The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - Luka Doncic's injury, Final 4 games this weekend are going to be great

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

Colin Cowherd explains what Luka Doncic’s injury means for the Lakers title hopes.  He breaks down the big final 4 games this weekend and what we should expectSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Here we go. It's Friday. We have had a great week. Today may be our best. We have all sorts of topics. We're live. It's the herd wherever you may be. And however, wherever you may be listening,

thank you for making us part of our day. Rachel Nichols, who really we feel like as part of the staff, J. Mack took the day off. He's got his kids tournaments he's going to. and Rachel steps in who, for the record, does have an MVP vote in the NBA. We're going to talk about that today because I think the race is Wemby and SGA. I like Wemby, many like SGA, some like Luca. But I do think, Rachel, I'm going to start with a game.

Laker fans don't want to talk about. But that was ugly last night. I mean, I took a nap. I was going to stay up and watch it. And I'm about seven minutes in. And that was, the Lakers moved up, let's say, in weight class and got knocked out in the first round. And Oklahoma City is led by 30 at half, three times this season, twice against the Lakers. And sometimes it's hard to tell a fake Louis Vuitton bag from a real one until they're next to each other.

And I think you know what I'm getting at. Once a team wins a championship like the Thunder last year, they don't care as much about the regular season. But here's what the Thunder care about. humbling the Lakers and going after Luca to get SGA, the MVP. They made a point from the very beginning to not only hunt Luca defensively, but make him work for every basket. And before he limped off in the third quarter, he was one for seven on threes, three for ten was six turnovers.

They made a point to go after Luca on both ends. And this has been my, I've been preaching this for two months. The Lakers are going to struggle with OKC, San Antonio, and Minnesota. Austin Reeves will get hunted. Last night, Oklahoma City players shot 70% if Austin Reeves guarded them and 65% if Luca guarded them. So in a nutshell last night, the Lakers got blown out in five minutes. LeBron was minus 37, a non-factor only took seven shots. Austin Reeves got hunted, first possession on.

and Luca limped off. So let's stop thinking the Lakers are a championship team. I also think, you know, games like this, again, when you put him up against the heavyweight champ, the new ownership group looks at LeBron and wonders, oh, this is a real champion and we're not close. And now, Luca is going to have an MRI. He's out of the MVP race.

He won't qualify. Doubt he plays for two weeks. He also probably won't work out for two weeks. and we've talked about this. He not only in March had his biggest minutes per game average, he leads the NBA in usage rate by a mile. And because the Lakers are a lobsided roster, they really depend on his volume and his minutes and his scoring.

He doesn't, you know, let's be honest. In a game like last night, sometimes you get LeBron with energy. Sometimes you don't. And O KC makes Austin Reeves play defense. so you don't get his offensive production. So last night when Luca got hurt, it wasn't a collision. It's a soft tissue issue. At halftime they were working on it, his body just collapsed in the third quarter.

And that's all those minutes. So all that stuff we talked about in March and 15 and 2. And I kept saying, guys, the regular season is different. If you're a great half-court offensive team, it is hard in the regular season to prepare for you on no rest or one-night's rest. But having a team face the Lakers, a good team like OKC, San Antonio, Denver night after night after night, seven straight games, they are lobsided.

They are so dependent on Luca's offense. And so here was LeBron after the humiliating drubbing last night. Well, I mean, there's never a time to get comfortable in this league. The only thing we do know is that we won't be in the playoff to play in. And so we have that week, but I mean, health is wealth. I mean, obviously, and like I said, we have, we already out with Marcus right now. And now Luca, we don't know what the time table is, but obviously, but we're saying. So happens.

Okay, just to just to show you, and when I turned that game on last night, it had a playoff field to it. They were all ready to go in Oklahoma City. It was going to be, it was going to be tough. So Luca against the thunder this season, a great defensive team that hunts him on the defensive end. Luca averages 15 points. Luca shoots 33%, 14 from 3. Those are all lowest of any opponent. So I don't care about Luca against the Rockets.

