The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Luka Doncic UNSTOPPABLE, Lakers star MVP? SGA or Jokic best in world? USMNT struggles | Nick Wright

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright weighs in on the NBA MVP race between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic. Has Luka taken the lead in the MVP race after a dominant March which saw the Lakers go 15-2. What are the cases for Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nikola Jokic - and where does Nick land in the debate? Then, Nick recaps the top headlines from the NFL Annual League Meeting. Later, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart 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. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

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Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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She's an outsider to win the French friend. And she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard 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 podcasts on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Welcome in the Rare Wednesday.

What's Right with Nick Wright, episode 439. This episode, as all the episodes are brought to you. Oh, my goodness. I tried to say brought to you by my friend of Boost Mobile. I realized my Boos Mobile sign wasn't even on. There we go. Brought to you by my good friends at Boost Mobile. Little Rusty.

Fresh off, you know, a little weekend in the Bahamas with the family. As at first things first was dark, also, de Monzae. Good to see you. I was six hours into our... trip. I was fairly certain I tore my ACL and somehow I'm okay. You thought you tore your ACL and your good couple of days later? Well, I was good five minutes later, but in the, I'm talking about in the moment. I, so the very quick, uh, and like rate subscribe review to the pod.

One of the reasons to be subscribed and to hit the bell and to get notified is because sometimes our schedule is a little weird. Um, we try to do three shows. a week but travel and things come up at times and so that's what this week we're going to do Wednesday Thursday Friday so also I need a lot of sports news in the next couple days because we're going back to back to back uh but point is this so there's this great what you would love it this great water park at Bahamar where I was staying and they have so they have like giant slides but then they have two like kitty water parks one for little little little kids like Right.

Two to five year olds. And one for kids, Deanna's age. Excuse me. Bless you. And Deanna basically convinced me to play a variant of like hide and seek tag. And, and, well, in the, it was the, in the little kid water park where, so there's like four slides, but they're all very, you know, short slides. Yeah. It's got one of those giant buckets of water that fills up over the course of five minutes.

whatever. Yeah, exactly right. And the ground is what some playgrounds are now, like that soft foam almost. Yeah. And whatever. The moral of the story is we're playing for 20 minutes and I see her and I try to make a quick turn. And I, my knee goes sideways. I swear I heard it.

felt a pop, the other adults around gasped. And I'm like, oh my God. Like, this will not be the first time I've ever. Five years ago, in Aruba on our first day, I was on like a, basically a bouncy house in the ocean and trying to climb up on it to play with Deanna. I kicked something. Is the glass right? No, slice the top. My foot so bad, yeah, that I had to then, I then, this is an all-time bluff by me that your mom called.

Deanna and her are still playing. They see my foot is grotesquely cut. And I'm like, you guys stay. We just got here. I'll drive myself to the hospital. And your mom said, okay. Which foot was it? And I drove my, I drove, it was my left foot.

I drove myself to the hospital, got stitched up. and then couldn't get in the water the rest of the trip. And I'm like, so I was like, I've done it again. But this is worse. Um, but somehow, somehow I was, I'm okay, I guess. I still, if I go from sitting to standing, I feel popping in my knee and it hurts. So I think I did something that if I were expected to play in an NBA game would be a problem. But other than that, it was great.

It's been hanging up. Um, and yeah, I'm washed. And so. A lot to do. They also have a great sports book there. And so I was able to follow everything. Yeah, it's a nice place. Not only is this an unpaid endorsement,

but I actually paid them quite a bit of money via room charge and the casino that they have. So, you know, a lot of added value for Bahamara, which pays me nothing. But I do imagine, given my gambling failings over the last 96 hours, will offer me a couple free rooms if I want to come back there. All right, straight to voice now brought to you by Boost Mobile. Patrick Mahomes attends the Royals home opener. The Royals won a couple games back to act. They also, their second game of the season were leading to nothing on the road going into the bottom of the ninth for the Braves and lost six to two.

Something that is damn near impossible to happen, but it did happen. Mark Cuban won't stop talking about this. regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process. I'll leave it at that. Also, fun fact, Luke at Anjitz scored more points in March than Anthony Davis did as a Maverick. That's true. Look it up, folks. More points in March than Anthony Davis in his Maverick's career and the Blazers selling for a four and a quarter billion dollar valuation. All right. Let's get right to the polarizing topic of the day. Mitchell Nichols catching strays. Jason Temp, volume co-host, is in the crosshairs. A lot going on, the NBA MVP race.

