The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Worst Take Nick Wright Has Ever Heard | Hour 1

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

"I'm going to be the guy who experiences joy around sports..." Nick Wright, who is decidedly losing his rivalry matchups with Pablo Torre and Mina Kimes, stops by to give his take on the Cavaliers' collapse amid Dan's renewed love for sports, sparked by the Knicks' comeback. He also has some words for Stephen A. Smith and his newfound battle with Jaylen Brown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price? Moment. Old Navy's Drapey denim Wideleg.

Hey, y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, What if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.com.

Wayfair, every style, every home. This is the Dan Levitart show with the Stugats podcast. This episode of the Dan Levitart show is presented by Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the crown is yours. It is pretty funny, I think, how fickle some of this stuff is, because what was an all-time choke job if Merrill's shot goes in isn't and it's crazy to think that that is Nick Wright's laughter you hear there I've never heard this happen to Mike Breen on that shot Merrill three-pointer back in and out that one halfway down I've never heard that happen to Mike Breen consummate professional before Merrill's shot goes down right Three-pointer.

That one halfway down. That's the difference between today's news stream, Nick Wright feeding on the negativity of the day, calling the Cleveland Cavs Chokers and coming after Kenny Atkinson. It's correct. If things that didn't happen, happened, the analysis would be different. Yes, I agree. The margins are thin in sports.

And shout out, by the way, to Mike Breen. My take on that is I think he is so, I think he is such a pro that he has somewhere in his subconscious. I'm the Knicks announcer, and if the Cavs hit this shot, I have to give it the full throat and the full enthusiasm, and almost to offset any perceived biases. He preloaded the bang, which is one of the reasons he's just great. I love that crew as a whole.

I think they're outstanding. but sidebar on that. I, and Dan, you know how much I adore you. I hate that, that type of sports analysis. Well, you know, if this thing had, if this shot went in and this shot missed, we'd be saying different things. Yeah, of course. The way to avoid having it come down to one lucky bounce one way or the other

is to not blow a 22-point lead with seven minutes. Yeah, Nick, but the problem is we don't talk about Hardin and Mitchell gagging if Merrill makes the shot that they had nothing to do with. They're sitting there at the top of the key looking at each other. They're both there to take the final shot. Someone else takes the final shot and misses it. Oh, my God. You're going to drive me crazy.

Maybe we're not talking about it in this context. It's like, wow, they avoided total catastrophe. But it is not as if Hardin and Mitchell were passive observers mostly hardened to this utter collapse. Yes, Merrill could have bailed them and Kenny Atkinson out, but that doesn't change the fact that somehow they allowed this to happen with the Knicks scoring no fast break points in the fourth quarter. It was a comeback unlike one I've ever seen where it wasn't that the Knicks all of a sudden got red hot from three. It wasn't that the Knicks all of a sudden got out in transition. It was that every single possession down the court, they found where James Harden was, They hunted him and the Cavs and Kenny Atkinson had a panic attack.

Like that that is what happened and I'm not killing Donovan Mitchell today. I haven't even I haven't talked I haven't killed anybody there. This is the first time I'm talking about this game. But James Hardin deserves all of the scrutiny that he is going to get and everybody loves my stat now that it's now over one out of four of his career playoff games where he has more turnovers than made field goals. He's nearing 50 on that counter. which leaves us for the Cleveland Cavaliers once again

in a very familiar place this summer where their entire plan is, LeBron, can you come save us? Because this ain't, James Hardens, one good game of playoff series, ain't going to cut it. Nick, do the Cavaliers have a coach? Yeah, Kenny Atkinson.

He did a very, very poor job yesterday. I mean, I just don't understand. Like, why is the, why do the Knicks get to dictate what the Cavs defense is going to do every single possession? It's like they, we want to switch. We want Harding Garden Brunson. Okay, sure, let's do it then.

