The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Kawhi watch, Kevin Durant, and villains in sports

Episode Date: July 4, 2019

Colin gives the latest news on Kawhi Leonard and which teams three teams are in the hunt. He talks about the latest story on Kevin Durant being unhappy with Golden State Warriors HC Steve Kerr and explains why the problem might be Durant. Also Colin ranks the top 10 villains in sports. Guests include Ric Bucher, Cuttino Mobley, Cousin Sal, Todd Fuhrman, and Jason McIntyre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Rivera, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sacks, Wait, what sex? Is it just me, or does every woman my age, want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try.

So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching herd. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, happy 4th of July live in Los Angeles.

This is the herd. Wherever you may be, we're hoping you're having a great day, chilling out and watching us. IHeart Radio, we're on Fox Sports Radio, XM, Sirius, Channel 83, and right here. on FS1. We are obviously on Kauai Leonard Watch. I'll give you the very latest. This is what I do for a living. I'll tell you what I've been told.

I have been told it is a coin flip Raptors Lakers and the Clippers are third. My friend Chris Broussard reported this morning that the clippers are officially out of the running. Now, this entire process, I have only made one prediction. I made it a month ago. Kyrie Irving would go to the Nets. And the reason I made that prediction was because I had an NBA player in the Eastern Conference and a former All-Star who knows Kyrie both tell me he'd made a decision a month ago. That's the only one I felt strongly about.

The rest of this stuff, we just don't know. I read something in an article this morning from Wojj. Teams have simply been told this. If information on your presentation gets out, you are really imperilling your chance of signing Kauai Leonard. They want it to be private. Oh, okay. That's interesting because the only team that's kept it quiet and private has been the clippers and they're out. That's why free agency is so unpredictable. These are 27 and 28 year old young men making career altering eight figure, nine figure decisions. You don't think it's hard? I've made several of these decisions in my 40s and it was, and I didn't have nine figures.

They weren't life-altering, and it was hard for me every time, every single time. I mean, could you have guessed KD, the world's best basketball player arguably would choose the second most interesting team in New York, 30th in attendance nets. Kauai would be still considering a Laker circus. Jimmy Butler would go from NBA championship contender Philly to a seventh seat in the East Miami. Al Horford would bail on the Celtics. Paul George chooses Westbrook and Oklahoma City over L.A. He's from California.

Yeah, NBA Free Agency, coincidentally on Independence Day. These guys are independent thinkers. You don't know what you're getting. Let's talk about the Raptors and CoI. Leonard. So he's still considering Toronto. Did you watch yesterday? It's like the Bronco Chase, the OJ treatment, following all over Canada. And his camera's following all over the country.

We know they had a final meeting. How do we know that it leaked? We had fans and people waiting outside of the office building. Kauai and his people were going to meet the raptors. How did that get out? It leaked. Drake, apparently, was in the meetings. I thought he was quiet and covert and wanted to keep it under wraps.

You're not going to keep anything under wraps with Drake involved. How about the Lakers situation? We found out, five minutes after Magic Johnson and Kauai talked, we found out about the phone call. It was like we had a transcript. I found out everything they talked about. Chris Broussard went item to item story to story. How did that get out?

Leak. Yesterday, a story broke, leaked. He's already decided on a two plus one deal with the Lakers. Nobody's quite sure where it leaked from. Some are suggesting it's clutch sports. LeBron's agency, AD's agency. I don't know. But Toronto's been noisy.

The Lakers has been a circus. The Clippers? Not a peep. Steve Balmer, the owner. Not a peep. Jerry West, not a peep. Rivers, not a peep, covert just like Kauai, and they're out. They're out. If keeping it quiet was really crucial, the one team that has kept it quiet the Clippers, who, by the way, also

have a great culture and a nice young roster and a bunch of young kids, they feel like Toronto. They get all the elements in place. They just need a face. They just need a star. And you won last year with Toronto. You could argue, you could certainly argue the Clippers are just a warm. weather version of the Raptors. They're out. So when people try to predict, I mean, I was told Kevin Durant loved the people in the Knicks front office.

He didn't even give him a meeting. Did anybody think Jimmy Butler was considering Miami? I mean, the clippers are going to finish third on this thing. They've been the most professional. They've been the quietest. We don't know anything what these kids want.

These are hard decisions. Free agency has been a guessing game outside of Kyrie to the Nets. Who could figure out any of this stuff? I've been told Raptors, Lakers, coin flip, clippers are third. Broussard said clippers are out. And they've been the one that's done it right. All right. So I saw this story.

Kevin Durant, quote, wasn't too fond of Steve Kerr, according to Stephen Aesman. They did not have a great relationship. He wasn't fond of Steve Kerr at all. Okay. So who wasn't Kevin Durant offended by? The Bay Area Media, Draymond Green, the medical staff, and now Steve Kerr. Steph Curry's been there for a decade. He's never had a bad afternoon.

He's gotten along with everybody. He had to go through a coach being fired. Kevin Durant joining the team. Boogie Cousins comes in, he got along with everybody. I mean, Tom Brady's been in New England 19 years. He had one dust up about a year ago with Bill Belichick and they solved it. KD, three years in Oakland, and I mean a perfect team, a perfect owner, a perfect coach, a former player, a perfect teammate star, a perfect chemistry. And he didn't get along with Steve Kerr either.

I mean, folks, this is like staying the night at a Rich Carlton and complaining that the pillows are too soft. If you can't, Boogie Cousins worked with the Warriors. Nick Young worked with the Warriors. We all thought Jabal McGee was kind of goofy. He worked with the Warriors. Everybody works for the Warriors. I mean, the Warriors walked on eggshells for three years with Kevin Durant.

And now we find out he didn't like the coach. I think Charles Barkley had it right. KD is just really, really absurdly sensitive. The one thing you can't, they have... The warriors catered to KD. They did everything for KD. They walked on eggshells for KD. And the NBA media too often just panders.

These are grown men. Some of this is on Kevin Durant. And oh, by the way, do you know who he's chosen to spend the next five years of his career with? Kyrie Irving. Kevin Durant is 6'1.11 and a half of turbulence. Kyrie Irving is 6-2 of turbulence. That's an airline, I'm not going to fly.

Even on clear days, it's bumpy. Because if you couldn't get along with Steve Kerr, I've been covering the NBA for years. I don't think there's anybody in the league that doesn't like Steve Kerr. He went out of his way to get along with you. So did Steph and Clay. I mean, Draymond a couple of times, poked you in the ribs, said things that were a little personal. It's pro sports.

Guys argue. Peyton Manning used to scream at his buddy, all-pro center, Jeff Saturday. It's on NFL films. You yell, you scream, you get over it. Nick Wright on First Things First this morning, trying to explain Kevin Durant's displeasure with all things warriors. The other thing that he really wanted was a close, deep, almost familial, friendship with someone on the team, and that didn't come either. So you had Kevin Durant after that first title feeling almost according to the people that know him worse than before because he actually

finally grasped the thing he wanted and realized, well, if that don't make me feel whole, then what the hell can? At some point to be loved, you got to love. Some of this is on Kevin Durant. The Warriors did Everything you could do, they all flew cross-country to meet him. Like on a holiday weekend and all these rich guys in an office seat, they flew to meet him. And they come back and the star, Steph Curry, over and over, he's the best player on this team. We need him. Everything. They let him have his own medical guy and the other medical staff.

They gave him everything he wanted. They won. I mean, this is, again, this is the four seasons of hotels. This is the Ritz Carlton. If you're struggling with the Warriors, Nick Young and Boogie Cousins worked. Andre Agu Dahlia was an all-star player. They told him, you got to go to the bench.

And they were able to sandpaper that. Iggy never complained. I mean, this is one of the smart organizations. At some point, we got to stop pandering. Some of this, frankly, and he's not a bad guy, but some of this is just on Kevin. He's turbulent, even during clear skies. Loaded today, three teams are waiting on Kauai Leonard.

And there are three already good teams. What happens to each if they don't get him? That's coming up. In Los Angeles, happy fourth, Rick Buecker, Cotino Mobley. Among others, it's 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are

trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this guy, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Come on out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's he at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Polisic. I'm not worried about balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, podcast wherever you get your podcast.

Great to have you in Fourth of July. Rick Bueker is going to join us in about five minutes. We have three teams battling for Kauai Leonard. I am told he will make a decision in the next 24 hours. That's what I've been told. Love Kauai if you're watching to break it anytime now. Next 24 hours, I'm told Toronto and the Clippers and the Lakers all battling, but it's really the Raptors and the Lakers.

The Clippers are third, despite an excellent. season and a terrific presentation and keeping quiet. My only guess on this for the Clippers, and I'll ask Rick Buecker about this, the one thing we've talked about is the fact that he can rest 20 games in Toronto. He said that was why he was so good in the playoffs. He could rest in Los Angeles because they have two stars, LeBron and AD. He couldn't do that. The West is too good for the Clippers not to play Kauai Leonard 25 nights, the load management thing. That's my guess, because I think the Clippers did everything right. The West, you've got Portland's going to be better, probably Utah, Lakers, Dallas, Denver, all better.

Denver's just going to be older. Golden State, Houston, incredibly viable. Oklahoma City, keep your eye on them. They're a tough out. You know, so I'm guessing. I'll ask Rick Buechor about that. But here's the three teams, and here's what I think happens to each if they don't land Kawhi Leonard. Let's talk about the Clippers first.

They won 48 games last year. It ended up being an eight seed. They snuck in. Now, the downside is this would be soul crushing. The downside is they're still very young. The West is better. Their best player is the worst best player of the playoff teams, Lou Williams, who I like, but he doesn't even start.

They also got a little lucky last year. They didn't have any major injuries, and many teams in the West did. I don't think they're a playoff team. And I think this is just soul crushing. So I don't think the Clippers are a playoff team. in an improved west. The team's sharing the building. The Lakers is better.

Utah's way better. I think Portland could be better. Dallas is way better. The Pelicans are better. Denver's better. And frankly, with John Morant, Memphis, is better. Let's talk about the Raptors without Kauai. I think they're a playoff team.

And I think they could be a fairly high seed without him. The bottom of the Eastern Conference is atrocious. The calves are awful. The Chicago's bad. Atlanta's young and talented, but bad. D.C., Washington's horrible. Charlotte's a mess. The Knicks are terrible.

Toronto is deep, well-coached, has a top GN to make a move at the trading deadline. You know, when you have a good GM, I always count that. Can you make a move at the trading deadline? A good coach, experienced, winning culture, now a winning pedigree. The East is incredibly weak. I don't think the Boston Celtics are as good. I don't necessarily think Philadelphia is as good, but they'll be better defensively. And Milwaukee lost Malcolm Brogden.

So I think they're a playoff team. Now, I don't think they're a one or a two seed, but I wouldn't be shocked if they got to a four or a five seed and hosted a first round playoff series. Let's talk about the Lakers without Kauai. This lineup, if Kauai doesn't choose them, here's what I'm being told. Rondo, re-signs, Javale McGee, resigns.

So you got Rondo, LeBron, 80, Kuzma, Javale McGee, and an incredibly weak bench. Jared Dudley is an old guy. Kyle Corver may come here, an old guy. neither can give you a lot of minutes or defend at this point in the playoffs. I think it would be one of the weaker benches in the NBA, and I'm not sure again how LeBron with AD you'll need, it's the best duo, but they've got a new coach.

