you $300,000 today.

Why take a day off today? Take a day off when it's a day off. I'm a businessman. Not only that, if your contract ain't set up to certain shit, they still getting paid on a day off. You're robbing niggas. Yeah, you're robbing niggas. Straight up in there.

Let me ask you this real quick, Mark. Join play with the flu, man. These are the people I grew up watching, man. Jordan played with the flu, man. These are the people I grew up watching. Jordan played with the flu. Listen, Isaiah played with no ankle. His ankle was hanging off his ankle. Like, yo, his foot was dangling at 25 points. Who was that?

Bernard King? How Bernard King played? We talking about Willis Reed? Yeah, all the niggas. Willis Reed. Yeah, all the names. Willis Reed coming out the locker room. Listen, man, Kobe Bryant just shot his free throws with a torn Achilles. I don't want to hear that shit. Mark, let me ask you a question real quick.

Do you find it suspicious that Joel Embiid has not played in Denver since 2019? I'm not around him. And you certainly look at it and his perk up when you see he hasn't played in Denver since 2019. But it looks like he had legitimate knee concern this time around. He missed the following game last night in Portland and playing tonight in Golden State. So I know there's something to it this time. I can't speak for the previous times, but you want to see the best players,

especially at the same position, go against each other when it matters most, when the lights are brightest. So it's somewhat disappointing. Senator Mark Jackson. I approve this. Yes. Mayor Mark Jackson, I approve this message. Mayor Mark Jackson, I approve

this message. I approve this message. We might as well go, boom! This is approved by it is what it is. Yo, listen, man. It's mighty. So let's do what you just said, Mark, man. It's mighty. It's mighty.

So let's do what you just said, Mark, right? You have a good game last week against the Joker in Philly. You go to Denver. You're like, nah, I'm going to have my one game up because I don't know what this nigga is going to try to do to me now that I just bust his ass in Philly. So I don't think I want to play with him against Denver. You know what? I'm not even going to waste my time to make the Portland game look like

I got a real injury, and then you know what? Let's go against Steph Curry and Draymond and them, because Looney's their center, and I should have a field day on Looney. That's how I'm looking at it. It sounds like a pure setup to me. Hold on,

hold on. Now, we're talking about Joe and B. Yeah. And we're talking about the Joker, two of the all-time greats at their position. Their mindset, in no way, shape, or form,

is ducking any smoke as far as I don't believe. If I'm Joker, I don't believe NB can stop me. If I'm NB, I don't believe Joker can stop me. So I got no concerns about being dominated. I'm going to get my numbers and I'm Joker can stop me. So I got no concerns about being dominated.

I'm going to get my numbers and I'm going to play great. So I don't think that's an issue for either one of those guys. So then why ain't Shaw been five years? Five years. It's been five years, man. It ain't one of these years you say, you know what, I'm going to take off this game to make

sure I'm ready to go to Denver and prove my point in Denver. Yeah, take the Portland game off. It's raining, all of that. Show up to Denver. And you know what? Matter of fact, I get what Golda say when I get to him. Mark, you just said it. Two of the best centers that we've probably seen in a long time, and I know the center position has changed as far as shooting threes, bringing the ball up, stretch point, whatever you want to call it. But these are two all-time greats, especially for this generation. If you just made some great points,

why isn't Joel Embiid saying the same thing you're saying? You know what? This is what they want to see. This is what they want to see. This is what they want to see. This is starting to sound like that little three-ring boxers with Shakur, Tate, and Haney. They never get to fight each other, and that's what people want to see.

Get yours off at home. You've been ducking Denver for five years. I'm not going to disagree with you, Mark, and say this all-time great. I'm just going to disagree with you, Mark, and say this all time great. I'm just going to say, shit is fishy. Very fishy, man. Very suspicious. Very suspicious.

Very suspicious. So reports are being said the NBA is supposed to investigate it. So hopefully soon we'll get some sort of answer because I think a lot of people have questions. You know it's crazy when niggas got you investigated. You investigated for not showing up in Denver. It's crazy.

You're under investigation, my nigga. I like that. Adam Silver, get it that you need to be under investigation. There's no investigation. That's what Marcus and Van Gundy used to do. He said he was missing all game. Now they're making real investigations.

Hold on, Mark. What were you about to say about the investigation? There will be no investigation. Guess what? If you miss a game because your knee is sore and tendonitis, what's the commissioner going to do? What's the commissioner going to do? What's the league going to do? They're going to try to find out from the training staff,

why did he miss a game? Well, his knee was sore. There's no way to tell whether his knee was sore or not. And he missed the following game. So to me, the investigation will never take place and they'll never find anything. He missed a game. He has an injury-prone history as far as his knee.

