The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: The Meeting With Michael Doleac

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

"You guys hate when I say things are uniquely Miami..." The crew set up at the start of yesterday's show that they were going to try to will Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, but since they forgot to do so, Dan starts the show with his fascination with frozen iguanas. Plus, James Harden's trade to the Cavaliers sends the show into a tizzy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Shadow show. Shadow show. Shadow show. Shadow show. Shadow show. Shadow show. Shadow in it. Shadow in it.

So what the hell happened yesterday? Because we started the shadow show. And I'm whispering a little bit louder because clearly it didn't get heard by the only person that matters. which is Dan. Yesterday, we started the show saying, hey, let's all lock in. Let's downplay the trade packages from elsewhere, Golden State, Minnesota,

hype up that heat package. Yeah, that was good, yeah. Explain that Tyler Hero and Kolo Ware are really good pieces to get for Milwaukee. Don't forget the part where we were trying to trick Milwaukee and thinking Ware was good. Yeah. By playing him some more.

We want to trick them. Yeah, tricking them is the key. Honestly, it's the spine of the whole device. But where did we fail yesterday? Where we failed. By not doing the thing that we said we were going to do. We set up the entire show. What happened?

We set up the entire show. Scranton. To be about... This is funny. Stop laughing. Using our voice as a collective show. Jeremy, we don't have the juice. No, we do have the juice. We do not have the juice.

This group of people don't, you know who has the juice? Dan Lebitard. Dan Lebitard. And Dan Lebitard did not walk in here and even address Janis on to Coup. It was Dan's fall. We did great. We talked about James Hardin for 45 minutes before he was even traded. So what needs to happen, what needs to happen now is we need to use our voice in this office.

to get Dan to properly use his voice in the national media landscape. You know when Dan says stuff provocative. It gets aggregated. Voice in it. It goes everywhere. You're damn right, Greg. Dan needs to be voicing it. On behalf of the city of Miami.

Does he have to wear a costume? That's up to him. That would help. It would probably help. I don't know if we have time between the Shadow Show and the regular show to get him in a costume. But we need Dan to be voicing it the way that Mike Ryan voiced it when it came to the Miami Hurricanes and we got them into the playoff. The way that the Boston media voiced it and made sure Damian Lillard wasn't traded here that ultimately led to them getting a title. Dan Lebitard needs to speak on behalf of the city of Miami and go get that whale.

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I'm not doing what you guys want me to do. I'm a journalist. I'm not bought and paid for. I'm starting with iguanas because as much as you guys complain that I say things are uniquely Miami that aren't uniquely Miami that aren't uniquely. Miami. I got to think this plague of iguanas getting frozen and then people thinking they're dead, but they're not dead. I don't think that that happens anywhere in the United States outside of Miami. I told you guys once the story. Pat Riley learned it the hard way when he came out and his

lawn was filled with iguanas. He thought were dead. They were just frozen. It was too cold. And this is what their bodies do because they're not supposed to be here. And he buried them all. killed them. They weren't dead when he got him. They were just frozen and then he killed them. Have you guys experienced this because it makes me sad the number of people wandering around? Some of them are making tacos out of the iguanas

saying that they're the chicken of the tree. Yeah, they're edible. Stop trying to shame Pat Riley for doing Florida service. Whenever the temperature dips, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Association deputizes all the residents of Florida to kill this

invasive species. Yeah. We're encouraged to kill iguanas. It doesn't seem right to me. I have an iguana living in my black olive tree in the front of my house. I see it occasionally. I love that thing. It's like not counting the tail. It's like, you know, two feet long.

Why wouldn't you count the tail? Well, because the tail is just an appendage. No, the tail is part of how it is you would measure the size of an iguana. Why would you not count the tail? Chris is right about this. Why wouldn't you count the tail? The tail deserves to be counted in the measurement of the same. He's counting his legs, he's about four feet.

