The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What’s Wright - Nick Wright REACTS to NBA All-Star Game MIRACLE, Kevin Durant FIASCO, & Tyreek Hill-Chiefs REUNION?

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright recaps NBA All-Star Weekend and what the USA vs. World format got right, and what still needs works. Then, Nick discusses what the Miami Dolphins releasing Tyreek Hill means for Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and his Kansas City Chiefs... will we see a reunion? After, Nick predicts what the top storylines for the rest of the NBA season will be, and returns to the courthouse to defend Kevin Durant and Jaxson Hayes in a game of Nick Wright: Public Defender. Later, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I heart radio. I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope From a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know.

Listen to help from Hippocrite Wednesdays on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome in, while driving the Gride episode 427, live from Los Angeles, right alongside the same room. Good to see you, buddy. As DeMonse, we are, so apologies for no show on Thursday. I thought we were going to do a show. We were down at the Daytona 500, the tech setup that I thought I would be able to, pull off in my hotel room. It was just not tenable.

It would have been a bad episode. So I apologize for not giving you guys a heads up. To make up for that, we have a bunch of cool stuff coming the rest of this week. Tomorrow on this channel, if you're a poker fan, a gambling fan, or just got nothing better to do or just want to root for me, maybe root against me. That would be kind of crummy. We will be live streaming my, the card game I'm playing in Vegas. with the great Antonio Espondiari, some other pros, some other business people. No gamble, no future will be this tomorrow afternoon, live on this channel,

free, of course, for anyone to watch, whole cards, the whole thing, watch me play and what, we'll see what it ends up being, but one of the biggest, if not the biggest card game I've ever played in, I don't know exactly how big the game is going to play. So that'll be tomorrow. Thursday, we are doing a mailbag episode, That full disclosure, we actually recorded about an hour ago. So you will see me in this exact same outfit. This is one of the reasons today's episode was delayed.

And then next week we'll be back to our regular schedule. And then soon we will get back to the three episodes a week right after football, travel, stuff going on. Also, probably not quite enough content for three full episodes. But we'll get back to that as well. But let's get right to it because there is a ton to get to. since we last talked. We will start, though,

with straight to voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile. Dame wins the three-point contest and then also, which was awesome, by the way. Yeah. And then shared a text or something on IG

where I think it was Steph sang he committed to next year that they thought four of the eight should be Dame, Booker, Steph, and Clay.

That would be sick. Yeah. That would be great. Everyone would like that. LeBron, non-committal on year 24. I just put me down being on the record. I would be stunned

if this is LeBron's last year. And Michael Jordan wins his seventh ring. He wins the Daytona. His team won the Daytona 500. Shout out to MJ. And listen, fair is fair. I said a tiny, tiny, tiny

part of the goat conversation was his horrifying Charlotte Hornets ownership. and so a tiny part of his NASCAR goat conversation. He's got to go in there too. But NASCAR, like it, NASCAR goat. Like, it doesn't apply his basketball goats.

That's different sport entirely. All right, DeMonte, let's remind everybody, like, rate, subscribe, review. That way you'll know when we go live, when we're, you know, especially because we've been, our schedule's been a little weird. Now is the time to do it. Let's get to the All-Star game. All right, so after years of uncompetitiveness, maybe since Kobe played, the NBA might have found a solution to the All-Star game with the U.S. versus world format?

Yeah. What did you think of the new All-Star game? I thought it was awesome. I really enjoyed it. And I think you had, I think the perfect storm of just enough public criticism that the players heard and were aware of, Wimby gets credit, throwing down the gauntlet and being like, I'm going to try. So you guys better try too.

credit to Wimby for that. Ant gave him credit. The other players responding. Cool teams in that... It wasn't just U.S. versus the world. Concepts. But also the U.S. team felt like old guys, young guys. Yeah.