So I think you just charge it to the game, and hopefully down the road they continue to play and put on great performances. They should start giving people their money back, Cam. That should be the investigation. Can we get our money back if we pay the CMB versus Joker and they don't ever show up in five years? I need half of my money back. It's 10 grand to be front row.

I think that's a great point, Mark, because we talked about that. I'm not sure if it was yesterday or last week, but we talked about that, how you can't prove if somebody's hurt or not hurt. And we were saying, we just talked about that. I believe it was yesterday, if I'm not mistaken. And we're saying that there's no real way to tell if anybody's hurt. But let me tell you this much. And this is kind of the answer to your question too, Mace, both of y'all at the same time. Pause. When you say you want your money back, Mace, as a fan, which I would want my money back too, and Mark, you're saying that it's not

really going to be an investigation. The fact is this, to answer both your questions, the word investigation means something. So regardless if there's a real investigation or not, it makes you more secure as a fan that they use the word investigation. So even if Mace, you want your money back as a fan, we're going to say, or myself or anything. Nah, nah, hold on. He's under investigation. We're investigating it. So don't ask for your money back. It's under investigation. And then the up point, Mark, even if there's no investigation, just using the word investigate. Nobody, and I know NBA is different, but imagine on the street,

they say you're under investigation. You're like, hold the fuck on. What the fuck? I'm under investigation. You start acting right. Yeah. The word investigation is never good. Regardless of his jail time or basketball or anything else,

a fake injury, you don't want to be under investigation. And I think that's a word they use to make people more comfortable that they're looking into something that they may not even really be looking into with some insight from Mark is what he's selling us. Cause you can't prove an injury or not. And just for more clarification, cause I'm sure people were like, where did you hear that from?

But like, so Mike Malone in the interview, he did say we've had situations this year where we talked to the league and they told us if a player goes from being active to out, there's going to be an investigation. So I'm sure it'll happen because both parties have felt some type of way about this continued behavior so i don't know what will end up happening but i know there are a lot of fingers being pointed and people have a lot of questions

and you got a lot of questions people need answers so i it's going to be hard to kind of have a definitive answer but i could foresee something happening or being told to us, but we'll see. The thing about it is Mark made a great point. Same point we talked about. You can't really prove if somebody's hurt or not. Look, Nick go like this. Ow. Ow.

You can't tell me that don't hurt. You can't tell me that don't hurt. It hurts. Right. And to make a point, to make a point, he's playing tonight against Golden State in the first half. He falls down. He comes up limping.

If he misses the next game, he may be able to play in the next game, but he's not 100%. So you can always prove a reason to keep a guy out. There were guys that played through injury in that Denver-Philly game that was hurt but had the ability to play through it. Some guys are not cut that way. That's real. Unless you go.

And they say, I didn't touch you. But this also goes back to the player participation rule that we were originally talking about. So it's trying to hold guys accountable if it is just fake injuries. And then this brings us to our next question because we did start up talking about. So it's trying to hold guys accountable if it is just fake injuries. And then this brings us to our next question, because we did start up talking about Halliburton. So on Tuesday, the Pacers lost to the Celtics 129-124.

The Celtics are currently first in the East. Are you surprised by their standings right now? I'm not surprised by it. They're an outstanding team with great history to last, you know, since Tatum and Brown got together. They improved their roster by adding Christoph Persingas, a guy that can stretch the defense, knock down mid-range jumper, knock down the three, and then protect the rim with shot-blocking ability.

So great versatility, outstanding backcourt defenders, and Drew Holiday and Derek White, a proven veteran in Al Hoffman. They are a very talented basketball team that's very well coached and is going to be a problem to deal with moving forward. I'm not surprised at all. Yeah, I'm definitely not surprised. When you look at this team, I think they're one of the most balanced teams in the NBA. Even though you have the Denver Nuggets with Joker and Murray,

and then you have other teams, this is the most balanced team I could look at. When you look at it from defense and offense on both sides of the ball, I know you probably want to say Miami, but don't start that Triple J stuff. I have my favorites, but I still can see the stats. All right. We're just making sure. We're just making sure. What do you think, Killer?

I think the pace has been falling short since the in-season tournament. They're having great success against Milwaukee, who's in the second seed right now. Outside of that, they're shaking. The target's been on their back. They were feeling themselves as they had a great beginning to the season. Especially, you know, we didn't, and I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't know how exciting the in-season tournament was going to be. I was really excited to watch it.