Not counting his head. Well, it goes without saying that the tail is pretty much the same length as the body. So it's a four foot of iguana. Okay, you just doubled it. You took half the iguana size for no reason. It's not enough that we're killing iguana right and left. Now you're taking away their tails, too? Look, if I had a tail, okay, picture me with a tail, like a dog tail.

I'm closing my eyes, I'm picturing it. Okay, if I had a tail. I have it more as like a dragon tail. What do you guys doing with the tail? What kind of tail? A horse tail? like a stub. Oh, just like a little bulldog, like a little bulldog stubby tail?

I don't know why. A couple of dogs ago, Sandy had a stub of a tail because it was a Puerto Rican dog. And apparently our friends in Puerto Rico have a habit of cutting tails when the animals. Puerto Rican dog? Dogs have races? This was a Puerto Rican dog. There's a lot of Puerto Rican rescues. Willow.

It barked in Spanish. Justice dog is Puerto Rican. There you go. But anyway, getting. back to that, if I had a tail, I'm still five, nine, you're not going to increase my height because I have a tail. It has nothing to do with your height. The guana goes, the iguana does not, it's not measured standing up on its hind legs. It's measured by length, not height. Right. Yeah, if the tail pointed up, then you wouldn't measure the tail as part of the iguana's length.

But it doesn't. The tail, it's, it's horizontal. Okay, the point is, the iguana that lives in my black olive tree, I love them like a pet, I would never kill him. Okay. He's, he's He's cold-blooded. If he falls out of my tree frozen once every three years, I'm going to nurture him back to health and let him live. Jumping Charlie would not like that. Jumping Charlie would kill that thing? Put it on the poll at Lebitard show. Would Jump and Charlie kill that thing? And Jeremy, please look it up for me whether this is something that happens outside of Miami. Probably happens other places outside of the United States. I just can't imagine it happens anywhere else in the United States that you have this grand proliferation of iguanas that seem like they're dead, but they're not dead. And they don't belong here. And symbolically, by the way, in terms of what's going on in America? Like, a lot of people are being cruel to the iguanas. And the saying is some form of, if you don't like ice, get out of here. Look, I don't think the iguanas needed a famous ally the way that you're caping up for them.

These are an invasive species. Do you know what that means? They're not supposed to be here. They have a negative effect on our environment. Just like ice and what they're doing. Talk about living on stolen land. You should not be shaming anybody. that is carrying out what is recommended.

99.6% of the sightings in the United States are in South Florida, particularly in Miami-Dade-Boward and Palm Beach counties. They're also present in the Florida Keys. The other 0.4% are made up of Texas and Hawaii. And you know why that is because all the other places get much colder. And so they freeze with great regularity there and probably get preyed upon. preyed upon by Pat Riley and all of these people in these videos

who are deputized like you're saying that we're all deputized to kill iguana even though it's terrible This is like a nap though right They wake up from this That's correct they're napping and then they're dead That's right they're napping and then they're dead Oh I'm napping oh I'm dead

I don't like iguanas I don't like them either They're creepy they're everywhere I don't like them They look like modern day dinosaurs I love them I love them too Greg I have so many iguanas in my backyard

and they climb up the trees and sometimes it's the smaller green iguanas. Have you ever seen the giant orange ones? They're incredible. They're scary. They're dinosaurs. It's the coolest thing. How lucky are we that we live in a plane

where these iguanas exist? We're lucky to live in nature. Yeah, I totally agree. I'm against killing them. I see Mike's point. Everything he says is true. We're encouraged to kill them. It doesn't mean it feels right.

The Miami Heat are in this building with us. The Elser Hotel is a luxury hotel across from the arena. They take care, very good care of us, and they take very good care of the luxury, the assortment of people who need luxury living in the area. And so because the Miami Heat are doing their 20th anniversary, a great many of the players are in the building. And I ran into the, in the gym, I just ran into Michael Doleac. And it was a bit awkward because I don't actually know how Michael Doleak feels about us. I didn't know beforehand. And I still don't know because he was thanking me

for making people care, but he also wouldn't come in when I just said, hey, the guys would be happy to see you if you came around and he's like, yeah, I don't want to do that. I got to get back to Montana and take care of the cows, take care of the cattle. Was he wearing the cowboy hat in the way room?

