Mind the Game - The Austin Reaves Interview

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

We’ve got ourselves a very special episode of Mind the Game with LeBron James and Steve Nash as we welcome in, member of the Los Angeles Lakers, Austin Reaves! In this episode, Austin takes us through his journey to becoming one of the best offensive players in the game today. From his beginnings as a baseball player, through going un-drafted in the NBA draft to finally getting comfortable playing alongside LeBron. Then the fellas talk about how he’s developed his confidence and his ridiculous handles. He also takes us behind-the-scenes of some of his most memorable moments including game winners, unbelievable crossovers and of course, the memes. And finally, Steve brings out the laptop for an in-depth for a film session breaking down the little things about Austin’s game.Thanks for watching Mind the Game and be sure to follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up on this episode of Mind the Game. Oh my goodness. Hey, R, welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Why do you think you weren't a first round pick? Like, do you think in your heart at that time, you're like, I, well?

You know why. I'm not allowed to say it. I can't, okay? I know why you know how that shit is. And I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. No, it's a real. They look at, they look at them, the judge a book by his cover. You look at me now and you're still like, you can't play basketball.

Detroit. Backstores. Don't draft me. Give us the content. Give us the whole story. I'm gonna get right on to it, man. I'm standing in the corner and I forgot who it was on their bench. It was like, you don't want it. And I was like, I'm not going to touch the ball. But if I do, it's going in. We're going to bring out a couple plays? Just a couple things. You get the fans, like, your perspective on just things you're able to do with the ball. Well, let's start with why is Brown even in the game right now? It's over. I remember he posted that after the game. And my followers went from like 60,000 of seven million. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, man.

Your phone died. Your phone died. This episode is presented by Anthropic, the team behind Claude. If you're the kind of person who wants to understand the game at a deeper level, Claude is built for you. It's an AI thinking partner that helps you work through complexity, not just surface answers. Try it free at clod.a.ai slash mind the game.

I'll take that bottle over there. I don't know if I'm going to do anything with it, but I'm going to pour. There's one over there, too. You want to check that one? This is Silver Oak. 20 let me see that's open it I'm gonna just open it never heard of that one not it's up to you I don't drink yeah at all nope never have nope so this is my golf yeah I'm gonna scratch golf yeah yeah I'm a plus 20 this is me right y'all this is me right here I'm with the pros

so we are rolling yeah yeah I mean it's already rolling I'm gonna get right on to it a r welcome a r welcome Appreciate you, Roa. Let's go. Appreciate you. I think we should get right to it. Detroit, backstory, don't draft me. Give us the content.

Give us the whole story. I'm going to get right on to it, man. Yeah, so my agents, Reggie back there, they set up a plan. And the plan was, you know, we knew LA had a two-way open on draft night and knew it was a situation to where, you know, I could possibly step in, get a contract, because I don't know how many guys were actually. under contract at that time. There was a lot of free agents, a lot of signing to be done. And we knew that going in. They called it 42 and they came up to me.

And it's every kid's dream of hearing their name called on draft night. I'm no different. But it came down to stick into a plan. And that's what we did. And it sucked to not hear my name called, but obviously putting ourselves in a good position was much more important. But there has to be more to it.

you it was for a two-way you know with the Lakers yeah which became obviously before the season you got a deal but I mean you could have got a two-way deal from any of those teams why the Lakers why were you that was the place I need to go yeah I think I mean they have a bunch of analytics guys that were you know grading people grading teams by you know grade one two three whatever it was and the Lakers I think it was Lakers Bucks maybe one other team that was like tier one like best possible fit um and your agent yeah our agents yeah with the analytics people okay um so you kind of dove into that and then listen to that and then uh on another though like like we talked

about like there was nobody uh that i think there was maybe like four or five guys on under contract at the time because that they ended up having to sign like seven guys and then knowing that there was going to be a possibility to stag that yeah 13th 14th roster spot and then on top of that like him IQ level. Like I feel like I have a pretty good IQ, you know, to the game and felt like, you know, that was one way that I could get in the, you know, my foot in the door was to, you know, lean on that and lean on, you know, just knowing the game of basketball. And, you know, that's what he does. When was the first time you saw him play, like not, like in person or was it on college or? Yeah, I actually, I had never had seen him play up until the point that we drafted him.

But once that, once I, well, not drafting him, but signed him after the fact. And I went back and watched a lot of his Wichita State highlights and games. And then a lot of his Oklahoma highlights and games as well. The first thing I noticed, it's kind of funny. We always talk about this. He didn't play like a white boy. It was very different. His wiggle was very different.

I mean, I grew up in Northeast Ohio, so I know white guys playing like white guys. like the brothers. And what I could see in his game is that he had a lot of wiggle to his game. And that was one of the one things that, quite frankly, we were missing. We didn't have. I thought that his game would translate to us, his ability to crack the seams and his ability to get into the pain and him playing, even though their team wasn't as good at Oklahoma, his game kind of, it showed a pro.

And that's what I saw, what I saw early on. So as soon as training camp started, I kind of made it a point to kind of beeline it to him. Yeah. And kind of forced something into him, maybe even before he even saw it. Push belief in it. Yeah, just push that belief and that confidence like you belong here.

And that I was kind of on them like pretty much from day one, I felt like, one, we needed that, you know, as far as, because we didn't, we didn't possess that consistently. But also, I saw he had game, too. And I really thought that it could translate to, to the big leagues. Did you, do you remember a moment where Braun said something to you or just, like, a feeling of connecting with him early where you're like, oh, he really believes him. Well, a damn game in Brooklyn, I tell you that. That clip. We got to make sure we clip that.

No, that was a, it wasn't even my fault. That's another story. But no, it always goes back to, you know, when he had his mini camp in, I think it was, no, it's Vegas, Vegas that year. Before you're. Before, it was, this was before I was on under contract. And it was crazy because it was, I think it was like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, came back Sunday. And it was like Wednesday.

And I didn't even know if I was going yet. And one of my friends back home was getting married that weekend, too. So I was about to buy a flight to go back home. got the invite obviously told my friend like yeah I can't can't say no this one yeah so we we get in the gym and well I think we got to playing like three on three or something I got a couple buckets and then drove downhill eight and I thought I had a layup and the AD come out of nowhere and I was like oh fuck and late second kind of like behind the back past to him he come down lane dunked it and then it was just from then

on out like they were like you're good like just be yourself him and AD then I give them, you know, all the credit I can't give them just to, you know, from day one of being like, hey, you don't have to be you, like on the court, off the court, whatever it is, just be you. It's powerful, right? No, for sure. Especially coming from, you know, players. Yeah. You know, I had this experience, the sidebar to my experiences, but Kevin Johnson was our point guard in Phoenix, my rookie year.