They treated it like a championship. It doesn't feel like that being that we're a month and a half or a couple months away from it. But leading up to it, it was kind of like, oh, shit. Oh, this shit is all right. The in-season tournament's all right. And I remember New Orleans Orleans specifically Zion and Ingram doing the interview saying yeah we win this thing we gonna go out and celebrate

they got shut down for talking shit early to LeBron and them niggas and the same thing with our Indiana they beat Milwaukee Halliburton start all this daytime shit and they're feeling themselves and the season goes on. It's a long season. This is more about Indiana not maintaining where they were at in the beginning of the season as opposed

to the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics has been to the championship the year before last, the Eastern Conference Finals last year. For me, it ranks upon Boston winning the championship with this team. It's not about the end season. I'm not shocked at where they're at at all right now. Just gave Jalen Brown $325 million.

If you gave Jalen Brown $325 million, how much are you going to give Tatum? You're going to break the fucking bank when it's time to pay Tatum. So this team needs to win a championship, especially when you're going to spend maybe a quarter billion dollars on two players. A championship is what they need to see. As far as they're with that now, I'm

not shocked. What I will give them slack on is this. You had two head coaches in the last two years, and you have to gain some rhythm with your coaching. Me and Mace talked about this the other day. We had five head coaches in three years when we played at Manhattan Center. We had no rhythm with no coach whatsoever.

So when you have five head coaches in three years and you're trying to learn different systems and so on and so forth, it's not easy. So that's the only slack that I would give the Boston Celtics outside of not winning the championship. You know, if they had the same coach last year that they had the year before, maybe they may have won the championship because they had some rhythm. Now this is their coach that they have now second year,

and the expectation is championships. I think they did a great job with getting Brad off the bench and putting him in the GM position after Danny Ainge left. Danny Ainge did a spectacular job there. He got a championship. He's Boston proud even when he played with them. I thought it was a great feeling for him as general manager. His time was up. Sometimes it's just like that. But this is going to be purely based off if Boston wins a championship, especially with the money that they're spending on two players. Yeah, they better win a chip. There's no other way around it. It's like,

when you look at this team, what else do you need on a team to win? That's what I'm thinking about. When I see this type of team, when you come back in that locker room, there's no excuse you can make. You got Porzingis, you got Tatum, you got Jalen Brown, you got even a guy that got the headband all the way up to here. I forgot his name. White. Not only that, Murda, you got championship experience with Drew Holiday on the team. championship experience with Drew Holiday on the team. Everything is set on a championship for this team. And you're right. You have everybody, you have all the pieces that you need.

I was saying that, and I didn't mean to cut you off, I was just adding Drew Holiday into all the people, you name it. Yeah. To me, their championship is based upon Porzingis' health. And he has not proven to be healthy the whole season, let alone, go ahead. I don't even give that as an excuse with Porzingis not being there, because you got Al Horford.

I mean, they have every single thing you need on that team to win. What? Right here. Art. That's what we're not talking about. Sometimes it boils down to, I, Paul, want this a little bit more than you. It's not in nobody else's hands. When you start talking about people being dogs, that's what it boils down to. Like me and you, Cam, we argued for 20 years that you wasn't going

to let it go, pause, and I wasn't going to let it go. And if he doesn't say nothing, I'm not going to say it. People are like, it's 10 years where it's going to be 11. And then they come talk to you and you say it's 12. It's going to be 13 then. It's going to be 15 then. That's what we need on Boston we need somebody to say I'm responsible for this this is my team and watch where we go that's what I say to them

and then Mark I gotta ask do you agree with their points no I agree with their points when you look at that team I think there was a there was a point in the Golden State Boston series where you listen to the Warriors players and they smell blood. They realize this is ours for the taking and they took advantage of it. Understand you got to go through situations like that. Boston did. Now do they respond and react in the proper way? They certainly have the talent. I think when it matters most, come playoff time and come Eastern Conference and championship time, shorten the rotation and put the emphasis on your superstar players, Tatum and Brown, to carry the load and put them in position to win the championship. Points.

Moving along, Steph Curry will play Sabrina Ionesco in the first WNBA NBA three-point challenge crossover, and this will happen during All-Star Weekend. So first, who do you think will win, and then what do you guys think about All-Star Weekend incorporating this event? This is pretty cool. Are they going to put the women in the dunk contest? I don't think they're doing women in the dunk.

At this point, they might as well because... This would be a great way to get their money up. Go ahead, Mark. I apologize. No, I think it's great. It's exciting for the game. Sabrina's a spectacular player. Put on an incredible performance during the all-star weekend for the WNBA.

