The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - GOOD FOLLOW - Napheesa Collier is Back! Is there an MVP Favorite? Can the Liberty Run It Back? & More

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Today on Good Follow: Ros & Logan react to Napheesa Collier’s return from injury and what this could mean for the MVP race. Is there a clear favorite for MVP this season? Then, they break down how A’ja Wilson and the Aces clinched their playoff spot this season, and if New York Liberty fans should be nervous with their performance this close to the playoffs. Then, Logan shares her NWSL pick of the week presented by DraftKings. Finally, Ros and Logan play Blind Ranker with this week’s most shocking social moments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Wherever that is, because the only thing better than a great playlist is a great trip. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Book direct and save at bestwestern.com. You're listening to Draft Kings Network. Hey, what's up, y'all, welcome to Good Follow Show, presented by Draft Kings. I'm Ros Gold on Wode, and that is Logan Hackett. What's up, Logan? How you doing? I'm great, actually, in beautiful Boston right now, playing another LPJ.

I know, they love me so much the first time. They're like, come back for a second, and I said, okay, I'm going to win. So, yeah, currently here, super excited. But how are you? I'm good. My girl is a pro over there. On my end, I'm pretty good. I don't know if you've, I don't know if you've noticed.

I don't know if you've seen and the diamonds are dancing. I don't know. I, you know, I just feel like I need a gesture more these days. No, I'm really. That is so good. I'm having such a wonderful. day. Last night, our broadcast team for the New York Liberty was honored with championship rings from the 2024 championship season with the Liberty. And it's just really awesome to get this

ring. And to be a part of covering this historic team that not only is so talented on the court, but just is a group of incredible human beings. And the organization is so top notch in A1. And as someone who is from New York. I'm from Queens. I grew up on the New York Liberty. My mother took me to the games. You know, I say it all the time. I had the lobo jersey, Teresa Weatherspoon. I went to the, she came to camp, all the things. This ring means a lot to me. I am honored. And I will cherish it for the rest of my life. So I just really want to thank the Liberty Organization for the honor of, you know, having a ring and being able to represent them on the on the broadcast. So very cool, very cool. That is absolutely amazing. Congratulations, A, but B. Love that for you and the

liberty and that they're honoring literally everyone who is a part of that championship. It looks beautiful. Thank you, boo. It's got my name, my last name on it. Oh, my gosh. But beyond rings. And actually, rings and things is on the mind. It's a race into the playoffs right now.

And we've got a great lineup discussing all of the just fascinating parts of this finish to the season. First of all, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Queen Feed, Nefisa Collier, is back. And actually, is there an MVP favorite anymore? I don't know, this race is tightening up. Are the aces for real? Hey, guess who else is back?

Ding, ding, ding, ding. Brianna Stewart is back. And the Liberty, they fell to fifth in the standings. Are we worried? Can the Liberty run back the championship? That's all we're going to be discussing on today's show and more. and I'll do my best to not only just be wearing my Liberty cap since I will be literally wearing their championship ring.

I love it. Just going to talk like this. Yeah, no, it's like when people get engaged and it's like all of it, please do that. I would love to see it. But don't forget, y'all can catch new episodes twice a week, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. And as always, thank you all so much for subscribing, commenting, liking,

and following our socials. And make sure if you aren't following our socials, please. All right. you ready to get into it oh okay with a teaser later later yeah a little let's get into it let's do it logan let's do it so an iconic move happened when fee returned i mean they did a press release and it just said i'm back with a crown emoji i mean absolutely iconic and right up fees alley but it continued when her first game back against the fever she dropped 32 points nine rebounds twisses, and two steals.

First of all, what do you think of her first game back? Bravo, the game needed you. They missed you. We missed you, Fee. I love the return, the cutciness of the crown emoji and Queen Fee, and I love the team leaning in. I absolutely think a 32.9 rebound performance is a statement game. You know, Fee's competitive.

Don't, don't, you know, she's a nice, she's nice, but she, that was absolutely Fee fighting back, fighting back, you know, and just saying like, listen, y'all, I didn't go nowhere. This is still my crown. And actually from the eye test, like if you even just watch the highlights of be playing, her first game back was a thing of beauty.