So all three teams had the different kind of pride to play for. The fact that it was just 12-minute games meant you were kind of instantly getting the intensity of a fourth quarter, which even when the All-Star Games been bad, if it's been close late, guys locked it up at the end. And so that was there the whole time. So all of it really worked. And here is what I will say, sorry, Daniel, our resident Nuggets fan, where I think some of the criticism of the older, generation of players about letting the All-Star game down has been unfair. Everyone just flatly accepts with no criticism whatsoever that even in this format,

the one guy who couldn't be bothered to give a shit was the best player in the world. And I like Joker. I am not, and it seems like everybody likes Joker. I understand I might be the wrong messenger of this because of my years back history of skepticism, but it is an unequivocal double standard when the previous universally accepted best player in the world,

LeBron James, is currently getting more criticism for not doing the dunk contest 15 years ago than Joker is for not caring in the All-Star game that everyone else cared in 50 hours ago. Like that is, that's not, and so it does feel like there is

the, a pass given to Joker and to a lesser extent, Luca, because Luke, I guess you can say is still coming off the injury. And Joker, I know was hurt, but he's been playing and kicking ass. Exactly. And he's just never cared at the All-Star game. And right or wrong, no one is

criticized him the way we've criticized the legendary American guys for not caring and Joker does have something of responsibility of you're the best player in the world and so despite him not caring the games were awesome they were great and and I do

I don't know how this if this how sustainable this specific format is but I am okay. I didn't understand exactly I was going to work and I was critical of it leading into it. But once the game started, it was good. It worked out very well. It worked out really well and it was fun. Now, let me say this real quick before we get to the other stuff because it's kind of silly for me,

first time talking to you guys, since my appearance on Bill Simmons pod, to not acknowledge my shockingly, and I mean it shockingly. viral take of us. Hey, a few years from now, what if we did white guys versus black guys? So I am aware that that took on a life of its own.

We are, my feelings on my own take have evolved. Okay. For reasons that I will explain later in the show when we bring back really a classic old what's right. segment, Nick Wright

Public Defender. So I am not running from that. I also don't want to do it right here. We will do it later. And we will discuss that there. Let's get to some of the All-Star follow-ups. Did you feel like this is a passing of the Torch moment for the stars, young stars and the strikes? Well, I mean,

it didn't, in real time, it didn't feel like that because it felt like Kauai, who is not, I mean, who is not as old as the, you know, Braun, Steph, KD, but he is close to their age than the young guys. Kauai was the star.

Right. And then because the old guy's team didn't win, he couldn't be MVP, but he had 31 points in the quarter. Honestly, Kauai doing all that makes Nikola Yokch look even worse. I know Kauai, he's never been the type to not care about basketball, but I don't know, him taking it seriously and going crazy. He took it seriously. Now, he

also was in his arena. You know what I mean? So that, but the, Kauai's 31 point quarter. It's pretty unbelievable. And unlike some of the All-Star games in the last decade, like when AD had 50

or the other crate, when Steph shot 283s or something, these were contested. These were difficult shots. These were with the other team trying to stop him with, that was against is that against, I can't remember

if that was against Team World or against the other U.S. team, but whoever it was, I think was Team World, they were they were trying to win the game and that was a close game down the stretch late and Kauai was just sensational um all right next what tweaks would you make to the U.S.

versus world format? I I think they're and they I don't know if I can call this unintentional or happy accident or something that they they didn't announce that the two U.S. teams were going to have distinct feels to them like the old guys, young guys.

But that's definitely what it should be. Like if you're going to have these three different eight person teams, then there should be something delineating. It's not a continuation of the other team. Right. Delineating the two American teams. So I don't, you're not always going to be able to go old, young. I don't know. Like, so maybe you do east west sometime.

Maybe I'm not sure, but I like there being a, you know, a. theme, if you will, of of the two different U.S. teams. And so I, listen, the NBA needed a good weekend. The, the pod that I did

last week with Bill really did, and this is credit to Bill, not me, set the tone for a week of heavy NBA criticism about tanking and about the major issues facing the league. And so to have a win and to have it highly rated and to have people care and to have

the games be good and like was a needed victory for a league that has by its own doing, taking some, taking some PR hits. They're about to lose a bunch of their guys. Well, that's the other piece. that does the biggest stars and that is the other big problem for the league that they don't right now have a solve to and they're

hoping Wimby will solve it but right right now the single most famous basketball player under the age of 35 years old is Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark is the most she is I think you disagree with me I honestly thought it would have been Wimby I don't think. So I don't think your sisters. No, no Wimby. And if they do,

they're like, oh, is he the really tall? Right. They have an opinion on Kate Ler Clark. Like, and so, and maybe,

so maybe it, Wimby is close, but I, I think that the, the most famous, the three most famous basketball players right now are 41-year-old LeBron James

and then 37-38-year-old Stefan KD. And so that is like Anthony Edwards, Luca, Yokic, Janice, those guys have not ascended to that level. But that's an issue for the NBA for another day.