Well, I mean, I think, listen, I don't think the Cavs have the perimeter defensive personnel to really off. It's not like Donovan Mitchell is a great stopper. Dan's guy, Sam Merrill is not a stopper. Schrooter's not a stopper. That was one of the reasons that the Knicks, in my opinion, were at such a decided advantage going into this series. I have less of an issue with Kenny Ackis. not making a tactical adjustment because I don't know how many tactical adjustments there were to make and him not I really think he froze him you after the two

after is it the two minute mark or three minute mark when your user lose it time out to go away whatever it was he had four and it goes down to two and he just let them fritter away he used he it went from a 22 point lead to a five point lead before Atkinson used a single timeout, and it is worth noting that right after he used his one timeout, they had a design play and banged a three. Listen, that was as bad of a playoff loss as you will simply ever see. And it is catastrophic in a way that whatever good feelings you had, if you're a Cavs fan, after round two and after Hardin's game five, you are now staring at, in my opinion,

a quick Eastern Conference Finals loss where you ask yourself, how can we possibly run this thing back and believe next year will be better? Okay, I believe you've been infected almost entirely by being the center of the content machine. Why does it have to be as bad a playoff loss as you will ever see instead of as good a playoff win

as you will ever see? Why can it be that the Knicks took that from them and did that to them? Because Zaz asked me about the Cavs coach. We can talk about the Knicks all you want. That's a great playoff win by the Knicks, Dan. Jalen Brunson is throwing his hat in the ring. If anybody cares about this designation of, hey, I might be the best American basketball player.

Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Jason Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, step aside. It might be me. You guys all wanted that all the Knicks fans wanted Donovan Mitchell. I was the consolation prize and Jalen Brunson might say I'm just flatly by any way you want to look at it the better player and I think the Knicks have a real shot of winning the entire thing because I think OKC San Antonio is going to be an absolute seven-game war and you could see a bit of what we saw in 2016 where the 2016 Western Conference finals were such a slugfest and a war of attrition that the calves are able to slide in the back door in the finals and win a title when they, you know, probably all things considered were not the better overall roster. So I think the Knicks should be over the moon. I think Jalen Brunson is a living New York City legend and it was a great comeback. However, we, and you can say this is the content machine. I'm not quite certain. Normally for it to The great comebacks or individual, the team that had a huge lead that gets walked down,

normally we think of the winner in that context if there was a singular all-time performance on the winning side, as opposed to a collective meltdown on the losing side. Okay, except though what you got from Brunson in the fourth quarter was an annihilation. No, but it was an annihilation of a Hall of Famer that made me feel like they were being, cruel to him, which is not a feeling I usually have for Hall of Famers, what they did to Harden, what swept over me there, I felt very strongly like what the Knicks did was unprecedented. It was. And so, yes, someone has to contribute to that, but when you make it about Atkinson and timeouts,

it assumes that there are a lot of people in the history of Earth who could have withstood what it is that the Knicks just did. And I don't think there are. Oh, I think the vast majority would have, actually. I think you're wrong there. I think what the Knicks just did get stymied if every time they put together five straight points, you thought there is a stop to the bleeding.

It's why timeouts exist. Then why do they have them, Dan? Why would every other coach use them? And again, I mean, and you're doing a very fancy wordplay, which I appreciate, which is what Jalen Brunson and the Knicks did to a Hall of Famer.

When James Harden makes the Hall of Fameer, Fame. How far down the resume are we talking about his defense? Yes, they did it to a Hall of Famer, but not a Hall of Famer who's going to be in the Hall of Fame because of his perimeter defensive prowess. It's because of his scoring and passing, but go ahead. No, I just hate the idea that you would make that game about timeouts, like that you would make it. I didn't Zaz asked me a goddamn question. I told him. I don't deflect. No, I, my, my number one takeaway was not about timeouts. That is a sub. That is a sub. That is a subheader of why the collapse happened. There's multi-layered reasons as to why the collapse happened.