All right, about two weeks remaining, and the MVP race is getting spicy. So SGA is still the favorite at minus 300, followed by Wimby, Luca, and then Yokic, all with great cases. Two questions. Is this the greatest MVP race that we've ever seen? And why is Lucas case so polarizing? okay so we will the the the main course of this is lucca the little amuse boosh appetizer is is this the greatest MVP race we've ever seen and the answer to that question is unequivocally absolutely without argument no because there is it i to be totally fair i didn't do pencil to paper

go through every MVP race to see if this one has an argument for second place because it didn't seem like a good use of my time because I knew it did not have an argument for first place because the greatest MVP race of all times and one of the most ridiculous is and we've talked about it once before on the show but we will talk about it once more here. the 1962 NBA MVP race is one of the greatest one of the greatest pages on the internet on the whole internet Al Gore's entire internet one of the greatest pages that exists is the

basketball reference 1961 62 MBA Awards voting page where if you go there you will see that season coming in six in the MVP race. Bullet Bob Pettit, who averaged a tidy 31 points, 19 rebounds a game. He got two first place votes. He came in sixth. Coming in fifth in that MVP race was Jerry West, who averaged a nice and tidy, 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists. Coming in fourth in that MVP race, was Elgin Baylor, who averaged 38 points, 19 rebounds, five assists, however, only played 48 games because he was in the military and could only play part-time. He was going back and forth between, you know, I don't know if it was the weekends he could play

or the weekends he couldn't, whatever it is, but, you know, while he wasn't in the U.S. military, he was a part-time basketball player giving you 38. However, third place that year was Oscar Robertson, the first year anyone in the history of the league ever averaged a triple double. Came in third. He averaged 31 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, a nice tidy third. And second place with only nine first place votes was Wilk Chamberlain, who that season averaged. 48 and a half minutes, meaning he averaged more minutes than there were in the games because he never subbed out essentially the whole year and played overtimes.

And while averaging 48 and a half minutes, he actually averaged more points. A nice, clean for wilt, 50.20.26 rebound to game average on 48 and a half minutes a night. However, that was only enough to finish a distant, distant second to Bill Russell, who averaged 19 points and 24 rebounds. Folks, I wasn't there. I can't tell you how it happened. I just know that happened. I know that Bill Russell. That was an insane way to finish it off.

Bill Russell ran away with it, averaging 19 and 24, Will was 50 and 26 playing every minute of every game all year. the Big O average 31, 13, and 11. Elgin gave you 38 and 19 while also serving the country. And that so I don't care. This top four is pretty sick. It doesn't quite match up to the 1961, 62 NBA awards voting. Now that that is taking care of and out of the way, we will discuss what is happening right now with Luca. which is bordering on a little insane.

Okay? Because folks are in real time, I fear, recreating the history of this season and also recreating their own belief in what these Lakers could be. Because going into the, the Lakers have already smashed the over on their win total. Many people, smart people that I respect,

thought this Lakers team would stone miss the playoffs. They already have 50 wins. They have already clinched a playoff spot. They are a huge favorite to be the three seed. They also have a very decent change. of finishing with a better record than every team in the East except for Detroit. Right now they're sitting at 50 wins. The Celtics are sitting at 50 wins.

And they have done that despite the fact that they made no major moves at the deadline. And Austin Reeves and LeBron James have missed a combined 47 games. which means they have done that based on the overwhelming strength of Luca Donchich offensive wonderkind and there are two things happening with the Luca MVP discussion. Three things actually. One, folks are pretending the Lakers were expected to be this. good they were not and early in the year when they were the three seed and Luca was averaging 33 a night the discussion happening in real time was well they've beat up on

some bad teams they've gotten very lucky and close wins the clutch numbers won't sustain this team is not as good as its record suggests Before the year, they were a behind, almost universally behind OKC in projections. OKC, obviously. Denver, no problem. Houston, having added Kevin Durant, Minnesota, yes, the Los Angeles Clippers were a much more popular regular season pick. Now, they were not behind the Spurs for most people because the Spurs have greatly over in their expectation. And part of that is a testament to Wimby, no doubt about it.