And, I mean, I grew up watching this guy play, and he was walking 20 and 10. And like one day he grabbed me and was like in the locker room was like, you know you're as good as any guard I've ever played against. And I wasn't playing. Yeah. It's just from practice floor watching, playing, competing. And I was like, like kind of, you know what I mean? You're taking a back a little bit.

And he's like, no, you're as good as anyone I ever played against. And I was like, that gives you so much confident that. Because, you know, I think we have similar kind of coming from places we're not supposed to come from to play the NBA. Yep. So for someone who's been there done that and has the things that like we don't have, like his explosiveness and speed and things like that, you know, to hear the guys that have done it say it to you really can give you a lot of belief. Did you feel like that launched you a little more to be like, just be like, let loose, relax and play?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, like you said, not the most explosive person in the world. Very jealous of people like that. But yeah, it's just, you know, I feel like this whole game is a lot of common. confidence and IQ when you know the game and you have high confidence. I feel like you can do a lot of things and that it wasn't just you know him and AD we have Mello Russ Rondo like I lean on Rondo a lot. That's a hell of a veteran.

Yeah. I had I mean I had probably the best people that you could talk to possible and you know I'm a question asker. I remember I told Rondo I was like, yo if I ask you too many questions you can tell me shut the hell up. I don't care. He loves questions. Yeah, so every time, like, we would be in practice.

There would something would happen, and I would, you know, go over to him. I'd always be standing behind him and just be like, what did you see here? What did you see there? But, yeah, just the confidence that they had in me, the whole group from day one, just, you know, like you said, catapulted me to, you know, continue to be better. So Rondo's, like, as advertised, like a thinker. For sure. Yeah, for sure. I had to carry a chessboard around for him.

Yeah. Do you ever play with it? Do you ever play with it? No, I never played him. And I started playing chess a lot in my rookie year. And I got decent, but I still was a little nervous to play him because I felt like he would be nice. So I never played him, but.

Yeah, I forgot you used to get that chess board. It sounds funny. I remember I bought it in Boston. Oh, right. Yeah. Amazing. So, okay. Crazy detail.

When did you start hooping? Because I know you played baseball as a kid, right? Yeah. I mean, I kind of. Yeah, I mean, my mom and dad both played. Brother plays overseas. Both played in college, right? Yeah, they played at Arkansas State.

That's where they met. Where's your brother playing college? He played at Central Missouri, Division II school. He was just small. He was a two guard that was too small to play. He could have played at a small division one, but you see a white kid that's not very athletic. He could shoot shit out of it.

But yeah, I kind of always played, but baseball was the one that everybody wanted me to play. My dad told me my, I think it was going into my seventh grade year. He said I needed to pick baseball or basketball to try to get my school paid for it. Because that's at that point, that's all we're thinking about. And I'm probably, you know, 5 foot, you know, 95 pounds. What position did you play in baseball? Shortstop.

Yeah, a lot of short and then I pitched a little, which I didn't like pitching. But yeah, we had a summer basketball camp and I moved up two grades and played with my brother. and we was beating teams by 30 and I was like oh this is much faster baseball is kind of slow so I went back to my dad and I was like I want to play basketball and he was like you're fucking stupid I was like damn but he was like obviously you got my support were you killing in baseball I was yeah I was solid yeah you was probably trending how in baseball he thought he thought he thought he thought I was a better he also saw the metric skinny white skinny white boy I was small I was small I

I mean, I didn't grow until my junior year of high school. So at the time, I understand why. But, you know, he told me that my best friend's dad, which was our baseball coach. You know, I remember we were driving home. He was taking me home. And I told him I was quitting baseball. And he told me that basketball wasn't going to work out. And I was like, well, we'll see.

I got some similar stories in my background about that. My dad's from the UK playing semi-pro soccer. He was great about it when I was like, I'm not going to play soccer anymore and play basketball. he like bit his tongue. Yeah. He was like, do what you want to do. It's great.

Yeah, he's like, do what you want to do. It's great. But you could tell inside he was. Yep. He was hot. That hurts. That hurts. But I want to hear more about your brother because I heard, I read, you know,

I do do a little bit of research, right? But your brother had a big influence on saying like, come hoop with me. Like, I see something in you. Tell me a little bit about that. How many years older? Two. Two years older. Which I was supposed to be three grades.

younger because I mean I graduated high school at 17 when mom started me early so I could play two years with him so I moved up my freshman year and then played with him again my 10th grade year but yeah he he fell in love with basketball when he was probably in seventh grade um you know quit everything he was a gym rat he'd go to the gym every night like we're a town of a thousand people yeah he's probably 12 13 years old driver to the gym which probably isn't legal but uh yeah so Probably. That's amazing. But that's a nice story. I had never been to Arkansas. You could do that in Arkansas. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, yeah, he fell in love with it.

And I was kind of still in the fringe of baseball. Like, I still love baseball. And probably going into my, like, eighth grade year, he, I think he'd seen that, you know, I had ability. And I remember there was nights that he'd be going to the gym, you know, 7, 8 o'clock at night. And he'd be like, you want to go? like, ah, not really.

And he'd like, you're coming anyway. Like, I had no choice. Yeah, he'd drag me out of the house. We'd go shoot for, you know, a couple hours. And then he'd just beat me really bad one-on-one. I think that it was a confidence builder for him, just wearing me out all the time. But yeah, he's probably the biggest basketball influence in my life. You know, he instilled work ethic.

He would always, you know, sit me down and be like, yo, like, you're from Newark, Arkansas, the town of a thousand people you're going to have to do more than everybody else like it's not going to be easy like that even trance it went to college i remember going into maybe my senior year or junior year at oklahoma he pulled me to the side we were working out and he was like what do you want to do with this like do you want to just play overseas he was like you go play overseas right now he's like you don't have to get any better he was like you can go make some good money play overseas and he was like there's nothing wrong with that but if you want to you know be an an NBA player, you got to do more. And so I did more. It was crazy. I have similar people in my life

that's had the same similar conversations with me. But is he still open? He's 29 now. Yeah, he's 29. Yeah, he's 29. He plays in Germany. Yeah, he's doing well. He started in, he started in Spain, I think probably eight years ago now, making nothing. Yeah. Grinding his way to the top division in Germany and just, you know, he loves it. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know how many more years he'll play, but yeah, he's a, he's a basketball fanatic. Does he still like mentor you?