They don't have anybody he has to guard. I don't care about him against Detroit or the Pistons, Portland, or I don't care about that. Minnesota, OKC San Antonio. He has to play defense. Austin Reeves has to play defense. LeBron's got to play defense. You see what happens last night. Fake Louis Vuitton bag, real Louis Vuitton bag.

All right. Our final four is set. Saturday is going to be fun. Arizona, Michigan, Yukon, and Illinois. In my opinion, and, you know, as you age, maybe my long-term memory fades, it's probably the most stacked final four I ever remember in terms of composition of rosters, elite brands, great head coaches. There are in the first round alone, 10 players who will be drafted from those four teams.

And I know y'all love the Hoosiers. I know it was a great movie. I loved it too. But I like dunking. I like length, size, quickness, skill. Michigan, Arizona jumps off the television. So when college basketball is doing something, it offers something that the NBA is struggling with. In college basketball, you get a diversity of offense.

I mean, Arizona doesn't shoot threes. In the NBA, you got to shoot 30, 40, 50, or if you're the Celtic, some nights, there's 80. It's homogenous. It's repetitive. This college basketball is not. And so one of the things we've talked about is that people were very, very worried. Is it only the big dogs and the big brands would eat with the NIL? So I went back to the last four final fours, including this one, all during the NIL era.

Well, what do you know? Going back to 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 14 of 16 teams. Unique. Only Yukon keep showing up. Yes. No rich Kentucky, no North Carolina. No Texas Longhorns are agon. with all that oil money. People, I'll be honest, a little social commentary here, people, especially

men and young men that live on the internet and are pulled in by fear and grievance. It's fear mongering. They don't like when people financially separate from them. And they just, they, you know, they're on the internet too long and they're afraid of everything that is pulling away from them. And NIL is big money and big brands. And it's just a bunch of not. nonsense. Indiana Hoosiers just won a national championship in football. Iowa, low NIL team, had a great tournament run, knocked off, big money, Florida. The only team that keeps coming back to this thing, pre-NIL and post-NIL, is the great Dan Hurley and the Yukon Huskies, and he can't wait for tomorrow. They deserve to have, you know, good 24, 36 hours of joy.

It was an incredible moment, incredible accomplishment to get here. But, you know, at Yukon, we, you know, we're about rings and banners. And, you know, we don't hang banners for final fours. And, you know, get rings for getting to the final four. You get a watch. So, you know, we're locked in on Illinois right now. Record ratings, record revenue, loaded rosters, kids staying in school longer. Now getting better coaching from the Tom Izzo's and the Rick Pitino's, not G.

league coaches and kids finally getting paid for all the hours they put into it. NIL's great. Like the ABS system in baseball, nine out of ten things about it are unbelievable. Yeah, it needs more guidelines. It's a little wild, wild west. You're not sure where all the money's coming from. Somebody's got a good bank in Switzerland. But this is a great, great final four.

fantastic. Illinois, Michigan, Arizona that doesn't shoot threes, Yukon, the powerhouse, no Kentucky, no Carolina. Duke almost got there and didn't. All right, Rachel, you know, it's really interesting watching last night because I do think, and I know we've talked about this before, the NBA season is long. And I think if you're a skilled offensive team, you're very hard to prepare for in the regular season. I mean, LeBron, Austin, Luca, Aiton, walk into town. And if, you know, you have a five, 10 minute film session. And it's very hard to ask your players in an 82 regular season game schedule to play great defense every night. The travels, you know, it's in, it's the whole country. And college basketball, 35 games, NBA 82. So I do think great defensive teams sometimes

don't wow us in the regular season. Then you get to the playoffs. But it felt like to me watching last night, this was one of the three or four regular season games that OKC said, okay, we're going to play playoff defense. Yeah. Didn't it feel like that to you? Oh, absolutely.

