Pablo Torre Finds Out - Exclusive: We Found the Knicks' Top-Secret Tapes for Kawhi, Kyrie and KD

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

If you thought reuniting The Sopranos and Wu-Tang to recruit LeBron James and Kevin Durant were the ultimate celebrity pitches, just wait until Pablo unboxes this time capsule for Desus Nice, Frank Isola... and you.Previously on PTFO:• Share & Wu & Tell with Method Man and Dan Le Batard• We Found the Secret Tape the Knicks Made for LeBronMore PTFO:• Subscribe to Pablo Torre Finds Out on YouTube to watch all three Knicks videos and get special holiday bonus content• Subscribe to Pablo's newsletter for exclusive access, documents and invites Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. I heard 3Ks and I... Listen. It's getting ready to run out. You'll take a ring any way possible, okay? I'm not asking questions. Right after this ad.

I'm not going to even tell you what I did for you. Frank, it's an honor for you to be here. You said, I can do it over Zoom, and I said you have to be here in person. I respect that. I respect that. Drove in. You drove? Yeah, I'm not going to...

I asked him who's paying for the... He said, well, you know, do that. I don't know how to do that stuff. So, well, now I'm going to be out of money anyway. And you got to do the congestive pricing. I said, Venmo me, Frank, I sold. I have NYP. I have New York press plates.

So I park on 37. Then I walk to 48th to Sirius. Then I took the train down here. Real New York stuff right here. I mean, just the most... Like a diplomat. He parked like a diplomat. I'm sorry.

Testing, testing. One, two, three. Oh, close on man. That's like this family at Yankee Stadium this summer. Got it. They drove and parked on 42nd Street and then took the Metro North up. And I was like, that makes absolutely no sense, but you have your reasons. Like, I guess you don't want to go to the heroin McDonald's across street from Yankee Stadium like the rest of us.

On River, right? Yeah. They have NYP parking there. Okay. But you have the mall there. Uh-huh. I waited people out. All right.

For them to leave a guy came with a bunch of, like, groceries. Pull that and put right in. Pull it right there. I'm not paying for parking. I need to get one of those things. I'm like George Costanza. The ego. Another New York legend.

This is already the most New York conversation with that on the podcast. We're just talking about parking strategy in and out of Yankee games. Frank, you don't know Jesus. You've never met him before. No, I'm supposed to be really phony and say, I really admire your work. I appreciate it. No, you're really funny. Thank you.

Funny in like a ha-ha-ha-way or funny like a... Well-played. You know. Like a clown? I make you laugh. I'm here to amuse you. No, you're very good. Thank you.

I think he's very New York. Like, you've lived in New York your whole life. I look like New York, but he kind of is New York. Yes, but I'm very familiar with you. Read your work, not even bo-cheon. Like, I know, Frank. Well, he said it. I was like, I'm still depressed that I got laid off.

I kind of, I like work over a newspaper. Unfortunately, you work with words, and there's no longer any reason for words. I know, nobody reads. No one reads. Everybody tweets. See, Pablo's doing a great job with this podcast, but I guarantee you. But people take you more seriously. Or they, you like when people take you seriously when you worked for Sports Illustrated.

I think people took me more seriously when I wrote. Frank and I used to go... During Linsanity is where Frank and I really developed a relationship. Because you were beating everyone in the story, so I hated you. And Frank was taking shots at me. And as a New Yorker, it is an honor when Frank Isola personally tries to drone strike you in the pages of one of the city's great tabloids. It really, Frank is somebody that we both grew up reading. Yes.

If you grew up a Knicks fan, Frank Isola has another nickname. Yes. Frank asshole. I was going to say, is that it? Frank asshole. If you're old enough, Frank Ayatollah. I don't know if that works. That works. Yep.

Yeah. I remember. Like my wife and kids call me the other one. Craig Ayatoll. No, I remember sometimes I would see tweets from him. I was like, this motherfucker. I was like, I had to realize. I was like, that's your thing.

But here's what's weird. When they were terrible and dysfunctional, I was pointing it out. The Knicks were terrible and dysfunctional? And last year, I was praising him for how well they did. I was surprised I got rid of the coach and everyone was killing me. Yeah. I thought that last year they had a good year. I thought when they won 24 games.

that was a bad year. Right. You know what it is? Have you ever been to an animal shelter? Yes. And they have like a rescued dog. And like the dog is like getting cared for and getting food on schedule.

And it lashes out. It doesn't know how to act. So that says Nick fans. Like literally you could be like, yo, that was a good year. You're like, what do you mean by that? Yeah. Really? That's funny to you?

