The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - The Lakers vs the world

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

With Colin out, Jason McIntyre fills in to discuss Luka Doncic getting ejected in controversial fashion in the Lakers narrow loss to the Thunder and why LA has become the villains of the NBA Jerry Jones continues to hold the Cowboys back Knick still can’t beat the top NBA contenders See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for The Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app. by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome to the herd. It's Wednesday. Jason McIntyre still in for Colin Cowher. joined today by Alex Curry. Alex, it was a phenomenal night in the NBA.

It was so much fun. Also, like, watching Lakers OKC, I'm like, this would be such a fun, spicy series. When and if they meet in the playoffs. Yes, yes, yes. Very exciting show today. We got a couple, one guest in studio, we got an NFL gambling guest. I'll do some over-unders later in the show.

Obviously, some more NFL draft talk. But, folks, I have to start with that amazing night in the NBA. No, I'm not talking about the Timberwolves blowing a 24.4th quarter lead. I'll get to my Knicks. Yes, I can call them my Knicks. Another gut-wrenching loss to the Celtics. Folks, I've got to start with the Los Angeles Lakers. Did you see what went down in the Dust Bowl last night?

Lakers at OKC, and we saw a phenomenal basketball game with one of the softest ejections I can recall in the NBA this season. It was laughable. Folks, it's the Lakers against the world and it's official. You see Luca putting in this one-handed shot there in the lane that put the Lakers up one with about eight minutes left in the game. And then Luca got ejected. You could see the official there. tossing Luca. Luca made a basket and just talked trash to a fan.

Now, this fan is, you know, the typical meatball in the stadium who's always there. He has a history of talking of players, including Luca. And Luca let him know, hey, man, I made that. Luca said some choice words, but the official happened to be right there. And what went down in OKC last night after Luca was ejected? I saw it, and we have our narrative for the postseason. It's the Lakers against the world. OKC fans went crazy.

the OKC players were excited. Luca got run. And then if you went online and checked the temperature, folks, everybody hates the Lakers. And it's official. It's the Lakers against the world. Here's Luca talking about his ejection last night, which was laughable.

Yeah, I mean, you can see it that happened. But, you know, I never got a fan ejected, never. But if he's going to talk, I'm going to talk back like always. So they had nothing to do with the refs. So I didn't really understand. I mean, it was tough. I mean, we were right there. I think we fought the whole game.

You know, we were down eight, the halftime. We came back in the third quarter, and we were fighting, man. So it was tough to see that with this kind of situation that happened. And, you know, that's on me too. So I can't let my team down like that. So the narrative is built. It's official, right? Luca is whiny and complains a lot.

We don't like him. That's official. Around the league. And now he's a Laker, which compounds matters. And then LeBron also has the same. Oh, he winds, he flops, he complains. He's better than Jordan, but I don't like him. And so now you put those two together, toss in a little Lakers history.

And they're the biggest villains in the NBA. This Lakers since the Curry-Durant Warriors, when they steamrolled the league and were unstoppable for two championships. I think you could even compare this Luca LeBron pairing to the hate that LeBron and Wade got with the heatles back in the day. if you guys remember that squad. This is a Lakers team. People just don't like them. People don't like them because they're great. I think they have the best one-two punch in the league.

And I think if you watch these last two games against the Thunder, guys, it's pretty obvious. The Thunder do not match up well with Luca, LeBron, and Austin Reeves. And yes, I'm tossing Austin Reeves in there. Now, I do want to add one other note. If you look around the West, when I say the Lakers are villains and they've got targets on their backs, remember Dylan Brooks of the Rockets has gotten into it with Luca and LeBron

in the playoffs. Desmond Bain of the Grizzlies, he wants to go at LeBron. They've gone at it. We know Dremont Green and LeBron are friendly, but when Dremont and LeBron are on the court, it gets heated. Folks, you can pick any team in the West, and there's beef with the Lakers, or Luca. And then you toss in the referee factor, and I had to look this up during the meeting this morning. Guys, Luca does not lead the league in technical fouls. Oh, but that's right. He missed about, I don't know, 30 games due to injury, and he's still near the top of the technical foul leaders. Luca's averaging like a technical foul a game.

So you've got opposing teams don't like Luca and LeBron. Fans clearly don't like the Lakers and Luca and LeBron. And oh, we're now going to toss in the referees who seem to have it out for Luca, who is prone to doing some jawjacking? That's his thing. But folks, nobody hates the Boston Celtics, the defending champs. They just don't. Nobody hates the thunder.