Like, he's still like, watch your games and say like, hey. He watches every game. And I'm probably not the easiest to talk to sometimes. But if I'm going through a rough shooting stretch, which he can shoot the ball better than, you know, 99% of the people I've ever met. So he does know and he probably knows me better than I know myself. So he'll text me and be like, move it over the ride a little bit or shoot a little high, just little things like that. That's cool so far.

Yeah. So I remember I was talking to one of our assistant coaches last year and I was going, I think I was like two for my last 27 from three going through it. And I was like, oh, before the game I was talking to boat. I was like, don't worry tonight. We're good. My brother fixed me. And he was like, what? And I was like, yeah, he told me everything I needed to do.

I think I went like six for eight from three. He was like, tell your brother to keep texting. That's amazing. I mean, he's got a place to land after. Yeah, for sure. He's smart. That's cool. He's smart.

When did, was it that conversation with your brother when you were in college about the event when you were like, okay, I can play in the league? Like, when did you say like, I'm an NBA player, I'm going for this? Or was that when you were a kid? I don't know. I mean, I always had like delusional confidence. Sure. And the weirdest story was, like, I was like, like I said, from a town of a thousand people, there's nothing to do.

So you hunt, you fish, you do that, like, you do all the country stuff. And I remember my, I don't remember this, but my mom's best friend at the time took me hunting one day and we were sitting there talking. And she was like, what do you want to do? Like, I'm probably nine years old. And she was like, what are you going to do when you get older? And I was like, oh, I want to play in the NBA. And she was like, you mean the MLB? And I was like, no, I want to play in the NBA.

And she was like, it was the craziest thing because she was like, you play, but like you didn't really like actually play. But it really come to reality. I was at Oklahoma and Lonn Kruger, followed me out of practice one day and told me he was like, I think you could be a first round pick. And, you know, he's been around basketball for forever. He's coach buddy, Trey, Blake.

I don't know, he didn't coach Blake, but, you know, seeing all this basketball that. Was he in Florida, too? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so he's, he's seen everything. And once he said that, I was like, oh, like, this is, I got a chance. And where you think that, like, the delusional confidence come from? Where you, where it was? Yeah, I'd like to hear more about this.

And also, like, how did it then manifest, like? Yeah. I really don't know because it was. Because we've seen some, a lot of delusional. Oh, for sure. Yeah, it actually didn't go. Not for sure. Yeah, but there's like a, there's like a delusional confidence, but also like,

I still, like, maintain, like, real life. Like I don't go. I don't go outside. Attached to reality. Yeah, yeah. I still have some reality. I got to work.

Exactly. I don't know though because like growing up like I said, it didn't matter what it was. Like I'd never beat my brother in anything. He would beat me as bad as he possibly could one on one. Then we'd go home. We'd play cards. It was great. And my parents were the same way.

And it didn't let me win anything. It was no like poor Austin. Let him win one. Like I never won anything. So like I learned to. hate losing more than I love to win. So it was like do whatever you can to, you know, yeah, to get a go. Because I remember the first time I beat him in one-on-one.

I took off running. I ran in the house. I was probably like 12 or so. And he let me shoot wide open shots. He was like, you can't make enough shots to beat me. And I got hot and I ran in the house. He was so pissed. I was screaming.

My mom was like, what's going on? But yeah, I really don't know where it came from. It just, it's just. it's just there. Yeah, I think I, like, I was so far from the NBA. It wasn't even funny, right? But I feel like I always thought, like, I'm willing to do the work.

If I do it for a year, three years, five years, where could I be? So that was always my belief system. Was it a part of that for you too? Or were you just like, I just love to play, I want to keep playing? It started off that I just loved to play and I was just going to see how far I could go.

Like, I didn't think I'd go. I didn't think I played division. basketball like I thought I would end up going division two playing with my brother why I didn't have all like I was did what do you think it was about your game or your environment experience that was like because you end up obviously getting yeah offers what was the gap there for you in your in your in your environment I didn't play you but I played one year a exposure yeah I think that was the main thing and then you look at I mean you look you look at me now and you're still like you can't play basketball but you looked at me then I was six five probably one sixty five super skinny

and that was a lot of the the feedback we got from coaches was he's not big enough he's not strong enough he's not athletic enough but they make weights for a reason so I don't know that's good yeah I mean it's uh everyone's journey is different right it's it's crazy how it's everyone has a completely different journey how disparate they could be. But like, what was, did you think was, because you got to college, like, I watched your clips in college and I'm like, that's a pro. Why do you think you weren't a first round pick?

Like, do you think in your heart at that time, you're like, I, well, you know why. I'm not allowed to say it. I can, okay. I know why. You know how that shit is. And I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. Because they look at, they look at the judge of book buyer's cover situation. Like, I can, I saw the time.

Yeah. That's not, that that guy that I'm seeing is not a, he's not an undraft. There's no way that guy goes undrafted. Like, but it's, come on, man. Yeah. What, I just, I think the draft too is, you got your top 15 players or whatever the lottery is. And then after that, you just, I feel like team just try to hit home runs. Right.

And then my age was, I was 22, I think, coming out. So they're like, oh, like, especially in your era analytics. Exactly. So it's like go, go, go, go, you. young, go athletic. And I wasn't either of that, but I could help somebody win. Obviously. Yes, yes, indeed.

For sure. And when you, was there like a, like for me, when I was trying to like get there, I was thinking like maybe I'm not fast enough. That was for you? Was that in it? Fast for strength or what? Everything. Everything.

There was many times I was like, oh, I got to get stronger. gotta get faster, got to get more athletic. But I realized real quick that if you can think the game, you can kind of negate some of that. Obviously, I wish I had, wish I had that. Do you remember all 58 guys that was drafted? No, I don't. I don't give a damn.

You don't give a damn? Nope, no, I don't. That's what makes you who you are, I swear. Yeah. I definitely would remember every last one of them. trying to turn their ass up every time I play it. I don't even think I knew some of them. Never heard of them.

They definitely got a rhyme anymore. Yeah. What years is this for you now? Five. Yeah. They definitely not wrong. Yeah. There's no way.