The GM situation is not ideal. They don't feel like a title team. Anthony Davis has a history of injuries. So I think they're a playoff team. I don't think they're much of a playoff team. without Kauai Leonard. They've waited too long. I also think all three of these teams are kind of desperate. The Clippers are desperate because they did everything right and couldn't land one big time guy. That's a bad look. Jerry West is not getting younger. I think it's a bad look for

the Raptors. If you can't keep Kauai Leonard, who are you going to keep? He's the guy that's built perfectly for you. He's not into Flash. He doesn't care about, you know, all the branding stuff. He's not a bit, he's just like a guy that wants to play basketball. Toronto's perfect. If they don't land them, that's bad. And I think the Lakers, frankly, you're going to have no bench. And as Chris Manick said about a week ago, I think it means LeBron's last hurrah in Los Angeles is unfulfilled. Not to be too hyperbolic, but it's the difference between maybe winning multiple championships and winning zero championships in that era, simply because if they don't get Kauai Leonard, they're basically scrapping

for whatever's left over. That's not going to get you a championship this year or even close to it. And next year, we look at the 2020 free agent class, there isn't a star. Next summer, you could flesh it out with some solid role players, but it's also another year where LeBron's older, and it's another

season that goes by where he doesn't win a championship. So I think there's a sniff of desperation for all of them. And I'll say it again, the team that's not desperate is the Golden State Warriors. I like him. I'll say it again.

Draymond's still there. Steph, Clay by February, Steve Kerr, Bob Myers, Kvon Looney. They just signed an All-Star, DeAngelo Russell. They can keep or flip him for somebody at the trading deadline. Willie Colley Stein, a 12-8 guy, they got lengthen a rim protector. When you wait this long, I mean, the Warriors didn't wait an instant once Kevin Durant left to rebuild quick. Raptors waiting, clippers waiting, Lakers waiting.

There's a sniff of desperation for all of them. Veteran newsman John Goulet. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Colin in the Women's World Cup, our star Megan Rapido, missed the semifinal with a hamstring injury. Here was

Rapino talking about if she'll be ready to play for the final on Sunday. Yeah, it's just a minor hamstring strain. I expect to be back for the final. It's doing well. Obviously, when you only have three games or three days in between, there's like no rest days.

It's very hard to recover from stuff like that. So we have an extra rest day now, and obviously not playing in this game gives me a little bit of extra time to hopefully be fit for the final. By the way, Clay Thompson played with a minor hamstring strain and got hurt. Like, these are real things. So anybody that has a conspiracy theory,

this was a real thing. She was hurt. She was wrapped up. She needed the rest. I would say generally, if this wasn't the last game of the World Cup, you'd probably rest her again if you thought you could. But she is a dynamic, dynamic player. Well, and also, you only get three subs.

So if you put her out there and she can't go or she's at 70%. Now you've got to replace her. You've got to use one of your subs in the final that you shouldn't have had to use. The U.S. will be playing against the Netherlands who defeated Sweden yesterday in the other semifinal, 11 a.m. Eastern on Fox Sunday morning. By the way, it has been highest ratings ever for a women's World Cup, destroying previous World Cups. It has been an absolute home run.

If you can't see the soccer growth in America, folks, I can't help you. There's no sport in America growing this fast. And if you don't like watching this team, I mean, they're fun. They're polarizing. I don't know about you. Women's soccer, they don't flop as much. They're not as the men. Like, they play tougher than the men do, I feel like.

I love this team. Okay, to the NBA, we have another chapter in the book you could call the New York Knicks' worst offseason nightmare. Earlier in the week, Kauai Leonard had told the Knicks he would meet with them on Wednesday after his meetings with the Lakers and Clippers. Easy to accommodate all the Knicks front office rest. They're all in Vegas, not far from L.A. for Summer League. Except for the Knicks canceled the meeting. Why? Because they didn't want to wait on Kauai and miss out on signing other Big Free agents like, you know.

Wayne Elling? Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis, and Reggie Bullitt. That sounds like PR spin. That's not, they're not being honest. Right. Most top players won't even talk to the Knicks. So to me, if you can get a meeting with anybody that's worth a max contract, you take it. Kevin Durant.

Okay. So Kevin Durant's not playing in the East. Kauai, with the help of some nice B players won't a title. You weren't going to wait a day. You felt offended that you had to get Taj Gibson. Oh, boy. Yeah, the, two things. Kawhi's a weird guy.

So why not maybe you say something that he likes and he'll, you know what I mean? It's tough to predict what he's going to do. Also, if you're trying to change the narrative that you're a dysfunctional organization, it's kind of like a job interview.

Even if you're not going to get the job, sometimes you want to interview for it to find out what you need to work on and impress the guy for the next time. If you're the Knicks, wouldn't you want to talk to Kauai and maybe show him? No, we have our stuff together.

Because remember, in two years, Kauai's going to want to be a free agent again because he'll be 10 years in, so he can actually get a bigger contract. So even if he wants to resign with a team, he'll probably find a way to be available again in two years. Why wouldn't you want to try to impress him? And maybe he goes, you know, I remember the Knicks.

They kind of have their stuff together now. I just don't understand why you would cancel the meet. I mean, you don't have an hour to kill? The Knicks are hard. You know, thank God the Nick fans tend to be realistic about their situation. They're not unrealistic because this is just a bunch of nonsense PR spin. And finally, after Andre Iguodala was traded to the Grizzlies by the Warriors in order to clear cap space for DeAngelo Russell, it was assumed the Grizzlies would just buy him out and he would go sign with the Lakers. He used to be represented by Rob Polinka.

He obviously wants to win another title. That might not be the case anymore. According to Tim McMahon of ESPN, the Grizzlies are not planning on buying him out and instead are trying to trade him. The Rockets and the Mavs are interested. Remember, the Rockets were hoping he would get caught and they could maybe sign him as a free agent. This is potentially bad news for the Lakers. I don't think they could trade for him. They would just need to sign him. And if the Rockets are willing to swap a player to bring him in to get another wing player. I'm telling you something. I know everybody thinks if Kauai signs with the

Lakers, they're just going to dominate this league. They're going to have one of the weakest benches I've ever seen. They don't have anybody on that bench that can guard anybody. Kyle Corver can't guard anybody. I love Jared Dudley. Can't guard anybody at this point. Igwadala still can if he's healthy. Yeah, in spots. He's very good situationally. He can play defense situation. And he's a locker room guy, but now if he ends up on the rockets or the Mavs instead. There's nobody left.

There's nobody on the market. They'll be hoping open tryouts. Utah went out and got Jeff Green on a one-year deal. How smart was that? Utah went and needed shooters. They went and got three. Bogdanovich, Mike Conley, and Jeff Green. Man, Utah had an incredible offseason.

Veteran newsman John Gulae. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lie News. Let's bring in my buddy's senior writer Bleacher Report. He's got a podcast, Bucher and Friends, covering the NBA since the early 90s, Rick Buecker. So I was told the Clippers are third. Chris Broussard said they're out.

Yet they had the quietest, most covert, most professional, nothing leaked meetings. And I was told that matters a lot. So if that matters and they aced it, why are they third? It doesn't matter the most. Okay, what does? What matters the most, and I think this is the element that people have not taken into account, is that only playing nine games his last year in San Antonio was not something that Kauai wanted to do. He's like Kevin Durant, Derek Rose, any number of guys, this next year for KD is going to be absolute torture.

He wanted to play. He just physically couldn't. So the ability to play and play an entire season, even if it takes, nursing him through, even it takes load management, that's going to be the priority here. Like who and where allows me to get through the season and play an entire season and be able to play in the finals. And the Clippers, when you measure it by that, you look at the Lakers, you have other stars that can carry the load. The Toronto Raptors have demonstrated already for a full year. Dude, we can get you to the finals. We know how to handle you physically.

that's going to put them ahead of the Clippers who, that's why they so desperately wanted to get that second star, because that would be their ace in the hole to say, hey, we can do the same thing as Toronto. Yeah, two things have happened that are bad for the Clippers. They couldn't get the second star, and everybody in the West feels better. And so the reality is they were an eight seed last year.

Yeah. That's not good enough. No. The guy sharing your building are better. No. So it's, yeah, no, that's fascinating. because on the outside, you know, the Lakers are a circus, everything leaks. The Raptors yesterday was a Bronco chase. And I'm like, God, Clippers have, I haven't heard a peep.

I haven't heard anything. They've been perfect. But in the end, Kauai is looking at it and saying, I need about 15 games off. And by the way, even with 15 off, Rick, he was gassed during certain times in the playoffs. No, no doubt about it. So it's a matter of which, and that's really what he's weighing here. I think the other element that the reason that it's taking as much time as it is, is because Kauai stuck to his word.

As you would imagine an automaton like Kauai, I'm going to worry about my free agency once the season is over. And everybody's like, come on. These guys, you know, Katie and Kairi are talking about it since last summer, two years ago, whatever. Kauai really was, I'm going to see what I'm going to do with Toronto. And then when I get to the finish line and we're done, now I'm going to turn my attention to this.

And so he has all these things to weigh on top of the fact that the Lakers have changed what they have. And the addition of Anthony Davis changes their formula. And he won a championship with the Toronto Raptors, which changes how the scene looks from that standpoint. Yeah. So we know this, that if you spoil your kids, I was just reading a story the other day about Anderson Cooper's, late great mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, passed. And she always told him, I'm not going to give you all the money. And his belief, he's a very ambitious guy, Anderson Cooper.

He said, listen, giving kids a trust fund and millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars in their teens and 20s, it sucks the aspiration out of you. Like, why work? We know this as parent, if you spoil kids. Sure. The NBA is star-driven. I'm comfortable with that. to a different culture than the NFL, which is kind of coach, quarterback, driven, GM driven.

But there does get to a point where are we spoiling the players? I'm reading a story this morning that Kevin Durant didn't get along with Steve Kerr. Boogie Cousins worked there. Nick Young worked there. Iggy was told as a great player. Go to the bench.

That worked. They changed Mark Jackson. There's been bumps. Are we getting to the point with KD? He's gotten to be K-Diva. There's a little neediness here. At some point, he's accountable for something? So when he first got there, we didn't hear any of this. It was Kumbaya.

He got his championships. And look, from the beginning of the year, he wasn't planning on staying there. And I think this is also part of human nature, which is, once you've made your mind up that you're going to do something, indirectly, you start coming up with justifications as to why it's the thing. the thing that you should do. You know what? This person's not who I thought they were. This doesn't quite work the way

I hoped it would. And so I think some of this is backlogging why he made the original decision to leave in the first place. Self-fulfilling prophecy kind of thing. Yes, exactly. And so the other element is this reminds me, again,

the way that KD is tracking reminds me so much of LeBron. LeBron went to Miami. Why? Because he didn't have rings and he had to prove that he was a champion, that he could be a champion. So he goes to Miami and he follows their blueprint. Stop shooting the threes, play below the free throw line, we're going to post you up a little bit more, and it worked. KD, same thing. He had to become a better defender, had to share the ball, had to move off the ball more, had to change it.

And he won his championships. And then LeBron in Miami said, you know what, now that I know the formula. I want to go win a championship the way I want to play. And I think KD is in the same spot. It's like, okay, I got the rings. I got that monkey off my back. Now I want to play the way I want to play. I want to be the main straw that stirs the drink and I want to go win a championship. I want to have it all. And that's the part that I think is really hard for all of us to grasp is that most of us have to make compromises. We can get this. and this, we have to leave this behind. I think players in the position of a LeBron or a KD,

they can look at it and go, well, I want it all. I want it my way. I want the championship, but I want to get it my way. And that's where he is at this point. And to segue off that, that is interesting, if Kauai doesn't go to the Lakers, and there's every indication Toronto has a very good chance, and Kevin Durant, like LeBron in Cleveland,

there is no frontrunner. I talked to a Vegas odds maker two days ago, and he said, if Kauai doesn't go to the Lakers, the Kevin Durant, Kyrie, DeAndre Jordan team will be the favorite. Well, it can be, but I have as many doubts about that combination. First of all, DeAndre Jordan for four more years, 40 million. I don't know. There's no way that you're going to get value out of that.