Primarily, I would think, is because, yes, the Knicks were excellent. The calves got a little loose. The garden crowd got insane. Jalen Brunson was unconscious. All of that led to what is an unprecedented collapse. Like that's... Comeback. It felt more collapsed than comeback. Sometimes. things feel like a sick 28 to 3 in the Super Bowl felt more comeback where it was there are a couple minor moments you can pick out where the Falcons didn't do great things but that was mostly Patriots brilliance the multiple of the Chiefs double-digit playoff comebacks felt more comeback this felt

collapse. This felt like if they had simply just played competent basketball for 60 seconds in the final seven minutes, they escape with a win. Or if Merrill had made a shot. Or if Merrill had made a shot. Yes. Or Mobley for that matter. Or anybody on the team. Or anybody. Make a free throw. Or anybody. All time out. Yeah, but I mean, I don't, I don't view sports that way at all. And if your season is coming down to, how do you view sports, though? What are you doing there? Because all I'm going to get, I'm going to take the new lane now here,

late in life of I'm just going to be super positive sports guy. I'm going to try and take the lane. I'm going to try and see how it is I do amid argument culture, just being guy who comes in and tries to spread sunshine. No, and that, listen, and that's, I appreciate that. And I think there is, there's a lane for everything now. There's a, you can't, you can't fill up the lane of, you know, veiled threats to superstar athletes.

That lane's taken. So being super positive guy I like. But I think it is a flaw in, if your game come, you've mentioned James Hardin, Future Hall of Famer, Donovan Mitchell, Future Hall of Famer. And yet you're talking about missed threes by Evan Mobley, who's a nice player but not a great shooter and Sam Merrill who is the ninth best player on the team or eighth best player on the team that is that's a flaw by the Cavs it's a good job by the Knicks making sure those are the guys getting the shots but I'm not I just don't like I'm just curious Dan yesterday I apologize I didn't hear the show yesterday how much time did you spend while we were all understandably bowing at the all

tour of Wemby saying, you know, if he just misses the 32-footer, he finishes with 29 points and they lose. Oh, I said that's a bad shot by Wembe. Yeah, he spent like the whole show. That's the worst take I've ever heard. It's a terrible shot by Wemby. He made it. It's a two-for-one, Dan.

He's a crazy person. I don't really buy that it was a two-for-one. However, it wasn't a two-for-one. It wasn't. No, the ball bounces off the rim. There's going to be 20 seconds left. Like, from where he's taking the shot. No, I agree with you, Dan.

No, I agree with you. I don't really buy that it was a two for one. That part, this idea that Wimby saw that it was the time score situation, that part I don't buy. And a two for one also is like, never mind. Doesn't matter. There's big news from Zinn, America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Three new flavors are here. Live boldly with black cherry.

Make your day sweeter with peach. Or go tropical with vibrant dragonberry. You've never experienced flavor like this. And they're all available in both three and six milligrams. Which one are you grabbing first? Find Zinn, America's number one nicotine pouch brand at a store near you. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

So my schedule gets a little chaotic this time of year. Most days I'm here at the Metal Arc Studios and then I'm heading straight to another broadcasting or hosting gig. And especially in this Miami heat, it's insane. And not the Miami Heat. heat, but the Miami summer heat. I've been trying to keep at least one healthy habit consistent, and that's why I've been bringing Kachava's new travel packs with me. It's one less thing I have to worry about, which is great because I'm already spending enough mental energy, figuring out what shirt is acceptable to wear on camera or hosting or on the show that I'm not going to get

made fun of for. So I just throw one in my backpack, and I've got an all-in-one nutrition shake ready whenever I need it. It's packed with plant-based protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, greens, Electrolytes, and more. So even when my schedule is all over the place, I know I'm getting something good in. It tastes great. It's easy to take anywhere, and there are no fillers.

No nonsense. Take your daily ritual with you. Go to cachava.com and use code Dan for 15% off your first order. That's 15% off your first order. That's Kachava, K-A-V-A-V-com. Code Dan. For 22 years on this show, we've debated the greatest athletes of all time. Who's the goat in football?

Who's the goat in soccer? Who's the goat in hoops? One thing that we all know is Dan's the goat of finding the worst possible take. But there's another kind of MVP slash goat that doesn't get enough credit. The friend who knows to show up with enough Miller Lights, plus extra ice. Because they just know. The one who already has seats at the bar when you walk up, that is amazing. Miller time MVP.

I've been on this show long enough to know that Dan is going to make everything about his feelings and Jeremy is going to push back on whatever I just said. But here's something nobody on this show will argue with. Miller Life is the summer beer. The original light beer since 1975. This summer, recognize your MVP's. We all have that one friend who makes every game better. Now it's time to give them their moment.