Like we're very, we're very caustic where we don't trust this. Like me right now, like I'm like, everyone's like, oh, you guys won the cup? I'm like, do we have the cup curse now? How do the Knicks maximize their natural advantages? being in New York. Yes. I mean, how the Nix have approached the acquisition of superstars is really the premise of why I've been summoning you here. The thing we did in 2024, this was in April, 2024.

Excellent. We got the tape that the Nix made for LeBron. And I just want to refresh people's memories because you two, I think, are just in the target demo. But if you haven't seen it, what the Nix did to recruit LeBron James in the summer of 2010, It did involve this. We just got to find a place for your friend LeBron to live. What's he like? Well, he's a modern guy, but he respects tradition.

You're something classy on the east side. Was it big enough? It's going to be entertaining a lot of people in New York. It's very expensive. Oh, that's not going to be a problem. You've got to fight something magnificent. Something there's nothing in the world like it, one of a kind, like he is. Well, here's a place.

He says it gets really loud there. Take a look. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's it. That's going to be perfect for. Showing Madison Square Guard on a laptop in this modest apartment that the late great,

named Gandalfini, was filming this scene out of in which they're in witness protection. That was the premise of this, by the way. My favorite part that I think people overlooked, though, is the fact that when the Knicks were recruiting LeBron James in 2010, they were also recruiting two other stars,

Frank, Chris Bosch and Dwayne Wade and Dwayne Wade and I wouldn't say they tried quite as hard when they did some

some alt takes on that same scene Now we just need to find a place for your friend Dwayne to live What's he like? What's a modern guy But he respects tradition Now we just need to find a place for your friend Chris to live

What's he like? What's a modern guy But he respects tradition I feel like they were running out of time in the studio And it was like, yo, we'll fix it in post. We will fix it in post. The list of famous faces they got.

It didn't just start and stop with the Sopranos. The first face you saw in the video, of course, was Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani's in there. Chris Rock is in there, Spike Lee. But I do want to highlight one of the faces that I don't think aged nearly as well as any of those, actually, because you may recall him from his work in Hollywood and beyond. New York is such a universal city. And I know LeBron, I read his book, and I know that he's tight with his buddies. The idea of those friends coming to New York City, those guys sound amazing, loyal, smart, bright.

Well, Weinstein sanity was a bleak period during the Knicks run. I just got my jersey. He's not wearing that often. Mynstein sanity was another tabloid sensation. And in case you're wondering how poetic Harvey is when it comes to those other two superstars. they also taped that. You know, when I think of the road not taken, Robert Frost's great poem about a man who makes a decision,

the road that he'll travel down. And I think that Jwayne Wade wouldn't come to New York City. I mean, you know, I love Miami, but Miami's a suburb of New York. I think of that Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken, about someone who doesn't take the big road. And I just wonder if Chris Bosch sitting there and going, wow, I could have gone to New York,

I could have played on the world stage, and I didn't do that. I didn't throw my hat into the greatness ring. You know, I can see him being, you know, 70-year-old guy and going, wow, I should have done that, shouldn't I? Well, you know what? Don't be the 70-year-old guy. Just do it. I feel like he quotes his Robert Frost poem for everything. He's just like, oh, my food's late.

You know, like Robert Frost said, the meal not discovered. He's like, all right, we get it, Harvey. I think he quoted Nike at the end. Just do it. Just do it. Like there was a greatness ring, he referenced? which feels like the thing that the Knicks should put in the rafers of MSG. That's where the Emirates banner should go in the greatness rank.

The reason you're here today, though, is not because I just wanted to replay that video, those videos, all of them for you, although I do. I bring you here because the Knicks actually quietly have learned their lesson. So the next Big Free Agency summer, Frank, where three stars were available of that caliber, right? That was 2010. The next time it happened was 2019. Frank, could you remind us what was going on? in the summer of Free Agency in 2019.

You had Kevin Durant telling people he wanted to team up with Kyrie Irving to come to New York. And you also had someone else available that summer, too. We're doing a Kauai Leonard episode. The question of, how do you recruit three stars if you're the New York Knicks? Yep.

Frank, could you just give a sense for us of how much celebrity matters at Madison Square Garden? All of it. All of it matters. Look at, you know, during the game, they're going to show celebrities during timeouts. That's a big part of it. The celebrities all want to be a part of it. I never knew Ben Stiller was this big of a fan.

I mean, I was covering the Knicks for 20 years. I never remember seeing him at a game. Now he's everywhere. Now he's everybody's best friend. You can't throw a Nick jersey without hitting Ben Stiller. And the funniest thing is like he's a huge celebrity. You can just do the smallest tweet. Like, let's go Knicks.

And it's like, Ben Stiller liked it. It was in 30 seconds. I'm like, you are so tapped it, man. I almost feel now that they're getting better, I feel there's a little competition now among the celebrities. Oh, Shalameh is. Who's the biggest Nick fan? So that is certainly a big part of it.

