The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - NBA Playoffs Predictions, Nick Wright joins The Herd

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Colin shares 5 Predictions for the NBA Playoffs before the tipoff of the play-in games. Nick Wright from First Things First joins the show to discuss Colin’s NBA playoff predictions and why LeBron James no longer fits on the LakersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Last year, the Dodgers won the World Series. Last couple years, March Madness has been very chalky. Last year in the NBA playoffs, Oklahoma City was. the dominant regular season team in one. I don't know exactly what's happening. I do know what's happening in college sports where your powers, your traditional Ohio states can just, you know, Michigan's and your top teams,

they're just buying the better players. They got more money, more revenue. So college sports is getting chalkier, fewer upsets, March Madness. But with the new CBA, I think basketball is getting chockier because who's got the best front office? Oklahoma City, Boston.

So here are my five. NBA playoff predictions. I'm not throwing you a lot of off speed stuff. There's no knuckleer in the rotation. Number one is the Lakers losing the first round. First of all, Luca had owned the Rockets this year. He was a bad matchup for them.

He won't play. If he does, it's late in the series, and he won't be in great shape. You know, two teams headed in opposite directions. Lakers are all banged up. They'll be overly reliant on LeBron, who I'm sure will have one or two great games. But the Rockets,

who are hard to figure out this year, year of won nine of their last 10 games. So I don't think it's a terribly competitive series. I'd like to see the Lakers win one of the first two games, push it to a five, fifth game. Can Luca come back and give you something? Because he was so good against the Rockets this year, Lakers lose round one.

Number two is Wemby's going to play a lot of minutes. So, I mean, it's the first player ever in NBA history to play less than 30 minutes a game and average 25 and 10. I think they've been resting him because of the playoffs. I think they're going to start playing 34, 35 minutes, which doesn't sound like much. It's a lot for Wembe. He comes into the playoffs well-rested. They're 28 and 2 over his last 30 games. I have them in the finals, by the way, as well. My third prediction, Nick's losing the second round to Boston. They beat Boston

this year. I think three out of four games, but Brown and Tatum both didn't play in the games. I think they don't have a bench. All right. So that means Jalen Brunson, we're going to need more from you. Carl Anthony Towns also had a down year. McHale Bridges kind of had a down year. That's more of a load on Jalen Brunson. The other thing is they don't defend threes and the Celtics are great defensively and they shoot a lot of threes and hit a lot. I don't think it's a great matchup. Number four predictions, Spurs Nuggets by far and away the best series. The best defensive player in Wembe, the best offensive player if you

count the entire package in Yokic. Two hottest teams, the playoffs i think it's just going to be a fantastic eventually a fantastic meeting and the fifth prediction is and this is an easy one i don't think the pistons have the firepower to beat boston and i don't think the nicks have the bench uh or the defense to beat boston so i think the celtics are going to get into the finals uh good enough i think to make it competitive against okay c but can't beat them could potentially beat a very young spurs team if i had to pick what i want to watch it's the celtics and the Denver Nuggets in the finals. I would love to watch that.

That would be a go-either-way series. And with that, Nick Wright, I imagine, you know, Nick wants me to go out there. And, you know, he wants me to get, you want me to have KD in the finals, right? No, I just, I mean, we might have broken new ground here in sports television history. I don't know that we've ever had a list of five predictions like this

where the first one is a minus 800 Vegas probability, and it might not be your safest pick of them all. You mean Wimby is going to average at least one more minute per game in the playoffs? No. The Knicks are going to lose in round two to a Boston team that you have making the finals. Of course they're going to lose a round two. They play your finals team in round. Colin.

Listen, now, in your defense, I agree with all of these. I think these are five good predictions. I'm just surprised you didn't have OKC makes it out of round one in there as well. The Hornets won't win the title. My God. I didn't call them bold predictions. It just says Collins' NBA predictions.

