The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Logan Murdock Talks NBA All-Star Game, Jimmy Butler, and Kevin Durant’s Legacy with GSW | 2.14

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

On today’s episode, Logan Murdock of The Ringer joins Bomani Jones to talk about some big NBA headlines and helps preview the NBA All-Star Game. The show begins with Bo and Logan discussing the NBA All-Star Game being held in San Francisco and the differences with the Warriors playing there now instead of Oakland. (2:55) After talking about the player effort issue at the All-Star Game, they move onto Kevin Durant and his strained relationship with the Warriors. (15:00) Plus with the arrival of Jimmy Butler, the guys discuss his fit with this current Warriors roster. (27:37) They round out the show with a conversation centered around the Los Angeles Lakers including Luka Doncic playing with LeBron James at the end of his career and if LeBron is a top 15 Lakers player of all-time? (39:15) . . . Subscribe to The Right Time with Bomani Jones on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Download Full Podcast Here: Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/6N7fDvgNz2EPDIOm49aj7M?si=FCb5EzTyTYuIy9-fWs4rQA&nd=1&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-right-time-with-bomani-jones/id982639043?utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social Follow The Right Time with Bomani Jones on Social Media:  http://lnk.to/therighttime Subscribe to Supercast for Ad-Free Episodes: https://righttime.supercast.com/ Support the Show:  PrizePicks: Daily Fantasy Made Easy! Visit PrizePicks.com/BOMANI and use code BOMANI for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a Wave Original, presented by prize picks. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. If you want an ad-free version of the right time, be sure to check us out on Supercast. You'll get the ad-free podcast plus other goodies for $5 a month. Check us out at Supercast. But first, it is Logan Burr.

Burdock Friday, Logan Burdock of the Ringer. What's going on, man? It's good to be here, man. I feel like I've heard your voice in my head for years now. So it's good to finally just, you know, just be on the show. It's good. Yeah, that's right. I've been on yours. I guess you have, now this ain't the first time you've been on this one. This is the first time I've been on your show. Yeah. Really? Okay. In fact, there are text messages in our phone like, yeah, we need to do a verse swap. And you'd be like, yeah, I got you. And that was like three years ago. So, okay, that's all me. That's all me. B. We hear now. You know what I'm saying? We hear now. All Star Weekend coming up

in the bay. You are in the bay. First tell the people about your live show. Real ones live show live at the punchline is sold out. But I just want to stun on people and say that it is sold out at the punchline. Hey, I'm from Oakland, man. For somebody from Oakland to be able to sell out the punchline is a big deal. I'm going flex.

I'm okay with it. I just had Sean being like the only thing Logan wants us to do is make sure to, you know, shout out his live show. I'm like, cool, let's help Logan move some tickets. No, that's not what Logan wanted to do. Logan wanted to flex on a bunch of people who, by the way, aren't even from Oakland, just to make sure that they understood that he saw it out a venue that is very particular to the good folks in Oakland. I just would like to say, Beaumani calling me out on flexing is a hilarious thing right now.

And also equally hilarious is Sean asking me when I'm going to leave for All-Star? That was amazing. In the prepod meeting. Yes. first of all, I am not calling you out for flexing. I am calling you out for presenting this thing as though you needed some promo when it was a setup for the flex. It was a-it-law. It was a Tracy McGrady throw it off the backboard to myself is what it was.

And I used you for this somehow. I guess I don't know how I did, but I used you to do that. If you had said, you know, excuse me, let young Pip and brag a minute, I'd have been like, okay, I wouldn't have said nothing about that. It was, yes, you threw the ball off. the glass and I didn't even think it was that kind of game. It's always that kind of game. You know the game, well. It's fair. It's fair. Now, I am curious, you are an Oakland guy.

And that is, you know, most people know this, but just in case people don't, that is not the same thing as the San Francisco guy. The Warriors were in Oakland team. Then the Warriors became a San Francisco team. What is the feel of All-Star being in San Francisco? Because if I recall the last time it was in Oakland is when Vince Carter put on the greatest dunk contest performance of all time. I think the feel is like, you know, when you were a kid and your mama tell you bet not act a fool when company is over? I feel like that's the feel of the Bay Area right now, right?

Where I don't know if you guys watch camera. I'm sure you're listening to audience watches Cameron and Mace all the time. And there's this viral clip that is telling people, don't mess around in San Francisco because you might get got, right? And then there's the Bay Area side of that is saying like, hey, man, relax. We are not that bad. we just want to be seen in front of in front of the world in a positive light. And I feel like it's been like that for the Bay Area to some degree post-pandemic, right,

where you have these big events and everybody wants to be on their best behavior because everything that happens in the Bay Area, especially post-tech boom, is a bit magnified. And so I think going into All-Stars is like a cautious like, hey, we want to put our best put forward, but some stuff might go down and we need to, um, we need to prepare for that. And I think that that's kind of what it is right now. I think it was a cautious like, hey, you better not act a fool when grown folks is watching. Well, this is an interesting, like, I think San Francisco is in an interesting portion of its arc, shall we say. So if you go watch movies from the 1970s and early 80s, it's a lot more movies or things that are

centered around San Francisco. I think San Francisco had a place in the pop culture zeitgeist that it doesn't really hold now. Like, we think of it as a tech place. But if you, You think about the movies that were coming out of San Francisco at that time. They grimy. 48 hours is a great example. I think seemy, seemy, I think is the term that we would appropriately use. Then you get to about like 25 years ago, like the Barry Bond's portion of San Francisco. And you're thinking about the ballpark and people talk about them having garlic fries and everything else.

