The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Nick Wright Talks LeBron James vs Stephen A Smith, Lakers Chances in the Playoffs, and The MVP Race | 3.12

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

On today’s episode, we're joined by Nick Wright of First Things First on FS1 and the host of the What's Wright? Podcast, to discuss the biggest NBA news of late. The show begins with Nick joking with Bomani over his Detroit Lions early playoff loss (0:52) before transitioning to the NBA to praise the much-improved defense of the Los Angeles Lakers. (6:14) Sticking with the Lakers, they debate if a team like OKC would defeat them in a playoff series (14:17) and they compare Luka Doncic's season last year to Nikola Jokic's potential MVP season this year. (18:33) Bo and Nick break down the strange on-court/off-court fight between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith, (33:51) which also leads to a conversation about Bronny James being a valuable 2nd round draft pick. (42:19) . . . 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: Discover faster, more reliable search with Perplexity today. Download the app or ask Perplexity anything at perplexity.com! https://pplx.ai/bomani-jones  When any player scores 50 or more points in a game, DashPass members save 50% on an order, up to $10 off. Use promo code NBA50 to redeem. See further terms and conditions at https://drd.sh/8ONpZP/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time. A Wave Original presented by Perplexity. 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.

Also, check us out at Supercast. Add free the right time, $5 a month plus bonus features. Like I Ask Me Anything in the Lights. Go ahead and check that out. It is that time of week where we have a guest join us. Check them out on First Things First on Fox Sports One and the What's Right podcast. It feels like this year has been the year of Nick Wright. We got another Chief Super Bowl, but then they got their asses kick.

But then you got Luca and LeBron on the same team. To shame, they couldn't have played the Lions. Then they would have three-peated and dogwalked that team. I don't think so. I don't think so. I mean, that team, God, I was looking forward to that. Unfortunately, you guys couldn't make it through a half of the playoffs. But yeah, sorry to interrupt.

Hi, Bo. No, you're right. No, I do feel like, though, I feel like if there was any conclusion I would have come to after the Super Bowl was coming across a team that had the level of talent that the Lions or the Eagles had, they would have to whip the Chiefs asses too. Yeah, except the Lions level of talent was entirely on the offensive side of the ball or in the training room. So, yeah, I wouldn't. I don't think the Lions defense was going to have those successes. But you're right in that I needed a pick-me-up post-super Bowl as the Chiefs. had to settle for just being tied for the greatest three-year stretch in the history of the NFL.

So my favorite player of all time has joined his team, my second favorite player of all time. And now they might win the championship. So, yeah, it's all good. Good to talk to you. Sorry I haven't been able to come on earlier. I'm glad we're finally able to do it. No, you finally moved into the 21st century and moved your podcast operation into your house, which thereby made illogistically possible for us to do this thing.

Yeah, this is true. Yeah, the downside of it being in my house is I might, it seems like the house next door to me is getting reconstructed. So hopefully that's not bleeding over into your guys' audio. But yeah, we did the podcast from my wife's store in Harlem for three years. It is now in the house. I was, you know, if you take the wide shot of what's behind me, you're going to notice a lot of blank space.

And that is because I left blank space to put up the, latest chiefs win the Super Bowl newspapers. Unfortunately, that's going to have to wait another year. So that's, you know, that was a planning error, I guess, when I was developed. I was like, because they were like, don't you want to fill up the background? I'm like, well, that'll be silly because we're going to have all of the three Pete stuff to put up there. Sadly, we do not. Look, the thing about that game was, and this ain't even shade, this was just one of those, right? It didn't take long to tell that this one was really probably not going to turn around. And I had all kinds of people hit me up and be like, yo, you need to find out how Nick's doing.

I'm like, I know how Nick's doing. A real friend like myself, I ain't even talked to you about that super bowl until now. I didn't think it was appropriate to bring up before then. You're not real friends at your job. They was wearing your ass out for two hours. Yeah, no, that's true. And I appreciate that you didn't reach out to me. And here's the thing to anyone watching right now that happens to be someone who reached out to me

during or in the days after that game. If you have not reached out to me since then, I never saw what you sent me. Because I have, I will check now, I don't know if this will show up on the camera, but what you're going to see is 485 unopened text messages. And that not unresponded to unopened. And I'm not on group chats. That's just people that texted me at a time that I wasn't prepared to read what they had to say. And if they haven't text me since then,

that shit will just forever be unknown. So like the, and so I can't tell you in the last few weeks how many people have texted me and when I've gone to it, I'm like, oh, they sent me something during the Super Bowl. Like, oh, they either, and a lot of them were sorry, hope you're doing okay. Some of them were little shit talking and the people who were shit talking during it, most of those people will never be responded to ever again. That's about as dirty as it gets, but whatever, we move on.

We can talk hoops. This is, you know, I mourned it properly. I agree with you about these guys, though, who just pop up at the end like that. And you ain't heard from them. And who knows how long, you ain't heard from them since. Those are some suckers. Like, I am, like, you talked about this. I thought you made a good point that the old takes exposed dude kind of scared people for being wrong and that it's silly.