I do think it's going to be, I thought the Rockets Lakers was going to be a fascinating series and I like the Lakers because as well as Houston's playing, they don't have a true point guard. They can struggle to get into their offense. people have been talking about like I think LeBron's legacy is set and I mostly think KD's is I think KD is such a fascinating player

what if I mean what are we going to say with KD I don't think they're going to lose the series but I think they're not I don't think they have the firepower or the back court strength to win a second series where are we on KD's legacy well

well listen if they lose this series they being Houston it's a catastrophe yes I mean, listen, I know people can say I'm biased. I think, and I think he's shown it over the last couple weeks since he had to assume this alpha role again. I think LeBron is the best player in the series. The problem is the next five best players are on the Rockets. And so this would be a catastrophic loss for the Rockets, for Ime Udoka, and for Durant.

And I do, I really like Durant. I think he is, you know, I don't have to do the list right now, but about the 16th greatest player of all time. He is one of the greatest natural scores, one of the two or three, in the history of the league. But this is, he was brought there to be the final piece. Now, Van Vleek gets hurt, and then Stephen Adams has surgery, so that lowered their ceiling. But they were the two seed last year, and granted they did lose in round one, so winning the first round, would be a step further, but I feel like most people were expecting them to lose in round one

until the Lakers got decimated by injury. He really needs this Houston stop to work because Brooklyn ended so poorly. Phoenix was a disaster from the beginning, and it does feel like Houston's season. They steadied themselves at the end, but went awry with his, you know, texting scandal, if you will, talking trash on teammates. Yeah. And as the veteran leader on the team and the guy that a bunch of his teammates

looked up emulating, that's just brutal for a team's ability to go through the playoff caldron of it all. And can I add an extra little take on this? It's also why, because the Lakers are so injured and the rockets are so shaky,

it's why I found the Spurs punting that final game of the year against Denver and allowing Denver into their side of the bracket one of the most outrageous decisions of the NBA season. The Spurs, all they had to do was beat the Denver backups, play Wimby, 20 minutes, let him get 30 points like he did on Friday night, and you put the nuggets with the thunder on the opposite side of the bracket, and you are smooth sailing to the conference finals.

Instead, you lose to the backup nuggets because you sit Wimby and Cornette. And now I agree with you. I think that Spurs Nuggets series could be a series of the playoffs. And I lean nuggets in that. I saw them play a few weeks ago at full strength. And Joker won. I just thought that was so bizarre, such a bizarre decision by the Spurs. You know, you're known as somebody who's always had LeBron's back.

And, you know, I did say that sometimes you need clarity and that Oklahoma City loss and LeBron only takes like seven shots and Luca and Austin hurt. You're like, yeah, we're a long way away. We're not like a player away. Let's just say the Lakers, they get swept. It's possible. Sure. Let's say they get swept. Like the OKC game, it's just an ugly series.

I do think when you have new ownership, those things matter. You know, Jeannie Bus, LeBron has been so impactful. actful since he arrived in town. AD was never quite consistently as good as we thought. LeBron was arguably better than Lucas' first year. Like at some point, Jeannie Buss felt like, you know, this guy's been incredibly hardworking, dependable. These new owners don't care. What if this is, what if it's a sweep and the Lakers, LeBron gives you a couple good games, but he can't. He doesn't have the armory here. What do you think happens and how long before we hear LeBron's not coming back?

So, you know, I think it's really interesting because I would have liked, and I think it's a shame, we're not going to be able to see what this team was going to look like in the playoffs. You might be right that the OKC game was a window, that they were a second round ceiling team anyway. I happen to think they would have had a real shot against San Antonio in the semifinals, but then whoever they played in the conference finals, whether it was in that scenario, OKC or Denver, was potentially going to be problematic. So here's what I find the most interesting about LeBron's future. LeBron took on that Swiss Army Knife third option role out of necessity. It was because Luca can only play great one way. Austin has one outstanding skill set. Neither of those guys could do what LeBron did as the third option.