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invent it we just contributed to it first people to do podcast. 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.

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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. 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,

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Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, DeMonte, let's go to a little NFL. Yesterday, the Dolphins released Tyree Kill. If you remember, they traded five picks for him years ago. Somebody predicted what his next move may be if this were to happen. Yes.

Let's take a listen. A year ago, I believe Tyree Kill is going to play another football game for the Kansas Chiefs. That I'm very excited for Tyree Kill wearing a Chiefs uniform in 2026. Maybe that's enough to get Kelsey to come. come back for one more year. A little final Tyreek and Kelsey right off in the sunset together. Yeah.

I think that's absolutely on the board. I'm a little less excited now than I was then. Understandably so. So listen, since those comments, Tyreek has had more really ugly, off the field allegations. I can't, but they feel like heavier than allegations,

lighter than, you know, out and out convictions. But there is a lot of reason to believe that he continues to be a bad actor off the field. A lot of reason to believe that. So that's the human element. The football element, which is not as important, but should be acknowledged, a normal football player, He's suffered a catastrophic knee injury, and there is a lot of reason to believe he will not be close to the same guy. Especially to reheal.

Right. The guy relies on his speed like that. It's speed, his ability, his acceleration, his raw naked athleticism. With all that said, I would imagine, and I do think he wants to come back. And I would imagine the chiefs would take him back at a very, very discounted rate. Even if it's just for a year for him to see if he can be the rare wide receiver that in his 30s after a bad injury can still cash in again. But it is not as exciting of a proposition for any reason as it once. was and it is the that the chiefs do need to be careful on I'm not naive it's pro football there

you know you're not going to have a team full of Walter Payton man of the year winners I get that but that wide receiver room can get a little Harry on you quick and I feel I am I am a big what I've said before and I have to be

consistent on it is for anybody in almost any setting I will give you just in my again let me back up a little bit quickly in order, there's the standard to have your liberty taken away from you and to be imprisoned.

And that is beyond a reasonable doubt. And, you know, that is the bedrock of our jurisprudence system of all of that. That is not the standard for, you know, if people believe you did or didn't do something. You know what I mean? What you're, you know, gun to your head, do you think he did it or not? Yeah. That is not beyond a reasonable doubt. That is just what you think.

So I am at this moment I am not talking about guys going to jail I'm talking about what I think of the people And my general standard is And people might say You know it doesn't have to be your standard It's mine

If the if you are accused of almost anything Once I will tend to be like Yeah I don't know I the who knows But the most moment you get accused a second time, I tend to believe you've done it. And I think that's, I think that's reasonable.

Yeah. I think that is, I know that that is not, it is just a, it is not a hard and fast every single time rule, but it is my general feeling is I will, I will believe in your, in it, I don't even know if it's believe in your innocence. I won't assume you did what you're accused of if it's a one-off accusation. But the moment it becomes multiple, particularly, and this is the key point for some guys, if it's multiple from different parties, then I have a very hard time. I'm like, no, you probably did that.

Right. And again, some guys are victims of massive conspiracies. I'm not saying in there. So just to be clear, this is not the standard for someone to go to jail. This is the standard for a Nick Wright's brain. Do I think? Do I trust him or do I? And so I just think, so I think that's a tricky spot for the chiefs because I don't think the chiefs don't have a lot of guys on the team who've been accused of bad stuff.

But the guys who have been play the same position. Yeah. And it's the position that Tyree plays and that's a tricky spot. Would you say Tyreek Hill was less out of the limelight when he was on the chiefs? I would say like, well, be it more. Well, he had got in a, he had got in a lot of trouble in college, which is why he was a fifth round pick. It's why, and what he got in trouble for in college was ugly stuff. And so he did seem to, for the most part, seemed like he was on, you know, his best behavior was trying to get paid.

