The Ringer NBA Show - James Harden’s Antics, Kawhi and PG’s Antics, and the League’s Antics | Real Ones

Episode Date: December 7, 2020

Logan and Raja are back talking about James Harden’s COVID-unsafe antics in Atlanta and Las Vegas and decidedly not in Houston (1:00), Kawhi and Paul George’s antics for the Clippers that ruffled some feathers, as reported by The Athletic’s Jovan Buha (19:00), and the NBA’s new rules around player rest (35:00). Don’t forget that ‘The Mismatch’ has moved to its own feed. Follow ‘The Mismatch’ on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, what's popping? Real ones? Logan Murdoch, Roger Bell. How are you doing, my good man? I'm doing well, my fine, sir. Not as well as one James Hardin would appear to be doing. James Hardin is not, no, I think James Hardin is having too much fun. That's the problem. He may be having a glitch. So we talked about James Hardin on the real ones. We talked about him going across state lines with the turn-up during a pandemic. Preferential treatment. Preferential treatment in the league. We talk about, is Paul George really going to be a Clipper for life.

And you threw too much shade my way for a young LeBron getting buckets. It's what he did, sir. I threw a lot of dirt on Roger's name because a young LeBron just took him to school. Tap into that and more on the real ones coming up next. What's popping, y'all, man. It's Real Ones. It's Logan Murdoch here. It's Roger Bell.

How you doing, Doc? What it do? Now that I'm with you guys, I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. It's been a crazy morning for you. gets out in a second, but we have a bit of an announcement to make. This is the first show that we have of the new format for the real ones. Uh-oh.

Tell them the format, Logan. Yo, the format now is Monday and Thursday. You're going to hear us. You're going to hear me. You're going to hear Raja. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. We're going to be putting it in the chat every Monday and Thursday.

That's what's up. Put it on your feed. How you, I'm juiced? How are you feeling about this, bro? What's a feed? The podcast feed, like, where the podcast. goes on Spotify and everywhere else you get podcasts. Don't put it on your feed.

Put it on the feed, man. It's part of the new rollout that we're having at the ringer. Shout out to the mismatch feed. They are leaving us on the NBA feed and they're making their own feed. That's a big deal, man. Shout out to Kevin O'Connor. Shout out to Chris Vernon. Also, we have a new Friday show.

Something special coming on Friday. We'll let you guys stay in suspense for that. But I'm liking this little new format, man. I'm happy to be doing this with you, man, every Monday and Thursday, bro. Shout out, man. It's been fun doing this since we both got on board. No doubt. And I have way, you know, there's not enough time in one episode to, like, argue with you

about all the shit that we need to argue about. So two days a week is just what the doctor ordered, dog. I got you. We're good. Yeah. I got a lot of stuff to argue with you about. I do, I do, man. Also, man, so we got that out the way.

Make sure you subscribe and follow along on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Your morning was wasn't. Also, before we get to your morning, I just want to say Roger was so excited to do this pod in the new format that he came last night. He came on the pod. He came on the pod did the Zoom link last night. No one was around because we record on Monday mornings. But he was like, are we ready to go? Are we ready to go?

What was going through your mind last night? Listen, it was like the night before my first finals game in 01, bro. I was just ready to go. Like, I stayed up all night running the game through my head. And so, like, the anticipation got to me, bro. I jumped the gun. I was here too early. Roger sends a picture in the group chat.

Like, where the hell are you guys? sends a selfie. And he's like, yo, what's going on? And we clearly said in this group chat that, yo, we're recording on Monday morning. It was not that clear, though. It was very clear. It wasn't super clear. It said, Sasha said that we're recording.

on Monday morning. Ha ha, my bad. Sorry. So I got to say, listen, it's a lot going on. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. But listen, what I did was I sat here for a little while. I got my thoughts together. I thought about how we were going to execute the two weeks. Like, I was doing some, I was being a professional. So I sat here and went through like my mental prep. Like I tell my kids on my basketball team, visualize it. It's a powerful tool. So we visualized. Okay. All right. And in this morning, man, are you okay, bro? Like, there's something that, I can't. Are you good? I don't want to talk about it.

I don't want to talk about it. Like, do you know how to change a fuse in a fuse box? No. Like, because you could get fucked up. Like, if the power's on, like, you could get fucked up doing that. So my son, who's doing homeschool, the one room in our house, there's no power to it. So I went out, like, with my limited, like, home improvement skills, tried to flip that circuit breaker. It wouldn't stay. Like, you know, you flip it, it flips right back. You flip it, it flips right back. So then you got to take the face of that shit off. But that's real electrician shit. Like, I saw I'm not touching it. So I, so I don't dealt with that all morning, which was a whole other, you know.

Okay, bet, for sure. But I'm straight. Okay, all right, cool. All right. I'm just happy that you're all right, man. You know what I mean? We're going a little later to usual. I'm just making sure you straight, player.