And I think he was fine with it because they were winning and because he loves Austin. Austin. Austin Reeves is one of LeBron's longest tenured teammates of his entire career. He played seven years with him. It's unbelievable. And he and Luke have a great relationship. But I don't know if that's the role he wants for the final days of his basketball life, especially because the moment, here's a crazy stat for you, Colin. The first three games that Austin and Luca were out when LeBron went immediately back to being the number one option, He had not had a three-game stretch with that many points and that many assists since the Lakers won the title six years ago.

He instantly was able to keep back into number one option offensive engine mode. And it sure seems like that's the way he likes to play the most. So I do think places like New York or Golden State or even Denver where he might not be the number one option. option, but he would clearly be a top two option alongside Jalen, alongside Steph, alongside Joker. I think might be more appealing than signing up for the final years of his basketball life, being this third, you know, being basically a rich man's Draymond Green with no disrespect to Draymond. That's not, I don't think, how he wants to end his basketball career. I don't think. Yeah. You know, we were talking about this earlier about the Knicks. When, um, outside of Aaron Judge,

and maybe Juan Soto who's hurt now. It's really a starless sports city. Brianna Stewart, New York could be one of the bigger stars. And so what happens, because New York's such a large, passionate, a lot of media, a lot of voices, talk radio sports market, is you turn and convince yourself, good players are very good and very good players are great. Mikhail Bridges is good.

I'm not sure he's very good, but they gave up five first round picks and 140, $150 million. He's good. he's not very good. Didn't have a great year. Jalen Brunson's very good. He's not great. If you look at the teams in the playoffs, their best player is Wembe and Yokich and Ant. Right now, LeBron, Tatum and Brown, he just doesn't, he's not that guy. He's not that guy. And so I look at the New York Knicks, and this is why the Yonis discussion is so relevant, is that Jalen Brunson has to be a number two on a great team of three. But I think New York is convinced, hey, he's one of the best

nicks of all time. You live in the city. Kat's had a down year. I don't think this team can beat Detroit or Boston. I don't think they match up with either in my opinion. What say you? All right. The last point, listen, I don't think they can beat Boston. I don't know

that anyone's beating Boston, to be totally honest. Certainly not in the east, and I don't know about in the West either. I think you are short-changing Jalen Brunson a bit. Listen, there is, listen, there a ceiling on a player his size. That's just the fact of the matter. Becky Hammond said it two years ago. Everyone killed her for it. All of league history tells us that that is true. There are two

small players ever who have led teams to championships, Isaiah Thomas and Steph Curry. Isaiah Thomas had one of the greatest defensive teams ever. Steph's the greatest shooter ever. And they're both bigger than Jalen Brunson. Steph's considerably bigger than Jalen Brunson. So I mean, I still think though, he's a deserving perennial all-MBA guy, I don't think on a great team, he's the third best player. I think you can be a great team and him be the second best player, probably

really hard for him to be the best player and you win a championship unless you fill out the rest of the roster perfectly, which the Knicks thought they did. And that's to me, to me, the Knicks not being a touch better is less about Jalen Brunson and more about what you said. Mikhail Breyer.

is not an amazing year. O.G. and Ninobe, a really good player in his specific role. Towns is who towns is. Nobody ascended. And the Knicks also thought, those of us that thought the Knicks could have a special season, part of it was belief in the Knicks, and part

of it was, well, Boston's going to be, you know, in this weird 40-win zone without Tatum all year. And instead, Boston was excellent, and Detroit jumped the line. So I think the Knicks are going to be in a really tricky spot because they won more games in last year. They had a slightly better offense, slightly better defense. They're healthy. And yet last year they make the conference finals beating Boston in

round two. And this year, I think they're going to lose to Boston in round two. And it's going to feel like a step backwards. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I've said this. I think Jason Tatum's really good. I don't think he has much of an aura. I said yesterday. Some actors just pop. and some like Michael Jordan, the look, the style, the flare, the game, the persona, the clothes, the earring, the smile, that's a star. Magic Johnson, that's a star. Steph Curry's got that. LeBron's got that. Ant is really good, but doesn't want to be it.