This guy's in the first round from probably five years ago. That's probably not. For sure. What was that? 21 drive? Yeah, I think so. There's some good players, though. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a good drive. Good drive. Yeah. If you listen to this show, you're probably not satisfied with hot takes and highlight reels. You want to understand. understand the game at a deeper level, the schemes, the adjustments, the strategic decisions that

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partner you've been looking for. Try Claude for free at clod.a.ai slash mind the game and see why the world's best problem solvers choose Claude as their thinking partner. And now over to our producer Jason for a word from one of our partners. Thanks to Draft King's Sportsbook for sponsoring the show. The playoff race is tightening up and the pressure is rising. This is the time when legends are made and unfortunately brackets are busted. But let's face it, there's nothing like having skin in the game when the stakes are this high. And our partners at Draft Kings, they put real stakes on every single bucket,

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What's a team's record versus, you know, under 500? teams versus over 500 teams. Stuff like that. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use Code Mind to bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. When was it where you were like, I know you had like a little mini camp in Vegas and obviously you got signed to a contract early?

When was it you like, oh, I belong? And did you think before you got the contract, you're like, oh, I belong? Or was it more like in the season? No, I mean, the Vegas thing was the first. step was like but then again like it is the middle of the summer it was playing three on three so it's different but then uh opening night we played golden state got my literally my first ever like any level any anything dmp didn't play um first time first time ever and i was like what the hell like i didn't so you went in the game like i'm gonna play i thought that i should have yeah

from can yeah but like i don't but like i don't i understand understood why. But then game two, we were we played Phoenix and we were getting beat by like 30 going into the fourth and Frank was like, oh, go ahead. And out the gate, we made a run. And after that, it was kind of just. Are you without a lot? Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, there was a, there was a little, you know, stint towards the end of the year where I wasn't playing great, got a couple more DMPs, but basically from there on out was in, you know, rotation. consistently. Especially like you don't get those DMPs late, but you've already shown over the course of year and you know like more work, more time. You're like, I'm doing this. Yeah. And I remember,

I think it was, we got eliminated from the playing game and we were in Phoenix. We played Phoenix the night before and I think we stayed and we were about to go somewhere and somehow Summer League got brought up and he was, someone that said something to him or asked him something about Summer League if I should play Summer League. And he was like, no, just get in the gym all you, all, summer and just grind. And I was like, oh, perfect. I don't have to play bad basketball and just focus on myself. Yeah, there's a lot of bad basketball in summer.

Yeah. I mean, it's cool. I get it. Yeah. It's a necessary thing. That's not for everybody. But it was not for him. No, not the way he was trending.

It makes no sense to go out there and waste those few weeks where you could be using those for not locking in on what he needs to be locking in on. Actually working. Yeah. What did you see in him early where you were? I know the wiggle and stuff, but with that first year, were you like, I see this. Yeah, I mean, it didn't take long for me. It does not take long for me when it comes to talent, for me to recognize talent,

but also, like, I like IQ. Yeah. That's the one thing that I gravitate towards faster than anything. Everyone's talent in the area. Everyone has talent. Don't matter if you're the 15th guy, two-way guy, you know, rookie, 50th. 15 year guy, it doesn't matter. Everyone has talent.

We all here for a reason. But what my basketball mechanism and hard drive attached to is guys that know how to play the game. And it's a reason why, like he's saying, you know, came into the league or whatever, 6-5, 180 or whatever, the case maybe he balked up a little bit now. But it's a reason why he's not the fastest, it's not the most athletic, you know, but it's averaging 25 a game. and playing at a high level. And at any given night, he's number one

on the opposing team's depth chart of this is what we got to take away. Once you start getting at that level, once you start being on opposing teams' depth chart of like, scout. We got, we got, you got, Luca, AR, me, you know, we got to take this away. If we can't give him no Arab space,

we can't give him no, like, I could see the talent there, but also saw the, the knowledge of the game and the willingness to want to work. And that's, I'm, yeah. If you working, bro, if you want to, if you work in. IQ and work and talent skill. I can't, I can't, how can I not love you?

How can I not love you? I just, just my makeup. Tell me about the playmaking. Were you in high school, were you a playmaker as well? Are you more of a score? No, I, um, playing alongside my brother, my freshman year and sophomore year. He took the majority of shots. So my job was to get in the ball.

Yeah, my job. We, getting a ball. Get on the ball. Get out of the way. That year, we actually played like an actual white team. We ran set after set. We would get them threes after threes after threes. An actual white team? Yeah.

And then he left and we just had to, we just started running. We was like, we're going to press and run. That's good one. But yeah, no, it was, I always wanted to be a point guard. Did you ever play point, like in any of those stages? Like, you're a freshman year when you point for your brother? Yeah. Yeah.

I was, I was. I was basically point guard from when I started playing basketball till I went to college. And then, you know, going to college, you know, you run into guys that are three or four years older and you're more physically gifted and better players at the time. And I never had a problem with buying into a role to help the team be successful. Like my freshman year, I think I scored four points a game. I might have played 11 minutes a game. And it just kind of trended forward after that. Sophomore year, got more time, was able to be myself a little more,

but it was still all about what I could do to help us win. I felt like we had a really good team about the sophomore year. At Wichita State, I think preseason, third in the country. Yeah, we had a really, really good. team but that all came crumbling down we got beat first round of the the tournament but yeah it was from then on out like i understood that i'm going to run into guys that are better than me like it's no different than in the NBA like there's going to be times on a night basis where him and luca's got it going like what can i do to um you know plug and play and help our team win uh and

you know i think that's the beautiful thing about basketball is you don't have to go out score 30 to affect the game you can do a lot of things when you were a freshman averaging for a game were you still like i'm the best dude out here like did you know i frowned everybody in practice practice you knew it yeah so it was like a matter of fitting into what the coach was expecting yeah i mean the last thing i wanted to do was you know step on the wrong foot and not play like that was that's interesting yeah that was because a lot of guys if they're frying everyone in practice and they're getting put in a box it wasn't easy no i know but like it's it's It's, that's a strength to say, like, I can play this game.

Like, I'll, you know, you want to put me in this box? I'll stay in the box, but I also am not going to lose confidence. I'm going to survive this battle, fight another day. Like, there's a resilience to that. That's impressive. Yeah, because I think, like, it's interesting to hear you, you know, you go through those those times because you watch you play now and you see, like, you know, the breadth of skill. you have.

It's almost like, man, what were we waiting for? And I also want to know, like, who, like, obviously you have your older brother, you know, long arrived, but like, who inspired your game? Hmm. Like, who inspired your game? Who's your favorite player? My favorite player ever was Kobe, as you know. It was, there was not really any.