Like it's just such a combination of simple, smart, efficient basketball. All she's doing is just reading what the defense gives her and taking it. She reads, she moves gracefully. She's strong. She's conditioned. She competes. She scores every single place on the floor. I thought she looked awesome in her first game back.

Now, question for you. Last week, Paige came back, dropped 44 points. And this was amidst the whole Rookie of the Year race. After that, Rook of the Year race, done. Nobody else is in question. Is this the same type of case for Fee, but with the MVP race? No, I fear. You know, this was something I wasn't ready to say, you know, maybe last week.

But I am officially at the point right now where I can say, I don't think that there is a favorite in the MVP race now. I actually think the WMBA MVP race is a full-on horse race. at this point. And I think it could go either way anyway. You know, so I think, like, there's a lot of people. There's a couple of people in the conversation, the MVP conversation. But the race itself is like, Nefisa Collier, Asia Wilson is on that tail. And I think Alyssa Thomas is still in this thing.

But if you really want to zone in on like the heat, the galloping finish into the finish line there, it's Nefisa Collier and Asia Wilson. And, you know, look, we are at the point that people were talking about. where, you know, at first, when the aces were putting some of that winning streak together, you were like, man, it's tight. Like, the aces could actually slide to the second seed. And, like, if they do that, and Asia's propelling them, like, you've got to pay attention. And, like, here we are.

The aases are sitting at the number three seed right now. Asia Wilson has them on an 11-game winning streak. 11-game winning streak. The aces have now secured a playoff berth. They have clinched it. The only other team to do that was the link. So the first team was the links. And somehow this ACE's team is the second team in the WNBA to clinch a playoff spot.

And they're looking that number two seed right in the face. Their next game is against the Atlanta Dream. So it's going to be a straight up fist fight for the second seed. Those two just literally playing for it. And I believe that the Aces have the tiebreaker also over the dream. So like, we could be really looking at this conversation and saying, well, Asia and Fee, you're looking at narrative team-wise both their teams are one and two in the league you know you think about where the aces once were they were at 500 getting beat by 53 points to the links and you were just like man it's the aces you know they had a nice run it's done and now they've rattled off 11 straight and here we are and now I think the door has been opened like you can look at this battle Asia and fee Asia's averaging 23 points per game, Fee's averaging 24.

Fee leaves the league in points, but it's one point away. Asia leads the league in blocks. She's second in rebounding. She rebounds more than Fee. You know, both are great on both sides of the bowl. Asia's played eight more games than Fee. That's significant enough

to open that door. It's not enough to say Fee shouldn't be in the MVP race. Sit down, y'all. But also of significance, Fee is averaging career highs. In so many categories, in points, assists, in blocks, field goal percentage, career high and three is made. So I just think the race is very close.

And even Alyssa Thomas, if you think about what she's doing, she leads the league in assists. She's a forward. It's not close with any of the others. She just came off a 16 assist game. She's either stacking up or flirting with triple doubles every game. And if you think about how much carrying she did for the Phoenix Mercury, especially early in the season, it's just as much. carrying as you could argue as an Asia Wilson has had to do for her aces. So I think it's a horse race. It's very close. And I've no

idea exactly which way it's going to go. These games are going to be very fascinating to see how it plays out. And also for the links, right? All these other teams and the standings need every single game right now. Everybody's fighting for positioning at the bottom for that eight seed or at the top for like the two through five. The links are in first and it's pretty much done. Right? So at some point, what does that mean for fees play and what the links decide to do? And could that even affect the MVP battle if like, you know, fees resting or something like that? It's going to be fascinating to see how it plays out. So I kind of want to stick on Asia for a second. I mean, she has been carrying the Aces. But as they've been on this 11-game win streak, you could tell that the rest of the aases are heating up. So how is the rest of the team kind of come and met Asia's level and pretty much get them to the positions that they're in right now? Yeah. First and foremost, this ACE's team goes as Asia Wilson goes, full stop. But they've also risen to the occasion, especially during this win streak. I do see growth from this team that at one point, you know, Coach Becky Hammond was challenging their heart and their effort and even their head. And like it feels like they've gotten out of some of the mental struggles that they had. And people know what they need to bring to the table right now. Like if you call out a few different people, Jackie Young has been a all season.