Part of the whole thing with Kevin Dren and Kyrie Irving, people were, the All-Star game that, I'm going to forget where it was, but it was in February and everyone, it might have been in Charlotte, and everyone was saying, Kyrie and Kevin Duran have already decided to come into the Knicks. Yeah, that was in February.

Yeah, as a delusional Nick fan, that sounds like something I would have believed just from, with no sources, just someone in my barbershop said it. In fact, the two of them before the All-Star game, talked in like a hallway where everyone could see them, everyone in the media,

and they were kind of whispering each other. It wasn't Charlotte, by the way. Yeah, it was. That viral video of them just like having a snipe- I was standing right there. It was Mike Frances would say, I was there. Yep, I saw the whole thing. Big Frances of the God, the Pope.

So 2019, it's not LeBron, Wade, and Bosch, it's Kyrie, it's KD, and Kauil. And the Knicks, Frank, had a ton of cap space. Yep. And I've been looking at the summer of 2019, because that was a summer when Kauai Leonard chose to go to the Clippers. That's the rabbit hole I've been in for pretty much all of this year. It's the summer, by the way, then in retrospect,

kind of changed the NBA. Yeah. Kauai goes to the Clippers. Paul George goes to the Clippers. The Thunder get everything. The Thunder are now in position. Kevin Durant blows out as Achilles. The next decade.

And yeah, people's ligaments blow up. What I didn't know about that summer, though, was how big a player the Knicks were in terms of free agent super-series. start recruiting in terms of like, you saw what they did in 2010. What did they do in 2019? What I am told that the Knicks spent seven figures as part of a top secret campaign to not just get Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but also Kauai Leonard. And you guys are both here because we're going to watch these videos that no one has ever

seen for the first time today. Let's go. So 2019, the Knicks, what they do, as they often do, and Frank knows this. turn to a marketing and music mogul with the initials S and S. Steve Stout. Steve Stout. Oh, that's right. I thought you were going to say PD.

I was like, I got to go. I got to go. That's right. That was the guy that was best friends with the braon. He was going to get him here. Then the Knicks hired him. He was arguing as a Nick Sergut on first take at one point. Remember that?

That's right. And he criticized one of the active players on the roster. He fired Mike Miller basically on television. Yeah. He got hired. His agency got hired. His agency's name is translation. It turns out that this agency got hired.

And we know this because we just spent months, three months now, just calling around the league trying to figure out like, okay, I heard there's a Kauai Leonard video that they made, that no one's seen. And we got in touch with the guys who made it. And one of them agreed to come on camera. Yeah, so I'm Charles Barnes. I'm chief marketing officer of translation. And this all started with a conversation between Steve Stout, our founder,

and I believe Jim Dolan, obviously the free agency window is coming up, and there was a desire to create some, like, I guess what you would call, like more intimate assets to talk to a couple of superstars than they would normally produce. And, you know, they had a lot of cap space at the time, and they wanted to go after some big stars. And so they highlighted the 3Ks, you know, and they were like, yeah, we want to get after them. can you write me? It was not like being Serenot to Bergerac, you know what I mean?

But not being able to talk to Roxanne and not being able to follow her around. So, you know, what would be persuasive to these guys? There's a lot of literary references in this episode. Robert Frost, that guy's name is Chaucer. Listen. By the way, if you're thinking you're going to get through to Kaua Leonard, come on now.

Nobody knows what makes him take. Well, this was the challenge, right? Yeah, come on. Well, okay, so the three cases. This is the challenge. This is what's going to make. But the audio only audience, Frank I solo is making a motion

in which he was rubbing his fingers rubbing his fingers. Rubbing the fingers. The 3Ks, Deezus. Kauai, KD, Karee. I heard 3Ks and I... Listen. The only audience, Jesus is grimace.

I'll take a ring any way possible, okay? I'm not asking questions. But under the hood of this operation, so to speak. The question was, how do you recruit Quai Leonard? And Steve Balmer had one answer. in reporting the contours of that.

It involves Uncle Dennis Robertson, who was reportedly asking for no-show jobs and equity in private companies and the team itself and real estate deals and all of that. Many episodes about that separately. But the Knicks clearly thought they were in it because they invested in what was called,

quote, a highly personalized gift. They wanted to do this thing bespoke. And what they decided to do, we love unboxing videos on this show. What this company did was they got a literal box, a pizza box. It's a Knicks pizza box with Nick's gear,

Nick's merch in it, a little kith on it. You know, they said, hey, here's some free swag. And it says, please watch the film below. Oh, is that a monitor inside? Oh, we put out all the stops.

There's a monitor inside of this custom bespoke pizza box. And when you open the box and you begin to watch, you see this. We're here at Madison Square Garden and the season opener probably the biggest ever.