Nobody of you were like, I want to play like. Not really. Like, I always. that shit from but i always i always felt like i was different like i'd i played differently than everybody else growing up in your town yeah like i was because like people would be like it's crazy like you're you're you're you're psycho like the way you play basketball is not normal oh okay and so like i just it gave me example like what things were you doing that people are like what are you doing i'm some one of my brother's best friends it was two years older than me and

He went to a different school probably 45 minutes away. And we would play them. And he was really, really good high school player. And I was in eighth grade at the time. I was about to be a ninth grader. And he was like, we were playing him the next year. And he was like, you have no chance. Like, I'm gonna take it from you every time.

And I will say still to this day, it looks, sometimes it don't look the best. But like I have full confidence. that I'm not going to lose the ball. Like, especially, you know, dribble and whatever. Like, I feel like, like I said, it might not look normal. So he thought you were doing too much with the ball? Yeah, a lot of people did growing up.

Like, even my parents would be like, you need to calm down a little bit. But I was like, this is, it feels natural. Yeah. Yeah, so then I got out of my town and I've seen other people really play. I was like, oh, this is actually that crazy. Right, right. What excited me about playing basketball was like being creative, being expressive, trying to shit. Like trying to be the game.

Try to beat your guy. Like, try to get there. Yeah. Find a solution when you get there. Like all that stuff. Like that, it was never exciting to me. Though I wanted to learn the fundamentals, I wanted to be fundamentally. For sure.

It was never excited to me like come off this pin down and know when to fade and when to curl. Like that. Yeah. Okay, I got that. You know what I mean? Like I got that. But when can I break my man down and get in the guts? and make a play.

Like, that was what made me want to play basketball every single day. For sure. Right? You felt the same. Yeah. Now, me and my brother agree on a lot of things. And he would, in high school, he would always, he would ask me to be like, do you ever know what you're going to do?

And I was like, no. Like, I'm not dribbling down the court thinking like, I mean, obviously, reading defense, whatever, but like, if I see somebody in front of me, it's not like I'm going to go and be like, oh, I'm going to hang cross. Yeah, right. If I hang and he bites on it, I'm going to do. I'll figure something out after that. Like, there's no...

Improvise. Nothing's predetermined. Nothing's predetermined. And we talked about it a couple years ago. Like, those are the, I feel like the hardest people to guard. Because like, you literally, you're not watching scouts. Like, oh, he does... He goes left every time.

When he goes right, he's going to cross back and he's going to go between. There's literally, there's no telling what I'm going. One of the things I think... No idea. Yeah, but I mean, that's, man. I mean, that's where offense isn't going. Like we're not running sets. We're just trying to play out a ghost game and multiple actions, play fast quick decisions.

So it's like, you know, all those advantages, I mean, literally half the league's opening the funnel so we can just go and sit a transition. So, because it's harder to guard than if we run Fenarbache's greatest hits. For sure. We're going to switch all that and you're back to an ISO. So it's interesting that it took us a while to like, you know what I mean, come around to that part being like that's the heart of the game is can you, can you beat your man create an advantage? Yep.

Which is, you know, it's fun, that's fun to watch. I think one of the things that you are either the best in the league at or use the best as the behind-the-back dribble. Yeah, I've heard some people's giving me credit on that. Yeah. Yeah, his rap game is great. Yeah. Yeah.

The step rap, you just, you just fuck somebody else. But is it, you done that since you're a kid? Yeah. Always. Yeah. Because I think you use it to attack, you also use it to reset. Yeah. So you get stuck, they catch your first move. Sometimes it's a wrap to win to get downhill. Sometimes it's a wrap to reset. Yeah. And then you can hang. When you hang dribble, they got to close and you do your thing again.

Yeah. And so I don't know that anyone, do you think anyone in the league used it as well? Well, this is definitely not a conversation for me. You too. You too. He didn't need to. Yeah, right. Um, they use the behind the back dribble like that. I mean, I mean, I mean, not at the top. of my head. I think Luca actually used it really well, but more to get to a step back. Yeah, it's a step back. A lot of people do it when they have two feet set. You do it in the middle of the strive. I can have one foot in front. It gives me Jamal Crawford vibes. Well, Maul used to kind of do it as well without having feet set, without he could just improvise and go behind the back. But not, but no deceleration to me. Still

accelerate. Yeah. That's what makes it so unique. So he can come down full speed, 100% wrap and still be accelerating towards the basket. That to me is, that's the way it is explained, is that

you can use it to go. You can use it to hang. You can use it to retreat. Like you use it in any way and I think that's the thing. Some people, like you said, do it when they're feet of planet. Yeah.

You could also do it on the move. For sure. Both ways. It's fun to watch because that's tough. It's fun to watch because it is improvisational. You're never like, I'm going to go behind the back. Right?

It's like you're good out of jail. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, I mean, I remember Phil Handy, it was either my first or second year. He, we, you know, we worked on a lot of the stuff, obviously, but he was, he kept telling me he was like, you're one of the, you know, a few people in the NBA that can actually change directions on one foot. Like, you can have one foot out in front of the other. and either behind the back or cross or any. And he told me that's what he worked with Kyrie a lot with

because he obviously can do everything. But just the ability to change direction with not a perfect, you know, base. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. It's fun to watch. It's like, you mentioned Kai, but like guys that are able to do things slightly different all the time, the improvisation.

Yeah. Then you add the playmaking. I think one of the things about your game that is beautiful to me is your finishing rate is really high. So you get in the gas, but you finish at a high level. Not to be rude. It's not because you're challenging people at the rim, but you have a high foul rate. You can play in the middle. You have a MIDI game, float game, layup game, playmaking game.

So I'll relate this to me. I think why I was efficient is because I could pass and score and a different thing. So I could play off each other. So I didn't have to go. It wasn't all or nothing. Yeah. When you get in the gaps, I could be like, oh, I can beat in the backboard. I get my lap.