Head over to Miller Light's social media pages to learn more about being a Miller Time MVP. You can pick up some Miller Life pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Dan Lebatardtardt. Baker Mayfield tearing up Tampa Bay, 38 for 45. Stugats.

Shred them! This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Upset of certainly sports fans and. on the sports front offices, and now it seems via Dan Levitard, maybe even some sports media, that really feel like, you know, that we shouldn't, baseball standing should not be wins and losses. It should be overall season run differential. And NBA, and honestly, let's take it to a further, forget run differential, because there is some randomness in that. And in the NBA, instead of actually counting makes and misses, it should just be shot quality. Like you guys play for 48 minutes

Whether it makes or misses is random like that. McHale Bridges or I don't know was it bridges or shamit the three that bounced three times That that shot was worth less shamit. That was worth less than Sam Merrill shot so at the end of the game Let's get the Ernst & Young together and do some accounting and see who really spiritually deserve to win. I mean, I hate it. I'm not joking, Nick. When I tell you, I would have been good with all the rules being changed. And as soon as the shamit shot dropped, we end the game and say the Knicks have won game one. Thank you for coming.

We're going to change the rules on how all of this was done. This is not meant to be Cleveland's night. Let's just finish this up. Let's play for Nick the sound from yesterday of the OKC Thunder call that I believe to be better. I heard you guys do this. I believe it to be better. then do you believe in miracles? And I want to play this sound for you.

This is the OKC Thunder Radio Team. It's the biggest shot of the season. One of the most memorable shots ever taken, even though it was a low efficiency shot he shouldn't have taken. And it was not celebrated in any way by the OKC Thunder radio team. Wemba Nielma has a left wind castle. Retrelling Wemby, lean in 30 foot three to tie is in there. 26.3 to play.

It's in there. In all seriousness, Dan, because of the power of this radio show, radio show, YouTube show, streaming show, all of it, and you're a wonderful social media team, and that your guy's discussion of that got amplified. You know that silly meme of the guy with the escalating size of dominoes, and it's like, this is the first domino and the giant domino? Do you think your guy's segment on that OKC announcer was the first domino and the final big domino was Mike Breen's premature bang? Where it was like, I'm not, I am not going to be underwhelmed with excitement if the great Sam Merrill, who hasn't been talked about this much since his high school graduation, it makes this shot. I do think, because I would imagine Breen's probably, yeah, that meme, that thing. I would imagine Breen has, I don't know Mike really at all, but I assume you do and I assume he's a fan of the show because I assume everybody is, that he's like, I'm not going to be the OKC media team.

If Cleveland hits this shot, I'm going to be impartial fair announcer and I'm going to give it the full bang treatment. Merrill, three-pointer, in and out. Never did that happen to him. I wonder if he's embarrassed. Let me, let's call Mike Breen and just ask him if he's embarrassed. I do want to, I do want to find out. Hold on, don't do that. Can you do that when I'm not on the air?

Because I don't have a good enough. If he's not listening right now, I don't want him to think I was poking fun. There's only a handful of broadcasters in the world that like, I really want that if my name ever comes up, the person to be like, I don't know him, but he seems like a good guy. And I don't want to blow that with Mike Brees. Okay, that's fine. We'll wait for you to leave. I'm going to tell people that Nick Wright is the host of FS1's First Things First. and it is a really great show and he's really great on it.

What's Right with Nick Wright is something that I prefer only because it most represents what Nick Wright was as a radio person with a lot of room. Television can be confining and stuff and so he has a lot of room to do what he did yesterday. And I urge you to check it out when he was talking about Stephen A. Smith. He is respectful of the people in this business who are great and before him. and it feels like it costs you at least a little bit to be this kind of critical of Stephen A. Smith, but I have been embarrassed on behalf of journalism when he comes after the Jalen Browns of the world with these kinds of threats. And I thought while your analysis was good, you missed one thing, which is, tell me.

