Mind the Game - LeBron’s on His Free Agency Decision | Mind the Game Season Finale with Tyrese Haliburton

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

Welcome to the season finale of Mind the Game LIVE in New York at Fanatics Fest with LeBron James and special guest co-host Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers. Presented by Anthropic, the team behind Claude. Get started at claude.ai/mindthegame In this episode, LeBron talks about the question everyone wants to know, his free agency decision. Will it be Miami, Cleveland, Philadelphia… the Yankees?! Time will tell. The guys also dig into Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks improbable championship run. They also talk free agency including Giannis to The Heat, Jaylen Brown to the 76ers and more. Finally, LeBron and Tyrese take questions from the fans!Thanks so much for watching Mind the Game this season. We’ll be back later this year with Season 4 so be sure to scribe if you haven’t. See you next season!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaking of still doing this, is there a decision that has to be made? I mean, people have seen everything that's been coming out regarding, you know, my free agency and things of that nature. I heard warriors. I heard, I heard Philly, Miami. This guy just told me to come to the Yankees. First, I want to thank our presenting sponsor, Anthropic, the team behind Claude. Also, I want to talk about fan questions. We're going to be taking questions from you guys. So what we need you to do is follow us on X at Mind the Game Pod.

And send us your questions there. And we'll get to as many as we possibly can. All right. Finally, this episode drops Tuesday on YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. And that's all for me. Who's ready for the show? Let's go. All right, y'all.

give a big round of applause for our host, LeBron James, and Tyrese Halliburton. I know you guys are super excited. The Knicks brought it home this year. I know Tyrese is even more excited than the Knicks brought it home. Oh, no. That's awesome. No, awesome. No?

Good for them. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for them. It's good for them. Yo, before we start, I got to ask you, bro, like, What are you going on? Was this year 76? No, no, year 79, I think I'm coming up on.

Okay, okay, okay. So why are you still doing this? Shit, I mean, I love to play, man. It's a lot of competition. I love going out there playing against the best in the world and still being able to inspire the younger generation. Also inspire my generation. You know, it's a lot of people in my age bracket,

not only in sports, but also just in life, just, you know, seeing if they could still, you know, put up the same effort that they did maybe five years ago or 10 years ago and still give it all that they got. So, you know, I'm trying to inspire, like I said, the younger generation, also my generation and people that came, you know, before me and after. Speaking of still doing this,

is there a decision that has to be made? We literally talked about this in the back, Dries. Okay, my fault, my fault. I don't know. I didn't know if you wanted to do some. Okay, okay, I'll leave it alone. I'll leave it alone. You know, me and my homies, we always have a debate. You say, how long could Braun play in average 10 points?

How long you think you could play in an average 10? Just 10. 10 points a game? 10 points a game. And you had to play at least 65 games according to our rules today. Probably tell us about, I can average 10 points in the league for, I mean, a long, a long time. That's what I'm saying? Yeah, like a long time.

So what do you think? 65, something like that. 65 years? I mean, I believe you. Just like come in, get a quick 10, you can go sit down. Yeah, that's it. I mean, look, I don't get files called for me anymore, so I would say, like, get three layups and four free throws,

but they don't call files for me. So, I mean, if I get two or three layups a half, I mean, that's 12 points right there. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, that sounds easy in the thought. It never works out that way, that, my way. When you say that, I'm like, ooh, I got it's 30.

It never works out of that. That's what? So, I mean, going to get to you, Reese, I mean, obviously, you know, the last time we seen you on the court was during the finals two years ago. And unfortunately, you know, we've seen him limp off the court, get helped off the court with an injury that none of us in not only sports, but in life, want to have. So, you know, just tell us about the whole recovery process. Tell us where you are today.

I mean, shit, you look great. You look like you're getting back to your fighting weight. Just take us through the process and tell us where you are today. How you feeling? It's been a long, like 13 months now we're going on. Rehab's been long, but I feel great now. I'm playing five-on-five, doing everything, just waiting for the season to get here at this point. I miss the game.

I hope the game misses me a little bit. I miss playing. I miss New York. I love playing in New York, so, you know. So, yeah, man. They miss you too. Yeah, yeah, I see they miss me too. That's awesome.