That was, we're going to give him the $40 million so that we can make Karee and Katie happy and we can close that deal. That was essentially orchestrated by these players. And that's the other element here. Like we keep looking at the franchises as if they're directing this. The players have taken ownership about what they're going to do and where they're going to go. This whole idea that Kauai is going to be convinced because of some pitch, from Doc Rivers or Magic Johnson or, no, he's going to look at the business opportunities. He's going to look at the roster.

He's going to look at how do I see my chances of winning another championship? And those are the things that he's going to weigh. It's not going to be some personal pitch from somebody that's going to sway the day. I think it's a general rule in life, Rick Buecker joining us, that life's never, the moment as bad or as great as it feels. There's the great duality of life. You know, I've gone through heartbreak. I'm sure you have.

There's always a silver lining. And even on the best days, it's not as grand as you think, right? And this morning in New York, people are freaking out. The Knicks can't attract anybody. I am told you believe all hope is not lost. Yeah. No, not at all. Because New York for the longest time has built its, or at least maybe this is from the outside as well.

I think within the franchise and outside the franchise, it's, well, it's New York. It's the market. That's what's going to attract guys. And I think there was a point in the league where that was true. Playing in a big market made a difference for guys. Oh, I think 20 years ago, sure. Now the money is so great and the global marketing is so pervasive, it doesn't matter where you are. Right.

And I really believe that this is. seeped upward from AAU. You don't have to be a player from New York or L.A. or play on a team like that. You're going to go to the tournaments in Las Vegas and Atlanta and wherever, from Indiana or wherever you might play. The Oakland Soldiers. That was one of the great AAU programs.

So players have become accustomed to that. Now it becomes, okay, so what's your organization all about? What's the facilities all about? Can I trust that you know how to put together a championship team? And I honestly believe for the first time with guys like Scott Perry and David Fisdale, who have a track record of being with organizations that built championships from the ground up, that they're doing it the right way. They know that you have a 17-win team.

Okay, so we're going to put Kauai Leonard on it and KD on it and everything's fine. And did they take their shot at that? Absolutely they did. But they were still going to have to build a team. So once they struck out, once they had that heartbreak, it was, okay, well, now we need to go about the business of developing the talent that we have. We're not going to go out there and sign a Tobias Harris to a Max or Kemble Walker to make the optics look good. We need to build a team. And so they got everybody on short contracts.

If you look at free agency, I think everybody's looking at free agency 2020, which is, nah. Anthony Davis has said, you know, he's going to leave his options open. either New York or the Lakers or the two teams. The Knicks are the Lakers or the two teams that are favored by him. But after that, 2021, you got potentially Janice on the market, you got Paul George on the market, Bradley Beale on the market. You've got a host of stars that are available. And they've basically targeted that and said,

we need to be better than 17. Like, let's put ourselves in a position where we're a 35, 40 win team, and we get to 2021. and now all these free agents become available, these superstars, we're going to be presenting a different thing. And the Knicks have not approached it that way since maybe Donnie Walsh was there. Rick Bueker, good stuff.

Cotino Mobley next hour. Good seeing you, bud. We are obviously on Kauai Leonard Watch. I have been told, oh, by the way, quickly, I've been told Raptors, Lakers, Clippers, third. You've been told... Same. Same. Same. And I was told yesterday we should get a result

in the next 24 to 40. hours. Good stuff, Rick Buecker. Coming up next, fit is essential. And maybe KD's personality just never fit the Warriors. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase. that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, the Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations

about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the Chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

the World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Great to have you in, Fourth of July. Coming up next hour at the very top of the hour, Lakers Landing, Kauai, of course, would make them the biggest villains in American sports

are certainly in the top tier of that. We'll give you our idea on villains in sports, which, for the record, we've always loved. We think they mean TV ratings. they mean conversation, they mean polarization. I think they're great for sports in most cases. We'll talk about that. Absolute pleasure to have everybody in.

And an 11-year NBA vet, Catino Mobley next hour. We're, of course, here on 4th of July, our staff will be celebrating it tonight with their families and friends, the fireworks. It's my favorite holiday. And just great to have you in. You know, I don't think there's any question that Kevin Durant was a basketball fit in Golden State. But I read a story this morning that he, He wasn't that fond of Steve Kerr.

What he wasn't is a mentality fit. And I think it matters. I'll give you an example. I used to live in Oregon, and Nike is the big company in Oregon outside of Portland, Beaverton, Oregon. And there's a very strong vibe and a very strong culture to Nike. And they hired an outsider to be their CEO, William Perez. It lasted a year.

It was a disaster. He was an outsider. and they had such a strong brand and a strong vibe and a strong culture than an outsider, even a very talented outsider, didn't work. This reminds me of Chip Kelly with the Philadelphia Eagles. Chip Kelly turned Oregon into a national power. They were leading Pac-12 games 44 to 7 at half. They had to put on the brakes second drive into the third quarter.

He goes to the NFL in Philadelphia, and Philadelphia is blue collar and cheese steak and all about tradition. and here's Chip Kelly with a newfangled offense. Every player has a different smoothie that aligns with their personality, and it just didn't work. Chip Kelly was a bad fit in Philadelphia. He was a quirky kind of arrogant, up-tempo college guy from the West Coast, Oregon and their million uniforms in Philadelphia is all about tradition,

and he didn't fit. Kevin Durant, when you have a really strong culture, it's difficult to be an outsider. Chip Kelly didn't fit the Eagles. William Perez didn't, talented guy, fit Nike. The Warriors have probably the strongest brand in the league. They talk politics. They're not apolitical.

Kevin Durant doesn't want to talk politics. Kevin Durant is aloof. Kevin Durant is prickly. Kevin Durant just wants to talk basketball. Kevin Durant's kind of an emotional wanderer looking for the next thing. The Warriors brand is, family, chill, we all poke each other in the ribs, we talk politics, we think we're sort of the way you should play basketball or culture and style, and Kevin doesn't fit it.

He's just, I mean, they want a title, he was restless first year. And I think fit matters. I think it's very, very big. I've seen it all through my life in sports. That dynasties generally start from above the shoulders. Do you fit? Brady and Belichick work because they both have two things. They're workaholics. They're into family and football and they're both incredibly willful. Phil Jackson and Kobe mostly worked. Phil aspirational, all about winning.

Kobe, the killer, all about winning. So I think you can make an argument that Kevin just never really fit, this incredibly strong culture where it's not about wandering. It's about family. That's what Draymond Grain gave him crap about. I mean, they won 73 games without him. They won a title without him. They were a family without him.

They went through a coaching change without him. And Kevin never quite felt like this is the downside of free agency. Like everybody freaks out about free agency. I love free agency. I think mobility helps parity. And that sounds counterintuitive. But since 2010, just nine years. years ago. We've had seven different NBA champions.

College football, Bama and Clemson are going to play for the title again next year for like the four straight year, right? I mean, Bama's in that thing every year. Clemson feels like they're in it every year. In the NBA, we've had seven different championship teams in nine years, eight if you go back two more years because people have choices, but then they also get burned out and eventually get restless very quick. It's just, we talked about this yesterday. It's kind of the American way. We're a country of options and choices, and we get bored, even when life is perfect.

I mean, half these NBA guys are choosing to go to inferior teams, inferior coaches, inferior brands, inferior cities. But I just don't, I don't think Kevin Durant ever fit. I mean, remember how testy he was with the media this year? This is just one instance. I have nothing to do with the Knicks. I don't know who traded Porzengis. They got nothing to do with me. I'm trying to play basketball.

Y'all come here every day, ask me about free agency, I ask my teammates, my coaches, you rile up the fans about it. Let us play basketball. That's all I'm saying. And now when I don't want to talk to y'all, it's a problem with me. Come on, man. You're talking. You're talking.

So, who are you? Why do I got to talk to you? How are you playing? How's a team playing in the last couple weeks? I'm done. You know you don't care about that. And for the record, the San Francisco meet West Coast Media. is not as feisty as East Coast media.

It's just not. We're not Boston. We're not Philadelphia. We're not as cranky. I don't know. The Bay Area media has been generally pretty soft, and he struggled from day one. So, listen, it was never an ideal fit.

Chip Kelly, by the way, people forget this. Went 10 and 6, 10 and 6, and they couldn't stand him. They wanted him out. They were a bad team. They got good. They still wanted him out.

It wasn't because he wasn't a good football coach. He wasn't them. Chip wasn't them. He was quirky. He wasn't into tradition. He wanted to blow stuff up and do it differently. He just didn't feel like Philadelphia. He didn't feel like Philadelphia.

He was 10 and 6, 10 and 6, and everybody hated him. You know, I mean, it's like, that's just the way it is. When you go to, listen, I'm a guy that's bounced into new companies and bounced out of companies. When you go into a new company, you got to watch the temperature of the room. It's, it's, I've been East Coast, West Coast, in the South, Pacific Northwest, you go to strong brands, you're an outsider, there's a chance. When I lived in New England, it's a great place to live. But I told people that are from New England, like they have a saying in New England, fences

make good neighbors. I wasn't from New England. I didn't go to high school there. I didn't go to a prep college there. I was an outsider. I liked the people. I had fun. I raised my kids there.

I was always an outsider. I was always an outsider in New England. I mean, they say that about St. Louis. You go to a party in St. Louis, everybody's like, where'd you go to high school? People that live in St. Louis have chosen St. Louis. They're from St. Louis. Everybody else is an outsider. Certain cities like that, certain brands like that, the Warriors are like that.

Kevin never fit perfectly. Hour two. Next, the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand when Whatever you'd like. 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. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough

because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're free? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exact.

at this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball.

Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down. down the court and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hour 2, 4th of July,

live in Los Angeles. Thanks for joining us. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, we're on Fox Sports Radio and right here on FS1, Sunday on Fox, the Women's World Cup Final.

We got the All-Star game and baseball coming up next week on Fox. And then out of that, you got baseball races, baseball playoffs on Fox, the NFL season. We have 40% of NFL games here on Fox, and we have a great rest of the year planned. Super Bulls on Fox this year. We just had a great U.S. Open. Just great to be here. And we were talking this morning. I like villains. I can remember years ago that my first job, my first job about a college, I got a job in Las Vegas. And the first team I covered as a broadcaster was UNLV basketball with Jerry Tarkhanian.

And it was fun. And they were like villains. And then when you covered the team, they were a lot of fun. And they kind of reveled in it. They kind of like that us versus them mentality. So the first team I covered in my life was UNLV. And maybe that's the reason where I've always kind of maybe because I noticed when I was 20, 21 years old. This is fun. They're polarizing. They're controversial. They're talked about.

But it's fun to cover a villain. It's fun to watch a villain. I think sports needs villains. I think the Yankees are good for baseball. And I've always felt that. Fans say they don't like villains, but they watch them. The most hated brands are also generally the most liked brands. It's the same with individuals. Simon Cowell was the judge. Everybody hated an American Idol. He left it, the ratings tanked. Howard Stern's controversial. Nobody likes him. Left FM radio, FM radio tanked.

To be liked is to be hated, to be passionately in favor of, you're generally passionately opposing. And so I thought, with all this Kauai talk, you know, these super teams in the NBA here on Fourth of July, we've got some interesting. Who are the big villains in American sports where most of you will say, I hate these teams, but they're frankly often the most watched and talked about. Let's go at top 10. Number 10 to me would be Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan football coach.

I wish he would spawn into 10 more. I think he's great for college football. I think he's an easy target. He's had dust-ups with Urban Meyer and Pete Carroll. He's had the satellite camps. And they've won a bunch of games, and they're way better than they were before. But he hasn't won the big game. And so Jim Harbaugh and his ultra-hyper competitiveness is a big turner.

