The Kevin Sheehan Show - Aiyuk's Angle

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

Kevin opened the show with his reaction to Brandon Aiyuk going public over the weekend with three different social media posts. Kevin had thoughts on Friday night's NBA Finals Game 2 and previewed tonight's Game 3. The Ringer's Joe House joined Kevin with his thoughts on Brandon Aiyuk to the Commanders along with plenty of NBA Finals discussion.    For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match   Get 20% off your first order at www.FastGrowingTrees.com with code [Sheehan].   Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to www.Quince.com/SHEEHAN for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.   Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Head to www.Chime.com/SHEEHAN. It only takes a few minutes to sign up.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I've got one guest on the show with me today. My friend Joe House from the Ringer will join me later on in the show. We'll talk Brandon Ayuk in the three social media posts that IEuk provided for all of us over the weekend. And, of course, we'll talk NBA finals with Joe.

Game 3 looming tonight at what should. be a madhouse, Madison Square Garden. The show's presenting sponsor is always Windonation, 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com, if you need new windows. This from Lyle to open up the show. Lyle writes, Kevin, I'm interested why you haven't talked about the best free agent wide receiver culture fit for our football team. His name is Keenan Allen.

He's a professional wide receiver, and he'd be a perfect compliment to McLaurin on a one-year deal. You and everybody else have talked a lot about IUC and Diggs, and neither one is a good fit for a Dan Quinn locker room. Lyle, I have mentioned Keenan Allen. Not a lot, but I know I've mentioned Keenan Allen a few times since, you know, free agency began back in March. a huge Keenan Allen fan over the years. I loved the combination of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams for all those years with Philip Rivers primarily, but even Justin Herbert as well. But there are a few reasons why Keenan Allen isn't someone that I think the team's interested in right now. And right now would be the time because he is 34 years old. So his career is

winding down for sure, even though he had a pretty productive season last year. But the reason that they wouldn't be interested in a Keenan Allen is that he's a possession receiver. He's always been a possession receiver. You know, Ayuk is a true stretch-the-field receiver. I think Diggs can still be that, you know, even though he's not as much of that as he used to be. Keenan Allen at 34 has never been a stretch the field, scare you deep receiver. He wasn't that at 24 years old. What he's always been is really good as a route runner, really good with his hands.

He's got very good size. His football IQs always been very high. And he's been a total pro his entire career. you'd have the least amount of diva wide receiver in one wide receiver room in NFL history if Keenan Allen joined Terry McClorn in Washington's wide receiver room. I mean, Keenan Allen is a pros pro, like Terry is. Last year, by the way, in Los Angeles with the Chargers after he went to Chicago for a year, he was the most targeted receiver for the Chargers and Justin Herbert.

122 targets in 2025. 81 catches 777 yards. So just 9.6 yards per catch. I mean, that's kind of been him throughout his career, four touchdowns last year for the Chargers. I'm not so sure that they don't feel like Allen is what they have in Trailing Berks. You know, that's the kind of receiver that Berks would love to become. you know, a Keenan Allen type using his size, his hands, his route running ability versus being a true

scare you deep threat. By the way, on Keenan Allen, and I looked this up, Lyle, after I got your email, he's currently just 22 catches away from being in the top 10 all time in receptions. He's currently 13th all time with 1,055 catches. He's 48 catches away. Listen to, to this. He's just 48 catches away. He had 81 last year. He's 48 catches away from moving into the top five all time in receptions. He has not signed with anybody yet. I would assume somebody would sign him. I think with all of these veteran receivers this time of year, they're waiting as much as teams are trying to sign them. They don't want to show up at OTAs or mini camps. They'd rather have the full off season and then show up for training camp after they've signed with somebody.

But I would assume Keenan Allen will end up on somebody's roster. And how about that? 48 catches away from the number five spot on the reception list all time. That's pretty impressive. By the way, in terms of reception yards, he's 671 yards away from the top 25 in all-time receiving yards. If he gets to 671, he will pass and move into number 25 on the list. He'll pass one James Arthur Monk.

Art Monk is 25th all time in reception yards. Keenan Allen has had a very good career. Has it been a Hall of Fame career? I don't think so. But, you know, his Hall of Fame candidacy, would be an interesting conversation because if he ends up in the top five all time on the receptions list, add to that fastest NFL receiver to a thousand catches in NFL history. I don't think of him as a Hall of Famer. I don't.

But he's had an excellent career. In fact, it's kind of comparable to Art Monk's career. I think, you know, Art Monk played in an era where you didn't quite throw it as much, which is why he doesn't have the same number of catches, but Art Monk at one point was the all-time reception's leader. But with all that said, and all of those nice things said about Keenan Allen, I don't think Washington's in the market for that kind of receiver. They need more stretch the field ability. and a healthy Brandon Ayyuk with 2023 ability

would fill that you know deep threat playmaking need but with Brandon Ayyuk there appear to be many many issues as we have discussed so let's get to him

and his weekend activity for those of you who don't know I will share with you his three Instagram posts, including his Instagram video. But just to catch everybody up to speed in case you haven't been paying attention to the last week, last week he was, you know, there was an arrest warrant issued for a misdemeanor traffic violation from December when he was speeding outside of Levi Stadium. and I still think it's a bit odd that this arrest warrant didn't happen until now, but it didn't.

And then last week he posted on Instagram himself in a Mercedes speeding around an actual race track, so that's legal. And then we get to this past weekend. Man was my phone blowing up all weekend long with, did you see what brand? Iyuk, Instagram. Did you see the follow-up to the first one? Did you see the video? So let's go through it because he was busy this weekend. The first social media post on Instagram that Brandon Ayuk sent out was a picture of himself. He's looking into a mirror. He is shirtless and he is wearing a Washington commander's baseball cap. The burgundy baseball cap with the W on it.

That was the first post. He followed that up with a second Instagram post. This second Instagram post was him with a commander's baseball cap on. He's holding a football, and there's a message attached to this one. The message reads, X the cap. The cap is actually an emoji. The gig is up. Now, what that apparently is a reference to, thanks to one of my sons, is a reference to the current rivalry between Drake and Jay-Z.

Drake has taken shots at Jay-Z with his latest music, his latest album, Ice Man, which I think came out maybe two months ago, something like that. But essentially what he is saying is stop the BS 49ers. The gigs up. You know, you're not being honest. It's time to release me and let me go play with my good friend from Arizona State, Jaden Daniels. All right. So those were the first two posts. They were pictures with a message on the second post.

The third post was an Instagram video where basically we hear Brandon Ayuk's voice for the first time in a while because he's pretty much been missing in action. He's been absent without leave for a long time now. So this is Brandon Ayuk's voice and currently what he's thinking about his situation. Here it is. We're dealing with, you know, like them kids and they don't get picked for the basketball game at the court. But they're the ones that brought the ball. So they're like, all right, you don't want to pick me?