I'm just making sure you eye. Let's get to the shits. Let's get to, all right. Oh, let's get to the shit. Okay. Let's get to. So there's, there's sometimes we're, just to give you guys behind the scenes,

there's sometimes we're going through the week and we're like, uh, the NBA is like, I don't know what we're going to talk about today. Like, there's not really that many storylines. We're in the middle of the offseason. And right, I'm just thinking about things we're going to talk about. You know what I mean? You'll get to the rest in a second. But on Sunday, on Sunday, James Hardin gave us a lot of fodder to go through.

My man does not care about training camp right now. He is not caring about the time where you're supposed to report. This man, instead of going to the start of Houston Rockets training camp, camp. My man's went to the ice ball for Little Baby and spent 300,000 on his friend, the rapper. 300 racks? What exactly is the ice ball? So he, it's where insanely rich people just, just trade ice, I guess. And so, oh, so he spent 300, a report of 300,000 on Little Baby on, I think, a rich of meal watch and some honey buns. And some honey buns. There must have been some good-ass honey buns. Then all the while, Houston has made moves. They had, and straight cast, as Sasha has pointed out to it.

While the Rockets are getting ready, they have traded for it. They have traded Russell Westbrook. They have gotten John Wall. They are in the midst of training camp. All that is happening while James Hardin is going to Atlanta. Then, Raja, he goes to Vegas, and he's at strip clubs in Vegas, and he's at Dreas in Vegas. and the Rockets don't know when he's coming in. He says, no, I'm going on Sunday.

I'm coming for the night workout. Don't even trip. I'm there. Don't even worry about it. Still don't show up for the Sunday night workout. Meanwhile, every place that he's going to does not have a mask. There's no mask anywhere in sight. There's videos proof to show all of this.

There's no mask within sight, right? Right as we're in the middle of a pandemic. Raja, I am flasked. Abergast it. How do you feel about this right now? There's so much to unpack. There's so much to unpack. My first initial thought is I feel awful for Stephen Silas, who was brought into this situation.

You know, traded Russell West, broke away. New head coach of the Rocket, Stephen Silas. Yeah, Stephen Silas. And so I feel terrible for him because you have no real relationship with James Harding. You know, he's an MVP candidate every year. Everything the Rockets have done, has been based around his skill set. And so you're prepared for that coming in as a coach.

And now you have to be sitting there thinking, like, there's a real good possibility that I'm not going to have James Hardin this year. It could completely upset the Apple Cart in terms of the preparation that my staff and I have done for this upcoming season. So number one, feel real bad for Stevenson. Number two, clearly James Hardin gives no fucks. Like, he does not want to be in Houston. I don't care what, like, his Twitter says or John Wall says

as it relates to like their conversations. If you, if you want to be somewhere, you're going to respect that process. You'll at least be in town. You're not going to be, you know, in Atlanta at the ice ball

or in Vegas at the strip club. Like you may have things to take care of at the house, which is an excused absence or in their immediate area, but you're not going to be traversing the country going to people's birthday parties and then talking out the other side of your mouth

saying, you know, I really want to be part of the Houston Rockets. So, you know, that's the shit show. And then, you know, the third, part of what I'm like what the fuck is going on with this no mask wearing like it happened. Bro. What the fuck?

Like what is going down with the no mask? It is it is like scientifically tried and true that it can, you know, at least minimize the potential to spread the fucking virus. And I'm not even talking about James Harden because that's disrespect on a whole other level as you're trying to get a season started. You're not going to be in the bubble. You're potentially exposing the club to having to shut down because you bring Corona virus into it. But just generally

speaking, like out in these streets, what the fuck is wrong with wearing a mask? Yo, man, I see it. I mean, in the Bay, it's been a, they've been a lot better with using a mask in California. I see a lot of people. But when I go to see places like Atlanta, see places like Florida, who, it's been reported, Florida does not

care from, you don't care. We don't care. We do not care from the government side of things. You guys just do not care about this pandemic. Descentes. Descentes is actually like, He would have you believe that it's not even happening right now. It does not even happening right now. Correct. It doesn't even exist, right?

Yes, yes. And just for you to, as James Hardens, just going places anyway, just blowing off training camp is one thing, right? Going out where there's no mask use is a completely other thing because you're putting your teammates at risk. You're putting the other teams at risk. Like, how would you feel if we're in a middle of a pandemic?

you're this guy's teammate, and he's not wearing a mask no matter where he's going. He already blew it, blew off training camp, but he's not wearing a mask right now. And he's going to say, oh, I'm just going to go to the night workout. That's all good. Don't even trip. I'll be there. No, you're not. No, you're not.

I won't be there. Like, I'm not going to be there if James is going to be there. No, it's completely disrespectful from that standpoint. And while blowing off training camp may be something that people are accustomed to in, like, the NFL. You know what I mean? And maybe other sports, I'm not that. you know, familiar with how baseball works and I've heard of people, you don't see that in the NBA too much. Like, you really don't. And I know these are different circumstances than normal.

We're starting, you know, around a different time of year, but you typically don't see dudes like missing and just blowing off training camp. And you see these videos of James. It's not like he's trying to duck and hide. Like, there's on little, on little baby's Instagram, it's literally him smiling as he's, as little baby is on top of all this ice and honey buns. It's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go, go, go, little baby. And then he flies across the country, because, you know, like, Atlanta's not too far from Houston.