Just the energy, the swarmingness. Also, there's been a big conversation over the last month of Is Luca catching up to SGA in the MVP race. And this was a way for them to show, oh, he's not all that. I think they really took that defensive challenge against him even before he got hurt. And it also works on the flip side, Colin.

The Lakers have had success defensively by mixing in a lot of zone over the last few months. And you can't play as much zone in the playoffs because teams, again, have that extra 24, 36 hours to prepare for you. Good stuff. So we've been waiting in the NBA for the baton to be passed or taken

from LeBron, Steph, and KD. You watched last night and the last week, and it's official. And we'll talk about that next. We're live in Chicago. She's live in L.A. It's The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of The Hurt weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker.

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12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. You know, for about 15 years, Brady, Breeze, Peyton Manning and Big Ben kind of drove the NFL. And then it quickly became Josh Allen, Patrick Rahms, Lamar Jackson, and the ratings didn't dip. Because the NFL is more like the James Bond series. It doesn't really necessarily matter who plays James Bond. But it does matter in the NBA who the star is. And this is something that we've waxed on and on about this before is how much can you ask of LeBron and Steph and KD, maybe to a lesser role, to carry the league.

It is official. 2026 is the year the baton was taken. I love Kevin Durant, but the Rockets won 51 games last year and, yeah, or 52 last year. They're going to win about the same this year with. KD. He's had no real impact. And LeBron took seven shots last night, even with Luca being hurt, and Steph's been hurt almost all season. LeBron, Steph, and KD. The new faces of the league are Wembe and SGA, a little time, a little bit reluctant, Aunt Edwards. He's a little reluctant. Jason Tatum somewhere around there. But I thought it was very interesting. Steve,

Kerr said something this week after facing Wembe, and this is the way people talked about like Steph seven years ago, eight years ago. It's the way people talked about like LeBron eight or nine years ago, is there's just nothing we can do. And here was Kerr talking about, in my opinion, kind of the new face of the lead, Wembe. I just think he's got unbelievable confidence now. He just looks like he knows exactly what to do at both ends all the time,

whereas I thought his, you know, the first couple of years, he looked young at times. He doesn't look young anymore. He just looks like he knows exactly what he's doing. Obviously, dominated the glass. You know, I thought Draymond did a really good job on him defensively, and then there's plays where you can't do anything about it, you know. Several lobs were it looked like a Nerf hoop, you know, just catching it, and dropping it right in.

Yeah, I mean, Draymond Green, he said, played very well against him and had four fouls in the first half. And Wembe had 21 points and 12 rebounds with eight minutes and 30 seconds left in the second quarter. I said this yesterday. Wemby and the Spurs offense is the only franchise using a microwave. Everybody's still preheating their oven. They just do stuff more quickly.

And what's going to be fascinating with Wembe, is you would be fairly certain, I think, to suggest that Wemby will play more minutes in the playoffs if necessary. San Antonio knows they're really good. What if they won, 26 and 27, they know they're really good. They know they have, they call them in the league the alien defensively. He's doing all this average in 29 a game. What happens when it goes to 37?

Like so for people that don't vote Wembe, the MVP, and I know it's a regular season award, But I mean, he's he's playing and kind of one leg of the bar stool minutes is not really part of it. Like they're just saying, hey, man, we're not going to give you all the minutes here. We know what we have. Whereas SGA or a Luca are much more offensively vital to overall winning, but especially the offensive part of the ball. Okay. San Antonio, they have enough young talent now.

they can get 21 out of Wemby. They're good. They can still win by 13 because they are so dominant defensively. But I think what's going to be fascinating is that Wemby's doing this with 29 minutes a game. This is going to be the first time we see him in the postseason playing, and the first time he's playing 35, 36 minutes a game. I'm fascinated to see what the production's like because when you got Steve Kerr saying it looks like a Nerf hoop.

You go back 9, 10 years. I remember the first time Jack McCollum wrote the article for Sports Illustrated when Larry Bird came into the league. Larry Bird. And I remember one of the lines, there's never been anybody like Bird. And you're thinking, well, what? Larry was the best shooter in the league and he was a six-nine forward. You know, in the 60s and 70s and the 80s, mostly your shooters were like the number two guy. You had a dominant center.

