The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Best Of: Luka & Lakers own Nuggets, Suns are doomed, Bengals big mistake

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

Nick Wright breaks down how Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers have flipped the script to becoming a problem for the Nuggets with the NBA Playoffs quickly approaching. Later, he explains why Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns are in the worst position of any team in the NBA moving forward as well as why Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals will regret extending both Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to massive deals. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice.

Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris.

She can win. She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any service. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games.

This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right with Nick Wright. The best takes and moments from this week on the show. Enjoy. So since the start of February, they are 7 and 15. And like you just said, they have no injuries.

So it's kind of weird, whatever's going on over there. Their preseason projected win total was set at 46 and a half games, and it's seeming like they might miss the play in. Do you think the sons are going to try to actually go on a run, or are they going to tank here? Well, the coach and the owner want them to go on a run. I think the players might be over.

Yeah, every time I see him just seems more and more pissed these days. Yeah, Katie doesn't seem happy. Coach Bud told Devin Booker basically to shut up the other day. that didn't go over well. I mean, they are not trying at all on the defensive end. Luca was miced up against the Suns, and Luca just said kind of in passing,

I've never had so many open looks in my life. Luke have been playing professional basketball since he's 15. He's like, this is the worst defense I've ever seen. And LeBron wasn't even out there to open stuff up. And so, but the Sun's, I don't know that this is a hot take. The Sons are in the worst position moving forward of any team in the league. Because Matt Isfia came in and bought the team and traded away everything for Kevin Durant

and then traded away everything they had left for Bradley Beale. Beal has a no trade and is not good. Durant is approaching 37 and not going to get you a ton in return and is gone this summer. And then you have Devin Booker who's a real asset, but it doesn't really make sense to trade Booker because you would then be tanking and you don't, Demandze, they do not have their own pick. until 2032. 2032. It's 2025. So they traded their picks away and then they swapped picks and then as part of the Beal trade they swapped the swaps.

This is like a mortgage crisis but in the NBA. So they over the next seven drafts they either simply give their pick away or they are in a three-way swap with other teams where of the three teams, they get the worst draft pick. So even if they're the worst team in the league, that doesn't help them. And they traded away most of their second round picks. So it was, again, I used to, this is, sorry for all these kind of non-sequiters. Today is a show, I'm going to be totally honest. Today's a show that is not necessarily going to go viral for a lot of things, but real folks that are real what's right or as awkward as this is to say like Nick Wright fans are going to really be enjoying today.

Because we talked hard cap, soft cap. I did my basket, my March Madness rant. I'm now going to talk about Ted Stepion for a second. So Ted Stepion was an owner in the NBA in the 80s. and he was so bad and so disastrous for the calves. The NBA made a rule that's called the Steppian rule. That's about how many draft picks you can and cannot trade. You can't trade draft picks in consecutive years.

That's why teams have to like, you know, I'll trade you my 25 and my 27 because you can't just trade away all your picks. And you can only trade draft picks like, six years out, you know, seven years out, those are the rules they put in to prevent an owner from just destroying a team. And there has been a lot of frustration from GMs since then of like, man, I would like full flexibility to, uh, you know, run my team as I see fit and not have these guardrails in there. And I think at one point, there was a little momentum in the league like, All right, we're not in the taped later of the 80s.

It's smarter people running the teams. It's big money. Maybe we don't need to, you know, have these guardrails in. And then Matt Ishbia came along and is like Ted Steppy and hold my beer. I'm going to show you. I'm going to speed run absolutely wrecking a decade of a team that again, the sun's right before you took over. made the finals and then were the number one seed 64 win or 60 some win team and then Luca