I'm taking my ball. I'm going home. As boys, little ass boys. Like, when your kid, he got this one toy. But he don't really know how to use it. So somebody else about to pick it up and play with it. And they're like, oh, yeah, this shit, lady. And they're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on.

That's my toy. Ass boy, little ass boy. Man, stop running from the belt. The belt coming. You're scared. They're scared. The truth is they're scared. They know how I get.

They're going to say, oh, yeah, B.A. B.A. B.A. did this. B.A. did that. You know that shit allegedly. Allegedly. But what they're not going to say is B.A. Suck at football because they know how I get.

And they're running from that belt that's on the way. It's inevitable. It's coming. Stop running. Stop being a female dog. All right. That was Brandon Ayuk's message via Instagram over the weekend. As a public service announcement, I'm going to provide some analysis of what you just heard.

And the analysis starts with just a brief summary of what he said, because I think this message that he provided, the first time we've heard from him, anybody's heard from him publicly in a long time, can really be split into two parts. There were two themes to the message. Theme number one is the 49ers are children. They are petty.

little children, or as he says, little ass boys. And of course, that makes him the adult. And then theme number two, or the second part of his message is that he's coming for them. The belt is coming. And by that he means he'll be back. And he'll be back in a Washington uniform on Monday night, October 19th, when Washington plays the 49ers. in Santa Clara. Yeah, remember, the schedule includes a week six trip to Santa Clara to face the 49ers

on Monday night football. So going through it a little bit play by play style, you know, he starts with this, you know, analogy, you know, they're like kids, they don't get picked for the basketball game, but they're the ones that brought the ball. You don't want to pick me, I'm going to take my ball home. So he's saying to the 49ers, you're children. He calls them ass boys, little ass boys. And then he uses the toy analogy, same thing. He's describing the 49ers as children with the way they are handling him right now. And then we get to the second part where he says, quote, man, stop running from the belt.

The belt is coming. You scared, they scared. Truth is, they scared. they know how I get. They're going to say, oh, yeah, B, A, B, A, B.A. B.A did this. B.A. did that. B.A. did. You know, that shit allegedly, allegedly, he says. But what they're not going to say is that B.A. suck at football.

Because they know how I get. And they're running from that belt that's on the way. It's inevitable. It's coming. Stop running. Stop being a female dog. Stop being a little cat. Stop running from the belt.

Um, yeah. So, that's, that's the, uh, that's the, uh, that's the analysis slash translation of the Brandon Ayuk message. Look, you know, when he says allegedly, I'll start there. When he says allegedly, BA did this, BA did that allegedly. The only thing we know about this situation is that somewhere between $27 million and maybe as much as $40 million of guaranteed contract money was voided from the deal because he didn't do what he was supposed to do contractually. He says allegedly, allegedly. If he did do what he was supposed to do contractually, wouldn't we see a fuller, fight for the money. I've talked about this now for three or four months, maybe even longer than that.

The voiding of guaranteed money is nearly unprecedented. Certainly the amount is totally unique. First time ever that much money's been voided from a contract because somebody violated the contract. if it was just allegedly and he didn't do anything wrong, where are his lawyers? Where is the NFLPA, the union to fight for that money? Maybe they're going to do that. Maybe that's coming. Maybe that's part of the belt that's coming. Maybe he's going to get that money back.

Maybe the union hasn't said anything because of maybe a number of reasons. I don't know. But usually you don't have that money. sucked away from you without an immediate response from the player, the player's agent, the players' attorneys, the union. The union doesn't want something like that to ever happen. We haven't heard boo from the union. That's the only thing we truly know about this weird situation is that he had the most money in NFL history voided from his deal, guaranteed dollars voided, and there's been no fight to get it back.

Now, as far as, you know, the first part where he essentially paints the 49ers as the children in this. Look, the only time we're hearing from this dude now over the last, last couple of years has been, you know, the immature behavior during his contract negotiation in the summer of 2024 and now this immature behavior. An adult is not going to handle it this way. An adult is going to handle it differently. Does he actually think this will work, that this will get the 49ers off their asses to say, oh, you're right, we're being too petty. Maybe there is some pettiness associated with this. Maybe there is some immaturity associated with this on the team's part. There is definitely some immaturity on his part.

He's been immature publicly since those contract negotiations back in 2024. If he thinks this is the best way to get them to do something, I'd be, maybe he does. Maybe he was waiting until the June 1st, you know, and he saw that they weren't going to release him post June 1st. Now, they could have released him prior to June 1st with a June 1st. designation. But maybe this is why he is now speaking. Maybe it's because of the arrest warrant. Who knows? But, you know, it's immature to be driving around the stadium at 100 miles per hour, posting it to YouTube. That's not only immature. That's stupid. For sure, that's stupid. And, and then basically, you know, calling them immature, calling them little ass boys,

I can't imagine with a group like John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. Let me just say this about Kyle. I've said this many times in the past. Look, the Shanahan's are tough. They're also really, really good at what they do. Mike is much different than Kyle in that he's really easy to have conversations with always has been. I think he always will be. Kyle always had a bit of an edge to him.

Kyle always had, I think, a very high opinion of himself. Might never really displayed that, not like Kyle has done. Now, Kyle is a great coach. Kyle's putting together a Hall of Fame career as a coach. Let's be honest about that. But there is definitely, you know, a way in which the 49ers do things with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. And I've said this many times previously.

If I'm the 49ers and I ended up paying Brandon Iyuk, because they've already paid him probably $40 to $50 million somewhere in that neighborhood with this contract. Yes, they got a lot voided, but they've also paid him a lot. And they've got nothing but, you know, four or five games before he got hurt in 2024 from him. And this relationship has obviously soured. he's immature. He is definitely a child. He appears to lack, let's just say, you know, some intellect. He's limited intellectually, you would think, just based on leaving that much money on the table. He's got that that's bad judgment, you know, best case, limited intellect, worst case. And then, you know, there could be too much ego here as well. All of it's not a great combination for, him. Now, where are we on Brandon Iyuk? Number one, let me just say this again. If I'm a 49ers fan, I don't want them to do him a favor by releasing him. I don't want to be at a competitive disadvantage with him signing in Washington before training camp begins. I want him to join Washington

at the last and latest possible date, which I believe would be September 1st, because I think that's when they actually owe him money. Now, he's on that reserved left squad list. If he would just show up, if he had shown up for OTAs, it may have forced the 49ers hand, you know, to either take him off that list, to cut him. They canceled their mini-camp. Let me just say this real quickly, because a lot of you think that they canceled the minicamp because of him. I doubt that's true. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You would not penalize yourself, punish yourself, and the other 89 players on your roster for him. He's already shown that he's unwilling to show up for anything

because he could have shown up for OTAs. He could have been a distraction there. And maybe he was coming to the mandatory minicamp, maybe because that was voluntary. He didn't show up. But he's had an opportunity to use, you know, his adult skills to force their hand a little bit. Maybe that'll happen at the beginning of training camp.