And that's just in the Western Conference, much less where they would stack up throughout the league as a whole. So that happened. People reframing what they thought the Lakers' expectations were this year. That is happening in real time. 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 it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers

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 where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. 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. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another thing that is happening in real time. people pretending like Luca just started having an awesome season. He was the Western Conference Player of the Month for January. Luca's month by month numbers this year are October, he started the year off averaging 45 a game, okay? But that's three games in October. In October, he averaged 45 a game. in December, or I'm sorry, in November, pardon me, sorry, when the Lakers lost two games all month that he played in,

Luca averaged 33, 8, and 10. That's December. That's November, pardon me. December, when the Lakers weren't that good, and when, uh luca missed a couple games due to injury or he just missed a couple games he was down to 31 7 and 7 then january rolls around he's player of the month with 34 7 and 9 March was the one bad month the lakers were bad it wrapped around the all-star game he was he dealt with the injury and was 27 and 9.

And then March rolls around. And for the month of March, he's 38, 8, and 7, and the Lakers have lost twice. And if they gave away player of the month for March, I don't know that they do. I think they might combine March in April. But it would be him again. so folks pretending as if he just started being excellent is not true now what is true is if you had asked me

in mid-February where he was and I think we did it on this show in the MVP race I would have had him sixth in mid-February I would have had Shea I don't know if one Wimby was quite there. Shea, Joker, Jalen Brown, Cade and Wimby, all ahead of him. So, which is why I have not gotten on here and said he's clearly the MVP. Shea has been that consistently excellent all throughout the year.

And, but I do think Luca is gaining massive, massive ground. And the last plank of this is folks have simply overstated how awful his defense is. Is Luk Adanjic an excellent defensive player? Obviously not. Is Lukadansich a good defensive player? I don't think so. Is Lukadanschich one of the worst defensive players in the league? by no possible metric can you feel that now do do lucas defensive low lights rank among the worst of any player in the league absolutely the plays where he's just out to lunch defensively yes and that is a fair criticism of it but my palmanix talking about individual defensive rating as if that is a real

thing when it really isn't. That's a team and a lineup stat. I think is unfair. And also, how much he rebounds? Do you think it kind of reverses that at all? I mean, I shouldn't say it all,

but like I feel like the fact that he's such a good rebounder playing point card. It should play a little bit of that. Well, yes. And I mean, that's been a big part. Ask Daniel about you look up the, the advanced metrics tell us that,

you know, Bill Russell, you were great. But the greatest defensive big man of all time is Nikola Yokic. All of us know that's nonsense, but the reason for that is because the advanced metrics really value defensive rebounding, ending a possession. And so I understand Luca is polarizing. Okay. I get that. I understand that Luca annoys people. I get that.

and I understand that at times Luke is his own worst enemy. I get all of that. But we are moving the goalposts on this player in a wildly unfair manner. The Lakers do not have a great defensive roster. And Luke is obviously a part of that. And they right now have tied with the clippers for the 19th, best defense in basketball. And that's, you know, not very good.

It is ahead of Denver, by the way, and it is improving and has been improving particularly over the last month. But for us to, in real time, try to change what the historic uh qualifiers for league mvpr in my opinion in service of one guy's candidacy in victor win bin yama and against another guy's candidacy in luke d'anchich which is an award that has never been 50 defense 50 offense, changing it up, I think is disingenuous.

Would you say that? Is a percentage of it that's defense, though? Of course. Like 70, 30. No, of course. Right. Listen, I think historically, if you look at the winners, historically, historically, it's been 90-10 offense defense as far as what is valued.

Right. Now, there are outliers and. interestingly enough one of them was the 62 MVP race where they were they there was a guy who averaged 30 point triple double a guy who averaged 50 a night and then a guy who averaged 20 what was it 19 and 24 or something yeah no no 26 rebounds 19 points but he was so devastatingly impactful on defense that he won the award now he also was A champion considered the, you know, greatest winner in the sport had, you know, at that point, Bill Russell had accomplished more than Wimby, which plays, you know, a bit of a factor into it.

But there are guys that can change the rules on. All right, it's 90-10 for other guys, but this guy's defensive impact is so overwhelming, so overwhelming that he should win the award. So I understand folks saying Wimby's defensive impact is just unlike everyone. else's. That is a fair argument. It is not a fair argument to say, I'm not even considering Luca because he doesn't play both ends of the court. Not if you voted for James Harden, not if you weren't throwing your entire body in front of Steve Nash going first, first, second in MVP voting. Not if you were part of Steph Curry over LeBron multiple times. Don't, don't. Don't.