They're kind of still irrelevant despite being a 60-some-odd win team. And I don't think anybody hates the calves. They just kind of exist. So I think all the attention now is going to be focused on the Lakers and Luca and LeBron. And it's shaping up to be a pretty glorious NBA playoffs. I want to shift my attention now to the NFL.

And, oh boy, here we go. A phenomenal headline on Yahoo Sports. The Cowboys have a brilliant scouting network. They also have Jerry Jones. That's genius headline work. Give that man a promotion. And it's really spot on. You can look at the Dallas Cowboys draft history.

Folks, the Cowboys in the last five or six years have drafted so well. In the middle rounds, when you're kind of sort of throwing darts, they got overshown in the third round. He has been a home run. I know he's injured, but he was great. Deron Bland, fifth round pick. You look back a little furrow. their center, Tony Pollard, Dalton Schultz, those two guys have moved on, but they've drafted

really well. And the Cowboys had a great run under McCarthy, right? Three straight years, 11 plus wins. And you're like, damn, you're great at drafting. But then you look around and Tony Pollard's gone. And Dalton Schultz is gone. And all of a sudden, you start looking around that roster and it's like, we're getting kind of old. We're losing some players. Jerry's negotiating. tactics not great with DAC, not great with CD, certainly not great with Micah Parsons. And it reminded me of that Jerry Seinfeld episode where he goes to the rental car place. And Jerry's like, hey, I got my reservation for the car. They're like, oh, yeah, we have your reservation, but we don't have any cars.

And Jerry Seinfeld kind of loses his mind. He's like, wait a minute, you took my reservation. That's why I should have a car. And they're like, we know how reservations work. and Jerry Seinfeld, you don't. If you do, if you did know how the reservations work, you'd have my car. And there's kind of a parallel with the Cowboys here, because they know how to draft well. They just don't know how to keep their guys.

Folks, you could go through the entire roster. It's kind of devoid of talent. I mean, eventually, you know, this summer after the draft happens and everything, people break down the rosters by position group. And I'm just telling you right now, it's bleak for Dallas. You know, you look at their skill position players. They're at least average or below around the league. Their offensive line got old quickly.

It is below average. You look at the defense, and they do have a couple nice pieces, but by and large, their front seven, mid at best. The Cowboys don't know how to hold on to guys, and there's really the finger to only point at one guy, and that's Jerry Jones, who keeps botching these contracts. I mean, worse yet, he's compounding matters. by trading away the valuable picks that they continue to hit on.

Remember, mid-round picks in the NFL guys, they're tough. You're kind of sort of throwing darts. The smart move is, give me more picks, because if I get 10, I'm probably going to miss on six. If I hit four, that's amazing. And Jerry Jones is trading away picks. Folks, he gave up a fourth-round pick for Joe Milton, the quarterback. He traded for Trey Lance, who's no longer on the roster.

What about picking up Mingo, the wide receiver, who did nothing? He's giving away valuable picks for guys who aren't really going to contribute. It's really a bizarre situation for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys. And I'm going to be honest with you. Like, we're going to do over unders later in the show. And I really thought long and hard about the Cowboys Under. It is below where it has been under McCarthy. And you see these images here on the screen of fans kind of unhappy with Dallas.

And then as I said, you look at that rock. and you're like, are these guys that good? I mean, the Cowboys are priced a little bit ahead of the Jets and Giants, as they should be. They have a quarterback in Dak Prescott and a couple other pieces. But you look under the hood and there's just not much there. And it reminded me. So I took a guy talked about this on the show. I coach this girls basketball team.

We entered this tournament. It was a bunch of sixth graders. We had like an all-star team, but we only had like one practice together. And we roll up to the tournament. And our first opponent comes out. The coach has a boom box on his shoulder. He's playing music all loud. The crowd is excited.

We're like kind of wide-eyed. Like, what's going on? What do we get ourselves into? The opponent, they've got these jerseys that are all made up. They looked like they knew what they were doing. They score the first basket of the game. And I'm like, oh, geez, we're down 02. What do we get ourselves into?