But if I'm a 49ers fan, I'm not doing Washington any favors, and I'm not doing him any favors. That's what I would be rooting for my team to do. We went through this together, remember, with Albert Hainsworth, with Donovan McNabb. Now, the skins were a shitty franchise, but they were, I felt like, in the right in both of those situations, certainly in the Hainsworth situation. And I didn't feel like they should do the right thing or do the plot. player any favors. They got a fifth rounder back from the Patriots for Hainsworth. And let's not forget, they got a sixth rounder back for Donovan McNabb. That sixth rounder became Alfred Morris.

Look, the 49ers are probably not going to get anything back for Brandon Ayuk. Nobody wants this person under his current contract. But you never know. A training camp, a team that's considered a contender, loses two, you know, big time receivers. They get desperate. They send a day three pick in a very, what people believe to be, a loaded 2027 draft. But if I were a 49ers fan, I wouldn't want Washington to get Brandon Ayuk until the latest possible time. And I'd want my team to exhaust all possibilities. Now, if he shows up at camp and it's a bit of a distraction with him being there,

and they're forced to take him off the reserve left squad list, I don't think a payment's due until September 1st, but then they potentially have him as part of their training camp. Would they want that? Probably not. But is he willing to show up? Because at this point, he has not been man enough to show up for anything. He was last with this team last preseason before he started to miss all of the mandatory

appointments and he went AWOL. Now, the story behind that, all of the details behind that, we don't know. I'll end it with this. Nothing for me has changed my mind that getting a healthy, both physically and mentally,

Brandon Ayyuk, that looks and resembles the 2023 Brandon Ayyuk, that would be a plus plus for this football team offensively. And at the end of the day, because none of us have enough information on this, I would still trust Adam Peters and company to cross every T and dot every I before doing anything.

If they deem him to be healthy physically and mentally, and they can get him on a no risk prove it deal. That's the key part of this, is that we're not talking about trading for the player. I am not in favor of trading for this player. I'm not in favor of giving this guy anything guaranteed. I'm in favor of a total prove-it deal with a low-based salary, heavy on incentives,

if he clears the physical doctors, you know, medical evaluation, and probably some sort of psychologist, along with all of the people that know him spending time with him, and they say, all right, we're okay going ahead in a no-risk environment. Because you can always cut him. If he ends up becoming a problem, you cut him. And you've got nothing that ties you to him other than a week-to-week base salary.

All right, there you go, the latest on Brandon Iuke. NBA finals, game three tonight, and the president. is going to the game. I'll have that next after these words from a few of our sponsors. I'll be honest. At first, I was skeptical about ordering plants online, like, is this thing actually going to show up alive? But that's what surprised me most about fast-growing trees. They don't just ship plants. They've built a whole system to protect them until they arrive at your door. Every plant is hand-picked and carefully inspected, and the packaging is designed specifically. And the packaging is designed specifically to keep it secure in transit so it doesn't get damaged.

And when mine arrived, it honestly looked amazing. The soil was still damp. The leaves looked healthy. It definitely didn't feel like it just came out of a box. Plus, every order is backed by their alive and thrive guarantee. So if anything does happen during delivery, they'll make it right. Fast-growing trees is America's largest online nursery, with thousands of trees and plants for every space and climate,

and they make it easy to get plants that actually work for your yard, and they're delivered right to your door. Right now, they've got great deals on spring planting essentials, and my listeners, get an additional 20% off your first order with code Sheehan at checkout. That's 20% off at fastgrowing trees.com with code Sheehan. Terms and conditions may apply. Hey, guys, it's great to have Quince back as a sponsor of the podcast this week. I'm a big fan. of Quince. You guys know that I just got back from Europe, took a vacation with the family to Italy. Quince's European linen pants and shirts are the perfect warm weather upgrade to add to your summer rotation. And they start at just $34, $34 for European linen pants and shirts from Quince. You know, summer changes the way we dress. We want pieces that feel lighter and

more breathable things that are easy, but still put together. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Think breathable linen, soft organic cotton, well-made basics, but without the luxury markup, it's that rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still effortless. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. And Quince goes way beyond clothing, custom upholstered sofas, ceramic, cookware, premium betting. It's the kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything.

Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash Sheen for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash Sheean for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash Sheen. Inbound. Fox gets it. Bridges on him. Four seconds. Fox, Cuenbignano, pulls up Jumper. One go, rebound, taken by Bacel. It's over. It's over. The Knicks survive.

This magic carpet ride continues. 13 straight victories, and they lead two nothing here with these NBA finals. Mike Breen with the call on Friday night in San Antonio. two goes to the Knicks, 105 to 104. Their role continues, and they're coming home tonight, up two games to none. This segment of the show is brought to you by, my good friends at My Booky. The World Cup makes everybody pick aside, and My Bookie lets you back yours. Yeah, the World Cup gets underway later on this week. Your country, your pick, your match.

This year, my bookie is rewarding players for backing select countries throughout the World Cup. So don't just talk about your team. Put it on the board. New players can use my promo code, DC Reload, to get their first bet covered up to $500 with a bet-back bonus. Make your first bet. and if it doesn't hit, you get it back when you opt in.

Grab your bonus now and get your club, the club you're backing, the country that you're backing, on the board. Better's win together at MyBooky. Go to mybooky.com or mybooky.orgie.ag for this World Cup opportunity. Use my promo code, DC Reload. So, Friday night's game two. Wow, another just physically intense basketball competition. I have enjoyed all of these playoffs.

The first two games of this series have been so, so physically demanding. I actually thought they crossed the line a little bit on Friday night, allowing way too much contact. This was a game that was officiated, I thought, in a one-state. sided manner. Now, the box score won't reflect that because statistically the Knicks, you know, committed 23 fouls, the Spurs just 20. There wasn't a massive disparity in free throw attempts. The Spurs had 27. The Knicks had 21. But the third and fourth fouls on Carl Anthony Towns were horrific. The allowed contact, especially against Jalen Brunson, I thought was over the top. If you

watch that game and you said, well, that's the playoffs. I know playoff basketball. I know what it looks like. And I'm all for it, by the way. It's not turning me off at all. But I did think that the allowed contact, especially on the perimeter. And it's been this way throughout the postseason. And I've commented on it a few times that this particular postseason, they've been allowing a lot more than just normal playoff basketball, normal playoff officiating. They've allowed a lot of physicality. We've seen it throughout the Western Conference Finals in particular with the Spurs in Oklahoma City, the Spurs in Minnesota, Minnesota and Denver early on. But the amount of contact that Jalen Brunson had to absorb on Friday night, I thought was too much. Stefan Castle's defense basically starts by picking him up

75 to 80 feet from the basket. Now, I actually really like the job Mike Brown's done. I'm not sure why he's got Jalen Brunson handling the basketball and bringing the ball up the court against that kind of pressure. Whoever Victor Wembenyama is guarding should be bringing the ball up the court.