And now San Francisco is seen as being this incredibly bourgeois place. And now it's smash and grab. At least that's the way people see it. I don't know how accurate the smash and grab portray. is, but, you know, they don't even be talking bad about Oakland no more. They'd be smashing and grabbing so much in San Francisco. Yeah, and I think a lot of it has to do, but there's not, it still can go down in Oakland, obviously, but I don't think that the spotlight is on Oakland as much. I mean, I think the Ricky Parcel incident kind of played a

part in that and signing a negative light on the city. It's, it's tough right now. And there's a new mayor in town in San Francisco, and he's trying to put his agenda out. He's a, he's an air of Levi Strauss, which is interesting. But he's trying, and the All-Star is one of his first big events to show, like, hey, it's not what you think it is. And you're right. Like, San Francisco, even through, in the Bay Area has gone through a transformation, even since I was growing up, right?

Like, not just with sports teams, but you go from what you're talking about 25 years ago and how San Francisco was portrayed. Like, when you were talking about Barry Bonds, I was thinking about when Dr. Doolittle was shot out here. It was just a different time in a different way. of life, right? Like it was a place where, while expensive, you can still buy a house out here and still live a good life. Now it's a, it's a region that has a big gap between the haves and the have-nots. And it's really interesting to see. Also, sad in a lot of ways, because a lot of

the people that used to live in San Francisco, the place that, because San Francisco wasn't always just like you said, some boozee place. Like, I still got partners in Bayview, cousins in Bayview that still have the soul of San Francisco. but a lot of people in the Bay Area, they've moved down to Vegas. They've moved over into the Stockton area into the Central Valley. So it's, and it's been replaced by people with a lot of money. And it's just an interesting place because you look at a lot of places in San Francisco that used to be, you know, where we lived.

And now you got $2 million houses. And you're like, how this happened? Well, see, it's funny you mentioned the where we lived in San Francisco because I don't think that people outside of the Bay associate San Francisco. with the we at all. Like the only black person off the top of my head that I could think of that's from San Francisco is OJ Simpson.

And did you see where he lived, Bo? In the documentary. Did you see where he lived? It was the Jex, as I recall. Yes, Petrero Hill is not to be messed with. Yeah, I believe. I believe. But all I'm saying is,

apparently he's the only one that got out because we don't know about none of the rest of y'all. But not y'all. I think also, to be fair, Beaumani, I think that's a Bay Area thing, no, right? Like it's in the Bay Area in a lot of ways. We try to pride ourselves as underdogs, even though we're a top 10 media market.

And I do feel like we feel there's a lot of black people that have come out of San Francisco, man. I'm just telling me, if you asked me the name of them, I can't. And I noticed that rather than refer to any of them, you just said it was a bunch of them. Yeah, that's fair. That's what you got. We got.

Like, we know who coming out of Oakland. Like, I'm not trying to shade San Francisco. I'm just saying we don't know. I mean, you know, RBL posse. Larry June, you know, there's a good contingency. You got me there. I'm sorry. You know, and also, I'd also, also, Paul, I didn't, I didn't think I was going to be

defending San Francisco this much and I don't less there like doing that. Never done that before, huh? Never done that. I'd have to say, I'd say, this All-Star game can raise an interesting question that I've had for many, many years. And one year, I came kind of close to stumbling upon an answer, but I didn't really get it. And that question is this one. Where do the white people hang out? during All-Star weekend. Okay? Like we all understand that All-Star weekend is a bit of a traveling

African-American circus. Like, we show that you have it. We show up. I think we even went to Utah. I didn't, but I think that we even went to Utah, right? We did go to Utah. I went to Utah. Did not have a great time in Utah.

I actually got sick in Utah. Did not have a good time. Oh, you and Mike, huh? You got the same food poisoning situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And definitely like some weird stares in the air. airport for sure. It wasn't a fun time, no. Yeah, yeah. Like, I don't, I don't really, I don't really know nothing about what's hitting in Salt Lake City or whatever it is. But I know,

I always wonder, where do the white people hang out? It's the white people coming into town. They part, like, who was David Stern kicking it with? Who Adam Silver hanging out with? Like, I just always, the, the sociology of All-Star Weekend is hilarious to me on a number of levels. But now, like, where Joe Lake up and his billions of dollars? Which one of his, who are his friends want to come for the All-Star Weekend? I know they rock. with the Warriors. That don't mean they rock with the other 29 teams and the people that's coming with them. Okay. Fortunately, there are a number of places where white folks can hang comfortably in the Bay Area, especially in 2025. You have Sausalito, which is, which is nice. You have Atherton,

all of Silicon Valley. You're talking about one place, Bo. And we're talking about San Francisco like it's this big gargantuan place. It's not that big. It's like a square mile, bro. You can walk anywhere, dog. But I'll say general idea. Where do white folks go? be hanging out. Like they, like, I just, I wonder what is like for them to be like, man, let us get out of here. That would have been a better question though, Bo, if it were talking about Oracle, right? If it was in the middle of East Oakland, if you were asking me that question, where the white folks going to hang out here, they can go in Soma. They're going to where white people are going to be. Right. But I guess this is what I'm saying. They go into where white people go.

This is what happens. And you wonder why I ain't ever asked you to be on a damn show. It is less about do they have a place to hang out than who are the people that are coming together for this weekend, right? Because we know every activity you see. I've seen one white people activity for All-Star Weekend, and I attended it. It was the Matt Bonner hosted Alt-Star Party in New Orleans. I want to say in maybe the year 2014, and it was like three people there. It was literally A-T-Star Party. That was what they called it. I think Adidas had thrown it, and it was like three maybe four white people that was there, and one of them was his brother. So you know what I'm saying? You must have been there for the,

for the gift basket because going to a Matt Bonner party in New Orleans for All Stars kind of unlike you, but I will answer your question. I was there because I knew somebody who was going to be there and they said they was going and I was like, I got to see what this is. I didn't know that they existed like this is. Yeah, I was like, yeah, tell me more. Yeah, yeah, what's up? There's a couple of places.