I think you're right. But anybody that ever snitches on me to him gets immediately blocked because what a sucker move, right? You want to do it. Do it yourself. But if I ain't never heard from you and all you want to do is come and talk to me about me being wrong about something. Nah, man, there's a fungus among us. I, listen, I couldn't agree more. Also, I don't think, and I've said this before, so we don't have to spend a ton of time on it.

The idea that you have an obligation to get predictions correct means you have an obligation to be a soothsayer. To be able to see, you have an obligation to get reporting correct. But people, I still to this day get sent to me almost every time Tatum has a big game, that going into that draft, I had him as the fifth best player in the draft. And people, I think want me to be embarrassed by that. I'm like, man, I don't, I don't fucking know what you, what you think, how I'm supposed to react to any of that. Like, oh, I thought that Josh Jackson out of Kansas was way better than he is, evidently. and I thought Markle Fulse is going to be awesome. Check that one in the wrong column and keep it moving. So I want to ask you this, though.

You mentioned, I had forgotten to even mention this when I asked you what you wanted to talk about. The Luca and LeBron thing, you and I both thought when it first happened, though, that they would not be able to guard a soul. But little did we know that. J.J. Reddick, apparently, is Larry Brown. He appears to be coaching his ass off.

I think I feel good about that, good for him. You know what I mean? But this has gone better than I thought that he would. So I thought it would go great offensively. And I thought the, you know, Chuck and others who were like, oh, you know, LeBron's not going to be able to play without the ball. LeBron can play whatever the team needs from him. LeBron can be one of the best players in the league at that role. People are like, he's always had the ball.

Well, there has been precisely two and a half years his entire career up until them trading for Luca, where there was ever even a close debate about could we get a better possession with someone else having the ball than with LeBron? And that was his first two and a half years in Miami. So it's like while he's only ever done this, it's because it's what his team has always demanded. You mentioned the defensive piece of it. I also always believed that it was not that LeBron all of a sudden lost the ability to be a good defender. LeBron has lost the ability to have the energy to be great on both ends for sustained periods of time

by getting Luca and putting the ball in Luca's hands where LeBron actually gets to rest on some offensive possessions. He then can pay more attention defensively. I also think you get a more engaged LeBron James whenever he thinks, wait, we can win the championship. Now obviously this all gets a little derailed by the injury and now they're going to fall. some in the standings. But, you know, we'll see it could be the blessing in disguise, so to speak, is, and this is no disrespect to the Thunder who absolutely can win the championship. But if you ask the Lakers, hey, would you rather be the two-seed and in round two-face Denver, or the four-seed and in-round-two-face Oklahoma City? I think they would say,

we'll take our chances as the four-seed. And so, like, and I think that's probably, the way this ends up playing out. Okay. I want to put a pen in that do you want to play Oklahoma City or Denver thing? Because to me, I agree that you do not want to play Denver, but I think we have different rationales on that.

But I think with the Lakers, that I did not think LeBron would play as well off the ball simply because he's a human being. And I am surprised at how well he has handled the idea that in the middle of the night, they woke up,

and told him, hey, we're giving the team to this guy. I do not know if I would have handled that nearly as well as he has managed to handle it, especially as the man who's been the center of attention for 20 years. I did not think that he would deal with that. Like I thought when Kevin Durant went to play with the Warriors and the arguments were made, well, Steph will be just fine with that. I'm like, yeah, we'll see about that. And it was a little rocky.

There were ups and downs in that because what do you know? Steph Curry is an actual human being and it's a little bit difficult when you bring in another number one type guy. when you're the number one guy. It wasn't that easy for Duane Wade in Miami when they made that move. LeBron has seamlessly moved over to doing this. Like, he's the rare guy who means it where it's like, cool, a little bit less for me to do. I appreciate getting a little time off. He seems to actually believe it.

So I, you know, and not that I want to steal any credit from LeBron, but to be fair, I think he maybe would not have handled this nearly as well at any other place in his career. I think it's easiest to handle it when you're 40, when you're in year 22. And so, and I also think what really helped is they traded for the one super-dooper star in this league, who since he came into the league, has been adamant. I'm a LeBron guy. I think he's the best player ever. I modeled my game after him.

He's my basketball idol. Like, so he is, if you remember, LeBron, said on the record to Channing and Richard on their pod years ago that Luca was the guy, the only guy he ever tried to sign to a LeBron James shoe deal. You know, like there isn't, you know, the way there's Team Jordan, there isn't Team LeBron. That is probably maybe the only thing left Jordan has in the goat debate, but set that aside. And the, but he, so he, he said it because Luca,

But he's, he's always loved Luca and the way Luca plays. And that's kind of, you know, LeBron's own ego playing there because he loves the way Luca plays because Luca plays like him. Like it's like, I, no one in the league. He reminds me a lot of myself. Reminds me a lot of me. And so, like, and so I think that helps. And I also think that LeBron having all of a sudden become the last few years, a knock down

spot-up shooter is the other reason this helps is because earlier in his career when he was a shakier three-point shooter, it wouldn't make as much sense for him to be off the ball. But now when he shoots the same from three as Steph, again, slightly different degree of difficulty and volume of shots. But the percentages are the percentages. I don't think he minds it as much. I will throw this out there, though, that when you go to the advanced statistical profile, even since he's gotten to the Lakers, the Luka numbers are not good. Like, I find that to be interesting.