Eviscerated them and then they trade for KD then they trade for Beal and now they're just ruined Absolutely ruined to a point to where they even though the mavericks are two and eight in their last ten Don't have any healthy players I their fans have turned on them the Mavericks still have a cushion in the standings. It's really a remarkable, remarkable turn of events. Month away from the playoffs, who do you see avoiding the play in? So this is where our friends at Tankathon are super helpful. So where we can look at most difficult or easiest strength of schedule left. So as a for instance, Phoenix, who we're going to

get to in a minute has far and away the hardest schedule remaining. Phoenix has games left against the Cavs, the Thunder, two against Boston, the Knicks, the Rockets, and the Warriors, with only two like layup games, the Spurs and the Bulls. So Phoenix, if they were fighting for something, you'd be like, oh, they're in rough shape. Here's why it matters. Minnesota has the third easiest schedule remaining. Minnesota, now it's a bad loss last night, but Minnesota, you know, the teams they're up against have a combined winning percentage of 4.30. And they have games remaining against New Orleans, two of them, the Jazz,

two against the Nets, one against the Sixers. So you have five games remaining, no, I'm sorry, two against New Orleans, two against the Nets, one, Sixers, one Jazz. Six games remaining against teams that actively want to lose. So that's super helpful for Minnesota. The Warriors are right at league average as far as their schedule remaining. Their easiest games are New Orleans, Toronto, two against San Antonio, Miami and Portland. Here's why it's to me somewhat noteworthy.

that they they all as far as teams that want to lose it's really only four for the warriors as far as the games they have left and it's six for Minnesota so that plays in Minnesota's favor significantly they you know that Minnesota has two fewer games left than Golden State they have one more lost than Golden State when I heard Steve Kerr say you know, we are, you know, Steph's worn down. And that essentially we're going to take care of Steph down the stretch. And rest him tomorrow or tonight, pardon me against Milwaukee. Now they don't have, the warriors don't have many. In fact, they only have one, no, two back to backs left. They have a back to back at the Lakers and then home for the nuggets. and then they have a back-to-back a week later at Phoenix and then home for San Antonio.

Right now, I would, and this is not going to be where Vegas would have it, but right now I would anticipate that the Western Conference standings, and mark this down and let's see how this ages, but I think the Western Conference standings are going to end up. Minnesota 6, Golden State 7, Clippers 8, with the Kings being the 9 seed, and then that 10 seed being just the saddest competition ever between Dallas and Phoenix.

Just two teams who did not ever think this is where they were going to end up, but it's where they have ended up. And I think it's one of the. There actually Dallas might what's that might need you oh yeah well they might have to forfeit games yeah it's in so if people don't understand the the forfeiting games things with the Mabs let me explain it this is super nerdy but I'll do my best to explain it the NBA has that here's okay I'm going to have to talk about a few things here hard cap soft cap okay Hard cap is the NFL where the salary cap is a number and you must from the first day of the league year until the last day of the league year be under it at all times. You cannot go a dollar over the hard cap. Now because of the way NFL contracts are structured, you can always manipulate that year's cap,

guys cap figures by turning salaries into signing bonuses, spreading them out over multiple years, so it can feel like a soft cap at times. But the cap is the cap, and however you need to manipulate it, you can manipulate your own guy's salaries, but you can't ever be over it. That's why the NFL doesn't have things like a luxury tax.

because a luxury tax is for a soft-capped sport like the NBA, where we have a cap, but you can go over it for various reasons. You can go way over it at times. You just pay a penalty in luxury tax, and one of the reasons the NBA kind of has to work like that is because NBA player contracts are guaranteed for the most part. You can't really manipulate a player's contract like, oh, we're turning your salary into a signing bonus.

It's not how it works. So they need a soft cap. Except, and of course, there are certain things NBA teams can do transactionally, which triggers an actual hard cap. So if you're an apron team and do a sign and trade, all of a sudden you have a hard cap. If there's certain things, we need Bobby Marks to really explain all. it but there are certain things that can happen where oh no now you do have an NFL style hard cap

the MAVs are a team with a hard cap so here's why you're hearing about the MAVs potentially having to forfeit games you must have eight healthy players ready and able to play the MAVs are close to exhausting their limit on two-way guys, guys from their G-League team that can call up, send-down, call up, and send down. They have had all these injuries. And because of the hard cap, De Manze, they are not allowed to sign another minimum player. They are, they can't go over the hard cap. They are running out of two-way guys eligibility. even they are so close to the hard cap they don't have the space for another minimum guy they can't sign their version of an Alex Lynn just be like hey come off the street and play

for us um so to be a perfect situation for brawny right oh yeah or for any young player or any draft pick right to get some burn but they they suited up eight healthy guys the other day yeah so it would I've never in my life watching the NBA I've never seen a team have to forfeit games because they didn't have eligible players. It's very weird. It would be

kind of the crowning achievement of what has been six weeks of just a fever dream of terror for Mavs fans. Starting with the Luca trade then the added pain of