Don't tell me you're weighing this on two-way impact. And here's the other thing about Wimby's specific candidacy. It is, in my, again, not always so humble opinion. Outrageous to give him extra credit. in the MVP race for how few minutes per game he's playing. If you want to give the Spurs extra credit for how much of a contender they are, because it's like, well, shit, what about when Wimby is playing 38 minutes a game instead of 29? Totally makes sense.

If you want to talk about what this means for Wimby's upper limit potential, about well, what about when he plays the minutes, all the other candidates play? I'm all for that as well. There are a lot of things where Wimby's minutes per game should come into the conversation. But his ability to win the MVP award is not one of them. When a stat that I think will absolutely blow your mind, Amaze, and I want to get this exactly right. This year,

Victor Wimbunyama has played 90 fewer minutes than LeBron. Victor Wimbenyama this year is 100th in the NBA in minutes. One hundredth. Now, you can again say that means, oh my God, he's going to win six titles and 10 defensive player of the year awards and the Spurs are going to be unstoppable, all of that. But what I don't think you can say is,

what I don't think is accurate is that Wimby's, the gap between Luca's offense and Wimby's offense is 20 points created a game conservatively. Lucas points plus assists versus Wimby's points plus assist, and there's more to it. And I know all of a sudden,

Wembees, we've created a new term called roll gravity or lob gravity or something. It's like, oh, the corner three's they're generating. I've watched an NBA for my entire life. I've never heard this term. Great.

But the gap between, so you have this. size gap between Luke and Wimby's offense. Now, you can say you have an even bigger gap between Luke and Wimby's defense. No problem. But is it is, is, is Wimby's impact in 1,755 minutes, his defensive impact, that much greater to where it overcomes the fact that Luca has played? played 500 more minutes, the equivalent of for, again, at Wimby's minutes per game, 29, 500 minutes,

is an extra 16 games. It's not enough for me. And again, if someone, I think there are, and I haven't even talked about Joker on this, and we'll get to him in a second. if if someone makes the argues for here's why Wimby's the MVP nobody thought the spurs would be this good

he's so far and away the best defensive player in the sport I think that is a legitimate argument Shea obviously has a legitimate argument Joker who will get to obviously has a legitimate argument what I find so galling and I probably overuse that word.

Is folks, a lot of folks, are acting as if Luca does not have a legitimate argument. You're a goddog right, this guy. A guy who's averaging almost 34 a game for an overachieving three seed, whose second and third best player, both have missed a third of the season, that guy every year in NBA history

had a legitimate argument for the MVP and Luke is not going to come close to it and I think that's unfortunate and so go ahead Demandzee we want to go to these matchups oh yeah so over the course of the next two weeks yeah we'll see five games where two of the candidates of the MVP race will face each other

so first we got OKC they'll play the Lakers twice and Denver once. Denver will play the Spurs twice and okay C once and the Spurs will play Denver twice and then the Lakers will play OKC twice. Yeah, those two times. Yeah, so listen, I think

I think Shea one of the reasons I believe Shea is a huge favorite to win this award is, and we're talking more about OKC and a few. I think

Shea has a floor of second place on ballots. So I think Shea is going to get firsts and seconds. And I think Wimby is going to get first, second, third, and fourths. And I think Joker is going to get not a lot of first, but second, third, and fourths. And so I think that there have been instant. is in the history of this award with the guy with the most first place votes doesn't win it that happened to Barclay it's happened a few times I think Shay probably gets the most firsts and wins the award but I also think there's a world where wimby gets the most first and doesn't win it

because Shays is all first and seconds with a couple thirds. Wimby is first, seconds, thirds, fourths, and that drags, that drags him down. I also just, I think that this only becomes a very

close conversation if the Spurs finish with the one seat. And I have just... So you don't think in those games there could be any taking of the torch? Well, the problem is the Spurs don't play the Thunder. Yeah.

And the Spurs did die as Wemby mentioned the spurs dominated the thunder when they played them earlier this year Wimby was playing in a couple of those games played like 20 minutes was not like was not the which again all of these arguments could be arguments as to why they're gonna win the title all these things but the MVP is not a hypothetical award it's not well what they could have done and so I just don't Luca's in a weird spot. And it'd be, I want to say one other thing about Luca and then we'll talk Joker. It's also really weird that he is treated this way despite the fact that he has been every year of his playoff career an absolute playoff killer.

