The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - Luka's Return to Dallas

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Jason McIntyre filling in for ColinThoughts on Luka Doncic returning to play the Dallas Mavericks for the first time as a member of the Los Angeles LakersWhat to make of the cryptic T.J. Watt Instagram post Guest: Ric BucherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome to the herd on a beautiful Thursday out here in Los Angeles. Me, Jason McIntyre, still in for Colin Coward. Now, I haven't talked to him in a couple days. I don't know these scuba diving, parasailing. I don't know what he's doing in a clear blue water area that I'm not allowed to reveal. But I'm joined by Alex Curry. Alex is so fired up for today's show. Oh, my gosh.

Come on. Last night was magical. Like that was... What happened? Did you have a hot date last night? What are you talking about? No. Oh, Luca Don't know.

Like, Luca, like, I felt like that was his official arrival to the Lakers. Like, best game. We saw the tears, which was... I started crying. I was like, oh, no, you did not. What is happening? I cry when I see other people cry. I cry at everything.

Like, I'm a very emotional human. I actually vomit when I see other people vomiting, which is similar. Yeah, it's not great. No, it's not. Let's not. Let's not start the show with vomit. Let's start with the tears, because the tears were flowing, and then the points were last night in Dallas for Luca Donchich.

My man. You know, this is real. Honestly, guys, I'm not like a star-struck individual, but I did run into Steph Curry a couple years ago. I was like, Steph, I got to get a photo. You know, there's only a handful of athletes I do that for, and Luca Donchich is right there at the top. I am so in awe of this guy to watch him crying pregame back in Dallas last night,

sitting on the bench, and then he comes in and just starts dropping threes, folks. It was a phenomenal event last night in Dallas. You don't see this often, and I'm so happy for Luca Donchitz. You guys know I'm a Laker fan, obviously, but watching him watch that tribute video, and P.S., there was a lot of skinny Luca in that tribute video. He has put on some weight, no doubt about it. We'll get to Nico Harrison and why he traded him shortly, but then Luca just comes out. Look at him cooking.

Step Back 3 AD. How you like that? It was a master. class from Luca, 45 points. His, I guess you'd say his best game as a Laker. It's only game 27, folks. That's like one-third of a regular season with the Lakers. Luca was cooking all night.

Lakers get the win. And I believe last night's game was pretty much a blueprint for what we'll see in the playoffs. Luca early, set the tone. He's fresh. Nobody can guard him. I'm sorry, even though he's heavier than he used to be, nobody can guard Luca Dantzich. And then, you know, Luca gets his rest.

LeBron comes in late as the closer. 14 for LeBron and the fourth. Lakers inch closer to that coveted third seed. And if you look at what Luca did in the first half, he had 31 points. The math starters at 35. Luca was phenomenal. And after the game, here's Luca talking about the tribute video

and his return to Dallas. So many emotions. When I was watching that video, I was like, there's no way I'm playing this game. But, you know, all my teammates have my back. They were really supporting me, so I really appreciate that. Folks, it was an event like we haven't seen before in sports.

Okay, most of these guys who leave their franchises do it willingly, voluntarily. I want out. LeBron departs Cleveland from Miami. I'm taking my towns to South Beach. But when he went back to Cleveland, the vibe was hostile. The environment was tense. It was like, oh, this could get ugly. Let's not anybody do anything stupid.

And it was just like not a great atmosphere. Okay. And then Kevin Durant, right? Starts his career in Seattle and then Oklahoma City. And then he decides I'm out. I don't want to be here anymore. And it was a smart move by LeBron to go to Miami. We agree.

It was a smart move by Kevin Durant to leave OKC for Golden State. Many of you disagree. I think that was a genius move by Kevin Durant. I totally agree with it. I've defended it for years. But when KD went back to Oklahoma City, he was met with venom, bile, anger, all the cupcake nonsense started by his frenemy Russell Westbrook. Folks, this is something we haven't seen before.