So one, the most interesting statistical thing going in the NBA is LeBron James on off numbers, which skewed to imply that the Lakers have been better all year long with LeBron off the court. ESPN had a very interesting article about this, though, where they seem to attribute it to outlier three point percentages, both when he's on the floor and when he's off the floor, that the Lakers give up, I mean, the Lakers have a lower three point percentage against when he's off and an really high one when he's on the floor. Like there may be an argument that it doesn't have to do with him. So there was another reason because this pre-Luca trade, the numbers were even worse.

And I thought it would, to me, and my theory from watching the Lakers, before that article had come out actually when this was kind of a bubbling story was another thing, which is, is the Lakers pre-Luca trade simply could not defend when Anthony Davis was off the court. And 100% basically of the non-A-D minutes, LeBron was on the court. So it was, he was not getting, because JJ was staggering LeBron and AD as much as one could. And so he was not getting the benefit of AD's defense. Now they remade themselves defensively when AD got hurt before the trade, and they've been able to carry that over to a degree. Them being the second best team in the West with this.

Because the thing I give JJ is, JJ has something that coaching has seemed to be missing for a little while. A big old gigantic ego. And you need one of those to really walk in, to walk in in the way that he has walked in with the team that he has walked in to try to handle. Right. Yeah. He's been that guy. And it's gone incredibly well. What I want to see happen in the postseason, though, is when people come out there and start

hunting Luca, then what do we have? Because we're going to see a lot of that. And that's the thing. Playoff, everything in the playoffs comes down to one thing that helps the Lakers. Really, who are your two best players, maybe three? And then from there, who can we hunt out, right? Everybody switches everything. Who can we go and make play defense?

That's the part, especially since the Lakers have like one dude on the team that's taller than me. So there's that part's real. the it's also why okay c's a unique matchup because okayc really only has the one guy who has i you know the credibility if you will or the ability to be like you know they don't have multiple guys that can go hunting it's really just she but also it does feel like she could average 40 a game against the lakers in a series because they don't also don't have someone who can really guard the point of attack but the flip side to that is also true aside from boston there isn't a team in the league that has multiple elite wing stoppers.

Like the Nuggets got Aaron Gordon for a playoff series against a LeBron James or a Luca. Nobody has a team where it's like, okay, Aaron Gordon is on LeBron James. Who is on Luca? Like the fact that, and so I think that's going to be super interesting in a series where for Luca or LeBron, for the first time in their basketball lives, One of them is not going to be being guarded by that team's primary wing defender because he's going to be on the other guy and what that's going to mean in these matchups. I still question if Oklahoma City is a guy short.

They have one guy. Yeah, I think they got one guy that's go get us a bucket. And that one guy is a foul merchant. That's the other thing. So I'm a little worried that not. for the same reasons, but in a same way that we have seen, in Bede and Hardens, playoff numbers dip significantly. That's, now it didn't happen last year to Shea, to his credit.

Now, but they only made, you know, they lost in round two is, are some of Shea's numbers going to dip to a degree? Because he's not going to get the regular season whistle. And the guys historically who have been had these unreal numbers in part because of these unreal free throw rates and beat and hardened primarily. You know, we saw that not carry over every postseason. So I think that's a fair question. I also think OKC, listen, they're awesome.

And they could win the championship. I'm not discounting them. But their hope was and is that their second best players will be Chet Holmgren. He's not there yet. Like Jalen Williams is a hell is a great story and a really good player. But you do feel like he's probably, Bruce's been making this point, he's right. And listen, they might be the champion this year.

But you would think it probably should stack as he's your third best guy. She's your best. He's your third. And that team is a juggernaut. Now, Oklahoma City has the profile of a juggernaut. We'll just see if it is that way come the postseason. I hate that all your skinny skepticism is looking true with both Victor and Chet not playing right now. Like I just, I, it's, it's a short term thing.

I mean, the Victor thing's weird and I'm not like, and I'm not rooting for it. That's the weirdest. Now, you know what really my I don't love skinny athletes take really took a hit by the Jaden Daniels rookie season. I will tell you that. Jane Daniels, Daniels rookie season. That was not ideal, but I do. And it's also for any aspiring sports media folks, let me tell you one lesson I've learned. There is no take that has a worse return.

turn on investment, then I'm worried about this player because I think he might be injury prone. Because if you're wrong, you're wrong. And if you're right, you never get to be like, told you so. Like I can't look at any of these injuries and go on TV. Like, ah, what I tell you? Oh, James, Bradribbs four weeks in. Oh, Chet, first summer league game, LeBron bangs it. Like, I don't, I just have to be like, I'm just, I just have to be like, yeah, that sucks.

even though in my brain, I'm like, I knew this was going to happen. Speaking of Shane, I saw it on TV. Could you explain to people right fast your explanation for why it is? The Yokic can't be the MVP this year because he was the MVP last year because I want to make sure it sounds as wrong when I hear it out your mouth as I thought it did when I saw you say it on TV. It's very simple. Luca Donchich last year had 34, 9, and 10 were his numbers.