AD getting hurt Then the real pain of Kyrie blowing out his knee then the like oh you've got to be kidding me Quentin Grimes all of a sudden is a star player in this league we gave him away for Caleb Martin for no reason whatsoever and now we're gonna have to maybe forfeit games unprecedented just unprecedented but flip side of that is AD's ramping up and they might make the playoffs or the play in over the damn sons who desperately want to win and are incredibly healthy. This episode of Watch Right is brought to you by Dea Pizza featuring dairy-free cheese made with their new Dea-Ote-Creme blend. Dairy-free cheese has come a long way. Dea's leading the charge.

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like Whole Foods, Kroger, and Walmart. Coming soon to select Publix and Sprouts. Follow Dea on Instagram and TikTok for more updates and recipes. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called,

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

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, Nell's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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. live them. Listen to SportsSlic. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genschen win. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lerna Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner, I heart women's sports. Yeah, so funny,

Luca actually came out and said that any team that has Yokage is always going to be dangerous. But like you just said, Yokic and Murray didn't play. So Luca lit them up. L.A. Cruz to that W. Yeah. He's looking really good.

He's also at his 630th point game in a month of March. What do you think about the Nuggets resting their guys again, though? So listen, Joker plays as much as anybody. Michael Malone was correct that Joker's played. I think the second most games of any player in the last decade. So I'm not going to kill him for it. I'm not certain exactly why Jamal Murray couldn't play,

maybe because Jamal Murray without Nikola Yokic, you know, doesn't quite look like the Jamal Murray that a lot of folks like to believe he can be. I will say this. The Nuggets are no longer a bad matchup for the Lakers. the Lakers are a bad matchup for the Nuggets and that's with or without Joker and there's multiple reasons for this

I understand Daniel or producer saying Jamal was hurt last game two I get it man I'm the I'm not I'm not accusing anyone of anything do I do I does anybody think that if this were a playoff game Jokic and Murray wouldn't play wouldn't have played of course not they're not that injured but that's totally fine you want them to be rested and

healthy you'd prefer it not happen on a national tv game you'd prefer it not have to happen in back-to-back games uh but it is what it is so to speak like you deal with it and you you know you move forward i think a lot of people assumed that the nuggets because they rested those guys or they didn't play against the warriors that they would play in the next game but whatever I'm not going to kill him for that. What I am going to talk about is if this is a playoff matchup, it favors the Lakers heavily. Because here is the thing. The Lakers scored 120 last night could have scored 140.

And I set it on the TV show. I will say it again with this question. In the playoffs, if you get Lakers Nuggets, if Aaron Gordon is primarily matched up, on LeBron. Who is guarding Luca? They tried some Peyton Watson last night. How'd that work? Luca had 20 before you turn the game on. And okay, no, no, no. Aaron Gordon's gonna guard Luca. Then who is guarding LeBron? It ain't Michael Porter Jr. in his bad back. It ain't Russell Westbrook. It certainly ain't Christian Brown. Who are we talking about? Concar, he ain't doing it. Going to dust off Dario Sarich? He ain't doing it. It's certainly not the two guys who were

missing last night in Jokic and Murray. The Nuggets are a bad defensive team at this point. And having Yokic and Murray out doesn't hurt their defense and the Lakers scored at will without LeBron. Now, the Lakers, I think, are going to actually end up being the best offense in the league. And you're starting to see it. Where they are generating so many great looks from three, so many wide open threes, and that's without LeBron on the court. And here's the other thing about the Lakers Nuggets matchup.

The best thing the Nuggets had going for them in these playoff matchups is Joker. No question. The second best thing they had going for them was, DeAngelo Russell minutes. And the third best thing they had going for him was Darvin Ham's coaching. Which is why there was nobody that was a bigger Darwin Ham defender than Michael Malone. Michael Malone out there defending Darwin Ham like Darwin Ham owes him money and he needs him to stay employed to get it. He's like, this is unfair.