And then, of course, we proceed to full court press them and steamrolled them. We win like 29 to 7. One of the parents comes up to me afterward and says, Jason, that whole boombox thing. And this team, they look good. You know what they say about Cowboys, right? All hat, no cattle. That's what that team was.

They look good. They looked apart. But they don't really, can't back it up. And I thought about the Dallas Cowboys instantly, the All Hat, no Cattle. And that's kind of where we are. Folks, I'm just telling you, you look at the roster for the Cowboys.

I don't know that it's better than, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers who have no quarterback right now as we wait for Aaron Rogers still. I'm keeping it real with you. you. My New York Jets match the rosters together. Sure, the Cowboys have a quarterback and they have Michael Parsons and they have C.D. Lamb. After that, I mean, the Jets have more talent. The Eagles blow away, completely blow away anything the Cowboys have. The Niners lose like six starters this offseason. Go put the Cowboys next to the Niners. Go look at those rosters and you tell me who's got a better one.

Dallas is really sliding downhill and Jerry Jones is the only one to blame. You can't blame the scouting department. They're doing their job. Jerry isn't doing his job. So Alex, we got a spirited show today. I'm very excited. I do also want to get to talking to you about White Lotus. Oh, you finally watched it. You know, I'm old, so now I got to watch like half of it one night. No, no, no, no. You were flying home when the finale aired. So you had an excuse. Yeah, it took a couple weeks. I'm happy you finally got there because it's like major Star Wars ending theme, Which I didn't see coming. Yeah.

I don't want to, yeah. I grew up on the East Coast, so watching sports on the East Coast is tough. Lakers and Warriors, when they're on, it's like 1130 and it's like, oh, come on. But out here, those games are done at like 839. West Coast? Best Coast? Then you, yes. You could fire up the White Lotus.

But coming up next here on the show, one NBA contender still has a major flaw. I'll tell you who it is. That's next here on The Herd. 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, the 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 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 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

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 s nl late night comedy guy not quite unhumor me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guess s nl's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter where does your group perform we do some retirement homes.

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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 and 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. Jen she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is, I'm a good. arguably the best player in the world right now.

And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. 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, Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherd. You guys know I was born in New York.

I love to mention that. It gives me street cred, obviously. I'm a huge Knicks fan. Patrick Ewing was my favorite player for much of my young life and then of course Magic Johnson as well. I was so excited for this team this year, guys. I'm a little sad right now

because of what went down last night. But on the way into work this morning, I saw a bumper sticker. If you learn from losing, you have not lost. That person was probably a Buddhist. But if you learn from losing, you have not lost. Well, the Knicks, after losing an overtime thriller to the Celtics at home, have now fallen to, wait till you see this stat, winless. Oh and seven against the Celtics and calves.

It stretches to 0 and 9 if you toss in the thunder. It stretches to 0 and 15. Yes, that's right. The Knicks are 0.15 against the Celtics, Cavs, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Thunder. Owen 15 with 11 double-digit losses. Look at that point differential. Guys, I love Tom Tibido, but Hot Seat doesn't begin to describe where he's at right now. Again, Owen 15 against the best of the best in the league, with 11 of those 15 losses being by double digits. So last night they played the Celtics, and you're like, all right, big game, we've got to prove we can beat a top flight team. Celtics are at full strength. We got this. Jalen Brunson, back and the Knicks look freaking great.

Loving the game, everything about it, and then the end of the game comes. And the Knicks are up by three late in regulation. And in just an absolute disaster of a possession, they give up a step back three to Jason Tatum to tie the game with two seconds left. Now here's where things get really ugly for Tibido and the Knicks. After the game, OG Annenobie was like, yeah, I should have fouled him. but Tibbs was saying don't foul. Jason Hart, not Jason Hart, Josh Hart, the minutes per game leader, I believe in the NBA,

him and Bridges are won two. We'll get to that in a second. But Hart says we should have communicated better whether to foul or not. This is a veteran team. We're in game 79 of 82, and you can't communicate what the hell to do in the end of a game? guys all signs are pointing to tibito in real trouble now here's tibs after the loss forget what he says but just look at the man he looks beaten down and defeated they're the defending champion right so until someone proves they can beat them that they're defending their championship and so we know

that there's a lot of work for us to do you know we're still you know working through things still working through things in game 79? I mean, I know we added, we added Bridges and Kat, and it was going to be a learning curve. I was going to give them 25 games. I even wrote that for Fox Sports early. Hey, the Knicks, despite this slow start, that's a buy value. I thought this team matched up so good in the summer when they added Bridges.