He had a 73, 10, and 10. seven game. He played a ton, was utterly dominant, and his team won 50 games. Yokic's team won 57, and the MVP voting was 79 first place votes for Joker, four for Luca. And it was because, listen, they're both having A-level seasons. And even though Luca averaged more assists, eight more points per game and only three less rebounds, that we have to reward the winning. We must reward the winning. And then this year, people are like, well, even though Oklahoma City is 11 games clear of the field with only one star player on the team and that star player is going to win the scoring title, wow look at joker's numbers which are almost as good as lucas last year and so i don't it is so last year

lucca was my MVP pick which means this year by that same logic it should be joker but because joker won it last year and i don't have a vote the voters are telling me that the standard is what she did and this is the fourth time with the same player that we're saying, yeah, the whole history and Preston of it, fuck that. So like, and that's an outrage. He is the best player in the league. The only, he is the only player in the league you could put on the nuggets. And I would think they can win the championship.

Like just you remove him. There's no one else. Not Janus, not Shay, not Luca, none of them. I give him and I was wrong about how great of an all-time great he is and you were right. But we can't keep fucking playing Calvin ball with MVP's where it's this year's criteria as it happens rewards one player and it's Joker. And next year's criteria will be very different, but it will reward one player and it's Joker. That's bullshit. I just want consistency in how we give out the.

award. That's all. I will hit you back with two things here, right? Now, how many, how many MVP votes did you say Yokic had last year? 74. Yokic got 79 first place votes. Luca got four. She got 15. Y'all, oh, see, there you go. You got to where I was going. I would have rode out with him if Luca had even fit his second. He didn't even fit his second in the voting last year. No. Shea finished second. Like, the argument is if it was the we're going to reward winning, then Shay would have been that guy, I think, to win the MVP if that were the case. To me, the stat that maps most closely to MVP, and my regular people who listen to this, know what I'm going to say.

It's win shares per 48 minutes. You can go year after year after year since the 1980s, and there are a couple of exceptions there. Derek Rose in 2011, those Steve Nash years, Russell Westbrook, the year after Kevin Durant left, those are the exceptions. Otherwise, it maps pretty much out there. Yolkits for the fifth straight year, by the way, Yokic is the all-time leader in this category. Yokic for the fifth straight year is leading the league in winchairs per 48. I thought that they decided to give it to M. B because people started complaining and M. B played well enough down that stretch that it was, okay, we could go

ahead and do this now if we want to. But the best player in the NBA is playing better than anybody else. Shea, interestingly enough, has a very similar winchairs per 48, which is in, both of them is in rarefied air that's in the neighborhood of the best LeBron James seasons, the best Michael Jordan seasons, the best Wilk Chamberlain seasons, the best, uh, what was the other guy's name, Cream Abdul-Jabbar. Like, this is the space where those two guys are in. I see the argument for Shea, if you want to. I just felt like using the third place finishing from the year before as the counterfactual, where I still thought that Yolkits had a better year that he did last year that lucca did. Here's I guess the counterpoint to that. Last year,

the top two finishers were the two teams that tied for the best record in the West. And I thought this is my frustration. And it's where and I do listen, at one point in time, I was fairly classified as a Nikola Yokickech skeptic. I went on, some would say, hey, or I, but whatever. I have to own it because I was dead wrong about where he actually was going to stack up historically. So I, but I think that the, what I had said always was I want to see him go on a legendary playoff run. The moment and somebody were like, why didn't need you, why did you need to see it?

I didn't. Okay, credit to the folks who saw it before I did. But since he did that, I have not moved the goalposts. When Sinsky went on that run, I have given him all his flowers. But what is frustrating to me is this. He won his first MVP, rightfully, the way a lot of guys have won it. A great player who finally has his greatest season and the majority of MVP winners win their first MVP way before they do any real winning.

Fine. No problem. I actually think that year I might have been a Chris Paul MVP guy. I can't remember, but doesn't. matter. You were it. You were, you were, you, you were, you, you were, you were. You, you were. Oh, that is right. And then all Chris Paul did was, I think, sweep you up, Joker out of the playoffs and get to the finals, but neither here or there. Now we'll get to the point that I'm trying to make. The next year, Joker had an unbelievable year and his team was the six seat. And we were like, well, there's been one MVP in the

last 30 years who wasn't a top three seed. It was a terrible MVP decision in hindsight. It was Russell Westbrook triple double year. Forget the precedent of winning. We'll give it to Joker. And I was like, I don't love that. The next year, it was, you know what? Despite the fact that every single three-time MVP ever has already been a champion or been to multiple finals, And despite the fact that we've only had one, three in a row MVP in the last 50 years in the NBA, we're going to give it to Joker again. And then oddly, I think Kendrick Perkins somehow scared the whole media out of voting for him. And so he didn't get it.

I didn't think that I didn't agree with Perk that it was a race thing. But regardless, we were going to be, we were going to change the rules again. And now this year, last year we said, even though Luca is having statistically a wholly unprecedented season, he's not even a candidate. When you get four out of 100 votes and one of the four came from Broussard, who I had to convince every single day on TV. So I, to do it, you're not even, La Luka was dismissed. as a candidate because his team didn't win enough. And now this year, you have a guy who's going to win the scoring title, whose team's going to win 67, 68 games.