Why? Because it's Kauai Leonard's first night wearing the blue and orange. This city is in a frenzy. Kids everywhere are putting their hair in cornroads. In fact, I tried. It didn't work. But let me tell you, this is the big one.

What's up, Kauai's Che? Welcome to New York, baby. Back to you. Oh, what's up, Michael, Chey? See, in my head, I was like, how did they have him watching this? But no, no, no. It's a doppel game.

It's Jay Farrow. Jay Farrow, shout up to the homie right there. It is Jay Farrow, Michael Jay. There's a lot of SNL in what we're about to watch here. And I just got to say that Jay Farrow, so far, is a very compelling Kauai letter. He's great. The braids are very authentic. From the back, I didn't know it wasn't him.

He's a method Kauai. Yeah. And from there, the video proceeds. Ah, the champ is here. What's up, Claude? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to draw too much attention to myself, right? Oh, oh, I got you.

I got you. out about that. Hey, man, you ready to see the city or what? Well, I was actually about to head to Madison Square Garden. Oh, no, man, we got plenty of time to do that, man. Right now, I just want to show you New York. What about Goodfellers? What about Mean Streets? Yeah, both. You know, there's a good New York movies. Can I get some sour crap, please? Yeah, sure. I'd have to say, for me, favorite New York movie is probably between Muppets Take Manhattan and Rocky, leaning towards Rocky. No way. Why not?

Rocky's from Philly. He's from Philly, but he's... No, he's originally from New York. No, it's shot in Philly. He's in New York. That's in New York. That's totally New York. Can I have that? I got to go.

It's Kauai's first game, so I got to go see it. I'm not paying for this. Always the rich ones. There he is. There is. Mr. Ben Stewart. Showing a claw at the end. They are going for it.

They are. All the stops are out. So we were told that Ben Stiller just rearrange his whole day to shoot that scene. They considered apparently Spike Lee, but only briefly because it was, quote, just too obvious, almost to get Spike in that. Yeah. And so the question I'm. contemplating, and I'm curious how you guys would respond if you were Kauai Leonard.

Like, you're watching a video in which someone is impersonating you. And so you kind of got to thread the needle on a respectful impersonation. Yes. That is also convincing you I want to join this organization. And they decided to go north. Oh, snap. We got that champ in the house. What's up, champ?

What's up? You see, I'm representing for you already. You see that? New York, man. Congratulations, man. That's my myself. What y'all doing around here, man? You need a faget or something?

Wait, Kenan, you work here? Yeah, man. It's New York. You know everybody got a second job. Hey, Jay, you take this man to get some pizza yet. No, we're actually heading to Madison School. Jay, you better take this man to get some pizza. He need to eat.

Look how big he is. Grin' Joe's pizza. They're uptown, now they're downtown. I know you don't like to eat before a game, but you gotta try some New York City pizza. Hey, everything good over here. Where it's great. Hey, Bali, let me get a pie.

I told you, Biggs, no more pies for you. All right, I promise, I will eat it this time. No, Biggs. You, damn? Hey, let's bring one back to New York, all right? Let's go next. Come on, my dude! My dude!

Get out of here, Biggs. I like how everyone in this video talks the way people in New York talked when Maricotch was around. It was like, yo, I'm walking. Whoa, Master Square Garden, pizza. Like, no one talks like that anymore. Nobody went to school back then. By the way, does he know anybody? Does he know any of the people in this video?

Yeah, after that you're just like, no way. There's no way he knows who Al Roker is. No chance. That's very local. No chance. It's very low. Maybe from like the Macy's parade?

Maybe. Kaui Leonard is getting up early on a Thursday Thanksgiving. He's watching a giant snoopy. No chance. This is clearly oriented around Kaui Leonard comedy fan. And like movie enthusiasts. Yeah. Like, so Jason Biggs.

I didn't know. Did you guys know Jason Biggs? I didn't know it was him. I didn't even know it was him. You know what? Day will show him on like the jump-o-chon-up, like, the guy from the movie. Yeah.

American Pie. Yeah, he's kind of, but he's like six or seven into the game that they'll introduce. Yeah. Not the first. There is, there is a, yes. He's a second quarter of third quarter guy. He's a fourth quarter guy. We're not talking Steve Sharippa-La.

No, no, no, no. E. E. Falco, come on. Only the best here. That is, uh, yeah. It's Jason Biggs making a joke about how he f***s pies, but it's a pizza pie. I don't even catch that. Neither did Kauai, believe me.

They're levels, levels. Nluence of this. It's elaborate. And geographically, they're going from north to south and then back up north to Rucker Park, where J. Farrow slash Kauai Leonard decides to make an appearance. Y'all need one more? Nah, we good. You handle what you got to do at the garden tonight.