He was playing great. He did, though, as a chief early, relatively early, once he become a superstar, have a really, really awful allegation. that seem to be disproven by audio. And so that again maybe goes against the thing I was saying. But now there's just a lot of stuff that makes you feel like as a teammate. I was just about to say it's not even the off the field stuff, even all in the field. And so it's, you know, there can be a lot of moral bargaining you do with yourself when it comes to rooting for pro football. teams.

All I've ever said is I owe the audience honesty and people can judge me for it. It's fine. And this is the own, the bargaining that I'm doing in my own head as far as what I think is going to happen there. All right. Let's the, hold on. I want to the, so the, I think, let's do the chief's odds question real quick. The Chiefs are currently plus 1,500 to win the Super Bowl.

They're tied for seventh. How do you think their odds would change if they got to read? I don't think it would change at all. What will change the Chief's odds and what will make them the fourth favorite, it will be Seattle, the Rams Buffalo will be the top three. And the Chiefs would jump to number four would be the report that Patrick Mahomes is going to play week one. Right now, the Chief's odds are ahead. as far as

the Chief's odds are where they should be if Mahomes is going to have his first start of the year in week four. He's going to miss first three games. If he's going to play week one, they should be better. If he's going to miss the first six weeks, they should be worse.

And so right now it's kind of a hedge for that. But the Tyreek would not significantly change that at all. All right, next. The Dolphins cut. a handful of players. Do you think Tua is next? I think with Tariqio being cut, that Tua is probably not going to be cut.

Tua's contract is so tricky. Okay. And it's the problem for them is keeping him more guarantees vest for future guarantees. He has no trade value because of the contract. But if you cut him, they haven't, I don't. even it's whether you split it over two years or one it's 98 million dead money it's a

catastrophe and so maybe what they'd have to do is trade if and if they trade him it's only only 45 million in dead money maybe you could trade him and a draft pick to get someone to take on the deal it's a very very tricky spot, but I don't think he's going to be this for one way or another. I don't think he's going to be the starter for the Miami Dolphins next year. I don't think they can let more guaranteed money vest in his deal. All right, before we move on, let me tell you guys about my friends at Mars men. Most men start losing testosterone at around age 30, about 1% every year after that.

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Number one is, to me, is Jason Tatum's comeback. It seems like he is coming back. And there is, I don't want to read too much into some of the Jalen Brown stuff. I don't want to read too little into the Jalen Brown stuff. He, you know, Jalen Brown tweeted the side by side of their record at the Ulster break last year. And then this year, he was an Instagram, he was then asked about it. He was like, I just want to, you know, I was just trying to promote our guys. I think that's true. I also think there is a, it's just no.

It's always been a weird. Yeah. It obviously works. They won a championship. 100%. And they're great players. Um, but it. doesn't feel like there is ever been a fully,

there has been a defined pecking order. I don't know if there's been a fully accepted pecking order. And now when Tatum comes back in the short term, Brown will be better. Like Tatum is going to take some time to ramp up, take some real time to get back to his old self, and the team's playing really well. So that is a tricky spot just real quick.

but the Celtics as presently constituted have no chance of winning the championship. Oh, yeah, the champion. No chance of winning the championship. If Tatum can ramp up even to 80% of himself. That's the exact number I was thinking. By the playoffs. Then they're a real threat.

So you've got to bring, if he wants to come back, you've got to bring him back. But that's the number one storyline I'm watching for the league the rest of the year is the Tatum comeback. Did you want to say something more on that? No, it was just because I was saying, what percentage do you think he need to be at to take over the East? But 80%.

Yeah, I mean, listen. I think this, I, this, if he didn't come back, the Celtics would have a chance. They would not be my pick, they're not my second big. They would have a chance of winning the East. 100%.