Luca was met with an applause the second he walked into the arena. You saw Lakers' Luca jerseys on Mabbs fans. It was a crazy setting. And again, I mean, I can't even think of anything across any sport where we've seen this before. And for Luca to thrive in that environment after crying, I will say I loved that JJ Reddick had them give the take foul late in the game with about 90 seconds left, just so they could sub out Luca, and then it was a round of applause, right? Every, there's a whole arena standing ovation for

Luca. He gets to the bench and LeBron is leading the Luca, Luca, Luca, like Austin Reeves, LeBron, the whole bench, they're fired up standing up and the arena's backing Luca. This is Dallas. It was just a, see, we haven't seen that before. I don't know that we'll see one of those again. And we'll get to Y shortly, but I want to hear, I want you to hear JJ Redick talk about everything that encompassed Luca going home. This is great. The moment with the tribute video and him sitting by himself and getting to actually live that and live in the moment and allowing himself to be vulnerable and his teammates support. Some of his teammates got emotional. Some of the coaches got emotional. It was a beautiful moment.

I thought the video was great, but I think just his ability to then go perform, lights turn on, he's teary-eyed still as we walk out on the court for the tip ball. To have the emotional resolve to then go put on that kind of performance, it's superhuman. That's a great way.

JJ Redick is so good, by the way, as a Lakers coach, love him. And I saw an interesting stat from ESPN. Last night was the first time Dirk Novitsky attended a Dallas home game since the trade. Okay. He went to Luca's first game with the Lakers. Okay. He's now, this is his first game at a Dallas at the arena since they dealt Luca. What does that tell you?

And this is the other angle I want to get to. I talked earlier this week about I'm a risk taker by nature. whether it's moving my family across the country, quitting my job to start a website. You know, obviously I like gambling. I enjoy going to Vegas. I don't know what word I would use to describe my sports gambling habits. I like prolific, but, you know, not every season is winning. I'm a risk taker. And I think a lot of people in this industry are you kind of got to, you put yourself out there.

I'm on national TV talking about how I love Steph Curry and Luca Dodgers. Like, this isn't normal behavior. Nor is what Nico Harrison did in Dallas trading Luca Dundi. Now, we drilled down on this in the morning meeting, trying to figure out, like, A, can they rebound from this? And B, like, where do you go from here if you're Nico Harrison? And I started thinking about it. I was going to have my morning donut, but it didn't show up in the dressing room this morning. I don't know.

I guess they forgot it. You know, I've been needing some sugar energy to get fired up for the show. Cowherds on magnesium. I've been using donuts. And I just wonder if Nico Harrison has such a bad spot right now for him. himself. There were fire Nico chants throughout the arena last night. It's like, Luca, Luca, we love you. Nico Harrison, fire Nico. And then they have the video of him in the tunnel just standing their stone faced like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do to dig out of

this hole? I don't know that they can get out of it and stop with the, hey, Kyrie's going to come back from the ACL, maybe by the All-Star break next year. It's going to be fine. Folks, they've got Kyrie and AD as they're like, they're nucleus. Those are two guys who are often injured. They've played together for 25 minutes. That's it on the court since the trade. And I started to have this moment of clarity,

and I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute. Nico Harrison has been a big swing guy. He took a big swing for Kyrie, and it worked when he was opposite Luca Donchage. Then the next year, he goes out and gets PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, and everybody's like, I don't know about those guys. they haven't done anything. Those swings worked. Dallas got to the finals. Then he took a swing he didn't

need to shipping Luca to the Lakers. Lakers fans, by the way, haven't been this excited about a star coming to town since Paugasol was gifted to them. Didn't we get the Statue of Liberty from like Paris or something? Gosh, I probably but it felt like that's what their teams are just handing the Lakers stars. Here's Pau Gossol. Here's Luca Donchich. And I don't know if Nico has any way out of this. This morning, I'm sure he's looking at some of the videos. I'm sure he's could say I'm not paying attention. There's a video of Mark Cuban when the fire Nico chants are happening. Fans near Mark Cuban have a camera on him and Mark Cuban's just like what if what have I what has happened since I left this organization as the owner. I mean,

he looked like an emperor of Rome who would like step down and now Rome's got this new emperor and it's just not going good at all. I mean they were in the finals less than a year ago. and I keep coming back to this. When you are a big swing guy by nature, and now your last swing is starting to be compared to the Babe Ruth trade, which is, you know, over the last hundred years in change in sports, consider the worst trade ever. Okay?

I think the Red Sox were cursed for like a hundred years. You have to sort of wonder, how does he get out of this? And it's not going to just be, oh, Kyrie's coming back. And I started to look at the salary cap and the draft pick. Dallas does have three draft picks in the first round this year. They're obviously not going to be great picks, but you start to wonder, who was Kyrie's guy who followed him to Brooklyn? Kevin Durant.