I mean, when you add Bridges in Carl Anthony Towns, cat, I believe, has been all NBA a couple times. And Bridges is an elite defender. huge value to match up with the Celtics. Folks, the Celtics beat their brains in three times. And then last night, Boston wins in overtime. Porzingis hits eight threes. I mean, really? Porzingis out playing towns?

Like, if anything could have gone right for the Knicks, they just foul Tatum at the end of the game. It's so basic. Anybody who's played basketball, if you're up three, foul the guy. Tibado, according to his players, was worried that Boston would try to get up a shot and then get three free throws.

Come on, Tibbs. I feel like he's living in the Stone Age still. Folks, here's what's troubling. His calling card is defense. The Knicks add a great defender of Bridges, a negative defender in towns who, you know, doesn't protect the rim at all. And they've fallen. Last year, they were a 50-win team that finished 10th in defense.

This year, they're a 50-win team that's down to 15th in defense. But 50 wins isn't good enough for the two-seat like it was last year. Now they're the three. The Cleveland Cavaliers change their coach and are zooming up the charts. They've got 63 wins at the top of the east.

They got the number one seed. They've left the Knicks in the dust. So I'll leave you with a bit of a hot take. And I tease this yesterday. Michael Malone was fired by the Nuggets. He is a fiery, intense, but great basketball coach. He was good with the Kings,

they ran him off. Good with the Nuggets. Wins a title. They run him off after a decade. I would not be surprised. surprised if game one next year, Knicks are being coached by Michael Malone, and he moved to New York to take over the Knicks. I mean, you just look at Tibado, and he's on thin ice, and you start to wonder if the players have tuned him out. He got into it with Josh Hart in the huddle earlier this season.

He got into it with bridges, a little war of words. These are guys who's running into the ground. I think Tibido, I don't want to say he's lost the locker room, but they better win that opening round series, and I don't know that they have a snowball's chance in hell against the Celtics who swept them 4-0 this year. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, J-Mack, let's start with the best team in the East because the Cavs clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference after last night's win in Cleveland has its second best record in franchise history at 63 and 16, and it's the first time they finish the regular season atop the East since the 2015. Since the

15, 16th season with LeBron. It's been 10 years, which shows you the kind of impact that LeBron has while he's with the franchise and then once he leaves. So big congrats to the Cavs. I definitely think it's a huge step in the right direction. I'm not sure that they're at a place yet

where I think they can beat Boston and beat a team in the West, but again, it is the step in the right direction. But it's just crazy to kind of wrap your head around like how long ago it was since they were here. Ten years ago, the price of gas at that time, J. Mack, $2.14 a gallon. Oh, my gosh. J.J. Reddick led the league in three-point percentage.

Obviously, he's now coaching the Lakers. Number one song was worked by Rihanna. That's a good song. Still a banger. Yeah, that's a banger. Biggest box office hit Captain American Civil War. Great movie. So, love that movie.

Can I say great? You do what you do? Yes. No, I love it. No, I'm a huge Marvel fan. I'm a Marvel. I love any Marvel show, movie. I'm like, bring it on.

Let's go. People are probably rolling their eyes. Captain America, Civil War. Oh, it was good. It was great. That's the one with the elevator scene where he takes out like eight guys in the elevator. It's just, it's all great. Yeah.

They're all beautiful. I love the Captain America series. Sorry, I'm a nerd. What can I say? No, same. I mean, I love Star Wars. So let me ask you. Yeah.

Who do you have less faith in in the playoffs? The Cavs or the Thunder. Two number one seeds. You haven't won a title with this iteration. Who do I have. Less. Or more. We can make it positive.

It's tough because I don't see either of them winning a title. But I also like I have the Boston Lakers. We just saw highlights of Ty Jerome, Jared Allen, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland. I'm sorry, the Celtics aren't afraid of that. No, it's great. But experience matters once you get to the postseason in playoffs. and Celtics obviously defending champs, they know how to win. They were just there.

And the Lakers, you have one of the most experienced guys in the playoffs in LeBron James leading a franchise, which, like, doubt them if you want. That's going to be all the better for the Lakers once they get in the playoffs. I put my faith in experience and veterans once you get to the postseason. So I don't know if I... I don't want to put either of them down because they're both... They've both taken huge steps for their franchises and, like, they are the future.