We'll handle things here. All right, kid. Do you think? I'll be over here if you need me. That's money! See, champ, I got moves. Okay? The boardman gets paid.

Let me know if you need me at the Mecca. I got your back, Kauai. Oh, y'all was play. That part was good. That worked. That worked. Like, you could have just had that scene right there. You need all the other stuff.

And I would throw in a couple good-looking women. Seriously. It's very dude-friendly. They're all women who live in New York. We have no female Nick fans. female nick fans in this thing. Like, there is an audience of one mentality here where you're

like drilling down to what would this guy like and I do feel like there's some obvious cards left on the table here. Yeah. But Tracy Morgan's showing up to block a kid's shot. I enjoyed it. If you're wondering what it's like to tape with Tracy Morgan at Rucker Park while, by the way, Jay Farrow again, is trying to be so restrained

in his impression without like crossing the line. Right. So he's like kind of he's a good dude. He doesn't want to be insulting? No, he's helpful to the kids. He definitely feels like an S&L sketch that at any moment it's about to go very left. Exactly. Very left. And something that went left was an experience

taped with Tracy Morgan as one of the creatives from the translation agency named Chris Mendez decided to tell us about. Tracy Morgan pulled up in like a half a million dollar Ferrari. As you've heard, he's done. He pulls up to Rucker Park. He parks his sideways and just like, get out the car. He's like, where do I go? And we're like, deal, go over there.

And people are like, are you worried about your car getting towed, and he's like, that car is too expensive to tow. And he kind of just left it there. And it's funny because, like, you could tell, like, the local cops knew them. Like, everyone was, like, down. It was just such an, and again, it was, like, such a New York moment because down to, like, people walking down the street, like, wondering what we're shooting to, like, cops. Everyone was like, the minute they found out was for the Knicks, they were, like, whistling, looking that way. They're like, do your thing, you know, so. Sounds about right.

I mean, parking again, you could be Frank Isola with special, you know. He needs those New York press plates. That's right. I used to work at the library, the Spight and Ivo library, and Tracy Morgan's kid went to school across the street, so he would just come in, like, a drop-top Bentley and just park it in front of the library. Not locking the door or anything, roof it off, and who's going to steal his drop-top Bentley? I'm like, I don't even know how to drive that.

I thought he did that during the playoffs last year. He does it. He has so many cars, and he's so rich, and he just drives around. No security. Just chilling. He's Tracy Morgan. Outside MSG, you'll see him, like, Dap-Up Kids. He gave, like, an inspirational speech to, like,

One of those kids or something like that. It'll change your life. Yeah. I think he would resonate with Kauai. So far, nobody else. I'm sorry. So at this point, with I think that being a concern, the assembled actors and entertainers

decide to basically just break the fourth wall and appeal directly. Yo, what's up, Kauai? Listen, I'm Jay Farrow. As you know, I'm the guy who pays you. You should come to New York, man. Look at the guys. You see all the people in there?

I'm one of them. If you are here in New York, I will personally come to your home and give you a forecast every afternoon. A humble New York Knickerbocker fan, and we need you at the Garden, brother. I don't need to tell you about basketball, but I can't tell you about New York.

First of all, the weather's awesome. He's holding an umbrella. The Knicks won a championship when I was eight. So I'd like another one before I die. Time is running out. Man, you need to come to York, man. You need to chill your ass out of New York. Come play, you know what I'm saying?

and you want to get all the women. I mean, I know you're married, but you know, everybody has a little bit sad piece. Now I'm saying. You can't have a value of me without having to do. You know what I'm saying?

Some wapper fries. But yeah, come on in New York, man, we got everything for you. We got lots of barbershops, so, you know, you'll be tight for every game. I'm kind of a big deal, all right? I walk down the streets. People go nuts.

What else do we got? Puerto Ricans? I know that I ain't got no Puerto Ricans in Toronto. We got several left. So come on down, bro. Play with the Puerto Rican. You are next level. Like, I'm like,

here and you're like here. You need to get on Drake's plane. That's what you need to do. You need to fly that plane from Toronto. You need to bring that ass to New York. There's nothing like winning in New York. Just trying. It's a good idea because I said so.

And I can give you a private jet. You know why? I got money. Bam. You want money? Come here. Come see us. Holl out me.

I'll be waiting for you. When I think of Kuwait limit, I think of prosperity. You know how many crack heads there on the city? You know how many people would stop doing crack when you came here in Kuwait? Where was Harvey Weinstein? What was he doing? That he couldn't be in this video.

Come on, Harvey. Let me answer your question. All right. This happens to me. I have somebody come up to you. They start talking, oh, I thought you were so-and-so. I said,

all the time. Although I say, oh, I know a guy looks like you. I said, the guy better be good-looking. All right? That's not Idris Al, but that's no offense to Jay Farrow.