But I'm telling you right now, I would take 10 more Jim Harbaugh's in college football. He's made Michigan relevant. They are, by the way, favored in the Big Ten. My belief is this will be the best Michigan team. Shea Patterson, Jim Harbaugh, tremendous offensive line. Three guys that'll go pro. Jim Harbaugh, to me, is number 10 on our villain list in American sports. I love the guy, and frankly, half the time he hates me.

Number nine. United States women's national team. I don't get how they're polarizing. I would die to have our men's national team play this aggressively. Isn't the knock on our men's team? They're passive. They play defensively. They don't have any bravado or attitude.

This team has everything I wish the men's team had. And if you don't think they're polarizing, Alex Morgan sipping the tea, Megan Rapino taking a shot at the president. Here's what Canadian broadcaster said after they smoke Thailand. If you were going to blow away a team, do it with humility. And they did not.

Megan Rapino has scored countless goals on the international stage. She was celebrating like she had her first. When you're Alex Morgan 2 and you're counting out your goals, it was just unacceptable. Well, I understand there's a goal differential race in this tournament. I understand they're nervous about drawing Sweden later in the tournament. But this was disgraceful from the United States. I would have hoped they could have won with humility and grace, but celebrating goals 8, 9, 10, the way they're going.

they were doing is really unnecessary. Yes, just distasteful. That sounded like a Saturday night live skit. I would die to have our men's team. This team doesn't flop. This team's cocky. This team plays aggressively. They're attacking style. I wish our men played like that.

Number eight. Officiating. First baseball game I went to as a kid. Angels Mariners' 1977 Kingdom. I walked in, they announced the umpires, and they booed him. I thought, how can we boo them? We don't know him. It's our first baseball game in the city.

Replays made it worse. The Saints called against the Rams. You know, when I grew up, if there was a bad call, you generally didn't have replay to give you nine angles on it. The first Super Bowl had four cameras. The last Super Bowl had 38. Fox will have over 40 cameras this year. Officiating the VAR in soccer,

the Rams call, and the Saints call. You can see the mistakes. And frankly, athletes are bigger and faster. so it's harder to run around and follow their every move, officiating number eight on our villain list. Number seven. SEC football. Listen, they've won 10 of the last 13 national championships.

There is no argument. It's the deepest, most talented college football conference. It does feel like they've separated from the rest of the country. Listen, Ole Miss got caught paying players. There's a story LSU was paying players. There's always been this sense outside of the South, these guys cheat. You know, Old Miss did. LSU apparently did.

Maybe they do. But it's the intensity, it's the passion, they win too much. We're not sure if it's on the up and up. Here's all I know. When I watch SEC football on a Saturday, they are the fastest and the strongest conference. The fan bases are the most intense and passionate. It's the toughest places to play. and that turns a lot of people off.

Number six. The Yankees, known as the Evil Empire. 27 World Championships. They're already stacked, and they're going to go out and get a Madison Baumgartner. You know, I mean, listen, baseball has no salary cap, and because of their yes, cable network, they make $4 to $500 million a year on that.

They've also had some polarizing figures through the day. I grew up with Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson and yelling and screaming and cats and dogs living together. I actually thought some of the Jeter teams were incredibly likable. Pasada, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, were homegrown guys. Don Mattingley was an incredibly likable

player. I find this Yankee team, Aaron Judge, I think, is very likable. But by and large, in a sport with no salary cap, they can just go by the best players. That's a big turnoff. Number five. Floyd Mayweather, our first individual, arrogant, doesn't lose

an incredibly boring style, and frankly has avoided taking championship. championship challenging fights. Listen, you know, it's gosh. You shouldn't talk about money. That's all he talks about. But I also think if he fought a more dynamic style,

if he was willing to face fighters in their prime, he would be a little bit embracable. He's also got allegations that are horrific personally. So he's in our top five. Number four. Duke basketball. Again, I think I'd love to send my kid to Duke. I think it's a great academic school.

I think they have a great coach. They have no chaos. But, you know, Christian Leitner, people thought was arrogant. They do get the top recruits. It's a private elite academic institution. I've never understood the hate for Mike Shashefsky. I really don't get it. He's incredibly gracious.

I mean, so much so that the NBA guys, you know, he's coached Olympic teams. Everybody likes him. I know four or five coaches in college basketball. They all like Coach Kay. He's not a bad guy. There's bad guys in college. college coaching. He's not one of them. But Duke is seen as a over-the-top elitist organization. Wouldn't you send your kids to Duke if you could? It's like Stanford. It's like

Columbia. I mean, if they offered your kid or your daughter or your son of scholarship, wouldn't you say, yeah? Number three. Dallas Cowboys. I think what people, what drives people, this is our villain list. I think what drives people crazy with the Cowboys is they're considered America's team, and haven't won a Super Bowl in 24 years, that they get a lot of media attention that they don't deserve. But I will tell you, having worked at a couple of networks, nobody moves the needle like the Cowboys.

That's why Troy Aikman does our podcast and Tony Romo's on CBS and Michael Irvin's on the NFL network. And that's why there's Cowboys everywhere. They're owners outspoken and a brilliant marketer, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells, Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, they're in the middle of the country, the star, the uniform, whatever it is. No football team in America is close to the Cowboys in reach and an impact. Number two. The Patriots.

It's not only that they win, it's that there's the deflate gate and the spy gate. And again, like SEC football, there is this sense that, you know, they're not all on the up and up here. Listen, nine Super Bowl appearances in the last 18 years makes no sense. This is three times now as long as the Cowboys dynasty, the Steelers dynasty, and the 49ers dynasty. But I'll go back to something that I've always believed about New England. When you face the New England Patriots, we all know that coaching matters in football. It's the coaching sport, right? NBA is the player sport, baseball is the pitching analytic sport, football is the coaching sport.

When you face Belichick, do you ever feel like you go in with a coaching advantage in a game? And you don't. You just don't. Belichick and Brady are number two in our list. Number one. I don't think there's any question. If Kauai Leonard, LeBron, and A.D. play together. This will be the most hated team for as long as it's together.

I don't think Anthony Davis is hateable. I don't think Kauai is remotely hateable. I don't get all the animosity. I know LeBron sometimes can be a little too all-king, all-chosen one all-powerful. Kyle Kuzma, but this again, this is the Lakers history, the Lakers' glamour, they get all the stars. They'd have three of the top, I would say, six players in the NBA. There's LeBron's decision that turned some people off,

although I did think his intent was good. I think they would be the most hated team in America, but I don't think it would last, like all super teams in the NBA, I think they'd wear each other out after about two years. Baker Mayfield, I'm told, with a right-in vote, has me on the list of biggest villains in sports. I did not put Baker Mayfield. I actually find Baker, give him another year, and if he's polarizing for one more year, I don't know if you've noticed this with Baker.

He got into a little te-tete with me on the Internet, and he's disappeared. I think the organization said, get out of that space. don't be arguing with media people. So I don't find him yet a villain. I find him fascinating, sometimes a young guy using poor judgment, but I don't think Baker's a villain yet. Yeah, everybody likes him.

And I like him. I just think his judgments, there's a lot of noise and nonsense with a franchise quarterback. There's our villains. Coming up, I got to give New York credit on something. There's some crazy fan bases out there. There's one New York fan base that deserves on this 4th of July a tip of the cap.

That's coming up. Car shopping can be confusing. A lot of terms, dealer price, invoice, list price. Go to Truecar.com. Show you what other people paid for the car you want. You'll recognize the price. I save over $3,000 on my last automobile purchase my wife and I did at Truecar.com. New or used car doesn't matter. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. FS1 and the IHard Radio app. 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. SportsSlice 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist. Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Destin, Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me care gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free iHeart radio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, the

Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office, Blue 42. A rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clipper Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on the only score at the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan.

I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Sunday, their quest for a record fourth World Cup has all come down to this. Megan Rapino, Alex Morgan, and the U.S. women put their legacy on the line against the Netherlands. The FIFA Women's World Cup final. Coverage begins

at Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. I love watching them play. Aggressive. They are good. Talkers. Chatty. I love it. So do I. I love it. I like my, we're funny about this. It's okay if guys are a little cocky,

but all of a sudden our women are a little cocky, everybody's like, hey, you're representing the country. It's like, this is what I want my guy team to play like. And they don't flop like the men. Thank you. They do not flop. I like they're aggressive. They're like when you watch them play, they'll give up goals. They don't care. I want my daughter. I want my daughter just like that.

Go at them. Cotino Mobley 11 seasons in the NBA. So I mean, here we have this mystery of Kauai Leonard. I'll tell you. My sources say Toronto and Lakers either one. I do think it's funny. The clippers have been totally quiet. No leaks. Not a peep. No. And apparently their third. Jerry West, baby. Not a peep.

Is there a place you hope Kauai lands? Okay, so for me, because I have a love for the Clippers, I would love for Kauai to go to the Clippers. I just think he fits well with him. Jerry West, Doc Rivers, Patrick Beverly, who I love to death, Montrez, Harold, Lou Williams, you know, they have a great bench. You know, I just loved for him to be at the Clippers.

It's kind of like, if you think about it, It's kind of like the Toronto team on the West. It's a younger version of Toronto. Right, on the West. Right. I just think if he fits the best there. But the problem being, the Clippers were an 8 seed last year. He can't take 22 games off.

The West is better. He could take that time off in Toronto because the East is so bad the bottom half. And the Lakers have two stars in Kuzma. He could probably take 12 to 15 off there. I think that's the load management issue. You know, Kauai admitted, Cotino, he's like, listen, the days off help me. Yeah. And even with the days off, he looked gassed in a couple of games late.

For sure. Listen, it's a cardio league. I think it's tough. I will say this, though, is that if you worried about the big picture, I don't mind him going to Los Angeles. Best place for him is Los Angeles. In terms of basketball? Lakers. Why?

Well, there's a couple of different reasons, right? If he signs with Toronto as 190. if he signs with anyone else is 140, right? So you're losing $50 million if you're not with Toronto. Now, you made an amazing point. It's a cardio league. So if I'm with the Clippers, they scratch in the eighth, seventh, we don't know what's going to happen this next year.

Teams has gotten better in the West. It's hard if I sit out. But if I'm with the Lakers, I'm with LeBron James, who has the best body in the world, right? The best conditioning in the world, right? Out of 16 years, he's only been injured once. I want to go there. I'm going to get on his regiment

when it comes to my body, my conditioning. That's one. Two is I can take off some games even when I'm playing because I have AD LeBron and you know what I mean? Like LeBron's just that type of guy. Now the third one is if I go to the Lakers

and I get say I get the 140, whatever I get, I'm saying the magic and LeBron, listen, if I come here, put me in your businesses. So that 50 million that I lost, against Toronto, I don't care. I'm making it up with you guys in perpetuity

the rest of my life and companies. By the way, Kevin Durant did this with the Warriors. John, you remember this, because John used to work in the Bay Area. The Warriors said in their pitch, we'll get you into the Silicon Valley crowd. And he was able to invest in a lot of these Bay Area companies. And he's still

invested so he can leave now and go to Brooklyn. It doesn't matter. But that was part of the pitch. Yep. So, no, do you, I want to shift to Kevin Durant. I heard this morning he doesn't like Steve Kerr or didn't get along with Steve Kerr and I'm like, dude, at some point you didn't get along with the Bay Area Media, which is pretty soft, you didn't get along with the medical staff, you didn't get along with Draymond Green. Isn't some of this on Kevin Durant?

Maybe he just doesn't get along with people. Listen, Draymond Green is the one who recruited you first. That's the first thing. And I heard that he, you know, I guess he jumped on Stephen A. Smith about what Stephen A. Smith said. and he jump on, you know, Skip Bayliss and he jump on you, he'll jump on me and Kris B. So who, what's the common denominator here? Right?

Like at the end of the day, you know, you got the matches in your pocket. It's the only reason places are getting on fire is because you keep striking matches. It's nothing about everybody else. That's just my point, right? It's like you don't get along with these people. Let's look in the mirror and figure out why, right? It must be deep-rooted.