Cavs will have home court against Boston. Huge. Jonathan Mitchell is a tough matchup despite them having White and Holiday and all those guys. I just would have taken him in a series. Yeah, I'm not going to take him winning the series. They're going to get a couple games and it's going to be close and it's going to be a great series. Yeah. But that's where I'm out there.

Okay, let's head to the West because the Timberwolves had a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter and blew it, getting out scored 39 to 8 down the stretch by the Bucks. And Minnesota started the game in a four-way tie for fifth place in the West. Now they are sitting alone in the eighth seed with three games left before the play-in starts. Now, this is not the time of year to be having these kind of meltdown moments, especially when you're that close with that many teams. I mean, the West is absolutely crazy. There's still a one, two, three, four.

four-way tie between the Clippers, Nuggets, Warriors, Grizzlies, and Grizzlies are in the play-in. Like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, for all of these like kind of fringe, even the Lakers, they're only a game ahead of this four-way tie in the West, like it's crazy like that meltdown by the, by the timber wolves was all time. Yannis alone scored the same amount of points as the entire, Timberwolves team in the fourth quarter. 40 to 13 or something?

He had 13 and T. Wolves had 13. So, like, it's absolutely, you cannot do that. Here's the, oh my gosh, four of 20. The weirdest part is they had been, I think, 15 and 2 in their last 17 game, so they came in hot. They're rolling. Yeah. And if they win that game, they would have been fourth in the West.

Yes. Because they lost, they fell to eight. That's, like, kind of devastating. And we do like the Timberwolves. It's a huge drop. I'm an Anthony Edwards fan. Yeah. Chris Finch, the great coach, comes on this show.

I like them. I think they're good. I think they're dangerous. I don't think you want to see Minnesota in the first round. No, definitely not. Edwards could average 40 in the series. Definitely not. But you also don't want to be in the playing.

You want to do everything you can to like because anything can happen in the play in tournament. Like, it's not. And the worst part, Buck's going to have game Lillard. No. Like, how do you do a 24.4th quarter league? Complete meltdown. That's a game you lose sleepover for sure. Complete meltdown.

And that's a momentum. swing kind of a game. Like you hope that they need to rebound. Their next game, they need to come back. They play. They're at Grizzlies. Then versus Nets, then versus Jazz, or their last three games. And these are must win games. These last three. That's a lock. Yeah. But look at that. It looks like the bucks went, the Bucks went zone there. I seem two, three zone. And Minnesota had never seen a zone before this season, I guess. They just absolutely destroyed them. Absolutely destroyed them. Like how do you, how do you get outscored 39 to eight? and blow a 24-point lead down the stretch in the fourth quarter

when these are must-win games for you. Brutal. Brutal. Well, let's close it out with LeBron James because Barbie and the LeBron James Family Foundation have partnered up to release a brand new edition of the Ken doll. Now, the doll is one inch taller than the standard Ken doll and outfitted like LeBron would be going to a game.

And we've seen Sue Bird, Venus Williams, have their own But LeBron, it's the first athlete to have his own version of the Ken doll. And I don't know if you saw the video that they posted when he was seeing the Ken doll. He got so excited. It was so cute. You kind of saw the little kid, LeBron, come out. But it looks rad. Like, this is a sick game fit.

Like, the attention to detail, the hat comes off too. He was kind of like showing off the fit, taking off the hat yesterday. He's like a kid in a candy sword. It's so cute. Can you just imagine if they made a Barbie doll out of your image, Alex? So cool. I can see why LeBron's excited. I mean, I don't know what you do with this.

Do you gift a LeBron Barbie to kids? I don't. Yeah. Are you kidding me? That's so cool. As a boy, I never was like a, I was like into he-man action figures. Okay. But there's like also, there's so many female sports fans.

Like, this is a big thing. This is a fun thing. I had, and people like having these things. Like, I had a bobblehead. and it's weird to see something of yourself like created into a figurine but it's also iconic. Yeah.

Right, right, right, yeah, yeah. Fans love it. It's just another piece of memorabilia that they can add to the collection, the wall. I'm sure people have like a LeBron wall at home with a jersey and all this stuff. Yeah, yeah.