Because he wore it all weeks over. No, he was not. Did he say it like that? I don't want to do that. Yes, just like that. In fact, no, in fact, this is how the conversation went. He's thanking me for, you know, what we do, making people care. Feel pretty generic. Did he know what show he was talking about? No, he does because he does because one day he got a flurry of phone calls and he goes to his phone and he thought someone had died because he's like, what's going on? And it's like, no, the lebitur show is just playing

Doleac songs. And I don't know whether he finds any of this stuff funny. And I'm like, hey, well, you know, I thank you for thanking me. And the guy. would love to see you. They'd be really excited if I brought you down there to see everybody. That would be exciting. Yeah, and I said, if you wanted to do that, that would be wonderful. And he's like, I don't want to do that. And so he didn't do it, and he's not

doing it, but it allows us the opportunity before we talk about some of the Yanis stuff, because Winhorse on Get Up is saying, I am seeing action from the Miami Heat and Timberwolves to improve their offer. The best offer I'm aware of belongs to the Warriors, but I'm not seeing a lot of momentum towards Milwaukee

making a Janus move. How is that the best offer the Warriors. How is that the best offer? The only player of any substance that they're offering is a guy who Steve Kerr refused to play for 17 consecutive games. How do the Miami Heat still have better offers to make? Why are we holding back here? Right. We're going to be stingy on the Yannis front. Right. Our teams out there playing hard to get on Yannis, eh, you can't really, you can't have that. It makes no sense. We've whiffed on all the superstars and here comes like one that maybe if Miami Heat fans had their pick. of any superstar in the league, he'd be up there.

This is what I'm talking about. What are we holding back for? No one, they're not holding back. That's the point. No one knows anything. Teams are increasing their offer. What are you talking about increasing their offers? We all know what every team has to offer.

How can we increase? Take whatever you want. There's no increasing. It's a good point. Except bam. Well, that's not going to happen because the way that this really works. That would be increasing, though. To pair the two of them together.

That's not the offer. that's not what Janus would want. Right. And they're friends. They have the same agent. And part of the reason Yanis wants this, it wants Miami, is to play with Bam. That's exactly right. How are the warriors increasing their offer?

They're not offering all of their picks? No, they are. Are you telling me that they weren't offering Kamingo? How are they increasing their offer? Here's the reality is... Can I stop you for just a second, Jeremy? What I'd like to do is I'd like to do this, Janus talk, but I'd like to interrupt it occasionally just with Doleek songs without warning.

So go ahead and do the Janus talk because people do want the Janus talk. And Zaslo's going officially crazy because Zaslo's son yesterday fired Pat Riley. And Mike, you were on that text string with me when a panicked Zaslo saw Minnesota make a small trade and just started shouting into the phone. We're losing him. We're losing.

Minnesota's going to get him. I know it. They either made the move before the move. which is terrifying. Or they did the thing that Miami Heat fans celebrated for 15 years, which is make sure our owner pays less money, please. Well, I was also shouting it into ESPN because it happened while I was doing afternoon drive

on ESPN radio yesterday. And then I also text you guys, I think Minnesota just made the move before the move, and my son, my 17-year-old son, just fired Pat Riley. Because my son doesn't know that... My son isn't old enough, he's 17, so he's not old enough to understand

everything that Pat Riley did for this organization. All he knows is the last 10 years where the heat try and do stuff and they don't get it done. So my son wants Pat Riley fired. Not step down. He wants him to be fired. Return a Doleiac. You know that he's not wax. It's Michael Dolec.