Just a killer is first. first year in the playoffs against what everyone thought was the best team in the league. Kauai Paul George Clippers in that playoff series as a huge underdog puts up 31, 9, I'm sorry, 10 and 9. They lose in 6. His next year in the playoffs again against Paul George and Kauai Leonard. He's being guarded 100% of his possessions by. Pete Kauai and Paul George. They lose in seven as a big underdog.

He averages 36, 8, and 10. His next year in the playoffs, they're underdogs in round two against the favorite sons. He makes Devin Booker cry almost. Gives you 32, 10, and 6th that playoff run. They then missed the playoffs one. year and his next time in the playoffs he carries the Mabs to the finals beating Shay then beating aunt and then last year obviously was you know they he wasn't he

wasn't he was 30 points a game in those playoffs again in the one round against the um Tim Rolls that was disaster for the Lakers there's no doubt no no no way around that but it's just is he a perfect player no does he deserve more respect from the people and more and folks doing a closer introspection on wait a minute i didn't think the lakers had any shot at contending i thought the lakers might miss the playoffs again not nick right but folks out there they're the they've got 50 wins they've the same number of wins as boston they they are they've been the three seed a good portion of the season and our huge favorite to be it.

Braun has taken on another role. Austin suffered a major injury. The team is leaning heavily on DeAndre Aiton and Mark is smart. And Luke is just out there fire breathing every night. What's that worth? All right. Go ahead on Joker. Yokic will average a triple double and be the first player to lead in rebounds and assist ever.

If he hadn't already run a bunch, you think that he'd be the front-winter for the race? If he had zero MVP's, probably. Right. And listen, Daniel put in this, I'm not going to call it a whining question, but it felt a little whining from Nuggets fan Daniel when he says, Yo Kitch has leveled up every year.

So is he just ineligible to win at this point? He's not ineligible to win. and he's having an awesome year. And if folks want to make the case that Yokic this year is having a more impressive season than some previous years, when I didn't think he should have been MVP and he won it, so be it. But they are any... the nuggets, I think, by a hair, as a team, have underachieved this year. They have been awful in the clutch.

They don't feel like frontline A-list contenders at the moment. And Joker has three MVPs. So I don't think people are, when the three guys, in my opinion ahead of him in the race for if you include Jalen Brown I don't as far as ahead of Joker all have better records

all their team and you know seems to be in a better position to win a championship I'm not I'm not worried about the fact that Joker as great as he is isn't going to you know get his fourth MVP

in the last six years. I think we'll all be okay on that. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida Sportsbook. Biggest weekend and college basketball is almost here. Round of four is set. National champion just days away from cutting down the nets. Now's the time to step your game up with daily dance and boosts on Hard Rock

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the news news news we created our own podcast called hey Jonas we invented a podcast well we didn't invent it we just contributed to us first people to do podcasts pretty yeah pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there but this one's extra special so how do we how do we actually come up with the 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, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast.

podcast network on TikTok. All right, Damanze. Let's go to Shea, if we can. Yeah, SGA, racking up free throws per usual at a crazy rate. So the fans on Twitter are pissed, the players on the quarter piss, their coaches coming out pissed about it. Here's J.B. Bickerstaff after the loss in overtime. I mean, he's elite at what he does.

And you got to give him a ton of credit for his skill set and his ability, you know, to create those contacts and create those whistles. you know, their rules for a reason, and he's mastered to manipulate them. So that's a talent, that's a skill that he's been blessed with. So I don't, we don't have to spend a ton of time on this. But I think it's very simple. And the reason this specifically, I think, infuriates other. otherwise, you know, neutral parties is the, it's a trio of factors that all seem to run in one direction,

even though they contradict each other. And that direction is in O'KC's favor. So on Shea, there is the fact. that he has mastered that stiff arm better than any player since Prime James Hardin and maybe more so than even Prime James Hardin and while they waved off what would have been his game winner against Detroit on it

it feels like he gets so feels like he personally creates real non-negligible contact a dozen times a game gets away with it. So that irritates people. But then the irritation shifts to being outraged. When on the flip side, it feels like he gets the benefit of any contact against him that is far less negligible than the contact he.

he creates in if he's driving to the basket and gets hit at all he's going to the line added to that he he's pretty shameless in mid play deciding i'm no longer trying to score i i simply believe you're off balance enough to where i can draw foul or make it look like i draw foul so you go from being a little annoyed at the push-off to almost outraged at the calls he gets. And then that then levels up to, you know what? I think I actually don't like this team for some. When you add to it the way his teammates are allowed to guard everyone else. You have doored out there just hurting people.