That guy took him to the conference final. There is an outrage. And Michael Malone now all of a sudden, Lakers got real. coach. And by the way, are we done with that? DeMonsie? I haven't checked the scoreboard. Is JJ Reddick now just Lakers head coach or is he still, you know, LeBron's podcast buddy? Or now that everybody knows he's a great coach, are we just saying no, he's a Lakers head coach? Because I know if he wasn't a great coach, it would be LeBron's podcast, buddy. It'd be like I'm just, again, I'm not sure the exact rule. Right. I'm not sure about the rules

of any of this stuff. What I do know is this. Nuggets are in real, real trouble. And the Lakers are real, real dangerous. You don't think the Natives are just like resting their guys strategically? Like the same thing Golden State did with Steph Curry. I think that's a game they wanted to win. You're fighting for seeding. I don't right now, the Western Government standings go like this. Oklahoma City has locked the one seed.

It's so bananas. they have locked up the well I guess technically their magic number for locking up the one seed is one game with 15 or how many 13 games remaining they have 57 wins no one else in the conference can get to 58 so Oklahoma City's locked and then it gets interesting

the Rockets have 25 losses the Lakers have 25 losses, the Nuggets have 26, the Grizzlies have 27, the Warriors have 29. Clippers 30, Timberwolves, 31. So 4, 5, 6, or I'm sorry, 2, 3, 4, 5, 2 games apart, 2, 3, 4, 1 loss apart. And I don't think the Nuggets want to give these games away. Right. Say it again. It would be in their best interest being one game. I mean, they were tied before last night and then now.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And the other piece of it is because of last with a win yesterday, they would have locked up the season series three one, which would have given them the head to head tiebreaker if they finished with the same record. Now it's two two, so I'm not even sure what tiebreaker it goes to. Now the nuggets do. they get Portland next then Houston

Chicago like I'm just looking at their easy tough games I think they when we went to tankathon before and we checked it I thought the nuggets were league average essentially remaining strength of schedule they have the it's a little tougher

than league average they they have the 11th hardest strength of schedule left the Lakers by the way of the third hardest strength of schedule left Houston, 10th hardest. I'm just doing the teams fighting for this seed. Memphis seventh hardest, Golden State with the easiest of the group with the 18th hardest.

But here's the other piece of it for the Lakers. As I said the other day, you can now kind of definitively say, even though they lost those first three without LeBron, they have survived his injury. They, I said if you miss 10 games going 6 and 4 would be a great result and 6 and 4 is now very on the board

and I don't know that he's going to miss 4 more but the Lakers are 3 and 3 lost to Brooklyn bad loss lost to Milwaukee lost to Denver and what would have been an unbelievable win when Denver had all its guys and Lakers were out 6 to their top 8 and then blew out Phoenix blew out San Antonio blew out Denver and now the next four home for Milwaukee

tonight home for Chicago at Orlando at Indiana can you go three and one in those four you should be able to even if LeBron's not back and that's the other piece of last night the blowout being awesome Luca only played 32 minutes Reeves probably played a little more than he needed to but so be it and so the Lakers are really well positioned. Houston keeps winning. Houston, to their credit, has really taken advantage of the absolute softest stretch of their schedule imaginable, and they have one more soft game Friday against Miami. But their schedule during this winning streak has been the following teams for Houston. New Orleans, New Orleans, Orlando Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago, Philly

Orlando. So those are some of the worst teams in the league plus Orlando, which has been really bad for months, and Phoenix, which hates itself. And now you have Miami, and then it gets way tougher for Houston. So I, because after Miami, Houston goes, Denver, Atlanta, Utah, Phoenix, Lakers, Utah, OKC, Golden State Clippers, Lakers, Denver. What a final

stretch for Houston. Final five games. Okay, C, Golden State, Clippers, Lakers, Denver. I wonder what OKC is going to do down the stretch because they will have locked up the one seed and with the calves losing all of a sudden as of late, they won't, you know, they're going to be in a good position for the number one overall seed. But I expect Houston to drop back and I think the Lakers got a real shot at the two, a real shot at the two. And so I, you know, I think, and Daniel tells me, L.A. as the tiebreaker, because they win their division.