The battery is another place. That's one of them highbrow Illuminati, the places that you go, like invitation only. that's a good place for people to go. Pacific Heights near the Golden Gate Bridge is a place where people can go. Sal Salisito, like I said, is a good place for people to go. Burling game, anywhere near the airport. I mean, I think, honestly, the people like us are probably going to be confined to what, the Kenny Smith Party and the embarkedero in the surrounding areas of Chase Center.

If you aren't there, you should be fine. Like, the white folks ain't going to Oakland, you know. Like, they're not going to go there. So I think they'll be fine more than they are in normal All-Star games. I mean, let's be honest. If the All-Star game was in Oakland, they would still be in San Francisco. Absolutely. You know how many so both.

Before I was at the Ringer, you noticed, I covered the Golden State Warriors, right? And like a lot of beat writers would, whenever they would come into town, obviously you would say, hey, man, come over and, you know, let's come kick it. Let's get a drink or let's get some food. You know what I mean? And I was always in the East Bay. Let's go to the East Bay. you know how many people actually there's a lot of hotels in Oakland you know how many people like

give me give me a percentage of how many people you think actually stayed in the plethora of hotels in the East Bay oh 10% tops because everybody I know says no you stay in San Francisco and then you just go over there even though it'll probably be easier for you travel wise to stay in Oakland and at Oakland merit or somewhere in Berkeley in the surrounding areas it's tough you know like they don't they don't even the NBA teams that don't stay, didn't stay at Oakland. They would be like, I guess if it's a back-to-back, we will try, but we will get in and get out. It was, it was very tough. And mind you, this was tech Oakland.

This wasn't like, it was like 95 Oakland. This wasn't Tupac's Oakland. This was, it was fine. The murder rate was completely down. And people was like, no, I'm straight player. I'm good. I'm going to stay over here in Union Square. I'm good.

It is a fascinating thing. But the All-Star gang going to be there. Where are you, like, generally speaking on the All-Star game? as an institution. It's gotten a little too gimmicky over the last few years. And I understand why Adam Silver wants it to be gimmicky. And I understand why that needs to happen. But there's been so many changes for this weekend. I still have a catch up. I got a live show, like I said, on Saturday. And I still got to look up the rules and who going to play who and who going to play this and who going to do that. And I shouldn't have to do that. Right. Like if this is going to be your tent pole event,

You shouldn't be having your consumer ask questions of, oh, are they playing an All-Star game Friday night? Are they going to, oh, wait, they're doing a tournament style? And here's another thing. Like, they're playing on Friday night. What if the team, like, say what if, like, LeBron's and Steph and KD's team says, F it and just loses the first night and they ain't playing all Sunday. Then what? Then you, then all that gimmicky stuff you did went completely out the window. So I think that at least how they're tinkering it with it this weekend is kind of off the rails and isn't a good thing for anybody involved.

I'm really down on this year's All-Star format. Yeah, I know they changed it. They did all the rejiggering. I think it's four teams. They really playing on Friday, though. I don't think I knew that. Or is that like Ricky, that ain't the Rising Stars night? It's Rising Stars, but the Rising Stars are playing a tournament.

I guess I don't. See, that's what I'm saying. Right? Like I got it over here. And we both know the league on an incident level. And we still got to, you still got to do your Googles and I still got to do my Googles. That is the therein lies the problem. The trick bag of it is this. The All Star game outgrew the idea of having a game. All these guys are doing so much stuff and they're running around. And then the end of the weekend, we would like to see them play a competitive game. Now, I will say this. I think that part of it is cats being a little, a little exhausted. I think the other part, and I think this is very important, I just don't think anybody wants to be embarrassed while playing defense. Like, I don't think, nobody wants to be Carlos Boozer getting the ball throwing off his forehead, right? Nobody wants to be Dirk Novinsky watching Trace McGrady throw the ball off the glass.

I think he did that to dirt. I think that that pride element goes into it as much as anything else. But no, we want to see people play a little bit of defense. That is what we would like to see. It makes the game just a touch better. Like I was watching the clips of when Magic had his comeback game in February in 92. That was a game. Like magic was doing it, but Magic was hooping.

Like at the end it turned into everybody just coming down against magic. But them dudes was out there hooping. And we've seen the games in the years when Kats is really hooping. We've seen in recent years that first year that they changed, what's it called the eating outcome or whatever, you know, the ending, when they switched that to go to the target number. That ending was really, really good. But every time it's not good, man. is a panic situation. So what I think it is, I think it's a couple of things. One is you're asking players and athletes who are big on routine to mess up their whole routine and starting the game

because, I mean, you know, you've been to All-Star games. There's like two or three hours of press that they have to do. And what I mean by press, I got to take pictures. They got to do the behind-the-scenes things. And they only have about 10 minutes to actually work out and like actually get stretched out. and that's also after three days of, you know, doing all the debauchery that we don't need to talk about on this program. But, like, they're exhausted by that time, right? So I think there's a level of that that you need to consider. And the other thing is, and this might mean just getting older and, like, getting around 30. But, like, I don't feel like there are the reputable OGs right now.

And when I say reputable, guys that can tell you, remember when Kobe would do the All-Star, he'd be like, all right, I'm going to make this competitive. At least in the fourth quarter, I'm going to make this competitive. And then before him, like you said, it was magic. It was Jordan. It was people that were like, oh, I'm going to set the tone of this. And I feel like Stefan LeBron and KD are those guys, but they're starting to get to the age where they, the younger guys kind of tune them out, right?