they are they are actively daring the refs to call four or five fouls in the opening 90 seconds of games they don't they set the tone and it feels like man

it's a little Calvin ball heads you lose tails I win like shake and push but I can't guard him and Dork can tackle me what the fuck and so I and then the pressers

like and even the way that it's discussed as far as SGA and the team like I just feel that they are very shameless about all of it um and listen they're the champs

they're the champs they're so slug man and I just it is now it is noteworthy to me that they have not been nearly as dominant. They won the title. Don't give me wrong. But they have not been

a total postseason juggernaut while they've been a regular season juggernaut. So I do wonder how the game being officiated differently in the playoffs can't affect them again. But it is, I know people were frustrated with Hardin style for years. Totally understand that. but that wasn't then paired with Hardin's teammates being able to just mug Steph Curry and Kevin Durant and the I mean that you could you could argue maybe PJ Tucker a little bit um but so like so that's why people like Damanze actively dislikes the um the thunder organization just not the organization but this This rendition of the thunder, I don't like.

You can say, by the way, they're one of the few teams in sports that I'm okay with just saying I don't like if someone doesn't like the organization because they stole that team from Seattle. They said they weren't going to move and they moved them. But listen, Presti's obviously brilliant. Their coach is excellent. Shea is having another one of the greatest guard seasons ever. There's no denying any of that. He's done it without one of the. one of the reasons that I won't yet, we see, we got six games left.

I don't think Luca has yet caught Shea is, yes, LeBron and Austin Reeson has 47 games, but Jalen Williams, his second best player, missed basically the equivalent. And so they deserve credit. But man, oh man, they are enraging. Like there's no, there's no argument that it's a lot of people, fans, coaches other players find them enraging which is why if the bracket holds

Daniel be happy America will be rooting for your big Serbian love Nikola Yokic in round two folks will be rooting hard for the Nuggets and the Nuggets would be very live in that series

go ahead I want to ask if SGGG didn't have this weapon with the free throws getting to the line, do you think that he'd still be where he's at and the MVP candidate race or just period? Well, listen, I, I think it's unfair. I think that's kind of an unfair hypothetical because it's weird, right? It also is, if he didn't have it,

he would have, like if this was called differently or whatever, he has shown he is such a smart and skilled player that he yeah he would have just pivoted what he focuses on five years ago right and so the now i don't think he's the best player in the world i'd never thought he's the best player in the world um and listen i think joker's the best player in the world and and this is where people are going to say I can't what do I what's my proof on this and it's just what I what I believe I think Luca's better than Shea yeah they've they've like in listen Shay's won an MVP Shay's won a title Luca's done neither um I get it there luca's actually by a couple months younger than him they've played once in the playoffs Luca won I

I don't think that Thunder team It's like, oh man Put Luca in SGA's spot. What happens to that team? They're the favorite still. And like that team is actually built perfectly To deal with Luca's weaknesses as a defender. So I So I think he might be in the category

Better than this player, but of Steve Nash where the guy wins back-to-back MVP's and is not universally regarded as best player in the league. All right, before we get to the Lakers win last night and then some other stuff, and we'll probably do a bunch of football tomorrow because there's this crazy Jalen Hertz Eagle story

that came out this morning that I want to get to tomorrow. Lamar DeManzai might not be going to off-season workouts. That's great. I mean, he's doing the boxing. though. That's good cardio. So, the new head coach, it wouldn't be great. So we might get to some of the football stuff tomorrow. And so, but there's more things we need to do.

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All right, DeMonse, we're going to talk a little soccer here for a minute. Yeah, so the U.S. men's national team lost two to zero against Portugal on a friendly match yesterday. The World Cup is two months away. Can we fix our problems now before? I'm getting very worried. And, you know what? I also want to say something else real quick about talking World Cup and talking soccer. Because I was, I was updated over the weekend, because we did a 26 players that will define the World Cup countdown show on first things first. Friday half hour show that some of soccer Twitter was none too happy with us like oh these guys talking soccer these guys don't ever talk so let me say this on the front end soccer gatekeepers it's the biggest

sporting event in the world you want people that are not necessarily following syria a and the EPL to be super into it, and they are. So be a little more welcoming and a little nicer. That's first of all. Second of all, I am following that shit. Who was in person at Inter Milan's first home match as the defending Saraje champions? This guy, great seats, who, I won't name names,