And Jason Tatum wants to be it, but there's no aura. He just no. And he comes back and everybody goes, people say, Colin, look what Tatum's done. I think the opposite. I think Tatum left, and because their GMs, their coach and Jalen Brown has always been a bit underrated is so good. Their culture is the star of their team. Brunson and Jalen Brown and Tatum are both excellent players.

But the fact that one of them can be gone, the other is a MVP discussion and they're still the best team. It doesn't tell me that Tatum's great. It tells me this is a much like we give so much credit to Mahomes. It's Brett Veach. it's Andy Reed, it's spags. I mean, when he doesn't have protection, Mahomes can get blown out in a Super Bowl.

They literally, Tatum is the icing. The cake, there is the culture. That's, I mean, the Celtic star is the cult. They lost four, their nine guys in the rotation. They're still excellent. So that, so

I understand what you're saying. Here is the distinction I would draw, and then I'm going to throw something at you on Tatum. I think, what you saw this year was the roster that Brad Stevens puts together the intensity and strategy

that Missoula brings to the table gives Boston about as high of a floor as any team in the league. I agree with that. But they had, in my opinion, a 0% chance.

I don't care what their record was. A 0% chance to actually win the championship before Jason Tatum came back. Jalen Brown was having a great year. They were a great story. There was no shot that team was going to win four straight rounds and win a championship. If Jason Tatum doesn't have arguably the fastest and thus far most successful, quick turnaround Achilles recovery ever. And he did it knowing he was opening himself up to massive criticism. A guy who was the best player on their team for years but didn't win finals MVP. And then the team is rolling and Jalen Brown's having the

best year of his career. Tatum came back knowing I'm not at 100 percent. Jalen will be the number one option. And if things go sideways, I think some fans, I think they'd be foolish, but some fans would be like, man, things sure were rolling well before Jason came back. All that. He did it anyway, because I think he knew and the team knew, this is our only chance to win a championship. And if Boston does end up in the finals, as you are predicting, then they, if you're in the finals, you can win the championship. If they do, then I think you've got to consider reframing how, like, some of the Tatum analysis.

And that you might be right that he doesn't have like the genusie qua of an Anthony Edwards. You know what I mean? You're calling it, ORA, the star power. But neither did Tim Duncan. And I'm not calling him Tim Duncan, but a guy who has been a consistent winner, consistently available, suffered one major injury, came back faster than any of us expected. If he is the final piece that puts the team over the top to potentially win a second range, that's something else. Okay, here's my pushback. If Brown would have been hurt and Tatum would have been their only MVP level star. They would have had zero chance to win a championship.

Is that they're much closer. They're different personalities. Brown's more aggressive. Tatum's more skilled. They're both high IQ, EQ players. They're totally committed professional athletes. They're great. But they wouldn't have won without Brown in his aggressiveness.

And I don't think they can win without Tatum. I think Brown and Tatum are much closer than we consider. Brown's a little stronger and he's more aggressive, Tatum is more gifted and skilled. But they're very close. Well, so listen, I think Jalen Brown's an excellent player having an excellent season. Tatum is, though, a better rebounder and passer. I think, you know, pre-injury, they were equivalent defenders. Obviously, right now, Jalen Brown's the better defender because Tatum's still getting his athleticism back. I agree with you that you take either one of them out.