Now, that might be Carl Anthony Town. So what? He can bring the ball up the court and then you can free up Brunson on a flare screen or a pin down or a down screen and let him catch the ball and have him catch the ball with, by the way, more time left on the shot clock, and 20 to 23 feet from the basket, 25 feet from the basket, because he's barely getting the ball over the timeline. He is wearing himself out. The spurs are wearing him out, and it's totally unnecessary. I would not be surprised if tonight we see somebody else bringing the ball up against full court pressure,

three-quarter court pressure rather than Jalen Brunson. It's unnecessary. It doesn't make any sense to me. Jalen Brunson is 19 for 56 from the floor in this series. 19 for 56. And yet they've won two games. He's been phenomenal down the stretch in these games, especially game one.

But they've won without their best player playing anywhere near his best. Carl Anthony Towns has been the best player on the floor, both teams in this series. But yeah, look, the other thing I wanted to say about this series before I get to tonight, you know, Victor Wembeñama is no doubt going to be an all-time great. But I do think that we have rushed, and I put myself into this group, we've rushed to a conclusion that not only is he going to be an all-time great, but he is in the the early stages of what will end up being the all-time greatest career. He has not played well in this series either game. Forget what it looks like statistically, and he was better in the

second half of game two Friday night than he's been at any point in this series. But he has not been great in this series. What he is for sure is he is an all-time difference maker on defense. We've never seen anything like him on defense. Somebody that can literally from around the rim influence shots, alter shots out to 15 feet, you know, 12 to 15 feet. We've seen him alter corner threes from the paint in one step because of his height and because of his wingspan. There is no doubt that defensively we are watching in the early stages of his career, someone who's going to be an all-time great

and probably the greatest defensive center that we've ever seen. He had 12 blocks in a playoff game. That was game one in the Minnesota series. They actually lost that game. Talk about a physical contest. That one was ridiculous. But Victor Wembeñama, offensively, is still very much a work in progress,

and there's not a lot of polish to his office. offensive game quite yet. Look, what he's doing at 7 foot 5, the way he handles the ball, the way he shoots, the way he shoots from behind the arc from 3, the way he shoots free throws, it looks like something we've never seen because we really haven't seen anybody. His size do it. But he's got a long way to go offensively before you would call him a great offensive player. I don't know why we don't see him with his back to the basket more than we do. I can't imagine that call it 38 minutes a night where most of the time when he touches the ball offensively, he is close to the basket rather than being out on the perimeter, which is a lot of what we see with him.

I can't imagine that anybody could stop him. They can't usually. Now, does he have a patented go-to move from the post? Not yet, but he doesn't really need one. You can't block his shot. He can reach over somebody and lay it in from almost 10, 11 feet out. I can't imagine that if they went exclusively to him on the post, that he wouldn't average well over 30 a game for them in the post season. I don't know why we don't see that a lot from him. But we don't. Look, the supporting cast for him is super young, and there's not another real legitimate big on the team, and the Knicks are taking it to him like no one has. It does make me, in watching the Knicks against the Spurs, it does make me believe, and I feel a little bit more stronger about this than maybe I did at the end of the series, that Jalen Williams included in the Western Conference Finals for Oklahoma City would have probably resulted in Oklahoma City being in these finals.

Injuries are a part of the game. They are part of the game. But not having him, you know, without question their second best player, because Chet Holmgren wasn't their second best player, that I think they would have prevailed. But, yeah, just a little bit, and I've been leading up towards that, this on Wembe and mentioned it a couple of times with Tommy. He is already an all-time great big defender, well on his way to perhaps being the greatest defensive center that we've

ever watched. But he is still awkward and a little bit at times too, you know, thrilled with his perimeter ability. And it is, you know, for his size, pretty unique. But, but But it's not, you know, unstoppable. And we've seen the Knicks be able to stop him and really take it to him as well. Game three tonight in what should be an insane asylum. I'm sure most of you know by now. President Trump will be the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals game. This is not political.

It's just my opinion. This is stupid. This is stupid and selfish at a high level. These fans have waited 27 years for this, and now they've got to be inconvenienced with the incredible amount of security it takes to make it a safe environment for the president to attend. First of all, this watch party that they've been having outside of Madison Square Garden for both home and road games.

That has to be moved, so the fans won't be allowed to do that. And they are telling fans, you've got to get here early. It is going to take a while to get into the arena. Absurd, completely absurd, that he's chosen to go to this game. There were plenty of opportunities earlier in the playoffs where it would have been much less of a disruption. But 27 years for the first finals game, and on the verge of taking a commanding lead,

trying to achieve something they haven't done since 1973. complete absurdity, in my opinion. Now, as far as the game goes, I expect San Antonio to play really well. I do. I think the key is they've got to get Wembenyama off in the first half. He's got to play good basketball in the first half, and I don't know how you do that other than feeding him the ball near the rim.

Get the ball to him on the block. Let him dominate the action from the block. maybe get Carl Anthony Towns if he's guarding him in foul trouble. Carl Anthony Towns hasn't been in foul trouble, although he did get into foul trouble in the second half of game two with some horrible calls. But it hasn't been a situation where he's had to sit for an extensive period of time. I don't know how San Antonio doesn't feed Wembe Nyama close to the rim early and often as a big part of the strategy to try to get them off offensively.

I don't know how much more they could do defensively. You know, the number one scorer for the Knicks is 19 to 56 from the field. I mean, you're not going to do much better than that defensively. From a Knicks standpoint, I don't have Brunson handling the basketball against full court or three-quarter court pressure. That seems ridiculous and totally unnecessary. But I would expect him to shoot better at home. and I would expect that their role players will play even better at home, and they've played great on the road.

Shamit's been incredible. Alvarado's been very good. McBride's been good. Robinson's been good. They held the lead and extended it, actually, I believe, late third quarter and early fourth on Friday night. The Spurs, you know, they haven't gotten great help from their role players. Carter Bryant, Kelton Johnson, Harrison Barnes.

We know that Dylan Harper comes in off. the bench, but he's not a role player. They need a lot more from the others, but Wembe Yama's got to get off and get off early. I think this has the makings of a potential, absolute knockdown, dragout war again with the Spurs having a legitimate chance to win the game. Look, they've had legitimate chances to win the first two. They blew a big lead in game one. They came back and had the opportunity before the late turnover in game two. I think the next are in good position to win this series because I think they're the better team.

I think they are the better team right now. But I expect San Antonio to play very well. I don't have a pick against the number or on the total. I did realize after leaving the studio on Friday that I never mentioned something that I teased, which is I was going to say Friday night's game that the over was my favorite wager of the night. That would have lost,

as did my selection of San Antonio laying the points. I don't like a side tonight, either Total or the game, but if you want to bet it, mybooky.ag or mybooky.com, promo code DC reload. All right.