I got to take the run. I can spray it out. I can play. I can draw cell score and draw. So that allows you to be a high efficiency finisher because if not every time I got in, I got a challenge dudes at the rent. Yeah. And then on top of that, like you said, the, the crash.

to be able to get fouled, like shot, fake, step-throughs, all that. Like, I would feel like, I mean, it's kind of like Guarded Luca in a sense of you have to be physical with him because he's, you know, obviously really strong, but he has every pass, his shot fake, and you don't want to foul him. So at the end of the day, like, trying to guard all three of those things is tough. I think, I mean, obviously you did this in a million ways, but I think it's, I think it's a great lesson for young players to understand like it like you don't have to be like I'm an elite finisher you have to be able to like I have options yeah I can play cat and mouse I hit the pocket pass and then later they don't want to give up the pocket pass you attack it might be a floater might be a let might be a it might be a lib it might be a dribble under you know you might the guy early comes from the

corner playing cat and mouse getting guys to know like oh yeah there's three or four options so you make the decision yeah for me in a way and he That person is going to be the one that the defenders are going to be the one to tell you what to do really. Right. You just think attack. Exactly. They'll tell you. If he goes there, then you got to skip.

If the lobs open, then that is. And if he don't want the lob, you lay up, float or whatever. So that's really kind of how I see it is like, okay, you don't want to foul me. And then I'm going to let the, you know, defensive, whatever, their schemes help me figure out what I want to do. The foulings, the icing on the cake, your high foul rate. Because I didn't get to the line as much as I would have liked to. You get to the line at a high, I mean, I think for at least the first half of the year, top four or five in the league.

That was for a while. And you might be. It's went down. Well, your team got healthy. Bro, I don't get nice. Shit, I wish I got healthy, honestly. Yeah, no, for sure. It would be nice.

It would be nice. It would be nice to get to the football. It would be nice. You got found so bad on the lay-up in the first quarter last time. Bro, he literally punched me in the stomach. It's crazy. The gut punched, no, no-no-loca. Bro, it was like open hand.

Yeah. No, I think, I mean, I think that's an art of itself as, it's, and it's not, obviously, everybody's going to be like, oh, you're foul baiting, foul bait. Like, I try to use all of that in the sense of, like, to get me open. Like, I'm not really, I don't want to just go in. I'm not like, I just want to get fouled at 17 feet and throw a hook shot at the room. Like I, because if I go to a low pickup and you have your hands down there, you're going to be scared to foul me. So you're going to back off.

Yeah. And if you don't, you're going to foul me. So it's more to get to where I want to go than it is anything. Also, it's like a, why put yourself in a disadvantage? Oh, I go low pickup. His hands are going to try to avoid it. And I'm off balance. Exactly.

No, you have to rip through. And I always say this about Luca does a great job at this. dictating the way the game's gonna be called. For sure, for sure. He tells the ref right away, he's not doing that. Yeah. By his play. Yep, right?

Yep. Right? But it's brilliant. Might vocalize it a little bit? He started speaking to Serbian last night. I was like, oh, I don't know what you're talking about. He did. Oh, it was after he got his first tech.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But there's an art to that. Like, there's an art to that. I think, like, of course, everyone's gonna try to get a call. Somebody, we're all trying to figure this shit out. I'm begging him to do it. Bro, it's not working.

It's not working. It's over. You're trying to teach your old dogs. It's all work for me. I used to get calls. I don't get calls. They're the same thing. Too strong.

We didn't see it. Or it was Martin. It was Mark. That's my favorite. It's my favorite word basketball right now. We have a, I don't know when this is going to come out versus the refereeing episode. Oh yeah, yeah.

We talked a lot about like, and it's not to kill the refs. For sure. We can do that. Yeah. But it's more about like the game's changing to where like you can blast a guy in the chest on offense and it's no call anymore. You can foul the hell out of someone outside the three point line, no call. Then they get inside.

It's ticket tap. Yep. It's just a little bit of inconsistency. It's just an inconsistency. Yeah. Like they do they pick and choose. Well, it feels like they don't know yet. Yeah.

Where are we going? They don't know. Like the extended arm on the. drive is so inconsistent depending on who you are. Right. Like, you know, I was watching, obviously, when we played against Boston recently, you know, Jaylon Brown, about three times did it to our players. Right in the open and no call.

And then we're down fucking 18 and a fourth. And he does it. They call off as a phone. Yeah. You know, we got a couple other guys in our league who consistently does it. And I was watching, I mean, I rarely watch the games now these days. But I was watching Denver and Minnesota.

And Edwards drove, kind of, you know, gave the arm. And on the way back, he got his arm kind of pulled by Jamal Murray. They call offensive foul, you know. And then Minnesota reviewed it, and it was still officer file. So it's like, where are we at? It's like when they go to the replay, you're not sure what they're going to call. I don't believe it's ever getting it. Whatever the refs say it was, I think that's what it's going to be.

I don't like the fact, that's another story. I don't like the fact that we can allow someone all the way and like fucking Sikalki is somewhere determined what the call should be. We're right here. Yeah. This is live. I've seen many of clips when we're sitting on the bench and we're like, oh, this will be over. For sure.

And then they're like, nope. No, it's a guy in there eating the fucking hands on. Determine what the call should. I'm the old guy now, man. Here's the thing. Why bother watching it back when we watch it back and we don't know? Like, let's just keep it moving. I don't get it.

I'm a big soccer fan. That was my first sport. And there's our review, the reviewing soccer is VAR, VAR. And honestly, I think they fuck it up on VAR more than they do. Like, they watch it back. We spend four or five minutes. And you're like, I don't know.

I don't know how they came to that conclusion. They brought a camera out on my ass last year in the postseason. I haven't seen since. It was this. He was up there. That was great. I was like, where's this? I've never seen that.

I have not seen that camera since. Never. I've never seen it. I didn't see it before or after. They came from the government. For sure. Oh my goodness. I was like, I've watched a billion games before.

It says I've never seen that camera in my life. No, it's tough. But I mean, it is what it is. One of the things that I admire about AR's game, too, that goes underappreciated, too, is that his ability to create contact in the paint versus smalls, versus longer wings and verse bigs. His ability, without having to use that arm, using bump that shoulder. Beat them to the point of contact, take their legs out or make them hit you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Very clever. And it sets up, it sets up his, his footwork. His ability to bump here, get you off balance. And now he has the ability to use all the pivots, whatever, pump fake. Because now you're off balance. So now you're trying to close the space. So now he can step through. You know, for a guy that you look at, you don't think as strong.

And think that can create contact, you realize it once he hits you with that damn shoulder. and you're sliding back four feet. Now, that's an art. That's an art. That's an art because you use, I mean, by NBA standards, you're not big and strong or fast-exposed, but you're big enough, strong enough, fast enough,

and you know, here's my advantage. I hit him before he hits me. Yeah. It's all timing, too. It's like, yeah, there's almost impossible to guard somebody. If you're sliding and your left foot's in the air, Yeah.