So there isn't a new generation of guys. Like Jason Tatum isn't going to be like, yo, guys, let's get this, let's get this competitive. Let's play hard, right? Anthony Edwards. That's one guy. I don't know. We'll see if he's going to be that guy. But I don't see him at this point

taking the baton of that right now in front of all those guys. He hasn't done it yet. I mean, I tell you this, though, he doesn't talk to all that shit, right? But he talked a whole lot of noise about hating the guys, missing games, and how we owe it to the fans and everything else.

Like, if anybody's supposed to be that guy, it's him. I know it ain't been the season that he thought it was going to be this year. But if anybody's supposed to be that guy, he took that mantle up himself. to be that guy. Yeah, and we'll see what he does, right? Like, we'll see what he does with that with that mindset. But like over the last few years, you haven't seen that, right? Like, before Anthony Edwards has come onto the scene on a consistent all-star level, like I said, like,

you're not going to ask Jason Tatum to tell you, hey, man, we need to get this shit popping. We need to get going. We need to do this, right? It's always been LeBron and older guys like that. But I think that they're just getting to a space where it's, they're kind of getting tuned out. So, like, I think you have to find a mix. And hopefully the league is betting on an Anthony Edwards type personality to do this because I think no matter what incentive you give, like at a certain point, the players have to do it and they have to perform on that level. And if they're not going to do it, it doesn't really matter.

They don't really care. You can't put any money in for these dudes are making more money than you ever thought that they could make. And you kind of have to, it has to be a mindset thing more than anything. I would make the note, by the way, it is scaled differently for. era certainly. But at every era, them dudes is making more money than they ever thought that they would make. Right. Like at every turn, when somebody was making $2 million 30 years ago, they could not believe they was making $2 million a year to play basketball, right? Like everybody's there

at that point. I don't know. I'm reluctant to say that there's just a lack of competitive spirit. That's just hard for me to, like, it's hard for me to imagine that you get this far, not, you know, feeling that way, but I do think if we went like larger, and this is more a hypothesis than a statement of fact, but I do think the fact that this becomes business for these guys so young, approaching this as competition, then becomes something different, right? Because if the game is to get into place, to get the exposure and the exposure is what gets you what you want, and then winning is almost like a secondary concern in the course of that, are you going to have it in you like that, right? Like, is that going to come out in you? But there's got to be, you're just not going to

convince me, though, that that's, there ain't no dudes out there that's trying to win at Uno. You know what I'm saying? That's trying to win. Like, whatever the thing is. Like, I get that feeling about Anthony Edwards. He's trying to win at everything because he's like that. Like, my mama's like that.

You ain't got to, like, I don't feel like you got to be an elite athlete to have that dog. And you mean, the Combs is like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, what's that Kierjerk line on TV, y'all? You don't see it how I see it. I cut my grandma, she don't see it how I see it. That's the type of time that Anthony Edwards is on. One other question that I do have for you on that one.

How much do you think of like everybody talks about the cliche AAU influence of professional sports and just the multiple games and which dilutes the competitive spirit of the game itself and that kind of reverberates to the program? I don't have an answer for that. I just was curious. Do you, do you, how much credence do you give that to where we are now is an All Star Day? I think it is fair to raise the question, again, as a hypothesis. as much as anything else as creating eras of these super high school teams. Right? Like I think it was Gilberinas talks about this where his son goes to the public school team.

It didn't send him a Sierra Canyon or anything else because he's like, those schools produce role players because everybody winds up on a team learning a role. And don't get me wrong, that is the wisest play for the vast majority of guys that are going. You are eventually going to be a role player. However, all the superstar type cats in the league outside of a couple of exceptions seem to be Europeans, like the highest, highest tier, right? You're Janus, Yolkich, Luca, like that level of dude, them cats is not from here, okay? They are developing the superstar mentality, apparently, over there. Now, of course, you've got Jason Tatum, who is such a fascinating case when we get

into this discussion. You get Anthony Edwards. You can get a couple of other people that you can name, but it feels anecdotally. That's why I throw it out here as hypothesis and not a statement of fact. But I'll tell you this. The influence aesthetically, of AAU basketball has gone up to the top rather than the top down. Like every time I think about the fact these cats be wearing all these funny looking uniforms and the colors don't matter anymore and everything else. An NBA game, the coach over there in a don't even wear no real clothes, he is over there in a pullover.

It looks like a big old AAU tournament now when you watch NBA basketball. I mean, especially if you watch the Charlotte Hornets now, you know. Especially if you watch Lamello Ball who is, I mean, he's cooking, but he's also doing it an AAU style, right? He's laughing at your face. He's not playing no defense, but he's pulling. And he's averaging. You look at his stats.

It's crazy, right? And so, like, you see that in so many different ways that. And I don't know how you fix that or we're just here now. Like, I guess you just adjust on the fly from there. Well, no, I think that the NBA can hold firm on the idea that we dictate what the culture of the NBA is. I do think it's fair to say, though, that like, this is what produces the players. And what you're saying is, especially since they're not getting no time in college, right? Where one might think that they go, you know,

somebody going to come lay to hammer down and show you what it is. Yeah, no, the influence of youth basketball culture, it's undeniable. How could it be? Especially with all the games these guys play and they do it from kids all the way up. Like, no, when the school- And we're professionalized this all the way from high school now and even grade school now. It's before high school. Yeah, like that's what I'm saying.

Like seventh, eighth grade now. Look, these dudes are preparing to be professionals from the very beginning. And so on one hand, it works out. nobody really gets in trouble anymore. Yeah. Like the era of NBA players in the headlines are getting in trouble, all that's over, in part because they're being prepared for that from the very beginning. I guess that's a benefit.