Yeah, can't wait to watch tonight. Joe House from the ringer next, after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, it's great to have Chime back on the show as an advertiser this week. They've been periodically advertising for a few years, giving me an opportunity to tell you that Chime is changing the way people bank. And my younger self would have definitely benefited from using Chime. Chime is changing the way people bank by offering the most rewarding fee-free banking. Why pay fees on withdrawing your own money from an ATM? Well, with

Chime, they have thousands of fee-free ATMs. This is built for you, not the 1%. Chime members can benefit from up to $1,150 in annual rewards fee-free. Direct deposit unlocks the most rewarding way to bank at Chime, and you can get 5% cash back on a Chime card in a category of choice, like gas or groceries. With the card, you get savings that grow faster with a 3.75% APY. That's nine times higher than the national average. Plus, you get premium travel perks like airport lounge access and 24-7 travel concierge included with your Chime card. Chime is not just smarter banking.

It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free today. Head to chime.com slash shime. That is chime.com slash sheen. It only takes a few minutes to sign up. Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and Chime card provided by Chim's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated annual percentage yield and cashback for Chime Prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on a JD Power survey published October 20, 2025.

For more information on APY rates, my pay, spot me and travel perks, go to chime.com slash disclosures. This segment of the show brought you by Window Nation. Hot summer days in the DMV are never fun, but they're also expensive. If you live in a home where your air conditioner needs to stay on for you to stay cool. Older windows are typically the problem when that happens. My friends at Window Nation, they can fix that problem. And right now, they can fix that problem with their buy four, get four free sale.

That means you're paying half price for the windows you purchase. You get four free for every four you buy. Add to that, how about no down payment, no payments, and no interest for two full years. I promise you that if you give Windon Nation a shot, it'll pay off for you. It starts with a free in-home estimate. Call them at 86690 Nation to schedule one. You can also do the same at WindowNation.com.

Windonation, they are a proud partner of the Wounded Warrior Project. Joining me right now is my friend Joe House from the Ringer, at House from D.C., on X. Joe does so much for the ringer. He's got his podcasts, multiple podcasts, a golf podcast, a gambling podcast. He is very

much into these NBA playoffs, which we will get to here momentarily. But, you know, a big story here locally over the weekend was Brandon Ayyuk taking to Instagram. I don't know if you followed that at all. I probably

should have asked you before I asked you about it, but Instagramming out a video in which he admonishes the 49ers for being childish in the way they're handling him, but he was wearing a commander's hat in one of the pictures he took. Are you pro? Let's bring Brandon Ayuk in or not? Well, unfortunately, I did see that content from Mr. Ayuk. And not only in my own sort of native feeds, but it was sent to me many times over. Yeah, me too. And I would have preferred to have not seen it.

I would have preferred that he didn't do those things because on balance, it seemed like the cost-benefit analysis with I, yuk, was going to be in favor of the benefit, slightly in favor of the benefit, but he is in his own steadiness. here representing a rising cost. And I'm not sure why. How he thinks that's in his best interest.

I can't hope to get in the mind of a 20-something, you know, wide receiver who's achieved quite a bit. I mean, you know, he was pretty accomplished before he got hurt with San Francisco, but he's not played professional football, not one snap in going on two years now. and I thought that the idea of Washington taking a spin with him made sense. The pre-existing relationship between him and number five is important. The pre-existing relationship between Ayuk and Peters seemed like it could provide kind of a soft landing spot for him to give a try and rehabilitate both his reputation as a receiver

and his overall reputation as a professional athlete because he didn't cover himself in glory with the way that he and his camp handled his time with San Francisco and the end of that relationship. And it feels like self-defeating behavior to me, Kevin. So is it disqualifying for you? Are you done with him? No.

Yeah. If there's any evidence at all that he has the same burst that he has, that he's a vertical threat. I mean, this is why the NFL is such a unique animal. Maybe in any other sport, it would probably be disqualifying, but we tolerate so much with the NFL. Yeah, I mean, if we, if NFL teams constructed rosters eliminating players with bad judgment,

eliminating players with limited intellect, eliminating players with narcissistic tendencies, you wouldn't be able to put together a full roster. You know, talent always trumps. You know, it's the bad judgment that clearly is concerning, but there's so much we don't know. I've talked so much about this, as I'm sure you have as well. I think in my position as, forget the broadcaster talk show host part of it,

as a fan, I think I'm willing to just trust that Adam Peters and company will cross every T and dot every eye in making sure that he's physically ready and mentally stable enough to add some big upside for what should be a minimal, minimal risk. That's exactly my view. And in some ironic way, it's probably the case that he's helping Washington with the economic negotiation because this behavior tends to close off other avenues, potential competitors for his talent, you would think, right? Like, what fan bases are willing to take on a headache, there is a unique opportunity

for him with Washington. But if Washington is the only entity bidding on his services, and that should help the economics, I would think. Yeah, no doubt about it. You know, my good friend Ben Standing comes on with me on radio, twice a week, you know, reminded me of two things today. Number one, there's literally been no reporting on this situation, none other than the report that the Santa Clara Police Department are issuing, you know, a warrant for his arrest on a misdemeanor traffic charge. But literally,

nobody's reporting anything, which really indicates people really don't know much about this. What we do know is he essentially left, you know, he had between 20, and $40 million voided from his deal without any pushback from him, his representation, or the NFLPA. When the union doesn't go to bat for you in a situation like that, that's a pretty big tell. But he also reminded me of this, that if Washington didn't want the distraction of all of the conversation about this, they could easily leak to Adam Schaefter or, you know, Rappaport or anybody else, we're not interested at all.

And that hasn't happened, which tells me that there is still a pretty decent chance that once he does get released, he's going to end up here. What do you think? I totally agree. I think that's exactly the assessment. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised that there's been conversations, you know, leading up to now. And it just makes it extra curious that IUC felt like it was in his own best interest. interest to take to social media and start, you know, engaging in this display of his own rear end at this juncture.

Like, why not wait? Go ahead and sign up. Get a contract in place. Get released. Get a contract of Washington. And then go ahead on Instagram and do whatever weird thing you think is, you know, the owning of the San Francisco franchise. But I still, if this is it, right?

If Washington, he gets back channeled to him that nobody wants to see any more of this, and we can quietly enter preseason with him at a minimal cost, a reasonable cost, and it's going to be a show-me contract. I mean, it's not going to be that similar from the Debo contract, and then he's got to show us. And if he wants to be in the NFL, and if, you know, if he's any kind of semblance of the talent that he showed it in San Francisco, go, then he'll do it. And if not, they'll just cut them.

The last one on this is that if I gave you the option of Ayuk, prove it deal, Diggs, which will be a little bit more than maybe a prove it deal, we'll find out soon enough, or you're okay with doing neither which of those three options. Because by the way, I didn't include both because I honestly believe that if IUK is coming here, that Diggs would prefer to be somewhere else. That's my own personal belief that Diggs would want to go somewhere where he's a true one or one. A, you know, Diggs has never been anything but a one. You know, nothing but a one everywhere he has been. Adam Thielen was his best number two that he's ever played with. And I would see him seeking out somewhere else. So that's why I didn't give both as an option. So of the three options, which would you prefer?