And he's taking it to the rack. Return a Dolea. I think he played with Shaq. That's Michael Doleaq. and he never smokes the crack. Such a strange fan base, this heat fan base. You have high tops at Flanagan's high-fiving each other because we moved Bino Udre to get us under the apron.

Zaslow's son firing Pat Riley with a lack of respect is something he should not allow in his household, but Zaslo is having a little bit of difficulty teaching respect to his kids in the household, and this is a place where it should be taught easily. But Mike also is pretty down on Pat. Riley and has been for years and now he's also down on Janus okay because it's very clear very clear in all of this that Janus and and this happened to Lillard too and the heat caught a break that they didn't actually get Lillard because then he broke but Janus clearly does not want to be

seen publicly as the bad guy and this one is super interesting to me as a guy who is a foreigner has been one of the few foreigners who's allowed to actually cross over and be an American superstar. Like, Yokic doesn't even get to be this. Janus has learned the language and done so much to ingratiate himself to both America and Milwaukee that he's become a transcendent superstar, even though English isn't his first language. That's hard to do. Baseball players have a ton of difficulty doing it. So the quotes attributed to Janus is, what do you mean?

My father's buried in Milwaukee. My kids have Milwaukee on their passport. I don't want to ever leave Milwaukee. He does not want to look like the bad guy, and you can't do something like this if you're not okay with looking like the bad guy. I totally agree. The lone exception to what you say is that there was an incident where he booed the home crowd and gave it a thumbs down.

But other than that, Milwaukee loves him, and he loves Milwaukee. But he wants to leave, and there's no way to hide that. He wants out. Milwaukee's willing to trade him. reality comes in. Bucks fans, deal with it. When he comes back in a heat uniform or what have you, you're going to decide

the reaction you give to him. I suspect you're going to cheer him like the hero he was for you, like the champion he was for you, but that's up to the fans. Janus makes his move. He's entitled to do what he wants for himself, for his family, for his bank account. He's entitled to do it all.

One, two, three, one, two, three, swish. One, two, three, one, two, three, swish. one, two, three, one, two, three, switch. Throw them up till I lose count. I'm going to pass to Michael Doleach. Michael Doleck. He's going to shoot like the defense doesn't exist, like it doesn't exist.

I do agree with Greg. He is entitled to do what he wants. Sports fans are entitled to judge how he's going about this. The guy would rather spend a summer of his prime in Greece than chasing another title with a contender. What does that mean? What do you mean? I mean he'd rather be in Greece than do what is necessary to get himself off of this roster because the move that the Timberwolves made was with June in mind. Not to make a move for him right now. He does not want to be the bad guy. And I think he's overthinking this. He brought a title was the sole reason Milwaukee got an NBA

title. He's going to be a good guy in like six months time. I think he's a good guy the moment he's traded. I don't think, I don't get the impression that anyone in Milwaukee's upset with him. He has given everything to that town. He has been the greatest Milwaukee buck of all time. Let him move. Let him do the thing that every superstar needs to do on the way out. Because he's not doing those things right now. Kareem would like a word. I think Kareem would like a word. Laker. He gets forgiven. He gets forgotten in a lot of these situations. You're not calling him by the name that he played with.

I believe that Kareem also gets looked past in the conversations about who's the best player ever because we insist on doing this to someone who's a human size. It's why we like Michael Jordan and Kobe better. Like if you're seven feet, we kind of disqualify you from the conversation of whether you can be the best basketball player ever because we want it to be about will, not physical size. I thought we don't say that he's the best ever because he's not. It's cool that we're going to do the same thing with Wembe with him, right? Like he's going to be the greatest ever on and off the court like Kareem,

and then we're just going to kind of ignore it. Eyes on the ball. Okay, so the Yonest thing. Golden State, like you were talking about can they increase their offer? No, they can't. The conversation around increasing their offer has been Minnesota and Miami, because Minnesota, more likely than not, has just been offering like salary and is trying. I mean, the reports are they're trying to get four or five teams involved

so that they can spread Nas Reid and Julius Randall and Jaden McDaniels all over the league to acquire picks and salary filler to be able to make this move. They will have to do a ton. With the heat, it's a matter of what we've been talking about it. What salary do you want? Do you want to be able to take guys and make those first round pick trades on your own? And what started this is Golden State, and this has been forever, Golden State's front office talks to the national media.

more than anyone in basketball. They're constantly talking. They are constantly putting narratives out there. They want you to know what they're doing. And so we've known for a while. They're going to offer all their picks. They're going to offer pick swaps. They're going to offer Pajemski and Kaminga.