And I wonder if Mr. Big Swing, Nico Harrison, hey man, we got to do something. Do you make a move in this offseason for Kevin Durant? Now, you could be compounding your mistake. You know, us investors, we love compound interest. Nico Harrison is the gambler who's down big, and decides, hey, can I get the title to my car? Let me toss that in there. Here's my watch. And he's just trying desperately to dig out of a hole. I wonder if he makes a big swing year and goes after, say, hey, Kevin Durant.

Hey, KD, you just want a hoop? We got Kyrie, we got AD. Can you come on down? We'll give up everything not bolted down. And all the draft picks give us Kevin Durant. They need to do something. Because at this point, this has to be a franchise low for the Mavs since, you know, the Roy Tarpley days back in the 80s. That was a mess. I won't even get into it. But I've always been a Luca Donchitz fan and to see him cry on the bench

because they traded him. It's very clear, people. He did not want to go. I'm not saying he didn't want to go to the Lakers, but he loved it in Dallas. He was Mr. Dallas. There's videos of him with the cowboy hat on, howdy partner.

Like, he had embraced his new city. They loved him. And then one guy or the owner, some debate as to who was driving force. But it was pretty clear like, hey, let's get rid of Luca. And I get it on some level. He does look heavier than he did in his first three years

when he was cooking everybody in the league. But folks, historically, this is going to go down as one of the biggest screw-ups in NBA history. I mean, you can deny it all you want. If Luca's able to stay healthy, he's on track to be a top 10 player all time. That's just a fact. If you look at the numbers,

he is on track to be a top 10 player all time. Now, obviously, will the titles come with them? We'll see. I think they're going to the finals this year. I think the Lakers with Luca, LeBron, Austin Reeves, they're looking at the number three seed. And I'm sure you guys saw what else happened around the league last night. Golden State Warriors lose at the buzzer.

And now in the play-in, it's almost like the stars are aligning for Luca and the Lakers. So, Alex, you cried last night as Luca. I'm an emotional person. And you, when you followed that whole trade situation, and you saw how heartbroken Luca was and shocked Luca was with the trade situation, you could tell how much it meant to him. And when you see like a big guy, an athlete,

who is all the media around him allow himself to get that emotional, how do you not get emotional? And it's just, again, like you were just talking about it. It's not Nico, it's the ownership. I have like a way more conspiracy theory, like, idea to this whole trade situation. Like, it's not, like, you don't just, it's not his weight. It's, it's not like his play. He's one of the greatest, like, futures and players right now in the NBA. Like, I think it's ownership and they own casinos and they want to build a casino complex

and you're not going to be able to do that. Dallas isn't letting them do it right now. It's not working out. So you can't, like, threaten to move the team or try to get what you want if you have a championship team and one of the best players in the NBA on your team. Like, follow the money. Like, that's where my eye is. here. Like it's, they're not trying to win. Like, it was trying to do the opposite situation. But just to go off the Lucas situation, there was a really cool stat I saw last night. And he's only the second player with a 45 point game for and against the same team in the NBA season. Since Wilt? Wilk Chamberl. Yeah, I think I saw that. Only other, only other player to do that. The staff just notified me. We have sound of the fire Nico chance. And I get fired up for chance,

guys, I don't mind leading a chant on the sideline for my daughter's volleyball team. Here's the fire Nico chance from last night. That is, it's insane. Do you know how awkward that is when everyone around you knows, oh, man, I'm standing next to the dude who 25,000 people are yelling fire Nico. He was the one who had to make the call and make the move. But there's some debate over that. Ultimately, it comes from ownership.

And you heard Mark Cuban, like, when he was asked about it years ago, he's like, you'll find me getting a divorce. from my wife before I trade Louca. I mean, I get it. That's why it feels like an ownership situation. Who think the owner was behind it. I don't know that the owner's smart enough. He's just a money guy. Nico loves Kyrie, loves AD, has

known them for years. I don't want to get two kids. So you're saying he's a money guy. They own casinos. They are one of the richest owners. Well, they're going to be down nine figures, Alex. According to an ESPN story, their merches down. That's nothing. The ticket sales are down. They want a casino complex. That's the biggest thing that they want. The sponsors are bailing on the Mavericks.

That's like chump change. Chump change for them. Oh my gosh. This is bad. They want to move locations. Yeah. So coming up next year on the herd, did one NFL superstar give us a sign yesterday he could be on the move? Not good news for an AFC team.