They can't win the title. But you took... You took... You took... Jamal Murray away from Nikola Yokits for two post seasons, that team couldn't win a playoff series. It doesn't mean Murray is as good as Yokic. And so listen, I think Tatum is a top 10 player, or talking healthy Jason Tatum. Not this moment, but this time next year. He's a top eight player in a league. Seven. Yes. And Jalen Brown is top 15. That's what I would say. Like, I off the top of my head, Jason Tatum, seven or eight, Jalen Brown 13 or 14. That's how I would slot it. And I do think that Jalen Brown's job historically on offense was made easier by Tatum being there,

which is why Jalen Brown's production this year so impressive. Everyone knows he's the number one option. He's still delivering. He deserves a ton of credit for that. But it's just very, I know we're going long. It's very interesting, Colin. You're in my entire life. it has been about how many rings can you get.

Bird has three. Magic has five. Jordan has six. Kobe has five. Duncan has five. Shaq has four. Brown has four. This generation, everyone's stuck at one.

No one's gotten to two. Yannis got one. Joker got one. Tademan Brown got one. Shea got one. It's an interesting, Luke is still at zero. It's an interesting race to

see who's going to be the first to two. Because I don't know that anyone from this generation's gun to get to four or five because it's so much harder to win multiple rings. Yeah, it's hard to make trades. And it would be interesting if these guys beat Joker or Shea or obviously Janus, who's out of the mix now, as the first team with the second championship of this little mini post-warriors era. Good stuff.

Nick Wright, first things first after us. It went a little long, but that's okay. It was all good stuff, buddy. Good seeing you. Great to see you. Can't wait for your next five bold predictions. Oh, my goodness gracious. See you, Kyle. That's why I didn't put bold in the headline. They were just predictions.

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Eric Caros, Dodgers analyst, is going to be joining us last hour. We shut out the Mets last night with their number six starter, their spot starter, J-Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the third line news. I love how into baseball you are this early in the season. I mean, it is, it's fascinating. Well, I mean, the Dodgers are number one in everything.

We have a real, I mean, in the last couple years, the Dodgers have won the World Series, but they've had flaws last year, like the bullpen going into the playoffs. Otani couldn't hit against the Phillies. The year before, there was some injuries, starting pitching. This team does not have a weakness. I mean, Kyle Tucker's not hitting. is about the only thing you look at and go, oh, that's concerning.

They are one of the few teams in baseball night after night that is station to station, power hitting. I mean, they're defensive guys are hitting now. They are stacked offensively. I love it. Passionate. It's coming off the screen.

All right, let's go to a passion of mine. That's the Philadelphia Eagles, because I'm a Jalen Hertz guy, Colin. And Howie Roseman recently came out and was like defending Jalen Hertz. But not totally. Here's what he said about the scrutiny and all these reports surrounding his star quarterback. We don't have the sound, but here it is.

I'll read it for you. He said it's, I totally understand that's what sells at this point. He's essentially calling the media engagement farming over his star quarterback. I should not just say star quarterback, Colin. Let me call Jalen Hart's Super Bowl MVP winning quarterback. Okay. And I do think it's a little unfair how the piling on, I mean, He's the target?

Why are we going after Patrick Mahomes, who, by the way, has declined the last three seasons? Why are we picking on Jailette Hurt? What's going on here? Well, I think there's a lot of different reasons. First of all, Kansas City is not Philadelphia as a media market. Philadelphia is loud talk radio's king competing. I mean, it's just a very competitive sports crazy market. Also, there is, you know, you've got a head coach who's volatile.

they become very, I mean, the franchise right now is incredibly offensive coordinator dependent, both Hertz and Nick Seriani. I mean, they're as good as their offensive coordinator. So like, that feels kind of irrelevant in Kansas City. It's, or in L.A. with McVeigh and Stafford, it's everything in Philadelphia. So why is that? Because Seriani's record is bloated. He's like a B coach.

And Hertz's record is a bit bloated because he struggles. from the pocket throwing down the middle of the field. Every analytic tells you that. So again, this would not be, I mean, again, if Jacksonville won a Super Bowl with Jalen Hertz, they'd be appreciative. Philadelphia is not appreciative, sports-wise, of anything less than a title. They're built to be critical. And that's fine.