You've been hearing all the LeBron songs, right? He's having a trending, firing moment right now. Not a joke. My daughter says, are you guys going to talk about LeBronify? See, I'm telling you, he's having this whole, like, LeBron James song trend right now is like skyrocketing him to the younger generation. Big TikTok user? I have it.

I post. I don't scroll. So. I limit myself. That's the thing. I guess it started on TikTok. So I did. I'm on there, like, post and I'm out.

But you're like, after a couple weeks, they always make it to Instagram. Yeah, exactly. You're at that. Eventually I saw it on IG. You're in the group that, like, you'll see it a couple of. weeks later. He's, um, it's great, though, but it's, it's, like, I think it was Baylor's choir did an insane performance. LeBron James song. It's beautiful. I'll show you during the break. So Barbie dolls, LeBronify, he's everywhere. He's having a moment. He's having like, a, he's

having, well, no, I'm just saying with the, with the social, like the social trend, with the younger generation, he's, he's blowing up with the young, like, which is great. This is how you say relevant. I love it. It's beautiful. Alex Curry with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Lye News. Yesterday, the show was interrupted with massive seismic breaking news that Michael Malone was fired by the Denver Nuggets. Who knows what today will hold. However, coming up next, I am going to float the idea of a superstar in the NBA whose coach may have just gotten fired, possibly being traded.

We'll talk about that next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's 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 and of course the IHeart Radio app. Why should you listen to Kavino and Rich?

We talk about everything. Life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world? We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture. Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved, too.

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What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a 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. And, oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers

was... 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, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel,

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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

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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 can repeated there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down

everything happening at Roland Garrow's. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well, good luck consider this your court side seat to the french open listen to the rene stubbs tennis podcast on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts presented by capital one founding partner of i heart women's sports goes short track racing at bristol the pre race kicks things off at 1 30 eastern with the green flag flying at three sunday on ms one so obviously

yesterday's show was phenomenal when michael malone got fired the reactions were, I mean, just shock. Everyone around the league stunned. There were some early reports early in the season. I believe September, there was a report about some rumblings between the GM and the head coach in Denver not getting along. And then there was a story, I believe it was a November, that the nuggets were essentially dealing with what the Warriors had dealt with.

Remember the Warriors had Steph Curry, Clay, and Draymond. And then they were fortunate enough the one year Curry got hurt. they drafted James Wiseman second overall. Then they got Jonathan Cuminga. And it's like, okay, we've got this old group, this core, and we want to blend it with this young group, right? And we have two timelines and we need to merge them together. And they tried like hell to make it happen, and it just never took.

So they quickly move off Wiseman. Listen, LeBron has famously said, I don't want to play with young guys. You can't win with young guys. So he historically has moved off of them. The Warriors realized it's incredible. incredibly difficult. They move off of Wiseman and end up getting Wiggins and get back to the title and win the championship. So the Denver Nuggets were kind of facing the same thing, except they

weren't as old. And Michael Malone really, really does not like playing young guys. So they have a couple young dudes on the bench, and he just doesn't trust them, doesn't want to play them, and is grinding Yokich and Murray into dust. Apparently this season, Jamal Murray was playing a career high minutes. He got hurt again. Yolkich is playing a career high. high minutes. So Malone just didn't want to work with the GM to play the young guys, and that fractured relationship kind of spilled out, and I guess the owner had enough. Here's Steve Kerr of the Warriors on Michael Malone getting fired. I think one thing that's happened is most teams are now owned by billionaires,

big corporations, and so we're all more expendable. There's so much money, and the business now and there's pluses and minuses to that you know we're all making bigger salaries than we were five years ago but we're all much more vulnerable because I don't think a lot of the owners are that concerned with firing a guy and paying them off to go away and again it's this is a business we we chose and we all love it but it's you know it's not the most stable profession Yeah, coaching. I don't know, man. You've got to have a stomach for that. Your family's got to be up from moving all the time.

It's incredibly difficult. We've seen three coaches in recent years win a title, and less than two years later, they're gone. Frank Vogel, Malone, and then Boodenholzer also got run. So it's unstable. Now, this is where it gets interesting, okay? If you look at the NFL model, you have the Kansas City Chiefs. Their front office and Andy Reid worked swimmingly together and have. They're in lockstep in agreement.

Hey, we got to move off Tyree Kill. Okay, we got to move off Tyree Kill. We'll adjust the offense. Hey, we want to add this guy. We want to move this guy. We want to become this kind of offense. We want to focus on this position. And Reed and the front office work great together.