And we're like, and some folks are like, no, actually, it's the, did you see the 30, 20, 2020 game? When I saw again, Luca have a 60, 2010 game and no one gave a shit. And so it just feels to me like there is a, and Michael, I got to listen to Michael. Malone every night just basically be like if we're not willing to switch out Jerry West silhouette for Nikola Yokic, we don't respect the game. Like enough, man. And so I just, I, that, that's where, that's where I stand. What you won't hear me saying is, man, and this is what I was saying when we were looking at him winning his third. Here's the list of guys with four MVP's. He's not in their

class because he is he is in the class-ish of the guys who have three and four him he's definitely in the class of the guys with three MVPs and he might one day be in the class of guys with four mvps and so that's not the argument it's just i it's the same this is the last point i'll make it's how i felt about NFL MVP this year be moni when last year in 23 season everyone was like Nobody thinks Lamar Jackson is having the most statistically MVP-ish season, but he's on the best team. He's had big moments. A lot of his value can't be quantified. He's the league's MVP.

And then this year, a lot of the same folks, it seemed like, we're like, you know what, forget that whole best team, best record thing. Have you seen Lamar's stats? And it looked like he was going to win the MVP from Josh Allen. I just wanted, it felt to me like in the NFL, the last two years, the MVP should either have been Alan, I'm sorry, Lamar and then Josh, which is what it ended up being, or two years ago, DAC or Purdy, oddly, because people loved his year, but call it DAC and then Lamar. It didn't seem like there was a consistency for Lamar, then Lamar. I feel like the last two MVP should have either been Luca last year and Joker this year, but it was Joker last year. but if it was Joker last year, it should be Shea this year. That's all.

I get your point. I will say this, and this is how we bridge it, bring us two together before we go to the break. In my lifetime, I've got three guys that should have won five straight MVPs at any point. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, from 2008-09 through 2012-13, and the best player in the NBA right now, Nicolioly Oak. before you go to break can i just can i say something just get your response to it because i before you leave this do you think it's valid at all that i feel had either of those guys done that i would be more open to this that like if i understand the precedent had been set hey if you are head and shoulders the best player in the league and you have a great season you're the league mbp then i would be i would have so much

less pushback than what the precedent has been set in the NBA is kind of the opposite, which is each MVP is harder to win than your last. Like whatever the standard to win, your first is here, and then it gets harder and harder and harder. Yeah, I'll say this. I think the precedent argument is a little trickier as we have leaned a little bit more into statistics in advance ones in figuring this out. Case in point in baseball, the year that Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young Award.

I think he won something like 13 or 14 games. Yeah. Right. there had been an intellectual paradigm shift of sorts, right? Because my pushback against the everybody else that's gotten three MVPs in a row or three MVP had already won championships is that it felt it's all, it felt almost like it used to be back in the day that you could win defensive player of the year and be second team, all defense because the coaches voted for the all defense team and the media voted

for defensive player of the year. Like the standard was established by two different things. And so I could see how the. those things came like out of concert. That was the only thing. But I will say this, you sounded a lot more reasonable, me hearing you saying it right now than in the little clip that I saw on the internet. I just, I just saw your cape flowing in the wind for Luca.

And I was just like, oh, no, no, no, no, I can't have this. See, this is why reasonable people disagree in public. It can still work. We go sell some stuff and come back. This episode is presented by Perplexity. Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that searches the Internet in real time to deliver fast, clear, high-quality answers. Unlike legacy search engines that respond with the list of links, perplexity skips straight to the answers you need, explained in everyday

language that's easy to understand with sources and citations. All right, now, Sean, how do you use perplexity, especially when it comes to the right time? You know, I plan on using it all throughout the show, especially when you need questions answered or stats confirmed, but, you know, say you're curious about a specific topic from our if you haven't heard segment, for example, the growing cost of eggs. I can simply ask perplexity, what is the percentage increase on the price of eggs in 2025? And it'll give you a detailed answer in seconds, complete with links to the latest sources so you can easily verify information or dive deeper. And by the way, the current answer as of today is 22% since the beginning of the year with the potential for a 41% increase by the end

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Limit one per person. Not valid for the purchase of alcohol. Fees taxes and gratuity still apply. Must have an active dash pass account. Use promo. code NBA 50 to redeem. All right. We're back on the right time with Nick Wright. I saw that on your podcast. You talked about LeBron James pulling up on Stephen A in the third quarter during a timeout of a Lakers game.

Hold on while Stephen A. Smith was sitting with Ari Emanuel and Larry David. What a series of bad libs that I just put together. Routing for his favorite team, only to see that team get. walk down and LeBron hit the biggest shot of the game directly right in front of him, then beat him in overtime. Yeah, that one. That, that, that, that, that game. So what, what were your thoughts on this? Well, my thoughts have now expanded because Stephen A went on, you know, the modern Frost Nixon, uh, Gil's Arena to really get pressed on this to really have to make sure there's not any, you know, wait, this, does this really match up?

and talked all this shit. And I think this, I think this entire thing has been so wholly misrepresented. I find it infuriating. And I've said it before, I will say it again. Not only do I have a relationship with Stephen A. I have a very good relationship with Stephen A.