That's why it's a great sports city. Well, they're built to eat cheese steaks and yell at guys on the radio about quarterbacks who won a Super Bowl MVP 15 months ago. I just feels like a bunch of bozos screaming, oh, Jail and Archiekees not good. What are talking about? I understand your criticism, but the Philly meatballs are the guys I'm going after.

I don't think it's fair. They remember this, and I don't have it in front of me, but I think they didn't score any more than the Saints did last year. Wasn't that the number? Yeah, no. I mean, you can't have a stacked offensive roster and offensively be the Saints.

So I think the criticism, now, it's louder in Philly that it would, then it would be even in New York or Boston. But I think the criticism of Siriani and Hertz. Okay, I think it's fair. Second layer. Hold on. Michael Irvin just said this.

Jalen Ertz has earned more respect than he is getting from his own organization. That's fair. That's a great point by Michael Irvin. Where are Hertz's teammates? Why are they coming out? Defending. Well, he's not that loved. That's interesting.

It's weird. It's weird. like Lane Johnson, all these guys do podcasts every week, right? Okay, here it is. Think about this. Scataboo got hurt. Jackson Dart was a rookie. Neighbors got hurt, and the right tackle was a turnstile. The Philadelphia Eagles roster scored fewer points than the New York Giants. Context needed. They went to the Super Bowl, played a brutal schedule.

I know the Giants fired Day Bowl and all that. Worst total offense than the Saints. In Philadelphia, that's going to get heat. If you can't handle it, I mean, ask your agent to move you. But Philadelphia is a different ballgame. It's fun. Fun.

All right, let's move on. Let's go to a real underperforming quarterback. And that's Joe Burrow. What was the last time that guy made the playoffs? Glass Joe, Cincinnati continued failures. Here's left tackle Orlando Brown saying things are overblown in Cincinnati and winning is the solution to all of Burroughs problems. At the end of the day, no matter where you are, winning cares all.

And, you know, we haven't, these last three years, we haven't been in the playoffs. And so, of course, that kind of buzz, I think, is going to come. You know, when we start, we get into playoffs, we start putting ourselves in position to play in February. You know, I think a lot of that kind of stuff would die down naturally. Yeah. Well, Burrell's been agitated the last two years. Nothing's going to change. Now, the good news is if Aaron Rogers decides not to come back, you're going to have Will Howard as one of the combatants in your division and Shadoor Sanders.

So that kind of opens the door up for them. And who knows what Baltimore and Lamar on the contract will be. But I do think Cincinnati is probably a playoff team this year. Probably. Probably. So you got two teams in that division. Ravens and Bengals go to the playoffs? Yeah, probably.

Ooh, because we like a lot in the AFC West. Yeah, I think you're going to be backpedaling on that one pretty quickly. Because when you look at the Texans are going to be there again, we know the defense. Jags, I don't think, took too much of a step back. We like the Titans on the come up. We like what the Raiders have done. We love the Chargers. We really like the Broncos.

Somebody's going to be S-O-L, as the kids like to say. And if it's Joe Burrow, four straight, no playoffs, Colin. That's a major problem. All right. Let's go to baseball. Your favorite sport right now. And what a night in the Bronx between Mike Trout and Aaron Judge. Oh, my gosh.

They went toe to toe each of them hitting two home runs. It was only the second time in Major League Baseball history that three-time MVPs each hit two homers against each other. Thrilling game. Here's Judge talking about the great night. That's great. I was going to talk some snobacco. excellent after the one he hit all the warning track and he did the layroom, but I didn't get a chance to

and then he, you know, answered right back with two big homers for him, but it's, you know, you put that guy in a club situation, a big moment, he's going to show up every single time, so it's fun going back and forth to kind like that, especially in New York and the Bronx. It was nice, but I still wish Mike Trout would have taken a big swing in his career. He's from

the East Coast, but he kind of disappeared. Well, I saw a hot take on social media last night that why aren't the Yankees' supposed Mike Trout. Why not just, hey, we'll make a big trade. We'll get the big bat. Expensive guys with injury history is not with the Yankees.