It has thrived the situation in Kansas City. And you look at the Philadelphia Eagles and Howie Roseman. You have to have a shared vision between coach and front office. It's a little difficult in the NBA because the shelf life for these coaches. is so fast and sometimes the GMs have a different vision. I saw a report that Calvin Booth, the GM who got fired, he hired a shooting coach, Mike Penberthy, who had previously been with the Lakers.

And Michael Malone's reaction was, no, that's a coach, I hire the coaches. So it was like a weird power struggle. So you add, oh, let's get one more sound before I get to my point about potentially trading a star. Folks, when the news broke, I was stunned on air, Alex was shocked, and we brought John Fanta in, the college basketball reporter who knows the NBA very well to covers the draft. This was John Fanta's reaction to Michael Malone getting fired.

What is going to change that severely by making this move? He's holding them back that much. Michael is beloved by a lot of people, and a lot of the people I talk to in the NBA, They really do like Michael. And we've seen him get a little bit sharp at times with the media, and he could certainly show a different angle to him where he can be a little bit prickly and going at people sometimes, but he's still a really, really good coach.

This is nothing short to me of an ownership group who wakes up, gets a phone call or two, and has a knee-jerk reaction ahead of the postseason. Interesting. So you put all that together, right? The Kerr comments, the Fanta comments, the ugly GM coach situation. And obviously, everybody wants to draw the parallel. Well, Yokic is going to be gone.

And then you see gambling line surface. Oh, Yokic is this number to land with the Lakers as his next team. And my initial reaction was that is stupid. I'm not going to entertain any of that nonsense. But, you know, as much as I like to think, I know everything, we got an interesting group of guys in our morning meeting, and they're like helping me, you know, build a case and challenge me. And I got to be honest.

I still don't think there's any chance you'll get thrown. However, we're in a weird era, guys. Luca Donchitz just got traded a few months after leading the Mavs to the NBA finals. They ran Luca out because he allegedly was like out of shape when he came back from the off season. What, you think Yokic is always in shape? I mean, I call him Doey on this show jokingly. Some people don't like it on social media.

He's not chiseled. He's not Shack or Dwight Howard, but he doesn't have to be. He's probably a better overall player than both of them. Yokic is having a phenomenal season. Is there a world where Yokic says, hey, we had a good run. I like Coach Malone. I don't like what you guys did. I'm out of here.

Trade me. I'm not signing an extension. Get me out of here. Does that happen? It seems unlikely. However, the other one is, as we watch a Yokic 90-foot shot go in, aren't we going through this with Milwaukee and Janus too? International player who we were told would never want to leave Milwaukee.

He's a fine, small market guy. Well, I don't know. Things quickly went south after they won the title. Then they had to reach and grab Dame Lillard, giving up Drew Holiday in the process. initially looked like a bad move. And now all of a sudden the bucks lose dame to blood clots and it's like, are the bucks going to be one and done? Could Janus

be on the move? And again, I know you're thinking, oh, no chance, Janus, Yokich, come on. I'll remind you. Luca just got shipped for A.D., my man, Supermax Christi, and a draft pick. It's not like they got this massive hole. Now, what could you get for Yokic? Well, I don't know. I mean, let's say

Michael Malone ends up going to the Knicks. gets fired, the Knicks hire Michael Malone. Does he push for Yokish to say, hey, ask how we can get you? We'll give up, I don't know, cat, this, that, and the other, and a pick, and we'll have a nucleus of Yokic, Brunson, and Bridges. Oh, whatever the combo may be. But is there a world where Yokic leaves? Now, he's 30.

Yon is turning 30, and they still are in their prime, no doubt. But as their teams go south after winning a title, I think you've really got to ask yourself, I don't know. Could both of them be on the move? Now, the team to watch, as I was going through here, is the Miami Heat. Their coach and their GM, their front office are in lockstep always. Spolstra, Riley, that group seems to be together.

