The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - The Lakers have a problem

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

More thoughts on the Lakers since LeBron's injury  Should the NBA change their draft lottery rules? Colin believes Aaron Rodgers is a bad fit for the Steelers    Guest: Nick Wright   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, ready to go. This show's host isn't retiring. It's going to be 100-cats season, baby, live in Los Angeles. I heard Nick Wright's around the corner. I got, uh, I slept like crap last night, and I took magnesium. I can't figure it out. But, you know, a lot of things going on out there.

A lot of things, J-Mack, I got a lot of things weighing on me. You know, I keep lobbying for two things here. A ping pong table on set. And number two is. are commercial breaks to be videotaped and stream? Oh, no. That conversation we just had was awesome. There's no winner in that.

What do you mean? Tell them about Jack Sickler. I think the audience loves that stuff. You know when you talk about 70s? I love. I loved, so I watched the Bill Simmons stuff last night. I watched episode three. It was great.

And I watched episode four. And there was a comment by one of the guys talking about how bad the NBA was before Magic and Bird showed up. And it just, it pierced my heart. He said, it was so true. He said, I mean, does anybody even remember that the Washington Bullets and the Sonics played in back-to-back finals? And I'm like, ah, yeah, that's when I fell in love with the league. I can name both starting, I can name the whole teams.

I can name the entire roster. That's impressive. And it's like, but that's where the NBA was. Those games were televised, like, after the nightly 11 o'clock, I think they were delayed. Tape delay, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, uh, and it's like, uh, and it's like, uh, and, That's what I talked about with the NBA. It's hard.

Tanking is unavoidable because if you land Larry Bird or Cooper Flagg. You look at what the Bulls have done in the last week's scoring. You put Cooper Flag on this team and one other veteran that can score. That's a playoff team. In the East? Hell yeah, it's a playoff team. So I don't think you can avoid that. So I was thinking about this because Cam Ward is going to go number one in the draft.

And apparently his pro day was great. And he has one big advantage. over last year's number one pick Caleb Williams is that he has an offensive coach Who everybody in the building likes and respects not a defensive coach on the hot seat and a GM in Chicago also on the hot seat Now Cam Ward may not be walking into a mansion, but it's not a building that's on fire Right like Tennessee I looked at their schedule this morning You get the Jags twice the Colts twice Raiders Cleveland Saints New England Arizona a lot of Ws there. A lot of games at home. Saints,

Patriots, Jags, Colts, some of those road games. Winnable. Cleveland, Raiders, Jags, those are winnable games. Bears played in a better division, but again, it's an offensive coach. The other thing that jumps out to me is that Brian Callahan and J. Mack loves him, smart offensive coach. He had palpable disdain for Will Levis. We have pieces of video during a Jets game

when, I mean, Callahan is screaming at him. I mean, visceral, and he's not subtle about it. He didn't like him. I mean, after the Jets game, here's what the coach said at the podium. I think the camera caught it pretty clear.

If I had to guess. So, yeah, I was upset. It was dumb. It was the same exact thing he did last week, and he cost us points in the red zone. and that's that is what it is. He's a grown-up, and he knows better, and so, you know, I was really irritated that he cost us three points in a game that we probably needed it.

I've never heard a coach, hammer a young quarterback like that, ever at a podium. Privately, maybe, publicly? No. Here was Callahan later in the season after benching Will Levis in a Bengals game. The easiest way to say is that there's a, you know, there's a standard of play, and there's been multiple games. guys and our team that we've sat down for uh...

those are all things that that are just a part of NFL life performance in China when football games and you just have to make sure that when you're you're making decisions and you're coaching that it's that's standing across the board for all positions and um quarterback position is a part of that yeah yeah he didn't like him like so you're going to a weak division you have an offensive coach for cam ward and I guarantee

the coach is going to like the quarterback. I thought last year there were multiple times, and we said it on the air. Callan didn't like Will Levis. Will Levis comes in, gun show, cocky. He'll like him. It's one thing to be critical, but to say stuff publicly at a podium, you don't like him. And you can say, well, yeah, it was just emotion of the game. You talk 15 minutes after a game.