No, man, he flies all the way to Vegas and, like, yo, I'm about to just go to the strip club and chill out. You know what I mean? And it just, that's not a good look for the league either. It's not. The league, once you get to your home city, like, you're supposed to, to some degree, like, shut things down for, like, four days or something like that, where you're really not doing anything outside of your workouts or what's going on with your club and a central like

grocery store runs or something like that. You're supposed to be laying low and preparing so that you can have these negative tests so that we can get into training camp. Everything that he's doing flies in the face of not just the Houston Rockets training camp, but just general safety as the league has outlined it. You know what I'm saying? Well, what do you do, right, if you're in front office, do you find the guy? Do you, like, what are we like, I don't know, because James Hart is also the face of your franchise, right? Because, let's be frank, if anybody else was doing this, they'd be

off the team, or they would be reprimended yesterday. You know what I mean? But he's James Harden. He's the face of the franchise. Do you want to send a message, but he's already requested a trade? What are you doing as a front office member? Are you just,

I'm going to just take this for the team? Like, what's going on? I mean, I would imagine that early in the process even if it was disrespectful and it's making you look bad and probably weak as a front office, you would take some of it in hopes that you guys could get on the same page. He just needs to blow off a little steam and act a certain way for a minute. And then he'll come back to the reservation. We can figure it out in one way or another that we protect our asset.

Even if it winds up moving, he doesn't devalue himself. And then we can figure it out. there does come a point though, Logan, where, you know, that ship has sailed, you know, and I wonder, like, at what point that is for the Houston Rockets front office. I don't have the answer to that. At some point, you've disrespected us enough where, like, all right, bro, like, you know, we're going to do what we got to do. I'm just saying this from the optics. I'm not, I'm not Kelly Eco of the Athletic. I'm not Jonathan Fagan of the Houston Chronicle. I'm meaning to say I'm not tapped in, tapped in like that. But from the out, The outside looking in, it looks like after that trade request went and the rocket said, nah, bro, you're going to sit tight and you're going to be here for a second. He was like, well, James Hardin was like, well, fuck it. I'm just going to wow.

Like, you can't control me. You're going to trade me or not or I'm going to go to these clubs. Right. Well, listen, I told the story, you know, about an experience I had in Utah, right? And in retrospect, like, I should have asked for the trade like he did. And if I had and they hadn't facilitated it, I mean, you know, what the fuck? I don't want to be here, you know? And if that's what he does.

But I'm just, there are other, there's a way to go about that business, man. Like, you can, you cannot be there and holding out and proving your point, Logan, without, even if I said in a couple of breaths ago that that's not normal for the NBA, you could do it. You just don't have to be out there making it as public and as, like, as big of a health risk as you appear to be making it. You know what I mean? Like the optics of it just aren't great. Nah, not at all. And it all comes back to COVID, too, man.

Like, they're about to start preseason on Friday. You know, the NBA is about to open back up. I don't know how. He can't be a part of that. He can't be a part of that. Like, he's got a clear. Like, even if he's fine, right? Even if he's fine and doesn't have COVID, the optics of it, the NBA has to shut him down.

They have to shut him down for at least a week. There has to be shut down. There's no if, fans or buts about that, just from an optic standpoint. And the goodwill that the NBA has gained over the last summer with how they handled COVID, he has to, he has to sit down. He has to. Has to. And you have to nip that.

Look, you're sending guys home now to be on the honor system, so to speak, with, with this season, right? Nobody wants to be in the bubble. Like, there was some real mental health issues along with other things that started to pop up that bubble. It's unrealistic. We get it. But if you're going to let him set this tone before the season even starts and you do nothing as a league about it, you're not going to be able to control what happens next. There are too many, look, there are too many dudes. There are too many different places in their life. Like, it's going to be a shit show. Can you trust James Hardin now, as if you're his teammate or a front office person after what he just did?

Uh, I mean, could you trust him to go home and be like, hey, I'm going to need you to go home, James? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. no, no, no. I don't think for someone who given the opportunity is going to be out, even if it's within the pandemic and not wearing a mask, I don't think I, I don't think I could. Like, it would be difficult. Especially in Texas, because like in the bay, everything is shut down, right? Texas is kind of like Georgia and Florida where they just, they don't, people who's outside. Yeah. Hey, listen, I hear you, man. I went, I went to a football game. at the park the other day.

My son's play, I've said this before. They play in their masks. They wear masks the entire game. Then they got a visor on. And so we let them play because just, you know, mental health is a thing. Like, them boys were starting to while out at the crib. But when I walked into that park, there were hundreds of people, Logan, no one wearing a mask. And my dad looked at me.

We walked up. He said, these motherfuckers don't believe in COVID. I said, dog, I don't, pops, I don't know what to tell you, man. But it's bananas. Yeah. And another thing that's really underrated about this, is like, I feel like back in your day, Raja, you could at least get, y'all could at least get away.

Yeah, there's some blowback of like missing training camp. But like in the digital age of cameras, bro, James can't hide. You know what I mean? Like at least if y'all went to, you know what I mean? Like a club or something or was walling out like this, it was all here saying urban legend. True. Yes, you were under, yes. You know what I mean?

