The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - SCHN's Vanessa Richardson Joins the Show Ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

SCHN's Vanessa Richardson Joins the Show Ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals

Tonight, if you are in the mood to watch television, you've got the NBA finals, you've got the Astros. Before that, Hoop Streams, 7 o'clock, our next guest, star of Space City Home Network and star of ESPN. She's going to be hosting Hoop Streams with Amman Schumpert, former Rocket Great. I mean, that's maybe a loose term, but you know what I'm saying with us. Vanessa is going to join us right now from San Antonio, Texas. First of all, I miss you A and B. How weird is it? You're in San Antonio.

It's bittersweet. You got a chance to cover of finals. But maybe it says damn San Antonio Spurs, Vanessa. I know. Well, first of all, I miss you too. And I'm glad that we have our group chat with some of our Rocket's favorites. Yes. It's really one of the hardest things about working with a team that you care about and love so much is that it all

of a sudden just ends. And, you know, everybody goes back and the players and coaches go, you know, go back. And people go on vacation. and the people that you spend your whole life with for seven months. So I definitely miss everybody. And yeah, it's bittersweet. Like, you know, and you see how not only good these spurs are, but how deep their team is. And just that Western Conference finals in general.

So bittersweet's a good way to put it. You know, love the opportunity. But it would be really cool, especially, you know, last night in the hotel, I see Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith. It would be really cool if it were the Rockets. And I have faith that someday it will be for sure, no doubt. Hopefully it is. Have you, I know yesterday was Media Day for both teams.

Any chance for you to peek inside the San Antonio Spurs inner circle? What's it like? What's it like watching Wembe do his thing? Deeran Fox gets to go to the finals for the first time. You've got Stefan Castle and Kelton John. I mean, this is a team that, you know, just a handful of years ago. I mean, really the last handful of years, not in the playoffs, losing 55 plus games and now they're playing for a championship.

Yeah, it feels like they're a couple of years ahead of schedule. DeAren Fox, I believe, is from Cyside Lakes. I think he went to Cypress Lakes High School. Yeah, no, I mean, media day was great, and it is really cool to see, especially the young guys. Like there are some people that have gone through it before. You know, I interviewed McCale Bridges from the Knicks. He went to the finals with the Phoenix Suns back in, I believe,

But the people that haven't been through it, which is the vast, vast majority of them, it is really cool to see. And it's cool to see, you know, how they respond to even something like Media Day. And like, it's going to sound trivial. But Matt, you and I know, they're doing 20 interviews. They're being asked the same questions. They're being asked some quirky questions. You know, they're dealing with that as well as getting ready for the actual game, as well as everybody's family and friends want to come to the game. So they're getting tickets as well as appearances on shows that,

you know, the league wants them to do. So it's like the cliche is like the lights are bright, but the lights really are bright. And it's, you know, a lot of these San Antonio Spurs, like I saw somebody bring it up on Twitter, they're not even old enough to drink. Like they are, you know, eventually the champions, they're just so young. And we know that, just covering the league in general. But very deep team, a team that seems to really like each other, and they're definitely in awe of Wimby. There's no question. But, you know, you look at the non-Wimby angles. They've got weapons. They've got, they've got weapons that are not named Victor Wimbuniamma as well, which is scary. Yeah, the problems are going to see them at least four times a year. Vanessa Wich from ESPN and

Space City Home Network with us here on the show. On the next side, how much chatter about the length of time off in between games for this basketball team on the east side? There's definitely some chatter, and I think it's real, and I think that that's important. I think a lot of people, the narrative was, you know, you kept seeing it, and people were saying it. Whoever wins between the Thunder and Spurs, that's your NBA champion. Like, you know, people saying that the Western Conference finals essentially felt like the finals. I get it. But the Knicks had so much time off to rest, to get healthy, you know, to rejuvenate.