I have been on the record for years when things have popped up and people have taken shots at, at him, that his, his resume of how he got to where he is. he fucking earned it and put in the like and even to this day as a guy who works a lot of hours I can't imagine so I have real respect and personal affection for him as a broadcaster and a person I just think he is so wrong on this and I think the conversation surrounding this is so

incorrect on the facts LeBron James did not check Stephen A about Stephen A criticizing Brony James the basketball player. LeBron James checked Stephen A about Stephen A criticizing LeBron James the father. And that's totally in bounds. And this idea that LeBron did it in the wrong way

when here is the timeline of events. Stephen A, after Brony, earned minutes by how he's been playing in the G league, got minutes in a Sixers game, and played terribly. Stephen A went on TV and said, I'm begging you as a father, LeBron James, put an end to this. LeBron's agent then called Stephen A and told him, hey man, that was out of line,

and I wasn't a party to that conversation, But I think added the context of you got to recognize there is multiple real levels of sensitivity when you're questioning LeBron James as a father given his lack of a relationship with his own father and all of that. Stephen A then took that call, went on his pod and made fun of him while playing behind him highlights of Brony struggling against the Sixers. Stephen A also has been on the record for years. I'm at the games. Anyone can come talk to me if they have a problem with what I say. So LeBron, first opportunity he got, talked to him, said it, and then went on and played. The next day, Stephen A was very kind of reserved and now has done a media tour about it.

I don't get it. Like, what was the proper way to go about you questioned me as a father? And I think you're using your own, you're using my son as a cudgel to come at me. Like, because I, and so I didn't, that he was not, there has been this whole recreation that Stephen A was hypercritical of Brony, the basketball player, and LeBron went up to him and said, you can't do that. That's not what happened. And so this one really like, it irritates me the way it's been covered. And it irritates me that there is now, I think, a disingenuous retelling of how this went down. So in the last, I guess we'll call it nine months, because the draft is about

nine months ago. I was very critical and remained so of the way that Brani coming into the league was being handled. I really, to this day, still have a problem with the way we as a media covered the idea of him being drafted as though it was an accomplishment for the kid when it was not. It was a flex for his dad. Right. And I firmly believe you can't be proud of something that you didn't really like go out there and get. And we acknowledge that under those circumstances, he's not getting that place if he's not LeBron's son. And I think that. That's, that a lot of fathers, and I think for black fathers, you're talking about the particular sensitivity about fatherhood.

I think it's there, and I think that, let me hold off on that one because that gets to be a little bit too complex. But I do raise a broader question about when it is and is not okay to question what somebody's doing as a father when they publicly want everybody to know what kind of father they are. And when I say that, I mean, take Marv-Marinovich, for example. Now, Mark Morinovich is an extreme example. For those of you who are too young to know who Tom Morinovich is,

Tom Morinovich was a quarterback who played at USC, who was raised from youth to be an NFL star. And look, it's crazy stuff. Like Marv tied the kids right hand up so that he would become left-handed, for example. We are okay in extreme cases like those. Just imagine whoever the hell baby Gronk's dad is. Yes.

It's just something like that without social media is what I imagine. imagine. But go ahead. And Tom Berinovich, who looked like the red-headed Pete from Pete and Pete, he wound up on drugs and other stuff. Like it didn't work out very well for the young man. But we will question the parenting that took place there. Like, we have no issue with it. I know that for me, when I observed the LeBron thing, I really observed it in the context. And I think it's something you can relate to too, too, because where are you from, your parents or somebody is being the son of somebody where people know who you are by name when you pull up, right? And how difficult it can be to kind of chart your own path and get there.

And it felt to me like what was being done was producing a documentary in real time and that this was a scene in the documentary. And I did not believe that any of these things served brawny. I'm still not sure the way that they're dealing with him serves him. But I think it's fair to raise a criticism about the role. that dad has in this, if it feels like what dad is doing might serve dad a little more than it actually serves the young man. And so it's funny, because you saw that stuff on Stephen A's podcast. I had not seen that. The criticisms I'd seen Stephen A. Smith make, I thought were criticisms of LeBron and not criticisms of Bronny. And so I was skeptical of the idea of pulling up on Stephen A

and being like, don't do that with Bronny when it felt like he was being critical of LeBron. But what you talk about is something that's very, important, which is when you get out here saying one thing and they play in a yakety sacks B-roll of the kid behind you. Oh, no, no, no, no, that one ain't going to go over. Here's the other piece that I would say to you or to anyone that, and I'm not saying you said this directly, but in general, that said that basically the draft pick was a farce. Can we check the score on that now? Can we now, when you look at the NBA rookies, 70 have played minutes this year, that Brony is somewhere between 48th to 56th in minutes,