You're not escaping the click these days, though. There's no way to escape. What about that dynamic, man? Like, if you were in the league right now and you were, there's all these cameras, there's all these things. And, you know, you're semi-famous, you know, you're playing on the suns, you know, real revolutionary type team. How does, how would you move during this time if, say, like, that team was in around this time and age? You're saying we're in this current pandemic type of situation? No, we're just in this, well, you're in the current pandemic situation.

You're just talking about conducting yourself, like, in today's era. Like, yeah, man. Like, I've often had the conversation with dudes like, this is like, not just the sons, but if I was in college and, you know, some of the stuff that we did in college on a college campus that no one at the time could catch on video, like, you know, you would have probably forever ruined your chances of playing in the NBA just because you were doing dumb shit as a 19-year-old. Like, you know, I think a lot of these guys are raised in the era so they understand how to navigate it better, but we would have been in all kind of shit.

Yeah. I could not imagine, man. And, like, that's what makes it even, like, even more lit for James Hardin to be doing this because it's just an open defiance. He knows he's famous. He knows we're going to see him do this. Yes. And he don't care.

Yeah, he gives no, he gives none. He gives no Fs. None. Well, let's take a quick break and we're going to talk about my favorite subject. The Clippers? The Clippers? One second. We'll be right back.

And we're back and we're talking about the clippers, Roger Bell. Now, you know, we're reading and prepping to get to this show. And, you know, I'm just trying to figure out stories to write and stories to read to kind of talk about this. And my man, Yovon Baha, I hope I said that right. I love you, Yovan. He put out this really, really, really good piece on the athletic. Okay. Talking about Kauai and the Clippers.

And Kauai PG and the Clippers and why it just didn't work, right? Why it just didn't, why last season just didn't work in the chemistry issues and things like that. One of the biggest takeaways of that was how Clippers players were mad at the preferential treatment that Kauai Leonard got. Like he could fly, he could live in San Diego, which is about two, two and a half hours from L.A. And still playing L.A. Sometimes he was late to flights and other guys were pissed just about. the treatment that him and PG got that was different than the rest of the

team, right? And my first reaction to this, and a great job by Yovine, he did a great job on this article. My biggest takeaway from this is why are you phased by stars getting preferential treatment?

If that's just the league, bro. That is just the league. For, right? Right? If you're a superstar, you're getting preferential treatment, bro. There's definitely preferential treatment, and it's understood. The difference for the Clippers for me is, like, those guys haven't earned any real rights with that team. They're just brought in.

Do you know what I mean? Like, so there's preferential treatment for, you know, first of all, let's put LeBron in another stratosphere of a player, right? I don't care what you say about Kauai. Kauai's not LeBron. Like, I don't, he's not. So LeBron is in another, like another league in terms of the preferential treatment. But to a good point that Sasha made earlier, LeBron is a culture bringer to your organization.

Like he organizes things for guys to do together. He's a bringer together of people. He's having the wine outings like when we're on road trips in Cleveland, you know, and I'm on the road as as, as, as, um, you know, kind of the general manager's proxy on the road. Like, he's the one getting the guys together and developing culture and kind of driving that push for the, for the winning culture. So if he gets some preferential treatment, no one is tripping.

But if a guy just comes into an organization, you know, it's not really a culture driver, just kind of there as maybe even just a mercenary type of figure. Like, you were going to feel some kind of way because they were a good team before he came in and they did it all as a collective group with no preferential treatment. So don't just come to the team, not have much to do with the situation, and then ask for preferential treatment and be given it. You could get some ruffle feathers off of that. Okay, but there's been plenty of examples of that happening, man. Where, when?

In the Golden State, when Kevin came to an already ready-made thing, of course he got preferential treatment. He was Kevin Durant. Yeah, but like that, right, right? All superstars get it, though. Didn't Steph Curry get preferential treatment too? Yes. Yeah, what about Clay? Yes, they earned it.

They're stars. Okay, so the difference there, while it is, the difference for me is that you also have guys that have already been on that team receiving the same preferential treatment. So this isn't just going to be something we do for the new guy. We've got guys who are already stars in our building that we do that for. The difference is the clippers, we're only doing it for the two new dudes. That's a bad look. But I think there's an easy to be a little bit more self-awareness, man. Like, I'm sorry, dude, the person that's making two mill a year.

Like, you're not Kauai Leonard, you know? You're not Paul George. Oh, that's facts. And I don't think that, well, some guys are disillusioned and think that they, I've seen that before. But most of us are not. We understand, like, that there's going to be a mod. Look, there are degrees of everything.

Like, there's, you know, preferential treatment like hanging on practice today or, or, you know, that's fine. Yes. Yeah. Like, we're good. Okay. But my thing is this, though, like, Like, Eve, like, I think this isn't uncommon, bro.

You need to just, I don't think the culture part necessarily matters when it's a star player, man. Like, I don't think, like, I love this guy. He's one of my favorite players of all time. He's also your teammate, Alan Iverson, right? Yeah. Also, didn't always show up to practice. Didn't always, like, you know what I mean? Wasn't always on time.

