The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Warriors-Rockets, Lakers, Jeanie Buss, and Kyrie Irving

Episode Date: May 9, 2019

Colin explains why the Golden State Warriors are a great team and the Houston Rockets are just a good team. Colin also discusses why Boston Celtics G Kyrie Irving wasn't a good fit and why the Los Angeles Lakers still don't have a head coach. Guest include Chris Broussard, Arash Markazi, Kendrick Perkins, and Cuttino Mobley. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a loaded Thursday. The topic gods have granted us some gold bars. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Lakers Disfunction. K.D. could be gone forever.

A Kyrie Irving mess. It is great. It was quite a day in the NBA yesterday. I mean, I could break down the baseball regular season. I'm going to pass on that today. I'm going to pass on that today, Joy. A lot going on. Let me start with this.

This is a concept that even though we've seen it materialize, basketball fans struggle with this. I talk about this all the time. The concept that you can lose your best player and actually get better. Maybe it's short-term, not long-term. term, but when you've got a KD and you've got a Kobe, we've all played basketball at the Y. You go into a gym. There's a great, great player. He's better than everybody else. And you stand around watching him and you don't move as much and you don't cut as much. And long term,

KD and the Warriors are a better team, more ammo to their arsenal. Short term, I'm not so sure. When Kevin Durant's not playing, the Warriors aren't better. I'm not saying that. They are, however different. And their different is damn good. They move more. They cut more. They're more fluid. They're more frenetic. They stand around less.

Draymond Green is empowered. They're 29 and 4 when Katie doesn't and Steph does play. Don't tell me Houston's got this series. And I would say Houston, actually, if you ask James Hardin

who he would rather face He'd rather face the Warriors with KD. Because when KD plays and Warriors never been a great stamina guy, what's the knock on him forever? He melts down at the end of seasons. He looks tired. When KD leaves, did you watch the Steph offense? Running, cutting.

Hardin was chasing him all fourth quarter. It's not that Hardin was off in the fourth quarter. He was gassed. It's not that he was missing shots. Hell, he wasn't even taking him. them. He took three all quarter. He's averaged almost nine a quarter. He's averaged eight in the fourth quarter. He took three made two. The KD Warriors are more static and long term they're better. But Hardin and Chris Paul get your track shoes on because the Steph warriors are running all over the

floor. They have to because they lose a prolific score. They've got to make more screens. Cut harder. Pass better. Space better. Get the ball up the floor quicker. And I thought it turned hardened. It was a track meeting. He didn't want to be involved. He's never been a sprinter. He's never been a sprinter. And that's why this morning everybody's like, oh, it's over for Golden State. No, they're just different. We've got statistical analysis. With Kevin Durant, they're the best team in basketball. Without Kevin Durant, they won 73 games a title and came within a Kyrie Irving jump shot of winning a second team, second title. So with or without KD, they've been great. They've been dominant. 73 wins without him. Steph wins without him. If not for a Kyrie jumper,

they win twice and get 73 wins down. And then they add him and they're really great. But it's two different teams. Draymond is energized when KD's off the floor. Feels like he's, It's Steph and Draymond's team. You can feel the energy. He talks more. He's feistyer. And this is a concept basketball fans struggle with. And the other reason Golden State's a dynasty and Houston's just really good

because Golden State loses the best basketball player in the world. And they've got a two, Steph and a three, Clay, and a four, Draymont and a five, Iggy and a six, Looney. Championship teams have layers of excellence. Just like championship companies have layers of excellence. It's not just Alabama's defense. It's not just Tom Brady. And the reason Houston is just good and not a dynasty is Katie leaves, Hardin struggles, and they're not the same team.

If Hardin's not great, and they may win this series, but Hardin will have to be great. If Hardin isn't great, Houston's a good, good team. When Hardens on, when Hardin's scoring, they can be amazing. But last night is why Houston's just a good team and the Warriors are a dynasty. People forget how good, how good Michael Jordan's Bulls were. Scotty Pippen was a top 50 player. Dennis Rodman was the best rebounder ever.

Cootch was the best European. Steve Kerr at the time was the best shooter in the league. Jim Paxon wasn't far behind. Ron Harper was a 25-point-of-game player who went to be a reserve. They had the best coach. Golden State's got layer after layer after layer. They were a better team, and I'm not saying long-term, but they're a different team and last night a better team

than the second best team in the league without KD. Steve Kerr afterwards. Liverpool yesterday came out with just one of the great wins in soccer history. and after the match, their manager, Yergen Klopp, said, our boys are big-jants. That's what he said. And I know how he feels. So I apologize to my mom, who is probably watching,

but our guys are fucking giants. Like, that was an unbelievable victory tonight. It really was. And that's why they're a dynasty, and Houston's just really good. Houston? Uh-oh. KD's out. We've got to switch.

It's just. Couldn't do it. Golden State lost the top guy. And for like seven minutes, you're like, I like this new style. It's actually kind of more fluid and fun. That's the difference between the Utah Jazz and the Bulls and the good Sonics and Blazers teams and the showtime Lakers and those really good Nick teams and those pretty good Indiana Pacer teams. Layers, second gear, third gear, fourth gear, bench, coach. That was impressive last night. Let me shift to this. Yeah, I was wrong on that Boston Celtic thing. Yeah, Milwaukee's way better. Bench is better. Stronger, longer, taller, more passionate. Kyrie Irving thing never worked. Two years, didn't work. He doesn't fit with a coach.

He didn't really fit with a roster. And here's another thing. He doesn't really fit with the city. I always thought that mattered. Michael Jordan felt Chicago, city of big shoulders. Michael was big. Oprah was there. Siskel and Ebert. Industry leaders. There's no better fit in the history of basketball than Magic in L.A.

Glamour player, Glamour City. Kyrie doesn't even feel like Boston. Larry Bird did, tough, gritty clutch to Lunch Pail City. By the way, Kevin Garnett to me felt like Boston. Trash talker, frugal, tough, don't get in his face, intimidating. Paul Pierce, overachiever, gritty, played defense. Julian Edelman embodies. Tom Brady has a supermodel wife.

He's a grinder watching tape. Kyrie just doesn't feel like Boston. We already know he doesn't fit with his coach. We already know he doesn't fit with his roster. But I always thought it felt like Detroit's good teams in the NBA are tough because Detroit's tough. And the 70 Steelers, the Steeltown USA, they were tough. They may have had a glamorous quarterback.

They won with defense. Dallas teams, always a little flashy with Aikman, Tony Romo. and DAC. I always feel there's a perfect harmony with the all-time great teams. They almost feel like their city. Karey doesn't feel like Boston. He's not into practice. He's not a grounder.

He's not into the community. He's an ISO guy. I don't know anybody anything. He's just an unbelievable basketball, brilliant solo act. He's very much Acapello. I don't feel the harmony. Steph feels like Silicon Valley. Duncan felt like the system.

He felt like pop. He felt like family. Even after the loss last night, Kyrie just feels like he's just his own guy doing his own thing. And it just doesn't fit. In general, what kind of things are you looking for, I guess, in your life? And what kind of things, kind of situations would be a positive situation that you want to be in when you... I'm going to be honest, but I'm just trying to make it back.

to Boston first, you know, safely. You get to see my family, decompress, you know, do what humans beings do. Kyrie also has something I would call the number one pick syndrome. John Wall's got it, Kyrie's got it, Blake Griffin had it, Iverson had it, D. Rose. Once you're the number one pick, you see yourselves as a one. And the truth is, Blake Griffin's not a one, he's a two, John Wall's a two, Kyrie's a two, Derek Rose a two, Iverson, is a one if he's willing to play well with others. But when you're picked number one, in the world, to the world's best basketball league,

most number one picks are not magic in LeBron. They've got all sorts of flaws. They'll develop emotionally and physically into a better player. But there's been a lot of number one picks who were really overskilled twos, Wall, Kyrie, Rose, Blake, Iverson, and they all had the same dilemma, and it wasn't a lack of talent. They didn't play well with others. The number one pick syndrome.

They see themselves elevated above everyone coming into the lead. Forget once they're there. They see themselves from day one. I'm a number one pick. Therefore, I have to be a number one guy. Kyrie's not. He doesn't have the personality for it. You could argue he doesn't have the size.

for it. Historically, Steph Curry is a very unique scoring small point guard that wins a title. I just don't feel like Kyrie fits here. I thought he would. I thought he was kind of the icing on the cake, the great closer.

They had the coach, they had the cast, they had the closer. It just doesn't work. It's okay, by the way. Not the end of the world. He's got options. There'll be a lot of bidders. Not everybody works everywhere. Drew Brees didn't work with the San Diego Chargers. He, boy, Drew Brees feels like New Orleans.

That's okay. Not everybody works everywhere. The first place you go is not always the best place you go. First marriage, not always the best marriage. But I thought even after the game, sitting at the end of the bench, sort of indifferent. I was wrong. It just doesn't work. Good news is he's got a bunch of options.

Coming up next, LeBron doesn't. What I've heard from what can only. be called a circus with a Los Angeles Lakers. That's coming up. 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 Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slico Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen, kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman

catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds,

just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Eyehorn. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Keer 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. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions. To talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them. keeps them going. From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards.

If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world.

Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. So the Lakers who have been imploding for mostly every day since, seemingly forever, have become one big dysfunctional salad.

Here's a couple of stories that broke yesterday. Number one, that Kurt and Linda Rambus overruled Jeannie Bus and the Bus family on hiring Tyron Liu, who we thought two days ago was a done deal. Here was the second one that came down yesterday. The people close to Jeannie Bus are telling her to trade LeBron. Okay. I do believe, I talked to somebody close to LeBron last night, I do believe LeBron would demand a trade at different times in his career, but he won't now.

He's in L.A., his wife, his kids. They like the community. He's got the homes. He's got the business. He's got his family. I think there was a point in LeBron's life. He would have just said, get me out of here. LeBron's got his rings.

He's got his legacy. He's got his titles. He's got his money. He's got his brand. I think LeBron's really frustrated right now. But I've also been told. He and Rich Paul are just standing back. They're not imposing their will.

And there's always a sense that LeBron's running everything. They're not imposing their will. They're sitting back and watching it happen. And what they're probably thinking is today, we should have imposed our will. They have not. The Lakers are starting to feel like, and this is weird because they've always had money, they're starting to feel like a power ball winner. You ever seen those powerball winners where they don't even know how to spend the money?

And all of a sudden they buy like six horses, a hovercraft, nine jet skis, and a tiger to roam the backyard, and four Winnebago's. The Lakers literally, they land LeBron with their lump sum payment, the greatest free agent ever, and then they're like, all right, let's get Rondo. He can't shoot. I know. How about Lance Stevenson? He's weird.

Yeah, I know. How about Javelle McGee? He's an odd bird. Uh-huh. Well, what about Michael Beasley? He's trouble. It doesn't last anywhere. I know, but we got all this money.

Let's have the Rambus family run everything. Let's have the people that really matter, LeBron. and the coach that really fits him, Tileau, let's alienate him. They don't know what to do. They got that lump sum LeBron payment and they've just made bad purchases ever since. Players that don't fit LeBron,

guys that can't shoot, Kurt Rambas struggled as a coach. Now that families, and I know the Rambas family, I like them. But you cannot, one of the things about sports is nothing in sports is as corrosive as bad ownership. You can fire a coach, You can fire a GM, you can trade a player.