Yeah, man, just miss getting back and looking forward. This will be a fun year. Yeah, I mean, so, yeah, we're looking forward to having you out there. I think the game is better when you out there. What you bring to the game, your excitement for the game, the way you play the game, but we always talked about it. We know our friendship goes deeper than basketball, but I know the Pacer Nation is going to be super excited to have you back in NBA as well. So I'm looking forward to that.

Let's get to the Knicks, man. We have to. We're in the Mecca basketball. We've got to get to the Knicks. You know, it would be, it wouldn't be right if we didn't. You know, let's just talk about their championship run. You know, obviously, it all starts with J.B., you know, Jalen Bronson, finals MVP, the head of the snake. What do we think that was different from last year's team compared to this year's team in order to win it?

Yeah, I mean, I think personally, like, obviously playing in the last couple of years, I think a lot changed. I think Mike Brown was a big addition for them. Like, I think the ball moved a lot more for them. I think they relied on their second unit even more, which I think. is important. Like I think obviously their starting five is amazing. J.B. did his thing. Kat, OG, Mikhail, all those guys. But then I think

like you can't get rid of the contributions of like Jose Alvarado. You know what I mean? Mitchell Robinson is no year anymore. Guys like that are coming in making big plays, helping win playoff games when things mattered. And I think that's ultimately what mattered the most. They just leaned on more of their depth, which I think it really means a lot.

Absolutely. I think, you know, I'll pick it back exactly what you just said, Reese. Like the biggest take that I saw from the team last year to this championship team. I think they just diversified their office of portfolio. You know, it was a lot of, you know, Jalen Brunson Pick and Rolls, a bunch of Jalen Brunson picker rolls last year, and it allowed the defense to kind of just key in on him.

I think with Mike Brown bought in, he brought in like the little pinch close, getting the ball to Carl Anthony Towns at the pinch post area or at the top of the key and let him be in a hub. And yes, at the end of the day, it would still get to Jalen Brunson, but it didn't allow you to just sit on one act. I think that's what helped them a lot.

I look at the stat right here, they had the highest playoff point differential of all time over 14 and a half points, which is insane. And we said Kat, you know, we know the glue guys like Arirado and Josh Hard and things of that nature, and McKell Bridges, but obviously the unsung hero of the whole finals run was OG Ananovi for sure. You know, every time I felt like the day, Knicks was either having a time where they couldn't score or they couldn't get a stop. That guy made it either a three in the corner or got to the hole and or obviously we know the tip-in that he had after that crazy comeback that they had. So I thought OG, we got to get OG as props.

Yeah, for sure, for sure. I think they just, like we said, like leading on depth is big. Obviously, you know you've won many, you know, more many championships. Like, it takes a whole unit. You know what I mean? And the last couple of years, I felt like for 48 minutes, like they're starting five will come to play. But then as the game got in, we got into our legs as the series went on, I felt good.

Whereas this year it felt like they were leaning on everybody. Guys felt fresh. Like, they looked really good. So, I mean, you got to give props for props to do. You know what I'm saying? Congrats to them. Yeah, what would you say as far as like, obviously we talk a lot about Jalen Brunson and rightfully so? I mean, he's one of those unique players in our league that is a three-level score.

Can score from the three, can score from the mirror range, can get into the paint, hit floaters. You know, obviously using his footwork playing off too. obviously being a point guard in an Eastern conference and competing against him not only in the regular season but competing against him in the post season and what makes him so unique, what makes him so tough, you know, out there on the floor. Yeah, I would say there's a couple things.

I think for like, he's not obviously the tallest dude, but like his footwork and the way he's able to use his body in the post, I think it's like pretty crazy for his size. You know what I mean? Like he does a great job of if you put a guy, if you put a guy on him who's his size, they're too small. That's just like point blank, period. And I think he does a great job of he exhausts all hours.