And it draws attention to the game. And, you know, the NBA and the WNBA is a brotherhood, a sisterhood. There's a lot of excitement. So I'm looking forward to it. I think obviously I'm going to take Steph Curry because he's the greatest shooter of all time. But on a given day, anybody can win, especially when you put that type of caliber shooters in the gym together.

Mark, I got to ask you something because you're here. And this is not just for clout. There was a guy on the Internet. He said there's some high school teams that could beat WNBA teams. Do you think that's true? No. Okay? No. Okay. No.

I just wanted to ask you professionally. I get into this all the time. I get into this all the time with Jeff Van Gunney because he was a Division III basketball player, and he believes that he could give them business. No, no, no. Stop. I say this. Today's WNBA players are incredibly skilled.

It's not yesterday's, and yesterday's was great. But today's, their skill level, their shooting ability, their ability to make plays, it is a joy to watch. And I've seen Jeff Van Gundy play. Yeah, there was a lady named Teresa something. She made me stop playing basketball. She almost beat me, and I said, I got to be losing it. She was in the WNBA. I had to retire after that. That's a little story. Oh, Teresa Weatherspoon?

Yeah, one of them Teresas. I forgot who it was. I tried to forget it. Yeah, she's in New York. She's in New York. Yeah, she's the coach of the Chicago Sky now. She almost beat you. She gave you the business? I had to retire after that. I said, I must be losing. I didn't know. Did you say she almost beat you or she beat you? She almost beat me, Mark.

I'm from New York. We're not going with that. Yeah. Yo, real quick, I want to chime in before we go to break. I think this is great for the WNBA and the NBA to collab on this. She's an outstanding shooter. And I think that I don't know the way to go about it or how it's going to get done.

And I know it's based on advertisement, ticket sales, sponsors etc but we need to figure out as a basketball community yeah how to get these females paid some more money like the money that they're making is nowhere near but nba players are making more in one game than some of these the top female athlete um wmba players are making all season you know I was looking at I'm Caitlin Clark's NIL deal she's making a little over eight hundred thousand dollars yeah and they're saying that if she was in the NBA that would WNBA pardon me that would be when she began 25% salary of what she's making off NIL deals right now so I don't know how it needs to get figured out and done.

But watching the last two seasons, especially living in Vegas, watching the sky, man, they've been really great to watch and exciting. And even the other day, LSU versus South Carolina was the number one sports ratings that night. So any other NBA game that was on, hockey, whatever sport that was on that night those teams played did not get the ratings that South Carolina LSU game, females NCAA game got that night.

So that also needs to be taken into consideration. But hopefully they're looking into things like that. I really believe Mark Cuban, and people will say I'm bugging, but I really believe Mark Cuban, because he's the one to do it, give Kaitlyn Clark a tryout for the Dallas Mavericks as a shooter. Mark, give her a tryout. You're already thinking outside the box. Let's see what she can do. That girl walks over half court and shoots, man.

I think she's better than Sabrina shooting. Look how Mark's looking at you. Look how Mark is looking at you. Look how Mark is looking at you. Look how Mark is looking at you. Even if she don't make the team, you're going to make news for giving her the tryout.

I would do it. You know what publicity? That's free publicity, my nigga. Mark Cuban, again, thinks outside the box. She didn't make the team, but you gave her the shot. You got to market this shit, baby. This is all marketing, my nigga. That's going to work.

Let Mark chime in. Let Mark bring him back to work. Let Mark chime in. Let Mark bring them back to reasoning. Go ahead, Mark. No, I totally agree with the idea of paying the WNBA players more money. I wouldn't use the NBA players and their salary as a comparison. I just stand alone and say the WNBA is a proven entity, and those ladies certainly deserve more money than they're making. It's a

wonderful, wonderful game that they're putting on full display. Talent is all-time great, and they should be paid accordingly. Yeah, like, Buss is like, yo, I agree with Mark 100%. This is what I'm trying to say, like, bust it. Like, yo, yeah, but I agree with Mara 100%. This is what I'm trying to say.

Like, homegirl. What's her name? Played for the Suns. Just got out of jail in Russia. Brittany. Brittany Griner. Brittany. Yeah, the only reason she's over there in Russia,

to make more money to play ball. She wouldn't even be in Russia. She was only going to play ball. These wouldn't even be in Russia. She was only going to play ball. These females have to go overseas after the season, even though it's not a full NBA season, to make up for the money they're not getting in America, which is, you got to do that.

NBA players go overseas after a while. Some people don't even make it to the NBA. They go straight overseas. But they got to go work two, three leagues to make a living. So why not put Brittany on the Suns? They need a big man. I'm not mad at that neither.