Right. So, like, don't you... I think Kau Island would be insulted by that. I really do. Yeah. But the guy's got to be better looking. He doesn't have to look like you. He's got to be better looking at it.

But if he's funny, it's not as threatening. Yeah. Because if he was, if it was just like some gorgeous model, like, I'm, I'm, like, no, it's like, oh, the comedy softens it. And you're like, okay, I can take a little light ribbing, that kind of thing. But this is Kauai, though. It is. But also, we don't know anything about Kauai. Well, if we found out, Pablo reported, he pulls out the dirt with one hand, plants a tree with the other.

He is the tree god. That's the big, that's what, now we know what that big claw is for, digging that hole, sticking the tree in there. Treeman gets paid? Unfortunately, for those who don't remember how that summer went, uh, not good. Wait, we didn't get KD? We didn't, we didn't get Kaua?

Speaking of what the Knicks did try to do to get Karee and KD. That's after the break. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving. They're playing footsie all, you know, all year, basically. And I do want to show what the Knicks prepared for Kyrie first. Because again, they don't just do it as, you know, if, like, here's an email attachment. They made, you know, for kids who don't remember what this object is, Deez, what is this object?

I wasn't about to date myself and say it's an Apple 2, but it's not. This is a TV with a built-in VCR? Yeah. Wow. It's like, it's sort of... The inherent... Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. All around. It's like origin blue. Yep. All these... You can see the eye open. Yeah, got the Chi-Hrior. Irving, K.I. Oh, that's right. That's his logo.

Yep. Street artist Eric Hayes is the artist who put work into this. That's actually not bad. I don't think, I don't know if it's going to impress him, but it's not bad. And when you press play on this thing, what it was designed to do was show you this. Kyrie Irvin was made for the New York Knicks. New York City basketball is in Kyrie Irvin's blood. Well, it's roots of the war. Here's a guy that played in the park. When Karee was young, his father used to bring him to the district. Jim, and he was too young to play with us. That boy used to watch me.

He has a mental toughness, a heart of the lion. The grit, the hunger. All that stuff he does, it came from the playground, the crossover, the jelly. He has New York City flair. And the DNA of New York City is Carrier. This is very streetball-oriented. He is.

He decided to appeal to that. Speedy Williams, record park legend, Earl of Pearl Monroe, who's also, yes, legendary on the outdoor court. Blackjack Ryan, also very famous in the streetball world. That's the angle they're going with. And it's sweet. It's like, okay, they're appealing to tradition, and then they're going to imagine also a future for Kyrie Irving

if he decided to join the Knicks. And I was named after my favorite ball of all time. Why do you think I named Boat for the math then? Kyrie. Carrey's so gifted, he wrapped it, living in the future. The present, he passed it. Carri Irvin, man. I love this.

Like, oh, we're going to get Kyrie and it's going to be so much unprotected sex in New York City. My God, we're just naming the kids left and right. That's actually not bad. It's a vision of 2027. They put the aftermath on there. This is what happens if you win in New York, you get a Wheaties box. I will point out that the Wheaties box lately is less sort of, I mean, we have the... Timothy Salome is on it.

Exactly. Shalomey has a Wheaties box. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. They're just... Look, hold on. We have a... I mean, I haven't looked at a box of Wheaties and quite a...

What are there, $19 now? Here is the SpanCon. Oh. Yeah. Listen. I went to that last night. I didn't take one now, yeah. Was it right?

Timothy Sholomey. Courtside all the time since he was a child, a real New Yorker. And it was where, you know, the big thing is orange. You would have fit in perfectly last night. They had... They had... The Empire State Building was orange last night. Listen, it's like, they bring him on to talk about other things.

Yeah. talk about, you know, childhood cancer. He's like, y'all, childhood cancer is really bad. But you know what's not bad? We're in the NBA Cup. You're like, all right. He was on in London on a show just last week, and he mentioned the Knicks. He can't go, he can't go 10 minutes.

He's like you. He's a real Nick fan. Real Nick fan. Like, we're going to talk about it when you don't want to hear it. So, Kyrie was appealed to in that regard. And yeah, I think, I think that was largely well done. Kevin Durant, what they provided him in terms of what the object was physically. It was a literal key to the city with a plaque.

And the plaque says, Kevin, the city is yours. Continue your legacy in the mecca of basketball. He did. He went to... He went to Brooklyn. Just in the wrong burrow. He got lost. So this key, this golden key in this beautiful case, was a thumb drive, it turns out.

When you plug it in... Clever. When you plug it in, you get a full-on music video. And some of this has already come out. We reported this actually broke this news earlier that they made this whole custom thing involving the Wu-Tang Clan and... Fat Joe and a bunch of other people about the 2019 Knicks roster. Let me tell you something, man.