You know, like usually good guards, they drive. You get cut off, you stop, pick it up, you swing it. A guy like him, he's driving, picks the, and then he stops, reattacks the other way. It's like you get multiple thrust at all times. It's like, it's a lot to defend over the course of a whole series, over the course of one game. Like, I think that's what separates him from a lot of people. It's just the way he's able to constantly put pressure on you defensively. I also don't think that people talk about like his stamina enough. Like I never feel like he gets tired, you know, and, you know, that helps out a lot. You know, when you're running that many picking roles

and you're running that misdirection plays or, you know, you're getting the ISOs and things of that nature, for him to still have the stamina late in the fourth quarter, we're looking at stats up here. We're in the clutch. In a five-point game, five minutes left, Jalen Brunson averaged 40 points per 36 minutes,

you know, and shot 52%. Oh, he scored 50% of his team's points. I mean, that's, you look at SGA, SGA was 44%. You look at, you know, Jaylen Preston last year, he was 43%. So he bumped that up another 9%. So it's very hard to just contain a guy like that

that's always putting pressure on the defense and, you know, always just know what's going on the floor. Yeah, and it's exactly what you're saying, like stamina. To have the ball in your hands, the whole game like that, you know, like that takes a lot. And I think the great part about the Knicks is like, they understand when it gets to it, who's getting the ball?

We got to figure out how to get him the ball, get out his way, and let him work. And I think this is what it takes. Good group. They got a good group of guys. That's why it works. Yeah, absolutely. Well, this is like a mind-of-game ritual, so I don't know if guys are watching mind-the-game much, but I always open up a bottle of wine with my co-host.

So I'm going to open up this bottle of wine where Tyrese, you can say whatever you want to the crowd. Do you think. How's everybody feeling? That's good. That's good. You know, I want to tell a quick story about this guy over here, so he's a lot. So he's in the middle of making a pretty big decision, it sounds like, from what I'm understanding. And I texted Braun maybe a month ago before he even made his decision to leave LA.

I said, hey, if you want to come to Indiana, we can make something crack. And he texted me back two laughing, cryy faces, and that's all I got. So I decided from that on, I would never, I'm done pursuing him in pre-agency. I don't know if it's going to happen to Indiana. Yeah, I'm definitely, I mean, people have seen everything that's been coming out regarding, you know, my free agency and things of that nature. First of all, I shout out, you know, my former team. I spent eight great years with the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most historical franchises in the world. Shout out Jeannie Bus, the whole Bus family, Rob Polinka, everybody, and all the coaches that I play for there.

You know, all my teammates, shit, I'm going to miss them all, obviously. So that was an unbelievable ride and I'm just looking forward to what holds next as I wind down the final stages of my journey. So wherever I land in the fall, hopefully, you know, if you're a ride a down LeBron fan, if you've been down with me since day one, I hope you're right with me there. If you're a ride or die LeBron Hater, that's what you do anyway. So looking forward to seeing you as well. But it's going to be pretty fun. It's going to be pretty fun.

Wherever I'll land, I'm going to do what I do best. And I'm going to try. I'm a try. I've seen something on social media the other day that wherever I go, that we may be in the plane or some shit like that, and I'm not a factor anymore. So I get that as well, too. So that's just a little motivation as well.

So? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Where are? What I hear? I heard warriors. I heard. our Philly, Miami. This guy just told me to come to the Yankees.

I'm like, they said New York Yankees. I can get it. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. Okay, so now we have a segment. We're going to move into a segment presented by Claude. So Claude pulled out of all of this,

checked the model against actual history, and listed sources and ran the math and gave us visuals. So I'm going to give you guys actual stat questions and answers from Claude. The first question is how many players, and Tyrese doesn't even know this, and you guys can think about this as well, how many players hit as many game winning shots as Tyrese did in the 2025 playoffs? He said, remind us. I'm going to guess in their career or in one playoff?

Yeah, so how many players? Yeah, first of all, do you? You know how many you hit in the 2025 playoffs? How many game winners you hit? Four? Correct. Okay, okay. All right, correct, yeah.

I'm going to guess in their career. Yep, how many players hit as many game winning shots as Tyrese Halliburton did in the 2025 playoffs? I'm going to guess nine. Is that your final answer? I'm going to stick with nine. You're going to stick with nine? Zero. Tyrese Hallibur is four game winners in the 2020.

alone will rank you fourth in career playoff game winner since 1996, 1997 season. So, and the kicker that came from Claude's response is that Tyrese has hit a game winner and 13% of his career playoff games. Since 1996, 1997, the next highest rate is Chris Middleton, 5% and Dame Liller, 4.6%. So you've combined Chris Middleton and Dame Lillard, plus more. So congratulations, man. Appreciate it, bro. That's fucking dope, bro. That's dope. That's not bad. That's not bad. Our next question, how improbable were the Pacers four comebacks? Paceous had four

comebacks, one in each series in a 2025 series. Claude's response was collectively about one and ten million. So in round one, game five, you guys had a 2.1 win probability down 7 with 39 seconds to go to win in overtime round two game two you guys had a 4.1 win probability down 7 with 57 seconds to go and guys won 120 to 119 round 3 game 1 you guys had a 0.3% win probability down 4 with 2 minutes and 51 seconds and won 138, 135 in overtime. And in the last one, game one of round four, you guys had a 3.6 win probability, down nine, with two minutes and 52 seconds left, and one, 11, 110. So these numbers are crazy.