I don't really care. But right, like, interesting. The most famous NBA guy really for getting in trouble, of course, there have been some others, but like John Morant is that guy. But what John Morant was not was an AAU super star, John Morant went to Murray State, right? And then the blowup came. But yeah, no, we have professionalized this so much that we're seeing that, but I, wow, you got me thinking out a lot, thinking in real time, I don't know how you fix that or how you correct that.

But we're coming up on our advertising break, we're going to do that. And coming up next, I'm going to ask Logan about why it is that people keep trying to send Kevin Durant back to the bay, where he clearly don't want to be there. The NFL season is officially over, but the NBA is only heating up, which means you can turn $10 into $1,000 in a single game watching your favorite teams only on prize picks. You can make a prize picks line up with NBA or even college basketball in as little as 60 seconds. Sign up today and get $50 instantly when you play $5.

You don't even need to win to receive the $50. It's guaranteed. Quick withdrawals, easy game play, and an enormous selection of players and stat types of what make prize picks the number one fantasy sports app. But rather than hearing from me, let's hear from me. from our expert picker. All right, Sean, how the picks been going? You know, Bo, I believe I'm an expert in losing

because this month obviously has not been the best. But for all my picks, now I can focus solely on hoops. And with the flex play, I can still cash out if my lineup isn't perfect. But as always, make sure you stick around for the end of each show to hear my upcoming picks. And if you know me, you know I'm always picking more. There we go. So make sure you go to prizepicks.com slash Beaumani

and use code Beaumani for a first deposit matchup to $100. That's prizepicks.com slash Bowmani. Prize picks, Daily Fantasy Sports Made Easy. All right, we're back with Logan Murdoch of Real Ones at the Ringer, who sold out his show at the punchline, what I would have been happy to say myself,

except for the fact that Logan decided to, like, you know, run some game so that he could come in and be like, yeah, I just want to say this for the town, homie, you know what I'm saying? Hey, well, quick, before you get to your thing, man, I just wanted to say this. You've been given the L.A. accent for the Bay people, man. I don't know what it. No, we're not.

We have a different accent, man. We always get L.A. stereotypes. To me. To me. I can't. Like, I can't get y'all's. I'm trying, right? Give me a little time to work my other.

You could help me improve. Instead, it's the second time that all you had to do is come in here and offer off of corrections, but no solutions. My thing is this. You are a fan of the Bay Area and the Bay. I know this to be true. You listen to your share B40 or two short. I don't.

It's a difference than Mac 10 and Snoop. Like, it's a difference. You're right. But what I'm trying to give is more a general California rather. That way it could be adaptable back and forth. I'm trying to get in the middle. I'm just not going to be in the place to be able to do all this. Wow.

See, this is. I'm never coming on this show again. I was about to say. So it's a tough call for you, brother. Tough call. We're going to see what the people. think about this. But I mentioned this going into the break. The Warriors, and I know this, really, really, really, really tried hard for Kevin Durant. And in fact, as I understand it,

it was pretty set until finally Kevin Durant is like, why won't anybody listen to me? I all want to do that. And they're like, damn, I guess he don't want to do it. And my thinking is the Warriors had to be like, ooh, we know what it's like when he's not happy. Right? When he's not in a great mood. Nobody's in a great mood. And they're like, nah, no thanks. We'll just go get Jimmy Butler, which at least up to now was working out pretty well. I think people for, and I know it's been what, six years since Kevin left, which is wild to consider. But people forget, like, how tenuous it was when he, in the last year of his time here and when he left, like, when he went to, he tore his Achilles in Toronto, he had never come back, he didn't come back to the bay to get his

stuff or anything. Like, he was gone. And a lot of that had to do with the stuff that everyone knows about with Draymond Green and also just his relationship with the fan base is kind of weird too, right? Like, he's such an online person and he sees everything. And he makes up his own ideas of where he fits in his golden state lore and how he fits alongside Steph based on the perception that he got from the fan base, right? And I kind of feel him like, I don't want to go back to that headache.

Also, if Kevin Durant comes back to the Bay Area, it will be an absolute circus. And I don't think he wants to deal with that anymore because, quite frankly, it wasn't what he thought it was going to be. When he left, it wasn't what he thought it was going to be when he got there, right? Like, he won the championships. It didn't fulfill him. He, he, it didn't make him happy. Why would he want, I think it's the healthiest thing that we, decision making we've seen from Kevin Durant in quite a while to be honest with you. And I feel like people are trying to impose something onto him that I believe to be unfair.

And it's an idea that somehow now you could go to Golden State and prove to us that you really got it, right? Like the last time you went, you jumped on a team that won 73 games, right? That wasn't even fair. And by the way, it wasn't really fair. But it's not his fault. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not, where I don't think he gets enough credit is, we thought it wasn't fair for LeBron, D. Wade, and Chris Bosh to team up. And that actually turned out to be a lot harder than it looked. Right. Like that, that never went. There was a game every year of those four years where that whole experiment could have fallen apart. It was not as easy as people thought. The Warriors thing was even easier than we thought it would be. But the reason was was because Kevin Durant was so cold. Like, they were drafting all. of him as much as anything else. And I feel at least like an undercurrent of the idea of him going

there now is, well, now that you ain't got the game set on rookie, now you can go become a real champion. And I'm like, look, I don't know this. You cover these teams. You were like, not just I'm in Oakland doing a show. You were day to day with those teams. I think it is fair to say. Steph Curry is the man around those parts, but the best player on those teams is Kevin red. Absolutely. And I think that this Jimmy Butler trade and the style, because one of the biggest things, and I'm going to bring this back to KD, but one of the criticisms of Jimmy Butler getting traded to the Warriors is because he didn't quote unquote fit into their offense, right? And honestly, I think that's the best thing for the Warriors because Kevin Durant taught us that. You can have the

greatest offense and have it humming around step as much as you want to. But the anecdote was that you could, instead of when the team slows it slows you down, like the Cavs did in 2016 to the Warriors, and they slow that offense down. And those passes aren't going the way they want, and them shots ain't going down. You can pass the ball to a Kevin Durant in the post, and he's one of the best mid-range players that we have ever seen and can get you a game. That's why it was always trippy to me when, like, portions of the fan base would say stupid stuff, like, oh, yeah, we can win without Kevin Durant. We can, we're. we're a better team without Kevin to remember. I was a narrative about that in 2019.