And then they called it a shooting guard. and then you had a power forward. And it wasn't because he was using power tools. He was a tough guy that couldn't shoot. And then Larry walked in and he's 6-9, runs the floor, best passer in the league, not named Magic, and the best shooter in the league. And it was like, oh, we've never seen that.

Magic Johnson, 6, 8 and a half point guard. But we'd never seen anything. I've told the story about LeBron James the first time Mike Shishowski saw him play as part of Team USA. And there was a loose ball at half court. and, you know, Shishovsky's sitting there kind of on the bench at half court, and LeBron flies into the picture, grabs the ball, takes one dribble from half court and finishes at the rim.

She's like, what the world? What is that? And that's the story I heard relayed to me is that the greatest players ever, I mean, Caitlin Clark and the WMBA. It's like, is that a 30-footer? What is that? The really all-time great players, there had never been a doctor. Dr. J. You can look at Dr. J's highlights today. Go to YouTube and look up Dr. J's highlight reel.

There's nobody that plays like that today. Wilt, Kareem, Magic, Wembe's in that class where you're hearing people say, I just never seen that. So that's to me, the new face of the NBA. K.D., Stefan LeBron certainly carried their weight for 15 years, tip of the cap to all three. absolute legend. Rachel with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Love the Nerf hoop because, you know, Steph Curry stretched the court, and now Victor Webbenyama is like shrinking down the basket. It's great. All right, let's go to the NFL column, because Jalen Hertz getting even more heat right now. Remember earlier this week, a big story came out suggesting mounting frustration

with the organization over Hertz's coachability issues. Well, now, Former Eagle Scout, our guy John Middokoff, believes that this issue could potentially lead Philly shipping him out of town. Take a listen. I think the Eagles are doing this as like, it's on, man. You either shape up or you shape out. Here's the thing about Jalen Hurst. He's not like a bad guy.

He's always in shape. He works hard. He's extremely serious. But as you could see in there, quarterback is a very nuanced situation. I think they're putting this out there because they want it to be known. Like, this is not going to be tolerated anymore. I know you're making a lot of money, but you've seen before we got rid of a guy could put you in there. If you don't think we will do this again, you're dealing with the wrong

people because we will not hesitate. You know, Rachel, we say on this show and John nails this, stuff gets out when people want it out. You're a reporter. Yeah. Okay. You've had more than a few people share things and you probably walked away and went, oh, they want that out. Yep. You didn't have to dig too hard. Nope. I think this is the classic. Philadelphia just wants it known. We're all on the clock here. We're all on the clock. Well, it's interesting, right? Because Lurie has come out since all this, you know, sort of has bubbled and been like, you know, we support him. But actions over words, next season is the only fully guaranteed season on Jalen's contract and they are not extending him this off season. That's all the reporting. So that tells you, I mean, do you think the Eagles should

consider moving off him? Well, I think, again, I think it you just, I think a lot of times in the NFL, there's some certainties. We know Herbert's great. We know Burroughs great. We know, we know, Josh, Lamar, Mahalms. There's guys we know. I think Fernando Mendoza, after this year, you're going to go, wow, that's what a franchise guy looks like. And then there's guys like, you know, you go back and forth. Sam Darnold, is this real?

I'm not, CJ Stroud, I thought he was great. Maybe he's not. Jalen Hertz. Then I think there's got Baker Mayfield. How good is he? Is he coordinator dependent? I think we have at any one time in my life, I've always felt like there's about five quarterbacks that everybody just knows.

you don't even take a, you wouldn't even pick up a call, a phone call if you were a GM. You wouldn't even pick the phone up. Right. And then there's another five guys that you would never call another GM. But if somebody called you and asked a, you know, would you consider? And I think that's the situation. And then there's 15 quarterbacks. You would make a call to see if you could move them.