You multiply those together of the odds of winning all four games literally comes out to winning one and 10 million. So I want to get to not only clause response, honest is how great this is, but what would you say about, what would you say about your team in that run? Like, how was you guys able to, I know you guys didn't want to get down, but it was there something about y'all once y'all get down that just made y'all even lock in more? Well, I think the thing about playoff basketball, and like, you've obviously come back from big deficits before other people, other teams have, the Knicks just did it this year. The thing is,

like, in the playoffs, it's like literally the epitome of one play at a time. You know what I mean? Like, as soon as you start to focus on everything that is to come, what the future could look like, I feel like that's what shit gets bad. You know what I'm saying? So, like, for us, it's like, how do we just control one play at a time, one game at a time? Because soon as you start thinking about, all right, if we go split on the road and then we come back and we went two at home, I feel like that's what shit never goes as planned. So I feel like you got to, you know, just taking one play at a time. It's like the most important thing. There's got to be some lady luck on your side at the same time.

Absolutely. We always talk about that. You're like, to be able to go to a championship or go to a finals, obviously you've got to be playing at a high level, you know, when the postseason start. But you also got to have some luck. You know, you've got to have some lady luck that'll help you get there. But you guys had it going,

and you guys definitely had the lady luck on your side with those games. And the last one, the last question from Claude is, what about the Knicks? How improbable were the Knicks comeback in game one versus the Cleveland Cavaliers and game four versus. San Antonio. And the response is the odds of both of those games were 1 and 250,000. So in game one versus the Cavs in the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals, obviously you guys know. If you guys are Knicks fans, they was down 22 points with 7 minutes and 49 seconds ago.

And at that time, Cleveland had a 99.9% chance of win probability. Obviously the Knicks had, that means 0.1. And they was able to come. back in that game, which was insane. And also in game four, down 29, you guys remember that game. They had a 0.4% chance of winning that game. And that was a one in a quarter of a million chance of winning that game too. So that is unbelievable, unbelievable stats. You look at entering the playoffs.

And also, I'm sorry, the last question is, how unproblem was the Knicks winning this season when the playoffs started? And it said entering the playoffs, they were as low as 4% on the betting markets. The second lowest for any championship in the NBA-A-A-B-A merger. So shout-out to the Knicks again. We can't give our praise enough. We can clap it up for the next one more time for sure. So before we go off into our next section, we got one last thing with Claude.

And this is about defining the odds when they put up against you. So I ask you this question, you come right back to me. So what's your mindset when the odds are staff? up against you, Reese? I mean, for me, I think similar to you and your position, right? Like, we're not supposed to be here, you know? So I feel like for me, it's just I'm thankful for where I am today. And it's like the odds are stacked against us, like where I'm from, similar to where you're from.

It's probably nobody ever made the NBA from there. You know what I mean? So I feel like odds have been stacked against my whole life. They're going to continue. So why would they change now? I'm assuming you say the same thing. No, absolutely. I mean, we, we, we've put.

play the game because we love it. Obviously, we get well compensated for playing the game. It is a business. We understand that. But you're looking at two guys that will play the game anywhere in the world and play it for free if we had to because of our love and passion for the game. So when you look at the odds was already stacked up against us before we ever became guys hosting mine the game. Or you've seen us in our respective jerseys or winning gold medals. The odds was already stacked up against us. So that's just part of our DNA. Part of our DNA is to always feel like nothing is given to us and we have to earn everything.