It was Butler. Now it's green. We know what that is. Now what do the heat in Minnesota do to match that? Because you don't negotiate against yourself. What would you do if I took it to do? Would you see? stand up and try to block me.

Play some defense and I'll back it out. I will try to hit it from the top of the key. Oh, only I can spy with a little help for raise the friends. Yes. Oh, that was good. Local news is in decline across Canada, and this is bad news for all of us. With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void, and it gets harder to separate truth from fiction.

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how much some reasonable doubt. Yes, exactly. Absolutely. But he's still in stagat where he pays more than you do. Stugats. I always like leaving Dan on high. Because he's so vulnerable, I just unfairly fade down the chickens. You just leave him by himself.

This is the Dan Leibatar show. with Stugatz. Zaslo has a running feud with Brian Windhorst. Zaslo has been saying none of these reporters know anything. I do believe that Windy is connected and I do believe that Windhorst knows things. Windhorst was your first ballot into the Tool Hall of Fame. Why are you doing this, man? Is it true or not?

Is it, I mean... He is inaugural member Tool Week Hall fame. He was hanging in the Raptors. We had a whole ceremony and a banner and everything. Why are you doing this, though? I didn't do it. You're the one who hung the banner in the rafters. You're the one who did that, and then you worked for ESPN.

That's not my fault. You did that. You're bringing something back up that I had a lot of anxiety and adjita over when I got a job at ESPN radio, and I had to smooth things over. And because of my past actions, okay, there are consequences, and I had to deal with those consequences. And now we've moved on. I'm in a place with some employees there, like Brian Windor's,

who would be able to get past my past transgressions. And now you're bringing it up again. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Mike Doliac brings all his boys to the yard and his game is better than yours. Damn right. It's better than yours. He will teach you how to take good charge. Wendy says on Get Up, the Miami Heat are out there talking to other teams trying to assemble

three-team packages where they can improve the amount of draft picks and young pieces they could offer to Milwaukee. Same for Minnesota, but I think it's a long shot. they can come up with that package. And I believe that while Mike Ryan wants what he wants and will aggressively call Janus names or tell him that he's doing the wrong thing, I think Mike Ryan and the rest of us underestimate his connection to that city's fan base and how much that audience and that relationship means to him.

So here is Janice talking to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. And I already told you, like he's saying, my father's buried here. My kids have this on their passport. This is a man who is thankful for the American dream, okay? This is a man who has gotten something. Very few foreigners ever get. Yokic is not the star he should be based on his excellence. The reason he doesn't speak English and give you the personality the way Janus does.

The things have worked out for Janus better than they do with most foreigners. and so when he says of Milwaukee specifically, not even America, he says, quote, if you ask me what I really want, deep down in my heart, I want to be a Milwaukee buck until I retire and win a championship here. End of sentence. If that is not possible to happen, if then you realize maybe that's not the case and maybe they're looking elsewhere and that's not what they're trying to do, then automatically you have to be in the plans of what they're trying to do or weigh the other options.

It's normal. I've created more memories in this city than in my country. Like that sentence right there is easy to dismiss when you want Janice to come to your city. Like it's super easy to say, ah, what a coward, doesn't want to look like the bad guy, doesn't want to torch the relationship with his city. But I think he's being honest there. I think he wants out and doesn't want it to look like he wants out. I agree.

he does not want it to look like he wants out, but he wants out. And he's been in the league long enough as a superstar to know how these things go. And I'm getting a little frustrated with the Miami Heat targeting these really loyal superstars. They got to make a bigger mess. First, Damien Lillard with Portland, Portland, and now Milwaukee. Come on, get some dirtbag. Target James Hardin once in a while. They already did with Rozier.