points, assists, and steals in the NBA, which is obviously not great, but is also obviously exactly where you would hope the 55th pick of the draft came out when he's averaging 22, five and five in the G League regular season, which is a little above average for all of the second round picks. Can we now say, hey, as it turns out, this young man who was a four star of legit, was never a legit five star recruit, but was a legit four star recruit who suffered cardiac arrest and basically lost his freshman year because of it. And that kind of gets that, that got lost to the history of look at his college stats and that that guy who was a legitimate fringe NBA prospect with some size concerns, some size red flags and some kind of character

and intangible green flags, if you will, is playing exactly to his draft position. And that's not because of help from dad. And so would he have gotten the draft drafted without being LeBron's kid? No, but it was to me, if LeBron had retired three years ago and was totally disconnected from the NBA, if I were running a team, it's like, hey, there's three picks left in the draft, we're looking at the following people, and one of them's like, oh, one of those people literally has the greatest player ever's DNA, and maybe we could take a flyer on him, okay, I don't think that's a waste of a draft pick. The other piece of it is that I thought was unfair.

And this is, now this is about Brony the player, not about LeBron the father, was no one is tracking how any of these second round picks do, except for like team-based super-intuitive. do it podcasts. And so if we are going to do that because he's LeBron's kid, which is the only reason we're doing it, we can't only do it when he has five awful minutes against the sixers. That is to me unfair. But being a pro athlete, you sign up for the unfairness of it. What I don't, what I really don't like, though, is if I had been very, very, you know, adamant that I think somebody who's in the public eye is cheating on their wife. And that person them publicly checks me. And then I go and talk about it. And I act like that's not what it was

about. It was like, oh, this guy can't stand that I criticized, you know, how well he plays receiver in the NFL. Like this guy doesn't want to hear it. It's like, no, that's not what this was. And I also don't know what the idea that this would have been so much better handled by a phone call, maybe, but maybe also it was just something. I don't think, let me say the last thing on this. I don't think this was premeditated by LeBron. I actually think it was spur of the moment. I think it was. Yeah, he's more calculating than that.

He's right there. you know what? Fuck it. I'm going to go tell them, you know what I mean, how I feel. And I also think that we as kind of opinion shapers in the media need to be honest about our own biases and affiliations. Everybody knows that, because I've been very open with it,

that I have a real friendship and personal relationship with Maverick, that I have a business relationship to a degree with Rich, and that I have a relationship with LeBron. I've been very, very clear about that. I think if you are going to be the most prominent member of sports media and not be forward facing with, we talk about this goat debate a lot, one of the guys involved texts me on.

on the regular and the other guy refuses to talk to me and has refused to talk to me for the better part of a decade and that might color part of my commentary. I don't love that. I just don't love it. Now, I think that's all fair. The thing I'd push back on though is that I don't think that the way people look at Brani is just because he's LeBron's son. I do think it has a lot to do with the way LeBron has handled his son all the way back to that tweet three years ago or two years ago when he was talking about my son's better. I think my son's better than half the league. So that tweet was a huge mistake.

That tweet was a huge mistake. And I think it's the only tweet, one of the only tweets LeBron's ever deleted. Or maybe it's still, maybe it was a different one. But for me, that tweet was so funny because I did the daily show when that happened. And they asked me about it. And I was like, well, if you think that's true, then bring them to work with you and see how it goes. And then two years later he did. He actually did the thing that was the joke.

He was like, fine, I'll bring him on to work, right? Like, and this is making it about what I said just right fast. I think you're right, generally speaking. You could take basically whoever you want with the 55th pick in the draft. Like, that's very often somebody who don't speak no English, who ain't never going to come over to this country, right? Like that pick, you can do whatever it is you want with it. Okay.

I had such a problem with the way that it was being spud. into what felt like a made for Instagram event almost, right? Like we just, we turn it in this, we show this, we make it a big thing. Oh, this is a great story. Let me tell you what will be a great story. After what has happened with Brani and the way that this year has started, if he, not to sound like an old person, picks himself up by bootstraps and turns himself into a real live NBA player,

I'll be right out there with everybody else that thought that this was such a beautiful thing when I did find it to be an orchestrated farce at the beginning. because that then we're talking about you were down, you accomplished, you stood, because that's what we want to see these cats do out here. You stood tall in the face of it and you made yourself into something because at this point his daddy can't do nothing for him, right? If he does that, I'm going to be right there. But once such a production was made of it on the front end, then yeah, he was going to get all that scrutiny on the back end because all of that, like, look, you work with your son. You didn't make them to co-host on first things first, right? the steps that we take before this. Dwayne Wade drafted his son in the G League with the team

that he owns with the jazz, for example. I think the kind of ham-fistedness of the way that this was presented in the beginning, I think is what got skepticism, not simply that LeBron's dad. So listen, the only thing I would add to that is how much of, and we'll never know this, how much of the pageantry and all of that had to do with the fact that this kid's heart stopped nine months before he was drafted. Would it all have existed, or there is a real

made-for-TV moment element of a guy who might be the greatest player ever played long enough that a kid that we all saw as a baby on the sidelines grew up

and then in a freak occurrence almost died, and then is on, you know, draft eligible. And by draft eligible, what I mean is he had to be at some point. I think we agree on this. Maybe we don't.