That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, it's us to Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. Morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves.

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And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down. on everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

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You are now entering the no bull zone sponsored by credible great rates with none of the bull. Speaking of bulls, uh, T.J. Watts kind of a bull, right? Gosh, I love that guy. He's a, he's an animal coming off the edge rushers in the league. If Max Crosby of the Raiders is watching, sorry, I think TJ was just a little better. I need to keep saying that because we got Raiders guys on staff who are like, Jay Mack, lay off. When you tell me to do something, I'm going to do the opposite. Anyways, anyways, T.J. Watts's a really good football player, man.

I'm the idiot who last summer, hosting the herd for Colin, came on and said, you want some hot takes for the summer? I would trade T.J. Watt? I would start over. We don't have a quarterback. We're going nowhere. Trade them. Get a hole before you got to pay him before he gets too old, before he gets injured again. Steelers fans did not like it. And then the season came, and Justin Fields started good, and Russell Wilson was cooking. and all I'm getting is just an avalanche, a torrent of,

you're an idiot, Y, oh, you are, poop emoji, you don't know anything, you don't know ball, all that stuff. Okay, fine. So here we are in April of 2025, and if you follow T.J. Watt on the gram, he posted a cryptic IG story. And here it is on the screen, T.J. Watt throwing up the deucees. Peace. What does it mean? Does it mean I'm out?

Does it mean, hey, what's up, people? I haven't checked in in a while. I'm alive. What could it mean? Well, I don't know. It could mean a lot of things. Could also mean that he's pissed off that he doesn't have a new contract. And Miles Garrett just got paid.

And I looked into this last night, folks. T.J. Watt is grossly underpaid as an edge rusher. Okay? Some of these guys making as much as him or more than him, he's like fifth or sixth highest paid heading into this season. And just so happens this is. his final year in Pittsburgh. So he's angling for a new contract.

This would not be new ground. We've seen wide receivers, running backs, quarterbacks, everybody. Kyler Murray scrubs his Instagram. By the way, we're doing a Kyler Murray topic later. You're going to love it. Kyleor Murray scrubs his Instagram, basically disassociating itself with a team. He gets his new deal. Michael Parsons angling for a new deal.

Miles Garrett asked for a trade. Got his new deal. Trey Hendrickson and Cincinnati. Oh, that's a mess. So T.J. Watt wants a new deal. So, you know, we're batting around some ideas on the Steelers. And wouldn't you know what? Their last playoff win came in 2017, January of 2017.

They beat the Dolphins. And their quarterback was a gentleman named Matt Moore. I just hired him to do my taxes for this upcoming season. Okay. Matt Moore. That was who the Steelers last beat in a playoff game. They haven't been a legitimate Super Bowl contender in about 15 years. I love T.J. Watt. He's a menace off the edge.

They should have traded him a year ago. You guys know one of my favorite quotes about rebuilding. Hey, when's the best time to rebuild last year? It's like when's the best time to plant a tree last year? They're late to the party now. And Pittsburgh kind of up the creek without a paddle. Guys, have you looked at what Watt is going to command? He's going to want $30 million.

So the idea of trading him, hey, do you want T.J. Watt? Sure, we're not giving up a first and then paying him $30 million a year. No way. So now the value is down. Listen, I beat up the Cowboys with this yesterday. At some point, these teams have to get smarter and realize, oh, this is coming down the road. Let me nip it in the bud. I've got to not wait until the end because when you wait, you end up paying more. And I just, I don't know that Pittsburgh has it easy out here. You don't want to anger T.J. Watt, who I think clearly is the most popular player on the team. I don't think his trade values sky high, and you guys are going to scoff at that, but I'm sorry, that's the reality. The economics are, I'm not giving up the number three pick or the number eight pick or whatever it is, and then I've got to pay this guy $30 million a year. That's financial suicide. So I think the Steelers are kind of stuck here. They're waiting for Aaron Rogers.

They're trying to get T.J. Watt done. Mike Tomlin, hey, maybe you should have left last year instead of come back to this mess. The Steelers right now, could be, could be. Right down there with the Browns in one of the toughest divisions in the AFC. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, let's start New York with your jets, right? Mustly. Yes, yes, we do, because they signed Justin Fields to be the new starting quarterback, and it created a union, reunion with his former Ohio state wide receiver, Garrett Wilson.