But at the end of the day, if you go against it, Brittany go against the Joker, that's a problem. You got to see the Joker about three, four times a year. Now, I don't care man, woman, or child. You don't want the Joel Embiid. You don't want them problems. Joel Embiid wants your foot. You know what I mean?

Before we go to break real quick, I know we're getting ready to go to break stack. I want to pull some footage up that I found real quick, and I want y'all to check this out. We'll be right back. Hold on. I did a couple of rocket jocks. Taking the ball out to Method Man.

Turn around, jumper. It's good. This was like the three-on-three thing. They were trying some new shit. And I remember NSYNC was part of it. And we beat them kids up. Uh-oh. Rebound.

Oh, my God. Good God. He missed my hand. Give me some of that, boy. I wonder if they remember that. I had KG and Damon Stoudemire, the Mighty Mouse. NBA style against the Chamber of Duda legs. Oh, no.

Don't make pop music look like that, baby. On the squad, as well as Cam'ron. Cam'ron's a GOAT. He's a GOAT. Cam'ron. It couldn't have happened without me. You know what I'm saying? I had all the assist.

Hey! I remember we were beating the shit out of NSYNC that day. By Justin Timberlake. Inside to Cam Ron. Back out to O'Han. The Cam Ron's on next. Wow, he's got the real thing. Yeah, Cam Ron.

Yeah, boy. Because the producers came on and was like, guys, guys, can you take it a little easy on the guys? He said, look, Cam Ron, who's playing hard behind the back on Antoine Davidson, not expecting Make it a little easy on the guys. I know they didn't ask for it, but the producer saw something, or maybe their PR person saw something and was like, they got a show tomorrow. Method Man is out there elbowing Timberlake in the face. We can't have that.

Besides the M-E-T-H-O-D man. Whoa, what another basket. Chris Kirkpatrick just got smacked by Redman. You know, like that. Barnett up top. Bounce back in. The camera only goes up strong. Whoa.

Camera was the fool. Not as skilled as some of these other guys. Or not even close to skilled as these other guys. The 1998 three-on-three Rockin' Jock tournament celebrity MVP, that goes to M-E-T-H-O-D, man. Man, this my third Rockin' Jock, man. You know what I'm saying, man? I think I deserve this long time coming. You know what I mean?

I want to thank my teammates, Cam Raw, Redman, E-Double, Kevin Garnett, Damon Stoudemire. We did it, baby. Top of the world, man. All right, y'all. There we go. Okay, so I got to have you guys' reaction. What did you think about the video? Murder.

You see, I'm cooking. I'm all this murder. I do the pass like this. You looking like Action Jackson out there. Don't do that. Yeah, I do more Jackson pass. I do the more Jackson pass like this, brother. I do more Jackson, train or more.

Here's my question. Where'd you get the footage from, man? Hey, man, listen, man. I know people. Me and Mase know people. I know people. Listen, listen. Listen, now I know what happened Me and Mace know people. I know people. Listen, listen, Mark. Listen, now I know what happened.

Murder. Murder, I know what happened. I feel like Sebastian. Came in there, Mark. I killed Mark. Know what Mark talking about? No, no. I got to give you a props.

I got to give you a props. You had a great day against Lance Bass and Justin Timberlake. You were cooking them. He was cooking them. He was killing them. He was cooking them. Shout out to my teammates, Kevin Gardner,

Damon Stoudemire, Redman, we did out there. This is when you lose your mind. When you're rocking a jacket. Now you have to go, now, in my brain, I thought I did something in rocking jacket.

I bet you guys weren't expecting to see that, but you know it is what it is. It's full of surprises. But we're going to go to break, and when we return, we will discuss Jalen Brunson. She call this thing abouts toxic Four years and counting Got you feeling like a option Maybe I'm my own problem, babe She tired of hearing I don't know What's happening to me won't flow Dealing with this thing called trust but she really thinking about free

why am i in this woman free hell i don't want to see her walk away i wish somebody told me the rules disagreements let her win then it's cool even when i'm right this ain't about you Welcome back. Now let's get into our underdog fantasy picks of the day. Tonight, the Spurs will play the magic. Underdog fantasy has Victor Wembyama at five and a half first quarter points. Do you have him higher or lower, Mace?

Higher. Okay. Cam? I'm going to go lower. He'll be having a slow start, so I'm going gonna go lower. He be having a slow start. So I'm gonna go lower. Hey, hollow Ben Caro is at five assists. Do you have them higher or lower camp? More higher. I can't shoot. You said five assists. She said five assists. Oh, I'm sorry.