But the reason the Detroit Lions don't have a Super Bowl and the reason that Cleveland Browns don't have a Super Bowl and the reason the Bears should have more is they've historically had bad ownership. The Raiders in the last 10 years, not great ownership. You can't overcome it with draft picks. You can't. It all starts at the top.

And right now, let's be honest about this. I've been saying this for five months and I get pushback, live it in Los Angeles. This is worse than you think. it's just now all coming out. Like it is worse than you think. You know when a president leaves the White House and somebody writes a book and they're like, oh my, I knew it was a little crazy.

Oh, holy hell, it was really bad. They're going to write books about this White House. It's coming worse than you think. This is a mess. And I'll tell you what's really scary if you're LeBron. Monty Williams chose Phoenix. Let that bake. Phoenix is coaching purgatory.

Monty Williams is. talented. He chose Phoenix over the Lakers. We should have all seen this. I should have seen this. Paul George chose Westbrook over LeBron. They had brands. We knew what they were. Kevin Durant,

LeBron are tight. Probably whispered in his ear. Tough to play with. I think LeBron would demand a trade at other times in his life. But now it's family. Now it's a wife. Now it's his kids. Now it's their schools. We can all relate to that.

Even rich people have the same Tom Brady's worried about where his kids are going to school. LeBron James is worried about moving his kids around the country. I know you think, oh, he's rich. It doesn't matter. Yeah, it does it matter for Brady? It matters for Kobe. It matters for LeBron. You want your kids in the same school.

You don't want them bouncing around the country. They've already sacrificed because you're a star if you're Kobe, you're Brady, you're LeBron. I don't think he's going to demand a trade. But I think now we all thought that LeBron and the Lakers were these two massive, well-run brands. I think the Lakers now hurt LeBron. And I think deep down, if he didn't have the rings the title, the net worth, and the businesses, he'd be freaking out. I think now he's just discouraged, disappointed, disillusioned, but I don't think he'll demand a trade.

But this, they'll write books about this Laker team in this White House down the road. This is just the stuff that's getting out. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, terrible ending to the Celtics season in a game five gentleman's sweep that ended with Kyrie Irving going six for 21

and sitting on the bench for the final eight minutes. But the way this 2019 Celtics season went, we should have known this all along, and as tempting as it was to pretend this regular season, wasn't going to matter, and they were going to kick it into gear for the postseason. We pretty much knew all we needed to know about this team going into the playoffs. They have the talent, but they don't have the cohesion, which is what we questioned all.

year. Kyrie questioned that this year. And after the game, Brad Stevens took the blame for that. All right. I don't think we have the sound of that. But he said, I'll be the first to say this as far as any other coach, any other year I've been a coach. It's certainly been the most trying.

I think I did a bad job at the end of the day as a coach. If your team doesn't find its best fit together, that's on you. His playoff record is now 27 and 29. I don't think this is any one particular person's fault with the Celtics. Kyrie is going to get a lot of blame because, you know, he left LeBron and he wanted his own team and I think Brad Stevens does deserve some of the blame here because part of being an NBA coach is managing egos and minutes and setting up a system that works with the players that you have. It's not college where, you know, this is the system and we're going to

recruit players that work within this system. Right. And, you know, we're going to develop them to work within the system. This is the pros. You have Kyrie Irving. You have Gordon Hayward. You have Jason Tatum. You have Jaylen Brad. Well, it's a players league, not a coach's league. credible amount. And that's not to say that coaching doesn't matter. It certainly does, as we are seeing around the league with the great coach is making it as far as they are. And I'm not saying Brad Stevens isn't a great coach. I'm just saying that this idea that there's a system that has to, and the players have to fit within that system, we know that doesn't work. We know that that's not how the NBA works. I feel like this is, this is a huge disappointment for the Celtics

overall, not just for Kyrie. Yeah, no, it's a, I just kept thinking they'd figure it out. You know, I'm just like when you got a bunch of smart, talented people in any business, like I've always said before, I've always hired smart. Not necessarily people who knew about radio and TV. Give me smart people, they'll figure it out. I always figure when you get smart people, like remember when Hardin and Chris Ball came together and I said it's going to work. And a lot of the analytic people said it won't work. And I said, they're too smart dudes. They'll sit down and have a glass ofino and go, okay, I'm going to shoot a little less.

Okay, smart people usually figured out. Kyrie's pretty smart guy. Brad's pretty smart guy. Al Horv, pretty smart guy, doesn't work. It's just, it's more than just egos. It's style of play. And to me, it's setting up roles at the beginning of the season. Everyone should know what their role is, should feel comfortable with it, should feel empowered

with it, and want to be the best at what that is. But the other problem is, it's incredibly young team with a lot of unproven guys. They're trying to get contracts. It's just a, there's too much of a good thing almost with the South Day. It's almost like it's a bunch of B, Kyrie and a bunch of B guys. And sometimes when Kyrie does his thing, the B guys, come C plus guys and they're not as effective. Like I like Jason Tatum.

This year Jason Tatum I didn't like as much. Last year as a rookie, I loved him in the postseason. This year in the postseason, I'm like, it's just not as fluid. It doesn't feel like he connects. The team completely lacked balance is what it felt like. So Kurt and his wife Linda Rambus are the two most powerful voices in the Lakers. It's appearing. They basically prevented the Lakers from hiring Tailu as the next Lakers head coach.

The report from our own Nick Wright. It's become apparent that the bus family and Rob Polinkas signed off on hiring Lou last week, but the rambuses were against the hire and convinced the Lakers to hold off. There were a lot of reports circulating yesterday about what exactly the sticling point was for this contract not working. There was reports that they wanted to have Jason Kidd as an assistant coach. The years matched up, basically, which is what Nick said, with LeBron being with the Lakers, so the three years, 18 million, which is unprecedented for a head coach, especially a championship level head coach.

So Tyloo is smart to stay away from this. There's kind of a feeling like Tyloo doesn't have any other options. He does. He won a championship. He's a player and went to finals. He's a former player. He is not in a desperate situation at all. He's got money.

He's got a ring. He's fine. He's plenty of money. He's got a ring. He's chilling. He wants to coach again, I'm sure. But if this is not the right situation, he's already been a head coach.

He knows what he needs to put around him to be successful. And why would you want Jason, Even if you were willing to bend on the Jason Kids situation if you had a longer deal, why are you telling the head coach who his staff should be? What do you know about putting together a staff? The reason this didn't work also is because Ty's got money and a title.

He said, give me five years and the Lakers said three. And Ty, by the way, walked away from this. Yes, as he should have. He had the leverage. He's like, I don't need a job. I got $20 million in the bank. I got a title. He walked away from them.

So once you have leverage in life and you have options, you don't have to sign contracts that you don't feel benefit you long term? There's no there's no coach that should sign that contract. It's a rookie coach contract. That is not an appropriate contract. It's not even reasonable. Something about LA basketball with the coaching situation is weird. Finally, Stephen Jones appears to be putting some public pressure on DAC,

Amari Cooper, and Ezekiel Elliott to take team friendly deals. He is clearly playing. There's the lots of benefits to being a Dallas Cowboy card. And this is what he had to say about it. Okay, we don't have the sound for this either. I'm sorry. But he said, if we can talk them into not maxing out, doing well but not max, that allows us to have other good football players around them.

And we all know what happens. You look at the TV booths and look at what these players do off the field. If we can put Super Bowl rings on these guys, there'll be legends around the area for many, many years to come. What they may give up a little bit in their contract, they should be able to invest in a cowboy in making our teams better. I mean, I disagree with Evers telling a player to take less money, especially coming from the owner.

It's like, cool, you take less money, then I'll take less money. I understand it's a salary cap situation, but you can't ask Dak to take less money. And this is the weakest argument to me about it because Dak's been on a rookie fourth round contract and you haven't put the talent around him to get to a Super Bowl. Well, they're going to say, yes, we have. They're going to say we have the best linebacking duo in football. We have the best running back. We've had the best offensive line.

We got you Amari and we actually have a lockdown one. So the Cowboys aren't going to buy that pitch from the agent. They're going to say, have they been in a Super Bowl? Well, they're going to say that's a DAC issue. That's not an us issue. That's a, you're a fourth round pick for a reason. Maybe he's only one player. But he's the quarterback.

I just, I think the DAC has all the leverage here. And I don't like the idea. No, leverage. I hate the idea of players taking less money. I don't think it's reasonable. I think it's completely inappropriate to even talk about players taking less money. Yes. And I know everyone's going to point to Tom Brady's situation.

That's an outlier situation. No matter what, you spin it. It's an outlier situation. He won a Super Bowl incredibly early in his career. He knew what kind of ownership and coaching he had around him. He has married to a woman that's worth $400 million. Yes. It's not a comparable situation. There's no reason to actually take less money. Joy with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Lye News. All right. Chris Broussard, former New York Times, odd couple, Fox Sports Radio. What a topic God topic gods today gave us all sorts of stuff, Chris. All right. Let's start with that. Let's get the Laker thing out of the way here. I don't want to go too Laker crazy on this, but ties out what's next? Well, I mean, you see the names out there. Jason Kidd, who they wanted to be on his staff, could end up being the guy.

I think that would probably be LeBron's choice at this point. By the way, Milwaukee got significantly better when he left. Yeah, yeah, no question about that. Lionel Hollins. I love Lionel Hollins. I love his style of coaching, which is I'm the boss. He's tough. Right, and I like that, and he had great success in Memphis.

It'd be interesting. I don't know, it'd be interesting to see how that worked with LeBron. Frank Vogel, I think he's a good coach, not for LeBron. I don't think he'd get LeBron's respect. Woodson, Mike Woodson, would be, you know, he'd be pretty good, too. So. Let me throw this at you. The story that Rambuses are suggesting to Jeannie trade LeBron and get a cachet of gifts.

What do you make of that? You ain't getting a cachet of gifts. That's the problem. First of all, if you trade LeBron, wants to be in L.A. He came here. One reason was basketball, another reason was family, another reason was business. If he gets traded somewhere else, the other team's got to be like, he's not going to

be happy. And we've seen LeBron Salk. So if you trade him somewhere, that's the first, there's four reasons you're not getting anything. And I was just talking to a GM this morning about it. One, is he going to want to be there? And if he's not, you got a problem. Two, the perception.

Now, LeBron and his guys will take him. you the reality is different. The perception is that he takes over. Yeah. The franchise. A GM doesn't want that. Third, expectations become championship robust. All right. If you don't win the championship or get to the finals, you might lose your job as a GM. What GM wants that? Fourth, whether this is true or not, a lot of executives think LeBron is falling off. He's still great, still top five, but not the guy that no matter what you have around you is carrying you to the final. Okay, I'm going to throw a team at you and just give me a minute on this. If

Sixers lose tonight, you've got blow some stuff up. I'm Jeannie Bus. Lanzo and LeBron. You go to Philly. We get Simmons, who Philadelphia doesn't fit, and I think there's Elton Brand already suggested trading him.

You give us Butler, you give us Simmons, we'll give you LeBron and Butler, well, you can't trade him because he's a free agent. Do a sign and trade. But if you tell me Butler Simmons for LeBron and Lanzo, I got my point. I don't even know if it's that, well, look, I'm just throwing it out there.