You're very competitive, and Stephen A. Smith, I think, is more competitive. And all he wants to be is bigger than everyone in sports and journalism. He wants to be bigger than CoSell. And so because he makes more money, actually, and owns his own shit than Jalen Brown does, he believes that the second best player on the Celtics isn't worthy of CoSell. He doesn't, hold on. He doesn't make more money than Jalen Brown. Yeah, he does.

Oh, no, yeah, he does. With both contracts and the ownership of all his stuff, yes, he does. Yet with both contracts and the ownership of all his stuff, Stephen A. Smith is absolutely someone who views himself as above Jalen Brown sports and journalism now. Listen, I can't, it feels even though I referenced it yesterday, maybe a little tawdry to get into what the actual, you know, line item finances are. So set aside what the actual, you know, your W-2 at the end of the year looks like.

That last point you made is exactly correct. And that is the point that I was trying to push against. You are, it is without a doubt that the view is, you know, I. I am, that Jalen Brown needs to be careful when talking about me because of our places in the sports ecosystem. And the point that I was trying to make is I think that is absolutely utterly ridiculous. And I think that it is a mistake by any of us in this, in this industry, to not recognize that we are, are accoutreman to the big event. And the reason we can have as good of lives and make as much money as we do is

somewhat of a testament of our own ability or, you know, the work ethic, all that. But the bigger gravitational pull is it is a sign of how overwhelmingly popular the actual games, the actual. athletes the actual again Teddy Roosevelt the men in the arena actually are that we as the carnival barkers on the outside can gain our own level of fame celebrity or wealth where our only utility is discussing them so I think it is a I first of all I just think he's wrong in that if that's how he feels second of all even if he's right I think there is a level of I it

embarrassment to Dan if in 20 years I am looking down barrel at a camera and saying Deuce Tatum watch your back when talking about me I'll commit Sapuku like I don't know what to tell you like I there is a level of the these are much much younger famous athletes and the the it's been a decade of veiled threats dating back to the KD thing, and I just don't understand it. It pays. Nick, it pays. He's rewarded for it. Anytime he engages any of these guys, it's better for him. But it distorts. Like, this machine absolutely distorts the self-importance of the people who have the microphones. And he wants to be president of the United States. Like, sports is now beneath him.

The journalism is now beneath him. He fancies himself as someone who's above these people. He has the platform at Disney that makes it okay for him to threaten them with the threat of doing journalism to them. Well, that's the other piece of it. The other piece of it that I found a little curious. And again, you're right. At the front end, I said, and I will say again, and I have for years defended Stephen A's path to where he is because he did all the jobs. He did real journalism. and he back then and now works as far as hours a day as much as anyone in the business.

He wasn't handed any of this shit and I really genuinely respect that. I don't so much love the idea that he has all this seemingly useful and noteworthy and reportable information that he is just sitting on as compromise rather than sharing a, with the audience. Like he implied, he knows things about the Tatum and Brown's relationship that he's just sitting on, well, if that's the case, the audience would love to know that. But to just have it in your back pocket as leverage over Jalen Brown's Twitch stream strikes me as patently absurd. Well, it's embarrassing. It is. It's embarrassing. He shouldn't be doing that. He shouldn't be allowed to do that. It has no resemblance to journalism to threaten people

with journalism, like to extort them with journalism. I'll do it. I'll report. It just, I don't know why he's doing that beyond. It pays. Like, it absolutely pays to get all of these guys feuding with you. Yeah. The other reason might be he saw your Pulitzer winner do it to me about supposed gambling stories he had about me. And he was like, maybe that's the way you do journalism. Speaking of your Pulitzer winner, shout, I haven't been on here since then. That is sincerely awesome, not just for Pablo. Also,

for you guys as a whole and the whole company. And I think he just also won something else yesterday. And then Tuesday at the Emmys, he's probably going to win a few more things. And that's before we even get to the awards he's going to win for yesterday's episode where he broke the story that it turns out Oz the Midslist isn't actually magic. O's, O's, O's. Thanks for stepping on my joke to correct the pronunciation. You would have killed the shipping container for that.

I hope so. My goodness, gracious. You're right. You're right. But I really, no, I really enjoyed. I really did it. I do enjoy. And the, the congrats were sincere, this a little less so, of Pablo's intrepid journalism yesterday of, hey, this other guy's done a five-hour YouTube video about this.