However, he got preferential treatment, didn't he? He wasn't, you weren't treated like Alan Iverson. of course of course not he got preferential treatment but you know AI was another culture driver man AI was a beloved figure in that locker room so when you are that um I get people are people are cooler with you you know abusing your rights to have some preferential treatment for a lack of a better way to put it but if you're not going to be the culture driver the guy who everyone loves to be around when you are there you're to clown like you know AI just had a way about him bro, people like to be around him.

He was funny. He was laughing. He was joking. He was singing. If you're not that guy and people don't really know you and then you roll in the building and you don't really want to be around, dude, you got us waiting around. I'm a grown fucking man too. Like, I ain't trying to be sitting around.

My time is money. You know what I'm saying? I got kids. Like, I'm not sitting around wait. I don't want to be sitting around everyday waiting for you once in a while. I bet. So it's a responsibility of the person that's getting the preferential treatment to be responsible with it is what you're saying.

Yeah, don't abuse. It's like anything. Like, don't abuse it. Don't rub my nose in the fact that this is what it is. And we know it to be that, but just respect it. Like, use it and keep it moving. Yeah, I feel that. But there's also another thing, right?

Like, the Clippers front office is also trying to appease the players, but they're also trying to appease Paul George and Kauai, who are on contract years, both of them. Right? So if it don't happen right, if it doesn't happen this year, this is going to be a vastly different team and that would mean twice in the past decade

that the clippers have fumbled the bag with superstar players, right? Yep. This was always, this was, look, this was always, in my opinion, going to be a really sensitive way, like situation and they'd had to navigate it perfectly be able to pull it off.

You had a team a couple years ago that was predicated on no real stars playing hard as hell us against the world, blue collar hard hat mentality and exceeding all expectations. And then you take that DNA away when you drop in Kauai and Paul George

and that changes everything. And it just wasn't handled well, you know? And so how can you handle that? What do you do? I mean, you have to, listen, dog, you chose to come here. We're holding you to the same standard as everybody else.

Yes, there's going to be a little bending of a rule here and there. You might get a night off that, I don't know, Lou Williams might not get it or Landry Shammit may not get it. But we are not going to turn this into the Paul George and Kauai rules and then everyone else's rules. That's going to fracture our locker room. We cannot do that.

And you got to be, they got to respect you. You have to know, it's like raising a kid, man. And even though these are, it's probably not a great analogy, but like they got to have some respect for you. Like they may not love what you're saying to them,

but they got to respect the fact that you're going to stand up there and say it and hold them accountable for it. Otherwise, you lose all credibility. And they were also mad that like, and this is something that I've seen firsthand, that Kauai and PG would take super long at the end of games to speak to the press.

So that means that more than likely, like Tres was Montrez Harold was talking, was speaking up for the team and speak in like Lou Williams, all these other guys are speaking up. And it's like, no, man, superstar. You speak up for the team. You know what I mean? Stop always ducking out or taking an hour and a half.

when you're not doing anything and go talk to these people. Right. Well, I mean, I don't feel. Is that a thing or no? Is that a thing? I mean, I could see where you might get annoyed by it, but I could say, yeah, you'd take care of your own business there. Like, hey, I'd tell, hey, ask why?

Like, I don't, I don't have a great answer for that. Like, that's my, that's my answer to Logan Murdoch asking me pointed questions about the team that I clearly don't run. Hey, you know, either I feel comfortable. She runs a team. Sasha runs the shit. Shosh shoots all the shots. Yeah.

Yeah. And so, I mean, I do like, I think that there's a bit of give and take, right? Like, we talked about this earlier. Kauai needs to be a bit more, Kauai and PG feels like needs to be a bit more responsible with their privilege. And it's even weird to say that. Okay, I don't know. I wouldn't say privilege. Let's say with the concessions that they get, right? They need to be a bit more responsible with that, right?

And that's a rub it in people's faces or at least be a leader with it, right? or at least be, show a little bit more charisma and show, put your arm around some players or something, right? If this is your team. And I think the other side of it is these players, you need to get a little bit more self-awareness and be like, hey, I'm not Kauai or PG. It's just not me.

I think that's fair. I would say that in a team-building environment, I would lean more towards the first than the second being the right answer. Like, you guys are you guys going to have, these special rules, like people are going to make accommodations for you. You are the best players. That comes with some responsibility. It comes with some driving of culture, some, you know, ingratiating yourself to other guys on the team, some lifting of spirits, like to whom, what, much is given, much is expected. Like, that's, you have to step up to a great power comes great responsibility.

Correct. All that stuff. Yes. Another thing with the glippers, and we alluded to this before, that PG and Kauai are in contract years right now. And PG said something that was very, very familiar. He said he wants to retire a clipper. You've heard that before? I've seen him, there was a graphic that I saw. I forget who did the graphic, but they said,

it was the quote. So when he was in Indiana, he's like, man, I want to see this thing through, guys. This is where I want to be. Next year he was traded because he wanted. wanted to leave. He requested a trade to go to OKC. OKC, they brought Nas out to Oklahoma City when he, you feel me, Nas God. They brought him to Oklahoma City. When he signed,

when he re-signed to be in OKC, he's like, this is where I want to be. Right. A year later, he asked to be traded. Now he's saying that he wants to be a clipper and retire a clipper. I'm about to get to that. I'm about to get to that, right? Go ahead. Then he says, I want to retire clipper. Do you believe him? No. No, I shouldn't say no.