who had, did, with one of the best defenders in Europe that same week talking soccer this guy who used to have season tickets to the sporting KC this guy we used to go those were fun fun matches to go to I was I watched the single worst moment of LeBron's career game five finals against Dallas at a bar across from a sporting KC game because I was trying to be able to watch the soccer game and watch the finals game. So keep your little shit talking to yourself, folks. I'm into it. And as someone who's into it, I'm here to tell you, what a disastrous last 10 days for the U.S. men's national team. We get absolutely clock

by Belgium, Portugal blanks us, Polisic hasn't scored a goal for club or country this year. Our coach says, well, the big difference is the teams we're playing have awesome players and we don't. What? Now, you might be like he didn't say that, did he? He said, the difference is we've been playing teams with top 100 players. We don't have that. that ain't great and a little extra knife our group which we got a huge benefit by being in the host country

they treat you as if you are one of the best teams in the they try to separate all of it used to be eight now it's 12 best teams in the world into their own 12 different groups but what they actually do is they take all the best teams plus the host country and make sure they're all in all different groups so the u.s plus mexico and canada who did not necessarily deserve to be pot one teams along with england and france and spain and brazil and argentina we got pot one placement because we're a host country and because of that our group was looking pretty good. The, not quite as good. I think it was,

it was it Canada or Mexico that got the absolute best. Mexico got probably, no, it was Canada. Canada, it's them, Bosnia, more on why it's Bosnia in a minute, Qatar and Switzerland. So Canada got the nut high group draw. Mexico, pretty decent. South Africa, Korea and Chechia. But the U.S. was sitting there with Paraguay, and Australia. Not bad, but with one wildcard team.

And the one wildcard team we didn't want to win was Turkey A. Turkey A did win. So now our group just got harder. Now they've changed the World Cup where to make the knockout round, instead of it being a 32 team tournament, that 16 make the knockout round, it's a 48 team tournament that 32 make the knockout round. So you can make the knockout round even if you don't finish in the top two in your group.

So the U.S. missing the knockout round would be an utter and total catastrophe. But losing its two warm-ups against European competition seven to two ain't great. And the expectation should be for the U.S. to win its group, win its first knockout round game, and then play in the round of 16 for a chance to get to just its second quarterfinals and moderning. soccer. Right now, we're an underdog in that spot. I don't love that. Now, de Monse, it could be worse.

We could be a different country. Go to Eric in the chat on that. Yeah. Any comments on Team Italy not qualifying for the World Cup again as an honorary Italian? I'm not honorary. I'm Italian. And I... I don't know what Italy needs to do on its developmental level, team organizational level,

to stop what is, I believe, the most mortifying decade in the history of soccer for a great soccer nation. So let me just tell everybody Italy's history at this tournament, because they've won it four damn times. Only Brazil has more. The first two times they were in it, they won it. 34 and 38. That's pre-World War II. Again, this isn't a, well, no, we'll get to the, we'll get to more contemporary stuff. You know, we're not a history show, but if you know much about World War II,

Mussolini and Italy on the wrong side of that one. And so we don't hold World Cups in the 40s because of said World War. Italy is then, you know, call it reorganized a bit post-World War II. And they go through a damn near 20-year drought where back-to-back World Cups, they get knocked out in the group stage. Then they miss. Then they get knocked out in the group stage. But then from 1970 to Monzae until 2000. 2006, here's what Italy did at the World Cup.

1970, second place. 1974, they went one, one, and one in the group stage, end up just barely missing out on the knockout round. It's devastating. 1978, they make it to the semis. 1982, they win it. 1986, they lose in the knockout round. 1990, they make it to the semis.

1994, they lose in the final. 1998, they make it to the final eight, the quarters. 2002, they make it to the round of 16. 2006, they win it. So we are talking about pre-World War II, they went a couple, go through a rough stage, and then 70. In the mix, in contention. No, and then in the next 10,

In the next 10 World Cups, they win two, they lose in the final twice, and they make two more semifinals. So six of the 10, from 70 to 06, they are in the final four. Four of the 10, they play in the final game, and two of the 10 they win. Then in 2010, they get popped in the group stage, not winning a single game. in 2014 they get popped in the group stage winning one game and losing two and then in 2018 they missed the tournament 2022 they missed the tournament and 2026 in an expanded field yesterday they lose to bosnia in penalties to miss the tournament it's catastrophe That is utter catastrophe.