That emotion's gone. You've got that emotion by the time you hit the locker room. So I think Cam Ward's going to be a good player. Is he a great prospect? I don't know. I think he's a good one. And I think Shadour, 74% completion percentage with the worst old line in college football and no-run game.

I do not get the Shadur Sanders criticism. I don't get it. 74% completion running for his life, trailing, has to throw, and one elite receiver. If he gets competent protection, Shadour's going to be hit in the NFL. With that, Nick Wright, Kohos's first thing first is going to. You know, I was watching, it's interesting. I was watching the Bill Simmons Celtic City last night. And we were, and this, I generally wouldn't lead with this, but it makes me think it was really good.

And I said every league has an unavoidable problem. Baseball has no urgency. Most of us didn't play hockey. NFL's got violence and people get seriously hurt. And the NBA's is, the Celtics were terrible. They got Larry Bird. They were great. Like in the NBA, one guy.

Now, in the NFL, that's true too, but you don't see Mahomes by the time he's 14. In basketball, Luca, Wembe, LeBron, they're 14. years old, you're like, yep, you can plan for it. I do think the NBA's trying to manipulate load management down, and most of the young players, Tatum SGA, they like to play. I don't think you can avoid tanking. I think it's the league's unavoidable problem. What say you? So that's interesting. The problem with fixing tanking is every realistic fix has a butterfly effect that could cause an equal or greater problem. So some people have argued, you know what you should do, instead of having a lottery,

having March Madness-style single elimination tournament of the non-playoff teams, and the winner of that gets the number one pick. But the problem with that, which sounds great on its face, like, oh, that would be fun, it'd be more inventory, whatever. The problem with that is, the moment that happens, there would be an actual playoff-level team that's like, you know what we should do? Miss the playoffs entirely so we can win this tournament and get Cooper flag.

So that won't work. They have flattened the odds to prevent teams from wanting to have the single worst record. What that ended up creating was teams were like, well, if the number one worst record is not as valuable as it once was, that by default makes having the sixth or the seventh worst record more valuable than it was previously.

So there is not a pure, clean fix except for severely financially penalizing ownership. Like that would be the fix. The fix would be the way that they can, you know, that they enforce other rules, which is real financial penalties for teams. The league hit, who did they hit recently? Utah, I think. Yeah. They hit somebody with $100,000 fine.

And I'm sure the Jazz were like, have you seen, with respect, the Sixers the last three weeks? Where's they're fine? Like, have you seen these other teams? And so, no, I don't, and here's the other thing. I don't actually think fans have a huge problem. When you're talking about issues with the NBA, I don't think tanking is high on the fans list. I think good teams whose good players rest, load management, I think that is a far greater fan concern than the bad teams throwing games at the end of the year.

And I don't know why your producers, I'm sorry, I don't know why your producers just showed LeBron James, the man who's played more minutes in games than anyone in the NBA history. When I said load management, he's the face of anti-load management, but go ahead. Bad job by the back. How about this one? I'm going to throw another on that. So brawny last night scored 39 points against the El Paso...

He sure did. Don't do that. Don't do that, Colin. Don't do that, Colin. Don't do that. Okay. Against the El Segundo Knights. I don't know who they played.

Against the team on his schedule. Okay. With equivalent players. Okay. So my take is because of his... The situation he had in college with kind of a life-threatening situation, is he's going to be. His heart stopped.

Yeah, his art stopped. So what he's going to be is a late bloomer, semi-late bloomer. He's got to, like, write off 18 months of his development. It may be starting right about now. So I saw that last night, and I thought, okay, I want to say something nice about it. I want to ask Nick about it, because it is something. 39 points in any leagues, a lot of points. But as I saw that, I thought to myself, okay, maybe he's a late bloomer.