Now, Fields and Wilson, we're 20 and 2 with the Buckeyes. And Justin says it's good to be back together. It's awesome. Of course, you know, we play together in college. And, you know, when I saw him, it's really just like the old day. So I don't think our relationships get to beat. So, of course, I'm definitely excited to play with him, guys like Ruck and, you know, Josh Myers. So I'm excited for that.

And, of course, things that can that we can do to help get each other better. just, you know, get back on the same page as we were in college. Now, this is a make or break situation for Justin Fields, right? Because it wasn't the right fit for him in Chicago. He kind of got a little bit of a window chance in Pittsburgh, where he went four and two when he was starting, but then got benched, obviously, for Russell Wilson. And we've seen this happen before with other first round pick quarterbacks. Sometimes they just need the right fit of a different franchise.

coach and they can kind of turn their career around. We saw it with Baker Mayfield. We saw it with Sam Darnold. Do you think Justin Fields is your guy that's going to be able to do that with the Jets? Can I go maybe? Is that a cop out? I mean, I feel your heart's been broken in the last two years.

Two? Try like 10. Well, I'm just saying with Rogers. It was really, really high and it just got absolutely smashed with expectations. So now you're tempering your expectations. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. What do you think?

Six and a half? Is there a win total? No, it might be five at a half, actually. I mean, when you have that kind of chemistry, though, with a quarterback-wide receiver, like that's already a positive kind of going into a new situation. Okay. I...

There is breaking Jets news, Alex, is going down right now. Let's go. Alan Lazzar is willing to take a pay cut to stay with the Jets. Oh, my gosh, huge development. Hey, man, it's something. It's something. So I'm just going to ask you. Okay.

Quarterback on his third team in three years. What does that tell you? Well, like I said, like we've seen this with a couple other guys. Wasn't Baker like that, too? Baker, yeah, because it was Browns, Browns, Rams. There might have been another team in there for, Carolina. Yeah. He was there.

Yeah. And he just, you just need the right. He was the number one overall pick. Heels was like 15. It doesn't matter. Still a first rounder. Yeah. Sam Darnold.

Another situation. We really didn't see him actually take off until last year with the Vikings. You're right. So there is, there is a possible. possibility here if it's the right coaching franchise mesh team chemistry. The OC is from Detroit. He was a Ben Johnson guy. Now, I don't know that he's ever called plays in his life. I won't even try to Voldemort is his last name. I'm kidding. That's not his last name. It's something similar to that. Oh, I was like Gary Potter here? I wonder. It's kind of a black box. I don't know what to expect from Fields.

He could be really good like you're saying at James Donald or he could just, you know, be Justin Fields who has. I don't know. Positive? You leaning on the positive side here? A winning season? Are you going with a winning season? Let's start there. Nine wins?

Do you think they're having a winning season? I would be shocked if they won nine wins. Okay. Well, let's move to Indy. The Colt signed Daniel Jones to compete with Anthony Richardson for the starting quarterback job. Now, despite that, Indy had a private visit with Texas quarterback, Quinn yours.

Now, we still haven't seen a full healthy season from Anthony Richardson. Daniel Jones is another one where he's looking to kind of prove he can still be a starter. But the Colts have a lot of question marks. A lot of question marks. Now, they have draft picks.

Their first round is 14th overall. Second round is 13th and the second round just 45th overall. And Ewers isn't, it's not a bad option to like, I don't think you can be too rich at the most important position in the Annabelle,

especially if you don't know for sure if you have your guy yet. And, you know, Quinn's been to the college football playoff in back-to-back years. He's had the success. He's probably a second-round pick. That would be a good second-round pick. You're high on him, aren't you? I like Quinn. Yeah.

It's weird. This was a five-star kid who was like the, I think it might have been the number one recruit in the country. Leaves early for Ohio State. He was the first, like, big N-I-L guy. And then leaves Ohio State goes to Texas. It's a little cocky. Remember he had like the mullet. By the way, I will have a bullet.

I love mullets. I'm going to be getting a mullet soon because my son is in middle school and like everybody has a mullet, so he got one. Yeah, they're cool. And so I'm like, I'll match your mullet, so I'll be getting one here in the next month. I haven't talked to. Hair yet. Ruth. She's not committed to it, but we'll see.