I think there are two teams that it might make sense to trade for LeBron. One is Boston. Because, Danny, they're a great historic franchise that I don't think LeBron would frown on being a part of. And Danny Aege is like, let's win all in. Let's win, okay? And I think LeBron could go there. And so I think that makes some sense. The second one is Philadelphia.

Now, you'd have to work it out with clutch. Ben Simmons is a clutch client with Rich Paul. So they all have to be involved. Are they all happy with this? But I like LeBron and Philly with M.B. No question. Hey, Simmons and LeBron are interesting trade pieces. I was saying last summer, if LeBron, if it's just about winning,

where can I go and stack more rings, go to Philadelphia. I know it was about other stuff and there's no problem with that lifestyle stuff. That's fine. But if it's just about basketball, you should have went to Philly. Here's another one. Your guy,

Embed, because of the health concerns. What about him to the Lakers for LeBron? Yeah, but then Simmons and LeBron have a similar style game. Yeah, but look, if I have LeBron and Butler and Tobias,

I'm competitive in these, but I like your Simmons, LeBron. Yeah, because right now, LA is. disappointed. Philadelphia is kind of a mess if they lose tonight, and they got all sorts of players. Philadelphia is the one. I don't want Butler in that if I'm the Lakers. Because I don't want to give you my franchise. All right. Chris Brouss are joining us.

So last night Charles Barkley's like, it's over. You know, Golden State can't win. And my takeaway is we have data here. 29 and 4. The Warriors, when Katie's out and Steph can play. Now, I don't think they'll win in Houston. But I actually think they'd win. The Warriors would win a game seven without KD and Golden State. Look, I'm glad you're saying this because I've wondered, am I the only person on the planet that understands that Kevin Durant was a luxury, not a necessity? All right.

The Warriors did not need Kevin Durant to win championships. They already won one. Or 73 games. They won 73. They beat eight, and I'm going to say it, great OKC team. That OKC team with KD and Russ was great. They should have beat the Warriors. They had them 3-1.

I don't know if they would have beat Cleveland or not, but they beat them. And then with all due respect to LeBron, Kyrie, the Cavaliers, most people feel like if Draymond's not suspended for game five, Golden State wins that series. Yes. So they could have been two-time defended champions. And 73 wins. Yes.

What happened with, this is what's happened. Katie goes there to Golden State. And over time, Steph, Clay, all these people, they see, he's the best player. Like, he's by far. as great as Steph is, KD's the best player on that team. And they see it. And over time, they naturally began to defer to him.

And so they're still good enough to win titles, but you see it's not as smooth and free-flowing as it used to be. And last night, as soon as he's gone, Steph takes over. KD reminded us, I'm Kevin Durant. He reminded you, I'm Steph Curry. And also, they're more fluid. Hardin's running around the floor, chasing him. I want to discuss Hardin what happened,

What's happened to Chris Paul, who rarely looks at the basket. The Kyrie's situation with Chris Broussard, don't go anyway. Kendrick Perkins next hour. 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. 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 Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts.

or wherever you get your podcast. 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, or 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, I Heart Radio app, search Learn the Hard Way and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small.

The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin,

and rising hockey star, Laila Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level,

at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. All right, Chris Brouss here for another 10 minutes. All right, we talked about the Lakers situation and the Warriors we both think could win this series without KD. It'd be harder, long term, without him, but short term, they're different.

And I think what I saw last night, Hardin, it wasn't that he was bad. He shot three times and made two. I think the Warriors without KD are a nightmare for Hardin because little skinny steps running around the floor and coming off cuts and Hardin's always been like a stamina concert. It's chasing Steph around and Clay around. And I'd have Hardin look gassed. No, that makes some sense because there's going to be a lot more player movement

and your defense is going to have to work a lot harder without KD. Way harder. That's a great point. Two things about Houston and why I feel confident. Golden State will still win the series. One, I just like Golden State even without KD. They're 29 and 4 without KD the last three years. Okay, Steph and Clay's numbers both go up.

But beyond that, Houston, Chris Paul. What's happened? Is it, I don't know if it's age or if it's the system fit, because he's basically a two guard. He's not a great two guard. He's a point guard. Is he even this, Eric Gordon's better this morning? Eric Gordon is the second guy, no question.

No question. And DJ Tucker's playing a more valuable role. The last three games, Chris is averaging 13.6 assists on 33% shooting. Wow. This is his moment after getting hurt last year. But we, so I don't know if it's that or if it's just, remember, we've seen him struggle at big moments in the playoff. So let's see what I got questions about what he's going to do. And then Harden, to your point, he wasn't playing badly.

I'm talking about the last seven minutes. No, no, he wasn't bad. And they were getting decent shots. Eric Gordon hit a couple big shots. Cardin made a nice pass to Capelli. but here's what shocked me. And this is why I'm concerned about the Rockets. Hardin was not on the ball most of those last seven minutes.

There were times Eric Gordon brought the ball up twice with both Harden and CP3 on the floor. The ball was in CB3's hands at times. The way they've played the entire season, the entire playoffs, the entire first 44 minutes or whatever it was, 42 minutes, was Hardin handling a ball, doing everything. And in the last seven minutes, he's not handling it. What's going on?

Is that Hardin going to Gordon saying, dude, I'm going to let you bring the ball up because I got to chase Steph. Like I think Hardin. Is it that or is it him running from the walk, running away from the moment? I don't know. But it's something to watch for and something that makes me think of all those big moments where Hardin hasn't delivered. This, I've always been a Chris Paul fan.

Last night, it was he could have taken him off the floor. generally with star basketball players. When Kyrie's on the floor, Janice on the floor, Kauai, you can just see the star. Like LeBron never disappears. I was last net, I'm like, is Chris Paul on the floor? He was just another player. He was just, and by the way, shooting 33%.

Okay, so we've addressed those two things. Let's move into this. I said, Kyrie doesn't fit the coach. He doesn't appear to fit the roster perfectly. He doesn't even feel like Boston. He's kind of a, you know, I always felt, Kevin Garnett was kind of a tough guy, was kind of a trash talker, had an edge to him. That's Boston.

Boston's angry when it wakes up on a sunny day. There's a chip. Edelman feels like Tom Brady's a grinder. Havelchek. There's guys that work. Paul Pierce felt Boston to me. You think, see, I would say Pierce wasn't Boston either. Pierce played defense.

Pierce, Pierce played defense. Pierce would get in your faith. Pierce says, I want to guard Kobe. Boston's tough, not always talented, but tough. Kurt Schilling felt like Boston, angry, tough. Is Brady tough? He's a grinder. He's a grinder.

Boston likes work. I look at Kyrie and I'm like, you know what? Kyrie's great. Boston's awesome. It just wasn't destined to work. He didn't feel like Boston. He doesn't feel like Brad Stevens. It's okay.

Let me see. I just want to say this. And Kyrie deserves a lot of criticism. No question. But why is Brad Stevens getting a pass? Brad Stevens, who was crowned as the next Greg Popovich. In fact, as Greg Popovich, he was right. He had a bad year.

Look, every coach in the league knows the X's and O's. And you got little engine that could coaches in the NBA, some of them. And that's what he is. Now, the question is, can he coach the Rolls Royces? Because if you want to win championships, you need a coach who can coach the rolls royces. It's funny about that. For a lot of fans that have never seen Greg Popovich in person, he's overpowering. He's huge. The head, the beard. He's like 6-6. He's loud. He's intimidating. Popovich looks like a former NBA player. When you see him walk off the bus,

I've been there in Portland, watched him walk off the bus. He just looks like an old NBA player. Stevens looks like an accountant. There's something to be said about that. Like Bradzo was like that meek, nice, went-to-butler guy. there is a possibility that stars look at them and think college coach. B players like him, but A guys are like college coach. Right. When you have guys that are just trying to show that they belong in the league or trying to win that next contract,

they're going to do whatever it takes. And that's what he had at Butler, and that's what he has had until Kyrie. Even Isaiah Thomas was a six-man chip on his shoulder. He was of that multi-old. And now you got you a Mercedes-Benz in Kyrie, and you couldn't make it work. So you have to be able to manage egos, bring them together.

I've been told that Brad doesn't like confrontation. And Kyrie kind of, that's one reason Kyrie was out kind of talking and bringing stuff into the media because Brad wasn't going to really address it. Yeah, Dan, Tony doesn't like confrontation either. No, he doesn't. And so Brad, Steve, I'm not saying firing him. He's a very good coach. But I'm just saying he should not get a pass on this.

Now, regarding Kyrie. and I'm going to tie it back to LeBron. If I'm LeBron James, I want to stay in L.A., so I'm not asking for a trade. Go all in on getting Kyrie back with you. Lakers? That's what he should do. No, we said this this morning.

Go see Kyrie this, like soon, whenever Kyrie's ready, but he winds down, and I know it would look humbling of Kyrie, like he's going back to his leader. You, if you're LeBron, you've got to get the narrative out there. No, I need Kyrie just as much as he does. My favorite band of all time is the Eagles. They fought the entire time.

They were together, records. They separated. They had some success individually. Then they got back together and they were great. They fought the entire time. This idea that every marriage is just hand in hand, I've been married in relationships. I've been in relationship.

Arguing is okay. The Eagles argued. It's a great band. Not everybody's you two are all buddy. Shaq and Kobe fought. Phil Jackson. The bottom line is LeBron and Kyrie worked Now they broke up like the Eagles

They did have some success But they worked together One guy is a true A And controls the ball The other guy is an overskilled two Who doesn't want the media LeBron's great with the media Right

Like Kyrie doesn't want them He just wants the ball He doesn't want the responsibility Running the team Scotty Pippen I covered him Scotty didn't like the media Scottie didn't like the responsibility He was a super talented too

Michael saw the way he dressed Michael loved the podium Michael loved the moment Michael liked the media. Michael loved being a one. Kobe loved being a one. Kyrie's good enough, but he's a two. What's wrong with going down in history as Scotty Pippin?

That's what Kyrie. And even more so, because he hit the biggest shot, arguably one of the biggest shots in NBA history. If I can't get Kyrie and LeBron's got to find out relatively quickly, you know, you got time, but from Kyrie, okay, will you come? Then I'm all in on Kimball Walker if I'm him. I don't think he's getting KD. I don't think he's getting Kauai.

Unless they know something we don't know, then don't even bother with them. You have to show Kyrie, you're my first choice. And then if you can't get him, show Kimba. I'm all in on you because I got to ask you. As much as I love Kyrie Irving, his game is phenomenal, best handle ever, clutch player. If he had not teamed up with LeBron,

how much more would we think of him than Kimba Walker? We might think of him like Kimba Walker. That's a good point. All star team every year. Team loses. Doesn't make the playoffs. You go out in the first round. Yukon, Duke, both great college star.

Yeah. So Kimba might be, we've seen signs that Kimba would play well in the clutch. This is good point. So, but and then I'm Marcus Morris, Bogdan Bogdanovich, some shooters. I'm hoping the rambuses are listening. Hour two next. 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 whenever 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 made.

the highlight reel. 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 Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this 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. 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. 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, Keer Gaines, is 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 Hardway and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? them. On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star

Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything.

I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast. Podcasts for wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Oh, here we go, hour two on a Thursday. We are packed.