Oh, the stupid divisions are the next tiebreaker. Oh, well, then last night's game was even bigger for Denver. Because now if they finished with the same record, Lakers have the tiebreaker. That's noteworthy. That's really, really noteworthy. All right, ask what are the follow-ups here, pal? Who do you think needs to adjust more when LeBron does come back? Because you know, Luca's obviously getting into a groove.

So LeBron, Luca. Oh, LeBron's? LeBron. LeBron can do more different things. LeBron can play so many different ways. So it wouldn't make sense to ask Luca to adjust because Luca is not going to be great at other things. LeBron can be great at playing almost any style of offensive basketball. So LeBron should and will.

And so that to me is not even a concern. And one of the benefits, De Manze, to having every single statistic, record and NBA history already accomplished, you don't have to worry about your stats as much. Like when you already have all the records, you already have all the all MBAs, all the points, all of that, you can, you don't really have to necessarily put that first and foremost in your mind. Now, I will tell you this, a sneaky stat that LeBron cares about, that is such a silly one. double digit what oh well that no no that one's not sneaky that one's definitive the 1300 straight games of at least 10 points but it doesn't have to try to get that one it's that he has

averaged at least 25 points per game to the 10th of a point in every single year of his career except for his rookie season 21 straight years and the reason I know he cares about it is a few years ago, post-ankel injury, going into the final game of the year, he needed a bucket. I think he knew the exact amount of points he needed, and he needed a bucket late and went and got it. So he finished that year averaging 25.000-0. Right now this moment, LeBron has played 58 games and has scored 1,450 points. So let's just do the math on that. 1450 divided by 58. That is 25.00000000.

So here's the point I'm making. I do think LeBron will want to make sure when he comes back, he's still getting 25 a night. I haven't talked to him, but I think that is a sneaky one that he would, be annoyed if he missed it by a couple one hundredths of a point. So yeah, just keep that in mind. But even with him having to make the adjustments with Luca, like him getting 25 points isn't

like a stretch. Like I don't think that's going to be hard to do with his new role. I actually think his scoring might go up with the new role because I think I think his assists will plummet and scoring go up a bit. rebounding go up a lot. That's what I would anticipate is going to happen here. When it comes to college basketball in March mania, one thing's for sure, nothing is for sure. Upsets, buzzer beater, Cinderella is advancing, top seeds going home early, it's all going to happen. Bet the unexpected every upset every day with Draft King's sports book. With live betting, exclusive

content, promos and parley's, draft Kings is the ultimate college basketball destination for March. Ready to make your first bet. Check out the matchups and pick a team to win. It's that simple. Told you guys the other day, I'll tell you again. My personal favorite for today, for the beginning of the tournament, Tennessee

laying the wood 18 and a half against Wofford and a nice little flyer, a little taste on Tennessee at 22 to 1 to win the national championship. Maybe, finally, possibly Rick Barnes has a great NCAAs.

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in Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources. C.DKNG.c.c.com slash B-Ball. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

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

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

not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

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

the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs.

And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genschen went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lerna Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner, I heart women's sports. Bengals, bangles, bangles, man.

So Jamar Chase and T. Higgins are now the highest paid non-quarterbacks in history. And Higgins is the highest, highest driver's saber, too. So 40% of their cap is going to those players. Put your GM hat on. How would you fix this? Oh, my goodness. They're screwed. Well, I mean, they don't, well, I mean, they don't think they're screwed.

I think it's an insane way to run a team. and I think it's a low, so here's what Higgins becomes, as DeMonte said, the highest paid wide receiver two in the league, Chase becomes the highest paid non-quarterback in the league, and Burroughs got a huge salary as well. It's not that you can't win with three huge contracts. It's that having all of your huge contracts just be about the passing game doesn't make a ton of sense. and having all of your resources. It's a low-key insult to Burrow. And I know it's what Burrow wanted, so he doesn't view it this way,

but here's what I mean. It operates as if you're not going to have an elite passing game unless you have both of these elite weapons. And I think Joe Burroughs better than that. I think Joe Barrow would be just fine with just one of these guys. And I think that, again, the example people use as a defense of this is Peyton's cults. But here's the problem with you, because Peyton's cults had Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. The problem with using that as an example is they also had Dwight Freeney and Robert

Mathis as bookend defensive ends. But the other problem with that is Peyton's cults with respect underachieved. You had 13 years of Peyton Manning. 11 of those are peak Peyton Manning years. You made two Super Bowls one one. Compare that to the Broncos who had four years of Peyton Manning, only three of those peak Peyton Manning years, they also went to two Super Bowls and won one. By building a well-rounded team. Compare it to the Chiefs who had a choice to make a few years ago.