And that was just absolutely ridiculous because Kevin was the ultimate cheat code. But as a consequence to that, I think that he was, he and by extension of warriors were just victims of their own success and own greatness. And because of that, Kevin felt some type of way. We all know the story and all of these things. But I mean, I guess it just goes back to like, why would you want to want to go back to that? But I think Kevin will always look and I think history will always look at his time in Golden State is just the biggest gift and curse, right? Because it was a coup to get him. But I think it diluted the fact that, like, yo, this dude went toe to toe with LeBron,

LeBron James Peek LeBron, and outplayed him into the finals. Like, it just put the shot in his eye to basically iced finals that year. Remember that? In LeBron's building. And then went to next year and hit the shot from the same side. It had the coldest pose of all time. Right. And look, we don't think of any of these things, right? Step and KD can be like, yo, we sent LeBron home. Now, granted, Steph did it once without Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant did not do it without step, dot, all this stuff. Cool. But we don't give them any credit for the monstrous. Or Kevin Durant more accurate is the one that we don't give credit. We don't act like Steph Curry's rings have an asterisk to them. We only do it to Kevin's.

Yeah, and that even extends to the, like I said, the fan base in the Bay Area, right? But I think also Kevin, and I've said this before, I think Kevin is a victim of his own decision making, right? Like, to leave at your peak and to go to Brooklyn and waste those years in New York the way that he did was such a travesty, right? Like, I think if he even chooses a better team to go to, he gets the right amount of rings that he is supposed to. And we look at him in a different light because he is that good. counterpoint, there was not a pandemic when he signed to play with the Nets, right? Fair point, yeah. The first year, he was his big-ass shoe, not to be confused with his big-ass foot,

but his big-ass shoe away from them beating Milwaukee and I think probably winning the championship, right? Although the booze was dragging, right? Like, I think that was the year that James Hardin had the hamstring problem and Kyrie got hurt. He carried them that series against Yonis. He did. He did. But the issue seemed to be, if it was anything else, it wasn't about picking the wrong teams that

the bad luck of trying to win a championship and them guys got hurt. Then, you know, the whole thing with Kyrie and the shots, if this version of Kyrie that Dallas has was the version that was there with the net, we're not having this discussion. If the city doesn't have the vaccine provision put in, we're probably not having this discussion. Now, do these sorts of things? Are there some teams that it just always seems like these sorts of things happen to and the Nets may be one of them? Ah, one could make the argument, right? But I think, I think we always want to find a way to make Kevin Durant responsible for the things that like don't go right. He made the call to leave Oklahoma City. I actually thought that was a bit

courageous just to be like, look, this is what I want to do. This is how I want to do it. People go have something to say about me. Okay, he went up there. He did it. Him leaving. you seem to be saying what I believe on this and you were there. It had to be done. Time was up. Like this was not, this was not. Leaving there was not a bad decision. It's only a bad decision if the only thing you care about is winning championships.

And after you've won two of them, I don't know how much that matters. Clearly the only thing that championships are not the only thing that matters to LeBron at this point. And I don't say that is shade. It's just things get to be a little bit different for different people at different points in their journey. I think there's a misconception that like loving to play the game. game means you want to win at the highest level, right? And I think that when I, and I say that in regards to Kevin is, and I've talked to him about this on a number of occasions, his goal and what he wants to do, he wants to hoop. He is a hooper's hooper, hooper, hooper, hooper. Like, you talk about

a rappers, rapper, rapper, he is that toward the basketball court, right? Like, it's more of one of those things of where if we win is cool, but like I just, I love playing the game and I love seeing the game. And I think that that that's not, especially in the Rings culture. And LeBrona said similar things too. Like if it don't work out, it don't work out. But I do love having the opportunity to play at this level for as long as I have, which honestly is a rational thought. But we have gotten to this point with NBA basketball. And I'm not, I'm not post, giving bail to nobody. I'm just saying this is what it is. A lot of dudes like to play the game of basketball and don't necessarily, if the chips come, they come. But if they don't, I'm happy to

be here. And also, your, your generation's goat this year shares those sentiments. And I, and I think that that's something that gets misconstrued, especially post Jordan, post-Cobie. A lot of people don't want to hear that, but that's just what it is. Like, a lot of people that are great at that level, love to hoop, and we'll see what the chips, what they made. Also, it's really hard to win a title. Like, it's so hard. It's, It's not just the basketball thing. It's so many things have to come together for you to win. The best team doesn't win a title every year.

You have to have luck. You have to have no injuries. And you have to be playing good at the right time. Those things don't happen all the time. So when I say the things about, you know, people just want to hoop, that's okay. And Kevin Durant is in that line of people that like, I just want to hoop at a high level for as long as I can. We'll see what the game gives me. You are a Lakers guy.

Hold on, before I get to that, I don't think we've taught nearly enough about Jimmy Butler doing one of the pettier things that anybody has ever done, which is, for those who don't know, Tim Hardaway Hall of Famer, former Miami Heat legend, had a lot to say about Jimmy and what went down with him in Miami. And so Jimmy got to Golden State, where Tim Hardaway is also a bit of a local legend

and where his jersey has not been retired, which kind of makes sense, but it's still a little bit surprising. But anyway, Jimmy took Tim Hardaway's number. I thought that was for Namar. I thought that was for Namar. Yeah, I bet it was. I bet it was. I bet it was. He took Tim Hardaway's number, and the plan is to get it retired.