But they would have no chance of winning the championship. I guess, you know, barring this. some weird catastrophe on the team that wins the West, like in the, you know, their best guy goes down in the conference final, something like that. But with Tatum,

you would have a real shot. All right, so that's storyline number one. Storyline number two is, were the thunder, did the thunder get bored, or did those losses to the spurs make them a little,

not ruin them, but vulnerable. Right. And are they going to be the first team to defend their championship since the Steph KD Warriors and the first team to come close to defending their championship since Steph KD Warriors? Or are they going to follow the trend of this decade of defending champion

early in the year? It's defending its championship. Looks like they are obviously the best team only to not even come close to defending their title. So that's storyline number two is the defending champion. Storyline number three for me is Wimby and the Spurs. and how high can this thing go this quickly? Yeah.

Right? That seems like for you, it's very high on your life. I like me a lot. He's a crazy league player, but yeah, no, I'd say it's up there.

He's 22, he's in year three. It's just a freaking age. And we've never seen him in the playoffs. Yeah. Like, it's not his fault. Like the,

but so seeing him in the playoffs, seeing this Spurs team that is ahead of schedule, how high can, you know, can they win the championship they can uh james hardin postseason oh that's interesting they sit on the calves so that to me is not a top five

storyline just because i just know how that's going that story's going to end uh number four is joker and this nuggets team can can they operate as if they have the best player in the world on the team Yes. And make, and go, like, go.

They can win the championship. And if they do, you know, we're going to talk in Thursday's mailbag episode of where Joker is historically. They win the championship. And all of a sudden, he's sitting in the room with Wilk Chamberlain and Larry Bird. And then the, I mean, the amount of guys that have multiple chips in the league right now are very little. Oh, that's a great point. Well, I guess like you have all of the warriors that are still playing. But if you like guys, you have a guy, Yokic's age or younger.

Right. That have multiple rings. It would just be him. Like again, if we're not talking about role players, like. Exactly. The big guys. Right. Yeah, because Braun's got four.

He's obviously super old. Katie's got two. He's way older. Steph, Clay, Draymond have four. They're older. Yeah, no, that's the kind of the fallout of teams not repeating. And then number five storyline is, I'll just do one negative one, I guess. And I don't want to belabor this point.

But what is the NBA going to do about the tanking and what reforms are going to be put in place? Yeah. Because you've got a quarter of the league. wanting to lose, and that's not tenable. Just not tenable. I saw, well, so Colin made a point yesterday. What if the teams are bad, you know, they're just bad. And it's like, how do we retool?

Yeah. You know, like in, well, yes, I understand that. But you cannot create a situation where the smart thing for teams to do is to sit their best players and lose games. Yeah. It's bad for the league. That's just not a viable business month. Right. The fact that everyone agrees, it would be dumb for Milwaukee to play Janus again this year is bad for the league.

You know what I mean? The fact that the jazz traded for Jaron Jackson Jr., and before he ended up having the surgery, everyone was like, I like that trade. But they probably don't want to win this. year. So what is that, you know, like Anthony Davis and Tray Young get traded to the Wizards. And everyone's like, you know, that's good for them next year. But this year they don't want to win. Those things, that's always the narrative. That's not good. That's just not good. And that is, it is the job of the commissioner to figure out how to realign those incentives. Just, just flatly.

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And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name? name Hey Jonas, guys. I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, 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 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. 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. Jen, she win. 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, Lena Rubakina 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 of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

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So this next segment is going to be called Nick's Fix. We're going to present to you some problems around the NBA, and you present a fix for it. Do you want to skip this first one? No, go ahead. We can do it all. Yeah, so Tanking was the Big Talk All-Star Weekend. It seems like Adam Silver wants to make a change.

Well, how would you go about fixing this? I think there are, listen, this is something a lot of people spend a lot of time on, so I don't want to spend a ton of time on it. But to me, there are two simple, and they are different, but simple solutions that I think Adam Silver could just do by edict. Number one is, if the commissioner believes you are not doing everything you can to win games, he has, in his authority, with, give him, one warning, you now pick last in the draft.

I don't, Utah, your pick is now 30 if you do that shit in the fourth quarter again. Yeah. Like that, that, and we will give you a one warning. Now, that does not mean you are allowed to, before the season, trade away your best players. You can build a team that you're like. You're like, we're tanking with this team. Right. Everybody's going to play.