I was outside of the Rucker. KD scored about 81 points out there. Just shooting miles away. I mean miles away. That's when I knew he was the real deal. It's only one place to play is the Knicks. There is nothing else, man. That's why you know he belonged here in New York.

What's up, KD? Come through, babe, bro. We need you. This is the roof right there. You got that root tattoo on your calf, right? Over here on your leg. I see that burn. We got it all for you.

This is the music on a hardwood floor. On New York knee now is to get a go boy. We're going to ride with you die with you, spikes on set. 1.5 seconds left. All right. We're going to build you a statue right in front of the garden. And all go. All these other organizations are.

This is the music in the background when you're changing the settings on NBA Live. You're like, let me turn down the sliders. There are so many people in the, that video that they hired to do it. And it goes on and on and all that stuff. But the problem with this whole thing, Frank, I need you to help explain the timeline issue with free agency. So these videos were all shot from late May to late June, I believe in 2019, as we were told. But the free agency window for the NBA legally, officially, opens on June 30th at 6 p.m. One problem with what happened in 2019, as often happens.

in NBA free agency, Frank, is what? Well, Woge was breaking stories before even 6 o'clock. Yes. So how could Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving be going to the Nets having not even spoken to them? How was that even possible?

56 p.m. That's what the time was? Woge tweets out. Brooklyn is making a clean sweep tonight. Brooklyn will sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and DeAndre Jordan league sources tell ESPN an hour before the thing actually opens.

And this is an issue because it turns out that if you're this agency and you're the Knicks like preparing these videos, there was a concern about whether they would actually ever see them. Definitely played by all the rules. Definitely played by all the rules. The Knicks obviously handled that, but they were definitely buttoned up in that respect.

Nobody's looking for, you know, the unforced error there. We were all throwing out of our fingers on the table waiting to get the feedback. Like knowing that we might have had a thing And when the phone never rang for us, go why loves it? KD's older, like, when that never happened, that was, I don't know. Yo, to this day, I don't know who got what.

I don't know anything. And what I did was I made some more calls. We, as a show, decided to keep reporting this story. And I got to Rich Climman, Kevin Durant's agent and longtime business partner and New Yorker. And I said, had you ever seen any of this stuff, the KD stuff? And he said, quote, nah, he never saw it. I haven't even discussed with him.

But as a native New Yorker, I just saw it yesterday, and Wu-Tang can do anything, and I'll like it. Right. But what we are learning, given that Kauai Leonard clearly was being, Frank, the Clippers were courting Kauai Leonard. Yep. Long before 6 p.m. Yep. On Free Agency opening day. And the Nets clearly, and Kyrie and KD, they had been planning something long in advance.

And then weirdly, what I'm here to say is that I found out that the Knicks really didn't tamper enough, I don't think. I agree. All right. So if you go back to LeBron, I wrote Charles Oakley's book for him, thanks for reading it. And Charles Oakley talks about talking with LeBron the summer before a free agency. And he told Charles, I'm going to go to. Miami. Right.

Charles knows Pat Riley. He ran into him in Miami, told him that. Pat Riley kind of ignored it because he was worried about tampering and things like that. I remember running into Mike Miller. Mike Miller said he ran into

LeBron, like in May. LeBron saw him and he said, what are you going to do? I'm going to go to Miami. The players all know. Yeah. It's amazing how they all know because the Kevin Durant and Kyrie stuff,

February was going to the Knicks. And then all of a sudden, by March, April, there was this shift where people saying, they're both going to go to the Nets i was saying really go yeah no they're going to go to the Nets and by now you've heard the nicks but everyone said no they're swit they're they don't want to go they're going to go to the uh they're going to go to brooklyn right and play for the nets so all this stuff that they do the intentions are good yes but all the stuff behind the scenes it's just like your guy uncle dennis we all heard it was like the i always feel like it was the mark

uh maguire uh barry bond's thing about guys are you in steroids but everybody in the media ignored it everyone was hearing dennis is asking for the moon he's asking for the moon everyone ignored it, obviously the Clippers gave him the moon because that's where he ended up. Right. I love that. Also, as a regular fan, as a casual, you're just really thinking, like, everyone plays by the rules. The tampering rules are so serious. No one's sending any text messages, no conversation is happening.

And then once you actually get in the business and you start meeting these people, like, oh, I know where I'm going to be three years from now. Yeah. You don't have to recruit me. I know exactly what. You're like, oh, it's not all hunky dory like that. And also, as you said, we need a tamper more. We need to tamper more. What did Fred Van Fleet just recently say?

He said that when we first met with Kauai, he said there's going to be a one-year thing. I'm not going to be here next year. He did what he came to do. Yeah. And he said it from day one. I'm not staying here. You know what? He never said he was going to stay.