Yeah, that's totally reasonable with respect to Diggs. And I honestly think I might be a little bit on an island with this. I think that Diggs is most effective as a possession receiver now. If you look at the decline in his, you know, average yards per route and the completions that he has, the yard is associated with his completions, I personally prefer Ayyuk. I think Ayyuk under a show-me kind of contract, he has the benefit of, youth. He has the benefit of a demonstrated, I mean, we're too far removed now from Diggs as a

vertical threat. So my preference is to take a spin with IUC, and I would not be interested at all in both. And it's not exactly the case that Diggs is headache-free, if you look at, you know, the extracurriculars surrounding him the last 12 months or so. All right. Let's get to the NBA finals with Joe, and we'll do that after these words from a few. of our sponsors. All right, let's continue with our friend Joe House from the Ringer, and let's talk NBA finals. If somebody came up to you and said, I didn't see game one or game two, Joe, tell me about

this series so far. What would you say? Very, very, very even. It's a very even series between the Knicks and the Spurs. The only real difference is the experience of the Knicks in closing out games in the fourth quarter compared to the youthful inexperience of the Spurs against the very veteran team that has all of its parts. I mean, the difference between Oklahoma City and the Spurs was razor thin. It turned out that Oklahoma City could not overcome the loss of two of its playmaking guards,

but those injuries were the reason, from my perspective, that Oklahoma City lost that series and could not leverage their own experience over the Spurs into winning that series. And here in this Nick Spurs matchup, it is very close. And especially, you know, we've seen each team come back from double-digit deficits in the fourth quarter. Each team's had a turn. And it's just been execution down the stretch. It's been the difference. Do you put a lot of stock into the Knicks being up to?

2-0 with Jalen Brunson being 19 to 56 from the floor and there's no way that can continue? What do you mean put stock? Because it's clearly, two things are true about Brunson, especially in game two. I think he was somewhat limited physically. I think that when we saw him, whatever that knee hyper extension, whatever happened with his knee followed up by his ankle in game one. he was not completely healed in game two. He felt a half a step slower to me, and San Antonio was extra aggressive, both in terms of bumping him, as soon as he came across the half court line, every offensive possession that he dribbled the ball across, he got bumped, and they also threw a double team at him, and it put the Knicks in a position

of getting shots at the end of the shot clock, so the spurs were able to dictate pace. Now, Brunton was still effective. He was the reason that the Knicks won the game. So even though over the balance of game two, his shooting percentage was poor, I think he could have shot less. He still was the guy that you want the ball in his hands at the end of the game. And he had the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He should have made both of those free throws, by the way.

But, you know, he can be effective and maybe he will shoot less. the two big unknowns for the game three, and we're taping this before game three, what kind of physical shape is he in, and what kind of whistle are the next going to get at home? Well, you just brought up two of the topics that I had written down to talk to you about. If Jalen Brunson was limited physically, because I think Mike Brown's been doing an excellent job throughout the postseason, they should not have put the ball handling responsibility. on him that they put on him, especially against Castle from basically

getting picked up at 75 feet. There's no reason for Brunson to have the responsibility of bringing the ball up the court against that kind of defensive pressure when whomever, you know, when Binyama's guarding, can bring the ball up the court, even if it's towns

and they can, you know, run Brunson off a flare screen or off a pin down, and he can start with the ball in his hands from 20 feet or 25 feet from the ball. the basket rather than laboring to get the ball across half court. That makes no sense to me. Have you observed that? Have you talked about it in your conversations about this, about the first two games really in particular? Yeah, it was especially apparent in-game two because of how physical San Antonio was permitted

to be. Yes. And, you know, if some of those bumps turn into foul, you know, on, on on either side of the court. But your point is very good one. I wouldn't be surprised if we see some first quarter right away, Carl Anthony Towns bringing the ball up and Wemby just giving him room to get across half court. It has been

an apparent tactic of San Antonio to disrupt the Knicks and make them work through the shot clock. The thing that has been so impressive about the Knicks is they still get decent shots at the hit of the shot clock. They do. Because

Carl, if any towns, can get, you know, downhill inside of five seconds left on the shot clock and or McHale Bridges on the move, taking three-pointers or long twos and knocking them down. And the same with OG. It took OG a little bit to get going in game two, but he knocked down some big open looks, especially in the second half. You mentioned the physical play that was allowed in game two. I've actually, throughout the playoffs, I mean, you know playoff basketball, I know playoff basketball. We know the difference between the physicality this time of year versus the regular season and how it gets called.

But I've been saying throughout this postseason, you go back to Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota, San Antonio, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, that there's been, I think, this has been my observation. I want to know if you agree or disagree. I think there's been an extra level of contact allowed in this postseason. And I think it's turned into, especially on the perimeter, one of the most physical perimeter playoffs that I've seen. And the other night, I thought crossed the line, especially Castle v. Brunson. I thought that he could have easily, I mean, there was grabbing, there was pulling,

there was bumping, there was hands around the waist. at times. What's been your observation with your, you know, historical ability to go back and think of post seasons in the past compared to this one? So I think your observation in general is absolutely right. There has been a heightened level of physicality in these playoffs. I mean, I especially enjoyed the game one between Minnesota and San Antonio. So good. Yes. where San Antonio came off of a series against Portland where they basically had their way.

Yeah. You know, the Portland was able to play in one game because Wemby got knocked out for a little bit. But that game one was, to me, the welcome to the playoffs for San Antonio, the most impressive thing for the Spurs was they were able to, like, quickly understand the change and quickly adapt. I mean, their adaptability to that physical style of. play. On balance, I love it. I do too. I do too. Come playoff time. Yes. But, Kev, you're right. It was over the line on Friday night with

game two. I mean, there was just so many instances where what we're accustomed to seeing being called a foul, just call it a foul. And you know, you hate to get in the conspiracy theorizing and all of that kind of stuff when it comes to the referees. But you're old enough to know this and what I'm about, we've been there with Tony Brothers before. Yeah. We've just, it just was a classic Tony Brothers game. I mean, thank God for the playoff. I mean, the, the review mechanism, especially on the jumper that O.G. had in the fourth quarter,

and he clearly got matched right on the arm. They didn't call it, but there was enough of a break in the action that New York was able to challenge. And brothers had no choice put to accept the outcome. He's standing right there staring at it. Watch the man get hacked and it would play on. Well, the third and fourth fouls against Kat were ridiculous. And I thought the Spurs, like you said, we've seen it before, and they were given kind of every opportunity in the Knicks were able to survive

and take a two-game to nothing lead. Give me your thoughts on Carl Anthony Towns these first two games. It's really been astounding, a really, really wonderful thing. to see where he entered the series at a kind of psychological piece that we just haven't seen out of him before. And he's been very articulate in the postgame after game one and game two about how he arrived at that piece and how his own sort of mental state has led him to just feeling able to take the moment, process the moment, not be afraid of the moment.

and he's getting peace from you know thinking about his family thinking about the extended family thinking about this this moment in the context of his life and the loss and the grief that he's experienced and process all that into the highest level of performance his basketball IQ uh... have at times been questioned because you see the talent it's always been the frustration with cat

that you see the talent he possesses uh... on both ends but he he you know has the tendency to make a bone handed play here or there, and there just hasn't been any of that. I mean, you mentioned the two fouls that Tony Brothers called in game two. Neither one of those were Carl Anthony Town's classic bonehead foul kind of moments. It's been, he has been the most dominant player in the series, and it's appropriate that the futures markets recognize how close the race would be for a potential MVP between Brunson, who is always a presumptive favorite, and now Carltony Towns is only as short ways behind him in the odds market.