He played with Layner and that the Shire. He's with remounted and put back At times a wide is down the floor That's your bar no more He's only at Don't talk about He's in his 30s He's

He's 31 He's got an incredible body That has aided His spectacular play This is not a small thing Him punting on a postseason It's not In terms of his legacy

In terms of the achievements Yes he's made spectacular memories in Milwaukee. That's not to say he can't make memories elsewhere. And he's deciding, I think I'd rather just not make memories this summer and spend my summer at home. And that's, come on. You're being graded against the greats. Dan's comparing you to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Like, come on. You did that. You said he was the best player in the history of the bucks. And you mentioned the wrong name. While Cinder was a Milwaukee bar. Damn right. Yeah, that's a fine. L.A.W.

Michael, thank you. We'll do it again with you tomorrow. Yes. To tomorrow? These superstars have egos. They want to be talked about as the greatest. Yannis wants to leave a legacy in which he is remembered as one of the goats of all time. And to opt out of a postseason because you don't want to make a divorce look uglier, a divorce that you will be forgiven for literally six months from now.

Like your next time in Milwaukee, you're going to get cheered. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that. We know how this goes. The NBA fan and the American sports fan is conditioned for this. Just do the thing. I know the heat like to keep everything in-house. They don't have leaks. They don't want the media to know what they have going on, negotiations and all that.

But see other teams. Like Minnesota potentially made the move before the move. Golden State has tried. Draymond green last night talking about how he's about to be traded. Let's get that sound before you continue with this point, you continue the point after we play the Draymond sound of him being, you know, a little bit wounded by the business of this because he's a champion and he kind of wants the deal LeBron has where LeBron is saying he doesn't expect to be traded.

And when LeBron says that, it means because he knows it because they can't trade him unless he says they can trade him because there are so few no trade. clauses. But if anyone's earned one, it would be someone like Draymont, but that's not the way this business works. Because when Mike Ryan says sports fans are conditioned to guys doing the thing, nah, you guys all killed James Harden yesterday with a real amount of poison because you don't like it when these guys do the thing. So let's listen to Draymond here saying, I've kind of done some things for this city. I'd like to stay here.

Steve said he's had a chat with you about it. That's when it got real for me. Yeah. He was like, oh, maybe I should be a little more worried about this than I am. I didn't get worried about it, but I was like, oh, okay, yeah, it's interesting. He was like, how are you doing? I'm good, coach. You know, I know all these trade rooms and stuff. It's like, it's weird.

It's like, yeah, it's crazy. And then he's like, how is Hazel handling it? And that's when it got real to me. I was like, I haven't spoke to her about it. It's not something we spoke about. That's when they got real to me. So today on the way to the game, I spoke to my son about it. I was like, yeah, what if I get traded?

It's like, well, why would they trade you? It's like, it's just the business. I've never been traded, but it can happen to anybody. And he was like, oh, I just don't understand why they would do that. What are your thoughts when we talk about the just-the-business? here, Cody, because I thought yesterday, as Zaz and Mike Ryan and a whole lot of people are killing James Harden before the trade, what I thought was most interesting in the middle of that is Kauai Leonard, who never says anything about anything, says, that guy's forever, my boy,

and even if that guy leaves his side and he can't do it anymore with the clippers, he's not hurt by it. He understands more than most how it's a business. You know why? Because Kauai, I'm positive, is hurt by everything that happened in San Antonio. And then he goes to Toronto, another country, wins the championship, and he knows these people don't care about you. You have to get yours, not these, when I say these people, I mean the fans, I mean ownership, I mean they only care about you in direct proportion to how much you help them.