No salary cap. Come on. Who cares? They got to upgrade their bullpen and they need to be a better station to station team. Station to station. Well, I mean, you can't, they're fall asleep. Station to station. Give me the home runs.

Give me the smacks out of the yard. By the way, Yankees number one in the ALN run differential. I know the record's not quite there yet, but you can see the power. They're a good team. They're a good team. They're a good team. They're a good team. They're a good team.

Is one of the few that could give the Dodgers problems. I don't think there's any question. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app.

Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast. called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. 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. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going. down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, 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 headwriter, 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 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. We got a full weekend of football coming up. Friday at 8th Eastern, the Dallas Renegades and quarterback Austin Reed. Look to stay hot as they face the Columbus Aviators. Then Saturday at 4 Eastern, the Orlando Storm meet the Birmingham Stallions.

The United Football League is on Fox. So for years and years, and it made people in Iowa very mad, but I was right, I called Iowa the fake idea of college football. They'd puffed their chest out with eight wins, but they played a Mickey Mouse out of conference schedule, you know, Citadel, Panera Bread, directional schools. They'd go three and O, never really had an offense, always felt like a receiver or four shy.

a running back or three shy, but they had good tight ends. They were tough. They'd win eight games. Then they'd go play a big game. Hey, couldn't move the ball. Well, Iowa, I thought last year, lost a lot of close games, USC, Oregon, Indiana, but I thought they redeemed themselves as a tough, physical, smartly coach program. Let's be honest, I just read a story this morning.

In year four with Dion Sanders, the spring game attendance keeps falling. We have a new fake idea of college football. Colorado. I'm sorry. They can't beat ranked teams. They don't beat teams in their conference. They're 11 and 21 overall. I thought when they hired Dion, it was interesting. And I do think if I see Colorado football on television, I usually stick around to see what's going on. It's usually Colorado losing is what's going on. So they get much more publicity than they've probably earned at this point. They're like the restaurant because they started 3 and 0. Remember that beat TCU 3 and 0? And it's been downhill since. So they're a little like the restaurant that opens up and you can't get in for about two months. And then by about week 10, 11, 12, they're accepting walk-ins. And it's nothing against Dion Sanders. But I would argue that Indiana was as bad as Colorado. Kurt Signetti walked in, brought a bunch of no-name James Madison transfers,

and got him into the playoffs. Now, they weren't, they shouldn't have been there. they weren't very good. They got beat soundly that year by Notre Dame in the playoffs in Ohio State. They had kind of a weak schedule. This year they won the national championship. So I don't want to hear about time. We've got to be honest.

Signity is kind of the opposite of Dion. Like it's bottom line, accountability, not a lot of flash, all substance. Teams are detail-oriented. You know, it's not about putting friends on the staff. I got nothing against Dion. He's made a great career for himself. it's a lot of it's a lot of salesmanship and I do think he still makes Colorado more interesting but Kurt Signetti gets Indiana to a playoff very quickly and wins a Natty that's a coach

and it's kind of the opposite of Dion where it's not I mean nobody knew you start looking around at Fernando Mendoza their star I watched him at Cal on YouTube and I'm from the West Coast Nobody was watching Fernando Mendoza. They don't bring in high-profile guys. Shadour Sanders had a high-profile gets drafted in the fifth round. Mendoza was a nobody. He's going to be the number one pick. But I will say this for Deon.