That's interesting. I didn't even look at that before we started to talk, because I would, you can't vote on an MVP after two games in a best of seven, but assuming we get a Knicks championship outcome and he plays at the same level, I would be shocked if he doesn't win the MVP. Yeah, the price right now is Brunson plus 120 and towns plus 175. Yeah, all right. Now, the thing that will tilt it for Brunson is that he gets all of the end-of-game touches. Yep.

And he does tend to execute at a high level with those end-of-game touches, and if the series continues to play out in this manner, even if he's ineffective over the course of the game, shooting percentage-wise, if he executes at the end, then I could see him being recognized as the MVP. But the town's play has been the deciding factor in the first two games, for sure. He's punished Wembe. They have no concern whatsoever with him going up against Wembe.

He is not shying away from that at all. This is going to sound like a weird, you know, putting the two together. but I really loved Carson Beck during last college football season because of what he had gone through and how Georgia essentially just said, yeah, we're not interested anymore. And I've always liked him and thought that he looked like an NFL quarterback. And so when he had the game and the drive against Ole Miss in the playoff, and I wish he had finished it off against Indiana, but that's a different story. But I also think about Carl Anthony Towns in the same way. And it's one of the reasons I've been rooting. for him is this is a guy that literally, you know, was a big part of with Anthony Edwards, Minnesota getting to the Western Conference Finals. They went to Denver, as you know, two years ago,

and won a seventh in deciding game against Yokic Murray & Company, and he was outstanding in that seventh game on the road that they won. And Minnesota said, yeah, we don't really, I mean, we don't want to pay you. We don't really think that much of you. So I'm going to I'm rooting for him because it seems like everybody along the way said, yeah, but you're never going to win anything with him. There's always been this sort of, I'm not going to say maturation writ large.

Like I'm not going to call him personally immature, but there's been a basketball immaturity. And, you know, we saw it, you know, there was moments between him and the coach of the Minnesota Timberwell's Chris Finch, where they just couldn't be on the same page at all times. And I think that's what made Minnesota think about him as being expendable at the price. But his basketball maturity over the course of these playoffs on this run that the Knicks have been on,

and literally in these finals games, this is why sports is so beautiful. There's a redemptive arc element to this highest-level performing version. of towns. Yeah. When they have talent, you can't give up on it. All right, two more. I talked about this at the beginning. Victor Wembeñama has been

anointed here over the last, you know, month and a half, closing in on two months of playoff basketball, as already a guy that is projected to become the greatest of all time. He's one of one. He's an alien. He's a unicorn.

And there is a lot that is true about that statement. But with that said, I've personally backed up just a little bit from my extreme levels of discussion about him to at least ask the question, have we gotten ahead of ourselves on Wembe? Have we rushed to a final conclusion on him prematurely? It's hilarious because I have a 15-year-old in my house, and you can imagine he's a big NBA fan, a big basketball fan. Every bit of infotainment that he receives, I was going to say information, that's the wrong word. everything that he receives by way of his phone, the computer, all media tells him that that Victor is the one, that it's time to start having goat conversations. And I mean, you know, I laugh because he's a teenager. And I'm like, yeah, we're, let's just let it, you know,

let's give it a little bit of time. Let's see, let him get to a final. Let's see how he performs in a finals. Let's see if he can stay healthy, you know, for a couple years in a row. he is literally a one of one. We've not seen anything like it. And every time he does a step back three, I find myself gasping because it just looks so smooth, so comfortable. His stroke is so pure.

He's a very good free throw shooter. Like, you can't compare him to any of the giant men that we've seen in the NBA before. Like Yao Ming would be the comp except for Wembe's so much faster than Yow Ming. and his stroke from beyond the three is so much more comfortable than Ben Yao Ming. And he runs in a way that doesn't, you know, your eyes look at a guy like that and say, this is a 610 guy running up and down the court the way he moves. But it's just way too early to have a point of view on what the future might hold for how he ultimately will perform in the league.

I mean, you know, the league adapts. The league, you know, get smart. What looked like an unsolvable problem for Oklahoma City, which was that, you know, Isaiah Hardinstein and Chet Holmgren couldn't mount any kind of rebuttal. I'll have the Knicks. The Knicks show up and immediately have, you know, a solution to this problem. And part of that solution includes everybody going right at them.

Right. don't see the same kind of behavior out of the Knicks that you saw at Oklahoma City, which is SGA finding himself in the lane and then kicking it as soon as he touched the paint each and every time. So, I mean, I love Wembe. I love, you know, the excitement and the interest that he's generating. I, my own self, have the same enthusiasm, the excitement, watching him play. His attitude is incredible. You know, he's a throwback guy. He's You don't see him. You know, what we didn't see at the end of that Oklahoma City series was Wemmy going around

and hugging every single player in Oklahoma City. He's kind of an animal. He was very emotional, though. I mean. Yes, yes, I understand. But, you know, this modern era of the NBA, all the guys find themselves. No, he's got the competitive badass streak. There's no doubt about it.

That's all. That's right. So I have found myself, you know, know, believing that we are on the verge of seeing something very unique and special in terms of what the eventual overall production will be. But here's where I've taken a step back in these finals. And it's, you know, these are short, you know, very small samples. I don't think there's any question that defensively, Joe, I don't think we've ever seen anything like him. I don't think we've ever seen a guy, not just at his size 7, 4.5, 7.5, 7.5, but with the wingspan, you,

to essentially affect any shot from about 12, 13, 14 feet in. Hell, he actually can impact from the rim a corner three. And I don't think we've ever seen that kind of influence defensively. On offense, however, there's still, and he shouldn't be polished at 22. There's a lack of polish. There is some awkwardness at times. I think there's way What you said about him

We've never seen somebody handle the ball at 7-5 the way he does shoot it the way he does from distance But I think that he falls in love with that And thinks he's Durant too much I'd love to see him become a dominant low post Or at least free throw line And closer player And not at the exclusion of shooting threes

But as the dominant way in which he goes out and gets 35 a game because I think he could average that, but I don't see it happening right away. That would be my one pullback on him is that offensively he's got a ways to go before we start talking about him offensively as, you know, being in the goat conversation or projecting that he'll be in the goat conversation. Yeah, you're obviously 100% right. We are in 100% alignment on that. And, you know, honestly, I think his three-point attempts, every time he takes one, his opponent is like, thank you.