I still think he feels like as a 6-2-9-point guard, a rotation. A rotational player. Of course. Is that fair? Of course. But that makes him, you know what a rotational player is? A top 5% outcome for all second round picks in NBA history. If he is a rotational player, it will end up being one of the best two or three picks of the entire second round of his draft,

which is why the criticism of the pick, which is why folks, when he had a bad, 10 minutes against the Sixers going on and begging LeBron as a father to put an end to this farce and treating Brony like he was a make-a-wish prospect was wildly unfair. The facts are as follows. He was a legitimately excellent high school player who in the summer going into his freshman year of college suffered cardiac arrest due to congenital heart failure. That then made it to where they thought for a moment he might not have. ever be able to play sports again and he had to for the first time in his entire life go months

without working out without playing ball. That led to a very poor freshman year of college. All of that is the record of what happened. He then, after being drafted, was rough in the summer league and rough at the very beginning of the G league. But now that he's 18 months removed from the cardiac What we have as a player who is one of the younger players in the whole G-League, one of only five guys, 20 or younger, averaging 20 plus points per game in the G-League, averaging 22, 5-and-5 on 46, 38-80 splits, and a couple weeks ago got, because of the situation in Lakers weren't injury-wise, real NBA burn and looked totally fine. And so my issue was twofold with the Brani discourse.

The first part of it was I thought everyone had totally just memory hold that he suffered a major medical event and that I think he would have been better off in the public's eye if he simply sat out his freshman year rather than rushing back and averaging four points per game. That was the first issue I had. The second issue I had was this idea. that it was a reckless use of the third to last pick of the draft when if I were running an NBA team

and LeBron was retired for a decade and it's like, hey, who's on our board? And they're like, oh, tell me about this kid from USC. And they're like, oh, as it happens, you know, his father's literally the greatest raw athlete in the history of the country. He has no character concerns whatsoever. He's a little undersized.

we have questions about his shooting, but his character IQ and jeans are 10 out of 10, yeah, I'd take a flyer on him. It was a totally reasonable pick, and he is now exceeding any reasonable expectations. And so I'm not talking about you here, Colin. I thought some folks who always like to take shots at LeBron used Brony as a vehicle to get to LeBron, and I thought that was shameful. And I'll add one other point to this. LeBron put extra pressure on him by confronting Stephen A. That's not why he did it, but that is a, because LeBron, what he did, there was a bigger spotlight on Brony in the days that followed.

And I think it's really impressive that he has played his best basketball since that moment with higher scrutiny on it. So we don't talk a lot of college basketball, but I had to take yesterday that I actually think sometimes culturally you benefit. fit from big change, sometimes you're a victim of it. And college basketball had a pretty bleak last 15 years. The G League did not help, but I also think it didn't necessarily help the NBA, because I think players are better going to college where, I mean, you can take $400,000. Getting marketed. Yeah, I mean, like you can take $400,000 of the G League or $22 million of free advertising

at North Carolina for your likeness. I would go to college for a year. And by the way, get taken care of, like, because all kids do to some degree. So my take is, actually, the NIL is great for college basketball. It'll keep a Zach Edian for one more year because you can pay him some money. And secondly, these teams that have a hole, they don't have to get a high school guy. It's just go get like Marshall's mid-majors NBA guy. And I think it's great for the sport that there's no Cinderella's because it was mostly mythology anyway.

And the big brands are better and the ratings are up. All right, so this is one of your less popular, but more accurate takes. Also, to be fair, it is not lost on me that you are at your peak interest in college basketball simultaneous with you having, what do you have 15 of the 16 sweet 16 alive? What, I mean, is that what it is? Like, all of a sudden, you're really into this tournament. I don't blame you, buddy. That's hell of a run.

Broussard has 11 of 16. he won't shut up about it. You got 15 of 16. I'm impressed. So a couple things. One is this. I don't like folks acting as if a one-year event is evidence of this. This is how it's going to be.

Like folks are like there's no mid-majors in the sweet 16. Well, first of all, that is a streak of one tournament. And second of all, even this tournament, if not for a literal, buzzer-beater by Maryland, we would have a mid-major in the Sweet 16. So I think the total death of Cinderella is being stated prematurely. But your take for as long as I've remembered listening to you, and that's, I mean, I'm much, much, much younger than you. So I was talking about when I'm a little kid, you've always had the take that big upsets early create a worst tournament late.