This is The Herd, wherever you may be in, however you may be listening. We're live in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS-Wan. Kendrick Perkins, going to be joining us on the Celtics mess, Arosh Marcosi, L.A. Times columnist on the Laker mess. Who would have thought the Celtics and the Lakers, these massive brands, fans. Right now they're kind of teetering, and then a Catino Mobley last hour. Joy Taylor is joining me for what is a gold bar of topics today, all sorts of stuff.

The sports gods are being very kind with the content. They are. We've had very, very lucky. NFL free agency now is a thing. So we got about a month more now of NBA. Then we go, we get a week off or two for the World Cup. Then it's massive free agency NBA stuff, and the world could change. In the last hour of the show today, I'm going to give you the dream scenario, starting Tuesday with a ping pong laundry, my dream scenario of what would happen, the chaos in the NBA free agency going forward.

There was a quote I saw this week by Nick Sabin. It's a really smart quote. And if you're a sports fan or not, I want you to listen to it, regardless of what you do. He said, success is temporary. It is not continuous. Be relentless in whatever you do. And what Saban is telling you is something I've struggled with my entire life. Live in the moment.

enjoy your successes, they go away. They're fleeting. I want you to think about this. Was a calf tear Kevin Durant's last warrior moment? You think of this as a dynasty. Back-to-back finals! One second before that,

he was the happiest basketball player in the world. He was the best player on the best team. This morning, calf-taire, out of the playoffs, Warriors won last night without him could win the whole thing without him. You talk about a pivot. One second before that, he is what every basketball player wants to be.

The best in the world on the best team. Now it's a calf tear, and you're hearing things this morning like, you know, the Warriors are 29 and four without him. I kind of like the Steph team. They move a lot better. What if they beat Houston? Folks, you got to love the moment and enjoy the moment and put your arms around the moment.

LeBron James a year ago, this was the narrative. You could take four bartenders with LeBron. They could get to the finals. Today, he's trapped in the movie Misery. He's James Kahn in a bed and Jeannie Bus. And from what I read, Linda Rambus are putting blocks between his feet and they're telling him, don't leave LeBron. I'll be right back.

LeBron six months ago, he and four bartenders get to the finals. This morning, LeBron's trapped. They could trade him to Memphis. He's in the movie misery. He's in a bed. And they're not letting him leave. And they're saying, please don't leave. I feel bad for LeBron.

This morning, I feel terrible for him. I mean, one minute before Alabama played Clemson last year, one minute before, Alabama was too good for college football. Three hours later, Clemson was Alabama. Alabama is now chasing Clemson in recruiting in games. Like, you've got to put your arms around the great moment. They do not last forever. Kevin Durant one second before that was the perfect basketball player in America. Best player, best team.

This morning? Calf tear? They look better without him. What if they beat Houston to win the finals? They'll be favored over anybody including Milwaukee in the finals. I mean, Crazy. All right, here's something interesting.

I've always felt with, you know, it's really funny. This morning, everybody's banging on Kyrie Irving. Okay. But ask yourself this morning, who would you rather be, Kyrie Irving or LeBron? Again, LeBron is trapped in a bed, blocks between his feet, can't get out. He can't, he can't, he can't, he can't, he can't demand a trade, doesn't mean anything. Kyrie Irving has options.

Kyrie Irving has all sorts of options. Kyrie Irving can go to Brooklyn, can go to New York, can go to the Lakers. Are you kidding me? This morning, just think about this. Everybody is crapping on Kyrie Irving this morning. Kyrie's got all sorts of options. If you think teams watch that series, half the people in the NBA circles are blaming Brad Stevens. On this show, Chris Broussard, Joy, I think it's Brad Stevens.

Kyrie Irving's got all sorts options. Now, it wasn't a great two years. It didn't work perfectly. I'd rather be Kyrie Irving this morning than LeBron. I'm reading stories this morning. The Rambus has now run the Lakers. They can't find a head coach. Kyrie Irving can pick his coach, can pick his team.

They're going to line up for Kyrie Irving. I mean, I would be fine waking up this morning is Kyrie Irving. I got all sorts options. Not happy how it worked. You know, it reminds me, this is why I always defend players on this stuff. The one thing you do not want to be as a player is trapped. Okay, like my entire career, I've been very lucky. Started in Vegas, loved it.

Was it ESPN? Loved it. Here, love it. I was in Tampa for two years. Did not love it. But you know what? I could get out. This is why I always defend star players when everybody tells me about star players and mobility and you don't like it.

If I'm honest, I wouldn't leave because they've got a really good owner and a really good coach. And Chris Middleton's really good. That's great. But the most powerful guy in basketball, LeBron James, this morning, I think he's got one of the worst situations in the league. He can't get out. He can't get out. He doesn't trust the owner.

He didn't have a coach. He didn't know the Ramos family. Got a bunch of young guys that aren't at his level. I mean, that's where you do not want to be in the NBA. Forget the Kyrie situation. He's all good. He's got options in life. LeBron doesn't.

I mean, LeBron's got no options. By the way, Charles Barkley said something last night. I want to address this. Now, for whatever reasons, and I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a sociologist, but I want to talk about Steph Curry for a second, is that players around the league, including Michael Jordan, respect Westbrook more than Steph Curry. I don't get it. I don't know how you can watch the two and think definitively Westbrook over Curry.

I've talked to players. They like Westbrook. tougher, relentless, hard, not finesse. Maybe it's because Steph Curry isn't an alpha. Maybe it's because they see him as soft because his dad played in the league and he likes golf and he's got those pharmaceutical shoes. Whatever it is in the NBA, it's really, players all respected Michael. They all respected Kobe.

They still all respect Westbrook. There's something about Steph and former NBA stars and current NBA stars. They just don't respect him. And Charles Barkley said this last night about the Warriors going forward. The Warriors ain't got no chance of winning without Kevin Durant. This series? This series or any other series. He made them a dynasty.

Let's don't sleep on that. People said, well, they won one. They did. They was terrific. And they won 772. They lost that series. But that was like five years ago. People act like that was two years ago.

they did not become a juggernaut until KD got there. Everybody who knows basketball, he's the guy who made them a dynasty. Time out. They won a title without KD. They set an NBA record without KD. And they were a jumper from Kyrie Irving from beating them again. First of all, they were great without KD and they're great with him. But if they don't win a third title this year, are they a dynasty or just great?

We have data. 29 and 4 are the Warriors when Steph plays and Katie doesn't. You don't think they can beat Portland? They can't win one of the next two against Houston. They couldn't beat him Milwaukee. Really? Think about that. He's the only unanimous MVP winner ever.

And because KD is hurt, Charles Barkley believes they're done. It's fascinating to me. I've never seen there's a Steve Nash quality Steve Nash battled with this when he was the MVP. Is it because they're small? They're not physical. They're not trash talkers.

I don't know what it is. I'm not a psychologist. But the idea that they can't win without... They did. They did win without KD. And they came within one more shot of winning and they set a record and they beat Houston last night and Curry's a nightmare for James Harden to Garvey.

and he's way better than Chris Paul and much better than Eric Gordon and much better than Clay Thompson and the Warrior season's over? I don't ever remember. It is unbelievable to me. If you pulled players in the league, more of them like Westbrook

who can't win two games in the first round over Curry. I've never seen anything like it and I don't have an answer. Maybe it's those shoes. Maybe it's that he's small. Maybe he went to Davidson. Maybe he's not an alpha.

Maybe it's because he recruited KD. Maybe it's because, you know, the Joe DiMaggio thing. He doesn't want to hang out with players all the time. I don't know what it is. But the idea like, oh, they can't beat, they can't beat. You don't like this Golden State team over Denver or Portland if they can split the next two? Really? You don't think they can beat Portland?

You don't think Steph, Clay, Kerr, Draymond, Iggy, experience. They can't beat Denver in Portland? I've never seen anything like it. By the way, here are the stats. Here's Steph before and after Katie's injury last night. Before he was one for eight on threes. Katie gets hurt in the last 14 minutes. It's the old Steph.

It's the harmonized warriors. No more acapella. It is crazy. Absolutely crazy. Kendrick Perkins is not. He'll be joining us next. Nobody likes Steph. Charles doesn't like Steph.

Unanimous MVP. They can't beat Portland. What? Can't be Denver. What? 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, Follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life.

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to my new podcast, learn the hard way 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'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.

Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going.

From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my first. brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile,

that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Welcome back. Discover alert you if they find your social security number on one of those lousy risky websites. Free for card members, sign up, discover.com slash free alerts, limitations apply.

It's online. Joy Taylor's joining us. One of my favorite guys, Kendrick Perkins is fascinating. He played with everybody. He played with LeBron and Kyrie in Cleveland. He played with a big three in Boston, Pearson Ray Allen. He played with James Hardin in Westbrook and Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. He played with the Pelicans Anthony Davis. He's like the actor Kevin Baker.

Bacon. They say like six degrees of separation. Kevin Bacon knows everybody in the world. He's worked with every actor ever. And I want to bring on Perk, Kendrick Perkins via the Coward Global Satellite Network. No, Perk, I said this. Watching the Celtics last night, I know Kyrie's great, but it doesn't fit. And that's okay.

It doesn't mean he's less great. But as a former Celtic, as a former Celtic who has great pride and somebody that's played with Kyrie, what did you see in this series? Well, in this series, I think Kyrie, the way he went about it was disrespectful to the city of Boston, was disrespectful to the organization. And he didn't represent what Celtic pride is all about. You know, I spent my first eight and a half years of my career in Boston. And those fans are unbelievable. The organization is unbelievable. The history of the franchise in itself is unbelievable.

And the way Kyle Rie went about it, you know, just, you know, okay, yeah, I struggled. Okay, on to the next game. And kind of like the I don't care attitude and, you know, just basically, I mean, throughout the whole problem. process. I mean, he was just, I thought he had got it, but he was just a bad leader. And he, he didn't represent what self to cry was about. I mean, and it was proven that, in my opinion, he's not a Batman. I mean, he's a great player. Kyrie is the elite player, but he's not a

Batman. He's a Batman when he's on the team with LeBron, but he's not a Batman. He can't carry his own team. Let me shift to another guard, who I think's better than Kyrie. He'll go down better historically and he revolutionized the game, Steph Curry. But Charles Barkley and others are saying it's over for the Warriors. And it's weird with Steph Curry and I can't figure it out. Russell Westbrook has more respect in the league from players than Steph Curry. And I don't think it's close. What is it about Steph that many stars former and current don't respect about Steph?

What is it? Well, I can say this. The current players do respect stuff. I mean, you can't anything away from stuff. He's two-time MVP. I mean, the guy is talented. I mean, he is a Batman.

And we've seen this last night. KD. went out and all of a sudden it was like a light switch went on with Steph Curry. Everybody thought, even myself, I'm thinking, oh, Lord, the Rock is about to blow the Warriors out and steal game five and they're about to close. And then all of a sudden,

Steph Curry turns it on and make big plays down. Do I, throughout the fourth quarter, and he becomes the Steph Curry that we all been knowing. But, you know, he took a back seat to Kevin Durant, which is rightfully so. But I think a lot of guys do respect Steph Curry. And I heard what Charles said yesterday, but, you know, you got to show that man some respect, man. The things he's done and the things he's been doing throughout his career, he's a Batman, and he's going to go down as one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game.