And in order for us to continue to get better in life and get better as leaders and get better as inspiring people that watch us play the game and inspire the game, then we always have to have that little chip because we know where we come from. So I think when the odds are stacked up against us, you look at the injury that occurred with him 13, months ago and he's talking about he's back to playing five on five and he's looking

forward to this fall and get back out there and playing the way the place was play you know and look at my case I'll be 42 in the fall and I'm still playing the game that I love running up and down versus 18 year olds 20 year olds 30 year olds like so you use that as motivation and it don't matter where you are in your life no matter how old you are you could be a teenager here you could be an adult whatever you do in your life just keep pushing forwards and When you feel like the odds are stacked up against you, that's when you lock in it even more. So that would be our answer for the last claw question.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. Let's give it up a claw one time. Yeah, yeah, I'll claw it. You know what? I got a hard question to answer very soon. Let me tell you something about hard questions. I've been answering them in public for most of my whole life.

The easy questions never changed anything for me. The hard ones did. That segment you just watched started with hard questions too. How does a season like that even happen? You saw what Klau found, one in 10 million. That's what the model gave Indiana. But Klaude didn't hand me an easy answer. It showed me how impossible it was and where every number came from.

It did the math, I did the thinking. That's what Klaus for. A thinking partner, not an answer machine. You sit with the hard questions instead of running from it. Everyone has a hard question. Ask yours with Klaude at Klaude.a. Slash Mind the game. And keep thinking.

You know, Brian, I wanted to talk about this all season. Obviously, there's a lot of stuff going on in the NBA. A lot of players moving around, going different places. You got the east, the west. I think you got Janus going to Miami, right? You got Kauai going to Toronto, allegedly. I think so. The Knicks coming back after winning a championship.

You got Jayla Brown. Jayne Brown. Yeah. What I wanted to ask you was, is this the first time in your career where the East is almost more interesting than the West? Well, I wouldn't say the first time of my career because my career started in like the 70s. But I think the excitement that's coming to the Eastern Conference this offseason has definitely been talked about a lot more.

And obviously you have Lamello go over to the wolves. You have some things happening in the Western Conference, obviously. But, yeah, J.B. going to Philly and Janice going down to Miami. You look at Boston, every two, picking up Mitchell Robinson, I think that's going to help Paul George. You look at Cleveland is going to be back, you know, trying to compete. You guys will be back competing. You can't forget Orlando.

You can't forget Detroit, you know, obviously, and you got the New York Knicks for sure. And that's not even all the teams in East, obviously. So I think the East right now is going to be very exciting. And I would say this is like the first time and a long time that coming into a preseason that the Eastern Congress will probably get talked about. a little bit more than the Western Conference. You know, but we know the Western Conference is still the Wild Wild West, but the East is going to definitely have something to say about it coming into this year.

Right. And I think for you being a guy who's been in the East, your whole career, than going to the West for the last eight years, and the conversation has always been about the West being so much stronger. How that you've played in both conferences, do you feel like that is something that's been overblown throughout your career, or do you feel like that's something that had a fair point, and you just saw it differently?

Yeah, I think it's all dependent. Depending on, obviously, it's all about the competition and the players. The players dictate where the best conference lies when it comes to competing. So, you know, when I first came into the league, obviously you had like, I mean, you had Shaq, Coke, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, you know, you had all those guys. You had Dirk. You had all those guys in the Western Conference, you know. So, but then, you know, as I got a little bit older, you know, when then KG and Paul and Ray and myself and Dirk. Wade and Alan Iverson and Gilbert Arenas and all those guys was in the East, you know, we started to make a name for ourselves as well.

Yeah. You know, so, you know, it's had its, I mean, it's had its moments. And I don't want to forget the Detroit Pistonson as well with Rip and Chauncey and Big, Ben Wallace and Rashid Wallace and all those guys. So it all depends. You know, it changes. It fluctuates on, okay, Eastern Conference got it going this year. Where's your conference got it going?

I know when I was in the Eastern Conference for a long time, we hated to hear always that the Western Conference is the best. The Western Conference is the best. You know, because when I played, you know, in the East, there will be Eastier Conference Champions. There will be Western Conference champions. It wasn't like the West will win 10 straight finals. You know, it wasn't like that.