If I bump you in your left foot's in the air, like it's almost impossible, unless you're just strong, like real strong, it's almost impossible to stay on balance. And I think, I mean, I think that that it helped me always being smaller than everybody and not as strong because I had to figure out how to use my body. And then when I finally did get, you know, some strength, it just made it better. Were you, did you have a high file rate in college, too? I got fouled a lot. They didn't call it. No, I still probably shot. I probably shot six three, five three thousand games.

That's, that's, yeah, in college. Oh, in college? Yeah. That's right. For like 30. Yeah, for sure. Right? For sure.

You also, you, you, I feel like you, um, you love clutch moments. Yeah. Like I feel like you, you, you can tell certain people are like, I live for this. Yeah. You like that as a eighth, ninth, tenth grader? Yeah. I mean, I always wanted to be. If we, I mean, if we win, like, cool.

If we lose, like, I don't want anybody to think that it was their fault. Like, I missed or whatever the case may be. Yeah, I mean, I remember early this year in Minnesota. Tough. We really, we really. Yeah, we really dominated that whole second half. You were playing. Yeah, him and Luce were out from the TV.

And we dominated the whole second half. We played really well in the third quarter. and then, I mean, think about it, we had a closing lineup that had literally never played minutes together. So they went zone. Things started getting tough, and obviously they take the lead by one, Julius Shraddle makes a layup,

and I remember going to the bench. And sitting on the bench, JJ's drawing up, whatever. And we walk out, and there's still probably like 20 seconds on the timer or whatever. And I just remember walking to half court, and I was like, man, we would look like some idiots if we lost this game. And then I just was like, oh, we'll win. And then that happened.

And it was just like just the belief in every moment. Just, you know, being able to think positive when chaos is going on. It's something that I've been really good at throughout my whole career, even when I was younger. Everybody just spazes out when things get, you know, things get to move. And you get to lose. and it gets tough, but just being able to, you know, keep a level head of the moments. So do you feel like in high tension, it's almost like you slow down?

For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I'm people watch too. You just look around. Everybody's going nuts. You know, even your staff might be going crazy. Sorry, JJ.

But, no, I mean, yeah, I think it's just give me a look. Yeah, just, I mean, anything like, we. It don't even have to be for me, but I feel like in any situation, if you throw the ball to me, I make something work. Incredible skill, right, to be calm in those moments. Yeah, that's not even, I don't even know if that's something that you can. I guess it is. I think some people are kind of like boring with that attitude. It's something that you can't grow into.

But if it's something that you are, like, don't ever want to have. Right. You can't then, like, hit the switch and be, I want to be that guy to be. No, it's either, it's either like you want to be put in that position, but you just haven't given that opportunity, they haven't given you that opportunity yet, or it's already in you, yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's a great way. To be able to just like, you said, when shit is just haywire, you could just like,

man, if I can get this opportunity, I'm a, it don't matter. Make miss, don't matter. I'm going to be ready for the next opportunity as well. It's a great way to frame it. I remember the Dallas one, but the game went in Dallas, my rookie year. Yeah. I go to the corner and I have, I would have, if I'm not betting on games, if I could

would have bet, I would have bet everything in my life. This is not the year. I'm not touching the ball. And I'm standing in the corner and I forgot who it was on their bench was like, you don't want it. And I was like, I'm not going to touch the ball. But if I do, it's going in right before it happened. And I still to this day, I'm like, Rush, why did you pass me the ball?

But, yeah, I mean, just moments like that, like. You just got to accept it. Yeah. Make or miss. No, I mean, you both make great points because I think like you, it just seems innate in you that you calm down in those moments. And it's like, it's like a, you're at your best in those moments come. I think for me, it took me a while, like to go through those times when I failed. Yeah.

But like, accepted it. Yeah. It said like, I got to learn to do this. Yeah. Until where then it became almost like, I always say this, maybe a weird friend for everybody. but almost like a drug. Like you want the end of the game. You want the tension.

You want the like the game on the line. It's like the, you're never more like alive. For sure. Vibrations are never more. I just always like early on in my career, I always hated a feeling of letting my teammates down. So you want it again.

Give it to me. Yeah, like I was like if I missed or whatever, if I turned a ball over, if I didn't make the right play, either shot or pass or whatever. I was like, I just let these guys down. They like they trusted me.

Yeah. To make it happen. And I didn't make it. make it happen like early on in my career that really got to me and then I got just got to a point where it was like well they're putting you in this position because they trust you for a reason so then I was like it doesn't you know make miss pass if I pass it if I shoot it doesn't you also like then they like your teammate they care but like they're we'll live with him taking the last shot we're going to live with like make or miss it doesn't

It don't matter. Yeah, I always say like you die a thousand deaths, right? Like, you're going to die. You're going to miss. So accept that shit. You're going to die a lot, yeah. Right? Go.

Like, you know. I also tell young players all the time, like, go for it. Yeah. Go for it. Like, you're wasting your time. If you're scared, you're not going to get better. You're not getting more comfortable in those moments. You're not giving yourself a chance to succeed.

So it's like, except death. For sure. And then just go, go for the win. As a little kid, my dad would take me to my grandparents home in North London where he grew up. I used to love walking from the house through the park to watch a Tottenham match. Soccer wasn't just a game in our family. It was everything. When you're there, you can really feel that passion, and it's contagious.

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feels smoother. With premium travel benefits and award-winning service, there's nothing like American Express Platinum. Terms apply. Learn more at Americanexpress.com slash with platinum. We're going to bring out a couple plays. Just a couple things. You get the fans like your perspective on just things you're able to do with the ball. Oh, here we go. So we talked about this one. This is that game. You guys go. in the football formation. Yep. A little bit of a misdirection to get in football.

And then you kind of run a play that you could just run into the half court. Yeah, I mean, the main thing was to catch. You had catch and get Rudy lifted. Lifted. I was surprised that they didn't just read it. But, you know, once you get him, he's obviously one of the best offenders in the league. But once you get him moving. Yeah.

Yeah. Laterally, he's not as quick. If he's standing in front of you and you're trying to finish around him in the paint is almost impossible. But if you get him, I think DA did a really good job here of actually like sprinting into the screen and creating that separation between him and Rudy. Yeah, and getting a little piece of values too just so you had that left or right. Exactly. I always say the way I explain this too is like when McDaniels can't touch you here, now Rudy's in isolated. Yeah, he's fully, he can't drop with the roller.