and on both ends working, on both ends of the court, and offensively doing a great job creating for herself, creating for others. She can really create enough space for her own shot. And as far as playmaking, it's her. Chelsea Gray's playmaking is way up. And I always say on this show, she stirs the pot, right? And you've got role players like Melissa Smith and Kirsten Bell

who are always bringing like a certain level of bounciness and energy. And you've got some shooters emerging. Look at Dana Evans hitting threes or Leigh and I, the rookie, spacing for them. And look, Jewel Lloyd looks comfortable coming off the bench. She looks happier, more in her zone and place. That's positive for the Aces, who also

during this win streak have been defending better, have been rebounding better. They didn't rebound that good against the Chicago Sky, but who is these days? Like, the team has absolutely risen to the occasion as well. The rivalries, the bands, the upsets, college football is back.

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But with that, I want to touch on the liberty because they've kind of had the opposite effect here. mean, we did see Brianna Stewart return to the court after missing 13 games due to injury. Yep, flashed the ring. But in her first game back, she got the dub with 19 points and five rebounds. However, during her absence, the Liberty were five and eight and fell the fifth in the standings. There's only six games remaining in the regular season. It is getting down to the wire. What does this mean for the Liberty that Stewie is back?

It's a huge deal that Stewie's back. Stewie is back and it's so big for the Liberty. Like, first of all, in her first game back, I thought she looked really good. 21 minutes. She was in a minute's restriction, 19 points, five rebounds, one block. And here's what Stewie brought. 11 for 13 from the free throw line. Stewie gives the liberty an option of production when they need something, when they need a response.

She's so competitive. She's going to find a way to get it done, either to get a bucket or to get to the free throw line. She is a stabilizing force. It's not just offense. Stewie really helps this team defensively. And right now they need all hands. hands on deck, on defense, on rebounding. And, you know, look, they're starting to get more healthy.

And we saw the first looks of it in that game against the sun. And Stewie's return, we saw it. They didn't, we saw the Stewie, John Quelle, Jones, and Emma Misman lineup. They didn't start that way. They're bringing Emma Misman off the bench. But at some point during the game, they can get Uber big, Uber versatile, Uber just talented on that court and had they had Stewie

Johnquell Emma Leonie Phoebish at 6-4 Sabrina Yonescu at 511 was their smallest player on the court so you saw that size and because of their versatility and IQ and just the unselfishness

of the Liberty team I think that that group and different combinations will work if they have enough time to actually practice. Yeah and to be honest I was watching game last night and I was like wait that sounds kind of familiar I heard you on the call last night but it was kind of a scary game I mean my heart rate was up I'm sure yours was too

the Liberty barely beat the sun with that are you worried at all for the for New York if this is how they're performing right before playoffs chow the Liberty squeaked that game out they squeaked out when I say woof whoosh I'm not worried about the Liberty though I actually feel like the defending champs are kind of a wild card type of team at this moment right now just because they've spent so much of the season injured and in random rotations. They've used 14 different starting lineups. Not to mention on top of having low bodies, they've been on the road for a tough road schedule. They haven't practiced. They just haven't had a chance to even work together as a team. So there's slippage. There's new players

who have come and who haven't practiced with them. And not to mention like players because of the lack of bodies have been playing too many minutes. And so there's like fatigue on the courts. there's all these things. And so in the face of that adversity, as the Liberty are now starting to get more whole and more healthy, the potential is huge, right? And so the main thing is, can they get enough practice and reps and minutes on the court to understand one another and, you know, kind of unwrap all the options that are possible? And if the Liberty want to repeat as champions, they must get serious about rebounding. This is one of the keys for them. rebounding. Right now they're leading the league in giving up

second chance points. They've got to box out. There's no reason why fully healthy they cannot be a great rebounding team. And they've got to really keep working for urgency and effort through putting a full four quarters together. They've only played the whole season in spurts. They've really struggled to put full games together. And oftentimes those spirts of mistakes happen with taking care of the ball. So I would just say like it's going to take some meshing. It's going to take getting serious about rebounding and then putting it together for a full

game. I think the Liberty can run this thing back. Ooh, period. Y'all, you heard it right here from the source with the Liberty Championship ring. So don't sleep on what Roz just said. But y'all, coming up, I make my Jack King's pick of the week. We'll be right back. It's Rona Week. Now until Wednesday, rain or shine, you can always be building yourself a better summer.