That if Brony was never anywhere close to a second round pick caliber player, it wouldn't have happened. I did think it was a great story. And I'll tell you this. And this is where I think people are unfair to LeBron. If in 15 or however long it would have to be, 10 years, 15 years, whatever it is. Cannon Curry has a, you know, is a college basketball player and declares for the draft. And the Warriors spend one of the last picks on the draft on him, even though he's not on anyone else's board.

That will be universally applauded. People like, that's awesome. How cool is that? They wouldn't be like, oh, this is bullshit. You're costing a guy a spot. Like there is stuff. There is stuff. When it comes to LeBron, things we've never cared about before we claim to care about.

You saw this All-Star game when people are like, why won't someone think about Norman Powell's feelings in this? Nobody gives a shit about Norman Powell getting called up for the All-Star game. But everyone pretended they did because it was an opportunity to take a shot at LeBron. That's how I feel about it. I will just say this, and maybe this is just for me. LeBron in what is in effect the last year of his contract. He has a player option for next year, but this is in anything, and I mean, that's be honest, he ain't passing up no money, but still, he is in the last year of his contract.

That young man was not ready to play in the NBA based on what we saw at Southern Cal. It felt very much like hurry up and get to the league while dad still in the league so that we can have this moment here in the league. It felt very somewhere between choreographed and contrived. And I think that lots of people would have gotten this same level of skepticism from it. And I'm just saying this to infuriate you. I know Michael Jordan never would have done this. And if he had, he'd have been destroyed his boy in practice every day, every day. No, that's all true. And again, I'm not into questioning people's parenting, but I wonder how those Jordan kids are doing it. Oh, I am. I'm big into question that people's parenting.

I got to deal with people's, I got to deal with people's fuck up kids all the time. Hell yeah, we need to do more like yours. I observe your parenting. It is amazing. You know how I feel about your kids and family. They like my family. I think they're wonderful. And on the other hand, I see these other fuck-ups in the streets every day.

We need to normalize questioning people's parenting. My God, the only time we do it is when their daughters be out here in the streets. By the way, if you would like to hear more of my very strong, totally unbiased, uncompromised feelings on the potential real issues with nepotism in America, particularly in sports America. Feel free to listen to the What's Right with Nick Wright podcast co-hosted by my son, DeMonsei Bird, whose qualifications when the podcast first started for doing the job was I wanted him to do it with me. And that's a reasonable job for him to have. That is my point. You gave him the kind of job that you're supposed to give you son when you put them on. You didn't put him up there with Parkinson's on breakfast ball.

You had them there with you. I got to you. You're right. I didn't. But if Fox had told me I could, maybe I'd have been like, I'll give it a shot. Like if they had given me the opportunity, Maybe I'd have been like, you know what? Who knows?

Maybe it'll be something special. So I just, I'm aware of my own hypocrisies or biases. And because of that, like I, you know, I just, I disclose it to the audience. They can judge how they feel. That is Nick Wright. Check them out. First things first. What's right with Nick Wright podcast.

Great. We worked really hard to make this happen, my brother. I appreciate you joining us. No. Listen, I appreciate. I apologize. We haven't been able to make it happen before. We'll do it more often.

You know how much I love you. Family misses you. You're traveling everywhere. I want to hear about the trip. And thank you to your great producers. I'll see you guys soon. Oh, yeah. I got a big one next week, too.

Like, we check it off boxes these days, baby. You just went on one that I'm mad you got to before I did. I got to figure out how to fix it. Good seeing you, Bo. I bet you too. Sean, did anything from perplexity during the show? Yeah, Bo. we, for me especially, I wasn't aware of the Todd Marinovich story. And so I want to pull it up here.

So basically, yeah, I was unaware. I heard you and Nick talking about it. It's very fascinating. And, you know, every article that they're summarizing is a tall tale of what the dangers of a tiger parent or whatever, whether it's, you know, Tiger Woods's dad or other athletes. But this is crazy. You know, he introduced him to a strict eye devoid of salt, sugar, processed foods. He was fed just lean meats and raw milk from birth. He was trained on balance beams before he could walk and was made to run 10 miles by the age of 10. He never had a big bag or an Oreo. Fascinating enough, his high school success actually worked. He went to Matter Day or Capistrano.

He went to USC on a full ride. First team all Pac-10 made the NFL draft. And obviously the aftermath of that, you mentioned it briefly, the struggles of drugs. the torn relationship. But it is fascinating that the relationship has been repaired, but it is a great look of what can go wrong when a dad is this intense with their son. Somebody said, by the way, and thank you, perplexity.

They lost respect for me. Lost respect for me with my last take. I'm assuming that take that he's talking about is me talking about questioning people's parenting. Hey, man, just because you're a little slow on the draw, don't make you special, man. Like, all y'all want to get patted on the back just for being somebody's daddy.

No, that is not enough. Some of y'all are really bad at it. And I don't blame you for being bad at parents. It is not like you get to practice before you actually do it, but stop lying. Some of y'all suck. But ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on The Right Time. We do this here three times a week. That was Sean Uwe.

He handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Remember, follow the right time, subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to think that you're a mediocre father. Take it easy.