So I don't know. I kind of like the Coltiss here and I kind of like Quinn Ewers. I'll leave it at that. Okay. All right. Well, let's end in Cleveland here. Brown's owner, Jimmy Haslam. made some shocking statements earlier this summer when he finally took ownership of the team's

decision to sign to Sean Watson and admitting the 230 million guarantee contract was a mistake and Watson has two years left on that deal and responded to the critics. You know, the performance comes when, you know, your back against the walls. It comes better because you kind of got to really lock in, you know, you don't have anything pretty much to lose and I feel like that's where I'm at right now. You know, everyone's doubting me. You know, everyone don't believe in me. Everyone don't think that I can get back to where I was. And where were you?

Like, in your three years two playing with the Browns, 9 and 10, 19 passing touchdown, 17 giveaways, an 80.7 passer rating. I just ownership finally accepted that they made a mistake. I think you kind of need to accept the fact that you're probably done. You made your mark on the NFL. It wasn't a good one. You were in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. He's 29 years old.

He's had multiple lower body injuries. Like, that's not something you just bounce back on, especially with the reputation that he has. So no one wants to take that on. Let me ask you, how awkward is it that a week ago, the owner of the team said we swung and missed with Watson? Yes, duh. And now he's coming out on a video saying,

I'm going to be back way better than before. No, you're not. No, you're not. I just can't imagine if Fox publicly came out and said, hey, swing and a miss with McIntyre. And then I come out here. I'm going to dominate more than, It just would feel weird.

It's just, I, no, it's, I don't like, say less. I don't like shine in a light on someone who's had as disgusting as allegations as he has off the field. It's just hard. It's like you're not, you haven't, it's not, no, just I'm done. I'm done with him. All right, we're done with this. Alex Curry with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. All right. Coming up next. The great Rick Buecker. coming on to talk Lakers. You know it's going to paint him to talk about LeBron and Luca, dominating.

That's next year on The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, Steve Kavino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Kavino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio

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Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up? up with a name hey Jonas guys I honestly don't remember I think it was on a call about what we should call it and oh we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before

Jonas brothers this is how you guys remember it going down yes I have a very different memory of this we were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast people could call in and say hey Jonas and then I wrote down on my little notepad hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title oh no But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

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Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source. The athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenchian win.

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Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Back here on the herd, joined by the great Rick Buecker, Fox Sports NBA analyst. He's been covering the league for, since Michael Jordan. was a factor. That's how long it's been. Rick, I've never seen a night. Always good to start the show with shade. I got to throw some shade of MJ, not you, of course. I've never seen a night like that before. Luca crying that drops 45. They want to fire the GM. I mean, part of me wants to ask,

do you have Nico's number? Can we call them up? I do. He's such a coward. He doesn't want to meet the media. He talked to him once. And now he's like just standing down. I'm not going to pile on Niko, one, because ownership didn't want to pay the $345 million, and he had to be the guy that did the dirty work. And, you know, I'm not saying that he didn't, on some level, agree with the move. But, and it remains to be seen, you know, as dramatic as last night was, as impactful as it was, I will say this. It was, it will go down in history as one of the most heart-tugging moments in sports

its history because the trembling lip and the, I mean, that was it. The close up and the trembling lip and the tears made you realize how much Luca loved being a Dallas Maverick. And to have a great player like that who's that tied to a franchise, that's what people will not forget and that's what made it so powerful. I don't even know that he had to have a great game, but the fact that he then had 45 and did all the Luca magic things that he does, that's what just, that buried it for you.

Yeah, by the way, how was Anthony Davis last night for the maths, huh? How is that trade working out for Dallas? Why do you say that with such a lean? I like AD, but you know, him and Clay Thompson have to be like, what do we do to deserve this? No, yeah. Well, you need Kyrie Irving to play the role. I mean, essentially, it's the Warriors without Steph Curry. And then you'd be looking at, you know, Jimmy Butler going,

what did I do to deserve this? This isn't what I signed up for. So I think that's part of it. And look, the change between Luca and Anthony Davis, the thing that always bothered me and still bothers me is that we're rewriting this now with him and the Lakers, that he just never became the player that LeBron needed him to be for LeBron to go win another championship.

That's out there. That's being said. I'm saying that. The suggestion is that he was holding LeBron back offensively, and now you see what LeBron is still capable of doing, right? Well, of course, because Luca is a playmaker. Anthony Davis, you know, this whole we're going to play through AD and all that. LeBron's going to take a step back and AD is going to take a step forward. Offensively, that was never going to work.