Lower, pardon me. Yeah, lower. Okay, and Jalen Suggs is at nine and a half points. Do you have him higher or lower? Higher. Okay, Cam? Higher. Download the Underdog Fantasy app

and you can make your picks too. Okay, so Kendrick Perkins said, not only has he put the world on notice, but with Julius Randall being out, Jalen Brunson is about to turn it up another level to the point where we're going to have to mention this young man in the MVP conversation. You can book it.

Do you think Jalen Brunson should be in the MVP conversation? Right like that. It depends on how many guys we're talking about in the conversation, but he's certainly having an incredible year for the New York Knicks. Should be no doubt representing the Eastern Conference in the All-Star weekend in Indiana. He's a spectacular player. I played with his dad. I knew him since he was a young kid. Extremely proud of what he's doing. He's in the discussion. It's just a question of how many guys you're putting in the discussion, buddy.

He's having an outstanding season and really rejuvenated that Nick franchise. I think the guy's having an amazing season as well. I don't know if we can yet put him in an MVP conversation. By mere fact, he's not really even starting in the All-Star game. I think he's got to be the top five in the coast before you can get to being MVP.

Nothing away from him. I'm looking forward to seeing him play. He's one of the reasons why I started watching the Knicks again. I promised to never watch the Knicks again. He's one of the reasons why I started watching the Knicks again. I promised to never watch the Knicks again. So he's won me back to watching the Knicks. So a lot of credit there. Well, what I'll say is this, as far as him not starting, it should absolutely be him starting or Tyrese Maxey starting. As much as I love Damian Lillard, this is a fan's vote. The fans voted for the starters and that's how they get in. It's not about what you've done on the

court production-wise and not production-wise. It's about who's most popular in the voting. And Damian Lillard, as much as I like Damian Lillard, I don't think he should be started in the All-Star game. Is he the most popular name in the Eastern Conference and having a decent year? Yes, probably so. Him or Donovan Mitchell, I'm talking about his popularity is concerned. But Jalen Brunson has been amazing. The Knicks are in third place right now in the Eastern Conference, which is also amazing

because I wouldn't think right now that they'd be in the third place in the Eastern Conference, which is also amazing because I wouldn't think they right now that they'd be in the third place in the Eastern Conference. What I'm really looking to see is who gets further, Dallas or New York, because we have to realize Dallas didn't want to pay him where he felt he needed to be paid. And that's why he went to the Knicks. But at the same time, Dallas gets Kyrie Irving, and a lot of people will sit there and say, damn, man, I may want Jalen Brunson over Kyrie Irving. Even though Kyrie Irving may be a spectacular talent,

who do you want as your point guard right now today? I'm still going to go with Kyrie Irving until further notice, but at the same time, Jalen Brunson is making a case for who you would rather have so to me Jalen Brunson not even MVP conversation I'm not going to go there just yet but I think it's sensational that he's leading the Knicks to have them in third place but for me it's who won the treat the team the teams when they were all in the opposite it wasn't a trade uh they was all um out of their contract so did um kairi win and dallas or is jalen brunson and the knicks gonna win that's what it's about for me this year to see who gets further that's a real good point yeah for me i like to see my m Pauls, score more than 26 points.

That's just me, preferably. Moving along, Jared Vanderbilt was ejected in the first half of the Lakers versus Rockets game on Monday for swiping the top of Dylan Brooks' forehead. The Rockets beat the Lakers 135-119. But just in general, what do you guys think about the antics between the Rockets and the Lakers?

Does it seem like a real beef? Does it seem like they're just trying to annoy each other? Like, what do you guys think about everything going on? Well, Dylan Brooks, that's his job, to irritate, to annoy, to agitate. And he certainly had a foul on LeBron James, sliding him across the head that was borderline flagrant. I believe there's something more to it than just two teams competing. They play with an edge.

They try to cheap shot and do different things. I would have liked to see somebody from the Lakers respond and react to the cheap shot by Dylan Brooks, sending a message that you're not going to do that to, to, to the best player on our team and not have a, have a price to pay for it.