We are not going to be able to pay Tyreek and Chris Jones. So you know what? We're going to move Tyreek to save the money for Chris and ask Patrick to do more with less. they've been to every Super Bowl since then and so and yeah Mahomes last two years his numbers have dipped now his first year without Tyreek he won the MVP at the most yards of any player in a season ever first player to win league MVP and Super Bowl MVP since Kurt Warner but set that aside uh it is just to me the wrong approach to building a team I so what would I have done I would have a year ago

a year ago, traded T. Higgins when I could have gotten a first round pick for him and dedicated more resources to the defense. But here is what I'll say about it, DeMise. I, Burrow wanted this and it's fine. But he's a smart guy and he understands the resources are limited. He understands what this means. It kind of removes a little bit of the, If next year goes how last year went, where Burroughs numbers are unbelievable, the Bengals' offense is excellent, and they miss the playoffs because the defense is terrible, it's not

quite as an accomplishment for Joe Burrow. This year, he got MVP votes because it was like, oh, my God, he's doing his job. What can he do about the defense being awful? Well, when you go on every talk show imaginable and say you need Higgins and chase back and you understand what that means about your ability to improve your offensive line and your defense, well, now it probably is a little more fair to at least put some of potential Bengals struggles, even if they're defense related at the feet of their quarterback. I know that sounds odd, but I just think it's, I think it's, I think it's. it's probably the wrong approach to building a sustainable champion. And it also is,

it is to me certainly not the right approach to win that division. And the problem with that is, I don't think you have any shot of winning three straight road AFC playoff games that'll probably be outdoors, probably in cold weather cities, with a defense that looks like the Bengals is going to look for the near future. So I just think it's a mistake, even though it's fun. All right, let's talk Aaron Rogers. Yeah, Aaron Rogers still does not know where he wants to go.

Talks are if the Vikings don't want him, he might retire. Where do you think you see Aaron Rogers going? I mean, probably the Steelers. But Rappaport reported this morning that he might not decide until after the draft. The drafts in like 40 days. And I understand actually why he would wait until after the draft because he doesn't want to pick Pittsburgh and then see, you know, as a for instance, Shador drop. And then the Steelers draft a quarterback and he's like, what the hell? So or pick the Giants and then they draft Shador three.

like, who knows? But I am I'm over the Aaron Rogers story in this regard. I just, I don't think the 20th best quarterback in football is worth this time or attention. And I really don't understand

why the Vikings would be entertaining this. Demandze, unless they are, unless they have undisclosed news about J.J. McCarthy's injury that they sum but the only way that even makes sense is if they got this news somehow in the short window of time between when they let Darnold walk and you know this last week which was only a few days because now that we have the actual Sam Darnold contract details chalk another one up to

the sports media ombudsman by the way who said instead of all these tweets just giving love to the agents that negotiated the deals can we please get actually accurate contract info for a week. We were told Sam Darnold got 55 million guaranteed. Turns out you got 37 million guaranteed. Turns out the contract Sam Darnold got is essentially one year 37 and a half million dollars and then two team options afterwards. Who to thunk it. If that's all it was going to take to keep Darnold, they could have gotten him essentially for one year 40 million bucks. If you're worried about J.J. McCarthy, then do that. Yeah. He's better than Rogers at this point.

So I'm kind of over. So clearly like why would any team want it? Like just not even a football standpoint. It's just him as a, I'm not trying to attack his character or anything, but he just, he ruins stuff. Well, yeah. I mean,

I think it's fair to attack his football character and leadership. And also like, why is he taking this long? I think because he can. And because it is a good way to make it clear. who has the upper hand in the relationship from the moment the relationship starts. Like, if, if you can make some,

an entire organization wait, poor Russell Wilson's like, I can't even sign with a team until this guy does. Like, and so it's just asserting, asserting dominance, I guess is what some would say. Hey guys,

it's us and the Jonas brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called. Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart, Heart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to,

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