Let me interview him. And it turns out magic's not real. I appreciated it. I appreciated. He won a national. Wait, you mean he can't read minds? You mean Joe Rogan is easily duped? You mean on the view they have a pre-show meeting?

Holy shit! Where's Woodward and Burns team? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. We've gotten a lot better at talking about our mental health than we used to, right? People are more open about it, conversations are happening, and that's a really good thing. But asking for help? That still seems to be the hard part. Better Helps, 26th State of Stigma Report, surveyed 2,000 Americans.

And if it revealed that 85% of Americans believe getting support is wise, yet 74% say society discourages people from doing so. Think about it. Most of us believe it's the right thing to do, but we still worry about what other people might think. Maybe the best way to change that is to make those conversations a little bit more normal. Better Help supports fully licensed therapists in the U.S., and they handle the matching process for you. You fill out a short questionnaire, and if it's not the right fit, you can switch your. at any time. Don't let stigma

stand in the way of support. Start therapy with BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash dLB. That's BetterH-E-L-P.com slash D-L-B. Tony, you know that moment

at a party or a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it well. It's usually when I show up. Everybody goes crazy. Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it. But it's because Tony usually walks in with Quervo. I'm walking like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Quervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people. It does. You usually take the credit for it. But again, it's the Quervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it quervo. Keep it quervo, baby.

You can always tell when a new business trend shows up because suddenly everyone starts talking like they invented it. Right now it's AI. Every company says they have an AI. strategy, every consultant says they have an answer. Meanwhile, most businesses are still out here trying to figure it all out. And that's why there's NetSuite Next. You probably already know about NetSuite, the AI-powered business management suite, trusted by more than 43,000 customers. It securely connects your financials, inventory, commerce, HR, and CRM into a single source of truth. But NetSuite Next takes it even further. AI is built into everything you do. It services custom insights

throughout your day, AI agents help solve problems and handle routine work, and when you have a question, you can simply ask it like you're talking to a colleague. NetSuite is customized for a wide range of industries so it supports the way your business works. Whether your company earns millions or even hundreds of millions, it's time for NetSuite Next where your business meets AI. For the first time ever, you can try NetSuite Next for free. If your revenues are at least seven figures, go to netsuite. dot AI slash D-OB built for every industry ready for every boardroom. NetSuite. com. Don Lebatard.

It's all about me. Stugats. Wee. This is the Dan Lebatar show with the Stugats. Pablo won a National Magazine Award yesterday. He's so proud of him. Yeah, but he's also lashing out and he's got me vulnerable because I did step on his punchline, but he's lashing out because Mina and Pablo have been kicking his ass lately.

No. Oh, listen. Look at this guy. I have to read you. Wilde is going to get so mad at me, but I don't care. I have to read you a, I'm breaking a confidence. I'm reading you a text from Wilde's right after Mina won Jeopardy. A million dollars for charity, by the way. Tell us when you've done that. She's a legend. She's a legend. And when I've done it, I'm going to give the same answer I gave in the argument with Pablo. The first time I tried, probably. But it's not the point. So Mina's TV show NFL Live is nominated in the same category Sports Show of the Year, daily sports show of the year, as first things first.

The Emmys on Tuesday. Text from Wild to me Saturday morning, unprompted out of nowhere. If NFL Live wins the Emmy on top of Mina winning Jeopardy and a million dollars for charity, on Wednesday's show, we are leading with. did Nick Wright's championship window close? That's a good joke. I'm sorry I stepped on yours. A fine admonishment from you.