I shouldn't say no. Yes, I believe him. Do I believe that he will require, retire a clipper? No. Listen, you could feel one way about the situation, Logan, like, and really believe, like, this is where I want to be forever. And things unfold over the next three or four months, and you're singing a different tune. Like, that's just light. Why do the players do this?

Why do the players do this when they're, when they are, I feel like there's a, it's not a, it's a lose-lose situation. If you say I want to retire somewhere, I'm going to be here long term, right? Then you, then people are holding you to that word. But then when you do a Kevin Durant or LeBron, it'd say, hey, I'm keeping my options open. I'm keeping my free agency. You know, I want to explore free agency, right? I'm keeping those options open. Then they're like, man, why are you not loyal?

Why are you not doing it? What do you do? What do you say? Do you just be quiet? Do you be like, no comment? Like, what do you do when someone ask you these questions? Well, we're in a day and age where you can't just be quiet, which is crazy to me because I'm always like,

I would just not answer it. I would just be like, yo, dog, like, no, whoever said that an NBA player has to get up there and spill every secret to the media. Like, they bring it on themselves. Just if you want to answer. Y'all do it, though, but y'all do it. That's what I'm saying.

Like, look, if there's some shit you don't want to answer, just don't answer it. But to your point, you can't win. You can never win as a player. You're never going to make everybody happy. You will have the people that want you to be loyal to the club. You'll have people that are fans of yours that want you to do what's best for you. Like, you can't win. I would just say, like, maybe the max guys, this isn't a great way to explain it.

But like, say, I don't know, like a player, you know, I don't want to use myself, but a player like me who was saying I want to be in, you know, Miami forever. Like, it's my contract year. Like, there's some good, there's some good graces that I'm in with the club there. It gives them a sense of like me really wanting to be there and be a part of it if I'm still good enough that they deem me, worthy of being there. And then also, you know, if there are other suitors out there, like, maybe I drive up a little bit of a market from myself. Maybe they got to come in a little higher because they know I want to be in Miami for life. I don't know. That's just, you're asking me why people would do it. There are a number of reasons. Someone might say that. As a teammate, do you really even care about these things? Because on the one hand, yeah, I want to play with you,

Paul, but also, I don't know if I'm going to be here either. Do y'all, do y'all trip off of that? No, no one's tripping off of that. You're only tripping off of that if you are, like, tied to the player, like Anthony Davis and LeBron. Like if you've got ties to that player, him being the reason you came somewhere, you know, having contracts structured around the same length and stuff, you care then.

But like for someone like me who was a supporting cast and I was going to be moving and, you know, I was a piece and a trade here and there. Like, I'm not tripping off of whether LeBron wants to retire a Laker or not. Okay. Well, yeah. I mean, so if you're Jared Deadly, you're not tripping on what,

what LeBron wants to do. Well, I mean, once I'm there, I'm there. Like if LeBron's saying, hey, I'm out of here in a year, I'm probably not signed a four-year deal in L.A. if I got other suitors, you know what I'm saying? Like, it would affect it in that.

But I'm not walking around a locker room reading in the middle of December that LeBron's questioning whether he wants to be a Laker for life if I'm in there on a two-year deal. It's like, okay, man. Players really, do y'all know when players are leaving before they dip? Like, do you guys know that, yeah, he's out of here?

In some cases, not in all, though. Some guys play their cards close to the vet. I think it depends on the relationship you have with the player. Like, I might hear something in a locker room from Logan and know it, but I'm way closer to Logan than a lot of other people are. So I might not share that with the rest of the locker room. So I knew the locker room didn't necessarily know, you know. Okay.

Yeah, don't tell nobody, Roger. Chill out. But, yeah, I just, I know that there's a no-win situation. I probably would have just been like, yeah, I don't want to comment on that. We'll talk about that when we talk about free agency. And then you can just debt it. You can just debt it for the rest of the time.

That's the way you handle it. That's the way you handle it. You should do workshops, like offer your services as a media member for dudes to evade questions and put it to bed. Yeah, do some consulting. I'm sure there's good money in that. I might have to do that. Yo, if any NBA people listening, I do it. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Hook up with the major player like in the agent world, bro, and just put together like real workshops for their incoming clients. on how to deal with the media and evade questions. Boom. Sounds really lucrative. Business plan. Let's do it. Let's get it, man, for show. Okay. Okay. So we were talking about also for the rundown,

something I really wanted to run by you. Chris Haynes reported that, of Yahoo Sports reported, that the NBA will be implementing a new resting policy for this season, with teams prohibited from resting health, players for any profile nationally televised game and a violation could result in a fine of at least $100,000. Ooh, we.

That's a lot of bread. Raja. Not to the club, though. Not to the club, but like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, a hundred grand, Wayne. It's a hundred. I'm with you. It's a hundred grand.