Yes. And so you can pick and choose. Do you want an amazing, exciting first weekend and then a not-so-great second weekend or a chalky first weekend and then what should be an unreal second weekend? And that's what I feel we got. You look at these point spreads. Every game is a six and a half point line or smaller except for two. Those two games are seven and a half and nine and a half.

The only double-digit seed we have is coached by John Calipari, and it's Arkansas. So almost every team remaining has a plausible path of creating a really good game. And I didn't think last weekend was bad at all, and I thought the games were good. I understand that it's fun when there is a 15-seed or a 14-seed that makes a 10-seed that makes. some noise, but you kind of want that noise to crescendo with a great round two loss rather than them getting whacked in the Sweet 16 by a great team. So I agree with you on this, and I think Thursday through Sunday, we are going to get, there's going to be 12 games. I think we probably are going to get nine awesome ones, and that's a rarity for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, so I'm

excited for it. So I said this. This is a a rare take by me that I said actually, and I've always felt this. I used to say this about Phil Jackson when he would criticize the refs and go, I can't believe I'm like you're too smart to act dumb. Like Belichick, you're too smart to pretend SpyGate caught you off guard. Like, you're too smart. And it's, I kind of look at Aaron Rogers. He's too smart to really sign with a bad fit. And Pittsburgh that can't get their own line. Spends all their money on defense, has two needy combustible receivers, it sounds good, it's a bad fit.

And Aaron knows it to bad fit, but he wants to be respectful to a guy he loves Tomlin. That Aaron is sitting there thinking, The Niners don't want to pay Brock Purdy's $60 million, and his agent keeps saying that's what they want, and he is just going to wait until the draft is over? Because if Kurt Cousins would have waited last year until the draft's over, he would have had a better fit. And Aaron's like, 59 quarterbacks played last year.

What's the hurry signing? Somebody's going to be desperate in seven weeks. And he's waiting for the Niners if they don't sign pretty. Am I nuts? Why is he waiting? So here's the thing, man. What you're saying, I wish I could agree with. But you're saying, why is he waiting?

And the answer is, well, let's think about the – because I believe there's – I believe – I believe – I'll leave Aaron Rogers going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler. I think the Steelers know it. I think Aaron knows it. So then the question is, what is gained by waiting? And the answer is, well, one thing that could be gained is just raw, unadulterated ego. I get, I am still, a free agency's done for everyone else.

I am the hot topic. I am being discussed. That tracks with what I know of Aaron a bit, so that's a possibility. The second reason, and I think this is the most likely is, this is how you shift power in a relationship. Like, neither you nor I have been single for a very, very long time, but I'm sure a lot of the viewers are. And everyone knows that if you are the person saying, hey, will you go out with me? Will you go out with me? Will you go out with me? Wait, I don't know, I don't know.

And then when that person finally says yes, and you have been waiting and waiting and waiting, that person has the power. So if Aaron was worried about, ooh, if I go to Pittsburgh, am I going to have full run of the place like I did with the Jets? One way to ensure you will is to prove how valuable you are

before you even get there because they will wait, they will host you, you'll leave, and then they'll still wait. And the last one is off-season activities are starting up here in a month and maybe he doesn't want to do them. I just, I think he knows the only place he's going to play football this year is the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Florio postulated that he's trying to make some grand announcement at a live show in Pittsburgh in a couple weeks, maybe. But I think Aaron has known it's Pittsburgh for a long time. I think the Steelers have mostly known, and he's dragging this out because he can and because it serves Aaron Rogers. I love your idea that he could parachute in to a better team or a better situation, but I think most of those better teams are not as desperate, and I think they are better run from an offensive standpoint to where they wouldn't say, yeah, we'll sign up for the 41-year-old who hasn't been good in four years. And so I think it's the Steelers, and I think he's just making everybody wait because he can.

All right. I got a couple more questions. I'm going to do it tonight when we do our own thing. Okay. I got to, you know. Oh, I thought, well, yeah, no, I know because I'm on a hard 15-minute limit. I'm no Bill Simmons. I can't get 26 minutes with you.

No, I get it. I get it. You and I'll talk later. You save those extended segments for the big guests. Not the loyal guy for the last eight years. Talk to you later, Colin. See it. Nick, right, first things.