You know, I watched Kevin Durant had a great career, but I watched him get hurt last night, and I thought, oh, my God, is that the last moment he's a warrior? Because my guess is, they've already said he's not playing in game six. If it's a calf tear, he's out. Okay. Right. If that's the last moment for Kevin Durant as a warrior perk, could I make the argument that he wouldn't leave Golden State, if that's his last moment, that if they lose, he'll come back. I think today, if we're talking about today, I think KD, this is his last time, this is his last

season with the Warriors. This is not something that he told me. This is just my opinion. I mean, I think KD wants to go win elsewhere because I think he's tired of getting discredited for joining a 73 and 19. So in my opinion, today, if I, you know, just thinking for Kevin Durant, I mean, if he don't play another game for the Warriors this post-season, I think this is his last game for the Warriors. That was last night was his last game for the Warriors. Wow. What a last image, a calf tear. James Hardin, you played with James Hardin.

Now, one of the knocks on Hardin has been stamina that at the end of the year, he's not in world-class shape. He's never been a great, he's not like Dee Wade, where he plays both ends of the floor or Paul Pierce or Kauai Leonard. He's kind of a one end of the floor guy, and even with that he wears down. So I'm watching him last night, Perk, and when Durant got hurt, they gave the team to Steph, and Steph's running off picks. It's now Steph's team, and they're much faster, and they screen more, and they run more. I thought Hardin got tired. You played with him.

Do you always think stamina is an issue with him? I mean, it's hard to say because this year, I mean, in the past, yes, but this year, James is in unbelievable shape. And he's been doing a lot to treat his body. But one thing about it is that it's hard to always tell people, I never was a league score. I never was a score really like that at all. But James have to do so much offensively for his team to be successful

because of the lack of production that he's getting from his other guys. you know, CP is not CP right now. Capella is not giving them nothing. PJ Tucker and Eric Gordon are playing great basketball, but James have to do so much. And going on the other end, he had to either guard Clay Thompson or Steph Curry, they running around, they're sitting pitch.

I mean, you know, and in the fourth quarter, they was trapping them. So, I mean, what else could he do, man? I mean, I don't think he got tired. I think he really just left the dollar on the court and paid the best. basketball that he possibly could play. But I just think at the end of the day,

the other guys like CP didn't step up last night. What's happened to Chris Paul? I don't know how well you know him. What's happened to him? He's a shell of himself. I don't know. It's like he's not being aggressive.

This is not the CP we grown to love. No, I mean, he's not being aggressive. He don't look confident at all. I don't know. I don't know if, you know, I don't want to say for the time caught up with him because he's 34 years old. But, you know, he's still in great shape and he's still Chris Powell. But I don't know, man. He's just, he don't look the same right now. He doesn't. He doesn't. He does it. He do not look the same right now at all, man.

So I don't know what's going on with him, but I know he have two games to get it right. I'll try to figure it out. Yeah. Finally, if you were LeBron James, they butcher the Tileu situation the Lakers did. You don't know who's running it. Magic quit. If you were LeBron James this morning, would you go to the Lakers, the bus family, and said, listen, I came here, I did my best, I got hurt, it didn't work, trade me. Would you do that or would you stick it out? I mean, if I'm brawn and I know Brian, he's going to stick it out. He's not the, he's not the type of bill. If that was the case, he wouldn't have signed a four-year deal. I mean, I was with him in Cleveland when he was signing one-year deals and, you know, with an option on the second and another

one-year deal. He signed a four-year deal, so he was committed to the Lakers. Now, with them not hiring T. Lou, they dropped the ball. The Lakers are worried about everything else besides trying to build the team to win basketball games and to bring a championship. And guess what? At this point of time, they dropped the ball with T. Lou, which would have been the perfect fit for the Ler. Lakers, so they dropped the ball on their coach. Now, they can't blind for the time.

He didn't have his hands and none of it is. Perkins, it's good talking to you. Kendrick Perkins. Thanks, man. Colin, thanks for having me. You bet. You know, it's, LeBron is always a talking point, obviously, on this show, on all shows, all opinion shows.

I mean, he is, you know, there's a six or seven people, whether you're a political host or a sports host, Brady, LeBron, they just get talked about, right? And there's certain politicians, obviously, we talk about. And with LeBron, I was always a defender of LeBron. I've always been like, look where the kid came from, he went to Cleveland, busted his butt. I defended him moving to Miami. And then I thought it was kind of cool, shocked me moving back to Cleveland. And then going to Los Angeles. I get at Mogul stage. I get it. This year is the first time I've said, the scales are uneven.

He went too much business, too much non-basketball. It didn't feel right. He didn't feel engaged. And I was critical of LeBron. But when I saw the two stories come out today, one, they're trying to trade him. And two, they butcher the Tailu situation. I was back in the LeBron train. I'm like, you got to give me a break here.

I mean, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I have worked overwhelmingly for great companies. I've been incredibly lucky. I had a year and a half in Tampa. The people were well-meaning, but the station was a mess. It had transitioned from CBS to Fox, new management, and it was you cannot overcome dysfunction upstairs. You can't.

Okay, I don't care who you are. You can't. And I woke up this morning with LeBron, and I feel sympathy for him. This guy is his entire life. He has been a model citizen. He's been a wonderful guy. Good husband. Great dad.

Totally engaged. I didn't like his last six months. And I know he's mad at me and his people are mad at me. But I will tell you this, you wake up this morning. He is being underserved. This is not good enough for him. This is simply not good enough for him. This would be like Brady deciding, I've done everything.

I'm going to go to Miami and the dolphins do what the dolphins do. You know, they can't. I can't figure it out. You got no GM. You know, be careful. I tell people this all the time. Young people. Don't chase money.

Chase management. There's a sea of money for talented people. There's not a sea of great management. And I felt this morning sympathy for LeBron. He's a good dude who's done it right. Didn't love the last six months. But this is embarrassing. I mean, if he didn't have, if he wasn't married with kids,

get out of town. And I totally support him. Like, I'm out. I'm not. I've proven myself. You haven't. I'm out and I'd support him. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Speaking of LeBron, he has made it clear to everyone who will listen that he's not in charge of the Lakers or telling them what to do. And I would say I have to believe him at this point

because this is a whole other level of dysfunction. But apparently that's not enough to get the Lakers to trust him, which we saw with their unwillingness to give Tailu a contract. They went beyond LeBron's contract. contract and now ESPN and Steve and Smith are reporting that people close to Jeannie Bus are telling her to trade LeBron. Okay dokey. Well, you know

what? Chris Broussard said this earlier. What is the trade market for him? I don't think there is a big trade market for him, which seems a little silly because a team that wants to win now should be in the market for LeBron James. I mean, that is what the Lakers are trying to do. And his numbers were great last year.

Yeah. The whole thing with LeBron is kind of confusing. It feels like we're being a bit reactionary. It has a tiny touch of the Kauai Leonard situation where it's like, did you forget that Kauai Leonard before he was injured was in the conversation for the second best player in the league? Like, this is still LeBron James. Yes, he had his first injury. Yes, everyone, you know, had their moments.

You know, LeBron is down. So, you know, we're going to be triumphant and, you know, it's finally fair. And it's still LeBron James. just what happened? Did everyone just forget he's LeBron James? LeBron is going to come back in perfect shape next year. He has extra time to rehab out of his one and only injury in his career.

Rested. Right. He's going to come back in the best version of LeBron James that he can possibly be. We know that. He takes impeccable care of his body. I don't understand what the Lakers are doing. I've never understood this from the very beginning.

You brought LeBron here for four years. Everything that you do from the moments you know LeBron is coming here should be to not only make LeBron happy, because we know that that's something that matters to LeBron, but also put the pieces around him that historically make him successful. Doesn't seem that complicated. You're overthinking the situation.

And I think the person that's skating a lot in this situation, too, is Polinka. Wasn't he the guy that was supposed to be running this whole situation? Supposed to be, yeah. So now Rambus is above Palinka? The Rambuses, actually, I should say, are above Palinka. Where's Palinka fall in all this? It's a mess. It's bizarre.

All right. So the Celtics off season begins and ends with Kyrie Irving. His decision to resign or go somewhere else will dictate Boston's plans and free agency. Anthony Davis, trade talks and Jalen Brown extension. But following this loss, Kyrie predictably sidesteped questions about free agency. I'm going to be honest, which I'm just trying to make it back to Boston first, you know, safely. You get to see my family, decompress, you know, do what humans beings do. True be told, it's no time to be disappointed.

I think that, you know, you take your lessons, you take your ass-wooping that they handed us, and you move on. You know, it's a basketball journey. Obviously, you know, you want to keep playing, but they put a halt to that. So, Kyrie has two options. He can sign a five-year, $189 million max contract with Boston. Yeah. Signing with the team other than the Celtics would be walking away from a guaranteed $49 million. That's right.

Or sign of the team that has cap space. Which could be the Lakers, Brooklyn, Nicks. Yeah. Yeah, the Mavericks also could pitch teaming up with Kyrie, Luca, and Chris Staps. Oh, that's interesting. I didn't think about that. Yeah, that's pretty good. There's actually a lot of players.

There's more than 10 teams that will have room, including both New York teams and both L.A. teams. The Nets also have been in the conversation. This particular free agency is going to be very interesting because there are a lot of players with a lot of space. And it's funny. Philadelphia, I, Keep your eye on Philadelphia and Ben Simmons. Simmons and MB don't work together. Simmons would be easy to trade now because he's had a terrible series.

You wouldn't get crushed if you with the GM of the Sixers trading him and got stuff in return. M. B's more popular. You put an MBEat on a Dallas with Luca and Porzingas. You put him on a franchise where he can dish and I don't know. Ben Simmons is a fascinating piece to me. Nobody's talking about him. I think Philadelphia is going to have to move somebody. Ben Simmons, keep your eye on him.

I think the whole MBA is going to look very different next season. So finally, big, big news yesterday. Fox Sports and the Stars Group announced plans to launch Fox Bet. The first of its kind, national media and sports wagering partnership in the United States. It's all set to kick off in the fall with the launch of two products, a nationwide free-to-play game awarding cash prizes to players who correctly predict the outcome of sports games. And the Fox Bet app, which will give people in states regular. betting, the opportunity to place real money bets.

So with the recent legalization of sports gambling in certain states, it's a huge market for digital sports wagering, and it's clear with this partnership that Fox Sports has gone all in. Let me explain this. Okay, so we partnered, we bought a part of the company called the Stars Group. Yes. Okay, Europe's ahead of us on sports gambling. You can go to a Liverpool, Manchester United Game and bet in the stadium.

So Europe is ahead of us on this. They've had less stigma with the gambling, less politicalization of gambling. So Stars Group in Europe is the company of note. That's how you bet. We bought a chunk of them and we're going into business with them. There'll be two apps we'll release in the fall. Let me talk about the Fox Bet app because that's the one I would be on. A lot of my friends say, where do I put my money?

Where's my bank? Who do I trust? This is the kind of company you trust. That's your bank and you go to the Fox Bet app. There'll be two apps. This is the one where you can actually bet real money. where you can actually bet real money, as long as you're in a state where that's allowed.

But this is the future of sports. Right. England's ahead of us, right? The U.K. is ahead of us. The Stars Group is the company of record to make your app, your digital bets. We bought a piece. It's the first ever of its kind where you have a sports network like ours going and owning and being involved for the next 30 years of my life.