And as great as the West was this year, as greatest OKC was, and as greatest San Antonio was, It's a hell of a season that we had with the Lakers, you know, the crowning champion was a team from the Eastern Conference. You know, so it's going to be very interesting, but the narrative for sure, I think coming into the 2026, 2027 season, we'll be talked about. We'll be the Eastern Conference because all the moves has been made. Yeah, I also think it's like maybe I'm seeing it wrong, but I feel like from a top to bottom, from a conference perspective, like it's, you don't know what could happen in our conference, you know? you really feel like there's, you know, six to eight teams that have a real chance to come out of the East where the West has been so dominated by O'KC and San Antonio for, well, San Antonio is just coming in, but for the last couple of years. So that's what I'm more curious about is just like the parody, you know, because I think right now we're what, eight champions, eight different champions in the last eight years.

So, I mean, I think that's good, like a good thing for our game, but I'm curious to see who's going to be the team that continues to, you know, put them together as time knows. Yeah, for sure. And it's easier to talk about it like on paper. Obviously, we see a lot of great teams and a lot of people making some great moves. But the game is always won in between the four lines. So it don't matter who's paired up with who, you know, what players is which. You know, when the game is being played in between the four lines, that's what dictates, you know, the matchup and that's what dictates the outcome. So I'm looking forward to it, man. I think it's going to be an unbelievable season. I think all NBA fans all over the world should be excited again. Whatever your team is, it can be an Easter Commerce team, Westerns,

whatever it is, your favorite coach, your favorite player, whatever it is, be excited for another exciting season coming out this fall. So I think, Jason, we have some fan questions, right? Yep. Hello, hello. Yes, I do. Yes, you do. All right. First question from at South Beach Sheed. For Tyrese, if you had to coach a team of five, 2013 LeBron's versus five 2018 LeBron's, who wins in a seven-game series? That's a great question. 2018, that's, that's, oh, man. You know what, I'm probably going to lean 2013.

Okay, can I explain why, though? Can I explain why? I think the, like, 2018 LeBron got it all put together, but I think that the 2013 LeBron might just got a little bit more savage in it. You feel what I'm saying? He was a little bit more angry for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes anger wins.

Yeah, sometimes anger wins. So I'm leaning towards the 2013 angry LeBron's. I feel like that's the side I'm picking. That's not a bad pick. It's not a bad big. All right. Next up, from at Nakayas, what is the appropriate age or grade to introduce zone defense to a child? What's the appropriate age to introduce zone to a child? You know, like kids, they talk all day.

and they yell all day, and they're loud all day. And then when you put them on a basketball court, they become quiet. So in the zone, that's the one thing that you cannot be. You have to communicate. You have to talk through the zone. You have to know, like, if players are running behind the zone, or if there's guys flashing into the high post or whatever the case may be. So I would say probably around, like, maybe like 10 or 11 years old, you know, maybe 12.

where kids start to feel like they can, their voices heard a little bit more, they feel more confident on speaking, because you definitely got to talk through a zone or you'll get killed trying to play a zone if you're just quiet. So I would say 12 is the max as early as 10, as late as 12. I think it's important offensively, too.

You got to figure out how to play against the zone. Like, more, because I'm not necessarily a belief, like I want kids to learn how to talk in man-to-man, being gaps, rotate, all those things. But offensively, like, it's unbelievable when you watch kids play and they play against a two, three, and they don't understand, we just need to get somebody to the middle and we just figure it out.

I feel like it helps you on both sides of the ball. So I feel like introducing it around that age is a good plan just so you know either way. Oh, for sure. Like growing up in the inner city, like all we, not my team, because we was well coached, but you go to like certain tournaments or whatever and you have like an all black team

and they so used to running up and down. And then a team from the suburb would come playing and throw in that zone on them, and just, like, completely stole them out. They didn't even know what to do. You know, so, like, you have to learn how to play. You know what's fun? It's teams and players in NBA that can't play versus zone as well.

Oh, for sure. You see players crumble all the time. They don't even understand, like, what's going on, but they're just so used to just playing. They just don't even think about figuring it out. That's like the most amazing thing to me with teams just don't understand, like, we're in two, three, we've got to get, and you see different things, like,

guys like Spowe and other guys will put in the matchup zone or two passes we go man, but seeing some guys sometimes is pretty unbelievable. All right, we got two more left. At no, he didn't, for both guys, what's an underrated skill that you've mastered in your career that doesn't get appreciated enough? You 78, so you probably, you perfected something.

You speak on that. That's on you. Something that you perfected that you feel like is not appreciated enough? Reese. What's an underappreciated thing you think that you do? Just like my availability throughout my career. For sure.