You know, we don't get Simmons a lot. You know, it's like when the cousin shows up that shows up once a decade. You let him stay the night, you know, in the basement, but you let him stay the night. He didn't like when I threw out the El Paso donuts. That didn't land with him. He didn't like that. Can we laugh? It's a sports show.

You didn't like that one either? That really bothered you. Listen, he scored 39. I gave Nick four minutes to talk effusively about brawny. I've said before. I hope he ends up being a nice player. I don't root against anybody's kids. Do you think all the talking heads who criticized him are feeling like,

Oh, maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was irrationally rushing to judgment to slander this kid for being a second-round pick. I mean, he's hanging 39 in the G-League. That's pretty damn good. I thought I could get a few buckets in there, but... No, I mean... Listen, you watch the film. Ronnie's getting buckets.

He's getting better. That's obvious. He's 20. Yeah, well, he's going to... Yeah, he was a hard worker. I mean, if you're LeBron's kid, you're going to be a grinder. Yeah. He's a worker.

But, you know, people were really quick to just dismiss him. Oh, he averaged three points. at USC. How could they draft him? Well, maybe the Lakers said, hey, besides LeBron, this guy's got some decent potential. I like to see him. I defended the Lakers drafting. I said, weak draft, LeBron's DNA,

and why not? I mean, it's like the Griffey thing. It's like, it's an all-time historic move. LeBron's carried the league for 15 years. You owe LeBron assault. I also supported the first game when he played, even though he wasn't ready. Shouldn't have been there, fine. But I supported that.

But, you know, when you rushed him up after a Go-G-League game, it's like, stop. Let's just be honest about what he is at this point. I don't know what he's going to. Is he going to be a rotational guy in the league? I don't know. I don't know either. But I did give the floor for somebody to speak. Yeah, it's good.

You know, we need people speaking up because there's so many mouth-breatzers out there yelling. He shouldn't be in the league. And LeBron's stepping up and confronted him. I wouldn't even give Nick the opportunity to combat my puka take. Because like you, he comes from the generation of a sleep till noon. scream for breakfast. Sleep till noon. You're looking at a guy who grinded.

I would wake up at 6 in the morning and run the big lead while listening to Howard Stern before going to my full-time job. So miss me with the wake up at noon stuff. That was like my college. Was that your two-eering era? Yes, it was my two-eering. And then I met the wife and she's like, yeah, that's not going to work. She told you that.

Yeah. She just said, get rid of those. Yeah. Well, I like her a lot. Yeah. There's got to be a grown-up in the family. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day.

seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. 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 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.

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, 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart 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. 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. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClace 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. Did I tell you that I got 15 to 16 teams left in the tournament? No, you hadn't mentioned that. Wow, impressive. Well done, Cowherst.

By the way, I know I'm going to go up and you're going to have a very strong finish because you have Duke and, you know, they're rolling and I, you know, I took some, I got a little precious with my Arizona pick because I love, love the guard and I like the coach. You took Arizona over Duke? Well, I have Arizona getting to the final four. So I know that's not a great pick. So tables could turn Thursday night, huh? I would say we should get together and have a drink, but, you know, I get a little heated during these games. You do. You got some cheddar on Duke, so.

You like March Madness more than the NBA, but you like the NBA more than college basketball. But March Madness, if I ranked NBA playoffs, March Madness, regular season, your number one is March Madness. Oh, the tournament is un—you can't touch it. I mean, it's amazing. I was reading something last night. Some legendary college basketball sports better. was like one for 12 because he didn't go chalk

he's one of these the committee doesn't know what they're the committee doesn't know what they're doing the committee is mostly accurate every year but there is something about guys in general I don't know if women do this but you know guys love to brag like I heard the garage band before they were big like I remember listening to you know

the smashing pumpkins in the 60s or you know I was at the you know it's a like, yeah, they didn't really exist until like the 90s or whatever. But, and there is something about like, I watch a lot of college basketball, so you don't have a social life. It's almost like the soccer guys that you were blasting yesterday. I know soccer. I was on board early.