Yeah, definitely. Because, you know, the highest percentage that he's going to shoot. I mean, he's a good three-point shooter, but, you know, it's going to be under 40%. And that's a much better outcome than, you know, for a team trying to play defense against him, than him, you know, following a guard who makes a turn to the lane. And honestly, this was the criticism that I thought was a fair one of the last play that San Antonio ran, where they just put the ball with a very conventional end-of-game shot, which is one player has the ball for the entirety of the possession,

and then attempts a jump shot with that ball. Where all ten eyes of the defense are on that shooter. Well, it was a pick-and-pop. It was a pick-and-pop with Fox. It was. Yeah. But it wasn't, you know, there was no indication that he was going to roll. No, no, no, that's true.

It floated out. Yes. And that was like, you know, the most effective version of this Spurs team is him coming off of the pick and setting the pick and then going to the basket, the roll of the basket. And it feels like there are a dozen points of game left on the table because he doesn't, you know, follow every single time. a way that he should, you know, be getting easy buckets. But this is the maturation of Wendy, right? I mean, there's a combination of him physically being able to do it. You know, the reminder to everybody is he never played this many minutes in his entire basketball life. He's been playing basketball for however long in his entire life. He's never played this many minutes in this kind

of a turnaround fashion in his whole life. So he's getting used to that. And there's going to be, you know, moments where it feels like he disappears and, you know, stretches of the game where, you know, the first half of game two, Barclay was very critical of Wembe. Now, Wembe had shot five of eight again with Carl Eiffney Town, as his defender in the first half, but, you know, the point Charles was making, and, you know, he made it in his own inimitable fashion, not assertive enough. Well, the assertiveness came in the second half when he really did

have the spurs in the third quarter. He kept them within arm's reach of the Knicks. He didn't let the game get away from San Antonio in that third quarter, and then they were able to mount the comeback in the fourth quarter. So, I mean, you know, that's all part of the learning process. That's a learning curve. I think my biggest surprise with what they do, and I don't have the numbers,

but how many possessions start with him on the perimeter versus him from, say, inside 10 feet? in closer to the room. I just can't imagine that he wouldn't be able to get 40 on, you know, 16 of 21 from the floor from, you know,

10 feet and in. It's, you can't block it. And he literally can reach and just drop it into the basket. Sure, you can double. Sure, you can do things, but he's not a bad passer. By the way, I wanted to mention to you that I had Randy Whitman on last week. He's actually

really good as an analyst. I have one. Love me. I have him on all the time. And I thought he was a very underrated coach when he coached here. Yeah. John Wall agrees with you. The only time he ever made an all of the defensive team was with Randy Whitman. I've asked John about it before, like, you know, because they kind of wanted a change. John and Brad kind of wanted that change. And they went to Scott Brooks, more of a players coach. But in hindsight, Wall, you know, has talked to, he's been on my show many, many times. And he has said, Randy was an excellent exes and O's coach. and has admitted that. But what I I gave Randy a comp.

You used Yao Ming, which was interesting. I used Ralph Samson as a guy that if he had played in this era, Ralph would have loved to have played the way Wembe plays on offense. And would have been... I agree with that. Yeah.

And Randy said, yes, but he's not the ball handler that Wembe was. But Ralph could handle it pretty well facing the basket for somebody 7-4. Yeah, the hardest thing for us, and we grew up with Ralph Sampson in our lives, a prominent figure in our lives because of our Maryland fandom, was we don't know how he would translate into this era. That era that we watched, that was back to the basket basketball.

That was center-driven. The center was the sun and the other players were in the into the world. Sun's orbit. But all he did was go down low. Who knows what his handle could have been in this era. Who knows what kind of shooter he could have been? I think he would have been a good shooter. I think he would have been a good shooter. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. Because, you know, playing with Elijah Juan, he did play a lot more of the four and face the basket. And he could shoot. Yeah, it would have been interesting. All right, let's finish it up with this. What happens tonight and when does this series end?

So I have the Spurs in game three in no small part because I think that it's going to be a madhouse. It was going to be a madhouse anyway in New York, this first finals game with this team in this position and all of the excitement, the arrival of the President of the United States into that scene and all of the steps that New York is going to have. have to take to accommodate the president, participate, you know, being there physically. And, and God forbid, anything, you know, goes weird. There's the potential, just by getting the president into the building and getting all the fans into the building, it feels like there's potential for a delay that has happened before.

Games have had to have been delayed to permit the president's arrival. It has happened? That's happened before? Yeah, I don't have it. I'll text it to you after. It might have been like a tennis match or something, but something got delayed by 45 minutes, and it was a pretty important matchup. But just, you know, you put the added layer of where that is in New York and how hard it is

to secure a perimeter like that on top of all of the – the energy – I feel like there's a potential for it to be counterproductive energy at MSG in this game three. because of all of the forces. And just the spurs have the advantage because none of that distraction matters to them. They're just showing up with, you know, the, nobody anticipating, you know, them as an underdog, you know, being able to beat New York in New York. And I think that they can just focus on the basketball. So I have the spurs in this game three.

It's been telling that the market opened at two or two and a half. half in terms of the Knicks are favored by two or two and a half and it hasn't budged. It's what I'm seeing in terms of, um, I got some one and a halfs in front of me right now. Okay. So that's moving a little bit. A little bit. Yeah. That makes, it does make sense. Uh, the Knicks, people are buying the Knicks like, like crazy, but I guess there must be pushback. Where you're describing to me sounds like sharp money. Yeah, it would be 100%. Yeah. So, but do the Knicks to win the series? Yes.

So ultimately, I do think I have Nixon six. I have the 4-2, and the sixth game is an all-time epic day up in the greater New York. It's the Wednesday of the U.S. Open Week. So you can go watch a practice round as Shinnock in the morning and make your way out to MetLife to watch the 3 o'clock game between France and Senegal. Wow. I don't know. Is Wemby going to be there?

Maybe. Maybe if he's in town. Then you're making your way to MSG for the 8 o'clock tilt between the Knicks and Spurs. That's a pretty good day. Trump attended the U.S. Open, and it delayed the night matches by a half hour. There you go. Yeah. That was it.

He also went to, and I had forgotten this, went to the Washington Detroit game in November out in Landover. But if you recall at that point, our team was not a very good team. And yes, there were some late people getting into the stadium late, but it did not impact kickoff time. Yeah. I don't think football is that hard because the same is so big. He's just going to a suite to a private, you know, probably subterranean entrance. MSG is a whole different animal.

It's an absolute stupid thing he's doing tonight. I've already talked about that. I'm just dumb. I don't disagree with you. Thank you for doing this. I'll talk to you soon. Always. Can't wait.

Appreciate you, Kevin. Joe House, everybody. Joe's exceptional as a guest and a great guy. At House from D.C. on X. And he's got podcasts all over the Ringer podcast network, including a golf podcast called Fairway Rowland. And he does a gambling podcast as well. All right, that'll do it for today, back tomorrow with Tommy.