Something else is going on. Right? It's not about basketball. It's about our inner self, my opinion. You know, I always had this theory. Let's talk, and Kevin Durant certainly qualifies as one of the seven or eight American sports stars. He's in that top dozen, right? Tom Brady, just tear me out. It's my theory on this. Because I've seen this happen in the media. Tom Brady, married lots of kids.

Steph Curry, married kids. Right. Russell Wilson, married kids. Right, right. You're too busy. Who are the guys that get into media skirmishes? Yes, yes. Kevin Durant, not married, no kids.

Aaron Rogers, not married no kids. Kyrie Irving, not married no kids. OBJ, not married no kids. You're on this all day. I can't be on this all day. I got kids screaming at me. It means ridiculous. You got your wife, you got your kids.

Married, I've seen this in the media. I have seen people blow up their careers. It's never people that are married with kids. It's the single talk show host. It's the... On this, getting into skirmishes all day with people. You're so, you want, you're, listen, I think you're 100% right. I'm telling you.

They always say idle time is the devil's playground. Right. And he has too much time. Cotino, the next year. He's in trouble. He's going to do two hours of rehab and go to this and watch shows like this all day. And he's going to be, he's, listen, you're in Brooklyn. Okay, you're not with the Knicks.

You're still in Brooklyn. You're still in New York. like that's tough. You can't go outside if you're a seven-footer and you're a superstar. You can't hide. Mike Trout can hide in Anaheim. Puts on sunglasses. Nobody knows who he is.

NBA stars can't hide. You're inside in the winter. Done with rehab at 10 in the morning. Sitting around till 11 at night. Brooklyn? I got nothing against Brooklyn. No, I don't either. But the history of New Yorkers.

30th in attendance. Go ahead. I don't think it's going to be. Vegas thinks it's going to. to be first or second best team in the league going forward. I think it's going to be incredibly turbulent. Oh, I got to ask you about this, because this reminded me of you. So we always like to bury people. I remember as a kid growing up, Muhammad Ali's done. George Foreman's going to beat him. And then they go to Zaire. And you just, the heart of a champion,

Muhammad Ali rose, we bury the Patriots. Every time they have a bad system. Warriors, we buried him. But Kevin Durant was restless. And they knew it. They didn't come home one day and the wife left you. Right. She'd been complaining for two years. Yes. So the minute Kevin Durant leaves, they get Willie Colley Stein, they solve their big problem. I love it. Kvon Looney takes a pay discount. I love it.

And DiAngelo Russell. Now, I love DeAngelo Russell. He actually reminds me of your game a crafty playmaker, a little lefty. See, I think it works for at least a year. Yes. Now everybody's telling me their style, Stefan

DeAngelo don't work. What do you see with their styles? Well, I don't know. Listen, I'm not saying that people don't know what they're talking about, but if you look at DeAngelo Russell in the history of how he plays the game, he's a playmaker. No question. Right? And he's a great offensive one-on-one player.

So if you think about Stephen Curry, who's amazing off the ball, right? It's impossible to keep up with Steph. You can't. By the way, James Harden, if you go back to when Kevin Durant didn't play for the Warriors against the Rockets, their offense without Durant ran so much.

I think Chris Paul and Hardin wore out chasing Stefan. That's exactly what it is. Because, see, psychologically, what you have to do is, and I deal with this with the big three. You know, we play in weekends on the big three. I think about players. We'll play on a Saturday or a Sunday. We play on a Saturday.

I start thinking about them on Sunday and Monday. After that, I erase my brain from them and then focus on myself. So a lot of players become worried of other players. they have to play before they're playing when you have to play Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or this person or that person you're thinking about them throughout the week that's mentally draining in itself

so now you have to play Stefan Curry Clay Thompson you're running around all day long you yourself are not going to be 100% on the office event or 100% on a defense event right you're going to be in between which takes away from a lot of your strengths if it was just a regular game

it's not a regular game you're playing Stefan Curry You're playing Clay Thompson. Now you have DeAngelo Russell, who's running around, passing the ball, can score on anybody by himself. So now you can't leave Steph. You can't leave – like, to me it's a lot more dangerous to have those three in the court together. Well, to your point, Steph is so good off the ball. He's so good. And he's pretty eagulless.

So I kind of think that Steph's the kind of guy. Like James Hardin's game, he needs the ball. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Kyrie Irving's game, he needs the ball. Think about it like this. He had Dimwitty, you had Lavert, and you had DeAngelo Russell. DeAngelo Russell still did well, right?

And Dem Willie and Lavert, no disrespect to them, are not better than Clay Thompson and Stefan Curry, right? When DeAngelo Russell goes to play with these guys, with Stefan Curry and Clay Thompson, the way they move without the ball, his game will elevate so much. Stephen Curry shot one more field goal than Kevin Durant last year. Just one more field goal. and was super efficient.

Now he has somebody that's going to be a true point guard that's a combo guard that literally on the floor with him. I just feel bad for defenders. No, I mean, Curry has shown an ability to play with other stars, surrender the basketball. All day long. All day long. Cotino Mowgli, good senior man.

Leads the big three in scoring, by the way. Yeah. Good senior. A veteran newsman, John Goulet. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Last night, the U.S. men's national team defeated Jamaica 3-1 behind two goals from Phenom, Kristen Pulisich.

They will now face Mexico in the Gold Cup final on Sunday night in Chicago, 830 Eastern on FS1. Here was Pulisich after the game. Me and the end, I'm just really happy we get the win. Obviously, Mexico, USA final, there's not many better games out there, so I'm thrilled, and yeah, we're going to give it everything we have. It's the best game there is. I mean, I'm so excited for it. you know, my first real final with this team, and I think it's going to be a great game. He is so much better than all of our other players.

You know what's amazing about Policic? I mean, he's really amazing. Like, soccer fans get very defensive because, you know, they've been mocked for years in America. So American soccer fans tend to be a little defensive. I get it if you get poked at for years. And there is this sort of elite mental superiority. If you don't understand soccer, it's. Let me tell you something. You don't have to know soccer at all.

I watch Christian Palouss to get 17 years old. John, you were around here, right? Yeah. I came on the air and I said, that's our Magic Johnson. We've never had a Magic Johnson. He is the best passerer we've ever had. He is a great finisher. This is an all-time.

He's the first guy we've ever had that I believe can be a, not just a player overseas, can be a star for Chelsea in the English Premier League. Yeah, you were, we all said, who the hell is he talking about? And you were right. He is just an all. and I don't have to be some soccer expert. If you can't spot his talent, then you're trying too hard to pretend soccer is complicated.

Especially with some of the players around him, he really stands out. Yeah. The NFL has determined that Ezekiel Elliott did not violate the personal conduct policy during his latest incident in Las Vegas. He will not be suspended for the incident where he bumped a security guard to the ground. He was detained but not arrested. It's good news for the Cowboys. However, the fact that their best player is constantly,

dealing with potential suspensions is not always great. As you know, I'm pretty critical of Dak Prescott as a Cowboys fan. However, he doesn't ever have these issues off the field. I know he had a DUI in college, but that's been it. He's been a model citizen since coming to the NFL. Well, Zeke's dad, when he came into the NFL, said he didn't think he was emotionally or quite ready for the NFL, so he's young and he's made mistakes. I don't think he's a bad person.

I think he's at times immature. Yeah. But, you know, like I don't look at Zeke and think, oh, is a bad human being. I think he's incredibly immature, which, by the way, if you play, if he played for Jacksonville, when you go to the Dallas Cowboys, everything is these stories. With this incident, would I know about this incident if he played for the Baltimore Ravens? It was a running back. I'm not sure I would.

I mean, the Cowboys have more beatwriters than any team I've ever seen. Also, Jerry does enable his stars a little bit. I'm not saying for behavior like this, but he probably knows that I'm not going to get in trouble with the team. Would you be hesitant? He could get paid this year or next year. I have a basic theory. In football, if somebody's the best player at their position,

you generally pay them. He's the best running back in the NFL. He blocks, he catches, he runs, he's durable. And he's immature. But to this point, he's been incredibly productive. All I know is Sunday at 1 or Sunday at 4. He's great. That's what I care about.

Fair point. And finally, veteran shooting guard Kyle Corver was traded to the Sons yesterday. He is expected to be bought out, and so he can sign with another team. The Bucks, Sixers, and Lakers considered the favorites to land him. He can still shoot 40% from 3. He did last year between the Jazz and the Cavs. Most people are just kind of placing him with the Lakers because of his connection to LeBron and the fact that they don't have anyone that can shoot.

do you think he ends up with the Lakers? Well, he'll help both teams. I don't think Kyle's a guy that I worry about in playoff series. He becomes a little bit of a defensive liability. But, I mean, the Lakers right now, they can't be picky. You tell me who needs him, Los Angeles. I think what makes a lot of sense to me is the Sixers. Because while he's a defensive liability, they don't, they're good on defense.

I think they could absorb that and they need a shooter. They lost a lot of shooting. I know everyone assumes Lakers, but, man, could you imagine if the Sixers-Sign Corver and Iguodal gets traded somewhere else? He's exactly what they need. Yeah. He's exactly what Philadelphia needs. Because if you look at their front court, it's probably the best. If you get by him on defense, you have Embed and Horford waiting for you.

I think they can deal with that. Good stuff, veteran newsman John Goulay. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. There are a lot of fan bases. that are unrealistic. Okay, and I get it.

Fan is short for fanatic. I've always understood this. I get it. The Oakland Raider fan base is irrational. One playoff game, one winning season in 17 years. One winning season in 17 years. And when guys like me suggest they won't make the playoffs, people are outraged. The Raider fan base comes unglued with any criticism.

You've been a laughing stock for almost two decades. I mean, the Cleveland Browns fan base is they think there's some national brand. We didn't talk about the Cleveland Browns for 15. years. Baker Mayfield makes them interesting. OBJ makes them interesting. They suddenly think now they were one and six against winning teams last year and suddenly they think OBJ and Olivier Vernon.

We are having an earthquake right now. Yeah, we are having an earthquake in Los Angeles. Yeah. That was a big one. That was about 10 seconds of an earthquake in Los Angeles. I don't think it's done. I thought somebody was grabbing my desk.

I've never been in an earthquake. Certainly not on the air. We'll take a break. We just had a little earthquake. Not that little. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 head. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. For more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch life becomes about wins and losses Steve Burns Dustin Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person

Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama

want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the earnies. I'm Tab Ramos.

I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team.

And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Yes, we just live on the air had an earthquake. It was a 6.6 in the Barstow, Lancaster area,

which is about an hour and a half from where I sit. So stronger there, didn't quite feel 6.6 here, but it was about 8 to 10 seconds of shaking and kind of sways back and forth. I've slept through a couple of earthquakes, not at that magnitude at all. We've had a series of tremors in Los Angeles over the last couple of weeks. They've been not, if predicting, they've talked about this, and we just got it. So 6.6 in Lancaster, we're fine. We're okay.

We're hope you're good. But if you saw me going back and forth, it wasn't that you'd had too many beers too early. I was swaying back and forth, okay? So today is 4th of July. And I thought I would have, on Independence Day, some declarations of independence. This is the day we declared our freedom from the tyranny of the British Empire. And I want to declare our freedom from several oppressive forces in sports. These are my four declarations of independence on the 4th of July.

My first declaration of independence, we need to declare our freedom from the unwritten rules of baseball. These tyrannical rules are draining the fun out of our national pastor. time. Let's be honest here. We should be able to live in a country where you can celebrate a home run without somebody throwing a 96 mile an hour heater at your skull. Every player should have a right to celebrate a home run, especially if they play for the Orioles because they need all the support they can get. My second declaration of independence, we must declare our freedom from the NFL Pro Bowl. For years, it has bored us with its irrelevance.