He's optimistic. He's positive. I'm still talking about Colorado. That's got value. I don't think they're great in the details. They can't beat ranked teams. I mean, Indiana, in a much tougher conference, with a much steeper climb,

has been everything you want to rebuild to be. Colorado, no, even their local fans aren't showing up for spring games. Here's DeYoung. We're going to make it better. We're not trying. We already have with the staff as well as the players that's inside the locker room. I love it. I love the everyday grind of it. I'm not going to say 100 percent, but things are tremendously better on the field as well as with the staff. the overrunners four and a half in the big 12s it would be two and a half in the big 10 so you'd say whatever you want i got nothing against him but it's kind of the opposite of the indiana build which was meteoric very quick all details air free football uh that's not really that's not really

what colorado is both are interesting i'd rather to be good interesting's got a ceiling and it's pretty low um so kevin durant has played very well this year for houston he is favored and they they will beat the lakers because the lakers are lebron ruy and not much firepower and i was talking to nick wright earlier about this is that i think kd's a better dirt novitsky he's a little enigmatic uh not a foxhole guy just a great baller and he's always been up front about it i mean kevin's going to tell you i love basketball the golden state thing you know draymond was the leader Steph was the soul of the team.

Kevin Durant was the easiest bucket. And I think that's what he's been. Same in Brooklyn, same in Phoenix, same in Houston. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, a lot of times we want our star athletes to be great leaders. We don't know childhoods. We don't know if you're built like that.

I will say this. We've got to leave room for great players that aren't all-time leaders. Because if you really go back, I mean, you could say what you want about Kareem. Kareem's like high IQ, not a leader. You ever watch that HBO documentary I thought was really interesting? Magic walked in as like a 19-year-old, immediately led the team. And, you know, Kareem has always been like a great writer, brilliant guy, but not really, not really a leader. Stoic, prickly, a little aloof, we've got to leave room for that.

Will Chamberlain was a great player. He wasn't a leader. He was a flake, but he was an unbelievable player. So here's Nick Wright earlier on Katie's first season in Houston as they get ready to take on the Lakers. He was brought there to be the final piece. Now, Van Vliet gets hurt, and then Stephen Adams has surgery, so that lowered their ceiling. But they were the two seed last year. He really needs this Houston stop to work because Brooklyn ended so poorly.

Phoenix was a disaster from the beginning. And it does feel like Houston's season. They steadied themselves at the end, but went awry with his, you know, texting scandal, if you will. You know, what was interesting about the texting, texting scandal. He's always had burner accounts. It was sort of fitting. like the way LeBron's career is ending, which is the secret to LeBron's success is that he always made teammates better. Matthew Delavadova doesn't have that career without LeBron.

And so LeBron's career, if this was his last year, it's fitting that LeBron, though he's better than Austin Reeves, and more consistent, at least in terms of being in shape and leadership than Luca, LeBron's taken a backseat. Because that at his core, LeBron was always about elevating others beyond just himself. So it's kind of fitting that LeBron this year and what could be his last year said, I'm going to step back from Austin Reeves, who he's a better player then. But that's always been LeBron's ability to be like, hey, listen, I'm, I still contend that after the COVID championship, the next year when AD came in out of shape, really ticked LeBron off because LeBron was ready to be like, bro, I want to play about six minutes less or four minutes less a night, and he couldn't. And I think it's fitting similarly that KD's big controversy at the end of his career

involves a burner phone. That's who he is. It's kind of fitting. If I would have told you, LeBron had a burner phone issue, you'd be like, what? And if I told you at the end, Katie's like, you know, I'm going to be like the fourth wheel on the offense and let him in Thompson take the big shots. No, no, no. Katie's about getting shots and burner phones and being a little enigmatic.

And so eventually the truth comes out. Eventually, beginning, middle and end, you're the same guy. People talk about therapy. Therapy's hard if you want change. Most people don't. So the burner controversy is like, if I would have guessed NBA Star has a burner phone issue with teammates. I just said, as much like KD, that's probably going to be KD. That's kind of his thing.

Dodgers roll in hour three coming up. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast.

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 Smigley. Michael and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves,

their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.