And we saw, yeah, I did radio sideline with Dave Passion, Dorisburg for the East. Eastern Conference Finals. And the Knicks were so much more well-rested than the Cavs because the Cavs had gone seven and the Knicks had swept the 76ers. So I do think it's a real thing. You know, it's kind of people always talk about rest versus rust. I don't buy the rust thing at all. I think when you play an 82 game season and you're in the thick of playoffs, rest is always a benefit. Vanessa, and we only get to see the Knicks a couple of times a year, but we've seen Carl Anthony Townes a lot. And there are sometimes when you watch Carl Anthony Town Center for the

Knicks and you're like, oh my God, this guy, I want on my team immediately. He hits threes. He can put his back to the basket. He can block shots. He can rebound. And then there are some times where he's just an innocent bystander in this thing. And he's played really well in the postseason. And obviously it's still Jalen Brunson's team, but it's got to be

probably a little bit of vindication. And look, he's got to still perform in the finals. But for a guy that has been often maligned, Carl Anthony Town's living his best life right now. He is living his best life. That's the great way of putting it. And I believe we have seen multiple sides of him the few times that the Rockets have played where, you know, they're not doing a lot in the pain and they do have to just strictly rely

on kind of that three-point shooting and Brunson being clutching the fourth, you know, as we saw him, I believe it was in February at MSG. So I think there's, I don't want to say a lot on the line for Carl Anthony Towns, but this is obviously a massive stage for him. And, you know, I'll state the obvious here, the big men are going to be. a massive storyline in the series that people are watching. I do like him as a player. But you got to, this is when you find the proverbial, do they have that dog in them? And can they be consistent, you know, and one floor more? So I think if the Knicks can get one here in San Antonio,

just split it, get one of the two. I think it could be a really, really interesting series. Hoop Streams is the name of the program that you and Amon Sheper will be hosting. always on their release it says plus special guest i'm going to assume no disrespect to the great city of san antonio but you're going to have a chance to meet some celebrities in new york there's no way you're not going to be able to meet some so who would you like to have come over and say hello to you oh my gosh i would love i mean we had fat joe on um ben stiller would be great i'm guessing edie falco you know is going to be in the building um i think it's going to be a murderer's row of celebrities. They had a, I saw an old video on Twitter of the celebrities that were at the

finals back in 1999 the last time the Knicks were in it. And, you know, it was, it's, there's like John F. Kennedy Jr. and Muhammad Ali was there. It's going to be, it's going to be the biggest event in what's already the number one media market. And that's the other thing, Maddie, is it's like number one media market. So many Knicks fans across the country. Wild, wild. Wild. fan base and then you've got the global angle with wimby i mean he's representing an entire country so um like people people can say the NBA is boring all they want compared to other sports but series a series like this is definitely worth watching yeah this feels like yeah we're going to get some i think the television ratings are going to be outstanding for this and obviously with

new york involved in it uh the ticket price thing has been crazy to me uh what do what do you hear on the streets for game one tonight if you wanted to go to san antonio i'm not sure i'm not sure what the number is, but I do know this. Like when I was covering the Cavs Knicks team or the Cavs NICs series, Eastern Conference Finals, it was cheaper for like a family from New York or a person from New York to fly to Cleveland, stay at one of the hotels, go to the game and fly back to New York than it was for a single ticket to Madison Square Garden. So I think it's, I just, I think it's going to be outrageous.

But give the Spurs fans credit too. like, and I don't mean this in a negative way because I'm from Indiana. These cities where there's nothing really but basketball, Indiana, Oklahoma City. And I mean, look, Indian has an NFL team, but I just mean where it's like this several thing in that city, San Antonio Spurs fall in that category, Sacramento Kings, like those fan bases get up. They a thousand percent get up. It ain't going to be Madison Square Garden.

But I'm going to predict that the Spurs. fans are more impressive than people think. So did you really pack for two weeks? How are you getting clothes around and stuff? I'm curious. Well, you have to remember. I'm extremely close to Houston. Less than an hour flight.

So we're going to do some, we're going to do some finageling for sure. All right. Rao, you got a meeting to get to. Remind the folks where they can find you in Amman tonight. Yeah, you can find us on YouTube or the ESPN app. I always post a link before the show on Twitter and Instagram, and we post clips throughout the night. So you can also watch after, you know, if you want to see the work we did.

And we appreciate it. All right. Have fun. Be safe. And I'll talk with you soon. Thanks for coming on the show today. Thanks, Matt. Talk to you soon.

Vanessa Richardson. ESPN Space City Home Network. Hoop Streams. You can catch again, as she said, on YouTube and on the ESPN app.