I say no more. Can you remember who won last year's Pro Bowl? I'll tell you who won. The people who didn't have to watch it. It's a disgrace not only to our flag, but to the game of flag football, which is more entertaining to watch. The biggest stars don't want to plan it. It's not an all-star game. It's more of an alternate star game. My third declaration of independence. We must declare our freedom from the weak college football schedules in September. Good Lord, this is embarrassing.

These schedules are rough to watch. The September, this Labor Day, starting this Labor Day, this September, Alabama will subject us to the watching of them facing due. 28-point favorite, New Mexico State, 38-point favorite, Southern Miss, that punishment is cruel, and yet all too usual. If I wanted to watch that much garbage being devoured, I'd watch Nathan's hot dog eating contest. We must demand that our September schedules are strong like our proud country, and finally on this 4th of July, we must declare our freedom from the fear of super teams. For years, we've been warned about them. They'll take over the world.

When we didn't have free agency, the Celtics won 11 titles in 13 years, when players in college didn't team up together and they didn't have a transfer portal, UCLA won 10 titles in 12 years, give our superstars, our fans, and most importantly, woge the freedom to talk. can discuss super teams. I believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which is why nobody wants to play for the Knicks.

We must not fear super teams. What we should fear is the Hawks and Grizzlies playing on television on a Tuesday night. My declarations of independence, no more unwritten rules in baseball, no more pro bowl, no more embarrassing September college football schedules. and for the love of you know what,

no more fear of super teams. Since 2010, seven different teams of won titles. Free agency. Creates parity. It doesn't end it. I will give, you know, I was talking before an earthquake hit. You know, I joke about the New York Knicks,

but what's interesting about the Knicks, there's a story out today that they were going to meet Kauai Leonard, but it was just inconvenient. Listen, the reality is, Raider fans are delusional, Cleveland Brown fans are delusional, Notre Dame fans are kind of delusional.

Nick fans are not delusional. They've got a bad owner, they know it, and they aren't happy with it. But Nick fans, to their credit, I don't think there's a fan base in America that is more realistic about who they are. I mean, listen, Charles Oakley, a beloved figure in New York,

got into a fight with security. This is the biggest tire fire in American pro sports. You know, we keep being convinced. Kevin Durant didn't give him a meeting. And I was told for the last year that Kevin Durant had nothing but friends. Steve Mills, Fisdale, guys he liked, he didn't give him a meeting. So I will say this. There's a lot of fan bases out there that don't understand what they are.

Nick fans, to their credit, are completely frustrated. and mostly joyless, but they get what they are. They're not Cleveland Brown fans. They're not Oakland Raider fans. I mean, when Charles Oakley, I mean, you can watch New York Nick fans. John McEnroe was actually, you can see the back of his head. People just sat there and they weren't even astonished. Look at the faces on fans.

They're just kind of looking at like, this is the circus that we're part of. James Dolan, Anthony Davis didn't give him an interview. Kyrie Irving didn't give him an interview. LeBron didn't give him an interview. and some of it is misfortune. They had the best odds to land Zion, and they didn't land him. But they got the third pick. They'll get R.J. Barrett from Duke.

He's a terrific player. He'll be a 20-point-of-game guy very soon in the NBA. But I've never thought the Nick fan base is delusional, frustrated, angry, but largely acknowledges what they are. There is some self-awareness in New York. And this entire free agency period, you know, you just have to remember, our job is to kind of guess where they go, like Kauai Leonard. But, you know, a lot of these situations, these are young men making huge career-altering choices.

My feeling on Kauai Leonard is, I would never tell my son, or if I was an agent, I could never tell a player to give up $50 million guaranteed. Because I live in Los Angeles, you probably presume I think Kauai should go to the Lakers. I actually don't. If I was his agent, I would tell him first and foremost, I would tell him to go to Toronto. It's 50 million, great coach, remarkable GM, winning culture, own the country. I had Damon Stoddemeier on my show a month ago, who played in Toronto. And Damon Stodemeyer said he kind of regretted leaving. Like Drake can sell records here.

He's also selling all of them in Canada. So my takeaway, if you're asking me where I would go, where I would tell him to go, I'd tell them to stay in Toronto. I would have told Jimmy Butler to stay in Philadelphia. I would have told Kevin Durant to stay in the Bay Area. Like I don't care. The reason billionaires are billionaires, they don't give up 50 million guaranteed. They just don't give it up.

They just don't give it up. That's why businessmen, owners or slash governors, whatever you want to call them, that's why they own teams. I could never, ever as an agent, tell a player, don't worry about the money you'll make it up. You don't make up $50 million guaranteed. You just don't. You just don't make that kind of money up.

So if you're asking me, if I could send guys where I'd send them, I'd say Kauai stay in Canada. Kyrie Irving, I don't think you'll ever get a better offensive coach than Brad Stevens. I would have stayed in Boston. I did not think, by the way, Paul George staying in Oklahoma City was great because of Westbrook's style. I think it's hard to play with, and I think that was illustrated this year. But I'm overwhelmingly for guys staying.

I am a supporter of mobility because I'd be a hypocrite, because I've moved around the country. I've lived in all four corners of the country. So I'd be a hypocrite if I wasn't for mobility. I'm always for people making better opportunities for themselves and their families. But, you know, when I move, I don't have 50 million guaranteed lay. I'm not leaving it on the table. Cause I should stay in Toronto. I know if he chooses Toronto, my Twitter account will be just sabotage.

with people saying, oh, this bums you out. No. Listen, I live in Los Angeles. We got two NFL teams, they're both playoff teams, two NBA teams next year. Both can make the playoffs. Two soccer, two baseball. We got a baseball team that wins their division, back-to-back World Series, USC, UCLA. I like a lot of different stories.

I do think, though, that there's this sense that if Kauai goes to the Lakers, I had dinner last night with a couple of buddies at Fox. and a lot of them think Kauai to the Lakers is bad for the league. I think it's nonsense. I think for two years they'd be the villain. We'd start talking about the greatest team of all time, and then they'd wear each other out. I think Anthony Davis could be the loser in this, because LeBron's been very tough on Biggs. He was tough on Kevin Love.

He was tough on Chris Boss. He's tough on Biggs. I think if Kauai comes here, I don't think it's magic chemistry. I don't. I think Kauai, LeBron, and Kuzma are great together. I think Kauai and LeBron are great together. I really do. I think Kuzma fits. I think Anthony Davis is going to find that LeBron wants to finish at the rim,

and he doesn't want Anthony Davis camping down low, and he's going to push Anthony Davis out to the corner, and Anthony Davis is going to go, oh, this is why Chris Bosch and Kevin Love got frustrated playing with LeBron. Great news, quick and easy way to save money. Switch to Geico takes 15 minutes. You could say 15% or more on car insurance. Go to Geico.com and see how much you could save.

By the way, it's a very interesting point. John Goulet has a very interesting point on the Kauai Leonard Free Agency story. John, your impact is what? That earthquake did not help the pitch for the Lakers or the clippers. I guarantee in Toronto they're like, the earth doesn't shake up here. Unless you hit a game winning basket. Yeah, the earthquake, we had a 6.6 in Barstow. Listen, you got to sell what you got to sell.

Toronto right now is saying, hey, we don't have 6, 6.6. is here. Yes, we suffered an earthquake. Management's come to check on me. I'm good. I am once again entertaining America. We're all good here. We got Jason McIntyre tomorrow's headlines today. Todd Furman Cousin Salon studio from Lock It In. Final hour coming up on 4th of July. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whatever you'd like. Both co-hosts, unlock it in. Cousin Sal, writer Jimmy Kimmel.

He's got a big podcast on the ringer against all odds with Cousin Sal. You love to bet. I love it. You love betting. I had over 6.6 of that earthquake. I already lost. It's terrible.

I'm going to need an official ruling on that to see if you're able to cash it or not. Todd Furman, former odds maker at Caesar's Palace. They work with Clay Travis and Rachel Bonetta unlock it in. So it's an interesting time because there's a lot of different reports on Kauai. So let's just take team by team.

If Todd, if Kauai chose the Raptors, would they be the favorite to win the championship? They wouldn't be the favorite to win the championship, but they would move to being favorites in the East to defend their title. Right now, you're looking at the Milwaukee Bucks, depending on where you shop, about 6 to 1 to win the NBA championship. But with some of the news it's breaking, as we know odds making is speculative as much as anything else. they've gone from kind of a 14 to 1 in that group of that second tier as low as 6 to 1 in some spots but as soon as we find out where he's going to go that number will come down or we talk about the raptors being irrelevant all right he went to the clippers would they be in the same situation

clippers right now about 16 to 1 a lot of spots you'd see that number probably get halved you can't bring them too low because of how deep the west is and the lakers are kind of that overwhelming favorite 3 to 2 that becomes the most interesting scenario if he ends up wearing purple and gold how great of a favorite would the Lakers be with Kauai? You're talking about them going from three to two to, you know, you're now laying a price at minus a dollar, $20, $1.25. Explain what that means to the layman watching. Yeah, explain. Well, I'm going to sell, I figured this is where you were going to jump in and you were going to walk us through it. I don't know anything about this. So the Lakers right now,

if you put up $1 to bet them in Vegas, it would pay three to two. So plus $1.50, meaning risk a dollar, get $1.50 coming back, which is perfect because Sal made fun of the Lakers when they were four to one and did a whole bit from Caesar's laughing about how short the price was to set that up. An hour later, they broke the news that they signed Anthony Davis. I'm the opposite of insider trading. Colin, do you feel like I do?

I feel like this is low rent for journalists to call out where Kauai is going. Like, you and I could look, or the three of us could look at data for a year or months and determine if the Patriots are going to beat the Rams. And our analysis could be perfect, but we'd still be lucky if it had. it if it happened but Kauai I don't know this guy I'm not in his head how do we know everyone knows exactly where he's going if he was going to Toronto wouldn't he have announced it on Canada Day if he was not going to LA you know or one of the LA's he would even more so he

would not announce it on July 4th this guy does not know where he's going let's not pretend like we know right no no and I Kyrie Irving is the one I predicted mostly because I had two NBA players tell me but it's interesting if you really wanted to go the clippers or Lakers, you're doing both teams a disservice by holding out because they can't sign. So I take it that Kauai and as people are smart. If you're going to choose an L.A. team, this is like when Carmelo went from Denver to the Knicks and demanded it. The Knicks had to give up so many pieces to get him. He ended up being a $10 million chandelier in an empty house. If Kauai wants to go to L.A., announce it already.

Well, I think it's a brilliant move, though. If Kauai wants to kind of cripple the Lakers and Clippers, wait for all the free agents to find a good spot, and he gets last laugh. What I thought was most interesting, why ask Magic Johnson how aggressively you tried to trade for me before when I was a member of the Spurs to figure that piece out? How does that have any relevance in terms of where you want to land now? It boils down, talking to Catino earlier, you know, the three things that you guys outlined. The Clippers, load management, probably not going to be possible because you can't take 20 games off in the West.

The Lakers, do you want to try and see if you coexist with the Bron and Anthony Davis and a second tier cast. Or do you want to be the big fish and essentially a small NBA pond in Toronto? And it goes back to what we talked about for the Lakers odds. Yes, if he becomes a member of the Lakers, they go to risk $1.25 to make a dollar coming back.