This is where this can be where you go to make your sports bet. Yeah, it's a huge partnership. Like I said, that's the digital sports wagering space is... Oh, Lord. Yeah. I mean, it's the gold rush. Yes. It is Silicon Valley 27 years ago.

Correct. And now it runs the world that's bigger than Wall Street. This over the next 30 years, this is going to be sports in the world. You're going to watch games on one channel, and the same network will have on a channel next to it, you can bet. I mean, this is the future of our business. A joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lie News. Anybody noticed that Gronk story? Talk about that later. Arash Marcosi, L.A. Times on the dysfunction of the Lakers. What does it all mean? Stories breaking last night that if you're LeBron James are at best uncomfortable. 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 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 SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slico Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this 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. 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 iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions

to talk about the challenge that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you,

but don't ever feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. and that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world.

Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Raj Marcosi is a sports columnist for the L.A. Times. formerly a senior writer at Sports Illustrated

and ESPN. And you decided I'm going to go back to Los Angeles. I'm going to cover Los Angeles teams. And boy, did you step into a dysfunctioned salad? You just get this job. And I've never

it is remarkable. Generally speaking, there's an advantage to be with the Dallas Cowboys, the Green Bay Packers, these historic franchises. Players want to play for them. Notre Dame. Coaches want to coach for them. Let me, a moment, Joy and I talked about this last week, when Monty Williams chose the Sons, that's one of those, oh, I mean, that would like, that would be in college football choosing UCF over Florida. You'd be like, oh, Florida's got problems right now. Central Florida got the job.

Like, let me ask you, do you think they land any free agent? No superstar free agent, no one that you would want to build a team around. And Colin, let's go back. It began with Luke. Luke wanted at that point to leave because the only, way he was going to stay, and I think he would have stayed, they wanted to handpick his assistant coaches. They love that, apparently. So Luke was like, you know what, let's part ways mutually, one of the few mutual parting ways. So he chose to leave to go to the Sacramento Kings. Monti Williams chose to not take the job to go to the Phoenix Suns. And Tyron Liu chose not to come for self-respect. Don't treat me like a first-year head coach. Let me pick my assistant coaches. Let me.

Just give me the same contract Luke Walton got. Luke Walton had never been a head coach. Tyron Liu won a championship. And you're telling me that I got a hand, you're going to handpick my assistant coaches. And Colin, he was already going to walk in with this perception that he was LeBron's guy. And he's saying, give me a chance.

Don't give me the same terms that LeBron has. So LeBron's got three years on his deal. You were going to give me a three-year contract. Give me a chance to walk in here with my guys and a five-year deal. Colin, this is a $4 billion for. You can't give me a five-year deal. And if you really believe that I'm your coach, give me that kind of respect. And they chose not to.

What do you make of, I know Kurt Rambus. I've met Linda once. They're both really nice people. I don't have a problem with Jeannie Bus having a confidant. I think lots of people that run lots of organizations have confidants. Linda's smart, Kurt Smart. What do you make of these stories that they, I saw this one this morning, that they are in Jeannie's ear saying trade LeBron?

Yeah. I, first of all, I don't think LeBron's going, I mean, I think he came here because of Los Angeles. I've been to two, a Maverick Carter premiere. And whenever I've been at these movie premieres for shows that they've done, whether it's a documentary or the shop, it's so clear that he came here for Los Angeles. He's not going to go to Philadelphia. He's not going to go someplace else. I got a text from a league executive who said they were in a better position when Jim Bus was there. And I said, well, what are you talking about?

Why? Because at least they had Mitch Cupcheck. Colin, they have Rob Polinka. Rob Polinka's never had this job before. Prior to that, Magic Johnson, Magic Johnson never had this job before. They have people in place who've never had this job. Right. So at least with Jim Bus, you had Mitch Cupcheck.

Mitch Cupcheck is a respected man around the league. He made a lot of good personnel moves for 15, 20 years. And people are going to take his phone calls. There's a lot of people not taking Rob Polika's phone calls still. It's interesting because Polinka is getting beat up by yourself and others in the media. So he's kind of pushing back. He doesn't want to talk to anybody. it's a weird situation where nobody can figure out.

I'll just throw this at you. Chris Broussard said this, and as we prepared for our show, Arash Marcosi joining us for our radio listeners, we said this morning, you know, I love the band, the Eagles. They fought the whole time. They were together and great. They broke up, had some individual success, got back together, they're always better together.

It was never easy with the Eagles. They fought the entire time, together apart together. Kyrie and LeBron, okay, it's never been perfect together. They both think they're ones. One is, one isn't. What about Kyrie? What about LeBron being an active recruiter on Kyrie Irving? I think they are the ones who know how good their relationship is.

I think they are in a good spot right now. Whether they want to be teammates, again, I'm not quite sure. But you brought up a great point. Kyrie is a Hall of Fame number two guy. And there's nothing wrong with that. James Worthy Hall of Fame number two guys. Kakadi Pippin Hall of Fame number two guy. He's not a number one guy. So if he comes to that realization and he wants to come to Los Angeles and team up with LeBron, that is their best case scenario.

Because right now, Colin, you're looking at Jimmy Butler, Kimball Walker. I mean, to give a max contract to one of those guys, that's not a smart decision. And that's probably the decision that they will make. Okay, if I said to you in, because I would think the Lakers would have to have a coach, and a general manager when free agency starts. I mean, what player would come to a rudderless ship? So if I said to you, who will be the top, take Jeannie out? Who will be the top two people running the Lakers in a month?

Rob Polinka and Kurt Rambas. Who will be the coach in a month? Jason Kidd. All right. Well, you know, it's a bad spot, Colin. This is not a job. No one's running to take this job. And it's crazy to think, like, there should be a line out the door.

You're talking about the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James and a max contract. This should be a prime job. And you had two guys basically say no thank you to go to the Sacramento Kings and the Phoenix Suns. And one guy say, I would rather not work than to work for you guys. It is a bad position right now. Wow. Do you think LeBron would ever demand a trade?

You don't think he'd— No, because I really think he chose Los Angeles. He will retire here. He will live here. He's got movies, the documentaries, TV shows. I mean, listen, I don't think he thought it was going to be this bad. But he's not going to go chase the ring someplace else. Let's shift to Chris Paul, who you covered for years with the Clippers.

I always like Chris. Wake Forest, tough, smart, heady. I thought he and Hardin would work because they're smart dudes, and I always kind of believe that smart people work when you put them together. I don't know what's happened. I always defended Chris on his postseason failures. I said, you know, he's playing with DeAndre Jordan's not perfect. Blake can be high maintenance.

What has happened to Chris Paul? he now appears to be, and I'm not, I'm being serious. James is our best player. Eric Gordon's two. P.J. Tucker's a third. I think I trust Clint Capella down low. What's happened to Chris Paul? He's not shooting.

Yeah, I mean, he has hit that wall. And when he signed that contract call, I said that is the worst contract right now. I mean, his last year, he's making over $40 million. And that's three years from today. So he's hit the wall today. Three years from now, he's on the book for over $40 million. Do you believe this is a physical thing and not an emotional thing? Yes. He is, I mean, he is a player who has always been nicked up and has not been himself at the end of the season.

He's like Dwayne Wade. He plays hard. Exactly. He's in you. He's up in you. Like, Dwayne crashes. Yeah. 16 times a week. And Chris is the most competitive guy that I know. Like when he does those things where he'll hit you in the groin and I mean, he wants to win so badly. And for him to be in this situation again where he's hit the wall physically and he's with a team that's very good, but just can't get over the hump. it's a very frustrating situation that's why the clippers had to move on from that that core group as good as they were that Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, they had hit that wall

you know they absolutely hit a wall I want to go to the Kauai Leonard Kauai tonight plays Philadelphia I think Toronto's going to win I think Philadelphia has more talent I think Kauai is playing at like an MJ absurd level where he doesn't miss shots okay so there's a lot of stories out there

and we both know Woj and we respect him but I said yesterday his Woj bombs the only one I didn't believe which is Kauai is considering staying in Toronto and my pushback is Kauai doesn't talk. Nobody knows anything with Kauai. It's the only time Wos has said anything, I'm like, oh, no, bye. Okay.

I really, I can make a very good sales pitch for Toronto. Sophisticated city. It's the third biggest city in North America after New York and L.A. They win. They are building the franchise around him. You can sort of hide. They got a major league baseball team. They got their hockey.

They got, Toronto's, a big city. It's way up north. I can make a compelling argument if they beat Philadelphia that Kauai doesn't leave Toronto. What are you hearing? Well, listen, Kauai does not even talk to people that he's close to it. So I don't think

anyone truly knows what he's going to do, but I'm going to give you an example. There's going to be a pitch meeting. And three people that we know really will are going to walk in there. Jerry West, Steve Ballmer, and Doc Rivers, three of the most, just guys that you want to follow and play for. I mean, I mean,

And compare that to the Lakers who roll in with seven people and it's Jeannie Bus and Linda Rambis and Kurt Rambis and Tim Harris and Jesse Buzz and Joey. I can like all of those people. Exactly, which I do. By the way, but Balmer, West, and Doc. Three of the most accomplished people in their particular fields. Listen, if you're in a room with Doc Rivers and I have been, there's a presence with Doc. That's not that I can like all the Laker people that I know I do. Yeah. But if you're trying to, if you put Balmer, one of the richest people in the world, Doc and Jerry West.

And don't discount Jerry West when it comes to these big names. If you talk to Shaquille O'Neal, that's why he came. If you talk to KD, that was a big reason he went to the Warriors. Good stuff. Arash Marcosi, sports columns, the LA Times, a newspaper hiring and breaking stories hour three next. 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 whenever you. you'd like. 1-800flowers.com, code heard, get 24 multicolored roses and a vase $29.29.99. 1-800 flowers. But Catino Mobley, over a decade in the NBA, all-rooky team.

Out of Rhode Island. Okay, so let's start with KD gets hurt. So I was saying, I don't know if the Warriors are better without KD, but they're different without KD, and their difference really good. It's sprinting around. They move. They're more fluid. What do you make?

Can the Warriors beat Houston without KD? I think they can. I've been seeing this for a long time. KD to me, it's like you have a mansion, okay? You live in Manhattan Beach, on the ocean, those huge homes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have a Ferrari, you have a Lamborghini, and you have a Bentley. Okay?

Yeah. Now all of a sudden, you purchase a Rose Royce. Do you really need the Rose Royce? You don't even need the Lamborghini, do you? Right? So, KD. coming to the Golden State Warriors, is more of like a luxury. It's not a necessity.

He's not making them better. Well, he's also a shooter, and they had the two best shooters in the world. Point. Now, when you said, what did you just say? Okay, when Katie's not there, you watch them. They're moving around. Oh, there's no question.

James Hardin's chasing step all over. They're harder. They're harder to guard. He's more of a one-on-one ball, stay-still kind of guy. Stefan Curry is such a great player to me that you've seen at the end of the third quarter. All right, it's time to take over.