You were asking AD to be something that he's never been. He is a defensive backbone, and he's a great stretch four. He can do a great offensive rebounder. But don't ask him to, like, orchestrate your offense because he's never done that. It's weird. I don't know who said it. It might have been Broussard. Yeah.

But, like, people were saying that Kyrie was the best wingman ever for LeBron, or most skilled player, maybe. And I'm just like, LeBron's never been with a playmaker like this. Kyrie and Wade were scores. Yeah. You know, Luca basically just carried the first half. Luca do everything. And what happens late? LeBron, 14 points in the fourth because he looks fresh as a daisy. And he can attack the rim and get every rebound.

Yeah, and he's not, I mean, he's playing off the ball. He's playing off of all the attention that Luca is creating. He gets to be the number two now and take advantage of that. And you got LeBron James, even at 40, as your number two, you're in pretty good shape. I mean, look, he's been around forever. He's really smart. I will say this. He deserves tremendous credit. I never, I didn't know if LeBron could play off the ball as well as he has, but his ability to move off the ball, his ability to catch and shoot, it's been very impressive. You know, Luca Donchich has almost become a polarizing figure the way he yells at refs.

He was ejected from the OKC game. And I kind of, did you see him last night? They were sending to the tech last night, by the way. Did you see that right before the game? I know. That second technical. Did you see him during? Did you see him during the game last night?

He did not say a peep. Oh, yes. Like, when he did approach the referees, it was, he was almost like whispering. Timid, like, oh. It was, yeah. That, like, this is the thing. Look, there's a lot of, a lot of the reasons that the Dallas Mavericks decided we didn't want to, we don't want to invest in him in the, in the, for the long term.

We're legitimate. Chronic injuries. Never in shape. like gains weight in the off-season, like all of those things. And I understand that you go to the finals against Boston and you're harping on the referees and you're not being able to defend at a high level and you're conditioning, whether that was because of injury or whatever,

all of those cost you a championship. And you come back and you're not demonstrably a different player. You're doing all the same things. You're not in shape. You get injured. again, you're still harping on the referees. So if you lose a championship because of those things and you don't change, it's like, well, is he ever going to change?

But here's the thing. Now that he's had this, oh, I'm expendable. Or I don't rule the roost. Like all of this may inspire him to change. But I don't know if it ever would have happened if he had stayed in a Dallas Maverick uniform. That's fair. I totally get that.

But Rick, I am nothing. All those negatives. You know, Jason, I am nothing but... All that negative stuff you just said? Yeah. And he still took them to the finals last year. So it's like, oh, he's overweight. And he's injuries.

Okay, he still got them to the finals. But they're not paying him for what he did. They're paying him the $345 million for what he's going to do over the next five years. And that's why, as... Look, the visuals last night, I'm almost ready to say, no matter what happens, it's a bad trade because of what we saw last night. But that said, the true measure of whether, of just, you know, how bad this trade was is going to be determined over the next five years. Not last night.

Well, it's always a great selling point. Hey, give us five years. Hey, you know these tariffs that we're going to implement? It's a long-term play. Just be patient. Trust the process has been going for, what, a decade now? This stuff, you can't sell that to NBA fans. Hey, give me a few years.

No, you can't. No, I want answers now. I want to get back to the championship now. I get that. I get, well, and they were hoping that Kyrie, a healthy Kyrie and AD and all the other pieces that they had. They'd be able to get that done. Look, I'm not defending it. I'm just explaining the logic behind it. And you can't forecast injuries.

And I know what you're going to say. Well, with Kyrie and AD, you can. Yeah. Okay. So, okay. So let's sell me, if you're with the Mavericks front office, you know, your boys with Nico and then this governor clown. Go ahead, sell me. I'm a fan. Hey, patience.

Give us a few years. Go ahead. Let me hear it. At this point? I just don't think anything is going to placate these people. No, you can't. You're right. You're right.

You're right. But again, I'm not trying to, the deed is done. I can't sell you on anything at this point. I would just, I'd point to a Joelle Embedde. I'd point to a Zion Williamson. I would say, look, there are our team. that had players not as good as Luca, but what does it matter if the guy's injured and not available?

And they load up on him, and then now where are you stuck? You're stuck in purgatory. Okay. So that's what that's... Giant and B., you're right. Out of shape constantly. Never took a team to the finals.