It's not a real relationship that is loving and conditional. It's the most unconditional. It's the most conditional relationship there can possibly be. And Kauai is sitting here saying as the knower of the business, because I'm positive he was hurt by everything that happened in San Antonio. My guess is he would love to still be in San Antonio. Everything would be fine if playing with Wembe, if there hadn't been a mess with the doctors.

And so Kauai loses his running mate. Loses, I mean, he doesn't want Darius Garland. Loses the guy that he can actually play well with. And then he says, no problem, it's business. He understands it. We don't. Like, he gets it. He forgives James Hardin.

This is a business partner of his. He's like, that's always going to be my boy. He's got no problem with James Hardin leaving. We do. I mean, if you don't get it by now with James Hardin, like, when are you going to get it? He does this every time. He knows who he married. I don't understand caping up for James Hardin at all.

He chose this life. I don't get it. I'm just telling you, Kauai did. You don't, you don't. Because Kauai knows exactly what we got on the world. But Kauai's got more involved in that investment than you do, and he seems to be less hurt by it than you are. I'm not hurt at all by it. James Harden picked this.

And the consequences of James Harden picking this type of career is that we get to highlight the low lights. And I would say he doesn't care as much as we do about it because he has been resigned to the fact for a while now that the business part of it, the money part of it, is a lot more important to him than the actual winning part of it. It's not like James Harden decided to leave at the end of the season. He literally quit on them. They've won 15 out of 18 games. He said, I'm out! And like, Kauai's okay with it too. It does come from jealousy.

If anybody had that kind of talent, I think we'd care more. Well, so here's the thing, though. Here's the thing about caring that I find funny. Jeremy, can you look this up for me? Because I know James Hardin was an MVP, but I don't know how many times he finished like runner up or top five. Can you give me just how close James Harden has come various times to winning the MVP of the league? The reputation James Harden has is he doesn't care enough.

It's not humanly possible for any athlete who has ever played to be that good and not care enough about basketball. There's nobody who rolls out of the crib. doesn't care and is just super naturally gifted at basketball. Kevin Durant, you can say he doesn't care. He cares more than you. James Harden, you can say he doesn't care. He cares. You can't be that excellent.

It's not possible, not humanly possible to be runner-up for MVP. No one's ever done it. No one ever will unless you take care of your body and do all the things that you have to do that he won MVP because they had the best record in the league and they averaged 30 points a game. But how many times did he finish runner up or top five? So he finished for eight straight seasons in the top 10. That was every single year that he was in Houston.

So he won six man of the year in his third season. That was his final year at OKC. Then he finished eighth, fifth, second, ninth, second, won the MVP, second, third. And in the year he was traded from Houston to Brooklyn, he finished 13. So he finished top 13 in nine straight seasons. Oh, and by the way, top 10 last year. That's the damage to the legacy of what it is that he's done. People think he doesn't care when it's not possible that he doesn't care. I think it's entirely possible that he doesn't care enough. Like, okay, you want to make the easy argument that he cares? Yeah, he's excellent at his job. He's made a half a billion dollars. He clearly cares about putting the ball through the hoop. But there are other factors. He very clearly, on the spectrum of caring, he is on the low end. And it's pretty evident to everybody. This was a year ago, and this went viral a year ago.

It was a Mavs studio host talking about James Hardin now going to the Clippers. And he calls the future in this one clip. It nails his career note for note. Ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers locker room. If I can talk to you, James, I hope you're taking notes. I'm telling you at advance, you're welcome for the wisdom I'm about to spew. Because, listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me, like Darryl Bore, believe in you.

You wanted a certain coach they brought in Mike Dan Tony. to play a certain style they played it you wanted dwight howard they brought him in and got rid of him you were tired of him you wanted chris paul they brought him in and got rid of him you were tired of him they brought in your old friend russell westbrook you want to go to Vegas on off days they looked away you wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night they changed the schedule and it didn't work and you know what you said i'm going to break up with my wooby not good enough i see the bright lights in new york i want to go there my old pal kevin durant it's going to work the big three and all after one year you won it out.