They're moving around. the ball is just, you know, it's like a hot potato. Yeah. It's harder for Houston to guard you because they can't set up their defense as much, right? So Steph has always gave Chris Paul problems because they moved around a lot. KD comes, you get to contain Steph a little more because KD has the ball in the post. And Steph doesn't move as much. There you go. He doesn't move as much. You know, it is interesting that what KD was to the Warriors, he was duplication of what they had. They had great shooters. KD's the best mid-rearing.

range two in the league. That's why Draymond's so valuable. He's what they're not. He's tough. He's physical. He's sometimes inappropriate. He's an energy guy. Draymond's, his value comes in, but he's not duplication.

Like if you've got, you know, any company in the world, you don't want to hire the same thing over and over and over and over. You want to hire, you know, the weakness, the strength. Joy and I always talk about this in a relationship. My weaknesses are my wife's strengths. Hopefully I can add things that she can't do. I do think short term. If you ask James Harden, who would you rather play?

I think James would rather play the Warriors with KD because I don't think he loves defense. I don't think he's great at defense. I don't think he wants to put the effort on defense. And when KD plays, he can be more stationary. It's more stagnant. It's more stagnant. You can rest on the defensive end.

It's way easier to guard. Listen, I'm not saying that when KD's out there, Steph, Clay, Drayman, blah, blah, blah. Oh, yeah, it's so much easy. No, not that, but it is harder when it's no KD, and you have those two guys running around every single where, and you have Golden State has something everybody else don't have, super high IQ without KD, super high.

So that right there, they win. They're already up 10 against any team before they even play them. So when you have Stefan Curry and Clay Thompson, what they do is they take a backseat to KD because they know everybody's saying, oh, KD's the best in the world. Yes, talent-wise, you are. But when it comes, last time I checked,

the best in the world makes everybody else better. I'm going to ask you this. Does KD make Stefan Curry better? No, KD does not make Steph Curry better. KD at their best, over the course of 82 games, Steph is allowed to have a lousy night and you can overcome it.

But that's the way to put it. Like, there's no, KD doesn't make Steph better. In fact, if you look at the numbers last night before KD. After KD. Hurt, Steph's a different player. I mean, you could literally see it Ketino within a minute. You're like, oh, I remember that Warrior team. That was the warrior team that was so much fun to watch like three years ago. Right.

They go right back into their spinning 100 miles an hour. The reason why he got MVP two years in a row. Unanimous. It's super hard to guard that person running around every single where. Now, they don't have a lot of size now because boogie's gone and KD's out. And I think that's their problem. They've got no size. If I had boogie, if they can get through Houston and I get boogie against Denver,

because if they face Jokic, who guards him? They do now. I'm not, if you gave me, I don't think they trust Bogot. Their big concern is not just KD's gone. I think they don't have any size. They're a small team. They've always been small, right? Whether they had Bogot or whether they had, what is David Lee early on,

they always been small. They always been out rebounding or whatever, what have you. but their offense makes up for it. Them switching everything makes up for all of that. Because today's game is not about posting guys up. No. So who cares? Yeah.

Right? So if you want to shoot a two, we're going to shoot, we're going to make 17 to 23s. Cool. Keep shooting your twos. That's how they go. And they've been successful in the past five, six years doing the same thing. Let's shift to Kyrie. Listen, it happens good people.

Two good people can get together and they don't work. And it's okay. Like not every relationship. ship. Kyrie, I think, is a good dude. Boston's an incredible franchise. And I was completely wrong on this. I just figured they'd make it work. And it doesn't. I watched last night. They didn't have any fight. The coach, the star, the roster, the city, the player. I don't think Boston's man overboard. I think if you brought back the same Celtic team, now I'm not saying they'd beat Milwaukee, but I still think they're better than Toronto. I still think they're better than

Indiana. I think they're better than Washington. They may not be better than Milwaukee, with or without Kyrie. That's a different. But I don't think when Kyrie leaves, and I think he will, I don't think the Celtics are bad. I think the Celtics are really good. And it's kind of like the same dynamic with KD and Golden State. That Golden State won because the I IQ is high

and those guys are more established. If KD. would have went to Golden State early on, would Stefan Curry have flourished, what Clay Thompson would have flourished, would Draymond Green have flourished. Good point. Now, you go to Boston and I saw Tatum growing. I saw Brown growing.

I saw Rozier growing. This is a great point. Right? They stopped growing. They stopped growing. And then Kyrie Irvin, to me, just like KD, has never led a team anyway. But Alpha Dog was Russell Westbrook. The Alpha Dog was LeBron James.

They weren't Alpha Dogs. So now you're going to other teams. You think it's that easy to lead a team? have at it. It's funny. DeAngelo Russell was drafted. He was a really good player at Ohio State. Comes to the Lakers, and the Lakers re-signed Kobe because Time Warner came to him and said,

we're not giving this money with DeAngelo Russell. So they re-signed Kobe, and it stunted DeAngelo's growth. DeAngelo goes to Brooklyn, and you're like, oh, DeAngelo's an All-Star. Victorola Depot with Westbrook, held down. He goes to Indiana. You're like, oh, my God, he's an all-star. To me, the loser in the Kyrie Irving thing isn't Brad Stevens, this morning. What I watched in the last two weeks, the loser's Jason Tatum.

Jason Tatum, if Kyrie left, is a DeAngelo Russell. Everybody bailed on DeAngelo Russell, myself included. I'm like, he's not very good. I watched him this year. I'm like, oh, he's his team. I think the loser and I think Jay, I think this roster without Kyrie is a playoff team, is a three seed or a two seed next year, and I think they're fine. And I played at a high level, and Stephen Francis and myself was always arguably one of the best backcours in NBA through my years. Yeah, you were. And we always put pressure on the defense.

I feel bad for Tatum because, to me, you can't grow like this and then all of a sudden have a – because it could be mental. Something can happen mentally next year. You make – knock on wood, hopefully it never happens. You can get injured. Now you have another year to wait to come back and prove it again. But to have Kyrie with you, Tatum, to me, Tatum, it's kind of like Alan Iverson, who I love to death and one of the best pound for pound players ever. But Jerry Stackhouse was there.

Tim Thomas was there. Larry Hughes were there and they didn't grow with him. It's just what it is. I just don't like Kyrie Irvin with them. And yes, Tatum, to me, because he was the most promising. Yeah, most promise. Of all of them. Yeah, much higher ceiling than Gordon Hayward.

Right. He was the most promising, and I'm not a fan of Gordon Hayward's, but he was the most promising one to take that franchise to another level. And this year he just stunted his growth. No question. With all of, they have four or five guys that play the same position. To me, and they need the ball. Like, they're not giving it to him to close games out.

They didn't even try to give it to him when Kyrie was here during the season to even help him understand like, okay, you know what? you and Kyrie can share this. Carrey didn't even try to give it to him close games at the end of the games. Nope. Doesn't trust him. Doesn't trust him. I mean, think about it.

Eight for 22, seven for 22, six for 21, but you're a basketball genius. I don't know about genius, but that's not genius. Finally, Lakers right now have been in their history well-run. We see this before where really well-run organizations, the New York Giants have some management changes and it just doesn't feel great. Washington Redskins my entire life were well-run. Dan Snyder buys them, and it's been chaos, quarterbacks, coaches, GMs. Everybody blames everybody else, but it's off in the, I think Dan Snyder's the problem. So the Lakers right now are a mess.

You were with the clippers. Were you with the poorly run clippers or the well-run clippers? I was with, it was weird, okay? So I came to the clippers in 0506. Okay, so you were with a poorly run clipper? No, it was pretty good. The first year I came to Clippers, that was his first,

Donald Sterling's first time paying a free agent so much money because he didn't really pay free agents, you know, high level free agents. He didn't pay money. So finally he did and you were there. And I was there. I came near on that, right? And the only thing that was kind of weird

was we were sharing a, we were at the spectrum off of Rosecrans. That's what you trained? Close to Manhattan Beach. Yeah, so I'd buy my house. Yeah, and it was a, to me, it was weird because I'm just used to being around like my peers. They're players. Yeah.

And then like I'm sitting next to this older, like, white guy, like, and he's like naked. And he's talking to me. It's like kind of uncomfortable to talk about. Oh, it's a public gym? Yeah, it's public. Well, yeah, that's not ideal. I think if I was LeBron, I would not want to be. I mean, that's the only organization.

So it was like the Clippers and the movie Cacoon. Yeah, I get that. It was definitely cocoon. It was definitely cocoon. You're sitting next to old guys playing backgam and their name. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I mean, a gerot, big, gay. I'm smelling it all. It's the craziest thing. Listen, I'm going to get old. You see the grades. It's fine.

But it was odd. It was a little, you know. Yeah, sure. I mean, I've seen so many knee braces and so many, like, oh. I mean, I even saw like an oxygen tank coming across. No, that's not. I don't think you should be here, buddy. That's not how Jerry Baez ran the Lakers. No, I, Catino, I've got your back on that one. That would be a little disconcerting for me. Catino Mowbley, 11 NBA seasons, a well-dressed man. Find this guy's Taylor. Good to see you, buddy. Thanks, Evan.

Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I think you could pull off that hat. Huh? I think you could pull off Casino's hat. Oh, no, no, no.

I do not look good in half. Everybody can pull off a fedora. No, no. No. That is untrue. You look good in a fedora. You look good in a fedora. You are a very anti-hat person. No, no, no, because...

We has good hair. I have my head is shaped like a bean. I don't look good. I can't do bald, by the way. Let me see your hair. By the way. It's down. No, see, I think you look great bald.

It's low. Because you have the perfect symmetry. Your face is rounded up. I look, if I was bald, I would look like a taxi with its doors open. It would be the most ridiculous-looking thing you've very seen your life. I got to see that. DC-C. Yeah.

All right. So, terrible ending the Celtic season. Game five, gentlemen, sweep. Kyrie went six for 21 and sat out of the match for the final. I'll take eight minutes, and, you know, we pretty much could have seen this coming the way that the regular season went with the Celtics. Yeah, but how come I couldn't see it coming? Everybody in America saw it except me. Well, I think we discussed it.

We discussed it a lot. I think we just always felt they had enough talent to overcome whatever issues. I had blinders on all of you. You didn't want to have any doubts. Well, after the game, Brad Stevens took the blame for this season. I'll be the first to say that this is, you know, as far as, you know, as far as, you know, Any other year that I've been a head coach, it's certainly been the most trying.

I think I've done a, I did a bad job. Like, at the end of the day, like, as a coach, if your team doesn't find its best fit together, that's on you. I did think they showed a lot of character at a lot of different times to keep coming back and to stay together. And I've said from the get-go, this team in the locker room when they're all together is great. We just couldn't find it playing together as well as we had hoped.

And Milwaukee's really good, by the way. Yeah, also, we are not giving Milwaukee. any love today and they do deserve it. You're absolutely worried about that. Their bench. Yonis has been incredible. Aside for the one game where they looked awful. Middleton's been better than he's ever been.

I always worried about this team because I do think it's a baby step league. The Warriors are rare where they were like nobody and great. Usually it's like, oh, you win, you win a first round, you win a second. Mill Rocky last year, I'm like, they can't win a road playoff game to, oh God. They're like eight deep, well coached, best players. Middleton's now. Now Milwaukee, when you watch this series, by game three, you're like, oh, okay, I made a big mistake. Milwaukee's way better.