I don't think Jalen's there yet because he's had too much postseason success. Well, I mean, it's interesting, right, because you got a new OC coming in there. this season and he's going to be asked to be more flexible than he has had to be in the last couple of seasons. And that's the criticism of him and all these stories that are coming out is he's not flexible. So I think it is a make or break season for him in Philadelphia. We'll have to see.

I want to get back to the NBA and what you guys were talking about a little earlier with Anthony Edwards. He missed last night's game with illness and he's also nursing that right knee injury. What's notable about that is him sitting out now makes this official Colin. he will not meet the league's 65-game threshold for NBA awards. And I want you to look at the list of other superstars who are now also not going to meet this threshold. It is crazy. It is Anthony Edwards.

It is Steph Curry. It is LeBron James. It is Janice. It is Kate Cunningham. It is, of course, Jason Tatum. And it's not just that they're not qualified for MVP. They can't even be on, like, third team, all-MBA. So when we tell the official story of this season,

it'll almost be like these guys didn't exist. I mean, I've been a long proponent. This is a bad rule. What do you think? Well, it was initiated because of load management. So I think the heart was in the right place for the league to say, hey, because I think the biggest problem in the league is not tanking. I think it's load management and repetition of offense, repetitive three-point shooting.

I think tanking is unavoidable. And I mean, people are doing it because they don't want to do that. They have to do because there's no other way to acquire great players and make trades. Nobody wants to tank. So, you know, I think even the Constitution's been amended as they say, my take is you look at it and you say, okay, should we go to 67 games? Should we go to 68 games? Should we have a Cade Cunningham rule?

I mean, for years, there was a Larry Bird exception. Remember that? Yeah, of course. Okay, what about a Cade Cunningham rule, which is. You go down, right, to like 60 games or something. Yeah, there's nothing you can do. But I do think this was created because a lot of players for several years just didn't, you know, what, 445 decided, hey, Tyloo, I just don't, I'm not into it.

So it wasn't like the NBA went after the players. What they did, they tried to protect the fans, which, listen, I grew up in a small town. I went to one NBA game a year. If I had gone to a Sonics game and downtown Freddie Brown and Jack Sigma had just decided, I just don't want to play, I'm sorry, there's a lot of fans like that in Milwaukee that go to one game a year. And so I think the NBA had the heart and the mind in the right spot, for the right reasons anyway. I'm going to be more cynical about this and say they were less concerned about that fan and more concerned about the TV networks who were complaining to them about cutting the contract money. If these guys didn't show up on big Saturday night games.

I agree with you that load management was and still remains a huge problem. I just don't think this was the solve. If you were going to address load management, attaching it randomly to the awards, it's just, just was completely random out of the air. It's almost like we're going to try to bribe guys to play more. It doesn't work with NBA professional players. And frankly, I will say this over and over about tanking and player participation and everything else. If the owners actually wanted to stop these things, they would walk downstairs to their GM's office and say, don't do this anymore. Having to have all these complicated rules that impact players and fans doesn't make sense

to me when you could just say, we're not doing this anymore in our own house, but they're not willing to do that because they all want to win and have rested players. So there you go. All right, let's go back to the NFL where the draft is just 20 days away, which is unbelievable. The cop boys hold, of course, we know 12th pick, 20th overall picks. And they have, let's just put it mildly, Colin, they've got some defensive holes to plug. Yeah. But Brian Schontenheimer, very interestingly, not ruling out taking an offensive player with one of those top two picks. Listen this.

What I love about the draft in this whole process is the unpredictability of it. you know, I really do feel like we've set ourselves up to take the best player available. We've got ourselves in a position we can make some moves and move back, move up, do what we have to do. But if the best player on the board is clearly an offensive player, then we'll certainly discuss that. And more than likely knowing Jerry, pull the trigger. Well, there's one number one wide receiver. They don't need that. Okay.