I will say this. I coach my kids to get chalky with their brackets and my daughter's first in her class. So badge of honor there. You don't do that, but she does. Well, I don't do it with all my brackets. You know, I'm a 9-10 bracket. Yeah. That's exhausting.

I'm surprised like your earrings, your wife. doesn't put her foot down with that. Should we do the news? Should we move on? Jay Mack for the news. Turn on the news. This is the third line news. And because we like to cater to you, let's start with the Patriots, your team of destiny this year.

Very active in free agency. Ray Bull's the new head coach. Patriots' EVP, Elliot Wolfe, says that their off-season work will give them flexibility in the draft. the best player available is going to be the way it is. Maybe we went for a little bit too much last year. Obviously, that culminated in us drafting Drake Bay, so it wasn't all bad. But just moving forward, it's taking the best player and understanding that we've filled a lot of needs in free agency. Colin, this is a tough one because Travis Hunter will be on the board at 4 unless he somehow goes too.

Do you take Travis Hunter? It's not a great need at receiving. Well, I think Travis, I think one of the things about New England in Belichick's last year and Mayo's year, they're slow and they don't have any perimeter speed. So I would take Travis Hunter and just say he'll be a top two athlete in every game he plays. He may not be the best player, but there probably won't be five athletes better than him on the field. So my take you take Travis Hunter and as a coaching staff, you have to when he goes in motion, you have to put. somebody on him or roll coverage because he's going to get open. So I think in most drafts, you would hope that you're not unathletic going into the draft.

But even Brable's free agent pickups were more beef guys and tough guys than they were speed guys. That's the tough part because they could go offensive lineman beef. You know, Vrable was a trenches guy. Or they could go Travis Hunter. Remember how Vrable reacted when they traded A.J. Brown. The GM traded A. I was crushed. Yeah, he was devastated.

He's like, oh, my God. What are we going to do? Also, remember, Vrable came. from Tennessee who always had big tough guys. They lacked weapons outside of Derek Henry. So Brable's probably looking about and thinking, you know, smart guy, what got me in a little trouble in Tennessee? I didn't have power with personnel, and we just didn't have enough weapons.

Right? Like, so he knows Drake May is a better prospect than Ryan Tanniel, so that solves that. I think Brable probably says, my teams will always be physical and tough like Harbaugh's. We need speed. When he got in big trouble is when he lost his most. dynamic playmaker in Tennessee. They went down the tubes, yeah. Next story is another Cowherd special, and that's the Dallas Mavericks.

They returned Anthony Davis to the lineup last night. Everybody got hurt. Bang. First game he ever played with Dallas. So he returned against Brooklyn. It was a cupcake win. Davis 12.6 boards, three assists. A steal in a block. 26 minutes in action.

And your Mavericks are fired up about AD returning, as is he. There was tough. Obviously, you guys. A little bad equipment. Every single night, you know, winning close games, lose are closed games, blowing teams out, being blown out. For me, was never, you know, I thought about if I was in comeback and play, especially if I was healthy, on demand, those guys are hurt.

There was no doubt I was in combatting play, but that makes you want to come out, you know, I'm played with these guys, and they redone the score and how they battle each and every way. You know what? Can I say this? In the history of NBA trades, I don't think I've ever seen a player more disrespected than Anthony Davis. No, time out.

He is the best defensive player, arguably in the league. Luca's the worst star defensive player in the league. So he is a... Is AD a better defender than Wembeenjama? I'm just saying the Luca deal. The feeling is Mavericks are screwed. Lakers! Anthony Davis is arguably the best defender in the league.

a better rebounder in better shape and can give you on any night 27. This idea that Dallas got nothing, this guy has three great years left and is a great player. And Max Christie. Now, would I have wanted three first round picks not one? Absolutely. But I will make the argument with PJ Washington, is it Gafford, Davis, and lively, they will have the best big rotation easily in the league and the best closer under 6-5 in league history in Kyrie.

What, stop. Best closer in league history under 65. Stop it. That's nonsense. He's very good. Kyrie. He had one shot against the Warriors in game seven. All right, timeout.