Yeah, we all doubted Milwaukee because everything you just said, we didn't know what to expect from them. They've been incredible. So, Yonnas definitely deserves credit for that. Milwaukee could not win a road playoff game last year against Boston. So it's like now they're the best team by far in the east. Right. And Boston's going to be okay.

It's like you said, like they're both going to end up where they need to be. Kairi is going to end up in a space that works for him. And I just think that the situation with the South is they have too much of the same thing. It's very hard when you have a young group, an unproven group. Guys are trying to not only prove their value so that they can get their contracts, but they also are trying to win, and that's a weird dynamic. And you have a bunch of guys who need the ball in their hands to be successful and to get into rhythm. And the one thing I would say is this, you know, Chris Bistar mentioned it earlier.

Brad Stevens is kind of skating in all of this because he has this incredible system and was kind of anointed before actually achieving anything. And not saying he's not a good coach. But there's a lot of talent on that team. And this league is about talent. It's not college. It's not a system. NFL's always been a coach's league.

NBA is a players league. And it has been since I've been a kid in the 70s, I remember talking to a college coach year. This is like dating me. But I remember when I went to college in the early 80s, and I was talking to a college basketball coach. And he said, listen, I like college coaching because it's a coach's sport. Right.

He goes, the NBA is a players league. And he's like, you know, that could get, I don't want to move my family and get fired 15 minutes later. And at that time, coaches didn't make any money. So it's the reality is Brad Stevens is finding out college, you're the king, NBA, Kyrie's the king. Right. And you've got to make it all work. Yeah. So Kurt and his wife, Linda Rambis, are two powerful voices in the Lakers organization.

And we are seeing just how much power they actually have. They pretty much prevented the Lakers from hiring Ty Lou as their next head coach after the report from our own Nick Wright. It's pretty apparent that the bus family and Rob Polinka signed off on hiring Lou last week. And the Rambuses were against the hire and convinced the Lakers to hold off. As we know, negotiations fell apart. Tai Lu essentially walked away. By the way, Nick Wright on this, Joy,

reported this morning on first things first. Magic had dinner with Jeannie. That was on the internet. We saw it. He told her. Magic told Jeannie, get out of the optics. Don't worry about it.

Get the best coach. Like, to your point, like don't worry about optics. Optics would be different if we had a star-studded team and we could be picky and choosing. Get Ty Lou. So Jeannie came out of that dinner with Magic, according to Nick Wright, and like, okay, let's get out of the optics. Let's get Tyloo.

And then something happened over the next week with Aramis, Jeannie and Tyloo, and it blew up. Well, I mean, it has, it was Luke Wallin and Monty Williams, and now it's Tyloo. This isn't an ideal position anymore. There's obviously an incredible lack of dysfunction at the top, like you said, that you can't overcome that. And now, Lakers fans are actually, they're starting to rally. They've announced a protest outside of Staples Center noon tomorrow. What? The organizer says the goal of this is to voice our displeasure of the front office.

They have some, this is according to Lakers' Reddit. They have some chance ready. Sell the team, Fire Rambus, Fire Linda, Kevin McAil, no Jason kid and shadow owner. And they're looking for some other suggestions. Last night on the internet, when I went on the internet last night, wwwBandwidth.com, sell the team was trending. That was trending in the country. sell the team. It was a Laker thing.

Yeah, well, I mean, Lakers fans are upset and rightfully so. There's a lot of dysfunction going on. Finally, Stephen Jones appears to be putting some pressure publicly on Dak, Murray Cooper, and Ezekiel Elliott to take team-friendly deals. He's playing the, there's a lot of benefits to being a cowboy card and had this to say about it. If we can talk them into not maxing out, doing well, but not, you know, not maxed. And that allows us to have other good football players around him. And we all know what happens.

You look at the TV boots and you look at what these players do off the field. If we can put Super Bowl rings on these guys, then, you know, there'll be legends around this area for many, many, many years to come. And what they may give up a little bit in their contract, they should be able to invest, you know, in being a cowboy and making our teams better. It's like, man, you baseball doesn't have a salary cap so you can pay them whatever you want to pay them. NFL, hockey, NBA have salary caps. And so this is the reality of this is the world we live in now. GMs want you to take a little less. And occasionally you get a Duncan or a Brady that will.

But boy, it's hard for me to sit there and say, hey, pro athlete, football player who gets hurt early, take less. It's real hard for me to back. Like if I'm Dak Prescott, I think he's better serve taking less. but he's basically been free for three years. Which is what I'm saying. Brady is an outlier.

Duncan's an outlier. Duncan is an outlier. They are the exception, not the rule. I'm admittedly very pro player, but I also just think the owners aren't taking discounts. Why is the player going to take a discount? There's a very short window to make money. Dak, as you said, has been essentially working for basically nothing the last three years.

he has all the leverage and there's no reason that he should take less money. You know who likes salary caps? Owners. Of course. Owners love salary caps. Of course. It's,

I don't like it. I never, I never think that it's a good thing that players take less money. And I don't like the Tom Brady comparison to this because it's, there's so many other factors in that Brady situation.

Well, I think once pro athletes get a hundred million net worth like Duncan, that's easier to say I'll take 32, not 35. Right. But you're asking Dak and Russell Wilson. they've never made the big boy money. You know, so Mike Trout, like, yeah, those guys, you know, if I've never made it, I'm not taking a discount.

Now, if I am a legend like Aaron Rogers and I got nine commercials, I'll scale back three million to get... Circumstances matter. Yeah, I'll get a left tackle. I'll say, okay, you get me a left tackle. I'll take four million less. Right. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. Coming up next, Kevin Durant's injury and Kyrie's meltdown, I think, have altered somewhat, potentially the future of the NBA. It's called the Herd Tub Time Machine. I'm going to tell you starting Tuesday with the NBA lottery. We are going to have massive, historic, transformational moves among draft picks and players. I'll tell you ideal situation.

I think I'll surprise you what I would love to see happen, the dominoes over the next three weeks. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. 1-800flowers.com, code heard. Get you 24 multicolored roses in a vase for 2999. Good to have you in. 1-800flowers.com, code heard.

Katie's injury, Kyrie's meltdown. I think, you know, the psychology, NBA dynasties are unlike NFL dynasties. NFL dynasties tend to last a little longer. And when they end, it's usually because of free agency. NFL doesn't. pay the guys like the NBA does. NFL guys are like, hey, I'm going to get paid. And NFL guys will peel off a really good team and say, I want to get paid. NBA guys make a lot

of money. Their dynasty is usually end because of, you know, some ego, a little injury. So it's all different. But I see the KD stuff. I see the Kyrie stuff. And I started thinking about all the crazy things that could happen between now and July 1st when free agency starts. So I'm going to take you through what I would, if you're telling me ideally, and I know how you think. Colin, you love big markets. I like traditional powers being good. I like stars moving to great teams.

So it's time to travel into the future. Let's jump into the herd hot tub time machine. Roads. When we're going, we don't need roads. The herd tub time machine. Okay, let's travel forward. It's the ping pong lottery this Tuesday, May 14th. The night of the NBA lottery.

The Knicks, and they've got 14 and a half percent chance, win the NBA lottery. There's only two other teams that have a chance the Knicks do. So they win the lottery. That's very exciting. Now let's travel forward to June 16th. Game 7 NBA finals. The Warriors get there without KD. They beat the bucks in an epic series.

This is my wildest fantasy. It's a great series. And now KD, not there. Warriors win again without him. Steph's team. It's in KD's head. Let's travel now to June 20th. Night of the NBA draft, Nick Select,

the most profound college player I have seen in 15 years, Zion Williamson from Duke. fascinating. Nice picture. Where to go, graphic department. That's good. That's going to look amazing. And Adam Silver, by the way, is tall, so that's really amazing.

So now we travel to July 1st. First, every agency. Kevin Durant signs with the Knicks. So this is what you want? Kevin Durant, I'm saying for fantasy. Okay. Kevin Durant signs with the Knicks. He and Zion are together.

Kyrie doesn't go to the Knicks. LeBron talks him back in to playing together, like the Eagles. Band breaks up. They get back together. The Lakers are now relevant. I don't want to see LeBron Peter out and do nothing for four years. That's not good for the league. It's not any fun.

I like watching LeBron play. LeBron and Kyrie are now together, by the way. They don't have to give up anything, Joy. They got Kuzma, they got Lonzo. They got Brandon Ingram. They got Josh Hart. so they don't have to give up anything. Right.

Okay. So now the Lakers, that's a real team. We wouldn't deny that now. They're a real team. Celtics, knowing they have to get through Janus and Kyrie has left them, trade for Anthony Davis. Because Boston's sitting there thinking, okay, Janus is the future of the East.

If we don't combat him, we have no chance. If you watch that series, Milwaukee was just bigger and stronger. So Anthony Davis, and they've got the pieces to get him, goes to the Celtics. So the Celtics now are Anthony Davis, Jalen Brown, probably Gordon Hayward, Jason Tatum's gone. They're still good. Kauai Leonard, at the last second, hard to protect,

goes to the Clippers, a playoff team that won two games over the Warriors. Steve Ballmer, Jerry West, Doc Rivers. They bring in, it's a really interesting team. He's their Silent Assassin star. The Clippers now have a real rivalry, LA with LeBron and Kyrie. Now, Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia, a lot of pieces.

He signs with the Knicks. Oh. So I get Durant's your one, Butler's, you're very talented two, and the kid phenom Zion, not Kyrie. I don't think that's the best fit. I want more

size and athleticism. In the east, how did Kyrie look against the bucks? If you want to get past Milwaukee, You better have size. Butler's 6-6, Durant 6-11, Zion 6.5, and powerful. So the Knicks and the Lakers and the Clippers and the Celtics, Zion. Now we return back to today, Thursday, May 9th. Not nearly as interesting.

Well, still a very interesting day, but. By the way, Nick Wright had some good stuff on First Thing First this morning. I got to play this bite. Nick has this sourced, laid out how the Lakers botched. the Ty Lou higher. Listen to this. The reason he was not offered the job a week ago is Jeannie, as had been reported,

was worried about the optics, worried that it would look like LeBron was in charge. Jeannie then had dinner with Magic, and Magic told her, you cannot worry about the optics. It is about maximizing the time with LeBron. Ty is a good coach. LeBron will respond to Ty.

Go with him. And then Linda and Kurt Rambus stepped in. Linda and Kurt Rambus, and this is what I'm reporting, slowed this whole thing down and said if you're going to hire Ty, you need to make some demands. Do not offer him more than three years. And when Ty asked directly, why are you offering me a three-year deal when Luke got a five-year deal? He was told, matter of fact, we are hiring you to coach LeBron more than we are hiring you to coach the Lakers.

LeBron has three years left on his contract. And at that point, Tyloos said, I don't need this, and walked away. The Lakers tried to spin it like they walked away. that has now been roundly refuted. Good stuff by Nick. Also, and I think you and I talked about this, I was told, and Arash Marcosi confirmed this today, I was told Luke went to the Lakers and said, I'm out.

That was not him getting fired. Yeah, it was a mutual separation. And Arash Marcosi, L.A. Times came on today and confirmed what I had been told, so I trusted my source. But, you know, this idea, Luke fired, Ty, get out of here. it's not the way it's working in Lagerland. Not the way it's working.

All right, good stuff. Joe and I'll be back tomorrow Friday. Exhausting, sir. 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,

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