You realized, oh my gosh, I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed to me. I went back with Daryl Morey. They traded Ben Simmons for you. How did they pull that off? And you know what? You went there and you got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP.

And what did you say afterwards? You said, they didn't hand me the reins. You're the point guard. You were holding the reins. And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored nine points in game seven against Boston. You blew a three-two series lead. so they fired their coach

not good enough you broke up with your guy believed in you again you said the bright lights of L.A. That's where I want to go. Let's see if that works. Listen James, have you ever have those friends who had bad roommates over and over they complained about their bad roommates this guy's terrible, the bad roommate

here. They never thought to be self-aware enough that they're the bad roommate. They're the problem. Hey James, you're the problem. If this doesn't work this year in this system with this team, then you're going to go and point fingers at everybody else, and you're going to go back home, and you're going to start swiping right for another team, and there's not going to be anybody left.

Because James, you're not the beard, you're not the system, you're the problem. He heard that mic drop there. It was great, and he keeps swiping right, and he's going to get his money, and he always does, and it's because he's excellent. He's excellent. The one thing he's wrong is that he said there wouldn't be another team waiting, and there was. It's Cleveland. I think that clip's embarrassing.

I really do. The guy's doing an editorial on a player who plays for another team. It's a Maverick's broadcast. He's right about everything he said, but it's embarrassing. It's just the most negative angle, though. I mean, when I look at James Arden, I see an all-time great whose legacy is bulletproof at this point. Oh, no, no, no, his legacy's not bulletproof.

It came off Teflon there, where an unprecedented studio host is doing an editorial just to take them out. Greg. So ridiculous. Greg. Greg, his, like, the part about this that's fascinating to me is the fact that you really have to work through all of the places where fans and media get most upset at athletes to undermine what should be this excellent of a legacy. Top 13 MVP, 13 straight years, change the entirety of the game. If Trevor Aresa makes five threes in a game, he'd be a champion. I mean, like, you really have, it's hard.

He wouldn't be a champion. He'd make it to the NBA finals and probably lose there because that's what he does. He doesn't win a championship. I have no idea what that dude's name is. And neither does the majority of our audience. I'd say 99% of our audience was nodding in agreement. This dude is cooking. I don't care enough to look up his name, but he is dead on about James Harden.

It is not a Teflon reputation whatsoever. He is a cautionary tale of, yeah, you can chase the money. Yeah, you can be like it's everybody. else's fault. You can demand the trades. You can make it an ugly scene. But at the end of the day, that is going to be your legacy. He didn't win a single title to erase that from his legacy. And I guess if he's even just a rotational player and wins a title, people won't even remember that because he'll remember the 15 years in which he did this every two and a half seasons. Well, this is the curse of every great athlete who didn't win a championship.

If James Hardin won one championship along the way, eight years ago or would have, have you. We're all talking about them and looking at him in a whole different light. I don't obsess over the lack of a championship with any great athlete. I look at them for what they are. He's a guy who chases money, who's never satisfied with a team. That's him. Respectfully. He's still a great player, an all-time great, in my opinion. Greg, respectfully, though, there are plenty of great players that don't have a ring. Charles Barkley doesn't get hit with. You didn't care enough. You didn't maximize your talent. You made a match. didn't come up smallest in the biggest moments.

Yeah, like there are so many famous players in that league that didn't win a championship that it's not held against them the way that it is with James Harden because the talent is there. The resume is there. Clearly, like, the professionalism was lacking. I know, please forgive me because I tend to mix up teams sometimes when I'm looking back. But the James Harden team that lost at home in game seven to Golden State because they went seven of 44 from three. That was the Kevin Durant Warriors, correct? Like that, was that not the...

I thought it was a 73 win warriors. Oh, was it really? So... I think so. Okay, so it was the 73 win warriors?