I do have to push back just a little bit. AD is great. AD is great, yeah. Great. I largely agree. They have the potential if everybody's healthy. Really good. But was PJ Washington lively game?

Gafford, were they all awesome because they were playing with Luca Donchich, who makes everyone better? Are they going to be awesome playing with Kyrie? I mean, what was Daniel Gafford before he got to the maps? Come on. He was in Washington. Whatever. Derek Lively, I think he was a 10th overall pick.

He's a good player. I like him a lot. Yeah. He was great with Luca. We have no data of him without Luca. Well, that's because Lucas guy blew by him and Lively got a block shot credit. Who's feeding this guy negative jokes about Luca? Oh, my gosh.

Final story, Colin. Uh-oh, here we go. Brani went off last night. It is the G-League, but he hung 39 on, what do you call them, the El-Sugundo Knights? 39.7 boards, four steals, four sis. And that was after he dropped 17 on somebody playing with the Lakers recently. I'm just saying, the guy is, he's not the chop liver that everybody thought he was. He's not the Nepo baby everybody thought he was.

He can play basketball. I'm not anti-nepetism. I'm not either. I'm saying, A, he's probably a late bloomer because of cardiac arrest. Yeah. Secondly, because, you know, the average height in the NBA 6, 6.5, 6.7, he is fast, and he blows by people. Now, he's not John Wall fast or Iverson fast, but Brunney's athletic, and when you watch the footage, he's just fast. He gets past people really quickly.

Now, does he have the ability to pull up and hit shots he did last night? But he's an athlete. I mean, he got some decent genetics. He's an athlete, and I think he has a work ethic. You can tell from his body, his shape, dude works. He works at it. So this is a good story. I thought rushing him after he had that one good game to the G League, rushing him up,

I thought that was like, come on, stop. And I don't think there's a history of 6-2 non-point guards in the league, so I don't know what his role is. Is it highly athletic, fast guy, transition guy, off the bench? That's a role probably. Find your role, yeah. So just remember, he's averaging 25 and 5 in the G League as a rookie. And as you noted earlier, the G league's full of like 29-year-olds who are still hanging

on to the dream that they can make it into an NBA roster. They're trying hard, and he's kind of sort of cooking. You know what I'd like? I would love to talk to a G-League player anonymously. Just be totally honest. I don't want to hurt your dream, but if we could do, like, put somebody on and put a filter on, and is he good? What are you saying? What are the players saying? Is there animosity? I would love to talk to a G-League player that isn't going to get called out or, like, a fear of reprisal or, you know, get into trouble.

Because the G-League is something nobody, very few people watch. And I wonder if there is a lot of animosity. There may be not. Maybe people are rooting for the kid. I know fans are. Any of the reason he goes to, they're like applauding. Well, he's also, I've known people that know him. He's a nice kid. He's an easy guy to root for. He's not cocky. He's like a nice guy.

J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Today's show's been a little combustible. I got Nick calling me out because I won't give him 26 minutes. You know, it's sometimes. You don't know who your friends are.

J-Mack, apparently, this going forward is, just wants more vacation and is going to publicly stated on his IG. Well, you negotiated your deal. Mine's in the works. We'll see what happens. I wouldn't use the V-word. You're saying I wouldn't lead with I need six weeks vacation? Yeah.

What's sick pay like here? Probably not what I would leave with. I haven't taken a sick day here in eight years, bro. Come on. You do play her. I don't get sick because I'm a machine. I'm an Adonis. I work out all the time.

I see what you eat at lunch. I wouldn't go Adonis. Okay. No, I mean, you eat like a... I have chicken part. I'm coming up here. You want a piece? No, I don't eat big meals at noon. I've never seen anybody eat like you at noon.

I would fall asleep driving home. I don't even understand it. Fasting, my friend. I don't do breakfast. I eat a shake. Look at it. He's not impressed. He's like, eh. J. Mack. All right, live in L.A. at 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 I-Hard Radio app. 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 I Heart 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. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio.