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So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes. Light the path to a brighter future with stellar lenses for myopia control. Learn more at SLR.com. And ask your family eye care professional for SLOR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. welcome back to good follow today's episode is presented by draft kings draft kings the crown is yours it is now time for the draft king's pick of the week presented by draft kings this weekend orlando pride takes on gotham fc at home and i cannot wait for this one despite being on a bit of a downward spiral Orlando is currently sitting in fourth and only three points back from second place, so this is

going to be a big game for them. They're chasing their first win since June and will sadly have to do it without their top goal score Barbara Banda, who is out for the rest of the season. With that said, my player to watch here is Marta and along with being an absolute legend, she is the leader of this team guiding them through adversity and comes clutch at the perfect moment. Now on the other hand, Gotham is looking to climb the ranks and secure playoff spot currently sitting right on the edge tied for eighth. Without a doubt, the one to watch here's Esther, tied for first of the golden boot race with 11 goals in 16 games. I have a feeling this is going to be a very close one, but I'm actually going with Gotham to find a way to take home the W. This segment is presented by

Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Crown is yours. Yes, it is time for a little announcement, y'all. Cue the tears. I will no longer be with Ross during this show, but to the happy tears you are going to see me much more online on social so make sure to follow all of good follow social channels because that's where i'll be of course still tap into the show because ross is amazing but of course with that said my last no no no logan logan logan we're going to give flowers we go can we good follow show family y'all we started this in january well we relaunched it in January together like the photo shoot the everything the Miami open the trips we've taken like all the different things we've done together Logan um we've clearly know there's an age gap

here as big sis I'm so proud of you um thank you so much how you've showed up of how you've helped build this show of how much you've grown and um hello you're still absolutely a part of the good follow show family she's going to be basically running our social content or like a big or being a big piece of that. And I'm very certain that we're going to have you be part of different segments as you're able to, my love. So just the foundation you've set for the show and being co-hosts alongside you every Tuesday and Thursday

or whenever it is that we do this show. I know I speak for our whole viewership and family when we say thank you. And we are so excited to see you continue to grow and whatever else you do. Oh my God. Thank you so much. I've obviously learned a ton if I don't know.

This was like my first time ever doing a show. So I learned so much from Ross, the goat in the game. Absolutely amazing. But, y'all, with that, I want to do a segment dedicated to social, trending social moments because that is just so up my alley. So it's time to play a little game called, oh, no, Logan is leaving, but happy tears because she's still going to be on social. And it's up my alley because it's all based on social.

So we had five social moments from the past week, and we are going to blindly rank them to decide which one are the most shocking. All right. So the first one, this past weekend, Angel Reese was seen holding back Chicago Sky's head coach, Tyler Marsh, as he got ejected from the Skyverse Sun game. That is true. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, Tyler Marsh just got ejected from this game. I know, I know, and I can't tell if it's more. Like, is it shocking because, like, it took this long in the season?

Is it that Angel's the one restraining him? Is it that maybe just at this point he's just had enough? You know, it's been a rough season in Chicago. But the team actually is putting together some very competitive games here down the stretch. I don't know. So one is most shocking, Logan? Yes, and five is the least. I got to say that somewhere in the middle ones.

I don't know. Yeah, I'd agree. We could honestly put it at three, right in the middle. It's put it at three. All right. Next, we have breaking news from Tuesday morning. Actually, I was getting ready, and I saw it audibly gasped. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey are engaged.

I absolutely saw that too. And I actually was thinking about it. I said, does this belong on Goodfollow show? Is this woman sports? I mean, Taylor Swift is not a female athlete. Travis Kelsey is a male athletes, but I still feel like this is woman sports. Yes. I actually thought about making a video for my own channels, too.