That's how you build a culture. That's how you establish winning ways. And that's how you establish a brotherhood. I think he got away with it. I think Vanderbilt only brushed him on the head because of something he did to him. It wasn't because of retaliation because of LeBron. So I'm fine with all of the antics. I just think that messages have to be made throughout the course of the ballgame and throughout the course of the season that we're

going to protect each other at all costs. Yeah, that's definitely a sign of a great team when people come to your defense and people stand up for you. And I remember times when they used to, any guard going in and get fouled or he started a fight, people would grab the guard and the bigger guys would step in. But when LeBron is the bigger guy, who steps in for the bigger guy? That's my question. Let me answer. I can remember getting into

battles with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley on my team. If they got into it with a big guy, I'd step in. Nobody's going to fight. So it's not about size or anything like that. It's just a question of, we're going to draw the line at that. So I think I was disappointed not to see someone step up to the challenge hall. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. Yeah. So first of all, it wasn't borderline Mark Flagrant. That shit he did was foul. Nigga tried to act like it was the wrist wrist hit him all in the face with the wrist that shit Dylan Brooks did was super duper foul wasn't brought a lot of flagrant it was on purpose and you

right what you said Mark in a nice way is that LA ain't got no goons and nobody's stepping up for LeBron James when you gonna do that shit to LeBron James nobody's gonna do nothing back about that. And then I have to disagree with you a little bit, Mace, because it ain't about size.

Because let me tell you one thing for sure, two things for certain. As much as we play games up here, pause with them or not, if Patrick Beverly was on the Lakers, Patrick Beverly would have ran over and stepped the niggas, six foot one or not. I remember last year he was stepping up in fights when he was with the Lakers, Patrick Beverly would have ran over and stepped the niggas. Six foot one or not. I remember last year he was stepping up in fights when he was with the Lakers for Anthony Davis, for some of the bigger guys. So it's about having that type of player on the team. And I just think the Lakers don't have that type of player. You let a nigga smack LeBron James all in the face and act like it's an accident. That's crazy. Now back to, is this a real rivalry or not? No, this isn't a real rivalry. The Lakers are a story franchise. Houston has a couple of championships. It's not a real rivalry. What the rivalry is,

this is that Dylan Brooks actually got let go from the Memphis Grizzlies for fucking with LeBron James. That's the problem. Dylan Brooks now says, I never want to lose to Memphis. I don't ever want to lose to them. Yeah, because you're playing games with LeBron James, saying you're going to make him go left, and he's going all left crazy on you the whole game, and you got let go for poking the beard.

That was the whole slogan last year. He said, I'm going to poke the beard. Pause. I'm going to poke the beer. That was the whole, pause, that was the whole slogan. Yeah. Last year, he said, I'm going to poke the beer. Pause, I'm going to poke the beer. You got let go because LeBron sent y'all niggas home for playing dumbass games with them. Now you got an attitude with him, team to team to team you go to because you got let go out of Memphis. I think Houston got something great going on down there.

They're building a great franchise. Well, they already have been a decent franchise from James Harms there, but this young core players looks like they may have something going on in the next two to four years. But as far as rivalry, no, this is Dylan Brooks got a problem with LeBron James and everybody else is just casualties of war. That's what this is all about. LeBron James, and everybody else is just casualties of war. That's what this is all about. I'll go with that, and I accept that. I still think somebody should have done something.

That's King James. Yes, absolutely. With that being said, though, I will say this. You want to win in this league, you want guys like Dylan Brooks. So as much as we knock him, I respect the fact that he's willing to compete and get dirty with anybody and everybody. So you need guys like that on your team. I'm not against that. Listen, I'm just saying what the rivalry is, and you're right,

Dylan Brooks is to a lesser degree with Draymond to Golden State, and you need players that's going to get damn and dirty pours for certain shit. But I was just talking about as far as Houston and the Lakers having a rivalry. Dylan Brooks, he ends up still getting a bag, but when you play with fire, you're going to get burnt. And now he's mad about it.

And until further notice, LeBron James is still the greatest player in this generation, and he's just living in it. Great, great points. Okay, and then last topic before we wrap. Of course, Stevenson tweeted, I'm officially retiring from the sport of boxing. I'll be in the gym forever, perfecting my craft and helping the next generation become great and chase their dreams.

But I'm not messing with this weak boxing game. So what are you guys' thoughts on his announcement? Is he serious about? I think he's serious. Serious about retirement? I think he's serious. Aw, man. I don't think he's done.

Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. First thing about retirement, I'll tell them as a young guy who's retired, don't retire, come back washed up and get knocked out. And the second thing I would tell you is you got to know from your girlfriend if she's okay with you retiring because she got with a boxer. And if you make that change, and hopefully you're able to provide,

because women can't downgrade. I'm going to just let you go. I'm going to just let you go. I try to get wise advice. Yo, Stat, you could downgrade? She can downgrade because, I mean... No, I said, could you downgrade? Could I downgrade?

Yes. I don't think that's a downgrade if you want to retire from boxing. I said if you don't have things. I don't think that's a downgrade. Okay. No, what I'm saying is this. I'm not asking you to be in her position. I'm asking you clearly to downgrade.