And there is one true offensive tackle, Pheno, from you. Utah. The Miami players could be interior better than tackle. So, I mean, the truth about the offensive draft, Love is a great player. Carnal Tate's a great player. Fano the right tackle is going to be a great player. But it's a lot of this draft at the top with a Cowboys first pick are defensive players. A couple of corners, Caleb Downs, Sunny styles. You look at these top picks, take out Fernando Mendoza. Most of the players outside of like a Love or a Carnell Tate, the best eight, nine players. They're all defensive guys. So Dallas can say what they want about take whoever. My rule in the NFL draft has always been, unless you're like the Raiders, need a quarterback

and there's a really good one. You should always try to trade down. Like the New York Giants to me, I've seen all these mock drafts. The Giants have like, they're pretty good. They have a pretty good roster. They have their quarterback. They have their left tackle. They have their back. They have a good D-line. They have about four guys to get. The Giants to me are the classic trade down, get another third round pick, solve all your issues in the first three to four rounds. I think Dallas knows in the building, Rachel, they need inexpensive, preferably secondary help. I mean, look, first of all, I never believe anything anyone says leading up to a draft because it's all smoke, right? They had the worst defensive sort of performance that they have had in the history of the franchise last year.

And that is a serious franchise. They know who they need to go get. And there's a little bit of like, hey, we got CD Lamb when we didn't expect them to. And we were going to draft a defensive player then. And C.D. was available. And look how well that turned out. But I just don't buy it. I'm sorry.

I think they are absolutely going to go defense with these first two picks. I just don't see it going any other way. Good stuff, Rachel, the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. So I've said this before. Mike Sando does a great job. He works at the other place. And he does these deep dives and he does these tears. And recently he talked to NFL executives anonymously. And it was so funny when I came in this morning for the prep, we had all these Mike Sando stories. I swear to God, we have a leak. Either NFL executives watch our show or we have a leak on the staff. Because I feel like this has been part of our prep work. One of the Mike Sando, and not

anonymous exec said, Dak Prescott's making $60 million. He doesn't have a Super Bowl. Sam Darnold's got one at 33 and a half. That feels like one of my rants. Another Mike Sando NFL exec said about the Niners, why are they always hurt? Because you signed hurt players.

That's what I said about Mike Evans. I love Mike Evans. He's old and gets dinged up about Minnesota. Minnesota improved. I like what they did with Kyler Murray. How could you not? exactly. And finally about the Detroit Lions, good team, biggest questions remain on their coaching staff. That's what we've said. When Ben Johnson left, you lost an all-timer. There are parts of the NFL. All these stories from Sando are a reminder that there are parts of the NFL that are very complicated. I still can't quite figure out compensatory picks. The salary cap, you need a capologist. And I can guarantee a Ben Johnson and Sean Payton's playbooks are complicated.

And then there are two or three things that are not only simple. They're proven. And yet people make mistakes. Number one is if your quarterback takes every dollar that he can get, you're not going to get to the Super Bowl. Josh Allen, they don't have a pro bowler on defense. Mahomes, O-line run game, non-existent.

Okay, that's the first thing. The second thing is where a quarterback lands, Kyler Murray now to a great offensive coach matters. I like Kyler Murray more than everybody else. I don't think anybody can succeed right now in Arizona. I love Sam Darnold, but it was the Jets. Where your quarterback, you ever notice that almost everybody with Kyle Shanahan,

last guy picked Brock Purdy looks like a Pro Bowl. And the number three thing in the NFL, that is absolutely true and time tested is pay really, really big money outside of quarterback where you got to pay some big money, pay really big money to other positions very infrequently. Think how dominant T.J. Watt is an unbelievable first ballot hall of famer. Do you know what his playoff record is? Oh, and five. with one sack. Miles Garrett can't get to the playoffs.