So out of pocket. It's so devious, too. It's so out of pocket. Because if you know, like, the RUDD MC Warriors have a special place in the Bay Area's heart. and they are legendary. But on the grand scheme of things, they didn't really do anything, right? I think they had like a,

they won one round. If that, it wasn't like they lost. They had a year where they won the 2-7, I want to say, it was either over the spurs or the jazz. I can't remember which. Yeah,

but it wasn't like nothing, like, and that tells you like where the Warriors were post-Stef, right? Where if you win a playoff series, like it's kind of like where the Kings are now, right? That's what the Warriors were for, most of my time growing up, which is why I did not choose to root for that team growing up. You opted out.

I was good. Man, you know, Bo, you know this, but you know how many Laker fans have Warriors jerseys on now? How many Laker fans that I know growing up that I know because I rooted with them going to games, going to games to watch the other team, now they got Draymond jerseys on and they got KD jerseys on and they got clay jerseys on. We're going to see in the next 10 years what's going to happen when Steph is no longer on the team. We'll see.

Now, what are you thinking about the Leger's with the Luca and LeBron thing? It looked good in the game that I checked on, but they was also playing against the Utah trash. Yeah, I don't. I really don't know, man, because on one hand, I mean, they just got Alex Lynn, but I'm going to just say it right now. They ain't got no center, right?

They're just going to have to play small. Luca looked comically out of shape, but that's usually what he looks like and he steals balls out and get you 40. I don't think, I think if they get to the first round and then maybe they win a playoff series, I think that's a win. But it's going to be fun. They have LeBron and Luca, right? It's not for this season.

I think they're going to be decent. And honestly, they already won a championship in February. They don't have to do anything else. They got Luca. They're straight. It's over. They're good. But long term, though, it's going to be fascinating because there's two things at play here.

One, there's the market of Los Angeles, and everybody wants to be a Laker if they can be, right? But also, you've had these whispers over the past few years of players being frustrated with playing alongside Luca Donchish, right? And I don't know what's going to give out of that conundrum, right? Like, I don't know maybe, you know, Luca switches his game. It was really fascinating to watch him against Utah because they had him coming off screens. They had him running around, which is also why he was tired. But it's not going, I'm curious to see what type of offense JJ puts around him. Because, I mean, Jason Kidd's offense wasn't that imaginative.

And I want to see Luca in an imaginative offense where there are things. This is a very smart basketball player. Everyone talks about how great an IQ he is. So two things are at play. Like I do think the Lakers are back and Lakers elitism is back. The propaganda is back. But Lakers are one of those organizations. And I think LeBron is seeing this side, right,

where it doesn't matter how big of an entity you are as a player, you still got to win championships for that market to actually respect you in the long term. So there is going to be a honeymoon period for the Lakers and Luca. But at some point, going to have to put some banners up for him to be known as an all-time Laker because here's a good question for you both. And I think I know the answer to this. Is LeBron a top 15 beloved Laker of all time right now? Beloved Laker? Beloved Laker. Okay. 15. I'm going to start by saying I hope so. 15, right? But if we're talking about beloved and again, you're a better judge of this

than me because you were more native to the space, right? Magic, Kareen, Kobe, Jerry West. I'd even say Shaq. It ended weird, but I think it probably came back around. Then you got to start, like, I don't think that James Worthy is going off the board, right? But James Worthy, but now, like, off the board, Michael Cooper. Inexplicable Hall of Fame or Michael Cooper, by the way. Basketball Hall of Fame That's his basketball Hall of Fame Yes, yes

Yeah, basketball, you're correct And they just retired his jersey Um This is that I was From Englewood put LeBron over Bob Mcadoot See in that See that gets that gets to an interesting space right Derek Fisher

Where does he Robert? Did I just throw out Robert Orr? Did I already get Robert Ory? No, no, keep going Robert Ory Yeah, Robert Ory's on the board Byron Scott. Wilts Chamberlain Englewood's own

But he didn't say Wilchamberland yet You didn't say we didn't say Elgin Baylor. We didn't even say Pat Riley. We didn't say Pat Riley. Powell Gasol, you guys seem to be pretty fond of him. Yeah. Yeah.

See, like in practice, like when you put the list together, when I sell you, when I ask you, you're like, yeah, LeBron should be top 15. But then you put the list of people down and you think about, you know, your cousin from Playa Vista, you think about, you know, homie from Alistina. And they're like, no, bro. No, no. I mean, it's an awkward relationship. relationship, right? You guys hated him for so long because he was the not Kobe. And then you had to wrap your arms around him. And that, I underestimated the impact that that first part would have on, like, how LeBron was viewed. I, I didn't realize how serious this was to y'all. But again, like I said,

it's, the Lakers are one of those franchises where like, it's like, yeah, you LeBron. So, like, what you're going to do compared to magic, Kareem, Kobe, and all these people who have multiple titles. And you only have one, right? Like, that's literally what you're judged by. And then there's the influence of Clutch that has kind of, it's just been a weird relationship, right? Where Clutch is trying to, in some ways, trying to strong arm the front office, and there's that power struggle and there's all these things, right?

And he's also, this is not, this is not fair to LeBron, but like he came towards the end of his career, right? Like if he would have, say if he would have came like when he went to Miami, I think he would be more beloved because he for sure would have won more titles. And I think that he finally met his match in terms of for every other franchise of LeBron has ever been with. He had the clout and he had, he was just bigger than the organization, right? Like he was bigger than the Cavaliers as an entity, right? He tried to stronghold the Miami Heat.