But everybody, our season ticket holders knows on the roster. Right. And we are going to try to win games, even if we realistically can't win a lot because, you know, we're a young, I mean, you don't have to all of a sudden go sign big free agents that aren't going to help you win a championship. But once your roster is set and you can also trade away your best, you can do those things. But you have to do everything in your power to win games and play your players when they're healthy. That's one solution. The other one is simply this. the 10 teams that are not in the play-in or the playoffs,

the 10 non-playoff teams, they all have the exact same lottery outs. They are all at 10%. And if we believe you at the end of the year are tanking out of the play in, like you could be a play-in team and you're tanking out of it to get one of those 10% chances, we will have no mercy on the penalty we will levy against you.

And so like those those things to me, there's more convoluted ways, but I think those are two pretty easy to digest fixes. All right, next. LeBron is out of the race for any postseason awards, but I mean, it's not as big for him as other guys. Like Yolk it, Steph, and Wembe are all getting close to being out to. As somebody who cares about the history of the all NBA teams,

Would you make any changes to the 65 game rule or do you think it's fair? So listen, I will just give Simmons credit on this. Simmons said it should have been 65 games or 2,000 minutes. And I think that's super smart. I think that the, I think that that is a great fix for it. 2,000 minutes would be, you know, nobody plays 40 minutes a game anymore, but 50 games at 40 minutes a game. 60 games. If you played 60 games and you played 34 minutes a game, then you'd be at least eligible.

And that to me is- Yeah, Yokeage wouldn't be in the... Correct. And I also think that you maybe should have, at the commissioner's discretion, the ability to waive it for single injury instances. So let's say Joker, who ends up, he missed a month with one injury. Right. If a guy misses, you can only miss 17 games.

If a guy misses 16 games for one injury and plays in 62 of the other 66, I think the commissioner should be able to say at the end of the year, he's eligible. The idea was to prevent load management, resting guys, all this stuff. The idea was not to penalize great players who sprain a knee. Exactly. And I do care about it doesn't actually impact the MVP stuff as much as people think. think, because it's very, very, very rare. Somebody's in contention for MVP that's in that situation.

Exactly right. You have to go back to like Bill Walton to find an MVP that played under 60 games. Usually guys just get eliminated from being the MVP of the league if they didn't play enough by default. But it matters a lot for all NBA. It matters a lot for some of the other stuff. Go ahead and ask follow-up here. SGA is out with injury. If it lingers in both he and Yokic are out of the MVP race,

who would you pick for MVP? I mean, I think Jaylen Brown. I think Jalen Brown's got a real shot. Yeah. I think Cade would have a shot. I don't think it's going to be Luca. I think Jalen Brown would have a real shot at. Yeah.

I mean, who? I think SGA is... Who's beating him? Who's beating Jailen Brown right now? Well, so Yokitin SGA are the obvious ones. With those two... But if those two guys are out... Right.

I mean, Luca would have a shot and Cade would have a shot. But I think Jalen Brown is... I mean, the Celtics have been excellent, and he's been great. He's just been great. All right, next. The dunk contest. It was a disaster again. How could we figure out a way to change the dunk contest?

Fix that. I don't have a way to fix it. Yeah. I don't have a way to fix it. And I do, I think we reached the pinnacle of what, I just don't think there are. Oh, how many more dunks are there, right? That's what I mean. I think we have, human beings have not evolved fast enough.

to outpace how many of the dunks have been used up. Like the only frontier left is up. And the only front tier left is a front flip dunk. And I think we are decades from a person being able to do it. So I don't have a fix there. All right. Let's do Nick Wright Public Defender. So it's been a while.

We haven't done this. I don't know if we've done this since I've been out in L.A. But we're going to bring back Public Defender. I do not have the wig. Yeah, I know. So first off, we're going to start off with Katie, starting off with a man who once called you Nikki. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

Kevin Durant had 12 points and 12 hours of screen time on his phone after getting caught for having another burner. A counselor, defend your client, Kevin Durant. So before I jump into character, again, if people are new to this, this is me doing the job of a public defender, which is defending my client, whether or not I believe he is guilty. or not. And just sidebar on this real opinion before I get

to Public Defender. This is so much bigger for KD than the previous burner account stuff. And it's because of if it's real, the shit talking on