Micah Parsons, one and three in the playoffs with a single sack. And those are Hall of Fame level players. Pay your quarterback. Hopefully you get a reasonably team friendly deal, Seahawks. I would pay the left tackle. After that, even with great edge rushers,

be careful. careful. Be very, very careful. I mean, the Browns are a tire fire. And Miles Garrett is probably second to Lawrence Taylor ever at that position. I mean, he's on a short list. I mean, Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor, Aaron Donald, Miles Garrett's on a short list of one of the best offensive guys up front I've ever seen. I mean, he's that good. So it's just interesting when you listen to these execs talk. I'll really push back on the people that don't think Kyler Murray's not going to work in Minnesota. I don't think he's going to be as good as Sam Darnal, because I always love Sam Darnold. Sam's bigger, he's got a stronger arm. You know, me,

trunky, thick, big guy can take the hits. But I think Kyler Murray's a really, really special player. I really do. I don't, he's, he's a more elusive version I thought of Russell Wilson and Russell in his prime was money. Say what you want. He was money. Okay, coming up next. the Alabama athletic director is like, yeah, let's get rid of conference championship games. And Alabama's dominated it. They've got more wins than anybody. And he's saying get rid of it. And another thought on Luca and that injury last night.

That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called.

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

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down. Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas.

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

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's Chosen Kingdom on. earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies

I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds. Just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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 content. 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 SportsSlice 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. You know Saturday night is baseball night on Fox.

This week we've got Pete Crow Armstrong and the Cubs versus Jose Ramirez and the Guardians or Ronald Lecunia Jr. and the Braves against the dining backs. Baseball night in America tomorrow, 7 o'clock Eastern, only on Fox. So Rachel has an MVP vote. I would give it to Wembe 1, SGA 2, Luca 3. But Luca limping off the floor last night probably eliminates himself in terms of the MVP race because there's about 10 days left in the regular season. But I want to say this.

My take on Luca is I don't feel like not giving it to Luca would be like not giving it to MJ or LeBron in their prime. They were great defensive people. players, they were on dominant teams. Remember this. This Laker team with Luca is one in 10 this year against top four teams. S.J. and Wemby just play on better teams. And that matters. Everything matters. Another thing is Luca missed a game because of the technicals. Like that, that's another thing. His behavior doesn't feel like most valuable. Sometimes he's the most toxic. The other thing is he's an absolute defensive liability. You saw it again last night where people go after him. Nobody went

after MJ and LeBron in their prime. I remember LeBron shutting down tiny Derek Rose. Derek Rose was the MVP. LeBron's like, I'll guard him. I mean, can you imagine Luca saying, all guard Janus and shut him down? Like, this is not LeBron in his prime or MJ in his prime and not getting the MVP. Wembe, I think, is on both sides of the floor is just different. I think SGA at least puts in an effort defensively does help the rest of his roster is stacked defensively. I'm not going to deny that. But I think the quality, and there's no dispute that Luca does help the Lakers. If you go look at net rating, Lakers are plus four with him, minus four without him. He's an eight point swing. He gives up a lot in the defensive end,

but he's profound and prodigious on the offensive end. So nobody denies that he is in the running for MVP. He's also already been given his supermax contract. So he's been paid. It's all good. But I just, when I look at it, I always said coming into the league, he's a better Carmelo Anthony. I'm not sure if he's in great shape and forget about defense. Carmelo is a guy I would have never voted MVP. And people say, well, Luke is a great score. Yes, and he'll win the scoring title. And that goes in the record books. So there is a signature. That's historic. If you win the scoring title. If he wins six more, they'll all be in the record books. That's not, that doesn't classify as an award, but the award is about the number of games you play. And Adam Silver,

when he came in with that 65 game template, that rule, he knew it would be trouble. We always knew when there's a line you draw that somebody's going to fall on the other side of that line. And it may feel unfair in that particular instance. You know, let's see what happens at the end of this year. But having said, that, you know, we also have to remember that the extent that one player is no longer eligible, some other player will then be all NBA and will slot into that spot. So I'm not ready to standing here saying, I don't think it's working. I think it is working.