But like he gave more to the Miami Heat, I think then at some points they gave to him. He could actually have that thing where he could strong arm. Then he goes back to Cleveland. At that point, he ran it. He comes to L.A. That doesn't fly here. Even if the Lakers were to give him some level of leeway and rope, you have the fan base that's like, well, whatever, like, you ain't done nothing for us yet. Like, that's just what it is.

So he's just in a weird place because he finally met his match. And it was the first time in his career that he himself wasn't bigger than the organization. That's something that he had to deal with. Yeah, like I think right now is an interesting time because everybody's on best behavior, right? Like I think Luca probably hadn't really started screaming at people yet. LeBron has taken a very big step back and making sure we all know that he has taken that step back to make room. Like, I will say this. If he really feels this way and can immediately come to terms with the idea that this is not his team anymore, then he is amazing.

right like he is an amazing man that is a greater man in that way than a zillion other people than we've ever met which is why it's hard to believe that them making this trade and not telling him right going out and getting mark williams because lucca asked for it all of this stuff lebron is doing everything that he's supposed to do right now right everybody everybody's in that honeymoon phase of this they go and play i think they play utah again and i probably have played that by the time anybody hears this they go Going to the All-Star game, everything's peaceful. Then if they have their first, okay, they've lost three out of four.

Yeah. What do we do there? Because you're right, man. It's about to be lay-up lines against them dudes because they ain't got no size. The other thing, no, like, it's weird because the Lakers could just say, well, what do you want to do? You want to get traded to Golden State? Do you want to go to play? I don't know.

I mean, over the summer, it could have been like the six or somebody. Like, where else would you want to go, right? And LeBron's at the part of his career is, where can I be LeBron and have all the great things that being LeBron other than L.A.? Like he can't do that anywhere else. He damn sure couldn't do it in the Bay Area. It can't do it in a place like Philly, which is why I ultimately believe he decided not to go there. But when I say being LeBron, I'm talking about the movie studios in your backyard, talking about

living in Brentwood. I'm talking about, you know, being able to be a – because when you're a – Laker, you're not just a basketball player. You are an institution. And where else, and I feel like LeBron Salt has seen the writing on the wall in the last few years where I can be an institution in Los Angeles, which is a huge deal post-career. I feel like, you know, as a guy that has always played the leverage game, I think part of LeBron was like, oh, you got me, I'm out leverage and I still want to get what I want out of the situation. And I'll rope with this. And plus, like, I'm playing I guess playing alongside Luca Dachis, who's one of my favorite players that I've ever played with,

it's not the worst tradeoff. Again, we are asking a lot of that, man, from running the world to be number two to Luka Dachia. And Luka's doing it right. I'll introduce me first this first game, but after that big dog, it's your world. You go to getting introduced last. You know what I'm saying? Question for you, though. Like, where, how long do you think LeBron has if, say, the, the, the,

the Lakers are a championship contender next year or the year after that. Like, does he ride the wave with him? Because also another thing is, like, LeBron is so hyped up in his own mythology. Like, how does he get off the runway his way if there, if the focus isn't necessarily on him and a championship was within reach? Now, if there is a chance for him to leave on a championship, I think he is going to do his best to leave on that championship. Understandably, no shade.

but I think that he's going to do his best to be able to do that. But this is, this is to me, we have underrated just how wild it is that they made this move without talking to LeBron. And the reason none of us could believe it is because that was a crazy thought to have that you could ever dream of making a move like that and not telling your star player. And they're like, no, we did. You're right. We didn't tell our star player. We didn't tell Luca. But you could do that.

He's all star player now. When he's 40 years old, you can't do that when he's even 37. You could do that now, though. Yeah. Yeah, you can. But even then, even at that point, right? And they traded as mans to make it happen. Like, that is a clear decision that we are no longer in the,

it's not the LeBron James era anymore. It's the Luca Dantajera, and everybody knows it. And LeBron, like I say, he is handling this like a champ up to this point. I tell you what, Rob Polinka earned that extra Smedium-ass leather jacket he wore. He earned that shit. Like, yeah, that jacket did not fit the same way you did the last time he wore it. He needed, he need to, he need to stop taking, um, clothes from six year old Alponzo Roberto. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a little zippery, wasn't it? It was, it was a little, it was a little like, like Mike who's like five, seven, 90 pounds like gave it. It looked like from that archive. But he earned it. Yes. Hey, he did.

He did. He did. That. Logan Burdock, check him out on real ones. at the Ringer. Check that podcast out. You could go see them at the punchline, except you can't go see him at the punchline if you ain't already got no ticket. Tell him why, Logan. Because it's sold out, man. Sorry. What is that sorry? I'm sorry. I love all. Hey, man, real talk. It's just on the real, though, I love all the real ones. I love everybody that comes through, man. I really appreciate everybody selling it out. I'm sorry that it got lost in translation. Why am I capping? I appreciate everybody. but like I just felt like I should do the off the glass thing.

And honestly, you ain't got to worry about this if you don't like it because Bo ain't going to ever have me on this show again. Let me go see what the people say, man. You know what I'm saying? You did all right this time. You did all right, brother. But I appreciate you following you, too. Bo, you know I'm a huge fan of you, bro.

It's outside of the friendship that we've had, bro. You know, I rock with you, man. Thanks so much. This was an honor to have you on yourself. I appreciate you coming all, my brother. That's on the real, man. Logan Byrd, I check him out. And ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on The Right Time.

We do this three times a week. Sean, you handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Remember, hit the book. Oh, no, we don't have voicemail because we don't have a show on Monday. But we do have an AMA that is available exclusively to people who have signed up for the ad-free tier of the right time. So go to Supercast, check out our ad-free tier, and you can check out our AMA that comes out on President's Day. Now, remember, follow the right time, subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars.

only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.