Shingoon and his current team is catastrophic. Yeah. And it's just really like you're supposed to be like a vet. You're a veteran present. veteran presence, a leader, the final piece. It is, it, again, if this is real, it legitimately damages his team's chance of winning

the championship, which is a shame. Okay, so like that is, that's my real opinion. Now, Kevin Durant public defender, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it wasn't him. what's your evidence it was honestly follow the tweets what is the sourcing any of these allegations really have what that some he once tweeted an eagle

and this guy has the eagle headline that somebody once said when are you going to be back and it was around the same time Kevin my client was dealing with an injury what who credible has said I'm in the group chat

I'm on the record I know Kevin Durant that's him the answer is nobody it is a lot of smoke none of it was him with that set he did come up

with calling Russell Westbrook a triple double cocaine bear that was him the rest of it was not him I rest my case that's that's my Dude, out of all guys, man, Russ, come on, man. Triple-double cocaine bears is one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

That's, I mean, it just flatly was. Go ahead. Two weeks after shoving Washington's beloved mascot, G-Wiz, Jackson Hayes disappointed big time with a very pedestrian dunk. Counselor Defend your client, Jackson Hayes. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I would love to tell you that the fact that the prosecution brought up my incident, my client's incident with G-Wiz should be stricken from the record and it does not apply here.

But I'm in fact glad they brought it up because that was the cause of this entire debacle. My client, who a few weeks back famously, was just trying to playfully mess around with a mascot and found himself suspended and potentially being sued for an honest mistake. while he was approaching what should have been his free throw line dunk out of the corner of his eye saw another mascot and was so worried that the momentum from a free throw line dunk could lead to another G-Wiz style mishap he pulled up lame honestly

sacrificing his own pride and reputation for the safety of an unnamed furry friend and therefore I simply you know I to the mercy of the court I would I would only ask that his actions in the dunk contest be remembered when you guys are

a different jury is deciding how guilty you was for the unfortunate gee whiz incident I rest my case last week your client went on Bill Simmons podcast and pitched a radical fix the all-star game counselor to find I mean Defend your client, Nick Wright's Con Cunupple-based All-Star solution.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the obvious defenses, once the NBA itself opens the door to the All-Star game, teams are going to be determined by nation of birth. it is not a radical change to say are there other demographic indicators that we could use to determine the team you're on? Be no different than saying we are going to have a 6-5 and under and 6-5 and over.

We are going to have left-handed right-handed. We are going to have white-black. There's a long list of things that once the league itself determines we are not basing this on NBA conference affiliation, but instead, inherent demographic traits,

they have opened the, the, you know, metaphorical Pandora's box. With that said, my client would like to say something in his own defense. So now on me.

When I mentioned white guys versus black guys, on the Bill Simmons podcast as an All-Star take. It was tongue-in-cheek with a hint of honesty as far as we might be approaching a place in a few years where for the first time in nearly 50 years, if not longer, that would be a competitive game. So it was a little funny, a tiny bit serious.

It was all of it. However, I had an incident outside of an In-N-Out burger two days ago that made me rethink my position. And that incident was, as I was leaving in-and-out burger, a young man who I don't know, but I am just certain I would hate positive of it. I had a three-second interaction with him, and I'm like, I don't like you. I don't like what you represent. I don't like who you are. I can tell I don't like your old tweets. I can tell I don't like you.

Some frat, bro, felt 20 years younger than me. Ran up to me as I was leaving the In-N-Out burger and said, Bro, the white-black all-star game? Greatest fucking idea. ever heard. That'll do it. And I was like, you know what? I don't like my take anymore. So I, why I appreciate my lawyer's defense of me, I don't deserve it. Folks that came out and said, we are not currently in the correct racial or political climate for that game to be appropriate. while at first I thought everyone was being a little too dramatic.

That moron that ran up on me and loved it so much made me decide I don't like the idea anymore. Based purely on my gut instinct on anything that gets that person that excited, I want to be on the opposite side of. So I plead guilty. And that is today's what's right. See you guys on Thursday. 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 get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Other 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, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Turn someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio. Non-stop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now.

Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your hardest hit, it's when things seem worse that you must not quit. Don't quit. Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free. Have a great day. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021.

And I'm Kunky, his best friend, and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts.

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