Lucas games played 70, 66, 65, 66. That's not like chopped liver. That would still qualify him for all NBA. He's not missing a full season. I mean, Zion is a mess. I'm sure you saw the latest story. Look, I'm not making a straight line comparison, again, to what they've done as opposed to what you're looking at going in the future. Lucas is 25, 26 years old.

So there's two ways to look at that. One, he's 25 and 26 years old, and he's had the same calf injury three times within a year. Not great. And missed games, right? The flip side is he's 25, 26 years old. You know what? He's going to mature. He's going to, like, he's going to get his act together, and you don't want to miss out.

out when he gets his act. When did you get your act together? Because I know I didn't until I was like mid-30s. It took me a little while. Right? I'm right there with late 20s, early 30s. But the shelf, we've, you know, we've got a little more runway than an NBA player. All right.

So you were on Monday, but we did not cover it. Michael Malone fired in debt. This NBA season has been crazy between the broker trade, firing the Memphis coach, and now firing the Nuggets coach. It sounds like the GM and the coach hated it. each other? I'm reading Cold War. Oh, yeah. There's no question. The problem that Michael Malone had was

as a GM texted me, the morning it happened. I said, like, what's going on? Taylor Jenkins and now Mike Malone? He goes, when you don't get along with people and you're losing, you put yourself in harm's way. And Mike Malone, in spite of being

there for 10 years, never really cultivated any... Nobody had his back. He didn't cultivate relationships. So he and Calvin Booth completely at odds from almost the start. And that worked against Mike because the guys that were Mike advocates in the locker room, Bruce Brown, I'm told, was a Mike Malone guy. KCP was a Mike Malone guy.

Like all those guys got moved along. And what happens is your ratio changes. You may have some guys in there that aren't feeling him, But as long as you have enough of them that are backing the coach, then you can kind of work through that. But when it becomes the ratio becomes so unbalanced, now you've got a quorum in there that are chirping about the coach. And then you start losing.

That's a problem. Some big words here, quorum educating the audience. So Nuggets last night, first game without Malone. I was a writer before I started. Oh, that's right. I forgot you're a big-time writer. Russell Westbrook, fewest minutes he's played in. months. Yeah. And Jalen Pickett started and played pretty damn good. Like seven people listening to the show know who

Jailen Pickett is. It seems like the old versus young guys was a bit of an issue there. Malone doesn't trust the young guys like the veterans, which I guess, you know? Yeah. No, no, no. I mean, look, Mike's an old school coach. Yeah. And you have a team that's in transition. And it works with a guy like Yokic. You know, for those people out there that are like, well, they wouldn't have fired, it wouldn't have fired Mike without, you know, Yokic's approval. And as Yokic said, they came to him and told him what they were going to do. They didn't ask him, right? Because Yokic grew up in Serbia.

Like, over there, the coach is king. Yeah. But it's not player empowerment over there. Like the organization, the coach, they run the show. And you are fortunate that you're a player. And so that's his mindset here. He wasn't about to walk into Josh Kronki's office and say, hey, it's either me or him.

That's just not in the DNA of any European player. So we got about a minute left. Warriors lose at the buzzer last night. Listen, last week... Not just lost, lost to a former warrior that they moved out in order to bring KD in. So beat Memphis last week, Curry goes off, beat the Lakers, beat the Nuggets,

and everybody's championing Golden State as the team. All of a sudden, now they lose to the Rockets and the Spurs. Do we know if this team's dangerous, Rick? Well, they have to have all hands on deck, and a 37-year-old Steph Curry being as essential as he is is a little troubling. They don't have a margin for error. But I would also say this, for everybody out there that is taking all these games, whether it's the Lakers in OKC, or it's the Warriors losing to the Spurs or whatever, let's not lose sight of what they've done over the course of the year for the last few games of the last few games. the regular season. That's a great point. Rick Buecker, Fox Sports, NBA analyst. Always fun stuff. Always got good info. We make a good quorum here.

Corr, I feel like I'm smarter. Just Rick Buecker sits on the sofa. Generally, Jay, you are. When I come on. Ended on a good note. Yep. Coming up next, which NBA players are under the most pressure this postseason? I'll tell you that next. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast. Hey Jonas. Nice.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happens. That's where SportsSlyce comes in. I'm Timbo, in every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling. the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. guaranteed human.