He, from day one, I don't know why they traded for me. I don't want to be here. I'm not staying here. So a lot of us thought it was between Toronto and the Clippers. Obviously, it wasn't. still a great trade though. Would you trade a guy for one year to win a championship if you haven't if you've never won one? Come on. And they probably won't win one ever again. It's worth it. Absolutely. I mean, the Kauai thing though, what we're finding out is that it is very likely that

the first time, and Kauai, if you're not subscribing to Paule Tore finds out, he's a lot of information about your own life. But the first time he may ever see this is this way. Yeah. Like the, so Kandee never saw that. Kairi probably never saw that. Kauai probably never saw that. Like, they weren't opening up like NICS marketing recruiting packages. Also, when you got the key, did he even know it was a USB stick? Also, you can't just be opening, you can't just insert a USB stick into a random computer if you don't know where he came from. So the Knicks are so good at getting famous people into the building as fans. Yes. But the question of like, how do you actually leverage what makes this city special from the

entertainment perspective. This is now a decade of trying to do this stuff, but not quite getting the game correct. Yeah. And so I don't, yeah, Frank, I don't know. I don't know. Do you, the Knicks now are in a different place. Yes. Deez-as is celebrating, I mean, D'Zas is, I believe, now working for the United Arab Emirates. You know, I knew ever since I was a young child growing up, I always wanted the NBA Cup. I just remember growing up in the Bronx. And, you know, it's finally come true, so I have to pay them back. It wants a first class ticket on Emirates. That's why he keeps mentioning Emirates NBA Cup.

They have great airlines. It worked for Eric Adams. So, you know. Where was, I? Can Eric Adams pop up in a next recruiting video at some point? He might be. You're going to have to stay in New Jersey. I think he's in Fort Lee.

Right? Isn't that where he lives? No, right now he's like, he is like a parent whose child is going away to college. He's out every night. He's going on trips. Like, we don't know. New York won every morning. They're like, he might be here.

Your boy will do it. Zaron? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And he's a footballer too. Yeah. Listen, he sent that tweet out right when the game ended yesterday. Yeah.

He did not have to wait for the PR people. He didn't, you know, Eric Adams was a guy in a row. He was like, oh, we're proud of our champions from Barclay Center. And then they edited the tweet and then like the Madison Square Garden and something like that. So we got some things going on here. We were in a new place. You think professional athletes at that level, that much money, really care about guys, like actors, and singers and rappers recruiting them.

I don't think they do. Shout to Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx. I went there in elementary school because my elementary school had asbestos. So we had to be on the top floor of Harry S. Truman High School for a year. We did not see the sun. We were just indoors.

I put in security cameras there. Did you? I helped my father run the line. There was like a million years ago. And you're right. I kept thinking, there's no windows in this school. There's no windows. It was like a prison.

No, it's a greatness ring. The true greatness ring is the top floor. That's the real mecca. The next video, they're going to have like little kids like, yeah, come to school here, man. We got no windows, though we see a window for a championship. And I'm like a punk kid growing up along out. I'm like, wow, they need security cameras in the high school. Wow, what's going on here?

There was a lot. There was a lot going out in that school. You were laying wire. It was like my father's second job. So I think I might have got $10 an hour. I might say how long ago it was. I have uncles and family members like, who, he was the million. and wire at a young age.

Doesn't get better than that. Don't talk about the athletes. Tell them more about that. What was the price of copper? Dude, 10 bucks an hour? Listen, you can't beat that. You're on the L-I-Double R. Smoking a cigar.

I'm in the beer car. You're the bar car. You're waiting for it by tracks. Like, eh, what's going on tonight? Got to change at Jamaica again. Oh, man. Dog it. Oh, is it peak time?

I try to cost more money at peak. He knows. I guess what I love thinking at the end here. I guess I'm not thinking about a poet A poet by the name of Robert Frost Yes How interesting Who once said in the road not taken

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence Two roads diverged in a wood And Kauai Kauai took the one last traveled by And that has made all the difference Robert Frost Well done

This is now every time you think of Robert Frost You think of Harvey Weinstein That's his legacy And running wire in Howard Truman High School In L.I. Listen, I could call Mike Frances and talk about this for an hour.

I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you understand how good a job like that was? But that's generational, Mike. I dare say that Harvey Weinstein, much like Frank Isola and D's is nice, all familiar with what it's like to be in a room without windows. Yes.

Pablo Torre finds out is produced by Walter Averoma, Maxwell Carney, Ryan Cortez, Juan Galindo, Patrick Kim, Neely Lohman, Rob McCray, Matt Sullivan, Claire Taylor, and Chris Tumenello. Our Studio Engineering by RG Systems, sound design by Andrew Bersick and NGW Post, theme song, as always, by John Bravo, and we will talk to you next time.