See you later. What's Right with Nick Wright is the name of the podcast. Host of FS1's First Things First is the first is the television show. You should check that out as well. So if you did not see what he did, though, on Stephen A. Smith on What's Right with Nick Wright, I urge you to see it because it's an interesting deconstruction on the cotton candy contaminants that end up making it so that Stephen A. Smith's entire worldview gets distorted by the competition of I want to be the modern day co-cell. How do I, for legacy purposes and forevermore, how do I get remembered beyond where and how? Jalen Brown will be remembered. Like that's what the fight is for somebody who is

supremely competitive and I saw the shipping container react when I said that Stephen A. Smith is making more than Jalen Brown and while that is not the only way to keep score it does seem to be the way that a lot of capitalists are keeping score when they align their politics with their pocketbook. Stephen A. Smith is making $20 million from first take a year. He's making a about that from Sirius XM and he also owns his own stuff, owns all of his own things and has total freedom. So if he doesn't make exactly what Jalen Brown is making, he is in a stratosphere where the greatest of the people paid for speaking about sports are paid as well as the people who play sports. Tom Brady is presently being rewarded more for talking about sports than he was for playing sports.

The economy of what we do around here is such that our show, much smaller than everything Stephen A. Smith is paid. Our show is just simply worth more than a great many athletes that you consider great. Think about what we do every day. Think about what we're doing in here and what it's worth. Because we've made it so that the content about sports is as valuable as the athletes who play sports. We've made it so the streaming services need all of this stuff. And so, Stephen A, when he squares up with Jalen Brown, doesn't even feel like he's squaring up with an equal. He feels like he's squaring up with someone who's beneath him.

And the thing that Nick Wright is complaining about is that's wrong. Like, we are the court jesters and the carnival barkers and the people who feed at this trough because those guys are so popular, because those guys are doing the hard things that fans celebrate and want to pay for. and we get the leftover money. Yeah, Stephen A. Smith is his own unicorn, though. He wants to be controversial. He wants to be the guy with the big ego. He wants to be the guy looking at an athlete saying,

I'm bigger than you and I'm better than you. And that's part of why people love them and hate them at the same time. But if these players, and in this case it's Jalen Brown, they say something back at Stephen A. Smith. Like a guy like Stephen A. Smith on television is talking about Jalen Brown. and his play or commenting on something he said, which is Stephen A's job. And then if someone like Jalen Brown comes back and says things that he did, should Stephen A not respond? Content is king, and he has to respond.

He just doesn't have to respond by elevating things to threats. Right. Like, there are any number of ways that you can respond that take exit ramps before the one that will garner the most attention because you're escalating things. Look, man, CoSell playfully fought with Ali. Stephen A just fought with LeBron in a way that was just asinine. Like the whole thing was asinine. But you can only do that if you think you're his equal. I'm just learning that Stephen A accused Jailen Brown of this.

But I think Jalen Brown's using Stephen A here. And he's using that platform and he's using what he is lamenting because Jalen Brown seems to be going through something this offseason, whether the whole evil plot at the end of the day is to force his way out of Boston in a kinder way than we're used to. But I think he knows exactly what he's doing. You think making a mess publicly with Stephen A is a way out of Boston?

Or just the other stuff where it's weird Twitch stream behavior? No, the first stuff. I think Jalen Brown has gone into this offseason after enjoying a season, which he's already said was his favorite season where he was undeniably the man because he didn't have to deal with Tain him. And I think he likes being the main character.

And I think a way to keep his name, because his name has been in the news stream in ways that we're not used to, even well after his team is eliminated. I think this is a conscious, smart effort by Jalen Brown. The place that, you know, that makes sense. But I think when Jalen Brown then started going after Stephen A, I feel like he was deflecting there, where instead of looking back at the things you said and taking responsibility for that being why people were coming after you, instead he made it about Stephen A. Smith. So I get it where the first part can be, all right, he's trying to get his way out of Boston.

But if that were actually the case, would he then actually be upset at people getting mad at what he said? There are plenty of people that go at Stephen A. And Stephen A will tell you that he goes out of his way to avoid them because he doesn't want them to get the attention. Maybe the end game here spends for Jalen Brown is he just likes being talked about in ways that he grew accustomed to you for the first time this season. But can it also be that he's just pissed off about the way that he's covered because he doesn't like it, because he's a smart adult, and that's not how we've usually covered people? Would it be both? Well, but I think he speaks on behalf of the athlete army when he gets pissed off at the idea, why is the media allowed to talk about us this way? Like, I see it when Stephen Jackson goes after Mad Dog, even though if I were to say to you, in their respective fields, who was better at what they did?

champion Stephen Jackson or Mad Dog, mad dog would be better at what he did in his respective field. You have this tension happening between both groups and Jalen Brown on behalf of his group. It's saying, hey, journalists, stop behaving this way because Stephen A's the avatar for us. Right, but Stephen A doesn't need Jalen Brown's help to go viral. Jalen Brown just went viral and continues to be a part of the discourse because he is now publicly sparring with Stephen A. I think he kind of likes it then.