I take the entire field against the Lakers if that option was presented to me. You think he can take 20 games off with Toronto, though? That'll drop to a four seat if that happens. I mean, he did this past year. He took plenty of time off. You know you want to build around Pascal Seacom. He's your favorite NBA player

in the grand scheme of it. Okay, let's talk. United States women's national team. Now, first of all, as an odds maker and a heavy better, we all know that there's two things in America, the NFL and March Madness that are heavy volume. Do Americans bet on the national teams? It's starting to grow in more popularity. This is the one time that patriotism trumps profit. And when you look at the game against France, I talked to a number of bookmakers. They said 90% of their tickets were coming in on Team USA. And the book said, no matter where we remove the number, it's not going to change how people

people are electing the flag. Exactly. We're going to see a same scenario Sunday morning and to a lesser extent with the men in the Gold Cup, although don't sleep on Eltree because you will get a lot of money coming in from Hispanic contingent looking to bet Mexico. The exact same way that Americans want to bet the red, white,

and blue, they want to bet the red, white, and green. Now, Cousin, Sal, you were a lawyer, did that for two years, and it wasn't your thing. No. Then you became, you're a comedy writer now for Jimmy Kimmel, and now you're, and then you're a performer. Now, you've made good incomes in your life, but you are a heavy better. Give my audience. So I have a professional

odds maker who kind of dominates the winning part of the show. Right. And you are a big odds maker. Give us or a big better. Give me some sense of how often you bet. Oh, I'm betting every day. I bet on the hot dog eating contest this morning. Yes, I did. I had chestnut. I had the under 72 and a half dogs. I don't know. They still try to, they add that. I think they have wait for overnight ratings to get an official tally on the hot dogs. But so far it's under. So, Yeah, I bet on a lot. And with this U.S. team, I think they win by four or more goals. I think we started off with a romp against Thailand.

They got a little backlash because they celebrated too much. So you think we win by over. I think we do. You can get good odds on that, 10 to 12 to 1 odds somewhere in there to win. You've been hanging out with Clay too long because of stuff. That's a win. What's your biggest loss ever? Is it funny or is it?

Biggest loss was probably the Super Bowl, the first Super Bowl and the Patriots beat the Rams. I told my cousin Jimmy, who was still on Foxgiven picks. Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy Kimmel. I said, take the Patriots. They were a 13-point underdog. You can't take spreads, though, back then on NFL, on the pregame show. So I said, just take him straight up.

He's like, no, I'm going to look stupid here. I was like, ah, so what, it's probably your last year, just going there. Finitieri kicks it through the uprights, goes in. He's jumping up and down. He looks like a hero. He looks down. I have my head in my hands. And he says, what's wrong?

I said, I had 20,000 on the Rams money line. He's like, you told me to time. I was like, I know what I told you. but I have to take what my heart believes. Okay, so when we talk about the NBA, do people bet this free agency stuff? You can't really bet it in the regulated market. So it's not an option that's out there.

So if you believe a certain player is going to end up in a spot for the Lakers, perfect example. When the odds actually opened, 20 to 1 was the going rate on the Lakers to win the Larry O'Brien trophy. Nobody thought that Anthony Davis was definitely going to be there this year. You never imagined in your wildest dream. that it was going to be Kauai. That would have been the closest you could have come to identifying where certain players

were going to land, betting them to win the NBA championship. But you can't bet individual players to end up in certain spots. Sal, you wouldn't be betting all these years and still be employed if you were so terrible at it. It would unravel your life. So you must have some successes. Are you a sophisticated? Now, you're a comedy writer, a former attorney.

Are you a sophisticated gambler? No, I wouldn't say I was. Maybe if he wasn't here to shout me down, I would say I was. But you know what? We're going down. We play each other on Lock It In, the three of us, me, Todd. Yes, yes. It's a year-long tally.

We're coming up on the last few days. I'm only a few grand behind Todd. I'm within striking distance. Now, he's the pro. If I hit on a four-to-one parlay, I take this whole thing down. Wow. But my thing, Colin, and Todd hates this, I take big money-line favorites. I string them together and try to get it to even odds.

So you take underdogs to win? No, no, big favorites. Oh, you take you're a big favorite guy. So I'll often have like the Patriots, the Steelers, and the Rams. And that's not how Todd believe. No, no, he thinks he gets cute with it. Sal's got to come out of his comfort zone to try and play catch-up here. But I did say if Sal pulls off the comeback of all comebacks,

I'm Skyping into the show on Monday. And there is no chance that I will be in L.A. To try and celebrate our final show of the season. By the way, of the very few things I bet, I love the NFL in college. I bet over-underers in college. You want me to give you a couple? Yeah, let's hear. He's a machine.

Furman knows it. Okay, bet the under on Auburn and the over-on Nebraska. Really? Okay. You're buying the Nebraska hype. I know Martinez is going to be a stud. I also think the middle down in the Big Ten isn't great. And I think Scott Frost is a remarkable coach. Their schedule works out.

And they bring back a quarterback who's the kind of quarterback, Scott Frost, takes to a different level. Auburn schedule in the first two months. Brutal. It's like an NFL schedule. And my takeaway is they start losing Gus Malzons on the hot seat. It starts to unravel about beginning of November. rumors of him getting fired and Auburn goes into the tank.

That is sophisticated. Wow, that's pretty good. He's firing all cylinders. We can't lock up college football win totals until we come back in August. So Colin may have already destroyed the betting market. By the time, we're actually able to bet it on the show. All right. Cousin Sal, co-host to lock it in, Todd Furman.

You know, Kimmel's always welcome here on the show, even though he works for another network. I'll tell him. I'll tell him. And thank you, by the way, for having us. I know there was a long list of people who wanted a guest on the 4th of July. And you said, no. Did LeBron have like a fireworks accident in or something that he couldn't make it? Against all odds, Cousin Sal on the Ringer podcast Network. Also a good buddy of Bill Simmons, who I got to see a couple weeks ago.

All right, the veteran newsman, John Gulley. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Speaking of the Women's World Cup, our star Megan Rapino missed the semifinal with a hamstring injury, but she should be ready to go for Sunday. here was Rapino if she'll be ready to play. Yeah, it's just a minor hamstring strain.

I expect to be back for the final. It's doing well, obviously. When you only have three days or three days in between, there's like no rest days. It's very hard to recover from stuff like that. So we have an extra rest day now, and obviously not playing in this game gives me a little bit extra time

to hopefully be fit for the final. How confident are you that even with her, maybe not 100% the U.S. wins the World Cup Sunday morning? Well, I think they're the best team in the world, and I think they play aggressive. You know, here's the thing about our United States women's national team. They remind me of the Brazilian or the Argentinian or German men's teams in that they play with an incredibly aggressive mindset.

They are, I mean, they start games quickly, and I think it makes teams get on their heels a little bit. So they're a risk-taking kind of high-octane offensive attack, and they'll come right after you early. They set an incredible tempo. In fact, I would say as a fan of both the United States men's and women's team, I am always reluctant to trust the American men's team because they tend to too often play a more passive style.

I wish our men's team played with a confident, and maybe it's just because our women's team has far better players, and the coaching staff and the system, they trust that they can surrender goals and overcome those, and our men can't overcome deficits. I've definitely missed some goals in this tournament, by the U.S. women's team because I didn't tune in in time. They score very quickly, seemingly most games.

They're the aggressive boxer who's looking for a first round knockout. They come out guns ablazing. So how about a real athletic achievement? Joey Chestnut won his 12th Nathan's hot dog eating contest today. He ate 71 dogs and buns in 10 minutes. This disgusting accomplishment was still three hot dogs short of his own record, 74, which he did last year. He said, quote, I was going for 75. I always loved to get a new record.

I came out fast and then I slowed down faster than I would have liked. God, it's disgusting. How many hot dogs? I don't even think you would get to two. I think you would just not want to have any part of this. How many could you down in 10 minutes? Well, I'm a burger guy over a hot dog guy. Me too.

So I've had two burgers. But I usually take time and make a really good burger and one's enough. I'm generally satisfied with one hamburger. Onion rings. I'm an onion ring over fry guy. and I'm a hamburger over hot dog guy. I agree with you on the hamburger. Is that on the cowherd 4th of July menu today?

Are you grilling? I love grilling. It's funny. My wife is vegan. I am not. And so we don't have a ton of, you know, we don't have a ton of. You don't get opportunities to grill very often. Yeah.

So I got my butcher box and I get my hamburgers and I make sure I do that. Hamburger is my beef of choice. Does she eat fake meat or does she just not eat? Like are you grilling her a tofu burger? I'm not doing anything of the sort. That's her issue. I eat meat all day. And finally, I'm going to give you a chance to men fences with Baker Mayfield.

I don't know if you know this, column, this weekend, reportedly actually in Malibu, Baker Mayfield is getting married. I actually love this. He has been engaged since last June. So even though you were shockingly not invited to the wedding, why don't you look into the camera and congratulate Baker Mayfield? Emily Wilkinson on their engagement and marriage. Congratulations, Baker. This is going to be the greatest decision of your life. You have somebody to come home to, and I can't speak for you.

I can speak for me as a marriage has elevated me and given me a sense of purpose. And I think as a young man who's now going to be part of a $2 billion franchise and your judgment's going to be really important, the more nights that Emily is part of your life and not out with a guys is part of your life, this is a good day for. Baker-Mayfield. I love this. This makes me very happy. What he's basically saying is, it's time to get down and having a family. I'm an adult. I'm an

adult. I'm a grown-up now. I'm not going to hang out at, you know, sharkies and knock-down pints as he's grown-up. She's beautiful. He's a very handsome kid. These are beautiful pictures. This almost makes me like the Cleveland Browns. Almost. I still like the Steelers to win the division, but this makes me

happy. Makes me very happy. All right. A veteran newsman, John Goulet. That's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. By the way, there is a picture of Emily being surprised when he shows the ring, right? But my question is, if Baker and Emily were sitting there and a photographer was doing this,

she had to know something was coming, right? I think it was a stage photo? I'm just saying she seemed shocked. You know, if I came home with my wife and there was a photographer in the room and I'm like, he's going to take a picture of something, she'd probably sense something was, It could have been maybe that's a It's a phone picture That wouldn't have been as

Crazy All right I'm not going to be cynical on this This is a matter Maybe they were just getting pictures taken Oh there you go Oh very good They were getting pictures

I got you Baker It's all right Hey that way to go I threw a little cynical Curveball in there And you swatted it into right field For a base hit Good for him

One of my favorite people in the world By the way The breaking news from Chris Carter Kawhi Leonard Chris has been as close to this as anybody. Kauai Leonard will not make an announcement today. Kauai Leonard will not make a decision today on the 4th of July. He's going to make it tomorrow.

Now, I'm gone tomorrow. I picked a bad day to take off, but I'm with the family. And so everybody, Doug Gottliebill will be in to capably hold on to the show. So this is Chris Carter, breaking news. Kauai Leonard and his team haven't made a decision. There won't be any announcement today. Enjoy the 4th of July, Kauai. hashtag coiwatch so they go coming up next jason mcintyre tomorrow's headlines today it's the herd

be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a m pacific on fox sports radio fs one and the ihard radio app we had a little earthquake about an hour ago a 6.4 in los angeles located the epicenter of it about an hour and a half out so it's a little weaker here but we are on rollers we have some of the most earthquake safe buildings in los angeles so when it happened here in Los Angeles. I didn't feel any up and down. We were actually sliding back and forth, as I said, I thought my first takeaway was somebody had accidentally bumped the platform I'm on, and it was moving side to side. And then John said it's an earthquake. And my second thing was, there's all these lights. There's about 400 lights, and they're heavy. They're 80 pound, 100 pound lights above us.

And I thought, are they swaying? And they were. And I thought, you know, I'm just going to keep my eye a little bit on these puppies. And then you were like, let's go to a break. Let's get out. You're panicking a little bit. I like that, though. That was cool. Very raw moment for Colin Cowher. All right, here we go. So we do something with Jason McIntyre.

Jason founded the big lead. And Jason is on Fox Sports Radio on Saturday mornings. He's a guest on our show. And we do something called Tomorrow's Headlines Today, for those of you joining us, where he tries to predict you were in the newspaper business. What the headlines will be on stories that are activated today, what the headlines are going to be tomorrow or the next day. We've got a crazy hit rate lately.