If you were living with ceilings 30 feet high, and then I moved you back into a place with a 10-foot ceiling, would you live there? Mace, don't even give her an example. Just answer the question. Could I downgrade? The mission is to always upgrade, but I upgrade for myself. That's not dependent on somebody else.

I'm asking you, could you downgrade? That's my answer. Point blank. So you can't. It's dependent on me. Like, if I don't want to live in that situation, I'm going to work on that for myself. I just realized something. We got two politicians on the show.

The way we be talking about it, we're barely... They're from Jacksonville. The delegate. One from Jacksonville. The delegate. That's my answer. All we asked was a yes or no question. She can't.

That's my answer. It's not a written answer. It's a yes or no question. She can't. It's not a written answer. It's a yes or no. Yes or no. Yes or no. The answers aren't yes or no. And that makes sense. If you had to, can you downgrade? If I had to, I don't downgrade.

But for myself. I think we got the answer. So I was right, fellas. That is my answer. I was right, fellas. So I'm telling you, no matter how much you think she loves you, she can't go backwards with you, champ.

So I'm telling you this as a fellow retiree, as a young man, she can't do it. You know who didn't like Dan Grayton? You know who didn't like Dan Grayton? Who? Joe Smith's wife. She wasn't with him.

That's also like situational though. You know, everybody's different people. Listen, I'm going to agree with Macy's heart. also like situational though you know everybody's different people listen i'm gonna do what makes this hard i'm not saying girls won't won't won't um downgrade but if they back against the wall they're gonna go get it by remake by all means and then the men may have a problem with how they going to get it back to shakur and them niggas real quick before we jump on yeah that mean they can't downgrade i'm telling you you that. No, it doesn't. But we agree to disagree.

The whole thing about the murder is this. We don't got to go on with that. Once she didn't say yes, we got our answer. It don't even make sense going in a revolving door with a yes or no question. She said some things aren't yes or no.

That's move on. What I was going to say about Shakur is that I think whatever he's going through right now, which I don't know, is making him make an emotional decision. I don't think that he'll retire definitely. I think that his last fight, a lot of people were disappointed on him not showing a better performance. Devin Haney's last fight, Devin Haney had a great performance. As we all know, he was trolling Shakur, that is, Devin Haney going to clubs he's at, places he's at, sending him over bottles in the club with signs on it, fight me. he's at, places he's at, sending him over bottles in the club with signs on it, fight me. And according to the last fights of both of them, Devin Haney looked good. Shakur looked decent. He won the fight, but it wasn't what people wanted to see. And it definitely wasn't going to get people to pay pay-per-view to see him, even though the fight was for free on ESPN. All these boys

there on the revenue, ad dollars, et cetera. And if you don't get any real money, these fighters seem like they don't want to fight. Everybody wants $10 million out the gate. And you have to work your way to that. I know it gets frustrating when you see people like Jake Paul come and make $50 million or Conor McGregor come in there and make $125 million. They only have four or five professional fights. This goes back to marketing and promotion. These guys know how to market and promote.

I know Conor McGregor was in the UFC for a long time, but you got to think about how Jake Paul got to where Jake Paul is at, making more money than a lot of fighters. So it goes back to promotion. Some promoters myself, we just talked about how um bob arum dropped the ball with terence crawford because he said terence crawford couldn't make any money i think terence crawford needs to strike strike while the iron's hot not necessarily wait on spence but um figure out who he's gonna fight next but as far as of course stevenson his last performance wasn't his best and he may be very

frustrated about what's going on about having a big fight. So I think it's emotional, but I don't think he's really going to retire. And I don't think he's going to retire. I don't think his last fight was indicative of who he is. He's a great fighter, had a tough night. He won having a tough night. I expect, you know, the frustrating thing about boxing, which you touched on. I want to see the best fight the best. Let's get back to that instead of ducking and dodging

and taking the easiest route. Make the biggest possible fights available and allow the fans to enjoy it. Yeah, there's a lot of fights for him. I mean, I know a lot of times people just mention Devin Haney, but there's other fights out there. There's Javante. There's Ryan. There's also the fight with him and Teofimo. There's a lot of people not fighting each other. I think everybody's just trying to fight Devin and Javante instead of working their way up.

Hey, well, Mark Jackson, it was a pleasure to have you today. Thanks, Mark. We appreciate you, bro. Thank you, guys. Likewise. That is all the time we have for today. Thanks for watching. And as always, it is what it is. Like when they doing them two for five. It is.