And I was like, if I had the time, I absolutely would have done it. But I also, I mean, I'm not even a Swifty, but I was kind of calculating in my brain, when would this have happened? Like, was it recent or have they been keeping it a secret? Oh, wow. I didn't even think, you know, you've got your conspiracy hat on conspiracy. I mean, it's up to them when they want to reveal it to us. But I guess also since your question is like, how far on the shocking scale, is this even shocking?

Like, no, but yes, at the same time. did you think that they were just going to he was just going to get to continue the date to date the world's like one of the world's most richest successful wonderful women for years and never have to propose to her hello hello i say we wait is it a five worthy is that the most shocking the least shocking the least shocking so you don't think this is shocking no because when you put it that way and also considering that they've been dating for two years i mean i would love to have her ring on my finger as well. Yeah, I guess it's not that shocking.

I'll put it at four. Yeah, okay, let's do four. All righty, for the next one, Sid Colson, oh gosh, this was amazing. Went live on Instagram after her ACL surgery. And Kaylon Clark took to the internet to troll her. I'm dead. Art, but it makes sports too, is a great account.

Like, they do a great job. None of that shocking to me that Sid went live from her operation bed, like, Yeah, it's almost five-worthy. I will say, though, it is shocking how Caitlin has been using her humor in the comments lately. I mean, if you go on to Sophie's post or even some of Lexi's, she'll just drop a random bar in there and it's kind of like chuckle-worthy. Do we have a five? We don't have a five yet, right?

No, put it at five. Yeah, let's put that one at five. All righty. So for another, Trinity Broadman took a red eye after her NWSL match to watch her boyfriend Ben Shelton play at the U.S. Open. How shocked are we with this moment? Obviously, two days off, have some free time. My girlfriend took the red eye from California last night to be here, so.

Yeah, we're here for the long haul and yeah, just looking forward to it. Aw, it's adorable, but it's not shocking. It sucks that we have a one two spot left out, left open. Right. We might have to, we might have to be Taylor Swift up. Oh, yeah, we allowed to move stuff around. I don't know, it's your show.

This is your segment. Yes, okay. Let's make this easier on ourselves. Let's move Taylor to two. Two. And then put this one at four. This one of four. Okay, let's see our last one.

Okay. For the last one, we are the only ones who are blind ranking. As this past week, the Stubbos blind rank the WMBA Power Straits. Hilarious. Ranking Power Straits, twin. Okay. I'm going to set the tone. I'm going to go out of the gate with Sabrina.

Two. Asia. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just go three. Rakia. Five. Sky. One. Oh, feed. Fee. Dang. So you got Fia phone team. No, I messed up. Then they had, they did a blind ranking and they had a reorder theirs where they had Fia's the number one power, power straight.

They put her one. Amazing. I actually do think that sticks at one for most surprising, but also most entertaining and most value. That's why the stud bruds are dope because they're having conversations at the forefront of this thing that, like, no one else is doing in a way that's really fun to consume. Absolutely. And I feel like they've been on a little media run. I feel like I saw them on a few other social channels. And it's just so much entertainment.

And they're authentically themselves. I mean, they don't even think about having to be themselves. And that's the best part of it. But, yeah, I think they're the only ones that could, yeah, they're the only ones that could rank power straits. Absolutely. But this was dope. Thanks for the first segment of like, what is this, social games and content and all the things coming from you, Logan. Yes, pretty much covering every woman's sport and just talking about what's going on.

I'm really excited to do it. And I have a few ideas already brewing up in my head. So I'm super excited and going forward, as y'all just heard, you can catch me on the Goodfollow social feed. And again, I'm super excited. Awesome. Well, that'll actually do it for our show. We gave you the news. We gave you a little bit of a teaser and a feeler for all the things coming up in the Good Follow show ecosystem.

More to come. We dropped Tuesdays, Thursdays. This Thursday's episode is about to be very special. We have a special guest coming on the show. So definitely tap in with us. Follow, subscribe, all the things. We're presented by Draft Kings and from Roz to Logan from our Good Follow show family. Logan, we love you.

And we're out. Bye, hell. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.