I think, you know, obviously I've had some injuries like everybody throughout the course of their career. But if you look as far as my full body of work, I've been pretty much available to my teams that I've played for in my 23 years to my teammates. And I think as a leader, it's hard to be able to lead a group of men out there if you're not available to them on a consistent

basis. So I feel like that sometimes get overlooked and not as appreciated as much. It's not like I'm looking for validation, but I'm just answering the question. But yeah, I would say that. I would say that. Yeah, I would say for me, it would just be, I wouldn't say I perfected anything, but I think the most, the thing that I, like, encourage all young guards to do is kick aheads. Like, I feel like I'm like a big, especially when, like, you go to the Olympics or what, it's like, it makes the game so easy, you know, because it's different kicking ahead to you guys, and you guys just go let you guys

score. So I feel like it's probably like the most, the thing that I feel like I do that I try to encourage kids to do as much as possible. All right. Last question. At Pickup Hoop, what do you think about the league's parody now that we've had eight different champions in eight

seasons? Well, we kind of answered. We answered that question, you know, in our conversation. We think it's great. You know, I think it gives all fan bases a feeling like our team could be next. You know, when you have eight different champions and eight different, eight straight years. As your fan base, you're looking at your team and you're seeing the possible moves that

they're making you like, shit, it could be our time next year. You know, why can't it be our time next year? So, happy birthday, birthday, boy. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. So I think it just gives every fan base, like a feeling like we could be next. And it could be a parade either, you know, in our downtown or wherever the most, you know, prominent place in your city is in your city.

For sure. Yeah, I think it's good for the league. Many different people winning. I think that the second apron has kind of made it that way a little bit. You know, that hasn't necessarily been the greatest thing, you know. But I, you know, I think it's cool because I think when a team does ultimately, if a team's able to put two, three together, you know, nobody's really, well, nobody's three feet is in Shack and Cove, right? Right.

So, like, to see if a team could do that, especially in this era, I think it's just goes even further into the difficulty with all the cap restrictions, all those different things. So I think it's like, I don't necessarily think it's like bad for the league, but I want to see, you know, what team is able to kind of like get past that while also having to deal with the financial restrictions of everything. Yeah, because that's going to make it tough, you know, if you're a team that drives well, you know, and you're a team that's building like towards the, you know, the future, you have to decide if you're a team that's going to want to pay into the repeater tax and pay into the second apron

and things of that nature, especially if you're in a small market, you know, it's something that you've got to think about. So it's the gift for the curse when it comes to, you know, like you're saying, eight different teams and eight different years, you know, winning a championship. It hasn't been a repeat since, what, 0, 9, 10, and with the Lakers. I think Colvin. Did you not repeat? I think Colvin Powell won't repeat.

Did you not repeat? Oh, shit, I did repeat. I forgot about myself. Okay. I forgot. I wasn't even thinking about myself. I want to see. See? I want to think about myself. I'm like, pretty sure. Yeah.

But I think it makes sense. And like you're seeing now even teams like OKC this summer, they got to trade in Aaron Wiggins for two second round picks when he's worth a lot more, but you've got to figure a team financially have to figure that out. So I think it's all part of it. Jay, you got one more, one extra credit? That's all we got right now, buddy. Oh, but there it is.

You got anything else we want to give to our fans out here? Me and Tyrese didn't cheers either. We have the cheers for sure. I'm listening. Hold on. I'll open it up. We got three fan questions, all right? Wow.

Do we have an extra mic that we can take in the crowd? Jason? Okay, yeah. I'm coming. Okay, so this kid right here, what's your name? My man's name is Elon. How old are you, Elon? How old are you, Elon?

Elon's 11. Where are you from? He's from New York, Queens. Okay. Let me hear your question, Elon. Make some noise for that question right there. First of all, that was a hell of a question. And some of the media people in here probably should learn from you, young fellow.

Y'all heard this question, right? So how do I feel about free agency? Obviously, it's a big decision. This is the third time in my career that I've been a free agent. I think three, yeah. So it's a big decision for not only myself, but for my family as well, and just for the last part of my career

and where I want to spend the last few years or the last year or the last two years of my NBA career. So wherever I go, Elon, I will make my staple on just... I'm a natural-born leader. You know, I'm going to try to fit into whatever team I'm going into, but also, you know, give them all the tools and give them all the knowledge that I've,

been able to, you know, grasp over the last 23 years. I know the game. I know the ends and out about the game of basketball. Oh, I appreciate it, man. You far too kind, man. You're awesome. And wherever I'll land, I hope that you, that you support me and I can continue to inspire you, all right?