He's like, I've got to contain. And so Rudy goes from being the best defender on the court to one is in a tough situation. Because you can get downhill left, right, and at 7-2, it's hard from his feet. So you take advantage here. Yeah. You split, but it's interesting, right? Like he's so fearful of your, you know, getting past him that he's open his hips. Yeah.

So you split, which now his hips has to change back, the opposite, which what makes it even harder for him. So now he's recovering. So it's interesting to me, Dante knows this. He's like, now, Rudy's in a tough spot here. And so he comes. And so he, but you read about right there. I was like, oh, I thought I was going to run him over. He went right leg, right floor. I had to basically stop on it. Yeah. This is the thing, though. You got a defensive player of the year, seven to arms, but you got his momentum going. Yeah. He can't stop. stopping yeah and then you go wrong leg floater and dante's an inch and a half two inches too late yeah that's so tough and that's nothing but draws yeah that one felt good when it left

man you got your first kid that's the first thing that's the first thing that that game went her right there uh your daddy's a violence that's who we got here our little double drag with lebron and Aiden. So for me, like, this is just the clip that shows, again, we talked about earlier. You, you, they catch the move. Yep. He's got you in between his feet. You go behind the back, look for the crack.

It's closed. I thought DA was going to roll him down, basically a Gortat. Yeah, and then I was going to run, who is that? You were going to raise Windale. Yeah, I was going to run Windale right into both of them. Yep. You could go around. Yeah, I was going to go around.

But instead, basically you got three defenders, right? Yep. And but then again, you used your. Right again. Behind the back to reset. And now you look at the two defenders. And there's, I mean, there's no way. They slip up Apollo.

Yeah. There's no way Paulo can get on the bottom side of DA. So if he just stops and holes. Yeah. And so you make a great feed into space here where only DA can get it. But what I love about this is I think basketball is about rim pressure. Mm-hmm. And so you don't say, hey, he's got me squared.

You say, how can I get him on his heels? And you go behind the back off the one leg, like we talked about, split the gap. It gets closed. And that essentially is the rim pressure that draws two. And that allows DA to slide behind. And there's this whole pocket of space behind them where you go back behind the back because you got them in jail. and then you can lead your partner into a ton of space. So for me, that's a brilliant play

because your mind was rim pressure. Yeah. And then that's set. You sold basket. Yeah. And that created a vacuum in the, and underneath there where you drew too. So maybe I'm using too many words.

No, this is perfect. That's how I see the game. Yeah. And big time, big time pass. But created by your pressure. All right, so a little LeBron swing swing. So you realize, you know, like any primary score type player, like no one's on me. And you could shoot.

Yep. But again, I love that you're thinking rim pressure here. So he's got to close on you. And so you go, stick with me now, make him guard. Okay, he does a good job. Good close. Pull it back out. Okay, it doesn't always work.

Yeah. It doesn't always work. So now you get back. So then there's this gap you created by going behind the back. He has to close again in a sense. And as he closes, you hang, cross, behind the back. That's the signature right there.

Hang, cross, behind the back, scoop under. And then. That's sick. I'm surprised that he didn't get that one. He didn't even go for it. I don't think he thought I was going to shoot it. Right. Yeah.

It's just like the improvisation, the like belief, in yourself that a lot of players would have been like, I got caught. Yeah. Let me pick it up. Yeah. No, I mean, like you said, just using, using that to basically get back to ground zero. Yeah. And then also create a little bit of space between me and him at the same time to re-attack.

Yep. And then great agility. And to get under snack. Yeah, yeah. For sure. That's for someone else's film session. Yep. That's not ours.

That's not ours. That's a feeling. He said, prove it, kid. So again, a little kind of late double drag. You looked at play in the middle for a second, draw two, and just baiting them. You know, you came off the first one. You thought, see, what I like about this is the second screen.

I don't know if this is double drag, if it was, at the date. So you thought, why would I just come off the second I'm letting them set up? You said attack here. And then it created a screen angle even better by him attacking down. He basically set up the log right now. The lob is happening right now because his defender has to close the gap because he can hang and shoot this if he don't close that gap. And now his defender's trying to get over, it's over with now.

One way I like this, I mean, that's, I don't need to re-explain it. You explained it great. But one thing I like to say is you manipulated him. Like one, you would have gone to the hoop here if you got him clean. Yeah. But the help helped. Yep. And what you did, though, is you got your defender between the screener's feet.

And now he stuck. And then you can also see he can't touch you here. And I always say when he can't touch you, guess who has to come guard you? The big. Then we got problems. And if the corner came, you got the corner. So just a great job of manipulating here. And I love the way right here.

You know you got lob, but you sold the Luca pass with the eyes. So that's nailed rush to the spot. He's going to be late here because you. look, Luke, good. Yeah. And so just that awareness to manipulate your guy, to manipulate the weak side. That's tough. It's beautiful basketball.

And then this is probably my biggest highlight. This is the one. By the way, I didn't know it. By the way, just letting you know, I have no ideas what clips that we're going to show on the episode until he actually raised about. But I would say, though, like, there's some great facial expressions here. Oh, for sure. First, let's start with Braun. Can we start?

Let's start with why is Brown even in the game right now? It's over. I must have needed one rebound and one assist. It's just had to be it. I think I got 19,000 one rebound one or six. So coach Braun is giving it his John Wooden right here. Yep, yeah. Telling you what to do.

He was like, okay, at first he was like, okay, yeah. And then whatever I said, he, I, what the fuck aren't you talking about? Yeah, well, no, I know what he's thinking? Now he just told us he's going why the fuck is he in the game talking about this shit right now What are we doing you sit your ass down we got the job good for sure and you're still coaching That's funny coaching that's one of the best yeah amazing clip I remember he posted that after the game and I'm My followers went from like 60,000 I'm sorry I'm sorry man my phone died your phone died fast as hell my

We were in Philly I was out of the even Ridge and I picked up my phone and I picked up my phone and I just said it back down. I was like, I don't know what's going on. God damn, my bad. That was cool. That's all. Appreciate you, man. Yeah.

Hey, I appreciate you, my dog. Really? I appreciate you. My dog. I got the two coolest white boys in the town in the same week. Yeah, you got a white boy Wednesday and my gosh. What the fuck going on? I don't know, man.

My community may give up on me next if I give one white boy again. We're going to have to diversify. Yeah, yeah. We got to get Luke Cornet next talking about Magic City. We'll slam the laptop on. that. Thanks for watching, mind the game. New episodes drop every other

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