Isn't this also just a lack of understanding from the player in this spot where they say, why are you allowed to cover us and talk about us this way? Part of them covering you and talking about you this way leads to the massive TV deals that pays now, because we talked about this a couple days ago, that the fans are not paying your salaries anymore. It's the TV deals that are paying your salaries. And like him doing this, this is a major reason why you make the money you make. I think another factor in all this is that the adversarial relationship between media and athletes has grown exponentially because now all of the top athletes have a podcast.

They have a voice to say to everybody that they don't agree with what has just been written or said about them. But that's part of what happens with the division. Guys, you have seen, okay, sports radio had a lower standard than anything else in newspapers and television. and it ate everything else up with its acid. Athletes do not like being covered the way sports radio covers them, but it used to be the first take was the worst and most embarrassing show on ESPN. Now it's the only show on ESPN. And so when that happens with the corrosive result of sports radio has eaten all this up,

the 29-year-old who's an adult, who's smart, who's proud, who's excellent at what he does, says, don't cover me like that. Like the way you're covering me, I believe, would be a bit. objectionable to a proud adult who had accomplished what Jalen Brown has accomplished to get to where he is. Doesn't it come with the territory? I mean, sports media is as old as sports being televised. And I think that there's a general understanding. Jalen Brown kind of highlighted that, that speaking to the media is a part of his contract. All of this helps. Them fighting helps. It helps ESPN. It helps Stephen A. It helps Jalen Brown. It helps the NBA.

Yes. The answer to your question is yes. Does it come with the table? territory. The answer is yes. The answer to this question is also yes. Is it worse than it's ever been with the media as athletes are more sensitive than they've ever been about it? Yes. And so that's the evolution. This is the front lines and the top of the food chain on what the war looks like when it when it's this when Stephen A. Smith could look down from a mountain and say, Jalen, you're using me for clickbait. You're you need me here. That's everything that's happening in in this war and it keeps getting uglier and ugler and you tell me how it serves Stephen A. Smith or Jalen Brown to be two black people fighting in public at this time about this

stuff as the divisions in this country make it so that it foments go ahead and have the powerful black people, brown people, women have them all fighting each other. Don't you think it's funny that the athlete lament as old as time has always been like you don't know what it's like to play this game? And so now they go to content creation and still say that to content creators. Totally. Who never hit them back with, you don't know what you're doing. And the only reason you're getting anywhere is because you're invoking the name of a content creator. The plane between the white lines only seems to apply to the sports.

Totally. And they can come over and have a billion failed podcast and just keep towing the company line. It's just funny. And plus Stephen A. Smith is saying to himself and sometimes out loud, I am playing the game. I'm playing my game better than you play your game. That's one of the things that I find so interesting about the athletes flooding this particular space. When you come to fight with Stephen A. Smith, what you're doing is playing his game, his way on his turf, and he's better at it than almost anybody is.

It's a losing proposition for the athlete to go on his court, just like it would be a losing proposition for him to wear that jacket and dress shoes and try to play Jaylen Brown on his court. A few things lamer and more predictable than an athlete going on a podcast to tell a podcaster he doesn't know how to play sports. Going for two when you're up by five. Switching the zone when man isn't working. Oh, and building your new stadium in the state your team actually plays in.

In sports, some things just make sense. You know what else makes sense? Drinking Yeagermeister shots. Ice cold. Drinking it any other way would be like, punting on Thursday. or letting your worst hitter bat first or like going for two when you're down three with a second to go. It wouldn't make any sense. So don't let the team down when it comes to Yeagermeister.

Drink it cold. I don't drink it at all! Yeagermeister, damn, that's cold. Drink responsibly. Yeagermeister liqueur, 35% alcohol by volume, imported by massed Yeagermeister U.S. White Plains, New York.