I appreciate it. Come on, let's do it. We got two more. They got a mic out there now. They got a mic on there now. Who's next? Hey, Reese. I think the birthday,

boy in the bronze jersey on here. What's my favorite team? What's my favorite team I've played for in my career? And why? Uh-oh. What's your name? You didn't tell us your name? Your name is Jordan.

Where are you from? Okay, love it. So Jordan from New York wants to know what's my favorite team I've played for and why. Give them my answer, huh? I would say the heat team when we called ourselves the heatels

was an unbelievable team because not only did we do do it on the floor. We also had a, we also enjoyed each other off the floor. It was like, it was a perfect, uh, the perfect storm. Um, I would say the 2016 calves, uh, was an unbelievable team as well. You guys saw the little trip that we just went on, you know, abroad. And, uh, and also the 2020 Lakers was a great team to be on as well. Like, we had, we had a lot of fun. We won a championship. It was, and let me not, I'm going to tell you one team that was unbelievable, too. the 2008 redeemed team, the USA Olympic gold medal team in 2008.

That was an unbelievable team too. Appreciate it. Nice question, man. That was awesome. Take a photo. That was a great answer, by the way. He said every single team he's ever played on. That was nice.

All of them. No feelings. That was great. You're welcome. Last question. Last question. You picking this one? I'll pick one.

Did we get the mic? Right here? We got it over here. They got the Jamir Gibbs jersey on right here. Oh, here he's coming. What's your name? Where you from? And what's your question?

I'm Dallas and I'm from Michigan. Your name is Dallas. Love it. And where you from? Michigan. Michigan, all right. Professionally. Some advice?

Okay, so as a 12-year-old, what is some advice that myself and Tyrese can give him that someday he want to play professional? Is it, no matter. Basketball, you look like an athlete, man. You look real focused, too, as a 12-year-old kid. I love it. I love it, Dallas. Go ahead. I would probably say, for me, at like 12 years old, just understanding the work that it takes to get here.

You know what I mean? Like, it's going to take an unbelievable amount of work. You're going to have to live right. I feel like good things happen to great people. So keep being a good person, doing right in school, all those things. I think those are most important things in general. Understand it's going to take a lot of sacrifice. You're going to have to sacrifice some sleep sometime.

You're going to have to sacrifice, you know, hanging out with the boys, sometimes get to the gym. all that's part of it. So that would be my little bit of advice. And you know what? Most importantly, more important than anything is have fun at what you're doing. It's impossible to, like we don't just do this because it's our job. We do this because we love what we do and it's a lot of fun for us. So I would say that's you got to love what you do. So have a lot of fun. Anything's possible. Yeah, absolutely. Just to piggyback that man. Like when it comes to something that you love to do, Dallas, just work at it. Just work. Like, have fun, but you've got to have fun doing it. You know? and continue to dream about it. I think the more you talk about it, the more you dream about it. Like, we had dreams of playing in the NBA, you know, being out in the All-Star games.

We had dreams like that. We would go outside and shoot on the basket hoop or go to the near park and shoot on the hoop. Like, you know, you live in Michigan? Yeah, so we know what it means to have four seasons and happen to shovel snow and getting it out of the driveway to play ball or, you know, running around in the park

where snow is out there. So, you know, just like you moms. Are you auntie? Okay. You got a mom. I love that. I love that. So just stick with a kid.

And, you know, if it's your dream, make your dream become a reality. And don't let nobody tell you that you can't do it, all right? All right, my dog. Yep. I'm going to take a picture with my man. Hey, Reese, you want to close this out, man? Man, we appreciate all y'all coming.

Thank you guys so much. means the world. Before we leave, is there a decision? No, I'm playing. I'm playing. No decision. No decision. Brown, appreciate you, dog. It's love. Appreciate y'all. Thank you guys for coming out. Mind the game. We appreciate you. Coming out. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for watching. Mind the Game. New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Remember to like, subscribe, or follow wherever you're watching.