Listen, when mom and dad make rules, the kids always make excuses when they break them, no snacks before dinner. And then you see him hand in the cookie jar grabbing the peanut butter cookie. And they're like, well, mom just made them. they're fresh and I could smell it when I was doing my homework upstairs. And then Uncle Colin has to come in and go, rules or rules. So listen, you knew this was going to be a little problematic. You knew it's, you know, it was somebody like Cade Cunningham, who I really feel bad for. But in this instance, you kind of knew going in, you set rules and some guys weren't going to

be able to get past that threshold. Okay, this is interesting. So for a long, for, in the history of the SEC, Alabama's won more SEC championships, mostly with Nick Saban. But their athletic director, Greg Burns, smart guy, comes out and says, the ship is sailed. It's time to move on from the SEC championship. This isn't another AD. This is the guy that wins the most of them. And he's like, yeah, ship is sailed. And I totally agree.

For obvious reasons. First of all, with a college football playoff now, mine. Miami and Indiana played 16 games last year. Guys, that's an NFL schedule. 16 games now for the teams to get to the championship. In my perfect world, you'd get one out of conference game, then go immediately into conference play, start the playoff earlier, not in the middle of the NFL playoffs.

People have said, how come the college football playoffs don't get a little better ratings? Because they're right in the middle of the NFL playoffs. And I think conference championships are, outdated. I think players could get hurt. The sport used to end with bowl games. And sometimes the SEC championship felt like the national championship. It doesn't anymore. With NIL, the playoff gives you some strange outcomes. I mean, Oregon beats Ohio State. Then Ohio State destroys them the next time they play. The other thing I don't like about conference championships,

it may not happen much, but there's a possibility you would have a team playing another team for a third time. I don't want that either. Now, Lane Kiffin's a coach, not an athletic director, but he says he kind of likes the conference championship. The conference championship, you know, could have a big impact both ways for people.

So I've talked to other coaches, so I'll just kind of give you the feeling from some other coaches that, you know, they don't want to be in it. You know, the risk to get a buy sorry, the reward to get a buy versus the risk to get knocked out completely. I mean, that's a pretty big, that's a really big risk just to get a buy. Well, I would argue the opposite, the inverse could be true or somebody you could cannibalize your own conference, right?

Here's something, though, that I think everybody, Lane Kiffin, Greg Byrne, you the fans, we would all agree on. Texas A&M, their last regular season game last year was November 28th. Their first playoff game was December 20th. That's ridiculous. Okay. That is insane. My way, one out of conference game, play who you want. Get into conference play.

Start that puppy right after conference play is over. Vote on your 12 teams. I don't care if you expand it to 14. right if the conference championship isn't played well Colin that one team could have maybe got okay expanded to 14 or 16 I think 12's fine I'm okay with 14 but the ridiculous nature of it the Texas A&M had to wait almost a month to go from the regular season to the playoff game you're not getting quality football there I mean in the NFL we know this to be true that buys don't necessarily help performance you would think that a team the NFL now

FFC gets one. NFC gets one. You would think a great team with a buy would always look fresh, and they don't. In the NFL, professional football players get a week off. And sometimes, like the Seattle Seahawks, a young football team, you know, they won the Super Bowl. But an older team like the Eagles maybe, kind of old in spots, they could take a buy. They need a buy. Younger teams, I don't want to buy.

They're on fire. So I, college, again, college football. has made between the NIL and the college football play. If there have been a series of like revolutionary sport altering moves, and we're all, you know, it's in flux to some degree. But I think conference championship, the thing that bothers me more is, these are college athletes. Football is getting older.

College football is getting older. Guys are staying in. That means they're older and stronger. So college football now has older, stronger, players. That means the hits are more punitive. The collisions are more harsh. And you're asking them to play more games. That doesn't make sense to me. I want a national championship where the kids are healthy. They're going to play a great game. We all get to benefit from it. Then they go on, play in the NFL and have long, productive careers. I don't want to warn.

Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick.

Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost.

its mind and nobody's telling you exactly what 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 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 SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Talk. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.