However, Jimmy Butler just forced his way out. That was because they didn't want to pay him as opposed to organizational failure. But you look around the league and it's like, that's kind of the way to go. Find a great coach, lock him up with the GM, shared vision, and go get super. stars. Could Yokits be on the move? I don't know. It's a bit of a tough sell. All right, we can wrap up

this hour by looking at the NFL and this Aaron Rogers Pittsburgh Steelers situation. So I saw the news that the Steelers were going to be meeting with Shadour Sanders this week. Two weeks to the draft. Let's kick the tires on Shadour Sanders, who allegedly is sliding, depending on who you want to believe what mock draft you why into and you're like okay stealers drafting in the early 20 shit shit doer's not going to be there he's not passing the saints right i don't know i just saw one of these pundits say jackson dart rated ahead of shadur jackson dart could go to the saints at this point you start to lose your mind but where it gets interesting is the steelers and erin rogers are still doing that dance do you want to come play with us and

I got to be honest, guys. I don't know if Aaron Rogers' best move is to commit to the Steelers before the draft or after. The pros for before. Hey, I'm your guy. I'm coming in. You no need to draft a quarterback. I'm your guy. I got you.

That's one way to look at it from Rogers' point of view. If you're the Steelers, sure, we'll rent Aaron Rogers for a year, but we're also going to draft the quarterback. You see what the Falcons did last year? They paid Kirk Cousins. They ushered in the Kirk Cousins era. Kirk Cousin said, I'm happy to retire an Atlanta Falcon. Two months later, they go draft Michael Penix in the top ten. And Kirk Cousins is left like, wait, what just happened?

And clearly it messed with his head. He was coming off an injury. Rogers coming off an injury as well, although it was two years ago. And you start to wonder, like, no wonder Rogers isn't committing. He just saw Kirk Cousins get totally shafted. Rogers for sure will wait until after the draft. Hey, Pittsburgh, if you take Shadour, I ain't going there. What am I doing going there?

So Pittsburgh is now kind of screwed. They have to make a decision. What do we do? Do we appease Aaron Rogers? Do we become the third team in like four years to try to appease Aaron Rogers? What's the saying when you try to make everybody happy? You make nobody happy? Folks, there's no way to make Aaron Rogers happy.

the Steelers cannot win here. The smart move would be move off Rogers completely. Now there is another line of thought that says, Rogers isn't really waiting for the Steelers and the draft. He's waiting to see, hey man, is there a franchise with like maybe a good quarterback who gets hurt? I mean, if Brock Purdy, who's had a couple shoulder issues, goes down, You don't think Aaron Rogers would crawl on his hands and knees to play for Sanahan?

I think that happens in a heartbeat. You don't think Rogers is potentially waiting for another good starter to get hurt somewhere so he could go in? I don't know. J.J. McCarthy, who's coming off two surgeries. There's good coaches and good teams that Rogers could pivot to later in the offseason. But in the meantime, he's left in like a holding pattern. What do I do? Do I jump at the Steelers?

Do I wait? I don't know. It's a really interesting dance. And frankly, I don't think Shador Sanders falls all the way down to the Steelers. But the most interesting take I heard on Shadur and Rogers was, what if Cleveland takes Travis Hunter 2? And Cleveland also has the 33rd pick. Could they package the 33rd pick and something else to move up to, I don't know, 14, 15, maybe even 8 to get ahead of the Saints? And then draft Choudure.

So the Browns then bring in Travis Hunter and Shadour Sanders. That could be in play. That's super spicy if you're Cleveland. You've totally forgotten about the Deshawn Watson era. That's beyond you. You're way past that if you get a new quarterback and Travis Hunter. So again, we're about 15 days. No, wait, I think it's less than that.

15 days of the draft? No, yeah, two weeks from now. And there's still a lot of uncertainty, which is good, good for ratings, for interest, good for speculation. I mean, Shadour's gap now, we're looking at, he could go two to the Browns. Well, I'm looking at that. A lot of people say, no way. And then could he fall to 21 in that range?

Like, that is a massive range of outcomes for Shador Sanders. But, yeah, Alex, we're within two weeks to the draft, almost two weeks, 15 days. Yeah. And I like all these rumors and speculation. I love this. I think it's great. Yeah. I think it's great.

Because, again, you have no idea what these teams are thinking. And they don't even know what's going to happen because it's all going to determine the draft pick in front of them could reset and mess up their entire strategy. So it's, I'm excited to see where Shador goes. Yeah. But, like, Steelers wouldn't be a bad place. Not bad at all. That would be a great place for him. Coming up next, four absolute locks for the NFL season, win totals.

That's 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 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. 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. 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. 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive.

I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garros. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice 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 headlines. 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 Slicalife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.