But my thing is this, is that something that we should be doing, man? Like, should we be forcing these guys to play on television? Like, should we do that? I get it from a, from a television standpoint and a viewership standpoint, NBA needs bread right now. They can't be messing around. You can't, in any other year, you could probably get away with it a little bit. You can't do it this year. We need these stars online.

So what do you do? Do you play LeBron 15 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back? Like, how do you manage something like this? Because it seems a little tough. We just had Danny Green tell us that LeBron wasn't going to play for the beginning of the season. But yeah, listen, you answered your question. Yes, you have to do it this year because you can't afford to not have those guys, you know, playing in the games that matter the most that are going to drive the revenue that are going to help you, you know, navigate, you know, the season and the pandemic. So there's got to be something in place that's going to stop people from doing what they've done over the last few years, which is just hold guys out and sit them.

Like, this is a two-way street. The players have to hold up their end of the bargain as well as the league, right? So players have to be willing to step up and do what they got to do so the league stays healthy fiscally. If that means playing, you know, a nationally televised game, then you need to do that. I don't really have the answer. Maybe you scale their minutes back. I would hope that the league did their due diligence when making the schedule and really factored some of that in and tried their best to mitigate the amount of back-to-backs

that LeBron would be playing on nationally televised games. someone like LeBron, because that could help a team out. You know, you just rest him on another game. It doesn't necessarily have to be the televised game. So you can still rest, Kaz. Just don't do it when we're playing on national TV and we need all this viewership. So does that mean like LeBron plays like he just doesn't play on a regular January game, right? He just doesn't play a lot of these games unless it's nationally televised. That would, I feel like that's a good compromise. If I'm and Brown, I'm just saying, well, I guess I'm just playing nasty televised games. Well, I don't have their schedule in front of me.

I would imagine he's going to need to play more than just the nationally televised games for the Lakers and for him to be, you know, really firing on all cylinders. But I do think that you would see him still being rested in situations that aren't going to cause the team or the league harm. And he'd be playing his nationally televised games, but he's still going to sit. You still have to manage these guys. The NBA season when it's normal and you're going to start in October at the end of October and play through June is a grind. Man, that thing is, you know, people don't, you know, people just see the guys when they get out there to play. And by that time, like, I've had my two cups of coffee. I drank my Red Bull.

I felt like shit when I got up because I played last night in Minnesota. We got into, I don't know, Cleveland at 2 in the morning. I got into my hotel room at 2.45. but my bags didn't show up to my room until 3.45, so I couldn't go to sleep. So now I'm going to bed at 3.45. I got to wake up for a breakfast morning, a breakfast meeting at 11. Like, I've tried to ice, but we were on a plane so I couldn't ice. You know, there's a lot. Now I'm in the gym at 5 o'clock trying to get my body ready to play. And this was the seventh, like, night and the fifth game on a road trip. Your body, when you get into that arena is like, no, bro, I'm not doing this again. Like, I'm not

playing, but you got to get ready to play. Yeah. I don't, I always like, when we talk about road stories, it always amazes me how you guys can like get at least play some semblance of an NBA game, right? Like, you guys can just play at a high level, just even on a back to back. I remember there was a, when I was on, when I was on the Warriors beat, there was a San Antonio Minnesota back to back, which meant like we had to fly out of San Antonio. The team flew the night after, they flew right after the game from San Antonio, Minnesota.

We had to fly as a media contingency, 6 a.m. flight from San Antonio to Minnesota and then go watch a game that night. We were dead. There was nothing that I could do as an immediate member. I don't think I could run in a straight line. The fact that you guys were able to play and play effectively, that is mind-boggling. Logan, now it's what you sign up for. No one's complaining about it necessarily, but it can be a grueling, grueling season.

We were on a 17-game win-street. We had two 17-game win-strikes, I believe, one season with the sun. So we were in Denver. We were supposed to extend that, but a major blizzard hit Denver. So we were locked in to our hotel and our rooms in Denver. Like the hotel started running out of food.

We'd go to the Pepsi Center to practice, but we couldn't play the games and we couldn't get out. And so, like, two days later, we had a game at home against Washington. It was a nationally televised game. So we can't leave Denver until the day of the game. So we-

You need an exemption for that, right? I'm sure. Huh? You need, like, an exemption for that, too, right? I'm sure. Well, we didn't have shit. What they did was they drove us to Colorado Springs from Denver, where we could get out.

I'm assuming because it's like, you know, I think the Air Force is up or something like that. So we were able to get on a plane. The game was like a Tuesday or Wednesday. So let's say it's Tuesday morning. We play that night. We get on a plane.

We drive to Colorado Springs, fly to Phoenix, get into Phoenix at like 4 o'clock, 4.30. The game's at 7. So we go right to the arena. You get a shower and try to like wake your senses up. And then we go out on national TV and have to play Gilbert Arena.

And then we lose, but I mean, it's expected that we lose, right? Like there's no way you're going to have your body and good, like, shape to play basketball game. Gilbert just fired y'all up, hunts. I just dropped a lot of it's 50. None of them were on me, though.