Yeah, you guys, football season and now, it's been good. You've been good. A lot of these seem outrageous, but your hit rate has been unbelievable. A little humor as well. Tomorrow's headlines today. What will tomorrow's headline be about Kauai? All right. Now, Chris Carter's saying no decision today.

We'll see a lot of other reporters not saying anything. I believe the headline tomorrow will be the fourth of Kauai. We're going to have fun with some puns today, obviously, 4th of July. But he's dominated this date. Just because allegedly there's no decision today, you're still going to, going to be glued to your phone to make sure you don't miss it. Oh, there's absolutely no question. And this is kind of on brand for Kawhi Leonard.

We know nothing about him. And I was talking to one of your guys on staff. Listen, you look at Stonehenge in England. Like, how did that happen? Where'd that come from? A big mystery. The Bermuda Triangle. You don't want to travel there.

We don't know what goes on. We don't know anything, Colin, about Kauai Leonard. If you Google Kauai Leonard and try to find an in-depth profile of him as a human being, we know very little about the guy. He's a big mystery. and right now, you know, Chris Bussard's out there saying the clippers are done. I don't know that the clippers are done. Maybe he picks them. I still think the Lakers are the side.

Nothing's wavered off that for me. I think everything for Kauai Leonard lines up Lakers. I don't see how you could come to L.A. and pick the clippers. It just doesn't really line up. I believe the Lakers are the side for Kauai Lennon. Rick Buehers said it earlier. The one disadvantage the Clippers have is not their brand is that he, Kauai Leonard, has told people, the load management was the reason

he wasn't gassed throughout the playoffs. He wants to take 20 games off. The Raptors have allowed it and are okay with it and the Lakers with two other stars in Kyle Kuzma would be okay with it. By the way, how about the city of Toronto acting like a 13-year-old girl chasing around Kauai Leonard yesterday?

I mean, that was kind of embarrassing, was it not? They were like love-struck. Kauai, please. Come on. In L.A., by the way. Kaui Leonard walks into Santa Monica on the beach tomorrow. nobody notices and says it works. Well, this is a big deal for Canada.

This is a big deal. They won a championship. Can you grow up a little bit? That seems unduly harsh. Okay. Tomorrow's headlines today. How will fans react in the NBA? Be signed to the Lakers. People are going to freak out when Kauai Leonard picks the Lakers.

I believe the headline will be stars and gripes. Colin, there is a large segment of the media. And you know this, the NBA media that doesn't want Kauai to go to the Lakers. They want parody, which cannot exist in the NBA. They want Toronto to keep a superstar. They don't want Rich Paul. And this is the NBA media. I'm just real talk.

They don't want Rich Paul and LeBron to be back on top of it. No, I think there's some, I will say this. Not only the media, I do believe there are executives around the league. And this is funny because David Falk, MJ's age years ago, ran the league. He and David Stern. But there's something about, and by the way, David Falk and Michael Jordan, were close friends. There is something about Rich Paul and LeBron running the league that people are totally...

So Michael Jordan and David Falk could, and they ran the league. Do you remember when Kobe Bryant was drafted, how he forced his way to the L.A. Lakers? Like, at the draft, he's not, he's definitely not going to go there. Maybe he'll go play in Italy. Next thing you know, Kobe's on the Lakers. Just let these guys play where they want to. If Kauai wants to pick the Lakers, fine. Anthony Davis wants the Lakers.

Let him go there. Like, I don't see why everybody thinks this is bad for. the league. Colin, I've looked at the metrics. Go look at the TV ratings in the NBA finals once the Superteam started with LeBron's heat. They go directly up. Before that, you're looking at Piston Spurs?

Nobody cared. Nobody cared. Those series were awful. Net Spurs? It was just terrible. And I really do believe when you look at the NBA, they need super teams. I wanted to make the headline, give me super teams or give me death. But that was a little strong

for July 4th. All right. What will tomorrow headline be about Kevin Durant tomorrow's headline today? Oh boy, you know KD's my guy. I have a soft spot for Kevin Durant. Well, you DM him. Yeah, we have, he hasn't DM me lately but, you know, people are bashing him. He was complaining at Golden State.

The headline will be from sea to whining sea. He was crying in Oakland a little bit, allegedly beefing with Steve Kerr, one of the nicest guys of the NBA. And now he's going to go to Brooklyn. Here's a scenario. Kyrie Irving is the leader of the team, which is

what he wants, okay? They win 45 games, get to the second round. And then Durant shows up. Is Kyrie Irving going to just hand over the reins to Kevin Durant? I mean, it feels like, and we talked about it last week, this is Russell Westbrook 2.0. I just don't see how these two are going to get along.

And I feel kind of bad for Durant in a way. You know, the Oklahoma City stuff, now the way it ended in Oakland, I just don't see it succeeding in Brooklyn. I like Kevin Durant a lot. Well, it's interesting because Kyrie Irving and Westbrook are similar. They're very ball-centric. They can be difficult to play with. They're both good finishers, and they're fun and flashy, so fans like them. I actually think Steph was a perfect fit for him, which is he can be

an off-guard, he can be a one-guard. It's funny. It does feel like Kevin's getting a divorce and running back into the same relationship dynamic. 100%. Now, the other thing is, Durant kind of wants to be LeBron, right? We can agree on that. He's chasing him, and he's got the boardroom, which is not the barbershop. It almost feels like he's trying to be a LeBron, bouncing around teams. The problem is everywhere LeBron went, he was the guy. It was clear. And Kevin Durant just, he's not there.

And I feel bad for him, but I hope it works out in Brooklyn. All right. Tomorrow's headlines today. What will the reaction be to Zion's Summer League debut this weekend? Yes. Now, Friday night, Zion Williamson debut. I think it will be closely watched. And I think the headline on Saturday will be, yes, we Pelican.

Zion Williamson debut against R.J. Barrett and the Knicks, very exciting. Yeah. You know, Kobe had 25 in his debut in the Summer League. Oh, I don't remember that. Blake Griffin had 27 points. LeBron had like 14, 7, and 6. I'm putting together Zion 20 points, 10 rebounds, and I think three or four highlight real dunts and blocks.

I think Zion Williams is going to have a really strong debut, and the chatter around the Pelicans and the playoffs is going to grow, right out of the gate for Zion Williamson. You know, people, now, you're a huge college basketball fan. Yes, the NCAA tournament mostly, but gambling more than anything. Uh-oh. Tell me that's not news. So, no, it's not.

It's interesting. And I've said this about Zion. I remember when Magic Johnson came out. Okay, I remember that. So LeBron and Kobe didn't go to college. The last player, I remember having this emotional and physical impact is Magic Johnson. when Magic came out of Michigan State, he played for like a year at Michigan State,

and he came out and he was just bigger than life. I think we're looking at a Magic Johnson-level superstar in America. Big time. And by the way, superstars in America are almost never late bloomers. Peyton Manning was a number one pick. Pulisic at 17. Serena, Andre Agassi, Bryce Harper, 16, LeBron. He's almost late by Super Bowl.

Superstar standards. He was like 18. He was 17 years old on the internet. If the draft had happened last year and he were eligible, he would not have been the number one pick. Because in high school, he was dominating like small white kids in South Carolina. And there were some questions about him.

He wasn't even the number one guy heading into Duke. They had RJ Barrett and they had Cam Reddish as well. They were both more highly touted than Zion. And then right out of the gate, I have Jay Billis on my radio show sometimes. And he said, Jason, I saw this kid in the preseason at one Duke practice. And it was like, whoa. Where did this guy come from?

By the way, it's interesting. So years ago, a story on LeBron, so LeBron didn't go to college, and he didn't even entertain the college process. So Mike Shashefsky is it a, there is some Olympic practice, right? LeBron's been in the league several years and he's watched them on TV. And so Coach K had never had a practice with LeBron on the Olympic team. And it's a true story. So Shoshchewski is sitting there at half court and the kind of like sitting down on a bench

and the guys are running back and forth. And there's a loose ball. And LeBron, in full speed, grabs it at half court, takes one dribble and dunks. Shoshowski. And I don't know if it told Jim Beheim, he's like, I've been doing this 40 years. I've never. LeBron was literally full speed. The ball came.

The way he grabbed that he all he had to take was one dribble, and he just went all the way to the basket. And I do think Zion has, like sometimes the man upstairs. just gives you all the gifts. I would agree. The size, the personality. You know, we've had some superstars. You know, I thought Iverson was a reluctant superstar.

Like some guys are just not, they just, they're not comfortable in that space. I think Zion is great and totally comfortable being. I don't know if you have time, but I want to mention your buddy. Lanzo Ball real quick, okay? So I go to the gym and yesterday I see Eric Gordon there. I play a pickup game and then Lanzo Ball shows up. And I had a buddy watching him. I know you're big on.

This is one thing that you said a couple of. couple years ago, I'll never forget that when you tell your kids to go practice sports, take the shots you're going to take in games. That's what my dad told me. Okay. I'll never forget when you sat on a radio. Lonzo ball for about an hour in the gym yesterday. Somebody watching him.

He was taking spin move, three-pointers, James Hardin's shaky step-back. Nothing. This is somebody watching him for an hour. Not one shot that you would actually take in a game. And it got me thinking, like, is Lonzo ever going to get it? When you're there working out for an hour, Eric Gordon, I'm watching him. He's going through the drills exactly what he would do with the rockets. Lonzo didn't take one shot yesterday at the gym that he would take in a game.

And I thought back to you saying, hey, man, practice what you're going to do in the game. And I don't know if it's going to click for Lonzo. I have some concerns. Well, you know, the whole Pelican, the thing about the Pelican situation, David Griffin's done a great job. But a lot of it, and I've said this before, I don't think Lonzo, I think there's a real question. Lonzo waist up is fairly ripped. he's a little spindly below the waist. When Teddy Bridgewater came into the NFL, I talked to a scout.

That's right, yeah, yeah. And a scout said he's just, he's not going to be durable in the NFL. He's a great kid. Everybody loves him, great character, throws a nice ball. They said, Teddy is not built for 14 years to taking shots on those legs. And he had a debilitating injury at practice. When I watch Lonzo, first of all, he's missed as many games almost as he's played. Second of all, when he's healthy, he's dinged a lot.

A lot of this is, did the guy upstairs give you a body to withstand all this stuff? Like, I'll say this with Aaron Rogers. Aaron's dinged a lot. Aaron is, now, some of that is because Aaron's in ad-libber. Aaron is, tends to hold the ball. His gifts, though, can make up for some of the dinks. But his gifts to buy time put him in the crosshairs of physical punishment. Whereas, by the way, Eli Manning's never hurt because Eli's three and out.

He doesn't have physical gifts. He knows it. He gets rid of the football. Yeah. Boy, I'm getting excited here in this football stuff. As soon as Kauai's done, it's right on to football. Okay, so what do you think Kauai's going to do? Lakers.

Has to be the Lakers. Who takes all this time to stay in Toronto? And the one plus one doesn't make a lot of sense when he's got an injury history in San Antonio. And I think he wants that security of a long-term deal. And as you said, load management with LeBron and Anthony Davis. Can't wait. Yeah, I can't wait for it.

Good to see Marcellus back. Somebody's got to control Whitlock and his crazy hairline. and his crazy moving hairline. We hope all of you have an amazing 4th of July. For those who shook a little about an hour and a half ago, we hope you're okay, enjoy your family and your independence today. I will be off tomorrow. I picked a bad day to schedule a family vacation.

Sometimes you get lucky. I'll call in. How about that? I'll be hosting Dan Patrick with Clay Travis in the morning. That's going to be a problem, folks. And Gottlieb here. Have a great Fourth of July and a safe weekend. 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 SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and 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 SportsSlice. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 home. 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. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boke.

On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the World Cup. real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.