It is really bad. What's going on? They've won four of these things. They're Italy. I can't believe it. I cannot believe it. And it is unfathomable to me that this would, it's not quite as, I can't quite say it's like the U.S. you know, missing the Olympics and basketball multiple years.

But it's not that far from it. And again, I don't have the answer here, but I know that Roberto Baggio is not walking through that door. Francisco Taddy's not walking through that door to save you. And this is, I hate it for Italy. I hate it. And so there's no one of a cup update. Major comeback.

Well, yeah, but I mean, it's a generation where they don't even make the tournament. You notice everything keeps going up, rents going up, streaming services going up, your favorite burrito spots charging you extra for things like Salza that should just come complimentary. Not with Boost Mobile. With Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill, don't have to play the will-this-go-up soon game. Why? Because Boost Mobile is unlimited. Talk, Tex, and data plan at a price they'll never go up.

In fact, same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for unlimited wireless. at a price that'll never go up only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigs, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the boost unlimited plan. All right, DeMonsei, let's go down to the April Fool's thing before I give an update on the mailbag and how questions are going to work. Yeah, so it's April Fool's. You don't want to do any pranks, but you do want to talk about the Todd Monkin haircut story.

So New Brown's head coach, Tomlunk, and miss the coach. his photo because he was busy getting haircut, we've got a photo of it. No. No, no, no. I mean, we should have a photo. He was getting a haircut for the photo and that made him miss the photo. I mean,

you know, maybe a harbinger of another rough season for the Browns, but that's not what I wanted, where I wanted to take this just quickly. My question is this. What is the list of coach because here's what nobody is saying or at least that I've seen but I know in my core is accurate for some coaches they would wait it's a it's kind of a dis that they didn't

they weren't like hey guys maybe we shouldn't take it yet so I'm trying to figure out the list of coaches. Like, who is the worst coach that's good enough that they hold up the photo for? Okay? So, like, they definitely wait for Andy Reed. Yeah. They definitely wait for Andy Reid.

Yep. I'm fairly certain they wait for Sean McVeigh. You want to throw a name out there? I was about to say, I think I know of Rable, he's fresh, but I mean, he's been coaching for a while. I think Rable they wait for him too. So I don't think they wait for Vrable. I think they think that Vrable may be, you know, uh,

thinking he's above the program or something. Oh, hold on. What, so hold on. The producer's telling me Sean McVeigh wasn't in it either. Why not? Did he do, but, wow. The, hold on, you producers can, if you guys, you guys can turn your mic or camera on or if you want, to or just be voice of God.

Do we know why Shaw McVeigh wasn't in it? Okay. Sean McVeigh coach's photo. You guys better not be wrong on this. Oh, no. So, so, but what, so did he just not want to do it? So that's, so I guess I'm wrong.

You know what? I was going to do a whole thing. But if McVeigh was like telling them that he wasn't going to take the picture, it's, I think it's a different situation. So I'm very surprised that they did it without McVeigh. Now, maybe they knew McVeigh wasn't going to get there. I really was just trying to get to whether or not they'd hold it for Siriani. And my answer to that is absolutely not.

That was the whole, I had a whole thing that I was trying to build up to to get to that punchline. But the fact that I was, my second pick of who they would hold it for. wasn't even in there. You know, bad job by me. Blame it on the mitis in the Bahamas. I should have been a little more buttoned up there. By the way, Kevin asks, will mailbag selections only be from live questions

or will questions that come in after be considered as well? We consider everything. So YouTube live comment, YouTube live questions, comments on the YouTube page, you know, on Twitter, we will. and so the producers on Wednesday nights, I guess tonight, because we record these on Thursday, send, you know, put 50 questions in the dock.

I pick some of my favorites and we go from there. So that will be on Friday. All right, it's great to be back. Tease for Tomorrow's show. The Jalen Hurd's story on ESPN.com. Lamar's offseason. Uh, the, the, all of a sudden, wildly important

Western Conference three but more so four, five, six race. All of that and more on tomorrow show. A huge thank you to boost ethos and hard rock and as always Blue Duck

and the volume. Talk to you guys on tomorrow for another episode of What's Right. Hey guys, it's us the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment,

and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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.

Jen, she's an outsider to win the French win. 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 Podcasts on the Iheart Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart women's sports. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.