Maybe the most interactive show on Planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino & Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the IHeart Radio app from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich, wherever you get your podcast and, of course, on social media. That's Kavino and Rich. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, nice? Huge news. we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to our... 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 guide, 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated poll. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart 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. 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, 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. You've made and the Astros for the Braves take on the Padres. Baseball night in America returns Saturday at 7 Eastern on Fox.

Check local listings for the game in your area. I'm really into it this year. You know, I'm sitting there, you know what I think is a dumb part of the pre-draft process? It's pro-day workouts, indoors, you know, throwing against air. I think it's so dumb. Like, I want game footage for three years. I want you to go to the Senior Bowl. And if you want to go to the Combine to interview them, go for it.

I do want my scouts to stand next to the players and, like, let's see what it looks like. Let's see the shoulders, the butt, the size, the hand size. And I want game tape. There's nothing about Pro Day that is similar at all to playing in the NFL. Totally comfortable. You've basically worked out for the Pro Day. You've practiced routes for the Prod. It's the opposite.

NFL is a winter league, a fall winter league. It's sloppy. It's cold. It's windy. You have bad protection. I get game footage. I get the Senior Bowl. Senior Bowl, you're competing against guys you wouldn't normally compete against.

and I get to walk around and see how big you are. I don't need to go to a Cam Ward Pro Day. There's nothing I'm going to see. He's got a really good arm, and he's a very good athlete. So I don't think it has any value. I really don't. I just think it's – and the Senior Bowl does such a great job to let you see the players, get up close to the players.

I mean, they're walking by it. That's what you want to see. You want to see a guy's real size. A lot of guys, you know, you see them on tape, and then you're up next to him, and you're like, He's not as big as I thought. He's just not as thick as I thought. But the Pro Day stuff doesn't do a thing.

Zach Wilson lit it up at Pro Day. I mean, lit it up. In fact, I thought Will Levis hurt himself at Pro Day with a gun show. It's like, dude, come on. You want to be a bodybuilder or a quarterback? I had Nick Wright on earlier to talk about. We were talking about what I believe every league has an unsolvable problem. Baseball, not enough urgency. The season's too long. Hockey, most of us didn't play at as kids.

Football violence, that people get hurt sometimes seriously. And I think load management, you can manage a little bit by not giving out awards unless you play 65 games, which matters to a lot of players. Bonuses tied to that. I don't think you can avoid tanking. I think basketball prodigies, you can spot them at 15 years old, and teams go into a two-year, three-year plan to get Cooper. flag, Luca, Wembe, LeBron. I don't think there's anything you can do about it. And Nick talked about that. The fix would be the way that they can, you know, that they enforce other rules,

which is real financial penalties for teams. The league hit, who did they hit recently? Utah, I think, with a hundred. They hit somebody with a hundred thousand dollar fine. And I'm sure the jazz were like, have you seen with respect the Sixers the last three weeks? where's their fine? When you're talking about issues with the NBA, I don't think tanking is high on the fans list. I think good teams whose good players rest load management, I think that is a far greater fan concern than the bad teams throwing games at the end of the year. But load management is being curtailed by a younger generation of players like Tatum, SGA, and Ant. They like playing.

likes playing. The old guys who have their money, they want nights off. Tanking, there's nothing you can do about it. If I just want to rest guys, and I also think, even if you find Steve Balmer, who's got, I don't know what Steve Balmer's net worth is, it's probably $40 billion. What if you find him $70 million, which would be unprecedented? He makes that in Microsoft's stock on a good day when it goes up eight points. You're not really, I mean, I would, if I was worth $20 billion, and you find me a million dollars, because I'm tanking to get Cooper Flag,

I would pay that 100 out of 100 times. That wouldn't bother me at all. I mean, so Balmer here, my staff did this, is worth $160 billion. If Palmer could get Cooper Flag, what possible fine could you levy that would curtail him tanking? The coach isn't getting it. I mean, it's, I just, I don't think you can solve it.

It's unsolved. Football is going to have some violence. Baseball's a long season and hockey. Most of us don't grow up on a rink. Load management, the young guys are playing. That could have been an old, old guy thing and a generational thing. Young guys want to play. Tatum's playing every night.

Hour three 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. 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. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care. you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL 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 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. 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 fame.

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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. 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.