Oh, okay. For sure. For sure. No, yeah, all, that's what they all say. But it is going to be, it is going to be interesting. Before we get out of here, no real one of the week, we're going to push that to Thursday. But there was a clip that I saw of you,

of a real one's fans sent me. Really? Of you and LeBron. LeBron dropped 46 on you. Oh, that's that bullshit you sent me on the on the on the Instagram. Somebody said, shout to the homie that sends it on Instagram. Let's discuss this on the show. And I want to discuss this on the show.

Discuss it. Like you and the homie that sent it to you. What happened in the game? Hold on. What I say to you. Let me, let's let's get here, right? So it was basically, it was a moment in time. LeBron was in his early, this was in 2006.

LeBron gave 46, eight assists, five threes. Just bald. Great. He's given it to Sean Marion. You got some time with him. You guys, he was just, just, oh, Leandro Barbosa, just getting him in the post. It's just, oh, he's just going hard. L.B. and I were too small.

We had no business guarding him in the post, but he wasn't a great. This was on you. This is on you in the post. With LeBron, without a post game, was just giving it to you right now. Just, you know, it doesn't even care. stepbacks. He's just giving you the business right now. What are you doing right now? Like, what are you doing? Why are we doing it? Okay, here's what I would say to that. What happened? I'm saying what happened. He's, he was a really, really, really, really good 21 year old who was way too big for me to be

playing in the post. And you knew he was special back then. Look, I'm a, I hit LeBron in Utah. I think was Utah his first year in the league when I was in Utah the first time around. I might have been like I caught him come off a I tried to hit him with that quick bow in the chest. Like, you know, as he's running by, just like, spa, like, hey, wake up, bro. Like, let's see what he looked at me and chuckled. And I was like, oh, shit. Okay.

Wait, so my thing is, when you're guarding a smaller LeBron, or not a smaller, a younger LeBron, right? And he hasn't, like, proven himself on this level yet. He's, in your eyes, he's still like an 18, 19 year old, right? So he's like, come on, man. What are we doing? Like, I can do it. He's just a kid.

Let's relax. and then he shows, and then you see him in person, and it's like, oh, okay. No, no. You knew he was, I mean, you knew he was 19,

but you knew he wasn't, you know, your typical 19. There was always like, yo, this, this guy can do it. Now,

the good news for us was, and I don't think you touched on it so allowed me to. Like, we definitely won that game. Like, they never beat us. And if you look at the box score, yours truly probably was somewhere in the 20s.

I used to love playing the Caz because at the time, while I guarded LeBron, no one really ever guarded me when I played the Cavs. So I got a lot of buckets and we typically got the W. So I would just say that to you

and said, homie, who sent you that. Good for LeBron, hot 46 in a losing effort. Take that with you. See, I love talking to athletes, man. Y'all go get the upper hand some kind of way, right? Even if it's clear

because there's a couple clips. We won the, like, LeBron is the, could be, at the end of the day, the best player to ever play in the game. Like, he's going to have 40 on you. you sometimes. I would then say, hey, good 46, bro. Good for you. Who won the game? I just wanted to do that. It's fun. Like, if you ever want to just say, yo, this article you wrote

was trash, how could you even think about this? This other person just out wrote you forever? More than happy. We're free to do that. All right? Go ahead. To look up some of your shit, too. Look up some of the shit, you know, on my, on the, on the, who was the dude who sent it to you, man? We got, you. Let me go on Instagram. Let me see. I don't know. Let's shout, bro, out. Oh, yeah, okay. It's Hayes Griggs. Hayes underscore Griggs, right? And he mentioned me in a comedy, said,

look at Roger getting bullied by a young LeBron. You got to ask about this. Damn, Hayes Griggs. Okay, I feel you, bro. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm saying. The streets are saying, you know what I mean? How about this? I found out I had a degenerative, like, disc in my back earlier today. So, like, my basketball hooping days are done.

But if you- Are they done today? No, not done officially, but like... But if you and Hayes-Griggs want to, like, catch a flight down to South Florida, like... You got the hoop court right there, right? Y'all can try to guard me. I make it look just like LeBron did on me. We could do that.

I'm fouling the shit out of you, Roger. Felt the shit out of you, bro. I don't care. Straight, you know me? Straight elbows to the back. Yeah, like, take that. Where's that disc again? Let me get that.

Yeah, ah, ah. That's pretty cool, though. That's dope. Hayes, we feel you, bro. It's all good, man. You know, we ain't NBA players. We still want to roast y'all, though. You know what I mean?

Like I said, if you see anything from me writing on, like, the fifth night, fifth game and six nights and I just want to go home and I'm just throwing some words on the script, it's all good. Just, just, you can do that. You know? I'll call you. I'll put you on blast. I got you. All right. Yeah.

Well, that was another edition of the real ones. You can catch us on. wherever you get your podcast, check out the mismatch two days a week on their own feed, respect. Got a little surprise for you on Fridays, and we might have a special guest on the real ones on the next episode.

Which is Thursday. Which is thicker, Thurthicter Thursday. So, you know, tap into that, man, wherever you guys get podcasts, but, you know, listen to it on Spotify. If you got it, man, we'll see you on. Wait, Thursday. Oh.

Holla.